Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 10/12
Lebanon concerned by Hezbollah money-laundering
U.S. adds Hezbollah to Syria sanctions list
Morsi's anti-terror ploy to root out pro-US influence in Cairo, cut Israel from Sinai
Rice: Iran-Hizbullah-Syria Alliance ‘Bad for the Region’
France Voices Concern over Samaha’s Alleged Confessions, Hopes Judiciary Will Reveal Truth
Samaha Reportedly Told Investigators ‘This is what Bashar Wants’
Former Information Minister Michel Samaha arrested on ‘terrorist’ suspicions
Hezbollah's, MP, Raad Describes Samaha Case as 'Security Fabrications': We Won't Remain Silent
Miqati Contacts Rifi, Praises ISF Role during ‘Critical Time in Lebanon’
Canadian FM, Mr. Baird heads to Middle East to tour refugee camp, meet Lebanon's PM
Two top clerics call on Lebanon’s Shiites to back Syrian uprising
Syrian Exiled Muslim Brotherhood seeks to fill post-Assad vacuum
March 14 criticism of draft vote law inappropriate: PM
New Lebanese Election law draft gives majority to pro Iran-Syria March 8: experts
Samaha says of bomb plots, ‘This is what Assad wants’: sources
Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel blames Information Branch for leaks on Samaha probe
Future bloc MP Ghazi Youssef hits back at Hezbollah’s Raad, defends Information Branch
Kidnapper of 11 Pilgrims: Lebanese Politicians Must Recognize Syrian Revolution
Families of Abducted Pilgrims in Syria Urge Qatar to Cooperate
Foreign Ministry Denies Lebanese Envoy Left Damascus
Lebanese Group Says Campaign against Lebanese Banks Merely Allegations
Four Lebanese-Canadians Run in Quebec Elections
U.S. to Announce New Syria Sanctions
Warning Shots, Tear Gas Fired to Disperse Tunisia Demos
U.N. Blames Syria Displaced Crisis on Rights Abuses
Britain Giving Syrian Rebels Body Armor
US to announce new Syria sanctions
Rebels pull back in Syria's Aleppo, U.N. says no one will win
 

Rice: Iran-Hizbullah-Syria Alliance ‘Bad for the Region’
Naharnet/10 August 2012/ The United States on Thursday accused Iran of playing a "nefarious" role in the Syria conflict, one that strengthens the case for President Bashar Assad to be forced out of office.
Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the alliance of Iran, Hizbullah and Assad's government was "bad for the region."
Rice was speaking to NBC television shortly after Assad met a top Iranian envoy in his war-torn capital this week and as Tehran hosted a conference on the conflict designed to shore up the beleaguered Syrian regime. "They view this as an axis of resistance along with Hizbullah, so there is no question that Iran is playing a nefarious role, not only in Syria but more broadly in the region, actively supporting the Assad regime," she said. "One of the reasons why we are quite clear that the end result must be and will be the departure of Assad, is because this alliance, so to speak, is bad not only for Syria, but it is bad for the region and bad for our interests." At its hastily-arranged international conference, Iran appealed to Syria's government and armed opposition to open peace talks.
Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told diplomats from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Cuba, Venezuela and other nations that Iran opposes "any foreign interference and military intervention in resolving the Syrian crisis." Rice said the United States was wary about imposing a Libya-style no fly zone over Syria even though it wanted to increase support for the opposition.
Some Syrian opposition rebels and U.S. politicians have called for a no fly zone and Rice said "none of these potential options have been ruled out." But she told NBC "the reality is that a no-fly zone isn't a simple proposition, it would ultimately involve putting boots on the ground and it would be a very different circumstance than we saw in Libya." The U.S. envoy said "the Syrian air defenses are among the most sophisticated in the world. Their military is quite a different beast."She said the United States is "actively looking at ways to strengthen the opposition: materially and financially and substantively and politically and that is already beginning to show some progress on the ground." The ambassador admitted that fighting between Assad's forces and rebels is intensifying but insisted the "momentum is shifting clearly in favor of the opposition.""The defections are mounting, the economic pressure is mounting, the political isolation of the Assad is increasing," she said. Agence France Presse.

U.S. adds Hezbollah to Syria sanctions list
August 10, 2012/Daily Star /WASHINGTON: The United States denounced Hezbollah for backing Bashar Assad on Friday, and added it to a list of organizations under sanctions for their ties to the Syrian regime. Hezbollah has been providing training, advice and extensive logistical support to the government of Syria, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement announcing the financial penalties.
"This action highlights Hezbollah's activities within Syria and its integral role in the continued violence the Assad regime is inflicting on the Syrian population," the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

Lebanon concerned by Hezbollah money-laundering
By JOANNA PARASZCZUK
08/10/2012/Officials worried by US group's allegations that Hezbollah, Iran using Lebanese banks for a money-laundering scheme. Photo: REUTERS/Sharif Karim
Banking officials and residents in Beirut are concerned about a US pressure group’s report that Hezbollah and Iran are using Lebanon’s banks in a large money-laundering scheme, a leading Lebanese daily reported on Thursday.
New York-based United Against a Nuclear Iran (UANI) made public last month the results of a three-month, confidential investigation into the influence of Iran and Hezbollah on Lebanon’s banking system and sovereign bond market.
Related: •'Jalili visited Beirut to support proxy, Hezbollah'•'Lebanon-Burgas calls increased days before attack'The group says Lebanon’s financial system – including Banque du Liban, the country’s central bank – is being used to funnel massive amounts of illicit cash for Hezbollah and its state sponsor, Iran.
“The Lebanese banking system provides the means by which Iran transacts funds transfers to evade the effects of sanctions and the growing international banking blockade against Iran, and allows the money transfers that support illicit weapons and other transactions, including with Syria,” UANI said.
Lebanese concerns about the report come after several groups – Austria’s Erste Sparinvest, Eaton Vance Investment Managers, Nord Est Asset Management, Ameriprise and Aktia Fund Management – divested from Lebanese sovereign debt securities.
Last week, UANI also called on Advanced Series Trust and its investment adviser Prudential Investments LLC to divest from Lebanese debt securities.
As-Safir noted that UANI’s campaign has also singled out Riad Salameh, governor of Banque du Liban.
In February, Salameh denied that there is any relationship between Banque du Liban and Iran’s central bank.
According to As-Safir, unnamed banking officials in Beirut said the report was “invective, insults, defamation and a pack of false allegations,” and showed a “partial understanding of the nature of the Lebanese economy.”
Lebanese officials are working to respond to the report, the paper said, including by preparing a detailed list of answers to questions raised in the report and explanations about Lebanon’s fiscal policies and public finance sector.
The paper noted that in June, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Prime Minister Najib Mikati to stress her support for Lebanon’s stability and express confidence in the country’s financial institutions.
Citing unnamed financial sector sources, As-Safir said that Lebanon’s banks and financial institutions had pledged not to deal with any individuals named on US sanctions lists.
The same sources said that Lebanon’s ability to avoid any repercussions from the global economic turndown lies in its credibility as a financially stable sovereign.
As-Safir challenged UANI’s conclusions that one of the indicators that Hezbollah and Iran are using Lebanese banking system in a wide-scale money=laundering scheme is the discrepancy between the volume of financial transactions in Lebanon and the size of its economy.
The pressure group argue that despite Lebanon’s devastated economy, its currency and banking system operate as if they belonged within a more successful state.
Lebanese sovereign debt to GDP ratio is the fourth highest in the world, yet the country’s sovereign bonds and credit default swaps trade at low yields, UANI found, noting that the cost of Lebanese debt has decreased considerably since 2006, which the group said coincides with increased sanctions pressure against Iran.
As-Safir argues that these figures are not unusual and that the Lebanese banking sector has relied disproportionately on the outside world since World War I.
Regarding the impact of the campaign, As-Safir said the Lebanese banking system has always been vulnerable to US influence, but that vulnerability grew after the events of September 11, 2001, with the advent of new technological advances and tools to fight terrorism.
The campaign against Lebanon’s banking sector has received increased attention in Beirut following a recent report filed by the New York State Department of Financial Services, which alleged that the UK’s Standard Chartered bank schemed with the Iranian regime – and by extension its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah – to conceal more than $250 billion in illegal transactions.
On Wednesday, Beirut-based newspaper Al-Akhbar cited an unnamed Lebanese politician as saying that Washington was trying to increase pressure on major European banks to comply with US international sanctions against Iran.
“It is no secret among Lebanese bankers that Americans have become more aggressive in this area lately,” Al-Akhbar said, adding that banking sector officials believe the US believes the sanctions authorize Washington to use the tools it deems appropriate to address terrorist and security risks.
In response, UANI spokesman Nathan Carleton said that Lebanese banking officials should be concerned about the campaign, noting that several bondholders had divested from Lebanese sovereign debt.
“Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salame has said absolutely nothing in response to UANI, and his silence has been deafening,” Carleton added. “He has notably been unable to answer even basic questions about Iran’s role in Lebanon’s banking system, including whether he agrees with Hezbollah’s leadership that its funding comes entirely from Iran.”
Regarding criticisms of UANI’s explanations over the Lebanese sovereign debt to GDP ratio, Carleton said there was “no innocent explanation as to why Lebanon’s numbers are so off-kilter.”
“While we are not privy to private conversations between US and Lebanese officials, we doubt that the US has truly been giving the Lebanese banking system a 100-percent clean bill of health. After all, the idea that Iran funnels money to terrorists through Lebanon is not new, and has been acknowledged by the US before,” Carleton said.

Confusion after Samaha’s arrest
Ana Maria Luca, August 10, 2012
The house in Jwar is full of people, tripods, video cameras and rumors. Half of the brown wooden door at the entrance had been shattered to pieces. Gladys, former minister Michel Samaha’s wife, sits in the living room surrounded by friends, relatives and Syrian Social Nationalist Party members. She receives journalists two by two and gives the same statement to all of them.
Gladys Samaha had been telling the same story since early morning. The intelligence branch of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces stormed into their summer residence’s bedroom early in the morning with a warrant signed by Lebanon’s General Prosecutor and arrested her husband, a close ally of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and reportedly the man who handled the Damascus leader’s public relations in Europe. She refused to speak directly to NOW Lebanon, but spoke to other reporters loudly enough to be overheard. Hisham Khoury, who introduced himself as a family friend and lawyer, said that the arrest was made by the intelligence branch of the Internal Security Forces without respecting due process.
“The Moukhtar was not present, although the law requires him to be present at the arrest. The maid also opened the door, but they broke it anyway. They went into the bedroom and took him. They even threatened his wife that if she resists, she will also be arrested,” he pointed out.
A man who says he is an employee of the Samahas and who overhears Khoury speaking intervenes: “They also broke furniture in the kitchen.”
“What happened here is illegal,” the lawyer insists. “He wasn’t allowed to make a call and ask for a lawyer. They just showed up with 500 troops, surrounded the house and took him from his bed. We don’t know exactly why they did this,” he says, adding that indeed, Samaha’s driver, his secretary and his bodyguard were also arrested.
Ex-minister and MP Michel Samaha is one of the most controversial people in the Lebanese political landscape. A Greek Catholic, he started his political career as a member of the Kataeb Party in the 1970s. He role was to be an intermediary between the Christian party and Damascus during the Lebanese civil war. He became the Minister of Information in 1992 and he also served as Minister of Tourism. His mandate as minister of information was renewed during Rafiq Hariri’s cabinets.
His activity at the ministry is still remembered by most Lebanese journalists as the dark ages of political reporting, as most TV and radio stations were forbidden from broadcasting political talk shows. Samaha lost his seat as an MP in 2000 and became one of the founding members of the Movement for Democratic Renewal. But in 2002, he changed direction, allied himself with the pro-Syrian political camp and again became the Minister of Information in Hariri’s government. He recently allied himself with Omar Karami’s pro-Syrian group, the National Gathering.
His wife told several journalists yesterday that her husband’s arrest was political.
“My husband represents a political group in the country, and we’re waiting for this group” to react to Samaha’s arrest, she said. The members SSNP were already gathering around the house and were threatening to burn tires to protest Samaha’s arrest. Later on, they changed their mind. In the meantime, the Lebanese authorities kept silent on the investigation. Justice minister Shakib Qortbawi called it “confidential.” The only official information was that the former minister had been arrested on security charges. But rumors, leaks and scenarios abounded. One rumor circulating among the journalists gathered at Samaha’s house was that the arrest was connected to “preparations for bombing attempts in several Lebanese areas” and that a large number of bombs were found at one of Samaha’s residences, either in Jwar or Ashrafieh.
Some media outlets reported that the targeted Lebanese areas were in Akkar and the explosions were meant to happen during Ramadan. LBC television reported that the key evidence that led to Samaha’s arrest came from a “snitch” who was a member of the former minister’s entourage and was in contact with the Internal Security Forces.
The station also reported that the ex-minister confessed to planning the bombings and smuggling explosives from Syria in his Mercedes car, which the security forces confiscated together with the politician’s laptop and several memory discs.
Politicians were stingy with statements too. Prime Minister Najib Miqati announced that he would receive a detailed report on the Samaha case, although Samaha’s lawyers said that it was not constitutional for the prime minister to interfere with the justice system. Miqati also shattered some rumors: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon had not asked for the arrest in relation to Rafiq Hariri’s murder nor had Samaha been arrested for espionage on behalf of Israel. March 8 politicians defended Samaha, while attacking the Intelligence branch of the ISF.
March 14 politicians complained about the leaks. Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel said that the ISF Information Branch should bear responsibility for the leaks on Samaha’s arrest. “I hold the [Internal Security Forces] Information Branch responsible, because [the leaks] undermine the credibility of the [ongoing probe] and [Samaha’s case] in general,” he told LBC television. Future Movement’s Nohad Mashnouq told NOW Lebanon that he finds it normal that Samaha’s arrest would cause such waves in the media, especially since he is the first minister to be taken in in this manner.
“The security system that made the arrest is very professional and serious. I don’t think they would have arrested him like this if they didn’t have strong evidence,” he noted.
Lebanese political analysts criticized the secrecy around the case, but also the way the Lebanese media dealt with the rumors. An-Nahar columnist Nabil Bou Monsef told NOW Lebanon that it was too early to comment on any accusation, since no official information is available. “But regardless the whole story might have some serious and dangerous consequences for Lebanon. The Syrian crisis is moving to Lebanon and this is very dangerous,” he said.
*Luna Safwan contributed reporting.

Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel blames Information Branch for leaks on Samaha probe
August 10, 2012
Kataeb bloc MP Nadim Gemayel said Friday that the ISF Information Branch should bear responsibility for the leaks pertaining to the arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha and the subsequent investigation.
“I hold the [Internal Security Forces] Information Branch responsible, because [the leaks] undermine the credibility of the [ongoing probe] and [Samaha’s case] in general,” he told LBC television.
Gemayel added that if Samaha was indicted, based on the charges made against him, “this implies that Syria is intending to blow up the situation in Lebanon.”
The arrest of Samaha, information minister under slain former Premier Rafiq Hariri, was made on the order of Lebanon's attorney general at his residence in Khenshara, 30 kilometers north of Beirut.
According to a local television station, Samaha confessed under interrogation that he had transferred explosives from Syria to Lebanon with Damascus’ knowledge.
As for Hezbollah’s stance on the arrest of the former minister, Gemayel told LBC: “Hezbollah’s response is unconvincing.”
According to New TV on Thursday, Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said his group “will not remain silent over what happened.”
Samaha is considered close to the embattled Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Lebanon’s Shiite group Hezbollah is mainly backed by Iran and Syria. The group heads the pro-Syrian regime March 8 alliance in Lebanon.
-NOW Lebanon

Future bloc MP Ghazi Youssef hits back at Hezbollah’s Raad, defends Information Branch
August 10, 2012
Future bloc MP Ghazi Youssef retorted Friday to Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad’s remarks on the detention of former Information Minister Michel Samaha.
“The [ongoing] investigation will reveal that Samaha’s arrest is not a security fabrication,” Youssef told Voice of Lebanon (100.5) radio.
Raad on Thursday rebuffed the arrest operation, saying: “We will not remain silent on Samaha’s detention and some judges are associated with suspicious security agencies.”
“These are security fabrications which we have experienced for a long time,” Raad added in a statement. However, Youssef said he “trusted the security agency that is in charge of the probe, since it thwarted all attempts that sought to generate strife in [Lebanon].”
“Why didn’t this security agency [i.e. Internal Security Agency Information Branch] create fabrications when it arrested a number of Israeli [spies], including agents affiliated with Hezbollah?” Youssef inquired during the interview with VOL.
The Future bloc is affiliated with the Western-backed March 14 alliance, a vociferous critic of the Syrian regime.
The arrest of Samaha, information minister under slain former Premier Rafiq Hariri, was made on the order of Lebanon's attorney general at his residence in Khenshara, 30 kilometers north of Beirut.
According to a local television station, Samaha confessed under interrogation that he had transferred explosives from Syria to Lebanon with Damascus’ knowledge.
Samaha is considered close to the embattled Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Lebanon’s Shiite group Hezbollah is mainly backed by Iran and Syria. The group heads the pro-Syrian regime March 8 alliance in Lebanon.
-NOW Lebanon

France Voices Concern over Samaha’s Alleged Confessions, Hopes Judiciary Will Reveal Truth
Naharnet/10 August 2012, 13:34
The French Foreign Ministry voiced its concern on Friday with the alleged confessions of former minister and MP Michel Samaha, saying that they are “exceptionally dangerous”.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Vincent Floriani: “We hope the Lebanese judiciary would reveal the truth in the case.”
He renewed France’s commitment to combatting terrorism and maintaining Lebanon’s stability and security. In addition, he hoped that the results of the investigation in attacks against the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and attempted assassinations of MP Butros Harb and Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea would be revealed.
The Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch arrested Samaha on Thursday morning "for security reasons," the acting general prosecutor said. Samaha was arrested following raids on his houses in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district and the North Metn town of Jwar al-Khenshara.
LBCI and MTV reported that the former minister confessed to planning bombings that would have been carried out during Ramadan iftars in northern Lebanon.
"Samaha confessed to smuggling explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon," reported LBCI.
Samaha is known for his pro-Syrian regime views and media reports say he served as an advisor to Syrian President Bashar Assad. He was among several pro-Syrian Lebanese officials who were sanctioned in 2007 by the United States for “contributing to political and economic instability in Lebanon.”

Samaha Reportedly Told Investigators ‘This is what Bashar Wants’
Naharnet/10 August 2012/Ex-Minister Michel Samaha, who has admitted to involvement in a plot to carry out bombings in Lebanon, has reportedly told investigators that the order came straight from Syrian President Bashar Assad.
According to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Friday, Samaha said: “The Syrian president wants this. This is what Bashar (Assad) wants.”
According to security sources, the former information minister said Syrian security official Ali Mamlouk had asked him to carry out the attacks.
The pro-Syrian regime official was arrested by the Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch during an early Thursday morning raid on his house in the North Metn town of Jwar al-Khensahara.
Another team searched his home in Beirut’s Ashrafiyeh district. The ISF took several items, including CDs, computers and documents, from both houses.
The security sources said that Samaha admitted to transferring 2 to 20 kilograms of explosives in his car from Syria to Lebanon through the Masnaa border crossing to plant them in areas in the country’s North and mainly Akkar district in an attempt to ignite a Sunni-Alawite or Sunni-Christian strife.
The bomb attacks would have been carried out during a visit by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi to Akkar starting August 13, they said.
The bombings would also coincide with Ramadan Iftars attended by important personalities and symbols of the Syrian opposition in the North, the sources added.
Samaha’s bodyguard Ali Mallah, his chauffeur Fares Barakat and his secretary Gladys Awada were also briefly arrested for interrogation on Thursday.
Sources close to the investigation said a person from the Kfouri family was involved in the plot.

Samaha says of bomb plots, ‘This is what Assad wants’: sources
August 10, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Police surveillance of recently detained former Cabinet Minister Michel Samaha, including incriminating video footage, was key to unveiling the pro-Assad figure’s alleged involvement in a plot to carry out attacks in Lebanon, security sources said Friday.
“This is what Bashar wants,” security sources quoted Samaha as saying of Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a video shot by a Lebanese undercover agent for the Internal Security Forces Information Branch.
He was referring to bomb attacks meant to be carried out in north Lebanon.
They also said that, in the video, Samaha can be seen and heard saying that Syrian Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk had handed him the bombs in addition to cash to be distributed to would-be perpetrators of the attacks in Lebanon.
Samaha was detained Thursday during a raid on his house in the Metn area of Khanshara-Juwar.
When interrogators screened the video in his presence, Samaha promptly admitted to being the man on film, the sources said.
The man who shot the video, a member of the Kfouri family, was flown out of the country just before Samaha’s arrest over fears for his safety, the sources added.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel said in comments to several media outlets Friday that Samaha admitted to his involvement in a “specific security case, but the issue remains undisclosed.”
Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi agreed that the probe is top secret and that "no one knows what is inside."
Nevertheless, he warned Friday that authorities will open an investigation to find out who was behind the "leaks."
Security sources Thursday told The Daily Star that Samaha admitted he was involved in the plot to carry out bomb attacks and that he had personally transferred a number of explosives from Syria to Lebanon.
The sources added that “highly effective” bombs ready to explode by remote control had earlier been found in various areas of Lebanon.The same sources told The Daily Star Friday that after police collected evidence for the case and just before the bombs were set to explode, Acting State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud issued the order to detain Samaha.
The ISF Information Branch seized $170,000 from Samaha’s residence, added the sources.
They said security was beefed up around Hammoud's house in Moseitbeh, Beirut, following Samaha's arrest, as was his official escort.
Further information about the would-be attacks indicated that the planting and the timing of the bombs were designed to coincide with a visit to the northern region of Akkar by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai.
When asked to comment by The Daily Star, Rai declined, but Bkirki issued a statement Friday saying that the patriarch's visit to Tripoli and Akkar would last from Aug. 13 until Aug. 16.
Hammoud briefed Prime Minister Najib Mikati Friday on the outcome of the preliminary investigation of Samaha.
Mikati urged Hammoud to carry on with the probe “to uncover the truth behind this case and to achieve justice.”
Also Friday, Future Movement MP Ghazi Youssef hit back at head of the Hezbollah parliamenatary bloc Mohammad Raad, who accused members of the judiciary Thursday of collaborating with “suspicious” security forces against Samaha.
In Hezbollah’s first response to Samaha’s arrest, Raad said Thursday: “We have long experienced such security fabrications; some judges are connected to suspicious security services.”
Youssef told a local radio station Friday: “The facts of the investigation will reveal that Samaha’s arrest is not based on security fabrications.”
He also asked rhetorically why Hezbollah had not accused the ISF's Information Branch of fabricating evidence "when it arrested many Israeli spies, including those who belong to Hezbollah?”
Meanwhile, Catholic religious figures expressed disapproval of the way, Samaha, a fellow Catholic, was taken into custody.
Zahle’s Catholic bishop Issam Darwish condemned Friday the manner in which police apprehended Samaha.
“I’m not against any security measures in accordance with the norms of the Lebanese state, but I'm against the way in which [Samaha] was detained, regardless of the outcome of the ongoing probe,” Darwish said in a statement.
Catholic Patriarch Gregorios III Lahham also denounced the “abusive way in which Samaha was arrested and the lack of respect for the sanctity of the home and the dignity of the family.”
In a telephone to President Michel Sleiman at his summer residence in Beiteddine, Lahham also said the way Samaha was arrested “defames the reputation of the security institution which acted in an uncivilized manner.
Others were stronger in their condemnation of the security forces' behavior.
Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan, a pro-Assad general detained by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and later released, described Samaha’s detention as a “kidnapping operation.”
“The kidnapping of the 11 Lebanese in Syria was carried out by Abu Ibrahim,” he said. “Those in Lebanon are carried out by Abu Mazen [Information Branch chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan].”
Hamdan's comments came following a meeting with head of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun at the latter's residence in Rabieh, north of Beirut.

Former Information Minister Michel Samaha arrested on ‘terrorist’ suspicions
August 10, 2012/By Van Meguerditchian, Youssef Diab, Hasan Lakkis/ The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politics/2012/Aug-10/184104-samaha-arrested-on-terrorist-suspicions.ashx#axzz233bdVfHA
BEIRUT: Hezbollah will not remain silent over the arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha on terrorist suspicions, Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad said Thursday, accusing members of the judiciary of collaborating with “suspicious” security forces against the pro-Syrian ex-official.
“We have long experienced these security fabrications and some judges are connected to suspicious security services,” said Raad, in the party’s first response to the arrest of Samaha.
A pro-Syrian regime official, Samaha was arrested by the Internal Security Forces Information Branch Thursday on suspicion of being involved in a plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon in collaboration with the Syrian regime.
Samaha – a longtime ally of the Syrian regime, two-time minister and former MP – was taken from his summer residence in Metn’s Khanshara-Juwar Thursday morning to ISF headquarters in Beirut for questioning.
Another police unit stormed his residence in Beirut’s Ashrafieh.
The operations were carried out upon the orders of acting-State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud.
Hammoud told The Daily Star Samaha’s case was part of a wider probe into security threats facing the country.
“There is an ongoing security investigation that has not finished yet and I am personally overseeing it,” said Hammoud, who met with Samaha later Thursday.Samaha’s personal staff, including his driver Fares Barakat, his secretary Gladys Awada and his personal bodyguard Ali Mallah, were also detained and taken in for questioning.
Security sources said Samaha admitted that he was involved in a plot to carry out bomb attacks in Lebanon and that he had personally transferred a number of explosives from Syria into Lebanon.
“Samaha admitted to personally delivering explosives from Syria to Lebanon after a number of testimonies by his driver,” one senior source said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Samaha’s detention was a security-related issue and was not related to collaboration with Israel or with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
After interrogations, Awada, Barakat and Mallah were later released on bail.
Security sources said an individual that Samaha was trying to hire for the alleged plot in Lebanon cooperated with the police, providing them with crucial evidence.
Cabinet’s move to provide the security forces with nationwide telecoms data last month also moved the investigation forward in recent weeks, the sources said.
According to the sources, Samaha said during his interrogation that a Syrian security official, Ali Mamlouk, had asked him to carry out attacks in north Lebanon’s Akkar, a region where the unrest in Syria has created tension.
He also said that some of the explosives had been delivered to a Lebanese man identified with the last name al-Kfouri.
Akkar MP Khaled Daher and several other Lebanese politicians supportive of the Syrian opposition had also been the targets of the plot prepared by a network of Lebanese and Syrians, including Samaha, the sources added.
Some 20 explosives were confiscated in different areas in Lebanon, according to security officials, who asked not to be identified by the media.
Samaha, aged 64, who was first elected MP in the 1992 parliamentary elections, has been an unabashed supporter of the embattled Syrian regime and President Bashar Assad.
Fearing that he might flee to Syria, members of the Information Branch raided his house in Khanshara-Juwar without an arrest warrant.
The raid took place between 7 and 8 a.m. after police blocked traffic in the area of Samaha’s residence.
“He was in his pajamas,” his wife Gladys told reporters. She also said that her husband had been arrested for political reasons.
“He was not only arrested for supporting the Syrian regime, but also because of his Lebanese political affiliation ... I am hoping that his political team [March 8] will make a move,” she added.
After detaining Samaha, police also confiscated documents, a computer, video tapes, mobile phones and an unidentified number of weapons from the Khanshara-Juwar residence.
Thirty kilometers away in Beirut, a separate unit of the Information Branch stormed Samaha’s apartment on the sixth floor of the Karam Building in Ashrafieh’s Sassine Square.
At least 30 members of the Information Branch surrounded the 11-story building while others searched Samaha’s apartment, confiscating documents and other personal belongings in an operation that lasted hours.
In Ashrafieh, Samaha’s shocked relatives and friends anxiously waited for the police to end their search operation.
“This was a complete surprise to me.
“I got a call this morning from his daughter and I rushed and came here,” said Zahi Abu Mansour, a relative.
“Three of his girls were in the apartment when the police arrived,” he said.
Former President Emile Lahoud criticized the police raid on Samaha’s home and the way he had been detained.
“These acts by the security forces violate all norms of preliminary investigations,” Lahoud said in a statement.
Lahoud also compared Thursday’s arrest to the ones that put four Lebanese generals behind bars in 2005.
Four of Lahoud’s top security chiefs were arrested in August 2005 on suspicion of being involved in Hariri’s assassination and were kept in jail until 2009.
Jamil Sayyed, one of the security chiefs who served almost four years in prison, visited Samaha’s residence in Ashrafieh and denounced the detention.
Sayyed described Samaha’s arrest as identical to his own in 2005 and criticized Hezbollah and the Amal Movement for doing nothing in response to the arrest.
While most Lebanese politicians avoided commenting on the former minister’s arrest, Akkar MP Hadi Hobeish said that the allegations against Samaha are more dangerous even than collaboration with Israel.
“Accusations that we heard are much more dangerous than collaboration with Israel; there are accusations of employing people to kill Parliament members,” said Hobeish.
Hobeish also said that the ISF would not have carried out such an operation had it not obtained strong evidence against Samaha.
Security sources from the Information Branch said that Hezbollah official Wafik Safa visited the head of the Information Branch Wissam Hasan upon the request of Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.
“The Information Branch provided the Hezbollah official with some of the evidence used for Samaha’s arrest.”
Bio of Michel Samaha
BEIRUT: Michel Samaha served as Information Minister in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s governments from 1992-95 and 2003-04.
The 64-year-old, who hails from the Metn town of Khanchara-Jwar, was also elected to Parliament in 1992.
Samaha joined the Kataeb (Phalange) Party in 1964 and was appointed to represent the party in talks with Syria. He left the Kataeb in 1985.
In 2007, the U.S. government banned Samaha and a number of Lebanese and Syrians from traveling to the U.S. for conspiring with the Syrian regime to create instability in Lebanon.
He graduated with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Saint Joseph in Beirut in 1973. He is married to Gladys Arida and has three daughters.

Syrian Exiled Muslim Brotherhood seeks to fill post-Assad vacuum
August 10, 2012/By Lauren Williams/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The exiled Muslim Brotherhood is campaigning for support with money and arms on the ground, positioning itself as the most organized force to fill a political vacuum as a post-Assad Syria becomes more feasible.
The exiled Muslim Brotherhood, persecuted for decades under the late Hafez Assad and his son, President Bashar Assad, has enjoyed a resurgence during the 17-month uprising.
The Brotherhood is acknowledged as the dominant force in the external opposition Syrian National Council, controlling important financial networks. But aware of the need to allay fears of a Sunni Islamist takeover, in keeping with trends in Tunisia and Egypt, the Brotherhood has been at lengths to avoid distinguishing itself as a political party from the broader opposition movement.
Recent weeks have proved a turning point in the conflict.
Several blows to the regime – including a bomb attack on the security headquarters in Damascus that killed four key members of Assad’s crisis cell on July 18, and a string of high profile defections – have buoyed the opposition and brought street battles to the capital and Syria’s commercial center, Aleppo, prompting predictions Assad’s grip on power is slipping.
With opposition fighters still dramatically outgunned and opposition groups divided, there have been hastened calls from Western opposition backers for the formation of a transitional government to avert a chaotic political vacuum in the event of Assad’s departure.
The Brotherhood is now banking on Assad’s fall and making more assertive efforts to fill a political and military void.
Smugglers, opposition fighters, activists and Muslim Brotherhood representatives have told The Daily Star the organization is funding opposition fighters and distributing aid via networks in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, in some cases independently from the military council operating under the SNC.
Hossam Abu Habil, whose late father was an exiled Muslim Brotherhood member, is acting as an intermediary between wealthy Brotherhood members in the Gulf and weapons dealers in Lebanon.
He told The Daily Star in late July that he receives $40,000-$50,000 a month from Brotherhood contacts in Qatar and Kuwait to buy arms, medical supplies and salaries for two rebel battalions near Homs.
He said there was a lack of support for the SNC on the ground, claiming the Brotherhood is now directly supporting 60-65 percent of battalions around Homs and Idlib.
“The Muslim Brotherhood don’t talk to the media about it, but they are administering the revolution,” he said.
Muslim Brotherhood and SNC member Mohammad Sarmini detailed to The Daily Star reconnaissance tours he undertook in Syria to assess the needs and capacities of fighters on the ground and unify militias under an Islamic umbrella.
“While I was in Syria I communicated with all the militia leaders, with the political activists with a view to establishing coordination between the governorates toward the real goal of toppling the regime,” he told The Daily Star.Ahead of the announcement of the formation of the Islamic “Syrian Rebel Front” in June, Sarmini said the Front’s goal was to “arm Islamist fighters.”
“The main purpose is to organize financial and military support for Islamists fighting on the ground,” he said, adding that the Front would coordinate with the SNC and Free Syrian Army forces. SNC leaders have distanced themselves publicly from the movement.
Habil, the intermediary, said the Brotherhood’s intention was not to “form an army,” but to build awareness of Islamic principles in a post-Assad civic state.
“The Muslim Brotherhood believes now that the regime in Syria is going to end very soon. They are preparing for people to open the doors to become members.”
Molham al-Drobi, a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s leadership who sits on the SNC’s foreign affairs committee, told The Daily Star the Brotherhood had resorted to arming people as a result of “extraordinary force” by the regime.
“People were forced to pick up arms to defend themselves and their families; likewise the Muslim Brotherhood did,” he said in an email interview.
Secular activists and opposition critics, however, complain the Brotherhood is “buying allegiances” and fomenting potentially dangerous rivalries between armed groups competing for resources.
Evidence that extremist Islamists and jihadists, including affiliates of Al-Qaeda, are increasingly joining the fray is also sounding alarm bells over using Islam as a unifying force.
A senior member of the Local Coordinating Committees, an activist network operating across local governorates inside Syria, Maher Isber, said the Brotherhood campaigning was “what worries me most about the direction of the revolution.
“They want to build their role militarily,” he said, adding that some had complained that arms were being supplied to “Islamic” groups on a preferential basis.
“There are almost 250 defectors in Turkey who are going hungry, but a lot of the financing is going to certain groups that are Islamic. They are going through the channels of the sheikhs in many cases, through Qatar and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “This is the first time we have seen a political party trying to build an armed force,” he added.
Prominent opposition figure Kamal Labwani, who broke with the SNC along with several leading dissidents in March, complaining over the dominance of the Brotherhood in the body, echoed that sentiment.
Speaking after the announcement by veteran dissident Haitham Maleh late last month that he would lead attempts to form a transition government, Labwani told The Daily Star the Brotherhood was monopolizing power and buying territory.
“They want to use money for everything,” he said, adding that he feared a disintegration into competing militias.
“Until now they have had success in buying the loyalty of about 20 percent of militias on the ground, but ... there is resistance.
“They will deceive the Western states and after they win power they will show their true face as fanatics,” he said.
Drobi denied the Brotherhood is controlling territory and reiterated claims that the group aspires to a moderate civil state, based on Islamic principles.
“We [strive] for national unity and share a common vision among all Syrians,” he said. “There are no territories in Syria controlled by Muslim Brotherhood and there will be none.”
Repeating the vision outlined in the Brotherhood’s manifesto, published in April, he said the organization would work to “promote national unity and equal rights for all Syrians.”
Acknowledging that “moderate Islam can act as a unifying force, as Syria is more than 70 percent Sunni Muslim,” Drobi said, “this moderate Islam ... will assure equality for all Syrians, without any discrimination [according to] religion, race, or gender.”
He denied the Muslim Brotherhood is angling for power in a post-Assad Syria, but said the party had made polling calculations.
“In a free, transparent election the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria will not cultivate more than 25 percent of the votes in our relatively accurate calculations.”
Wissam Tarif, a prominent dissident, said the Brotherhood’s rise was natural.
“They are attracting every other group precisely because they are the best organized. It’s not just weapons ... the Muslim Brotherhood are stepping in at every level,” he said, pointing to investments set up in Gulf countries after the Brotherhood was exiled in the 1980s. “They have the money, they have the political structure, so they are strides ahead of other opposition groups.”


March 14 criticism of draft vote law inappropriate: PM
August 10, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Thursday that the March 14 coalition’s negative reactions to an electoral draft law his Cabinet approved earlier this week were inappropriate, as Parliament still needs to discuss the law before its endorsement.
“All the accusations we heard are inappropriate and are only unjustified uproar,” Mikati said.
“You watched the news conference of [Lebanese Forces leader] Samir Geagea yesterday [Wednesday] when he said the Cabinet’s draft law is better than the 1960 law but that it needs two additional items,” Mikati told the new members of the board of the Journalists Union who visited him at the Grand Serail along with its newly elected president Elias Aoun.
“Great, let Parliament do what it deems suitable and divide the electoral districts as it wants if they [March 14 MPs] do not like divisions we proposed,” he added.
Mikati said his Cabinet fulfilled its commitment to approve a new electoral draft law, adding that Parliament had the final say.
“If there are good intentions, then an electoral law combining proportional representation and winner-take-all systems which provides fair representation can be reached [in Parliament],” said Mikati, pointing to Geagea’s proposal about a possible draft law adopting proportional representation and the districts of the 1960 law.
The March 14 coalition strongly criticized a draft electoral law approved by the Cabinet Tuesday, arguing it was devised to match the interests of Hezbollah and the rest of its March 8 allies.
The draft law is based on proportional representation and divides the country into 13 districts for the 2013 polls, cutting the number of districts to almost half of what the current electoral law stipulates. It states that each candidate list should include both sexes but specifies no quotas.
Rival Lebanese leaders adopted the current law, which is based on the 1960 winner-take-all law, by consensus in Doha in May 2008.
Mikati said that as long as he was prime minister, delaying the 2013 parliamentary polls was out of question.
The premier said that the formula reached in the draft law regarding expatriate voting was the best, adding that he would not oppose a better one if endorsed by Parliament.
Cabinet decided to dedicate an additional three Christian seats and three Muslim seats for Lebanese expatriates.
Geagea criticized the move as disregarding expatriates’ connections to their towns and villages in Lebanon.
In remarks Wednesday, Geagea questioned the Cabinet’s intentions in dividing governorates of Beirut and south Lebanon into two districts, while dividing all other governorates into three districts.
“Yes, proportional representation could have worked, but not with 13 districts, with 15 districts,” Geagea said Wednesday.
For his part, President Michel Sleiman said Thursday he would remain committed to proportional representation in the draft law which was approved by the Cabinet.
“It was the demand of wide segments of the Lebanese, including some of those who are today expressing opposition to the entire draft law or to parts of it, which is a democratic right,” the president told visitors at his summer residence in Beiteddine.
Sleiman voiced hope that Parliament would discuss the electoral districts while tackling the draft law so that it received the endorsement of the highest number of MPs.
He also highlighted the need to boost the female quota so that women could have an effective role in politics and public affairs.
Sleiman said that if the number of expatriates was not enough for them to have an independent district as the draft law stipulates, “then this issue could be studied again without abandoning the principle of letting them participate in the [2013 parliamentary] elections according to the formula which would be agreed upon.”
Sleiman hoped that Parliament would pass the electoral draft law as soon as possible to get ready to discuss legislation implementing administrative decentralization.
Meanwhile, March 14 MPs continued their attack on the electoral draft law Thursday.
Beirut MP Michel Pharaon, from the Future parliamentary bloc, said the division of districts in Beirut according to the draft law represents an assault on the Beirut neighborhoods of Ashrafieh, Rmeil and Saifi.
“Dividing the districts in Jezzine, Kesrouan, Metn and Sidon aims at placing them under the tutelage of the March 8 coalition and represents a provocation for Christians and Sunnis,” he said during a discussion session.
All ministers in the March 8 dominated Cabinet voted for the electoral draft law except for those from Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt’s bloc, who opposed it.
Jumblatt argues that proportional representation aims at curbing his political influence.
Minister of State Ali Qanso, from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, also opposed the draft legislation.

Election law gives majority to March 8: experts August 10, 2012/
By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The government’s controversial draft electoral law based on proportional representation will help Hezbollah and its March 8 allies to increase their parliamentary seats and gain the majority in next year’s elections, experts said Thursday.
However, experts agreed with key leaders in the opposition March 14 coalition that the draft electoral law based proportional representation, which was approved by the Cabinet this week, does not stand any chance of being endorsed by Parliament.
“A preliminary assessment of the government’s draft electoral law suggests that it serves the March 8 group by giving this group a supposed edge in next year’s elections,” ex-Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told The Daily Star.
Baroud said the draft electoral law would improve Christian representation in Parliament but not to a sufficient degree.
“Under the current election law, there are 64 [parliamentary] seats for Christians. Of these, only 34 seats are elected by Christians,” he said, referring to the 1960 election law, which adopts the qada as an electoral district and was used in the 2009 round.
“If the proportionality law is adopted, this will raise the number of seats elected by Christians up to 46,” Baroud said. He added that a system of 15 electoral districts would raise the number of parliamentary seats chosen by Christians to 51.
All elections in Lebanon have so far been held based on a winner-takes-all system, which many blame for inciting sectarian feelings and depriving minorities of representation.
Baroud was a member of a committee appointed by the government in 2006 to draft a new electoral law. Better known as the Butros Committee, (it was headed by former Foreign Minister Fouad Butros), the committee proposed electoral reforms, including the adoption of a proportional representation system, the establishment of an independent committee to oversee elections and the use of pre-printed ballots.
Kamal Feghali, director of Bureau of Statistics and Documentation, defended the government’s proportional representation law in the face of fierce opposition by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s Future Movement and its March 14 allies as well as by Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt.
“This electoral law is the best for Lebanon under the current circumstances through which the country is passing. With this law, each vote in Lebanon will have a value,” Feghali told The Daily Star.
“A proportional system will ensure a fair representation for all sects, including minorities and will fight election money [vote-buying],” he said. “It will also break geographical monopoly of any sect or political party over parliamentary representation.”
Feghali said the Future Movement and its allies would lose 22 parliamentary seats under a proportionality system compared to the 2009 elections.
He added that the Hezbollah-Amal alliance would also lose control over eight parliamentary seats for non-Shiite lawmakers.
Feghali said that although March 8 parties won 862,000 votes against 718,000 votes for March 14 parties in the 2009 elections, the March 14 coalition gained 16 parliamentary seats more than the March 8 bloc.
The 2009 election outcome was 72 seats for the March 14 coalition against 56 seats for the March 8 bloc.
According to a survey conducted by his bureau, Feghali said under the proportionality system, March 8 parties would do well in the 2013 elections, winning about 63 parliamentary seats against 56 seats for the March 14 coalition with nine independents.
Feghali said the main loser from the proportionality system is the Future Movement followed by Jumblatt. He said the PSP leader’s control of seven parliamentary seats in the Chouf-Aley district would he broken under a proportionality system.
The government’s draft electoral law has come under fire by Hariri, Jumblatt and March 14 politicians, including Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea. Hariri said the proportionality law was directed against the majority of the Lebanese, vowing to block its endorsement in Parliament.
“The least that can be said about this draft law is that it is directed against more than half of the Lebanese. Let it be clear from the beginning that this draft law is unacceptable and will not pass,” Hariri, head of the opposition parliamentary Future bloc, said in a statement. “The government presented a draft law made to suit Hezbollah and its allies, whether through proportionality or through the division of constituencies.”
Hariri’s statement came a few hours after the Cabinet approved a draft electoral law Tuesday based on proportional representation with 13 districts for the 2013 polls, cutting the number of districts to almost half of what the current election law stipulates.
The current law, based on the 1960 law, was adopted by consensus by rival Lebanese leaders in Doha in 2009.
The draft law is likely to be voted down if put before Parliament as the March 14 coalition and the PSP have agreed to reject any legislation based on proportional representation.
Under the Cabinet’s plan, Beirut and south Lebanon would be divided into two electoral districts, while the Bekaa, north Lebanon and Mount Lebanon would each be divided into three. The Cabinet also decided to allocate an additional three Christian seats as well as three Muslim seats for Lebanese expatriates.
Interior Minister Marwan Charbel, the architect of the government’s draft electoral law, said the law was not divine. “The [Interior] Ministry is ready to draft an alternative draft law if this law was rejected [by Parliament]. The final decision is in the hands of Parliament,” Charbel told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.
Both Baroud and Feghali predicted the rejection of the government’s draft electoral law in Parliament.
“The government’s draft law has been sent to Parliament where it will be buried,” Baroud said. “The draft law will not pass in Parliament due to a lack of consensus [among political parties] and the impossibility of ensuring a majority to endorse it.”Baroud voiced fears of a return to the 1960 election law as long as rival political parties are unable to agree on a new election law.
Feghali also said the government’s draft electoral law will not pass in Parliament after it came under fire by March 14 parties. “If the dispute over a new election law persists, there is a big possibility that the 2013 elections might not be held on time,” he said.

Two top Lebanese Shiite clerics call on Lebanon’s Shiites to back Syrian uprising
August 9, 2012
Two prominent Shiite clerics in Lebanon, Mohammad Hassan al-Amin and Hani Fahs, issued a joint statement on Thursday calling on Lebanon’s Shiites to support the popular uprising in neighboring Syria.
“We call on [Lebanon’s Shiites to] support the Arab uprisings…particularly the Syrian [one] which will triumph, God willing.”
“Among the [factors] that guarantee a [good] future for us in Lebanon, is for Syria to be stable, free, and ruled by a democratic, pluralist and modern state,” the two signatories said.
The two Shiite clerics added: “We reveal our unwavering stance in support of the Syrian uprising in an unambiguous [and] non-aggressive way; the same way we backed the Palestinian, Iranian, Egyptian, Yemeni and Libyan revolutions and sympathized with the reform movements and popular [protests] in Iran, Bahrain, Mauritania and Sudan.”
Hezbollah is the largest Shiite party in Lebanon and spearheads the pro-Syrian regime March 8 alliance.
Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, led by Hezbollah, and the pro-Western March 14 camp.
-NOWLebanon

Canadian FM, Mr. Baird heads to Middle East to tour refugee camp, meet Lebanon's PM
By The Canadian Press August 9, 2012/ OTTAWA - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is heading to the Middle East on Friday to meet Lebanon's prime minister and tour a refugee camp in Jordan. Baird's office says the continuing violence in Syria will be a major topic of discussion when he meets on Friday with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and opposition leader Fouad Siniora in Beirut. Baird travels to the region at a time of fierce fighting between government troops and rebels in Aleppo, Syria's largest city and financial hub.
Aleppo has been under heavy fire from tanks, helicopter gunships and warplanes for two weeks now as President Bashar Assad's regime tries to break the rebel grip on one of its strongholds.
The United Nations estimates more than 78,000 people have fled to refugee camps in neighbouring Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Jordan to escape the bloodshed.
Baird will tour one such camp on Saturday in Jordan, where he and his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh will make an announcement.
"The situation grows increasingly difficult as refugees continue to flow over Syria's borders into neighbouring countries," Baird said in a release.
“The situation in Syria threatens the stability of the entire Middle East,” he added.
Jordan recently opened the Zaatari refugee camp near the city of Mafraq, a desert outpost 80 kilometres north of the capital Amman, where temperatures have soared as high as 45 degrees Celsius.
The UN refugee agency says some 10,000 Syrians had been living in four overcrowded transit centres near the Jordan-Syria border, with as many as 1,500 new refugees arriving each night.
Activists say upwards of 21,000 people have been killed since a crackdown on pro-democracy protesters began in March 2011.

Baird to Visit Middle East, Bolster Relations
August 9, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird will travel to Lebanon and Jordan from August 10 to 13, 2012.
In Beirut, Baird will meet with Prime Minister Najib Mikati to discuss security in Lebanon and Syria, as well as in the region more broadly.
During his trip to Lebanon and Jordan, Baird will underscore Canada’s support for the stability of both countries in light of the crisis in Syria.
“The situation in Syria threatens the stability of the entire Middle East,” said Baird. “As the fighting continues and atrocities multiply, the need for all countries to bring pressure to bear on the Assad regime is imperative. The situation grows increasingly difficult as refugees continue to flow over Syria’s borders into neighbouring countries.”
The focus of discussions will include the deteriorating situation in Syria and Iran, regional security throughout the Middle East, trade and commerce, and other matters of mutual interest. Baird will also meet with members of the opposition, including former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the parliamentary leader of the March 14 opposition.
While in Amman, Baird will meet with Minister of Foreign Affairs Nasser Judeh and with King Abdullah II of Jordan. Baird will seek Jordan’s perspective on the situation in Syria and the broader Middle East, and discuss Canada-Jordan bilateral relations.

Morsi's anti-terror ploy to root out pro-US influence in Cairo, cut Israel from Sinai
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 10, 2012/, Israel willingly acceded to Cairo’s request for permission to deploy fighter planes and armored troop carriers in Sinai, which was ruled a demilitarized buffer zone under their 1979 peace treaty. It shared an interest in President Mohamed Morsi’s counter-terror offensive against lawless Islamist bands.
But when sensational reports started coming in from Cairo about non-existent Egyptian victories in which an improbable “60 gunmen killed,” they realized the “offensive” was largely bogus.
According to debkafile’s intelligence sources, Washington and Jerusalem strongly suspect that they should be worried about what the Muslim Brotherhood president is really up, especially after the sweep he conducted Wednesday, Aug. 8 of pro-Western military officers and other moves.
1. Until then, President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood’s leadership were deemed two separate and competing power bases in Cairo, with the president ready to defy the Brotherhood by leaning on the supreme military council for support.
This perception broke down in the aftermath of the terrorist raid of Aug. 5 in which 17 Egyptian troops were murdered at their Mansoura base in northern Sinai. By his subsequent actions, Morsi put paid to the impression, which was supported by many high-ranking members of Israel’s security community, that the Egyptian president of two months had chosen an independent path and was ready to break ranks with the Brotherhood.
2. Wednesday, Aug. 8, with considerable fanfare, Morsi sacked key military officials in an apparent purge of those responsible for the Sinai debacle.
Chief of intelligence Gen. Mourad Mowafi was sent into retirement and Maj. Gen. Mohamed Shahata given an interim appointment in his stead. The same bulletin announced that the head of the Supreme Military Council and defense minister, Field Marshal Tantawi, had fired the head of the military police, Maj. Gen. Hamdy Badeen.
Our sources disclose that Tantawi had no part in this or any other military dismissals, although they were his prerogative. Morsi quite simply seized the moment to appropriate the top military command’s authority for the first time by taking upon himself the firing and hiring of military officers.
The president furthermore sacked the head of the Republican Guard, the division responsible for safeguarding the president and members of his regime and replaced him with an officer loyal to the Muslim Brotherhood, Maj. Gen. Hamed Zaky.
Morsi’s highhanded actions, especially in the case of Gen. Mowafi, are seen in Washington and Jerusalem as the first steps in the Brotherhood’s takeover of the Egyptian army.
3. Mowafi had to go because he stood in the way of Muslim Brotherhood objectives. It was he who raised the alarm for months about an impending terrorist attack on the Egyptian-Gaza-Israel border junction and urged the deployment of attack helicopters for preemptive missile attacks on their networks.
Instead of being commended, our sources report he was fired for two reasons: For what the MB thought of as his pro-western and pro-Israeli orientation; and for his efforts to broker a compromise deal for unifying the two Palestinian wings, the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.
However, this not what the Brotherhood wants. Rather than Palestinian unity and compromise, the MB seeks a Hamas takeover of the Ramallah-based Fatah wing headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
Gen. Mowafi stood in the way of this goal.
At the same time, the new man, Gen. Shahata, had to be satisfied with an interim appointment as head of intelligence. The MB does not trust him to be loyal and regards him as pro-Western – albeit less well-connected than Mowafi. They will use him as a stopgap until they find an intelligence chief who understands where his allegiance belongs - and then drop him too.
In the “counter-terror offensive” charade, the MB assigned Hamas in Gaza a key role. According to the script, Cairo would give Hamas an ‘ultimatum” to surrender the Al Qaeda-linked Army of Islam operatives alleged to have carried out the raid on the Egyptian base. The Muslim Brotherhood regime in Cairo would then be able to close the books on the episode and avoid even the semblance of an offensive against Salafi terrorist networks in Sinai.
Israel’s diplomatic-security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem Friday, Aug. 10, freely approved the transfer of assault helicopters to Sinai “for a few days”- although it didn’t take a counter-terror expert to realize that there is no way a couple of helicopters could wipe out hidden terrorist networks in just days. But the ministers decided on advice from Washington to go along for now with the show Morsi and the Muslim Brothers were putting on, so as not to look obstructive.

Four Lebanese-Canadians Run in Quebec Elections
Naharnet/10 August 2012/..Four Lebanese-Canadians are running in the upcoming National Assembly’s elections in Quebec as candidates for the upstart “Coalition Avenir Québec.”
The four candidates Johnny Kairouz, Abel-Claude Arslanian, Walid Hadid and Carla el-Ghandour will represent some 200,000 Lebanese-Canadians who are mostly localized in Quebec and Montreal.
The election will take place Sept. 4. According to An Nahar newspaper published on Friday, the 4 expats’ experience reflects the Quebec authorities’ belief in the importance of the cultural and sectarian diversity in the province. The daily said that the adopted mechanism in choosing the candidates focuses on a “scientific” method to select the efficient runners.
The daily said that there are also other factors taken into consideration, which are the votes of the Lebanese expats that can alter the results of the polls.
The campaign of the “Coalition Avenir Quebec” focuses on eliminating corruption by making sure to guarantee the integrity of public life.
The Lebanese expats have gradually submerged in the public affairs in Canada as Maria Mourani, a Bloc Québéco MP, of Lebanese origin, was elected in the 2006 Canadian federal election and reelected in 2008 and 2011.

New “Thank you Qatar”
Hazem al-Amin, August 10, 2012
LBC is airing a really insulting advertisement for Lebanon, the Lebanese in general and the inhabitants of the North in particular. The ad says “Thank you Qatar”, but it is another kind of thanks than the one to which the Lebanese people belittled themselves in the wake of the 2006 July War. This “Thank you Qatar” is different, as it is said by poor people in northern Lebanon to whom Qatar distributed Iftar meals during Ramadan and dispatched a camera afterwards to record people’s thanks.
The insult to the Lebanese was uttered, first and foremost, by the side that financed the ad, since someone has paid money to have it produced and aired on LBC. The inveterate TV station took part in adding insult to injury by accepting to air the advertisement, which means that it does not think twice about insulting a group of Lebanese nationals if someone waves a few bucks.
The advertisement is astoundingly impertinent, barefaced and vulgar vis-à-vis the dignity of those in need. Men and children stand in front of the camera and say “Thank you Qatar from Lebanon’s North.” The expression “from Lebanon’s North” reveals a wish to have these thanks echo and respond to the ones that preceded them, which were addressed by Speaker Nabih Berri to Qatar following the July War. Yet the community behind this first “Thank you” recanted it, hence the initiative launched by the community behind the “new Thank you [Qatar]” in order to make up for some of Qatar’s loss. This is really surprising as Qatar also got a share of the insult caused by the ad. Indeed, a state with all these capacities, which finances states, revolutions and parties, is depicted by a silly and vulgar TV advertisement as though it needs to be thanked by poor people who were insulted to the most by a Lebanese medium who delivered the Iftar meals to them and filmed them while saying “Thank you Qatar.” Meanwhile, a YTV station shot the scenes and did not think twice about airing them.
The Lebanese are entitled to ask for an apology or, at least, a clarification from Qatar as well as from LBC. The insult has reached a national level this time and the state of Qatar has to explain the circumstances underlying the production of the advertisement and the identity of the side that sent the camera to the North in order to track down the poor people to whom Iftar meals were delivered. LBC also has to explain why it has aired material that insults the inhabitants of the North as well as its audience.
The airing of the insulting ad coincided with two variables: The first pertains to the rumor, whereby LBC has come to support the poor now that Prince Waleed bin Talal let it go, whereas the second is that the state of Qatar became a “maker” of Arab revolutions so much that someone said: “Arab revolutions are about fate … and Qatar.”
LBC’s CEO Sheikh Pierre Daher called NOW and explained the following: “I was not informed about the aired advertisement and I had no knowledge of it.” He went on saying that “after he saw it, he ruled that it should no longer be aired as it contains material that does not fit the donor party and those benefiting from the donations, especially since the advertisement was produced by a Lebanese player to which Qatar is wholly unrelated.”
*This article is a translation of the original, which first appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Monday August 6, 2012

UAE Arrests Highlight Challenges to U.S. Middle East Policy
Simon Henderson/Washington Institute
August 9, 2012
Over the past few months, more than fifty Islamists have been arrested across the United Arab Emirates, a major oil producer and U.S. ally. The country's attorney-general stated this week that the detainees, all thought to be UAE citizens, had "revealed plans to jeopardize the security of the state" and were linked to "suspicious foreign parties and organizations." Put another way, they were arrested for demanding political reforms and receiving support from Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood. Indeed, the chief of police in Dubai, the country's commercial hub, was more explicit about the issue last month, describing the "large number of Muslim Brothers in the Gulf states" and warning that "we have to be alert and on guard...for trouble."
Washington has so far been silent on the detentions. Even so, the UAE has been surprised by the international media reaction and apparently irritated that the Islamists -- described as members of a group called "al-Islah," meaning "reform" -- are being depicted as democracy activists. The UAE government regards itself as progressive even though it lacks a parliament (the Federal National Council, an advisory body, is chosen by 129,000 carefully vetted voters). It is also proud of its openness to foreigners, who make up an estimated 80 percent of the population of more than five million. Many expatriates regard Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the capital, as among the most pleasant places to live in the region, though the circumstances for foreign manual laborers are reportedly harsh.
The arrests suggest an increase in political dissidence in the UAE, reflecting the influence of changes in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Last year, some secular activists were jailed for several months after signing a petition calling for an elected legislature, a demand that was regarded as "insulting the ruler." Apart from prison terms, the traditional Emirati way of dealing with such activists includes deportation and denaturalization. For example, some activists have been forced to become citizens of the Comoros Islands, a tiny archipelago off the east coast of Africa that is one of the smallest and poorest members of the Arab League.
Although the UAE government would no doubt prefer minimal public discussion of the arrests, this is not proving to be the case. Yesterday, the ruler of one emirate -- Ras al-Khaimah, which relies on Abu Dhabi for budgetary support -- vehemently criticized al-Islah for attempting to "destroy and offend" the country. "Reform means building the country, not destroying it," he argued. Interestingly, one of his own relatives is an Islamist activist currently under house arrest after calling for political openness. Meanwhile, the ruler of the emirate of Sharjah struck a more conciliatory tone, saying on television that it was "a matter of dealing with the situation, not a matter of punishment."
In testimony before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in Washington last week, Michael Posner, the assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, spoke about Bahrain, a neighbor of the UAE. "President Obama has said that stable, democratic societies make the best partners and allies," he noted. Yet Washington now finds itself working closely with a new Egyptian administration that the UAE regards as a malevolent force. As tension continues over Iran's nuclear program, the United States needs continued access to the UAE's al-Dhafra Air Base and Jebel Ali port in order to mount patrols in the nearby Strait of Hormuz. In light of these circumstances, quiet diplomacy is probably the best way to defuse tensions in the U.S.-UAE relationship. But the contradictions are growing -- the Gulf's conservative Arab states are clearly not immune to the political vibrations shaking the rest of the Arab world.
*Simon Henderson is the Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute.