LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 15/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 3,13-17. No one has gone up to heaven except the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life."For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

A homily attributed to Saint Ephrem (c.306-373), deacon in Syria, Doctor of the Church
"When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to myself" (Jn 12,32)
From now on, through the cross, all shadows have been dispelled and the truth arises, as the apostle John says: «The old order has passed away; all things are new» (Rv 21,4-5). Death has been stripped of prey, hell's captives liberated; man is set free; the Lord reigns; creation rejoices. The cross is victorious and all nations, races, languages and peoples (Rv 7,9) come to adore him. Together, in the cross we find our joy, exclaiming with blessed Paul: «May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ» (Gal 6,14). The cross gives light to the whole universe; it casts out darkness and gathers nations together in charity into one Church, one faith, one baptism, from West and East, from the North and from the seas. It stands at the very center of the world, set up on Calvary. Armed with the cross, the Apostles go out to preach and gather together in adoration of it the whole universe, treading under foot every hostile power. Through it the martyrs have bravely confessed the faith, fearless of tyrants' cunning. Having taken it upon themselves, monks have joyfully made solitude their resting place. When Christ returns this cross will first appear in heaven, the Great King's precious scepter, living, true and holy. «Then,» says the Lord, «the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven» (Mt 24,30). We will see it escorted by angels, illuminating the earth from one end of the universe to the other, brighter than the sun, proclaiming the Day of the Lord.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 14/08
Syrian Commandos in Lebanon-International Analyst Network
Syrian Commandos Deploy in 7 North Lebanon Villages, Israeli Website-Naharnet
Army Confiscates Arms in Tripoli-Naharnet
Raad to Represent Nasrallah in Talks-Naharnet
Turkish FM confirms Syria-Israel talks on Sept. 18-Hürriyet
Invitations for Dialogue Near Completed, Pending Armenian Agreement on Representative in Talks-Naharnet
Hariri for Steadfastness, Determination and Sacrifices-Naharnet
Soeid Warns against Return of Political Assassinations, Says Hizbullah will Try to Block Dialogue-Naharnet
Hizbullah: Israel Killed Aridi and All-Naharnet
Shamseddine Rejects Weapons Targeting Citizens-Naharnet
Hizbullah: Discussion of Weapons is in the Past-Naharnet
Geagea: Aridi's Assassination Targets March 14 Goals-Naharnet
Qassem Sets 3 Conditions for Dialogue Success-Naharnet
Saniora: 'Defense Strategy' Title of Dialogue-Naharnet
Syria Informs Lebanon It Has No Detainees or Missing-Naharnet
Syrian-Russian Naval Cooperation Grows-Naharnet

Syrian Commandos Deploy in 7 North Lebanon Villages, Israeli Website
Naharnet/Two Syrian commando battalions have crossed into Lebanon during the last 48 hours and taken up positions in seven Alawite-controlled villages in north Lebanon, an Israeli website reported. The Israeli DEBKAfile website, citing military sources, said the battalions were accompanied by reconnaissance and engineering units. It is the largest Syrian force to "invade" Lebanon since Damascus was forced to end its occupation of the country in May 2005, three months after ex-Premier Rafik Hariri was assassinated, DEBKAfile said. It said the Syrian incursion coincided with the expected arrival of Russian naval and engineering experts in Tartus, the Syrian port 40 kilometers north of Tripoli, to serve as the Russian fleet's first permanent Mediterranean base. The website said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "clearly feels he can safely embark on a fresh foreign adventure to occupy northern Lebanon without fear of restraint." According to DEBKAfile's Washington and Paris sources, the U.S. and French governments knew what was coming in light of Damascus's accusations to MP Saad Hariri and Saudi Arabia of sponsoring efforts by the Salafis and radicals close to al-Qaida to set up a "Lebanese Kandahar" in Tripoli in order to keep Hizbullah out. The website said Israel, too, was in the picture. DEBKAfile said that during French President Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to Damascus last month, Assad said the West should understand that Syria could not accept a "jihadist base on its doorstep." It quoted sources as saying that Assad's pretext for Syria's "blatant invasion" of northern Lebanon "is hardly likely to go down seriously.""For five years, Assad provided al-Qaida and other radical Islamists a corridor through Syria to fight American troops in Iraq plus, training facilities," DEBKAfile said. It said that once Syrian troops complete their advance into Tripoli, Assad will have control over the full length of the military supply route for Hizballah from the Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartus. The Russian presence will add a new and troubling dimension to this development, it concluded. Beirut, 14 Sep 08, 11:00

Army Confiscates Arms in Tripoli
Naharnet/The Lebanese army on Sunday confiscated weapons belonging to the "Islamic Tawheed Movement – Hashem Minkara Wing" at a random checkpoint in Tripoli. The weapons were being transported in a Mercedes-Benz driven by members of the Tawheed Movement. Meanwhile, security forces arrested Rabih Sablouh, a member of the Islamic Tawheed Movement, for allegedly shooting at a citizen on Saturday in Tripoli. Beirut, 14 Sep 08, 14:15

Raad to Represent Nasrallah in Talks
Naharnet/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah will not attend national talks scheduled to begin Sept. 16 for security reasons. Hizbullah, in a statement, said Nasrallah will be represented by MP Mohammed Raad, head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc. Meanwhile, Hizbullah official Mahmoud Qamati called for broadening participation in the dialogue on the defense strategy. Beirut, 14 Sep 08, 11:19

Invitations for Dialogue Near Completed, Pending Armenian Agreement on Representative in Talks
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman's office has sent out letters inviting the political parties to the national dialogue scheduled to start Sept. 16. The invitations, however, were not entirely completed, pending Armenian agreement on who would represent them in the talks. News reports on Sunday said no invitation has been sent to any Armenian official until they agree on a representative. Preparations were underway for the re-launch of dialogue which will take place at 11 am on Tuesday at Baabda Palace. Invitations were sent to the leaders of Lebanon's 14 political parties only and not to their aides, unlike the previous dialogue which was launched in March 2006 but was interrupted five months later following Israel's summer war on Lebanon. Beirut, 14 Sep 08, 09:36

Hariri for Steadfastness, Determination and Sacrifices
Naharnet/Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri on Saturday pledged that his followers would not be armed and would back the state concept politically.
Hariri, addressing an iftar banquet at his residence in Beirut, stated that "we would not confront wrongdoing by wrongdoing." "When we doubt the state concept because of wrongdoing by others we would achieve their goals that aim and torpedoing the state march," Hariri noted. "But by our steadfastness, determination and sacrifices we back the march of the state, which is the only guarantee for all the Lebanese," he declared. "We would not raise arms," he stressed.
Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 21:20

Soeid Warns against Return of Political Assassinations, Says Hizbullah will Try to Block Dialogue
Naharnet/Fares Soeid, secretary of the ruling March 14 coalition, warned Sunday against the return of political assassinations and said Hizbullah was in favor of postponing national dialogue. Soeid said Syria was seeking to distant itself from Iran, "an issue that could have repercussions in Lebanon."
"These assassinations, the first of which after the Doha Accord targeted Sheik Saleh Airidi, could be the beginning and could continue," Soeid said in an interview with the Voice of Lebanon radio station. Soeid said Hizbullah is likely to block national dialogue by demanding broadening participation in the talks over the defense strategy. "Hizbullah is expected to obstruct dialogue … for one aim -- not to tackle the issue of arms," he said. Soeid said he believed Hizbullah does not want to discuss the issue of placing its weapons under the state's wings. Hizbullah "has been trying to postpone dialogue until after the (2009) parliamentary elections to avoid debate over the issue of weapons so it can enter the elections with huge moral strength called adherence to weapons and government's failure to hold a dialogue with Hizbullah which would enable it to enter the elections with enormous power," Soeid said. "How can we discuss the defense strategy when Resolution 1701 is the defense strategy – since it calls for full Lebanese army deployment over all Lebanese territory," he added. Beirut, 14 Sep 08, 13:12

Shamseddine Rejects Weapons Targeting Citizens
Naharnet/Minister of Administrative Development Ibrahim Shamseddine on Saturday rejected weapons that "are used against citizens and in alleyways."
Shamseddine made the remark after meeting Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun at the latter's residence in Beirut's northern suburb of Rabiyeh.
"As long as occupation persisted, there should be resistance … civil resistance and the Lebanese people's resistance, but the state exists too and its responsibility is to defend the people, the land and the state," Shamseddine added. He described the 1960 election law adopted in line with the Doha Accord as "bad … but I do understand the necessities." "We would vote (in 2009) in line with this law, but the emerging authorities should work on a new modern election law," Shamseddine added. Shamseddine said he would be a candidate in the 2009 elections. Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 18:18

Hizbullah: Discussion of Weapons is in the Past
Naharnet/Hizbullah on Saturday said any discussion in the fate of its weapons is "in the past." Hizbullah official in charge of south Lebanon Nabil Qaouq outlined the stand in a statement to reporters at his office in the southern city of Tyre. "Any discussion in disarming (Hizbullah) is in the past," Qaouq announced. However, he said Hizbullah would take part in national dialogue "to discuss the mechanism of coordination between the army and the resistance." He said "the United States and Israel would not have the chance of threatening the resistance through dialogue." "The atmosphere of dialogue, understanding and reconciliation is the real intro to salvaging Lebanon and creating the strong, capable and just state," according to Qaouq. Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 17:52

Qassem Sets 3 Conditions for Dialogue Success
Naharnet/Hizbullah's second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem has set three conditions for the "speedy success" of the national dialogue to be re-launched next Tuesday.
1- Participants should unanimously agree that Israel is the only enemy.
2- They should be convinced of building a capable, just, well-balanced, strong and clean state which would put an end to all sort of corruption and promote equality among all citizens.
3- The goal should be to provide the necessary elements needed to liberate the land as well as ensuring the defense of Lebanon through the defense strategy. "The resistance had never been an obstacle to the state, but rather had always been supportive," Qassem said in press remarks. "There is no state-for-resistance equation or resistance-for-state equation," Qassem stressed, reiterating that Hizbullah believes in one equation only – "a state that nurtures the resistance."
Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 11:04

Syria Informs Lebanon It Has No Detainees or Missing
Naharnet/Syria informed Lebanon through a delegation in charge of following up the issue of missing Lebanese that it had no "Lebanese missing or detained in Syria until now," Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said. The daily An Nahar on Saturday said the names of 184 Lebanese detained in Syrian jails which had been previously published were part of a list that included 700 citizens missing in Syria "with no word yet on their whereabouts." An Nahar, however, said that the information presented by the Syrian authorities made no mention to "military jails or intelligence centers." Najjar had recently said Lebanon is asking for revealing the fate of 745 citizens missing in Syria. An Nahar said the families of missing Lebanese did not find the names of their loved ones in the lists provided by Syrian authorities. Meanwhile, al-Mustaqbal newspaper said the Syrian regime has so far acknowledged having 46 Lebanese detainees it had previously denied holding.
Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 13:36

Report: Hizbullah Involved in Kidnapping of Britons in Iraq?
Naharnet/Fears for five Britons held hostage in Iraq for more than a year have grown after British officials concluded the men have come under the control of "hardliners" and hinted that Hizbullah might be involved in their kidnapping, the Daily Telegraph reported. "The intermediaries are not bringing anything back from their contacts anymore and are blaming the real hardliners, who are now in control," a British official told the daily. The five men, a computer expert and his four-man security detail, were seized from the ministry of finance in Baghdad in May, 2007. The British newspaper said there were concerns that any opportunity to negotiate the men's release has been lost. "Hizbullah, which trains and directs Iraqi Shiite fighters both within the country and at bases in Iran is also believed to be playing an increasingly important role in the situation," the Daily Telegraph said. "Less and less is coming from the channels as we see a phenomenon of splintering among the splinter group that is holding these men," said one official with on the ground duties in Baghdad. "This is now a situation where the Hizbullah loyalists who have no where to go politically, are in charge." The kidnapping of the five Britons has been described by government officials as "planned and executed from the Hizbullah playbook," the newspaper said. One official said the involvement of Hizbullah raised the probability that the men, like hostages in Lebanon a generation ago, will either die in captivity or be held for many years.(AP photo shows a British soldier standing guard after a roadside bomb explosion in Basra, 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad) Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 07:34

Syrian-Russian Naval Cooperation Grows
Naharnet/Russia said Friday it was renovating a Syrian port for use by the Russian fleet, signaling an effort to establish a firmer foothold in the Mediterranean at a time of tensions with the United States over Georgia. Syria was Moscow's strongest Mideast ally during the Cold War. The alliance largely waned after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, though Russia has continued some weapons sales to Damascus. But Syrian President Bashar Assad has increasingly reached out to Russia recently, including seeking weapons and offering broader military cooperation. Friday's announcement was the first tangible sign of any new cooperation. The Itar-Tass news agency reported a vessel from Russia's Black Sea fleet had begun restoring facilities at Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus for use by the Russian military. The two countries' naval chiefs also met in Moscow on Friday and discussed "further strengthening mutual trust and mutual understanding between the two states' fleets," a Russian naval official, Igor Dygalo, told Itar-Tass.
The Tartus renovations could signal an intention to have a long-term Russian naval presence there. In late August, Russia's ambassador to Damascus, Igor Belyev, said Russian ships already patrol the area, but "a new development is that the Russian presence in the Mediterranean will become permanent."
The Russian navy's closest access to the Mediterranean is through the Black Sea, where they have a strong naval presence. But that area has seen an increase in NATO naval activity after the Georgia conflict, prompting Russian complaints that NATO has exceeded ship numbers permitted there under international agreements. The move comes at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and Russia after last month's brief war in Georgia. The rift has raised concerns Moscow might start reaching out to U.S. rivals around the world to beef up military alliances. Russian bombers this month arrived in Venezuela for training exercises and the two countries are to hold joint exercises in the Caribbean in November. In Moscow, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Friday that Russia would build economic and military ties with nations willing to do so even if the West dislikes some of these alliances. "There are many other interesting places in the world with governments maintaining friendly ties with us," he said. "And if they like developing economic, humanitarian and military ties with us, we won't say no."
Syrian media made no mention of the Russian announcement Friday.(AP) (AP photo shows young Syrians sitting at the Costa coffee house in downtown Damascus) Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 06:14

Iran, Syria Talks in Moscow amid Stand off with West
Russian diplomatic and military officials held talks with their Iranian and Syrian counterparts Friday, amid tensions with the West following Russia's conflict with Georgia last month. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki for talks on the completion by a Russian company of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran, a cooperation that has worried Washington.
The head of the Russian company working on Iran's first nuclear power plant, Atomstroiexport, said earlier this week that the start-up of the first reactor at Bushehr would be "irreversible" by February next year. The West suspects that Iran is developing nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy program that includes the Bushehr plant. It has imposed sanctions on Tehran and the U.S. has refused to rule out the use of force.
Iran vehemently denies it is developing nuclear weapons and says it has a sovereign right like any country to develop nuclear power.
Lavrov said the talks would also focus on the Georgia conflict. U.S. President George Bush announced this week he was freezing progress on a U.S.-Russia civilian nuclear cooperation pact because of Russia's military intervention in Georgia. Russia on Friday also held talks with another close Middle East ally, Syria, on the use of the Soviet-era Mediterranean naval base at Tartus, Interfax and RIA Novosti reported. Russian Navy commander Vladimir Vysotsky and his Syrian counterpart General Taleb al-Barri discussed stepping up Russia's use of the Tartus base in line with an increase in Russian naval missions, the reports said.
Russia has in recent years moved to reactivate its use of the base, which was heavily used in the Soviet era to resupply ships in the Mediterranean. Russia does not have a permanent base in the Mediterranean.(AFP) Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 17:44