LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

December 19/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

 

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Bible Quotations For Today
Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.
 Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint John 08/01-11/:'Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’]]
 
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval.
Letter to the Hebrews 11/01-06/:"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken so that he did not experience death; and ‘he was not found, because God had taken him.’ For it was attested before he was taken away that ‘he had pleased God.’ And without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would approach him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 18-19/16
O
n Aleppo and the world’s humanity/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Options for Palestinians in rapidly changing environment/Dr. Ghassan Khatib/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
The sky is crying for Aleppo/Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Should we start referring to refugees as migrants/Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Europe: Christmas Shoppers in Jihadist Crosshairs/George Igler/Gatestone Institute/December 18/16
The Crescent Must be Above the Cross/Muslim Persecution of Christians: September, 2016/Raymond Ibrahim/December 18, 2016

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on December 18-19/16
Hariri: Government of national consensus, to focus on solving crises as much as possible
Lebanon Forms 30-Member Govt.: Kataeb Stays Out as Five New Portfolios Created
Declaration of new Lebanese Cabinet: 30 Ministers, 5 innovative Ministries
Geagea commenting on the new Cabinet: We do not find it ideal, but we will put all our weight to render it productive
Mikati: They divided the ministries, so the Cabinet was formed!
Jumblatt via Twitter: After thorough, intense examinations by Specialists, "Cabinet is Born"
Al-Rahi Urges Politicians Not to 'Repeat Presidential Void Experience in Govt. Formation'
Qaouq: Lebanon Benefits the Most from Aleppo Victory
Lebanese State Security in Akkar Raid over Attack on Sergeant

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 18-19/16
10 Dead, including a Canadian Tourist, Several Hurt in Armed Attacks in Jordan Touristic City
Putin Envoy Meets Iran Officials for Syria Talks
Buses Enter Eastern Aleppo to Resume Evacuations
Russia Says to Veto Aleppo Observers Move, Circulates Own U.N. Resolution
Gunmen Attack Buses Sent to Evacuate Syria Pro-Regime Villages
NATO Chief Defends Decision to Stay Out of Syrian War
More than 100,000 Iraqis Displaced in Mosul Op
Iraqi Tribal Paramilitaries Executed Prisoners, Says HRW
13 Killed in Indonesian Military Plane Crash
U.N. Libya Envoy Calls for Reconciliation after Sirte Victory
Jubeir: Iran’s meddling in region must be stopped
Israeli Troops Kill Stone-Throwing Palestinian Teenager
Egypt court orders novelist Naji freed
Egypt seizes Iranian ship loaded with drugs
Leader of Iraqi militia fighting in Syria meets with Khamenei
Iran discusses nuclear ships plan with IAEA chief
Salman meets Kerry, Pakistan army chief
Early release for ex-Israeli president from prison rape term


Links From Jihad Watch Site for on December 18-19/16
It is now time for the Islamic conquests”: Iran threatens Bahrain, Yemen
Syria: Muslims use 7-year-old girl for jihad suicide attack at police station
Muslim cleric banned in Pakistan is preaching in UK mosques
German school in Istanbul cancels Christmas
Belgium: 10 Muslim teens arrested for plotting jihad bombings at Christmas carnivals
Sam Harris replies to Robert Spencer, Spencer responds
Australia: Muslim migrant mob beat beachworkers “senseless”
UK spends $749,250 of taxpayer money to give Muslim migrants free legal advice
DHS gives Somali Muslims security briefings and tours of secured areas in airports
Students at Brigham Young University don hijabs in solidarity with Muslims

Links From Christian Today Site for on on December 18-19/16
Suicide Bomber Kills At Least 30 Soldiers In Yemen's Aden
Aleppo: Will A Deal Be Reached To Evacuate Rebel Held Areas?
IS Shows No Sign Of Weakening As Mosul Battle Enters Third Month
Pope, Bishops Called On To Break Stalemate in Democratic Republic Of Congo
Church Asked To Mediate Between Indigenous People And Chinese Mining Company In Ecuador
Her Passion For Justice Burned Like White Heat: Who Was Eglantyne Jebb?

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on December 18-19/16
Hariri: Government of national consensus, to focus on solving crises as much as possible
Sun 18 Dec 2016/NNA - In a statement from Baabda Presidential Palace following the new cabinet formation declaration, Prime Minister Saad Hariri named his new cabinet as "government of national consensus."Hariri vowed that the new cabinet shall focus on solving as many as possible of the prevailing crises.
 
Lebanon Forms 30-Member Govt.: Kataeb Stays Out as Five New Portfolios Created
Naharnet/December 18/16/The line-up of a 30-minister cabinet was announced on Sunday at the Baabda Palace, bringing together most of the political spectrum except for the Kataeb Party that refused to be represented by a state minister. New portfolios include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state for women. “This is a national unity government... and it will immediately start to address as much issues as it can during its term that will not exceed a few months, topped by the problems of waste, electricity and water,” said Prime Minister Saad Hariri in a speech at the Baabda Palace after the line-up was declared. “Politically, the first mission of this government, in cooperation with the parliament, will be to reach a new electoral law that takes proportional representation and correct representation into consideration, so that the parliamentary polls can be organized on time,” Hariri added
 
Declaration of new Lebanese Cabinet: 30 Ministers, 5 innovative Ministries
Sun 18 Dec 2016/NNA - Three decrees pertaining to accepting the resignation of the Cabinet of PM Tammam Salam, designating Saad Hariri to form the new government and the new cabinet formation were issued on Sunday. The first two decrees were signed by President Michel Aoun, while the third decree was signed by both Aoun and Hariri.
The decrees were announced by Premiership Secretary General Fouad Fleifel, as outlined below:
 - Decree of Accepting the Resignation
 The content of the decree number 1 of accepting the resignation of Tammam Salam's Cabinet reads as follows:
 "Based on item 53 of article 5 of the Constitution, and paragraph (A) of article 1 item 69, and in reference to the tendered resignation of Prime Minister Tammam Salam, the President of the Republic decrees the following:
 Item one: The Cabinet headed by Mr. Tammam Salam has resigned
 Item two: This article must be disseminated where needed and acted upon immediately.
 Baabda on Sunday, December 18, 2016
 President of the Republic, Michel Aoun
 - Decree of Designating Saad Hariri
 Decree number 2 named Mr. Saad Hariri as Head of Cabinet.
 "Based on article 3 item 53 of the Constitution and decree number 1, dated December 18, 2016, which considers the Cabinet headed by Mr. Tammam Salam as resigned, the President of the Republic decrees the following:
 Item one: Mr. Saad Hariri is designated as Prime Minister
 Item two: This decree must be published where needed and enacted upon once issued.
 Baabda on Sunday, December 18, 2016
 President of the Republic, Michel Aoun
 - Decree of Forming the Cabinet
 Decree number 3 pertaining to forming the new government reads as follows:
 "In accordance with the Constitution, particularly article 4 item 53, and based on decree number 2 issued on December 18, 2016, which named Mr. Saad Hariri as Head of Cabinet, and upon the suggestion of the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic decrees the following:
 Item one: Appointing the following Messrs.:
 Saad Hariri as Prime Minister
 Ghassan Hasbani as Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health
 Marwan Hamadeh as Minister of Education and Higher Learning
 Talal Erslan as Minister of Displaced
 Ghazi Zeaiter as Minister of Agriculture
 Michel Pharaon as State Minister for Planning Affairs
 Ali Qansou as State Minister for Parliament Council Affairs
 Ali Hassan Khalil as State Minister for Financial Affairs
 Mohamad Fneish as Youth and Sports Minister
 Jean Ogassapian as State Minister for Women Affairs
 Yaacoub Sarraf as National Defense Minister
 Gebran Bassil as Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister
 Hussein Hajj Hassan as Industry Minister
 Selim Jreissaty as Justice Minister
 Nuhad el-Mashnouq as Interior and Municipalities Minister
 Mohamad Kabbara as Labor Minister
 Ayman Shkeir as State Minister for Human Rights Affairs
 Jamal el-Jarrah as Tele-Communications Minister
 Mou'een el-Merehbi as State Minister for Refugees
 Ghattas Khoury as Culture Minister
 Pierre Raffoul as State Minister for Presidential Affairs
 Ncoula Tueini as State Minister for Combating Corruption
 Tarek Khatib as Environment Minister
 Inaya Ezzeddine as State Minister for Administrative Development Affairs
 Youssef Finianos as Public Works and Transportation Minister
 Melhem Riachi as Information Minister
 Pierre Bou Assi as Social Affairs Minister
 Oadis Kadenian as Tourism Minister
 Cesar Abi Khalil as Water and Energy Minister
 Raed Khoury as Economy and Trade Minister
 Item two: This decree is to be published where needed and acted upon once issued.
 Baabda on Sunday, December 18, 2016
 Issued by President of the Republic Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

 
Geagea commenting on the new Cabinet: We do not find it ideal, but we will put all our weight to render it productive
 Mon 19 Dec 2016/NNA - In a press conference at his Me'rab residence following the new government formation on Sunday evening, Lebanese Forces Party Head Samir Geagea said: "Quite frankly, we do not find it ideal, starting with its size far-reaching its several gaps; however, we shall put all our effort to make it productive." Geagea added that "we will not be within the government in a traditional manner nor as an additional number," vowing to accomplish dreams and plans, while reiterating the need for the cabinet to be a "homogenous, active body."
 
Mikati: They divided the ministries, so the Cabinet was formed!
Sun 18 Dec 2016 /NNA - Commenting on the new government formation, former Prime Minister Najib Mikati said, on Sunday, that "they divided the cabinet ministries, so it saw the light!"He added: "The most important thing right now is endorsing a new, long-awaited parliamentary electoral law, reflecting the Lebanese people's aspirations."
 
Jumblatt via Twitter: After thorough, intense examinations by Specialists, "Cabinet is Born"
 Mon 19 Dec 2016/NNA - "Cabinet is Born" after thorough and intense examinations by Specialists, Progressive Socialist Party, Deputy Walid Jumblatt, commented via Twitter following cabinet formation.
 
Al-Rahi Urges Politicians Not to 'Repeat Presidential Void Experience in Govt. Formation'
 Naharnet/December 18/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called on political and parliamentary blocs to speed up the formation of the new cabinet, warning against creating a deadlock similar to that persisted throughout two and a half years of presidential vacuum. “We were hoping, together with the Lebanese citizens who are loyal to Lebanon, that the political and parliamentary blocs would sense how critical are the economic and social situations that are burdening our people,” al-Rahi said in his Sunday Mass sermon. He lamented that the pressing issues did not push politicians to “show a spirit of responsibility and impartiality by facilitating the mission of forming a new government.”“Aren't two and a half years of presidential void and two months of failure to form a new cabinet enough for political officials to realize how bad this political practice is?” al-Rahi asked rhetorically.
 
Qaouq: Lebanon Benefits the Most from Aleppo Victory
 Naharnet/December 18/16/A senior Hizbullah official announced Sunday that “Lebanon is the side that benefits the most” from the Syrian regime's recapture of the northern city of Aleppo. “Lebanon is the side that benefits the most from Syria's victory in Aleppo's battle, because its stability is directly linked to the outcome of the battle against takfiri terrorism in Mosul and Aleppo,” Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, the deputy head of Hizbullah's executive council, said. “When the takfiri scheme suffers a defeat there, Lebanon becomes more secure, stable and immune to the threat of takfiri emirates and schemes,” Qaouq added. He noted that “the achievements of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies in Syria have buried the scheme of federalist partition that was supported by the axis of Syria's enemies, preventing the removal of Syria from the axis of defiance and resistance.” “The victory that has been achieved in Aleppo has settled Syria's identity and unity, buried the Saudi dreams of partitioning, and established new equations at the level of the region and the world,” Qaouq went on to say. Hizbullah has sent thousands of fighters across the border to support President Bashar Assad's forces against an Islamist-led uprising and the group's instrumental help has helped the regime recapture several strategic areas from rebel hands.
 
Lebanese State Security in Akkar Raid over Attack on Sergeant
 Naharnet/December 18/16/A State Security patrol on Sunday carried out a raid in the Akkar town of Bebnin in connection with an armed attack that wounded a State Security sergeant several days ago, state-run National News Agency reported on Sunday. “The suspect M. T. was arrested while A. M. was not found at his residence during the raid,” NNA added. The car of State Security Sergeant Mohammed H. came under gunfire Thursday as he was driving it on the Bebnin-Burqayel road. He was wounded in the attack.Around a week ago, militants linked to the Islamic State group staged an armed attack on an army checkpoint in Dinniyeh's Bqaa Safrine, also in the North, killing an army soldier. The members of this IS cell have since been arrested.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on December 18-19/16.
10 Dead, including a Canadian Tourist, Several Hurt in Armed Attacks in Jordan Touristic City
 Agencies/December 18/16/
 Gunmen killed seven people including a Canadian tourist and police officers on Sunday in southern Jordan where security forces were hunting down the unidentified attackers. The shootings took place in Karak, a tourist destination known for one of the biggest Crusader castles in the region, around 120 kilometers (70 miles) south of the capital Amman. Jordan's general security department said four policemen, a female Canadian tourist and two Jordanian civilians were killed in a series of shootings. Several other people were reported wounded.
 The first attack took place when a police patrol went to check on a fire that had broken out in a house in Karak, the department said. "As soon as they reached the area, unknown gunmen who were inside the house opened fire on the patrol, wounding a policeman, and then fled by car," it said in a statement carried by the official Petra news agency. "Shortly afterwards, gunmen opened fire on another patrol without causing any casualties," it added. At the same time, gunmen holed up in the Crusader castle opened fire on the Karak police station, "wounding several policemen and passers-by" who were rushed to hospital, the statement added. "Police and security forces have surrounded the castle and its vicinity and launched an operation to hunt down the gunmen," the statement said, adding that the search was still under way. A senior security source said some people were trapped in a lower floor of the citadel when the gunmen took shelter there, but denied media reports that they were being held as hostages. "There are no hostages. But some people who were on a lower floor were afraid of leaving as the gunmen traded fire with the security forces," said the source who did not wish to be identified.
 - 'Five, six gunmen' -
 He said that the gunmen were on a higher level inside the fortress. The Jordan Tourism Board described the Karak citadel, which dates back to the 12th century and has withstood many sieges, as a "maze of stone-vaulted halls and endless passageways."
 The general security department statement said "five or six gunmen" were thought to be involved in the shootings. However, Prime Minister Hani al-Malki, who was addressing parliament at the time of the shootings, said that "special forces and policemen are surrounding 10 gunmen holed up inside the Karak citadel."It was not immediately clear who was behind the shootings, but Jordan has been hit by Islamist attacks in the past. Jordan is a leading member of the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighboring Iraq and Syria.
 It has carried out air strikes targeting IS, and also hosts coalition troops on its territory. Maaz al-Kassasbeh, a Jordanian fighter pilot, was captured by the jihadists when his plane went down in Syria in December 2014, and he was later burned alive in a cage.
 Karak is Kassasbeh's home town. In June, a suicide bombing claimed by IS killed seven border guards near the Syrian frontier. According to sources close to Islamists, almost 4,000 Jordanians have joined jihadist groups in Iraq and Syria, and an estimated 420 have been killed since 2011.
 
Putin Envoy Meets Iran Officials for Syria Talks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Syria made a previously unannounced visit to Iran on Sunday for talks with top officials on the Syrian conflict. "The liberation of Aleppo (north of Damascus) was the result of the initiative by Iran, Russia and Syria and the resistance front" of Lebanon's Hizbullah, said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, in his meeting with the envoy, Alexander Lavrentiev. He called for increased cooperation between the Syrian regime and its allies, Iran and Russia. "The liberation of Aleppo brought to light once again the policies of the West and their regional supporters in creating and backing terrorism," Shamkhani said, quoted by Mehr news agency. Shamkhani voiced concern for the Shiite villages of Fuaa and Kafraya, which are under siege by rebels. "While the Western-Hebrew-Arabic media have united to spread false information on the human losses in Aleppo, they remain silent on the need to evacuate the wounded and elderly from Fuaa and Kafraya," he said. The Russian envoy's visit to Tehran came as dozens of buses began entering the last rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday to resume the evacuation of thousands of trapped civilians and rebels, following a two-day suspension. The main obstacle to a resumption had been a disagreement over the number of people to be evacuated in parallel from the two besieged Shiite villages.
 
Buses Enter Eastern Aleppo to Resume Evacuations
Dozens of buses began entering the last rebel-held parts of Aleppo on Sunday to resume the evacuation of thousands of increasingly desperate trapped Syrian civilians and rebels. The operation was suspended on Friday, a day after convoys of evacuees had begun leaving the rebel sector under a deal allowing the regime to take full control of the battleground city. Buses started entering several districts on Sunday under the supervision of the Red Crescent and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) "to bring the remaining terrorists and their families out," state news agency SANA said, referring to the rebels.A military source confirmed to AFP that a new evacuation deal had been reached. State television said 100 buses would take people out of Aleppo. The main obstacle to a resumption had been a disagreement over the number of people to be evacuated in parallel from two Shiite villages, Fuaa and Kafraya, under rebel siege in northwestern Syria. A rebel representative told AFP that a new agreement had been reached under which evacuations would take place in two phases from Aleppo, Fuaa and Kafraya as well as Zabadani and Madaya, two regime-besieged rebel towns in Damascus province. Around two dozen gunmen attacked buses sent to evacuate people from Fuaa and Kafraya, but a senior military source said the incident should not disrupt the Aleppo evacuations. An AFP reporter said they made the drivers get out, opened fire on the vehicles and set fire to the fuel tanks of at least 20 buses.
 U.N. Security Council vote -
 In New York, the U.N. Security Council was set to meet at 1600 GMT to vote on French proposals to send monitors to Aleppo to oversee evacuations and report on the protection of civilians. The draft text said the council was "alarmed" by the worsening humanitarian crisis and by the fact that "tens of thousands of besieged Aleppo inhabitants" are in need of aid and evacuation. "Our goal through this resolution is to avoid another Srebrenica in this phase immediately following the military operations," French Ambassador Francois Delattre told AFP, referring to a 1995 Bosnian war massacre.But the proposals face resistance from veto-wielding Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Russian President Vladimir Putin's special envoy to Syria made a previously unannounced visit to Iran on Sunday for talks with top officials on the Syrian conflict. Families have been sheltering during the night in freezing temperatures in bombed out apartment blocks in Aleppo's al-Amiriyah district, the departure point for evacuations before they were halted. An AFP correspondent who visited a hospital in the rebel sector saw appalling conditions with patients lying on the floor without food or water and almost no heating. Abu Omar said that after waiting outside in the cold for nine hours the previous day, he had returned on Saturday only to be told the buses were not coming. "There's no more food or drinking water, and the situation is getting worse by the day," he said, adding that his four children were sick because of the cold.
 Damage assessment
 Aleppo has seen some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people. An official in the city said more than half its buildings and infrastructure have been badly damaged or destroyed since violence erupted there in 2012. "According to a preliminary assessment, the damage throughout the city is estimated at more than 50 percent," Aleppo administrator Nadeem Rahmoun told AFP. "This is an optimistic percentage of the damage." U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura estimated that as of Thursday around 40,000 civilians and perhaps as many as 5,000 opposition fighters remained in Aleppo's rebel enclave. The ICRC appealed for safe passage for the civilians still trapped in the city. "People have suffered a lot. Please come to an agreement and help save thousands of lives," said ICRC Syria delegation head Marianne Gasser. "We cannot abandon these people."Before evacuations were suspended around 8,500 people, including some 3,000 fighters, left for rebel-held territory elsewhere in the north, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. On Friday, a convoy of evacuees that had already left east Aleppo when the operation was suspended was forced to turn back. The ICRC said it was checking reports of shooting before the convoy was turned around. The main regional supporters of the rival sides in the devastating civil war have engaged in a flurry of diplomacy to try to secure a resumption of evacuations. The official Iranian news agency IRNA said the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran would meet Tuesday in Moscow to discuss the conflict.
 
Russia Says to Veto Aleppo Observers Move, Circulates Own U.N. Resolution
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Russia on Sunday circulated a draft resolution to address the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo after warning it was prepared to veto a French-drafted text on deploying U.N. observers to the Syrian city, diplomats said. The Russian proposal calls on the United Nations to make "arrangements" to "monitor the condition of civilians remaining in Aleppo" but does not mention the deployment of observers, according to the draft seen by AFP. Moscow's envoy warned earlier in the day that his country is prepared to use its veto. "We cannot allow it to pass because this is a disaster," Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters. The U.N. Security Council was set to meet for closed-door consultations followed by a vote on the proposals. France circulated a draft text late Friday stating that the council is "alarmed" by the worsening humanitarian crisis in Aleppo and by the fact that "tens of thousands of besieged Aleppo inhabitants" are in need of aid and evacuation. Russia has vetoed six resolutions on Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.
 
Gunmen Attack Buses Sent to Evacuate Syria Pro-Regime Villages
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Gunmen attacked buses sent to evacuate people from two pro-regime villages in northwest Syria on Sunday but a senior military source said the incident should not disrupt parallel evacuations from Aleppo. Thousands of people were to leave the last rebel-held parts of the northern city of Aleppo in exchange for residents leaving Fuaa and Kafraya, Shiite villages, in the neighboring province of Idlib. But two dozen armed men attacked buses on their way to the villages under rebel siege, an AFP reporter said. They made the drivers get out, opened fire on the vehicles and set fire to the fuel tanks of at least 20 buses, the reporter said. The attack came after five other buses had entered the villages. The identity of the attackers was not immediately clear, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said two member groups of a coalition of Islamist rebels controlling most of Idlib had disagreed over the evacuations. Fateh al-Sham Front, which was formerly known as the al-Nusra Front before renouncing ties with al-Qaida, disagreed with Ahrar al-Sham over the deal, the monitoring group said. But the military source said the attack should not affect any of the evacuation operations. "There's collective will for the deal to stay in place. There must be solutions for all obstacles," the source said. Dozens of buses on Sunday began entering the last rebel-held parts of east Aleppo to resume the evacuation of thousands of increasingly desperate trapped civilians and rebels. The operation was suspended on Friday, a day after convoys of evacuees had begun leaving the rebel sector under a deal allowing the regime to take full control of the battleground city. In mid-November, forces loyal to President Bashar Assad launched a blistering offensive to seize all of Aleppo, where rebel areas have been besieged by regime forces since July. A senior Iranian official on Sunday complained of bias in attitudes towards civilians in east Aleppo and those of the two Shiite villages. "While the Western-Hebrew-Arabic media have united to spread false information on the human losses in Aleppo, they remain silent on the need to evacuate the wounded and elderly from Fuaa and Kafraya," said Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.
 
NATO Chief Defends Decision to Stay Out of Syrian War
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg Sunday defended the alliance's decision to refrain from stepping into the war in Syria, saying doing so would only make matters worse. All 28 NATO members belong to the U.S.-led coalition battling the Islamic State group but they are not directly involved in the Syrian conflict. "We are experiencing in Syria a horrible human catastrophe. Sometimes it is right to deploy militarily -- such as in Afghanistan," Stoltenberg told Bild am Sonntag. "But sometimes the costs of a military operation is higher than its benefit. Looking at Syria, NATO partners came to the conclusion that a military deployment would only make a terrible situation worse," he said. "We would risk turning it into a bigger regional conflict. Or more innocent people could die. A military deployment is not always the solution," he warned. The West has come under fire from some quarters over its failure to halt the carnage in Syria. Trapped civilians and rebels in besieged Aleppo were on Sunday waiting desperately for evacuations to resume, as the U.N. Security Council was due to vote on sending observers to the flashpoint city. France is pushing for the monitors, arguing that an international presence would prevent Aleppo from turning into another Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian men and boys were massacred in 1995 when the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces during the Balkan wars.
 
More than 100,000 Iraqis Displaced in Mosul Op
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/More than 100,000 people have been displaced as a result of the massive operation to recapture Iraq's second city Mosul, the International Organization for Migration said on Sunday.Iraq launched the operation to retake Mosul -- the last Iraqi city held by the Islamic State jihadist group -- on October 17. Since the battle began, 103,872 people have been displaced, the vast majority from Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, the IOM said on its displacement tracking webpage.
 Iraqi Displacement and Migration Minister Jassem Mohammed al-Jaff told AFP that 118,000 people had been displaced since the operation started, a figure that includes those who fled the IS-held Hawijah area in another province. Aid organizations had warned that a million or more people could be displaced by the Mosul operation, but those figures have yet to materialize. Forces from Iraq's elite Counter-Terrorism Service have advanced deep into eastern Mosul, and nearly half of that side of the city has been recaptured. But forces on the southern front have stalled south of Mosul, and those north of the city have also not entered it so far. West of Mosul, Iraqi paramilitaries aim to retake Tal Afar, located between the city and Syria, but have yet to launch an assault on the town itself. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces have since regained much of the territory they lost that year.
 
Iraqi Tribal Paramilitaries Executed Prisoners, Says HRW
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Iraqi pro-government tribal militiamen summarily executed four men suspected of being members of the Islamic State group in the country's north, Human Rights Watch said on Sunday. The rights group said that the killings took place on November 29 near the village of Shayalat al-Imam, located some 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Mosul, the last IS-held Iraqi city that is the target of a massive military operation launched two months ago. Iraqi security forces were present for at least one execution but did not attempt to intervene, HRW quoted residents as saying. "The Iraqi government should make clear that government-backed militias don't have a green light to abuse or execute captives regardless of what they think they're guilty of," Lama Fakih, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said in a statement. According to HRW, residents of Shayalat al-Imam said that the militiamen ordered them to assemble in an open area south of the village. They saw militiamen kill a man named Ahmed, whose brother said he had briefly joined IS but then left the jihadist group and returned to his family. Residents also said they saw the bodies of three more men who had been in the custody of the paramilitary group, but did not witness those executions, according to HRW. The rights watchdog quoted a community leader as saying that the militiamen were from a group known as Hashed al-Jubur, meaning they were members of Iraq's Jubur tribe. The Iraqi government turned to paramilitary groups that are now part of an umbrella organization known as the Hashed al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization, in 2014 to combat a major offensive by IS that overran around a third of the country. These forces -- the main units in which are Iranian-backed Shiite militias, but which also include Sunni Arab and Christian units -- played a major role in halting the jihadist drive and later in pushing them back. But they have been repeatedly accused of carrying out abuses included summary executions, kidnappings and destruction of property in the course of the war against IS.
 
13 Killed in Indonesian Military Plane Crash
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Thirteen people have died after an Indonesian military transport plane crashed in the east of the country on Sunday, officials said, marking yet another air accident for the armed forces. The Hercules C-130 plane took off from Timika city in Papua province carrying 12 crew and one passenger, but came down in a remote mountainous region shortly before its scheduled landing, officials said. "The operator on land saw the plane at 06:08 am local time but at 06:09 am the plane had lost contact," air force chief Agus Supriatna told AFP. The plane was expected to land at 06:13 am local time. Aboard the aircraft were three pilots, eight technicians, a navigator and a military officer, as well as food and cement, Supriatna said. Weather around the area is known to be unpredictable, and the plane went in and out of clouds before the crash, he added. Rescuers located the plane debris soon after. All 13 bodies have been recovered according to the air force. Supriatna said a team was heading to the site to investigate.
 The fatal incident is the latest for Indonesia's accident-prone military. In November an army helicopter accident killed three on Borneo, while another three died when a military chopper went into a home in Central Java in July. Some 12 people were killed in March when another military helicopter went down in bad weather on Sulawesi in central Indonesia. But the worst incident in recent times was in June 2015, when an air force Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the city of Medan, killing 142 people and causing widespread destruction.
 
U.N. Libya Envoy Calls for Reconciliation after Sirte Victory
 Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/U.N. Libya envoy Martin Kobler on Sunday called for national reconciliation and a unified security service after pro-government forces retook the former Islamic State group bastion of Sirte. "I call on Libyans to seize this opportunity to promote national reconciliation," he said, a day after the U.N.-backed unity government announced the end of the battle for the coastal city. Kobler called for "the integration and rehabilitation of fighters" and the collection of weapons "to give way to a professional security apparatus with a unified command."He stressed the need for mine clearing to ensure the safe return of displaced people after pro-government fighters expelled IS from the city. Speaking from the Tunisian capital, the U.N. envoy called the recapture of Sirte "a major step forward in liberating Libya from terrorism," but warned "Libyans should remain vigilant." The fall of Sirte -- 450 kilometers (280 miles) east of Tripoli -- is a major setback for IS, which has also faced a series of military defeats in Syria and Iraq. IS seized Sirte in June 2015 in the chaos that followed the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi. The Tripoli-based Government of National Accord is the centerpiece of Western hopes to stem an upsurge of jihadism in Libya, but it has failed to assert its authority across the country. A rival authority based in the country's far east has refused to cede power, while its own armed forces led by Marshal Khalifa Haftar have been battling jihadists in second city Benghazi. Haftar was in Algiers on Sunday, Algerian state media said, where the rival army chief met top officials to discuss "re-establishing stability and security" in Libya.
 
 Jubeir: Iran’s meddling in region must be stopped
 Staff writer, Al Arabiya.net Sunday, 18 December 2016/Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State John Kerry, that any agreement in Yemen must be based on the Gulf initiative and the decision of the United Nations.
 Jubeir added that Saudi Arabia calls for the world to take tough action to stop Iran’s interventions in the region.Kerry announced that ISIS is on its way to defeat. The Secretary of State said the US condemns the terrorist attacks, that took place in the Yemeni city of Aden on Sunday. He added that the world must end the war in Yemen in a way that will protect the security of Saudi Arabia, urging all Yemeni parties to return to the negotiating table. From his part, Kerry stressed that, like Saudi Arabia, his country rejects Iranian interference in Yemen.
 Prior to the conference, King Salman received Kerry whose trip, come ahead of the inauguration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump. Kerry held as well meetings with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and other royalty in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
 “In turbulent times, it’s good to have solid friends,” Kerry told journalists Sunday night. “That’s why the United States’ partnership with Saudi Arabia is rightly so valuable.” Kerry earlier joined diplomats from Britain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates to speak with Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen. The UAE is part of the Arab coalition fighting Houthis, while Oman has served as an interlocutor for them. According to AP, on Twitter, British Middle East Minister Tobias Ellwood said the meeting discussed a political process to end Yemen’s war, something he described as “the only way to bring peace.” Kerry said he hoped to have parties involved “within two weeks” to agree to terms earlier set out by the UN But he and the Saudi Foreign Minister offered few specifics on how that would be accomplished, especially as the UN has proposed sidelining Saudi-backed President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi and giving the rebels a share of power — concessions the kingdom strongly opposes. “You can see from the humanitarian situation, which is dire and deteriorating rapidly, that it is urgent that we try to bring this war to a close,” he said. “But we also need to bring it to a close in a way that protects the security of Saudi Arabia.”[With agencies]
 
Israeli Troops Kill Stone-Throwing Palestinian Teenager
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 18/16/Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager early Sunday during a confrontation in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said. Security officials said that troops entered the village of Beit Rima, near Ramallah, after midnight and were confronted by stone-throwing youths. The Palestinian health ministry said that Ahmed Hazem Atta, 19, was killed in the ensuing army fire. An Israeli army spokeswoman said that there was a "violent riot" at Beit Rima but could not confirm the death. "Dozens of rioters hurled rocks at security forces injuring a border police soldier," she said. "In order to prevent an escalation of violence forces responded with riot dispersal means, and fired toward main instigators," she added. "We have reports of a rioter killed and another injured and they're being looked into," but were so far unverified, the spokeswoman told AFP. Since October 2015, 244 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count. Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. Others were shot dead during protests or clashes, while some died in Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank, comatose peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have helped feed the unrest. Israel says incitement by Palestinian leaders and media is a leading cause.
 
Egypt court orders novelist Naji freed

AFP, Cairo Sunday, 18 December 2016/An Egyptian court ordered on Sunday the release of jailed novelist Ahmed Naji as he appeals a two-year sentence for writing a sexually explicit passage in a book. The sentencing against Naji last February provoked widespread criticism and an appeal by 120 international artists and journalists for his acquittal. The court of cassation ruled to suspend his sentence while it examines his appeal, setting a next court date for January 2.Naji, who has written three novels and works at the literary review Akhbar al-Adab, is an outspoken critic of the government.He went on trial after a reader of the literary review complained that a passage in ‘The Guide for Using Life’ containing explicit references to sex and drug use had caused them to feel physically ill.Naji was acquitted at first but prosecutors appealed and won.
 
Egypt seizes Iranian ship loaded with drugs

Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Sunday, 18 December 2016/Egypt’s navy seized an Iranian boat on Saturday that was carrying drugs on the Red Sea, attempting to smuggle the narcotics into the country, Kuwait News Agency reported. During inspection, Egyptian authorities found 171 kilograms of drugs, a number of cellular mobiles, as well as US, Iranian and Pakistani currencies. All seven crewmen – whose nationalities were not revealed – were arrested and await legal action against them.
 
Leader of Iraqi militia fighting in Syria meets with Khamenei
Ahmed Fadel, Al-Arabiya.net Sunday, 18 December 2016/Akram al-Kaabi, the leader of the Iraqi Shiite militia al-Nujaba which participated in the recent Aleppo offensive, met with Iranian Supreme Guide Ali Khamenei in Tehran, the militia’s website reported on Saturday. The meeting comes after Kaabi described the supporters of the Syrian revolution as ‘Yazid's grandsons’ who are besieging ‘Hussein's grandsons’ in the towns of Kefraya and al-Fouaa in Idlib, Syria, and after his group participated in shelling and raiding Aleppo and killing its people. Kaabi’s group had stormed Aleppo’s neighborhood of Sheikh Sa'eed. The group’s website reported that Kaabi and a number of envoys and figures met with Khamenei within the framework of the Islamic Unity Conference which concluded in Tehran. However, the report did not reveal what Kaabi and Khamenei discussed and did not mention anything about the meeting’s duration.The website also published a photo of Kaabi's meeting with Khamenei. Syria’s Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun attended the conference and delivered a speech thanking the Iranians for their support to the Assad regime. Few days ago, Kaabi addressed the residents of Kefraya and al-Fouaa in a message and incited them against each other as he used divisive terms and a sectarian approach.
 The townspeople responded to his message via the Kefraya and al-Fouaa news network page on Facebook and said they await ‘his sacred march’ as Kaabi wrote in his message which was published on the group’s website. The extremist Shiite militia al-Nujaba is fighting in Syria alongside the Assad regime and inciting strife via its social media pages and members in Syria. The militia leader has met several times with Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, particularly after sectarian militias supported by Iran intervened in Syria and turned into occupying forces thanks to the support and facilitation by the Syrian regime.
 
Iran discusses nuclear ships plan with IAEA chief
AFP, Reuters, Tehran Sunday, 18 December 2016/Iran discussed its plans for nuclear-powered ships with UN nuclear chief Yukiyo Amano on Sunday, saying it would present details within three months, local media reported. Amano did not comment on the plans to produce nuclear-powered engines, but said Iran had so far met all of its commitments under last year’s nuclear deal with world powers. “We discussed the nuclear-powered engines in detail,” said Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, adding that he and Amano talked about the most controversial point - the level of uranium-enrichment required for the ships.“This is not a simple matter that can be decided quickly. We have three months to review it,” he told reporters. “Normally, the enrichment for such engines is between five percent and 90 percent. It depends on the type of engine and the time and goal we want to reach,” said Salehi. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani last week announced the plans for nuclear-powered ships in response to news that the United States was renewing sanctions legislation, which he said was a “clear violation” of the nuclear deal. Under the deal, Iran is only allowed to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, but that limit falls away after 15 years. Tehran says Washington has breached the nuclear accord by renewing the Iran Sanctions Act, even though almost all of its measures remain suspended under the deal.
 Bill extending US sanctions
 Meanwhile, the White House said on Thursday that a bill extending US sanctions against Iran for 10 years would become law without President Barack Obama’s signature, adding this would not affect overall implementation of the nuclear agreement. The action by Iran to start developing systems for nuclear-powered marine vessels is expected to worsen tensions with Washington, already heightened by a promise by US President-elect Donald Trump’s to scrap the deal. Iran on Saturday also requested a meeting of a commission comprising repesentatives of signatories to the accord that is overseeing its implementation. “At the meeting, we brought up some of our complaints, and clarified some matters,” said Salehi, quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. “As we have repeatedly said, we will not violate the agreement, unless the other party does that.”
 
Salman meets Kerry, Pakistan army chief
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Sunday, 18 December 2016/Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz received US Secretary of State, John Kerry, and his accompanying delegation in his office in Yamamah Palace in Riyadh today. During the meeting, they discussed the latest developments in the region, and efforts toward it, in addition to the review of the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. Also King Salman received the Chief of Pakistani Army General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his accompanying delegation. During the meeting, they reviewed the areas of the strategic partnership between the two countries.
 
Early release for ex-Israeli president from prison rape term
 AFP, Jerusalem Sunday, 18 December 2016/An Israeli parole board on Sunday ordered ex-president Moshe Katsav freed from prison after serving five years of a seven-year term for rape and other sexual offences, his lawyer said. “It was a very long journey,” Tzion Amir said in remarks broadcast on Israeli army radio. “Today that journey reached its end with a reasoned decision by the parole committee.”Justice officials could not be reached by AFP for further details, but media said Katsav’s release would be frozen for seven days for prosecutors to decide if they should appeal against the decision. Amir said Katsav burst into tears on hearing the ruling.
 Rejections
 Katzav began his sentence in December 2011 and has already been rejected twice by the parole board since he became eligible for the customary one-third reduction for good behavior behind bars.His previous applications were turned down, in part because he had expressed no remorse over his crimes and undergone no rehabilitative process.Katsav has always maintained his innocence despite being convicted in December 2010 on two counts of rape, sexual harassment, indecent acts and obstruction of justice.The Iranian-born bureaucrat, who rose from impoverished origins as a child immigrant to the nation’s top job, resigned in June 2007 and became a leper of the political establishment.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on December 18-19/16
On Aleppo and the world’s humanity

Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Aleppo’s massacres have shown us the level of brutality we are living through in this era of human history. Earlier generations lived through the massacres of Hulagu Khan, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, who killed tens of millions. Some estimates suggest that Stalin killed 50 million people. In modern history, there are the massacres which Slobodan Milosevic committed against the Bosnians and which Idi Amin committed against the Ugandans. We are now witnessing the likes of revolutionary guards, Hezbollah and Bashar al-Assad committing crimes against the Syrians, particularly in Aleppo. What’s ironical is that the special advisor to the United Nations’ envoy to Syria lectured us about Aleppo’s history and narrated how it dates back to 4,000 years. He said that all that was destroyed in four years. The statement only indicates the United Nations’ diminishing role. What’s happening in Aleppo is shaming the world and is a blot on our shared history. It’s an era when murderers delight in shedding the blood of a child and when sectarian men aim to eat the others’ livers
 Hawking’s abomination
 Prominent physicist and scientist Stephen Hawking feels “abomination” over what’s happening in Syria. He expressed this through his famous call to the world some time ago as he appealed to whatever is left of the of the world’s sense of humanity.
 “We must work together to end this war and to protect the children of Syria. The international community has watched from the sidelines as this conflict rages, engulfing all hope. As a father and grandfather, I watch the suffering of Syria’s children and must now say: No more. The universal principle of justice may not be rooted in physics but it is no less fundamental to our existence,” he said.
 What’s happening in Aleppo is shaming the world and is a blot on our shared history. Yes, it’s that feeling of “abomination” as the dignified scientist put it. It’s an era when murderers delight in shedding the blood of a child and when sectarian men aim to eat the others’ livers.
 This article was first published in Okaz on December 18 , 2016.
 
Options for Palestinians in rapidly changing environment
Dr. Ghassan Khatib/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
 It is no longer possible to overlook the impact of some significant developments that have pushed the Palestinian cause into a new political environment, which is less advantageous to them and more challenging. These circumstances necessitate a drastic assessment of the performance of the Palestinian political leaders. The first is the disintegration or collapse of the Arab approach. The second is the radical transformation that has taken place in Israel in recent times. Last, and not the least, is the election of Trump as President of the United States. The transformations taking place in the Arab world has impacted its ability to provide crucial support for the Palestinian people. Several Arab nations and governments have helped in the Palestinian struggle in the past. The Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) was founded with the support of revolutionary anti-Israel elements at the time and several Arab countries became the launching pad of Palestinian resistance movement in its early years. All diplomatic achievements made by the Palestinian were realized with Arab support, starting with Fatah’s relations with China with Algeria’s assistance and ties with ex-Soviet Union which materialized with the support of Egypt. This was besides the fact that the Arab Leagues represented Palestine in the West during the 1970s and several significant international resolutions were obtained as a result of the key role played by Arab groups.
 Undoubtedly, the US, including its current administration, has backed Israel endlessly, shielding it from criticism over its settlement policy and violation of international laws. The election of Trump is likely to create even more harmonious relations. Netanyahu has also said he expects “warm” relation between Trump and Israel. This also reminds us of the warm relations between Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, the Russian president for whom Trump has expressed admiration during his campaign. The prospect of a solution to the occupation through bilateral negotiations with Israel is unlikely in the foreseeable future, which necessitates the look-out for a new political approach
 Changed Israel
 As for Israel, it is no longer the same entity PLO started negotiations with 25 years ago. Israel’s socio-economic structure and its demography have changed and become the subject of what has been called by Sami Michael in Yedioth Ahronoth as the “filthy Trinity” of governance corruption, black money and extremist religion. More than half of the Israel’s cabinet blatantly rejects the two-state solution, John Kerry said at Saban Forum in DC. Uri Safir wrote in Haartez that its top priority is focused on burying the two-state solution by a tsunami of settlements. Two conclusions can be arrived at based on these transformations. The prospect of a solution to the occupation through bilateral negotiations with Israel is unlikely in the foreseeable future, which necessitates the look-out for a new political approach. The question that arises is can Palestinian political elites move from words to deeds? The need of the hour is for academics and politicians to understand the changing reality and illustrate it.  Following the election of new Fatah members, Palestinians aspire for elections in the National Council, PLO and the Legislative Council. It is imperative that political leadership pays more attention to the performance of public institutions and basic services following the remarkable decline in education and health conditions. It should also focus on economic development so that the rate of employment improves and the justice system is enhanced.
 On the political level, resumption of negotiations can complement the changed circumstances. Also needed is a strategy in international diplomacy and making international laws and institutions the arena to wrestle with the occupier.
 All this should be integrated with diplomacy, which seeks to boycott Israel, tries to get sanctions imposed on Israel and investment in the country withdrawn.
 *This article can also be read at Al Arabiya.net.
 
The sky is crying for Aleppo
Hisham Melhem/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
Early in the week the inhabitants of Eastern Aleppo, who have been brutalized and besieged for years, got a brief reprieve from the heavens. The gathering clouds prevented the killer air forces of Russia and the Assad regime from spewing their deadly assortment of barrel bombs, smart and not so smart bombs. Then a gentle rain fell on the tormented city, prompting one resident to observe wistfully, “the sky is crying for Aleppo with soft tears”.It looked as if the sky was washing the dying city for the last time, in preparation for burial according to Muslim tradition.
 The end of America’s moment. Eastern Aleppo city, which stood for millennia in defiance of foreign invaders, only to be laid to waste by the forces of the vengeful lisping local satrap in Damascus and his foreign masters the Russians and Iranians in less than four years, has all but fallen. In the last few days we heard laments from the aggrieved and those trying to help them, about whatever happened to “never again”? Or, is there a meaning left in the concept of “responsibility to protect”, the supposedly global commitment to protect civilians from mass killing, ethnic cleansing and war crimes, the very depredations the majority of the Syrian people has been subjected to?
 What makes these questions compelling, is that never before in the history of conflicts and atrocities against civilians, have massacres, sectarian and ethnic cleansings played out in real time before the eyes of a wired world, on Facebook and Twitter, or streamed live on television and YouTube. Many of the horrific mass killings that occurred in the last century took place in relative obscurity, away from neutral eyewitnesses and cameras.
 The real time and “live” coverage of the Syrian carnage is the more reason why one cannot fully explain the world’s relative indifference, to the worst human made calamity in the new century.
 It is true that most of the combatants are Syrians; however, the involvement of foreign powers in Syria’s myriad wars is the most significant factor six years after the peaceful uprising began against the Assad regime.The Iranian military intervention, directly or through Shiite auxiliary sectarian militias from Lebanon, Iraq and beyond, and the Russian expeditionary force, do constitute a military occupation of Syria. The Assad regime owes its survival to these forces. The Obama administration, whose different and sometimes contradictory approaches to Syria never amounted to a coherent strategy totally misread the Russian intervention last year.
 President Obama inherited a dysfunctional Arab world from President George W. Bush. He will bequeath to his successor Donald Trump, a region in slow motion collapse, with US influence and reputation there at its nadir
 President Obama lectured Russia that it is not serving its national security interest by sending its military units to prop up Assad, reminding the Russians that their economy is weak, and that they will find themselves “in a quagmire”, forcing them to permanently occupy Syria.
 That was a classic Obama engaging in wishful thinking masquerading as solid analysis. In his last press conference on Friday, President Obama observed that Russia has a smaller and weaker economy than the US adding “their economy doesn't produce anything that anybody wants to buy except oil and gas and arms.”And yet, President Putin could rightly claim that 2016 was a stellar year for Russia in Syria, given the fall of Aleppo, and that it achieved a stunning success in the United States, following its unprecedented cyberspace intervention in the Presidential race in a way that may have contributed to the election of Donald Trump.
 Eight years ago, President Obama inherited a dysfunctional and broken Arab world from President George W. Bush. He will bequeath to his successor Donald Trump, a region in slow motion collapse, with US influence and reputation there at its nadir. One could say that we may be witnessing the beginning of the end of America’s historic moment in the Middle East.
 Moral vacuity not moral muddle
 In the last few days, President Obama, his secretary of state John Kerry and his ambassador to the United Nations Samantha power addressed the calamity of Aleppo. They were outraged by the industrial scale violence visited on the civilians; they expressed their indignation by trying to name and shame Assad, Russia and Iran, as the actors responsible for the tragedy of Aleppo.
 President Obama assured us that the world is “united in horror at the savage assault by the Syrian regime and its Russia and Iranian allies on the city of Aleppo”. Once again the Obama administration felt the need to bear witness to the tragedies on their collective watch. What they ended up doing was expressing their moral vacuity, not merely showing their moral muddle.
 On Tuesday, ambassador Power unleashed a barrage of scathing assault on Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies telling them “you bear responsibility for these atrocities “in Aleppo. “Are you truly incapable of shame? Is there literally nothing that can shame you?”.
 Ambassador Power, who in her previous life as a reporter and a chronicler of the atrocities of the twentieth century, was known for her harsh criticism of the reluctance of American officials to actively work to stop atrocities, was in denial of her administration’s moral and political failure to act forcefully to end the mass killings in Syria. Her eloquent words rang hollow. The smug Russian ambassador the UN, Vitaly Churkin dismissed her moralizing and accusing her of “acting like Mother Teresa”.
 On Thursday came Secretary Kerry’s turn at the lectern from the State Department. He called the situation in Aleppo “unconscionable” and said that what the Assad regime was carrying out in Aleppo is “nothing short of a massacre”. Then Kerry reverted to his default mode, calling on Russia and Iran to accept a cease-fire, and cautioning them that the world will be watching how they will treat the civilians in Aleppo.
 Kerry, whose diplomatic missions regarding Syria were embarrassingly ineffectual because President Obama did not arm him with any serious leverage, was once again reduced to delivering words and exhortations. To think that the “unholy alliance between a Syrian dictator, a Russian autocrat, and an Iranian theocrat “as Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said in a statement regarding Aleppo, Would listen to moral appeals, is the height of folly.
 Following Kerry’s difficult to watch appeal, I tweeted the following: “For 4 years #Kerry has been appealing, urging, begging, Assad, Russia & Iran to stop “massacring” #Syrians. He keeps doing it, they keep doing it.”
 The last man talking
 President Obama had the final word. He volunteered that Syria has been “one of the hardest issues that I have faced as President”. As Secretary Kerry, Obama quickly reverted to his obfuscating and sophist default mode on Syria which he has mastered over the last 5 years by creating his own facts and assumptions.
 For Obama there was nothing politically worth salvaging in Aleppo, and his focus was on how to expedite the evacuation of the people who stand between Assad and his full conquest of what is left of the rubble of Aleppo. He spoke about the need to deploy international observers, and setting up corridors for the evacuees. I wonder if he knew that he was calling for the creation of corridors to exile and endless wandering for more Syrians.
 There was more than a whiff of naiveté in President Obama’s words that “the Assad regime cannot slaughter its way to legitimacy”. Really Mr. President? Is Assad interested in political legitimacy, or raw power? Back to moralizing “the world must not avert our eyes to the terrible events that are unfolding”.
 The harsh reality is that President Obama, an accomplished wordsmith, has spoken eloquently at times about Syria and human rights and democracy in the Middle East, but he always acted as if his words carried the weight and impact of actions. If for a carpenter every nail has a solution named hammer, for Obama, every problem has a solution named words.
 Once again President Obama framed a more robust American role in Syria strictly in military terms, implying that his critics always counseled massive military intervention, while in fact they called for a forceful diplomatic approach, coupled with targeted and limited military intervention and a better program for training and equipping moderate rebel forces.
 And from the beginning, Obama was never convinced that the US should seriously intervene in Syria, even when it became clear in the first year of the conflict that if the US and its allies did not move quickly to help the good rebels, then the “bad’ ones will try to own Syria.
 No wonder Public opinion in America was not welcoming to the idea that a limited American role in Syria will make a difference “unless we were all in and willing to take over Syria, we were going to have problems, and that everything else was tempting because we wanted to do something and it sounded like the right thing to do, but it was going to be impossible to do this on the cheap”.Obama is determined to leave the White House not willing to admit that he weakened considerably the rebellion by his half measures, such as not providing the rebels with lethal weapons including shoulder-held anti-aircraft missiles, or more importantly by his in-actions such as bowing out of his decision to punish the Assad regime militarily after the regime’s massive use of chemical weapons against civilians.
 Words, however eloquent, will not protect President Obama from the harsh judgement of history; that the leader of the only great power in the world in the face of evil in Syria, and following the destruction of Aleppo, a jewel of a city, has flinched and Obama opted only to bear witness, and to do nothing.After reading some heart wrenching accounts of life and death in Aleppo, I wrote the following bitter tweet, quoting an eye witness from hell: “Every hour, butcheries are carried out” in #Aleppo. Mr. #Obama, may you live long and may Aleppo haunt you forever”. Elmore James, is an outstanding blues musician and a pillar in the Chicago Blues era of the 1950’s and 60’s. He was called the “King of the Slide Guitar”, and indeed he was. His voice is probably the most anguished in the history of post-war electrified blues. One of his signature songs is “the sky is crying”. He sings of a hard rain:
 The sky is crying,
 Look at the tears roll down the street.
 When the hard rain visits Aleppo next time, not even a raging river of tears could wash away the thick blood of the victims from the streets of Aleppo.
 
Should we start referring to refugees as migrants?
Yara al-Wazir/Al Arabiya/December 28/16
 There are 247 million migrants in the world, but at what point does a migrant become a refugee, an economic migrant, or an expatriate? More importantly, should the world speed up the process of turning refugees to migrants in order to improve the global economy?
 Interpreting McKinsey’s latest report on global migration, and considering a UNHCR statistic that refugees will remain in exile for an average of 17 years of their life, perhaps that’s what the world should be doing toe alleviate the stigmas associated with the refugee crisis. It is time to stop treating the issue as a temporary situation and think of it as a long-term issue, hence the need to adapt the terminology. As the world marks World Migrant Day, this issue has never been more of a hot topic than it is today.
 What do migrants actually do for the economy?
 The McKinsey report highlights that 90 percent of the world’s migrants have moved voluntarily, while the remaining 10 percent are classified as refugees, that is those who have been forcibly removed from their countries. In hindsight when considering the argument that “refugees are exploiting the system,” they are merely participants in an economic system that has been around for decades, and that has been taken advantage of for just as long. Even more so, migration is a key part of our interconnected world that creates increasing opportunities. Migrants contribute roughly $6.7 trillion, which equates to 9.4 percent of the global GDP in 2015. This figure is $3 trillion greater than what they would have produced in their countries of origin. Academic evidence highlights that immigration does not harm native employment or wages in the long term. It seems that the economy is far smarter than the humans that built it at integrating and adapting to the influx of refugees and migrants. The report also highlighted is that migrants of all skill levels produce a net positive economic contribution through various means, including innovation, entrepreneurship, or freeing up natives for higher-value work.
 For decades, refugees-turned-migrants have provided services to government, public policy, education and healthcare systems around the world
 Refugees represent an acute version of migrants – their immediate needs for housing, shelter and healthcare outweigh the immediate contributions that they are able to make to their host country. However, with time and assuming that the immediate needs of refugees are met, the host countries will begin to see the benefit of an influx of the young population, namely with their monetary contributions through tax to the system. The generation of baby-boomers is coming close to retirement and with that comes the need of the population to contribute to the system that takes care of them.
 Developed world can benefit from migration’s brain-drain effect
 For decades, refugees turned migrants have provided services to government, public policy, education and healthcare systems around the world. A detailed essay by Sultan al-Qassemi for Medium highlights the positive impact that dozens of Palestinians have brought to the UAE. Many of the Palestinians featured in the piece moved to the UAE after the Nakba of 1948. The piece highlights what refugees and migrants can do when they are provided with opportunities to give back to their host countries. If we look back 40 years ago, were these people once referred to as refugees? The process of transforming them from “refugees” to “migrants” and eventually to “citizens” of their host countries was not quick, but it was doable. What the UAE has benefited from is the concept of a brain drain. It is true that at any given point, these refugees could have continued to fight to return to their own country, and they may have succeeded and built a life elsewhere. By not doing so, however, they were able to help shape the transformation of the UAE in to one of the strongest nations in the region.
 The call for opportunities, integration and support for refugee communities happens as often as there is a call to prayer in Muslim countries. It’s time to stop calling and actually head to the institutions that are able to deliver. Realizing the impact of migration, both in a historical context and the opportunities it creates in the future is key to overcoming the crisis at hand.
 
Europe: Christmas Shoppers in Jihadist Crosshairs
George Igler/Gatestone Institute/December 18/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/18/george-iglergatestone-institute-europe-christmas-shoppers-in-jihadist-crosshairs/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9586/jihadists-christmas-shoppers
In Ludwigshafen, Germany, a "'strongly radicalized" 12-year-old boy "of Iraqi heritage" planted a bomb at a Christmas market at the end of November.
Previously, the festive shopping tradition of Christmas markets had become "potent symbols of freedom," with Germany's Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière, urging people to stick to unserem Leben -- "our way of life."
In Birmingham, England, the Christmas market has concrete barriers installed to deter vehicular suicide bombers. According to the head of Britain's foreign intelligence service, the magnitude of the terrorism faced by the UK is "unprecedented."
French security forces thwarted attacks planned for December 1, against Disneyland Paris and the Christmas market on the main thoroughfare of the French capital, the Champs-Elysée.
With a pro-Sharia (Islamic law) advocate now secretary of state in the Berlin regional senate, and other Muslims even refusing to shake the hand of the German President Joachim Gauck at events designed to promote integration, Germany's "way of life" is changing fast.
As the winter nights lengthen, an even darker shadow is falling across the run-up to the Christmas holidays in several European nations. Families in markets and shopping districts across the continent are buying presents in the knowledge that jihadists mean to target them.
On November 21, the U.S. Department of State cited a "heightened risk of terror attacks" in an advisory statement set to expire only on February 20, 2017.
"Credible information," quotes Newsweek, prompted a warning to American travellers to "exercise caution at holiday festivals, events, and outdoor markets," given planned attacks by Al-Qaeda and ISIS.
Those attending "large holiday events, visiting tourist sites, using public transportation, and frequenting places of worship, restaurants, hotels, etc." were likewise urged to exercise vigilance.
On December 16, German media reported that:
"a 12-year-old boy was suspected of planning two different bomb attacks in the western German city of Ludwigshafen. The German magazine 'Focus' said he had first tried to target a Christmas market at the end of November, before placing a backpack with explosives near a high-rise building containing both city hall and a shopping center."
"The suspect was born in Germany but is of Iraqi heritage," reported NBC News, adding: "the 'strongly radicalized' youth was likely 'incited and instructed' by an 'unidentified member of ISIS.'"
This comes just two weeks after a December 2 report, Changes in Modus Operandi of Islamic State Revisited, from the European policing agency, Europol, cited the possibility of "several dozen" attacks against civilian soft targets.
In Ludwigshafen, Germany, a "'strongly radicalized" 12-year-old boy "of Iraqi heritage" planted a bomb at a Christmas market at the end of November. (Image source: Focus video screenshot)
With terrorists claiming to act in the name of ISIS already able to plan "relatively complex attacks -- including those on multiple targets -- quickly and effectively," according to the Europol report, the tactics of the battlefields of the Middle East, "such as the use of car bombs, extortion and kidnappings," may well be exported into Europe.
The credibility of such intelligence data has been further strengthened by a wave of arrests and increased troop deployments in several European countries. Germany, for instance, is associated with the ice rinks, outside stalls, and warm spiced wine of Christmas markets; an estimated 1,500 are spread across the country.
The strengthened security followed a credible bomb threat against an international soccer match on November 17, 2015, which forced the lockdown of the northern city of Hanover and a cancellation by Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had planned to attend.
On the basis of attacks in the country to date, the cities of Munich, Ansbach, Berlin, Ochsenfurt, Grafing, Reutlingen and Frankfurt -- which contains the country's largest Christmas market -- are Germany's danger hotspots.
The festive shopping tradition across Europe is causing headaches, however, to security officials in several other nations.
In France, twin swoops against an alleged jihadist cell, operating from the European parliamentary city of Strasbourg and the port city of Marseilles, thwarted attacks planned for December 1, against Disneyland Paris and the Christmas market on the main thoroughfare of the French capital, the Champs-Elysée.
Reports also suggest that this anti-terror operation may have come just in time to intercept a weapons shipment.
As the Europol report explains:
"[A]utomatic firearms still seem to be the weapons of choice of terrorist cells committing large scale attacks, because of their relative ease of access, use and effectiveness. Firearms can be obtained from criminal sources, in some cases from those the terrorists already know from their own criminal pasts." (p.10)
The Daily Mirror reports: "It is feared that the current military operation on Mosul will force Islamic State to change tactics and rather than hold ground, concentrate on attacking Europe." With returnees expected as a result of the eventual collapse of ISIS strongholds -- 2,000-2,500 jihadists originating from Europe are still said to be fighting in Iraq and Syria -- the terror group is predicted to start launching attacks against Europe from bases in Libya.
According to Jean-Charles Brisard, a leading French security expert, despite the more rigorous measures introduced by the French government as a consequence of the major attacks that have struck France since 2015, the capacity of the nation's latent ISIS networks "has not been affected." An increased presence of troops on French streets has already given the nation a paramilitary character.
Meanwhile, in Britain, the entirety of the country's elite Special Forces, the SAS, have had their leave cancelled as a consequence of undercover deployments across the nation's Christmas shopping districts.
Under Operation Temperer, run by the British Army, 5,000 troops are covertly patrolling busy streets, with police in cities such as London, Manchester and Birmingham all having asked for extra assistance. Outdoor Christmas markets, originally a feature of Germany's holiday celebrations, have become increasingly popular in recent years across many British cities.
On December 11, officers armed with assault rifles raided locations in London, Burton upon Trent, and Derby, in an investigation believed to center on an ISIS plot to target Christmas markets. In "international terrorism-related" arrests, according to police sources, four men from Derby, aged 22, 27, 35 and 36, in addition to a 27-year old man from Burton upon Trent, have all been detained.
A 32-year old woman from London was also arrested "on suspicion of engaging in the preparation of an act of terrorism," on behalf of the suspected ISIS terror cell. One of those being detained, according to the Daily Mail, is said to be an asylum seeker, "who may not have been in Britain for long."
In Birmingham, the Christmas market has concrete barriers installed to deter vehicular suicide bombers. According to the head of Britain's foreign intelligence service (MI6), the magnitude of the terrorism faced by the UK is "unprecedented."
"The risks at stake are profound and represent a fundamental threat to our sovereignty," said the MI6 chief, Alex Younger, who also cited the extreme dangers posed by "hybrid attacks," in which conventional terrorism is combined with cyber-security breaches. Up to 3,000 Islamic extremists presently reside in Britain, according to Andrew Parker, head of its domestic intelligence agency, MI5.
The porosity of European borders has necessitated the need to ramp up cooperation between domestic and transnational security agencies across the continent. This makes the report issued by Europol instructive, issued as it was under the auspices of its British-born director, Robin Wainwright, as it goes to great lengths to play down the significance of cyber-attacks.
British security officers, however, have "never been under so much pressure, and the lack of agreement and effectiveness of international cooperation may well be one cause why.
Last year, the sense of nervousness was "palpable" among Germans, despite increased police deployed to Christmas markets in the states of Berlin, Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Hessen, North Rhine Westphalia and Thuringia.
This of course came before the New Year's Eve wave of mass sexual assaults, which targeted Cologne, Hamburg and other cities, with the police failures which allowed for the assaults recently described in a new book entitled, The Night that Changed Germany.
Previously, the festive shopping tradition of Christmas markets had become "potent symbols of freedom," with Germany's Interior Minister, Thomas de Maizière, urging people to stick to unserem Leben -- "our way of life."
With a pro-Sharia law advocate now secretary of state in the Berlin regional senate, and other Muslims even refusing to shake the hand of the country's president, Joachim Gauck, at events designed to promote integration, that way of life is changing fast.
**George Igler, between 2010 and 2016, aided those facing death across Europe for criticizing Islam.
© 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.

The Crescent Must be Above the Cross/Muslim Persecution of Christians: September, 2016
Raymond Ibrahim/December 18, 2016
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/18/raymond-ibrahimthe-crescent-must-be-above-the-crossmuslim-persecution-of-christians-september-2016/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9574/crescent-above-cross
Three Christians were sentenced to be flogged for sipping wine during a communion Mass. “In a shock move,” however, “oppressive officials in Tehran have charged the three with ‘acting against national security’ for taking part in the Christian ritual.” — Iran.
“One begins to wonder if Catholic priests have become an endangered species.” Clergyman discussing latest murder of priest.Nigeria.
“We are at a breaking point. People can’t put up with any more of this.” — Christian bishop, Egypt.
“They said all Christians should be killed. They said we were evil demons and made Pakistan impure.” — Christian survivor of Muslim mob attack, Pakistan.
Officials arrested 27 Christians — including several women and children — for the crime of “conducting Christian prayers” and being “in possession of Bibles.” — Saudi Arabia.
In September 2016, a group of escaped ISIS sex slaves finally revealed the true fate of Kayla Mueller — the 26-year-old American aid worker in Syria whom ISIS had reported dead more than a year ago. Her former fellow captives said Mueller had “refused to deny Jesus Christ despite being repeatedly raped and tortured.” In February 2015, ISIS claimed their captive had been killed during a Jordanian airstrike and sent photos of her dead body in a white burial shroud, apparently as a sign of respect. One former sex slave said that Mueller “put others before herself,” and once even refused a chance to escape with the other girls because she thought her American appearance would stand out and endanger the others.
Kayla Mueller was a 26-year-old American Christian aid worker in Syria. The Islamic State abducted her, and repeatedly raped and tortured her, then claimed that she was killed during a Jordanian airstrike. Above, Mueller is shown before her enslavement and death (left), and during her captivity (right), taken from an ISIS propaganda video.
An ISIS-related plot to butcher Christians with chainsaws in a Belgian shopping center was exposed in September after authorities interrogated a Muslim youth. The teen — the son of a man being described as a “radical imam” — was arrested for calling for the execution of Christians while walking down a street. Theo Francken, a Belgian official, said:
“I already signed the order to remove the Imam from Belgian soil. But he appealed the decision, so I can only hope for a quick sentence. Clearly radicalism runs in the family.”
Speaking for the first time about the slaughter of the 86-year-old French priest Jacques Hamel, eyewitness Guy Coponet — who was himself stabbed several times, including in the neck, and was not expected to survive — revealed how the jihadi murderers also forced him to hold a camera and record them slitting the throat of the elderly priest: “They even checked the quality of the image and that I wasn’t trembling too much. I had to film the assassination of my friend Father Jacques!” He said the assailants planned on using the video as propaganda, “which would allow them to earn their fame as a ‘martyr’ of Allah.”Meanwhile, Hungary became the first government in Europe to open an office specifically to address the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Europe. Zoltan Balog, Hungary’s Minister for Human Resources, said:
“Today, Christianity has become the most persecuted religion, where out of five people killed [for] religious reasons, four… are Christians. In 81 countries around the world, Christians are persecuted, and 200 million Christians live in areas where they are discriminated against. Millions of Christian lives are threatened by followers of radical religious ideologies.”
This move came weeks after Prime Minister Victor Orban drew criticism in the EU by saying, “If we really want to help, we should help where the real problem is…. We should first help the Christian people before Islamic people.”Around the same time — and despite the many instances of Muslim migrants raping, murdering, and terrorizing Europeans — Pope Francis urged Europeans to take in more Muslim refugees, including into their homes. He explained that the best way to combat terrorism is by warmly welcoming migrants and helping them integrate into the “European context.”The rest of the bloody month of September’s worldwide Muslim persecution of Christians includes, but is not limited to, the following:Muslim Attacks on Christian ChurchesKosovo: On September 10, Albanian Muslims in Pristina set fire to Christ the Savior Cathedral, “Immediately after the fire,” notes the report, they “started using it [the church] as a toilet…. Since the Albanian Muslims took possession of this Orthodox land, hundreds of churches and monasteries have been burnt to the ground.”Spain: On September 8, a Muslim refugee from North Africa “attacked and burned several images of the Virgin in the Church of Fontellas.” One of the side chapels was completely destroyed and several statues were torched. Part of the ornamentation of the chapel ceiling fell, and the nave was blackened by soot. Two days later, a judge issued an order banning the North African from being within ten meters of all religious centers of Catholic worship. According to the report, the man remains unrepentant and claims to have earned heaven by his actions, and police suspect he may be responsible for “other attacks on churches in nearby locations in the Ribera de Navarre, doing damage to Catholic religious symbols, such as defacing sacred books.” (According to a canonical hadith attributed to Muhammad, “Do not leave any image without defacing it or any built-up grave without leveling it.”)Iran: Three Christians were sentenced to be flogged for sipping wine during a communion Mass. “In a shock move,” however, “oppressive officials in Tehran have charged the three with ‘acting against national security’ for taking part in the Christian ritual,” said the report. “[S]acramental wine is used by billions of Christians worldwide in celebration of the Eucharist. It is often watered down and is used during Holy Communion alongside small bread wafers.” However, because the judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on sharia (Islamic law), which forbids the consumption of alcohol, all Christians who seek to partake of communion risk being arrested and flogged.
Indonesia: Muslims interrupted a funeral ceremony in a Catholic church in Purwosari, where 200 Christians were assembled. During a Bible reading over the dead, two Muslims who had mixed in with the congregation began heckling and cursing the priest and crowd. The police were able to remove them, but they came back with a Muslim mob, then threatened and pushed the priest and his assistant to the point where they fled the church and suspended the funeral ceremony.In a separate incident, an angry Muslim mob, led by the Islamic Defenders Front, surrounded and protested against a Protestant church on the false accusation that it did not have the proper papers to renew its permit. “The presence of the Church in this area does not have the approval of most of the Muslim population,” explained a local Muslim spokesman. “Residents said they never gave permission for the renewal of the project.” However, the reverend of the church explained, “after we laid the first stone of the church, the mayor visited the site and officially recognized the project.”Syria: In September, a prominent Syriac Catholic church in Aleppo sustained significant damage from military shelling. At least 20 other Christian churches in Aleppo have been destroyed by ISIS and other “freedom fighters.” Many of the churches destroyed were historically important — such as St. Mary’s, which ISIS detonated on Easter Day, 2015. Before the war, there were well over a million Christians in Aleppo; today, about 30,000 remain.Pakistan: On the morning of September 2, four Taliban-linked Islamic terrorists wearing suicide vests stormed the church of a small Christian community of approximately 30 families in Peshawar. According to the report, “Thanks to the actions of a church security guard [who died in the shootout] and local security forces, a massacre of Christians was averted.”Yemen: Unidentified armed militants attacked the Church of Banjasar in Aden. A local source said, “Armed militants accompanied by youths from the village broke into the church after morning prayers and looted the contents of the church.” Although Christian churches in Yemen are few in number, attacks on them have been on the rise. Not long ago, Houthi militias had stormed the St. Anthony Church in al-Tawahi, also in Aden, and plundered it of all its contents. Later, Saudi forces — purportedly fighting the militants — bombed and seriously damaged the church.Egypt: Despite the recently passed church construction law, which was supposedly designed to relieve tensions by making church construction legally more acceptable, authorities are actually “sending a message that Christians can be attacked with impunity,” according to Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch. The new law still allows governors to deny church-building permits, requires that churches be built “commensurate with” the number of Christians in an area, and contains security provisions that subject decisions on whether or not a church can be built to the whims of violent mobs. Although the diplomatic Coptic Church publicly welcomed the law, “many other Christian clergy, activists, local human rights groups, and Christian members of parliament criticize the law for upholding restrictions that continue to discriminate against Christians.” The status of hundreds of churches that were used for years but then denied license renewals remains unresolved by the new law.Violence, Prison, and Death for Christian “Blasphemers” and “Apostates”Jordan: Nahed Hattar, a Christian writer and activist, was killed on September 25 outside of a courthouse in Amman. The 56-year-old man was earlier arrested for sharing a “blasphemous” cartoon about the prophet Muhammad. As he was walking into court to stand trial for “contempt of religion” and “inciting sectarian strife,” a man dressed in traditional Muslim garb shot him dead. The report adds:
“Approximately 70 percent of Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa have blasphemy laws that make it illegal to criticize or dishonor religious symbols and teachings. In practice, many of these laws apply exclusively to Islam.”
Uganda: A Muslim convert to Christianity was killed, and two others beaten, in three separate incidents:1) The blood-stained body of 32-year-old Enoch Shaban — a Muslim convert to Christianity and member of the Church of Uganda — was found hanging from a tree. A local resident of the village said he heard Shaban shouting for help after another man said, “We have warned you several times of being a disgrace to our religion, and you have not taken seriously our warnings.” The witness added: “Two weeks before meeting his death, he had mentioned several messages on his phone warning him to recant the Christian faith and return to Islam.” The slain apostate appeared to have been struck on the head with a metallic object. The morning before his death, Muslims were reportedly seen loitering around his workshop, a mile away from the murder scene. Although Uganda is majority-Christian, the area where Enoch was killed is predominantly Muslim.2) On the same day Shaban was killed, Aisha Twanza, 25 — another Muslim convert to Christianity — was poisoned by Muslim family members who put insecticide in her food. After their conversion last January, Aisha and her husband were forced to flee their village because relatives threatened to kill them. On August 10, family members informed Aisha that her mother was dying; she rushed to the village only to find that it was a lie to lure her back. Questioned about her conversion to Christianity, she refused to deny her new faith. “They were very disappointed with me for deserting Islam.” Her family then served her food and allowed her to return home:
“Reaching home, I started feeling stomach upset that continued… Soon the pain intensified, and my husband rushed me to Mbale hospital, then I was taken to Pallisa, where poisoning was discovered after several tests. I never expected my parents to do such a thing to me, but I thank God for saving me.”
3) A Muslim husband savagely beat his wife after she attended church. Neighbors found Fatuma Baluka, 21, unconscious and rushed her to a hospital: “When I arrived home, my husband shouted at me as an ‘infidel,’ and then and there started hitting me with a metallic object. I fell down, only to find myself in a hospital bed.” She has since been abandoned by her husband and extended Muslim family.Ethiopia: Six weeks after a Muslim man discovered that his wife, who is mother to his three children, had converted to Christianity, he locked her in the house and beat her with sticks; during her ordeal, neighbors heard him shouting — including that she “should die for forsaking Islam.” Neighbors found her soaked in blood from a deep gash in her forehead and rushed her to the hospital.Pakistan: A 16-year-old Christian youth was arrested and could be executed for the crime of “blasphemy.” He allegedly posted or liked on Facebook a picture of the Kaaba, Islam’s sacred temple in Mecca, with a pig on top of it. Infuriated Muslims who saw the image immediately reported it to authorities, an act leading to his arrest. Authorities also removed the image in an effort to calm local Muslims and prevent them from rioting. The arrested youth’s family fled their home in fear of reprisals. Accusations of blasphemy against Pakistan’s minorities are common and often false. Religious hatred, personal score-settling, and economic gain are just a few of the motives behind false accusations of blasphemy.Muslim Slaughter of Christians in NigeriaThe ongoing jihad on Christians by both Boko Haram, an Islamic jihad group, and allied Muslim herdsmen, left many dead in its wake:
At least eight Christians were randomly shot dead by militants on motorbikes as they were exiting Sunday church service. A couple of weeks earlier, Boko Haram had said it would begin “booby-trapping and blowing up every church that we are able to reach, and killing all of those who we find from the citizens of the cross.”
Another senior priest was kidnapped after his car was ambushed by Muslim herdsmen; during the attack they violently beat and tried to kill two other members of the clergy in the car; one was shot in the head. On the same day, a Vincentian priest was kidnapped along with his brother. Discussing these and other attacks on Christian clergy in recent weeks and months, several fatal, the communications director of the local diocese said: “One begins to wonder if Catholic priests have become an endangered species.”
Boko Haram insurgents killed at least two people during raids on Christian villages. They tied up one man with a rope and slaughtered him in front of his wife and children. They also burned homes and set the market square of one village ablaze.
A group of Fulani Muslim tribesmen attacked a 60-year-old Christian farmer while he was working his land and hacked him to death with machetes. He is “the latest victim of attacks by Muslim Fulani herdsmen in Nasarawa State who have burned church buildings and homes and destroyed crops in the past four years,” said the report.
According to a separate report, Muslim Fulani tribesmen also killed another Christian pastor; raided Ningon village– murdering two Christians as they slept in their homes, and seriously wounding a girl with gunshots; and raided the Christian village of Ungwar Mada, forcing their way into a married couple’s home and slaughtering them.
Muslim Contempt for and Abuse of ChristiansSaudi Arabia: Officials arrested 27 Christians — including several women and children — for the crime of “conducting Christian prayers” and being “in possession of Bibles.” The group of Christians, most if not all of whom were Lebanese nationals, were celebrating a feast day for the Virgin Mary when authorities stormed their residence and arrested them. Authorities, the dreaded “religious police,” proceeded to strip them of their visas and deport them back to Lebanon. Ironically, this is a much better fate than that suffered by other Christians caught engaging in “acts of Christianity” in the Islamic kingdom. In 2012, a group of 35 Christian Ethiopians were arrested and abused in prison for almost a year, simply for holding a private house prayer. One of them reported after being released: “They [Saudis] are full of hatred towards non-Muslims.”Iran: At least 25 Christians were arrested in Kerman for unknown reasons. Security forces broke into the Christians’ homes, searched them, seized various objects, and then took the Christians in. Officials did not reveal the reason for the arrest nor where the Christians were taken, leaving family and friends in distress.In another incident, authorities raided a family garden party after they noticed it wasn’t closely observing conservative Islamic norms; without a warrant, they arrested five men, former Muslims who had converted to Christianity. Then they searched the premises and confiscated several items, including three Bibles. The arrested men were taken to an unknown location, though later reports suggest they were sent to Evin Prison, where Iran’s worst criminals are held.Uzbekistan: Eight Christians were arrested and fined for possessing Christian literature, which is illegal in the Muslim majority nation. One Baptist, Stanislav Kim, was sentenced to two years in a “corrective-labor” camp for being caught with Christian literature a second time in one year. The Christian literature was ordered to be handed over to the state-backed Muslim Board.Malaysia: After Ben-Hur, originally a novel, was made into a 2016 film, moviegoers were left disappointed and confused: authorities had cut out all scenes that portrayed Christ or had anything to do with Christianity, making the movie unintelligible. “I felt cheated,” said one viewer:
“The novel from which this movie is adapted is Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ. It means Jesus is central to the plot. It was censored so much the storyline made no sense! How did Judah’s mother and sister get cured from leprosy? They just appeared at the end of the movie healed.”
Such anti-Christian edits are consisted with the government’s ban on and confiscation of Bibles in the majority Muslim nation.Separately, three Muslims who sought legally to convert to Christianity were denied conversion by the court system, due to the implementation of sharia (Islamic law), which maintains that anyone born into Islam — namely, whose father was Muslim — must remain Muslim. According to a source discussing this report, those trying to convert are often sent to a “purification center,” where they are made to recite different Islamic creeds so they are again considered Muslim: “This purification center utilizes torture, beatings, and psychological attacks to terrify new believers into recanting their faith in Jesus Christ.”Egypt: After weeks of attacks more frequent than usual on the Christian minority in Minya, Upper Egypt, the government responded by appointing a Muslim cleric, Mahmoud Gomaa, to investigate the situation. Gomaa then appeared in a televised interview insisting that “Everything was good…. No one has been killed. No one has even been wounded. There’s no conflict. The problem is really with the journalists writing about it.”Bishop Makarios of Minya responded by saying, “I have nothing to do with Mahmoud Gomaa. We are at a breaking point. People can’t put up with any more of this.” He explained how in recent weeks Christians have indeed been killed — including a priest who was gunned down at the entrance of his church and a man who was stabbed to death by an angry mob — as well as numerous incidents of mob violence on Christians which left many injured and their properties looted and burned.United States: In September, when Coptic Christians were suffering abuses “every two or three days” in Egypt, an Egyptian Muslim woman living in America made a video calling for more Muslim hostility against Egypt’s Christian minority, in the guise of an economic boycott. In a video, Ayat Oraby — a Muslim Brotherhood sympathizer who has nearly 1.5 million followers on Facebook — called the Coptic Church a “bunch of gangsters,” a “total mafia” that “rules [Egypt] behind the curtains.” Oraby claimed that Copts are “stockpiling weapons in churches” and “striving to create a Coptic statelet” in order to continue waging “a war against Islam.” That Oraby hates Copts simply because they are Christian came out clearly towards the end of her tirade, when she said: “They [Copts] must learn very well that the Crescent [Islam] must be above the Cross [Christianity].” In fact, Copts pose no danger to Egypt’s Muslims — but they dare to want equal rights, when they should be content with second-class status.Pakistan: Hate, Rape, and Murder of Christians“Christian girls are being ‘systematically’ kidnapped and abuse[d] in Pakistan,” according to a September report, causing even “a Supreme Court justice to express alarm.”
“But as far as the Pakistani police and government are concerned, this is not happening. They are claiming that the more than 1,000 children reported missing last year in just one province alone, in Punjab, actually left their home on their own free will.”
Some of the missing children are boys. Christian leaders in Faisalabad accused local police of covering up the sexual assault and murder of Zeeshan Masih. The 14-year-old Christian boy was sexually molested, murdered, and then left hanging on a tree. Police reluctantly filed a complaint before declaring it to be a “natural” death — despite the fact that autopsy reports clearly showed signs of sexual abuse and witnesses pointed to unidentified Muslim men. According to a local human rights group:
We now know that other children are complaining about sexual abuse and it is believed that Zeeshan was killed for threatening to tell his parents…. The manner in which police officers have attempted to camouflage this crime has hurt and angered them. They are calling for an independent inquiry into the handling of their son’s death… The (incidence) of rape, sodomy and murder in Pakistan (is) reaching unprecedented levels. Christians and other minorities are natural targets as they are disenfranchised by the country’s laws and statutes, which confer second-class citizenship upon them.
In a separate incident, because he refused to drop charges against them, Muslims shot and critically injured the father of a 27-year-old Christian woman they had earlier kidnapped, raped, and held for four months until she escaped. This happened three days after police refused to comply with a court order to arrest the four guilty Muslim men. Gulzar Masih, the father, was in an empty plot of land when the attack occurred:
“I was immersed in thoughts regarding the case when I saw Ghulam Hussain and Akram [two of the rapists] running towards me, hurling threats and abuses. As soon as they came near me, Hussain whipped out a pistol and fired a shot aimed at my chest. He then fired two more bullets at my legs, after which I fell down on the road. He then asked Akram to break my skull with a metal object that he was carrying. I was hit in the head, after which I lost consciousness…. They may try again to kill me, but I will not stop from knocking on the doors of justice to avenge my daughter’s dishonor. Hussain and his friends are also threatening my three sons with dire consequences, but we have resolved not to sit quiet and let them get away with such a heinous crime.”
Separately, a drunken Muslim mob stormed the homes of Christians and savagely beat their residents after a Christian woman asked the drunken revelers — who were shouting loudly and saying lewd things to young girls passing by — to quiet down. The Muslims instantly became enraged at “the audacity of ‘ritually impure’ Christians making demands on them,” said the report: “The drunk Muslim men gathered up at least a dozen of their friends and grabbed sticks, metal rods and other assorted weapons.” The mob stormed Christian homes and indiscriminately attacked men, women, and children. According to a Christian witness:
“They said all Christians should be killed. They said we were evil demons and made Pakistan impure. I thought I and my family would be killed. It was very frightening.”
Seven Christians were injured, five of whom had to go to the hospital to receive treatment for their injuries.About this SeriesWhile not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by Muslims is growing.The report posits that such Muslim persecution is not random but rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or location.
Raymond Ibrahim is the author of Crucified Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians (published by Regnery with Gatestone Institute, April 2013).
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