Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon : : If not now, when ?

Lebanon news - NOW Lebanon -Beirut protest turns violent after security chief funeral
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Pour la première fois, ce sont des groupes partisans de Hariri qui s’en prennent au centre-ville et aux instituions gouvernementales qu’il abrite. Etonnant retournement.

Security forces defending the seat of the Lebanese government fired tear gas on the protesters, who were tearing down barricades and throwing projectiles at soldiers. Gunfire could be heard in Downtown Beirut as troops shot rounds into the air in an attempt to disperse the protest, while army troops rushed to the area.

#Beyrouth
#Liban
#Solidere

Pendant ce temps-là, chez Now Hariri, on continue à fumer la moquette : Why we don’t need a Resistance
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Is Israel really a threat? Does it really want to attack Lebanon? Israel has invaded Lebanon in the past, most notably in 1978, 1982 and 2006. It also occupied much of South Lebanon for nearly two decades before withdrawing in 2000. In all cases, Israel was chasing down either the Palestinian Liberation Organization or Hezbollah, organizations that it would not tolerate on its northern border.
 
There is no evidence to show that Israel has territorial designs on Lebanon, nor would the international community tolerate it. The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a tract held up by many conspiracy-obsessed Arabs as proof of Israel’s expansionist ambitions, has long been exposed as rubbish. There may be disputes over water and perhaps even oil and gas, but there is no suggestion that these will turn into all-out war.

Quand un billet libanais prétend dénoncer le stéréotype des « conspiracy-obsessed Arabs », l’idéologie de l’auteur est assez transparente.

Dans le récit qui est fait de l’affaire Samaha, il apparaît que ça ne serait pas le Hezbollah que le régime syrien chargerait de ses basses œuvres. (Alors que, par exemple, les Américains viennent à nouveau d’accuser le Hezbollah de participer à la répression en Syrie même.) C’est un aspect qui ne me semble pas anodin, mais que je n’ai vu abordé nulle part.

Selon MTV, LBCi et Future TV, « quelqu’un » de l’intérieur des FSI leur aurait dit :
– le chauffeur de Michel Samaha aurait avoué qu’il y avait bien un plan pour poser des bombes au Liban,
– Samaha lui-même aurait avoué qu’il avait transporté des bombes dans sa voiture et participé à un complot pour destabiliser le pays.

Selon Al Jadeed (un média qui n’est pas dans les usual suspects du 14 Mars), l’arrestation aurait été motivée par une « cassette vidéo révélant son implication dans un projet d’attaques dans le nord »).

Maintenant, tout cela a l’air drôlement tiré par les cheveux, sources anonymes, etc, après une journée qui a vu une belle collection de « fuites » et de rumeurs. Il va falloir attendre des confirmations.

#TSL, rien d’autre qu’un instrument politique libanais ? Et même Michael Young, et même sur Now Lebanon… Scared by the tribunal, who me ?
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At this stage, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is useful mainly as a political weapon inside Lebanon. That is why the March 14 coalition continues to swear by it, and perhaps why Walid Jumblatt, who denounced the tribunal as “politicized” in the days when he was cozying up to the Syrian regime, recently praised the American senator, John McCain, for having been steadfast in defending the institution. As leverage against Hezbollah, the tribunal still serves a purpose, but no one should expect results soon.
 
However, you have to wonder whether March 14, beyond political expediency, is still convinced that the investigation and Special Tribunal were successful experiments. The members of that loose fraternity should feel hoodwinked by the United Nations. Outrage is in order, even though the parties in the opposition will never express it, given their political stake in upholding the tribunal’s credibility.
 
And if political calculation is behind their silence, that only gives us another reason to regret what the United Nations has spawned. Here the international body set up a judicial body to stay above politics and dispense justice. Now its purpose, at least in Lebanon, is to serve as a political tool, while justice is kept waiting, indefinitely.

A Saudi trade body cancelled a Tuesday meeting with a Russian delegation of businessmen in protest at Moscow’s position on the Syrian uprising, a top official said.

“The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Riyadh has cancelled a scheduled meeting with a delegation of Russian businessmen in solidarity with the Syrian people,” said Abdel Rahman al-Juraissi, president of the Saudi trade body.

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Pro-regime residents blocked UN observers from reaching Syria’s Al-Haffe on Tuesday, as government forces shelled the town for an eighth day, sparking fears of an impending massacre there, monitors said.

“Residents of the pro-regime village of As-Sheer blocked the road and prevented the UN observer team from reaching Al-Haffe,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Britain on Tuesday said Syria must offer unrestricted access to aid agencies, saying the humanitarian situation in the country is expected to worsen with thousands more likely to flee the bloodshed.

Accusing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad of committing “serious human rights violations” against its own people, British Minister of International Development, Alan Duncan, urged Damascus to “give unrestricted access for humanitarian agencies to help those in need.”

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France on Tuesday joined the United States in raising concerns that new massacres were being prepared in Syria as regime forces pounded for the eighth straight day the town of Al-Heffa.

“We share concerns about the preparation of new massacres,” French Foreign Ministry spokesperson Bernard Valero said, adding that French officials were heading to Moscow for talks on the crisis on Wednesday.

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UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan hoped a key meeting to address the crisis in #Syria will take place soon, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.

Annan, who brokered the faltering six-point plan aimed at ending the bloodshed, wanted to bring together world and regional powers to put pressure on Syria’s leader.

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Regime forces rained shells on rebel positions in northwestern Latakia province on Tuesday, pounding for the eighth straight day the town of Al-Heffa as they prepared to storm it, monitors said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops also pounded a neighborhood of the eastern city of Deir az-Zour with mortar fire on Tuesday, killing 10 civilians including a young girl, while five other civilians were killed in attacks on the central city of Homs.

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Syrian forces pounded a neighborhood of the eastern city of Deir az-Zour with mortar fire on Tuesday, killing 10 civilians including a young girl, a monitoring group said.

The attack, which targeted the city’s Al-Jbaible neighborhood, came a day after 12 people, including three children, were killed in a car bomb blast in Deir az-Zour’s Al-Joura neighborhood, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Syria’s main opposition coalition has called for “peaceful protests” across the world on Wednesday against Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

In a statement late Monday, the Syrian National Council urged “Syrians and friends of the Syrian people across the world to hold peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday at 1 pm in front of Russian embassies and diplomatic offices to express their deep-seated rage concerning Russia’s official stance.”

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US fears for new massacre in Syria

A spokesperson for former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, who drafted a fledgling UN-Arab League peace plan, earlier warned that civilians were trapped in the northwestern city and demanded the immediate entry of UN monitors.

“The United States joins joint special envoy Kofi Annan in expressing deep alarm by reports from inside Syria that the regime may be organizing another massacre,” State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters.

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#UN observers in #Syria voice concern in #Homs - large number of civilians trapped - ►http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=408057 #CNN #BBC #CBC”

Opposition chief urges #Assad to hand over to vice president

The new leader of #Syria's exiled opposition called Monday on embattled President Bashar al-Assad to transfer power to his deputy Faruq al-Shara, the Anatolia news agency reported.

“Assad should leave office to his vice president,” Abdel Basset Sayda, who was named on Sunday to head the opposition umbrella group the Syrian National Council, told Anatolia.

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Annan “

gravely concerned

” about Syrian violence

UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan was “gravely concerned” by a step up in fighting by Syrian government forces and the opposition, his spokesperson said on Monday.

Annan “is gravely concerned by the latest reports of violence coming out of #Syria and the escalation of fighting by both government and opposition forces,” said Ahmad Fawzi in a statement.

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Over 50 killed in #Syria as troops pound rebels strongholds, activists say

Helicopter gunships on Monday fired on rebel positions in central and northwestern Syria in a bid to snuff out the gunmen as violence killed 52 people across the country, a monitoring group said.

Helicopters strafed rebels positions in #Al-Heffa, in the northwestern province of #Latakia, and in #Rastan, in the central province of Homs, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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Pro-regime forces killed 83 civilians throughout Syria on Saturday, including women and children among 20 dead in the flashpoint town of Daraa, a watchdog group said.

Nine women and three children were among those killed in a pre-dawn bombardment of a residential neighborhood in the southern city of Daraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

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UN observers who went to the Syria massacre village of Al-Kubeir saw blood on the walls and were hit by a “stench of burnt flesh” but could not confirm how many died, a spokesperson said Friday.

While the government has denied responsibility, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky said the observers saw armored vehicle tracks around the village and homes that were damaged by rockets, grenades and various weapons.

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