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Bible Quotation For Today/Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14/25-35: "Large crowds were travelling with him; and he turned and said to them, ‘Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to ridicule him, saying, "This fellow began to build and was not able to finish." Or what king, going out to wage war against another king, will not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand?
If he cannot, then, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for the terms of peace. So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions. ‘Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?
It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure heap; they throw it away. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’"

Bible Quotation For Today/ All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them
First Letter of John 03/11-22: "This is the message you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We must not be like Cain who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be astonished, brothers and sisters, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything."

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-22/15
Lebanese Christian party addresses succession matters/Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/August 21/15
Arresting Ahmad al-Assir is a triumph for Lebanon/Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/August 21/15
What’s up, Doc/Michael Young/Now Lebanon/August 21/15
Palestinians Flock to Islamic State/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 21/15
Obama's Democrats face intense pressure as they weigh Iran deal/By REUTERS/August 21/15
The fear of oil revenues dropping/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/August 21/15
Khamenei’s nuclear game: No public approval/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya/August 21/15
A Might-Have-Been Interview with Obama/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 21-22/15
In Lebanon’s miserable era, Jobran Bassil is the FPM president
Lebanese Christian party addresses succession matters
Arresting Ahmad al-Assir is a triumph for Lebanon
Obama Says U.S. to Uphold Sanctions Linked to Iran Support for Hizbullah
Nigeria Suspends Immigration Head over Approval of al-Asir's Visa
Report: Asir Spent 2 Weeks in North, was Financed by Lebanese, Palestinian Figures
Man Held for Trying to Travel to Turkey to Join IS
Israeli Official Says Iran Trying to Transfer State-of the-Art Arms to Hizbullah
Salam to Call for Cabinet Session, Rejects to Give up to Paralysis
Report: French Officials Discussing Delivery of more Arms to Lebanon
Bassil Heads FPM as Alain Aoun Expresses Dismay in Electoral Process

LCCC Bulletin Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/15
Gunman Opens Fire on Amsterdam-Paris Train, Two Hurt
U.S. Strike Kills 'IS Number Two' Haji Mutaz
U.S. Drone' Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen: tribal sources
ISIS destroys ancient Catholic monastery in Syria
Five killed in new Israeli raid on Syria
IDF: Iran's Quds Force responsible for rocket fire
IAF strikes in Syria, kills rocket launchers
ISIS affiliate says responsible for bombing near Cairo security building
US Ambassador:To Israel: Israel blocking discussions to strengthen security
N. Korea's Kim Jong-Un Puts Frontline Troops on War Footing

In Lebanon’s miserable era, Jobran Bassil is the FPM president
Elias Bejjani/21 August/15
The Dwarf in politics and all domains of public services, Micheal Aoun’s spoiled and vulgar son-in-law Jobran Bassil became the FPM President: Why not, as the proverb says,”Birds of a feather flock together“. Definitely such a Trojan and puppet pro Iranian and mercenary political party requires such a baby president. It is worth mentioning that Bassil failed in two parliamentary elections in the Batroun region

Lebanese Christian party addresses succession matters
By Joseph A. Kechichian/Gulf News/August 21/15
Beirut: Lebanese media outlets have revealed that General Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), has settled on his son-in-law Foreign Minister Jibran Bassil to succeed him. According to the LBCI television network, Aoun apparently told his apparatchiks that he would also select the two party vice-presidents, one of whom was expected to be his nephew, Alain Aoun. Aoun told senior members gathered in his Rabieh home that “the agreement over the elections [scheduled for September 20, 2015] was based on the will of the majority,” and that he blessed it, even if the exercise prevented the party’s estimated 14,000 members from actually voting for any candidates. The former army commander called for loyalty, which drew sly remarks, including from deputy Alain Aoun, the unlucky contender, who said: “I was seeking in this race to present my vision of the leadership of the movement for the upcoming phase, and “sought to present what I thought was best and most appropriate for the FPM based on the experience of the past ten years and what challenges we may expect in the future.”An allegedly democratic institution, the FPM promised a free electoral campaign, though Michel Aoun’s appointment of his son-in-law and, even more egregious, his declaration that he would also appoint the two vice-presidents, raised the ire of disillusioned loyalists. Many lamented the nepotism that the leader practised, especially after internal polls indicated that Bassil would lose to Alain Aoun, which was deemed unacceptable. A reluctant Alain Aoun urged his supporters “to overcome this phase and continue on working together for the interest and future of the movement,” although many anticipated clashes between him and his eventual party leader after Michel Aoun passed away from the political scene.Bassil, a 45-year-old civil engineer who earned a degree from the American University of Beirut, carried heavy baggage as a highly controversial politician. In September 2014, and as he was scheduled to meet a Gulf official on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly gathering, Bassil asked one of his assistants about “Caroline” [Ziadé, the chargé d’affaires at Lebanon’s UN Mission], which surprised the official. Bassil’s hand gesture spoke volumes, implying that the attractive woman’s presence was desired. More recently, cameras caught him in a shouting match with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, which broke all diplomatic norms.Bassil is married to Chantale Aoun with whom he has three children.

Obama Says U.S. to Uphold Sanctions Linked to Iran Support for Hizbullah
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/President Barack Obama wrote in a letter to Congress that the U.S. will uphold sanctions targeting Iran's non-nuclear activities, such as its support for Hizbullah. Obama promised Democratic lawmakers that the U.S. will continue to keep economic pressure on Iran — and keep military options open — if his administration's nuclear deal with Tehran goes through. Obama said in the letter addressed to New York Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler that if Iran rushes to build a nuclear weapon, "all of the options available to the United States — including the military option — will remain available."The president also said Washington will uphold sanctions targeting Tehran's non-nuclear activities, such as its backing for Hizbullah and what Obama calls Iran's "destabilizing role in Yemen."The letter emphasized U.S. support for Israel, saying Obama has "consistently viewed Israel's security as sacrosanct."Obama wrote the letter, dated Aug. 19, from Martha's Vineyard, the tony island off the Massachusetts coast where he is in the midst of a two week vacation. While the president has made no public appearances during his vacation, he has been privately reaching out to Democratic lawmakers in a bid to boost support for the Iran deal. Congress will vote next month on a resolution of disapproval on the accord to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief. The president is expected to have to veto the measure, but White House officials and Democratic lawmakers have expressed confidence that there is enough support in the party to block GOP override efforts.

Nigeria Suspends Immigration Head over Approval of al-Asir's Visa
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari suspended his head of immigration Friday, the government announced, with the department under investigation over the approval of a visa to Islamist Lebanese cleric Ahmed al-Asir. Asir, wanted in Lebanon over deadly clashes with the army and other cases, was arrested on Saturday at Beirut's airport as he tried to board a plane to Nigeria using a fake Palestinian passport with a valid visa. "The Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration service, Mr. David Shikfu Parradang, has been suspended from office with immediate effect," Nigeria's interior ministry said in a statement. No reason was given for the move, but news that Asir had received the green light to travel to Nigeria caused outrage in the west African nation, and made front page headlines. The Nigerian government launched an investigation into the affair earlier this week, although it was unclear if Parradang was being held personally accountable. Asir had been on the run since June 2013, when he and some supporters fought a deadly battle with the army outside the southern Lebanese city of Sidon. The army seized his headquarters after 48 hours of clashes that killed 18 soldiers, but Asir was able to escape with several of his followers. He had continued to issue audio statements while on the run, and various rumors circulated as to where in Lebanon he was hiding. In 2014, prosecutors sought the death sentences for Asir and 53 others, including singer-turned-fundamentalist Fadel Shaker. They were accused of having formed armed groups that killed soldiers, and of having explosive materials, light and heavy weapons that they used against the army. Asir, a native of Sidon, was virtually unknown politically before the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011.He began making headlines after the conflict erupted by criticizing Hizbullah and its ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Report: Asir Spent 2 Weeks in North, was Financed by Lebanese, Palestinian Figures
Naharnet/August 21/15/Detained Islamist cleric Ahmed al-Asir has confessed to interrogators that he spent two weeks in northern Lebanon when he was on the run, revealing that Lebanese and Palestinian figures had financed his political movement prior to the deadly Abra clashes, a report said on Friday. Investigations have revealed that Asir sought refuge at places run by Islamist clerics in the North for a period of two weeks, LBCI television said, noting that the said religious figures will be summoned for interrogation. The cleric has also confessed that Lebanese and Palestinian figures had offered funds to his political movement, the TV network added. It said Asir is maintaining a “calm” temper during interrogation, while claiming that his political and military actions had been aimed at “defending Sunnis against Hizbullah.” The cleric is also criticizing politicians from the Hariri family, LBCI added. The General Security arrested al-Asir on Saturday at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport as he attempted to flee the country to Nigeria via Egypt. The vocal anti-Hizbullah cleric was wanted, among other charges, for his involvement in clashes between his supporters and the army in Sidon's Abra region in 2013. On Wednesday, State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr referred al-Asir to the Army Intelligence Directorate for further investigations. A number of detainees linked to his case were also referred to the directorate.

Man Held for Trying to Travel to Turkey to Join IS
Naharnet/August 21/15/The Lebanese General Security on Friday announced arresting a young man who tried to travel to Turkey to join the extremist Islamic State group, which has seized vast swathes of Syria and Iraq. “As part of its efforts to monitor the activities of terrorist groups, especially militants who brainwash Lebanese youths into joining and fighting alongside such groups, the General Directorate of General Security arrested Lebanese national O. H.,” it said in a statement.
“During interrogation, he confessed that he had been seeking to travel from Lebanon to Turkey to join the Daesh terrorist group and take part in its combat activities,” the agency added. The young man said his decision was “facilitated by Lebanese national S. A.” and “encouraged by Lebanese nationals Y. H. and A. H., who are both fighting in Syria alongside the aforementioned group.” “After the end of interrogation, he was referred to the relevant judicial authorities and efforts are underway to arrest all those involved,” the General Security added. Several Lebanese young men have been killed fighting alongside the IS group in Syria and Iraq. As of March 2015, the group has maintained control over territory occupied by ten million people in Iraq and Syria, as well as limited territorial control in Libya and Nigeria. The group also operates or has affiliates in other parts of the world, including South Asia. The United Nations has held the IS responsible for human rights abuses and war crimes, and Amnesty International has reported ethnic cleansing by the group on a "historic scale." Over 60 countries are directly or indirectly waging war against the group and airstrikes target its positions in Syria and Iraq on daily basis.

Israeli Official Says Iran Trying to Transfer State-of the-Art Arms to Hizbullah
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/Iran is seeking to transfer state-of the-art weaponry from storehouses in Syria to Hizbullah, the Israeli Foreign Ministry director-general Dore Gold told The Jerusalem Post from Berlin. The weapons include the SA-22 (Pantsir- S1) air defense system and the Y‑akhont anti-ship cruise missile, said Gold, who is on his first trip to a European capital for high-level talks. He told the Jerusalem Post that he explained to German officials how the regional situation has become more complicated as a result of the nuclear deal signed last month between major powers and Iran. According to Gold, Iran has made efforts to transfer arms to Hizbullah, amid attempts over the last six months to set up a Hizbullah front against Israel in the Golan Heights. If this type of activity has been going on for the last six months, Gold asked, “then what happens when the sanctions on Iran are lifted, and they get a cash bonus of up to $150 billion?”He answered: “Iran will then be equipped to radically increase its destabilizing activities along Israel’s borders.”After the deal was signed by Iran and six global powers in Vienna, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government has been furiously lobbying U.S. lawmakers, holding out hope Congress will vote against it by a strong enough margin to override any presidential veto.

Salam to Call for Cabinet Session, Rejects to Give up to Paralysis
Naharnet/August 21/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam is expected to call for a cabinet session next week for “refusing to give up to paralysis,” his sources said Friday. The sources quoted Salam as saying that “giving up to the logic of paralysis” is not part of his “dictionary.” According to An Nahar daily, Speaker Nabih Berri, al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat have backed him in calling for a session on Thursday.
In remarks to al-Liwaa newspaper, ministerial sources expected the session to discuss the growing waste crisis and the salaries of civil servants. Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas also said that the session could tackle important loans and grants. Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage crisis, which erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17. Garbage has been accumulating on the streets in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for the past month and Health Minister Wael Abou Faour has said the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is found for the trash problem. The salaries of civil servants are also under threat. The Finance Ministry has warned that it would be unable to pay state employees their wages without an authorization from Parliament. But the legislature has not convened since last November when it met to extend its own term in office. The cabinet plunged in a crisis when the Free Patriotic Movement insisted that it discusses its decision-making mechanism before any other issue. It has been holding street protests against what it calls Salam's violation of the Christian president's powers amid a vacuum at Baabda Palace. It is seeking to amend the cabinet's working mechanism and wants to pressure the government to appoint high-ranking military and security officials rather than extending their terms.

Report: French Officials Discussing Delivery of more Arms to Lebanon
Naharnet/August 21/15/French officials have been holding talks with their counterparts in Beirut away from the media spotlight to follow up the delivery of French weapons to the Lebanese army under a Saudi grant, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. Lebanon received in April the first shipment of $3 billion worth of French arms under the Saudi-financed deal to boost the country's defensive capabilities to combat terror threats. Lebanon's allies are seeking to bolster the country's defenses against the Islamic State group and other jihadists pressing along its Syrian border. France is expected to deliver 250 combat and transport vehicles, seven Cougar helicopters, three small Corvette warships and a range of surveillance and communications equipment over four years as part of the $3 billion modernization program. The contract also promises seven years of training for the 70,000-strong Lebanese army and 10 years of equipment maintenance. Newly appointed French Ambassador to Lebanon Emmanuel Bonne, who arrived in Beirut last week, has stressed that the implementation of the deal was ongoing. Bonne said the Lebanese army is the main institution safeguarding the security of Lebanon and of all the Lebanese.

Jumblat: Protests of Garbage Activists are Legal and Righteous
Naharnet/August 21/15/Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat denounced the “barbaric” behavior that the security forces used in confronting Wednesday's protests of the You Stink campaign, assuring that the demonstrations are “righteous.”“The protests carried out by some youth in downtown Beirut are legal and righteous, but the barbaric way used to disperse them are strongly rejected and condemned,” said Jumblat via twitter on Friday. The MP assured that the demonstrators are free to express their opinion regarding the situation in the country and what he described as the “political trash like parties and what are named as officials.” He concluded by saying that “most of the political parties have failed including their leaderships and void statements.”On Wednesday, the You Stink Lebanese activists clashed with police who sprayed them with water cannons over the country's mounting trash crisis. Garbage has been accumulating on the streets for the past month amid government paralysis and inability to agree on a solution after Beirut's main landfill was closed down. Around 100 activists gathered outside the government building night, shouting anti-government slogans. Some tried to break the security cordon, leading to clashes with the police. Lebanon's health minister Wael Abou Faour has said the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is found for its trash problem.Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage crisis.

Bassil Heads FPM as Alain Aoun Expresses Dismay in Electoral Process
Naharnet/August 21/15/The Free Patriotic Movement reached an agreement on Thursday for Jebran Bassil to be elected as its president.
Bassil, who is also the country's foreign minister, will succeed his father-in-law MP Michel Aoun as chief of the FPM. Aoun will meanwhile select the vice presidents of the party, revealed LBCI television. The elections were held during an extraordinary meeting for the FPM. Aoun declared before the movement's members: “The agreement over the elections was based on the will of the majority.”“I bless this decision and encourage it,” he added, while hoping that the members will be loyal to each other. After the announcement, MP Alain Aoun, who was running in the election, issued a statement, saying: “I was seeking in this race to present my vision of the leadership of the movement for the upcoming phase.”“I sought to present what I thought was best and most appropriate for the FPM based on the experience of the past ten years and what challenges we may expect in the future,” he added. “Ever since the launch of the electoral campaign however, matters have veered off their desired course and it emerged that the necessary conditions to protect the democratic elections were lacking, which is a dangerous omen of division that may threaten the unity of the FPM in the post-elections stage,” added the lawmaker. “Based on MP Michel Aoun's wishes, my constant confidence in him, and my awareness of the impact on the unity of the FPM, given the major political pressure it is under, I urge on all to overcome this phase and continue on working together for the interest and future of the movement,” he concluded.

Arresting Ahmad al-Assir is a triumph for Lebanon
Nayla Tueni/Al Arabiya/Friday, 21 August 2015
I don’t think there are any Lebanese people who don’t feel grateful for the arrest of fugitive radical leader Ahmad al-Assir whose hands are stained with the blood of Lebanese soldiers and civilians. This is an achievement for the security services, a major state apparatus tasked with monitoring borders and maintaining security within. Objectively speaking, this is an achievement that’s equal to other great achievements fulfilled by other security and military institutions, particularly by the army intelligence, Internal Security Forces’ Information Branch and the State Security as all of the latter combated terrorism and exposed espionage networks operated by Israel. I am not naming these apparatuses here in order to clarify the political and abhorrent balances within our system – although frankly speaking, this is a realistic aspect of our Lebanese formula which does not spare military and security institutions and apparatuses from sectarian, partisan and political polarization. However, the reason I named them now is to say out loud that we take pride in these apparatuses when they prove that they only operate according to the state’s standards with protecting citizens’ security as a top priority. It’s very important for our political rhetoric to be void of indecent criticism no matter how heated up political disputes are
These achievements by the different security apparatuses must be categorized as actions aimed at solidifying the state’s immunity and institutions and they must be viewed as accomplishments for the entire Lebanese people and as an incentive to generalize justice and thus address other cases where wanted men whom everyone knows their whereabouts are brought to justice. I won’t go further with addressing the cases of victims whom some parties want their blood to go in vain in order to destroy the nationalistic and sovereign aims they were martyred for.
Political and patriotic
Another aspect of Assir’s arrest is both political and patriotic. We here commend leader Saad Hariri who has more than once shown he’s an avid and loyal supporter of the plan toward a legitimate and strong state of Lebanon. In 2013, Hariri provided political cover for the army’s operation in Sidon’s Abra against Assir. He later provided a similar cover for the security and military plan in Tripoli and this plan put an end to the rampant chaos there. He recently congratulated the general security establishment for its achievement of arresting Assir and thus proved his adherence to supporting security and military institutions. Hariri’s stances reflect the Future Movement’s adherence to moderation despite all provocative campaigns against it. I am not bringing this up due to favoring Hariri over others or to provoke a party that views itself as a rival of Hariri. I am bringing it up for purely patriotic purposes. It’s very important for our political rhetoric to be void of indecent criticism no matter how heated up political disputes are. Let this be the basis to stop arguments. Keep in mind that no one in Lebanon wins if moderation collapses.

Gunman Opens Fire on Amsterdam-Paris Train, Two Hurt
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/A heavily armed man opened fire on a high-speed train traveling from Amsterdam to Paris on Friday, injuring two people before being overpowered by two American passengers. The motives behind the attack were not immediately known, although French prosecutors said a probe was being launched by counter-terrorism investigators. France has been on edge since Islamist gunmen went on the rampage in January, killing 17 people in the capital Paris. The assailant was arrested after the train pulled into the station in the northern French town of Arras, a spokesman for the French state rail company SNCF told AFP. According to the initial French investigations, the gunman was known to French intelligence services and was Moroccan or of Moroccan origin and aged 26. The man was carrying several weapons in his luggage, including guns and razor blades, one source close to the case told AFP, with some reports that he was armed with a Kalashnikov. "The anti-terrorist section of the prosecutor's office has taken this case, in agreement with the local prosecutor, in view of the weaponry used, the way it happened and the context," the prosecutor's office said.
'Everything being done'
French President Francois Hollande said in a statement that "everything is being done to shed light" on the shooting. Prosecutors said the gunman was overpowered by two American passengers. An American and a Briton were reportedly among those hurt in the attack. The French actor Jean-Hugues Anglade, who appeared in the 1986 cult film "Betty Blue" staring Beatrice Dalle, was lightly injured in the incident, a witness told AFP on condition of anonymity. He had reportedly been hurt breaking the glass to activate the train's alarm. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve went to Arras in the wake of the incident, which occurred shortly after 6.00 pm (1600 GMT), his ministry said. His spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet confirmed to AFP that a man had opened fire on the train. "We do not know the identity of this individual nor his motives," said Brandet, adding: "It is too early to speak of a terrorist link." The SNCF spokesman had said earlier that three people were injured, two of them seriously, and that at least one suffered gunshot wounds. "The passengers are safe, the situation has been brought under control," train operator Thalys said on Twitter. Thalys said on its website that several trains had been delayed after the "intervention of security forces at Arras station.""The train is at the station and emergency services are at the scene," said Thalys, which is jointly owned by the national rail companies of Belgium, France and Germany. France remains on edge after Islamic extremists attacked the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket in Paris in January, killing 17 people. In June, a man beheaded his boss and tried to blow up a gas plant in southern France in what prosecutors say was an attack inspired by the Islamic State group.

U.S. Strike Kills 'IS Number Two' Haji Mutaz
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/The second-in-command of the Islamic State jihadist group has been killed in a U.S. air strike in northern Iraq, the White House said Friday.The National Security Council identified the slain militant as Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Haji Mutaz, and said he was IS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi's senior deputy.

U.S. Drone' Kills Three Qaida Suspects in Yemen: tribal sources
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/Three suspected Al-Qaida militants were killed on Friday in an apparent U.S. drone strike in Marib province, east of the capital Sanaa, tribal sources said. The three were riding in a vehicle that was struck at dawn by a missile in the desert region of Harib, the sources said. The United States is the only country known to operate armed drones over Yemen, and strikes have continued on suspected militants even as the country has been battered by months of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), viewed by Washington as the extremist network's most dangerous branch, has taken advantage of the chaos to seize the southern port city of Mukalla, capital of the vast desert Hadramawt province. The group admitted in June that its leader in Yemen Nasir al-Wuhayshi had been killed in a drone strike. Two senior AQAP commanders were killed in similar attacks in April.

ISIS destroys ancient Catholic monastery in Syria
By AFP, Beirut/Friday, 21 August 2015/Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants have destroyed an ancient monastery in the central Syrian province of Homs, according to a monitor and pictures published by the jihadist group. “ISIS group yesterday used bulldozers to destroy the Mar Elian monastery in Al-Qaryatain, in Homs province,” said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. He said the militants demolished the Syriac Catholic monastery “on the pretext that it was used for worshipping others than God.”Photographs posted online by ISIS showed militants bulldozing parts of the monastery, although they did not appear to have completely destroyed the building with explosives as they have done with shrines and other religious buildings elsewhere. ISIS seized Al-Qaryatain on August 5, kidnapping at least 230 people, including dozens of Christians. The town lies at the crossroads between ISIS territory in the eastern countryside of Homs and points further west in the Qalamun area bordering Lebanon. The Observatory said that ISIS had released 48 of those it took captive when it overran the town, and had transferred another 110 to its stronghold of Raqa province. The fate of the other 70 hostages was unclear. The Mar Elian monastery dates back to the fifth century and is named for a Christian from Homs province who was martyred for refusing to renounce his faith. It is attached to a famous church of the same name, but it was unclear if that too had been damaged by ISIS. In May, Syrian priest Jacques Mourad was abducted from the monastery by masked men as he prepared to receive residents of nearby Palmyra fleeing an ISIS advance. Intolerant of any religious practice other than its own interpretation of Islam, ISIS has regularly destroyed religious buildings and icons in territory under their control.They have also targeted statues, which they consider idolatrous, and grave markers, including those of Muslims.

Five killed in new Israeli raid on Syria
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya News /Friday, 21 August 2015
A new Israeli raid on Syrian-controlled territory in the Golan Heights killed at least five people on Friday, Syrian state television said, describing the dead as unarmed civilians. An Israeli military source said the strikes targeted militants who fired rockets into Israel on Thursday. “Aircraft of the Israeli enemy targeted a civilian car in the village of al-Kom, killing five unarmed civilians,” Syrian state television said. A reporter for state television in the Quneitra province where the raids took place said they occurred at 10:30 am (0730 GMT) and were carried out by a drone. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group, also confirmed five people had been killed, saying two pro-regime militiamen were among them. Friday’s strikes came after Israel said it had hit at least 14 Syrian army position in the Golan Heights on Thursday in response to the rocket fire on the Galilee region in northern Israel. An Israeli military source confirmed the Friday raids, saying “part of the squad responsible for firing the rockets yesterday was targeted and neutralized.”
The source said the raids were believed to have killed four or five people. Earlier, the Israeli army has warned the government in war-wracked Syria it will “suffer the consequences” after four rockets crashed on Thursday into the north of the Jewish state and the occupied Golan. Syria's state run news agency SANA, however, later said that an Israeli helicopter fired several missiles inside Syria, targeting the governorate building in Quneitra but that the strikes caused only material damage. “This was the work of Islamic Jihad, an organization financed and working for Iran, and we consider the Syrian government responsible for the firing and it will suffer the consequences,” the Israeli army said in a statement. It was referring to a Palestinian militant group which is based in the Gaza Strip. Islamic Jihad on their part have denied the Israeli allegation, according to Reuters news agency. They previously threatened reprisals should one of its activists in Israeli detention, Mohammed Allan, die of a hunger strike. Allan ended the fast on Wednesday after an Israeli court intervened.
The Israeli military and security sources said the four rockets caused fires but no casualties. Israel seized 1,200 square km of the Golan from neighboring Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it 14 years later, in a move never recognized by the international community. Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, the Golan has been tense, with a growing number of rockets and mortar rounds hitting the Israeli side, mostly stray, prompting occasional armed responses.(With Reuters and AFP)

IDF: Iran's Quds Force responsible for rocket fire
Ahiya Raved, Yoav ZItun/Ynetnews/Latest Update:08.21.15/Army strikes in Syria after five rockets land in northern Israel, starting fires in open areas; IDF says Islamic Republic directed the incident. The IDF struck targets in Syria on Thursday evening after four rockets were fired at northern Israel, with two landing in the Upper Galilee and two in the Golan Heights. The projectiles landed in open areas and there were no immediate reports of any casualties. One landed near a town, causing a fire. The IDF said it believed the firing was deliberate and that it was considering retaliatory fire. It also said the firing originated in Syria's Quneitra area, which is under Syrian President Bashar Assad's control and in which according to reports, Hezbollah operatives Samir Kuntar and Mustafa Mughniyeh have free rein. However, according to the IDF, Islamic Jihad was responsible for the fire, using Iranian funding and direction. The IDF also said it saw Syria as responsible for the fire. Islamic Jihad spokesman Daud Shihab strongly denied that the organization was responsible.
A senior IDF officer said: "The incident was directed by Iran – Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestinian department of the Iranian Quds Force. He directed the rocket fire today and is active in smuggling weapons from Syria to Lebanon." The source added that the army had struck a number of targets, including infrastructure and weapons belonging to the Syrian army. "We hold the Syrian state responsible," he added. "We attacked with tanks, artillery, and one target from the air... We attacked several kilometers into Syria, five or six sites with multiple targets within each site. Our attacks are much more severe this time around, in order to send a message and underscore the severity of this incident," he said. "The Iranians want to heat up the front against us in the northern and southern Golan," said the officer. "It’s in the Syrian and Iranian interest." Syrian media accused Israel of supporting terrorist organizations rebeling against the Assad regime. New outlets also reported that one Syrian had been killed in the attack and another seven had been wounded. The retaliatory strikes conducted by the IDF were part of a newly organized large scale attack plan against Syrian targets, which was prepared in recent months by the Northern Command. The framework came about as a result of new threats posed by Iranian forces on the Syrian Golan, and in anticipation of renewed rocket fire against Israel from this front, as was experienced this afternoon. Combat troops from the artillery corps' Meitar unit took part in the strikes, firing their electro-optical Tamuz missiles against Syrian targets in the border region. The IDF identified a direct link between the rocket fired aimed at Israel this afternoon, and a single mortar that was fired last week from Quneitra, which exploded in the agricultural fields near Ein Zivan. Earlier Thursday, the air force announced it had deployed an Iron Dome missile defense battery to Ashdod in southern Israel. Gaza security coordinators received warnings Wednesday of possible rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. They said Iron Dome was brought into the field due to the deteriorating condition of Mohammed Allaan, a suspected member of Islamic Jihad who ended his hunger strike Wednesday after more than two months, when Israel declared it was suspending his administrative detention because he had suffered brain damage. While southern Israel has experienced several rocket sirens in recent weeks, they are rarer in the north. In June, sirens in the north were turned out to be caused by fighting in Syria. In April, two mortars landed in northern Israel, which proved to be errant shells from fighting in Syria.

IAF strikes in Syria, kills rocket launchers
Yoav Zitun/Roi Kais/Ynetnews/Latest Update: 08.21.15/In second round of strikes inside Syria, 4-5 men killed said to be responsible for rocket fire Thursday evening on Israel's north. The Israel Air Force launched additional air strike in Syria Friday morning, targeting a vehicle in which 4-5 men were killed who were responsible for Thursday's rocket fire on the Golan Heights, Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon confirmed Friday morning. A senior IDF officer told Ynet that the attack occurred inside Syria some 10-15 kilometers from the Israeli border within territory entirely controlled by the Syrian Army. The squad of men, according to the officer, were Islamic Jihad members under Iranian auspices. Ya'alon and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the officer's statements, saying that the squad had been eliminated and that that IDF would identify and chase down anyone threatening the safety of Israeli civilians. "I said this week that whoever attempts to harm us, we will harm - and that's exactly what we did." The prime minister said those who fired the rockets had been killed that that Israel had also struck at Syrian forces who "allowed" for the rocket attack. Syrian media reported a slightly different version of events, claiming that five civilians had been killed in the Israeli air strike. Reports also said that others in the vicinity suffered minor injuries and that the strike had been carried out by an Israeli drone. Itamar Eichner contributed to this report.

ISIS affiliate says responsible for bombing near Cairo security building
At least 29 people, including 8 policemen, were injured
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat—An Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affiliate has claimed responsibility for a car bombing near a state security building in Cairo on Thursday. At least 29 people, including 8 policemen, were injured after a car bomb went off outside the national security building in the early hours of Thursday in Shubra Al-Kheima, a working-class neighborhood in northern Cairo. In an online statement, the Sinai Province, ISIS’s branch in Egypt, said it carried out the attack “in revenge for martyrs of Arab Sharkas,” referring to a group of six militants who were executed by the government in May for attacking soldiers near Cairo in 2014. “Soldiers of the caliphate have managed to target a state security building in Shubra Al-Kheima in the heart of Cairo with a parked car bomb,” a Twitter account with links to the extremist group said on Thursday. The Sinai Province changed its name from Ansar Bayt Al-Maqdis after it pledged allegiance to ISIS. Since the removal of former president Mohamed Mursi from power in 2013, Egypt’s security and military forces have come under increased attacks by Islamist insurgents based out of the Sinai Peninsula. The government of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi vowed to eradicate insurgency after the assassination of Hisham Barakat, the country’s top prosecutor, in June.
Maj. Gen. Abu Bakr Abdel-Kareem, the Egyptian Deputy Interior Minister for Media Affairs, attributed the recent rise in attacks on the government to “the preemptive strikes and successive successes by security forces against the terrorist elements.”
He also said the casualty toll from Thursday’s attack would have been much higher had it not been for the heightened security measures. “The security measures around the [state security] building have succeeded in reducing the size of human losses,” Abdel-Kareem told Asharq Al-Awsat. The interior ministry said in a statement that the bomber escaped on a motorcycle just before the explosion took place. “The explosion has caused damage to the front windows, walls and part of the outer fence of the building,” the statement said.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab, who visited the scene of the blast on Thursday, called the attack “vile” and promised that attempts to cause chaos in Egypt would fail.

US Ambassador:To Israel: Israel blocking discussions to strengthen security
Ynetnews/Attila Somfalvi/Published: 08.21.15/ Israel News
Dan Shapiro says Israel should start discussions with the US now to obtain increased military assistance for the next ten years while reassuring Israel: 'military option still on the table.' At a time when it is no longer possible to conceal the fierce confrontation between the Prime Minister's office and the White House in Washington, US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro is walking on a tightrope. But even Shapiro, using every possible diplomatic term, does not hide the discord between the two countries. "We need to recognize that there is disagreement between us, a deep disagreement about something very serious and important to both of our security interests. It's not a comfortable situation for good friends to be in," said Shapiro during an exclusive interview in Ynet's studio. He suggested starting "serious and professional" talks immediately after the nuclear agreement with Iran is approved by Congress. "We can start our discussions on how to deal with the new reality, if the agreement is approved - what will our intelligence needs be, what will Israel's needs be in its struggle against weapons being provided to Hezbollah or other terrorist organizations in the region, what will its needs be in the field of missile defense." According to Shapiro, who estimates that there is a high chance that Congress will approve the agreement with Iran, "maybe we'll reach an agreement on military assistance for the next ten years, and we can start these discussions now, even though we disagree on the agreement itself. It is Israel's decision not to conduct such talks at the moment." Shapiro is sure that this is not a "bad agreement," as per Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "It is not a bad agreement. This is an agreement that we believe will ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. Nobody said that this agreement was perfect and there are things that maybe we would have preferred to see included in the agreement, but it is a good agreement. This agreement is effective on the main subject – which is preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons."With respect to the Associated Press' exposure Wednesday that Iran is to oversee its own nuclear facility in Parchin, Shapiro said, "With regard to supervision, we can not go into all the details of the agreement with The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). It is a very professional organization and they say they are satisfied with all the conditions that will allow them to enter any site they need to. "We are not giving up on any option, including a military option. When Obama took office as president, he discovered that there was no effective military option and he asked our army to come up with this option. We did it and now he also has this option and the willingness to use it if there is no other option, but it is better to use diplomacy and sanctions, and we used them to reach a point where we can ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons during the agreement period." Shapiro wanted to "reassure the citizens of Israel - we are committed to their safety, and that commitment is as strong as ever. It is in our interest, it is our moral obligation."He also addressed the lack of progress between Israel and the Palestinians, saying, "We try to look at things realistically and it may be that there will be no negotiations in the next 18 months. At the moment there are no negotiations because of a lack of trust between the parties."

N. Korea's Kim Jong-Un Puts Frontline Troops on War Footing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 21/15/North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un put his frontline troops on a war footing Friday to back up an ultimatum for South Korea to halt high-decibel propaganda broadcasts across the border. The move came as military tensions on the divided Korean peninsula soared following a rare exchange of artillery fire on Thursday that put the South Korean army on maximum alert. Technically, the two Koreas have been at war for the past 65 years, as the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire that was never ratified by a formal peace treaty. Kim has given similarly bellicose orders in the past, most recently in 2013 when he declared "a state of war" with the South, although no clashes resulted. Over the decades, South Koreans have become accustomed to the North's provocative and belligerent behavior, and there was no sense of public panic in Seoul despite the dire threats. Kim chaired an emergency meeting late Thursday of the North's powerful Central Military Commission (CMC) which endorsed the ultimatum for the South to switch off its propaganda unit loudspeakers by Saturday afternoon or face military action.
South Korea's defence ministry insisted the loudspeakers would keep operating. According to the official KCNA news agency, Kim ordered frontline, combined units of the Korean People's Army (KPA) to "enter a wartime state" from Friday 5:00 pm (0830 GMT). The troops should be "fully battle ready to launch surprise operations" while the entire frontline should be placed in a "semi-war state", KCNA quoted him as saying. In response, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff urged the KPA to refrain from any "reckless acts".South Korean television broadcast images of President Park Geun-Hye wearing army fatigues as she addressed a meeting of top military commanders outside Seoul. "Any provocations by North Korea will not be tolerated," Park told the gathering. The United States urged Pyongyang to avoid any further escalation, with the Pentagon stressing it remained firmly committed to defending ally South Korea. Direct exchanges of fire across the inter-Korean land border are extremely rare -- mainly, analysts say, because both sides recognise the risk of a sudden and potentially disastrous escalation. But Yoo Ho-Yeol, a professor of North Korean studies at Korea University in Seoul, said although previous episodes of tense brinkmanship had not escalated into conflict, this could not be ruled out.
"We've been here before several times, but that doesn't mean it isn't still dangerous," said Yoo said."There's a real possibility of this confrontation leading to some sort of armed clash."The last direct attack on the South was in November 2010 when North Korea shelled the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong, killing two civilians and two soldiers.
Seoul said Thursday's artillery exchange was triggered by North Korea firing several shells in the rough direction of one of its border propaganda units. The South responded by firing "dozens" of 155mm howitzer rounds. Nearly all the shells from both sides landed in their respective halves of the demilitarized zone (DMZ), a four-kilometer-wide (2.5-mile-wide) buffer zone that straddles the actual frontier line. Tensions were already on high-simmer before the shelling, following mine blasts that maimed two members of a South Korean border patrol this month and the launch Monday of a major South Korea-U.S. military exercise that infuriated Pyongyang. Seoul said the mines were placed by North Korea and responded by resuming the high-decibel propaganda broadcasts after more than a decade. Meanwhile, the Unification Ministry in Seoul, which oversees cross-border affairs, announced it was restricting access to the North-South's joint industrial zone at Kaesong. Only South Koreans with direct business interests in Kaesong -- which lies 10 kilometers inside North Korea -- would be allowed to travel there, a ministry spokesman said. The Kaesong industrial estate hosts about 120 South Korean firms employing some 53,000 North Korean workers and is a vital source of hard currency for the cash-strapped North. Restricting access will likely be seen as a thinly veiled threat by Seoul to shut the complex down completely if the situation at the border escalates further.

What’s up, Doc?
Michael Young/Now Lebanon
Published: 21/08/2015
Did Future even notice that Samir Geagea had left them?
It is remarkable how invisible was the reaction of the Future Movement when its Christian partner Samir Geagea signed a declaration of intent with the Free Patriotic Movement. How different from Hezbollah, which has determinedly kept Michel Aoun happy to ensure he does not abandon his alliance with the party.
Geagea’s decision to effectively jump ship on the remnants of March 14 was less dramatic than Walid Jumblatt’s in 2009, but no less significant. It showed that the Lebanese Forces leader sees little potential in his alliance with the main Lebanese Sunni organization. That does not mean Geagea’s relations with Future are over. Rather, he has expanded his political options.
Future may find that this will come back to haunt the Sunnis. The country is moving toward an overhaul of the constitution to replace the post-Taif political order with one weighed against Sunnis. And in this context Geagea’s treatment as a poor relative by the Future Movement, particularly since Saad Hariri’s departure from Lebanon in 2011, has been a grave mistake. The head of the Future Bloc, Fouad al-Siniora never visits the Lebanese Forces leader and is not well-attuned to the Christian mood. Nor, unlike Hassan Nasrallah, has he considered it vital to work hard to maintain a strategic partnership with Christians to protect his own community against the demands of the other main Muslim community.
Nasrallah’s speech last week was a clear indicator of what Hezbollah seeks to achieve. As the situation in Syria turns to the party’s disadvantage, Hezbollah and Lebanon’s Shiites will have to brace for a Sunni backlash and sense of empowerment. The only way Hezbollah can protect itself is to change the balance of representation in Taif to ensure a structural majority for Shiites and Christians. To win over Christian backing, Hezbollah may very well agree to go along with the idea of a highly decentralized administrative system, which has long been a core Christian demand.
Hezbollah’s ambition is why, for Nasrallah, gaining Christian support remains so essential. And it explains his keen defense of Michel Aoun last week, when the Hezbollah leader insisted the party would not allow the general to be isolated or “broken.”
As many have observed, the most likely way for Hezbollah to reinforce itself in the state is to alter the 50-50 Christian-Muslim balance in Taif and redistribute sectarian shares so that Sunnis, Shiites and Maronites each have roughly a third of representation in parliament and government. Shares of the smaller sects would be adjusted in this general framework.
In that way, Christians and Shiites would retain a permanent two-thirds majority over Sunnis, allowing Hezbollah to shield itself from within the state. Many Christians would be reassured, feeling this would protect them against a Sunni wave in the region, which they feel — rightly or wrongly — would lead to the marginalization of minorities.
Indeed, many Christians today favor a highly-decentralized system in Lebanon precisely because they have misgivings about their future in a Muslim-majority country. But it is also true that most feel more reassured by the Shiites — a minority in the region like them — than they do by the Sunnis, whom they associate, quite simplistically and undiscerningly, with higher levels of religious extremism.
In this complicated sectarian climate, Future would only gain by having Christian partners in order to better moderate Christian attitudes. That’s because fear will lead Christians to make decisions that may undermine the reflexes of sectarian compromise and power-sharing at the heart of the political system.
One wonders whether some officials in the Future Movement have fully absorbed the meaning of the presidential vacuum. It goes far beyond Hezbollah’s wanting to bring Aoun to office and by now this should be perfectly obvious.
Hezbollah and Aoun are collaborating in an effort to change Taif and the post-Taif system. Each has his own reasons for doing so, but the larger objective is the same: to amend a political arrangement that both believe is to their disadvantage and to the advantage of the Sunni community. What matters here is not the reality of Taif’s uneven implementation, which has harmed all sides at times, but perceptions. And these Michel Aoun and Hassan Nasrallah have successfully manipulated in pursuit of their aims.
There are senior officials in the Future Movement who are openly admitting that Taif is dead, so no one can plead ignorance. If so, it’s time for Future to give added weight and recognition to its Christian counterparts. Otherwise, before long we will see the likes of Geagea and the Gemayels opening a dialogue with Hezbollah, which has shown a greater inclination to take Christian anxieties seriously.
This situation reflects more than anything else the end of March 14. The coalition has had many deaths, but the breakdown of cross-confessional collaboration buries it once and for all. When Samir Geagea went his own way he was confirming such finality. The Lebanese Forces leader will henceforth take his own political path, and at no time was this more evident than last week when he and his followers said little about the anti-Sunni slogans of the Aounists.
It’s a fact that Hezbollah is out-maneuvering Future on the Christian front. Christians err if they believe that taking sides in the inter-Muslim rivalry will benefit them, but that won’t stop them from trying. For Christians, true security lies in protecting themselves behind a wall of Sunni and Shiite moderation, in a society where all communities interact and coexist as equals.
But that’s not what is happening on the ground. Instead of encouraging Christians in this direction, the moderate Sunnis of the Future Movement are allowing Hezbollah to take the initiative and advance its own divisive agenda. The Lebanese political system has always relied on mutual sensibility. That is missing today, and it’s a shame that Future suffers more from this failing than Hezbollah.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star newspaper. He tweets @BeirutCalling

Palestinians Flock to Islamic State
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 21, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6375/palestinians-islamic-state
The terror group Islamic State has become extremely popular among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four recent public opinion polls show that at least one million Palestinians support the Islamic State. The Palestinians' two governments, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), have good reason to be worried about the Islamic State. In recent weeks, Islamic State spokesmen have issued threats against both the PA and Hamas, accusing them of "collaboration" with the "Zionist entity."Christian activist Sam Butrous noted that the widespread support for Islamic State among Palestinians is a sign of increased extremism and a denial of Christians' rights in the Holy Land. The PA and Hamas can only blame themselves for the surge of Palestinians joining the Islamic State. The two governments allow anti-Western incitement in their mosques and media outlets. Their leaders regularly glorify and endorse Palestinians who carry out terror attacks against Israelis, encouraging others to follow suit. If these Palestinians are unable to attack Israel from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, they travel to Syria and Iraq to join the jihad against Israel's allies, namely the U.S. and other Western countries.
Palestinian leaders cannot evade responsibility for inspiring dozens of Palestinians to join the Islamic State. The fiery rhetoric of these leaders and ongoing incitement against Israel and the West are further radicalizing Palestinians and driving them into the Islamic State's open arms. Hardly a week passes without another report of a Palestinian killed while fighting for the Islamic State terror group.
The reports have raised deep concern among many Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. A recent report estimated that some 100 Palestinians have already joined Islamic State. Other reports claim that the number is much higher.
According to the report, most of the Palestinians who joined the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are from the Gaza Strip. Another 1000 Palestinian men are believed to be preparing to join Islamic State, but have been unable to fulfill their dream for various reasons, the report revealed.
It is no surprise that most of the Palestinians who have joined the Islamic State are from the Gaza Strip, which has been under the control of Hamas since 2007. In the past year, various reports have suggested that Islamic State and its supporters have managed to infiltrate the Gaza Strip, where they pose a major threat to Hamas's rule over the area, home to some 1.6 million Palestinians. Earlier this year, Islamic State supporters organized their first public appearance on the streets of Gaza City, where they called for an Islamic army to destroy Israel and the "enemies of Islam." Palestinians waving Islamic State flags attempt to storm the French Cultural Center in Gaza City, in January 2015. (Image source: ehna tv YouTube screenshot)
Earlier this week, the Islamic State informed the Yehia family from the West Bank city of Jenin that their son, Said, had been killed while fighting for the terror group near Aleppo in Syria.
The family was told that Said had joined the Islamic State seven months ago. Said's family members said he told them he was travelling to Europe to look for work. Later, however, they learned that he had headed to Syria to fight for the Islamic State.
The two strangers who arrived at the family's home even provided Said's parents and brothers with a photograph of Said's dead body. In recent months, at least four Palestinians from the Gaza Strip were also reportedly killed while fighting for the Islamic State.
One of them, Abed al-Elah Kishta, 29, of the southern town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, was killed while fighting for the Islamic State in eastern Libya. Weeks before he was killed, Kishta contacted his family to inform them that he had joined the group.
The second Palestinian from the Gaza Strip was identified as Musa Hijazi, 23. His father, Hassan, said that his son was killed while fighting for the Islamic State in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. The Islamic State later mourned Hijazi as one of its martyrs, referring to him by his nickname Abu Mu'men al-Maqdisi.
A third Palestinian was identified as Wadi Washah, 21, from the Jebalya refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Washah's family said they were shocked to hear about his death while fighting for the Islamic State in Syria. The family said their son had previously joined Palestinian Islamic Jihad before escaping the Gaza Strip through a smuggling tunnel along the border with Egypt. Wadi's father said that his son had travelled to Syria on instructions from Islamic State-affiliated salafi-jihadi leaders in Gaza. According to the father, Wadi had told him that he had managed to kill dozens of Iranians in Syria. The fourth Palestinian was identified as Ahmed Badwan, 26, nicknamed Abu Tarek al-Ghazawi, of the Al-Bureij refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. Sources close to the family said that Badwan had left the Gaza Strip through a smuggling tunnel run by Hamas, and had first joined the Islamic State in Syria, before moving to the group's branch in Iraq. He was killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike on an Islamic State base in Iraq, the sources said.
Although the number of Palestinians who have joined the Islamic State remains relatively low, it is evident that the terror group has become extremely popular among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Four public opinion polls published a few weeks ago showed that at least a million Palestinians support the Islamic State.
The polls found that 24% of the Palestinians hold positive views about the Islamic State. Given that there are 1.8 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and another 2.7 million in the West Bank, this means that there are more than one million Palestinians who support Islamic State. Commenting on the results of the polls, Christian activist Sam Butrous noted that the widespread support for the Islamic State among Palestinians is a sign of increased extremism and a denial of Christians' rights in the Holy Land. "Apparently, 20% of the Palestinians have no problem with expelling their Christian brothers and destroying their churches and turning them into mosques," he wrote. "This is what the Islamic State terror group is already doing in areas under its control."
Christians are not the only ones who should be worried about the Islamic State's growing influence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Palestinians' two governments, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA), also have good reason to be worried. In recent weeks, Islamic State spokesmen have issued threats against both the PA and Hamas, accusing them of "collaboration" with the "Zionist entity."
But the PA and Hamas can only blame themselves for the surge of Palestinians joining the Islamic State. The two governments allow anti-Western incitement in their mosques and media outlets. Their leaders regularly glorify and endorse Palestinians who carry out terror attacks against Israelis, thus encouraging other Palestinians to follow suit. And if these Palestinians are unable to carry out attacks against Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, they travel to Syria and Iraq to join the jihad against Israel's allies, namely the U.S. and other Western countries. Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip cannot evade responsibility for inspiring dozens of Palestinians to join the Islamic State. The fiery rhetoric of these leaders, in addition to the ongoing incitement against Israel and the West, is further radicalizing Palestinians and driving them into the Islamic State's open arms.

Obama's Democrats face intense pressure as they weigh Iran deal
By REUTERS \ 08/21/2015
WASHINGTON - As he weighed whether to support President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, Representative Donald Norcross was showered with the sort of attention rarely shown to junior members of the US Congress.
The New Jersey Democrat, a former labor union leader, met with Obama and other Democrats twice in the White House. He listened to briefings by Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and senior Defense Department officials.
He took an all-expenses-paid trip to Israel, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spent two hours with him and 21 other Democratic lawmakers, picking out faults in the agreement that Israel opposes. Voters from Norcross's south New Jersey district flooded his office with phone calls and emails and buttonholed him in person.
On Tuesday, Norcross said he would oppose the deal on the grounds that it does not go far enough to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. All the attempts at persuasion gave him the information he needed to make up his mind, he said, adding that the politics of the debate weren't a factor.
"People really know at a gut level that if anybody tries to bring politics into it, (that's) way off base," he said in an interview with Reuters.
As the minority party, Norcross and his fellow Democrats are often sidelined on Capitol Hill. But over the past month they have been the targets of a multi-million dollar lobbying campaign as they weigh one of the most consequential foreign-policy decisions in years.
The intense pressure appears to have made the outcome of next month's votes on the deal closer than expected as some Democrats are persuaded to break ranks with Obama.
Congress, where majority Republicans overwhelmingly oppose the deal, is expected to reject the pact next month. But Obama will still be able to save the agreement if he can deny opponents in either house the two-thirds majority needed to override his expected veto.
The fate of the deal now hinges on the votes of the 18 Democratic senators and roughly 100 Democratic House members who have yet to say how they will vote.
The US-led international agreement reached in July would put new limits on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for lifting crippling economic sanctions on the country.
On one side of the lobbying effort are progressive groups who back Obama's view that the deal is the best chance to avoid another Middle East war. On the other side, with a larger war chest, are many Jewish-American groups that say the deal has dangerous loopholes and fear it will empower Iran and ultimately leave Israel vulnerable to nuclear attack.
Norcross came out against the deal at a synagogue in his district, where he was joined on stage by an Israeli official and a lobbyist for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a powerful pro-Israel group that opposes the pact.
Many members of that congregation who normally support Obama oppose him on this issue, according to its leader.
"This is a chasm that can't be bridged," said Rabbi Ephraim Epstein of Congregation Sons of Israel in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION
White House officials privately expect they will be able to round up the 146 votes needed in the House to keep the deal alive, and are cautiously confident about the Senate as well.
In the Senate, 26 of the chamber's 44 Democrats have said they support the deal and two have said they will oppose it, according to a Reuters tally.
That means opponents of the deal need to win over at least 11 of the 18 senators who remain undecided.
"I would say we have a fighting chance," said former Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman, who is making calls while recovering from knee surgery on behalf of Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, an interest group that opposes the deal.
"It's not out of reach, but we're not kidding ourselves," Lieberman told Reuters.
Democrats still on the fence face intense public pressure.
Lieberman's group, which is funded by AIPAC, plans to spend up to $40 million in its campaign to kill the deal. The group has run TV ads in at least 23 states, according to public filings compiled by the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group.
It has taken out billboards in New York's Times Square praising Charles Schumer - the Senate's No. 3 Democrat - for opposing the deal and chastising Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for backing it.
Another AIPAC affiliate paid for Norcross's trip to Israel earlier this month, which was planned before the deal was complete. Most of the other 21 Democratic House members on the trip have yet to announce their position on the deal.
Secure America Now, another advocacy group that opposes the deal, has bought ads on the messaging service Snapchat to sway Maryland Senator Ben Cardin. The group's supporters have generated 2,400 calls to his office and 3,500 calls to his top staffer, according to spokesman Vincent Harris.
The group has also used Twitter to target undecided members like New Jersey Senator Cory Booker.
"I have never had my cell phone blow up and my email account blow up as much as it is now," Booker said on a conference call with Jewish-American groups on Thursday.
J Street, a liberal Jewish-American group that backs the deal, is running TV ads in nine states and has enlisted former Israeli security officials to speak to undecided Democrats.
CREDO Action, another liberal group that backs the deal, says its members have placed 49,000 phone calls and organized dozens of meetings with lawmakers and staff.
Norcross's decision to oppose the deal has given new ammunition to Alex Law, a progressive Democrat who is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat him in the 2016 primary election.
"He should be supporting our president," Law told Reuters.
Norcross said even a personal appeal from the president probably wouldn't have changed his mind.
"What bit of information that I don't have already could he have brought to light?" he told Reuters.

The fear of oil revenues dropping
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya
Friday, 21 August 2015
A difficult financial phase is looming. Oil prices have fallen by more than half, and may continue to fall in the future. This is not the first time - Saudi Arabia witnessed the $12-barrel crisis in 1986 and endured the following unfruitful years. Although we have known for decades that oil revenue will one day come to an end, we are still hoping to develop alternative revenue sources, but that looks inconceivable in the near future. Dependence on oil revenue kept rising with each new budget, until we got tired and stopped thinking about addressing our petroleum addiction. With low oil prices, the country will not be able to afford foreign workers and drivers. This is a positive result because most of the richest and most-advanced countries do not have our slothful habits. With high oil prices, resources management was easy for bureaucrats. The government’s task was to distribute the expected proceeds from oil and its derivatives to hospitals, education, commerce, imported livestock and wheat. It paid subsidies for cement, iron, gasoline, soft drinks, textbooks and sports clubs. It also gave rewards for students at university.
As long as there are oil buyers, bureaucrats do not need to overwork themselves; it is just an accounting issue. However, similarly to addicts, these doses will not be enough for them one day. Spending on good education will engender productive men and women, and contribute to national resources. Unproductive graduates drain the country’s resources. Money is supposed to be invested in building viable industries after the fall of oil resources. However, the majority of industries get subsidized electricity, water and fuel. They are all managed by cheap imported workforces, and the owners will close shop after government aid stops. With low oil prices, the country will not be able to afford foreign workers and drivers. This is a positive result because most of the richest and most-advanced countries do not have our slothful habits.
Creativity
The real challenge facing the government is bigger than that; it must find additional financial resources. It will require the government to appoint creative minds. It will also need good management that is able to create miracles, reduce costs and explore additional resources. The country has a promising future as the banks are full of people and companies’ funds. However, they do not know how to invest their money. Regardless of the oil-revenue decrease, we are optimistic about the government’s reserves and private financial resources. Nevertheless, it is a tough mission. Without education reform and orientation toward productive activities, 5 million students will become a burden on their families. If we do not prompt changes in state institutions, optimize their services and manage their growth, this big elephant - bureaucratic government - will remain tired and drained for a long time. The drop in oil revenues is not so bad because we need a shock to wake up and see the world around us. We should anticipate the biggest shock and correct our track. This is the right time to do so.

Khamenei’s nuclear game: No public approval
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Al Arabiya
Friday, 21 August 2015
Unlike the former Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rarely puts himself in a position of responsibility for crucial issues (with regard to domestic or foreign policy issues).
Since Khamenei is the final decision maker and he enjoys the ultimate authority of approving or rejecting foreign policy issues, understanding his stance in relation to critical issues is significant.
In regards to one of the most significant issues (the nuclear agreement between six world powers and Tehran, and the aftermath of the agreement), the paramount leader of the Islamic Republic has not publicly revealed his stance on whether he approves of the agreement or not. Due perhaps to his desire to dodge responsibility, Khamenei is also sending the nuclear bill through Majlis (Iran’s parliament) rather than Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Although without his approval the agreement would not have been possible, Khamenei is still hesitant to show his public approval. But why?
Khamenei’s nuclear strategy
The major reason behind his reluctance to approve the nuclear agreement publicly is linked to the notion that he desires to have the authority to pull out of the nuclear agreement whenever he wishes without being blamed or held responsible for approving it in the first place. This happened in 2003 and 2004 when Iran pulled out of the nuclear deal. Essentially he wants his hand clean of the deal and free to leave it when he chooses. In other words, Khamenei does not want to appear on the records as approving or rejecting the deal so that no one will be able to point a finger at him. In few years, when Iran achieves its demands and it decides to pull out of the agreement, Khamenei could make the argument that he never publicly or officially confirmed his approval of the agreement. He could argue that he just gave President Rowhani a chance for diplomacy! He could and likely will also blame the United States. This is why the U.N. Security Council members plus Germany should require that the deal be officially signed and approved by Khamenei. Due perhaps to his desire to dodge responsibility, Khamenei is also sending the nuclear bill through Majlis (Iran’s parliament) rather than Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. If the bill goes through the Supreme National Security Council, then it would need the public approval of Khamenei, which he does not desire to give. President Rowhani and his team are attempting to send the bill through the Supreme National Security Council, so they can get the public and official approval of the supreme leader and make the nuclear deal workable for a longer time, receiving more popular support for their second term of elections. But Khamenei is much too crafty to fall for this tactic. His modus operandi is skillfully sidestepping and avoiding responsibility. He also evades showing his stance firmly, publicly, and on the record regarding critical issues. In order to preserve his political and parochial interests, he plays a cagey, astute and Machiavellian game of politics.
Khamenei is public and clear about one issue
Although Mr. Khamenei holds his cards close to his chest when it comes to economic and geopolitical issues, and although he has been secretive, ambiguous, and dodges responsibilities, he is indeed vocal about one particular issue: the Islamic Republic’s ideological and revolutionary principles. The first ideological value is to spread the Shiite version of Islam by strengthening “axis of resistance,” creating Shiite proxies in predominant Sunni countries, and tipping the balance of power against Sunni countries and instead directing them in favor of the Islamic republic. This ideological principles occasionally coincide with his Persian vs Arab dichotomy. The supreme leader has repeatedly insisted both in public and in private that he will not change Iran’s regional policies of supporting Shiite proxies or interfering in the affairs of Arab nations. The ayatollah pointed out “whether the [nuclear] deal is approved or disapproved, we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon.”
Not only is Iran playing a critical military role, it is also a provider of weaponry to proxies or governments in four Arab capitals (Beirut, Baghdad, Sanaa, and Damascus). It has been recently discovered that Iranian weapons have been smuggled into other Arab countries. Most recently, these countries included Kuwait and Bahrain. Reportedly the huge arms cache seized in Kuwait was smuggled into the country to be utilized by a Hezbollah terror cell supported by the Iranian government.
In addition, Khamenei is vocal to the public about the second revolutionary and ideological principle: opposing the United States and its allies. Although Iranian military officials are tactically cooperating with the United States, Khamenei sees it as crucial to repeatedly reaffirm his stance on opposing the United States. As he pointed out “Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant US will not change… In the present time, we have no negotiations with America on any other matter. There is no other matter. Everyone should know this. We do not negotiate with the Americans on regional issues, different domestic issues and international issues. Today, the only matter for negotiation is the nuclear matter. This will become an experience for us…. But if we see that they continue to behave in the same obstinate and deviant way, well, our previous experience will naturally be strengthened.”In conclusion, Khamenei’s modus operandi is anchored in evasion of responsibility and avoidance of taking a clear stance on crucial foreign and domestic policy issues, in order to not be held accountable or criticized for the outcome. Nevertheless, in order to secure his social base and maintain his legitimacy, the only issue that he has been clear and vocal about is the Islamic Republic’s ideological and revolutionary principles. The six world powers should require Iran to have the deal signed and approved publicly by Khamenei in order to prevent what happened in 2003 and 2004 (when Iran pulled out of the deal) and in order to make the deal more lasting.

A Might-Have-Been Interview with Obama
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/August 21/15
US President Barack Obama is deploying his immense persuasive powers to lobby in favor of the deal he says he has made with Iran regarding its nuclear project. As part of that lobbying, he has granted numerous interviews, always to reporters he has already charmed, avoiding inconvenient questions from journalists that his office designates as “hostile”.
But what would such an interview look like? Since Obama refuses that exercise, the only way may be to imagine one. The result could be something like this:
Amir Taheri: Mr. President, you are campaigning for the deal you say you have reached with Iran over its nuclear project. What is it precisely that you are promoting: a treaty, an agreement, a memorandum of understanding, an accord?
Barack Obama: None of the above. What we have is a Joint Comprehensive Plan for Action (JCPOA) that warmongers, those who led us into the Iraqi quagmire, the Republicans, the “Death to America” crowd in Tehran and Benjamin Netanyahu are trying to sabotage.
Q: So, there is no treaty and no legal agreement. Just a plan! But a plan could always be modified or even ignored. Is there a mechanism for ensuring it would be implemented?
Your question echoes the language of neocons and warmongers, and some of my own misguided Democrat colleagues in the Congress. Our JCPOA is backed by a unanimous resolution of the United Nations’ Security Council which we managed to get approved in record time.
Q: OK, so we have another UN resolution. Iran, however, has not accepted that resolution, number 2231, which differs from the 159-page JCPOA in a number of ways. Iranian officials make it clear that just as they refused to endorse the previous six resolutions they have no intention of accepting the new one. Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi says the point of reference for the Islamic Republic is the JCPOA not the resolution. Ali-Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s nuclear project, is even clearer. “If we ignore the resolution that would have no effect on the JCPOA,” he says.
There you go. What warmongers and Republicans are saying is only designed to drag us into another war in the Middle East. They want to divert attention from our once-in-a-lifetime chance that JCPOA offers for blocking all of Iran’s paths to building a nuclear arsenal.
Q: The trouble is that Iran has not ratified the JCPOA either. It has not been even submitted to, let alone approved at the Council of Ministers as articles 77 and 125 of the Islamic Republic Constitution demands. There is not even an official Persian text of the JCPOA. Last month the Foreign Ministry issued a text which was withdrawn when people spotted 73 deliberate mistranslations intended to mislead. A second text was submitted later with only 13 such mistranslations. However, even then, the Foreign Ministry stated that there was no official text even for discussion at the Islamic Majlis (parliament). The fact is that the version of JCPOA marketed by Iranian officials is dramatically different from what you are trying to sell. Needless to say, the “Supreme Guide” who has the final word on all matters in the Islamic Republic, has not taken a position. You may win the fight with your Congress and end up having the “Supreme Guide” thumb his nose at you by throwing JCPOA into the dustbin.
That again is a claim made by warmongers, those who took us to Iraq; people who have hidden agendas. We have crafted an innovative and effective diplomatic structure that shuts all of Iran’s paths to acquiring nuclear weapons. Make no mistake, right now breakout time for Iran is only a few months. Under JCPOA we will be purchasing 13, 14 or 15 years. So, it is a hard argument to make that we are better off right now having almost no breakout period, no insight, and letting them rush towards a bomb, than saying, over the course of 15 years, we have very clear assurances that they are not going to do anything. And at that, at the end of that period, maybe they have changed, maybe they have not. If they have not changed, we still have the options available to me — or available to a future president that I have available to me right now.
Q: Very well. So, you are not stopping the Iranian program, just slowing down? But what if the Islamic Republic does not do what you think they ought to do under JCPOA?
All options would always remain on the table. In any case, in our innovative diplomacy we have worked out a system under which, if Iran cheats, sanctions will be re-imposed. We call this genial scheme “snap-back”, and it is foolproof.
Q: Right now, however, we witness a system of snap-forth, which means sanctions are being lifted or eased even before Iran has fulfilled any of its obligations. Iran has already received 7 billion US dollars in its frozen assets and a further 6 billion US dollars are scheduled for release by the end of this year. The European Union has lifted sanctions against more than two dozen Iranian banks and companies. Switzerland, Russia, Malaysia and China have done the same. Russia has resumed arms sales to Iran, starting with S-300 SAMs due for delivery next week. Islamic officials and Tehran-backed terrorists who were banned from travel are moving in all directions. Eight banned Khomeinist generals have visited Moscow, among them Qassem Suleimani. Lebanese operative Anis Naqqache, involved in the massacre of 241 US Marines in Beirut in 1983, has visited Qatar. Muhammad Azari, nicknamed “Mo the Throat-Cutter” has traveled to Malaysia. The spokeswoman for “students” who took US diplomats hostage in Tehran in 1979-80, Ms. Ebtekar, has visited Paris. Hossein Sheikh Al-Islam, the interrogator of the US hostages, and nicknamed “The Tooth”, has traveled to Switzerland. Iranian officials publicly state that JCPOA is nothing more than a script for “the implosion of the system of sanctions.” We only promised not to do what we could not or did not want to do anyway, “Salehi says with his usual candor.
These are early days and we should not listen to the war party or the chorus around Netanyahu. Those who belittle JCPOA forget that Iran has also signed a “roadmap” with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). That should be taken into account in conjunction with the JCPOA and the UNSC resolution to obtain the full picture.
Q: Do you know what is in that “roadmap”?
No. That is between Iran and the IAEA and its contents cannot be revealed to others.
Q: So, how could you use it as an argument in support of your lobbying without knowing what is in it?
Because the IAEA has an important role to play in making sure that Iran complies with its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). What we are trying to do is to uphold the NPT which is under attacks by warmongers and people like Netanyahu who have not even signed it.
Q: With respect, Mr. President, your JCPOA may be seen as an attack on the NPT because it creates a parallel mechanism for dealing with its infringement. Before you launched your innovative 21st century diplomacy, Iran was being treated under the NPT and subject to six very clear and precise UNSC resolutions. Your JCPOA was negotiated by an ad hoc group, P5+1 that had no legal existence, and shaped through informal, extra-legal negotiations that bypassed not only the NPT but the Charter of the United Nations and, indeed, the whole of International Law.
That is an outrageous claim made by those who dragged us into Iraq to overthrow the legal government of that country in 2003, and we saw what happened. The same people want us to invade Iran and change its regime. But we are not in business of regime change anywhere in the world.
Q: With respect, Mr. President, no one is asking you, especially you with your pacifist character, to invade anyone. One shudders at the thought of what an invasion would look like under a reluctant commander-in-chief. The question, however, is that your JCPOA gives special treatment to the Islamic Republic.
What special treatment?
Q: This is what your JCPOA says: “All provisions contained in the JCPOA are only for the purposes of its implementation between the P5+1 and Iran and should not be considered as setting precedents for any other State or for principles of international law and the rights and obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and other relevant instruments, as well as for internationally recognized principles and practices.” In other words, it treats Iran as a special case.
My administration was and remains committed to extricating the United Sates from foreign wars not to be sucked into new ones. Those who claim that Iran gets special treatment are opposed to our overall strategy because their interest is in conflict and war.
Q: Maybe. However, the fact remains that you have often mocked those Americans who think their country is something “special”. Giving the Khomeinist regime special treatment may come as a shock to them, especially when you have not asked them to change any aspect of their overall behavior.
Why should it always be others who change their behavior? Why should not the US change its behavior sometimes as we did in our historic rapprochement with Cuba? We have worked seven years to achieve this great diplomatic victory, a chance in a lifetime, mostly by patiently reassuring the Iranian leaders that we do not wish to overthrow them or force them to do anything they do not want to do.
Q: Everyone knows that. You tried to flatter the mullahs by praising Islam, which they misrepresent, and expressing admiration for the Iranian civilization which they loath.
This deal will help the moderate faction in Tehran secure its position by winning the three elections that Iran is facing within the next 18 months. Warmongers, those who took us into the Iraqi quagmire, people like Netanyahu resent the fact that I may leave office leaving behind a moderate group in charge of Iran’s destiny.
Q: Sir, with respect, no one is opposed to you or anyone else trying to woo Iran away from the mad course it has pursued since 1979. But that issue is separate from Iran trying to build a bomb. If you believe Iran is not trying to build a bomb, then there is no need for JCPOA or UN resolutions. If, on the other hand, you are convinced they have a hidden agenda on that matter, what would be the use of linking the issue to the power struggle in Tehran?
I understand why my opponents are resentful of my administration’s successes in foreign policy, from outreach to Burma to rapprochement with Cuba to the building of a coalition against ISIS and working with our Russian partners to save Syria. The deal with Iran is destined to be the jewel in the crown of my administration’s tremendous achievements. Whatever warmongers and neocons and the Bushists say, I am committed to this deal and determined to see it through even if I have to use my veto against Congressional rejection of the JCPOA.
**Amir Taheri was the executive editor-in-chief of the daily Kayhan in Iran from 1972 to 1979. He has worked at or written for innumerable publications, published eleven books, and has been a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat since 1987. Mr. Taheri has won several prizes for his journalism, and in 2012 was named International Journalist of the Year by the British Society of Editors and the Foreign Press Association in the annual British Media Awards.

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