LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 06/12

Bible Quotation for today/The Unity of the Body
Ephesians 04/01-15:"I urge you, then—I who am a prisoner because I serve the Lord: live a life that measures up to the standard God set when he called you. Be always humble, gentle, and patient. Show your love by being tolerant with one another. Do your best to preserve the unity which the Spirit gives by means of the peace that binds you together. There is one body and one Spirit, just as there is one hope to which God has called you. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism; there is one God and Father of all people, who is Lord of all, works through all, and is in all. Each one of us has received a special gift in proportion to what Christ has given.8 As the scripture says, When he went up to the very heights, he took many captives with him; he gave gifts to people. Now, what does he went up mean? It means that first he came down to the lowest depths of the earth.[a]10 So the one who came down is the same one who went up, above and beyond the heavens, to fill the whole universe with his presence.11 It was he who gave gifts to people; he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers. He did this to prepare all God's people for the work of Christian service, in order to build up the body of Christ. And so we shall all come together to that oneness in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God; we shall become mature people, reaching to the very height of Christ's full stature. Then we shall no longer be children, carried by the waves and blown about by every shifting wind of the teaching of deceitful people, who lead others into error by the tricks they invent. Instead, by speaking the truth in a spirit of love, we must grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head. Under his control all the different parts of the body fit together, and the whole body is held together by every joint with which it is provided. So when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
What does Nasrallah really mean/By: Hanin Ghaddar/Now Lebanon/June 05/12
After the violence subsides/By: Nadine Elali/Now Lebanon/June 05/12
Freedom for the hostages/By: Hazem Saghiyeh/Now Lebanon/June 05/12
Why Are So Many Syrians Willing to Kill for the Assad Regime/By Tony Karon/June 05/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 05/12
Obama’s air-sea blockade plan for Iran delays Israeli strike. Hormuz at stake?
US: Assad lying over Syria regime's role in massacre
Two Lebanese among victims of Nigeria plane crash
Geagea: Dialogue is a ‘Hizbullah Trap’ to Prolong Govt. Crisis
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea against dialogue if it is not “serious”
Phalange: Nasrallah’s Call for Constituent Assembly Can’t Succeed in Presence of Illegal Arms
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri: Tripoli clashes prove Syrian regime plot against Lebanon
Hariri: Tripoli Clashes are a Syrian Plot to Set Lebanon on Fire
Turkey has no new information on 11 hostage pilgrims
Hopes high for all-party participation in dialogue session
Suleiman Meets Qahwaji, Applauds Measures to Control Situation in Tripoli
Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with Maronite Patriarch, reiterates call for dialogue
Lebanese Education Minister Says Child Molester to Face ‘Severe Consequences’
Syrian opposition announces “new military structure”

Obama’s air-sea blockade plan for Iran delays Israeli strike. Hormuz at stake?
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 4, 2012/US President Barack Obama has again persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to hold off attacking Iran’s nuclear program in the coming months by promising a new set of severe sanctions against Iran. US administration officials assured debkafile’s Washington sources that Israel’s leaders were won over by the Obama administration’s promise to ratchet up US and Europe sanctions against Iran if the next round of negotiations with the six world powers in less than two weeks gets bogged down again.
These are the new sanctions hanging over Iran as reported by our sources
1. On July 1, the Europeans will activate the embargo that left pending on Iranian oil exports and banks.
2. In the fall, the US administration will bring out its most potent economic weapon: an embargo on aircraft and sea vessels visiting Iranian ports. Any national airline or international aircraft touching down in Iran will be barred from US and West European airports. The same rule will apply to private and government-owned vessels, including oil tankers. Calling in at an Iranian port will automatically exclude them from entry to a US or European harbor.
This sanction would clamp down an air and naval siege on the Islamic Republic without a shot being fired.
Word of the US plan prompted a deliberately provocative visit by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari Thursday, May 31 to his forces stationed on the disputed three islands commanding the Strait of Hormuz, Abu Musa, Little Tunb and Big Tumb.
The islands are claimed by the United Arab Emirates. A previous visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on April 11 stirred up a major outcry in the Gulf region.
In Washington, Jafari’s visit it was taken as Tehran’s reminder of its repeated threat to close the Hormuz Straits in the event of a blockade to the transit of a large part of the world’s oil.
3. President Obama promised Prime Minister Netanyahu to deal personally with India and Indonesia, the most flagrant violators of anti-Iran sanctions who make their financial networks available for helping Tehran evade restrictions on its international business activities.
Washington, according to our sources, made sure its sanctions plan was leaked to Tehran through diplomatic and intelligence back channels as a means of twisting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s arm into instructing his negotiators at the Moscow talks on June 16 to start showing flexibility on the world powers’ demands to discontinue uranium enrichment up to 20 percent and stop blocking international nuclear agency inspectors’ access to sites suspected of engaging in nuclear weapons development.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton no doubt had Israel’s latest concession to the Obama administration in mind, Sunday, June 3, when she brushed aside as “nothing new” questions about Khamenei’s threat to respond to an Israeli attack with “thunderous response.” She explained, “We look forward to what the Iranians actually bring to the table in Moscow. We want to see a diplomatic resolution. We now have an opportunity to achieve it, and we hope it is an opportunity that’s not lost, for everyone’s sake.”
Tehran has now been made aware that if that opportunity is indeed lost, there may be some pretty heavy music to face in the form of an international air and sea embargo.

Turkey has no new information on 11 hostage pilgrims
June 05, 2012/By Wassim Mroueh The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Turkey has no new information on the 11 Lebanese hostages captured by Syrian rebels two weeks ago, a senior adviser to Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Monday, while Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was in contact with relevant officials to secure the hostages’ release. Speaking to The Daily Star, Ersat Hurmuzlu, a senior adviser to Gul, said that no new information, negative or positive, has emerged on the fate of the kidnapped pilgrims. “Turkey was asked to make efforts to reach a positive result, but nothing resulted [from the initiative],” Hurmuzlu said, adding that Turkish efforts have stalled. The Turkish official said the information that Ankara and the Lebanese Cabinet had received earlier indicated that that the hostages were “OK.”“But we have no information on the place where they are being held or who has kidnapped them,” Hurmuzlu said. The 11 men were kidnapped in the northern Syrian province of Aleppo on their way back from pilgrimage in Iran on May 22. Women and elderly men were allowed to go and they returned to Lebanon. An unknown Syrian rebel group claimed to be behind the abduction of the Lebanese, and said releasing them was contingent on Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah apologizing for his support of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which has been grappling with a relentless uprising since March last year. For his part, Mikati said he was closely following up on the hostages, who have now been held for two weeks. “We discussed this issue during my visit to Turkey [last week] and we are closely following up on it with all relevant groups; we hope that a positive outcome will be reached,” Mikati told reporters after visiting Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai at his Bkirki residence. The kidnapped men are residents of the Beirut southern suburbs, a stronghold of Hezbollah and Amal. The two parties have been successful in their calls for calm from the relatives of the pilgrims, who have refrained from taking their frustration to the streets. Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour and Hezbollah officials were not available for comment. Nasrallah ignored the captors’ demand for an apology in a speech last week, urging them to release the “innocent” hostages and settle any problem with him, whether through peace or war.

Hopes high for all-party participation in dialogue session
June 05, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hopes rose Monday that all parties would attend next week’s National Dialogue session called for by President Michel Sleiman, a senior political source said, as businessmen sounded the alarm bell about the country’s economy and urged all-party talks to defuse tension. “We are confident that the dialogue session will be held with the attendance of March 8 and March 14 representatives,” the source told The Daily Star. “Of course, that does not mean things will move quickly once the session is held. The issues are very complex and it will take a long time for any progress to be achieved,” the source said. For his part, Sleiman stressed that dialogue was the only way to end political divisions and protect Lebanon from the fallout of the 15-month-old turmoil in Syria.
He reiterated that the planned dialogue between rival leaders in the Hezbollah-led March 8 bloc and the opposition March 14 coalition, set for June 11, was aimed at maintaining civil peace and insulating Lebanon from the repercussions of the unrest in Syria.
In a statement released by his office, the president said it was important for the feuding parties to sit at “the dialogue table to discuss all concerns with openness and good intentions with the aim of protecting Lebanon, safeguarding civil peace and keeping it away from the repercussions and reverberations of the developments happening around us.”
“A real solution [for the Lebanese crisis] can be attained only through dialogue among the Lebanese parties over all issues under discussion,” Sleiman said.
Sleiman, who has visited Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates Wednesday as part of an Arab Gulf tour aimed at enlisting these countries’ support for National Dialogue.
March 14 leaders are planning to meet in the next few days to decide on whether to accept Sleiman’s invitation for a new round of National Dialogue.
Political sources told The Daily Star that senior March 14 politicians would meet Tuesday to draft the final version of the memo they will present to Sleiman in which they will outline their stance on various issues, particularly the planned dialogue and the problem of non-state arms following the clashes in Tripoli.
The memo will stress the Lebanese adherence to the state project and its legitimate institutions, the Taif Accord and the Lebanese Constitution. This item will amount to an initial response to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah’s call for the creation of an elected or appointed constituent assembly aimed at building a strong state in Lebanon, the sources said.
The memo will also call for the formation of a neutral salvation government and completion of National Dialogue on all non-state arms in Lebanon, including Hezbollah’s arms, Palestinian arms inside and outside the refugee camps in Lebanon and the proliferation of arms in cities and towns, the sources said.
They added that the memo would also stress the Lebanese Army’s role as the only guarantor of national unity and civil peace and call for keeping Lebanon away from regional and international axes amid the turbulence gripping the Arab world, particularly neighboring Syria. The opposition March 14 group’s visit to Baabda Palace is seen as pivotal in deciding the coalition’s participation in the National Dialogue following meetings and consultations to be held by its leaders to adopt a unified stance on all-party talks, the sources said.
Sleiman’s remarks coincided with a warning issued by the business community about the country’s ailing economy as a result of political and sectarian tensions that had erupted into deadly clashes in Tripoli and Beirut between pro- and anti-Syrian groups.
Addressing an enlarged meeting of business leaders, Mohammad Shoukair, chairman of the Federation of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Chambers, warned that Lebanon was on the “brink of bankruptcy” if the current situation continued. A statement issued after the meeting called on all political parties to attend the planned dialogue.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati also called on all the parties to attend the planned dialogue. “We are facing major internal challenges which we hope will not be affected by any external developments,” Mikati said after meeting Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai in Bkirki, north of Beirut.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius praised Sleiman’s call for an intra-Lebanese dialogue as “a wise and responsible decision.”
“France encourages all Lebanese political parties to participate in President Sleiman’s initiative and revive dialogue because it is the only way to defuse the current tension,” Fabius said in a statement.
Meanwhile, Beirut Future MP Atef Majdalani warned that Hezbollah, with Nasrallah’s call for the creation of a constituent assembly, wanted to change the face of Lebanon and replace the formula of an equal power sharing between Muslims and Christians with a three-way system including Christians, Sunnis and Shiites.
“He [Nasrallah] wanted to move forward in implementing his plan. He is clearly calling us to reconsider Lebanon’s essence or at best to review the entire system both on the level of coexistence or on the level of the unique Lebanese formula based on parity between Christians and Muslims,” Majdalani said during a luncheon held at Hariri’s residence in Downtown in honor of associations in Beirut.
“We reached today what we have always warned of and feared. Hezbollah wants to change the face of Lebanon. Hezbollah did not and will not abandon its goals announced in its founding document, which is based on the establishment of the State of Wali al-Faqih,” he said. “I can assure you that the main topic on such a dialogue table would be the elimination of parity and the adoption of the three-way system,” Majdalani added. For his part, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea voiced skepticism about National Dialogue, saying it would be a waste of time unless proper preparations were made in advance. “Had the proposed dialogue been serious, we would have been the first to call for this dialogue. But what is being proposed is a trap, not by the president, but by the other parties, namely Hezbollah, to cover up what is happening,” Geagea said in an interview with the Central News Agency, referring to the clashes in Tripoli. He said March 14 parties would make a last-ditch attempt with Sleiman to ensure minimum components of “a serious dialogue.” – With additional reporting by Antoine Ghattas Saab

Two Lebanese among victims of Nigeria plane crash
June 4, 2012 /Two Lebanese nationals were aboard the plane that crashed in the Nigerian city of Lagos on Sunday, the National News Agency reported on Monday. The two victims were identified as Nadine Shidiaq and Roger Aawad. A plane carrying 153 people plunged into a residential area of Nigeria's largest city on Sunday, with all those aboard presumed dead, an inferno igniting at the scene and buildings badly damaged. -NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea against dialogue if it is not “serious”
June 4, 2012 /Now Lebanon/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said in an interview with Al-Makarkaziya news agency that he was against national dialogue if it was not serious. “A March 14 delegation will visit President Michel Sleiman within two days. Based on the results of the visit, [we] will decide [if we will attend the national dialogue],” Geagea said. “If [the participants] and the president cannot provide the least [amounts of] elements [required to hold] serious dialogue, then [there is no use] to waste time and efforts and sit on a table for dialogue just for the sake of doing so.”Geagea also voiced the necessity of a “serious dialogue” that would put an end to the “continuous drain” in the country. “No one can be against dialogue, especially the March 14 parties, unless when we feel that dialogue is being held to cover up for [certain] events, like the Tripoli [violence],” he added. “What is weird is that some parties consider dialogue to be inevitable [amid] such events. If a serious dialogue had been proposed, we would have been the first people to call for [holding] it, but what is being suggested is a trap… by Hezbollah to cover up what is happening and prolong it.”Last week, Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at 11 a.m. at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms. However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless the cabinet of Prime Minister Najib Mikati resigns.-NOW Lebanon

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri: Tripoli clashes prove Syrian regime plot against Lebanon
June 4, 2012 /Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on Monday that the clashes that erupted in the northern city of Tripoli proved that “the Syrian regime is unrelenting in its plot to set Lebanon on fire.”
“It is clear the Syrian regime wants to divert attention and create a sectarian conflict in both Lebanon and Syria; its [plot] will fail,” Hariri wrote on his page on the social networking website Twitter.The former premier also commended the security forces’ role to resolve the clashes Tripoli. “I salute the efforts of Tripoli's civil society and of the army and Internal Security Forces [ISF] to put an end to civil strife in Tripoli,” he said. Hariri also condemned “vandalism against any shop [belonging] to Alawite [citizens] in Tripoli.”“It is unacceptable and only serves sectarian plot of Syrian regime.” Clashes over the weekend in Tripoli between two rival neighborhoods, Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, have left at least 14 people dead and more than 40 people injured. Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have been gripped by frequent fighting, reflecting a split in Lebanon's political scene in which opposition parties back the revolt in Syria while the ruling coalition, led by Hezbollah, supports the Damascus regime.-NOW Lebanon

Prime Minister Najib Mikati meets with Maronite Patriarch, reiterates call for dialogue
June 4, 2012 Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Monday reiterated the call for all Lebanese leaders to participate in the national dialogue session called for by President Michel Sleiman.
“All the parties must be represented in the dialogue session,” Mikati said following his meeting with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai. Last week, Sleiman sent invitations to the members of the national dialogue committee calling on them to convene on June 11 at 11 a.m. at the Baabda Presidential Palace to discuss various issues, including Hezbollah’s arms. However, some members of the Western-backed March 14 coalition said they reject taking part in the national dialogue session unless Mikati’s cabinet resigns. Mikati also said that Rai supported the cabinet, “especially its policy of self-disassociation” regarding the crisis in Syria. The PM added that he discussed administrative appointments with the Patriarch, adding that the latter did not suggest any candidates. Mikati also commented on Future Movement leader MP Saad Hariri’s statement that the clashes that erupted in the northern city of Tripoli “are proof that the Syrian regime is unrelenting in its plot to set Lebanon on fire.”“What matters the most is that we do not transfer Syria’s crisis to Lebanon… If we are united we can prevent [this],” he said. Clashes over the weekend in Tripoli between two rival neighborhoods, Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, have left at least 14 people dead and more than 40 people injured. Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen have been gripped by frequent fighting, reflecting a split in Lebanon's political scene in which opposition parties back the revolt in Syria while the ruling coalition, led by Hezbollah, supports the Damascus regime.-NOW Lebanon

US: Assad lying over Syria regime's role in massacre
June 4, 2012 /Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was lying when he denied his regime had any involvement in the massacre of more than 100 civilians near the central town of Houla, the White House said Monday. Asked if Assad lied at the weekend when he denied his forces fired on innocent civilians near Houla, President Barack Obama's spokesperson, Jay Carney, said: "Yes.
"As evidenced by the very massacres that the Assad regime participated in and is now denying, the sooner that political transition takes place, the better for the people of Syria, and the better the chances that a bloody sectarian war will be avoided," he told reporters."The longer that Assad continues to essentially wage war on his own people... brutally murder, execute his own people, the greater the chance that that situation will dissolve into a sectarian civil war and will spill over its borders and cause instability in the region," Carney said. In a Sunday speech to parliament, a defiant Assad said that even "monsters" were incapable of carrying out massacres such as last month's killing of 108 people, including 49 children, near Houla. His reaction came after Arab ministers urged the United Nations to act to stop the bloodshed, and France raised the prospect of military action against Damascus under a UN mandate. The United States has reacted with outrage over the Houla attack and last week expelled Syrian diplomats in concert with several other nations. State Department spokesman Mark Toner on Monday said Assad was "remarkably out of touch with the reality of the situation on the ground in Syria, especially his comments about the massacre in Houla."Carney, Obama's spokesman, said it was vital that there be international unity against Assad, in a veiled reference to Russia which US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has accused of "propping up" Assad with continued arms shipments. Russia has resisted UN Security Council efforts to act against the Assad regime, a longtime ally of Moscow, questioning the effectiveness of sanctions and warning that outside meddling could lead to civil war."It's obvious that history will judge Assad as a brutal dictator who murdered his own people," Carney said."History will judge those who supported Assad and continue to support Assad accordingly."-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syrian opposition announces “new military structure”
June 4, 2012/A Syrian opposition group announced Monday that they are creating a new military structure consisting of 12,000 fighters to topple the regime of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"We announce today the unification of all fronts in a single center to bring about the collapse of the oppressing regime," Khaled al-Okla from the Syrian Revolutionaries Front read from a statement at a press conference. The SRF is active across Syria and has 12,000 men under command, uniting more than 100 "battalions," according to a video presentation broadcast during the conference.
Asked about the relationship between the SRF and the Free Syrian Army, the main opposition force made up of deserting Syrian army officers, Okla said the two forces had frequent "discussions" and were working in "cooperation." The SRF also claims support from some members of the Syrian National Council, recognized by world leaders as a legitimate representative of the Syrian people. "We, the SNC, bless the founding of the Syrian Revolutionaries Front and affirm that we will provide full support," said a member of the SNC executive committee, Ahmad Ramadan.
"We say the fight for the freedom of Syria has begun," he added. Haitham al-Maleh, a prominent human rights activist, also said he supported the new structure, in a video message sent to the SRF.
The new military structure has a more integrated structure to combat Damascus than the Free Syrian Army, which offers a wide platform without strong organic links, said Mahmut Osman, another member of the SNC. "The SNC supports this unification of groups acting on the ground," he added.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Freedom for the hostages …
Hazem Saghiyeh, June 4, 2012 /Now Lebanon
It is true that no revolution is pure or spotless, and that revolutionaries – all revolutionaries – may commit certain acts and violations for which no one takes responsibility and which are not in conformity with the ideal image of revolutions. However, it is also true that any such violation should be treated as the first of its kind and should enlist all indignation and condemnation we can possibly muster.
This is said with the 11 Lebanese nationals kidnapped somewhere in Syria in mind. Kidnapping people on their way back from religious pilgrimages in Iraq and Iran is wholly immoral and devoid of moral principles. Moreover, if it turns out that forces close to the Syrian revolution are indeed behind the kidnapping, this denotes of militia and sectarian drifts, the dangerous symptoms of which should be countered by the spokespersons of the revolution and those in charge of it. Those who have anticipated such talk by saying that the kidnapped have political roles and functions in supporting the [Syrian] regime are merely transforming these abhorrent symptoms into principles and standards, thus pushing the Syrian revolution towards an outcome that is worse than the one reserved to their Lebanese hostages.
Some might say that the brutal violence of the Syrian regime, the latest expressions of which was in Houla, is seeking to expand this poisoned exchange between human beings and spread it across the Syrian fabric. While this might be correct as a description, it is no more than self-important talk when invoked as a pretext. Some of this self-importance, albeit from another source, involved thanking [Syrian President] Bashar Al-Assad, belatedly remembering the need for the Lebanese state or warning against the defects of kidnapping when it does not take place in Beirut’s Dahiyeh.
Still, this is no time for politics from the standpoint of settlement of scores and controversies. Those who love settling political scores may list reasons whereby the kidnapping is harmful, such as the impact on Lebanese-Syrian relations or its impact on Sunni-Shia – and perhaps even Iraqi-Syrian – relations. Yet, regardless of settling scores, the Lebanese hostages should be set free because: First, they are innocent civilians; and second, Kidnapping is condemnable regardless of the political calculations underlying it, of its perpetrators or of its victims. Kidnapping is terrorism, and terrorism should have no justification.
This is further justified by the fact that one of the key functions of revolutions, if they wish to achieve victory morally and in reality, is to set themselves apart from terrorism and dissociate their cause from the “cause of terrorism.” Either the hostages are freed, or those responsible are pinpointed, thus triggering a growing wave of condemnation.
**This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Monday June 4, 2012

After the violence subsides
Nadine Elali, June 4, 2012/Now Lebanon
The funeral of Fatima and Mahmoud al-Bahry, who died during clashes between pro- and anti-Syrian fighters in Tripoli over the weekend. (AFP photo)
Tripoli’s battles don’t end with the last shot fired. The latest clashes in the northern city, which escalated at around midnight Friday and continued through Saturday, have left at least 14 people dead, more than 40 injured and extensive material damage. And while few fighters ended up hurt in this latest round of fighting between residents of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, most of those affected were civilians. Twelve-year-old Mirna Mohammad was shot in the chest while snatching her favorite blue dress off the clothes rack on the balcony. “She wanted to leave,” Khadija Darwich, Mirna’s mother said. “She was afraid. I had packed her clothes, but her favorite dress was left outside on the balcony to dry. She ran out to get it and came back bleeding. She screamed, ‘I’ve been shot!’ and fell to the ground.”
The bullet that hit Mirna made its way through her chest and hit the spine. She is in danger of being paralyzed.
Mirna’s family lives in an area between the Sunni neighborhood of Riva, and Mankoubeen, on the outskirts of Jabal Mohsen, where clashes erupted Saturday afternoon. “I wanted to leave,” said Mirna. “I could see the fighters firing at each other. I was really afraid.” Men from the Jabal Mohsen district, home to mostly Alawites, have clashed over the past few weeks with residents of Bab al-Tabbaneh, who are mostly Sunni Muslims. The clashes represent a split in Tripoli’s political scene in which the Alawites, allied with Hezbollah, support the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, while Sunnis support the Syrian opposition. This time, however, fighters from Jabal Mohsen expanded their attack to neighboring areas and targeted civilians. The National News Agency (NNA) reported that several shells fell Saturday night in areas relatively distant from the Jabal Mohsen-Bab al-Tabbaneh divide.A nurse who was on duty at the Islamic Hospital in Tripoli and who preferred to remain anonymous described the situation at the hospital’s emergency room. “Every five minutes we’d have groups of three wounded people come into the ER. Most were hit by snipers, the rest were hurt by shrapnel.” According to the nurse, over 60 percent of those injured were shot in their upper bodies; in the chest, back, stomach, shoulder and head. “The snipers were aiming to kill,” he said.
“Those who were coming into the ER were all civilians; they were injured either when crossing roads or they were in their homes. There were no fighters among them, maybe one. What do fighters care anyway; they stay protected behind their sandbags, while the innocent die.” The nurse recalled a few cases that left him devastated.
Fatima al-Sheikh al-Bahri, 62, rushed to the street Saturday to call out for her son Mahmoud, who was sitting nearby, as news of sniper activity circulated. Fatima got shot, and so did her son as he was trying to rescue her. When her daughter, 28-year-old Itab, and her cousin Abdel Majid ran to the street to call out for help, they too were fired at. Fatima’s grandson Fouad and his close friend rushed to the scene and were also shot. “For almost half an hour, the six lay there motionless,” said Khodor, Fatima’s nephew. “No one could get through; no person, no army, no Red Cross. Sniper bullets were hailing on us. I stopped a pickup truck driving close to Abu Ali River roundabout, and drove really fast to the scene, put them all in there and took them to the Islamic Hospital.”
Mahmoud and Fatima both died. Fatima’s daughter Itab is now paralyzed, her nephew Abdel Majid has a scratched skull and cannot move his leg, while Fouad and his friend are still alive.
Khodor told NOW Lebanon that the clashes were one of the fiercest this weekend and the targets were mostly civilians and the scenes he saw reminded him of images he’s seen of the events in Syria. “I don't agree politically with the shabab of Bab al-Tabbeneh, in internal politics we are not in the same line,” he said. “This is a human massacre, same as Houla.

Why Are So Many Syrians Willing to Kill for the Assad Regime?
Five Sobering Questions About the Situation in Syria
By Tony Karon | @tonykaron | June 3, 2012/Global Spin
The scale of the violence on the ground is amplifying calls for Western intervention. But it also points to the complexity of stopping the bloodshed. Why Are So Many Syrians Willing to Kill for the Assad Regime? It’s comforting to picture President Bashar al-Assad as a Syrian Muammar Gaddafi, being kept in power only by military aid from Iran and Russia, diplomatic cover from Moscow and Beijing—and the alleged “fecklessness” of the Obama Administration. Comforting, but wrong. Iran, Russia and China may be helping keep Assad in power, but so are whole communities of Syrians who see their own fates tied up with that of the regime. That’s why after 15 months of open rebellion and sanctions, the regime remains cohesive, its core security units intact and committed to the bloody suppression of the rebellion. The tenacity and scale of the rebellion may have stretched the capacity of those security forces, and the regime is unable to rely on conscript regular army units to do its dirty work. As a result, Assad’s forces have resorted to arming village-level irregulars, the shabiha, to do some of the nastiest work. Reports suggest it was shabiha forces from neighboring villages that carried out much of the vicious, close-quarters massacre of more than 100 people, including 49 children, last week in Houla. The shabiha—and, indeed, the regime’s core security forces—are drawn from the Alawite minority; their victims are mostly Sunni. They are killing their neighbors not out of personal loyalty to Assad, but fear of what a future without his regime would hold. The Alawites, a quasi-Shiite sect that comprises around 12% of the population, was a long-suffering minority elevated during the French colonial era into a loyalist military caste as a counterweight to Sunni and Christian Arab nationalists. When Assad’s father, Hafez al-Assad, seized and consolidated power, the Alawites were the prime beneficiaries. They monopolize the ranks of the bureaucratic and security elite, enjoying a stature not unlike the position of the minority Sunnis in the Iraq of Saddam Hussein. The frenzy with which many Alawites have been ready to bludgeon opponents of the regime reflects the success of Assad in presenting himself as their protector, and perhaps also the failure of the opposition thus far to appeal to the regime’s traditional base. Sectarian civil war may even have been a path chosen by Assad when the rebellion first began in the belief that it tied his regime’s fate to those of its core constituencies and potentially also made him indispensable to restoring the peace. (Slobodan Milosevic employed a similar tactic in the Balkans.) Until communities that remain firmly in the regime’s camp can be convinced that their lives and livelihoods are not imperiled by the rebellion, Assad will have a posse. Plus, foreign powers may be reluctant to commit to participating in a conflict that looks more like Bosnia than Libya.
Next: What About Ousting Assad, But Not His Regime?

What does Nasrallah really mean?
Hanin Ghaddar , June 4, 2012
In the case of war, Hassan Nasrallah will remain hiding behind a screen, while the Lebanese, as always, will pay the price for Hezbollah’s decisions. (AFP photo)
The Shia taxi driver who brought me home from the airport a few nights ago answered my question about the fate of the 11 Lebanese Shia pilgrims kidnaped in Syria with a rather shocking statement: “We don’t care. We don’t want them back if this causes any humiliation to the Sayyed. He will not apologize to anyone.”
Of course, the Sayyed here is Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah. And the humiliation would be agreeing to the kidnapers’ request for Nasrallah to apologize to the Syrian people for supporting the Syrian regime.
I did not know what apology he was talking about, because, interestingly, the kidnapers’ request was released 24 hours later. How did a taxi driver know about this? Only God, or to be precise, the Party of God, knows. This raises another question: Is it true that they really don’t care if the hostages are released, or is it denial because Hezbollah and its community are more worried about the real humiliation, the one they have to pay as a penalty for supporting Syria’s dictator.
A couple of nights later, Nasrallah ignored the request in a speech commemorating Ayatollah Khomeini’s death. He addressed the kidnapers, saying: “If your problem was with me, there are a lot of means and ways to resolve it. We can resolve it the way you want, whether through war or through love and peace.”
It is amusing to watch the leader of Hezbollah threaten the kidnapers of the Shia pilgrims from behind a giant screen. The ironic fact is that the kidnapers are not waiting for Hassan Nasrallah’s options. On the contrary, they have given him some options: Apologize or they will not be freed. The other funny but sad part is that, in the case of war, Nasrallah will remain hiding behind the screen, while the Lebanese, as always, will pay the price for Hezbollah’s decisions.
In every war, conflict or street clash, Nasrallah remains hidden in a safe and probably luxurious place, while the Lebanese lose their lives and property. So far, no one’s complaining has led anywhere. So here he goes again, threatening with war and giving options without consulting state institutions or the Lebanese people.
This is sending the wrong message to the Syrians about the Shia community, which is also paying the same, if not at times higher, price. It adds to the viciousness of the circle that puts all the Shia in one bag and which led to the kidnaping of the pilgrims. Because of this attitude, the group that kidnaped the pilgrims made a mistake by capturing unarmed Lebanese Shia to send a message to Hezbollah.
It is a vicious circle that only hurts the innocent people, Shia or not. But that’s why Nasrallah has probably started to give signs of rapprochement, without showing any sign of weakness. The same speech carried a number of suggestions that bear out Hezbollah’s preference for stability in Lebanon.
Although the Syrian regime is trying to move the crisis to Lebanon—with the continuous bloody clashes in Tripoli and those in Beirut last month, in addition to other incidents of individual killings and arrests— Hezbollah seems to have been trying to control it. When the pilgrims were kidnaped, many from the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut blocked roads with burning tires, but Nasrallah came out immediately and asked them to go home. Also, it seems that the party was not involved in the clashes that occurred in Tripoli and Beirut, which were limited to anti- and pro-Syrian groups.
Hezbollah needs stability in Lebanon today, and Nasrallah’s call for a national dialogue now could be seen as a sign of this outlook. Otherwise, clashes would have escalated to a very dangerous level. Stability in Lebanon today protects the government, which Hezbollah formed, which is going to carry out the parliamentary elections in 2013.
Without stability, this government might collapse and another government, probably less controlled by Hezbollah, could be formed before the elections. This would decrease Hezbollah’s chances of winning the next parliament, and without Bashar al-Assad next door, its control over Lebanon will be seriously reduced.
Therefore, for the first time in a very long time, there could be a real discrepancy between what Hezbollah and the Syrian regime want for Lebanon. This will not change Hezbollah’s stance on the Syrian uprising or stop it from supporting the regime. However, it says a lot about Hezbollah’s fear of the future.
**Hanin Ghaddar is the managing editor of NOW Lebanon. She tweets @haningdr