LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 14/09
Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 28,8-15. Then they
went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed, and ran to announce this
to his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them on their way and greeted them. They
approached, embraced his feet, and did him homage. Then Jesus said to them, "Do
not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see
me." While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and told the
chief priests all that had happened.They assembled with the elders and took
counsel; then they gave a large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "You
are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole him while we were asleep.'
And if this gets to the ears of the governor, we will satisfy (him) and keep you
out of trouble." The soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed.
And this story has circulated among the Jews to the present (day).
Free Opinions, Releases, letters &
Special Reports
Analysis: Hizbullah shows its true colors to the
Arab world-Jerusalem Post 13/04/09
Lebanon's drug mafia blamed in death of 4
soldiers-Los Angeles Times 13/04/09
Lebanon's Hezbollah savors increasing legitimacy-Los
Angeles Times 13/04/09
Lebanon's 'Titanic' victims mourned in Cobh-Irish
Times 13/04/09
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for April
13/09
4 Lebanese Army Soldiers Killed,
Several Injured in Attack in East Lebanon-Naharnet
Five killed in attack on Lebanese army patrol-Reuters
On
Jumpy Lebanon-Israel Frontier, A Quiet Drug War-Naharnet
Jumblat Considers Nasrallah's Admittance to Shehab's Membership in Hizbullah an
Error-Naharnet
Edde: Hizbullah Is Placing
Lebanon at Risk of another Israeli Attack-Naharnet
Harsh Egyptian Campaign
Against Nasrallah, Iran Links it to Lebanese Elections-Naharnet
Ret. Brigadier General
Investigated Over 'Sensitive' Security Case-Naharnet
Hamas Backs Hizbullah
against Egyptian 'Campaign'-Naharnet
Syria to Host Conference
on Lebanese-Syrian Ties-Naharnet
Aoun Meets Sfeir on
Occasion of Easter-Naharnet
Egypt Tracks Down Alleged
Hizbullah Members as Sami Shehab Admits Taking Orders from Party-Naharnet
Egyptian forces in Sinai on high alert for Hezbollah terror-Ha'aretz
Egypt: Hezbollah cell plotted against Israelis-The
Associated Press
Syria's US ambassador: Lieberman better than Livni-Ynetnews
Hamas Comes Out of Hiding-New
York Times
Lebanon's 'Titanic' victims mourned in Cobh
In this section »
Man dies in surfing fall on Aran islandProtest at GAA plans for 'community
field'Ireland's largest rocket launched in TuamElection candidates in Kerry
thinking outside the ballot boxOLIVIA KELLEHERTHE 97th anniversary of the
sinking of the Titanic was marked by a ceremony in Cobh, Co Cork, yesterday.
The Irish Lebanese Cultural Society laid its first wreath at the annual
commemoration which got under way shortly before 3pm.
The laying of the wreath highlighted an often-overlooked statistic: 123 people
from Lebanon travelled on the Titanic’s maiden voyage in 1912, along with the
mostly-European passengers and Asian crew.
The small village of Kfar Mishki in the lower Bekaa Valley of eastern Lebanon
was devastated by the loss of at least eight of its inhabitants. Another
village, Hardeen, lost 12 of its locals while eight others survived.
The tragedy of the sinking of the Titanic is commemorated every April in Cobh.
Cobh, then known as Queenstown, was the Titanic’s last port of call on a journey
which ended with the loss of 1,517 lives.
Yesterday afternoon’s parade in Cobh left the Clock Tower Gallery at the old
town hall on Lynch’s Quay and continued to the Titanic Memorial in Pearse
Square.
Following prayers, hymns by the Commodore Male Voice Choir and a wreath-laying
ceremony, the proceedings moved to the Promenade for prayers and hymns by Cobh
Confraternity Band and the reading of the names of the 79 passengers who boarded
the liner in Cobh and died in the north Atlantic. Hundreds attended the event.
The mayor of Cobh, Cllr John Mulvihill jnr, placed a wreath in the sea. The
ceremony concluded with a bugler playing the Last Post and Reveille.
Cobh is set to play a major role in the 100th anniversary commemorations of the
sinking of the Titanic, with ecumenical and wreath-laying services among the
activities planned.
Cities such as Southampton, Liverpool, Halifax in Nova Scotia, New York and
Cherbourg are to work together to host a series of events in 2012.
Cobh Town Council has approved plans to be involved in the commemoration
ceremonies.
This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
Canada Condemns Assassination of Prominent Afghan Women’s Rights Activist
Canadian Ambassador to Afghanistan Ron Hoffman today issued the following
statement condemning the assassination of Sitara Achakzai, a prominent activist
promoting Afghan women’s rights:
“Canada condemns in the strongest terms the assassination of Sitara Achakzai, a
respected member of the Kandahar Provincial Council, who was committed to
improving the rights and lives of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“Today’s act of violence is especially heinous and the perpetrators of this
cowardly act must be brought to justice.
“Canada stands by those who promote and support human rights, including women’s
rights, in Afghanistan. We extend our deepest condolences to the family of
Sitara Achakzai. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.”
Harsh Egyptian Campaign Against
Nasrallah, Iran Links it to Lebanese Elections
Naharnet/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's confirmation that Lebanese
suspect detained in Egypt Sami Shehab was a member of his group and working to
help Hamas against Israel, has drawn harsh condemnation from both Cairo and
Israel. Iran, however, linked the campaign to the upcoming Lebanese
parliamentary elections. President Hosni Mubarak stressed he would not allow
destabilization in Egypt or violation of the border.
Egyptian television said Mubarak telephoned Prime Minister Fouad Saniora on
Sunday. It said both leaders discussed developments related to Shehab, in
addition to Lebanon and regional developments. Egyptian Information Minister
Anas el-Faqi vowed that Cairo would "vigorously hit back" at any attempt to
target the country's national security. The Egyptian press has slammed Nasrallah
as a "war criminal" who should be put on trial after he admitted that his
militants in Cairo were helping Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Nasrallah said on
Friday that a man Cairo is holding on suspicion of planning attacks is a member
of his Lebanese Shiite fundamentalist group and was providing logistical help to
Hamas, but denied seeking to destabilize Egypt. "A criminal who knows no mercy"
cried the blood-red headline in the state-owned Al-Gomhuria, which reserved the
whole of its front page for an editorial bashing Nasrallah, repeatedly referring
to him as "Sheikh Monkey." "Sheikh Monkey, we will not allow you to belittle our
judicial symbols, for you are a highway robber, a pure criminal who has killed
his own people but we will not allow you to threaten the peace and security of
Egypt," Editor Mohammed Ali Ibrahim wrote.
"You and your gang are terrorists and soon... the public prosecutor will issue
details of an investigation into your terrorist organization," he said.
Al-Ahram newspaper, which is also state-owned, said Nasrallah's admission that
Hizbullah is operating in Egypt provided grounds for prosecution.
"The admission by (Nasrallah) of sending agents into Egypt... puts him at the
forefront of accusations and requires dealing with him under Egyptian law, or
international law and issuing an (Interpol) red notice for his arrest," said
editorial writer Ahmed Moussa.
"Egypt must start proceedings to try him in an international court. He has
admitted to the crime. He must be handed to the Lebanese government as a war
criminal," Karam Gabr, editor of the pro-regime Rose Al-Youssef, told Egyptian
television.
Egypt is holding 49 people with alleged links to Hizbullah accused of plotting
"hostile operations" in Egypt, among them Sami Shehab, a Lebanese citizen.
In his speech on Friday, Nasrallah confirmed that Shehab was a member of
Hizbullah and was working to help Hamas against Israel.
"If helping the Palestinians is a crime, I officially admit to my crime."
Hizbullah, which is backed by Egypt's regional rivals Iran and Syria, is a vocal
supporter of Hamas, the Islamist rulers of Gaza, and has lashed out at Egypt for
closing its border crossing with the Palestinian enclave.
In Damascus, al Watan daily accused Egypt of seeking to "ignite a confrontation"
with Hizbullah and "mobilize" Egyptians to stand up with the government against
the Shiite group.
Meanwhile, Iran believed that the "Egyptian clamor was intentional." Iranian
Shoura Council Speaker Ali Larijani said the Egyptian campaign aims at
"influencing" the June 7 Lebanese general elections. Referring to Egypt,
Larijani, who was speaking before the Shoura Council, said "those who are
involved in the deliberate media uproar showed Hizbullah's commitment to the
responsibility toward the Palestinian brethren and keenness to provide them with
support."
Meanwhile, an Israeli Cabinet minister said Nasrallah deserved to die. "Nasrallah
deserves death and I hope that those who know what to do with him will act and
give him what he deserves," said Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, who is close
to hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His remarks came after Cairo
announced last week the arrest of 49 people linked with Hizbullah who are
suspected of planning attacks in Egypt. Israel and Hizbullah fought a
devastating war in Lebanon in 2006 after Hizbullah seized two Israeli soldiers
in a deadly cross-border raid.
The 34-day war killed more than 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and more than
160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, and is widely considered in the Jewish state to
have been a failure. Katz also told army radio that the "rules of the game must
change" in regard to Hamas, which like Hizbullah enjoys the backing of Iran and
Syria.
"We will soon set out a new policy. We should erect a wall between the Gaza
Strip and Israel and we should no longer exercise the slightest responsibility
for civil affairs in the Gaza Strip, such as allowing the passage of
merchandise." Israel has kept Gaza largely sealed to all but essential
humanitarian goods since Hamas, an Islamist movement pledged to the destruction
of the Jewish state, seized control of the territory in June 2007. "All
responsibility for civil affairs must be exercised by Egypt," which controlled
Gaza before Israel captured the tiny territory in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he
said.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 09:15
Egypt Tracks Down Alleged Hizbullah Members as Sami Shehab
Admits Taking Orders from Party
Naharnet/Egyptian police are tracking down 10 members of an alleged Hizbullah
cell believed to be hiding out with the Bedouins in Sinai after key Hizbullah
suspect detained in Egypt Sami Shehab has admitted to being involved in a
Hizbullah plot to attack Israeli tourists in the rugged triangular peninsula.
The men are thought to be Lebanese and part of a group of 49 members of an
alleged Hizbullah cell that the Cairo government announced is plotting to attack
Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists. A security official in Cairo said
the men had taken shelter in the central Sinai town of al-Nakhl.
Authorities fear the suspects may either try to escape north into Gaza some 200
kilometers away through the many secret tunnels or head south to the tourist
resorts on the coast. There is little security presence in the vast mountainous
interior of the Sinai where some Bedouin make their living through drug
cultivation and smuggling. Most residents of the impoverished peninsula do not
benefit from the tourist resorts, such as Sharm el-Sheik, along the southern
coast.
On Sunday, Egyptian Attorney General Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud added espionage to the
charges against 49 alleged Hizbullah agents, in addition to plotting to
destabilize the country. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has rejected
the accusations, but confirmed over the weekend that he had sent Sami Shehab to
Egypt -- a rare acknowledgment that Hizbullah was operating in another Arab
country. The daily Asharq al-Awsat on Monday quoted well-informed sources as
saying that investigation by Egypt's state security prosecution office has
uncovered that Shehab, who is held in Cairo on suspicion of planning attacks,
admitted to taking instructions from Hizbullah to strike a gainst Israeli
tourists in Sinai. Shehab said that the decision came following the
assassination of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus in February
2008. He said Sudanese and Syrians, in addition to Egyptians, were among those
involved in the plan.
The sources said Shehab acknowledged that he is in charge of Hizbullah
operations in Egypt and that the Lebanon-based party has decided to adjust the
plan and demanded that the key suspect stops monitoring Israeli tourists. Shehab
instead was given instructions to go back to the "original mission," which
focused on smuggling Palestinian fighters and explosives into Gaza and the depth
of Israel. Meanwhile, state-owned Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper said Shehab's real
name is Mohammed Youssef Mansour. It said Egyptian authorities arrested Shehab
last October with orders to maintain contact with Hizbullah until the green
light to carry out attacks was given in a speech delivered by Nasrallah on the
occasion of Ashoura last January. It was at this point that Egyptian authorities
decided to make Shehab's arrest public, according to al-Ahram. Birut, 13 Apr 09,
08:36
Lebanese soldiers killed in army patrol attack
Mon Apr 13, 2009
BEIRUT, April 13 (Reuters) - Four Lebanese soldiers were killed when their
patrol came under fire in the eastern Bekaa Valley on Monday, the army said, in
an incident probably linked to tensions with local tribesmen. The army said in a
statement that one officer was also wounded. Earlier, security sources said five
soldiers were killed, including an officer. The army has cracked down on
Lebanese tribesmen in recent weeks for various crimes. The attack, on the Reyaq-Baalbek
highway, was likely to have been carried out by tribe members seeking revenge,
the sources said. A military vehicle was ambushed by a number of gunmen, the
statement said, and the army was pursuing the culprits. Security sources said
four men had ambushed the patrol by firing a rocket-propelled grenade and then
machine guns.
Witnesses said the army had sent reinforcements to the scene of the attack and
towards the northern region of the Bekaa Valley. It had also carried out raids
and set up checkpoints. (Reporting by Afif Diab; editing by Robert Woodward)
4 Lebanese Army Soldiers Killed, Several Injured in Attack
in East Lebanon
Naharnet/Four Lebanese soldiers were killed when their vehicle was raked with
bullets and blasted with a grenade in an apparently drugs-related ambush Monday,
a security official and the army said. The attack occurred in the Bekaa Valley
in the east of the country near the Syrian border that has long been known as a
fertile drug-producing region. "At 11:00 am (0800 GMT), an army vehicle was
ambushed by armed men... Four soldiers were killed and an officer was injured,"
an army statement said. Witnesses said the army jeep was ambushed in Reyak,
about 20 kilometers south of the Bekaa's main town of Baalbek, site of a
majestic Roman temple complex.
They said a gang of men opened fire with machine-guns and a rocket-propelled
grenade on the vehicle. A security official who asked not to be identified said
the soldiers were killed by an Energa-type grenade, fragments of which were
found near the vehicle. Increased military patrolling was reported along the
Reyak-Baalbek road in the wake of the attack while the army set up roadblocks.
Helicopters were seen over the area as the army urged Bekaa residents to
cooperate with the military and "not to give refuge to criminals." President
Michel Suleiman ordered army chief General Jean Qahwaji to "take the strongest
possible action against the attackers, no matter what the cost." In his first
reaction to the incident, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said his ministry will
"strike back with an iron fist to prevent a repeat of Monday's attacks" adding
that the army was "a red line." Both Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and Parliament
Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the incident.
Saniora said it underlined "the necessity to apply the rule of law to all
citizens across the whole country," the National News Agency reported, and Berri
in a statement called it an "attack on national security." Hizbullah also
expressed its "strong condemnation" of the attack and urged in a statement that
action be taken against those responsible. "Hizbullah demands the co-operation
and the solidarity of residents of Bekaa with the army," it added.
On March 27, Lebanese troops killed a prominent drugs baron, Ali Abbas Jaafar,
and an aide in a stolen car after they refused to stop at a checkpoint in the
valley.
Relatives of the two men shot at an army vehicle later on the same day when
their bodies were brought back to Baalbek. The army said three soldiers were
lightly wounded. As news of Monday's ambush spread, friends and relatives of
Jaafar in Baalbek fired celebratory gunshots into the air, an AFP correspondent
said.
Jaafar, who had 172 arrest warrants against him, was wanted on a variety of
charges, including drug trafficking, opening fire on military positions,
attempted murder of soldiers and civilians and carrying false documents. The
army has often been targeted in deeply divided Lebanon, which has witnessed a
spate of killings of prominent anti-Syrian figures in recent years. Historically
known as Lebanon's breadbasket, the Bekaa was also synonymous with production of
illegal drugs, chiefly hashish, during the 1975-1990 civil war. Last September,
four soldiers and three civilians were killed when an explosion ripped through a
military bus in the northern port city of Tripoli. A similar attack in
mid-August killed 14 people, including nine soldiers and a child.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 11:44
Aoun: I Am in Charge of Directing the Opposition at This
Stage
Naharnet/MP Michel Aoun on Tuesday said he was in charge of directing the
minority at this stage and voiced confidence in his victory in Metn without
striking an alliance with MP Michel Murr.""I am responsible for directing the
opposition at this stage up until it reaches proper participation" in
government, Aoun said following the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform
bloc. Candidates for the Free Patriotic Movement "are named in Rabieh only,"
Aoun said adding his party "adheres to certain standards when it comes to
nominating contenders in various tickets."Aoun said the "2009 elections in Metn
will surprise everyone with his victory although he did not form an alliance
with Murr." He said the FPM does "not sell parliamentary seats to anyone"
insisting that he enters electoral battles with the intention of wining.
On the FPM platform, Aoun said it will be made public on May 7, the anniversary
of his return to Lebanon from France. He said the platform includes projects for
the judicial, education and economic sectors. He said he represents democracy
telling those who "can never lose will never be able to govern properly because
their rule would be oppressive." On Monday's attack on the army, Aoun said the
incident was not politically-motivated and was carried out by a family seeking
revenge.
Aoun said an agreement between the FPM and other parties in the minority
"prevented the outbreak of another war during the incidents of Mar Mikhail."
He urged the Lebanese to make a choice between "living in a sectarian cocoon and
between open-mindedness and coexistence." On Hizbullah's standoff with Egypt,
Aoun said he does not "interfere in Hizbullah's private affairs and they do not
interfere in ours. This is why we will wait for the facts." Beirut, 13 Apr 09,
19:44
On Jumpy Lebanon-Israel Frontier, A Quiet Drug War
Naharnet/Filmed with a night-vision camera just before Israeli narcotics
officers pounced from nearby bushes, the video shows a Lebanese courier lobbing
half-kilo packages of heroin over the border fence into Israel and an Israeli
courier throwing back packages of $100 bills.
Israeli soldiers and Hizbullah guerrillas have been battling for years along
this frontier. But a quieter war goes on here every night, one between Inspector
Gal Ben Ish's narcotics teams and the smugglers who have turned this jumpy
border into the main conduit for heroin bound for Israeli drug markets.
Police here believe the trade, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year, is
controlled in large part by Hizbullah, and call it "narco-terrorism."
In the nighttime bust caught on camera last September, Ben Ish's men netted 55
kilograms of heroin, 10 of hashish, $650,000 in cash, and both drug mules. Hopes
of repeating that success, and a sense that the smuggling here is more than just
crime, have brought them back to this wooded hill in the middle of a biting
Galilee night.
"We know that it's not just criminal activity — here there's always the aspect
of national defense. We're helping the country's security," said Ben Ish, whose
black knitted cap hid a shaved head. He spoke as his men slipped batteries into
night-vision goggles at headquarters ahead of the night's ambush, their four
green-painted M-16s resting on a beat-up sofa. Israeli police say Hizbullah, the
dominant power in the towns and villages of south Lebanon, takes a cut of the
trade and uses the money to fund operations and recruit agents inside Israel,
one of them an Israeli army colonel now in jail for trading secrets for drugs
and cash.
Information freely changes hands between Hizbullah and smugglers, police say.
The hard-to-see spots along the fence where Hizbullah ambushed and captured
Israeli soldiers twice in the past decade were previously used as drop points
for drugs. To drive home the point that Israeli addicts and dealers are helping
Hizbullah's war against their own country, a government anti-drug ad last year
portrayed the group's leader, the bearded cleric Hassan Nasrallah, emerging
grinning from a bong like a genie from a bottle. The security forces of the
Lebanese government, in which Hizbullah wields veto power, say they are trying
to combat the smuggling. A Hizbullah spokesman in Beirut refused to comment on
the allegations that the group is involved in the drug trade.
At the night's ambush site, two policemen sat amid bushes near the border fence,
covering themselves with camouflage nets and pulling masks over their faces. Two
other cops with rifles and motorcycle helmets waited nearby with an all-terrain
vehicle while Eli Makias, a 20-year police veteran, manned a lookout point on a
hill to the south. Every month the policemen average hundreds of hours of
boredom and one significant bust. "You develop senses like an animal," said
Amir, a 10-year-veteran. "You're coiled like a spring, and then when it actually
happens, the catch, the adrenaline starts." Like most of the unit's officers, he
declined to give his family name because of concerns he could be located by
smugglers. Between four and five tons of heroin entered Israel in 2008, nearly
all of it through Lebanon, according to an estimate from the government's
Anti-Drug Authority. Most originates in Afghanistan, with a small portion
produced in Turkey, Iraq and in the opium fields of Lebanon's Bekaa Valley,
which have recently seen resurgence after several years of decreased production.
In that same period of time, Ben Ish's men caught a total of 155 kilograms,
along with smaller amounts of other drugs and nearly $1 million in cash — a
record year for the unit but a fraction of the drugs and money changing hands.
On the Israeli side, Israeli Arab crime families control the trade with close
ties to their counterparts in Lebanon. The couriers are Israeli Arabs. Drops are
arranged ahead of time by telephone or e-mail, or in notes thrown across with
the previous haul.
Criminal coexistence between Jews and Arabs begins at the urban distribution
points inside Israel, where dealers and users of both ethnicities pick up the
drugs.
A kilo (2.2 pounds) of pure heroin goes for around $25,000 on the border, police
say, but sells for at least four times that on the street. At that rate, five
tons would be worth $125 million on the border and $500 million on the street.
That is reason enough for many to brave the Israeli soldiers along the frontier
and the narcotics men lurking in the bushes. And those aren't the only dangers.
Early this year, the narcotics men found a courier with 4 kilos of heroin in his
backpack on the mountainous border, frozen to death.
The lucrative trade has seeped into the ranks of the Israeli forces meant to
fight it, including the police. Over the past decade, two drug officers were
convicted of passing information to dealers and imprisoned.
Two Israeli military trackers, members of an all-Arab cadre of troops crucial to
patrolling the border, are also in prison for collaborating with Lebanese drug
dealers. One, Lt. Col. Omar el-Heib, was sent to jail for 15 years in 2006 for
relaying maps and information about tank positions, troop deployments and the
whereabouts of top Israeli commanders to Hizbullah in exchange for heroin,
hashish, and thousands of dollars.
El-Heib, a Bedouin officer badly wounded by a Hizbullah roadside bombing a
decade before, was an unlikely suspect. He was caught after police found cell
phones on the bodies of guerrillas who crossed the border in 2002 and killed six
Israelis, and traced the SIM cards back to him.
Hizbullah said at the time that it was "not obliged to confirm or deny" those
accusations, and has never acknowledged involvement in the drug trade.
A Lebanese security official declined to say whether Hizbullah was involved. But
he did say many of the drug smugglers were Shiite Muslims operating in
predominantly Shiite border villages where Hizbullah — the dominant force among
Lebanon's Shiites — has authority.
After the 2006 war between Hizbullah and Israel, Lebanese military forces moved
into the border region alongside a contingent of U.N. troops. A senior Lebanese
police official said authorities have themselves recently made at least 10
arrests and have seized drugs headed for Israel.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity, citing regulations and the
sensitivity of the issue.
Yasmina Bouziane, a spokeswoman for the U.N. force in Lebanon, said smuggling is
a violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution that ended the fighting in
2006 and the force has "enhanced its security measures in areas that have been
identified as potential smuggling routes."
The Israeli military has contact with the U.N. contingent, though the ties
appear to be used only seldom for cooperation against smugglers. The state of
war between Israel and Lebanon prevents their security forces from cooperating,
and the Israelis have been known to take matters into their own hands. In the
September bust, they cut through the fence to arrest the Lebanese courier and
retrieve the packages of cash.
The Lebanon border is only one of the ways drugs enter Israel. Last year, the
Israeli military foiled a rare attempt to smuggle drugs from Syria, killing one
smuggler in no man's land along the border and wounding another.
Smugglers row loads of drugs from Jordan across the salt waters of the Dead Sea,
the lowest point on the earth's surface, and Bedouin tribes who live in the
desert on both sides of the Israel-Egypt border bring in most of Israel's
marijuana and hashish. Some of those loads are sent into Israel on camels
unaccompanied by humans and picked up after they cross the frontier.
The government says several tons of cocaine are also smuggled every year, along
with some 20 million Ecstasy and methamphetamine pills, largely brought in by
sea and air from Europe.
But nearly all the country's drug addicts — some 15,000, according to government
estimates, of a population of around 7 million — are heroin users, and the drug
drives much of the country's drug-linked crime and violence. Ben Ish's men are
the country's first line of defense. But luck was not with them tonight. When
the Lebanese hills became visible across the border at first light, the officers
in the bushes packed their camouflage nets into backpacks and shouldered their
rifles, trekking back toward the meeting point where Ben Ish and a jeep waited
to pick them up. The couriers might have taken the night off. Or, as Ben Ish
acknowledged, they might simply have held their border rendezvous somewhere
else, and at that moment a relieved smuggler might have been throwing a knapsack
into an inconspicuous car, sending packets of heroin on the last leg of their
long journey to the addicts waiting in the Israeli cities to the south.(AP)
Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 11:16
Jumblat Considers Nasrallah's Admittance to Shehab's Membership in Hizbullah an
Error
Naharnet/'Democratic Gathering' leader MP Walid Jumbalt considered as an "a
mistake" recent admittance by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that a
Lebanese citizen arrested in Egypt was indeed a Hizbullah member. In an
interview with al-Jadid TV on Sunday Jumblat said: "The party has nothing to
gain by entering into conflict with Arab regimes." He expressed his willingness
to meet with Nasrallah saying: "Some people in Hizbullah continue to doubt my
intentions and stances, and I say one must distinguish between my speeches under
the influence of blood with what I am saying now." Jumblat said that the meeting
between al-Mustaqbal Movement leader MP Saad Hariri and Nasrallah "was good and
should be repeated." Regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections in June,
Jumblat said that list formation in some regions was governed by circumstances
citing the Shouf as an example.
"I forged a partnership with MP Saad Hariri, in some regions this has been at
our expense. Our Christian partner did not impose any names on us. However, we
did what we did so that no one would came and say that Saad Hariri is
controlling the Christian decision process for March 14 Forces," he said.
Jumblat was quick to point that this is the first time in Lebanon were we hold
general elections with no direct interference from Anjar, in reference to the
former location of Syrian intelligence in the Bekka Valley. "Our aim is to win
the June 7 elections, following that date I must consult with my allies, I am
one of them and shall remain with them,"he said.
Jumblat added that he had spoken with Hariri expressing his desire not place a
candidate in the Bekka region that could annoy Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri.
Regarding his relationship with the United States, Jumblat said that he agreed
with the former Bush administration over the issue of the Special Tribunal for
Lebanon that would bring the assassins of the former prime minister to justice,
but that he differed with the U.S. administration over the Palestinian issue.
He explained that his current relationship with the United States is simply
limited to contacts with the U.S. Embassy and with Acting Assistant U.S.
Secretary of State Jeffery Feltman. Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 10:11
Edde: Hizbullah Is Placing Lebanon at Risk of another
Israeli Attack
Naharnet/National Bloc Party leader Carlos Edde on Monday accused Hizbullah of
risking a new Israeli war against Lebanon after the party admitted to recruiting
an agent in Egypt to help the Palestinians in Gaza. "Hizbullah has violated
Egypt's sovereignty and consequently harmed Egyptian-Lebanese ties," Edde said.
"MP Michel Aoun's silence over Hizbullah's actions inside Egypt and across the
Egyptian border with Gaza imply his approval of the party's policies, which have
repeatedly violated Lebanese sovereignty and gave Israel a pretext to attack
Lebanon more than once," he added. He wondered whether Hizbullah chief Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah was "prepared to do anything in order to carry out the Iranian
policy even if (his actions) had negative repercussions on Lebanon and the
Lebanese people." Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 19:10
Ret. Brigadier General Investigated Over 'Sensitive'
Security Case
Naharnet/A retired Brigadier General was arrested by Internal Security Forces
and placed under investigation last Friday over a 'sensitive' security case.
The daily pan-Arab al-Hayat said on Monday that the retired military official
was arrested in his home over his alleged involvement in a sensitive issue.
Internal security forces refused to comment on the case and did not identify the
arrested individual. Beirut, 13 Apr 09, 14:14
Lebanon's Hezbollah savors increasing legitimacy
As some Western nations seek contacts, Hezbollah's No. 2, cleric Naim Qassem,
says the group has 'convinced the West it is a popular, authentic and important
movement that cannot be ignored.'
By Borzou Daragahi
April 13, 2009
Reporting from Beirut -- On one point, the United States agrees with Hezbollah's
No. 2 leader, Naim Qassem, and not such allies as Britain.
Neither Qassem nor Washington distinguish between the Shiite militant group's
political wing, which has members serving in the Lebanese Cabinet and
parliament, and its military wing, preparing for the next round of battle
against Israel. "Hezbollah has a single leadership," said the 57-year-old cleric
in a rare interview with an American reporter recently.
Britain says U.S. doesn't object to efforts to engage Hezbollah
"All political, social and jihad work is tied to the decisions of this
leadership," he said. "The same leadership that directs the parliamentary and
government work also leads jihad actions in the struggle against Israel."
To the alarm of Israel and the United States, Hezbollah has been enjoying
increased legitimacy across the world. The British Foreign Ministry recently
announced that it would shift course and begin talks with Hezbollah political
leaders. And Latin American lawmakers and European peace activists attend
Hezbollah conferences on "resistance" to Israel.
As the militant group emerges from a period of relative silence after 2006 war
with Israel and the subsequent Lebanese political crisis, its leaders appear
more confident and determined than ever to represent Lebanon's Shiite Muslim
population as well as challenge Israel.
This month Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, announced the group's
candidates for parliament in crucial June general elections. In a low-key speech
announcing personnel changes, he sounded more like a corporate executive than
the leader of arguably the Middle East's most powerful non-state actor.
But that does not at all mean that Hezbollah is becoming a typical political
party. It views itself as under threat and continues to maintain a militant
posture and its weapons. Numerous Hezbollah leaders have been assassinated over
the years, including military commander Imad Mughniyeh last year.
Qassem's visitors must abide by extensive security precautions. After being
swiped with a metal detector and handing over their cellphones last week, two
reporters and an interpreter were placed into the back seat of a dark,
late-model SUV with tinted windows, driven around south Beirut to a parking
garage, then escorted into a nearly identical vehicle before being driven to yet
another parking garage and guided up the elevator to a modest conference room.
There, the white-bearded, white-turbaned cleric who is Nasrallah's deputy, sat
on a couch and outlined the Iranian-backed group's plans, vision and relations
with the outside world..
"In recent years, the Western perception of Hezbollah has changed," he said.
"Even governments have started to looking for reasons to communicate and have
relations with Hezbollah. . . . This indicates that the Islamic resistance has
convinced the West it is a popular, authentic and important movement that cannot
be ignored."
The U.S. and Israel consider Hezbollah a terrorist organization and refuse to
have direct dealings with it. But U.S. policymakers and diplomats recognize that
Hezbollah's network of charities, clinics and schools give it broad appeal among
Lebanese Shiites and its militant stance has made it popular in the Arab world.
For Hezbollah, public relations has a clear purpose.
"The more we clarify our image to the people of the West, the more pressure they
will put on their governments to stop supporting Israel," he said.
Qassem spoke slowly, measuring each word and smiling amicably between questions
during the hour-long interview. He rejected Western accusations that Hezbollah
conducts operations overseas, but politely declined to answer questions about
the group's current military and intelligence capabilities. Though he said
Hezbollah has no deal to come to the aid of its partners Iran or Syria if they
came under attack by Israel or the U.S., all bets are off if there were a
foreign attack.
"We let people guess," he said. "We have an organized, efficient movement in all
fields, and the results are clear."
Though many Western analysts say the coming parliamentary elections will decide
whether Lebanon will tilt further toward the West or toward Iran and Syria,
Qassem insisted that the election would augur no radical changes, including any
attempt to dismantle Hezbollah's formidable arsenal of weapons, as called for by
the United Nations.
"The resistance has proven its purpose with the great victory of July 2006," he
said, referring to the war with Israel. "All subsequent attempts to turn the
weapons into a problem have failed."
If Hezbollah's alliance of Shiites, leftists and Christians manages to beat the
pro-U.S. March 14 ruling coalition of Sunnis, Druze and Christians, he said, the
group would "try a new, successful experiment in governance that differs from
that of the current majority's."
Qassem said he was skeptical about President Obama's recent outreach efforts to
Iran and the Muslim world. His rhetoric resembled that of Tehran's leadership.
"His ideas seems to support dialogue instead of military pressure and threats,"
he said. "But will America's policy toward the Middle East, including Iran,
actually change? . . . I am waiting to see his actions, not just his words."
Still, he welcomed a dialogue with the West, though not necessarily with the
United States, to identify common interests, including the security of the
United Nations troops in southern Lebanon that serve as a buffer between
Hezbollah and Israel.
"It could help clarify points of view," he said. "The dialogue does not have to
result in a complete solution."
Qassem, a former college chemistry instructor, is in line to lead Hezbollah
should Nasrallah be assassinated, as was his predecessor in 1992.
The cleric, wearing a brown pinstriped tunic and a linen cloak, said he lived an
ascetic life devoted to politics, faith and the written word as well as his wife
and six children. He said he's found little comfort in the cultural pleasures of
the West, though he said he likes to follow sports on television. In the past,
he's spoken of a "cultural conflict" between Islam and the West, in addition to
ongoing political discord.
"On the one hand I think the [West's] organizational and scientific progress is
very important," he said. "On the other hand, the corruption and dissolution of
the family is very dangerous . . . Swearing, gambling, drinking, etc. I don't
think the West is necessarily an example to follow."daragahi@latimes.com