{"id":563,"date":"2008-01-23T16:58:12","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T16:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/?p=563"},"modified":"2008-01-28T05:26:48","modified_gmt":"2008-01-28T05:26:48","slug":"news-roundup-23-january-2008","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joshualandis.com\/blog\/news-roundup-23-january-2008\/","title":{"rendered":"News Roundup (23 January 2008)"},"content":{"rendered":"
I hope everyone will continue to post to the letter from Alon Liel,  Chairman of the Israeli-Syrian Peace Society<\/a>, posted below. It has stimulated very interesting dialogue. Alex will be posting a summary soon.<\/div>\n
I begin this news roundup with a short announcement:<\/div>\n
\n
Serene Taleb-Agha [serene@hashem.net] has begun a "a list for English-speaking residents of Syria, in particular expatriates from America, Britain, Canada, Australia, South Africa, etc. Dual nationals are welcome. We are here to network and share our experiences living in Syria." Here is the group:http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/Anglos-In-Syria\/<\/a><\/font><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hugh Macleod writes: "I wrote an analysis for San Fran Chron on the attack on the US embassy vehicle <\/a>and how there appears to be a new strand of political violence emerging in Lebanon, that seems more the work of Al-Qaeda style fundies than hit squads taking out anti-Syrian figures . .  <\/p>\n

\n
The attack on a U.S. embassy vehicle that killed four people last week represents a dangerous widening of political violence that includes international targets, and shows how al Qaeda-inspired extremists are attempting to push the politically deadlocked country toward civil war, some analysts say. <\/div>\n
…..<\/div>\n
"Al Qaeda is now unleashed in Lebanon and they are here to stay," said Ahmad Moussali, professor of political science and Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut. "Al Qaeda thrives in civil war and chaos. International players should be very careful in Lebanon."<\/div>\n
….<\/div>\n
Just last month Gen. Francois Haj, the man tapped to take over Suleiman's role as army chief and head of operations against Fatah Islam, was assassinated by a car bomb. It was the first attack on a high ranking army officer in decades.<\/div>\n
\n

Meanwhile, U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon have also been threatened and attacked by Sunni militants.<\/p>\n

In a statement aired on Dec. 29, al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden criticized Hezbollah for agreeing to the deployment of the U.N. Interim Forces in Lebanon following the end of the 34-day war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters in 2006. Bin Laden said the U.N. soldiers were on a mission to "protect the Jews."<\/p>\n

Some analysts said bin Laden's message could have been interpreted as a rallying call by Sunni militants.<\/p>\n

"Bin Laden's threats represent a kind of edict, guidelines which are adapted by groups that identify themselves with al Qaeda," said Amal Saad Ghorayeb, an expert on Hezbollah at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.<\/p>\n

Ghorayeb compared the attack on the U.S. embassy vehicle to the Jan. 8 roadside bomb that exploded when two U.N. soldiers drove through Rmaileh, 21 miles south of Beirut, close to the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp, a hotbed for Sunni Islamist groups.<\/p>\n

"Both were very clumsily planned and were not high value targets. It was an assassination attempt but not along the lines of previous assassinations," said Ghorayeb, referring to a string of well-planned assassinations of anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon since the 2005 killing by an explosion of former prime minister, Rafik Hariri. "It could well be an al Qaeda-inspired attack. There has been a resurgence of sorts. Fatah Islam were always clumsy." <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Saudi, Syria cut number of fighters getting into Iraq: US<\/a><\/div>\n
\n
\n

BAGHDAD (AFP) — Syria and Saudi Arabia have reduced the flow of foreign insurgents crossing their borders to fight in Iraq, a US military spokesman said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

"Syria and Saudi Arabia have taken a number of steps to reduce the flow of foreign fighters into Iraq," US military spokesman Rear Admiral Gregory Smith told a press conference in Baghdad. <\/p>\n

"In early 2007, 110 foreigners were coming into Iraq from Syria every month. That is now reduced to 40 to 50."<\/p>\n

Syria has introduced roadblocks and border patrols in a bid to crack down on fighters trying to cross into the war-ravaged country, while Saudi Arabia has tightened requirements for people applying for visas to Syria, Smith said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Papers Paint New Portrait of Iraq's Foreign Insurgents<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

90 percent of foreign fighters entering Iraq during the one-year period ending in August came via Syria, a greater proportion than previously believed. <\/p>\n

More North Africans were foreign terrorists than previously assessed." Although Saudi Arabia was by far the most common country of origin of foreign fighters, with about 40 percent of the total, a surprising share — 19 percent — came from Libya<\/a>. Overall, about 40 percent were North African. <\/p>\n

Based on information solicited in the longer Islamic State of Iraq forms, the Syrian role in the traffic appeared more that of entrepreneur than ideological partner and seemed to be a source of concern and suspicion for al-Qaeda in Iraq. Entrants were asked for names and descriptions of Syrians they had come into contact with, and were asked how they were treated. Many responded that the Syrians had demanded exorbitant sums of money, often exactly the amount the entrants were carrying. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Sex outside marriage is legal in Syria, lawyer says<\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

A Syrian rights activist urged couples who live together outside of wedlock – cohabiting – to sign a contract stipulating the rights of both parties.<\/p>\n

The prevalence of this living arrangement – found mostly in the capital Damascus – was brought into the open after the state-owned newspaper Al-Thawra ran a story about cohabiting couples in 2006.  Ali told AlArabiya.net that the law does not prohibit sexual relationships between unmarried couples — as long as both are adult and single — and can thus be legally recognized.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nasrallah's taunt gets under Israel's skin<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Hizbullah's leader said on Saturday his party had the remains of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon during the 2006 war, saying the dead were left behind "in our villages and fields." "Your army left behind the remains of soldiers in our villages and fields," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said, addressing the Israeli people during a speech to tens of thousands of Shiites taking part in commemorations marking Ashura. <\/p>\n

"They [Israeli army] were so weak on the field that they left behind remains not of one, two or three but a large number of your soldiers," Nasrallah added. "One body is almost complete," Nasrallah said. "What did the [Israeli] army say to the family of these soldiers and what remains did they give them?" <\/p>\n

The Hizbullah leader's comments sparked outrage in Israel, which prides itself on doing everything to recover the remains of its soldiers from fields of battle and has in the past freed prisoners in exchange for remains of soldiers and civilians. <\/p>\n

Israeli ministers on Sunday cursed Nasrallah as a "sewer rat" for boasting that his group had Israeli body parts. "Nasrallah has crossed all possible boundaries of inhumanity,"  Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's centrist Kadima party said ahead of a weekly Cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Berri: Syrian-Saudi reconciliation key to Lebanon solution<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

"When [Arab League Secretary General Amr] Moussa came to see me before going to Damascus and asked me if I have any message for [Syrian President] Bashar Assad, I told him just tell him to reconcile with Saudi Arabia," Berri told The Daily Star in an exclusive interview Saturday. <\/p>\n

He added that the rift was "Syria's mistake," the result of comments made by Syrian Vice President Farouk Sharaa, which soured relations. Hopes are high that the upcoming Arab summit in March in Damascus will serve as an ideal platform for a Saudi-Syrian reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Berri said that "only the 10+10+10" equal distribution of Cabinet posts between the majority. The plan calls for neither majority nor opposition having the power to hinder the government or monopolize power and gives the president the swing vote in Cabinet as the arbiter. <\/p>\n

He said the ruling coalition supported a 14+10+6 formula of seats. Berri said that "only the 10+10+10" equal distribution of Cabinet posts between the majority, the opposition and the president in a new government would meet with the requirements of the three-point Arab plan. The plan calls for neither majority nor opposition having the power to hinder the government or monopolize power and gives the president the swing vote in Cabinet as the arbiter. <\/p>\n

The speaker said that the American strategic interests lie in ensuring Israel's security<\/a> and the continued flow of oil, while everything else is "just details."  <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Nasrallah electrifies faithful in Beirut's southern suburbs <\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Hizbullah's Al-Manar television station said one million people had turned out for the Ashura commemoration, in the Sfeir neighborhood of Beirut's southern suburbs.<\/p>\n

The Hizbullah leader has rarely made public appearances since the 2006 war. His last public appearance was at the opening of a book fair in May in the southern suburbs of Beirut. <\/p>\n

He also appeared at a massive victory rally in the southern suburbs in September 2006. He told the cheering crowds that his group was ready for a new conflict with Israel. "If Israel launches a new war against Lebanon, we promise them a war that will change the face of the entire region," Nasrallah said. – AFP<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/a>The reinvention of Lebanese Shiite history<\/font><\/a> <\/p>\n

\n

Among its defects, the most potentially damaging is that Hizbullah threatens the Lebanese Shiite community by seeking to impose its exclusivist version of Shiite history. Shiites have left their imprint on Lebanon's history ever since the Middle<\/a> Ages, albeit with varying degrees of political involvement. To presume that Lebanese Shiite history only really began when Hizbullah was established is unfair first and foremost to the Shiite community itself. <\/p>\n

It is incorrect to say that Shiites were excluded from Lebanese political life. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A friend who attended this conference sent the following summation:<\/p>\n

Analyses of the 9\/6\/07 Israeli strike on a Syrian facility near the Euphrates<\/strong>
Hosted by the Center for National Policy, 1\/23\/08 <\/p>\n

\n

David Albright<\/strong>, Institute for Science and International Security <\/p>\n