Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 20/12
U.N. Security Council Approves Mali Intervention Force
Lebanon's General Prosecutor Receives FBI Report on Hasan Assassination
Suleiman Calls for Unity among Petroleum Authority Members to Serve the Nation
Connelly, Plumbly Hail Govt. Efforts to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Refugees from Syria
Moussawi Slams 'Baseless' Syrian Claims that Assassinations against Mufti Shaar Being Prepared
Report: Officer at Roumieh Prison Arrested over Illegal Actions
EU Grants Lebanon 22 Million Euros for Democratic Reform
Video Shows FSA Taking Control for First Time of Border-Crossing with Lebanon
Palestinian Refugees from Syria Hold Sit-Ins near UNRWA Offices in North Lebanon
U.N. Hits Out at Syria, Iran, North Korea over Rights
Defected Cleric Says Syrian Regime Involved in Assassination Bid against Shaar
Syrian Interior Minister Admitted to Beirut Hospital
Syrian defector: Assad forces transferred WMDs to Lebanon
Rebels seize towns in central Syria
UN Seeks New Aid for Syria Crisis and Predicts 1 Million Refugees by Mid-2013
UN warns Lebanese against meddling in Syria conflict
Russians in Syria are 'legitimate targets' - key opposition group member
Syria crisis: UN appeals for $1.5bn humanitarian aid
MPs write to William Hague over UK military action in Syria
Report: Syrian military arms chemical weapons
US report: Syria assembling chemical weapons
NATO warns Syria not to use chemical weapons
Israel/AF chief: We'll know how to deal with WMDs
Obama named Time's 'Person of the Year'
Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen says defamation verdict victory for "state of law"
 

Hopefully the EU will wake up and put Hezbollah on its terrorist list
Elias Bejjani/There are more than one report today stating that the EU is seriously looking into putting Hezbollah on its terrorist list. God as we say gives the evil ones too many chances but never ever allows then in the end to win, they always lose. Hezbollah is the evil itself so no matter how much gains it achieves, it will be destroyed and Lebanon will again be liberated and a free country.

The EU Does Not Consider Hizbullah a Terrorist Group!?
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/12077#.UNMxt-QW3YQ
Tuesday, August 21, 2012//By Mustafa Geha
Is the EU for real? Where were they when the events the author records here occurred? He barely escaped with his life, his father wasn't so lucky.
Huzbullah, the name of a military, political, and security organization in Lebanon, is now running world public opinion.
Hizbullah terror threatens Lebanese interests, regionally and internationally . Their expansion of terror has translated into activity in the international arena though, they have been active in committing acts of terror within Lebanese borders for a much longer term.
In recent years, with the advent of the internet and other media outlets, they have been able to expand and influence world politics.
The Hizbullah organization was created in Lebanon, while it receives orders and instructions from Syria and Iran as a means for Khameini to export his ideas abroad and to extend Iranian influence. Khameini chose Lebanon owing to the large Shiite presence coupled with the lack of a strong state military, and a lack of security and stability in Lebanon during the civil war.
This all aided to facilitate a sphere of society within Lebanon sympathetic to and one which would adopt Khameini’s doctrine. This was important to the Ayatollah because he was able to extend his hand far beyond the Iranian borders and allow terror to reach into other societies.
As a result of Iranian and Syrian support for Hizbullah, they were able to increase their influence in many areas in Lebanon, eventually achieving the complete domination of the Lebanese government as well as the Lebanese security forces, which in turn affects all aspects of life in Lebanon.
This far reaching control permeates all sectors of society including the power of authorizing or denying of licensing private publishing houses and all forms of media, which of course has the residual effect of censoring all literature and schoolbooks. A group that attempts to control and censor information is indeed dangerous.
The United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Israel classify Hizbullah in whole or in part as a terrorist organization, but not the EU.
Recently there has been an emergence of many who are calling for international rejection of Hizbullah, and the need to have them classified as a terrorist organization. It was striking how The European Union turned down a recent request by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to blacklist Hizbullah as a terrorist group!
The whole world must know that the classification of Hizbullah as a terrorist organization is not only an Israeli demand, albeit a legitimate one from the Israeli state, it is also a demand of many Lebanese who have fallen victim to Hizbullah terrorism, as well as the Syrian victims of Hizbullah's terror today through their participation in the Syrian regime’s killing of Syrian protestors against the Assad regime.
There have been numerous terrorist acts carried out by Hizbullah, and I will mention a few:
In 1982, Hizbullah held three operations: the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut in April 1983 and which resulted in killing 63 Americans, and the bombing of the headquarters of U.S. Marines in Beirut, the killing 241 Americans, and the bombing of a camp of French soldiers in the Bekaa Valley, which killed 58 French.
And there were those who were involved in a failed attempt to assassinate the late Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah in 1983 as he left the palace and made way to Kuwait City. This was one of the major acts of international terrorism.
There was the TWA Flight 847, an international Trans World Airlines flight, which was hijacked by members of Hizbullah, on Friday morning, June 14, 1985, after originally taking off from Cairo. The flight was en route from Athens to Rome and then scheduled to terminate in London. The passengers and crew endured a three-day intercontinental ordeal. Some passengers were threatened and some beaten. Passengers with Jewish-sounding names were set apart from the others, and U.S. Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem was tortured and murdered. His body was thrown onto the tarmac.
Hassan Nasrallah in 1985, said: “Our project [demands] that we have no choice but to adopt other faithful ideologues; [it] is a project of the Islamic state and the rule of Islam, and that Lebanon is not one Islamic republic but part of the major Islamic Republic ruled by the [Iranian] religious leader ".
He also stated in his speech: "We are talking about an Islamic state. We will not forgive the Christians [ nor allow them] to hold [any] region in the Eastern Provinces [such as] Jubail and Keserouan because these regions were Muslim and the invaders were Christians who came to here [and] who were brought by the Byzantine Empire to be a thorn in the side of the nation".
Here lies the danger, in this thought planted by Hizbullah in the minds of the Lebanese Shiites to make them think that their compatriots are Christian invaders, throwing out the historical fact that many Christians preceded Muslims in Lebanon and certainly so the integration of Shiites in Christian Lebanese villages.
Slain Hizbullah commander Emad Mughnieh was behind the hijacking of a Kuwait Airways flight in 1988 and the death of two of its Kuwaiti passengers, according to Kuwait's interior minister.
There have also been many assassinations carried out by Hizbullah against the Lebanese intellectuals, the only reason being their intellectual opinions, as if there is a desire not to have any voice of opposition. The great thinker and prolific writer Suhail Tawileh was assassinated in 1986, after he was kidnapped from his home next to the Iranian Embassy in Beirut.
The intellectual writer Dr. Hussein Mourouwe had his appointment with the obscurantist ideologies on 17 February of the following year in his home, where his pen was silenced with bullets from a gun equipped with a silencer; so he never attained eighty-years of age.
Insofar as the Mahdi Aamel (Hassan Hamdan), who held a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Sorbonne, he met baseball bats in the darkness on 18 May 1987, which succeeded in assassinating him in cold blood on his way to his university lectures in Beirut.
Then, let us move forward to January 15th, 1992 (after the Lebanese war) when these terrorists assassinated Lebanese thinker and writer Mostafa Geha.
The attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was a suicide-bombing attack on the building of the Israeli embassy in Argentina located in Buenos Aires which was carried out on the 17th of March, 1992. Twenty-nine (29) civilians were killed in the attack and 242 additional civilians were injured.
The AMIA bombing was an attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA; Argentine Israelite Mutual Association) building. It occurred in Buenos Aires on July 18, 1994, it killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
On October 7, 2000, three Israeli soldiers – Adi Avitan, Staff Sgt. Benyamin Avraham, and Staff Sgt. Omar Sawaidwere – were abducted by Hizbullah while patrolling the Israeli side of the Israeli-Lebanese border. The soldiers were killed either during the attack or in its immediate aftermath.
On the 14th of February 2005, the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri occurred. Hizbullah was implicated by the International Tribunal in charge of looking into the assassination. Hizbullah's involvement in the assassination of Hariri, in coordination with some of the leaders of the Syrian army, has been made clear.
It yielded the court the names of four leaders belonging to Hizbullah, who, allegedly, were the plotters of the assassination: Mustafa Badr al-Din, Salim Ayach, Asad Sabra and Hussein Noaisi.
Hizbullah’s attack on Israel caused a war of aggression in 2006 ,claiming the lives of many victims and resulting in huge material losses in Lebanon and Israel.
On May 7, 2008 Lebanon was on the verge of a new civil war when Hizbullah and other pro-Syrian militias entered west Beirut and wreaked havoc. In the following days, Hizbullah and the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party (SSNP) went on a rampage in Aley and the Chouf.
Another Lebanese-Swedish man has been accused of plotting attacks against Israeli targets. In January 2012, Thai authorities arrested Hussein Idris, a Lebanese- Swedish national, together with another Lebanese man on suspicion that they were plotting a series of bomb attacks against Israeli targets in Bangkok.
This planned attack against Israeli tourists in Cyprus appears to have been preempted by the arrest of this Lebanese man who had been tracking Israelis on the island.
Regarding the July 18th, 2012 bombing in Burgos, Bulgaria, American officials confirmed Israel's assertions that the suicide bomber who killed five Israelis on a tour bus was a member of a Hizbullah cell.
Hizbullah terrorism and intimidation pose a huge threat to Lebanese society through the group's control of the security network, where false accusations and charges can be levied against those who oppose the fabrication of files putting them in prisons or worse - for example, Shiite cleric Mohammed Ali Al-Husseini, and Sheikh Hassan Mouchaymech.
The list goes on and on Hizbullah’s terrorism in Lebanon, terrorism against Israel and terrorism against the Syrian people, as well as sponsorship of drug cultivation, manufacturing, trafficking, and money-laundering operations carried out by the organization, is well-documented.
Terrorism and its support for organizations such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and the export of terrorism requires that the international community as a whole, unite to fight Hizbullah, an act which will reflect better on Lebanon, Israel and the whole world.
And I would like to add that, in addition to Hizbullah's failed assassination attempt on my own life, they murdered my father, a leading Lebanese intellectual and author of numerous books, in 1992.
The fight against this terrorism is the duty of moral individuals and humanitarians. It is a demand of the people who want to live in peace with each other and who wish to benefit from freedom, this being a human right that everyone deserves.

U.N. Security Council Approves Mali Intervention Force
Naharnet/The U.N. Security Council on Thursday unanimously approved sending an African-led intervention force to help Mali's army reconquer much of the country from Islamist militants.
The 15-member council gave the force an initial one year mandate to use "all necessary measures" to help the Mali government take back the northern half of the country from "terrorist, extremist and armed groups."
West African nations say they have 3,300 troops ready to go to Mali to help rebuild the country's army and support a military operation which planners say cannot be launched before September of next year.
Tuareg rebels and other separatists and al-Qaida linked militant groups took advantage of a coup in Mali in March to seize control of a vast chunk of territory where the Islamists have since imposed a brutal form of Islamic law.
France drew up the resolution after weeks of talks with the United States, which expressed doubts the troops from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would be ready for a desert battle against the militants. In parallel to political efforts to draw the Tuareg rebels into a coalition against the extremist groups, European nations and the international force, to be known as the African-led International Support Mission in Mali (AFISMA), will first train Mali's army. The resolution sets down benchmarks for political progress and military preparations that will have to be met before a final onslaught against al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb and its allies is approved. The resolution emphasized that "military planning will need to be further refined before the commencement of the offensive operation." It said that U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, ECOWAS, the African Union and other states involved will have to secure "the council's satisfaction with the planned military offensive operation."gence France Presse

Lebanon's General Prosecutor Receives FBI Report on Hasan Assassination
Naharnet /General Prosecutor Judge Hatem Madi received on Thursday the FBI report on the assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau chief Brigadier General Wissam al-Hasan, various media outlets reported. Hasan was killed in a massive car bomb in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh district on October 19. An FBI team had gathered evidence at the scene of the bombing that killed Hasan along with two others. Madi had explained in October that the team was tasked with providing Lebanese security agencies with technical assistance only in the probe into Hasan's assassination. The team will not interfere in the investigations, he stressed. The March 14-led opposition and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat widely blamed Syrian President Bashar Assad for Hasan's murder, as they did in 2005 when former premier Rafik Hariri was killed in a huge Beirut blast.

Moussawi Slams 'Baseless' Syrian Claims that Assassinations against Mufti Shaar Being Prepared
Naharnet/Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Nawwaf al-Moussawi slammed on Thursday claims by defected Syrian cleric Abdul Jalil Saeed that Syria was planning on assassinating Mufti of Tripoli and the North Sheikh Malek al-Shaar. He said: “The claims are lies and baseless.” “The accusations are a reflection of the insanity plaguing those people,” he added. Shaar had revealed on Wednesday details surrounding the alleged death threats he had received and which made him decide to prolong his stay in Europe. In an interview on Future TV, al-Shaar said: “I have received several phone calls and I even met with army officers who advised me to be cautious as my movements are being watched”. Saeed had revealed in a taped interview that Ibrahim Hamad, a captain in the Syrian intelligence, had been collecting information about the northern Mufti. "Hamad came to Beirut many times and met with several figures at the office of MP Nawwaf Moussawi,” he said. "I have been informed by people in the Syrian Dar al-Fatwa that he (Hamad) was going to personally supervise the assassination operation from the Bekaa region,” he added, explaining that al-Shaar was supposed to be targeted near the residence of the Bekaa Mufti Mohammed Khalil al-Mayss. Saeed also said that two members of the Lebanese Dar al-Fatwa are involved in this assassination attempt. He revealed that the assassination plot against al-Shaar is linked to the case of former Minister Michel Samaha. Samaha was arrested in August on charges of forming a criminal gang aimed at carrying out attacks in Lebanon at Syria's behest. Syrian security chief Ali Mamlouk and another Syrian official identified as Colonel Adnan were also charged in the case. Al-Shaar announced in early December that he will not be returning to Lebanon from a trip to Europe after he has allegedly received death threats.

Connelly, Plumbly Hail Govt. Efforts to Provide Humanitarian Aid to Refugees from Syria
Naharnet/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Maura Connelly and U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly held separate talks on Thursday with Prime Minister Najib Miqati on the flow of refugees from Syria to Lebanon. Connelly praised “the generosity of the Lebanese people and the efforts of the government, in conjunction with international partners and organizations, to provide humanitarian assistance to the growing number of Syrian and Palestinian refugees and affected Lebanese communities.”
The ambassador welcomed the efforts of the government to better identify and assess current and potential needs to support refugees in Lebanon in coordination with the international community, announced the U.S. Embassy in a statement. She recognized the urgent need for international assistance for the humanitarian crisis created by increased refugee flows and reiterated the U.S. commitment to respond positively in addressing the needs of Syrian refugees and the communities that host them. Miqati and Connelly also discussed the U.S.-Lebanese bilateral relationship as well as the political and security situation in Lebanon and regional events.
The prime minister later held talks with Plumbly on the case of Palestinian refugees fleeing to Lebanon.
“It was an opportunity to exchange ideas on recent developments, particularly those related to the impact of the crisis in Syria on Lebanon,” the U.N. official said after the meeting at the Grand Serail.
On the displaced Syrians and Palestinians, he stressed: “We agreed that two things have to be highlighted: the very difficult circumstances that forced these people to leave their homes, and the humanitarian obligation to assist them until they are able to return.”“In that regard, I again told the prime minister of the United Nations’ deep appreciation for the hospitality that the Lebanese government and people have extended to refugees during the past 20 months,” he added. Plumbly acknowledged that this represents a very big burden for Lebanon, and “one which is likely to grow before those displaced are able to return home.”
“The United Nations agencies concerned – U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees but also World Food Program, U.N. Children's Fun (UNICEF), U.N. Development Program, and U.N. Relief and Works Agency – are dedicated to working in the closest possible fashion with the government to help it and the displaced and the communities receiving them,” he continued.
“We are standing and will stand shoulder to shoulder with Lebanon in this,” he declared.
He reiterated to the prime minister the support of the United Nations for the response plan that the government has prepared, and for the arrangements put in place in it, adding that donors are studying their responses to the government’s plan. In addition, the United Nations announced in Geneva on Wednesday a revised response plan which will be closely coordinated with that of the government and which includes a call for a further $267 million specifically for needs in Lebanon, revealed Plumbly. Miqati and the U.N. official also addressed security issues in Lebanon, and specifically support for the Lebanese army “whose role is vital both in implementing U.N. Security Council resolution 1701 and in ensuring security and stability across Lebanon at this time.”
“The Lebanese army is working on proposals in this regard, and in this they have strong support from the United Nations,” said Plumbly.
Miqati also held talks on refugees with the European Union's ambassador to Lebanon Angelina Eichhorst, who voiced the Union's support for the Lebanese government's efforts to cater to their needs.
Tens of thousands of residents of the Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in southern Damascus have fled since fighting erupted there between Syrian rebels and their Palestinian allies, and Palestinian factions still loyal to the Syrian regime. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency said at least half of Yarmuk's population of more than 112,000 had fled the violence rocking the 2.1 square-kilometer (about one square mile) camp.
Since the weekend, more than 2,000 Palestinians from Yarmuk are estimated to have fled into Lebanon.

Defected Cleric Says Syrian Regime Involved in Assassination Bid against Shaar
Naharnet/The Mufti of Tripoli and the north Sheikh Malek al-Shaar revealed on Wednesday details surrounding the alleged death threats he had received and which made him decide to prolong his stay in Europe.
In an interview on Future TV, al-Shaar said: “I have received several phone calls and I even met with army officers that advised me to be cautious as my movements are being watched”. Meanwhile, Abdul Jalil Saeed, a cleric defected from the Dar al-Fatwa in Syria revealed in a taped interview that Ibrahim Hamad, a captain in the Syrian intelligence, has been collecting information about the northern Mufti. "Hamad came to Beirut many times and met with several figures at the office of (Loyalty to Resistance) MP Nawwaf Moussawi,” Saeed said. "I have been informed by people in the Syrian Dar al-Fatwa that he (Hamad) was going to personally supervise the assassination operation from the Bekaa region,” he added, explaining that al-Shaar was supposed to be targeted near the residence of the Bekaa Mufti Mohammed Khalil al-Mayss. Saeed also said that two members of the Lebanese Dar al-Fatwa are involved in this assassination attempt. "The operation was going to look like an accident involving alcohol or something similar to Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Wahed's assassination,” he explained.
On May 20, Abdul Wahed's vehicle was stopped at an army checkpoint in the northern region of Kweikhat where he was killed. "What I have just heard makes me believe even more that these death threats are true,” al-Shaar commented, adding that “all assassinations in Lebanon started with rumors and fabricated stories, and the proof is al-Akhbar's (newspaper) latest stories about me”.
After al-Shaar announced that he had received death threats, al-Akhbar newspaper reported that the mufti was threatened because his son had sold non-existent properties in the Tripoli area of Ras al-Sakhr to members of Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime. The Mufti denied the newspaper's reports during Wednesday's interview. Sheikh al-Shaar announced in early December that he will not be returning to Lebanon from a trip to Europe after he has allegedly received death threats. Radio Voice of Lebanon (93.3) said al-Shaar was attending a conference in Vienna and then left for Paris where he will reside until his return.

Syrian defector: Assad forces transferred WMDs to Lebanon
Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 12.19.12/Ynetnews
Syrian defector says army moved 100 kilograms of chemicals used to compose lethal sarin gas from secret base in direction of Lebanon . Syrian war escalates: According to Syrian sources, President Bashar Assad’s regime has developed special vehicles for moving and mixing chemical weapons, the Washington Post reported. Post commentator, David Ignatius spoke to a Syrian source who received information from a Syrian defector who worked inside a chemical weapons network.The source was speaking with Ignatius from his hiding place in an Arab country outside Syria, with the "hope of encouraging greater American involvement with the opposition." Though suspicious of the source's motives, and considering the case of an Iraqi defector who delivered fabricated information to US a decade ago in order to catalyze an invasion, Ignatius stressed that the defector's information was corroborated by independent sources. According to the defector, in January, two senior Syrian officers were transferring 100 kilograms of the chemicals used to compose the lethal sarin gas from a secret base some 50 km northeast of Damascus in the direction of Lebanon. Chemical weapon Syrian base
US sources, however, have no evidence that chemical weapons were indeed transported outside of Syria. Nonetheless, the Syrian defector's account further recounted an incident in which two men with Lebanese accents arrived at the secret base, where they were trained in the methods of mixing of isopropanol and methylphosphonyl difluoride – the mixed concoction of which produces sarin gas. Syria is known to be in the possession of some 500 tons of isopropanol and methylphosphonyl difluoride, but stores them separately so as to avoid any lethal leaks. According to recent reports, processes of merging the substances, rendering them ready for use, have already begun. The defector's information supports the theories by which Syria is preparing to activate chemical weapons, as it is now capable of transporting the chemicals and probably mix them en route.
To further substantiate the claim by which Assad's regime was prepared to utilize chemical weapons, various Syrian sources reported that in a facility in the Damascus suburb of Dumar, special vehicles were upgraded in order to transport the chemical components. The Dumar facility is part of a network of portable research laboratories, the construction of which started in the summer of 2011, a few months after the opposition to Assad's regime started to form. In the facility, civilian trucks were converted into portable labs for the production of chemical weapons. Various sources, including the Syrian defector, confirmed that such lab-vehicles were being prepared.

Syrian Interior Minister Admitted to Beirut Hospital
Naharnet/Syrian Interior Minister Mohammed Ibrahim al-Shaar was admitted on Wednesday to hospital in Beirut, reported al-Jadeed television. A Lebanese minister told Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity that al-Shaar arrived at 7:30 pm (1630 GMT) at Beirut airport, and he was taken to the American University Hospital. "His condition is stable and he was able to talk to the people who received him at the airport. I don't know how long he will stay here," the minister said. Future television reported that he was in need of large amounts of blood. Security sources told OTV that the Syrian minister "is undergoing a critical surgery and he's suffering severe burns." A security source told AFP on December 13 that the minister was wounded in a deadly bomb attack targeting his ministry on December 12 but his condition is not serious. "He was wounded in the shoulder when the ceiling fell in his office," the source revealed, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He was taken to hospital but his condition gives no cause for concern and he should be discharged rapidly,” it added. The triple bombing killed five people and wounded 23, the state SANA news agency reported. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said nine people were killed. It is the second time that the interior minister has been wounded in an attack.

Shaar narrowly escaped being killed in a spectacular July 18 bombing that claimed the lives of four other top security officials, including the defense minister and the brother-in-law of President Bashar Assad.
U.N. warns Lebanese against meddling in Syria conflict
Reuters) - The reported participation of Lebanese fighters on both sides of the escalating Syrian conflict violates the country's policy of not interfering in Syria's civil war and creates risks for Lebanon, the U.N. political affairs chief said on Wednesday. The remarks from U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman came in a bleak assessment of the situation in Syria, in which he said that "if nothing is done to change the current dynamic, and to move toward a political solution, the destruction of Syria will be the likely outcome."
Feltman's report to the 15-nation Security Council came after the United Nations appealed for $1.5 billion to provide life-saving aid to millions of Syrians suffering in a "dramatically deteriorating" humanitarian situation in a conflict that has killed over 40,000 people. "The situation in Lebanon remains severely affected by the ongoing conflict in Syria," Feltman said at a council meeting on the Middle East. "Cross-border shelling and arms smuggling continue." "Multiple reports suggest there are Lebanese implicated in Syria's violence, both on the side of the Assad regime and the opposition," he said. "This violates the Lebanese government's 'disassociation' policy and puts Lebanon increasingly at risk." U.N. officials say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues to exercise his country's historic influence in Lebanon, despite the 2005 departure of thousands of Syrian troops and intelligence operatives from Lebanese soil. Many in north Lebanon say their army takes orders from Damascus. Lebanese authorities and security institutions have a long history of collaboration with and domination by Damascus. Lebanon is deeply divided over the conflict. The United Nations has repeatedly said that Syria's 21-month-long conflict has the potential to severely destabilize Lebanon, a tiny country still recovering from its own 15-year civil war, which ended in 1990. Recent months have seen clashes between supporters of the rebels and opponents of the uprising.
'NO MILITARY SOLUTION'
Lebanon's former prime minister, Saad al-Hariri, son of slain statesman Rafik al-Hariri, has openly criticized the Lebanese government's disassociation policy. Hariri, whose Lebanese unity government was toppled in January last year when pro-Assad parties pulled out of the Cabinet, has been an active opponent of the Syrian president since Syria's uprising erupted 20 months ago. Last week Syria said it issued arrest warrants against al-Hariri and a close political ally for "terrorist crimes" of financing and arming rebels fighting to oust Assad. Separately, the council unanimously adopted a resolution extending for six months a U.N. peacekeeping mission in a demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel, which warned that border tensions could escalate with Syria's civil war. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the crisis should be resolved through political dialogue and that "both parties must realize there is no military solution." U.N. diplomats and officials, however, say privately that it may be too late for a negotiated solution in a conflict that looks increasingly deadlocked.
Ban welcomed recent efforts by the Syrian opposition to overcome its divisions. "I am deeply concerned about the increased militarization of the conflict and the potential for sectarian atrocities," he told reporters.
U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has failed to get Russia and the United States to overcome their differences on Syria that have prevented the Security Council from taking any meaningful action in the conflict.
Syria's staunch ally and arms supplier Russia, supported by China, has vetoed three Security Council resolutions condemning Assad and opposes the idea of sanctioning Assad's government.
(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Syria crisis: UN appeals for $1.5bn humanitarian aid
Officials said $1bn was needed to meet the needs of the million people expected to have fled across Syria's borders by mid-2013. More than 525,000 Syrians have already crossed into neighbouring countries.
The UN is also seeking $500m to provide aid to a further four million people inside Syria, half of whom have been displaced from their homes. The announcement came as Syrian government forces were reported to be carrying out a broad offensive against rebels in the suburbs of the capital, Damascus. The official Sana news agency said there had been clashes in the outskirts of Darayya, Harasta, Douma and Hajar al-Aswad.
On Tuesday, warplanes bombed the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp for the second time in a week, sending thousands fleeing. Rebels have been fighting a pro-government Palestinian group for control.
'Truly desperate condition' Launching the appeal in Geneva, Radhouane Nouicer, the UN's regional humanitarian co-ordinator, said the magnitude of the crisis in Syria was "indisputable".
"The violence in Syria is raging across the country," he added. "There are really no more safe areas where people can flee."Continue reading the main story
We are constantly shocked by the horrific stories refugees tell us” The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said its request for $1bn was based on planning estimates that up to a million refugees would need help in neighbouring countries during the first half of 2013. Some 525,000 have so far either registered with the UN as refugees or are being assisted, a seven-fold increase since May. Many more are in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt, but have not yet registered. Between 2,000 and 3,000 refugees are arriving every day. "Unless these funds come quickly, we will not be able to fully respond to the life-saving needs of civilians who flee Syria every hour of the day - many in a truly desperate condition," Panos Moumtzis of the UNHCR said. "We are constantly shocked by the horrific stories refugees tell us," he added. "Their lives are in turmoil. They have lost their homes and family members. By the time they reach the borders, they are exhausted, traumatised and with little or no resources to rely on." UN officials said they would need to provide food, shelter, medicines and even schools for them over the next year. Inside Syria, UN aid agencies said they required $519.6m to help four million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including an estimated two million who had been displaced from their homes by the fighting. They too were in desperate need of food, shelter, water and emergency medical services, they added. In total, the UN estimates that 25% of Syria's population now need humanitarian relief.
The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the size of the appeal is a clear sign that UN aid agencies expect the situation in Syria, already described as a massive humanitarian crisis, to get even worse.
The UN has received 70% of the $487m it appealed for in September. Opposition and human rights activists estimate that more than 43,000 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011.

Russians in Syria are ‘legitimate targets’ - key opposition group member
R.T/Russians are legitimate targets for military attacks in Syria, a member of the Syria’s National Opposition Coalition said. The Coalition is recognized by the US and a number of its allies as the only legitimate representative of the Syrian people. ­"Russia, like Iran, supports the Assad regime with weapons and ammunition, as well as in the political arena, so the citizens of these countries are legitimate targets for militants in Syria," Haitham al-Maleh, a member of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces told RT.  He claimed that the Geneva Convention allows attacks on civilians cooperating with enemy armed forces. However, he called on militants not to kidnap citizens of countries that “do not support the Assad regime.” Three people were kidnapped in the coastal city of Latakia on Monday: An Italian engineer and two Russian citizens, all employees of the Syrian-owned Hmisho steel plant. The Russian Foreign Ministry has identified the two kidnapped Russian nationals as V. V. Gorelov and Abdessattar Hassoun – the latter has dual Syrian-Russian citizenship.
The kidnappers demanded a ransom payment as a condition of the workers’ release, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. Russian diplomats are reportedly taking measures to clarify the circumstances of the abduction, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said. “We are now actively engaged and all the necessary steps are being taken in Syria, and in other countries that may have an impact on the situation,” Lavrov said on Tuesday.
Earlier, a group of gunmen who kidnapped Ukrainian journalist Ankhar Kochneva near the city of Homs in early October said they would target all Russians, Ukrainians and Iranians in Syrian territory. The kidnappers threatened to kill Kochneva if a $50 million ransom was not paid. Syria has witnessed similar attacks before. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) kidnapped 48 Iranians in early August under the pretext that they were members of the elite Iranian Revolutionary Guards. The Iranian government denied the accusation, saying they were pilgrims on their way to visit a shrine in southeast Damascus. Tehran appealed to Qatar and Turkey to help free the hostages.
The FSA brigade known as ‘Bar’a’ released a video in which it threatened to execute the hostages if the Assad government does not free rebel prisoners. The Free Syrian Army has previously taken hostages, but this was the first occasion where they threatened to execute their prisoners if their demands were not met. Another group of hostages from Lebanon have been in captivity since May 2012. The kidnappers put forward a ransom demand, claiming that the hostages are members of the Lebanese political party Hezbolla. Family members of those kidnapped said they were pilgrims returning to Beirut from the city of Mashhad, Iran.  The newly established National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces was founded in Qatar in November. The US – in line with allies like Britain, France and several Arab states – recognized the National Coalition as Syria’s legitimate government, in opposition to the Assad regime. The conflict in Syria began with protests, and escalated into large-scale fighting between the government and the armed opposition, which has continued for more than 21 months.

MPs write to William Hague over UK military action in Syria
The Guardian/British MPs have written to William Hague to express concern about possible UK military action in Syria and to seek information on the legal basis for it. The Commons foreign affairs committee (FAC) has also asked the foreign secretary to consult parliament before providing any military support to the Syrian opposition, warning that the circumstances are different from the Nato intervention in Libya last year. Richard Ottaway, the FAC chairman, told Hague: "Grave concerns have been expressed by some members … about the value, legitimacy, and legality of western intervention in Syria." The internal situation in Syria was complex and the international community divided, with Russia strongly opposed to western intervention. The background and circumstances were very different to those present before the 2011 coalition intervention in Libya, which had the backing of a UN resolution. "At the time of our intervention in Libya, the government published a summary of the legal advice it had received, which concluded that UN resolutions provided a 'clear and unequivocal' legal basis for the deployment of UK forces and military assets to Libya," Ottaway wrote. "Has the government sought legal advice on the lawfulness of, and international legal basis for, any form of additional UK intervention in Syria? If so, following the Libyan precedent, will it provide to the house a summary of this advice?" Ottaway cited recent developments including Britain joining France, Turkey and the Gulf states in recognising the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people; reports that France and possibly the US, are providing arms to the opposition, and confirmation from David Cameron that the EU would be re-examinig its arms embargo on Syria. "We must now explore all options to help the opposition and to enable greater support for the protection of civilians," the prime minister said.

Rebels seize towns in central Syria
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels have captured at least six towns in the central province of Hama, activists say, in an operation aimed at putting pressure on President Bashar al-Assad from the north as insurgents close in on the capital from its southern suburbs. The rebel gains came as the United Nations on Wednesday launched what it said was its "largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever", for $1.5 billion to help millions of Syrians suffering a "dramatically deteriorating" humanitarian situation. "The violence in Syria is raging across the country and there are nearly no more safe areas where people can flee and find safety," Radhouane Nouicer, U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told a news briefing in Geneva. The Syrian opposition has scored significant military and diplomatic gains in recent weeks, capturing several army installations across Syria and securing formal recognition from Western and Arab states for its new coalition. The capture of large parts of Hama province could now give the rebels effective control of a stretch of territory from the northern Turkish border 180 km (110 miles) to the north. Qassem Saadeddine, a member of the rebel military command, said most of the rural western part of Hama province, which stretches to the foothills of the mountains which are home to Assad's minority Alawite community, was under the control of the mainly Sunni Muslim rebels. Saadeddine announced the rebel offensive in Hama on Sunday. Assad's opponents already hold much of the northern provinces of Aleppo and Idlib, and are fighting to advance from the southern Damascus suburbs towards the heart of the capital.
"The battle is ongoing. We have freed many areas (of Hama) and we are studying plans to liberate more," Saadeddine told Reuters by Skype from inside Syria. "Three-quarters of western rural Hama is under our control."
He said the towns taken by rebels included Latamneh, Helfaya, Kfar Naboudah, Hasraya, Tibat al-Imn and Kfar Zita, and that fighting had also broken out in the city of Hama itself.
The latest battlefield accounts could not be independently verified due to tight restrictions on media access to Syria.
Rebels had intended to concentrate their offensive on rural areas before an assault on the city of Hama where some 10,000 people were killed in a 1982 crackdown by ordered by Assad's father against an armed Islamist uprising. But clashes broke out in the city after authorities launched a wave of arrests, possibly in response to the rebel offensive. The Syrian Observatory for Human rights, an opposition-linked group which monitors violence across the country, said several of the Hama towns overrun by rebels came under bombardment on Wednesday. It said at least 100 people had been killed across the country, adding to a death toll in the 21-month-old uprising against Assad of more than 40,000 people. At least 21 people, including 15 rebels, were killed when a car bomb exploded in Aziziyah on the southern approach to Aleppo city, the Observatory said. It was not clear what the bomb was targeting and it may have detonated accidentally. State media had no immediate report on the explosion.
U.N. APPEALS
In Damascus, rebels who seized control of the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp on Monday alongside anti-Assad Palestinian fighters declared the neighborhood a "liberated area" on Wednesday and handed it over to Palestinian control. An activist in Hama confirmed the rebels were in control of Helfaya and other parts of the province. In Kfar Naboudah he said they took over a grain silo containing 12,000 tonnes of wheat, which they planned to distribute to rebel-held areas. Residents say bakeries in many parts of Syria are running low on flour, leading to widespread bread shortages.
The U.N.'s World Food Programme is providing 1.5 million people with rations inside Syria each month, but said it faces increasing constraints, including mounting insecurity and fuel shortages which hamper production and transportation of food. The U.N. wants to raise $519.6 million to help 4 million people within Syria and $1 billion to meet the needs of up to 1 million Syrian refugees in five other countries until July 2013.
The U.N. plan provides for food, shelter and bedding, water and sanitation, emergency medical services, clothes, kitchen sets and baby supplies for beleaguered civilians across Syria.
It also seeks to help refugees fleeing Syria. More than 525,000 Syrians have already been registered as refugees abroad and the U.N. refugee agency estimates up to 1 million will need help in five countries in the first half of 2013. "The grim situation inside Syria has a direct impact on refugee outflows to the neighboring countries," Panos Moumtzis, UNHCR regional refugee coordinator, told the Geneva briefing.
"I just came from the borders where I was shocked again one more time to hear the horrific stories that refugees tell us about their experiences - fleeing violence, fleeing insecurity. We're talking about women and children, entire villages that are uprooted and flee to safety to the neighboring countries."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on countries to respond generously to the appeals presented to donor governments in Geneva as winter takes hold in the region.
"I'm considering convening an international donor conference, in close coordination with key partners, early next year," he told reporters in New York. He said the crisis should be resolved through political dialogue and that "both parties must realize there is no military solution." U.N. diplomats and officials, however, say privately that it may be too late for a negotiated solution in a conflict that looks increasingly deadlocked.
U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Jeffrey Feltman said in a report to the 15-nation Security Council that "if nothing is done to change the current dynamic, and to move toward a political solution, the destruction of Syria will be the likely outcome". (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva and Louis Charbonneau at the United Nations; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Iraqi President's Stroke Rekindles Fears of Kurdish/Arab Split
Simon Henderson and David Pollock/Washington Institute
December 19, 2012
The condition of President Jalal Talabani of Iraq has reportedly improved since he suffered a stroke yesterday, but fears for the health of the country's titular leader remain acute. Foreign medical specialists have been flown in, and he will likely be transferred by air to Germany within a day.
Whatever the treatment, there is great concern in Iraq and the region about the implications if he dies or is unable to continue with his duties. For Washington, Talabani has helped facilitate often-challenging relations with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki since the withdrawal of U.S. forces a year ago.
There is no obvious replacement for the seventy-nine-year-old Talabani. He helped unite the country after Saddam Hussein's overthrow and, more recently, has sought to ease tensions between Iraqi Kurds and Baghdad over disputed territories and the role of foreign oil companies in exploiting potentially huge reserves (for more on these tensions, see PolicyWatch 2000). On several occasions in the past few weeks, Iraqi army and Kurdish peshmerga forces have come perilously close to actual fighting in disputed areas around the major, ethnically mixed, oil-rich city of Kirkuk. Baghdad and Erbil's newly divergent attitudes toward cross-border issues with Turkey and Syria have further complicated the situation. On Syria, Baghdad still sides with the Assad regime, while Erbil supports its fellow Kurds in the opposition.
Talabani has been a politician and fighter all his adult life, battling the pre-Saddam government in the 1960s, but also knowing when to opt for temporary exile or negotiated ceasefire, even with Saddam. His powerbase in the Kurdish area of northern Iraq is around the city of Sulaymaniyah, close to the border with Iran, with which he has maintained cautious links. Politically, he has operated through the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (essentially his personal movement), which has often been at odds with the Erbil-based Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP), led by Masoud Barzani.
According to the Iraqi constitution, one of the country's two vice presidents assumes the presidency temporarily if Talabani dies or is unable to continue serving. A new president would then be elected by parliament within thirty days. But one of the vice presidents -- Tariq al-Hashimi, a Sunni Arab -- is currently in self-imposed exile in Turkey after fleeing Baghdad via KDP territory amid allegations of ordering political assassinations. The other is Khodair al-Khozaei, a Shiite Arab and political ally of Maliki. Talabani's ill health broadens the challenge of maintaining political and ethnic balance while preserving the notion of one Iraq for Shiites and Sunnis, Arabs and Kurds, and other minorities.
Given the high stakes involved, especially in Baghdad's disputes with the Kurds over oil and territory, Washington must handle the situation carefully. The constitution does not mandate that the next president be a Kurd, but political prudence suggests it should be, especially one like Talabani who can mediate between Kurds and Arabs. Effecting this would be difficult in the current environment, but rapid, decisive engagement by Washington could push Maliki and Barzani to defuse tensions and cooperate on finding a temporary or permanent replacement. In contrast, pursuing an option that suggests Shiite dominance could be disastrous.
*Simon Henderson is the Baker fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy Program at The Washington Institute. David Pollock is the Institute's Kaufman fellow.

Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen says defamation verdict victory for "state of law"
By Saha al-Sharqawi
Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat – Egyptian actress Elham Shaheen announced her satisfaction at the judgment issued against preacher Abdullah Badr after he accused her of committing indecent acts in her movies and wearing seductive clothes that incite immorality. A preliminary ruling was issued against Badr sentencing him to one year imprisonment with hard labor and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds [EGP]. According to Egyptian law, Badr can appeal the verdict issued against him by paying a 5,000 EGP fine. Badr is a professor of Interpretation and Quranic Sciences at Egypt’s Al-Azhar Mosque and presents a television show on the Islamist El-Hafez channel. He criticized Shaheen during his television program, reportedly stating that “Elham Shaheen is cursed and she will never enter heaven”.
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, the Egyptian actress said that this ruling represented a victory for the state of law, confirming that the battle is ongoing through the presence of several other lawsuits that are pending before the courts. Whilst supporters of Abdullah Badr have claimed that he is innocent and will appeal against this verdict.
Shaheen revealed that a number of al-Azhar Sheikhs had announced their solidarity with her after she was exposed to verbal abuse and defamation by television preachers due to her work as a film actress. She said that what she faced in terms of defamation represents “the defamation of a chaste woman”. She added “the true Muslim is the one who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands”, citing a famous hadith.
The Egyptian actress expressed her hope that all those who try to insult artists and entertainment figures learn a lesson from this case, although she added that she did not expect some television and satellite preachers to do so.
For its part, the Egyptian Cinema Syndicate described the verdict against Abdullah Badr as a victory for the freedom of creativity and the state of law. The Egyptian Cinema Syndicate congratulated Elham Shaheen on her judicial victory, confirming that the impartial Egyptian judiciary had voted according to its conscience. The Syndicate also stressed that freedoms and rights in Egypt cannot be violated so long as the Egyptian judiciary stands firm.
Shaheen told Asharq Al-Awsat that she did not want to raise a lawsuit against anybody, but felt that she ultimately had no choice but to take the Islamist television preacher to court for his distressing comments.
She stressed that “even during the court proceedings some figures from civil parties and forces called on me to attend the court proceedings myself…but I refused to do so and also called on them not to do so for fear of clashes with some other parties.”
She added “we are in a civilized country and a respectable state that upholds the letter of the law, and I am confident that this right will only survive thanks to laws that respect...all Egyptian artists who could be exposed to harm.”Shaheen called on any Egyptian artist who had been subject to defamation by religious preachers to take the case to the courts, stressing that they must not remain silent regarding their rights. She added that many Egyptian artists have been defamed and slandered in this precise manner, including Yusra, Laila Elwi, Nour El-Sherif, Hala Sadqi, Fifi Abdou and others, revealing that many of them are in the process of raising similar lawsuits.
As for the situation following the judicial verdict issued against Abdullah Badr, Shaheen informed Asharq Al-Awsat “I have received some threats via some satellite television channels, and I was defamed once more.”
She added “I also previously received threats via my email, however I have not received any direct threats as of yet, whilst in the event that I do receive a death threat I will have no choice but to resort to the Interior Ministry for protection.” For their part, supporters of Abdullah Badr revealed that he will appeal the verdict issued against him, adding that they are completely certain of his innocence.