LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

September 08/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For Today

Isaiah: ‘Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 12/37-43:”Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. This was to fulfil the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ‘Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?’And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said, ‘He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not look with their eyes, and understand with their heart and turn and I would heal them.’ Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke about him. Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God.”

Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
Letter to the Ephesians 05/01-07:”Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But fornication and impurity of any kind, or greed, must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints. Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no fornicator or impure person, or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be associated with them.”
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 07-08/16
Samir Geagea Is committing A deadly Sin/Elias bejjani/September 07/16/
Aoun and Nasrallah to hold first meeting in two years/Gulf News/Joseph A. Kechichian/September 08/16
Christian executed in Iran spoke of meeting Jesus before his death/Ruth Gledhill/Christian Today/07 September 2016
Canada: Mandatory music class is haram/“Mandatory music classes hit a bad note with some Muslim parents”//Jihad Watch/September 07/16
Canada: Who, Please, Are We Helping/Sohail Raza/Gatestone Institute/September 07/16
Israel, Hezbollah and Iran in secret negotiations over Ron Arad/Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/September 07/16
Enough is enough/Tami Arad/Ynetnews/September 07/16
Iran Expert, American Foreign Policy Council Vice President Ilan Berman. : Post-Nuclear Deal, Emboldened Islamic Republic Seeking to Expand Global Reach, Build Anti-US Axis in Latin America /Barney Breen-Portnoy/The Algemeiner/07 September/16
What Happens in Damascus Decides Syria’s Fate/Eyad Abu Shakra/September 07/16
The murder of Adnani, not ISIS/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
Be humble, the chair you are sitting on is temporary/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
The G20 Summit managed to fulfil everyone’s very low expectations/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
Who’s the most beautiful, the best and the strongest in the UAE/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
Uncovering the Truth about a West Bank Palestinian Refugee Camp/Clifford Smith/The Washington Examiner/September 07/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 07-08/16
Samir Geagea Is committing A deadly Sin
Berri Will Not Resume Dialogue Until 'Changes are Introduced'
Entity Guardian' Salam Urges Political Forces to Refrain from Obstruction
Jumblat Says FPM Bringing about Self Marginalization
Qahwaji: Domestic Tensions Won't Affect Army's Role
Bassil Hits Back at Salam: Cabinet Must Not Violate National Pact
Adwan Wards off Tense LF-Mustaqbal Ties
Medical Director at Baalbek Hospital Disappears amid Kidnap Suspicions
IS Announces Death of Australian Jihadist of Lebanese Origin in Syria
Report: Hizbullah Takes Action to Mend Rift between Allies
Report: Anti-Erdogan Dissident Arrested in Beirut
Hezbollah’s Qassem: No Syria solution until after US elections
Salam at launch of Lebanese, Palestinian Dialogue Committee report: To elect president, face rampant crisis
Kahwaji inspecting military units in central Beqa: Current polarizations shall not leave impact on army role
Abou Faour: Threats against Jumblatt serious
Bou Saab in Brussels discusses with EU officials financing Lebanon's education sector
Three injured in brawl in Shayah locality
Aoun and Nasrallah to hold first meeting in two years

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 07-08/16

Christian executed in Iran spoke of meeting Jesus before his death
Canada: Mandatory music class is haram/“Mandatory music classes hit a bad note with some Muslim parents”
Iran-Saudi War of Words Heats Up ahead of Hajj
Syria Opposition Fleshes out Post-Assad Plan in London
Several Held after Car with Gas Cylinders Found in Paris
70 Cases of Suffocation After Barrel Bombs Are Dropped on Eastern Aleppo
Saudi Grand Mufti: Iranian leaders not Muslim
8 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Northwest Iran
Damascus Swaps 169 Prisoners for Bodies of Russian Troops
Syrians Return to Jarabulus from Turkey after IS Ousted
Lavrov, Kerry to Hold Syria Talks September 8-9
U.N. Says Fighting in Central Syria Displaced 100,000
Morocco Busts 'IS Cell' Planning Attacks
Chemical Watchdog Warns on Aleppo Barrel Bomb Attacks
Gulf States Accuse Iran of Trying to Politicize Hajj
Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces was Not an Attacker
Canada strongly condemns North Korea missile launch
Saudi Arabia's hard-hitting response to comments made by Iran regime’s Supreme leader Khamenei.
New book illustrates the occupation of Syria by Iran
The Iranian Resistance condemns the visit of the clerical regime’s notorious and murderous Minister of Intelliegence, Alavi, from Berlin, warns against exchange information and demands his detention and bringing him to justice
 

Links From Jihad Watch Site for on September 07-08/16
Canada: Mandatory music class is haram
American-trained sniper now Islamic State “minister of war”
Germany: “Why honor-kill your sister and have child porn on your phone?”
Saudi women revolt: #StopEnslavingSaudiWomen
Belgium: Knifeman attacks two officers in jihadi hotbed Molenbeek, police say no indication attack terror-related
Letter to Rachel Maddow: Massive failure on the left
France: Muslim arrested after his car is found packed with explosive gas cylinders outside Notre Dame cathedral
Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti says Iranians are “not Muslims”

Links From Christian Today Site for on September 07-08/16
Faith and the Future of Labour: Leadership candidates Corbyn and Smith at faith hustings
Aleppo: Suspected chlorine gas attack chokes dozens
Christian executed in Iran spoke of meeting Jesus before his death
Algerian Christian sentenced to 3 years in jail for 'insulting Islam'
Church of French priest murdered by Islamists to reopen next month
Archbishop of Canterbury: Refugee children with UK family must be brought over immediately
Catholic Church seeks to help refugees living in squalor in Calais
Calais: Lord Dubs condemns UK government for failing 'obligation' to refugee children
Children and women at risk from Calais 'Jun

Corbyn and Smith to face Jewish leaders in faith hustings

The vital ingredient missing from the Labour Leadership election...

Who's who in Jeremy Corbyn's new cabinet

Corbyn lacks credibility to be Prime Minister, says leading Christian Labour MP

Jeremy Corbyn stuns rivals with landslide Labour leadership win

Christian aid agency to deliver emergency supplies to war-ravaged Aleppo

Responding to the face of horror

UN chief warns of unprecedented 'catastrophe' in Syria's Aleppo

Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 07-08/16
Samir Geagea Is committing A deadly Sin
Elias bejjani/September 07/16/Surrendering to the evil Iran and Hezbollah, its terrorist proxy by forcing on us Aoun's presidency is a deadly sin. Sadly Geagea for mere personal and not patriotic reasons is committing this sin.
 

Berri Will Not Resume Dialogue Until 'Changes are Introduced'
Naharnet/September 07/16/Speaker Nabih Berri stressed on Wednesday that he will not resume the dialogue meetings unless the political parties are truly ready for serious dialogue, Ad Diyar daily reported. “I will not be calling for a dialogue session unless there was a change in the form, content and perception of the others. Until this moment I will not initiate anything until the others (politicians of the dialogue table) are ready for serious dialogue and their ideas change. Only then will I be ready because we want successful and efficient talks,” Berri was quoted as saying. Highlighting the need for dialogue between Lebanon's politicians, the Speaker added: “Dialogue provided a form of contentment in the country and produced several things, contrary to what some people say, whether with regard to the nationality issue, the law of administrative decentralization or facilitating the government’s work.”He renewed calls to adopt an earlier package deal that involves the presidency, the government and the electoral law. Early this week, Berri refrained from setting a date for a new national dialogue session after the Free Patriotic Movement vowed during Monday's meeting that it would boycott the all-party talks. FPM chief Jebran Bassil threatened to boycott dialogue during the session, stressing that the “FPM cannot tolerate the situation anymore.”The FPM's latest boycott of the cabinet was linked to the thorny issued of military appointments. The movement has recently warned that the country might be plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”

Entity Guardian' Salam Urges Political Forces to Refrain from Obstruction
Naharnet/September 07/16/On the eve of a crucial cabinet session, Prime Minister Tammam Salam called on all political forces on Wednesday to “refrain from obstruction” and “support and enhance the work of state institutions.”“The cabinet is the main and most effective component in running our country's affairs,” Salam said. “I'm seeking to maintain my role as a guardian of this entity,” he added. “I'm entrusted with the cabinet and its work and I will carry on with this duty,” Salam stressed. Media reports have said that the prime minister will not postpone Thursday's cabinet session despite the declared boycott of the Free Patriotic Movement. The FPM's recent boycott of cabinet meetings is linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments and the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president. The defense minister had recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers. Addressing Salam on Friday, FPM chief Jebran Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil on Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”

Jumblat Says FPM Bringing about Self Marginalization
Naharnet/September 07/16/ Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat emphasized that the rights of the Christian community are not marginalized as some officials claim but that the latter are “marginalizing themselves” because of their “stubbornness and adamant conditions”, As Safir daily reported on Wednesday. “Allow me please...I object to this whole equation. What is true is that self marginalization is brought about by some Christian component because of its stubbornness and insistence on certain conditions,” said Jumblat to the daily. He was referring to the comments of the Free Patriotic Movement leader and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil when he accused the government of marginalization the christian role when it convenes in the absence of its ministers. The FPM boycotted the government’s sessions previously against the backdrop of the appointment of military officials. And recently it brought up the issue of whether the government is conforming to the National Pact if it convenes in their absence. Furthermore, the FPM has vowed to boycott meetings of the national dialogue which made Speaker Nabih Berri suspend future meetings. To that Jumblat remarked: “Betting on inactivity and obstruction is a suicide that only reflects with further political and economic deterioration. It is slow death that some political forces are dragging us into.”The FPM's latest boycott of cabinet meetings is linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments. The defense minister has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers. The movement fears that the extension of Kheir's term could pave the way for a new extension of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji. The army chief's retirement had been postponed in September 2013 and his term was instead extended for two years. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder 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. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad 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.

Qahwaji: Domestic Tensions Won't Affect Army's Role
Naharnet/September 07/16/Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji stressed Wednesday that the latest domestic tensions “will not affect the army's role.”“The ongoing domestic tensions will not at all affect the army's role in safeguarding the country's unity and institutions and preserving security, which is the cornerstone of the national economy,” Qahwaji said during an inspection visit to the Riyaq Air Base and the posts of the Second Intervention Regiment in central Bekaa.“The army's priority amid the successive crises in the Arab world and the international and regional conflicts is to protect Lebanon and immunize it against all threats, especially against the threat of terrorism and its criminal plots,” the army chief added. He also reassured that the army “is in full control of the situation across Lebanon, whether through preventative security or direct operations aimed at striking the terrorist groups on the border and inside the country.”Political tensions have recently surged in the country after the Free Patriotic Movement suspended its participation in cabinet sessions and national dialogue meetings over accusations that the other parties in the country are not respecting the 1943 National Pact. The National Pact is an unwritten agreement that set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state based on Christian-Muslim partnership.

Bassil Hits Back at Salam: Cabinet Must Not Violate National Pact
Naharnet/September 07/16/Free Patriotic Movement chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil stressed Wednesday that the 1943 National Pact stipulated that we should “live together equally,” hitting back at remarks by Prime Minister Tammam Salam. “The cabinet is the means for implementing the National Pact, not for violating it,” Bassil tweeted. “In the absence of a president, where is loyalty (to the National Pact),” he said. “Where are the heroes of independence? Where are the sons of the National Pact? Where are your descendants? We are your descendants, we are the sons of the National Pact and the sons of Lebanon,” Bassil added, in a jab at Salam who is the son of late PM Saeb Salam, one of Lebanon's most prominent post-independence premiers. Earlier in the day, Salam called on all political forces on Wednesday to “refrain from obstruction” and “support and enhance the work of state institutions.” “I'm seeking to maintain my role as a guardian of this entity,” he added. “I'm entrusted with the cabinet and its work and I will carry on with this duty,” Salam stressed. Media reports have said that the prime minister will not postpone Thursday's cabinet session despite the declared boycott of the FPM. The FPM's recent boycott of cabinet meetings is linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments and the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president. The defense minister had recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers. Addressing Salam on Friday, Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).”Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.” Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh hit back at Bassil on Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”

Adwan Wards off Tense LF-Mustaqbal Ties
Naharnet/September 07/16/Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan stated on Wednesday that relations between the LF and al-Mustaqbal Movement are not tense as he assured that the the only solution lies in an agreement. “There is no tension in relations between the two, it is a mere difference in points of view because (Samir) Geaega (LF chief) insists on electing (MP Michel) Aoun as president which Saniora (head of the Mustaqbal bloc) rejects,” said Adwan after meeting Saniora on the sidelines of a parliamentary meeting to elect a president. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, FPM founder 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. On Wednesday, the parliament failed on its 44th meeting to elect a successor over lack of quorum. “The country is at crossroads,” added Adwan, “Saniora and I focused our talks on how to stop the tension and put things on the right track to help elect a president and avoid further problems.”“The only solution lies in the election of a head of state,” he went on to say. He assured that foreign countries are careless about the situation in Lebanon. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Geagea has endorsed founder of the Free Patriotic Movement Aoun for the post of presidency.

Medical Director at Baalbek Hospital Disappears amid Kidnap Suspicions
Naharnet/September 07/16/Contact was lost with the medical director of the Ibn Sina Hospital in the eastern city of Baalbek with reports suspecting that he might have been kidnapped, the state-run National News Agency reported on Wednesday. Saleh al-Shal has gone missing since 7:15 pm on Tuesday, said NNA. Reports said that the doctor was watering the trees in his farm on the Amshki hills that overlook the city of Baalbek. The janitor later saw a pick-up truck drive quickly out of the farm. He ran headlong to check on al-Shal but found no one while the water was still flowing out of the watering hose. Members of his family kicked off a night search that went on until the early hours on Wednesday but failed to find him.

IS Announces Death of Australian Jihadist of Lebanese Origin in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/The Islamic State group has announced the death in Syria of an Australian jihadist of Lebanese origin convicted over a 2005 plot to bomb the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in a new English-language magazine. Ezzit Raad, who traveled to the Middle East after serving time in jail, died fighting for IS in Manbij near the battleground city of Aleppo in northern Syria, according to the online propaganda magazine Rumiyah released on Monday. The first edition also featured calls for lone-wolf attacks in the West, singling out targets in Australia in a biography of the Australian jihadist of Lebanese origin, also known as Abu Mansur al-Muhajir. The 38-page magazine was released simultaneously in seven languages, including English, French, German, Russian and Turkish. Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said last week that more than 60 Australians have so far been killed in Iraq and Syria, while around 200 people back home had been investigated for supporting militant groups. Ten attacks have been foiled in Australia since the country raised its alert level to high in 2014, he said, but three have taken place, including the murder of a police employee in Sydney in October. Officials announced last week that Australia would start targeting jihadist support and logistics resources in Iraq and Syria, as it broadens the scope of its air war on IS as part of a U.S.-led multinational coalition.

Report: Hizbullah Takes Action to Mend Rift between Allies
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Hizbullah has initiated efforts to mend the rift that emerged recently between its two allies, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Marada Movement, and has therefore dispatched Wafik Safa, the person responsible for the Liaison Committee and coordination in the party, to Rabieh for talks with the FPM leader Jebran Bassil, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Wednesday. The party began endeavors to contain the “aggravating” FPM-Marada tension, as well as to renovate the internal party's ranks and address its alliances mainly that the tension between the allies is threatening these coalitions with further rifts, added the daily. The party launched contacts in the past few hours in Ain el-Tineh and Rabieh, and has therefore dispatched Safa who held a meeting with Bassil before the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc took place. However, the atmospheres surrounding the meeting did not lead to positive outcomes and was clearly displayed in Bassil's escalating stance following the Bloc's meeting where he threatened to take to the streets. “We are going through a political system crisis and a nation's crisis and we will use all political and popular means to rectify this abnormal situation,” Bassil had said on Tuesday. Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh and Bassil were locked in a war of words early this week each accusing the other of obstructing the election of a president. Franjieh himself is a candidate for the post while founder of the FPM MP Michel Aoun runs for the same post.

Report: Anti-Erdogan Dissident Arrested in Beirut
Naharnet/September 07/16/Lebanese authorities have arrested in Beirut an opponent of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule, a media report said on Wednesday. “The Criminal Investigations Department arrested in Beirut a Turkish anti-Erdogan dissident who is wanted by the Turkish authorities on multiple arrest warrants,” LBCI television reported. Some 20,000 people have been arrested since the July 15 coup attempt and 70,000 civil servants fired as Erdogan purges those he says have links to Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based Muslim preacher Ankara blames for the failed putsch.

Hezbollah’s Qassem: No Syria solution until after US elections
Now Lebanon/September 07/16/The deputy chief of the party also said that Turkey, Iran and Russia all share “common convictions” regarding the “Kurdish issue.”BEIRUT – The deputy leader of Hezbollah has voiced his doubts over a near-term solution to the conflict in Syria, saying diplomatic efforts prior to the US presidential elections would be “partial and limited.”“There is no solution in the foreseeable future in Syria until after the US elections” in November, Deputy Secretary General Naim Qassem told a gathering of Muslim scholars on Tuesday, according to a report by Al-Akhbar. He added that all current diplomatic steps were “partial and limited because they do not even [lead] to an introductory stage for a political solution” to the conflict raging in Syria. Qassem tackled the faltering efforts between Washington and Moscow to reach an accord for a ceasefire in Syria as well as joint military action against ISIS and Al-Qaeda-affiliated groups, asking “how can this be achieved?” “What are the methods [for implementing such an agreement]? This is what [the US and Russia] are discussing,” he asked, without commenting on whether he supported or opposed a proposed Moscow-Washington framework for joint action. “Some partial security agreements might be built upon for a future political agreement, and maybe not,” Qassem said. The Hezbollah deputy chief also spoke about ties between Russia and Turkey, denying that the two countries had reached an under-the-table deal regarding Syria that paved the way for Ankara’s military incursion into the country. “Talk about Russian-Turkish agreements is overstated,” he claimed, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin “said it will take time for [ties] to return to what they used to be.”However, Qassem said that Iran, Turkey and Russia all share “similar conviction” on some points, including “the Kurdish issue,” without elaborating what stance the three countries have taken. “There are common convictions and partial agreements on topics, but they do not [constitute] a comprehensive political agreement.” NOW's English news desk editor Albin Szakola (@AlbinSzakola) wrote this report. Amin Nasr translated Arabic-language material.

Salam at launch of Lebanese, Palestinian Dialogue Committee report: To elect president, face rampant crisis
Wed 07 Sep 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, on Wednesday stressed the need to swiftly elect a new Lebanese president under the shadow of institutional work. He also stepped up calls for a quick end to the raging political crisis at the local and regional scenes. Giving an address at the Grand Serail during the launch of the first part of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee's report on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, titled "The price of fraternity amid an era of struggles", the Prime Minister implored all involved sides to halt the deepening political crisis in Lebanon "which has lingered for way too long and heralds no positive signals in the near future."Attending the report launching ceremony had been head of the joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee, Hassan Mneimneh, Arab and foreign diplomats, and a number of official figures and dignitaries. "Everybody, with the Lebanese political forces at the forefront, is called forth to bolster institutional work and to support its activity away from disruption," Salam said, highlighting as well the paramount role of the Lebanese legislative and executive authorities, and all those that bear other national responsibilities. "I've been exerting relentless efforts to preserve my role as a guardian to the Lebanese entity. I hope that all will follow suit and endeavor to boost our institutional work. The Council of Ministers and the role it plays are the biggest and most efficient roles running the country's affairs and preserving its work and position," Salam added, pledging commitment to his task as Prime Minister. Moreover, Premiere Salam hailed the work of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee. "This Committee has done impressive work that's worthy of high recognition. It proves that thrashing out weighty issues is not impossible at the presence pure intentions," the Prime Minister said. Salam also capitalized on the importance of having Palestinian refugees respect Lebanese sovereignty, and Lebanon's right to enforce the laws it deems necessary all across its territories. "Simultaneously, it is Lebanon's responsibility to preserve and ensure the safety of all the foreigners residing in its territories," the Premiere added. Touching on the regional and international political scenes, the Prime Minister said that one of the most dangerous aspects is the regression and marginalization of the Palestinian cause on the table of international discussions. "The Israeli enemy has succeeded in prohibiting the implementation of international agreements that involve Palestine. As for us here in Lebanon, we wish to redirect the compass towards the first Arab cause [Palestinian cause] (...) and exert more pressure to keep Palestine a flame that never dies," Salam concluded. In turn, head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, Hassan Mneimneh, delivered a word in which he made clear that the prime goal of the report was to augment joint fraternal relations, interests, and dialogue between Lebanon and Palestine, pending the return of Palestinian refugees to their motherland.

Kahwaji inspecting military units in central Beqa: Current polarizations shall not leave impact on army role
Wed 07 Sep 2016/NNA - Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji categorically underlined that the current polarizations on the local arena shall not affect the military's role in maintaining the integrity of the nation and its institutions, and preserving security stability as "the pillar of the national economy."General Kahwaji inspected on Wednesday Rayak Air Base and the Second Intervention Regiment in central Bekaa region, whereby he toured a number of military stations, having firsthand look at the undertaken training activities and field procedures to control the eastern borders and crack down on security and stability lawbreakers. Kahwaji heaped praises on "the efforts of the military units to maintain the stability of the region and secure the safety of citizens," stressing that the military's priority in light of the successive crises in the Arab world and the international and regional conflicts on its land, is to protect and reinforce Lebanon in the face of various threats, especially the threat of terrorism and criminal plots."

Abou Faour: Threats against Jumblatt serious
Wed 07 Sep 2016/NNA - Minister of Public Health, Wael Abou Faour, said on Wednesday that the threats against Democratic Gathering leader, Walid Jumblatt, were serious."The timing of the threats, and the way they were made is scary," he added, making clear that the case was referred to the military court, pending the results of investigations.

Bou Saab in Brussels discusses with EU officials financing Lebanon's education sector
Wed 07 Sep 2016/NNA - Minister of Higher Learning and Education, Elias Bou Saab, currently on a visit to Brussels, discussed with European Union officials the increase in money spent by the EU to strengthen the educational sector in Lebanon in favor of Lebanese students and refugees. For his part, Bou Saab relayed what he described as overwhelming response by European officials concerning their intention to help provide refugees in Lebanon with education, and their appreciation of the Ministry of Education's plan, which aims to provide education to all the children in Lebanon that reach school age. Talks between Bou Saab and EU officials also touched on the possibility of having the EU fund the establishment of solid waste treatment factories in the regions of Matn and Keserwan to be later converted into electric energy. In this context, the Minister touched readiness on the part of European leaders to finance this project.

Three injured in brawl in Shayah locality
Wed 07 Sep 2016/NNA - Three individuals have been reported injured in a brawl that erupted on Wednesday afternoon in Shayah locality, NNA field reporter said, adding that the clash later evolved to fire shooting near Al-Jammal marketplace. A Lebanese Army force immediately rushed to the scene and cordoned off the area which later regained a state of tranquility.

Aoun and Nasrallah to hold first meeting in two years
Gulf News/Joseph A. Kechichian/September 08/16

http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/gulf-newsjoseph-a-kechichian-aoun-and-nasrallah-to-hold-first-meeting-in-two-years/
Beirut: Although Hezbollah announced that it would not “abandon” its Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) ally, Michel Aoun, the latter was expected to meet with Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah to iron out differences. Such a meeting, the first in over two years, would presumably address the ongoing rift among March 8 partners whose differences surfaced on Monday around the national dialogue table. In what was a renewed escalatory step, the FPM’s Jibran Bassil declared his group intended to boycott both the cabinet and national dialogue sessions though he took to the airwaves on Tuesday to clarify his positions, affirming what he believed was a concerted Sunni effort to disrespect the national pact that regulated Christian-Muslim political parity. Bassil pledged to “use all political and popular means to rectify this abnormal situation”, as he renewed his attacks on Sunnis when he reiterated that he and his group will not “accept a return to the era between 1990 and 2005”, allegedly a period during which Sunnis rose to prominence at the expense of Christians. In recent weeks, Bassil raised the spectre of the National Pact, which he asserted was no longer respected, though his principle foe was none other than his fellow Christian, the Marada Movement chief and presidential candidate Sulaiman Franjieh, who was nominated in December 2015 by Sa’ad Hariri.
On Monday, Bassil and Franjieh exchanged choice words in public, with Bassil defending himself of “insults … hurled at us”.
According to local media sources, when Bassil raised the issue of respecting the National Pact in the closed session, or anticipate a suspension of the sessions, Speaker Nabih Berri retorted with an acerbic: “It is not you who will score a point against me by suspending dialogue, I will suspend it”. Berri added: “No one is keener than me [to see dialogue succeed] and we are also suffering,” as he called on the FPM’s ministers to return to cabinet sessions “in order to prevent governmental vacuum amid the absence of the Christian component.”
The Druze Progressive Socialist Party representative Ghazi Aridi—who sat in lieu of Walid Jumblat whisked out of the country several days ago on account of recent death threats against him—lamented the shouting match that ensued between several participants. “The dialogue session ended with a suspension of dialogue, which is an outcome that we do not want and do not accept,” Aridi told reporters after the session.
The FPM’s latest boycott of the cabinet is linked to the thorny issue of military appointments, with Bassil maintaining that the country could well be plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership”. He insisted that the FPM and the Lebanese Forces represented 94 percent of Christians, which granted them the kind of legitimacy others ought to respect, whereas Franjieh insisted that while he “acknowledged the FPM’s weight … we represent a lot more than six percent.” “I don’t know how the FPM’s ‘calculator’ works”, he added, declaring: “We do not need further obstruction in state institutions”. In what was a direct challenge to the FPM, Franjieh noted that he prefers a new extension for the Commander of the Army, General Jean Qahwaji, over vacuum.
It was unclear whether the Aoun-Nasrallah meeting intended to resolve lingering differences over a slew of concerns, perhaps even settle the fate of who might succeed Michel Sulaiman, whose term ended in May 2014. Hezbollah and its March 8 allies had the necessary votes in parliament to elect Aoun but insisted that no quorum would be secured unless there was unanimity on his candidacy, which belied what is left of democratic freedoms in the country.For his part, Future Movement leader Sa’ad Hariri stood by his nominee, Sulaiman Franjieh, who is opposed by the FPM-LF coalition as well as Hezbollah. In what was a truly Machiavellian move, Hariri’s nomination prompted LF leader Samir Geagea to endorse Aoun, his long-time Christian rival, thus literally eliminating both from contention on account of insurmountable political differences.
The 82-years-old Aoun believes that the presidency is rightfully his because of the size of his parliamentary bloc, though it was difficult to foresee how a suspension of the national dialogue would guarantee the unanimity he is seeking or how a myriad disputes among warring factions can be resolved.

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 07-08/16

Christian executed in Iran spoke of meeting Jesus before his death
Ruth Gledhill/Christian Today/07 September 2016

The moving last words of a man executed in prison in Iran a few days ago were of his profound faith in Jesus Christ.
The brother of Alireza Asadi, one of 12 people executed near Tehran at the end of August, has posted his last words on Facebook.
Asadi said the "best experience" he had was of meeting Jesus.
The post was circulated widely by Pastor Saeed Abedini, a naturalised US citizen who converted from Islam to Christianity in 2000 and became prominent in Iran's house church movement. He was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2013 in Iran and released in January this year.
Alireza Asadi, speaking to his brother Mohsen, one day before his execution, said all was going well.
He made clear his faith in life after death.
He said: "And Mohsen, I truly believe that there is a new season starting for me. And this new season is much, much more pleasant that the worldly life. This is what I truly believe.
"Even when I didn't repent I knew there is something. But now I believe surely about this new season and its existence. I can finally be in peace. I don't have any stress or bad feelings and everything goes well with me."
He said he was still not completely sure he would be executed.
He was with a group of about 10 people including four of his friends.
"We were crying from laughing a lot."
He said he had been talking to them of God and would continue to do so.
"For many of you it was a question if I am a Christian or not. But now I say that I am a Christian. And now I have one or two days til I will die. And I hope it will never happen to you guys. During these moments you forgive all the bad that has happen to you. But the most I want tell you is the best experience that I had. And that was meeting Jesus. And I don't want to force you guys, But please start to get to know Him. If you just read two sentences from the Bible, you will never leave it again."
His brother asked him how his faith had developed.
Asadi said: "When I ended up here in prison I realized that God is the true God. I wanted God to show himself to me."
He said Jesus was there when he needed Him.

Canada: Mandatory music class is haram/“Mandatory music classes hit a bad note with some Muslim parents”
Blain Tamarin/Jihad Watch/September 07/16
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2016/09/canada-mandatory-music-class-is-haram
Toronto: Muslim father Mohammad Dasu withdraws his children from an Ontario school because they would have to participate in mandatory music class. Singing and playing instruments is considered haram (forbidden). The school offered some sort of compromise, but Mr. Dasu refused to have his children participate in music or drama instruction.
But don’t worry, assimilation is working out great! The most telling passages in this story are from Kasim Ingar, Imam at the local Scarborough mosque:
“We here believe that music is haram [forbidden]. We can neither listen to it, nor can we play a role in it,” and ““We do not compromise with anyone on the clear-cut orders and principles conveyed by the Prophet.”
 

“Mandatory music classes hit a bad note with some Muslim parents”
Colin Freeze and Mahnoor Yawar/The Globe and Mail/September 05/16
When music class begins this week at Toronto’s Donwood Park elementary school, Mohammad Nouman Dasu will send a family member to collect his three young children. They will go home for an hour rather than sing and play instruments – a mandatory part of the Ontario curriculum he believes violates his Muslim faith.
The Scarborough school and the Toronto District School Board originally had offered an accommodation – suggesting students could just clap their hands in place of playing instruments or listen to acapella versions of O Canada – but not a full exemption from the class. After a bitter three-year fight, however, Mr. Dasu felt he had no other opton but to bring his kids home.
According to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail, some parents insist they cannot allow their children to be in the same room where musical instruments are being played. Mr. Dasu, a Koran teacher who sometimes leads prayers at Scarborough’s Jame Abu Bakr Siddique mosque, says he has led the fight on behalf of parents. He has consulted with national Islamic bodies, and requested a letter from the leader of his mosque.
“We here believe that music is haram [forbidden]. We can neither listen to it, nor can we play a role in it,” said the mosque’s imam, Kasim Ingar. Conceding that Muslims have to adjust when they send their kids to public school, he suggested that some matters, such as teaching music, are beyond debate.“We do not compromise with anyone on the clear-cut orders and principles conveyed by the Prophet,” said Mr. Ingar, who also leads the Scarborough Muslim Association. Within Islam, the question of whether Muslims are banned from music is divisive and nuanced. Similar to questions about whether women should wear veils, there is no consensus on the issue.
But Ontario’s primary-school curriculum is unambiguous on music class: It must be taught, without exception, to all primary-school-aged children. Officials at the TDSB say they can only bend the rules to accommodate religious students, but not exempt them.
The Globe used freedom of information laws to access TDSB e-mails on how the issue evolved at Donwood Park, where it first surfaced in 2013.
The released records redact the names of students for privacy reasons, and very few families appear to have been adamant over pulling children from music classes. Early internal e-mails show administrators wanted to find “some common ground.”
But Mr. Dasu, who says he represents many of the parents at the school concerned about the issue, pushed for exclusion for his own children by invoking the prospect of litigation and the religious freedoms clause of Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
In response, school administrators pitched an array of potential compromises. Records show one idea was to have the children “research the role of nashid” – or the Islamic tradition of oral music. Another was to have the children clap out quarter notes, half notes and full notes.
Your children will not be required to play a musical instrument or sing in their music class,” read a formal note to at least one family.
The records show that as the standoff at Donwood Park lingered, TDSB officials prepared a media plan and sought legal advice from eminent lawyers, including Eric Roher of Borden Ladner Gervais.
They do not make clear how the situation was dealt with. But during the 2014 school year, two requests for music exemptions were made. When school officials struggled again to suggest accommodations, they were presented with a “Petition for Accommodation of Religious Beliefs of Muslim Students” signed by more than 130 parents, initiated by Mr. Dasu.
Mr. Dasu says he proposed alternative arrangements for his own children, which were rejected by the vice-principal, the superintendent, and a trustee of the school board, after which he decided to take them out of school for the duration of music and drama class.
By the spring of 2015, an interest group known as the National Council of Canadian Muslims was prodded by some parents to intercede further. After meeting with Donwood Park administrators, an NCCM spokeswoman referred them to a guide it has created for Canadian teachers. “Opinion regarding the place of music varies among different Muslim countries,” it says. But, it adds, “it is important for the school to discuss reasonable accommodations with the parents or guardians and the students themselves.”
TDSB officials wouldn’t discuss particular cases, but insist that religious students cannot cut themselves out of music class. “As per the Education Act, we can’t exempt students from the curriculum. But what we do is accommodate,” said John Chasty, a TDSB superintendent of education.
The TDSB says it does not keep track of the number of students who seek accommodations or exemptions. But Mr. Chasty believes the issue will come up there again in the coming school year.
Mr. Dasu has since moved to a different neighbourhood nearby, and is planning to transfer his children to a new public school. He says he will take up the fight again.
“My kids cannot participate in music or drama, that’s for sure. Let them sit in a library to read, or in an office, or let them volunteer around the school during that time, that’s all okay. We’re flexible.”

Iran-Saudi War of Words Heats Up ahead of Hajj
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/ A bitter war of words between Iran and Saudi Arabia intensified Wednesday ahead of the annual hajj pilgrimage from which Iranians have been excluded for the first time in decades. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blasted the "incompetence" of the Saudi royal family as he met with the families of victims of a deadly stampede during last year's hajj. "This incident proves once again that this cursed, evil family does not deserve to be in charge and manage the holy sites," Khamenei said. Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia were already at rock bottom before the regional rivals started trading caustic remarks ahead of the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest places in Saudi Arabia, which is due to start on Saturday. Iranians have been blocked from the event after talks on safety and logistics fell apart in May. "If the existing problems with the Saudi government were merely the issue of the hajj... maybe it would have been possible to find a way to resolve it," Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said at a cabinet meeting. "Unfortunately, this government by committing crimes in the region and supporting terrorism in fact shed the blood of Muslims in Iraq, Syria and Yemen," Rouhani said. - 'Inappropriate and offensive' -The week began with a furious rebuke from Khamenei, published on his website, in which he accused the Saudi royals of "murder" over the deaths of nearly 2,300 pilgrims, including hundreds of Iranians, in last year's stampede. Saudi Arabia claims the death toll was only 769 -- despite data from more than 30 countries suggesting it was far higher -- and has refused to release the details of its investigation into the disaster. But the head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council hit back on Wednesday, calling Khamenei's remarks "inappropriate and offensive... and a desperate attempt to politicize" the hajj. Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, also waded into the dispute, telling the Makkah daily on Tuesday: "We must understand these are not Muslims, they are children of Magi and their hostility towards Muslims is an old one.""Magi" is a reference to the Zoroastrian religion that was prevalent in Iran before Islam, and is sometimes used as an insult against Iranians. Jane Kinninmont, deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa programme at the Chatham House think tank in London, said the world needed to pay more attention to the "cold conflict" between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This week's verbal attacks "are an indication that the tensions that really ratcheted up earlier this year are still unresolved," she told AFP. "Particularly when it comes to the pilgrimage and religious discourse, then it has quite damaging effects on sectarian relations around the world."- A history of violence -The two dominant Middle Eastern powers follow different branches of Islam -- Shiite and Sunni -- and vie for regional dominance. Iran boycotted the hajj for three years between 1988 and 1990 after clashes between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi police in 1987 left around 400 people dead. Diplomatic ties were restored in 1991, but relations have deteriorated in recent years, particularly over the countries' support for opposing sides in the Syrian and Yemeni civil wars. In January, relations were severed again after Iranian demonstrators torched the Saudi embassy and a consulate following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Around 60,000 Iranians took part in last year's hajj, but the two sides could not reach an agreement on this year's pilgrimage. A former senior US foreign policy official, John Hannah, last month cited Gulf sources in an article for Foreign Policy magazine, saying that "the Saudis did in fact go out of their way to make Iranian attendance difficult." "(The) Saudis were insisting that the Iranians be kept in a closed camp, effectively barred from co-mingling and socializing with participants from other countries, often considered an essential element of the hajj experience," Hannah wrote. His claims could not be independently verified. Saudi Arabia says Tehran made "unacceptable" demands, including the right to organize demonstrations "that would cause chaos". Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef reiterated those concerns on Monday, saying Iran wanted to "politicize hajj and convert it into an occasion to violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims."

Syria Opposition Fleshes out Post-Assad Plan in London
Agence France PresseNaharnet/September 07/16/ Syria's opposition set out detailed plans Wednesday for the transition to a democratic state without President Bashar Assad ahead of talks with ministers of EU, U.S. and regional powers in London. The broad-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC) proposed a six-month negotiating phase between the regime and the opposition. The subsequent 18 months would see Syria governed by a transitional body, made up of opposition figures, current government representatives and members of civil society, according to a 25-page blueprint. "Syria wants to see Bashar leave. If Bashar leaves will the fighting go on? No," HNC head Riad Hijab said. The proposals, and the talks hosted by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, come after intense discussions by the United States and Russia over a possible path to end the five and a half year conflict. An agreement was believed to have been close at the G20 summit earlier this week in China, but Washington then admitted no deal could be announced for the moment. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the talks in London via videolink, but Russia is not represented. "The aim of the meeting in London is to prepare a common position and make the case to the United States, while there are persistent rumors about the conclusion of a U.S.-Russian deal," a French diplomatic source told AFP. French Foreign Minister Jean Marc Ayrault, attending the London talks, said he backed new U.S.-Russia discussions. "We are supporting the process, although we want a genuine ceasefire," he said in London. The HNC's plans are largely in line with existing international proposals for a post-war Syria, although unlike the so-called Vienna framework, they are clear about the president's future. "The establishment of the Transitional Governing Body shall require the departure of Bashar Assad and his clique who committed heinous crimes against the Syrian people," it said. The goal is "building a political system that protects freedoms, safeguards individual rights, and that is founded upon the principles of liberty, equality, citizenship, and justice", it said.
Britain criticizes Russia
In an article in Wednesday's edition of The Times, Johnson urged Moscow to cease support for the Syrian president. The British diplomat accused Assad of "barbaric military tactics" in the ongoing conflict and criticized Russia's "seemingly indefensible conduct" in backing him. "The entire international community is committed, at least in principle, to getting rid of the Syrian dictator. Even the Russians have accepted that there must be political transition," he wrote. "But then the Russians are also employing their military muscle to prevent him from losing and to keep him in power." Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, whose country backs the opposition, said the HNC was going further than before in outlining its vision for a post-Assad Syria. "There is no reason, no excuse for anyone to say that they don't have a plan or that their plan is not rational," he told the BBC ahead of the meeting. The talks were also due to involve foreign ministers from Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Italy and France, as well as representatives of Germany and the EU. They come as the armed opposition inside Syria is losing ground on multiple fronts, including becoming besieged once again in Aleppo city. The war, which began as a pro-democracy revolt but later morphed into a conflict after the regime unleashed a crackdown, has killed more than 290,000 people and forced more than half the population to flee their homes.
 

Several Held after Car with Gas Cylinders Found in Paris
Asharq Al-Awsat English/September 07/16/A car packed with several gas cylinders was discovered close to central Paris’ Notre-Dame cathedral last Saturday and its owner, now in custody, is on an intelligence services watchlist of people suspected of religious radicalization, police officials said. The car owner’s associate, known to police, was also arrested, sources close to the investigation said. But Le Parisien, the capital’s daily, reported that six people are now being held. The Peugeot 607, which had no registration plates, contained seven gas cylinders, one of them empty on the front passenger seat. It was found with its hazard lights flashing, as if to attract attention, two police officials said on Wednesday. “We think he may have been trying to carry out a test-run,” one of the officials said. No detonators were present in the car, which was found on a Seine riverside stretch called the Quai de Montebello, meters from the Notre-Dame cathedral. Documents with writing in Arabic were also found in the car. Notre Dame is one of Paris’ most visited landmarks attracting 13 million visitors each year. More than 200 people have been killed in terror attacks over the past year-and-a-half in France.In July, 86 people were killed when a truck ploughed into a Bastille Day crowd in the southern resort of Nice with ISIS saying it was driven by one of its followers. Less than two weeks later, two young jihadists murdered a priest near the northern city of Rouen. ISIS also claimed responsibility for the November 2015 attacks on Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds. France remains on maximum alert after calls by ISIS for followers to carry out more attacks in the country, which is bombing the terrorist group’s bases in Iraq and Syria.

70 Cases of Suffocation After Barrel Bombs Are Dropped on Eastern Aleppo
Asharq Al-Awsat/September 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/70-cases-of-suffocation-after-barrel-bombs-are-dropped-on-eastern-aleppo/
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, barrel bombs dropped on eastern neighbourhoods in the city of Aleppo, northern Syria, yesterday, caused 70 cases of suffocation.
Opposition activists accused the Syrian regime’s forces of using poisonous chlorine gas on social networking sites.
The Director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdul Rahman told AFP that “helicopters belonging to the regime’s forces dropped barrel bombs on the Sukkari neighbourhood in the city of Aleppo, and more than 70 people, mostly civilians, suffered from suffocation”. The use of poisonous gasses could not be confirmed and no deaths were reported, according to Abdul Rahman.
An AFP reporter in the eastern neighbourhoods quoted one of the injured as saying “After barrel bombs were dropped on the Sukkari neighbourhood, the disgusting smell increased and this led to cases of suffocation.
The Syrian Civil Defence Authority, a relief organisation working in areas controlled by the opposition, said that government helicopters dropped barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on the Sukkari neighbourhood in eastern Aleppo.
The Syrian government has denied previous accusations of using chemical weapons in the civil war that has been ongoing for nearly five years.
The Syrian Civil Defence Authority said on its Facebook page that there had been 80 cases of suffocation, and there was no mention of fatalities. It also posted a video clip that showed children immersed in water and using oxygen masks to breathe.
The Aleppo Media Centre accused the regime’s forces of using chlorine gas. In a Tweet that was posted on Twitter, it said that there have been “Dozens of cases of suffocation after the regime’s aircraft targeted the Sukkari neighbourhood with toxic chlorine gas”. The Centre posted a video showing a number of people inside the hospital using respirators to aid breathing.
Last month, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria accused the regime’s forces of using chlorine gas, and noted that Syrian military helicopters bombed two towns in the governorate of Idlib on the 21st of April 2014 and the 16th of March 2015.
After the results of the investigation were published, Britain, France and the US called for the imposition of sanctions on Damascus, while Russia questioned the validity of what was mentioned in it.
The report was published three years after a chemical attack that was carried out on the 21st of August 2013 resulted in hundreds of deaths in the countryside of eastern Damascus. Syria acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and agreed on a plan to dismantle its chemical arsenal of mustard and sarin gas after the attack.
Last January, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced that Syria’s arsenal of these weapons had been destroyed.

Saudi Grand Mufti: Iranian leaders not Muslim
Reuters/September 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/saudi-grand-mufti-iranian-leaders-not-muslim/
DUBAI – Saudi Arabia’s top religious authority said Iran’s leaders were not Muslims, drawing a rebuke from Tehran in an unusually harsh exchange between the regional rivals over the running of the annual haj pilgrimage. The war of words on the eve of the mass pilgrimage will deepen a long-running rift between the Sunni kingdom and the Shi’ite revolutionary power. They back opposing sides in Syria’s civil war and a list of other conflicts across the Middle East. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message published on Monday, criticized Saudi Arabia over how it runs the haj after a crush last year killed hundreds of pilgrims. He said Saudi authorities had “murdered” some of them, describing Saudi rulers as godless and irreligious. Responding to a question by Saudi newspaper Makkah, Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh said he was not surprised at Khamenei’s comments. “We have to understand that they are not Muslims … Their main enemies are the followers of Sunnah (Sunnis),” Al al-Sheikh was quoted as saying, remarks republished by the Arab News. He described Iranian leaders as sons of “magus”, a reference to Zoroastrianism, the dominant belief in Persia until the Muslim Arab invasion of the region that is now Iran 13 centuries ago.
“BIGOTRY”
Al al-Sheikh’s remarks drew an acerbic retort from Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who said they were evidence of bigotry among Saudi leaders. “Indeed; no resemblance between Islam of Iranians & most Muslims & bigoted extremism that Wahhabi top cleric & Saudi terror masters preach,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter account. Saudi authorities normally seek to avoid public discussion of whether Shi’ites are Muslims, but implicitly recognize them as such by welcoming them to the haj, and by accepting Iranian visits to the Saudi-based Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Tensions between the two countries have been rising since Riyadh cut ties with Tehran in January following the storming of its embassy in Tehran, itself a response to the Saudi execution of dissident Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Custodian of Islam’s most revered places in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on organizing haj, one of the five pillars of Islam which every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to is obliged to undertake at least once. Riyadh said 769 pilgrims were killed in the 2015 disaster, the highest haj death toll since a crush in 1990. Counts of fatalities by countries who repatriated bodies showed that more than 2,000 people may have died, more than 400 of them Iranians. Iran blamed the 2015 disaster on organizers’ incompetence. Pilgrims from Iran will be unable to attend haj, which officially starts on Sept. 11, this year after talks between the two countries on arrangements broke down in May. The split between Islam’s main sects dates to a dispute among Muslims over who would rule their community after the death of the Prophet Mohammad, and Shi’ites still regard his descendants as a line of imams blessed with divine guidance. Today such disagreements over history remain emotive points of tension between the sects, but they are also divided over day -to-day issues including differing interpretations of Islamic law and the role and organization of the clergy. In the Wahhabi teaching of Sunni Islam followed by the Saudi clergy and government, Shi’ite doctrine about imams is seen as incompatible with the concept of a monotheistic God.

8 Kurdish Rebels Killed in Northwest Iran
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Eight members of the rebel Kurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) have been killed in clashes with security forces along the Iraqi border, state media reported Wednesday. Border guards fought the group overnight and into Wednesday morning in the northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, the IRNA news agency said. The clashes lasted several hours, and the security forces did not sustain any casualties, a local governor told IRNA. The KDPI, formed in 1945, is the oldest Kurdish political party in Iran. Now mostly based in Kurdish areas of Iraq, it has fought on-off insurgencies demanding independence from Iran, stepping up its armed rebellion after a crackdown by the Islamic authorities in the wake of the 1979 revolution. Iran intervened across the border in 2011 following Kurdish rebel attacks on its territory, forcing the insurgents to retreat deeper into Iraq.

Damascus Swaps 169 Prisoners for Bodies of Russian Troops
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/The Syrian government has begun releasing 169 prisoners in exchange for the return of the bodies of five Russian soldiers killed when their helicopter was downed, a lawyer said Wednesday. "On Tuesday, 50 inmates including seven women were set free from Adra prison and 84 others from Hama prison," Michel Chammas, who represents many of them, told Agence France-Presse by phone from Germany. "Another 31 inmates at Homs prison were also informed that they are going to be let go but they still haven't been released. Four others held elsewhere should also be released," he said. Those being freed had been accused of "terrorism", a term President Bashar Assad's government uses to describe all of its armed opponents. Chammas, who tracks the cases of his clients from abroad, said the releases would take place in exchange for the return of "the bodies of five Russian soldiers that are in rebel hands." Two officers and three crew were aboard a Russian military helicopter shot down on August 1 in the northwestern province of Idlib, which is almost entirely under the control of a coalition of Islamists and jihadists. The attack was the single deadliest for Moscow since it intervened in the conflict in September 2015 in support of Assad, taking to 18 the overall number of Russian soldiers killed in the country. Chammas declined to say which rebel groups were involved in the negotiations with the regime. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said 86 people had been released in the central city of Hama. They had been accused of "terrorism" or involvement in anti-regime protests at the outbreak of Syria's conflict in 2011, said the Britain-based monitor, which has a network of sources on the ground in Syria.

Syrians Return to Jarabulus from Turkey after IS Ousted
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Hundreds of civilians on Wednesday began returning to the border town of Jarabulus in northern Syria, two weeks after pro-Ankara fighters recaptured it from Islamic State (IS) jihadists. Loaded with luggage and domestic items, the residents headed for the frontier and queued for customs inspection at the border gate outside the Turkish town of Karkamis, an AFP photographer said. Held by IS since 2013, Jarabulus was on August 24 easily retaken by pro-Ankara fighters supported by Turkish tanks and aviation on the first day of the over two-week Turkish incursion into Syria. Turkish state media have subsequently broadcast footage repeatedly of life returning to normal inside Jarabulus following the departure of IS, showing shops re-opening and children playing in the streets. The photographer said some 250 residents, including children, who had fled IS rule in Jarabulus for Turkey in the last months were returning back to their home Wednesday in a first wave of resettlement. Turkish forces and the Ankara-backed rebels are pressing on with the operation inside Syria, which is also targeting a Kurdish militia Ankara regards as a terror group. However it remains unclear how prepared Turkey and its allies are to press deep inside Syria to prise from IS the town of al-Bab further to the south or even the jihadists' de-facto capital of Raqa. Turkey is home to some 2.7 million refugees from the conflict in Syria but only around 10 percent live in refugee camps, with the rest living in towns and cities across the country, mainly in the southeast. Ankara has said it is happy to host the refugees but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly mooted creating a safe zone inside Syria to house them, possibly in a brand new city.

Lavrov, Kerry to Hold Syria Talks September 8-9
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart John Kerry will meet on September 8-9 in Geneva to try to hammer out a deal on cooperation in Syria, Moscow said Wednesday. The two top diplomats agreed to a "personal meeting" after "working on the remaining details for an agreement" on fighting jihadists and pushing forward the peace process in the war-torn country in a phone call, a foreign ministry statement said. Russia and the U.S. -- on opposite sides in the five-year conflict in Syria -- have been trying to thrash out a deal in recent weeks to revive a ceasefire on the ground and coordinate strikes against the Islamic State group and other jihadists. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama held talks Monday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in China but failed to bridge their differences. Russia is flying a bombing campaign in support of strongman leader Bashar Assad, while the United States backs rebels groups fighting to oust him from power. Lavrov also slammed new U.S. sanctions slapped on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine insisting that it hampered joint efforts by the two sides "including those aimed at resolving regional conflicts," the statement said.

U.N. Says Fighting in Central Syria Displaced 100,000
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Heavy fighting between regime troops and opposition forces has forced around 100,000 people from their homes in Syria's central Hama province, the United Nations said. The displaced fled parts of northern rural Hama between August 28 and September 5 towards neighboring villages and the provincial capital, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said. An alliance of rebel and jihadist forces launched an offensive in late August in the province, seizing several areas in a rapid advance and aiming for the airport in Hama, from which regime helicopters fly regular sorties against opposition fighters.Hama province is of vital strategic importance to President Bashar Assad, separating opposition forces in Idlib province from Damascus to the south and the regime's coastal heartlands to the west. Regime forces have struck back against the offensive, including with a wave of air strikes on opposition-held areas, and fighting has been ongoing.

Morocco Busts 'IS Cell' Planning Attacks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/Morocco said Wednesday it has broken up a "terrorist cell" linked to the Islamic State group that authorities believe was planning attacks in the north of the country. A statement from Rabat's interior ministry said three suspects had been detained by police in the northern cities of Oujda, Casablanca and Fez. The arrests "revealed several dangerous terrorist projects in advanced stages of preparation," the statement said. It added that the cell members were linked to IS supporters "active in Syria and Iraq". The ministry said the three had planned to attack "sensitive and crucial sites" in several cities. "The cell's chief rented a safe house near to the city of Oujda, which was reserved for lodging and the preparation and manufacture of remote-detonated explosives," the statement added. A raid on the property uncovered chemicals that the ministry said could have been used to make bombs. Rabat says more than 150 "terrorist cells" have been busted since 2002, including dozens in the past three years with ties to jihadists in Iraq and Syria. A study by the U.S.-based Soufan Group said last December that at least 1,200 Moroccans had traveled to fight alongside IS in Iraq and Syria in the previous 18 months. In 2011, a cafe bombing killed 17 people, mostly foreign tourists, in the central city of Marrakesh. It was the deadliest attack in Morocco since the 2003 Casablanca blasts that killed 45 people, including 12 suicide bombers.

Chemical Watchdog Warns on Aleppo Barrel Bomb Attacks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/The world's chemical weapons watchdog said Wednesday it was "disturbed" by the alleged use of toxic chemicals in Aleppo after dozens of people had to be treated for breathing problems in the Syrian battlefront city. "We are disturbed by the recent allegations of the use of toxic chemicals in Aleppo," said a statement by the director-general of the Hague-based Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu. "Such allegations are taken very seriously. The use of chemical weapons by anyone, anywhere and under any circumstances is unacceptable," he added in a statement. More than 70 people were left choking on Tuesday after regime helicopters dropped barrel bombs on a rebel-held district of the war-ravaged city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The bombs left people in need of treatment, the British-based monitor said, adding most were civilians. The opposition Aleppo Media Centre said on its Twitter account that the Sukkari neighborhood was the target of a chlorine attack. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman was unable to confirm the claim, but said no one was killed in the strikes. A Sukkari resident told AFP a "very strong smell" filled the neighborhood after it was hit by a barrel bomb and that he and others had difficulty breathing. Both sides in Syria's complex civil war have traded accusations of attacks against civilians and use of unconventional weapons including chlorine and mustard gas. Last month, an investigative panel set up by the U.N. Security Council said in a report that President Bashar Assad's forces had carried out at least two chemical attacks, one in 2014 and another in 2015. But Syria's ally Russia said it had "very serious questions" about the report while the Syrian envoy to the world body, Bashar Jaafari, rejected the findings.

Gulf States Accuse Iran of Trying to Politicize Hajj
Gulf Arab states accused Iran on Wednesday of trying to politicize the hajj after its supreme leader lashed out at Saudi authorities over their management of the annual pilgrimage. The head of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks accusing Riyadh of "murder" over the deaths of nearly 2,300 pilgrims at last year's hajj were "inappropriate and offensive."Abdullatif al-Zayani said the comments were "a clear incitement and a desperate attempt to politicize" the hajj. This year for the first time in almost three decades Iranians will not join the annual pilgrimage to the Muslim holy places in Saudi Arabia after talks on logistics and security fell apart in May. The verbal sparring between the two regional rivals -- who have no diplomatic relations -- has intensified ahead of the start of the pilgrimage on Saturday. In a scathing open letter published on Monday, Khamenei accused the Saudis of failing to protect pilgrims and called on Muslim countries to strip Saudi Arabia of the right to manage the hajj. "The hesitation and failure to rescue the half-dead and injured people... is also obvious and incontrovertible. They murdered them," the Iranian leader wrote. Saudi Arabia's most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, countered that that Iranians were "not Muslims", prompting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to accuse Saudi leaders of "bigoted extremism."Zayani said the Gulf Arab states "reject the unjust media campaign and the successive declarations of senior Iranian leaders against the Saudi kingdom."Such allegations are "totally incompatible with the values and precepts of Islam which extol compassion, love and brotherhood," he added.

Palestinian Killed by Israeli Forces was Not an Attacker
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/16/A Palestinian killed by Israeli police this week was not attempting a car-ramming attack on officers as had been initially claimed, Israeli police admitted on Wednesday. Police originally said they opened fire on Monday during a car-ramming attack targeting officers in the Shuafat refugee camp in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. One of the men in the car was killed and the driver was wounded, police said. There were no casualties among the officers. On Wednesday, police spokeswoman Luba Samri said they were now investigating the driver of the car, Ali Nimr, 20, for manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, driving without a license, driving under the influence of alcohol and reckless endangerment. The manslaughter investigation indicated police were holding Nimr responsible for the death of his cousin, Mustafa Nimr, 27, who was shot dead by police. An inquiry has also been opened by the Israeli justice ministry unit that probes police activity, Samri said. Israel's Channel 10 television broadcast video of the incident that appeared to show shots being fired after the car was stopped, with Mustafa Nimr already on the ground either wounded or dead. The two men were returning to the camp after buying pizzas, a witness told Channel 10 on condition of anonymity. Haaretz newspaper reported that Mustafa Nimr's Jewish girlfriend and his brother were following them in a second vehicle. It said Mustafa Nimr grew up in Shuafat but was living in the Tel Aviv area at the time with his girlfriend. Haaretz quoted witnesses as saying the car did not endanger police and they were racing at the time. The border police who opened fire had been in the camp for a separate raid, authorities said. Police carry out such raids regularly in search of weapons or wanted suspects. In June, Israeli troops killed a Palestinian teenager after apparently mistaking his group for stone-throwers as they returned from a swim, sparking outrage and debate about the security forces' use of firearms. Violence since October has killed 223 Palestinians, 34 Israelis, two Americans, one Eritrean and a Sudanese. Israeli forces say most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks. Others were shot dead during protests and clashes, while some were killed in Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip. Israel has faced accusations of excessive force in certain cases for allegedly shooting dead Palestinian attackers after they appeared to be subdued and posed no further threat.
 

Canada strongly condemns North Korea missile launch
September 6, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement following North Korea’s latest launch of ballistic missiles into the Pacific Ocean:
“Canada strongly condemns North Korea’s launch of three ballistic missiles on September 5, 2016, all of which reportedly landed inside the waters of Japan’s exclusive economic zone west of Hokkaido. Canada remains steadfast in its ongoing support of its allies in the region.
“North Korea continues to demonstrate its wilful disregard for its international obligations and the will of the United Nations Security Council through its repeated ballistic missile tests, which are in direct contravention of multiple Security Council resolutions.
“North Korea’s reckless ballistic missile launches threaten regional and international peace and security.
“North Korea must cease its provocations and immediately and verifiably abandon its ballistic missile program.
“These latest acts demonstrate the need for a coordinated and effective implementation by all member states of the UN sanctions against North Korea, including, in particular, Security Council Resolution 2270, co-sponsored by Canada on March 2, 2016.”

Saudi Arabia's hard-hitting response to comments made by Iran regime’s Supreme leader Khamenei.
Wednesday, 07 September 2016/ NCRI - In an article published 6 September 2016 in Al Arabiya English, the decisive response of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef is expounded, following is the full text:
Saudi’s Crown Prince slams Iran over Hajj comments
By Staff Writer, Al Arabiya English
Tuesday, 6 September 2016
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef has responded to criticism made by Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the kingdom’s ability to manage the pilgrimage after the deadly crush last year that killed hundreds of pilgrims.
In statement released through the state news agency SPA, he dismissed the comments made by Iran as lacking any credibility and objectivity. The Crown Prince reminded the Iranian supreme leader that Saudi had previously accommodated Iranian pilgrims with all the same facilities as all other pilgrims.
And he accused Iran of endangering the security of all Hajj pilgrims.
In the statement the Crown Prince said: “The Kingdom do not allow in any way the occurrence of what is contrary to the rites of the pilgrimage that may disturb security and affect the lives of pilgrims and their safety, be them Iranians or otherwise.”
He said the Iranian authorities were not interested in whether their own pilgrims attended Hajj or not. And he accused the nation of trying to politicize Hajj, using it as an opportunity to ‘violate the teachings of Islam, through shouting slogans and disturbing the security of pilgrims’. He said: “The Iranian authorities are the ones who don’t want the Iranian pilgrims to come here for reasons concerning the Iranians themselves.”
He added that this was something the Saudis did not accept, adding: “we stand firmly and strongly against works that breach security, during the pilgrimage”.
He said Hajj was a sacred ritual and ‘the place is an honored place’.
He added Saudi’s duty was to guarantee safety of pilgrims and to facilitate their ability to perform the pilgrimage, ‘with all safety and security’.
He said: “Therefore, the Kingdom will deal firmly with violation of the purposes of Hajj and will not compromise the security of pilgrims, rather, it will be firm and decisive and each violator will be held responsible and be brought to law.”
He said the law would be enforced against anyone who attempted prevent the smooth running of, or safety and security of Hajj.

New book illustrates the occupation of Syria by Iran
NCRI - The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has published a new book detailing the key role of Iran in the creation of the morass that is the Syrian War. Former National Security Council staffer and now professor of political science at Georgetown University, Raymond Tanter, called How Iran Fuels Syria War: Details of the IRGC Command HQ and Key Officers in Syria a "must read for students, policymakers and the general public."The book describes how the Iranian regime has effectively occupied Syria with 70,000 of its own forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), as well as a force of over 250,000 mercenaries paid by Tehran. The NCRI's publication demonstrates how Iran is "fuelling" the war in Syria, according to Professor Tanter.
The book comes on the heels of UK newspaper reports of the scale and nature of Iran's role in Syria. For example, the MailOnline carried analysis by security and regional experts on leaked intelligence released by the NCRI. The experts confirmed the validity of the information passed on by the Resistance: that the West has underestimated the size of the Iranian forces, and thus Tehran's influence, in Syria; that the presence is likely to be permanent, no matter Assad's eventual fate; and that Iran's occupation of Syria is part of an expensive expansionary effort by the regime.
A Foreign Office spokeswoman told MailOnline: "Iran’s role in fostering instability in the Middle East, including ongoing support for proxy groups and the Assad regime, and the activities of the Quds force, remains a source of serious concern."
How Iran Fuels Syria War: Details of the IRGC Command HQ and Key Officers in Syria provides the narrative and detail to that "serious concern."

The Iranian Resistance condemns the visit of the clerical regime’s notorious and murderous Minister of Intelliegence, Alavi, from Berlin, warns against exchange information and demands his detention and bringing him to justice
NCRI/Wednesday, 07 September 2016 21:08
The Iranian regime state media reported that the Iranian regime's Minister of Intelligence Mahmoud Alavi, at the invitation of German security officials traveled to Berlin and met with the country's authorities.
Alavi is the head of the secret service of the religious fascism ruling Iran, which has had the most important role in the brutal suppression of dissent for more than three decades. Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) has stressed in numerous reports that the mission of the Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) is the suppression of opposition inside and outside Iran and their main focus is espionage and following the People’s Mojahedin and the National Coucil of Resistance of Iran.
The clerical regime's Ministry of Intelligence has been directly complicit in the massacre of 30 thousand political prisoners in the summer of 1988, the serial murders of intellectuals (mainly between 1998 and 2000) and in more than 350 terrorist acts abroad, including Mykonos restaurant assassinations in Berlin (1992).
Last July an Iranian citizen was sentenced to two years and four months prison in a Berlin court on charges of spying for Iranian Ministry of Intelligence against PMOI. The commanding officer of this agent named “Sajjad” is a senior employee of the under the guidance of Alavi. Alavi himself has been in the list of sanctions in the US and Europe for his role in prosecution of the opponents and their execution in Iran. Therefore, in accordance with German law and international law, the Iranian Resistance demands the detention of this criminal and bringing him in front of justice. The NCRI representative in a statement on June 2, 2016 during the prosecution of the said spy, called for an arrest warrant for Alavi.
The Iranian Resistance condemns any exchange of information between German departments with the clerical regime’s secret service and considers it in violation of the basic rights of the opposition members who live in exile in Germnay due to the suppression of this regime.
In May 2000 the then Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ali Younesi - Mahmoud Alavi’s predecessor - said at a press conference in Tehran that continued cooperation with the German security authorities existed and "comprehensive information" about the PMOI has been given to them. In April 2006 and on the outset of the World Cup games in Germany, the Iranian media reported that the Iranian Deputy Misiter of Interior had signed an agreement with the German security departments based on which Germany had committed to curb the activities of the Iranian opposition in exile in Germany. When the German authorities were confronted with the news, they did not deny. Visit of then Minister of Intelligence, Ali Fallahian, a responsible for the Mykonos assassinations, with German intelligence services coordinator in the chancellor's office of Brendt Schmid Bauer in the midst of judcial case of Mykonos restaurant assassinations, in the mid 90's, became a political fiasco.
Professor Winfried Hassemer, former vice president of the Supreme Constitutional Court in Germany, in a 122-page legal opinion had denounced influence of foreign policy interests and relations between Germany and Iran on security assessments about PMOI and the Iranian Resistance.
Representative Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Germany/September 7, 2016

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on on September 07-08/16

Canada: Who, Please, Are We Helping?
Sohail Raza/Gatestone Institute/September 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/sohail-razagatestone-institute-canada-who-please-are-we-helping%D9%83%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%A7-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%B8%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%88-%D8%AA%D9%81%D9%82%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D9%88/
At this fraught time in the history of Islamist radicalism, extremism and terrorism, it is important that Canadian authorities — especially the police and security services — not inadvertently confer legitimacy and credibility on organizations and individuals whose histories and associations raise legitimate questions about their ideological background, links and agendas.
According to a US court, “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.” Under Canadian and US law, Hamas is a designated terrorist organization.
In July 2013, CAIR-CAN announced its change of name to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), some specialists regarding this as a way of masking the connection to CAIR or to its history as part of CAIR
Like its American mother organization, NCCM/CAIR-CAN has on occasion been thought to embrace a victimhood narrative that risks alienating Muslims in general — and Muslim youth, in particular — from their non-Muslim fellow citizens. The propagating of the word “Islamophobia” has been regarded as especially unhelpful, and condemned by some as a means of silencing Muslims and non-Muslims who would warn of the growing hazards of Islamist radicalism, extremism and terrorism.
At this fraught time in the history of Islamist radicalism, extremism and terrorism, it is important that Canadian public authorities — especially the police and security services — not inadvertently confer legitimacy and credibility on organizations and individuals whose histories and associations raise legitimate questions about their ideological background, links and agendas.
One way in which authorities unintentionally assist in building the credibility of undeserving groups and individuals is by sponsoring and attending meetings and events involving such persons and organizations. It is therefore important for those in positions of authority to acquit themselves properly of their responsibility to meet due diligence obligations, when it comes to screening those involved in such events.
On April 10, 2016, police acknowledged that it had been an error to invite a controversial Muslim Group, the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), to an event organized by the Council’s Communications Director, Ms. Amira Elghawaby, and attended by the Durham Regional Police Service and the Regional Municipality of Durham, Ontario. The event, on March 31, 2016, was described as a workshop, “Human Differences: Islamophobia,” and was to be attended by employees of the Regional Municipality of Durham.
There are many, including the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow (MFT), who strongly believe that the NCCM is an unsuitable connection for Durham Regional Police Services and Durham Region to maintain, and to have participated in a public, tax-funded proceeding.
In this regard, various, apparently credible, sources have made claims and observations along the following lines:
The National Council of Canadian Muslims was established as the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Canada, CAIR-CAN, CAIR.CAN), the Canadian chapter of the American-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). CAIR, a Saudi-funded organization that was designated an unindicted co-conspirator in the successful Holy Land Foundation prosecution, often described as the biggest terror-funding trial in United States history. Despite the court’s misgivings about the government’s having made the designation public, the court upheld the unindicted co-conspirator designation imposed on CAIR.
According to a US court, “The Government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR, ISNA and NAIT with HLF, the Islamic Association for Palestine (“IAP”), and with Hamas.” Under Canadian and US law, Hamas is a designated terrorist organization.
Several CAIR-connected personnel, including its national civil liberties’ coordinator, were sent to prison following terrorism-related convictions.
In 2003, CAIR-CAN founding Chair Dr. Sheema Khan stated under oath that CAIR-CAN was under the direction and control of the US-based CAIR mother organization.
In July 2013, CAIR-CAN announced its change of name to the National Council of Canadian Muslims (NCCM), some specialists regarding this as a way of masking the connection to CAIR or to its history as part of CAIR; a CAIR-CAN July 6, 2013 news release quoting NCCM/CAIR-CAN Executive Director Ihsaan Gardee as saying “We remain the same organization our constituents and partners have come to rely on,” is now unavailable at its original NCCM/CAIR-CAN website URL. Continuity in senior CAIR-CAN and NCCM ranks is evident, including in the presence of Mr. Ihsaan Gardee and Ms. Amira Elghawaby in NCCM/CAIR-CAN.
NCCM/CAIR-CAN has maintained significant involvement with the Reviving the Islamic Spirit (RIS) annual conventions, at least some of which have involved presentations by individuals known for radical views. Among a number of other troubling people featured at RIS conventions, was William W. Baker, sometimes referred to as a neo-Nazi and who had reportedly favoured “the creation of a united Christian-Muslim front against Jews and other groups.”
Another was India’s Dr. Zakir Naik, about whose divisive ideological extremism a Muslim scholar asserted, “in India, Sunnis and Shias have joined together against the destructive efforts of Zakir Naik”.
It has recently been reported that “Dr Naik suggested that Muslims men may rape their slave,” — “a disturbing echo,” wrote a journalist, “of the doctrines of the Middle East’s Islamic State insurgency.” The appearance of some public officials, including a now-disgraced former RCMP Commissioner, at RIS conventions, has been attributed by some to politics, failures of due diligence and other such lapses.
A long-term CAIR-CAN official was Dr. Jamal Badawi, a former member of the Muslim Association of Canada board, who was himself named a US unindicted co-conspirator and was on the executive of the US Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an American unindicted co-conspirator organization. He has been alleged to support polygamy and to have publicly advocated light physical punishment for misbehaving wives.
NCCM/CAIR-CAN, along with the controversial Islamic Social Services Association, put together what they characterized as a counter-radicalization handbook, United Against Terrorism, that recommended hardline clerics. Despite public objections and a last-minute RCMP withdrawal from the project on grounds of the handbook’s “adversarial” qualities, the handbook has since been distributed, possibly by NCCM/CAIR-CAN-linked operatives, without the removal of RCMP’s name and logo. The RCMP was criticized for having made the NCCM/CAIR-CAN connection in the first place.
Responding to a 2014 NCCM/CAIR-CAN letter to Prime Minister Harper, Harper’s communications director said, “We will not take seriously criticism from an organization with documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas.” NCCM/CAIR-CAN denies any suggestion of inappropriate behavior or connections on its part, and, after some delay, sued in libel in the matter. Those being sued eventually made a motion requesting further disclosure about NCCM/CAIR-CAN’s background. On December 2, 2015, Madam Justice Liza Sheard of the Superior Court of Ontario followed up, writing of the detailed nature of the defence’s position:
… defence describes the incorporation of the plaintiff and its name change on June 24, 2013; it makes specific reference to the connection or relationship between CAIR-CAN and CAIR; it sets out details of its allegation connecting the plaintiff with the 2007 litigation in United States of America v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development et al. …; it provides details for its allegation that a director of the plaintiff corporation were named on the U.S. Government List of Unindicted Co-conspirators; it sets detailed allegations that this and another director were also board members of an association that openly endorsed Hamas; it sets out details of the Canada Revenue Agency declining to grant charitable registration of another organization, the Jerusalem fund for human services; and that CRA [Canada Revenue Agency] has identified it as providing part of a support network for Hamas.
On the basis of this, among other, considerations, Justice Sheard ordered NCCM/CAIR-CAN to produce further information. The outcome of the broader legal case is yet to be decided.
Like its American mother organization, NCCM/CAIR-CAN has on occasion been thought to take a somewhat exaggerated, divisive view of the position of Muslims in society, an approach said to embrace a victimhood narrative that risks alienating Muslims in general – and Muslim youth, in particular – from their non-Muslim fellow citizens. The propagating of the word “Islamophobia” has been regarded as especially unhelpful, and condemned by some as a means of silencing Muslims and non-Muslims who would warn of the growing hazards of Islamist radicalism, extremism and terrorism.
Concerns have been raised about the possible propensity of NCCM/CAIR-CAN, primarily during its “CAIR-CAN” phase, to share its CAIR mother organization’s tendency to launch libel suits that it later would agree to dismiss. To some critics, this might imply constitutionally ambiguous attempts to employ what is sometimes called “libel lawfare” in efforts to silence those asking questions about NCCM/CAIR-CAN.
It should be observed that the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow is unaware of any formal attempt by NCCM/CAIR-CAN to condemn, publicly and by name, CAIR and those persons connected to CAIR who have been convicted of terrorism-linked offences. Nor is it known whether NCCM/CAIR-CAN might open its financial and other books and records for public examination, in order to clarify certain issues and the nature of relationships. MFT cautions that, consistent with due diligence examinations of any organization, endorsements of NCCM/CAIR-CAN by persons and organizations, including human rights personalities, should be scrutinized rigorously. This, in order to comprehend whether endorsements reflect a detailed understanding of the origins, history, background and connections of NCCM/CAIR-CAN, and whether those endorsing may be, or perceive themselves to be, compromised by earlier dealings with the group.
To its credit, the Durham Regional Police Service, asserted that this error had been made by the Police Service’s outreach committee. The Chief undertook to guard against any repetition of this or similar errors; proper due-diligence assessments would be conducted for events significantly involving the Durham Regional Police Service, so that inappropriate interests would not be inadvertently legitimized by association with the Service.
Given the importance in contemporary Canada of ensuring that official public outreach to Muslim communities involve only reliable representatives of moderate Canadian Islam — especially as models for Canadian Muslim youth — the Council for Muslims Facing Tomorrow respectfully requested that the Durham Regional Police Service and Durham Region immediately cease involvement with the National Council of Canadian Muslims and its officials.
*Sohail Raza is a consultant involved in exposing radicalization and has appeared as an expert witness before the Government of Canada’s Senate hearing on Radicalization.
© 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.

Israel, Hezbollah and Iran in secret negotiations over Ron Arad
Ronen Bergman/Ynetnews/September 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/ronen-bergmanynetnews-israel-hezbollah-and-iran-in-secret-negotiations-over-ron-arad/

Another recent attempt to learn the fate of the IAF navigator who went missing in Lebanon nearly 30 years ago has failed; Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are motivated to find Arad in return for solving the mystery behind the disappearance of 4 Iranian diplomats it believes Israel is holding captive.
Another recent attempt to ascertain the fate of Israel Air Force navigator Ron Arad has failed, Western intelligence sources have revealed to Ynet’s sister publication Yedioth Ahronoth. Arad went missing almost 30 years ago after ejecting out of his plane over Lebanon.
Over the past year, Israel and Hezbollah held indirect talks mediated by a third-party Western intelligence agency. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was also involved in the negotiations.
The talks were part of a mutual effort, with both sides highly motivated to solve two missing cases that have over the years become loaded political issues that also carry weight abroad: The disappearance of four Iranian diplomats—one of them a member of one of the most prominent families in the Tehran regime—in Beirut in 1982, and that of the IAF navigator in October of 1986.
Hezbollah was reportedly optimistic about its chances of finding the remains of the missing navigator, who has long been presumed dead, after having gathered new information in recent months. However, the pro-Iranian Shiite Lebanese organization was unsuccessful in finding Arad’s place of burial.”They said the ground in the area where Arad was buried has moved and changed since,” a Western intelligence official explained. “They’re continuing to try and are confident they’ll eventually manage to locate the grave.”According to that official, the Iranians were intimately involved in the talks both because it was the IRGC that had Arad from 1988 until his death and because the IRGC is under pressure from the senior clerics of the regime in Tehran to solve the missing persons case of four Iranian diplomats. Iran has accused Israel of the kidnapping, claiming that the four are still alive and being held by the Jewish state. In 2005, the Israeli intelligence community was able to obtain information considered to be “of the highest levels of certainty” that the captured navigator Arad had died in Lebanon, likely from an illness, between 1995 and 1997.
The chief IDF rabbi at the time had agreed to declare Arad a “fallen soldier whose place of burial is unknown,” but then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon rejected that course of action. Sharon was wary of the Arad family’s reaction. The Arads disagreed with that designation and demanded that, until his body was returned to Israel, the navigator be considered alive and MIA.
Ron Arad in a photo taken during his captivity
Ron Arad in a photo taken during his captivity
Over the past 12 years, several attempts have been made to resolve both of these missing cases, with the two cases being closely intertwined. In 2004, Israel—with the help of German mediation—provided Hezbollah with information it gathered which detailed the way the four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped, tortured and murdered by the Christian Lebanese Phalanges Party. Israel provided Hezbollah with a transcript of a testimony by Robert Hatem, a senior leader in the Phalanges, who told the Mossad how he tortured the diplomats with electric shocks, shot them and then threw their bodies into a pit of lime. Hatem told me the same in 2006. But this information did not satisfy the Hezbollah leadership or the heads of the IRGC, some of whom are still convinced this was merely an Israeli attempt to spread disinformation. During 2005 and early 2006, Hezbollah made several attempts (which appeared genuine to the German mediators) to find Arad’s place of burial. The terrorist group worked with representatives of the IRGC and Lebanese intelligence to investigate the case and provide Israel with a report detailing what had befallen Arad during the years devoid of signs of life from him. Hezbollah representatives went to Tehran while Iranian representatives travelled to Lebanon to investigate the matter.
Ron Arad in his youth
Ron Arad in his youth
Hezbollah and the IRGC encountered many difficulties in their investigation. Since Arad’s presence in Iran was kept secret from all but a handful of people, the report of his death was likely never put into writing, and no tombstone was erected at his grave.Among those who travelled to Lebanon to investigate were some IRGC members who served in Beirut in the 1990s. They came to identify the spot where they could more or less remember having buried Arad. But the passage of time and topographical changes led to them only identify the general area, rather than the exact spot. Following their investigation, Hezbollah conducted digs in different areas of Lebanon, uncovering bones that have been transferred to Israel on several occasions. The Hezbollah representatives specifically stated they did not know whether the bones were indeed Arad’s, and that they were sending the bones for Israel to examine them. A sample taken from the bones was compared to Ron Arad’s DNA profile, which was created in 1996 at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute by cross-referencing blood samples from Arad’s mother Batya and brother Chen. The samples were checked four times over to leave no doubt, and each time were found to not be a match.
Ron Arad with his daughter Yuval
Ron Arad with his daughter Yuval
Over the past year, there have been renewed efforts to resolve both missing cases. An indication of how motivated Iran is to learn the fate of the four missing diplomats is in a tweet by Amir Taheri. Taheri is an Iranian journalist who lives in Europe and is considered to be one of the most prominent historians writing about Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. He still has close ties to some of the factions in the regime today.On June 10, Taheri wrote that the Iranian Majlis Spokesman was offering Israel a deal: Ron Arad for the four diplomats. Later, the journalist tweeted that a meeting between Israeli defense official and an aide to former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani took place in Cyprus in May. While the investigation has so far borne no fruit, the fact it exists is encouraging, as it indicates all sides are interested in solving the two missing persons cases and believe there’s a chance to do so. Solving these two mysteries might even, after so many years, bring peace and perhaps some consolation to the families of the missing navigator and diplomats, and perhaps even bring some hope concerning the future of the ties between these bitter enemies.

Enough is enough
Tami Arad/Ynetnews/September 07/16
Op-ed: Netanyahu is suffering from mental fatigue. The only way to possibly prevent complete chaos in the future is to enact a law limiting a prime minister in Israel to just two terms in office.
When the prime minister convenes journalists for private talks, which last four hours or more, and intentionally avoids standard interviews to the press, one bottom line emerges: The prime minister of the State of Israel is a haunted person. He is smart, cynical, a virtuoso of words, but haunted—from his side-styled fringe to the tip of his little fingernail.
When the prime minister takes every opportunity to talk about respect more than he talks about security, when the prime minister is offended by everything that is written about him if it is not a compliment and makes sure that everyone knows he has been offended, then the paranoia takes on statistical significance. But when the prime minister convinces himself that his transportation minister organized a putsch against him and thus paralyzes an entire country, then we all have a problem.
The citizens who missed a workday, who called off meetings, who were packed in lines like sardines, who began sweating even before the sun struck their head, who wasted hours in traffic jams—and the soldiers who returned to their bases on Saturday evening and those who did not make it on time on Sunday—couldn’t care less about the war between the prime minister and the transportation minister.
And after all that, the prime minister's attempt to blame the transportation minister for the chaos was unsuccessful. Even those who are not fans of Yisrael Katz gave him the victory points at the end of the latest battle, at least for his restraint. The hysteria conveyed by Benjamin Netanyahu with his repeated putsch announcements made it seem as if he really thinks there is a coup here.
All that was missing from the inarticulate interview given by Netanyahu's bureau chief on Saturday evening was a recorded video conversation of the prime minister himself with Channel 2 news anchor Dana Weiss, like the conversation held with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the night of the attempted coup in Turkey. Then we would have all joined the tanks on the streets and gone out to defend democracy against the rebellious minister, who would surely have been personally arrested by the police commissioner of the IDF chief of staff.
As we woke up on Sunday morning to an expected transportation chaos and nothing more, the obvious was clear. The tanks remained in their bases, the warplanes were parked safely in the hangars, the police commissioner wiped the coffee off his mustache, and Minister Katz drank his tea silently before leaving for the tense cabinet meeting.
To summarize this chapter, some will say that the prime minister was completely overwhelmed by emotions, and some will define his conduct as a disgrace, and both will agree that it was not the desecration of Shabbat which led to the burst of emotions, especially as the ultra-Orthodox Knesset members did their best to escape the crisis imposed on them.
Granted, the current incident is an example of a radical situation, and more than it suggests that there is something rotten in the Netanyahu kingdom it points to the man's mental fatigue, as talented as he may be. Therefore, it seems the only way to possibly prevent complete chaos, like we witnessed this week, in the future is to enact the law limiting a prime minister in Israel to just two terms in office.
The suggested law, which was initiated by MK Merav Michaeli, leader of the Zionist Union faction, has already been signed by all leaders of the opposition parties, including Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman before he entered the government. Netanyahu himself supported the limitation in the past but opposes the law today, even though it will only be applied from the 22nd Knesset, leaving him with the option of two additional full terms in office.
The authority and power trip—and this is no surprising discovery—may cause a person to become confused and mistakenly think that he is the state and the state is him. Therefore, it would be good for Israeli democracy to refresh the Prime Minister's Residence on Jerusalem's Balfour Street every few years.

Iran Expert, American Foreign Policy Council Vice President Ilan Berman. : Post-Nuclear Deal, Emboldened Islamic Republic Seeking to Expand Global Reach, Build Anti-US Axis in Latin America (INTERVIEW)
Barney Breen-Portnoy/ The Algemeiner/07 September/16
Last year’s nuclear deal with world powers has emboldened Iran as it seeks to expand its global reach and build an anti-America axis in the Western hemisphere, an expert on the Islamic Republic told The Algemeiner on Tuesday.
“The Iranians are really thinking big again,” Ilan Berman, vice president of the Washington, DC-based conservative think tank the American Foreign Policy Council, said. “They’ve always had a global vision, but for a long time they didn’t have the resources to capitalize on it. Now, as sanctions begin to fall away, their global vision is back front and center. They’re starting to think spatially, in terms of where they fit globally — in Europe, in Asia and in Latin America.”
Iran’s relationship with Latin America, Berman said, began in the 1980s and its first significant act there was to help the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization Hezbollah establish roots in the lawless tri-border area where Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina meet. This, Berman noted, resulted in Hezbollah developing the capability to carry out attacks in the Western hemisphere — which it did twice in Argentina in the first half of the 1990s.
“An interesting historical footnote that most people forget is that up until al-Qaeda stole the mantle on 9/11, the Iranians were responsible for the single most devastating attack in the hemisphere,” Berman said, referring to the April 1994 suicide van-bombing at the Jewish center — the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (AMIA) — building in Buenos Aires, which left 85 dead and scores wounded.
More recently, Berman said, Iran’s ties with Latin America were based on the personal affinity that the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad held for each other.
“In 1999, we saw Chavez rise from relative obscurity to become the leftist leader of Venezuela,” Berman said. “He took Simón Bolívar’s idea of a Latin America free of outside influence and said Venezuela didn’t want to be dominated by the United States anymore. To achieve that, Latin American states needed powerful external allies who were anti-American also. So Chavez spent a good half decade looking for such partners, and reached out to Iran. But he wasn’t really reciprocated institutionally until Ahmadinejad became president in 2005. Then you had a meeting of the minds between the two leaders. Not only did they get along very well, but they agreed about where they wanted their countries to go, and you saw a very rapid expansion of Iran’s ties with Venezuela.”
The most important aspect of this relationship, Berman said, was the role Venezuela played in helping Tehran establish ties with other Latin American countries, such as Bolivia and Ecuador.
“Chavez vouched for Iran, saying, ‘This is our anti-American strategic partner,’” Berman said.
As part of its outreach program in Latin America, Iran joined the Chavez-founded Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA) intergovernmental organization as an observer state.
“Through that forum, Iran has been able to have conversations with countries it otherwise would not have the ability to talk to,” Berman said.
Despite the departure of both Chavez and Ahmadinejad from the scene in 2013, Berman said, Iranian activities in Latin American have only grown in recent years.
“The Iranian regime, from the time Hassan Rouhani took power three years ago, even before the nuclear deal, made very clear that it wanted to invest in and expand its relationship with Latin America,” Berman said. “So this wasn’t just an Ahmadinejad project.”
A vast majority of the hundreds of trade and economic deals Iran has signed with Latin American countries “haven’t amounted to anything, because the Iranians didn’t have any money,” Berman said. “But now, for the first time, Iran has the ability to put its money where its mouth is. Its economy is stabilizing, and it can now capitalize on all those promises it made to solidify its position in the region — and make those trade deals real.”
Iran, Berman stated, is taking a long-term approach to its relationship with Latin America.
“I’ve spent quite a bit of time in Latin America,” he said. “And what you discover if you spend time down there is that it is like the third inning of a baseball game. Iran has all sorts of strategic interests in the region. Ten years ago, it was worried about Western sanctions; it wanted trade partners that would help it blunt the effect of sanctions. Now the Iranians are out of the box, and they’re looking for where they can increase their legitimacy and where they can increase their cooperation.”
Last month, as reported in The Algemeiner, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited six Latin American countries — Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Chile, Bolivia and Venezuela.
“Zarif went on this junket in Latin American and he said it was all about trade, but each of the countries he visited is an economic basket case,” Berman said. “These are not trade partners; rather, they are strategic allies if you’re trying to build an anti-American axis. And that dovetails really well with what Iran is thinking globally. There hasn’t been a reset in Iranian thinking about the United States; they still view America as their main adversary. But what they now have are more resources and international breathing room to build an alliance against the US.”
Regarding America’s reaction to Iran’s recent activities in the Western hemisphere, Berman said the Obama administration “hasn’t done anything.”
“It’s very inconvenient to say we have to have a détente with a country that is doing all sorts of bad stuff in our neighborhood,” Berman said. “And the other part is that the Iran nuclear deal complicates another venture of the Obama administration, which is the reset with Cuba.”
Further elaborating, Berman said, “The Obama administration doesn’t have a Latin America strategy at all. All it cares about is resetting relations with Cuba. So it has scoped down what it is interested about in Latin America. There is really no appetite in the White House to start talking about what the Iranians are doing there.”
Turning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) itself, Berman said, “From Day One, I have not been a fan of the nuclear deal; it’s very dangerous. I think if you are only concerned about process, like the arms controllers in DC are, you can say the Iranians for now are more or less compliant with the nuclear deal and its terms. And while that is tactically correct, it is strategically wrong. It is tactically correct, because the Iranians are slowing things down and dismantling certain parts of their nuclear program. But the way the nuclear deal is shaped doesn’t fundamentally derail Iran’s quest for the bomb; it just slows it down.”
Furthermore, Berman noted, “There are all sorts of things the US and the other P5+1 countries are mandated to do in support of Iran’s nuclear program that will make it harder to roll back later. And in the meantime, the cost of this has been really high — it fundamentally unraveled the global sanctions regime against Iran.”
Berman went on to say, “The Obama administration talks a lot about how the deal is tactical — that it is not intended to address Iran’s terrorism or human-rights violations, just strictly to deal with its nuclear program. But the benefits that are conferred to Iran as a result are strategic and transformative. The sanctions regime is a thing of the past; the era of macro sanctions is over. Iran is getting infused with multiple, billion-dollar trade and military deals, and its global ambitions are expanding. The nuclear deal is a gateway drug for Iran to do all sorts of things. Yes, it slows down Iran’s nuclear program, but at the expense of empowering everything else.

What Happens in Damascus Decides Syria’s Fate
Eyad Abu Shakra/September 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/09/07/eyad-abu-shakraasharq-al-awsat-what-happens-in-damascus-decides-syrias-fate/
When everybody was talking about Turkish troops entering the northern Syrian border town of Jarablus, the dirty deal in greater Damascus was approaching its completion. The long suffering suburb of Darayya was being handed to the cut-throats of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime and its supportive militias with full international collusion under the UN flag against brazen Arab and world disinterest. This was taking place in what was once a “Syrian Arab Republic”, while somewhere else, in Geneva to be precise, the US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were following up their smoke-screen bluffing. However, in the spirit of things, and in order to make the bluff plausible, both were keen to claim that there was still a big gulf between Washington’s and Moscow’s positions on Syria. Actually, what has and will happen in Geneva should not surprise or convince any serious follower of the Syrian crisis for more than five years; and those who have observed its evolution – thanks to international collusion and bloody suppression that seeks a “military solution” – from a spontaneous moderate popular uprising to a civil, regional and open-ended sectarian one aiming at the uprooting and expulsion of the Sunni Arabs of Iraq and Syria. Given the above, it could be said that some groups within the Syrian opposition may be blamed for “militarizing” the uprising, thus falling in the trap that Assad and his backers prepared for them. They may deserve the blame because they were supposedly aware of the nature of a police state built by ruthless and suppressive sectarians. The huge popular demonstrations that filled the streets and squares of the city of Hama in the summer of 2011 were the turning point. Seeing hundreds of thousands demonstrating that day, in a city brutally attacked and devastated by the regime, and that lost between 20,000 and 40,000 of its inhabitants within less than a month in 1982, must have shocked Assad. The ensuing panic was bound to lead to the declaration of all-out war against any town, neighbourhood or village that challenges its authority.
Indeed, this is exactly what the regime – or those who decide on matters of war and peace – did, adopting a three-part strategy:
• Calling on non-Syrian sectarian Shi’ite militias to fight for the regime under the religious order and military command of the Vali-e-Faqih in Iran.

• Exploiting its “fifth column” of extremist Sunnis or those who claim to be fighting for the Sunnis, after releasing them from its prisons, on overseeing their emergence from ‘hideaways’ well known to the regime’s intelligence agencies in order to undermine the uprising from within. They would achieve its goal by outbidding rhetoric and diverting the opposition away from moderation and peaceful means to belligerency and flagrant sectarian confrontation. • Exploiting the notion of ‘Alliance of Minorities’ long kept in reserve for the opportune moment. In fact, some senior Christian clergymen, Syrian and non-Syrian, actively incited Western governments against the uprising; and one of them summed up his views during a European visit in the early months of the uprising that by saying “Assad’s regime may be bad and corrupt, but what the uprising would bring is worse”.
This strategy has created the political, humanitarian and political humanitarian catastrophe we witness today. Sectarian Shi’ite militias have temporarily managed to save the regime from collapse, and given rise to a sectarian (Sunni) counter-reaction that, as time passed, marginalized nationalist, liberal, moderate currents within the uprising. Planting the regime’s extremist “fifth column” to undermine the uprising has proved a success. Finally, religious and sectarian incitement in the West completed the mission as it provided an excuse, not only to ignore the uprising, but also to deprive it of the means to even defend itself, either by refusing to provide it with suitable defensive weapons or adamantly rejecting its pleas for ‘safe havens’ and ‘no-fly zones’.
The other day many celebrated ‘a great victory’ when Ankara sent its troops to a small Syrian border town, with the western ‘green light’. The fact of the matter, however, is that today’s Turkey is not the Turkey of 2011. Its freedom of movement has been drastically curtailed after being cowed by Russia, let down by NATO and shaken internally; which means she is not allowed to have any regional say except in what may harm it on the Kurdish front.
In the meantime, Russia and Iran continue the implementation of their respective geo-political plans in other parts of Syria, especially Damascus and its environs, through religious, sectarian and ethnic cleansing, mainly targeting Sunni Arabs with US and international blessings.
What Secretary Kerry said about him and Sergei Lavrov making clearer steps to move forward in terms of more temporary ceasefires and human aid, and agreeing on most ‘technical’ issues that may lead to negotiations on steps on how to end the fighting, is it just ‘tragicomic’ lying. Kerry thinks he can still sell the Syrian people the illusion that Washington is sincere about ending their suffering and finding the elusive ‘political solution’, when they know full well the following:
Firstly, that in the last months of Barack Obama’s presidency, Washington which failed to respect its ‘red lines’ on Assad’s usage of chemical weapons, would never confront Russia and Iran.
Secondly, that Washington refused from the outset to depose Assad by force; and later when the ISIS excuse became available, its approach to the Syrian crisis became hardly distinguishable from that of Moscow and Tehran. Its focus has been on ‘confronting terrorism’ (exclusively Sunni terrorism!).
Thirdly, American political and military support of the Syrian uprising has never been serious. A good proof is how the southern fronts (south of Damascus) have been strangely silent, while Washington was working overtime to concoct artificial ‘pan-Syrian’ militias which are in fact Kurdish militias with dubious previous links to the regimes with Arab and Turkmen ‘facades’ in northern Syria.
Fourthly, the only declared ‘change’ in Washington’s position vis-à-vis Syria during the last five years has been its continuous convergence with Moscow’s; even when the Russians decided on direct military intervention to help keep Assad in power.
Lastly, any talk about a ‘political solution’ is meaningless as long as military operations – especially from the air – continue, and while the Assad regime, the Russians, the Iranians and their henchmen carry on with their crimes of ‘demographic change’, the latest example is Darayya!
What has befallen Darayya is extremely dangerous because the fate of Syria is decided in Greater Damascus, and the fate of Greater Damascus is decided by the silenced southern fronts and the cheap theatricals of the Geneva ‘talks’!

The murder of Adnani, not ISIS
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
Everyone has begun analyzing the murder of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) senior figure Abu Mohammed al-Adnani. Some say the group has lost its propaganda mastermind, and the person who appealed to the sentiment of supporters in the West.
His assassination, the circumstances of which Russians and Americans dispute, also points to domestic betrayals that led to his elimination. This comes in the context of the confrontation with ISIS’s propaganda machine. Adnani was not known for being charismatic. Audio recordings and footage of him have not revealed any communication skills that distinguished him. He reportedly recruited men in Iraq and Syria, but he was no exception. His success lay in his ability to find and exploit weak points. He thus supervised ISIS propaganda and spread his recordings while making maximum use of social media.
Beginning of the end?
Does Adnani’s murder mean the beginning of the end for ISIS, as some are saying? It is probably not that simple, as its power is not dependent on its figures. Unlike other extremist groups - particularly al-Qaeda - ISIS does not use its leaders to address sympathizers and recruit followers. Its power comes from its surroundings, not from its leaders’ attractiveness or speeches. It is naive to think that murdering figures such as Adnani will destroy the threat posed by this extremely dangerous, brutal organization. Looking at ISIS’s practices and videos, we can see it is not popular to celebrate its leaders’ appearances as much as its murders. Therefore, it is naive to think that murdering figures such as Adnani will destroy the threat posed by this extremely dangerous, brutal organization. Its media policy is not just about footage and murder, but also about feeding on injustice, conspiracies, extremists, and collapsing states and societies. Thus it is unwise to depend on military victories against ISIS without looking at how, when and why it was established. If Adnani’s murder does harm its propaganda machine, this may be temporary.As long as the situation in Iraq and Syria is troubled, and as long as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies stay, ISIS will exploit people’s feelings of injustice. Adnani was killed, but it is too early to pronounce the organization’s death.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Sept. 05, 2016.

Be humble, the chair you are sitting on is temporary!
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
A Saudi female graduate of a prestigious American university told me that on a visit to the United States last month, she sent a note to the president of the university expressing her intent to visit him. A prompt reply came back and added were the suggested names of other senior administrators of the university whom she could meet. Apparently, the president Googled her name and work experience. She said the meeting was informative and productive and the president and the other officials present outlined the achievements of some of the Arab and Muslim women who had graduated from the university. The university officials listened to her suggestions of enhanced cooperation and future plans between her establishment and the university. “Frankly speaking, I was amazed at the level of interest that they expressed,” she said. Listening to this story, I could not help but wonder at the attitude of our own universities and institutions and their behavior toward others. Would one of our university presidents meet a graduate who after a decade decided to visit him? Would senior officials listen attentively? Would they produce offers of cooperation? Over the years I have heard a lot of negative comments about the attitude of heads of departments, professors and others in our educational institutions
Negative comments
I say this because over the years I have heard a lot of negative comments about the attitude of heads of departments, professors and others in our educational institutions. Of course, there are exceptions, but the general opinion is that students do not get the attention that they deserve or the required respect. Is it because we are a patriarchal society? I don’t know. My explanation is that many people in high positions be it academia or the corporate world assume airs and strut around like peacocks. To them, I say: Don’t take yourself too seriously.
Be humble, polite and gracious. The chair you are sitting on is temporary!

The G20 Summit managed to fulfil everyone’s very low expectations
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
International summits have earned themselves a bad reputation for being no more than a photo opportunity and a stage for speeches full of froth with little substance let alone impact. This year’s G20 summit in eastern China, which ended on Monday, did not disappoint those who had hardly any expectations for this gathering of the major world economies’ leaders. It ended with a long and tedious communique that reiterated what we know already about the state of the global economy: growth is insufficient and austerity backfires. It was another example of many leaders on display, but no leadership to show for it.
Despite the funfair of hosting the most powerful leaders in the world, the climax of this high powered weekend gathering took place before most dignitaries even landed at the airport of the city of Hangzhou. On the eve of the summit President Obama confirmed that the United States and China, who together account for the emission of 38 percent of greenhouse gases, will formally ratify the Paris climate change agreement. It seemed to be the only silver lining in an otherwise mundane summit, which failed to inspire the world with both vision and policies to tackle growth in the global economy
The lack of creative thinking and new ideas in a summit entitled, “Towards an innovative, invigorated, interconnected and inclusive world economy,” is both ironic and disheartening. After all the G20 represents 90 percent of the global economy and 80 percent of global trade. Angel Gurria, the General Secretary of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), sent a stark warning to the participants in Hangzhou that “The world’s central banks are ‘pretty close’ to the limits of their ability to stimulate economies.”Since the beginning of the economic crisis of 2008, many central banks dropped interest rates to almost zero and were pumping money into the economy through what is known as quantitative easing. Yet, the most optimistic growth forecast suggests no more than a modest 3 percent growth in the global economy this year. This is not that surprising considering the reluctance to question the very foundations of the current global economic system, instead of constantly tweaking the failing one. In a world in which more than half of the population is under the age of 30, not addressing the needs and well-being of the young can only be regarded as criminal neglect
Job opportunities
Innovation and invigoration should not be seen in “pure” economic terms, but also as social-political rejuvenation. It is especially the young that will be affected by an increasingly bleak and uncertain future with dwindling job opportunities, rising house prices, mounting debt and political instability. This is at a time when the accumulation of wealth among a relatively small number of multinational corporations and individuals is constantly growing. In a world in which more than half of the population is under the age of 30, not addressing the needs and well-being of the young can only be regarded as criminal neglect. The State Department itself recognizes that “…86 percent of civil unrest occurs in societies where a significant majority of the population is younger than 30.”There is an obvious difference between the hardships faced by the young in the developed world to those in the developing parts of it, but in both cases it results in a sense of hopelessness and exclusion. The lack of access to jobs and economic opportunities, as much as very limited opportunities for civic and political participation, ends in economic stagnation and socio-political malaise and even unrest.
Lack of courage
Summits such as the G20 became synonymous with producing hype with very few concrete outcomes because they lack the courage to address the root causes of the global disconnect the world is experiencing. A report by Oxfam concluded that the richest 1 percent now have more wealth than the rest of the world put together. It claims that the combination of power and privilege “… is being used to skew the economic system to increase the gap between the richest and the rest.”Only a few months ago the exposure of the Panama Papers revealed part of the global network of tax havens that enable rich individuals to hide an estimated $7.6 trillion. Last week’s ruling by the European Commission, ordering Apple to pay the state of Ireland €13bn in taxes, may be a landmark ruling in the right direction. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg of collusion between governments and big businesses to avoid paying tax at all. In the case of Apple, it reportedly paid tax on European profits at a rate of between 0.005 percent and 1 percent, which needless to say, is not a tax rate available to sheer mortals in Ireland, who pay up to 40 percent of their income. The consequences of allowing this socially irresponsible accumulation of wealth through tax avoidance condemns the fight against poverty to fail. It is not however only the neglect of abject poverty, which leads to conflict and migration, but also the crippling erosion in the standard of living of most wage earners and small entrepreneurs that have an adverse impact on the long term economic growth and political stability. While overcoming the current protracted economic slowdown requires a global and inclusive reply, world politics is increasingly divided. Disputes over the South China Sea, Syria, the future of the EU in the wake of Brexit, rising nationalism and anti-migration trends, hinder, and even halt, reaching any sort of global consensus. Much of it is due to lack of leadership and statesmanship with a readiness to take some tough, yet necessary, decisions. China’s President Xi Jinping, the host of this year’s G20 summit, has rightly urged his counterparts to avoid “empty talk” if they are serious about accelerating economic growth. Yet, without everyone’s agreement that the global economic system requires a genuine structural change, which revaluates some of the fundamental relations between politics, society and economy, this summit as many before it, will bring no change to most of the planet’s population.

Who’s the most beautiful, the best and the strongest in the UAE?
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/September 07/16
Societies are always fighting to guard tradition. They resist what they’re not familiar with and fiercely fight all manifestations of what they are not used to. Arab societies, like other societies, used to resist women and fight them as they viewed them as a symbol of shame. If we look back in time, we can see how Quranic verses rebuked Arabs for how they dealt with women as he whose wife would give birth to a female would stay away from people and ponder whether to live with this “shame” or to bury her in the sand! The difference is that there are societies which have gone beyond viewing women as a symbol of shame and have humanized women and deal with them as equals to men. This is where the value of any society lies. Ever since its establishment, the United Arab Emirates has worked on paving the way for women to allow them to garner influence and be leaders. A few days ago, the UAE celebrated Emirati Women’s Day. Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum paid tribute to women on Twitter and said women are “partners in development, generation makers and mothers of martyrs. They are the pride of the nation and the match of the soul.” He noted that Emirati women constitute two thirds of government employees and university graduates and one third of the cabinet. “We do not empower women but we empower society through women. I tell them, you’re the most beautiful, the best and the strongest. Our country will also remain the most beautiful, the best and the strongest thanks to your work and diligence. May God safeguard you and safeguard the UAE for you and us,” he said.
Rich history
Meanwhile, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said: “Our history is rich with women’s contributions and full of stories of success and scarifies. [The role of women] today complements this march and we are confident about its continuation and development.”I’ve lived in the UAE for around two decades and after visiting various governmental departments and offices, I see that women have been a part of the development of this country. Emirati women are a model of skilled leadership in different fields. This is thanks to the support of the Mother of the UAE Sheikh Fatima bint Mubarak and other statesmen. A few days before Emirati Women’s Day, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan attended the graduation ceremony of a military training course for female students. The graduates included his daughter and granddaughter. That leaders are models of leading change in their societies is a virtuous initiative. This helps convince society that what we’re doing is vital and civil. People will thus see how leaders complied with the change they want for their people and citizens. This is an example of true leadership, leadership that has influenced people throughout history.
Celebrating women’s day
Celebrating women’s day was not about making speeches and statements. There are actually models on ground and successful female ministers who represent different generations and look after youths, trade, happiness, education and other fields. There are also women working in the sectors of aviation, medicine, education, natural sciences and space research. The role of women in these fields includes making initiatives, participating and leading. The point of women’s day is to demonstrate and expand on women’s achievements and not to make speeches about the importance of women’s role while her activity is restrained!“We don’t empower women, we empower society through women.” This is what Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said. At first glance, it seems that empowering women is akin to an act of deigning or giving or granting. I’ve lived in the UAE for around two decades and after visiting various governmental departments and offices, I see that women have been a part of the development of this country. Rulers since the days of Sheikh Zayed did not see anything in women that would hinder them from participating. Instead, women have been a beacon in terms of practical and scientific contributions. This is what nations look like when they decide to bravely embark on change as women are strong and are capable of building society.
**This article was first published in al-Bayan on Sept. 7, 2016.
 

Uncovering the Truth about a West Bank Palestinian Refugee Camp
Clifford Smith/The Washington Examiner/September 07/16
http://www.meforum.org/6253/the-truth-about-unrwa
Walls like this abound in Aida. The names include Ibrahim Jundiya (left) and Bassam Abu Akr (2nd from left), both in jail for masterminding suicide bombings in Israel.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees claims that its mission is humanitarian, apolitical, and dedicated to non-violence. Yet UNRWA's critics claim otherwise, citing evidence of resistance to resettling refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, a conflict which resulted in an unprecedented legal claim to the so-called "right of return" for descendants of prior residents of Israel.
This summer, I decided to visit an UNRWA camp and judge for myself.
With a female Arab reporter serving as my guide, I set out from Jerusalem for the UNRWA camp in Aida, a West Bank town just on the other side of the security fence.
Aida is not like what one might imagine a "refugee" camp to look like. There are no tents, temporary offices, or makeshift medical facilities. Instead, it resembles a slum, similar to ones in the U.S., but covered in political graffiti including militant anti-Israel slogans and heroes of the "resistance" who have been "martyred" or taken prisoner.
UNRWA's critics claim it has resisted resettlement of refugees from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.
My guide arranged for me to meet the director of the camp, Ibrahim Abu Srour, by telling him of my connections to Congress. Abu Srour proudly explained how UNRWA moved from providing tents in 1950 to now providing healthcare, education and cultural enrichment.
The one thing it can't provide them is sufficient jobs — 35 percent of Aida residents are unemployed.
Abu Srour stressed that the camp is "neutral" and not "political." By "political," he clearly meant part of Hamas, the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades or other terrorist groups. Anyone caught using their resources for "politics" wouldn't receive UNRWA's help. Paradoxically, he also said that his staff documents every interaction camp residents have with Israelis and pays to fix their houses when damaged by Israeli retaliation against terrorist attacks.
Camp director Ibrahim Abu Srour claims that Aida is apolitical.
Abu Srour showed me a recently added source of pride, a one-million-dollar playground built as part of UNRWA's new Healthy Camp Initiative. Far nicer than most other parts of the camp, it includes a soccer field and an artificial river.
He stressed the importance of summer camp. "It is good for them to refresh, to use energy in a correct way." Other UNRWA summer camps, however, have been known to teach hatred of Jews and anti-Israel propaganda. Indeed, complaints of anti-Semitic curriculum and political indoctrination at UNRWA schools abound.
Next, I was invited to the BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights, an NGO that has a clean, modern-looking facility in Aida reminiscent of a YMCA, but covered with wall paintings of militant Palestinian leaders, alongside numerous posters featuring slogans like "The right to return is our will," and "The right of return is not subject for negotiation."
The "key of return" motif is ubiquitous in Aida.
I was introduced to a young woman in her mid-20s who, unlike my guide, wore a hijab. She explained that they were helping Palestinians who suffered because of the "nakba" (catastrophe), referring to the foundation of Israel.
She played a video highlighting the camp's work. It included footage of the camp's dance troupe touring around Europe singing songs demanding the "right of return."
More disturbingly, the video described the "nakba," simply as Jews expelling Arabs and stealing their land. There was no mention of decades-long Jewish migration, the deep historical ties of Jews to the land of Israel, the U.N. partition or the role of Palestinian militias and Arab governments in starting the 1948 war.
I was given a copy of BADIL's annual report, which included a map labeled "'Maximum Land with Minimum Palestinians: The Ongoing NAKBA since 1917," incorrectly implying there was no Jewish presence in Israel in 1917 and showing areas the "colonizers" came to control in subsequent years.
UNRWA is indeed a shameful hatchery for destructive ideologies.
Finally, I was shown a room housing a collection of mundane artifacts from the time before the 1948 war. "So they remember their villages and what they lost."
Upon departing, my guide said to me, "They say they aren't political, but everything they do is political."
Of course, she was right. Visiting Aida made it abundantly clear that UNRWA is indeed a shameful hatchery for destructive ideologies.
Its clients are better educated than most others in the Middle East, but UNRWA is helping perpetuate the destructive culture that condemns them to lives of misery.
**Clifford Smith is director of the Middle East Forum's Washington Project.