LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 11/2012
Bible Quotation for today/A
Servant's Duty
Luke 17/07-10: "Suppose one of you has a
servant who is plowing or looking after the sheep. When he comes in from the
field, do you tell him to hurry along and eat his meal? Of course not! Instead,
you say to him, Get my supper ready, then put on your apron and wait on me while
I eat and drink; after that you may have your meal. The servant does not deserve
thanks for obeying orders, does he? It is the same with you; when you have done
all you have been told to do, say, We are ordinary servants; we have only done
our duty.
Latest analysis,
editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Syria: a humanitarian disaster/By Hussein Shobokshi/February
10/12
Will America sacrifice Israel/By: Giulio Meotti /February
10/12
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
February 10/12
As US and Israel dicker over Iran strike, American
airlifts strength to the Gulf
Iran's UN envoy: I don't think Israel will attack
Israel's Mossad trained assassins of Iran nuclear
scientists, report says
Anshel Pfeffer/There are many reasons to strike Iran, the
Holocaust isn't one
Republican US Senator John McCain says 40,000 Syrian
troops have deserted
Syria forces bombard
Homs, U.N. condemns 'appalling brutality'
Assad forces mull use of chemical weapons in Homs,
opposition says
Israeli troops cross technical fence; UNIFIL deploys in
area
Fatfat warns of Syrian attack on Wadi Khaled
Multiple anti-Assad demos expected in Lebanon Friday
Siniora believes Orthodox electoral law would sow
divisions: report
Mikati says France
visit not aimed at pressuring Syria
Miqati Arrives to France with Answers about Syria
Refugees, FSA Members
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai: Insults against
the president harm Lebanon
3 Bombs Explode in Bab al-Tebbaneh
2 Syrian National Wounded by Landmine at Northern
Border-Crossing
As US and Israel dicker over Iran strike, American airlifts
strength to the Gulf
DEBKAfile Special Report February 9, 2012/As the US and Israel carried on
bickering over the right time to strike Iran's nuclear sites, their war
preparations continued apace. debkafile's military sources report that flight
after flight of US warplanes and transports were to be seen this week cutting
eastward through the skies of Sinai on their way to Gulf destinations,
presumably Saudi Arabia, at a frequency not seen in the Middle East for many
years.
The three International Atomic Energy inspectors who spent the last three days
of January in Tehran had asked to meet the hitherto invisible head of Iran's
nuclear bomb program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, 50, a general of the Revolutionary
Guards. The Iranians pretended to be deaf. They also kept the inspectors away
from any nuclear installations. A senior Obama administration official termed
the visit "foot-dragging at best and a disaster at worst."
debkafile's intelligence and military sources note that without talking to
Fakhrizadeh or any of the 600 nuclear engineers and scientists working under
him, unless one of them defects, there is no way the West can determine what
exactly is going on in Iran's nuclear program stands and which installations
have been moved to underground facilities.
No one doubts now that advanced centrifuges and stocks of enriched uranium – 3.5
percent and 20 percent grades alike - have been moved to Iran's underground
bunker site at Fordo near Qom, which the US administration has claimed its
bunker buster bombs cannot reach and which Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak
has defined as "a zone of immunity."In their ongoing argument with Jerusalem,
American officials commented crossly this week that "Israelis are looking at the
problem too narrowly."
Clearly Israel, unlike America, envisions the Iranian "problem" from the narrow
viewpoint of potential victim of an Iranian attack. Sunday, Feb. 5, Alireza
Forghani, head of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's strategic team,
was quoted as remarking, "It would only take nine minutes to wipe out Israel."
The remark came from a just-published detailed and serious paper by an Iranian
study group which advised Tehran not to wait to be attacked but to launch a
preemptive strike against the Jewish state.
Wiping Israel out in 9 minutes would require a nuclear weapon. It therefore
behooves Israel to narrow its vision and focus closely on Iran's nuclear
potential and intent.
By now, the Obama administration and the Netanyahu government have pretty well
run out of semantic ammunition for their dingdong over how long to wait for
sanctions to bite before going on the military offensive against Iran's nuclear
sites and who should do the deed.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu plans a trip to Washington in March and will
almost certainly get together with President Barack Obama. That is a date to
watch.
Israel leaders have not given up warning that time is running out for a military
strike that could stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Obama's comment to
NBC TV Sunday Feb. 4, "I don't think that Israel has made a decision on what
they need to do," has been interpreted by some circles in Washington as meaning
that Israel has agreed to wait long enough to give tough sanctions a chance.
debkafile's sources say that interpretation is wishful thinking rather than
based on fact. The president's comment was another attempt to keep Israel within
certain lines of restraint.
Israel's Mossad trained assassins of Iran nuclear scientists,
report says
By Haaretz /U.S. officials confirm link between clandestine Israeli operations
and People’s Mujahedin of Iran activists, according to NBC News report.
Mossad officials are training Iranian dissident activists to assassinate Iranian
nuclear scientists, a NBC News report citing U.S. officials said on Thursday.
The report noted, however, that Washington was not directly involvement in the
alleged attacks. The report by NBC News followed Iranian accusations that Israel
and the U.S. had been orchestrating attacks against Iranian scientists and
military officials associated with Iran's nuclear program. These accusations
resurfaced following the most recent alleged attack, as Iranian media reported
last month that nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan was killed by a bomb
placed on his car by a motorcyclist in Tehran.
According to the semi-official Fars news agency, Ahmadi Roshan, 32, supervised a
department at Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Isfahan province. The United
States has denied involvement in the killing and condemned it. Israel has
declined to comment. Just days following the bombing, Foreign Policy, quoting
U.S. intelligence memos, reported that Mossad agents posed as CIA officers in
order to recruit members of a Pakistani terror group to carry out assassinations
and attacks against the regime in Iran. Foreign Policy's Mark Perry reported
that the Mossad operation was carried out in 2007-2008, behind the back of the
U.S. government, and infuriated then U.S. President George W. Bush. Later, a
Sunday Times report claimed that agents associated with Israel's secret services
were behind Ahmadi Roshans' assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist. On
Thursday, U.S. officials speaking to NBC news claimed that Mossad agents were
training members of the dissident terror group People’s Mujahedin of Iran in
order assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists, adding that the administration of
U.S. President Barack Obama was aware of the operation, but had no direct link
to them.
The U.S. officials reportedly confirmed the link between Israel and the People’s
Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), with one official saying: "All your inclinations are
correct.”
Yet another American official would only tell NBC “It hasn’t been clearly
confirmed yet.” All officials in question denied any U.S. involvement.
What are your thoughts on this issue? Follow Haaretz.com on Facebook and share
your views. A Foreign Ministry comment to the story said that as "long as we
can't see all the evidence being claimed by NBC, the Foreign Ministry won't
react to every gossip and report being published worldwide." The NBC report also
cites a senior aide to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as
describing what he said were strong links between Israel and Iranian dissident
groups. Mohammad Javad Larijani is quoted as saying that the these relations are
"very intricate and close." "[Israelis] are paying … the Mujahedin. Some of
their (MEK) agents … (are) providing Israel with information. And they recruit
and also manage logistical support,” the reported quoted Larijani as saying.
Will America sacrifice Israel?
Giulio Meotti /Ynetnews
Op-ed: Israel-Iran countdown has already begun, but will Washington help the
Jewish State? Historian Niall Ferguson writes in Newsweek that “Israel and Iran
are on the eve of destruction in a new Six Day War.” Bret Stephens in the Wall
Street Journal warns that if Israel will not destroy Tehran the Jewish State
will risk another Yom Kippur scenario. The Israel-Iran countdown has already
begun, but will Washington help the tiny Jewish State? Will Israel strike Iran
even without America's "green light?" American taxpayers fund some 20-25% of
Israel’s defense budget, with the Jewish State being the largest recipient by
far of American aid since World War II. Moreover, the United States has cast 40
vetoes to protect Israel in the UN The above facts have made Israel highly
dependent on the US for economic, military and diplomatic support. There is a
quid pro quo for such support, but also a limit to what even that degree of
dependence can buy. Former Prime Minister Menachem Begin once told a US
ambassador: “We’re not a vassal state.” But it seems he got it wrong. Over the
years, Israel has becomes subservient to the United States and “America’s 51st
state.” It is no wonder perhaps that Obama’s Administration fomented a war on
Jerusalem and treated Israel like a banana republic. Washington doesn’t support
Israel because the Jewish State's democracy or respect for human rights.
America’s interest in Israel’s strategic value – rather than shared values, the
Holocaust or “David and Goliath” – has always been the primary motivation for US
aid. But it can change tomorrow, especially if Israel's survival becomes a heavy
burden for Washington. That's why Israel must remember that she is America’s
ally and client, but not friend. The first US presidents after Israel was
established - Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson - gave nothing to
Jerusalem. If Israel’s birth in 1948 had depended solely on US support, the
Jewish State would not have been reborn then. Truman maintained a US embargo
against arms sales to the Israeli and Arabs, which was effective only against
Israel. Eisenhower expelled Israel from Sinai and Gaza without a peace treaty.
Prior to the Six Day War, Abba Eban approached Johnson and all he got was an
arms embargo on the Middle East. Israel can stand tall in the face of its
powerful ally because it never asked American soldiers to spill their blood for
its defense. It's Washington that must beg for Israel’s alliance, as it cannot
afford disengagement from the only democracy in that dark region. But will the
US eventually be compelled to sacrifice Israel on the altar of realism, when
Iran’s knife will descend on Isaac? And will the Jewish state's leadership
dutifully bind Israel on the altar?
Iran's UN envoy: I don't think Israel will attack
Yitzhak Benhorin/Ynetnews
Khazaee tells NPR Israel can be considered 'regional cancer' due to its 'nuclear
program and killing of Palestinians'
WASHINGTON – "We hear some voices from the Israeli regime about attacking Iran,
but I don't think that is going to happen, because first of all, Iran is (strong
enough) to defend itself," said Tehran's ambassador to the United Nations.
Speaking to National Public Radio's "Morning Edition" on Thursday, Mohammed
Khazaee said, "The consequence (of an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities) would
be devastating for them (Israel) and maybe for whoever helped them. So I do not
believe that such a thing is going to happen. "Our strategy is not to initiate
any strike against anybody. But if, God forbidden, someone wants to try any
strike against Iran or Iranian nuclear facility or Iranian national interests
and security, of course, (Iran) - like any other nation - will have the right to
defend (itself)," he told NPR.
The ambassador denied any link between Israel's threats and Tehran's willingness
to conduct negotiations over its nuclear program with the five permanent members
of the Security Council and Germany. In response to NPR's question regarding a
speech delivered by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in which he
referred to Israel as a cancerous tumor, Khazaee said, "Just to refresh the
memory of your audiences, I believe that if they listened to the Israeli
authorities, you will find out that almost every day they threat Iran for
attacking Iran, bombing Iran and doing so. So they're not in a position to talk
about a civilized nation like Iran. "And also, you know, as long as the damage
that we receive in the region from the Israelis - either nuclear program or
killing people in Palestine and so on - they could be considered a cancer in the
region," he said. The UN envoy added that "war is not something that (Iran is)
looking for. And any confrontation between Iran and other countries in the
region would be harmful for everybody."
Damascus: like Beirut’s southern suburbs
Asharq Al-Awsat/By Tariq Alhomayed
Over forty years of al-Assad rule, whether we are talking about the rule of the
father or the son, we have heard that Damascus is the capital of Arabism and the
capital of the resistance. We have heard that the Damascus of al-Assad is the
stronghold and garrison of the resistance, and other such lies and slogans.
However on Tuesday, the picture was very different, for Damascus was more like
the southern suburbs of Beirut, namely the suburbs of Hassan Nasrallah.
On Tuesday, the al-Assad regime mobilized its supporters – in a sad and pathetic
scene – to meet the Russian envoys, namely the Russian Foreign Minister [Sergey
Lavrov] and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director [Mikhail Fradkov]. The
two Russian envoys received a hero’s welcome or a welcome that is more usually
reserved for a head of state, not a foreign minister and intelligence chief. The
question that immediately springs to mind is: what would have happened if the
Russian President or Prime Minister had visited Damascus? Damascus welcomed the
two Russian envoys in the same way that the southern suburbs of Beirut welcomed
the Turkish Prime Minister or the Emir of Qatar or the Iranian President,
following Israel’s war on Lebanon. The al-Assad regime wanted to thank the
Russians utilizing its veto [against the UN Security Council draft resolution
condemning the suppression and calling for an end to violence in Syria], which
served as life support for the Bashar al-Assad regime which is politically
deceased.
At the same time that al-Assad supporters filled the streets of the Syrian
capital welcoming the Russian envoys in the manner of the southern suburbs, it
was also announced that Iraq had agreed to serve as a conduit to facilitate the
transfer of Syrian goods. It appears that al-Maliki is intent upon reviving the
spirit of Saddam Hussein, but with a Shiite flavour. Therefore Baghdad also
agreed to provide political life support to the al-Assad regime, which is
politically deceased. This is contrary to the decision taken by the Gulf States
to expel the al-Assad regime ambassadors from their territories. This is a
decision that reflects the Gulf State’s siding with and supporting the unarmed
Syrians against the tyrant of Damascus; whilst Baghdad has chosen to stand with
al-Assad.
When we say that Damascus is like the southern suburbs today, this was after
Syria was previously providing life support to the suburbs, however it is
Baghdad which is now providing al-Assad with this same life support. Therefore
Nasrallah’s suburbs have become more like a cave or den [in the absence of the
Syrian life-support]. We therefore now see Hassan Nasrallah – on the same day –
coming out to defend Hezbollah and himself, saying they do not traffic in drugs
because Iran’s support of Hezbollah means they do not need money from anywhere
else! This excuse is worse than any sin, for anybody who wants to be an Arab,
and live in our region, cannot boast about Iranian, or Russian, support.
Therefore, one can only say: my God how things can change! For everybody is now
in their natural scope, whether we are talking about al-Assad being provided
political life support by Baghdad today, or Hassan Nasrallah saying that the
source of his livelihood is Iran, not drugs, in the knowledge that Iran is in
the midst of its worst ever political and economic crisis! All of this informs
us that our region today is in an extremely volatile phase, accompanied by
hurricanes and storms. What is certain is that our region will be better off
without these extremist models, which are dependent upon political life support
from Iran or Syria.
Syria: a humanitarian disaster
By Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat
The talk about Bashar al-Assad’s regime being sectarian and giving preference to
his Alawite sect over others is not up for debate, but it is a lie to call the
al-Assad regime an advocate of Arabism and resistance, and this has been exposed
by the reality of the recent days and events. Therefore it is absurd to talk
about the legitimacy and merits of this regime, or the possibility of it
adhering to its promises or committing to the proposals of reform that it has
repeated and returned to on many occasions, without any meaningful point.
The Syrian scene today has no place for reform or politics; we are dealing with
a humanitarian disaster, like an earthquake, a volcano or a flood. However, this
particular disaster has been caused by a bloodthirsty regime addicted to killing
its own people. What happened in Hama is still fresh in the memory, thirty years
on from its painful anniversary. Furthermore, the Palestinians and the Lebanese
especially have sad, painful and bloody memories of the key figures of this
regime and its entourage, who wreaked death and destruction upon them.
Here the son Bashar al-Assad is continuing the same bloody approach against his
people, and broadening the circle of murder to include large numbers of towns
and cities. However, the city of Homs will remain the icon of this blessed
revolution, and soon, on the banks of the Orontes river, the flag of a new Syria
free from the Baath will be raised, the flag of free independence, that of the
dignified era of glorious Syrian history, before it was tainted by leaders
killing their own people.
The scenes of recent days can only be considered a human tragedy par excellence,
a tragedy resembling the “Holocaust”, the Rwandan genocide in Africa, the
massacres in Darfur, or the horrors of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. This is the
situation in Syria, a war carried out by a narrow group holding power and
exterminating their own people with planes, tanks, bombs and missiles. It is
like an open war besieging the population and preventing them from food and
medicine, cutting off their electricity and means of communication, poisoning
their drinking water and depriving them of gas heating.
These are exceptionally brutal scenes; scenes contrary to all the teachings of
religion, international conventions, regulations, laws and human rights.
Therefore it is important and necessary to treat the matter as a humanitarian
problem, and intervene immediately to save the Syrian people from a dark and
bloody fate.
The Syrians have risen up and will not turn back; they have opted for liberation
and are seeking to obtain their great goals, namely the freedom and dignity that
they have been deprived of for over forty years. They have realized that,
although once popular, the bleak slogan advocated by the repressive regime:
“forever al-Assad”, is actually the regime’s underlying goal. It is a political
approach that has been applied continuously and gradually until it became a
complete and acceptable reality, generation after generation. This is what
happened when Hafez al-Assad farcically bequeathed power to his son in a scene
that was nearer to comedy than respectably politics.
The remains of men, women, children and the elderly fill the towns of Homs,
Zabadani, Daraa and Talkalakh, along with dozens wounded. These scenes can only
be described as criminal acts, with criminal leaders behind them.
The Islamic world once vented its anger at the despicable charges lodged against
the Prophet Mohammed. Furthermore, it was outraged by what happened at the hands
of the criminal occupying forces of Israel against the Palestinians. The Arab
world rose up for Mohammed al-Dura when he was killed in cold blood by the
Israeli army, yet today there are dozens of examples of Mohammed al-Dura being
killed every day, and there is no Arab mobilization or sufficient reaction.
Public pressure must be placed on the Arab, Islamic and international community
to help the Syrian people. The Syrian regime is spilling their blood and has
unleashed a campaign to eliminate some of them, and it seems to have gotten a
clear green light from Russia, with the support of Iraq and Iran. However, all
this will only accelerate the declining support and legitimacy of the regime
committing crimes against its own people, having lost its sense of humanity and
morality.
The Syrian people are shouting out and they will not fail. The Syrian regime is
like a demonic spirit that has possessed the Syrian people, and it must be
eradicated once and for all to restore purity to the country’s body.
I watched two boys die
Michael Karam, February 9, 2012
Now Lebanon/On Monday, I noticed a small local news story amid tickers more
concerned with reporting the bloody mayhem in Syria: “Lebanese Forces bloc MP
Elie Keyrouz submitted a draft law to Speaker Nabih Berri to annul the death
penalty and replace it with life imprisonment.”
Yes, Lebanon hangs its murderers. Not all of them mind you; just the ones who
can’t work the system. We would never punish, let alone hang, the wayward sons
of zuama or prominent businessmen (heaven knows there are enough of them). No,
we only hang people like 25-year-old Lebanese Wissam Issa and 24-year-old Syrian
Hassan Abou Jabal, who were strung up—my deliberate phrase—by the state in the
early hours of May 19, 1998. I know this because I watched them die.
They died because, entirely by their own doing, they were in the wrong place at
the wrong time. They had been robbing a house in Tabarja, the picturesque
seaside village just north of Jounieh, when the owners, Charbel Sakim and his
sister, Marie, returned unexpectedly. Issa ran off, but Abou Jabal gunned them
down. Both were found guilty of the murders and sentenced to hang in front of
the home they tried to burgle, in full view of the community that lost two of
its own.
On May 19, the day in Tabarja began earlier than normal, at around 3a.m.
The ubiquitous white plastic chairs that had been provided for the residents’
comfort were already almost all taken, many by fathers cradling children on
their laps. Lebanon is country, we are told, of family values, and this was very
much a family affair.Attendance was supposed to be restricted to the people of
Tabarja, but I was able to sneak in with Nicholas Blanford of The Times. We
couldn’t get the good seats, but we were able to stand on the rocks near the sea
with other unofficial onlookers, young men with mopeds, all most all smoking,
some with sandwiches, probably made by their mothers, anxious that their sons
would leave home without a proper breakfast.
Why was I there? Morbid curiosity, if the truth be told. But there was also a
part of me that wanted to resolve my undecided feelings about capital
punishment. It was an issue on which I felt one should have an opinion either
way.
Back on the rocks, there was much cheerful banter among our fellow spectators.
For example, we were told that the families of the two boys had been asked to
buy the pair new clothes for the occasion (the unimaginable sadness of such a
task for any parent was clearly lost amid the mounting excitement of the
spectacle that was to come).
Eventually, Issa and Abou Jabal climbed the scaffold to see the good people of
Tabarja and then the ropes that would be their dispatch. I wondered if any
scientific thought had been applied to their length; the respective weights of
the condemned men and the height of the drop to ensure a quick death. Both were
dressed in white, although Issa’s T-shirt bore a huge red, white and blue Tommy
Hilfiger logo. What must go through a mother’s mind when choosing a top for her
son’s hanging? Does she pick up a T-shirt and say, “Oh, this is nice. Have you
got it in a medium?”
The boys were remarkably calm (one of our fellow spectators assured everyone
that they had been sedated) but as the hangman reached for the nooses, Abou
Jabal collapsed on the floor of the scaffold. A burly policeman bent over
whispered what were presumably words of encouragement. What did he say? In my
mind his voice was that of British sergeant major of the old school. Paternal
but firm. “Come on now, lad. There’s a lot of people ‘ere. Let’s not make a
fuss. There’s a good boy.”
Abou Jabal wasn’t convinced, and what was meant to be a solemn example of
state-administered justice descended into grotesque farce. The noose was applied
as he squirmed, kicking out in sheer terror. In the end, a clearly flustered
hangman, helped by the policeman, simply rolled him off the scaffold. Issa, the
boy who had not pulled the trigger and who fled, no doubt in terror at the
prospect of being caught, went to his death seconds earlier without so much as a
peep.
They twitched in deathly spasms for several seconds as the crowd erupted in
prolonged applause. It was a gruesome spectacle, but at the same time part of me
could understand the basic, almost biblical, satisfaction that was clearly
derived from seeing the two put to death. So much for the liberal disgust I was
expecting.
As the crowds dispersed, no doubt to get ready for the working day, a delegation
of anti-death penalty activists singing hymns and led by a cassocked priest were
allowed into the square and began a brief vigil near where the two men still
swung. As we walked back to the car we were heckled by a group of Eastern
European showgirls fresh from their shifts at the nearby super nightclubs of
Maameltain and amused by the number of people milling around at such an early
hour.
Later that day, two mothers received the bodies of their sons. Lebanese justice
had spoken, but no one was really listening.
*Michael Karam is associate editor-in-chief of Executive, the Lebanese business
magazine and a contributor to NOW Lebanon.
Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai: Insults against
the president harm Lebanon
February 9, 2012 /Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai said Thursday that
insults against President Michel Sleiman harm all the Lebanese people. “All
Lebanese are insulted when [President Michel Sleiman] is insulted, and we thank
God that [Sleiman] has a big heart,” the National News Agency quoted Rai as
saying. LBC television reported on Thursday evening that Rai’s statements
“bothered” some parliamentarians affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement.
The FPM is led by MP Michel Aoun who slammed Prime Minister Najib Mikati and
Sleiman on Tuesday, saying that the latter wants to “enforce his opinion [the
same way a dictator would].”-NOW Lebanon
Miqati Arrives to France with Answers about Syria Refugees, FSA Members
by Naharnet /Prime Minister Najib Miqati arrived to France on Thursday on a
three-day visit to meet with senior officials amid a cabinet crisis locally.
Miqati prepared answers to specific French questions concerning protecting the
refugees and the free Syrian Army, LBC reported. "Lebanon is obligated to help
the displaced Syrians and 3 billion Lebanese pounds were asked to be given from
the High Relief Commission to the Ministry of Social affairs to help them," he
said. The premier will discuss with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, PM
Francois Fillon, and Foreign Minister Alain Juppe the developments in the region
and Lebanon, the future of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon and
bilateral relations, sources told al-Liwaa newspaper.They noted that Miqati will
tackle in Paris military aid to the army.
According to the sources, the French officials will confirm their commitment to
the UNIFIL. Discussions will also tackle the investigations on the attacks on a
number of French soldiers in 2011.
10 French UNIFIL troops were injured in two separate roadside bomb attacks in
2011, one near Sidon in July, and one near Tyre in December. Concerning the
developments in Syria, French officials are expected to call on Central Bank
governor Riyad Salameh, who is currently in Paris and expected to join Miqati,
to urge Lebanese banks to abide by the European Union sanctions on Syria.
Israeli Force Penetrates Lebanese Borders, Erects Barbed Wire
by Naharnet / An Israeli task force composed of twenty soldiers supported by
four military vehicles entered 75 meters into the disputed area near Adaysseh
and erected barbed wires.
The UNIFIL and the Lebanese security services arrived at the scene, and the
Lebanese army launched a probe into the incident. In a statement, the Lebanese
army said that “between 02:50 and 03:52 Thursday morning an Israeli army patrol
erected barbed wires at a distance of 74 meters in the disputed point 36TP
beside Adaysseh.” “The army units deployed in the region and the issue was
addressed with the UNIFIl,” the statement added. Al-Manar reported that Lebanon
will submit a complaint to the United Nation after this assault. UNIFIL
spokesman Neeraj Singh later said that "Israel informed us in advance about
erecting the barbed wire across the border, but there is a distance between it
and the blue line," NNA reported. The operation was done “500 meters away from
the confrontation which occurred between the Lebanese army and Israeli forces in
al-Adayseh in 2010,” National News Agency reported
Republican US Senator John McCain says 40,000 Syrian troops
have deserted
February 9, 2012 /Some 40,000 Syrian troops have quit their government's
crackdown on rebels against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, Republican US
Senator John McCain said Thursday.
McCain said he was surprised by the figure, which visiting Turkish Foreign
Minister Ahmet Davutoglu provided when the two officials met in the US Congress
amid fears that the bloodbath in Syria shows no sign of slackening. "He did say
that some 40,000 Syrian military have defected. I didn't know that number was
that large," the lawmaker, his party's top member on the Senate Armed Services
Committee, told reporters. "Some of them have gone home, some of them have
joined" rebel forces, said McCain, who underlined that nonetheless "the
situation is worsening" as Assad's forces aim to crush a year-old uprising. The
lawmaker underline that Turkey, a US NATO ally, had been in communication with
Russia, which Washington has denounced over Moscow's veto of a UN resolution
aimed at defusing the crisis. "They've been in communication with the Russians
and expressed, obviously, their desire that Russia play a more constructive
role," but Davutoglu "did not say" whether those efforts were bearing fruit,
said McCain.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon