LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 09/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 17,20-26. I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world also does not know you, but I know you, and they know that you sent me. I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them."

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Heading toward a Lebanese divorce-By Michael Young 08/05/08
Desperate politicians continue to give democracy a bad name-By The Daily Star
Lebanon has an 'Aoun' problem-GulfNews08/05/08
Hezbollah continues ramp-up to war. By: W. Thomas Smith Jr. 08/05/08
Put up or shut up.NowLebanon.com 08/05/08
Exclusive: Lebanon slides towards new civil war-DEBKA file08/05/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 08/08
Late-night clashes break out in and around Beirut, Bekaa Valley-Daily Star
Clashes in General Strike in Lebanon-New York Times
Cabinet orders probe into Hizbullah phone network-Daily Star
Opposition vows no retreat after day of clashes-Daily Star
Hezbollah piles pressure on Lebanese government-Washington Post
In commemoration on Martyrs of the Press Day-Daily Star
Airport shut, at least 10 injured as mobs do battle in capital-Daily Star
Opposition vows no retreat after day of clashes-Daily Star
Government, opposition supporters present differing takes on strike-AFP
Response to GLC strike call differs by region-Daily Star
Hoss discusses impasse with Abu al-Gheit-Daily Star
Kuwaiti emir hosts Siniora for talks-Daily Star
France repeats: Hariri witness is no longer here-Daily Star
US speaker to visit Lebanon on regional tour-Daily Star
Berlin closely monitoring events in Beirut-Daily Star
Lebanon's religious pluralism figures to deny firm foothold for Al-Qaeda-By Inter Press Service
Hariri probe 'arrests PSP man linked to Hawi assassination-Daily Star
Aoun promises to reduce US influence if he gets the chance-Daily Star
Qassem warns 'pro-Israeli factions-Daily Star
Cabinet orders probe into Hizbullah phone network-Daily Star
GLC vows more strikes until demands are met-Daily Star
Media heavyweights pay tribute to slain journalists-Daily Star
In death as in life: Lebanon's dueling visions of martyrdom-AFP
Fatah vows to control refugee camps on Lebanese soil-By IRIN News.org
Hizbullah Paralyzes Beirut Further, Mufti Warns: Sunnis Had Enough-Daily Star
Beirut Airport Besieged, Hizbullah Heads to Declaring Civil Disobedience-Naharnet
Majdalani: Hizbullah Leading a Breakaway Attempt-Naharnet
Aoun Vows to Confront U.S. Hegemony-Naharnet
Geagea: Hizbullah is another Mahdi Army Militia-Naharnet
Opposition Workers Call for Beirut Demonstration, Majority Unions Boycott, Tension Escalates-Naharnet
Hizbullah, Amal Await Strike Outcome for Stances on Cabinet Decisions-Naharnet
Tariq Jedideh Residents: Wednesday's Demonstrations Suspicious-Naharnet
Maronite patriarch to prod world leaders on Lebanese sovereignty-Catholic World News
Police clash with protesters in Beirut-United Press International
Lebanon's political crisis in outline-Reuters
Opposition Workers Call for Beirut Demonstration, Majority Unions Boycott, Tension Escalates-Naharnet
Hizbullah, Amal Await Strike Outcome for Stances on Cabinet Decisions-Naharnet
Tariq Jedideh Residents: Wednesday's Demonstrations Suspicious-Naharnet
Syria Slightly Better Than 'Worst of the Worst'-Naharnet
Pro-Syrian followers block roads leading to Lebanon's capital-Monsters and Critics.com
Lebanon protesters block roads during labour strike-AFP
Anti-government protesters paralyze Beirut-Washington Post
Christian rival supporters scuffle at Beirut university-Monsters and Critics.com

Hezbollah continues ramp-up to war
W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Reporting from Lebanon for NRO on October 9, 2007, I wrote:
“… [Hezbollah] is monitoring and jamming cell-phone communications, and tracking phone signals. They also have their own private telephone comm lines running from the south to the Bekaa Valley, and from both regions to Dahiyeh (in Beirut) and who knows where else. The very Internet service provider I am using to post this entry is a subsidiary of a larger Hezbollah-owned or affiliated company.
“Worse: Many of the Lebanese ‘leaders’ here are afraid to go on the record about these issues or anything else related to Hezbollah.”
That was nearly seven months ago; during which time a series of widely spread attacks were launched against my Lebanon reporting by that terrorist-friendly propaganda sheet, The Huffington Post (the attacks have since been debunked on a number of fronts by experts in the business of counterterrorism.).
Now comes a piece in Israel’s Haaretz, reporting on Monday of this week:
“An official Lebanese government report reveals that Iran is setting up an illegal telecommunication network across Lebanon, capable of intercepting all telephone conversations in the country, the Saudi-owned daily al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Sunday.
“… Iran has set up this network to aid the Lebanon-based guerilla group Hezbollah.”
According to Lebanese telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh, Hezbollah’s goal is to link all the militias in Lebanon, Syria (which provides operational support to Hezbollah), and Iran (which trains and finances Hezbollah to the tune of $1-billion annually) by way of this vast telecommunications network.
“Their goal is not security resistance,” Hamadeh said in an interview with al-Sharq al-Awsat. “They want to connect between all the Iranian and Syrian militias and they want to eavesdrop on everyone.”
No surprise there.Haaretz adds:
“The Iranian communications network has been completed in southern Lebanon, the Lebanon Valley, southern Beirut and several Christian areas in Mount Lebanon [where much of my reporting originated from in September and October]. Work is currently underway to complete the infrastructure in the northern Lebanon Valley.
“… the network is capable of tracking 100,000 numbers using a digital format in which each number is five digits long.
“… the Hezbollah hardware can hook up to Lebanon's main telephone network.”
We actually discussed these things in great detail – again, seven months ago – at NRO, The Washington Times, and elsewhere.
But there’s more.
Within hours of this writing, a demonstration – under the pretext of a Labor protest – is slated to begin in Lebanon. The demonstration, engineered by Hezbollah and its allies (according to my sources), will enable members of the Lebanon-based terrorist group to physically confront and attempt to provoke legitimate Lebanese security forces into action against them. They’ve done this before.
The Lebanese army (having been heavily infiltrated by Hezbollah and with an officer corps that continues to promote pro-Syrian commanders) and national police forces are presently incapable of disarming – much less defeating in a pitched battle – Hezbollah and its allies in Lebanon. Nor apparently are the multinational troops of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
All of this comes on the heels of the following reports this week and last:
The wire services are reporting that Hezbollah is training Shiia extremists for operations against American and allied forces in Iraq. We’ve been reporting this for months (along with the facts that Hezbollah’s worldwide operations are increasing, as are their strategic collaborations with unlikely groups like Al Qaeda).
Parliamentarian Walid Jumblatt has accused Hezbollah of setting up special cameras at the Beirut airport to monitor incoming and outgoing aircraft. Jumblatt says the terrorist group – whose stronghold Dahiyeh (the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut) is adjacent to the airport – is planning to assassinate senior political leaders.
Brig. Gen. Wafiq Shoukair was just dismissed from his post as airport security chief because of his ties to Hezbollah. But guess what? He will retain his post in the Lebanese Army.
Hezbollah’s allies in Lebanon have in recent days reportedly called for the “toppling” of the Lebanese government (Lebanon, by the way, has been unable to elect a president in months, and many parliamentarians and their families are forced to travel and reside under constant military or paramilitary police protection.)
In late April, a French diplomat was detained for several hours by Hezbollah after he was caught photographing areas in Dahiyeh. Amazingly, this barely registered a blip in the American press.
Of course, Hezbollah-friendly reporters and bloggers will argue – and have done so with little to no criticism of the veracity of their reporting – that anyone can freely move in-and-out of Dahiyeh and any other Hezbollah controlled zones in Lebanon.
But in a piece yesterday, regarding the detention of the French diplomat, noted columnist and television journalist Diana Mukkaled writes:
“The Lebanese media is incapable of obtaining information about the crisis in the suburbs [Dahiyeh] because of the imposed media blockade, which has extended to include the inability to access or observe any movements in Hezbollah’s general surroundings.
“The area is strictly off-limits to the media.
“The recent incident involving the French Socialist delegate could have passed without much ado had the delegate not hailed from a prominent state. It is likely that dozens have been subjected to similar treatment without it causing any uproar or protest.”
All of this plays to Hezbollah’s multi-faceted quest to seize power in Lebanon; continue to revamp its defenses in Dahiyeh, the Bekaa Valley, and multiple regions south of the Litani River; prepare for a ground war with Israel; and continue its asymmetrical terrorist operations against America and the West.
But then what do Ms. Mukkaled, Mr. Hamadeh, Mr. Jumblatt, or I know?
Apparently a lot more than Hezbollah, its allies, and its sympathizers want us to know … or say.
# #
FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor W. Thomas Smith Jr. is director of the Counterterrorism Research Center of the Family Security Foundation. A former U.S. Marine infantry leader and shipboard counterterrorism instructor, Smith writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. He is the author of six books, and his articles have appeared in USA Today, George, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, National Review Online, CBS News, Townhall.com, The Washington Times, and others.


Heading toward a Lebanese divorce
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Once we accept that this week's alleged labor unrest was only the latest phase in Hizbullah's war against the Lebanese state, will we understand what actually took place yesterday. And once we realize that cutting the airport road was a calculated effort by Hizbullah to reverse the Siniora government's transfer of the airport security chief, Wafiq Shouqair, will we understand what may take place in the coming days.
Since last January, when Hizbullah and Amal used the pretense of social dissatisfaction to obstruct roads in and around Beirut, the opposition has, quite openly, shown itself to be limited to Hizbullah. Michel Aoun, once a useful fig leaf to lend cross-communal diversity to the opposition, has since become an afterthought with hardly any pull in Christian streets.
Long ago we learned that Hizbullah could not, in any real sense, allow the emergence of a Lebanese state free from Syrian control. Soon after the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the party tried to suffocate the 2005 "independence intifada" in the egg, realizing that Hizbullah had no future as an autonomous armed group in a state that would seek to reimpose its writ after decades of subservience to Damascus. That effort failed on March 14, 2005 - mostly useful as an event in showing that a majority of people would not be intimidated by Hizbullah's rally of March 8.
Hizbullah's anxieties were understandable. As the party saw things, without a Lebanese state embracing the idea of open-ended conflict against Israel, and Hizbullah's sovereign, vanguard role in that conflict (and what state truly independent of Syria would ever want to choose so reckless a path?), Hizbullah would not be able to justify retaining its weapons. But without its weapons, Hizbullah could not exist. Post-Syria Lebanon has posed existential problems for the party, problems that began when Israel withdrew from most of South Lebanon in 2000. The irony of this situation - that Hizbullah was always most comfortable when both Syria and Israel were present in Lebanon - the latter to fight against, the former to safeguard that fight - says a lot about the party's future options.
Aoun will doubtless find an excuse to explain why the calls for a strike were ignored in predominantly Christian areas. But Hizbullah has to be careful. Now the party's every move is one of the Shiites against the rest. The sharp decline in Aoun's popularity, not to mention the pressure being felt by other Hizbullah allies like Elie Skaff in Zahleh, all emanate from a single source: Most Christians, not to mention vast majorities of Sunnis and Druze, see no possible coexistence between the idea of the Lebanese state and a Hizbullah that insists on demanding veto power over any decision that might limit its political and military margin of maneuver.
The ludicrousness of Aoun's latest statements on Monday only underlined this reality. You have to wonder what the general's electorate felt when he defended Hizbullah's activities in Kisirwan and Jbeil, which he represents in Parliament. There will always be those who follow Aoun into a brick wall, who will even follow him to Damascus to bestow his blessings on the Assad regime, a trip he should be encouraged to make if only to be kicked to the outer circles of political insignificance. But most Christians are smarter and can see that the general, after having seriously damaged his own Maronite community by refusing to elect a president, does not even rate much inside the opposition, whose errors Aoun continues to endorse to his detriment.
In picking a fight with Hizbullah over its cameras next to the airport, Walid Jumblatt did something different than what the public imagined. The reality is that Hizbullah doesn't need cameras to know what is going on at the facility. Through its authority over the General Security directorate, the airport's security unit, and sympathetic employees, Hizbullah has all the information it needs on air traffic. Rather, what Jumblatt did was provoke a confrontation and, to dig up the old Soviet jargon, heighten the contradictions between Lebanese society and Hizbullah. Now the party's true intentions are out there for everyone to see. Hizbullah can no longer hide behind its "resistance," a fictitious "national opposition" or imaginary social protests. It is confirming on a daily basis that its minimal goal is to keep alive a Hizbullah state within the state and to force most Lebanese to accept this, even as the party infiltrates the government bureaucracy and has free rein in the airport and ports.
Yet the message on Wednesday was plain. Outside areas under direct Hizbullah control, no one respected the call for a strike. The labor unions were not even able to march through mainly Sunni neighborhoods, for fear of street fights. The only real weapon Hizbullah has is to hold the airport hostage by closing all access roads. But all sides can close roads. How such action can possibly be in the interest of the Shiite community is beyond comprehension. Isolating the airport amounts to thuggery, underlining that Hizbullah now has few means other than to collectively punish all Lebanese to advance its exclusivist agenda. As the commentator Uqab Sakr put it: "Shutting down the airport is what the Israelis did in 2006; it's not what Hizbullah should be doing today."
The Lebanese state cannot live side by side with a Hizbullah state. This theorem is becoming more evident by the day, as the party's actions in the past three years have been, by definition, directed against the state, the government, the army and the security forces, institutions of national representation, the economy, and more fundamentally the rules of the Lebanese communal game. We've reached the point where Hizbullah, and more importantly the Shiite community, must choose. Will it persist in favoring a Hizbullah-led parallel state that will surely continue to clash with the recognized state? Or will Shiites try to find a new arrangement with their countrymen that forces Hizbullah to surrender its weapons?
The turmoil will continue, and at this point has already taken on a regional coloring. Hizbullah will not easily swallow Shouqair's transfer, and the closing of the airport road is its leverage to coerce the government into going back on the decision. But all this will only raise the prospect of escalating violence while focusing hostility against Hizbullah, benefiting no one. If the party wants its semi-independent entity, it is now obliged to state this plainly. The masks have fallen. And if Hizbullah does decide to reject Lebanon, then we shouldn't be surprised if some start speaking of an amicable divorce between Shiites and the rest of Lebanon.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR

Lebanon has an 'Aoun' problem
By Joseph A. Kechichian, Special to Gulf News
Published: May 08, 2008, 00:09
Although many Lebanese perceive Hezbollah as a state within the state, the major reason for the country's current political paralysis is not the Party of God, but General Michel Aoun. The latter continues to believe that the presidency is his at any price, which does not bode well for either Lebanon or Hezbollah, because the end result might prove catastrophic.
To be sure, Hezbollah leaders refuse to acquiesce to Beirut's legitimate authority, sometimes violating the country's sovereignty by operating separate communications network or, allegedly, installing spy cameras at Beirut airport to monitor flight activities on runway 17. The 2006 decision to launch a war against Israel was perhaps the best illustration of the nonchalant preference. Still, while these may be violations of internal state regulations, they are not as critical as many assume.
Simply stated, and without exaggeration, Hezbollah can do a lot but it cannot control the entire country. Besides, that is not its objectives, especially when one ignores rhetorical pronouncements that form part and parcel of Lebanese folklore. On the contrary, it is in Hezbollah's long-term interests to play the state game effectively, if they are to ever share in its benefits. In other words, the day will surely come when Hezbollah will no longer be satisfied to just be a militia, but would transform itself into a legitimate political party that is respected across the board.
Hezbollah leaders thought that such an objective would be accomplished when they entered into a tactical alliance with General Michel Aoun. What they failed to assess correctly, was that the Free Patriotic Movement leader could not possibly impose himself on the majority, because his own legitimacy base was so shaky. Aoun's recent errors confirmed this interpretation, including his bizarre isolation from mainstream decision-makers as well as a critical section of the religious leadership.
By making offensive pronouncements and supporting Syria, whose three decades-long occupation was sorely felt by a vast majority of Lebanese who were not privy to plush Parisian exile, opened unhealed wounds. His insistence that Hezbollah's private phone network was not the only such system in place, left many bewildered, wondering whether the General moved from the realm of the fantastic to the ridiculous. His gratuitous attacks on the Fouad Siniora Government, the only legitimate political institution left in the country, cheapen his mostly vulgar statements.
Given this plethora of embarrassments, even erstwhile allies such as Michel Murr have walked away, perhaps realising that no good will ever come from someone who is power hungry. It is therefore a mystery why Hezbollah still clings on to Aoun, when so little unites the two groups, save perhaps a mutual infatuation with auto-destruction.
Mass movement
At this juncture, Aoun is betting on a mass movement to force Siniora to resign, which will not happen. The call for a peaceful rally alongside a strike scheduled by the General Labour Confederation, ostensibly to protest government policies, came to naught, since Beirut agreed to increase wages. Therefore, opposition leaders know additional demonstrations, riots, and clashes will add little value.
Even worse are Aoun's repeated declarations that electing General Michel Sulaiman president would not serve the interest of Lebanon's Christian community, although the opposite is true. That he would want to delay the process to eliminate the commander of the Army, a man with impeccable credentials, speaks volumes. Indeed, Aoun's latest ploy is that an agreement must first be reached on a new electoral law for the 2009 parliamentary elections, is itself a non-starter since such a law will be drafted in parliament, which is in abeyance.
It may not dawn on Aoun that there is a current majority, whose votes are needed, unless the opposition intends to physically eliminate as many parliamentarians as necessary to reach its goals. That Hezbollah would allow Aoun to contemplate such an option does not bode well for the Party of God whose leaders have demonstrated greater savvy in the past. Moreover, if Aoun pays lip-service to his allies, defending their right to possess weapons, then he is unworthy of assuming higher office. Logic dictates that only the legitimate army - which Aoun led for several years - must be authorised to carry weapons.
Under the circumstances, Lebanon is best served if Aoun were to retire from public life, and for Hezbollah to realign itself by cutting off critical funding to this unreliable ally. Coincidentally, both Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir and former president Ameen Gemayel, solicited Qatari assistance to also curtail their financial support to Aoun a few days ago.
In Doha, Gemayel told the Qatari daily Al Raya that the opposition did not want to elect Sulaiman, although another Aoun ally, Walid Khoury, defected and announced that he was ready to vote for the Commander at the first chance he gets. Gemayel and Sfeir met with the Qatari ruler and other officials, to drive the point home: cut-off Aoun's funding if you want stability in Lebanon. Today, an overwhelming majority of Lebanese parliamentarians, along with most of the citizens, trust Sulaiman. A born leader, the Commander will not force anyone's hands, and actually desires to fulfil his mandate with the kind of dignity that Lebanon no longer enjoys. He would prefer to lead citizens, not hooligans, individuals with rights as well as obligations, who must also be persuaded to assume responsibilities. Not a tall order but a demanding one.
**Dr. Joseph A. Kechichian is a commentator and author of several books on Gulf affairs.

Put up or shut up
NOW Staff , May 7, 2008
Hezbollah has always been known for its industry and lately it has been nothing if not busy. As of late April, the party has repeatedly and unapologetically provoked, and undermined the authority of, the Lebanese government and Lebanese law enforcement.
First there was the incident in Qomatiya, where Hezbollah members surrounded an ISF patrol to force the release of two party sympathizers. Soon after, an ISF officer was harassed and threatened while investigating illegal construction in the southern suburbs – an area Hezbollah has deemed a “security zone.” Then there was the outrageous detention of French Socialist Party delegate Karim Pakzad, who was blindfolded and kept isolated in a small cell for five hours, just for taking pictures of a mosque along the airport road. Finally in the last week, we have learned that Hezbollah has hidden surveillance cameras installed adjacent to Beirut’s international airport, reportedly monitoring the VIP runway.
And today, the Hezbollah-led opposition is launching its “labor strike” in coordination with the unabashedly pro-March 8 labor unions, in an attempt to once again paralyze Beirut and pile more pressure on the government in the hope that it will eventually bend to the opposition’s will. The minimum wage issue purportedly at the root of the strike has been resolved by the government as best it can at present with Monday’s announcement of a raise to LL 500,000, and so the strike must seen as simply the latest in a series of stage-managed events – the first being the on-going but so-far ineffective downtown sit-in which began in December 2006. Whether today’s protests explode or fizzle, a few results are guaranteed: Lebanon’s daily loss of around $50 million dollars in potential GDP and a widening of the gulf that has come to represent Lebanon’s achingly frustrating political crisis.
The government is at least not taking all this lying down. The removal of Brigadier General Wafiq Shqeir from his post as airport security chief is a slap in the face for Hezbollah, a party that considers itself untouchable. Furthermore, the government has officially labeled Hezbollah’s controversial communication network as “illegal and unconstitutional” and instructed the ISF to dismantle it, rejecting the party’s claim that the network is essential to the resistance – despite rather ominous threats on Tuesday from Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Qassem, that "Hezbollah will deal with those who interfere with the network as if they were Israeli spies." The government is at long last demonstrating that Hezbollah’s “my way or the highway” approach is neither sustainable nor acceptable.
This represents, if not a sea-change, a distinct tidal shift in Lebanese politics. After years of trying to reach compromises behind the scenes or releasing tepid statements of disapproval, the Lebanese government is attempting to deliver a firm message to Hezbollah that there are now consequences to their actions. They can no longer proceed as if the central government does not exist.
And all the while Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun continues to swallow the Hezbollah party line. His defense of their activities as no different to those of other Lebanese parties is fatuous, desperate and reckless, as is his labeling the government’s hard line a “declaration of war.”
If there is another Lebanese political grouping that is funded to the tune of nearly $1 billion by a foreign power; if there is another Lebanese political grouping that is currently arming for a major engagement with the most powerful army in the Middle East; if there is another Lebanese political grouping that can abduct detain and interrogate foreigners in broad daylight; if there is another Lebanese political grouping that can and does deem any illegal actions part of its mandate and any label criticism of these actions as pro-Zionist, then General Aoun should, in the interest of national security, unmask it.
A case of put up or shut up.