LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 17/09

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 24,35-48. Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, "Peace be with you." But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, "Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have." And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, "Have you anything here to eat?" They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Civilization and Mosques. By: Mordechai/American Thinker/16.04.09
What’s really behind Hizbollah’s recent appearance in Egypt. By: Michael Young 16/04/09
Hizbullah, a Western fascination-By Michael Young 16/04/09
Sinai saga casts light on new regional dynamic.ByJonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post 16/04/09
As Indians go to the polls, Lebanese and Arabs should watch and learn-The Daily Star 16/04/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 16/09
Abu el-Gheit: Egypt would confront Hizbullah’s deeds/Future News
Iran enters into the zone of escalation with Egypt/Future News
Marouni asks Egypt to ease restrictions on Lebanese/Future News
Jarrah: For the application of 1559 resolution/Future News
Najjar: No Official Decision by U.N. Tribunal on Release of 4 Generals-Naharnet
Experts Dismantle Motorbike Bomb in Tyre-Naharnet
Murr for Winning All Metn Seats, Geagea Says Kesrouan in 'Political Battle'-Naharnet
Third Alleged Israel Spy Arrested-Naharnet
Murr:Crackdown on Army Killers to Continue…No Going Back
-Naharnet
Bassil Purportedly Refused to Give Security Services Access to Data on Criminal Suspects
-Naharnet
Egypt Likely to Place Ban on Hizbullah
-Naharnet
Report: Israel Pulling Out of Ghajar in April
-Naharnet

Hezbollah says no longer considered pariah by West-AFP
Lebanese Army arrests 69 criminals as Syria steps up security-Monsters and Critics.com
In Lebanon's wild east, Hezbollah finds itself on left foot-Christian Science Monitor
British parliamentarians meet with Hamas in Syria-Monsters and Critics.com
Sleiman urges Romania to push for Middle East peace-Daily Star
Lebanese Army rounds up 69 suspects in Bekaa raids-Daily Star
Iran dismisses Egypt's claims on Hizbullah as 'old and frayed trick'-Daily Star
Qassem: Hizbullah no longer considered pariah by West-(AFP)
By flogging Shehab issue, Egypt striking back at Hizbullah swipes over Gaza war-Daily Star
Beirut set to take over 'World Book Capital-Daily Star
Next parliament hinges on ballots in key districts-(AFP)
Celebration honors winners of Culture House design contest-Daily Star
Berri postpones Parliament session - again-Daily Star
Bassil blames government for 'unjust' internet costs-Daily Star
Lebanon's budget deficit rises by LL308 billion-Daily Star
Barclays warns Lebanon still facing key economic risks-Daily Star
Italy, UNICEF to 'adopt' three villages in Akkar-Daily Star
Two academics launch campaign to boycott Israel-Daily Star

Egypt Likely to Place Ban on Hizbullah
Naharnet/Egypt is considering banning Hizbullah cabinet ministers and members from entering its territory, the state-owned al-Ahram newspaper said Thursday. It quoted a government source as saying that one way Egypt could "punish" Hizbullah is by tightening the noose on the group and its members. "Egypt is concerned about the Lebanese people," he said. "But we can take measures such as banning Hizbullah cabinet ministers and members from entering Egypt." Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 10:40

Iran dismisses Egypt's claims on Hizbullah as 'old and frayed trick'
Thursday, April 16, 2009
BEIRUT: Iran dismissed on Wednesday Egyptian accusations against Hizbullah as an "old trick" aimed at influencing the Lebanese parliamentary elections, Iranian news agencies reported Wednesday. "Labels against ... Hizbullah and [its chief Sayyed] Hassan Nasrallah are an old and frayed trick and will not achieve anything," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency. Mottaki also accused Iran's arch-foe Israel and "hands from outside the region" of seeking to "create problems" ahead of Lebanon's June 7 elections. "The Zionist regime will not succeed in this political plot," he said.
Meanwhile, Egyptian media reported on Wednesday that Egypt's judiciary discussing the possibility of including Nasrallah and his deputy Sheikh Naim Qassem's names in the charges made against a Hizbullah cell accused of carrying out attacks inside Egypt. Security officials in Egypt said several names came up during interrogation of 49 suspects who have been arrested over the past five months. They said among the wanted men were 10 Lebanese and three Palestinians whose names came up in questioning. Egyptian defense sources said the accused could face death penalty or life in jail if convicted of planning terrorist attacks inside Egypt. - Agencies

Najjar: No Official Decision by U.N. Tribunal on Release of 4 Generals
Naharnet/Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar on Thursday said no official decision has been made by the international tribunal on the release of Lebanon's top four security and intelligence generals, detained for alleged involvement in the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri. The daily As Safir quoted a defense attorney representing the four generals as saying that his defendants are likely to be freed before Monday. "Head of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon's defense office did not give any statements to the press regarding the four generals," Najjar told Future News TV. "What we have read in the papers today came out of the defense attorneys," he stressed.
The defense attorney told As Safir that a decision to release the four generals had been taken. Meanwhile, a delegation from the international tribunal visited the generals on Thursday at Roumieh prison. The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, Ali Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan who respectively headed the General Security Department, the Internal Security Forces, Military Intelligence and the Presidential Guards Brigade. Last week, a Lebanese investigating judge lifted the arrest warrants against the generals. Judge Saqr Saqr also ordered that the four remain in jail pending a decision on their fate by the STL. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 08:17

Abu el-Gheit: Egypt would confront Hizbullah’s deeds
Date: April 16th, 2009 Source: UPI
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu el-Gheit said Thursday that his country did not receive any foreign support that contributed to the arrest of cell members related to the pro-Iranian Hizbullah party. Abu el-Gheit told UPI “Any attempts to jeopardize Egypt’s security would have negative consequences.”
He said: “The Egyptian security apparatus and the interior ministry monitored the maneuvers of the terrorist cell,” adding “Egypt is not a small state and is capable of controlling its territories. The security apparatus are aware of any attempt to jeopardize the safety of the country.” On the terrorist cell of 49 Hizbullah agents who were plotting to attack Israeli terrorist resorts in the Sinai Peninsula, he said: “The cell aims at disrupting the security in Egypt,” warning the perpetrators “their deeds would have negative consequences.”He accused the perpetrators -without naming them- of trying to control the Egyptian decision, and to use Egypt as a means to implement their cruel policies saying, “Ironically, these groups are a lot weaker than Egypt’s capabilities which reflects how pathetic they are.” He added that Egypt would confront the actions executed by Hizbullah saying “Egypt has the ability to retaliate in a very harmful manner against all who promote for such policies and stances, but we are wise enough and know well that any response would have severe damage to the communities that we try hard to defend,” reminding of the historic stance of Egypt from the Palestinian and Lebanese people. He described the Egyptian-Iranian relationship as ‘cold’ because Iran did not appreciate Egypt’s stance from supporting the Palestinian people in the West bank and Gaza.

Iran enters into the zone of escalation with Egypt
Date: April 16th, 2009 Source: private
By the time the interest was concentrated on the results of the electoral alliances and the programmed campaigns attempted by both groups, in preparation for the 7th of June, two events blocked the view in front of the electoral preparations. The first is represented by the attack that targetted the Lebanese army in Baalbek region, and the ongoing campaign it carries out to arrest the agressors, in a step that shows athat a firm decision has been taken to confront all who breach security.
The second is the escalating crisis between Ebypt and Hizbullah, as the Egyptian authority continues its investigations with the unit that belongs to the party, and the chasing fugitives belonging to the unit in the Sinai Desert.
Elections…and war crisis
What is interesting in this issue, is what leaked of escalating Iranian positions against Egypt, and accusing the latter of processing according to the “Zionist regime”. Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Muttaki, linked this issue to the subject of the next parliamentary elections, considering the Egyptian accusations against Hizbullah and its Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah are “outdated and will not yield a result". Muttaki added that “unfortunately, there are hidden hands driven by the Zionist regime, seeking to create problems on the eve of the Lebanese parliamentray elections.”
A source familiar with Muttaki’s position, and the preceded positions by Ali Larijani the Chairman of the Shura Council, said in an interview to almustaqbal.org : "their position confirms the Iranian regime's plan to camouflage the real goals of this regime in some Arabic arenas, including Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt."
The source assured that “there is no relation between uncovering this unit and the Parliamentray elections in Lebanon”, considering that “the depth of this issue is the envolvement of Hizbullah in direct Iranian orders in foreign branches of the Iranian intelligence starting from Latin America via Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain and up to Lebanon, Gaza, Jordan, Egypt to Morocco.”
Sidon votes for the Martyr President
In another context, Samir Gaegae the ledaer of the executive body in the “Lebanese forces” party, who discussed with Fares Soueid the coordinator of the general secreteriate of March 14 forces, stressed that “the electoral regulations of March 14 are getting more and more clear, and will be ready during few days and coming weeks”. Geagea assured that the “electoral battle is specifically a political battle and we are not convinced in running it under “arbitrary” and incomplete titles. Thus, we have to search for the basic political component in each reagion.”
Minister of Education and Higher Education Bahia Hariri streesed that “we are committed in Sidon to the people's issues, and whether we succeed or not, our commitment to people will not change because it is not compared to a location”, pointing out that "Sidon will vote on the 7th of June for the path of Hariri and the right to the Government presidency, and will vote for its national principles, which does not wait for elections to be confirmed.”
A delayed session
In the electoral issue, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Council Ratified during its meeting today, headed by Speaker Nabih Berri, on the legislative record of the legistlative session that includes voting on lowering the voting to 18 years.
As a result to the lack of quorum in the Parliamentary legislative session, the House Speaker Nabih Berri, who met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, called for a new legislative session next Tuesday, April 21. In this context, Minister of State Wael Abu Faour declared that “the Deputies electoral concern dominates the legislative agenda, and the summons of the opposition and the majority is subject to the masses.”

Marouni asks Egypt to ease restrictions on Lebanese
Date: April 16th, 2009 Source: New TV
Tourism Minister Elie Marouni said Thursday he has asked the Egyptian ambassador to Lebanon to urge the Egyptian government to ease restrictions imposed on Lebanese traveling to Cairo following allegations that Hizbullah was plotting to destabilize Egypt. As for the armed attack against a Lebanese Army patrol in the Bekaa Valley on Monday, in which four soldiers were killed, Marouni said that he “apologized in the name of the Lebanese state to 64 French tourists who were visiting the Roman ruins at Baalbek at the time of the criminal operation.”

Jarrah: For the application of 1559 resolution
Date: April 16th, 2009 Source: Future News
MP Jamal Jarrah, member of the Almustaqbal bloc, urged Thursday the implementation of Security Council resolution 1559 and to find a solution to the illegitimate arms on the national dialogue table. “A solution must be found to the illegitimate arms on the dialogue table,” noted Jarrah, “because those arms lead us to the May 7 events as it was used for local purposes, thus the 1559 resolution should be applied.” Hezbollah, a Lebanese armed faction known for resisting Israel’s occupation, took over Beirut on May 7 and made a number of operations in Mount Lebanon protesting two governmental decisions. Those events found an end when the Lebanese leaders agreed with an Arab sponsorship in Doha.
Jarrah’s statement came while the Lebanese army is investigating the armed attack on a military patrol in the district of Baalbek leaving four martyr soldiers and 11 wounded. The Bekaa MP commented on this incidents saying it “harms the stature” of the army, explaining that there are a number of deprived villages in Lebanon, other than the district of Baalbek-Hermel, where the law is respected. As for the information published today in Assafir newspaper stating that the four detained Generals for the assassination of martyr Prime Minister Rafic Hariri are going to be freed on Monday, Jarrah said that this issue was mentioned for “political and electoral reasons.” On the other hand, Jarrah commented on the Egyptian accusations to Hizbullah, saying that this issue is not related to the elections and that it is “only a judicial issue” which is not directed against “the Shiite community or Lebanon.” Regarding the June 7 parliamentary elections, MP Jarrah expected revenge acts from the current opposition camp in case it achieves a victory, adding that the “list of the majority in Bekaa is not yet finalized.

Harb: Hizbullah’s arms ‘must be controlled’
Date: April 16th, 2009 Source: Voice of Lebanon
Former Education Minister Boutros Harb said Thursday that the Lebanese Army cannot be protected and stability in the country cannot be maintained until the divisive issue of “illegitimate arms” held by the pro-Iranian Hizbullah party has been resolved. Harb, a member of parliament, told Voice of Lebanon radio: “It is crucial that the illegitimate weapons in the hands of Hizbullah be controlled. The issue of the national defense strategy must be solved.”The controversial issue of Hizbullah’s arsenal lies at the core of the political battle between the March 14 alliance, which heads the pro-Western government in Lebanon, and the opposition March 8 bloc, spearheaded by Hizbullah. The Shiite organization was allowed to retain its weapons following the 1975-90 civil war on the premise that it was leading the resistance against Israel’s occupation of south Lebanon. It insisted on keeping its weapons even after Israeli forces withdrew from the region in May 2000. March 14 insists that Hizbullah’s arms should be under state control. Hizbullah, backed by Iran and Syria, refuses.

Shehab confesses receiving orders from Hizbullah
Date: April 14th, 2009 Source: Al Ahram The Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram reported Tuesday that Mohammad Youssef Ahmad Mansour known as “Sami Shehab”, a Lebanese Hezbollah member detained by Egyptian authorities confessed to have plotted to attack the internal institutions in the county.
The paper said that the leadership of the Hezbollah party directed Mansour to plot for terrorist attacks and suicide bombings at Egyptian institutions and Israeli tourists, particularly in Sinai region, Dahab, Taba and Nwaibeaa where the majority of tourists are Israelis. The paper added that the first terrorist operation aimed at executing three explosive attacks against Egyptian and Israeli targets in three vital touristic locations, whereas the Hizbullah leadership would later claim responsibility for the operation in revenge for the slaughter of its military leader Imad Mughnieh. A sequence of orders was followed. The Secretary-General of the Hizbullah party, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, gave orders to his deputy Naim Qassem, who transferred them to Mansour through Mohammad Kabalan, according to the paper.
The paper also said that the party’s leadership recruited Sudanese men to participate in smuggling arms through Egyptian borders for the terrorist operation.
The Egyptian prosecution stated that Egyptian authorities would arrest 24 people involved in the cell, including Kabalan, the intelligence responsible in the party.
The independent newspaper “Egyptian today” said that it received a message from Mansour through his attorney Montaser al-Zayyat. The message stated “Tell Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah that we would follow him everywhere. We apologize for the capture of his soldiers who should have been more vigilant and responsible just like we were taught to.”Al-Zayyat quoted Mansour saying, “Mansour did not deny his role because supporting the resistance is an honor according to Hizbullah’s doctrines.”

Murr for Winning All Metn Seats, Geagea Says Kesrouan in 'Political Battle'
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea described the electoral race in the Kesrouan district as a "political battle" as MP Michel Murr said his allies should win all seats in the Metn. After meeting Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Thursday, Geagea also lauded the Lebanese army's operations in the Bekaa valley against drug lords who were behind the deadly ambush on a Lebanese army patrol. Murr said the formation of "the North Metn list is in its last stages and will not be announced before the start of next month." "We should win all seats," the MP said. The meeting between Sfeir and Murr coincided with a visit to Bkirki by Geagea. Murr also slammed Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil for allegedly withholding data from security forces who are tracking down the army killers in the Bekaa. "If the information in the newspapers is true, (Bassil) was mistaken in delaying to disclose the information," Murr said. But the telecommunications minister denied the media reports, saying "I was never late in providing any information." Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 14:13

Experts Dismantle Motorbike Bomb in Tyre
Naharnet/Military experts on Thursday dismantled a motorbike bomb in the southern port city of Tyre, state-run National News Agency said. It said the bike, rigged with 650 grams of explosives, was parked outside the house of its owner, Ziad Naji, in Hosh neighborhood in Tyre. A mortar shell was also found attached to the motorcycle, according to NNA. It said Naji informed police about the explosives. Police opened an investigation into the incident. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 14:12

Third Alleged Israel Spy Arrested
Naharnet/A third member of a "professional and well-trained network" was arrested on suspicion of spying for Israel, media reports said Thursday.
Police arrested G. Alam, a General Security Department Corporal, in the border town of Naqoura and then raided his home in the town of Rmeish in Bin Jbeil province.Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said security forces seized a computer from his house. His uncle, Adib Alam who is a retired Lebanese general, was arrested on Saturday at his office near Beirut on suspicion of spying for Israel. The detention of the ex-general from the General Security Department along with his wife Hayat is among several arrests in recent months linked to spying for Israel. Adib Alam has allegedly used the business he owned, which managed foreign domestic workers, as a cover for intelligence work. As Safir daily said security forces are expected to make more arrests.
Hizbullah's Deputy Secretary-General Naim Qassem said Wednesday that "security forces monitored the movements of Adib Alam and asked Hizbullah for information on him." "Preliminary information indicates he had been working as a spy for Israel for over 25 years and retired from his position in national security eight years ago," Qassem said. "His arrest was a major achievement," Qassem said. A security source told As Safir that "investigation could take a long time" because this is a "professional and well-trained network." The source said that the group's task could have possibly included carrying out missions and not just gathering information.
Adib Alam's wife, according to the source, also unveiled during investigation that her husband began spying for Israel in 1982 and not in 1984 as claimed by him.
It said the man was the general coordinator of several networks, which means that more spy cell leaders could be arrested. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 09:25

Murr:Crackdown on Army Killers to Continue…No Going Back
Naharnet/The Lebanese army will hunt down those behind the killing of four soldiers and there is "no going back," Defense Minister Elias Murr vowed.
In an interview with the daily An Nahar published Thursday, Murr said that security services know the secret hiding places of the wanted men.
"The crackdown will continue until they (wanted men) are arrested," Murr said. Meanwhile, the army continued a hunt for drug lords behind the deadly ambush on a Lebanese army patrol. On Monday, assailants raked the patrol with bullets and blasted it with a rocket-propelled grenade, killing four soldiers and critically wounding an officer, in an apparent drugs-related ambush in the Bekaa. The manhunt widened on Thursday to cover various towns and neighborhoods surrounding Sharawneh and Dar el-Wasaa in Baalbek. Local media said helicopters were used in the crackdown. An army spokesman had said the raids would continue until those behind the attack were arrested. "We will raid every region and every location where we have information on suspects," he said. "We have raided a number of homes and detained several suspects wanted in previous cases but they don't include those behind Monday's attack." An army statement on Wednesday said that the military detained 69 men wanted for committing a wide range of crimes. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 10:06

Bassil Purportedly Refused to Give Security Services Access to Data on Criminal Suspects
Naharnet/Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil has reportedly refused to give security services access to data on telephone numbers of those suspected of involvement in the fatal ambush of army troops in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley or of concealing information about them. The daily Ad Diyar on Thursday said security services had in the past 48 hours filed a request to Bassil for access to "limited and specific names and telephone numbers of the criminals (behind the army attack) and those who cooperate with them." Bassil "refused to give permission to continue to track down telephone call traffic of those (suspects) despite interference by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud," Ad Diyar quoted a well-informed source as saying. An Nahar newspaper for its part quoted ministerial sources from the ruling March 14 coalition as saying that 48 hours after security services filed the request for data on the suspects, there was no response from Bassil. Bassil denied the accusations, saying "Security services are accusing me of withholding information on the Bekaa ambush to justify their failure. I was never late in providing any info." Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, meanwhile, said the telecommunications ministry cannot make a decision to withhold data over the attack on the army patrol. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 08:56

Report: Israel Pulling Out of Ghajar in April
Naharnet/Israel will withdraw from the Lebanese side of the border village of Ghajar this month, diplomatic sources told An Nahar newspaper. The sources said all sides have made the final arrangements for the Israeli pullout from the northern part of Ghajar. A tripartite meeting was held last month between officials from the Lebanese army, UNIFIL Commander Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano and Israeli military representatives at a U.N. base near the area of Ras al-Naqoura. The officials discussed the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1701, particularly violations of the U.N.-drawn Blue Line to avoid any incident in the border area, UNIFIL spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said in a press release. The issue of Ghajar and the marking of the Blue Line were also discussed, she added. In his last report on the implementation of resolution 1701, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon renewed his call on the parties to proceed on the basis of the UNIFIL proposal so as to facilitate the withdrawal of the Israeli soldiers in accordance with the Jewish state's obligations under resolution 1701. Beirut, 16 Apr 09, 08:26

Lebanese Army rounds up 69 suspects in Bekaa raids
Syria beefs up border presence to hinder fugitives' escape

By Dalila Mahdawi /Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 16, 2009
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) obstructed all entrance points to a neighborhood in the Bekaa city of Baalbek and arrested 69 people following raids on criminal gangs after Monday's deadly attack on an army patrol, a security source told The Daily Star Wednesday.
LAF troops raided the house of Hassan Abbas Jaafar, thought to have masterminded the ambush on the unsuspecting soldiers, and cordoned off the area surrounding his house in the Sharawneh neighborhood, the source said. According to a statement issued by the LAF on Wednesday, soldiers also shot at two men on Tuesday, killing one. The men were targeted after attempting to flee soldiers during a raid in the village of Hawch Barda, suggesting they were implicated in Monday's attack which saw gunmen pummel an army vehicle with machine gun fire and rocket propelled grenades.
Police believe the soldiers - Zakaria Ahmad Habla, Mahmoud Ahmad Mroun, Khoder Ahmad Suleiman and Badr Hussein Badr Baghdad - were purposefully targeted as they drove through the Riyaq district, near Zahle. A fifth surviving soldier, identified by security officials as Major Allam Donia, remains in the Saint Georges hospital in Beirut. The suspect killed on Tuesday has yet to be publicly identified.
The LAF said it also confiscated drug-making equipment in a factory during the Haouch Barda raid, as well as 13 stolen cars. One of the cars was the silver Grand Cherokee sport utility vehicle used in Monday's attack, the statement said. Troops were said to be looking for the suspects in the "northern Bekaa from the northern area of Hermel to Dar al-Wasaa and Yamoune, as well as the eastern and western fronts of Lebanon's mountain range."
The attack on the soldiers was supposedly carried out as retribution for the death of Ali Abbas Jafaar, a senior figure in the Jafaar family's drug empire. He was killed by Lebanese troops at the end of March after refusing to stop his stolen car at a military checkpoint near Baalbek.
Jaafar had long been hunted by the Lebanese security officials for drug trafficking, attempted murder and attacking military positions.
Security in the Bekaa Valley has been volatile for a number of years, with the area lorded over by a number of powerful drug dealing families who exploit Lebanon's political instability to grow illegal drug crops. News of the army cordon came as the LAF began negotiations with members of the Jaafar family to persuade the killers of the soldiers to turn themselves in, OTV said on Wednesday. The Jaafar clan have condemned Monday's attack, but stressed that the LAF could not raid the homes of "decent people," AFP reported. The family also promised it would not harbor any suspects involved in the ambush.
Hizbullah likewise pledged not to provide cover for the suspects, most of whom are based in the Bekaa, a stronghold of the Shiite group.
Meanwhile, President Michel Sleiman met with Lebanon's Army commander General Jean Kahwaji Wednesday to discuss efforts to bring the fugitives to justice.
The LAF launched a major military operation in the Bekaa Valley in the aftermath of the attack in the hopes of catching the gang. Convoys of army vehicles were deployed on Monday, along with helicopters fitted with missiles which security sources said would be fired at the assailants if spotted.
The army has said the operation, which has seen swathes of the Bekaa area cordoned off, will last until the armed men are reprimanded or killed.
According to a report in An-Nahar newspaper on Wednesday, the army has already seized hundreds of kilograms of poppy seeds, weapons and stolen vehicles, and carried out a raid in the town of Majdel Anjar, arresting one man. The man was able to escape, however, after unidentified attackers threw a sound bomb at the soldiers, the newspaper said. In a show of support, the Syrian army deployed troops along its border with Lebanon late on Monday night in order to hinder possible attempts by the fugitives to exit Lebanon. Lebanese commandos have also been positioned along the mountainous border area to search for the perpetrators of Monday's attack. - With AFP

Qassem: Hizbullah no longer considered pariah by West

By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Interview
Jocelyne Zablit
Agence France Presse
BEIRUT: The West can no longer ignore Hizbullah and has given assurances it will deal with the Lebanese group if it wins upcoming elections, the movement's deputy chief said on Wednesday. "Western countries are rushing to speak with us and will do so even more in the future," Sheikh Naim Qassem told AFP in an interview.
He added that a number of European countries as well as the International Monetary Fund have reassured Hizbullah's leadership that they will not boycott the group if its alliance wins the June 7 legislative poll as was the case with the Palestinian Hamas in 2006.
"The ambassador of a key European country also informed us that the US will deal with any government even though they are hoping the [Western-backed] ruling majority wins the vote," Qassem said.
The election is considered important as it will determine whether Lebanon continues to look West or whether it tilts more toward Iran if Hizbullah and its allies come out victorious.
Washington considers Hizbullah a terrorist group and blacklisted the group in 1997.
Qassem, however, stressed that Hizbullah's image has significantly improved in the West.
"They discovered that we accept dialogue ... that our resistance is well thought-out and ... that we are open-minded," the 56-year-old cleric said. "The more they get to know us, the more they will realize the need to respect us."
He also welcomed the change in US administration.
"Things look good now that [George W.] Bush is gone and Obama is trying to open up to the world and make up for the mistakes of the previous administration," he said, referring to US President Barack Obama who has reached out to the Muslim world.
He said that Hizbullah wanted "concrete measures" rather than mere talk from Washington that prove it is sincere.
"Until now, our stand has been that we do not deal with the US administration until change comes about in its attitude," Qassem said. "Once that happens, then we'll see."
In a sign that Hizbullah is gaining more legitimacy on the international scene, Britain last month said it was re-establishing contact with the group's political wing.
Washington refuses to make that distinction and considers the group's militant and political wings as one and the same.
Hizbullah and Israel waged a devastating war in 2006 that left much of south Lebanon in ruins and killed more than 1,200 mainly Lebanese civilians as well as 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
The group has since refused to disarm despite a post-war UN resolution that calls for all militias to turn in their weapons. It argues that its arsenal is needed to defend the country against Israel.
Qassem sidestepped questions on Hizbullah's weapons, saying they will be dealt with once Lebanon comes up with a national defense strategy.
"We usually do not talk about [the source of] our funding and weapons," he said. "We are a resistance movement and as such we do not address questions about our funding, arms and number of fighters."
Qassem also brushed aside as baseless and unfounded accusations that the militant group, arguably one of the most powerful non-state actors in the Middle East, was plotting attacks in Egypt.
"It has become clear to everyone that these accusations are fabricated ... and that they are worthless," Qassem said. "The Egyptian regime wants revenge and is seeking to sully Hizbullah's image.
"This whole thing is politically motivated and will result in a backlash against the Egyptian regime."
Cairo last week announced it had arrested a Hizbullah cell on charges of plotting attacks in the country and has accused Iran of using the Shiite group to gain a foothold in Egypt.
Qassem confirmed that one of the men arrested was a Hizbullah operative but stressed that his mission was solely to provide assistance to Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza.

Hizbullah, a Western fascination
By Michael Young

Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The killing of four Lebanese soldiers on Monday reawakens some old thoughts about a phenomenon I've watched over the years, one that should not be underestimated in determining how Lebanon is understood and portrayed abroad: the devouring fascination with Hizbullah that many Westerners living in and writing about the country have developed, so that the party typically fills center stage in their Lebanese considerations.
The Hizbullah link to the soldiers is not a tenuous one. Michel Aoun remarked that the deadly attack in the Bekaa Valley was a family matter. Perhaps it was, however such brazenness was possible only because the gunmen were acting with two things in mind: that in areas ruled by Hizbullah the army is fair game, so that even the killer of the helicopter pilot Samer Hanna last August managed to escape punishment; and that much of the northern Bekaa, beyond its geographical seclusion, is frequently off limits to the state, and even in some areas to Lebanese citizens, because Hizbullah has simply decided that it should be so.
This realization feeds into another, namely how little we tend to read, or hear, any real condemnation of this rather astonishing state of affairs from Western journalists, analysts, academics and others who write about Hizbullah. Of course, not all journalism or analysis needs to express sharp opinions, but over the years a double standard has been on display: The Western observer will often approach Hizbullah on its own terms, with laudable and reasonable objectivity; but he or she will almost never show the same detachment when addressing the Lebanese political system, which is routinely criticized as archaically sectarian and corrupt.
Where Hizbullah fascinates, and fascinates justifiably for being an interesting sociological phenomenon, the Lebanese political system, despite its paradoxical liberalism, tends to repel many Westerners for being an ersatz version of what they know, an inferior, aberrant knock-off of their own societies. I still recall over a year ago being asked to discuss Lebanon with students attending a course in Beirut. I had about an hour and a half to answer their questions, and an hour and 15 minutes of that time was devoted to Hizbullah. "Lebanon is more than Hizbullah," I feebly said at the end, but I had gotten the message.
Why this interest in Hizbullah, and why does this interest quite often morph into measured, even unmeasured, attraction? I can offer up several hypotheses, not mutually exclusive. First of all, for a Western journalist or analyst, Hizbullah is an easy story to sell to a publication or think tank. There are guns and strange bearded men, and both will grab an editor back home and a writer eager to show off his access to a closed world that is vaguely menacing. There is the legitimate fact that Hizbullah plays a definable role in Lebanon, so that it makes no sense not to cover the party. However, when was the last time a journalist sold a story on the inherent pluralism in Lebanese sectarianism? Once you've woken the editor up and told him that this defines Lebanon more accurately than Hizbullah does, he'll still choose the riveting clarity of a Hizbullah peg.
Hizbullah also benefits from the underlying contempt among many Westerners for the baroque Lebanese system itself, all nods and winks and clandestine compromises. Here is a party that can build institutions, that means what it says and says what it means, and that in many respects defines itself against the duplicity of the traditional politicians. More interestingly, it speaks for a once marginalized community, so that it presents several ingredients to spur Western sympathy and appreciation: a social cause, methodicalness in the pursuit of its objectives, an institutional structure transcending the narrow retail politics of most Lebanese leaders, rhetorical precision, and purported honesty.
And then there is authenticity. Hizbullah is widely seen as representing a truer Lebanon than the Lebanon of confused identities lying outside the party's realm. Remember how the media in 2005 translated the emancipation movement against Syria. For three weeks after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the story was that of a liberal Lebanon revolting against an illiberal Syria and its Lebanese peons, a rare occasion during the post-Civil War period when that narrative dominated. However, its fragility was highlighted on March 8, when Hizbullah organized its mass demonstration at Riad al-Solh square. Suddenly, interpretations shifted. The "real Lebanon" had spoken, observers said, and it had spoken with verve, so that the anti-Syrian demonstrators of the weeks before, with their Occidental pretensions and designer clothes, were now dismissed as creations of the Western media. Then March 14 came, confusing the observers further and resurrecting the liberal plot line, if not for very long.
The irony is that the very attributes that make many Westerners so belittle the Lebanese political and social order in Hizbullah's favor are actually present in Hizbullah in more concentrated ways. The Lebanese system is archaic, undemocratic and sectarian? Well then what do you call a Shiite Leninist organization, led by a leader who will probably remain in office for life, that calls itself the Party of God? And what reaction do one's Western liberal instincts provoke when that centralized religious party glorifies violent self-sacrifice and makes permanent armed struggle a centerpiece of its ideological mindset, mainly on behalf of an autocratic clerical regime in Iran, its Lebanese authenticity notwithstanding? As for corruption, those who see Hizbullah as spotless should learn a trifle more about the party's illicit networks, or those of individuals close to the party. In that regard, we can say that Hizbullah is as Lebanese as anyone else.
Hizbullah is an essential part of Lebanon, a reflection of the country's complex personality and a distillation of its flaws. That it is worthy of study is obvious, but only if one grasps two caveats: that the party, while an anomaly institutionally, so that it can implement many of its totalistic ambitions in an essentially pluralistic society, does not really represent a refreshing contrast to the less admirable aspects of Lebanon; and that Hizbullah remains a slim prism through which to comprehend Lebanese society. Indeed, to know the party, or to claim to, often seems an excuse some Westerners have of avoiding discovering the wider reality all around it.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.

As Indians go to the polls, Lebanese and Arabs should watch and learn

By The Daily Star
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Editorial
Voters in the world's most populous democracy head to the polls today to begin selecting members of new Parliament, and their next government. For many people in the Middle East, India is at the margins of their concerns, lying just outside the traditional designation of the region. But with the world's attention focused on the eastern side of the Middle East, starting in Iran and moving to neighboring countries of concern like Pakistan and Afghanistan, it would be useful to remember that India's presence on the world stage will only grow, as a key partner in any successful resolution to the problems of AfPak, as it's now being called.
Poverty and a huge population might characterize India, but recent years have also highlighted the huge innovation that has been generated by this Asian powerhouse, one with strategic weight in the region and membership in the exclusive international club of the G20. India is also a nuclear power and thus bears a tremendous responsibility to a world that is increasingly looking to fight proliferation and related threats.
Stability is a watchword in today's volatile geopolitical and economic climate, and India is an increasingly important player, whether in the Indian Ocean region, or in the Arab states of the Gulf, with their large populations of workers and employees from the subcontinent.
The point is that India presents an interesting showcase for Lebanese and Arabs, who often lack curiosity about places lying to the east of us. We're fond of citing the importance of countries like India and China, as if we are on intimate terms with these huge giants, but fail to examine these political and economic systems and what they might teach us.
India is not a perfect model when it comes to politics, but that is to be expected: democracy is a process, or a work in progress, and doesn't represent a destination. We should learn from Indian politicians, skilled in the art of deal-making and coalition-building; Lebanese and other Arabs could benefit from gauging Indian expertise in fighting sectarian incitement, since they have the credentials, as victims of sectarian violence. Moreover, a country known for Hindu nationalism did, after all, elect a Muslim president earlier this decade, and it has one of the world's largest Muslim communities.
We can follow the latest developments in Western political systems but we have much to learn from the other direction, where India can teach us about the limitations of democracy, and - crucially for our purposes - how to apply it to a diverse population, whether the dividing lines are based on sects, socio-economic groups, or geographic regions.

By flogging Shehab issue, Egypt striking back at Hizbullah swipes over Gaza war
Cairo also seeks to curtail Iran's bid for regional powerbroker

By Michael Bluhm
Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 16, 2009
BEIRUT: The arrest of Hizbullah member Sami Shehab in Egypt and the ensuing vitriolic rhetoric represent Egypt's retribution for sharp Hizbullah criticism of Cairo during the recent Gaza conflict, as well as an Egyptian swipe at Hizbullah sponsor Iran, a number of analysts told The Daily Star on Wednesday.
During Israel's Gaza assault this past December and January, Hizbullah said Egypt's lack of assistance for Hamas amounted to collaboration with the Jewish state, and Egypt is taking full advantage of Shehab's arrest to tar the Shiite group, said Oussama Safa, executive director of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. Egypt has arrested Shehab and 48 others on suspicions of plotting to destabilize Egypt, assassinate Israeli tourists, possessing weapons, forgery and spying for a foreign country.
"The Egyptians really want to get back at Nasrallah with full force," he said. "What Nasrallah declared during the Gaza war was really offensive to Egyptians. They're not going to forget that easily."
In an interview published on Tuesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit said the investigations would reveal "surprises," and reports said Egyptian prosecutors were considering charging Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in the case, all pointing toward Cairo's intent to magnify the issue, Safa said.
"The Egyptians are promising escalation," he said.
In addition, by flogging the controversy Egypt also hopes to curtail efforts by Iran - Hizbullah's main military and financial backer - to undermine the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and expand Iranian influence in the region, said retired General Elias Hanna, who teaches political science at Notre Dame University.
"Egypt is targeting Hizbullah because it is aiming at Iran," he said. "It will depict Hizbullah as threatening the national security of Egypt on the demand of Iran."
In this context, Hizbullah is playing the role of a tool wielded by one great power in the eternal struggle among such would-be empires for the upper hand in the region, Hanna said. "It is a geopolitical game in the region - it used to be between [former Egyptian President Gamal] Abdel-Nasser and the shah," he said, adding that Iran under former shah Reza Pahlavi courted Israel as a counterweight to Abdel-Nasser's pan-Arabism.
With Iran's regional power waxing and Egypt's on the wane, Tehran is seeking to undercut Egypt by labeling Cairo as defeatist in the face of Israel and the fulcrum of the US project in the region, Hanna said. Egypt responds by parading Shehab, for example, and by refusing to attend the Arab League summit at the end of last month in Doha - Qatar had joined Iran and Hizbullah in bashing Cairo for inaction during the Gaza onslaught, Hanna added.
Nasrallah has said Shehab was a member of Hizbullah but was in Egypt only to support those resisting Israel. Regardless of the veracity of the charges against Shehab, Hizbullah does carry out operation in Egypt to destabilize the Mubarak regime, said Hilal Khashan, head of the department of political studies and public administration at the American University of Beirut.
"We all know that Hizbullah is Iran's long arm in Egypt and the region," he said. "Helping those who fight Israel is part of their creed. Hizbullah uses this as a cover to accomplish other objectives. They also have another objective in Egypt, which is to destabilize the regime."
A show trial portraying Hizbullah as sabotaging Egypt could do much to damage the group in the eyes of Arabs who had admired Hizbullah's religious piety and successes against Israel, Khashan added.
"The image of Hizbullah is being shattered now," he said. "For years Iran has been trying to present Hizbullah as a showcase for Islamic groups in the region. It's becoming increasingly clear to most Arabs that Hizbullah is an agent of subversion. We are encountering mounting evidence to implicate - at least circumstantially - Hizbullah in subversive activity in the region."
Beyond sullying its reputation, the case could also constrict Hizbullah's operations, as intelligence and law enforcement agencies turn up their already intense scrutiny of the group, Hanna pointed out.
"It will put [Hizbullah] on the defensive and limit its freedom of action," he said, adding that Hizbullah likely had dozens more agents in Egypt than the 49 alleged members arrested, because the purchase, handling and smuggling of arms to Hamas in Gaza would require markedly more manpower. "Everybody will have an eye on [Hizbullah]."
In Lebanon, the repercussions of the contretemps could lead Egypt to recall its ambassador and put pressure on political leaders to explain why Hizbullah evidently has additional capabilities which it is not sharing with Lebanon and is instead establishing cells in ostensibly friendly countries, Hanna said.
"It is going to be embarrassing for Lebanon," he said. "Whether Hizbullah is right or wrong, we will pay a price."
The analysts all said Egypt had not conjured up the Shehab case to manipulate the June 7 general elections here, as some Hizbullah officials have said, but the analysts differed on whether the controversy could affect swing voters in the Christian-majority districts which observers have long tipped as decisive in the poll.
Hanna said the Shehab incident could drive some undecided Christian voters away from candidates from the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance, while Safa and Khashan said Christians who backed the March 8 camp would not change their minds based on the charges against Shehab.
"Christian voters would not be swayed by Hizbullah's actions in Egypt," Khashan said. "If the alliance between [Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel] Aoun and Hizbullah does not disturb some Christians, why would I expect that their activities in Egypt would disturb them?"
Politicians in the March 14 alliance have mostly kept silent about the issue, preferring not to inflame tensions ahead of the crucial vote or to entangle Lebanon further in an international incident, Hanna said.
The regional repercussions of the Hizbullah-Egypt clash could well relegate to the sidelines the warming relations between Saudi Arabia and Hizbullah ally Syria, and instead return to center stage the biggest and thorniest conflicts in the region - Arab versus Persian and Sunni versus Shiite, Hanna said.
The arrival of US President Barack Obama and his first, halting overtures toward Iran and Syria, as well as Britain's recent outreach to the political wing of Hizbullah, had kindled hopes for a rapprochement in the region, but the hostility revealed by the Shehab case has revealed that Cairo has not joined the pursuit of regional entente, Safa said. "It's very clear the Egyptians don't want to take part in this."
Cairo believes Tehran gave approval for Hizbullah's harsh words toward Egypt during the Gaza war, and so Egypt is trumpeting the arrest of a Hizbullah member to fire back at Iran, illustrating the regional enmity at the heart of the case, Safa said. "It's a purely Egyptian-Iranian rift," he added.

"What’s really behind Hizbollah’s recent appearance in Egypt
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090416/OPINION/332937630/1080
Michael Young
The National
April 16. 2009
Last week the judicial authorities in Cairo announced that they had arrested members of a Hizbollah cell and accused the Lebanese Shiite party of threatening Egypt’s national security. In a televised address, Hezbollah’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, admitted that one of those in custody was a party member working to rearm Palestinians in Gaza. However, he added, no one was trying to undermine Egyptian security. Both accounts told us little about what is really going on.
When Nasrallah owned up to the arrest of one of his cadres, he deflected attention away from the fact that by setting up arms networks in Egypt, Hizbollah and behind it the party’s main sponsor, Iran, put themselves in a better position to manipulate Egyptian stability. After all, while those weapons may be destined for Palestinian groups, what is to prevent their distribution to organisations opposing Egypt’s regime?
What has happened in Lebanon since 2006 is instructive in this regard, and must be high in Egyptian minds. During that period, Hizbollah effectively mounted a coup against the Lebanese system. While the results were mixed, the party managed to impose a red line that neither its domestic adversaries nor the Lebanese state will dare cross again in order to disarm Hizbollah and challenge its political and military autonomy inside Lebanon. From a “resistance” movement initially focused on liberating South Lebanon, Hizbollah has morphed into an organisation with the ambition of holding the commanding heights of the country, as well as of playing a regional role on behalf of Iran.
Why 2006? In the aftermath of the summer war against Israel that year, Hizbollah started a campaign to reverse what had occurred in 2005, when international pressure and popular demonstrations in Beirut forced a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon following the assassination of the former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri. Hizbollah viewed Syria’s departure with trepidation, as it removed the primary defender of its freedom of action. The summer war was a turning point. While Shiites suffered terribly from Israeli attacks, Nasrallah saw an opening to turn the tide against his Lebanese foes, and Syria’s, who held a majority in parliament.
Once the war ended, Nasrallah declared a military victory against Israel, then demanded veto power in the government for the Hizbollah-led opposition. Given that the president and parliament speaker were close to Syria, Hizbollah’s ability to also shape the government’s agenda would have crippled the anti-Syrian majority, known as the March 14 coalition. When the majority refused, Hizbollah began a sit-in in Beirut’s downtown area, kicking off 18 months of protests that carried Lebanon to the brink of civil war. In May 2008, the Siniora government took a pair of decisions that Hizbollah interpreted as efforts to inhibit the party. Nasrallah sent his gunmen into western Beirut and other areas to force the government to back down. It did, and the result was an accord signed in Doha granting Hizbollah and its allies veto power as well as a favourable law for parliamentary elections scheduled in June. Violence paid off.
The confrontation in Lebanon was followed by the conflict in Gaza early this year. There, Iran and Syria proved that they could exploit a local ally, Hamas, to undermine the credibility of both the Palestinian Authority and Egypt. Hamas thwarted Egyptian efforts to extend the truce in Gaza, and Hizbollah followed at the height of the fighting with Israel by accusing Egypt’s leadership of virtual treason for keeping the Rafah crossing closed. Hizbollah and Hamas had never been used so aggressively by Iran and Syria in a head-on assault on Egypt. The Gaza war isolated the so-called Arab moderates, whom many Arabs saw as complicit in neutralising what they considered legitimate Palestinian resistance.
More ominously, Lebanon and Gaza showed that Iran is trying to take decisive advantage of the weakness of the Arab state system, so that it might play a dominant role in the Middle East. This prompted the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, to reconcile with Syria in January, and to sponsor Egyptian-Syrian reconciliation, his aim being to break Damascus away from Tehran. The Saudis want to put Syria’s president, Bashar Assad, on the spot so that he will have to either side with Iran or with his Arab brethren. Expectations aren’t high in Riyadh that this scheme will succeed, but the idea is that if Syria remains a strategic ally of Iran for much longer, it will be easier to isolate regionally afterward.
That’s the context for Egypt’s tension with Hizbollah. It was not surprising that Iranian officials publicly condemned Egyptian actions. More revealing, however, was that the Syrian daily Al Watan did much the same thing. The paper is owned by the cousin of Bashar Assad, suggesting that the Syrian-Egyptian rapprochement is already fraying. In Lebanon, meanwhile, as parliamentary elections approach, the Saudi-Syrian understanding, while it has calmed the political atmosphere, has not warmed relations between Hizbollah and its leading rival, the pro-Saudi Future movement – in other words between Shiites and Sunnis.
There is growing fear in many Arab states that Iran, directly or through the groups it finances, is making dangerous inroads into their societies. This has been the case in Lebanon and Egypt, but Saudi Arabia and Bahrain also worry about Iranian influence over their own Shiite communities. Iran’s considerable sway in Iraq, which comes as the Obama administration prepares to withdraw American soldiers from the country, also provides little reassurance for the Sunni-dominated Arab political orders. Syria remains an unknown quantity, but it is very unlikely that Assad will break with Tehran if he feels that it retains the initiative regionally.

Analysis: Sinai saga casts light on new regional dynamic
By JONATHAN SPYER
Jerusalem Post 16/04/09
The latest revelations of Hizbullah involvement in northern Sinai cast a sudden light on a silent war currently under way across the Middle East and beyond it. The events in Sinai showcase a number of defining factors of this new, Middle Eastern Cold War.
SLIDESHOW: Israel & Region | World Firstly, the Sinai events confirm that where there is disorder, weak central government and ongoing local conflict - there is Iran. Northern Sinai provides a near-perfect environment for the activities of the clandestine arms of Iranian government and its proxies. As a result of long-term indifference on the part of the Egyptian authorities, an entire local economy based on smuggling and lawlessness has grown up among the Beduin of the northern Sinai.
Over the last decade, Sunni global jihad groups have moved in to take advantage of the tempting prospects offered by the combination of lawlessness, light government, nearness to Israel and the close proximity of large numbers of western and Israeli tourists. Sunni jihadi terror attacks took place in Taba in 2004, Sharm e-Sheikh in 2005 and Dahab in 2006.
It is now clear that Sunni global Jihad groups were not the only ones to see the potential in northern Sinai. The infinitely more serious networks of Iran and its proxy Hizbullah have made use of the smugglers' trail that leads from Sudan through Egypt and into Sinai to bring the weapons intended to turn the Hamas enclave in Gaza into an Islamist fortress.
The growing boldness of Iran and its proxies evidently led to the idea of making use of the ideal conditions available for terrorists in Sinai to build active Shia-led Islamist terror cells in the area.
The Egyptian authorities have made half-hearted efforts in the past to prevent weapons smuggling to Gaza. This new threat, however, appears to have constituted a red line - leading to determined action. In particular, the possibility of an attack on shipping in the Suez Canal served to concentrate the minds of the Egyptians.
This highlights a second notable factor: namely the extensive current cooperation, behind the scenes, of the Egyptian authorities with their Israeli and US counterparts. Again - the offer of advice, information and assistance from Israel and the US is not new.
On the contrary, Israeli and US officials have been exasperated in the past by the failure of the Egyptians to take seriously or act upon information readily made available to them. As the lines of the new regional situation become clearer, and as it becomes plain to the Egyptians that they are not going to be able to sit the conflict out - so cooperation is growing.
The final and perhaps most important lesson to be drawn from the latest events relates to the nature and role of the Lebanese Hizbullah organization. A debate continues to rage in policy circles - encouraged by fellow travelers and sympathizers with this movement - as to whether it should be seen as primarily a domestic Lebanese political movement, or as essentially a creature of Iranian government.
This debate has important policy implications. Elections are to take place in Lebanon on June 7. It is possible that the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance will form the next government in Beirut. Should Hizbullah win, it will be claimed by its friends in the West that by participating in the elections, the movement has shown that it is primarily a Lebanese political actor.
If and when these claims are raised, it is to be hoped that US and European policy-makers will keep in mind the events of the past days in Sinai. Hizbullah second in command Sheikh Naim Kassem told The Los Angeles Times earlier this week that he was encouraged by what he perceived as the "changing perception" of his organization in the West.
He noted growing calls for "engagement" with Hizbullah emanating from a number of European capitals, and assured his interviewer that Hizbullah carries out no military operations outside of Lebanon.
It is now clear that between giving saccharine interviews to eminent western newspapers, Sheikh Naim Kassem was also directly responsible for the Hizbullah cell in Sinai, led by Muhammad Mansour. Al-Ahram this week quoted Egyptian officials responsible for monitoring communications between the cell and the Hizbullah leadership in Lebanon who confirmed this.
A clearer indication of the absurdity of Hizbullah's claims - and the credulity of those western officials prepared to countenance them - would be hard to imagine.
Hizbullah has reportedly received $1 billion in the last months from Teheran for its election campaign. Its operatives have now been caught in the searchlight - exposed as wrapped up in Iran's ongoing project to ignite the region. Hizbullah constitutes one of the pieces on the chessboard to be moved at will by the guiding Iranian hand.
So a new cold war is under way - and like the old one, it is being fought on a variety of blurred, interlocking fronts: military, paramilitary, political and diplomatic. The most important weapon - vital for all other advantages to be used - is clarity of thought. The latest revelations of meddling in Sinai by Iran and its Lebanese proxy may, it is hoped, contribute to the slow spread of this vital asset.
Jonathan Spyer is a senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs Center, IDC, Herzliya.

Civilization and Mosques
Islam's War
By Mordechai Nisan
April 14, 2009
American Thinker
It is late in the global game of confrontation with Islamic Jihad. The lines of conflict have been drawn and the ground-rules for Muslim victory are in place. Yet many among the targeted governments and peoples have yet been incapable or unwilling to identify the enemy, at the gates and within the walls.
Now the entire globe is Islam's religious ambition and field of conquest. Bombings and attacks in New York and London, Madrid and Moscow, Bali and Mumbai, Jerusalem and Balsan, are not isolated or discrete instances of local theatre low-intensive assaults, but components of a pattern of coordinated and executed warfare of a very singular kind.
Mentioning Bali and Istanbul, and adding Casablanca and Aden, Sinai and Tizi Ouzou, contributes confusion and paralysis to the policy equation in the West. Why would Muslim terrorists carry out violent attacks in Muslim countries and against fellow-Muslims?
For Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin-Laden and his second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, not only infidel countries like Hindu India, Jewish Israel, and the Christian Philippines, constitute legitimate prey and victims, but Muslim-ruled countries as well. Theologian Ibn Taimiyya (d. 1328) defined Muslim-governed societies not conforming to Islamic law and tradition as ignominiously reflecting the pre-Islamic jahaliyya period of history - thus the legitimate target of Islamic subversion and overthrow.
Islam's Will to Power
In confronting Islamic terrorism, governments around the world and specifically under the leadership of the United States have concentrated on the improvement of relevant security apparatuses. Although intelligence surveillance has enhanced domestic security with preventive arrests and early-warnings of imminent attack, such measures cannot eliminate a threat whose origin and rationale are not especially those of weaponry, battalions, and conventional warfare.
The manual of Islamic jihad is canonized in the sacred Koran. The believers, and only Muslims are dignified by the term mumin'in (believers), are enlisted to go ‘in the way of Allah' and fight and kill the enemies of Islam. The Koran opens with the exordium declaration that God is compassionate and merciful, but He is eminently cruel against those who reject Him and His messenger-prophet Muhammad. With piercing insight Frithjof Schuon elucidated three essential and successive principles of Islam: Truth-Victory-Generosity. The genius of Islam and that of the Arab race converge, he wrote, as the collective embodiment of the soul of Mohammad.[i]
Islam is not a private spiritual experience but a public campaign of conquest, colonization, and conversion. In the Muslim East, governments and mobs persecute, outlaw, and hound the Christian faith and faithful. Christians flee in fear from Iraq and Egypt, and churches are closed down in Algeria. Christianity is prohibited in Riyadh - Saudi convert Hamoud Bin Saleh was reported arrested in early 2009. Christianity is dwindling in the East: consider holy Bethlehem, Aleppo in Syria and Tripoli in Lebanon - while Islam flourishes in the West.
The Mosque
The mosque is the locus of religious faith and jihadic indoctrination. It is a place of prayer that serves as the barracks for gathering the soldiers. In the early days of Islam the mosque was a center for forging military preparedness, awaiting the spiritual command to go out and fight the enemy. The Muslims would line up in prayer "as in a battle formation."[ii] Mosques serve, as defined by Samuel Huntington in his book Who Are We?, ‘as a base and a cover'.[iii]
Tawfiq Hamid, an Egyptian doctor, related his nightmarish experience as a former believing Muslim fanatic. He recalled how the local imam positioned the believers tightly together in their prayer positions, assuring close contact, while teaching that ‘God loves those who fight for Him as a solid wall'.[iv]
In the mosque a niche (mihrab) in one wall indicates the direction of prayer toward the holy city of Mecca. Appropriately, Saudi Arabia as the sacred keeper of Islam's most sacred site is today one of the great promoters of jihad and Islam around the world. It is to Arabia that Muslims world-wide face five-prayer times daily, looking for religious inspiration and financial sustenance to continue their global struggle.
The history of Muslim warfare was traditionally crowned with mosque-construction in lands conquered and occupied in the name of Islam. Atop the Temple Mount in Jerusalem the new rulers adorned aggression with a cultural symbol and built the Aqsa Mosque in 705. In late September 2000, the Palestinians launched their Al Aqsa Intifada against Israel, ending their rabble-rousing Friday public prayer in the Aqsa mosque by raining rocks on Jews praying below the Mount at the Western Wall.
A yet more arrogant practice was to either destroy churches, in Nazareth in 661, or to transform existing churches into mosques, in Damascus in 637 and the Greek Orthodox Church of Hagio Sophia in Constantinople (renamed Istanbul) in 1453. When the Muslims seized Hebron in 637, they desecrated while redesigning the Cave of the Patriarchs into the Ibrahim Mosque. A notorious Muslim practice in the theatre of warfare was to massacre Christians in their churches: Armenians in Nakhjavan in 705, Greeks in Thessaloniki in 904, and Lebanese in Ayshiyyah in 1976.[v]
Muslims build hundreds of mosques, madrasa schools, and cultural centers throughout Western countries. Some have come to recognize the insidious danger, sensing that the Muslim goal is power and not freedom, conquest and not integration. Congressman Peter King (R-NY), former Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, publicly stated that 'Unfortunately, we have too many mosques in this country'. Meanwhile, it was reported in January 2009 that the FBI was using planted agents to conduct surveillance in mosques in America.
The case of the Islamic Society of Boston, in constructing the largest mosque in New England, was revelatory of the infiltration strategy. The mosque project had proven links with the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation, known to fund Islamic terrorism, specifically the Palestinian Hamas movement. Moreover, the Boston mosque is connected through the Muslim American Society with the powerful Egyptian-based Muslim Brotherhood whose definitive goal in America is, as defined in a document from late 2008, "Grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying Western Civilization from within."[vi]
A revelatory connection between mosque and jihad characterized Hamas practices in the Gaza Strip. When Israel initiated its military operation in late December 2008, its air force bombed the Gazan neighborhood Tel el-Hawwa mosque, and other mosques in Jabaliyya, which served as secret storehouses and launching pads for Qassam rockets and Grad missiles fired by Palestinians against Israeli civilian targets.
Jihad And America
Jihad is a stimulating and turbulent myth, while the mosque offers a space for mental transcendence, a headquarters for mobilization, a vision of conquest.
The muezzin call to prayer in Detroit and Manhattan, where mosques are disingenuously named ‘Islamic Centers', is a manifest violation of public space and private comfort for many. Muslims are determined to set the social rules by segregating classrooms, gyms, and swimming pools; promoting Muslim prayer in public schools; probing social resistance with women's head-covering scarves and non-alcoholic taxis; and enticing conversion through out-reach programs in prisons, religious discussions in mosques, and extensive internet missionary propaganda. For the Koran categorically states (3:18): "The only true faith in God's sight is Islam."
In America, the Muslim goal is not to earn acceptance but to acquire ascendancy in the mosaic of society. Omar M. Ahmed, former chairman of the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told a crowd of California Muslims in July 1998 (though he later denied this) that 'Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant'.
For Italian philosopher-novelist Umberto Eco, writing a month after the 9/11 trauma, the freedom of religion was a sacrosanct principle. He wrote about the West with these words: "We are a pluralist civilization because we allow mosques to be built in our countries, and we are not going to stop simply because Christian missionaries are thrown into prison in Kabul. If we did so, we too would become Taliban."[vii] And he hoped that, if we allow mosques in our countries, then one day there will be Christian churches in their countries - or at least Buddhas won't be blown up.
America Disarmed
Islam, engaging in archaic religious warfare, is committed to change the political order by a sweeping and fundamental transformation of society, culture, and morality. Rules and restrictions as in Saudi Arabia would strangle America; personal and public morality - concerning men and women - would be chiseled into form by the likes of Iranian ayatollahs and Egyptian muftis, though they speak American home-grown English. The individual happiness principle - just holding hands at the amusement park - would be smothered; and the intoxicating fragrance of individuality and creativity would be crushed in Islamic America.
The Muslim replacement strategy for America is on track. It took a few centuries following the death of Muhammad until Zoroastrian Iran and Byzantine Egypt overwhelmingly Islamicized. Even if it takes one or two hundred years, the final triumph is considered by the believers in Tehran and Cairo, but also in Houston and Minneapolis, a historical certainty. Veiling their intentions and women, the Muslim conquest advances.
Indeed, the method of indefatigable religious propaganda, rather than terrorism, is what can assure Islam's ultimate success. CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper admitted in a 1993 interview that he wants to see America become a Muslim country; not by violence, he admitted, but 'through education'.[viii]
In the end, who will be blamed for the cataclysm? Politicians who failed their constituents, the media who misconstrued the victim, clerics who preached dialogue rather than disclosure, intellectuals who betrayed national values; and those who stood by watching the exploitation of democracy rather than guarding its inner poise, its light and sweetness, for the free and brave people of America.
*Dr. Mordechai Nisan resides in Jerusalem and lectures on Middle East history and politics. Email contact
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[i] Frithjof Schuon, Dimensions of Islam, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1970, p. 15.
[ii] Khalid Yayha Blankinship, The End of the Jihad State: The Reign of Hisham Ibn 'Abd al-Malik and the Collapse of the Umayyads, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994, p. 15.
[iii] Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2004, p. 363.
[iv] James G. Zumwalt, "Dead Man Talking," The Washington Times, August 4, 2007.
[v] See Andrew G. Bostom, ed., The Legacy of Jihad: Islamic Holy War and the Fate of Non-Muslims, Amherst, N.Y.: Prometeus Books, 2005.
[vi] Immediate Release, "Citizens for Peace and Tolerance," Boston, December 3, 2008.
[vii] Umberto Eco, "The Roots of Conflict," Guardian Unlimited, October 13, 2001.
[viii] Art Moore, "Did CAIR founder say Islam to Rule America?" WorldNetDaily.com, December 11, 2006.
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