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From Iran through Syria
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“Founder of Fatah Al-Islam: we want to expand in all the camps in Lebanon”
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Lebanese security authorities have pinned down the identity of a person involved in the assassinations of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri, journalist Samir Kassir and politician George Hawi, Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan has said.
Adwan said on Kalam el Nas' political forum on LBC television late Thursday that the security apparatus has also identified "those standing behind that person."
He said the dossier had been referred to the international investigating commission of the 2005 Hariri murder and related crimes.
"Fingers are pointed at Syria," Adwan told Marcel Ghanem, the forum's presenter.
Adwan also revealed that the U.N. probe commission has now got "clear-cut clues" in the assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel.
He said security authorities
have also identified the person "who was in charge of surveillance" in the Feb.
13 bus bombings of Ain Alaq. Naharnet, Beirut,
02 Mar 07, 08:18
Lebanese walk under a billboard in French reading 'We Love Life' in Beirut, Lebanon, Dec. 2, 2006. The billboards are part of a civil society campaign against political killings that followed last month's assassination of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel. He was the sixth anti-Syrian politician to be killed in Lebanon in the past two years. Another civil society group, AMAM, has put up anti-sectarianism billboards trying to show Lebanese how much confessionalism dictates every-day behavior, and what the country could look like if its Christians, Sunni Muslims and Shiite Muslims can't get along. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Tawil)
Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri, left, speaks during a media conference at the EU Council building in Brussels, Wednesday Feb. 28, 2007. Standing right is EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo).
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A Lebanese soldier carries a box carrying an unexoploded hand grenade. A UN envoy has said he has relayed to Lebanese officials Israeli concerns over arms smuggling into Lebanon from Syria, a backer of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah.(AFP/Mahmoud Zayat)
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The visit by the U.N. Secretary General's Special Adviser to the Middle East, Michael Williams, comes ahead of a key report on Lebanon that the U.N. chief, Ban Ki-moon, will deliver to the Security Council on March 16.
Williams, accompanied by Geir Pederson, the U.N. representative in Lebanon, drove to the militant group's stronghold in Beirut's war-devastated southern suburb where they held talks with former energy minister from Hezbollah ranks, Mohammed Fneish, and Wafik Safa, a senior Hezbollah security official.
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Jumblatt trumpets US support for
'coexistence, free economy'
By Hani M. Bathish
Special to The
Daily Star
Thursday, March 01, 2007
BEIRUT: Speaking from Washington on Wednesday, Druze leader MP Walid
Jumblatt said that the United States' commitment to the Lebanese "model" remains
unchanged, as various other Lebanese leaders expressed hope for a resolution
early next month to the current political crisis.
In an interview with the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party said that he had "emphasized to the US the importance of maintaining Lebanon as a model for coexistence, a model of free economy, a model of freedoms in the Arab East, in the face of a desire by the Islamic Republic [of Iran] and Syria to break this model."
Jumblatt added that President Emile Lahoud was "an employee" of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
In response to statements by Hizbullah MP Mohammad Raad the previous day that an ordinary Parliament session would not convene as long as there is no unity government, Jumblatt said that "this verifies there is a plot aimed at toppling Lebanese legitimacy and imposing a status quo government."
In a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Wednesday, Jumblatt said he had emphasized the need to provide the Lebanese Army with additional resources.
Jumblatt also met late Wednesday with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Also on Wednesday, MP Saad Hariri met the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, in Brussels. In a joint press conference, Hariri expressed confidence that Saudi and Iranian contacts "will bear fruit."
Hariri said the Lebanese parliamentary majority had always wanted to establish diplomatic relations with Syria, but that Damascus had refused.
"There is a regime that is trying to threaten stability in Lebanon," said the legislator. "This is not acceptable and we will not allow it."
Asked to comment on reports that Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would not convene an ordinary session in mid-March, Hariri said: "Now you see why we do not want to give [the opposition] the blocking third, this is my answer."
Solana said that while interference in Lebanese affairs exists, he hopes that future involvement by other countries "will be more positive" and will aim at solving the crisis.
In Lebanon, leaders on both sides of the political divide expressed hope that the current crisis will be resolved before Parliament's ordinary session, due to convene on the first Tuesday after March 15.
March 14 Forces MP Butros Harb, speaking to TeleLiban on Wednesday, said that any discussion of the legitimacy of the government has to take place in Parliament, since the current Parliament had given the present government a vote of confidence.
"At that time, all issues may be discussed," Harb said. "I hope the political crisis is resolved by then, but if it is not we do not want to add complications that only exacerbate the crisis. It is not within the purview of the president or the speaker to determine the condition of the government. The only body with the authority to do that is Parliament."
The Amal Movement's Development and Liberation Bloc MP Michel Moussa, speaking on Voice of Lebanon radio Wednesday, also expressed "great hope" for a breakthrough before the 19th Arab League summit is convened in late March.
"The tempo of activity toward finding a solution has decreased but the doors to a solution are still open," Moussa said. "There are internal contacts even if they are only through a few channels, but there are also Arab contacts being conducted by Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa and contacts between Saudi Arabia and Iran."
Moussa said he hoped these contacts "will reach a positive conclusion," adding that it would be preferable for the Lebanese to go to the summit in agreement - or at least with "a bare minimum" of agreement.
A well-informed ministerial source told the Central News Agency that Arab efforts aimed at resolving the Lebanese crisis are currently focusing on repairing Saudi-Syrian relations.
The source said that Syria's final position on the international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri "will become clearer after the end of the Arab summit," when Assad is expected to discuss the issue with King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of Saudi Arabia.
March 14 Forces MP Samir Franjieh, speaking to the Central News Agency Wednesday, said a level-headed solution to the Lebanese crisis requires both Amal and Hizbullah pursuing a policy that "de-links" the Lebanese crisis from regional struggles.
"Such a policy is key to solving the Lebanese crisis. As such a path has not been chosen until now, it is certain that there is a serious likelihood of the situation in Lebanon exploding to serve the interests of the Syrian-Iranian axis," Franjieh said.
Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, in an interview with Algerian television Wednesday, said reports in the media on the progress of Saudi-Iranian contacts "are enough to indicate who is hindering this initiative."
"Who changed their position? Who rejected the initiative of the secretary general?" Aridi asked.
"[Moussa's] envoys heard unreasonable
demands [from the opposition], contrary to earlier commitments," he added. -
With additional reporting by Maher Zeineddine
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U.N. ENVOY HOLDS TALKS WITH LEBANESE & ISRAELI OFFICIALS
Michael Williams, the Secretary-General’s Special Advisor on the
situation in the Middle East, is continuing his mission related to the
preparation of the Secretary-General’s next report on Security Council
resolution 1701.
Following his meetings with Israeli officials in
Israel earlier this week, Williams met in Lebanon yesterday and today with
Lebanese officials concerned with the implementation of that resolution. The
discussions focused on a whole range of issues, including overflights, the issue
of prisoners, and respect for the arms embargo, as well as the situation in the
south, the Shebaa Farms and along the Blue Line. Williams stressed the general
need to sustain a commitment by all parties to resolution 1701.
Among
the officials that Williams met were Lebanon’s Prime Minister, Defense Minister,
Interior Minister, former Energy Minister, and senior security officials.
Williams was accompanied by the UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Geir
Pedersen.
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Lebanon's parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri , left, talks with EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday Feb. 28, 2007. (AP Photo/Yves Logghe)
Michael Williams(2ndL), special advisor to the United Nations secretary general for the Middle East, and Geir Pedersen(L), UN special coordinator for Lebanon, meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora(R) and Lebanese Culture Minister Tareq Mitri(2ndR) in Beirut. Williams told Lebanese leaders on Tuesday that he had "forcefully" raised Israel's persistent violations of Lebanese airspace with officials in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.(AFP/Joseph Barak)
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Israel to UN: Stop Hizbullah arms flow
By YAAKOV KATZ and SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 28, 2007
Israel is considering taking action to stop the smuggling of weapons from Syria to Hizbullah, although plans for the time being entail a continuation of diplomatic efforts to change UNIFIL's mandate so that the UN force will deploy along the Syrian-Lebanese border, Israeli sources said on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Gadi Eizenkot met with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen. Claudio Graziano of Italy at Northern Command headquarters in Safed. Sources said the two discussed the Syrian arms smuggling and ways to better enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forbids the transfer of weapons to Hizbullah in southern Lebanon.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz hinted on Tuesday at a possible Israeli use of force along the Syrian-Lebanese border. During a tour of the Gaza border with Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, Peretz said that for now, Israel would continue to demand that the international community stop the weapons traffic.
"We demand from all the international parties involved to put an end to the smuggling," he told reporters during a briefing at the IDF's Yiftah base just north of Gaza, home to the Givati Brigade's Shaked Battalion. "In the end, however, we will take responsibility and will do everything to defend the State of Israel. We will not allow the situation in southern Lebanon to return to the way it was on the eve of the war."
The IDF and the Foreign Ministry have been conducting a worldwide public relations campaign, showing intelligence collected inside Lebanon to representatives of countries that could assist in changing UNIFIL's mandate. On Monday, senior IDF officers presented intelligence to visiting UN envoy Michael Williams, and officers have also recently presented the information to the United States and Russia, and to European countries that are members of UNIFIL.
Also on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that while Security Council Resolution 1701 was only being "partially implemented," it was the best option at the time.
Livni told the panel Israel was working with "international partners" to find ways to tighten the border between Lebanon and Syria. "Hizbullah is getting stronger beyond the Litani [River]. At this point, we could not act there freely if we needed to," she said.
During Tuesday's briefing, Peretz also hinted at a possible military operation in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas is continuing to build up its strength. He said Israel was interested in "giving the cease-fire a chance" and planned to continue diplomatic efforts to stop the Kassam rocket attacks.
"Due to the continued military buildup [in Gaza], however, we are obligated to prepare ourselves," he said. "When we will need to conduct the necessary operations to curb the growing threat, we will do so without any fear or hesitation."
At the Yiftah base, Peretz and Ashkenazi heard soldiers' views on a potential operation inside the Gaza Strip. A company commander told the minister that due to a major increase in training - a key result of the lessons of the Lebanon war - the soldiers were now better prepared for the next war.
"All the training has paid off," the officer said after a lieutenant told Peretz that as a result, the soldiers "had bridged gaps" and now knew how to "better use their submachine guns and sniper rifles."
Officers who were present at the meeting spoke of a "positive dynamic" between Ashkenazi and Peretz and of a feeling of a "new spirit" within the IDF.
The meeting hit an emotional point after an officer from the battalion of abducted Cpl. Gilad Schalit asked Ashkenazi to allow his unit to remain in the Southern Command and to participate in the fighting in Gaza until Schalit is freed.
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Hezbollah regroups in a new mountain stronghold
Nicholas Blanford in Rihan - The London Times,
Hezbollah, the militant Shia organisation, is building a new line of defences just north of the United Nations-patrolled zone in south Lebanon ahead of a potential resumption of war with Israel.
The military build-up, only six months after the last Lebanon-Israel conflict, is being conducted in valleys and hillsides guarded by uniformed Hezbollah fighters in the rugged mountains north of the Litani river — the limit of the 12,000 strong UN Interim Force In Lebanon (Unifil).
Christian and Druze-owned land is being bought for cash by a Shia businessman. Hezbollah’s opponents believe the goal is to create a Shia-populated belt spanning the northern bank of the Litani, allowing the Lebanese group to operate away from prying eyes.
“The state of Hezbollah is already in existence in south Lebanon,” the Druze leader and arch Hezbollah critic Walid Jumblatt told The Times.
Since the end of the month-long clash last summer, Unifil’s strength has increased sixfold, with reinforcements from European countries such as France, Italy and Spain. An additional 20,000 Lebanese troops have flooded the area, making it impossible for Hezbollah to resurrect its military presence along the border with Israel.
“There have been no instances of attempts to smuggle weapons into the area,” said Milos Strugar, Unifil’s senior adviser, adding that no armed fighters had been seen since September. Instead, Hezbollah’s fighters are preparing a new system of fortifications and expanding old positions in the mountains on the northern bank of the Litani. Residents say that the activity has increased lately, and peacekeepers confirm this. “We can see them building new positions. There’s a lot of trucks coming into the area as well,” a Unifil officer said.
When I visited the area two Hezbollah fighters wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying automatic rifles and walkie-talkies emerged from bushes beside a stone track on a hillside overlooking the river. They politely but firmly asked The Times for identification, saying that the area was off limits.
Less than a mile to the west, a shiny chain suspended between two concrete blocks along a dirt track marked the entrance to another Hezbollah “security pocket”. A sign hanging from the chain read: “Warning. Access to this area is forbidden. Hezbollah.” Beside the entrance stood a small sentry box housing another Hezbollah fighter who worked a landline telephone at the approach of strangers. More fighters could be seen on a pine-tree-studded hill overlooking the check-point.
A veteran Hezbollah fighter told The Times that long-range rockets were fired at Israel during the last clash from underground platforms in the surrounding hills. A Western diplomat said: “We have evidence to support their presence there. It seems to be an expansion of what was there before the war.”
Hezbollah readily admits that it is rearming. Three weeks ago a lorry loaded with rockets and mortars was stopped by Lebanese customs police on the edge of Beirut. Hezbollah said that the weapons were intended for its military wing and asked for their return. The Lebanese minister of defence said they would be handed to the Lebanese army. This month Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, said that weapons were being transported to “the front” in south Lebanon. “We have weapons of all kinds and quantities, as many as you want. We don’t fight our enemy with swords made of wood,” he said.
The area in which Hezbollah is consolidating lies at the confluence of several Shia, Christian and Druze villages, hamlets and farms.
For the past year, Ali Tajiddine, a Shia businessman who traded in diamonds in West Africa before expanding into property development, has been buying swaths of land from Christians and Druze. Two thirds of Sraireh, a Druze village, has been bought along with more than 2 million square yards of land in the near-by Christian hamlet of Qotrani, where 30 houses under construction have been sold to Shia owners, according to residents.
A new community of houses and shops called Ahmadiyeh is being built on a barren hillside beside a quarry owned by Mr Tajiddine. His interest in the remote mountainous corner of Lebanon has puzzled residents and raised the suspicions of Mr Jumblatt, whose Druze fiefdom cuts into the area. He suspects that Iranian funds are being used to buy the land, which will be turned into a Hezbollah military zone.
Mr Tajiddine’s connections to Hezbollah are well known in south Lebanon. In May 2003, one of his relatives was arrested in Antwerp on charges of laundering money for Hezbollah, using West African diamonds.
Sheikh Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s deputy leader, told The Times that Mr Jumblatt’s allegations were unfounded. He said that the Druze leader “likes to stir calm waters”. Mr Tajiddine also denied the claims. He said that he was buying land in the area because it was rich in quarrying opportunities.
Some Lebanese officials view Hezbollah’s rearming as part of the looming showdown between the United States and Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
2006 conflict
— 34 days of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict last summer
— 116 Israeli Defence Force personnel killed
— 43 Israeli civilians killed
— 15,000 Lebanese houses destroyed
— 1,100+ Lebanese civilians killed
— 3,970 Hezbollah rockets landed in Israel
— 6,000 Israeli homes damaged
— 309 Hezbollah rocket launchers destroyed by the IDF
— 33 Hezbollah tunnels destroyed by the IDF
Sources: Times archives; Amnesty International; The Israel Project;
Lebanese
Government
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Top U.S. Spy Sounds Alarm Over Hizbullah's Plans
Hizbullah is a key element of Iran's strategic goals and the Shiite group could carry out attacks against the United States if it or Iran is threatened, retired admiral Michael McConnell, the new director of national intelligence said.
Though mainly focused on Lebanon, he said Hizbullah has made "contingency plans to conduct attacks against U.S. interests in the event it feels its survival -- or that of Iran -- is threatened."
He also told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that al-Qaida was still the top danger.
"Terrorism remains the preeminent threat to the homeland, to our security interests globally, and to our allies. And al-Qaida continues to be the terrorist organization that poses the greatest threat," he said.
McConnell said core elements of al-Qaida's senior leadership are "resilient" and continue to plot mass casualty attacks against the U.S. and other targets.
A major al-Qaida attack would most likely come from Pakistan, but he said elements of the network in Iraq, Syria and Europe "also are planning."
In a statement that accompanied his testimony, the intelligence chief said Iran seeks to develop nuclear weapons and is more interested in dragging out negotiations over its atomic program than reaching an acceptable diplomatic solution.
"This is a very dangerous situation as a nuclear Iran could prompt destabilizing countermoves by other states in this volatile region," he said.
"While our information is incomplete, we estimate that Iran could produce a nuclear weapon by early to mid next decade," he said.
Rising oil income and perceived successes of its surrogates Hamas and Hizbullah has extended Iran's influence in the Middle East, disturbing Arab states, he said.
Iran is using ballistic missiles and naval power to project power in the Gulf, he said.
"It seeks a capacity to disrupt the operations and reinforcement of U.S. forces based in the region -- potentially intimidating regional allies into withholding support for U.S. policy -- and raising the political, financial, and human costs to the U.S. and our allies of our presence in Iraq," it said.
Iranian influence in neighboring Iraq has increased "significantly" and it is "probable" -- but not proven -- that senior Iranian leaders are aware that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's Quds have been arming and training Iraqi extremists, he said.
"We believe Hizbullah is involved in the training as well," McConnell said when asked during his testimony about reports that Iran is training Iraqi Shiite elements at camps run by Hizbullah in Lebanon.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 28 Feb 07, 08:32
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Jumblatt Meets with President George W. Bush
Head of the "Democratic Gathering" Walid Jumblatt and the delegation, which includes utilities and telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh and MP Ghattas Khoury, discussed with the President the situation in Lebanon and the region,
With President Bush attended National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and senior aides, the meeting lasted for nearly half an hour and discussed the condition for Lebanon and the region. Jumblatt and the accompanying delegation had met in the morning former American Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Jumblatt also gave a lecture at the American Enterprise Institute which dealt with the situation in Lebanon and the region. It is expected that Jumblatt and the delegation will meet today with the Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and tomorrow with the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and the day after tomorrow with Vice President Dick Cheney. Jumblatt will then travel to New York on Friday, where he will meet the Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki Moon. (Translated from Al-Mustaqbel)
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The Struggle for Lebanon: An Address by Walid Jumblatt Print
Mail
Location: Washington, D.C.
Five months after
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701 ended last summer’s war between
Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon’s political landscape has descended into chaos.
Since the implementation of a ceasefire last August, the Shiite militia led by
Hassan Nasrallah has agitated for greater “power-sharing” and vowed to bring
down the Western-backed government of Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora.
Thus far, Hezbollah’s brinkmanship has diverted attention from its disarmament
and scuttled the creation of an international tribunal to try the killers of
former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri—both key demands of the international
community. Meanwhile, rumors swirl about a possible deal between Iran and Saudi
Arabia to reshape the Lebanese government, with Iranian proxies and
Saudi-supported Sunni factions coming together to edge out Syrian-supported
parliamentarians. As sectarian tensions mount, AEI will host Lebanese parliament
member Walid Jumblatt, a leader of the Cedar Revolution, who will talk about
these pressing issues.
The Struggle for Lebanon: An Address by Walid Jumblatt
Speaker Biographies
Walid Jumblatt is a Cedar Revolution leader and head of the Progressive Socialist Party in Lebanon. He is also a member of Lebanon’s parliament and the leader of its Druze community. Jumblatt is one of Lebanon’s most prominent politicians and is widely respected throughout the country. He is allied with the March 14 Forces, an anti-Syrian coalition which formed in the wake of the March 2005 Cedar Revolution. Mr. Jumblatt has called for both Hezbollah’s disarmament and the establishment of an international tribunal to try the murderers of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
Danielle Pletka is the vice president for foreign and defense policy
studies at AEI. Her research areas include the Middle East (including Iran,
Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), South Asia (India, Pakistan, and
Afghanistan), terrorism, and weapons proliferation. While at AEI, Ms. Pletka has
developed a conference series on rebuilding post-Saddam Iraq, a project on
democracy for the Arab world, a roundtable of experts to discuss global energy
security, and a project to develop bilateral relations between India and the
United States. She recently served as a member of the congressionally mandated
Task Force on the United Nations, established by the United States Institute of
Peace. Before coming to AEI, she served for ten years as a senior professional
staff member for the Near East and South Asia on the U.S. Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations. Ms. Pletka has also been a journalist based in Washington,
D.C. and the Middle East.
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Phil Brennan
Friday, Feb. 23, 2007
Leaving Iraq with the job undone would lead to a catastrophe with as much as 30% of the world’s oil reserves in the hands of the Islamic jihadists, says the nation’s leading expert on Islam.
So says Dr. Walid Phares, Full Story [ LINK ]
More Stories on our Blog
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& Syria
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Iraq: Jihadist Perspectives on a U.S. Withdrawal
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Gemayel says UN may get tough to create Hariri
court
Israeli Army Chief: We Have to Deal with
Hizbullah Rearm
Geagea for New Cabinet and International Tribunal
U.N. envoy to Assess Compliance with 1701
Jumblat Says Reunion with Hizbullah ‘Impossible’
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