LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 15/2012


Bible Quotation for today/
God's Anger and Mercy

Romans 09/19-29:But one of you will say to me, If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will? But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, Why did you make me like this? After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.  And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. This is what he says in the book of Hosea: The people who were not mine I will call My People. The nation that I did not love I will call My Beloved. And in the very place where they were told, You are not my people, there they will be called the children of the living God. And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world. It is as Isaiah had said before, If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
For Saudi Arabia, Israel is turning from foe to friend/By Amir Oren/Haaretz/April 15/12
The Security Council for Fatwas/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/April 15/12
Al-Assad: From deception to occupation/By Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat/April 15/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 15/12
Bishop Elias Audi says Lebanon in need of moral renaissance
Al-Rahi Slams 'Insulting of Dignities': Evil Being Plotted against Church, Shepherds
Gunshots fired at Lebanese Journalist Mustafa Jeha
Hariri: Hezbollah's arms preclude discussion of electoral law
Bekaa village remembers Lebanese Titanic victims
President Michel Sleiman arrives in Australia for week-long visit
The Daily Star/ Lebanon's Arabic Press Digest - April 15,
Israeli troops caught sleeping on job along Lebanon border
Fadlallah Urges Serious Probe into Shaaban Death, Bazzi Warns against 'Creating Another Enemy'
Report: Hizbullah Mediated to Prevent Safadi-Miqati Dispute from Spiraling out of Control
Netanyahu: Iran received gift from world powers with further nuclear talks
Iran demands U.S., Europe hold off attack as long as nuclear talks continue, sources say
Iran snubs US delegate in cat-and-mouse game in Istanbul
UN Monitors Head to Syria as Cease-Fire Placed at Risk
Syrian city shelled, UN truce observers to arrive
UN: First ceasefire monitors deploy to Syria on Sunday
EU urges Syria to cooperate with UN observer force

Syria cease-fire imperiled as Damascus vows crackdown
Britain hails UN Syria monitors as “vital step”
Syrian opposition hails UN vote on observers
Germany investigates report ship carrying arms to Syria
Qassem denies reports regarding Hezbollah’s involvement in Syrian events
Hezbollah dismisses Israeli warnings, says ready for confrontation
Future bloc MP Mohammad Qabbani comments on Jumblatt’s support for the government
Britain says “long way to go” on Iranian nuclear issue
Iran, world powers agree to further talks on May 23 in Baghdad
Multiple attacks on Kabul, Taliban claims 'spring offensive'
Egypt bars 3 front-runners from presidential race


Orthodox Bishop Elias Audi says Lebanon in need of moral renaissance
April 15, 2012 03:11 PM The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Beirut Metropolitan Orthodox Archbishop Elias Audi expressed dismay Sunday over the country’s current social and political conditions, calling for a moral renaissance and asking people and politicians to stand together for the sake of a brighter future. On the occasion of Easter Sunday for Christian denominations that follow the Eastern calendar, Audi lamented the series of woes that has befallen the country. “Are we not ashamed of what we hear daily of calamities? Buildings collapsing on their residents, spoiled food killing people, spoiled milk and rotten medicine, and no monitoring and no accountability?” he asked during his sermon in the St. George Orthodox Church in Downtown Beirut. “What about what we hear of deals and commissions, the waste of public money, corruption in administering our natural resources that plague the administering of the state?” he asked. Audi also said that it was time for the ambition of Lebanese to transcend security and other basic needs.
“Lebanon is in need of a moral, cultural, social and political renaissance and must rise from this muddy quagmire in which it flounders,” he said, adding that the only way to achieve such a resurrection is when people and officials come together and learn from the mistakes of the past to build a better future. The bishop also criticized opponents of a draft law aimed at protecting women from domestic violence, asking: “How can it be that in the 21st century that a [draft] law combating the oppression of women and violence against them is rejected?"He also bemoaned the lack of a proper educational system and health institutions and said that children have a fundamental right to live a decent life.

Gunshots fired at Lebanese Journalist Mustafa Jeh

April 15, 2012 12:08 PM The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese journalist Mustafa Jeha was pursued and shot at Saturday night while driving on the Damour-Jiyye highway, the National News Agency reported Sunday. Jeha was driving on the highway at 11 p.m. when it became apparent to him that a black Mercedes was pursuing him. Shortly thereafter, its occupants fired shots from a pistol. Jeha's vehicle was hit with six bullets. Security forces arrived at the scene and launched an investigation into the incident. Jeha's father, Mustafa, also a journalist, was killed by unknown gunmen while driving his car in an east Beirut suburb on Jan. 15, 1992.
The SKeyes Center for Media and Cultural Freedom, based in Lebanon, condemned the "attempted assassination" of Jeha, saying: "This is evidence of the perpetrators' intent to silence him and to prevent any serious investigation into the death of his father who was assassinated over 20 years ago." The center also quoted Jeha as saying in a telephone interview that he was still under shock especially as the bullets missed him by a few centimeters. "We have paid a price in blood for the sake of our cause and one, two or five bullets will not prevent us from continuing on our path,” Jeha said.

Hariri: Hezbollah's arms preclude discussion of electoral law

April 15, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri ruled out discussion of a new electoral law in the shadow of Hezbollah’s arms and said that Syria seeks to eliminate the Future Movement, a local daily reported Sunday.In a wide-ranging interview with Al-Mustaqbal, Hariri also said the party behind the attempted assassination of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea is “desperate” and realizes that it will be trounced in the 2013 parliamentary elections. On the subject of a draft electoral law based on proportional representation, Hariri said: “No talk or discussion of proportional representation in the presence of arms. This should be well understood by the president and prime minister.” He held both Prime Minister Najib Mikati and President Michel Sleiman responsible for any endeavor that would “smuggle” such a law into Lebanon’s political system. Sleiman, Mikati, and certain parties in the March 8 alliance including Hezbollah have criticized the 1960 electoral law and instead voiced their support for a law based on proportional representation authored by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel. The 1960 version, used in the 2009 polls, adopts the administrative unit of the qada as the so-called “small” electoral district, while the Taif Accord stipulates the larger governorate as the electoral constituency. Splitting the difference is Charbel’s proposal, which can be described as relying on medium-sized districts.
Media reports have circulated that both the Future Movement and MP Walid Jumblatt are against Charbel’s draft law because it would weaken their influence in certain regions.
Mikati, Sleiman and Charbel are in the process of re-evaluating the law in the hope of rallying support for its approval.
“It is no longer a secret that orders from the head of the regime in Syria have been issued to leaders and officials in the Lebanese government to impose an electoral law aimed at breaking the Future Movement, its allies and everyone who stands in the face of the killing machine inside Syria and its tutelage over Lebanon,” Hariri said. “And I say to you and to those in power in Lebanon, this will not pass,” he added. Hariri has been out of the country for almost a year following the collapse of his government in January 2011. Since then, the head of the Future Movement has launched scathing attacks against Mikati and Hezbollah as well as President Bashar Assad for his brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters. Hariri has promised to return to Lebanon but reports and coalition MPs have said that his continued absence is necessary due to security concerns.
In his interview with Al-Mustaqbal, Hariri said that the attempted assassination of Geagea has placed the country on a new path.
“Whoever tried to assassinate Geagea sought to eliminate a whole political team from these elections and consequently sound the death knell for the independence movement of March 14,” he said.
On April 4, Geagea said he escaped an assassination attempt when a sniper fired at his residence in Maarab in Kesrouan, and warned that the political assassinations of the last decade may have not ended.
Addressing the incident, Hariri said that “those behind this attempt are desperate and already know that they will be defeated in any democratic competition,” in reference to the upcoming 2013 parliamentary elections. “But it also means that they think they can terrorize us and force us out of democratic political life via violence and crime,” he added.
Hariri, who has said he would vote for Geagea for president in a heartbeat, said the attempt on Geagea's life was a bid to silence a Christian, progressive voice in support of the Syrian people and the Arab Spring. Turning to the recent decision by a judicial committee barring security services from obtaining telecoms data they say is needed to probe the incident in Maarab, Hariri said his movement will not remain idle regarding this issue and will follow up. “The law is clear: the request to eavesdrop on phone calls or obtain the content of SMS requires judicial approval. But what investigators are asking for in this case is a database,” Hariri maintained. Hariri warned that the March 14 movement would use all available means including protesting and strikes as long as this government insists on providing cover to criminals. On the crisis in Syria, Hariri said: “We are betting on the victory of the Syrian people and there is no shame in that. The shame is on those who are betting on the defeat of the Syrian people.”

Israeli troops caught sleeping on job along Lebanon border

April 15, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: A team of Israeli paratroopers were caught sleeping while lying in ambush along the border with Lebanon, reported Ynetnews.com Sunday.
The Israeli website said the incident, which took place several days ago, was uncovered after soldiers from the Paratroopers Brigade 101st Battalion stationed along the border with Lebanon failed to respond to radio calls from the company's "war room.” The team had been deployed to keep watch over a sensitive area along the border with Lebanon to prevent smuggling and possible attempts to infiltrate the Jewish state, Ynet said. Following an investigation, the company commander was sentenced to 14 days in a military prison, while the soldiers were confined to their base for 21 days.

President Michel Sleiman arrives in Australia for week-long visit

April 15, 2012 02:28 PM The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman arrived in Canberra Sunday on a week-long state visit to Australia, where he will meet with the country's top officials.
The president, who was accompanied by First Lady Wafaa Sleiman, was greeted by Governor-General Quentin Bryce at the Fairbairn Air Force Base.
During his visit, Sleiman is expected to hold talks with Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, New South Wales Premier Barry O'Farrell and Australian-Lebanese business leaders.
He will also travel to Sydney and Melbourne, where he is scheduled to meet with Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu.
Officials accompanying Sleiman on the state visit include Deputy Prime Minister Samir Mokbel, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Public Works Minister Ghazi Aridi.
The trip will focus in part on encouraging the Lebanese community in Australia, estimated to number approximately 480,000 people, to participate in the 2013 parliamentary elections.
The 2013 elections will mark the first time that Lebanese expatriates will be able to cast their ballots abroad.
Sleiman is also expected to discuss with his hosts concrete ways of boosting bilateral relations. Additionally, he will hold talks on Middle East-related issues. Australia is a staunch ally of Israel, but supports a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Daily Star/ Lebanon's Arabic Press Digest - April 15,
Al-Hayat
Berri's criticism of Mikati's centrism stems from Damascus' disapproval of the government's neutrality
The Syrian government no longer accepts Lebanon's neutral policy regarding events in Syria and believes that allies of Damascus should support the regime and stop taking into consideration Western pressure on the government.
A source who closely follows the matter said that evidence of Syria's disapproval of the government and its laxity in dealing with the March 14 coalition particularly the Future Movement comes in the form of Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's criticism of government productivity as tortoise-like. The evidence also assumes the form of three general parliamentary sessions to question the government that Berri has scheduled for next week.
Other sources told Al-Hayat that although Prime Minister Najib Mikati has received messages from Syria this does not mean that Syria seeks to force the collapse of the government but that it wants its requests to be taken into consideration just like Western requests, as Lebanon remains an outlet for Syria in the face of financial, economic and oil sanctions.
Ad-Diyar
Sleiman insists on approving the LL8.9 trillion bill in Parliament
The issue of the LL8.9 trillion swings between the Parliament and Baabda Palace. The majority believes that its draft law will not gain the required majority [of votes] to pass in Parliament given that opposition MPs particularly MPs with the National Struggle Front will purposely try to prevent the attainment of a quorum. This is the reason behind efforts to convince President Michel Sleiman to sign the draft law based on Article 58, a tack used by the president when he feels that there is a dispute between the executive and the legislation branches.
The majority also believes that Sleiman's signing of the decree would bring back some of the presidency’s prerogatives but the president refuses to sign citing unconstitutionality and the division between Lebanese.
In this regard, Sleiman has asked for a general parliamentary session to study the LL 8.9 trillion issue in light of the amendments made by the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee, adding that there is a chance to discuss the urgent draft law in order to approve it before the end of the 2011 financial year.

The Security Council for Fatwas
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
This is not a joke or an example of sarcasm; rather this is to commiserate with the recent statement issued by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that there are signals from Tehran that the Iranians are prepared to bring positive ideas to the table regarding their nuclear program, pointing to an Iranian fatwa prohibiting the country from possessing nuclear weapons. Therefore, so long as Iran is taking fatwas into account with regards to its policies, perhaps it would be better if we established a Security Council for fatwas!
Over the past 3 decades, since the Khomeinist revolution, Iran has been prepared to utilize religion, sectarianism and even the Palestinian Cause, as playing cards in order to infiltrate our region, as well as to divide Arab states from within; Tehran is doing this today in Iraq and Yemen, whilst it previously did this in Lebanon via Hezbollah, and this is not to mention the role it played in dividing the Palestinians. Therefore if Tehran is prepared to do all this in the name of religion and sectarianism, how can we trust the statements made by the Iranian Supreme Guide that there is a fatwa against nuclear arms? If they want to convince us that religion should serve as a source of trust in Iran, why has Tehran created strife, conflict and division in “friendly and sisterly” Islamic states? If religion truly were the guarantor of Iran’s behavior, why did Tehran sponsor the terrorist Imad Mughniyah? Why did Iran sponsor and engage with the terrorist Al Qaeda organization? Tehran has sponsored and engaged with Sunni and Shiite terrorists alike, over the past decades, and these are the same terrorists whose hands are stained with the blood of the innocent, via terrorist suicide operations, and others; so after all this, how can we trust Tehran, simply on the basis of a religious fatwa? How can we invoke a fatwa issued from a regime that does not hesitate to deal with terrorists, whether Sunni or Shiite? This is truly absurd!
The problem with the Obama administration is that it wants to pursue policies that may be acceptable to the day-dreaming cultural elite, but not to regimes that are full of cunning and deceit, like the Iranian regime, whose primary objectives do not include development, openness, humanitarian values, the well-being of its citizens, or even religious tolerance; rather all that the Iranian regime – and the ideology behind it – cares about is expansion and infiltrating other countries, for sectarian motives. Since the world is ruled by international laws and conventions, as well as interests, it is absurd to talk about an Iranian fatwa when negotiating with Tehran, for countries – like individuals – have reputations and histories that cannot be ignored, therefore the reputation of a bad country, like the reputation of a bad individual, is not based on statements or fatwas, but rather past deeds! Therefore, when US Secretary of State Clinton talks about the Iranian fatwa, we can be certain that she has not heard about Iranian taqqiya [the practice of precautionary dissimulation emphasized in Shiite Islam whereby adherents may conceal their religion when under threat]! Tehran has a history of failing to comply by its pledges and agreements, and the best example here is the visit paid by the Iranian President [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] to the Emirati Abu Musa Island that is under occupation by Iran, for despite all the Iranian – Emirati agreements regarding a truce to precede negotiations and dialogue, Tehran failed to respect its pledge; therefore if the president of the country fails to abide by his word, how can we believe the country itself will abide by this fatwa?
In reality, the claim that we can rely on a fatwa that prohibits the possession of nuclear weapons, reminds us of the famous Arab proverb: “the thief was asked to swear [his innocence], and he swore [falsely] and said “yes, this is the way out [of the predicament]!” If this fatwa is one of the merits of dialogue with Iran, then by God we are truly facing a disaster in the region!

Al-Assad: From deception to occupation!
By Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat
An era of constant lies, deception and fraud; this is the best description of the al-Assad rule in Syria. The al-Assad rule in Syria can be characterized by empty slogans and weak objectives.
There have been illusionary achievements and misleading victories whose sole objective was to draw the world’s attention away from the reality that resulted from al-Assad and his faction coming to power in Syria. This reality is that Syria has been transformed into a large prison, where citizens are nothing more than prison inmates!
Therefore, it is not surprising to see international figures and institutions accepting al-Assad’s empty promises and pledges and listening to regime’s constant lies, in their weak attempts to end the massacres being carried out by the Syrian regime against its own people following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution last year.
The Syrian regime, under al-Assad, only speaks the language of bloodshed and violence with regards to the manner it deals with its opponents. This is a language that includes mass killings, detentions and suppression. Following the outbreak of the popular revolution, the regime continues to speak this language – which indeed is the only language it speaks – publicly and in front of the eyes of the world. The regime has transitioned from a policy of lies, deception and fraud with regards to its dealings with its own people, to one of occupation.
The al-Assad regime today is forcefully occupying Syria against the will of its people, and is using its army, ordinances, arms and media to kill as many people as possible, in order to terrorize the Syrian public and break their will. The al-Assad regime is attempting to intimidate the Syrian people against demonstrating for their rights.
Bashar al-Assad and his criminal regime are no different to Saddam Hussein and his Baathist party, or indeed Muammar Gaddafi, Pol Pot, Manuel Noriega, and other criminals. The free world took the decision to end the above figures, for they were akin to a cancer that must be removed!
All those supporting al-Assad are doing so in order to further their own interests, not out of principle or a belief that he is liberal, democratic or just. These are not the attributes of the Syrian regime, unless perhaps one is being sarcastic! Turkey gambled, for many years, on its ability to domesticate the wild al-Assad regime and transform it into a humane regime with regards to adopting an economic policy of openness and improving financial policies, which represent measures that reflected positively on the Syrian people’s standard of living. However, the ugly truth revealed when al-Assad faced the first real challenge to his authority, and his claims of justice and dignity. Al-Assad failed this challenge, revealing his true face and suppressive nature. As a result, Turkey had to pay an exorbitant price for "believing" Bashar al-Assad's promises and accepting the idea that he is capable of reforming his regime.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spent time and money on establishing an exceptional relationship with Bashar al-Assad; however he later learnt the price this cost him in terms of the popularity he had built in the Arab world. Today, he stands helpless and unable to end the violations of his borders at the hands of Bashar al-Assad's thugs, who do not hesitate to violate Turkish territory with their missiles and tanks in order to kill the Syrian refugees who have fled the country. Indeed, the savagery of al-Assad’s forces has extended to the point that Turkish citizens have been killed as well.
This all happened without Erdogan being able to react, unlike his previous acts in front of the Kurdish masses in Iraq, and even in Syria itself during the era of Hafez al-Assad. Nevertheless, Erdogan is capable of "exploiting" the Syrian aggression against his country, as Turkey is a NATO member and the NATO agreement clearly stipulates that any aggression against any member states entitles NATO as a whole to defend the state in question, which could serve as a military solution to the Syrian crisis.
Today, the world is facing a savage and frenetic regime that is "occupying" its own country and exterminating its own people. We have numerous examples that illustrate that such rogue regimes, regardless of their suppression and criminal nature, are always toppled. In the Syrian case, the elements of pressure are well known: a disgusting "blend" of Iranian, Iraqi, Russian Chinese and Israeli interests that have all agreed to extend the al-Assad regime's stay [in power]. However, Syria will ultimately be liberated no matter what support al-Assad receives, or what criminal acts it engages in.
Every occupation ends, thus al-Assad’s occupation of Syria will also end, and the world will celebrate the liberation of Syria, and the country will enjoy a true “Independence Day”!

For Saudi Arabia, Israel is turning from foe to friend
By Amir Oren/Haaretz
Dialogue between Riyadh and Jeursalem will help both countries and promote a diplomatic agreement in the region..Saudi Defense Minister, Prince Salman, was the guest last week of his American counterpart Leon Panetta and, in an unusual step, was also hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama. On the agenda: Iran and the unrest in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia's neighbor and the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, the American naval power in the Persian Gulf.
The number 3 man in the Saudi ruling house could soon move to the top. He is young and healthy - everything is relative - compared to his half-brother, King Abdullah, 89, and Crown Prince Nayef, 79. The Americans have been working hard for many years to foster ties with the Saudi security forces. The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, headed from 2001 to 2003 a delegation of advisors to the Saudi National Guard.
A thin veneer of stability purchased with oil money covers a well that threatens to swallow a thousand wealthy princes. In a population of 27 million people, 5.5 million do not have Saudi citizenship. The unemployment rate among young people in the kingdom is 30 percent and the literacy rate is only 80 percent.
That is the background to the interesting message directed at Israel through an article published by a Saudi general in the American military magazine Joint Force Quarterly. Since a senior officer, a brigadier general in the royal family, does not pretend not to have the authority to reflect the conservative stand of the regime and does not publish for his own amusement statements and conclusions with diplomatic significance, it seems that Saudi Arabia is thus hesitatingly and conditionally courting Israel. The condition: that there be movement toward an agreement in the spirit of that promoted by Saudi King Abdullah. If Israel moves in this direction, he wrote as long as a decade ago, Saudi Arabia must express willingness for peace with Israel and influence the rest of the Arab world in this direction.
This time he went one step further. He praised President Shimon Peres and called for "encouraging Israelis, Palestinians and other Arabs to get to know each other at least initially over the Internet while discussing sports, photography and other common interests - including peace prospects."
The general-prince-Ph.d. is His Royal Highness Naef Bin Ahmed Al-Saud, who holds advanced degrees from Georgetown University and Cambridge. His military expertise: strategic planning and special operations, international diplomacy and cyber warfare. When he studied at the National Defense University in Washington D.C., among his classmates was Israel Air Force officer Zeev Snir, now a brigadier general in the IAF reserves, who, at the end of his studies was appointed the IAF's chief procurement officer and currently heads the security establishment's special means branch.
Naef is sensitive to the impact of social processes on the Saudi regime. In 2002, also in an article in the Joint Forces Quarterly, he predicted that "Riyadh has found it prudent to modernize its military and acquire advanced weapons. But future increases in population require allocating considerable resources to meet domestic needs such as education, housing and medical services." He also wrote that the Saudi rulers would lose their credibility if they did not take public opinion into consideration.
This month, in the same quarterly, Naef scrutinizes social protest in Israel from an angle that is of great interest to the kingdom's rulers - the social network's role in organizing protests but also in assisting police and security services in monitoring them.
Saudi Arabia has prepared itself to push back a wave of the Arab Spring if it comes to its shores, and it wants very much to learn the lessons of last summer's protests in Israel, as well as those of the riots in Britain in August. "The Kingdom's leadership has been observing developments in Israel as a test of social media's effectiveness in organizing non-violent protest to create significant shifts in security and economic policy," he wrote in the Joint Forces Quarterly.
Naef is trying to persuade his readers that the Saudi government's monitoring of the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and text messages has a legal foundation similar to that in the West and in "the world's largest democracy, India."
He also justifies Israeli opposition to the arrival of foreign agitators by boat or plane. "Ultimately, Western leaders do not want to see 'social media' sources organize large protests erupting in Riyadh or downtown Beijing," causing chain reactions that would lead to the collapse of Western economies.
There is a thread here that is begging to be followed. Israel and Saudi Arabia have a mutual enemy, Iran, and a mutual buttress, the United States. Dialogue between them, perhaps beginning with military people like Naef, will help both countries and promote a diplomatic agreement in the region.

EU urges Syria to cooperate with UN observer force
April 14, 2012 /The European Union welcomed on Saturday a UN Security Council vote authorizing an observer force to Syria and urged the regime to cooperate with the mission."The resolution presents an unequivocal call from the international community to the Syrian regime to stop violence against its population and to address urgent humanitarian needs," said EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "I call on the Syrian government to take this opportunity to change course, and fully cooperate with the initial observation team," she said in a statement."The first priority is to ensure a complete cessation of violence in Syria and to allow for full and unhindered access to humanitarian aid."The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously agreed to send an advance party of 30 unarmed military monitors to Syria where new violence threatened a fragile ceasefire. Asthon said the resolution was "an additional step in the right direction in the implementation" of the peace plan put forward by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan."It is also a long-awaited development for the Syrian people after more than a year of suffering from violence and repression," she said.
"Even if the situation on the ground remains very unstable and uncertain, I hope this resolution will open the way to a fully-fledged UN observation mission in Syria in accordance with Kofi Annan's plan."
A new UN resolution will be required to give a mandate to the full monitoring mission of more than 200 observers.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

UN: First ceasefire monitors deploy to Syria on Sunday
April 14, 2012 /The first five or six UN ceasefire monitors will be in Syria on Sunday, a UN peacekeeping spokesperson said."Immediately [after] the Security Council passed the resolution today, we had five or six military observers getting on a plane. They will arrive in Syria probably tomorrow," spokesperson Kieran Dwyer told AFP.The UN Security Council on Saturday unanimously approved sending a 30-person advance mission of unarmed military observers to monitor the ceasefire established Thursday.Most of the first monitors left from the UN headquarters in New York, Dwyer said. The remaining 25 will arrive in the coming days."Mostly, they will be mobilized from nearby missions in the region so we can get experienced people," Dwyer said.The UN has been looking at its missions in the Golan Heights region between Syria and Israel, and in Sudan and South Sudan for monitors to serve in the observer mission."Their first task will be to set up operating headquarters, and then they will quickly need to reach out to contacts both with the Syrian government and their security forces and with opposition forces so that both sides fully understand the monitoring role," said Dwyer."Then they will be able to set up a system for implementing the monitoring."The Security Council approved the advance party but must agree on a new resolution to send the full monitoring mission, which would include at least 200 monitors under plans set out by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Britain hails UN Syria monitors as “vital step”
April 14, 2012 /Britain welcomed Saturday's unanimous UN Security Council resolution to send military monitors to Syria, calling it a "vital step in supporting the fragile ceasefire."The Council passed its first resolution on the Syria crisis, allowing an advance party of unarmed monitors to go to the country on the brink of civil war.Welcoming the unanimous endorsement, Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement: "This mission is a vital step in supporting the fragile ceasefire in Syria.”"It is essential that it begins its work urgently and without impediment. I urge all parties to maintain the ceasefire to allow the monitoring mission to deploy and complete its task."The Syrian government must ensure that the monitoring team has freedom of movement and access, and it must not obstruct communication between the monitors and headquarters." UN Resolution 2042 approved the first 30 unarmed military monitors, who UN officials said could leave for Damascus within hours. A new resolution with a full mandate will be required for a monitoring mission of more than 200 observers.Saturday's resolution also calls upon the Syrian government to "implement visibly" all commitments under special envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan - including the withdrawal of all troops and heavy guns from Syrian cities."It is also essential that there are guarantees from the parties on security, without prejudice to the mission's freedom of movement," Hague said."These conditions are set out in today's UNSC resolution, and we will hold the Syrian regime to it and to Kofi Annan's six-point plan.”"I again urge the Syrian regime to comply with Kofi Annan's plan in full. It must stop troop movements towards population centers; end the use of heavy weapons in civilian areas; and withdraw the military to their barracks."He said failure to act would result in further international pressure on the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Britain is one of the five permanent, veto-holding members of the UNSC.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syrian opposition hails UN vote on observers
April 14, 2012/Syria's opposition on Saturday hailed the UN Security Council resolution on the deployment of observers as a "first step" to protect the Syrian people against a brutal regime crackdown.
"We express our welcome of the decision," the Syrian National Council, the main opposition coalition, said in a statement signed by its leader Burhan Ghalioun, a copy of which was received by AFP.
"This decision, late in coming, constitutes the first international political achievement of the struggle and sacrifices of the Syrians," the SNC said. It said the unanimous vote at the United Nations in New York earlier the same day was "the first important step taken by the international community in meeting its responsibilities towards the Syrian people.""We are ready to act to make the Annan plan a success," it said, referring to envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan aimed at ending a crackdown on dissent that the UN say has killed over 9,000 people since March 2011.The SNC, however, warned of "delaying tactics and falsification of the truth by the regime," which had failed to withdraw from towns in line with the Annan plan and had killed more civilians since Thursday's ceasefire.It called for the international community to bring in "further measures to ensure the protection of the Syrian people in the face of the regime's killing machine."
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Qassem denies reports regarding Hezbollah’s involvement in Syrian events
April 14, 2012 /Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Saturday denied reports concerning the deployment of Hezbollah fighters in Syria to support the regime, the National News Agency reported.“Everything that [is being] said is not true because whenever we do something we do it [plainly] in front of everyone, with no fear from anyone,” Qassem said.He added that the Syrian regime did not need Hezbollah fighters because “[it is supported] by strong people and strong leadership.”Israeli daily Haaretz reported on April 6 that Hezbollah and Iran had “significantly” increased their aid to the Syrian regime amid anti-regime demonstrations throughout the country. According to UN estimates, more than 9,000 people have been killed in violence across Syria since anti-regime protests broke out in March 2011, while monitors put the number at more than 10,000, mostly civilians. Lebanon's political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, led by the March 8 group, and a pro-Western camp represented by March 14.
For live updates on the Syrian uprising, follow @NOW_Syria on Twitter or click here.

Hezbollah dismisses Israeli warnings, says ready for confrontation
April 14, 2012 05:25 PM The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The head of Hezbollah's foreign relations department Ali Daamoush said during the Friday sermon at the Sayyida Zainab complex in Hart Hreik that Hezbollah is ready for any confrontation with Israel, and that recent belligerent statements by Israeli officials conform to an aggressive Israeli mentality. Daamoush's comments came in response to recent media reports quoting high-ranking Israeli military officials as reiterating warnings that in any future conflict, Israel would not hesitate to strike Lebanon's infrastructure in addition to Hezbollah targets. In a thinly veiled reference to the March 14 coalition, Daamoush said that "the resistance is ready for any confrontation Israel may impose, despite the presence of domestic forces that ignore the Israeli threats and target the resistance and do not cease attacking it and its weapons."Daamoush urged the Lebanese to rally around the "tripartie formula of the army, the people and the resistance" as the most effective means of confronting the Israeli threat.

Germany investigates report ship carrying arms to Syria

BERLIN, April 14 (Reuters) - Germany said on Saturday it was investigating a report that a German-owned ship in the Mediterranean en route to Syria was carrying Iranian weapons in breach of an arms embargo.Germany's Der Spiegel reported the ship loaded the cargo in Djibouti this week and changed course for Iskenderun in Turkey on Friday when the cargo was at risk of being uncovered.
It then stopped about 80 km (50 miles) southwest of the Syrian port of Tartus, its initial destination, it said. No other details were available on the ship's movements.
A spokeswoman in Berlin said the Economy Ministry was looking into a media report that the ship, part of the fleet of German-based shipowners Bockstiegel, was transporting Iranian weapons bound for Syria."We are looking into information that the embargo was breached," the spokeswoman said. Der Spiegel's website reported that the Atlantic Cruiser had been chartered to a Ukraine-based company, White Whale Shipping, which had declared the cargo as "pumps and the like".
Der Spiegel quoted ship broker Torsten Lueddeke of Hamburg-based C.E.G. Bulk Chartering as saying: "We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo". Bockstiegel and C.E.G. Bulk Chartering were not immediately available for comment. The Ukrainian company denied the Atlantic Cruiser was carrying weapons, according to Spiegel Online. "The ship is not transporting dangerous or militarily significant freight to Syria," Spiegel cited the Ukrainian firm as saying. The Economy Ministry confirmed the ship was owned by a German company, which had chartered it to foreign operators.
Western sanctions imposed on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad include an arms embargo and a ban on importing Syrian oil into the European Union.

UN Monitors Head to Syria as Cease-Fire Placed at Risk

By Flavia Krause-Jackson - Apr 14, 2012 /Print QUEUEQ..An advance team of 25 United Nations military observers are headed to Syria after the Security Council authorized their deployment to monitor a cease- fire at risk from reported shelling by security forces in Homs. The UN’s 15-member council voted unanimously yesterday to dispatch a first wave of monitors and urged President Bashar al- Assad to “implement visibly its commitments in their entirety” under a six-point cease-fire plan by UN special envoy Kofi Annan. A bigger mission will follow, if conditions allow it. Attachment: UN Syria Resolution .The truce was already being tested as the UN’s most powerful body passed it first binding measures to stem a 13- month conflict that has killed more than 9,000 Syrians. Inspired by revolts that toppled leaders in Egypt and Libya, the Syrian uprising is evolving into a civil war with sectarian undertones.
“We are under no illusions,” U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, told the council after passage of the resolution. “Two days of diminished violence after a year of murderous rampage hardly proves that the regime is serious about honoring its commitments.” Days after an April 12 cease-fire was declared, reports emerged of soldiers opening fire on protesters in the cities Homs, Aleppo and Hama. Syrian security forces killed 27 people across the country, the Local Coordination Committees, an umbrella opposition group, said in a statement yesterday.
Yesterday, the council said it “expresses its intention to assess the implementation of this resolution and to consider further steps as appropriate.” The UN’s decision-making body alone can authorize sanctions, referrals to the International Criminal Court and military intervention.
‘Brutal’ Shelling
“Syrian forces resumed their brutal shelling of Homs, and shot innocent mourners at a funeral in Aleppo,” Rice, who holds the Security Council presidency this month, said. “This resumed violence casts serious doubts yet again on the regime’s commitment to a cessation of violence.
Homs, a flashpoint of the uprising seeking to topple Assad’s rule, has been the target of a military campaign by the regime, which says it’s fighting terrorists in the city.
Before the cease-fire, the death toll in Syria often exceeded 100 a day, reaching 9,000 in the 13 months since the start of the uprising, according to the UN. A prolonged lull would allow deployment of unarmed monitors in the country, while failure of the cease-fire may prompt calls for outside military intervention.
Russia’s Stake
The language and tone of the resolution was scaled back to secure approval from Russia, which has been allied with Assad’s regime and twice vetoed attempts at the Security Council to hold him accountable for the violence. Russia has a stake in the survival of a Soviet-era ally, selling the Assad regime weapons during the uprising. Still, the government in Moscow has leaned on the Syrian government to accept the cease-fire terms and let UN monitors into the country.
“For many months now the situation in Syria has been the subject of the fixed attention and alarm of the international community and it’s understandable,” Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council after the vote. “There have been too many casualties” and there are “too many destructive consequences if the crisis continues to ratchet up.”
Amnesty International led human-rights activists in calling the compromise resolution “underwhelming.”
Radhwan Zyadeh, a member of the Syrian National Council, the main opposition group, told Al Jazeera that Syrians were “frustrated” by the one-year wait for a resolution that achieves a bare “minimum,” given Russia’s position.
Assad’s Survival
Assad, 46, is fighting for the survival of his Alawite family’s four-decade hold on power. While more than 70 percent of Syria’s population is Sunni, Assad and the ruling elite are in a minority, belonging to an offshoot of the Shiite branch of Islam that predominates in Iran and which stands to lose privileges should he fall.
The UN has had monitors and political officers in the Middle East since the 1940s as well as in other regions, the most recent a group of 180 observers sent to oversee the end of the civil war in Nepal.
A UN presence in Syria involving 250 personnel will be trying to cover a much larger country, according to Richard Gowan, associate director for crisis diplomacy and peace operations at the New York University Center on International Cooperation.
Their safety in Syria will also be a concern. In 2006, during the war in southern Lebanon, four UN monitors were killed by Israeli fire. In 1998, a team of 1,400 observers were deployed to try to calm the situation in Kosovo yet were pulled out the following year as Yugoslav security forces kept carrying out atrocities.
To contact the reporter on this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson in United Nations at fjackson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net

Future bloc MP Mohammad Qabbani comments on Jumblatt’s support for the government

April 14, 2012 /Future bloc MP Mohammad Qabbani on Saturday expressed his view concerning Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt’s role in supporting the current government.
Commenting on the parliament session that will question the government next week, Qabbani told OTV television: “Jumblatt is still [supportive] of this government.”The MP added that the PSP leader “differentiates between external politics and internal [issues regarding his] position on the government.”Jumblatt has been vocal in his criticism of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has been involved since mid-March 2011 in a violent crackdown on dissent that the UN estimates to have killed more than 9,000 people, mostly civilians. In April, Jumblatt called on Hezbollah, a supporter of the Assad regime, to join the Syrian uprising.Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah and which is represented in the Lebanese government, and the opposition March 14 camp.-NOW Lebanon

Iran, world powers agree to further talks on May 23 in Baghdad

April 14, 2012 /Britain said Saturday's talks between world powers and Iran over its disputed nuclear program were a first step towards a peaceful, negotiated solution but warned there was still a long way to go.Foreign Secretary William Hague said London was looking forward to the next round of talks in Baghdad on May 23, following the meeting in Istanbul between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany."The six negotiating powers approached these talks determined to pursue a serious dialogue with Iran, and committed to finding a peaceful, negotiated solution to the nuclear issue," Hague said in a statement. "Today's talks were a first step towards that objective, but there is still a long way to go. "We look forward to the next round of talks. We now need agreement on urgent, practical steps to build confidence around the world that Iran will implement its international obligations and does not intend to build a nuclear weapon."The United Nations Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran due to suspicions that its civilian nuclear program is a cover for a secret atomic weapons drive - a charge Tehran vigorously denies.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Iran, world powers agree to further talks on May 23 in Baghdad
April 14, 2012 /Iran and world powers agreed in nuclear talks Saturday to hold another, more in-depth meeting in Baghdad on May 23, EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after "constructive" discussions here. "We expect the subsequent meetings will lead to  concrete steps towards a comprehensive negotiated solution which restores international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program," Ashton said."This is why we will meet again soon on the 23rd of May in Baghdad."Saturday's talks between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany - the P5+1 - had been "constructive and useful, reflecting the terms and spirit of our recent exchange of letters with Iran," she said.Ashton warned Iran however that the next round of talks in the Iraqi capital would have to be more detailed than in Istanbul and achieve real progress. "I have been very clear in my discussions with [chief Iranian negotiator] Dr. [Saeed] Jalili, and he has understood and agreed, that we are looking for the next meeting to take us forward in a very concrete way.” "This is a process which, if it is to be successful, will have to be sustained. It will begin by finding ways in which we can start to build the confidence of the international community," she told reporters. "This is what we will seek to start properly in Baghdad at the end of May." The UN Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran because of suspicions that its civilian nuclear program is a cover for a secret atomic weapons drive, a charge Iran vigorously denies.
The international community's main concern, particularly for Iran's arch foe Israel, is Tehran's growing capacity to enrich uranium, which can be used for peaceful purposes but also, when purified further, for a nuclear weapon.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Iran snubs US delegate in cat-and-mouse game in Istanbul
DEBKAfile Special Report April 14, 2012/The only real action at the resumed nuclear negotiations between Iran and the six world powers in Istanbul Saturday, April 14, was played out on the sidelines. The Obama administration’s intense effort to put relations with Tehran on a new, more amicable footing, was thrown back in its face by the head of the Iranian delegation, Saeed Jalili, who gave the senior US delegate, Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman, a humiliating runaround after she was reported in Tehran as having invited him to a bilateral meeting during the lunch break.
First, Iranian officials first announced there would be no meeting. Next, third-party efforts, especially by Russian and Turkish officials, to arrange one were spurned. Then, the American side publicized Sherman’s invitation to Jalili, calculating that the Iranian delegation leader could hardly break every rule of diplomatic propriety by turning her down. Nonetheless, after issuing conflicting reports - some claiming Jalili had accepted the US delegate’s invitation - the official Iranian news agency IRNA announced: "The Iranian delegation rejected the request of Wendy Sherman, the representative of the American delegation, for a bilateral meeting."
To drive the snub home, Tehran played up Jalili’s meetings with heads of the Russian and European delegations. According to some diplomatic sources, Tehran took it amiss that Sherman is junior in rank to Jalili who is head of Iran’s National Security Council and therefore decided against the meeting.
The session ended with May 23 being set as the date for the next round of talks. They will take place in Baghdad. Accepting this venue was another American concession for the sake of keeping up a friendly dialogue with Tehran.
debkafile summed up the opening session of the nuclear talks with Iran in an earlier report April 14.
At Istanbul, US puts better ties with Iran ahead of nuclear issues
European diplomats close to the nuclear negotiations which Iran and six world powers launched in Istanbul Saturday, April 14 praised the first session as “constructive” because all the participants agreed that it laid the ground for a follow-up meeting in a month or six weeks. debkafile: For this modest "concession," Tehran won its first advantage, time for advancing its nuclear weapons program and a substantial delay for any US or Israel military action to preempt this advance – up until mid-summer.
At around the same time, in July, President Barack Obama is committed to declare the next round of sanctions against Iran - a tight clampdown on its banks and oil exports.
It is doubtful if then Tehran will consent to go back to the “everything is on the table” policy it pursued surprisingly for the first time in Turkey. Until now, the Iranians refused to allow its nuclear activities, especially in the military field, to be aired at international forums. Yet at the Saturday session, Saeed Jalili, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator avoided mention of sanctions and, as debkafile predicted on April 11, did not demand the lifting of penalties as a precondition for negotiations.
His statement to the meeting was not released. European diplomatic sources only quoted him as saying generally that he was ready “to seriously engage on the Iranian nuclear issue.”
US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman is quoted as saying that “relations between Washington and Tehran need not be so bad.”
During the break for lunch, when informal meetings traditionally take place among the delegates, Sherman is reported by Western sources to have asked to talk to Jalili, but whether or not they met was not stated. Shortly after, sources in Tehran denied that the US and Iranian delegation leaders had met separately but later said Jalili had accepted her invitation.
Diplomatic circles in the West including Israel were surprised at the choice of Wendy Sherman as US delegation leader. She is reputed to be Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s closest and most influential adviser. This is taken as a signal from Washington to Tehran that the Obama administration is more interested in improving the climate of relations with Iran at the diplomatic level than reaching understandings on the nuclear issue.
On April 7, debkafile’s Washington sources disclosed that this goal was underscored in the message from President Obama to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan delivered on March 29.
The president expressed the hope that Iranian leaders would abandon their hostile rhetoric and stop referring to the United States as their enemy. Erdogan was directed to inform the supreme leader that statements from Tehran crediting Obama’s policy for this improvement in tone would be welcomed, for example, Khamenei’s remark on March 8 in which he welcomed comments by US President Barack for “for pushing forward diplomacy and not war as a solution to Tehran’s nuclear ambition.”
This initial US approach and the absence from the American delegation of any important expert on Iran’s nuclear program have raised concern among some of America’s Western allies as well as Israel about the prospects of the Istanbul talks getting anywhere in their avowed objective of reining in Iran’s nuclear aspirations.