LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 10/10

Bible Of the Day
John 5/31-44: “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. 5:32 It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true. 5:33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 5:34 But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved. 5:35 He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 5:36 But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me. 5:37 The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 5:38 You don’t have his word living in you; because you don’t believe him whom he sent. 5:39 “You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me. 5:40 Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life. 5:41 I don’t receive glory from men. 5:42 But I know you, that you don’t have God’s love in yourselves. 5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 5:44 How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
The national dialogue and 1559/By: Hanin Ghaddar/January 09/10
Lebanese refugees wait for their due/By: Mona Alami/January 09/09
Bald hypocrisy/NowLebanon.com/January 09/09
The Enduring Iran-Syria-Hezbollah Axis/By Michael Rubin/January 09/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 09/10
Der Spiegel: Hizbullah Moving Cocaine Trade Profits Via Frankfurt Airport/Naharnet
McCain Stresses Commitment to Democratic Lebanon as More U.S. Officials Visit Beirut/Naharnet
McCain in Beirut for Talks on Regional Developments/Naharnet
U.N.: Explosives Discovered in Khiam Violation of 1701/Naharnet
Geagea: No One Can Isolate Others, Majority Hasn't Authorized Hizbullah Armament/Naharnet
Fatah al-Islam Suspect Arrested Thursday was Responsible for Providing Funds, Weapons/Naharnet
Berri to Pelosi: Congress Bill Sanctioning Arab Satellites Derogates Sovereignty of Lebanon, Other Countries/Naharnet
Western Diplomats Put Mission of Merkel's Advisor in Regional Framework/Naharnet
'Terrorists winning,' says Canadian travel agency industry/Canwest News
Germany to boost Lebanon's security/Jerusalem Post
Lebanese MP denies Hezbollah planting explosives in South Lebanon/Xinhua
Lebanon asks US to reverse ban on Hezbollah TV/AFP
Cassese to Make Visit to Lebanon Only, STL Gets New Spokesperson/Naharnet
Jumblat Says 'Nothing Precise' from Syria, Shweifat Reconciliation a Turning Point/Naharnet
Hariri's Visit to Turkey: Scrapping Entry Visas, Signing Defense Agreement/Naharnet
Lebanon detains wanted Islamist/AFP
Lebanon voices concern over US airport screening measures/AFP
Israel readies new anti-missile system/UPI.com
US congressman discusses Iraqi refugees in Lebanon/AFP
Record four ton Israeli dip wins latest battle in hummus wars/CNN
Planned bioattack simulation in Israel could be sign of coming war/BioPrepWatch.com
Williams Says U.N. Determined to Pursue Implementation of International Resolutions/Naharnet
Hillary Clinton sets out US plan for Middle East peace/BBC News

Der Spiegel: Hizbullah Moving Cocaine Trade Profits Via Frankfurt Airport
/Naharnet/German investigators are probing Hizbullah's alleged cocaine smuggling in Europe and the transfer of the profits to Lebanon via Frankfurt airport, a German magazine said. A report in Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday said initial suspicion that Hizbullah was raising funds by smuggling cocaine was raised in May 2008 when around 8.7 million euros in cash were found in the luggage of four Lebanese men at Frankfurt airport. A further 500,000 euros were found in the apartment of one of the suspects in the Rhineland Pfalz town of Speyer.
Two Lebanese men were arrested in October 2009 when customs officers and federal criminal police agents raided a house in Speyer, the magazine said. According to Der Spiegel, suspicion is that family members have been regularly moving millions of euros raised in the European cocaine trade, via Frankfurt to Beirut. Those receiving the money in Lebanon are said to be members of a family with contacts with the highest levels of the Hizbullah command, including leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. A close relative of the suspects has rejected all the allegations, the magazine said. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 15:44

McCain in Beirut for Talks on Regional Developments
/Naharnet/U.S. Republican Senator and former presidential candidate John McCain arrived in Beirut Friday evening for talks with top Lebanese officials.
McCain was accompanied by a delegation from the U.S. congress consisting of Senators John Barrasso and John Thune. The top U.S. senator headed directly to the Baabda Palace upon his arrival for talks with President Michel Suleiman. Suleiman told McCain that "the situation is stable on the Lebanese side of the borders (with Israel), as Lebanon commits to the implementation of Resolution 1701." The president called the international community, topped by the United States, to pressure the Israeli side regarding the implementation of Resolution 1701 and the halting of all kinds of violations against Lebanese sovereignty. Suleiman urged McCain to reconsider the bill adopted by the U.S. congress on sanctioning Arab satellite channels that are deemed as "inciting hatred" against the United States, among them the Lebanese TV network Al Manar. On his part, McCain hoped that Lebanon would witness more progress in order to remain a democratic State.McCain and the two Senators accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michele Sison then headed to hold talks with PM Saad Hariri. McCain's visit to Beirut comes before the arrival of U.S. Special Envoy for Middle East Peace George Mitchell to the region for talks with the leaders of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian authority on their stances regarding the peace process. Beirut, 08 Jan 10,

McCain Stresses Commitment to Democratic Lebanon as More U.S. Officials Visit Beirut
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman has urged Washington to reverse a decision to ban Hizbullah's TV channel, al-Manar, during talks with U.S. Senator John McCain, who reiterated his country's commitment to a strong and democratic Lebanon. "President Suleiman asked that Washington backtrack on its decision to ban certain television channels, including al-Manar," a statement from his office said after the Friday meeting. Suleiman's concerns come after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill in December calling for punitive measures against Middle East television networks seen as fueling anti-American hatred. McCain and his accompanying congressional delegation held talks with top Lebanese officials, including Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, PM Saad Hariri and PSP leader Walid Jumblat, during a two-day visit to Beirut. Following talks with Jumblat on Saturday, the senator touched on the national dialogue, which he said would discuss several issues including Hizbullah arms. "This country is at peace and I hope it continues" that way, McCain told reporters.The delegation held discussions with Lebanese officials on the U.S.-Lebanese relationship. They also discussed U.S.-funded assistance for security, economic growth, development and reform programs in Lebanon, a U.S. embassy statement said Saturday. During the visit, the delegation reaffirmed U.S. "commitment to supporting a strong, independent, and democratic Lebanon," it said.
McCain's trip to Beirut comes before U.S. Mideast envoy George Mitchell's visit to the region. Mitchell is expected to kick off his regional tour in Beirut.
An Nahar daily said Saturday that David Johnson, assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement affairs, will visit Beirut in the next few days to meet with top officials.
Johnson's visit is aimed at following up U.S. assistance to Internal Security Forces, it said. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 14:26

Western Diplomats Put Mission of Merkel's Advisor in Regional Framework
Naharnet/Western diplomatic sources have denied a media report that German Chancellor Angela Merkel's advisor had discussed with Lebanese officials the issue of Palestinian camps and security around Beirut airport. The sources told An Nahar newspaper in remarks published Saturday that Merkel's foreign policy and security advisor Christoph Heusgen held talks with the officials during his Beirut visit as part of regional meetings. An Nahar reported Friday that Heusgen informed Lebanese officials about the infiltration of terrorists from Arab countries into Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. It said the German envoy told the officials about the necessity to monitor activity inside and outside the camps and the areas surrounding Beirut airport. Furthermore, well-informed sources had told Ad-Diyar newspaper that Merkel's envoy discussed with Lebanese officials the issue of missing Israeli airman Ron Arad, and the four Iranian diplomats who were kidnapped in 1982. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 10:14

U.N.: Explosives Discovered in Khiam Violation of 1701
Naharnet/U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky has described the presence of "illegal" explosives in the area between the Blue Line and the Litani River as a clear violation of Security Council resolution 1701. Nesirky recounted the discovery of the explosives on December 26. A UNIFIL patrol observed suspicious movement of approximately five persons in an isolated area at some distance from the patrol in the area south of Khiam, he said during a briefing in New York on Friday.
As the patrol approached the location, the group of unidentified persons fled the area in the cover of darkness, the spokesperson said. At the location, UNIFIL peacekeepers found suspicious material that was subsequently determined to be a significant quantity of explosives, he told reporters.
The Lebanese army was notified immediately and responded to the location, whereby joint search operations were carried out in the area, according to Nesirky.
He also said that Lebanese and UNIFIL explosives experts secured the area and removed the explosives into the custody of the Lebanese army.
Ban's spokesperson said that UNIFIL, in close coordination with the Lebanese army, launched an investigation to identify the precise nature of the explosives and the circumstances under which they were found at the location. That investigation is still ongoing. He added that there is a need to await the findings of the probe before any final assessment and conclusion can be made. On Thursday, Israel said that 300 kilograms of buried explosives recently discovered by U.N. forces near Khiam were likely planted by Hizbullah operatives. Israel's U.N. Ambassador Gabriela Shalev said the government believes the explosives were an advanced type "possibly industrially produced in Iran or Syria." In letters to Ban and the Security Council, Shalev said the explosives were another serious violation of 1701. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 09:41

Cassese to Make Visit to Lebanon Only, STL Gets New Spokesperson
Naharnet/The Special Tribunal for Lebanon's media office has denied that the court president Judge Antonio Cassese's visit to Beirut will be part of a regional tour. Cassese is planning to visit Lebanon in the next few weeks, however, not as part of a tour to the region, the office said Friday. The denial came after an STL judge reportedly told al-Mustaqbal newspaper that Lebanon is one leg of Cassese's tour that will take him to Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey. Meanwhile, the STL's Public Affairs Office announced the appointment of a new press officer/spokesperson. Fatima el-Issawi has more than 15 years of work as investigative journalist reporting the Middle East for various international and Arab media organizations including Agence France Presse (AFP) and the BBC World Service, the office said in a statement on Friday.Her expertise covers Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan, from where she worked as a correspondent. She also has a previous experience as a reporter for several Lebanese media outlets, it added. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 10:31

Geagea: No One Can Isolate Others, Majority Hasn't Authorized Hizbullah Armament
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea stressed that not a single party has the capability of isolating another team in the country and slammed Hizbullah arms which he said were not given the people's authorization. "No one could isolate anyone," Geagea told Free Lebanon radio, saying the March 14 alliance, which is made up of several parties, movements and independent figures, is still united, holds its regular meetings and makes clear stances.About statements by March 8 members on the fall of the American project in the region and the weakness of the March 14 coalition, Geagea said: "They are wrong in linking us with the U.S. project. They think that everyone is like them in terms of links to foreign projects."
Turning to the issue of Hizbullah's arms, Geagea said neither the Lebanese people nor the parliamentary majority authorized the Shiite party to improve its military capabilities. Such an operation is illegal, he stressed. In a clear hint to Syria, the LF leader said: "It would have been better to stay without a government rather than having a foreign party interfere to put pressure on local parties to go ahead with the cabinet formation." Geagea urged Lebanese to benefit from the Syrian-Saudi settlement.Asked if LF officials would visit Syria, Geagea said: "LF ministers could go to Damascus as part of an official delegation if (such a trip was deemed) necessary." Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 12:43

Jumblat Says 'Nothing Precise' from Syria, Shweifat Reconciliation a Turning Point
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat said Saturday that he hadn't received any precise information from Syria in order to take a decision on visiting it. "I haven't received anything clear and precise from Syria," Jumblat said following talks with U.S. Senator John McCain. "I will respond at the appropriate time." The Druze leader's comment came in response to a question on Lebanese Democratic Party leader Talal Arslan's remarks published in al-Akhbar daily on Saturday that he carried two messages from the Syrian leadership to Jumblat. "In the first message, the Assad family thanked Jumblat for extending his condolences on the death of Majed," the president's brother, Arslan told al-Akhbar. "The second was a confirmation by the Syrian leadership to Jumblat that all reports about unwillingness of Syrian officials to welcome Jumblat are only analyses that do not represent the official Syrian stance," Arslan added. The MP also assured that he had no problems with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, saying MP Fadi al-Awar was representing him in Change and Reform bloc meetings. Following his meeting with McCain, Jumblat described Sunday's scheduled reconciliation in Shweifat as a "huge turning point." Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 15:15

Hariri's Visit to Turkey: Scrapping Entry Visas, Signing Defense Agreement
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri's visit to Turkey on Sunday is reportedly aimed at scrapping entry visas for the nationals of the two countries and consolidating defense, health and agricultural cooperation. The office of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Friday that the two sides will discuss bilateral ties and ways to improve them in several fields. Hariri is also expected to discuss with Erdogan, Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday the Palestinian issue and latest developments in the Middle East. An Nahar daily said Saturday that Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, who will accompany Hariri, will sign on behalf of Lebanon the agreement on scrapping the entry visas. As for Defense Minister Elias Murr, he will sign with his Turkish counterpart an agreement on training, arming and exchanging expertise between the two armies. From Ankara, Hariri is scheduled to head to Istanbul on Tuesday to attend the Turkish-Lebanese Economic Gathering. The PM returns to Beirut later in the day. In addition to Baroud and Murr, Ministers Ghazi Aridi, Hussein Hajj Hassan, Ali al-Shami and Mohammed Rahhal will accompany Hariri to Turkey. President Michel Suleiman had visited Ankara on April 21, 2009 on the head of a 60-member delegation. It was the first visit of a Lebanese head of state to Turkey since 1955. Beirut, 09 Jan 10, 09:16

Fatah al-Islam Suspect Arrested Thursday was Responsible for Providing Funds, Weapons
Naharnet/he suspected Fatah al-Islam terrorist arrested by the Lebanese Army on Thursday night is a Palestinian who fought in the 2007 Nahr al-Bared battles and was responsible for funding the group, a Palestinian security official told Agence France Presse. The Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the suspect as Munir Mezian, who had been arrested by the Lebanese army four years ago and jailed for 18 months for attacking soldiers. Mezian was tasked with "providing financial funds and weapons" for Fatah al-Islam and was "among the first group (of militants) who set up" the Islamist organization, said the Palestinian official. He said Mezian is in his 30's and is also known as Abu al-Walid. He used to live in the Palestinian Beddawi refugee camp in northern Lebanon but fled about a year and a half ago to live in Beirut with his mother. Mezian "could have information about other Fatah al-Islam militants" wanted by the Lebanese authorities, the Palestinian official said. Earlier, Lebanese media reported that the man arrested was suspected of being a leading figure in Fatah al-Islam and of plotting future attacks. "The suspect was on the state's wanted list and is a member of Fatah al-Islam," the Lebanese daily An-Nahar said. Newspapers said the army had also seized equipment during Thursday's raid on a house in Beirut. In 2007, Fatah al-Islam fought fierce battles against the army at Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The fighting killed 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and displaced some 30,000 refugees from the camp, which was leveled in the weeks-long conflict. Fatah al-Islam has also been linked to deadly bombings targeting U.N. peacekeepers in the south and civilian buses. By long-standing convention, the army does not enter Lebanon's impoverished refugee camps, home to an estimated 250,000 Palestinians.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 08 Jan 10,

Berri to Pelosi: Congress Bill Sanctioning Arab Satellites Derogates Sovereignty of Lebanon, Other Countries
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri on Friday sent a letter to U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi describing as "derogative" to Lebanon's and other Arab countries' sovereignty the bill adopted by the U.S. congress on sanctioning Arab satellite channels that are deemed as "inciting hatred" against the United States. Berri added that the bill "harms the principles of freedom of expression and civil rights, and leads to further complication in relations." "This bill represents bypassing to the sovereign national laws of the targeted countries, among them Lebanon which is a free 'Hyde Park' for the Lebanese and Arab satellite 'public opinion' media channels," added Berri's letter. "All of the (foreign) media channels broadcasting from Lebanon know and appreciate Lebanon's keenness on building the best relations with the United States which hosts a major Lebanese community." Berri added that the U.S. laws as well as Lebanese laws stress upon respect for freedom of expression which represents "the first sacred right of any human." Beirut, 08 Jan 10,

Williams Says U.N. Determined to Pursue Implementation of International Resolutions
Naharnet/United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams on Friday visited the headquarters of March 14 general-secretariat in Ashrafieh and met with its Coordinator Fares Soaid and members Samir Franjieh and Naufal Daou. Williams explored March 14 general-secretariat's standpoints regarding international resolutions related to Lebanon and the best means of approaching them. On his part, Williams explained U.N. general-secretariat stance on the subject, stressing the need to press forward in implementing the remaining compliances of international resolutions. He said that there is a lot more to be implemented despite the many compliances that have been put into action, the thing which requires Lebanese and international efforts. Williams stressed that the U.N. is determined to pursue work and efforts to implement the pending compliances of international resolutions. Beirut, 08 Jan 10,

The Enduring Iran-Syria-Hezbollah Axis
By Michael Rubin
AEI Online
http://www.insideronline.org/summary.cfm?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Insider%2BOnline&id=11740
(December 2009) The Obama administration would like to move Syria into the camp of more moderate Arab states, but there is scant evidence that Syria is willing to give up its support for terrorist organizations. Like Iran, it remains a destabilizing and dangerous force in the region.
Key points in this Outlook:
•The Lebanese and Israeli border is calmer today than during the 2006 war, but the potential for regional conflict is great.
•Both the Syrian and Iranian governments have used Hezbollah to conduct proxy warfare against Israel.
•The Obama administration has tried to move Syria from a rejectionist state into the more moderate Arab camp, but there is no evidence that the engagement policy has worked.
No. 6, December 2009
The 2006 war between Lebanon and Israel took not only outside observers by surprise, but also Israel and the government of Lebanon. A day after an operation in which Hezbollah killed five Israeli soldiers and captured two others, the Israel Defense Forces struck Lebanese targets as far north as Beirut. Over subsequent days, the Israeli Air Force bombed Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods in Beirut and struck targets in the country's north. U.S., European, and Arab diplomats scrambled to prevent the spread of hostilities. While Arab governments remained conspicuously silent, unwilling to support Hezbollah publicly, if at all, Iranian authorities egged on the militia. Speaking six days after the war began, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, the speaker of Iran's parliament, declared, "To Hassan Nasrallah [Hezbollah's secretary general] we say, well done. This religious scholar roars like a lion, and the blood of Imam [Ruhollah] Khomeini rages in his veins."[1] Iran's supreme leader encouraged Hezbollah to keep fighting. According to Nasrallah, Ali Khamenei sent him a letter two days after the war began, which stated, "You have a hard war ahead, but if you resist, you will triumph."[2
United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 1701 restored calm, but only a tenuous one. While the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) returned to Lebanon, it failed to prevent the resupply of Hezbollah with an arsenal even more advanced than before the 2006 conflict. The Lebanese and Israeli border may be calm today, but the potential for regional conflict has only grown. If a new conflict erupts, it likely will be deadlier and harder to contain to Israel and Lebanon. Hezbollah now possesses missiles capable of striking not only Haifa, but also Tel Aviv.[3]
The Obama administration, meanwhile, has reached out diplomatically to both Syria and Iran in the belief that a less confrontational approach to conflict resolution might lead the two states to reconsider their rejectionist behavior. It has not worked. While Tehran and Damascus may welcome the incentives inherent in U.S. engagement, both states continue to use proxies to pursue radical aims and undercut stability. Iran may be Hezbollah's chief patron, but Syria is the lynchpin that makes Iranian support for foreign fighters possible. While Israel may be the immediate target of the Iran-Syria nexus, the partnership threatens broader U.S. interests.
Iran may be Hezbollah's chief patron, but Syria is the lynchpin that makes Iranian support for foreign fighters possible. While Israel may be the immediate target of the Iran-Syria nexus, the partnership threatens broader U.S. interests.A Proxy Is Born
Hezbollah formed against the backdrop of Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon as an Iranian proxy. Ali Mohtashimi, Iran's ambassador to Syria from 1982 to 1985, discussed the group's beginnings in an interview with the Iranian newspaper Shargh on August 3, 2008:
After the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, Ayatollah Khomeini changed his mind about sending large forces to Syria and Lebanon. . . . I was really worried about Syria and Lebanon. I went to Tehran and met with Ayatollah Khomeini. As I was worried about Lebanon and enthusiastic about the idea of sending forces to Syria and Lebanon, I started talking about our responsibilities and what was going on in Lebanon. The imam cooled me down and said the forces we send to Syria and Lebanon would need huge logistical support. . . . The only remaining way is to train the Shi'a men there, and so Hezbollah was born.[4]
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) supported the new group as it fought or co-opted other Shia militias in southern Lebanon. The Iranian government is not shy about credit. On May 14, 2009, the London-based pan-Arab daily Ash-Sharq al-Awsat published an interview with Mohammad Hassan Akhtari, the Islamic Republic's ambassador to Syria from 1986 to 1997, and again from 2005 through 2007. Correspondent Manal Lufti described Akhtari as "the operational father" of Hezbollah, "engineer of the special relationship" between Syria and Iran, and "coordinator of Iran's relations with Palestinian organizations in Damascus," groups listed annually as terrorist organizations in the State Department's Country Reports on Terrorism.[5] Indeed, according to Ash-Sharq al-Awsat, "the Iranian embassy in Damascus became the most important Ira-nian embassy in the world. It represented something akin to a 'regional center' for Iran's diplomatic activities that extended from Damascus to Beirut and the Palestinian territories and became privy to files on several matters, chief of which was Iran's relations with Syria, Hezbollah, [and] the Palestinian organizations."[6]
Iran and Syria worked jointly to unify the Shia who, through the early 1980s, were divided between Amal and Hezbollah. Akhtari described how he and Ghazi Kanaan, the Syrian intelligence chief in Lebanon, met over months to manage reconciliation, which ultimately led to the victory of Hezbollah, the more religious of the two groups.[7] While Syria cultivated a reputation for secularism among many Western academics, Akhtari describes a different regime.[8] "The late President Hafiz al-Asad trusted Ayatollah Khomeini and respected him. He was one of those who believed that any opposition to the Islamic Republic in any shape or form and under whatever pretext amounted to treason to the Arab, Islamic, and Palestinian causes."[9] By 1988, Hezbollah was the dominant force not only in southern Lebanon, where it painted itself as the vanguard of resistance against Israel's occupation, but also in Beirut, which would remain under Syrian occupation for the next seventeen years.
Hezbollah thrived under Syrian occupation. Both the Syrian and Iranian governments used Hezbollah to conduct proxy warfare against Israel. Symbolism is important in the Middle East. In April 2001, when Nasrallah met Khamenei, Nasrallah kissed Khamenei's hand, symbolizing fealty.[10] In the decade before Israel's 2000 withdrawal from southern Lebanon, Hezbollah conducted more than three dozen suicide attacks against Israeli forces in Lebanon.[11] Between Israel's withdrawal and the eruption of war between Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah conducted twenty-one additional operations against Israel itself.[12]
The Syrian government not only turned a blind eye toward the group's activities in Lebanon as Hezbollah systematically worked to undercut that state's sovereignty, but also facilitated a supply of Iranian missiles to Hezbollah. As Patrick Devenny, Henry M. Jackson National Security Fellow at the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C., noted in a prescient article six months before the 2006 war, "The Hezbollah missile threat to Israel has expanded not only in quantity but also in quality. In recent years, the group's operational artillery reach has grown. Experts and analysts generally put the Hezbollah rocket force somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 missiles. The heart of this arsenal remains rooted in Hezbollah's massive stocks--perhaps 7,000 to 8,000--of 107mm and 122mm Katyusha rockets, virtually all of which were supplied directly from existing Iranian army stocks."[13]
Western diplomats in Lebanon estimate that Iranian assistance to Hezbollah is closer to $200 million annually.The Israel Defense Forces' failure to eradicate Hezbollah in the 2006 war led many analysts to declare Hezbollah the victor.[14] Hezbollah had survived Israel's onslaught and become the first Arab entity to hit Haifa since Israel's founding in 1948.[15] Robert G. Rabil, director of graduate studies at Florida Atlantic University and a well-regarded Syria and Lebanon analyst, went further, suggesting that Hezbollah's rise may have come at Syria's expense.[16]
Is Syria Still Important?
Syria enabled Hezbollah's rise. It became the transit point for Iranian arms. In addition, Syria provided crucial safe haven for offices, personnel, and organization, not only for Hezbollah, but also for Palestinian terror groups and, since 2003, Islamist terrorists operating in Iraq. Through it all, Iranian support has been key.
In a 1996 speech to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, then-secretary of state Warren Christopher noted that Iran provides significant financial assistance to many terrorist groups that maintain offices in Lebanon. "Iran has not stopped at rhetoric. It meets frequently with all the major terrorist groups--including Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP-GC [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command]. . . . It provides them with money--up to several million dollars a year in the case of Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others, and up to $100 million a year for Hezbollah alone. Iran also supplies them with arms and material support
training, and--in some cases--operational guidance."[17] More recently, Western diplomats in Lebanon estimate that Iranian assistance to Hezbollah is closer to $200 million annually.[18]
The arms trade continues through Syria. As the German military prepared to enforce the prohibition on Hezbollah resupply under terms of its UNIFIL mandate, the German news magazine Focus reported on October 9, 2006, that Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (Bundesnachrichtendienst, BND) had concluded that the Islamic Republic had already resupplied missiles to Hezbollah in the aftermath of the war. The BND reported that the resupply had occurred over land through Syria.[19] In 2008, Akhtari estimated that the volume of total trade ranged from $2.5 to $3 billion.[20] While illegal arms are but a tiny fraction of that figure, such trade traditionally provides cover for arms transfers. On May 29, 2007, for example, a Turkish train carrying construction supplies from Iran to Syria hit a mine allegedly laid by a Kurdish terrorist group and derailed. Police discovered an undeclared cache of Iranian arms, including rocket launchers and rifles.[21] The Turkish route into Syria may become more important as Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoˇgan tightens relations with both Tehran and Damascus. Regardless, Iranian cargo planes land frequently at Damascus International Airport.[22] Suspicion over their role in the illicit weapons trade led the European Union to sanction Iran Air Cargo.[23]
Hezbollah is not the only recipient of Iranian largesse on Syrian territory. Matthew Levitt, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) terror and financial analyst, noted in congressional testimony that estimates of Iranian assistance to Hamas ranged between $20 million and $50 million each year through the 1990s.[24] Much of this money was and still is channeled through Hezbollah.[25] Upon Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's death in 2004, for example, Iranian intelligence reportedly channeled $22 million through Hezbollah to fund Palestinian terrorist groups more sympathetic to the Iranian line.[26]
The assassination of Hezbollah terrorist Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus highlights the crucial role Syria plays in international terrorism, regardless of its diplomatic posturing. On February 12, 2008, a car bomb in Damascus killed Mughniyeh, a fixture on the FBI's most-wanted list until his death. In the wake of Mughniyeh's death, Akhtari's comments highlighted the importance of Syria in the terror nexus. "We trust Syria," the Iranian ambassador explained. "It is their concern more than ours because Mughniyeh was their guest in Damascus and, of course, because of the close relations between Hezbollah and Syria."[27] Indeed, Hezbollah agents may do Syria and Iran's dirty work, not only against Israel and Western forces in Iraq, but also against Lebanon itself. A lengthy UN investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri appears ready to finger Hezbollah as the trigger party.[28]
Syria Remains Pivotal
Desire to make progress on the Middle East peace process, unravel the Syria-Iran axis, and end Syrian support for terrorism motivates the Obama administration's efforts to flip Syria diplomatically from its role as a rejectionist state into the more moderate camp populated by countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Jordan, which may not always be pro-American in the expression of their foreign policy, but at least keep their support for terrorism indirect and do not countenance Iranian influence.[29]
There is no evidence, however, that the State Department's engagement policy has worked. Syrian concessions--allowing the American Cultural Center to reopen, for example--have been halfhearted and more than offset by revelations of continued Syrian proliferation efforts and its facilitation of terror.[30] Nor does it appear that Tehran and Damascus have loosened their relations. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has met Syrian president Bashar Assad repeatedly, most recently last month in Turkey.[31] Welcoming Syrian foreign minister Walid al-Muallim to Tehran on November 5, 2009, Ahmadinejad said, "Comprehensive Tehran-Damascus relations keep getting deeper, wiser, and stronger with the passage of each new day, and such relations are not easily subjected to other developments."[32]
Meanwhile, successful U.S. and Israeli interdiction efforts of Iranian arms at high sea, while embarrassing to Iran, have made Syria's role as a route for weapons delivery more important. The last decade has witnessed several high-profile interceptions of weapons:
•On January 29, 2001, the Israeli Navy seized two containers of weapons, reportedly offloaded in watertight containers by the Calypso, a Lebanese arms-smuggling ship.
•On May 7, 2001, the Israeli Navy seized the Santorini while it was on its fourth arms-smuggling mission. This ship carried 107mm rockets, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, antiaircraft missiles, and antitank weaponry.
•On January 3, 2002, the Israeli Navy intercepted the Karine-A, a Gaza-bound freighter, while it was on the Red Sea. Onboard, naval commandos found fifty tons of sophisticated Iranian weaponry.[33]
•On May 20, 2003, the Israeli Navy intercepted the Abu Hassan, a fishing vessel carrying weapons, explosives, and detonators.[34]
•On January 19-20, 2009, the U.S. Navy intercepted the Monchegorsk, an Iranian freighter carrying military supplies to Syria in violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559.[35]
•On November 4, 2009, the Israeli Navy intercepted the Francop, an Antigua-flagged vessel that was allegedly carrying three hundred tons of Iranian weaponry to Hezbollah.[36]
The importance of Syria grows as authorities in Tehran make clear their commitment to support Hezbollah and Palestinian groups, which the United States considers terrorists. When Ahmadinejad visited Damascus last spring, he met with the leaders of Damascus-based terrorist groups and promised them continued support.[37] Less than three weeks later, Ali Larijani, the speaker of the parliament whom some American journalists dub a pragmatist,[38] declared, "We are proud to defend Hamas and Hezbollah. We are not trying to hide it. They are fighters in the path of God, and you can call them whatever you like," adding that the idea that Tehran would ever abandon the two groups was a "U.S. dream."[39]
The Danger of Syria's Safe Haven
Syria's continued support for terrorists and other foreign fighters undermines any diplomatic gains the United States achieves. Because of Syria, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 has failed to prevent Hezbollah's rearmament. Meanwhile, the IRGC has more political power now than at any previous point in its history.[40] As such, statements by its commander that "in the near future, we will witness the destruction of Israel, the aggressor, this cancerous microbe Israel, at the able hands of the soldiers of the community of Hezbollah," should raise concerns in Washington and European capitals about the possibility of a regional conflagration.[41]
Recent reports that Iran transshipped gas masks and chemical weapons through Syria to Hezbollah should only heighten concern as the Islamic Republic increases its defiance in international discussions about its nuclear activities.[42] Across the U.S. political spectrum, analysts agree that, should Israel, the United States, or any other power strike at Iran's nuclear facilities, the Islamic Republic would respond, at least in part, by activating its proxy terrorist networks. Palestinian groups in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and foreign fighters in Iraq all have Syrian support in common.[43] Not only Hezbollah's rhetoric but also its track record suggest a willingness to attack Western targets, should war against Iran erupt.
Given both the circumstances and the stakes, it is ironic that U.S. officials continue to accept the fiction of Syrian sincerity. As difficult as stopping terrorist supplies may be, the likelihood that proxy groups will voluntarily forfeit their capability is low, and the cost of allowing terrorists to use such
Michael Rubin (mrubin@aei.org) is a resident scholar at AEI.
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Notes
1.Middle East Media Research Institute, "Iranian Parliament Speaker: The Blood of Khomeini Rages in Nasrallah's Veins; The Confrontation Is Not Only in Lebanon, but Deep Inside Occupied Palestine and within the Range of the Lion Clubs of Hizbullah . . . No Place in Israel Will Be Safe," Special Dispatch 1210, July 21, 2006, available at www.memri.org/ report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1749.htm (accessed December 14, 2009).
2."Enemies Working to Eliminate the Guardianship of the Supreme Jurisconsult," Partow-e Sokhan, in Persian, December 13, 2006, in Open Source Center IAP20061220011007.
3.Yoav Stern, "Report: Hezbollah's New Missiles Have Range 'Israel Can't Fathom,'" Haaretz (Tel Aviv), August 29, 2008.
4.Quoted in Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah," Ash-Sharq al-Awsat (London), May 18, 2008.
5.U.S. Department of State, "State Sponsors of Terrorism," Country Reports on Terrorism 2008 (Washington, DC, 2009), available at www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2008/122436.htm (accessed December 11, 2009); and Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah."
6.Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah."
7.Ibid.
8.Patrick Seale, Asad: The Struggle for the Middle East (London: I. B. Tauris, 1990), 169-79.
9.Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah."
10.Mehdi Khalaji, "Iran's Shadow Government in Lebanon" (PolicyWatch 1124, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 19, 2006), available at www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2489 (accessed December 11, 2009).
11.Robert Pape, Dying to Win (New York: Random House, 2005), 265-81.
12.Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, "Hizbullah Attacks along Israel's Northern Border May 2000-June 2006," June 1, 2006, available at www.mfa.gov.il/NR/exeres/9EE216D7-82EF-4274-B80D-6BBD1803E8A7 (accessed December 11, 2009).
13.Patrick Devenny, "Hezbollah's Strategic Threat to Israel," Middle East Quarterly (Winter 2006).
14.Efraim Inbar, "How Israel Bungled the Second Lebanon War," Middle East Quarterly (Summer 2007).
15.Nadia Abou El-Magd, "For the Majority of Arabs, Hezbollah Won, Israel Is No Longer the Undefeatable Army," Associated Press, August 18, 2006.
16.Robert G. Rabil, "Has Hezbollah's Rise Come at Syria's Expense?" Middle East Quarterly (Fall 2007).
17.Warren Christopher, "Fighting Terrorism: Challenges for the Peacemakers" (Soref Symposium, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 1996), available at www.washingtoninstitute.org/ templateC07.php?CID=69 (accessed December 11, 2009).
18.Scott Wilson, "Lebanese Wary of a Rising Hezbollah," Washington Post, December 20, 2004.
19.Josef Hufelschulte, "Neue feuerkraft für Hisbollah" [New Fire Power for Hezbollah], Focus (Munich), October 9, 2006.
20.Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah."
21."Konteynırda silahları" [Weapons Container], Hürriyet (Istanbul), May 30, 2007.
22.Matthew Levitt, "The New Lebanon: Democratic Reform and State Sponsorship" (PolicyWatch 1016, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, July 21, 2005), available at www.washingtoninstitute.org/templateC05.php?CID=2346 (accessed December 11, 2009).
23.European Union, "Acts Adopted under Title V of the EU Treaty," Official Journal of the European Union L 61/49 (February 28, 2007), available at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2007:061:0049:0055:EN:PDF (accessed December 11, 2009).
24.House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, Iranian State Sponsorship of Terror: Threatening U.S. Security, Global Stability, and Regional Peace, 109th Cong., 1st sess., February 16, 2005.
25.Ibid.
26."Iran Expands Its Palestinian Control; Offers al-Khadoumi Five Million Dollars," Al-Watan (Kuwait), December 13, 2004, quoted in House Committee on International Relations, Subcommittee on the Middle East and Central Asia, Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation, Iranian State Sponsorship of Terror: Threatening U.S. Security, Global Stability, and Regional Peace.
27.Manal Lufti, "The Making of Hezbollah."
28.Erich Follath, "Breakthrough in Tribunal Investigation: New Evidence Points to Hezbollah in Hariri Murder," Der Spiegel Online, May 23, 2009, available at www.spiegel.de/international/ world/0,1518,626412,00.html (accessed December 14, 2009).
29.Seymour M. Hersh, "Syria, Israel, and the Obama Administration," The New Yorker, April 6, 2009.
30."IAEA Inspects Nuclear Research Reactor in Syria," Agence France Presse, November 17, 2009.
31."Ahmadinejad ba ra'is jomhuri-ye Suriya didar kard" [Ahmadinejad Meets with the President of the Republic of Syria], Asr-e Iran (Tehran), November 9, 2009.
32."Ahmadinejad: Regional Conditions in Iran's, Syria's Favor," Fars News Agency (Tehran), November 5, 2009.
33.Akiva J. Lorenz, "The Threat of Maritime Terrorism to Israel," International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, September 24, 2007, available at www.ict.org.il/Articles/tabid/66/Articlsid/ 251/ currentpage/6/Default.aspx (accessed December 11, 2009).
34.Shaul Shay, The Axis of Evil: Iran, Hizballah, and thePalestinian Terror (Edison, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2005), 156.
35. "Cyprus Unloads 'Gaza Arms' Ship," BBC News, February 13, 2009.
36."Israel Navy Chief: Hezbollah-Bound Iran Ship Carried Hundreds of Tons of Arms," Haaretz.com (Tel Aviv), November 4, 2009, available at www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/ 1125807.html (accessed December 14, 2009).
37."Iran and Syria Continue to Support Resistance," Gulf News (Abu Dhabi), May 6, 2009.
38.See, for example, Barbara Slavin, "How Bush Saved Iran's Neocons," Foreign Policy (November 2007).
39."Tehran Proud to Support Hamas, Hezbollah," PressTV.ir, May 25, 2009, available at www.presstv.ir/ detail.aspx?id=95985 (accessed December 7, 2009).
40.Danielle Pletka and Ali Alfoneh, "Iran's Hidden Revolution," New York Times, June 17, 2009, available at www.aei.org/ article/100635.
41."Israel to Be Destroyed by Hezbollah," Fars News Agency (Tehran), February 19, 2008.
42."Hezbollah Silent over Report that Group Got Chemical Weapons," Daily Star (Beirut), September 4, 2009.
43.Brian Fishman, ed., Bombers, Bank Accounts & Bleedout: Al-Qa'ida's Road In and Out of Iraq (West Point, NY: Harmony Project, 2008).

'Terrorists winning,' says Canadian travel agency industry/Canwest News
http://www.canada.com/travel/Terrorists+winning+says+Canadian+travel+agency+industry/2417504/story.html
By Juliet O'Neill , Canwest News ServiceJanuary 7, 2010
The chief of Canada's travel agency industry said as new aviation security measures create delays, privacy invasions and loss of carry-on baggage rights for travellers to the U.S., it shows the "terrorist-type people are winning."Photograph by: Christinne Muschi, ReutersOTTAWA — The head of Canada's travel agency industry said Thursday that "terrorist type people are winning" as new aviation security measures create delays, privacy invasions and loss of carry-on baggage rights for tens of thousands of travellers to the United States.
David McCaig made the comment as Canadian airline industry representatives pushed for an easing or repeal of Canada's carry-on luggage ban on flights to the U.S. that was introduced after the aborted Christmas Day bombing attempt on an Amsterdam-Detroit flight over Canada.
McCaig is president of the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies and is on the board of the Canadian Corporate Travel Association.
He called body scanners "a huge invasion of privacy;" told of friends who were patted down in the U.S. but not in the crotch area where the accused "underwear bomber" hid an explosive; and expressed the frustration of business travellers who can no longer bring their briefcase and change-of-clothes aboard.
"That's why they pay for first-class," he said.
"I think the whole thing is going to hurt business and I don't just mean travel business," McCaig said in a telephone interview from Vancouver.
"It's going to hurt corporate people or business travellers who are regular travellers who are just going to say 'You know what, it's easier to stay at home. I'm not going to go through the hassle.'
"It's all negative and unfortunately it means the terrorist type people are winning the battle without having to do hardly anything."
McCaig said the travel agency industry has not been consulted by government on security matters though the industry passes on the government's security rules to consumers.
"We have to put safety and security first, so I'm not being critical, I'm just disappointed in the process of trying to bring in something so quickly when it really hasn't been thought out," he said.
Meantime, the federal government is giving the airline industry a hearing. George Petsikas, president of the National Airlines Council of Canada, was involved in the first of a series of meetings aimed at repealing a ban on carry-on luggage. He made no comment after the meetings.
The council represents Canada's major airlines — Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Air LP, and WestJet. Their total fleet is 440 aircraft and they carried 58.6 million people last year.
Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said "our operation has returned to seasonal normal, so there is not really any impact at present, perhaps a few minor delays" in flights.
Robert Palmer of WestJet said the help of RCMP at airports in Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto and of police in Montreal had helped reduce delays to almost nothing.
"Initially, delays were significant, averaging 1-3 hours in some airports," he said in an e-mail. "Now, and for the past few days, delays are rare and last minutes."
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

Question: "Do the ends justify the means?"
Answer: The answer to this question depends on what the ends or goals are and what means are being used to achieve them. If the goals are good and noble, and the means we use to achieve them are also good and noble, then yes, the ends do justify the means. But that’s not what most people mean when they use the expression. Most use it as an excuse to achieve their goals through any means necessary, no matter how immoral, illegal or unpleasant the means may be. What the expression usually means is something along the line of “It doesn’t matter how you get what you want as long as you get it.”
The “ends justifying the means” usually involves doing something wrong to achieve a positive end and justifying the wrongdoing by pointing to a good outcome. An example would be lying on a resume to get a good job and justifying the lie by saying the larger income will enable the liar to provide more adequately for his family. Another might be justifying the abortion of a baby to save the life of the mother. Lying and taking an innocent life are both morally wrong, but providing for one’s family and saving the life of a woman are morally right. Where then does one draw the line?
The ends/means dilemma is a popular scenario in ethics discussions. Usually the question goes something like this: “If you could save the world by killing someone, would you do it?” If the answer is ‘yes’ then a morally right outcome justifies the use of immoral means to achieve it. But there are three different ways to look at such a situation: the morality of the action, the morality of the outcome and the morality of the person performing the action. In this situation, the action (murder) is clearly immoral and so is the murderer. But saving the world is a good and moral outcome. Or is it? What kind of world is being saved if murderers are allowed to decide when and if murder is justified and then go free? Or does the murderer face punishment for his crime in the world that he has saved? And would the world that was saved be justified in taking the life of the one who had just saved them?
From a biblical standpoint, of course, what is missing from this discussion is the character of God, God’s law, and the providence of God. Because we know that God is good, holy, just, merciful and righteous, those who bear His name are to reflect His character (1 Peter 1:15-16). Murder, lying, theft, and all manner of sinful behaviors are the expression of man’s sin nature, not the nature of God. For the Christian whose nature has been transformed by Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), there is no justifying immoral behavior, no matter the motivation for it or the outcome of it. From this holy and perfect God, we get a law that reflects His attributes (Psalm 19:7; Romans 7:12). The Ten Commandments make it clear that murder, adultery, stealing, lying and greed are unacceptable in God’s eyes and He makes no ‘escape clause’ for motivation or rationalization. Notice that He doesn’t say, “Don’t murder unless by doing so you will save a life.” This is called ‘situational ethics’ and there is no room for it in God’s law. So clearly from God’s perspective there are no ends that justify the means of breaking His law.
Also missing in the ends/means ethics discussion is an understanding of the providence of God. God did not simply create the world, populate it with people, and then leave them to muddle through on their own with no oversight from Him. Rather, God has a plan and purpose for mankind which He has been bringing to pass through the centuries. Every decision made by every person in history has been supernaturally applied to that plan. He states this truth unequivocally: “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do” (Isaiah 46:10-11). God is intimately involved in and in control over His creation. Furthermore, He states that He works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). To go back to our first two scenarios then, a Christian who lies on a resume or aborts a baby would be violating God’s law and denying His ability to provide for a family and preserve a mother’s life if He purposes to do so.
Those who do not know God may be forced to justify their means to an end, but those who claim to be children of God have no reason whatsoever to break one of God’s commandments, deny His sovereign purpose, or bring reproach upon His Name.
Recommended Resource: Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview by William Lane Craig & J.P. Moreland.

Bald hypocrisy
January 7, 2010
Now Lebanon
According to the daily Haaretz, the Israeli government has accused Hezbollah of planting 10 “explosive devices” in South Lebanon, one kilometer from the Lebanese-Israeli border. The explosives, reportedly found by Spanish UNIFIL soldiers, were said to have been supplied by either Iran or Syria, and were designed “to prevent any Israeli Defense Forces [infiltration] patrol attempting to enter Lebanon.”
So just to make sure we are all singing off the same sheet here, Tel Aviv is complaining about anti-personnel devices placed 1 kilometer inside Lebanon that might pose a threat to any of its soldiers making an illegal incursion – or even full-scale invasion – into Lebanese sovereign territory.
Let’s hold that thought for just a second because there is more. The story broke one day after Israeli jets made another of their regular illegal sorties in Lebanese sovereign airspace, during which they staged mock air raids over much of the south of the country. Elsewhere, pilotless drones dropped flares.
It gets better. On the same day that Israel complained of the explosives, its Defense Ministry announced that it had perfected Iron Dome, an anti-missile system designed to protect it against attack from Hezbollah and Hamas. In other words, Israel can do whatever it wants to protect its own citizens, including invading another country’s airspace, but when a few kilos of TNT are found on the other side of the fence, the world is led to believe that the minute hand on the regional doomsday clock has moved one notch closer to the hour mark. Balder hypocrisy you would be hard pushed to find.
If those Lebanese who see Hezbollah’s weapons as an obstacle to full Lebanese statehood baulked at the Israeli government’s arrogance, imagine the reaction of those who live in the certainty that Hezbollah is the purest expression of Arab Resistance to Zionist aggression. If Hezbollah were a publically-listed company, its stock just rose several points.
In the meantime, all this Israeli bellyaching does not help promote Lebanese security. It creates tension and impedes the Lebanese government’s efforts to control all its territory by enhancing Hezbollah’s credentials as the only force – legitimate or not – that can protect Lebanon and the people of the south of the country in particular, from Israeli bullying. For every time Israeli jets terrorize the citizens of South Lebanon, and as long as Ghajar and the Shebaa Farms continue to be flashpoints of Israeli occupation, the South (and by extension the rest of Lebanon) will continue to simmer in a pot of instability.
Both Hezbollah and Israel are bound to abide by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, the ruling that ended the month-long conflict in the summer of 2006, which demands that Israel withdraw all its forces from Lebanon and that no Lebanese paramilitary forces – i.e. Hezbollah – operate south of the Litani River. If Hezbollah is operating south of the Litani – which it probably is – then any breaches of 1701 on the Lebanese side of the border are the responsibility of the Lebanese government, and not Israel, which clearly needs to get its own house in order, because each illegal over-flight is also in breach of 1701.
Then again Israel doesn’t really care. Like Hezbollah, it does what it wants, when it wants.

The national dialogue and 1559
Hanin Ghaddar, January 8, 2010
Now Lebanon/
The government has been formed and the ministerial statement endorsed, all while reconciliation meetings on the local and regional levels have consummated a positive political mood in Lebanon, at least on the surface. However, under the façade of pleasant smiles, the tension is still there.
The next step, along with the thorny process of making a series of official appointments, is another round of the national dialogue, which President Michel Sleiman has promised will take place soon.
Expecting any result from the national dialogue – in essence a dialogue over Hezbollah’s arsenal – would be naïve, as local and regional players are well aware that getting Lebanon’s leaders to sit around a table to talk about Hezbollah’s arms and the national defense strategy is just a way to pass time until regional dynamics shape up.
The only thing that will be emphasized in any dialogue is that Hezbollah was and still is forcing its own defense strategy on everyone else in Lebanon, and that the current mood of consensus is false, as the Lebanese are still, as always, divided on the Resistance and its arms.
Hezbollah’s leaders and allies made it clear immediately after the formation of the government in November that there will be no discussion on its arsenal, and they put pressure on the government to acknowledge its arms in the ministerial statement.
But that was not enough. Without delay, they launched a political and media campaign against UN Security Council Resolution 1559, adopted in 2004 after the Syrian regime initiated a move to amend the Lebanese constitution in order to give former President Emile Lahoud an extra term. The resolution called for the withdrawal of all foreign armies from Lebanon – meaning Syrian forces – disarming all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias, and expanding the government’s authority to all Lebanese territories.
In addition, the resolution calls for “the strict respect of Lebanon’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence under the sole and exclusive authority of the government of Lebanon throughout the country.” So what is wrong with this?
The only thing wrong with the resolution is that it’s never been fully implemented. Syria has not officially declared the Shebaa Farms Lebanese territory, though many debate whether or not it actually is. And both Hezbollah and smaller Palestinian factions supported by Syria are still armed and operate outside the sovereignty of the state.
Therefore, the Lebanese state does not yet have exclusive control over all Lebanese territory.
But why did Hezbollah and its allies launch the campaign against 1559 now? First, to let the Lebanese government know that it is not allowed to enjoy sovereignty, which Hezbollah wants to make clear before anyone mistakenly thinks the national dialogue could be an opportunity to open a debate on the issue of arms, or call for the full implementation of 1559.
There are also the valid fears that Hezbollah’s campaign was initiated in order to target other international rulings, such as UN Resolution 1757, under which the Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established to try the alleged perpetrators of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. As an indictment draws near, both Hezbollah and Syria would like to undermine the court for fear of being implicated in the crime, while preserving the Resistance’s arms.
Hezbollah International Relations Officer Ammar Moussawi told the Lebanese press in mid-December that UN Security Council Resolution 1559 created “sedition” among the Lebanese and does not have any political weight in the country. “The resolution paves way for foreign ‘guardianship’ over Lebanon,” he said. Moussawi reiterated that the issue of Hezbollah’s arms should be addressed during the national dialogue, adding that the “dialogue is not [held] to save the country from the Resistance’s weapons, but to come up with a national defense strategy.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali al-Shami, who is affiliated with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, apparently took it upon himself to inform foreign ambassadors in Beirut that 1559 is “dead and has become obsolete.”
Al-Hayat newspaper reported in December that the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent an official request to Lebanese Ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury that Damascus calls on Lebanon to make an effort to convince the UN Security Council to withdraw Resolution 1559. Damascus put forth its request, reported the daily, as it considers the resolution void since it was implemented after Syria withdrew from Lebanon in April 2005.
An anonymous source told Al-Hayat that under international law, it is impossible to withdraw a resolution after its adoption in the Security Council. The source added that the Lebanese Foreign Ministry should not tackle Syria’s request before a decision is made in the cabinet in accordance with President Sleiman’s wishes and with the ministerial statement.
However, the daily also reported that Lebanese FM Shami informed the ambassadors that the resolution is “no longer in effect.”
Hezbollah and the Syrian regime have repeatedly said that the issue of arms should be discussed internally. So their smear campaign against 1559 is not surprising. However, if Hezbollah is that hopeful about the national dialogue, it needs to at least respect its decisions. Here, it is worth reminding Moussawi and his party that the same national dialogue led to a unanimous decision in the past to disarm Palestinian militias outside the camps. The decision, however, has not been implemented.
The national dialogue, even under the auspices of President Sleiman, is not binding. As long as Hezbollah is armed, and while the Lebanese government cannot have exclusive control over all Lebanese territory, nothing is binding. That’s exactly why Lebanon needs to hold on to Resolution 1559.

Lebanese refugees wait for their due
Mona Alami, Now Lebanon
January 9, 2010
Children search for scrap metal amid rubble in Nahr al-Bared. (AFP photo/Joseph Eid)
Once dubbed the most prosperous Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, Nahr al-Bared is today a barren landscape, with mounds of rubble sitting where sprawling neighborhoods used to thrive. Nearly three years after the bloody 15-week battle that took place in the camp between the Fatah al-Islam terrorist group and the Lebanese army, many of its former residents – both Palestinian and Lebanese – are still homeless.
The conflict, which ended with the army’s victory in September 2007, left more than 30,000 Palestinians and 250 Lebanese homeless. The Lebanese who lived in the camp, most of them poor or internal refugees of the civil war, feel they have been marginalized and are not receiving as much attention – and aid – as the camp’s Palestinian residents.
Some twenty Lebanese men and women gathered recently in the small living room of Khodr Akl’s home, sharing their stories of dispossession and loss. They all lived in Nahr al-Bared for decades, some of them on land they inherited from their parents. Some were forced to move after the war, while others, like Ahmad Akl, live in decrepit buildings on the camp’s grounds.
“I left the camp three days after the beginning of the war between Fatah al-Islam and the army,” said Akl, a Lebanese former resident of Nahr al-Bared. “I had just finished building my house, which took five years to complete. The house is today partly destroyed and unsafe to enter.”
Most of the families gathered at Akl’s house said they survive on a few dollars a day. “We were given 2 million LL ($1,333) in aid from Saudi Arabia [in 2007], which was later followed by a grant from Prime Minister Saad Hariri,” said Khodr Akl, 50, who lost the truck he used for work during the conflict. “But many irregularities have come up in the distribution of relief aid,” he said, “and the UN Higher Relief Commission has been noticeably absent from the camp.”
Fadi Ashrafi, another Lebanese left homeless after the camp war, points out that some religious figures raised money for the residents, although none has yet been distributed.
Some of the lists of beneficiaries initially established by various NGOs and aid organizations featured the names of people living outside the camp who were not entitled to the aid. In addition, some 23 to 25 names were excluded from the lists of beneficiaries established by the Hariri Foundation and by the UN Development Project, according to Khodr Akl, who added that “Sheikh Saad [Hariri] had sent the donations to Tripoli, which were later diverted.”
Hajj Abdel Hamid Assad Korhani, 70, owned 62 greenhouses and a cow farm that were all destroyed during the conflict. “The only grant I ever received was the one that was distributed by Saudi Arabia in the wake of the war,” he told NOW.
Ruba Arja al-Hachem is the manager of early relief and development aid for the Nahr al-Bared municipality for the UNDP in North Lebanon. She explains that the focus of the project is providing Lebanese residents of the camp the recovery of their livelihood if they owned a business inside the enclave before the 2007 war. “To be eligible for the aid, Lebanese residents have to conform to certain criteria: namely the ownership of a viable business that falls within our budget constraints. People who previously owned large businesses worth hundreds of thousands of dollars can’t be expected to be reimbursed in the same way,” she said.
Many of the Lebanese gathered in Akl’s living room complain that they were rejected for UNDP aid to business owners, others that they are confused by the process. “I submitted a demand for a concrete mixer, which was rejected, then suddenly accepted at a later stage,” said Khodr Assaad, who received $3,500 from the UNDP.
Adnan Ashrafi said he was given a generator by the UNDP. “The only thing that I thought was strange was that it was priced at $350, but I had to sign an $850 reception bill,” he said.
Hajj Korhani feels marginalized by the UNDP’s relief efforts, as the organization employs many Palestinians who “tend naturally to favor other Palestinians,” he said.
Hachem, however, said that the UNDP is not directly doing the ground work inside the camp and has outsourced this activity to Première Urgence, a French NGO with a staff made up of French, Lebanese and Palestinians.
“Our main goal was to complement the work that the UN Relief and Works Agency is doing for Palestinians on the Lebanese side, as well as to diffuse tensions between Lebanese and Palestinians in the wake of the conflict,” Hachem told NOW.
According to the Lebanese gathered in Akl’s house, however, relations between the Lebanese and Palestinian communities in Nahr al-Bared are worsening by the day. “This year, unlike previous ones, we did not even exchange the traditional Eid visits with our Palestinian neighbors,” Khodr Akl said. An army source, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to give interviews to the press, acknowledged “that clashes have been growing in frequency inside the camp between Lebanese and Palestinians, but they remained under control.”
If the aid finally reaches all of the former Nahr al-Bared residents, and after the camp gets rebuilt, the scars of the war and the resentment they have bred are likely to remain for a long time.