LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 06/2012
Bible Quotation for today/The Cost of Being a Disciple
 Luke 14/25-32: "Once when large crowds of people were going along with Jesus, he turned and said to them, Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless they love me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well. Those who do not carry their own cross and come after me cannot be my disciples. If one of you is planning to build a tower, you sit down first and figure out what it will cost, to see if you have enough money to finish the job. If you don't, you will not be able to finish the tower after laying the foundation; and all who see what happened will make fun of you. You began to build but can't finish the job! they will say. If a king goes out with ten thousand men to fight another king who comes against him with twenty thousand men, he will sit down first and decide if he is strong enough to face that other king. If he isn't, he will send messengers to meet the other king to ask for terms of peace while he is still a long way off. In the same way,concluded Jesus, none of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
 Assad sends hit squads after top Lebanese officials/DEBKAfile/February 05/12.  
Israeli warnings on Iran war are more than empty threats/By Amir Oren/February 05/12.
NYT: Israeli attack on Iran would aggravate situation/Yitzhak Benhorin/Ynetnews/ February 05/12.
Israeli Vice Premier Ya'alon: All Iranian facilities are vulnerable/Ynetnews/February 05/12. 
Dim and dimmer/|By: Shane Farrell/February 05/12.

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 05/12.
Amir Eshel appointed as next Israel Air Force chief
Iran vows to attack any country used by 'enemies' to strike its soil
'Iran can destroy Israel in 9 minutes'
Report: Syria’s Assad releases alleged al-Qaida mastermind of 2005 London bombings
 Defiant Russia says Lavrov to seek reform in Syria
UN veto gives Syria “license to kill,” says opposition
Canada Outraged by Increased Violence in Syria and Deeply Disappointed by Security Council Paralysis
 U.S. Vows to Dry Up Funding, Arms Shipments to Syria Regime
Cut ties with Syria, urges Tunisian PM
Pro- and Anti-Russia Demonstrations Held in Beirut
Arab League to Continue to Try Mediating in Syria
Abducted Syrian Businessman Released
 Future bloc MP Jean Ogassapian calls for terminating Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council
Girl Drowns in Frozen Lake in Kfardebian
 Hizbullah’s Intervention May Resolve Dispute between Miqati and FPM
Mustaqbal, AMAL to Hold Direct Talks after Feb. 14
Al-Rahi Slams Politicians 'Coma, Policies of Destruction and Poverty'
Bellemare Informed Saniora that 2nd Indictment in Hariri Case to Be Complete in Feb.

 Obama: UN must take stand against Assad's 'relentless brutality'
 Russia, China veto UN resolution telling Assad to quit
 Arab League renews call to end Syria crackdown
Tunisia "to withdraw recognition" of Syria government
Tunisia expels Syrian ambassador over 'bloody massacre'
 Report: 337 dead in Syrian government assault
Iran: Oil ban will not halt nuclear program
 Iranian warships dock at Saudi port
Death toll in latest Egypt clashes climbs to 12

Nassib Lahoud extolled as ardent democrat at funeral
Lebanese Army Deploys in Wadi Khaled, Opposition Describes Measures as 'Syrian Orders'
Al-Rahi Urges Christians to Hold onto their Land, Describes Beirut as Capital of Coexistence
Rai laments loss of trust in people and politics: report
Tele Liban employees intensify demand for punctual pay: report
New U.N. special coordinator arrives in Lebanon
 

Assad sends hit squads after top Lebanese officials
http://www.debka.com/article/21712/
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/ February 5, 2012/, Syrian President Bashar Assad has hired hit squads to kill top Lebanese government, intelligence and security officials whom he suspects of helping insurrectionists and Saudi and Qatari agents smuggle fighters and weapons into the country to fight his regime. One Lebanese hit squad is reported by debkafile's counter-terror sources as having been captured in the third week of January by Lebanese security police. Its members confessed to receiving, cash, arms, explosives and a list of targets from Syrian Military intelligence, with precise instructions on the method of assassination for two targets, Director General of Lebanese Internal Security Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi and his deputy, Col. Wissam al-Hassan, head of its Information Branch.
The team was instructed to rig two bomb cars, each loaded with one ton of explosives to be detonated remotely. They were told which cars would be driving by different routes to a secret meeting of all Lebanese intelligence arms at Internal Security headquarters in the Christian Ashrafieh district of Beirut. Two narrow side streets would bring them close to their destination and it was there that the bomb cars would be planted. This was exactly the same method used to assassinate the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Harirri in February 2005. However, shortly before they set out for the staff meeting, a foreign clandestine agency warned the two Lebanese officers of the death trap awaiting them. The information, according to our sources, also covered the location of the bomb cars and the whereabouts of the hit team. Saturday, Jan. 28, Gen. Rifi and Col. Al-Hassan attended a news conference at which Rifi revealed a plot to murder his deputy, without disclosing the identity of its instigator or that he himself had been targeted. debkafile's sources in Beirut explain that he did not dare name the source of the plot or the results of his investigation because people in Lebanon live in extreme dread of the Assad regime's long arm and its propensities for violence. But top Lebanese figures are now taking extra security measures to protect themselves and their families from ongoing Syrian assassination conspiracies. And indeed, Friday, Feb. 3, Gen. Rifi warned Lebanese lawmaker Sami Gemayel, one of the leaders of the Christian Phalange Party, two of whose forbears, Pierre and Amin, were assassinated, to take care because murderers were after him at his home town of Ain Safsaf in the Mattan Mountains. The Lebanese intelligence chief did not dare reveal who was behind the plot. But our counter-terror sources report that the warning itself indicated that the Lebanese spy chief is on top of a flow of intelligence on the death list Bashar Assad has drawn up for Lebanon.

Israeli warnings on Iran war are more than empty threats
By Amir Oren/Haaretz
The shortcomings in Netanyahu and the cabinet's functioning put the ministers' collective and personal responsibility into focus. They can't just abandon such a fateful decision to Netanyahu and Barak alone.
The War of Independence, the Six-Day War, the Yom Kippur War, the Iran War. That's the sequence Defense Minister Ehud Barak laid out at the Herzliya Conference on Thursday in a speech on Israel's fateful decision. All for the better, it has been suggested, that behind the wheel as successor to David Ben-Gurion in 1948, Levi Eshkol in 1967 and Golda Meir and Moshe Dayan in 1973 is military leader Barak and his assistant on prime ministerial matters, Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak has been quoted as saying, ignoring the law and the cabinet, that "at the end of the day, when the military command looks up, it sees us - the minister of defense and the prime minister. When we look up, we see nothing but the sky above us." The immunity zone that Iran is constantly moving closer towards is meant to limit the possibility of a strike against its fortified and dispersed nuclear infrastructure. The Israeli argument is a global innovation in the theoretical justification for preemptive wars. The intended victim usually strikes preemptively when hostile preparations to act are discovered.
The precedents of Iraq in 1981 and Syria in 2007 teach us that the desire for wider security margins made Israel attack while a nuclear capability was still being acquired. Barak's comments suggest an argument for acting even earlier, at the phase of developing a capability to acquire a capability.
This declared policy is what worries U.S. President (and presidential candidate ) Barack Obama and his defense secretary, Leon Panetta. It was also last Thursday that Panetta expressed reservations about a possible Israeli attack in the coming months. Politically, Obama needs an immunity zone from an Israeli attack until the U.S. elections in November, while Netanyahu and Barak's immunity zone is just the opposite. According to Panetta, the two Israeli leaders want to attack in the coming months. During those months, however, electoral considerations would prevent Obama from reacting strongly to an attack. This contradiction strengthens as the electoral prospects of Netanyahu's ally, Newt Gingrich, dim as he tries to become Obama's Republican challenger or even a president who would consent to an Israeli operation. Barak's declarations are blatant, provoking Iran and inviting it to attack first. They provide a rationale for uniting the Israeli people and the defense establishment around such an operation, which is highly controversial. The timetable that has been presented clearly sacrifices the operational need to conceal the intention to attack in favor of convincing the enemy and the world of the seriousness of the warnings. In this way, Barak is taking a page from Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's book in 1973.
Sadat wasn't believed until he actually started the Yom Kippur War, and Barak's credibility was eroded when his declarations were revealed as an ever longer string of empty rhetoric. This was seen, for example, in his commitment to leave the government if Ehud Olmert didn't quit after the release of the Winograd report on the 2006 Lebanon war. It's also apparent in his announcement a year ago that he would propose to the cabinet appointing Yair Naveh acting IDF chief of staff for 60 days.
Skepticism about Barak's declarations is well-founded, but this time skepticism could be a costly mistake. Panetta portrayed Barak and Netanyahu as seeking to go to war with Iran this year. They are preparing the political ground. Barak broadly hinted about linking up with Netanyahu to strengthen an American-style two-party system, led by a prime minister with strong powers. Then there's the prospect that Netanyahu could move up the elections to give himself freedom of action, an immunity zone, during the months between the dissolution of the Knesset and the election.
Barak and Netanyahu are speaking in a l'etat, c'est moi manner, but Section 40 of the Basic Law on the Government says "the state may only begin a war pursuant to a government [cabinet] decision." The two of them, the eight-member inner cabinet and the 18-member security cabinet don't have the authority to launch a planned war, as opposed to a hurried response to a surprise attack or a rush to use "means in the hands of the Prime Minister's Office," as the Defense Ministry's legal adviser put it in a 2003 Knesset debate.
The shortcomings in Netanyahu and the cabinet's functioning regarding the Carmel fire disaster, and in Netanyahu, Barak and the cabinet's functioning regarding the May 2010 Gaza flotilla - both of which the state comptroller has examined - put the ministers' collective and personal responsibility into focus. They can't just abandon such a fateful decision to Netanyahu and Barak alone.

Iran vows to attack any country used by 'enemies' to strike its soil
By Reuters/At Munich Security Conference, Turkey and Qatar urge West not to attack Iran; Turkey FM: A military option will be a disaster.
Iran will attack any country whose territory is used by "enemies" of the Islamic state to launch a military strike against its soil, the deputy head of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards told the semi-official Fars news agency on Sunday.
"Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran, will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces," Hossein Salami said, during military maneuvers. The Revolutionary Guards began the two-day ground exercises on Saturday as a show of military might as tension rises between Tehran and the West over Iran's disputed nuclear program.
Iranian media said it was a small-scale exercise in southern Iran. The United States and Israel, Iran's arch enemies, have not ruled out a military strike against the country if diplomacy fails to resolve the standoff. Iran says its nuclear programis purely peaceful, rather than aimed at developing weapons.
Iran has warned that its response to any such strike will be "painful", threatening to target Israel, and U.S. bases in the Gulf, along with closing the vital oil shipping route of the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile,Turkey and Qatar urged the West on Sunday not to attack Iran to solve a nuclear row, but rather to make greater efforts to negotiate an end to the dispute.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, a gathering of security officials and diplomats, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said an attack would be a "disaster" and the dispute over Iran's nuclear program could be ended very rapidly. "If there is strong political will and mutual confidence being established, this issue could be resolved in a few days," he said. "The technical disputes are not so big. The problem is mutual confidence and strong political will. "
Turkey was the venue of the last talks between Western powers and Iran a year ago which ended in stalemate because participants could not even agree on an agenda.
The West has since imposed much tougher sanctions on Iran, which it suspects of seeking nuclear weapons capability. Iran says its nuclear work is purely civilian and peaceful.
Davutoglu added: "A military option will create a disaster in our region. So before that disaster, everybody must be serious in negotiations. We hope soon both sides will meet again but this time there will be a complete result."
Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khalid Mohamed al-Attiyah, whose Gulf country is increasingly active in regional diplomacy, said an attack "is not a solution, and tightening the embargo on Iran will make the scenario worse. I believe we should have dialogue."
"I believe that with our allies and friend in the West we should open a serious dialogue with the Iranians to get out of this dilemma. This is what we feel in our region."
Tension between Iran and the West rose last month when Washington and the European Union imposed the toughest sanctions yet on Iran to try to force it to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures are aimed at shutting off the second-biggest OPEC oil exporters' sales of crude.

'Iran can destroy Israel in 9 minutes'
Dudi Cohen/Ynetnews /Iranian blogger urges Tehran to exploit West's inaction to 'wipe out Israel' by 2014; lays out strategy .An Iranian blogger on Saturday urged Tehran not to delay an attack on Israel, claiming that the Islamic Republic could destroy the Jewish state in "less than nine minutes." Alireza Forghani, a computer engineer, wrote in his essay that Tehran should exploit the West's dawdling over a strike on Iran to "wipe out Israel" by 2014 – that is, before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's term runs out. The post was widely covered in the Iranian media on Saturday.
Forghani lays out the religious justifications for the attack and presents strategies for an offensive that would target key Israeli sites using land-to-land missiles.Maps featured in blog post
The first step in the strategy, Forghani suggested, should be to launch ballistic Sijil missiles on Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa, as well as power stations and other energy sources, sewage facilities, airports, nuclear plants, media hubs and transportation infrastructure. In the second step, Shahab 3 and Ghader missiles should target the rest of the country's population centers. Total annihilation, he asserts, could be achieved within nine minutes.
'Killing civilians justified'
Forghani posited that targeting civilians could be justified with revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's ruling that Muslims must wage a Jihad against an enemy who attacks an Islamic nation.
"So since Israel has attacked Palestine and occupied this part of the Islamic Entity, defending the oppressed Palestinian Muslims is compulsory," Forghani wrote.
The blogger appears to quote Ynet security analyst Ron Ben-Yishai as saying that there is no spot in Israel that is not vulnerable to an Iranian missile attack, although Yishai referred in his column to the capabilities of Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah, not the Islamic Republic. Forghani, who describes himself as an enthusiastic supporter of the Iranian government and a former member of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij militia, stressed that the opinions presented in his post are his own and do not represent the regime's position.Dr. Raz Zimt, a research fellow at the Institute for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University, claimed that the stir that the post caused in the Iranian media might indicate the dawn of public discourse about a preemptive strike on Israel. The article might also signify the effect that the global discussion about a possible military operation in Iran has on the Islamic Republic. The post was released on the same day that Iran's Revolutionary Guard began naval maneuvers in the latest show of force near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the critical Gulf oil tanker route that Tehran has threatened to close in retaliation for tougher Western sanctions.
Plans for new Iranian war games in the Gulf have been in the works for weeks. But they got under way following stern warnings by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, about any possible US or Israeli attacks against Tehran's nuclear facilities."The Zionist regime is a cancerous tumor and it will be removed," he said Friday.

Report: Syria’s Assad releases alleged al-Qaida mastermind of 2005 London bombings
By Haaretz /Haaretz/Report claims Syrian President released Mustafa Sit-Mariam, also known as Abu Musab al-Suri, as a way to warn West against foreign intervention in ongoing political crisis. The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad released the alleged mastermind of a July 2005 series of London bombings, a Syrian opposition site said on Sunday, adding that the move was meant as a warning to Western powers to stay out of the political crisis in country. According to the report, Syrian authorities released top al-Qaida operative and Aleppo native Abu Musab al-Suri, whose real name is Mustafa Sit-Mariam, who has been held in Syria since being allegedly transported there by the CIA six years ago, over his suspected involvement in a series of terrorist attacks in London. A post on Syrian opposition website Sooryoon.net, cited by U.K. newspaper The Telegraph, reported that the “timing of his release raises a lot of questions and observers believe the release may indicate the regime is stopping security co-operation with the Americans and thus releasing all those Washington considers a threat to its interests.” Al-Suri’s name surfaced following the 2005 attacks. Described by The Independent as chief of al-Qaida’s European operations, he was thought to have masterminded the July 2005 bombings, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 commuters on three London subway trains and a bus. A redhead with green eyes, he is married to a Spanish woman and has dual citizenship, and adopted his alias in the 1990s after writing a book about the Islamic Brotherhood in Syria, of which he was a member, calling for action against the oppressive regime of Assad (the father). Spanish authorities also suspected that al-Suri was behind the train bombings in Spain in March 2004. Commenting on the report of his release, al-Suri’s wife Helena told The Telegraph that she had not “heard anything official or unofficial since my husband disappeared in 2004,” adding: “I hope that one day we will be together again.” The report of al-Suri’s release came as Vice Prime Minister and Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Sunday that Israel had not and is not interfering in the political crisis in Syria, adding that he did not think radical Islam would take over the country in case Assad was ousted. Ya’alon’s comments came as Russia and China vetoed on Saturday a Western-Arab UN Security Council resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to step aside. The other 13 council members voted in favor of the resolution, which stated that the council "fully supports" the Arab League plan.

UN veto gives Syria “license to kill,” says opposition
February 5, 2012 /The opposition Syrian National Council on Sunday slammed the Russian and Chinese veto of a UN Security Council resolution on Syria as giving the regime of President Bashar al-Assad a "license to kill."The SNC said in a statement "Syrians and others around the world" had looked to the Security Council to issue a strongly worded resolution, "one that would clearly condemn the Syrian regime's crimes; the atrocity and impunity with which it kills civilians, including women and children; and the genocide it commits in exterminating entire families. "However, the world was shocked when the Russian and Chinese governments vetoed the draft Arab-European resolution," the statement said. "The SNC holds both governments accountable for the escalation of killings and genocide, and considers this irresponsible step a license for the Syrian regime to kill without being held accountable."The umbrella opposition movement called on Moscow and Beijing "to immediately reassess their positions and to not block the will of the Syrian people, who clearly desire the attainment of their rights and freedoms." It said the SNC will now approach the UN General Assembly "to adopt an international resolution that supports the rights of our people."-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Defiant Russia says Lavrov to seek reform in Syria
February 5, 2012 /Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will ask President Bashar al-Assad for rapid reforms on a visit to Syria this week, his ministry said Sunday, as Moscow hit back at Western outrage over its UN veto. Lavrov's visit to Damascus on Tuesday alongside the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) will aim to stabilize the situation in Syria by winning the implementation of "rapid" reforms, the foreign ministry said. His trip comes days after Russia disgusted the West and Syrian opposition activists Saturday by vetoing along with China a UN Security Council resolution condemning the Assad regime's crackdown on protestors. In a lengthy statement outlining the reasons for its veto, the Foreign Ministry said Russia could not accept the "ultimatum-like nature" of some of the positions in the resolution, including a demand for Assad to step down. "We deeply regret the outcome of the work on the UN Security Council, which could have resulted in agreeing a consolidated position of the global community if our partners had shown political will," it said. "Russia strongly intends to achieve a rapid stabilization of the situation in Syria through the rapid implementation of much-needed democratic reforms," it added. "It is with this aim that on the order of President Dmitry Medvedev, Sergei Lavrov and (SVR chief) Mikhail Fradkov are visiting Damascus on February 7 for a meeting with President Assad." Russia has so far offered no clues on the role to be played by Fradkov, who heads an ultra-secret organization that is the successor to the KGB, during the meeting. Shortly after the Foreign Ministry released its statement, the state RIA Novosti news agency ran an analysis quoting Russian experts as saying that Lavrov's visit would be aimed at persuading Assad to step down.
"It is possible that there will be an attempt to persuade the Syrian president to accept the variant proposed by the Arab League," Middle East expert Vladimir Akhmedov told the agency, referring to a plan for Assad to relinquish his job. Moscow has repeatedly said that the resolution needed also to condemn violence by what it calls "extremist elements" in the opposition and make clear it could not be used to justify foreign military intervention in Syria. "The authors of the draft Syria resolution, unfortunately, did not want to undertake an extra effort and come to a consensus," Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov wrote on Twitter. "The result is known," he added. Lavrov however had insisted in an interview with Australian television last week that Russia was not a friend of Assad.
"We're not a friend, we're not an ally of President Assad. We never said that President Assad remaining in power is the solution to the crisis," he said. Analysts believe that Russia fears Assad's departure would cost Moscow hundreds of millions of dollars in arms contracts, as well as its last remaining ally in the region after Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi was ousted in the Arab Spring.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

U.S. Vows to Dry Up Funding, Arms Shipments to Syria Regime
by Naharnet/U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Sunday to bolster existing sanctions against the Syrian regime and seek further ones to block funding and arms shipments to Damascus.
Seeking other ways to turn the screws on Assad a day after Russia and China vetoed a resolution on Syria, Clinton said Washington will also work with Syria's friends worldwide to support the peaceful aims of the opposition. "What happened yesterday at the United Nations was a travesty," Clinton said during a visit to Bulgaria following her failed talks in Munich with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"Those countries that refused to support the Arab League plan bear full responsibility for protecting the brutal regime in Damascus," a forceful Clinton told a press conference with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov. She said the 13 of the 15 Security Council members who backed the resolution sought to start a "process for political engagement that would lead to a transition" to a new democratic Syria.
"We feared that failure to do so would actually increase the chances for a brutal civil war," she said, recalling that Syrians were beginning to arm themselves against the crackdown.
"Faced with a neutered Security Council we have to redouble our efforts outside of the U.N. with those allies and partners who support the Syrian people's right to have a better future," Clinton said.
"We have to increase diplomatic pressure on the Assad regime and work to convince those people around President Assad that he must go and that there has to be a recognition of that and a new start," she said. "We will work to seek regional and national sanctions against Syria and strengthen the ones we have," she said. "They will be implemented to the fullest to dry up the sources of funding and the arms shipments that are keeping the regime's war machine going," she said. "We will work to expose those who are still funding the regime and sending it weapons that are used against defenseless Syrians including women and children," she said. The veto came hours after the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) reported a "massacre" overnight Friday in the central flashpoint city of Homs. Activists and residents said more than 230 civilian, including women and children, were killed during an assault by regime forces. "We will work with the friends of a democratic Syria around the world to support the opposition's peaceful political plans for change," Clinton said without naming them. They are likely to include Turkey, Arab countries and Western European nations. On Sunday, Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said the bloc would press on with mediation efforts to find a political solution in Syria to avoid foreign intervention in the country.
SourceAgence France Presse.

Cut ties with Syria, urges Tunisian PM
February 5, 2012 /Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali called Sunday on all countries to cut off diplomatic relations with Syria over the violence there.
"We have to expel Syrian ambassadors from Arab and other countries," Jebali said during a panel discussion on the Middle East at a security conference in the southern German city of Munich.
"The Syrian people do not expect from us today long statements... they are expecting deeds, they are expecting concrete measures ... the very least we can do is to cut all relations to the Syria regime," added Jebali. He said the veto of Russia and China on Saturday against a UN resolution aimed at stopping the violence showed that the Security Council system was broken.
The veto was "a right that was misused and undoubtedly the international community has to reconsider this mechanism of decision taking," said Jebali. Tunisia, whose revolution a year ago sparked the chain of other popular uprisings across the Arab world including Syria, announced Saturday it would expel the Syrian ambassador and stop recognizing the Damascus regime.
The call came after one of the bloodiest weekends since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted almost 11 months ago, with more than 200 civilians killed during a massive assault by regime forces in the central flashpoint of Homs. Speaking at the same event, Yemeni Nobel peace laureate Tawakkul Karman also called on the international community to expel Syrian ambassadors from their countries and recall diplomats in the wake of the violence there. "I urge you in the name of the peaceful rebels to expel Syrian ambassadors from your countries and I urge you to call back your ambassadors in Damascus," Karman said. China and Russia, which vetoed a UN resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, "bear the moral and human responsibility for these massacres," she said.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Al-Rahi Slams Politicians 'Coma, Policies of Destruction and Poverty'
by Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday voiced regret over “the coma the Lebanese politicians are going through and the political practices that lead to destruction and poverty.”
In a sermon he delivered at a mass held in the Northern Metn town of Beit Mery, the patriarch noted that “the political authority is entrusted with the public money.”“We will not accept that our people be displaced from its land,” al-Rahi stressed, calling for a “spiritual awakening.” On Saturday the patriarch urged the Christians in Lebanon to hold onto their land no matter how small the properties are. “The Christians should hold onto their land in Lebanon,” al-Rahi said during his pastoral visit to Beirut. He stressed that “Beirut is the capital of partnership and love as Lebanon plays an important role in this world that has no place for coexistence anymore.”“We should hold onto our land and coexist with all our partners in the country,” al-Rahi stated. He revealed that Pope Benedict XVI will urge the Christians in Lebanon to coexist and hold onto their land during his upcoming visit to Lebanon in the fall. On Wednesday, the Council of Maronite Bishops expressed concern over the ongoing land sales to foreigners for financial gains. Al-Rahi cautioned in December the Lebanese against selling their lands, considering it “treason.”He established with Maronite MPs a follow-up committee in Bkirki to examine land ownership by Christians and the consequences of land sales countrywide.SourcelNaharnet.

Hizbullah’s Intervention May Resolve Dispute between Miqati and FPM
by Naharnet /The current government deadlock is likely to stretch indefinitely given that a mechanism to restore cabinet productivity, as Premier Najib Miqati had demanded, will probably take a while, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday. Ministerial circles noted however that the ongoing tensions between Miqati and the Free Patriotic Movement may be eased through the intervention of the FPM’s ally Hizbullah. They said that Speaker Nabih Berri may also play a role in this matter, adding that the deadlock will most likely extend until after Miqati returns from his trip to France, which is scheduled for February 10. A ministerial source stated that the crisis can be resolved through one side presenting concessions to the other. It added however that the impasse has not thwarted Miqati from continuing government activity and holding talks with FPM officials. It pointed out that the premier had chaired on Friday a meeting to address the electricity crisis, which was attended by FPM official Energy Minister Jebran Bassil, adding that he later held talks with another FPM official, Telecommunications Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui. On Wednesday, Miqati suspended a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace over an ongoing dispute over the issue of administrative appointments. The suspension was prompted when FPM ministers walked out from Wednesday’s session.
“The move is meant to push everyone to act responsibly and use their energy positively, towards the smooth run of state affairs not the opposite,” the prime minister said on his Twitter account on Wednesday. A dispute between President Michel Suleiman and FPM leader MP Michel Aoun over shares allotted to Christians has prevented consensus over administrative appointments, leaving several high-ranking posts vacant.

Mustaqbal, AMAL to Hold Direct Talks after Feb. 14
by Naharnet /Speaker Nabih Berri has not yet launched efforts to end the political deadlock in Lebanon, however the recent meeting between his envoy Minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi may be the beginning of such efforts, reported the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday. It also pointed out to the rapprochement between the Mustaqbal Movement and Berri’s AMAL party, adding that direct talks between the two sides will be held after the February 14 ceremony marking the anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. It highlighted the head of the Mustaqbal bloc MP Fouad Saniora’s efforts to this end in that he had held talks with Berri last week in the presence of Prime Minister Najib Miqati. He had also met with the Vice President of the Higher Islamic Shiite Council Abdul Amir Qabalan and Shiite cleric Sayyed Ali Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah. Meanwhile, the government tensions have not been eased given the ongoing dispute between Miqati and the Free Patriotic Movement, said al-Anbaa. Independent sources noted that two factors are currently controlling this deadlock. The first is the prime minister’s upcoming visit to France on February 10 and the second is direct American-Russian talks over the crisis in Syria. This latter factor emerged amid Berri’s repeated calls for Lebanon to keep a distance from the developments in the region, said the newspaper. Russia and China on Saturday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Syrian government's murderous crackdown on protests for the second time.
Western governments reacted with fury to the new block on U.N. action over President Bashar Assad's 10 month-old assault on demonstrators which followed weeks of acrimonious negotiations over the text.Russia and China "remain steadfast in their willingness to sell out the Syrian people and shield a craven tyrant," U.S. ambassador Susan Rice told the 15-nation council. U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon said the failure to agree a resolution "undermines" the United Nations. Thirteen countries voted for the resolution drafted by Arab and European nations which would have given strong backing to an Arab League plan to end the crisis.

Future bloc MP Jean Ogassapian calls for terminating Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council
February 5, 2012 /Future bloc MP Jean Ogassapian called on Sunday for “annulling the Lebanese-Syrian Higher Council, because it serves as the most dangerous treaty that was [ever] inked between two countries.” Ogassapian told Voice of Lebanon (93.3) radio station that the treaty “is a catastrophe, especially because Article 4 in it talks about re-stationing the Syrian forces in Lebanon at a time” when the Syrian troops have already withdrawn from the country. Syria pulled put its troops from Lebanon by the end of April 2005 and following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14, 2005. -NOW Lebanon

Dim and dimmer
Shane Farrell, February 5, 2012
Twenty-four hours of electricity a day, a privilege many in even less-developed countries than Lebanon take for granted, remains a pipedream here, at least for the short to medium term. Lebanon currently has available around 1,500 megawatts of power, with a demand of 3,000 megawatts during peak summer season. Meanwhile, power plants and electricity supply lines are old and in frequent need of repair or maintenance, which largely explains the sharp reduction of power experienced across Lebanon in the past month. The situation is certainly not helped by political squabbling between rival parties, which delays decisions to improve the situation. In the longer term, a $1.2 billion package was approved by the cabinet late last year for a project that will increase Lebanon’s energy output by 700 megawatts. According to Raymond Ghajar, the spokesperson for Energy Minister Gebran Bassil, the tender for this will be launched “within a month or so.” However, 700 megawatts is still insufficient to meet demand at current levels, let alone in several years’ time when it is estimated to be implemented.
Following criticism of his performance by politicians and people protesting the increased electricity problems, especially in areas outside Beirut, Bassil has placed blame on his predecessors and rival politicians, whom he argues are obstructing his work. Future MP Mohammad Qabbani, who heads the parliamentary committee on energy and is one of Bassil’s harshest critics, says that the solution to the problem is to privatize the sector, in accordance with Law 462, which was passed in 2002 but has not been implemented.
Qabbani told NOW Lebanon that “The minister does not want this to be done because he wants to run individually a sector that has billions of dollars in it. The only reason for that is corruption.”
Ghajar disputed the accusation that the ministry is blocking Law 462, saying that it has made its required amendments and submitted the draft to the cabinet. “This has to go back to parliament… We already did our work a month ago.”Another element in the dispute is foreign assistance, both monetary and material. Bassil rejected Arab funding to finance the electricity plan because he said he had sent a set of conditions to the fund six months earlier, but had not received a response. Several Future bloc MPs claim that Bassil said there is no need for financial aid.
Recently, Iran offered to provide Lebanon with 500 megawatts in one year, bringing it up to 1,000 after a second year, through the construction of electricity stations as well as providing electricity via Syria, which would take six months. However, this has received criticism by Future bloc MP Assem Aaraji, who said that this would come at a “political cost.” Qabbani, on the other hand, told NOW Lebanon that he would be “ready to accept any support in the field of generating electricity, whatever the source is [so long as] it should be transparent and have good conditions for Lebanon.”
Meanwhile, Denmark has offered to construct windmills capable of generating 140 megawatts of electricity in the north of the country that would then be sold to the Lebanese state. If the project were agreed to, the windmills would be functioning in 13 months, according to Qabbani, who does not believe the offer will be accepted by the Energy Ministry.
But none of this improves the situation in the short-term. For that, Bassil is pushing for offshore boats with generators that would supply a yet-to-be-agreed-upon amount of electricity to the country during peak demand season, a similar situation to what occurred last summer. Ghajar told NOW Lebanon that the details of this would have to be discussed, although he hopes the project would be implemented before the summer. Qabbani is critical of this move, however, saying that it is not an investment, but merely a stopgap solution. In another development, discussions are ongoing about reducing the amount of electricity allotted to Beirut in order to resupply other areas of the country that experience up to 12 hours of blackouts per day. This is a move Bassil is pushing for, and which will need the cabinet’s approval, according to Ghajar, as the government previously decided to guarantee around 21 to 22 hours of electricity to the capital per day.“We can’t do that unless the government revokes its previous decision [to offer Beirut 21 hours a day].”

Canada Outraged by Increased Violence in Syria and Deeply Disappointed by Security Council Paralysis
February 4, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Today’s failure by the UN Security Council to effectively deal with the crisis in Syria is yet another free pass for the illegitimate Assad regime and those backing it; Canada is disappointed in the extreme.
“This paralysis of power is particularly deplorable given the reported upsurge in violence overnight in Homs, which we condemn without reservation.
“Those attempting to cling to power in Syria are morally bankrupt, and their disregard for human life is surpassed only by their cynicism over doing what is just and right.
“Canada continues to support the efforts of Syria’s neighbours and others to resolve the current crisis. History will judge those whose obstruction serves only to prolong this senseless violence.
“Canada will stand with the people of Syria in their efforts to achieve for themselves a brighter future for all Syrians.”

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NYT: Israeli attack on Iran would aggravate situation
Yitzhak Benhorin/Ynetnews
US paper warns against repercussions of military attack, urges to stick to sanctions, diplomacy instead. 'Netanyahu may attack Iran before summer,' it claims
WASHINGTON – Following multiple reports published about Israel's alleged plans to attack Iran, an editorial published by the New York Times on Friday warns against the repercussions of such an attack. "We hope for everyone’s sake that Israel’s leaders weigh all of the consequences before they act. A military attack would almost certainly make things worse. Tough sanctions and a united diplomatic front are the best chance for crippling Iran’s nuclear program," the NYT claimed. According to the op-ed, Washington still believes there is “time and space” for sanctions to work and that "Israel must defend itself," but adds "there is a frightening scenario going around Washington and several European capitals that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel may attack Iran before the summer — believing that President Obama will not try to stop him in the middle of a re-election campaign." Israeli defense officials claimed if a military strike is agreed upon, it would have to be postponed until the middle of next year. One official even remarked that the option of using force against Iran and causing harm to the Iranians is achievable. The costs of an Israeli military strike — with or without American support — would be huge, and it would likely set Iran’s nuclear program back by only a few years. A strike would also unite Iranians around their government at a time when it is losing popular support fast. It would also shatter the international coalition for sanctions and draw more ire against Israel and the United States, the NYT article claimed. The editorial called for US officials to continue to pressure Israel to avoid such an attack.Israel's disagreement with the US as to the timing of a possible military attack on Iran emerged over the weekend after US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Thursday he believes Israel is likely to strike Iran in the coming months.
Asked by journalists whether he disputes the report, Panetta said, "No, I'm just not commenting."
Growing concern
Aaron David Miller, a Mideast peace negotiator in the Clinton administration, told the Bloomberg website that the allies have a “significant analytic difference” over how close Iran is to shielding the nuclear program from attack.  “There’s a growing concern - more than a concern - that the Israelis, in order to protect themselves, might launch a strike without approval, warning or even foreknowledge," Miller was quoted as saying. Meanwhile, CNN reported Saturday that Mossad Chief Tamir Pardo met with US officials in Washington to discuss a possible strike on Iran. "It is always possible to find a diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear issue", said US State Department spokesman Mark Toner Friday night in Washington. However he added that the US remains "committed to the so-called dual approach that combines diplomacy and the strengthening of the pressure. We are confident that we always have the time and space for a diplomatic solution."In an extensive interview published by NBC News on Friday, American officials claimed that while US authorities are satisfied relying on economic sanctions and diplomatic pressure to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel is more of a "wild card," and would most likely launch an attack if intelligence confirms that Tehran is inching toward developing nuclear weapons. The officials explained that Israel has an intermediate Jericho missile – the Jericho II - which is capable of hitting targets up to 1,500 miles away, and would most likely be equipped with high explosives, which officials described as highly accurate.As for ground operations, some officials claimed Israeli commandos - either from the IDF or Mossad - would possibly be dropped at the sites to collect forensics or assist with illumination of the targets.Instead of trying to completely destroy Iran's nuclear program, officials told NBC they believe the strikes will focus on the facilities that are deemed most critical, in an effort to delay the nuclear program.

Israeli Vice Premier Ya'alon: All Iranian facilities are vulnerable'
Ynetnews/Vice Premier Ya'alon states that all of Iran's nuclear facilities are 'within striking distance'; adds November blast at Tehran weapons facility eliminated missile production line. Vice Premier Moshe Ya'alon said Thursday that the blast at the Iranian missile facility near Tehran last November hit a system meant to manufacture missiles that could threaten the United States.Ya'alon, speaking at the 2012 Herzliya Conference, added that it was possible to carry out military strikes against any of Iran's facilities.Any facility defended by a human being can be penetrated. Any facility in Iran can be hit, and I speak from experience as the IDF chief of staff," he remarked. Just last week US officials confessed they lacked the ability to destroy fortified nuclear facilities in Iran. However Ya'alon claimed Thursday that "the West has the ability to attack, but as long as Iran isn't convinced about their determination to carry it out – they will continue their manipulations. The Iranians believe this determination is non-existent, as far as a military action and sanctions."The vice premier noted that are a number of ways to put a stop to Iran's nuclear armament, including economic sanctions which he believes might present the Iranian regime with the dilemma either bomb or survival. "We must convince China, Russia and Turkey, which are helping the Iranians bypass the sanctions," Ya'alon asserted.At least 17 Revolutionary Guards were killed in November 2011 in a blast at a nuclear facility near Tehran. Among those killed at the Revolutionary Guards base arsenal in Bidganeh, near the city of Karaj, 25 miles (40 km) outside the capital, was Hassan Tehrani Moqaddam, an officer with a rank equivalent to that of a brigadier general."Iran has enough nuclear material for four bombs," Director of Military Intelligence Major General Aviv Kochavi warned Thursday. Kochavi made a rare appearance at the 2012 Herzliya Conference, where he reviewed regional changes, the effects of the Arab Spring and the Iranian threat.
"Iran is vigorously pursing military nuclear capabilities and today the intelligence community agrees with Israel on that. Iran has over four tons of enriched materials and nearly 100kg of 20% enriched uranium – that's enough for four bombs," he said.

Russia, China veto UN resolution telling Assad to quit
04/02/2012/A FSA gunman stands guard as demonstrators pray on a street in Reef Damascus, during a protest against Syrian President Assad's forces attacking the town of Homs, early February 4, 2012. (Reuters) /A young boy carries the Syrian-rebel adopted flag during an anti-regime demonstration in the Syrian village of al-Qsair, 25 km southwest of the flashpoint city Homs, on February 3, 2012. (AFP)
UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters) - Russia and China vetoed on Saturday an Arab- and Western-backed resolution at the U.N. Security Council calling for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down over his bloody crackdown on a popular uprising. The setback in diplomatic efforts to defuse the revolt peacefully came after world leaders and Syrian opposition activists accused Assad's forces of killing hundreds of people in a bombardment of the city of Homs, the bloodiest night in 11 months of upheaval in the pivotal Arab country.
Shortly before the Security Council voted, U.S. President Barack Obama denounced the "unspeakable assault" on Homs, demanded that Assad leave power immediately and called for U.N. action against Assad's "relentless brutality". "Yesterday the Syrian government murdered hundreds of Syrian citizens, including women and children, in Homs through shelling and other indiscriminate violence, and Syrian forces continue to prevent hundreds of injured civilians from seeking medical help," Obama said in a statement. "Any government that brutalises and massacres its people does not deserve to govern."
He and other Western and Arab leaders put unprecedented pressure on Assad's veto-wielding ally Russia to allow the Security Council to pass a resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to transfer powers to a deputy. But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday it had not been possible to work constructively with Russia ahead of the vote, even though military intervention in Syria - fiercely opposed by Moscow - had been absolutely ruled out. "I thought that there might be some ways to bridge, even at this last moment, a few of the concerns that the Russians had. I offered to work in a constructive manner to do so. That has not been possible," she told reporters at the Munich Security Conference. Moscow said before the vote that the resolution was not "hopeless", but its wording needed to be altered to avoid "taking sides in a civil war". Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it was still possible to reach consensus.
But U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said amendments that Russia had proposed were "unacceptable".
After what U.S. officials called "vigorous" talks between Clinton and Lavrov, Moscow announced that its foreign minister would fly to Syria in three days to meet Assad. France called the Homs assault a "massacre" and a "crime against humanity". Turkey said hundreds had been killed and the United Nations must act. Tunisia expelled the Syrian ambassador, and the flag above its embassy was brought down. Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged from 237 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Assad's crackdown on protests and one of the bloodiest episodes in the "Arab Spring" of revolts that have swept the region. Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya neighbourhood at around 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside. "We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads," said Waleed, a resident of Khalidiya. "The morning has come and we have discovered more bodies, bodies are on the streets," he said. "Some are still under the rubble. Our movement is better but there is little we can do without ambulances and other things." An activist in the neighbourhood contacted by Reuters said residents were using primitive tools to rescue people. They feared many were buried under rubble.
"We are not getting any help, there are no ambulances or anything. We are removing the people with our own hands," he said, adding there were only two field hospitals treating the wounded. Each one had a capacity to deal with 30 people, but he estimated the total number of wounded at 500. "We have dug out at least 100 bodies so far, they are placed in the two mosques."
A third Khalidiya resident, speaking by telephone with wailing and cries of "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) audible in the background, said at least 40 corpses had been retrieved from streets and damaged buildings.
CONDEMNATION
As news of the violence spread, angry crowds of Syrians stormed their country's embassies in Cairo, London, Berlin and Kuwait and protested in other cities. Syria denied shelling Homs and said Internet video of corpses was staged. It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access. The official Syrian account was disregarded across the globe, where international condemnation was thunderous. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said: "The Syrian authorities have jumped a new hurdle in savagery: the massacre in Homs is a crime against humanity and those responsible will have to answer for it." In remarks aimed at Moscow, he said any country that blocked U.N. action would bear a "heavy responsibility in history".
Tunisia announced it was expelling the Syrian ambassador and revoking recognition of Assad's government. The head of a committee of parliamentarians from Arab states said Arab countries should expel Syrian ambassadors and cut ties. Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said: "If the Syrian administration is given the understanding that the current situation of hundreds of people dying daily can continue and the U.N. will not take a stance against it, the atmosphere of clashes will increase more."
It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the Security Council were discussing the draft resolution on Syria. Russia gave conflicting signals about its intentions before the vote. In an interview early on Saturday, Lavrov suggested Moscow would cast a veto if the resolution was presented without amendments.
"If they want another scandal for themselves in the Security Council, then we probably cannot stop them," Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying. But as events marched on during the day with many of the world's top security and foreign affairs officials gathered at a conference in Munich, Lavrov said: "We are not saying that this resolution is hopeless." Russia objected that the resolution contained steps against Assad, but not against his armed opponents, Lavrov said. "Unless you do it both ways, you are taking sides in a civil war." Clinton told the conference: "As a tyrant in Damascus brutalises his own people, America and Europe stand shoulder to shoulder. We are united, alongside the Arab League, in demanding an end to the bloodshed and a democratic future for Syria." Russia has balked at any Security Council language that would open to door to "regime change" in Syria, a rare Middle East ally where Moscow operates a naval base and sells billions of dollars in advanced weapons.
Clinton and Lavrov met at the conference for what a U.S. State Department official called "a very vigorous discussion".
"The secretary made clear that...the United States feels strongly that the U.N. Security Council should vote today."
HOUSES ON FIRE
Video footage on the Internet showed at least eight bodies assembled in a room, one of them with the top half of its head blown off. A voice on the video said the bombardment was continuing as the footage was filmed. Syria's state news agency SANA denied Homs was shelled, accusing rebels of killing people and presenting them as casualties for propaganda purposes before the U.N. vote.
"The corpses displayed by some channels of incitement are martyrs, citizens kidnapped, killed and photographed by armed terrorist groups as if they are victims of the supposed shelling," it quoted a "media source" as saying.
The Syrian government says it is facing a foreign-backed insurgency and that most of the dead have been its troops. SANA reported funerals of 22 members of the security forces. Some Syrian activists said the violence was triggered by a wave of army defections in Homs, a stronghold of protests. Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Reuters that the death toll had reached 237, with 60 people still missing. His group said 21 other people were also killed in other parts of Syria on Saturday, including 12 in a funeral procession in an outlying district of Damascus.
The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as "one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria".
In Cairo, a crowd stormed the Syrian embassy, smashing furniture and setting fire to parts of the building in protest over the Homs bloodshed. The gate of the embassy was broken and furniture was smashed on the second floor of the building. In London, 150 people hurled stones at the Syrian embassy, smashing windows and shouting slogans. Police said five men were arrested after breaking into the building and another held for assaulting police. Kuwait's KUNA news agency said Syrians broke into the embassy there at dawn, tore down the flag and injured several security guards. Demonstrators burst into the embassy in Berlin, destroying portraits of Assad and his father. In the cities of Hama and Idlib, activists said hundreds of people took to the streets in solidarity. They chanted in Idlib: "Homs is bombarded, and you are still sleeping?"

Lebanese Army Deploys in Wadi Khaled, Opposition Describes Measures as 'Syrian Orders'
إby Naharnet/The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in the northern village of Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the Free Syrian Army were present in the area.“On Saturday morning the military carried out three airdrops in al-Rami village near Wadi Khaled and searched the area for hours,” a military source told LBC. The source noted that these measures were taken depending on the circumstances and “it could end on Saturday.” MP Moein al-Merehbi confirmed the incident, slamming the deployment of the army as “Syrian orders to President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Miqati, and Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.” “Media reports saying that there are terrorists infiltrating from Syria into Lebanon and vice-versa are bizarre and strange,” he stated.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported that Wadi Khaled is a military base for the Free Syrian Army.
According to the daily the Free Syrian Army officers and troops are moving liberally along the illegal border crossings, smuggling weapons and transporting injured soldiers.
Merehbi expressed regret for this “Syrian deployment command” when the “martyrs and injured people in the area didn’t provoke the Lebanese state to do so.”
“There are plans between the (Lebanese) army and the Syrian forces to displace the Syrian refugees in Lebanon and to arrest those who are wanted” by the regime, Merehbi said. He noted that the “Syrian army is forcing the residents of the area to refuse sheltering the refugees,” urging the “army to halt the ongoing Syrian violations in Lebanon.”
Resident ruled out to LBC that there are any members of the Free Syrian Army in the area or there are arms smuggling operations, demanding “the army to protect them from any Syrian violations.”
Future Movement MPs in Akkar Merehbi, Khaled al-Daher, and Khaled Zahraman issued a statement welcoming the army in the north as they warned from an attempt to “frighten the residents in the area and their Syrian guests instead of deploying to safeguard them from the (Syrian) regime’s brutal assaults.”
“How could the army’s deployment around houses in Akkar protect the residents, unless they aim at detaining any Syrian refugee that the regime demands,” the statement said, urging it to deploy along the Lebanese-Syrian border. They added that “the army’s failure to take previous measures when the Assad troops violated the area” supports their statement.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon as the state cracks down on a popular revolt against President Bashar Assad regime, now in its eleventh month.
In November, The Syrian army laced the Lebanese border with landmines in a bid to curb arms smuggling and hampering army defectors and refugees from fleeing.
Syrian troops have also staged deadly incursions into border villages in neighboring Lebanon.
The United Nations estimate earlier this month that more than 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown since protests against the Assad regime began in mid-March.