LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
December 13/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
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Bible Quotations For Today
Those who
speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him
who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
God gave them a sluggish
spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very
day
Letter to the Romans 11/01-12/:"I ask, then, has God rejected his people?
By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the
tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not
know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 12-13/16
To Hell With Assad’s Criminal Victories/Elias Bejjani/December
12/16
Egypt’s Deadliest Church Attack/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone
Institute/December 12/16
There is life left in OPEC after all/Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al
Arabiya/December 12/16
Post-Brexit, May seeks to shape a new British profile
in the Gulf/Talmiz Ahmad/Al Arabiya/December
12/16
Europe: Illegal to Criticize Islam/Judith Bergman/Gatestone
Institute/December /16
Why Donald Trump Should Focus on Africa/Ahmed Charai/Gatestone
Institute/December12/16
As Aleppo's Fall To Assad Regime Seems Assured, Regime Is Certain Of Its
Victory And Future International Influence – And Opposition Recognizes
Defeat/N. Mozes and M. Terdiman/MEMRI/December
12/2016
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News
published on December 12-13/16
To Hell With Assad’s Criminal Victories
Franjieh Says Ready for Cooperation or Confrontation
with Aoun
Report: Parties Mull Holding a Spiritual Summit to Support Aoun
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Condemns Istanbul and Cairo Bombings
Kanaan: Progress Recorded at Government Formation
Level
LF 'Not Concerned' with Franjieh's Ain el-Tineh Remarks as Hariri Meets Khalil,
Riachi
FPM, Hizbullah MPs Say Proportional Representation is
'Best' Electoral Law
Kataeb Slams Ministerial Portfolio Spat, Says
Dissociation Policy 'Protected Lebanon'
Hariri, Finance Minister dwell on Cabinet formation headway
Change and Reform MPs visit Maarab, confirm no return
to 1960 law
Rae, Mashnouq hold closed door meeting, illuminate
Christmas tree
ISTL Registrar arrives in Beirut
Rahi offers Pope Tawadros
heartfelt condolences on Coptic Church fallen victims
Arslan meets FPM delegation, renews calls for
proportionality
Latest Lebanese Related News
published on December 12-13/16
To Hell With Assad’s Criminal Victories
Elias Bejjani/December 12/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/12/elias-bejjani-to-hell-with-assads-criminal-victories%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B3%D8%AF/
Is it really a victory for Syria’s dictator, president Bachar Al Assad when he is murdering his own people,
forcing them into exile, destroying their homes and humiliating them. To hell with such a bloody, criminal and evil victory.
’Meanwhile this hungry for blood, Dracula, murderer and butcher had the guts to
enter one of Syria’s Mosques to pray and by his side his mouthpiece, Mufti Hassoun..Yes the same Hassoun
that was welcomed few days ago in our Lebanese presidential Palace as well as
in our Maronite Patriarchate. By the way, Hassoun spent his night in occupied
Franjieh Says Ready for Cooperation or Confrontation with Aoun
Naharnet/December 12/16/Marada Movement chief MP
Suleiman Franjieh escalated his rhetoric on Monday
and stressed after a meeting with Patriarch al-Rahi that
he is ready for a confrontation as well as for cooperation with President
Michel Aoun depending on the latter's messages. “We
refuse Aoun's punishment as a way to deal with us. We
are ready to stand by Aoun if he wishes to have new
relations with us, but we are also ready for a confrontation is he chooses to
fight,” said Franjieh after a meeting he held with
al-Rahi.
Franjieh's meeting with the Patriarch came as
part of a Bkirki initiative that aimed, according to
media reports, to pave the way for Franjieh's meeting
with Aoun to ease the differences hampering the
formation of a new cabinet. Although Franjieh's
comments were tense, but he hailed Rahi and said:
“The Patriarch is the keeper of dignities and we are ready for a meeting with Aoun the way that the Patriarch sees appropriate.”“Things are on their way to a solution and we will soon meet
with (Speaker Nabih) Berri.”Media
reports said on Sunday that the Patriarch is seeking to mend ties between Franjieh and Aoun. The patriarch
had visited Baabda last week to put Aoun in the picture of his endeavor
“and it seems that he heard a positive answer from the president,” the reports
said. But on Monday a Marada source told MTV during Franjieh's meeting with Rahi:
“There will be no visit to Baabda. Franjieh has not taken a decision yet.”Hizbullah
chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah
had on Friday announced that the party wants ties to be restored between its
two main Christian allies – the Free Patriotic Movement and Marada.
Ties between Aoun and Franjieh
were strained after the latter was nominated for the presidency by al-Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad
Hariri in late 2015.
Report: Parties Mull Holding a Spiritual Summit to
Support Aoun
Naharnet/December 12/16/Media reports said that
parties are mulling calls to hold a spiritual Christian-Islamic summit with the
aim of backing President Michel Aoun and the new
tenure, in order to provide atmospheres appropriate for the new government to
function properly, the Kuwaiti As-Seyasah daily
reported Monday. The daily said that the summit has the aim of helping the
government implement “the required including an agreement on devising a new
electoral to hold the parliamentary polls.” The political parties are bickering
over amending the current election law which divides seats among the different
religious sects. The current parliament has failed to amend the law, and has
extended its mandate twice amid criticism. New elections are scheduled for May
2017.
As-Seyasah added that contacts are underway to
ensure the success of the summit and provide the proper conditions in
compatibility with the ministerial statement to avoid any objections to it.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Condemns
Istanbul and Cairo Bombings
Naharnet/December 12/16/Lebanon's Foreign Affairs
Ministry strongly condemned in a statement on Monday, the terrorist bombings
which targeted the Turkish city of Istanbul on Saturday evening leaving several
killed and wounded. “The ministry offers its condolences to the Turkish
leadership, people and to the families of the victims who died in the convicted
crime that targeted the institutional legitimacy in
Aoun Offers Condolences to Sisi,
Tawadros over Church Blast Victims
Naharnet/December 12/16/President Michel Aoun held phone talks Sunday with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
al-Sisi to offer him condolences over the victims of
a bomb attack that killed at least 25 people inside a
Kanaan: Progress Recorded at Government Formation Level
Naharnet/December 12/16/Change and Reform bloc MP
Ibrahim Kanaan said the negotiations happening at the
level of forming a new cabinet “have recorded a clear progress,” and the latest
contacts gave the “stalled formation a push forward.” “There is clear progress
in the negotiations happening at the governmental level, but the final
visualization is to expressed by Prime Minister-designate
Saad Hariri. No doubt that the latest contacts gave
the formation a push forward,” said Kanaan in an
interview to VDL (100.5). As for the number of ministers in the new cabinet, he
said: “Until this moment we are still considering a 24-minister cabinet. As for
the obstacle of the public works and health portfolios, it is being addressed
between Speaker Nabih Berri
and Marada chief MP Suleiman
Franjieh, and all the other blocs with the PM
designated to form the cabinet.”On the prospects for
the Lebanese Forces to accept being given the health portfolio instead of the
public works, the MP said: “We must not rush things because the issue depends
on the positions of the blocs in question. Today the contacts will resume and
the LF is the party concerned to give an answer in this regard. “On our part,
we have a tour today where we will meet with Loyalty to the Resistance bloc and
the Lebanese Forces to discuss the electoral law, of course there is a
possibility to discuss many other issues.”Kanaan concluded:
“The starting point for the bloc to discuss will be the proposal of the
Orthodox electoral law which was suggested by us, and the proportional
representation based on 15 districts which was
approved in Bkirki. We are open to any law that
provides parity and convergence between the blocs.”The
political forces are seeking to reach a settlement over the distribution of the
ministerial portfolios that are still a subject of contention so that the new
cabinet can be formed soon. The sought settlement will re-distribute the
public works, health and education ministerial portfolios and one of them is
supposed to be offered to Marada, media reports had
said.
LF 'Not Concerned' with Franjieh's Ain el-Tineh Remarks
as Hariri Meets Khalil, Riachi
Naharnet/December 12/16/The Lebanese Forces is “not
concerned” with what Marada Movement chief MP
Suleiman Franjieh announced in Ain el-Tineh about Speaker Nabih Berri offering him the public works ministerial portfolio,
LF sources announced on Monday.
LF leader Samir Geagea “has
not received any phone call from the president or the premier-designate about
the developments,” the sources told LBCI television in the evening. “We're
waiting to be officially briefed by the relevant officials on any developments
in the cabinet formation process and, accordingly, we consider that the old
distribution of portfolios has not changed until the moment,” the sources
added. Earlier in the day, Franjieh said Berri had officially offered him the public works
ministerial portfolio and that “an agreement is still needed over other portfolios.”“Our candidate for this ministry is Youssef Finianos and we're
awaiting the stances of the other parties, and we hope others, topped by
President Michel Aoun, will show openness,” he added.
Later on Monday, Berri's aide Ali Hassan Khalil visited the Center House for talks with PM-designate
Saad Hariri. "Things have moved forward in a
positive manner," Khalil told reporters after
the meeting. A statement issued by Hariri's office said the meeting tackled
“the current political developments, especially the outcome of the contacts
regarding the cabinet formation process.” Shortly after Khalil
left the Center House, LF official Melhem Riachi arrived for talks with Hariri. "The atmosphere
is always excellent with PM-designate Hariri," Riachi
said after the meeting. Hariri later delegated his adviser ex-MP Ghattas Khoury to Maarab for talks with Geagea. Marada's demand to get one of three key portfolios – public
works, telecommunications or energy – is one of the main obstacles that are
hindering the formation of the new government.
FPM, Hizbullah
MPs Say Proportional Representation is 'Best' Electoral Law
Naharnet/December 12/16/A Free Patriotic Movement
delegation comprising MPs Alain Aoun, Ziad Aswad and Naamtallah Abi Nasr visited the
headquarters of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance
bloc on Monday as part of an FPM initiative aimed at pushing for the adoption
of a new electoral law. The Haret Hreik
meeting was attended by MPs Mohammed Raad, Ali Ammar, Ali Fayyad and Nawwar al-Saheli on Hizbullah's side. “The meeting was extensive and we
discussed in it a roadmap for reaching a modern electoral law based on
proportional representation,” said Aoun after the
talks, noting that the two parties are in agreement over “all the aspects” of
this law. “This is the best law for preserving the Lebanese society's political
and sectarian pluralism... It is also the law that leads to the most correct
representation of the people and that law that we aspire for to achieve
political and electoral reform,” Aoun added. He noted
that the FPM's meetings with the political parties
“will continue in a bid to break the years-long deadlock over this issue.”Fayyad for his part said Hizbullah
and the FPM “agree that the most ideal choice is a law fully based on
proportional representation.”Warning that the
deadlines for passing a new electoral law “have started to expire,” Fayyad
called on the political forces to “respond to the requirements of the Lebanese
formula in terms of fair and correct representation.”“Listen
to what the Lebanese society wants,” he added. Caretaker Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq had recently
warned that there is not much time left to pass a new electoral law while
announcing that the ministry is ready to organize the polls under the 1960 law.
Hizbullah has repeatedly called for an electoral law
fully based on proportional representation but other political parties,
especially al-Mustaqbal Movement, have rejected the
proposal and argued that the party's controversial arsenal of arms would
prevent serious competition in regions where the Iran-backed party is
influential. Mustaqbal, the Lebanese Forces and the
Progressive Socialist Party have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that
mixes the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker
Nabih Berri has also
proposed a hybrid law. The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009,
with the legislature instead twice extending its own mandate. The 2009 polls
were held under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next
elections are scheduled for May 2017.
Kataeb Slams Ministerial Portfolio Spat, Says
Dissociation Policy 'Protected Lebanon'
Naharnet/December 12/16/The Kataeb
Party on Monday called for “resolving the obstacles that are hindering the
formation of the government,” noting that the new cabinet must shoulder the
responsibility of “addressing citizens' affairs and preparing a new electoral law.”“The scramble for ministerial portfolios under
unconstitutional excuses is obstructing and threatening the parliamentary
elections, especially that the new government will only serve for a few
months,” Kataeb's politburo warned in a statement
issued after its weekly meeting.
Separately, the party responded to recent remarks by Syrian President Bashar Assad about
Hariri, Finance Minister dwell on Cabinet formation headway
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - Prime Minister-designate, Saad
Hariri, met, at his Center House on Monday, with Caretaker Minister of Finance,
Ali Hassan Khalil, over most recent political
developments in the country, particularly the outcome of contacts regarding the
Cabinet formation.
Change and Reform MPs visit Maarab, confirm no return to 1960 law
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - Lebanese Forces leader, Samir Geagea, met, at his Maarab
residence on Monday, with a delegation of the Change and Reform bloc's
lawmakers, comprising MPs Ibrahim Kanaan, Neemtallah Abi Nasr, Alain Aoun, Ghassan Mkhaiber,
and Ziad Aswad, in presence
of MP Antoine Zahra. Following the meeting, Kanaan
told reporters that the meeting with the LF was part of the bloc's initiative
to separate the course of the endorsement of a new election law from that of
the Cabinet formation.
"There is no possibility to extend the mandate of the current Parliament,
and there is no possibility to return to the 1960 election law," he said,
adding that the delegation will meet with other blocs as well. For his part, MP
Zahra hailed Change and Reform bloc's initiative, highlighting the necessity to
reach an election law that would secure correct representation. Separately, Geagea met today with Portuguese Ambassador to
Rahi, Mashnouq hold closed door
meeting, illuminate Christmas tree
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - A closed door meeting took place on Monday in Bkirki between Maronite Patriarch
Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi
and Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq, to deliberate over the latest political
developments, notably government formation efforts. In the wake of the closed
door meeting, Patriarch Rahi and Minister Mashnouq moved to Daroun woodland
which witnessed a huge fire, where they planted three pine trees and
illuminated a Christmas tree set in that place. Rahi
and Mashnouq were greeted by Dr Fadi
Mhanna representing Agriculture Minister, Akram Shehayeb, Civil Defense Director General Raymond Khattar,
and local dignitaries.
The initiative was organized by the Civil Defense
Directorate General.
STL Registrar arrives in
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - Registrar of the Special Tribunal for
Rahi offers Pope Tawadros
heartfelt condolences on Coptic Church fallen victims
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi fervently
deplored in a statement the terrorist bombing that rattled St. Peter church
near St. Mark Cathedral and the pontifical seat of Orthodox Copts in Cairo
Sunday morning which claimed the lives of 24 people and injured dozens.
Patriarch Rahi offered heartfelt condolences to the
Coptic Church Pope Tawadros II, martyrs' families and
the Egyptian people, saying that criminality and terrorism shall not undermine
the martyrdom of fallen innocent people and they are virtuous in the heavenly
kingdom. Rahi expressed "full solidarity with
the Coptic Church in this tragedy," and commissioned Cairo Archdiocese
Bishop George Shehan, to represent him at the funeral
service. He also wished the fallen victims eternal heavenly life and the
wounded speedy recovery.
Arslan meets FPM delegation, renews calls for
proportionality
Mon 12 Dec 2016/NNA - Head of the Lebanese Democratic Party, MP Talal Arslan, welcomed, at his Khalda residence on Monday, a delegation of the Free
Patriotic Movement, with whom he discussed latest developments, particularly
the election law.
"We visited MP Arslan to dwell on the election
law. We both agreed on full proportionality which is the best solution to
representing everybody," MP Alain Aoun,
accompanied by lawmakers Ziad Aswad
and Neemtallah Abi Nasr,
told reporters following the meeting.
"This wide alliance for proportionality must include a Druze reference in
the country that expresses this key community," he indicated. "We
must not surrender to the 1960 de facto law," he maintained. For his part,
Arslan reiterated utter rejection of the 1960 law,
renewing calls for proportionality.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December
12-13/16.
Identity of
Staff writer, Al Arabiya Monday, 12 December 2016/Egyptian
President, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has revealed the
identity of the suicide bomber who blew himself up inside a church during
Sunday mass in
Netanyahu wants to discuss Iran deal
options with Trump
AFP, Washington Monday, 12 December 2016/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu wants to discuss with US President-elect Donald Trump ways to get rid
of the Iran nuclear deal, he said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday. “I
think what options we have are much more than you think. Many more,” Netanyahu
said in the interview with CBS’s “60 minutes.”Netanyahu
gave no details on what he will be proposing when he meets with Trump, but
minimized the downside of
Israel urges Egypt to ‘fight terrorism
together’
AFP, Jerusalem Monday, 12 December 2016 /Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Sunday called on Egypt to “fight terrorism together” after a
bombing killed 25 people in a Coptic Christian church in Cairo. “
Assad sweeps Aleppo, rebels offered
‘safe’ exit
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Monday, 12 December
2016 /
However,
Syria Army Takes Aleppo District,
Battle in 'Final Phase'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/The Syrian army recaptured a major district of Aleppo on Monday, leaving
rebel fighters cornered in a small pocket as the battle for the city entered
its "final phase". President Bashar
al-Assad's forces held more than 90 percent of the onetime opposition
stronghold of east
- Thousands more flee -The Observatory said Monday another 10,000 people had
fled rebel areas in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total number of those
who have left -- mostly to government-held territory -- to 130,000. On Sunday
alone, state news agency
It said about half were transferred to temporary shelters, while the rest were
staying with relatives in west
But despite a series of high-level meetings there was no progress in halting
the fighting.
France Accuses Russia of 'Lying' about
Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/France on Monday accused Russia of constantly lying over its role in
Syria, saying it was claiming to battle IS group militants when it was only
interested in backing Bashar al-Assad. Another round
of Russia-US talks on ending the bloody conflict made no progress at the
weekend as the Syrian president's forces closed in on the last pockets of rebel
resistance in
Death Toll after
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/The death toll from the
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/Turkish police detained more than 100 pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic
Party (HDP) officials on Monday over alleged links to Kurdish militants in a
country-wide operation, state media reported. The early-morning raids saw 118
HDP officials rounded up on suspicion of belonging to the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers' Party (PKK) or producing propaganda for the group, state news agency Anadolu said. Part of an anti-terror probe, the sweeping
arrest operation came after weekend attacks killed 38 people in Istanbul,
mostly police, which were claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK), seen
as a radical offshoot of the PKK. According to Anadolu,
20 officials in
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 12/16/A crowd of
men rushed through the narrow hallway of
"This is nothing," whispered one of the nurses in the emergency room
where Oday was being treated. "We have people
who come in here without any arms or legs," she said, asking to only be
identified by her first name, Malkiya, out of concern
for her safety.
Doctors in the small clinic in eastern
The women spoke on condition of anonymity as they were still living in a
The clinic inside
"All we can do is work as a stabilization unit," said Dr. Muhammad
Hassan Ali, explaining that without the ability to perform surgery, most of the
emergency cases he receives need to be transferred to a hospital in Irbil more
than an hour's drive away across bad roads and through half a dozen
checkpoints. Oday, the young boy, lost his left eye,
but the doctors at the clinic were able to bandage his wound and slow the
bleeding. As quickly as he was rushed into the building, he was carried out
into an ambulance bound for
Bahrain Upholds Jail Sentence for Opposition Chief
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/Bahrain's appeals court on Monday upheld a nine-year jail sentence
against opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman, a
judicial source said, the latest move in a crackdown on the Shiite majority.
The sentence against Salman, for inciting hatred and
calling for regime change by force, had been overturned by the court of
cassation in October. Salman, 51, is considered a
moderate who has pushed for a constitutional monarchy in
Al-Wefaq had the largest bloc in parliament before
lawmakers walked out in February 2011 in protest over a deadly crackdown on
Arab Spring-inspired protests. - Jails 'filled' -
It has in the past criticised the silence of
The movement is appealing against its dissolution.
Saudi Says British FM's
'Proxy War' Comment Misconstrued
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
12/16/The press took out of context comments by Britain's foreign secretary
about "proxy wars" waged by longtime ally
Saudi Arabia, the Saudi foreign minister said Sunday, deeming the matter
closed. In a video reported last week, Boris Johnson at a conference in
'Positive things'
Asked at the press conference if he would apologize, Johnson said he was
"here to emphasize the friendship" between the two countries. But he
added: "We believe in a candor in our
relationship," emphasizing the word "candor."
"And now, if you don't mind, is the time for us to talk about the positive
things that we're doing together," Johnson continued. May and the Gulf
leaders agreed at their
Internet, a Scourge to the
Monday, 12 December 2016/NCRI - The increased tendency among people, especially
youth, towards social networks has now turned into a security crisis for the
Iranian regime. According to figures, despite regime’s measures to censor,
filter and control the internet, nearly 22 million Iranians have joined the
Telegram social network alone. In this regard, the Iranian state website ‘Hamshahri’ reported on 15 August 2015 on the latest number
of
As acknowledged by regime’s Attorney General in this regard,
“unfortunately, the cyberspace is being used by many foreign (intellectual)
currents as a path to hit the system. The enemy is taking advantage of the
internet to inflict on us various types of social harms, including blasphemy
(insulting Mullahs). A soft war has been waged against us in this regard
(Terrorist Quds Force’s Tasnim
news agency, December 7, 2016)
Mullah Mohammad Jafari then acknowledges
regime’s oppressive policies regarding widespread censorship of the internet
and social networks and adds: “considering the Attorney General’s
responsibility, there is a close relationship with the Cyber Police with regard
to the internet, so that 13-14 thousand websites are blocked each week due to violations.”The fact is that many internet service
providers refuse any kind of collaboration with the Iranian regime to transfer
their servers to
Austrian MEP urges recognition of
democratic opposition led by Maryam Rajavi
Monday, 12 December 2016/NCRI - “Europe’s lawmakers, have a responsibility and
cannot close our eyes on tragic things happening and the aggressive role of
this Iranian regim.” and “cannot just go on
condemning the actions,” Mr Heinz Becker, member of European Parliament from
Austria told a meeting at the European Parliament. He urged MEPs
“to become proactive and take steps to show the mullahs that we mean everything
serious and we are serious” adding “the first step must be the recognition of
the democratic opposition to the mullahs in
Below is the text of speech by Mr Heinz Becker on Wednesday, 7 December
2016:
We have gathered here on an important occasion, it’s the European and the
International Day of Human Rights. It is therefore very timely to look at the
situation in
Thank you.
Monday, 12 December 2016/The mullahs' anti-human
regime on International Human Rights Day transferred 11 prisoners in Gohardasht prison to solitary confinement for execution and
at dawn on Sunday December 11 hanged 10 of them. At least 52 prisoners were
executed in
Message of Maryam
Rajavi to the Conference at the US Senate
NCRI Statements/Monday, 12 December 2016
Washington, D.C. - In a briefing held at the Senate Kennedy Caucus Room, senior
senators and former national security officials condemned the flagrant
violations of human rights in Iran and the clerical regime's meddling in the
region. They stressed on the need to adopt a firm policy on the religious
dictatorship ruling
In a video message to the briefing, Maryam Rajavi said:
Dear friends,
This Christmas, in celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, the
messenger of peace and solidarity, I wish all of you, who have gathered for
today’s meeting, health and prosperity. First, let me offer my warmest
appreciation to
Quite the contrary, the situation has been worsening in every aspect.
During Rouhani’s so-called “moderate”
presidency, more than 2,600 people have been executed. According to the United
Nations, this marks the largest number of executions in the past 25 years. In
order to create an atmosphere of repression and fear in society, the clerical
regime has been executing a large number of victims, in public places. At least
70 women have been hanged during Rouhani’s term.
Despite a decline in sanctions and transferring a considerable amount of cash
to the mullahs’ pocket, the Iranian economy is suffering from recession.
Bureaucratic and government corruption, and astronomical stealing by regime
officials, appear to be endless. The Iranian economy is under the control of
the regime’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
They are the only one who will benefit from trade with
In the region, the regime has used all its might to save the criminal dictator
of
Thank you.
U.S. Lawmakers Endorse Resolution to Bring
to Justice Perpetrators of Iran’s 1988 Massacre of MEK Political Prisoners
NCRI Iran News/Monday, 12 December 2016/The bi-partisan support is growing for
a U.S. House of Representatives resolution introduced by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), the Homeland Security Committee Chair, Eliot
Engel (D-NY), House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) ranking member and Ed
Royce (R-CA), the HFAC chairman. The resolution condemns the deteriorating
situation of human rights in
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December
Egypt’s Deadliest Church Attack
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/December 12/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/12/raymond-ibrahimgatestone-institute-egypts-deadliest-church-attack/
The worst attack on Egypt’s Christian minority in recent years occurred
yesterday, Sunday, December 11, 2016. St. Peter Cathedral in
As usual, witnesses say that state security was not present and that police
took an inordinate amount of time to arrive after the explosion. Preliminary
investigations point to a bomb placed inside an unattended lady’s purse on one
of the rear pews of the women’s section.
Mutilated bodies were strewn along the floor and pews of the cathedral. “I
found bodies, many of them women, lying on the pews. It was a horrible scene,”
said one witness.
“I saw a headless woman being carried away,” said Mariam
Shenouda: “Everyone was in a state of shock. We were
scooping up people’s flesh off the floor. There were children. What have they
done to deserve this? I wish I had died with them instead of seeing these
scenes.”
In death toll and severity, this attack surpasses what was formerly considered
the deadliest church attack in
Yesterday’s attack was also symbolically more significant: St. Peter’s Church
is attached to and used by St. Mark’s Cathedral, the seat of
It is to President Sisi’s shame that the deadliest
church attack in
Instances of angry Muslim mobs attacking and killing Christians on the mere rumor that they are trying to build a church, or are
meeting to pray in a house church, are also on the rise. Last summer in Minya—the same place where a 70-year-old Christian woman
was stripped naked, savagely beaten, spat on, and paraded in the streets to
jeers, whistles, and yells of “Allahu Akbar”—rioting
Muslims burned down 80 Christian homes on the rumor
that Christians were trying to build a church.[1] “No one did anything and the
police took no pre-emptive or security measures in anticipation of the
attacks,” said Bishop Makarios—who is also on record
saying that Christians are attacked “every two or three days” in Minya and that the authorities are always turning a blind
eye, if not actually aiding or enabling the attacks.
Even the much touted new law that purports to allow Christians to build
churches has been criticized by Coptic clergy, activists, local human rights
groups, and Christian members of parliament. They say it still continues to
discriminate against Christians, including with security provisions that
subject decisions on whether or not a church can be built to the whims of
violent mobs.
A reflection of this recently took place in the
“We don’t understand what is so dangerous about the Copts praying and
exercising their legal rights in this matter,” one local Christian said.
Adding insult to injury, the Egyptian government just boasted last week that it
is opening 10 new mosques every week; that there are 3,200 closed mosques that
need renovating, and that the government is currently working on 1,300 of them;
that it will take about 60 million Egyptian pounds to renovate them, but that
the government has allotted ten times that much, although a total of three
billion is needed; and that the Egyptian government is dedicated to spending
that much—for “whoever abuses public funds [which should be used for Islamic
worship], enters a war with Allah, ” to quote Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar
Gom‘a, Minister of Awqaf,
or endowments.
But when the nation’s more than 10 million Christian minority seeks to build a
church—and pay for it from their own pockets—all is woe in
That nothing has changed for
Tayeb further mocked the notion of “changing
religious discourse”—a phrase made popular by Sisi,
who in 2015 called on Al Azhar and its top
instructors to reform their teachings. Although Tayeb
appeared sitting in the front row, he is now dismissing Sisi’s
call for reform as “quixotic”: “Al Azhar doesn’t
change religious discourse—Al Azhar proclaims the
true religious discourse, which we learned from our elders,” said
And the law that the elders of Islam, the ulema,
bequeathed to Egypt’s Muslims holds that all conquered indigenous inhabitants —
in Egypt’s case, infidel Christians — must not be permitted to build churches,
must not complain or ask for equal rights, and must be grateful merely for
being allowed to live.
In short, not only has nothing changed for
[1] Among the rioters were women and children shouting “Allahu
Akbar!” and “We’ll burn the church, we’ll burn the church.” Even though Muslims
were attacking Christians, Egyptian television portrayed it as a “sectarian
clash.” After arriving, the police stood back and allowed the mob to continue
rioting, plundering and setting more Christian homes and vehicles on fire. The
Muslims then performed their afternoon prayers outside those Christians’ homes
they had not destroyed — with loudspeakers pointed at their doors.
There is life left in OPEC after all
Dr. Mohamed A. Ramady/Al Arabiya/December
12/16
The demise of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) has long
been proclaimed and its obituary was written long before the historic OPEC and
non-OPEC producers managed to pull off one of the least expected agreements in
Vienna on December 10. They managed to coordinate a joint production cut
between the two groups.
The meeting between OPEC and 21 non-OPEC countries resulted in a supply
reduction commitment by 12 non-OPEC countries of 558,000 bpd cuts – slightly
less than envisaged at the OPEC meeting on November 30 for six months starting
from January 2017. The oil-producing countries that agreed to the deal were
The significance of the non-OPEC cuts lays not in the final production cut
figure, which came slightly lower than the 600,000 bpd that OPEC had expected,
but in the diversity of countries making the production pledges. These included
If fully met, these non-OPEC cuts would take the total pledged cuts by OPEC and
non-OPEC to 1.8 million bpd, and far more than the initial August Algiers OPEC
agreement of under 1 million bpd, and would indeed have a significant element
in helping to restore a semblance of balance between supply and demand. Of more
significance is that
What is also going to underpin current market prices comfortably above the $50 pb levels was the news that after some initial conflicting
reports, Saudi Arabia and other Arab OPEC Gulf states have officially notified
their clients that they will indeed cut oil shipments from January 2017 to
comply with the latest OPEC agreement, and analysts expect, the reductions in
delivery to be more for the North American markets rather than the Asian,
specifically the Chinese market, where Saudi Arabia sells more than 60 percent
of its crude.
There could still be surprises along the way to unhinge the historic agreements
made, such as the news that Kuwait and Saudi Arabia would start production from
their joint Neutral Zone when both countries had committed to cuts at the
November 30 Vienna meeting. Last month, former Kuwaiti oil minister Al-Saleh and Saudi energy minister Khalid Al-Falih had an initial agreement to resume output from Wafra and Khafji shared fields,
without agreeing on a date for the resumption. Both countries hold equal shares
of production and reserves at Wafra and Khafji, which have a combined output capacity of more than
500,000 barrels a day.
Some put this down to last minute strategy from the Saudis to make everyone
come on board the OPEC agreement. However, others felt that the Saudi output
from the Neutral Zone was to compensate for production cuts from older fields.
The November 30 OPEC meeting has taken many by surprise and the OPEC and
non-OPEC meeting even more so because of the cynical view that no agreement
would take place in this organization.
However,
The news that
The November 30th OPEC meeting has taken many by surprise and the OPEC and
non-OPEC meeting even more so because of the cynical view that no agreement
would take place in this organization. Repeated attempts to get OPEC to speak
in one voice have failed since 2008 and there exists a perception that the
organization has passed its use-by date.However, OPEC
seems to have reinvented itself now, albeit with some rough patches along the
way. The crucial point of these meetings – independently monitored by the IEA –
is that for the first time some serious inter-group negotiations and dialogue
has taken place and borne fruit, as evidenced by the willingness of
The major unknown factor that still remains is the speed with which the
This is important as a key hurdle to overcome going forward is verification and
there is the belief that even if there was some non-compliance taking place, it
will be minimal and mostly from countries who had argued that their production
cuts should be based on their own primary sources rather than secondary
sources. As an old saying goes: “where there is a will, there is a way” it
certainly indicates that there is a large element of willingness this time from
both OPEC and non-OPEC producers to give this agreement a chance to succeed.
The markets will be watching like hawks for compliance from February onwards
once the January production figures are released. Moreover, long before OPEC’s
next meeting in June 2017 the world will have either witnessed the birth of a
long lasting cooperative mechanism between the two blocs or a collapse in such
efforts, with major producers reverting to maximizing their market share
strategy at the expense of countries with little spare capacity, high
production costs and fiscal stressed economies.
Everyone stands to gain by abiding, as much as they can, to the current
production cut agreements, otherwise indeed the demise of OPEC will be very
real.
Post-Brexit, May seeks to shape a new British profile
in the Gulf
Talmiz Ahmad/Al Arabiya/December
12/16
The population of London, its politicians, officials, financiers and bankers,
and its corporate leaders, were stunned by the popular vote in favor of “Brexit”, that is,
public support for the UK to snap its economic and political links with the
European Union (EU).
Prime Minister David Cameron had rather indiscreetly initiated the referendum
and then had not done enough to win the vote. He quickly resigned and handed
the baton to Theresa May in July to steer the country out of the EU and shape a
new role for
The region calls for “clear-eyed” statesmanship and leadership:
But, as British power declined and its global role diminished, the
Threads of relationship
In her first visit to the Gulf, May met the leaders of
the GCC in
Prime Minister May’s principal interest was the boosting of economic ties:
But, given the conflicts and instability in the region, political issues were
uppermost in the minds of her GCC interlocutors. An interviewer reminded her
that the
Iran’s ‘malign activities’
May categorically stated that the UK was “clear-eyed” about Iran’s “malign
activities” and, after the Iranian nuclear weapons program had been terminated
with the P5+1 agreement, it was now necessary to check Iran’s “malign
activities” in “other areas”. She reminded the interviewer that the UK had a
security partnership with the GCC countries but not with Iran, and that the UK
would be setting up its permanent military presence in the Gulf by stationing
its warships at a base in Bahrain. According to British reports, the
May echoed these views in her remarks at the GCC Summit when she promised
British help “to push back against
Europe: Illegal to Criticize Islam
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/December /16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/12/judith-bergmangatestone-institute-europe-illegal-to-criticize-islam/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9525/europe-illegal-criticize-islam
While Geert Wilders was being prosecuted in the
Netherlands for talking about "fewer Moroccans" during an election
campaign, a state-funded watchdog group says that threatening homosexuals with
burning, decapitation and slaughter is just fine, so long as it is Muslims who
are making those threats, as the Quran tells them that such behavior
is mandated.
"I am still of the view that declaring statistical facts or even sharing
an opinion is not a crime if someone doesn't like it." - Finns Party
politician, Terhi Kiemunki,
fined 450 euros for writing of a "culture and
law based on a violent, intolerant and oppressive religion."
In
As
It is troubling that Western governments are so eager to crack down on anything
that vaguely resembles what has erroneously been termed "Islamophobia," which literally means an irrational
fear of Islam.
Considering the violence we have been witnessing, for those Westerners who have
studied Islam and listened to what the most influential Islamic scholars have
to say, there are quite a few things in Islam of which one legitimately ought
to be fearful.
Several European governments have made it clear to their citizens
that criticizing European migrant policies or migrants is criminally
off-limits and may lead to arrest, prosecution and even convictions. Although
these practices constitute police state behavior,
European governments do not stop there. They go still farther, by ensuring that
Islam in general is not criticized either.
During the trial, Kiemunki was asked why she did not
make a distinction between Islam and radical Islam. She replied that she meant
to refer to the spread of Islamic culture and religion, and that she
"probably should have" spoken of radicalized elements of the religion
instead of the faith as a whole. Kiemunki was fined
450 euros. Her lawyer has appealed the verdict.
Kiemunki issued a press release after the verdict, in
which she said: "I am still of the view that declaring statistical facts
or even sharing an opinion is not a crime if someone doesn't like it... I wrote
that I don't want our country to be overtaken by a culture and law based on a
violent, intolerant and oppressive religion."
According to YLE, she added that her essay did not generalize about Muslims,
but pointed out that not all Muslims are terrorists. "In these times,
specifically in the recent past and today, all of the perpetrators of terrorist
acts have turned out to be Muslim," she said.
In
So in
It is a pity that Kiemunki did not present the court
with quotes from the Quran, such as, "Fight and kill the disbelievers
wherever you find them..." (9:5), and "So fight them until there is
no more fitna [strife] and all submit to the religion
of Allah." (8:39). Perhaps, then, the court could have at least tried to
explain to the public in more concrete detail the differences between
"Islam" and "radical Islam."
In the
"the context of a public debate about how to interpret the Quran... some
Muslims understand from the Quran that gays should be killed... In the context
of religious expression that exists in the
So, while Geert Wilders was prosecuted in the
Netherlands for talking about "fewer Moroccans" during an election
campaign, a state-funded watchdog group says that threatening homosexuals with
burning, decapitation and slaughter is just fine, so long as it is Muslims who
are making those threats, as the Quran tells them that such behavior
is mandated. This might be one of the most astounding examples of voluntary
submission to sharia law in the West thus far.
A spokesman for the MiND hotline later admitted that,
after "further research" on the issue, it had concluded that the
complaint had been "unjustly assessed" -- after Dutch MPs called for
the hotline to be stripped of public funding.
In February 2016, a Danish district court found a man guilty of making
statements on Facebook that the court found to be
"insulting and demeaning towards adherents of Islam." The man had
written:
"The ideology of Islam is as loathsome, disgusting, oppressive and as
misanthropic as Nazism. The massive immigration of Islamists into
He was fined for "racism." The High Court subsequently overturned the
verdict in May 2016. The court found that the man was in fact innocent of
racism, as his statements were "directed at the ideology of Islam and
Islamism."
It is troubling that Western governments are so eager to crack down on anything
that vaguely resembles what has erroneously been termed "Islamophobia," which literally means an irrational
fear of Islam. Considering the violence we have been witnessing, it would be
irrational not to have fear of its threats. As Shabnam
Assadollahi recently pointed out in an open letter to
Canadian Members of Parliament, there are quite a few things in Islam of which
one legitimately ought to be fearful.
All these governments need to do is consult the speeches of one of the most
influential living Islamic scholars of Sunni Islam, the spiritual leader of the
Muslim Brotherhood, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Qaradawi hosts one of Al Jazeera's
most popular programs, Sharia and Life, which reaches
an estimated 60 million viewers worldwide. Already in 1995, Qaradawi
told a Muslim Arab Youth Association convention in
Dawa, the Islamic call to conversion, is the Islamic
summons for the non-violent conquest of non-Muslim lands, including
While prosecuting and sanctioning people who criticize Islam is becoming more
common in Europe, this practice used to be reserved only for Muslim countries
officially governed by sharia law, such as Saudi
Arabia or Pakistan, where it is forbidden to insult Islam.
It is a pity that European courts and other state bodies have begun taking
their cues from Islamic law. Apparently, European judges and politicians are no
longer capable of appreciating the immense freedoms that used to be the norm on
the continent, and which they seem all too willing, of their own free will, to
abolish.
*Judith Bergman is a writer, columnist, lawyer and political analyst.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
Why Donald Trump Should Focus on Africa
Ahmed Charai/Gatestone Institute/December12/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9522/trump-africa-focus
President-elect Trump has the opportunity to make a historic course correction,
and to do so in a manner consistent with his administration's stated goals. By
renegotiating the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was first
initiated by the Clinton Administration, he can strengthen American exports,
create new export-related jobs and foster development-oriented investment on
the continent. By reforming
What's a three-word foreign policy agenda President-elect Donald Trump can
pursue that will create American jobs, reduce terrorism, challenge
On the one hand, the world's poorest continent is rife with socioeconomic
problems that have paved the way for some lands to become hubs of international
terrorism, posing a threat to their own populations as well as to distant
countries, including the
These clear and present threats were built on a continent's suffering — from
example, drought in Somalia and throughout East Africa, and totalitarianism and
corruption across the continent — breeding weak, failing and failed states that
prove commodious to jihadist operations. Dictators in the mold
of
On the other hand, some parts of
One
By contrast, President Obama's legacy has been more hot air than action. It
began with a preachy speech in
Obama's policies have since fallen flat: A U.S. Government initiative to power
up the continent with electricity, promising 30 thousand megawatts of power,
came up 26 thousand megawatts short. American commerce with the continent, via
a free trade agreement dating back to the
Kenyan military personnel meet with
President-elect Trump has the opportunity to make a historic course correction,
and to do so in a manner consistent with his administration's stated goals. By
renegotiating the U.S. African Growth and Opportunity Act, which was first
initiated by the Clinton Administration, he can strengthen American exports,
create new export-related jobs and foster development-oriented investment on
the continent. By reforming
Meanwhile, Trump's commitment to strengthening U.S. military capacities can and
must include due attention to AFRICOM — both in terms of the resources it
needs, and with respect to the need to partner with indigenous militaries,
which should become the world's first line of defense
from terror based in Africa. All these measures — in benefiting Americans, winning
goodwill among Africans and strengthening
Donald Trump will find that helping Africans achieve their dreams is a cause
that smartly complements his plans and goals to benefit the
*Reprinted with the kind permission of the author.
*Mr. Charai, a Moroccan publisher, is on the board of
directors of the Atlantic Council, the Center for Strategic and International
Studies and the Center for the National Interest.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
As Aleppo's Fall To Assad Regime Seems Assured, Regime Is Certain Of Its
Victory And Future International Influence – And Opposition Recognizes Defeat
By: N. Mozes and M. Terdiman/MEMRI/December
12/2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/12/n-mozes-m-terdimanmemri-as-aleppos-fall-to-assad-regime-seems-certain-of-its-victory-future-international-influence-opposition-recognizes-defeat/
Introduction
After six years of war in Syria, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad seems to have the upper hand over the rebel
forces. Massive assistance from allies
The regime's numerous military victories, especially in Aleppo, are coming at a
time of political change in some of the Western superpowers that have led the
anti-Assad camp. Donald Trump's presidential triumph, the anticipated French
presidential win of Francois Fillon, and statements
by both indicating their willingness to work together with Assad in the fight
against ISIS have led the Syrian regime to expect shifts in its favor in U.S. and French policy vis-a-vis
the Syria crisis. They have also increased the regime's belief that its cause
is just and that it will prevail, and encouraged it to continue to strive for
total victory, with no negotiations.
Throughout the war, even when its battlefield and diplomatic situations were at
their nadir, the Syrian regime never wavered, maintaining confidence that it
would triumph in the end.[2] Today its sense of
victory is paralleled by an equal measure of despondency among the opposition
and its supporters, with mounting losses on the battlefield, growing division
in its ranks, and increasingly numerous voices that are beginning to acknowledge
a coming Assad victory.
This paper will describe the Assad regime's and its
allies' sense of victory, as reflected by top regime officials' statements and
by articles published by the state and pro-regime newspapers. It will also
review the frustration and despair of the opposition and its supporters, as
seen in articles in the Syrian and Arab press expressing recognition of the
coming defeat.
Assad Regime: Victory Is On The Horizon, Will Change Power Balance Not Only
Locally But Also Internationally
As stated, in the past weeks the Syrian regime has been encouraged by its
achievements on the ground and by changes in the international arena that, it
believes, will allow it to remain in power and also position it as a major
player not only on the regional level but on the global one. This is evident
from statements by Syrian officials and articles in the government and
pro-regime press.
The Terrorists Face A Choice Between Surrender And Death
Having recaptured about two thirds of Aleppo by besieging the residents and
withholding humanitarian aid from them while carrying out indiscriminate
airstrikes and artillery attacks, including on hospitals, the regime is more
determined than ever to eliminate the remaining pockets of resistance in the
city, and rejects out of hand any arrangement other than a complete surrender
of the rebel forces. In a December 8, 2016 interview with the pro-regime daily
Al-Watan, Assad stressed his determination to retake
Muhriz Al-'Ali, a columnist for the pro-regime daily
Al-Thawra, wrote: "Uprooting terror is a top
priority, and the only choice the terrorists [now] have is between death and
surrender, because the decision to purge Aleppo and all of Syria of the filth
of terror and terrorist has already been made, and this is the foremost goal of
all Syrians, no matter how many sacrifices [it takes]."[4]
Al-Thawra columnist Nasser Mundhir
wrote in a similar vein that the battle for
Cartoon in Saudi daily: "Bashar" targets
Syrians with barrel bombs, "Russia" with missiles, "Iran"
with guns and "ISIS" with knives (Al-Iqtisadiyya,
Saudi Arabia, December 7, 2016)
Aleppo – A Turning Point In The Syria War: Our Steadfast Position Changes The
International Balance Of Power
As the Syrian regime sees it, its military successes across the country,
specifically in Aleppo, and its ability to stand fast throughout the crisis,
have shifted the balance of power not only in Syria but also in the world.
Assad told Al-Watan in an interview that while
domestic issues were a factor in the changes in Western countries, the changes
were also the result of external elements, such as terrorism and immigration, that are directly linked to the events in
Bouthaina Sha'aban,
political advisor to Assad, was more forceful, saying: "
Hizbullah Executive Council Chairman Hashem Safi Al-Din said in a similar vein that after the
army recaptures eastern
Ahmad Hassan, a columnist for the Syrian state daily Al-Ba'th,
compared the battle for
Al-Ba'th columnist 'Imad
Salem wrote: "The world is on the verge of a strategic transformation that
will transform [various] alliances, so that countries that dream of keeping
their long tentacles in distant places will be forced to withdraw back into
their own borders... The contours of the victory of the Syrian army and its
allies in World War III [i.e., the
Rif'at Al-Badawi, a
columnist for the pro-regime Syrian daily Al-Watan,
claimed that in today's world, anyone who wishes to win a presidential election
must recognize the important role of the Syrian regime. In a column titled
"
Contempt For U.S., UN: The Americans' Threats Are Meaningless, de Mistura Must Go
This perception of the Assad regime that the developments on the ground and in
the international arena are in its favor is also
reflected in statements by Syrian officials and articles in the pro-regime
press expressing open contempt for the U.S. administration and for UN Special
Envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura.
In an interview with Al-Watan, President Assad
attacked outgoing
Criticism at the U.S. administration was also expressed in press articles,
especially after National Security Advisor Susan Rice said, following the
escalation of the attacks on Aleppo, that "the Syrian regime and its
allies, Russia in particular, bear responsibly for the immediate and long term
consequences these actions have caused in Syria and beyond."[13] The
articles stated that this was mere bluster, like the
Amin Hatit, a Lebanese
columnist and analyst for Al-Thawra, wrote: "When
Obama threatened to attack Syria in 2013 [following reports that the regime had
used chemical weapons], we knew this was [mere] bluster and that he would never
dare to act on it, in light of what would await him on Syrian soil [if he
did]... The American warnings and threats have no effect on decisions in
A similar attitude was expressed towards Staffan de Mistura, who was received coldly during his November 20,
2016 visit to
Al-Watan's assessment turned out to be correct.
Following de Mistura's visit, which lasted only a few
hours and which included a meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Mu'allem, the minister
held a solo press conference in which he rejected out of hand de Mistura's proposal for a ceasefire in Aleppo in exchange
for the departure of Jabhat Fath
Al-Sham (formerly Jabhat Al-Nusra)
fighters from eastern Aleppo and local opposition forces' establishment of some
kind of autonomous governance. Al-Mu'allem called the
proposal "totally unacceptable, as it harms our national sovereignty and
rewards terrorism," and added that it was inconceivable that the UN would
present such an initiative. De Mistura, he said, had
not met expectations, had not discussed a renewal of intra-Syrian dialogue, and
had provided no guarantees that the ceasefire would be respected by countries
that support terrorism.[17]
Articles in the Syrian press likewise accused de Mistura
of supporting terrorists and overstepping the bounds of his position, and
called on him to resign. An article in Al-Thawra
stated: "The UN has never [before involved itself] so bluntly as a direct
side [in the conflict] by means of its envoy, who is not just biased in favor of the terrorists but has worked to violate the UN
charter and principles... It appears as though the UN envoy does not want to
end his role before using his influence to consolidate the terrorist plan and
allow its supporters to retain a foothold [in Syria]..."[18]
Al-Watan columnist Samer
'Ali Dahi wrote: "After [de Mistura's
visit to Damascus] today, it will come as no surprise if Damascus demands to
replace the international mediator [de Mistura], who
has so far failed in his task... His trip to
Al-Thawra columnist 'Abd
Al-Halim Sa'ud wrote
similarly: "De Mistura's efforts to defend some
7,000 terrorists in eastern Aleppo while disregarding some 2,000,000 residents
who suffer because of them is an outrageous [act by] the UN that cannot be
passed over in silence or allowed to continue, and it [also] constitutes a
blatant overstepping of the bounds of [de Mistura's]
role. Perhaps de Mistura, who is so committed to [the
safety of] the terrorists in eastern Aleppo, should have persuaded them to
emigrate to the West and used his vast experience to persuade the Western
countries who support them to take them in..."[20]
Assad Opponents, Demoralized And Defeated, Are Recognizing That Assad Has Won
The Assad regime's current sense that victory is at hand is now, for the first
time, being echoed by some members of the opposition, as is seen in recent
articles published inside and outside Syria that express despair and recognition
of defeat.
Military, Political Opposition Bodies Criticized For
"Hijacking Our Revolution"
One of the main factors in the opposition's defeat both on the ground and in
the political arena is the rift between the political and the military opposition,
which dates back to the onset of the revolution. The rift is the result of the
lack of a single, agreed-upon leadership – a weakness skillfully
exploited by the regime and its allies. One notable manifestation of this of
this state of affairs was the absence of representatives from both the National
Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces and from the Syrian
High Negotiations Committee, both of which claim to represent the Syrian
opposition, from the December 2016 Turkey-sponsored talks in Ankara between
representatives from some of the factions fighting in eastern Aleppo and
Russian military personnel.[21]
The opposition's repeated defeats on the ground, particularly in Aleppo, led
many regime opponents to criticize the poor functioning of the political and
military opposition and of the many splits among them. Some claimed that these
bodies did not represent them. Syrian journalist 'Ali Safar wrote in an article
titled "Who Gave You Our Voices? Why Do You Speak in Our Name?":
"In the last six years, no political or military body emerged that enjoys
a Syrian consensus and can be trusted to accelerate the political process and
end the disgraceful reality in which all [Syrians] live, inside and outside the
country... An armed group takes the fate of an entire region into its hands,
claiming to speak for its residents, and the regime continues to do the exact
same thing... and the political opposition [also] does the same thing, by other
means. All these elements... bear no relation to democracy and have never asked
a single Syrian if he agrees to their involvement in his life..."[22]
Syrian journalist Khalil Al-Miqdad
wondered: "Do we not have the right to ask these [opposition] leaders
about the reasons for the division [among them] and the defeats on the ground,
the price of which has been paid by hundreds of thousands of people [?]... Have
our people been killed and forced to emigrate, and have our villages been
destroyed, [just] so that instead of one thief a [whole] gang of thieves and
mercenaries will rule [the country], living at the expense of our people's
blood?"[23]
Syrian oppositionist Rima Fleihan
denounced the elements she said had "stolen the revolution" and
turned it into an armed sectarian conflict, and called to save the revolution
from certain death by returning to non-violent measures. She wrote: "Our
strength drained away when we allowed [all sorts of] wretches to steal our
revolution right before our eyes, while we paid no heed, thinking that they
shared our opinion and goal. Our strength drained away when they destroyed the
non-violent character [of the revolution]..., and when the national discourse
of the revolution turned into inciting sectarian discourse due to foolish,
despicable resentful people who were not even ashamed to annihilate us using
various methods and to remove the mantle of the revolution from its true
sons... Our strength drained away when we believed that there was someone in
the world who truly cared about our pain and wanted us to extricate ourselves
from the quagmire of dictatorship [and gain] freedom and human dignity... Our
strength drained away when we believed that our Arab and Muslim brothers would
pay attention to anything beyond their personal interests and maintaining their
rule [over their countries]...
"Only restoring the original purity of the revolution, and its initial
perception and non-violent character, will restore [the vigor
of] our youth... The only thing that will save us from death – which seems
inevitable in light of the rise of extremism, the hateful discourse, the rise
of the extremists to power in most of the countries involved [in the Syria
crisis], and the cruelty of those who attack us and our land – is a
comprehensive national program for fixing all the mistakes we Syrians have
made. That will happen only when we can finally learn from our mistakes... and
stop rejoicing at one another's death..."[24]
In addition to criticizing the performance of opposition bodies, some articles
by Syrian oppositionists and supporters of the opposition in Saudi Arabia and
elsewhere reflected recognition of the opposition's impending defeat and
despair of achieving the main goal of the revolution, i.e., toppling the Assad
regime.
Muhammad Rushdi Sharbaji, a
Syrian writer living in
George Sama'an, a Lebanese columnist for the
London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat, was even more
pessimistic, arguing that the opposition had no chance of victory in Aleppo and
should consider its next move: "In the coming days, the opposition will
have no choice but to accept Aleppo's fate: either the model of Grozny, which
spells total destruction, or the model of Beirut, where Israel [first] besieged
and cornered the PLO and [then] removed it from its headquarters and from the
streets of the city, [sending it] to a far-flung diaspora...
Can the Syrian opposition, which could not topple the [Assad] regime for a
thousand objective and subjective reasons, successfully fight the Russian and
Iranian militaries, which are armed with all manner of heavy weapons? The
challenge is great. Many just revolutions throughout history have failed, but
other revolutions succeeded, because they knew how to adjust their political
and military strategies..."[26]
Hazem Saghieh, a Lebanese
columnist for Al-Hayat, complained about the
improvement in Assad's global standing despite his crimes against the Syrian
people. He wrote: "The claim that more and more people are keen on Bashar Al-Assad, or at the very least prefer him to his
rivals, is gaining momentum. In recent months, this growing list of names has
seen the addition of [president-elect] Donald Trump in America and of [leading
presidential candidate] Francois Fillon in France...
while Bashar Al-Assad, along with his two biggest
allies, Vladimir Putin and Ali Khamenei, continues
the destruction and murder in Aleppo. Nobody blames him for this terrible
disaster... and almost everyone agrees that he is part of the solution and of
the future..."[27]
Some articles focused on what comes after an Assad's victory and on what has
been learned from the revolution in
"Assad will win. Fine. But he is defeating his
own people, and history teaches us that such a victory is
unsustainable."[28]
Former Egyptian MP Mustafa Al-Nagar, who served in the Egyptian parliament in
2012-2013 during Muhammad Mursi's presidency,
expressed concern that following an Assad victory, other tyrants could deal
with their own opponents the same way he did: "The big tragedy of the
Syrian revolution's failure is that it will create a historic model in support
of tyranny and extermination as a way of controlling people against their will.
Our Arab region has given birth to a bloody model, the Bashar
model, which provides tyrants with a roadmap for survival – according to which
you kill your people mercilessly if they rise up against you. The more you
kill, the better you ensure the survival of your regime.
Anti-Assad Syrian Journalist: "I Want The Dictator Back"
The depth of the despair felt by the camp opposing Assad is evident in an
article by Dr. Faisal Al-Qassem, a senior Syrian
journalist working for the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV and a fierce opponent of
the Assad regime. He argued that in light of what happened after the regimes in
"Let us examine why the situation in
"Just look at what happened to the Iraqis after they got rid of Saddam
Hussein... Despite the drawbacks of that horrid dictatorship, it was dozens of
times better for the Iraqis than the American democracy, which rode in on
tanks... Instead of transitioning to true democracy, all the opposition
elements sought to take Saddam's place. So we got 20 Shi'ite
Saddams, 40 Sunni Saddams,
and 50 Kurdish [Saddams], and people began to miss
having only one dictator...
"We want freedom, but freedom with security, not freedom accompanied by
chaos, murder, robbery, looting, and militias. I was an avowed supporter of
democracy, but now I want the dictator back, in order to at least keep people
alive... The Iraqi scenario has spread to
"How many factions are fighting the regime [in
*
Endnotes:
[1] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1221, Local Ceasefire Agreements In
[2] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 6322, In Recent Speech, Assad Expresses
Confidence In Regime's Victory, Says Crisis Will Be Resolved Through War On
Terror, Local Ceasefires, February 24, 2016; Special Dispatch No. 5332, Bashar Al-Assad To 'Al-Akhbar':
The Western Game In Syria Is About To End; We Have Rejected Attractive Western
Proposals To Finance Syria's Reconstruction, June 11, 2013; Special Dispatch
No. 6422, Syrian Regime And Its Mouthpieces: Aleppo Campaign Will Continue
Until Final Victory; U.S. And Its Regional Proxies
Responsible For
[3] Al-Watan (
[4] Al-Thawra (
[5] Al-Thawra (
[6] Al-Watan (
[7]
[8] Al-Safir (
[9] Al-Ba'th (
[10] Al-Ba'th (
[11] Al-Watan (
[12] Al-Watan (
[13] Whitehouse.gov, November 19, 2016.
[14] Al-Thawra (
[15] Al-Thawra (
[16] Al-Watan (
[17]
[18] Al-Thawra (
[19] Al-Watan (
[20] Al-Thawra (
[21] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (
[22] Orient-news.net, November 22, 2016.
[23] Orient-news.net, December 6, 2016.
[24] All4Syria.info, December 3, 2016.
[25] Enabbaladi.net, December 4, 2016.
[26] Al-Hayat (
[27] Al-Hayat (
[28] Al-Hayat (
[29] Arabi21.com, December 5, 2016.
[30] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (