New Page 5

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 18/15

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletins05/english.june18.15.htm

Bible Quotation For Today/For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.
Matthew 18/15-20: ""‘If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax-collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.’"

Bible Quotation For Today/May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!
Acts of the Apostles 8,9/13b-25: "Now a certain man named Simon had previously practised magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he was someone great. Even Simon himself believed. After being baptized, he stayed constantly with Philip and was amazed when he saw the signs and great miracles that took place. Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit
(for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, ‘Give me also this power so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s gift with money!
You have no part or share in this, for your heart is not right before God. Repent therefore of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the chains of wickedness.’Simon answered, ‘Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may happen to me.’ Now after Peter and John had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news to many villages of the Samaritans."

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 17-18/15
The Druze position is a challenge for Syria’s uprising/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Alawsat/17 June/15
ISIS is our disease and we must cure it/Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya/17 June/15
Face Reality: Many Muslims Support ISIS/Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/Canada/June 17/15
Britain: Bid to Crack Down on Islamic Extremism Faces Resistance/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/June 17/15
Turkey Cracks Down on the Free Press/ Burak Bekdil//Gatestone Institute/June 17/15
Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Clerics Call To Overthrow Al-Sisi Regime In Egypt, Restore Mursi To Presidency/MERI/June 17/15
Yemeni Crisis/New Geneva blockbuster/The Daily Star/June 17/15
Syrian rebel force launches offensive near Golan to clear path to south Damascus. Israel acts to protect Druze/DEBKAfile/June 17/15,
Were all secrets regarding Iran nuclear talks exposed/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/17 June/15

Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 17-18/15
Canadian Police on Lookout for New York Fugitives
Canadian General Says Soldiers 'Biologically Wired' to Sexually Harass
US says hard to recruit for Syrian opposition training program
Mourners gather for funeral of American killed in Syria
Syrian rebels say launch offensive in southern Syria
U.S. Defense Chief Says Assad Regime May Still fall
Syria Refugees Return to Border Town after IS Defeat
U.N. envoy condemns Syria civilian deaths at end of trip
All Syria chemical weapons effluent destroyed: watchdog
The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said all effluents from Syria’s neutralized chemical weapons arsenal have been destroyed
Surge in passport applications as Syrians flee: report
Four car bombs rock Yemeni capital, at least 31 dead
Yemen talks make no progress without Houthis: minister
Suspect in 1982 Paris Jewish restaurant attack held in Jordan
Palestinian split widens as unity government quits
Cyprus leaders ready to tackle thorny core issues: UN
Turkey: Journalists detained, reportedly for asking about ISIS
Spain, US agree to make US force at Spanish base permanent
Arbitary detention and torture widespread in eastern Libya: HRW
Dalai Lama to receive Liberty Medal for human rights work
Egypt to free 165 jailed protesters
U.S. calls for ‘greater commitment’ from Iraq’s government
Accidental blast kills 12 in northeastern Nigeria
Local gin kills 70 in Nigeria
Britain to support Italy intelligence effort on migrants
Britain is to provide staff and other support for an Italian intelligence unit working on moves to resolve Europe’s migration crisis
Human rights groups in Egypt remain invaluable
EU Agrees to Extend Russia Sanctions to January 2016

Jehad Watch Latest Reports And News
New York City: Another Muslim arrested in Islamic State plot investigation
Muslim clerics: Those who insult Muhammad have “no right to live”
Islamic State in Sudan: “We are here for the sake of Allah”
Clear Channel runs ad praising Muhammad, refuses ad criticizing Muhammad
New York: Muslim in Islamic State jihad plot tries to stab an FBI agent
Kazakh Islamic State jihadi posts photos of Central Asian “Caliphate Cubs”
New Zealand: “Allahu akbar, I’m going to kill you, motherfer”
Retreating Islamic State jihadis plant mines in homes to blow up returning families
UK college student who made sign “Islam Will Dominate the World” faces jail for trying to join the Islamic State
Muslim charged in AFDI free speech event attack eyed Super Bowl jihad attack
Muslim student arrested for Islamic State NYC jihad mass murder plot
Kurdistan: A Summary

Canadian General Says Soldiers 'Biologically Wired' to Sexually Harass
Naharnet/May 17/15/Canada's chief of defense staff provoked outrage Wednesday after saying that sexual harassment and assault in the military were largely due to people's biological wiring. General Tom Lawson quickly back-pedaled, issuing an apology after sharing his views on sexual misconduct in the military with public broadcaster CBC, which aired excerpts Tuesday evening. His comments triggered a flurry of criticism on social media and from opposition MPs who called for his resignation. "It's a terrible issue," Lawson said in the CBC interview. "It would be a trite answer but it's because we're biologically wired in a certain way and there will be those that believe it is a reasonable thing to press themselves and their desires on others. "Main opposition New Democratic Party MP Jack Harris blasted the general over the comments, saying sexual harassment is a crime and "is not something that's excused by biology. "He was echoed by Liberal MP Joyce Murray who tweeted: "Is he saying 'boys will be boys?' Deplorable excuse." The controversy follows the release of a scathing report in April that accused the Canadian military of being "hostile" to women and gays. The report's author, former Supreme Court justice Marie Deschamps, had been asked to investigate after cover stories by MacLean's magazine and its French-language sister publication L'Actualite, citing military records, found that one in 10 female soldiers had reported being sexually assaulted. The two magazines estimated the figure was actually far higher when adding in unreported cases. Deschamps agreed. In a statement, Lawson apologized for his "awkward characterization... of the issue of sexual misconduct in the Canadian Armed Forces." "Sexual misconduct in any form, in any situation is clearly unacceptable," he said. "My reference to biological attraction being a factor in sexual misconduct was by no means intended to excuse anyone from responsibility for their actions." Agence France Presse

Canadian Police on Lookout for New York Fugitives
Naharnet/May 17/15/Canadian federal police said Wednesday they are on the lookout for two escaped prisoners from New York state after receiving several tips they may have crossed the border into Canada. Richard Matt, 49, and David Sweat, 35, escaped almost two weeks ago from a maximum security jail in New York state, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the U.S.-Canada border."We received information that we're trying to collaborate that the pair entered Canada," Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Francois Gagnon told AFP. He added that the RCMP is "working with several American partners, including the FBI," on the case. The daily Journal de Montreal reported that police believe the fugitives may have crossed the border from the town of Jackman in the U.S. state of Maine into Canada's Quebec province. The region is heavily wooded and mountainous. Matt, six feet (1.83 meters) tall with multiple tattoos, was serving a sentence of 25 years to life for the 1997 kidnapping and dismembering of his former boss in a 27-hour ordeal. He fled to Mexico after the murder and killed another American there, before being sentenced to 20 years and extradited back to New York.Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for murdering a sheriff's deputy in New York state in 2002 when he was 22. A woman who worked at a tailoring shop at the Clinton Correctional Facility has confessed to giving them hacksaw blades and other contraband used in the June 6 maximum security prison break. Despite an exhaustive search by some 800 officers in the United States chasing more than 1,000 leads, there have been no confirmed sightings of the pair. Agence France Presse

Salam Meets with Top Egyptian Officials in Cairo
Naharnet/17 May/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam met on Wednesday with top Egyptian officials during a one-day official visit to Cairo. Salam held talks with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, his Egyptian counterpart Ibrahim Mahlab and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb. Salam is accompanied by Ministers Akram Shehayyeb, Michel Pharaon and Arthur Nazarian. After a lunch banquet thrown in his honor, Salam will meet with Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi and then the leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority Pope Tawadros II. The meetings of Salam and his accompanying delegation with the Egyptian officials are expected to focus on economic and trade ties, and the developments in the region and their repercussions on Lebanon. Last week, Arab diplomats said that al-Sisi is expected to announce Egypt's backing for the Lebanese army.The diplomats, who were not identified, told al-Joumhouria newspaper that Sisi could announce his country's readiness to assist the military institution through a grant. Salam's talks with Sisi and Mahlab are also likely to focus on the fate of Egyptian arms that Cairo had promised to deliver to Lebanon during visits made by al-Mustaqbal movement leader Saad Hariri and Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq last year, they said. The talks for Egypt to hand over the weapons to Lebanon were as part of a grant that late Saudi King Abdullah had made to help the Lebanese army and security forces confront the wave of terrorism striking the country.

Daryan on Advent of Ramadan Urges Dialogue, Calls against Doubting Army in Arsal
Naharnet/17 May/15/Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan lamented on Wednesday the “paralysis” affecting Lebanon's presidency, government, and parliament, while calling against questioning the army's role in defending the northeastern border town of Arsal against foreign threats. He said during his message to the Lebanese on the advent of the holy month of Ramadan: “We should not doubt the intentions of the military in Arsal.” “Arsal is in danger and we must help the army overcome this crisis,” he urged. “Only the army is qualified to defend Arsal,” declared the cleric. Daryan also demanded dialogue among Lebanon's political foes to end the paralysis of state institutions. “We should place national interests above others … as the situation in the Arab world is unbearable,” he noted. “The situation in Lebanon is becoming worse due to the political developments and the state can no longer aid the people due to its paralysis,” he noted. “We are all concerned with the poor political and economic situations in Lebanon and we are therefore in need of a new president, effective government, and active parliament,” he stressed. “We do not understand how one political camp can usurp the will and capabilities of a whole country,” he added. “Nations are not built through stubbornness, but through dialogue,” Daryan explained. He later held talks with a delegation from Arsal, reported Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3). Lebanon has been without a president since May 2014 when the term of Michel Suleiman ended without the election of a successor. Ongoing disputes between the rival March 8 and 14 camps over a compromise candidate have thwarted the polls. Hizbullah's Loyalty to the Resistance and MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform blocs have been boycotting the election over the dispute. The vacuum in the presidency has weighed heavily on the functioning of cabinet and parliament.

No Solution Looming in Horizon on Cabinet Crisis
Naharnet/17 May/15/Lebanon has likely plunged in an open-ended cabinet crisis after consultations on the controversial issue of the appointment of high-ranking security and military officials failed to produce results. Speaker Nabih Berri did not confirm to his visitors whether Prime Minister Tammam Salam would be able to call for a cabinet session this month or if the paralysis would last longer than the holy month of Ramadan which starts on Thursday. Berri stressed that the PM is in charge with putting the cabinet agenda in the absence of a president. “No minister can interfere on the agenda but he can make objections during a session.” The speaker, whose remarks were published in al-Joumhouria newspaper on Wednesday, was referring to warnings made by Free Patriotic Movement officials. The FPM and their allies Hizbullah, the Marada Movement and the Tashnag Party have said they would stop the government from discussing any issue before addressing appointments of the top security and military officials. Aoun has been lobbying for the appointment of his son-in-law, Brig. Gen. Chamel Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Regiment, as military chief. An Nahar daily quoted officials close to Salam as saying that he would continue his consultations with the concerned parties upon his return on Thursday from a one-day visit to Cairo. The PM has suspended the sessions over fears that the dispute would lead to a clash among the rival parties.

PSP Official Reveals Deal to Protect Syria's Druze
Naharnet/May 17/15/Progressive Socialist Party spokesman Rami al-Rayyes has said that talks carried out by PSP officials in Turkey have led to an agreement to protect the minority Druze sect in Syria.
Al-Rayyes told al-Mustaqbal daily published on Wednesday that the delegation, which was led by Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, agreed with top Turkish officials and the representatives of the Syrian opposition on “certain measures” to protect the Druze. He did not give further details. PSP chief MP Walid Jumblat dispatched the delegation to Turkey earlier this week to guarantee the safety of the Druze villages in Syria to avoid a repetition of a deadly attack that took place in Idlib province. Al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front said on Saturday it would prosecute members involved in the shoot-out that killed at least 20 Druze. On Thursday, residents of the village of Qalb Lawzah protested after a Tunisian al-Nusra leader tried to seize a Druze man's home, accusing him of being loyal to the Syrian regime. The Tunisian leader gathered his men and accused the Druze residents of the village of blasphemy and opened fire on them killing at least 20 people, among them elderly people and at least one child. The killings forced Jumblat last week to calm members of Syria's minority sect, saying they were an "individual" incident.

Lebanese Army Denies French Missiles are Malfunctioning
Naharnet/May 17/15/The Lebanese army denied on Wednesday that Milan anti-tank missiles delivered by France to the Lebanese army under a Saudi grant two months ago are dysfunctional. The military said in a communique that army experts had thoroughly inspected the missiles during delivery. “They have no technical or production malfunction,” said the communique.The army urged the media to be accurate in dealing with any information relating to the military. The communique was issued after highly-informed sources told As Safir daily that some of the missiles are dysfunctional. The sources said that the missiles are old and were shipped from French depots to coincide with the ceremony that was held in Beirut during French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian's visit in April.They stressed that the Lebanese army has the right to replace the weapons that do not meet the required standards. Lebanon received in April the first shipment of $3 billion worth of French arms under the Saudi-financed deal aimed at boosting the country's defensive capabilities to combat terror threats. During the ceremony Le Drian, revealed that around 60 French officers will also arrive in Lebanon to oversee the training of Lebanese troops on the use of the arms. He said that France will oversee the implementation of the Saudi deal over a 10-year period. Despite the claim made by As Safir's sources, officials following up the delivery of the arms stressed to the newspaper that the missiles could not be dysfunctional. The reason behind some problems the army is facing in using them could lie in the launchers and not the rockets themselves, they said.

Naameh Landfill Back in Spotlight as Closure Deadline Nears
Naharnet/May 17/15/Lebanon is expected to face an environmental crisis next month when a landfill which lies in the town of Naameh south of Beirut is scheduled to be closed in accordance with a government decision, An Nahar daily reported on Wednesday. The July 17 deadline for the closure of the Naameh landfill also coincides with the expiry of the contract with Sukleen, which is responsible for collecting and transporting the garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon, said the newspaper. In January, the cabinet decided to delay the closure of the landfill, drawing the ire of the residents of Naameh and environmentalists. It approved the controversial decision after a long-heated debate regarding the country's plan to treat solid waste. The cabinet also extended the contract with Sukleen and with Sukomi company that treats the waste transferred to the Burj Hammoud dump by Sukleen and then takes them to Naameh. A plan devised by Environment Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq decentralizes the management of solid waste, divides Lebanon into six blocks and limits the licensing of garbage collection to one contractor in maximum two blocks. When the government approved the plan, it also decided that contractors who win tenders would find the location of landfills. But according to an informed source, the authorities have failed to find a solution to the plan after only three contractors made proposals for the treatment of waste in the districts of Jbeil, Keserouan and Metn and no party made a bid for Beirut. The bidding process failed because the plan calls for having at least three bidders in each area, the source told An Nahar. Al-Mashnouq revealed Tuesday that new tenders could not be launched without a cabinet decision. But the government is currently paralyzed as a result of a dispute between the rival parties on the posts of high-ranking military and security officials. The Naameh landfill was opened in 1997. Last year, the town's residents blocked it and demanded its closure, leaving Beirut overflowing with waste.

Alleged Hezbollah-linked banker may relinquish post to son
Osama Habib/The Daily Star/June 17/2015
BEIRUT: Kassem Hejeij, accused by the United States of links to Hezbollah, may consider resigning as chairman of Middle East Africa Bank and hand over his post to his son or sell the majority shares if an opportunity arises, sources said Tuesday.
“Mr. Hejeij may contemplate handing over the affairs of MEAB to his son, Ali. We realize that as long as Mr. Hejeij is still the head of the bank then it’s difficult to conduct transactions with some correspondent banks abroad in U.S. dollars,” one of the lawyers and close friends of Hejeij told The Daily Star. On June 10, the U.S. Treasury named Hejeij and two other Shiite businessmen as having direct links to Hezbollah, which is labeled by Washington as a terrorist organization.
“Hejeij is a Lebanese businessman that maintains direct ties to Hezbollah organizational elements. In addition to his support to Adham Tabaja and his affiliated companies in Iraq, Hejeij has helped open bank accounts for Hezbollah in Lebanon and provided credit to Hezbollah procurement companies. Hejeij has also invested in infrastructure that Hezbollah uses in both Lebanon and Iraq,” the U.S. Treasury said. But the U.S. Treasury did not name the bank or even suggest that the lender should be sanctioned or closed by Lebanese financial authorities. In February 2012, the U.S. Treasury accused the now defunct Lebanese-Canadian Bank of money laundering and terrorist financing. This accusation prompted the bank’s management to sell all its assets to SGBL. The chairman’s lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, insisted that Hejeij has no direct or indirect links with Hezbollah. “I don’t understand this fuss. Hejeij has no interest in forming any relations with Hezbollah because he is aware of the consequences.”The lawyer said no one raised the issue of selling the assets of MEAB to another bank. “We were not approached by any bank, but this matter can be discussed if there was a serious interest.” The lawyer said handing over the chairman position to Ali Hejeij is one of the options on the table for the time being.
“Ali will be surrounded by top bank advisers to help him run the bank,” the lawyer added. The lawyer claimed that Washington is targeting all Shiite investors and businessmen in Lebanon for fear they might start financing Hezbollah in the future. He also alleged that some Lebanese banks have taken advantage of the case to encourage the depositors of MEAB to withdraw their accounts and deposit them elsewhere. But another banker, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said appointing a successor to Kassem Hejeij would not solve the problem. “This case is way too sensitive and you can’t solve this matter by resigning from the position and giving it to your son. Things don’t work this way in the banking sector.”He argued that most Shiite investors and bankers are beginning to feel the mounting U.S. pressure. “MEAB is one of the banks in Lebanon controlled by Shiite families. I don’t think any commercial bank would show any interest in acquiring this bank under the current circumstances,” he stressed. With $1.7 billion in assets, MEAB is considered rather small compared to most Lebanese banks. There are some who believe that the bulk of MEAB deposits belong to Kassem Hejeij himself and some powerful and rich Shiite families. Insiders dismiss the possibility that Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh may take any action against the bank or encourage the owner to sell the assets. “I don’t think Salameh will consider taking any action soon because the Americans did not blacklist the bank in their report,” a source told The Daily Star.

ISIS luring youth from Ain al-Hilweh to war in Syria, Iraq
The Daily Star/ June 17, 2015
SIDON, Lebanon: “My son won’t be the last one,” Assem Hreish said of his son Ahmad Hreish, who died fighting alongside ISIS in Syria, before gesturing with his hand and refusing to take more questions. In a small hall in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh, Hreish sat with family members to receive condolences for the death of his son, also known as Abu Misaab Al-Maqdisi. While other members of the family refuse to speak to the media, the father is succinct. “Ahmad is now between the hands of God and he chose his path,” Assem Hreish said. “My son chose the path of jihad and martyrdom and he won’t be the last one.”At least 25 of the camp’s men have died fighting in Syria.
Although Islamist factions attempt to downplay the numbers, saying those from Ain al-Hilweh who are fighting in Syria are few, the overcrowded and impoverished camp is also considered a transit point for militants wishing to join the uprising next door.
Assem Hreish himself is a member of Osbat al-Ansar, Ain al-Hilweh’s largest Islamist faction, which has a long history of sending fighters to Iraq to combat the American presence there between 2003 and 2011.Lebanese security sources say the group stopped sending fighters to Iraq after Lebanese security bodies and Palestinian officials succeeded in convincing it to “abandon the path of jihad and join the political life.” In 2008, Hezbollah and Hamas played the role of mediators between Osbat al-Ansar and the Lebanese state; their efforts bore fruit and led to relaxing several sentences issued by the Lebanese judiciary against members of the group.
The sources say the 2006 visit to Ain al-Hilweh of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim – who was back then the head of Military Intelligence in south Lebanon – and his policy of openness toward Islamist factions, “curbed Osbat al-Ansar’s zeal and contributed to the faction adopting more moderate behavior.”But despite those efforts, and although Osbat al-Ansar committed to maintaining law and order within the camp, other Islamist factions such a Fatah al-Islam and Jund al-Sham did not stop exporting fighters to Iraq.
At the onset of the Syrian uprising in 2011, those factions turned to sending fighters across the border to join the battles against the regime of President Bashar Assad. In Ain al-Hilweh, support for ISIS grew by the day as more youth were tempted to join the group in Syria in response to Hezbollah’s involvement alongside Assad’s forces, the Lebanese security sources said.
But Islamist Palestinian sources from Ain al-Hilweh expressed surprise that the spotlight was being cast on “the very few youths from the camp who have joined the fight in Syria.” These sources insist that Ain al-Hilweh residents fighting in Syria are few. “Compared to the [thousands] of fighters Hezbollah is sending to Syria, there are very few men leaving Ain al-Hilweh to go to Syria,” one source said. The sources said there was no mass recruitment of fighters being carried out within Ain al-Hilweh. Although the sources maintain that recruitment of fighters is still done clandestinely, they admit the presence of several mediators on site in the camp who facilitate the flow of youths into Syrian territories. “Palestinian participation in the ongoing battles in Syria cannot be accounted for,” one source said. “In the end you cannot prevent passionate youths from traveling to Syria or Iraq.”

Lebanese Army on alert in southeast Lebanon over Syria clashes
Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star/June 17/2015/SHEBAA, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army raised its security measures on the southeastern border Wednesday to prevent another influx of refugees, as warring Syrian factions stepped up battles near Mount Hermon.
Shebaa residents heard loud sounds of explosions and gunfire overnight coming from the Syrian side of the border, where the Syrian army and rebels engaged in fierce clashes. The sound of Syrian war planes were also clearly heard, and the battles continued until the early hours of dawn in the southwestern area of Rif Dimashq, specifically around the Syrian border town of Beit Jinn. In response, the Lebanese Army increased its presence along the border, concerned that the battles might push Syrians to seek refuge in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government stopped officially accepting refugees from Syria in late 2014, after the number of people fleeing the war-torn country into Lebanon reached around 1.5 million, roughly one-third of Lebanon’s population. Shepherds in the area denied seeiing any movements of refugees or militants close to the border in the past few days. Meanwhile, Shebaa’s municipality, which has struggled to handle the large numbers of Syrian families that have taken refuge in the town, remained on alert for any security turmoil. Approximately 10,000 Syrian refugees reside in Shebaa and the nearby Arqoub villages. Surveillance cameras were recently erected in the different quarters of the towns, as many in the area were afraid of “sleeper cells” that might attempt to “blast the area,” according to residents.

Open-ended Cabinet crisis in Lebanon
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/June. 17/ 2015
BEIRUT: Lebanon is poised for an open-ended Cabinet crisis as ongoing consultations to break the deadlock over the appointment of senior security and military officers have so far produced no results, officials said Tuesday. MP Michel Aoun, meanwhile, stood firm on his demand that the Cabinet convene to exercise its prerogatives by approving security and military appointments, a contentious issue that has thrown the government into paralysis earlier this month, prompting Prime Minister Tammam Salam to suspend its meetings. “There is no imminent breakthrough in the Cabinet crisis. Therefore, the Cabinet impasse will persist,” Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohammad Fneish told The Daily Star. Fneish, one of two ministers who represent Hezbollah in the Cabinet, reiterated his party’s support for demands by Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement that the Cabinet should first address the issue of military and security appointments before moving to other topics on the agenda. “We support Gen. Aoun’s bloc in its stance that the Cabinet should not discuss any item on the agenda before acting on the issue of security and military appointments,” Fneish said.
He added that he and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil from the FPM had relayed their joint stance to Salam when they met him Monday. “Salam is still holding consultations to resolve the crisis. He is behaving calmly and carefully to tackle the crisis,” Fneish said.
Backed by their allies in Hezbollah, the Marada Movement and the Tashnag Party, the FPM’s ministers have said they would not allow the Cabinet to discuss any topic before it addresses appointments of new security chiefs, including the appointment of Aoun’s son-in-law, Brig. Gen. Shamel Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Unit, as Army commander.In response, the FPM’s political rivals have accused it of attempting to paralyze the government over the issue of security appointments.Salam, who leaves for Cairo Wednesday on a one-day official visit for talks with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and other senior Egyptian officials, has rejected attempts to cripple the Cabinet’s work for the sake of a government employee.
Speaker Nabih Berri also ruled out a Cabinet session soon, saying the country is going through “a period of contemplation” to find a solution to the disruption of the government’s work.
“There will be no Cabinet session for now. Prime Minister Tammam Salam is making contacts because he is the first one concerned with tackling the Cabinet crisis,” Berri was quoted as saying by visitors at his Ain al-Tineh residence.Commenting on reports that the Cabinet paralysis would last until the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins Thursday, Berri said he could not confirm that the “period of contemplation” would go on during the whole month of Ramadan. Indirectly responding to the FPM ministers who insist that the Cabinet address the issue of security and military appointments before moving to other topics, Berri said: “In normal conditions, the prime minister is the one who prepares the Cabinet agenda and informs the president of it. But amid the presidential vacuum and with the Cabinet assuming the presidency’s powers by proxy, the prime minister is the one who prepares the agenda of Cabinet sessions and no minister has the right to interfere in this agenda but he can object to it inside the session.”Referring to the 13th dialogue session held between the Future Movement and Hezbollah at Ain al-Tineh Monday, Berri said the two sides discussed the presidential election and the disruption of the work of the Cabinet and Parliament.
“There is nothing new with regard to the presidential election or with regard to dealing with the obstruction of [Parliament] legislation and Cabinet sessions,” Berri said. As part of his ongoing consultations on the Cabinet crisis, Salam met Tuesday with Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, who said that the disruption of the government’s work was unacceptable. “We discussed political issues and the Cabinet situation,” Moqbel told reporters after the meeting. “We are today facing the fate of a country and its economy. We have agricultural and industrial products which we must export but we cannot do this because it requires a Cabinet decision … It is unacceptable to remain in this situation.”Meanwhile, the parliamentary Future bloc lashed out at Hezbollah and the FPM, blaming them for the Cabinet paralysis. The bloc expressed its regret that Hezbollah and its allies’ role in Lebanon is limited to “negative aspects through encouraging the continued disruption of the work of Parliament and the Cabinet.”
“Following the obstruction [of the presidential election] and the hijacking of the presidency, the disruption and blackmail have spread to the work of the Cabinet, which is the only institution now that can deal with the situation resulting from the continued vacuum in the presidency,” the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting chaired by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. “The obstruction of the Cabinet’s work has great negative effects on the economic and financial situation in the country where economic stagnation is worsening and economic sectors are on the decline,” the statement said.
It blamed Hezbollah for the worsening economic situation. “Hezbollah continues to provide political cover for [Aoun’s] Change and Reform bloc, which links the fate of the country and the fate of Muslim-Christian coexistence to very limited personal and family interests,” it said. However, Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc stood firm on its demand for the appointment of new top security and military officers. It called on Salam to convene the Cabinet and discuss security appointments before other issues.
“We are the ones who are calling for a Cabinet meeting to correct the flaws and the path which is contrary to the Constitution and law,” former Minister Salim Jreissati said after the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Aoun.

FPM, LF talks tackling presidency: Geagea
The Daily Star/June 17/15/BEIRUT: Talks between Lebanese Forces and Free Patriotic Movement officials have begun tackling the controversial presidential impasse, LF chief Samir Geagea told a Kuwaiti newspaper. Geagea said the rapprochement between the rival Christian parties began with an agreement on legislation priorities, but has now moved on to the presidency. “We are continuing this discussion on the issue of presidential elections,” he told Al-Rai newspaper in excerpts of remarks set to be published Thursday. He said attempts to solve the year-long presidential impasse are “one of the priorities” of talks between the groups. The LF chief said that his Christian rivals were continuing to disrupt elections by boycotting legislative sessions, but insisted that Hezbollah was the main force behind the deadlock. Hezbollah is stalling presidential elections in order to subject the decision to regional compromises as well as the outcome of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, he said. The comments come after Geagea and FPM chief Michel Aoun announced earlier this month a thaw in their decades-old rivalry, issuing a joint statement urging the election of a strong president. The gathering of the two party leaders was seen as a crucial step to ending the country’s year-long presidential impasse, given that both Aoun and Geagea are candidates, but neither has been able to garner enough parliamentary support to win. Lawmakers have failed in 24 consecutive sessions to elect a successor to former President Michel Sleiman since his term ended May 25, 2014. Lawmakers from Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah MPs and their March 8 allies, have thwarted a quorum since April 2014 by boycotting parliamentary sessions, demanding an agreement beforehand with their March 14 rivals.

Jumblatt urges Beirut to resist plans to privatize public beach
The Daily Star/June. 17/2015/BEIRUT: Beirutis have the right to resist a plan to turn the capital’s last public beach into a private enterprise, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt said Wednesday, pledging his support to those who challenge the project. “There is news about a suspicious deal that aims to make tens of millions of dollars out of real estate in Ramlet al-Baida, which is the only free public beach in the capital,” the PSP chief said in a statement released two weeks after a Beirut judge ordered the beach’s entrances shut following petitions by private developers.Jumblatt urged Beirut residents to defy the decision and said that he stands "beside them in this rightful confrontation.”The PSP chief decried the continuous cycle of projects that “seek to suffocate the citizens of the capital and deny them the few public spaces left.”He described private developers' usurpation of Beirut’s public property as attempts to “transform Beirut into cemented real estate wastelands empty of soul and life.”This version of Beirut, according to Jumblatt, only has room for the rich. As for the poor, “their fate is to live in deprivation belts surrounding luxurious neighborhoods.”On June 4, Beirut Judge of Urgent Matters Zalfa al-Hasan issued a decision to cordon off three major sections of the beach that cover roughly 28,000 square meters of Ramlet al-Baida, a popular destination for Beirut’s low-income families who cannot afford the exuberant entrance fees charged at private resorts. Two real estate companies, Mediterranean Real Estate and Bahr Real Estate, both owned by businessman Wissam Ashour, claim ownership of those three sections of the beach. Irad Investment Holding group also owns some shares in those companies. Lebanese laws prevent property owners from erecting buildings on beaches because of the loose terrain. But activists worry that developers could transform sections of Lebanon's only free beach into luxury projects that cater to the wealthy, similar to what occurred last year when the state fenced off a section of Raouche.

Hezbollah shells rain on ISIS in northeast Lebanon
The Daily Star/ June. 17, 2015/BEIRUT: Hezbollah targeted ISIS positions on the outskirts of a northeastern Lebanese border town Wednesday, killing or wounding scores of militants, Al-Manar TV reported, one day after the extremist group's leader for the region died in an attack. The Hezbollah-run station said party fighters shelled ISIS positions on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek in an area it identified as Shanshara. Hezbollah has been targeting ISIS positions on Ras Baalbek's outskirts for at least three consecutive days. The party has intensified its attacks on ISIS east of Ras Baalbek after it repelled a militant attack last week, which sparked a battle that killed eight Hezbollah fighters and about 50 ISIS militants. It was the most serious border confrontation between the two sides since Hezbollah joined the Syrian war three years ago.On Tuesday, Al-Manar said that ISIS's "emir" for the Qalamoun region Abu Balqis al-Baghdadi was killed in shelling on the eastern outskirts of Lebanon's Arsal, about 7 kilometers south of Ras Baalbek, in the area of Wadi Hmayed.
Hezbollah and the Syrian army have been battling ISIS and Nusra Front fighters in the Qalamoun region along Lebanon's eastern border with Syria since early last month. The allied forces have captured about two-thirds of the rugged border region from the militants since launching the offensive on May 4. Militants are now mostly holed up in northern Qalamoun, on the eastern outskirts of Arsal and Ras Baalbek. Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah vowed last week to oust ISIS from northeastern Lebanon.

Russian arms ‘badly needed’ to fight militants: Lebanon ambassador
The Daily Star/ June. 17, 2015/BEIRUT: Beirut is waiting for the arrival of "badly needed" Russian weapons purchased last year, Lebanon’s ambassador to Russia said in remarks published Wednesday. Shawki Bou Nassar told Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency that Russian weapons are “very effective, and badly needed” to counter the threat of extremist groups like ISIS and the Nusra Front which have taken a foothold on Lebanon's eastern borders with Syria. “This is why we really need Russian arms and hope that in the future we will be able to increase the level of cooperation between our countries in this area,” he noted. Last year, Lebanese military officials visited Moscow on several occasions, culminating in a deal to purchase Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles, artillery and other types of arms. “Now we look forward to the execution of the contracts. They symbolize good progress in the cooperation between Lebanon and Russia,” Bou Nassar added, describing the purchase of Russian weapons as a “new trend.”The Lebanese Army, locked in an open battle with militant groups on its eastern borders, has in recent months received several batches of French and American weapons to face the border threats. Lebanon in April received the first batch of French weapons financed by the $3 billion Saudi arms grant, which included armored vehicles, helicopters, truck-mounted cannons and Milan anti-tank missiles. In addition to the $3 billion military aid, Saudi Arabia has also promised an additional $1 billion grant to purchase arms and equipment to the Lebanese Army and other security forces. Earlier this month, Lebanon received an untold number of BGM-71 TOW anti-tank missiles and their launch pads from the United States.

Yemeni Crisis/New Geneva blockbuster
The Daily Star/Jun. 17, 2015/Political figures from Yemen are the latest invitees of the United Nations to attend meetings in Geneva, as their country reels from wide-scale violence and destruction. This week’s sessions in Switzerland, where huge efforts are being made to merely convince the rival sides to sit down together, should remind people of another conflict in the Arab world – Syria. The Geneva process for that country resembles a Hollywood blockbuster, in that there are sequels: Geneva 1, Geneva 2 and the ongoing, informal set of meetings hosted by the U.N. envoy, Staffan de Mistura. While making peace can certainly be difficult and time consuming, it’s important to remember that U.N. Security Council has issued resolutions on both Yemen and Syria. There are also resolutions on Palestine and Sudan, for example. But instead of seeing action, the public is treated to the spectacle of U.N. officials and politicians talking about the need to travel to Geneva, to talk about something that should already be settled – while more people are killed, and more of a given country’s past, present and future are erased.This week a high-level international commission issued a report on how the U.N. is incapable of confronting today’s momentous global challenges, and on what should be done. Even without such a report, it has become abundantly clear that the dynamics and implementation measures of the U.N. are in urgent need of reform, if the world body is to have a hope of restoring its credibility. If things continue as they are, the council will only cement its reputation as an organization that can be counted on to do two things: issue resolutions, and then hold meetings to discuss how they failed.

Suspected mastermind of 1982 Paris Jewish restaurant attack held in Jordan: legal source
Agencies/June 17, 2015/PARIS: Jordan said Wednesday the suspected mastermind of an attack on a Paris Jewish restaurant in 1982 that killed six people and wounded 22 has been bailed and banned from travelling.
Official sources said Zuhair Mohamad Hassan Khalid al-Abassi, alias "Amjad Atta", was "arrested on June 1 under an international arrest warrant. A court imposed a travel ban pending a decision on whether he will be extradited," an official source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. A source in the security services said the 62-year-old suspect was released on bail. He was picked up on June 1 and an extradition request is underway, said a French legal source. Overall, between three and five men are thought to have taken part in the attack, which was blamed on the Abu Nidal Organisation, a Palestinian militant group. The other two main suspects in the 1982 attack have been named as Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra, alias "Hicham Harb," who lives in Ramallah in the West Bank, and Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed, alias "Souhail Othman," a resident of Norway. The Abu Nidal Organization, officially known as the Fatah-Revolutionary Council, was considered one of the most ruthless of the Palestinian militant groups. "Amjad Atta" is thought to have been the number three in the group's "special operations committee." The attack on the Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant - in the Marais district, a popular largely Jewish neighborhood in the centre of Paris - began around midday on August 9, 1982 when a grenade was tossed into the dining room. Two men then entered the restaurant, which had around 50 customers inside, and opened fire with "WZ-63" Polish-made machine guns. They also shot at passers-by as they escaped down the street. The whole incident lasted only a few minutes.
The investigation has made little progress over the years. One of the few pieces of evidence was one of the guns, found in the Bois de Boulogne park on the western edge of Paris shortly after the attack. At the time, France often suffered the spillover from the conflict in the Middle East, with numerous clashes involving Arabs and Jews on its soil. Two years prior to the Goldenberg attack, a bomb exploded outside a Paris synagogue, killing four and wounding around 20. And more than thirty years later, the French capital would again be rocked by an anti-Semitic attack, as jihadist gunmen took hostages at a Jewish supermarket and killed four - part of the Charlie Hebdo attacks that left 17 dead in total. Martine Bouccara, a lawyer for the son of one of the victims, Andre Hezkia, hailed the breakthrough in the case more than three decades after the killings. "This new legal advance can only be welcome for the civil parties because it gets us finally closer to a trial," she said. David Pere, a lawyer for the AFVT association that represents French victims of terrorism, said it was a "major breakthrough" that means "someone will be in the dock when there's a trial." "But it just goes to underline the lack of action by the countries where the other two suspects reside, Norway and the Palestinian Authority," added Pere.
According to his information, Oslo has not responded to the French request to arrest the suspect Walid Abdulrahman Abu Zayed. Contacted by AFP in March, Abu Zayed's lawyer Ole-Martin Meland said his client denied any involvement in the attack, stressing he "wasn't there" when it occurred.

UN Syria envoy condemns attacks by both sides, seeks greater access
Daily Star/June 17, 2015/GENEVA:The United Nations mediator for Syria, who held talks with President Bashar al-Assad this week, Wednesday condemned the government's "unacceptable" heavy bombing of civilian areas near Damascus and deadly rebel attacks on Aleppo. U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura called on both sides to allow greater access to besieged areas, especially in view of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which starts this week. He also reiterated the need for a political settlement.
De Mistura, in meetings with Assad and Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, "underlined once again that the use of barrel bombs is unacceptable, and that it is an obligation under international humanitarian law for any government, in all circumstances, to protect its civilians," the statement said. He condemned the "heavy bombings by government forces last [Tuesday] night on Douma, which caused significant casualties" in the suburb about 10 km [6 miles] northeast of central Damascus. De Mistura and government officials also discussed "the increasing threat of advances by terrorist organisations," the statement said, in an apparent reference to ISIS. Damascus frequently describes all fighters opposing the government as "terrorists." The U.N. envoy also condemned attacks on civilians by opposition forces, including on the northern city of Aleppo Monday and a mortar shelling that hit central Damascus Tuesday. More than 30 people were killed in the most lethal rebel bombardment of Aleppo since Syria's conflict started four years ago, a group monitoring the war said Tuesday.De Mistura began a series of talks last month saying he expected to meet 40 or more delegations for one-on-one discussions in Geneva, including Syrian officials, opposition and civil society, and representatives of governments in the region and with influence in the conflict. They will continue into July, the statement said. More than 220,000 people have been killed and nearly 4 million driven abroad since the conflict began in March 2011, according to U.N. figures.

Face Reality: Many Muslims Support ISIS
Tarek Fatah/The Toronto Sun/Canada/June 16, 2015
http://www.meforum.org/5331/many-muslims-support-isis
In the last week of May, the Qatar-based Arabic news network Al-Jazeera polled its Arabic-language audience on the question: "Do you support the victories of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in your region?" The results were shocking. Of the 56,881 Arabic-speaking respondents, a whopping 81% voted yes. The results of this online survey may not be scientific. But they do provide anecdotal evidence of what many see as a rise in the support of Islamism in the Arab Middle East, among Muslims in the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent, and in the diaspora in Britain and France. On Monday, a 17-year-old Briton became that country's youngest suicide bomber after he blew up a brand new SUV packed with explosives in the northern Iraqi town of Baiji. Talha Asmal had Arabized his name to Abu Yusuf al-Britani and is the latest young person used by jihadi Islamists as cannon fodder in their quest to establish an Islamic caliphate. This is laid out in sharia law, as a precursor to the Islamic Armageddon enshrined in Hadith literature, based on Prophet Mohammed's prophesy. For many Muslims, Islam is intrinsically interwoven with the doctrine of armed jihad and supremacy over non-Muslims.
In the wake of news reports about the British teen's act of terror, another story emerged about three UK-based sisters taking their nine children and linking up with their brother inside Syria to join the ISIS jihad.
Here in Canada, the RCMP came up with its own startling revelation. They have arrested Somalian Ali Omar Ader, an alleged extremist and hostage taker they say was involved in the kidnapping of Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout in Somalia in 2008. He was visiting in Ottawa.South of the border, two Pakistani-American brothers were convicted on terrorism charges earlier this month. Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi confessed to planning a terrorist attack on New York City landmarks and were sentenced to 35 and 20 years in prison, respectively. While these and other incidents of Islamist terrorism keep occurring at regular intervals, the explanation for what is happening remains the same. That is, that these individuals are not acting in the name of Islam. That Islam has been "hijacked" by the terrorists. This is what the family of Britain's youngest suicide bomber told the media: "As a family, we would like to take this opportunity to unequivocally state that ISIS are not Islam. They do not represent — in any way, shape or form — Islam and Muslims and we are no longer prepared to allow a barbaric group like ISIS to hijack our faith."But increasingly, similar words by present and former U.S. presidents that "Islam is a religion of peace" ring hollow today. The reality is quite different.
It is true that for many Muslims, Islam is a moral compass that guides them in their daily, law-abiding lives. But for many others, Islam is intrinsically interwoven with the doctrine of armed jihad and the goal of ultimate Muslim supremacy over non-Muslims.
I would have hoped to hear more Muslims saying in the wake of these latest incidents that despite the fact that sharia law dictates the doctrine of armed jihad, we as Muslims reject it as inapplicable in the modern era of nation states, the United Nations and international law.
Contrary to the often-repeated mantra that there is nothing in common between Islam and the Islamic State, for many Muslims, there is a link. And we Muslims should acknowledge that reality.
**Tarek Fatah is a founder of the Muslim Canadian Congress, a columnist at the Toronto Sun, and a Robert J. and Abby B. Levine Fellow at the Middle East Forum. He is the author of two award-winning books: Chasing a Mirage: The Tragic Illusion of an Islamic State and The Jew is Not My Enemy: Unveiling the Myths that Fuel Muslim Anti-Semitism.

ISIS is our disease and we must cure it
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor/Al Arabiya
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
Enough sitting around hoping for miracles! Enough waiting for the United States or the West to cleanse the Arab world from the growing cancer of terrorism! I honestly wonder if Arab countries are waiting until ISIS fighters knock down its citizens’ doors in what still remains of Arab-controlled territories before acting in a meaningful fashion. Almost every Arab country is under threat and those who have succeeded in preventing ISIS from penetrating their borders are being surrounded and infiltrated. The latest assessments suggest that ISIS is now based in 12 countries and is affiliated with extremist groups in others. Whereas the international community, including much of the Arab World, has adopted a laid-back attitude to this menace, GCC countries are the only ones treating the threat with the gravity it requires. GCC states are investing their armies, their weaponry and billions of dollars in the fight. And it is beyond time that other Arab countries showed solidarity with their Gulf allies and participated in the battle against this danger to the entire Arab nation with full force.
ISIS’s fast-growing limbs
I am appalled that so far foreign powers have done little to amputate ISIS’s fast-growing limbs or prevent its recruiters from polluting young minds, not only in the MENA region but also in European democracies where they use laws guaranteeing freedom of expression to distribute their propaganda leaflets. The U.S. State Department estimates that 22,000 foreign fighters from 100 countries have joined ISIS; that fact alone should ring emergency bells loud when many battle hardened radicals will return home one day consumed with hatred for all things Western. Looking at a map of the Middle East nowadays one sees a horror story of bloody conflict, consuming Libya, the Sinai Peninsula, Yemen, Syria and Iraq. When viewed as a whole, the scenario appears so unreal that it is difficult for our minds to take it in. How is it possible that in the 21st century heads are being sliced-off, women are being enslaved and swapped for weapons and thousands are being executed, face down on the ground! People are being beheaded for the ‘crime’ of swearing!
It stretches belief to be told that half of Syria and over a third of Iraq has been taken over by militants who have disgraced the noble word ‘Caliphate’ that speaks of a Golden Age of pure Islam when scholars flocked to Baghdad’s ‘House of Wisdom’ to share their knowledge and Arabs led the world in the fields of science, mathematics, medicine, architecture, law and philosophy. The four Rightly Guided Caliphs, who followed in the footsteps of the Prophet (PBUH) must be turning in their graves.
And now ISIS is gaining ground in Libya and controls the cities of Misrata, Sirte and Harawah along the Mediterranean coast between the capital, Tripoli, and Benghazi. Its aim is to control the country’s oil facilities and related ports to feed its treasury that is already flush with profits from energy sales. While we are dissuaded against confronting the terrorists militarily by the U.S. and the U.N. in favor of talks, ISIS is intent on grabbing Libyan oilfields to increase their wealth and influence.
‘It can’t happen to us’ For most of us, those images are so divorced from our own experience that there is a tendency to think it cannot happen to us. It is like a scary movie that once we turn off our televisions is over. But this is no movie, even though, if no action is taken, a real life version will be coming to theatres – and squares and streets – near to you soon.
What has our reliance on the U.S.-led coalition brought us? President Barack Obama trumpets its successes in Iraq, but any gains it has made on the battlefield have been reversed. Air strikes just won’t cut it because the terrorists secrete themselves within terrified civilian populations and, for some mysterious reason, even when they are out in the open, driving around in convoys, they have rarely been targeted. Maybe Western leaderships can bury their heads away from the danger; there are many miles and oceans separating their respective countries from ISIS. Pleas from the Kurdish Peshmerga and Sunni tribes for weapons to take on ISIS have been ignored. Iraq’s Prime Minister, Haider Al-Abadi, blames the Obama administration for not doing enough in terms of air cover and intelligence sharing. It is no wonder conspiracy theories amount - ranging from the feasible to the absurd - speculating upon the reasons behind the U.S. President’s lack of commitment. I had hopes that the Counter-ISIS Coalition Conference held on June 2 in Paris and attended by the foreign ministers of 22 countries would come up with a joint solution, a new strategy. But there was no dramatic announcement. Unbelievably, those nations have chosen to tackle the problem in the same old way, despite the fact their efforts so far have been dismal failures. In other words, ‘It is not working, but let us carry on as usual and hope for the best’. In essence, the U.S. and the UK expect the useless, partisan Iraqi Army partnered with Shiite militias to finish the job. Many of the Sunni tribes in Anbar, some of which worked with the Iraqi government to drive out al-Qaeda, have reached the conclusion that ISIS is the better of two evils. Syria was hardly discussed during that meeting. There is no international resolve to defend the long-suffering Syrian people from the regime or from ISIS, which is well dug in. What kind of policy is that when they are aware that even if the coalition could succeed in driving ISIS out of Iraq, it would cross the border to regroup and rearm?
On our doorstep
This madness has gone on long enough. Maybe Western leaderships can bury their heads away from the danger; there are many miles and oceans separating their respective countries from ISIS. But we who live in the Arab World cannot afford to be lax because the enemy is on our doorstep biding its time to get a foot in the door. I am forced to conclude that Arab lands have been targeted by a conspiracy in which multiple foreign countries are aligned against us, cynically using religious fervour as a tool to wage war against us. Unless we face up to this fact, we are lost. But it is not too late to block such plots delivering their end goal, which is to carve up our countries into weak defenceless entities. I salute the leaders of the GCC for their efforts to guard their countries, as well as neighbouring Arab states, but this fight should not be on our shoulders alone, it requires Arab partners as well as non-Arab nations to join hands with us. The GCC is doing everything it can to keep its people safe and all credit must go to our GCC leaders. The immediate short-term solution is for Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and GCC States to speed-up the creation of a sizeable joint army, composed largely of well-equipped land forces, supported by air power and artillery and tasked with eradicating ISIS and various pro-Iranian Shiite militias.
If there is any hesitation to implement a timely intervention on the advice of the very world powers seeking our devastation, we will be contributors to the sealing of our own fate. The second stage would be to seal all borders with Iran to thwart its hegemonic ambitions.
A parallel short-to-medium term objective should be to reform educational systems so as to produce knowledgeable and enlightened populations able to think for themselves rather than falling for self-interested propaganda disseminated by unscrupulous individuals and groups. Poor quality education equals ignorance and those who capitalize on ignorance find fertile soil in which extremism flourishes and terrorists are bred. We must pull out all stops to battle false messages that radicalize our youth and discredit our faith in the eyes of the world. Both Muslim and non-Muslim states should stand with the GCC to fight this alien sickness that is not only tearing our region apart. He who hesitates is lost and as long as the world chooses debates over decisive action, we will all be lost in a region where brain-diseased barbarians call the shots.

Were all secrets regarding Iran nuclear talks exposed?
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
It is said the Israelis did not miss the chance to spy on what was going on at Swiss hotels where American and Iranian negotiators met to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program. What was leaked and published has shocked negotiators’ friends, exposed the negotiators and ruined what they had been hoping to hide from three groups: Republican opponents in the U.S. Congress, Israel and Arab Gulf states. The U.S. delegation made sure not to inform its allies, such as Israel and Gulf states, of the negotiations’ developments. This mysteriousness has increased doubts about what the Americans will grant the Iranians and vice versa . The leaks forced the Americans and Iranians to amend their plans. There is speculation that they have still managed to hide some secrets. Although Washington has provided assurances, some in the Arab Gulf still have doubts. It is said the Israelis planted an electronic virus in the computers of all three hotels to gather information. The Russians reportedly exposed the intrusion via a company specialized in anti-spyware technology. Although the Israelis are the best at developing hacking technologies, it is unlikely that they only gathered information electronically.
Well-informed source
They probably also attained it via a participant or a well-informed source in the American or even Iranian delegations, as there are Iranian regime figures who are against the agreement, and some who are against the regime itself. Maybe hinting that infiltration was electronic aims to hide the tracks of those who leaked the information. Electronic espionage can be done by accessing cell phones, computers, laptops, phone networks, electronic alarms and surveillance cameras. However, it is unlikely that negotiators are that dumb to allow such equipment into their meetings. Many sensitive official institutions completely ban cell phones, computers and laptops inside negotiation rooms and private offices. My hunch is that the leaked information came from a person from either party. Even if the negotiating teams and those serving them are monitored by their governments, this does not prevent leaking secrets to a third party. Most negotiators are aware of the possibility of being infiltrated electronically or by someone. Secrets do not last in negotiations, and politicians’ best option is to be open and transparent.
Academy Award
What made the situation more suspicious is that the U.S. delegation made sure not to inform its allies, such as Israel and Gulf states, of the negotiations’ developments. This mysteriousness has increased doubts about what the Americans will grant the Iranians and vice versa.
Israel’s success in exposing these secrets surprised the Americans. The Israelis did not spare any effort to expose details of U.S. concessions, to the point where negotiations would have ended had the American administration not rushed to correct and clarify its stance. This is why it held the Camp David meeting with Arab Gulf leaders.I do not think there are important secrets that have not yet been revealed regarding the nuclear talks. However, if we later realize we have been wrong about that, the American administration must be granted an Academy Award for its outstanding performance.

The Druze position is a challenge for Syria’s uprising
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Alawsat
Wednesday, 17 Jun, 2015
The massacre recently committed by Al-Nusra Front elements in the village of Qalb Lozeh, in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, could not have come at a worse time, given the way the Syrian uprising is moving, and how it is developing.
Here, I am not talking about how tragic the incident is, because Syria has witnessed far worse massacres since the uprising began in March 2011. Furthermore, it is not right to overemphasize the fact that its victims were from a “minority” when the “majority” has been suffering similar massacres for over four years. It is not acceptable to turn a blind eye to the reality that some of the leadership in Syria bluffed themselves into believing that they could easily escape from their miscalculations and evil deeds, and cover up one crime with a bigger one. Given this fact, and in addition to foreign support and international collusion, Syria finds itself where it is now—in an abyss.
The heinous crime committed against 25 villagers in Qalb Lozeh is one in a veritable catalog of tragedies, and a case in kind, another example of the collapse of the state in the absence of a mature, revolutionary alternative.
Still, what took place in Qalb Lozeh was not only tragic, but happened at the worst possible time.
The Qalb Lozeh massacre was committed a few hours before rebels in southern Syria were preparing to liberate the Tha’aleh Military Airbase. Just like Qalb Lozeh and 16 other neighboring villages in Syria’s northwestern countryside, the little town of Tha’aleh—close to the airbase—is inhabited by the Druze minority. In fact, the town is the western gateway to Sweida province where the world’s largest population of this heterodox Muslim sect resides.
The Druze have inhabited Jebel Al-Summaq in Idlib province and its southeastern foothills for around 1,000 years, living mostly in peace with their neighbors. When the Great Syrian Revolt broke out in the early 1920s against the French mandate, the family of Ibrahim Hananu, the revolt’s leader, was given refuge at the home of the local Druze notable Mohammed Ali Al-Qassaab in the village of Martahwan. And when the 2011 uprising broke out, Druze villages in the region provided food and refuge to their neighbors, and cared for and treated the bereaved and wounded.
In Sweida province, in southern Syria, the Druze population have been a part of the fabric of the larger Hawran region for around 400 years. Their history in that part of Syria is well-documented, whether from the days of nationalist uprisings against the French mandate, or during their participation in patriotic movements and nationalist parties and organizations before the latter lost their way and soul.
It is a pity that the Assad regime’s bets paid off when it came to finding ways to destroy Syria. The cruelest of these has been the use of excessive force in its lengthy attempts to crush the uprising. This led to the destruction of the final hope for moderation within the Sunni majority. After ensuring the angry, doubtful and vengeful current within the majority held sway, the regime then began to use it as a means to blackmail religious and sectarian minorities. These minorities were put before two choices, each worse than the other: either seeking protection from a regime that is actually using minorities as a shield, or facing the rage of extremist revenge. Incidentally, in order to ensure that everything went according to plan, the regime freed from jails a number of extremist activists imprisoned for terrorism-related crimes. Moreover, it later intentionally ignored the rapid growth of extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), as it did in Raqqa, Aleppo province, Palmyra, and the Damascus suburbs and countryside. Indeed, one of the Syrian regime’s henchmen in Lebanon said once in a TV interview that when the Free Syrian Army (FSA) first emerged, a worried Assad regime decided to weaken it by allowing extremist and terrorist groups to grow and expand at the expense of the FSA—thus, Syrians would be left to choose between either the regime or the terrorists.
Iran and Russia’s direct support, and the collusion of the US, have provided the Assad regime with ample room to maneuver. Washington’s reluctance to push for regime change, through its continuous refusal to provide the Syrian rebels with any qualitative military aid, stopped all military and political desertions, and pushed minorities to keep quiet and adopt neutrality.
Meanwhile, as extremist foreign “muhajer” fighters continued to flock into Syria—many not even Arabs—the initial identity of the uprising gradually started to change, and its aims almost buried. On the other hand, patriotic rebels and opposition figures began to feel frustrated and let down by the international community, which seemed to be punishing them simply because they were moderate, and sought a free, independent and democratic Syria in which all its citizens can enjoy freedom, dignity and justice.
In normal circumstances, the two military airbases in Tha’aleh and Khukhuleh—also in Sweida province—should be wrested from the regime, more so since the regime re-equipped them for use against the rebels as well as the towns and villages in the Hawran and Quneitra regions. However, the failure of naïve as well as dubious pronouncements to differentiate liberating two airbases and “conquering Sweida”—implying punishment and revenge—only a few hours after the Qalb Lozeh massacre, was indeed a bad mistake.
Immediately, the regime seized the opportunity. A few days after failing in its attempt to withdraw its heavy weapons from the province—thus making it vulnerable to the encroaching ISIS threat—the regime suddenly decided to send reinforcements to the Tha’aleh Airbase—as a punishment to the families of 27,000 young Druze men who refused to serve in the army.
What will happen in Hawran next will surely determine where Syria’s uprising is heading. The people of Sweida, and the Druze elsewhere, are not gambling on protection provided by Assad and his backers; but it is very much in the interests of the Druze and all constituent communities of Syria that the uprising goes back to its original political aim, and get rid of those seeking to classify the Syrian people into different categories and take turns in vetting their faith and patriotism.
The world has insistently disregarded the suffering of Syria even before it fell prey to terrorism, so how can we expect it to behave when it has become a hotbed of terrorism?
Moreover, if we are calling on the whole world today to take notice and react to the plight of the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, how can we remain silent while an inclusive Syrian homeland, that rises above sectarianism and tribalism, is under threat?

Syrian rebel force launches offensive near Golan to clear path to south Damascus. Israel acts to protect Druze
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report June 17, 2015,
Jaysh Hermon (the Army of Hermon) Wednesday, June 17, launched a broad offensive on Syrian army forces in the Quneitra and Hermon sectors bordering on Israel. Its objective is to capture the Syrian army’s 68th Brigade headquarters at Khan al-Shih which commands the main Quneitra-Damascus highway. This would clear the rebels’ path to the southern suburbs of Damascus up to Western Ghouta, from which they would encircle the government troops defending the capital.
If the Army of Hermon achieves this goal - and replicates the May success of the rebel Army of Conquest in capturing much of the northern province of Idlib - the Syrian civil war would enter a new phase.
debkafile’s military sources report that this feat could be brought off suddenly or entail protracted combat. Syrian government forces showed no signs of folding at the onset of the fresh onslaught.
Our sources reveal that two new rebel armies have surfaced in recent weeks on the northern and southern warfronts. Their tactics are clearly stage-managed with a view to driving the Syrian army toward Damascus.
debkafile names the hand guiding the northern rebel force as coming from a joint command based in the big Turkish air base of Dyabakir. It is composed pf US, Saudi, Turkish and Qatari officers.
The southern rebel front is managed from US Centcom’s Forward Command in Jordan, which is quartered north of Amman and run jointly by American, Jordanian, Saudi, Qatari and British officers.
This command center collected eight oddly assorted rebel militias to build the Jaysh Hermon. Some were chosen reluctantly out of need despite their undesirable proclivities. Our sources name them as: The Syrian Free Army, the Sayf al-Sham Brigade; the Jesus Christ Brigade (Muslims respect Jesus as one of their prophets); the Nusra Front (Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate); Ahrar al-Sham (an extremist group linked to Nusra and ISIS); and Ajnad al-Sham (whose fighters took part in the battle to conquer Idlib).
The Jordan-based command running the rebel effort provides them with arms, supplies, wages and their military plans of action. Its leverage to prevent them stepping out of line consists of threats to deprive them of arms or cut their wages.
In the past week, a group of these militias captured parts of Al-Thala near the Jabal Druze capital of Suweida. The threat facing the half a million Druze inhabitants suddenly topped Israel’s agenda as pressure built up from its Druze citizens to intercede. It was then that the Jordan-based command warned the rebel militias that they would lose half their monthly wage if they did not back off.
The penalty worked. And the wild rumors of a Druze massacre at the village of Khader were dispelled.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gady Eisenkott have taken personal charge of the Syrian Druze situation and are keeping a close watch on events on the other side of the border. They are holding their breath for the Jordan command to stay in control of the rebel militias, so that no Druze comes to harm in the course of the fighting in areas around their villages and close to the Israeli border. Keeping them safe is vital if Israel is to avoid a mass Druze stampeded on its border.
However, there is no guarantee that unprofessional militias like the Hermon Army, each governed by its own ideals and methods, will be disciplined enough to stick to any rules.
Israel’s leaders are therefore braced for nasty shocks. They will no doubt breathe a sigh of relief when – and if – the rebel coalition scoops up the territory between Quneitra and Mt. Hermon and heads up the main road to Damascus, away from its borders and the Druze mountain, without causing harm. But if the rebel offensive is stalled, their Jaish Hermon breaks up and out-of-control militias go it alone, Israel may have to contend with a very tough problem.

Britain: Bid to Crack Down on Islamic Extremism Faces Resistance
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute
June 17, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5989/britain-counter-extremism
"Islamist propaganda is so potent that it is influencing children as young as five... If I feel the need to be extra vigilant [with my own children], then I think you need to feel the need to be extra vigilant." — Mak Chishty, Britain's most senior Muslim police officer.
"It is very noticeable that the main Islamist groups are not really up in arms about this. They want it, because it will feed the narrative of grievance and victimhood they love. They will be able to use it to say, look, we told you so." — Haras Rafiq, Director of the Quilliam Foundation.
"You can't protect democracy by undermining democracy... It is a battle of ideas and we have to defeat these ideas by argument, not by banning even having the debate. What we need, far more than any new law, is a counter-argument and a policy which can inspire [Muslim] society to defeat extremist ideas." — Rashad Ali, counter-extremism specialist at the Home Office's de-radicalization program.
"As the party of one nation, we will govern as one nation, and bring our country together. That means actively promoting certain values... And it means confronting head-on the poisonous Islamist extremist ideology. Whether they are violent in their means or not, we must make it impossible for the extremists to succeed." — British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Britain is facing an "unprecedented" threat from hundreds of battle-hardened jihadists who have been trained in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, according to MI5, the domestic counter-intelligence and security agency. It warns that are now more Britons trained in terrorism than at any point in recent memory.
More than 700 Britons are believed to have travelled to Syria and Iraq, according to British authorities. Over half of these Britons are thought to have since returned home, where they pose a significant threat to national security.
Britain's terrorism threat alert is at the second-highest level of "severe," meaning an attack is "highly likely."
MI5's warnings are included in a major new report on the regulation of surveillance powers. Also known as the Anderson Report, the 380-page document was written by the UK's Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, David Anderson QC. The report states:
"MI5 has pointed out some of the recent factors which reinforce their concerns about the terrorist threat. Terrorist related arrests are up 35% compared to 2010. The number who have travelled to Syria and undertaken terrorist training since 2012 is already higher than has been seen in other 21st century theatres, such as Pakistan/Afghanistan, East Africa and Yemen.
"The threat posed on their return comprises not just attack planning but radicalization of associates, facilitation and fundraising, all of which further exacerbate the threat. The number of UK-linked individuals who are involved in or been exposed to terrorist training and fighting is higher than it has been at any point since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. MI5 regard this aspect of the threat as unprecedented. Some travelers were previously unknown to MI5.
"The volume and accessibility of extremist propaganda has increased. UK-based extremists are able to talk directly to ISIL fighters and their wives in web forums and on social media. The key risk is that this propaganda is able to inspire individuals to undertake attacks without ever traveling to Syria or Iraq. Through these media outputs, ISIL have driven the increase in unsophisticated attack methodology seen in recent months in Australia, France and Canada.
The report reveals that MI5 has successfully disrupted two attack plots by lone wolves in the past nine months, both in the late stages of preparation. According to MI5, "identifying such individuals is increasingly challenging, exacerbated by the current limitations in their technical capabilities."
Separately, the UK's lead police officer on counter-terrorism, Mark Rowley, announced the latest arrest figures — nearly one every day — which underline the scale of the challenge British police are facing to tackle the jihadist threat.
According to Rowley, there were a record 338 arrests for terrorism-related offenses in the last financial year (April 2014 to March 2015), a 33% increase on the 254 arrests in the previous year. He said that 157 (46%) of the arrests were linked to Syria, and 56 were under 20 years of age, an "emerging trend."
Rowley said that 79% of those arrested were British nationals and 11% were female. He added that 50% of the arrests were made in London and that roughly 50% of those arrested were later charged (up from around 40% in previous years). The arrests ranged from fundraising for jihadist groups to facilitation, preparation and execution of terrorist attack plans.
Rowley also said that each week the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU), which assesses terrorist and violent extremist material on the Internet, removes on average over 1,000 pieces of content that breaches the Terrorism Act 2006. Approximately 800 of these items are related to the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq and are posted on multiple platforms. According to Rowley:
"ISIL and other terrorist groups are trying to direct attacks in the UK; encouraging British citizens to travel to Syria to fight and train; and are seeking, through propaganda, to provoke individuals in the UK to carry out violent attacks here."
"There is no doubt of the horrific nature of the offenses being committed overseas. The influence of those who wish to bring similar violence to the streets of the UK has been an increasing threat here. The rise in level of activity is matched by increased action by police and security services, who are currently working on hundreds of active investigations. We cannot be complacent."
Meanwhile, Britain's most senior Muslim police officer, Scotland Yard commander Mak Chishty, has warned that Islamist propaganda is so potent that it is influencing children as young as five, and that many more British Muslims are likely to end up being lured into becoming jihadists either at home or abroad.
In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, Chishty said there was an urgent need to "move into the private space" of Muslims to prevent youth from becoming radicalized. He called on friends and family to intervene much earlier, and to watch for subtle changes in behavior, including expressions of anti-Western sentiment. He said:
"We need to now be less precious about the private space. This is not about us invading private thoughts, but acknowledging that it is in these private spaces where this [extremism] first germinates. The purpose of private-space intervention is to engage, explore, explain, educate or eradicate. Hate and extremism is not acceptable in our society, and if people cannot be educated, then hate and harmful extremism must be eradicated through all lawful means."
Chishty defined "private space" as "anything from walking down the road, looking at a mobile, to someone in a bedroom surfing the net, to someone in a shisha cafe talking about things."
Chishty said that jihadist propaganda is so powerful that he fears his own children might be vulnerable. He said his message to fellow Muslim parents was: "I am not immunized. If I feel the need to be extra vigilant, then I think you need to feel the need to be extra vigilant."
Referring to three teenage girls from a school in Bethnal Green, east London, who slipped away from their families in February to join the Islamic State in Syria, he said he found it impossible to believe the claims by their families that there had been no clues that the girls were becoming radicalized. "My view as a parent is there must have been signs," he said.
According to Chishty, current counter-radicalization strategies are not working. "We are in unchartered water.... We are facing a risk, a threat which is global, which is powerfully driven by social media, reaching you on your own through your mobile phone."
Some of Chishty's ideas highlight the challenge of finding a balance between confronting jihadist propaganda and criminalizing free speech.
A new Counter-Extremism Bill — which the government says is needed to combat groups and individuals who "undermine British values" — is facing mounting criticism that it is too draconian.
The new legislation would introduce so-called Banning Orders for extremist groups that seek to "undermine democracy or use hate speech in public places." It would also give the government new powers to restrict individuals who seek to radicalize youth, and powers to close premises where extremists seek to influence others.
The bill would strengthen the powers of the Charity Commission to root out charities that misappropriate funds towards extremism and terrorism. It would also place immigration restrictions on extremists, and strengthen the ability of Ofcom, the communications regulator, to take action against channels that broadcast extremist content.
The legislation is partly aimed at providing the government with the tools needed to silence Islamic extremists such as Anjem Choudary, who has long called for the implementation of Islamic Sharia law in Britain. Although Choudary is believed to have inspired dozens of young British Muslims to carry out violence in the name of Islam, his training as a lawyer has helped him to stay one step ahead of the law and out of prison.
But the new bill is facing stiff opposition from a variety of individuals who fear the bill will give too much power to the state.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Haras Rafiq, the director of the Quilliam Foundation, an anti-extremism think tank, said the new bill would "do the very things the extremists want us to. With these Orwellian, totalitarian powers, we are playing into their hands." He added:
"It is very noticeable that the main Islamist groups are not really up in arms about this. They want it, because it will feed the narrative of grievance and victimhood they love. They will be able to use it to say, look, we told you so."
Rafiq described the proposed powers as "ridiculous" and "unworkable" and said that even if they survived the passage through Parliament, they would be struck down by the courts. "That will be embarrassing and a victory for the extremists," he said.
The Telegraph also reported that senior government advisors are opposed to the bill. A counter-extremism specialist at the Home Office's de-radicalization program, Rashad Ali, said:
"You can't protect democracy by undermining democracy. The Government is obsessed with legislation but this is not something you can defeat by legislation. It is a battle of ideas and we have to defeat these ideas by argument, not by banning even having the debate. What we need, far more than any new law, is a counter-argument and a policy which can inspire [Muslim] society to defeat extremist ideas."
The former foreign office minister and shadow home secretary David Davis said that "restricting free speech, and forcing those who hold views inimical to our own into the shadows, is an authoritarian act that will only serve to further alienate those susceptible to extremist views."
The government's new Business Secretary, Sajid Javid, in a leaked letter to Home Secretary Theresa May, warned that the law would turn Ofcom into a state "censor."
Alan Craig, the leader of a campaign against the proposed "London Olympic mega-mosque" at West Ham, is also opposed to the new bill. He said:
"David Cameron seems to think that banning orders, extremist disruption orders and draconian laws are the way to tackle Choudary's ideological venom. But such legislation simply endangers the UK's democratic liberties and freedom of speech. It is far better openly to expose — and mock — the fictitious fabricated roots of Choudary's fundamentalist ideology. It is this way that Choudary will slowly but surely lose his malign influence over so many impressionable young minds."
British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the bill. "For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens: as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone," he said. "It's often meant we have stood neutral between different values. And that's helped foster a narrative of extremism and grievance." He added:
"This government will conclusively turn the page on this failed approach. As the party of one nation, we will govern as one nation, and bring our country together. That means actively promoting certain values... And it means confronting head-on the poisonous Islamist extremist ideology. Whether they are violent in their means or not, we must make it impossible for the extremists to succeed."
The bill's passage is not a foregone conclusion. Cameron's new government has a majority of just 10 MPs in the House of Commons, and holds 228 of the 787 seats in the House of Lords. MPs are likely to propose and debate amendments to the government's proposals.
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group.

Turkey Cracks Down on the Free Press
Burak Bekdil//Gatestone Institute
June 17, 2015 at 4:00 am
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/5974/turkey-press-crackdown
This time, the Islamists are opting for less subtle methods than their previous tax fines. Now they are putting newspaper editors in jail.
Hurriyet's editors may have to stand trial and face jail terms for running a headline identical to a remark made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Islamists' direct targeting of the country's largest media group is comparable to similar practices in the world's most authoritarian regimes.
It was once a Soviet joke, but now it applies to Turkey: A man envies civil liberties in the West: "One can even insult and curse the president of the United States," he says. His friend disagrees: "We have the same liberties here: one can freely insult and curse the president of the United States!"
In 2008, when Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister, expressed his dislike of an assortment of international headlines (from the Associated Press, Reuters, the Washington Post, New York Times and Le Monde) on the front page of the Turkish daily, Hurriyet, this author suggested that the paper should have quoted more serious publications such as The Ulama Times, The Wahhabi Daily News or The Observant.
In that 2008 op-ed piece, this author wrote, hoping it would remain a joke: "This columnist's humble advice to Hurriyet's publishers: Be wise, just do as I do and escape the corporate consequences."
It turned out to be more serious than a simple joke. In 2009, tax authorities levied a fine of $2.5 billion on Dogan Yayin, Hurriyet's publisher, for alleged failure to pay taxes properly for share transfers between Dogan companies. That was the largest tax fine ever for a Turkish company: the equivalent to the combined value of Dogan Yayin and its parent, Dogan Holding.
Since then, Turkey's ruling Islamists have geared up their crackdown on press freedoms. Their target, once again, is Hurriyet. But this time the, Islamists are opting for less subtle methods than their previous tax fines. Now they are threatening to put newspaper editors in jail. Their direct targeting of the country's largest media group is comparable to similar practices in the world's most authoritarian regimes.
Shortly after news broke that a court in Egypt had sentenced to death the former president, Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi's Turkish protector, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, rushed to a public rally and emphasized that this was a punishment given to a president with 52% of the vote. Just before Erdogan's speech, Hurriyet had run a headline that was identical: "Death sentence to president who was elected with 52% of the vote." In a saner country, Hurriyet could perhaps be accused of running a headline that made itself look as if it were the president's mouthpiece. In Turkey, Hurriyet was accused of conspiring in a coup d'état against the president.
Erdogan and his prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, claimed that Hurriyet's headline intended to imply that Erdogan's fate would be the same as Morsi's simply because Erdogan, too, had won presidential elections last August with 52% of the vote.
"When used by Erdogan this was a normal statement of fact; when used by Hurriyet it was a big offense," wrote columnist Mustafa Akyol. "This is just one example of how independent Turkish media is threatened by the state and the other part of the media that worships that state."
The intimidation of any opponent or dissident consisted of not just attacks by Erdogan, Davutoglu and an army of their trolls. Rahmi Kurt, a lawyer known for repeatedly making legal complaints against Erdogan's critics, filed a petition with prosecutors asking for a criminal investigation against the editors of Hurriyet. It might sound like black humor, but Hurriyet's editors may actually have to stand trial and face jail terms for running a headline identical to a remark made by Erdogan. In an editorial, Hurriyet asked the president: "What do you want from us? Why do you attack us with obvious injustices, obvious distortions, and obvious attempts to guess our intentions by reading selectively? Why do you target us?"
On May 22, the New York Times published an editorial urging a discontinuation of the harsh policies toward democracy and press freedom in Turkey. The editorial, entitled, "Dark Clouds Over Turkey," said:
"Mr. Erdogan has a long history of intimidating and co-opting the Turkish media, but new alarms were set off this week when criminal complaints were filed against editors of Hurriyet and its website over a headline Mr. Erdogan had objected to ... While the country has faced tough political campaigns before, this one [June 7 parliamentary elections] is especially vicious and the mood seems unusually dark and fearful. Mr. Erdogan appears increasingly hostile to truth-telling. The United States and Turkey's other NATO allies should be urging him to turn away from this destructive path."
Mehmet Baransu, a Kurdish reporter for Turkey's Taraf daily newspaper, was arrested on March 1, 2015 and charged with "forming a criminal organization," as well as procuring, publicizing and then destroying "documents related to the state's interests at home and abroad." (Image source: ZamanTV video screenshot)
Erdogan seems determined to fight a political war in which there is no place for independent thinking or publishing. In his political worldview, ideally, the media should consist of hundreds of different Pravdas that come in different names and colors.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Pro-Muslim Brotherhood Clerics Call To Overthrow Al-Sisi Regime In Egypt, Restore Mursi To Presidency
MERI/June 17, 2015 Special Dispatch No.6073
On May 27, 2015, a group of 159 pro-Muslim Brotherhood (MB) clerics and 10 pro-MB religious bodies from across the Arab and Muslim world posted a document clarifying “the position of the shari’a on the [current] Egyptian regime.” The document was posted on the Nida Al-Kinana (“Egypt Call”) website, which was launched specifically for this purpose. It states that the current Egyptian regime is a “criminal and murderous” regime that has “betrayed the homeland and the faith,” and therefore Egyptians have a religious obligation to come out against it and strive for its complete elimination “using the appropriate means, such as civil disobedience.” The document also calls for the release of Muhammad Mursi, whom it calls the legitimate elected president.
The document stresses that anyone proved to be involved in killing innocent people is guilty of murder and must be subjected to the relevant shari’a punishment (i.e., put to death), and this includes judges, media figures and politicians. Directing specific accusations against the Sheikh of Al-Azhar and the Mufti of Egypt, it states that they backed the regime’s actions against the Muslim Brotherhood, which makes them complicit in the regime’s crimes, with all that this entails in terms of the shari’a.
Finally, the document calls on all the Arab and Muslim countries, as well as on academics and liberals, to act immediately to protect Egypt from “the crimes of this tyrannical regime,” and condemns the countries that support it.
The document is signed by 10 MB-affiliated religious bodies from across the Muslim world, including the Sunni Scholars Association, the Council of Palestinian Scholars Abroad, the Lebanon Muslim Scholars Committee, the Mauritania Seminary for Clerics, the Mauritania Forum of Clerics and Imams, the Council of Clerics in the Arab Maghreb, the Al-Azhar International Clerics Union, the Egyptian Preachers Union, the Forum of Clerics against the Coup, and the Sudanese Clerics Council.
The signatories to the document are prominent figures affiliated with or supportive of the MB, including religious university heads and lecturers, heads of Islamic councils and bodies, preachers and former ministers. They come from a variety of Muslim countries across the world, including India, Turkey, Morocco, Yemen, Libya, Mauritania, Pakistan, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Among them are Dr. Ahmed Al-Raissouni, deputy head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars; ‘Abd Al-Majid Al-Zindani, head of the Yemeni Clerics Council; Sheikh Salman Al-Husseini Al-Nadawi, president of Imam Ahmad University in India; Sheikh Muhammad Zahal, head of the Council of Clerics in the Arab Maghreb; former Yemeni justice minister ‘Abd Al-Wahhab Al- Dilmi; Jamal ‘Abd Al-Sattar, a da’wa lecturer at Al-Azhar and the head of the Sunni Scholars Association; and Muhammad Al-Hassan Al-Dado, head of the Mauritania Seminary for Clerics.
Over half a million people have indicated their support of the document on the Egypt Call website.
Responding to the document on its official website, the MB welcomed it and thanked the clerics for “coming out against the crimes” of the “coup regime.” Conversely, spokesmen for the Egyptian regime, as well as some other figures and movements in Egypt, harshly condemned the document and the calls therein, and warned the Egyptians not to heed them.
The following are translated excerpts from the document, and from some of the responses to it.
Some of the clerics signed to the document (source: facebook.com/IkhwanWorld/photos)
The Clerics’ Document: “It Is The Duty Of The Ummah… To Oppose This Regime”
“Announcement by the religious scholars of the [Muslim] ummah regarding the crimes of the Egyptian coup and the measures to be taken regarding it:
“In light of what has been happening in Egypt for about two years, which includes [acts of] shedding forbidden [i.e., Muslim] blood, violating the honor of chaste women, killing innocents, usurping property, vandalizing private assets, destroying the land, driving peaceful people [from their homes], and showing flagrant hostility towards Islam and the Muslims, manifested in a war against the path [of Islam] and against the religious scholars, in harming the values, principles and sanctities [of Islam], and in allying with its enemies while being hostile towards its loyalists – [in light of all this], and out of a desire to publically announce the truth and renounce falsehood, and clarify [the matter] to the people, as Allah commanded, we, [the undersigned,] hereby proclaim to the ummah the position of the shari’a on this [Egyptian] regime and the measures that must be taken regarding it:
“1. The current Egyptian regime is a criminal and murderous regime that staged a coup against the will and the choice of the ummah and abducted its legitimate elected president. The commander of the coup usurped the presidency in fictitious and fake elections, and concentrated all the powers in his own hands, including the power to legislate and pass arbitrary laws that silence people and completely eliminate their source of livelihood. This regime has unlawfully killed thousands of people; arrested tens of thousands without cause; sentenced thousands of people from among the best men and women of Egypt to imprisonment and death in fake trials; deported thousands of people… and displaced thousands of families; aided the enemies of the ummah against it; arbitrarily dismissed hundreds of judges, university lecturers, teachers, imams, preachers and others…, and violated every [religious] prohibition.
“2. According to the shari’a, it is the duty of the ummah – its leaders and its people – to oppose this regime and strive for its complete elimination by all legitimate means, in order to protect the principles of the ummah and the supreme goals of Islam.
“3. Striking an alliance with the Zionist aggressors [and] protecting and defending them, while showing hostility to the Palestinian resistance, conspiring against it and besieging it by destroying Sinai and deporting its people – all these constitute treason against the faith and the homeland and contempt for the way of the Prophet…
“4. Any leaders, judges, officers, soldiers, media figures or politicians, and anyone [else] who is definitely proved to be involved (even if only through incitement) in violating the honor of women, shedding the blood of innocents and unlawful killing – [all these] are murderers according to the shari’a, and must be punished according to the shari’a.
“5. The undersigned clerics stress that Dr. Muhammad Mursi is the legitimate president of the country, that the measures taken against him and the sentence imposed on him and on opponents of the coup lack all validity according to the shari’a and according to [civil] law. [Moreover,] according to the sharia, it is the obligation of the ummah to act to free its elected president.
“6. The ummah must also do its utmost to free all those who were arrested by this criminal regime for opposing the coup and for demanding to respect the will and the liberty of the ummah, especially the women [prisoners], using means that are legitimate according to Islam.
“7. Helping this criminal regime to survive, in any way, is forbidden according to the shari’a, and constitutes a crime according to the [civil] law, and is tantamount to blatant complicity in the crimes [of this regime]…
“8. By being present at this coup and remaining silent in the face of [its] transgressions, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar perpetrated a crime against the shari’a that divests him of his legitimacy and his status and makes him complicit in the acts of the criminals. This is a stain on the glorious history of Al-Azhar, and [also] corrupts its present and destroys its future.
“9. We hold the Mufti of Egypt religiously and legally responsible for the lives of the innocent people whose execution he has approved, and warn him of the consequences should he continue to approve such arbitrary and malicious death sentences… If he approves the killing of innocent people, no excuse will avail him in this world or the next.
“10. Protecting one’s life, honor and property by every legitimate means is a legitimate right and even a religious obligation which nobody is entitled to either grant or deny, for one who is attacked has a duty to come out against his attacker, and [moreover,] he must do so himself, and not through the mediation of another…”
“11. We charge the leaders, monarchs and presidents of the Arab and Muslim countries, as well as the academics and the liberals throughout the world, to take immediate steps to rescue Egypt from the crimes of this tyrannical regime and prevent it from killing, murdering, robbing and corrupting, and to support the will and the choice of the [Egyptian] people.
“12. The undersigned clerics condemn the position of the countries that support the coup, as well as the international position that purports to respect human rights and the choice of the peoples but in practice supports coup regimes and maintains ties with them. [We] hold [these countries and the international community] responsible for the oppressive and aggressive shedding of [innocent] blood…
“13. We charge the power brokers and the free people who oppose the coup, inside and outside Egypt, to stand as one against this criminal regime, while using suitable means, such as civil disobedience, etc., in order to purge the land of the crimes and tyranny of the perpetrators of the coup and protect the blood of the martyrs…”[1]
The MB Welcomes The Call To Topple The Egyptian Regime “By All Means”
In a response on its official website, the MB thanked the clerics for “coming out against the crimes of the army of the coup regime, the last of which was the death sentences imposed on Dr. Muhammad Mursi and hundreds of innocent Egyptians who rose up against the tyranny.” The MB expressed its gratitude to the clerics for clarifying “the religious duty to oppose the coup by all means until it is toppled and the legitimate [Mursi] regime is restored”, and stressed that it is committed to the directives of the shari’a and will follow them, “no matter how much sacrifice” this requires.[2]
MB spokesman Muhammad Muntasir likewise welcomed the cleric’s document, tweeting on his official page: “This is our religion and these are our clerics.”[3] In an article he posted on the MB website on June 8, 2015, which was the first anniversary of ‘Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi’s inauguration, Muntasir congratulated “Egypt’s free revolutionaries” who took to the street that day to declare “that the entire Egyptian people opposes the murderous and discriminatory military coup, and refuses to recognize the arch-murderer [Al-Sisi].” He wrote that, one year after Al-Sisi’s ascension to the presidency, Egypt is suffering economical, security and political ruin, and accused Al-Sisi of “shrinking Egypt’s status and making it a perpetual beggar.” Finally, he called on “Egypt’s revolutionaries” not to stop rebelling against the oppression and the oppressors, to fill the squares and “liberate Egypt from the murderous military [leaders].”[4]
Responses In Egypt: The Clerics’ Document Comes To Sow Chaos, Destroy Egypt
Conversely, the Egyptian establishment and several figures and movements condemned the clerics’ document. In a May 28, 2015 statement, Dar Al-Ifta, Egypt’s supreme fatwa-issuing body, called the document “incitement against Egypt and its institutions” published by a group of pro-MB clerics “in a desperate attempt to undermine [Egypt's] stability and security.” Dar Al-Ifta condemned the clerics for calling to eliminate the Egyptian regime and its security apparatuses, judges and media figures, and for presenting this as a “supreme religious commandment.” It added that making such calls is an act of “corrupting the land,” and that “Allah warned against [this act] and set out heavy punishments, in this world and the next, for those who engage in it.” The same goes for the call to free accused terrorists form jail, which is aimed at “sparking chaos, spreading crime and destroying the country,” said Dar Al-Ifta. It warned people not to heed the clerics’ calls to kill innocent Egyptians, noting that the Prophet forbade incitement to murder.
Egyptian Endowments Minister Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar Jum’a called the clerics “perpetrators of crimes against their religion, homeland and ummah,” and urged to place them all on the list of persona non-grata in Egypt and persons wanted for interrogation, and to “purge the state institutions of any remaining [MB supporters].” He also called to designate the International Union of Muslim Scholars, headed by Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi, a terrorist organization and treat its members accordingly.[5]
The deputy sheikh of Al-Azhar, Dr. ‘Abbas Shouman, warned the Egyptians not to heed the clerics’ calls to kill and to destroy the state institutions, but rather to “protect their state and their institutions,” and declared that the signatories to the document “are not clerics but supporters of terrorist organizations.”[6]
Egyptian journalist Wael Al-Abrashi made similar statements in a program on the private Egyptian channel Dream TV. He denounced the clerics’ call to kill all supporters of the current regime, including politicians, media figures and members of the security apparatuses, and added that those who make such calls are ignorant of the course of history, since no regime has ever been toppled by armed terrorism. On the contrary, he said, regimes only grow stronger when terrorism increases, as demonstrated by the case of the Egyptian regime, which enjoys the people’s support. He warned the Egyptians not to be deceived by these calls and to reject them.[7]
The April 6 movement, which opposes the Egyptian regime but also the MB, condemned the document as yet another example of “incitement to be violent and to destroy what remains of the peace within Egyptian society.” It opposed “any hint of [advocating] violence” against members of Egypt’s state apparatuses, and urged all Egyptians, regardless of their affiliation, “to adhere to the path of non-violence and not to be swayed by these calls.”[8]
Endnotes:
[1] Egyptcall.org, May 27, 2015.
[2] Ikhwanonline.com, May 28, 2015.
[3] Twitter.com/montaseregy, May 25, 2015.
[4] Ikhwanonline.com, June 8, 2015.
[5] Alarabiya.net, May 28, 2015.
[6] Tahrirnews.com, June 3, 2015.
[7] Youtube.com/watch?v=Nb0kPUY1TA0, May 30, 2015.
[8] Vetogate.com, June 2, 2015.