Syrian Free Army says it wants majority consensus on premier

Syria's main opposition National Coalition newly-elected Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto speaks on March 19, 2013 at a Syrian opposition meeting in Istanbul. (AFP)

The Free Syrian Army said it would only recognize an opposition prime minister who is accepted by all members of the Syrian National Coalition, following the controversial appointment of Ghassan Hitto to serve as Syria's first opposition premier.

"The Free Syrian Army requires for its cooperation [with the opposition coalition] the achievement of a political consensus on the name of the prime minister," FSA chief of staff General Saleem Idris said in a statement aired by Al Arabiya television.

FSA Colonel Abdel Hamid Omar Zakaria said during a discussion on Al Arabiya's Panorama program that the opposition army's position was not dictated by ally states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Turkey.

Colonel Zakaria said the support that the FSA receives from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar "must not be with the condition of imposing particular issues."

"There are those who accused us, saying that Saudi Arabia made us adopt this position; Saudi Arabia is much more decent than taking such action." Zakaria said.

"Saudi Arabia supports the consensus of the Syrian people and we support the kingdom's position in this," he added.

Hitto's election, and the move to form a government, were opposed by some Coalition members who suspended their membership.

Opposition leader Soheir Atassi who had frozen her membership said on Thursday she was rejoining the body.

"The main reason I froze my participation is the failure of organizational work and the lack of professionalism," Atassi wrote on her Facebook page.

"I cancelled my decision... (and) I announce that I am resuming all my responsibilities... after serious and in-depth discussions suggesting a significant change that I demanded," she wrote.

There was no indication that the other opposition figures who had suspended their Coalition memberships were reconsidering. They included several members who walked out of the Istanbul Coalition gathering in protest at Hitto's election.

Hitto was elected premier by 35 of the 49 Coalition members participating in the vote on Tuesday morning.

Born in 1963, he is seen by some opposition figures as the Muslim Brotherhood choice for premier, but is also known for his humanitarian work and has lived in the United States for decades, working as an IT executive.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/FSA-says-elected-opposition-premier-lacks-consensus-.html
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Syrian gunfire hits military vehicles in Israeli Golan: army

Gunfire from Syria hit Israeli army vehicles travelling in the southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. (Reuters)

Gunfire from Syria hit Israeli army vehicles travelling in the southern Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Saturday, causing some damage but no casualties, the army said.

"A short while ago, military vehicles travelling in the Golan Heights were lightly damaged by bullets fired from Syria," a spokeswoman told AFP. "No one was injured, and the incident is currently being reviewed."

She could not say whether the shots were aimed at the Israeli army or stray bullets from fighting in Syria between rebels and army troops.

Three weeks ago a mortar shell from Syria hit the Golan Height after nearly three months of no spillover from the fighting in Syria. In November, Israeli troops responded with artillery in the first such instance of Israeli fire at the Syrian military since the 1973 war.

Israel is closely monitoring its border with Syria and fears that jihadist elements from among the rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad might attempt to attack the Jewish state.

Earlier this month, Israel expressed concern that the UN peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights could pull out altogether after Syrian rebels snatched 21 of their troops in the ceasefire zone bordering Israel.

Since 1974, the UN's Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) has been monitoring the Syrian side of the armistice line with a force of 1,200 troops, although its number has recently dropped to 1,000.

Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.

It is currently upgrading its security fence along its armistice line with the work expected to be finished by the end of the year.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/24/-Syrian-gunfire-hits-military-vehicles-in-Israeli-Golan-army.html
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Lebanon falls into political, security vacuum after Mikati step down

Lebanese Sunni gunmen opposed to the Syrian regime head to join comrades in Bab al-Tabbaneh during clashes with Alawite pro-Syrian regime supporters. (AFP)

Lebanon on Saturday fell into both a political and security vacuum after the surprise resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, which was partly prompted by a refusal by the Cabinet to extend the internal security chief's mandate.

Another reason why Mikati stepped down was his insistence on holding an election in June before a move by Christian parties to change an electoral law they feel is detrimental to their community.

"In a few days a major security institution risks falling into the void when its director general retires. I felt that during this sensitive period that he should stay in office... but I found that the council of ministers does not share my opinion on this," Mikati said in announcing his resignation.

Rifi, a Sunni and opponent of Syria, was a thorn in Hezbollah's side.

His officers were involved in the investigation that led to the indictment by the International Criminal Court of four Hezbollah members for their alleged role in the murder of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005.

Some fear that the repercussions of not extending Rifi's term in office will not stop, as the vacant seat would fall into the hands of the highest ranked and most senior officer Major General Ali al-Hajj, who is close to Hezbollah.

Hage was the former Director General of the ISF and was arrested after the assassination of Hariri.

Nabil Bou-Monsef, a Lebanese political analyst, told Al Arabiya that "it will be a political provocation" if General Hajj takes the internal security chief's post.

Future Bloc MP, Ammar Houri, said General Hajj "has had a lot of political rhetoric biased to our political party, on which he was warned by the Internal Security Forces Command and the interior minister."

The Lebanese daily Al-Nahar, close to the opposition that is hostile to Damascus, expected a "protracted crisis," while Al-Akhbar on the opposite of the political divide said Mikati's resignation "means the end of the policy of disassociation."

"This resignation plan can expect to have security repercussions not only on the border with Syria, but also within Lebanon. The political chaos will last a long time," it said.

On Saturday, fierce sectarian clashes in which fighters used machineguns and mortars erupted in the flashpoint northern city of Tripoli, killing one Alawite, and wounding another along with a Sunni, a Lebanese security source said.

Intermittent battles pit Alawites belonging to the same sect as Syria's President Bashar al-Assad against Sunnis, who back Syria's insurgents.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton voiced concern at the "deteriorating situation," while U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon called on the Lebanese to unite and maintain their policy of "disassociation" from the Syrian conflict.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/24/-Lebanon-falls-into-political-security-vacuum-after-Mikati-step-down.html
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Obama ends Mideast trip, Kerry to meet Abbas and Netanyahu

U.S. President Barack Obama left Jordan on Saturday while U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry plans to meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders. (Reuters)

U.S. President Barack Obama left Jordan on Saturday, ending a four-day tour in the Middle East which included a warm embrace of Israel and warnings to Iran on its nuclear program.

Air Force One lifted off from Amman airport in the early afternoon bound for Washington, after Obama spent the morning touring ancient ruins in the southern Jordanian city of Petra.

Obama was seen off at the airport by King Abdullah II, with whom he held talks on Friday dedicated to helping the kingdom deal with the huge influx of refugees from Syria's deadly sectarian violence.

The president departed Jordan after the tour and was due back in Washington late Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is meeting Israeli and Palestinian leaders to further explore options for relaunching stalled peace talks after President Obama's Mideast trip this week.

Following up on Obama's visits to Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the State Department said Kerry would see Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Saturday. After that meeting, Kerry will return to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his first trip to Israel and the Palestinian Authority as president, Obama called on Thursday for resumption in negotiations. He offered no new plan on how to get there but said Kerry would be spending considerable time on the matter.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/Obama-ends-Mideast-trip-Kerry-to-meet-Abbas-and-Netanyahu.html
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Syrian opposition fighters seize key military base in Deraa

Free Syrian Army fighters carry their weapons as they cheer in Qusair town near Homs March 17, 2013. (Reuters)

Syrian opposition fighters on Saturday seized a key air base in the southern Syrian province of Daraa, bolstering access to supply routes to the capital Damascus.

The fighters also seized several military sites along the Jordanian-Syrian border, according to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of informants across the country.

The developments on ground Saturday give fighters control of about 25 km (15.5miles) of frontier adjacent to the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Observatory said, and could fuel tensions in the sensitive military zone.

Syria's southern provinces bordering Jordan and Israel have become an increasingly significant battleground as the capital comes into play, with President Bashar al-Assad's forces and his loyalist militias hitting back hard to prevent rebel advances.

At the air base in Deraa province, which borders Jordan, the Observatory said the brigade's commander was among those killed.

"Fighters from the Nusra Front, Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, and other battalions seized control of the 38th division air defense base, near the town of Saida on the Damascus-Amman highway, after 16 days of fierce clashes," the Observatory said.

Amateur video filmed by rebels and distributed by the Observatory showed the bloodied, mutilated corpse of a man identified as Mahmud Darwish, an officer.

Activists also distributed footage showing a group of men, most of them bearded, being set free.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, said the rebels also captured a checkpoint in the Daraa town of Sahem al-Golan.

The Observatory later reported that rebels captured a second checkpoint east of Sahem al-Golan.

Amateur video showed rebels seizing at least two regime tanks and several military vehicles after they captured the checkpoint.

"I swear to God, we are coming for you, O Bashar," a rebel said in a video distributed by anti-regime activists.

The rebel advances came days after rebels seized a border crossing on the frontier with Jordan, said the Observatory.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/Syrian-opposition-fighters-seize-key-military-base-in-Deraa.html
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Opponents have failed at politics, says Egypt Brotherhood

Deputy Supreme Guide of Muslim Brotherhood, Rashad al-Bayoumi listens to journalists' questions during an interview on March 23, 2013 in Cairo. (AFP)

Egypt's ruling Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader on Saturday said opponents have taken to violence after proving incapable at politics, a day after vicious clashes outside the Islamists' headquarters.

Rashad al-Bayoumi, the Brotherhood's deputy Supreme Guide, said Friday's violence that wounded more than 160 people was "a tragedy."

"If it proves anything, it points to a type of vile character. I hold those who called for such protests politically and legally accountable," he told AFP.

"This announces the failure of those people to conduct a clean political confrontation, so they had resorted to these despicable means," he said.

The Brotherhood on Saturday circulated footage of its members being beaten, burned with petrol bombs and stabbed during Friday's clashes, which began after hundreds of opponents marched on the Islamists' Cairo headquarters.

The group called on security forces to crackdown on those responsible for the violence.

"Only God knows the extent of anger and frustration in the Brotherhoods' heart," it said in a statement. "It is time for security forces to forcefully strike the perpetrators."

Police used tear gas against the protesters before the clashes spilled over elsewhere in the normally calm Cairo neighborhood of Mokattam.

Riot police trucks lined the street outside the headquarters on Friday.

Mohamed ElBaradei, an opposition leader who formerly headed the UN's nuclear watchdog, blamed the government and police.

"Violence begets violence, and the tragedy of the nation won't be solved through violence. The regime is responsible for protecting citizens and treating the reasons for violence," he wrote on Twitter.

Another opposition leader, former Arab League chief Amr Mussa, denounced the clashes.

"We all reject violence, and we cannot accept counter violence," he wrote on Twitter.

The Brotherhood has seen about 30 of its offices across the country attacked in widespread protests against Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

Well-organized despite decades of persecution under former strongman Hosni Mubarak and his predecessors, the Brotherhood was the main winner of parliamentary and senate elections last year.

However, its critics accuse both it and Mursi of mirroring tactics used by Mubarak against the opposition.

In the bloodiest violence between Mursi's supporters and his opponents, at least 11 people were killed in clashes outside the presidential palace in December after Mursi adopted extensive powers.

He later rescinded his sweeping prerogatives, after rushing through an Islamist drafted constitution in a referendum.

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/-Kerry-Abbas-discuss-new-peace-efforts-envoy.html
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Egypt confiscates shipments of military uniforms

An Egyptian military spokesman warned a week ago that unnamed parties might impersonate Egyptian troops. (Photo courtesy of al-Ahram)

Cairo airport officials confiscated 10,000 pieces of military-style clothing on Saturday as officials in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria seized 25 tons of camouflage material used for making military uniforms.

Maj. Gen. Yousri Abdel-Aziz, head of security at the airport, said the large shipment of items such as shirts and pullovers lacked proper shipping permits and was essentially being smuggled out of Egypt to Libya's eastern city of Benghazi.

Airport officials said an Egyptian businessman was trying to ship the uniforms to a businessman in Libya. It was not clear what the uniforms would be used for in Libya, where the government has yet to bring militias fully under its control.

Separately, a state prosecutor in Alexandria said officials are investigating a Chinese company after two of its shipments from China were found to contain 25 tons of material in the khaki and brownish-green style worn by soldiers. The company manufactures clothing in Egypt and sells abroad.

All officials spoke anonymously because investigations are under way.

The incidents come days after a security official said the Egyptian military is investigating whether Palestinian militant group Hamas is linked to a batch of confiscated fabric that could have been used to make counterfeit uniforms. Hamas says it has no connection to the fabric.

That incident did not appear related to the confiscations in the Alexandria port or Cairo airport.

An Egyptian military spokesman warned a week ago that unnamed parties might impersonate Egyptian troops after the fabric, used for police and army uniforms, was seized near a tunnel running under the Egypt-Gaza border.

 

24 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Egypt-confiscates-shipments-of-military-uniforms.html
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Lebanon’s political bubble: Mikati’s resignation leaves bitter aftertaste

Najib Mikati stands down as Lebanon's Prime Minister amid political deadlock. (Reuters)

Described by many political observers as an inevitable move, the resignation of Lebanon's Najib Mikati late Friday has left a bitter aftertaste across the country's political scene.

Much like a father figure, appearing to have taken a big step back from a few bickering family members, Mikati said he was stepping down for major political blocks in Lebanon to "take responsibility."

"I announce the resignation of the government, hoping that this will open the way for the major political blocs to take responsibility and come together to bring Lebanon out of the unknown," Mikati said.

The speech came after a political standoff with Hezbollah, a militant and political movement that has dominated Lebanese politics in recent years, and its allies. Hezbollah had blocked the extension of the Internal Security Forces chief's term in office and the creation of a body to supervise parliamentary elections that are set for June.

"Mikati's disagreement with Hezbollah was not the first," writes Washington-based analyst on Middle Eastern affairs Joyce Karam.

"In his 20 months as Prime Minister, they clashed over Hezbollah's refusal to fund the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, and to strengthen the country's security apparatus and lately over the Syrian government violations inside Lebanon."

The government had held off agreeing on the membership of the election commission over fears it would ensure that elections scheduled for June are held on the basis of a decades-old electoral law. Mikati, along with the leader of Lebanon's Druze community, Walid Jumblatt, is said to favor the existing law. It gives his Sunni community and the Druze disproportionate strength in the parliament, but is vehemently opposed by Lebanon's Christians, who say it fails to give them representative weight.

Attempts earlier this year to approve an alternative election law failed, and both Mikati and President Michel Sleiman had called for election preparations to move forward so the vote can be held on time.

National cohesiveness?

And while these attempts deepened political quagmires, Mikati essentially struggled with Lebanon's divides that crippled his efforts to navigate the country between Hezbollah and the country's Sunni community. His hopes to swerve Lebanon onto a course of neutrality appeared to swiftly fizzling out.

Mikati was appointed in the midst of this fray in 2011 after Hezbollah and its allies brought down the unity government of Saad al-Hariri.

"For Mikati, the prominent businessman from the city of Tripoli, this move [his resignation] was almost inevitable," says Karam.

"Frustrations inside his political base in Tripoli and in the Sunni street at large have been displayed in military clashes and increasing radicalization in the community," she added.

While Mikati appears to have calmly backed away from the scene, with Sleiman accepting his resignation on Saturday, the political bubble will continue to grow as uncertainty engulfs Lebanon.

The resignation has already been slammed by Free Patriotic Movement Leader MP Michel Aoun who described the motives behind Mikati's decision as "silly" and accused President Sleiman of being dictatorial over the thorny issue of the elections supervisory committee.

"The reasons behind Mikati's resignation are dumb and Sleiman behaved like a dictator in trying to impose the formation of the committee to oversee the upcoming elections," he told the country's Sawt al-Mada radio station. Aoun's Change and Reform bloc enjoys a majority of seats in the government.

On the streets of Lebanon after the announcement, Beirut resident Ahmad Mahmoud told Reuters news agency Mikati's government had wavered over important decisions.

"I see it as normal. With the major issues, this government hasn't done anything, it was hesitating. In my opinion, there is something going on from outside, some ambassadors implied Prime Minister Mikati should resign,'' he said.

"It's the same, with or without the government's resignation, the country is carrying on. It will stay the same as it was, it won't change," added resident Issam Saleh.

Major General Ashraf Rifi, head of Lebanon's internal security forces, is due to retire early next month. Rifi, like Mikati, is a Sunni Muslim from Tripoli, and is distrusted by Hezbollah.

In an interview earlier this year with Al Arabiya English's editor-in-chief Faisal Abbas, Mikati said he took the premier post to defuse tensions between rival political factions in Lebanon, a goal "I can humbly claim that I have achieved," he said.

"Today, with the deterioration in the Syrian situation and the political crisis prevailing, any miscalculated exit might lead to another political crisis," Mikati added in the interview.

*Davos exclusive: Lebanese PM Mikati on economy, regional politics and Syrian crisis

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/-Lebanon-s-political-bubble-Mikati-s-resignation-leaves-bitter-aftertaste.html
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EU urges political solution in Syria amid fears of spillover

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt meanwhile said funneling weapons to Syria's insurgents as suggested by London and Paris would only fan the conflict and undermine efforts to seek a negotiated settlement. (AFP)

The European Union insisted Saturday on the need for a hasty political solution to end the carnage in Syria as the collapse of Lebanon's government triggered fresh fears of a regional spillover.

Winding up two-day talks with EU foreign ministers, in which Britain and France failed to win support from partners to arm Syria's rebels, the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said the onus instead had to be on a political settlement.

Influential Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt meanwhile said funneling weapons to Syria's insurgents as suggested by London and Paris would only fan the conflict and undermine efforts to seek a negotiated settlement.

"We must try to give new momentum to a political solution," Ashton said, including fresh economic and political support to the opposition and further pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime to negotiate.

"I cannot say how much we have a sense of urgency on Syria and the neighboring countries," she said at a news conference held after Lebanon's government fell over divisions triggered by the two-year civil war across the border.

Debate over whether to lift an existing EU arms embargo in order to supply arms, including ground-to-air missiles and other heavy weaponry, to Syrian rebels topped talks between the EU foreign ministers in Dublin.

An agreement is needed by May 31 to renew a far-reaching package of EU sanctions against the Assad regime, including the near two-year-old embargo. If not agreed unanimously by the EU-27 it will expire. The ministers are scheduled to meet several times at least before then.

But there was little to no appetite for the push by Britain and France.

"I think among all the foreign ministers there is a determination that it is only by a political solution that we can get an end to the carnage in Syria," said Sweden's Bildt.

While reviewing existing sanctions was part of the effort to reach a political solution, EU nations remained reluctant to supply offensive weapons to the opposition, Bildt said.

"It was very difficult to detect any enthusiasm for the further arming of a conflict that is already much too armed," Bildt said after the talks.

"A number of ministers expressed the concern that it was going to lead to an intensification of the fighting, that it was going to open the floodgates from other quarters and the prolongation of the conflict and might complicate the search for a political solution that everyone agrees is the most important thing."

Bildt, who played a prominent role in seeking an end to the Balkans conflicts in the mid-1990s -- notably acting on behalf of the EU and U.N. -- said there was "an interesting parallel" between the Balkans and Syria, where U.N. Security Council permanent members China and Russia are in disagreement with the others.

The Bosnian war, which began in April 1992, could have ended the following summer in 1993 instead of autumn 1995 if international actors had stayed on the same page, he said.

But "different actors were going into different directions and that prolonged the war," he said. "So we must not repeat that mistake. It is only by getting the international community together that we have any possibility of a political solution."
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/EU-urges-political-solution-in-Syria-amid-fears-of-spillover-.html
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Paris confirms death of African al-Qaeda leader Abou Zeid

Abou Zeid aged 46, was considered one of AQIM's most radical leaders. (AFP)

French President Francois Hollande's office confirmed Saturday that one of the key leaders of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, had been killed in fighting with French-led forces in northern Mali.

Hollande "confirms Abdelhamid Abou Zeid's death with certainty during fighting led by the French army in the Ifoghas Mountains in northern Mali in late February," the Elysee palace said in a statement.

"The elimination of one of the main leaders of AQIM marks an important stage in the fight against terrorism in the Sahel."

Abou Zeid's death was first announced on March 1 by Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno, whose army is fighting alongside French troops to secure the Ifoghas.

Two days later, the Chadian army also announced it had killed Algerian Islamist militant Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the other historic leader of Al-Qaeda's North African branch.

But France has not confirmed the death of Belmokhtar, who has split from Al-Qaeda and masterminded a January raid on an Algerian gas plant that left 38 hostages dead.

Abou Zeid, 46, was considered one of AQIM's most radical leaders.

In June 2009, his men kidnapped British tourist Edwin Dyer. According to multiple witnesses, Abou Zeid personally beheaded him.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius had said after fierce fighting in the Ifoghas in late February that DNA tests would be carried out to determine whether Abou Zeid and Belmokhtar had in fact been killed.

Mali descended into chaos in the wake of a March 2012 coup, as Al-Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels capitalized on the power vacuum to seize a Texas-sized triangle of desert territory in the north.

France launched its intervention in its former colony on January 11 to stop the Islamists from advancing on the capital, Bamako.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/-Paris-confirms-death-of-African-al-Qaeda-leader-Abou-Zeid.html
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Ban says Lebanese must unite behind president

U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon called on the Lebanese to unite after the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati. (AFP)

U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon, who has raised fears that Lebanon could be dragged into Syria's civil war, called on the Lebanese to unite after the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

Ban also called on Lebanese parties to maintain their policy of "disassociation" from the Syrian conflict, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said in a statement released late Friday.

"At this challenging time for the region, the secretary general calls on all the parties in Lebanon to remain united behind the leadership of President [Michel] Sleiman," said the statement.

"He also calls on them to work together with the institutions of the state to maintain calm and stability, to respect Lebanon's policy of disassociation."

Ban said Lebanese parties must "support the role of the Lebanese armed forces in sustaining national unity, sovereignty and security."

Mikati formally submitted his resignation on Saturday as his government battled deep divisions over the two-year-old war in neighboring Syria, which has divided the Lebanese along sectarian fault lines.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Ban-says-Lebanese-must-unite-behind-president-.html
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3 killed in attack on Yemen Shiite rebel leader

In the northern province of Al-Jawf, Sanaa, gunmen killed three guards of a leader of the Huthi Shiite rebels on Saturday, shortly after the morning session of the national dialogue. (The Associated Press)

Gunmen in Yemen on Saturday killed three guards of a leader of the Huthi Shiite rebels who escaped the assassination bid in Sanaa where he is taking part in a national dialogue, witnesses said.

The gunmen opened fire at the vehicle of Abdulwahid Abu Ras, the rebel chief in the northern province of Al-Jawf, in Nasr Street in the capital shortly after the morning session of the talks, witnesses said.

Three guards were killed and two were wounded, they said.

Saba state news agency cited the head of the national dialogue, Abdulwahab al-Ansi, as condemning the attack on Abu Ras during the afternoon session of talks.

"Those behind the attack want us to withdraw from this conference, but we will stay," said Huthi MP Abdulkarim al-Jadban, addressing participants in the talks.

Yemeni factions began last week a national dialogue aimed at drafting a new constitution and an electoral law for the 2014 general election and presidential polls.

The dialogue, scheduled to run for six months, brings together 565 representatives of the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country's various political groups -- from secessionists in the south to Zaidi Shiite rebels in the north, in addition to civil society representatives.

The negotiations are being held under the U.N.-brokered deal that eased former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh out of office in February 2012 following an 11-month uprising against his 33-year rule.
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/3-killed-in-attack-on-Yemen-Shiite-rebel-leader.html
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Yemenis among Guantanamo inmates on hunger strike

An increasing number of detainees at Guantanamo are going on hunger strike. (AFP)

A growing number of Guantanamo inmates are going on hunger strike, protesting against their indefinite detention and the diminishing prospects that the infamous prison will be closed.

"It is unprecedented in its scope, in its duration, in its determination," David Remes, an attorney representing 15 Guantanamo detainees, told AFP as the growing strike at the U.S. prison facility enters its seventh week.

As of Friday 26 detainees were on hunger strike -- nearly double the number from a week earlier -- with feeding tubes administered to eight, according to military authorities at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Captain Robert Durand, a prison spokesman, said two detainees were at the hospital "for re-hydration and observation, on enteral feed."

The strike was launched at Camp 6 on February 6, when a "routine" inmate search took place, according to Durand. Detainees said guards had inspected their Korans, which they perceived as "religious desecration," he said.

Camp 6, built on the hills around Guantanamo, houses inmates who pose no particular threat and have no special value in the eyes of U.S. authorities.

"Two-thirds of the population are detainees cleared for transfer," Remes said. "They were caught by accident, their life has been ruined, everything has been taken from them."

These inmates include 56 Yemenis who cannot return home because of a moratorium imposed by President Barack Obama in the wake of attacks plotted in recent years by Al-Qaeda's Yemen-based affiliate, which has counted former Guantanamo inmates among its ranks.

Remes said the Yemenis live at Guantanamo in "absolute frustration in their 12th year without being charged and with the increasing prospect of never getting out.

"The camps are a tomb," the lawyer added.

Obama -- who has long seen the prison set up in the early months of the so-called War on Terror as a lightning rod for anti-Americanism and a recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda -- moved to close the facility in 2009, but his plans to try suspects in U.S. civilian courts were stymied by Congress.

Omar Farah, from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), said the U.S. government has no plan to close Guantanamo and no idea how to solve the problem. "Their solution is just to do nothing," he said.

As proof, he cites a request submitted to the U.S. Congress asking for funds to renovate the military base.

General John Kelly, head of the Southern Command, which runs Guantanamo, has requested $170 million to improve facilities for the troops stationed there and spoken of the need to replace the camp for so-called "special" inmates.

This undoubtedly refers to Camp 7, which houses 15 "high value" detainees, including five accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"There are no excuses for it," said Frank Jannuzi, deputy executive director of Amnesty International USA.

"We do believe one way to realize the closure of Guantanamo is by first ... reducing the population there," starting with those who have been cleared for release.

He said Amnesty International was worried indefinite detention was becoming a new norm. "It flies in the face of international law," he added.

Farah said the hunger strike can be explained by the fact that prisoners see no light at the end of the tunnel.

"They are desperate. They're looking at getting old and dying in an harsh prison without having ever been charged with a crime or having had a trial," he said.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Yemenis-among-Guantanamo-inmates-on-hunger-strike-.html
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Damascus rejects U.N. probe into rights abuses

Damascus rejects U.N. probe into rights abuses

The Assad regime labeled the U.N. a "biased and imbalanced" group on Saturday.(AFP)

President Bashar al-Assad's regime Saturday said it "categorically" rejected a UN Human Rights Council decision to prolong an enquiry on strife-torn Syria, calling the group's work "biased and imbalanced."

"Syria categorically rejects this decision," said an unnamed official source cited by state news agency SANA a day after the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution prolonging the commission of enquiry's work.

The resolution failed to take into account "the unethical role played by states that sponsor terrorism in Syria, which fund, train, arm and send terrorists and mercenaries" into the country, the official said.

The official also said the resolution reflects "a policy of double standards practiced by some countries that claim to defend human rights."

Damascus also strongly denounced the resolution's "selective phrasing," said SANA.

It called the decision "political cover given for crimes committed by armed terrorist groups" while blaming the country's violence on the regime.

Adopted with 41 votes in favour, one against and five countries abstaining, the resolution said the commission should continue "to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law."

Unable to enter Syria, the commission has interviewed more than 1,500 refugees and exiles to compile its reports, in which it charges that both government troops and opposition forces have carried out war crimes.

The resolution strongly condemned abuses by both sides, but noted that those "committed by anti-government armed groups did not reach the intensity and scale of the violations committed by the government forces and its affiliated militia."

The United Nations estimates that more than 70,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict that began with peaceful protests in mid-March 2011 but quickly became an armed insurgency after a harsh regime crackdown on dissent.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Damascus-rejects-U-N-probe-into-rights-abuses-.html
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Syria rebels seize key military base in Daraa

A boy holds a gun during a celebration organised by the Free Syrian Army to mark two years since the start of the uprising, in Daraa. (Reutters)

Rebels fighting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday seized a key air base in the southern Syrian province of Daraa after two weeks of fierce battles with loyalist troops, a watchdog said.

Elsewhere, at least 35 rebels were killed in battles against troops loyal to Damascus that raged near the sensitive ceasefire line with Israel, in the southern province of Quneitra.

"Opposition fighters loyal to Al-Nusra Front, Al-Yarmuk Brigade and other rebel groups seized air defence Base 38 near the town of Saida, on the road linking Damascus to Amman, in the province of Daraa," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The seizure came "after 16 days of fighting," the Britain-based monitoring group added.

At least seven rebels were killed in their final assault on the base, said the Observatory, which also documented the deaths of at least eight regime troops including an officer.

"Dozens of prisoners were freed from the base's headquarters," the watchdog added.

Amateur video filmed by rebels and distributed by the Observatory showed the bloodied, mutilated corpse of a man identified as Mahmud Darwish, an officer.

Activists also distributed footage showing a group of men, most of them bearded, being freed.

The Syrian Revolution General Commission, a network of activists on the ground, meanwhile reported the rebel capture of a checkpoint in the town of Sahem al-Golan, also in Daraa.

Amateur video showed rebels seizing at least two regime tanks and several military vehicles after they captured the checkpoint.

"I swear to God, we are coming for you, O Bashar" al-Assad, according to one rebel fighter shown in a video distributed by anti-regime activists.

In Quneitra meanwhile, at least 35 rebels were killed on Wednesday and Thursday fighting troops loyal to Assad, said the Observatory.

Some 20 other fighters were also believed dead after battles in majority Druze villages in Quneitra province, which lays on the sensitive ceasefire line with Israel.

The Observatory's reports came a day after at least 128 people were killed across Syria -- 38 troops, 53 insurgents and 37 civilians.

At least 70,000 people have been killed in Syria since the an anti-regime revolt that broke out in March 2011 morphed into an insurgency after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent, the U.N. says.

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Syria-rebels-seize-key-military-base-in-Daraa.html
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Funeral held for pro-Assad cleric killed in Damascus mosque bombing

Sheikh Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti was killed Thursday in a large explosion that hit a mosque in the center of the Syrian capital Damascus. (AFP)

Thousands of people have gathered in downtown Damascus amid tight security for the funeral of a senior pro-government cleric who was assassinated in a mosque earlier this week.

Security forces sealed off all roads leading to the eighth century Omayyad Mosque where the funeral for 84-year-old Sheikh Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Bouti was held.

Al-Buti, his grandson and 48 others were killed Thursday when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a mosque where al-Bouti was giving a religious lesson.

Mourners carried al-Bouti and his grandson's coffin on their shoulders Saturday amid shouts of "God is Great."

Al-Bouti was Imam of the Omayyad Mosque, a landmark in Damascus.

Syrian state TV said President Bashar Assad was being represented at the funeral by one of his cabinet ministers.

On Friday, Assad vowed to rid the country of Muslim extremists whom he blamed for a suicide bombing that killed over 40 people, including a top Sunni preacher.

"Those who killed you think they are silencing the voice of Islam and belief in the Syrian nation... they killed you for raising your voice against their ignorant and obscurantist ideas which are intended to destroy the principles of our tolerant religion."

Al- Bouti held weekly sermons at the historic Ummayyad Mosque and in recent months, Syrian TV has carried his weekly addresses live. Bouti also had a regular religious TV program.
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Funeral-held-for-pro-Assad-cleric-killed-in-Damascus-mosque-bombing.html
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Fearing stark future, Syrian Alawites meet in Cairo

A Syrian flag hangs over a statue of the late president Hafez al-Assad on Aug. 30, 2011, near Homs. Alawites have ruled Syria since Hafez seized power in 1970. (AFP)

Opposition campaigners from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite sect will meet this weekend to support a democratic alternative to his rule and try to distance the community from wholesale association with the government's attempts to crush a two-year uprising.

The two-day meeting in Cairo, the first by Alawites supportive of the revolt, will draft a declaration committing to a united Syria and inviting the mainstream opposition to cooperate on preventing sectarian bloodletting if Assad falls and agree on a transitional justice framework, organizers said.

As the war takes on an increasingly sectarian bent, severing the Alawite fate from that of Assad could be crucial for the survival of the community, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that comprises about 10 percent of Syria's population.

"The meeting is happening almost two years late, but it will help disassociate the sect from Assad. Every effort is needed now to prevent a wide-scale sectarian bloodbath when Assad eventually goes, in which the Alawites would be the main losers," a Western diplomat said.

At least 70,000 people have been killed since a peaceful protest movement led by Syria's Sunni Muslim majority broke out against four decades of family rule by Assad and his father, members of the Alawite sect.

The demonstrations were met by bullets, eventually sparking a Sunni backlash and a mostly Islamist armed insurgency that is leading some Alawites to fear they have no future without Assad.

Assad has said he is fighting a foreign-backed conspiracy to divide Syria and that the rebel forces are Islamist "terrorists."

A statement by the organizing committee of the Alawite conference said: "The regime, which is becoming more isolated and weak, is working on turning sectarian zealotry into bloodshed. There are anti-regime forces also pushing toward sectarian warfare."

"Depriving the regime of the sectarian card is crucial for its ouster and for negotiating a Syrian national covenant on the basis of a modern statehood and equal citizenship and justice," the statement said.

About 150 Alawite figures, including activists and religious leaders, who were mostly forced to flee Syria for supporting the revolt, will attend the conference in Cairo, which will start on Saturday.

Alawites were prominent in a leftist Syrian political movement that was crushed by Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, in the 1970s and 1980s, along with Islamist opposition.

Democratic aspirations

Among prominent Alawites currently in jail is free-speech advocate Mazen Darwish, who worked on documenting the victims of the crackdown against the revolt, and Abdelaziz al-Khayyer, a centrist politician who advocated peaceful transition to democratic rule.

Issam Ibrahim, a lawyer who is helping organize the conference, said the uprising had given the Alawites a chance to show the sect was not monolithic, and that it aspired like the rest of the population to live under a multi-party democracy, while fearing the rise of Islamist extremism.

Ibrahim recalled taking part in a pro-democracy demonstration at the beginning of the uprising in the Sunni district of al-Khalidiya in the central city of Homs when the protesters came under attack by a pro-Assad militia.

"A group of us took refuge in a house, and the house owner, who did not know I was Alawite, began cursing Alawites. When my comrades told him I was one, he came to me and gave me the keys to his house."

"We are in a sectarian crisis and the political forces of the opposition are falling into a serious error by not discussing it," Ibrahim, whose father was jailed for years under the rule of the elder Assad, told Reuters.

He said the document that would emerge from the conference "will affirm Alawite commitment to national unity and inter-communal existence and civic peace," mirroring a stance the sect's leaders took during French colonial rule in the 1920s in opposition to proposals for partition of the country.

"There is an Islamist current that is expanding at the expense of the democratic civic current, which needs to unite," Ibrahim said. "We as Alawites are Syrians first. We are trying to be part of a real change."
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Fearing-stark-future-Syrian-Alawites-meet-in-Cairo.html
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Pakistan Taliban threaten to send Musharraf to “hell” when he returns

Pakistan's Taliban have alerted to dispatch suicide bombers and snipers to kill former President Pervez Musharraf when he returns home from exile on March 24, 2013 to contest polls. (Reuters)

Pakistan's Taliban have threatened, in a video released on Saturday, to use suicide bombers and snipers to kill former President Pervez Musharraf when he returns home from exile.

In a Taliban video obtained by Reuters, Adnan Rasheed, who took part in a previous attempt to assassinate Musharraf, said: "The mujahideen of Islam have prepared a special squad to send Musharraf to hell. There are suicide bombers, snipers, a special assault unit and a close combat team."

Musharraf angered the Taliban and other groups by joining the U.S. war on terror following the Sept. 11 attacks and later launching a major crackdown on militancy in Pakistan.

He is due to return home on Sunday from Dubai, after nearly four years of self-imposed exile, in time to take part in parliamentary elections on May 11.

Musharraf seized power in a 1999 coup and resigned in 2008 when his allies lost a vote and a new government threatened him with impeachment. He left the country a year later.

The former army general faces the possibility of arrest on charges that he failed to provide adequate security for former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto before her assassination in 2007, and in relation to other cases.

But his most immediate concern may be Taliban militants seeking revenge.

"It is said when the jackal's death is near it comes to town," said Rasheed, who was among 400 prisoners who were broken out of a jail by militants in 2012.
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Pakistan-Taliban-threaten-to-send-Musharraf-to-hell-when-he-returns.html
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Syrian opposition to address Arab summit but awaits seat

Syrian Opposition Coalition members and Syrian National Coalition members attend a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, March 18, 2013. (Reuters)

Syrian opposition leaders are to address an annual summit of the Arab League for the first time in Qatar on Tuesday, but the bloc's members remain divided over whether to give them Damascus's vacant seat.

The Qatari hosts are vocal champions of the rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's regime and said leaders of the armed opposition would definitely be joining Arab heads of state in Doha.

But they did not specify whether the Syrian National Coalition would be given Syria's seat which has been vacant since its suspension from the 22-member bloc in November 2011.

"Arab foreign ministers will decide on the issue of the seat" during a preparatory meeting in Doha on Sunday, an Arab League official told AFP.

The Arab League called on the National Coalition on March 6 to form an executive body to take up Syria's seat and take part in the summit.

But Lebanon distanced itself from the decision, while Algeria and Iraq expressed reservations.

In all, nine of the bloc's other 21 members retain diplomatic missions in Damascus -- Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Sudan and Yemen -- despite its decision last November to recognise the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

The opposition alliance has begun steps to form an executive body to administer rebel-held territory inside Syria, electing Ghassan Hitto as interim premier at a meeting in Turkey on Tuesday.

But a League official said the National Coalition needed to go further. Hitto's election "is important but is not enough," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are still waiting for the formation of the interim government."

Hitto will be among the opposition delegates addressing the Doha summit, National Coalition member Ahmed Ramadan told AFP.

"We will be represented by interim Prime Minister Ghassan Hitto, National Coalition head Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, and the chief of staff of the (rebel) Syrian Free Army, General Selim Idriss," Ramadan said.

"For the first time ever, the delegation should be addressing the Arab summit."

Hitto is charged with forming a government of technocrats to establish the rule of law and basic services in rebel-held areas.

But his election highlighted deep divisions within the opposition bloc, with at least 12 of its 49 members announcing the following day that they were suspending their membership in protest.

The dissidents included the Coalition's deputy head Soheir Atassi and spokesman Walid al-Bunni.

Hitto is seen by some opposition figures as the Islamist choice for premier, even though he has lived in the United States for decades, working as an IT executive. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said he was "more Texan than Muslim Brotherhood."

The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November 2011 after Damascus rejected a peace plan proposal calling for an end to the violence but demanding that Assad step down.

The bloc also imposed a raft of other sanctions, including suspending trade with the government, freezing its bank accounts abroad, and suspending air links.

The Damascus government accuses Qatar and its heavyweight neighbor Saudi Arabia of fanning the conflict by arming the rebels with Western connivance.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 70,000 people since March 2011, prompted more than a million to flee abroad, and displaced four million more inside the country.
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/2013/03/23/Syrian-opposition-to-address-Arab-summit-but-awaits-seat-.html
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Kerry blasts Iran over imprisonment of American pastor

An Iranian-American Christian pastor who was sentenced to eight years in jail in January must immediately be freed, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged Iran on Friday.

Kerry said he was "deeply concerned" about the fate of Saeed Abedini, who has already been held for six months in Iran in the notorious Evin prison.

The top U.S. diplomat said in a statement that he was also "disturbed by reports that Mr Abedini has suffered physical and psychological abuse in prison, and that his condition has become increasingly dire.

"Such mistreatment violates international norms as well as Iran's own laws," Kerry added, saying he was troubled by the lack of due process in the trial, and Iran's refusal to allow Abedini consular access by Swiss authorities.

Abedini, a naturalized U.S. citizen who converted to Christianity, was handed the jail sentence in late January, despite denying "charges of establishing churches to disrupt national security" in Iran and colluding to carry out crimes.

His supporters say he led underground churches in the early 2000s when such activity was largely tolerated during the pro-reform presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

Having resettled in the United States, Abedini was detained on a return trip to Iran in 2009 and was then let go following an agreement not to engage in underground religious activities, according to his family.

"The best outcome for Mr Abedini is that he be immediately released," Kerry added.

Abedini's wife Naghmeh this week released a letter she just received from her husband alleging that he has beaten during interrogation, and that he has suffered from "intense pain."

The United States and Iran broke off diplomatic ties in the late 1970s and Switzerland now handles consular matters for Washington with the Iranian authorities.

In recent years, the U.S. has also called for the release of Iranian Christian cleric Youcef Nadarkhani, who was charged in November 2010 with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity.

In April 2012, controversial U.S. Pastor Terry Jones burnt the Quran and images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed in protest of Nadarkhani imprisonment.

Rumors circulating that Nadarkhani had been executed were refuted earlier this month by UK-based rights group Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Pictures had emerged purporting to show a man being hanged were attributed as evidence of the 34-year-old pastor's death.

"While we are relieved to report that Pastor Nadarkhani is alive, we urge caution in circulating rumors which must be deeply distressing for his family, his congregation and for many around the world who continue to pray for him," CSW Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas told the Christian Post.
 

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/John-Kerry-urges-Iran-to-free-U-S-pastor-sentenced-to-death-at-Evin.html
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‘Quarantine her!’ Top Tunisian Islamist says topless girl needs stoning

19 year old Amina poses topless and then posts her photo's on Facebook. (FEMEN)

A Tunisian Salafi preacher has called for a 19-year old girl who posted her topless pictures on Facebook to be "quarantined" and stoned to death before she starts "an epidemic."

Tunisian newspaper AssabahNews quoted Salafi preacher Alami Adel, who heads the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, saying: "According to God's law, she deserves 80 to 100 lashes, but what she committed is worth much more than that. She deserves to be stoned to death and she must be quarantined because what she did is an epidemic."

"She is like someone suffering from a serious and contagious illness and she must be secluded and treated," he added.

The young Amina, who is part of a feminist movement and group called FEMEN can be seen smoking a cigarette topless with Arabic words written across her chest in black that reads in English "My body belongs to me."

FEMEN is a Ukrainian based feminist group that gathers women together in Europe in topless protests in support of women's rights.

Amina has been delivered by her parents to a psychiatric hospital in Tunis, according to reports received by FEMEN leader Inna Shevchenko in Paris and reported by the U.S. based magazine the Atlantic.

Tunisian media said that if Amina committed the offence in Tunisia, she could be punished by up to two years in prison and be given a fine between $60 and $600.

A petition and an international day of action on April 4 to highlight the threats against Amina have been organized by activists.

More than 10,000 people have signed the petition that called for those who threatened Amina's life to be prosecuted.

On Thursday reports FEMEN's Facebook account was hacked emerged. The page had reportedly been infiltrated with videos and pictures on the site being replaced by verses from the Koran.

"Thanks to God we have hacked this immoral page and the best is yet to come," read one message signed by "al-Angour," an apparent hacker.

FEMEN has released a statement condemning "barbarian threats of the Islamists about the necessity of reprisals against the Tunisian activist Amina."

"We are afraid for her life and we call on women to fight for their freedom against religious atrocities" it added.

Last month, FEMEN brought together Iranian women in Sweden, who took to the streets of Stockholm demonstrating against the Hijab (Islamic headscarf).

23 Mar, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/2013/03/23/-Quarantine-her-Top-Tunisian-Islamist-says-topless-girl-needs-stoning.html
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