LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 04/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10,13-16. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, 'Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.'"Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

Hugo of Saint-Victor (?-1141), Canon regular, theologian
Treatise on the sacraments of Christian faith, II, 1-2; PL 176, 415/
"Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me"
Just as man's breath passes through the head and goes down into the members to give them life, so the Holy Spirit enters into Christians through Christ. Christ is the head; Christians are the members. There is only one head but many members: one body made up of its head and members. And in this one body there is a single Spirit, who is in the head in his fullness and in the members by participation. Therefore, if there is only one body then there is only one Spirit. Anyone who is not in the body cannot be given life by the Spirit, according to the words of Scripture: «Whoever does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him» (Rm 8,9). For anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ is not a member of Christ.
Nothing that has a share in the body is dead; nothing of what is separated from the body is living. It is by faith that we become its members; it is by love that we are given life. By faith we receive unity; by charity we receive life. The sacrament of baptism unites us; the Body and Blood of Christ give us life. Through baptism we become members of the body; through the Body of Christ we have a share in his life.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
The Saudi-Syrian Cold War Unfolds in Tripoli-By JOE MACARO 03/09/08
Syria can be Lebanon's friend, but only when it starts acting like one-The Daily Star 03/09/08
Is rapprochement breaking out between America and Syria? By Inter Press Service 03/09/08
To Michel Aoun-By: Hassan Haidar Dar Al-Hayat 03/09/08
LEBANON: Will Syria invade or stay put?By:Borzou Daragahi . Los Angeles Times 03/09/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 03/08
Lebanese Army Preparing 'Massive" Military Action against Baddawi-Naharnet
Geagea-Franjieh Reunion Soon-Naharnet
Aoun to Saniora: You are a Sectarian and You are Ruining the State-Naharnet
UN seeks aid for Syria's worst drought in 40 years-AFP
Biden Mistakenly Kicks Hizbullah Out of Lebanon-Naharnet
Putrid Canned Food Kills Boy, Poisons 60 People -Naharnet
Sfeir Backs All Reconciliation Efforts -Naharnet
Moscow to Tehran: We Would Not Tolerate Foreign Intervention in Lebanon -Naharnet
Paris to March 14 Delegation: No Compromise on Lebanon -Naharnet
Beirut-Damascus Ties by Mid October -Naharnet
Sfeir Backs All Reconciliation Efforts-Naharnet
Hizbullah Vows to Liberate Shebaa Farms by Force -Naharnet
Lebanon-Trained Terror Suspect on Trial in Paris-Naharnet
Baroud: Security Departments Report to Interior Ministry -Naharnet
Biden Mistakenly Kicks Hizbullah Out of Lebanon -Naharnet
US To Damascus: Lebanon Off Limits-Naharnet
Why Syria Will Keep Provoking Israel-TIME
MP Kabbara: Tripoli is Not Kandahar -Naharnet
Syria, Russia cooperate on military security-San Francisco Chronicle
Sleiman seeks Sfeir's blessing to head up intra-Christian talks-Daily Star
'Rice warned Moallem' against trying to revive role in Lebanon-(AFP)
Maronite Bishops urge leaders to work together-Daily Star
Senior Salafi cleric issues stark warning to Damascus-Daily Star
Grenade blast in embattled Tripoli kills one person- (AFP)
Union for Lebanon frets new battleground-Daily Star
Hajj's wife urges Sleiman to release him-Daily Star
Mitri highlights requirements for print media-Daily Star
Names of Hariri killers to remain classified until indictment-Daily Star
Israel builds up arsenal of 'safer' locally made cluster bombs-Daily Star
Food poisoning kills child, sickens dozens-Daily Star
Sidon buzzes with activity on second day of Eid al-Fitr-Daily Star
Top Hizbullah official in South says Israel 'only understands language of power-Daily Star
Renowned physician Shukri Khuri passes away-Daily Star
True believers say Hamra can complete its comeback-Daily Star
Down and out in Nahr al-Bared: Displaced are losing patience-By IRIN News.org
Damascus presses unlikely drive for seat on IAEA board-(AFP)
Jihadist blowback?Economist

Lebanese Army Preparing "Massive" Military Action against Baddawi
Naharnet/The Lebanese army on Friday was reportedly preparing a "massive operation" against the northern refugee camp of Baddawi similar to the offensive launched against nearby Nahr al-Bared last summer. The German news agency DPA, citing a Lebanese security source, said security forces would likely kick off a massive offensive against Bidawwi if investigation proved that those responsible for the recent bombing attacks against the Lebanese army had took refuge in the shantytown with the protection of Salafi groups aligned with Fatah al-Islam extremists. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Syrian army had no intention to return to Lebanon. He said Syrian troop buildup along the border with Lebanon was aimed at providing the Lebanese army with backup should the military decide to put an end to Salafis in north Lebanon. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 18:23

Aoun to Saniora: You are a Sectarian and You are Ruining the State
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun on Friday branded Prime Minister Fouad Saniora a "sectarian" and accused him of ruining Lebanon.
"Mr Saniora is a sectarian man and he is ruining the state," Aoun told a news conference from his residence in Rabiyeh. "Let him (Saniora) submit to financial audit if he wants to challenge me," he added. He said Saniora was using the Higher Relief Council to "relieve" parliamentary candidates backed by the premier.
"The Higher Relief Council pays money to asphalt roads in Kesrouan and does not compensate to farmers whose crops were damaged during the (2006) war," Aoun said. He said the Hariri Foundation, not the Higher Relief Council, was paying compensation to Bekaa farmers.
Aoun also lashed out at Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir over recent remarks he made on reconciliation efforts. "Patriarch Sfeir had announced from Baabda that his previous reconciliation efforts had been rejected," Aoun explained. "We did not run away; and we had accepted the Honor Agreement and Bkirki's fundamentals unconditionally," Aoun went on. He was referring to comments made by Sfeir following his surprise visit to the Presidential Palace on Tuesday in which the patriarch announced that he had undertaken several initiatives in the past "but when we reached a vital point everybody disavowed."
He said reconciliation with the Lebanese Forces took place when Aoun visited LF leader Samir Geagea at his prison.
"We (LF and FPM) either reach an understanding or compete through democratic means," he said. On the adoption of a new elections law, Aoun said he hoped that "no new law regarding municipalities would be adopted in 2013." "How do they say that military personnel are a germ and are not allowed to vote?," he complained. Regarding efforts to reconcile Christians, Aoun said the FPM "has no problems with anybody."
"I don't mind reconciling with MP Nayla Moawad," Aoun acknowledged. "But in return I want an apology from her over accusations that I was an accomplice in the assassination of President Rene Moawad. "If she apologizes, that's good. And if she did not apologize, she will be forgiven," he added.
Aoun defended Syria's troop buildup along its border with Lebanon.
"Their talk against Syria is part of bickering over elections," Aoun said in reference to the majority March 14 coalition.
"Syria has the right to take measures along its border and Lebanon has to do the same," Aoun said, adding that he would like to draw the Prosecution's attention on an article about a deal to smuggle Syrian nationals belonging to Fatah al-Islam during the 2007 fighting between the extremist group and the Lebanese army at the northern refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared. "This article which was published by Ali Hamadeh in An Nahar hurts the army, the President and the people," Aoun claimed. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 17:33

Geagea-Franjieh Reunion Soon
Naharnet/Maronite League chairman Joseph Tarabey said Friday that priority goes to reconciliation that would stop the bloodshed in the streets, indicating that the start of these reunions begins with Suleiman Franjieh's Marada Movement and the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea. "We would start with the pressing issue, which is reconciliation between the Lebanese Forces and Marada Movement," Tarabey said after a meeting of Maronite MPs. MP George Adwan said the Lebanese Forces is headed towards reconciliation with the Marada Movement. He said, however, that this reconciliation "is impossible" without a get-together between Geagea and Franjieh "which I hope will take place soon."Tarabay said a unanimous agreement had been reached on achieving intra-Christian reconciliation, adding that the League is in contact with the Marada Movement which called for reconciling Lebanese Forces.
"Any reconciliation should be based on Maronite principles," Tarabay stressed. He said Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun would not take part in the meeting of Maronite MPs, but most members of his bloc would participate. A row developed during the meeting between MPs Nayla Moawad and Ibrahim Kanaan. No details were given. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 18:05

Biden Mistakenly Kicks Hizbullah Out of Lebanon
Naharnet/Democratic Vice Presidential Candidate Joe Biden has erroneously referred to Hizbullah instead of Syria when he talked about U.S. and French help to Lebanon during his debate with Republican Sarah Palin. "When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hizbullah out of Lebanon, I said, and (Democratic presidential candidate) Barack (Obama) said, 'Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don't know — if you don't, Hizbullah will control it,'" Biden said Thursday. "Now what's happened? Hizbullah is a legitimate part of the government in the country immediately to the north of Israel," he said.
He called the policy of the Bush administration "an abject failure." "And speaking of freedom being on the march, the only thing on the march is Iran. It's closer to a bomb. Its proxies now have a major stake in Lebanon, as well as in the Gaza Strip with Hamas," Biden said. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 11:00

LEBANON: Will Syria invade or stay put?
Leaders of Lebanon's American-backed March 14 coalition have publicly voiced fears that Syria is planning to launch an invasion of their country on the pretext of clamping down on Islamic extremists based in the northern seaside city of Tripoli.
Security officials in Lebanon and Syria have accused such militant groups of responsibility for a pair of attacks in Tripoli and Damascus that have killed at least 24 people over the last week. Syrian President Bashar Assad has complained that northern Lebanon has become a hotbed for extreme Islamic groups.
The attacks followed Syria's decision to amass what some describe as thousands of troops along the Lebanese frontier. Damascus says it was to interdict smuggling. But former President Amin Gemayel, leader of the Christian Ketayeb movement said the troop deployment was not “not innocent."
Meanwhile, Saad Hariri, leader of the Sunni Future movement, accused Damascus of being responsible for the violence. He accused Syria of “infiltrating extremists to north Lebanon to carry out terrorist attacks targeting the Lebanese army and civilians."
Samir Geagea, leader of the Christian Lebanese Forces movement, went even further, saying that Assad was laying the groundwork for a return to Lebanon, which his military was forced to leave after a prolonged occupation ended in 2005.
In a television interview, he said Assad's charge that north Lebanon poses a threat to Syria's security is aimed at "setting the atmosphere for Syrian intervention in Lebanon."As proof of Syria's intentions, March 14 leaders allege that Assad compared Moscow's troubles in Georgia to Damascus' in Lebanon in an interview with the Russian business daily Kommersant. It's an ominous statement that could indicate Syria was looking for an excuse to invade its smaller neighbor.
But did Assad really say that? So far, no credible news sources have unearthed the actual remark, and an English-language version of the Kommersant article makes no such reference.
Most likely, March 14 leaders are upping the ante for fear of an imminent rapprochement between Washington and Damascus. Over the last week, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other senior American diplomats met with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem in Washington.
Lebanese fear Americans will sell them out just as they suspect the George H.W. Bush administration likely gave the late Syrian President Hafez Assad the OK to invade Lebanon in 1990 in exchange for his support of the U.S. war to remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait.
In any case, most Middle East experts doubt Syria would do something so brash as to re-invade Lebanon without an explicit OK from the West, especially because Damascus has gotten peace talks with Israel, and sit-downs with high-ranking officials in Washington and Paris as well as all sorts of cash and prizes in exchange for... well, for staying put and not doing a darn thing.
Syria so far has had to take no steps in order to shake off its pariah status. It has not downgraded its ties with ally Iran or reined in its alleged support for Hezbollah in Lebanon or Hamas in the Palestinian territories.
Would Syria mess with a good thing by invading Lebanon and angering the West?
— Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Sfeir Backs All Reconciliation Efforts
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Friday left for the Vatican, saying he backs reconciliation efforts among all the Lebanese, be they Christians or from other communities. Sfeir, talking to reporters at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, said previous attempts by Bkirki to achieve intra-Christian reconciliation have failed, but "we could try again."He declared support for efforts exerted by the Maronite League to achieve intra-Christian reconciliation. In answering a question as to whether he thought alleged fundamentalism in north Lebanon posed a threat, Sfeir said: "Fanaticism is horrifying, be it in the north, south or anywhere else."Sfeir headed to the Vatican to take part in a church event. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 11:27

UN seeks aid for Syria's worst drought in 40 years
GENEVA (AFP) — Syria has been hit by the worst drought in 40 years, endangering the livelihoods of one million people, the United Nations warned Friday as it appealed for 20 million dollars in aid. "Syria is currently experiencing a drought that is by far the worst over the past four decades and it is facing the risk of rising malnutrition," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman of the UN's humanitarian bureau (OCHA). "(The) Syrian government estimated that up to one million people -- predominantly herders and subsistence farmers -- are at risk of losing their livelihoods and of increased malnutrition," she added. Up to 59,000 herders have lost all their herds while 47,000 others lost half to 60 percent of their livestock, she said. While the government had lent herders feed that could be repaid next season, and distributed free veterinary medicines and vaccines, OCHA said "the needed assistance is beyond the government's capacity and resources.""The situation is not expected to improve until spring 2009, if the rains do not fail for a second year in a row," warned Byrs.

Paris to March 14 Delegation: No Compromise on Lebanon
Naharnet/French authorities have assured a delegation from the March 14 forces that there is no compromise on Lebanon and that Syria will not be given the green light to return to the country, An Nahar daily reported Friday. It quoted French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner as telling the delegation that "there won't be a compromise on Lebanon" after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's comments about extremist threats in northern Lebanon have stoked fears that Damascus may be planning to reassert control over its neighbor. The delegation – made of MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Samir Franjieh as well as March 14 coordinator Fares Soaid and National Liberal Party leader Dory Chamoun – met with Kouchner on Thursday.
Kouchner also stressed "that Paris didn't change its policy and it still considers the security of Lebanon, its sovereignty and independence as vital French interests."
He reportedly told the delegation that "there is no backing out from the international tribunal" that would try ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's suspected assassins, adding that the court will start operating beginning next year. French diplomatic sources told An Nahar that Paris didn't give Syria the green light to return to Lebanon nor to interfere in its internal affairs. The sources also stressed that there was no international authorization for Damascus to return to Lebanon under any pretext, adding that the Assad regime should abide by international resolutions that are still valid.
They said French authorities have come up with a timetable for Damascus to implement the international community's demands, including the establishment of diplomatic ties with Beirut, the demarcation of the border and controlling smuggling across the frontier. An Nahar said the March 14 delegation informed French officials that the coalition backs President Michel Suleiman's stances, abides by the Taef and Doha Accords and looks forward for free and fair parliamentary elections next year that will decide the fate of Lebanon and its political and democratic system.
Pan Arab daily al-Hayat said the March 14 delegation will meet on Friday with head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry Patrice Paoli and Kouchner's adviser on Mideast affairs Christophe Bigot. The newspaper quoted a well-informed French source as saying on Thursday that France wants to urge the alliance to improve its relations with Syria and not to give Damascus "any pretext to run away from its commitments."
Kouchner, meanwhile, said Wednesday that Assad should implement what has been agreed upon after the Syrian president made a comment that no third party should interfere in Lebanese-Syrian affairs. Asked about the deployment of Syrian troops on the border with Lebanon, Kouchner said: "I don't know why they put those troops. Are they afraid of something?...What border? There is no border. It has to be demarcated."
He also said that the issue of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms area has to be resolved in response to a question if he will bring up the issue during his two-day visit to Israel on Saturday. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 07:09

Beirut-Damascus Ties by Mid October
Naharnet/Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he would visit Syria soon and newspapers predicted that Beirut and Damascus would exchange ambassadors by no later than mid October. Salloukh did not set the date for his visit, but the daily As-Safir reported that Syria is proceeding with "constitutional and legal arrangements" to set up diplomatic ties with Lebanon for the first time since independence from French Mandate in 1943. A joint declaration would be issued by Beirut and Damascus announcing the setting up of ties, the report added. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 11:40

U.S. to Damascus: Lebanon Off Limits
Naharnet/U.S. and Lebanese officials were quoted Friday as saying there would be no Syrian military intervention in Lebanon irrespective of fears sparked by the deployment of Syrian troops off Lebanon's northern borders. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch reportedly relayed a "strong and clear message to Syria's Foreign Minister Walid Muallem that the United States categorically rejects any Syrian attempt to use the Damascus and Tripoli blasts as pretexts to intervene militarily in Lebanon," the daily An-Nahar reported in a Washington-datelined dispatch. Welch also enquired about the reason for Syria's "provocative" deployment of troops off Lebanon's northern borders. "The international community is united in rejecting any flagrant Syrian intervention in Lebanon," Welch reportedly told Muallem. He emphasized on the fact that UNSCRs 1559 and 1701 "remain part of the basic elements of the United States policy on Lebanon," Welch reportedly added. Muallem, according to the report, "informed Welch that his government is aware of that and has no intention of intervening militarily in Lebanon."Meanwhile, Lebanese political and ministerial sources told An-Nahar the international agenda that dominated the situation in Lebanon since adoption of UNSCR 1559 in Sept. 2004, which called for withdrawal of the Syrian Army from Lebanon, "has not changed." "There is no possibility for developing any domestic or international concept that permits the return to Syria's involvement in Lebanon," the sources said. Concluding a new security agreement between Lebanon and Syria is not in the cards, An-Nahar quoted the sources as stressing. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 10:28

Beirut-Damascus Ties by Mid October
Naharnet/Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said he would visit Syria soon and newspapers predicted that Beirut and Damascus would exchange ambassadors by no later than mid October. Salloukh did not set the date for his visit, but the daily As-Safir reported that Syria is proceeding with "constitutional and legal arrangements" to set up diplomatic ties with Lebanon for the first time since independence from French Mandate in 1943. A joint declaration would be issued by Beirut and Damascus announcing the setting up of ties, the report added.

Moscow to Tehran: We Would Not Tolerate Foreign Intervention in Lebanon
Naharnet/Moscow would not allow any foreign power to intervene in Lebanon's affairs, a ranking official at the Russian foreign ministry was quoted Friday as saying.
The Mustaqbal newspaper said the source made the remark in answering a question about significance of the deployment of Syrian troops off Lebanon's northern borders and charges by Syrian President Bashar Assad that north Lebanon poses a threat to his country's national security.
Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Sultanov discussed with Iran's ambassador to Moscow Middle East developments and the situation in Lebanon. The report said Sultanov "emphasized to the Iranian ambassador on the need to provide full and multi-sided backing for Lebanon's stability and to refrain from intervening in Lebanon's affairs." Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 10:57

Hizbullah Vows to Liberate Shebaa Farms by Force
Naharnet/Hizbullah on Thursday pledged to "liberate" Israeli-occupied Lebanese territories "by force."Hizbullah official in south Lebanon Sheikh Nabil Qaouq made the pledge in an address at the southern village of Abbasiyeh, noting that attempts to liberate Shebaa Farms and Kfarshouba Hills by "diplomacy have failed."
"Diplomacy has reached a dead end and there is no hope in liberating the land by diplomacy and politics," Qaouq said. "The only way to regain what is left of our land under occupation is through resistance," he added. "The resistance is looking forward to raising the flags of victory in Shebaa Farms, Kfarshouba Hills, the Ghajar and Abbasiyeh Valley," he pledged. Beirut, 02 Oct 08, 20:52

Baroud: Security Departments Report to Interior Ministry
Naharnet/Interior Minister Ziad Baroud has said reports by security departments under his jurisdiction are referred to the ministry for tackling and "not to any other political authority." Baroud, in an interview with LBC television late Thursday, made the remark in answering a question as to whether director of airport security Wafiq Shoqeir was reporting to him. Hizbullah cracked down on Western Beirut in May to protest against a government decision to suspend Shoqeir and ban its communications network. Baroud said the interior ministry took "all the required procedures" following the Tripoli bombing, but declined to answer questions about results of the ongoing investigation into the attack. He urged the national unity government of Premier Fouad Saniora to start tackling the issue of "individual weapons."Baroud disclosed that he coordinates with Hizbullah whenever coordination "is needed." Efforts are being exerted to remove posters and banners from the Beirut Airport highway, Baroud explained, saying the move should later cover the whole of Lebanon. Baroud said Lebanon has entered the era of "direct relations with Damascus" following the visit by President Michel Suleiman to Syria and his talks with President Bashar Assad.
"Any contact between the two states should go through the official channel," he stressed. He called for speedy reforming of the constitutional council to shepherd the forthcoming parliamentary elections. Beirut, 03 Oct 08, 07:14

Lebanon-Trained Terror Suspect on Trial in Paris
Naharnet/Nine suspects went on trial in Paris Thursday, accused of setting up a militant Islamic network that plotted to carry out bomb attacks in Paris after receiving military training in Lebanon. The Algerian-born leader of the group, Safe Bourada, has already served a 10-year sentence for a wave of bombings on the Paris metro in 1995 claimed by the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA). French prosecutors say Bourada, now 38, founded the Ansar al-Fath (Upholders of Islam) group following his release from prison in 2003 and sought to finance his network through activities including prostitution. The nine men were arrested in 2005 during a police sweep on towns in the Paris region and charged with membership of a terrorist group. Much of the evidence against the nine defendants was gathered from statements made by M'Hamed Benyamina, who took over the network after Bourada left for Egypt in 2005. Arrested in Algeria in September 2005, Benyamina allegedly told Algerian security agents his group was plotting to bomb the Paris metro, Paris-Orly airport and the headquarters of the DST intelligence agency. Defense lawyers have strongly denied the allegations. Bourada has described himself as a fundamentalist but maintains he is opposed to violence. His lawyer Salah Djemai said the prosecution's case rests solely on Benyamina's testimony which he claims was obtained under duress. Most of the defendants -- Kais Melliti, Kaci Ouarab, Yassine Ferchichi, Djamel Badaoui, Samir Bouhalli, Achour Ouarab, Stephane Hadoux and Emmanuel Nieto -- come from the town of Trappes, west of Paris. Investigators say Kaci Ouarab underwent explosives and military training in Lebanon and other members of the group were to follow suit.Hearings are set to continue until October 10.(AFP) Beirut, 02 Oct 08, 21:42

Syria Bans al-Hayat
Naharnet/Syrian authorities have banned distribution of the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat until further notice, it was announced on Thursday.
The newspaper's Beirut Bureau chief Zuheir Qsaibati said the Syrian information ministry informed the ban decision to the newspaper's office in Damascus, without stating reasons for the move. Al-Hayat prints in Beirut and sends its copies to Syria by overland transport. It couldn't be determined whether the Syrian authorities would allow the newspaper to ship its copies overland to Jordan via Syria. Beirut, 02 Oct 08, 19:27

France: March 14 Must Not Give Syria an Excuse Not to Fulfill its Commitments
Naharnet/French officials will reportedly meet with a visiting delegation from the majority March 14 Forces to urge the coalition to improve ties with Syria and not give the neighboring country an excuse not to fulfill its commitments. According to information obtained by Naharnet, the March 14 delegation – made of MPs Marwan Hamadeh and Samir Franjieh as well as March 14 coordinator Fares Soaid and National Liberal Party leader Dory Chamoun – will meet head of the Middle East and North Africa department at the French foreign ministry Patrice Paoli and his aides. Pan Arab daily al-Hayat on Thursday quoted a well-informed French source as saying that France wants to urge the alliance to improve its relations with Syria and not to give Damascus "any pretext to run away from its commitments."
The source said that Paris wants to hear the coalition's view on the adoption of the new elections law, the launch of the national dialogue and the unstable security situation in the northern city of Tripoli. He also said that French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is ready to receive Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun anytime the Lebanese MP wants. The source said Damascus was worried about the situation in Tripoli because of historic ties between the city's Sunnis and those of Homs in Syria. But such worries shouldn't lead to a change in Syria's policy towards the Lebanese city, according to the source, and that Damascus shouldn't adopt any measure that contradicts recent Syrian openness. On the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms area, the source said: "France continues to ask Israel to withdraw from" the zone in order to put an end to Hizbullah's excuses to keep its arms. The source also said that Israel has been expressing concern to France and the U.S. about alleged arms smuggling to Hizbullah through the Syrian border. France sees that the best way is for Israel to withdraw from Shebaa, according to the source. Beirut, 02 Oct 08, 05:49

Putrid Canned Food Kills Boy, Poisons 60 People
Naharnet/A baby boy passed away and 60 people were admitted to hospitals for treatment from food poisoning in the northern village of Sindyaneh.
The state-run National News Agency said the health department in the Akkar Province checked on the patients and found out that they had eaten putrid canned food. Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalife ordered the province hospitals to treat the patients on state expense, the terse report said.
MP Azzam Dandashi, a member of the Mustaqbal bloc, accused unidentified sides of "intentionally poisoning Akkar citizens to punish them for their political stands."
He called for speedy investigation into the incident. Beirut, 02 Oct 08, 17:22

To Michel Aoun
Hassan Haidar
Al-Hayat - 02/10/08//
After the "revolt" of the 6th of February, 1984, against the rule of President Amine Gemayel, and up until February 1987, when the Syrian Army returned to Beirut, the Western part of Lebanon's capital, which was still forcibly separated from its Eastern part, and vice versa, witnessed a series of skirmishes and battles between militias of various inclinations and sectarian affiliations. The overwhelming majority of the victims of these events were innocent civilians, who fell, either in the streets, or while trying to reach their homes though checkpoints, demarcation lines and military bases. Sometimes, they were people who were kidnapped based "on ID" and killed, or detained until they could be exchanged for others held by the opposing faction.
It appeared later that these little wars were being ignited intentionally, and that their purpose was to spread chaos and desperation among the city's inhabitants, and to convince the Lebanese that they do not enjoy living together and that their desire to kill each other by far surpasses their drive to enjoy a safe life. They were also intended to prepare the Lebanese and the world to accept the idea of the return of Syrian forces, "the only ones capable of ensuring security".
At the time, I was employed at a local institution in Beirut, whose offices were located in the center of the Hamra area. Different militias regarded this vicinity as "strategic" due to its many "resources" and the ease, with which "donations" could be gathered from its businesses. One night, a high-ranking banking official, who held an important position at the Central Bank, with a long history with Politics, came to see us. About half an hour later, we started receiving information about tensions between two militias, and began hearing distant gunfire. Our guest decided to return home before the fighting became more intense, as his house was only about one kilometer away, and said that he would be taking a street that does not usually witness any fighting and where there are no militiamen. However, a mere fifty meters away, he was surprised with a checkpoint by one of the two warring factions. The militiamen asked for his ID and he identified himself, but they also wanted his driver's ID. Once they had identified the driver as an "enemy", they brought him out of the car, blindfolded him and tied him up, despite the banker's intervention and his pleading with them to take him instead.
The man's insistence and stubbornness in holding on to his driver led one of the militiamen to fire a gunshot near him. He hurried back to our institution's building and pleaded with some of the guards at the entrance to help him. They tried to convince him that it was impossible to negotiate with the militiamen. Once he had calmed down, he began a series of long and grueling phone calls involving the managers of our institution and the leaders of the militia that had kidnapped the driver. The banker repeatedly stated that he would not go home until he would have gotten his driver back, and that he would not be able to look into the eyes of the man's wife and children after having "caused" him to be kidnapped when he took him away from amongst them to accompany him on his visit.
Five stressful hours passed until the place, where the driver was detained, could be "found". According to the militia commanders, it had been shortly before the decision to "liquidate" him was going to be carried out. When the driver arrived at the building accompanied by militiamen, the man ran to meet him, crying and embracing him, and said: "now we can go home".
That banker with a conscience was Fouad Siniora. Therefore, can we worry about the treasury with a man like him?
Even the Syrians, your new-found allies, who cannot bear to even hear Siniora's name, have never reached the extent of accusing him of theft. So please, General, have a little bit of common sense

Top Hizbullah official in South says Israel 'only understands language of power'
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
SOUTH LEBANON: Hizbullah's top official in South Lebanon, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk, said on Thursday the liberation of the Shebaa Farms, Kfarshuba Hills and Lebanese side of Ghajar would be achieved "soon." "The Zionist enemy only understands the language of power," Qaouk added during a visit to the border region of Abbasieh, near Ghajar to mark Eid al-Fitr. "The resistance's strategy is Lebanon's main source of power, enabling it to recover the remaining occupied lands," Qaouk said. According to the Hizbullah official, diplomacy has reached a dead end.
"Betting on liberating land via diplomacy and politics is a sterile bet," he said. "The only guaranteed way to recover the remaining occupied land is the resistance and nothing else." Israel seized the northern side of Ghajar and the Shebaa Farms, whose Lebanese ownership is disputed by the UN and Israel, when it captured the Syrian Golan Heights in 1967. The Jewish state nominally pulled out of Ghajar in 2000 following its withdrawal from most of South Lebanon, but reoccupied it during the 34-day war in the summer of 2006. "The Lebanese have reached a unanimous agreement over the Lebanese identity of Ghajar and the Shebaa Farms," Qaouk said, adding: "They should return to the country and will do so, thanks to the resistance's equation."
"We, as Lebanese," he said, "are here to confirm that we cling to freeing every grain of our soil. We will not abandon the great national cause, which is the continuation of the liberation of our land." He added that what the enemy feared the most was the resistance's power and arms.
"The resistance looks forward to hoisting the flags of victory again over the Kfarshuba hills, Shebaa Farms, Ghajar and Abbasieh where 80 percent of the land is still occupied," Qaouk said. The Hizbullah official then toured the freed lands in the Southern village and stopped at the fence surrounding the liberated part of Abbasieh.
"Lebanon, with its Muslims and Christians, constitutes a message for the Israeli enemy. All the Lebanese cling to the full liberation of their land," he said.
Sheikh Khaled Zahran of Abbasieh urged the Lebanese state to show support and care for his village and its sons.
"The government is called on to offer us the needed compensations to rebuild our homes that have been destroyed by Israel since 1967," he said

Lebanese-born Dubai media man laid to rest in Beirut
Daily Star staff-Friday, October 03, 2008
BEIRUT: Veteran Lebanese advertising and media executive Nadim Barrage was laid to rest in Beirut on Thursday following his death in Dubai last week. Barrage began his career with The Daily Star in the early 1970s, where he served as advertising and marketing manager for five years.
He later moved to Dubai, where he based a new advertising and public relations company that covered markets in the Gulf. He was also co-publisher of Sport Auto magazine, which was distributed throughout the Arab world. Barrage was a key player on Dubai's advertising scene, immersing himself in both the industry itself and in its professional organizations. He was a leading member of the International Advertising Association (IAA) for many years and was a passionate advocate of many of the regulatory changes across the region that allowed the industry to develop, consistently calling for greater freedoms for the media sector.
Barrage will be missed as a father, a friend, a colleague and an active member of the communications industry in this part of the world. - The Daily Star

Is rapprochement breaking out between America and Syria?
By Inter Press Service
Friday, October 03, 2008
Analysis-Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON: A series of meetings between US and Syrian diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, at the United Nations in late September is stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward engaging Damascus.
Instead of focusing on specific issues of special interest to the United States - mainly Washington's demands that Syria crack down hard against the infiltration of Sunni extremists into Iraq and stop backing Hizbullah in Lebanon - the discussions also reportedly covered other topics as well, notably Damascus' appeals for Washington to involve directly itself in a burgeoning peace process between Syria and Israel.
Both Syria and Israel have called for US engagement as a way of furthering year-old indirect talks that have been mediated by the Turkish government. While Rice has publicly blessed the process, hawks within the administration of US President George W. Bush, particularly Vice President Dick Cheney's office and a notoriously pro-Israeli deputy national security adviser in charge of the Middle East, Elliott Abrams, have opposed any additional involvement.
"Nothing is a breakthrough, and I'm not sure that there will be," Rice, who met with Moallem on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York last Friday, told Bloomberg TV on Monday. "But it's time to talk about some of the changes that are taking place in the Middle East."
While the Rice-Moallem contact reportedly lasted only 10 minutes, her chief regional deputy, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, met with the Syrian official in a longer meeting Monday, according to the Wall Street Journal, which suggested that the talks portended a "potential thaw" between Washington and Damascus.
"I consider this a good progress in the American position," Moallem told the Journal in a reference to his meeting with Rice. "The atmosphere was positive. We decided to continue this dialogue."
Still, some observers voiced skepticism that the meetings signaled a major shift in Washington's willingness to seriously engage Damascus in the nearly four months before Bush leaves office.
"It's clearly time for a re-think of policy [regarding Syria], and I think Rice and others in the administration are trying to shepherd it forward," said Joshua Landis, a Syria specialist at the University of Oklahoma who publishes the widely read www.syriacomment.com blog. "Rice is definitely open to it - and the whole Department of Defense has been kicking for this for a long time - but she can't get it past the White House."
He noted that Bush himself had referred to Syria as a "sponsor of terrorism" in his speech to the General Assembly.
As with Iran and North Korea, the split between Bush administration hawks and realists over Syria is a familiar one. While Rice's predecessor, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, argued for engaging with Damascus both before and after the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the hawks - led by Cheney and then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld - favored a policy of "regime change" against the government President Bashir Assad.
Amid charges that Syria was facilitating the smuggling of Sunni extremists into Iraq, Washington's hostility toward Damascus grew steadily after the invasion and climaxed after the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which the US blamed on Syria. The administration, which led the ensuing international pressure campaign that forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, withdrew its ambassador from Damascus as part of a much more comprehensive effort to weaken and isolate Assad.
During the month-long war between Israel and Lebanon the following year, Abrams, presumably with Cheney's backing, reportedly assured Israeli policymakers that Washington would have no objection to their expanding hostilities into Syrian territory.
Rumsfeld's resignation in November 2006 and his replacement by the more realist Robert Gates - not to mention the stunning deterioration in Washington's regional's position resulting from the war's outcome, the routing of Fatah by Syrian-backed Hamas in Gaza, and the growing sectarian violence in Iraq - tilted the balance of power within the administration.
Over the strenuous objections of neoconservatives and other hawks, Rice invited Syria to take part in last November's Annapolis summit that launched the formal resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
It was shortly after the meeting that Turkey began mediating indirect peace talks between Damascus and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, reportedly centered around the return of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in exchange for Syria's agreement to normalize ties. Israel also wants Syria to cut its links to Hizbullah, Hamas, and Iran.
While, according to virtually all accounts, those talks made major progress, they have been suspended since early September pending the formation or election of a new Israeli government. Olmert, who last week resigned as head of the ruling Kadima Party due to a corruption scandal, is currently serving as a caretaker prime minister.
In addition, Damascus has long insisted that a final peace accord could be reached only if Washington strongly endorsed the deal and normalized ties, something that the White House, despite the urging from the State Department and several former senior US diplomats - including the ex-head of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee - has so far ruled out.
Meanwhile, however, Washington's efforts to isolate Syria have eroded significantly in recent months. Hizbullah's victory over Western-backed forces in Beirut street fighting last spring, followed by the Doha Accord that gave pro-Syrian forces there a virtual veto over major policy decisions, marked a major political defeat for Washington's Lebanon policy.
At the same time, the replacement of French President Jacques Chirac, Washington's closest ally in isolating Assad, by Nicolas Sarkozy dealt another major blow. In July, Sarkozy became the first West European leader to host Assad - at the annual Bastille Day celebration, no less - since Hariri's death. Sarkozy followed that up with a visit to Damascus in September where he offered to co-sponsor Israeli-Syrian peace talks when they resume. At the same time, Assad announced several moves seemingly designed to appease Washington - among them, sending an ambassador Iraq.
Whether the recent meetings suggest that the balance of power within the administration has shifted should become clearer in the coming weeks, particularly if Washington sends an ambassador or senior-ranking official to Damascus, as has long been urged by Syria.
According to Landis, the then-US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, pressed the White House last December to go there himself but was rebuffed. Now head of US Central Command and still a White House favorite, Petraeus could decide to renew his request, which, if granted, would likely be seen as evidence of serious shift.
Saturday's car-bombing that killed 17 people in Damascus itself could bolster the Pentagon's longstanding case that greater intelligence cooperation with Syria could serve the interests of both countries. Most analysts have pointed to Sunni extremists, possibly tied to Al-Qaeda, as the most likely perpetrators.
"With its Lebanon policy [in] shambles and its efforts to isolate Syria defied by France, Turkey, and Israel itself, it really doesn't make sense for the White House to continue stiffing the Syrians," said Landis. "It's really just pure stubbornness at this point."

Sleiman seeks Sfeir's blessing to head up intra-Christian talks
Friday, October 03, 2008
Daily Star/BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman stressed that inter-Christian reconciliation would see the light very soon and that contacts were under way to achieve this goal. The Central News Agency (CNA) reported on Thursday that the Maronite League was continuing its efforts to achieve Christian reconciliation and to arrive at a mechanism with the relevant parties under the patronage of Sleiman and with the blessings of Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.
According to politicians who have visited the president, Sleiman was keen on the reconciliation process and stressed that no party should hamper it.
Maronite MPs are expected to meet on Friday with the Maronite League executive committee at the latter's headquarters in the Beirut suburb of Karantina. According to the CNA, talks will focus on the outcome of meetings held by the league with Sleiman, the patriarch and other Maronite leaders.
Sources quoted by the CNA said that some members of the league proposed that the reconciliation be launched through bilateral meetings, mainly between Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and the head of the Marada Movement, former Minister Suleiman Franjieh. However, the agency said that officials close to the president said that the process should start with a visit by Franjieh to Bkirki, with which he has frequently been at odds.
The sources said that Franjieh discussed the issue with the head of the Reform and Change parliamentary bloc, MP Michel Aoun, who welcomed the proposal. However, according to the CNA, the visit was delayed due to the patriarch's trip to the Vatican on Friday.
However, on Thursday, OTV television station, which is affiliated with Aoun, reported that Aoun will not be participating in inter-Christian reconciliation talks, "because talks won't establish true reconciliation," he was quoted as saying
According to the CNA, other proposals include the formation of a follow-up committee that would include MPs of different blocs in order to draft a joint statement that would facilitate efforts toward reconciliation. Following a surprise visit to the Presidential Palace on Tuesday, Sfeir said he would spare no effort to reach Christian reconciliation. "We hope that reconciliations are achieved and that efforts are exerted toward reunion among all factions," Sfeir told reporters following his meeting with the president. "We did not give up efforts to reach Christian reconciliation," Sfeir stressed, adding that "we will take action at the appropriate time."
Sleiman is expected to head to Saudi Arabia on October 11 in an official visit to "thank the Arab State for its financial and moral support to Lebanon," according to the CNA. Sleiman will also head to Canada on October 16 to participate in the Francophone summit held in Quebec.
MP Walid Khoury told ANB television station on Thursday that Aoun told him that he had not been invited by the Maronite League for the meeting of Maronite MPs on Friday. In comments to Future News television station on Thursday, MP Butros Harb said that "no Christian reconciliation can take place outside Bkirki."
Also on Thursday, Minister of State Nassib Lahoud said reconciliation between longtime war rivals was a priority.
In remarks following a visit to Sfeir, Lahoud stressed that priority should be given to recon-ciliation between war rivals whose disputes are still ongoing.
He added that Sfeir would continue to pursue efforts aimed at achieving reconciliation. MP Strida Geagea visited MP Michel Murr on Wednesday to discuss the recent attacks targeting the Lebanese Army and inter-Christian reconciliation efforts. Geagea said their discussion did not tackle the 2009 parliamentary elections.
"We have agreed to postpone discussions around the elections to February," she told reporters afterward

'Rice warned Moallem' against trying to revive role in Lebanon
Syrians deny wanting anything more than security coordination
By Agence France Presse (AFP) -Compiled by Daily Star staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
The US government has warned Syria against any attempt to restore its formerly dominant position in Lebanon, the pan-Arab daily Al-Haayat said Thursday Arab and Western diplomatic sources quoted by Al-Hayat said Damascus had asked Beirut for security cooperation to control the common borders between the two countries. The issue was raised during a meeting between US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and another meeting between Moallem and David Welch, the US assistant secretary for Near Eastern affairs, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly last week. According to Al-Hayat sources, Rice told Moallem that Syria would pay a "political price" should it seek to renew its military presence in Lebanon.
The sources said Rice and Welch warned Moallem that it was not right for Syrian forces to cross the border and enter Lebanese territory because this would be a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international resolutions and would earn Syria political sanctions.
The sources added that Moallem had been surprised by these claims. "We are not at all considering interfering with Lebanon, but we seek security cooperation to control the borders, stop smuggling and disband fundamentalist groups," he was quoted as saying. The minister added that security cooperation between two neighbor states was a legitimate request. Moallem told the pan-Arab Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper there was smuggling both to and from Lebanon - which Syria dominated until 2005 when it was forced to withdraw troops from its smaller neighbor. "The question of the border between Syria and Lebanon needs two actions: delineation [of the frontier] and Syrian-Lebanese security cooperation," Moallem was quoted as saying. "Nobody can control the borders with Lebanon."
Al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported on Thursday that France denied any "green light granted to Syria in Lebanon."
The daily said France stressed its support for Lebanon's sovereignty and stability. Meanwhile, quoting what were decribed as well-informed French diplomatic sources, the Central News Agency (CNA) said that France was not worried about the situation in Lebanon. The sources added that Lebanon and Syria should work on "strengthening their common borders each from their own side of the border."
Al-Hayat sources said Damascus denied claims by some Lebanese parties that "sooner or later" Syria would restore its military presence in the country. The sources cited Syrian President Bashar Assad as saying during recent meetings with some Lebanese opposition figures that there was no intention to restore Syria's military presence in Lebanon, adding that a strategy for security cooperation was needed to fight terrorism, in particular after the appointment of new officials in Lebanon' military and security servicess. According to Al-Hayat sources, security cooperation sought by Syria would include a series of measures to fight terrorism and stop smuggling across illegal border points in the North and the Bekaa Valley. Sources quoted by the daily said Syria had submitted to Lebanon an official request for security cooperation weeks before the explosion in Damascus on Saturday. They added that Assad raised this matter with his Lebanese counterpart, Michel Sleiman, during the Arab Summit held in August in the Syrian capital, just hours after an explosion that targeted the Lebanese Army in Tripoli.
The sources also said that the Lebanese Cabinet was currently discussing the issue in order to reply to the Syrian side. However, Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh dismissed claims that the Cabinet was discussing security cooperation during its ministerial sessions. Salloukh told The Daily Star that "the relevant authorities" are the ones to deal with this issue.
Following a visit to Sleiman on Thursday, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said the president stressed the importance of strengthening the Lebanese-Syrian borders through an agreement with Syria. Baroud added that the deployment of Syrian troops along the borders with Lebanon should be viewed in this context.
Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri lashed out at the Syrian president Monday, saying he was trying to insinuate that Lebanon, the North in particular, was responsible for the security situation in Syria. Assad had told the head of Lebanon's Journalists Union, Melhem Karam, on Monday that North Lebanon had become a "base for extremism and constitutes a danger for Syria," after the explosion that broke out in Damascus last week.
The CNA said Thursday that according to security reports delivered by visitors of high-ranking Syrian security officials, the rigged car that exploded in Damascus did not enter Syrian territory from Lebanon.

Syrian authorities ban Saudi daily from newsstands
Daily Star/BEIRUT: Syria is blocking distribution of the Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat, the paper's Beirut bureau chief Zuhair Qusaybati told AFP on Thursday. "The censorship authorities at the Information Ministry in Damascus asked Al-Hayat's bureau in the Syrian capital on Monday to stop sending its issues to the country until further notice," Qusaybati told AFP. The daily is published in London and printed in a number of Arab capitals including Beirut, Cairo, and Riyadh.
In Syria, its distribution has long been subject to advance censorship and a number of issues have been withheld from newsstands due to their contents.
Relations between Damascus and Riyadh have been tense since the February 2005 assassination of Lebanese former Premier Rafik Hariri, a close Saudi ally, in a bombing widely blamed on Syria. The ban on Al-Hayat's distribution in Syria came hot on the heels of a bomb blast which killed 17 people in Damascus on Saturday, the deadliest attack in the Syrian capital in more than a decade. - AFP

Maronite Bishops urge leaders to work together
By Maroun Khoury -Daily Star correspondent
Friday, October 03, 2008
BEIRUT: The Council of Maronite Bishops used its monthly statement on Wednesday to criticize various political leaders for failing to cooperate. "The general atmosphere prevailing in Lebanon is not one of cooperation among the various parties in order to get the country out of its ordeal," a statement at the end of the Bishops' monthly meeting said. It said the latest bomb attack in Tripoli was "evidence that those looking for evil for Lebanon are still active."
A car bomb targeting the army on Monday left seven people dead, four of them soldiers, and nearly 30 people wounded. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Also Wednesday, the vice president of the Higher Shiite Coiuncil, Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, called for security coordination between Lebanon and Syria to protect the interests of both countries. Qabalan made the remark in a sermon Eid al-Fitr. He denounced the "criminal blasts" that targeted Tripoli and Damascus in the past few days, stressing "whatever strikes at Syria also strikes at Lebanon and whatever strikes at Lebanon strikes at Syria."
He also called for "upgraded coordination between the army and the resistance so that the latter would be a reserve force to assist the army in defending the country." Qabalan called for adopting a defense strategy that "provides the army with backing because Israel is evil

Senior Salafi cleric issues stark warning to Damascus
By Nicholas Kimbrell -Daily Star staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
BEIRUT: Lebanon's leading Salafi cleric, Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, has warned Syria to stay out of North Lebanon or risk opening "the gates of hell." In an interview to be published in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa, Shahhal made clear that Syrian intervention in Lebanon would be met with stiff opposition.
A military incursion would open "the gates of hell and lead to what is similar to Iraq and its misery," he said, according to excerpts received by the Lebanese news outlet Naharnet. "The Syrian command and its allies in Lebanon," Shahhal added, "are keen on driving a wedge between the Salafi movement and the Lebanese military establishment in order to drag the whole Sunni community into conflict."
Following the tenuous intra-Lebanese peace forged in Doha, Qatar, in May, residual tensions simmered between Salafist groups aligned with the Future Movement and opposition-aligned Alawites in Tripoli - where, last year, the militant Islamist group Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Armed Forces fought a brutal 15-week battle in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp. Relations between certain hard-line Sunni factions and the army have remained tense.
But Shahhal said that in the event of Syrian intervention, Salafi leaders would coordinate with the army. "The Salafi movement is not like other factions and would not take decisions to go to war or peace without coordinating its moves with all other factions because they have the right to set the national path," he said.
The recent violence in Tripoli, a large deployment of Syrian troops to the border and statements by Syrian President Bashar Assad have fueled concerns in Lebanon of a potential Syrian incursion into the North. On Monday, a car bomb killed four Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) soldiers and at least one civilian in Tripoli, echoing a similar attack in August which left 15 dead. Monday's blast came only two days after an explosion in Damascus killed 17 people. The official Syrian Arab News Agency blamed the blast on an Islamist suicide bomber from a neighboring Arab country.
Last week, the Lebanese Army reported that 10,000 Syrian special forces had deployed to the Lebanese-Syrian border in what was called an anti-smuggling campaign. And in early September, Assad told visiting heads of state from France, Turkey and Qatar that the growing threat of extremism in Tripoli must be addressed by the Lebanese Army, drawing sharp criticism from members of the March 14 alliance who labeled the remarks a "flagrant" violation of Lebanon's sovereignty. According to Shahhal, the recent events form "an integral part of the deal concluded by the Syrian-Israeli negotiations which calls for [a] Syrian incursion in Tripoli and the North to finish off the Salafi movement, as a first step, and other Lebanese factions allied with Syria, as a second step."
Although the Lebanese Army and a number of political analysts have rejected the idea of an imminent Syrian invasion, concern over the violence in the Tripoli is widespread. "Obviously, the North is becoming a proxy battleground for regional conflict ... a field to settle scores and [import] regional tension," Osama Safa, the head of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, told The Daily Star.
Safa said that Shahhal's comments might educe a rhetorical response from Syria but that action on the ground was unlikely.
Groups are "drawing lines in the sand and crystallizing coalitions," Safa said, adding that Shahhal's comments were designed not to alienate the Lebanese government or the army. Noting the historical enmity between Syria and the Salafis, Ahmad Mousalli, a professor at the American University of Beirut and an expert on Islamic fundamentalism, told The Daily Star that, "The scheme for war is being established." The mood in the North can only "weaken the moderates and strengthen the radicals," he said, adding that "Syria is dancing the tango."
He cited the short-lived detente between the Salafis and Hizbullah as an indicator of confessional and regional tensions, with one group traditionally backed by Saudi Arabia and the other by Syria. Although Mousalli seemed doubtful that Syria would launch a full-scale military invasion, he warned that hard-line Islamist groups in the North could follow the path of radicalization that took place in Afghanistan and Iraq. "I don't think Saad Hariri [son of the slain Premier Rafiq Hariri and head of the Future Movement] can control them any more," he said. Both Safa and Mousalli predicted that the unrest in the North would continue, albeit at varying levels.
"We can expect bombs here and there, possibly assassinations," Safa said. Mousalli's forecast was more dire. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," he said

Names of Hariri killers to remain classified until indictment
By Andrew Wander -Daily Star staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
BEIRUT: The names of those implicated in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri will not be made public by the United Nations commission tasked with investigating the killing, but will instead be passed to prosecutors at an international tribunal who will consider the evidence against them, a spokesperson for the panel says. The names of people the UN believes were involved in the assassination - rumored to number around 120 - will only be released when the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issues indictments for the crime. There had been speculation that the names could be released before being passed to the tribunal, when the head of the UN investigation into Hariri's death, Daniel Bellemare, makes his final report on December 2. However, this notion was rejected by the commission's spokesperson. "As Commissioner Daniel Bellemare stated in April 2008 when he presented his first report to the UN Security Council, no names will be disclosed by the commission throughout the duration of its mandate," Radhya Achouri said.
"Names will only be [made public] once indictments are issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon when and if sufficient evidence is established for issuing indictments," she added.
Her statement came after newspaper reports speculated that the names would be released along with a mass of information about how the killing was carried out.
Al-Anwar daily said that investigators had divided the suspects into four categories - planner, executor, interferer and information withholder - depending on their role in the plot. The newspaper claimed that the final UN report would cause a "political earthquake" in Beirut by confirming that high-ranking officials were involved in the death of the former prime minister, who died along with 22 others in a massive car bomb explosion in Beirut in February 2005.
The newspaper said that the killers made at least three practice "dry runs" before putting their plan, which involved a suicide bomber detonating an enormous bomb, into action. The killing took about eight months to plan, the paper said, and senior members of the security services were aware of the plot. It cites wiretap telephone evidence in which a suspect said: "It's over. We got rid of him."
The UN investigation into the killing began at the request of the government in the months after Hariri's death. When the commission finishes its reporting process, a special tribunal will swing into action, initially considering the evidence gathered by the commission, before indicting and eventually trying suspects under Lebanese law. Over the past three years, the commission has released periodical reports on its progress. Earlier this year it said it believed a criminal group - dubbed the "Hariri network" - had planned and executed the assassination after conducting surveillance on the former prime minister. But the report did not say whether the evidence suggested the motive was political. Previous UN reports have said that they believed Syrian intelligence services had played a role in the assassination, an allegation that Damascus has always strongly denied.
Four high-ranking Lebanese security officials were arrested in 2005 in connection to the assassination and are still being held over their suspected involvement. The United Nations has refused to comment on their detention, saying that it is a matter for the Lebanese government to resolve

Israel builds up arsenal of 'safer' locally made cluster bombs
Jewish state claims munitions have low failure rate
By Andrew Wander -Daily Star staff
Friday, October 03, 2008
BEIRUT: Israel is stocking up on cluster bombs that is says are more likely to explode on impact than the American-made munitions that it dropped on South Lebanon during the summer war of 2006. The Israeli military announced earlier this week that it was cutting back on purchases of US-made models of the controversial weapon in favor of a version produced by a state-owned Israeli arms company with a higher detonation rate.
Israel dropped 4 million cluster bomblets on Lebanon in 2006, many as a cease-fire was being negotiated during the last three days of the conflict. The weapons have a high "dud" rate, with UN estimates suggesting that up to 40 percent failed to detonate on impact during the summer 2006 war. Many of these will only explode if disturbed, with lethal consequences for civilians living in affected areas. At least 20 civilians have been killed by exploding cluster bomblets since the end of the war and hundreds of others have been wounded.
Israel has rejected the UN's failure figures for munitions used in the summer war, but officials have admitted that an unacceptable number of cluster bombs failed to go off during the conflict. An unidentified Israeli military official told Reuters: "We recognize that this was a problem, caused by the fact that in the first week and a half of the war we were relying, pretty much exclusively, on an arsenal of American ordnance that was likely to produce duds, either due to design faults or the fact that it had been on the shelf for so long."
They say this is the reason they are switching to an Israeli-made model, the M85, whose manufacturers claim a less than 1 percent failure rate. Tests carried out on the M85 have found that in reality, it has a 10 percent failure rate, with experts warning that this could increase depending on where and how the weapon is deployed. The company behind the bombs, Israeli Military Industries, says the M85 also has a "self-destruct" fuse, which will destroy the bomb if it fails to go off in order to minimize civilian casualties in any future conflicts.
But the news will provide little comfort to people living in South Lebanon, where UN officials say Israel's continued refusal to give vital information about where it used cluster bombs is contributing to the risk posed by unexploded ordnance.
"More than two years after the war, Israel has refused to give us the geographical locations, quantities, and types of cluster bombs used. Many of the accidents, whether for civilians or mine-clearance teams, could have been avoided had we been provided with this information," said Dahlia Farran, the head of United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center. Cluster bombs are notoriously difficult weapons to deliver accurately. The Multiple Launch Rocket System, one of the platforms used to fire them, can miss targets by up to 1,200 meters, scattering a payload of deadly explosive bomblets over wide areas outside of the target zone.
In December an international treaty backed by the UN will seek to ban the use of cluster munitions. More than 100 countries have joined the campaign to outlaw their use, with six adding their support to the initiative this week.
Known as the Oslo process, the campaign lacks the support of major military powers. The US, Russia, China and Israel are all resisting attempts to have the weapons banned, but campaigners say that the Ottawa treaty, which outlawed the use of land mines in the 1990s, is evidence the process can succeed without the initial support of global powers

The Saudi-Syrian Cold War Unfolds in Tripoli
By JOE MACARON (Special to the Middle East Times)
Published: October 03, 2008
The Cold War between Syria and Saudi Arabia playing itself out in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli is taking the Lebanese crisis into unchartered territories where all the microcosms of inter-Arab animosity are vying for power in Lebanon.
Saudi Arabia seems reluctant to accept the implications of the May 7 clashes which broke out on the streets of Beirut when the main Sunni force in Lebanon, the Future movement led by Saad Hariri, suffered a swift blow from Hezbollah, the Syrian and Iranian backed Shiite group.
The Doha Agreement, rushed under the barrel of a gun, did not bring any unexpected variable or structural amendment, but merely an addendum to the Taif Agreement of 1989, pushing through recognition of Syrian influence in Lebanon.
Yet, both Saudi and Syrian regimes have one thing in common: a vague structure of security power not conducive to analyze the rationale behind their policies. Riyadh's political options are predictable and built on the premise of a Sunni-Shiite divide, while the Syrian leadership, existing in a more complex environment, muddled along in somewhat of a state of disarray since 2001, where a the political line followed by Damascus remains blurred.
Two blasts shocked Tripoli and Damascus last week, underlining a Salafist thin line stretching from the capital of north Lebanon all the way to the capital of Syria. Sunni extremism in Tripoli is a byproduct of the Syrian regime in some ways, since Damascus perceived the medieval city to be an extension of the Syrian heartland, as the late journalist Samir Kassir once observed. But it is hard also not to detect Saudi Arabia's hand in Tripoli.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said that Lebanon is becoming a haven for radicals and a threat to the security of Syria. Saad Hariri instantly replied by questioning his intentions, accusing Assad of "infiltrating extremists into Lebanon," and even expressing Saudi frustration over France's overture toward Damascus.
Assad asked Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to deploy the Lebanese army to the north of Lebanon to quell the violence. Damascus has reportedly stationed thousands of heavily armed Syrian troops along the Lebanese border, before a blast in Damascus near the "Palestinian branch" of the Syrian Intelligence, which could be seen as retaliation to Syria's shoring up its control over the border with Iraq.
The Salafist anarchy in Tripoli has been a work in progress since the 1970s, with refugee camps during the insurrection of the Palestinian national movement, joined in the 1980s by Muslim Brotherhood members who fled the crackdown of the Syrian regime in Hama and by militants who came from Afghanistan in the 1990s after the war ended with the Soviets. The power game of this radical movement over Tripoli has continued since, first with secular forces and later within the many trends of the Sunni movement.
The Lebanese army has also clashed with these militants for a while and a massive offensive was launched at the end of 1999 against a group called al-Takfir wal Hijra in the mountains of Dinnieh, where a unit of the Lebanese army was ambushed one day after Syrian authorities cracked down on militants from Hizb al-Tahriri al-Islami (the Islamic Liberation Party). The same group had also ambushed and killed Syrian intelligence agents.
The same year the Syrian army clashed with the Muslim Brotherhood in the Hama massacre, Sunni radical factions in Tripoli coalesced under one umbrella and took over the city in 1982, before Syrian troops intervened in 1985 to end this adventure. Sunni forces had to accept the Syrian status quo, and Damascus sought in return to consolidate its grip by empowering another group, the Ahbash.
But with the rise of Wahabism in the 1990s, the Salafist movement gained momentum and challenged Syria. The leader of al-Ahbash, Nizar al-Halabi, was killed in August 1995 reportedly by a Wahabi group, Osbat al-Ansar. This incident forced al-Ahbash to take a back seat and left the Wahabi groups as the main players in the radical Sunni movement.
But Syria and Saudi Arabia kept on gambling with this card. Syria released a dangerous person named Shaker Abssi before the end of his sentence. In October 2006 he made his way to the refugee camps north of Lebanon to form Fatah al-Islam, a group that clashed with the Lebanese army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared last year. The fate of Abssi remains obscure as no one can confirm if he is dead or was able to sneak out of the camp alive.
Islamist Omar Bakri, who was able to escape British authorities, was released by Lebanese authorities and found a new home in Tripoli in August 2005. In July 2005, the political establishment released the Dinniyeh detainees as part of a deal to release the leader of the Lebanese Forces Samir Geagea from prison. The Lebanese government turned its back and allowed the growth of this Salafist movement in its own backyard while Saudi money kept pouring into the city for electoral reasons and motives related to balance Hezbollah.
During the confrontations in Nahr el-Bared in May 2007, no other radical Sunni forces, including groups inspired by al-Qaida, intervened to help.
The scary scenario now is if and when militants in other refugee camps jump in. Jind al-Sham, an offshoot of Osbat al-Ansar, killed four judges in Sidon, in south Lebanon, in 1999 before hiding in Ain al-Helweh refugee camp.
To further complicate matters Saudi Arabia and Syria are not the only game players in town. In one of his audiotapes released in February 2007, al-Qaida's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, made reference to Lebanon only in so far as the U.N. peacekeepers in the south were concerned. Yet in another tape last April, Zawahiri said that Lebanon will have "a pivotal role in the battle against Crusaders and Jews," described the embattled country as "a gap" and argued that "the mujahedin in Lebanon are caught up between the fire of U.S. agents and allies, and the fire of those linked to regional powers."
The abatement of violence in Iraq has attracted many fighters to Lebanon. The decision to start negotiations with Israel while cooperating with the United States on Iraq made Syria vulnerable to retaliation by radical forces, which now turned their anger against Damascus.
Saudi Arabia seems now unable to manage these forces in Tripoli after embracing them, and Riyadh dispatched Hariri to shape a political reconciliation when clashes between Sunni and Alawis reached its peak and started to affect Saudi's image in Lebanon.
Recent violence - assassinations and explosions - not necessarily interrelated, reflect a battle between competing intelligence agencies and radical movements, all serving different masters and different motives from all friends and foes of Lebanon.
The lack of political will and a national security vision in Beirut opens the door for this anarchy, a state that no Lebanese faction values its sovereignty and a central government that continues a tradition of disregarding the north and south of the country.
What emerges from all this is a lethal chess game being played out on Lebanese soil.