Afghanistan's presidential spokesman on Tuesday described the NATO-led military operation in the country as "aimless and unwise", in the latest government broadside against the coalition. Anytime you want us out of there, Hamid, we're happy to leave. And no, we're not renewing your visa...
Aimal Faizi, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, hit out after NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen rejected Karzai's recent allegations that it was working in collusion with Taliban militants.
"The people of Afghanistan ask NATO to define the purpose and aim of the so-called war on terror... (They) consider this war as aimless and unwise to continue," Faizi said in a statement.
The verbal onslaught is set to worsen relations between Afghanistan and the international coalition that has been fighting for 11 years against Islamist militants who are trying to overthrow Karzai's government.
In recent weeks Karzai has been staking out increasingly nationalist ground as he prepares for his final year in office before he steps down when presidential elections are held in April 2014.
Next year will also see the withdrawal of all NATO combat troops from Afghanistan, leaving poorly-trained and inexperienced local security forces to take on the insurgents alone.
Rasmussen, at a press conference earlier Tuesday in Brussels, said that instead of alleging collusion with the Taliban, Afghanistan should acknowledge NATO efforts to bring progress to the country.
"I reject the idea... there is so-called collusion between NATO forces... and the Taliban. It is an absolutely ridiculous idea," he said.
#1
I wholeheartedly agree that our continued presence is "aimless and unwise" - as has been our presence since 2003.
We should completely un-ass Afghanistan with no further delay.
On departure, we should make absolutely clear that if we ever even suspect that the region of Afghanistan is harboring militants with evil designs against America, we will do our utmost best to blast therm back to an earlier pre-stone age - and we will then make the rubble bounce - three times. And then sow salt into the bare ground.
It is the height of foolishness to dump any more blood or treasure into that hell-hole of a region.
Is he taking our honourable president's plans into consideration?
[Tolo News] President Hamid Karzai said Monday that the US will not leave Afghanistan alone and described the recent tensions as media propaganda.
Speaking at a joint Afghan government and BBC Persian programme of "Jerga-e-Azad" which will be broadcast on government television Monday night, he said that the US wants to sign the Kabul-Washington security agreement in the upcoming three months, but the Afghan government will make its decision with careful accuracy.
"If they accept our demands and it is good for us, then we will sign it," he said.
"The US is not leaving. They will not leave and we should ask them all our demands," Karzai said in response to the question of whether the US will withdraw completely.
He said the talks with the US continue and he encouraged the Afghan people to trust and "don't worry about the future."
On the matter of the Afghan-US relationship being widely regarded as tense, Karzai labeled it propaganda of the western media.
"This is all media propaganda. You are watching my speeches and the US wants to put pressure on us, but we are trying to put them under pressure. But they were more agile in the media than we are," Karzai said.
His comments come after recent speeches where he accused the US of holding secret talks with the Taliban without Afghan involvement and of wanting to stay in Afghanistan to take advantage of its resource-rich mines.
The new US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, who was in Kabul at the time, dismissed the comments as not making any sense, while US Ambassador to Afghanistan James Cunningham described them as "inconceivable" given the "blood and treasure" that the US has poured into the country.
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03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] Afghan lawmaker Abdulrahman Rahmani said Monday that his fellow MPs asked him to buy their vote in his bid to be head of the parliamentary complaints commission.
Rahmani said during Monday's parliamentary session that other MPs have asked for thousands of dollars for their vote to appoint him, and said that other lawmakers have experienced similar requests to be voted onto other special parliamentary commissions.
"Corruption exists in the appointment of the head of the complaints commission. I was one of the candidates for the post and I have been asked for a bribe of $3000 [for a vote]. This action is very serious in the parliament," Abdulrahman Rahmani told the lower house.
MP Allah Gul Mujaheed said that there is document evidence of this abuse.
"Many parliament members are asking bribes to appoint people to the commissions. We have documents that those who are asking for bribes are those people who are calling themselves religious scholars," Mujaheed told the lawmakers.
Other parliamentary members who spoke in Monday's session stressed that until the lower house is not reformed from the inside, it will be difficult for it to fight the challenges which the country is facing, especially in terms of corruption.
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03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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We've heard of the jinx of the Sphinx, mystic curses from the lands of Ancient Egypt and the odd sprinkle of magic over all things mysterious.
But recent claims from a prominent Egyptian preacher have perhaps reached new heights.
Beware, viewers watching Egyptian satellite channels -- warns preacher Safwat Hegazy -- for you could be "watching Pharaoh's spell" at work.
This week, Hegazy called on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip not to watch the channels because they were "Pharaoh's magicians."
"Pharaoh (Ramses II) had only one Haman but now there are 1,000 Hamans in Egypt," Hegazy said in reference to Haman, who along with Pharaoh, were believed by Muslims to have rejected Prophet Moses' call to worship God.
During the speech, delivered at a conference called "The Palestinian Cause in the Shadow of the Arab Spring," the preacher criticized Egyptian magazines and dailies that accused Hamas of targeting and killing Egyptian forces during the "terrorist" Rafah attack.
"We in Egypt do not believe what is published in newspapers," he said, the Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm reported.
Recently, members of Islamist groups in Egypt have spoken out against the many televised news talk shows and presenters that appear to be overtly against the country's Islamist rule.
"Quality assurance in Egyptian media is direly needed across the board," Dr H.A. Hellyer, of the Brookings Institution and specialist on Egyptian politics told Al Arabiya English on Monday.
"The irony is, however, that the government that Hegazy directly supports has not taken such reforms seriously at all. If anything, the state media has simply switched allegiances, and pro-Islamist independent media has hardly been leading the way in non-polarizing news," Hellyer added.
Meanwhile, ties between Gaza and Egypt were shaken after an Aug. 5 attack last year in which gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula, next to Gaza, killed 16 Egyptian soldiers. The incident raised new worries about the smuggling of weapons and militants through border tunnels, and Egypt is investigating whether the assailants had ties to Gaza.
Hegazy also criticized attempts to topple Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood's rule saying, "Even if the revolution falls, Islam will not fall and President Mursi will not fall and (will stay until) the end of his term."
Hegazy added that Arab Spring revolutions "will succeed" and that Jerusalem will be the capital of the Islamic Caliphate. This was similar to a comment he made last year.
"Peace with Israel is not a strategic option. There will be no peace and no surrender. The Palestinian land will be freed despite the Jews' [will]," he said.
The RCMP say Canadian remains have been found at the site of a blood-soaked January standoff in Algeria between terrorists and gas-plant workers.
The news was the latest indication of possible Canadian involvement in the deadly assault.
But the Mounties refused to say Monday whether there was more than one body, or whether the remains were discovered among the al-Qaida-linked attackers or the hostages killed in the incident.
The RCMP confirms that Canadian human remains have been identified in Algeria, however, as this is an ongoing investigation, no further information will be given at this time, said Cpl. David Falls.
Neither the Foreign Affairs Department nor the ministers office would comment.
However, Foreign Affairs has said previously that it believed no Canadians or dual nationals were among the hostages, and that a permanent resident of Canada who was at the site was safe and no longer in Algeria.
As a result, the latest development suggests a Canadian presence among the attackers a militant group said to have been led by North African terrorist leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who was also behind the 2008 kidnapping of Canadian diplomat Robert Fowler.
[MAGHAREBIA] Unmanned Libyan drone aircraft are being used for the first time by the country's Air Force, Libya Herald reported Sunday (March 17th). The head of the army's air defences, Brigadier-General Juma Hussein El-Abani, announced the initiative on Saturday.
In related security news Sunday, Libyan Interior Minister Ashour Shuwail announced a major initiative to dislodge armed groups from illegally occupying hundreds of properties.
"A campaign decided by the government to clear some 540 buildings, both public and private - including homes and farms - began Saturday night with the evacuation of a military camp south of the capital," he said.
"An imposing joint force of the army and police, with all types of weapons, has been mobilized for this purpose," the minister said. He also did not rule out the possible use of support helicopters.
The campaign will gradually extend to all cities, especially Benghazi, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[FRANCE24] As the joint French-Malian military operation flushes Islamist militants out of northern Mali, some jihadists leave behind their wives and children when retreating. FRANCE 24 met with the wife of a jihadist leader from the Gao region.
Mariam moved back to her mother's house in this peaceful village near Gao, in northern Mali, when her husband left the area.
She won't say her husband's name, but everyone in town knows he is Abu Dardar, one of the most brutal and feared jihadist leaders in the region.
He saw Mariam in the market one day and decided he was going to marry her. He liked the way she was dressed. He hated women who wore shirts or dresses but she was veiled and already a devout Muslim. Mariam had become a radical when she married her first husband, whom she had three children with, before he abandoned her.
When the jihadist leader came and said he wanted to marry her, her family had no choice, they had to agree.
Now pregnant with the child of the man who abandoned her, she seems peaceful and resigned to her fate, saying that if her husband is dead, "it's because it's God's will."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Inshallah, Honey. Come to America, we'll sign you up with WIC and give you an EBT card.
An Iranian, a Lebanese and 16 Saudis have been arrested on spying charges in Saudi Arabia, officials say.
The 18 suspects had been "involved in a spying cell for a state", an interior ministry spokesman told state TV.
"They were gathering information about installations and vital areas in the country and providing intelligence agencies of that state with it," said ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki.
He did not name the country thought to be running the spy network.
The arrests were made four days ago and the suspects were being investigated before being handed over to judicial authorities, Mr Turki said.
The arrests were made in "co-ordinated and simultaneous operations in four regions of the kingdom," including the capital Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca, the ministry was quoted as saying in a separate statement.
Arrests were also made in Eastern Province - where the kingdom's Shia Muslim minority is concentrated - the statement reportedly said.
Saudi Arabia, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim, has recently repeatedly found itself at odds with Iran, an overwhelmingly Shia Muslim nation.
Tensions deepened last year when Saudi Arabia deployed troops to the Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain to help crush a Shia-led uprising there.
Arab interior ministers want to keep a closer watch on extremist websites. Particularly the ones that are threatening to them...
Twenty-one Arab ministers approved recommendations to monitor extremist websites used for recruiting young people, as well as online communications between terrorist groups.
"Support for the capabilities of security services, unification of efforts, the development of joint security co-ordination, and activation of the roles of our religious, social, educational, and guidance institutions" would all be required, the monarch said.
"The Arab interior ministers' plan is very ambitious and important because many young people start their journey towards terrorism by learning about these groups via the internet," Omar Ould Dahmed, an expert in youth issues, said.
"The content, especially related to combat and training, as well as songs glorifying jihad, attract many people," he added.
Furthermore, young people who browse such websites can be monitored and their suspicious activities identified.
"These groups have succeeded more than once in circumventing the imposed restrictions and in getting their messages across in order to recruit a number of young people". The cynic wonders if the monitoring is intended to prevent abuse or assist it.
The mills of Justice certainly grind slowly in this case. Is the ISI perhaps protecting the gentleman from ghosts in the night and Predators in the sky?
Pakistani security officials have arrested a former senior leader of a banned terrorist outfit who was allegedly involved in the 2002 murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl in Karachi.
Qari Abdul Hayee, popularly known as Asadullah and from Karachi's eastern Gulshan-e-Iqbal neighborhood, was detained in a raid on his hideout on Sunday, said a spokesman for the Rangers paramilitary force, according to the AFP news agency.
Asadullah was formerly chief of the sectarian group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) in the southern province of Sindh and was "involved in several terror acts", said the official.
"He was also in the picture about US journalist Daniel Pearl's murder case," the spokesman said without elaborating.
Pearl, 38, was the South Asia bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal when he was abducted in Karachi on January 23, 2002, while researching a story about Islamist terrorists.
A graphic video showing his decapitation was delivered to the US consulate in the city nearly a month later.
The spokesman said that in 2003 the group led by Asadullah had sent parcel bombs to police officers, injuring many people.
[Dawn] The shadows of fear and uncertainty that dominate Swabi, home to the country's largest hydel power house and producer of the world finest tobacco, have caused serious concerns among the population of the district.
Owing to killing by emboldened gangs and bombing of schools, the elected representatives of the district equate it with the lawless tribal areas where 'administration does nothing to protect the life and property of people.'
Talking to Dawn, MPA Javed Khan Tarakai portrayed a dismal picture of the situation in the district and termed Swabi 'another North Wazoo' while Awami National Party MPA Advocate Mukhtiar Ali said that district administration and provincial government seemed ignorant about the state of lawlessness in the area."Some outsiders and small-time Mister Bigs have ganged up and local administration has become silent over the situation," said Mr Tarakai, adding there were speculations about targeted operation by the law enforcement agencies.
Local sources said that troublemakers surfaced in Swabi during the last one and a half year. According to reports more than 10 attacks had been carried out against police and NGO workers and schools since January last.
People running CD shops have closed down their businesses owing to kabooms and threats. There are reports that police had abandoned night patrolling in the district in the wake of attacks.
Six bigwigs of different secret agencies have been killed across the district in less than one year.
Seven persons including six women working for a NGO were killed in broad daylight on January 1. About 25 schools have been bombed in the area so far that shows severity of the law and order situation. The modus operandi employed in these acts shows that Taliban were responsible for the subversive acts but no efforts were in the sight to take them into account.
Few days ago a landlord was rubbed out in Shewa village on Mardan-Swabi Road when he refused to pay Rs10 million to unidentified telephone callers. But police and other law enforcement agencies are clueless about the network of the gangs involved in such acts.
Swabi district plays crucial role in boosting country's economy because of power generation and its fertile lands.
Tarbela Dam generates 3,478 megawatts electricity while Ghazi Barotha power project, which generates 1,450 megawatts, had its reservoir in Swabi. The district is called 'house of tobacco' because of producing the finest quality of tobacco. It produced tobacco worth Rs172 billion in the year 2011-12.
MPA Mukhtiar said that unidentified gangs were carrying out their activities brazenly and preached against female education and NGOs. "One radicalised youngster damaged signboard in front of an under-construction degree college for women in my constituency and left the venue with a warning that he will not allow girls education in the area," he said.
The MPA said that another under-construction higher secondary school for girls was blown up in his area. "Everybody is perturbed over lawlessness and I have discussed the issue with the chief minister many times but he can do nothing, unfortunately," he smiled.
Liaquat Yousafzai, an office-bearer of local farmers' association, said thon the lam numbers of strange outsiders had occupied seminaries and mosques in the area, but police could not verify their names and places of origins.
Only in Yar Hussain area, he said, about 160 families had come from other district, but nobody had asked their whereabouts.
Mr Yousafzai said that a higher secondary school constructed at a cost of Rs20 million in Dagai village was damaged by alleged snuffies using explosives.
"The dilemma is that schools are bombed and murder is order of the day, but no group has so far grabbed credit for these acts," he added.
He said that local Learned Elders of Islam had never opposed female education, but girls' schools were under attack.
"Swabi was peaceful and people were tolerant. But these are stories of the past and now everyone feels endangered," Mr Yousafzai said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have suspended peace talks with the Pak government, claiming the stakeholders are "not serious" with the peace initiative, a front man for the banned outfit said in a video released Monday.
"This non-serious response to our offer of peace talks has proved who is pushing the country into an inferno of bloodshed," said Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan in the nine-minute video.
"Keeping in view this situation, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain has decided to temporarily suspend the offer of peace talks."
Earlier last month the proscribed bad boy group, which has waged war against the state since 2007, had announced it's willingness for conditional peace talks with the country's top three politicians as guarantors for the dialogue.
In the video, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, Ehsanullah warned citizens to avoid participation in the "un-Islamic democratic system which only serves the interests of infidels and enemies of Islam."
Ehsanullah said that the TTP specifically advised the public to stay away from gatherings of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement ...English: United National Movement, generally known as MQM, is the 3rd largest political party and the largest secular political party in Pakistain with particular strength in Sindh. From 1992 to 1999, the MQM was the target of the Pak Army's Operation Cleanup leaving thousands of urdu speaking civilians dead... (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Meanwhile, ...back at the fist fight, Jake ducked another roundhouse, then parried with his left, then with his right, finally with his chin... Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Information Minister Mian Ifitkhar Hussain, reacting to the interview, said: "The grinding of the peace processor has not even started so what to say about suspending it. It doesn't make sense."
"If the government would have suspended the talks, it would have made sense, but as far as terrorists' point of view and their claim of suspending the peace talks offer is concerned, they are already resorting to terrorist attacks and not sparing any moment of sabotage," he added.
"Today you saw they targeted the court of a female judge inside judicial complex," said Hussain, speaking about a suicide kaboom Monday inside the premises of a court in Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. The suicide attack left at least three people dead and several others maimed.
"We have to wait and see when the environment is ripe for peace talks again and then we can restore peace through dialogue," said Hussain.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] New Czech President Milos Zeman on Monday appealed to his Pak counterpart for help in locating two Czech women kidnapped last week in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan. ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Sworn into office last week, Zeman on Monday "wrote a personal letter to Pak President Asif Ali Ten Percent Zardari ... husband of the late Benazir Bhutto, who has been singularly lacking in curiosity about who done her in ... ," presidential spokeswoman Hana Burianova told news hounds.
Pak security forces have so far been unable to locate the two women who were taken at gunpoint last Wednesday, around 550 kilometres (350 miles) west of Quetta, the main town of Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. So far no one has demanded a ransom.
Identified as Hana Humpalova and Antonie Chrastecka, both psychology students, the women had apparently crossed into Pakistain from Iran on holiday. "Hana Humpalova"? Tell me that's an assumed name...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Israel must immediately begin withdrawing its settlers from the Palestinian territories, UN experts told diplomats Monday, even as the new Israeli government appeared set to strengthen the hand of the Jewish settler lobby.
Israel must act to "immediately and without preconditions cease the settlement activity and to initiate a process of withdrawal from the settlements," Christine Chanet told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, lamenting a "rampant annexation" of Palestinian territories.
Chanet, of France, was presenting a report of a fact-finding mission commissioned by the council that deemed that the settlements were leading to Palestinians' human rights "being violated consistently and on a daily basis."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Demand, ya say? You and whose army?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/19/2013 0:56 Comments ||
Top||
#2
DEMAND IN ONE HAND AD SHIT IN THE OTHER, SEEE WHICH HAND GETS DIRTY.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/19/2013 1:25 Comments ||
Top||
Syrian state media say rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad have fired a chemical weapon in the north of the country.
"Terrorists launched a missile containing chemical products into the region of Khan al-Assal in the province of Aleppo, killing 15 people, mainly civilians," Sana news agency said.
The government routinely refers to rebels as "terrorists".
Rebels denied the report, accusing the government of using chemical agents.
"We were hearing reports from early this morning about a regime attack on Khan al-Assal, and we believe they fired a Scud with chemical agents," a senior rebel and spokesman for the Higher Military Council in Aleppo, Qassim Saadeddine, told Reuters news agency.
"Then suddenly we learned that the regime was turning these reports against us. The rebels were not behind this attack."
[An Nahar] U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned on Monday the Syrian bombing of Lebanese border regions, stating that "this step violates the country's sovereignty and is absolutely unacceptable".
"Syrian warplanes Monday bombed northern Lebanon for the first time," Nuland confirmed to reporters, denouncing the move as "a significant escalation" of the conflict.
She elaborated: "We can confirm... that regime jets and helicopters did fire rockets into northern Lebanon, impacting Wadi al-Khayl, near the border town of Arsal".
"This constitutes a significant escalation in the violations of Lebanese sovereignty that the Syrian regime has been guilty of. These kinds of violations of sovereignty are absolutely unacceptable".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Fear notteth, citizens, a strongly-worded Diplomatic Letter + new $$$ US Budget QE is on the way!
[An Nahar] The United States is struggling to track a fragmented Syrian opposition and has found it increasingly difficult to get a clear picture of rebel factions, the U.S. military's top officer said Monday.
"About six months ago we had a very opaque understanding of the opposition and now I would say it's even more opaque," General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Center For Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank.
His comments reflect the dilemma faced by President Barack Obama as he weighs how much assistance to provide to the Syrian opposition, which has been battling President Bashar Assad's regime for more than two years.
Top U.S. diplomat John Kerry on Monday said the United States would not oppose moves by some European countries to arm Syrian rebels, but Washington has so far opted against sending weapons to the opposition amid fears they could end up in the hands of al-Qaida linked militants.
National Intelligence Director James Clapper told a Senate hearing last week that, as the rebels have grown stronger, extremist elements aligned with al-Qaida had "gained strength, both numerically and otherwise."
Last month, Dempsey and Leon Panetta, then U.S. defense secretary, acknowledged that they had endorsed a proposal to arm the Syrian rebels but said the White House vetoed the idea.
Panetta told lawmakers that former CIA director David Petraeus and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton also had backed the move to supply arms.
The United States so far has provided non-lethal and humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
Denial of reality is a very strong filter on true perception.
Really opaque means they don't have the human intell assets on the ground and they don't have a clue. Which is very alarming to me. You have a literal three ring circus of global jihad in a food fight in Syria and we can't get any good intell out of that chaos? So wire taps, cell phone intercepts, and infiltration doesn't work? Or is it just a case of the liberal sniveling littel whiney asses in the CIA don't want to leave Georgetown for some real field duty?
Posted by: Bill Clinton ||
03/19/2013 9:45 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] Hizbullah deputy leader Sheikh Naim Qassem condemned on Monday Sunday's attack on Dar al-Fatwa clerics, saying the incident is part of a "plan to inflame sedition between Muslims and Lebanese".
"Hizbullah condemns the attack and we call for legally penalizing perpetrators and for lifting any political cover they might have," Qassem said in a phone conversation with Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani.
"(Hizbullah leader) Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah stresses on the unity between Muslims and between the Lebanese, and he calls for confronting strife and those encouraging it," Qassem told Qabbani.
He praised the Mufti's statement that "called for avoiding sectarian sedition": "We salute him for not blaming an entire sect for this incident and all religious communities have condemned Sunday's attacks".
Dar al-Fatwa clerics Sheikh Mazen Hariri and Sheikh Ahmed Fakhran were beaten up on Sunday while passing through the Beirut area of Khandaq al-Ghamiq, state-run National News Agency reported.
As the news broke out, angry protesters blocked roads in the Beirut areas of Tariq al-Jedideh, Qasqas and Corniche al-Mazraa, as well as Sidon's entrance in the South and al-Masnaa's road in the Bekaa.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The United States will not oppose moves by some European nations to arm Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad, top U.S. diplomat John Kerry said Monday.
"President (Barack) Obama has made it clear that the United States does not stand in the way of other countries that have made a decision to provide arms, whether it's France or Britain or others," Kerry told reporters.
EU leaders are due to meet this week to discuss easing an EU arms embargo, amid statements from Paris and London that it is time to start arming the Syrian opposition.
Obama "believes we need to change President Assad's calculation," Kerry said, after talks with his Australian counterpart Bob Carr.
Kerry reiterated that Obama "is evaluating and will continue to evaluate any additional options available in order to make that happen."
The United States has provided non-lethal and humanitarian aid to the Syrian opposition but refused to supply arms, fearful of pouring more weapons into a complex conflict now into its third year which has claimed some 70,000 lives.
"Assad is receiving help from the Iranians, he is receiving help from some al-Qaida related elements, he's receiving help from Hizbullah and obviously some help that is coming in through the Russians," Kerry said.
"If he believes he can shoot it out, Syrians and region have a problem, and the world has a problem."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/19/2013 00:00 ||
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#5
"Iran has warned publicly than any attack on Syrian soil would be considered an assault on Iranian territory."
Attack away.
Posted by: Barbara ||
03/19/2013 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
#6
Assad is receiving help from the Iranians, he is receiving help from some al-Qaida related elements...
Assad is working with AQ? What's he talkin about?
Posted by: Herb Spoting4781 ||
03/19/2013 19:09 Comments ||
Top||
#7
The US still supporting ME Rebs whom as a class are mainly anti-US, Western; anti-Christian or Non-Muslim, anti-Democratic, pro-Sharia or pro hardline Sharia, + pro-Nukes - THE "SOLUTION" IS MUCH WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM???
We're getting rid of Moderate to pro-US, Western Strongmen whom were effective in suppressing Violent or Radical Elements, etc. existing widin their societies, IN FAVOR OF LEGISLATIVE OR PARLIAMENTARY HARDLINERS WHOM WOULD LIKELY LET THESE SAME VIOLENT OR RADICALIST ELEMENTS OUT OF THEIR CAGE + RUN FREE.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Tolo News] President Hamid Karzai said Monday that the US will not leave Afghanistan alone and described the recent tensions as media propaganda.
We've heard of the jinx of the Sphinx, mystic curses from the lands of Ancient Egypt and the odd sprinkle of magic over all things mysterious.
Wazoo
[Dawn] The Pak Taliban have suspended peace talks with the Pak government, claiming the stakeholders are "not serious" with the peace initiative, a 
President Asif Ali 
[An Nahar] The United States is struggling to track a fragmented Syrian opposition and has found it increasingly difficult to get a clear picture of rebel factions, the U.S. military's top officer said Monday.
[An Nahar] The United States will not oppose moves by some European nations to arm Syrian rebels battling President Bashar Assad, top U.S. diplomat John Kerry said Monday.
