LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 19/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

Bible Quotations For Today
You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/23-35: "‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything." And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, "Pay what you owe." Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you." But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?"And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’

They became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles
Letter to the Romans 01/18-25: "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse; for though they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their senseless minds were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools; and they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the degrading of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 19/16
Dear Lebanese, do not give up/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
Report: Hezbollah holds Assad's opponents in secret prisons far from regime's eye/Maayan Groisman.Jerusalem Post/
Israeli missile attack reported on Syrian army outposts on the Damascus-Daraa road/DEBKAfile/February 18/16
Who's afraid of ISIS/Natalie Vainer Benaiah/Ynetnews/February 18/16
Those gloating are also exposed to scandal/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
Israel demolishing homes, peace and international law/Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
ISIS smiles big at Russia’s offensive in Syria/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
The philosophical tragedy of technology/Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/February 18/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 19/16
Cabinet Decides to Return to Landfills Plan if Trash Export Firm Fails to Submit Needed Papers
Jones Meets Berri, Stresses Need to Hold Municipal Elections on Time
Salam Denies Foul Play in Trash Export File, Says Russia Voiced Readiness to Help
Hariri Says Vacuum 'Lethal to Lebanon' as Mustaqbal Delegation Meets Helou
CDR Snaps Back at Gemayel, Distances Itself from Waste Scandal
Samaha Transported to Hospital after Suffering Health Problem during Trial
Report: Mustaqbal Kicks off Meetings with Presidential Candidates, Urges Parliament Attendance
FPM Officials Snap Back at Hariri, Claim Top Christian Representation after Deal with LF
Member of Syrian Arms Trade Gang Arrested
Dear Lebanese, do not give up
Report: Hezbollah holds Assad's opponents in secret prisons far from regime's eye

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 19/16
Canada’s fighter jets fly final anti-ISIS raids
Priority of any Syria Ground Op Must Be IS, Says Saudi FM
Trump Hits Back after Pope Says He is 'Not a Christian'
U.S. believes mustard gas used by ISIS
Israel army chief warns troops to use only ‘necessary’ force
Jubeir: Priority of any Syria ground op must be ISIS
Erdogan’s son probed for money laundering in Italy
Egypt orders closure of prominent human rights organization
ISIS claims responsibility for downed Iraqi helicopter
Russia says any incursion into Syria would be illegal
Yemen army retakes town overlooking rebel-besieged Taiz
Syrian gov’t not given GPS data of hospital hit by strike
Iraq sentences 40 ISIS to death over Tikrit massacre
Germany calls for no-fly zone in northern Syria
U.N. says 50,000 homeless after south Syria flare-up
First convoy of aid enters besieged Syrian town
Stolen radioactive material in Iraq raises fears
Britain bans public-sector boycotts of Israeli suppliers

Links From Jihad Watch Site for February 19/16
Kurdish commander: “We have proof” that Turkey backs the Islamic State and other terrorists
Apple won’t unlock San Bernardino jihad killer’s iPhone, but unlocked phones for the Feds 70 times before
Moderate Malaysia: Man seeks court’s help to renounce Islam
Iran’s Supremo: “The global Zionism network dictates the US and many EU members’ policies vis-a-vis Iran”
Obama refuses to hit the Islamic State’s Libyan capital
Belgian police find video of nuclear official at home of jihad terror suspect
Every second schoolchild in Vienna not a native speaker
After New Year’s Eve sex assaults by Muslim migrants, European Catholic bishops warn of rise of “right-wing” & “Islamophobia”
New York Times scours the land for Islamophobia, finds it in tossed beer cans
Aleppo bishop says ‘moderate’ Syrian rebels are killing civilians
Apple won’t unlock San Bernardino jihad killer’s iPhone, but unlocked phones for the Feds 70 times before
UK Muslim rape gang leader blames conviction on anti-Muslim conspiracy
Germany: Muslim sex attack suspect identified after bragging on TV

Cabinet Decides to Return to Landfills Plan if Trash Export Firm Fails to Submit Needed Papers
Naharnet/February 18/16/The cabinet announced Thursday that it will return to a waste management plan based on "sanitary landfills" if the British firm negotiating with the state over trash export fails to submit the required documents by Friday.
“The prime minister explained the circumstances during which only one firm was chosen for the trash export plan,” Information Minister Ramzi Jreij told reporters after a cabinet session at the Grand Serail. “After the firm unveiled the country of destination, indications have surfaced about this country's refusal to receive the waste and the cabinet must discuss other alternatives should the export option fail,” he added. “The conferees agreed that it will be inevitable to return to the alternative solution of sanitary landfills should the firm fail to submit the required documents by tomorrow,” Jreij said, adding that the ministerial waste management panel will convene Saturday morning to take the appropriate decisions. During the session, the cabinet also approved the construction of a U-shaped bridge on the Jal el-Dib highway to facilitate access to the district – a long-time demand by the region's residents. The cabinet's decision prompted residents to call off a highway-blocking sit-in that had been scheduled for the evening. A scandal has rocked the trash export file in recent days following claims made by the Russian Environment Ministry that it has not given its seal of approval to the export of Lebanon's garbage. Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Thursday that Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining company, which has received the government's approval to export the waste, has until Friday to provide the Lebanese authorities with a document that carries the signatures of the Russian Foreign and Environment Ministries and the Lebanese Embassy in Moscow. The document should also include the signature of the Russian Environment Ministry on its commitment to the export of waste based on the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, he said. “If it (Chinook) was not able to provide the required document, then the agreement which has been struck with it would be immediately considered void,” warned the minister. Lebanon's trash management crisis erupted in July 2015 when the country's largest landfill in Naameh, which received the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, was closed. The garbage piled up on the streets and in random locations raising health and environmental concerns and sparking unprecedented street protests against the entire political class. The cabinet later approved a waste export plan after the authorities failed to find alternatives. Ambiguity emerged earlier this week on the deal struck with Chinook when Nikolai Gudkov, press officer at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, denied that Russia gave the green light to send Lebanon's waste to a Russian province, describing a document received from the British firm by the authorities in Moscow as forged. Shehayyeb denied the claim that Chinook fabricated the permits it needs to export the waste. He said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had informed Prime Minister Tammam Salam during discussions on the sidelines of a security conference in Munich last week that Moscow welcomes the cooperation with the Lebanese authorities on the export of trash. “It seems something unnatural happened in Russia at the last minute,” he said. Shehayyeb also warned that garbage will pile up on the streets again if the export plan fails.

Jones Meets Berri, Stresses Need to Hold Municipal Elections on Time
Naharnet/February 18/16/U.S. Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Richard Jones stressed on Thursday that holding the municipal elections in Lebanon is a “great way to preserve Lebanese democracy.”He said after meeting Speaker Nabih Berri: “We agreed on the importance of holding them on schedule.”“I assured the Speaker that the U.S. would support his efforts and those of others to strengthen and preserve Lebanese democracy,” he added according to his press office. Discussions also tackled an upcoming Lebanese parliamentary delegation's visit to the U.S.“The United States warmly welcomes this parliamentary delegation,” said Jones. “The visit represents an important opportunity to strengthen the ties between Lebanon and the American people and governments, and to improve the understanding of the American government of the issues and the challenges facing Lebanon,” he remarked. “We believe this is a group of well-respected members of parliament that represents a real cross-section of the political currents in the parliament, from both the March 8 and March 14 camps. “We look forward to fruitful high level discussions with them on political, security, and economic issues,” he continued. They are scheduled to meet with officials from the State Department, the Treasury Department, the National Security Council, as well as several members of the U.S. Congress. Jones noted: “We understand that the delegation will be interested in discussing the impact on Lebanon of the implementation of the Hizbullah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015 (HIFPA).” “We welcome these discussions and look forward to continuing the strong cooperation between our two countries on counter terror finance. “It has been a long time since there has been such a parliamentary delegation coming to the United States. We hope that is the first of many that will come,” said Jones.

Salam Denies Foul Play in Trash Export File, Says Russia Voiced Readiness to Help
Naharnet/February 18/16/ Prime Minister Tammam Salam denied Thursday that forged documents have been used by a firm seeking to ship Lebanon's accumulating trash to Russia, noting that Moscow has expressed its willingness to help the country in this regard through its top diplomat Sergei Lavrov. “We are certainly not witnessing an attempt to forge documents in the file of waste and these are baseless reports,” Salam said in an interview on LBCI television. “Where are the alleged documents? We received copies of the documents from Russia and we asked for the original ones. This is the whole story,” he noted. “Should trash export fail, we will return to the landfills option. We are not obstructing the exportation plans and the biggest concern is disposing of the garbage,” the PM added. Earlier in the day, the cabinet announced that it would return to a waste management plan based on "sanitary landfills" if the British firm negotiating with the state over trash export fails to submit the required documents by Friday. A scandal has rocked the trash export file in recent days following claims made by the Russian Environment Ministry that it has not given its seal of approval to the export of Lebanon's garbage.
Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb told As Safir newspaper in remarks published Thursday that Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining company, which has received the government's approval to export the waste, has until Friday to provide the Lebanese authorities with a document that carries the signatures of the Russian Foreign and Environment Ministries and the Lebanese Embassy in Moscow. The document should also include the signature of the Russian Environment Ministry on its commitment to the export of waste based on the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, he said. Ambiguity emerged earlier this week on the deal struck with Chinook when Nikolai Gudkov, press officer at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, denied that Russia gave the green light to send Lebanon's waste to a Russian province, describing a document received from the British firm by the authorities in Moscow as forged. Lebanon's trash management crisis erupted in July 2015 when the country's largest landfill in Naameh, which received the waste of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, was closed. “Lavrov stressed to me in Munich that Russia wants to help Lebanon in the file of waste but the issue requires some time,” Salam confirmed during the interview. Separately, the premier told LBCI that his “faltering government” is “struggling to survive.” “We must keep the major controversial issues outside cabinet and we must run the affairs of citizens and people,” he stressed. He also hoped an agreement recently reached by the rival political parties to facilitate the cabinet's work after months of paralysis is not “temporary.” “I'm trying to be balanced in my stances in a country that has lost its balance due to the political crisis,” Salam added. “I recently wrote my resignation letter and carried it to the council of ministers but I backed down from my decision for the sake of Lebanon,” he pointed out. Salam also described Lebanon's democratic system as "ill," calling on the political parties to quickly elect a president to end the vacuum that has been running since May 2014.

Hariri Says Vacuum 'Lethal to Lebanon' as Mustaqbal Delegation Meets Helou
Naharnet/February 18/16/Al-Mustaqbal leader ex-PM Saad Hariri warned Thursday that the protraction of presidential vacuum would be “lethal” for the country as a delegation from his movement visited MP Henri Helou, the presidential candidate of the centrist Democratic Gathering bloc led by MP Walid Jumblat. “The period that we are going through is very difficult and the continuation of vacuum will be lethal to Lebanon and it would put the country in danger,” said Hariri during a meeting at the Center House with Mustaqbal's general secretariat and political and executive bureaus.
“Had martyr premier Rafik Hariri been alive, he would not have allowed vacuum to continue for a single day,” Hariri added. Describing the meetings he held with political leaders in recent days as “excellent,” the ex-PM reiterated his call for MPs to head to parliament and elect a new president. “We consider the presidency a priority and we will keep pushing for ending the vacuum. We will not allow anyone to deviate attention from this crucial issue in our political life,” he added. Hariri also stressed the need to protect Lebanon from the repercussions of regional conflicts and to spare the country “any new crises.” Meanwhile, a Mustaqbal delegation visited MP Helou at his Hazmieh residence at the behest of Hariri. “We came here to salute the efforts that MP Helou is exerting and we consider his nomination a great democratic message,” said MP Ahmed Fatfat in the name of the delegation. “We discussed the situations with him and put him in the picture of our declared political choices,” he added. “Ex-PM Hariri is seeking a settlement involving the nomination of (Marada Movement chief MP) Suleiman Franjieh, but we also consider the presence of other candidates, especially Henri Helou, a great democratic message and a nod to Lebanon's democrats,” Fatfat went on to say. Helou's “continued nomination is a reflection of this democratic, pluralistic will,” the MP underlined. Hariri returned to Lebanon on Sunday after spending around a year abroad over purported security concerns. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended on May 25, 2014 and the Free Patriotic Movement, Hizbullah and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions. Hariri launched late in 2015 a proposal to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his suggestion was rejected by the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The Hizbullah-led March 8 camp, as well as March 14's Lebanese Forces, have argued that Aoun is more eligible than Franjieh to become president given the size of his parliamentary bloc and his influence in the Christian community.

CDR Snaps Back at Gemayel, Distances Itself from Waste Scandal
Naharnet/February 18/16/The Council for Development and Reconstruction snapped back at Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel on Thursday after he accused it of being responsible for the corruption in the waste file. “It's been a while that the CDR has become the target of a series of accusations that it has been avoiding to respond,” the council said in a statement. “But some statements made on Wednesday crossed all boundaries after the Council was accused of covering up corruption,” it said. The Council said its defamation would harm the image and reputation of the Lebanese state.CDR stressed that its role lies in implementing projects after being tasked by the government to do so. “The waste export plan received the consensus of the political parties. The CDR did not assume any mission until it was tasked by the government to do so on December 21, 2015,” it said. “But the CDR has so far not signed any contract with any side on the export of waste,” the Council added. The statement came after Gemayel said the CDR is not qualified to handle the waste management file. “It has proven its incapacity in that field,” he said. “The government must hold it responsible for failing to manage tenders and resolve the crisis,” the lawmaker added. A scandal erupted earlier in the week when a Russian official claimed that the British company which was tasked by the Lebanese government to export the country's waste had fabricated the permits.Lebanon's waste crisis erupted when the country's largest landfill in Naahmeh was closed in July last year. Since then, the garbage has been piling up on the streets and in random locations, such as river banks and valleys.

Samaha Transported to Hospital after Suffering Health Problem during Trial
Naharnet/February 18/16/Former Minister Michel Samaha was transported to hospital on Thursday after suffering from a health problem while standing trial at the Military Tribunal. The presiding judge originally adjourned the session for 15 minutes after it appeared that Samaha's problem was mild. The Red Cross soon arrived at the scene and transferred him to Hotel Dieu de France Hospital in Beirut's Ashrafieh district after his case turned out to be worse than thought. A diabetic, LBCI television said, Samaha suffered from hypoglycemia or a drop in his sugar levels. He also experienced back pains. His lawyer Sakher al-Hashem told reporters that he was suffering from these symptoms on Wednesday, but he insisted on attending his trial on Thursday. Asked by a reporter if the official was feigning a health problem to evade trial, Hashem responded: “My client does not escape from trial.”“We have great faith in the judicial council. We are not afraid of the council,” he added of demands by Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi that the case be referred to that court. The former minister is standing trial for transporting explosives from Syria to Lebanon to carry out attacks in the country. He was caught red-handed while transporting the explosives in 2012. He was charged with attempting to carry out "terrorist acts" over allegations that he and Syrian security services chief Ali Mamluk transported explosives and planned attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon. Samaha was sentenced in May 2015 to four-and-half years in prison, but in June the Cassation Court nullified the verdict and ordered a retrial. He was released on bail earlier this year, sparking outrage in the country.

Report: Mustaqbal Kicks off Meetings with Presidential Candidates, Urges Parliament Attendance
Naharnet/February 18/16/A delegation from al-Mustaqbal movement will visit on Thursday the three presidential candidates in a bid to urge them to attend the next parliamentary session slated on March 2 to elect a president, the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday. Unnamed sources from March 14 alliance said that a Mustaqbal delegation will visit the Change and Reform bloc leader, MP Michel Aoun, Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Democratic Gathering bloc MP Henri Helou.Speaker Nabih Berri has called for the 36th parliament session to elect a head of state to fill the 21-month vacuum that has been lingering since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014. The sources said that the tour on the three candidates may not bring out the desired outcome. They added: “This activity may not see fruition,” referring to the possibility that Hizbullah and Aoun will not back down on their previous stances in that regard. Hizbullah has reiterated on several occasions that its sole candidate for the presidency is Aoun who was also endorsed by his long time rival Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea after withdrwaing from the race in his favor. On the other hand, Franjieh was nominated by Mustaqbal movement chief Saad Hariri. Helou is the candidate of the Democratic Gathering bloc led by PSP leader MP Walid Jumblat.

FPM Officials Snap Back at Hariri, Claim Top Christian Representation after Deal with LF
Naharnet/February 18/16/Free Patriotic Movement officials have said that al-Mustaqbal Movement chief Saad Hariri's return to Beirut has brought things back to square one on the presidential deadlock. “Rather than resolving the case, Hariri's return to Beirut returned things to square one,” the officials, who were not identified, told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Thursday. “Since 2014, we have resisted attempts to impose a president on the Christians,” they said. “We will not back off now that 85 percent of Christians are supporting MP Michel Aoun for the presidency following the agreement struck between the Lebanese Forces and the FPM,” the officials warned. Last month, LF chief Samir Geagea withdrew from the presidential race, announcing his endorsement for Aoun, who is the Change and Reform bloc chief and the FPM founder. An FPM official also told al-Joumhouria newspaper that only the candidate receiving wide consensus would be considered the right person for the top Christian post. “The hypothesis on the presence of four candidates … no longer exists,” the official said. His remark came after Hariri said following talks with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain el-Tineh on Wednesday that Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh is “one of the four” Christian leaders who met in Bkirki last year and agreed that “anyone of them enjoys the Christian cover” to become president. “Each one of us is free to choose whomever he wants,” he added. Hariri openly declared that Franjieh is his presidential candidate while denying that he has demanded the prime minister's post for himself. But the FPM official told al-Joumhouria that the FPM and the LF are the top representatives of Christians in parliament. “They don't have any rivalry after agreeing on a single candidate,” who is Aoun, he said.

Member of Syrian Arms Trade Gang Arrested
Naharnet/February 18/16/General Security announced on Thursday the arrest of a Syrian who has formed a four-member gang that specializes in illegal weapons trade. The suspect was arrested for contacting terrorist groups, a communique issued by the agency's general-directorate said. But the man admitted during questioning that he has formed along with three other Syrians a network active in the trade of weapons. The gang delivers arms and ammunition to terrorists taking the Lebanese-Syrian border on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal as a refugee. The suspect was transferred to the judiciary after he was questioned, it said. Efforts are underway to arrest the remaining members of the network, the communique added.

Dear Lebanese, do not give up
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/18/khalaf-ahmad-al-habtooral-arabiya-dear-lebanese-do-not-give-up/
The international community has turned a blind eye to Iran’s domination of Lebanon. Pleas for help to rid this Arab country of an armed militia under Tehran’s orders have gone unheard, because world powers do not think this small Mediterranean country has sufficient strategic significance to warrant military involvement. Now that Iran is being courted by the West, to the detriment of the Sunni Arab world and the regional balance of power, it is understandable that some political leaders within Lebanon's March 14 bloc have opted to reconcile with Hezbollah. Negotiations to nominate a new president that have been underway for 19 months resulted in stalemate because Hezbollah would not accept any candidate who was not sympathetic to its camp. It is disappointing that Hezbollah’s long-time foe Samir Geagea, executive chairman of the Lebanese Forces, capitulated by backing Michel Aoun, an ally of Hezbollah and Syrian butcher Bashar al-Assad, for the presidency, while former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is now supporting pro-Assad figure Suleiman Franjieh. This is a mistake. The day the Lebanese choose slavery and lose their will to take their country back will be a knife in the hearts of all those who love Lebanon, including myself. I do not wish to judge them unfairly. Both Geagea and Hariri are Lebanese patriots who would like nothing more than to see their country proud and free, but without tangible heavyweight assistance they have been fighting windmills. In recent days, Hariri made a rare visit to Lebanon, where he held a rally to mark the anniversary of his father’s assassination. “We will not allow anyone to pull Lebanon to the camp of hostility towards Saudi Arabia and its Arab brothers,” he told the crowd. “Lebanon will not be, under any circumstances, an Iranian province. We are Arabs, and Arabs we shall remain.”
New hope
A year ago, those fighting words would have been little more than inspirational rhetoric without real substance. Not so today. Lebanon has been taken over by force, and only force can smash the Iranian yoke. Aside from Hezbollah, the only other force is the Lebanese army, but unfortunately it has been infiltrated and is not up to the task.
The Lebanese people should ready themselves for a better future free of Iranian influence. The chains dragging Lebanon down will be broken. However, the situation is no longer hopeless in light of an Arab reawakening in the face of threats to our very existence. My message to the good Lebanese people who resent being treated as Iran’s vassals is: “Do not give up, be optimistic and stay strong. You, the great Lebanese people who hold fast to your Arab roots and your culture, once a beacon of light for all of us, get ready to take your country back!
“You, the noble people of northern Lebanon who have proven your worth and shown courage, should be an inspiration to all others. And you, the people of Beirut, must stand tall against the followers of paid Iranian lackeys and those cowardly self-appointed leaders who have exchanged their principles for their comfortable chairs and the luxurious trappings that go with them.”
Saudi leadership
A new reality is on the horizon. Predominately Sunni Arab states led by Saudi Arabia have woken up to the danger Iran presents to the region, and are taking matters into their own hands. Bahrain was stabilized due to Saudi and Emirati intervention, and Operation Decisive Storm was waged to cleanse Yemen from pro-Iranian traitors and terrorists. Liberty is within reach and should be grasped. Riyadh is seizing its rightful leadership role - backed by Gulf states, Turkey, Egypt and many others - as defender of the Muslim faith and of brotherly countries. I am grateful to King Salman bin Abdelaziz for his courage and guidance, and salute this exceptional monarch who has given us reason to once again hold our heads up high. I could not be prouder that my own country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), stands with him. A newly-assertive Riyadh is now calling the shots. Washington may have dropped its demand for Assad to go, under pressure from Moscow, but Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir is adamant that if peace talks fail, Assad will have to be removed “by force.” That statement might have been viewed as wishful thinking months ago, but with reports of Saudi troops and warplanes stationed at Turkey’s Incirlik airbase in preparation for a ground invasion potentially involving 150,000 soldiers, Saudi resolve is clear. Syria will be cured from its multiple cancers - regime war crimes, terrorist atrocities and armed Iranian interlopers - so the millions of displaced persons and refugees can return home to live in peace.
Lebanese freedom
I strongly believe the Lebanese people should ready themselves for a better future free of Iranian influence. The chains dragging Lebanon down will be broken. Release from the yoke of Hezbollah or any other occupying or terrorizing force - internal or external - will happen sooner rather than later. Soon we will see Lebanon’s so-called leaders fleeing the country to escape the people’s anger at being sold out to a foreign would-be power. It is my fervent hope to see Lebanon unfettered from Hezbollah’s strangulation, blossoming as it did in the 1960s and early 1970s when it was truly independent. I long for the day the true Lebanese identity, which has been robbed by outside forces, can reveal itself in an atmosphere of free expression. I want to stroll along Hamra Street soaking up the gaiety there once was in a country where whispers are no longer needed, before driving north to Damascus to visit the resting place of Salah Eddin al-Ayoubi, and onward to Homs to pray at the tomb of Khalid Ibn al-Waleed - two of the most fearless warriors in Arab history. This will soon be a reality, provided the Lebanese people choose well between serfdom under a gang of Iranian puppets, and an opportunity to reclaim their heritage with the help of their friends.

Report: Hezbollah holds Assad's opponents in secret prisons far from regime's eye
Maayan Groisman.Jerusalem Post/February 18/16/Hezbollah supporters during a televized speech by the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut. Hezbollah uses the control it has recently gained in large parts of Syria to form private enclaves where it enforces its own law and order by torturing Syrian regime opponents as well as opponents to Hezbollah's presence in Syria in secret prisons it has established. According to a report on al-Souria.Net, a well-known Syrian opposition website, the Lebanese terror organization has established several prisons in the areas where it enjoys the biggest dominance in Syria: the Homs countryside and Damascus countryside. Regime opponents told the website that the most famous Hezbollah prison is the "Yellow Hole" which is located in Homs. According to the report, the prisoners in Hezbollah's jails enter Syria's missing list and the organization refuses to release them, even if Syrian President Bashar Assad himself exerts pressure. Hence, Hezbollah's private prisons might create a rift between Assad and his erstwhile ally Hezbollah which enjoys growing sovereignty in Syria. Another danger to Assad's rule that might derive from this is a rift between Syria’s Alawite and Shi'ite populations, since Hezbollah tortures in these prisons not only regime opponents, but also Alawite regime supporters who object to its presence in Syrian towns owing to its violations of the rights of the local population. A regime opponent whose brother is jailed in the "Yellow Hole" told the website that officers in the Syrian security services told his family that there's no hope for their son's release. He added that "even one of Assad's officers I have spoken with told me that his relative is in the prison, but he has no way to get him out."

Canada’s fighter jets fly final anti-ISIS raids
AFP, Ottawa Thursday, 18 February 2016/Canadian F-18 fighter jets have flown their last raids against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged, the authorities said on Wednesday. The final air strikes were against an ISIS “fighting position in the vicinity of Fallujah”, Iraq, a Defense Ministry statement said. The planes flew their last sortie on Sunday, it added. In place of the six F-18 fighter jets, Ottawa said it would triple the number of Special Forces training Kurdish militia in northern Iraq to about 210. Canadian CC-150T Polaris refueling and CP-140 Aurora surveillance aircraft would continue to play roles in the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group, it said. The withdrawal of Canada’s warplanes - a campaign promise made by Trudeau in the run-up to October legislative elections - is seen as a symbolic blow against unity in the U.S.-led coalition bombing ISIS.

Priority of any Syria Ground Op Must Be IS, Says Saudi FM
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/16/Saudi forces participating in any U.S.-led ground operation in Syria would focus on fighting the Islamic State group not President Bashar Assad, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told AFP on Thursday. In an interview in Riyadh, Adel al-Jubeir also said separate Saudi-led military operations in Yemen would continue until the country's government is fully restored to power and that the kingdom would not cut oil production despite falling prices. On Syria, Jubeir said any participating Saudi force would make the battle against IS the priority, despite the kingdom's longstanding opposition to Assad. "Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to send special forces to Syria as part of the coalition, with the goal of eliminating Daesh. This is the mission and the responsibility," he said, using an Arabic acronym for IS. "If they enter Syria, these forces will work in the framework of the international coalition to fight Daesh, there will be no unilateral operations," he said. Asked if the mission could be expanded to include operations against Assad's forces, Jubeir said: "This would be something the international coalition would have to make a decision on."Saudi Arabia has backed rebel forces fighting Assad in the country's nearly five-year civil war and insists he must leave office for the country's conflict to be resolved. It has been part of the U.S.-led coalition bombing IS in Syria and Iraq since late 2014 but its participation declined after it launched the intervention against Iran-backed Huthi rebels in Yemen. "It's a matter of time before the international coalition in Yemen succeeds in restoring the legitimate government... in control of all of Yemen's territory," he said. "The support for the legitimate government will continue until the objectives are achieved or until an agreement is reached politically to achieve those objectives."
U.S. ties 'strengthening'
Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab allies began air strikes against the Shiite Huthis last March, after they seized control of large parts of Yemen and forced President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government to flee the capital Sanaa.The Huthis have also been supported by forces loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Jubeir said the coalition had helped the government reclaim more than three-quarters of Yemeni territory, open up supply lines for aid and "put enough pressure on the Huthis and Saleh for them to seriously consider a political process." He dismissed claims that Saudi Arabia was mired in the conflict. "A very, very small part of our total military is involved in Yemen and it is not bogged down," he said. Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have accused Iran of interference throughout the Middle East and Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in a major diplomatic row earlier this year. "If Iran wants to have good relations with Saudi Arabia there is a need for Iran to change its behavior and to change its policies. Mere words will not do the job," the minister said. He also rejected any suggestion that Saudi Arabia feels abandoned by its longtime ally Washington following Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. "Absolutely not," the former U.S. ambassador said. "I don't see any reduction of that relationship. If anything I see a strengthening of that relationship as time goes by." The kingdom is in a battle for market share with U.S. shale oil producers and, as the largest member of OPEC, has refused to cut output despite a fall of about 70 percent in global crude prices since mid-2014. On Tuesday Saudi Arabia agreed with non-OPEC member Russia to freeze output as long as major competitors follow, in an effort to stabilize the market.
"If other producers want to limit or agree to a freeze in terms of additional production that may have an impact on the market, but Saudi Arabia is not prepared to cut production," Jubeir said.

Trump Hits Back after Pope Says He is 'Not a Christian'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/February 18/16/Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump cannot claim to be a Christian, Pope Francis said Thursday, after the billionaire vowed to build a border wall to keep out immigrants. "Anyone, whoever he is, who only wants to build walls and not bridges is not a Christian," the pontiff told journalists during his return journey from a trip to Mexico in response to a question about Trump's anti-immigrant stance. "Vote, don't vote, I won't meddle. But I simply say, if he says these things, this man is not a Christian," he said. His remarks drew swift condemnation from the outspoken Republican presidential candidate, who described them as "disgraceful." Trump has gained in popularity by claiming Mexico is sending criminals and rapists over to the United States, and last week he accused the pope of visiting the border between the two countries at the bidding of the Mexican government."Am I an instrument of the Mexican government? I leave that to your judgment, to the people to judge," Francis said. Trump, the brash real estate tycoon from New York, has promised to end illegal immigration by building a wall along the Mexican border. His first TV ad, which was unveiled on Monday, uses footage that shows migrants fleeing Morocco to the tiny Spanish enclave of Melilla in 2014. The Mexican-U.S. border stretches more than 3,100 kilometers (1,950 miles), but only around a third is marked by high-security fencing. "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... They're sending people that have lots of problems... They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people," he said in June.

U.S. believes mustard gas used by ISIS
By Reuters Washington Thursday, 18 February 2016/ISIS militants are believed to be responsible for sulfur mustard gas attacks in Syria and Iraq last year, the United States said on Wednesday. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said ISIS insurgents were responsible for a mustard gas attack in the town of Marea on Aug. 21 “largely based on photographic evidence as well as Syrian opposition description of the event.”A confidential Oct. 29 report by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, concluded that at least two people were exposed to sulfur mustard in Marea, north of Aleppo, in August. Syria is supposed to have completely surrendered the toxic chemicals 18 months ago. Their use violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention. Toner also said that based on available information, the United States believed that ISIS was responsible for mustard gas attacks in Iraq. It is the first known use of chemical weapons in Iraq since the fall of Saddam Hussein. A source at the OPCW confirmed that laboratory tests were positive for sulfur mustard after 35 Kurdish troopers were sickened on the battlefield in August. Sulfur mustard is a Class 1 chemical agent, which means it has very few uses outside chemical warfare. Used with lethal effectiveness in World War One, it causes severe delayed burns to the eyes, skin and respiratory tract.

Israel army chief warns troops to use only ‘necessary’ force
AFP, Jerusalem Wednesday, 17 February 2016/Israel’s top soldier is warning his troops not to use excessive firepower in combating a wave of Palestinian violence in which many youthful attackers have died in the act. In remarks to high-school seniors heading for compulsory military service, he spoke of the role of Palestinian teenagers in the unrest that erupted in early October. “When there’s a 13-year-old girl holding scissors or a knife and there is some distance between her and the soldiers, I don’t want to see a soldier open fire and empty his magazine at a girl like that, even if she is committing a very serious act,” Lieutenant General Gadi Eisenkot said in remarks broadcast Wednesday by Israel’s private Channel Two television. “Rather he should use the force necessary to fulfil the objective.” Since October 1, Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming attacks have taken the lives of 25 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean, according to an AFP count. At the same time, 160 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations. A disturbing number of attackers have been young teenagers. Israel’s Yediot Aharonot newspaper quoted what it said was an internal study document by the army and the Shin Bet domestic security service which said 37 percent of them were aged between 16 and 20. Some have been younger still. In October, 15-year-old Hassan Mansara was shot dead by security forces after stabbing and seriously wounding two Israeli schoolboys in annexed east Jerusalem. His accomplice and cousin Ahmed, 13, was hit by a car as he fled, hospitalised and later charged with attempted murder. The following month, in an incident to which Eisenkot may have been alluding, two Palestinian girls aged 14 and 16 stabbed with scissors and lightly wounded an elderly man in Jerusalem. Police opened fire, killing the 16-year-old and seriously wounding the 14-year-old. Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom enraged Israel in December when she called on Israel to halt what she called “extrajudicial executions” in response to attacks. She followed up her comment the following month with a demand for “thorough” investigations into the killing of Palestinians by the Israeli army.

Jubeir: Priority of any Syria ground op must be ISIS
AFP, Riyadh Thursday, 18 February 2016/Any participation by Saudi forces in a US-led ground operation in Syria would focus on fighting the ISIS group not President Bashar al-Assad, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister told AFP on Thursday. "Saudi Arabia has expressed its readiness to send special forces to Syria as part of the coalition, with the goal of eliminating Daesh. This is the mission and the responsibility," Adel al-Jubeir said, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. Riyadh has been a fierce opponent of Assad, but Jubeir said any participating Saudi force would make the battle against ISIS the priority. "For now the objective of any ground forces or special forces would be to fight Daesh on the ground in order to seize territory from them," he said. "If they enter Syria, these forces will work in the framework of the international coalition to fight Daesh, there will be no unilateral operations," he said. Asked if the mission could be expanded to include operations against Assad's forces, Jubeir said: "This would be something the international coalition would have to make a decision on." Al-Jubeir also said Saudi Arabia's military intervention in Yemen will continue until the country's legitimate government is fully restored to power. "It's a matter of time before the international coalition in Yemen succeeds in restoring the legitimate government... in control of all of Yemen's territory," he said. "The support for the legitimate government will continue until the objectives are achieved or until an agreement is reached politically to achieve those objectives."

Erdogan’s son probed for money laundering in Italy
AFP, Rome Thursday, 18 February 2016/Italian prosecutors are investigating the son of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for money laundering amid accusations he smuggled large amounts of cash into the country, a judicial source told AFP on Thursday. A probe was launched into Bilal Erdogan after Italian authorities were petitioned by Turkish businessman Murat Hakan Uzan -- an exiled political opponent of Erdogan -- to investigate a purported "getaway operation" from Turkey to Italy. Erdogan's son moved to Bologna in August to complete his doctoral studies, but was accused by anti-government parties of fleeing his homeland after being implicated in a corruption scandal. Bilal, who lives in the north Italian city with his wife and two children, insisted he was merely winding up his PhD in international relations at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. The 35-year old was one of the main protagonists implicated in corruption allegations that exploded in December 2013 against the president's inner circle and were bitterly denied by Erdogan, then premier. Leaked tapes emerged in February 2014 of Erdogan allegedly telling Bilal to dispose of some 30 million euros ($37 million) in cash. Erdogan has dismissed the recordings as a "vile montage". Uzan's petition stated that Bilal flew into Italy with a "large sum of money" and a team of armed bodyguards who were denied entry before swiftly being assigned Turkish diplomatic passports, according to Italian media reports.

Egypt orders closure of prominent human rights organization
AFP, Cairo Thursday, 18 February 2016/Egypt has issued an order to close a prominent human rights organization that documents complaints of torture in custody, the group said on Wednesday. The Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, whose headquarters are in central Cairo, documents allegations of torture, death and medical negligence inside police stations and prisons. “Two policemen... turned up today at the center with an administrative decision from the health ministry to close” it, Aida Seif el-Dawla, one of its founders, told AFP by phone. “The decision did not give any reasons,” she said. “We managed to persuade them to postpone the closure until we went to the health ministry on Monday to understand the reasons.”A spokesman for the health ministry said the center’s closure was due to it holding “activities other than the activity allowed in its permit,” but did not specify the nature of these activities. Amnesty International said that moves to close down the center “appear to mark an expansion of the ongoing crackdown on human rights activists in Egypt.” Said Boumedouha, the rights group's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, called on Egypt to “freeze the order to close the center and provide it with a clear explanation of the reasons behind the order.”The center “must be given an opportunity to challenge the order before a court,” he said. It “provides a lifeline to hundreds of victims of torture and the families of people who have been subjected to enforced disappearance,” he said. “This looks to us like a barefaced attempt to shut down an organization which has been a bastion for human rights and a thorn in the side of the authorities for more than 20 years.”Five years after police brutality sparked the revolution that toppled longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak, human rights groups are again denouncing deaths in police stations, arbitrary arrests and the disappearances of opponents of the regime. Since the army ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013, authorities have launched a brutal crackdown on his supporters that has seen hundreds killed and tens of thousands jailed. Secular activists who took part in the 2011 revolt have also been imprisoned.

ISIS claims responsibility for downed Iraqi helicopter
Reuters, Baghdad Thursday, 18 February 2016/An Iraqi army helicopter crashed on Wednesday due to “hostile fire” west of Baghdad where security forces were fighting ISIS militants, who claimed responsibility for downing it. The helicopter crashed in the Fuhailat area, a frontline 15 km (10 miles) southeast of the militant group’s stronghold of Falluja, according to a police officer from the nearby town of Amriyat Falluja. “Initial reports suggest the helicopter was shot down by anti-aircraft machine gun,” lieutenant Hani al-Jumaili said. ISIS said in a message circulated by its supporters on Twitter that it had downed the aircraft.One member of the armed forces died and two crew members were seriously wounded, according to the officer and a source at Amiriyat Fallujah hospital. The incident comes a day after another army helicopter crashed in southern Iraq due to a technical fault, killing nine.

ISIS shoots down Iraqi army helicopter killing one: Officials
By AFP Baghdad Wednesday, 17 February 2016/ISIS shot down an Iraqi military helicopter west of Baghdad on Wednesday, killing at least one person, officials said. The helicopter - the second lost by Iraq in two days - went down near Amriyat al-Fallujah, though officials differed on the exact location. An Iraqi army aviation captain said that the Bell helicopter was shot down with a Dushka heavy machine gun, killing one crew member and wounding a second, who was rescued by another helicopter. Lieutenant Colonel Arif al-Janabi, the police chief for Amriyat al-Fallujah, said that IS shot the helicopter down, putting the death toll at two. Shakir al-Essawi, the head of the area's local council, confirmed Janabi's account. ISIS issued an online statement claiming that it shot a helicopter down and damaged another in the Amriyat al-Fallujah area on Tuesday. Iraq has lost multiple helicopters to accidents and ground fire in recent years, while others have been damaged. An Iraqi Mi-17 helicopter crashed south of Baghdad due to a “technical problem” on Tuesday, killing nine people. In October 2014, militants shot down a Bell 407 north of Baghdad, killing two crew, five days after an Mi-35 was shot down in the same area, while jihadists destroyed another helicopter on the ground earlier in the year. An overloaded helicopter crashed after delivering aid to people besieged by the Islamic State jihadist group on Mount Sinjar in August 2014, killing its pilot and injuring passengers, including a member of parliament. Lieutenant General Hassan Karim Khudayr was killed when a military helicopter crashed north of Baghdad before IS launched a sweeping offensive in June 2014. Iraq also lost an Mi-17 to a sandstorm in July 2010, a crash that killed five.

Russia says any incursion into Syria would be illegal
By Reuters Moscow Thursday, 18 February 2016/Any incursion into Syrian territory by a foreign power would be illegal, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday, in a statement clearly designed to be heard in Turkey. Turkey, opposed to the government in neighboring Syria and worried about advances by Kurdish militants in Syrian territory, this week had to deny a media report that it had already sent troops over the border. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also told Reuters this week that his country, Saudi Arabia and some European powers wanted ground troops in Syria, though no serious plan had been debated. Asked about the implications of any ground incursion into Syria, Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters: “We view Syria’s territory as the territory of a sovereign state. Any incursion into the territory of a sovereign state is illegal.”Russia’s relations with Turkey hit a low in November when Turkish warplanes downed a Russian bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border, a move described by Russian President Vladimir Putin as a “dastardly stab in the back.”Russian warplanes entered Syria’s increasingly complex, five-year-old conflict at the end of September, backing the forces of their ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and bombing rebel positions. Russia’s Maria Zakharova rejected accusations by Turkey, the Unites States and their allies that Russia had attacked hospitals and other civilian targets in Syria. “The tasks faced by Russia's aerospace forces are to lessen the terrorist threat, in particular to the Russian Federation,” she said. “We act at the request of the Syrian leadership, of official Damascus, which the United Nations continues to recognize as legitimate.” The United States, leading an alliance launching air attacks on ISIS militants in Syria, has so far ruled out sending its own ground troops there, apart from small numbers of special forces.

Yemen army retakes town overlooking rebel-besieged Taiz
Al Arabiya/Thursday, 18 February 2016/Yemeni pro-government forces on Thursday seized a town overlooking the besieged city of Taez after weeks of deadly fighting with Iran-backed rebels in the area, military sources said. The capture of Al-Misrakh comes as part of an offensive loyalists launched in November to break the siege on Yemen?s third city, where some 200,000 civilians are caught up in the fighting.

Syrian gov’t not given GPS data of hospital hit by strike
The Associated Press, Geneva Thursday, 18 February 2016/Doctors Without Borders says it took the wrenching decision not to formally inform Syria’s government or its Russian allies about the location of some medical facilities like one hit by a deadly airstrike this week, amid concerns that by doing so it could open them up to targeting amid recent violence that has injured and killed many civilians. The charity, also known by its French acronym MSF, says repeated attacks against health facilities during Syria’s five-year civil war has led medical staffers to ask the group not to provide the GPS coordinates of some sites like one in the town of Maaret al-Numan, which was hit four times in attacks on Monday, killing at least 25 people. “Deliberate attacks against civilian infrastructures including hospitals struggling to provide life-saving assistance are routine,” MSF International President Joanne Liu told reporters in Geneva on Thursday. “Health care in Syria is in the crosshair of bombs and missiles. It has collapsed. Let me be clear: Attacks on civilians and hospitals must stop. The normalization of such attacks is intolerable.”Liu said the group has no certainty about who was responsible for the strikes, but the “probability” was that Syrian or Russian air power was to blame. She said MSF’s policy of not informing Syrian or Russian officials about the location of health facilities has become a “hot topic” inside the organization. In Brussels, European Union leaders were expected to call on Russia and Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces to halt attacks on moderate opposition groups in Syria and immediately end all airstrikes. A draft statement for their summit starting Thursday, seen by The Associated Press, “calls on Russia and the Syrian regime to stop at once attacking moderate opposition groups.” The statement “calls for an immediate cessation of aerial bombardments in civilian areas.”MSF says that since the war broke out in 2011, the Syrian government has not granted permission for it to provide medical aid in the country despite its repeated requests. Because of that, its work has been limited to areas held by opposition forces. The group says it aims to help civilians and war wounded. After the latest strikes, MSF operations director Isabelle Defourny says she expects affiliated medical staffers in Syria now will ask that their locations be specified to government officials. “We gave to the Russian ambassadors in Paris (and) in Geneva coordinates for three hospitals located in very intense conflict zones, but not for all of them, and it was a decision taken together with the medical staff of the health facilities that we support.” “It was a huge discussion inside MSF and mainly with the medical directors of the health facilities that we support inside Syria,” Defourny said. “The staff of the hospital (and) the director of the hospital didn’t know if they would be better protected if they give the GPS or not.”
She said the Maaret al-Numen hospital was widely known and had already been hit by strikes in the past. “Those are not underground or invisible hospitals,” she said of the medical sites, alluding to the difficulty of the decision not to formally identify its location. “I don’t know if we regret (it) ... maybe, but the fact is that we see that in Kunduz giving GPS coordinates does not protect,” she said, alluding to a deadly U.S. airstrike in October that destroyed a MSF hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. That hospital had been identified to both Afghan and U.S. forces fighting an insurgency there. Also Thursday, MSF provided a report documenting war wounded and deaths that draws on information from 70 “makeshift hospitals” and clinics it works with in Syria. While only “a small fraction of the health facilities in Syria,” the medical facilities counted a total of 7,009 people dead and 154,647 people wounded during the conflict. The U.N. estimates that more than 250,000 people have been killed and at 11 million displaced from their homes during the war.

Iraq sentences 40 ISIS to death over Tikrit massacre
By Ahmed Rasheed Baghdad, Reuters Thursday, 18 February 2016/An Iraqi court sentenced 40 captured members of ISIS to death on Thursday for the killing of hundreds of soldiers after their capture by the ultra-radical militant group as it swept across northern Iraq in 2014, a judicial spokesman said. The slaughter of 1,700 soldiers after they fled from an ex-U.S. army base outside the northern city of Tikrit has become a symbol of ISIS' brutality and the Sunni insurgent group’s sectarian hatred of Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority. A Baghdad criminal court issued the death sentences based on what Abdul-Sattar al-Birqdar, spokesman for Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, said were convictions on terrorism charges. Seven defendants were acquitted and freed for lack of evidence. Security forces arrested dozens of suspects over the mass killing of the soldiers after retaking Tikrit from ISIS last year. Twenty-four were convicted and sentenced to death last July, and are awaiting decisions on their appeals. There are more than 600 suspects in all, judicial officials say.London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International denounced the trial leading to the death penalties, saying it was “fundamentally flawed” and had displayed “a reckless disregard for justice and human life.”Amnesty said the total number of people sentenced to die in Iraq so far this year had risen to almost 100. Birqdar said all death sentences were subject to review by the court of appeals. Iraqi law provides for an automatic appeal for all death-sentence and life-imprisonment cases, even if the defendants do not lodge an appeal themselves. However, death sentences in Iraq are often handed down after very brief trials in which defendants are poorly represented, seldom allowed to give evidence and are often tortured into making confessions that are then used against them. Video images of the Shiite soldiers being machine-gunned in their hundreds, posted online by ISIS, rank as among the most deadliest single acts of bloodshed during a decade of periodic sectarian war in Iraq.

Germany calls for no-fly zone in northern Syria
The Associated Press, Damascus, Syria Thursday, 18 February 2016/Germany revived calls Wednesday for a no-fly zone in northern Syria - an idea that once might have greatly helped the beleaguered rebels and protected civilians from bombardment but now is more complicated, dangerous and unlikely due to Russia’s air campaign supporting President Bashar al-Assad. The proposal came amid international efforts to coax at least a temporary truce and as the government allowed humanitarian aid to head for besieged areas around the country, part of an effort described by a Russian official as a first step toward implementation of an agreement reached among world powers in Munich last week. U.N. envoy Staffan de Mistura has been trying to secure aid deliveries and to improve the chances of restarting peace talks before the end of February. But those efforts have been clouded by a major government offensive north of Aleppo, where various forces backed by regional and international rivals are clashing over a crucial strip of land linking Syria’s largest city to the border with Turkey. The violence in Aleppo, which has sent tens of thousands of people fleeing toward the border, led to the collapse of indirect talks between the Syrian government and its opponents earlier this month.
It appears also to have revived a longstanding proposal to establish a no-fly zone in northern Syria, which was floated repeatedly by Turkey and other Assad opponents throughout the 5-year-old war. A no-fly zone would potentially create a safe haven for tens of thousands of displaced Syrians and help stem the flow of refugees to Europe. But Washington has long rejected the idea, fearing it would draw U.S. forces further into the civil war. German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed support the idea and repeated it on Wednesday in parliament. She said it could be done by an agreement with Assad, his backers and the coalition fighting ISIS - a proposal that analysts say is now unrealistic and more an attempt to appease Turkey.
At a news conference, Merkel said such an agreement would be “a sign of good will,” suggesting she was referring to a more informal deal to halt aerial attacks, and that this could help lead to the overall cessation of hostilities agreed upon in Munich.
Enforcing a no-fly zone has become considerably more difficult since Moscow began its air campaign in Syria on Sept. 30. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov shrugged off Merkel’s proposal, saying it would require Damascus’ consent and U.N. Security Council approval. Asked by reporters about Merkel’s initiative, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov snapped: “It’s not Merkel’s initiative, its Turkey’s initiative.”Kristian Brakel, an expert with the German Council on Foreign Relations, said Merkel’s idea could be directed at Turkey, which sees “all their stakes in the Syrian war are just floating away.” Olaf Boehnke, a political scientist with the MERICS think tank in Berlin and former head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the idea could even be more for a domestic audience in Germany, where Merkel has been under increasing pressure to slow the flood of asylum seekers. “My gut feeling is there’s not even a lot of conceptual thinking behind it,” he said. “Maybe it’s even wishful thinking, because if you look into the technical details of a no-fly zone like we’ve seen in Libya, it’s quite complicated.” A U.S.-led bombing campaign helped oust Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011, but that came with a resolution from the U.N. Security Council and agreement among NATO’s 28 members. Such a scenario is almost impossible to imagine in Syria. Moscow has made it clear that it won’t sign off on any such mission and has exercised its veto to block all efforts at the Security Council to sanction Damascus, its closest ally in the Middle East. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the U.S. for not backing his country’s proposals, adding that a no-fly zone would have prevented Russia’s air campaign in the region and saved the lives of thousands of civilians. “Oh America! You did not say ‘yes’ to ‘no-fly zone.’ Now the Russian planes are running wild over there, and thousands and tens of thousands of victims are dying,” Erdogan said. “Weren’t we coalition forces? Weren’t we to act together?” His words reflected the resentment felt by Syrian rebels, who believe a no-fly zone would have robbed Assad of his biggest asset, the aerial bombardment. Christopher Harmer, a senior naval analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, said not enforcing a no-fly zone is the “single biggest mistake” the West has made in Syria. “Had the West intervened early on and denied Assad the ability to bomb his own citizens, the moderate opposition would have been ascendant and the radical opposition would not have gained as much traction,” he said. Five years later and with the Russian air campaign, it is “more difficult, more complicated, more expensive and less likely,” he said.

U.N. says 50,000 homeless after south Syria flare-up
AFP, Amman Wednesday, 17 February 2016/An intensification of fighting between pro-government forces and rebels in southern Syria has left nearly 50,000 civilians homeless in the heart of winter, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The displacement comes with international attention largely focused on the north of Syria, where a government offensive backed by Russian air strikes has triggered an exodus of refugees towards the Turkish border. The UN humanitarian coordinator in Jordan, Edward Kallon, said the world body had organized additional cross-border aid convoys over the past fortnight that had provided winter clothing and basic shelter to more than 30,000 civilians, over 7,000 of them children. In southern Syria, near the frontier with Jordan, the city of Daraa remains in government hands but there has been heavy fighting in much of the surrounding province. Neighbouring Sweida, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, has come under attack by jihadists of the Islamic State group but has seen less fighting than other parts of the country. Jordan hosts more than 630,000 of the roughly 4.6 million Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.The Jordanian government gives a much higher estimate of 1.4 million refugees, because many of them are unregistered.

First convoy of aid enters besieged Syrian town
AFP, Damascus Wednesday, 17 February 2016/A convoy carrying food and medicine arrived in a besieged rebel-held town close to Damascus Wednesday, the Red Crescent said, the first aid delivery since world powers agreed on humanitarian access across Syria. “The convoy has begun to enter Moadimayet al-Sham. There are 35 trucks carrying 8,800 sacks of flour, 4,400 food parcels, high energy foods and medical equipment,” the Red Crescent’s Muhannad al-Asadi told AFP. Officials from 17 countries met in Munich last week and agreed an ambitious plan to cease hostilities in war-racked Syria and dramatically ramp up humanitarian access. The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Syria, Yacoub El Hillo, said aid dispatched Wednesday to Moadimayet al-Sham and four other besieged towns was enough for 93,000 people. “Today, aid for 30,000 people will enter Moadimayet al-Sham. Other aid will be enough for one month for 42,000 in Madaya, and close to 1,000 in Zabadani,” he said. Madaya and Zabadani, in Damascus province, are both besieged by Syrian regime forces. Hillo said supplies for 20,000 people were to be delivered to the Shiite towns of Fuaa and Kafraya, in northwestern Idlib province, which are surrounded by rebel forces. “Sieges need to be lifted wherever they are... it’s unacceptable that such a country exists in this day and age,” he added. A ceasefire is due to come into effect on Friday, but prospects of a lasting truce appear weak as a Russian-backed regime offensive around second city Aleppo has forced tens of thousands from their homes this month. Almost half a million people in Syria are in areas under siege, according to the U.N..

Stolen radioactive material in Iraq raises fears
Reuters, Baghdad Thursday, 18 February 2016/Iraq is searching for “highly dangerous” radioactive material whose theft last year has raised fears among Iraqi officials that it could be used as a weapon if acquired by ISIS. Baghdad reported the stolen material to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in November but has not requested assistance to recover it, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Wednesday. The material, stored in a protective case the size of a laptop computer, went missing from a storage facility near the southern city of Basra belonging to U.S. oilfield services company Weatherford, an environment ministry document seen by Reuters showed and security, environmental and provincial officials confirmed. A security guard walks past the Weatherford booth during the Basra International trade fair for oil and gas in Basra, Iraq in a November 25, 2010 file photo. (Reuters) A spokesman for Iraq’s environment ministry said he could not discuss the issue, citing national security concerns. Weatherford said in a statement that it was not responsible or liable for the theft. “We do not own, operate or control sources or the bunker where the sources are stored,” it said. The material, which uses gamma rays to test flaws in materials used for oil and gas pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, is owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey, according to the document and officials.
Dirty bomb fear
A dirty bomb combines nuclear material with conventional explosives to contaminate an area with radiation, in contrast to a nuclear weapon, which uses nuclear fission to trigger a vastly more powerful blast. “We are afraid the radioactive element will fall into the hands of Daesh,” said a senior security official with knowledge of the theft, using an Arabic acronym for ISIS. “They could simply attach it to explosives to make a dirty bomb,” said the official, who works at the interior ministry and spoke on condition of anonymity as he is also not authorised to speak publicly. There was no indication the material had come into the possession of ISIS, which seized territory in Iraq and Syria in 2014 but does not control areas near Basra. The security official, based in Baghdad, told Reuters there were no immediate suspects for the theft. But the official said the initial inquiry suggested the perpetrators had specific knowledge of the material and the facility. “No broken locks, no smashed doors and no evidence of forced entry,” he said.

Britain bans public-sector boycotts of Israeli suppliers
Reuters, London Wednesday, 17 February 2016/Local authorities and public-sector organizations in Britain are banned from boycotting Israeli suppliers under new government rules, and violators could face severe penalties, the British government said on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the new rules as a boost for his government’s battle against a Palestinian-led international boycott campaign. Palestinians criticized the decision, saying it would reinforce Israel’s occupation of territories they seek for an independent state. The British Cabinet Office said that apart from where legal sanctions, embargoes and restrictions have been imposed, procurement boycotts by public authorities were “inappropriate”. In a statement, it said such boycotts “undermine good community relations, poisoning and polarising debate, weakening integration and fueling anti-Semitism”. The new rules coincided with a visit to Israel by Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock during which, in a speech, he voiced opposition to “those calling for boycotts”. In welcoming remarks to Hancock and a British trade delegation to Israel, Netanyahu said: “I want to commend the British government for refusing to discriminate against Israel and Israelis and I commend you for standing up (for) the one and only true democracy in the Middle East.”The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which campaigns for a boycott of all Israeli goods and questions Israel’s legitimacy, condemned Britain’s decision. In a statement, the PLO said British local governments and publicly funded bodies would be forbidden “from exercising their democratic right and freedom of choice not to be complicit” in Israeli settlement-building on land Palestinians seek for a state. “We strongly urge the British government to reconsider its positions and to rescind this regulation. This is not only a matter of law or politics, but also of moral responsibility.” The BDS said in a statement that Prime Minister David Cameron was “making a grave mistake similar to Margaret Thatcher’s unwavering support of apartheid South Africa”. The British government said the World Trade Organization’s Government Procurement Agreement required signatories to treat suppliers equally, and therefore any discrimination against Israeli suppliers would be in breach of the agreement.The government has not made boycotts a criminal offence, but those in sectors such as the health service, local authorities and some university student unions that impose them could face penalties, including fines and contract cancellations. In 2014, the city council in Leicester in central England voted to boycott produce from Israeli settlements. Last November, Israel was stung by European Union guidelines under which products made in the settlements must be labelled as such, rather than carry a “Made in Israel” label. Opponents of the labelling initiative fear it will boost the BDS. The EU considers the settlements in occupied territory illegal under international law.

Israeli missile attack reported on Syrian army outposts on the Damascus-Daraa road
DEBKAfile Special Report February 18, 2016/Israel-Syrian border tensions have soared in the five days since Russia and Syria stepped up their air strikes over rebel positions in southern Syria, drawing ever closer to the Israeli border. The raids are covering a wide radius from the town of Daraa on the Jordanian border up to Quneitra on the Golan. How to react if those raids actually reach the two borders is no doubt a burning topic at General Staff HQ in Tel Aviv and Amman. Neither army wants a head-on collision close to their borders with the coalition of Russian, Syria, Iranian and Hizballah forces. However, the intensified air raids are putting large numbers of Syrian refugees to flight from their homes towards the Israeli and Jordanian borders. The Jordanian border area is in chaos. The kingdom’s army has seized the positions formerly held by Syrian rebel units to hold back the influx of refugees into Jordan. The rebels are dropping their weapons and fleeing in all directions in disarray.
Israel has ordered a blackout on news from Ein Zivan, its border crossing at the Golan town of Quneitra. Wednesday, Feb. 17, as debkafile reported exclusively earlier, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu sent Dore Gold, Director General of the Foreign Ministry to Moscow in search of answers about Russian intentions regarding the Israeli border district. By Wednesday night, no answers were forthcoming. This is not surprising. When the Jordanian Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Mashal Al-Zaben was sent on a similar errand to Moscow a few days ago, he was given the runaround, told that, since the Syrian chief of staff happened to be in the Russian capital “by chance,” and since he is in charge of military operations in the border region, why not talk to him? In fact, the Russians had deliberately flown him over from Syria. On the assumption that Dr. Gold would fare no better than the Jordanian general, Israel may have taken matters into its own hands. Three Israeli missiles reportedly struck Syrian military outposts on the road between Daraa and Damascus after Wednesday midnight, according to Syrian human rights monitors. The IDF declined to comment on this report, while the Syrian army and Hizballah denied it.
If this report is true, it would mean that Israel’s patience is running out with the Russian-Syrian aerial campaign that threatens to open the door for Syrian, Iranian and Hizballah forces to take up positions on its northern border. The triple missile strike looks as though it was meant to draw a line in the sand against this happening.

Who's afraid of ISIS?
Natalie Vainer Benaiah/Ynetnews/February 18/16
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4767576,00.html
ISIS has managed to terrify millions of people all over the world. With Europe worried and Saudi Arabia sounding its war drums- what do we really know about Islamic State, what types of weapons does it possess, and how much should Israel worry? Here are the myths, the successes, and the losses of the group the world calls "ISIS."
The terror organization known as Islamic State has killed tens of thousands, and has managed to terrify millions the world over. It has had several dubious titles bestowed upon it, and has been recognized as the "richest terrorist organization in the world." But how much do we really know about them, and how much do we need to worry about them?
Myth 1: ISIS is a new organization
The infamous terror organization, although only making its first appearance in Israeli headlines a few years ago, is not at all a new organization. In fact, we can trace its beginnings to 1999, when the Jordanian terrorist Musab al-Zarqawi founded the group Jama'at al-Tawhid wal Jihad. Since then, the organization has had many incarnations, and eventually became the so-called al-Qaida in Iraq, which started to to operate following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. Even the name ISIS has already become obsolete, but we'll get to that later.
Under the name al-Qaida in Iraq the organization swore allegiance to the leadership of al-Qaida, and started to carry out attacks in its name. Even then, the group wasn't afraid to use extreme measures, causing the central al-Qaida leadership to be furious. They willfully killed Muslims, a red line for an organization which killed thousands of Americans without mercy in the attack on the World Trade Center towers on September 11 2001. Indeed, several years later, the two groups separated from each other, for, amongst other reasons, the fighting in Syria.
The period with al-Zarqawi at the helm ended in 2006, when he was assassinated in a US bombing, and Abu-Ayyub al-Masri replaced him, before he too was killed four years later; but not before he changed the name to Islamic State in Iraq."
Into al-Masri's shoes stepped the current leader of ISIS, Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi- or, as he was originally known- Ibrahim Awwad Ibrahim al-Badri al-Samri, with a doctorate in Islamic studies He was born in 1971, and his relatives described him as someone who "didn't speak a lot".
A high ranking US intelligence official described Baghdadi as "the real heir to Osama bin Laden. He is crueler, and more anti-American than Ayman a-Zawahiri, the current head of al-Qaida."
Once al-Baghdadi became the head of the organization in 2010, ISIS began to spread to Syria, and changed its name to the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (the Arabic acronym, Daesh, stands for the words "Dawlat al-Eslamiyye fi al-Iraq wal Shams).
The appointment of al-Baghdadi signaled a turning point in the policies of the organization, which turned more global, became more accessible, and took on more state functions. The peak came in 2014, when al-Baghdadi declared the establishment of the Caliphate, appointed himself Caliph, and changed the name of the organization to "Islamic State"- with no geographic connection and whose goal is international. With the declaration of the rise of the Caliphate, al-Baghdadi also clarified that the raison d'etre of the organization is "global domination," meaning that all Muslims must obey and join the effort.
The terrorist organization has since turned into a functioning state- with an official currency, education system, judiciary system, banks, health services, electricity, and street cleaners. They apply Sharia Islamic law to the areas which they capture, and give non-muslims the option to either convert to Islam, pay Jizya (a tax for non-muslims), or die.
Al-Baghdadi has also ushered in a period of economic prosperity, primarily from the oil fields which the organization controls in Iraq and Syria. They have been so prosperous, that the US treasury has classified it as the "world's richest terrorist organization," worth approximately two billion dollars. In September of 2014, the US National Counterterrorism Center declared that ISIS controlled 201 thousand square kilometers in Syria and Iraq- an area equal to the size of the UK - and thus ruled ten million people.
Myth number two: the source of the majority of ISIS's revenue is from oil
This common assumption was correct until recently, when the organization was in control of several oil fields in Iraq and Syria, which earned, according to different documents, between $500-600 million a year. ISIS sold the gas to anyone who requested, including to its enemies- from different opposition forces to even the government of Bashar al-Assad. They were assisted by smuggling networks which had already been in place since the 1990's, when Saddam Hussein tried to circumvent the international sanctions placed on the export of his gas.
With the beginning of the coalition strikes led by the US, ISIS has lost a significant amount of territory (according to reports, ISIS now controls between an third and a half of the territory it controlled in 2014), and in the campaign conducted last October, ISIS lost most of the oil infrastructure it controlled. From producing between 30 to 80 thousand barrels of oil a day, it now only produces 25 thousand barrels a day. Even by early 2015, The Pentagon reported that "oil is no longer a primary source of income for ISIS," and the US Treasury estimated that the income from oil went down to only $100 million a year. This is due to the destruction of oil infrastructure, the sharp decline in oil prices, and the shortage of experts who know how to refine the oil (most of them deserted or were killed in coalition airstrikes).
In order to cover their economic losses, ISIS has been searching for alternate sources of revenue, such as by increasing taxes on the population in areas they control, through extortion, stealing cash from banks, selling antiquities, selling sex slaves, selling crops, and even ransom and kidnapping.
Myth 3: ISIS is sweeping across the Muslim world
Although there are approximate 30 terror organizations around the world who pledged their allegiance to ISIS, and have granted them footholds in countries such as Uzbekistan, Nigeria, the Sinai, and the Philippines amongst others, most of these organizations have maintained their groups' autonomy, and continued to concentrate their resources on fighting against their local governments.
Additionally, the majority of Muslim nations have come out against ISIS, and have stated that they do not represent "true Islam." Just this last December for example, Saudi Arabia declared the formation of a Muslim coalition against ISIS which includes more than 30 countries (this, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia donated lots of money to ISIS at the beginning, primarily out of spite for the Iranians and the Assad regime).
Surprisingly, or perhaps not so, the majority of ISIS's support comes from groups which originated in the areas ISIS occupies. Excluding the ethnic minorities which suffer from persecution and discrimination, most of the inhabitants of Islamic State enjoy the stability and services provided by the organization, especially after five chaotic years living in a war- wracked country. They also benefit from the money that comes in from oil sales, and the strengthening of the Sunnis in the area.
Among the largest supporters are different Sunni tribes, former Baath party members, former officers in Saddam Hussein's army, and various jihadist groups. Indeed, ISIS has a military advantage over these groups, but their support for the group is important. The moment these groups no longer support ISIS, it will be much tougher for the organization to operate unimpeded in the areas under its control.
So who is afraid of ISIS? Or: does Israel need to worry?
The terrorist organization had a meteoric rise over the past decade - from a local group to an Islamic State with goals to conquer the world. The last year saw more and more attacks outside of Syria and Iraq, including the Paris terror attacks, the explosion in Dahieh in Lebanon, and the takedown of the Russian plane in Sinai. It seems that the organization is gaining momentum regarding its global goals.
But the US led coalition attacks (and the Russian and Arab coalition strikes as well) are taking their toll: ISIS has lost between a third to half of its territory, its oil and gas exports have been cut significantly, and almost one third of the leaders have already been assassinated. In general, 2015 has seen the deaths of several important people such as Jihadi John, and the head of ISIS in Libya. Just this week, there have been unconfirmed reports that the head of ISIS in Yemen was killed.
Members of the organization feel the strategic losses, and only a month ago it was reported that their salaries will be cut in half, causing many people to leave the ranks of the organization. Additionally, the central bank with most of ISIS's cash in Mosul was blown up, and the Iraqi army re-captured ISIS's capital in Iraq - Ramadi.
As for the military capabilities of the organization – the fighting force stands at between 20,000 and 25,000 fighters, and is in possession of a wide arsenal of light weapons, heavy weapons, and even chemical weapons. With that being said, most of the weapons are older, weapons which ISIS "inherited" from the era of the US occupation and from the Soviet era. Some of the weapons are unusable, and some of the weapons not everyone in the organization knows how to use. Therefore, the few planes in ISIS's possession (six, according to reports) remain unused as there is no one who knows how to fly them.
An American security analyst said on CNBS that most of the weapons that fall into the hands of ISIS are used as "trophy pieces" as opposed to actually getting used in battles, and also because the fighters are usually keen on getting back to their light weapons of choice.
To put this in perspective, the IDF is almost 30 times larger than the entirety of the organization in Syria and Iraq (and that’s without taking into consideration the amount of advanced weapons and its budget), and the number of armed fighters in the US Military is almost 100 times larger.
Moving back to Israel- in the last few months the IDF has been preparing for different scenarios should it have to confront the cruel terrorist organization, and with good reason. With that being said, the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) has ranked ISIS third in terms of major threats to Israel. Preceding ISIS is the Iranian threat, and the Israeli – Palestinian conflict.
On the northern front, Hezbollah poses a more direct threat than ISIS, and in the south, ISIS in Sinai is fighting primarily against the Egyptian army. Jordan remains relatively stable, and it seems that the eyes of the organization are gazing towards Libya and Saudi Arabia. While lone wolf attacks threaten every nation in the world, it seems that ISIS itself is too deep in the mud in Syria and Iraq to directly threaten Israel.

Those gloating are also exposed to scandal
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
Major U.S. newspapers have written about last week’s incident when members of the Saudi Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice detained a pastry shop’s cross-dressing mascot for “violating religious values.” Such acts affect our reputation, which we have been spending millions on since the Sept. 11 attacks.
Selective hearing
Other societies do not form an opinion about us by reading the work of philosophers such as Ibn Khaldun, Averroes and al-Kindi, or listening to musicians such as Naseer Shamma, Umm Kulthum and Fairuz, or learning about Islamic scholars such as Tahar bin Achour and Abdallah bin Bayyah. Rather, they form their opinions via what we ourselves produce and circulate via the internet. This is why they do not listen to moderate voices. Other societies form their opinions via what we ourselves produce and circulate via the internet. This is why they do not listen to moderate voices. Amid social-media reaction to the incident, moderate Saudi figures such as Adil Kalbani, Mohammad al-Jathlani and Issa al-Ghayth made reasonable statements. They are sheikhs and scholars in their fields, but since they are moderate, no one mentioned their tweets, and their statements were not translated and circulated. When a religious edict is issued allowing the killing of Mickey Mouse, we harm our image. We disfigure our face with our own hands. However, to all those gloating about the mascot incident, you too are exposed to scandals.

Israel demolishing homes, peace and international law
Chris Doyle/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
With the regional political temperatures boiling and the weather freezing, cynics might argue what better time for the Israeli authorities to to indulge in a new wave of home demolitions. Eyes are on Syria and in the United States, every Presidential candidate is vying to outdo the others in their pro-Israeli credentials.
That the Netanyahu coalition is significantly turning up the heat right now is then no surprise. President Obama is already as lame as most ducks ever get, and Europe simply has other issues to fight over. U.S. Presidential elections typically signal the worst times for Palestinians only trumped by Israeli elections in the bash the Palestinian stakes. The great fear is that for Netanyahu this is just the hors d’oeuvres with the main course a mass transfer of population or a pressing of the fast forward button on a major settlement project such as E1 that splits the West Bank into two. There have already been at least 8 demolitions in this area so far this year.
Halting the demolitions is therefore vital to ward off any future violations. This settler-dominated Israeli coalition is sniffing every opportunity to expand its settler-colonial empire in the West Bank. The demolitions are one core part of bringing this about and one that Israel has practised around 50,000 times since 1967. There are three categories of demolitions – the punitive demolitions where Israeli demolishes the family homes of those accused of ‘terrorism’ (illegal as collective punishment), demolition of those homes without a permit and those that happen to be in an area needed for military or security purposes. For example, in the south Hebron hills communities that have lived there before the state of Israel existed are being removed because they now reside in Firing Zone 918.
So far in 2016, Israel has already demolished over 150 Palestinian homes and structures. Out in the hills of the West Bank or even in the Jordan Valley this is not easy at any time but the winter is harsh.
Back in December 2013, I was out in the West Bank, travelling with the former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw as we toured almost exactly the communities that are being hit so hard now. The Israeli armed forces demolished homes in the Jordan Valley the day before the much predicted worst winter storm since the early 1950s. It was so cold that even Cairo got snow for the first time in over a century. Still of course these Palestinian farmers were so much of a security threat in their shacks that they had to be demolished. At the time we were visiting another series of communities under threat in the south Hebron hills. Here we were given all the details about how these Palestinian shepherds had lost their caves, their lands and now even their U.N. canvas tents were under threat. We spent 90 minutes grimly trying not to betray our dearest wish to return to the warmth of our car. It was truly humbling. The leader of the community showed us their cistern destroyed amazingly by settlers who had driven a car down it.
Punitive destruction
For sure the Palestinians will go back, but their tents or shacks will be demolished again. Israeli forces make it punitive – in one round of demolitions in February, five solar panels were confiscated for good measure.
Both these series of communities are under huge threat. The current round of demolitions are not random or based on some legal technicality. Israel is testing the boundaries of the possible and it is finding these are just as elastic as it had expected.
Beyond the immediate horror for those who have have lost their homes and livelihoods, there are broader reasons to be concerned. The Israeli government has every intention of emptying most of the Jordan Valley outside of Jericho by forcing farmers and Bedouin up into the Palestinian populated areas in the heart of the West Bank. It is a sacred mantra at the heart of Israeli politics that the Jordan Valley must be kept by Israel even if there is some leasing arrangement that allows them permanent military bases in this area that forms 20 percent of the West Bank. Moreover, Israeli planners do not want a Palestinian ‘state’ to have a land border with the Jordan river let alone any touching point with Jordan itself.
The demolitions are geared to pushing Palestinian farmers and Bedouin up into the central West Bank hills. The other consideration for Israeli strategic planners is that any Palestinian state cannot have access to the Jordan River or it would legally be able to claim a share of the water, a security issue for Israel. In the south Hebron hills too there is a strategic imperative. Clearing out Firing Zone 918 and the other areas south and south east of Hebron allows Israel to keep a corridor up to the settlements east of Hebron and also to the Jordan Valley. These pesky cave dwelling shepherds are in the way and must be moved. This was outlined all the way back in the Allon Plan drawn up after the 1967 war.
As ever, the other primary area for demolitions is Jerusalem. Conditions for the Palestinian areas will be kept as tough as possible to promote the cherished exodus from the Holy City. Getting a permit for a Palestinian is nigh impossible. The U.N. found that between 2010 and 2014, only 1.5 percent of 2,020 building permit requests submitted were approved. Only this month the neighbourhood of Sur Baher has, with Belgian government funding, built its first ever playground, of course without permission. It is much needed of course contrasting with many Jewish communities in Jerusalem have 30 times more playgrounds than their Palestinian counterparts. Technically this threatening playground is liable for demolition and a fine. As ever the international community is flailing in its response. Aside from many other consideration, much of the smashed debris of these structures were actually funded overseas. According to the United Nations around 20% of the demolitions in 2014 and 2015 were funded by international donors. Are they seeking reparations or even an apology?
There was a statement from the EU issued by a spokesperson not even Federica Mogherini. International law was not even given a look in. Perhaps the EU is feeling bruised because of the punishing verbal assaults on it by Israeli politicians because it had the temerity to issue settlement labelling guidelines, hardly a tough measure in the face of over four decades of war crimes, persistent and systematic violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Israel is testing the boundaries of the possible and it is finding these are just as elastic as it had expected. As 2016 progresses, demolitions, land confiscations and settlement expansion will undoubtedly increase as the “Zionist response” to the violent attacks on Israelis. There be no peace process or even a prospect of one but if the international community has an obligation it is to uphold its own laws and ensure no party exploits the impasse for its own ends. What Israel is really helping to demolish, in tandem with others notably Russia, are the very pillars of the international system itself.

ISIS smiles big at Russia’s offensive in Syria
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
If there was such a thing as an “ideal scenario” for ISIS, it is quickly transforming to a reality in Syria as the group’s rivals are dealt severe blows by the Russian offensive, while a regional war in proxy is distracting from any serious ground mission to defeat it.
Russia’s 444 sorties in the last week around Northern Aleppo were very much in line with Moscow’s targets since last September and the beginning of its operation in Syria. As this map, prepared by “People Demand for Change” group, shows, the Kremlin’s hit list since the beginning of its operations in September has been far from ISIS strongholds, and focussed on anti-Assad forces. Another recent map by the Institute for the Study of War, highlights the groups that Moscow has targeted, with the goal of helping the regime and its allied sectarian militias regain control of the Northern border.
While Moscow’s battle-plan could succeed in the short term in handing military victories to Assad and pro-Iranian groups, it is a recipe for a counterterrorism disaster in the long run, and one that largely benefits ISIS. Russia’s tactics aiding a cruel dictator, bombing schools and hospitals and fueling sectarian tension, make a perfect recruiting tool for the extremists. Added to this, is that it’s generating a massive influx of refugees feared to be infiltrated by ISIS members, fleeing Syria into Turkey and Europe.
Russia’s tactics and alliances
Looking at the battle map in Syria, the Russian air bombardment has effectively overlooked ISIS. Whether that is a temporary strategy to shore up Assad while diminishing his bigger threat -the moderate rebels-, or to ultimately leave the West between two choices Assad and ISIS, it remains to be seen. But for the time being, the Russian strategy from air, aided by Assad forces and allied Shia and YPG (People’s Protection Units) militias on the ground, plays politically and militarily into ISIS’ hands in Syria. While Moscow’s battle-plan could succeed in the short term in handing military victories to Assad and pro-Iranian groups, it is a recipe for a counterterrorism disaster in the long run, and one that largely benefits ISIS. In the immediate aftermath of the Northern Aleppo battles, ISIS is bound to benefit militarily as Russia deals heavy blows to common Assad and ISIS war rivals. These include battalions in the more moderate Free Syrian Army such as Jabha Shamiya, Faylak Sham, Soukour Jabal, and Nour Deen Zanki. The area targeted also has heavy presence for the more radical but anti-ISIS forces, such as Ahrar Al-Sham, and Al-Qaeda’s allied group Jabhat Nusra. Just as Russia was bombing the rebels this week, ISIS announced the surrender of some of the rebel fighters and families to its forces.
Moscow’s tactics along the way in helping its closest Middle East ally, make a perfect recruiting tool for extremists including ISIS. The Syrian Network for Human Rights documented that Russia’s bombardment has killed more civilians last month in Syria than both Assad and ISIS. These tactics have been more magnified with recent accusations to Russia targeting Doctors Without Borders hospital and school in Idlib last Monday. To add fuel to the fire, Russia’s alliance on the ground with Shia militias and Iranian proxies directly enforces ISIS’ sectarian narrative that this is a war against Sunnis, abetted by the West and that only the rule of the Caliphate can bring justice.
Advantage ISIS
For starters, it is this exact sectarian narrative and air bombardment in 2003 that gave birth to ISIS in Iraq. Building on the notion of disaffected Sunnis and recruiting based on U.S. tactics in the war from Abu Ghraib detention camp to Fallujah, ISIS managed to build a foothold in Iraq, that it spread later to Syria.
While the U.S. counterinsurgency strategy in 2007 and 2008 relied heavily on Sunni tribes in Anbar in rolling back ISIS, the Russian strategy in Syria is doing the exact opposite. Moscow is alienating the same Sunni groups that threaten ISIS, while striking an alliance with Assad and Hezbollah whose actions have helped the organization recruit and seek monopoly over Sunnis. The influx of refugees as well from Russia’s bombardment into Turkey and for some into Europe infuses a new element into ISIS’ advantages. Just as more than 30,000 refugees were stranded on the Turkish border, U.S. intelligence officials were warning from ISIS increased ability to infiltrate those fleeing into Europe. Some have even hinted that this is part of Moscow’s plan to compound Turkey’s and Europe’s problems while it rejects settlement of Syrian refugees. Russia’s strategy and standoff with Turkey over support for the Kurdish YPG that Ankara considers terrorist, also freezes any mission to liberate ISIS territories in Syria. With the YPG expanding its presence on Turkish borders, and the forces that the U.S. , Arab allies, and Turkey have been beefing up to fight ISIS are very much weakened, any serious offensive to fight ISIS in Syria is laid to rest for the moment.ISIS has every reason to be overjoyed with Russia’s current strategy in Syria, beginning with the scope of Moscow’s targets, its fueling of sectarian tensions and curtailing a larger coalition against the Islamic State. The repercussions of Russia’s actions in Syria will unlikely be confined to the battles between the regime and the opposition, and will be felt in counterterrorism efforts in Europe and beyond.

The philosophical tragedy of technology
Fahad Suleiman Shoqiran/Al Arabiya/February 18/16
Adopting the social media we see today with its vindictive traits paves the way to decline. We continuously blame these traits on the progression of technology. In an op-ed published earlier this month, columnist Thomas Friedman asked if social media has played the role of the creator or the destroyer. Friedman wrote:"Does it turn out that social media is better at breaking things than at making things?" He raised these questions as if he was discovering a new argument. Actually, this technological revolution has been empty since its beginning. When it comes to the Middle East, Arab and Muslim societies have filled this revolution with all sorts of moral collapse, distortion of language, sectarian struggles and tribal arrogance. Meanwhile terrorist organizations have found an online safe haven to recruit and mobilize, accuse others of apostasy and publish videos of murder. In this respect, we can safely say that technological advancement poses a dilemma, considering its charm, simplicity and availability. Perhaps it is some form of "unconscious Westernization," as Iranian theorist Dariush Shayegan puts it, in which one has no choice but to ride the technology wave - but without fully understanding it. On the other hand, "conscious Westernization" can be linked to basic values of Westernization. In his book "The Illusions of Political Islam," Arab theorist Abdel Wahab Mouadab differentiated between Americanization and Europeanization. He writes: "Americanization proposes technology without imposing any changes on you. Therefore you can stay as you are and enjoy all what technology makes available. Perhaps this was a consequence of disseminating cultural plurality across the world. Such behavioural trends actually cater to the rise of radicals. Meanwhile during the phase of Europeanization, it seemed necessary to alter our values in order to enjoy what technology provides. In the 1950s, France still had a cultural impact on Tunisia, and we were certain that we were witnessing a new universality. In school, for example, we learnt all about the principles of the 1789 revolution." Historical changes have been linked to changes in societal values. This is why secular education was spread by people who had been taught and raised upon French values and laws. The aim was to build the state on modern values.
Trapped modern society
Separating technology from the values of its creators has turned technology into a mirror which resembles its users; from Osama bin Laden to Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and the thousands of ordinary users who are deceived by their influence and are wasting their time on their devices.
It's important to continue to vilify technology as the facade of our modernization crisis.
Technology has swept the entire world. It even echoes German philosopher Martin Heidegger's concept of societies “being-towards-death” where nihilism is present through mobilizing modern existence. Meanwhile, in Italian Philosopher Gianni Vattimo’s book, "The End of Modernity," he writes in a lamenting tone: "Listening to the call of technology's essence does not mean surrendering without having any reservations over technology's laws and games. This is why I think Heidegger states that the essence of technology is not something technological, and we must be careful of this essence."
It's important to continue to vilify technology as the facade of our modernization crisis. The tragedy of technology has exceeded its functional ability to transform values in the society it affects and is instead dumbing them down. Indeed, technology cannot think for itself, it is just a tool, but it is also a product of modern shifts. It has managed to break boundaries, shorten distances and facilitate communication, but in my opinion, it has not contributed to bringing cultures closer. It has not succeeded in establishing German sociologist Jürgen Habermas’s theoretical meaning of public dialogue.
Friedman's late awakening about social media comes within a much bigger concern as thousands of online accounts have been linked to terrorist groups. Technology is a huge trouble. It provides attractive tools that have become a burden on their users who are lost in their addiction and existential fragmentation. Abandoning these tools and observing them from afar can actually expose their origin and lack of true purpose.