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Bible Quotation For Today/And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 16/09-12: "I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes. ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?"

Bible Quotation For Today/Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.
First Letter of John 05/13-21: "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him. If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal. We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know that we are God’s children, and that the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Little children, keep yourselves from idols."

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 26-27/15
Micheal Aoun & His Sons-in-law are All that is Trojan and Not Christian/Elias Bejjani/August 26/15
Good intentions are not enough/Hanin Ghaddar/Now Lebanon/August 26/15
Party nepotism hinders Aoun’s wider ambitions/Michael Young/The National/August 26/15
YouStink: Anatomy of a failed revolution/Makram Rabah/Now Lebanon/August 26/15
Egypt and the Hamas "Cockroaches"/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 26/15
Sweden's Populist Surge/Daniel Pipes/Washington Times/August 26/15
Israel and Iran trade threats across the Golan Heights/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/August 26/15
Is Erdogan’s ambition sparking turmoil?/Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/August 26/15
Achieving Peace through Strength—A Good Lesson to Syria’s Revolt/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/August 26/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 26-27/15
Micheal Aoun & His Sons-in-law are All that is Trojan and Not Christian
Good intentions are not enough
Party nepotism hinders Aoun’s wider ambitions
YouStink: Anatomy of a failed revolution
Another chaotic night in Downtown Beirut
Beirut trash piling up
Asir Charged with Plotting Assassinations, Attacks on Army
More Protests Threaten Cabinet as Trash Crisis Deepens
GPS Thwarts Kidnapping of Lebanese Man in Bekaa
Palestinian Rivals 'Agree Ceasefire' in Ain el-Hilweh
One Dead as Assailants Open Fire at Army during Baalbek Raids
Israeli Army Uproots Trees, Steals Soil on Entrance of Adaisseh
General Security Arrests 3 Lebanese Suspected of Recruiting IS Fighters
Many Held for 'Hurling Firecrackers' at ISF in Riad al-Solh as Protesters March to Hamra
Lebanon in crisis as Hezbollah enters trash fray
Bkirki Sources Deny al-Rahi Summit Initiative

Micheal Aoun & His Sons-in-law are All that is Trojan and Not Christian
Elias Bejjani/August 26/15
I, The Lebanese Maronite, say it loudly, nor the Trojan Aoun, his sons-in-law or his family and his cheap political puppets do in any way or means represent me .In my eyes they are all that is not Maronite and all that is not Christian and all that is antichrist. Meanwhile practically and patriotically PM, Tamam Salam the Lebanese Muslim Sunni and all his likes do represent me much much more that the derailed Aoun and his gang of hypocrites, and I trust him more than I do trust all those Trojan Christians from Aoun's and Bassil's defiled cut and calibre

Good intentions are not enough
Hanin Ghaddar/Now Lebanon/ 26/08/2015
But with the right strategy, it’s possible to succeed
(Illustration courtesy of Wissam Khattar)
Lebanon was not directly involved in the recent Arab uprisings and revolutions. It was not possible for a number of reasons. Mainly, we do not have a dictator — our system is technically democratic, albeit sectarian. The more discouraging reason is that the Lebanese people have been divided between the two political camps: March 14 and March 8. We did not have a system — or nitham in this case — to revolt against or change. Our problem, in fact, is that we lack one. And that’s exactly how the #YouStink movement took off. Because of our lack of strong state institutions, services have been deteriorating. The corruption of the political class has reached unbelievable levels, and our silence and acceptance has made it possible for political leaders to ignore the fact that they are supposed to serve the people. We forgot that we are citizens, and the sectarian leaders were never happier.
The fear factor
Lebanese have been living in fear for decades. Today some are scared of ISIS and others are scared of Hezbollah, and for valid reasons. Many prefer to hide behind their corrupt leaders than demand their basic rights and services. We got to a point where acting outside the sectarian box is scandalous and a matter of treason, and we feared insecurity until our agency as citizens almost vanished. This fear, mixed with deep disappointment and disillusionment regarding political activism, changed us into zombie-like creatures with only one desire: to leave Lebanon for good. We’ve been through many wars and were presented with two chances for hope: the end of the Civil War, which brought hope to a destroyed country with the great potential; and the 2005 independence intifada that rid us of the Syrian regime’s hegemony over Lebanon’s political decisions and state institutions. In both cases, political activism changed nothing. Yesterday’s warlords are today’s politicians, and corruption has reached much deeper levels. Therefore, when the #YouStink protests took to the streets, many Lebanese decided to reclaim the public space because they want the revival of the state institutions and citizenship, away from the outdated political division and certainly outside the sectarian box. And that’s exactly why everyone in the government panicked. For the first time, it was about the People vs. the rotten political class. It was about our basic rights as citizens.
Hopes and challenges
Unsurprisingly, then, things have gotten pretty ugly. When corrupt political leaders panic, they retaliate with brutality. Amal leader and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri sent his thugs into the streets to clash with security and the police and jeopardize the peaceful and civil image of the protest. But everyone was glad to see this, even those from the opposite political camp. No one did anything to stop it. People continued to come to Riad al-Solh Square every night. Every night the violence increases and every night the thugs are sent, but people keep coming, even without the #YouStink movement, which halted its protests, calling for a major demonstration on Saturday. It seems the street cannot be stopped, despite all the attempts to do so. Therefore, three issues need to be dealt with in order for #YouStink to succeed: One, ensure politicians do not take advantage of the public space for political gains. This is the trickiest part. No corrupt politician whomsoever should be allowed to support or participate in the protests. Moreover, the demand to topple the government would be perfect for Hezbollah. The void created by the resignation of the government could lead to a new constitution for Lebanon, which is precisely Hezbollah’s long-term goal, and the party is extremely dangerous at the moment. With Hezbollah dominating security and the political scene in Lebanon, a new constitution would further empower the party, the sponsors of which want a three-way sharing power system — instead of two-way. Under such circumstances, in addition to their arms, any remaining hope for a sovereign Lebanon would be lost. Hezbollah certainly does not want to see these protests continue — if, that is, they remain civil, independent and nonpartisan. It scares the Party of God that a movement outside their control could disrupt the status quo, or lead to political demands such as those called for by the ongoing protests in Iraq. Those protests also started with anti-corruption demands, and escalated to demonstrations against Iranian hegemony in Iraq. Two, stay focused. In order to avoid further declines in state institutions in the event of a political void, organizers should focus on the priorities of the people. The priority now is the garbage crisis and finding a solution to it that doesn’t involve more corruption. Then, the organizers should move to other issues one by one. Toppling the government without a strategy for an alternative will prove foolish. Three, find a way to maintain the peaceful, civil and nonsectarian spirit of the protest. Thugs should not be allowed to infiltrate and cause problems with the police. This is not going to be easy, but these thugs should not be allowed to take over public space. If anything, and despite all the mistakes made during the past few days, this movement has thus far succeeded on three main levels: it has reopened public space to the people; moved us beyond the March 8/March 14 division; and more significantly, it has stripped all of Lebanon’s leaders of their seeming impunity. Citizenship, basic services and rights, and the freedom to claim public space for public use are what the Lebanese are calling for. If the movement’s organizers remain cognizant of these points, the Lebanese public will for once have a choice.
*Hanin Ghaddar is the managing editor of NOW and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council. She tweets @haningdr

Party nepotism hinders Aoun’s wider ambitions
Michael Young/The National/August 26, 2015
Last week in Lebanon, Gebran Bassil, the son-in-law of the Christian politician Michel Aoun, was effectively handed the presidency of the Free Patriotic Movement, when Mr Bassil’s only real rival in the presidential election scheduled for next month withdrew from the race. The rival, Alain Aoun, is Michel Aoun’s nephew, and his decision seemed anything but voluntary. Alain Aoun and Mr Bassil do not like each other and their electoral contest represented a clash between different visions for the Aounist movement. Yet Michel Aoun did not relish a confrontation as he favoured a Bassil win. The former general has long sought to make his son-in-law his political heir, facilitating his appointment to lucrative ministerial posts destined to increase Mr Bassil’s patronage power.
The official Aounist version was that both candidates were going to receive a substantial share of the vote in September, so that allowing an election would only have split the Aounists. This did not seem persuasive, however, since a fair, democratic vote could only have strengthened their organisation.
More likely there was another reason. Unconfirmed reports recently indicated that polls among the Aounists showed Alain Aoun winning. Facing this unwanted outcome, Michel Aoun asked Alain to retire. It remains unclear what quid pro quo convinced Alain Aoun to do so. He may be appointed a vice president of the Free Patriotic Movement. Then there is the matter that in recent months Mr Bassil changed the internal rules of the organisation to strengthen the president’s prerogatives with regard to the politburo, with an eye to consolidating his position once he won. Yet when the initial announcement was made that Alain Aoun had stepped down, there were reports that the party’s bylaws would be changed again to curb the president’s powers. That could have been the compromise, but it remains to be seen, as Michel Aoun would not have arranged his son-in-law’s victory only to approve of bylaws limiting his authority.
Whatever Michel Aoun does, he leaves a movement whose leaders are divided. When he withdrew from the race, Alain Aoun said he feared that if elections went ahead they would reflect “a dangerous omen of division that may threaten the unity of the Free Patriotic Movement in the post-elections stage”. The remarks revealed the rifts at the heart of the organisation. For years certain militants of the Free Patriotic Movement, especially a group based in France, have called for democratic elections. Indeed, after Alain Aoun’s announcement, one of them, Fares Louis, declared his intention of standing against Mr Bassil in September, to ensure a contest took place.
In truth, the Free Patriotic Movement has been undemocratic, though it portrays itself as the opposite. Michel Aoun has maintained tight control over his movement, engaging in open nepotism by backing the advancement of his sons-in-law – Mr Bassil; Shamel Roukoz, whom the Aounists have put forward as a candidate for the post of army commander; and Roy Hashem, who heads the Aounists’ OTV television station. The avoidance of an electoral contest was important for Michel Aoun. Had the election been divisive, it might have weakened him at a crucial moment in his political manoeuvrings. He continues to want to impose himself as Lebanese president, and for a year and a half has prevented the election of a president by parliament to blackmail the political class into voting for him.
Mr Aoun has also continued to insist on Mr Roukoz’s appointment, hindering government action as leverage to do so. However, the defence minister recently extended the term of the current army commander, angering Mr Aoun. And Aounist ministers insist that the prime minister, Tammam Salam, is exploiting the presidential vacuum to usurp the Maronite Christian president’s powers and sideline Christians.
Mr Aoun’s obstructionism has led some to believe that he, along with Hizbollah, is seeking to alter Lebanon’s governance system to replace it with a system that may grant Christians more autonomy, albeit lessening their shares in the central state. If true, Mr Aoun is taking a risk, as many Christians will hesitate before seeing their representation in the state reduced. The Aounist presidential election implicitly confirms that the era of Michel Aoun is nearing its end. Though spry, the general is 80 years old. But he still has the ability to express Christian fears of Sunni empowerment. Such fears have been exacerbated by the progress of Sunni extremists in Syria. This has made more palatable his alliance with Hizbollah, which many Christians view as a barrier against extremists.
But in doing so, Mr Aoun has highlighted a contradiction in his position. By manipulating sectarian fears he cannot expect to become a national consensus candidate for president. Ironically, while the general has successfully pushed the careers of family members, he has systematically failed when trying to do it for himself.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of The Daily Star in Beirut

YouStink: Anatomy of a failed revolution
Makram Rabah/Now Lebanon/Published: 26/08/2015
A Lebanese protester holds the national flag during clashes with security forces following a demonstration against the ongoing trash crisis on 25 August 2015, in front of the seat of the government in central Beirut. Lebanon It is rather a common occurrence to listen to the Lebanese criticize and condemn their country’s less favorable conditions, ranging from corruption and lack of essential services (water and power) to the more recent garbage epidemic. One could even say that this chronic Lebanese practice of blaming the government has become part and parcel of the Lebanese DNA, as this nation has become renowned for its apathy and indifference. Recently, however, this reputation was challenged by a group of Lebanese who decided to act under the slogan #YouStink to protest against the abysmal failure of the state to address the endemic issue of waste management. Seemingly spearheaded by activists from the various civil society groups and NGOs, this movement brought together a hodgepodge of individuals ranging from veteran activists, local singers, estranged individuals, aspiring politicians, disgruntled citizens and, strangely, even contractors who were bidding for the next waste management contracts.
While initially this movement meant to merely protest against the garbage issue, people started to steadily swell its ranks, each with their own expectations of perhaps instigating real change by toppling the current government and conducting early elections. These dreams of a bottom-up revolution, at least from the rhetoric of these activists, seemed to be an attainable goal. Over the weekend, the events that transpired from the rally called for by #YouStink proved otherwise. People who streamed into downtown Beirut to demonstrate against an incompetent government saw their peaceful revolution hijacked both by a clear lack of vision as well as by corrupt hooligans who were sent by parties opposed Prime Minister Tammam Salam. While the true nature and goals of these vandals was obvious to participants and observers alike, the real damage to this movement came from within.
Initially,YouStink was mobilized around the issue of waste management and the demand of ordinary, non-partisan citizens that this wrong be corrected. However, gradually this invitation for protest started attracting people with different demands and priorities.
Many of the participants who had the chance to speak on television were invited to the table, but each had a different idea of what would be served. Some of them wanted water and electricity; others wanted better education and healthcare. But, more drastically, there were calls for the immediate resignation of the government. This latter demand was to become the main driving force of the movement, which unrealistically wanted to tumble the last somewhat-functioning state institution after the office of the president fell vacant more than a year ago. By doing so, #YouStink’s cardinal sin was to demand the impossible from a government already caught in a political whirlpool which has rendered it paralyzed.
Furthermore, the overarching spirit of this movement is somewhat similar to the Paris 1968 youth revolt, which wanted change but never had a clear post-revolution vision. What was left was a group of radicals who refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the state and thus fell outside the framework of legal political action. While the proponents of #YouStink are far from reaching this point, signs indicate a trend toward this bleak outcome. Additionally, the organizers of this revolution believe that they speak on behalf of the silent majority and thus have a moral obligation to lead the masses into an open confrontation with the state. Many of the people who took to the soap boxes and TV channels kept repeating the word “we,” stressing that they were the vanguard of change. And some if not all of these voices also demanded that everyone join their movement, branding people who refrained from doing so as cowards or collaborators.
These people ignored the fact that a social movement such as theirs is empowered by individuals rather than groups, and to trying to turn these individuals into a new tribe to thrown in with the other 18 Lebanese tribes (sects) is rather an unwise idea.
People demanding change and democracy need to acknowledge that people who refrain from joining their ranks might perhaps have a different take on the matter, or that they might even support the current cabinet — rather uncouth to some but still legitimate and democratic. Challenging an unfit and defunct system of rule should be the duty of any citizen aspiring to making their country a better place for themselves and their children. But given previous attempts to change and reform the Lebanese system, we should know by now that calling for a revolution and going about it without a clear framework and objective and a single-item demand will only lead to failure. More importantly, the ruling junta has been using popular rhetoric to mobilize and condition the masses, and over time they have perfected this method. It is vital that anyone wishing to challenge this authority or join this revolution not fall into this populist trap, which will only lead to the fortification of the self-same system they hope to change.
**Makram Rabah is a PhD candidate at Georgetown University’s history department. He is the author of A Campus at War: Student Politics at the American University of Beirut, 1967–1975. He tweets @makramrabah

Another chaotic night in Downtown Beirut
Now Lebanon/August 26/15/BEIRUT – For the fourth day running, activists gathered in Downtown Beirut to protest the government and its handling of the waste crisis, with violence once again erupting as agitators clashed with security forces.
Hundreds of demonstrators descended on Riad al-Solh Square in the early evening Tuesday for a protest called by the We Demand Accountability movement, which wants officials to face responsibility for the use of excessive force to suppress a peaceful You Stink protest Saturday. The rally was joined by the Akkar Is Not a Dump group, which was created after Lebanon’s cabinet agreed hours earlier to create a landfill in the impoverished northern Lebanese area in return for development aid. Activists involved in organizing the protest issued a fiery statement: “Corruption is the root of all the problems and crises,” it read. “We want everyone in the infested political class held to account.” “We have endured wrongdoing; we have endured hunger, oppression and privation, and today we want accountability.”
Not only did Tuesday’s protest follow a contentious cabinet session on the waste crisis—which saw Free Patriotic Movement ministers and their Hezbollah allies walk out of the meeting—but also the dismantling of a large wall erected to separate Riad al-Solh Square from Premier Tammam Salam’s official Grand Serail residence. Salam ordered the concrete barrier’s disassembling less than 24 hours after it had been erected, but not before it could be turned into an object of ridicule and a colorful mural covered in graffiti art and protest slogans.
Peace and chaos
The rally Tuesday started off in peaceful fashion, with the gathered demonstrators singing the Lebanese national anthem and chanting against the government and the Lebanese political system. However, as night fell a number of agitators appeared at Riad al-Solh Square, attacking security forces, who in turn mobilized to force the rally in the direction of nearby Martyrs Square, NOW’s correspondent at the scene reported. Activists at the scene responded by forming a human wall around the security forces, pushing rioters back while chanting “peaceful protest” and singing Lebanon’s national anthem. Relative calm settled over the square, however, the rioters went into action shortly afterward, throwing firecrackers and water bottles at police while starting a fire in the barbed wire barrier set up in place of the removed concrete wall. Lebanon’s Red Cross announced that it had transported seven injured people from Downtown Beirut to nearby hospitals. Amid the latest scenes of chaos, protest organizers stressed that they would not be responsible for the actions of any demonstrators after 9:00 p.m., when the rally was scheduled to end.Intermittent rioting and acts of vandalism continued through the night, with the NNA reporting that rioters had broken down store facades near Riad al-Solh Square and destroyed billboards in the upscale Downtown Beirut district. The identity of the youths inciting clashes in the Riad al-Solh protests remains a point of contention, with many activists blaming the Amal Movement, which in turn has strenuously denied any involvement.

Beirut trash piling up
Now Lebanon/26/08/2015/BEIRUT – Trash has begun to pile up yet again in Beirut and Mount Lebanon north of Lebanon’s capital as the Sukleen waste management company has been roiled by a workers strike and renewed capacity issues. A number of the company’s employees, including garbage truck drivers, went on strike early Tuesday after Lebanon’s Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk announced the winning bids for waste management contracts in the country, none of which Sukleen won. The tender results—which were overturned later Tuesday by the cabinet—sparked fears among the Sukleen workers, who have been demanding assurances over their future. Sukleen garbage truck drivers announced that they would remain on strike until they receive tangible guarantees, following a meeting with the company’s board of directors.Meanwhile, sources told Lebanese daily As-Safir that Sukleen’s trash storage facilities had become full, leaving the company unable to collect more rubbish. The latest trash collection stoppage comes after Sukleen was forced to stop its services on July 20 following the closure of the Naameh landfill in the south, which left no open facility to dump the country’s waste. The Naameh site—which opened in 1998—was originally supposed to be a temporary facility, however it became the de-facto landfill for Beirut and Mount Lebanon trash, angering residents living near the site. Garbage had built up for a week on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, forming huge mountains of trash which gave off a nauseating stench and prompted many Lebanese to don masks over their mouths and noses. Services resumed after Lebanon’s paralyzed government reached a temporary solution to dump waste in makeshift sites at local municipalities, in many cases under bridges, off ravines or other open spaces.
Lebanon’s growing waste crisis has inspired the #YouStink movement, which has garnered growing support and has moved from calling for sustainable waste solutions to demanding the Lebanese government resign over its failure to adequately address the issue.
The grassroots activist group organized a peaceful demonstration attended by thousands in Downtown Beirut on August 22 that security forces suppressed with excessive force, sparking an even larger demonstration the following day which degenerated into chaotic riots instigated by agitators. #YouStink has called for a new protest on Saturday, while other activists have held nightly rallies in Riad al-Solh Square, putting further pressure on the beleaguered government, which has had to face its own political divisions as it scrambles to come up with effective solution to the garbage crisis.

Asir Charged with Plotting Assassinations, Attacks on Army
Naharnet/August 26/15/Salafist cleric Ahmed al-Asir has been charged with forming terrorist cells in the southern city of Sidon, reported al-Jadeed television on Wednesday. Judge Dany Zhenni also charged him with plotting the assassination of political and religious figures and inciting to attack the army. His case has been referred to the Military Tribunal. He also issued an arrest warrant against Asir over his links to the Abra clashes in Sidon in 2013. The clashes took place between Asir's supporters and the army, leaving scores of gunmen and soldiers dead. Asir was arrested at Rafik Hariri International Airport on August 15 as he attempted to travel to Nigeria via Egypt.The vocal anti-Hizbullah cleric had been on the run since the Abra clashes.

More Protests Threaten Cabinet as Trash Crisis Deepens
Naharnet/August 26/15/A movement that has been organizing protests in downtown Beirut against endemic corruption said on Wednesday that it was ready to hold more demonstrations to give back the people their rights, deepening a crisis that started over piles of uncollected garbage in the streets of the capital and Mount Lebanon. “We wanted to send a message through our demonstration that we are ready to sacrifice ourselves to gain our rights,” said the “We Want Accountability” movement at a press conference it held in Riad al-Solh Square a day after several protesters were injured in a scuffle with police.“The regime fears the people who are calling for their rights. That's why it is assaulting them,” it said. “Our battle is not with police but with the regime,” said the movement, which called for the release of all protesters arrested on Tuesday. “We can't guarantee that the people's anger won't turn into some kind of rioting,” it told reporters as it called for another protest at Riad al-Solh square at 6:00 pm Wednesday. “We Want Accountability” also urged the cabinet to resign and vowed to file a lawsuit against all security forces members who assaulted the protesters. One of the movement's lawyers said 60 percent of those arrested during Tuesday's protest have been released but four remain missing. The Internal Security Forces said in a communique that it arrested 48 people who took part in Tuesday's riots, but kept 18 of them in custody for further questioning. Following their press conference, “We Want Accountability” activists held a sit-in near al-Helou barracks in Beirut to call for the release of the demonstrators. Their protests are inspired by the grassroots youth movement calling itself "You Stink,” which mobilized thousands of people in two rallies over the weekend, and has called for another large protest on Saturday. "You Stink” began as an online group which accuses politicians of wanting to get the bigger cut from waste management contracts. The trash crisis erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17 and when garbage began piling up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. On Tuesday, the cabinet unanimously rejected the winning bidders to manage trash collection, citing high costs and a bidding procedure some said was questionable. Prime Minister Tammam Salam suggested dumping the garbage in the remote, impoverished region of Akkar, which has been neglected for decades, in exchange for $100 million in development projects as an incentive. But such a proposal angered the residents of the region who held a protest on Tuesday night shouting "Akkar is not a garbage dump!”Calls by some politicians, including Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq, to reopen the Naameh landfill pending a settlement on the bidders also prompted the residents of the town and nearby areas to issue a statement. They warned the authorities that they would set on fire any truck transporting waste to the landfill. The statement also asked Salam to issue a decree that states the permanent closure of the landfill.

GPS Thwarts Kidnapping of Lebanese Man in Bekaa
Naharnet/August 26/15/Four gunmen kidnapped a Lebanese man in the eastern Bekaa Valley but the operation was thwarted after the car rental company stopped the vehicle's engine through the GPS tracker, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday. NNA said the masked men were riding a black BMW when they stopped Qassem Mohammed Mahdi on the road of New Riyaq and forced him out of his rented Range Rover at gunpoint. Two of the assailants placed Mahdi in their BMW while the two others took his Range Rover and sped away, said NNA. But eyewitnesses contacted security forces and his family informed the car rental company, which stopped the Ranger Rover's engine via GPS. The kidnappers were then forced to set Mahdi free and leave his car near the town of Nabi Sheet, NNA added.

Palestinian Rivals 'Agree Ceasefire' in Ain el-Hilweh
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/A ceasefire between armed rivals in Ain el-Hilweh, Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp, has restored calm after several days of clashes, Palestinian sources said Wednesday. The agreement in the camp, near the southern port city of Sidon, came on Tuesday following street battles that erupted on Saturday night. "We reached an agreement on a ceasefire, after a series of consultations that included all of the factions," Major General Mounir al-Maqdah, head of the Palestinian security forces in Lebanon, told AFP. "We felt that everyone was serious about getting the camp out of this cycle of instability, and it's a seriousness that we did not feel in previous clashes," said Maqdah. An AFP correspondent inside Ain el-Hilweh said fighting had stopped in the camp. The clashes between Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement and the Jund al-Sham Islamist group left three people dead and dozens wounded, according to a revised toll. About 900 residents, including Palestinians who had fled from Syria to settle in Ain el-Hilweh, fled the camp and sought safety in a mosque in nearby Sidon. Abu Khaled said the situation remained "unpredictable". "There are families that returned to their homes as soon as the fighting stopped, but they came back to the mosque after getting a few things," Abu Khaled said. According to Maqdah, Palestinian security forces within the camp would implement the ceasefire and pursue anyone who violates it. He said one gunman had already been stopped for trying to "reignite security tensions" but he did not specify to which faction the man belonged. The camp's political leaders will meet on Wednesday with representatives of Ain el-Hilweh's armed factions, which include the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Islamist groups, Maqdah said. But according to another Palestinian source who spoke on condition of anonymity, "a large number of families are still afraid of returning". "They feel that there is no guarantee that the clashes won't start again, especially since the past four months saw four rounds of clashes and assassination attempts against Fatah leaders," the source said. The impoverished Ain el-Hilweh camp has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives and for the settling of scores between factions. By long-standing convention, the army does not enter the Palestinian refugee camps, leaving the factions themselves to handle security. More than 61,000 Palestinian refugees live in Ain el-Hilweh, including 6,000 who recently fled the war in Syria, according to the U.N.'s agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.

One Dead as Assailants Open Fire at Army during Baalbek Raids
Naharnet/August 26/15/One person was killed on Tuesday as an army unit came under fire as it was carrying out a raid in the eastern region of Baalbek in search of wanted suspects, the military announced in a statement on Wednesday. It said that Moussa al-Dayqa and a number of other gunmen began shooting at the army as it raided the Hazin-Baalbek area. The soldiers fired back, fatally injuring Dayqa, who was wanted on shooting offenses.Two members of the Internal Security Forces and some civilians were wounded in the incident.

Israeli Army Uproots Trees, Steals Soil on Entrance of Adaisseh
Naharnet/August 26/15/The Israeli army uprooted several trees that are located outside the technical fence on Lebanon's southern border and also stole the soil at the entrance of the town of Adaisseh, the state-run National News Agency reported Wednesday. Two excavators carried out logging and uprooting trees outside the fence between Kfar Kila and Adaisseh with the support of a Merkava tank and a number of Humvees. Moreover, excavators drag massive amounts of the soil extending the machine's hands from above the fence. The Lebanese army and UNIFIL were on alert and have monitored the Israeli acts on the border. The technical fence runs parallel to the Blue Line hich was established by the U.N. On Tuesday, an Israeli boat VENUS violated the territorial waters to a distance of 8.5 miles off the al-Bayyada beach, and then sailed back to the Haifa Port.

General Security Arrests 3 Lebanese Suspected of Recruiting IS Fighters
Naharnet/August 26/15/General Security has arrested in the past two days three Lebanese nationals tasked with recruiting gunmen to fight alongside the Islamic State extremist group, al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Wednesday. The agency's Intelligence Branch arrested the three men in separate raids in northern Lebanon. One of them was apprehended in the area of al-Mankoubine north of Tripoli and another in the city's Bab al-Ramel neighborhood. The third was arrested in a raid in the town of Talmaayan in the district of Akkar, said al-Akhbar. The daily quoted security sources as saying that the suspects' mission is to recruit men and facilitate their travel to Syria and Iraq. General Security is monitoring the activities of similar networks to arrest their members, said the sources. The IS has seized vast territory across Syria and Iraq.

Many Held for 'Hurling Firecrackers' at ISF in Riad al-Solh as Protesters March to Hamra
Naharnet/August 26/15/The Internal Security Forces on Wednesday arrested a number of individuals who were “distributing powerful firecrackers in the Riad al-Solh Square and hurling some of them at security forces,” state-run National News Agency reported. Earlier in the evening, NNA said some young men had hurled several firecrackers across the barb wire that is installed outside the Grand Serail. The arrests come after scores were detained overnight Tuesday on charges of rioting and hurling objects at security forces. Most of the detainees were released on Wednesday, according to activists. The square has been witnessing daily protests since Saturday, when the You Stink anti-trash campaign organized a large demo that turned violent. Some activists as well as some politicians have accused politically-motivated “infiltrators” of sparking the confrontations with security forces. Earlier on Wednesday, protesters from the We Want Accountability campaign organized a solidarity march from Riad al-Solh to the American University of Beirut Medical Center in Hamra, where the young man Mohammed Qassir has been lying in critical condition since Sunday, when he was injured in clashes between security forces and protesters in central Beirut. The rally also voiced solidarity with all those who were injured in recent demos and demanded accountability over the use of excessive force. Meanwhile, activists from the You Stink campaign also held a candlelight vigil in Riad al-Solh to salute the wounded protesters. "You Stink” began as an online group which accuses politicians of wanting to get the bigger cut from waste management contracts. The trash crisis erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17 and when garbage began piling up on the streets of Beirut and Mount Lebanon. At the weekend, Prime Minister Tammam Salam acknowledged protesters' frustrations and warned that his government risked becoming irrelevant if it could not address the public's concerns. "We're heading towards collapse if things continue as they are," he cautioned. But a cabinet meeting on Tuesday was unable to resolve the social issue that has united protesters for a rare display of non-sectarian anger. It was intended to discuss companies qualified to bid for new waste removal contracts. The list had drawn fire from activists who said the firms were linked to political figures and were seeking exorbitant fees. Lebanon already pays some of the world's highest per-ton waste collection rates, and media said the companies sought to raise prices even further.

Lebanon in crisis as Hezbollah enters trash fray
The Associated Press, Beirut/Wednesday, 26 August 2015/Hezbollah threw its weight Tuesday behind mass protests in Lebanon calling for the government's resignation, deepening a crisis that started over piles of uncollected garbage in the streets of the capital but has tapped into a much deeper malaise.The explosion of anger targets the endemic corruption, hapless government and sectarian divisions of a brittle country once torn by civil war and now struggling with a wave of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees. A grassroots youth movement calling itself "You Stink" mobilized thousands of people in two rallies over the weekend, and has called for another large protest on Saturday. The Hezbollah announcement of support for the protests is likely to fuel concerns the Iranian-backed group will try to hijack a rare, non-political movement for its own political gain. Hezbollah ministers and their allies walked out of a Cabinet meeting Tuesday meant to discuss the worsening garbage crisis. Prime Minister Tammam Salam called the emergency session after the weekend clashes between security forces and demonstrators protesting corruption and poor public services. The six ministers withdrew four hours into the meeting. Foreign Minister Gibran Bassil, whose Free Patriotic Movement is aligned with Hezbollah, said he was pulling out because of the political "theater" surrounding the trash issue. During the Cabinet session, ministers unanimously rejected the winning bidders to manage Beirut's trash collection, citing high costs and a bidding procedure some said was questionable. The Cabinet tasked a ministerial committee with restarting the bidding, meaning no imminent solution to the crisis was likely. Salam suggested dumping the garbage in the remote, impoverished region of Akkar, which has been neglected for decades, in exchange for $100 million in development projects as an incentive. That further riled the protesters. "Akkar is not a garbage dump!" read the slogan on one protester's T-shirt. The trash crisis has exacerbated the long-existing fault lines in Lebanon which in recent years have pitted the Iranian-backed Hezbollah against the country's Western-aligned, pro-Saudi camp. Those divisions mirror the larger regional Shiite-Sunni divide, and have long paralyzed the government.
Although Salam's government has elements from both camps, Hezbollah regards the prime minister as an ally of Saudi Arabia. The Shiite group's ally, Christian leader Michel Aoun, has been assailing the prime minister over his handling of Cabinet and security appointments.
In a statement Tuesday, Hezbollah said the garbage crisis reflected the "endemic and accumulated corruption of the past two decades" and policies that only serve "personal and political interests at the expense of citizens." It said holding peaceful protests was a legitimate right. A columnist in the daily An-Nahar newspaper accused Hezbollah of exploiting the "You Stink" movement for its own agenda. Tarek Sarhan, a 17-year-old "You Stink" supporter, said there would always be groups that try to manipulate grass-roots movements for their own political gains in a country like Lebanon.
The protesters say they are fed up with leaders they accuse of caring only about lining their own pockets and a system they say ensures incessant bickering and paralysis. They contend the entire trash crisis is about which politicians get the bigger cut from waste management contracts.Meanwhile, the political paralysis continues. The country's politicians have been unable to decide on a president, a post reserved for a Christian in a sectarian power-sharing system, for over a year. According to that system, the prime minister must be a Sunni and the parliament speaker a Shiite. The current parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, has been in his post for 23 years.
Parliament has extended its term twice without elections and has been paralyzed because some lawmakers insist a president be elected first. Government has not made any substantial decisions as rival parties bicker over the decision-making process in Cabinet in the absence of a president to preside over the sessions. Anger about the heaps of trash accumulating in Beirut's streets boiled over this week, with thousands protesting the government's failure to deliver basic services.
The protests turned violent over the weekend, prompting the government to erect a concrete wall outside its main building to prevent protesters from reaching it. Within hours, the wall was filled with anti-government graffiti. "State of Shabiha," one young man scrawled, an Arabic term for thugs. Another drawing showed a man's body wrapped in a black cloth below a caption that read: "The shroud of the state."On Tuesday, authorities began removing the wall, just 24 hours after it was installed.
"They won't fool us by removing the wall," said Sarhan, the You Stink supporter. "Remove it or not, we don't care. We want... an end to sectarianism. We want to build a state," he said. "This is a corrupt government, an immoral government that is starving us and conspiring against the people," said Hassan Qatayesh, who suffered an injured jaw when he was struck by rocks during Saturday's protest. "They raised the wall to protect themselves from the people, thinking that this wall will prevent our voices from reaching them. But our voices are louder than walls, tear gas and rubber bullets."

Bkirki Sources Deny al-Rahi Summit Initiative
Naharnet/August 26/15/Bkirki sources have denied that Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi would invite Maronite leaders for a summit to resolve Lebanon's growing political crisis. The sources told An Nahar daily published on Wednesday that al-Rahi would call for a summit only if there is a high probability that the politicians would reach an agreement. They said al-Rahi hopes that efforts exerted to agree on the election of a new president would succeed. Their remarks came a day after al-Joumhouria newspaper expected the patriarch to ask Maronite leaders to agree on the election of a president during a summit in Bkirki. Al-Rahi will seek to urge them to assume their patriotic responsibilities because he believes that the political crisis is the result of the vacuum in the country's top Christian post, said the report.The country has been without a president for more than a year, despite nearly 30 attempts by parliament to pick a new one.

ISIS Kills Two Policemen in Egypt's Sinai
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Gunmen killed two Egyptian policemen Wednesday in the Sinai Peninsula, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by Islamic State group jihadists. Egypt's security forces have come under regular attack since the military ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi two years ago. In Wednesday's attack in El-Arish, the capital of North Sinai province, "unidentified assailants on a motorbike opened fire on two police, who died of their wounds," the interior ministry said in a statement. The attackers managed to escape, according to security officials.The Egyptian affiliate of IS, which calls itself Sinai Province, said it was responsible and posted photographs of the purported attack and its aftermath online. The government says hundreds of police and soldiers have been killed in attacks in the past two years, many of which were claimed by IS's Egyptian affiliate. The jihadists say their attacks are in response to a crackdown launched by the authorities after Morsi's ouster that has seen at least 1,400 people killed and thousands more jailed.

Two U.S. Journalists Killed on Live TV, Gunman Shoots Self
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Two journalists for a local CBS affiliate in Virginia were shot dead Wednesday in a chilling live television broadcast, and the suspected gunman, apparently a disgruntled former station employee, has shot himself. The suspect -- Vester Lee Flanagan, 41, also known as Bryce Williams -- was in critical condition, media cited police as saying, after initial reports that he too was dead. Another video of the deadly on-air shooting -- apparently filmed by the assailant -- was posted on Twitter and Facebook. The footage was later taken down. The killings, which sparked an intense manhunt and prompted a lockdown of local schools, once again highlighted fears about gun violence in America. Reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were fatally shot at close range while conducting an on-air interview for WDBJ in Roanoke, about 240 miles (385 kilometers) southwest of the U.S. capital Washington. "You send people into war zones and into dangerous situations, into riots and you worry that they're going to get hurt," WDBJ general manager Jeffrey Marks -- who earlier confirmed the deaths to viewers -- told CNN. "You send somebody out to do a story on tourism, and this -- how can you ever expect something like this to happen?"Marks said Parker and Ward were "both in love with other members of the team" at the station.
"I am numb," Parker's boyfriend, WDBJ anchor Chris Hurst, said on Twitter."We were together almost nine months. It was the best nine months of our lives. We wanted to get married." Shots heard, and screams Parker was talking to Vicki Gardner, head of the Smith Mountain Lake Chamber of Commerce, on a balcony at the lakeside Bridgewater Resort in the town of Moneta near Roanoke when the attack occurred. The pair were talking about tourism development for WDBJ's early-morning newscast when the gunman seemingly closed in from behind. Several shots were heard, as well as screams, as Ward's camera fell to the floor, capturing a fuzzy and chilling glimpse of the gunman, dressed in dark clothing. The station then cut away to a startled anchorwoman back in the studio. Gardner was "seriously injured," said one of the U.S. senators from Virginia, Tim Kaine. Later, a video posted under the Twitter account @bryce_williams7, shows the shooter brandishing a weapon at Parker, who is interviewing a woman and unaware of his presence. Ward has his back to the apparent shooter and was also unaware of his presence. The shooter seems to briefly lower the camera. Multiple shots are then heard, and screams. The shooter's hand is clearly visible. He appears to be wearing a blue checkered shirt.
'Heartbroken'
On her Facebook page, Parker -- whose birthday was just a week ago -- described herself as the "mornin' reporter" at WDBJ and a ballroom dancing enthusiast. "She worked with Adam every day," said Hurst. "They were a team. I am heartbroken for his fiancee." Ward's fiancee, Melissa Ott, a producer at the TV station, was in the control room when the shooting occurred and watched it unfold, Marks told CNN. "It's hard to believe, isn't it," the grief-stricken station manager said. Ott was working her last day at WDBJ before moving on to another station in another city, and looking forward to a farewell party with her colleagues. "This was going to be a day of celebration for her time here and wishing her good luck," Marks said. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe told Washington's WTOP all-news radio that the incident highlighted the need for tighter gun controls. "There are too many guns in the hands of people who should not have guns," he said. "There is too much gun violence in the United States of America."

Assad Defends Hizbullah Presence in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Syrian President Bashar Assad described on Tuesday as "legitimate" the presence of fighters from Hizbullah in Syria to back his forces against anti-regime gunmen. "The difference (between Hizbullah and foreign anti-regime fighters) is legitimacy. Who invited Hizbullah to Syria?" Assad asked. "It came after an agreement with the Syrian state, and the Syrian state is a legitimate state," whereas "the other terrorist forces came to kill the Syrian people,” the president told Hizbullah's al-Manar television network in an interview. Hizbullah, along with Russia and Iran, have been Assad's major allies since Syria's revolt broke out in 2011.They have been "beyond loyal," said Assad. He expressed "strong confidence" that Russia will continue supporting his embattled regime. "We have strong confidence in the Russians, as they have proven throughout this crisis, for four years, that they are sincere and transparent in their relationship with us," Assad said. His rare television interview came as Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the Syrian crisis with Jordan's King Abdullah II on the sidelines of the Maks-2015 aerospace show in Moscow. Assad described Russia as "principled", while "the United States abandons its allies, abandons its friends." He added: "This was never the case with Russia's policy, neither during the Soviet Union, nor during the time of Russia... Russia has never said that it supported President Such and Such and then decided to abandon him."Assad had been asked by al-Manar's correspondent about U.S. President Barack Obama's comments earlier this month that Russia and Iran "recognize that the trend lines are not good for Assad." He rebuffed the statement, saying Iran, too, remained a steadfast ally. He said the recent nuclear deal between Iran and world powers would strengthen Iran's role internationally, in turn benefiting Syria. "The power of Iran is the power of Syria, and a victory for Syria is a victory for Iran." The president added: "We are on the same axis, the axis of resistance." Officials in Washington and other western nations have long called for Assad's ouster, insisting he could not play a role in a political solution to Syria's crisis. Syria's conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011. But after a bloody crackdown by the ruling regime, it spiraled into a multi-front civil war that has left more than 240,000 people dead. Several international efforts to bring about a political solution to the crisis have failed.

Libya Peace Talks Reach Final Stages
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/The United Nations peace envoy for Libya said Wednesday he was confident that the past seven months of talks will yield an agreement on ending the violence in the north African country. "I am increasingly confident that the process is finally drawing to its final stages," Bernardino Leon told the U.N. Security Council. A final round of talks on forming a national unity government is expected to open this week, with the sides haggling over names for key posts in the new administration. Libya has two rival parliaments and governments, with Tripoli controlled by Libya Dawn forces who seized the capital last year, forcing the internationally recognized government to operate out of Tobruk, in the northeast of the country. The United Nations has been brokering talks between the groups with the aim of establishing a unified government that could confront the threat from Islamic State extremists, who have gained a foothold in several Libyan towns. Libyan factions agreed during U.N.-brokered talks in January to set up a unity government to restore the stability that has been shattered since the 2011 fall of Moammar Gadhafi, but negotiations on modalities have run into hurdles."The talks have come a long way in narrowing the trust deficit that exists among Libyan political stakeholders and in forging an agreement on a roadmap," Leon told the 15-member council by video link from Paris. The envoy voiced confidence that demands raised by the powerful Islamist-backed General National Congress parliament that sits in Tripoli can be addressed in the upcoming round. The GNC sent representatives to the last round of negotiations in Geneva on August 11 and 12.

Muslims not Doing 'Enough' to Fight IS, Says Jordan's Queen Rania
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Queen Rania of Jordan said Wednesday that moderate Muslims were not doing enough to fight against IS jihadists and their "diabolical ideology."Speaking at a major French business gathering in Jouy-en-Josas near Paris, the 44-year-old said helping the Middle East's youth was crucial in the fight against the extremist group, which controls swathes of Iraq and Syria on Jordan's doorstep. "We are facing a time of great peril. Daesh, or the so-called Islamic State, continues to spread its diabolical ideology," she said."Moderate Muslims the world over are not doing enough to win the ideological struggle at the heart of this battle. "We're not actively helping Daesh, but we're not actively stopping them either. We can't stand against them until we as Muslims agree on what we stand for." Queen Rania said focusing on the youth of the Middle East -- many of whom are unemployed or forced to flee their countries -- was a necessity. They need "education, opportunities, work and... also a little bit of luck, that someone believes in them." According to the queen, some 100 million jobs must be created in the region by 2020, to avoid disaffected young people from joining the ranks of jihadists. "Failure is not an option because if we fail in the face of these extremists and if they win, the region will quickly be devastated."

Five Dead in Rebel Rocket Fire on Syria's Homs
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Five people were killed and 20 wounded Wednesday when rebel rocket fire hit a petrol station in a government-held part of Syria's central Homs city, state news agency SANA said. The missile fire set fire to a tanker as it was unloading in the Inshaat neighborhood of Homs, which is the provincial capital and largely under government control, SANA said. "The rocket fire came from Talbisseh in northern Homs province where extremist groups led by (al-Qaida affiliate) al-Nusra Front are located," the agency added. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, also reported five dead in a blast at the petrol station, with 40 people injured. But it said there was conflicting information on whether the blast was caused by a tanker exploding or rocket fire hitting the station. The monitor said the toll was likely to rise because a number of the wounded were in serious condition. Most of the central Homs province is under regime control, though rebels are present in Homs city's Waer district and a few other areas in the province. The Islamic State group also controls parts of eastern Homs province, including the ancient town of Palmyra.

Qaida Blows up Yemen Army HQ in Stronghold City
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Al-Qaida militants on Wednesday blew up an army headquarters and set up checkpoints in the jihadist network's southeastern stronghold of Mukalla, officials in Hadramawt province said. The militants had deployed in force across Mukalla after receiving information of a possible operation by a Saudi-led military coalition to help government loyalists retake the provincial capital, the officials said. The coalition of Arab states has been carrying out air strikes against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen since March, but has so far not intervened against Al-Qaida. Wednesday’s explosion flattened the three-storey army building -- the command center for a zone covering Hadramawt and parts of neighboring Shabwa province. It came a day after Al-Qaida dynamited a headquarters of the secret police in Mukalla, the officials said. In Aden a 100-strong Saudi force arrived late on Tuesday and was deployed at the main southern city's international airport, military sources said. "This force's mission is to help secure the city, where Al-Qaida militants surfaced last weekend," one of the sources said, referring to Aden. Backed by arms and troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, government loyalists recaptured Aden from Huthi rebels and their allies in mid-July before retaking four other southern provinces. But security has remained fragile in the port city, where Al-Qaida suspects were accused of blowing up a building used by the secret police. They also set up checkpoints in one district and seized five buildings including an intelligence services facility, a presidential residence and a military hospital, security officials said. On Tuesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had suspended its operations in Aden after unidentified gunmen stormed its office there.
Meanwhile, Riyadh announced its armed forces on Wednesday intercepted a Scud missile fired from Yemen at the Saudi region of Jazan, adding the explosion caused no casualties or damage. "The air forces responded immediately by destroying the platform from which the missile was launched" in Yemen, said a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. The Shiite Huthi rebels' website Sabanews.net had announced that Scud missiles had been fired from Yemen at a power plant in Jazan. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is considered among the jihadist network's deadliest affiliates. It has taken advantage of the chaos since the Huthis expanded across Yemen since last year, to seize territory including Mukalla. AQAP was behind several plots against Western targets, including this year's deadly attack on French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The United States has for years carried out a drone war against Al-Qaida militants in Yemen.

Saudi King to Visit U.S. for First Time since Rift
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/Saudi King Salman will visit the United States next month for the first time since acceding the throne and following a rift over America's rapprochement with Iran, a diplomat said Wednesday. The monarch, who pulled out of a Gulf leaders' summit with U.S. President Barack Obama in May at the last minute, would travel to Washington on September 4, the Saudi diplomat said. He would also attend a U.S.-Saudi forum in Washington to be held on September 4-6, the source said, requesting anonymity. The forum would focus on "energy, health, petrochemicals as well as financial services," among other issues, said the diplomat. Washington has sought to allay the concerns of its traditional allies over a historic deal it and other world powers reached with Tehran over the Islamic republic's suspect nuclear program. Since late last year, OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia has also been part of a U.S.-led coalition bombing the Islamic State group which has occupied parts of Iraq and Syria. U.S. aerial refueling, intelligence and other assistance have also supported a Saudi-led coalition that has been fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.

Syrian Rebel Commander Killed in Turkey Car Bomb Attack
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/A commander of a Syrian rebel group fighting the regime of President Bashar Assad was killed Wednesday in a car bomb attack in southern Turkey, local officials said. Jamil Raadoun died of his wounds in hospital after the bomb exploded outside his home in Antakya in the southern Hatay region, regional governor Ercan Topaca told the state-run Anatolia news agency.Raadoun, who had defected from the Syrian army, was leading a medium-sized non-Islamist rebel unit called the Suqur al-Ghab brigades that has been fighting in the Al-Ghab plain in northwestern Syria. Topaca told the agency that the attack could have been the result of a dispute between rival rebel groups. Television pictures showed the wreck of his car being cordoned off by police, with the bomb apparently placed under the driver's seat. The Dogan news agency said the bomb went off when Raadoun turned the keys to start the ignition. He had previously been the target of an unsuccessful assassination attempt in April. Anatolia said Suqur al-Ghab, one of many non-Islamist rebel groups, counts some 2,000 people. According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Suqur al-Ghab contributed to a recent offensive in Al-Ghab with artillery fire and rockets. Turkey, which bitterly opposes the Damascus regime, has said that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other moderate rebels are key to ousting Assad from power.

Arab League Delays Meeting on Joint Military Force
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 26/15/The Arab League said it had postponed indefinitely a ministerial meeting set for Thursday to approve the creation of a joint military force to intervene against jihadists. A meeting of defense and foreign ministers "has been postponed indefinitely and a new date will be set later," the league's secretariat said Wednesday. No reason was given for the postponement, but the league statement said it came at the request of Saudi Arabia, backed by Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. At a summit in March, Arab leaders agreed to form the force, and army chiefs have already met twice in Cairo to work on the details. The decision to create the force was mostly aimed at fighting the Islamic State Group, which has overrun swathes of Iraq and Syria and secured a foothold in Libya and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt and the Hamas "Cockroaches"
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/August 26, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6400/egypt-hamas-cockroaches
*"What were your four [Hamas] men doing in Sinai? Haven't you denied in the past the presence of any Hamas men in Sinai? So where did these men pop up from?" — Dina Ramez, Egyptian journalist.
*The incident also proves that Hamas does not hesitate to take advantage of Cairo's humanitarian gestures to smuggle its men out of the Gaza Strip. Obviously, the four Hamas men were not on their way to receive medical treatment. That they are members of Hamas's armed wing, Ezaddin al-Qassam, speaks for itself.
*The Egyptians are particularly fed up with reports about Hamas's increased involvement in their internal affairs and links to terror groups in Sinai.
*This practice by Hamas is something that the Egyptian authorities have come to understand, which is why they are refusing to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The question now is whether the international community will understand Hamas's true intentions and plans -- namely to prepare for another war against Israel.
Egypt's President Abdel Fatah Sisi has once again proven that he and his country will not tolerate any threats from Hamas or other Palestinians.
The crisis that erupted between Sisi's regime and Hamas after the removal from power of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Morsi two years ago, reached it peak in the past few days with the kidnapping of four Hamas operatives in Sinai.
The four men were snatched from a bus shortly after crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egyptian territory on August 19. Reports said that unidentified gunmen stopped the bus and kidnapped the four Hamas men, who are wanted by Egypt for their involvement in terrorism.
A bus carrying Palestinians drives through the Rafah crossing, from the Gaza Strip to Egyptian Sinai, on August 23, 2015. (Image source: Aqsatv video screenshot)
Although initial reports suggested that the kidnappers belonged to a salafi-jihadi group based in Sinai, some Hamas officials have accused Egyptian security forces of being behind the abduction. The Hamas officials even issued veiled threats against Sisi and the Egyptian authorities, and said that they held them fully responsible for the safety of the Hamas men.
A statement issued by Hamas warned the Egyptian authorities against harming the four men. "These men were the victims of deception and their only fault is that they are from the Gaza Strip," the statement said. "This incident shows that the criminals are not afraid to target our people."
Hamas leader Musa Abu Marzouk said that his movement holds the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for any harm caused to the abductees. He said that the kidnapping raises many questions and its circumstances remain unclear.
Hamas claims that salafi-jihadi groups in Sinai have informed its representatives that they did not kidnap the four men. According to Hamas officials, the abduction took place near the border with the Gaza Strip -- an area where the Egyptian army maintains a large presence.
Sources in the Gaza Strip, however, have confirmed that the four men belong to Hamas's armed wing, Ezaddin al-Qassam. The sources said that the men were apparently on their way to Iran for military training. The sources pointed out that the four had received permission from the Egyptian authorities to leave the Gaza Strip through the Rafah border crossing. The visas, however, are supposedly for civilians, not for Hamas operatives.
Hamas's threats against Egypt have, meanwhile, enraged the Egyptian authorities as well as some top journalists in Cairo.
Egyptian authorities responded by refusing to give permission to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and some leaders of his movement to travel to Qatar and Lebanon through the Rafah border crossing. The Hamas leaders were hoping to hold talks with some of their colleagues in those two countries about the possibility of reaching a long-term truce with Israel.
The Egyptians' refusal to allow the Hamas leaders to leave the Gaza Strip has further strained relations between the two sides. Hamas representatives in the Gaza Strip were quoted as accusing the Egyptian authorities of "conspiring" against the movement and all Palestinians.
In Cairo, Egyptian security officials denied any link to the kidnapping of the four Hamas men. However, the denials have fallen on deaf ears and no one in Hamas seems to believe the Egyptian authorities. Even worse, Hamas representatives continued over the past few days to issue warnings and threats against Egypt.
As in the past, each time tensions rise between Hamas and Egypt, the Egyptians unleash some of their senior journalists against the Islamist movement. Since President Morsi's removal from power, the Egyptians have displayed zero tolerance when it comes to Hamas. They are particularly fed up with reports about Hamas's increased involvement in their internal affairs and links to terror groups in Sinai.
During the last war between Israel and Hamas, several Egyptian journalists and public figures openly expressed hope that the Israelis would destroy the movement for once and for all. Other journalists in Cairo, who are openly affiliated with the Sisi regime, have even urged their government to launch attacks against Hamas bases in the Gaza Strip.
This week, and in wake of the renewed tensions between Hamas and Egypt, Egyptian journalists resumed their rhetorical attacks against the movement. The question that most of these journalists asked was: What are Hamas members doing on Egyptian soil in the first place? The journalists accused Hamas of exploiting Egypt's humanitarian gestures to smuggle its men out of the Gaza Strip.
One of these journalists, Dina Ramez, who is known as a staunch supporter of President Sisi, launched a scathing attack on Hamas, calling its members and leaders "cockroaches."
Referring to the Hamas threats against Egypt, Ramez said: "Has anyone ever heard of cockroaches or ants that could threaten lions? These cockroaches belong to Hamas, which is threatening Egypt following the abduction of four of its men. I want to ask the Hamas cockroaches a simple question: What were your four men doing in Sinai? Haven't you denied in the past the presence of any Hamas men in Sinai? So where did these men pop up from? I dare you to approach the border with Egypt. We have confidence in our army and our response will be painful. It will be a strong and deterring response against any cockroach that dares to come close to our border or threaten Egypt."
Regardless of the identity of the kidnappers, the incident shows that Sisi and the Egyptian authorities continue to view Hamas as a threat to Egypt's national security. The incident also proves that Hamas does not hesitate to take advantage of Cairo's humanitarian gestures to smuggle its men out of the Gaza Strip. Obviously, the four Hamas men were not on their way to receive medical treatment or pursue their studies in Egypt or any other country.
That they are members of Ezaddin al-Qassam speaks for itself. Instead of dispatching its fighters to Iran and Turkey, Hamas should have allowed medical patients and university students to leave the Gaza Strip. But Hamas does not care about the well-being of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Rather, it cares about sending its men to Iran and Turkey to receive military and security training.
This practice by Hamas is something that the Egyptian authorities have come to understand, which is why they are refusing to reopen the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. The question now is whether the international community will understand Hamas's true intentions and plans -- namely to prepare for another war against Israel.

Sweden's Populist Surge
Daniel Pipes/Washington Times/August 26, 2015
N.B.: This text differs in minor ways from the Washington Times version.
According to the most recent poll, the innocuously-named but ferociously anti-establishment Sweden Democrats (Sverigedemokraterna or SD) has the largest support of any political party in Sweden. This news has potentially momentous implications not just for Sweden but for all Europe.
The Sweden Democrats logo with the slogan "Security & Tradition."
Sweden is a special place. One of the richest and most peaceful countries in the world (it has not been engaged in armed conflict for two centuries), until recently it was a remarkably homogenous society where socialism, with its optimistic assumption that people are born good and circumstances make them bad, worked and the government enjoyed great prestige. Swedish pride in the country's accomplishments translates into an ethical superiority symbolized by the oft-heard claim to be a "moral superpower."
This heritage has also inspired an intolerance of dissent, however; "Be quiet, follow the consensus, let the bureaucrats carry it out." The country has become so notorious for its stifling faux-unanimity that I actually heard a Dane recently ask at a public forum, "Why has Sweden turned into the North Korea of Scandinavia?"
Also, Sweden's history creates a no-crisis mentality that militates against the hard-headed, flexible responses needed to cope with current problems the country now faces, especially those connected to waves of mainly Muslim immigrants. As one interlocutor put it to me in Stockholm earlier this month, "Past success has led to current failure." For example, security in Sweden is well below what might find in a country like Bolivia, with few inclinations to make improvements, rendering Islamist violence all but inevitable.
In this stultification, the SD stands out because it offers the only political alternative. Proof of this came in December 2014, when the SD appeared to have the swing vote in a crucial budget vote between the left and right blocs in the country's unicameral legislature, the Riksdag – until all the other seven parties joined together in a grand coalition to deny it any influence.
As this act of desperation suggests, the Sweden Democrats offer a populist – and not, as usually described, a "far right" – brew of policies anathema to all the legacy parties: Foremost, it calls for assimilating legal immigrants, expelling the illegals, and reducing future immigration by at least 90 percent. It also forwards a number of other policies (concerning crime, defense, the European Union, and Israel) far outside the Swedish consensus and utterly obnoxious to the other parties.
A subway ad in Stockholm that illustrates the Sweden Democrats' messaging.
With good reason, the establishment hates and fears the SD, pedantically finding any possible fault with the party, starting with its alleged neo-fascist past (though fascist connections are not unique to SD) and going on to the tiniest foibles of its leadership.
Supporting the SD remains taboo. The national police commissioner once tweeted about "vomiting" on seeing the SD's leader; naturally, his staff dare not acknowledge their supporting for the party. But one officer estimated for me that 50 percent of the police vote SD.
The future national police chief's tweet about vomiting in response to the Sweden Democrats' leader.
Despite being ostracized, the SD increasingly connects with Swedes (including some immigrants), giving it substantial electoral gains, roughly doubling its parliamentary vote every four years: from 0.4 percent in 1998 to 1.3 percent in 2002, 2.9 percent in 2006, 5.7 percent in 2010, and 12.9 percent in September 2014. And now, less than a year later, a YouGov poll shows it having nearly doubled again, to 25.2 percent, meaning that it leads the governing Social Democrats (who have only 23.4 percent support) and the major (nominally) right-wing party, the Moderates (with 21 percent).
No less important, I learned in Stockholm, the intellectual and political climate has shifted. Journalists, policy specialists, and politicians all noted that ideas outside the mainstream just a year ago now receive a hearing. For example, four major newspapers have questioned the consensus in favor of high immigration. Beside the surging SD vote, this shift results from several factors: the shocking rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which has altered the debate; continued upset at the December compact that excluded the SD from having its due parliamentary influence; and the receding memory of Anders Behring Breivik's 2011 murderous rampage in Norway.
In all, it appears that denial and censorship can only continue for so long before the instinct of self-preservation kicks in. The Western country most prone to national suicide is possibly waking up from its stupor. If this change can take place in Sweden, the "North Korea of Scandinavia," it can, and likely will, occur elsewhere in Europe.
**Mr. Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum. © 2015 by Daniel Pipes. All rights reserved.

Israel and Iran trade threats across the Golan Heights
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/Wednesday, 26 August 2015
It might be argued that Israel’s success, in almost entirely avoiding direct involvement in the Syrian civil war, should be regarded as a small miracle. The complete breakdown of the political order across the border from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights has kept the Jewish state watchful and apprehensive for over four years now. Wherever Israel looks there is potential danger, years of instability and prospective conflict lay ahead. Until the 2011 Syrian uprising started, the Golan Heights was the quietest of Israel’s borders since a ceasefire was brokered after the 1973 October (Yom Kippur) war. Interestingly enough, the firing of four rockets last Thursday from Syrian territory towards the Israeli side of the Golan Heights and the Upper Galilee, was the first deliberate attack in more than four decades. This might explain the relatively robust Israeli military response, and the rage expressed by the country’s political leaders.
With or without a peace agreement with Syria, the longevity of the military calm along the Golan Heights border very much became associated with the endurance of the al-Assads in power in Damascus. Yet, increasingly it presents the decision makers in Jerusalem with complex conundrums. The Assad regime comes as a package deal along with Iran and the Hezbollah, two parties who are perceived in Israel as sworn existential enemies. Moreover, considering the fact that Bashar al-Assad and his regime committed human rights atrocities on a mass scale, they are internationally regarded as a pariah state that Israel could never openly support. The regime’s survival depends mainly on fear and loathing of the alternatives, a number of countries with vested interests in keeping the current regime in power, and an international community, which remains divided on the issue.
Minimal intervention
Since 2011, the Israeli strategy was one of minimal intervention, in hope that the “devil they know” would survive, rather than a victory by a devil they did not know. The prospect of an Islamic fundamental Jubhat al-Nusra or ISIS-style state on its border, is far from being an attractive one. However, Iran’s power and influence in Syria is growing steadily, as the current regime increasingly depends on Iran for its survival. This is understandably a serious concern for Israel, as it brings Iran and its allies closer than ever to a border held by Israel, and with it the likelihood of a military clash, if even a limited one. The Assad regime comes as a package deal along with Iran and the Hezbollah, two parties who are perceived in Israel as sworn existential enemies
Though rockets fired into Israel last week were attributed to the Islamic Jihad, not surprisingly, Israel pointed fingers at Tehran. They asserted that the attack was directed by Saeed Izaadhi the head of the Palestinian division of the Iranian Quds Force, an elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard. Israel’s immediate response by air and artillery was the most intense since the start of the civil war. They initially targeted Syrian military installations, and later hit a car, killing five militants who, according to Israeli spokespersons, fired the rockets a day earlier.
Strategy
The scale of the Israeli response and the bold language used in holding both Syria and Iran accountable, begs the question whether Israel is ready to abandon its strategy toward the unrelenting upheaval in Syria. For four years Israel maintained that it would not take any action except in retaliation to cross-border fire into areas under Israeli control, or if Syria and Iran attempted to transfer weapons and ammunition that are regarded by Israel as “game changer.” For the better part of this period Israel adhered to this policy. However, one can detect somewhat of a departure from this policy in recent months, as Israel is taking a more proactive approach in hitting militants in the Syrian Golan Heights. It aims to disrupt what Israeli intelligence sources claim to be planned attacks against Israel.
Nervous
It is understandable why Israel would feel nervous about the cross-border presence of Hezbollah military personal, Iranian members of the Revolutionary Guard or members of the militia formed by Samir Kuntar, a terrorist who was released from Israeli jail in a prisoner exchange with the Hezbollah. However, the Israeli extrajudicial assassinations such as that of Jihad Mughniyeh’s, at the beginning of this year, or of two Hezbollah operatives and three Syrian militiamen of the National Defense Forces in an airstrike a few weeks ago, run the risk of an out of control escalation. It is imperative that the Israeli decision makers balance the danger of the presence of these hostile elements, against the risk of starting a vicious cycle of revenge and counter-revenge in the Golan Heights.
Directly levelling accusations at Iran, also suggests that Israel sees events in the Golan Heights as additional leverage to cast doubts, if not derail, the nuclear agreement that was reached with Iran. Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Ya’alon asserted that the corollary of the nuclear deal with Iran and the ensuing lifting of sanctions would inevitably lead to “the prelude to a richer and more murderous Iran.” If this is the working assumption of the Israeli military establishment, it might be interested in heating up, probably in a limited way, the border with Syria. In doing so, Israel would join forces, at least inadvertently, with those within the Iranian political system who for their own reasons would like to derail the nuclear agreement. This type of scenario could lead to Israel being dragged into the civil war in Syria with unknown and most likely dire consequences.

Is Erdogan’s ambition sparking turmoil?
Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/Wednesday, 26 August 2015
Overwhelmed with grief and anger, relatives of Ahmet Camur, a Turkish officer killed by the PKK, listen to Turkey’s president delivering a eulogy, with his right hand on the coffin wrapped in a Turkish flag. Critics vented anger against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for using the coffin as a pulpit to deliver a speech for political consumption. The photo quickly became viral in the Turkish media, inspiring dozens of cartoonists to draw similar satirical pictures to reflect the current political climate – a politician using the coffin of a Turkish officer as a pulpit to score political gains. There is no indication that the violence could slow down in upcoming weeks while Turkey is heading to new polls on Nov. 1 This way of thinking now prevails among some members of the Turkish public, even including among relatives of slain Turkish security forces. In almost every funeral ceremony, parents of the killed Turkish officers or soldiers raise their voices against the authorities, blame the government for ongoing violence and some even believe their sons were killed for personal ambitions of the president.
No end in sight for violence
The ongoing violence in Turkey only gets worse every week, with dozens of killed from both sides. Turkish state-run news agency reported on Monday that 814 PKK militants were killed since July 22, including nearly 500 in northern Iraq. More than 60 members of Turkish security services and 14 civilians were killed in the current conflict, one of the highest death tolls in such a short period of time since the AKP came to power in 2002. The violence almost spread to many corners of southeastern Turkey, with PKK militants showering police posts and military units with bullets while digging trenches, setting up checkpoints and terrorizing state-funded work vehicles and buses. Most of these actions attract Turkish security forces, prompting fatal armed shootouts.
There is no indication that the violence could slow down in upcoming weeks while Turkey is heading to new polls on Nov. 1. Turkish president vowed to eradicate all “terrorists” while the PKK is hell-bent on continuing “fighting” against the Turkish state. Both warring sides are now locked in endless exercise in going the same route over and over with a hope of reaching to a different destination.
The scale of attacks appear to mark a new era after the peace process, fracturing what until now has been a largely preserved, if sometimes fragile, peace despite many daunting challenges.
Mother of all evils: Nationalism
People in Turkey may share separate views on economy or political orientation, but most of them are nationalists to varying degrees. Turkish politics has been shaped around different grievances of secular, conservative Turkish and Kurdish nationalists under various circumstances. The nationalist sentiment has always been too high in Turkey and most right-wing leaders exploited it to make it to power. Erdogan, a divisive populist, loved and loathed, preferred to consolidate the center right by reaching out to liberals, conservative Kurds and Turks when he came to power. But he also didn’t miss a chance to use increased PKK violence ahead of each elections in a bid to collect nationalist votes.
Peace process in the freezer
It seems that Erdogan betted that his presidential ambitions could be possible if he could strike a peace with Kurds. For the sake of peace talks, the government seemingly remained oblivious as the PKK increased its presence in southeastern Turkey. Now government officials increasingly, if grudgingly, acknowledge that they turned a blind eye as the PKK bolstered its positions in the past two years. The chaotic collapse of the peace process marked the vindication of nationalists, who long claimed that the right way to fight against the PKK is only possible with the strong fist of the Turkish state – the army. While fighting against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, Kurdish rebels have suddenly found themselves struggling against the most powerful army in the region, with Washington’s tacit blessing.
The peace process was introduced so that it could increase chances for Erdogan to gain a presidential post with more executive powers. But pro-Kurdish party HDP went to elections with a slogan that disturbed Erdogan: We Won’t Make You a President. Their unprecedented surge in June elections thwarted Erdogan’s ambition to bolster his clout. Many government officials now frankly acknowledge that that slogan was the primary reason for the collapse of talks. One minister even said the current violence would not take place if Erdogan became a stronger president. On Monday, Erdogan announced that there will be snap elections on Nov. 1, first time in the republic’s history. Four elections in just two years have been very costly to Turkey. Many have already been disillusioned with unceasing electoral campaign that takes a heavy toll on the society.The government will now seek to avoid making the same mistake of maintaining peace with Kurds. HDP leader Selahattin Demirtas is bashed daily by Turkish pro-government media as part of a concerted campaign to defame the charismatic leader, whose surge in last elections cost the ruling AKP its 13-year single-party rule. AKP wants to regain the trust of millions of conservative Kurds, who switched their side to vote for HDP in June. Portraying Demirtas as a “pawn of the PKK” is now the main electoral strategy. The Turkish public is now convinced that the latest political turmoil is directly linked to Erdogan’s presidential ambitions. We will yet to see how they will punish him in November elections.

Achieving Peace through Strength—A Good Lesson to Syria’s Revolt
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/August 26/15
Last Friday marked the second anniversary of the chemical weapons attacks perpetrated by the Syrian regime against the towns and villages of Eastern Ghouta near Syria’s capital, Damascus. That day, according to reliable sources, the area covering the eastern and northeastern suburbs of the city—especially Zamalka, Ain Terma, Kfar Batna and ‘Arbeen, as well as the southern suburbs of Mu’aththamiyya and Darayya—was shelled in the early hours of the morning by rockets carrying Sarin gas – as well as other poisonous material – from army bases in the Qalamoun mountains, northwest of Damascus. The number of casualties—most of whom were women and children—varied between 1,300 dead (the Syrian National Coalition) and 1,729 (The Free Syrian Army); while a preliminary US government assessment determined that 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack, including at least 426 children. The number of those injured was estimated to exceed 3,600.
That massacre took place after another “red line” was issued to Bashar Al-Assad regime by the US administration, as his government escalated its crackdown on the peaceful popular uprising, from shooting at demonstrations, to the use of heavy artillery, then resorting to the use of the air force and surface-to-surface missiles. The worse the suppression got, the faster American and Western condemnations, threats and “red lines” were issued, only to be proven empty and insincere. Consequently, Syrians’ anger and despair of international justice increased; and it was only natural that such a situation would destroy the case for moderation and give credence to extremism. Indeed, as if this was the international community’s plan all along, moderates began to lose out, defections from the army, security services, and political bodies all but stopped, while extremists took over the revolt. This was the most natural outcome of the shameless betrayal of the popular revolt by the international community, and its refusal—time and time again—to genuinely support the Free Syrian Army, formed by honorable officers and soldiers who simply refused to murder their own people.
Soon enough, foreign terrorists began flocking into Syria, from all over the world, with the declared aim of “supporting (Nusra) the Syrian people” and “fighting the infidel regime that is killing Sunni Muslims with Iran’s and Russia’s weapons”. Alas, as we all know now, the very chemistry of the revolt has changed, and the ugly international conspiracy has been exposed. Those foreign extremists—particularly Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants, who have turned their weapons on the revolt and Assad’s opponents—have now become the excuse given to Assad’s regime to continue its genocide. Barack Obama’s reaction to the August 21st, 2013 chemical attacks erased all doubts as regards his position. It was the landmark that proved that, contrary to all previous announcements, Washington did not mind Assad continuing to rule Syria even over the dead bodies of the Syrians.
That year secret talks between the US and Iran were uncovered too; and since then everything in the Middle East has been snowballing.
The Ghouta chemical massacre made it clear that regarding Syria the Obama administration was interested in only two things:
First, striking a regional deal with Iran, Assad’s protector, sponsor and lifeline; and second, protecting Israel against any weapon of mass destruction that may fall in the hands of groups that—unlike Assad—may truly threaten its existence. Thus, since any deal with Iran necessitated going back on all calls for Assad to go, Washington ignored all its previous “red lines”. Furthermore, the only practical reaction to the Ghouta chemical massacre was convincing Assad to hand over “most of” his chemical arsenal. This step was helpful both in reassuring Israel, and giving the Syrian dictator the green light to commit as many massacres as he pleases, while the US was working with Russia, Iran and China, to rehabilitate him, and accept him as a partner in the global war against ISIS!
As the fight for votes on the Iran nuclear deal intensifies in the US Congress, President Obama is using all means available in tempting and pressuring US lawmakers. After making clear that he would stick to the deal even if Congress voted against it—surely his opponents would not muster the two-thirds majority needed to kill off the White House veto—Obama announced las week in a letter to a Congressional Democrat “that the United States would unilaterally maintain economic pressure and deploy military options if needed to deter Iranian aggression.”
Such words in the present time sound very much like the “red lines” ridiculed and killed off by the Ghouta chemical attacks. They do not differ much from the White House’s futile attempts to reassure the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries while the dimensions of the Iranian regional aggression unfold day by day—even before international sanctions against Iran are lifted—and the plan for sectarian cleansing, ethnic partitioning, and redrawing of maps gathers pace in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
All this means that for the foreseeable future we must expect more maneuvering, cajoling, and threats. Even after the Congress vote, expected next month, the Iran deal will be part of the US presidential campaign, while unforeseen developments in Iraq and Syria may create new realities on the ground.
Still two interesting and important questions beg for answers:
First, will Washington be able to contain the repercussions of the regional chaos and disintegration if a deal-empowered Iran continues its expansionist war on its neighbours? Second, is it really true that Obama’s long-term strategy will eventually target Iran’s military capabilities and ambitions, as his defenders keep telling us? I believe we, Arabs, must pose these two questions; but until we have convincing answers Arab countries, more so the GCC states, need to plan their priorities, and raise the level of trust among each other instead of giving their enemies gratuitous political gifts. Surely no one at the moment is drumming up war, and no one will benefit from rejecting dialogue; however, a proper and meaningful dialogue cannot be conducted by means of arms, as the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani seems to envisage. Last week while attending Defence Industry Day in Tehran, Rouhani, said frankly “military might was necessary to achieve peace in the volatile Middle East”.
You got it absolutely right Mr. Rouhani… Thanks for the advice!

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