LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 17/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Jesus and Zacchaeus
Luke 19/01-09: "Jesus went on into Jericho and was passing through. There was a chief tax collector there named Zacchaeus, who was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was a little man and could not see Jesus because of the crowd. So he ran ahead of the crowd and climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus, who was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to that place, he looked up and said to Zacchaeus, Hurry down, Zacchaeus, because I must stay in your house today. 6 Zacchaeus hurried down and welcomed him with great joy. All the people who saw it started grumbling,  This man has gone as a guest to the home of a sinner!  Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, Listen, sir! I will give half my belongings to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone, I will pay back four times as much. Jesus said to him, Salvation has come to this house today, for this man, also, is a descendant of Abraham. The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Arm the Syrian opposition now/By Tariq Alhomayed/February 16/12
Will olive oil do/By: Hussein Shobokshi/February 16/12
Iran uses terror to target civilians, and so does Israel/By Gideon Levy/February 16/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 16/12
Report: Attempt on Barak's life foiled in Singapore
Israel, Singapore Deny Foiling Assassination Bid by Hizbullah, Iran against Barak
Netanyahu: International sanctions against Iran not working
Barak: Iran nuclear moves meant to fend off attack
US gets Barak to backtrack and deny Iran has reached nuclear point of no-return
Iran’s nuclear, terror offensives meet slow US-Israeli responses
In defiant move, Iran proclaims nuclear advances
Iran holds off cutting oil to unruffled EU
Iran unveils nuclear progress, defying US-EU pressure
Japan urges Israel against military strike on Iran
Japan PM to Barak: Israel must not strike Iran over nuclear program
Malaysia to extradite Iranian who fled Thailand after Bangkok attack
Report: Mossad chief visited New Delhi days before attack on Israeli officials
U.S. Says Syrian Referendum Plan is 'Laughable'
Russia: West 'slammed door' on Syria at UN
Russia Denies Chemical Weapons Used in Syria
Turkey Urges U.N. to Mobilize Aid Efforts for Syria 
Switzerland to Close Embassy in Syria
Assad calls for Syria vote, but steps up assault
Juppe Says Russia 'Isolating Itself' over Syria
U.S. closely monitoring Hezbollah activities, official says
Britain and Vatican Call for 'Cooperation' in Syria
Swiss to close embassy in Syria
U.S. says it is monitoring Hezbollah activities
March 14 coalition MP Marwan Hamadeh accuses Iran, Syria of Lebanon assassinations
Jumblatt says BIEL speeches mostly repetition
The Daily Star/Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Feb. 16, 2012
Beirut river turns blood red
Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem to March 14: Stop Betting on Regional Developments
Jumblat Says Taef Dead, Syria's Baath Replicating Itself with New Constitution
Hariri trial defence lawyers sworn in
Sulieman Briefs Mansour, Qortbawi on Ban's STL Letter
Lebanese Army, UNIFIL conduct land-to-sea firing drill
Bassil 'Satisfied' after 'Political' Meeting with Miqati
Nasrallah Expected to Snap Back at March 14 today
Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour reiterates rejection of Arab League’s decisions on Syria
Sleiman says Nahhas needs to sign decree
Suspending Cabinet sessions aims at protecting institutions: Mikati
Mustaqbal: Govt. is Protecting Fugitives in Tripoli Unrest, Hariri Murder
Israel Releases Lebanese Citizen after Four Years of Imprisonment
Lebanon: Boy Dies of Smoke Inhalation, 6 Family Members Hospitalized

Iran’s nuclear, terror offensives meet slow US-Israeli responses
DEBKAfile Special Report February 15, 2012/Shrugging off Western sanctions and Israeli recriminations, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad played a starring role in a widely televised spectacle by inserting his country’s first domestically-made fuel rod into the Tehran Research Reactor Wednesday, Feb. 15. The scene came after the announced cutoff of Iranian oil exports to six European countries - Netherlands, Spain, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal. Two hours later, the Iranian oil ministry challenged the announcement, spoiling the show by attesting to differences in high regime ranks.
By this show, Tehran thumbed its nose at Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s call on the world Wednesday to set red lines for Iran’s nuclear program and denounce its terrorist activity. “If Iran’s aggression is not halted, it will ultimately spread to other countries,” he told the Knesset. Tehran paused only briefly in its multi-pronged offensive to deny Israeli charges of an Iranian hand behind the bombing attacks on its diplomats in New Delhi, Bangkok and the Georgian capital of Tbilisi this week, in which an Israeli woman was injured.
Tuesday, Feb. 14, the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier crossed the Strait of Hormuz into the Sea of Oman for the second time. Unlike the first, an Iranian flotilla shadowed its passage made up of an explosive speedboat, warships with missiles poised ready for launching, a spy plane, a drone and several assault helicopters. Tehran was flexing muscle in the face of US naval might.
The incident passed without a US response.Wednesday, a white-coated Ahmadinejad was on hand at the Tehran Research Reactor to flaunt Iran’s mastery of the manufacture of 20 percent enriched nuclear fuel rods, so bringing its nuclear program substantially closer to the 90 percent threshold for the fissile core of a nuclear warhead. Then, by unveiling “the fourth generation” of home-made centrifuges with a higher speed and production capacity at Natanz, Tehran made the point that it was not hiding the production of 20 percent enriched uranium in underground bunkers as Israel has claimed. From now on, Iran would carry out the advanced process of enrichment and complete the nuclear cycle in front of the whole world, despite Western penalties and sanctions.
By announcing the cutoff of oil exports to six European countries, Tehran sought to turn the European Union’s oil sanctions against the alliance itself. Only this week, US and Israeli officials claimed that the latest round of stiffer sanctions against Iran were working and is economy was on the point of collapse.
The Iranians were anxious to show that they can afford to pick and choose the customers for their oil and mean to do so. And maybe they can. debkafile’s energy sources note that China, India, Russia, Turkey and South Korea, which buy 65 percent of Iran’s exported crude, have all refused to join the US and European boycott and cut back on their purchases from the Islamic Republic. None have so far taken up the Saudi offer of supplies to replace Iranian oil. Britain has meanwhile taken advantage of the hue and cry against Iranian terrorist attacks on Israeli diplomats to start a hare of its own, claiming that Iran and al Qaeda have struck a deal for a combined major terror offensive against Israeli targets. British sources report that the al Qaeda strategic brain, Abu Mus’ab al-Suria (nom de guerre of Aleppo Mustafa Abdul-QAdir Mustafa al-Set Mariam), who fought the Assads for three decades and whom Syrian President set free in December, has moved to Tehran. They say he is the kingpin of the new terror offensive. Therefore, those British sources strongly doubt that Israeli ministers and officials will be able to make good on their pledges to reach the sources of terror.

Iran unveils nuclear progress, defying US-EU pressure
February 15, 2012 /Iran announced new strides on Wednesday in its nuclear program, in a defiant blow to US and EU pressure to rein in its atomic activities and amid signs of an increasingly vicious covert war with Israel over the issue. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad unveiled on state television what was said to be Iran's first domestically produced, 20-percent enriched nuclear fuel for Tehran's research reactor.He also said 3,000 more centrifuges had been added to his country's uranium enrichment effort. Officials said new-generation centrifuges had been installed at Iran's Natanz nuclear facility that are able to produce three times more enriched uranium. The developments underlined Tehran's determination to forge ahead with its nuclear activities despite increasingly tough sanctions from the West - and speculation that Israel or the United States could be months from launching military strikes against it.Iran portrayed the advances as evidence it was only interested in peaceful nuclear goals, under the slogan "nuclear energy for all, nuclear weapons for none."But the steps challenged the basis of four sets of UN sanctions and a raft of unilateral US and EU sanctions designed to halt a program much of the West fears masks a drive for atomic weapons. Iran has repeatedly said it is ready to resume talks with world powers that collapsed a year ago. And on Wednesday, it said had finally replied to a letter sent nearly four months ago by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton proposing a return to the talks."Iran welcomes the readiness of the P5+1 group to return to negotiations in order to take fundamental steps toward further cooperation," chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili wrote in the letter, according to the official IRNA news agency. The P5+1 consists of the five permanent UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - and Germany. Thus far, Russia and China have stood by Iran, criticizing the Western sanctions on it as a barrier to the talks and refusing to comply with them.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Iran holds off cutting oil to unruffled EU
February 15, 2012 /Iran said on Wednesday it was considering cutting oil sales to six EU countries but would not do so "at the moment," while unperturbed European officials said they were looking for other suppliers anyway. State broadcaster IRIB reported on its website that the ambassadors of France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain were called to the Foreign Ministry in Tehran and warned that "Iran will revise its oil sale to these countries."The warning was in retaliation to an EU ban on Iranian oil imports that is being phased in as existing contracts expire up to July 1.
But after world oil prices spiked - in part because Iran's English-language Press TV had reported Iran had already "cut" oil exports to those countries - media reported that no steps had yet been taken to reduce EU oil exports. "Due to humanitarian reasons and the cold weather in the continent, it [Iran] will not do so at the moment," Iran's Arabic broadcaster Al-Alam said. "We came to a conclusion to send a strong and serious message to the Europeans about our oil contracts," IRIB quoted a foreign ministry official, Hassan Tajik, saying. "Our message is that we can immediately replace our oil customers," he said. A diplomat from one of the EU embassies involved in the discussions with the Iranian Foreign Ministry said his ambassador had received no notification at all of any cut in Iranian oil sales."There was nothing like that," he told AFP. The European Commission said that, even if Iran did cut its sales to the European Union, it would make little difference as EU buyers were already switching suppliers. "Oil is something you can get on the international markets, and Saudi Arabia said they would increase their production," said Marlene Holzner, spokesperson for EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger. "What we hear from member states is that they will switch to other suppliers," she said. Iran is the second-biggest producer in OPEC, behind Saudi Arabia. It pumps some 3.5 million barrels a day, of which 2.5 million are exported. The EU imported some 600,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day in the first 10 months of last year, mainly into Italy, Spain and the battered Greek economy, which benefits from advantageous terms. Iran has previously threatened to cut off oil supplies to EU countries.MPs last month initially threatened to pass a law cutting the exports at once, but backed away as parliamentary committees and other officials weighed into the matter.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Japan urges Israel against military strike on Iran
February 15, 2012/Daily Star
TOKYO: Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda Wednesday urged Israel to refrain from military action against Iran, a report said, after Jerusalem accused Tehran for a series of blasts targeting Israeli diplomats. Tensions between the Middle East arch-foes have risen sharply following bombings in New Delhi, Tbilisi and Bangkok within a span of 24 hours, but Iran angrily rejected accusations that it was behind the "terrorist" acts. In a meeting in Tokyo with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Noda warned that military action could be "extremely dangerous" as it risks "escalating" the current situation, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, quoting foreign ministry officials. Israel has blamed Iran for two bombs targeting its diplomats in India and Georgia on Monday, as well as for a series of botched explosions in Thailand on Tuesday, which Thai intelligence officials said were aimed at embassy staff in Bangkok.Thailand on Wednesday charged two Iranians over the alleged plot, but Tehran has denied all involvement. Noda said the bombings were "unacceptable", while cautioning that Israel should show restraint, Kyodo reported. Barak, who is on a five-day visit to Japan, declined to comment on whether Israel will retaliate against Iran, but urged the world to "join hands" in monitoring sanctions against Iran, Kyodo said. In a show of solidarity, Noda said that Japan will strive to reduce its oil imports from Iran. Tokyo currently imports around 10 percent of its oil consumption from the Islamic republic, the report said.

In defiant move, Iran proclaims nuclear advances
February 15, 2012/By Ali Akbar Dareini/Daily Star
TEHRAN, Iran: Iran claimed Wednesday that it has achieved two major advances in its program to master production of nuclear fuel, a defiant move in response to increasingly tough Western sanctions over its controversial nuclear program.Iranian officials also indicated that they were on the verge of imposing an oil embargo on European countries to retaliate for the sanctions, but denied reports earlier in the day that six nations had already been cut off.  State TV quoted Foreign Ministry official Hasan Tajik as saying that six European diplomats were summoned Wednesday and told that Iran has no problem replacing customers - an implied warning that Tehran would carry out plans to cut off European Union countries immediately to pre-empt sanctions set to go into effect in July.
Conflicting information about the cut-off has been relayed by Iranian media throughout the day: first the full blockade on six countries, then a report carried by the semiofficial Mehr agency saying that exports were cut to France and the Netherlands with four other European countries receiving ultimatums to sign long-term contracts with Iran.
Iranian officials say an immediate cut-off will hit European nations before they can line up new suppliers, and that Tehran has already found buyers for the 18 percent share of its oil that goes to Europe.
Iran's tough tone comes as tensions mount dramatically with Israel and the United States over its nuclear program, which the West says is aimed at producing weapons technology. Iran denies the charge, saying its program is intended solely for research and generating electricity.
Israel has increasingly warned of the possibility of a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, and has accused Iran of being behind attempted attacks on Israeli diplomats in India, Georgia and elsewhere. Iran denies any role in the attacks, which have resembled recent bombing-assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists that Tehran has blamed on Israel.
Iran is meanwhile pushing ahead on what it says is a drive toward nuclear-self-sufficiency.
On Wednesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad oversaw the insertion of the first Iranian domestically made fuel rod into a research reactor in northern Tehran, the country's official IRNA news agency reported.
"I hope we reach the point where we will be able to meet all our nuclear needs inside the country so we won't need to reach out to others, specifically to the world's dastardly people," Ahmadinejad said.
In a gesture underlining the tone of defiance, state TV showed the teenage son of slain nuclear scientist Majid Shahriari removing the curtain from the fuel container and cutting the ribbon.
Separately, the semiofficial Fars agency reported that a "new generation of Iranian centrifuges" had started operation at the country's main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz in central Iran.
State TV showed the father of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, killed in January, clicking on the computer to inaugurate the advanced centrifuges, as the scientist's mother and widow stood by with tears in their eyes. The moves were aimed at showing that Iran is mastering the entire cycle of producing nuclear fuel on its own despite the restrictions of sanctions that have hampered its ability to procure materials from abroad. The possibility that Iran was expanding its enrichment capacity was a greater concern from the standpoint of nuclear weapons development than the production of fuel rods.
Shannon Kile, a nuclear weapons research at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said that while from a technical perspective the announcements may be "less than meets the eye," they were likely to be well received by the Iranian public.
"Iran's peaceful nuclear energy program is very popular, it has a lot of support across the political spectrum," he said.
In the fuel cycle, mined uranium is processed into gas, then that gas is spun in centrifuges to purify it. Low-enriched uranium - at around 3.5 percent - is used to produce fuel rods that power a reactor; however, the same process can be used to produce highly enriched uranium - at around 90 percent purity - that can be used to build a warhead.
The Tehran facility where IRNA said the new fuel rods were installed is a research reactor intended to produce medical isotopes used in the treatment of cancer patients. It requires fuel enriched to around 20 percent, considered a threshold between low and high enriched uranium.
Iran has been producing uranium enriched up to 5 percent for years, and began enriching up to near 20 percent in February 2010 after attempts at a deal with the West to import fuel broke down. In January, Iran said it had produced its first such rod.
IRNA said the nuclear fuel rods were produced at a plant in Isfahan, central Iran, and transferred to Tehran under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision. The IAEA had no comment.
A diplomat accredited to the IAEA, which monitors Iran's known nuclear programs, said its inspectors had seen the rods recently and - while they showed some flaws - they were crafted well enough to work inside the reactor.
He spoke on condition of anonymity because his information is privileged.
Iranian officials have long spoken of introducing faster, more efficient centrifuges at the Natanz facility. The Fars news agency report did not give details on the advanced models that were installed.
The diplomat said the "new generation" of centrifuges appeared to be referring to about 65 IR-4 machines recently set up at an experimental site at Natanz. The new model can churn out enriched material at a faster rate than the more rudimentary IR-1 centrifuges, thousands of which are at work in Natanz producing low-enriched uranium, said the diplomat.
Iran has been slow to expand use of advanced models, apparently because strict international embargoes make procurement of parts and materials difficult. The 65 new machines are not nearly enough to set up an effective operation, the diplomat said.
Still, the fact that Iran continues to build the newer machines, even at a slow pace, or produce materials it needs domestically, shows that it is able to circumvent sanctions.
Iran's unchecked pursuit of the nuclear program scuttled negotiations over its nuclear program a year ago, but Iranian officials last month proposed a return to the talks with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany.
IRNA on Wednesday reported that Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili had written to the European Union's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, to formally announce its readiness to restart those negotiations.
In the past, Iran has angered Western officials by appearing to buy time through opening talks and weighing proposals even while pressing ahead with the nuclear program.
EU spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said that the bloc was looking into the letter together with the United States, Russia and China before taking an official stand.

Report: Attempt on Barak's life foiled in Singapore
Roi Kais /Ynetnews/Kuwait's Al-Jarida newspaper claims Israel was able to prevent assassination attempt on defense minister during his recent visit to Singapore
Kuwait's Al-Jarida newspaper reported Thursday that Israel was able to prevent an assassination attempt on Defense Minister Ehud Barak, during his visit to Singapore this week.
According to the report, the Mossad – collaborating with local authorities – was able to stop the assassins, who planned on targeting Barak during his visit to the Singapore Air Show. The newspaper based its report on information from "high ranking Israeli defense officials." Al-Jarida went on to quote the sources as saying that prior to Barak's visit, the Israeli intelligence agency contacts Singapore authorities and gave them "highly classified information suggesting a cell comprising of Iranian and Hezbollah operatives were planning to assassinate the Israeli defense minister."
A covert operation based on the information resulted in the arrest of three suspects. The paper added that the cell had "very accurate information" about Barak's itinerary and planned to have him under surveillance during his stay in Singapore. The assassination was to take place in Barak's hotel. According to the report, the Mossad is taking an active part in the suspect's interrogation

Israel, Singapore Deny Foiling Assassination Bid by Hizbullah, Iran against Barak
إby Naharnet /Israel revealed that an attempt to assassinate Defense Minister Ehud Barak was foiled during his trip to Singapore on Monday, reported Kuwait’s al-Jarida newspaper on Thursday, in remarks swiftly denied by an Israeli defense official and Singaporean police. High-ranking Israeli sources said: “A joint cell from Iran and Hizbullah plotted the attempt to kill the minister.”
They explained that the Israeli intelligence, Mossad, informed Singaporean authorities of the plan, revealing that the cell had obtained detailed information of Barak’s agenda during his visit and that it sought to assassinate him at his hotel. The Mossad informed the Singapore authorities of the information before the minister’s arrival and they consequently arrested three people from the cell, continued the sources.
Investigations are currently underway with them in cooperation with Israeli intelligence, they added. Barak was in the city-state to attend the Singapore Airshow this week and hold talks with officials, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post. Agence France Presse said its reporters who covered the airshow did not see Barak at the industry trade fair, which started on Tuesday, and security did not seem unusually tight. Later on Thursday, however, both Singapore police and an Israeli defense official denied the reports. "The report is untrue. No such incident occurred in Singapore," the police said in a statement emailed to AFP. In Jerusalem, an Israeli defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP: "We have no knowledge of this." Earlier this week, Israeli diplomats were targeted by bomb attacks in Delhi and Tbilisi on Monday, officials said, with two people injured in the Indian capital when an embassy car exploded in a ball of fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed the finger at Israel's regional arch-foe Iran. "Iran is behind these attacks. It is the biggest exporter of terror in the world," he said. Netanyahu said Israel has thwarted other attacks in recent months in Azerbaijan, Thailand and elsewhere. On Tuesday, a string of blasts rattled Bangkok, seriously wounding a man believed to be Iranian when an explosive device he was carrying detonated in a residential area of the Thai capital. A Thai official confirmed in Wednesday that Iranian suspects were behind the attack, which was aimed at assassinating Israeli diplomats. Barak, who is currently in Tokyo, has said he spent several hours in Bangkok on Sunday, two days before the blasts. He then flew to Singapore before arriving in Japan on Wednesday.

Netanyahu: International sanctions against Iran not working
By DPA /Haaretz
On a visit to Cyprus, Israeli Prime Minister says Iran is 'most irresponsible' country in the world.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that sanctions against Iran had not yet worked, adding that Tehran's nuclear pursuits made it the most "irresponsible" country in the world.
"Iran is the most irresponsible country in the world and it is breaking all the rules," Netanyahu said during a one-day visit to Cyprus. "The United States - and any other country - should be concerned because we have information of ongoing efforts and attempts by Iran to conduct terrorism in many parts of the world. Fortunately until now there has been no loss of life," he said after talks with Cypriot President Demetris Christofias. His remarks came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inaugurated three new nuclear projects, in a show of defiance of international pressure for the country to abandon its program. In Bangkok meanwhile, police said three Iranians linked to a series of blasts in the city had come to Thailand to target Israeli diplomats. Authorities are investigating possible connections with recent attacks on Israeli diplomats in Georgia and India. Earlier Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Iran was exaggerating the progress it had made in its nuclear program, in order to make the world believe it was too late to stop it. "Yesterday's show was really just a show, both for the Iranians themselves, to strengthen their spirits, and for the entire world," Barak told Israel Radio. "They are boasting achievements that aren't there yet. They are talking about a third and fourth generation of centrifuges. I think they still have a lot to do with the second generation, let alone with the third," he said.
The world could not afford to ignore the considerable progress Iran had made and must intensify sanctions against Tehran, the minister said, stressing however that Iran had not yet reached the point of no return. "They are presenting a situation that is better and more advanced than they really are in, in order to create a feeling with all players that in fact the point of no return is already behind them, which is not the case," he said. Israel has been a leading voice in an international campaign to halt Tehran's nuclear program. Like the West, Israel accuses Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge.

Barak: Iran nuclear moves meant to fend off attack
By REUTERS 02/16/2012 09:54 Defense minister says Tehran "priding themselves on achievements that do not yet exist" in order to give impression that too late for strike. By Marc Israel Sellem
Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on Thursday Iran's announcement of new nuclear achievements was exaggerated and meant to fend off action against the Islamic republic.
"They are describing a situation that is better and more advanced than the one they are in, in order to create a feeling among all the players that the point of no return is already behind them, which is not true," Barak told Israel Radio. Iran on Wednesday proclaimed advances in nuclear know-how, including new centrifuges able to enrich uranium much faster, a move that may heighten its confrontation with the West over suspicions it is seeking the means to make atomic bombs. Barak said those announcements were meant to create an impression that any action taken by world powers to curb Iran's nuclear program would be too late. Iran says it is enriching uranium for peaceful purposes. Tension between Iran and the West over Iran's nuclear work has mounted since November, when the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran appeared to have worked on designing a nuclear weapon.
Israel, widely believed to be the Middle East's only atomic power, has said a nuclear-armed Iran would be a threat to its existence. Both Washington and Israel have not ruled out military action to stop Tehran developing atomic bombs. "They are definitely making progress, but in order to deter anyone dealing with them, or perhaps even to make this seem superfluous, they are priding themselves on achievements that do not yet exist," Barak said. The United States, which called Wednesday's Iranian announcement of nuclear progress "not terribly new and not terribly impressive", and the European Union have imposed tighter sanctions in recent weeks on both Iran's oil exports and international financial transactions with Tehran.

US gets Barak to backtrack and deny Iran has reached nuclear point of no-return
DEBKAfile Special Report February 16, 2012/ By suddenly stating, contrary to all informed estimates, that Iran’s nuclear arms program has not yet reached the point of no return, Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak implied that Israel was in no hurry to strike its nuclear facilities, a message for which Washington has been angling for months.
In a Kol Israel interview from Turkey, Thursday, Feb. 16, the defense minister’s pronouncement contradicted every reliable evaluation, including those of Military Intelligence Chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi on Feb. 2 and his predecessor Amos Yadlin who wrote on Jan. 26 that Iran had passed the point of no return four or five years ago. But his words were a perfect fit for the recent assertions by US President Barack Obama and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that Israel had not yet made up its mind to attack Iran.
Kochavi’s information was detailed: He reported that Iran had amassed 10 kilos of 20-percent enriched uranium and four tons of uranium enriched to 3.5 percent. In his view, nothing remains to stop Iran building a bomb but a decision by its ruler. Once taken, Iran’s nuclear program could produce its first bomb or warhead by the end of this year or early 2013 and four or five by 2015.
The defense minister backtracked on a second issue: While noting that Iran was scattering or burying its nuclear facilities to “impede a surgical strike,” he avoided his previous estimate that no more than three to six months were left before all those facilities had been hidden in what he himself called “zones of immunity.”
Before these changes in outlook, Barak was indirectly criticized by Obama administration officials for underlining the mortal threat to Israel of a nuclear Iran. One official complained, “Israelis are looking at the problem too narrowly.” The defense minister also toed the Washington line on the show Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad put on Wednesday by inserting a home-made 20 percent grade nuclear fuel rod in a research reactor in Tehran. Listing its nuclear successes, the Iranians also claimed they had installed 3,000 fourth generation centrifuges in Natanz to speed up enrichment to 20 percent.
The US State Department spokesperson dismissed Iran’s claims as “not terribly new and not terribly impressive” – implying there was no cause for rushing into military action.
Barak put it this way: “They are describing a situation that is better and more advanced than the one they are in, in order to create a feeling among all the players that the point of no return is already behind them, which is not true.”debkafile’s military and intelligence sources recall that, when two years ago, Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials boasted they were on the way to self-production of nuclear rods and ending their reliance on Russia, American and Israeli insiders belittled the claim. Two years on, Iran has indeed made the leap and is also advancing rapidly on the plutonium-based weapons track.
If Iran can supply all the nuclear fuel rods for fueling the Bushehr reactor, which is now running on recycled fuel rods from Russia, it will be able to use these rods to produce plutonium for nuclear bombs or warheads. Why the defense minister suddenly changed course is unclear. It is also hard to know if Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu okayed his radical departure from Israel’s information strategy on the nuclear Iran issue. What is apparent, debkafile’s sources report, is that the change of tune coincides with the reports circulating in Washington and Jerusalem that the US and Iran have agreed to resume nuclear talks shortly.  Those sources point to an article in the New York Times by Dennis Ross, President Obama’s former senior adviser on Iran, entitled “Iran is ready to talk.” Ross is too experienced to go out on a limb and make this sort of statement without being sure of his facts.

Malaysia to extradite Iranian who fled Thailand after Bangkok attack
Bangkok Post says Thai authorities issue warrants for the arrest of 4 Iranian nationals, day after Israel envoy said botched bombing was meant to target Israeli officials.
By Haaretz
Malaysia is set to extradite an Iranian national arrested over suspected links to a attempted bomb attack in Bangkok earlier this week, a report stated on Thursday.
The report came after, on Wednesday, Israeli Ambassador to Thailand Itzhak Shoham said the bombs discovered in a Bangkok house after a series of blasts in the Thai capital were similar to those used in attacks on Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia, adding that "we can assume from the other experiences that we were the target." Four Thai civilians were wounded in Bangkok in a series of blasts that began Tuesday when a cache of explosives ignited at a house, apparently by mistake. One explosion blew off the leg of an Iranian who had fled, carrying what looked like grenades.
The bombs discovered in a Bangkok house after a series of blasts in the Thai capital were similar to those used in attacks on Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia, the Israeli ambassador said Wednesday.
Iran denied any involvement in the three bomb blasts which took place a day earlier in Bangkok and which have been linked to three Iranian nationals.
Thai Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, speaking to the Bangkok Post report on Thursday, said that another Iranian national, who succeeded in fleeing Thailand to Malaysia, will be extradited to Thailand for further investigation.
According to the report, Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh was arrested on Wednesday by Malaysian authorities in Kuala Lumpur, after he had fled Thailand in an attempt to catch a flight to Iran.
The report also stated that arrest warrants for all four Iranian nationals suspected to have been involved in the attempted bombing have been issued.
Saeid Moradi, the report stated, who was severely injured, following what seemed like an accidental exposition of one of his bombs and lost his legs was being treated in Bangkok's Chulalongkorn Hospital.
A second suspect, Mohummad Hazaei was detained at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport while attempting to flee the country. A fourth suspect, Rohani Leila, is believed to have been in charge of renting the suspects' house in the Thai capital, and reportedly succeeded in retuning to Iran.
The report of the upcoming extradition comes following another report earlier Thursday relating to the attempted attacks on Israeli officials in Bangkok, Tbilisi and New Delhi.
According to the Times of India, not only did Israel not have knowledge of a planned attack against Israeli nationals, but Mossad chief Tamir Pardo in fact visited the Indian capital just days prior to the bombing, saying Israelis felt safer in India than in Turkey or South America.

Iran uses terror to target civilians, and so does Israel
By Gideon Levy/Haaretz
Who is against terror? We will all devotedly raise our hands. But people who are truly against terror must also say: against all terror, against any terror, be it Iranian, Palestinian or Israeli. A great miracle happened in Tbilisi, New Delhi and Bangkok, and alongside that miracle there was ineptitude that flies in the face of Iranian pretentions and ambitions. But the intentions were clear and grave: to take Israeli lives, especially diplomats and other official representatives of the state. That is terror.
The assassinations of the Iranian scientists were no less terrorist, let's admit it. Terror is terror, against diplomats exactly like against scientists, even if the latter are developing nuclear weapons. There is no great difference between an attempt to kill a representative of Israel's Defense Ministry and a strike on an Iranian nuclear physicist. There are nuclear physicists in Israel too and if, God forbid, someone tried to assassinate them, that would rightly be considered cruel terror. And so anyone who uses these deplorable assassination methods cannot be critical when someone else tries to emulate them. And why should the world denounce Iran's terrorist acts - as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday - and not denounce others? Are there special countries that are allowed to assassinate at will, and others who are not?
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Both kinds of countries should be denounced. The methods this time were even amazingly similar. Magnetized explosive devices were stuck on cars, like in underworld hits; not blind mass attacks, but the kind that are directed against the occupants of one car, whose fate is sealed unless miracles and operational incompetence prevail.
People who were impressed with the assassination of the Iranian scientists - and there are many such people in Israel - those who say with a typical Israeli wink that "they shouldn't be mourned" ignore the fact that another harsh, unnecessary bloody cycle has been launched. What possible use can there be in killing one scientist, who is then replaced by three others?
What good was it at the time to kill a key Palestinian terrorist when his place was taken by 10 others? The killer of Dr. Thabet Thabet in cold blood in 2001, a Tul Karm dentist and peace activist who did not deserve to die, also laid the groundwork for the assassination attempt in New Delhi.
The killer of Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyeh, an avowed terrorist who deserved to die, may have saved the lives of many Israelis, but put the lives of many others at risk.
That's the way it is in the cruel cycle of assassination wars. But in Israel people who dwell in glass houses are keen to throw stones. Here people are impressed by and cheer Israeli assassinations and no one has questions or doubts, either about their morality or their efficacy. We are allowed.
Here people are shocked by attempted assassinations by Arabs or Iranians, but divorce them completely from the context of Israeli assassinations. How did a columnist in Israel Hayom put it this week? "Attacking Israel is in their DNA." Theirs? And what about us? The writer forgot, and made us forget, our DNA. It, too, supports assassinations, including sometimes of the innocent.
Assassinations of Palestinians have scaled down in recent years and have been carried out mainly in Gaza, and so the hit lists of the Shin Bet security service and the Israel Defense Forces are now shorter. That's a good thing.
But according to the data of the human rights group B'Tselem, Israel targeted and killed no less than 232 Palestinians in the territories between the beginning of the second intifada and Operation Cast Lead, a period of about eight years. During those attacks,approximately 150 innocent bystanders were killed, including women and children.
These assassinations, most of which did not target "ticking bombs," were acts of terror. They are not much different from the criminal Iranian attempts in far-off Asia. The representative of the Defense Ministry in New Dehli does not deserve to die, but neither did Dr. Thabet Thabet. The Iranian scientists probably did not deserve to die either.
In February 1990, then-Commerce and Industry Minister Ariel Sharon asked the delegates to the Likud Central Committee convention: "Who's for stopping terror?" A sea of hands flew up. Today the question should be: Who is against terror? We will all devotedly raise our hands. But people who are truly against terror must also say: against all terror, against any terror, be it Iranian, Palestinian or Israeli.

The Daily Star/Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Feb. 16, 2012
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Monday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
Al-Joumhouria
U.N. votes against Assad today
Ban renews STL protocol after Lebanon takes note
Political and legal circles were busy mulling over Lebanon’s ambiguous decision on the issue of the renewal of the protocol agreement with the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
An official announcement only said that Lebanon “has taken note.”
On the eve of the expiry of a deadline set by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for Lebanon to have its say on Ban’s letter, in which he suggested renewing the STL protocol for another three years, the Presidential Palace announced that President Michel Sleiman briefed both Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi on the details of the letter and, based on an agreement with Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Lebanon has taken note of [the renewal].
An-Nahar
STL protocol renewal passes smoothly with few words: ‘we have taken note’
Jumblatt for a new Taif and criticizes BIEL [festival]
Similar to the government’s “disassociation” policy, even if modified, Lebanon implicitly agreed on the renewal of the STL protocol in a few words: “we have taken note.”
Unlike the lengthy political dispute that preceded Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s move to finance the STL for more than two months, the “magical” formula of the STL protocol extension passed smoothly and without much hubbub or reactions, at least until now.
Ad-Diyar
Jumblatt: We need a new Taif [Accord] between Sunnis and Shiites
Cabinet crisis ongoing, Nasrallah speech today
The Cabinet crisis lingers and the suspension of Cabinet sessions does not seem to bother anyone. Perhaps the different sides are waiting for new domestic and regional developments to occur before convening Cabinet and taking any stances.
Ministerial sources said there were “hidden” reasons behind the Cabinet crisis which are deeper than the dispute over Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ non-signing of a transport allowance decree.
They said the crisis perhaps has to do with the renewal of a protocol agreement with the STL and a Feb. 24 meeting of “friends of Syria” in Tunis.
Meanwhile, remarks made by MP Walid Jumblatt Wednesday that the Taif Accord was over and that Lebanon needed a new Taif sparked a “storm.”
As-Safir
‘Implicit’ renewal of STL [protocol] ... Jumblatt announces ‘end’ of Taif Accord
Suspension of Cabinet sessions seemed to have achieved one of its goals – passing the renewal of the STL protocol for another three years on the grounds that the “crippled” government’s non-response to Ban’s letter implicitly means agreeing to it.
The scenario was as follows: President Michel Sleiman informed both the foreign and justice ministers of details of the letter sent to him by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, in which he expressed his intention to renew the protocol agreement for another three years.
A statement issued by the presidential palace said Lebanon has “taken note” as a result of an “agreement with Prime Minister Najib Mikati.”
Al-Liwaa
Lebanon ‘has taken note’ of STL protocol renewal ... so what will Nasrallah say today?
Mikati awaits initiative ... while Berri awaits regional signals
March 8 ignores Hariri calls and Jumblatt calls for Assad’s ouster and a Sunni-Shiite Taif Accord
“We have taken note.” This was the outcome of President Michel Sleiman’s meetings with both Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi in which Ban Ki-moon’s letter calling for a three-year renewal of the STL protocol was discussed.
And with this phrase “we have taken note,” which was discussed between Sleiman and Prime Minister Najib Mikati, the Lebanese government implicitly agreed on the renewal of the protocol pending a decision from the U.N. Security Council.
Al-Mustaqbal
Sleiman has been informed of Ban’s intention to renew STL protocol
Cabinet crisis lingers ... Hezbollah still argues
The Cabinet crisis lingers without any progress on resolving the many issues.
On the contrary, the crisis seems to be deteriorating in light of positions by Prime Minister Najib Mikati and the Free Patriotic Movement, particularly Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas, who denied having signed the transport allowance decree and said he would not resign or leave the country.
Meanwhile, March 14 forces were waiting for a speech by Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah Thursday to find out his response to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who stretched out a hand to Hezbollah [during a televised speech Tuesday].
Al-Akhbar
Sleiman turns page on STL protocol renewal: We took note
Just as the funding, which ended by means of a magical solution, so was the case of the renewal of the STL protocol after President Michel Sleiman announced that Lebanon “has taken note” of the extension of the tribunal in his response to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon’s letter, away from the inactive Cabinet.

March 14 coalition MP Marwan Hamadeh accuses Iran, Syria of Lebanon assassinations
February 16, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: March 14 coalition MP Marwan Hamadeh accused Iran and Syria for the spate of assassinations in Lebanon between 2004 and 2010 and urged Hezbollah to hand over the four suspects indicted in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "Decisions behind the assassinations were taken in capitals like Tehran and yesterday's Damascus, not today," Hamadeh told the Kataeb-run Voice of Lebanon Radio station. “[I] urge Hezbollah to hand over the accused to prevent [the party] from breaching Lebanese and international justice and not to hold on to its weapons so that it will not breach [domestic] jurisdiction,” he added. Hamadeh’s words echo former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s remarks earlier this week calling on the resistance to hand over the four suspects, all members of Hezbollah, indicted in the assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri in 2005. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has described the four suspects – Salim Jamil Ayyash, Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, Assad Hassan – as “honorable men” of the resistance. During his speech Tuesday commemorating the seventh anniversary of his father’s assassination, Saad Hariri said Hezbollah’s refusal to hand over the accused would implicate the party. The U.N.-backed court has established that there are links between Hariri's assassination and the attempted assassination of Hamdeh and former Deputy Prime Minister Elias Murr, who was targeted on July 12, 2005. Hamadeh survived a car bomb attack October 2004 that left him severely wounded.

U.S. says it is monitoring Hezbollah activities
February 16, 2012/By Alicia A. Caldwell
Daily Star/WASHINGTON: Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. is closely monitoring the activities of Iran-linked Hezbollah. Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that the Homeland Security Department has contacted Jewish organizations around the country and is working with the FBI and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies. She said there is no specific or credible threat against any organization or target in the United States, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist group.Iran has been accused of launching a series of attacks against Israeli interests this week in Thailand, Georgia and India. Hezbollah is closely allied with Iran. The Defense Department estimates that Hezbollah receives between $100 million and $200 million a year in funding from Iran. Napolitano said the threat from Hezbollah remains a "critical situation worth watching."

Lebanese detainee released from Israeli jail
February 16, 2012 /A Lebanese detainee in Israeli jail was released from prison and transferred to Lebanon by the International Red Cross via the Naqoura border crossing, the National News Agency reported on Thursday. Khalid Diab Mohammad, aged 55, was arrested on Lebanese territory by Israeli soldiers and was accused of smuggling drugs into Israel. -NOW Lebanon

Future bloc calls Tripoli security developments ‘suspicious’
February 16, 2012
The Future bloc said on Thursday that the recent “suspicious” security developments in Lebanon’s Tripoli “revealed a double mission.” The bloc issued a statement that a plot “motivated by politics and the media and propelled… by the [pro-Syrian] March 8 alliance [aimed] to destabilize the country.” The Future bloc blamed the current government for the “declining security situation in Lebanon.”
Three people died and 21 were wounded in Tripoli in North Lebanon during fierce clashes on Saturday between gunmen in Jabal Mohsen loyal to a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Iran and Syria, and others in Bab al-Tabbaneh supporting the opposition.The Future bloc also commended the “stance” of the opposition Syrian National Council at the February 14 commemoration of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination at Biel in Beirut. The SNC’s position shows that it’s “committed to developing an honorable and ambitious relation between the Lebanese and Syrian people,” the statement said.
The SNC said in a letter read by March 14’s Fares Soueid that it seeks to develop relations with Lebanon based on mutual respect. The bloc also said the UN’s statement regarding the extension of the protocol between Lebanese government and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon “ends a period of illusory battles.”  President Michel Sleiman on Wednesday told Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi and Minister of Foreign Affairs Adnan Mansour that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon dispatched a letter that he intends to extend the STL’s mandate for another three years.
Media outlets reported Ban sent a letter to Sleiman calling on him to adopt a standpoint regarding the extension of the protocol between the Lebanese government and the STL probing the 2005 assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri for another three years.Four members of Hezbollah have been indicted by the UN-backed tribunal. However, Hezbollah strongly denied the charges and refuses to cooperate with the court.-NOW Lebanon

U.S. closely monitoring Hezbollah activities, official says
U.S. Homeland Security chief says her department has been in contact with Jewish organizations throughout the country; calls Hezbollah threat a 'critical situation worth watching'.
By The Associated Press /Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says the U.S. is closely monitoring the activities of Iran-linked militant group Hezbollah. Napolitano told lawmakers Wednesday that the Homeland Security Department has contacted Jewish organizations around the country and is working with the FBI and other law enforcement and intelligence agencies. She said there is no specific or credible threat against any organization or target in the United States, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist group. Iran has been accused of launching a series of attacks against Israeli interests this week in Thailand, Georgia and India. Hezbollah is closely allied with Iran. The Defense Department estimates that Hezbollah receives between $100 million and $200 million a year in funding from Iran.
Napolitano said the threat from Hezbollah remains a "critical situation worth watching."

Lebanese Army, UNIFIL conduct land-to-sea firing drill
February 15, 2012/The Daily Star /SIDON, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army and U.N. peacekeepers carried out live-fire exercises Wednesday in the border town of southern coastal city of Naqoura.
The three-day drill, which kicked off Tuesday, was based on land-to-sea exercises consisting of firing on sea-based targets.The drill involved 155mm artillery fire and heavy machine guns.

Hariri trial defence lawyers sworn in
February 15, 2012 08:17 PM
Daily Star/THE HAGUE: Eight lawyers representing the four Hezbollah members due to be tried in absentia for the 2005 murder of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri have been sworn in, a UN-backed tribunal said Wednesday."All the defence counsel signed a declaration that they will exercise their duties 'with integrity and diligence, honourably, freely, expeditiously and conscientiously'," Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) said in a statement. The Hague-based STL announced early this month that Salim Ayyash, Mustafa Badreddine, Hussein Anaissi and Assad Sabra will be tried in absentia for the massive February 14, 2005, car bombing in Beirut that killed Hariri and 22 others, including a suicide bomber. The STL sent arrest warrants for Ayyash and the three others to Lebanese authorities in June, and Interpol issued a "red notice" in July. But the authorities in Lebanon, where the government is dominated by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah militant group, have failed to arrest them.
Ayyash, 48 and Badreddine, 50, face charges of "committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device" and homicide, while Anaissi, 37, and Sabra, 35, face charges of conspiring to commit the same acts. Created by a 2007 United Nations Security Council resolution at Lebanon's request, the STL opened its doors in 2009 and is tasked with trying those suspected of responsibility for Hariri's assassination. Hezbollah, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by Washington, has denied involvement.

Jumblat Says Taef Dead, Syria's Baath Replicating Itself with New Constitution
إby Naharnet/15 February 2012/Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Wednesday declared the death of the Taef Agreement which ended the 1975-1990 civil war in Lebanon, calling on Syria’s ruling Baath Party to leave power.At a seminar organized by the Friends of Kamal Jumblat Association on the topic of “The Rise of Islamists and Fundamentalism to Power in the Arab Countries”, Jumblat reassured that “the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya -- which were liberated from the chains of the regime -- are not in danger.”“But we fear for Syria, where we heard about a miracle today, which was the issuing of a new constitution and abolishing Article 8” of the old constitution, which stipulates that the ruling Baath Party is the “leader of the state and society.”“The Baath Party is replicating itself and the best thing for it to do is to step down,” Jumblat added. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has decreed to hold a referendum later this month for a new constitution that would effectively end nearly 50 years of single party rule, state media said Wednesday. "President Bashar al-Assad issued today a decree setting Sunday, February 26, as the date for the referendum on the proposed constitution," the official SANA news agency reported. Assad has said the constitution would usher in a "new era" for Syria, the agency reported. Under the new charter, freedom is "a sacred right" and "the people will govern the people" in a multi-party democratic system based on Islamic law, state television reported.  Criticizing Russia and China, which have recently used a rare double veto at the U.N. Security Council to block a resolution condemning Assad’s brutal crackdown on dissent, Jumblat said the two countries want Assad to remain in power in order to preserve their interests. “They have refused any Yemen-style settlement and the situation will become worse should the bloodshed persist,” he added. Addressing the Lebanese situation, Jumblat said: “The Taef Accord is dead, we need a ‘new Taef’ between the Sunnis and the Shiites, hence a new settlement.” However, he reassured: “We don’t fear a civil war and we don’t foresee a civil war and there is dialogue among the Lebanese.”Jumblat’s remarks come one day after ex-PM Saad Hariri reiterated adherence to the 1989 Taef Accord during the rally held by the March 14 forces to mark the seventh anniversary of the assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri.

Jumblatt says BIEL speeches mostly repetitions
February 16, 2012 / The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt has criticized the recent gathering by the March 14 coalition on the occasion of the seventh commemoration of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. “The contents of the speeches differed very little from last year’s apart from the [section dealing] with developments in Syria,” Jumblatt told An-Nahar newspaper in an interview published Thursday. During a March 14 rally at Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center Tuesday commemorating the seventh year since the assassination of Hariri, his son, Future Movement head MP Saad Hariri called on Hezbollah to begin steps to surrender its arms to Lebanese authorities in order to relieve the Lebanese people of the danger of violence. In his interview with An-Nahar, Jumblatt, who said the speech had been a repetition of what had been said about “Hezbollah’s weapons,” said “what is needed at the end is that we all sit down.” During the BIEL event Tuesday, March 14 General Secretariat Fares Soueid also read a letter by the Syrian National Council promising to establish the best of ties between Lebanon and its neighbor after the fall of President Bashar Assad. Although not commenting on the contents of the speech, Jumblatt said it would “have been better had a leading member of the Syrian National Council come to Beirut and addressed in person in front of the audience rather that Fares Soueid.” The PSP leader mocked Wednesday the drafting of a new Constitution in Syria and the canceling of Article 8 which states that Syria’s Baath Party is the only ruling party in the country. “The Baath Party is cloning itself by itself, the best thing is that it leaves,” he said. Jumblatt added that Russia and China have insisted that any settlement should keep Assad in his post. “The more blood is shed [in Syria], the worse the situation gets,” Jumbatt said. Jumblatt also called Wednesday for a new Taif Accord between the Lebanese, noting that the agreement which ended Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War has expired. “The Taif [Accord] is over, we are in need of a new deal between Sunnis and Shiites,” said Jumblatt during a seminar on the rise of Islamists and fundamentalists to power in the Arab world. He added that the Lebanese were in a need of new pact that would regulate ties and power sharing among various Lebanese factions.

Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour reiterates rejection of Arab League’s decisions on Syria
February 15, 2012 /Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said on Wednesday that the Arab League’s decision regarding the Syrian crisis does not serve Lebanon’s interests. “Cutting commercial ties with Syria does not serve Lebanon,” Mansour told Free Lebanon radio. He also posed, “Is it in Lebanon’s interest that financial and other kinds of support be offered to the Syrian deserters on Lebanese soil?”Arab League foreign ministers met in Cairo on Sunday and agreed to open contacts with Syria's opposition and to ask the United Nations to form a joint peacekeeping force to deploy in the unrest-swept nation. Mansour added during the meeting that the Arab League’s decisions are not taking into account the opposition’s role in the crisis. Lebanon’s political scene is split between supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and the pro-Western March 14 camp.-NOW Lebanon

Dispute escalates into gunfire in North Lebanon
February 15, 2012 /A dispute between two families escalated into gunfire in Tripoli’s area of Badawi, the National News Agency reported, adding that no casualties were reported.
The report, however, did not elaborate any further. -NOW Lebanon

Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem to March 14: Stop Betting on Regional Developments
إby Naharnet /Hizbullah deputy chief Sheikh Naim Qassem on Wednesday called on the March 14 forces to “stop betting on regional developments to alter the balance of power in Lebanon,” stressing that Lebanon will remain “the Lebanon of resistance for tens of years.”Qassem’s remarks come a day after the March 14 forces held a rally at the BIEL hall in Beirut to commemorate the seventh anniversary of ex-PM Rafik Hariri’s assassination. “To the March 14 bunch I say: stop betting on regional developments to alter the balance of power in Lebanon, you betted on America, Israel, the West and all the outside schemes to no avail and you won’t gain anything from them,” Qassem said at a ceremony organized by Hizbullah at the Lebanese University campus in Hadath to commemorate the leaders of the Islamic Resistance. Qassem described the demonstrations staged by the March 14 forces since 2005 as “an unsuccessful option.”“Your group proposed a scheme that failed to sway the Lebanese in their entirety. Your presence has declined and your chances have waned, that’s why you must take a moment to think about the secret that is making you retreat and lose ground,” Hizbullah number two added.
On Tuesday the leaders of the March 14 camp called on Hizbullah to give up its controversial arsenal of weapons, which the party argues is necessary to deter Israel.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said “there is no future for illegal arms,” while ex-PM Saad Hariri said “we all want to bravely confront Israel” and Phalange Party leader Amin Gemayel noted that “it’s unreasonable for us to reject the Arab regimes’ arms and keep our people under the hegemony of weapons.”“Betting on the developments in Syria is a delusion, because whatever the developments in Syria they will serve the strength and the survival of the regime,” Qassem said, addressing the rival March 14 forces.And he stressed that whatever the outcome of the popular revolt in Syria may be, “it will not change the equation in Lebanon, which is a popular, resistant formula that believes in a righteous choice, and even tornadoes cannot shake this equation.” Qassem reiterated support for the so-called “army-people-Resistance formula,” describing it as “the reason of Lebanon’s strength,” noting that “this defense strategy will stay in place until we agree on a new defense strategy around the national dialogue table.”
“How do you intend to preserve the Taef Accord without special relations with Syria? How do you intend to preserve the Taef Accord and you want to sabotage Lebanon through turning the North region into a Syrian (opposition) protectorate in order to undermine order and stability in Syria, harbor gunmen and perform acts that might spread later to the Lebanese domestic arena?” Qassem asked the March 14 forces. “Be confident that had it not been for the presence of a party that does not want civil strife, which is our group and our allies, civil strife would have erupted long time ago, as we see it popping its head every now and then through unjustified statements, incitement and stances,” he added. “The Resistance will go on with its presence, preparations and strength for the sake of Lebanon and it will not fulfill the wish of Israel and America which want to weaken it or eliminate it. This Resistance is legitimate as well as its presence and arms. It is legitimate through its achievements, legitimate through the people’s endorsement and legitimate through its right to confront Israel.”

Aoun ups ante in government crisis
February 15, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: In an escalation of his position on the two-week-old government crisis, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun said Tuesday that the Cabinet would not meet before a bylaw is drafted to define who exercises executive authority. Aoun again accused Prime Minister Najib Mikati of violating the Constitution when he suspended the Cabinet’s sessions on Feb. 1 following a dispute with ministers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc over appointments of Christians to key posts in the public administration. Mikati has signaled that if Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas’ signed the transportation allowance decree it could revive the Cabinet’s work. Nahhas is one of Aoun’s 10 ministers in Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet. Speaking to reporters after chairing his bloc’s weekly meeting at Rabieh, north of Beirut, Aoun announced the formation of a committee to draw up a draft proposal for a Cabinet bylaw. Aoun said when Mikati suspended the Cabinet’s sessions, it was not because of Nahhas’ refusal to sign the transportation allowance decree, but because of differences over the administrative appointments. Citing some alleged constitutional violations, Aoun said: “The problem did not arise from this decree but from the practice of governance. There will be no return to the Cabinet’s [meetings] in the absence [of a bylaw] to define who exercise executive authority in Lebanon.”
He stressed the need for regular functions of state institutions according to laws and the Constitution. Aoun said that Nahhas has prepared a draft law to make the transportation allowance legal and is waiting for a Cabinet meeting. “But he [Mikati] has made it [the signing of the transportation decree] a condition for the resumption of the Cabinet’s [sessions],” he said.
“This subject [transportation allowance bill] does not justify the violation of Article 70 in the Constitution and Article 65 pertaining to the Cabinet’s meetings. They are all gross violations which the prime minister must not commit. He should be an example for how to the respect of the Constitution and laws,” Aoun said.
“It is a matter that relates to the respect of laws and the Constitution. They want the [labor] minister to do something that is illegal. When the prime minister wanted to suspend the Cabinet’s sessions, it was because of the issue of appointments rather than the transportation allowance,” he added. Aoun spoke of what he called “a flaw” in the exercise of executive authority. “There are alliances that are forged beyond the law and the Constitution and which are obstructing the Cabinet’s work,” Aoun said, clearly referring to a reported agreement between Mikati and President Michel Sleiman during the Cabinet’s sessions.Nahhas has refused to sign the decree contending that it should be made legal first by Parliament.Mikati has implicitly accused Aoun’s ministers of obstructing the Cabinet’s work, saying he will not allow anyone to undermine the prime minister’s prerogatives. He has since said that he will not resume Cabinet sessions before agreement is reached on a formula to make the government more productive.

Russia: West 'slammed door' on Syria at UN
February 15, 2012/By George Jahn/Daily Star
VIENNA: Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday blamed "external actors" for prolonging Syria's agony, suggesting that the U.S. and its allies opposed negotiations to end the bloodshed there and were responsible for torpedoing a U.N. resolution aimed at calming the situation. Sergey Lavrov also seized on a call by the al-Qaida terror network to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad to caution that little was known about those opposing the regime in Damascus, and implied that the opposition could not be trusted to run the country if victorious. He also welcomed Assad's announcement that he had ordered a Feb. 26 referendum on a new constitution that would open the way to political parties in Syria other than the ruling Baath Party. Russia and China vetoed a Security Council resolution earlier this month brought by the Arab League that aimed to halt Syria's violence - angering many Western powers and Arab states. The U.N. estimates well over 5,400 people have died in the Syrian regime's crackdown on protesters in the past year. Lavrov and other foreign ministers were in Vienna for a conference Thursday to discuss ways to reduce the drug flow from Afghanistan. But Syria was the dominant issue during his talks Wednesday with Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger and was likely to dominate talks on the sidelines Thursday. Lavrov told reporters that he would meet with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Thursday to be briefed on a French plan that envisages setting up violence-free "human corridors" in Syria. But he insisted any plan to reduce the carnage must be approved by all sides in the conflict. The Russian foreign minister defended Moscow's stance against the U.N. Security Council resolution, saying "it wasn't us who slammed the door" on council agreement Feb. 5. Refusal by Western permanent Security Council members to accept Russian insistence that not only Syrian army units but rebels also withdraw from urban battle zones essentially was "a demand on the regime to capitulate," he said. He blamed "some external actors" - shorthand for Washington and its Western allies - for allegedly persuading the rebels not to negotiate, a tactic that he said "can only lead to (further) massive losses of human life." Al-Qaida chief Ayman al-Zawahri has called on Muslims to support the Syrian rebels, raising fears that Islamist extremists will try to exploit the uprising, and Lavrov emphasized such concerns Wednesday. "Who are these people? Nobody knows," he said alluding to the anti-Assad forces. "The Muslim Brotherhood ... there are deserters, al-Qaida is represented." Lavrov came from the Netherlands, where, after meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal, he said Russia would not support any U.N. resolution "that could legitimize regime change."Earlier in the day, White House spokesman Jay Carney called Assad's plans for a referendum on a new constitution "quite laughable." But Lavrov praised the move. A new constitution to end one-party rule in Syria is a step forward," Lavrov said. "It is coming late, unfortunately, but better late than never." Carney, however, said any attempt to hold a constitutional referendum now "makes a mockery" of the Syrian uprising.

Arm the Syrian opposition now!
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
This is a message to all the “friends of the Syrian people” to call on them to arm the Syrian opposition…and arm them now! Don’t stop at saying that arming the Syrian opposition is one of the options, for now is not the time for rebuking China, as US president [Barack Obama] did yesterday, nor is it time to investigate the Russian “price”, rather it is time to stop the al-Assad aggression, and this is something that will only be achieved by arming the Syrian opposition, particularly as nobody intends to intervene to stop the al-Assad killing machine.
Homs is being mercilessly bombarded by the forces of the tyrant of Damascus for the eleventh day in a row; indeed it is not just Homs that is facing such aggression, but also Hama and Idlib, whilst yesterday even areas of Damascus were suppressed by regiments of soldiers. This is not to mention the killings taking place in Aleppo, which is something that the media has failed to pay any attention to. Arming the Syrian opposition is now a critical demand, not to ignite a civil war in Syria, but in order to protect the country’s unarmed civilians. This is because war has already broken out in Syria, and it is the al-Assad regime that has ignited this war over the past 11 months, resulting in the deaths of approximately eight thousand Syrians, not to mention thousands more being injured and displaced. So what is the world waiting for? The concerned states are well aware that last week the al-Assad regime announced that it would crush the revolution before Saturday, and this deadline passed without the al-Assad regime succeeding in this; whilst today Damascus is saying that it needs an additional four days to achieve this. It is clear that the al-Assad regime is incapable of crushing the revolution, and so the tyrant of Damascus is utilizing all his military capabilities to destroy Homs, repeat the Hama massacre, and suppress other Syrian cities; therefore what is the world waiting for?
It is therefore up to the friends of the Syrian people today to directly arm the Syrian opposition. The Free Syrian Army [FSA], for example, is a part of the opposition, and is in dire need of arms in order to confront the violence being carried out by the tyrant of Damascus; arming the opposition will aid the Syrian soldiers who have defected from the regime, for their defection means nothing unless they have arms. It is also absurd to say that there is no Benghazi in Syria to allow the Syrian revolutionaries to receive arms, for this is simply not true; Homs has been liberated, which is why it is surrounded and being bombarded today, and the same applies to Zabadani and other areas of the country. However nobody has rushed to rescue the Syrians with arms as occurred in Libya, where the opposition was armed by the West and via “mediators”, in order to avoid legal problems with some Western states.
Therefore, now is not the time for talking about unifying the ranks of the Syrian opposition, rather it is time to arm the opposition, and for a very simple reason, namely that the al-Assad aggression against unarmed civilians is today more brutal than at any time before, and the Syrian people are now being killed in cold-blood, including children and the elderly, whilst the world is unfortunately standing back and watching this! As for those who are talking about their fears of “foreign intervention”, they are ignoring the fact that this has already happened, for how else would you describe Iran supporting al-Assad with arms and men, Hezbollah colluding with the tyrant of Damascus, and Moscow playing the role of international negotiator for al-Assad? Isn’t this foreign intervention?
In conclusion, everybody who is concerned about Syria, amongst the Arabs and the West, must begin arming the Syrian opposition sooner, rather than later.

Will olive oil do?
By Hussein Shobokshi/Asharq Alawsat
I was recently sitting in a cafe with a Syrian friend listening to him put forward his viewpoint about what is happening to his country, and the developing situation in his courageous hometown Homs. Indeed, Homs has become a model of steadfastness and the struggle against suppression and tyranny which is similar to that narrated in the Quran about the likes of Pharaoh and Nimrod and their injustices and evil deeds. The atrocities committed by these figures bring to mind the atrocity [Hama massacre] that the Syrian city faced some thirty years ago. My friend expressed his shock and disgust at the international community’s position on what is happening in Syria, and the world’s hesitation to intervene and end the violence and massacres being carried out by al-Assad, in the same manner that it intervened against the Gaddafi regime in Libya, and the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. As he spoke, my friend seemed to realize that the reason that the international community mobilized and indeed took up arms to liberate Iraq and Libya from their mad rulers was due to the presence of oil in these countries. Therefore, it seems that the economic significance [of a country] is more important than the humanitarian or political reasons, when it comes to international intervention, regardless of the violent and bloody reality on the ground. Utilizing the well-known Homs acerbic sense of humour, my friend asked “In Syria we have some great olive oil, will that not suffice?” I answered, “an important example occurred in central Europe, when the former President of Serbia and Yugoslavia, who was responsible for terrible crimes against the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo, was eventually arrested and these areas were liberated from Serbian domination. Will that not suffice [for Syria]?”
However I am also now certain that we are facing a new era which is unprecedented in international diplomacy. Today, there is a horrible humanitarian scene filled with violence and bloodshed in Syria, whilst there is intensifying international condemnation against the suppression and violence being practiced by the al-Assad regime against its own people. This means that only a handful of countries continue to support Damascus, most prominently Russia, whose geo-political objectives are served by this, particularly with regards to Moscow’s competition with the US and its diminishing influence in countries that were previously within Russia’s sphere of influence. Damascus’s other major ally is Iran, which considers Syria to be a natural extension to the sectarian dimension of its Islamic revolution and a major conduit of support for its strategic ally Hezbollah in Lebanon. Al-Assad is also receiving support from other countries like Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria and Venezuela, for their own petty reasons.
The Arab League, with the decisions it has taken during its most recent meeting in Cairo, has moved away from the hesitant stance it adopted to take a decisive position on Syria, namely taking the decision to back the Syrian opposition with finance and equipment, and end the Arab Observer Mission farce that was the subject of controversy and met with discontent, criticism and condemnation. The Arab League is now keen to bring the Islamic world into the Syrian crisis, and crystalize the idea of mobilizing Arab and UN troops to end the violence that the Syrian regime mercilessly continues to perpetrate against its own people and which has entered its eleventh month. On the contrary the violence and killing is on the rise in Syria.
Whilst it is true that Syria has no oil or gas to lure the world to intervene to rescue its people, as occurred elsewhere, Syria is an ancient country and the cradle of important religions and civilizations, therefore it deserves to be defended by the international community in the name of values, principles, morals and religion. The crisis in the bilateral relations between Russia and the US today has had an extremely negative impact on the ground in Syria. Russia believes that it was “deceived” over Libya and the UN resolution that was issued to protect Libyan civilians, whereby NATO troops became a tool to oust Gaddafi and his regime. Therefore Russia will not allow itself to be entrapped again, or lose a significant foothold in the Middle East.
Russia chose the regime over the people, although it is now discovering the price of taking such stances, with an unofficial boycott of Russian products taking place in Libya. This is a price that Moscow must pay for such stances and its diplomatic relations. This is certainly a position that Russia will find itself in once again after the al-Assad regime is overthrown in Syria.
The Arabs who continue to support the al-Assad regime at the expense of the blood and lives of the Syrian people will – in the future – be classified by every Syrian citizen as false witnesses and traders of Syrian blood. The Syrian revolution has entered its final and decisive stage, and the al-Assad regime is now drawing its last breaths. If Syria’s olive oil is not enough to prompt the international community to intervene and rescue the country and its people from this brutal regime, then we must gamble on the international community’s conscience.

Is Bashar Assad a nice person surrounded by a wicked family clique?
Elie Elhadj, Ph.D. - 2/14/2012
Global Politician
Bashar Asad's record shows that he is the boss of a wicked family clique and that he is personally responsible for the long suffering of the great majority of Syrians.
A childhood in a home of intrigue, conspiracy, and betrayal
Bashar's father, Hafiz, was deceitful, cunning, and cruel. Bashar follows in his father's footsteps.
Hafiz Asad's betrayal and violence may be seen through his vicious dealings with his four compatriots of the military committee that led the 1963 coup against Syria's last legitimate government. Salah Jadid, a fellow Alawite, was jailed in the infamous Mazzeh Prison for 23 years without charge or trial until shortly before his death. Muhammad Umran, another Alawite, was assassinated in Lebanon in 1972 under mysterious circumstances, rumored to have been at the instigation of Hafizs brother Rifaat (Patrick Seal, Asad, The Struggle for the Middle East) and Abdulkarim al-Jundi committed suicide in 1969, although Rifaat supposedly had a role in this death. Ahmad al-Mir was shunted to Syria’s embassy in Madrid in 1968. Even brother Rifaat was finally stripped of all authority following a dramatic confrontation in 1984 between the forces of the two brothers. Rifaat was exiled to Europe, where he leads the life of a billionaire with homes in Spain, France, and London.
The Asads mafia-like system of governance
Bashar Asad inherited and preserved an illegitimate, non-representative non-participatory regime, notwithstanding those seven uncontested farcical referendums he and his father contrived. Under such conditions, institutionalized corruption and lawlessness take center stage. To stay in power, the Asads must rely on closely-knit circles of trusted Alawite colonels and generals for protection from Syria's 75% Sunni majority and from Alawites and Christians who abhor the Asad family's tyranny and corruption. The relationship between the Asads and their security commanders is one of mutual dependence: help the ruling family's hold on power and you will get very rich very quickly. Illicit commissions from business contracts between state agencies and suppliers made the senior commanders and their cronies instant millionaires. Breaking the law with impunity, sleaze and corruption are the glue that has kept this ruling group together for more than four decades. Dissolve the glue and the entire edifice would collapse. In its lawlessness and violence the Asad family is akin to a mafia family.
The Asads monstrous police state
Bashar Asad inherited and augmented a monstrous police state of myriad blood curdling Abu Ghraib type prisons with demonic interrogation dungeons manned by sadistic, well-paid security men. A million eyes and ears snoop in schools, universities, mosques, and offices. Like that of his father, Bashar's killing machine bulldozes its way through Syrian society. Live ammunition is used to disperse unarmed demonstrators against the regime. At the slightest suspicion, victims are arrested and tortured; some spend years in prison without charge. Others might expire under torture. Wives and children of dissidents are often hauled away and tortured in order to reveal the whereabouts of a wanted relative.
Like his father, Bashar is prepared to destroy Syria to stay in power. When he was 15 years old, he witnessed how his father and uncle Rifaat mercilessly destroyed the city of Hama in February 1982 for challenging the Asad family rule. They killed tens of thousands, maimed many times more, destroyed most of that city of 400,000 inhabitants, executed thousands, and forced tens of thousands to flee to neighboring countries. Earlier, on June 27, 1980, the day after a failed assassination attempt on Hafiz Asad, hand grenades and machine-guns annihilated at least five hundred inmates.
Since the revolution erupted eleven months ago on March 15, 2011, Bashar's killing machine murdered at least 7,000 people, possibly much more, including more than 400 children. In addition, huge numbers of people were injured and or imprisoned in the regime's infamous torture chambers, which liquidated hundreds of victims.
Bashar's duplicity and chutzpah
Despite his realization that genuine reforms would bring an end to his family rule, Bashar has been propagating both at home and abroad that his is a regime of modernity, secularism, and democratic reforms. He was feted with pomp and ceremony in European capitals on state visits. But no genuine reforms of any kind were ever made. For example, he never declared his willingness to submit to contested democratic elections and seventh century shari'a laws continue to control personal status affairs. His solution to Syria's drought in 2010 was to order that a special rain prayer be offered to God throughout all of Syria's mosques, a solution all the more inexplicable and devious given his scientific studies in ophtomology. His continued talk of modernity, secularism, and reforms up to this day, reveals astounding chutzpah.
Bashar's ploy for blackmail legitimacy
Bashar Asad accuses the CIA, Mossad, al-Qaeda, and the Muslim Brothers of being behind the revolution. Such accusations are not surprising. Arab despots are experts in using fear tactics in order to blackmail legitimacy. The great majority of Syrians, young and old, men and women, who in their thousands have been braving Asad's bullets and tanks for eleven months are not religious nutters or agents of America and Israel. They are risking their lives in order to end four dark decades of illegitimate tyrannical Asad family oppression. Allow free expression, a challenge Bashar will never accept, and the demonstrations will be joined by Syrians in their millions against his regime. The majority of Syrians want an end to Baath Party lawlessness, human rights abuses, muzzled press, phony national agendas, empty rhetoric, invented victories, hollow achievements, rampant corruption, economic mismanagement, high unemployment, abject poverty, and the squandering of a poor country's oil revenues on conspiracies and useless weapons.
The energizing promise of liberty
Money, arms, and organizational advice from outside Syria, not a Libya type NATO intervention, could bring Syria's nightmare to an end, despite Russian and Iranian support of the Asad clan. As the economy deteriorates further, the demonstrations will grow bigger and louder and spread to Aleppo and Damascus. As the death, injuries, torture, and destruction mount further, defections from the army will accelerate.
With such a record it is easy to see why Bashar Asad is the leader of an evil clique ready to destroy Syria in order to stay in power and why he is personally responsible for the injustices that led to the revolution and the resulting death and destruction.
EDITOR'S COMMENT: The author's spelling of Bashar al-Assad's name does not conform to the accepted norm. We chose to maintain it in his article, all the same.
**Elie Elhadj, born in Syria, is a veteran international banker. He was Chief Executive Officer of the Arab National Bank in Saudi Arabia during most of the 1990s. After retiring, he received his Ph.D. from London University's School of Oriental and African Studies.