Nidal (@nidal) - Seenthis

Misreading 'Syria Transition Act' In Turkey

2013-05-24T19:13:45Z

Misreading 'Syria Transition Act' In Turkey
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/turkey-syria-transition-act.html

A US Department of Defense official familiar with Syria told Al-Monitor that “I cannot imagine that Congress is going to push Obama into a Syria policy that he does not agree with. Nor do I think that this act will ever pass through Congress”. The probability of a congressional backing is very low since the US public opinion polls demonstrate a consistent unwillingness for a military intervention in Syria.
Tony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C., said, “Debating non-binding Congressional legislative gestures is a dubious proposition since they are little more than an exercise in political symbolism. The act clearly states that it does not authorize the use of military force, and only involves $250 million for Syrian transition expenses which would come from authorized funds when and if a transition expense occurred that the US actually wanted to support and that it could not cover with existing aid funds.” Overall, the act is a gesture and nothing more at this point.

Liban : 3,9 millions de foyers et 94 salles de cinéma - un rapport spécial du programme Euromed…

2013-05-24T18:26:58Z

Liban : 3,9 millions de foyers et 94 salles de cinéma - un rapport spécial du programme Euromed Audiovisuel
http://enpi-info.eu/medportal/news/latest/33189/Liban:-3,9-millions-de-foyers-et-94-salles-de-cin%C3%A9ma---un-rapport-sp%

La richesse et la diversité du secteur audiovisuel et cinématographique libanais sont mises en exergue :
– 3,9 millions de foyers TV, 26 chaînes satellitaires et une réception satellitaire dupliquée avec le câble estimée à 94.5%.
– Avec 15 multiplexes, 94 écrans et 16 499 sièges, le Liban possède l'infrastructure d'exploitation la plus dense de la région.
– Les films de Nadine Labaki, coproduits avec la France, ont donné une visibilité au cinéma libanais. En 5 ans, 15 films libanais ont été distribués dans l'Union européenne, réalisant 1,4 million d'entrées.

Pas lu le rapport, j'espère que c'est plus intéressant que la présentation soporifique qui en est faite ici.

Le retournement de la France qui veut mettre le Hezbollah sur la liste européenne des organisations…

2013-05-24T17:55:42Z

Le retournement de la France qui veut mettre le Hezbollah sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes, tu sais ce que ça signifie, évidemment : ça veut dire qu'on se rapproche dangereusement d'une nouvelle guerre israélienne contre le Liban.

Ce qu'il manque encore :
– la signature sur du papier bruxellois (c'est pas fait, mais on fait tout pour),
– le retour du 14 Mars aux affaires après les législatives (c'est pas fait, mais on fait tout pour),
– que la situation deviennent totalement hors de contrôle à Tripoli puis à Saïda (c'est pas fait, mais on bien finir par y arriver),
– que des clashs violents se multiplient dans la Beeka et que l'armée ne soit plus capable d'y riposter (c'est pas fait, mais bon…).

La France rappelle aux Arabes ce qu'ils ont le droit de dire et ce qu'ils n'ont pas le droit de…

2013-05-24T17:34:24Z

La France rappelle aux Arabes ce qu'ils ont le droit de dire et ce qu'ils n'ont pas le droit de dire : c'est une vieille habitude. « L'Attentat » de Ziad Doueiri : Paris demande à Beyrouth de lever la censure
http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/814788/-lattentat-de-ziad-doueiri-paris-demande-a-beyrouth-de-lever-la-censu

Paris veut interpeller les pays arabes membres de la francophonie pour qu'ils reviennent sur leur refus de diffuser le film du réalisateur libanais Zaid Doueiri L'Attentat, a indiqué à l'AFP la ministre française à la Francophonie Yamina Benguigui.
« Je vais interpeller d'abord les autorités libanaises », a déclaré Mme Benguigui qui avait reçu le réalisateur, auteur d'une adaptation d'un roman de l'écrivain algérien Yasmina Khadra.

Je me demande bien ce que la Francophonie a à gagner à promouvoir la normalisation culturelle avec Israël.

Comment le Monde sait-il exactement le nombre de morts du Hezbollah à Qusayr ? Assez fastoche, en…

2013-05-24T17:16:22Z

Comment le Monde sait-il exactement le nombre de morts du Hezbollah à Qusayr ? Assez fastoche, en fait :
http://www.lemonde.fr/proche-orient/article/2013/05/24/bataille-de-qousseir-la-resistance-syrienne-s-organise_3416726_3218.html

Rami Abdel Rahmane, le directeur de l'Observatoire syrien des droits de l'homme (OSDH), basé à Londres, confirme que le Hezbollah a perdu 46 hommes depuis dimanche, jour du lancement de l'assaut contre Qoussair.

L'utilisation du verbe « confirme » est donc là pour faire joli.

Un communiqué de l'Armée syrienne libre annonce avoir découvert un plan (diabolique) du Hezbollah…

2013-05-24T17:09:12Z

Un communiqué de l'Armée syrienne libre annonce avoir découvert un plan (diabolique) du Hezbollah consistant à commettre des attentats contre les chiites au Liban pour les attribuer aux rebelles syriens. Comme le commente Angry Arab, l'ASL révèle ainsi, en réalité, qu'elle a planifié de commettre des attentats sectaires au Liban avant de prétendre qu'il s'agit d'opérations false flag du Hezbollah. (Oui, c'est un peu compliqué.)
http://www.youkal.com/2012-12-02-14-05-23/24-25/16624-2013-05-22-18-18-17

تنص الخطة على قيام حزب الله بتنفيذ عدة تفجيرات في العديد من المناطق اللبنانية المحسوبة على الحزب وتتركز فيها قاعدته الشعبية تؤدي إلى أضرار مادية وبشرية تهدف إلى مايلي:
ـ التغطية على هزائم الحزب في جبهة القصير والحد من احتقان عشرات العائلات اللبنانية التي قتل أو جرح أبناءها في سورية
ـ إن حزب الله في أزمة تبرير مع حالة الخلل التي حدثت في القاعدة الشعبية للحزب نتيجة دخوله وانغماسه في أتون الأزمة السورية وقتاله إلى جانب الأسد ويحتاج إلى مبررات جديدة لإعادة إنتاجها و التي دخل على أساسها الأراضي السورية.
ـ الحد من آثار الانقسامات في مواقف الأهالي من الطائفة الشيعية تجاه سياسة حزب الله في سورية ودفعهم للالتفاف والتشبث بالحزب
ـ شيطنة الثورة السورية عبر التركيز أن المقاتلين في سورية هم من عصابات إسلامية متطرفة والإدعاء عبر بيان مفبرك من الحزب أن من نفذ هذه العمليات الإرهابية هم تنظيم جبهة النصرة
ـ شيطنة الإسلام السني

Très important : A Coup by Tabbaneh Field Commanders : “We Have the Final Say”

2013-05-24T15:43:57Z

Très important : A Coup by Tabbaneh Field Commanders : “We Have the Final Say”
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/coup-tabbaneh-field-commanders-we-have-final-say

The field commanders of Bab al-Tabbaneh's gunmen have carried out a ‘coup' against political leaders in the northern city of Tripoli, particularly MP Mohammed Kabbara. For all intents and purposes, the gunmen, who were being exploited politically and even financially, are now the ones controlling the streets.
Political leaders in Tripoli have long taken advantage of the internecine street conflicts in the city, using the violence and political allegiances of the militants to advance their standings, both locally and regionally. So the field commander rebellion against politicians comes as a striking development in this latest spate of violence.
The ‘coup' against MP Kabbara and his political camp began on the night of Wednesday, May 22. As clashes spread, there was a lack of political stances to set the tone for the violence.

Le député Kabbara est membre du Futur (Saad Hariri), et Amid Amid Hammoud est le chef de la « branche armée » du Futur.

At this point, Hammoud sensed that the insinuation was aimed at him and responded, “I have distributed the arms, but I cannot cover all of Tabbaneh's weapon needs.”

Évidemment, tu n'entendras pas plus parler de cette « révolte » des gangs armés sunnites contre leurs patrons du Courant du Futur (et donc le rôle direct du Futur dans la violence à Tripoli) que tu n'as entendu parler du précédent billet signalant le début de cette révole (il y a deux mois) :
►http://seenthis.net/messages/121196

Je parie que plus c'est important, et moins tu auras de chance d'en entendre parler…

Syria's fighters : An interview with Jabhat al-Nusra | The Economist

2013-05-24T06:49:36Z

Syria's fighters: An interview with Jabhat al-Nusra | The Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/pomegranate/2013/05/syrias-fighters-0

Syria has long been known for its sectarian diversity. How do you view the other sects?
The other sects are protected by the Islamic state. Muhammad, peace be upon him, had a Jewish neighbour, for example, and he was always good to him. But the power and authority must be with the believers [Sunnis], not the unbelievers.
What about other Sunnis who are more moderate than you?
We will apply sharia law to them.
What about Alawites?
Allah knows what will happen to them. There is a difference between the basic kuffar [infidels] and those who converted from Islam. If the latter, we must punish them. Alawites are included. Even Sunnis who want democracy are kuffar as are all Shia.

La France classe la branche armée du Hezbollah parmi les groupes terroristes

2013-05-23T19:37:52Z

La France classe la branche armée du Hezbollah parmi les groupes terroristes
http://www.leparisien.fr/international/la-france-classe-la-branche-armee-du-hezbollah-parmi-les-groupes-terroris

Mais « compte tenu des décisions qu'a prises le Hezbollah et le fait qu'il a combattu très durement la population syrienne, je confirme que la France proposera d'inscrire la branche militaire du Hezbollah sur la liste des organisations terroristes » de l'UE, a déclaré Laurent Fabius à des journalistes. « Vous avez vu que le Hezbollah non seulement s'est engagé pleinement en Syrie mais qu'il a aussi revendiqué son engagement », a encore noté le ministre. Ce mercredi encore le Hezbollah libanais, épaulant l'armée de Bachar al-Assad, a lancé un assaut contre un village au nord de la ville de Qousseir encore aux mains des rebelles, selon des militants de l'opposition.
« Comme il y a en plus d'autres éléments qui concernent ce qui c'est passé en Bulgarie et dans d'autres endroits, nous considérons que c'est un point qui devrait faire l'accord de l'ensemble des européens », a poursuivi Laurent Fabius. Il faisait allusion à l'attentat anti-israélien du 18 juillet 2012 à Bourgas, en Bulgarie, qui avait fait sept morts - cinq Israéliens, l'auteur présumé de l'attentat et un Bulgare. A Sofia, le gouvernement de l'époque avait imputé la responsabilité de l'attentat au Hezbollah.

Admire le gloubi-boulga confessionaliste de France 24-avec-Reuters :

2013-05-23T06:14:25Z

Admire le gloubi-boulga confessionaliste de France 24-avec-Reuters :
http://www.france24.com/en/20130522-syria%E2%80%99-national-coalition-calls-rebels-defend-qusair-0

Assad's forces are intent on seizing Qusair in order to cement their hold on a belt of territory that connects the capital Damascus to Assad's stronghold on the Mediterranean coast, home to his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has largely supported him.
Seizing Qusair would also allow Assad to sever links between rebel-held areas in the north and south of Syria.
With Shi'ite Hezbollah leading the fight in Qusair, its involvement could drag Syria's civil war - which already pits mainly Sunni Muslim rebels, including radical Islamists and foreign fighters, against an Alawite-led army - into a more regional sectarian conflict.
Rebel leaders have warned of sectarian revenge attacks against Shi'ites and Alawites on either side of the Syrian-Lebanese border if rebels lose Qusair. Fighters speak of a tacit agreement among their units to launch village by village attacks should they be defeated in the town of 30,000.
Sabra warned that Hezbollah forces in Qusair could regionalise Sunni-Shi'ite tensions across the Middle East.

C'est donc la faute au Hezbollah si les chefs rebelles menacent de représailles sectaires… La beauté de cette compilation d'arguments confessionnels ineptes, c'est qu'il n'est fait nulle part mention des chrétiens de Qusayr. Est-ce parce qu'ils ont disparu, chassés l'année dernière par les rebelles (ceux qui ne seraient pas confessionnels si ce n'était l'intervention du Hezbollah) : Christians Flee from Radical Rebels in Syria
►http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/christians-flee-from-radical-rebels-in-syria-a-846180.html

“There were always Christians in Qusayr — there were around 10,000 before the war,” says Leila, the matriarch of the Khouri clan. Currently, 11 members of the clan are sharing two rooms. They include the grandmother, grandfather, three daughters, one husband and five children. “Despite the fact that many of our husbands had jobs in the civil service, we still got along well with the rebels during the first months of the insurgency.” The rebels left the Christians alone. The Christians, meanwhile, were keen to preserve their neutrality in the escalating power struggle. But the situation began deteriorating last summer, Leila says, murmuring a bit more before going silent.
“We're too frightened to talk,” her daughter Rim explained, before mustering the courage to continue. “Last summer Salafists came to Qusayr, foreigners. They stirred the local rebels against us,” she says. Soon, an outright campaign against the Christians in Qusayr took shape. “They sermonized on Fridays in the mosques that it was a sacred duty to drive us away,” she says. “We were constantly accused of working for the regime. And Christians had to pay bribes to the jihadists repeatedly in order to avoid getting killed.”

Ou ce rapport du Vatican qui accusait les rebelles d'avoir chassé les chrétiens de Qusair : Syria opposition denies Vatican report of Christians ordered out
►http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/06/syria-opposition-denies-vatican-report-of-christians-ordered-o

Opponents of the Syrian government disputed a Vatican report that Christians had fled the town of Qusair after an “ultimatum” from the rebel leader, denouncing it as government propaganda.
News of alleged Christian persecution in the town close to the Lebanese border had been reported Saturday by the official Vatican news agency, adding to ongoing worries that the uprising against President Bashar Assad could devolve into sectarian strife between Islamists and religious minorities.
The Vatican agency said it wasn't clear why Christians had been ordered out of the town. “According to some, it serves to avoid more suffering to the faithful; other sources reveal 'a continuity focused on discrimination and repression.' Still others argue that Christians have openly expressed their loyalty to the state and for this reason the opposition army drives them away,” the news agency reported.

La phrase la plus mystérieuse de la journée se trouve dans la traduction d'un article du Safir,…

2013-05-23T05:25:07Z

La phrase la plus mystérieuse de la journée se trouve dans la traduction d'un article du Safir, The Jihadist Threat to Lebanon :
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/security/2013/05/lebanon-jihadists-palestinian-camps-syria-conflict.html

The source asserts that “talk about similar affairs must remain within the framework of hypothetical scenarios that remain contingent upon the subsequent course of events.”

Ohhhh…

As‘ad AbuKhalil espère un âge d'or de l'athéisme arabe (la petite recension historique au début…

2013-05-23T04:52:46Z

As‘ad AbuKhalil espère un âge d'or de l'athéisme arabe (la petite recension historique au début devrait particulièrement t'intéresser) : The Golden Era of Arab Atheism ?
http://english.al-akhbar.com/blogs/angry-corner/golden-era-arab-atheism

This could be a turning point in the intellectual and political history of the region. It, however, has to contend with the culture of religion imposed on it by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which insists on the exclusive domination of a very strict brand of religion over people's political and social lives. The battle by Arab atheists won't be easy, but it has just begun. The corruption, repression, and hypocrisy of the rule of Islamists seem to strengthen Arab atheism more than any other factor.

La valse hésitation d'Al-Jazira au sujet d'un article anti-israélien - MÉDIAS - FRANCE 24

2013-05-22T19:34:07Z

La valse hésitation d'Al-Jazira au sujet d'un article anti-israélien - MÉDIAS - FRANCE 24
http://www.france24.com/fr/20130522-al-jazira-article-last-semite-polemique-joseph-massad-israel-crit

Le site internet anglophone de la chaîne qatarie Al-Jazira a publié, puis supprimé et enfin remis en ligne un texte très virulent à l'égard d'Israël. Un cafouillage éditorial qui a valu à la chaîne une volée de critiques.

#média

A Hezbollah turning point in Qusair ? By Rami G. Khouri

2013-05-22T18:49:40Z

A Hezbollah turning point in Qusair?
By Rami G. Khouri
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=217921

Based on its history, Hezbollah will not much care if Lebanese and Arabs criticize it for fighting alongside President Bashar Assad's regime and buttressing Iranian strategic interests in the region. It does what it feels it must to carry out its mission, which it sees as protecting Lebanon from foreign predators, resisting the regional hegemonic threats of Arab or Western parties, and achieving these goals by assisting its allies, most importantly Syria and Iran, and forever ending the humiliation and mistreatment of Lebanese Shiites.
Fighting inside Syria alongside the Assad regime will exacerbate all the pressures and constraints that Hezbollah already feels. More Lebanese will criticize it for dragging Lebanon into the Syrian war and fostering greater internal fighting in Lebanon among pro- and anti-Assad groups. Many Lebanese say Qusair exposes Hezbollah as a puppet of Iran, as many had always charged. Some of the party's own supporters may grumble about why dozens of able young Lebanese men are dying in a battle for a small provincial town in Syria. Many foreign countries will seek new ways to pressure, sanction and isolate Hezbollah, and public opinion around the Arab-Islamic world will become more critical and hostile, seeing Hezbollah as mainly as a militia beyond state authority that responds more to Iranian commands than to Arab-Lebanese popular sentiments.
The bigger threat emanating from this episode is that by asserting dramatically its ability and willingness to fight wherever, whenever and whomever it wishes, Hezbollah could add to existing forces that threaten to fracture the integrity of the Lebanese state. This could force it to assume a greater role in running the entire country – something it has always said it does not seek.
Should the Syrian war and Hezbollah's role there lead to all this, it would also vastly increase the likelihood of massive internal Lebanese strife between pro- and anti-Hezbollah groups, pitting Sunnis and Shiites against each other, while also inviting another major war with Israel, or possibly participation in an American-Israeli-Iranian-Syrian war.
The battle for Qusair is only the haphazard spark within the larger Syrian war that could ignite this fire. The real causes of this combustible condition of the Arab region are the dysfunctional nature of modern Arab states and governments, the ascendancy of police states and military regimes, the repercussions of the century-long conflict between Zionism and Arabism, and the fact that the Middle East is a proxy battleground for regional and foreign powers.
We will find out in the coming years if Hezbollah is merely another symptom of these problems, as its critics say, or the first credible and historical antidote to Arab-Islamic weakness, complacency, subjugation and vulnerability, as its supporters say.

Syrian opposition urges rebels to join key battle - Yahoo ! News

2013-05-22T18:39:54Z

Syrian opposition urges rebels to join key battle - Yahoo! News
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-urges-rebels-join-key-battle-091542816.html

In Germany, the weekly Der Spiegel reported that the German intelligence chief has revised his assessment of the Syrian civil war.
The chief, Gerhard Schindler, told a small group of politicians dealing with security issues in a secret briefing that Assad's military is stronger than it has been in a long time, according to Der Spiegel. Additional successful offensives of the regime are possible anytime, he said.
The German intelligence agency BND believes this is a turning point. At the end of 2012, it appeared the regime was in its end phase.
He said the channels for restocking the regime's weapons supplies are now open, and the supply of gas for tanks and aircraft is also working again. Schindler said Assad most likely won't be able to defeat the rebels, but he can contain them and even win back some territory.
The BND predicts that in 2013, regime troops will be able to recapture additional territory. If the fighting continues as it has in recent weeks, the regime could recapture the entire south by the end of the year. In this case, the rebels would be left with only the north.
On Wednesday, Germany's Foreign Ministry said it supports adding Hezbollah to the EU's list of terrorist groups. The ministry linked the recommendation to a deadly attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria last year that was tied to Hezbollah.
Sylke Tempel, a Mideast expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin, said she believed the German support for sanctions against Hezbollah's military wing was due in part to its role in Syria fighting.
She said the presence of Hezbollah fighters in Syria has led Western and regional governments to ponder “what if Assad is going to win this thing” and “what if Hezbollah is a factor in making Assad win, or at least not lose.”

Liban : 11 morts et 100 blessés depuis le début des affrontements - Le Point

2013-05-22T19:12:42Z

Liban : 11 morts et 100 blessés depuis le début des affrontements - Le Point
http://www.lepoint.fr/monde/liban-11-morts-et-100-blesses-depuis-le-debut-des-affrontements-22-05-2013-1

Onze personnes, dont deux soldats, ont été tuées et plus de cent autres blessées en trois jours de combats à Tripoli, dans le nord du Liban, lors de heurts entre des partisans et opposants au régime syrien, a indiqué mercredi une source de sécurité. Durant la nuit de mardi à mercredi, les tirs ont atteint des quartiers loin de la zone de front, opposant de manière récurrente les habitants sunnites de Bab el-Tebbaneh, favorables aux rebelles, et les alaouites de Jabal Mohsen, qui défendent le régime de Bachar el-Assad.

Clashes in Lebanon's Tripoli kill 11 | Al Akhbar English
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/clashes-escalate-lebanons-tripoli-killing-11

Eleven people – including at least two officers – were killed and dozens were wounded in fighting in Tripoli, as violence escalated Wednesday on the fourth day of clashes in the northern Lebanese city.
“The death toll is up to 11 and the numbers of wounded were reported to be at least 70 and went up to 130,” an Al-Akhbar correspondent in Tripoli said.

رسالة الشمال : إخراج الجيش من كل دوائر التــوتر
http://www.al-akhbar.com/node/183529

ثمة خشية من أن يكون الهدف يتعدى تفجير طرابلس أو حتى مناطق عكار بين طرفين سياسيين، ليكون جوهره دفع الجيش الى إخلاء مراكزه في طرابلس، وتحويل عناصر الازمة الراهنة الى عنصر تفجير مباشر ينقل الازمة من المراوحة الى دائرة الخطر المباشر. فهل المطلوب أن يأتي الرد على أحداث القصير ودور حزب الله فيها استهداف الجيش ما دام أطراف النزاع في الشمال اتخذوا على ما يبدو قرار المواجهة؟ وهل يمكن أن يكون الهدف إشغال المؤسسة العسكرية في لحظة مفصلية في مواجهات داخلية؟ وماذا بمقدور الجيش أن يقوم به من خطوات تتعدى تنفيذ إعادة انتشاره في المدينة، لتكون في صلب المعالجة الجذرية لوضع شائك، تتشابك فيها المعطيات الإقليمية والدولية وتتصارع على أرض طرابلس؟
وهنا لبّ الكلام السياسي حول الجيش. هناك من يحمّل السلطة السياسية مسؤولية عدم تأمين مظلة سياسية للجيش في أكثر اللحظات دقة، ومن يحمّل في المقابل الاطراف السياسيين مسؤولية رمي خلافاتهم في حضن الجيش، وسط أسئلة عن دور القوى السياسية العاقلة شمالاً في كبح جماح الهادفين الى تسريع وتيرة الفتنة الداخلية. لكن الوقت لم يعد ملائماً لتحميل المسؤوليات ما دام الانفجار الكبير قد وقع. ولعل أكثر ما يجب التوقف عنده سياسياً في الوقت الراهن هو دور السلطة التنفيذية، في ظل حكومة مستقيلة.

Je fouille mes archives : tiens, que devient la « Brigade Rafik Hariri » évoquée ici : _Citing U.S.…

2013-05-22T09:42:09Z

Je fouille mes archives: tiens, que devient la «Brigade Rafik Hariri» évoquée ici: Citing U.S. Fears, Arab Allies Limit Aid to Syrian Rebels (octobre 2012)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/world/middleeast/citing-us-fears-arab-allies-limit-aid-to-syrian-rebels.html?pagewanted=all&

One group, in an almost comical bid for support, named itself the Rafik Hariri brigade, after the former Lebanese prime minister and Saudi ally who is believed to have been assassinated by the Syrians, and whose son Saad is influential in doling out Saudi support to the rebels.

Liban. Hezbollah (21 mai 2013) La Grande Bretagne demande que la branche militaire du Hezbollah…

2013-05-22T08:43:03Z

Liban. Hezbollah (21 mai 2013)

La Grande Bretagne demande que la branche militaire du Hezbollah soit inscrite sur la liste européenne des organisations terroristes. (1) Bruxelles pourrait examiner cette requête début juin. Londres argue que le Hezbollah est responsable de l'attentat à l'aéroport de Burgas (Bulgarie, 18 juillet 2012) qui a coûté la vie à cinq Israéliens et un Bulgare (juillet 2013) et qu'il a été impliqué dans la préparation d'opérations contre des touristes israéliens à Chypre. Les Etats membres de l'Union européenne – notamment la France et la Suède - ont toujours été réticents à adopter cette mesure avec le souci de préserver le fragile équilibre politique libanais, de continuer à considérer le Hezbollah comme un parti politique et de garder une ligne de communication avec un mouvement qui, par ailleurs, offre de nombreux services sociaux à la population libanaise. Certains s jugent que la distinction entre parti politique et branche militaire du Hezbollah n'est pas pertinente et que le Hezbollah devrait être considéré comme une seule entité (2).

Le contexte est favorable à l'examen de la demande britannique par les Européens. La participation du Hezbollah libanais aux combats dans la ville de Qoussaïr (Syrie) aux côtés du régime d'Assad ne peut que contrecarrer les objectifs de ceux qui soutiennent l'opposition syrienne. La Grande Bretagne (en 2008) et les Pays Bas sont les deux seuls Etats membres qui ont déjà inscrit le Hezbollah (branche militaire) sur leur liste nationale de personnes et d'organisations terroristes. C'est aussi le cas des Etats Unis. La France (3) et la Suède ont fait savoir qu'elles n'avaient encore rien décidé. L'inscription sur une « liste terroriste » européenne vaut interdiction de toutes opérations bancaires sur le territoire européen (ce qui rend impossible par exemple la collecte de fonds à destination), gel des avoirs, interdiction de circuler, etc. Les sanctions sont modulables. Elles doivent être décidées à l'unanimité des 27.

Britain asks EU to put Hezbollah armed wing on terror list (21 May 2013)

(1) http://www.euronews.com/newswires/1963974-uk-asks-eu-to-put-hezbollah-military-wing-on-terror-list-diplomat
(2) http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/why-doesnt-europe-think-hezbollah-is-a-terror-group
(3) http://basedoc.diplomatie.gouv.fr/vues/Kiosque/FranceDiplomatie/kiosque.php?type=ppfr

Syria : The Man Behind Qusayr's Mediation Efforts

2013-05-20T20:28:25Z

Syria: The Man Behind Qusayr's Mediation Efforts
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/syria-man-behind-qusayr%E2%80%99s-mediation-efforts

But what about other civilians who are not women or children? Zaayter replied, “Well, on Saturday, May 11, there was an attempt to evacuate civilians who wanted to leave Qusayr, and the government gave them safe passage. But at the last moment, that effort collapsed. The fighters in Qusayr felt that if they let all the civilians go, then this might encourage the government to kill them.”
But didn't they know that before agreeing to negotiate in the first place? Zaayter said, “Yes, but they did not realize that everyone wanted to leave. So the opposition fighters refused to let them leave, fearing this would turn them into ‘clean' targets.”

Je ne suis pas totalement convaincu par cette analyse, mais il y a plusieurs choses intéressantes…

2013-05-20T19:54:41Z

Je ne suis pas totalement convaincu par cette analyse, mais il y a plusieurs choses intéressantes là-dedans : Exile and the Prophetic : Disappearing Massad, disappearing Palestine | Marc H. Ellis
http://mondoweiss.net/2013/05/prophetic-disappearing-palestine.html

Read Massad carefully. Though his criticism of the Palestinian Authority and Arab governments are often one-liners, they're tough ones. It's bound to ruffle feathers.
This could be another reason for Massad's disappearing article. With the recent Arab League land swap agreement, it seems that the Arab countries are all-in on Israel being integrated into the Middle East military security structure. What they don't need are Palestinian intellectuals and activists messing with their political alliances, especially those sponsored by the United States. Al Jazeera is policing its own.
If you remember, Said was merciless on the Palestinian Authority and the Arab governments after the Oslo Accords were signed. As his health deteriorated, Said went ballistic. Again, the differences between Massad and Said are instructive here. Is Massad the inheritor of Said's mantle in these changing times?
Massad and other Palestinian intellectuals and activists want to prevent the Palestinian Authority and the Arab governments from signing away their birthright. Hitting at Jews and Jewish history, making Jewishness invisible in the movement to free Palestinians, is partly a strategic ploy to regain traction in the context of an agreed upon disappearing Palestine.

Aux sources du négationnisme israélien : comment David Ben Gourion a sciemment mis en place la…

2013-05-20T19:44:28Z

Aux sources du négationnisme israélien : comment David Ben Gourion a sciemment mis en place la propagande niant la Nakba pour résister aux pressions américaines de Kennedy, qui voulait faire appliquer le droit au retour des Palestiniens expulsés.

Lire absolument l'article de Shay Hazkani : Catastrophic thinking : Did Ben-Gurion try to rewrite history ?
http://www.haaretz.com/weekend/magazine/catastrophic-thinking-did-ben-gurion-try-to-rewrite-history.premium-1.52430

In 1961, after John F. Kennedy assumed office as president of the United States, calls for the return of some of the Palestinian refugees increased. Under the guidance of the new president, the U.S. State Department tried to force Israel to allow several hundred thousand refugees to return. In 1949, Israel had agreed to consider allowing about 100,000 refugees to return, in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement with the Arab states, but by the early 1960s that was no longer on the agenda as far as Israel was concerned. Israel was willing to discuss the return of some 20,000-30,000 refugees at most.
Under increasing pressure from Kennedy and amid preparations at the United Nations General Assembly to address the Palestinian refugee issue, Ben-Gurion convened a special meeting on the subject. Held in his office in the Kirya, the defense establishment compound in Tel Aviv, the meeting was attended by the top ranks of Mapai, including Foreign Minister Golda Meir, Agriculture Minister Moshe Dayan and Jewish Agency Chairman Moshe Sharett. Ben-Gurion was convinced that the refugee problem was primarily one of public image ‏(hasbara‏). Israel, he believed, would be able to persuade the international community that the refugees had not been expelled, but had fled. “First of all, we need to tell facts, how they escaped,” he said in the meeting. “As far as I know, most of them fled before the state's establishment, of their own free will, and contrary to what the Haganah [the pre-independence army of Palestine's Jews] told them when it defeated them, that they could stay. After the state's establishment [on May 15, 1948], as far as I know, only the Arabs of Ramle and Lod left their places, or were pressured to leave.”
Ben-Gurion thereby set the frame of reference for the discussion, even though some of the participants knew that his presentation was inaccurate, to say the least. Dayan, who as GOC Southern Command after 1949 ordered the expulsion of the Negev Bedouin, was not in a position to take issue with the prime minister's statement that the Arabs had left “of their own free will,” despite being well aware of the facts. Ben-Gurion went on to explain what Israel must tell the world: “All of these facts are not known. There is also material which the Foreign Ministry prepared from the documents of the Arab institutions, of the Mufti, Jamal al-Husseini [He probably meant Haj Amin al-Husseini; Jamal al-Husseini was the Palestinians' unofficial representative at the United Nations − S.H.], concerning the flight, [showing] that this was of their own free will, because they were told the country would soon be conquered and you will return to be its lord and masters and not just return to your homes.”
In 1961, against the backdrop of what Ben-Gurion described as the need for “a serious operation, both in written form and in oral hasbara,” the Shiloah Institute was asked to collect material for the government about “the flight of the Arabs from the Land of Israel in 1948.”

Hizbullah in Syria

2013-05-20T18:02:12Z

Hizbullah in Syria
http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2013/05/hizbullah-in-syria.html

One of my sources of amusement is reading US reporters commenting on Hizbullah. It is clear from reading their reports that they exclusively talk to enemies of the party in Lebanon. For example, they keep repeating the mantra in Saudi media that Hizbullah would face anger among its base for its military intervention in Syria. The truth? The base has been urging the party to get more heavily involved in Syria for months now.

C'est aussi l'axe systématique du libanais masqué qui écrit pour Al Monitor.

Si l'on en croit cet article d'Al Monitor, en Turquie, il y a deux camps : Erdogan d'un côté, et des…

2013-05-20T10:27:30Z

Si l'on en croit cet article d'Al Monitor, en Turquie, il y a deux camps : Erdogan d'un côté, et des malades mentaux antisémites de l'autre. Erdogan Confronts the Near Insanity Of His Opposition. Ambiance.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/05/reyhanli-bombing-watershed-moment-for-turkey.html

However, Turkey's main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) has had a different take on Reyhanli since the beginning. Spokesmen for the party, whose sympathies for the Assad regime — for ideological and sectarian reasons — have only been thinly veiled, rather implied that the Syrian opposition must be behind the bombings. One CHP speaker, Nihat Matkap, even offered a bizarre conspiracy theory by claiming that “there were strangely no Syrians on the streets right before the bombing.” In other words, he implied that Syrian refugees in Reyhanli were somehow informed about the bombing, and thus were collaborators of the crime. (To me, he sounded like a lunatic, similar to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists who keep claiming that Jews did not go to work in New York's World Trade Center on 9/11.)
Soon, CHP's leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu made another accusation, this time to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The murderer of [the people of] Reyhanli,” he bluntly said, “is none other than Erdogan.” (A few days later, Erdogan sued Kilicdaroglu for these words, claiming that this is a personal insult.)
A more dramatic Kilicdaroglu statement came out in Europe and caused a political scandal. Speaking at a press conference during a visit to Brussels on May 15, Kilicdaroglu claimed that both Assad and Erdogan are “dictators,” and the difference between them is “only a nuance.” In the face of this claim — whose pro-Assadism was probably more intolerable than its anti-Erdoganism — Hannes Swoboda, president of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, who was supposed to meet Kilicdaroglu, canceled the meeting.

_EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions boosts jihadist groups_ - Julian Borger and Mona Mahmood…

2013-05-19T20:26:40Z

EU decision to lift Syrian oil sanctions boosts jihadist groups - Julian Borger and Mona Mahmood
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 19 May 2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-syria-oil-jihadist-al-qaida

La décision de l'UE de lever les sanctions pétrolières syriennes pour aider l'opposition a accéléré une lutte pour le contrôle de puits et de pipelines dans les zones tenues par les rebelles et a contribué à consolider l'emprise des groupes djihadistes sur les principales ressources du pays.
Déplaçant les tribus sunnites locales, parfois par la force, Jabhat al-Nusra, affilié à al-Qaida, et d'autres groupes islamistes extrémistes, contrôlent la majorité des puits de pétrole dans la province de Deir Ezzor. Ils ont également pris le contrôle d'autres champs aux dépens de groupes kurdes plus au nord-est, dans le gouvernorat d'al-Hasakah.
Les groupes d'opposition ayant tourné leurs armes les uns contre les autres dans la bataille pour le pétrole, l'eau et les terres agricoles, la pression militaire sur le gouvernement de Bachar al-Assad s'est atténuée dans le nord et l'est. Dans certaines régions, al-Nusra a conclu des accords avec les forces gouvernementales pour permettre le transfert de pétrole brut à travers les lignes de front vers la côte méditerranéenne.
(...)
Une figure de proue de l'opposition a déclaré : « Le front nord a ne s'est pas seulement endormi, le front nord est passé au commerce. »
L'UE avait annoncé qu'elle levait son embargo sur le pétrole en Avril pour aider l'opposition modérée. Les règles d'application doivent encore être émises et de ce fait la décision n'a pas pris effet, mais les experts régionaux disent que l'annonce a intensifié la course au pétrole - une course que les modérés soutenus par l'Occident ont perdu.
Joshua Landis, (...), a déclaré que la décision de l'UE sur le pétrole « a envoyé comme message que le pétrole pourrait revenir en ligne plus rapidement qu'on ne le pensait ».
« Celui qui tient le pétrole, l'eau et l'agriculture, tient la Syrie sunnite à la gorge. Pour le moment, c'est al-Nusra », a déclaré Landis. « L'ouverture par l'Europe du marché du pétrole a forcé une telle évolution. Donc, la conclusion logique de cette folie est que l'Europe financera al-Qaida. »
(...)

Tunisie : un militant d'Ansar Al-Charia est mort

2013-05-19T21:25:16Z

Tunisie : un militant d'Ansar Al-Charia est mort

http://fr.news.yahoo.com/affrontements-entre-policiers-salafistes-banlieue-tunis-112232002.htm