LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 04/12

Bible Quotation for today/
Luke 12/6-9: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's Speech of August 03/12
Liberation from whom/Now Lebanon/August 03/12
Gebran does not like the Resistance/Now Lebanon/Hazem al-Amin/August 03/12
The Syrian conflict’s new phase/Now Lebanon/Tony Badran/August 03/12

Iran prepares for 60 percent uranium enrichment
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 3, 2012/
The months of negotiations with the six world powers were happily used by Iran for great strides toward bringing its nuclear weapon program to fruition. Tehran’s back-channel dialogue with Washington leading up to the negotiations served the same purpose. Since diplomacy ran aground, war has become inevitable and preparations for cutting short Iran’s rapid progress have accelerated.
Former Israeli Mossad director Ephraim Halevi commented to the New York Times Thursday, Aug. 2, that if he was an Iranian he would be very worried in the next 12 weeks.
Developments in Iran and the region at large are generating the current eve-of-war climate in the Middle East:
1. While Saeed Jalili communed at leisure with Catherine Ashton in world capitals, uranium enrichment levels in Iran crept past 20 percent in expanded quantities. The six powers are understandably reluctant to admit that in the time bought by negotiations, Iran was able to refine uranium up to 30-percent grade or even a higher and go into advanced preparations for 65 percent grade enrichment. Now the Iranians are well on the way to an 80-90 percent weapons grade.
The talk in Tehran about the need for nuclear-powered ships and submarines offered a fictitious pretext for crossing that threshold. Iran is not about to build those vessels or engines for lack of technology, materials and infrastructure. But nuclear-powered ships’ engines require the same highly-enriched uranium (90 percent) as bombs.
2. Iran has launched a crash mega-fortification program for sheathing in steel and concrete nuclear facilities whose transfer to underground “immune zones” for escaping bombardment would be too costly, cumbersome and time consuming.
If the US and Israel leaves Iran alone to complete this project, they will have forfeited the opportunity of pre-empting Iran’s nuclear program – only inflicting partial and temporary damage at best.
3. President Barack Obama is under very heavy pressure from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf oil states to waste no more time and destroy that program without further shilly-shallying.
4. Riyadh, Doha and Abu Dhabi tried to achieve that objective indirectly by massively backing the Syrian revolt against Tehran’s best friend Bashar Assad in the hope that his fall would stop the Iranians in their tracks. They never came close: Assad is still fighting tenaciously and his army is in intact after 17 months.
5. Instead of capitulating to the odds against the Syrian ruler, Tehran increased its military stake in Assad’s battles.
debkafile’s military sources say that without Iran’s lavish and timely air and ground supply corridors, the Syrian army would have long since run out of arms for defending the Assad regime against revolt.
The Gulf governments are therefore forced to accept that their plans to weaken Iran by toppling Assad have backfired in more ways than one.
6. Turkey and Iraq, each for its own reasons, are letting Iranian arms pass through their territories to Damascus, a move which is counter-productive to Gulf interests on the Middle East keyboard. Ankara, in particular, hosts rebel command centers and training camps with one hand, while, with the other, lets arms shipments through to Assad’s army for destroying those same rebels the moment the cross into Syria.
7. UN, American and European sanctions have failed to drive Tehran into giving up its nuclear program, as even the White House admitted Wednesday, Aug. 1, or slowed down its development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads.
8. US and Israeli intelligence experts agree that Iran will be able to produce dirty bomb within three months, ready to hand out to the terrorist networks run by the Revolutionary Guards external clandestine arm, the Al Quds Brigades. They are designed for use in time of war against Israelis abroad and Americans in the Persian Gulf and Middle East. Israel fears the radioactive bombs will find their way to Tehran’s surrogates, the Lebanese Hizballah or the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
9. Those experts also agree that the Tehran-sponsored terrorist campaign against Israel has already begun. Launched by Hizballah or the Al Quds Brigades, it is expected to gain impetus. The July 18 attack in the Bulgarian town of Burgas, in which five Israelis and a Bulgarian were killed, is seen as the precursor of more attacks whose dimensions will expand in a way that forces Israel to retaliate.

Israel realizes: Only US can stop Iran
08.03.12/Ynetnews
Analysis: Israeli decision-makers becoming increasingly convinced Washington determined to prevent nuclear Iran. It's a known secret that the IDF and the security establishment have been focused over the past few years on creating a viable military option for a strike in Iran. Israel has invested billions in this endeavor. The goal was to obtain operational capabilities that would serve as the basis for a strike, which, if launched, would set Iran's nuclear program several years back. With a little luck, it would stop the nuclear program altogether. A creative plan towards this end was devised during Gabi Ashkenazi's tenure as IDF chief of staff, but back then Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak faced two obstacles: The Obama administration was, and remains, vehemently opposed to a strike for fear of a spike in oil prices, which would hamper economic recovery and hurt the president's chances for reelection. In Israel, senior IDF officers and the intelligence community urged Barak and Netanyahu to delay any plans for an attack.Ashkenazi, former Mossad chief Meir Dagan and then-Shin Bet head Yuval Diskin were not against attacking Iran in principle. They were convinced, along with other top intelligence officials and IDF General Staff officers, that Iran must be prevented from achieving nuclear capabilities at almost any cost. They're still convinced of this. But in their opinion, a strike in Iran, particularly one that is carried out by Israel, must be a last resort, when, as Ashkenazi said at the time, "the sword is on Israel's neck."
The security echelon's position was that should Iran reach the point where only a military operation could set back or halt its nuclear program, it would be preferable that the US carry out such an operation, mainly because it possesses the capabilities, resources and army bases to operate in all of Iran and sustain a military campaign over a long period of time – even months. Such an ongoing operation would prevent Iran from rehabilitating its nuclear program.
Back then, the security establishment and Mossad were still under the impression that economic sanctions, diplomacy and a covert technological war led by Washington would set Iran's nuclear program back more than any Israeli strike could
It must be noted that at the time the social unrest in Iran threatened to topple the conservative regime led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Looking back, in light of the recent developments, it is safe to assume that had the American and European sanctions been imposed two or three years ago, by now Iran would have been willing to compromise. But in the current situation, Iran is just beginning to feel the economic pinch of the western sanctions, while its nuclear program is in an advanced stage and has even been accelerated. But the Obama administration and Europe wasted valuable time at the UN Security Council trying to conduct dialogue with Iran. Meanwhile, Tehran constructed the fortified facility in Fordo, installed advanced centrifuges in the facility and produced enough low-enriched uranium for three or four nuclear warheads. Today, the centrifuges in Fordo are already enriching uranium to a fissile concentration of 20%. From here it would not take Iran a long time to produce fissionable material. They already have enough enriched uranium to build a number of bombs.
Therefore, from a military and perhaps even a strategic perspective, Netanyahu and Barak were right in their assumptions. At the time, Israel could have struck Iran's nuclear facilities with relative ease and delayed the nuclear program by more than one or two years. But since then Iran has expanded the "immunity zones" protecting its nuclear and missile program. At the time, they were quite exposed. But the heads of the security establishment were also right to object to a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities and missile caches. Such a strike, if it is not carried out by the US, must at least be launched in full coordination with Washington – due to its scope and possible complications. This would not be a pinpoint attack such as the one which destroyed the Iraqi reactor in 1981 or the one which targeted the Syrian reactor in 2007 (according to foreign reports, the attack in Syria was carried out by Israel). An attack on Iran would require flying or sailing through enemy territory, which naturally increases the chances of being detected early on in the operation. To overcome at least some of the complications which could arise in the event that Israeli forces are detected before reaching their targets - we would need the US. At least this is what Israeli security officials claim in interviews with the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The Iranians are using the negotiations with the West to gain time, which is being utilized to increase the pace of uranium enrichment and weapons development. However, for the time being Khamenei cannot decide on advancing towards "nuclear breakout" capability ahead of building an actual nuclear bomb; but he will be able to make such a decision in the beginning of next year. Meanwhile, Israel is continuing with its preparations, which are headed by IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Members of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee claim that former security officials who are against an Israeli strike are not familiar with the current plan and the existing capabilities. Judging by his appearances before the committee, Gantz appears to be fairly certain that, if ordered to attack, the IDF would be able to surprise the Iranians and shock the world.
There are, however, those who claim that Gantz is also opposed to a strike, as are the current heads of the Air Force, IDF Intelligence, Mossad and the Shin Bet. But this claim is false. Cabinet ministers have heard Gantz say that there will apparently be no choice but to strike Iran. It seems that, just like Netanyahu and Barak, he is convinced sanctions and diplomatic pressure will not be enough to curb the Islamic Republic's nuclear ambitions.
Israelis officials believe Iran will achieve "nuclear breakout" capabilities long before the sanction threaten the regime in Tehran.
From information that has already been leaked to the press, it is fairly obvious that Gantz prefers that such a military operation would be led by the Americans - for a number of reasons: The American military has the staying power to conduct a military campaign that would stop Iran's nuclear program completely, while Israel only has the capability to set the nuclear program a few years back. Moreover, should the Americans decide to strike Iran, they would also help Israel fend off a counter-strike by the axis of evil, which will include Hezbollah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and maybe Syria as well. Another possible reason is that a unilateral Israeli strike launched without Washington's backing would isolate Israel diplomatically.
It seems that Gantz - like Ashkenazi, Diskin and Dagan - believes Iran must be prevented from achieving nuclear capabilities at almost any cost – preferably with the US' help.
In any case, Israel has yet to reach the point where it must decide whether or not to strike Iran. In light of the economic situation in Iran and the current stage of its nuclear program, Israel has until mid-October to decide. After that, the weather may hinder any Israeli attack. But Israel can even postpone the strike until the spring. It does not appear that the situation on the ground will change drastically during this time.
Israel's decision-makers, headed by Netanyahu and Barak, are becoming increasingly convoinced of the US' intention to prevent a nuclear Iran – regardless of whether Obama is reelected or if Mitt Romney takes office. Israel's knowledge of the Pentagon's plan for an ongoing aerial-naval operation in case Iran decides on a "nuclear breakout" has contributed greatly to Jerusalem's faith in Washington's resolve.
"We will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, period," Defense Secretary Panetta said this week during his visit to Israel. After becoming more familiarized with the Pentagon's plan, Israel's leaders have reached the conclusion that the US is apparently prepared, and has the capabilities, to pulverize Iran's military nuclear program.
The continued deployment of American, British and French forces (both aerial and naval) in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean is seen by Jerusalem as proof that the West's intentions are serious.
It is clear that Netanyahu and Barak will have to determine whether Israel can trust the US' promise to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions with military force in case the negotiations and sanctions prove to be insufficient – or launch a unilateral blue-and-white attack on the Islamic Republic.

Report: Deportation of Syrians Torpedoed Release of Lebanese Pilgrims
Naharnet /The General Security Department’s deportation of 14 Syrians torpedoed efforts to release 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims kidnapped in Syria since May, An Nahar daily reported on Friday. The Lebanese mediator involved in negotiations to set the men free was informed that the talks reached a dead-end following major progress made to secure the safe return of the pilgrims, the newspaper said.
The mediating side has close ties to high-ranking officials in the Syrian opposition that is battling the regime of President Bashar Assad since March last year, it said. Lebanon deported the Syrians on Wednesday, drawing severe criticism from Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and human rights activists. The General Security said the reasons for the expulsions were not political but a Human Rights Watch representative in Beirut said some of the deportees had expressed fears of persecution by the regime on their return. The 11 pilgrims were kidnapped on May 22 in the northern province of Aleppo by armed gunmen while on their way home from Iran. The armed opposition Free Syrian Army, whose leaders are based in Turkey, has denied any involvement. The alleged kidnappers, who identify themselves as "all of Syria's rebels," said in a statement that accompanied a video aired on al-Jazeera network in June they will free them when a "civil state" sees the day in Syria.The same month, al-Jazeera quoted an armed group, the "Syrian Revolutionaries -- Aleppo Province,” as saying they were holding the pilgrims.In both videos aired by al-Jazeera the abductors have demanded an apology from Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Aug. 3, 2012
August 03, 2012/ The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest.
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Friday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
An-Nahar
Deportation of Syrians freezes negotiations [to free] Lebanese hostages
Tripartite agreement ends EDL contract workers’ sit-in today
The issue of the deportation of 14 Syrians by Lebanon’s General Security to their country almost became a landmine that blew up differences among the forces of the government majority.
The government’s "joy" over the end of sit-ins and crises was not complete, as it was soon overtaken by condemnations both domestically and from Western diplomats over the Syrian expulsions by General Security, which attributed the deportation to “charges against them” and denied that they are Syrian opposition members.
In a related issue, An-Nahar has learned that the Syrian deportation has had a negative effect on efforts to release the 11 Lebanese hostages in Syria.
The Lebanese side, which is seeking their release, received information Thursday morning that negotiations had stopped.
With regard to Electricite Du Liban, contract workers are expected to dismantle their tent today, 97 days after they erected it at EDL Beirut headquarters.
A political consensus was reached on the issue of EDL contract workers Thursday. An-Nahar has learned that the agreement was signed by three officials – Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s political aide Hussein Khalil, Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil on behalf of the Amal Movement, and Energy and Water Minister Gebran Bassil representing the Free Patriotic Movement.
Al-Akhbar
Mikati: Syrian deportees convicted of crimes and their deportation is legal
During a Cabinet meeting Thursday, the "National Struggle Front" raised the issue of the deportation of 14 Syrians convicted of crimes in Lebanon. However, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Interior Minister Marwan Charbel stressed that their deportation is legal following their completion of [prison] sentences.
Mikati said the director general of General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, implements the law, adding that the 14 Syrians were deported after having completed their sentences and not because they are political activists.
Al-Mustaqbal
PSP refuses to be part of [government] decision-making ... General Security justifies deportation scandal as "judicial and security-related”
A government of Assad border guards
Lebanon’s “disassociation” policy has proven to be cheap collaboration with the Syrian Baathist regime, which is doomed to collapse, following the handover by the Lebanese General Security of 14 Syrian citizens who sought refuge in Lebanon to the regime that continues to shed the blood of Syrians.
This same Syrian regime also continues to target Lebanese border areas; on Thursday, shells hit the outskirts of Khirbit Dawoud in Akkar, six kilometers inside Lebanese territory, in a unique and worrisome development in this regard.
The scandal of the deportation of the Syrian citizens sparked an intense debate in Cabinet Thursday amid a strong protest by National Struggle Front ministers Alaeddine Terro, Ghazi Aridi and Wael Abu Faour, who emphasized their rejection of being part of a government of “Assad border guards.”
Ministers Ali Hasan Khalil, Ali Qanso and Nicolas Fattoush took turns in defending the director general of General Security, Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim.
Al-Anwar
Beirut fires say good-bye to EDL contract workers' strike
Developments and surprises continue to overwhelm the domestic arena, as though the show were being run from a distance.
After the gloomy atmosphere that shrouded the issues of EDL contract workers, the teachers, and Sidon – which was blocked off by Sheikh Ahmad Assir’s sit-in – suddenly things changed; the Sidon sit-in ended, the teachers ended their exam correction boycott and contract workers went to bed in the hope that a solution to their issue would be announced today and that they would receive their salaries tomorrow. The striking irony is the return to road blockages with burning tires in several Beirut neighborhoods that coincided with an announcement Thursday evening of a solution to the EDL contract workers. Residents blocked Corniche Mazraa thoroughfare as well as Mulla, Zarif and Qasqas roads with burning tires last night in protest at power cuts.

Lebanon: Gunmen Attack ISF as Destruction of Cannabis Fields Continues
Naharnet /Clashes erupted on Friday between Internal Security Forces and gunmen over the destruction of cannabis crops in the town of al-Yammouneh in the eastern Bekaa valley, the National News Agency reported. The news agency reported that the gunmen are using machineguns, medium and light weapons and B-7 rockets. A soldier, who was among troops backing the ISF in their mission, was slightly injured during the cannabis destruction operation. However, Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) reported that a police officer from al-Yammouneh police station and a soldier were injured.
The army issued later a communiqué saying that two soldiers were injured by gunmen in al-Yammouneh, prompting the army to shoot back at the source of fire.
“The army raided the residence of the gunmen and pursued them along the area’s outskirts,” the statement said. A huge fire erupted in Dar al-Wasiaa field after a B-7 rocket was launched. While another rocket destroyed a bulldozer. LBCI reported that firefighters came under fire while dousing the fire. It also said that the cannabis farmers warned the ISF against continuing their tasks.
The army cordoned off several areas near al-Yammouneh town as troops and military vehicles deployed. The army also carried out raids. Meanwhile, unknown assailants opened fire at the Baalbek police station injuring two policemen. The NNA reported that one of the policemen was transferred to Dar al-Amal hospital for treatment after sustaining an injury in the leg, while the other policeman suffered a minor injury in the neck. The news agency said that the assailants were in a wine colored Jeep Cherokee vehicle and fled to an unknown whereabouts. The Bekaa for long has been reputed as a fertile ground for drugs. During the civil war, the drug trade thrived into a multi-billion dollar business.

President Michel Sleiman to move to Mount Lebanon summer residence
August 03, 2012/ The Daily Star
BAABDA: President Michel Sleiman will relocate to Mount Lebanon's Beiteddine Palace, the summer seat of Lebanese presidents, Saturday, where he will spend about a month in line with tradition.
The Cabinet will meet at Beiteddine Palace Monday to continue debating a draft electoral law based on proportional representation presented by Interior Minister Marwan Charbel.
Ministers failed to reach an agreement on the election law in two previous meetings.Beiteddine is also expected to witness a new round of National Dialogue on Aug. 16, should the March 14 coalition decide to attend the session. Sleiman had postponed all-party talks set for July 24 after the Future Movement-led coalition said it would boycott the session. The meeting was rescheduled for Aug. 16.
March 14 tied its participation in future Dialogue sessions to the Cabinet providing security bodies with telecommunications data the coalition deems necessary to investigate recent assassination attempts against Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and Batroun MP Butros Harb. The Telecoms Ministry data has since handed over the data to the security services. March 14’s decision to boycott the Dialogue also followed Hezbollah’s declaration that it was premature to discuss a national defense strategy, which politicians were to address during the session Sleiman postponed.

UNIFIL contingent robbed of GPS in south Lebanon
August 03, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: The Global Positioning System (GPS) device of a U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon contingent was stolen Thursday night by unidentified persons who fled the scene in a vehicle. The French UNIFIL contingent was in the southern village of Tayyouneh, the French peacekeepers' headquarters, when the theft occurred.
The Lebanese Army arrived at the scene and took the testimonies of the soldiers

Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud says deportation of 14 Syrians routine
August 03, 2012/The Daily Star/Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud arrives at the Parliament in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 21, 2012. (The Daily Star/Hasan Shaaban)
BEIRUT: Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud said Friday that the controversial deportation of 14 Syrians to their country occurred in accordance with standard operating procedure, adding that the magnitude of the issue is being exaggerated. "This issue is routine; it was being done before the events in Syria began and it still is," Abboud told a local radio station.
He added that the issue, which has caused local and international concern, "is being blown out of proportion," and said that, according to the Interior Ministry, the 14 men are not linked to the Syrian opposition or the regime. In a statement released Thursday, General Security said the deportation of the 14 men to Syria did not have a political motive and that the men had committed violations and criminal acts. A table chart was attached to the statement indicating the crimes committed by all but one of the Syrians.
The crimes included thefts, attacking the house of an army officer, insulting the military establishment, the use of forged documents and sexual harassment of a female.
“The decision to deport the 14 Syrians was based on criminal acts and violations committed during their stay in Lebanon,” General Security said in its statement.
“Any decision to deport Syrian, Arab or foreign nationals is a decision based on judicial and security cases in line with the standards set forth in regional and international agreements and treaties.”
Speaking of deportations, General Security said, “Where evidence shows that [potential deportees’] lives might be endangered if they are deported to their country, they are exempted. This procedure has been used with Syrian nationals since the beginning of the painful events in [Syria].”
Meanwhile, Germany’s Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid Marcus Loning told An-Nahar that his country would not return any Syrian to his or her country given the situation there. “Germany will not return any Syrian accused of a crime in light of these circumstances,” An-Nahar quoted Loning as saying in an article published Friday. Both the U.S. and the EU voiced concern regarding the news of the deportations via their envoys to Lebanon. March 14 figures, including head of the Future Movement bloc Fouad Siniora, also expressed alarm and displeasure.
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt demanded the dismissal of Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, chief of General Security, accusing him of carrying out Damascus’ orders.
“We call on the Lebanese government and the relevant authorities to clarify all the circumstances relating to this issue and to launch a probe to determine responsibility and take disciplinary measures against the director general of General Security – leading to his sacking, if need be, in order to stop this ongoing farce,” Jumblatt said in a statement.

Lebanese cannabis farmers fire at security forces, causing casualties
August 03, 2012/ The Daily Star/BEKAA/BEIRUT: Two policemen and two soldiers were wounded Friday in separate shootings over the crackdown on cannabis fields in east Lebanon, security sources said. An army major and lieutenant were wounded when a joint force came under fire by farmers in the Yammouneh area of Baalbek, a security source told The Daily Star.
The force was destroying cannabis fields. The Lebanese Army confirmed the incident, saying that the army force came under fire during the eradication of the crop and that two soldiers were wounded by gunmen using medium and light weaponry. The soldiers fired back at the source of the shooting.
“The army has begun carrying out raids in the location of the shooters and pursuing those who fled to the mountains surrounding the region while the process of eradicating the crop continues in accordance with the scheduled program,” the army said. Yammouneh mayor Mohammad Ali Sharif said Friday that tension has been running high in Baalbek since security forces began destroying cannabis fields in Yammouneh. Sharif told The Daily Star that the security force – operating on orders of the Central Office for Drug Control – came under fire after a group of cannabis farmers failed to convince its members to stop the crackdown. “The farmers had requested that the security force leave the area, but negotiations failed and the shooting began,” Sharif said. Earlier Friday, two policemen were wounded when gunmen shot at a police station near the Baalbek Serail, according to another security source. The source, also speaking on condition of anonymity, identified the policeman as Ali Raad. The other policeman was wounded in his neck. The source said the shooting is likely related to the eradication of cannabis fields in the Bekaa. The crackdown, which began last week, saw policemen come under fire by cannabis farmers in more than one instance. Around 35,000 dunams (8,600 acres) in the northern Bekaa are believed to be used for the cultivation of cannabis, which has long flourished in the fertile valley.
The total area of cannabis fields eradicated in the Bekka and elsewhere thus far in the ongoing operation has reached 6615 dunams, the ISF said in a statement Thursday.

Lebanese Army raids residence of alleged terrorist leader
August 03, 2012/ By Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star
Sidon, south Lebanon: The Lebanese Army raided an apartment Friday in the southern city of Sidon belonging to the head of an alleged terrorist group whose members were arrested last week in Rmeileh, Mount Lebanon. Army personnel targeted the apartment of Alaa al-Jabiri, a Palestinian residing in Lebanon, and seized a computer as well as seven cell phone lines. During a raid on a private residence in Rmeileh last week, the Army arrested three suspected terrorists, including Jabiri. Last week's raid also netted a stash of weapons, including over 1,200 fuses, Israeli-made landmine fuses, Russian and U.S.-made anti-personal mines, Israeli-made mortar bombs and 21 grenades. The haul additionally included 47 blocks of explosives -- some weighing up to 500 grams -- and assorted firearms.
During interrogation following his arrest, Jabiri told the military of his residence in Sidon. Occupants of the building, located in the heavily populated neighborhood of Al-Wasaa, told The Daily Star Friday that Jabiri was not a religious person and that he had several tattoos.

Syria's Aleppo battered ahead of U.N. vote
August 03, 2012/Daily Star
ALEPPO, Syria: Shells rained down on rebel positions in Aleppo on Friday ahead of a U.N. vote to deplore both the Syrian regime's use of heavy arms and world powers for failing to agree on steps to end the conflict. The official SANA news agency said the army and police killed 17 "terrorists" in Aleppo, the commercial capital which the regime and rebels have been battling for control of since July 20.
Six civilians were killed in Damascus as forces loyal to President Bashar Assad moved on opposition enclaves, day after shelling killed 21 civilians at the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in the capital, a watchdog said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said another three civilians were killed in Houla, a central town where at least 108 people were massacred at the end of May, triggering international outrage.
Despite the violence, new weekly anti-regime protests were held across Syria in solidarity with the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which troops have also pounded for weeks.
Activists were still counting the toll from Thursday, one of the bloodiest days in the uprising, when Kofi Annan quit as international envoy for Syria complaining his peace plan never received the backing it deserved. The Observatory said more than 179 people were killed -- 110 civilians including 14 children, 43 soldiers and 26 rebels.
Dozens more civilians and rebels were killed in Al-Arbaeen, a besieged district of the central city of Hama, it said, adding it was hard to establish what had happened as communications were cut.
"The number of martyrs and wounded is not known as bodies were left lying in the streets, regime forces preventing residents from helping the wounded and burying the dead," said the opposition Syrian National Council.
The bloodshed mounted ahead of a U.N. General Assembly vote on a Saudi-drafted resolution that condemns Russia and China for blocking tougher action against Damascus at the U.N. Security Council.
But Arab nations have dropped an explicit demand for Assad to quit in an attempt to secure as large a majority as possible.
Explaining his decision to resign as U.N. and Arab League envoy, Annan voiced regret at the "increasing militarization" of the nearly 17-month conflict.
The former U.N. secretary general also hit out at "continuous finger-pointing and name-calling" at the Security Council, which he said had stalled coordinated action to stop the violence.
"I did not receive all the support that the cause deserved," Annan said. "The increasing militarization on the ground and the lack of unanimity in the Security Council fundamentally changed my role."
But Annan predicted Assad would go "sooner or later," and did not rule out his successor having more luck or success, despite his warning there was "no Plan B."
On Friday, the Russian foreign ministry said "a worthy candidate" to succeed Annan should be urgently found because "in the developing situation, keeping a U.N. presence in the country acquires special significance." Writing in the Financial Times, Annan called on Moscow and Washington to shoulder responsibility for saving Syria from catastrophic civil war, and stressed Western military intervention would not deliver success on its own. "Syria can still be saved from the worst calamity. But this requires courage and leadership, most of all from the permanent members of the Security Council, including from Presidents (Vladimir) Putin and (Barack) Obama," he wrote.
Annan's resignation sparked a new round of recriminations among the council's five permanent members.
The United States blamed Russia and China for vetoing three separate U.N. resolutions on the conflict.
"Annan's resignation highlights the failure at the United Nations Security Council of Russia and China to support meaningful resolutions against Assad that would have held Assad accountable," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Germany also said Annan's decision was partly due to Chinese and Russian opposition to sanctions.
But Russia's U.N. envoy, Vitaly Churkin, insisted Moscow had supported Annan "very strongly," and Putin called his resignation a "great shame."
"Kofi Annan is a man of great merit, a brilliant diplomat and a very honest person, so it is a great shame," Putin said.
Beijing said it regretted Annan's resignation and wanted the U.N. to play an "important role" in trying to stop the conflict, which activists say has killed more than 20,000 people since it erupted in March 2011. Iran blamed "interfering countries" for making Annan's mission fail, and implied it could now be among those taking "a more crucial role" in solving the conflict.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague pledged greater "practical but non-lethal support" for the rebellion.
Russia and China are expected to vote against the resolution before the U.N. General Assembly, where no country has the power of veto.
On the ground, violence persisted across Syria and the battle for control of Aleppo intensified, with Assad's forces hammering rebel-held areas with fighter jets.
Rebels hit back by shelling the Menagh air base outside the northern city, and used tanks for the first time in the assault, a commander said.
A Syrian security source said government troops were "testing the terrorists' defense systems ... before annihilating them by carrying out a surgical operation."
Thursday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous had said the "spiral of violence is still increasing," the focus was now on Aleppo" where there has been a considerable buildup of military means and where we have reason to believe that the main battle is about to start."

Clinton Says Sudan, S.Sudan Must Strike 'Compromise' Deal
Naharnet /The two Sudans must strike an urgent compromise deal to end bitter disputes, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday, warning the newly separated nations they "remain inextricably linked.”Sudan and South Sudan "will need to compromise to close the remaining gaps between them," Clinton said, after meeting South Sudan's President Salva Kiir. "It is urgent that both sides, North and South, follow through and reach timely agreements on all outstanding issues, including oil revenue sharing, security, citizenship and border demarcation," she added. Clinton, the most senior U.S. official to visit since South Sudan's independence last year, highlighted Washington's concern over the bitter dispute between Juba and Sudan. Juba's government has yet to agree on a raft of issues with the rump state of Sudan, left unresolved after they split in July 2011, including border demarcation and contested areas in oil-rich regions. The U.N. Security Council gave the two countries, which earlier this year came close to a return to all-out war, until August 2 to reach a deal or face sanctions. That deadline elapsed Thursday. Clinton warned that "significant challenges" face the world's youngest nation, with "persistent poverty in a land rich with natural resources." Those include "continued violence along the border with Sudan, unresolved ethnic tensions, gaps in infrastructure and the rule of law," she told reporters. "Continued progress hinges on South Sudan's ability to overcome these challenges," Clinton added. At independence, the land-locked South took with it two thirds of the region's oil, but the pipelines and processing facilities remained in the North. In January, Juba cut off all oil production, crippling both economies, after accusing Khartoum of stealing its crude. "While South Sudan and Sudan have become separate states, their fortunes remain inextricably linked," she added. "The promise of prosperity rests on the prospects for peace. And South Sudan's ability to attract trade and investment depends on greater security on both sides of the border."SourceAgence France Presse

Liberation from whom?
Now Lebanon/August 2, 2012
On Thursday morning, shells fired from Syria landed five kilometers inside Lebanon near the towns of al-Bireh and Khirbet Daoud in the northern region of Akkar. The incident happened hours after Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called on the national dialogue committee to agree on what he called a “liberation strategy” as well as the much-touted, and mildly quixotic, defense strategy. Although his call came only weeks after Mohammed Raad said it was too early to discuss any defense strategy, we are used to Hezbollah moving the political goalposts. Now the question must surely be: Liberation from whom, exactly? Nasrallah tells us ad nauseam that Israel violates our airspace “every day,” but Syrian bullets and artillery land on Lebanese soil and kill Lebanese civilians with almost identical frequency. But the Party of God is clearly oblivious to the Syrian violations. It has to be; its ally is carrying them out. Hezbollah’s only way of dealing with this tricky, and potentially terminal, issue is to refocus attention on a conflict that has been on the back burner for years and which will only reignite if Hezbollah wants it to.
And so Nasrallah talks about needing a liberation strategy to regain the Shebaa Farms and the Kfarshouba Hills. What does he think is going to happen? The cabinet will approve a mission to retake these tiny plots of land? Of course they won’t. Such a course of action is beyond madness, and in any case—and it’s about time Nasrallah understood this—it’s not his call to take Lebanon into war. He did it once, and that was quite enough, thank you very much.
That Nasrallah is totally divorced from reality is plain enough. He talks about a liberation strategy when the real priorities are a strategy to deliver 24-hour electricity into every Lebanese home and a strategy to create a road map for prosperity. We need jobs, we need infrastructure and we need productivity. He is deluded if he thinks the major concern for Lebanese today is the liberation of the Shebaa farms.
He then accuses March 14 of being unreasonable or centering all its preconditions for talks around Hezbollah’s weapons. And why shouldn’t it? There can be no muddying of the political waters (bringing the US and Israel into the debate), and no red herring (like the unrealistic liberation strategy). Whatever spin he puts on it, March 14 is right. The major issue today in Lebanon is, apart from structural reform and the economy, Hezbollah’s weapons. They allow the party the latitude to implement its fiendish agenda and their presence in the South puts Lebanon in an aggressive posture vis-a-vis Israel, which can, with some degree of legitimacy, claim that its northern border is threatened by a non-state actor. The only reason Israel will launch a war against Lebanon is because Hezbollah is there. It is not the deterrent Nasrallah would have us believe it is. And yet we almost feel for Nasrallah when he reminds us that Tehran is willing to not only equip the Lebanese army, but also give us power, roads and invest in the country. Do we honestly believe that Iran will equip the army so that the Resistance can stand down? Do we honestly believe that it is so concerned about the Lebanese, so wedded to our wellbeing, that it will rebuild the state institutions so that the Shiites can stop suckling Hezbollah’s breast? If we accept Iran’s offer, we will have national institutions created in its image. It’s not a case of whom we take from; it’s where they will take us. And yet, Nasrallah, after urging us to accept Iran’s offer to equip the army, implies it would be a useless exercise anyway, arguing that the “moment arms are placed under the state’s authority, we will lose the balance of terror.” In other words, in Nasrallah’s world, there can be no real army and no state control of our relations with Israel. Go figure.
And all the while, the slow fuse of war in the North continues to burn. On that, Nasrallah is silent.

The Syrian conflict’s new phase
Now Lebanon/Tony Badran, August 2, 2012
Free Syrian Army fighters step on a picture of President Assad, whose forces—and options—are shrinking. (AFP photo)
It has become apparent that the areas held by Syrian president Bashar Assad’s forces are rapidly shrinking. As Assad concentrates his forces in Damascus and Aleppo, he is ceding territory elsewhere. With this territorial contraction, he is creating a faultline separating two entrenched camps engaged in an essentially static war. In other words, Assad is drawing a larger, Syrian version of Lebanon’s famous Green Line. The first priority for the embattled Syrian despot is to keep the fighting outside the Alawite coastal mountains. In addition, the counteroffensive in Damascus made clear that Assad intends to hold on to the capital – or parts thereof – for as long as possible, before falling back to an Alawite stronghold. Control of the capital sustains the pretense that the regime remains the legitimate government, and not merely a sectarian militia. As for Aleppo, its significance for Assad differs from that of Damascus. Aleppo is the country’s economic hub and a bastion of pro-regime industrialists and businessmen. Retaining the city means safeguarding the alliance with these important social groups. However, with the level of destruction being visited on the city – as the regime employs air power as well as artillery and mortar fire – the notion of restoring normal economic activity to the city anytime soon is fanciful, especially as the Free Syrian Army has proven it can penetrate and operate in the heart of Aleppo for an extended period of time.The regime’s objective in Aleppo is likely something more basic at this juncture. As Assad has been forced to redeploy his limited troops, he has had to abandon even more areas in the nearby Idlib countryside. The merging of these areas with the major urban center of Aleppo, and its surroundings, would give the rebels a contiguous swath of territory that is at once bordering a friendly Turkey as well as overlooking a strategic access point into the Alawite coastal mountains leading all the way to main port city of Latakia.
In order to ensure the security of this Alawite enclave, Assad must conduct his battles in buffer areas, where he can keep his enemies bogged down and incapable of advancing westward. This is precisely what the regime has been doing in the central plains. In certain areas north of Hama, for example, it has pushed as much to the east as it could in order to disrupt rebel logistical lines.
The Aleppo battle, then, is important in terms of halting the rebels’ momentum and their ability to advance westward. For Assad, therefore, controlling even parts of Aleppo is significant for maintaining a disruptive presence at a critical junction in the north.
By delineating the contracted areas under his grip, Assad is drawing a de facto Green Line, which not only separates regime-held strongholds from rebel territory, but also marks where the two camps will primarily do battle. In the urban setting of Aleppo, and possibly down the road in Damascus, this would mean an effective division of the city into pro- and anti-regime neighborhoods, much like Beirut during the civil war. For even if Damascus and Aleppo were ultimately penetrated and their neighborhoods divided between the warring sides, resulting in a stalemate, that would still serve Assad’s purposes, especially since both cities lie outside the Alawite enclave. The regime would continue its use of air power and artillery fire, striking at opposition strongholds from a distance, keeping the battles away from the Alawite areas.As the likelihood of Assad reimposing his writ on all of Syria is virtually nil, at this point, securing an Alawite redoubt and forcing a protracted stalemate represent the best possible outcomes for the regime and its Iranian patrons. Assad might even calculate that if he manages to hold out for a few years – and Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vitaly Churkin, recently expressed his belief that the conflict could indeed last as long as the Lebanese civil war – he could expect a negotiated settlement that takes into consideration the new facts on the ground. From the Iranians’ perspective, both options would preserve their foothold in Syria. With the fighting now having reached Damascus and Aleppo, the conflict has entered a new phase. However, if the Lebanese war has taught us anything, this new phase is likely one of many more to come.Tony Badran is reaasearch fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets @AcrossTheBay.

Gebran does not like the Resistance
Now Lebanon/Hazem al-Amin, August 3, 2012
The relationship between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement has something tragic to it which no one has heeded during the constant and floundering process of evaluating this relationship. Analysts were keen to depict Aounism as a Christian space rented by Hezbollah as per a contract with penal provisions, which is only partly true.
In truth, Christians are not the only ones who have incurred damage as a result of this contract. Shiites were also its victims, specifically those who are the closest to the Hezbollah society or the “Resistance public,” as its theorists refer to it. As per its contract with the Aounists, Hezbollah sacrificed the dignity of those it claims to represent on the altar of the price offered by the Aounist in the Memorandum of Understanding. One merely has to read the signs recently written by the Aounists in Achrafieh in order to prove this claim. “Is there any occupied building that does not pay electricity bills in Achrafieh?” This is one of many slogans denoting a low IQ, an equally limited imagination and a total lack of sensitivity vis-à-vis those who are supposed to be “allies.”
Furthermore, Aounism and its low IQ have proven unable to make a difference between the Amal Movement and Shiites for instance. Aounism is the regular, stupid sectarianism, albeit less malicious than similar kinds of sectarianism. This specific breed is characterized by a short memory, a quick response and the inability to develop a point of view based on two elements. The Amal movement is observing a sit-in at Electricité du Liban, so the Shiites are accused! There is no intelligence to help establish a difference between the Amal Movement and Shiites, and no memory to remind that the Amal Movement is an “ally.”This test of the alliance’s solidity and “substantiality” comes within the framework of taking up the defense of the “Republic’s son-in-law” Gebran Bassil, the Energy man whose integrity forced him to take his wife—i.e. General Aoun’s daughter—out to celebrate her birthday due to the power cut at home, as he told the Lebanese people.
A protest staged by the FPM in Achrafieh in support of “our son-in-law” (which occurred coincidentally one day prior to the assassination of “Syria’s son-in-law” Assef Shawkat) saw the Aounists use their usual “supremacy” gear in which they take pride vis-à-vis their allies, as acknowledged by March 8 media outlets when Hezbollah portrayed them as an unveiled woman and a “modern” young man visiting Dahiyeh and actually liking the “Resistance public.”When put to the electricity test, the Aounists revealed that they quit liking the Resistance. This test showed how stupid we are, as we did quit “liking the Resistance” following violent private and public experiences, including – for instance – “theoretical storming” and illusions, veering away from the left, growing convinced that there is another direction to the conflict and adopting stances vis-à-vis regimes. The Aounists are doing so with surprising agility. They stopped liking the Resistance following a mere dispute with the Amal Movement with regard to EDL hourly-wage workers … Hezbollah, in turn, was not amazed by this transformation, as it realizes that the issue was never a matter of essentials. Indeed, he who “likes” something so easily will just as easily stop liking it, and will revert to it following an even easier settlement. In this flurry of contradictions, one will not hold one’s ally accountable for its using a cheap, tacky rhetoric in a passing moment of adversity. In fact, it is alright to make light of people’s dignity due to the need for an ally that consolidates one’s regional function.
*This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Thursday August 2, 2012

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's Speech of August 01/12
Now Lebanon/August 1, 2012
First, I would like to greet you during this holy month [of Ramadan]. I should also thank my brothers and sisters at the Resistance Support Association [sponsoring the Iftar his speech was broadcast for]. I would also like to congratulate the Lebanese army on the occasion of the 67th anniversary [of its founding]. We hope that Lebanese citizens would show all the support for this institution to enable it to fulfill its national role.
The credit for the victory over the Israeli army in 2000 goes to the Resistance, and not to UN Security Council Resolution 425 or the international community. The Resistance did not ask to take part in political authority, but it has asked the state to be in charge of the border area after the Israeli withdrawal [in 2000].
After the 2000, the topic of disarming Hezbollah has come to the fore. Some political parties in Lebanon have adopted this aim. We therefore faced a new struggle. It was not a military struggle, but a political one [against] an Israeli and American demand [for disarmament].
In 2004—before UN Security Council Resolution 1559 was issued—Syrian authorities were conducting negotiations regarding their presence in Lebanon. An Arab leader made an offer to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that if he wanted his troops to stay in Lebanon, and even deploy to South Lebanon, he would have to request the disarmament of Hezbollah and the Palestinian factions.
Assad, at the time, rejected the offer. Assad considers the Resistance as part and parcel of Arab national security, and for that reason he rejected the offer. Following Assad’s decision, the UN Security Council resolution [calling for Syria’s withdrawal from Lebanon] was issued.
Prior to former PM Rafik Hariri’s death, I met him several times and we discussed the issue of Hezbollah’s arms. We were in the course of building a political alliance with him. Following his death great political divisions occurred in the country. Until that time we had accepted to discuss the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons.
The 2006 agreement with the Free Patriotic Movement allowed for these discussions to take place again. We also took part in national dialogue in the hope that we were going to follow up the agreement with the FPM and reach a national agreement over the issue of the national defense strategy and the issue of Hezbollah’s arms.
During the national dialogue session I presented my argument regarding the national defense strategy and the struggle against the Israeli enemy. I also presented my views regarding Lebanon’s strong and weak points. I considered that a national defense strategy needed a strong army and a strong resistance. Former PM Salim al-Hoss said at the time that if the Lebanese army ruled over the Resistance, that would mean the end of the army since it will be annihilated by an Israeli attack. Therefore there is a need for cooperation between the army and the Resistance.
Hezbollah [was the] first [party] to present a national defense strategy proposal during national dialogue. We were very clear when we presented our proposal regarding the national defense strategy. It is therefore mean and cynical to say that we do not want to discuss this topic. The strategy we proposed was put into practice during the 2006 war against Israel, which was preceded by a national dialogue session.
After the [2008] Doha Agreement and the election of a new president we were invited to attend another national dialogue session. After several sessions, and until this moment, no one has discussed Hezbollah’s defense strategy proposal. This paper has been proposed since 2006 and no one has discussed or will discuss it either during national dialogue or outside dialogue. The only thing that is requested, and has been requested since the year 2000 is the disarmament of Hezbollah.
The other party took one decision, and it is [to call for] the disarmament of Hezbollah and nothing else. Their aim has never been [to determine] how to protect Lebanon. Some proposals were presented by the March 14 forces and they stipulate that their national defense strategy is limited to disarming Hezbollah.
We are not seeking the boycott of national dialogue, and we do not wish to undermine it. We however reject the other side using the issue of their participation as a blackmail ploy. What is happening at the moment is strictly a blackmailing campaign. If the other party’s dialogue aims was to seek a way to protect the country then their demands would be sacred, but that is not the case. Instead, your aims are to bring down the government. If national dialogue convenes again we will not boycott it. Would the state authorities accept for Iran to provide the Lebanese army with weapons as it has already done with Hezbollah? Our political system fears the Americans.
If we handed over the weapons of the Resistance to the army where would it deploy them. The army is an organized army and would not be able to preserve these weapons in the case of an Israeli attack. Therefore, those who ask for handing over Hezbollah’s weapons to the army want the Resistance and the army to be destroyed.
We are ready to ask Iran to provide the army with weapons. We will therefore have a strong army and a strong resistance.
What is protecting Lebanon nowadays is the balance of terror with Israel. Israel now [knows] that if it attacked Lebanese [infrastructure], there will be a [like] response to its assault. Israel will be reassured once the weapons of Hezbollah are put under the control of the Lebanese state, since the decision-making mechanism of the state is ineffective and that means that the balance of terror will be undermined if the state takes charge of the Resistance arms.
We need a iberation strategy as much as a defense strategy. Kfar Shouba and the Shebaa Farms are still occupied and no one is mentioning these occupied regions anymore. We call for a liberation strategy and for discussing it at the dialogue table. If the state does not want a liberation strategy it means that the citizens could choose to be in charge of liberation themselves, since the state would not be bearing its responsibilities. Discussing a liberation strategy justifies the Resistance, while a defense strategy aims at eliminating the Resistance.
We would be eager to reach a compromise when the dialogue factions show that they are concerned with protecting Lebanon and the dignity of the Lebanese people.

Syria violence escalates
August 3, 2012/By: Michael McGuire
Violence has increased dramatically in Syria over the past 48 hours, the United Nations and a variety of news agencies reported Friday. An estimated 21 were killed by mortar fire at a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus, the Associated Press reported. "We don't know where the mortars came from, whether they were from the Syrian regime or not the Syrian regime," the AP quoted Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syria Observatory for Human Rights quoted as saying. The UN Refugee Agency said it could confirm the deaths of 20 and injuries to 10.
The Free Syrian Army, a group opposed to the government, claimed it has taken control of more than 50 percent of Syria's largest city of Aleppo, Aljazeera reported.
"Syrian rebels used tanks for the first time to attack a military airport northwest of Aleppo on Thursday," Aljazeera reported. Its source was a comment reportedly made by a rebel commander to the AFP news agency. As many as 1.5 million Syrians have been uprooted by the violence, the UN Refugee Agency said, many taking refuge on farms and in makeshift shelters.
The number of refugees fleeing Syria into Turkey range from 400-600 per day, the UN said, with about 44,000 Syrians being hosted and assisted in eight camps.
The official Syrian Arab News Agency blamed western-backed terrorists for the violence.
"In spite of the misinformation campaigns launched against Syria, the government said, "the obvious truth is that the goal is changing the balances in the region and subjecting its states to western hegemony.
"Those who call for holding Security Council meetings are the ones who caused the catastrophe in Aleppo through supporting terrorism and arming the terrorist groups depending essentially on the role of the Turkish Government which opened its airports and borders to terrorists from al-Qaeda, Salafis and Jihadists and offered them all facilitations to send them to Syria," the government said.
The Syrian government accused Turkey of establishing "headquarters for military operations to manage the terrorist attacks against citizens in Syria in Aleppo and other Syrian cities, adding that these headquarters are operated by the Saudi, Qatari, Israeli and US intelligence agencies."

Syria government reportedly showing more restraint in Aleppo fighting
By David Enders:
BEIRUT -- The government of Syrian President Bashar Assad appears to be taking a relatively restrained approach to the rebel presence in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, where fighting was reported to be continuing Tuesday, even as Syrian government media claimed to have pushed the rebels out of a key neighborhood.
“We haven’t seen the sort of intense shelling we’ve seen in other parts of the country,” said a Beirut-based researcher for the advocacy group Human Rights Watch, who agreed to discuss what she and other investigators were hearing about the battle inside the city only on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns. “I think the government recognizes it has a lot of support in Aleppo.”
The researcher said the government’s reaction to rebel infiltration of Aleppo, a city of more than 2 million only 30 miles from the border with Turkey, was in stark contrast to the Syrian military’s weeks-long targeting of rebel-occupied neighborhoods in Homs, the country’s third-largest city and a bastion of anti-Assad sentiment.
“Compared to Homs, where we had indiscriminate shelling on the level of crimes against humanity, they are showing restraint,” the researcher said.
Casualty figures released by anti-Assad groups also suggest that while a pitched battle had been expected for Aleppo, the conflict there is being outpaced by fighting elsewhere in the country. On Monday, according to the London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights, 23 people were killed in Aleppo, while 55 died in fighting in Damascus and its suburbs.
Aleppo is the country’s commercial and manufacturing hub, but business there has ground to a halt.
“Our workers cannot reach the factories,” said one businessman, who fled Aleppo for Lebanon six days ago with his wife and two children but remains in touch with people still in Aleppo. He asked to be identified only as Ayman for fear of government reprisals.
Factory owners like Ayman, who make up Aleppo’s largely Sunni Muslim upper class, have been considered a crucial base of Assad support in a 16-month-old uprising that is often described as battle between Sunnis and Alawites, the Shiite Muslim sect to which Assad belongs.
Ayman said much of that support is borne of fear. “The government burned more than 60 factories belonging to people who said they supported the revolution when it began,” Ayman said. “It was better to keep quiet.” But he also said he flew to Damascus from Aleppo and then drove to Beirut because he was afraid to cross areas that are controlled by the rebels.
“Either side might have kidnapped me,” he said, adding that in past months, Aleppo’s business community had become the target of groups on both sides who kidnapped for money or political reasons, as well as criminals.
“On the drive to the airport, we didn’t see any government forces,” Ayman said. “Only five dead soldiers on the side of the road.”
Ayman said he attempted to shield his children from what was taking place. “When they started to shell outside Aleppo, we told the children it was fireworks,” Ayman said as his two young sons played nearby in the nearly empty lobby of the hotel where the family was staying. “But on the way out, they saw the tanks.”
The lead government unit pressing the Aleppo counteroffensive is the Syrian army’s Fourth Division, a unit commanded by Maher Assad, the president’s younger brother. The rebels have been united under a command that includes Malik al Kurdi, a defected army officer who is part of the leadership of the Free Syrian Army, the Turkey-based umbrella under which most of the rebel groups operate.
Ahmed, an anti-government activist who had been in the Salah al Deen neighborhood on Monday, said the rebels were using the area as a base for hit-and-run attacks against the military in other parts of the city, though the government claimed the neighborhood had been cleared of rebels.
He said he had seen foreigners, including Libyans and Yemenis, among the rebels, but that he was unconcerned about reports they were members of al Qaida-affiliated radical Islamist groups. He said the foreigners didn't insist that he fast, as is the custom during Ramadan, the holy month Muslims are now marking.
“They are professionals in how to make bombs and plant mines in the streets,” he said.
Enders is a McClatchy Special Correspondent. Twitter: @davidjenders
Copyright 2012 McClatchy Newspapers. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted on Thu, Aug. 02, 2012 05:45 PM

Russia Sends Ships to Syria as Fighting Surges
By ELLEN BARRY and ALAN COWELL/New York Times
Published: August 3, 2012
MOSCOW — Unnamed Russian defense officials told news agencies on Friday that three warships, with 360 marines aboard, have been deployed to the Syrian port of Tartus and will arrive within several days The port is not large enough to accommodate all the landing vessels, so two of them will remain offshore and the third will drop anchor, an official told Interfax, on condition of anonymity.
The ships, now in the Mediterranean Sea, are expected to stay for several days and deliver water and food to the small Russian naval base there, then return to the Black Sea port of Novorossisk.
The official did not say whether the marines would remain in Syria or whether there are any plans to evacuate the estimated 30,000 Russian citizens in the country.
A few hours later, the Foreign Ministry released a statement underlining the urgency of finding a replacement for Kofi Annan, the United Nations and Arab League envoy who resigned on Thursday, and of maintaining the United Nations presence in Syria.
The statement said Russia had done everything possible to support Mr. Annan’s cease-fire plan but that opposition forces had refused to negotiate, supported by “our Western partners, and certain regional states.” “Moreover, despite the decisions of the U.N. Security Council and Geneva, they continued to supply political, moral, material, technical and financial assistance to Syrian opposition groups, thereby encouraging the irreconcilability of antigovernment forces,” the statement said. News of the Russian deployment emerged as fighting appeared to intensify in parts of Damascus, the Syrian capital, with both government officials and rebels reporting a mortar attack on the Yarmouk Palestinian camp, home to some 150,000 people, in the Syrian capital.
Syria’s state-run SANA news agency blamed the attack on “an armed terrorist group” — its usual name for foes of President Bashar al-Assad — and identified 12 people it said had been killed.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group based in Britain, said 21 people had died. Activists said footage posted on the Internet and showing wrecked buildings and bodies covered in blankets came from the Yarmouk camp, but there was no immediate way of verifying the origin of the footage.
In its account of the attack, SANA quoted Palestinian leaders in the camp as saying “that the compass of the Palestinian people would ever remain pointing to Palestine” — apparently an indirect warning to Palestinians to avoid siding with the rebels.
The Syrian Observatory activist group said at least 133 civilians died in fighting Thursday and reported continued clashes on Friday in around Damascus, the city of Hama further north and in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and commercial center which has been the focus of much of the violence.
The latest fighting came a day after Mr. Annan announced that he was quitting at the end of the month, attributing his decision to what he described as Syrian government intransigence, increasing militancy by Syrian rebels and the failure of a divided Security Council to rally forcefully behind his efforts.
Foreign Secretary William Hague of Britain said on Friday that Mr. Annan’s decision represented “a bleak moment” for diplomatic efforts to resolve the Syrian conflict. While Britain would intensify its support for the rebels, he said in a BBC radio interview, its help would not involve weapons. “We are helping elements of the Syrian opposition but in a practical and nonlethal way,” he said.
As tensions have risen in Syria this summer, there have been several reports that Russia was deploying warships, but each time they have been followed by official denials. Military experts say Russia’s naval base in Tartus is tiny, understaffed and would be difficult to defend in a conflict.
Russian officials, who have insisted for months that Mr. Annan’s mission was the only acceptable way forward, continued to express regret over his departure, and a top Foreign Ministry official suggested that he was pressured to withdraw by proponents of military intervention.
“He is an honest international broker, but there are people who want to take him out of the game in order to have free hands for military actions. That is already clear,” wrote Gennady Gatilov, a deputy minister of foreign affairs, on his Twitter account.
Ellen Barry reported from Moscow, and Alan Cowell from London.

U.N. General Assembly to denounce Syria, but divisions stand firmly in way of real action
(CBS/AP) UNITED NATIONS - With the U.N. Security Council deadlocked over the Syrian crisis, the General Assembly prepared Friday to denounce Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus, and demand that the Assad regime keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.
The Assembly was overshadowed by the resignation of former U.N. chief Kofi Annan on Thursday as the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria after his peace proposals failed.
The anti-Syria resolution was expected to easily pass in the 193-member General Assembly after its Arab sponsors de-fanged two key provisions in the original draft — a demand that President Bashar Assad resign, and a call for other nations to place sanctions on Syria over its civil war.
U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous, meanwhile, told the Security Council on Thursday that U.N. military observers in Aleppo are seeing "a considerable buildup of military means, where we have reason to believe that the main battle is about to start." The rebels have commandeered tanks, and are bringing them into combat as Syrian warplanes strike back.
"Even in Damascus, I was there a few days ago, one could hear explosions regularly, interminably," Ladsous told reporters after briefing the Council.
CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata, reporting from the outskirts of Aleppo, says at one point, he and the rebel fighters he's traveling with got to within about a mile of the city, and it was clear from explosions heard even at that distance that it is already "a warzone". (Click at left to see D'Agata's report from the front lines)
For their part, says D'Agata, the rebels take very little interest in what is going on at the U.N. The fighters on the front lines in the battle to wrest Syria's largest city definitively from the control of Assad's regime say the U.N. has proven itself of little help to their cause.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged restraint on all sides, saying, "Both the government and the opposition forces continue to demonstrate their determination to rely on ever-increasing violence."
But in the General Assembly, diplomats reviewed a draft resolution by Saudi Arabia that focused all its indignation on Assad's government, military forces and the militias that enforce the regime.
It denounced attacks on children as young as 9 years old by the Syrian government, military intelligence services and militias, railing against "killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, and use as human shields."In a sign of how quickly the situation can change, the resolution that began to circulate Monday reaffirmed its support for Annan, seen at left, though he had resigned as special envoy on Thursday.
The original draft had called for Assad to resign, highlighting an Arab League call on July 22 for "the Syrian president to step down from power, in order to facilitate a peaceful political transition."
That naked call for regime change appalled many U.N. members when the draft was discussed in private with regional groups on Tuesday. Syria was one of the original 51 members of the United Nations in 1945. Now, the world body set up to protect nation-states from invasion and foreign domination was about to demand a change in government from one of its charter members.
Russia and China opposed the draft, as expected. Both countries have cast a double-veto in the Security Council three times to kill resolutions that could have opened the door to sanctions on Syria, or even military intervention.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said he could not support the General Assembly's "extremely unbalanced and one-sided resolution. And those countries who are pushing this resolution most actively are the countries that are providing weapons to the armed opposition groups. This is unfortunately, the tragedy of the matter, something which made Kofi Annan's efforts so difficult."
But the Saudi sponsors of the draft resolution were taken aback when General Assembly nations including Brazil, India, Pakistan, South Africa and Argentina choked on the regime change and sanctions paragraphs in the draft. Iraq suffered for years under U.N. sanctions intended to pressure Saddam Hussein, but which only afflicted the Iraqi people, until he was toppled in 2003 by the United States, Britain, and their allies in the Gulf War.
With the tougher language, the Saudi resolution was in danger of falling below 100 votes in the 193-member Assembly, and would be seen as weak and lacking moral authority. General Assembly resolutions are unenforceable. The last General Assembly resolution on Syria, in February, had 137 votes in favor.
The draft was quickly pulled back and the regime change and sanctions provisions were stricken out by Wednesday. The revised resolution still demands that the Syrian army stop its shelling and helicopter attacks and withdraw to its barracks.
It takes a swipe at Russia and China by "deploring the Security Council failure" to act
The resolution condemns the increasing Syrian military reliance on heavy weapons, including tanks and helicopters, and "failure to withdraw its troops and heavy weapons to their barracks" in line with a set of proposals by Annan, a former U.N. secretary-general who has been trying to mediate the crisis.
It backs Annan's "demand that the first step in the cessation of violence has to be made by the Syrian authorities, and therefore calls upon the Syrian authorities to fulfill immediately their commitment to cease the use of heavy weapons and complete the withdrawal of their troops and heavy weapons to their barracks."
Reacting to Syria's recent confirmation that it has chemical weapons and announcement that it would use them on any invaders, the General Assembly "demands that the Syrian authorities refrain from using, or transferring to non-State actors, any chemical and biological weapons, or any related material." It further demands that Syria account for and secure its chem-bio weapons.
But the rhetoric was evidence of the frustration within the United Nations, and around it.
French Ambassador Geraud Araud, the president of the Security Council for the month, threw barbs at Russia and China for bottling up the Security Council: "We've been hit with three vetoes in a row," he told reporters.
"The risk is that some countries have drawn the conclusion that it is over, that the Council is impotent on Syria," Araud said.
Araud said that the Council cannot make any political progress on Syria, so he intended to convene a high-level Security Council meeting, inviting foreign ministers to New York, to focus on humanitarian concerns late in August. He praised the work of the Syrian Red Crescent, the only aid agency allowed to operate in Syria, but said they cannot do it all and called for Syria to allow other groups in.
Another likely victim of the Security Council bottleneck is the group of U.N. military observers that have been monitoring the spiraling violence in Syria, and reporting back to Ladsous at U.N. headquarters. The mission is in the midst of a 30-day extension of its mandate, which expires on Aug. 19. Extending it would require passage of another resolution in the Security Council — and no Russian or Chinese veto. It is already being cut back, from its original authorized strength of 300 to currently 115 monitors and 80 civilians.
"There will be no agreement, I think," Araud said. "It is clear that the mission will disappear by Aug. 19."Ladsous tried to sound optimistic as he left the Council briefing Thursday: "We have another 17 days to see whether something happens that will change the situation."

Muslims Burn Christian Homes and Businesses in Egypt
8-3-2012
http://www.aina.org/news/20120802201306.htm
(AINA) -- The sectarian crisis in the village of Dahshur escalated on August 1 after the burial of the Muslim man who died yesterday in hospital. Hundreds of Muslims torched and looted Coptic businesses and homes despite hundreds of security forces being deployed in the village. Eyewitnesses reported that security forces did not protect most Coptic property -- only the small church of St. George was protected, in addition to some Coptic houses in its neighborhood.
"As 120 families had already fled the village the day before after being terrorized, the businesses and homes were an easy game for the mob to make a complete clean-up of everything that could be looted," said Coptic activist Wagih Jacob. "The security forces were at the scene of the crime while it was taking place and did nothing at all."
After the violence, the family of the deceased Moaz Hasab-Allah said that destroying Coptic property is not enough and that Coptic have to "pay for their son's death" with lives. They did not yet accept condolences for his death, which is a sign that a vendetta is intended. In certain parts of Egypt, when the family of a deceased intends to take revenge, they accept no condolences before the persons responsible are killed.
The sectarian incident which, now called the "shirt sedition," started on July 27 in Dahshur, Badrasheen, 40 km south of Cairo, after the Coptic launderer Sameh Samy inadvertently burned the shirt of his Muslim client Ahmad Ramadan. Although they agreed to meet in the evening to settle the claim, Ramadam did not wait but came back in the afternoon to fight. After some 3000 armed Muslims surrounded the Copt's home and launderette, he locked himself up in his home. As the fight intensified on both sides with Molotov cocktails, the Copt hurled one fire bomb from the roof of his house, which the 25-year-old Moaz, who happened to be passing by. He was taken to hospital, suffering third degree burns. After his death in hospital, Muslim brotherhood clerics and his family vowed to exact revenge, causing 120 terrorized Christian families to flee the village, with only one Christian family remaining behind according to the village priest Takla Abdel-Sayed.
The Coptic launderer, his father and brother, after being assaulted by the mob, were detained by the police on charges of murder and possession of explosives. Five arrest warrants were issued for 5 Muslims who are still at large (AINA 8-1-2012).
The Coptic Orthodox Church issued a statement today criticizing officials "for not dealing firmly with the events, demanding the speedy arrest of the perpetrators, the provision of security to the village Copts, their return to their homes, and monetary compensation for all those affected."
Many activists regard the Dahshur incident as a perpetuation of the Mubarak-era policies of collective punishment of Copts.
"We were previously told that it was the old regime and security authorities which stirred sedition to divert the attention from existing problems facing the government," said commented law professor and former member of parliament Georgette Qellini. "Now that regime has gone, so who now is the culprit? We flatly refuse collective punishment of Copts. Just because I share some one's religion, I have to pay the price of losing my home and my job."
In an interview with MidEast Christian News Rev. Dr. Safwat El-Bayadi, head of the Evangelical Community in Egypt, said that collective punishment of Christians is prevailing in the absence of a system and deterrent laws to punish perpetrators.
"Is it possible that just because of a torched shirt, the whole village is to burn down," said Anba Theodosius, Coptic bishop of Giza. He intends to send today clergy from the Giza Diocese, to which Dahshur is affiliated, to visit President Morsy to demand "the return of the displaced families to the village, putting on trial those responsible, compensating the Christians victims for loss of their property and the return of stability and security to the village."
Dozens of Copts from the Maspero Coptic Youth Federation and the Coalition of Egypt's Copts staged demonstrations on Wednesday and today in front of the presidential palace and the headquarters of Security in Giza, protesting the Dahshour events. They chanted slogans against President Morsy and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Fadi Joseph, founder of the Coalition of Egypt's Copts, said during today's protest that President Mohamed Morsi went back on his election promise to the Copts, that "I will not do no injustice to any Copt and no Copt will ever be displaced." Youssef denied that the events of Dahshur was sectarian, stressing that what happened is an organized and systematic attack on Christians by militant Islamist groups in Dahshur. "
On the other hand politicians and commentators have criticized the president for failing in his first test. Some now call him "President of Gaza" due to his concern with affairs in Gaza.
Karam Gabriel, a lawyer and human rights activist, said that Dr. Mohamed Morsy bears full responsibility for the events of Dahshur, stressing that he cares about foreign matters such as the Gaza Strip at the expense of the Egyptians and the Christians who are being assaulted in an ongoing basis and are displaced.
Renowned Egyptian novelist and rights activist Alaa Al-Aswany wrote on his Twitter account a message to those who belittle the events of Dahshur, saying "What if the Americans acted the same way as the extremists of Dahshur, would you accept the expulsion of Muslims of America in response to Ben Laden's terrorism?"
The Shoura Chamber (Parliamentary Advisory Council), during its session this morning decided to form a committee to go to Dahshur, "to reconcile the citizens."
By Mary Abdelmassih
This item is available as: html | pdf
Copyright (C) 2012, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use.

Canada Regrets Resignation of UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan
August 2, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement upon news of the resignation of UN Special Envoy Kofi Annan:
“Canada is not overly surprised to learn of this development given Assad’s blatant disregard for commitments to Mr. Annan’s peace plan.
“The Assad regime’s violent campaign to suppress the Syrian opposition has claimed tens of thousands of innocent lives; it threatens to claim even more lives and further burden Syria’s neighbours.
“We are grateful for Mr. Annan’s noble and tireless efforts to bring peace to Syria and support a Syrian-led political transition. Sadly, with his departure, his six-point plan is in practical terms dead. “Canada calls on all parties to end the violence and to respect the basic rights of all Syrians.
“Canada further calls on UN member states to support the resolution on Syria currently before the General Assembly. The resolution strongly condemns the callous brutality of the Assad regime.
“However, words must be accompanied by actions. Canada calls on the UN Security Council to impose economic sanctions and an arms embargo on Syria under Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
“This will only be possible if those who shelter the regime from international sanction join with the rest of the international community in increasing the pressure on Syria to end the violence.”

.

..