Matthew 18 Who Is the Greatest

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 09/2012

Bible Quotation for today/Love for Enemies
Luke 06/27-36: "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone hits you on one cheek, let him hit the other one too; if someone takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to everyone who asks you for something, and when someone takes what is yours, do not ask for it back. Do for others just what you want them to do for you. If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount! No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful just as your Father is merciful."

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
A Hezbollah Crack-up/By LEE SMITH/January 08/12
The Syrian killing machine continues/By Tariq Alhomayed/January 08/12
Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party: our vision for the future/By: By Mohammed Mursi/January 08/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 08/12
Suspected Boko Haram Members Kill 3 Christian Poker Players in Nigeria
Iran crosses another nuclear red line. Fordo soon on stream
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta . US will respond if Iran blocks Strait of Hormuz
Ahmadinejad Heads to Latin America to Seek Support
Report: Iran begins enrichment at new site
Iran: Bushehr nuclear plant to reach full capacity by end of month
Arab ministers to discuss "toothless" Syria mission
Eleven Syrian troops killed in clashes with deserters, say activists
Arab League report “recommends Syrian monitors continue”
Arab League meets on Syria as peace mission stumbles
Arab League to discuss Syria mission amid fresh violence near border with Turkey
Report: Russian naval force arrives at Syria port in 'show of solidarity'
Syrian Lebanese mercenaries met in the Harissa Shrine
Future bloc MP Khaled Daher: Lebanon’s borders ‘under no control’
Wahhab to Mikati: ‘Leave us alone’
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahii Says Democratic State Should be Based on Advanced Social Contract
Lebanese Army Rejects Using Security Issues for Political Ends
Hezbollah says U.N.'s Ban not welcome in Lebanon
Future bloc delegation visits Aarsal “to voice solidarity”
Hizbullah, Hamas Could Reportedly Obtain Accurate Missiles by 2017
Hezbollah's Yazbek says Ban “not welcome” in Lebanon
Hezbollah MP Nawaf Musawi: Lebanon should not be used to target Syria
Lebanon should not be used to target Syria: Hezbollah
PSP official says communication with Syria severed
Lebanon to invite offshore gas tenders 'within 3 months'
Hout says party has armed wing, March 14 seeks clarification
Rai calls for separation of religion and state
Tunisian Jews speak out after racist slogans shouted
Saudi Arabia tries 16 suspected al Qaeda members

A Hezbollah Crack-up?
Lebanon’s fratricidal extremists.
Jan 16, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 17
By LEE SMITH/The Weekly Standard
http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/hezbollah-crack_616154.html?page=1
Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, wants out. Things have gotten so tense for Hezbollah, says Lokman Slim, an independent Lebanese Shiite activist, that according to well-sourced accounts of a meeting two weeks ago, Nasrallah “complained he no longer wanted the job.”
It’s hard to blame him. A figure once revered by Arabs for his (relative) success against Israel, Nasrallah is now tainted in the Sunni-majority Middle East by his association with a Syrian regime that has been slaughtering its Sunni opponents. More to the point, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that Hezbollah’s patron in Damascus will survive the uprising. Some Lebanese observers are even wondering if the clerical regime in Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, will survive. With mounting pressure in the form of U.S. and EU sanctions, a devalued currency, a secret war waged, it seems, by the Americans, Israelis, and perhaps internal adversaries, the Iranians are reduced to making threats—like closing the Strait of Hormuz—that if acted upon could spell the regime’s demise.
If Hezbollah’s regional partners are in trouble, the domestic arena presents even more daunting challenges for the party of God. Hezbollah’s control over Lebanon’s Shiite community seems to be unraveling. There’s crime and social unrest in Shiite areas that the party is incapable of curtailing. It has had to ask the Lebanese state for assistance in policing Hezbollah’s own areas.
“After the 2006 war,” says Slim, “the Iranians handed out cash and everyone became accustomed to a certain standard of living. The party kept telling the Shiites that they were the best and most virtuous of people. So even the car thieves and drug dealers were the most virtuous of people. Now they can’t control it.”
Perhaps the most telling sign of a fragmented resistance is the news that Hezbollah has been infiltrated by foreign intelligence services. The party can’t get a fix on how to package the revelations. If they boast about uncovering CIA assets in their midst, they admit that the American clandestine service was able to penetrate an organization whose prestige rests on a reputation for tight security and lockstep discipline.
Like any totalitarian institution, Hezbollah is paranoid. Accordingly, the worse things get for Hezbollah, the more the party sees itself surrounded by enemies, real or imagined. Worst of all is when Hezbollah feels pressure on the most vulnerable part of its structure, its religious foundations. Which may be why the party is seeking the death penalty for one of its former top clerics.
Last October, a Lebanese military court, supervised by a judge close to Hezbollah, charged Sheikh Hassan Mchaymech with collaborating with Israel. “The message is not just for Hassan Mchaymech,” says his eldest son, Reda. “It is for the other Shiite clerics working outside the radius of Hezbollah. The message is that anyone who is against Hezbollah is a collaborator.”
Last week I met with Reda, a 27-year-old who as family spokesman has taken on more than he ever might have expected—not only working to secure his father’s release but also facing down Hezbollah.
“When they came to show us my father’s so-called confession,” Reda says, “we hadn’t seen him or heard from him in nine months.” The elder members of the Mchaymech clan, a large family in the southern town of Kfar Seer, had gathered to meet with Hezbollah officials. “The Hezbollah people put on a CD of my father confessing,” says Reda. “He wasn’t the same man. He had lost 20 kilos, and was nodding like he was drugged or something. There were subtitles because his voice was inaudible. I said, there might be some people around this table willing to believe this, but not me.”
Two decades ago, Hassan Mchaymech was a central figure in Hezbollah’s power structure. As first assistant to the party’s original secretary general, Sobhi Tufayli, Mchaymech was responsible for the organization’s clerics. When Tufayli left the party in 1992, replaced first by Abbas Mussawi and then, after his assassination, Hassan Nasrallah, Mchaymech’s time with Hezbollah was running out.
“My father said that Nasrallah came straight from Iran to run Hezbollah,” says Reda. “Tufayli could take positions different from the Hezbollah security apparatus, but not Nasrallah. He can’t make decisions independent of Iran.”
In 1998, Nasrallah and the now freelance Tufayli butted heads, and Nasrallah was angry that Mchaymech seemed to side with his rival. “Nasrallah’s deputy summoned my father,” says Reda. The party was also concerned that Mchaymech no longer believed in Hezbollah’s foundational concept, wilayet al-faqih, or guardianship of the jurist
That idea, first formulated by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, stipulates that the religious leader also directs the political realm. For Hezbollah, it justifies sending Lebanese Shiites to die on behalf of Tehran’s strategic interests—if the religious leader orders it, they have no choice.
“My father turned against wilayet al-faqih when he saw it had become an idea that had expanded to take control of everything and all decisions,” says Reda. “My father was impressed by Western culture. In his travels in Switzerland, Germany, and France, he came to believe that our society was backward in our ideas and we needed to catch up.”
Hassan Mchaymech explained his intellectual conversion in an article published in June 2010, a month before his arrest:
My divorce from Hezbollah occurred in 1998 when I ceased believing in wilayet al-faqih and any authority that purports to enjoy a divine delegation or a divine source. I believe today that the legitimacy of any authority represents the fruit born of agreements made between reasonable adults within a society. Furthermore, I believe the way to achieve power is through free elections that appoint someone to serve for a specific period of time and fulfill specific duties and tasks. A mandate without a given term or well-defined duties is a recipe for corruption, even if the person selected to exercise authority enjoys sacred respect—unless he is a Prophet or an Imam.Mchaymech’s 1998 book, Big Holes in Islamic Theories, displeased the party. “They tried to kidnap him,” says Reda. Mchaymech left for France but returned after securing Hezbollah’s approval. In 2005 he met a Shiite convert visiting from Europe, Mahmoud al-Nimsawi (“the Austrian”), who professed to share Mchaymech’s dream of opening a religious school in Europe. Nimsawi invited him to Germany to discuss the proposal with a man called Abu Ali who soon identified himself as a German counterterrorism officer.
“Abu Ali tried to get my father to speak about Hezbollah security issues,” says Reda. The Germans wanted to know about figures like Imad Mughniyeh, Hezbollah’s notorious terrorist mastermind, and Mustafa Badreddine, named by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as one of the plotters in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. “My father told them his expertise was not in security matters. He knew Mughniyeh and Badreddine, but my father is not a tough guy. He’s strong with the pen, but that’s it.”
Reda explains that the German security officer told his father that if he had no information on Hezbollah’s security apparatus, he’d have to leave Germany immediately. Concerned about the effect these meetings might have should word of them get back to Hezbollah, on his return to Lebanon Mchaymech approached a friend and former colleague, Ali Damoush, head of Hezbollah’s external relations, to debrief him on his itinerary, including an accurate account of his contacts with Nimsawi and Abu Ali.
The matter seemed to rest there until the summer of 2010 when Mchaymech was crossing into Syria on a pilgrimage to Mecca. At the border he was kidnapped by Syrian security. After two months of no contact, the family read in a pro-Syria and pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper, Al-Akhbar, that he had been arrested for collaborating with Israeli intelligence.
It was clear from the outset that Hezbollah, rather than Syria, was responsible for the arrest and accusation. “The Syrian investigation comes from the folder my father gave them after his return from Germany. It’s obvious that Hezbollah gave that to the Syrians. They handed this issue off to the Syrians to keep their hands clean. But they kept telling us, this is Syria’s opinion, we don’t know.”
Nonetheless, the family moved carefully. “My father was in Syria and anything could happen there. He could disappear for nothing. We signaled to them that we’re not going to shut up.” Reda started to write in the press. “I wrote about Hezbollah’s silence in this affair. When Nasrallah’s deputy Nabil Qaouk came to show us the CD of my father’s confession, he said to me, ‘If you want to write about Hezbollah, go ahead, there are 100 articles about Hezbollah everyday, let there be 101. But if you want your father back, you have to stop writing.’ ”
Reda agreed to keep quiet on two conditions, that the family be allowed to visit him and that he be moved to Lebanon. “Anything could happen to him in Syria,” says Reda. Within a few days, Mchaymech’s wife and another son visited him where he was being held in Syria. “There were two Syrian security people there the whole time monitoring what he said,” Reda explains. “My father said, ‘The first three months they hit me, but now it’s different.’ ”
Lokman Slim, who has worked with the Mchaymech family on their father’s case, believes that the Lebanese military court due to reconvene for sentencing on January 26 will not give Mchaymech the death penalty. “It will be a stiff sentence, but the family is already getting accustomed to visiting and phone calls.”
Hassan Mchaymech has also started writing letters to his eldest son. “In one letter, my father says, ‘Nasrallah says all you need is honor. As long as we have honor, we don’t need bridges or cars or streets.’ My father writes, ‘How can you have honor if you don’t have streets and cars and bridges? They’re trying to set us back 300 years.’ ”
That is to say, it’s not just Hassan Mchaymech who is paying a price for resistance, but Lebanon’s entire Shiite community. “We need to focus on developing our society, our economy rather than getting into internal and external battles and bloody conflicts. Finally,” says Reda, “this is my father’s message.”
Hassan Mchaymech knew he was expendable from the moment he first challenged Hezbollah’s theoretical foundations, back in 1998. Perhaps his June 2010 article reminded the party’s leadership that it might still be useful to punish him and thereby send a message to the Shiite community, especially its clerical class: You are all expendable.
**Lee Smith is a senior editor at The Weekly Standard

Hezbollah says U.N.'s Ban not welcome in Lebanon
The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The head of Hezbollah’s Shura Council Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek said over the weekend that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who is scheduled to arrive in Lebanon Friday, is not welcome. “The visit of United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon's visit to Beirut is not welcome, neither is the phony [U.N. special envoy Terry] Larsen or the messenger of evil [Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs] Jeffrey Feltman,” Yazbeck was quoted by local media as saying. Yazbeck accused Larsen, who is tasked with overseeing the implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, of being biased toward Israel. UNSCR 1559 was adopted in 2004 and calls for the complete withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah. The latter has defended its possession of arms as the only means to fend off Israeli aggression. Lebanon's resistance party has said that Ban is biased toward Israel, particularly following the release of Ban's latest report to the Security Council on the implementation of Resolution 1701. In the report, issued in November, Ban criticized Hezbollah as a threat to Lebanon’s stability, and called on the government to hold a national dialogue and work toward a national defense strategy. Hezbollah responded by accusing Ban of bias toward the west, warning against Western hegemony over the United Nations which, the resistance said, threatened peace and security. During his visit, the U.N. chief is expected to meet with officials and members of the U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon. He is also scheduled to give the opening remarks at a U.N. conference in Beirut on reform and democratic transition in the Arab world. Despite the apparent conflict of interest between the two sides, Hezbollah and U.N. officials in Lebanon have maintained good relations with U.N. Resident Coordinator for Lebanon Robert Watkins meeting with Hezbollah officials on a regular basis.

Hezbollah MP Nawaf Musawi: Lebanon should not be used to target Syria
January 08, 2012/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanon should not be used as means to attack Syria, Hezbollah MP Nawaf Musawi said Sunday, accusing the U.S. of preparing to go to war with the resistance’s ally. “Lebanon should not bear the burden of being used as a base to pounce on Syria under the guise of safe corridors or a buffer zone or relieving the distraught or housing refugees,” Musawi said during a political gathering in the town of Rshaf, south Lebanon. “If there is someone who cares about Syria and its people then they should contribute to preventing a civil war rather than strengthening sectarian strife and financially fueling the conflict through its media, institutions and personality,” he added. Hezbollah has maintained that the anti-government uprising in Syria, its closest ally, is part of a conspiracy aimed at forcing the collapse of President Bashar Assad’s rule because of what the party describes as Assad’s endless support for Hezbollah and other resistance groups in the region. Lebanon’s Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn sparked a nationwide controversy last month when he claimed that members of al-Qaeda are entering Lebanon under the guise of Syrian opposition members and residing in the border town of Arsal. His comments came days before twin suicide bombings hit Damascus, with Syrian officials placing the blame on al-Qaeda. Syria has repeatedly said that violence on its territory is perpetrated at the hands of “armed gangs.”
The U.N.’s latest estimate puts the number of deaths in Syria at 5,000 since the start of the protests in mid-March, while Syria has said that 2,000 of its security and army personnel have been killed. Musawi also accused the U.S. of preparing to wage war against Syria, as part of a campaign to weaken Russia’s influence in the region. “Our analysis says there is an American Western being waged against Syria in a bid to occupy it ... and use its territory as military bases,” he said. “The campaign against Syria is intended to weaken Russia's presence and strike the axis of the resistance [against the U.S.].”

PSP official says communication with Syria severed January 08, 2012 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party official Ghazi Aridi said communication between the party and the Syrian leadership has been severed after PSP leader Walid Jumblatt’s suggestion that regime change was the only solution to the crisis in Damascus. “Communication between MP Walid Jumblatt and the Syrian regime has ceased and lines of communications are closed due to the disagreement over the approach needed for the situation in Syria,” Ghazi Aridi, who is also public works minister, told pan-Arab daily Ash Sharq Al Awsat in article published Sunday.
Aridi expressed puzzlement over Syria's behavior toward Jumblatt, saying that Syria's allies, Iran and Russia, have urged Assad to adopt a political solution to the crisis rather than a military one.
Jumblatt has gradually changed his position on Syria, from in April describing the unrest as part of an Israeli-U.S. plan to divide Syria and the entire region to recently stating that regime change was the only solution to end the 10-month old crisis. On Tuesday, Jumblatt urged Russia and Iran to convince Syria that a fundamental change in governance was the only solution to the unrest.
“All historic experiences have proven that the peoples’ movement moves forward and does not go backward,” the PSP leader, who in 2010 was a staunch critic of Assad’s rule, said in a statement.
Jumblatt’s statement prompted Syria’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Jihad al-Makdisi to say the PSP leader should mind his own business. “His comments are much appreciated and are his personal [views]. We wish him all the best in resolving all the Lebanese issues and once these have been sorted out, he can then move to the Syria situation,” Makdisi, speaking the Lebanon’s NBN television station, said Friday. During his interview with Ash Sharq Al Awsat Aridi echoed Jumblatt, reiterating that Assad’s military crackdown on protesters would only lead to further complications. “The military and security solution in Syria will not lead to anything but more complications and there is no way out of this crisis but through a political resolution and the longer the military solution continues, the higher the price,” he said. Syria and its allies in Lebanon, who are in a broad coalition with Jumblatt, have maintained that violence and killing are at the hands of “armed gangs.

Future bloc MP Khaled Daher: Lebanon’s borders ‘under no control’
January 8, 2012 /Future bloc MP Khaled Daher told Voice of Lebanon (93.3) radio station on Sunday that Lebanon’s borders “are not under anyone’s control” and held Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn responsible “for any shortcoming.” “The Syrian intelligence [is the chief group] responsible for the smuggling taking place [along the Lebanese-Syrian] border,” Daher said. Daher criticized Ghosn saying that unfounded claims that Al-Qaeda members are present in the Lebanese northern town of Aarsal “seek to serve the Syrian regime and this is very dangerous.” Daher added that the statement issued by the Lebanese army regarding the presence of Al-Qaeda in Lebanon “was the best suited response [since the army] requested that the issue not be [discussed] via media channels.”“Resolving any security case cannot take place through the media,” Daher said. While addressing Ghosn, Daher asked: “Where is your role? Why don’t you deploy the army to protect the country’s security and arrest the Al-Qaeda members if they exist [in Lebanon]?” Daher told the radio station that Lebanese parliamentarians need to question Ghosn and embrace a no-confidence vote against him. “However, the problem is that the whole government belongs to [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad.” “[The current government] is the worst on all levels, [unlike that of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri],” Daher said. In December 2011, Ghosn warned of the presence of Al-Qaeda cells in Aarsal, near the Syrian border. Ghosn’s statements have generated domestic criticism, mostly from March 14 figures. However, reports that Al-Qaeda members are present in Lebanon have not been confirmed. -NOW Lebanon

Wahhab to Mikati: ‘Leave us alone’
January 8, 2012 /Arab Tawhid Party leader Wiam Wahhab on Sunday slammed Prime Minister Najib Mikati saying that dealing with his predecessor, former premier Saad Hariri, “was easier.” “Mikati is lying to everyone and vice-versa. He is attacking his allies in an attempt to reinforce his [religious] Sunni [identity],” Wahhab said during an interview with New TV television. “Leave us alone,” Wahhab said while addressing Mikati. Wahhab, who is one of the Druze leaders in Lebanon, said that “the majority of Druze people in Syria support the regime and the unity between government and army.” However, Druze leader and head of the Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) MP Walid Jumblatt addressed the Druze in Syria on Tuesday and said it is time they “stopped carrying out, alongside the police and military forces, acts of suppression against the Syrian people.” Wahhab also voiced hope that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would embrace “a revolutionary step and oust all officials responsible for corruption [in Syria] even if they were people close to him, because Syria is more important than anyone, even Assad.” The United Nations estimates more than 5,000 people in Syria have been killed in the crackdown since March. -NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Army Rejects Using Security Issues for Political Ends
by Naharnet /The Lebanese army command urged politicians on Sunday not to invest security issues for political objectives, saying they should preserve stability instead. The communique said the army’s role in preserving the security of the Lebanese was above all consideration but “called for avoiding the discussion of highly dangerous security issues or using them for political purposes out of keenness on general stability.”The communique was referring to the latest controversy that erupted over the alleged presence of al-Qaida in Lebanon after Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn said the army had information about the operations of the terror group’s militants in the eastern border town of Arsal.March 14 opposition politicians have criticized the government, saying cabinet members had conflicting opinions on the matter. “The solution to security issues does not come through the media or political platforms,” the army command said. It added that Lebanese officials should leave the involved authorities deal with the security issues in an effort to consolidate the security situation.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahii Says Democratic State Should be Based on Advanced Social Contract
by Naharnet /Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi called on Sunday for the establishment of a civil and democratic state that takes as its starting point the National Pact which has laid the foundation of the country’s multi-confessional system. Al-Rahi said in his sermon that Lebanon’s political and social system should be fair and respect all the Lebanese. All civil servants should put their personal and sectarian interests aside and serve their nation, he stressed. Al-Rahi also urged all sects to divide amongst themselves the responsibilities in managing state affairs and serving the citizens.“Officials should not search for privileges for themselves or their sects,” he said, adding “patriotism is based on the life of brotherhood and unity.”“A fair and equitable political and social system forms the building block of a civil and democratic state … based on an advanced social contract that takes the National Pact as its foundation,” he said.Such a state should separate division from politics, al-Rahi reiterated. “It should neither be a religious state nor a secular state that opposes religion.”Turning to the country’s economic woes, the patriarch said: “Lebanon cannot continue to be ruled by politicians divided by secular thoughts.”“The economic situation is regressing … and the public debt is increasing,” he warned.“Rulers should assume all their national responsibilities and work immediately to come up with a clear and solid economic design based on development,” he added.

Future bloc delegation visits Aarsal “to voice solidarity”
January 8, 2012 /A delegation from the Future bloc visited the Lebanese town of Aarsal on Sunday to “voice solidarity” with its people and to reject Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn’s warning of Al-Qaeda presence in the town, the National News Agency reported. “We visited the town in order to support its people…and we refuse turning it into a [tool] for the government to [link it] to Al-Qaeda,” Future bloc MP Ziad al-Qadiri said. He added that the warning of Al-Qaeda’s presence in Aarsal, which is located near the Syrian border, is “a favor for the Syrian regime.”The delegation also included Future bloc MPs Assem Aaraji, Antoine Saad and Jamal al-Jarrah. Last month, Ghosn warned of the presence of Al-Qaeda cells in the town of Aarsal.A few days later, 44 people were killed by suicide bombers in Damascus. President Bashar al-Assad’s regime has blamed the attacks on “terrorist organizations,” including Al-Qaeda.-NOW Lebanon

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta . US will respond if Iran blocks Strait of Hormuz:
January 08, 2012/Daily Star /WASHINGTON: The United States will respond if Iran tries to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the entrance to the Gulf, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Sunday, saying such a move would cross a "red line.""We made very clear that the United States will not tolerate the blocking of the Straits of Hormuz," Panetta told CBS television. "That's another red line for us and that we will respond to them." Panetta was seconded by General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said Iran has the means to close the waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes. "But we would take action and reopen the Straits," the general said on the same show, "Face the Nation." Their comments follow Iranian threats to close the strait if the European Union goes through with an embargo on Iranian oil, the latest step to pressure Tehran to give up a nuclear program that the West suspects is aimed at gaining atomic weapons.
Earlier Sunday, an Iranian newspaper quoted senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying that Tehran's leadership has decided to order the closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf if the country's oil exports are blocked. According to AP, Khorasan daily reported that Ali Ashraf Nouri says the strategic decision has been made by Iran's top authorities.
The U.S. has recently enacted new sanctions targeting Iran's central bank and its ability to sell petroleum abroad over Tehran's nuclear program. Washington says Tehran is trying to develop weapons, while Iran denies the charges. -With AP

Iran crosses another nuclear red line. Fordo soon on stream
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report January 8, 2012, Tehran media trumpeted the news Sunday, Jan. 8 that Iran's deep underground uranium enrichment site at Fordo near Qom goes stream soon, thereby crossing another line in its faceoff with the West on its weapons program. The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Fereydoun Abbasi Davani told the Kayhan daily: ... 20 percent, 3.5 percent and four percent enriched uranium can be produced at this site." debkafile's military sources report that 60 percent is equally feasible, just one step before weapons grade.
Israel's Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned in a number of interviews to US media that once the Fordo plant becomes operational, Iran's nuclear bomb program will become immune to military attack and be able to operate out of the sight of Israeli and Western surveillance.
Tehran has clearly not been deterred in its drive for a nuclear weapon by the stiff sanctions the US and European Union began imposing in the past week against Iran's oil exports and its central bank.
The announcement Sunday confirmed the report from diplomats in the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency that Iran had begun feeding uranium gas into the underground centrifuges in late December ready for upgraded enrichment. "I would assume they could start if they wanted to," said one official.
debkafile reported Friday, Jan. 6 on US-Israeli-British deployments in readiness for a strike against Iran.
Thousands of US troops began descending on Israel this week. Senior US military sources told debkafile Friday, Jan. 6 that many would be staying up to the end of the year as part of the US-IDF deployment in readiness for a military engagement with Iran and its possible escalation into a regional conflict. They will be joined by a US aircraft carrier. The warplanes on its decks will fly missions with Israeli Air Force jets. The 9,000 US servicemen gathering in Israel in the coming weeks are mostly airmen, missile interceptor teams, marines, seamen, technicians and intelligence officers.
The incoming American soldiers are officially categorized as participants in Austere Challenge 12, the biggest joint US-Israeli war game ever held.
The maneuver was originally designated Juniper Stallion 2012. However, the altered name plus the comment heard from the exercise's commander, US Third Air Force Lt. Gen. Frank Gorenc, during his visit two weeks ago, that the coming event is more a "deployment" than an "exercise," confirmed that Washington has expanded its mission. The joint force will now be in place ready for a decision to attack Iran's nuclear installations or any war emergency.
Our sources disclose that it was decided at the last minute in Washington and Jerusalem to announce the forthcoming Austere Challenge 12 on Thursday night, Jan. 5, ahead of the bulletin released by Tehran about another Iranian naval exercise at the Strait of Hormuz to take place in February, although its 10-day drill in the same arena only ended Monday, Jan. 2.
The early release was decided in consultations among US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and the two army chiefs, US Gen. Martin Dempsey and Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz. British Defense Minister Phillip Hammond, on a visit to Washington, was brought into the discussion.
The handout circulated to US correspondents from Hammond's talks in the US capital affirmed that Britain stands ready to strike Iran if the Strait of Hormuz is closed.
However, that phrase was omitted from the British minister's remarks at a news conference, following a last-minute request from Panetta, signifying the Obama administration's interest of keeping a low profile on plans for attacking Iran.
Tehran too is walking a taut tightrope. It is staging military's maneuvers every few days to assuring the Iranian people that its leaders are fully prepared to defend the country against an American or Israeli strike on its national nuclear program. By this stratagem, Iran's ground, sea and air forces are maintained constantly at top war readiness to thwart any surprise attack.
The joint US-Israeli drill will test multiple Israeli and US air defense systems against incoming missiles and rockets, according to the official communiqué. debkafile's military sources add that they will also practice intercepting missiles and rockets coming in from Syria, Hizballah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It will not be the first time a US aircraft carrier docks in Israel for joint operations with the Israeli Air Force. On June 9, 2010, the USS Truman dropped anchor opposite Israel to test a joint deployment against Iran and its allies. The carrier and its air and naval strike force then staged joint firing practices with the Israeli Air Force over the Negev in the South. Washington and Jerusalem are doing their utmost to present a perfectly synchronized military front against Iran: American officers are stationed at IDF command centers and Israeli officers posted at the US European Command-EUCOM. At the same time, debkafile's military sources disclose that full consensus has not been reached on every last particular of shared operation against Iran, should one go forward.

Eleven Syrian troops killed in clashes with deserters, say activists
January 8, 2012 /Heavy clashes broke out before dawn on Sunday between the Syrian army and deserters, leaving 11 of its soldiers dead, human rights activists said.
Another 20 soldiers were wounded in the fighting in Daraa province, South of the capital, while nine soldiers defected to join the rebel troops, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In addition to the deadly clashes in the village of Basr al-Harir, the Britain-based watchdog also reported heavy machinegun exchanges between the army and deserters in the Daraa town of Dael. There was no immediate word on any casualties. Cradle of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad that erupted in March, Daraa has been one of the provinces hardest hit by the deadly crackdown unleashed by his regime. The latest deaths came as Arab League foreign ministers prepared to meet in Cairo to review the record of a widely criticized observer mission to Syria, in the face of growing calls for the bloc to cede to the United Nations the lead role in trying to end the bloodshed.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Arab League report “recommends Syrian monitors continue”
January 8, 2012 /The first report by Arab League observers in Syria recommends the controversial mission continue and says monitors were subjected to "harassment" by the government and the opposition, an Arab League source said on Sunday. The report recommends "the mission continue its work" with more technological assistance and "calls on the opposition and the government to let the mission move freely," the source told reporters. The Arab diplomat was speaking as the head of the observer mission, General Mohammed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, was briefing Arab ministers in Cairo on the results of the monitors' visit. A team of Arab League monitors has been in Syria since December 26, trying to assess whether President Bashar al-Assad's regime is complying with a peace accord aimed at ending its deadly crackdown on dissent. Critics say it has been completely outmaneuvered by the government and has failed to make any progress towards stemming the crackdown. They have called for the mission to pull out. The report said the observers had been "subjected to harassment by the Syrian government and by the opposition."Monitors said that military vehicles had been stationed in most cities they visited. The report said that some observers saw bodies on the street, and that the government and opposition had traded blame over who was behind the killings, the source said. The document also confirms the release of hundreds of prisoners but says the monitors could not identify whether they were political detainees, the source added.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Arab ministers to discuss "toothless" Syria mission
08/01/2012/CAIRO, (Reuters) - Arab League foreign ministers meet on Sunday to discuss whether to ask the U.N. to help their mission in Syria, which has failed to end a 10-month-old crackdown on unrest that has killed thousands.Qatar proposes inviting U.N. technicians and human rights experts to help Arab monitors judge whether Syria is honouring its pledge to stop its repression, Arab League sources said. One said it might ask that U.N. staff helping the mission be Arabs. The ministers will also discuss ways the mission might operate more independently of Syrian authorities.
There has been no slackening of violence since monitors began work in Syria on Dec. 26, with scores reported killed. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said Syria was not implementing the terms of the Arab League peace plan it agreed, and monitors could not stay in Syria to "waste time". The Syrian army had not withdrawn from cities and there had been no end to the killing, he said. Arab League sources said ministers were likely to reaffirm support for the monitors, resisting calls to end what Syrian pro-democracy campaigners say is a toothless mission that buys more time for President Bashar al-Assad to suppress opponents.
Syria says it is providing the monitors with all they need and has urged them to show "objectivity and professionalism". Speaking on the eve of the meeting, the head of the monitoring operations room at the League's headquarters in Cairo, Adnan al-Khudeir, said the withdrawal of the monitors was not on the agenda and they were continuing their work according to protocols agreed with the Syrian government.
He said in a statement the delegation could only be withdrawn by a decision of Arab League foreign ministers, who had initially agreed the mission's parameters.
Ten Jordanian monitors had arrived in Damascus on Saturday, Khudeir said, bringing to 153 the number of monitors involved.
The United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Assad. The Free Syrian Army, an armed opposition force composed mainly of army deserters, has joined the revolt. The Syrian government says "terrorists" have killed 2,000 members of the security forces during the uprising.
The 22-member Arab League suspended Syria in November after months of silence over the crackdown. But some Arab leaders are uncomfortable about targeting one of their peers given their own restive populations, diplomats say. Western powers that want Assad to step down to allow for democratic reforms have welcomed the League's toughened stance. Arab states oppose any foreign military intervention like that which helped topple Libya's Muammar Gaddafi last year. Assad's opponents say Syrian authorities have systematically deceived the monitors, for instance by hiding prisoners in military facilities. Syria bars most independent journalists from the country, making first-hand reporting impossible, but a BBC Arabic service reporter was allowed to accompany three Arab monitors to a town on the outskirts of Damascus.It was the first time foreign media were known to have been able to cover the activities of the monitors directly, although media access was a condition stipulated by the Arab League. The BBC said it had been able to film, unhindered by the security forces. Protesters and residents told the observers, all Algerian diplomats, of harsh treatment at the hands of the security forces. The observers then witnessed a demonstration in which the crowd demanded Assad's execution, the BBC said.
BOMB In Damascus, crowds waving Syrian flags and pictures of Assad gathered on Saturday to bury 26 people whom the authorities said were killed by a suicide bomber.
The opposition Syrian National Council has accused the government of staging Friday's explosion to try to bolster its contention that it is fighting foreign-backed "terrorists", not a popular pro-democracy movement. A cortege of ambulances, lights flashing, bore the flag-draped coffins of victims to a Damascus mosque after driving through streets lined with mourners, state television showed.
Crowds chanted "The people want Bashar al-Assad!" and "One, one, one, the Syrian people are one!" Security forces trying to crush anti-Assad protests killed four civilians in Homs on Saturday, and three people died in Harasta from wounds inflicted on Friday, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
It also said security forces had killed 20 civilians and three army defectors on Friday.
A Syrian army colonel said in a statement broadcast by Al Jazeera he had defected in protest against the crackdown on protests. He was flanked in video footage by 13 men in uniform, and the station said up to 50 defected with him in Hama.Syria's Addounia television said military ships from Russia, an ally of Assad which has resisted escalating Western pressure on Damascus, docked in the port of Tartus on Saturday. A Russian official was quoted by Itar-Tass news agency as saying a destroyer and a frigate would spend several days at Russia's naval maintenance and supply facility in the port.

The Syrian killing machine continues
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem, Prime Minister of Qatar and chairman of the Arab ministerial committee on Syria, says that if the killings continue in Syria then there was no point in sending the Arab observers there. Wise words of course, but why now, after nearly two months of the al-Assad regime’s procrastination, and after all this bloodshed?
This is a strange matter. Does anyone concerned with Syrian affairs, need all this time to know that the killing is still going on in Syria? Has Sheikh Hamad not seen, for example, the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera channel’s coverage of the situation in Syria? Has Sheikh Hamad, and likewise the Arabs, especially Nabil El-Araby, not seen the children killed in Syria, along with women and the elderly? Is it not clear to those who practice politics in the Arab world that the al-Assad regime lies and procrastinates? Did we not warn them about the al-Assad regime, and tell them to be objective about the situation?
Unfortunately, the Arabs have taken over ten months to discover that the al-Assad killing machine has not stopped, while in nine months they managed to end the regime of Muammar Gaddafi, with the help of NATO. Today we find certain Arabs amongst us, such as the Algerian and Iraqi governments, saying no to the internationalization of the Syrian crisis, even with the deaths of 6,000 Syrians, and even though the al-Assad killing machine continues to murder unarmed Syrians every day!
Of course, the depressing Arab reality reached a stage of further deterioration when the Arab League opted to employ Khaled Mishal – a man known for his love of coups - to mediate in the Syrian crisis. If this was only a matter of pandering to the Muslim Brotherhood, or cutting a deal with them, then the Brotherhood “devotees” should have sent Rachid Ghannouchi to mediate, and not Mishal. Ghannouchi’s well documented speech at the Washington Institute for Near Eastern Policy - which he tried in vain to deny - about upcoming revolutions against Arab monarchies, indicates that he is a man fluent in evasive maneuvering, and saying something only later to deny it. This unfortunately, is the most basic qualification required in the Arab world, in many cases, to be a politician. Otherwise, how can the al-Assad regime kill its own people and still find all these deadlines? Then, just as we are told that we are coming to the end of the road with the Syrian regime, the Arab League sends Khaled Mishal to mediate in the Syrian crisis, and convince al-Assad to stop the violence?
Interestingly, Mishal said it was time to move from a security solution to a political one in Syria. This is coming from a man who settled affairs in Gaza in a military fashion. How ridiculous that the Arab League’s mediator is the leader of the Hamas coup, and that the chairman of the Arab League delegation to Syria is Mustafa al-Dabi, a general under the command of the Sudanese President, who also rose to power via a coup. Of course, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas cannot be blamed when he protested against Mishal’s mediation in the Syrian crisis, even though it seems today that Abbas is seeking to obtain recognition for a Palestinian state from the Arab League, and not the United Nations (UN)! The Arab stance towards Syria has floundered; it has caused horrendously excessive Syrian bloodshed, and has been suspiciously lax towards Bashar al-Assad.
Thus, as Sheikh Hamad is talking about the ongoing al-Assad killing machine, even though this talk comes far too late, the best thing he can do for the unarmed Syrians is to transfer their case to the UN Security Council, and put an end to the gross error of a man like Khaled Mishal mediating in Syria.

Egypt’s Freedom and Justice Party: our vision for the future
By Mohammed Mursi/Asharq Alawsat
The blessed 25 January revolution has succeeded in toppling a corrupt regime that had oppressed the sons of Egypt for many years, and the Egyptian people, the owners of the ancient civilization, will succeed - God willing - in toppling the corrupt system that has spread in the veins of the Egyptian society, and contributed to a great extent to our political, economic, social, and cultural backwardness. For this reason, the Muslim Brotherhood Group announced the establishment of the Freedom and Justice Party.
The Freedom and Justice Party, together with the rest of the sons of the Egyptian people, shoulders the responsibility of: building a modern constitutional national democratic state that expresses the will of the people; repairing - with the participation of all the efforts and creativity of the strong loyal sons of the nation in all fields - what has been corrupted by the tyrants; installing a new constitution; confronting all the laws that have allowed injustice and tyranny; and installing a quick way of dealing with unemployment, poverty, health, education, and other urgent problems from which the Egyptians suffer.
The challenges facing Egypt now will not stop the march of democracy that has started by the blood and sacrifices of the great martyrs of Egypt in the 25 January revolution in which all the sons of Egypt from all political parties, coalitions, and alliances have participated.
The Freedom and Justice Party, since the first day of its establishment and entry into the Egyptian political life in June 2011, has undertaken the mission of rebuilding Egypt anew. This new structure respects freedom, and protects the basic rights of every Egyptian within the framework of the original religious values, not to mention the protection of the political and social freedoms that are indispensable in practicing the rights and advancing the society. The new structure also establishes non-discrimination between citizens in rights and duties on grounds of religion, ethnicity, or color, and it also gives women all their rights in a way that establishes balance between their rights and duties. The structure will legislate the laws that criminalize corruption and nepotism, and guarantees equal opportunity, support and consolidation of political pluralism, and entrenching the bases of partnership between the state and the civil society institutions in order to undertake the burdens of rising and construction.
The fact is that there are numerous challenges that face the Egyptian society at the current times, which the party tries to deal with during the upcoming period through the objective concepts included in the program of the party. The most prominent of these challenges are represented by the following:
First: The principle of freedom and equality: The party stresses that it pursues releasing the freedoms, protecting the basic rights of every Egyptian, and amending all the practices or legislations that contradict or restrict these freedoms or violate these rights, because freedom is one of the duties of Islam, "We have honored the sons of Adam [Sura al-Isra, from Verse 70]."
Second: Security: Since the eruption of the revolution, Egypt has been suffering from the lack of security, despite the fact that security is necessary for life, work, and production. Therefore, the party stresses the need for restructuring the Ministry of Interior, and purging it from all the officers who have been involved in oppressing the people and practicing corruption. This is in addition to changing the mission statement of the job, starting from the students at the Policy Academy and the honest among the police officers, in order to provide security and protection for the people, and not only for the ruler alone. This is in addition to drawing up a security policy to protect all the national institutions, raising the financial standard of the soldiers and junior ranks, instituting a maximum for the salaries of the senior officers, and supervising the ministry through parliament in order to guarantee good performance.
Third: The economic problems that are more deserving of care. The party believes that the Egyptian man is the base and target of development, and hence he has to be rescued from the state of poverty, and the low level of health and education services offered to him.
The party believes that the dignity and freedom of man are subject to the extent of the level of dignified life offered to him, and that frees him from the shackles of exploitation and poverty.
The party stresses that confronting the problem of unemployment requires combining the efforts of many society institutions to provide job opportunities, such as the banking system, the education institutions, the civil society, and requires the businessmen community, and the sponsoring of the major national projects, and at the same time it requires supporting the youths to establish small businesses so that we would be able to increase the rates of economic growth in order to absorb those entering the job market, and to provide jobs for every unemployed, a suitable wage for every worker, and social security for every one unable to work.
Fourth: Social problems: The party takes into consideration that there is a sector of the society whose financial abilities do not allow them to satisfy their needs for a dignified life. For this reason, the party's economic program proposes - in addition to the existing charities and solidarity among the sons of the society - to activate the mechanisms of alms to deal with the dysfunctions in the economic and social life; together with the mechanisms of alms the mechanisms of religious trusts will operate.
Fifth: Curing the dysfunction in the structure of wages: The issues of the dysfunction in the wages structure in the Egyptian market is one of the issues to which the party attaches great attention in order to secure a minimum and a maximum for wages that will guarantee dignified living for the Egyptian citizen. The increase in wages ought to be linked to the inflation rates, and the higher state administrators ought to be prevented from occupying more than one job, and should be prevented from being on the board of directors of more than one company or fund in order to allow the others the opportunity of benefiting from what is spent on these jobs.
Sixth: the issue of environmental pollution: With regard to the issue of environmental pollution, the party considers that the environmental balance between man and what he builds in his rural environment and what God created in the natural environment is the framework that governs the construction of earth, for which God commissioned man. Therefore, the party has laid down the priorities and policies for dealing with the types of environmental pollution starting from limiting the impact of environmental pollution, and then the mechanisms of treatment, up to the preventative policies to prevent the repetition of the pollution. This is done by establishing a national council for protecting the River Nile, a council that combines all the institutions concerned in order to unify the responsibilities, avoid conflicts of powers, and pursue the legislation of a bundle of laws and regulations that criminalize the pollution of this great river, and be firm in implementing these laws.
Seventh: Housing issue: The party believes that this thorny issue disturbs every family and every young man. Thus, the party is committed to finding an effective solution for the problem through the geographical redistribution of development and the population so that the manpower resources become compatible in quantity and quality with the factors of development and the requirements of national security. This can be done through dividing the state into development regions, and working to attract population and qualified people from the more densely populated regions with fewer resources to the regions with less population and more resources.
Eighth: Transportation and communications problem: In its program, the party sponsors integration among the four means of transportation: land, river, sea, and air transportation in order to raise the standard of this sector at home and abroad. This is done through: The Ministry of Transportation plays the principal role in the complete supervision of all the activities of the sector, and the drawing up of the necessary policies for this sector to play its role with high efficiency. This supervision by the ministry is aimed at avoiding the existing conflict between the various authorities currently supervising this sector, which include the Interior Ministry, the Tourism Ministry, the Environment Ministry, the local authorities, ... etc.
Ninth: The issue of education and scientific research: In its program, the party attaches special attention to human development, which guarantees the dignity of man. The party recognizes the right of every citizen to education in order to build a generation capable of carrying the standard of rising and development for this society.
The party considers that reforming and developing the education and the scientific research colleges and institutions would strengthen the national belonging and deepen the Arab and Muslim identity. This is because it represents the way to intellectual and cultural unity within Egypt and among the Arab and Muslim countries, as well as increases the development that will achieve progress and supremacy of the nation.
The party aims to make education and scientific research the principal tool to respond to the needs of the society and the nation, and to fulfil the nation's aspirations and progress at home and abroad. This is done through many programs and mechanisms, the most prominent of which are: providing education for all members of the society, coupling good upbringing with education in all stages of education; expanding education quantitatively, qualitatively, and geographically including the open learning, the distant-learning, the electronic learning, and other means; providing continuous learning in order to keep pace with the amazing and accelerating scientific and technical advancement; focusing on the development of the creative thinking abilities and the building of skills; and developing and modernizing the curricula and activities in a way that is compatible with the times, develops the abilities and talents, and achieves the required aims and specifications through adopting the method of thinking, dialog, research, and discussion in education, rather than the method of instruction and memorizing alone.
Within the same context, the party has laid down solutions for dealing with the problem of illiteracy, which is considered a tarnish that soils the reputation of the society, through the following measures: Drawing up a national plan for eradicating illiteracy within a few years (five years) and mobilizing all resources to implement it; allocating a budget appropriate for this plan; compelling the large companies and factories to organize illiteracy classes for their workers, and giving them appropriate tax exemptions for this; encouraging the children, especially in the countryside, not to resort to truancy; and also supporting the poor families so that they are not compelled to withdraw their children from education and send them to work in order to get money.
Tenth: Developing the health sector: The party has laid down an ambitious program to develop the health sector by providing health-care mechanisms for all citizens regardless of their financial abilities or place of residence in a way that guarantees the freedom of the citizen to choose the place in which he receives treatment, focusing in this respect on those who are unable to provide for their own health care. The program also aims to raise the standard of health care, secure the fairness of its distribution in a way that provides those with limited income suitable health care, and expand the health-care cover to include all Egyptians within a specific period of time.
Eleventh: Developing tourism: Tourism occupies its appropriate place in the program of the party, because of Egypt's civilization heritage, pharaonic, Greek, Roman, Coptic, and Islamic antiquities, enchanting nature, and hospitable people that have no equal in the world. Tourism as an industry and export activity is considered a very important source of foreign currency, a fundamental constituent of the national revenue, and a principal pillar for creating productive job opportunities for thousands of our youths.
The program is carried out through protecting the tourist areas in the old Egyptian cities, and on the coast of the Mediterranean and Red Sea on modern tourist bases, preventing the random growth of buildings in these areas, encouraging the private sector, attracting foreign investments to the tourism sector, and guiding the service ministries linked to tourism - such as the Ministries of Aviation, Transportation, Information, Culture, Environment and other ministries and departments concerned with tourism activities in Egypt - to support tourism and promote it as part of the most important aims of their annual plans. All this necessarily requires caring for those working in this field, tourist guides, and public and private tourist companies, caring for their problems, and finding objective and radical solutions for these problems.
Twelfth: Deepening the cooperation with the Arab countries: the party stresses that it is pursuing the consolidation of the joint Arab plans, integration and action in all fields. The party also stresses that the Palestinian people have the right to liberate their land, and the peoples have the right to obtain their rights, and govern themselves according to what they decide and consider appropriate, as the nation ought to be really the source of power.
Finally, we hope that through these brief words we have succeeded in answering some of the questions arising in the minds of all. We stress that the Freedom and Justice Party will do its utmost in all sincerity during the upcoming period to turn the hopes and aspirations of the great people of Egypt into a practice reality to benefit all without discrimination in order to make Egypt stand on its own feet and to establish the real modern constitutional national Egyptian State that is based on freedom and democracy, and that will be truly the new Egypt.
Tomorrow comes soon for those expecting it and God can make this happen.
"And God hath full power and control over His affairs; but most among mankind know it not [Sura Yusuf, from Verse 21]."

Plastic tourism in Lebanon
Talking to Dr. Nader Saab
Nadine Elali, January 8, 2012
Lebanese plastic surgeon Nader Saab in his clinic in Rabyeh. (AFP Photo/Anwar Amro)
Everyone wants to be beautiful and that’s a fact. To that end, Lebanese and Arab women of all age groups and from different social spectrums turn to aesthetic plastic surgery to enhance their appearance and to reach beauty and physical perfection. Plastic surgery clinics in Lebanon have become as numerous as beauty parlors and undergoing plastic surgery has become as common as getting your hair blow-dried. But beauty does not always come without a price or risk, and there are many hazards associated with the process of achieving aesthetical beauty. The current French PIP (Poly Implant Prosthesis) scandal involving implants suspected to cause cancer raised red flags for all those women who sought breast augmentation.
NOW Lebanon talks to Lebanese Plastic surgeon Dr. Nader Saab who explains why Lebanon has become the hub of plastic surgery. He gives a general profile of a client seeking plastic surgery and talks about the hazards that are associated with it. He then addresses the implants crisis and advises the Lebanese and Arabs to remove implants suspected of causing breast cancer.
They say that Lebanon is the capital of the Middle East in terms of aesthetic plastic surgery, is this true? If yes, then why?
Saab: Lebanon has always been known to be the Arab hospital of the Middle East, for years Arabs would come to Lebanon to seek medical care. Recently, with the boom in esthetic surgery and the increasing number of talented Lebanese artists, Beirut has turned into the beauty-capital of the Middle East and the Arab World. Most Arab women like and trust the Lebanese especially in terms of arts: as fashion designers, hairdressers, esthetic surgeons, make-up artists. The Lebanese have proved to be very talented in these fields.
Who are the typical clients, women or men?
Saab: Ninety-two percent of clients are women, and men are an average of eight percent. But the percentage of men seeking esthetic surgery is increasing, this is a new phenomenon, it didn’t exist before. It is an indicator that Arab men have become more open-minded about issues concerning their looks, they have accepted to be operated on, to undergo any kind of injections, and most important is that they are reconciling with themselves and with the way they look, and want to feel better.
Are most clients Lebanese? If not, what are the different nationalities?
Saab: In my case, I am based in Lebanon and I also travel to the Arab world. I travel to Dubai to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and therefore I have many Arab clients, but they all visit me here in Lebanon to be operated on. That is my target, to bring them here because esthetic surgery plays an important role in our tourism, and I encourage esthetic medical tourism in Lebanon. When people visit Lebanon to be operated on, they can take advantage of their presence here and tour the country and visit the different touristic sights.
Do clients generally seek consultation or do they seek accommodation of their looks?
Saab: They usually come with a specific demand and some do come with pictures seeking a certain look. Some come with their demands overlooking other problems. Cases do vary. But when a doctor befriends his clients, he can advise them about what needs to be done and what doesn’t, because some come with no idea about esthetic surgery and what it can or cannot achieve. But at the end of the day beauty is subjective, and everyone sees beauty from his own point of view and this is why we have to respect the opinion of our clients and help them get what they want.
How do demands vary between age groups and societal groups?
Saab: Each group has a different set of demands; these demands can vary between age groups. Clients tend to be a little crazy between 18 and 35 years old. It is the age when they are very demanding. This age group usually requests, liposuction and sculpting, mammoplasty (breast augmentation), rhinoplasty (nose job) and fillers injection. Above 35, they request Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck), Rhytidectomy (facial lift), Botox injections.
When does esthetic surgery become an obsession and what do you do about it?
Saab: During the client’s visit, we have a long talk with them at start, mainly about how they feel and what would satisfy them. When the client has many demands that we cannot satisfy, this is when we feel that the client may be undergoing a psychological problem, so we advise them to see a psychiatrist first. Others we cannot depict at start, they come seeking one thing, a nose job for example, in a month time they come back seeking another and so on and so forth. This is when we discover that the client is undergoing esthetic surgery only to feel better and esthetic surgery becomes like a drug. It gives the client a temporary push, but the sickness is still there, and this is when we also advise them to seek psychiatric help.
So, when does esthetic surgery become a solution to a psychological problem?
Saab: Sometimes women between the ages 18 and 30 feel less feminine because they have no cleavage and this gives room to insecurities Here, the case is completely different, after undergoing surgery, they become a completely new person, they are satisfied, more optimistic in a new life, have more self-confidence, and will therefore be able to give more in society and this is where a psychological problem can be overcome by esthetic surgery without necessarily turning into an obsession.
What are the common hazards of esthetic surgery and what can be done about them?
Saab: Some complications for example with breast surgery is seroma which is an accumulation of tissue fluid instead of blood, necrosis which is the death of tissues due to low supply of oxygen, dehiscence - when the wound breaks open, as well as complications like infection and bleeding. There is no doctor that hasn’t faced any complications. To avoid the complications, clients should be checked regularly after surgery. Problem occurring at early levels can always be treated. Other than these hazards and complications there’s also the issue of operations being successful or not. Doctors need to pre-judge the result of the operation. If an operation is not at least 85 to 90 percent a success in achieving the required result, then the doctor should not go through with it.
Tell us more about the PIP (Poly Implant Prosthesis) crisis and how it might affect us here in the region?
Saab: PIP is a French manufacturing company which produced silicon prosthesis (implants. Its products were sold all over the world except in the United States because they were not FDA (Food and Drug Association) approved. Lebanon and the Middle East were among the countries importing these implants. In 2000 FDA asked for the company to be approved and after inspection, they found more than eleven violations. In 2001, non-medical industrial gel was used as filling for the prosthesis – action that was not approved. In March 2010 they closed down the factory and two to three months ago there were cases of rupture registered. When the rupture occurs, the gel, upon contact with the human tissue, causes inflammatory reactions which will, in turn, form cancerous cells. Till now 20 women have been diagnosed with cancer as a result.
What can be done to reverse the effects of the PIP crisis here in Lebanon?
Saab: All authorities have called upon clients of esthetic surgery and who have had mammary augmentations (breast enlargement) to refer back to their doctors and remove the prosthesis. I am raising awareness about the effects of this prosthesis among Lebanese and Arabs. I am urging them to not wait until they develop cancer in order to react. Clients should consult with their doctors, verify what product was used as implants; if it was PIP then it should be removed, a biopsy should be done to avoid cancer in the future, and then replace the prosthesis with an FDA approved one.