LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 08/2012

Bible Quotation for today/The Rich Man and Lazarus
Luke 16/19-31: "There was once a rich man who dressed in the most expensive clothes and lived in great luxury every day. There was also a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who used to be brought to the rich man's door, hoping to eat the bits of food that fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the feast in heaven. The rich man died and was buried, and in Hades, where he was in great pain, he looked up and saw Abraham, far away, with Lazarus at his side. So he called out, Father Abraham! Take pity on me, and send Lazarus to dip his finger in some water and cool off my tongue, because I am in great pain in this fire! But Abraham said, Remember, my son, that in your lifetime you were given all the good things, while Lazarus got all the bad things. But now he is enjoying himself here, while you are in pain. Besides all that, there is a deep pit lying between us, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot do so, nor can anyone cross over to us from where you are. The rich man said, Then I beg you, father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father's house, where I have five brothers. Let him go and warn them so that they, at least, will not come to this place of pain. Abraham said, Your brothers have Moses and the prophets to warn them; your brothers should listen to what they say. The rich man answered, That is not enough, father Abraham! But if someone were to rise from death and go to them, then they would turn from their sins. But Abraham said, If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone were to rise from death.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
What can the Gulf do for the Syrians/By Tariq Alhomayed/ February 07/12
Pursuing al-Assad in New York/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/February 07/12
When Israel is faced with 200,000 rockets/By Sefi Rachlevsky/February 07/12
Calling in favors/Now Lebanon/February 07/12
What is permissible and what is not/Hazem Saghiyeh/February 07/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 07/12
"Bold Alligator 2012" drills 20,000 troops on US East Coast for Persian Gulf action
Iran calls U.S. ban on its assets an 'antagonistic' move
New U.S. sanctions on Iran aim to head off Israel
Gulf states recall Syria envoys
Syrian forces bombard Homs, Lavrov arrives for talks
Al-Assad steps up deadly crack down
Lavrov says seeks peace in Syria as forces bombard Homs
Gulf countries recalling ambassadors in Syria
11 Iranian pilgrims freed in Syria: Tehran  
China says may send envoy to discuss Syria crisis
Bradley Burston / The UN must find a Goldstone for Syria
Kassam Salimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is aiding Assad's crackdown on Syria opposition
U.S. closes embassy in Damascus as Obama vows to increase pressure on Syria
Obama still tries to stop Israeli Iran strike. West confronts Iran in Syria
Obama signs executive order freezing Iran assets in US
Israeli Incoming IAF chief:, Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel  Iran is our top concern
Haaretz Editorial/West, Arab states must move to stop Assad's violence
Iran vows to attack any country used by 'enemies' to strike its soil
Syrian forces bombard Homs, 50 dead: activists
Muslim-Christian Summit Urges Unity and Nationalistic Rhetoric
Geagea: Govt. Dispute Linked to Syrian Crisis
Future bloc MP Khaled Daher welcomes army deployment along border
STL hopes to conclude work within 3 years: Youssef
Feltman in Beirut to offer condolences for Lahoud's death
Israel fears post-Assad weapons transfers to Hezbollah
Lebanese-German arrested for espionage
Mansour denies dispute with Mikati over Paris visit
Sleiman, Siniora discuss unresolved domestic issues
Lebanese must strive jointly for peace: religious summit
Court upholds jail term for disgraced Egypt tycoon
Israel spy trial for 3 Lebanese postponed
Berri, Mikati meet amid Cabinet crisis
Rai invited to Qatar

Kassam Salimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is aiding Assad's crackdown on Syria opposition
By Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/report-top-iran-military-official-aiding-assad-s-crackdown-on-syria-opposition-1.411402
Prominent Syrian lawmaker says the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force has recently arrived in the country to help manage Assad's regime brutal suppression of a 11-month-long popular unrest. A top Iranian military official is activily aiding the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in suppressing popular unrest throughout the country, a top member of the National Syrian Council said on Monday. According to the Syrian official, Kassam Salimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard special forces unit, has arrived in Syria recently and has taken up a spot in the war room which manages army maneuvers against opposition forces. The war room is also reportedly populated by Assad himself, as well as his brother Maher, brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat and cousin Rami Makhlouf, with the Syrian chief of staff's authority reportedly restricted and divided up between other military commanders. The Quds Force includes 15,000 elite soldiers who operated, among other locations, in Iraq during the war, and the specialty of which is engaging in unconventional warfare on foreign soil. Among other duties, the Quds Force is in charge of traning and funding Hezbollah. Salimani's presence in Syria serves as an indication of the kind of battle that Assad is planning against opposition forces, with the Syrian army reportedly planning to wage all out war against the rebel city of Homs. According to the report, the Syrian president's goal is to gain ground ahead of a planned visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will be arriving in the country along with a military delegation which includes the head of Russian intelligence. Assad's aim, sources say, is to display his control of the situation and his ability to suppress the unrest, with the determining battles to be staged in Homs and in the reoccupation of the town of Zabadani, which fell to Free Syria Army forces. An Al-Arabiya report indicated that the battle over Zabadani has already begun, with Syrian soldiers defecting to the opposition along with eight tanks, and that Homs has been placed under a siege which has included the cutting of electricity and water supplies.
The report also claimed that the Syrian army for the first time has been using rockets in order to target houses as well as mortars to hit populated areas. So far, 60 people were reportedly killed and hundreds wounded in this battle, as well as reports of the demolition of seven houses, residents and all. Syrian opposition organizations that are active internationally are currently trying to gain a political front bypassing the UN Security Council, where a resolution underwritten by the Arab League failed due to Russian and Chinese vetoes on Saturday.
At this stage, opposition leaders are trying to find a way forward, as it is clear that Turkey and the Arab states oppose military action against the Assad regime, and the imposing of economic sanctions will not stop Assad. Facing Russia and Chinese opposition, and the Iranian threat to open a new front, there is doubt whether a western coalition will agree to act directly against Syria. The question is whether the Free Syrian Army will be able to get additional military assistance, and to arm itself with heavy artillery, tanks and shells so that it will be able to pose a real challenge to the Syrian army, and change the civilian resistance into a real military struggle, much like the rebel forces in Libya. Along with the Syria Free Army’s attempts to increase the number of defectors from the Syrian military, the opposition is also considering offering the minority Alawite elite guarantees of their safety in exchange for ordering Alawites to leave the regime and join the civilian resistance. Along with the Syria Free Army’s attempts to increase the number of defectors from the Syrian military, the opposition is also considering offering the minority Alawite elite guarantees of their safety in exchange for ordering Alawites to leave the regime and join the civilian resistance. Parallel to these efforts, however, the opposition seems to be facing a new and violent civilian group that is comprised mainly of Syria’s Kurdish minority. This group is working as strongmen for the regime, both in Damascus and in Kurdish population centers.

Gulf states recall Syria envoys
News agencies /Six members of Gulf Cooperation Council pull ambassadors from Damascus; expel Syrian envoys from their capitals over escalating violence Six key players in the Arab world, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, announced Tuesday that they have recalled their ambassadors from Syria. The six, which are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), also expelled Syrian envoys stationed in their capitals. The move was declared following the escalating violence in Syria.
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, current head of the council, announces that the GCC states have decided to withdraw all their ambassadors from Syria and also demand that all ambassadors of the Syrian regime in its lands leave immediately," a GCC statement said. The GCC also protested the "mass slaughter of civilians in Syria." The UN's Human Right Commission says about 5,500 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad began, last March.  The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said that at least 400 of those killed were children.
The West's efforts to pass a UN Security Council resolution against Syria have so far failed, as the latest draft was vetoes by China and Russia on Friday. Russian FM Sergey Lavrov, who is currently visiting Damascus, accused the West of being "hysterical" over the situation in

"Bold Alligator 2012" drills 20,000 troops on US East Coast for Persian Gulf action
http://www.debka.com/article/21716/
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report/ February 7, 2012/Some 20,000 marines, seamen and air crews from half a dozen countries, a US nuclear aircraft carrier strike group and three US Marine gunship carriers are practicing an attack on a fictitious mechanized enemy division which has invaded its neighbor. It is the largest amphibian exercise seen in the West for a decade, staged to simulate a potential Iranian invasion of an allied Persian Gulf country and a marine landing on the Iranian coast. Based largely on US personnel and hardware, French, British, Italian, Dutch, Australian and New Zealand military elements are integrated in the drill.
Bold Alligator went into its operational phase Monday, Feb. 6, the same day as a large-scale exercise began in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz. This simultaneity attests to the preparations for a US-Iranian showdown involving Israel behind the words on Feb. 5 of US President Barack Obama ("I don't think Israel has decided whether to attack Iran") and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Feb. 3 ("The war itself will be ten times as detrimental to the US.").
Monday, Feb. 6, the US president ordered the tightening of sanctions by freezing Iranian assets in America and blocking the operations of Iranian banks including its central bank.
US Rear Adm. Kevin Scott and Brig. Gen. Christopher Owens are coordinating the exercise over large stretches of coastal terrain in Virginia, North Carolina and Florida and Atlantic Ocean from the USS Wasp amphibian helicopter carrier. It is led by the USS Enterprise nuclear carrier with strike force alongside three amphibian helicopter carriers, the USS Wasp, the USS Boxer and the USS Kearsage. On their decks are 6,000 Marines, 25 fighter bombers and 65 strike and transport helicopters, mainly MV-22B Ospreys with their crews. Altogether 100 combat aircraft are involved. The exercise is scheduled to end on February 14, a week before the winding up of the Iranian drill, after which the participants are to be shipped out to Persian Gulf positions opposite Iran. Altogether three American aircraft carrier strike groups, the French Charles de Gaulle carrier and four or five US Marines amphibian vessels will be posted there, debkafile's military sources report.
On Feb. this site first disclosed a flow in unprecedented numbers of US military strength to two strategic islands, Yemeni Socotra and Omani Masirah, within range of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran. US naval officials insist that the exercise has nothing to do with Iran, but the scenario is a giveaway. A mechanized division from the fictitious hostile country of Garnet (Iran) has invaded its neighbor, Amber (Saudi Arabia), which has asked for coalition assistance to halt the enemy's northern advance. Garnet has already mined harbors (Hormuz) and established anti-ship missiles on its coastline.
Coalition forces are required to develop strategy for defeating the enemy and carry the combat onto its (Iranian) soil. Hence, the preponderance of amphibian Marines in the exercise.

U.S. closes embassy in Damascus as Obama vows to increase pressure on Syria
By Natasha Mozgovaya and Reuters
President tells NBC 'noose is tightening' around Assad's regime; U.K. recalls ambassador for consultations. The United States closed its embassy in Damascus on Monday and President Barack Obama vowed to ratchet up pressure on Syrian leader Bashar Assad to step down, even as world powers remained divided over how to end the crisis.
"The recent surge in violence, including bombings in Damascus on December 23 and January 6, has raised serious concerns that our Embassy is not sufficiently protected from armed attack," Victoria Nuland, State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement. "We, along with several other diplomatic missions, conveyed our security concerns to the Syrian government but the regime failed to respond adequately. The Polish government, through its embassy in Damascus, will now represent U.S. interests in Syria. The State Department also issued a travel warning, recommending that U.S. citizens in Syria "depart immediately, given ongoing violence and a deteriorating security situation."
Meanwhile, Britain recalled its ambassador to Syria for "consultation," while also summoning the Syrian ambassador in London to the Foreign Office to hear a British protest over the violence.
On Monday, Obama told ABC News that "the Assad regime is feeling the noose tightening around them." Speaking on the "Today" show, Obama said that "we're going to just continue to put more and more pressure until hopefully we see a transition."
While threatening Damascus with further sanctions and diplomatic isolation, Obama made clear that the United States had no appetite for military intervention like the NATO bombing campaign that helped toppled Libya's Muammar Gadhafi last year. White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday said there “are telltale signs that Assad's future is very limited at best.”
“Those who voted against the resolution (at the UN Security Council) need to realize that betting everything on Assad is a recipe forfailure, not just for the interests of those countries, but for the stability of the region and for Syria's future,” he said.
The U.S. Embassy in Syria has been a point of controversy both in Washington and in Damascus for a while.
When President Obama nominated Robert Ford in 2010 as the first U.S. ambassador to Syria in five years, he was accused of pandering to Assad's regime. As a result, the nomination got stuck at the Senate, and Obama had to circumvent the Senate with a recess appointment.
But Ford's audacious behavior after protests broke out in Syria - meeting with opposition leaders, visiting grieving families and cities under government forces attack - changed the atmosphere in Congress. Suddenly, with the absence of real leverage to influence the Syrian regime, Ford was the most visible symbolic expression of U.S. support for the Syrian people, fighting for their rights.
When the Senate became convinced that Ford was a source of annoyance to the Syrian regime rather than a "prize," his appointment was confirmed.
Being in Syria, however, became increasingly unsafe for American and other foreign diplomats. The embassy building, ambassador's residence and diplomats themselves were attacked and harassed several times by mobs.
In October last year Ford was recalled from Syria due to the "credible threats" to his safety, only to return later to "pick up where he left off, continuing to meet with opposition leaders,” as State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland defined it.
On Monday, Nuland said that Ford will head a Syria team in the U.S.
"The expectation is that Ambassador Ford will continue to maintain the contacts that he has broadly across Syrian society, but particularly with Syrian opposition, so that we can make sure that the Syrian people know that we stand with them and their desire for a democratic future," Nuland said.

Obama signs executive order freezing Iran assets in US
AFP/Washington tightens financial vise imposed on Islamic Republic over nuclear program. New order effectively blacklists all Iranian financial institutions under US jurisdiction . US President Barack Obama ordered on Monday new sanctions against Iran, including its central bank, seeking to tighten the chokehold on Tehran's economy as a nuclear showdown deepens. Obama signed an executive order implementing parts of a new sanctions passed by Congress late last year. The measures block all property and interests of the Iranian government, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and all Iranian financial institutions that come within US jurisdiction. Previously, US institutions were required to reject, rather than block, such Iranian transactions. The measures, passed with wide majorities in Congress last year, also included a requirement for Obama to impose sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with the CBI or other Iranian finance firms.
That move was designed to strangle Iran's access to foreign finance and commerce and to cripple its lucrative oil and energy industry by effectively barring foreign firms that do business with Tehran from the US financial system. Obama's action, however, does not implement those sanctions, but the Treasury Department warned that firms doing business with Iran "remain at risk" of US punishments. The president has the power to issue waivers to halt the impact of such sanctions, once they come into force, every 120 days. Senior White House officials are currently studying the measures passed by Congress to find a way to implement them that maximizes pain for Iran, but does not cause a huge spike in oil prices, for instance, that could harm the fragile US economic recovery.*Yitzhak Benhorin, in Washington, contributed to this report

Obama still tries to stop Israeli Iran strike. West confronts Iran in Syria
http://www.debka.com/article/21714/
DEBKAfile Special Report February 6, 2012/ US President Barack Obama, by asserting Sunday, Feb. 5, he doesn't think Israel has made a decision on whether to attack Iran, indicated he preferred to keep Israel back from military action and set aside as a strategic reserve, while at the same time using the broad presumption of Jerusalem's assault plans to intimidate Iran into opting for diplomatic talks on its nuclear program.
To this end, the president directly contradicted Defense Secretary Leon Panetta's statement six days earlier that he expected Israel to strike Iran in April, May or June.
In Israel, no knowledgeable source any longer doubts that the Netanyahu government has already reached a decision. It was instantly assumed that Maj. Gen. Amir Eshel, whose appointment as the next Israeli Air Force commander was announced Sunday, would lead the coming operation against Iran. Obama also said, "We are going to be sure we work in lockstep as we proceed to try to solve this – hopefully diplomatically." debkafile's analysts report that by "lockstep" he meant the role to which he had assigned Israel in the massive disinformation contest underway between the West and Iran. Tehran responded to this verbal assault with one of its own, publishing a paper which suggested for the first time that Iran would not wait to be attacked but was preparing pre-emptive action of its own against Israel. The paper spoke of a surprise missile offensive targeting Israel's military installations, which were said to be concentrated between Kiryat Gat and the South, and the central Lod-Modiin district in the center, which Iran considers to be the soft urban-military belly of Israel.
Two features stood out from the verbiage of the last 24 hours:
1. Iran has no intention whatsoever of abandoning its drive for a nuclear bomb. According to the information in Israeli hands, its program has passed the point of no return and capable of producing a weapon whenever its rulers so decide. This situation, American and Israeli leaders year after year had vowed to avert.
Iran underscored its negative on diplomacy by contemptuously refusing the IAEA inspectors visiting the country this week access to any of its nuclear facilities.
2. The US-led confrontation against Iran by Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar has made Syria a major hub of the conflict, especially since the Russian-Chinese blockage Saturday of their UN Security Council motion to remove President Bashar Assad and end his brutal crackdown.
Israel has no role in this clash of wills, and President Obama is doing his best to keep Israel on the sidelines of the Iran controversy too, while he continues to angle for nuclear dialogue.
He was supported in this course by the veteran ex-diplomat Thomas R. Pickering who wrote in the New York Times on Feb. 2 that US relations with Iran remind him of the old Afghan adage: "If you deal in camels, make sure the doors are high" – meaning that to strike a deal, both President Obama and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would have to make concessions.
Obama's latest words indicate he is willing; Khamenei shows the opposite tendency.
Israel could if it so decided upset this unequal diplomatic applecart before it started rolling by a surprise attack on Iran without prior notice to Washington.
For the Obama administration the Security Council defeat was a major policy setback on top of reversals in Cairo.
Tehran in contrast was buoyed up by what it saw as the lifebelt Moscow and Beijing cast to rescue the Assad regime, for now at least, from the onslaught of its enemies and the stabilization of their Mediterranean flank to the west and direct front against Israel.
The Syrian ruler's fall would rob Tehran of its most powerful military ally for taking on Israel without direct Iranian involvement. It would also cause the Lebanese Hizballah's disempowerment as a military force. Severance of its geographic link to Tehran via Syria would expose the Shiite militia to Western and Arab diplomatic pressure and an Israeli attack.
Sunday, Feb. 5, Tehran followed up with a large-scale, three-week long military exercise in southern Iran opposite the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Ocean. The Iranians were showing Washington that after stabilizing their Syrian front, they were braced for any military surprises the US or Israeli might spring on their most vulnerable region.
Monday, Feb. 6, opposition sources reported that the Syrian army had redoubled its deadly artillery and mortar offensive against Homs and, for the first time, bombarded the national financial and business capital of Aleppo. French sources reported Syrian armored cars were attacking Zabadani between Damascus and the Lebanese border.
If all these reports are confirmed, it would mean that Bashar Assad is taking ruthless advantage of the respite granted him by the Russian and Chinese Security Council veto to stamp out the uprising against him once and for all.
On the diplomatic front Monday, the US-led Western and Arab camp was reported to be pushing hard for the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Internal Security chief Mikhail Fradkov to use their visit to Damascus Tuesday and compel Assad to abandon his brutal attacks, pull his troops out of Syrian towns and step down.
To this end, the Western-Arab bloc is trying to set up another Council session before the end of the week – hopefully to reverse its contretemps of Saturday.
The Six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers meet in Riyadh this week for another round of consultations on the Syrian crisis after the Security Council fiasco and failed attempt to deploy monitors in the war-stricken country. The West is also threatening to supply the rebels with heavy weaponry, at the risk of an escalation to full-scale civil war. This is an indirect admission that only light arms were given the anti-Assad forces until now. By boosting rebel strength, the West would tell Moscow that tolerance for the Assad regime to continue to rule Syria had dropped to zero.
The Russians are being called upon to back away from their support for Assad and reverse the policy which actuated their veto vote at the Security Council. Whether or not this is realistic will become known as the week unfolds.

Israeli Incoming IAF chief:, Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel  Iran is our top concern
Yoav Zitun/Ynetnews
Maj.-Gen. Amir Eshel said in rare speech last month that nuclear Iran would trigger arms race in Middle East, and should be addressed strategically before all other conflicts. The escalating public discourse over the possibility of a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities has put a magnifying glass on incoming IAF Chief Major-General Amir Eshel's stance on the issue.
Eshel, whose IAF appointment was announced Monday, seldom expresses his opinion publically – all the more so since becoming the head of the IDF's Plans and Policy Directorate in 2008.
But in a rare speech made last month at the Jerusalem Center for Public affairs, Eshel stressed that while the decision to launch an airstrike on the Islamic Republic is left up to the political echelon, Iran is Israel's primary concern. Iran is above everything, and it must be taken into account, strategically, before the others," he said. "A nuclear Iran would cause a mighty change in the region. It would trigger an arms race in the Middle East. I'm sure that other nations in the region will attempt to obtain such weapons as well. "It could create a situation that leads to a global nuclear jungle," he added. "This is not an official assessment, but the first lesson that leaders in the Middle East learned from the Arab Spring is that they should obtain nuclear weapons ... Who would have dared to question (Gaddafi) or Saddam Hussein if they had atom weapons?"
Eshel raised the concern that a nuclear Iran could embolden terror groups that operate with the Islamic Republic's backing, including Hamas and Hezbollah – a development that would restrict the IDF in Gaza and Lebanon.  Iran precedes Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
He argued that the Iranian issue even trumps Israel's conflict with the Palestinians, saying that an agreement with the PA won't bring peace to the region.
"Even if Israel and the Palestinians sign a peace accord tomorrow, it won't solve the other problems or the Iranian issue," he said. "An agreement with them won't create a paradise in the Middle East. I don't belittle the issue, but if (the agreement) isn't based on solid security arrangements, it won't last."
Eshel noted that as per the government's order, the IDF supports the Palestinian apparatuses in the West Bank.
"We take many risks in order to help the Palestinians build better lives with a better economy," he said. "But if we make a mistake here, there won't be a second chance. This is why we are so determined (to reach an accord), because we already tried in 1993 and in 2000."
In his speech, Eshel accused the regime in Tehran of running a terrorist state.
"Everyday Iran is fighting everyone, not only through terror but also through economic means," he said.
Eshel voiced pessimism regarding the outcomes of the turmoil in the surrounding countries, noting that "our estimation that the revolutions would be taken over by other movements have come true."
"If the economic issues aren't addressed, a downturn is inevitable," he said. "The Muslim Brotherhood's influence in Egypt could spread to the region, including Jordan, Syria and the Palestinian Authority."
He warned that Syria's chemical and biological weapons could fall into the hands of terror groups, noting that the country's air force armament poses a challenge to the IAF.
"Syria has invested over $2 billion in its air force over the past two years," he said. "We haven't seen anything like it in the past two decades. They invested great funds in order to undermine our aerial superiority."

Muslim-Christian Summit Urges Unity and Nationalistic Rhetoric
by Naharnet /Muslim and Christian clergymen, who met at the Beirut Maronite Archbishopric on Tuesday, urged officials in Lebanon to unite and adopt a nationalistic rhetoric.
The leaders of Lebanon’s sects said in a statement following their summit that their meeting should be considered as an example for interfaith meetings in the region. They urged “officials in Lebanon to be in agreement for the sake of peace and stability in Lebanon and the unity of its people.”The clergymen also “called for a unified stance and a nationalistic rhetoric at a time when Lebanon and the region are going through these difficult and complicated times.”The summit was held at the invitation of Beirut Maronite Archbishop Boulos Matar in honor of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi who is on his second visit to Beirut parishes since he was elected in March last year.He kicked off his tour on Saturday. The patriarch will preside over a mass at the St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut on the occasion of St. Maroun Day on Thursday.Al-Rahi will also travel to Cyprus on a three-day visit on Friday.All the heads of sects attended the summit except for Grand Mufti Mohammed Rashid Qabbani who tasked the secretary of Dar al-Fatwa, Sheikh Amin al-Kurdi, to represent him because he is recuperating after a surgery in his back.The patriarch will also travel to Cyprus on a three-day visit on Friday.

Future bloc MP Khaled Daher welcomes army deployment along border
February 7, 2012 /Future bloc MP Khaled Daher on Tuesday welcomed the decision to deploy the Lebanese army along the northern border with Syria.“We welcome the Lebanese army wherever it deploys, but we hope it will carry out its duties and protect the citizens. [We hope] it will not allow the Syrian regime to violate Lebanese sovereignty,” Daher told LBC television. Daher also said that “Sunday, a Syrian refugee was kidnapped from Lebanon and handed over to the Syrian intelligence services.”On Saturday, the Lebanese army finished deploying its contingent to the northern towns of Wadi Khaled and Akroum. The UN says more than 6,000 people have been killed in the crackdown on Syrian protesters who have been demonstrating against the Baath regime since March 2011. Thousands have fled into Lebanon in recent months.-NOW Lebanon

Geagea: Govt. Dispute Linked to Syrian Crisis
by Naharnet /Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea noted on Tuesday that the current government deadlock is linked to some sides in cabinet that “have never been productive.”
He told Voice of Lebanon radio: “The deadlock is also linked to the crisis in Syria.”He made this statement without further elaboration, adding however that the sides in government that have caused the dispute “do not have a plan for reform and change.” He made this remark in reference to the ministers of the Change and Reform bloc. The government crisis erupted last week when Prime Minister Najib Miqati suspended a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace over an ongoing dispute over the issue of administrative appointments.The suspension was prompted when Free Patriotic Movement ministers walked out from the session. Geagea continued that these sides’ government agenda is linked to the Resistance, “which has therefore crippled the government.”
“The situation will not change seeing as the dispute centers on the distribution of power in Lebanon,” he predicted. Addressing the Syrian crisis, the LF leader described the developments as “unacceptable”, adding that the conflict will not have any repercussions on Lebanon if the government properly tackles the situation. He therefore called on the government to deploy the Lebanese army along the border with Syria. Geagea condemned some of authorities’ treatment of Syrian refugees, noting that supporters of the Syrian regime are receiving preferential treatment by these forces, while opposition members are being persecuted.“Lebanese authorities have no business in labeling the Syrians as supporters of the regime or others as opposed to it,” he stressed.
Furthermore, he noted that the Syrian people have become victim to strategic interests, as demonstrated in China and Russia’s veto of a U.N. Security Council draft resolution on Syria.
Thousands of Syrian refugees have fled to Lebanon amid a deadly crackdown on a popular revolt against President Bashar Assad’s 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 hamper army defectors and refugees from fleeing. Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat on Monday urged the Lebanese state to “aid the Syrian refugees” instead of staging “airborne military parades in the northern border areas.”The Lebanese army deployed on Saturday in the northern border area of Wadi Khaled after media outlets reported that members of the rebel Free Syrian Army were present in the region.

Israel spy trial for 3 Lebanese postponed
February 07, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Lebanese authorities Tuesday postponed the espionage trial of former Lebanese Army officer Adib al-Alam and his wife till Feb.14.
The postponement came after Alam’s wife, Hayat Saloumi, failed to appear in court as expected. The Military Court under Brig. Gen. Nizar Khalil also postponed the spy trial of Nicola Habib, who remains at large. Authorities gave no explanation for the postponements. Alam, who ran a housekeeping service in Beirut that he allegedly used as a front, was arrested in April 2011 along with his wife and nephew, Joseph Alam. Under interrogation, they confessed to having spied for Israel for over 15 years. Alam's arrest was reportedly key in authorities' ultimately successful attempt to unravel a network of spies created by Israel with the intention of establishing a “database” of information on Hezbollah.

Lebanese-German arrested for espionage
February 07, 2012 / Agencies /BERLIN: German police arrested a Lebanese-German man and a Syrian man on suspicion of spying on Syrian opposition groups in Germany at the behest of Syrian intelligence, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. The Federal Prosecutors' Office said some 70 police officers searched the two suspects' apartments and those of six alleged accomplices.
They say a 34-year-old Syrian, identified only as Mahmoud El A., and a 47-year-old German-Lebanese dual national, Akram O., are suspected of "having spied over several years on Syrian opposition figures in Germany." Prosecutors say the arrests and searches are the result of an "extensive" investigation by Germany's domestic intelligence service.
No further details were given and the investigation remains ongoing. The two suspects taken into custody will appear before a judge Wednesday who will present them with warrants for their arrest issued on January 31, Agence France Press reported. "They are strongly suspected of regularly spying on Syrian opposition figures in Germany for the Syrian intelligence service for several years," AFP quoted the prosecutor's statement as saying.

11 Iranian pilgrims freed in Syria
Tehran February 07, 2012/ Daily Star/TEHRAN: Eleven Iranian pilgrims recently abducted in restive Syria have been freed, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday without speaking of the fate of more than a dozen other captive Iranians there. "With the aid of friendly countries... 11 pilgrims have been released," foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in his regular weekly briefing, without giving further details. The 11 were among 22 Iranian Shiite pilgrims who were kidnapped in Syria since late December. Separately, another seven Iranians, described as engineers, were abducted near the central flashpoint city of Homs, also in December. The rebel Free Syrian Army last month claimed it was holding five Iranian military officers in Homs. It was not clear whether the five referred to were among the seven abducted engineers or were a separate group. Mehmanparast gave no indication as to the conditions of these other captive Iranians. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians travel to Syria each year to visit a Shiite holy site, the Sayyidah Zaynab Mosque, in southern Damascus. Iran's passport and immigration service last week banned Iranians from going to Syria by road to reduce the risk of further abductions. Syria, Iran's principal ally in the Middle East, is roiled by a near year-long uprising that has seen more than 6,000 people killed, according to human rights groups.

Syrian forces bombard Homs, Lavrov arrives for talks
AMMAN, (Reuters) - Syrian forces renewed their bombardment of Homs on Tuesday as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Damascus for talks aimed at pressing President Bashar al-Assad to end a bloody crackdown on a popular revolt and carry out reforms. Activists said the fresh assault on Homs came after 95 people were killed on Monday in the city of one million people, a hub of protest and armed opposition against Assad. More than 200 were reported killed there on Friday night. "The bombardment is again concentrating on Baba Amro (district of Homs). A doctor tried to get in there this morning but I heard he was wounded," Mohammad al-Hassan, an activist in Homs, told Reuters by satellite phone. "There is no electricity and all communication with the neighborhood has been cut."
Authorities say the military is fighting "terrorists" in Homs bent on dividing and sabotaging the country. State media said "tens" of terrorists and six members of the security forces were killed in clashes there on Monday. Lavrov and Russian Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov arrived in Damascus to meet Assad, the foreign ministry in Moscow said, three days after a Russian-Chinese veto of an Arab-backed U.N. resolution on Syria caused outrage. Moscow and Beijing were the only members of the 15-member U.N. Security Council to vote against the resolution backing an Arab League call for Assad to yield power and start a political transition. The double veto prompted unusually undiplomatic Western criticism, which Lavrov said verged on "hysteria."
At Tuesday's talks, Russia could wield rare leverage with Syrian officials thanks to longtime political and military ties.
Russia's foreign ministry said Lavrov and Fradkov went to Damascus because Moscow sought "the swiftest stabilization of the situation in Syria on the basis of the swiftest implementation of democratic reforms whose time has come."
Syrian state television showed hundreds of people gathering on a main Damascus highway to welcome Lavrov. They were waving Syrian, Russian and Hezbollah flags and held up two Russian flags made out of hundreds of red, white and blue balloons. Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told Reuters he spoke to Lavrov on Monday and said the foreign minister would present an initiative to Damascus. Asked if he thought it could end the crisis, he replied: "They believe so."
Russia, seeking to retain a foothold in the Middle East centered on its strategic ties with Damascus, may be torn between trying to shore up Assad and seeking his exit. It also could take a middle path, trying to buy time by counseling the government to make some concessions and reduce the bloodshed.
"I think that now, after Russia imposed a veto, Lavrov (is) travelling to tell Assad that we did everything possible," said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of the journal Russia in Global Affairs.
"Now the main task for Lavrov is to tell Assad that if there is no visible change in Syria, then regardless of the Russian position he should be bracing for external military measures," Lukyanov said.
Russia argued that Saturday's draft U.N. resolution was one-sided and would have amounted to taking the side of Assad's opponents in a civil war. China's veto of the measure followed Russia's lead, analysts and diplomats said. Catherine al-Talli, a senior member of the opposition Syrian National Council, said the military assault on Homs appeared to be designed to show Moscow that Assad was in control and could serve until his term expires in 2014. "Assad needs to look strong in front of the Russians. He has not managed to control Homs since the eruption of the uprising (11 months ago) and now that he has seen that he faces no real threat from the international community, it appears that he wants to finish off the city," Talli said.
U.S. CLOSES EMBASSY
Assad has pledged political reforms including a new constitution followed by a parliamentary election, but has also pledged to crush "terrorists" he blames for the violence.
Syria's opposition, which rejected a Russian invitation for talks with Syrian officials in Moscow, says Assad's promises of reforms have been discredited by his continued crackdown on protests, in which the U.N. says 5,000 people have been killed. The United States shut its embassy and said all staff had left Syria due to worsening security in the country, which has also been hit by suicide bombings in Damascus. Belgium and Britain recalled their ambassadors from Syria, and London said it would seek further European Union sanctions against the country. Japan said it was considering reducing the number of its diplomatic staff in Damascus. U.S. President Barack Obama said that, however hard Western countries are prepared to lean on Assad diplomatically, they still had no intention of using force to topple him, as they did against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year. "I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that's possible," he told NBC's Today show. A chorus of European officials condemned Russia and China over their double veto in terms unusually harsh by diplomatic norms and said they would bear responsibility for future bloodshed. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto a "travesty." Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim, who heads the Arab League's ministerial committee on the Syrian crisis, told Al Jazeera he was shocked by Moscow and Beijing's decision and called for "clear steps to stop the bloodbath in Syria." Clinton said on Sunday the United States would work with other nations to try to tighten sanctions against Assad's government and deny it arms in the absence of a U.N. resolution.

Al-Assad steps up deadly crack down
Asharq Al-Awsat
Beirut, Asharq Al-Awsat -- While the Syrian city of Homs was recovering from the terrible massacre perpetrated by the Syrian regime in Al-Khalidiyah district, the town of Daraya in Rif Dimashq came under a fierce attack which targeted those participating in the funeral of the victims of the "Sorry Hamah, forgive us" Friday. Security forces opened fire and claimed the lives of 17 participants and wounded 80, according to activists who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat.
This massacre coincided with an all-out assault by the Syrian security forces on the town. The Daraya Coordination Committee for the Syrian Revolution reported on its "Facebook" page that the security forces "stormed Daraya from the bakery roundabout side toward the corniche with Cobra machineguns and erected a roadblock for the shabbihah in the area. These groups opened heavy fire at the automatic bakery areas and Al-Dahadil road. Security reinforcements also entered Daraya in two groups through Martyr Ghiyath Matar Street (previously Al-Madamiyah) and the second group entered in the afternoon and this was made up of two trucks of shabbihah and elements from security officer Jameel Hasan in addition to four antiaircraft guns.
The Daraya Coordination Committee said in its report that "snipers were deployed on buildings since the morning and the regime's shabbihah erected a roadblock on Al-Dahadil Road and another at Al-Maamil road in addition to third at Al-Radwan Hospital. They insulted the citizens, forced them to undress, and enforced a curfew through the extensive deployment of the shabbihah in the road and the shooting that anything which moved." Video clips published by the committee documented the raid and the names of those killed by the security men and regular army were also published.
An activist linked the "Homs massacre perpetrated by Al-Assad's forces at dawn last Saturday to the Daraya assault operation" and stressed that "the majority of the population of Daraya, which is situated around 8 km from Damascus and is the largest town in Al-Ghawtah al-Gharbiyah and its main center, are from Arab tribes that came from Homs and settled in the town which makes them targeted more than any other area in Rif Dimashq."
The activist told Asharq Al-Awsat that "Daraya's citizens have demonstrated peacefully since the start of the revolution till now. The town is one of the early centers of the revolution and the size of its demonstrations varied and reached on (Good) Friday in April last year 15,000 demonstrators, three of whom were martyred and 40,000 took part in their funerals the next day." He added: "The security elements were absent from the town for some time and demonstrations spread after which it was placed under tight security blockade and subjected to a continuous human attrition in the form of daily arrests." He said "there are around 600 detainees known by their names and the overall number of Daraya detainees is likely to reach 1,000."
The activist, who has watched all the moves in Daraya since the start of the Syrian uprising, went on to say that "faced with this direct occupation, the youths resorted to "mobile demonstrations. They assemble at a point they agree on, shout their slogans, and disperse quickly before the regime's forces and shabbihah attack them." He pointed out that "Daraya restored its protest momentum after the uprising took root in the Rif Dimashq Governorate and got its share of Al-Assad's repression."
Daraya's population divides the work between orchards and furniture making and it is famous for its non-violence policy against the Syrian regime. Most of its activists are students of Sheikh Jawdat Said and influenced by his school which is the non-violent interpretation of Islam and he is considered an important figure in Syria known for his political stands opposed to the Syrian regime.
The majority of its population is Sunnis and there is a Christian minority and from it came the idea of distributing water and roses to the soldiers loyal to Al-Assad. Ghiyath Matar, the non-violent activist who organized the peaceful protests in the town, became prominent which prompted the air intelligence apparatus to arrest him, remove his larynx, and returned him a corpse to his family.

What can the Gulf do for the Syrians?
By Tariq Alhomayed
Asharq Al-Awsat
The Gulf ministerial meeting convenes early next week to discuss the Syrian crisis, after the failure to transfer the Arab decision to the Security Council, following the Russian and Chinese veto. The meeting comes at a time when Syria is witnessing an escalation in bloodshed at the hands of al-Assad’s forces, so what can the Gulf do?
High level Gulf sources say that the Gulf cannot stand by and watch the crimes happening in Syria. A Gulf minister said: “I feel disgusted, as an official first and foremost and not as a citizen. We must make a move.” Another official said: “All options are on the table, the Security Council is not the be all and end all”. Here it is important to note the statement issued yesterday by the Saudi Council of Ministers, which said: “The failure of the deliberations of the Security Council to take a decision in support of the Arab initiative should not prevent (all parties concerned) from taking decisive steps to protect innocent lives, stop the bloodshed and the violence in Syria that threatens dire consequences for the Syrian people and the stability of the region”. A Saudi official also revealed: “Firstly, [Syria’s ambassador to the UN] al-Jaafari should feel ashamed when he mocks the United Nations and Saudi Arabia. We are not exporting democracy, we are saying in simple language: Stop the killing. Is this difficult to understand?”
This is the mood in the Gulf, at the highest levels. As for the details, a Gulf minister said that a request has been made for the meeting to be held on Sunday morning in Cairo, not on Saturday, and Riyadh has been informed of that. The minister elaborated on the goal of the ministerial meeting, saying: “we want to enter the meeting room as Gulf representatives, and leave with a unified position. We will ask the Arab ministers to make their historic choice”. He added “we want a unified Gulf stance…we want to speak with one voice!” The Gulf States already did so in their recent meeting in Cairo, which resulted in the Arab initiative. On that day, a Gulf foreign minister threatened that unless there was an Arab consensus then the Gulf members would leave the room. The subsequent vote was unanimous.
However, what was remarkable, even for the Gulf states, was Nabil el-Araby’s recent performance in the Security Council, where it seemed as if he was emptying the Arab initiative of its content, saying that the Arabs do not want foreign military intervention, not even to overthrow al-Assad. Regarding this, a Gulf minister said: “Everyone is unsatisfied with Nabil el-Araby!” There is also resentment at the way in which el-Araby addressed the issue of going to the Security Council, which was considered hasty and without “being equipped with the groundwork for success”, according to the Gulf official.
Thus, according to high level sources, the Gulf’s options are to return to the Security Council again, especially after having considered the details of the Russian visit to Damascus today. According to a Gulf official, the Russian veto was merely an attempt to buy time for this visit. Another option is to expel al-Assad’s ambassadors from the Gulf States, taking two things into account: “Should we then recognize the Syrian National Council? Who will look after the interests of the Syrians in the Gulf?” The third option is to intensify sanctions, taking into account how to address the problem of Lebanon and Jordan, and the issue of Egyptian gas being exported to Syria.
In summary, it is unlikely that the ceiling will be raised substantially [in the forthcoming Gulf ministerial meeting], but the objective of the meeting is to create “leverage” for the Arab decisions towards Syria, especially as Gulf officials are saying that “all options are on the table, the Security Council is not the be all and end all”!

Pursuing al-Assad in New York
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
It is an illusion to believe that the Security Council, in its current state, could grant legitimacy to the overthrow of the Syrian regime. It is yet another illusion to think that the Arab League decision, even before it was vetoed by Russia and China at the Security Council, could change politics in Syria.
The key solution lies not in New York, but in two other locations; namely Cairo and Damascus. The Arab League could punish the Syrian regime, for the mass killings clearly committed against its civilians, by ousting it from the pan-Arab organization and granting the Syrian opposition the right to represent the country. The Arab League, and not the Security Council, is the one that can grant legitimacy to the opposition, and then other organizations will follow. This is what happened in the face of Saddam Hussein’s regime after the occupation of Kuwait, and this is what the Arab League did in reaction to the crimes committed by Gaddafi’s troops when quelling the rebellious Libyan cities.
It is not true that the League's decision to transfer the matter to the Security Council, as some legal experts think, would permit the world to hunt the Syrian bear. On the contrary, the failure in New York has granted al-Assad the legitimacy to stay. Furthermore, it has given the Syrian regime extra weeks and months to carry on its killings and destruction, and sufficient time and legal controversy to maintain itself.
The failed decision was based on an Arab League plan that was already full of faults. It proposed for a government headed by both the regime and opposition, but it did not state what exactly was meant by “opposition”. Accordingly, this ambiguity means that the argument will drag on for months inside the corridors of the Arab League. Syria and its allies, Iran and Russia, have identified - by name - the opposition groups that they would be prepared to recognize, largely consisting of their loyalists.
Secondly, the Arab League plan didn’t adequately explain the responsibilities of the new government. For example who would run the defence, interior, foreign and finance ministries, and moreover who would be in charge of the intelligence agencies? This would take an eternity to resolve.
Even the text of the Arab plan was written in an ambiguous and contradictory manner. The Arab League stipulated that President al-Assad should transfer his powers to his deputy and, accordingly, relinquish his authority. In reality, this would not be the case. The written text states that “the President should delegate to his deputy full powers, in complete cooperation with a government of national unity, to carry out duties during the transitional period.” This effectively means that Bashar al-Assad would authorize his deputy to cooperate with the opposition in a power-sharing government. This is an authorization for the opposition to “cooperate”, not to rule the country.
The President of Syria holds very different powers to that of the government. The former is responsible for managing the security and military apparatus, while the government runs service ministries such as health, agriculture, transportation and so on. And after all this it is likely that the “government of national unity” would be comprised of individuals from the opposition who are affiliated to al-Assad anyway. But say I am wrong, and the Arab League and al-Assad together actually formed a power-sharing government with the real opposition, the question is still who would run what?
I believe the Arab League is being bullied by the supporters of the Syrian regime; namely governments like Algeria, Sudan and Iraq. It fears criticism due to the false campaign being mounted against any kind of international intervention, even though this saved the Libyan people. This is what happened in Cairo, where most Arab League members simply looked down and bowed to the amendments being made, which effectively blunted the Arab plan, and transformed it from a rope to hang the regime to a lifeline to save it, unfortunately.
The Arab League should expel al-Assad’s regime as a member state, as a first step, and it should explicitly support the Syrian people in their right to defend themselves. These two steps are enough to change the situation on the ground, and convince the international community to follow the path of the Arab League. Afterwards, Arab governments and organizations will find the means to confront the atrocities of the Syrian regime. Most Arab governments still have operating embassies in Damascus, and Bashar al-Assad’s ambassadors are still working as usual in their nineteen embassies across the Arab world. Bearing this in mind, how can the Security Council be expected to halt the al-Assad massacres?

New U.S. sanctions on Iran aim to head off Israel
 February 07, 2012 /By Anne Gearan/Daily Star
WASHINGTON: Additional U.S. sanctions on Iran are more significant for their timing than their immediate effect on Iran's economy, coming as the United States and its allies are arguing that Israel should hold off on any military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities to allow more time for sanctions to work. The U.S. ordered tough new penalties Monday to give U.S. banks additional powers to freeze assets linked to the Iranian government and close loopholes that officials say Iran has used to move money despite earlier restrictions imposed by the U.S. and Europe.
Like previous economic penalties, these are intended to persuade Iran to back off what the West contends is a drive to build a nuclear bomb. Israel increasingly is concerned that sanctions will never be enough to make Iran drop what has become a national priority for a clerical regime that has vowed to wipe Israel off the map.
The faster and more effectively the sanctions can be seen to work, the better the case to shelve any plan by Israel to bomb Iran, a preemptory move that could ignite a new Mideast war. Taking this initial step against the Iranian Central Bank, the first time the U.S. has directly gone after that major institution, is one way the Obama administration can show momentum now.
In Tehran, Ramin Mehmanparast, the foreign ministry spokesman, dismissed the sanctions as "propaganda." He said Iran's central bank has no financial transactions with the United States and would not be affected by the measures. "Many of these (U.S.) activities are in the sphere of psychological war and propaganda, and they cannot affect our work," he said. Israeli officials have been open about their worry that Iran could be on the brink of a bomb by this summer and that this spring offers the last window of opportunity to destroy bomb-related facilities. Many Israeli officials believe that sanctions only give Iran time to move its nuclear program underground, out of reach of Israeli military strikes.
Israel considers Iran to be its most dangerous enemy and has vowed to prevent it from going nuclear.
Israel's hawkish foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, was in Washington this week and will meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday. He refused questions following a meeting on Capitol Hill on Monday, and an Israeli official in Jerusalem said the country's prime minister has told Cabinet members not to be so outspoken about the possibility of attacking Iran. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a closed meeting.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself often has commented about keeping all options on the table in dealing with Iran. The new, stricter sanctions, authorized in legislation that President Barack Obama signed in December, will be enforced under an order he signed only now. The U.S. and Europe want to deprive Iran of the oil income it needs to run its government and pay for the nuclear program. But many experts believe Iran will be able to find other buyers outside Europe. The European Union announced last month it would ban the import of Iranian crude oil starting in July. The U.S. doesn't buy Iranian oil, but last month it placed sanctions on Iran's banks to make it harder for the nation to sell crude. The U.S., however, has delayed implementing those sanctions for at least six months because it is worried about sending oil prices higher at a time when the world economy is struggling. Iran exports about 3 percent of the world's oil. White House spokesman Jay Carney denied that Monday's unexpected announcement of new banking sanctions was a sign of heightened worry about an Israeli attack.
"There has been a steady increase in our sanctions activity and this is part of that escalation," he said.
Carney said U.S. sanctions on Iran already are squeezing Iran's economy and have exacerbated tensions within the Iranian leadership. "There is no question that the impact of the isolation on Iran and the economic sanctions on Iran have caused added turmoil within Iran," he said.Iran is the world's third-largest exporter of crude oil, giving its leaders financial resources and leverage to withstand outside pressure. Last year, Iran generated $100 billion in revenue from oil, up from $20 billion a decade ago, according to IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm. If Iranian oil is prevented from getting to market, other suppliers could make up the difference. The U.S. has been pressuring other Middle East and African nations to step up production for sale to Europe. Saudi Arabia has said it could increase production to make up for any lost Iranian crude. Iran's disputed nuclear program became a global concern more than five years ago, when the extent of the country's research and uranium enrichment began to be known. Since then a web of international economic and other sanctions have failed to stop Iran's progress toward a point when it could build one or more nuclear devices.
U.S. intelligence agencies say Iran is indeed close to that ability but has not yet decided to go ahead. Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and denounces sanctions as aggression.
The White House previously had said it would take months to evaluate the likely effect on the fragile global economy before taking the next large steps, including new penalties on the Central Bank.
Now, U.S. institutions are required to seize any Iranian state assets they come across, rather than rejecting the transaction involved.
The value of Iranian assets affected by the new order was not clear. Iran does almost no direct business with the United States after three decades of enmity, but its money moves through the world financial system and its oil is sold in dollars.

West, Arab states must move to stop Assad's violence
Haaretz Editorial
The only possible explanation for the conduct of China and Russia is the desire to prevent a Western 'takeover' of the Arab Spring, no matter the cost in human life.
Russia and China's veto of the UN Security Council resolution against Syria is in fact license for Syria's president to continue slaughtering his citizens with impunity. The veto makes eminently clear how weak the international community is when it comes to people who are trying to free themselves from the dictator's burden and who dream of democracy and a fair life.
China and Russia's rejection of the resolution despite the terrible slaughter in Homs and despite changes made in the resolution to satisfy those two countries is nothing less than a spit in the face of Syria's citizens. Their move makes the two superpowers full partners in the acts of murder.
The members of the protest movement in Syria waited a long time before they asked for help from the international community. Like their counterparts in Egypt, they thought at first that dialogue with the existing regime might bring about reasonable reform. But instead of dialogue, they got more bullets and bombs.
Even the Arab League hesitated before deciding on the extraordinary step of suspending Syria's membership in that body and imposing economic sanctions. But even then, it left Assad with the opportunity to resolve the crisis by allowing Arab monitors to study the situation in his country. Assad mocked the Arab League's proposal and thwarted the monitors.
All through that period, Western countries made do with denouncing Syria and imposing weak sanctions on the pretext that they were waiting for the Arab League to approach them, as if legitimization was needed to act against a murderous ruler.
It is difficult to think of a good reason to veto a resolution that does not even call for Assad's removal, and is careful not to support outside intervention. The only possible explanation for their conduct is the desire to prevent a Western "takeover" of the Arab Spring, no matter the cost in human life.
In light of the miserable outcome of the United Nations deliberations, and considering the terrible number of casualties, we can only hope that the West, together with the Arab League, will be able to quickly formulate a new, much more aggressive policy that will put a stop to Assad's murderousness.

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.

When Israel is faced with 200,000 rockets
By Sefi Rachlevsky/Haaretz
A leadership that doesn't believe in deterrence should be arranging green cards for all its citizens.
There are currently 200,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel, according to Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aviv Kochavi. Thousands carrying heavy explosive warheads, and some chemical and biological ones, are aimed at Tel Aviv. And they are in the possession of people who are not exactly Israel's friends. In fact, most are religious extremists bordering on messianic.
So why aren't these missiles falling on our heads?
The Soviet Union could have destroyed the United States a hundred times over in recent decades; the United States could have destroyed the Soviet Union 180 times. But neither fired so much as a bullet directly at the other. The stormy '60s - with wonders such as the pill, Pop Art, sex, drugs and rock and roll - were playing out even as a hundredth of Russia's power could have wiped out America.
Whoever believes that credible deterrence can't work should be high-tailing it out of here, and fast. After all, 200,000 missiles are being pointed at him right now. Whoever fears an Islamic nuclear explosion should certainly be fleeing. Pakistan has had nuclear weapons for over a decade, and they could fall into the Taliban's hands at any moment. The idea that 66-year-old technology can be kept from someone who wants it badly is absurd. A leadership that doesn't believe in deterrence should be arranging green cards for all its citizens.
So why aren't they firing? For the same reason that Egypt and Syria stopped fighting during the Yom Kippur War. Because of strategic deterrence. Israel's enemies also want to live, even the religious extremists.
Is there something Israel can do in the face of this threat? Of course there is. Forty years of nuclear superiority, attributed to it by foreign sources, have been wasted by moving in the wrong direction. There have been too few stabilizing peace agreements on the basis of the 1967 borders, and too much delirious religious colonialism.
An Israel that would have pursued stabilization on the basis of the 1967 borders would have won regional acceptance, recognition from America for prompting deterrence, and also the shelter of NATO's nuclear umbrella. Such an Israel would have enjoyed honest Western support for any move, even attack, that it deemed necessary to protect itself.
But the Israeli government chose the opposite route. It decided that being the last colonial occupier on earth was a good move, and that to crush democracy and present itself as an extremist religious state - one that is racist and discriminates against women - was a terrific plan.
Israel seems to believe that the millions being spent on extremist candidates in the U.S. elections are a substitute for the broad international support for deterrence that the opposite policy would have created.
Well, guess what. It isn't.
Now that the facility in Qom is hidden under a mountain, thereby allowing Iran's nuclear project to easily recover from an attack, the Israeli leadership must decide whether having half of Tel Aviv destroyed by thousands of missiles in order to delay the development of an Iranian nuclear bomb for maybe a year is really such a bright idea.
Tel Aviv - the home of enemy-of-the-state Haaretz, and full of sex and not just alleged harassment, as in the holy bureau - may not be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's favorite place. But if he wants Israel to survive, he should probably do something else.
Netanyahu claims to admire former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Churchill came to power after Neville Chamberlain resigned because his policies failed. Netanyahu's policies, which are isolating Israel and turning it into a pariah, are the problem. They are the existential threat.
If Iran must be attacked, it can only be done by someone who has won the world's trust as a moderate, someone whose attack will not merely confirm his aggression toward the world, but will be viewed as true self-defense. Someone who the Iranians know for certain is backed, rather than opposed, with the full might of the Great Satan, America.
If Netanyahu doesn't want to step down, something must be done to get him out of the Prime Minister's Office before the war, or at least afterward. For this we need the correct, varied political architecture that will provide the necessary majority, and it must be prepared during these stormy days. The little extra details are important.
Former Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni contributed to former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's bloc of 61. Her clear, ideological Meretz helped him, after the missiles from Iraq, to remain detached and to pick up votes from the center.
The Meretz Council could also be very helpful now. A Meretz that is sharp, clear and conceptual - a Meretz of the '67 lines and of human rights - will not be the entire solution, but it will be a necessary condition. MK Zahava Gal-On (Meretz ) will not lead the transformation of power alone, but her election on Tuesday will be a harbinger of it.

What is permissible and what is not
Hazem Saghiyeh, February 6, 2012/Now Lebanon
The Lebanese authorities and government are entitled to justify their “neutral” stance on the Syrian crisis by invoking Lebanon’s traditional nature and the current nature of divisions in it. Indeed, the country cannot afford getting involved in an extraterritorial conflict in its immediate neighborhood. Furthermore, the Lebanese are equally split between those who support the Syrian uprising and those who support the Syrian regime. Since this division has taken place alongside sectarian ones, one may say that any conclusive stances—be they about support or opposition—threaten to undermine the country’s balance. This holds even more true knowing that pro-Syrian Hezbollah’s strength is way greater than that of the state and its army.
Regardless of one’s stance vis-à-vis the Lebanese authorities, one must say that based on the aforementioned considerations, some circles of power are keen to abide by neutrality. This explains why March 14 and March 8 hardliners, including those represented in the cabinet, are both displeased with President Michel Sleiman and PM Najib Mikati.
The above words represent an attempt at being objective, even as they contravene with the political convictions of the author of these line. They also contravene with what ethics dictate regarding a repressive regime that is indulging in bloodshed in Homs and calls for worldwide condemnation and boycott.
Yet in order for this “neutral” stance to be honest, balanced and somewhat respectable, it should coincide with constant principles pertaining to national sovereignty and international humanitarian laws and customs.
This brings up four important headlines:
First, Syrians fleeing their country should not be handed back to the Syrian regime, which is known for its oppressive character.
Second, no kidnappings—be they of Syrian or non-Syrian nationals—should be allowed to be perpetrated by any party whatsoever.
Third, it is absolutely necessary not to gloss over the Syrian troops’ violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty and borders under the pretext of going after suspects.
Fourth, it is necessary to provide all popular and peaceful activities in support of the Syrian uprising with protection. Of course, the same holds true for peaceful activities in support of the Syrian regime… even though they do not need any official protection.
Actually sticking to these headlines makes the policy of “keeping away” from the Syrian crisis becomes more acceptable and coherent. It also lays the foundations of traditions previously unheard of in Lebanon, traditions that are easier to establish given the current weakness of the Syrian regime so that they become, in the future, an acquired benefit for any Lebanese authority regardless of its political affiliations. The current official manner of dealing with the Syrian uprising since it started last March is, however, something else entirely.
This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Monday February 6, 2012

Calling in favors
February 6, 2012/Now Lebanon
As the eyes of the international community fall on a Syria that continues to spiral out of control, there are other rumors—founded or unfounded, it remains to be seen—that the region may be heading for another sideshow conflict in the shape of a unilateral Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. While such an event has been predicted for many years now, it would be a move of breathtaking silliness, should the Israelis actually carry it out, not least because, according to military analysts, it probably wouldn’t achieve its military aims; it would only foment greater regional instability, perhaps even offering a lifeline to the embattled Assad regime in Damascus. We are also in an American election year, and the last thing Israel’s main sponsor wants is a war as it heads to the polls.
Another side effect, a scenario on which almost everyone is agreed, is that an Israeli strike would draw an immediate military response from Iran’s regional proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah, with the latter expected to open up a front on Israel’s northern border. This in turn, we can safely assume, would draw an uncompromising response from the Israelis who, having been humiliated in the 2006 summer war, have made it clear that in the next “round” of fighting the gloves will come off, and the Lebanese government, now effectively run by Hezbollah, will, unlike in 2006, be held responsible for the act of aggression. Back then, with over 1,000 dead, 1 million displaced and billions of dollars in damage, the war was, in the famous words of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, a “divine victory.” One shudders at the prospect of a reversal. But that is neither here nor there. In 2006 it was Hezbollah, not the government, that dragged Lebanon—wittingly or unwittingly—into war, something that is often overlooked by the hysteria surrounding Israel’s clearly disproportionate response to the cross-border raid that triggered the conflict. The incident was a terrifying reality-check that the nation was hostage to the military ambitions of one party and there was very little we could, or can, do about it.
Since then, and since the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1701, a ruling that called for the eventual disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon, Hezbollah has made no secret of its ambitions to rearm in anticipation of a rematch. Party officials speak quite candidly, in private at least, that such an eventuality is not a case of “if” but “when.” The Israelis hold a similar sentiment. Both sides expect any outcome to be decisive, verging on the existential. It is a reality of political life in Lebanon today that Hezbollah will clearly never disarm simply because at least half the Lebanese feel that having a militia that operates outside the authority of the state is essentially a bad thing. We can only hope that, away from the fiery martial rhetoric, the Party of God will think long and hard before subjecting its constituents, let alone the rest of the country, to another terrifying war.
But the Iranian scenario throws up new calculations. Will an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities prompt Tehran to call in arguably the biggest favor of all? Given what’s at stake, it would be nice if Hezbollah told the Lebanese what it would do should such a scenario come to pass. Will it stand by its claim that it is essentially a nationalist Shia party with an Iranian-inspired ideology and promise that a military action over 2,000 kilometers to the east will not drag it into a war that might very well catapult Lebanon back to the stone age? Will it promise restraint? We have a right to know.
The likelihood is that Hezbollah will not allow itself to be cornered on such an issue. If pushed, the party would no doubt baffle us with half-speak, reinforce the total commitment of the Resistance to protecting Lebanese sovereignty and question the patriotism of anyone who thought otherwise. In the meantime, we continue to live in the knowledge that we could be taken to a war not of our making by a man who holds no public office and who takes his orders from the Iranian president.
When will we wake up?