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Bible Quotation For Today/‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.
Mark 09/33-37: "Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, ‘Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.’ Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me."

Bible Quotation For Today/I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades
Book of Revelation 01/09-20: "I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 21-22/15
Who decides where the garbage goes/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/September 21/15
Putin is turning the Syrian coast into another Crimea/By Amir Taheri/New York Post/September 21/,15
Why Hungary’s Victor Orbán Got It Right on Islam/Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/September 21/15
Saudi Arabia: World's Human Rights Sewer/Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/September 21/15
Turkey's Islamist Factory Settings/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 21/1
Pressure shifts to Iran to implement nuclear deal/Al-Monitor/Week in Review/September 21/15
How one of the smallest religious communities in the world is struggling to sustain its community/Ahmad Melhem/Al-Monitor/September 21/15
Seven steps for America to save Syria/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/September 21/15
How the nuclear issue divided the Iranian media/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/September 21/15
Syria refugee crisis: Arab League’s inaction is shameful/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/September 21/15
Warplanes, not diplomacy, on Syria’s horizon/Sharif Nashashibi/Al Arabiya/September 21/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on September 21-22/15
Who decides where the garbage goes
Lebanon’s ‘You Stink’ protests return to Beirut streets
Delusions of grandeur & Aoun
Mashnouq: Malevolent Rhetoric against Beirut, a Continuation of Hariri's Murder Plan.
General Security: Defected Syria officer plotted Bekaa attacks
STL: Partial Loss for the Prosecution and Partial Victory for Jadeed, Khayat
Baabda Demo to Speed up Deal on Army Promotions
Sawan Issues Indictments in Terrorism, Murder Cases
Hungary Warns Migrants in Lebanese Media Ads
ISF Arrests Lebanese Linked with Salafist al-Nour Brigades
Jumblat: List of Condemned Politicians Endless, I Am Part of it
Shehayyeb Upbeat as Ain Drafil Residents Accept 7-Day Reopening of Naameh Landfill
200,000 Syrian Refugee Kids in Lebanon to Get Free Schooling
Visiting Dutch FM Holds Talks with Bassil on Refugee Crisis
U.S. Announces Additional $75.5M in Aid for Syria Refugees in Lebanon

Who decides where the garbage goes?
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/September 21/15
“Even though Chehayeb’s plan was still to be executed, Majdal Anjar residents will not accept the establishment of a dump in the village here,” said Rami, a Majdal Anjar resident. “If [the cabinet] decides to do so, even if the garbage trucks were accompanied by security forces, we will stop them. The security forces will be attacked before the trucks.”The Lebanese people have been suffering from garbage piling up on the streets for over two months now, and the state repeatedly failed to find a permanent solution to this crisis. After several weeks of meetings and negotiations, the Lebanese government came up with what has been called the “Akram Chehayeb waste crisis plan.” Agriculture Minister Chehayeb suggested that the Naameh dump be reopened for seven days and then opening dumps in Akkar, Bourj Hammoud, Saida and Majdal Anjar, a plan which has been adopted by the cabinet. Despite the objections of the residents of these cities, Chehayeb’s plan seems to be the only solution suggested by the cabinet. On Sunday, civil society groups and movements organized a march from Bourj Hammoud to Martyrs’ Square in protest against the plan. Akkar Is Not A Dump activists were also part of this march.
The position of the civil society group is clear: the totally object to a plan that only offers temporary solutions with no environmental guarantees and obliges a few cities to accept the garbage of the rest of the country. The plan also clearly states the locations of the suggested dumps — largely located in Sunni-majority villages. In Majdal Anjar, Chehayeb’s plan suggests the establishment of a dump in the Masnaa area, and residents believe the location was not only rejected by Sunnis because of the threat to the environment, but also by Hezbollah on the pretext of putting the security situation of the area at risk.
Ali Majzoub, member of the municipal committee of Majdal Anjar, says the main objections are about the environment and health risks. “Residents who live here do not care about Hezbollah’s military interests,” Majzoub told NOW. “If the residents here accepted the dump bine locted in Masnaa, the whole area would have been ready to face Hezbollah to make it happen.”
Future MPs position
Residents NOW spoke to in Majdal Anjar said that Future MPs do not care about them and that they only care about Beirut. Mazjoub said the sense that Future Movement MPs in particular are indifferent to their community is nothing new. “As Sunnis, we always say that our leaders are neglecting us and only remember us during the elections to get more votes.”Mazjoub also said that cabinet’s decision to establish a dump in Masnaa was an impulsive one, and that they didn’t communicate with the municipality or studying the location, which happens to be very close to a groundwater source. As a consequence, he says residence objected for two basic reasons. “The first is that, when you mention garbage, people directly think about pollution, cancer and the environment. They do not have enough culture to know how garbage is treated and how we can benefit from it financially and by producing electricity. And the second reason is that even if the dump was environmentally-friendly in theory, people do not trust the government to execute the plan. They do not trust the way Lebanese authorities will handle this issue.”Majzoub also said that the Sunni community might be directly targeted. “In Nabatieh, there is a ready waste-sorting plant with employees who are getting paid. The plant is not functional. Why don’t they use it?”Rami also says Furture MPs only care about Beirut. “This was very clear when Bahia Hariri suggested moving Beirut’s garbage to Saida,” he said. However, an analyst speaking on condition of anonymity told NOW that it’s not so much that Future MPs don’t care, but rather that they prefer not to object directly. “The Future MPs do not want to be on the front line. They accepted the plan publically, but gave the green light for their supporters to object it, and this is what happened in Majdal Anjar and Srar, Akkar.”
It’s also about the money
“The cabinet is sending the garbage to disadvantaged villages that need a lot of money and development plans,” said activist Khaled Hammoud. “I think that they want to do in Majdal Anjar what they did to Akkar: promise them money to take the garbage, and this is totally refused.” Hammoud says that Chehayeb’s plan has no other goal than containing the anger of protesters and that objections to the plan were not just coming in from the Bekaa. “All dumps are refused because they are demanding waste sorting and environmental treatment.”Another Bekaa resident NOW spoke to says there were deals made in connection with the Majdal Anjar dump plan with people from the Bekaa who are well-connected with Lebanese authorities. “Nicolas Fattouch (MP from Zahle) and Pierre Fattouch aim to benefit financially from the dump,” Rami said. “We call them here the new feudal lords.” While this allegation could not be independently confirmed, many residents told NOW the same thing. Majzoub says the dump was supposed to be established partly on Nicolas and Pierre Fattouch’s newly-bought lands and partly on public lands belonging to the Lebanese state. “Had the idea been suggested by a different person, we would have negotiated it. But since we know the Fattouch family and their goals, we directly refused it,” he told NOW. Hammoud says that nobody has specific information about people benefitting financially from the dump. “Nobody can give you exact information because the cabinet — more specifically Chehayeb and the [politicians] who are making these decisions are not revealing the exact location of where the dump is supposed to be.”
Myra Abdallah tweets @myraabdallah

Lebanon’s ‘You Stink’ protests return to Beirut streets
By the Associated Press | Beirut/Monday, 21 September 2015/Hundreds of Lebanese protesters pushed through a security cordon as they marched toward parliament late on Sunday night, the latest in a series of demonstrations that began with a trash crisis but has since expanded to target the country’s political class. Thousands marched through the streets of Beirut earlier in the day to press their demands for holding government officials accountable and new parliamentary elections. They also called for a sustainable solution to the trash piling in the streets of Beirut. Security forces blocked off streets leading to the parliament building, the final destination of the rally. The protesters raised their hands in the air to show they were unarmed, chanting “peaceful.” “The people are the source of authority,” protest organizer Ajwad Ayyash told the crowd, which was thinning by evening. “This is the square of the people. And we insist we must enter it so that we can have elections.” The square, Place de l’Etoile, is outside the parliament building. Lebanon’s parliament has extended its term twice in a controversial move amid disputes over a new election law. The last elections were in 2009. After more than an hour of standoff and some scuffles, protesters broke through the cordon. Police let them into the street leading to the square and the parliament, but set up a new cordon closer to the parliament building. Additional security forces were deployed as tension grew. What started in July as protests against trash piling in the streets is turning into Lebanon’s largest protest movement in years, targeting an entire political class. The movement is growing to include different groups with varied grievances about government dysfunction. There has been recurrent friction between police and protesters. Earlier Sunday, angry supporters of the parliament speaker, Nabih Berri, attacked a group of protesters waving a photo of him and accusing him and others of corruption. The brawl ended with the arrest of a Berri supporter who had jabbed a protester with a knife.

Delusions of grandeur
The Daily Star/September 21/15
In a double-pronged attack Sunday, more Hezbollah officials insisted on the appointment of Michel Aoun as president, as the FPM leader himself spoke of the need to respond to the apparent will of the people. Gebran Bassil, imposed upon the party by his father-in-law as the president of the party, a position which did not exist before now, also took the opportunity to stress the need for Aoun to fill the vacant role of president. He also spoke of the FPM as guardians of the Christians not just in Lebanon, but across the Middle East, self-appointing the group as the figureheads for an entire religion in the region. From a man who has twice failed to be elected by popular vote, this seems slightly rich. No one denies that this country needs a leader, but Aoun himself could not boast the support of a majority of the population. The party, and Aoun in particular, have delusions of grandeur, and they appear increasingly dangerous. Determined to win the presidency, Aoun and his party – with the backing of Hezbollah – appear ready to step up the methods necessary to get there, and to neglect all democratic processes, which the party professes to stand for.But if the FPM is not prepared to stand by the constitutional processes, it is time for other politicians and leaders to be firmer. Aoun and his people have been allowed to get away with too much for too long, and it is about time someone stood up to them.

Mashnouq: Malevolent Rhetoric against Beirut, a Continuation of Hariri's Murder Plan.
Naharnet/September 21/15/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq emphasized on Monday that all the security apparatuses will get together to prevent any attacks or damages inflicted on public and private property in central Beirut. “With the help of the Internal Security forces, the army and the General Security we will prevent any attempts to inflict damages on the public and private property in downtown Beirut,” stressed Mashnouq in a press conference. “What we see today is a malevolent rhetoric with a deep hatred for Beirut and the man who reconstructed it (in reference to former PM Rafik Hariri), but we will unwaveringly protect the heart of Beirut,” he firmly stated. In reference to the hate rhetoric obviously showed in the latest demos in Beirut, Mashnouq said: “The security project that assassinated Hariri once is resuming,” he added in a reference to the Syrian tutelage. “Beirut is not an orphan and we will strictly prevent with the help of the security apparatuses any attacks on public and private property in Beirut,” he stated, adding “I respect the mobilizations of the youth. “ His comments came during an opening of an ISF building for temporary detention. On the burden of the Syrian refugees and the role of the ISF in that regard, he said: “Lebanon is the sole country that was able to receive 30% of the refugees in just two years. The refugees crisis has become global and the ISF has a major role in facilitating their matters.” Beirut witnessed lately a series of demonstrations that were triggered by a waste management crisis.
The protests were primarily held in downtown Beirut where some protesters took their anger on the private and public property smashing traffic lights, setting things on fire, spray-painting walls and shops with defamatory slogans against Hariri.

General Security: Defected Syria officer plotted Bekaa attacks
Now Lebanon/September 21/15/The Lebanese security agency has announced it arrested two Lebanese suspects for planting explosives. BEIRUT – A Lebanese security agency has announced that a defected Syrian officer had been behind an attempt to conduct terror attacks in the Bekaa Valley. General Security issued a statement Monday morning saying that it had arrested a Lebanese national—identified only by his initials H.S.—for planting explosives in Bekaa villages and “recruiting people to photograph specific locations in those villages.” The statement further said that the suspect had been working for a Salafist group named the Al-Nour Brigades “which have carried out acts of terrorism aiming to shake security and stability at the orders of the defected Syrian officer I.M.” However, the statement did not go into further detail on the terror plot, the identity of the defected Syrian officer or which attacks the so-called Al-Nour Brigades have carried out. Prior to the General Security’s statement, there has been no public mention of the Al-Nour Brigades or any statements issued on behalf of the purported Salafist group. The agency did mention that the arrest of the Lebanese suspect was linked to an earlier arrest of another man on similar charges. On September 3, General Security announced it had arrested a Lebanese national identified as Aa.S for planting explosives. The security agency added that the suspect had confessed during interrogation to being paid by a defected Syrian officer. Four days later, a five-kilogram improvised explosive device was dismantled on a Bekaa road leading from Taanayel to Bar Elias. General Security did not mention if the incident was linked to their recent arrests. However, the statement did not go into further detail on the terror plot, the identity of the defected Syrian officer or which attacks the so-called Al-Nour Brigades have carried out.

STL: Partial Loss for the Prosecution and Partial Victory for Jadeed, Khayat
Naharnet/September 21/15/ Leidschendam, Naharnet Exclusive: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon is awaiting the legal response of the involved parties on the verdict it issued last Friday in the contempt case raised by the “Friend of the Court” or Amicus Curiae against al-Jadeed S.A.L. and the station's deputy chief editor Karma Khayat.Sources closely following up the tribunal's work said that the station has gone out of the circle of threat after the Contempt Judge, Nicola Lettieri, cleared it of charges of contempt for publishing details of witnesses in the trial of the alleged killers of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. But the sources believe that the confrontation between the court and al-Jadeed might take a new turn after the STL was surprised by unexpected efforts exerted by the station to find a legal way to prosecute the “Friend of the Court” for slander and defamation. As for Khayat, the sources expected the journalist to appeal the verdict issued against her over her insistence to confront the court politically, legally and through the media based on her conviction that the STL cannot put limits on freedom of expression. Khayat was on Friday cleared of one charge of contempt, but was found guilty of obstruction of justice for failing to remove the broadcast from the TV's website and social media as ordered. Her lawyers are now studying the appropriate time to appeal the ruling either before September 28 when the judge is expected to issue the sentence against her or after that date. The supporters of the “Friend of the Court,” Kenneth Scott, who emerged partly victorious from the contempt judge's decision, are meanwhile advising him to let go of any thought to appeal the verdict. As for the third party involved in the case, which is the STL in general, it can now benefit from the verdict that was issued last Friday to consolidate its credibility and drop all charges made against it of being politicized and biased because it has left the “Friend of the Court” partly disappointed in confronting the tribunal's political and media opponents.

Baabda Demo to Speed up Deal on Army Promotions
Naharnet/September 21/15/Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil's announcement that Free Patriotic Movement supporters will hold a protest near Baabda Palace next month will likely speed up a settlement on the promotion of high-ranking military officials. Highly-informed sources told As Safir newspaper on Monday that such a deal would contain the October 11 protest ahead of the retirement of Commando Regiment chief Chamel Roukoz, the son-in-law of Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun. The FPM, which is now headed by Bassil, who is also the son-in-law of Aoun, totally rejects the extension of the terms of top military and security officials, calling for the appointment of new figures instead. It is also backing the promotion of army officers to keep Roukoz in the military and make him eligible to become army commander because differences among rival parties are hindering new appointments in the absence of a president. Media reports said Sunday that Defense Minister Samir Moqbel extended the term of the army intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Edmond Fadel for an additional six months. The move angered Aoun, which he considered it “illegal,” sources close to Aoun told An Nahar daily. Education Minister Elias Bou Saab, who is an FPM official, has been holding contacts to reach an agreement on the promotion of several army officers, including Roukoz, from brigadier-general to the rank of major-general.But his efforts have not yet yielded any results. Bou Saab told As Safir that “there should be no vacancies in security and military posts.” “Discussions are underway over some details linked to the names” of officers, he said.

Sawan Issues Indictments in Terrorism, Murder Cases
Naharnet/September 21/15/Military Examining Magistrate Judge Fadi Sawan issued on Monday four indictments in terrorism, murder and killing attempt of Lebanese soldiers and weapons possession cases. Sawan issued arrest warrants against the suspects, all of them detainees, and referred them to the permanent military court for trial. In the first decision, three Lebanese were indicted for the killing and murder attempt of Lebanese troops in the northeastern border town of Arsal. They are Zuhair and Ayad Amoun and Mohammed Karnabi. The judge also indicted six detained Syrians for belonging to terrorist organizations and the possession of arms and explosives. Meanwhile, the Lebanese army said it has arrested in the area of al-Qobbeh in the the northern city of Tripoli a Palestinian on charges of assaulting military posts and carrying out terrorist attacks.
It identified him as Mohammed Ibrahim Ibrahim.

Hungary Warns Migrants in Lebanese Media Ads
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ The Hungarian government placed advertisements in the Lebanese press on Monday warning of "the strongest possible action" against anyone attempting to cross its borders illegally. But a full-page notice in other local newspapers featured a letter by the Doctors Without Borders group urging the European Union to open its borders to refugees. Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million of the four million Syrians who have fled their homeland since 2011, some of whom are now heading to Europe as the continent faces its biggest migration crisis since World War II. Hungary's advertisements in both Arabic and English came two weeks after Denmark placed similar adverts in Lebanese newspapers in an attempt to stem an influx of migrants and asylum-seekers. "Hungarians are hospitable, but the strongest possible action is taken against those who attempt to enter Hungary illegally," warned the adverts in al-Joumhouriya, An Nahar and French daily L'Orient le Jour. "Do not listen to the people smugglers. Hungary will not allow illegal immigrants to cross its territory."But medical organization MSF published its own notices in three local papers, appealing to the EU to open its borders. It said Europe's "policies of deterrence... have turned a foreseeable and manageable influx of people fleeing for survival into a policy-made human tragedy." MSF's Humanitarian Coordinator for Displacement Aurelie Pontie told AFP that "the only way forward is through providing safe and legal passage, and not through publishing ads to push back refugees.""While European governments are using ad space in the Arab region to send messages of deterrence to refugees and migrants, MSF is using those same channels this week to publicly remind European leaders of their responsibilities."MSF's letter appeared in al-Hayat, al-Quds, and The Daily Star, and included a large photo of a bright orange life jacket, a symbol of the dangerous journey many migrants and refugees are making across the Mediterranean. Last week, Hungary introduced tough new laws giving courts the power to jail people for up to three years for crossing its borders "illegally," rising to five years if they damage its frontier fences. Hungary has built a razor-wire fence along the entire length of its border with Serbia, and last week hastily erected a barrier along the 41 kilometers (25 miles) of its border with Croatia which is not formed by the hard-to-cross Drava River. The rightwing government in Budapest has come under heavy criticism for its treatment of migrants, particularly over the police's handling of clashes at the flashpoint Serbian border crossing of Roszke. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said he is only applying EU regulations and blames Greece for waving the migrants through and Germany for relaxing asylum rules for Syrians. In its own adverts in Lebanese papers earlier this month, Denmark warned that it had tightened its own regulations concerning refugees.

ISF Arrests Lebanese Linked with Salafist al-Nour Brigades
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/The Internal Security Forces arrested a Lebanese national in the eastern Bekaa valley on charges of carrying out terrorist attacks in the area in favor of the Salafist al-Nour Brigades, an ISF statement said on Monday.
The detainee was arrested on charges of tossing explosives in towns and villages in the Bekaa in collaboration with a Lebanese who had been arrested earlier. He is also accused of tasking unknown individuals of taking photos of certain targets in Bekaa towns in favor of the terrorist al-Nour Brigades which is commissioned to carry out attacks to destabilize Lebanon's security and stability. A defected Syrian officer is said to be the instigator behind al-Nour Brigades and has commissioned them to carry out the attacks, the statement added.
Investigations are being made to find all members involved.

Jumblat: List of Condemned Politicians Endless, I Am Part of it
Naharnet/September 21/15/Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat said on Monday that the list of corrupt politicians in Lebanon is endless, expressing surprise at the fact that the protesters held banners in Sunday's demonstration limiting corruption to only three, including him. “Yes I am part of this political strata condemned by the popular civil society movements, and I am accused until proven guilty. But at the same time I have the right to express surprise at the fact that they have limited the accusations of corruption to only three politicians, raising their pictures in the demos,” Jumblat told As Safir daily on Monday. Civil society protesters marched Sunday from Bourj Hammoud to central Beirut's Nejmeh Square, carrying banners condemning the ruling political class and chanting slogans against the government. The banners also reflected the protest movement's demands regarding the crises of waste management, electricity, salaries and other social issues. One of the banners contained the pictures of Speaker Nabih Berri, former Premier Saad Hariri and Jumblat, referring to them as corrupt. “I have a democratic right to ask why have they limited corruption to only three names, meanwhile the list is a very long one that no banner can have the capacity to hold,” the PSP chief concluded.

Shehayyeb Upbeat as Ain Drafil Residents Accept 7-Day Reopening of Naameh Landfill
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb was optimistic Monday about the implementation of an emergency waste management plan that he devised with a group of experts, as residents of the town of Ain Drafil said they will accept a 7-day temporary reopening of the controversial Naameh landfill. “The minister stressed the righteousness of the demands of the town of Ain Drafil and he pledged to fulfill them,” said a delegation from the town after meeting Shehayyeb. The demands include "separating the town's share of municipal funds from that of the town of Abay" and "transferring a due payment to the Central Fund for the Displaced." “He promised that the plan will be comprehensive and that the reopening of the Naameh-Ain Drafil landfill will be limited to seven days only,” the delegation said. “Accordingly, the residents of Ain Drafil underlined that they support Minister Akram Shehayyeb and stand by him in the implementation of his plan for the waste management crisis,” it added. Meanwhile, an upbeat Shehayyeb told OTV that “the chances of success for the implementation of the waste management plan have become bigger than the chances of failure.”On Friday, the municipal union of towns in the vicinity of the Naameh landfill announced its approval of Shehayyeb's proposal to reopen the facility for seven days to dump the trash that has been accumulating in Beirut and Mount Lebanon since the dumpsite's July 17 closure. The union, however, insisted that other landfills cited in the minister's plan must be also activated at the same time. But the so-called Campaign for the Closure of the Naameh Landfill, which comprises activists and residents, reiterated its rejection of any temporary reopening of the site. "We reject the entry of 150,000 tons of rotten garbage into the landfill under the excuse that there is no alternative solution," it said in a statement recited at a sit-in outside the facility's entrance. "This same excuse was the reason behind 17 years of extension," the campaign noted. It also condemned Shehayyeb's committee for "failing to discuss the alternative solution that was proposed by the Lebanon Eco Movement, which is based on distributing the waste to the districts' sorting centers, a solution that is less costly than that envisioned by the plan."Shehayyeb has stressed that only partnership between authorities and the civil society would guarantee the success of the committee tasked with resolving the country's two-month long waste crisis. A plan devised by Shehayyeb and a team of experts calls for reopening the Naameh landfill, which was closed in mid-July, for seven days to dump the garbage that accumulated in random sites in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. It also envisions converting two existing dumps, in the northern Akkar area of Srar and the eastern border area of al-Masnaa, into sanitary landfills capable of receiving trash for more than a year. After he announced his plan last week, the civil society and local residents of Akkar, Naameh, Majdal Anjar, and Bourj Hammoud protested against the step. Environmentalists fear the crisis could degenerate to the point where garbage as well as sewage will simply overflow into the sea from riverbeds as winter rains return. The health ministry has warned that garbage scattered by seasonal winds could also block Lebanon's drainage system. The trash crisis has sparked angry protests that initially focused on waste management but grew to encompass frustrations with water and electricity shortages and Lebanon's chronically divided political class. Campaigns like "You Stink" brought thousands of people into the streets in unprecedented non-partisan and non-sectarian demonstrations against the entire political class.

200,000 Syrian Refugee Kids in Lebanon to Get Free Schooling
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Half of school-aged Syrian refugees in Lebanon will receive a free education under a new campaign launched Monday by the host country and the U.N.'s child and refugee agencies. The government and the U.N. agencies said in a joint statement that the initiative would aim to reach 166,667 Lebanese and 200,000 non-Lebanese vulnerable children for the 2015-2016 academic year. "Our responsibility is to ensure that every child on Lebanese territory has access to education," said Education Minister Elias Bou Saab. A country of four million people, Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees, including at least 400,000 school-aged children, according to the U.N.'s refugee agency, UNHCR. The $94 million project would cover the costs of school registration, supplies, and parental funds for refugees as well as vulnerable Lebanese children up to grade nine. A similar program last year provided free education and supplies for 100,000 Syrian children. "This year marks a major breakthrough: we will double the number of children enrolled in Lebanese public schools compared to last year," said Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF's Lebanon representative. "However, with all the efforts expended, at least 200,000 refugee children still remain outside of the formal education system, deprived of their basic right." UNHCR representative Mireille Girard said the agency's "priority is to identify out-of-school children and encourage their integration in Lebanese public schools.""At a time when refugees are facing increasing challenges in their daily lives, certified education for their children is much needed."According to UNICEF, more than 2.6 million children from war-ravaged Syria are out of school, sparking fears of a "lost generation."

Visiting Dutch FM Holds Talks with Bassil on Refugee Crisis
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/The Dutch foreign minister arrived in Beirut Monday to discuss the refugee crisis facing Europe and the Middle East with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil, ahead of a summit on the subject this week. At a news conference with Bassil, Bert Koenders said he would visit a Syrian refugee camp in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa Valley the following morning. "I would like to welcome the fact that Lebanon has shown a very important role and responsibility in this crisis," Koenders said, adding that the Netherlands realized Lebanon was "under pressure."A country of four million people, Lebanon is hosting more than 1.1 million Syrian refugees who have fled the nearly five-year war across the border.In recent weeks, thousands of refugees and migrants, many of them from Syria, have taken to an illegal route across land and sea to reach safety in Europe. European Union countries are scrambling to manage the massive influx, with EU leaders set to discuss the crisis at a regional summit on Wednesday. "Now that the mass migration waves have touched Europe... we witness shut borders all over the continent," said Bassil. Bassil said Lebanon had been coping with the "harsh reality" of its large refugee population "despite our scarce resources."He said the solution to the ongoing refugee crisis would be reaching a political solution to Syria's entrenched conflict. Koenders, too, said it was "essential to find a solution to this deep, deep crisis" in Syria.He said the Netherlands had allocated $25 million for reception facilities in Lebanon. "It's important to note that this amount of money... is something meant for refugees but also Lebanese communities," the Dutch diplomat said. An official from within Koenders' delegation said he had arrived in Beirut from Tehran, and that he would also meet Lebanese Minister of Social Affairs Rashid Derbas on Tuesday. His visit comes one week after British Prime Minister David Cameron visited Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan.

U.S. Announces Additional $75.5M in Aid for Syria Refugees in Lebanon
Naharnet/September 21/15//The White House announced Monday that the United States is providing more than $75.5 million in additional “life-saving assistance” for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. It is part of a $419 million package of funding to support the operations of the United Nations and other international and non-governmental organizations in several countries, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM),. This new funding brings the total U.S. humanitarian assistance in response to the Syrian conflict to “more than $1.6 billion in Fiscal Year 2015 and over $4.5 billion since the start of the crisis,” the White House said. The U.N. estimates that Lebanon is the highest per capita refugee hosting country in the world, with over one million Syrian refugees, in addition to 45,000 Palestinian refugees from Syria. “Today's announcement increases support to both refugees and Lebanese host communities. With the additional funding, the U.N. and international organization partners in Lebanon can continue to deliver shelter assistance, education, healthcare, cash assistance for emergency needs, and basic relief items like blankets, heaters, and hygiene kits,” the U.S. statement said.It noted that the additional U.S. funding also supports vulnerable Lebanese communities hosting refugees by “rehabilitating the municipal water and sanitation systems, supporting local community centers, providing supplies and new equipment to health clinics, and improving school facilities.”

U.S. Officials Say Russia Deployed 28 Combat Planes in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Russia has deployed 28 combat planes in Syria, U.S. officials said Monday, confirming the latest move in Moscow's increasing military presence in the war-torn nation. "There are 28 fighter and bomber aircraft" at an airfield in the western Syrian province of Latakia, one of the officials told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. A second official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the figure, and added there were about 20 Russian combat and transport helicopters at the base. That official also said Russia was operating drones over Syria, but did not give additional details. Washington in recent weeks has expressed growing concern over Russia's increasing military presence in Syria to support President Bashar Assad. The United States has warned that Russian military backing for the Syrian regime only risks sending more extremists to the war-torn country and could further hamper any effort at bringing peace. Moscow, meanwhile, has been on a diplomatic push to get the coalition of Western and regional powers fighting the Islamic State group to join forces with Assad against the jihadists. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter spoke with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu on Friday, ending an 18-month freeze in military relations triggered by NATO anger over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis. They agreed to continue discussions, which are crucial to lessen the risk of incidents involving coalition forces and Russian forces operating in the same air space. The U.S.-led coalition is carrying out almost daily strikes against the jihadists in Syria.

Netanyahu: Putin meeting crucial to avoiding 'misunderstandings' at snorthern border
Ynetnews/Itamar Eichner/9.21.15, 16:05 /Leaders meet on cooperation in Syria to avoid confusion and agree on protocol to allow Israeli action against Hezbollah in the Golan. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in order to "communicate our policies," and insure that there would be no "misunderstandings" between Israeli and Russian forces, in light of Moscow's recent deployment of aircraft and soldiers into Syria.Netanyahu told a press conference after the meeting that Israel seeks to foil Iranian attempts to create a base for terror in the Golan Heights, and that his goal was "to prevent misunderstandings between IDF troops and Russian troops". The main result of the meeting, he said, was to create a mechanism to avoid such misunderstandings. "Our main goal is to defend Syria," Putin replied politely. "With that being said, I understand your concerns and I'm very happy you've come to discuss these issues in detail." Though it's currently unknown what was said in private between the two leaders, Netanyahu was expected to request that Israel maintain freedom for its air force in the skies above Syria.The IAF has launched strikes in Syrian territory on several occasions either in retaliation to rocket fire or against weapons being transported to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Netanyahu and his delegation left for Russia Monday morning and also planned to establishing protocol to prevent identification problems and potential clashes that could occur between Israeli and Russia aircraft. Russian jets and other military forces recently arrived in Syria in an effort to save President Bashar Assad from defeat at the hands of the Islamic State and other rebels. During Putin's meeting with Netanyahu, US officials said that Russian drones had begun surveillance missions in Syria. According to the prime minister's office, Putin would also be presented with intelligence proving Iran's direct involvement against Israel in the Golan Heights and that Hezbollah uses and has access to advanced Russian equipment. There is currently no Israeli ambassador in Moscow as Dorit Goldner completed her tenure and returned to Israel. Her replacement, Tzvi Hefetz, has already been approved, but will only arrive in Russia in another two months. Netanyahu's last visit to Russia was in October 2013, and Monday's visit was his first since conflict erupted in Ukraine, marring Russia-US relations

Netanyahu Meets Putin in Moscow over Syria Worries
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday as Israel frets over a Russian military buildup in Syria.Netanyahu was accompanied by his army and intelligence chiefs in a rare step for an overseas visit that Israel said would focus on Russia's maneuvering in the war-torn nation. "It was very important to come here in order to clarify our position and to do everything to avoid any misunderstandings between our forces," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. Netanyahu said he was determined to stop arms deliveries to Lebanon's Hizbullah and accused Syria's army and Iran of trying to create a "second front" against Israel. Putin for his part said Russia's actions in the Middle East "always were and will be very responsible" and downplayed the threat by Syrian forces to Israel."We know and understand that the Syrian army and Syria in general is in such a state that it isn't up to opening a second front -- it is trying to maintain its own statehood," he said in comments broadcast on Russian television. The United States has said Russia -- one of the few remaining allies of President Bashar Assad -- recently sent troops, artillery and aircraft to Syria, sparking fears that Moscow could be preparing to fight alongside government forces. Moscow argues that any such support falls in line with existing defense contracts, but Moscow and Washington on Friday launched military talks on the four-year-old conflict that has claimed nearly 250,000 lives. Reports in the Israeli press said that the aim of Netanyahu's Moscow visit was to avoid any possible clashes between Israeli and Russian jets that could operate over Syria.Israeli military officials reportedly fear that any Russian air presence could cut their room for maneuver after several purported strikes on Iranian arms transfers to Hizbullah through Syria in recent months that were not officially acknowledged by Israeli authorities. 'Lack of faith' in U.S. Moscow has also been on a diplomatic push to get a U.S.-led coalition of Western and regional powers fighting the Islamic State group to join forces with Assad against the jihadists. Israel opposes Assad's regime but has sought to avoid being dragged into the conflict in neighboring Syria. It also fears that Iran could increase its support for Hizbullah and other militant groups as international sanctions are gradually lifted under a July nuclear deal that Moscow helped negotiate between Tehran and world powers. Netanyahu is set to fly to the United States for talks with President Barack Obama in November in a bid to ease tensions over the Iran deal. But Israeli left-leaning daily Haaretz said the visit to Moscow appeared to reflect Netanyahu's "lack of faith in the ability and willingness of the U.S. to protect Israeli security interests." Netanyahu and Putin were also set to discuss the lack of progress in the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, the Kremlin said, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas set to meet Putin in Moscow on Wednesday.

Putin’s slippery evasions for Netanyahu’s concerns about Iran
DEBKAfile Special Report September 21, 2015
According to initial reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and President Vladimir Putin talked mostly at cross-purposes when they met in the presidential residence outside Moscow Monday, Sept. 21. According to debkafile’s sources, Netanyahu, who brought with him an impressive party of top Israeli generals, presented his host with intelligence evidence to demonstrate that Iran – under the cover of the Syrian army – is trying to “build a second terrorist front against us from the Golan Heights.” He indicated that Israel would be forced to resort to military action to counter this front and asked to see Putin in order to avert collisions between Israeli and Russian forces on Syrian soil. Putin greeted these words with slippery evasions. Syria is in no state to open up an additional front, he said, and Moscow's main goal in its involvement in Syria is to defend that country. The point the Israeli prime minister tried to make was that Israel’s security was at stake here - not Syria’s. He stressed that Iran and Syria were arming the radical Islamic terrorist organization Hizballah with “advanced weaponry that is directed at us, and has already been fired at us.”But Putin sidestepped this too, remarking that that he is aware that Israel has been fired upon from Syria, and has condemned that, but added that those weapons were “locally produced.”
While the two leaders were still talking, US officials disclosed that Russia had started drone surveillance missions in Syria. On Sept. 16, debkafile’s sources warned that, like US President Barack Obama, who never tires of pledging his commitment to Israel’s security, yet turns his back on Iran’s pursuit of its ambition to destroy Israel, Putin too would have little time for Israel’s fundamental security concerns. debkafile reported before the meeting: On Saturday, Sept. 19, just two days before Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the presidential dacha outside Moscow, troops at the Russian base outside the coastal Syrian city of Latakia were seen preparing to deploy batteries of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Their presence in Syria will raise major questions, one of which is this: against which air power are they deployed, given the fact that the Islamic State has no air force.Their deployment therefore poses troubling ramifications for the ongoing Syrian civil war as well as the region as a whole. For Israel, the placement of S-300 missiles in Syria is problematic for three reasons:
1. They seriously reduce the Israeli Air Force’s freedom of action in Lebanese and Syrian airspace.
2. Following a spate of contradictory and muddled statements about Moscow’s intentions to withhold the S-300s from Syria and Iran – an apparent smoke screen -, it turns out that they are coming to Syria after all.
3. The Russians say they are building up military strength in Syria to fight ISIS. But neither ISIS nor any other regional power poses an air threat to the Russian deployment. So the state-of-the-art air defense missile delivered to Syria, to which Iran too has access, does pose a threat to Israel’s security.
Its deployment in Syria appears to signal that Putin has a long game for his military buildup in Syria - more far-reaching that it would appear.
Each day brings news of more Russian forces arriving in Syria. At first, reports said several hundred marines were being deployed, but now preparations are being made for 2,000 of them.
A similar process is occurring with the deployment of anti-aircraft missiles. Initially, reports said that Moscow was providing Syria with the SA-22, known as the Pantsir-S1, but those missiles never arrived. Now, it appears that the S-300 is to be deployed instead.
The arrival of four advanced multi-role Sukhoi 30SM (Flanker) tactical jets in Latakia on Sept. 18 has also raised eyebrows. It came just hours after US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter met with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in an effort to prevent collisions between US and Russian forces operating in Syria. As those jets are intended for air-to-air combat, observers wonder which forces are to be targeted. The same question hangs over the half a dozen MiG-31 interceptors, which landed in Damascus earlier this month.
So what is Putin’s real game in Syria?
In another development that was only noticed in very few circles in the West and Israel, Iranian Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi, military advisor of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on ‘Friday, Sept. 18: “Russia moves in coordination with Iran in some regional issues including Syria.”
In other words, the US and Israel, which are attempting to coordinate their military steps with those of Russia, have already fallen behind.
Reports in Israel over the last few days have claimed that Putin was keen on holding the summit even more than Netanyahu, and that the Israeli Air Force had started setting up a mechanism for liaison with the Russian Air Force in order to prevent inadvertent collisions.
But these plans have been overtaken by events,
There is no doubt that Netanyahu is making a bold statement by bringing to the Kremlin meeting the IDF chief of staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkot and the head of military intelligence, Maj. Gen. Hertzi Halevi. This is the first time such high-ranking military officers have participated in a meeting of the Israeli and Russian leaders. debkafile’s sources in Moscow report that Putin will be attended by his national security advisor, Nikolai Patrushev. This is the Russian president’s way of indicating that, for him, the talks will focus on a general assessment of the Syrian situation, whereas Israel is seeking a discussion on the military aspects of the growing Russian intervention..In this context, it should be mentioned that, when the commander of Iran’s Al-Qods brigades, Gen. Qassem Soleimani, visited Moscow 10 days ago, the most senior Russian official he met was Patrushev.

Rights Group: Iraq Must Rein in Paramilitary Forces
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/The Iraqi government must assert control over paramilitary forces that have carried out abuses including enforced disappearances and destruction of property, and hold those responsible to account, Human Rights Watch said. Baghdad should "take immediate steps to establish effective command and control over pro-government militias (and) disband militias that resist government control," the rights group said in a report. It must also ensure that Iraqi forces involved in abuses "are fairly and appropriately disciplined or prosecuted," and provide compensation or alternative housing to people whose homes have been destroyed, HRW said. The report details destruction of homes and detentions carried out in the Tikrit area, north of Baghdad, after the city was retaken from the Islamic State jihadist group, which overran large parts of Iraq last year. "Militia forces looted, torched, and blew up hundreds of civilian houses and buildings in Tikrit and... neighbouring towns," HRW said. "They also unlawfully detained some 200 men and boys, at least 160 of whom remain unaccounted for." Baghdad turned to mostly Shiite volunteer forces for support as IS advanced towards the capital in June 2014. Those groups have played a key role in halting and then reversing the jihadists' gains.In doing so, the government empowered Shiite militias, some with chequered human rights records, and spurred the creation of new ones, allowing them to act with near-impunity despite the fact that they officially fall under government command.

Regime Bombardment Kills 18 Civilians in Syria's Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Heavy bombardment by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad killed at least 18 civilians on Monday in a residential district of the northern city of Aleppo, a monitor said. "Regime forces fired on the al-Shaar neighborhood in Aleppo city's east, which is controlled by the opposition, and killed at least 18 civilians," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. "A surface-to-surface missile hit the al-Shaar neighborhood. People started gathering, and that's when the army fired more missiles at the same area," he said.
Abdel Rahman said dozens of people were wounded and others were still trapped under the rubble. Chaos reigned as screaming men carried wounded civilians from collapsing buildings. "The civil defense came here to pull people out of the rubble, put out fires and save people," one emergency worker told AFP. A man standing on the charred carcass of a car held his head in his hands as he stared into the lobby of a partly destroyed building littered with debris. "This is a public market and all of these people were shopping. Every time he (Assad) suffers a defeat, he takes it out on civilians," a resident said.
Aleppo, once Syria's economic powerhouse, has been devastated by fighting since 2012. It is now divided between government control in the west and opposition control in the east. Much of Aleppo has been left in ruins as regime forces carry out aerial attacks and rebels retaliate, despite criticism of both sides from humanitarian rganizations. Further east along Syria's border with Turkey, four people were killed in twin car bomb attacks on the frontier town of Ras al-Ain, the Observatory and Syria's official news agency said. The Observatory said that Kurdish security forces were among the dead. SANA said that "terrorist suicide bombers... detonated a huge amount of explosives" just outside the town and that another four people were wounded. Ras al-Ain, in Hasakeh province, was the site of ferocious fighting in 2013 between Kurdish militia and the Islamic State group before the former drove the jihadists from the town and its nearby border post.

Study: IS Defectors Disillusioned with Killing Muslims
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ A growing number of "disillusioned" Islamic State fighters are defecting from the jihadist group and could be used by governments to deter potential recruits, a report published Monday said. At least 58 people have left the group and publicly spoken about their defection since January 2014, according to the report by the International Centre for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence (ISCR) at King's College London. The study said that 17 fighters were reported to have defected in June, July and August alone, adding that they represent only a "small fraction" of former fighters, with many too scared to come forward. The ISCR called on governments to make it easier for defectors to speak out, without the threat of prosecution, as a deterrent to others. Those who told their stories overwhelmingly said they were disaffected by the killing of fellow Sunni Muslims, including innocent civilians, and the group's failure to confront the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad. "The defectors' voices are strong and clear: 'IS is not protecting Muslims. It is killing them,'" the report said. One defector, identified as Ebrahim B., from Germany, claimed to speak for two dozen of his comrades who traveled to Syria to fight Assad only to be disappointed by the reality on the ground. "Muslims are fighting Muslims. Assad's forgotten about. The whole jihad was turned upside down," the report cited him as saying. IS leaders consider the Free Syrian Army, Ahrar al-Sham, and al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra as enemies and have engaged in "vicious battles" with all of them, according to the report. But many defectors argued that fighting other Sunni groups was "wrong, counterproductive and religiously illegitimate", it said, adding that this "was not the kind of jihad they had come to Syria and Iraq to fight." The defectors mentioned in the report were permanent residents of 17 countries, including nine from Western Europe and Australia. Dozens of defectors have fled to Turkey while others have reportedly been executed as "spies" or "traitors" by IS, which considers defection as apostasy.
Leaving the group is "complex and dangerous", the report said, with many forced to go into hiding, fearing prosecution. "Many are still trapped inside Syria or Iraq –- unable to escape an organization that they no longer feel any allegiance for," the report added. The ISCR is calling on governments to "recognize the value and credibility of defector narratives" and to ensure the safety of those who speak out, as well as remove the "legal disincentives".While acknowledging that some defectors are "likely to have committed crimes", it believes their testimonies could deter others from joining IS. The report also shed light on reasons why people join the group, the most common being the atrocities committed by Assad's government in Syria. It said many also believed IS represented a "perfect Islamic State". Some were lured by promises of food, luxury goods, cars and having their debts paid off -- promises which rarely came to fruition.

Jerusalem Under Tight Security for Jewish, Muslim Holidays
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ Israel said Monday thousands of police would be deployed in Jerusalem ahead of the Yom Kippur and Eid al-Adha holidays after three days of clashes rocked the al-Aqsa mosque compound. Authorities also said 66 people had been arrested in Jerusalem over the past week, including some detained in connection with the unrest at al-Aqsa which saw Israeli police clash with rioters. Yom Kippur begins on Tuesday night and lasts until Wednesday evening, with thousands of Jews expected to visit the Western Wall below the al-Aqsa compound in Jerusalem's Old City. The Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday begins on Wednesday evening and continues until Sunday. From Monday night, traffic will be restricted around the Old City and checkpoints will be set up. The al-Aqsa compound will be open to visits as usual on Wednesday, but only Muslims will be allowed access during the four-day Eid holiday, police said. Israeli authorities said they would decide on Tuesday whether to impose age restrictions on Muslims entering the compound. They have previously prevented younger people from entering to reduce the risk of violence when tensions have run high. Last week's clashes occurred as Jews celebrated their New Year, or Rosh Hashanah. Police said they raided the al-Aqsa compound to stop youths who had barricaded themselves inside the mosque from disrupting visits by Jews and tourists. Clashes broke out during the raids, with protesters throwing fireworks, stones and other objects at police, who fired stun grenades. There were also clashes in the alleyways of the Old City outside the compound. Friday saw further unrest in the occupied West Bank and sporadically in Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa, the third holiest site in Islam, is also venerated by Jews as the Temple Mount and is considered the most sacred in Judaism. Muslims have been alarmed by an increase in visits by Jews to the site and fear rules governing the compound will be changed. Jews are allowed to visit but not to pray to avoid provoking tensions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said repeatedly he is committed to the status quo at the site. Israel seized east Jerusalem, where al-Aqsa is located, in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community. In a further sign of tight security, Israel has also deployed two anti-missile batteries around the cities of Sderot and Netivot near the Gaza Strip, army radio reported. Three rockets were fired into southern Israel in recent days from the Palestinian enclave controlled by the Islamist Hamas group, without causing any casualties.

Monitoring Group: IS Claims Responsibility for Cairo Bombing
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ An Egypt-based affiliate of the Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a bomb attack in the capital, Cairo, which wounded two people. The claim was reported late Sunday by SITE Intelligence Group, a U.S.-based group that monitors militant websites. The explosion happened near a building with administrative offices for Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and caused minor damage to the structure. Egypt's state news agency MENA said the two injured people were rushed to a nearby hospital.Egypt faces a burgeoning insurgency. Attacks claimed by the Islamic State group have primarily targeted security forces in the restive northern Sinai. Last month in Cairo, a car bomb claimed by Islamic State militants ripped into a national security building in a residential neighborhood, wounding at least 29 people.

European States Raise Pressure for Syria Peace at U.N. Rights Council
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/Europe's migrant crisis took center-stage at the U.N. human rights council on Monday, as European states said the need to end the conflict in Syria was at an all-time high. After formally receiving the latest report from U.N. investigators on widespread rights abuses committed by all sides during the four-year war, European delegations stressed that ending conflict in Syria was the only way to contain the flow of people seeking refuge on the continent. "We must not forget that the root cause of this migration stems from Assad's treatment of his own people," Britain's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Julian Braithwaite, told the council, referring to Syrian President Bashar Assad. The solution in Syria was to help moderate anti-government forces "to agree a future free from the regime," while supporting a U.N.-backed political settlement, Braithwaite said. Voicing a sentiment expressed by several other European delegations, a statement from Greece said, "a viable political solution to the conflict is now more needed than ever."Greece has received a majority of the nearly half million migrants and refugees who have washed up on Europe's shores this year and said it was struggling to care for new arrivals amid its own "economic and social constraints."The overwhelming majority of those who have arrived in Greece are Syrians. The panel of four U.N. investigators -- known as the Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic (COI) -- voiced increasing frustration over the failures of the international community to forge a political solution to the conflict. "The profound human suffering, long seen in the hospitals and camps of Syria’s neighbors, is etched on the haggard faces of refugees huddled in European train stations and camping behind razor wire at (European) borders," COI chairman Paulo Pinheiro told the rights council. "This is the spiraling cost of the failure to bring Syria back to peace." Syria's civil war has killed more than 240,000 people, forced another four million to flee the country and left some 7.6 million displaced internally.

Top Syria regime officer injured in assassination bid: report
Now Lebanon/September 21/15/BEIRUT – A top Syrian army commander who has achieved celebrity status among regime supporters has reportedly been injured in an assassination attempt. In a report published Monday, pro-rebel outlet All4Syria said that Colonel Suheil al-Hassan—the leader of the Syrian army’s crack “Tiger Forces”—has “been absent from the theatre of Syrian regime military operations recently.”“This [development has come] after an incident in which his bodyguard was killed and he received a head injury,” the outlet claimed, citing a defector. “Pictures of Colonel Hassan circulated recently on social media are not him,” the defector said. “It’s someone who looks like him.” On Sunday, a video emerged purporting to show Hassan conducting a field inspection in the east Homs province amid the battles underway there between regime troops and ISIS. Video puporting to show Suheil al-Hassan on a field inspection. All4Syria’s source said he believes Hassan is probably undergoing a surgical operation after sustaining a head wound in recent weeks. “The injury was plain to see in pictures… of his participation in the funeral of his assistant, who was killed during an attempt to kill Hassan himself,” the defector said. All4Syria provided a picture purporting to show Hassan in the funeral with his head wrapped in a bandage, however a Google search reveals the image dates back to early August. Hassan has risen rapidly through the ranks of the Syrian army during the course of the civil war in the country, gaining prominence in 2013 when he was tasked with forming his own crack elite unit to conduct offensive operations. His “Tiger Forces” gained fame for relieving regime troops besieged in the Aleppo Central Prison in early 2014 and retaking the Shaer gas field from ISIS later that year. The battlefield successes boosted Hassan’s media profile, with a cult of personality emerging around the Syrian officer who has been feted by regime supporters as a hero that does not lose battles, despite recent reverses in the Idlib province and adjacent Al-Ghab Plain. In a December 2014 report, leading French daily Le Monde postulated that Hassan’s celebrity status—especially among Syrian Alawites—could even put him in a position to rival Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jordan-backed tribesmen fighting ISIS
Now Lebanon/September 21/15/BEIRUT – An anti-regime tribal coalition that is financed by Amman and seeks to roll back the threat of ISIS in southern Syria has emerged in recent weeks, a pro-rebel outlet reported on Monday. Dubai based Al-Aan TV published a report profiling the Collective of Free Southern Tribesmen, a newly re-named rebel conglomeration that is fighting ISIS in southern Syria’s Al-Lajat Plain. The Collective on September 4 publicly announced that it was beginning an offensive against ISIS in Al-Lajat, which is located on the northeastern edge of the Daraa province near the Druze-populated Suweida region. Originally called The Free Men of the South, 80% of the group’s fighters are from tribes in Suweida, Daraa, Quneitra and southern rural Damascus, according to the group’s spokesperson Mohammad Adnan. Adnan told Al-Aan that the group now has 3,000 fighters, is led Syrian Army defectors, and is commanded inside Syrian by former Syrian Army officer Captain Hussam al-Karahisha. “The Collective’s fighters are deployed in southern Syria and they are fully prepared to wage and direct the fiercest of battles against both the regime and ISIS.”
Coordinating with Jordan
The tribal group has publicly touted its ties with Jordan, with spokesperson Mohammad Adan going into details on the link. “The Collective of Free Southern Tribesmen is coordinating with neighboring states, especially Jordan, to confront ISIS… in southern Syria,” Adnan said. “[It] is funded by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and businessman Sheikh Rakkan al-Khudeir.” “The Collective’s fighters are deployed in the Al-Lajat area and along the eastern Syrian-Jordanian border,” he added. “[It] coordinates and communicates with Free Syrian Army factions, [and] participates with them in joint operations rooms during battles.”In March, Jordan announced that it was preparing to train tribesmen and Syrian rebels to battle ISIS and has since made a number of overtures to tribal groups in southern Syria. On June 19, representatives of a number of tribal leaders in Syria officially rejected Jordan’s offer for support, however only a week later other tribal leaders voiced their acceptance of King Abdullah’s offer to arm and train tribal leaders. British daily The Independent reported on July 8 that a group of tribal chiefs in Syria had formed a new “Coalition of Syrian Tribes and Clans” that had held secret meetings with the General John Allen, the US point-man for the international coalition’s campaign against ISIS.
Ongoing battle with ISIS
“The battle to uproot ISIS from the Al-Lajat area to the northeast of Daraa Province is ongoing,” the spokesperson for the Collective of Free Southern Tribesmen said in his Monday interview. Al-Aan cited an official statement from the collective as saying that clashes are currently centered on the village Housh Hamad, “where ISIS has a strong presence.” “The village’s surroundings have been cleansed but the ruggedness of area [coupled with] the group’s possession of modern weaponry and [the fact that] it is supported by regime warplanes has made the task difficult.”“ISIS members are being pursued on foot without vehicles and with light to mid-range weaponry only.”The battle is important because it opens the road to the regime’s Khalkhala Airbase as well as the road to the Syrian Desert and Deir Ezzor, Al-Aan added.

Russia Urges 'Action' after Shell Hits Damascus Embassy Compound
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ Russia's foreign ministry on Monday called for "concrete action" after a shell landed on its embassy compound in the Syrian capital, blaming forces battling Syrian President Bashar Assad. "A shell fell on the territory of the Russian embassy in Damascus on September 20 around 9:00am, going deep into the ground without causing damage," the ministry said in a statement. "We ... condemn the criminal shelling of the Russian diplomatic presence in Damascus. We await a clear standpoint on this terrorist act from all members of the international community, including regional actors.""What is needed is not just words but concrete action," the statement said, adding that "the shelling of the Russian embassy was done from the direction of Jobar, where the anti-government militants are based."The militants have "outside sponsors" who are responsible for influencing their actions, the foreign ministry said. The Russian embassy in Damascus' Mazraa neighborhood had been hit by shells on prior occasions. In May, one person was killed by mortar rounds that landed nearby. Three were hurt when mortar rounds landed inside the compound in April. The United States has accused Russia of recently deploying troops, artillery and aircraft to the war-torn country, ratcheting up fears Moscow may join in the fighting alongside its old ally Assad. Moscow has insisted it is only fulfilling long-standing military contracts and is currently on a diplomatic push to get a U.S.-led coalition of Western and regional powers fighting the Islamic State group to join forces with Assad against the jihadists.

Greece's Tsipras Storms to Victory but Tough Reforms Ahead
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 21/15/ Greece's left-wing prime minister-elect Alexis Tsipras has won a thumping poll victory that hands him a mandate to drive through unpopular reforms agreed under an austerity deal struck with international creditors. The unexpected margin of his victory Sunday came after a mutiny within the ranks of his radical Syriza party over a U-turn on tough tax hikes and pensions reforms felled his government and triggered Greece's third vote this year. With around 90 percent of votes counted, Syriza looked set to secure close to an absolute majority in the country's 300-seat parliament, with a smaller nationalist party expected to join forces and push it over the top. "Syriza proved too tough to die," Tsipras, at 41 the country's youngest premier in 150 years, told a victory rally in Athens attended by hundreds of cheering flag-waving supporters late Sunday. "The Greek people gave a clear mandate to rid ourselves of what is holding us in the past."Tsipras, who had justified the austerity deal as saving Greece from a chaotic exit from the eurozone, said the victory would "change the balance" in Europe, and pledged to fight endemic corruption and hidden wealth. "We have difficulties ahead," he told supporters. "Recovery cannot come through magic but through lots of work, stubbornness and struggle." Results showed that Syriza won 35.53 percent of the vote, with the vast majority of ballots tabulated, against 28.05 percent for their main rivals, the conservative New Democracy party. That means Syriza will likely end up with 145 lawmakers, and once again join with the Independent Greeks party, who were their coalition partners in the first Syriza government formed in January. Tsipras will later Monday receive a mandate to form a government from President Prokopis Pavlopoulos. "We unite our flags and our forces under the banner of honesty," he said.
Gamble paid off'
The scale of Syriza's triumph was substantially bigger than had been expected, with opinion polls ahead of the election projecting a narrow lead over New Democracy of between 0.7 and 3.0 percentage points. Tsipras even managed to weather the defection of 25 of his lawmakers who formed a rival anti-austerity party in the wake of his deal with international creditors for a new 86-billion-euro ($97-billion) rescue. Nearly 44 percent of voters sat out the election -- the third vote for Greeks this year including a referendum on austerity -- a significant rise in the previous abstention rate of 36 percent in January.
French President Francois Hollande was among the first leaders to congratulate Tsipras, and is expected to visit Athens in the coming weeks. "Alexis Tsipras’s gamble has paid off," Berenberg bank analyst Holger Schmieding said in a note. "Given the scale of the turmoil he caused in Greece and the dramatic nature of his policy U-turn... his victory at the snap elections today is remarkable." By now a familiar face in the corridors of power in Brussels and European capitals, Tsipras has pledged to soften the edges of the bailout to help his country's poorest citizens weather the austerity storm.
"I could say the deal we brought is a living organism," Tsipras said ahead of the election, listing a number of "open issues" including debt reduction, privatizations, labor relations, and how to deal with non-performing bank loans. But the clock is ticking, with a review due in October by the lenders on whether Athens is abiding by the cash-for-reforms program. At stake for the new government will be the release of a new 3-billion-euro tranche of aid. Greece's new parliament, expected to convene on October 1, will have to revise the 2015 budget, taking into account pension and income tax reforms, including taxes on farmers' income that are set to double by 2017. The government must also finalize a procedure to recapitalize Greek banks by December, before new EU-wide bank rescue regulations that could impact on depositors come into play in 2016.
Tsipras must also move quickly to remove capital controls that his previous administration imposed in June to avert a deposit run.
A total of eight parties look set to win seats in the next parliament, with partial results showing the neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn in third place, followed by the Pasok socialists.

Putin is turning the Syrian coast into another Crimea
By Amir Taheri/New York Post/September 21/,15
After weeks of dancing around the issue, the Obama administration has expressed concern about “heightened military activity” by Russia in Syria. But what if we are facing something more than “heightened military activity?” What if Moscow is preparing to give Syria the full Putin treatment? For years, Russia has been helping Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad cling to a diminishing power structure in a shrinking territorial base without trying to impose an overall strategy. Now, however, there are signs that Russia isn’t content to just support Assad. It wants to control Syria. Putin has long wanted to seize a Mediterranean port, and the current conflict in Syria presents the perfect opportunity.The Putin treatment is reserved for countries in Russia’s “near neighborhood” that try to break out of Moscow’s orbit and deprive it of strategic assets held for decades. In such cases, unable to restore its past position, Russia tries to create a new situation in which it keeps a sword dangling above the head of the recalcitrant nation. Russia’s military intervenes directly and indirectly, always with help from a segment of the local population concerned. Russia starts by casting itself as protector of an ethnic, linguistic or religious minority that demands its military intervention against a central power vilified with labels such as “fascist” and “terrorist.” The first nation to experience the Putin treatment was Georgia in 2008, when Russian tanks moved in to save the Persian-speaking Ossetian minority and the Turkish-speaking Abkhazians from “the fascist regime” in Tbilisi. Initially, Putin had feared that the US or the European Union might not let his war of conquest go unpunished. But nothing happened. President Obama talked of “reset” with Moscow, agreed to set up a joint committee to look into the matter and then allowed the whole thing to fade away. Tested in Georgia with success, the Putin treatment was next applied to Ukraine, where a pro-West regime was talking of joining the European Union and even NATO. Russia intervened in Crimea to “save” its Russian-speaking majority from oppression. Facing no opposition, Putin simply annexed Crimea before giving the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine the same treatment, this time with the help of “Russian volunteers” coming to help fellow Russian-speakers. In Ossetia, Putin gained control of key passages to Chechnya and upper Caucasus.In Abkhazia, he extended Russian presence on the Black Sea.In Crimea, he saved the Russian Navy’s largest base. In Donetsk he obtained a political pistol aimed at the temple of the government in Kiev.
What about Syria?
Residents look for survivors in a damaged site after a barrel bomb was reportedly dropped by forces loyal to al-Assad, in Aleppo in September. The Soviet Union had a military presence in Syria since 1971, when Hafez al-Assad, father of the present despot, signed a defense pact with Moscow. The pact gave Russia mooring rights in two of Syria’s ports, Latakia and Tartus on the Mediterranean. The older Assad, however, shied away from granting Russians permanent bases. Former Syrian president Hafez al-Assad signed a defense pact with Moscow in 1971, but never allowed a permanent Russian base.
Last year, Putin asked Bashar to let Russia build aero-naval assets on the Syrian coast to facilitate support for the regime in Damascus. Then still hopeful of surviving the civil war, Bashar managed to dodge the issue with help from his allies in Tehran. Now, however, both Assad and the mullahs of Tehran know that they cannot fight this war much longer. Assad has publicly admitted he does not have enough men to keep the territory he still controls let alone recapture what he has lost amounting to 60% of the Syrian landmass. Reluctant to risk Iranian lives, the mullahs have sent Lebanese Hezbollah fighters and “volunteers” from Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight for Assad. But they, too, have suffered irreparable losses. After weeks of talks between Assad and the Russians with the mullahs also engaged by both sides, it now seems that Russia has obtained what it wanted: the right to build permanent aero-naval bases on the Syrian coast. Recent satellite images show that massive construction work has already started. At the same time, Russia has won control of Bassel al-Assad airport, the second-largest in Syria, transforming it into a hub for its “air-bridge” operations spanning Iranian and Iraqi air spaces.
Satellite images show a Latakia airfield being turned into a Russian military base.Photo: Reuters Russia is bringing in new aircraft and surface-to-surface missile ostensibly for transfer to Syrian forces but in reality under direct Russian control. According to estimates in the Iranian media, Russia now has some 20,000 military “technicians and advisors” in Syria. The stage is set for the full Putin treatment. Russia no doubt looks to the 1920s scheme under which Syria was divided into five segments, with France, then the colonial power, retaining direct control only of the area between the mountains west of Damascus and the Mediterranean coast. The French called that “la Syrie utile” (useful Syria) allowing the rest of the country, much of it thinly inhabited desert to morph into ungoverned territory.Accounting for about 15% of territory, “Useful Syria” is now home to more than half of the population, partly thanks to influx of displaced people from other parts of the country. The strip between the coast and the mountains has the added advantage of being the principal base of the Alawite community to which Assad and his clan belong. Get ready for Russia to cast itself as the protector, not only of the Alawites but also of other minorities such as Turcoman, Armenians and, more interestingly for Moscow, Orthodox Christians who have fled Islamist terror groups such as ISIS. Russia has always seen itself as the “Third Rome” and the last standard-bearer of Christianity against both Catholic “deviation” and Islamist menace.
By controlling a new mini-state, as a “safe haven for minorities,” Russia could insist that if Syria returns to some normality it be reconstituted as a highly decentralized state. This is what Putin is also demanding in Georgia and Ukraine.The Syrian coast will become another Crimea, if not completely annexed, at least occupied. Unless stopped, the Putin treatment will not end in Syria. The two next candidates could be Moldova and Latvia, both of which have large Russian-speaking minorities. On Friday, Russian fighter jets arrived in Syria. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter responded by saying he had a “constructive conversation” with his Russian counterpart, who insisted the buildup was “defensive in nature.” Carter said discussions would continue. In other words, Russia will continue to carve a foothold on the Mediterranean. While President Obama practices a postmodern diplomacy of perceptions — in other words window-dressing — Putin perfects his pre-modern power play.
Putin has arranged it so that no matter what happens in Syria, he wins — and we lose.
http://nypost.com/2015/09/19/putin-is-turning-the-syrian-coast-into-another-crimea/

Why Hungary’s Victor Orbán Got It Right on Islam
Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/September 21/15
Some central and east European countries are being criticized by more “progressive” Western nations for not wanting to take in Muslim refugees.
Chief among them is Hungary, specifically in the person of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Western media are characterizing him as “xenophobic,” “full of hate speech,” and Europe’s “creeping dictator.” Sounding like the mafia boss of the Left, the Guardian simply refers to him as a “problem” that needs to be “solved.”
Victor Orbán: one of Europe’s few leaders willing to break Western political correctness in the interest of his nation.
Orbán’s crime is that he wants to secure his nation against Muslims and preserve its Christian identity. According to Hungary’s prime minister:
Those arriving have been raised in another religion, and represent a radically different culture. Most of them are not Christians, but Muslims. This is an important question, because Europe and European identity is rooted in Christianity…. We don’t want to criticize France, Belgium, any other country, but we think all countries have a right to decide whether they want to have a large number of Muslims in their countries. If they want to live together with them, they can. We don’t want to and I think we have a right to decide that we do not want a large number of Muslim people in our country. We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries, and I do not see any reason for anyone else to force us to create ways of living together in Hungary that we do not want to see….
The prime minister went on to invoke history—and not in the politically correct way, to condemn Christians and whitewash Muslims, but according to reality:I have to say that when it comes to living together with Muslim communities, we are the only ones who have experience because we had the possibility to go through that experience for 150 years. Orbán is referring to Islam’s conquest and occupation of Hungary from 1541 to 1699. Then, Islamic jihad, terrorism, and Christian persecution were rampant.
Nor was Hungary alone. Much of southeastern Europe and portions of modern day Russia were conquered, occupied, and terrorized by the Turks—sometimes in ways that make Islamic State atrocities seem like child’s play. (Think of the beheadings, crucifixions, massacres, slave markets, and rapes that have become IS trademarks—but on a much grander scale, and for centuries.)
Still, to Western progressives, such distant memories are lost. In an article titled “Hungary has been shamed by Viktor Orbán’s government,” the Guardian mocks and trivializes the prime minister’s position:
Hungary has a history with the Ottoman empire, and Orbán is busy conjuring it. The Ottoman empire is striking back, he warns. They’re taking over! Hungary will never be the same again!… Hence the wire; hence the army; hence, as from today, the state of emergency; hence the fierce, unrelenting rhetoric of hatred. Because that is what it has been from the very start: sheer, crass hostility and slander.
Similarly, the Washington Post, after acknowledging that Hungary was once occupied by the Ottomans—though without any mention of the atrocities it experienced—wondered how “it’s somewhat bizarre to think this rather distant past of warlords and rival empires ought to influence how a 21st century nation addresses the needs of refugees.”
So-called mainstream media ignore the fact that blended in among the thousands of refugees are operatives from the Islamic State, which is currently reliving the “Ottoman days” in Iraq, Syria, Libya, and elsewhere, and which plans on reliving them in Hungary and southeastern Europe. Already, Muslims trying to force their way into Hungary—and Slovenia, which is also resistant to Muslim migrants—are shouting Islam’s ancient war cry, “Allah Akbar!”
As for the other, “regular” Muslim refugees, many of them will never assimilate and some will abuse and exploit the weak—particularly women and children—and enforce Islamic law in their enclaves. That’s exactly what Orbán was referring to when he said “We do not like the consequences of having a large number of Muslim communities that we see in other countries.”
To be sure, those “other countries” are not limited to Europe. For example, in Myanmar (Burma), non-indigenous Muslim minorities are behind the same sort of anti-infidel mayhem, violence, and rape.
In response, anti-Muslim sentiment has grown among Buddhist majorities, followed by the usual Western media criticism.
Thus popular Buddhist leader Ashin Wirathu, whom the media refer to as the “Burmese bin Laden,” staunchly opposes Muslim presence in Myanmar: “You can be full of kindness and love, but you cannot sleep next to a mad dog,” says the monk in reference to Muslims: “I call them troublemakers, because they are troublemakers.”
Reminiscent of Hungary’s Orbán, Wirathu also warns that: “If we are weak, our land will become Muslim.” The theme song of his party speaks of people who “live in our land, drink our water, and are ungrateful to us”—a reference to Muslims—and how “We will build a fence with our bones if necessary” to keep them out.
Again, sounding like Hungary’s Orbán, Wiranthu’s pamphlets say “Myanmar is currently facing a most dangerous and fearful poison that is severe enough to eradicate all civilization.”
To this, the NYT scoffs, arguing that “Buddhism would seem to have a secure place in Myanmar. Nine in 10 people are Buddhist… Estimates of the Muslim minority range from 4 percent to 8 percent.”
Justifying Muslim presence in non-Muslim nations on the basis that far outnumbered Muslims can never be a problem is par for the course. After expressing puzzlement at Orbán’s stress on history, the Washington Post stressed “the fact that Muslims comprise less than 1 percent of the country’s [Hungary’s] population.”
This media canard ignores Islam’s unwavering Rule of Numbers: whenever and wherever Muslims grow in numbers, the same “anti-infidel” violence endemic to Muslim-majority nations grows with them.
Consider the words of Fr. Daniel Byantoro, a Muslim convert to Christianity, discussing the ramifications of Islam’s slow entry into what was once a non-Muslim nation but today is the largest Muslim nation:
For thousands of years my country (Indonesia) was a Hindu Buddhist kingdom. The last Hindu king was kind enough to give a tax exempt property for the first Muslim missionary to live and to preach his religion. Slowly the followers of the new religion were growing, and after they became so strong the kingdom was attacked, those who refused to become Muslims had to flee for their life… Slowly from the Hindu Buddhist Kingdom, Indonesia became the largest Islamic country in the world. If there is any lesson to be learnt by Americans at all, the history of my country is worth pondering upon. We are not hate mongering, bigoted people; rather, we are freedom loving, democracy loving and human loving people. We just don’t want this freedom and democracy to be taken away from us by our ignorance and misguided “political correctness”, and the pretension of tolerance. (Facing Islam, endorsement section).
Indeed. Nations as diverse as Hungary and Myanmar—and leaders as diverse as the Christian Orbán and the Buddhist Wiranthu—are well acquainted with Islam. Accordingly, when it comes to the Islamic influx—whether by the sword or in the guise of refugees—instead of judging them, Western nations would do well to learn from their experiences.
Otherwise, they are destined to learn from their own personal experiences—that is, the hard way.
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/islam/why-hungarys-victor-orban-got-it-right-on-islam/

Saudi Arabia: World's Human Rights Sewer
Douglas Murray/Gatestone Institute/September 21/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6545/saudi-arabia-human-rights
Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, sentenced to be crucified, was accused of participating in banned protests and firearms offenses -- despite a complete lack of evidence on the latter charge, and he was denied access to lawyers. Al-Nimr is also alleged by human rights groups to have been tortured and then forced into signing a confession while in custody.
Not only are the Saudi authorities preparing to crucify someone -- in 2015 -- whom they tortured into making a confession; they are preparing to crucify someone who was a minor at the time of arrest.
Alas not a week goes by without Saudi Arabia demonstrating to the world why they retain their reputation as one of the world's foremost human rights sewers.
Crucifixion is a punishment which, it would appear, is not only Sharia-compliant but also -- we must assume -- Geneva-compliant.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva is an organization that may be easy to critique, but it is very hard to satirize. Ordinarily, if you told anyone that there was a place in Switzerland where Sudan, Iran and others of the world's worst dictatorships and human rights abusers have their views on human rights treated with respect and deference, you would assume the script was written by Monty Python. Idi Amin would make an appearance at some point to share his views on how to improve equal conditions for women in the workplace. Pol Pot would crop up in order to castigate those countries where living standards had not been sufficiently raised in accordance with global averages.
Everything that happens in Geneva is beyond satire. But last week provides a demonstration, outrageous even by the standards of the UN. For this week, it came out – thanks to the excellent organization UN Watch -- that Saudi Arabia has been appointed as the head of a key UNHRC panel. This panel selects the top officials who shape international standards in human rights; it is intended to report on human rights violations around the world. The five-member group of ambassadors, which Saudi Arabia will now head, is known as the Consultative Group and has the power to select applicants to fill more than 77 positions worldwide that deal with human rights issues. It appears that the appointment of Saudi Arabia's envoy to the UNHRC, Faisal Trad, was made before the summer, but that diplomats in Geneva have kept silent on the matter since then.
That this appointment had to leak out months after the event raises the possibility that the UNHRC, contrary to popular perception, actually does have some sense of shame. Otherwise, why not shout from the rooftops that Saudi Arabia has won this prestigious position? Why not distribute a press release? After all, Saudi Arabia -- and by extension the UNHRC -- have nothing to be ashamed of, do they?
Alas not a week goes by without Saudi Arabia demonstrating to the world why they retain their reputation as one of the world's foremost human rights sewers. Saudi Arabia may have beheaded more people in the last year than ISIS, but only rarely do any of these cases get more than a flicker of international attention. Occasionally a case breaks above the waves of public opinion. One such case is that of the jailed blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced last year to 10 years in jail and 1000 lashes for "insulting Islam." The plight of Raif Badawi, who has already been served the first 50 lashes, and is being held in prison while awaiting the rest, has garnered international attention and condemnations of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom's response has been strongly to denounce "the media campaign around the case."
But the glare of international opinion clearly disturbs the Saudi authorities -- a fact well worth keeping in mind. And it is not as though they have nothing to hide. This week brings a case that should get at least as much attention as that of Raif Badawi.
Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was just 17 when he was arrested by the Saudi authorities in 2012, during a crackdown on anti-government protests in the Shia province of Qatif. He was accused of participating in banned protests and firearms offenses -- despite a complete lack of evidence on the latter charge. Denied access to lawyers, al-Nimr is alleged by human rights groups to have been tortured and then forced into signing a confession while in custody. Campaigners say that it seems he has been targeted by authorities because of his family association with Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, the 53-year-old critic of the Saudi regime who is his uncle. The Sheikh has also been convicted and sentenced to death. After the confession and "trial," his nephew was convicted at Saudi's Specialized Criminal Court and sentenced to death. The trial itself failed to meet any international standards. Al-Nimr appealed against his sentence, but this week that appeal was dismissed. It now seems likely that he and his uncle will now be executed. Because charges include crimes involving the Saudi King and the state itself, it seems likely that the method of death will be crucifixion.
If this were in any way to cause a flicker of concern among other participants in the UNHRC farce going on Geneva, they have at least some consolation. For in Saudi Arabia crucifixion is not what it used to be. Indeed, in Saudi Arabia crucifixion begins with the beheading of the victim and only then the mounting of the beheaded body onto a crucifix, to make it available for public viewing. This is a punishment which it would appear is not only Sharia-compliant but also -- we must assume -- Geneva-compliant.
Of course, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr counts as having been a juvenile at the time of his arrest, so not only are the Saudi authorities preparing to crucify someone -- in 2015 -- whom they tortured into making a confession - they are preparing to crucify someone who was a minor at the time of arrest. Perhaps the authorities at the UNHRC in Geneva do indeed blush when they appoint Saudi officials to head their human rights panels. But it does not seem to affect their behaviour. Just as Saudi authorities think it is "international attention" rather than flogging people to death or crucifying them after beheading that is the problem, so the UNHRC in Geneva seems to think it is public awareness of their grotesque appointments rather than the appointments themselves that are the problem.
The international attention paid to the case of Raif Badawi has not yet seen him released, but it seems to have delayed the next rounds of lashes. Which suggests the Saudi authorities have the capacity to feel some shame. This should in turn be a cause for some hope among everyone who cares about human rights. It should also provide a reminder to everyone to increase global attention on the case of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr and the many others like him who suffer under a government and judicial system that should utterly shame the world outside Geneva, even if it cannot shame the UN.
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© 2015 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Turkey's Islamist Factory Settings
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 21/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6541/turkey-islamist-israel
Normalization of relations with Israel could bolster efforts to balance Iran's growing regional clout.
"In the Middle East, everyone at some point realizes that there is a bigger enemy than the big enemy." – Israeli official.
But in the Middle East, reason does not always overcome holiness.
Israel-bashing and the systematic fueling of anti-Semitic behavior have become a Turkish political pastime since Turkey downgraded its diplomatic ties with Israel in 2010. There has been, though, relative tranquility and reports of a potential thaw since June 7, when Turkey's Islamist government lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since it rose to power in 2002.
In August, a senior Hamas official, apparently hosted for some time by an all-too affectionate Turkish government, vanished into thin air. Saleh al-Arouri, a veteran Hamas official and one of the founders of its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was forced to leave Israel in 2010, after serving more than 15 years in prison. After his release, he was believed to be living in Istanbul. In August 2014, at a meeting of the International Union of Islamic Scholars in Istanbul, al-Arouri said that Hamas was behind the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank, an incident that triggered a spiral of violence in Gaza and Israel that summer.
A year later, Turkish diplomatic sources said that "Arouri was not in Turkey" although they did not confirm or deny earlier reports that Turkey had deported him.
Earlier than the news about Arouri, top diplomats from the two countries had secretly met in Rome. Dore Gold is Israel's Foreign Ministry Director-General, and his Turkish counterpart was Feridun Sinirlioglu, then the Turkish Foreign Ministry's undersecretary. Sinirlioglu is a career diplomat, not an Islamist political appointee. Between 2002 and 2007, he served as Turkey's ambassador to Israel.
On June 24, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed ongoing talks with Israel, aimed at reaching some form of rapprochement, while suggesting that undue emphasis should not be placed on the gatherings.
Fast-forward to August: Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu forms an interim cabinet to take the country to snap elections on Nov. 1, and Sinirlioglu becomes Turkey's new Foreign Minister. One of the first to send his congratulations to Sinirlioglu was Dore Gold.
In early September, Gold, a long-time advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said: "I have to say that many people in different capitals asked about the Rome meeting and ... I heard the highest praise whether I was in a European capital or speaking to American officials about his diplomatic skills ...Turkey is very lucky to have him [Sinirlioglu] as foreign minister. He is a first-class diplomat."
The Israeli press reported in June that Israel's Foreign Ministry Director-General Dore Gold (R) held a secret meeting in Rome with Feridun Sinirlioglu (L) Turkey's then Foreign Ministry Undersecretary (today Foreign Minister).
Apparently, reason had gained a bit of the upper hand after Turkey's parliamentary elections in June. It is, no doubt, in the best national (and rational, too) interests of both countries, which once were best regional allies -- before the Islamists rose to power in Turkey in 2002. A normalization of relations with Israel could bolster efforts to balance Iran's growing regional clout. It could as well help keep Gaza relatively peaceful, stable and economically more viable.
But in the Middle East, reason does not always overcome holiness. Israel, Jews, Hamas and "our Palestinian brothers" remain a few of the most popular themes in Islamist election rallies -- the best ones to exploit a Muslim voter base.
Things between the two countries look relatively calm these days, but a fresh round of attacks from Turkey's Islamist politicians during election rallies are not unlikely.
An Israeli official was right when he told this author recently: "In the Middle East, everyone at some point realizes that there is a bigger enemy than the big enemy."
Turkey and its best regional (Sunni) ally, Qatar, may have come to understand that they are paying a price for unconditionally supporting Hamas, and sometimes abusing this support. Apparently, there are some signs of a potential change in the Turkish-Qatari solidarity with Hamas. But caution is required. No one is sure yet if those signs indicate a medium-term policy change.
Jerusalem is not unaware of the risks of reaching premature conclusions about any normalization with Turkey. Prime Minister Netanyahu has every reason not to trust Turkey's dominant pro-Sunni, pro-Hamas and anti-Israel Islamist polity. He knows that any normalization may collapse in a matter of months if the Turkish Islamists decide to start a new fight with Israel. Both countries would look ridiculous if they have to withdraw their ambassadors once again two months, say, after they were appointed. Turkish behavior in the event of normalization would be unpredictable. But it would also depend very much on the election results on November 1.
If, as in June's elections, PM Davutoglu's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) fails to win a parliamentary majority, it will be forced into a coalition government with one of the three opposition parties, with the social-democratic Republican People's Party (CHP) appearing as a likely prospective partner. The AKP will have to compromise on its Islamist policies, including foreign policy -- particularly in the Middle East. The AKP would be reluctant to surrender foreign policy entirely to any coalition partner but may be lured into a compromise in which someone such as Sinirlioglu (the experienced diplomat and presently interim foreign minister) may be the solution satisfying everyone.
But the opposite is also true. In case of a landslide AKP victory on November 1 and a single-party government, all Middle East policy, including relations with Israel, could have to be reset to the Islamist factory settings.
Perhaps the headline in Zaytung, an online humor magazine and a Turkish response to The Onion, explains it all: "The Foreign Ministry, which has neglected its routine work due to civil strife in the country, gave signs of a return to normality when it condemned Israel."
Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2015 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. No part of this website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Pressure shifts to Iran to implement nuclear deal
"L’chayim" at State Department for Iran nuclear deal
Al-Monitor/Week in Review/September 21/15
Laura Rozen reports that US President Barack Obama made a low-key visit to the Department of State on Sept. 17 to congratulate Secretary of State John Kerry and the Iran negotiating team, including outgoing Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman.
A US official told Rozen that Obama joined Kerry in a little “l’chayim” (toast) to Sherman and the team.
Sept. 17 marked the end of the 60-day congressional review of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Congress failed to pass a resolution of disapproval, so from a US perspective, the JCPOA is a “done deal,” and the focus is now on implementation, which means the burden and spotlight shifts to Iran.
It might be helpful at this stage to assess exactly where this process stands, and what the JCPOA aims to do, especially after some Republican candidates for president claimed during the debate on Sept. 16 that the JCPOA accelerates, or allows Iran to get closer, to a nuclear weapon, which is, frankly, hard to reconcile with the text of the agreement itself.
The next JCPOA benchmark is “adoption day,” Oct.18, when Iran must begin to make changes in its nuclear infrastructure in compliance with the JCPOA, working with the International Atomic Energy Agency. US officials this week summarized what needs to happen before sanctions are lifted, including “taking out thousands of centrifuges and putting them into IAEA-monitored storage [at the Natanz enrichment facility) … taking out a very large amount of infrastructure, specifically some of the pipework and electrical infrastructure that allows for the enrichment process to work; … ship out to another country the vast majority of their enriched uranium stockpile; … take out about two-thirds of its centrifuges and associated infrastructure, and here again we’re talking about the physical dismantling and removal of a large amount of pieces of equipment, pipework, electrical infrastructure, and things like that [at the Fordow facility]; … the center of that [Arak heavy water] reactor, the calandria, is going to be pulled out and filled with concrete so that it can’t be used again; … [putting] in place the increased transparency measures. So in this regard, we’re talking about new technologies that Iran has agreed to implement at its facilities; active electronic seals that will provide for much more real-time monitoring — systems that don’t exist anywhere else in the world that they’ll have to iron out, including online enrichment monitoring, which tells the IAEA in essentially real time the enrichment level of different — of cascades that are operating. In addition, Iran needs to put in place transparency measures at its uranium mills so the IAEA has continuous monitoring about the material that’s coming out of the uranium mills to prevent conversion to a covert nuclear path and continuous monitoring at the centrifuge manufacturing facilities.”
It is bewildering to understand how Iran taking these measures somehow facilitates its path to a bomb, as critics claim.
Only when Iran takes these and other steps, including a report from the IAEA on the past military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program, does the process shift to the next benchmark, “implementation day,” when certain sanctions are lifted. Implementation day is expected to take place in spring 2016, but could be longer, or even never. It all depends on Iran.
White House: Critics of US Syria policy need to "fess up"
Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of the US Central Command, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Sept. 16 that only “four or five” US-trained rebels were in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, despite a plan that 5,400 fighters would be trained using a budget of over $500 million.
Julian Pecquet reports that some Democrats on the committee are starting to ask whether the United States should rethink its precondition that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step aside, especially given the failure to date of the US train-and-equip mission.
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told Al-Monitor that he is concerned about a "void" that could be left if Assad is removed and there is no viable political opposition, and raised the specter of US interventions in Iraq and Libya. "Who are you going to replace him with? What are you going to do? Leave a void?" he told Al-Monitor. "That hasn't worked with Saddam [Hussein] or with [Moammar] Gadhafi. It's a royal, royal mess, and we're just throwing more money at it and making it messier."
The next day, White House spokesman Josh Earnest lauded Austin for the integrity of his testimony, especially compared with critics of the Obama administration’s Syria policy. “We haven’t seen that kind of character on display from our critics who have suggested for years that this [arming Syrian rebel forces] was the recipe for success in Syria.”
Earnest called on critics of Obama’s policies to “fess up,” and characterized arguments that the United States could have turned the tide against Assad if it had done more sooner to militarily back Syrian rebel forces as throwing good money after bad: “It would call into question the vetting standards if somebody could do something in the space of four years that might prevent them from being included in that group. I don't think that there is a particularly strong case to be made that an earlier and more significant investment in a program that has shown not very good results — to put it mildly — is a recipe for success.”
Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, also questioned whether the United States benefits from getting more militarily entangled in Syria’s civil war. “Sometimes the interventions backfire,” Paul said during last week’s debate, recalling how Iran benefited from the US overthrow of Saddam in Iraq.
Meanwhile, signs that Russia may be preparing to use its expanded air base in Syria to support Syrian government forces prompted the first conversation this year between US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu. Russia has called for enhanced military cooperation to battle IS, but insists that the Syrian government should be part of that effort, which has been a nonstarter for the United States and its coalition partners. Nonetheless, the United States and Russia have intensified their discussions to “de-conflict” their military forces in Syria and facilitate talks toward a political transition.
"Living hell" in Aleppo, Zabadani regions
In Syria, the war continues to take its awful toll.
Mohammed al-Khatieb reports from Aleppo that relentless attacks by IS are “displacing ever more civilians, whose lives have become a living hell in the absence of relief aid inside the country and in light of Turkey’s continued border closure.” Khatieb adds that since August, “Hawar Killis, Tlalin, Kafra, Marea, Umm Hawsh, Herbel and dozens of other towns and villages in the northern Aleppo countryside have been emptied of their populations by IS attacks.”
Mustafa al-Haj reports from Syria, “The mountain town of Madaya, which has been under siege by the regime and Lebanon's Hezbollah for 2½ months, is running out of food and supplies, and the humanitarian situation is worsening as the town is targeted with barrel bombs and flooded with civilians displaced from nearby Zabadani.”
Haj explains that the population of Madaya, approximately 25 miles northwest of Damascus, has doubled to 40,000 as a result of displaced residents from the fighting in Zabadani.
“Some speculate the Syrian regime is taking revenge on Madaya's residents and the people displaced there because of their support for the revolution,” Haj writes. “The regime, however, has said militants from Zabadani also are fleeing to Madaya.”
Haj recounts how Iran had tried and failed to broker a cease-fire in Zabadani last month: “Negotiations failed Aug. 5 between a representative of Ahrar al-Sham and an Iranian delegation in Turkey. The negotiations sought a cease-fire in Zabadani and the countryside of Damascus in exchange for a reciprocal truce in the villages of al-Fu’ah and Kefraya, the stronghold of the Shiite community in the countryside of Idlib province in northwest Syria near the border with Turkey. After the talks failed, fighting in Madaya intensified and the town was flooded with organized waves of displaced civilians.”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/iran-sanctions-congress-nuclear-aleppo-siege-madaya.html?utm_source=Al-Monitor+Newsletter+[English]&utm_campaign=bb35ad1001-Week_in_review_September_21_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_28264b27a0-bb35ad1001-102494681

How one of the smallest religious communities in the world is struggling to sustain its community
Ahmad Melhem/Al-Monitor/September 21/15
NABLUS, West Bank — Mount Gerizim, south of Nablus in the northern West Bank, is home to the Samaritans, who call themselves the world's smallest religious community. There are some 780 Samaritans total, distributed between Gerizim, where 380 of them live, and the city of Holon in Israel, where they number 400.
Hosni Wassef, a Samaritan priest and curator of the Samaritan Museum, located on Mount Gerizim on the outskirts of Nablus, told Al-Monitor that the Samaritans are the descendants of Israelites who fled with Moses from Egypt to the Holy Land some 3,600 years ago to escape the oppression of the Pharaoh. “We have not left the Holy Land since,” he said.
The word “Samaritan” in Ancient Hebrew, the language of Moses, means “guardian,” referring to those who guarded the Torah, said Wassef. Samaritanism is based on five key pillars: the oneness of God, the prophecy of Moses, the first five books of the Torah, the sanctity of Mount Gerizim (not Jerusalem) and the Last Judgment.
The Samaritans celebrate seven holidays a year. One is Passover, during which they present offerings to God, who made way for the Israelites to save them from the Pharaoh. Among their Passover traditions, Samaritans eat unleavened bread and bitter herbs, commemorating the bitterness of life in Egypt. The others are the Feast of the Unleavened Bread, which lasts for six days, the Harvest Festival, Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shavuot.
Today, Mount Gerizim has been divided, distributed among Areas A, B and C in the Oslo Accord between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel. The Samaritans had bought some 150 dunams (37 acres) of land in Area B, on which they built homes. Reflecting the historical struggle over the Holy Land, they hold Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian passports.
The holiest place for Samaritans is the summit of Mount Gerizim, which they believe to have been the chosen location for the holy temple. By order of Israel, the area is now fenced off and only accessible to the Samaritans for pilgrimage three times a year, during Passover, the Harvest Festival and Sukkot.
The Samaritans are led by a high priest, the eldest member of the Levites, who are descendants of Eleazer, the second high priest of the sect and son of Aaron, the first high priest and Moses' older brother who accompanied Moses during the Exodus. Abdullah Tawfiq is the current high priest. The occupant of the office traditionally makes decisions on religious affairs, while two five-person committees, elected to two-year terms in Mount Gerizim and Holon, are in charge of managing the community's daily life, explained Wassef.
Samaritans take great pride in their history, which is preserved in the Samaritan Museum, built in 1997. According to Wassef, the museum documents the lineage of 163 generations of Samaritan history, beginning with Adam all the way to the current high priest. It also includes what is alleged to be the oldest copy of the Torah, written in Ancient Hebrew, as well as a collection of Ancient Hebrew documents, books, coins, stones, pottery, traditional glassware and models of the Samaritan holy places. The Samaritans claim their Torah, housed in the synagogue at the museum complex, was written 13 years after their ancestors entered the Holy Land. Only Samaritans can view it, and then only on three occasions per year. By religious tradition, only three priests hold the keys to its repository.
About the differences between Samaritans and Jews, Wassef said, “Samaritans use the original [authentic] Torah, written in Hebrew by the fourth descendent of Aaron, Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, brother of Moses. It was written 13 years after [Abishua] arrived in the Holy Land. Therefore, there are 7,000 differences in verses and words between the Samaritan and the Jewish Torah. This is not to mention the sanctity of Mount Gerizim, where the true temple of Moses was built. It was mentioned 13 times in the Torah, while Jerusalem was never mentioned. It is where Ibrahim [Abraham] built his temple and wanted to sacrifice his son, Isaac, to God.” The split between Samaritanism and Judaism resulted from tribal and succession conflicts.
According to Wassef, the Samaritans originally settled in Nablus, until moving to Mount Gerizim in 1987 because of overcrowding in the neighborhood where they concentrated and the outbreak of the first intifada. He told Al-Monitor that Samaritans are considered “an integral part of the Palestinian people and their social fabric, sharing their joys and sorrows. Our mission is to be a bridge for peace based on democracy, freedom and the establishment of a free and independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, alongside Israel, along the 1967 borders.”
During the 20th century, Wassef said, the Samaritans faced the prospect of extinction, their population dwindling to 146 people in 1917. They survived, but today the community is struggling demographically due to a gender imbalance. “Samaritans are suffering from a lack of females, thus young men are obliged to marry girls belonging to other religions, which is theologically forbidden unless they convert to Samaritanism. During the past 40 years, young Samaritans managed to marry 40 girls of different religions who converted,” said Wassef.
These days, Wassef said, the community also harbors concerns about telecommunications towers erected on Mount Gerizim. “There are six towers for mobile [cellphone] companies [Jawwal and Cellcom] and for the Israeli army that have increased the chances of cancer among Samaritans, affecting and threatening our future,” he asserted. “These towers were set up without our approval.”
Wassef concluded, “Samaritans numbered 3 million before the arrests launched by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of ancient Babylonia, in 586 B.C. Their number dwindled through the centuries, and 800 remain today. They live with the obsession of preserving their lineage and protecting their history, which goes back to the days of Adam.”
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/09/samaritans-smallest-community-west-bank-mount-gerizim.html

Seven steps for America to save Syria
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/September 21/15
US President Barack Obama speaks following a meeting with top military officials about the military campaign against the Islamic State at the Pentagon in Washington, DC, 6 July 2015. (AFP/Saul Loeb)
When New York Times columnist and staunch Obama supporter Nicholas Kristof tweets that the "White House just sounds sillier and sillier on Syria," the Obama administration should take notice that its Syria policy has been a complete failure. "Even for those of us sympathetic to Obama, this is nonsensical," Kristof argues.
Yet despite Obama's failure all is not lost. Washington can still take some measures to stop the tragedies in Syria and Iraq tragedies and roll back the bad guys: ISIS, Assad, Russia and Iran. Russia’s new military deployment in Syria is for show only. In August 2013, when America parked its warships off the Syrian coast, Russia withdrew its naval assets.
To save Syria, America should do the following:
1- Create a no-fly zone that houses refugees. The US and its allies — Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — can destroy Assad's air defenses; his fighter jets and helicopters. Assad has used his air force to punish towns that house opposition fighters by striking them indiscriminately, which has displaced Syrians en masse, sending them as far away as Europe. Those who worry that ISIS will replace Assad if he falls should know that knocking out Assad's airpower is irrelevant to such a possibility. Assad's airpower has rarely assumed the role of supporting ground troops or engaging enemy fighters.
2- Reconnect with the Sunni tribes that live on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border. Allying with Iraqi tribes in 2008 was America's biggest success story in foreign wars since Vietnam. By providing the tribes with cash, arms and air support, Washington succeeded in peeling off the moderate elements away from Al-Qaeda in Iraq and turned them against the terrorist group. The tribes eventually ejected Al-Qaeda.
3- Act as the powerful sponsor Arab tribes usually look for, yet understand that tribes never bet on short-term allies. When Obama inherited Iraq, he handed the tribes over to their Shiite enemies, who cut tribal salaries and hunted down their chiefs. With nowhere to go, the tribes joined ISIS, but can still be won back to America's side if Washington proves it will be there for them for the long term, as they did with the Kurds, who have been America's faithful allies since 1991.
4- Deploy former generals who made friends with western Iraq's Sunni tribes — David Petraeus, John Allen and Martin Dempsey, among others. In the tribal world, trust is personal. America let down the tribes in 2009, but through personal relations, the generals can reconnect with them and tell them that they are now America's indispensable partners. America should override its ‘ally,’ Shiite Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar Abadi and his Iranian sponsors, who want to undermine any independent Sunni power in Iraq. America should promise Sunni tribes that it will preserve their autonomy, and keep Baghdad's Shiites away, if the Sunnis eject ISIS.
5- Stop trying to recruit tribesmen individually and instead connect with their elders. Unlike in the West, where families are nuclear and citizens individual, tribal members behave collectively because without a tribe to watch your back, you are alone in a dangerous world.
6- Stop trying to trade Syria and Iraq for an alliance with Iran. Tehran's idea of a political settlement in Syria and Iraq means that its Shiite allies take all in return for Iran ceasing to kill, bomb and displace its Sunni rivals. Iran's idea of a solution is the surrender of America, America's regional allies and their local protégés. As long as this injustice prevails, the Sunnis will keep fighting. If America restores balance between the Sunnis and the Shiites across the Middle East a political solution might become possible.
7- Restore a balance of terror with Iran. The nuclear agreement was over Iranian nukes only. Everything else is fair game. Washington will not strike Iran over nuclear issues, but that does not mean America has to spare Iranian cities if American assets or allies are hit anywhere around the region. The Iranian military is so antiquated that it lost a war to Saddam’s lousy army.
None of the proposed policies above suggests involving American ground troops, even though Obama should never say that in public. Obama should replace his current image as a reluctant president with one that shows resolve. America has a bigger variety of power tools to use. If Russia and Iran with their failing economies can project so much power in the Middle East, America can certainly make Russian and Iranian power look puny.
And while Moscow and Tehran use their powers to stir trouble and deflect domestic anger, Washington uses its power for stability and world peace. Obama does not understand this and thinks America should apologize for its power — a policy that has so far resulted in a burning the Middle East and a Europe scared of the flooding mass of distraught humans.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai. He tweets @hahussain

How the nuclear issue divided the Iranian media
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/September 21/15
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—For over a year one story has dominated the Iranian media: settling the dispute over the nuclear project and getting sanctions lifted. Having won the presidency with the smallest margin in the lowest turnout in the history of elections in the Islamic Republic, Hassan Rouhani was determined to transform the nuclear issue into the principal plank of his administration. Rouhani knew that any attempt at normalization with the West, especially the United States, would be immensely popular in Iran. He also knew that without settling the nuclear issue there could be no normalization. It was inevitable that the media should focus on the issue. The first hints that something was happening came in a number of papers close to the faction led by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani that had opposed outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The dailies Etemad and Arman reported that the Obama administration had held secret talks with Ahmadinejad envoys in Oman in 2011 and 2012, accepting virtually all of Iran’s demands right away.
Thus, when Rouhani took over he was surprised when, in private briefing, he was informed by outgoing foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi that the Americans were “desperate for a deal, virtually any deal.”“This is our best chance,” Salehi told Rouhani. “Obama is offering what no other US leader would. Let’s not miss this unique opportunity.”That over-simplistic reading of Obama’s intentions may have put the entire Rouhani strategy on the wrong track. Rouhani persuaded himself that he could fudge things out and secure the lifting of sanctions without offering meaningful concessions.The mood of optimism continued for several months with Iranian media relaying a message of hope. When the Lausanne talks concluded with a press statement, Rouhani presented it as an agreement and praised it as “the greatest diplomatic victory in the history of Islam.”“We are on the threshold of a new golden age,” the government-owned daily Iran asserted in a front page streamer. Within days, however, it became clear that the Lausanne document could not be regarded as an agreement in any sense of the term. Commentators noticed the difference between the English text of the “statement” and its Persian translation.
The daily Kayhan, believed to reflect the views of “Supreme Guide” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, pointed out the differences and lashed against a Fact Sheet published by the US State Department claiming that Iran had made a series of major concessions. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s point-man in the talks, tried to divert attention by claiming that the US Fact Sheet was aimed at disarming the agreement’s critics in Washington. He also telephoned John Kerry, his US counterpart, to demand that the Fact Sheet be taken off the State Department’s website. (This was done 24 hours later.)
The incident shook the confidence of many in the Iranian media.
“Are they telling us all?” demanded the radical web weekly Raja News. The implicit answer was a resounding “no.”By the time the final round of talks started in Vienna the Iranian media had been divided into two camps.One camp, a majority as far as the number of outlets is concerned, supported the talks and urged both the P5+1 and Iran to find an accommodation.Newspapers and news websites close to Rafsanjani, the bazaar, and a number of powerful Mullahs, even came close to arguing that the nuclear project was not worth the sufferings inflicted on Iran by sanctions and diplomatic isolation.
Pro-Rouhani columnist Sadegh Zibakalam even wondered whether Iran needed a nuclear project at all. If the project was aimed at producing electricity, Iran didn’t need it because the country had ample oil and gas, he argued. In any case, the project’s prohibitive cost prevented the government from investing in other areas of development.
Triggered almost by accident, the debate highlighted one surprising fact: the nuclear project had never been discussed and debated in public, not only in the media but also in the Islamic Majlis (parliament).For a few weeks, Iranians were able to read articles for and against the nuclear project. On the eve of the Vienna talks, however, the Ministry of Islamic Guidance wrote to editors warning them not to criticize Rouhani’s strategy and tactics in the negotiations. One weekly, 7 Dey, which ignored the minister’s order, was unceremoniously shut down and two other outlets critical of Rouhani, including the all-powerful Kayhan, received “stern warnings.”
Rouhani’s government has closed down more newspapers in two years than former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did in eight years. However, shutting papers in Iran is no easy task. All news outlets belong to someone influential within the establishment. Many publications are directly owned by the government and/or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Nevertheless, the government can force many outlets into line by threatening to cut their subsidies, limit their purchases of newsprint, and cut down their share of public sector advertising. The Mullahs and the generals who own the newspapers are not ready to spend their own money on them. And because not a single newspaper covers its own cost in Iran today, none could survive without government subsidies.
Against that background, it is remarkable that the Iranian media have succeeded in generating a serious debate about the issue. They have been helped by the fact that many powerful figures within the Khomeinist establishment are opposed to any deal on ideological grounds. More importantly, perhaps, Khamenei’s refusal to take sides has been interpreted as a green light for an open debate.
The platform offered for debate enabled both sides to passionately defend their diametrically opposed positions at length and shed light on a complex issue. Former Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili did a formidable job of exposing what he claimed was a document that “violated Iran’s independence and national sovereignty.” At the other end of the spectrum, Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) put the case for the Vienna deal by stating that in it Iran promised “not to do things we were not doing anyway, didn’t want to do, or couldn’t do at the time.” In other words, the Iranian side had obtained the lifting of sanctions without changing its nuclear program.
By last month, Rouhani had been obliged to tone down his boastful posture.
He was no longer talking of a “Fath Al-Mobin” (clear victory). “We scored three goals and suffered two,” he said, using football terminology. He was no longer calling for “spontaneous celebrations” in the streets with cars tooting their horns and youths performing folkloric dances.
More importantly, Rouhani stated publicly that he did not regard the Vienna “deal” as either legal or binding, hinting that Iran had no intention of implementing it in the form President Barack Obama has been boasting about in Washington. He did not want the “deal” to be voted upon by the Majlis—so as to avoid making it part of Iran’s domestic law and thus obliging the government to abide by it.It may come as a surprise to many, but having followed the coverage of the issue in the mainstream media in both Iran and the US I must admit, albeit grudgingly, that the Iranians did a better job. In the US the debate was over Obama, for or against, with the president’s ego dominating the debate. In Iran, maybe because the big ego Khamenei stayed on the sidelines, the thing itself could be discussed. As a result Iranians may now be better informed on this issue than their American counterparts.

Syria refugee crisis: Arab League’s inaction is shameful
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/September 21/15
Everyone is talking about the refugee crisis overwhelming Europe – everyone apart from the League of Arab States, that is. To date it has had little to say on the topic and, as far as I can tell, has no plan to help alleviate the problem. Why have there not been any emergency summits announced? Where are the voices from Arab capitals offering solutions? Perhaps there is a notice pinned to the League’s front door with the words ‘Gone fishing’.Why is the League’s Secretary General Dr Nabil el-Araby not holding crisis meetings with foreign ministers and jetting around the region to find ways of preventing Syrians and Iraqis from being treated worse than street dogs expected to be grateful when they are handed a bottle of water every now and again?We Arabs are always stressing our honour but just how honourably is the Arab League behaving, as it watches as our Arab brothers are being shuttled from pillar to post like pawns on a chessboard? Surely he sees their plight. The lucky ones have tents or blankets. Most are sleeping on pavements, unable to wash for days or weeks. Women are giving birth in the street. Mothers run out of baby milk. Diabetics have nowhere to keep their insulin refrigerated. Many report that the little money they had was stolen along with their mobile phones.
‘Where are the Arabs?’
The very least the Arab League should be doing is finding temporary refuge to allow these unfortunate people to live in dignity, while pressing hard on the international community to solve the root causes of this exodus. We Arabs are always stressing our honour but just how honorably is the Arab League behaving, as it watches as our Arab brothers are being shuttled from pillar to post like pawns on a chessboard? Our countries have wealth and we have lands, and so it is little wonder that Europeans are increasingly asking “where are the Arabs?” The League is made up of 22 countries, yet two of the poorest – Jordan and Lebanon – are bearing the brunt of the refugee influx. The majority of the refugees are Syrians fleeing war and terrorism in their hundreds of thousands. Scared and tired, they trudge on hoping there is somewhere on this planet where they can live in peace. Instead, thousands have been met with barbed wire fences, riot police wielding batons, tear gas and water cannons. You would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the hardships and indignities these people are being made to suffer. The images of a well-known Syrian football coach holding his young son being deliberately tripped by a callous camerawoman, or that of an anguished man seen carrying his child with blood streaming down his head, or those of children choking from gas or lying comatose on the ground in the no man’s land between Serbia and Hungary do not belong to Europe in the 21st century. Were we not given to believe that we would never again witness such examples of man’s inhumanity to man, let alone to women and children, on European soil?
Some opening their doors
That said there are European states, notably Germany, Austria and Sweden, that are opening their doors and doing what they can to handle this enormous influx of humanity as best as they can, even as others refuse to call terrorised people from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan “refugees”. Instead they are being referred to by countries that don’t want them as “illegal migrants”, “gangs” or “mobs” – their arrival characterized as “an invasion” with those who manage to break through prosecuted like criminals. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said he was shocked at the way refugees are being treated. “It’s not acceptable,” he said. Pope Francis has demanded that every Catholic parish or institution accept a minimum of one refugee family but he is facing a rebellion in some quarters, with the words “Today’s refugee could be tomorrow’s terrorist”.The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has shown exemplary leadership. Together with the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, she is calling for an EU-wide quota system that would oblige member states to absorb refugees according to their capacity in terms of GDP and unemployment statistics, against strong objections from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia threatened with losing their EU funding.
Diplomatic rifts
This situation now threatens to destroy the Schengen Agreement that allows for free movement between EU states; all the accusations flying between neighboring countries with very different views could cause severe diplomatic rifts. Bashar al-Assad says the refugee crisis is all the fault of the West for arming opposition forces. Naturally, he will say anything to lift the blame from his own shoulders. If he had heeded his own people by stepping down in 2011 instead of slaughtering them, none of this mess would have happened. No one emerges from this with a halo, and certainly not Barack Obama whose lack of leadership has allowed the Syrian conflict to fester into a terrorist swamp. Out of the so-called moderate fighters trained by the U.S. only five remain in theatre. Not five thousand or five hundred. Just five guys wandering around with guns.
A blind spot on Syria
European leaders have done nothing other than make speeches and attend summits. Turkey’s playing a duplicitous game, using Daesh as a pretext to kill its Kurdish enemies. And as for the Arab World… well, what can I say. I am not sure what is going on behind the scenes, but on the surface it appears that Arab leaderships, except those of the GCC, Jordan and Lebanon, have a blind spot on Syria. We did the right thing by intervening in Yemen and now the Houthi rebels are on the back foot. It is about time the Arab coalition turned its attention to Syria. It has taken a flood of refugees into Europe – and a Russian weapons build-up in Syria that could portend Moscow’s full scale military intervention – to galvanize the United Nations into sending its envoy to Damascus to discuss peace proposals. Plus, John Kerry appears open to discussions with his Russian counterpart on military solutions.Until when will we continue relying on foreign powers to save us? We did the right thing by intervening in Yemen and now the Houthi rebels are on the back foot. It is about time the Arab coalition turned its attention to Syria. The Arab world needs a union that is strong and resourceful with a mandate from all member countries to take action whenever the peace and security of our region is threatened. Otherwise, what is it other than an expensive mega majlis administrated by clerks?We will shortly be celebrating Eid al-Adha with family and friends, enjoying good meals and good company, while tens of thousands of Syrians at the mercy of European states go without food and shelter, their future uncertain. Enough! It is the time for the Arab League to resume its duties, and try to salvage our Arab honour.

Warplanes, not diplomacy, on Syria’s horizon
Sharif Nashashibi/Al Arabiya/September 21/15
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s call on Saturday for renewed diplomatic efforts to end the Syrian conflict is wishful thinking, amid several indications that if anything, the war is likely to intensify. The call shows that Russian President Vladimir Putin has outmanoeuvred Washington with his recent ramping up of military aid to the beleaguered Syrian regime, including heavy weaponry, training and advisers. Russian troops are reportedly even engaged in combat in Syria. Though Washington had been warning against such a build-up, Putin knew it would not reciprocate with an increase in U.S. military aid to Syrian rebels. Opposition groups’ foreign backers have never been as materially supportive as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s allies have been of his regime. Knowledge of this, and the unlikelihood of that changing, must have informed the Russian military build-up. Moscow’s build-up in Syria will embolden the regime to continue being as intransigent as it has been throughout the conflict.
Putin’s gamble – if one can call it that – has paid off, with Washington softening its tone and even attempting a face-saving U-turn. Laughably, Kerry now says the build-up presents an opportunity to progress diplomatically and to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as if the Assad regime will not use these new Russian weapons to continue slaughtering Syrian civilians. As Amnesty International pointed out last month: “Time and again, the Syrian government’s Russian-made fighter jets have targeted busy public spaces, including markets or near mosques after prayers, seemingly hell-bent on causing the maximum possible civilian death toll and destruction of the places they frequent.”Subsequent high-level military talks between Washington and Moscow will not contribute to a diplomatic breakthrough – their aim is likely limited to staying out of each others’ way as they continue their respective operations.
Military build-up
The West may not respond to the Russian build-up, but regional parties such as the Gulf states and Turkey may increase financial and military support to Syrian rebel groups. Such aid contributed to a series of battlefield successes this year, and they will not want to see those gains reversed. However, it will not include the kind of military backing – troops and heavy weaponry such as tanks and warplanes – that Assad is accustomed to. The Russian build-up will also likely swell the ranks of jihadist groups in Syria. Just as they have played on anti-Western and anti-Shiite sentiment to encourage recruitment, they can now also use the presence – or even just the prospect – of Russian boots on the ground to stir up bitter memories of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Soviet withdrawal was brought about by jihadist fighters who would later form Al-Qaeda. And Al-Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate, is one of the most formidable military opponents of the Assad regime and its allies, as well as ISIS and Western-backed rebel groups.
Regime confidence
Moscow’s build-up in Syria will embolden the regime to continue being as intransigent as it has been throughout the conflict. Assad was way off the mark in arrogantly predicting in April that “this year, the active phase of military action in Syria will be ended.”However, his confidence will have since been renewed not just by Moscow’s muscle-flexing, but by the recent Iran nuclear deal, which entails the lifting of sanctions that will enable an increase in Tehran’s support for Assad. Both have since reiterated the unwavering strength of their alliance. The U.S.-led coalition war against ISIS has not only failed to significantly weaken the jihadist group after more than a year, but has also played into Assad’s hands by allowing him to focus more forcefully on fighting rebels that are opposed to both him and ISIS. Even U.S. officials have acknowledged the benefit to him. Assad and his allies are portraying his regime as indispensible in the fight against ISIS (ignoring, of course, their pivotal role in the latter’s creation and expansion). Those duplicitous efforts have been somewhat successful in the West, where a growing number of officials and members of the public have begun to view the Assad regime as the lesser of two evils.Countering this flawed view, Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, wrote last month that “the greatest threat to Syrian civilians” comes not from ISIS, but from the Assad regime’s barrel bombs. ISIS “has distracted us from this deadly reality,” Roth added. “Too few people understand the extraordinary slaughter that the Syrian military is committing with its barrel bombs.”
Intransigence
The regime has consistently insisted that Assad’s future is not up for negotiation, and has refused to discuss any meaningful transition of power. The above factors mean that Assad, who in July admitted that manpower shortages meant his army could no longer control the whole country, may be willing to bide his time in light of increasing assistance from foreign allies and his opponents’ divisions. This will mean continued regime intransigence in any future diplomatic efforts, not that there is anything noteworthy on the horizon. Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy on Syria since July 2014, has made no headway since his appointment, and nor did his predecessors. And Moscow’s increasing military support for Assad will hurt its attempts – however superficial and hypocritical – to play mediator. The result of all this will be the prolongation and escalation of the conflict on the ground, while diplomacy will remain the hollow buzzword in press conferences, official statements and media interviews. Expect more corpses on Syrian streets and European shores.

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006