New Page 5

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

Bible Quotation For Today/It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Mark 10/17-27: "As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother." ’He said to him, ‘Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.’Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ They were greatly astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’"

Bible Quotation For Today/Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life
Book of Revelation 02/08-11: "‘To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life: ‘I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 23-24/15
The tongue-tied “friends”/Ahmad El Assaad/ September 23, 2015
How the U.S. rebel program and policy on Syria failed/Brooklyn Middleton/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Can Assad establish an Alawite state in Syria/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Egypt's War on Terrorism Bears Fruit/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September 23/15
Diplomatic Immunity: License for Crime? Saudi Arabia at It Again/Mohshin Habib/Gatestone Institute/September 23/15
Israel and Palestine: Is it the economy, stupid/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
How peace with Turkey emboldened the PKK/Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Why Russia wants to echo the Cuban Missile Crisis in Syria/Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Canada Should Welcome Syrian Refugees, Carefully/Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/September 23, 2015
Palestinians in Lebanon think of “emigration”/Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/September 23/15
Arrested for reporting rape in Lebanese detention center/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/September 23/15
Policemen shot dead in Tartous militia's "de-facto state"/Now Lebanon/September 23/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on September 23-24/15
Report: Hezbollah to cease offensive action in Syria
The tongue-tied “friends”
Hale Meets Salam: U.S. to Dedicate $59 Million for Border Security Equipment for Lebanese Army
Hale Meets Salam: U.S. to Dedicate $59 Million for Border Security Equipment for Lebanese Army
Friend of the Court' to Appeal Lettieri's Decision, Khayat Carries on with Confrontation
Report: Berri has Proposed to Host Inter-Palestinian National Dialogue
Jumblat: Seychelles Proposal Result of Immature Conditions for Presidential Polls
EU Leaders Expected to Give more Funding to Lebanon
Dutch FM Advises EU Talks with Lebanon over Refugee Crisis
Czech Court Allows Extradition of Lebanese Terror Suspect to U.S.
Mustaqbal Says Presidential Vote is 'Obligatory Gateway' to Resolve Political Crisis
Lebanese Army Arrests Prostitution Ring Linked to Kidnap Gang
Canada: Two Muslims get life sentences for jihad plot to derail passenger train
“2 Via Rail terror plotters sentenced to life in prison,”

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 23-24/15
ISIS mobilizing for large Deir Ezzor battle
Obama Offers Pope Warm White House Welcome
Al-Jazeera Journalists Walk Free in Egypt after Sisi Pardon
Canada welcomes Mohamed Fahmy’s pardon
Rouhani suggests Iran's military is best defense against ISIS
Israel wary as Russia, Iran expand Syrian presence
Clashes after Funeral of Palestinian Shot by Israeli Forces
Father of Saudi Youth on Death Row Asks King for Clemency
IS Frees Kurdish Journalist in Exchange
France to Sell Warships to Egypt, after Russia Deal Scrapped
Egypt Military Winds Down Campaign against IS in Sinai

Report: Hezbollah to cease offensive action in Syria
Ynetnews/Roi Kais/September 23/15
Lebanese media outlet quotes diplomats claiming Hezbollah will only act defensively in Syria after fight for Al-Zabadani ends. While Syria, Russia and Iran solidify their military relationships, embattled President Bashar Assad may be about to lose another key ally in his fight against rebel groups including the Islamic State, according to Lebanese reports on Monday. Hezbollah has been actively involved in Syria's civil war with troops on the ground fighting for the Assad regime, but the organization has informed the Syrian government that it will no longer take part in offensive military action, according to diplomatic sources who spoke to the Daily Star. According to the report, Hezbollah is now expected to participate only in defensive actions after a battle currently being fought for the city of Al-Zabadani, some 45 kilometers from Damascus, is completed. Even with the direct support of Iran and Russia, losing Hezbollah's offensive capabilities would be a serious blow to the Assad regime, which has suffered a string of losses for the past several months as government forces have found themselves on the back foot against the Islamic State and other rebels. Current assessments suggest that Hezbollah is less than likely to entirely abandon the Syrian government, but perhaps Russia's increased involvement was, in part, meant to coincide with Hezbollah's decreased activity. Russia has established a forward air base near the northern city of Latakia where the US claims 28 Sukhoi fighter jets have been deployed. A ceasefire was declared in Al-Zabadani and three other cities in the area between rebels and government forces. A similar agreement was reached in the area last month, but didn't hold. Meanwhile, Hezbollah appears to be dealing with internal struggles. Kuwaiti news source Al Rai reported Tuesday morning that the organization arrested one of its members accused of spying for a Western nation. According to the report, the individual worked at a Hezbollah-run hospital in Beirut.Hezbollah was said to be investigating the amount of damage done by the infiltration. No official sources confirmed the report, but the arrested individual was said to be privy to sensitive information including the details of wounded and dead fighters in the organization.

The tongue-tied “friends”
Ahmad El Assaad/ September 22, 2015
LOP General Chancellor
“Thugs” supporting the leader of the Movement did it again with activists!They did not settle for the first attack against demonstrators, but repeated their brutal intimidation to those who dared criticize their chief and include him to the list of corrupt politicians in the country. They did so because escaping impunity and accountability is the norm in Lebanon and because their earlier practices did not cause an actual fuss the first time but had rather gone unnoticed, as if nothing had happened. Following the first attack, “the thugs of the Parliament” thought that no one would hold them accountable for their actions, and that the streets were open for them to do as they please. Their leader also realized that nothing could prevent him from sending his thugs to the streets, and that no one would raise the voice in condemnation. He thought he could be absolutely at ease in playing the role he excels at: the Middle Ages man who is ready to do anything for people to feel intimidated by him and by the mere thought of criticizing him or objecting to his demeanors. It may be normal for the March 8 forces to disregard what happened. For them, this behavior is the work of an ally, and one must not upset his entourage. Of course, this position is morally impermissible, but morality in Lebanese politics has become a value of the remotest of times, especially among the March 8 parties. Yet what is stranger and even more unfortunate is the fact that the March 14 camp also made no reaction to what happened. Not only that none of the ministries assumed by March14-affiliated ministers (i.e. Justice, Interior and others) failed to take appropriate action after the first and second rounds of bullying against demonstrators, but the worst part is that no statement condemning the attacks has been issued, neither the first, nor the second time. None of the leaders of the March 14 camp voiced a word of denouncement over what happened. If dialogue at the House of Representatives was the "dialogue of the deaf," then everyone has dealt with what happened in the street as tongue-tied as could be. There is no hope that any of the March 14 leaders would utter condemnation, because they describe the holder of the Parliament’s Hammer as a "friend", a “very dear friend” even. No one should be friends with a person capable of such behavior. March 14 forces, which claim that they want to build a state of law and institutions, must not go on with a friendship with a person who works against the principle of Statesmanship.Failure to make any statement to condemn these attacks and continuing to brag about the friendship with the actor of such practices is sheer complicity with the logic of bullying, intimidation and repression. It is also a proof that narrow calculations are the priority of the leaders of the March 14 forces.

Hale Meets Salam: U.S. to Dedicate $59 Million for Border Security Equipment for Lebanese Army
Naharnet/September 23/15/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale expressed on Wednesday his country's ongoing support for the Lebanese army, announcing additional funds for the military. He said after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail: “I am very pleased to announce today that my government is allotting an additional $59 million for border security equipment for the army.”“In addition, this week America received the latest, substantial transfer of funds from Saudi Arabia to purchase more U.S. equipment to help the Lebanese army,” he continued. “These funds, combined with U.S. funding, will assist the Lebanese army to develop further a precision air force strike capability; we will announce the exact details as soon as they have been arranged,” he revealed ahead of Salam's upcoming trip to New York where he will attend the U.N. General Assembly opening and the ministerial meeting of the International Support Group for Lebanon. “This latest transfer and project are yet another demonstration of the strong and effective partnership among Lebanon, America, and Saudi Arabia to improve the Lebanese army’s capability to defend Lebanon’s borders and people,” Hale stated.
“Whether through political support, military aid, or humanitarian assistance, America will stand by Lebanon,” declared the ambassador. “Only our actions are the standard by which to judge America’s commitment to Lebanese stability. Those actions include an American investment of more than $1.3 billion in security assistance for Lebanon in the past 10 years,” he added. “This year, Lebanon is the fifth largest recipient of U.S. foreign military financing and Lebanon is also the fifth largest annual recipient of U.S. bilateral training for your military personnel. “The U.S. has provided nearly $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to host communities and Syrian refugees in Lebanon since the tragic conflict in Syria began and our bilateral development assistance for the last decade will also exceed one billion dollars, to help income generating opportunities, education, and provision of services such as water,” Hale remarked.“But when it comes to stability, there is no amount of foreign assistance or goodwill that can substitute for the stability that comes from good governance. That can only come from within. I know Lebanon’s leaders are working to reactivate a functioning cabinet and to resume dialogue on the deeper issues,” said the ambassador. “We welcome any such effort, and earlier this month we joined other members of the U.N. Security Council in reiterating that now is the time for parliament to meet and elect a president as soon as possible and to schedule parliamentary elections,” he stressed.
“As I said several weeks ago, citizens everywhere look to the state to protect their right to free speech and assembly; and citizens everywhere have a responsibility to exercise their right peacefully and responsibly and accountability is expected when either side transgresses rights or responsibilities,” he continued. “We support these universal rights, and urge adherence to these responsibilities across the world. America supports these values here in Lebanon and the principle of civil society’s right to voice its views and frustrations, as does the Prime Minister. But the United States is in no way involved, directly or indirectly, in the civil society demonstrations, nor do we condone violence or the destruction of property,” Hale emphasized. “We very much look forward to the Prime Minister’s trip to New York and the opportunity to discuss with him ways the international community can be of further support for Lebanon and our shared goals of stability, security, and good governance,” he concluded.

Friend of the Court' to Appeal Lettieri's Decision, Khayat Carries on with Confrontation
Naharnet/September 23/15/Leidschendam, Naharnet Exclusive: The “Friend of the Court,” who is similar to a prosecutor in contempt cases related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, is on the verge of making a decision to appeal three out of four verdicts issued by Contempt Judge Nicola Lettieri against television station al-Jadeed S.A.L. and the station's deputy chief editor Karma Khayat. According to informed sources, the “Friend of the Court's” appeal of the fourth verdict considering Khayat guilty in one of two charges of contempt still awaits next Monday, which has been set as the deadline to issue the sentence against the journalist. If the verdict came "light," then the “Friend of the Court” will appeal the four verdicts in an attempt to get the Appeals Chamber to condemn the three cases that Lettieri cleared al-Jadeed and Khayat from, and to give a stronger sentence in the fourth case in which the judge found Khayat guilty with the obstruction of justice. On the other hand, both parties continue with making media and legal campaigns in an attempt to prove slander on the court's part and a violation of freedom of speech in Lebanon. Therefore, those closely informed about the contempt case against Khayat believe that she will appeal the verdict which will be issued next Monday.

Report: Berri has Proposed to Host Inter-Palestinian National Dialogue
Naharnet/September 23/15/Speaker Nabih Berri has proposed to host talks between the Fatah and Hamas movements who remain deeply divided over a meeting of the Palestine National Council (PNC), al-Akhbar daily reported on Thursday. PNC, a congress representing those in the Palestinian territories and the diaspora, was to take place on September 14-15. But it was postponed to an undetermined date. The PNC serves as the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Hamas belongs to neither the PLO nor the 740-member PNC, which has not met since 1996. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri has called on Palestinian factions to boycott the congress, labeling it a "farce,” and causing growing differences with Fatah. “The parliament's doors are open in case Egypt refuses to host a meeting” between Fatah and Hamas representatives to resolve their differences, Berri has reportedly told several Palestinian officials he met recently. Hamas officials told al-Akhbar that Berri's invitation is “serious.” “If we succeed in our dialogue, then that would reflect positively on the security situation in Lebanon's camps, mainly Ain el-Hilweh,” they said. The impoverished Ain el-Hilweh camp has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives and for the settling of scores between factions. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian refugee camps, leaving the factions themselves to handle security. More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees. Most live in squalid conditions in the country's 12 official refugee camps.

Jumblat: Seychelles Proposal Result of Immature Conditions for Presidential Polls
Naharnet/September 23/15/Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat has mocked the failure to elect a new president by proposing to move the national dialogue from Beirut to the islands of Seychelles. In remarks to As Safir daily published on Wednesday, Jumblat said he made the proposal to insist that “the conditions are not yet ripe for the election of a president.”
“We should wait,” he said.
Baabda Palace has been vacant since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May last year. Jumblat's remarks came a day after he attended a meeting on the sidelines of the national dialogue at parliament that brought together Speaker Nabih Berri, Premier Tammam Salam, Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun, al-Mustaqbal bloc leader lawmaker Fouad Saniora and the head of Hizbullah's bloc MP Mohammed Raad. The meeting sought to revive the work of the government which has been paralyzed over its working mechanism and military promotions. However, the top officials failed to reach a deal on the promotions, a key demand of Aoun, who wants to keep Commando Regiment chief Chamel Roukoz in the military and make him eligible to become army commander.
Roukoz is Aoun's son-in-law.
High-ranking sources said that Saniora rejected the promotions from Brig. Gen. to Maj. Gen., saying they would harm the military institution’s structure. But in remarks to As Safir, the MP denied his responsibility for the obstruction of the deal. Progress has been made in the talks but have not yet reached the expected results, said Saniora.

EU Leaders Expected to Give more Funding to Lebanon
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/European Union leaders, who will gather for an emergency summit on the migration crisis on Wednesday, are expected to give extra funding to Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and U.N. agencies. The leaders are hoping that the funding would help stop the flow of refugees to Europe. A high-ranking U.N. official has said there are 4 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey. Growing numbers have left these countries for Europe. The summit comes a day after ministers forced through a controversial deal to relocate 120,000 refugees in a major blow to unity within the bloc.The deeply divided ministers agreed to relocate the asylum-seekers to ease the strain on Greece and Italy, which are on the front line of the migrant flood. But a senior European leader conceded the move was only a small step toward resolving one of the worst crises ever faced by the 28-nation bloc. Four eastern European countries — the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary — voted against the plan, and it's unclear if they will even implement it. Those nations have resisted accepting the forced resettlement of refugees on their territory.

Dutch FM Advises EU Talks with Lebanon over Refugee Crisis
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 23/15/ Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders has said the only way to halt the flow of migrants pouring into Europe is to end the war in Syria, advising the European Union to hold talks with Lebanese officials. Koenders, who visited a refugee camp in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Tuesday, said: "It is not only a question of border controls and quotas. If the war in Syria does not end, people will keep coming."Koenders said the EU, whose leaders are meeting Wednesday in Brussels to try to hammer out a united front in tackling the migrant crisis, should talk to the Lebanese authorities, "because that country knows not only the problems but also the region."He said the EU should discuss possible solutions to the Syrian conflict with Lebanon and other countries from the Middle East. The Dutch government has pledged 25 million euros ($28 million) to help Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Koenders met with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil on Monday. "It's important to note that this amount of money... is something meant for refugees but also Lebanese communities," the Dutch diplomat said.

Czech Court Allows Extradition of Lebanese Terror Suspect to U.S.
Associated Press/September 23/15/A Prague court has ruled a Lebanese national and two Ivory Coast citizens can be extradited to the United States to face terror charges.The three men were arrested in Prague in April 2014 while trying to sell weapons to undercover U.S. law enforcement officials who pretended to be from a Colombian terrorist group. Spokeswoman Marketa Puci says Prague's Municipal Court approved their extradition Tuesday. The three have appealed. If the verdict is upheld, Justice Minister Robert Pelikan will have the final say. In July, a Czech lawyer for the Lebanese suspect Ali Taan Fayad, also known as Ali Amin, went missing in Lebanon together with four other Czechs and their Lebanese driver, who was identified by Lebanese media as Taan's relative. Czech officials have not commented on that.

Mustaqbal Says Presidential Vote is 'Obligatory Gateway' to Resolve Political Crisis
Naharnet/September 23/15/Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc reiterated Tuesday that the country's political deadlock can only be resolved through holding the long-stalled presidential election, hours after MP Michel Aoun called for staging parliamentary polls under a proportional representation law. “The continued presidential vacuum that is being imposed on the Lebanese by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement is an incomplete coup against the Constitution,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. It called on lawmakers “to reach an agreement on electing a new president in order to pull Lebanon out of the major quandary that is going through.”The bloc noted that the election of a president would reactivate the work of the paralyzed cabinet and parliament. “Some are making a lot of suggestions, but what we need remains unchanged: the election of a president as an obligatory gateway to reach a solution,” Mustaqbal underlined. It also criticized the civil society protest movement for demanding parliamentary elections that would precede the presidential vote, saying such a suggestion reflects “bias in favor of a certain political camp.”“The election of a president is the key to rebuilding the constitutional institutions,” the bloc insisted. Earlier on Tuesday, Aoun suggested devising a law for parliamentary elections that would be based on proportional representation and 15 electoral districts, noting that most parties who took part in Tuesday's dialogue session supported his proposal. He also emphasized that “there is no law that stipulates electing a president before electing a parliament.” The last legislative elections were held in 2009, and parliament has twice extended its own mandate, citing internal political divisions and regional instability as justification. The country has been without a president for more than a year, as a divided parliament has been unable to fill the post despite meeting more than 20 times. The parliamentary blocs of Aoun and Hizbullah have been boycotting the electoral sessions and stripping them of the needed quorum.

Lebanese Army Arrests Prostitution Ring Linked to Kidnap Gang
Naharnet/September 23/15/The army announced Wednesday that it has arrested a “prostitution ring linked to a kidnap gang” in the northern city of Tripoli. “An Intelligence Directorate patrol arrested yesterday in the city of Tripoli the Palestinian-Syrian woman Kinda Oueis and Lebanese national Walid Sobh, who together with fugitive Syrian Tarek Wifaqi constitute a prostitution ring linked to a kidnap gang,” the Army Command said in a statement. It said the gang had two days ago tried to abduct the son of a soldier after chasing him on the al-Bohsas highway.“The two detainees have been referred to the relevant authorities for further investigations,” the military added.

Canada: Two Muslims get life sentences for jihad plot to derail passenger train
September 23, 2015 7:10 pm By Robert Spencer Leave a Comment
“‘I am satisfied that life imprisonment is the appropriate sentence,’ the judge added, noting that the men would receive credit for time already spent in custody. He said both men have not renounced their violent, jihadist ideology and have shown no remorse.”But remember: if you start to inquire about what exactly that violent, jihadist ideology consists of, and call for it to be combated by the Muslim communities that ostensibly reject it, you’re a racist, bigoted Islamophobe.
“2 Via Rail terror plotters sentenced to life in prison,”
CBC News, September 23, 2015
Raed Jaser and Chiheb Esseghaier, the men convicted earlier this year on terrorism charges for plotting to derail a Via passenger train, were both sentenced to life in prison today in a Toronto courtroom. In passing sentence, Superior Court of Justice Judge Michael Code said the unusual gravity of terrorism offences means he had to send a strong enough message to deter others considering carrying out similar crimes. He said there was little evidence presented that mitigates the presumptive sentence of life in prison.“These are the most serious of terrorism offences, designed to result in indiscriminate killings of innocent human beings,” he said. “I am satisfied that life imprisonment is the appropriate sentence,” the judge added, noting that the men would receive credit for time already spent in custody. He said both men have not renounced their violent, jihadist ideology and have shown no remorse.
Crown sought life sentences In March, both men were found guilty of conspiring to commit murder for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with a terrorist group. Esseghaier, of Montreal, was found guilty of all charges against him, while Jaser, of Toronto, was convicted of all but one charge. The jury also found the men guilty of six other terror-related charges between them. The Crown was seeking life sentences for both men. Jaser’s lawyer argued for a sentence of 5½ years in jail which would include three years for time already served. Esseghaier made no sentencing submission.
After the sentences were delivered, Jaser shook his head, closed his eyes at one point and held his face in one hand. Esseghaier crossed his arms and leaned back in the prisoner’s box as Code read out his 53-page sentencing decision. “The life sentence doesn’t have any meaning for me,” Esseghaier told the judge after his sentence was delivered, adding God was his “master.”A copy of the ruling was offered to Esseghaier after it was read by the judge, but he threw it back.
Mental health questions
Regarding Esseghaier, the judge addressed in detail questions about his mental health, including Esseghaier’s assertion that it is currently the year 2014 and that he and his soul, will be released from jail on Dec. 25 of that year. The judge called them “realizations” not “delusions” and said he’s skeptical Esseghaier is schizophrenic. In short, he said, Esseghaier’s mental health was not a mitigating factor in the sentence. “The evidence is overwhelming that he was not delusional or psychotic at the time of the offence,” Code said. “It is unprecedented to adjourn a sentencing hearing indefinitely to await treatment.”
Code said it was “unnecessary to arrive at any firm conclusions regarding Esseghaier’s alleged mental illness.”
FBI recordings prove critical
The most important evidence in the case was 25 hours of secretly recorded conversations between the two men and an undercover FBI agent. The agent posed as a wealthy Egyptian-American real estate developer whose views had supposedly become more hard line in recent years and who was a willing accomplice in the conspiracy….In passing sentence Wednesday, Code rejected Jaser’s argument that he was entrapped by the undercover FBI agent, saying both he and Esseghaier were predisposed to carry out violent acts before the agent was introduced to the group….

ISIS mobilizing for large Deir Ezzor battle
Now Lebanon/September 23/15/BEIRUT – ISIS has been mobilizing equipment and fighters on a large scale for an upcoming operation to seize the last-two large regime controlled areas in the urban center of Deir Ezzor, according to All4Syria. The anti-regime outlet reported Wednesday that since the beginning of the week ISIS has been undertaking preparations to attack the Jawra and Qusour neighborhoods of the city located on the western banks of the Euphrates. The report added that ISIS has dubbed the upcoming operation the “Battle of Arafah” in reference to the Muslim Holy Day that marks the second day of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, which in 2015 falls on September 23. “Columns of ISIS vehicles headed to Syria from Iraq via the border town of Qaim have been sighted entering Syria from the desert despite intensive over-flights by coalition warplanes,” All4Syria cited activists as saying. The group has mobilized many of its members and readied its heavy machinery to begin the battle,” the report added. “There is news that the group intends to enforce mandatory recruitment on the sons of Deir Ezzor province, in a bid to mobilize as many fighters as [possible].”The Syrian regime has managed to maintain its presence in the city of Deir Ezzor despite the rebel takeover of the rest of the surrounding province in 2013. One year later, the eastern Syrian region was seized by ISIS. The regime holds most of the city’s neighborhoods along the western banks of the Euphrates—including the Jawra and Qusuor neighborhoods—while ISIS has established a bridgehead in the center of the city as well as outside of the airbase to the southeast. In early May, ISIS launched a new offensive against regime troops holding out in the city, the latest in a series of campaigns against the Syrian army that began in mid-2014. Last fall, the extremist group had failed in a bid to seize the military airport and the city’s industrial area, as well as Huweijat Sakr, an Island on the Euphrates River, which runs through the middle of Deir Ezzor. Fierce back-and-forth fighting has since raged in the city, with the regime and ISIS launching a series of attacks and counterattacks against each other. Much of the fighting has focused on the military airbase to the southeast of the city, where ISIS launched a renewed attack in mid-September that reportedly brought them to the gates of the installation.

Obama Offers Pope Warm White House Welcome
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/Barack Obama welcomed Pope Francis to the White House on Wednesday -- the first black U.S. president hailing the first pontiff from the Americas as a unique moral authority. The South Lawn of the White House echoed to the strains of the Pontifical Anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner and a thundering 21-gun salute, as Washingtonians thronged the streets for the historic visit. An inspiration to many of America's 70 million Catholics, Francis is also a potential political ally for Obama, sharing many of his progressive goals. Both men called for action on climate change and hailed the approchement between the United States and Cuba -- causes dear to the White House but opposed by U.S. conservatives."I believe the excitement around your visit must be attributed not only to your role as pope, but to your unique qualities as a person," Obama told his guest."In your humility, your embrace of simplicity, the gentleness of your words and the generosity of your spirit, we see a living example of Jesus' teachings, a leader whose moral authority comes not just through words but through deeds."Speaking in fluent but accented English, the 78-year-old Argentine pontiff returned the warm blessings of his host. "I am deeply grateful for your welcome in the name of all Americans," he said, to applause."As the son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families."In a nod to Washington's bitter debate about immigration reform, Francis said he would address Congress "to offer words of encouragement to those called to guide the nation's political future in fidelity to its founding principles." Many U.S. conservatives call into question the very existence of man-made climate change, but Francis and Obama made a de facto joint appeal for action on the issue."Holy Father, you remind us that we have a sacred obligation to protect our planet, God's magnificent gift to us," Obama said.
Francis took up the call.
"Accepting the urgency, it seems clear to me also that climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation," Francis said.
"When it comes to the care of our 'common home,' we are living at a critical moment of history."The pope was afforded a full ceremonial welcome on his historic first visit to the United States, and to Washington -- a political city that ordinarily shrugs its shoulders when presidents, queens and sheikhs roll through.Well-wishers lined the Pope's route and Obama himself made an exceedingly rare ceremonial trip to the airport to meet the Argentine's plane Tuesday, bringing his wife, daughters, Vice President Joe Biden to underscore the special welcome.The visit is a political mirror of pope Benedict's 2008 visit to George W. Bush's White House. Those two leaders were as conservative as their current successors are progressive.Still, the White House insists it is not co-opting a holy man in order to batter Republican foes in Congress."The goal of this meeting is to give the two men the opportunity to talk about their shared values," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. "There'll be time for politics, frankly, the other 364 days of the year," he said.Francis has signaled he is also unlikely to wade directly into America's bitterly fought politics. The Vatican played a crucial role in brokering talks between Havana and Washington that led to the recent restoration of diplomatic ties after more than half a century.But the pope also told reporters that he would not specifically bring up Washington's embargo of Cuba in his speech Thursday before American lawmakers, who largely favor taking a tough line with Havana. "The Holy See is against this embargo, but it is against all embargoes," he said. Yet there is no mistaking the value of enlisting a popular pope's moral authority and offering him America's largest political platform. Even the half of Americans who hold an unfavorable view of the Catholic Church like Pope Francis, according to a recent Washington Post-ABC poll. Francis will make two key speeches during his U.S. visit, the address to Congress and another to the United Nations on Friday. Topics will include critiques of the dominance of finance and technology; a condemnation of world powers over the conflicts gripping the planet; appeals to protect and welcome immigrants; and climate change, according to Vatican sources. The pope's agenda tracks so closely with Obama's efforts to introduce immigration reform, as well as domestic and international limits on carbon emissions, that Republicans are already crying foul. Congressman Paul Gosar, who is Catholic, declared he would boycott the pontiff's historic address to Congress to protest his "leftist" views. During the historic six-day trip to New York, symbolic home of capitalism, Francis will preside over an inter-faith ceremony at Ground Zero, visit a Harlem Catholic school and greet crowds on a procession through Central Park. He will wrap up his trip Saturday and Sunday in Philadelphia at an international festival of Catholic families.

Al-Jazeera Journalists Walk Free in Egypt after Sisi Pardon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/Canadian Al-Jazeera journalist Mohamed Fahmy and colleague Baher Mohamed walked free after being pardoned along with scores of others Wednesday by Egypt's president, following criticism of his government for jailing opponents.
The 100 prisoners pardoned by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi included women activists Sana Seif and Yara Sallam, the president's office said, in a goodwill gesture on the eve of a major Muslim holiday.Within hours of the announcement, Fahmy and Mohamed were dropped off by authorities in the upmarket Cairo suburb of Maadi in their blue prison uniforms and were waiting there for family members. They told an AFP correspondent on the spot that they were looking forward to being reunited with their families, but were unsure of their long-term plans. "I'm feeling ecstatic knowing that I don't have to worry about lawyers, police officers following me all over the place and knowing that I'm going to share my apartment tonight with my beloved wife," said Fahmy. Mohamed said: "We're very, very happy. But we're a bit surprised about how it was done".The pair had been sentenced in a retrial in August to three years for fabricating "false" news in support of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, which the army removed from power in 2013 and outlawed. The retrial was ordered early this year after an appeals court overturned an initial sentence of seven years, saying the prosecution had presented scant evidence.
Greste 'overjoyed' Australian reporter and Al-Jazeera colleague Peter Greste was also convicted, but was deported by presidential decree in February after 400 days in jail. An award-winning former BBC reporter, Greste said in an interview with Al-Jazeera that he was "overjoyed" by their release.
"President Sisi has taken a very important step in restoring confidence in the system but it is only a partial step," said Greste. "More than anything else, we've been concerned for their safety, concerned for their welfare."
It was not immediately clear if Greste was included in the pardon, and the pan-Arab network continued to demand that all charges and sentences against its journalists be dropped. The detention and trial sparked global criticism of Sisi, who has said he wished the journalists had been deported from the outset rather than put on trial. After their sentencing last month, Egypt summoned the British ambassador to Cairo for criticizing the ruling.The United States and the United Nations had led calls for the journalists' release. Their arrest in December 2013 came at a time of heightened unrest and a deadly crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood following Islamist president Mohamed Morsi's overthrow by the military.At the time, Qatar, which owns Al-Jazeera, had been supportive of the Islamists.Fahmy had dropped his Egyptian citizenship to qualify for deportation like Greste.
Fahmy wants 'nationality back'
His euphoric fiancee, Marwa Omran said that, after his release, "he wants to pursue getting his nationality back."The pardons came on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, when prisoner releases often take place in Muslim countries. They also came a day before Sisi is due to head to New York, where he will deliver a speech at the U.N. General Assembly. The pardons appeared to be mainly of activists, with the presidency saying the cases involved violations of a protest law and "assaulting police officers," in addition to some releases on health grounds. Sisi has faced mounting calls to release activists such as Seif and Sallam, a human rights worker detained after a small protest outside the presidential palace in 2014.The two women were charged with holding an illegal protest, under a law that bans all but police-sanctioned demonstrations, and sentenced to three years in jail. No official list was immediately issued of those pardoned, leaving it unclear whether other secular activists such as Alaa Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Maher were included. It was also not known if the pardon covered Mahmoud Abu Zeid, a photographer arrested in August 2013 as hundreds of Islamist protesters were killed in clashes with police clearing two Cairo sit-ins. Thousands of Islamists, including Morsi, have been arrested since his overthrow, and scores sentenced to death. But the crackdown on the Islamists has also extended to secular leaning activists who had supported Morsi's overthrow after his divisive year in power.
Sisi, the former army chief who was elected president in 2014, remains popular with many Egyptians as he seeks to put an end to unrest in the wake of the country's 2011 revolution that toppled longtime strongman Hosni Mubarak. He has vowed to steer clear of court cases out of respect for the judiciary's independence.

Canada welcomes Mohamed Fahmy’s pardon
September 23, 2015 - Ottawa, Ontario - Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada The Honourable Lynne Yelich, Minister of State (Foreign Affairs and Consular), today issued the following statement: “Canada is pleased that Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has granted Mohamed Fahmy a pardon. “Canada has consistently called at the highest level for Mr. Fahmy’s release and return to Canada. “The Government of Canada will continue to provide Mr. Fahmy with consular assistance and will assist in facilitating his departure from Egypt. “We look forward to Mr. Fahmy reuniting with his family and loved ones, and his return to Canada.”

Rouhani suggests Iran's military is best defense against ISIS
JPOST.COM STAFF/09/22/2015/Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic's military is the biggest force combating terrorism in the Middle East. The Iranian president stated that Tehran was prepared to assist others in the region as it has aided Syria and Iraq, in reference to the battle against the Sunni Islamic State terror group. Iran has provided military support to Syria and to Shi'ite militias in Iraq, but has not sent military units to Damascus. In Syria's years-long conflict, Iran has backed President Bashar Assad and has called for him stay in power at least until Islamic State militants are defeated. In a speech on Tuesday at a defense ceremony marking the onset of the Iran-Iraq War in 1980, Rouhani said, “we tell the world today that the biggest anti-terrorism force in the region is the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”“Just as we have helped the governments of Syria and Iraq against terrorism, upon requests from their governments, if, heavens forbid, terrorism emerged in other countries, the governments of those countries will pin their hopes to the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Iran's semi-official news agency Mehr quoted Rouhani as saying.While Iran is considered to be one of the world's leading state sponsors of terror for groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, Rouhani claimed that the Islamic Republic "has never had the intention to invade another country."Islamic State, which emerged last year in the anarchic Sunni heartlands straddling Syria and Iraq, routinely executes prisoners, enslaves captives and destroys historic sites. Iranian officials frequently cite such actions as a justification for their support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose forces have also carried out mass killings since the beginning of an initially peaceful popular uprising in 2011.
Reuters contributed to this report.

Israel wary as Russia, Iran expand Syrian presence
Ynetnews/September 23/15/Russia rapidly expanding base in Syria; Israeli, Russian chiefs of staff agree to create coordinating committee after Netanyahu, Putin discuss need to avoid military "misunderstandings". Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday in order to set up a system to prevent any clashes between the Russian and Israeli armies in the region, as Moscow continues to send troops to its growing base on Latakiya, and as American sources report that Russia has placed 28 fighter jets and a bomber at another base. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot later met his Russian counterpart and the two agreed to create a committee to plan coordination. According to an American source, the number of Russian fighter planes in Syria has gone up this last weekend from four to 28. It was also reported on Monday that Russian drones had begun being used in Syria. The growing Russian air presence and use of drones led to the need to quickly reach agreements aimed at avoiding confrontations in the sky, added American sources. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Russia and Iran have increased their coordination in Syria in hopes of protecting Bashar Assad's hold on Syria's coastal region. According to sources in the US and the Middle East, Iranian and Russian diplomats and generals have held a number of meetings in Moscow in recent months. One of these alleged secret meetings involved Quds Force commander Qasem Soleiman, who reportedly met Putin this month. An American defense source said the Pentagon believes Soleimani's purported visit was "very important". The Kremlin denied the visit, and Washington claimed it occurred and was a breach of a UN travel ban. Besides Russians, posts in Latakiya also house Iranian advisers and soldiers, as well as Hezbollah fighters. Putin, said European and American sources, is exploiting the Syrian conflict to increase his country's influence in the Middle East. Tehran, meanwhile, wants to maintain Syrian control over areas close to the Lebanese border in order to secure arms supplies to Hezbollah. Syrian rebels have recently made important territorial advances, and Russia and Iran have increased their involvement accordingly. One option for the Russo-Iranian-Syrian alliance is action around Palmyra, which was conquered by ISIS. Putin described the Russian presence in Syria as a counterattack, and an attempt to retake Palmyra would help justify his intervention. Another option is an attack against the Nusra Front in Idlib province."Their first major attack will show us what they intend," said a Lebanese military expert.Ron Ben-Yishai contributed to this report

Cameron and Hollande: Syrian Political Process Must be Revived
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Francois Hollande agreed that a political process in Syria must be revived, a source close to the French president said on Tuesday.At a meeting at Cameron's country residence, Chequers, the two leaders "expressed agreement on the need to revitalize the political process" in Syria, according to a source in Hollande's entourage.In addition, the two leaders "discussed how a big part of the answer to the refugee crisis must be a solution to the situation in Syria", a spokesman for Cameron's office said. The two agreed that a European Council meeting on Wednesday should focus on "increasing assistance for the countries neighboring Syria to enable more refugees to stay there" the spokesman added. The regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria -- where a brutal conflict has killed more than 240,000 and caused four million to flee -- received its first new fighter planes and weapons from ally Russia to fight the Islamic State group on Tuesday. The French source described as "an important step" Cameron and Hollande's exchange of views on Syria and Libya, where instability is blamed for exacerbating the worst refugee crisis since World War II. On Tuesday, European Union countries agreed to accept 120,000 refugees between them despite fierce opposition from central and eastern European countries. The two had agreed "that EU countries should do more to return migrants who don't have a genuine claim to asylum to their countries of origin", according the Cameron spokesman. The prime minister also "underlined the UK support for French efforts to secure a global climate deal" at upcoming United Nations talks in Paris at the end of this year. The Conservative leader showed Hollande around Chequers, including a portrait gallery of 16 former prime ministers and the "Long Gallery", where former leader Winston Churchill watched films during World War II. The two shared a working dinner where they discussed British demands for reforms to the European Union ahead of a referendum on its membership due by 2017. Cameron is seeking changes to areas including competitiveness in Europe, powers for national parliaments, relations in the euro zone and the ability of citizens from one member state to claim social security benefits in another, the French source said. "They agreed that many things could be settled without having to revise the treaties," the source added. The talks also touched on Russia and Ukraine, where separatist rebels are battling Kiev's forces in the east. Both leaders agreed on the importance of implementing a peace plan signed in February in Belarussian capital Minsk, according to the French source.

Clashes after Funeral of Palestinian Shot by Israeli Forces
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/Clashes broke out Wednesday between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces in the West Bank city of Hebron following the funeral of a young woman shot dead after allegedly trying to stab a soldier. Around 50 youths threw stones at soldiers, who responded with stun grenades and tear gas in the flashpoint city, where some 500 Israeli settlers live under heavy guard among Palestinians. The clashes followed the funeral of 18-year-old student Hadeel al-Hashlamon, who died after being shot by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint on Tuesday. Several thousand people joined the funeral procession, carrying photos of her with her face completely veiled, as well as Palestinian flags. The military said she was shot while attempting to stab a soldier, but her father, Salaheddin al-Hashlamon, said she was innocent and had been killed "in cold blood" by multiple shots. Her death followed that of another Palestinian who was killed in a village outside Hebron by an explosive device he intended to toss at a military vehicle, the army said. Residents provided a similar account. But Palestinian security officials said the man, whom they identified as Dia al-Talahmeh, 21, was shot dead by Israeli troops. Their deaths came amid high tensions in the West Bank and Jerusalem following clashes last week at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and with the convergence of the Jewish Yom Kippur and Muslim Eid al-Adha holidays. Jerusalem has been placed under tight security, with thousands of Israeli police deployed and checkpoints between the city and the West Bank closed, as is usual for Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur began at sundown Tuesday and ends at sundown Wednesday. Eid al-Adha begins on Wednesday evening and continues until Sunday. Next week, Jews celebrate Sukkot, a holiday that usually leads to an increase in visits to the Al-Aqsa compound, known to Jews as Temple Mount. It is the third-holiest site for Muslims and the most sacred site in Judaism. Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas warned Tuesday of the risk of a new intifada, or uprising, if the volatility at the Al-Aqsa compound worsens. A U.N. this week said "the absence of a political process and the rise of violent extremism and terrorism in the region present a danger as much to the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians for statehood, as to the security of Israel."Peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians have been at a standstill for more than a year.

Father of Saudi Youth on Death Row Asks King for Clemency
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/The father of a Saudi youth facing execution for taking part in pro-reform protests appealed to King Salman on Wednesday to spare his life. The sentence against Ali al-Nimr, only 17 when he was arrested in February 2012, has drawn international condemnation over his young age at the time and allegations that he was tortured into making a confession.It is the latest case to highlight the death penalty and human rights in the Islamic kingdom, which Amnesty International says is one of the world's most prolific executioners. In an interview with AFP, Mohammed al-Nimr said he hoped the king would save his son. "We hope that the king will not sign" the execution order, Nimr said, after Saudi Arabia's highest court confirmed the death sentence, leaving his son's fate in the hands of the king. Nimr warned that if his son is put to death the minority Shiite community could react violently, something he does not want to happen. "We don't need that; we don't need even one drop of blood," he said. The youth is a nephew of Nimr al-Nimr, a Shiite religious leader who is also on death row. Mohammed al-Nimr, a Dammam businessman, was in Riyadh to visit his jailed brother for the Muslim feast of sacrifice, Eid al-Adha, which falls on Thursday. Nimr al-Nimr was a driving force behind demonstrations that began four years ago in Eastern Province. Most of Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia's Shiites live in the east, and have complained of marginalization. Ali al-Nimr's father admitted that his son, then a high school student, had joined thousands of other people in protest. But he said he is innocent of numerous other charges including burglary, attacking police and using a Molotov cocktail. The court sentenced Ali al-Nimr to death but gave no further details.Execution in the kingdom is usually carried out with a sword, sometimes in public.
'High morale'
France's foreign ministry appealed on Wednesday for a stay of execution and expressed concern about the case of the youth, "condemned to death even though he was a minor at the time of the incident," a spokesman said. France opposes the death penalty in all circumstances, the spokesman added. On Tuesday, U.N. rights experts also called for Ali al-Nimr's life to be spared. A statement said the youth was reportedly tortured, coerced into a confession and denied adequate access to a lawyer before and during a trial that did not meet international standards. "Any judgment imposing the death penalty upon persons who were children at the time of the offense, and their execution, are incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s international obligations," the experts said. Mohammed al-Nimr said his last monthly visit with his son in the Dammam jail came three weeks ago, and he expects to see him again in a couple of days."I am sure that his morale is very high, and he is strong," the father said, adding that the family is buoyed by the outpouring of global support on social media. Ali al-Nimr is one of six sons and daughters in his family. Mohammed al-Nimr said his son and Nimr al-Nimr, are among eight Shiites who have exhausted all court appeals in connection with death sentences imposed after the protests.Ali al-Nimr is the youngest of those eight, he said. Saudi Arabia has executed 133 locals and foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally, compared with 87 last year. "Saudi Arabia has been on an execution spree in 2015, but beheading a child offender whose trial was unfair would be an appalling new low," Joe Stork, the deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, said in a statement last week. Local activists are also worried about the threat to Ali al-Nimr's life. "It's a very painful story," said one Eastern Province activist, asking for anonymity.

IS Frees Kurdish Journalist in Exchange
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/The Islamic State group has released in a prisoner exchange one of two Kurdish journalists captured late last year, an official with Iraq's Kurdish television Rudaw said Wednesday. Freelance reporters Massoud Aqeel and Farhad Hamo were on assignment for Rudaw in northeastern Syria when they were seized on December 15. Aqeel "was freed yesterday as part of a prisoner exchange between Kurdish forces and Daesh," the Rudaw official said, using another acronym for IS. "He spent the night in Tell Kocher under the protection of Kurdish fighters and he is now back in Qamishli," a large town in Syria's Kurdish area, near the border with Turkey. "Farhad Hamo's fate remains unknown," said the official, who refused to provide further details on the exchange. Reporters Without Borders ranked Syria 177th out of 180 in its 2015 press freedom index. According to the Paris-based watchdog, at least 30 journalists and online information providers are detained by the regime and at least 28 others are either missing or held hostage by armed groups, including IS.

France to Sell Warships to Egypt, after Russia Deal Scrapped
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/French President Francois Hollande said Wednesday Egypt had agreed to buy two Mistral warships which France built for Russia before scrapping the sale over the Ukraine crisis. The deal is the second big military contract this year between France and Egypt, which Hollande said he increasingly views as a strategic partner. "It was my preferred buyer because we already have military cooperation with Egypt," Hollande said of the deal he struck with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. "Egypt plays an important role in the Middle East and wants to move towards a democratic transition, which is not easy, and we should support their efforts." French government sources said Egypt would pay 950 million euros ($1 billion) for the warships, with "significant" financing from Saudi Arabia. The two warships, which can each carry 16 helicopters, four landing craft and 13 tanks, were ordered by Russia in 2011 in a 1.2-billion-euro deal. France found itself in an awkward situation as the delivery date neared in 2014, with ties between Russia and the West plunging to Cold War lows over Moscow's annexation of Crimea and support for separatists in eastern Ukraine. Paris faced the wrath of its allies around the world if it were to deliver the technology to Russia, and decided to cancel the delivery. It was an expensive decision for France, which has had to foot the bill of over one billion euros for the upkeep of the ships and the cost of training 400 Russian sailors to crew them. After months of intense negotiations, France and Russia agreed on the reimbursement of the deal in August. Paris returned 949.7 million euros which had already been paid and also committed not to sell the two warships to a country that could "contravene Russia's interests", such as Poland or the Baltic states, a diplomatic source told AFP. Several other countries were said to be interested in the warships, including Canada, India and Singapore. The defense ministry source who revealed the cost of the ships said they were due to be delivered to Egypt in March.
Ships after jets
The deal comes after Egypt became the first foreign buyers of France's Rafale fighter jet, agreeing to purchase 24 in February, in what Paris hailed as an "historic" accord. The 5.2-billion-euro ($5.9 billion) sale of the planes and a frigate was a rare triumph for France which had failed to export its flagship multi-role combat jet. However rights group Amnesty International slammed the decision to sell the planes to a nation it has accused of "alarming" human rights abuses. Analysts said that deal required overlooking some serious abuses by a regime which Paris sees as a bulwark against several threats in the region. With Libya to the west wracked by instability, and the threat from Islamic State-linked jihadists on its eastern flank, Egypt has become a strategic partner to France despite a rights record sullied by Sisi's brutal crackdown on opponents. Sisi was elected president in May 2014 with almost 97 percent of the vote a year after toppling the country's first freely elected leader, Islamist Mohamed Morsi. A subsequent crackdown on Morsi's supporters left at least 1,400 dead and thousands more in jail. Hollande said during a visit to Egypt in August that the ever-closer ties between Paris and Cairo stemmed from the "fight against terrorism." "Unfortunately it is the Egyptian people who pay the price," Didier Billion of the Paris-based Institute of Strategic and International Relations said at the time of the Rafale sale. "We can shut our eyes over the rights situation in Egypt but we can't shut our eyes over Russia, because Russia is at the center of an international power struggle," said Billion. Sisi was also the subject of scathing global criticism over the detention and trial of Al-Jazeera journalists, two of whom he pardoned on Tuesday on the eve of a major Muslim holiday.

Egypt Military Winds Down Campaign against IS in Sinai
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 23/15/Egypt's military announced Wednesday it was winding down its largest campaign in the Sinai against Islamists, following a 16-day operation in which it said scores of Islamic State group jihadists were killed. The army said the campaign in the Sinai Peninsula had "achieved its goals" in destroying militant hideouts and equipment, in joint operations by special forces, armoured divisions and the air force. The next phase would see the military and police assert full control over the North Sinai towns of El-Arish, Sheikh Zuweid and Rafah, it said in a statement. In previous statements on the campaign, the military had announced having killed scores of militants and captured dozens. The operation to quell a two-year-old insurgency came less than three months after Islamic State launched its most ambitious attack in Sinai, briefly seizing parts of the town of Sheikh Zuweid before F-16 air strikes forced its retreat. The military said the attack on July 1 killed 17 soldiers. A health ministry spokesman had been quoted by the state-owned Ahram news site as giving a toll of 21 soldiers, but he has since clarified to Agence France Presse that the tally included four civilians.
Islamist militants have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since the army overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, ushering in a crackdown on his supporters. Most of the attacks have been in the sparsely populated north of the Sinai Peninsula, which borders the Gaza Strip and Israel. Militants in Sinai last year pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria.

How the U.S. rebel program and policy on Syria failed
Brooklyn Middleton/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
The Russian military continued escalating its involvement in Syria this week while the United States essentially admitted that its official $500-million dollar rebel training program has so far utterly failed. The U.S. commander General Lloyd Austin, who is responsible for heading the war against ISIS, publicly admitted that only “four or five” U.S.-trained Syrian rebels were actually currently fighting against the militant group. If DC is attempting to overhaul the rebel-training program – and they clearly should – making the mistake of ignoring Assad, the number-one enemy, will only result in further failure.
Brooklyn Middleton
In a follow-up statement, that potentially secured the understatement of the year award, Austin noted that the rebel-training program had, in fact, “gotten off to a slow start.”Meanwhile, whether the CIA’s rebel training program – launched in 2013 – has been successful remains unclear. Yet the Washington Post reported in recent months that The House Intelligence Committee “voted unanimously to cut as much as 20 percent of the classified funds” allocated for the nearly billion dollar program that has seen approximately 10,000 fighters trained since its inception.
Divisions over Division 30
Worse yet, Colonel Mohammed Daher, chief of staff for the U.S.-trained and backed Division 30 Syrian rebel group, publicly announced his resignation from the program this week, citing at least six reasons for his decision. In an English translation from the Arabic provided by Business Insider, Daher notes the following issues:
“1. Slowness in the implementation of the training program of the 30th brigade and the lack of sufficient numbers of trainees
2. Failure of the 30th brigade to secure basic needs such as the ability to work
3. The lack of seriousness in the implementation of the project to establish the 30th brigade
4. The lack of census numbers of the 30th brigade members who are on the ground
5. The lack of accuracy and methodology in the selection of teams of the 30th brigade
6. The heterogeneity in the ideas of the trainees to achieve the objective on which the 30th brigade was created.”
Ignoring enemy No. 1
The reasons are unsurprising and highlight the deep failures of a program in desperate need of total overhaul. At the same time, several of the complaints, specifically numbers 2, 4 and 6, underscore the difficulty of facilitating unity among the Syrian fighters. This aspect of the program has no doubt been complicated, and often obliterated, by the fact that the United States has continuously failed to acknowledge that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains the primary enemy of opposition fighters – not ISIS. If DC is attempting to overhaul the rebel-training program – as they clearly should – making the mistake of ignoring the number-one enemy will only result in further failure. The latest damning evidence of the rebel-training program – that, notably, has already reportedly seen approximately $42 million squandered – occurred amid what appears to be the buildup to Russian airstrikes in Syria. The most recent reports via the New York Times indicated Moscow has now deployed over two dozen fighter jets in addition to a number of SAMs and aircraft equipped with air-to-air fighting capability. The latter two, John Kerry said, “raise serious questions.” Despite that Kerry said DC “welcomed” Russia’s fight against ISIS, he reiterated that Assad still has to go. But his remarks on the matter appeared softer than in the past, noting that “it doesn’t have to be on Day 1 or Month 1.”Such rhetoric, which seems to indicate that after more than 320,000 people have been killed and millions displaced there is plenty of time for Assad to depart, is a mistake. Russia’s involvement is far more likely to secure the Assad regime’s future in power, thus prolonging the bloody conflict. DC’s failure to acknowledge that could deal the final blow to U.S. policy on Syria.

Can Assad establish an Alawite state in Syria?
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Can Syrian President Bashar al-Assad establish an Alawite state? The reason we ask this question is the unprecedented Russian military intervention in Syria, the biggest in the Middle East since the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat expelled Soviet military advisers in 1972.
Russian military activity in Syria is mostly in Latakia and the coastal area extending to Tartus in the south. This area is viewed as a possible project for an Alawite state in case the regime collapses or the Syrian state disintegrates. Civil war will follow Assad wherever he goes in Syria.Russian forces, fighter jets and the construction of airports, residential compounds and warehouses in Syria can be clearly seen in the photos snapped by American satellites. These photos have pushed Washington to officially inquire about the Russians’ aims.
Russia sparks suspicion
My article last week – on whether Assad is seeking the help of the Russians to reduce the domination of its Iranian ally – was within the context of this scenario, and the dangerous development of the Russians’ intervention in Syria.We must however doubt the narrative of Assad’s dispute with the Iranians being the reason that he resorted to the Russians. We must doubt this for several reasons, such as the fact that the Iranians are stronger than the Russians in Syria, and that they also militarily surround Syria given their involvements in Iraq and Lebanon. Despite that, the intentions of Russian activity remains suspicious and its truth will not be revealed for a long time.
Dividing Syria a difficult aim
If we take the possibility of dividing Syria, and assume that Assad plans to resort to the coast of the Mediterranean to establish an Alawite state due to the increased attacks on the capital, then building such a state there and protecting it will be more difficult than maintaining governance in Syria.
There has been much talk of dividing Syria since the uprising of the Syrian people in 2011. It’s now in the spotlight again due to the Russians’ heavy presence around Latakia, the largest port city, and Tartus. The concept of dividing Syria is not as easy as some think, as most governments oppose it given the dangerous repercussions for regional countries. And previous divisions have proven that they increase the region’s problems, rather than put an end to them. The events since the divisions in Iraq in 1991 are an example of that. The international community, to this day, opposes the idea of the Iraqis’ act of solving their disputes via divisions – because such solutions merely divide Iraq into several states fighting together. There’s also the case of Somalia, which has been through a bitter experience ever since the regime collapsed following the death of President Siad Barre. Somalia has been in chaos for more than 20 years now, and it’s divided into at least three statelets, including Somaliland, which declared its independence two decades ago and it has its own government, police and currency; however, no one recognizes it.
Perpetual civil war
Therefore, if Assad escapes Damascus to Latakia or to Qardaha and decides to build his republic there, it will not guarantee international recognition. And there are two more dangerous factors about a potential Alawite state. The first is civil war, which will follow Assad wherever he goes in Syria. Assad will be the target of all angry Syrians and he will not be capable of providing permanent international protection for his new state. The second factor is that Alawites themselves will consider Assad a burden and will blame him for their disaster. We must not forget that most of the Alawite elites left the country to Europe and Gulf countries after the crisis erupted, as they were aware of the size of the threat Assad had subjected them to. There’s no reason that obliges the sons of the Alawite sect, which represents 10 percent of the population, to accept that the Assad family governs them. Former President Hafez al-Assad at least used patriotic and nationalistic slogans to unite the Syrians under his rule – but his son Bashar has entered a war against the majority of citizens, and he enabled some of his relatives to manage the country’s resources and assume high-ranking posts of authority. Assad is aware that there’s no place to go to if he leaves his castle in Damascus. This is why he rejects all the suggestions calling on him to step down and give up governance. To stay in power, he scarified 250,000 people and displaced more than 12 million. In addition, the barrel bombs his forces used have destroyed most cities. By the Iranians’ continuous presence in Syria and the emergence of Russian troops, the two allies – Russia and Iran – are playing a lost game in holding on to Assad. They are now trying to suggest ideas and send more troops so Assad remains in power. The question is: For how long will they bear the losses?

Egypt's War on Terrorism Bears Fruit
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September 23/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6559/egypt-war-on-terrorism
Egyptian President Sisi's war against the smuggling tunnels will undoubtedly weaken Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Sisi should be commended, rather than criticized, for his courageous actions against Islamist terrorists, both in the Gaza Strip and in Sinai.
Sisi's actions will benefit not only Egyptians, but also many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and radical Islamist groups.
When the Egyptians destroy a Hamas tunnel, that is called "war on terrorism." But when Israel destroys a tunnel, that is condemned as an "act of aggression." This moral slithering is why it is important for the international community to stand behind Sisi's relentless war on radical Islam.
Without such backing, Islamists will continue to pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to many Arabs and Muslims who oppose Hamas, Islamic State and Islamic Jihad.
The environment of the Gaza Strip is the last thing that Hamas cares about. Hamas did not think about damage to the environment or to agricultural fields when it used those fields, as well as populated areas, as launching pads for attacking Israel.
Egypt began this week flooding smuggling tunnels along their border with the Gaza Strip with water from the Mediterranean Sea -- a move being condemned by Hamas and other Palestinian factions as a "disturbing nightmare."
The Egyptian army's move is another sign of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's determination to destroy the tunnels that were used to smuggle weapons, people and merchandise from Sinai to the Gaza Strip and the other way around.
This act is also a sign of Sisi's resolve to pursue his military campaign against Islamist terror groups that are waging war against the Egyptian authorities in Sinai. The Egyptians are convinced that Hamas and other Palestinian groups have been providing aid to the terror groups in Sinai.
Since the beginning of the year, dozens of Egyptian soldiers and police officers have been killed in a spate of terror attacks launched by Islamist groups in Sinai.
Earlier this week, Egypt's Interior Ministry announced that terrorists shot dead an Egyptian general in Sinai. In another similar shooting a few days earlier, a terror group killed General Khaled Kamel Osman.
The decision to pump water into the smuggling tunnels is seen as a severe blow not only to the terror groups in Sinai, but also to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Palestinian factions inside the Gaza Strip.
Seawater covers parts of the ground where Egypt has been pumping water into smuggling tunnels along the border with Gaza. (Image source: Al Jazeera video screenshot)
Judging from the reaction of the Palestinian groups, it is clear that they are in a state of hysteria as they see their tunnels collapsing one after the other.
In a statement published in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian groups, including Hamas, denounced the flooding of the tunnels as a "disturbing nightmare" for the Palestinians. The factions appealed to the Egyptian authorities to "stop this despicable crime against the Palestinian people and their environment."
"The Palestinian people are surprised by the Egyptian move, which will tighten the blockade on the Gaza Strip, destroy vast areas of agricultural land and harm those living near the border (with Egypt)," the statement said.
Initially, Hamas leaders did not take the reports about flooding the tunnels seriously. Some Hamas leaders, in fact, first thought that these were rumors designed to scare them and other Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip.
But when Hamas leaders woke up on September 13 to discover that the Egyptians had begun pumping water into the smuggling tunnels, they could not believe what they were seeing.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri announced that his movement asked the Egyptians to stop flooding the tunnels with seawater. "We hope that the Egyptians will comply with our demand," Abu Zuhri said. "This measure is completely unacceptable and poses a threat to many families living alongside the border."
Sources in the Gaza Strip noted this week that the Egyptian move has thus far proven to be effective and successful. They said that since being flooded with water, several tunnels have collapsed.
It is worth noting that despite its outrage, Hamas has stopped short of issuing threats against Egypt in response to the flooding of the tunnels.
Hamas's response would have been different had it been Israel that was flooding the tunnels with water. But Hamas knows very well that it would not be a good idea to mess with the Egyptian authorities and President Sisi.
During the past two years, the Egyptians have destroyed hundreds of smuggling tunnels along their border with the Gaza Strip. Nevertheless, Hamas did not dare launch one terror attack against Egypt.
Hamas is now pretending that it is concerned about the damage to the environment that is caused by the flooding of the smuggling tunnels. But the truth is that the environment of the Gaza Strip is the last thing that Hamas cares about.
Hamas did not think about damage to the environment or to agricultural fields when its men fired thousands of rockets at Israel in the past few years. In fact, Hamas used these fields, as well as populated areas, as launching pads for attacking Israel.
Hamas is interested only in one thing: preserving its rule in the Gaza Strip. The tunnels that are now being destroyed by the Egyptians were used by Hamas to smuggle all types of weapons into the Gaza Strip. Hamas warlords are also believed to have earned millions of dollars from the smuggling industry during the past few years. Sisi's war against the smuggling tunnels will undoubtedly weaken Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian president should be commended, rather than criticized, for his courageous actions against Islamist terrorists, both in the Gaza Strip and in Sinai.
Sisi's actions will benefit not only Egyptians, but also many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and radical Islamist groups. Israel also stands to benefit from Sisi's war against Hamas. The destruction of the tunnels means fewer weapons used by Hamas to attack Israel.
However, Israel still has good reason to be worried about Hamas's plans and intentions.
While Sisi is busy flooding the tunnels on the border with Egypt, Hamas continues to dig new ones on the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. It is no secret that Hamas has also managed to rebuild many of the terror tunnels that were used to infiltrate gunmen into Israel during last year's military confrontation between the two sides. Hamas is planning to use these tunnels in the future, to dispatch its men to kill as many Israelis as possible. The Israelis have thus far been monitoring the situation very closely and have refrained from attacking the tunnels. That is because Israel is keen on maintaining the unofficial truce with Hamas that was reached in the aftermath of last year's war, known as Operation Protective Edge. There is not much that Israel can do at this stage other than hope that Sisi will continue with his measures to undermine Hamas. Any attempt by Israel to flood a Hamas tunnel will most likely spark an international outcry and bring condemnations from the United Nations. In addition, such a move on the part of Israel is likely to trigger a violent response from Hamas -- one that could lead to another war. When the Egyptians destroy a Hamas tunnel, that is called "war on terrorism." But when Israel destroys a tunnel, that is condemned as an "act of aggression." This moral slithering is why it is important for the international community to stand behind Sisi's relentless war on radical Islam. Without such backing, the Islamists will continue to pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to many Arabs and Muslims who oppose Hamas, Islamic State and Islamic Jihad.

Diplomatic Immunity: License for Crime? Saudi Arabia at It Again
Mohshin Habib/Gatestone Institute/September 23/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6500/diplomatic-immunity-saudi-arabia
"Saudi Arabia has always protected its diplomats, despite what one official termed a 'disproportionately high' number of cases involving Saudi officials in heinous crimes." – The Hindu newspaper.
The Indian government is as embarrassed as its citizens are outraged by a crime committed by Saudi a diplomat, who will enjoy not only diplomatic immunity, but also blind support from his superiors.
Majed Hassan Ashoor, First Secretary at the Saudi Arabian embassy in New Delhi, has been accused of raping two Nepalese maids, a woman of 50 and her 25-year-old daughter. The women were rescued by the Indian police from diplomat's apartment in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of India's capital.
"There were days when seven to eight men—all from Saudi Arabia—would take turns in raping us," the victims said.
"If we resisted, the diplomat and his family would threaten to kill us and dispose of our bodies in the sewer. We were made to do all the household chores from morning until late in the night, and then subjected to sexual assault at the end of the day. We were not given food. Sometimes we only survived on biscuits, bread and watery tea. We were never allowed to step out of the house."
The victims, in a written complaint stated, "After we returned in May, he asked us to message him... he then raped us and forced us to have unnatural sex and oral sex. After that he offered us to his friends regularly."
The women were in captivity for more than three months. Eventually they were rescued with the help of an NGO, Maiti Nepal India, which was informed about the crimes by another woman who had been employed as a domestic help at the diplomat's residence, but who managed to run away after three days. The NGO then informed the Nepalese Embassy, which wrote to India's Ministry of External Affairs and Gurgaon police. On September 7, a police team raided Ashoor's residence and rescued the women.
The diplomat's wife and others have also been accused of various offenses, but so far, no arrests have been made.
The victims underwent medical examinations at the Gurgaon General Hospital. Hospital sources reported that the younger of the two victims had developed an infection in her anus and pelvic area. Her vagina was found to be severely bruised and damaged. The results of the examinations, sources said, corroborated most of the claims made by the victims.
Indian authorities have asked the Saudi Ambassador in Delhi to cooperate in the ongoing police investigation. However, instead of cooperating, the Saudi Embassy has dismissed the charges by saying that they are "completely false."
Riyadh has so far denied any wrongdoing by its diplomats. Reuters reports that the Saudi Embassy has accused Gurgaon Police of breaking international conventions by raiding a diplomatic property, and is pressing India to drop the case. According to a New York Times report of September 17, Ashoor has already left India.
Indian women protest near the Saudi Arabian embassy in New Delhi on September 10, 2015, following the rescue of two Nepalese women raped by a Saudi diplomat stationed in the city.
Human Rights Watch said, "We have seen similar crimes occurring in Saudi Arabia and the Saudis have not shown any great enthusiasm for prosecuting them."
One of India's most popular English newspapers, The Hindu, wrote in an editorial, "Saudi Arabia has always protected its diplomats, despite what one official termed a 'disproportionately high' number of cases involving Saudi officials in heinous crimes."
It should be noted here that the Article 29 of the Vienna Convention states that "the person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent attack on his person, freedom or dignity."
Article 30(1) states, "The private residence of a diplomatic agent shall enjoy the same inviolability and protection as the premises of the mission."
Article 31(1) states, "A diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State. He shall also enjoy immunity from its civil and administrative jurisdiction, except in the case of: a) A real action relating to private immovable property situated in the territory of the receiving State, unless he holds it on behalf of the sending State for the purposes of the mission, b) An action relating to succession in which the diplomatic agent is involved as executor, administrator, heir or legatee as a private person and not on behalf of the sending State, c) An action relating to any professional and commercial activity exercised by the diplomatic agent in the receiving State outside his official functions."
India is now in an awkward situation. Saudi Arabia is India's largest crude oil supplier. About three million Indians work in Saudi Arabia. In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is looking for much needed investment from Saudi Arabia, and Modi plans to visit Saudi Arabia later this year. On the other hand, a large number of Indians and neighboring Nepalese want to see the accused brought to justice, either by the Indian government or by Riyadh.
The Times of India wrote on September 13
"If the Saudis send the diplomat home, it would amount to an admission of guilt, and weaken the line they have taken that the first secretary is innocent and is being framed. India, for its part, could provide the Saudis with a face-saving device by expelling the diplomat. That would allow the Saudis to stick to their line that their man was innocent, but that might open up the possibility of a retaliatory expulsion of an Indian diplomat from Riyadh.
India does not want relations between the two countries to suffer, especially with the millions of Indian laborers in Saudi Arabia, now seemingly as effective hostages.
In 2011, a case in the U.K. involving two women held in conditions like 'slavery' by a Saudi diplomat in London caused an international uproar after details emerged of their severe ill-treatment.
Yet another case in 2013 involved two women held as 'domestic slaves' for months by the Saudi defense attaché and his wife in the United States. In both the cases, the diplomats were not prosecuted, thanks to diplomatic immunity.
Perhaps it is time to revoke the concept of diplomatic immunity; at every level internationally, it is all too often a license for crime.
© 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.

Israel and Palestine: Is it the economy, stupid?
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
In the endless debates revolving around the merits of a peace agreement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, economic costs and benefits often seem to be ignored or even neglected. Moreover, fact-based debate about the nature and possible solutions to the conflict is sorely missing from many of the discussions and writings about this protracted conflict. It is therefore refreshing to see new in-depth research published by the American RAND policy think tank, addressing the economic costs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A group of researchers led by C. Ross Anthony and Charles Ries, employing quite sophisticated research methods, demonstrate scientifically and convincingly, what one might argue should have been basic common sense for everyone involved in the conflict. Though Israel’s economy would appear to gain more in absolute terms from a two-state solution, and lose more in absolute should violence resume, in relative terms the gains and losses are way greater for the Palestinians. In short, the idea is that peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians would bring enormous economic benefits to both. Yet, after twenty-two years to this month, since the Oslo Accords were signed, economic incentives proved not to be the deciding force in pushing both sides to reach a peace agreement.
Five alternative trajectories
RAND’s research looks at five alternative trajectories for the Israeli Palestinian conflict and how they would impact Israel and Palestine’s GDP by 2024. A two-state solution would increase Israeli GDP by $123 billion vs $50 billion increase of Palestinian GDP over ten years.
On the other extreme scale of scenarios, the one of returning to full-blown violence, both economies would suffer immensely, with a decrease of 46 percent in GDP per-capita in the West Bank and Gaza, and 10 percent in Israel by 2024.
Other alternative options, such as coordinated or uncoordinated unilateral withdrawal, and nonviolent resistance, have a less profound impact on both economies. Though Israel would appear to gain more in absolute terms from a two-state solution, and lose more in absolute should violence resume, in relative terms the gains and losses are way greater for the Palestinians.
Power asymmetry
This is not surprising, considering the power asymmetry between the two protagonists. Consequently it skews the role economics can play in bringing peace. The Palestinians recognise it as a source of vulnerability and would not like to be blackmailed over this; in the Israeli mind it is a bonus and not of vital interest. This explains to an extent why the economic factor is not a deciding, or even highly prioritised, aspect for the decision makers on both sides. The Israeli economy, with all its difficulties and inequalities, is doing quite well. For Israel’s current decision makers the potential economic gain, even on the scale suggested by this research, does not justify the territorial concessions required for a two-state solution and definitely not the security implications of an independent Palestinian state. The leader of one of the main partners in the current Israeli coalition government, Naftali Bennett, said in the past that a Palestinian state will destroy the Israeli economy. His lopsided logic argues that a Palestinian state will become a safe haven for anti-Israeli militancy, which will interrupt normal life in Israel. He ignores the fact that in the period before the outbreak of the Second Intifada both economies enjoyed economic growth, especially the Palestinian one which experienced unprecedented economic prosperity. It was in fact a lack of political solution, which led to violence and the Second Intifada. For the Palestinians the lure of improving economic conditions is very tempting. Yet, it would be naïve to suggest that the Palestinians would abandon a just and fair resolution to issues such as borders, territory, refugees or Jerusalem in return for economic benefits.
Economics of two-state solution
The economic rational for a two-state solution is evident both in the experience of the 1990s, and from research such as that presented by the Costs of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Nevertheless, to make it count as a major aspect of a peace process there is a need for leadership, which sees economic development not only as an added value for a peace process, but as one of its major pillars. It could be utilised as a tool to mobilise the popular support for difficult concessions on both sides, as well as an essential source for sustaining peaceful relations between both peoples in the long-run. In addition, donor countries and international investors can positively contribute by sending a unified and coherent message, that a genuine peace between the Israelis and Palestinians will bring economic benefits for everyone – not only for corrupt elites. This could encourage grassroot, bottom-up pressure to resume the peace negotiations.
Politics of fear
Tragically, the opportunity to improve the standard of living and human development is sacrificed for those intangible aspects of the conflict beyond the remit of RAND’s research. For instance, the politics of fear and distrust have increased throughout the peace process. Violence, bloodshed and destruction make both sides disillusioned with each other and the merits of the peace process. It deepened rifts within both societies and between them. As long as the conflict is hijacked by those distrusting religious-nationalists, who see security through the narrowest of prisms, it is hard to see how a more fact-based rational discourse can emerge. Religious-nationalism mixed with security perceptions has provided the justification for embarking on the Jewish settlements project in the Palestinians occupied territories – one of the major and most visible obstacles to peace. The consequences of these activities are reflected on the Palestinian side with the emergence of the Hamas and their original demand for an Islamic Caliphate in the entire territory of mandatory Palestine. As long as the conflict is hijacked by those distrusting religious-nationalists, who see security through the narrowest of prisms, it is hard to see how a more fact-based rational discourse can emerge. The sort of discourse that is required is one which attributes greater significance to the economy as a major component to reaching peace and maintaining it.

How peace with Turkey emboldened the PKK
Mahir Zeynalov/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
People in Turkey jubilantly celebrated the Kurdish peace process for nearly three years, predicting that the negotiations could spawn an era of calm following three decades of conflict. They were unaware, however, that the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) had exploited the lull in the conflict to replenish its forces, stock up on arms and increase its military posture. For years, critics and opposition parties asked the government to be more transparent in peace negotiations, and warned against the PKK’s increasingly visible posture in towns and cities in the southeast, where the rebel group is more active and dominant. It seems the government was aware of the situation all along. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan acknowledged in a live TV interview this month that the Kurdish rebel group had exploited the peace process to stock up on arms. Both sides must return to peace talks, with conditions that they must be held transparently with no strings attached.
Only last year, the Turkish army asked governors in three provinces for a permission to conduct military operations against PKK militants. Out of 110 demands in Sirnak, 100 in Hakkari and 80 in Tunceli, governors only allowed eight operations, revealing how the authorities tolerated the PKK activities in restive areas in southeast Turkey.
Presidential gambit
Erdogan’s primary goal to commit himself to a peace process was to have a chance to secure Kurdish support for his presidential ambitions. That tentative agreement with Kurds fell apart when Kurdish leader Selahattin Demirtas built his electoral campaign in early summer on a promise that his party would thwart Erdogan’s presidential bid. Erdogan’s former chief aide and current deputy prime minister Yalcin Akdogan acknowledged that the peace process was halted because Demirtas railed against Erdogan’s presidential gambit.
Shortly after the Kurdish party surged in the polls to cost the AKP its 13-year single-party rule, the fighting between the PKK and the Turkish army resumed in one of the deadliest confrontations in the recent past. More than 130 members of Turkish security services were killed. There is no credible report of the death toll on the PKK side, but Erdogan claims the number of PKK militants killed is nearly 2,000. Hundreds were killed in massive air campaign against PKK targets in northern Iraq. Washington reluctantly extended its support to Turkey’s operations against the PKK at a time when U.S. diplomats worked assiduously to get Ankara on board in the fight against the ISIS.The PKK’s approval rate in Turkey is very low, hovering around 6 percent. More than half of Turkey’s Kurds even loathe the PKK for its continued armed campaign. The Kurdish HDP party’s surge in the June elections was possible because the party – and its charismatic leader Demirtas – distanced itself from the PKK.
To garner nationalist votes and defame Demirtas as “PKK’s pawn,” the government has significantly escalated the war following the elections and the pro-government newspapers decorated their front pages with Demirtas-bashing. It was a well-calculated strategy to strip the HDP from necessary votes in upcoming elections slated for Nov. 1. If the Kurdish party fails to pass the threshold necessary to gain parliamentary seats, the AKP could regain its parliamentary majority.
PKK’s new military tactic
In the past, the PKK usually ganged up in huge numbers to attack gendarmerie posts in the rural southeast, with armed skirmishes continuing for hours. They retreated to nurse their wounds and to avoid upcoming air support for Turkish troops. With U.S. support in drone intelligence-gathering, it was hard for the PKK to attack the troops in big numbers. The new method of assault is roadside bombs, which have been nightmare in Iraq for years. With explosives buried underground, PKK militants could now blow up Turkish armored vehicles carrying soldiers, avoiding armed shootouts and escaping with minimal casualties, if any. On Sept. 6, the PKK detonated three roadside bombs in Daglica, killing 16 Turkish soldiers, the biggest attack on Turkish security forces since 2011, when at least 26 Turkish soldiers were killed in a night-long clash. A day later, a truck loaded with explosives was detonated in Igdir, killing at least 13 police officers. In the past two months, dozens of Turkish soldiers were killed in 27 separate bombing attacks. The Turkish army is unable to retaliate against these attacks within Turkey. The government declared bounty for informants tipping off PKK militants and usually responded by heavily bombing PKK camps in northern Iraq.
Is peace possible?
In any negotiations to solve a military conflict, the different sides seek to gain an upper hand so that they have more say in peace talks. In this regard, the PKK’s intention to embolden its ranks could be considered rational. It is also obvious that the Turkish authorities sought to maintain the peace process by avoiding going after the PKK; but allowing the militant group to increase its presence in southeastern Turkey is a cause for concern. The majority of the Turkish people supported the peace process, because the government promised that the PKK would bury arms as a result. Quite the opposite took place.
Because the PKK’s strength comes from constant recruitment, there is no military solution to the conflict. The youth wing of the PKK is fighting the security forces in highly dense urban areas, making it very difficult for the Turkish army to retaliate without civilian casualties. Peace talks failed because both sides had different motivations to maintain them. The government wanted to increase Erdogan’s chance for expanded presidency while the PKK sought to bolster its military presence at a time of ceasefire. Both sides must return to peace talks, with conditions that they must be held transparently with no strings attached. Support for the PKK will erode slowly if Kurds are granted necessary rights and freedoms. No rebel group could fight the establishment without a legitimate cause. The content of peace talks must be simple: PKK will commit to cease its military existence as Kurds are given their rights and freedoms.

Why Russia wants to echo the Cuban Missile Crisis in Syria
Raed Omari/Al Arabiya/September 23/15
Russia’s recent escalation in Syria is about a lot more than an attempt to secure a foothold in the Middle East. I don’t think it would be an exaggeration to say that Moscow's goal behind its deployment of weapons and military equipment in Syria was not simply to assist its ally President Bashar al-Assad, but to seize a historic moment brought about by the withdrawal of the United States from the region. For that strategic objective, Russia has partially succeeded in resurrecting some of the spirit of the Cold War. Moscow has ‘directed’ its escalation in Syria in a way to echo the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis – during which the world held its breath for 13 agonizing days, as nuclear war between the U.S. and USSR seemed to lurch closer and closer. Russia’s Putin has sought to deliver a message to America that its stubborn stance on Syria will remain irreversible.
Soviet Union no more
Are we witnessing a new Cuban Missile Crisis between Moscow and Washington? The answer is definitely ‘no’ – simply because Russia is no longer the Soviet Union, nor can it be, just as Erdogan’s Turkey cannot be the Ottoman Empire. Things have changed. And, presumably, there are no nuclear-tipped missiles among the weapons the Russians have reportedly deployed in Syria – a country that, unlike Cuba, is far away from North America. Russia’s recent move in Syria also comes at a time when President Obama is particularly hands-off in the Middle East – and when America is busy with preparations for the next presidential election. Obama was unenthusiastic for any military action in Syria, or elsewhere, in the beginning of his second term – let alone in his last year in office. Obama, the reluctant war leader, is also tied up with many “peace commitments” he pledged to the American people.
A message to America
Despite the apparent triviality in comparing Moscow’s military buildup in Syria to the Cuban Missile Crisis, both involve sending a strong message to America. And Putin’s message is that his stubborn stance on Syria will remain irreversible even if that means sending troops on the ground to fight alongside Assad.
Russia has been seeking to become the “manager” of the Syrian crisis, and not just one of the key players, especially given that the consequences of Syria’s four-and-a half-year conflict have reached Europe. To achieve this endeavor, the Russians will continue advocating the war on terror in Syria, fully aware that the “nobility” and “allure” of the cause means no one will object. It is the Russians’ wish to depict the war in Syria solely in terms of the war on terror, so that they can achieve supremacy there. The war in Syria should be only on ISIS and radicalism; this is the notion the Russians have been trying to put across. Remarkably enough, the Syrian army jets have begun bombarding ISIS in Palmyra, with the story of the Russian weapons no longer, it seems, a secret.Moscow is trying to reach out boldly in the Middle East, partly to counter Washington’s attempts to cut off Moscow’s economic and political ties to the outside world. Washington’s policy of withdrawing from the Middle East allows Moscow to step forward as a stubborn adversary. Decisiveness, as opposed to prudence, has given the Kremlin – not the White House – a leading position in handling the world’s affairs.

Canada Should Welcome Syrian Refugees, Carefully
Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/September 22, 2015
Originally published under the title, "Let's Welcome Syria's Refugees, Carefully."The Syrian migrant famously tripped by a Hungarian TV camerawoman on September 8 has been identified by Syrian Kurdish rebels as a member of Al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise. The video showing a Hungarian camerawoman tripping a Syrian refugee as he ran across an open field on the Hungary-Serbia border sent a wave of revulsion across the world. Her television network fired her. On the other hand, her victim was offered a job by the football club Real Madrid in Spain. This was poetic justice unfolding in real life.
However, what appeared to be a happy ending has now taken a new twist. No sooner did his name and picture flash across social media then a Kurdish-based political party in Syria identified him as a member of the jihadi Nusra Front. The Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD) is one of Syria's major opposition parties and is banned by the government of dictator Basher al-Assad. It said on its website the refugee had fought alongside the Nusra Front before leaving Syria with his family, earlier this year. I reached out to him for comment through his new employer, Real Madrid, but the club's public relations office told me: "We receive all kind of opinions concerning these matters, and we acknowledge them, but we cannot nor should (we) take a stance on any of them." I was not able to reach him directly for comment. To be clear, no country has laid any charges against him in relation to allegations he belonged to a terrorist group, and I have no knowledge if they are true. That said, this does illustrate the concerns of those advocating for thorough background security checks of all future Syrian refugees coming to Canada. 40% of British Muslims support introducing sharia in parts of the UK. Many in Canada have invoked the 1956 Hungarian refugee crisis, the 1968 Czech refugee crisis, and the 1978 Vietnamese Boat People crisis as shining examples of how Canada reached out to those fleeing dictatorial regimes. But this is different. In those crises we knew the people we welcomed to Canada hated our enemies and were committed to the West's values of democracy, freedom, and individual liberty. They embraced our values while retaining their own faith and cultures. This may also be true of the Kurds, Iranians, Yazidis, Darfuris, and Baloch who wish to flee the tyranny of Islamism and embrace Canada and the West, and of the vast majority of Muslim refugees. But it cannot be said of any radical Islamists who seek refuge in the West.We must not allow Syrian refugees to be manipulated by Islamists already in our midst. Take Britain. Despite the fact many were born in the UK, 40% of British Muslims surveyed by the Telegraph newspaper said they backed introducing sharia in parts of Britain, while 20% felt sympathy with the motives of the London July 7 bombers.We will now rightfully open our doors to 10,000 Syrian refugees.
But let us not repeat the mistakes made by other countries and allow our refugees to be manipulated by Islamists already in our midst.Let us make sure that before Islamist organizations and mosques poison their minds, they are introduced to Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Sir John A. Macdonald, Pierre Trudeau, Tommy Douglas, and to Voltaire and Rousseau.Let us help them understand the futility of armed jihad and sharia as public law. Let us heed the warning by Hans-Georg Maassen, president of Germany's domestic intelligence services, who said Tuesday: "There is a big worry that Islamists in Germany, on the pretext of offering humanitarian help, could try to take advantage of the migrants' situation to convert and recruit those seeking asylum."
**Tarek Fatah, a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress and columnist at the Toronto Sun, is a Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Palestinians in Lebanon think of “emigration”
Ana Maria Luca/Now Lebanon/September 23/15
In the Palestinian refugee camp of Baddawi, in Tripoli, North Lebanon, only the lucky and the desperate think of leaving the country. The lucky have enough money to put aside and bribe their way to Turkey; while the desperate, many of whom come from Syria’s besieged Yarmouk camp, have only their luck to try on the Mediterranean Sea. There have been many Palestinian refugees that left Lebanon with fishing boats fromTripoli’s shores, the deputy head of the Popular Committee in Baddawi camp, Abou Riad Shakli, told NOW. He said that Baddawi received approximately 1100 families from Syria. “Almost 200 of them traveled. Some of them managed to reach Turkey before they went on to Germany or somewhere else in Europe. Some of them are still in Greece. Some died on the way. They drowned,” he explains. “They went using an inflatable boat through Tripoli; the boat was overloaded. When it reached the Turkish borders, it capsized, it was too heavy,” he adds. Nine Palestinians from Yarmouk drowned in Turkish waters in mid-August after leaving Tripoli’s shore with a fishing boat that carried 40 people. In the beginning of September, two Palestinians were arrested in Tripoli by the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) for trying to smuggle 21 refugees to Turkey with a fishing boat. Getting caught is worse than living in a crowded refugee camp in Lebanon: they are deported. The 21 Palestinians from Syria who were caught by the LAF trying to leave Tripoli fishermen’s harbor in early September were not from Baddawi, but the Popular Committee tried its best to save them. “The Lebanese system is clear. Every person without a residency permit is to be deported. We only interfered to tell them that people from Yarmouk are not able to go back there; that Yarmouk is besieged and these people can’t enter it. This is when they gave him a period of 1 week to 10 days before they deported them,” he explained.
The struggle to leave
The men gathered in the tiny living room that barely fits two couches and a small coffee table say there is hardly a man in the whole Baddawi Palestinian refugee camp who doesn’t think of leaving. Some borrow money to pay greedy middlemen and corrupt embassy personnel to get visas to more welcoming countries. It is not just the Palestinians who fled Syria’s war that think of “emigration,” but also the Palestinian refugees who were born in Lebanon and who see that there is a chance for a better life somewhere else. “People are paying huge amounts of money to obtain a visa,” Hisham, a thin tall man wearing a blue t-shirt with a UNICEF logo, tells NOW. “The only way you can obtain a visa is through a broker. The lists are long, the wait is longer. These brokers are blackmailing the people who want to travel to Turkey, they’re exploiting the desperation of the people. They increased the price. At first it was $200, then $500, then $700, $1000; and then, lately, they ask for $2000. A visa to Turkey costs only $60. It’s just that they don’t give visas to Palestinians so easily,” Hisham explains.
The struggle to live
Abou Khalid, the head of the Popular Committee of the Baddawi camp, is in his 80s and has lived through many tragedies in Lebanon: the Israeli bombing of the refugee camp in Nabatieh in 1974, the Tel al-Zaatar battle in 1976 between the Lebanese Front and the Palestine Liberation Organization, he’s seen the war between the Lebanese army and jihadists from Fatah al-Islam that destroyed Nahr al-Bared camp in Tripoli in 2007. But he says he has never seen the Palestinians suffering helplessly like they’re suffering in the besieged Yarmouk camp in Syria: starvation, bombings, extremists, war. “Despite the fact that the Palestinians have nothing to do with anything that happened in Syria, they have suffered the most. We have many families from Yarmouk here and most of them are thinking of leaving,” Abou Khalid says slowly, taking his time to breathe. “There is nothing for them here: we don’t have the right to work, the living conditions are catastrophic. No one likes to risk their lives on the sea, but sometimes circumstances force them to take that risk. They want to live in a place where they actually have rights and can live a normal life,” he explains. He then takes a deep breath and rests for a few seconds. Hisham, who says he works for United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) as a laborer, explains that the agency and a few non-governmental organizations that deliver aid to the camp are the only sources of survival for the Palestinians. He explains that the refugees have been feeling the harsh lack of funding for UNRWA for years, but with the Syrian war next door things have become unbearable. Palestinians also don’t have the right to work in Lebanon, unless they find a sponsor. “Doctors, lawyers, engineers… These are professions that we, the Palestinians, are not allowed to work in. Palestinian engineers opened minimarkets in order to live; doctors are working for $500 a month. It happened at the UNRWA office once: a young man who studied engineering applied to work as a scavenger! Can you imagine?” Hisham explains. “Of course everyone is thinking of leaving! Why would we stay here?”
The struggle to stay
According to UNRWA’s spokesperson Christopher Gunness, the international organization’s appeal for 2015 only raised 35 percent of the funds, while 95 percent of the Palestinian refugees rely on UNRWA to meet their daily needs of food, water and healthcare. “At a time when refugees are heading for Europe in ever increasing numbers, it has never been so clear that a fully functioning UNRWA, delivering a full range of humanitarian and development services to some of the most marginalized people in the Middle East is one very cost effective option for European governments. For donor states now grappling with rising extremism and refugee flows, the humanitarian work of UNRWA is an important part of the global response,” Gunness said. In the meantime, the attempts to leave with a boat from Lebanon’s shore are still timid. “From our camp there were not many who left. Only 10-15 people ventured on the sea, compared to the larger number of people from other places in Lebanon. Only 2 people from our camp drowned,” Shakli says. Some boats leave from Syria’s Tartous and stop to pick up people from Tripoli on their way to Cyprus, sources in the refugee camps in Lebanon say. Many refugees have made the trip and are now in Europe, trying to get to Germany or the Scandinavian countries where they believe human rights are valued and they might have a better chance than in any country of the Middle East. But back in Baddawi, there are also many people who feel discouraged by the news of capsized boats and drowned children. “It’s not that we don’t want to leave. But the only thing that keeps us here is the sea. It’s dangerous,” Fatima, a resident of the camp, says while serving tea. “I just saw this morning on Facebook that a small boat carrying 40 people capsized in the middle of the sea. I read on Facebook that among the dead were small children; they used boats to leave from Al-Mina in Tripoli. This is the only thing that keeps us here: the danger of the sea,” she points out. Ana Maria Luca tweets @aml1609

Arrested for reporting rape in Lebanese detention center
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/September 23/15
Layal al-Kayaje, an employee at a veterinary clinic in Saida, was first summoned for investigation by the Lebanese army in 2013 as Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir—who was recently arrested in Beirut attempting to flee the country—rose to prominence. She was accused of supporting the extremist Sunni sheikh against the Lebanese Armed Forces because she had posted messages of support for the cleric on Facebook and because many of her shop’s customers were also his followers. She was arrested for five days.
In August, Layal told NOW her story—using “Amar” as a fake name—that was published on September 4, 2015. During her detention in the Lebanese army’s intelligence branch in Rihaniyyeh she said she was tortured, raped and sodomized (for Layal’s full story click here).
NOW chose not to reveal Layal’s identity at the time in order to protect her in case her allegations were true. Regardless, Lebanese authorities were able to uncover who she was and on September 21 she was summoned for investigation to the same institution she had been held two years before. She was re-arrested and her lawyer and family have not been allowed to see her.
On September 22, the Lebanese army issued a statement claiming that Layal confessed to having lied about her rape in order to raise sympathy for herself and find a job opportunity. Layal was arrested alongside Insaf al-Yaman, a Lebanese woman who also reported being raped in one of the country’s detention centers.
NOW as well as several human rights organizations in Lebanon have concerns over the conditions of Layal’s detention, including the fact that she was not permitted to contact her lawyer and was summoned to the same institution whose employees she had accused of abuse.
Below is the statement issued by the group of organizations that is following up on her case:
The signatory organizations call upon the Lebanese judiciary to act on the case of Layal al-Kayaje, a veterinary clinic employee from Saida, who was summoned for investigation on September 21, 2015 by Lebanese army intelligence in Saida, Lebanon, following her statements on alleged torture and rape during detention.
Layal was summoned for investigation two weeks after NOW News published a report on her alleged rape and torture during detention. According to the article, Layal stated that she was arrested for five days in 2013 at the Ministry of Justice and Rihaniyyeh, where she was not allowed access to a lawyer or contact with her family. Layal also affirmed being raped by her investigators.
Layal notified NGOs on September 21 that she had been summoned to the Lebanese army intelligence branch in Saida. Both her family and the human rights organizations were unable to receive any answers about her whereabouts. Such acts fall under incommunicado detention since authorities have actively concealed information regarding Layal’s detention, and in so doing effectively deprived her of her right of access to a lawyer to challenge the arrest or detention before an independent judicial authority. Layal was also forbidden to contact her family.
Coercively denying a detainee communication with the outside world is not only a violation of Lebanese laws but would also amount to a violation of international human rights law guarantees protecting the liberty and dignity of a suspect. On the evening of September 22, a statement by the military command reported that her summon on September 21 is justified under charges of defamation and libel against the Lebanese army.
The signatory organizations call on the judicial authorities to open impartial and independent investigations with regard to the detention of Layal and previous allegations of torture and hold those responsible criminally accountable. The signatory organizations stress that investigations and proceedings have to be conducted by an independent and impartial judicial authority. All charges brought against Layal must be conducted respecting the guarantees of fair trial promulgated by national and international legal obligations.
The signatory organizations
ALEF – Act for Human Rights
ALK- Alkarama Foundation
Badael Alternatives
Lebanese Institute for Democracy and Human Rights – LIFE

Policemen shot dead in Tartous militia's "de-facto state"
Now Lebanon/September 23/15
BEIRUT – Security forces in an Alawite town near Tartous have been attacked by a National Defense Force unit amid residents’ complaints over the rogue actions of the militia force, the latest instance of the growing lawlessness in the regime’s coastal heartland. Two police officers in the town of Dreikish were killed Monday during clashes with members of local NDF chief Ahmad al-Houry’s militia, who one local pro-Bashar al-Assad outlet called a “criminal.” A number of pro-regime Facebook pages based in the area blamed Houry’s militia for the deaths of security officers Firas Dakhil and Ali Hamid, who were mourned Tuesday in large funeral processions in the town which is famous for its mineral springs. “A gang of armed outlaws led by Shaaban Khamm opened fire on a police patrol today in the Dreikish area causing the martyrdom of two security forces members and the injury of a third,” pro-regime Facebook page Tartous Patriotic News Network reported on Monday. “Meanwhile while the gang escaped unpunished,” the outlet added. “The gang answers to Ahmad Houry, a mandatory military service deserter who claims to impose the law.” Another local Facebook page implied that the two police officers’ killer had been arrested but rebuked the authorities for not taking action against the militia as a whole. “Does the handover of Shaaban Khamm absolve that gang of its responsibility?” a post from Tuesday on Al-Dreikish asked. “Does it please our good state to sell us one by one on behalf of those [criminals]?”
Residents of Dreikish have blasted the local NDF militia and called for the regime to strike it with an “iron fist.”“There is a large group of murderous criminals who have banded together in a militia under the leadership of the criminal Ahmad Houry,” read a post late Monday on Al-Dreikish.
“They gathered all the degenerates and together, and because the state did not do its duty and bury them they ran rampant and set themselves up as a de-facto state,” the bitter post added. “Matters are still deteriorating and we are waiting for the state to strike with an iron fist - otherwise we are headed for oblivion.” A subsequent post on the page accused Houry’s militia of operating “in cooperation with the governor of Tartous, and those above him too.”Meanwhile, a source told pro-opposition outlet All4Syria that the militia’s leader relies on the sale of “stolen goods from areas raided by regime forces, kidnapping, blackmail and carjacking in areas where [his militias] are deployed.”“Houry has imposed himself as a de-facto authority in the Dreikish area, one of the NDF’s largest reservoirs.”The source added that the town “sees the death of at least one of its sons every day after they are killed fighting alongside the regime.” “The transgressions of Houry and his companions… have created a state of popular anger and discontent over the regime government’s policy towards such people.”
“The chaos of weapons has [allowed them to] impose themselves as overlords and [turned] civilians [into] their slaves.”
The Dreikish incident comes on the heels of a long series of incidents of local pro-regime militias taking the law into their own hands amid lawlessness in the Tartous region.
On June 22, members of a local National Defense Force militia opened fire on residents of the Tartous town of Safita, which is populated by a nearly equal mix of Greek Orthodox and Alawites approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Tartous.A pro-regime Facebook page covering news in the town roundly condemned the incident and called for a government crackdown. “We call on the competent authorities to put an end to this chaos which is increasing day after day,” a post on the pro-regime Safita News Network read. The outlet demanded that the government “restrict [weapons] to the army and the armed forces alone.”Armed militiamen in Syria’s coastal region have acted with growing impunity, with car thefts and kidnappings being blamed on them.Only a week before the Saifta shooting, four Christian men were kidnapped from the nearby town Khreibat by unknown gunmen, sparking tension among the town’s residents.

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