LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 23/12

Bible Quotation for today/Salt and Light
Matthew 05/13-15: "You are like salt for the whole human race. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.   You are like light for the whole world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl; instead it is put on the lampstand, where it gives light for everyone in the house. In the same way your light must shine before people, so that they will see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven".

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Lebanon: Independent investigation into checkpoint killings needed/ May 22/12
As Obama Preaches Patience, Mattis Prepares for War With Iran/by Eli Lake/The Daily Beast/May 22/12

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for May 22/12
U.S. Senate unanimously approves tougher sanctions on Iran
UN nuclear chief says talks in Iran held 'in good atmosphere'
Netanyahu warns world powers not to let Iran 'push them around'
Leadership window dressing at G8 and NATO summits
Finger-pointing after Lebanon storm
U.S. embassy advises citizens to avoid protests, road closures in Lebanon
Prosecutor orders detention of 22 Lebanese soldiers over sheikhs' killing
Leaders must act to halt slide toward violence
Tariq al-Jadideh calm after nighttime chaos
Security crisis takes toll on Beirut’s restaurants
Bankers: Demand for dollars heavy but not unprecedented
Mansour: Gulf countries say travel warnings temporary
Low turnout at Beirut peace rally frustrates attendees
Roots of the chaos in north Lebanon spread far and wide
Baird Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attack in Yemen
U.N. chief: Syria has reached pivotal moment
Military urges Egyptians to accept results of looming election
Higher Islamic Council: Abdul Wahed’s Assassination Must Be Referred to Judicial Council
3 Officers, 19 Soldiers Arrested for Questioning over Killing of Sheikh in Akkar
Qahwaji Says Army Will Not Allow Situation to Deteriorate
Kuwait Issues Travel Warning to Lebanon
Asiri Says Riyadh 'Closely Following Developments' in Lebanon
Lebanon: Ministers urge GCC States to reconsider travel warnings
Saudi Arabia will issue Lebanon travel warning if needed, envoy says
U.S. 'Concerned' about Lebanon Security, Lauds Decision to Probe Shooting
Russia: Forces Unable to Destabilize Syria Turn to Lebanon

Lebanon: Independent investigation into checkpoint killings needed
21 May 2012
Amnesty International
It’s vital the probe into these killings is carried out by an independent body. It must be thorough, prompt and impartial as required under international human rights standards and anyone found responsible for abuses must be brought to justice without resort to the death penalty
”Source: Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa
Date: Mon, 21/05/2012 A prominent Lebanese cleric opposed to the Syrian government and another man travelling with him have been shot dead at a checkpoint in northern Lebanon, prompting Amnesty International to urge the Lebanese authorities to launch an independent investigation rather than one carried out by the army or other security forces.
Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed, a critic of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government, and Muhammad Hussein Merheb were shot dead on Sunday near a checkpoint in Kouaikhat in the northern Akkar region.
Three other people are reported to have been killed in clashes between rival groups in the wake of the checkpoint shootings.
“It’s vital the probe into these killings is carried out by an independent body. It must be thorough, prompt and impartial as required under international human rights standards and anyone found responsible for abuses must be brought to justice without resort to the death penalty,” said Ann Harrison, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.
In a statement issued yesterday, the leadership of the Lebanese Army expressed deep regret for the two deaths at the checkpoint and said it would “immediately form an investigative committee comprised of senior officers and military police under the relevant judiciary".
Amnesty International has written previously to the Lebanese authorities highlighting the requirements for independent and impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations and other abuses.
In 2007 and 2008 the organization wrote to the then Prime Minster Fouad Siniora as well as the Minister of Defence expressing concern that alleged violations committed by the Lebanese Army in the context of the Nahr al-Bared events of 2007 – subject to internal army investigations – were not independently and impartially investigated.
Politically fragile Lebanon has recently witnessed increasing tension and violence, exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in neighbouring Syria.

Leadership window dressing at G8 and NATO summits
DEBKAfile Special Report May 21, 2012/.On the return flight to Moscow, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov filled in the space left by his Prime Minister Dmitri Medvadev’s silence at Camp David Saturday, May 20 with a large dose of skepticism on Iran. Contradicting President Barack Obama’s statement that diplomacy was preferable to military action, Ryabkov said that the G8 leaders’ readiness to tap into emergency oil stockpiles quickly this summer “is one of the many various signals coming from various sources that the military option (on Iran) is considered as realistic and possible.” He added: “We are receiving signals, both through public and intelligence channels, that this option is now being reviewed in some capitals as more applicable in this situation,’ said the Russian official.debkafile: His words to reporters were in fact a Russian signal to Tehran not to trust American diplomacy and concessions because the US and its allies were at the same time preparing for war. As for the NATO weekend summit in Chicago, the decisions taken under Barack Obama’s leadership appear even less feasible. NATO issued a strong statement of support for the Eurozone. However, none of the leaders present came with remedies for pulling the continent out of its existential economic crisis.Sunday, May 20, a former Greek finance minister warned that kicking Greece out would “open the gates of hell for Europe,” while British economists warned the UK economy “would never recover” if the euro collapsed. The decision to withdraw all alliance troops from Afghanistan by the year 2014 is technically unfeasible so long as Pakistan refuses to allow them to cross through its territory and depart from its Indian Ocean and Arab Sea ports.

U.S. Senate unanimously approves tougher sanctions on Iran
By Reuters | May.22, 2012/
Sanctions are meant to strip Tehran of revenue by shutting down financial deals with Iran's powerful state oil and tanker enterprises.
The U.S. Senate unanimously approved on Monday a package of new economic sanctions on Iran's oil sector just days ahead of a meeting in Baghdad between major world powers and Tehran.
The West suspects Iran is working to build a nuclear bomb and the sanctions are meant to strip Tehran of revenue by shutting down financial deals with Iran's powerful state oil and tanker enterprises. Iran has said its nuclear program is for civilian purposes.
The House of Representatives passed its version of the bill in December and now the Senate and House must work out their differences in the legislation.
"This bill is another tool that will demonstrate to Iran that the United States is not backing down," Robert Menendez, the Democratic senator who helped craft the legislation, said on the Senate floor.
"Today the U.S. Senate put Iranian leaders on notice that they must halt all uranium enrichment activities or face another round of economic sanctions from the United States," said Republican Senator Mark Kirk, a co-author of the bill, in a statement. The new sanctions build on penalties signed into law by President Barack Obama in December against foreign institutions trading with Iran's central bank. Those sanctions already have cut deeply into Iran's oil trade. The new package would extend sanctions to cover dealings with the National Iranian Oil Co and National Iranian Tanker Co, aiming to close a potential loophole that could have allowed Tehran, the world's third-largest petroleum exporter, to continue selling some of its oil.
The cumulative impact of U.S. sanctions will be severe, said Suzanne Maloney, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy.
"Right now, both sides are playing a game of chicken - the Iranians want to see how much they can get and how little they can give, whereas Washington and its allies are counting on the looming threat of impending sanctions to elicit more concessions on the part of Tehran," Maloney said.
But a former CIA analyst for the Near East and Persian Gulf region said the sanctions could be counterproductive ahead of the Baghdad talks on Iran's nuclear program by making Tehran think that the West is less interested in a deal than in undermining the regime. "The biggest requirement now for getting an agreement is not to pile on still more sanctions, but instead to persuade the Iranians that if they make concessions the sanctions will be eased," said Paul Pillar, now a security studies professor at Georgetown University.
The Senate bill was brought up on Thursday but was blocked by Republicans who wanted some parts toughened up. Senator John McCain said the revised bill shows "we need a comprehensive policy" to include economic sanctions, diplomacy, military planning capabilities and options. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said the revisions show Iran "that all options are on the table, in order to prevent any contrary perception that silence on the use of force would have created." The bill also includes language from Senator Rand Paul that it does not authorize force against Iran, a Paul spokeswoman said.
 

UN nuclear chief says talks in Iran held 'in good atmosphere'
Iranian media reports Yukiya Amano held 'extensive' talks; world powers to meet with representatives of Islamic Republic in attempt to resolve differences over nuclear program.
By Reuters | May.21, 2012/The United Nations nuclear chief, Yukiya Amano, said talks with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator were extensive and would have a positive impact on Iran's negotiations with world powers later this week, Iranian media reported on Monday. "We held expanded and intensive negotiations in a good atmosphere. Definitely, the progress of talks will have a positive impact on negotiations between Iran and P5+1," Amano was quoted by Iran's state television website as saying. Asked about a framework agreement that would resolve questions over Iran's nuclear program quickly, Amano added: "I will not go into details but the agency has some viewpoints and Iran has its own specific viewpoints." The visit comes two days before wider negotiations between world powers and Iran to resolve differences over its nuclear program which Western countries suspect is hiding Tehran's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.Iran has repeatedly denied the accusations.

Netanyahu warns world powers not to let Iran 'push them around'
By Barak Ravid | May.21, 2012/Haaretz
PM hardens stance on eve of nuclear talks; says Israel's position 'has not changed and will not change.'Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday warned the world powers against letting Iran "push them around," toughening his stance in a last-ditch effort to head off a nuclear agreement between the world powers and Iran at talks slated to start Wednesday in Baghdad.
The prime minister restated his desired outcome from the talks between Iran and the six world powers: that Iran to stop all uranium enrichment, get rid of all enriched uranium already produced, and dismantle the underground enrichment facility at Fordo.
"Only that way can we be sure that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. That is Israel's stance. It has not changed, and it will not change," Netanyahu said at a Civil Service Commission ceremonyImplying that the U.S., Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany were acting naively in the face of Iranian deceit, he said: "During the last few weeks I've heard those who would doubt Iranian intentions. They say that when Iran's leaders declare their desire to wipe Israel off the map, the comments actually mean something else in Farsi."
He added: "It would be interesting to hear what they have to say about comments made by the chief of staff of Iran's military just yesterday, that Iran must destroy Israel."
The prime minister said Iran's objective is to destroy Israel, and that the Islamic Republic is developing nuclear weapons toward that end. "Iran threatens Israel and world peace in general. The world's leading powers must be steadfast in the face of these evil intentions. They need not make concessions to Iran, but rather make unequivocal demands," he said.
While Netanyahu's comments were phrased diplomatically, those issuing from other senior Israeli officials who spoke on condition of anonymity were much sharper. "The West is already caving in to Iran," said one official.The prime minister's comments reflect a fear in Jerusalem that the talks between the six powers and Iran will result in an intermediate agreement that would not satisfy Israel on the one hand, and lead to the talks' continuation for many months on the other. In that event, an Israeli military option against Iranian nuclear facilities would be off the table.
Netanyahu's remarks contrasted sharply with the more optimistic statements coming from Washington, Paris, Berlin, and London that have raised the possibility of a breakthrough in talks with Iran.
The outline of a possible intermediate agreement would allow Iran to enrich uranium to the level of 20%, a potential transition stage to weapons-grade fuel. Such an agreement would also end enrichment activities at the fortified underground Fordo complex, and require Iran to give up the 100 kilograms of 20%-enriched uranium it has now.
In return, the world powers would agree to suspend some of the sanctions that have been leveled against the Islamic Republic. An EU oil embargo, as well as U.S. sanctions against Iran's central bank, are set to go into effect July 1, but no new sanctions would be introduced. Iran would also receive a supply of nuclear fuel rods to power its research reactors.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak warned against complacency and naivete by the U.S. and other world powers. Barak said he told officials during a visit to Washington last week that Iran will try to present a false front of progress, meant to relieve some of the pressure from the world powers, before asking the West not to level any more sanctions.
"Unfortunately, despite the worldwide declarations, it is unclear to us that the world is willing to bring Iran to a crossroads, at which it will have to decide to continue its nuclear program or not," said Barak.
Meanwhile, talks between UN nuclear chief Yukiya Amano concluded on Monday without any breakthroughs on supervision of Iran's nuclear facilities, which are suspected of being used to produce nuclear weapons. Amano said the talks "were effective and held in a 'good atmosphere,' and they will have a positive impact on negotiations between Iran and [the six powers]," but did not specify what agreements, if any, were made.

As Obama Preaches Patience, Mattis Prepares for War With Iran
by Eli Lake May 21, 2012/The Daily Beast at editorial
Exclusive: CentCom commander’s call for third Persian Gulf carrier group was rejected, reports Eli Lake.
As Western diplomats meet this week in Baghdad to try to coax Iran’s leaders to disclose its full nuclear program, Gen. James Mattis will be keeping an eye on the Persian military.
Mattis wanted to send a third aircraft-carrier group to the Persian Gulf earlier this year, The Daily Beast has exclusively learned, in what would have been a massive show of force at a time when Iranian military commanders were publicly threatening to sink American ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The four-star Marine Corps general and CentCom commander believed the display could have deterred Iran from further escalating tensions, according to U.S. military officials familiar with his thinking.
But the president wanted to focus military resources on new priorities like China, and Mattis was told a third carrier group was not available to be deployed to the Gulf.
The carrier-group rebuff in January was one of several for the commander responsible for East Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Working for the Obama administration, Mattis has often found himself the odd man out—particularly when it comes to Iran.
Military sources close to the general tell The Beast that Mattis was worried that the president’s decision, announced in November, to fully withdraw from Iraq would leave the U.S. military without access to the country’s bases and with few options to project power in the region. The military had been negotiating with the Iraqi government for continued access to bases there for some intelligence, training, and counterterrorism missions until Obama announced his decision to the press in November.
“General Mattis is a key player in administration debates and a vital implementer of the administration’s policies,” said Denis McDonough, a deputy national-security adviser and one of President Obama’s most trusted advisers on foreign affairs.
Those who have worked with Mattis say his views when it comes to Iran are more in line with those of America’s allies in the Persian Gulf and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than with his own government’s. At a recent charity event for Spirit of America, Mattis, known by admirers as the “warrior monk” and by detractors as “Mad Dog Mattis,” said his three top concerns in the Middle East were “Iran, Iran, and Iran.”
The official U.S. national-intelligence estimate on Iran concludes that the country suspended its nuclear-weapons work in 2003, but sources close to the general say he believes that Iran has restarted its weapons work and has urged his analysts to disregard the official estimate.
While Mattis has largely voiced his dissent about recent U.S. Iran assessments in private, on occasion his displeasure has spilled into the public record. In March, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked Mattis, “After all the sanctions that have been imposed on the Iranian regime, do you believe the regime has been at all dissuaded from pursuing a nuclear-weapons capability?” Mattis responded: “No, sir, I have not seen that.”
The general also serves as a critical liaison with America’s Arab allies in the Gulf, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which share Israel’s concern about Iran’s nuclear program. Since 2007 the United States has approved an unprecedented level of arms sales to those countries.
“General Mattis is reflecting two pretty traditional concerns,” said Thomas Donnelly, the codirector of the Marilyn Ware Center for Security Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. “One is that of a regional commander who has to every day deal with our allies and partners in the region that do not fear Israel, but do fear Iran.”
“There isn’t a single other leader in government who doesn’t share some concern over the direction Iran is headed.”
At times, Mattis has even served as an important interlocutor with the Israelis—even though Israel is the one Middle Eastern country that does not fall within his area of responsibility. According to U.S. and Israeli officials, Mattis has had regular contact with Maj. Gen. Gadi Shamni, the military attaché at the Israeli Embassy in Washington. These meetings are not on the public schedule and are often over dinner, according to these sources.
Mattis’s unsuccessful push for a third carrier group was a significant request. There are only 11, and that number will go down to 10 this year when the USS Enterprise is decommissioned after 50 years. And Obama’s new military strategy unveiled in January calls for a beefed-up military presence in the Pacific Ocean to counter China.
The general did get an afloat forward staging base, or AFSB, a floating dock that can host smaller aircraft or launch the rigid-hull inflatable speedboats favored by special forces—though in February Adm. John Harvey, commander of fleet forces, denied press reports that the AFSB would be used as a SEAL mothership.
“It appears that General Mattis is at the point where he knows his power projected from land will decrease over time with the close of two land-centered wars,” said Peter Daly, the chief executive officer of the U.S. Naval Institute. Daly retired from the Navy in August with the rank of vice admiral. His last job was as deputy commander of U.S. fleet forces, the Navy’s broker in the global-force-management process that the U.S. military uses to determine where to place its numerous assets.
“Unlike the past, where we’ve had permission to go into these other countries and operate, that is less likely in the future. It is appealing to operate from the sea, where you do not need permission.”
Mattis was commanding his area of responsibility in an “outstanding manner and with great skill,” said George Little, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Little added: “The secretary trusts his judgment implicitly on some of the most pressing security and military challenges of our time, including the war in Afghanistan. General Mattis is seasoned, studied, and the consummate warrior. He is also among the best of advisers, candid and honest, and always in keeping with—and in full support of—our national interests. He’s one of America’s finest military leaders.”
A senior U.S. defense official acknowledged that Mattis has differences with the White House on Iran. “He’s doing exactly what we need any combatant commander to do: telling us what he thinks he needs, giving us his perspective on the problems he faces,” this official said. “That’s what you want. That’s what you expect. And he does it all privately, with all the more credibility. There isn’t a single other leader in government who doesn’t share some concern over the direction Iran is headed.”
Mattis declined to comment for this article.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the U.S. sold F-22 fighter jets to the UAE.
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Eli Lake is the senior national-security correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast. He previously covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times. Lake has also been a contributing editor at The New Republic since 2008 and covered diplomacy, intelligence, and the military for the late New York Sun. He has lived in Cairo and traveled to war zones in Sudan, Iraq, and Gaza. He is one of the few journalists to report from all three members of President Bush’s axis of evil: Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.

U.S. embassy advises citizens to avoid protests, road closures in Lebanon
May 21, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: The U.S. embassy in Lebanon advised its citizens Monday to monitor the news and avoid areas of protest and road closure following several security incidents in north Lebanon. “The U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens in Lebanon of the potential for continued demonstrations, road blockages, and violence throughout this period,” the embassy said in a statement. “The U.S. Embassy advises U.S. citizens to monitor news reports, avoid areas where closures or protests are reported, and maintain low profiles in public,” it added. The U.S. embassy’s advisory comes days after the UAE, Bahrain and Qatar issued advisory warnings to their citizens, calling on them to avoid travel to Lebanon and for those in the country to depart given the tense security situation. Last week’s three-day clashes between the rival neighborhoods of Bab al-Tabbaneh and Jabal Mohsen in Tripoli left at least 11 killed and over 100 wounded, raising tensions in the area. The army deployed to impose security. On Monday, soldiers shot dead two Muslim preachers, including well-known Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed, prompting enraged citizens to block roads in north Lebanon with burning tires. Residents of the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jadideh also blocked the main road in the area. These actions were followed by armed clashes between supporters of the Future Movement and and their rivals in the Arab Movement Party headed by Shaker Berjaoui, an ally of the Syrian government. Three people were killed and 15 were wounded. According to the statement, the U.S. embassy also reminded U.S. citizens to consult the Department of State’s Travel Warning for Lebanon, to exercise caution and take appropriate measures to ensure their safety and security, and to report any suspicious or unusual activity immediately to authorities.

Baird Strongly Condemns Terrorist Attack in Yemen
May 21, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:“Canada strongly condemns today's terrorist attack that killed dozens of people and injured hundreds during a military parade rehearsal in Sanaa, Yemen.“This cowardly attack comes at a time when Yemen is seeking to implement important reforms. We stand with the Yemeni people in opposing terrorism in all its forms. “On behalf of all Canadians, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those killed in these attacks, and I wish a speedy recovery to the injured.”


Prosecutor orders detention of 22 Lebanese soldiers over sheikhs' killing
May 21, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: A military prosecutor ordered Monday that 22 Lebanese Army soldiers, including three officers, be detained for interrogation over the weekend killing of two Muslim preachers at a military checkpoint. "Investigations are ongoing” into the killings of Sheikh Ahmad Abdel-Wahed and Sheikh Mohammad al-Mereb, prosecutor Saqr Saqr told The Daily Star.
The prominent anti-Assad Muslim preacher and his assistant were shot and killed Sunday at a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kwaikhat, in the northern province of Akkar. Saqr said a committee set up by the Lebanese Army to look into the incident was under his personal supervision. “I will travel to the north again today to continue the probe,” Saqr said, adding that an initial report on the investigation was not likely to come out before three days.
Akkar residents prepared Monday to lay to rest both Abdel-Wahed and Mereb.Meanwhile, Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani met with a delegation representing the head of the Lebanese Army, Gen. Jean Kahwagi, which was headed by Military Intelligence chief Edmond Fadel. Discussions centered on the investigation into the incident. According to Qabbani's press office, the delegation told the mufti that the investigation was ongoing and would reveal the perpetrators behind the killing and bring them to account. The delegation expressed Kahwagi's insistence that the army does not support any specific side but that the military is for the Lebanese as a whole and that it is keen on preventing any clashes between citizens and the army and possible strife.

Tariq al-Jadideh calm after nighttime chaos
 May 22, 2012 02:02/ By Annie Slemrod, Martin Armstrong The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The day after deadly nighttime clashes rocked Tariq al-Jadideh, residents were snapping pictures on their mobile phones where fighters had wielded guns the night before.
A small crowd of young men mulled around, taking shots of the carcasses of cars and motorcycles that lay on shattered glass in front of soldiers. But the relative calm on the neighborhood’s streets Monday belied the fact that many locals had spent much of Sunday night and Monday morning hiding in their homes from the guns, RPGs and flames from clashes between backers of the Arab Movement Party, headed by the pro-Syrian regime Shaker Berjaoui, and Future Movement supporters.
At least two people were killed and another 18 wounded.
As the day wore on, many residents were just beginning to come to grips with the events that some observers deemed a spillover from Syria’s 15 month uprising. To them, the clashes were all too local.
One person watching the amateur photographers was 22-year-old Abed Afi, who was perched under the AMP offices and his former lodgings. The student, who lived in student housing across the hall from Berjaoui’s office, escaped through a back entrance when the conflict began.
Afi had no qualms about admitting both his fear of escalation and his sadness that photos of his girlfriend had been lost in the flames that engulfed much of the building. The wall above his bed was riddled with bullet holes, and in the next room the blackened walls were still warm to the touch.
The apartment’s owner, Samir Abu Naja, stood in the middle of the empty charred room, holding a list of the possessions his tenants had lost.
Across the hall, soldiers guarded the entrance to the AMP office. On the upper floors, most people had stayed the night. One woman, whose windows were gone, was pacing around her home. At first, she had thought the shooting to be a celebration of the summer vacation.
She and around 50 others spent seven hours cramped in a shower and a utility room in the center of her home. Two women fainted. Unlike Afi, she said she was no longer afraid due to the Army presence. “Once the Army came,” she said, “I fell asleep.”
Every resident had a similar story and pockmarked rooms. “It was hell,” one woman said. No one wanted their names published, fearful of embroiling themselves in a now-violent political dispute.
Back outside the building, the now homeless Afi looked lost.
Haytham, a 25-year-old law graduate who lives 50 meters from the building, said he hoped these clashes would be the end of the violence but was skeptical. “I am worried that something worse is going to happen. Maybe this will be the beginning of another civil war,” he said.
Some shops were shut because their owners had fled the night before. Others were more blasé. Youssef, who owns a cellphone shop in the area, believed the worst was over. “The tension has been released,” he said.
Nearby, Abu Fouad, selling lupine beans and corn from a wooden cart, had already made his rounds of Tariq al-Jadideh. “It’s as if you are reading the news on people’s faces. There is a lot of disgust.”
The clashes, he said, “are the talk of the day. Some are saying it was an isolated act, others think it is related to the north.” He was only wheeling his wares to kill time, Abu Fouad said, “there’s no business today at all. People don’t have the stomach for eating.”
Several young men who said they spent Sunday burning tires and the night burning the Arab Movement Party office, gave their version of events, and one showed off a photo of his brother carrying an automatic weapon and grinning the night before. Most denied a direct connection to the Future Movement, despite the reports of several witnesses who heard chants of “Allah, Hariri, Tariq al-Jadideh” shortly before the shooting began.
They threatened more violence if Berjaoui returned to the neighborhood.
Politicians placed and deflected blame throughout the day. Berjaoui blamed the violence on “25 snipers from the Future Movement,” who he said had been aiming at him. He vowed to return to his office.
After a meeting with other Beirut MPs, Future Movement lawmaker Nuhad Mashnouq held Prime Minister Najib Mikati’s government responsible for the evening’s events, calling them attempts “to incite strife and create instability.”
Mikati called such claims “a distortion of the truth.”
Few residents even mentioned politics when rehashing the night’s events, but many were quick to claim the majority-Sunni neighborhood as “theirs.”
One elderly woman, sitting in the entryway to the apartment building, in the same chair where she had sat out the night, said it was all too familiar.
“I haven’t heard anything” about whether the clashes will escalate, she said, shortly after a young man brushed by warning of “gunfire in 30 minutes.” Two brothers, 11 and 15, who she was watching, said they weren’t afraid anymore. “We played football during the last war,” one said.
“These children are a war generation. They were raised during a war and they are living in a war,” she said. – With additional reporting by Reem Harb

Leaders must act to halt slide toward violence
May 22, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s political leaders and Army must act swiftly to avert the country’s slide toward a new round of sectarian strife as a result of the 15-month-old uprising in neighboring Syria, analysts said Monday. Simon Haddad, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, voiced fears that Lebanon faced a real threat of sectarian violence unless political leaders acted to defuse rising political and sectarian tensions as a result of the turmoil in Syria. “The pace of destabilizing Lebanon is accelerating as was seen in the recent security incidents ... Lebanon faces a serious threat of a drift toward sectarian violence unless [Prime Minister Najib] Mikati, [former Prime Minister Saad] Hariri and other political leaders cooperate to ease the tension,” Haddad told The Daily Star.
He said the May 12 arrest of Islamist Shadi Mawlawi by General Security agents and Sunday’s killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul-Wahed, a prominent anti-Assad Muslim preacher, and his companion, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein al-Mereb, at an Army checkpoint in the northern province of Akkar were part of “security pressure” by Syria on the Mikati government so that it can change its policy of dissociation on the Syrian crisis into supporting the regime of embattled President Bashar Assad.
Mawlawi’s arrest triggered deadly clashes in Tripoli between armed supporters and opponents of Assad that left 11 people dead.
Carol Maalouf, a political analyst, also voiced fears of Lebanon drifting toward sectarian violence as a result of the spillover of the turmoil in Syria. She also said the Lebanese government’s dissociation policy on Syria had proven its failure.
“Lebanon can no longer dissociate itself from the events in Syria because the events are spilling over into Lebanon, mainly through the border in the north which is a Sunni stronghold that supports the Syrian revolution against the regime there,” Maalouf, also a lecturer in political science and political history of Lebanon at Notre Dame University, told The Daily Star. “The government’s policy on the Syrian crisis has failed as was manifested in the recent two incidents. The government is reacting to what is happening on the ground rather than adhering to its declared policy of dissociation.”
Referring to Mawlawi’s arrest and the killing of Abdul-Wahed and his companion, she added: “It is highly likely that we will witness more similar incidents that might lead to full-scale sectarian violence. Such similar incidents, which raise fears of sectarian strife, are likely to happen in the future as long as the upheaval rages on unabated in Syria.”
The Mikati government has adopted a policy to dissociate Lebanon from the repercussions of the unrest in Syria. However, the dissociation policy has been condemned by the opposition March 14 parties, which have accused the government of taking the side of the Assad regime in the current conflict.
However, Hilal Khashan, professor of political science at AUB, downplayed the threat of sectarian violence arising from last week’s incidents.
“I don’t think that what happened in the north in the past few days will lead to major disturbances in the country. I am sure the army will take measures in order to keep the situation under its tight control,” Khashan told The Daily Star. “Even though the situation is tense, there is no cause for undue alarm.”
Referring to the killing of Abdul-Wahed and his companion, he said: “I don’t think what happened yesterday reflected a scheme by the Army to kill. What happened yesterday was not planned. It was accidental.”
“What happened was a stupid blunder by an officer commanding the checkpoint. I don’t think the army command will allow matters to cause total confusion in the country,” he added.
Noting that one-fourth of the Army comes from Akkar, Khashan said: “The Army Command understands the implications of what happened yesterday and is taking measures in order to redress the situation and bring to justice those who were involved in the killing of the two sheikhs.”
“The Army wants to control the north and wants to be sure that it will not be used as a base by the anti-Assad insurgents,” he added.
Maalouf said long-simmering political and sectarian tensions in Lebanon burst out into the open with the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March last year.
“North Lebanon is a Sunni stronghold where most clerics and political figures support the Syrian uprising through their support for their Syrian refugees,” Maalouf said.
“Until yesterday [Sunday], the Lebanese Army had been viewed as neutral, keeping equal distance with all the parties. But following yesterday’s incident, the Army is no longer perceived mainly by the Sunnis as neutral” she said. “As a result of the Syrian uprising, Lebanon’s security agencies are falling under the influence of sectarianism based on who is at the helm.”
For his part, Haddad said last week’s events had been “fomented incidents” targeting the Sunni community for its support for the Syrian revolution. “The Sunni community is targeted by the Syrian-Iranian axis because of its support for the Syrian uprising and its stance on Iran,” he said.Haddad warned of a split in military ranks, citing “restlessness” among the Sunnis in the north and the Western Bekaa region over the Army’s role.
“The Sunnis consider that the Army is strict when it comes to dealing with them, while it is soft in dealing with others,” Haddad said.
He said Sunday’s street clashes between Future Movement supporters and their rivals in the Arab Movement Party headed by Shaker Berjaoui in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jadideh in which two people were killed constituted “an indicator toward an inter-Sunni strife.”
However, Khashan ruled out a clash between the Army and the Sunnis over the killing of the two sheikhs despite growing criticism by the north’s Future lawmakers over the military’s failure to halt Syrian violations of the Lebanese border.
“The Sunnis have their grievances against the Army because in 2008 it did not stop Hezbollah from invading west Beirut,” he said.
“What happened in the past few days adds to the Sunnis’ suspicions of the Army. That’s why I believe the Army will take measures to rectify its image in the eyes of the Sunnis.”
“Since Lebanon’s independence in 1943, the Army did not engage in fighting against any Lebanese group. It has taken a neutral stance and solved problems on the basis of compromise and negotiations,” Khashan said.

U.N. chief: Syria has reached pivotal moment
May 22, 2012/DAMASCUS: U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned Monday that the search for peace in Syria was at a “pivotal moment” and expressed strong concerns of an all-out civil war, as a five-week-old truce was broken yet again. The violence across Syria claimed at least 38 lives Monday, an activist group said, as bloodshed related to the Syrian crisis also spread to the Lebanese capital Beirut for the first time since the upheaval erupted in March 2011. As NATO ruled out military action against the regime of President Bashar Assad, a spokesman for U.N. leader Ban said at a Chicago summit of the alliance that he was increasingly worried about the situation in Syria.
“The secretary-general said we were at a pivotal moment in the search for a peaceful settlement to the crisis and that he remained extremely troubled about the risk of an all-out civil war,” Ban’s spokesman said. On the ground, fierce fighting in an area between Aleppo and neighboring Idlib province, in northwestern Syria, killed at least 18 soldiers and two army deserters, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based group said nine army deserters were killed overnight as they retreated under cover of darkness from Jisr al-Ab village near the Damascus suburb of Douma.
Also in the Damascus area, troops fired on people at a funeral, the Observatory said.
Elsewhere five civilians were killed, including two in a bombing and military raid in central Hama province, one by unidentified gunmen in the nearby region of Homs, and two more in fighting between the army and rebels in coastal Banias.
The latest violence comes after a rocket-propelled grenade exploded Sunday near U.N. observers in Douma, and at least 48 people were killed elsewhere in the country.
No one was hurt in the Douma blast, which came as U.N. mission head Maj. Gen. Robert Mood and peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous were leading observers around the trouble spot.
NATO, which undertook a major air war in Libya to back rebels who fought Moammar Gadhafi’s forces last year, said that it has “no intention” of taking military action against Assad’s regime.
“We strongly condemn the behavior of the Syrian security forces and their crackdowns on the Syrian population,” NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said at a Chicago summit Sunday.
“But again NATO has no intention to intervene in Syria.”
NATO states have come under criticism for backing the air war in Libya but ruling out military intervention in Syria, where opposition demonstrators and badly outgunned rebels have been hammered by heavily armed regime forces.
Sunday’s blast followed several other close calls for the U.N. monitors since they deployed in Syria, where 266 observers are now on the ground according to Mood.
On May 16, a homemade bomb struck a convoy of U.N. observers in the flashpoint central city of Homs, damaging three vehicles but causing no casualties.
The regime and its opponents trade accusations after such attacks. An Islamist group, the Al-Nusra Front, claimed responsibility Monday for a weekend suicide car bomb attack in Syria’s main eastern city of Deir al-Zour that killed at least nine people and wounded 100 others.The Al-Nusra Front said “a suicide bomber rammed a car bomb against buildings of military security, and aviation information, causing deaths and injuries among members of the regime.”

Finger-pointing after Lebanon storm
May 22, 2012/By Wassim Mroueh, Antoine Amrieh The Daily Star
BEIRUT/AKKAR, Lebanon: Relative calm returned to Lebanon Monday as residents of the north laid to rest a prominent anti-Assad sheikh, but political tension remained high with Future Movement MPs calling on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to resign.
Thousands of mourners took part in the funeral of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul-Wahed and his companion Sheikh Mohammad Hussein al-Mereb, who were buried in the northern town of Bireh in a ceremony punctuated by volleys of gunfire. The two were killed at a Lebanese Army checkpoint in Kwaikhat in Akkar the day before. Speaking during the funeral, Future Movement MP Khaled Daher called for the death penalty for those behind the shooting. “We want a just trial that leads to punishing the perpetrators by sentencing them to death, because those who committed the crime ... deserve to be hanged because they are criminals against humanity and the Lebanese people,” Daher said.
Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr ordered 22 army soldiers, including three officers, detained for interrogation over killing.
Daher held the Cabinet, Mikati and Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi responsible for the killings.
Ahmad Hariri, the secretary-general of the Future Movement, called on the people of Akkar to exercise self-restraint, stressing that the district was an indivisible part of Lebanon and adding that its residents have long been firm supporters of the Army.
Angry crowds blocked roads in numerous villages in Akkar Monday evening and the highway connecting the coastal town of Naameh to Beirut was blocked as well.
Akkar MP Mouin Merhebi, a member of Saad Hariri’s Future parliamentary bloc, called Monday for the resignation of Kahwagi, describing him as a “failure.”
For their part, Future MPs from Beirut held Mikati fully responsible for the shooting in Akkar as well as the armed clashes in the Beirut neighborhood of Tariq al-Jadideh that followed.
At least two were killed in overnight clashes between Future Movement supporters and rivals from the pro-Assad Arab Movement Party, headed by Shaker Berjaoui.
The Beirut MPs accused the Cabinet of not responding to a letter from Syria’s envoy to the United Nations, Bashar Jaafari, while protecting “militia bodies of the Syrian regime.”
Jaafari sent a letter to the U.N. Security Council on May 17 listing a dozen incidents since mid-March that involved the smuggling or attempted smuggling of weapons from Lebanon to Syria, and the presence of “terrorist” fighters in Lebanon.
The letter accused the Future Movement, Al-Qaeda and Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood of being involved.
After a meeting, the lawmakers released a statement urging Mikati to resign since “he claimed that his Cabinet was the Cabinet of stability that will not be provoked.”
While political sources told The Daily Star that the March 14 coalition could step up its campaign to topple Mikati’s government, the prime minister’s press office issued a statement saying that the call for Mikati to resign was part of every statement issued by Future Movement MPs.
“It reflects a deep intention to reclaim what they consider an acquired right, that no one has the right to take it from them or else he will be confronted with curses ... and fabrications,” said the statement.
Separately, Hariri said that his Future Movement supports the state, which he said should be responsible for protecting all Lebanese without discrimination. Discussing the developments in Akkar and Beirut in a telephone conversation with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Derek Plumbly, Hariri added that the Lebanese were aware of the plan hatched by the Syrian regime against Lebanon, arguing that Jaafari’s letter was the first indication of the plan.Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea telephoned Hariri and the leaders discussed “ways to confront the traps set by the tools of the Syrian regime in Lebanon, as well as means to defend the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon and the project of the state,” according to a statement by Hariri’s press office.
Separately, Plumbly said in a statement that he was “very concerned at the incidents of violence in recent days,” in Tripoli, Akkar and Beirut, adding that he was “confident now that all parties in Lebanon will continue to put the interests of the country above other considerations.”
The Higher Islamic Council convened at Dar al-Fatwa with Mikati and Sunni religious leaders.
It described the killing of Abdul-Wahed as an “assassination” and called on the government to refer the case of the killing to the Judicial Council.
“Lebanon is suffering in this time from the repercussions of its surroundings and particularly what is going on in Syria and this was apparent in a letter sent [by Syria] to the U.N. and we reject and condemn the contents of this letter,” the religious body said in a statement.Former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the head of the Future bloc, did not attend the meeting at Dar al-Fatwa, explaining in a statement that he did not take part because some items were absent from the draft statement. Siniora said, however that these items had been mentioned, in the final statement for which he gave his approval.
Meanwhile, Grand Mufti Mohammad Rashid Qabbani met with a delegation representing Kahwagi, headed by the director general of Military Intelligence, Brig. Edmond Fadel. Discussions centered on the investigation into the incident.
The situation in the north has been tense over the past 10 days, beginning with clashes between pro-Assad and anti-Assad gunmen in the Tripoli neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh that left 11 dead. The battles were sparked by the arrest of Islamist Shadi Mawlawi in Tripoli for allegedly having links to a “terrorist group.” Mawlawi is expected to be released Tuesday.
Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya held a special meeting in the city to discuss the security situation and urged restraint.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern that violence could spill over from neighboring Syria into Lebanon, according to a U.N. statement.
Several countries also expressed their concern over recent security incidents in Lebanon.
The U.S. said it welcomed promises by the Lebanese authorities to probe the shootings and urged all sides to exercise restraint.
“We are concerned by the security situation in Lebanon following the shooting of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul-Wahad and Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Merheb near a Lebanese Army checkpoint in the northern region of Akkar,” said U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry also voiced its concern over the rising tension in Lebanon. “It seems that forces whose plans failed to destabilize Syria have now turned to neighboring Lebanon,” said a statement by the ministry.
The statement said that these forces were not satisfied with Lebanon’s stance against foreign intervention in Syria and efforts by the country’s security authorities to combat smuggling of arms and fighters to Syria. France’s Foreign Ministry condemned the killing of the two sheikhs and praised the Lebanese authorities for launching swift investigations.
Bernard Valero, the spokesperson of the French Foreign Ministry, condemned the armed clashes in Tariq al-Jadideh, calling on all political groups to tone down their rhetoric and refrain from making provocations. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt praised the army for holding “swift investigations to hold accountable those responsible for the killing of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul-Wahed and his companion in Akkar.”
“This highlights the necessity, now more than ever, of embracing the Lebanese Army to protect internal stability and civil peace,” Jumblatt wrote in his weekly editorial in PSP’s Al-Anbaa newspaper.
Beirut MP Imad Hout, from al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, called for the establishment of a just state that holds accountable those who kill.
“Is it possible that the Cabinet does not convene after the killing of preachers?” he asked during a sit-in held by the League of Islamic Students near the Grand Serail to protest the killing of Abdul-Wahed.
“We will not be prevented from sympathizing with the righteous cause of the Syrian people.”