LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 26/15

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletins05/english.june26.15.htm

Bible Quotation For Today/The Samaritan's faith that is transformed into work
Luke 10/25-37: "Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, "Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend." Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’"

Bible Quotation For Today/So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Letter of James 02/14-23: "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill’, and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you senseless person, that faith without works is barren? Was not our ancestor Abraham justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was brought to completion by the works. Thus the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, and he was called the friend of God."

Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 25-26/15
If Syria breaks apart, will Lebanon too/Michael Young/The Daily Star/June 25/15
Public Statement on U.S. Policy Toward the Iran Nuclear Negotiations/Washington Institute/June 25/15
The good Druze and the bad Druze/Yossi Yehoshua/Ynetnews/June 25/15
Saudi Arabia’s Message to France/Salman Aldosary/Asharq Al Awsat/25 June/15
Khamenei sacks Qassem Soleimani from command of the Syrian war/DEBKAfile/June 24/15
ISIS’ ‘Caliphate’ one year later: The end of Sykes-Picot/Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/June 25/15

Lebanese Related News published on June 25-26/15
Israeli cluster bomb kills boy, wounds 3 in south Lebanon 
Govt paralysis 'deliberate': Lebanon businessmen 
Economic Committees Raise a Voice against 'National Suicide
Hezbollah urges probe into torture videos leak 
Judge issues arrest warrants in Roumieh torture case 
Salam Gives Another Chance for Consultations over Cabinet Impasse
EU, Lebanon sign $38M donation package 
STL hears about video of alleged assassins 
Two Lebanese Kidnapped in Nigeria's Oil Region
Official Says Hizbullah Sabotaged Deal on Release of Hostages despite Party's Denial
MEAB is here to stay, bank’s new chairman insists 
If Syria breaks apart, will Lebanon? 
Rahi Urges Rivals to Elect President to Stop Country from 'Dying'
Doomed policy
Arrest Warrants Issued against Five Roumieh Prison Guards
Report: Aoun Pushes for Bassil's Election as FPM Chief
Hollande's Envoy in Beirut Soon over Presidential Crisis
Saudi Says Lebanon Arms Deal with France Not Blocked

Miscellaneous Reports And News published on June 25-26/15
Kobani 'massacre' reflects Turkish support for ISIS
Turkey Denies IS Bombers Reentered Kobane from its Territory as Group Executes 23 Kurds
Kurdish militia wants Syrian rebels to lead attack on ISIS HQ
ISIS storms Kobani, Hassakeh in new Syria offensive
ISIS fighters dead in failed attack on Syria Alawite town
Yemen air raids kill over 100, Oman talks ongoing
Three Saudi soldiers, 1 Emirati killed on Yemen border
Drone strike kills 4 suspected Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen
Rocket fired from Syria kills one in Jordan: govt source
Al-Qaeda confirms US strike killed American spokesman
Saudi Arabia downplays leaks as checkbook diplomacy revealed
Putin vows to further strengthen Russian military
German justice minister condemns protests against refugees
PKK attacks military base in southeastern Turkey
Four charged in Germany with backing Syrian rebel organization
Top consumer brands pledge to halve food waste by 2025
Gaza rebuilding moving at ‘snail’s pace’
Turkey’s Erdogan sees red over ‘giant table’ accusations
Drone strike kills four ‘al-Qaeda militants’ in Yemen
Saudi Arabia, France agree major deals on back of Deputy Crown Prince visit
French FM: Iran comments contradict nuclear deal  
ISIS’ ‘Caliphate’ one year later: The end of Sykes-Picot
Yemen diplomacy has not lost its momentum
The Magna Carta’s many lessons for the Middle East
Palestinian independence should start on the economic front
Will the Palestinian leadership be forever divided?
Israel must act to reduce international damage
Drone from Gaza penetrates into Israeli territory, crashing near border fence
UN: Israel's foreign direct investment dropped 46% in 2014
Jordanian journalists slam 'enemy' Israel for protesting terror praise
Israel to Jordanian media: Stop lauding attacks
Palestinians to make first submission to ICC

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Raymond Ibrahim: Christian Carnage and Western Indifference
Strategies of Denial Revisited (Part I)
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Obama administration will now communicate with jihad groups holding hostages
Islamic State calls for jihad, martyrdom during Ramadan
Strategies of Denial Revisited (Part I)

Official Says Hizbullah Sabotaged Deal on Release of Hostages despite Party's Denial
Naharnet/June 25/15/The Lebanese government has failed to approve a deal with jihadists who have taken servicemen hostage after coming under pressure from Hizbullah, an official said Thursday.The official, who was not identified, said Hizbullah pressured the cabinet and the so-called crisis cell to reject a deal mediated by Arab and regional countries for al-Nusra Front to release the 16 servicemen it has in its captivity in return for Beirut to set free female detainees and pay a $30 million ransom. The official also told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that the deal would have been executed in three stages and within seven days. Al-Nusra Front had been initially demanding the release of 16 Islamist inmates from Roumieh prison in return for setting free the Lebanese soldiers and policemen that it took captive when its fighters overran the northeastern border town of Arsal in August last year. Islamic State jihadists also took with them hostages during the attack on Arsal but the negotiations with the group have reached a standstill over their crippling demands. Despite al-Nusra's conditions on the Roumieh Islamists, the group gave up its demand and only called for the release of female detainees and the payment of ransom, said the official. But Hizbullah imposed its opinion on the crisis cell that is headed by Prime Minister Tammam Salam out of its conviction that it can liberate the captives militarily, he told the newspaper. But a Hizbullah official denied the claim, telling Asharq al-Awsat that the government is in charge of leading the negotiations with the extremists. The official said the party is in favor of ending the captivity of the servicemen, adding that it backs the efforts made by General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim to secure the release of the hostages.Ibrahim is Lebanon's official mediator in charge of dealing with several parties involved in the negotiations process, including an envoy from Qatar.

Economic Committees Raise a Voice against 'National Suicide'
Naharnet/June 25/15/Economic Committees gathered Thursday and gave a shout-out against the deteriorating economic conditions in Lebanon urging for a quick resumption of the state institutions' activity mainly the presidency. The gathering, which was held in BIEL and named June 25 Call, meant to urge all politicians to shoulder their responsibility and avoid what the head of the Beirut Merchants Association Nicolas Shammas called as “national suicide.”Shammas had emphasized to As Safir daily on Thursday that “the politicians should bear the responsibility and help Lebanon before it collapses.”The gathering included the country’s most prominent bankers and businessmen and aimed to sound alarm on the economic situation the country is passing through. The head of the Economic Committees Adnan Kassar said:“We still have a historic chance to salvage Lebanon,” urging all politicians to put their differences aside. For his part, President of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Mohammed Choucair warned against schemes to annul the presidency, the vacuum in the security positions and the paralysis of the parliament. Ghassan Ghosn, the head of the GLC, stressed that “there should be a popular demand to regain Lebanon's political life, including the election of a president and restoring the executive and legislative activities.” Shammas, in an interview to the daily stressed that: “The call of economic bodies reflects the current economic situation and is not an exaggeration,” as he was referring to reports criticizing the move dubbing it as politically mobilized. He pointed to the significant “decline in sales and profits of traders who can no longer endure the situation. Also, 82 institutions in Downtown Beirut have closed their doors between March 2014-March 2015 and the owners have therefore decided to raise voices.”Shammas also pointed that “some economic and financial sectors mainly the banking sector might be subject to sanctions of the international community if the parliament did not approve the fight against tax evasion laws, money laundering and the transfer of money across borders.”Lebanon has been living in a state of governmental and parliamentary paralysis since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 amid the failure of lawmakers to convene and elect a successor. The government has also been in limbo since PM Tammam Salam halted cabinet sessions early in June against the backdrop of the Free Patriotic Movement's threats to boycott the sessions if the appointment of high-ranking officials did not top the agenda. On the FPM's criticism that the move of Economic Committees has a political background, Shammas reiterated that it was not initiated by political pressure saying: “We were not subject to pressure by any political side, the pressure emanated from our bases in the markets.” Hailing the move, head of al-Mustaqbal movement Saad Hariri said via twitter on Wednesday: “I join my voice to those meeting in BIEL tomorrow to rightfully decry "national suicide" in light of our deteriorating economy. “We are fully aware of problems and challenges facing the Lebanese due to the deteriorating economic and social situation. Such challenges and difficulties are compounded by vacuum in the Presidency and paralysis of the Legislative and Executive branches .Our Future movement MPs and Cabinet members will have an open door to study the recommendations made at tomorrow's meeting.”

Hollande's Envoy in Beirut Soon over Presidential Crisis
Naharnet/June 25/15/French President Francois Hollande's envoy is expected to visit Beirut in the coming weeks in an effort to revive France's efforts to resolve the Lebanese presidential deadlock. An Nahar daily on Thursday quoted ministerial sources as saying that the Director of the Department of the Middle East and North Africa at the French Foreign Ministry, Jean-François Girault, will visit Beirut at the end of the month or in early July. Girault's trip, however, will be preceded by contacts with Tehran, Riyadh and the Vatican, said the sources.The French diplomat last visited Beirut earlier this month. He held talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and prominent party leaders. 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 have thwarted the elections. Girault has been in shuttle diplomacy since last year, making trips to Riyadh, Tehran, Washington and the Vatican over the presidential crisis.

Saudi Says Lebanon Arms Deal with France Not Blocked
Naharnet/June 25/15/France's $3 billion Saudi-funded deal to provide military supplies to Lebanon has not been canceled, the Saudi foreign minister said Wednesday, despite the delays. "There is an agreement... there is no blockage. Everything is proceeding normally," said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir during a visit to Paris. Lebanon received the first tranche of weapons designed to bolster its army against jihadist threats, including anti-tank guided missiles, in April, but press reports have since indicated that the $3 billion program has run into obstacles. On Wednesday, a French diplomatic source denied the deal had been canceled but said there were delays. "It is being evaluated at the request of the Saudis for political reasons because Saudi Arabia is extremely cautious on the issue that these materials go only to the Lebanese army," the source said. "The Saudis want guarantees that this material is not diverted to other forces.""The work is ongoing but we are confident that the program will be put into practice in all its dimensions," said the diplomatic source.Agence France Presse

Rahi Urges Rivals to Elect President to Stop Country from 'Dying'
Naharnet/June 25/15/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi urged the rival March 8 and 14 alliances on Thursday to officially announce the name of their presidential candidates and elect a new head of state. “It is a shame that the presidential vacuum crossed the one-year mark,” al-Rahi told a delegation from the Maronite League that visited him in Bkirki. “We did all we can to find solutions but the March 8 and 14 alliances are bickering in vain with each other,” he said. The two coalitions should “officially announce the name of their candidates so that we know where we are heading,” said al-Rahi. “Let them head to parliament to only elect a new president,” the patriarch told the delegation that was headed by the head of the Maronite League, Samir Abi Lamaa. He warned that “the country is dying and the institutions are disintegrating.”Baabda Palace has been vacant since the term of President Michel Suleiman ended in May last year. The vacuum is partly to be blamed on Christian rivals Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, who are both presidential candidates. The MPs of Aoun's Change and Reform bloc in addition to Hizbullah and other lawmakers from the March 8 alliance have been boycotting the polls over their call for a prior agreement on a consensual candidate.

Two Lebanese Kidnapped in Nigeria's Oil Region
Naharnet/June 25/15/Two Lebanese men have been kidnapped by armed men in Nigeria's oil-producing south, local media reported on Thursday. Two policemen were also killed during the kidnapping operation at Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta, said the reports. They said the men were armed with sophisticated weap­ons and came in two speed boats, storming the site of Pache Nigeria Limited, shooting sporadically into the air to scare people. Eyewitnesses said the policemen engaged in a gunbattle with the assailants, but they were killed instantly. The kidnappers then immediately grabbed the two Lebanese men and whisked them into the speed boats and escaped, they said. The Niger Delta, home to Africa's largest oil industry, is made up of a network of rivers and creeks. Criminal groups have a track record of speeding around on small boats and launching gun attacks on the security forces and oil workers. Both foreign and Nigerian hostages have typically been released following a ransom payment.

Salam Gives Another Chance for Consultations over Cabinet Impasse
Naharnet/June 25/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam is giving negotiations a chance before calling for a cabinet session even if the rival parties do not reach an agreement, Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said Thursday.
“Salam is still giving a chance (for the different parties) to reach a certain solution,” Derbas told al-Liwaa daily. The minister stressed, however, that the PM will call on the cabinet to convene soon whether a settlement is reached or not. Derbas also rejected claims that the government is enjoying a Ramadan holiday, saying that it would convene within maximum two weeks. Despite his confirmation, sources close to Salam refused to discuss the date of the session, saying the PM “would not resort to any step unless it is fruitful and gives positive results.” Their remarks came a day after Free Patriotic Movement official Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said that the FPM's ministers will not attend any cabinet session that does not have the appointment of high-ranking military and security officials on the top of its agenda. The cabinet has been paralyzed since early June when Salam suspended the sessions over the dispute on the appointments. The premier met with several cabinet ministers on Thursday to discuss the impasse.

Arrest Warrants Issued against Five Roumieh Prison Guards
Naharnet/June 25/15/Military Examining Magistrate Judge Riyad Abou Ghida questioned on Thursday five guards, who have been charged in the Roumieh prison beating case, and issued arrest warrants against them. LBCI TV said the questioning of the five men revealed that four more people, including policemen and civilians, are involved in the case. The four suspects will be questioned by Abou Ghida next Monday. State Commissioner to the Military Court Judge Saqr Saqr charged the five guards on Tuesday for abusing Islamist inmates in Roumieh. They were arrested after online video clips made the rounds on social media on Sunday, showing several of them beating the prisoners. Roumieh is Lebanon's largest prison and has long been infamous for the poor conditions in some of its blocks, including overcrowding and harsh treatment. General Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud said Tuesday that the torture of the three inmates as seen in the video clips was motivated by personal reasons. The beating of the prisoners was not ordered by any side, he said. According to media reports, two of the arrested guards beat the inmates while a third recorded the assault on a mobile phone.
The two other guards have likely leaked the video, they said.

Report: Aoun Pushes for Bassil's Election as FPM Chief
Naharnet/June 25/15/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun is holding consultations with top FPM officials to garner backing for his son-in-law Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil to head the movement, officials said. The officials, who were not identified, told al-Mustaqbal newspaper published on Thursday that Bassil will be elected as FPM leader on September 20. Aoun is exerting “strong efforts” with FPM officials, including those rejecting Bassil's leadership, to avoid any battle during the elections, they said. The officials told the daily that Aoun informed his supporters on the schedule of the elections after he made major changes to the party's by-laws. The head of the Change and Reform bloc decided that the electoral process would start from the leadership post and then move to officials who will take charge of the FPM bureaus across Lebanon.

Hezbollah minister urges probe to reveal who leaked torture videos
The Daily Star/ June. 25, 2015/BEIRUT: Hezbollah Minister Mohammad Fneish Thursday called on authorities to uncover the source of leaked footage showing inmates being tortured, two days after the justice minister blamed his party for the leak. “We demand investigations to determine who is responsible for leaking the footage,” Fneish said after meeting Prime Minister Tammam Salam in the Grand Serail. “The [person responsible] sought to employ and manipulate this incident with the aim of ushering the country into an atmosphere of chaos.” Those behind the leaks also sought to provide the “appropriate atmosphere” for radical and extremist movements, he said in response to Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi who accused Hezbollah of releasing the footage. The “shameful” torture of inmates in Roumieh Prison is a “condemnable and denounced” act, the Hezbollah minister added, urging authorities to carry out thorough investigations into the incident and hold the perpetrators accountable. Rifi Tuesday told a news conference: “The people have seen two videos. There are about four videos, and only Hezbollah had access to some of them.”Hezbollah flatly rejected the charges as "baseless."

If Syria breaks apart, will Lebanon too?
Michael Young/The Daily Star/Jun. 25, 2015
Iran is reportedly seeking to consolidate an Alawite-dominated ministate in Syria that includes Damascus, the coast and areas in between, including Homs and Hama.
Within this rump territory, Tehran intends to safeguard Bashar Assad’s rule while also ensuring that there is geographical continuity with Hezbollah-controlled districts in Lebanon.
This plan, which is tantamount to partition, shows the thinking behind Iran’s strategy in the Middle East. In Iraq, Syria and even Yemen, the Iranians have exacerbated and exploited sectarian divisions, knowing that this is their only means of asserting control in Sunni-majority Arab societies. How ironic that this was once regarded as Israel’s evil intent, one destined to break up the Arab world into debilitated entities to better rule over the region. In Iraq the Iranians, through the politicians they support and their proxy Shiite militias, have hindered the formation of a Sunni national guard to counter ISIS, in that way further aggravating sectarian discord. In Syria the Iranians have aided and abetted sectarian cleansing in Homs and the Qalamoun, while reportedly urging the Assad regime to abandon outlying Sunni-majority areas that the regime no longer has the manpower to defend.
One question mark is the fate of Aleppo. The regime appears to want to retain a presence in the second-largest Syrian city, probably for its symbolic value. If Iran’s intentions are being properly interpreted, however, Aleppo is one of those places that must be abandoned as an unnecessary drain on the Syrian army. Indeed, by most accounts, Aleppo, with its supply lines through Idlib province cut, is likely to fall to the rebels in the near future. From Lebanon’s perspective what do Iran’s actions and the changes in Syria mean? For some observers the effective partition of Syria may lead to similar dynamics in Lebanon. And Iran’s impulse to divide societies in order to reinforce its own power or that of its proxies can only facilitate such an outcome.
However, things may not be so clear cut. Lebanon has proven remarkably resilient in the past four years, despite the momentous repercussions of the Syrian conflict on its politics, society and economy. What had seemed a country almost destined to fall apart because of the war next door has remained relatively unified. Sort of. Perhaps an explanation can be sought in the fact that unity in Lebanon is different than unity in places such as Syria and Iraq. There, Arab nationalist regimes once sat atop societies that were divided in both sectarian and ethnic terms. However, those regimes never established social contracts that acknowledged and accounted for these divisions. Instead, they imposed a compulsory Arab identity on all, which served to conceal deep rifts in society.
Lebanon alone in the region recognized its sectarian divisions and devised an accord to take them into consideration. The National Pact of 1943 has been far from perfect, but it was not an ersatz creation that claimed unity in a country purporting to be a part of a larger Arab nation. Lebanon’s confessional power-sharing agreement could trace its roots back to the Double Qaimaqamate of 1842 and later to the Mutassarifiya established in 1861. For all its failings, the sectarian system was a relatively accurate reflection, and byproduct, of political developments in the 19th and 20th centuries, no matter what inveterate foes of sectarianism say.
Paradoxically, Lebanon’s centrifugal forces may provide a cushion against the crumbling of Syria. In other words, the impulse of the different sectarian groups to form their own ministates would probably be tempered by the fact that Lebanon is in some regards already a confederation of sects. Communities run their own personal affairs independent of others. Due to the Civil War there is also significant geographical separation, so that areas of Sunni, Shiite, Maronite and Druze concentration are easy to delimit, even if all contain numerical minorities from other sects. In urban areas sectarian cohabitation is more common, to the extent that sectarian violence would be devastating, but also indecisive. Economically speaking, the partition of Lebanon would pose immense challenges for ensuing ministates. They could not survive in autarky, nor are communities, for all their differences, used to living isolated from each other. Sectarian interaction, for cultural, commercial, social and even political reasons, is ingrained in the society and cannot easily be stamped out by artificial constructs.But overconfidence is no option either. For Lebanon to weather the partition of Syria, as it resisted partition during its own civil war, the society has to constantly reaffirm the principles of sectarian coexistence and avoid using the political system as a means of fulfilling partisan agendas. As Bosnia, Syria and Iraq have shown, divorces in mixed states invariably lead to great violence as every community tries to carve out a “pure” territory for itself. The calamitous consequences almost invariably last for decades.
Hezbollah, too, will have to be careful. It has broken almost all the rules of the sectarian game in the past decade, alienating the Sunni community irreparably. At the same time the party knows that a sectarian war in Lebanon would destroy everyone, and that any aspiration it has to control the whole country is delusional. The winds from Syria will batter us for some time yet, but the assumption that Lebanon is next probably overstates things.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR. He tweets @BeirutCalling.

Israeli cluster bomb kills boy, wounds 3 in south Lebanon
Mohammed Zaatari/The Daily Star/June 25, 2015/SIDON, Lebanon: A nine-year-old Syrian boy was killed and three of his relatives wounded when a nearly decade-old Israeli cluster bomb exploded in south Lebanon Thursday, a security source told The Daily Star.
The source said the cluster bomb, dropped by a Israeli warplane during the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, killed Khaled Barakat, 9, and wounded his two brothers, Hasan, 5, Mahmoud, 7, and father, Jamal, 33. The incident took place near the public square in the Marjayoun district town of Majdal Selem. The wounded were transferred to Tibnine Public Hospital for treatment. Israel dropped roughly 4 million cluster bombs on Lebanon during the July-August 2006 war, most during the last 48 hours of the conflict, according to the United Nations. When cluster bombs explode they eject small munitions designed to kill or maim people in the area. Unexploded cluster bombs still litter much of the south, with the Army’s Lebanon Mine Action Center, the U.N. and other international organizations working to remove the deadly ordinances.

Military judge issues arrest warrants for suspects in Roumieh torture case
The Daily Star/June 25, 2015/BEIRUT: Military Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghaida issued arrest warrants Thursday for the five security officers accused of involvement in the Roumieh Prison torture scandal, a judicial source told The Daily Star. Abu Ghaida issued the warrants after questioning the five suspects. The source said Abu Ghaida summoned four other military personnel and civilians, whose names appeared in the investigation. They will be interrogated on Monday over their alleged links to the case. Military Prosecutor Judge Saqr Saqr on Tuesday charged the five suspects over their alleged involvement in the beating of Islamist inmates with torturing prisoners, violating military orders and breaching human rights. The five policemen include two who carried out the beatings, the officer who filmed the incidents and two others who failed to come forward and inform authorities about the torture. Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said the videos were filmed when security forces quelled riots by Islamist inmates in April.

Lebanon businessmen accuse politicians of 'deliberately' paralyzing govt
The Daily Star/June 25, 2015/BEIRUT: A gathering of businessmen Thursday accused the political class of deteriorating the financial situation in Lebanon through their "deliberate" paralysis of state institutions. Mohamed Choucair, the president of Lebanon's Chamber of Commerce, told an Economic Committees conference at BIEL that the political deadlock in Lebanon was “a planned suicide” and “crime against the nation.”“The constitutional institutions are vacant and deliberately paralyzed,” Choucair said at the meeting, dubbed the “June 25 Declaration - A Decision Against Suicide.”He decried what he described as the deteriorating economic conditions in the country compounded by the influx of Syrian refugees who have tested the country’s overstretched infrastructure. He also urged the swift election of a president to safeguard the country. The conference was attended by Lebanese businessmen, the General Labor Confederation and a number of civil society groups. Francois Bassil, the president of the Association of Banks in Lebanon, also called on politicians to overcome their “narrow interests and prioritize the interests of the country,” urging the swift activation of state institutions. But Lebanon's business elite are not without their critics. Hanna Gharib, head of the pro-labor Union Coordination Committee, described the BIEL conference as “politicized” and held the Economic Committees responsible for the financial situation in the county. Speaking to LBCI Thursday, Gharib, a school teacher and prominent labor activist, said the committees were allied with the political class. He said he refused to back the Economic Committees “when they are against our rights and against the new wage hike.” The UCC has been battling for years to get Parliament to pass a wage hike bill. He has repeatedly accused the business elite of pressuring the government to oppose the wage hike.
The conference comes days after Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun accused the Economic Committees of harming the economy by evading taxes and "robbing" the country. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Wednesday expressed solidarity with the committees. Lebanon has been gripped by a political crisis since rival parties failed to elect a successor to President Michel Sleiman, whose tenure ended in May 2014. The vacuum has also indirectly led to a paralysis in Parliament and the Cabinet.

EU signs off on $38M donations to Lebanon
The Daily Star/ June. 25, 2015
BEIRUT: The EU signed a 15 million euro ($16,778,588) financing agreement for the training of Lebanon’s security forces Wednesday, in a dedicated effort to bolster the country’s fragile stability. The programs will be specifically designed to help security forces control the troubled eastern border, improve coordination and respond to the threat of chemical and biological weapons. Johannes Hahn, commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations, met with Prime Minister Tammam Salam Wednesday after signing the agreement. “The program is designed to leverage, wherever possible, greater coordination and interoperability between security sector agencies,” Hahn said in a statement. In addition to the security grant, the EU donated 19 million euros ($21,254,754) for environmental projects targeting Lebanon’s heavily polluted coastline. Nabil al-Jisr, the head of the Council for Development and Reconstruction, signed the agreement for Lebanon. The prime minister attended the ceremony along with Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, Environment Minister Mohammad Machnouk, ambassadors of EU member states and other Lebanese officials. Hahn and Salam then discussed regional politics and relations in a meeting at the Grand Serail, according to the premier’s media office.
A core aim of the agreement is to help Lebanon’s security forces work in concert to secure the porous eastern border, which has seen ongoing spillover from Syria’s bloody civil war. Last August, militants overran the border town of Arsal, and still hold 25 servicemen hostage on its outskirts. It is hoped that by improving coordination, the security forces will be better able to fight organized crime, facilitate cross-border trade, and manage the influx of refugees and migrants in the east. The Internal Security Forces will also receive training on interacting with vulnerable groups in a professional manner. Hahn said improving interoperability was “of particular importance in the context of the Syria crisis, and it will build on and consolidate ongoing activities supporting the institutional and organizational advancement of the security services, as well as the development of the dialogue with civil society.”Security forces will also receive additional training on emergency preparedness and response, with particular attention to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. A second EU grant is aimed at rehabilitating Lebanon’s maritime ecosystem, and preparing the country for environmentally responsible oil and gas exploration. “This action will directly contribute to preserving the biodiversity of coastal zones, while indirectly enhancing sustainable income generating activities,” Hahn said. The grant will finance the treatment and safe disposal of 2,600 cubic meters of waste that remain from the massive oil spill caused by an Israeli airstrike on the Jiyyeh power plant during the 2006 July War. The spill precipitated an environmental disaster, as thousands of tons of oil leaked into the Mediterranean from the plant’s damaged fuel tanks. In addition to healing damaged marine ecosystems and reducing pollution in coastal areas, the funding is intended to limit environmental damage from further energy exploitation. “It will ... support the Lebanese government in applying the highest environmental standards in the context of the future exploration and production of offshore oil and gas resources,” Hahn added. The two donations come following a memorandum signed by Lebanon and the EU in October 2014, in which the both sides pledged greater collaboration.

MEAB is here to stay, bank’s new chairman insists
Osama Habib/The Daily Star/June 25, 2015
BEIRUT: The newly appointed Chairman of Middle East Africa Bank Ali Hejeij said the change in the bank’s administration was merely sped up in light of a U.S. Treasury accusation that his father has links with Hezbollah, and refuted claims that MEAB intends to sell its assets to exit the market. “The change in the administration was supposed to take place eight months ago. We had 10 branches only when my father Kassem Hejeij became the chairman of the bank, and now we are planning to open the 21st branch in Lebanon Thursday. We [the board of directors] decided to speed up the change following the U.S. Treasury report.” Ali told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview. On June 10, the U.S. Treasury charged Kassem Hejeij and two other businessmen with links to Hezbollah, labeled by Washington as a terrorist group. “[Kassem] 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. Kassem Hejeij’s attorney strongly denied these allegations. But the report did not name MEAB in the report nor did it suggest that the Lebanese monetary authorities take any sort of action against the bank.
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh repeatedly said that MEAB is fully complying with all anti money-laundering and terrorist-funding measures, adding that the bank is functioning normally in Lebanon. Ali Hejeij explained that he bought all the shares of his father in the bank. “Mr. [Kassem] Hejeij has no relations with the bank whether directly or indirectly. I have been focusing all my attention and energy on the bank since I assumed the new post,” he added. Despite the short experience in the banking field, the young Ali Hejeij seemed determined to expand the presence of the bank in Lebanon with special emphasis on strengthening retail and corporate banking. “We intend to stay here and the best proof is that we are opening a new branch tomorrow [Thursday] and another one in few months,” he added.
Hejeij vehemently denied rumors that MEAB plans to sell all its assets to exit the Lebanese market. “We are not going to sell. If you know any bank is interested in selling please tell us,” Hejeij said jokingly.
He stressed that less than 1 percent of the bank deposits were withdrawn following the U.S. Treasury report. “Our operations continued smoothly and even our correspondent banks abroad continued to deal with us. It was business as usual,” Hejeij said.
He added that MEAB is fully complying with every circular and decision issued by the Central Bank and specially those concerned with money laundering and terrorism financing. Hejeij also assured that the bank would not deal with any group labeled as a terrorist organization by the international community. “If any name is mentioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control the compliance department will refuse to deal with him. This also applies to groups and parties,” he added. Hejeij also denied claims that MEAB plans to close its two branches in Iraq. “We arrived in the Iraqi market a bit late. The branches in Iraq are also fully complying with all the circulars issued by the Iraqi Central Bank,” he said. According to Hejeij, MEAB has a consolidated balance sheet of $1.7 billion and the profits earned in 2014 ranged between $18 million to $19 million. As for the structure of the deposits, he emphasized that the share of Hejeij’s family in these deposits do not exceed 20 percent and the rest are owned by regular depositors.

Kobani 'massacre' reflects Turkish support for ISIS: Pro-Kurd party
Reuters/ Jun. 25, 2015 /ANKARA: The "massacre" in the Syrian town of Kobani Thursday was the result of the Turkish government's years of support for ISIS militants, the co-leader of Turkey' pro-Kurdish party said. Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) joint leader Figen Yuksekdag also told reporters there was a "high probability" that the attackers Thursday had entered Kobani from Turkey. Ankara has denied such allegations.

Turkey Denies IS Bombers Reentered Kobane from its Territory as Group Executes 23 Kurds
Naharnet/June 25/15/Turkey on Thursday denied "baseless" claims that Islamic State (IS) militants reentered the Syrian town of Kobane through the Turkish border crossing to detonate a suicide bomb. The car bomb killed at least five people, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman. Some claims even suggested four cars loaded with IS militants passed through the Mursitpinar border crossing in Turkey to make their way into Kobane, but Turkey vehemently rejected the allegations. "The data we have prove that the organization’s members infiltrated into Kobane from Jarablus in Syria," the local governor's office in the border region of Sanliurfa said in a statement. A Turkish official told Agence France Presse: "We have concrete evidence that there was no crossing from the Turkish side," adding that images would soon be published to prove this. Arin Shekhmos, a Syrian Kurdish activist, told AFP in Beirut earlier that IS had entered Syria from Turkey through the Mursitpinar border crossing. He claimed the IS forces were wearing Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) uniforms as a disguise when they entered.Western states have repeatedly accused Turkey of not doing enough to halt the flow of jihadists in both directions across its 911-kilometer (566-mile) border with Syria.
Turkey fiercely rejects the accusations, saying it is making every effort to secure a long border and in turn accusing the West of not playing its part to shoulder the burden of hosting refugees from Syria.Kurdish forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes and peshmerga fighters from Iraq scored a major victory in January by winning a hugely symbolic battle for Kobane. Months of fighting has prompted a mass exodus of local residents, with some 200,000 fleeing across the border into Turkey. Turkish officials told AFP there was no sign of any new refugee influx so far. Later on Thursday, IS fighters executed 23 Syrian Kurds, among them women and children, in a village south of Kobane, the Observatory said. "Islamic State forces shot dead at least 20 people in the Kurdish village of Barkh Butan, including women and children and residents who had taken up arms to fight," it added. At least five jihadists were killed in clashes with residents, the Observatory continued. Shekhmos confirmed the executions. "IS committed a massacre in Barkh Butan, killing some 20 civilians," Shekhmos said. Agence France Presse

ISIS storms Kobani, Hassakeh in new Syria offensive
Agencies/June 25, 2015
BEIRUT: ISIS fighters launched simultaneous attacks against the Syrian government and Kurdish militias overnight, moving back onto the offensive after losing ground in recent days to Kurdish-led forces near the capital of their "caliphate."
After recent losses to the Kurds backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, ISIS sought to retake the initiative with incursions into the Kurdish-held town of Kobani at the Turkish border and government-held areas of Hassaker city in the northeast.
In a separate offensive in the multi-sided Syrian civil war Thursday, an alliance of rebels in the south of the country also launched an attack with the aim of driving government forces from the city of Deraa.
The attacks by ISIS follow a rapid advance by Kurdish-led forces deep into the hardline group's territory, to within 50 km (30 miles) of its de facto capital Raqqa, hailed as a success by Washington.
The United States and European and Arab allies have been bombing ISIS since last year to try and defeat the extremist group, which a year ago proclaimed a caliphate to rule over all Muslims from territory in Syria and Iraq.
ISIS advanced rapidly last month, seizing cities in both Syria and Iraq. The latest Kurdish advance in Syria has shifted momentum back against the jihadis, but ISIS fighters have adopted a tactic of advancing elsewhere when they lose ground.
The group said it had seized al-Nashwa district and neighboring areas in the southwest of Hassakeh, a city divided into zones of government and Kurdish control. Government forces had withdrawn toward the city center, it said in a statement.
Syrian State TV said ISIS fighters were expelling residents from their homes in al-Nashwa, executing people and detaining them. Many ISIS fighters had been killed, it said, included one identified as a Tunisian leader.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group which tracks the war, said ISIS had seized two districts from government control.
Government-held parts of Hassakeh are one of President Bashar al-Assad's last footholds in the northeast region bordering Iraq and Turkey, territory mainly run by Kurds since Syria descended into civil war in 2011.
Thursday's separate ISIS attack on Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, began with at least one car bomb in an area near the border crossing with Turkey, Kurdish officials and the Observatory said. ISIS fighters were battling Kurdish forces in the town itself.
Kobani was the site of one of the biggest battles against ISIS last year. Kurdish forces known as the YPG, backed by U.S. airstrikes, expelled the fighters in January after four months of fighting.
YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said Thursday's attackers had entered the town from the west in five cars, deceptively flying the flag of the Western-backed Free Syrian Army movement, which has fought alongside the YPG against ISIS.
"They opened fire randomly on everyone they found," he told Reuters.
A doctor in Kobani, Welat Omer, said 15 people had been killed and 70 wounded, many of them seriously. Some had lost limbs. Some of the wounded had been taken to Turkey.
Around 50 people fled to Kobani's Mursitpinar border gate with Turkey after the attack, seeking to cross the border, local witnesses said. Syrian state TV said the attackers had entered Kobani from Turkey - a claim denied by the Turkish government.
ISIS militants also killed at least 20 Kurdish civilians in an attack on a village south of Kobani, the Observatory reported.
A Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media, said ISIS appeared to be trying to divert the focus of forces fighting it because of the pressure it was now under near Raqqa: "I believe this is why they moved to Hasaka - because they felt great danger from the situation in Raqqa."
The Kurdish militia say they currently have no plan to march on Raqqa city.
Elsewhere in Syria, Assad's government has faced increased military pressure since March, losing ground in the northwest, the south and the centre of the country, where ISIS seized the city of Palmyra from government control last month.
The rebels in the south launched their assault Thursday to capture Deraa, which, if it falls, would be the third provincial capital lost by Assad in the four-year-long war, after ISIS-held Raqqa and Idlib held by another rebel alliance.
Assad's control is now mainly confined to the major population centers of western Syria, where he has sought to shore up his grip with the help of Hezbollah, his main allies.
An alliance of rebel groups known as "The Southern Front," which profess a secular vision for Syria, said its Deraa offensive had begun at dawn. The Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front also has a presence in the south.
"If the battle takes time, we are prepared. We have begun the preparatory shelling but we cannot assess the situation right now," Issam al-Rayyes, spokesman for the so called Southern Front, said.
Deraa's provincial governor Khaled al-Hanous told state TV the insurgents had launched "a real war with intensified shelling with various weapons or artillery on citizens in the neighborhoods of the city and on hospitals, schools and infrastructure."
The rebels had not made "one meter of progress," he said. The Observatory reported heavy fighting and army airstrikes in the Deraa area.

Doomed policy
The Daily Star/Jun. 25, 2015
Around one year after ISIS militants made sweeping gains in Iraq and Syria, executing captives and committing other atrocities, the White House announced Wednesday that it was fine-tuning its policy on the families of hostages held by the group, by opting not to prosecute them.Instead, the White House should revamp its policy on confronting ISIS itself, nearly a year after it decided to launch airstrikes against the extremists. Recent battlefield setbacks for ISIS in Syria might signal that the policy is working. However, the gains – mainly for the Kurdish YPG militia – have only exacerbated tensions with Turkey, which, like it or not, is one of the main actors in the Syrian war. The countries of the Gulf, meanwhile, continue to view Washington with suspicion when it comes to its policy in Syria, since they feel that the overarching goal is to avoid doing anything that angers Iran. According to media reports, Syrian rebel fighters are leaving a U.S.-sponsored “training program” in droves because they refuse to sign a pledge to not fight the regime of President Bashar Assad. Washington should realize by now that trying to mobilize Syrians against ISIS without addressing the wider crisis in the country is simply not viable. The White House might persuade itself that the policy is working, but the current trajectory is merely a catalogue of destruction that might require years to conclude. If there is no political component in place, the policy of “bombs away and hope for the best” will likely set off a spectacular, long-term crisis of yet another kind.

Public Statement on U.S. Policy Toward the Iran Nuclear Negotiations
Endorsed by a Bipartisan Group of American Diplomats, Legislators, Policymakers, and Experts
June 24, 2015/Washington Institute
Over the last three years, members of this bipartisan group have convened regularly under the auspices of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy to discuss the status of the Iran nuclear issue, frequently benefitting from the input of current Administration officials. Last week, at its most recent meeting, the group determined that it could usefully contribute to the public debate on the ongoing negotiations by presenting its consensus view of critical issues.This statement reflects that broad consensus.
The Iran nuclear deal is not done. Negotiations continue. The target deadline is June 30. We know much about the emerging agreement. Most of us would have preferred a stronger agreement.
The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability. It will not require the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear enrichment infrastructure. It will however reduce that infrastructure for the next 10 to 15 years. And it will impose a transparency, inspection, and consequences regime with the goal of deterring and dissuading Iran from actually building a nuclear weapon.
The agreement does not purport to be a comprehensive strategy towards Iran. It does not address Iran’s support for terrorist organizations (like Hezbollah and Hamas), its interventions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen (its “regional hegemony”), its ballistic missile arsenal, or its oppression of its own people. The U.S. administration has prioritized negotiations to deal with the nuclear threat, and hopes that an agreement will positively influence Iranian policy in these other areas.
Even granting this policy approach, we fear that the current negotiations, unless concluded along the lines outlined in this paper and buttressed by a resolute regional strategy, may fall short of meeting the administration’s own standard of a “good” agreement.
We are united in our view that to maximize its potential for deterring and dissuading Iran from building a nuclear weapon, the emerging nuclear agreement must – in addition to its existing provisions – provide the following:
Monitoring and Verification: The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (the “IAEA”) charged with monitoring compliance with the agreement must have timely and effective access to any sites in Iran they need to visit in order to verify Iran’s compliance with the agreement. This must include military (including IRGC) and other sensitive facilities. Iran must not be able to deny or delay timely access to any site anywhere in the country that the inspectors need to visit in order to carry out their responsibilities.
Possible Military Dimensions: The IAEA inspectors must be able, in a timely and effective manner, to take samples, to interview scientists and government officials, to inspect sites, and to review and copy documents as required for their investigation of Iran’s past and any ongoing nuclear weaponization activities (“Possible Military Dimensions” or “PMD”). This work needs to be accomplished before any significant sanctions relief.
Advanced Centrifuges: The agreement must establish strict limits on advanced centrifuge R&D, testing, and deployment in the first ten years, and preclude the rapid technical upgrade and expansion of Iran's enrichment capacity after the initial ten-year period. The goal is to push back Iran’s deployment of advanced centrifuges as long as possible, and ensure that any such deployment occurs at a measured, incremental pace consonant with a peaceful nuclear program.
Sanctions Relief: Relief must be based on Iran’s performance of its obligations. Suspension or lifting of the most significant sanctions must not occur until the IAEA confirms that Iran has taken the key steps required to come into compliance with the agreement. Non-nuclear sanctions (such as for terrorism) must remain in effect and be vigorously enforced.
Consequences of Violations: The agreement must include a timely and effective mechanism to re-impose sanctions automatically if Iran is found to be in violation of the agreement, including by denying or delaying IAEA access. In addition, the United States must itself articulate the serious consequences Iran will face in that event.
Most importantly, it is vital for the United States to affirm that it is U.S. policy to prevent Iran from producing sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon – or otherwise acquiring or building one – both during the agreement and after it expires. Precisely because Iran will be left as a nuclear threshold state (and has clearly preserved the option of becoming a nuclear weapon state), the United States must go on record now that it is committed to using all means necessary, including military force, to prevent this. The President should declare this to be U.S. policy and Congress should formally endorse it. In addition, Congressional review of any agreement should precede any formal action on the agreement in the United Nations.
Without these features, many of us will find it difficult to support a nuclear agreement with Iran.
We urge the U.S. administration not to treat June 30 as an “inviolable” deadline. Stay at the negotiating table until a “good” agreement that includes these features is reached. Extend the existing Joint Plan of Action while negotiations continue. This will freeze Iran’s nuclear activity and international sanctions at current levels. While the United States should extend the Iran Sanctions Act so it does not expire, it should not increase sanctions while negotiations continue. U.S. alternatives to an agreement are unappealing, but Iran’s are worse. It has every incentive to reach an agreement and obtain relief from sanctions and international isolation well in advance of its elections next February. If anyone is to walk out of the negotiations, let it be Iran.
Some argue that any nuclear agreement now simply further empowers bad Iranian behavior. And there is a lot to this argument. This is why we believe that the United States must bolster any agreement by doing more in the region to check Iran and support our traditional friends and allies.
This does not mean major U.S. ground combat operations in the Middle East. But it does mean taking initiatives like the following:
In Iraq: Expand training and arming not only of Iraqi Security Forces but also Kurdish Peshmerga in the north and vetted Sunni forces in the West. Allow U.S. Special Forces to leave their bases and help coordinate air strikes and stiffen Iraqi units. Sideline Iranian-backed militia and separate them from Shiite units (“popular mobilization units”) that are not under Iranian control.
In Syria: Expand and accelerate the U.S. train and equip programs. Work with Turkey to create a safe haven in northern Syria where refugees can obtain humanitarian aid and vetted non-extremist opposition fighters can be trained and equipped. Capitalize on Bashar al-Assad’s increasing weakness to split off regime elements and seek to join them with U.S. trained opposition elements. Interdict the transshipment of Iranian weapons into Syria in coordination with the Kurds and Turkey, and consider designating as terrorist organizations Iranian-backed Shiite militias responsible for egregious atrocities.
In Yemen: Expand support for Saudi Arabia and the UAE in pressuring the warring parties to the negotiating table while seeking to split the Houthi elements away from Iran.
Regionally: Interdict Iranian arms bound for extremist groups and continue to counter its efforts to harass commercial shipping and our naval forces. Reaffirm U.S. policy to oppose Iran’s efforts to subvert local governments and project its power at the expense of our friends and allies.
Collectively, these steps also strengthen U.S. capability against Daesh (the misnamed “Islamic State”). Acting against both Iranian hegemony and Daesh’s caliphate will help reassure friends and allies of America’s continued commitment. And it will help address Israel's legitimate concerns that a nuclear agreement will validate Iran's nuclear program, further facilitate its destabilizing behavior, and encourage further proliferation at a time when Israel faces the possible erosion of its "qualitative military edge.” We urge the U.S. administration to create a discreet, high-level mechanism with the Israeli government to identify and implement responses to each of these concerns.
Taking the actions we propose while the nuclear negotiations continue will reinforce the message that Iran must comply with any agreement and will not be allowed to pursue a nuclear weapon. This will increase, not decrease, the chance that Iran will comply with the agreement and may ultimately adopt a more constructive role in the region. For the U.S. administration’s hopes in this respect have little chance so long as Iran’s current policy seems to be succeeding in expanding its influence.
Graham Allison, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
Howard Berman, U.S. House of Representatives (D-CA), 1983-2013
Robert Blackwill, deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor for strategic planning under President George W. Bush, 2003-2004
General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2007-2011
Patrick Clawson, Morningstar Senior Fellow, director of research, The Washington Institute
Paula J. Dobriansky, undersecretary of state for global affairs, 2001-2009
Robert Einhorn, special advisor to the Secretary of State for nonproliferation and arms control, 2009-2013
Norman Eisen, U.S. ambassador to the Czech Republic, 2011-2014
Michael Eisenstadt, Kahn Fellow, director of the Military and Security Studies Program, The Washington Institute
Stephen Hadley, national security advisor to President George W. Bush, 2005-2009
Olli Heinonen, deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 2005-2010
James Jeffrey, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, 2010-2012, deputy national security advisor to President George W Bush, 2007-2008. Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute
Joseph Lieberman, U.S. Senate (I-CT), 1989-2013
David Makovsky, senior policy advisor to the U.S. special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations (2013-2014). Ziegler Distinguished Fellow and director of the Project on the Middle East Peace Process, The Washington Institute
David Petraeus, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, 2011-2012
Dennis Ross, special assistant to President Obama and National Security Council senior director for the central region, 2009-2011. Counselor and William Davidson Distinguished Fellow, The Washington Institute
Gary Samore, coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction under President Obama, 2009-2013
Robert Satloff, Howard P. Berkowitz Chair in U.S. Middle East Policy and executive director, The Washington Institute
This statement reflects the broad consensus of the group; not every member of the group endorses every judgment or recommendation. Members of the group endorse this statement in their personal capacities; institutional affiliations are for identification purposes only. This statement has not been endorsed by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, its Board of Trustees or its Board of Advisors, and it should not be construed as representing their views.
Media Contact: Jeff Rubin, Director of Communications | email | 202-230-9550

The good Druze and the bad Druze
Yossi Yehoshua/Ynetnews/Published: 06.24.15/ Israel Opinion
Op-ed: Israelis must remember that despite the huge suffering experienced by Syria's residents since the civil war began, quite a few of them are Israel haters. The brutal lynch of wounded Syrian rebels in the Golan Heights on Monday night paints a bleak picture of the absence of rule of law and raises a troubling question: How can an angry mob succeed in preventing a life-saving activity – and even murdering and hurting injured people – although it is already clear that they do not belong to the terror organizations?
If we go back to the events of that night, we'll be able to understand the depth of the failure: The IDF evacuates wounded Syrians in serious condition to a hospital under the supreme value of the sanctity of life. Near Moshav Neve Ativ, the ambulance is stormed by a radical and violent group, which doesn’t characterize Israel's Druze community in any way and attacks the wounded and the soldiers. The small security force exercise restraint and tries to scare the rioters off by firing in the air, but one of the wounded is killed.
Now imagine what would have happened if the IDF – which was accused on the same day in a United Nations report of committing war crimes – had let the wounded die on the border fence. How would we have been able to look at ourselves in the national mirror? Alternatively, what would have happened if the security force had not exercised restraint and had shot at the rioters and killed several dozen of them?  So we should ask if what allegedly looks like a failed military operation – and there is no doubt that the force was not properly prepared and that the route was likely leaked – may have actually, unintentionally, prevented a grave disaster. Preventing such an incident from happening would have required a Border Guard unit or a Golani force – an inconceivable situation.
The leaders of Israel's Druze community should gain control of the extremists among them, and the Israel Police should impose order not only on the streets of Tel Aviv – but also on the Golan Heights roads.
Israel's citizens should welcome the fact that the IDF evacuates wounded regardless of their religion. But before we beat ourselves up with exaggerated criticism against the IDF's activity, we must not forget who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Because the story that some of those involved are telling themselves is different from the facts on the ground. Only a month ago, the IDF thwarted an attempt by terrorists to plant explosive devices on the Golan border – and all these terrorists had been sent by Hezbollah from the Druze village of Khader. The infrastructures of Imad Mughniyeh's son and of Samir Kuntar – who is a Druze himself – were also laid down with the help of Khader residents.
The Druze are only hurting themselves by trying to present this village as a stronghold of fighters for justice. This is a village which generously hosts Hezbollah members and Syrian President Bashar Assad's soldiers.
So we should remember that despite the huge suffering experienced by Syria's residents since the civil war began, quite a few of them are Israel haters.

Saudi Arabia’s Message to France
Salman Aldosary/Asharq Al Awsat
Thursday, 25 Jun, 2015/It is no secret that most of Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic stances towards the Middle East have been in tune with those of France. This is not to mention that Paris may be currently politically closer to Riyadh than any other European capital. A French official was quoted by Asharq Al-Awsat on Tuesday as describing the relations between the two countries as “a honeymoon.” Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s visit to Paris, which ends on Thursday, sends a highly significant political message to French circles that Saudi Arabia did not, and will not, take Paris’s firm positions on the key issues of the region for granted. In fact, those positions strengthen Riyadh and Paris’s historic political alliance and create a military, economic and industrial partnership that would reflect positively on both countries. Three main points summarize Saudi–French relations in their new form: first, Saudi Arabia’s new leadership is seeking to open new horizons in its relations with Europe and raise their level from “close” to “strategic.” Even if Saudi–European ties were “very good,” why should they not become “excellent” in the near future? Second, the French positions, which are very close to those of Saudi Arabia, form a solid ground and firm basis for strengthening bilateral ties even further. Perhaps the latest such position was French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius’s initiative calling for a Palestinian state, which would share its capital Jerusalem with Israel, according to UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 336. Third, Saudi Arabia is heading towards economic integration with France, its historic ally. The Kingdom needs to strengthen economic ties with its allies, and France without doubt is at the forefront of the countries Saudi Arabia is keen to integrate with economically as well as politically.
On Wednesday, France 24 TV channel’s anchorwoman asked me about the price Saudi Arabia would pay for its rapprochement with France. My answer was that Saudi Arabia does not give “blank checks” to this or that country, nor does it deal in this old-fashioned and useless manner. Whenever Riyadh finds an economic partner that is capable of offering high-quality products which it needs, it definitely seeks to strike an alliance with them. Unless a deal is beneficial for both sides, it will fail sooner or later. The French political circles understand and respect the Saudi policy of basing its strategies on long-term, permanent and stable relations rather than on temporary tactics. Perhaps the major deals the two sides signed on Wednesday confirm this policy given that they are not mere ink on paper, but rather viable deals that will bring benefit to both sides in equal measures.The regional and international climate is suitable for strengthening the strategic Saudi–French alliance that will in the future provide strategic clout leading to more powerful, joint stances towards the region’s main, long-suspended issues. Perhaps it is high time such alliances revived those regional issues.

Khamenei sacks Qassem Soleimani from command of the Syrian war
DEBKAfile Special Report June 24, 2015
Uproar in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has relieved Gen. Qassem Soleimani,the Al Qods Brigades chief and supreme commander of Iranian Middle East forces, of his Syria command after a series of war debacles. He was left in charge of Iran’s military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon. This is revealed by debkafile’s exclusive Iranian and intelligence sources. Since Soleimani last visited Damascus on June 2, in the aftershock of the historic town of Palmyra’s fall to the Islamic State, the situation of President Bashar Assad and his army has gone from bad to worse. The Iranian general’s bravado in stating then that “In the next few days the world will be pleasantly surprised from what we (the IRGC) working with Syrian military commanders are preparing,” turned out to be empty rhetoric. The thousands of Iranian troops needed to rescue the Assad regime from more routs never materialized. Since then, the Syrian forces have been driven out of more places. Hizballah is not only stymied in its attempts to dislodge Syrian rebel advances in the strategic Qalamoun Mountains, it has failed to prevent the war spilling over into Lebanon. There is strong evidence that the high Iranian command in charge of the Syrian and Lebanese arenas are stuck. These reverses have occurred, our military sources report, owing to Tehran’s failure to foresee five developments: 1. The launching of a combined effort by the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE – among the wealthiest nations in the world – in support of rebel groups fighting Bashar Assad. Their massive injections of military assistance, weapons and financial resources have thrown Iran’s limitation into bold relief. 2. The ineptitude of the Shiite militias mustered by Soleimani in Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan to fight Iran’s wars in Syria and Iraq. None of those imported troops met the combat standards required in those arenas and become liabilities rather than assets. 3. Those shortcomings forced Tehran to admit that it had come up short of military manpower to deploy in four ongoing warfronts: Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. Soleimani took flak for the over-ambitious plans he authored which pulled Iran into military commitments that overtaxed its resources and did not take into account the messy political and military consequences which followed. Above all, he miscalculated the numbers of fighting strength needed on the ground for winning battles in those wars. 4. In the final reckoning, Iran funds has been drained of the strategic reserves that should have been set aside for the contingency of a potential ISIS encroachment of its territory.

ISIS’ ‘Caliphate’ one year later: The end of Sykes-Picot
Thursday, 25 June 2015
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya
When Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi , the leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) flaunted a year ago from the Great Mosque in Mosul the birth of his new “Caliphate,” it was both a statement of the organization’s brutal ambition and the unraveling of the Sykes-Picot map in both Iraq and Syria. One year later, ISIS as a non-state actor and a terrorist organization is the loudest but not the only symptom of the de facto crumbling of the central nation state structures in Baghdad and Damascus. Understanding its threat and prospects cannot occur absent of this context of rising militias and autonomous groups in what was once “the beating heart of Arab nationalism.”
End of Sykes-Picot?
One century into the Sykes-Picot agreement, which drew the modern borders of the post-Ottoman Middle East, the geography and future of the British-French map is dissolving, as a sectarian inferno takes over Iraq and a war of attrition and proxy sees no end in Syria.
Despite its brutality against Muslims before anyone else, ISIS has lot of factors in its favor from Ramadi to Palmyra
The ISIS caliphate that Baghdadi in his black turban and robe declared in Mosul last year is one byproduct of the disintegration of the nation state in Iraq and Syria. The Iraq war in 2003, and the deeply flawed Debaathification policy that the U.S. executed in Baghdad thereafter was the kiss of death for the Iraqi state that we knew since 1958. In more than one way, dissolving the Iraqi army was a recipe for the rise of sectarian militias on all sides of the Iraqi spectrum: Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni. Back then, the debaathification fueled a Sunni insurgency championed by al-Qaeda’s Abu Musaab Zarqawi until 2006, and later reemerged more ferociously after the U.S. withdrawal in 2011 in the form of ISIS. In that sense, the erosion of inclusive governance under Nouri al-Maliki played directly into ISIS’ hands, helping the group recruit disaffected Sunnis and reverse the Sahwa strategy leading up to the fall of Mosul last June.
In Syria, the end of the Sykes-Picot structure started unfolding when the Assad regime prioritized its survival at the expense of the country’s unity and sovereignty in 2011. Today, after the failure of both Geneva 1 and 2, militias and more self-autonomous regions have mushroomed Syria. Even the regime is no longer fighting to restore full control over the country, and the old borders that the British and French drew have become irrelevant. Border crossings in every corner of the country are being challenged daily by the rebels, Kurdish fighters, Hezbollah, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS.
The breakup of the Syrian and the Iraqi states is happening before our own eyes, and ISIS is just one symptom of the new post-Sykes-Picot configuration. While the international community still emphasizes publicly the unity of Iraq and Syria, in reality everyone is quickly adjusting to the new order. Arming of Kurdish groups, investing in Shiite, Sunni and Druze militias, is happening at a faster pace than any political solution. There is a realization in Western capitals that the nation states in Baghdad and Damascus are breaking up and it is too costly for Washington and its allies to save them. Hence, an adjustment to contain the collapse and the spillover, defines the U.S. policy today in approaching ISIS and those crises.
ISIS will last for a while
It is only by understanding the disintegration of Iraq and Syria that the rise of ISIS can be put in perspective in the short and the medium term. If it were not for the political woes of Iraq since the invasion in 2003, and later the bloodletting in Syria which refueled the group, ISIS would not be at the center stage of the regional conversation and its “Caliphate” wouldn’t be a brutal milestone in Middle East trajectory a year later.
As those same political woes generated by Sunni disenfranchisement continue, and absent of a real military plan to confront it, ISIS prospects look steady and long-term across its territory. While the borders of ISIS could change as the group faces losses against Kurdish militias, and gains against the Iraqi army, there are no indications that imminent defeat or destruction will befall the “Caliphate”. Neither the U.S. nor its coalition partners are willing to invest in a real ground operation that would uproot ISIS, nor are the governments in Baghdad and Damascus the least willing or able to construct political solutions that would offer alternatives to ISIS.
Despite its brutality against Muslims before anyone else, ISIS has lot of factors in its favor from Ramadi to Palmyra. The political solution in Syria is a corpse, and the new chatter on a Russian-U.S. proposal is -like the old - just another facade to distract from a gloomy reality that the country is crumbling with no interest in Washington to resurrect it. Investing in militias that would fight ISIS in Syria is the most realistic scenario expected from the U.S. going forward and the battles of Kobane and Tal Abyad offer a practical example of such vision. In Iraq, the government of Haider al-Abadi is succumbing to a new power structure where Iranian funded militias have larger say than the Iraqi army in the political and military direction of Baghdad and the anti-ISIS battle. Abadi despite his moderate public rhetoric and promises of inclusion, has not been able to establish a national guard force that would enlist the Anbar tribes to fight ISIS.
Against such backdrop, the first anniversary of ISIS’ Caliphate is one that reasserts the irrelevance of the Sykes-Picot borders in Iraq and Syria. As these lines are redrawn, and military alliances are reconfigured, ISIS as a phenomenon will persist for a while, absent of inclusive political structures and real military planning to confront it.