LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
May 27/15

Bible Quotation For Today/Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink
John 07/37-39: "On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water." ’Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

Bible Quotation For Today/Save yourselves from this corrupt generation
Acts of the Apostles 02/40-47: "And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.’ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved."

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 26-27/15
The Unknown and suppressed story of the last days of South Lebanon’s “belt”/Dr. Walid A Phares/May 26/15
One year on, Lebanon is still without a president/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq AlAwsat/May 26/15
Turkey: Not-Quite Rule of Law/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/May26/15
Germany’s “Demagogue of Armed Jihad”/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/May 26/15
No army in Mid East is challenging ISIS. Iran regroups to defend S. Iraqi Shiites, Assad to save Damascus/DEBKAfile/May 26/15
Grim prospects for Pakistan’s minorities/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/May 26/15

Lebanese Related News published on May 26-27/15
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai  welcomes March 14 efforts to end presidential vacuum
Six Hezbollah fighters, 30 militants killed in Qalamoun
Future Bloc attacks Nasrallah over 'arrogant' speech 
Lebanon 'reliable' trade partner: Salam 
Waste collection companies ignore Beirut call for tenders 
It’s time to mend fences 
Qalamoun is Hezbollah's graveyard: SNC 
Sentence reduction requested for Samaha 
Tension High between ISIL, Nusra Front on Outskirts of Arsal

Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 26-27/15
New record: Saudi Arabia executes 88th prisoner this year
US blasts Iran's 'lack of transparency' in reporter trial
Iran says S-300 deal with Russia complete
No Iran sanctions relief before end 2015 at best: German envoy
Iran's mixed messages - Rouhani talks peace, while military flexes muscles
Jihadis, Palestinians battle in Syria refugee camp
Rowhani says most Iranians want peace
Iraq launches operation against Islamic State
Iraqi Shiite militia claims leadership of Anbar campaign
Yemen: Volunteer forces retake southern province from Houthis, Saleh loyalists
The sectarian divide threatens Saudi national unity
ISIS militants ‘advance towards Damascus’
Syrian army raid kills 140 ISIS fighters: state media
U.N. Calls for Harvest Ceasefire in Syria
Netanyahu offers to resume peace talks with settlement focus, official says
Netanyahu's ministers and their hollow titles
Netanyahu may be Erdogan, Israel isn't Turkey
Egypt opens Rafah to stranded Palestinians
Grim prospects for Pakistan’s minorities
Turkey says training of moderate Syrian rebels begins with US
U.N. says alarming spike in female suicide bombings in Nigeria
Australia to strip citizenship from dual-national militants
Men who masturbate ‘will find their hands pregnant,’ says Turkish preacher
US Capitol building evacuated after alarm sounded

The Unknown and suppressed story of the last days of South Lebanon’s “belt”
Dr. Walid A Phares
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2015/05/26/dr-walid-a-pharesthe-unknown-and-suppressed-story-of-the-last-days-of-south-lebanons-belt/
May 26, 2015
http://historynewsnetwork.org/blog/153631
Most Lebanese, including the younger generations, have repetitively heard the official story of the “liberation of the south by Hezbollah” in May 2000, a “coup” that prompted the Lebanon-based Khomeinist organization to seize power across the land and throughout the country’s institutions.
he benchmark of May 2000 provided Hezbollah with the foundation from which to take the ultimate leap to dominate Lebanon and, despite the brief Cedars Revolution of 2005, to intervene in Syria starting in 2011. Lebanon’s public, overwhelmed by significant events since 2000, particularly by the current geopolitical menace across the border with Syria, has never been given the opportunity to truly understand what took place just before May 2000, which could have led the country to another path, similar to the path that led to UNSCR 1559 in 2004.
Instead, Lebanon’s citizens are made to watch the lionization of Hassan Nasrallah’s “liberation war” of south Lebanon though reality was not that bright and while underneath the public discourse dramatic moves and sad choices were made by the opposition to Hezbollah, choices that finally allowed the Hezbollah’s empowerment.
So far, as for UNSCR 1559, no accurate accounts have been made regarding what led to the fall of the “security belt,” handing it over to Hezbollah. Perhaps historians will at some point provide readers with early information about the saga, but my memoirs will undoubtedly include some of the hidden facts. What follows will reveal just a few pieces of what lies beneath, appropriate for this 15th commemoration of the May 2000 events in south Lebanon.
While it is widely known that the war in south Lebanon, stretching from 1984 to 2000, was a result of the botched Israeli invasion of Lebanon and the previous confrontation raging between the forces of East Beirut’s free areas and a vast coalition made of Assad occupation forces (including the PLO, “National Movement,” and the pro-Iranian militia known as Hezbollah), this equation was the result of the 15 year war that started in 1975. At the end of 1990, a new reality emerged as 90% of the country was under Syrian-Iranian domination and the 10% in the far south was under a force controlled by Israel.
The so-called security zone defended by the SLA was confronted by mostly Hezbollah and allies militias to its north. It is important to note that between 1985 and 1999, not an inch of land was gained by Syro-Iranian backed Hezbollah or lost by the Israeli-backed SLA. No “liberation” in either direction took place for 14 years. Hezbollah waged strikes and suicide attacks against the SLA for a decade and a half. Facts tells us that nothing happened. The SLA spoke of liberation of the north, but facts also tell us that nothing happened there either. The status quo was too powerful to shake.
In 1999, the district of Jezzine (northern part of the southern security zone under the SLA) suddenly falls, Hezbollah enters as a liberator. Rallies are organized, and the Arab world elevates Hezbollah to the Salah el Dine of the 20th century. There were no battles. There was just an “Israeli order to the SLA to pull back and to remit Jezzine to the Lebanese Syrian-controlled Government,” which sent a few “post-1990″ Lebanese Army units to the mostly Christian district of Jezzine, but the strategic dominance was granted to Hezbollah.
The Lebanese public was not given a chance to understand what happened seemingly overnight after 14 years of status quo. There was no “liberation.” It was a regional and international deal, involving the Clinton administration, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria. In future works, more light will be shed on said deal, which in fact was, more accurately, two deals. Obviously, Hafez Assad outmaneuvered Israel and Washington at the same time and added Jezzine to his panoply. And Hezbollah obtained the feather in its cap.
In 2000, a similar but more dramatic scenario took place across the “Security Zone,” from Naqura to Khiam. Overnight, an Israeli order was issued by the Ehud Barak government to its forces to pull out and dismantle the SLA, sending the population of the “Belt” into Israel, if they decide to go.
Were there battles? None, except a couple of engagements launched by Hezbollah against SLA positions a week before and which were decisively lost by the pro-Iranian Jihadists.
As more than seven thousands civilians crossed the border in fear for their lives, Hezbollah militias conquered, not liberated, the border areas. There were no military confrontations, but there were victory parades by pro-Iranian militias and Syrian-dominated Lebanese government officials briefly visited the SLA evacuated villages in the area. By the evening of May 25, 2000, Hafez Assad had insured full control of Lebanon from the edges of the Galilee to the Nahr al Kabir in the North. These were the facts, and now come the questions:
Why did Israel surrender the “security zone” in south Lebanon to the Syrian-dominated government of Beirut and eventually to the Iranian-backed militia?
There are answers to this question, but they won’t come until a new reading of the history of the Lebanese War is made available. The answers will surprise many, but not all, of the readers. Another question arises as well: Was there an alternative to an Israeli withdrawal and a Hezbollah takeover? The answer is yes, but it is almost totally unknown to the Lebanese public. Following are few pieces of it.
As of 1996, a plan submitted to the United Nations by Lebanese civilian committees in south Lebanon and backed by Lebanese Diaspora groups called for an Israeli withdrawal from the security zone, including Jezzine and Marjeyun, and for putting the 120,000 people from all communities (Christians, Shia, Sunni and Druse) living in that area under a direct UNIFIL command under a Chapter 7 Resolution, to be issued before any Israeli withdrawal. The project resembled the initiative that became UNSCR 1559 eight years later, which was also initiated by emigres groups overseas. The group in charge of the initiative for south Lebanon toured the UN and the U.S. Congress for support. Israel was suspicious of it, Iran and Syria were fighting it with rage, the Hariri government opposed it, and the anti-Syrian opposition dodged it.
Imagine an Israeli withdrawal without a Hezbollah conquest, with local Lebanese police stations in charge of security and a stronger UNIFIL protecting the area. Then imagine a Cedars Revolution followed by a Syrian withdrawal with a south free from Hezbollah. Use your imagination and you would understand that the alternative to the May 2000 Hezbollah so-called liberation would have been an Israeli pullout, a Lebanese liberation of their own soil, growing into a Syrian pullout, followed by a gradual disarming of Hezbollah. Today, in 2015, Lebanon would have been celebrating the tenth anniversary of a country free from Syrian occupation and an armed Hezbollah with a fully independent Lebanese Army.
But the tougher question: What was the position of the anti-Syrian occupation politicians, particularly the Christians among them, when they were approached regarding support for the internationalization of the south? Shockingly, the answer was a resounding no to such a pre-1559 resolution. More details will be revealed in time, but the politicians argued that “if Israel can be made to pull out, it would put ‘moral’ pressure on Hezbollah to disarm.” This reckless logic led to the loss of a Lebanese opposition backing of such an initiative, a UN disinterest, an American shifting of policies, an Israeli regressive attitude, a Syrian-Iranian victory, and Hezbollah reaching the zenith of power.
Liberating a piece of Lebanon in 2000, leading to a final liberation of Lebanon in 2005, was possible. This possibility, however, was crushed by the poor vision of Christian-Lebanese politicians and by a shrewd pro-Iranian camp. There are dozens of questions and a slew of counter arguments to this assertion, but we will leave the debate for my memoirs and for historians to research. On this May anniversary of the fall of the “belt,” it was important to let the public know that there is an alternative history to what they know.
**Dr Walid Phares is the author of The Lost Spring and a professor of Middle East Studies. He was the author of the NGOs draft memo introducing UNSCR 1559 in 2004

One year on, Lebanon is still without a president
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat
Tuesday, 26 May, 2015
A full year has passed since Lebanon’s presidency became vacant. Failure to elect a president does not happen in a country that claims to be sovereign and independent. It is also unknown in a system described by its defenders as “democratic”, and within a political entity whose factional leaders try to outbid each other to prove how much they care, to the extent of brandishing and using arms.
Still, a full year has just passed in Lebanon with it not only devoid of a head-of-state, but also without wise heads to realize the gravity of the situation.
I recall hearing a true story in my mountain homeland in Lebanon about a religious sheikh who was blessed with a clever son. The sheikh was keen for his son to get the high quality education his promise deserved, despite limited financial resources. He eventually managed this by selling the agricultural lands he had inherited from his father and grandfather.
His venture was met by astonishment by his relatives and friends; but the sheikh had one answer for his critics: “If you lose your house you would not bother about the cupboards; if my son proves to be worthy of the sacrifice he will buy back all that I am selling, and if he doesn’t he would sell them anyway!”
Fortunately for the sheikh, his high expectations proved to be well-placed. His son graduated as medical doctor, thrived professionally and socially, and bought back all the lands that were sold to secure him his future.
The saying “If you lose your house you would not bother about the cupboards” tragically applies to Lebanon. Those who find it strange that the country has completed a full year without an elected president need only to remember that Lebanon is an “occupied” country anyway. In occupied countries there is no need for a president, a prime minister, a government, a parliament or an army; after all, the “forces of occupation” are actually running the show. Those who listened in the past few days to the de facto “governors-occupiers” couldn’t have failed to notice that they behave as if there is no state and no state institutions.
Hezbollah’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, practically declared a state of “general mobilization” after his cross-border wars fought with scant regard to the existence of a government in which his party is represented. In the same atmosphere of “general mobilization”, Nasrallah’s deputy sheikh Naim Qasim has been preparing the public for an attack on the Sunni Lebanese border town Arsal, aimed at driving out its population as well as the Syrian refugees it is sheltering.
“There is an area of 400 Km2 in Arsal heights currently occupied by terrorist takfirists … Hezbollah is determined to confront them and liberate the territory, and will continue to target them; but unfortunately there are those who cover them politically and accept their occupation” Qasim said, adding “some politicians in Lebanon, as well as their followers, would prefer the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and Al-Nusra Front enter additional Lebanese villages and occupy them rather than to give Hezbollah credit for liberating the lands whose occupation is damaging even to them … but for some to tell us ‘stay away, the state’s armed forces should perform its duty’ we say you have the Ramadi example in Iraq”
The message is clear then, but if it weren’t, here are more eloquent and concise samples of this type of speech:
Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, the party’s Judicial Committee Head told a party audience “Hezbollah never involved nor would it involve the Lebanese army in any battle as some claim”. He continued “just the opposite is true, we are behind it and with it, but when the state and government relinquish their responsibilities in safeguarding the security of our people, we find ourselves obliged to confront the danger for the sake of our folks and areas”.
Another high ranking party official, Mahmoud Qemati, conveyed the same message at a rally in a mixed-denomination district in northern Lebanon, saying “the takfirists terrorists will never be allowed a free hand in Lebanon”.
Not to be outdone, a Hezbollah parliament member, Dr Ali Fayyadh, reassured partisans at a gathering that “the Resistance is capable of fighting two wars simultaneously against the Israeli enemy and takfirist terrorism … the aim of this terrorism is to partition the country, weaken and debilitate the nation in order to throw it in the furnace of terrorist debacles and endless sectarian bloodshed.”
All the above statements lead one to realize that Hezbollah already possesses a decisive well-defined strategy that needs no “green light” from anyone, including the “state”; but in case some Lebanese oppose it, those will be the ones accused of sectarianism, extremism, takfirism and terrorism… then, of inciting civil strife and forcing partition!
Such a position would have surprised the Lebanese and Arabs four or five years ago, but not now. Now it is to be expected, for the following reasons:
1. It has become clear, albeit too late perhaps, that Hezbollah is not an independent Lebanese party, but rather a religious and sectarian body strategically linked to the religious-security state apparatus that governs Iran; and thus, it is part and parcel of Iran’s geo-political project in the Arab East.
2. This project would not have reached this stage had it not been for the fact that the American administration has only now decided who are its “friends and allies” in the region.
3. As far as Lebanon is concerned, it would not have been easy for Hezbollah to take over the country and its state institutions had it not succeeded in securing an opportunist and suicidal Christian “cover”, which has neither read nor learned from history.
This Christian cover has played a major role in uncovering the true nature and real role of Hezbollah. At different junctures there were new descriptions and justifications as to why such a cover was given. Be they as they may, the Christian puppets who had deluded themselves about their ability to use Hezbollah in their petty and spiteful battles eventually lost the initiative.
Today, Lebanon’s Christians bear the responsibility for the failure to elect a (Christian) president. This failure also confirms the collapse of the mentality that has long misguided the “political Christianity” dinosaurs; leading them to believe in the endless viability of “the alliance of minorities”. These dinosaurs never understood and will never understand that even if they manage to win one, two, or three battles, they will lose the war. What is taking place at the moment in the north and south of Syria is proof of the failed bet of the minorities on the victory of disintegrating the Syrian regime; which has only been kept alive so far by Iran’s sectarian militia’s and Barack Obama’s preposterous Middle East policy.

One year on, Lebanon is still without a president
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq AlAwsat
Tuesday, 26 May, 2015
A full year has passed since Lebanon’s presidency became vacant. Failure to elect a president does not happen in a country that claims to be sovereign and independent. It is also unknown in a system described by its defenders as “democratic”, and within a political entity whose factional leaders try to outbid each other to prove how much they care, to the extent of brandishing and using arms.
Still, a full year has just passed in Lebanon with it not only devoid of a head-of-state, but also without wise heads to realize the gravity of the situation.
I recall hearing a true story in my mountain homeland in Lebanon about a religious sheikh who was blessed with a clever son. The sheikh was keen for his son to get the high quality education his promise deserved, despite limited financial resources. He eventually managed this by selling the agricultural lands he had inherited from his father and grandfather.
His venture was met by astonishment by his relatives and friends; but the sheikh had one answer for his critics: “If you lose your house you would not bother about the cupboards; if my son proves to be worthy of the sacrifice he will buy back all that I am selling, and if he doesn’t he would sell them anyway!”
Fortunately for the sheikh, his high expectations proved to be well-placed. His son graduated as medical doctor, thrived professionally and socially, and bought back all the lands that were sold to secure him his future.
The saying “If you lose your house you would not bother about the cupboards” tragically applies to Lebanon. Those who find it strange that the country has completed a full year without an elected president need only to remember that Lebanon is an “occupied” country anyway.
In occupied countries there is no need for a president, a prime minister, a government, a parliament or an army; after all, the “forces of occupation” are actually running the show. Those who listened in the past few days to the de facto “governors-occupiers” couldn’t have failed to notice that they behave as if there is no state and no state institutions.
Hezbollah’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah, practically declared a state of “general mobilization” after his cross-border wars fought with scant regard to the existence of a government in which his party is represented. In the same atmosphere of “general mobilization”, Nasrallah’s deputy sheikh Naim Qasim has been preparing the public for an attack on the Sunni Lebanese border town Arsal, aimed at driving out its population as well as the Syrian refugees it is sheltering.
“There is an area of 400 Km2 in Arsal heights currently occupied by terrorist takfirists … Hezbollah is determined to confront them and liberate the territory, and will continue to target them; but unfortunately there are those who cover them politically and accept their occupation” Qasim said, adding “some politicians in Lebanon, as well as their followers, would prefer the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and Al-Nusra Front enter additional Lebanese villages and occupy them rather than to give Hezbollah credit for liberating the lands whose occupation is damaging even to them … but for some to tell us ‘stay away, the state’s armed forces should perform its duty’ we say you have the Ramadi example in Iraq”
The message is clear then, but if it weren’t, here are more eloquent and concise samples of this type of speech:
Sheikh Mohammad Yazbek, the party’s Judicial Committee Head told a party audience “Hezbollah never involved nor would it involve the Lebanese army in any battle as some claim”. He continued “just the opposite is true, we are behind it and with it, but when the state and government relinquish their responsibilities in safeguarding the security of our people, we find ourselves obliged to confront the danger for the sake of our folks and areas”.
Another high ranking party official, Mahmoud Qemati, conveyed the same message at a rally in a mixed-denomination district in northern Lebanon, saying “the takfirists terrorists will never be allowed a free hand in Lebanon”.
Not to be outdone, a Hezbollah parliament member, Dr Ali Fayyadh, reassured partisans at a gathering that “the Resistance is capable of fighting two wars simultaneously against the Israeli enemy and takfirist terrorism … the aim of this terrorism is to partition the country, weaken and debilitate the nation in order to throw it in the furnace of terrorist debacles and endless sectarian bloodshed.”
All the above statements lead one to realize that Hezbollah already possesses a decisive well-defined strategy that needs no “green light” from anyone, including the “state”; but in case some Lebanese oppose it, those will be the ones accused of sectarianism, extremism, takfirism and terrorism… then, of inciting civil strife and forcing partition!
Such a position would have surprised the Lebanese and Arabs four or five years ago, but not now. Now it is to be expected, for the following reasons:
1. It has become clear, albeit too late perhaps, that Hezbollah is not an independent Lebanese party, but rather a religious and sectarian body strategically linked to the religious-security state apparatus that governs Iran; and thus, it is part and parcel of Iran’s geo-political project in the Arab East.
2. This project would not have reached this stage had it not been for the fact that the American administration has only now decided who are its “friends and allies” in the region.
3. As far as Lebanon is concerned, it would not have been easy for Hezbollah to take over the country and its state institutions had it not succeeded in securing an opportunist and suicidal Christian “cover”, which has neither read nor learned from history.
This Christian cover has played a major role in uncovering the true nature and real role of Hezbollah. At different junctures there were new descriptions and justifications as to why such a cover was given. Be they as they may, the Christian puppets who had deluded themselves about their ability to use Hezbollah in their petty and spiteful battles eventually lost the initiative.
Today, Lebanon’s Christians bear the responsibility for the failure to elect a (Christian) president. This failure also confirms the collapse of the mentality that has long misguided the “political Christianity” dinosaurs; leading them to believe in the endless viability of “the alliance of minorities”. These dinosaurs never understood and will never understand that even if they manage to win one, two, or three battles, they will lose the war. What is taking place at the moment in the north and south of Syria is proof of the failed bet of the minorities on the victory of disintegrating the Syrian regime; which has only been kept alive so far by Iran’s sectarian militia’s and Barack Obama’s preposterous Middle East policy.

Future Bloc attacks Nasrallah over 'arrogant' speech
The Daily Star./May. 26, 2015 /BEIRUT: The Future Bloc Tuesday attacked Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah over his “arrogant” and “authoritarian” speech two days earlier in which he vowed to push on with the Qalamoun offensive and oust jihadis from Lebanon's northeastern outskirts. “The bloc condemns in the strongest terms the arrogant and authoritarian speech by Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah who announced a unilateral decision to engage in a battle in Arsal, stripping the state of its sovereignty,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting. It accused Nasrallah of violating the Constitution and national pacts, and underestimating the readiness of the Lebanese Army to protect the country's borders. In his speech Sunday, Nasrallah renewed a vow he made one week earlier to push jihadis out of the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal should the Lebanese state fail to do so. The Future Bloc also accused Hezbollah of “kidnapping the presidency” by refusing any candidate aside from Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, thus “transforming the democratic system into a failing model of authoritarianism and tyranny.”

Sentence reduction requested for Samaha
The Daily Star/May. 26, 2015/BEIRUT: Former Information Minister Michel Samaha’s attorney Sakhr al-Hashem Tuesday filed an appeal for a sentence reduction for the pro-Damascus Lebanese official convicted of attempting to carry out terrorist attacks. Hashem filed the request with the Military Court of Appeals on the basis that the tribunal revoked Samaha's civilian rights, a judicial source told The Daily Star. The military tribunal has sentenced Samaha to four-and-a-half years in prison for attempting to carry out terrorist attacks and transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon. He was found guilty of forming an armed gang and plotting to assassinate political and religious figures. Hashem has argued that Samaha did not have the criminal intent to carry out terrorist plots in Lebanon. He also claimed that Samaha was merely “a delivery boy” whose mission was to transport explosives from the office of Syrian National Security Bureau chief, Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, and hand them over to police informant Milad Kfoury. Last month, Samaha confessed that he had transported explosives into Lebanon with the aim of targeting Lebanese politicians and religious figures, claiming that he was lured to do so by Kfouri.

Lebanon 'reliable' trade partner, Salam tells Chinese businessmen
The Daily Star/ May. 26, 2015/BEIRUT: Lebanon is keen on enhancing trade relations with China, Prime Minister Tammam Salam told the Arab-Chinese Businessmen Conference Tuesday, vowing that Beirut would be a "reliable" partner. “China has become Lebanon’s top trading partner over the last two years,” Salam told the conference, held at the Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut. “We expect this partnership to expand and strengthen given the new prospects for cooperation.”“Our pleasure has been doubled since it coincided with the 60th anniversary of the signing of the first trade deal between Lebanon and China,” he told the businessmen. "We are sure that wisdom will prevail over extremism and fighting factors, and that moderation and consensus and harmony will prevail over... aggression and violence," he added. "This is the only rational way to achieve the interests of all..."Salam said Lebanon has managed to maintain an acceptable growth rate despite the difficult political phase the country is going through. “This fact, which confirms our ability to work in the most difficult circumstances, makes Lebanon a reliable partner,” he added. He said Lebanon also plans to become an active member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Salam also lamented the fact that Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014 and that Parliament won’t be able to legislate after the normal cycle ends in four days.

Six Hezbollah fighters, 30 militants killed in Qalamoun clash: source
The Daily Star/May. 26, 2015/BEIRUT, Lebanon: A security source revealed Tuesday that six Hezbollah fighters and around 30 jihadis were killed in clashes that erupted in the Qalamoun border region one day earlier. Monday's clashes ended with Hezbollah fighters seizing two new hilltops in Qalamoun, three weeks into an offensive to oust jihadis from the rugged border region, according to Hezbollah's Al-Manar TV. The Al-Manar report said Hezbollah fighters captured al-Qubaa and al-Naffar hills, northeast of the outskirts of Lebanon's Nahleh, without reporting casualties. A security source told The Daily Star that the six Hezbollah fighters were killed Monday trying to take a third hill, al-Tallajeh, but were targeted by snipers. Monday's deaths bring to at least 22 the number of Hezbollah fighters killed since the offensive got underway on May 4. The number of militant casualties since the start of the offensive is unclear, but is likely to be in the hundreds. On Tuesday, Al-Manar reported that Hezbollah and the Syrian army now controlled most of the outskirts of the Syrian town of Flita, and that they could target by firepower all major crossings between Lebanese and Syrian hills. Hezbollah and the Syrian army have destroyed dozens of jihadi bases and driven the Nusra-led militants north toward the outskirts of Lebanon's northeastern town of Arsal, where Nusra and ISIS have taken foothold. But tensions remain between the rival jihadis. A separate security source Tuesday said Syrian national Husam Mrad, who is reportedly a member of ISIS, was kidnapped late Monday from a Syrian refugee camp in Arsal and taken to the town’s outskirts. Mrad was abducted hours after ISIS kidnapped Syrian national Ahmad Saifeddine, a Nusra militant.Tensions between the jihadi rivals have soared in recent weeks, with the Nusra-led Army of Conquest declaring earlier this month that it would "eradicate ISIS" from Qalamoun for harassing and attacking other Syrian rebel groups.

Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai  welcomes March 14 efforts to end presidential vacuum
The Daily Star/May. 26, 2015
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai offered his support Tuesday to efforts announced by March 14 politicians to reduce the quorum required to hold a presidential election session in Parliament from two-thirds to 50 percent plus one.
The move seeks to undermine a boycott of the presidential election by March 8 lawmakers, whose year-long protest has seen more than 20 election sessions fail to reach quorum.
A delegation of March 14 figures visited Rai to launch the effort Tuesday, a day after Lebanon marked one year without a head of state.
“The meeting highlighted the importance of respecting the Constitution in terms of presidential elections and rejecting vacuum because it puts Lebanon and Christians at risk,” Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb said after the meeting in Bkirki, the seat of the Maronite Church.
Harb said a decision was made at the meeting to form a committee that would discuss with Speaker Nabih Berri the possibility of changing the quorum rules.
Currently, a 50 percent plus one vote is required to elect a president in Parliament in the second round of voting, but two-thirds of the lawmakers are required to attend the election session. That hasn't happened since the first round of voting in April 2014 when no candidate captured the two-thirds vote they needed to win the election for that round.
The committee would include Lebanese Forces MP Georges Adwan, Kataeb MP Nadim Gemayel, Future Movement MP Atef Majdalani and Harb himself.
Harb said the attendees agreed on a "constitutional interpretation" stating that the required quorum for a presidential vote was absolute majority because the electoral round was over.
After Harb's comments, Rai’s media office released a statement clarifying that he did not suggest the move was constitutional, but rather that he encouraged the coalition to bring the option up for discussion with Berri.
Harb also hoped Rai would call all lawmakers for a meeting in Bkirki to discuss the matter.
Lebanon has been without president since May 25, 2014 when former Michel Sleiman left office at the end of his six-year term.
Lawmakers have since failed to vote on a president despite 23 parliamentary election sessions.
Majdalani spoke after Harb, saying the Future Bloc supports “resorting to the Constitution to exit the crisis and elect a president for all Lebanese."
“We came to say that it is very strange to see solutions to the vacuum from those causing it,” he said, referring to Free Patriotic Movement chief Michel Aoun, who belongs to the March 8 coalition and proposed earlier this month a solution to end the vacuum.
“Regardless of our stance on the proposals, shouldn’t we be electing a president, rather than suggesting ideas?" Majdalani added.
Aoun's recent proposal to end the presidential vacuum included a modification to the Constitution that would allow the Lebanese public to vote directly for president in two rounds of voting, first by Christians, and then by all Lebanese. The proposal was met with harsh criticism by March 14 officials.
But Rai last week said he welcomed Aoun's initiative, and considered it "serious."

Men who masturbate ‘will find their hands pregnant,’ says Turkish preacher
By Staff writer | Al Arabiya News/Tuesday, 26 May 2015
A Turkish Islamic preacher claimed on live television that men who masturbate will find their hands pregnant and will be forced to raise their hands’ offspring in the afterlife, Hurriyet Daily News reported on Sunday. Mucahid Cihad Han reportedly made the remark when a man confessed to him that despite being married he still masturbates. At first the preacher was puzzled by the question, and the man had to repeat himself several times before the preacher finally warned him that he should learn to “resist Satan’s temptations.” The man shared that he “kept masturbating, although he was married, and even during the Umrah,” a pilgrimage to Makkah, and Han told him that “one hadith states that those who have sexual intercourse with their hands will find their hands pregnant in the afterlife, complaining against them to God over its rights.”“If our viewer was single, I could recommend he marry, but what can I say now?” Han said on the Turkish TV station 2000 TV. The preacher claimed that the act of masturbation is “haram,” or forbidden by Islam, but the topic is controversial as there are varying opinions. Several interpretations allow the act in some conditions as it can be used to stop a man from an adulterous affair.
 

Iran's mixed messages - Rouhani talks peace, while military flexes muscles
By JPOST.COM STAFF/05/26/2015/The Iranian regime is sending mixed signals these days. While its president, Hassan Rouhani, speaks of moderation, its military, led by the high command of the Revolutionary Guards, continues with its saber-rattling.In a rally near Tehran on Tuesday, Rouhani spoke of pursuing “the path of peace” and “constructive interaction with the world.”“The absolute majority of the Iranian nation supports the path of peace, reconciliation and the course of constructive interaction with the world,” Rouhani said. The president called for “unity, unanimity and harmony inside [the country] and resistance against enemy plots to create insecurity in the region.” While Rouhani spoke of harmony and understanding, the head of Iran’s navy was singing a different tune - touting plans to build a fleet of speedboats that will bolster the Islamic Republic’s maritime force. "Based on the fifth five-year (development) plan, we should materialize our objective of mass-producing military speedboats with the speed of 80 knots per hour,” Navy Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi told an assembled crowd in Tehran. “This is a formidable speed in the world's navies." "Therefore, we should try to mass-produce speedboats that can traverse at the speed of 80 knots (per hour) and are equipped with missiles with a range of 100km; the vessels no one can catch," he added.

Germany’s “Demagogue of Armed Jihad”
by Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute
May 26, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5822/germany-jihad-denis-cuspert
“We want your blood. It tastes so wonderful.” — Denis Cuspert, German rapper-turned-jihadist.
Such measures, however, are not likely to deter Cuspert from producing more propaganda videos. They arguably pose more of a threat to Germany than his physical presence there.
“In Germany, sleeper cells lie in wait… Even while you’re in Europe, do your jihad. Allah is going to reward you. Paradise is waiting.” — Denis Cuspert.
A German rapper-turned-jihadist has called on his followers to carry out terrorist attacks in Germany.
In a high-quality video released by the Islamic State in April, Denis Cuspert also warns that terrorist sleeper cells have infiltrated Germany and are ready for activation.
German authorities say they are taking the threats seriously: Cuspert — who has been likened to Nazi Minister for Propaganda Joseph Goebbels — has become the Islamic State’s chief propagandist in the German language and is unusually capable of inspiring disillusioned young Germans to become jihadists.
Cuspert’s transformation from rapper to jihadist is documented in a 25-page analysis produced by the German intelligence service, which has described him as “quite simply the most interesting propagandist of the Salafist movement in the German-speaking realm.”
Cuspert, 39, was born in Berlin to a German mother and a Ghanaian father. The father abandoned the family while Cuspert was still a baby and his mother remarried an African-American military officer, with whom Cuspert had a deeply troubled relationship.
Perhaps in search of an identity, Cuspert in 1995 embarked on a rapping career in which he sought to imitate American hip-hop artists. Also known by his stage name, Deso Dogg, he eventually ended up in prison for a variety of offenses, including drug-related crimes. Over the ensuing years, he released four albums, but after narrowly surviving a car accident in October 2008, he began to take an interest in Salafist Islam.
In 2010, Cuspert gave up his rap career and formally embraced Islam. He dropped his stage name in favor of the Islamic name Abou Maleeq and began singing Islamic battle hymns known as nasheeds, in which he displayed an obsession with martyrdom.
Cuspert’s “pop jihad” nasheeds drew attention after Arid Uka, a Muslim Kosovo Albanian from Frankfurt, murdered two U.S. airmen and wounded two others at Frankfurt Airport in March 2011. In court, Uka testified that just before carrying out the attack, he was listening to a nasheed calling for attacks against non-Muslims on his iPod. He said he had also been influenced by a video on Cuspert’s Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Cuspert became involved with Mohamed Mahmoud, an Austrian-born Islamist who founded Millatu Ibrahim, a Salafist organization, in the Germany city of Solingen in 2011. The group called on German Muslims to reject German law and follow Islamic Sharia law instead.
The German government banned Millatu Ibrahim in May 2012, and Mahmoud, also known as Abu Usama Al-Gharib, fled to Egypt to reestablish the group there. “I am going to return to Germany in only one condition, as a conqueror to introduce Sharia in Germany,” Mahmoud said at the time.
In a three-minute video, a German Salafist linked to Mahmoud calling himself Abu Azzam vowed revenge and called for the assassination of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He warned:
“Our troops are already there [in Germany], you will bleed, your heads will roll … Oh Allah, give the German people what they deserve!
“Looking back at the Arab spring, we are looking forward to a European summer. We want to see Obama and Merkel dead.”
Mahmoud eventually persuaded more than a dozen German Salafists to join him in Egypt at a time when the Muslim Brotherhood was ascendant there. Among them was Cuspert, who slipped out of Germany in June 2012 even though he was being surveilled by German intelligence.
After arriving in Egypt, Cuspert obtained firearms training at militant camp in Mersa Matruh, situated about 200 km east of the Libyan border. He then travelled to Libya to train with Islamic extremists before becoming a jihadist in Syria in early 2013.
In August 2013, Cuspert appeared in a four-minute video in which he expressed his desire to die as a suicide bomber, presumably in Germany. He can be heard rapping the lyrics:
“I wish for my death and cannot wait for it, armed with bombs and grenades;
Inside the barracks of the crusaders, pressing the button, al-Jannah [paradise], al-Jannah;
I detonate the bomb in the crowd, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
Right in the center of town or in the subway, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
With a smile directly to my Creator, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah;
Remember your obligations and fear Allah, pressing the button, al-Jannah, al-Jannah.”
Cuspert, who now uses the alias Abu Talha Al-Almani (Abu Talha the German), is believed to have formally joined the Islamic State sometime in April 2014. He was also rumored to have been killed in Syria that same month, but in November 2014, he appeared in an Islamic State video. He was holding a severed head and explaining in German that the victims had fought against the Islamic State and “that is why they received the death penalty.”
In the latest video, dated April 2015, Cuspert can be heard rapping the following lyrics in German:
“To the enemies of Allah. Where are your troops? We can no longer wait. O Allah, destroy them! Grant us victory over them. Take from us. Make us honorable. Take from our blood. Fisabilillah [One who fights for the cause of Allah].
“Now listen, you dogs of hell. The words have been written. The ink has dried. The judgment has been made. Your end approaches.
“Mutilated soldiers are coming back to your homeland close to desperation. Eyes are being lost. Bodies without legs. We want your blood. It tastes so wonderful.
“In France, it has been proven by deeds. In Germany, sleeper cells lie in wait. The brothers are operating. Terrorizing the Kafir [nonbeliever].
“We have smelled blood. The revenge for the messenger. For our sisters. For our noble brothers. And all the martyrs.
“A truck filled with explosives. Loving farewell. Don’t be sad my mother. Your son is rushing to Allah.
“Allah has called you. There is no way out. Fill your car with gas. My brother, hurry up! Your neighbor is a Kafir. Slandering the messenger. Take a big knife and give him what he rightly deserves!
“Even while you’re in Europe, do your jihad. Allah is going to reward you. Finish the dirty one. Paradise is waiting. Do it with sincerity.
“We have only one life. And it is Allah who gave it to us. Time is running out. So brother, struggle hard. Deeds make the difference. The earth is shaking. Khilafah [Caliphate], what a blessing. A favor from Allah.
“They all die for one cause. You either die or gain victory. There is no god but Allah.”
German authorities are now looking for ways to hinder Cuspert’s potential return to Europe. On February 8, Die Welt newspaper revealed that German public prosecutors were investigating 83 German jihadists, including Cuspert, for war crimes, for atrocities committed in the name of the Islamic State. If convicted, Cuspert, upon returning to Germany, could face life in prison.
On February 9, the U.S. State Department said that it had designated Cuspert a “global terrorist,” and on March 11, Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs added Cuspert to a list of individuals off-limits to the country’s banks, due to alleged ties to terrorist activities.
Such measures, however, are not likely to deter Cuspert from producing more propaganda videos. They arguably pose more of a threat to Germany than his physical presence there.
The German intelligence service sums it up this way:
“As a rapper and as a jihadist, Cuspert represents authenticity. This ‘battlefield credibility’ contributes to his popularity within the international jihadi-Salafi scene. … Cuspert’s ostentatious but authentic appearance in his propaganda videos, together with the attractiveness of a currently victorious Islamic State, has considerable mobilizing power for radicalized individuals in Germany who want to travel to Syria. His demagogic propaganda lures young people with the ostensible promise of paradise but leads them to ruin.
“Jihadi-Salafist propaganda of the kind produced by Cuspert is freely accessible on the Internet and carries the risk that people will become radicalized and respond not only to the call to travel to fight abroad, but also to support terrorist groups such as the Islamic State here in Germany. As a consequence, the Salafist scene is poised to become increasingly violent while also growing in numbers.”
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
Follow Soeren Kern on Twitter and Facebook

No army in Mid East is challenging ISIS. Iran regroups to defend S. Iraqi Shiites, Assad to save Damascus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis May 25, 2015
Hassan Nasrallah Saturday, May 23, called his Lebanese Shiite Hizballah movement to the flag, because “we are faced with an existential crisis” from the rising belligerence of the Islamist State of Iraq and the Levant. His deputy, Sheik Naim Qssem, sounded even more desperate: “The Middle East is at the risk of partition” in a war with no end in sight, he said. “Solutions for Syria are suspended. We must now see what happens in Iraq.” The price Iran’s Lebanese proxy has paid for fighting alongside Bashar Assad’s army for four years is cruel: some 1,000 dead and many times that number of wounded. Its leaders now understood that their sacrifice was in vain. ISIS has brought the Syrian civil war to a new dead end. This week, a 15-year old boy was eulogized by Hizballah’s leaders for performing his “jihadist duty” in Syria.
Clearly,for their last throw in Syria, the group, having run out of adult combatants, is calling up young boys to reinforce the 7,000 fighting there. The Syrian president Bashar Assad is in no better shape. He too has run dangerously short of fresh fighting manpower. Even his own Alawite community has let him down. Scarcely one-tenth of the 1.8 million Alawites have remained in Syria. Their birthrate is low, and those who stayed behind are hiding their young sons to keep them from being sent to the front lines. Assad also failed to enlist the Syrian Druze minority to fight for his regime, just as Hizballah’s Nasrallah was rebuffed when he sought to mobilize the Lebanese army to their cause. This has left Hizballah and the Syrian ruler alone in the battlefield with dwindling strength against two rival foes: ISIS and the radical Syrian opposition coalition calling itself Jaish al-Fatah – the Army of Conquest - which is spearheaded by Al Qaeda’s Nusra Front and backed to topple Assad by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
Nasrallah tried to paint a brave picture of full mobilization to expand the war to all parts of Syria. However, Sunday, May 24, a key adviser to Assad admitted that his regime and its allies were being forced to regroup.  Their forces were withdrawing from the effort to shift the Islamists from the land they have conquered – about three-quarters of Syrian territory - and concentrating on defending the cities, Damascus, Homs and Latakia, home to the bulk of the population, as well as the strategic Damascus highway to the coast and Beirut. Hizballah needed to build up the Lebanese border againest hostile access.
But Syrian cities, the Lebanese border and the highway are still under threat – from Syrian rebel forces. The Iraqi army, for its part, has been virtually wiped out, along with the many billions of dollars the US spent on training and weapons. There is no longer any military force in Iraq, whether Sunni or Shiite, able to take on ISIS and loosen its grip on the central and western regions. The Kurdish peshmerga army, to whom President Barack refused to provide armaments for combating the Islamists, has run out of steam. An new offensive would expose the two main towns of the semi-autonomous Kurdish Republic – the capital Irbil and the oil city of Kirkuk – to the depredations of the Islamist belligerents. A quick scan of Shiite resources reveals that in the space between the Jordan River and the Euphrates and Tigris, Iran commands the only force still intact in Iraq - namely, the Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani Shiite militias, who are trained and armed by the Revolutionary Guards.
This last remaining fighting force faces its acid test in the battle ongoing to recover Baiji, Iraq’s main oil refinery town. For the first time, Iranian troops are fighting in Iraq, not just their surrogates, but in the Baiji campaign they have made little headway in three weeks of combat. All they have managed to do is break through to the 100 Iraqi troops stranded in the town, but ISIS fighting strength is still not dislodged from the refinery. The Obama administration can no longer pretend that the pro-Iranian Shiite militias are the panacea for the ISIS peril. Like Assad, Tehran too is being forced to regroup. It is abandoning the effort to uproot the Islamists from central and western Iraq and mustering all its Shiite military assets, such as the Badr Brigade, to defend the Shiite south - the shrine towns of Najef and Karbala, Babil (ancient Babylon) and Qadisiya – as well as planting an obstacle in the path of the Islamists to Iraq’s biggest oil fields and only port of Basra.
The Shiite militias flown in by Tehran from Pakistan and Afghanistan have demonstrated in Syria and Iraq alike that they are neither capable nor willing to jump into any battlefields. The upshot of this cursory scan is that not a single competent army capable of launching all-out war on ISIS is to be found in the Middle East heartland – in the space between the 1,000km long Jordan and the Euphrates and Tigris to the east, or between Ramadi and the Saudi capital of Riyadh to the south. By Sunday, May 24, this perception had seeped through to the West. US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, remarked: “What apparently happened was that the Iraqi forces just showed no will to fight.” The former British army chief Lord Dannatt was more down to earth. Since the coalition air force campaign had failed to stop ISIS’s advance, he said “it was time to think the previously unthinkable” and send 5,000 ground troops to fight the Islamists in Syria and Iraq.
The next day, Monday, Tehran pointed the finger of blame for the latest debacles in Iraq at Washington. Al Qods Brigades chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani was quoted by the English language Revolutionary Guards mouthpiece Javan as commenting: “The US didn’t do a damn thing to stop the extremists’ advance on Ramadi.”

Turkey: Not-Quite Rule of Law
by Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute
May 25, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5767/turkey-rule-of-law
The testimonies of the prosecutors make for interesting reading, especially for anyone who might be thinking that Turkey is part of the Western coalition fighting the Islamic State.
Turkey and its NATO allies have totally different threat perceptions and goals in Syria’s war.
Ali Babacan, a world-renowned economist and Turkey’s mild-mannered Deputy Prime Minister, put it realistically in a recent speech: “Public trust in the justice system is in steady decline.”How could it not be? Turkey has finally become a country where prosecutors and law enforcement authorities get indicted rather than indict suspects. The latest episode unveils how Turkey’s Islamist government (not-so-) secretly supported the radical Islamists in Syria.On Jan. 19, 2014, the Turkish gendarmerie command stopped and searched three trucks in southern Turkey, heading for Syria. Accompanying the trucks were Turkish intelligence officers, and the trucks had a bizarre cargo: In the first container, 25-30 missiles or rockets and 10-15 crates loaded with ammunition; in the second, 20-25 missiles or rockets, 20-25 crates of mortar rounds and anti-aircraft ammunition in five or six sacks. The crates had markings in the Cyrillic (Russian) alphabet.After a brawl, a prosecutor arrested the men and seized the cargo. The search was videotaped by the law enforcement officers.The local governor rushed to the scene and declared that the trucks were moving upon orders from then Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (now President). The trucks were handed back to the Turkish intelligence agency, MIT.One of the drivers testified that the cargo had been loaded onto the trucks from a foreign airplane at Ankara’s Esenboga Airport and that “we carried similar loads several times before.” Half a year later, a military prosecutor took charge of the legal proceedings and concluded that “this incident was a military affair.” Then came a total media blackout on the mysterious event. Finally, all law enforcement officers who searched the trucks, including the gendarmerie units, were put on trial on charges of “international espionage.”The Turkish government insisted that the weapons were being transported to help Iraqi Turkmen, an ethnic Turkish minority in northern Iraq. But the Turkmen deny receiving any military shipments from Turkey and, on the contrary, claimed that Turkey abandoned them in favor of the Islamic State (IS). Everyone knew who the real recipient of Turkish arms supplies was: the Islamic State.In early May 2015, the New York Times reported that tens of thousands of kilograms of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, which could be turned into deadly explosives, are being transported over the border from Turkey into IS-controlled sections of Syria.Indeed, Erdogan’s administration jailed the men who wanted to jail the men for transporting arms shipments to the Islamic State jihadists.A Turkish newspaper, Today’s Zaman, published excerpts from the prosecutors’ testimonies after their arrest. The excerpts make for interesting reading, especially for anyone who might be thinking that Turkey is part of a Western coalition fighting that Islamic State. The punch line is that some officials in Erdogan’s administration had links with IS jihadists and similar organizations in Syria.With the men delivering arms to the jihadists possibly running around freely, looking for new cargoes to deliver to the jihadists, Turkey detained four prosecutors and a gendarmerie colonel on charges of “attempting to topple or incapacitate the Turkish government through the use of force or coercion and exposing information regarding the security and political activities of the state.”The prosecutor who stopped the trucks said in his testimony: “If the trucks were … carrying weapons to Syria, this cannot be described as a state secret. A criminal action cannot be described as a state secret.” Right? Right.Further notes from the testimonies:
Missile warheads were found in one of the trucks there.
A truck was found to have unloaded some ammunition at a border military post … on Oct. 6-26, 2013, the ammunition had been taken across the border [into Syria], that security footage proved this and that the ammunition was taken to a camp of the hardline militant group Ahrar al-Sham.
One of the prosecutors asked: “Does MIT [the Turkish intelligence service] have a duty to transport weapons?”
The investigation revealed that the vehicle escorting the trucks was registered in the name of an al-Qaeda member. The prosecutor questioned how intelligence officials could get on a vehicle belonging to an al-Qaeda member.
The weapons in question were transported in an illegal way.
The testimonies are spectacular documents revealing how Turkey’s “mild” Islamists were — and probably are — “fighting” their more savage ideological kin. Turkey and its NATO allies have totally different threat perceptions and goals in Syria’s civil war. For the Western flank, the Islamic State and twenty or so similar jihadist groups are a major threat to peace in the region, but for Turkey they, are potential military allies to topple Erdogan’s worst regional enemy, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.Turkey, which supports the Muslim Brotherhood, would like a Sunni, Muslim Brotherhood-type of rule in Syria after Assad’s downfall. To that end, Turkey is currently viewing various jihadist groups in Syria as potential political allies to Islamize Syria exactly along those Sunni, Muslim Brotherhood lines.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Grim prospects for Pakistan’s minorities
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya
A couple of days ago there was another attack on the Shiite community in Pakistan – 45 Ismailis have been shot dead in a gun attack on a bus in Karachi, and another 13 were injured. Things brings the number of Shiites killed in Pakistan for their religion to at least 139 since January. And they are not the only minority targeted: every non-Sunni Pakistani, whether Shiite, Ahmadi, Christian or whatever else, can expect to find themselves as random victims to mindless attacks for no other reason than that they profess the “wrong” faith.
The government either is incapable or maybe even uninterested in acknowledging that there is a problem
Nor can these minorities look to the government for protection. When PM Nawaz Sharif was informed about the atrocity this week, he instead opted to continue his lunch with other political leaders where they were discussing the potentially controversial details of the new China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Not quite George Bush choosing to continue reading children’s books when told about the attack on the World Trade Centre, but much more indicative of the PM’s real priorities. And this is not to say that CPEC is not hugely important – indeed, it may be one of the most momentous event in Pakistan’s foreign affairs for decades. But if, as a prime minister, you do not care that your citizens are being massacred, then there is something deeply and disturbingly wrong with what is going on.
Dance of power
So why is the Pakistani government failing to protect its citizens? The first problem seems to be that the government either is incapable or maybe even uninterested in acknowledging that there is a problem. Its political priorities would not be served by worrying too much about minorities, in any case. In fact it might be straight up politically problematic to stand up too firmly for minorities and risk open conflict on the issue with Sunni hardliners who are one of two main constituencies in the country – the other being the military-intelligence complex. The second problem is that even when shocking massacres of civilians happen, it is much more convenient for everyone involved to deflect any responsibility away from any internal, Pakistani issues with extremism and terrorism, and instead point the finger at the “malign influence” of foreign powers – their favorite bogey man is India’s intelligence agency, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). It took less than 24 hours for Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary some army chiefs and local police chiefs to make a series of public statements which taken together heavily imply that RAW is behind the attack, rather than indigenous home-grown terrorism.
Military-intelligence complex
In this understanding of events, the interests of the military-intelligence complex and those of the Sunni hardliners are aligned against foreign meddling in Pakistan’s internal affairs, and this justifies the amount of support that the Pakistani intelligence services, and indeed the army, keep providing to various radical Islamist groups to fight “foreign influence” – even when those very same groups have had extensive histories of anti-state activities in the past.
But so long as the victims of this perverse dance of power between the two main entrenched power-structures within the Pakistani state are minorities and the “democratically elected” leaders do not have to care, all is well. Some kind of uneasy balance between the two competing forces can be maintained, and tensions leading to outbursts of violence can be deflected outwards, towards groups that neither cares about: Pakistan’s minorities, or women, Indians (e.g. in the Mumbai attacks), Afghanis, Western troops or mercenaries still in the region and so on. And so long as this state of affairs continues, it will be the most vulnerable that will continue to suffer. Pakistan’s minorities need to brace themselves. Worse is still to come.

Australia to strip citizenship from dual-national militants
By Reuters | Sydney, Australia
Tuesday, 26 May 2015
Australia will seek to strip citizenship from dual nationals who fight with militants overseas or who carry out domestic attacks, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of tough new policies aimed at combating the threat from Islamist radicalism.
Australia is on high alert for attacks by radicalized Muslims or by home-grown militants returning from fighting in the Middle East, having raised its threat level to high and undertaken a series of high-profile raids in major cities.
Abbott told reporters that some 100 Australians were fighting in Iraq and Syria backed by about 150 Australia-based “facilitators”. Attorney General George Brandis said that 40 to 50 percent of those fighting overseas are believed to have dual nationality.
Security analysts have estimated that thousands of foreign fighters are in Iraq and Syria, drawn by the rise of the Islamic State radical group and travelling from scores of countries around the world.
“Today I announce that ... we will be legislating within a few weeks to strip dual citizens involved in terrorism of their Australian citizenship,” Abbott told reporters.
Abbott this week appointed a new counter-terrorism coordinator as part of the new security laws, which are aimed at stopping what he called the “most serious national security challenge that we will face in our lifetimes”.
Under tough new security powers won by his conservative government in October, Australian citizens can face up to a decade in prison for overseas travel to areas declared off limits.
Abbott last week ruled out an amnesty for Australian citizens seeking to quit foreign militant groups and return home in the wake of media reports that his government was negotiating with potential defectors.
The new legislation, which is expected to be unveiled within weeks, will update the country’s Citizenship Act to target those foreign fighters, as well “lone wolves” in Australia who have been inspired by them to carry out attacks domestically, Abbott said.
The decision to remove someone’s citizenship will be subject to judicial review, he said, and will not apply to Australian citizens who do not hold a second passport.
“The new powers will apply to dual citizens who fight with or support groups such as ISIL, or Daesh, as well as so-called ‘lone wolves’, whether in Australia or on foreign soil,” Abbott said in a news release, referring to Islamic State.

Turkey says training of moderate Syrian rebels begins with US
Agence France Presse/May. 26, 2015/ISTANBUL: Turkey and the United States have started training moderate Syrian rebels on Turkish territory to prepare them to fight ISIS militants, the Turkish foreign minister said Tuesday. The U.S.-led program to equip and train Syrian rebels on Turkish territory has started "with small groups" after months of delays, Mevlut Cavusoglu was quoted as saying by the official Anatolia news agency. "We can say that the train-and-equip [mission] has started with small groups. All infrastructure has been completed and the necessary equipment has been supplied," he said. "Both the Turkish and the American personnel who will carry out the mission have been dispatched," he said, adding that the rebels were being selected jointly by Turkey and the United States. On Monday Cavusoglu told the pro-government Daily Sabah newspaper that Turkey and the U.S. had also agreed to provide some rebels preparing to fight ISIS with "air protection." Earlier this month the U.S. started training Syrian rebels in Jordan as part of a programme that would extend to sites in Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Ankara and Washington inked a deal in February to train and equip up to 15,000 moderate rebels on Turkish soil. But the plan has been marked by disagreement between Washington and its allies about the objective of the training. Turkey and other regional governments want to see the rebels confront the Syrian regime, while Washington has said the first priority must be combating the ISIS jihadis who hold vast swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has always insisted that the ousting of President Bashar Assad is key to solving the Syrian crisis.