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Bible Quotation For Today/Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 17/31-37: "On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back.Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."’

Bible Quotation For Today/faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
Letter of James 02/14-26: "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. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another road? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is also dead."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 03-04/15
Say No To Aoun’s Futile Call For Demonstration/Elias Bejjani/September 04/14
What’s next for the Free Patriotic Movement/Ana Maria Luca/September 03/15
Could US state sanctions on Iran unravel nuke deal/Julian Pecquet/Al-Monitor/September 03/15
NATO Allies Making It Easier for Iran to Attack Israel/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 03/15
Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money In Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal/The Washington Free Beacon/Adam Kredo/September 03/15
Political settlement in Syria has become a routine excuse/Haid Haid/Now Lebanon/September 03/15
Grassroots movement stirs Syria Druze region/Now Lebanon/September 03/15

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin for Lebanese Related News published on September 03-04/15
Say No To Aoun’s Futile Call For Demonstration
Ibn Kobani..."The child of Kobani"
U.N. Calls on Lebanese MPs to Elect President as Protests Grow
What’s next for the Free Patriotic Movement?
Activists in Hunger Strike for Minister Resignation as 2 Held for Disabling Parking Meters
Reopening of Naameh Landfill Hinges on Jumblat
Berri Throws Dialogue Ball in Rival Parties' Court
Hale Urges Parliament to Elect President, Stresses Right to Peaceful Protest
Man Arrested for Tossing Grenades in Bekaa
Bid to Smuggle Narcotics Thwarted at Airport
Hugo Shorter Appointed UK Ambassador to Lebanon

Say No To Aoun’s Futile Call For Demonstration
Elias Bejjani/September 04/14
We strongly call on all sane and patriotic Lebanese people from all walks of like and from all denominations and political affiliation to respond in a big and loud NO to Micheal Aoun’s call for demonstrations in Beirut Streets today.
We urge all Lebanese who love Lebanon and oppose the Iranian occupation of their beloved country to say strongly No to Aoun’s absurd, evil, demagogue and futile call for demonstration today.
This hypocrite politician is a role model for all sorts of contradictions in every domain and on all levels.
His bold and disgusting detachment from all that is sanity, reality, self respect, respect for others and rational came along yesterday with his loud and shameless call on his followers boots and feet to march in his hostile and anti Lebanese demonstration today, and not on their minds and intelligence .
One might wonder and ask why this antichrist and Trojan Lebanese Christian pro Iranian politician who fully sold himself and his party to the Iranian Mullahs is appealing to the boots and feet of his followers and not to their minds?
The core of the answer lies in the fact that he does not honour any thing that is reason ,logic, capabilities, responsibilities, freedom, democracy, law or any human comprehension for the damaging consequences of his crazy, impulsive and aggressive acts as well as his denominational instigative rhetoric.
In summary this pro Iranian axis of Evil politician is every thing that is not Lebanese and every thing that is not Christian, and the number one enemy for the Lebanese people and for their beloved country, Lebanon.
Say No to his call for demonstrations today and unveil his schematic role, affiliations and all his patriotic wrong and evil choices.

Ibn Kobani..."The child of Kobani"
Walid Phares DC/The death of Aylan Kurdi, 3 years old, on the shores of Turkey, represents the tragic destiny of Kobani the Kurdish town in Northern Syria, rebelling against the Assad dictatorship, encircled by the ISIS Caliphate and abandoned by the international community. Aylan should have been living in his town, going to school, playing with kids his age, enjoying the beautiful weather of Syria, and living as a young Kurdish kid. But Syrian civilians, and the sons and daughters of Kobani in particular, are trying to flee the hellish war between pro-Iranian Assad, ISIS, Nusra and the opposition. Kobani and the Kurdish-minorities zones should have been saved by the international community, years ago, as Kosovo and East Timor were. All of Syria's population, its minorities and its civil society, deserves peace and freedom. But the Petrodollars of the "Iran deal" and of the Jihadi Salafi nexus must flow, leaving boys and girls lifeless on the beaches of the Mediterranean..

U.N. Calls on Lebanese MPs to Elect President as Protests Grow
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday called on Lebanon's parliament to elect a new president to help ease a political crisis that has fueled street protests. The appeal came after Lebanese lawmakers again failed in their 28th bid to elect a new president and fill the post left vacant since May 2014. The deadlock in parliament took place against the backdrop of street protests first sparked by frustration over rubbish collection but that have since mushroomed into anger at Lebanon's political class. After hearing a report from U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag, the 15-member council expressed support for the government, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters. Council members called on the parliament "to meet and elect a president as soon as possible in order to put an end to the constitutional instability," said Churkin, whose country holds this month's presidency of the council. A meeting on the Lebanon crisis is expected to take place on the sidelines of the U.N. gathering of world leaders later this month. U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon and Prime Minister Tammam Salam are expected to attend the meeting for the International Support Group for Lebanon, which will also bring together the foreign ministers of major powers.

What’s next for the Free Patriotic Movement?
Ana Maria Luca/September 03/15
Supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement are scheduled to take to the streets on Friday “to ask for reform and for participation in decision-making, and to call for fighting corruption.” Inhabitants of Sin el Fil and other areas of Beirut were given a glimpse into what the FPM anti-corruption protest might look like when convoys waving orange flags toured parts of the city trying to motivate other supporters to join them. One of the convoys briefly blocked the presidential palace's main entrance in Baabda to demand the election of a “strong president.”
It might look like the FPM is trying to start a revolution in Lebanon, but its leadership has another revolution to handle inside the party, as hundreds of party members have resigned or were expelled during the past week following Gebran Bassil’s nomination as the next head of the party. Young members ripped up their membership cards and posted pictures of it on social media to express their anger with party leader Michel Aoun’s decision to nominate his son-in-law as successor instead of holding party elections.
A controversial nomination
According to party sources, over 400 people have left the FPM so far. Some members who opposed Bassil were expelled the day before his nomination. Several members were expelled and others were stripped of their positions on Monday after expressing their disagreement with Bassil’s nomination on Facebook and Twitter. Members of the Paris FPM branch held a press conference on Tuesday to protest Bassil’s nomination and to announce the formation of a new group called Orange Reform. Many members of the Canadian branch, one of the strongest in the party, have also resigned.
Some of these members joined The Independent Movement of former FPM member Issam Abou Jamra. “[The FPM] demonstrated in the previous weeks. They couldn’t mobilize more than 200 people; this is very shameful. The ugliest thing in all this is that General Aoun has decided that the national guidelines are his to make and unmake,” he told NOW.
“General Aoun wanted to appoint his son-in-law as the president of the FPM,” said Mario Abou Zeid, a research analyst at Carnegie Middle East Center. “It was obvious since the appointment of Gebran Bassil as the minister of Water and Electricity back in 2009, although the election in 2009 proved that Bassil was not a popular FPM politician. He lost the parliamentary elections. However, Aoun has been pushing him to hold important positions in the FPM and blocked the access of other FPM leaders who were working for the party during the Syrian presence in Lebanon.”
Abu Jamra said that there were many reasons Bassil was not favored as a successor, but that the most significiant was his pointedly Christian-oriented rhetoric. “Bassil glorified the FMP movement and praised it as the defender of the Christians of the Orient as a whole — this is an obvious exaggeration. The problem with Aoun himself is that he considers himself the defender of the Christians and their spokesperson starting with the Quonet-Chahwan Gathering and the big schism with the March 14 movement,” he said.
Slow change in political orientation
Nabil Bou Monsef, a commentator at An-Nahar, tells NOW that changes in the political orientation of Michel Aoun’s faction started three years after the FPM signed a memorandum of understanding with Hezbollah in 2006. That is, when Aoun began employing more Christian-oriented demands into his rhetoric. “It was quite a change from the period of time when the FPM was founded. The party was completely secular when it came into being, but after the memorandum, Tayyar needed to search for its Christian identity in order to have legitimacy within the community first… so that Hezbollah could say ‘We are allied with the most powerful Christian party.’ They didn’t need a secular party.”
This shift did not reflect the view of many supporters and it did not have a strategy to gain more supporters, but was rather the result of FPM leadership’s political calculations. It didn’t matter much at the ground level. “The supporters followed General Aoun’s persona because of his charisma. They also rallied behind him because he demanded and fought for a sovereign Lebanon in the late 80s, but they also supported him because he was a secular leader, and this secular side completely vanished,” Bou Monsif said.
Analysts say that for many Bassil’s nomination as party head was the last straw. “The FPM was an organization that was very popular with the youth just because it promoted the fight against corruption and feudalism,” said Abou Zeid. “And all of a sudden, you have these things inside the FPM itself. The supporters who were most active during the Syrian presence in Lebanon and who made it possible for Aoun to come back to Lebanon are now defecting.”
Michel Abi Khalil, one of the former members who tore up his FPM card, says that most of his fellow FPM members who left the faction are now just waiting to see what will happen. Bassil’s wing, he said, is reaching out to the dissidents, though he doesn’t believe that Bassil will give up his new post to go through with fair elections. Despite all that has happened, he thinks that few former members will join other political factions. “At the end of the day, deep in our hearts, we are still FPM supporters,” he said.

Activists in Hunger Strike for Minister Resignation as 2 Held for Disabling Parking Meters
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 03/15/ Several anti-trash activists began a hunger strike Thursday outside the Environment Ministry in Beirut to press for Minister Mohammed al-Mashnouq's resignation as two protesters were arrested in Ain el-Mreisseh for disabling parking meters that were recently installed in the area. The hunger strike was started by the activist Waref Suleiman, who was later joined by four other activists, the You Stink campaign said on its Facebook page. The protesters erected tents on the pavement facing the ministry building. Suleiman told LBCI television later on Thursday that the number of hunger strikers had risen to eleven. "I want him to feel our pain," 25-year-old protester Salah Jbeili said. "He is responsible for the trash problem. We will fight him, like we will fight all corrupt politicians."The development comes two days after riot police forcibly cleared dozens of You Stink activists who had occupied part of the environment ministry to press the minister to resign over his perceived failure to address the unprecedented garbage crisis. Several protesters were injured in the operation. A protest movement that began with rallies against the garbage piling up in the streets of Beirut garnered much support among the many Lebanese angered by the government's failure to find a solution after the main landfill was closed in July. Protests have grown beyond the garbage issue and now target the government and entire political class. Protesters say the minister, Mohammed al-Mashnouq, has become a symbol of the government's inefficiency and corruption. Machnouq has said he will not resign. Meanwhile, plain clothes policemen arrested two protesters from the We Want Accountability campaign who were disabling parking meters on the seaside corniche during a sit-in in Ain el-Mreisseh.
The campaign identified the detained activists as Bashar al-Harakeh and Hussam al-Anan, saying the solar-operated meters deny poor residents free access to the public space. The arrests prompted the protesters to head to the Interior Ministry building in Sanayeh where they blocked the road and vowed not to reopen it until the release of their comrades. Later on Thursday, state-run National News Agency reported the release of the two activists. NNA also said that Beirut Governor Judge Ziad Shbib ordered "the suspension of the parking meters that were installed along the city's seaside corniche."Another sit-in was held Thursday outside the Labor Ministry building in the southern Beirut suburb of Msharrafiyeh. The protest was organized by the August 29 Movement, a coalition of activists and groups that took part in the August 29 mass rally in Beirut's Martyrs Square. In a statement recited at the sit-in, the movement called for “holding authorities accountable for stealing public funds, the environment minister's resignation, accountability for those who gave the orders to use force against peaceful protesters, and releasing the funds of municipalities to allow them to play their role in managing waste.” It also called for “creating job opportunities for youths, supporting agriculture and industry, and organizing parliamentary polls to restore the role of institutions in a manner that serves the interests of people.”The growing protest movement began with frustration over rubbish collection and ballooned into anger at a stagnant and corrupt political class. The protesters gained additional popular sympathy after security forces used excessive force against them during an August 22 mass rally in downtown Beirut.

Reopening of Naameh Landfill Hinges on Jumblat
Naharnet/September 03/15/Sources close to Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat have expressed conflicting views about the reopening of Lebanon's largest landfill in Naameh in an attempt to resolve the country's snowballing garbage crisis. Some sources told al-Akhbar daily published on Thursday that guarantees made by al-Mustaqbal movement for the transfer of part of the Beirut and Mount Lebanon trash to the Srar landfill in Akkar and to the waste plant in Sidon would pave way for Jumblat to take a decision to reopen the Naameh landfill. They said such a move would be temporary and would be accompanied by incentives for Naameh and surrounding towns pending the government's approval of a final waste management plan. The Naameh landfill, which lies in Shouf district, opened in 1997 to receive trash from the capital and the heavily-populated Mount Lebanon area for only a few years until a comprehensive solution was devised. But that plan never came to fruition. The valley that was originally expected to receive only two million tons of waste swelled into a trash mountain of over 15 million tons 18 years after it opened. The government closed the landfill last month, causing a trash crisis that snowballed into anti-government protests in downtown Beirut. Other sources close to Jumblat, a Shouf MP, told al-Akhbar that the PSP chief would not make an effort to convince the representatives of Naameh and the towns in the region to reopen the landfill. Jumblat has expressed concern that the protests would move from Riad al-Solh and Martyr's squares in central Beirut to Naameh, they said. According to the sources, discussions among officials are now focusing on a temporary solution for the transfer of the waste to Sidon, Akkar and the eastern mountain range in the Bekaa Valley. But such a solution should go hand-in-hand with a government decision to grant towns near the mountain range 100 million dollars similar to what it did in Akkar, said the sources. Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb, who is a PSP official, is expected to deliver a report to Prime Minister Tammam Salam on Friday on ways to resolve the country's waste crisis, said An Nahar daily. Salam appointed Shehayyeb on Monday to lead a committee of waste specialists. The minister hinted during a press conference he held on Thursday that he would propose giving municipalities wider authorities in trash disposal.

Berri Throws Dialogue Ball in Rival Parties' Court
Naharnet/September 03/15/Sources close to Speaker Nabih Berri have warned that Lebanon's rival leaders would be held responsible for the worsening of the country's crises if they take the dialogue session set to be held this month for granted. The sources told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat published on Thursday that the officials “will be held fully responsible for any deterioration (in the situation) in the country if they disregard Speaker Berri's attempt to salvage” Lebanon. “The ball is now in the court of the parties who have been invited to the distress call that we have made to salvage the country which is sliding towards unrest because of the collapse of institutions,” said the sources. The dialogue that Berri has called for is scheduled to be held on September 9. It will bring together the heads of parliamentary blocs, in addition to Prime Minister Tammam Salam and several other officials. The majority of blocs informed the speaker that they would attend the session. The Lebanese Forces is expected to announce its stance on Saturday. According to al-Akhbar daily, the LF has expressed regret to al-Mustaqbal Movement over its approval to attend the session without consulting it. Berri has said that the rival parties would discuss ways to end the presidential vacuum, the resumption of the work of parliament and the cabinet, a new electoral draft-law, legislation allowing Lebanese expats to obtain the nationality, administrative decentralization and ways to support the army and the Internal Security Forces

Hale Urges Parliament to Elect President, Stresses Right to Peaceful Protest
Naharnet/September 03/15/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale called Thursday for the speedy election of a new Lebanese president as he highlighted the importance of protecting the right to “peaceful, non-violent protest.”“America welcomes any efforts to reactivate a functioning government and cabinet. But there is a deeper issue. As the members of the U.N. Security Council reiterated yesterday, now is the time for parliament to meet and elect a president of the republic as soon as possible,” said Hale after meeting Salam at the Grand Serail. “The international community’s support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, security and stability is as strong as ever,” he underlined. The country has been without a president since Michel Suleiman's term ended in May 2014. Political disputes and electoral rivalry have prevented quorum in more than 20 electoral sessions in parliament. This week, Speaker Nabih Berri called for a national dialogue conference on September 9 with an agenda that will tackle the presidential void, the work of the cabinet and the parliament, a new electoral law, legislation allowing Lebanese expats to obtain the nationality, administrative decentralization and ways to support the army and the Internal Security Forces. Turning to the street protests that Lebanon has witnessed in recent weeks, Hale said he discussed with Salam “the importance of one of our shared core values, the right of free speech and assembly.” “Peaceful, non-violent protest is an integral part of our two nations' histories, and enshrined in both of our constitutions,” he added. “Citizens everywhere look to the state to protect their right to free speech and assembly; and citizens everywhere have a responsibility to exercise their right peacefully and responsibly,” said Hale. He also pointed out that “accountability is expected when either side transgresses rights or responsibilities.”“During these difficult times, Lebanon’s people, leaders, and institutions should come together, not pull apart,” Hale went on to say. A growing protest campaign that began with frustration over rubbish collection has ballooned into anger at a stagnant and corrupt political class. On Tuesday night, the situation turned briefly violent when police ejected several dozen protesters from the "You Stink" campaign who had occupied part of the environment ministry to press the minister to resign. Several demonstrations have also been marred with clashes between protesters and security forces. Scores of civilians and policemen were injured in the confrontations.

Man Arrested for Tossing Grenades in Bekaa
Naharnet/September 03/15/General Security said on Thursday that it has arrested a Lebanese man on charges of tossing grenades in towns in the eastern Bekaa Valley and recruiting people to carry out similar attacks. The agency's general directorate said in a communique that the man was arrested as part of general security's role in tracking terrorist groups and dormant cells. The suspect admitted that he and his Syrian accomplice have tossed grenades in several Bekaa towns and have recruited people to carry out similar attacks in exchange for sums of money that they have received from a Syrian army deserter, said the communique. After questioning him, the man was referred to the judiciary, it said.Efforts are underway to arrest the other suspects, it added.

Bid to Smuggle Narcotics Thwarted at Airport
Naharnet/September 03/15/Authorities at the Rafik Hariri International Airport thwarted an attempt to smuggle narcotics into the country en route from Brazil, through Addis Ababa and Cairo, the state-run National News Agency reported on Thursday. The scheme was thwarted Thursday when a Swedish national tried to smuggle the ample amounts of narcotics, that almost weigh 18kg, in 12 plastic containers, NNA added. Police said the material are believed to be cocaine paste. The man hid the containers in two of his luggage. The Swedish suspect and the confiscated drugs were referred to the Central Anti-Drug Office in Beirut for further investigation.

Hugo Shorter Appointed UK Ambassador to Lebanon
Naharnet/September 03/15/Hugo Shorter has been appointed as the British Ambassador Designate to Lebanon in succession to Tom Fletcher who took up another appointment outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, announced the embassy in a statement on Thursday. He will be assuming his post initially as Charge D’Affaires with immediate effect. This will be his first ambassadorial position coming straight from personally advising the Foreign Secretary on a wide range of Foreign Policy priorities as Head of External Affairs for Europe Directorate, continued the statement. In this role he has accompanied the Foreign Secretary on a monthly basis to the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, helping negotiate EU foreign policy decisions in areas such as crisis management, sanctions and military operations. He has also coordinated the UK’s foreign policy work on G7/8, including during the UK G8 presidency in 2013 and the G8 Summit at Lough Erne. This work comes after an early-career focus on defense, security and trade policy, and successful postings as Minister Counselor for Europe and Global Issues, Paris and Deputy Head of Mission, Brasilia. Shorter, like many Lebanese, has a special connection to Brazil, having grown up there and attended school in Rio de Janeiro, before taking degrees at Oxford University and the École Nationale d’Administration. He arrives in Lebanon with his wife and three children. On his appointment Shorter said: “I am honored to take up this posting leading the British Embassy in Lebanon, and to celebrate 25 years in the FCO in Beirut.”
“I have never had the same job title twice – I’ve negotiated on arms control; led on trade policy; been a private secretary to ministers; worked on the EU’s external action around the world,” he added. “I’ve learned lessons from every country and every job that I have worked on, and I look forward to the new challenges of being an Ambassador in the Middle East.”

Migrants Mob Train in Re-opened Budapest Train Station
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Hundreds of migrants stormed Budapest's main international station early Thursday after police re-opened it following a two-day standoff only to find that train services to western Europe had been suspended. The main entrance was re-opened around 08:15 am (0615 GMT) and migrants burst in, rushing towards a train standing on one of the platforms, pushing, shoving and fighting with each other to get on board. A public announcement said however that the train -- meant to travel to Sopron near the Austrian border -- would be going nowhere, and that no trains for western Europe would be leaving Keleti station "for an indefinite period". "In the interests of rail travel security the company has decide that until further notice, direct train services from Budapest to western Europe will not be in service," Hungarian Railways (MAV) said in a statement. A MAV spokesman told state news agency MTI that "passengers wanting to travel to western Europe can only take trains leaving from the northern and western borders and with an external rail company." Around 30 police then arrived and lined up along an adjacent platform, spaced a few metres apart. People were still hanging out of the doors of the stationary train despite being told to alight. There were bewildered and exhausted-looking families with young children, many of whom have been camped out for days in a makeshift refugee camp below Keleti station. People were carrying luggage and fathers carried young children on their shoulders. Frontline state Hungary is a key jump-off point for tens of thousands of migrants entering the European Union, with some 50,000 entering the country in August alone and 150,000 this year, already three and a half times the total for 2014. Most enter from non-EU Serbia having trekked up from Greece through the western Balkans, with a recently completed razor-wire barrier failing to stop the inflow. A total of 2,061 were intercepted overnight, including 389 children, police said Thursday. Most were Syrians, Afghans and Pakistanis. Practically all want to travel onwards to western European countries, particularly Germany. On Monday, Hungary allowed several thousand to board trains for Austria and Germany but the following day Keleti station was closed to anyone without an EU passport or a valid visa. The move left around 2,000 men, women and children stranded around the station or in the underground "transit zone", where thousands have been sheltering on blankets in cramped conditions, looked after only by Hungarian volunteers. Several hundred of the migrants had staged demonstrations over the past two days, chanting "Germany! Germany!". There were a number of scuffles between the migrants and riot police. Nizamuddin, 31, an Afghan who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. army for four years and wants to claim asylum in Germany, fought his way onto the train but had to get off. "I want to know when the Hungarian government is going to let us go to Germany. Do you know if the Hungarian government will let us go?" he asked AFP. "I slept for about two hours last night. It was very cold and windy last night and I had no blanket. My body was shaking," he said. "I last showered four days ago. I haven't changed my shirt for four days and my trousers for 15 days. Smugglers took my bag and my cellphone," he added.

U.N. Syria Investigators Denounce 'Failure' to Protect Refugees
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/U.N. investigators on Thursday denounced the international community's failure to protect refugees fleeing Syria, saying the neglect of those forced to flee the conflict had fueled Europe's migrant crisis.In its latest report, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said the responsibility to protect Syrian refugees "is not being adequately shared or shouldered."The commission, established by the U.N. Human Rights Council in 2011, further documented the growing abuses in the Syrian conflict that has killed more than 240,000 people, forced another four million to flee the country and left some 7.6 million displaced internally. The violence in Syria has become "endemic" and is "regrettably proliferating in its scope and extent," the report found, detailing a horrifying array of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Syrian regime, the Islamic State group and other armed opposition groups. Floods of incoming refugees had previously caused significant tension in Syria's neighbors -- especially Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey -- but, as the U.N. investigators noted, the "failure to protect Syrian refugees is now translating into a crisis in Southern Europe."A member of the four-person investigative panel, Karen Koning Abuzayd, said no one should be surprised that the conflict has created problems on the ground in Europe. "We predicted this was going to spill over, that it was going to take a long time and that's what is happening now," she told journalists. "People are finally starting to feel the consequences", of the Syrian civil war in Europe, she added. Syrians account for most of the some 234,000 migrants who have reached Greek shores since January 1, according to the International Organization for Migration. More than 2,000 Syrians have died at sea trying to reach Europe since the start of the conflict in March of 2011, the U.N. report said. Many of the Syrians who have reached southern Europe have subsequently tried to move north in hopes of settling in wealthier countries such as Germany or Sweden. To control the incoming flow of migrants and refugees, a number of European governments have increasingly relied on tougher measures, including border closures and the use of riot police and armed forces. The U.N. commission called on all nations to both protect the rights of migrants and respect international laws that prohibit repatriation to countries that could be considered dangerous. Echoing calls from U.N. officials, the panel said more "legal avenues" needed to be created that could allow refugees and asylum-seekers to resettle in safer countries. "These include expanded resettlement, humanitarian admission, flexible visa policies, family reunification, or academic and sponsorship schemes," the report said. The four investigators on the Syria commission extensively used eye witness testimony in compiling their reports, although the group has not yet been granted permission to visit Syria. The commission has been gathering evidence that could potentially be used in future criminal proceedings against those responsible for the worst atrocities committed during the conflict. The investigators have repeatedly appealed to a blocked U.N. Security Council to refer the cases to the International Criminal Court, but in vain.

Iran Submits Peace Plan to Syria's Assad
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Iran submitted last month a peace plan to Syrian President Bashar Assad to try and end his country's four-year war, a senior Iranian official said on Thursday.Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian however told a news conference in Damascus that any initiative to end the conflict would have to recognize "the pivotal role of Assad."The peace plan was submitted to Assad by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a visit to Damascus on August 12, he said. Assad "welcomed it as a constructive political initiative from Iran, and the two sides agree to follow up on these preliminary ideas via the two foreign ministers," Amir-Abdollahian said. Speaking at a joint news conference with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Moqdad, he said Iran was optimistic about the "success" of the peace plan. Amir-Abdollahian, whose country is a key ally of Assad's embattled regime, gave no further details. But he stressed that for any peace initiative to bear fruit, Assad must be part of the solution. "Any successful plan to find a solution to the Syrian crisis must take into consideration the central role of the Syrian people in deciding their future and fate, and the role of the government and of Assad are essential and pivotal in the potential solution," he said. Assad's departure is the top demand of Syria's opposition in exile, the National Coalition, which has insisted that the president should have no role in a future Syria. The Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television channel said Iran's initiative includes a call for "an immediate ceasefire", the formation of a "unity government" and "constitutional amendments". According to Al-Mayadeen, Tehran's initiative also stipulates that elections must be held in Syria and monitored by international observers. The U.N. Security Council adopted last month a new push for peace in Syria, which Iran welcomed and which Russia, another key ally of the Syrian regime, has endorsed. That peace push proposed by the U.N.'s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura is expected to be implemented later this month. Amir-Abdollahian said he would brief de Mistura, whom he met in Beirut on Wednesday, on the Iranian plan. More than 240,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began with anti-government protests in March 2011 but spiraled into a complex civil war after a government crackdown.

Egypt Billionaire Offers to Buy Med Island for Refugees
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris has offered to buy an island off Greece or Italy and develop it to help hundreds of thousands of people fleeing from Syria and other conflicts. The telecoms tycoon first announced the initiative on Twitter."Greece or Italy sell me an island, I'll call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country," he wrote. More than 2,300 people have died at sea trying to reach Europe since January, many of them Syrians who fled their country's four-and-a-half year conflict. Sawiris said in a television interview that he would approach the governments of Greece and Italy about his plan. Asked by AFP whether he believed it could work, he said: "Of course it's feasible.""You have dozens of islands which are deserted and could accommodate hundreds of thousands of refugees."Sawiris said an island off Greece or Italy could cost between $10 million and $100 million, but added the "main thing is investment in infrastructure". There would be "temporary shelters to house the people, then you start employing the people to build housing, schools, universities, hospitals. "And if things improve, whoever wants to go back (to their homeland) goes back," said Sawiris, whose family developed the popular El Gouna resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast. He conceded such a plan could face challenges, including the likely difficulty of persuading Greece or Italy to sell an island, and figuring out jurisdiction and customs regulations. But those who took shelter would be treated as "human beings," he said. "The way they are being treated now, they are being treated like cattle." Sawiris is the chief executive of Orascom TMT, which operates mobile telephone networks in a number of Middle Eastern and African countries plus Korea as well as underwater communications networks. He also owns an Egyptian television channel.

Egypt Sentences Dozens of Alleged Islamists in Mass Trial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/An Egyptian court sentenced dozens of people to life in prison or lesser jail terms on Thursday over pro-Islamist riots and church arsons following a bloody crackdown on protesters in 2013. The court in the southern province of Sohag sentenced 22 people to life, 37 people to 15 years in prison and eight to 10 years in prison. It also handed down jail terms to 52 defendants who were tried in absentia, and would be granted a retrial if they hand themselves in.
They were convicted of rioting and torching three churches after police killed hundreds of Islamists when they dispersed a Cairo protest camp in August 2013. The protesters were demanding the return of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, whom the army had overthrown.

Iran Objects to Kuwait Linking it to 'Terror Cell'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Iran's embassy objected Thursday to being linked to a group set to go on trial in Kuwait on charges of plotting attacks on the Gulf Arab emirate. In a statement published by Iranian state news agency IRNA, it also expressed "deep sorrow" at what it called a "systematic" Kuwait media campaign against relations between the two countries. On Tuesday, Kuwait charged 24 people, including one Iranian, with "spying for... Iran and Hizbullah to carry out aggressive acts against the State of Kuwait" by smuggling in and assembling explosives, as well as possessing firearms and ammunition. Kuwait's lower court is scheduled to try the alleged cell on September 15. In its statement, the embassy expressed its "deep dissatisfaction about including Iran's name in an internal affair of Kuwait on the discovery and confiscation of arms and ammunition."The embassy also said it has still not been officially provided with any details on the Iranian charged, and called on the Kuwaiti authorities to provide access to the defendant. And it regretted what it called the "continuation of systematic negative propagations" by the Kuwait media against bilateral relations, based on accusations that have not been proved by official Kuwaiti sources. Meanwhile, a number of Kuwaiti lawmakers have called on the government to take diplomatic action against Iran over its alleged involvement in the case. Islamist MP Homoud al-Hamdan called for "severing diplomatic ties with Iran and reducing the number of the Iranian community in the country," where about 50,000 Iranians work. And the head of parliament's legal panel, Mubarak al-Harees, called on the government to classify the Lebanon's Hizbullah as "a terrorist organization."Sunni-ruled Kuwait has traditionally had better ties with Iran than its fellow Gulf Arab states, but tensions have been rising. On Sunday, parliamentary foreign relations panel chairman, Hamad al-Harashani, described Iran as the "true enemy" of Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab states and said it sought "to spread chaos" in the region. In its statement, the embassy said Iran has always emphasized the need to safeguard regional countries' security and "steadfastly performs its constructive role" in preserving regional peace and security.

Pope Receives Israel's Rivlin amid Tensions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Israeli President Reuven Rivlin was received by Pope Francis for the first time Thursday in what could be seen as a bid to ease tensions raised this year by the signing of a historic first accord between the Vatican and Palestine. The Vatican said the "cordial discussions" addressed "the political and social situation in the Middle East, affected by several conflicts, with special attention to the condition of Christians and other minority groups". Francis stressed the "urgency of promoting a climate of trust between Israelis and Palestinians" as well as "the resumption of direct negotiations" for "an agreement respecting the legitimate aspirations of the two populations". The Vatican also underlined "the importance of inter-religious dialogue was recognized, along with the responsibility of religious leaders in promoting reconciliation and peace". Rivlin, accompanied by his wife, spent half an hour with the Argentine pontiff before meeting the Vatican's Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, according to journalists present. The pope presented Rivlin with a bronze medallion made up of two separate parts united by an olive branch, the symbol of peace, with the words "seek that which unites, overcome that what divides" inscribed on it. The Israeli president gave Francis a gift made of basalt featuring a verse from a Psalm, telling the pope: "I thought it was right to remember the common origin of Judaism and Christianity". It was the first meeting between the new head of state and the pope, who had established a relationship of trust with Rivlin's predecessor, Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres. Relations were strained in June by the signing of a historic first accord between the Church and Palestine, two years after the latter was officially recognized by the Vatican as a state. Tensions have been further raised by attacks by extremist Jews on Christian churches and protests in a Palestinian Christian town near Bethlehem against renewed work on Israel's West Bank separation barrier. Among the other hot-button issues likely to have been raised are Christian schools currently on strike in the Jewish state over a funding dispute.

Netanyahu Defends Iran Deal Fight after Obama Secures Support
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Thursday his high-profile campaign to defeat the Iran nuclear deal after President Barack Obama secured enough backing to keep Congress from blocking it. Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken out strongly against the agreement between Iran and six major powers aimed at rolling back the Islamic republic's nuclear program, even appearing before Congress in March. On Wednesday, Obama earned sufficient backing in Congress to uphold his veto should lawmakers pass a resolution that disapproves the deal. Netanyahu, whose political opponents accuse him of damaging Israel's relationship with its key U.S. ally, said Thursday it had been important for him to highlight the Jewish state's concerns. The right-wing prime minister has regularly argued that the deal would not block Iran's path to nuclear weapons. He has also said that lifting sanctions under the agreement would allow Iran to further back proxy militants in the Middle East, including Israeli enemies Hezbollah and Hamas. "It’s important to reach American public opinion with the fact that Iran is the U.S.’s enemy -- it announces that openly -- and Israel is an ally of the U.S.," Netanyahu said. "This understanding has important ramifications on our security’s future,” he told foreign ministry employees. On Wednesday, U.S. Senate Democrat Barbara Mikulski announced her support, giving the deal 34 backers in the 100-member Senate -- the magic number needed to uphold a certain Obama veto should Congress pass a resolution against the deal. Netanyahu's campaign against the deal worsened his already strained relations with Obama. In his Thursday remarks, Netanyahu noted “the close connections we have with traditional states, first and foremost the United States, even in the face of disagreements – and those exist."Isaac Herzog, leader of the opposition Labour party, said that while he thought the deal was bad, once it was done, Netanyahu should have switched focus to Israel's security needs. The United States currently grants Israel some $3 billion (2.7 billion euros) in military aid yearly outside of spending on other projects, such as assistance in developing the country's Iron Dome missile defense system. There has been talk of further assistance to compensate for Israel's concerns related to the deal. "Netanyahu is continuing to bear a grudge instead of working with the Americans on the big issues (of security) -- and in the end, the ones to pay the price will be us," Herzog told army radio. Israel is believed to be the only country in the Middle East with atomic bombs, although it has never confirmed it.

Libya Coastguards Rescue more than 100 Migrants
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Libya's coastguards said they rescued more than 100 African migrants on an overloaded rubber dinghy bound for Europe that was about to sink off the coast of Tripoli on Thursday. "We rescued 104 African migrants, including 14 women. Most of them were from Sierra Leone and Nigeria," Lieutenant Mohamad Dandi of the Tripoli coastguard told AFP. He said the rescue operation took place shortly after midnight at a distance of seven nautical miles off Garabulli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the Libyan capital.The migrants were on a Zodiac built to carry up to 35 people and the boat was about to start sinking because of a puncture when the coastguards intervened, he said. The migrants were seen disembarking at a naval station in Tripoli. Libya, with a coastline of 1,770 kilometers (more than 1,000 miles), has for years been a stepping stone for Africans seeking a better life in Europe. Most head for Italy's Lampedusa island which is 300 kilometers from Libya. People smugglers have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 uprising that toppled and killed veteran dictator Moammar Gadhafi to step up their lucrative business. In exchange for steep fees, they take would-be migrants on board rickety boats for the treacherous Mediterranean crossing. About 2,500 people have died at sea trying to reach Europe this year alone. Only last week, a boat transporting 400 migrants sank off the Libyan port of Zuwara, 160 kilometers west of Tripoli, with only half of its passengers rescued from the waves.

Family of Drowned Toddler Repeatedly Displaced in Syria, Says Journalist
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/The family of toddler Aylan whose lifeless body washed ashore on a Turkish beach had been repeatedly displaced by Syria's brutal four-year war, a local journalist said Thursday.Images of the child wearing a red T-shirt and blue shorts spread like wildfire through social media and his plight has dominated international headlines, in a heart-rending symbol of the mortal risks faced by tens of thousands of refugees desperate to reach Europe by sea. Mustefa Ebdi, a journalist in the family's original hometown of Kobane on the Turkish border in northern Syria, said the three-year-old child's family had been living in Damascus but been forced to flee the war's instability multiple times.Turkish media had identified the family's surname as Kurdi, a possible reference to their ethnic background, but Ebdi said the actual family name was Shenu. "They left Damascus in 2012 and headed to Aleppo, and when clashes happened there, they moved to Kobane. And again, when clashes (with the Islamic State jihadist group) happened there, they moved to Turkey," Ebdi, who spoke with a family friend hosting Aylan's devastated father, told AFP. IS fighters launched a fierce offensive to seize Kobane in late 2014, but were pushed back in January by Kurdish militia, Syrian rebel forces and U.S.-led coalition air strikes. The family returned to Kobane, hoping it would be stable enough to resume their lives there, Ebdi said. But in June, IS fighters re-entered the flashpoint town, holding hostages in several buildings in a two-day stand-off that left more than 200 civilians dead.
Insecurity forced the family to decide they had no alternative but to try to reach Europe from Turkey, said Ebdi. He said they stayed in Bodrum for one month, saving money and borrowing from relatives for the journey. "They left to try to find a better life."The family of four left the shores of Bodrum, a glitzy Aegean resort, on a small boat on Wednesday heading towards the Greek island of Kos. But as the waves grew more volatile, their boat flipped over, and Aylan, his four-year-old brother, Ghaleb, and their mother, Rihana, drowned. The bodies were to be transferred from a hospital in Bodrum to Kobane for burial in the next 48 hours, according to Ebdi. The journalist told AFP his own attempts to speak to Abdallah were futile: "I tried to speak to him, but I couldn't because he just started crying."
Aylan is believed to be one of least 12 Syrians who have died when their boats sank trying to reach Greece. Syria's war has left more than 240,000 people dead. More than four million have sought refuge in nearby countries, and millions more have been internally displaced.

Saudi Carries out 130th Execution this Year
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Saudi authorities put to death a convicted murderer on Thursday, bringing to 130 the number of executions in the kingdom so far this year, according to an AFP tally.
Saudi citizen Mashari al-Shammari was found guilty of killing fellow tribesman Sufouq al-Shammari in a frenzied attack with a gun, a dagger and a stick, the interior ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. He was put to death in the northeastern town of Hafr al-Baten, close to the Iraqi border. The 130 executions carried out in Saudi Arabia so far this year far exceeds the 87 AFP counted in the whole of 2014. Last month, Amnesty International appealed for a moratorium, criticizing the kingdom's "deeply flawed judicial system". The human rights group says that Saudi Arabia is one of the world's most prolific executioners, alongside China, Iran, Iraq and the United States. Under Saudi Arabia's strict Islamic legal code, drug trafficking, murder, armed robbery, rape and apostasy are all punishable by death. The vast majority of executions are carried out by beheading, some in public, but a few are carried out by firing squad.

Obama Expected to Press Saudi King on Conflicts in Syria, Yemen
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/U.S. President Barack Obama will host Saudi Arabia's King Salman in their first and long-delayed White House summit Friday, with clashing views on Middle Eastern crises coming to the fore. Salman's inaugural visit as king -- originally scheduled for May and cancelled by Riyadh -- has been billed as a way of reinforcing U.S.-Saudi relations. But behind public statements of partnership, the meeting looks likely to be dominated by disagreements on Syria and Yemen as well as lingering doubts about the nuclear deal with Iran. Saudi Arabia publicly voiced tepid support for the Iran deal, but privately expressed grave misgivings that the nuclear agreement may legitimize their arch-foe Iran. Obama has now won enough votes to push the deal through Congress, easing the need for public Saudi endorsement. But the White House would still like to assuage Saudi concerns that the deal equates to turning a blind eye to Iran's activities. These meetings normally end in "some kind of public statement that puts as positive a spin as possible on the meeting," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This meeting "is unlikely to be an exception," he said. "Both nations are close strategic partners in spite of their differences, and both states need each other."Differences over Iran have exacerbated tensions between the United States and Saudi Arabia over the crises in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, the White House wants to make sure both countries "have a common view" on which Syrian opposition groups get support, according to senior Obama foreign policy aide Ben Rhodes. "We are looking to isolate more extremist elements of the opposition, that's been an ongoing conversation with Saudi Arabia," he said. Both Washington and Riyadh would like to see an end to Syria's brutal civil war and see leader Bashar al-Assad pushed from power. But Saudi Arabia's backing for opposition groups like Jaysh al-Islam, an amalgam of factions that include hardline Islamists, has concerned the White House. Riyadh views Sunni fighters as a counterbalance to the Iranian-backed Shia militias helping prop up Assad. "The Kingdom sees the conflict against the Iranian-supported Assad regime as an extension of the wider Persian-Arab rivalry" said Simon Henderson of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.That rivalry is also manifest in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia began bombing soon after Salman and his son and defense minister, Crown Prince Muhammad, came to power. The United States has supported the effort to oust Iranian-backed rebels, but has repeatedly warned about the impact the fighting has had on civilians.
In July, Obama and Salman discussed the "urgent" need to end fighting "and the importance of ensuring that assistance can reach Yemenis on all sides of the conflict."A few months on, little seems to have changed. In late August the White House expressed concern about Saudi-led air strikes on the post city of Hodeida, a "crucial lifeline used to provide medicine, food and fuel to Yemen's population.""I do think we will see an expression of concern," said Jeff Prescott, the National Security Council's Senior Director for the Middle East. He stressed the need for ports to reopen and for infrastructure not to be damaged. "We have been urging all the parties involved, including the Yemen government, coalition members and others to take steps to allow for unfettered humanitarian access to all parts of Yemen," he said. "There is no military solution to the crisis in Yemen."

Iran Militia in Tehran Show of Strength
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Iran's Basij militia, which played a key role in crushing opposition protests in 2009, has put on a show of strength in the capital in a two-day exercise culminating Thursday.
Some 50,000 members of the largely volunteer force were taking part in the drill, which was intended to "prove the security forces' ability to safeguard national security," Basij spokesman General Nasser Shabani told Iranian media. Shabani recalled the role played by the militia in 2009, when defeated reformist candidates led mass street protests against the controversial re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "Considering our experience of events in 2009 as well as our [other] past experiences, we planned this drill to demonstrate the security" aimed for by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he said. Ahmadinejad's moderate successor, President Hassan Rouhani, has overseen a limited opening to the West that culminated in a long-elusive nuclear deal with world powers in July. But the defeated reformist candidates of 2009, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, remain under house arrest and are derided by state media as the "heads of sedition."Established by Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the several hundred thousand strong Basij has always seen its primary role as defending the values of the revolution. A senior commander, General Hossein Salami, hailed the force as the "eternal shield" protecting "the sacred system of the Islamic republic." Largely recruited from among poorer Iranians, the Basij also plays an important social role, being deployed in vaccination campaigns and relief efforts after earthquakes and other natural disasters.

Israel Targets Hamas Base after Bullet Fire from Gaza
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/The Israeli military said Thursday its air force had attacked a Hamas military position in the Gaza Strip overnight from which gunfire had hit homes in southern Israel. Shots from Gaza had on Wednesday hit a number of houses in Netiv Haasara, just north of the Palestinian enclave, causing damage but no casualties, it said in a statement. "In response to the shooting, an IAF (Israel air force) aircraft targeted a Hamas military post in the northern Gaza Strip, from where the shots were fired," it read. The army could not say whether the shots from Gaza had been deliberate or stray fire from the Hamas position, identified in Israeli media as a training base. Palestinian security sources said two missiles fired from the plane hit a training facility in Beit Lahiya belonging to Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, causing damage but no casualties.

France, Germany Agree Binding Migrant Quotas Needed, Says Merkel
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 03/15/Germany and France have agreed that the European Union, facing an unprecedented influx of migrants, should impose binding quotas on the numbers member states take in, Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday. "I spoke this morning with the French president, and the French-German position, which we will transmit to the European institutions, is that we agree that ... we need binding quotas within the European Union to share the burden. That is the principle of solidarity," Merkel told reporters during a visit in the Swiss capital. She insisted the bloc needed to adhere to the basic principle that "those who need protection ... get it."She said the "economic power and size (of countries) should play a role" in the number of migrants they are asked to take in, but stressed that without quotas, "we cannot solve this problem." The French presidency also announced the two European powerhouses would send joint proposals to Brussels "for organizing the welcome of refugees and their fair distribution in Europe" and for "reinforcing the European asylum system." With the large number of refugees and migrants flooding into Europe and moving through the continent, it warned that "dramas are being followed by tragedies." "Thousands of victims have died since the start of the year. The European Union must act in a decisive manner in line with its values," the French presidency said. It added though that the joint proposals also aim to ensure "the return of irregular migrants to their countries of origin, and bring the necessary support and cooperation with countries of transit and origin."Merkel echoed that, saying that while Europe has an obligation to help those in need, "those who are coming for purely economic reasons cannot expect a lasting protection and must leave the country."

Could US state sanctions on Iran unravel nuke deal?
Julian Pecquet/Al-Monitor/September 03/15
US critics of the nuclear agreement with Iran are turning to the 50 states as it becomes increasingly obvious that Congress won’t be able to kill the deal. With hawkish Democrats Bob Casey and Chris Coons all but ensuring opponents won’t have a veto-proof majority in the US Senate, the states are coming under pressure to pass their own sanctions. The Republican attorneys general of Oklahoma and Michigan, Scott Pruitt and Bill Schuette, wrote a letter to their counterparts Sept. 1 urging them to do just that. “The states certainly have numerous moral and reputational reasons to prohibit investment of public assets into companies doing business with Iran and other countries that sponsor terrorism,” they wrote. “Even if it is true that Iran has relinquished its ambitions for a nuclear weapon and that its deal with President [Barack] Obama will prevent such an acquisition — both of which are highly questionable — Iran engages in a range of other reprehensible activities.”The letter was accompanied by proposed draft legislation that the states that haven’t yet passed such sanctions are invited to use as a template. States have two main avenues for sanctioning Iran: restricting investments by state retirement plans, and barring state agencies from buying goods and services from blacklisted individuals and entities. According to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a lobby group opposed to the deal, 30 states have already passed pension fund divestment measures. Eleven of them — California, Florida, New York, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Michigan, Rhode Island, Connecticut, South Carolina and Pennsylvania — have also enacted UANI-inspired restrictions on government contracting.
State-by-state Iran sanctions
Map courtesy of United Against Nuclear Iran
The states maintain lists of sanctioned companies. Some borrow freely from other states’ lists, experts say, notably Florida’s.
“Accordingly, companies concerned about potential divestment actions should remain particularly vigilant about potential listings under Florida's divestment law,” the trade publication Bloomberg Law reported in 2013. Pruitt and Schuette argue that states have a free hand to act as they see fit because the Obama administration did not craft the deal as a treaty subject to congressional ratification that would make it the “supreme law of the land.” Others question that assertion, pointing in particular to a 2000 Supreme Court case that threw out Massachusetts sanctions on Burma because they infringed on the federal power to conduct foreign affairs.
Under the deal “you’re running into a situation in which there can be foreign investment in Iran’s energy sector or a host of other things, so you’re going to have a situation in which the states are actually doing more than the federal law is,” said Tyler Cullis, a sanctions expert with the pro-deal National Iranian American Council. “And to the extent that there is a conflict between those two, there is a presumption that federal law rules the day.”There’s little doubt, however, that the states can pass sanctions under a 2010 law — the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act — because Congress, perhaps anticipating a controversial deal, explicitly carved out a role for the states. The law calls upon the federal government to “support the decision of any state or local government that for moral, prudential, or reputational reasons” divests from Iran.
That provision conflicts with the nuclear deal, which calls on Washington to try to rein in the states.
“If a law at the state or local level in the United States is preventing the implementation of the sanctions lifting as specified in this JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action], the United States will take appropriate steps, taking into account all available authorities, with a view to achieving such implementation,” the deal states. “The United States will actively encourage officials at the state or local level to take into account the changes in the US policy reflected in the lifting of sanctions under this JCPOA and to refrain from actions inconsistent with this change in policy.”Secretary of State John Kerry repeated that commitment during a July 28 House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing. Asked by Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., to confirm that the deal wouldn’t affect states’ ability to enact sanctions, Kerry answered in the affirmative. “That’s accurate,” Kerry replied. “But we would urge those states, if Iran is fully complying with this agreement, we will take steps to urge them not to interfere with that.”The impact of new state sanctions isn’t clear, however, since under the terms of the deal agreed to on July 14 most US sanctions would remain in place, with specific carve-outs for commercial passenger aircraft and parts, carpets and foodstuffs. And European and other foreign companies, while technically allowed to invest in Iran’s energy sector, would have to clear the high hurdle of ensuring that they’re not in business with the still-sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is believed to have a near stranglehold on vast swaths of the Iranian economy.
Some advocates of more state sanctions acknowledge that their ultimate goal isn’t so much to prevent a raft of new investments in Iran but rather to kill the deal outright. “The Constitution’s Commerce Clause prevents states from imposing sanctions as broadly as Congress can,” former Justice Department officials David Rivkin and Lee Casey wrote in a July 26 Wall Street Journal op-ed. “Yet states can establish sanctions regimes — like banning state-controlled pension funds from investing in companies doing business with Iran — powerful enough to set off a legal clash over American domestic law and the country’s international obligations. The fallout could prompt the deal to unravel.”

NATO Allies Making It Easier for Iran to Attack Israel?
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/September 3, 2015
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6401/nato-iran-israel
Iran did not go mad and threaten to hit all NATO installations in Turkey because it wanted 3.5 million Turkish citizens to die from the chemical warhead of a Syrian missile. It went mad and threatened because it viewed the defensive NATO assets in Turkey as a threat to its offensive missile capabilities. Iran's reaction to the NATO assets in Turkey revealed its intentions to attack. It could be a coincidence that the U.S. and Germany (most likely to be followed by Spain) have decided to withdraw their Patriot missile batteries and troops from Turkey shortly after agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran. But if it is a coincidence, it is a very suspicious one. Why were Assad's missiles a threat to Turkey two and a half years ago, but are not today? Apparently, NATO allies believe, although the idea defies logic, that the nuclear deal with Iran will discourage the mullahs in Tehran from attacking Israel. In early 2013, NATO supposedly came to its ally's help: As Turkey was under threat from Syrian missiles -- potentially with biological/chemical warheads -- the alliance would build a mini anti-missile defense architecture on Turkish soil. Six U.S.-made Patriot missile batteries would be deployed in three Turkish cities and protect a vast area where about 3.5 million Turks lived.
The Patriot batteries that would protect Turkey from Syrian missiles belonged to the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. In early 2015, the Dutch mission ended and was replaced by Spanish Patriots. Recently, the German government said that it would withdraw its Patriot batteries and 250 troops at the beginning of 2016. Almost simultaneously, the U.S. government informed Turkey that its Patriot mission, expiring in October, would not be renewed. Washington cited "critical modernization upgrades" for the withdrawal.
Since the air defense system was stationed on Turkish soil, it unnerved Iran more than it did Syria. There is a story behind this. First, Patriot missiles cannot protect large swaths of land, but only designated friendly sites or installations in their vicinity. That the six batteries would protect Turkey's entire south and 3.5 million people living there was a tall tale. They would instead protect a U.S.-owned, NATO-assigned radar deployed earlier in Kurecik, a Turkish town; and they would protect it not from Syrian missiles with chemical warheads, but from Iranian ballistic missiles.
U.S. Patriot missiles, deployed outside Gaziantep, Turkey in 2013. (Image source: U.S. Army Europe/Daniel Phelps)
Kurecik seemed to matter a lot to Iran. In November 2011, Iran threatened that it would target NATO's missile defense shield in Turkey ("and then hit the next targets," read Israel) if it were threatened. Shortly before the arrival of Patriots in Turkey, Iran's army chief of staff warned NATO that stationing Patriot anti-missile batteries in Turkey was "setting the stage for world war." What was stationed in Kurecik was an early-warning missile detection and tracking radar system. Its mission is to provide U.S. naval assets in the Mediterranean with early warning and tracking information in case of an Iranian missile launch that might target an ally or a friendly country, including Israel. So, a six-battery Patriot shield to protect the NATO radar in Kurecik against possible Iranian aggression was necessary. And that explains why the Iranians went mad about Kurecik and openly threatened to hit it.
NATO and Turkish officials have always denied any link between the Patriot missiles and the NATO radar in Turkey. They have often pointed out that the Patriot batteries were stationed in the provinces of Adana, Kahramanmaras and Gaziantep, while Kurecik was in nearby Malatya province. But the Patriot is a road-mobile system: It can be dismantled easily and re-deployed in another area in a matter of hours (the road distance between Kurecik and Kahramanmaras is a mere 200 kilometers, or 124 miles).
Clearly, Iran did not go mad and threaten to hit all NATO installations in Turkey because it wanted 3.5 million Turkish citizens to die from the chemical warhead of a Syrian missile. It went mad and threatened because it viewed the defensive NATO assets in Turkey as a threat to its offensive missile capabilities, which the Patriots could potentially neutralize.
Why, otherwise, would a country feel "threatened" and threaten others with starting a "world war" just because a bunch of defensive systems are deployed in a neighboring country? Iran did so because it views the NATO radar in Turkey as an asset that could counter any missile attack on Israel; and the Patriots as hostile elements because they would protect that radar. In a way, Iran's reaction to the NATO assets in Turkey revealed its intentions to attack.
It could be a total coincidence that the U.S. and Germany (most likely to be followed by Spain) have decided to pull their Patriot batteries and troops from Turkey shortly after agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran. But if it is a coincidence, it is a very suspicious one. In theory, the Patriot systems were deployed in Turkey in order to protect the NATO ally from missile threats from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Right? Right.
Assad's regime is still alive in Damascus and it has the same missile arsenal it had in 2013. Moreover, Turkey's cold war with Assad's Syria is worse than it was in 2013, with Ankara systematically supporting every opposition group and openly declaring that it is pushing for Assad's downfall. Why were Assad's missiles a threat to Turkey two and a half years ago, but are not today? The Patriot missiles are leaving Turkey. They no longer will "protect Turkish soil." Apparently, NATO allies believe, although the idea defies logic, that the nuclear deal with Iran will discourage the mullahs in Tehran from attacking Israel. It looks as if the potential target of NATO heavyweights' decision is more a gesture to Iran than to Turkey.
**Burak Bekdil, based in Ankara, is a Turkish columnist for the Hürriyet Daily and a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Kerry Promises Israel, Saudis Money In Wake of Iran Nuclear Deal
Move meant to sooth congressional, regional fears following deal
The Washington Free Beacon
Adam Kredo/September 2, 2015
Secretary of State John Kerry on Wednesday moved to reassure Congress that Israel and America’s Gulf State allies would be fully taken care of in the wake of the Iran nuclear deal, which Kerry acknowledged would not stop Iran’s support for terrorism, according to a letter sent by the secretary of state to lawmakers.
Just moments after the White House secured enough votes to override a congressional veto of the Iran deal, a letter from Kerry appeared in the inboxes of congressional offices across Capitol Hill.
Kerry admits that, despite the deal, Iran will continue to back terrorist groups across the globe and promises to boost military support and funding to Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
The letter comes in response to concerns among lawmakers, Israel, and other Gulf region allies that the nuclear accord will boost the Islamic Republic’s support for terrorism, while leaving traditional U.S. allies on the defense.
“Important questions have been raised concerning the need to increase security assistance to our allies and partners in the region and to enhance our efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” Kerry writes. “We share the concern expressed by many in Congress regarding Iran’s continued support for terrorist and proxy groups throughout the region, its propping up of the Assad regime in Syria, its efforts to undermine the stability of its regional neighbors, and the threat it poses to Israel.”
The Obama administration, Kerry claims, is under “no illusion that this behavior will change following implementation of the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“The president has made clear that he views Israel’s security as sacrosanct, and he has ensured that the United States has backed up this message with concrete actions that have increased US military, intelligence, and security cooperation with Israel to their highest levels ever,” the letter states.
Kerry then goes on to outline the ways in which the Obama administration will enhance security cooperation with Israel and Gulf State allies.
Israel, for instance, will be the first country in the region to get a U.S.-made next-generation F-35 fighter aircraft in 2016.
An additional $3 billion in U.S. aid also will go to secure Israel’s missile defense programs, such as the Iron Dome system. The administration also stands ready “to enhance” funding to next-generation missile defense systems, such as Arrow-3 and David’s Sling.
The administration, Kerry writes, recently “offered Israel a $1.89 billion munitions resupply package that will replenish Israel’s inventories and will ensure its long-term continued access to sophisticated, state of the art precision guided munitions.”
The administration will additionally work to secure a new 10-year “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Jewish state that “would cement for the next decade our unprecedented levels of military assistance,” Kerry writes.
Kerry also proposes to collaborate with Israel on “tunnel detection and mapping technologies to provide Israel new capabilities to detect and destroy [terrorist] tunnels before the could be used to threaten Israeli civilians.”
President Barack Obama has further proposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the two governments “begin the process aimed a further strengthening our efforts to confront conventional and asymmetric threats.”
Gulf States, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), also will benefit from increased arms shipments and new security deals, according to Kerry.
The administration is “working to expedite the delivery of capabilities needed to deter and combat regional threats, including terrorism and Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” Kerry writes.
In July, for example, the administration notified Congress of new arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE “that will provide long-term strategic defense capabilities and support for their ongoing operations,” the letter states.
Another goal is to strengthen ballistic missile defense capabilities in the region. This goal, Kerry says, “is a strategic imperative and an essential component to deterring Iranian aggression against any GCC member state.”
One senior Congressional aide who received the letter said that it is a clear attempt by the administration to placate regional fears about the deal.
“Let’s not be fooled about what the letter represents. This desperate move to placate Israel and our Gulf partners is a tacit acknowledgment that Iran will expand its international terror regime thanks to the nuclear agreement,” the source said. “If this is such a good deal, why does the administration feel compelled to immediately offer arms packages as compensation to our regional allies?”
“No amount of conventional weapons can neutralize the threat posed by the mullahs acquiring nuclear weapons,” the source said. “This type of appeasement is a slap in the face to our closets allies and a wink-wink to the dictators in Tehran.”
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/kerry-promises-israel-saudis-money-in-wake-of-iran-nuclear-deal/

Political settlement in Syria has become a routine excuse
Haid Haid/Now Lebanon/3/09/2015
A member of the Syrian regime forces keeps watch in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh
It’s becoming a habit to witness the wave of exciting reports whenever a new initiative for a political solution in Syria emerges. As the conflict has entered its fifth year, it’s normal to follow up on any new initiative but such reports should be assessed based on the reality on the ground, both in and out of Syria, rather than on the wishful thinking of organizers. Such waves of reporting usually fade quickly after a couple of months and then another initiative arises. These false hopes are usually used as an excuse to avoid talking about what should be done in the absence of a genuine political solution in Syria.
Day dreaming
The latest wave of reporting came a few weeks ago when a flurry of diplomatic activities concerining Syria took place over a few days. It’s true that those efforts were significant: Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk’s visit to Saudi Arabia; Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem’s visit to Oman; Iran’s revised proposal for a political solution; the Iranian foreign minister’s planned visit to Lebanon and to Turkey; and the Saudi foreign minister’s visit to Moscow. However, these diplomatic activties didn’t indicate any breakthrough in the near furutre — the stances of the main actors, regionally and internationaly, remain the same, which is exactly what each group stressed after each of these moves.
The predictions of the impact of such initiatives were not based on the clear messages sent by the various players; they were based on wishful thinking. Maybe part of that can be linked to the fact that those efforts followed Iran's nuclear deal, which gave a positive impression to those who believe that Iran’s policy in the region would change after signing the nuclear deal. Nonetheless, even this expectation is not based on indications or gestures by Iranian officials but rather on hopes that things will be different, though facts indicate otherwise.
Do no harm
While pursuing a political solution in Syria should by all means remain a priority, supporting any initiative without assessing its added value could do more harm than good. Last month, the fight in Syria increased dramatically. The Assad regime intensified its attacks on Zabadani, a city near the Lebanese border, and its airstrikes on Douma and Ghouta, in rural Damascus, which resulted in hundreds of civilian casualties. The rebels retaliated by increasing their attack on pro-Assad areas, mainly in Idlib.
This escalation could be understood in light of the conflict’s internal dynamics, but its timing makes linking it to the misleading wishful thinking of the latest diplomatic activities more convincing. It might be expected that the fighting would intensify whenever preparations for negotiations start, but usually it is a price people pay to achieve peace, even temporarily. What has been happening in Syria, though, is that people pay the bloody price as a result of useless initiatives or meaningless political gestures without achieving anything in return. The consequences of such actions are not limited to the increasing death toll and destroying people’s hopes by the repeated failures — they’re giving the main actors excuses, particularly in the absence of a genuine will, not to look for other ideas.
A starting point
Removing Assad’s insurance policy — which mainly holds because there are no alternatives to replace him — would be a good start. The question about what should be done in Syria usually follows a pessimistic take on the possibilities of reaching an end to the conflict in the foreseeable future. Answers normally vary from not knowing to broad ideas that are as complicated as the desired solution. What is missing from most of the answers is how to break down the overall goal into intelligent singular goals. One specific recommendation from this perspective is to focus on creating alternatives to Assad’s regime on various levels. Most of the actors involved in Syria’s conflict are still focusing mainly on military operations — not so much to achieve military victory but to use them as leverage for a better political deal. If the same actors tried just as hard to find alternatives to Assad’s regime, things would be different.
A political settlement following an armed conflict is usually reached mutually when all parties are forced to do so and believe that it’s the best option available or when one group is facing a profound threat. Neither of these applies to Assad’s regime as he knows that the international community, led by the US, won’t allow the rebels to overthrow him before securing an alternative. As such, the regime has established itself as the only provider of essential services in Syria and used all means, including barrel bombs and chemical attacks, to terrorize people and prevent the emergence of effective opposition institutions. Solving the Syrian crisis requires changing this equation, which would stop Assad from using his enemies as a guarantor to stay in power.
Haid Haid is a Syrian researcher based in Istanbul. He tweets @HaidHaid22

Grassroots movement stirs Syria Druze region
Now Lebanon/September 03/15
BEIRUT – A popular movement protesting corruption and difficult living conditions has swept the Druze-populated Suweida province, prompting the regime to cut internet access in the southern region.
On Tuesday, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the provincial government HQ in Suweida for a rally called by the newly-formed “We Are Being Strangled” (خنقتونا#) movement, which stresses it is making only social, not political, demands.
The grassroots group has called on regime authorities to provide the province with electricity, heating oil and benzene, and to dismiss corrupt local officials and put an end to the smuggling of essential living supplies out of the Druze region.
In an unprecedented show of anger, demonstrators on Tuesday went as far as storming the regime’s provincial government branch, which has a history of quelling dissent with disproportionate violence.
However, regime forces took a more subtle approach to handling the protests, instead cutting roads as well as the internet in the province.
“The organizers of the demonstrations were coordinating a new demonstration, larger than the first, that would have been held [Tuesday] in front of the provincial building in the middle of Suweida,” anti-Damascus outlet All4Syria reported.
“The regime halted the organizers by taking away the means of communication between them and residents of the city.”
Sources inside the city told All4Syria that “security forces are on high alert in case demonstrations start… and have blocked a number of roads.”
Meanwhile, “We Are Being Strangled” on Tuesday evening called for yet another demonstration the following day, reiterating that internet services in the province remains down.
Who is “We Are Being Strangled”
Soaring prices, rising crime and poor infrastructure have all stoked already growing levels of popular discontent in Suweida, sparking the formation of the “We Are Being Strangled Movement.”
Not much is known about the activist group—which announced its public presence August 30 via Facebook—or whether it is linked to the Sheikhs of Dignity movement—headed by Sheikh Waheed Balaous—that opposes the regime.
While Suweida is under regime control, residents of the region have generally maintained an autonomous attitude and have protested enlistment into the Syrian army to fight in far-off areas of the country.
However, as rebels in southern Syria have encroached on the borders of the Suweida province, the regime has ramped up efforts to build up its public support amid heightened fears of Islamist attacks.
“We Are Being Strangled” has not taken any firm stance on the regime’s presence in Suweida, with rhetoric on its Facebook page focusing on social issues and local corruption.
“We are no-one’s enemies and we are not insulting anyone. The demands are clear. They are not political,” the group said in its call for protests on August 31.
Reports on the September 1 protest claimed that no demonstrators had raised the Syrian regime flag—which is ubiquitous in any rally in government-controlled areas—and instead brought flags bearing the five-colored Druze star that symbolizes the sect.
Basic demands
“We Are Being Strangled” laid out its demands in detail a day before the first of its mass protests, saying in a Facebook post that its number one priority was “the provision of electricity for the province–because life is impossible without it–to a level similar to all [other] provinces.”
“Suweida province is full of honorable people who have preserved the province’s unity… for years… why this punishment?”
The group went on to call for “provision of heating fuel to all citizens when winter approaches so that people will not be forced to cut down trees for heating.”
“We Are Being Strangled” took a more political tone with its third demand, saying it wanted “the dismissal of corrupt officials in the province who are gambling away our sustenance… while they live in mansions.”
It also called for “the provision of benzene, which is vital for the people so that they can provide for themselves and work… Gas stations [must be] monitored effectively… and the province’s allocations [must be] increased. That would be better than people attacking each other as gas stations.”
The movement’s fifth demand was the “regulation of food supplies after the dismissal of corrupt individuals in [the local] consumer protection [authority] to control the unbelievable hike in prices.”
“[We want the] improvement of bread and a regulation of the theft of flour allocations. This isn’t bread for people to eat. We aren’t animals that eat barley bread.”
The final demand of the group was the “control of smuggling, whatever the kind, by the competent authorities. Don’t let the mountain’s [inhabitants] kill each other.”
“We will continue the protests until [our demands] are implemented and every corrupt individual who has conspired against this province… is dismissed.”
Regime complicity in corruption
Although “We Are Being Strangled” has presented itself as a non-political movement, a number of Suweida residents have directly blamed the regime for being behind corruption, rising crime and the high prices for living essentials.
Suweida residents told All4Syria that “gangs of thieves have spread through the city unrestrained,” and that they have been especially active in terms of car theft, which has been particularly prevalent over the last month, according to the outlet.
“The situation in the province has reached the [point of] explosion because of the regime’s… lies have been exposed, even to its shabiha,” Akram Abu Hamdan, a Syrian activist from Suweida Province, told Alaraby Aljadeed.
The only people still manning pro-regime militias, he said, were “mercenaries and smugglers who benefit from the state of chaos.”
Some of the city’s residents that All4Syria spoke to also said that “the gangs usually work for the security services—the Political Security Branch in particular—and that Political Security Branch chief Wafiq Nasser is responsible.”
“The tragedy inside the province does not stop with the gangs,” the outlet elaborated, citing the same sources. “The security apparatuses are cooperating with a number of smugglers who are [exporting] the province’s diesel, benzene and gas allocations.”
“An allowance of just 30 liters per-week has been allocated for every car in the Suweida Province and anyone who wants more than that has to buy [it] at the ‘free market’ price.”
“Rather than paying 160 Syrian Pounds for a liter they have to pay 350, and the same applies to all petroleum products.”

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