LCCC ENGLISH
DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 26/07
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 7,1-5. Stop judging, that
you may not be judged. For as you judge, so will you be judged, and the measure
with which you measure will be measured out to you. Why do you notice the
splinter in your brother's eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own
eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove that splinter from your
eye,' while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden
beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from
your brother's eye
Free Opinion
Finding the Truth. By: Elias
Harfouch. June 26/07
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources
for June 26/06/07
Two Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Nahr al-Bared-Naharnet
Lebanon Blames Fatah al-Islam for the Attack on UNIFIL-Naharnet
Spain Mourns Its Soldiers Killed
in South Lebanon-Naharnet
Lebanon: UN attack is a 'challenge to the international
community'-Ya Libnan
UN peacekeepers vow to stay in Lebanon-Christian Science
Monitor
Russia Condemns Killing of UNIFIL Troops-Naharnet
ICRC Deplores Hizbullah, Hamas for Lack of
Access to 3 Israeli Soldiers-Naharnet
Attack on U.N. Peacekeepers Condemned-Naharnet
Clashes with Army Leave 10 Killed, Including 6 Terrorists-Naharnet
UN: Staying in Lebanon, despite bombing-Houston
Chronicle
Car Bomb Targets U.N. Peacekeepers in the South, 6 Killed-Naharnet
Lebanon now a 'front line' for radical Islam-Middle
East Times
Iran Establishes Missile Defense Shield in Syria-New
York Sun
Crossfire War - Iran Warns Lebanon - Ultimatum-NewsBlaze
Rice for "Strong Message" to stop Syrian Intimidation in Lebanon-Naharnet
One Year After Lebanon War, Rice Insists Democracy Will Come
to ...Naharnet
Rice defends US policy despite Mideast strife-Reuters
Bombing in South Lebanon kills five peacekeeping troops-Daily
Star
Spanish Official Arrives in Lebanon-WRAL.com
Opposition warns of 'disaster' if unity government not formed-Daily
Star
Fatah mainstream kills 3 Fatal al-Islam militants in north Lebanon-Ya
Libnan
The only chance to defeat Hamas-Ha'aretz
Australian cleric supports Hezbollah-Daily
Times
Hezbollah wants a president acceptable to all parties-Peninsula
On-line
Australia's FM: 3 Alleged Australian Extremists Arrested in Lebanon-Naharnet
Australian killed, three arrested in Lebanon unrest-Sydney
Morning Herald
Towards a dialogue between Israel and Syria?Guysen
Israel News
Anti-Semitism on the increase since Lebanon war-Ya
Libnan
Cabinet faces crucifixion for canceling Good Friday-Daily
Star
Akkar backs army despite losses at Nahr al-Bared
-Daily Star
Bombing in South Lebanon kills five
peacekeeping troops
-Daily Star
Army slays six militants in Tripoli
-Daily Star
Opposition warns of 'disaster' if unity government not formed
-Daily Star
US to blacklist instigators of 'political discord'
-Daily Star
Sfeir, Fadlallah blame outsiders for impasse
-Daily Star
Cabinet faces crucifixion for canceling Good Friday
-Daily Star
Ad campaign salutes military's
sacrifices in bloody battle with Fatah al-Islam-Daily
Star
Teen in custody for brutal slaying of
10-year-old boy
-Daily Star
Attack on U.N. Peacekeepers
Condemned
EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner on Monday
condemned the "heinous attack" which killed six U.N. peacekeepers in southern
Lebanon. "The European Commission condemns in the strongest terms the heinous
attack perpetrated against Spanish peacekeeping troops in Lebanon,"
Ferrero-Waldner said in a statement. "Our thoughts are with the families and
friends of the victims of this attack, and with the Spanish people. Those
responsible should be swiftly brought to justice," she added. The European
Commission, the EU's executive arm, "calls on all Lebanon's politicians to unite
in order to face the serious security challenges that Lebanon is currently
facing." Ferrero-Waldner also urged Lebanese authorities "to take urgent
measures to identify and counter those who would undermine efforts to ... bring
stability and security to Lebanon's long-suffering population."
Israel expressed "deep sorrow" at the deaths and offered assistance "in any way
required," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.
Syria denounced the bombing, the country's official news agency reported.
Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told his Spanish counterpart in a telephone
call that the attack was "a criminal act that aims at shaking security and
stability in southern Lebanon." At a news conference in Paris, U.S. Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner also
condemned the attack.(AFP-AP-Naharnet) (AP photo shows a Spanish U.N peacekeeper
standing by a burnt out armored personnel carrier, damaged by the explosion)
Beirut, 25 Jun 07, 10:56
Car Bomb Targets U.N.
Peacekeepers in the South, 6 Killed
A car bomb killed six peacekeepers patrolling a road in the southern village of
Khiam Sunday, the first such attack on the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon since
it was reinforced last summer after the 34-day war between Israel and Hizbullah.
Hizbullah was quick to denounce the bombing, calling it in a statement a
"suspicious act that harms the people of the south and of Lebanon."Prime
Minister Fouad Saniora denounced the "suspicious terrorist attack," saying "it
targets Lebanon's security and stability." Witnesses said the powerful blast set
fire in the peacekeepers' vehicle which was moving on the main road just off
Khiam, a major Hizbullah stronghold in south Lebanon. UNIFIL said in a statement
that six troops from a Spanish contingent were killed and two others seriously
wounded in an "apparent car bomb attack" while they were on patrol. Initial
reports said five soldiers serving in the Spanish army were killed and four
others wounded after the blast.
Lebanese officials said it appeared the explosion was triggered by remote
control. No body parts were found in the car, meaning the bomb was detonated
from a distance and did not involve a suicide attacker. UNIFIL commander
Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy said the bombing was aimed at
destabilizing the region.
"It's not an attack against Lebanon and UNIFIL only but against the stability of
the region. This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfill its mission in
southern Lebanon," he said in a statement. In Madrid, Defense Minister Jose
Antonio Alonso said Spain will continue to take part in the U.N. peacekeeping
force in Lebanon despite the roadside bombing. "Spain supports and will continue
to support the United Nations UNIFIL mission," he told a televised news
conference.
"This mission was deployed to introduce peace and security to a region which has
been especially punished, a region which suffered a terrible war last summer and
where it was possible to restore peace thanks to the work of UNIFIL," he
said.Alonso arrived in Lebanon on Monday to visit his country's troops in the
aftermath of the deadly attack. (AP-AFP-Naharnet) (AP photo shows Spanish U.N
peacekeepers carrying one of their dead colleagues) Beirut, 25 Jun 07, 07:40
One Year After Lebanon War,
Rice Insists Democracy Will Come to Mideast
Nearly a year after she was ridiculed for calling the Israel-Hizbullah war "the
birth pangs of a new Middle East," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is
insisting democracy will still come to the Mideast whatever the setbacks. In
Paris for talks on the future of Sudan's ravaged Darfur region and a meeting
with Premier Fouad Saniora, Rice acknowledged the bad news coming from Iraq,
Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "Democracy is hard, and I see it as
especially hard when there are determined enemies who try and strangle it," Rice
said when asked about the "birth pangs" remark during a news conference with
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. In Lebanon, the army had deployed in
the south and had fought extremist groups in the Palestinian camps for the first
time in decades, she said. The Lebanese had "gained a great deal."
Kouchner organized Monday's conference to speed deployment of about 20,000 new
peacekeeping troops to Darfur. "I have seen firsthand the devastation and the
difficult circumstances in which people live in Darfur, and I will be very
frank," Rice said. "I do not think that the international community has really
lived up to its responsibilities there." Rice's two-day Paris trip is a
coming-out party for what the Bush administration hopes will be a happier
relationship with new French President Nicolas Sarkozy after perceived slights
and lectures from his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. Sarkozy and Rice were meeting
Monday ahead of the Darfur session. She is seeing Saniora on Tuesday.
Rice welcomed another summit Monday between the Israeli and Palestinian leaders
in Egypt, calling Arab support for embattled Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
more important than his Western backing. She acknowledged the difficulties Abbas
has faced since his rivals Hamas won Palestinian elections last year.
It will be the first meeting between the Palestinian president and Israeli Prime
Minister Ehud Olmert since Abbas lost control to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and
consolidated power under an emergency government in the West Bank. The birth
analogy caused anger and eye-rolling across the Middle East, and Rice has
dropped it from her rhetoric. She had made the remark during a frantic shuttle
diplomacy mission last summer that neither ended Israel's 34-day war with
Hizbullah nor helped the U.S. image as a go-between.
Questioned by Western and Arab reporters Sunday, Rice gave a forceful defense of
the principle behind the words -- that violence and hardship may be necessary to
achieve freedom, and that the forces of moderation and democracy will win out
against what Rice calls extremists. "Yeah, it's really hard. It's hard for
democracy to take hold in a place where it has not taken hold before, but I am
confident about the triumph of these values because I've seen it before," Rice
said.
"There is nothing wrong with the people of the Middle East," she added. "They
can triumph and triumph democratically." The secretary of state refuted the
argument of her opponents that the Middle East had been more stable before the
U.S. intervention in Iraq. "People say, well, the Middle East was stable. What
stability? The stability in which Saddam Hussein put 300,000 people in mass
graves? That was stability? The stability in which the Syrian forces were
embedded in Lebanon? That was stability?(AP-AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 25 Jun 07,
09:37
Australia's FM: 3 Alleged
Australian Extremists Arrested in Lebanon
Three Australians are among alleged Islamic extremists arrested after fighting
against Lebanese soldiers in the northern port city of Tripoli, Australia's
foreign minister said Monday. Officials in Canberra were also checking reports
that two other Australians were killed in the fighting, Alexander Downer said.
He did not release the names or other identifying factors of the arrested men,
or the date they were detained. "They've been arrested as a result of fighting
between the Lebanese army and Islamic extremists and they certainly weren't in
the Lebanese army," Downer told reporters. "The allegation against these three
is that they were involved with an Islamist extremist organization," he said.
"The fact that the Lebanese authorities have arrested them and done so in
Tripoli by the security forces suggests rather obviously that they had very
significant security concerns about these people," he said. Lebanese troops on
Sunday raided an apartment complex housing al-Qaida-inspired militants in
Tripoli's Abu Samra district, sparking a gunbattle that killed six terrorists,
Lebanese security officials said. The six dead militants were three Saudi
nationals, one ethnic Chechen and two Lebanese who also held foreign passports,
said the officials. Downer did not indicate whether the Australians were
arrested in Sunday's raid.(AP-Naharnet) (AP photo shows Lebanese citizens
looking at the damaged building where Lebanese troops clashed with militants in
Tripoli) Beirut, 25 Jun 07, 08:53
Clashes with Army Leave 10
Killed, Including 6 Terrorists
Lebanese troops on Sunday busted an apartment compound suspected of housing
Islamic terrorists, sparking fierce clashes that left 10 people killed,
including six militants, and 13 others wounded, security sources said.
Reliable sources told Naharnet among the terrorists killed were three Saudis, a
Russian from Chechnya and two Lebanese.
An army soldier, a police officer and three family members were among those
killed in the fighting, which began with an army bust targeting a terrorist
hideout in Tripoli's Abu Samra district late Saturday, the sources said.
The officer, Khaled Khodor, was visiting his father-in-law, Mohammed Abdul
Rahman Deeb, with his four-year-old daughter, Nadine, at the Shahal residential
compound when fighting broke out. The terrorists had used them as human shields,
the sources said.
The daily An Nahar on Monday said among the wounded were also four Lebanese army
officers.
The clashes appear to be a spill over from the ongoing confrontation with
terrorists in the Nahr al-Bared camp.
Security sources said the clashes broke out late Saturday as an army unit raided
the Shahal compound in search of "wanted terrorists affiliated with Fatah
al-Islam."
The army unit, according to the sources, came under fire as the troops tried to
search the building.
The compound was pounded by tank cannons and the troops stormed it behind a
curtain of heavy automatic fire after residents were evacuated, the sources
said.
The army confiscated "large quantities" of weapons and explosives from the
Shahal compound during the bust, the sources said.
Army units besieged surrounding olive groves and launched a hunt for other
terrorists believed led by a Lebanese Basil as-Sayed, a reputed Salafist from
north Lebanon.
One source, however, said Sayed was killed in the clash at the Shahal compound.
The clashes, the first in Tripoli since outbreak of the confrontation with Fatah
al-Islam terrorists on May 20, followed a proposal by the Salafi movement in
north Lebanon for the formation of a "Sharia Islamist court" to try Fatah
al-Islam terrorists holed up in a tiny enclave at the heart of Nahr al-Bared
camp, 12 kilometers north of Tripoli. Beirut, 24 Jun 07, 09:58
Sfeir, Fadlallah blame
outsiders for impasse
Daily Star staff-Monday, June 25, 2007
BKIRKI: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir said on Sunday that the main
hindrance to resolving the country's seven-month-old political standoff was the
fact that Lebanon's political camps were no longer "in control of the destiny of
their country." "The secretary general of the Arab League visited Lebanon and
met with leaders across the political spectrum to try to bridge gaps, but his
visit ended in vain," Sfeir said during Sunday Mass at Notre Dame Church in
Bkirki. "Unfortunately, it has become known to all that external forces, instead
of Lebanese politicians, give the green light for a solution in Lebanon."Arab
League chief Amr Moussa visited Beirut for four days last week in a bid to
broker an agreement between the government and the opposition. Sfeir expressed
hope that the Lebanese would "realize" that they had lost agency and become
aware of the fact that external forces, "as unbiased as they might be," would
rather "fulfill the interests of their own countries than fulfill Lebanon's
interests.""Still," he added, "we have great hopes that the Lebanese will
overcome their skirmishes and rise again."
"The state of peace and prosperity the Lebanese have sought for 30 years now is
likely to reign one day, despite mild differences in opinions and sectarian
diversity," he said.Sfeir said Lebanon's 18 sects will live in "peace and
harmony" as long as no external forces interfere in their internal affairs.
Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah also condemned on Sunday
foreign intervention in Lebanese affairs, holding the United States in
particular responsible for the escalation of tensions in this country. "The Bush
administration is to be held responsible for the political crisis in Lebanon,
this crisis which is likely to have drastic repercussions on the political,
economic and perhaps security levels in the country," Fadlallah said in a
statement. Fadlallah said the US had rejected "any form" of dialogue in Lebanon
and the Arab world "because it is keen on sowing violence and skirmishes in the
Arab world so as to preserve Israel's interests." - The Daily Star
Spanish official arrives in
Lebanon
By SAM F. GHATTAS Associated Press Writers
© 2007 The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon — Spain's defense minister arrived in southern Lebanon Monday to
collect the bodies of six U.N. peacekeepers slain in a car bombing, as the U.N.
commander stressed the force remained committed to keeping the peace between
Lebanon and Israel. Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombing Sunday
that killed six members of the Spanish contingent, including three Colombians,
and seriously wounded two others. But the anti-Syrian coalition in parliament
blamed Damascus, despite its condemnation of the bombing. Before flying to the
Marjayoun area of southern Lebanon near the border with Israel where the
contingent has its headquarters, Spanish Defense Minister Jose Antonio Alonso
called the bombing a "premeditated attack" and said the "most likely cause" was
a car bomb or device activated by remote control. The peacekeepers were
patrolling the main road between the towns of Marjayoun and Khiam, a few
kilometers north of the Israeli town of Metulla, when the bomb struck their
armored personnel carrier.
Alonso said Sunday that three Colombian and two Spanish peacekeepers were among
the dead. Spain has 1,100 peacekeepers in Lebanon, part of the 13,000-member
U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon from 30 countries, which first deployed in Lebanon
in 1978 and was reinforced in the last year. UNIFIL, along with 15,000 Lebanese
troops, patrols a zone along the Lebanese-Israeli border. UNIFIL's presence puts
teeth in U.N. cease-fire resolution 1701 that halted last summer's 34-day war.
Southern Lebanon has been largely quiet after the summer war killed more than
1,200 people, most of them in Lebanon.
The attack, the first since UNIFIL was reinforced following last year's war,
came as the U.N. has become increasingly involved in highly divisive issues in
Lebanon, including its tense relations with neighboring Syria. U.N. resolutions
have dealt with Lebanon's borders with Israel and Syria, Palestinian guerrilla
and Hezbollah weapons, as well as an international tribunal to try the killers
of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The UNIFIL commander, Gen. Claudio
Graziano of Italy, called the attack the "most serious incident" since the end
of the Hezbollah-Israel war, saying "the perpetrators not only targeted UNIFIL
but peace and security in the area."
Graziano added that UNIFIL "remains committed more than ever to its mission,"
according to a UNIFIL statement late Sunday.
Western-backed Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora condemned the "suspicious
terrorist attack," saying "it targets Lebanon's security and stability"
Media reports earlier this month said interrogations by Lebanese authorities
with captured al-Qaida-inspired militants revealed plots to attack the U.N.
force. The warnings became more serious after fighting erupted May 20 between
Fatah Islam and Lebanese troops at the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in
the north. The militants have threatened to expand the battle to other parts of
Lebanon.
In addition, al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, in videos broadcast in
September, has denounced the reinforced UNIFIL. But the majority anti-Syrian
coalition in Lebanon's parliament has accused Damascus of being behind the
bombing. "This attack falls within the framework of the same terrorist project
the Syrian regime is waging against Lebanon, its stability and independence, . .
. through explosions and assassination," said a statement issued late Sunday by
the group.
The coalition has regularly blamed Syria for attacks in Lebanon, beginning with
the assassination of Hariri in 2005, a suicide truck bombing in Beirut that
caused an international uproar, forcing Damascus to pull its army out of Lebanon
after nearly three decades of control. Since then, a series of attacks against
anti-Syrian figures have been blamed on Syria, including a recent car bombing
that killed a prominent anti-Syrian lawmaker. Damascus has denied involvement in
such attacks.
The coalition has also blamed Syria for the conflict with Fatah Islam that has
killed more than 150 people.Syria and its main Lebanon ally Hezbollah have
condemned the attack. So did the United States and France.Syrian Foreign
Minister Walid al-Moallem told his Spanish counterpart in a telephone call that
the attack was "a criminal act that aims at shaking security and stability in
southern Lebanon," Damascus' official news agency reported Sunday. Syria has
warm relations with Spain despite its tense ties to other European countries and
the United States. Moallem visited Madrid in recent weeks.The Shiite Muslim
Hezbollah called the attack a "suspicious act that harms the people of the south
and of Lebanon." The militant group has had good relations with UNIFIL.
Lebanon now a 'front line'
for radical Islam
AFP-June 25, 2007
BEIRUT -- A call by Al Qaeda number two Ayman Al Zawahiri to flood Lebanon with
foreign Islamic extremists appears to have been heard, according to analysts
monitoring jihadist groups. Last year, during the 34-day war between Israel and
the Shiite Hezbollah, Osama Bin Laden's Egyptian deputy exhorted Muslims to
"support the mujahedeen" and to "transfer the jihad to the borders of Palestine
with the aid of Allah."
Since 2003 anti-American insurgents have been coming and going between Lebanon
and Iraq, Lebanese and foreign analysts say. They use Lebanon as a base for rest
and recuperation, and to train. Last year, after the July to August war, a
previously unknown organization calling itself Fatah Al Islam announced its
presence in the Nahr Al Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon.
Grouping radical Lebanese Sunni Muslims, veterans of the Iraq insurgency, and
foreign extremists, it espoused views similar to those of Al Qaeda. Since May 20
this year, Fatah Al Islam fighters have been under siege by the Lebanese army at
the refugee camp in a continuing standoff that has so far killed at least 157
people, including 80 soldiers and more than 55 Islamists. The Lebanese
authorities and foreign analysts based in Beirut say the Nahr Al Bared siege is
just the tip of the iceberg. "Al Qaeda is present in Lebanon," defense minister
Elias Murr has said. "There are terrorist cells ready to strike and there are
threats of new attacks." Overnight Saturday, security forces raided the
apartment of an Islamist in the northern port city of Tripoli, sparking a
firefight with Fatah Al Islam that resulted in the deaths of 10 people,
including six Islamists.
"Nahr Al Bared could make things worse," said one Western diplomat in Beirut.
"Ninety percent of Lebanese support their army, but an active minority will be
susceptible to radical propaganda. On the Internet they call the Christian head
of state the 'crusader general,' and the impact of pictures of US planes with
cargoes of weapons at Beirut airport has been devastating." Washington supplied
military equipment to Lebanon to help the army in its battle against the
Islamists holed up inside Nahr Al Bared. A rumor is also circulating among
jihadist Internet forums that ships from the United Nations Interim Force in
Lebanon patrolling the coast after last year's war have fired on Nahr Al Bared.
"It is false, of course," said the diplomat. "But if enough people believe it
that does not matter - the effect is the same."
In Tripoli a man so close to local Sunni radicals that he did not want to be
identified said that among the militants in Nahr Al Bared are some who fought
against the army in Denniyeh. In December 1999 Sunni fighters battled the army
in that mountainous region east of Tripoli. Thirty people were killed, among
them 11 soldiers and 15 militants.
"I know that Fatah Al Islam has cells in Tripoli. They are keeping a low profile
so they are not discovered. They are being monitored, but they are still at
liberty. What are they planning exactly?" he said. Retired army general Whebe
Katisha called the situation very worrying. "From now on the military will try
to prevent the militants from basing themselves inside secure areas such as some
Palestinian refugee camps. Drain the water to expose the fish. There may be
isolated cells inside."
By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the 12 official
Palestinian refugee camps in the country, leaving interior security to
Palestinian factions.
Commentator Elias Hanna, another retired general, said that "the army gave a
deterrent example in Nahr Al Bared for other groups" of extremists. "It was a
good base, close to the Syrian border, easy to manipulate for Damascus
intelligence. It is not going to be so easy in other camps, where Palestine
Liberation Organization influence is stronger." According to the Western
diplomat: "Lebanon is no longer a base in the rear - it is the front line. The
seed has been planted.
"Nahr Al Bared will radicalize some groups and enable their plans to take root.
And if the Fatah Al Islam leaders never come out they will become legends, new
Zarqawis," he said, referring to Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, the former head of Al
Qaeda in Iraq who was killed by a US airstrike last year.
Iran Establishes Missile
Defense Shield in Syria
By CON COUGHLIN-The Daily Telegraph
June 25, 2007
Iran is deploying missiles in Syria in preparation for military action if it is
attacked over its nuclear program, U.N. officials in the region said.
Under a mutual defense pact signed between Damascus and Tehran in 2005, Syria
agreed to the deployment of sophisticated weaponry on its territory.
The Iranians have now decided to implement the agreement following a meeting
last month of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, which is chaired by a
former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Iran is preparing to transfer
dozens of medium-range Shahab-3 and Russian-made Scud-C missiles, together with
Scud-B missiles. Most of the missiles can be fired from mobile launchers and are
capable of hitting targets right across Israel. " Iran is preparing itself for
the possibility of military action over its nuclear program," a senior U.N.
official in Lebanon said."If Iran is attacked then this will give it a number of
retaliation options."
U.N. officials said work on the new missile storage facilities will begin next
month and will take about a year to complete.
Besides shipping the weapons, Iran has also sent missile engineers to help to
train the Syrian military and Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group with
which Israel fought last year's war. In addition, Iran is reported to have made
similar arrangements with the Sudanese government to enable it to attack
pro-Western Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia. Tehran's decision to deploy
missiles abroad is taken at a time when it finds itself under mounting
international pressure over its nuclear program.
Last week, it announced that it had processed 100 kilograms of uranium to a
level that would enable it to move quickly toward producing weapons-grade
material.
In a separate development, Russia was reported last week to be about to sell
advanced fighter jets to Syria in a move that is already causing disquiet in
Israel
Crossfire War - Iran Warns Lebanon - Ultimatum
By Willard Payne
Crossfire War - TEHRAN - RIYADH - DAMASCUS WATCH - West Asia Theatre: Tehran -
Riyadh - Damascus - Nahr al-Bared - Ein el-Hilweh/Tripoli - Sidon - Beirut -
Paris - Rome - Jerusalem - Cairo - Washington; Iran Charge d'Affaires in Beirut
Delivers Threatening Message from Iran Foreign Minister Mottaki
Night Watch: BEIRUT - It has just been reported Tehran has had its Charge
d'Affaires in Beirut, Mojtaba Ferdousipour, deliver a verbal message from Iran
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a meeting with Lebanon Deputy Foreign
Minister Heshan Damashiqiyeh.
Since Tehran/Beirut are on opposite ends of regional issues, with Iran leading
the Islamic world against the West, while Beiurt, led by Prime Minister Fouad
Siniora, is still working closely with Paris and the West. Then obviously, the
message was not congratulatory, nor did it convey any conciliation concerning
the death of Lebanese soldiers caused by the fighting at Nahr al-Bared near
Tripoli. Nor is Tehran about to express any regret at causing the fighting,
which is still going on, this new threat to Siniora. Therefore, I suspect what
the message said was if Siniora does not announce new elections and an expanded
cabinet, which would represent more of Lebanon's diverse political parties, then
violence will spread to other Palestinian refugee camp-cities all over the
country, which would compel Hezbollah-Damascus-Tehran to fulfill their
regional-spiritual obligations and support them more directly by intervening
openly in the conflict. [IRNA]
This message actually amounts to an ultimatum with the express purpose of
announcing to Siniora, if he didn't know already, that Tehran - Damascus want to
remove Lebanon from the West's sphere of influence in the region. I cannot see
Siniora ever agreeing to it, because he may be connected to Paris financially,
so I expect violence to spread right after the current visit of Iran Deputy
Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs, Mohammad-Reza Baqeri, in
Damascus, where he is meeting with representatives of Palestinian militant
groups based in Gaza-West Bank-Lebanon. Baqeri arrived in Damascus Friday night
for a three-day visit.
Night Watch Information Service
http://www.crossfirewar.com
Fatah mainstream kills 3
Fatal al-Islam militants in north Lebanon
Sunday, 24 June, 2007 @ 5:01 PM
Nahr el- Bared - Fighters of the Fatah mainstream organization that is headed by
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas have entered the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian
refugee camp and killed 3 Fatah al-Islam militants The above was based on
information provided by Abu Emad Allouni , Fatah mainstream representative at
the camp.
Abbas has voiced his strong support to the Lebanese government in its fight
against Fatah Al-Islam, who have absolutely no relationship whatsoever with
Fatah mainstream according to him. Fatah al-Islam is a branch of Fatah al-Intifada,
which is part of the Syrian intelligence operation , created to oppose Yasser
Arafat's Fatah organization and to destabilize the Palestinian camps in Lebanon.
The Lebanese army has been fighting against the Fatah al-Islam militants since
May 20
Cabinet faces crucifixion for
canceling Good Friday
Daily Star staff-Monday, June 25, 2007
BEIRUT: The Cabinet's decision to no longer acknowledge Good Friday as an
official national holiday triggered an outcry from a number of prominent
Lebanese Christians over the weekend. Good Friday is "a central day in Christian
culture," Jbeil Maronite Archbishop Bishara Raii said during an interview with
the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC) Saturday. "Canceling it as a holiday
is a violation of Christian norms.
"The government should have consulted with various Christian religious figures
before issuing any decisions. Christians would never allow such a key day to be
simply left off calendars," Raii said. Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis had defended
the move, saying that the government had intended to make Lebanon's holidays
"the same as those of other Arab countries." In response, Raii said the holidays
celebrated in Lebanon should not be compared with other Arab countries, because
it is "known that Lebanon has particular demographic and religious
characteristics that ought to be preserved."
The Cabinet had voted in December to alter the official schedule of holidays,
but the decision was only published in the Official Gazette last week.
The Cabinet had also approved other changes to the official holiday schedule -
making the Monday after Easter a holiday and removing one day from the two-day
Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. In a bid to clarify the stance of Christian
ministers concerning the matter, Culture Minister Tarek Mitri called Maronite
Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir to brief him on the decision, telling the
prelate that the move "in no way stems from political or sectarian
considerations."
Local daily An-Nahar quoted Mitri in an article published Sunday as saying that
he had informed Sfeir of the government's willingness to "modify its decree to
abide by any decision the Christian clerics make."Lebanese Forces leader Samir
Geagea expressed concern that Christian ministers did not show "much vigilance"
regarding the issue of the distribution of holidays, given "all the meanings
associated with Good Friday." The opposition "is manipulating Good Friday,"
Geagea said on LBC Sunday morning. "They want to give the decision political
dimensions." Geagea also rejected media reports that blamed Premier Fouad
Siniora for the move, saying: "Siniora did not cancel the holiday ... No one
person can. " The government is trying to promote the economy by decreasing the
number of holidays for both Muslims and Christians," Geagea said. Former MP
Suleiman Franjieh's Marada Movement condemned Sunday the Cabinet's actions as
"yet another step undertaken by the Siniora government to marginalize Christians
even more," and called on the government to apologize for their "sin." - The
Daily Star
Two
Lebanese Soldiers Killed in Nahr al-Bared
Fatah al-Islam terrorists, opening fire from sniper nests, shot dead two
Lebanese soldiers at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp Monday.
A communiqué released by the army command identified the "martyrs" as Captain
Fadi Ibrahim Abdullah and Corporal Khaled Ahmed Taleb.
The communiqué did not say how the two were killed, but reliable sources said
they were shot by Fatah al-Islam snipers who opened fire at army troops
besieging them in a narrow enclave within the Nahr al-Bared camp.That brought to
82 the number of soldiers killed since the ongoing confrontation broke out on
May 20.
The Lebanese government of Premier Fouad Saniora describes Fatah al-Islam as a
gang of terrorists affiliated with Syrian President Bashar Assad's intelligence
apparatus. Damascus denies the charge and says Fatah al-Islam, headed by
Palestinian Shaker Abssi, is wanted in Syria. Lebanese security forces have
busted several terrorist networks affiliated with Fatah al-Islam in north, east
and Mount Lebanon. The Lebanese government also blamed a booby-trapped attack
that killed six U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon Sunday on Fatah al-Islam
affiliated terrorists.
ICRC Deplores Hizbullah,
Hamas for Lack of Access to 3 Israeli Soldiers
The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it "deeply" deplores the
refusal of Hizbullah and Palestinian groups to grant it access to three captured
Israeli soldiers in Lebanon and Gaza. "We expect, as a minimum humanitarian
gesture, that any detained person be allowed to show their families that they
are still alive," ICRC head Jakob Kellenberger said on the ICRC's website. "In
the case of the three Israeli soldiers, we deeply deplore the fact that the
Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Palestinian factions in Gaza have so far denied our
delegates access, and that several attempts to transmit family news such as Red
Cross messages or to obtain a sign of life were rejected," he added. Apart from
Gilad Shalit who is held in Gaza, the ICRC chief was also referring to Ehud
Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, who were captured by Hizbullah in Lebanon on July
12, 2006. "We do not take "no" for an answer and will not give up. We will
follow up on any leads that may present themselves," he said. Kellenberger
reiterated an appeal to respect international humanitarian law, which governs
the humane treatment of prisoners including by allowing them to contact their
families. Hamas on Monday released an audio message purportedly from Shalit
urging Israel to bow to his captors' demands and saying his health is failing.
Shalit, who is now 20, was wounded during a deadly cross-border raid claimed by
the armed wing of Hamas and two other radical Palestinian groups. He had not
been seen or heard in public since his disappearance. In his interview,
Kellenberger said the ICRC's priority was "to get at least a sign of life" about
the three, and underlined that the agency maintained regular contact with the
"relevant authorities" and the soldiers' families.(AFP)
Russia Condemns Killing of
UNIFIL Troops
Russia Monday condemned the killing of six soldiers from the Spanish contingent
of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, saying it was a challenge to the
international community. "Moscow firmly condemns a provocation by terrorists
against the members of UNIFIL (the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon)," a
foreign ministry statement said. "It is a challenge launched at the entire
international community, a criminal attempt to block efforts aiming to
normalize" the situation in the country. Moscow called for an investigation to
identify the culprits, the statement noted.
The six U.N. peacekeepers were killed by a car bomb in southern Lebanon on
Sunday, which a Lebanese security source said was detonated by remote control as
their armored vehicle passed by. It was the first attack on the U.N. since the
war between Israel and the Shiite Hizbullah ended in August 2006 in line with
UN. Security Council Resolution 1757.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 25 Jun 07, 19:20
Lebanon Blames Fatah al-Islam
for the Attack on UNIFIL
Lebanon on Monday linked a bomb attack that killed six U.N. peacekeepers in the
south to a deadly standoff between terrorists and the army in the north.
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi pointed a finger at the Islamists, based on
confessions extracted from Fatah al-Islam gunmen captured during fierce fighting
at a Palestinian refugee camp which is now in its sixth week. Security has been
tightened in south Lebanon following the attack, which has further rattled the
fragile security situation in the deeply divided country. "There is a link
between the attack which targeted the Spanish contingent of UNIFIL and the
combat between the Lebanese army and the terrorists of Fatah al-Islam in Nahr
al-Bared," Aridi told reporters after a cabinet meeting.
"Lebanon is the victim of a terrorist wave striking from the north to the south
in which the latest target was the Spanish contingent. This attack was preceded
by confessions from arrested terrorists about preparations against UNIFIL." It
was the first fatal attack on peacekeepers since the UN Interim Force in
Lebanon's mandate was expanded last year in the wake of a devastating 34-day war
between Israeli troops and the Hizbullah Shiite militia.
Lebanese legal sources, quoting confessions from detained fighters, said earlier
this month that Fatah al-Islam -- which emerged in the Nahr al-Bared camp late
last year -- was planning to attack U.N. peacekeepers.
Abu Salim Taha, a spokesman for the extremist group, had accused UNIFIL forces
of siding with the army and threatened to attack the Blue Helmets.
Security was heightened in the south on Monday where Spanish Defense Minister
Jose Antonio Alonso was visiting his country's troops after the blast, which
killed three Spaniards and three Colombian nationals. No one has claimed the
attack, which a Lebanese security source said was carried out by car bomb
detonated by remote control. It struck as the peacekeepers' armored vehicle
passed by in the Marjayoun-Khiam valley, an area about 10 kilometers (six miles)
from the Israeli border. A Spanish colonel told Agence France Presse it was a
"deliberate attack".
"This attack was very well prepared in advance," the officer said at the scene.
"The bodies of two of the victims were blown several meters (yards) by the force
of the blast." UNIFIL commander Major-General Claudio Graziano of Italy said the
bombing was aimed at destabilizing the region.
"It's not an attack against Lebanon and UNIFIL only but against the stability of
the region. This attack has made UNIFIL more committed to fulfill its mission in
southern Lebanon," he said in a statement. Hizbullah too was quick to condemn
the bombing in an area considered its stronghold. "This act of aggression is
aimed at increasing insecurity in Lebanon, especially in the south of the
country," it said.
UNIFIL first deployed in Lebanon in 1978 after an Israeli invasion but was
expanded from some 2,000 members after the July-August war between Israel and
Hizbullah guerrillas who dominated the south of the country. It now has 13,225
soldiers from 30 nations, including nearly 1,100 from Spain.
The attack came on top of a series of car bombings targeting anti-Syrian
politicians in and around Beirut and as the army pursued its fight against Fatah
al-Islam terrorists. At least 157 people, including 80 soldiers and 55
Islamists, have died in the standoff.
Lebanon's pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud said the attack on UNIFIL was part
of a "campaign of destabilization".
EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner condemned it as a
"heinous attack" and said those responsible should be swiftly brought to
justice.
In the north, 11 people died in clashes in the port city of Tripoli overnight
Saturday, including six Sunni Islamists from Fatah al-Islam and a policeman's
10-year-old daughter. It was the first clash in the mainly Sunni Muslim city
since the fighting between Fatah al-Islam and the army in Tripoli and Nahr
al-Bared began on May 20.
Three Australian men were also arrested in Tripoli at the weekend and are
allegedly Islamist extremists involved in the clashes, Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer said.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 25 Jun 07, 16:38
Truth
about Syria's interference in Lebanon
Monday, 25 June, 2007
Beirut - Contrary to what the Syrian leadership is trying to publicize about its
current 'neutral' stances and its 'non-interference' in the details of Lebanese
internal divergences, the latest declarations made by Syrian Vice President
Farouk el-Shara in a meeting alleged to have been held with the media, showed
another aspect of this orientation and unveiled Damascus's clear and constant
stance.
These declarations were published when the initiative of Arab League Secretary
General Amr Moussa was at its peak in Beirut among an Arab mission to revive the
interrupted dialogue among Lebanese leaders. Therefore, these declarations
appeared to be addressed to this very initiative and also to its curators,
especially because they expressed Syria's opinion about a group of thorny points
representing the core of Lebanese disputes. Some of these points are the
National Unity Government, the relations between Beirut and Damascus, and the
legitimacy of the Fouad Siniora government and of the parliamentary majority.
With regard to the government, the Syrian Vice President believes that it is not
possible to achieve anything different than the idea based on creating a
national unity government and that without this, Lebanon will not stabilize. The
idea of a national unity government is optimal in principle, and was proposed
before independent ministers were asked to withdraw from the government.
Likewise, the majority team in Lebanon is not opposed to this government. It has
affirmed this many times and repeated it during Amr Moussa's Lebanese mission.
Considering the non-formation of the government to be a gateway to Lebanon's
'instability' is, at least, an example of interference in an internal affair, a
matter unacceptable to the norms of international relations. At most, and
specifically with respect to Syria, this opinion means 'inciting' to link the
current instability and the continuous assassinations in Lebanon to the
opposition's request concerning the government.
Respectively, Shara does not conceal his clear 'estimation' of the size of the
majority in the government and parliament, although the overwhelming majority of
Arab and foreign countries have acknowledged it. He believes that 'a bunch of
politicians' in Lebanon cannot bring Syria to cut its relations (what
relations?), close its borders and enter into an armed conflict, even if these
politicians had a 'portion of the Lebanese masses'(!). He added, "In Lebanon we
have stronger allies than others, if they wanted to use this power."
The Syrian Vice President was certainly referring to military power, since the
political one is not in the hands of Syria's allies, as he complains. In fact,
no national unity government has been formed so far. When speaking of the
military power of Syria's allies, what crops into one's mind is not the team led
by General Michel Aoun, for instance, or Talal Arsalan. Indeed, what one
immediately thinks of is Hezbollah, the strongest team - militarily speaking -
in the Lebanese arena as a result of its intense armament used previously to
carry out resistance and currently to remain in a state of readiness! Therefore,
one must at this point consider Hezbollah leadership's opinion about this issue.
Does it think that the party's 'military power' has now become something to be
used based on the request of the Syrian 'ally'?
There is one positive point left that one must refer to and thank the Syrian
Vice President for raising: Lebanon has matured and become capable of solving
its own problems with no Syrian or Arab military interference. We hope that this
position truly expresses Syria's political intentions in this stage and that it
is not only a way to inhibit any other Arab role in Lebanon aimed at rescuing
the country from the standstill in which it is now stuck and preventing it from
emerging among all other countries for its political and security situation.
In front of these Syrian positions, which have become sincere and clear, it is
now politically naïve to believe that the dispute among the Lebanese people is
contained within Lebanon itself and that a solution can be found through a
meeting of a group of leaders representing the two contending parties. As Amr
Moussa has found out at the end of the mission, which has failed to achieve its
goal, the decision of a team of the opposition comes from abroad. This is proved
by the remarkable contradiction between the opposition's acceptance of the
settlement projects that it itself had partially proposed and that is backing
down on after a short while, under the shadow, or the pressure, of foreign
stances.
By: Elias Harfouch
Sources: Al-Hayat