LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 18/12
Bible Quotation for
today/The Parables of the Mustard Seed the Yeast
Matthew 13/31-35: " Jesus told them another parable: The Kingdom of heaven
is like this. A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the
smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants.
It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.
Jesus told them still another parable: The Kingdom of heaven is like this. A
woman takes some yeast and mixes it with a bushel of flour until the whole
batch of dough rises. Jesus used parables to tell all these things to the
crowds; he would not say a thing to them without using a parable. He did this
to make come true what the prophet had said, I will use parables when I speak
to them; I will tell them things unknown since the creation of the world.
Latest analysis, editorials, studies,
reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
U.S.
may have less Mideast clout, uses it with care/ By Arshad
Mohammed/Daily Star/June 17/12
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous
Sources for June 17/12
Bombs
rock churches in northern Nigeria
Nigeria
church suicide bombings kill 19, spark reprisals
Iran,
world powers set for showdown in Moscow
Former
Iran negotiator: Islamic Republic unlikely to accept West's offer in new round
of nuclear talks
Saudi
king to bury Crown Prince, find successor
The
passing of the incomparable Prince Naif
May God have
mercy on Prince Naif Bin Abdulaziz
Prince Naif was the personification of stability
The loss of
Prince Naif
Canada
Offers Condolences Following Death of Saudi Prince
Russia
flies anti-air, anti-ship missiles to Assad as its fleet heads to Tartus
Syria
rebels more organised as insurgency grows
Syrian
activists warn of dire conditions in Homs
Syria's Homs battered as weekend death toll reaches 84
Regime forces
besiege Homs, 69 killed across Syria
Anxiety
as Egypt's presidency vote nears end
Egypt votes for
2nd day to pick Mubarak successor
U.S. may have
less Mideast clout, uses it with care
Lebanon’s ex-PM Siniora warned he
might be assassination target: source
Hezbollah: Dialogue essential, fortifies Lebanon
Lebanon's
Arabic press digest - June 17, 2012
Sleiman, Turkish president discuss case of kidnapped
pilgrims
March
14 slams Cabinet’s overspending decision
Mufti
says Saudi Arabia keen on Lebanon's stability, unity
Nigeria church suicide
bombings kill 19, spark reprisals
June 17, 2012/By Isaac Abrak/Daily Star
ZARIA, Nigeria: Suicide car bombers attacked three
churches in northern Nigeria
on Sunday, killing at least 19 people and wounding dozens, and triggering
retaliatory attacks by Christian youths who dragged Muslims from cars and
killed them, officials and witnesses said. There was no immediate claim of
responsibility for the bombings but Islamist group Boko
Haram has often attacked church services in Nigeria, Africa's
most populous country, split roughly evenly between Christians and Muslims. The
violence stoked fears of wider sectarian conflict in Nigeria,
an OPEC member and Africa's top oil producer where the Christian Association of
Kano, northern Nigeria's
main city, called the bombings "a clear invitation to religious war".
Last Sunday, militants attacked two churches in Nigeria, spraying the congregation
of one with bullets, killing at least one person, and blowing up a car in a
suicide bombing at the other, wounding 41. Boko Haram claimed responsibility. In the latest violence, the
first two blasts rocked churches in the town of Zaria within minutes of each other. First, a
suicide bomber drove a blue Honda Civic into Ekwa Church,
its pastor told a Reuters cameraman at the scene. "Three people are
confirmed killed. Others have been taken to hospital for treatment," said
Reverend Nathan Waziri. The second suicide car
bombing was at Kings Catholic Church, killing 10 people, said Bishop of Zaria
George Dogo who was giving a service in the church
when it was attacked. Suicide bombers in a Toyota
saloon then hit Shalom Church in the state's main city of Kaduna, killing six people. The military said
the dead included an army sergeant. Manan Janet, who
was in the church, said she saw six bodies. "It was terrible. I'm
traumatised," she said. Musa Ilela, an official
from the National Emergency Management Agency in Kaduna state, said the death toll had yet to
be established. "The injured and dead have been moved to the hospitals. Our
men have not been able to get to the blast site in Kaduna," he said. After the bombings, Christian
youths blocked the highway leading south out of Kaduna
to the capital Abuja,
pulling Muslims out of cars and killing them, witnesses said. "We had to
return home when we saw (the Christian youths) attacking. I saw many bodies on
the ground, but I don't know how many were dead or just injured," said Kaduna resident Rafael Gwaza.
Witness Haruna Isah
said up to 20 people might have been killed in reprisals at the road-block.
"There were bodies everywhere on the ground," he said. Kaduna state governor
Patrick Yakowa called for calm. "In view of the
incidents and the need to have complete normalcy and to forestall a further
break down of law and order, the state government has imposed a 24-hour curfew
in the whole state," a statement from his office said. "The state
government considers this to be necessary in order to avert further loss of
lives and properties." Boko Haram
says it is fighting to reinstate an ancient Islamic caliphate that would adhere
to strict sharia, or Islamic law. The Islamists' leader
Abubakar Shekau says
attacks on Christians are in revenge for killings of Muslims in Nigeria's
volatile "Middle Belt", where the largely Christian south and mostly
Muslim north meet.Kaduna is close to the Middle Belt
areas.
Bombs rock churches in
northern Nigeria
By AFP/Bombs rocked three churches in neighbouring cities in
Nigeria's northern Kaduna state on Sunday, injuring
dozens of worshippers, emergency services and residents said. The number of
casualties in the blasts in the neighbouring cities of Zaria
and Kaduna was
not immediately clear. Police and the military cordoned off the areas around
the churches. The state-run National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said
the blasts happened in the Wusasa and Sabongari districts of Zaria, previously targeted by the Islamist
group Boko Haram. Residents
in the areas said many people were injured in the attacks on the Christ the
King Catholic Cathedral and ECWA
GoodNews Church. "Many people in the church
were injured but I have not seen any dead bodies," a woman who was in the
church in Wusasa at the time of the explosion said by
telephone from her hospital bed. Several residents in Sabongari
said the church was badly damaged.
"I went close to the church but could not access it due
to heavy police and military security deployed around it," resident Mahmud
Hamza told AFP. "From where I stood I could see
a badly destroyed church still burning from the explosion. It is obvious there
were deaths from the scale of the damage and the fire," he added. Another
resident spoke of seeing bodies being taken out of the church.
Officials later reported a third bomb attack on a church in Kaduna, but there were no
immediate reports of casualties. Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks
targeting churches in Africa's most populous
nation and largest oil producer.
Hezbollah: Dialogue
essential, fortifies Lebanon
June 17, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Head of Hezbollah’s
parliamentary bloc, MP Mohammad Raad, said Sunday
that dialogue was needed at all times as it protected Lebanon and
offered a means to resolving crises.
“Dialogue is necessary at all times since it fortifies Lebanon and helps find solutions to all crises
the country is facing,” said Raad during a party
rally in Kafra village
of Bint Jbeil,
south Lebanon.
The Hezbollah official said the crisis in the Syria, previous
agreements at National Dialogue sessions and a national defense
strategy all needed to be discussed at future all-party talks.
On the crisis in Syria,
Raad said his party held its views on the 15-month-long
unrest in Lebanon’s neighbor, “but we need to agree on how we can dissociate Lebanon from
repercussions resulting from the crisis, which would ruin its security and
stability and eventually affect the country’s political and economic situation.”“There are also other subjects that require
dialogue and these are the continuation of the previous agreements in previous
dialogue sessions and discussions on reaching a positive methodology to
approach the national defense strategy,” Raad, who represents Hezbollah at the National Dialogue, added.
Political leaders gathered at Baabda
Palace on June 11 to resume National
Dialogue sessions stalled since November 2010 and agreed to back the Lebanese
Army and shield Lebanon
from regional and international conflicts. The Hezbollah official also said
unrest in north Lebanon
was a threat to the country’s stability and said that “we need to find a calm
solution to this at the National Dialogue table in order to protect the north
and provide the appropriate environment for the army to carry out its security
duties to preserve security and stability.”
Raad said his party hoped National
Dialogue would produce “a methodology that boosts the project of building the
state and pushes all officials towards this project.”
He said this was essential as the country could no longer
carry on in the absence of a state, which he said was confronted by street
action whenever it failed to fulfill its duties.
Also talking on National Dialogue Sunday, Agriculture
Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said Hezbollah’s weapons
could be discussed during the all-party talks so long a viable alternative
could be proposed.
“We held a National Dialogue session and we will hold another
and it is the right of some to bring problematic issues and discuss the weapons
of the resistance but they have to propose an alternative,” Hasan,
who spoke in the southern coastal city of Tyre,
said.
The minister, however, voiced doubts that an alternative to
Hezbollah’s weapons could be brought to the National Dialogue table.
“Would this alternative weaken Lebanon?” he asked, adding that
“when someone wants to bring up what they regard as problematic or wants to
propose an idea or opinion, they have to put a realistic view.”
“But what have they managed to accomplish over the years?”
he asked, addressing his rivals in the March 14 coalition. “Would the south
have been liberated had it not been for the weapons of the resistance fighters
and martyrs?” the Hezbollah official added. Hasan
said the diplomatic route adopted by the opposition when in government had
failed to liberate any Lebanese lands.
“Our formula is that of the army, people and resistance. Their
[March 14 coalition] formula, on the other hand, is the
diplomatic one, which did not return you the northern parts of Ghajjar, nor the Shebaa Farms, nor
Kfar Shouba hills and the
Americans and European were coming and going,” he said. Hasan also defended the March 8 dominated government from
criticism but admitted that many of the pressing issues and concerns of the
people could not be resolved under the current conditions. “It is true that
there are problems of electricity, water, economy, unemployment and the general
debt,” he said.
“However, these are not the problems of this government and
it cannot resolve these issue because these problems require a government in
the best of conditions in terms of security, economics and stability,” he added.
“The accumulation of complications over many years cannot be resolved in a year
that was full of incidents as we have seen recently.”
Lebanon’s ex-PM Siniora warned he
might be assassination target: source
June 17, 2012 /By Atallah al-Salim/The Daily
Star
BEIRUT:
Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora
has received warnings from regional and international sides that he might be
the target of an assassination attempt, a source close to the Future
parliamentary bloc leader told The Daily Star Sunday. “In reports, during
meetings, calls and reports with regional and international sides, Siniora was warned that he might be the target of an
assassination attempt,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said. He
said the warnings were recent and the objective behind the plot was to sow strife
in the country. The source said the Sidon MP received a list of five names of
people who could be targeted. Siniora’s name was
among the list, he added. The list contained names of religious and political
figures, the source said. In April, Lebanese Force head Sami Geagea, a leading figure in the March 14 coalition
opposition, was the target of an alleged assassination attempt. In May, several
local newspapers carried reports saying that extremists had entered the country
to carry out assassinations and that security agencies believe senior Lebanese
politicians, including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, are among the targets. Berri
lent credibility to the May reports, saying these needed to be taken seriously
and require vigilance. Earlier this year, media reports said that Ashraf Rifi, the head of the
Internal Security Forces, and Wissam al-Hasan, the chief of the Internal Security Force’s
Information Branch, were the possible targets of a plot. The reports prompted
the ISF to enact emergency measures around its headquarters in the neighborhood of Ashrafieh.
Saudi king to bury
Crown Prince, find successor
By Angus McDowall | Reuters
RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's
King Abdullah prepared to bury his former heir, Crown Prince Nayef, on Sunday before naming a new successor at a
challenging time for the world's top oil exporter and self-styled steward of
Islam. The crown prince's body arrived in Jeddah on Sunday a day after his
death, where it was met at King
Khaled Airport by a host of Saudi princes.
Among them was the most likely candidate to take the
position to succeed the 89-year-old king is Prince Salman,
76, another son of Saudi Arabia's
founder Abdulaziz ibn Saud.
The new crown prince will become heir to a king who is aged 89
at a time when Saudi Arabia
faces a variety of challenges at home and abroad.
Although the Interior Ministry, which the late Nayef headed for 37 years, crushed al Qaeda inside Saudi Arabia
its Yemeni wing has sworn to topple the ruling al-Saud family and has plotted
attacks against the kingdom. Saudi rulers are also grappling with unrest in
areas populated by the Shi'ite Muslim minority and
with entrenched youth unemployment.
The kingdom is also locked in a region-wide rivalry with Shi'ite Iran - the party at the airport included former
Lebanese prime minister Saad al-Hariri, representing
the Sunni Muslim political alliance that Saudi
Arabia cultivates against Iran. "We call on God to help
King Abdullah choose the right person who can bear the burdens of this position
at this difficult time we face both at the level of the Arab nation and that of
the Islamic community," Prince Mishaal bin
Abdullah bin Turki al-Saud told Reuters.
Salman, who is seen as a
pragmatist with a strong grasp of the intricate balance of competing princely
and clerical interests that dominate Saudi politics, was named defense minister last year.
The appointment of a new crown prince is not likely to
change the kingdom's position on foreign or domestic policy but might influence
the course of cautious social and economic reforms started under King Abdullah.
"Certainly they are going to continue to focus on the relationship with
the U.S., and continue to make efforts to properly husband their abundant
natural resources of oil," said Robert Jordan, U.S. ambassador to Riyadh
from 2001 to 2003.
FAMILY COUNCIL
Although most analysts believe it is highly likely Salman will be chosen, the ultimate decision may rest with
a family Allegiance Council called to approve King Abdullah's decision.
The Saudi succession does not pass from father to eldest son
but has moved along a line of brothers born to Ibn
Saud. A previous crown prince, Sultan, died last October.
Under rules drawn up by King Abdullah, the Allegiance
Council has 30 days to approve the monarch's successor.
"There will be a meeting where the next crown prince
will be decided. It has always been done in an orderly and organized manner. Prince
Salman fits the profile in many ways," said Khaled Almaeena, editor-in-chief
of the Saudi Gazette. A source close to the royal family said Nayef had died suddenly in Geneva after receiving treatment for a knee
complaint. He was thought to be 78.
Before the funeral, King Abdullah travelled to Mecca on Sunday evening
from Jeddah, where the royal court and cabinet spend the summer, Saudi Press
Agency reported.
Television showed a host of princes in red-and-white
headdresses, including Salman and Mecca governor Prince Khaled
al-Faisal gathered on the runway to escort Nayef's
body to an ambulance.
Newspapers on Sunday mourned the death on their front pages.
Al-Jazirah's front page was
entirely in black and white and showed photographs of the king and late crown
prince. The English-language Saudi Gazette splashed a full-page picture of Nayef with the headline: "Unto God do we belong and, verily,
unto Him we shall return". Analysts say the most difficult decision in the
succession will be when the line of Ibn Saud's sons
is exhausted and a grandson must be chosen as crown prince. Grandsons with the
experience and qualifications to rule include Prince Khaled
al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca
province who is 71, and Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the
deputy interior minister, who is 52. "The house of Saud will need to think
about what would happen in the event the king became unwell, and
there is no way on earth you would hand the crown prince role to a
grandson in 48 hours time. You have to find an older prince," said Michael
Stephens of the Royal United Services Institute in Qatar.
Only a few princes of the older generation have the
experience deemed necessary to rule the Middle East's
largest economy.
One of them, Prince Ahmed, is a full brother of Nayef and Salman, as well as the
late King Fahd and the former crown prince, Sultan. He has been deputy interior
minister since 1975 and is seen as likely to replace Nayef
as full minister. "The expectation is that Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz will take over the position of the interior
minister after Prince Nayef passed away considering
that Prince Ahmed has served as deputy interior minister for 20 years. I think
he is the closest to take over this position," Prince Sultan bin Saud al-Saud
told Reuters. (Reporting by Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Ismail Nofal in Jeddah and Isabel Coles in Dubai; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
Canada Offers Condolences Following Death of Saudi Prince
June 16, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today
issued the following statement:
“On behalf of all Canadians, I extend my deepest condolences
to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud,
and to the people of Saudi
Arabia, on the death of the Deputy Premier
and Minister of Interior, Crown Prince Nayef bin
Abdul-Aziz Al Saud.
“Saudi Arabia
has lost an honourable man of great achievement who has dedicated his life to
the security and prosperity of the people of Saudi Arabia.
“Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz
Al Saud successfully oversaw a modernization effort within the Ministry of
Interior and helped forge strong cooperative ties on security matters between Canada and Saudi Arabia. Under his leadership,
Saudi Arabia
has made significant progress in rooting out terrorism and extremism in the
region.”
Iran, world powers set
for showdown in Moscow
By Dmitry Zaks | AFP /.World powers
resume crisis talks with Iran on Monday amid hope that a crippling oil embargo
and pressure from host Russia will finally force the Islamic Republic to scale
back its nuclear drive. The two-day meeting follows a bruising May session in
Baghdad during which Iran nearly walked out of negotiations aimed ultimately at
keeping it from joining the exclusive club of nations with an atomic bomb. Host
Russia however is keen to
flex its diplomatic muscle and make Iran
an example of how Moscow's influence over Soviet-era
partners could be used to avoid foreign military intervention in the 16-month
crisis in Syria.
"There are reasons to believe that the next step will be taken in Moscow," Russia's Deputy Foreign Sergei Ryabkov said.
Failure in Moscow could leave
the process in tatters and raise the threat of air raids from arch-foe Israel -- a
fateful scenario in which broader conflict would lead to a spike in oil prices
that could tip over the world's teetering economy. But a July 1 deadline for a
full EU oil embargo and the June 28 rollout of tough US
sanctions against a host of Iranian oil clients is providing added pressure for
Tehran to
bargain more seriously. Two of the biggest bones of contention involve the
speed with which world powers lift existing sanctions and the recognition of Iran's "right
to enrich" uranium.
The latter is emerging as a key demand that Iranian
negotiator Saeed Jalili is
likely to present to EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton when she
represents the five permanent UN Security Council members and Germany in Moscow.
"We expect that Iran's
right to nuclear technologies, including uranium enrichment, will be recognised
and respected," Jalili told Russia's RT
state-run world news channel in comments translated from Farsi. Iran
for its part "has the capacities to cooperate in disarmament and nuclear
non-proliferation, so these capacities should be used by the international
community," Jalili said in Friday's broadcast. "I
think that addressing these two issues will help to advance the negotiations."
Diplomats said Iran had
agreed to discuss the idea of limits to its enrichment programme under a
proposal initially outlined in Baghdad.
"Their message on enrichment has been received," said a Western
diplomat close to the negotiations.
"I think that much will depend on how Iran reacts to
our proposals as well. But we're ready to discuss theirs," the Western
diplomat said. But Western officials have also made clear that Iran's current
position would leave them no choice but to go ahead with the oil sanctions
while considering new ones in the months to come. They add that the two sides
still remain far apart despite the mounting pressure. The offer outlined by the
powers last month and under discussion in Moscow
would see Iran
stop enriching uranium to 20 percent -- seen as being just steps away from
weapons-grade -- and ship out its existing stock while shuttering its Fordo
bunker. The nuclear enrichment site is buried deep in the Iranian mountains and
is believed to be bunker-buster proof.
The tough terms would not lead to the quick lifting of
sanctions but instead see the West extend some forms of peaceful nuclear energy
cooperation and provide assistance for Iran's battered aircraft industry.
Europe would also help Iran
export oil to key client Asia by easing an EU
ban on tanker insurance. Iran
has previously scoffed at the idea of accepting only reactor fuel and civil
aviation parts in immediate return. But calls are growing on US President
Barack Obama from both Israel
and the US Congress ahead of his November re-election bid to reject any
compromise.
A bipartisan letter signed by 44 senators urged Obama on
Friday to cut off negotiations unless Iran agrees to shutter the Fordo
bunker and halt its enrichment programme outright.
"The biggest hurdle to a nuclear deal right now is the
absence of political will in Washington,"
said former Iranian delegation adviser Kaveh Afrasiabi. But "I am cautiously optimistic and expect
even a mini breakthrough provided that the Western governments display the
needed flexibility," Afrasiabi told AFP."The Moscow
talks are primed for a positive step forward."
Former Iran negotiator:
Islamic Republic unlikely to accept West's offer in
new round of nuclear talks
By Reuters | Jun.15, 2012/Hossein Mousavian,
who was a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team between 2003 and 2005,
dismisses West's proposal as 'diamonds for peanuts.'A
former Iranian negotiator on Friday dismissed as "diamonds for peanuts"
a proposal by world powers that Tehran halt higher-grade uranium enrichment and
close an underground nuclear site in exchange for reactor fuel and civil
aviation parts. Hossein Mousavian,
now a visiting scholar at Princeton University in the United
States, said he did not believe Iran would accept the offer when the two sides
hold a new round of discussions in Moscow
on June 18-19. It will be the third meeting since diplomacy restarted in April
after a 15-month hiatus.
"I do not expect too much, said Mousavian,
a senior member of Iran's
nuclear negotiating team in 2003-05. If the major powers are not ready to move
on the critical issues of gradually removing sanctions on Iran and recognizing its right to refine uranium,
"I'm afraid the Moscow
talks also would fail," he told Reuters in a telephone interview. Mousavian held his post before conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took over
from his reformist predecessor Mohammad Khatami in 2005.
Western envoys who know Mousavian say that at the
time he appeared to be genuinely interested in reaching a deal with the West. The
six powers - the United States,
France, Germany, Britain,
China and Russia - want to make sure Iran does not
develop nuclear bombs. The Islamic Republic wants a lifting of sanctions and
recognition of what it says are its rights to peaceful nuclear energy, including
enriching uranium. European Union officials said on Monday that Iran had agreed
to discuss a proposal to curb its production of higher-grade uranium at the
meeting in the Russian capital, an apparent attempt to reduce tensions ahead of
the talks. The development followed more than two weeks of wrangling between
Iranian diplomats and Western negotiators over preparations for the closely
watched round of negotiations.
Mousavian said Iran was ready for a "big deal" on the
decade-old nuclear dispute, but political constraints in the United States
ahead of November's presidential election and other factors meant the other
side was not. "President Obama has very limited room to maneuver in an election year," Mousavian
said. Barack Obama's Republican opponents have attempted to paint him as soft
on enemies of the U.S.
In the immediate term, the powers want Tehran to cease enriching uranium to 20
percent fissile concentration, because such production represents a major
technological advance en route to making weapons-grade material. They put
forward a proposal on how to achieve this at a round of talks in Baghdad in May, in which Tehran would stop production, close the Fordow underground facility where such work is done, and
ship its stockpile out of the country. In return, they offered to supply the
Islamic state with fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran,
which requires 20-percent uranium, and to ease sanctions against the sale of
commercial aircraft parts to Iran.
No agreement was reached in Baghdad but the
seven countries agreed to continue discussions in Moscow.
"I believe this is diamonds for peanuts," Mousavian said, adding that Iran already had fuel rods. "Therefore
this is not something great to offer Iran."
The International Crisis Group think-tank said the powers' offer
"was deliberately ungenerous" and likely to have been meant as an
opening bid in what they regarded as a longer process of negotiations.
But a U.S.
nuclear expert, David Albright, said Mousavian's
comments showed the "difficulty of negotiating" with Iran. The
agreement sought by the powers in Moscow would be a small but important step
which does not solve the Iran nuclear issue, said Albright, of the Institute
for Science and International Security (ISIS) think tank. "Iran should
expect only a small incentive in return - the fact of the matter is that these
actions are equivalent to peanuts for peanuts," Albright said in an email.
Mousavian said, however, that Iran was ready
for confidence-building measures regarding its enrichment of uranium to 20
percent, which it started in 2010 and has since expanded. He said his own
proposal was that Iran
would agree to eliminate such material from its stockpile, either by converting
it to fuel, exporting it or lowering its enrichment concentration to 3.5
percent - the level usually required for power plants.
Syrian activists warn
of dire conditions in Homs
By BASSEM MROUE | Associated Press (AP) — Syrian troops
intensified shelling of rebel-held neighborhoods in
central Homs Sunday, according to activists who say humanitarian conditions are
growing more dire and are pressing for the evacuation of 1,000 endangered
families and dozens of wounded people who can't get adequate medical care.
Homs has been under siege for
a week, part of a major escalation of violence around the country that forced
the 300-strong U.N. observer force in Syria to call off its patrols.
"The humanitarian situation in Homs is very difficult," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the
British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Observatory.
"It is very clear that the army wants to retake Homs."
The Observatory asked the U.N. on Saturday to intervene in
the violence in Homs
and evacuate more than 1,000 families, including women and children, whose
lives are in danger. It also said dozens of wounded people in rebel-controlled
areas cannot get medicine or doctors to treat them.
Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, the chief of the observer mission in
Syria, said Saturday that intensifying clashes over the past 10 days were "posing
significant risks" to the unarmed observers who were spread out across the
country, and impeding their ability to carry out their mandate. The observers' decision
came after weeks of escalating attacks, including reports of several mass
killings that have left dozens dead.
The observers have been the only working part of a peace
plan brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan, which the international
community sees as its only hope to stop the bloodshed. The plan called for the
foreign monitors to check compliance with a cease-fire that was supposed to go
into effect on April 12, but they have become the most independent witnesses to
the carnage on both sides as government and rebel forces have largely ignored
the truce.
The statement calling off observer patrols reinforced fears
that Syria
is sliding ever closer to civil war 15 months after the rebellion to oust
Syrian President Bashar Assad began. Opposition
groups say more than 14,000 civilians and rebels have been killed since the
uprising began in March 2011. In Turkey,
the leader of Syria's
main opposition group, Abdulbaset Sieda,
said in a speech that the suspension of the observers' activities shows that "the
international community has given up hope on this regime that is in its last
days." He added that Assad's government has lost control over many large
areas and "it's now suffering from confusion and committing more crimes as
revenge."
"The international community must bear its ... responsibilities
to take decisive decisions through the (U.N.) Security Council under Chapter 7
to protect civilians," said Sieda. A Chapter 7
resolution authorizes actions to enforce that can ultimately include the use of
military force, which U.S. administration and European officials — for now —
are playing down as a possibility.
The Syrian government has been waging a fierce offensive
through towns and villages nationwide for the past week, trying to pound out
rebels by shelling urban areas with tanks and attack helicopters. Rebels also
have attacked Syrian forces, mostly trying to burn out their tanks. Britain's
Foreign Secretary William Hague said that the development only underscores the
need for the international community urgently to come together to compel the
regime to meet its commitments. "The United Nations Security Council will
be considering its options including for the future of the U.N. Mission to Syria in light
of a briefing from Major-General Mood on Tuesday," he said in a statement.
The U.S.
reiterated its call for the Assad regime to comply with the plan, "including
the full implementation of a cease-fire."
The Syrian government said it had informed Mood it
understood the U.N. observers' decision and blamed rebels for the escalation in
fighting.
The Observatory and the Local Coordination Committees, another
activist group, said the shelling in Homs
killed at least one person. Activists say the city's rebel-held areas have been
under intense shelling and ground attacks for a week. The LCC and the Observatory
also reported intense clashes between rebels and troops in the Damascus suburb of Mleiha.
The LCC said four people from both sides were killed in the fighting. Rebels
also attacked an army checkpoint in central Hama province killing at least three soldiers,
the Observatory said. Both groups also reported violence in the northern provinces of Idlib and
Aleppo as well as the eastern region of Deir el-Zour and the southern province of Daraa. The LCC
said at least 20 people were killed Sunday while the Observatory put the number
at 14. Syria's state-run
news agency SANA said troops battled late
Saturday with infiltrators from Lebanon
killing six and wounding four of them. It added that Syrian forces also foiled
an infiltration attempt from Turkey
into the northern province
of Idlib. Syrian authorities say that weapons are
being smuggled to rebels from neighboring countries.
Russia flies anti-air, anti-ship
missiles to Assad as its fleet heads to Tartus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 17,
2012,
Moscow is using the time up
until Russian President Vladimir Putin faces US President Barack Obama across
the G20 conference table in Los Cabos,
Mexico Sunday, June 17 - or
in its corridors - to ship sophisticated arms to Syria
able to prevent a no-fly zone and a fleet of warships to the Mediterranean port of Tartus. While
Pentagon sources Friday disclosed the approach of a “small contingent” of
Russian warships to Tartus, debkafile’s
military and intelligence sources have discovered that heading for the Russian base
at this Syrian port is a Russian fleet that includes Ropucha-toad
or Project 775 class landing-craft carrying Russian marines. Each craft can
carry 250 marine personnel and 500-ton armored
vehicles. And flying overhead are Russian air transports that are touching down
at Syrian air bases bearing, according to our sources, a variety of
sophisticated munitions for the Syrian army: advanced Russian Pantsyr-S1 anti-air
missiles capable of hitting fighter-bombers flying at an altitude of 12 kilometers and cruise missiles; self-propelled medium range
anti-air Buk-M2 missiles (NATO codenamed SA-11). They are capable of downing
aircraft flying at an altitude of 14 kilometers and
Mach 32 speed; and shore-based Bastion anti-ship missiles which can reach
vessels sailing 300 kilometers out to sea.
Russia is,
in a word, supplying Bashar Assad, his regime and his
army, with the very weapons they may need for warding off Western and Arab air
efforts to impose a no-fly zone over Syria,
while at the same time enabling him to repel seaborne assaults by his foes from
the Mediterranean.
Since Syrian units have not been trained in the use of these
advanced weapons, they are mostly likely coming with Russian technical teams to
operate them - although they would be presented as “instructors.”
The Russians are not trying to conceal their military
intervention in Syria
in support of the Assad regime. Friday, June 16, Anatoly P. Isaykin,
director of Rosoboronexport (the Russian state arms
export authority) said quite openly: I would like to say these mechanisms are
really good means of defense, a reliable defense against attacks from air or sea. This is not a
threat, but whoever is planning an attack should think about this.” The next
day, Saturday, a source in the Russian General Staff told the Itar-Tass government news agency, “Several warships of the
Russian Black Sea Fleet, including large landing ships with marines aboard, are
fully prepared to take to the sea in case it is necessary to protect the
Russian logistics base in Tartus, Syria, since it is
a zone of the Fleet’s responsibility.”
debkafile’s
sources in Washington, Moscow
and the Persian Gulf expect the Russian and US presidents to get together in
the course of the G20 summit for a meeting that will determine whether or not
the US and its European and
Arab allies go forward with their planned military intervention in Syria. Agreement
between the two presidents on their Syria
and Iran
policies could arrest this plan, whereas their failure to agree would quicken
its pace.
Syria rebels more organised as insurgency grows
By Serene Assir | AFP – Sat, Jun 16,
2012..
The rebel Free Syrian Army has grown from a rag-tag force
into a popular guerrilla insurgency buoyed by civilian fighters who still lack
weapons and structure to defeat the regime, experts and rebels say.
Over the past months more and more civilians have
volunteered to take up arms alongside army deserters against the regime of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as deadly violence
escalates across the country. "The Syrian army has one million men in
reserve, civilians with military training, and many of them are joining the
revolt now," said Riad Kahwaji,
who heads the Institute for Near East and Gulf
Military Analysis (INEGMA). According to the Dubai-based Kahwaji,
the FSA has "thousands" of members across Syria and is growing in both
capacity and coordination. "They have become more organised," he told
AFP. The FSA announced in March the formation of a military council grouping
rebel chiefs and chaired by Syria's
most senior army deserter, General Mustafa al-Sheikh.
While Turkey-based Colonel Riad al-Assaad, one of the first officers to defect, officially
leads the FSA, in practice operations are planned and executed at a grassroots
level, independently from any exiled leaders, Kahwaji
said. Over the past months more efforts has been made to shore up the rag-tag
rebel army into a more cohesive force, activists say.
"Small groups of armed rebels with no communication
with other units are being replaced by larger umbrella squadrons to better
organise the insurgency," said Damascus-based activist Ahmad al-Khatib.
Thus fighters from key rebel bastions have been grouped together
under one commander each, added Khatib, who
participates in efforts to unite the FSA and encourage defections. "There
is no unified leadership, but now units in different parts of Syria are
communicating with each other," he told AFP via Skype. "The more
coordinated the FSA, the more effective it becomes, and the better the support
its fighters are given by civilian opponents to the regime." For Kahwaji the FSA is a "popular army, which enjoys the
increasingly broad support of the Syrian population."
But he admitted that the rebel fighters are ill-equipped
with only medium and light weapons that are no match for the firepower, tanks
and helicopters available to the Syrian army.
"The FSA fighters are not well armed, but the
population feeds them and gives them cover," he said. The rebels are "operating
in a hospitable environment" unlike the regular army which is faced with "hostility."
Support from the civilian population may help keep morale up for the rebels but
they, too, recognise their shortcomings. "Every
day of resistance is a success, but Assad's army remains superior," said
Nasser Nahhar, a rebel unit commander operating
around the restive Baba Amr neighbourhood of the
flashpoint central city of Homs.
"The Syrian army has tanks and helicopters, whereas we have light weapons.
If it weren't for that, we would have won already," he told AFP via Skype.
According to Nahhar, what begun as
a peaceful uprising against a ruthless dictatorship turned into an armed
struggle with "the majority of anti-regime fighters now being civilians." "We wanted to take down the regime
peacefully, but it was impossible," said the well-spoken civilian-turned-rebel
commander in his late 20s. "The only way to defeat the regime now is
militarily." As deadly violence escalates across Syria, the FSA has opted for new
tactics drawing from a history of guerrilla warfare to make up for its
equipment shortcomings. "The FSA's main goal right how is to try and
harass the army to the point of fatigue," said Elias Hanna, a Lebanese ex-military
officer and professor of geopolitics at the American
University of Beirut. "The more we exhaust the regular
troops, the more we weaken their morale and force defections," he added. But
Hanna warned that the rebels "cannot go on like this much longer" and
described them "an army on the run."
"Without a clear regional decision to provide the FSA
with the means it needs to continue fighting -- such as safe routes and a base --
the rebels cannot take fighting onto the next level," Hanna said. Energy-rich
Arab nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia
have repeatedly called for arming the Syrian rebels but Western powers are
still resisting any military intervention in the 16-month crisis.
And while the rebels initially hoped for a speedy
intervention, Nahhar explained that the prime choice
now is to rely on hit-and-run tactics. "We don't need to win, we just need
the army to lose," he said.
Anxiety as Egypt's
presidency vote nears end
By Marwa Awad
and Tom Pfeiffer | Reuters –
CAIRO
(Reuters) - Egyptians were electing a president freely for the first time on
Sunday, making a daunting choice between a former general of the old guard and
an Islamist who says he is running for God.
Many were perplexed and fearful of the future and signs were
that, as in last month's first round, millions would not vote. The contest, pitting
Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister Ahmed Shafik against Mohamed Morsy of
the Muslim Brotherhood, the veteran Islamist movement, is supposed to seal a
democratic transition that began with Mubarak's overthrow 16 months ago.
But concern over a backlash among the disappointed losers
saw the Interior Ministry put forces on alert across the country for the end of
two days of voting at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT).
"We have to vote because these elections are historic,"
said Amr Omar, voting in Cairo, who called himself an activist of the
youth revolution. Reluctantly putting aside misgivings about the Brotherhood's
religious agenda, he said: "I will vote for Morsy.
"Even if it means electing the hypocritical Islamists, we
must break the vicious cycle of Mubarak's police state."
But many other Egyptians, weary of political turmoil and the
economic crisis it has brought, believe Shafik has
the backing of the "deep state" - entrenched interests from the
military to big business - and so may be better placed to bring prosperity.
Privately, officials from both camps suggested Shafik had edged ahead with two hours of voting still ahead.
After a baking hot day, many people preferred to cast ballots after dark.
The election comes amid a constitutional crisis and a stand-off
between the ruling generals and the Brotherhood, which emerged from decades of
repression under Mubarak and previous military leaders to sweep the
parliamentary vote. Those gains crumbled last week when senior judges, appointed
under Mubarak, ruled that election void and the ruling military council
dissolved parliament - a move met with only a muted reaction from many, who
felt the Brotherhood had pushed its own particular interests too hard over the
past few months.Even the powers of the new president
are unclear, though the military council was reported to be ready to award him
some by decree this week - once it knows who the head of state will be.
OUTCOME UNCERTAIN
Egyptians massed in their millions against Mubarak in
January last year in the hope that his removal would end poverty, corruption
and police brutality. Many now seem tired of the social turmoil and political
bickering that ensued. "Egypt
writes the closing chapter of the Arab Spring," read a headline on Sunday
in independent newspaper al-Watan, which said the
election offers a "choice between a military man who aborted the
revolution and a Muslim Brother who wasted it". The majority who voted for
neither Shafik nor Morsy in
a first round presidential vote last month now face what they see as a stale
contest between a military establishment and its perennial foe which smothers
hopes for a change for the better. Many Egyptians may be staying away. But a
sample of voter comments to Reuters near polling stations suggest many had put
aside doubts about Shafik, whose campaign has gained
momentum since he entered the race a few months ago as an outsider.
Waleed Mohamed, 35, voting in Cairo, said he chose Shafik, while his wife Hind Adel, wearing the full face-veil
worn by some pious Muslims, has opted for Morsy. "That's
democracy for you," she said. "Everyone has their opinion ... No one
knows who will win. God knows." Monitors said they had seen only minor and
scattered breaches of election rules by Sunday morning but not the kind of
systematic fraud that tainted elections under Mubarak, despite mutual
accusations of irregularities by the rival camps. Monitors and vote officials
said turnout seemed lower on Saturday and Sunday than in the first round ballot
but said many people would arrive later on Sunday when the summer heat has
abated. Voting concludes at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT), following a last-minute
extension to deal with expectations of late voting. A win for Shafik, 70, who says he has learned the lessons of the
revolt and now offers security, prosperity and religious tolerance, may prompt
street protests by the Islamists and some of the disillusioned urban youths who
made Cairo's Tahrir Square their battleground last
year.
UNEVEN OUTCOMES
Morsy has the backing of a
movement forged by decades of clandestine struggle and from Egyptians who have
put aside qualms about Islamic rule to block a return of the old regime.
Many see Shafik as the front man
of a murky establishment determined to re-assert the power it wielded for six
decades.
"Army rule is represented by Bashar
al-Assad in Syria and
represented in Egypt by
Ahmed Shafik," said Amr
Reda, an international law professor voting in Cairo for Morsy.
"We have had enough of military rule."Morsy
has failed to rally much public support from candidates who lost in the first
round. To critics of the Brotherhood, it confirmed that the Islamist movement
was too zealous and inflexible to represent all Egyptians. "I will vote Shafik because I don't want anybody to impose on me a model
of life that I don't accept," said health ministry employee Marianne Mallak, 29, voting in Alexandria.
"I don't want somebody to rule the country in the name of religion."Egypt's
10-percent Christian minority has come out strongly for Shafik,
fearing religious oppression in an Islamist state.
Should Morsy prevail, he may be
frustrated by an uncooperative military elite, for all
the generals' pledges to cede power by July 1.
The military rulers ordered the dissolution of parliament, in
line with last week's court ruling, an official said on Saturday. The decision
enraged the Muslim Brotherhood, which said parliament could only be dissolved
by popular referendum. Dissolving the assembly "represents a coup against
the whole democratic process", the group said on the Facebook
page of its Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).
On Sunday, state-run Al-Ahram
newspaper's website said the military would also issue a constitutional
declaration within 48 hours to outline the president's powers, including
appointing officials, calling parliamentary elections and outlining new rules
for appointing an assembly to draft a new constitution. Senior Brotherhood
official Mahmoud Ghozlan, speaking
to Al Ahram's website, said the ruling military
council did not have the right to issue a constitutional declaration or make
rules on how the constituent assembly should be formed.
SHOWDOWN
The Brotherhood hung back in the early days of the 2011
uprising and has sought to cooperate with the military's gradual shift to
civilian rule.
But its gathering showdown with the
military leaves Egyptians, Western allies and investors perplexed by the
prospect of yet more of the uncertainty that has ravaged the economy and seen
sporadic flare-ups in violence. A gunfight killed two in Cairo overnight and 15 were injured, after a
dispute between street vendors, a security source said. There was no apparent
connection to the vote.
Shafik's supporters insist he and
the ruling military council, which took sovereign powers when Mubarak quit, would
work in harmony to restore confidence, notably for the vital and ravaged
tourist trade. Morsy, they say, would struggle. Egypt's armed forces have built up massive
wealth and commercial interests, helped since the 1970s by a close U.S. alliance which followed the decision of the
most populous Arab state to make peace with Israel. Many Egyptians say the army,
and its leader Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, is just
one wing of an entrenched security establishment that has resisted reform and
oversight since Mubarak left and would wield influence long after the promised
handover to an elected civilian by July 1. "There is no doubt that the
state in all its institutions - judicial, military, interior, foreign and
financial - back Shafik for president and are working
to that end," said Hassan Nafaa, a politics
professor who campaigned against Mubarak.
"It is very difficult to eradicate this spirit of
Mubarak."
(Reporting by Edmund Blair, Yasmine
Saleh, Dina Zayed, Tom
Perry, Tamim Elyan; Writing
by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Samia Nakhoul
and Alastair Macdonald)
U.S. may have less
Mideast clout, uses it with care
June 17, 2012/By Arshad Mohammed /Daily Star
WASHINGTON:
Events in Egypt, Bahrain and Syria
illustrate the limits of U.S.
influence in the Middle East following the Arab Spring and a U.S. reluctance,
at times, to exercise such clout as it has. Court rulings in Egypt and in
Bahrain this week, analysts say, show the ruling authorities' desire to
maintain their grip on power and the United States' limited ability to shape
events despite its general support for democracy. After decades in which
Washington has been the region's dominant outside player, deploying its
military to guarantee the flow of oil and its diplomatic muscle to advance
peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours, the pro-democracy demonstrations
of the Arab Spring appear to have changed the equation.
President Barack Obama's early hopes of brokering an Israeli-Palestinian
peace deal have foundered. And U.S.
blunders in Iraq, where
violence persists nine years after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, have
also eroded U.S. credibility,
Middle East analysts said. "When
questions become ones of life and death, people are less interested in what the
United States has to say,"
said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East
program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington.
"We have had a long relationship with the Egyptian
military and when it comes to existential issues, they will listen politely but
they strongly believe that they understand both their population and their
national interest better than well-meaning Americans," Alterman
added. Egypt's
supreme court ruled on Thursday to dissolve the newly-elected
parliament that is dominated by the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and to allow
ousted leader Hosni Mubarak's last prime minister to run in this weekend's
presidential race. The rulings are widely viewed as an effort by the Supreme
Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the military authorities who have ruled the
country since Mubarak's February 11, 2011 ouster, to undercut the Brotherhood
and to strengthen its own hand.
In Bahrain, an important U.S. ally in the Gulf that hosts
the U.S. Fifth Fleet, a court reduced sentences against nine medical
professionals and acquitted nine others but the United States said it was "deeply
disappointed" by the verdict and suggested that those involved were punished
because of their political views. The doctors and nurses, all Shi'ite, say they were victimized for treating protesters
against Bahrain's ruling Sunni family, which backed by Saudi-led Gulf troops, crushed
a protest movement led by the Shi'ite majority last
year. And in Syria, having for now ruled out a military intervention without
international support, the United States has been unable to stop Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown on anti-government
protests.
The United Nations says Syrian forces have killed 10,000
people in a crackdown on protest against Assad's rule. A U.N. monitoring
mission, whose presence the United
States hoped might help quell the strife, on
Saturday suspended its operations. It is unclear what Washington plans to do
to try to end the conflict given Russian reluctance to see Assad ousted. The
State Department on Friday said that it was troubled by the Egyptian supreme court's ruling, it wanted new parliamentary
elections to be conducted quickly, and the SCAF should turn over power on July 1
after a free and fair presidential election. Egypt's military has promised to
hand over power by July 1 following this weekend's second round of the
presidential election that pits the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsy against former general Ahmed Shafik,
a Mubarak protégé.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta called Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who
leads the SCAF, on Friday and stressed "the need to ensure a full and
peaceful transition to democracy," the Pentagon said.
Tantawi repeated the military's
commitment to hold free and fair presidential election and to turn over power
to a democratically elected government on July 1, the Pentagon said.
Michele Dunne, a Middle East analyst at the Atlantic Council
think tank in Washington, argued that the United States has influence on Egypt because of the large U.S. aid flows,
notably to the Egyptian military, but has elected not to exercise it. On March 23,
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released $1.3 billion in annual military
aid for Egypt despite Cairo's failure to meet pro-democracy goals, saying U.S. national
security required the continued military assistance.
"The United
States had leverage to exert; it chose not
to," Dunne said. "Influence is only influence if you choose to exert
it."
Egypt has
long been among the top recipients of U.S.
aid, which began flowing in substantial sums after it became the first Arab
nation to sign a peace agreement with Israel in 1979, regarding the money
as an investment in regional security. The United States gave roughly $2
billion or more annually for 25 years after the peace agreement, most of it for
the military. That figure has drifted down to hold steady at around $1.55
billion in recent years. Tamara Cofman Wittes, a former State Department official now director of
the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle
East Policy, said the United States has leverage in Egypt because of its aid, which
could be cut next year, and in Bahrain because of the ruling family's
sensitivity to U.S. criticism.
"That's the big difference between Egypt and Bahrain
on the one hand and Syria
on the other," she said. "There were times when the U.S. government thought its words, in
public and in private, might have some impact on ... Bashar
al-Assad. "We are clearly not at that point any
more. Bashar al-Assad clearly doesn't care what the United States
thinks anymore and therefore the rhetoric doesn't matter," she said. The U.S. strategy on Syria
for now appears to hinge on persuading Russia,
a long-time ally and arms supplier to Syria
which maintains a naval base at Syria's
Mediterranean port
of Tartus,
to take a harder stand toward Assad.
So far, this has not worked.
Marina Ottaway, a Middle East
analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace think tank, suggested
that there may be some tension within the Obama administration because of its
desire to support democracy in the Middle East
but its hesitance to see Islamist parties coming to power.
"I think they are probably very ambivalent about this. They
were certainly not thrilled at the way things were going in terms of the
influence of the Islamists," Ottaway said.