Gaza's Hamas rulers hang father and son for collaborating with Israel

Minneapolis Star Tribune - Gaza's Hamas rulers hang father and son for collaborating with Israel

RIZEK ABDUL JAWAD , Associated Press 

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip hanged a father and son at dawn Tuesday for collaborating with Israel, a government spokesman said.

The two were found guilty of helping Israel target a top Hamas leader and identify other militants who were later killed by Israeli forces, said Ihab Ghussein, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Gaza.

They were arrested in 2003 and charged a year later, and had exhausted all legal means to appeal the sentence, he said.

He would not provide their names, but the Gaza-based Palestinian Center for Human Rights identified them as 51-year-old Mahmoud Abu Qenas and his 22-year-old son, Rami Abu Qenas.

The family of the two men executed Tuesday burned tires and tried to shut down a Gaza City road in response to the deaths. Family members were quickly pushed back into their homes by Hamas police who also shooed away journalists and told them not to take photos.

In a statement, the human rights group condemned the hangings, saying the Palestinian judicial process was so flawed that it would have not been possible to conclusively prove the two men were involved in spying.

The deaths brought to five the number of Palestinians executed by Hamas for spying since the Islamic militant group seized control of Gaza in 2007. Another seventeen alleged informers were killed in vigilante-style shootings by Palestinians during the three-week Israeli offensive in Gaza that ended in January 2009. Some were on death row or awaiting trial by Hamas.

Collaborators are loathed by Palestinian society at large and vigilante killings of suspected informers have been common in the Palestinian territories for decades.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights said the men were accused of involvement in a 2003 assassination attempt against Abdel-Aziz Rantisi, a Hamas co-founder.

Israel killed Rantisi in 2004. The two men executed Tuesday were already jailed by then.

Rights group: In last 5 years, Israeli army detains 835 Palestinian youths for throwing rocks

Seattle Times - Rights group: In last 5 years, Israeli army detains 835 Palestinian youths for throwing rocks
Article by: DIAA HADID , Associated Pres

JERUSALEM - Over the past five years, Israel's military has detained more than 800 Palestinian youths and children for pelting rocks at Israelis soldiers, and has interrogated and jailed many of them, a rights group said in a report released Monday.

Drawing on military statistics and interviews for its 70-page report, the Israeli rights group B'Tselem counted 835 minors who were taken into custody from 2005 through early 2011, including 34 children who were 13 or younger.

In the worst case, B'Tselem cited an 8-year-old who was seized in the West Bank in February.

Soldiers released the boy after realizing he wasn't the child they were after: they wanted his 9-year-old brother. Troops then handcuffed the 9-year-old, blindfolded him and took him to a detention center where he was interrogated and held for five hours, according to the report. Israeli forces released the boy after it was determined he was a minor.

A military spokeswoman said around 160 civilians and soldiers were wounded in violent attacks by minors. Some 10 were wounded when Palestinian youths threw projectiles, but the spokeswoman, speaking of condition of anonymity, said she did not know the extent of their injuries.

B'Tselem acknowledged that while Israeli authorities needed to enforce the law, they said night raids, handcuffing, blindfolds, interrogations and the denial of access to lawyers for children for hours at a time were frequently disproportionate to the crime.

"The authorities need to enforce the law, but they should do it in lawful ways that is appropriate for the crime and the people committing the crime," said the report's author, Naama Baumgarten-Sharon.

Military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich said that in general the military handled children with sensitivity and that their arrest was a justified response to violence.

The B'Tselem report noted the situation for child detainees improved after the military built special juvenile courts, but said Palestinian minors were denied rights afforded to Israeli children.

Israel has complained for decades about Palestinian children taking part in often violent demonstrations, charging that they are being exploited. Many Palestinian parents see their children as young fighters resisting Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

Rock throwing, specifically, is seen as symbolic of their struggle.

The issue has flared in the past few years as Palestinians hold weekly demonstrations in West Bank villages in which young men and boys pelt rocks and chunks of concrete at Israeli soldiers. Israeli soldiers have used tear gas, rubber bullets and sometimes live fire in response, killing some demonstrators and badly wounding others.

Of the more than 800 minors charged with hurling rocks over the past five years, only one youth was found guilty in a court trial. The other 93 percent were given jail terms in plea bargains, agreeing mostly because they feared being detained while they waited for their cases to reach trial, said Baumgarten-Sharon.

More than 500 of the youths were around 16 years old, the report said. Another 255 were 14 and 15, and 34 were 13 or younger. The older the youths, the more likely they were given longer sentences, sometimes of months in jail.

Military spokeswoman Leibovich said the children's fate lay with their families and Palestinian groups, whom she accused of sending out children to confront Israelis.

"We are talking about minors that actually use rocks and explosive devices to target Israeli civilians and soldiers," she said.

Syrian VP calls for transition to democracy

Houston Chronicle - Syrian VP calls for transition to democracy

By DIAA HADID Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press

July 10, 2011, 9:36AM

BEIRUT — Syria's vice president on Sunday called for a transition to democracy in a country ruled for four decades by an authoritarian family dynasty, crediting mass protests with forcing the regime to consider reforms while also warning against further demonstrations.

Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa spoke at a national dialogue that opened Sunday, with some critics of the government in attendance. However, key opposition figures driving the four-month-old uprising boycotted the meeting, saying they refuse to talk until a deadly crackdown on protesters ends.

"I hope that we will reach ... transition to a pluralistic democratic state that enjoys equality for all citizens who participate in forming their own shining future," al-Sharaa said at the start of two days of talks in the capital, Damascus.

His comments highlighted the extent to which the uprising has shaken President Bashar Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000. While Assad himself has acknowledged the need for reforms in recent weeks, the high-level call for multiparty democracy was remarkable.

Still, al-Sharaa also made thinly veiled threats against the protesters and suggested some received direction from abroad.

"Arabs will not obtain their goals if they rely on foreigners," al-Sharaa said. "Unauthorized protests that lead to unwanted violence will cause the fall of more civilians and soldiers," he said.

Such a carrot-and-stick approach reflects the Syrian regime's policy of using both brute force and tentative promises of reform to try to quell the uprising, which was inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Some 1,600 civilians and 350 members of security forces have been killed since demonstrations began, activists say.

Senior opposition figures and activists driving some protests boycotted the meeting.

"They are blockading (restive) cities, and killing demonstrators, arresting people and torturing people to death," said Omar Idilbi, a spokesman for a loose network of anti-government activists. "That cannot create a good environment for dialogue."

Al-Sharaa acknowledged that the promise of reforms would not have come without the uprising.

"It must be recognized, that without the blood sacrificed by civilians and soldiers ... this national dialogue would not have been held, at this high level of supervision, under the lens of cameras," he said.

In a rare acknowledgment of the regime's mistakes, al-Sharaa said demonstrations were triggered by "a great deal of mistakes ... that we swept under our carpets, without thinking deeply about the upcoming days."

Several opposition figures, intellectuals and members of parliament joined the dialogue.

Their presence was a rare step in a country where people rarely criticize the regime publicly or directly, fearing retribution by the pervasive security forces.

On live Syrian television — tightly controlled by the regime — a series of intellectuals slammed the government for using force against protesters.

Emboldened residents speaking to state-run television said they believed some protesters were true reform seekers and that government vows of change had to implemented, not just discussed.

"This dialogue comes at a really sensitive time — but shouldn't it have come earlier?" one man asked a reporter who was interviewing residents about the meeting.

As the conference was being held, the Foreign Ministry summoned the American and French ambassadors to protest their visits to the restive city of Hama, which has become an opposition stronghold.

The ministry said the visits Thursday and Friday amounted to interference in the country's internal affairs and accused the ambassadors of undermining Syria's stability.

The diplomats arrived in the city Thursday and stayed overnight, but left before thousands took to the streets there Friday as part of the weekly protests around the country.

Hama poses a dilemma for the Syrian regime because of its place as a symbol of opposition to the rule of the Assad family. In 1982, the late Hafez Assad ordered troops to crush a rebellion by Islamist forces, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights activists say.

On Sunday, Assad appointed a new governor to the city, Anas Abdul-Razak. Opposition figures said they were not familiar with the man. Assad fired the city's previous governor after Hama residents held the largest anti-government demonstration of the uprising, drawing hundreds of thousands of people.

______

Diaa Hadid can be reached on twitter.com/diaahadid

Syrians take to the streets as regime lashes at US

Miami Herald - Syrians take to the streets as regime lashes at US

BY DIAA HADID AND BASSEM MROUE

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIRUT -- Hundreds of thousands of Syrians carrying olive branches and shouting for the downfall of President Bashar Assad's regime streamed Friday into the flashpoint city of Hama, where the U.S. and French ambassadors traveled in a strong show of support for the protest movement.

Mass demonstrations also erupted in cities and towns nationwide, triggering a crackdown that killed at least eight people and wounding more than 40, activists said. But Hama's demonstration was by far the largest and most closely watched.

Two witnesses said crowds were swelling in the central city, which has become a focal point of the uprising and has drawn the largest crowds since the revolt began nearly four months ago.

"People are chanting, 'We only kneel to God,' one of the witnesses told the AP by telephone, as the sound of the crowd was heard in the background. He asked for anonymity, fearing for his personal safety.

Another activist estimated the demonstration was even larger than last Friday's turnout of around 300,000 - possibly encouraged by the ambassadors' visits.

"There was no violence. As long as we have no security forces, we have no violence," said the activist, who also spoke on condition of anonymity because of fears of reprisals.

Hama poses a potential dilemma for the Syrian regime because of its place as a symbol of opposition to the rule of the Assad family. In 1982, the late Hafez Assad ordered troops to crush a rebellion by Islamist forces, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights activists say.

A major offensive could make the city a fresh rallying cry for the opposition, but Assad's regime also does not want a repeat of last Friday's stunning rally, when an estimated 300,000 people protested.

The U.S. and French ambassadors traveled to Hama on Thursday and left on Friday before the protests began, according to officials in Washington and Paris.

U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford's trip drew strong condemnation from the Syrian government, which said the visit was unauthorized and a clear sign that Washington was inciting unrest in the Arab nation. Relations between the U.S. and Syria are chronically strained over Assad's close ties with Iran.

"The presence of the U.S. ambassador in Hama without obtaining prior permission from the Foreign Ministry as stipulated by instructions distributed repeatedly to all the embassies is clear evidence of the U.S. involvement in the ongoing events in Syria," the state-run news agency reported Friday, citing an unnamed "official source" at the Foreign Ministry.

The U.S. is trying to "aggravate the situations which destabilize Syria," the statement said.

A video posted on YouTube showed an SUV driving near what appeared to be the giant clock in Hama's central Assi Square as young men chanted: "People want the downfall of the regime." People tossed flowers and olive branches onto the vehicle, which the person making the video said was carrying Ford.

Later Friday, pro-regime activists called for a demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Damascus to protest Ford's trip to Hama.

In Washington on Thursday, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Ford "spent the day expressing our deep support for the right of the Syrian people to assemble peacefully and to express themselves."

Ford reached the city after passing checkpoints run by the military and Hama residents. Nuland said he met nervous residents and saw many shops closed because of a protest-linked strike. He also visited a hospital treating the wounded.

The Syrian government did not comment on French Ambassador Eric Chevallier's trip to Hama.

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Chevallier's visit shows "France's concern for the Syrian population ... (France) denounces the pursuit of violence and arbitrary arrests and the absence of a credible commitment from the Syrian authorities to a political reform process."

Hama residents have shut down the city in recent days, going on strike and trying to prevent security forces from entering by setting up checkpoints of tires and concrete blocks.

Still, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 21 people have been killed there since Tuesday. Another group, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said, as many as 22 people were shot dead and more than 80 wounded.

The Syrian regime has used a mix of fierce violence and promises of imminent reform to try to quell the uprising, which was inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Some 1,600 people and 350 members of security forces have been killed since demonstrations began, activists say.

The regime blames "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators for the unrest, not true reform-seekers.

Also Friday, security forces killed three protesters in Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway linking Damascus, the capital, with Syria's largest city, Aleppo, said Syrian rights activist Ammar Qurabi.

Five other people were killed around the country, including one in Damascus and three in the central city of Homs. Syrian state-run TV said the deaths in Damascus and Homs were caused by snipers from "armed gangs."

Overnight, Syrian forces killed three people in a demonstration in the Damascus suburb of Harasta, activists said. Many protesters have recently been opting for nighttime demonstrations and candlelight vigils, aiming for a time when the security presence thins out.

Three activists confirmed the Damascus death toll to The Associated Press.

A Syria-based activist said residents told him that security forces used live bullets and smoke bombs to quell the demonstration. He spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing for his own safety.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted media coverage, making it nearly impossible to independently verify events on the ground.

---

Associated Press writers Elizabeth A. Kennedy in Beirut and Matthew Lee and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/08/v-fullstory/2305142/syrians-take-to-the-streets-as.html#ixzz1RWt8gLuC

Syrian protests hurl stones at troops in key city

Two protesters carry posters with pictures of unidentified relatives in Syria, with the Syrian flag colors painted on their faces during an anti-Syrian regime rally near the Syrian embassy in Cairo, Egypt Tuesday, July 5, 2011. Syrian troops fired Tuesday on residents who set up makeshift roadblocks to prevent the advance of tanks ringing the city of Hama, which has become a flashpoint of the uprising against autocratic President Bashar Assad, activists said. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

Miami Herald - Syrian protests hurl stones at troops in key city

By DIAA HADID 

The Associated Press

BEIRUT — Syrian protesters hurled stones and set roadblocks of burning tires against government forces trying to enter a key opposition city Thursday, nearly a week after a massive protest against the regime of President Bashar Assad, activists said.

Earlier, dozens of families fled the central city of Hama fearing a full-scale crackdown by Assad's troops.

The central Syrian city has become a center of resistance in the four-month-old uprising and poses a potential dilemma for Assad's government. A major offensive could make the city a fresh rallying cry for the opposition, but Assad's regime also does not want a repeat of last Friday's stunning rally, when an estimated 300,000 people protested.

Hama also holds deeper symbolism for opposition to the rule of the Assad family. In 1982, the late Hafez Assad ordered troops to crush a rebellion by Islamist forces, killing between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights activists say.

The Syrian regime has used a mix of fierce violence and promises of reform to try quell the uprising. Some 1,400 people and 350 members of security forces have been killed since demonstrations began, activists say.

Some of those fleeing Hama, who mostly live on the edge of the city, headed westward to the town of Salamiyeh about 20 miles (30 kilometers) away, said Rami Abdul-Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and a Hama-based activist.

"They are afraid of military operations in the area," said Abdul-Rahman. Security forces have been conducting arrest raids on Hama's outskirts for the past two days.

On the other side of the city, young men threw rocks and burned tires, halting at least four buses filled with security forces, said Abdul-Rahman and the activist.

Both of them cited reports by residents for their information. Details could not be independently confirmed. Syria has barred most foreign media from the country.

Security forces withdrew from Hama last month after a fierce crackdown on demonstrators that killed some 65 people — apparently hoping to appease angry, grieving families. But anti-Assad protests swelled. The outpouring last week was the largest protest since the mutiny against Assad's regime began.

Defiant residents also have shuttered shops and set up road blocks throughout the city, said Abdul-Rahman and a Hama-based activist, hoping to prevent Syrian army troops from entering deep into the city.

The activist said young men kept watch on the streets and rooftops — hollering and calling out "God is Great!" as a warning sign when they suspected security officials were trying to sneak into the city.

"It's like Tarzan, they call out like Tarzan," said the Hama-based activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisals.

Some tanks withdrew from an entrance to the city on Thursday, but activists say there were no clear signals on the government strategy. Still, residents were nervous about a repeat of the 1982 assault, Abdul-Rahman said.

"I don't think Syrian forces would do anything so stupid — because of the symbolism of Hama and the massacre," Abdul-Rahman said. "Still, there's nothing that can be ruled out."

In another show of defiance, many merchants in and around Hama shuttered their shops in protest, according to activists and videos posted on YouTube.

A video from the small town of Kufr Zeiteh near Hama was typical. It showed a showed a line of shuttered blue doors, including a hair salon and mobile phone shop. Only a greengrocer selling vegetables in boxes could be seen working.

"General strike," said a young man on a video clip.

Activists are trying to hold once-a-week strikes throughout Syria.

Meanwhile, two widely respected Syrian opposition leaders said they would not participate in an upcoming government-held meeting on Sunday in the capital Damascus to discuss reforms.

Anwar al-Bunni and Michel Kilo said the government had halt its violent crackdown for dialogue to have a chance at success.

Also Thursday, Syrian legislator Mohammed Habash said parliamentary elections scheduled for August may be postponed for months.

It appears officials want to push back elections to give time for reforms that would allow the establishment of some political parties and constitutional amendments.

Syria effectively has a rubber-stamp parliament while Assad and a close circle of relatives and advisers make all real decisions. But by delaying elections, Assad may be trying to appease demonstrators by showing he is serious about long-demanded reforms.

Anti-government activists have dismissed such moves in the past.

_____

Diaa Hadid can be contacted at twitter.com/diaahadid

Syrian forces arrest residents in Hama

A Syrian wears a Syrian independence flag headband as he carries a young girl on his shoulders during anti-Syrian regime protest out side the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, July 3, 2011, to support the Syrian demonstrators who protest in Syria against Bashar Assad's regime. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Syrian forces arrest residents in Hama

By DIAA HADID Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press

BEIRUT — Syrian forces on Sunday carried out arrests in the western city of Hama, an opposition stronghold, amid the sound of heavy gunfire, an anti-government activist said.

The arrests came two days after some 300,000 protesters gathered in Hama in the largest demonstration yet in a three-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

The protest carried important symbolism for the anti-government movement: in 1982, Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez, crushed a rebellion in the city by Syrian members of the pan-Arab Muslim Brotherhood movement, killing thousands.

Sunday's arrests took place near Hama's sports stadium, said Lebanon-based Syrian activist Rami Nakhleh, who coordinates information from a loose network of activists in Syria.

Nakhleh said he knew of five arrests so far, but believes more were taken into custody.

He said activists in Hama told him intelligence officials handed notices to many youths suspected of participating in demonstrations, demanding they visit local security centers for interrogation. The activists said the youths were so far refusing to go.

Syrian troops had withdrawn from Hama after killing 65 people there in a crackdown on demonstrators June 1. There had not been a noticeable security presence in the city until Sunday's arrests.

But after the large demonstration on Friday, the Syrian president fired Hama's governor, Ahmed Abdul-Aziz.

Syria's state-run news agency did not say why the governor was dismissed. Some activists said they feared Abdul-Aziz, viewed as sympathetic to the demonstrators, was dismissed to give freer rein to the security forces in the city.

"There's a lot of fear there," said Syrian activist Ammar Qurabi, who is also monitoring movement around Hama.

Activists say security forces have killed more than 1,400 people across Syria in the uprising. The government has disputed that toll and says armed gangs are conducting an insurrection.

Also Sunday, the Swiss government said it froze 27 million Swiss francs ($31.8 million) linked to senior Syrian officials. A spokeswoman for Switzerland's State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, Antje Baertschi, said the assets were identified as part of the sanctions imposed against Assad and 22 other officials.

Switzerland has taken similar measures to freeze assets of other Arab leaders facing demonstrations against their rule.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/7637887.html#ixzz1R3cRDTYP

Syrian activists: regime rattled by huge protests in city where uprising was crushed 29 years ago

Houston Chronicle - Syrian activists: regime rattled by huge protests

By DIAA HADID Associated Press © 2011 The Associated Press
July 2, 2011, 2:19PM

BEIRUT — Syrian demonstrators knew well the powerful symbolism at their feet: The streets where hundreds of thousands of protesters gathered to denounce President Bashar Assad were the same where an earlier generation was cut down by his father during a failed uprising 29 years ago.

Activists on Saturday now hope the huge outpouring a day earlier in the city of Hama — an estimated 300,000 people chanting against Assad's regime — could re-energize the protest movement at a pivotal time.

Assad's forces appear unable to sustain the blanket crackdowns of recent months and offer possible openings for opposition strongholds to expand in places such as Hama. In swift political payback, Assad on Saturday dismissed the Hama governor, Ahmed Abdul-Aziz, in a move that also could signal another offensive into the city and risk further international outrage.

"What happened in Hama was a catastrophe for the regime," said Bassam Jaara, a Syrian opposition writer based in London.

Jaara and others believe Abdul-Aziz was fired for not calling in security forces to deal harshly with demonstrators. Others speculated he was made a scapegoat by regime officials embarrassed by the large turnout Friday — the largest single protest gathering since the revolt against Assad's rule began in March.

Crowd estimates and other details in Syria cannot be independently verified. The Syrian government has banned most foreign media from the country and restricted coverage.

But there was little doubt the protests in Hama were staggering in scope. Hama residents clapped, chanted and sung in a main square after Friday prayers. They unfurled a black-white-and-red flag some 10,000 feet-long (3 kilometers-long).

"The Syrian flag in the square of freedom!" cried an excited activist videotaping the demonstration. Protesters swayed to a popular Egyptian ditty — the words changed into an anti-regime song.

In 1982, Assad's late father, Hafez Assad, ordered his brother to quell a rebellion by Syrian members of the conservative Muslim Brotherhood movement. The city was sealed and bombs dropped from above smashed swaths of the city and killed between 10,000 and 25,000 people, rights groups say.

The real number may never be known. Then, as now, reporters were not allowed to reach the area.

Last month, Hama was the scene of more bloodshed. Security forces withdrew after a violent crackdown against demonstrations that killed about 65 people.

Many of Friday's protesters were encouraged by a lack of front-line security in the city, said Syrian-based activist Mustafa Osso and others.

"Protests will continue, and regions that haven't demonstrated before will join in," said Osso.

In the latest uprising, opposition groups say the regime has killed more than 1,400 people — mostly unarmed protesters — since mid-March. That includes at least 14 people killed Friday.

The government disputes the overall toll and blames the violence on "armed thugs."

On Saturday, mourners buried at least two of those slain in Homs, a city near Hama, according to videos uploaded onto YouTube by anti-government activists.

The videos showed the bodies of men that activists identified as Homs residents Diaa al-Najjar and Bassem al-Saqlini. Al-Najjar's face was surrounded with flowers, his body wrapped in the Syrian flag.

"To heaven we are going, martyrs in our millions!" mourners chanted as many of them clapped as they marched.

Syrian forces have pursued a patchwork approach to the crackdown recently, leaving some areas to demonstrate freely while harshly attacking in other places. The tactic suggests that Assad's forces are under growing strain as they confront multiple protest hotbeds and try to cut off a refugee exodus into neighboring Turkey.

Beirut-based Syrian activist Omar Idibi, who speaks on behalf of a network of anti-government activists, said he feared that security forces operating in Homs would now turn their attention to Hama with the governor's sacking.

"We worry. When they withdraw a governor from a city, they then attack," Idibi said.

___

Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report. Diaa Hadid can be reached on twitter.com/diaahadid

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7637154.html#ixzz1QyjMWN74

Hezbollah ally warns of civil strife in Lebanon

A Lebanese woman passes a portrait of slain Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri near his grave, in downtown Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday June 30, 2011. A U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered an indictment and four arrest warrants Thursday, the latest turn in a case that has transformed this Arab nation and brought down the government earlier this year. The names of the accused were not released, but the court has been expected to accuse members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The Arabic words next to the portrait read:"Because of what we have achieved, because of you we are going down (protest)". (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Yahoo News - Hezbollah ally warns of civil strife in Lebanon

By DIAA HADID - Associated Press | AP – 43 mins ago

BEIRUT (AP) — A key Hezbollah ally on Friday warned that an international indictment of members of the Islamic militant group in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri could lead to new civil strife in Lebanon.

A high-ranking Hezbollah militant was among four people named in an indictment by the U.N.-backed tribunal investigating Hariri's 2005 assassination. The Shiite group denies any role in the killing and has vowed never to turn over any of its members.

The indicted Hezbollah figure, Mustafa Badreddine, appears to have a storied history of militancy.

He is suspected building the powerful bomb that blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983, killing 241 Americans, mostly Marines, according to a federal law enforcement official and a book "Jawbreaker," by Gary Berntsen, a former official who ran the Hezbollah task force at the CIA.

The warning on Friday came from Druse leader Walid Jumblatt, a partner in the government whose support would be crucial if Lebanese authorities are to cooperate with prosecutors of the international court.

At a press conference, Jumblatt said the need to preserve peace in Lebanon trumps the need for justice in the Hariri case. He pointed to widespread fears that the case could further divide the country, which has been recovering from decades of bloodshed, including a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990 and recent sectarian battles.

"As much as justice is important for the martyrs and the wounded, so too civil peace and stability is the hoped-for future," he said at a news conference. "Civil peace is more important than anything else."

The current government, dominated by Hezbollah's allies, is seen as deeply unlikely to work with the Netherlands-based tribunal. But the ruling coalition relies on Jumblatt's bloc to keep its majority in parliament, and his position has been unclear. A notoriously mercurial leader known for frequently switching sides in Lebanon's shifting alliances, he has given contradictory signals.

Even as he warned Friday of the dangers of the indictments, he also seemed to suggest the court should move ahead. "Let us allow matters to move smoothly: let the government do its job, the judiciary do its job," he said.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Friday countered that critics were creating "a false distinction between justice and stability."

In a statement issued Friday, she called on the Lebanese government to support the special tribunal investigating Hariri's death. The tribunal was established in part at the request of a former Lebanese government dominated by Hariri allies.

The court "represents a chance for Lebanon to move beyond its long history of political violence and to achieve the future of peace and stability that the Lebanese people deserve," Clinton said in a statement.

The Netherlands-based court issued the indictments Thursday, though it did not release the names of the accused. A Lebanese judicial official who saw the warrants gave the names to The Associated Press, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Lebanese authorities have until the end of July to serve the indictments on suspects or execute arrest warrants. If they fail, the court can then order the indictment published and advertised in local media.

Badreddine, the only indicted member to have a public profile, is believed to have been Hezbollah's deputy military commander. He is the brother-in-law of the late Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughniyeh and is suspected of involvement in the 1983 bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait that killed five people.

The other suspects are: Salim Ayyash, also known as Abu Salim; Assad Sabra and Hassan Anise, who changed his name to Hassan Issa. Their ties to Hezbollah, if any, are not immediately known.

Hezbollah has not commented on the indictment. The group's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, has denounced the court as a conspiracy by the U.S. and Israel and said last year that the group "will cut off the hand" of anyone who tries to arrest its members. It was a potent threat, given that Nasrallah commands an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army.

Nasrallah was expected to discuss the issue Saturday evening in a televised speech.

The case has already polarized Lebanon's rival factions — Hezbollah with its patrons in Syria and Iran on one side, and a Western-backed bloc led by Hariri's son, Saad, on the other — and brought down the government earlier this year.

Rafik Hariri, a billionaire businessman, was one of Lebanon's most powerful Sunni leaders; Hezbollah is a Shiite group.

In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, suspicion fell on Syria, since Hariri had been seeking to weaken its domination of the country.

Syria has denied any role in the murder, but the killing galvanized opposition to Damascus and led to huge street demonstrations that helped end Syria's 29-year military presence.

The tribunal, which is jointly funded by U.N. member states and Lebanon, filed a draft indictment in January but the contents were not revealed while Belgian judge Daniel Fransen decided whether there was enough evidence for a trial. The draft has been amended twice since then.

Lebanon formed a new government this month — after five months of political wrangling — that gives Hezbollah unprecedented political clout. But Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who was Hezbollah's pick for the post, has insisted he will not do one side's bidding.

_________

AP correspondent Adam Goldman in Washington contributed to this report.

Diaa Hadid can be reached at twitter.com/diaahadid

Syria forces spread through border area; 19 killed

Syrians carry national flags during a candle vigil in honor of those who were killed in recent violence, in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, June 29, 2011. Syrian army tanks and helicopters swept through a restive northwestern province Wednesday, shelling at least one village in an attack that killed four people, activists said. Muzaffar Salman

Kansas City Star - Syria forces spread through border area; 19 killed

By DIAA HADID

Associated Press

Syrian army forces spread through a restive mountainous area near the Turkish border on Thursday as the death toll from a two-day military siege rose to 19 people, according to activists and a witness.

The action by Syrian troops in the northwestern area of Jabal al-Zawiya appeared to be aimed at preventing residents from fleeing to Turkey, where more than 10,000 Syrians have already taken shelter in refugee camps, activists say. The refugees have been a source of deep embarrassment to Damascus, one of the most tightly controlled regimes in the Middle East.

"They fear there will be sympathy for the people who are fleeing, and they are frightened that this will cause international pressure to mount on the regime," said Mustafa Osso, a prominent Syrian-based human rights activist.

Only five Syrians made it across the border Thursday, the lowest number in days, said Turkish officials. Over the past week, more than 10,000 Syrians rushed across, fleeing their army's violent crackdown against demonstrators.

Syrian activists say more than 1,400 people have been killed as President Bashar Assad tries to crush three months of nationwide protests. The regime disputes that death toll and says "armed thugs" and foreign conspirators are behind the unrest.

In Thursday's operations, Syrian forces were consolidating their hold on the Jabal al-Zawiya after two days of heavy shelling in the area, particularly in the village of Rameh, said Osso. That assessment was repeated by Lebanon-based activist Omar Idibi and an eyewitness who spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing reprisals.

They said most people were killed Wednesday and early Thursday. Idibi said the death toll was likely to rise as people were pulled out of rubble from smashed homes in some areas.

Idibi said part of the fighting was prompted by Syrian forces trying to hunt down several dozen comrades who abandoned their arms. Some rebelled while in Rameh village, while others split away from the armed forces in earlier fighting this month in the nearby town of Jisr al-Shughour.

"They haven't been able to flee to Turkey," Idibi said. "They are fleeing from the advance of the Syrian army," he said. Idibi said eyewitnesses told him that Syrian forces were trying to seal gaps in the border with Turkey to prevent people from escaping.

Idibi and the eyewitness said that in a pattern repeated across the area, a rush of tanks would flood villages under heavy fire. Some soldiers backed by tanks would stay on to check identification cards and patrol some areas, while the rest moved on to the next residential area.

"They are terrifying the people. It's a message: 'We are coming to you, be careful,'" the eyewitness said.

Meanwhile, Syrian forces fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration in the mountainous Kurdish border village of Amoud, further to the northwest. YouTube videos uploaded by activists showed dozens of men fleeing the acrid plumes as they chanted against the regime.

Government forces have so far reacted with a softer hand against Kurdish demonstrators. Osso said he believed the regime doesn't want to provoke a Kurdish uprising while dealing with nationwide anti-government protests.

And in the northwestern city of Aleppo - some two-dozen miles from the army operations in Jabal al-Zawiya - several hundred demonstrators staged at least two anti-regime protests, according to Idibi.

A YouTube videos uploaded by activists appeared to show several hundred men running down a street, filmed from a balcony several stories up. The men shout: "The people want an end to the regime!"

Another group of activists said the protesters were beaten up by pro-regime thugs.

The demonstration appeared far smaller than those that take place in other Syrian cities but its importance lies in Aleppo's status as the country's second largest city, where much of Syria's small middle class lives.

Activists said the regime feared that if Aleppo's residents threw their weight behind the anti-government protests, they could badly shake Assad's regime.

Still, the turnout was poor considering calls by anti-government activists on Allepo residents. Several high-profile activists produced YouTube videos calling on the people to take to the streets. A Facebook page vowed Thursday would be a "volcano" in the city.

"We are hoping that this will be a practice run for Friday," said Idibi.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the United States condemns the Assad regime's "continued vicious repression of peaceful demonstrators."

"We call on them to stop this violence, to release all political prisoners, end torture and allow humanitarian aid to those in need," Toner said. He also urged Damascus to allow international media access - the Syrian government has banned all but a few foreign journalists and restricted local media's reporting.

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With reporting by Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara.

Diaa Hadid can be reached on twitter.com/diaahadid