LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

July 22/16

 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.july22.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12/06-09/:"Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God’s sight. But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. ‘And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God."

Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.
Acts of the Apostles 22/17-29/:"‘After I had returned to Jerusalem and while I was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance and saw Jesus saying to me, "Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me."And I said, "Lord, they themselves know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And while the blood of your witness Stephen was shed, I myself was standing by, approving and keeping the coats of those who killed him." Then he said to me, "Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles." ’ Up to this point they listened to him, but then they shouted, ‘Away with such a fellow from the earth! For he should not be allowed to live.’ And while they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and tossing dust into the air, the tribune directed that he was to be brought into the barracks, and ordered him to be examined by flogging, to find out the reason for this outcry against him. But when they had tied him up with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, ‘Is it legal for you to flog a Roman citizen who is uncondemned?’When the centurion heard that, he went to the tribune and said to him, ‘What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.’The tribune came and asked Paul, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’The tribune answered, ‘It cost me a large sum of money to get my citizenship.’ Paul said, ‘But I was born a citizen.’Immediately those who were about to examine him drew back from him; and the tribune also was afraid, for he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.".

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 21-22/16
Nizar Zaka Caught between Iran’s injustice and Lebanon’s negligence/Tamer Salman/Now Lebanon/July 21/16
The Palestinians: Refugee Camps or Terrorist Bases/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 21/16
Canada Friday Sermon: America Is Collapsing Because Of Police Racism; The E.U. And Israel Will Come To An End/MEMRI/July 21/16
Coup Attempt in Turkey: A Feast of Pretexts/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/July 21/16
Idolizing foreign leaders/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Criticizing extremism more important than condemning terrorism/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Make America hate and fear again/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
The Egyptian conspiracy theory obsession/Mohammed Nosseir/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
A call to promote the empowerment of Saudi women/Samar Fatany/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Jihad Awakens Europe/Daniel Pipes/Gatestone Institute/July 21/2016

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 21-22/16

Nizar Zaka Caught between Iran’s injustice and Lebanon’s negligence
British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter Says Lebanon 'Can't Afford' Continued Presidential Void, Denies UK Role in Franjieh Nomination
The Palestinians: Refugee Camps or Terrorist Bases
Kuwait Upholds Death for Citizen Accused of Spying for Hizbullah, Iran
Lebanese Army Seizes Vessels Coming from Turkey in Tripoli Port
Khalil: Lebanon's 2017 State Budget Will be Ready on Time
Palestinian Wounded in Shooting in Ain el-Hilweh Camp
Captive Lebanese Fighter Appears in Nusra Front Video
Al-Rahi from Qaa: Only a Strong State Can Protect Lebanon
Report: Derbas Says Syrians are Welcome But Won't be Resettled
Hariri, Aoun condemn beheading of Palestinian boy by Syria rebels
Sami Gemayel meets US Ambassador on courtesy visit
Abou Faour refers carcinogenic food products file to Economy Ministry
Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, visits Tripoli
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/16

Brutal guards attack death row prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison
U.S. blacklists three al Qaeda members living in Iran - Reuters
Former European Commissioners blast EU deals with Iranian regime - EurActiv
Argentina judge seeks extradition of top official of Iranian regime for AMIA bombing
Five to appear in Paris court in connection with Nice attack
Turkey Imposes 3-Month State of Emergency to Catch Coup Plotters
Turkish officers fleeing coup go on trial in Greece
Al-Qaeda in Syria executes 14 ‘government forces’
Syria Activists Urge Protests over Deadly Coalition Raids
U.S.-Backed Forces Give IS '48 Hours' to Leave Syria's Manbij
Allies Finalize Plans to Defeat IS Group
Syria Opposition Asks Anti-IS Coalition to Halt Strikes
U.S. Pledges Openness on Civilian Casualties in Syria
Host Kuwait Issues Ultimatum to Yemeni Negotiators
Canada very concerned with situation in Turkey
Bangladesh arrests head of homegrown extremist group
Islamic relief agency admits illegal funds transfer to Iraq

Links From Jihad Watch Site for July 21-22/16
Egypt: Top Islamic institution preaches “religious freedom” to West, while supporting death penalty for apostates at home
Malaysian Islamic leader: “Islam…ironically, is a peace-loving religion”
Islamic State celebrates Nice jihad slaughter with beheadings
Tyrannical Erdogan to be awarded sweeping new powers after failed coup attempt
Hugh Fitzgerald: The Berbers and Islam as a Vehicle for Arab Supremacism (Part I)
England had 5,700 recorded cases of FGM in 2015-16
EU marks record-high number of terrorist attacks in 2015
Answer to jihad challenge isn’t “the gutless multiculturalism of Western elites”
Iran’s Parliament Speaker: Iran left with no choice but to confront US

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 21-22/16

Caught between Iran’s injustice and Lebanon’s negligence

Nizar Zakka has been in Iranian prisons since September 2015.
Tamer Salman/Now Lebanon/July 21/16

The case of Lebanese businessman Nizar Zakka resurfaced last week as news of his official indictment spread through Lebanese and international news agencies. Zakka, a Lebanese citizen who also happens to be a permanent resident in the United States, has been in Iranian prison since September 2015, when he was arrested in Tehran after attending a conference he was invited to by the Iranian Department of Women Affairs. His permanent residency in the United States was not enough for the Department of State to handle the case, which meant that Lebanon had the rare opportunity of negotiating with Iran for the release of the businessman. Unfortunately for Zakka, this responsibility fell on the shoulders of Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil – a key ally of Iran-sponsored Hezbollah.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been criticized for its negligence towards Zakka’s case despite claims by Bassil that the ministry has been following up on the case since the beginning. When news of the indictment first circulated, NOW contacted the ministry for further information on the indictment. Initially, the ministry’s press officer Nana Faysal took our questions and promised to get back to us once they were answered by the subject-matter experts at the ministry. After waiting for several days, the response came that the person who can answer any questions about Zakka’s case is out of the country. This prompted the ministry’s press officer to direct us to the ministry’s last statement on Zakka’s case which, disappointingly, dated back to April 6 and was actually included in NOW’s last report on the issue. This exchange between NOW and the ministry spoke volumes about the lack of effort and disregard the minister has shown for Zakka’s imprisonment. To date, it is still unclear for what crime Zakka has been charged with and what type of punishment he could be facing.
Most of what we can currently glean about Zakka’s plight comes from his friend – American politician David Ramadan, who appeared on an Al-Arabiya special report about Zakka last week. In the interview, Ramadan claims that neither Zakka, nor his wife or lawyer, were told about the indictment, only finding out about the court’s decision through the media. Ramadan denied all of the accusations directed at Zakka and insisted that his incarceration is politically motivated. The claims that Zakka had any connections to the US army were ridiculed by Ramadan as he noted that the Iranian media has been using photos of Zakka in army uniform from his days at Riverside Military Academy – Zakka’s high school. Ramadan went on to say that: “Zakka has become a victim of the politics of the two countries (Iran and USA).” Ramadan also added that the United States should be trying to secure the release of Zakka, even if he is only a permanent resident, because it also has an obligation to protect those who work and reside in the United States – especially since the detainment of Zakka can easily be connected to his residency in the states.
Iran has been notorious for jailing journalists – especially Iranian nationals who work abroad and are usually critical of the regime. Jason Rezaian and Maziar Bahari are only two of the better-known examples. But Zakka is neither Iranian nor a journalist and he hasn’t criticized the regime on record, which makes his situation even more unclear. It remains to be seen whether Iran is considering another prisoner swap with the United States, similar to the one made earlier in the year. Lending credence to this theory is that Zakka was indicted with three other prisoners who happen to be dual-citizens holding Iranian and other Western citizenships. Given the current response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the general climate of inaction in Lebanon, it may be the only hope for Zakka.

British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter Says Lebanon 'Can't Afford' Continued Presidential Void, Denies UK Role in Franjieh Nomination
Naharnet/July 21/16/British Ambassador to Lebanon Hugo Shorter has warned that the country “can't afford” further presidential vacuum while denying recent claims by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq about an alleged British role in the nomination of Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. “I don't have a favorite candidate. There's no candidate I particularly support and no candidate I particularly oppose. This is clearly a decision for the Lebanese themselves, in accordance with their Constitution,” Shorter told MTV in an interview that was aired Thursday. “I personally think that Lebanon can't afford to wait any longer” to elect a new president, he added, warning that “the State is being weakened by the absence of a president.”The ambassador also noted that Britain had recently communicated with Iran and Saudi Arabia over the issue of Lebanon's presidency and would continue these contacts.Mashnouq had on June 2 announced that “Franjieh's nomination did not come from (al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM) Saad Hariri but rather from the British foreign ministry and later the Americans and Saudi Arabia.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community. Separately, Shorter announced that “Lebanon has fantastic (security) agencies” when asked about the security situation in Lebanon. “They're doing a great job, but we have to be prepared for the possibility that attacks may occur,” he added. Asked whether Hizbullah's intervention in the Syrian conflict has pushed the jihadist Islamic State group to stage attacks in Lebanon, Shorter downplayed the link.“I think Daesh (IS group) are active internationally, regardless of the local situation. Maybe Hizbullah's activity in Syria is an encouragement for them to be active here, but let's face it – Daesh are active in other countries in the region, in Europe and so on, so I don't think it can be attributed only to Hizbullah's activities in Syria,” the envoy said. As for Hizbullah's controversial possession of a huge arsenal of weapons in Lebanon, the ambassador noted that “there's a Security Council resolution saying that all non-state actors in Lebanon have to disarm, and that covers Hizbullah as well.”“The United Kingdom government's position remains that Hizbullah needs to disarm,” he added. Shorter also dismissed reports about a possible naturalization of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, pointing out that the Lebanese Constitution does not allow such a move and that their presence in Lebanon is temporary.

The Palestinians: Refugee Camps or Terrorist Bases?
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 21/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8511/palestinians-refugee-camps
The 450,000 Palestinians in Lebanon are still banned from several professions, especially in the fields of medicine and law. They refer to these restrictions as apartheid measures. The Lebanese apartheid measures against Palestinians are rarely mentioned in the Western media and international human rights groups. The UN does not seem overly concerned about this discrimination.
Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon have become in the past few decades bases for various innumerable militias and terrorist groups.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, UNRWA, is formally in charge of the refugee camps in Lebanon, including those that are now providing shelter to Islamist terrorists.
The Lebanese authorities are increasingly running out of patience with the growing Islamist threat.
ISIS is on the mind of the Palestinian Authority (PA) leadership. Top PA officials have expressed concern that jihadi groups, including ISIS, have managed to infiltrate Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Lebanese authorities are also worried -- so worried that they have issued a stiff warning to the Palestinians: Stop the terrorists or else we will take security into our own hands.
According to Lebanese security sources, more and more Palestinians in Lebanon have joined ISIS and the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, a Sunni Islamist militia fighting against Syrian government forces. In response, the Lebanese security forces have taken a series of measures in a bid to contain the problem and prevent the two Islamist terror groups from establishing bases of power in the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
According to some reports, dozens of Palestinians from Lebanon who joined ISIS and Al-Nusra Front have been killed or wounded in Syria in recent months. Most of those who were killed have been buried in Syria, the reports said.
Alarmed by the success of ISIS and Al-Nusra Front in recruiting dozens of Palestinians to their ranks, the Palestinian Authority leadership this week sent Azzam Al-Ahmed, a senior advisor to President Mahmoud Abbas, to Beirut for urgent talks with Lebanese government officials on ways of containing the escalation. The PA leadership fears that the heightened activities of the two terrorist groups in the refugee camps will force the Lebanese army to launch a massive military operation to get rid of the terrorists, who pose an immediate threat to Lebanese national security.
Al-Ahmed, who is in charge of the Lebanon Portfolio in the Palestinian Authority, held a series of meetings with Lebanese government officials in a bid to avoid a security showdown between the Lebanese army and the Palestinians living in the country's refugee camps. Following a meeting with Lebanese Interior Minister Nihad Al-Mashnouk, the Palestinian envoy said that the talks focused on the need to take "joint steps to ensure security stability in the Palestinian refugee camps." According to Al-Ahmed, the talks also dealt with ways to prevent certain parties, especially ISIS and Al-Nusra Front, from exploiting the Palestinian refugee camps to threaten Lebanon's security interests.
Lebanese security officials have reported direct contacts between ISIS leaders in Syria and some senior Islamist figures in the Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp, the largest camp in Lebanon, with a population of more of than 120,000 -- half of them refugees who fled Syria since 2011. The officials said that one of the commanders of ISIS in Syria, Abu Khaled Al-Iraqi, has stepped up his contacts with Palestinians in Ain Al-Hilweh in recent weeks, in preparation for launching terrorist attacks against Lebanese targets. The Lebanese have named a number of Palestinians from Ain Al-Hilweh evidently serving as ISIS representatives in Lebanon: Emad Yasmin, Helal Helal, Abed Fadda, Nayef Abdullah and Abu Hamzeh Mubarak.
Last week, Palestinian sources revealed that one of the jihadi leaders in Ain Al-Hilweh, Omar Abu Kharoub, nicknamed Abu Muhtaseb Al-Maqdisi, was killed while fighting alongside ISIS in Syria. The sources said that he is only one of hundreds of Palestinians from Lebanon who have joined ISIS and the Al-Nusra Front.
The Lebanese government has informed the Palestinian Authority leadership in Ramallah that at least 300 jihadi terrorists are now barricaded inside Ain Al-Hilweh. "The situation has become intolerable and we can no longer turn a blind eye to this threat," the Lebanese warned the PA.
The Islamist terrorists who have found shelter inside Ain Al-Hilweh have repeatedly warned the Lebanese authorities against launching a military attack against the refugee camp.
In a recent sermon for Friday prayers, Sheikh Abu Yusef Aqel condemned Lebanon's mistreatment of its Palestinian population. He pointed out that under Lebanese law, Palestinians are banned from working in 72 professions. Referring to reports in the Lebanese media about the threats emerging from the Palestinian camps, Sheikh Aqel said:
"If these (Lebanese) media outlets were really affiliated with the resistance, as they claim, they would have focused on the suffering of a people that was displaced from its homeland more than 70 years ago. They would also have focused on the fact that Lebanon bans this people from working in 72 professions."
Aqel is referring to the circumstance that until a decade ago, a total of seventy-two professions were restricted to Lebanese only. The Lebanese government issued a memorandum on June 7, 2005 permitting Palestinians refugees to work in fifty of these seventy-two professions. However, Palestinians in Lebanon are still banned from several types of jobs, especially in the fields of medicine and law. The 450,000 Palestinians living in Lebanon refer to these restrictions as apartheid measures.
The Lebanese apartheid measures against Palestinians are rarely mentioned in the Western media and international human rights groups. The United Nations does not seem overly concerned about this discrimination, apparently because it is practiced by an Arab country against Arabs.
Lebanon has never been comfortable with the presence of the Palestinians on its soil. That is precisely why the authorities have turned the twelve Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon into ghettos. These ghettos are off-limits to the Lebanese security forces. As a result, these camps have become in the past few decades bases for various innumerable militias and terrorist groups. Until a few years ago, the major Palestinian Fatah faction was the dominant group controlling the refugee camps in Lebanon. No longer. Today, it has become evident that many other groups such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ISIS and Al-Qaeda have established bases of power inside the camps.
It is worth mentioning that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is formally in charge of the refugee camps in Lebanon, including those that are now providing shelter to Islamist terrorists.
The Wavel refugee camp for Palestinians, near Baalbek in Lebanon, which is administered by UNRWA. (Image credit: European Commission DG ECHO)
Back to PA anxiety. Undoubtedly, the Palestinian Authority leadership is concerned that many of its erstwhile loyalists in Fatah have defected to the various jihadi terror groups. These groups are now posing a major threat not only to Lebanon's security and stability, but also to the PA and its president, Mahmoud Abbas, who feel helpless in the face of the Islamist tsunami sweeping the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon.
Abbas and his PA have clearly lost control over the millions of Palestinians living in the neighboring Arab countries, including Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. This is in addition to the fact that Abbas and the PA have nearly no control over Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where various jihadi groups and other secular militias and gangs are now in control.
The hands of the Palestinian Authority leadership are now tied: the PA cannot regain control over the refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and the Arab countries. There is also nothing that Abbas can do to stop the residents of these camps from joining ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
All what is left for Abbas to do is to try and prevent a catastrophe from falling on the heads of the Palestinians in these camps, especially Lebanon, where the Lebanese authorities are increasingly running out of patience with the growing Islamist threat.
"The Lebanese army will not allow terrorism to find a safe place in Ain Al-Hilweh or any other part of Lebanon," cautioned a Lebanese security source. "We will not allow Ain Al-Hilweh to become a hotbed for terrorism and be used as a launching pad to explode the situation in Lebanon. We will face any such attempt with force and firmness."
The Palestinians' biggest fear now is that Ain Al-Hilweh will meet the same fate as the Nahr Al-Bared refugee camp in Lebanon, which was almost entirely destroyed by the Lebanese army in 2007. Then, the presence of Islamist terrorists belonging to the Fatah Al-Islam group inside Nahr Al-Bared triggered heavy clashes during which the Lebanese army used artillery and helicopter gunships to attack the camp, home to some 40,000 Palestinians. At least 158 people were killed and hundreds wounded in the fighting, which also left many families homeless.
Busy with more pressing issues, Abbas was unable to make the trip to Lebanon himself. What is the urgent business that prevented him from showing up in person to try to prevent catastrophe for his people in Lebanon? His grand tour, an end-game bid to win support for an international Middle East peace conference that would choke Israel into submission.
Abbas is next slated for Paris, where on July 22 he is scheduled to meet with President François Hollande to discuss the latest French initiative to "solve" the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Hollande might do better to turn inward to consider how his own country will manage the latest wave of Islamist terrorism. Abbas, for his part, is unlikely to broach with Hollande the incendiary situation in the Palestinian refugee camps, where ISIS and Al-Qaeda are gaining the upper hand.
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award winning journalist, is based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Kuwait Upholds Death for Citizen Accused of Spying for Hizbullah, Iran
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Kuwait's court of appeals on Thursday upheld the death sentence to a Shiite citizen and Hizbullah member convicted of forming a pro-Iran cell and plotting attacks in the Gulf state. Hasan Abdulhadi Ali has been a member of Hizbullah since 1996 and is "the mastermind of the cell" of 26 members who had been accused of plotting attacks, the court said. An Iranian had also been sentenced to death by a lower court but the appeals court did not look into his case on Thursday as he is on the run and must be present for the verdict to be announced. The case of two Kuwaiti fugitives given jail terms by the lower court was also set aside until they appear in court, in line with Kuwaiti law. The appeals court however confirmed a life term against another member of the cell while five others were sentenced to between two and five years in jail. Five others were fined 5,000 dinars ($16,600 each) while the rest were all acquitted. Members of the cell had been charged with spying for Iran and hiding large quantities of arms and ammunition in underground depots, including highly explosive materials. In January, the lower court said that the Iranian cell member had recruited the Kuwaiti Shiites and arranged for their travel to Lebanon, where they received military training from Iran-backed Hizbullah. It said that Ali had reached out to an Iranian diplomat at Tehran's embassy in Kuwait City and later traveled to Iran, where he was in contact with the elite Revolutionary Guard. Ali arranged with the Revolutionary Guard to smuggle large quantities of arms and explosives into Kuwait, the court said. The verdicts can still be appealed before the supreme court. Kuwaiti authorities said in August they had dismantled an Iran-linked cell and seized large quantities of arms, explosives and ammunition. During the trial all 23 defendants present in court denied the charges and alleged that confessions were extracted under torture.Iran denied any links to the group. Around a third of Kuwait's native population of 1.3 million is Shiite.

Lebanese Army Seizes Vessels Coming from Turkey in Tripoli Port
Naharnet/July 21/16/The army took tight security measures in the seaport of Tripoli and seized two freight vessels coming from Turkey, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. The army is carrying out inspection operations. The vessels were transporting trucks loaded with different kinds of Turkish goods. Some of the trucks were discharged while another 60 are still being inspected.

Khalil: Lebanon's 2017 State Budget Will be Ready on Time
Naharnet/July 21/16/Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil stressed on Thursday that Lebanon's state budget for the year 2017 will be ready before the constitutional due date, al-Joumhouria daily reported. “I am in the process of reaching the final stages in preparing the state's financial plan. It will be presented to the cabinet as soon as a session is set to discuss it,” said Khalil in an interview to the daily. “I am going to do this task to the fullest and as fast as I can,” assured Khalil, highlighting the necessity to urge the other political parties set to handle the budget plan to accelerate the discussions. However Khalil refused to judge the intentions of officials and whether some are trying to hamper the approval of a budget, he said: “I will do what I have to do and let the other political parties bear the responsibility in that regard.” The cabinet convened on Monday and tackled the need to stipulate a state budget in light of a worsening financial and economic situation in the country. Due to conflicts between the rival political parties, Lebanon has not approved a state budget since 2005 and its public debt has amounted to around $70 billion.

Palestinian Wounded in Shooting in Ain el-Hilweh Camp
Naharnet/July 21/16/A Palestinian man was shot with gunfire early on Thursday when an unknown assailant opened fire at him in the refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh in Sidon, the National News Agency reported. An unknown assailant opened fire at Mohammad Hamdan, a member of Islamic extremist Bilal Badr group, injuring him in the abdomen at the al-Fawqani street, NNA said. Heavy gunfire was heard inside the camp after the incident, it added. Such incidents have become frequent in recent years in Ain el-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the Palestinian camps in the country, leaving the Palestinian factions themselves to handle security. That has created lawless areas in many camps, and Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives. Reports said lately that Palestinian factions and the residents of Ain el-Hilweh have received warnings from Lebanese sides that some militants are seeking to enable jihadist groups to seize control of the camp, which is the largest in Lebanon.A senior Palestinian delegation held talks with Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq on Monday and reassured that Palestinians in Lebanon will not allow jihadist groups to seize control of any Palestinian refugee camp in the country.

Captive Lebanese Fighter Appears in Nusra Front Video
Naharnet/July 21/16/A captive Lebanese fighter has appeared in a video released by al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida's Syria branch, a monitor said on Wednesday. “The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has received a copy of a video showing regime forces and allied fighters who were captured days ago at the al-Safa checkpoint in the outskirts of Rankous in the western Qalamoun region,” the Observatory said. The video shows four captives, including the Lebanese fighter, knowing that fourteen combatants were apprehended by al-Nusra, the monitor added. The Observatory did not mention the name of the Lebanese captive in its statement. In the video, the captives urge the Syrian army and its allies not to enter the towns of Hureira and Ifra in Wadi Barada or else the hostages would be “killed.”The Observatory also noted that warplanes and Syrian army forces had shelled Hureira, Ifra and other Wadi Barada areas on Wednesday, amid clashes between regime forces, backed by allied militants, and rebel and Islamist groups. Al-Safa checkpoint separates between Rankous' western outskirts and the peripheries of the Barada Valley, according to media reports. The Observatory reported on July 7 that Islamist rebels and jihadists from al-Nusra Front had seized control of the checkpoint and captured armored vehicles and ammunition belonging to the regime forces and Hizbullah. It also reported casualties on both sides, including four Islamist rebels and jihadists.

Al-Rahi from Qaa: Only a Strong State Can Protect Lebanon
Naharnet/July 21/16/Maronite Patriarch visited the eastern border town of al-Qaa on Thursday and extended condolences to the families of the victims of the suicide bombings that rattled the town late in June.“We are here to preserve the Christian-Muslim coexistence in the region and to confront terrorism which knows no religion,” said al-Rahi. “We are here to thank the care of the Lord that saved the town of al-Qaa from detrimental outcomes worse than what happened,” he added. Reiterating the significant role of the state and law in reinforcing the nation, Rahi said: “Nothing protects us but a strong, lawful and righteous state.”The Patriarch voiced calls on the international community to stop the wars ravaging the region, he said: “We ask the international community to stop the wars in the region and return those displaced back to their homeland.”In June, the restive town of al-Qaa was hit by two waves of attacks. Four suicide bombers targeted the town in a pre-dawn operation killing five and wounding 15 others, as another four bombers attacked the town in the evening and wounded 13 people. Lebanon hosts more than 1.1 million Syrians, a huge burden for the country of four million people. Several Lebanese politicians have warned about the inability of the country to bear this burden and had already called for the closure of borders after security incidents. Al-Qaa is one of several border posts separating Lebanon and war-torn Syria and is predominantly Christian although one district, Masharii al-Qaa, is mainly Sunni Muslim and home to a large number of Syrian refugees. Suicide blasts in the area have typically targeted checkpoints or military installations and rarely include more than one attacker.

Report: Derbas Says Syrians are Welcome But Won't be Resettled
Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas emphasized that although Lebanon welcomes the displaced Syrians on its territory but the country will not resettle them, al-Joumhouria daily said on Thursday.“The Syrians are our brothers and they are welcome, but the idea of resettlement, lending, renting or selling them parts of land, or selling them passports is out of the question,” stressed Derbas in an interview to the daily. Derbas' comments came as he prepares to accompany Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who will be heading a delegation Sunday, to attend the Arab leaders summit in Mauritania.The Minister went on to say that at the summit “we will lead a number of proposals including one that the Arab summit adopts a suggestion to establish safe zones inside Syria for the (displaced) Syrians.”“Perhaps we will propose the establishment of an Arab fund to care for the Arab asylum and support Lebanon which hosts as much as half the number of its own population of the Arab people.”The Arab summit will be held on July 26 and 27 in the capital Nouakchott where Salam is expected to deliver a speech. Salam will travel on Sunday on head of a delegation comprised of Ministers of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil, Foreign Jebran Bassil, Health Wael Abou Faour and Derbas.

Hariri, Aoun condemn beheading of Palestinian boy by Syria rebels
The Daily Star/July 21/16/BEIRUT: Future Movement leader Saad Hariri and Change and Reform Bloc head Michel Aoun Thursday denounced the beheading of a young Palestinian boy in Syria earlier this week at the hands of U.S.-backed rebels. “Those who want a revolution of the Syrian people to be like [the acts] of [Syrian President] Bashar Assad do not deserve to have the honor of belonging to the [Syrian] people,” Hariri said on Twitter. Aoun said the beheading of the boy was the killing of innocence. "Will his severed head be redemption? Will his cry for help in his eyes and his bleeding awake the world's conscience?" he asked on Twitter. A 12-year-old Palestinian boy from the Palestinian refugee camp of Handarat in northern Syria, identified as Mahmoud Issa, was beheaded by militants from the Nour al-Din al-Zinki group after being accused of supporting Assad. The horrific footage of the boy being beheaded went viral this week, triggering international outcry.

Sami Gemayel meets US Ambassador on courtesy visit
Thu 21 Jul 2016/NNA - Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel met on Thursday at the Kataeb Central House in Saifi with US Ambassador to Lebanon, Elizabeth Richard, who came on a courtesy visit. The pair reportedly dwelt on most recent developments in the region, and means to reduce its impact on Lebanon. Both sides emphasized the joint values that bind both countries and the importance of US support for the Lebanese army and the legitimate forces.

Abou Faour refers carcinogenic food products file to Economy Ministry
Thu 21 Jul 2016/NNA - Public Health Minister Wael Abou Faour's Media Bureau issued on Thursday a statement indicating that the minister referred the file of European products to the Ministry of Economy and Commerce to follow it up with the countries responsible for the original product and the European Commission for food safety and to take appropriate measures in this regard. It is worth mentioning that the file is related to scientific reports sent by Foodwatch organization to the ministry that indicated the presence of carcinogenic substances MOAHs in some food products manufactured and marketed in Europe, notably Kinder chocolate.

Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, visits Tripoli
Thu 21 Jul 2016/NNA - In a press release by the European Union in Lebanon, it said: "Ambassador Christina Lassen, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Lebanon, visited Tripoli today where she met with the President of the Municipality, Ahmad Kamareddine, as well as with political leaders and deputies. Discussions focused on the situation in the city and the needs of the local population." Release added: "The visit was also an occasion to discuss some of the important programmes the European Union is carrying out in Tripoli, including support to the Municipality, social services, education, upgrading of the water sector, support to the private sector and a future project that will target youth and vulnerable areas."Ambassador Lassen met with representatives of local NGOs in Bab el Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods. She also visited the Cultural Café in Syria street to underline EU's support for dialogue and reconciliation between the two communities. The trip to Tripoli was a chance to visit two EU-funded projects. One project aims to make the Municipality of Tripoli able to better coordinate with civil society organisations on development issues and to improve health and education services for the local population. The project also foresees establishing a community centre for Bab el Tebbaneh and Jabal Mohsen neighbourhoods. The second project aims at improving public services at municipal level while enhancing municipal finance efficiency. It focuses on improving and extending water supply facilities and will result in the drilling and equipping a new water well. The well will be connected to the main water supply line in Al Qobbeh and Bab el Tebbaneh, which will improve the water supply conditions of the population in both areas. The project is implemented by the Social and Economic Fund for Development.
Ambassador Lassen said: "Tripoli has undergone a difficult period during the past years marked by security incidents and continuing economic problems, especially unemployment that has in particular affected its young population. It is therefore a priority for us all to ensure that the city prospers as a vital economic and cultural centre for the benefit of north Lebanon." She underlined that "it is essential to dedicate special attention to communities which are most vulnerable. Without job opportunities and access to basic services, citizens cannot develop their full potential." Ambassador Lassen added: "The European Union has welcomed the successful holding of the municipal elections, and is eager to work with the Municipality of Tripoli and all parties to handle these challenges. To that effect, we have embarked on ambitious development initiatives across many areas, in particular in the most underprivileged parts of the city."

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 21-22/16

Brutal guards attack death row prisoners in Iran’s Ghezel Hesar Prison
Thursday, 21 July 2016/NCRI - Prison guards at the notorious Ghezel Hesar Prison in Karaj, north-west of Tehran, brutally attacked inmates in the death row ward earlier this week. With black masks covering their faces the vicious guards attacked the prisoners on Monday (July 18) in order to create a climate of fear, according to reports from inside the prison. The prisoners said that such brutal measures are meant to scare prisoners and stop them from revolting in prison

U.S. blacklists three al Qaeda members living in Iran - Reuters
NCRI Iran News/Thursday, 21 July 2016/The United States on Wednesday blacklisted three members of al Qaeda living in Iran, saying they had helped the Islamist militant group on the battlefield, with finance and logistics, and in mediating with Iranian authorities. The Iranian regime has held several al Qaeda high-ranking members and lower-level militants since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, though U.S. officials say the precise conditions of their confinement are unclear. Faisal Jassim Mohammed al-Amri al-Khalidi, a 31-year-old Saudi national, led an al Qaeda brigade and was serving as the group's military commission chief in May 2015, the U.S. Treasury said, describing him as "part of a new generation" of al Qaeda operatives. As of 2011, Khalidi liaised between al Qaeda associates, central council members, and leaders within the Pakistani Taliban. Yisra Muhammad Ibrahim Bayumi, 48 and an Egyptian national, mediated with Iranian authorities as of early 2015, Treasury said, and helped al Qaeda members living in Iran. Abu Bakr Muhammad Muhammad Ghumayn, 35, had control of the group's financing and organization inside Iran as of 2015, Treasury said. Ghumayn, an Algerian, was previously based in Pakistan. Treasury's statement did not make clear what conditions the men were living under in Iran. Bayumi has been in Iran since 2014, Treasury said, but it did not say how long the other two men had lived there. Bayumi had been able to secure funds from Syria for al Qaeda members and facilitate al Qaeda funds transfers in 2015, Treasury said, suggesting he had some freedom to operate since moving to Iran. Wednesday's measure freezes any property of the three men in the United States, and bars U.S. citizens from dealing with them, Reuters reported.

Former European Commissioners blast EU deals with Iranian regime - EurActiv
NCRI Iran News/Thursday, 21 July 2016/Former European Commissioners Karel de Gucht and Louis Michel have criticised European Union moves to strike business deals with the Iranian regime, urging EU institutions and member states to make them conditional on Tehran improving its dismal human rights record, EurActiv reported on Wednesday. Both politicians played an important role in shaping the EU’s dealings with other countries over the last decade. Michel, father of Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, was European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid between 2004 and 2009. De Gucht was in charge of the trade portfolio between 2010 and 2014.
The call will come as an embarrassment to the current European Commission, EurActiv said. In April, the EU responded to the lifting of the economic and financial sanctions linked to the Iranian regime’s nuclear programme with a landmark visit to the country of eight Commissioners, led by foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini.
De Gucht and Michel signed a letter urging EU institutions and member states to prioritise progress on human rights over new deals with the regime.
The text, seen by EurActiv.com, stressed that Europe should condition “any further relations with Iran to a clear progress on human rights and a halt to executions”.
The letter said that the rate of executions in the country shows “a horrific image of the planned state killing machine”, as Amnesty International underlined in July 2015.
The letter goes on to cite the regime’s close ties with Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Hezbollah, still included on the EU’s terrorist list; the criminal repression of ethnic and religious minorities; the marginalisation of women; the lack of guarantees for free and fair elections, and the Iranian regime’s bullying attitude toward some European countries.
The President of the regime, Hassan Rouhani, cancelled a visit to Vienna last April after the Austrian government refused to forbid a peaceful opposition rally during his visit.
“As the Iranian people and the opposition are not allowed to freely express their opinion inside Iran, we should not allow the regime’s repression inside the country to be extended to the European capitals,” the letter said.
The Belgian initiative came against the backdrop of the “new era” in the bilateral relations that EU authorities and the capitals are trying to build with Tehran, EurActiv said.
The ‘reset’ in relations between the EU and the Iranian regime came in spite of the record number of executions in Iran and the EU sanctions still imposed on the regime due to its poor human right record and links with terrorist organisations.
The UN also highlighted in March the worsening situation in terms of executions and the “fundamental flaws” in the administration of justice.
NGOs and MEPs lamented the secondary role that human right issues played during the EU’s visit to Iran. It was “a very short visit” of one day with “a very specific purpose”, an EU official told EurActiv at the time.

Argentina judge seeks extradition of top official of Iranian regime for AMIA bombing
NCRI /Thursday, 21 July 2016/ An Argentine judge is requesting that Singapore and Malaysia arrest a top adviser to the Iranian regime's supreme leader who is accused of masterminding the South American country's worst terrorist attack, The Associated Press reported.
Ali Akbar Velayati was the Iranian regime's foreign minister at the time of the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires and is now an adviser to Ali Khamenei.
Velayati is visiting Southeast Asia to attend a regional summit.
Argentine Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral told The Associated Press on Wednesday that his request seeks to reinforce existing arrest orders.
Former Iranian officials have been on an Interpol capture list for years, but Argentine prosecutors have never been able to question them.
Eighty-five people were killed in the AMIA bombing, which came two years after a similar attack – also involving an explosives-laden truck driven by a suicide bomber – on the Israeli Embassy in the city left 29 people dead.
After years of inconclusive inquiries and alleged cover-ups under previous governments, President Nestor Kirchner on taking office in 2003 pledged to get to the bottom of the bombing conspiracy.
He appointed a special prosecutor, Alberto Nisman, who after in-depth investigations determined that Iran's regime had masterminded the AMIA bombing and tasked Hezbollah to carry it out.
In 2007, Argentina asked Interpol to issue “red notices” – a rough equivalent of an international arrest warrant – for eight senior Iranian officials and a top Hezbollah terrorist suspected of involvement.
Interpol complied with the request in the cases of the Lebanese suspect and five of the Iranians. The Lebanese man, Hezbollah terror chief Imad Mughniyah, was killed in a bomb blast in Damascus in 2008.
The Iranians were Ahmed Vahidi, commander of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force at the time (and later defense minister under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad); Ali Fallahijan, the Iranian regime’s intelligence chief at the time of the bombing; Mohsen Rezai, IRGC commander at the time, and now secretary of an advisory council to the Iranian regime’s supreme leader; and two officials based at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires at the time of the bombing, Mohsen Rabbani and Ahmad Reza Asghari.
Then in early 2013 then-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (Nestor Kirchner’s widow) reached a controversial agreement with Iran's regime to establish a joint “truth commission” to investigate the AMIA bombing.
Many feared the agreement would jeopardize the investigation and let the suspects off the hook. The U.S. State Department also expressed skepticism that the arrangement would see the perpetrators brought to justice.
Nisman, the chief AMIA investigator, also opposed the “truth commission” deal and in 2014 an Argentine court ruled it unconstitutional. The Fernandez government said it would appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile Nisman’s investigations revealed allegations of widespread illicit Iranian activity in Argentina and Latin America, including intelligence gathering and support for terror activities.
In January last year, a new scandal erupted when Nisman alleged that Fernandez and other officials were trying to shield the Iranian terror suspects in exchange for improved trade ties.
Fernandez denied the allegations. Four days later – one day before Nisman was due to testify before Argentina’s Congress about the allegations – his body was found in his apartment with a gunshot wound to the head. His mysterious death sparked large street protests and an investigation that is still underway.
According to the investigations by Prosecutor Nisman, the plan to blow up the Jewish center in Buenos Aires was discussed at a meeting of the Iranian regime’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) on August 14, 1993 by Khamenei, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (then President), Ali Akbar Velayati (then Foreign Minister), and Ali Fallahian (then Minister of Intelligence). Once the decision for the bombing was finalized, Khamenei tasked the intelligence ministry and the IRGC Quds Force with carrying out the bombing.
The current Iranian regime's president, Hassan Rouhani, was also on the special government committee that plotted the bombing in Buenos Aires, according to an indictment by the Argentine government prosecutor investigating the case.
In the supplemented indictment, as well as the original one that was presented to court in 2006, the special prosecutor referred to press conferences, interviews and press statements by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) that disclosed exact details of the Iranian regime’s role in this crime.
On August 10, 1994, three weeks after the AMIA bombing, in a press conference in Washington DC in the presence of dozens of reporters, the Iranian Resistance underscored that the AMIA bombing had been planned and organized by the Iranian regime’s Supreme National Security Council.
Based in part on wire reports

Five to appear in Paris court in connection with Nice attack
Reuters, Paris Thursday, 21 July 2016/Five people held for questioning over the Bastille day attack in the southern French city of Nice will appear in court on Thursday and could be placed under formal investigation, a judicial source said. The suspects have already been transferred from the custody of the French anti-terrorism unit SDAT to the Paris court where they could be charged, the source said. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack by 31-year-old Tunisian driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel who rammed his truck into a crowd of Bastille day revellers, killing at least 84.

Turkey Imposes 3-Month State of Emergency to Catch Coup Plotters
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Turkish authorities on Thursday imposed a three-month state of emergency, strengthening powers to round up suspects accused of staging the failed military coup despite global alarm over a widening purge. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared the state of emergency, Turkey's first in 14 years, shortly before midnight after a marathon meeting of his national security council, and it entered into force Thursday when it was published in the official gazette. Erdogan said it would allow Turkey to be cleared of "terrorists" linked to U.S.-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of masterminding the failed coup from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania. Concern is growing over respect for the rule of law almost a week after the coup attempt that left over 300 people dead and raised fears of chaos in the key NATO member. But Erdogan insisted democracy would not be compromised and lashed out at critics of the sweeping purge that has seen tens of thousands of people detained, sacked or suspended. The state of emergency was needed "in order to remove swiftly all the elements of the terrorist organization involved in the coup attempt," Erdogan said. But he added: "We have never made compromises on democracy. And we will never make" them. The state of emergency gives the government extra powers to restrict freedom of movement, said an official, adding that it would not restrict financial or commercial activities as "international law sets limits of restrictions". Turkey in 2002 lifted its last state of emergency, which had been imposed in southeastern provinces for the fight against Kurdish militants in 1987. Article 120 of the constitution allows the measure "at a time of serious deterioration of public order because of acts of violence". Erdogan vowed that work would now continue "to fight to clean out all those viruses from the armed forces."
'Own the squares'
Warning that his opponents may launch new provocations, Erdogan has urged his supporters to remain in squares across the country in what he calls a "vigil" for democracy. After announcing the state of emergency, Erdogan spoke by video link to the flag-waving crowds still filling squares nationwide at midnight. Erdogan on Thursday even read out the morning call to prayer through loudspeakers at the mosque inside his presidential complex, the pro-government Yeni Safak daily said, although presidential officials later denied he had done so. Meanwhile, mobile phone users across Turkey received text messages sent by "RTErdogan" urging people to stay in the streets to resist "the terrorists.""The owners of the squares are not the tanks. The owners are the nation," said the text message. Erdogan suggested that there would be further detentions in the crackdown, which has already netted several widely known figures.Late Wednesday, a court remanded in custody Ali Yazici, the president's aide-de-camp who looked after military protocol on state occasions and was regularly seen by Erdogan's side, on charges of supporting the coup. The crackdown has been extraordinary in scope, taking in not just soldiers but also judges, prosecutors and lawyers. Some 50,000 state employees have either been detained or lost their jobs. Over 20,000 people have been dismissed from their jobs in state education and a similar number in the private sector have been stripped of their licenses. Courts have remanded in custody 109 out of 125 generals and admirals detained so far. Some been seen bruised and wounded in images published by state media. "Of course that does not mean we have come to the end of it," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera. Eight Turkish military officers who fled to Greece by helicopter after the coup and are accused by Turkey of taking part in the plot went on trial Thursday in the northern city of Alexandroupoli. If convicted of illegal entry, they face a sentence of up to five years in prison.
'Mind your own business'
The Turkish leader lashed out at critics of the government actions, telling France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault -- who had warned Erdogan not to use the failed coup as a carte blanche to silence his opponents -- to "mind his own business". "If he wants a lesson in democracy, he can very easily get a lesson in democracy from us," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed it was "vital that the state of emergency is limited for the required time and then immediately lifted". "Only acts which are legally punishable can be targeted, not political opinion." Austria said it will summon Turkey's ambassador to discuss Ankara's "increasingly authoritarian" behavior while Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, said a crackdown on pro-Gulen media was the latest challenge to press freedom in the country. Turkey has stepped up pressure on Washington to extradite Gulen, sending several "dossiers" it says are packed with evidence about his alleged involvement. Gulen has urged Washington to reject the extradition call and dismissed as "ridiculous" the claim he was behind the botched coup. Erdogan, asked if other countries could have been involved in the coup, told Al-Jazeera: "There could be."The government says 312 people were killed in the coup, including 145 civilians, 60 police, three soldiers and 104 plotters.

Turkish officers fleeing coup go on trial in Greece
AFP, Alexandroupoli Thursday, 21 July 2016/Eight Turkish military officers who fled to Greece after last week's failed coup went on trial Thursday for illegal entry in a case that threatens to strain ties between the NATO allies. The eight are being tried in the northern city of Alexandroupoli, where they arrived by military helicopter on Saturday after sending a distress signal to authorities. If convicted, they face a sentence of up to five years in prison. According to one of their lawyers, Ilia Marinaki, the soldiers -- two commanders, four captains and two sergeants -- fear for their safety and that of their families after the abortive bid to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. To block their deportation to Turkey, they have applied for asylum in Greece. Whatever the court ruling on Thursday, any action on their fate will likely have to wait until early August when asylum authorities are to decide on their applications. Turkish authorities insist they will receive fair treatment at home, despite widespread a retaliatory crackdown by Erdogan's government. Turkey's ambassador has warned that failure to return the officers "will not help" ties. "I hope we will manage to swiftly go through the phases of due process and manage to return these terrorist elements so that they will face justice," Turkish ambassador Kerim Uras told reporters in Athens on Tuesday. Historic foes, Greece and Turkey both became members of NATO in 1952. Ties have improved dramatically in recent years although there are irritants such as airspace and maritime border disputes. Greece last year also faulted Turkey for allowing thousands of mainly Syrian refugees and migrants to sail to its shores, before an EU deal stemming the flow came into force in March.

Al-Qaeda in Syria executes 14 ‘government forces’
AFP, Beirut Thursday, 21 July 2016/Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate Al-Nusra Front has executed 14 captured men it accused of fighting for President Bashar al-Assad, in retaliation for a regime advance near Damascus. A video distributed via the group’s social media accounts showed 14 men, many with injuries including black eyes, stating their names as they lined up in pairs in front of the group’s black flag. “Implementation of the death sentence against a group of... regime prisoners because of their attack on Harira village in Wadi Barada,” text on the video read. The footage showed the men being shot in the head simultaneously as they knelt in front of Al-Nusra fighters. Wadi Barada is an area in the Qalamun region of Syria’s Damascus province and is mostly controlled by an array of opposition groups, including Al-Nusra. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said that Al-Nusra had threatened to execute prisoners if government forces entered Harira. The threats came in an earlier video in which one of the captured men warned that the group would kill 14 captives if the government attacked. Al-Nusra is the local affiliate of Al-Qaeda and has regularly carried out executions of government forces. In September 2015, it executed at least 56 regime fighters at a military airport in Idlib province in the northwest of the country. More than 280,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011.

Syria Activists Urge Protests over Deadly Coalition Raids
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Syrian activists on Thursday called for widespread protests after dozens of civilians were reportedly killed in U.S.-led coalition air strikes near a northern town held by the Islamic State group. Children were among at least 56 civilians killed Tuesday in raids by coalition warplanes as they fled the village of Al-Tukhar near the key IS stronghold of Manbij, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Facebook pages managed by Syrian activists urged people around the world to take to the streets to protest the deaths under the banner "Manbij is being exterminated".
"We ask all Syrians, whatever their affiliations or sects, and all free people of the world and especially the people of Manbij to stand in solidarity with our devastated city on Sunday, July 24," wrote one page that publishes local news about Manbij. It said it was calling for demonstrations in reaction to "the massacres carried out by coalition warplanes, with the latest... in Al-Tukhar". The village lies 14 kilometres (nine miles) north of Manbij, which has been repeatedly targeted by coalition raids in support of an offensive to wrest the town from IS control. Activists on the "Manbij News" page called for protests in several Turkish cities including Istanbul and Gaziantep. Another Manbij-affiliated page posted photographs of demonstrators gathering on Wednesday in the rebel-held town of Azaz, further west, to condemn the raids. "Our children will tell God everything," read one Arabic-language sign held by a young boy. "The Al-Tukhar massacre is a stain of shame on humanity," another sign said. Asked about the Al-Tukhar raids, the U.S.-led coalition said it had recently "conducted air strikes near Manbij" and was looking into the reports of civilian casualties. The raids also drew condemnation from the UN's children agency, which said that "more than 20 children were reportedly killed" in the raids on Al-Tukhar. "Such horrific incidents confront parties to this conflict with their shared responsibility to respect international humanitarian laws that protect children in war," said UNICEF's Syria representative, Hanaa Singer. "No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live -- absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children."

U.S.-Backed Forces Give IS '48 Hours' to Leave Syria's Manbij
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/U.S.-backed fighters on Thursday gave the Islamic State group 48 hours to leave the battleground Syrian town of Manbij, after U.S.-led air strikes nearby reportedly killed dozens of civilians. The raids on Tuesday by the coalition fighting IS in Syria and Iraq have provoked an intense backlash and local protests. Syria's opposition has urged the U.S.-led coalition to suspend its strikes, and international rights groups demanded a thorough investigation. The Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance that issued the ultimatum said it was intended to "protect civilian lives" in Manbij, a jihadist bastion in Aleppo province. The alliance has been fighting to oust IS from the town since June, backed by heavy coalition air strikes. "This initiative is the last remaining chance for besieged members of Daesh (IS) to leave the town," said the Manbij Military Council, part of the SDF. "In order to protect civilian lives and property and to protect the town from destruction we announce that we accept the initiative under which besieged IS members would leave with their individual light weapons," the statement added. The initiative was first floated last week by tribal leaders in Manbij, an SDF commander told AFP. "But we took this decision now after IS used residents as human shields, after the media pressure on us, and to protect whatever civilians are left in the town," the commander said on condition of anonymity. The statement also urged civilians to try to leave Manbij or distance themselves from areas where clashes are taking place. It follows an intense backlash over the reported deaths on Tuesday of at least 56 civilians, including children, in U.S.-led air strikes while fleeing the IS-held village of al-Tukhar near Manbij. Several tens of thousands of civilians remain in Manbij, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based monitoring group.
Protests against civilian deaths
The strikes produced one of the highest reported civilian tolls in bombardment by coalition warplanes in Syria. Syrian activists online urged people around the world to take to the streets to protest the deaths under the banner "Manbij is being exterminated".
"We ask all Syrians, whatever their affiliations or sects, and all free people of the world and especially the people of Manbij to stand in solidarity with our devastated city on Sunday, July 24," wrote one page that publishes local news about Manbij. Activists on the "Manbij News" page called for protests in several Turkish cities including Istanbul and Gaziantep. There have already been protests in some parts of Aleppo province. Dozens gathered in rebel-held Azaz on Wednesday to condemn the strikes, with a young boy holding up a placard that read: "Our children will tell God everything." The raids drew international condemnation including from the U.N.'s children agency UNICEF. "No matter where they are in Syria or under whose control they live -- absolutely nothing justifies attacks on children," said UNICEF's Syria representative, Hanaa Singer. The agency said as many as 20 children may have been killed in the strikes.
'Very difficult fight'
The opposition National Coalition on Wednesday appealed for a halt to U.S.-led strikes against IS in Syria to allow a thorough investigation into what it described as a "massacre".Its president Anas al-Abdah said the U.S.-led coalition was responsible for the "crimes" in Manbij which he said killed at least 125 civilians. The coalition has acknowledged conducting air strikes near Manbij recently, and said it was looking into the reports of civilian deaths."We will conduct an investigation on any possible civilian casualties in this matter, as we always do, and we'll be transparent about that," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said on Wednesday. General Joe Votel, head of U.S. Central Command, said the Manbij operation was a "very difficult fight" with IS jihadists appearing in various locations. "And so when it's a dynamic situation like that... we have to respond. And I think that's the situation in which we found this particular" operation.The Pentagon has acknowledged 41 civilian deaths in its strikes in both Syria and Iraq since 2014, but the Observatory has reported more than 450 civilian killed in U.S.-led raids in Syria alone. The coalition continued its raids in support of the SDF on Thursday, with the Observatory reporting fresh strikes on Manbij in the morning. It said SDF fighters had seized a southern district of the town overnight. More than 280,000 people have been killed and half the population displaced since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.

Allies Finalize Plans to Defeat IS Group
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/The United States gathered its allies in the coalition fighting the Islamic State group Wednesday and agreed on a plan to corner the jihadists in their final bastions. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter told reporters that an accelerated military effort would soon see the group pushed back to Raqa in Syria and Mosul in Iraq. He warned that isolating and taking out what he called the IS "parent tumor" would not eliminate its violent ideology or its ability to spring attacks elsewhere.But defense ministers from the Western and Arab countries of the coalition now have a military plan to liberate the cities with local Iraqi and Syrian forces. "Today, we made the plans and commitments that will help us deliver ISIL the lasting defeat that it deserves," Carter told reporters at an airbase outside Washington. "Let me be clear: They culminate in the collapse of ISIL's control over the cities of Mosul and Raqa."
Parent tumor
Separately, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting with foreign ministers from the coalition countries to discuss the broader political and humanitarian plan. And donor countries were set to pledge what officials hoped would be up to $2 billion to help civilians return to normal life in liberated areas of Iraq. Baghdad needs the money to rebuild in areas that have been retaken and enable the population to return. "The fight against Daesh is obviously far from finished, even as we have progress. Mosul is not yet free. Acts of terrorism remain a constant daily danger," Kerry said. "But the momentum -- there is nobody at this table who would argue that the momentum hasn't shifted -- it has shifted," he said, sitting with allied foreign ministers. "And Daesh has been driven out of almost half of the territory that once occupied in Iraq," he said, using his preferred term for the Islamic State group. The two days of meetings were called as jihadist attacks -- some of them inspired or ordered by the IS group -- are proliferating around the world. The coalition, and in particular its US leadership, are keen to seize back the narrative and emphasize what they see as progress on the main battlefield. But their task is complicated by the jihadist violence erupting in French seafront resorts, on German passenger trains and in the streets of Turkey and the Middle East. In recent weeks, jihadists have claimed horrific attacks in Nice, Istanbul, Baghdad and Dhaka that have left hundreds dead and injured.
Battle for Mosul
These are "going to be a primary focus, obviously, of the discussions," acknowledged Brett McGurk, President Barack Obama's special envoy to the anti-IS coalition. For two days, Kerry and Carter will meet with about 40 of their counterparts in Washington. French defense minister Jean-Yves le Drian told AFP that the battle for Iraq and Mosul is also key for the future security of Europe's cities. "Daesh is not only a terrorist army that has seized territory," he said, referring to the swath of desert the group has claimed as a "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria. "It is also from this territory that it has launched both the operations ordered by terrorists that France has suffered (and) also propaganda efforts."McGurk also cautioned: "Nobody can say these attacks are going to stop. Unfortunately, I think we are going to see more of these."The coalition, which has conducted 14,000 strikes in two years, is "succeeding on the ground."But McGurk said: "We have a lot of work to do on (jihadist) networks."The problem, said Michael Weiss of the Atlantic Council think tank, is that "at the territorial level... ISIS is down but not out.""It has lost its ability to back and hold large swaths of terrain but it has not lost its ability to wage... opportunistic attacks," he said. Washington maintains that since its peak in 2014, IS has lost nearly 50 percent of its Iraqi territory and between 20 and 30 percent of its Syrian strongholds. The coalition will also be discussing what comes after IS, particularly in Iraq, the subject of a separate donors meeting Wednesday. "Today is the time" for "assisting Iraq in the post-liberation area," Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari pleaded in Washington. Iraqi forces that recently retook Fallujah are advancing through the Tigris valley toward Mosul. They have recaptured the Qayyara air base south of Mosul, which U.S. military officials say will serve as a launch pad for offensive operations against the city. Washington has also announced that it will send 560 more U.S. troops to Iraq to help the government fight IS and recapture Mosul.That will bring to 4,600 troops the U.S. military presence in Iraq five years after the United States' 2011 military withdrawal.

Syria Opposition Asks Anti-IS Coalition to Halt Strikes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Syria's opposition appealed Wednesday to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group to halt its air strikes after dozens of civilians were killed in raids near an IS-held town. In a letter to the alliance's foreign ministers, National Coalition president Anas Alabdah demanded "an immediate suspension of the military operations of the international (anti-IS) coalition in Syria to allow for a thorough investigation of these incidents."

U.S. Pledges Openness on Civilian Casualties in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Wednesday pledged openness on allied accountability a day after dozens of civilians were killed in raids near an IS-held town in Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Tuesday that children were among at least 56 civilians killed in strikes by the coalition as they fled Al-Tukhar in Aleppo province, near the key Islamic State group stronghold of Manbij. "We will conduct an investigation on any possible civilian casualties in this matter, as we always do, and we'll be transparent about that," Carter told a briefing at this air base outside Washington. General Joe Votel, head of Centcom said allies would " continue to do all we can to protect civilians from harm," at the same news conference. "It is an extraordinarily dynamic situation up around Manbij right now, as we talked about a little bit earlier." The Syrian Democratic Forces, an alliance off militias, has been fighting since May 31 to retake Minbej. "So it's a very difficult fight. ISIL is trying to hold onto that area, so we do see them showing up at a variety of different locations," Votel said. "And so when it's a dynamic situation like that... we have to respond. And I think that's the situation in which we found this particular" operation. Rights groups say war crimes have been committed by all sides in Syria's conflict, which began in March 2011 and has killed more than 280,000 people. The government is accused of widespread torture, as well as indiscriminate fire on civilian populations. And the Islamic State jihadist group has regularly carried out gruesome executions of its opponents.

Host Kuwait Issues Ultimatum to Yemeni Negotiators
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 21/16/Kuwait, which is hosting troubled Yemen peace talks, has issued an ultimatum to the warring parties to strike a deal within 15 days or leave the Gulf state.Three months of UN-brokered talks in Kuwait have failed to make headway with the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and the government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, both holding firm to their positions. "We have given 15 days for Yemeni sides taking part in the talks to resolve all the issues," Kuwait's deputy foreign minister Khaled al-Jarallah told Dubai-based Al-Arabiya news channel late Wednesday. "If matters are not resolved within the 15 days, we have hosted them enough and consequently our brothers have to excuse us if we cannot continue hosting" the talks, Jarallah said in Brussels.
The talks resumed in Kuwait on Saturday after a 15-day break. UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Saturday that the negotiations would last for two weeks and warned that they may be Yemen's last chance for peace. "It's time for decisive decisions that will prove your true intentions and national responsibilities to Yemenis," he told a meeting of the two delegations. The envoy said the discussions between the Huthis and their allies on one side and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi on the other would focus on strengthening a ceasefire that came into effect on April 11 but which has been repeatedly violated. They would also deal with "forming the military committees that will supervise the withdrawal and handover of weapons... and opening safe passages for humanitarian aid," he said. But the two-week deadline by the United Nations angered the Huthis who reiterated their demands for a national unity government ahead of any other solution. The government is calling for implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 which requires the rebels and their allies to withdraw from areas they have occupied since 2014, including the capital Sanaa, and to hand over heavy weapons.
The government wants to re-establish its authority across the entire country, much of which is controlled by the rebels. More than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of Hadi's government in March last year.
Another 2.8 million people have been displaced and more than 80 percent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid, according to UN figures.
 

Canada very concerned with situation in Turkey
July 20, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today released the following statement regarding the situation in Turkey:
“Canada supports a democratic Turkey and respects the need for thorough investigations and prosecutions against the perpetrators of the recent attempted coup. This must be done‎ in accordance with Turkish and international law. ‎Given this imperative, Canada is concerned by the state of emergency declared by President Erdogan today.
“We are equally troubled by reports of tens of thousands of dismissals and detentions, including of members of the judiciary, public servants, teachers, academics, members of civil society and the media. We are also profoundly troubled by reported acts of retribution and intimidation. We call on Turkish authorities to respect the human rights of all individuals, including the accused perpetrators, and ensure they are protected from violence at the hands of vigilantes.
“Canada is especially concerned by statements by Turkish officials on the reintroduction of the death penalty. The death penalty undermines human dignity and is incompatible with Turkey’s international obligations. Canada urges Turkey to comply fully with its relevant obligations under international human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights as well as our joint commitments as members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
“The rule of law and respect for due process in the conduct of investigations are integral to the democratic principles that, last Friday night, prompted thousands of Turks to flood into the streets to protect. It is important that these same democratic principles and values guide the government’s actions in the coming months.”
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Bangladesh arrests head of homegrown extremist group
AFP, Dhaka Thursday, 21 July 2016/Bangladesh's elite security force said Thursday it had arrested a top regional head of the homegrown extremist group blamed for an attack on a Dhaka cafe in which 20 hostages were murdered. Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) officers stormed a flat in an apartment building in the industrial town of Tongi, just north of the capital Dhaka, and arrested four members of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). "Among them was Mahmudul Hasan, the southern regional head of the JMB. He is a top militant trainer," RAB spokesman Mufti Mahmud Khan told reporters. Police recovered hand-made bombs and bomb-making materials from the house, indicating the militants "were planning to carry out an act of sabotage," he said. Bangladesh's government has blamed JMB for the July 1 attack on an upscale cafe in Dhaka's Gulshan neighbourhood in which 20 hostages, including 18 foreigners, were shot and slaughtered. ISIS claimed responsibility for the Gulshan attack, releasing photos of the carnage and of the five men who carried out the deadly assault. Bangladeshi authorities rejected the claim, saying international jihadist networks have no presence in the world's third largest Muslim majority nation. But national police chief Shahidul Hoque said recently that authorities were investigating whether the Gulshan attackers had any international connections. RAB spokesman Khan said officers were probing whether Hasan and the three other detained JMB operatives, including a medical student, had played a role in the Gulshan attack. "They will be questioned," he said. Hasan-trained militants were responsible for the murder of a police constable and deadly bomb attack at the nation's most respected Shiite shrine in Dhaka late last year, he added. Bangladesh has been reeling from a deadly wave of attacks in the last three years. The government and police say homegrown extremists are responsible for the deaths of some 80 secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities since 2013. Both ISIS and a branch of al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for many of the attacks. Critics say Hasina's administration is in denial about the nature of the threat posed by Islamist extremists and accuse her of trying to exploit the attacks to demonize her domestic political opponents.

Islamic relief agency admits illegal funds transfer to Iraq
The Associated Press, Kansas Thursday, 21 July 2016/A Missouri-based Islamic charity that was shut down after being identified by the federal government as a global terrorist organization admitted in federal court Wednesday that it illegally funneled $1.4 million to Iraq in violation of US sanctions. A representative of the Islamic American Relief Agency pleaded guilty in Jefferson City, Missouri, to conspiring to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The agency, once based in Columbia, also pleaded guilty to one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering and obstructing the administration of internal revenue laws. At least three former IARA principals — the group's chief, a fundraiser and a board member — have previously been sentenced in the wide-ranging scheme to illegally transfer money, and a former Michigan congressman went to prison for lobbying efforts for the group. IARA, which served as the US office of the Sudan-based Islamic Relief Agency, took in between $1 million and $3 million in contributions annually from 1991 to 2003, federal authorities said. The group was closed in October 2004 after being identified by the US Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist organization. After being indicted in 2008, IARA was reconstituted to resolve the criminal matter that led to Wednesday's guilty plea, though the group and its governing board have agreed not to form a successor. As part of the plea, IARA admitted it secretly funneled $1.375 million in cash or merchandise to Iraq in violation of United States economic sanctions dating to 1990. The original indictment alleged the charity sent about $130,000 to help Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom the United States has designated as a global terrorist. The money, sent to bank accounts in Peshawar, Pakistan, in 2003 and 2004, was masked as donations to an orphanage located in buildings that Hekmatyar owned. Authorities described Hekmatyar as an Afghan mujahedeen leader who has participated in and supported terrorist acts by al-Qaeda and the Taliban. It wasn't immediately clear who received the remainder of the money. A spokesman for the region's federal prosecutor's office couldn't immediately be reached. Prosecutors also said IARA wrongly used its tax-exempt status to solicit funds, representing them as legitimate charitable contributions.

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 21-22/16

Canada Friday Sermon: America Is Collapsing Because Of Police Racism; The E.U. And Israel Will Come To An End
MEMRI/July 21/16

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/07/21/memricanada-friday-sermon-america-is-collapsing-because-of-police-racism-the-e-u-and-israel-will-come-to-an-end/

http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/5583.htm (sermon's Link)

https://outlook.live.com/owa/?id=64855&path=/mail/inbox/rp (Report Link)
In a Friday sermon delivered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 8, 2016, Sheikh Shaban Sherif Mady said that "the U.S. is collapsing now from the inside because of the racism of those policemen," and that "an American state is demanding to secede, after England seceded from the EU." "The US will break up, just like 'Aad, Thamud, and Russia, the former USSR, and just like the EU, which will break up soon," said Mady, adding that "as a result, Israel will come to an end as well."
Sheikh Shaban Sherif Mady: "The U.S. is collapsing now because of these actions, just like the countries where it employed terrorism in the name of democracy. 'Allah came upon them from where they did not expect.' The US is collapsing from within because of the racism of those policemen, who are practicing international terrorism, or terrorism on the basis of racial discrimination."
"An American state is demanding to secede, after England seceded from the E.U. Now you have the incidents with the blacks. The U.S. will disintegrate, just like 'Aad, Thamud, and Russia, the former U.S.S.R., and just like the E.U., which will disintegrate soon. The U.S. will come to an end, and with it, Israel will come to an end as well. As a result of the end of Israel – or even before that happens – many Arab and Islamic regimes, which have ruled for a long time, will come to an end."

Coup Attempt in Turkey: A Feast of Pretexts
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/July 21/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8512/turkey-coup-pretexts
Turkey now will be an even more difficult place to live in for dissidents. President Erdogan is already talking about the reintroduction of death penalty.
The Security General Department (which runs the police force) issued a statement calling on citizens to inform them about any social media material that supports terrorists, the Gulen organization or that contains anti-government propaganda material.
Everything looked surreal in Turkey; soldiers inviting the head of the police anti-terror squad for a "meeting" only to shoot him in the head; top brass, including the chief of the military general staff, air force commander, land forces commander and gendarmerie commander, being taken hostage by their own aide-de-camps; then people taking to the streets in their thousands to resist the coup d'état, taking over tanks, getting killed, soldiers opening fire at the civilians and finally the victorious pro-Erdogan people lynching coup-staging soldiers wherever they could grab them.
Turkey's NTV TV shows soldiers involved in coup attempt surrendering on Istanbul's Bosphorus bridge with their hands raised, July 15, 2016.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused his formerly staunchest political ally, a Muslim cleric in exile in the United States, Fethullah Gulen, and his loyalists within the military. Appearing before a crowd of party fans, Erdogan pleaded to Washington for "the terrorist" Gulen's extradition.
Erdogan's intelligence and loyal police force immediately arrested nearly 6,000 military officers and members of the judiciary, claiming that they belong to the "Gulenist terror organization." Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said that more arrests were in the offing, signaling a witch hunt across the country. Immediately after that move the Interior Ministry suspended 8,777 officials, including governors, suspected of being "Gulenists," and arrested thousands in the judiciary. Many liberals believe the government will use the coup attempt as a pretext to intimidate its opponents, whether or not with any links to Gulen.
"He [Erdogan] comes out of this tremendously strengthened," says Howard Eissenstat, associate professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. "This has remobilized a base that was getting sort of tired of him. It gave him at least a moment in which he unified all elements of society against a clear threat."
Turkey now will be an even more difficult place to live in for dissidents. Erdogan is already talking about the reintroduction of death penalty. "Our government will discuss [the death penalty] with the opposition," he said when he spoke to a crowd of party fans who interrupted his speech with the slogan "we want the death penalty." Then he said he would endorse the reintroduction of the death penalty if parliament approved it.
Meanwhile, the Security General Department (which runs the police force) issued a statement calling on citizens to inform them about any social media material that supports terrorists, the Gulen organization or that contains anti-government propaganda material.
All this Turkish upheaval reminds one of the Reichstag fire, an arson attack on the German parliament building in Berlin on Feb. 27, 1933. A young unemployed Dutch communist, Marinus van der Lubbe, was arrested for the crime. He had only recently arrived in Germany; he pled guilty and was sentenced to death. The Reichstag fire was used as a pretext by the Nazi Party to tell its public that communists were plotting against the German government -- a pivotal event in the establishment of Nazi Germany.
We may never know if the failed coup of July 15 was a Turkish version of the Reichstag fire. But we do know that it will be used as a pretext to claim that a multitude of enemies, inside and outside Turkey, are plotting against the government.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Idolizing foreign leaders
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
It is neither strange nor new for many Arabs to support a foreign or regional leader for various reasons. There have been Egypt’s late president Gamal Abdel Nasser, Iran’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iraq’s late President Saddam Hussein and others. There is current enthusiasm over Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Arabs who support such leaders were socialist and pan-Arabist behind Abdel Nasser, Islamist behind Khomeini, Baathist and pan-Arabist behind Saddam, and Islamist behind Erdogan. Some Arabs support foreign leaders as a silent protest against their own governments, about which they dare not speak out. Dreamers and desperate Arabs were dragged 40 years ago behind Khomeini when he raised the slogan of liberating Palestine and confronting the West. Saddam did the same, as is Erdogan. They wrongly think these figures will fight their battles. No one will fight for them or liberate Palestine. Some Arabs support foreign leaders as a silent protest against their own governments, about which they dare not speak out. They wrongly think these figures will fight their battles. Erdogan may not even liberate the Syrian city of Aleppo, not because he does not want to, but because the battle exceeds his capabilities and would only be waged if Turkish national security was in great danger. Some of these leaders were victims of their own popularity, failing to deliver on their grand promises. For example, Abdel Nasser vowed to change Arab regimes and liberate Palestine, but in the end he lost everything.
Distorted image
Arabs who idolize Erdogan are more dangerous to him than his rivals. He is elected, he has real popularity in his country, and his economic successes are undoubted. The Islam he preaches is moderate and has nothing to do with the Islam of his Arab fans, neither in intellect nor implementation. Since they do not understand these details, they draw a different picture of Erdogan, one that is closer to the extremist sheikhs of the Gulf, Egypt and Jordan. In the end they will be shocked and disappointed, and will look for another leader to idolize.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on July 21, 2016.

Criticizing extremism more important than condemning terrorism
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Following the Nice terror attack the social media networks witnessed an expected rise in the general rhetoric that accompany terrorist operations. Individuals and organizations all over the world condemned the carnage, which was only understandable. It is obvious that one can either condemn terror or stand by it, which suggests that those who are not against terrorism seem to side with it. Irrespective of the varying degrees of condemnation, we find that criticizing extremist ideas is more important than criticizing terrorism itself. Terrorism is a matter related to security because it is the product and manifestation of extremism. Ideas germinate before they are executed and it is better to criticize these ideas before criticizing terrorist operations. I reckon, extremism hasn’t been suppressed or confronted as it should. Incessant condemnation of extremist ideas, and finding ways to tackle it via different platforms, should be the most significant step societies must take if they want to challenge the scourge of terrorism. A society that adopts a soft approach on extremism cannot survive the fire of terrorism, violence and massacres. A society that adopts a soft approach on extremism cannot survive the fire of terrorism, violence and massacres
The root cause
Criticizing terrorism doesn’t suffice as an act of courage if we continue to sympathize with extremism. It will be akin to providing lip service and not taking adequate measures to address the root causes of terrorism. We wish that the messages of condemnation that have poured over Nice attack are expressed with the same vigour as those condemning extremist ideologies, which leads to terrorism. Readers might wonder why it is easy to criticize terrorism and why it is not the same with extremist ideologies. But the moot point is can they fight terrorism while they encourage extremism?
This article was first published in Okaz on July 21, 2016.

Make America hate and fear again
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
The much awaited American political conventions’ season is upon us. After following the Republican (GOP) convention over the last few days, I must admit it is nothing short of excruciating and disturbing. Visiting presently the heartland of Trump potential support of the Old West makes these impressions way more vivid. Observers of US politics have been warning for a while now that they are becoming increasingly divisive and ineffective and dragging down with it the entire society. Much of the early headlines from the GOP convention dealt mainly with the rather bizarre case of Melania Trump’s plagiarism of Michelle Obama’s 2008 speech, endorsing the candidacy of her husband. It was more pathetic and clumsy than malicious, pointing to some very lazy speechwriters. What was to follow has all the warning signs of what might happen if presidential candidate Donald Trump becomes the 45th president of the United States. Speaker after speaker took to the stage in Cleveland with one thing in mind – the spreading of hate and fear and without offering any direction or hope. This is where the party believes it can win the forthcoming elections. Much of the hate was directed, in the vilest possible way, towards the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. One might have been left with the wrong impression that the former first lady has been running the country and the rest of the world for quite a while, as she is pointed to by them as being responsible for the entire world’s ills. Directing abuse and accusations at Hillary Clinton became a false unifier of the Republican Party in an unconvincing attempt to conceal a very divided party. For the neutral observer, what the United States necessitates at this moment in time is a leader who is capable of healing rifts instead of deepening them. These divisions are apparent from the notable list of the party’s grandees who were absent from the party’s convention, such as two former Republican presidents George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush and two former presidential nominees Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney, and who refused to even endorse their party’s presidential candidate.
Even John Kasich, Governor of Ohio and a former presidential candidate, passed up the opportunity to take part in the most important party gathering, despite Ohio being the location of the convention. A coup-like attempt, by those who oppose Donald Trump, to allow for a roll-call was quashed, but ended in an angry walkout by a number of delegates in front of rolling cameras from around the world.
The parties’ conventions take place in a time that there is a desperate need for a sense of purpose, direction and of coherence in American society. In the space of ten days eight policemen were targeted and shot dead in two separate incidents in Dallas and Baton Rouge. In both cases the gunmen were African-Americans, who expressed in the worst deadly possible way, their anger against police violence. Statistics show that in 2015 more than 100 unarmed black people were shot dead by policemen in the US, and that young black men were nine times more likely than other Americans to be killed by police.
While this indiscriminate killing of policemen deserves nothing but condemnation, the speeches by leading Republican leaders in their convention is sheer incitement against liberal America and is tainted by racism. For the neutral observer, what the United States necessitates at this moment in time is a leader who is capable of healing rifts instead of deepening them, Trump style, for personal political gains.
No one is more of a figure of hate to the delegates of the GOP conference, especially the die-hard Trump supporters, than Hillary Clinton. By now she has even surpassed President Obama. Ben Carson, who was not that long ago on the receiving end of Trump’s acidic language, linked Clinton in a inexplicable way to Lucifer, falling just short of calling her a witch, which would have matched the general misogynistic atmosphere in the convention hall and the Trump camp. Chris Christie’s speech was nothing short of theatre of the absurd placing Clinton on what resembled a mob trial, or as it was accurately described by one of the commentators a Kangaroo court. Watching many hundreds of delegates punching in the air chanting ‘“Lock her up! Lock her up!” and “Guilty” to every accusation leveled by Christie was chilling and not at all suitable for a democracy. It didn’t feel like a party ready to get back to power but a mob, who lost its way and was thirsty to draw the opponent’s political blood – maybe not only political.
Clinton’s journey
The Democratic convention is still ahead of us and Hillary Clinton has a long and hazardous journey to gain the trust of the American people. However, what we witnessed this week in Cleveland epitomizes the low that American politics has sunk to. In the complex challenging, and at times extremely dangerous, world we live in the Republican party is short not only of answers but even of an intelligent debate. It blames the leader of the opposite party for the entire ills of their country and the world—from violence in Libya and Syria to the Boko Haram in Nigeria, and every other problem in between –the Republicans place the blame on the person who served four years as Secretary of State. If people around the world were looking for some inspiration, or at least reflection from the most powerful country in the world, they should not waste their time on the GOP convention in Ohio. In a time where mounting social, political and economic challenges that harbor the dangers of fragmentation, despair and violence, there is a need for a creative, attentive, capable and uniting leadership. Instead the world is exposed to a continuous hollow rhetoric that echoes around the Quicken Loans Arena. Not not only is the party failing to identify solutions to these challenges, but it completely misunderstands their root causes.

The Egyptian conspiracy theory obsession
Mohammed Nosseir/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Consistently fueled by the state media, millions of Egyptians today claim that ‘the world is conspiring against us’! Egyptians haven’t bothered to task themselves with determining who exactly is conspiring against Egypt, and what precisely those enemies are doing. In truth, most of the countries accused of conspiring against our country could also be perceived in a different manner; as nations that are trying to help us. Attempting to discuss and substantiate a conspiracy theory with an Egyptian citizen is always a losing battle. Egyptians seem to have their own logic and thinking concerning conspiracy apparatus that are difficult to challenge. Introducing another ridiculous nonsensical story to counter attack a conspiracy theory is certainly more valued by Egyptians, who not only are strong believers in conspiracy, but also claim to be its discoverers. Conspiracy theory is widely defined as “a belief that some secret but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event”. It is a theory that works well for the Egyptian government and citizens; it enables them to waive responsibility and accountability for their problems by laying the blame for these at the feet of a ‘hidden enemy’. Culturally, Egypt is a suspicious society and Egyptians tend to enjoy to the maximum mythical conspiracy narratives that do not only target the illiterate portion of the society – many well-educated Egyptians also suffer from conspiracy paranoia!
Personally, I find that most of the conspiracy theories put forth are farfetched stories that would never stick due to their lack of basic commonsense. However, because of the great naïveté of most Egyptians and a fertile platform in which all kinds of nonsensical, ridiculous tales can easily emerge, being sensible isn’t a factor when it comes to Egyptians’ obsession with conspiracy. Although the uncertainty and fear that were brought about by the January 2011 revolution greatly expanded Egyptians’ ready acceptance of all kinds of narratives, the seeds of conspiracy theory were, nevertheless, already well-rooted among Egyptians prior to the revolution. Countries in the region that disagree with the policies of Egypt’s current ruling regime have lately joined the club of alleged conspirators and are explicitly accused of plotting matters that are far beyond their capacity
Government’s deficiencies
Egypt’s consecutive rulers, who have uniformly wanted their citizens to be united, tend to capitalize on the Egyptian cultural trait that espouses conspiracies by accusing foreign nations of conspiring against us. This approach has made it possible to disregard much of the deficiencies of governments, conveniently attributed to the hidden enemy conspiring against us. Egyptians tend to differ on internal issues, but when it comes to external enemies, we are obliged to unite – or be accused of betraying our country. The Egyptian state has never explicitly presented any evidence concerning countries that are allegedly conspiring against us; leaving citizens to unleash their imagination and come up with outrageous stories. Nonetheless, Egyptians have consistently accused the United States, which provides $1.5 billion in annual aid to Egypt, of conspiring against their country. The fact that the US is a superpower with a great interest in the Middle East region makes it easy to denounce that nation as an alleged conspirator; the exaggerated stories that Egyptians tend to believe are more likely to be undertaken by a global superpower. Additionally, other countries in the region that disagree with the policies of Egypt’s current ruling regime have lately joined the club of alleged conspirators and are explicitly accused of plotting matters that are far beyond their capacity. Nowadays, most universal disputes are discussed through diplomatic channels, non-governmental organizations and the media. However, military interference, such as the ongoing action in Iraq, Libya and Syria (a development to which we, the Arabs, have contributed) are clearly explicit military acts. Thus, they should not be portrayed as forms of conspiracy. The conspiracy theory dilemma has been preventing us from better understanding the universe’s political dynamic and from tackling our challenges in an appropriate manner. Politics are rarely black and white; what some citizens perceive as a foreign conspiracy against Egypt others may value as genuine political advice. Likewise, our government’s accords with certain other countries could equally be perceived as harmful to our nation.

A call to promote the empowerment of Saudi women
Samar Fatany/Al Arabiya/July 21/16
Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Civil Service has announced an increase in the percentage of women employed in higher positions, as represented by grade 11, from the current 1.27 percent to 5 percent by 2020, which is four times the current percentage. This development is part of the new transformation plan to empower women and support their role in leadership positions. The empowerment of women in Saudi Arabia has come a long way. Progressive opinion leaders are speaking out against those who oppose the integration of women into the workforce. They continue to address social norms that discriminate against women and urge decision makers to face on-the-ground realities. There is a long history in advanced societies of many organizations working to support women so that they can reach decision-making positions. Saudi officials today are looking at the experience of others and are keen to apply strategies that have provided women the opportunity to play a bigger role in public office. Many are optimistic that Saudi Vision 2030 can put an end to gender-based discrimination and eliminate social barriers that inhibit the implementation of legislative and constitutional amendments necessary to accelerate the empowerment of Saudi women and enhance their legal status.
Saudi officials today are looking at the experience of others and are keen to apply strategies that have provided women the opportunity to play a bigger role in public office. Policymakers focus on researching and identifying women with potential. Indeed, if given the opportunity and the proper training, qualified women can play an important role in shaping public policy. They can likewise assist in providing a more moderate environment to fight extremism and sectarianism. Progressive women who advocate modernity are no longer a minority. Today there are many people who do not support gender segregation policies and consider driving a basic human right for women. Of great importance is the need to expose the imposed non-religious values, trends and traditions that discriminate against women, marginalize their role and deny them the rights that Islam guarantees them.
Cry for change
The call to support the empowerment of women in Saudi society is a cry for change. In the past, civil society did not play an effective role in adopting women’s issues and presenting an accurate picture of their problems. Women advocates failed to highlight their challenges to officials to help decision-makers set the right course. Today, there are initiatives to mobilize the national base toward reform. The decision by the Ministry of Civil Service to increase the percentage of women employed in higher positions is a positive sign for change.
The rigid religious practices adopted by a significant segment of Saudi women and their hardline religious positions have also harmed society and have earned Saudi women the disdain of many women worldwide, even women from Arab and Muslim countries. The global image of Saudi society remains negative. The hardline religious position that is discriminatory toward women has compromised the role of Saudi Arabia as the leader of the Muslim world. The support of Custodian of King Salman for Vision 2030 advocating the empowerment of women has boosted the morale of many Saudis today. However, the success of the vision will depend on public support to implement the transformation plans with regard to the empowerment of women. As long as a large segment of society treats women as minors and undermines their capabilities, progress will be limited and the country will continue to lag behind.
Shaping the domestic debate toward positive attitudes and global thinking is a basis for a successful transformation. Saudi women should be part of the national debate for change; their positive contributions can speed up the pace of reform. Reformers will not succeed and the country will not develop without changing the extremist mindset and negative attitudes toward the position of women in our society.
This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on July 16, 2016.

Jihad Awakens Europe
Daniel Pipes/Gatestone Institute/July 15, 2016
http://www.danielpipes.org/16822/jihad-awakens-europe
Transcript
Hello. I'm Daniel Pipes and I'd like to speculate about the future of Europe. I can see three most likely possibilities.
One is, when it comes to Islam, that everybody gets along, all is well, the future generations are better than the present generations, and there's no real problem. I don't think that's likely, although that is the working hypothesis of governments and, more broadly, the establishments: things will work out, we'll muddle through, it'll be okay.
But there are two other possibilities which are far more likely.
One is that the ascent of Islam, Muslims, Sharia, minarets, Qur'an, Islamic customs, will continue as it has for the last 60 years. Since 1955 and the original agreement between the German and Turkish governments, there has been increase, steadily, in everything Muslim and Islamic. One possible outcome is further extrapolation into the distant future, and, conceivably, a takeover by Muslims of Europe. Europe becomes an extension of North Africa. You have Londonistan and the Islamic Republic of France and so forth.
Europe goes from being a primarily Christian continent to being a primarily Muslim one. This is supported by the weak birth rate amongst indigenous Europeans, and of course the substantial amount of Muslims who are arriving and who will likely arrive. The neighborhood of Europe, across the Mediterranean, and not too far from that, is in bad shape. Places like Egypt and Yemen could conceivably churn out millions and tens of millions of refugees. So that's one prospect – that the Islamization of Europe proceeds apace, Europe becomes Eurabia.
But there is another alternative, which I, frankly, find more likely, and that is that Europeans say "No, enough, we don't like this." Native indigenous, non-Muslim Europeans still number about 95 percent of the population, and should they say no then no it will be.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been denounced by Western media as "xenophobic" for his opposition to taking in Muslim refugees.
There are reasons to think that this resistance is building: it started later than the Muslim immigration of the mid-1950s. It began, I would say, with the Rushdie affair of 1989, and it is proceeding quickly. One can see it in polls. One can see in elections. Most striking of all was the election, in May, for Austrian president, in which the vote was half-half. It's going to be redone, but the important thing was the half that the anti-Muslim, anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant candidate won. [The margin of victory was] 30,000 votes and there is going to be a recount, so effectively it was half-half.
This kind of insurgent party against Islam, nationalist, against sharia, wanting to support and extend national customs - it's on the rise in many countries around Europe. Not every single one, but [it is in] many countries in western Europe, where the Muslim presence is already substantial, in countries like France, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland. Across the board, you see the numbers rising from single digits to the double digits, to 20-30 percent, and in the case of Austria now, even 50 percent.
"It's more likely that an anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant wave will take power than that indigenous Europeans will quietly accept the Islamization of the continent."
I think this is an auger for the future. [Even] in Eastern Europe, without substantial Muslim populations, one sees governments and one sees parties, such as in Hungary and in Greece, that are vociferously anti Muslim. So I would predict that it's more likely that an anti-Islamic, anti-immigrant wave will take power than that indigenous Europeans will quietly accept the Islamization of the continent.
Now, this is not going to be a pretty sight. These parties are raw. They are in many cases quite extreme. They might be prone to violence. They will upset the existing accommodations, so it will be a rough ride. It will not be a simple repudiation – it will be nasty.
To put it in its largest terms, Pax Americana, the unprecedented peace that Europe has had since 1945 under the aegis of the United States, is coming apart and Europe is in for tough times ahead.