LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
July 30/12

Bible Quotation for today
Matthew 21/17-27: "He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there. Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?” Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done. All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.” They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
President Michel Suleiman: A rare stand against Syrian Regime/By: Nadine Elali/Now Lebanon/July 29/12
Syria is not Iraq/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/July 29/12

Lebanon’s Arabic press digest - July 29, 2012
July 29, 2012/ The Daily Star
Lebanon's Arabic press digest.
Following are summaries of some of the main stories in a selection of Lebanese newspapers Sunday. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.
Breakthrough in “[telecoms] data” and the army controls Tripoli
The internal situation is replete with hot issues such the subject of Electrcite Du Liban contract workers and the issue of the civil servant salary scale. Also, a laxness of the security situation meant there were clashes in Tripoli. There was also a wide initiative in Sidon to end the sit-in by Sheikh Ahmad Assir and his supporters.
The number of issues will be accumulating starting Monday, when a Cabinet meeting is expected to take place at Baabda Palace and look into the draft electoral law. Another meeting will be held at Baabda Palace to look into the issue of the [telecoms] “data.”
A breakthrough took place in terms for the telecoms data with the announcement Saturday by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who noted the efforts of President Michel Sleiman that led to the government’s cooperation on the issue of releasing all the “data” to security apparatuses.
Al-Mustaqbal
Mashnouq voices appreciation for Sleiman’s role and says Mikati played none
Government yields on issue of “[telecoms] data”
After almost seven months the government has yielded to the pressures by the March 14 coalition, which reached the extent of boycotting National Dialogue. The government also changed its course following efforts by President Michel Sleiman and Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt.
As a result of these three, the government has acceded to releasing the “[telecoms] data” and the “IMSE” and handed them over to the security apparatuses.
Despite this move and its importance, it raises question marks. The most important question deals with why the data was held on to for such a long period – only a few days ago Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun refused to release the data.
Relevant sources informed An-Nahar that security apparatuses have in the past few hours received the data and the IMSE dated from Jan. 15, 2012, i.e. all the data in the period it was being held and which spans the attempted assassinations of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and MP Butros Harb.
The sources said security apparatuses had the data now from mobile operator MTC and are awaiting the data from Lebanon’s second cellular operator Alfa.

Pope appeals urgently for end to bloodshed in Syria
July 29, 2012/ Daily Star /CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy: Pope Benedict XVI launched an urgent appeal for an end to bloodshed in Syria on Sunday, calling on the international community to do everything to help resolve the conflict. "I continue to follow with alarm that tragic and growing episodes of violence in Syria with the sad succession of deaths and injuries," the pope said following his weekly angelus prayers at his summer residence near Rome. "I renew an urgent appeal to bring an end to all violence and bloodshed," he said, calling for "no effort to be spared, particularly on the part of the international community, to reach a just political solution to the conflict." The pontiff said his thoughts went in particular to the "huge number of internally displaced people and refugees in the neighbouring countries," and asked that they be guaranteed the "necessary humanitarian assistance and help." A fierce battle between Syrian troops and rebel fighters raged in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo for the second day on Sunday, amid calls from peace envoy Kofi Annan for both sides to down weapons and find a political solution. Human rights monitors say the conflict has killed more than 20,000 people since it erupted in March 2011. In his speech from a balcony at the Castel Gandolfo near Rome, Benedict told hundreds of flag-waving pilgrims that he was also concerned about recent violence in Iraq, and prayed the situation in the country would stabilise. "My thoughts also go to the dear nation of Iraq, which has been hit by numerous, serious attacks which have caused many deaths and injuries," he said. "May this great country find the path of stability, of reconciliation and of peace," he added. On Monday, 113 people were killed and over 250 wounded in the worst spate of violence to hit Iraq in more than two and a half years, which came after Al-Qaeda warned it would seek to retake territory.

Romney backs Israel if needs to strike Iran-aide says
July 29, 2012/Daily Star/JERUSALEM: U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would back Israel if it were to decide it had to use military force to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, a senior aide said on Sunday. "If Israel has to take action on its own, in order to stop Iran from developing that capability, the governor would respect that decision," Romney's senior national security aide Dan Senor told reporters traveling with the candidate. The comment made ahead of Romney's planned meetings in Jerusalem with Israeli leaders seemed to differ with President Barack Obama's attempts to convince Israel to avoid any preemptive attack.

In Israel, Romney talks Iran, eyes foreign policy kudos
July 29, 2012/Daily Star
JERUSALEM: White House hopeful Mitt Romney on Sunday held top-level talks in Israel about how to handle fears over Iran's nuclear ambitions, on a visit aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials.
"Like you, we are very concerned about the development of nuclear capabilities on the part of Iran and feel it is unacceptable for Iran to become a nuclear armed nation," Romney told reporters on meeting President Shimon Peres.
"The threat it would pose to Israel, the region and the world is incomparable and unacceptable."
The Republican challenger, who will face off against President Barack Obama in November's US election, flew in from Britain late on Saturday for a one-day visit expected to focus on Iran's nuclear programme, which Israel and much of the West believes is a covert bid to develop atomic weapons.
"Iran and its effort to become a nuclear-capable nation (is one) which I take with great seriousness, and look forward to chatting with you about further actions that we can take to dissuade Iran from their nuclear folly," Romney told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier on Sunday in remarks carried on Israeli public radio.
He also said the two could discuss "developments about the region" including in Syria and Egypt.
Netanyahu told him it was important to have "a strong and credible military threat" because sanctions and diplomacy "so far have not set back the Iranian programme by one iota."
"I think it's important to do everything in our power to prevent the Ayatollahs from possessing that capability," he said.
"And that's why I believe that we need a strong and credible military threat, coupled with the sanctions, to have a chance to change that situation."
Romney was also to meet Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad later on Sunday and give a statement on foreign policy.
Romney has consistently attacked what he says is Obama's weak and misguided Middle East policy, saying in January that the Democratic incumbent "threw Israel under the bus," by defining the 1967 borders as a starting point for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
He has also charged that Obama's policy towards Iran is too weighted towards engagement with an Israeli enemy with suspected nuclear ambitions, and has vowed tougher sanctions if he is elected.
Obama made a show of support for Israel at the White House on Friday, signing a law reinforcing US security and military cooperation with Israel as representatives of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC stood next to him in the Oval Office.
Israeli journalists were invited to attend the signing along with photographers and reporters accredited to the White House. Such signing ceremonies have been uncommon in the Obama presidency.
The law, which gives Israel preferential access to US arms and munitions, "underscores our unshakable commitment to Israel's security," Obama said.
Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's only, albeit undeclared, nuclear arsenal, which international experts believe contains between 100 and 300 nuclear warheads.
On Sunday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported that US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon had briefed Netanyahu on Washington's contingency plans for a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Citing a senior US official, the paper said Donilon met Netanyahu for three hours over dinner in Jerusalem two weeks ago and shared with him details of US military capabilities for attacking Iranian bunkers.
"Donilon sought to make clear that the United States is seriously preparing for the possibility that negotiations will reach a dead end and military action will become necessary," Haaretz wrote.
Israeli officials did not formally confirm or deny the report. "We don't comment on what is discussed in closed diplomatic meetings," one official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"But the story is full of factual errors."

Iran praises Hezbollah, Lebanese on occasion of 2006 war
July 29, 2012/ The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad praised Hezbollah and Lebanon on the occasion of the July-August 2006 war.
“To [Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah] and the heroic Lebanese people I offer congratulations on the occasion of the victory by the mujahedeen and those who sacrificed in the Islamic resistance in the 33-day war which was achieved by divine providence and through your [Nasrallah’s] leadership,” Ahmadinejad said, according to a statement from Hezbollah Saturday.
Ahmadinejad said the war, “during which the resistance fighters managed to crush the dominance of the occupying entity [Israel],” was a key moment for the resistance in Lebanon and the region.
“I urge God to grant you the ... fighters in the Islamic resistance long health and success and to the peoples more strength,” he said.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi Urges Officials to Heed Suleiman’s Call to Resume National Dialogue
Naharnet/ Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged on Sunday the participants of the national dialogue to assume their “historic responsibilities” towards their country.
He called on them during his Sunday sermon “to heed President Michel Suleiman’s invitation to attend the national dialogue session where they can tackle all pending issues, which are at the heart of the chaos in our state institutions.”“Division leads to chaos and misery. This is our tragedy in Lebanon and the Arab world,” he added. “At the heart of division lies unilateral decision-making and lack of understanding over decisions,” he continued. “At the heart of division lies the hegemony of a group, whether it is a party or movement. At the heart of division lie personal goals and hidden ones that contradict join ones,” noted the patriarch. “At the heart of division lies money, power, and weapons,” al-Rahi declared. “We all belong to one family of diverse members, who are all equal before the law and state duties,” he stressed. The March 14 camp recently announced its boycott of the national dialogue over the failure to hand over telecom data linked to various assassination attempts to the security forces.
President Michel Suleiman is exerting efforts to resume the dialogue, set for August 16, amid reports that the data has indeed been handed to the concerned powers.

Security Agencies Handed Complete Telecom Data as Hopes Grow March 14 Camp Will Resume Dialogue
Naharnet /Security agencies have received the complete telecom data of the Touch mobile phone service provider, revealed security sources to the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat Sunday.
They are set to receive the complete data from Lebanon’s second provider, Alfa, in the upcoming hours, they added. A ministerial, judicial, and security meeting, headed by President Michel Suleiman, is scheduled to be held on Monday in order to discuss the handover of telecom data to the concerned authorities, reported the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat on Sunday.
Sources monitoring Suleiman’s efforts told the daily that the president will deduce whether the meeting fulfilled the March 14 camp’s conditions on resuming the national dialogue.
If it does, then he will intensify his efforts to persuade it to return to the all-party talks.
On the camp’s demands that Hizbullah commit to the dialogue agenda, informed sources revealed that indirect talks were held among the party’s leadership over MP Mohammed Raad’s recent statements that there is no need to discuss the defense strategy. The sources said that his remarks express his opinion and do not necessarily mean that Hizbullah is not keen on discussing a defense strategy, seeing as Suleiman had proposed the topic on dialogue agenda. They hoped that the talks will be resumed, noting that Suleiman has devised a draft on the defense strategy that explains when and how the arms can be used. It also tackles the possession of weapons in cities, as well as that of Palestinian refugees.
The president will highlight the authority of the state in the defense strategy, which will likely fall in line with the March 14 camp’s expectations, added the sources.
Suleiman will emphasize his insistence to resume the national dialogue during the Army Day speech on August 1, they revealed.
The March 14 camp suspended its participation in the national dialogue following the failure to address the case of the telecom data and possession of arms in Lebanon, especially that of Hizbullah and Palestinian refugees. MP Butros Harb on Thursday revealed Suleiman had informed him that the relevant authorities “have decided to hand over the complete telecom data” to the security agencies probing the recent failed attempt on his life. “A formula has been reached for that,” Harb said, adding that such a move would represent “a serious step towards unveiling the circumstances of the attempt on my life.”
Harb was the target of a murder attempt on July 5 when residents of a building in which his office is located in the Beirut district of Badaro discovered individuals trying to booby-trap the elevator.
The March 14 alliance has tied its participation in the national dialogue to the government’s approval to hand over the telecom data, including International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), to security agencies investigating the attempted assassinations of Harb and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem : Rebels in Aleppo 'Will Definitely be Defeated'
Naharnet/ Rebels fighting government forces in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo "will definitely be defeated," Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem said on an unannounced visit to key ally Iran on Sunday. "We believe that all the anti-Syrian forces have gathered in Aleppo to fight the government... and they will definitely be defeated," he told a joint news conference in Tehran with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. His assertion came as Syrian troops, backed by airpower and tanks, pushed on in the second day of an assault on the northern city of Aleppo, sparking international fears of a humanitarian catastrophe. Salehi warned that, if the Syria conflict worsened and the regime of President Bashar Assad fell, the consequences "would engulf the region and eventually the whole world."
He added that "it's naive and illusory to think that, if a (power) vacuum opens up in Syria and the government changes, a new government could be easily established."
He urged Syria's neighbors to think hard about the situation, otherwise "everyone will lose."Syria and Iran accuse several countries in the region, notably Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, of aiding the rebels in their fight against Assad's forces, with direction from the United States and in support of Israeli goals."Syria is the target of a global plot whose agents are the countries in the region," Muallem said.
"The reality is that, for a month now, there has been a propaganda war waged by the United States, Europe and certain Arab countries," he said.
The Syrian foreign minister, whose visit to Tehran was unscheduled, was to speak with several Iranian officials about the situation in his country, according to the Iranian foreign ministry.
After Salehi, he was to see Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran's supreme national defense council and a close aide to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as well as parliament speaker Ali Larijani.
Iran is the staunchest ally of the Syrian regime. It has provided humanitarian aid and diplomatic backing but denies reports that it has also given military support.

American Reporter Meets One of the Kidnappers of Lebanese Pilgrims, 3 of the Captives
Naharnet /A reporter for the American publication, The New Yorker, succeeded in meeting one of the abductors of the 11 Lebanese pilgrims, who revealed his willingness to hold negotiations over their release. The New Yorker quoted the kidnapper, Abu Ibrahim, as saying that the abduction was aimed at sending a message to Shiites to support the Syrian people, not the regime.
He told the publication that the pilgrims were kidnapped because they were carrying military identification cars and suspicions arose that they may be Hizbullah members on a reconnaissance mission for the Syrian regime. The pilgrims were abducted in May in Syria as they were making their way back to Lebanon by land from a religious pilgrimage in Iraq.
The New Yorker revealed that the captives were being held in the city of Azaz in Aleppo. Abu Ibrahim asserted that the pilgrims were not his prisoners, but his guests, it continued.
He also admitted that it is possible that they may in fact be simple pilgrims and not members of Hizbullah. The reporter was allowed to meet three of the abductees, Ali Zgheib, Awad Ibrahim, and Ali Hussein Abbas. Asked about how they came to be Abu Ibrahim’s guests, they replied by heaping praise on their captor, lauding his generosity and hoping that the Free Syrian Army would be victorious against the Syrian regime, added The New Yorker. Abbas was quoted as saying: “We are not hostages, but guests of a great man called al-Hajj Abu Ibrahim.”
Ibrahim added that his experience with Abu Ibrahim helped open his eyes on the Syrian revolt. He then insulted Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said The New Yorker.
Abbas told the publication that he is willing to act as the voice of the Free Syrian Army in Lebanon. They all denied being members of Hizbullah, adding that not all Shiites are members of the party.
Abu Ibrahim, said The New Yorker, used to work as a fruit vendor before the eruption of the Syrian revolt and he is now a leader of the armed opposition in the Aleppo province.

Rural fighters pour into Syria's Aleppo for battle
July 29, 2012/ By Erika Solomon/Daily Star
ALEPPO: The route to Aleppo from the Turkish border is a long web of dirt back roads with miles of exposed ground. But undaunted and in total darkness, dozens of young men jump onto white trucks with their AK-47 rifles, keen to join the fight there. Syria's 16-month revolt has finally erupted in the country's commercial hub, but the momentum was not generated inside the city - it was brought into the historic city's ancient stone alleyways from the scorched fields of the surrounding countryside.
"We liberated the rural parts of this province. We waited and waited for Aleppo to rise, and it didn't. We couldn't rely on them to do it for themselves so we had to bring the revolution to them," said a rebel commander in a nearby village, who calls himself Abu Hashish. The short scrawny man with a drooping grey moustache sits juggling cell phones and a walkie-talkie, arranging for the next convoy to head for Aleppo. Tanks of fuel and homemade grenades for use in rocket launchers are piled up along the outside of his house, ready to be dispatched. "About 80 percent of the fighters in this city come from the countryside. Aleppo is a business town, people said they wanted to stay neutral. But now that we have come, they seem to be accepting us," he said. As towns across Syria were rocked by the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad - in which it is estimated 18,000 people have been killed - Aleppo, home to conservative Muslim families and businesses, stayed largely silent.
Although armed resistance began in poorer districts where residents had more tribal allegiances or rural backgrounds, Aleppo's sacrifices have paled in comparison to nearby northern Idlib, central Homs or even Damascus, the capital. Exasperated by the slow progress in Aleppo, rebels in the countryside said they were finally emboldened to push into the city after an assassination in the capital Damascus of four top government officials, including the defence minister.
"It was a boost to our spirits. We were so excited because we knew it was time. Aleppo is the economic centre, the true source of regime power. If we can strike it hard, and hold on, we can bring Bashar down," said one rebel fighter joining the convoy who called himself Abu Bakr.
As they arrived in Aleppo before dawn, the fighters sped through the winding alleyways of the city's outskirts shouting: "God is great". And then the morning skirmishes began.
The rattle of rebel machinegun fire greeted the thuds of army tank fire, artillery could be heard in the distance, and an air force fighter jet streaked overhead.
The streets of rebel-held neighbourhoods are a graveyard of overturned, torched buses, specially placed along the streets by rebels to block army tanks from rolling in. The charred remains of tanks can also be seen - in heaps - by palm trees lining main thoroughfares.
"So far things here are going well for us. We have been used to fighting in olive groves and open fields. We were always exposed," said Hakour, a 23-year-old with a straggly beard wearing camouflage fatigues. Lounging inside a school taken over by the rebels as a temporary base, he said: "It's much nicer to fight here where we can hide in alleyways and buildings. We will stay until Aleppo is free."
Toting grenade launchers, the fighters are incongruous alongside the school's pastel-coloured walls. Every rebel unit that has passed through here has left a message in graffiti. "The Farouq Brigade was here", "The Muthanna Brigade will topple Bashar", "God is with those who will triumph".
One rebel plays on an electric keyboard that he found in the school music room. Other men play table tennis in the main hallway. Nearby, fighters sleep along the walls, curled up next to their guns and grenades. "It took us months and months to liberate the countryside. But here things are moving quickly. We have even set up a security team with a hotline if residents want us to help them," Hakour says.
The rebels drink fizzy soft drinks as they sing and make jokes. But their jubilation is premature. A few minutes later a loud blast shakes the school and the rebels scatter to grab their weapons and head to the basement - a reminder of the army's determination to crush the uprising.
As another ripple of mortar fire echoes nearby, the men decide that they should switch bases.
"We had to start the battle to encourage Aleppo and get the residents accustomed to being part of the uprising. A lot of families have given the fighters money secretly, but they didn't want to do more. And there are even people unfortunately who still support the regime," said a fighter named Jumaa.
"I think for Aleppo the memories of the 1980s are still very deep," Jumaa said, referring to an Islamist uprising which was crushed by Assad's late father, whose forces killed at least 10,000 people in the central city of Hama.
The rebel-held area of Aleppo visited by a Reuters reporter appeared to be completely deserted by residents. Fighters were using houses as bases to sleep in.
Just 20 km (12 miles) outside Aleppo, rebels have declared most of the countryside free of Assad's forces. In the villages men gather to smoke and chat at night, while women wrapped in colourful veils let their children run onto the rubble-strewn streets to cheer at smiling gunmen.
"God protect the Free Syrian Army," they shouted.
Despite the tentative calm their home towns now enjoy, there is a hint of resentment towards Aleppo's residents from rural fighters gathered on the city's streets.
"My brother was shot dead just last month," says 22-year-old fighter Mustafa. He points out other faces in the crowd of rebel fighters. "His cousin died six months ago. Soldiers poured gasoline on him and set him on fire," Mustafa says. Pointing to another group, he says: "Their families have fled and they haven't seen them in a year."
Outside the city, rebel commander Abu Hashish says more sacrifices are necessary, and that the time has come for his urban brothers to share the burden.
"In Aleppo they only think about trade, about money. They think about their own life, they think about their children's future. They don't fight the regime because they care about the here and now," he said.
"In the countryside we know we must give up on the present. I will sacrifice my life and my children's lives. Let them destroy our homes. This fight is for a new generation coming that will have a chance to have a life of dignity. And for me, that is worth sacrificing everything."

Notion of Syria power transition "an illusion": Iran FM
July 29, 2012/Daily Star /BEIRUT: The idea of a managed transition of power in Syria is an "illusion," Iran's foreign minister said on Sunday, as his Syrian counterpart expressed Damascus' commitment to international mediator Kofi Annan's peace plan. "Thinking naively and wrongly that if there is a power vacuum perhaps in Syria and if there is a transition of power in Syria, simply another government will come to power, that I think is just a dream," Ali Akbar Salehi said at a news conference with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Moualem. "It's an illusion. We have to look carefully at Syria and what's happening inside the country."Moualem said Syria was also committed to Annan's six-point plan that aims to end 16 months of violence in which 18,000 people have been killed. The plan calls for a ceasefire, which has been widely ignored by both sides, as a first stage in the political transition to ending the violence. It also calls for access for aid, the release of arbitrarily detained people, freedom of movement for journalists and the freedom to protest peacefully. "We are committed to fulfill Mr. Annan's plan fully because we consider this plan a reasonable plan," he said. Moualem said Syria was able to defend every inch of its soil from what he called a conspiracy by armed terrorist groups that served Israel's interests. "I assure you the Syrian people are insistent, not just on confronting this conspiracy, but they are insistent on emerging victorious," Moualem, who has not appeared since a bomb attack killed four of President Bashar al-Assad's top security officials nearly two weeks ago. "Today I tell you, Syria is stronger ... In less than a week, they were defeated and the battle failed (in Damascus) so they moved on to Aleppo, and I assure you, their plots will fail," said Moualem.

Siniora praises Cabinet for releasing telecoms data to authorities
July 29, 2012 /The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Head of the Future Parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Siniora praised Sunday the government’s decision to provide security agencies with telecoms data that the opposition says is crucial for investigators probing alleged assassination attempts on political leaders in the country.
“It seems that as of this morning, the security agencies started to be provided with the telecoms data. This is an important step and a responsible decision by the cabinet after the president intervened,” Siniora told reporters in his home city of Sidon, south Lebanon. “But, what is equally important is to have this done on a regular basis without any obstruction,” the opposition figure added.
Siniora said the March 14 coalition sought only the telecoms data and not its contents, stressing that the information contained within the telecoms data was not similar to obtaining wiretapping data.
He said that telecoms data assist security agencies in detecting “terrorist acts and attempted assassinations.”
Earlier this month, MP Butros Harb said he survived an attempted assassination after two detonators were found on top of the elevator inside the Beirut building housing his office.
The next day, the March 14 coalition said that the Cabinet was responsible for the attempted assassination Harb because it had withheld telecoms data it says is necessary for security bodies to uncover such plots. A security source told The Daily Star Friday that all telecommunications data including IMSI that were requested by the security services to track down suspects in recent assassination attempts against March 14 officials have been handed to the police. IMSI, or International Mobile Subscriber Identity, is a number used for identifying a mobile subscriber.
Separately, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi said Friday that all 768 telecoms data requests by the police in the month of June had been approved by the judicial committee.

Jumblatt says Syrian presence in Lebanon still strong
July 29, 2012/The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt said Syria’s influence in Lebanon remains strong and added that some security agencies were acting on Damascus’s behalf, in interview with a local newspaper published Sunday. In a separate interview with the BBC Saturday, Jumblatt said Syrian’s needed to defend themselves given what he described as “unparalleled international maliciousness” on the part of the international a and regional communities.
“The Syrian regime still has a presence in Lebanon and it is as strong as it was before,” Jumblatt told An-Nahar newspaper, adding that “there are some security agencies which receive orders from the Syrian regime.” In the wide-ranging interview, Jumblatt also voiced his dismay over Hezbollah’s stance on its weapons and said the March 8 coalition equation of the “Army, people and resistance” would lead to ruin at the level of the state. “Let them [Hezbollah] say that they are ready to facilitate the state’s affairs. We need a word from them that someday the decision of war and peace will be in the hands of the state,” he said, referring to a statement this month by Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad stating that the resistance party would hold onto its weapons until liberation from Israeli occupation is complete.
“It is true that the slogan of the ‘Army, people and resistance’ was successful in Adaisseh but under this slogan the state is diminishing in all areas - even in the southern suburb of Beirut,” Jumblatt added.
Jumblatt praised President Michel Sleiman’s efforts at restarting National Dialogue, describing him as having the patience of “Prophet Ayyoub.”
He said Sleiman was clear about his approach to Hezbollah’s weapons.
“The president posed a clear question: How to benefit from the weapons of the party [Hezbollah] to defend Lebanon against Israel. He did not say for the defense of the Islamic Republic,” Jumblatt said, referring to Hezbollah’s key ally in the region.
During his interview with Britain’s BBC, Jumblatt said arming the Syrian people for defense was the least that could be done given the failure of international and regional efforts.
“The quicker steps are taken to change and bring down the regime, the sooner we will spare Syria of more destruction, blood, fragmentation and civil war,” he said.
“At the end of the day there are people who went down to protest peacefully who were fired upon and they have to right to defend themselves. I did not ask for external intervention but I ask that the people be supported at the very least through supplying them with anti-air and anti-tank missiles,” he said.
Jumblatt criticized international and regional efforts to end the crisis in Lebanon’s neighbor.
“I see ... a form of unparalleled international maliciousness. The Friends of Syria conference, what did they do? Nothing – just one meeting after another, talks, and the Arab League is even worse,” he said.
Jumblatt also acknowledged that he had limited contacts with the Syrian opposition.
“Yes, there is contact with the [Syrian] National Council and part of the local coordination committees, our resources permitting,” he said.
Asked whether Assad would step down, Jumblatt said the chances of the embattled leader departing were slim given the backing of China and Russia as well as military assistance from Moscow and Tehran.
“So long as there are the Russian and Chinese vetoes and so long as there is backing from Iran and Russia in terms of weapons and gear, it appears he will continue to rely heavily on the security solution to destroy cities and villages completely,” Jumblatt said.
The PSP chief warned that Assad was taking Syria to “the unknown.”
“He is taking Syria to the unknown, maybe toward fragmentation. He is destroying everything, the social and economic infrastructures and the number of refugees in Syria has exceeded 1 million to 1.5 million and no one knows the accurate figure,” he told the broadcasting company.
Jumblatt also said he could not comprehend Hezbollah’s supportive stance of the Syrian regime.
“I don’t understand this position. Hezbollah has faced and continues to face Israel and helps in the confrontation against Israel and in support of what is right in terms of the righteous cause of south Lebanon and Palestine. But how does it square on one hand to support what is right in Lebanon and Palestine and on the other announce support to the unjust regime in Syria?” he asked.

Army raid yields weapons cache in Mount Lebanon
July 29, 2012/ The Daily Star
Lebanese Army raid yields weapons cache in Mount Lebanon
BEIRUT: Two men were arrested for transporting arms in east Lebanon over the weekend and three others were detained in Mount Lebanon after a raid of their residence turned up a large stash of weapons. In east Lebanon, the Lebanese Army detained a Lebanese and a Syrian national trying to transport weapons, the National News Agency said over the weekend.
The agency said the Army’s Military Intelligence arrested the Syrian national – a member from the Kahloun family – and Lebanese Ahmad A.D – from the border village of Tfeil – while they were transporting weapons, silencers, ammunition and a sniper rifle in Brital, Baalbek. In Chouf, Mount Lebanon, the Army said in a statement Saturday it arrested three individuals after a raid of their whereabouts revealed a stash of a variety of weapons. Over 1,200 fuses were found in the raid, including electric fuses and Israel-made landmine fuses. U.S. and Russian-made anti-personal mines, Israel-made mortar bombs and 21 grenades were discovered in the search. Forty-seven blocks of explosives, some weighing between 200 grams and 250 grams and others weighing between 400 grams and 500 grams, and guns were also found. The case of the three individuals has been referred to the relevant authorities.

Syria Army Presses Aleppo Assault
Naharnet /Fierce fighting raged for a second straight day in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo on Sunday as troops pressed an offensive against rebel-held areas of the city, sparking fears for trapped civilians. As rebel fighters held out against the superior firepower of President Bashar Assad's regime, the head of the exiled opposition called on foreign governments to provide them with heavy weapons.
International peace envoy Kofi Annan urged both sides to hold back, saying that only a political solution could end a conflict that human rights monitors say has killed more than 20,000 people since the uprising erupted in March 2011.An activist who gave his name as Abu Alaa said there was renewed shelling of the Salaheddin district in southwest Aleppo where rebels repulsed a ground assault on Saturday. He said there were also clashes between troops and rebels in the Bab al-Nasr, Bab al-Hadid and Old City neighborhoods of the city center.
The central districts' "narrow streets and alleys, with covered markets and densely populated buildings, are impossible to penetrate with tanks or shelling from afar," he said.
After massing for two days, troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships on Saturday launched a ground assault on Salaheddin, where rebels concentrated their forces when they seized much of Aleppo on July 20. Both sides claimed to have made advances, but an AFP correspondent reported that rebels had largely repulsed the army's offensive.
Civilians in the city of some 2.5 million people crowded into basements seeking refuge from the intense bombardment by artillery and helicopter gunships, the correspondent said.
Colonel Abdel Jabbar al-Oqaidi of the rebel Free Syrian Army said his forces had repulsed the ground assault in Salaheddin.
"We managed to force the army to the neighborhood of Hamdaniyeh," he told AFP, referring to a district which is home to large numbers of government employees, many of them members of Assad's Alawite minority.
But state media reported that the rebels had suffered casualties in the fighting. "Our heroic forces inflicted losses on the armed terrorist groups in Salaheddin," the official SANA news agency said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy fighting on Sunday in the Bab al-Hadid, Zahraa, Arkub and Al-Hindrat Camp districts.
Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the fact that the initial ground assault on Salaheddin had been repulsed "does not necessarily mean a withdrawal as their strategy is to bombard... to cause an exodus, then launch an assault even more fierce."
Nationwide, violence killed 168 people on Saturday -- 94 civilians, 33 rebels and 41 soldiers, the Britain-based watchdog said.
Annan, the joint envoy on the Syrian conflict of the United Nations and the Arab League, issued a renewed call for a political settlement.
"The escalation of the military build-up in Aleppo and the surrounding area is further evidence of the need for the international community to come together to persuade the parties that only a political transition, leading to a political settlement, will resolve this crisis," he said.
The former U.N. chief brokered a peace plan that was supposed to begin with a ceasefire from April 12, but it never took hold.
The head of the opposition Syrian National Council, Abdel Basset Sayda, called on Arab governments to provide the rebels with heavy weapons.
"We want weapons that would stop tanks and jet fighters," he said after talks in Abu Dhabi.
He urged Arab "brothers and friends to support the Free (Syrian) Army" saying the support should be "qualitative because the rebels are fighting with old weapons."
But Russia said that governments such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia which advocate the arming of the rebels were responsible for the mounting death toll.
"Our Western partners... together with some of Syria's neighbors are essentially encouraging, supporting and directing an armed struggle against the regime," said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
"The price of this is yet more blood."Lavrov said it was unrealistic to expect the Syrian government to do nothing when rebel fighters were taking over parts of major cities.
"We are persuading the government that they need to make some first gestures," said Lavrov. "But when the armed opposition are occupying cities like Aleppo, where yet another tragedy is brewing as I understand... it is not realistic to expect that they will accept this."
SourceAgence France Presse

Syria is not Iraq
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Since the outbreak of the so-called “Arab Spring” in our region, we have always said that Tunisia is not Egypt, which in turn is not Yemen, which itself is different to Libya. Likewise, Bahrain is different to all of the above, and Syria also cannot be compared to any other case. Some Westerners and Arabs objected, but this was proven completely true.
Today, some are saying that Syria will be like Iraq. Most of those putting forth this assertion are Americans, including the writers Thomas Friedman and David Ignatius, in their respective articles published in Asharq al-Awsat yesterday. But the facts based on current realities, and likewise history, say that Syria is not Iraq. In his article Friedman says he hopes to be mistaken, and indeed he is. Iraq was not a “minority-ruled dictatorship” [under Saddam Hussein] as Friedman says, the Sunnis in Iraq are not a minority and Saddam Hussein’s rule was not sectarian, although it was characterized by political recklessness. Sectarianism is the product of Iran and al-Assad, which reached new heights in the region following the US occupation of Iraq, and exploded further when Tehran’s allies arrived to govern the country, and with the assassination of the Sunni leader Rafik Hariri at the hands of the al-Assad regime.
Likewise, to say that Syria is like Iraq with similar fears of the spread of terrorism and al-Qaeda, this is an exaggeration and distortion of the facts. Extremism spread in Iraq for two reasons; the first was the presence of Shiite extremist groups affiliated to Iran, such as the Sadrists and so on, and the second was due to Tehran and al-Assad facilitating the entry of al-Qaeda elements into Iraq in order to fight the Americans by proxy. We must remember that those who finally managed to curb al-Qaeda were Iraq's Sunni Awakening Councils, liaising with General David Petraeus. Remember how the Iraqi tribal leader Abu Risha was assassinated after his famous meeting with former US President George W. Bush! While we are on the subject of al-Qaeda, it is worth mentioning that Mohammed Saeed al-Issa, an advisor in the Syrian People’s Assembly, defected yesterday. He said he had compelling evidence that the recent spate of car bombings in Syria was carried out by the al-Assad regime itself, and not by al-Qaeda or extremists!
Such talk of course will continue, but it is certain that Syria is not Iraq as Friedman says, who is clearly mistaken. Furthermore, the situation in Syria does not require an Iranian-Israeli-Gulf-Turkish alliance as Ignatius says, because this is a pipe dream. What is required today is to protect the Syrians from al-Assad’s crimes, especially as the regime resorted to weapons first, before the rebels, and so protecting the Syrians is the priority. The way to do this is through arming the revolutionaries, and not through US military intervention as Friedman suggests, believing the Americans could serve as a guarantor as they did in Iraq, but this is not true. America is the one that handed Iraq over to the Iranians. Similarly, US fears of the spread of al-Qaeda are also untrue, just like they proved to be unfounded in Libya, where the elections results surprised the entire region. The Islamists, for example, did not win in Libya like they did in Egypt, where Washington was particularly keen to overthrow Mubarak!
In conclusion, the Americans are seeking to address their mistakes in Iraq, Egypt and elsewhere by making another mistake in Syria. As the proverb goes, two wrongs do not make a right. What we need now is to protect the Syrians from the criminal al-Assad, through safe areas, arming the rebels, and supervising the situation. We must stick by the opposition to ensure that there is indeed a “day after”, and not allow al-Assad to wreak havoc, for this is an unforgivable crime.

President Michel Suleiman: A rare stand against Syrian Regime
Nadine Elali/Now Lebanon/ July 29, 2012
In a rare show of verbal force, President Michel Suleiman spoke out against Syrian violations of Lebanese territory. (NOW Lebanon)
In a rare stand, President Michel Suleiman has accused Syrian forces of violating Lebanese territory following cross-border clashes last weekend. As a result, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali responded to the complaints, causing a diplomatic flap. Suleiman expressed his displeasure after shells fired from Syria slammed into several villages along the Lebanese side of the northern border between the two countries last Sunday. He requested Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour to send a letter of complaint to Ambassador Ali. Suleiman’s rhetoric, which is rare coming from a Lebanese president since Syrian troops withdrew from the country in 2005, comes amid increasing international outrage over the Assad regime’s violent reaction to the uprising against it, which began in mid-March last year.
Although Lebanese political factions close to the Syrian regime expressed their discontent with Suleiman’s move, many others believe that it emphasizes Assad and his Lebanese allies losing their grip on power in Lebanon. According to Antoine Haddad of the Democratic Renewal Movement, Syrian violations of Lebanese territory have become flagrant. “They have increased to an extent that cannot be tolerated,” he said. “Had the president decided to turn a blind eye to the current border violations, it would have been held against him.”
“President Suleiman is trying to fill a vacuum that the current Lebanese government is responsible for,” said Future bloc MP Ahmad Fatfat, stressing that it is the government’s responsibility to address the issue of border violations. According to Fatfat, this is not the first time the president has been aggravated by Syrian incursions into Lebanon. In May, when the Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon complaining that Lebanon was harboring members of Al-Qaeda in its northern border regions, Suleiman requested Minister Mansour send a letter of complaint to Ambassador Ali, though Mansour failed to do so. Prime Minister Najib Miqati also failed to address the issue.
Mansour did, however, hand Ambassador Ali a “[remark] on a number of violations that happened unintentionally,” requesting Syrian authorities “to avoid the repetition of border incidents.”
Fatfat told NOW Lebanon that “It is very dangerous for a minister of foreign affairs not to comply with the wishes of the country’s president.” Haddad agrees with Fatfat, adding that Mansour seemed keener to protect Syrian interests than Lebanese ones. “FM Mansour gave way for the Syrian authorities to counter the complaint and protest themselves,” said Haddad.
Indeed, Ali responded in a statement directed at Suleiman that said, “Syria is the one that is supposed to complain, as it is the one that is on the receiving end of gunfire and rockets fired from the Lebanese side.” According to constitutional expert and MP Antoine Saad, Ali broke diplomatic codes of conduct by addressing the president via the press. “Diplomatic ethics stress that the ambassador has the right to pass on his country’s letter to the Foreign Ministry only. He cannot talk to the minister, address the president, or make a statement to the press. This is a violation of protocol.”
“This is not the first time Ali breaks [diplomatic] law,” Saad said. He noted the case of the three Jasem brothers, anti-Syrian regime activists who vanished from Beirut at the end of February 2011. A report by ISF chief General Ashraf Rifi later revealed that security officers at the Syrian Embassy in Beirut were responsible for the abduction.
“Ali Abdul Karim Ali is playing the same role Rustom Ghazali played back in days of [the Syrian regime’s presence in Lebanon]; that of a security officer, not that of a diplomat,” said Saad.
He added that had there been true violations of Syrian territory, as Ali claims, he should bring it up with the Lebanese ambassador in Syria. In special cases, he said, the Syrian authorities can send a letter of protest to Lebanon and have the ambassador pass it to the Lebanese Foreign Ministry. Following these steps, if the Lebanese state does not comply and the violations continue, Syria can file a complaint to the Security Council. If the violations persist, then Syria has the right to self-defense. “Syrian did none of these and launched an attack.”
Following the events, some Lebanese officials and social media campaigners have called for the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador. Syria’s allies in Lebanon voiced their discontent with the request, calling it “shameful.” Suleiman responded to the complaints by saying that his move was based on his constitutional duties to preserve the sovereignty of Lebanon.
“Clearly, the president’s margins of power are changing,” said Haddad. “During the Syrian hegemony in Lebanon, there was a limit to what the president could do. There was a limit to his freedoms, but everyone feels that the regime has become weaker and that is reflecting on all political players. The balance of power is changing.”

Muslim Brotherhood: "Yes, We Will Be Masters of the World"
by Raymond Ibrahim • Jul 28, 2012 at 4:36 pm
Cross-posted from Jihad Watch
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/07/muslim-brotherhood-yes-we-will-be-masters-of
A frank word from Safwat Hegazy
During a televised interview earlier this week, Dr. Safwat Hegazy, a popular preacher in Egypt, known for his desire to unify the Arab world into a "United Arab States"—with Jerusalem for a capital—dropped the Western language and made clear what it is the Muslim Brotherhood ultimately seeks: a caliphate and world domination, which even the Supreme Guide of the Brotherhood maintains is the group's mission. In the interview, which Coptic Solidarity has translated with subtitles (click here), Hegazy simply declares: "If you read the literature of the Muslim Brotherhood, you will find in the literature of the Brotherhood, that which they can never abandon: The Islamic Caliphate and mastership of the world. Yes, we will be masters of the world, one of these days" (emphasis his).

Islamic Sex-Slave Marriages Blamed on "international Zionism"
by Raymond Ibrahim • Jul 28, 2012 at 4:29 pm
Cross-posted from Jihad Watch
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/07/islamic-sex-slave-marriages-blamed-on
Al-Mukhtar: Condemns sex-slave marriages as un-Islamic, but blames liberals and Jews for airing it.
The seriousness of recent calls to legalize sex-slave "marriages" in Egypt as a way to allow Muslim men to have premarital sex within the bounds of Sharia was recently demonstrated by the fact that many Islamic authorities—including Egypt's Grand Mufti and the Grand Imam of Al Azhar—made it a point to condemn the practice as contrary to Islam.
While it is refreshing to see Islamic leaders reject this perverse call, it is typical to see others portraying it as a foreign conspiracy. For instance, after rejecting the notion of sex-slave marriages, Dr. Muhammaad al-Mukhtar al-Mahdi, a professor of Islamic studies at Al Azhar, said "the crime is not that someone suggested it, but that someone made it easy for him to say and spread such things among the people," adding that "this is a matter that international Zionism stands behind."
In other words, Wael al-Ibrashi, the Egyptian liberal talk show host who first aired this matter, followed of course by the default bad guys, "international Zionism," are the true "criminals"—not the self-proclaimed "expert" at Islamic jurisprudence who studied at Al Azhar and came up with this idea of sex-slave marriages in the first place (click here for original story).
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/11952/egypt-sex-slave-marriage

Egypt: Christian Burns Muslim's Shirt; Muslims Burn Christian Homes
by Raymond Ibrahim • Jul 27, 2012 at 8:33 pm
Cross-posted from Jihad Watch
http://www.raymondibrahim.com/2012/07/egypt-christian-burns-muslim-shirt-muslims-burn
According to AFP, "Muslims on Friday [today] set fire to Christian homes in a village near the Egyptian capital after a fight between a Muslim man and a Christian laundry worker who singed his shirt while ironing it, police said. At least one person was wounded as Muslims and Coptic Christians also traded fire bombs, police officials said."
AFP gives no more details; however, Al Masrawy does. According to it, the Christian man, Samih Nasim, burned the shirt of the Muslim man, Ahmed Ramadan, this last Wednesday, leading to a brawl between the two Egyptians. The next day, Thursday, "the Muslim, with approximately 20 of his followers, went to the Christian's home to attack him. Expecting this, the Christian was prepared and climbed to the highest point of his roof, hurling Molotov cocktails at the Muslims," injuring one.
As a result, Friday, today, the Muslim man returned "with approximately two-thousand Muslims" burning and plundering Christian homes, and wounding several people, in the latest example of Collective Punishment for Egypt's "dhimmi" Copts.

Al-Qaeda, Islamists Seek Sharia State in Syria
Posted by Ryan Mauro
on Jul 26th, 2012
Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is on his way out and the best he can hope for is to create an Allawite mini-state for his loyalists. Al-Qaeda smells blood in the water and wants a piece of the pie once Assad falls. The Muslim Brotherhood, like Al-Qaeda, envisions an Islamic State of Syria. Some of the secular rebels determined to overthrow Assad are worried, warning that the Islamists are pulling the rug from under their feet.
The Assad regime began directly supporting Al-Qaeda as the U.S. invasion of Iraq neared, though the Hezbollah networks supported by Assad worked with Al-Qaeda before that. Now, Al-Qaeda in Iraq has turned its sights on its former sponsor, just as General David Petraeus predicted. One low-level Al-Qaeda operative in Iraq says, “Our big hope is to form a Syrian-Iraqi Islamic State for all Muslims, and then announce our war against Iran and Israel, and free Palestine.”
Saudi Wahhabists are recruiting and dispatching fighters to Syria and the regime is worried enough about Hamas to apparently assassinate one of its leaders. A Libyan Islamist militia leader with Al-Qaeda ties met with the Free Syria Army in November and is almost certainly responsible for the arrival of Libyan fighters afterwards. The Free Syria Army, consisting largely of army defectors, is generally regarded as a secular force but jihadists sometimes operate under its banner. For example, a video has surfaced of fighters claiming to belong to the Free Syria Army with the flag of Al-Qaeda in the background. The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, says there are about 300 different rebel groups in Syria and as many as one-fourth may be Al-Qaeda supporters.
The biggest foreign supporters of the rebels are Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia—all three of which support Islamists. One Islamist fighter belonging to a group called the Revolutionary Shield says he and 100 of his colleagues have been getting $120 per month for three months. He believes the funding comes from the Gulf countries and is distributed by the Muslim Brotherhood. Qatar’s role is worrisome because it used its influence to help the Islamists in Libya. Secular Syrians accuse Turkey of doing the same thing, with one Kurdish leader explaining, “Turkey supports the Islamists in Syria and puts them out front.”
The opposition umbrella body called the Syrian National Council is based in Turkey and is being used by the Muslim Brotherhood to meet its stated “desire to coordinate the position of the opposition.” After the SNC was formed, it immediately sent a delegation to Qatar to meet with Sheikh Yousef al-Qaradawi, a senior Muslim Brotherhood cleric. Syria expert Thomas Pierret believes about half of the leaders in the SNC are Islamists and they are in charge of distributing the funds provided by the international community.
Many secularist opposition figures have left the SNC because of the Islamist influence. One, Kamal Labwani, complained to RadicalIslam.org about how the U.S. is pressuring the opposition to unite under the SNC. Another secularist, Walid al-Bunni, said, “We [secularists] became like extras.” Sherkoh Abbas of the Kurdistan National Assembly pit it bluntly: “[The SNC has] a hidden agenda to bring an Islamist, Sunni Arab nationalist regime to Syria by excluding the Kurds and other minorities.”
One of the leaders of the SNC is a prominent member of the American Muslim Brotherhood, Louay Safi.
He has worked as a top official in at least two Muslim Brotherhood fronts and was labeled an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the case against Sami al-Arian, a Brotherhood operative who served as the chief of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the U.S.
The Brotherhood allowed secularists to take the top post in the SNC in order to have an “accepted face” while controlling the body behind the scenes, as a top Brotherhood official explains here. It’s worked. The Friends of Syria, including the U.S., endorsed the SNC on April 1. Before that, on September 24, a State Department official took part in an event with an SNC representative that was organized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a member of the American Muslim Brotherhood. For the past six months, the U.S. Institute for Peace has been meeting with 140 opposition officials in Germany with funding from the State Department. The U.S. Institute for Peace works closely with John Esposito, one of the foremost advocates of the Brotherhood and its fronts.
There are plenty of Syrian secularists that could have been embraced by the West. On September 17, the Coalition of Secular and Democratic Syrians launched in Paris. “We are all against totalitarianism in any form and that includes Islamist rule,” a spokesperson said. Its President, Randa Kassis, says that at least half of the population wants separation of mosque and state.
“The Islamist groups, which are superbly financed and equipped by the Gulf states, are ruthlessly seizing decision-making power for themselves. Syrians who are taking up arms against the dictator but not putting themselves under the jihadists’ command are being branded as unpatriotic and as heretics,” she said.
The good news is that the Free Syria Army is, by far, the most popular opposition force and it has butt heads with the SNC. One reporter writes that FSA soldiers, many of which defected from the secular regime, “do not appear to consider themselves mujahedin or otherwise fit the stereotype of Islamic extremists. Accordingly, individuals…[say] Islam does provide them with inspiration and strength but they do not fight for Islam and their goals are generally secular.”
It’s common for Free Syria Army officers to express their disdain for Al-Qaeda and Islamism. “Al-Qaeda is not welcome here and everybody knows it. Their ideology is not accepted and their help will be refused,” said one officer operating along the Turkish border. Former SNC President, Burhan Ghalioun, predicts that a free Syria will end its alliances with Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.
There are visible Syrian secularists inside and outside the country, such as: Riad al-Assad, Riad al-Turk, Kamal Labwani, Michel Kilo, Walid al-Bunni, George Sabra, Burhan Ghalioun, Fawaz Tello, Abdulbaset Sieda, Suhair Atassi, Fayez Sara, Randa Kassis, Sherkoh Abbas, Ammar Abdulhamid, Farid Ghadry, Zuhdi Jasser and countless secular defectors. Some of them are part of the SNC and others are not. The demographics of Syria are often regarded as a barrier to the Islamists. About 10-13% of the population is Allawite, 10% are Christians, 10% are Kurds and 3% are Druze. These are all secular minorities. The majority Sunni population is divided between secularists and Islamists. This leads Dr. Barry Rubin to conclude that “Syria isn’t likely to see an Islamist takeover.” Others argue that the percentage of minorities is much lower than this, with the Christian population as little as 3.5%, Druze being only 1.7% and the Allawite population has been said to be as low as 6% by the Washington Post.
One problem in understanding the makeup of the opposition is the Assad regime’s years of deception. It has long worked hard to make the opposition appear to be wholly Islamist. Christians are persecuted but also pro-regime outlets are responsible for pushing stories, such as on claiming that 90% of Christians in Homs are being ethnically cleansed.
No one can tell what Syria will look like in one year or even a few months from now. It could be governed by Islamists or by democratic secularists. There may be a shaky balance between the two. Assad may carve out an Allawite refuge. Syria could descend into chaos, ravaged by sectarian violence and proxy warfare. There is simply no way to know.