Qusayr gets an FSA boost and a mean Russian blow

Col. Aqidi in Qusayr town center (top), checking trenches (left) and with Hani el-Abdallah

Col. Aqidi checking on wounded Dr. Fayez Matar and with Drs.Saleh (top right) and Qassem

Col. Abdul-Jabbar Aqidi, member of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) Military Council headed by Gen. Salim Idriss, showed up on the frontlines and bombed streets of Qusayr yesterday, saying: “If there’s a will there’s a way” to come into the embattled town.

Aqidi, who is former chief of the Military Council of Aleppo, will presumably assume overall command of opposition forces defending Qusayr, which is under a bloody siege by Syrian troops and Hezbollah guerrillas.

Standing in the devastated town square, he told Hadi el-Abdullah, recognized spokesperson for Qusayr via Skype, he would be staying in the town to defend it.

Aqidi later visited some of the injured in makeshift facilities and talked to a skeleton of medical staff tending to hundreds of people wounded in the onslaught by government forces.

Dr. Fayez Matar is one of the wounded and the remaining medical staff includes Dr. Saleh and Dr. Qassem.

Activists counted 12 airstrikes and two surface-to-surface missiles against Qusayr today.

Russia yesterday blocked a UN Security Council declaration of alarm over the blockade of Qusayr, Security Council diplomats told Reuters.

Britain, president of the 15-nation council, had circulated a draft statement to fellow members voicing "grave concern about the situation in Qusayr, Syria, and in particular the impact on civilians of the ongoing fighting."

Qusayr, near the Syrian-Lebanese border, is usually home to an estimated 30,000 people. Fighting for control of the town has raged for two weeks.

Council statements must be agreed unanimously. Russia blocked the draft text, saying it was "not advisable to speak out as the UN Security Council didn't when Qusayr was taken by the opposition," a council diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

Another diplomat confirmed the remarks.

Moscow's move to block the statement highlights the deep chasm between Russia and Western nations on how to deal with the Syria war. Russian diplomats in New York did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Dead children in Qusayr

The draft statement, obtained by Reuters, also urged forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to oust him "to do their utmost to avoid civilian casualties and for the Syrian Government to exercise its responsibility to protect civilians."

It appealed to Assad's government "to allow immediate, full and unimpeded access to impartial humanitarian actors, including UN agencies, to reach civilians trapped in Qusayr."

Diplomats said Russia told council members the best way to deal with Syria was through intensive diplomacy. However, one council diplomat noted that Russia continues to sell weapons to Assad's government.

Moscow and Washington are trying to organize a peace conference in Geneva this month that would involve the government and rebels. There has been wrangling over who should participate in the conference and no date has been set for it.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius suggested today that the conference could take place in July. He said the Syrian government and the opposition must attend what he called "the last chance" for a negotiated solution.

"It's not just about getting round the table and then asking what are we going to talk about. It needs to be prepared. That is why I say that the July date would be suitable," Fabius said.

Both the UN and the Red Cross have issued near simultaneous appeals for immediate access to be granted to Qusayr, where conditions are reported to be desperate.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos and UN human rights head Navi Pillay have all called for the protection of civilians and urged that thousands of trapped residents be allowed to flee the city.

Wounded children in Qusayr

Ban reminded the Damascus government of its responsibility to protect civilians who come under its control, including from the threat of militias. He also called on the warring parties to allow trapped civilians to flee.

In a separate statement later in Saturday, Ms. Amos and Ms. Pillay said they were “extremely alarmed” by reports that there are as many as 1,500 wounded people in the city in urgent need of immediate evacuation for emergency medical treatment.

“The general situation in Qusayr is desperate,” Ms. Amos and Ms. Pillay said based on information they are receiving.

This includes “reports that civilian neighborhoods continue to be indiscriminately attacked, and that other major violations of human rights and international humanitarian law are being committed,” according to the statement.

Activists say escape routes for civilians have become unsafe. They reported this week that Syrian forces attacked a convoy of civilians seeking to flee Qusayr.

In Geneva, the Red Cross expressed alarm over the situation in Qusayr, and appealed for immediate access to deliver aid.

"Civilians and the wounded are at risk of paying an even heavier price as the fighting continues," said the head of ICRC operations in the region, Robert Mardini.

The BBC's Imogen Foulkes in Geneva says the fact both the UN and ICRC have issued urgent statements at the same time is an indication of how desperate they believe the situation has become.

Egypt’s Morsi deals Assad a body blow from Tehran

Morsi addressing the NAM summit in Tehran

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi poured cold water today on Iran’s frenzied endeavors to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad afloat.

With Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad seated by his side, Morsi told the opening session of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran the “oppressive” Assad regime has “lost its legitimacy” and must go.

Egypt, he said, stands behind the Syrian people and their struggle for “dignity, freedom” and “a new Syria.”

“Our solidarity with the struggle of the Syrian people against an oppressive regime that has lost its legitimacy is an ethical duty, and a political and strategic necessity,” Morsi said.

“We all have to express our full solidarity with the struggle of those seeking freedom and justice in Syria, and translate this sympathy into a clear political vision that supports a peaceful transition to a democratic system of governance that reflects the demands of the Syrian people for freedom.”  

Morsi’s remarks certainly did not sit well with his Iranian hosts who remain committed to Assad, and caused the Syrian delegation to leave the conference hall.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem later accused Morsi of using his speech to incite further bloodshed in Syria.

Significantly, the Syrian delegation to the NAM summit walked out as soon as Morsi addressed the Syrian issue in his speech.

It was the third time in a week that the Egyptian president specifically called for showing Assad the door.

Speaking to Reuters before travelling this week to China and Iran, two countries which, along with Russia, have so far opposed Arab and Western calls to end Assad’s rule, Morsi said, “Now is the time to stop this bloodshed and for the Syrian people to regain their full rights and for this regime that kills its people to disappear from the scene… There is no room to talk about reform, but the discussion is about change.”

Yesterday again, the French presidency said the Egyptian president agreed in a telephone conversation with François Hollande that there could be no political solution for Syria “without the departure of Bashar al-Assad.”

But Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would have none of that. He told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in a meeting on the eve of the summit: “The bitter truth about Syria is that a number of governments have compelled the groups opposing the Syrian government to wage war on it at their behest.”

Thus, Khamenei said, “prevention of arms shipment to irresponsible (opposition) groups” is the sine qua non of a solution in Syria.

Assad himself was meanwhile telling his cousin’s Addounia TV in an interview aired yesterday that he was “fighting a regional and global war, so time is needed to win it.” He said, “Defections are a positive process. Generally, it is self-cleansing of the state and the nation.”

“Cleaning, Cleansing and the Shiite Crescent” is the title Lebanese political analyst Zuhair Qusaybati chooses for his op-ed published today by the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat.

After the “cleansing” process assumed by warplanes, tanks and missiles left about 4,000 Syrians dead this month, Qusaybati writes, it took someone like Gen. Salar Abnoush, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ “Saheb el-Amr” unit to lay bare Iran’s unbridled involvement in the Syria violence.

"Today we are involved in fighting every aspect of a war, a military one in Syria and a cultural one as well," Gen. Abnoush told volunteer trainees in a speech Monday.

No wonder, Qusaybati writes, that Assad remains confident of stifling the opposition, even at the price of tens of thousands of fatalities.

Moreover, “isn’t Tehran always in the habit of saying what it doesn’t do and doing what it wouldn’t say as regards confessional incitement liable to destroy Muslim countries?”

Since Khamenei chooses to lambast the West’s “arrogance” at every opportunity, how come he never mentions the “arrogance” of Russia and its lock-jawed reaction to the daily killings of children in Syria? Qusaybati asks.

How can Iran offer with one hand to reconcile the Syrian opposition and the regime and deliver with the other hand hundreds of missiles to its ally in Damascus?

Qusaybati goes on to quote from a Wall Street Journal report this week about Iran sending troops to bolster the Assad regime:

In Tehran, Syrian National Reconciliation Minister Ali Haidar met Monday with several Iranian officials and expressed Syria's gratitude. “The people of Syria will never forget the support of Iran during these difficult times,” Mr. Haidar said, according to Iranian media.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final word in all state matters, has appointed Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the elite Quds Forces, to spearhead military cooperation with Mr. Assad and his forces, according to an IRGC member in Tehran with knowledge about deployments to Syria.

The Quds Forces are the IRGC’s operatives outside Iran, responsible for training proxy militants and exporting the revolution's ideology. The U.S. blames the Quds Forces for terrorist attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“Soleimani has convinced Mr. Khamenei that Iran’s borders extend beyond geographic frontiers, and fighting for Syria is an integral part of keeping the Shiite Crescent intact,” said the IRGC member in Tehran. The so-called Crescent, which came together after Saddam Hussein’s fall, includes Shiites from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria…

Qusaybati says Iraq has become a “major component” of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” alongside Iran, Syria and Lebanese Hezbollah. “The Iraqi opposition that toppled Saddam Hussein is now facing the twin-dictatorship of the proxy (a reference to Iraqi Premier Nouri al-Maliki) and the principal (Iran). If not, who is hindering the unity of Iraq and its people? Who is bombing, killing, torturing and pillaging and smuggling Iraq’s cash?”

When Iran and the Assad regime speak of a “global war” on Syria, with Russia, China and Iraq remaining seated in the stands as spectators, it is no surprise seeing MIG-23’s chasing Syrian women and children all the way to their home basements.

How many more Arab children must die for Iran to fulfill its dream? Qusaybati asks.

Stage is set for Non-Aligned bazaar in Tehran

After thinking and reading about prospects for the Non-Aligned Movement summit Tehran will be hosting next Wednesday and Thursday, I somehow remembered an old Arabic saying:

من حضر السوق باع واشترى

or

“Once in the marketplace, you either sell or buy”

If so, then I frankly don’t see what multinational issues of value – chiefly the pogrom in Syria, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and Gulf security -- can be “sold” or “bought” at the upcoming Tehran bazaar.

The conference will transform Tehran, which this week takes over the three-year rotating NAM presidency from Egypt, into a hub for hundreds of diplomats, including several heads of state.

They range from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to Egypt’s newly elected President Mohamed Morsi to Armenian President Serzh Sarkgsyan to Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani to Lebanese President Michel Suleiman to Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is under indictment by the International Criminal Court.

Yet, short of a coup de théâtre, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will stay away and let his Iranian opposite number Mahmud Ahmadinejad do the talking on his behalf.

Tehran has already started using the time in the spotlight to show Iran is not isolated and to prepare the ground for giving Assad a shot in the arm.

"Iran hosting the Non-Aligned conference is an opportunity to break the notion of sanctions and this false claim by Islam's enemies that Iran is isolated," said Sayyed Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, parliament’s deputy speaker, in a sermon at Friday prayers.

The summit comes as the United Nations and the West have increased sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear program.

Ms Raghida Dergham, filing yesterday from New York for pan-Arab daily al-Hayat, says Ban Ki-moon “placed himself between the hammer and the anvil” by deciding to attend the NAM conference in Tehran.

In his speech to the conference, would Ban tell the host country in the face to come clean on its nuclear program and stop ignoring UN Security Council resolutions and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warnings?

Would the UN chief repeat what he had told al-Hayat in a previous interview that Assad has “lost his legitimacy”?

An analysis of a UN General Assembly vote on August 3 condemning the Assad regime’s use of force against its own people showed that 70 of the 120 NAM members voted in favor and only eight voted against with Syria, Iran, China and Russia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in remarks published Friday his country -- which describes Syria as part of the “Axis of Resistance” against Israel that it would not allow to be broken and stands accused by Washington of building and training a militia in Syria to prop up Assad -- would submit a proposal to the conference to end the Syria crisis.

"[Iran] has a proposal regarding Syria, which it will discuss with countries taking part in the NAM summit," Fars and Mehr news agencies quoted Salehi as saying on state television.

"This proposal is an acceptable and rational one, which includes all parties. Opposing it will be very difficult," the minister was quoted as saying.

Salehi renewed an Iranian offer to host talks between Damascus and the opposition after the NAM summit and the annual UN General Assembly meeting in September.

He said a "significant part of the Syrian opposition" was ready to participate but did not specify which opposition groups.

Lebanon’s pro-Assad daily al-Akhbar reports on its front-page today that the Iranian proposal “includes in part the formation of a national unity government that will bring together the two warring parties in Syria. But any oblique reference to the president (Assad) will neither be made or tabled by the Iranians who consider the subject taboo altogether.”

Editorially, Kuwait University professor and Gulf security expert and published author Zafer M. al-Ajami, writing for Bahrain’s daily al-Watan, believes leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) grouping Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates should shun the NAM summit in Tehran.

Among the reasons Ajami puts forward: (1) The GCC leaders’ chances of diplomatic success at the forum are substandard (2) Their proposed no-show should be explained in a statement underscoring Tehran’s practices in the Gulf region and its meddling in Gulf affairs over the past 30 years (3) By attending, GCC leaders would be condoning the presence of Ban Ki-moon -- who as head of the UN represents humanity’s conscience -- in a country backing Assad, “the violator of his own people’s humanity.”

Tariq Alhomayed, editor-in-chief of Saudi Arabia’s newspaper of records, dubs the summit of the Non-Aligned in Tehran “an alignment summit” par excellence.

He says the host country  “has been aligned against our region’s security and stability for decades, not days. The summit also comes at a time when Iran is aligning itself fully against the Syrian people and in favor of the Damascus criminal Bashar al-Assad.”

Salehi’s talk of a Syria initiative that will be difficult to oppose means Iran intends exploiting the summit to defend Assad “whose forces killed more than 4,000 people this month alone.”

Alhomayed says even Vali Nasr, “who I once renamed ‘Vali Washington’,” believes the summit will allow Iran to “end its diplomatic isolation.”

Accordingly, Alhomayed writes, ending Iran’s isolation means subscribing to its nuclear ambitions and its drive to undermine the Arab countries’ political economic and social interests and to tighten its hold on Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

What the region needs to do, Alhomayed says, is challenge the alignment of Russia, China and Iran against the Syrian people.

“Mere participation in the Tehran summit is tantamount to alignment against the unarmed Syrian people, sustaining Iran’s complicity in shedding the Syrians’ blood and supporting Assad, the Damascus criminal.”

Syria: Exit Annan, enter Lakhdar Brahimi?

Lakhdar Brahimi

I nominate former Algerian foreign minister and ambassador Lakhdar Brahimi to succeed Kofi Annan as troubleshooter for Syria.

Before giving my reasons for making the nomination, I solemnly declare that I have no inside information or tipoff from anybody and that no one asked for my opinion.

In fact, putting my unsolicited nomination in print is at odds with what I was taught by my three mass media mentors – namely, James Batal, an Amherst College graduate and a Neiman Fellow in Journalism from Harvard University; Tom Masterson, Beirut Bureau chief of The Associated Press; and Kamel Mroue, uncontested pioneer of the modern-day Lebanese press.

In initiating the saga of my journalism and publishing journey, all three used to focus on such classics as “dog bites man versus man bites dog,” the Five Ws in newsgathering and – above all -- the difference between objective news and personal opinion.

My excuse for putting forward in print Lakhdar Brahimi’s name to succeed Kofi Annan is that I am doing so as a blogger entitled to his personal opinion, and not as a journalist.

Annan, after tendering his resignation this week, would not speculate on who might replace him but sought to counter suggestions that with his departure, the peace effort was over.

“Let me say that the world is full of crazy people like me, so don’t be surprised if someone else decides to take it on,” Annan told reporters in Geneva.

Brahimi is not exactly one of the world’s crazy people and I don’t even know if UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby will throw his name into the hat.

What I know is that he has all the credentials as a peacemaker to take over where Annan left.

He has served as UN and Arab League diplomat, is a veteran conflict mediator and an expert in post-conflict reconstruction, brokered Lebanon’s 1989 Taef Agreement that involve Syria and is fluent in English, French and -- obviously but most importantly -- Arabic.

Like Annan, he is one of The Elders.

Chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Elders is an independent group of global leaders who work together for peace and human rights. Nelson Mandela, who is not an active member of the group but remains an Honorary Elder, brought the group together in 2007.

The Elders are Martti Ahtisaari, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahim, Gro Brundtland, Fernando H. Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Graça Machel, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan.

The Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was also an Honorary Elder, until her election to the Burmese parliament last April.

You can read biographies for Lakhdar Brahimi on Wikipedia and The Fondation Chirac or the U.S./Middle East Project, Inc. websites.

I chose this but from The Fondation Chirac:

Born in Algeria in 1934, he studied law and political science in Algeria and France. During the Algerian War of Independence (1956-1962), he was a representative of the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) in Southeast Asia. At twenty-two, he represented the Algerian revolution in Jakarta. At the time, Indonesia’s President was Sukarno, one of the fathers of non-alignment and the struggle against colonialism.

From 1963 to 1970, Lakhdar Brahimi was the Permanent Representative to the League of Arab States in Cairo. Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1971 to 1979, he then became the Diplomatic Advisor to the President of Algeria from 1982 to 1984 in Egypt and Sudan. Afterwards, he became Assistant Secretary General of the Arab League between 1984 and 1991.

In 1989 as Special Envoy of the Tripartite Committee of the Arab League in Lebanon, Brahimi successful negotiated the agreement that ended seventeen years of civil war: the Taef Agreement.

Algeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1993, he was the UN Conference Rapporteur on Environment and Development in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro.

In 1993, Lakhdar Brahimi embarked upon his second career in the UN, following Boutros Boutros Ghali’s proposal to make him his “special representative”. He was sent first to South Africa, where he led the United Nations’ Observer Mission from 1993 until Nelson Mandela’s election to power in 1994. Then he was sent to Haiti from 1994 to 1996. The last year, he was sent on UN missions for open or latent conflicts in Nigeria, Cameroon, Burundi, and Sudan. Finally, he was sent to Afghanistan from 1997 to 1999 and again in 2001. He led the panel that wrote the “Brahimi Report” on UN peacekeeping operations in 2000.

He is one of “The Elders”, a group of international leaders established in the early 21st century to promote the peaceful resolution of conflicts around the world.

The Syria players’ cacophonic statements

The UN's Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-moon

Ban Ki-moon to the General Assembly:

"Each day seems to bring new additions to the grim catalogue of atrocities: assaults against civilians, brutal human rights violations, mass arrests, torture, execution-style killings of whole families. Men, women, even children were executed at a point blank range; some had their throats slit or their skulls crushed. Any regime or leader that tolerates such a killing of innocents has lost its fundamental humanity… For many months it has been evident that President Assad and his government have lost all legitimacy… The dangers of a full-scale civil war are imminent and real. Now it is the time for the international community to take a bold and consorted action.”

Kofi Annan to the General Assembly:

“…Despite the acceptance of the six-point plan and the deployment of a courageous mission of United Nations observers to Syria, I must be frank and confirm that the plan is not being implemented.
 Mr. President, let me pause here and express my horror and condemnation at the fact that a new massacre of tens of civilians including children and women was perpetrated yesterday in Al Qubair, west of Hama. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.  This took place just two weeks after the massacre in Houla that shocked the world. Those responsible for perpetrating these crimes must be held to account. We cannot allow mass killing to become part of everyday reality in Syria.

“As the Secretary-General has clearly explained, the crisis is escalating.  The violence is getting worse. The abuses are continuing.  The country is becoming more polarized and more radicalized. And Syria’s immediate neighbors are increasingly worried about the threat of spillover.  

“Nine days ago, I met President Assad in Damascus. I told him that the six-point plan is not being implemented, as it must. I strongly urged him to take bold and visible steps to now radically change his military posture and honor his commitments to the six-point plan. I urged him to make a strategic decision to change his path. I also made clear that his Government must work with my mediation effort on behalf of both Organizations that I represent.

“President Assad believed the main obstacle was the actions of militants. Clearly, all parties must cease violence. But equally clearly, the first responsibility lies with the Government.

“Since then, shelling of cities has intensified. Government-backed militia seem to have free rein with appalling consequences. Yes, some detainees have been released, and agreement has been reached on modalities for humanitarian assistance. But the hour demands much more. And President Assad has not indicated a change of course in his recent address to the National Assembly.

“…Clearly, the time has come to determine what more can be done to secure implementation of the plan -- and/or what other options exist to address the crisis… Individual actions or interventions will not resolve the crisis. As we demand compliance with international law and the six-point plan, it must be made clear that there will be consequences if compliance is not forthcoming. We must also chart a clearer course for a peaceful transition, if we are to help the Government and opposition, as well as Syrian society, to help resolve the crisis.”

Ban Ki-moon after the Security Council session:

“The Annan plan remains at the center of our efforts. We continue to support it.

“At the same time, in view of the deteriorating situation I would welcome further international discussions on the way forward. 

“The upcoming G20 Summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, is an important opportunity. I will be there and I expect key stakeholders to take advantage of this gathering to discuss the crisis in its full depth and breadth. 

“No one can predict how the situation in Syria will evolve. We must be prepared for any eventuality; we must be ready to respond to many possible scenarios.

“At the request of the Security Council, I will soon present a variety of options for the way ahead. 

“It is up to the members of the Council to find common cause.”

Kofi Annan after briefing the Security Council:

“…I said that if this plan is not working or if we decide it is not the way to go, we should be looking at options. But as long as we all agree that the plan has merit, the question is: How do you get the Syrian Government to perform, to implement it, even at this late hour? This is what the Council is in the process of discussing, and I am not going to do their work.

“…There are discussions going on about the possibility of establishing such a group. And the group would include countries with real influence on the situation, countries that can influence either side, the Government of Syria and the opposition… This is why the contact group, that you cannot resolve it by just focusing on the players inside, you need to have the regional and international players be involved. They have to be part of the solution.

“The whole idea is to get to a political transition, and the Syrian people will have to decide their future: the future political dispensation, they have to decide how they are governed and who governs them, and I think that it should be part of the eventual settlement that we are looking at. And the other thing I would want to say is the membership of the group, the contact group that was referred to, all these issues are at a very early stage yet and is under consultation, but I think Iran, as an important country in the region, I hope will be part of the solution.”

U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice:

“Iran is part of the problem in Syria at the present. There is no question that it is actively engaged in supporting the government in perpetrating the violence on the ground, We think Iran has not demonstrated, to date, a readiness to contribute constructively to a peaceful political solution.”

State Department’s Mark Toner:

“(Kofi Annan) did confirm his concerns that the plan is not being implemented. I think it’s very clear what we want to see happen, what our expectations are. The Annan plan is a good plan. It lays out the next steps that need to happen – a ceasefire, a dialogue, a political transition, Assad transferring power and departing Syria. These are the basic tenets of a solution to Syria. The problem is in the implementation. And that’s why, as the Secretary stated in Istanbul, her meeting yesterday was about ways to increase pressure on Assad, to make his regime wake up and realize that they need to comply with the Annan plan. So the plan itself is sound; we just need compliance…

“…We do have a very strong coalition, but we need more. We need Russia, (and) we need China, to get onboard behind the Annan plan, behind its implementation, so that we can bring the right amount of pressure to bear on Assad… We want to see the Russians use their influence, if you will, with Assad to convince them that the only way forward here is a political transition.”

China’s UN Ambassador Li Baodong:

"We resolutely oppose the solutions to the Syrian crisis through outside armed intervention or any attempt to forcibly promote regime change. China stands ready to play its positive and constructive role in finding an early peaceful and proper solution to the Syrian question…

"To maintain the momentum for a political solution to the Syrian question and to avoid the escalation of crisis, the parties concerned inside Syria should immediately implement the relevant Security Council resolutions and the six-point Annan plan."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov:

Russia hopes all the parties that can influence the Syrian crisis will take part in the proposed conference, which won’t be a one-time event. “The conference should come under the UN umbrella... The first stage would exclude any Syrian representatives. Its purpose would be to agree on the leverage to be used on each and every Syrian group: be it the government or various opposition forces – to stop the violence and start a dialogue.”

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, the League of Arab States, the EU and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation should be “integral parts” to the process. However, “There’ll be no mandate by the UN Security Council for a foreign intervention, I guarantee you that.” 

Syria: Houla children slain, Ban whines, Moscow ferrying arms

Slain children and woman (right) in Houla

The opposition Syrian National Council declared three days of national mourning and urged the UN Security Council to take deterrent measures against the Syrian regime under Chapter VII in reaction to a horrific massacre in the Homs suburb of Houla.

At least 88 people were killed in Friday’s outrage, almost 50 of them women and children.

BREAKING NEWS: UN mission chief General Robert Mood said in a statement the monitors had counted more than 92 bodies in Houla, and called the incident a "brutal tragedy." The statement said, 

"This morning UN military and civilian observers went to Houla and counted more than 32 children and over 60 adults killed."

The SNC “called on the Free Syrian Army to prevent regime militias from reaching civilian areas by blockading roads by all possible means.” It also pushed for an urgent Arab League Ministerial Council meeting to cut all residual diplomatic and economic ties with Damascus.

The SNC said some 300 were wounded in Houla, as government forces shelled and attacked the town. It said some victims were killed by mortar shelling, while knives slaughtered others.

It reported on its website Houla “was shelled for 12 consecutive hours. The shelling was followed by a massacre carried out by shabiha thugs and regime mercenaries… (who) slaughtered women and children. Some families were able to escape with the help of activists, while the fate of other families remains unknown.“

The SNC’s acting-president Burhan Ghalioun told reporters, "What happened in Houla is a systematic crime intended to stoke sectarian fires in the country. UN envoy Kofi Annan must head to Houla as soon as he arrives in Syria so he can witness firsthand what happened there. He said, "I told UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon and the monitors I spoke to that Kofi Annan cannot continue his mission after the massacres that have taken place, as he visits Damascus without batting an eyelash."

The army and security forces killed at least 20 other civilians elsewhere in Syria after tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets after Friday prayers.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon warned Friday the risk of all-out conflict was growing in Syria where groups fighting President Bashar Assad now control "significant parts of some cities.”

"There is a continuing crisis on the ground, characterized by regular violence, deteriorating humanitarian conditions, human rights violations and continued political confrontation," he said in his 13-page report dated Friday, which is to be debated by the UN Security Council next week.

He said UN monitors noted “continued Syrian army troops concentrations and heavy weapons in population centers…

“There are continuing reports of a stepped-up security crackdown by the authorities that has led to massive violations of human rights by Government militias, including arbitrary arrests, torture, enforced disappearance and summary execution of activists, opponents, and defectors…

“There are continuing reports that thousands of Syrians are being detained in a network of Government-run facilities of different kinds… The pace and scale of access to, and release, of detainees is unacceptable given the commitment of the Government…

“There has also been some, but not enough, improvement in entry and freedom of movement of journalists in Syria… However, the Government still requires that journalists seek specific permission in advance for in-country travel, which is often not forthcoming. They are often only permitted short stays that do not facilitate in-depth reporting…

Anti-Assad demonstrators in Binnish near Idlib yesterday

“The obligation of the Syrian government to respect the freedom of association and the right to demonstrate peacefully is clearly not being observed… Credible information indicates that, after the observers left (the Aleppo University on 9 May 9, 2012, Government and irregular elements fired tear gas and live ammunition in the air, raided the campus and killed between two and five students in addition to arresting up to 200….

“While demonstrations are carried out in many other parts of the country, many have reportedly been broken up with the use of live ammunition and lethal force, and arbitrary arrests of protesters. It is clear that the broad context of intimidation and human rights violations does not constitute an environment in which citizens can express their opinions or demonstrate freely…

“Most elements of the (Annan) six-point proposal have yet to be implemented.”

Ban said UN efforts to end the conflict had seen only "small progress", adding that the "overall situation in Syria remains extremely serious".

"Professor Katsman" is said to be carrying Russian weapons to Tartus

On the day Ban also urged Member States not to arm either side in the conflict, a Russian cargo ship loaded with weapons was reported to be en route to Syria and due to arrive at Tartus port this weekend.

One diplomat told Reuters a Maltese firm, which is owned by a Cypriot company that is owned by a Russian firm, owns the vessel, which is called “Professor Katsman.”

Syria “chaos” entraps Lebanon

The victim, his blood-stained and bullet-riddled Range and a riot scene 

The so-called April 1975 “Ain el-Remmaneh incident” was the spark that set off Lebanon’s 15-year civil war.

Yesterday’s unprovoked killing by Lebanese soldiers of a Lebanese Sunnite cleric opposed to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could mark the date of Lebanon’s head on plunge into Syria’s “chaos.”

Sheikh Ahmed Abdul-Wahed was shot dead, along with his travel companion Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Merheb, in his Range Rover at an army checkpoint at Kwaikhat in Akkar, a district in the north Lebanon governorate.

He was on his way to address a rally in the Akkar capital of Halba. The event was immediately called off.

The Lebanese army promptly said in a communiqué it deeply regretted the incident, promising a military inquiry. The state commissioner to the military court, judge Saqr Saqr, later ordered the arrest of the three army officers and 19 soldiers who were manning the checkpoint at Kwaikhat.

Abdul-Wahed, a 1969 native of al-Bireh in Akkar where he founded al-Noor Islamic school and charity, was devoted to helping Syrian refugees in Lebanon. He was close to the anti-Assad “March 14” alliance led by former premier Saad Hariri’s Future Movement.

News of the killing by the army drove angry people to the streets of Akkar villages as protestors cut off roads with burning tires. Protesters blocked roads elsewhere in Tripoli, the Eastern Bekaa valley and the Beirut highway to South Lebanon as well as in the Beirut areas of Verdun, Mazraa, Tarik el-Jdideh, Beshara el-Khoury and Qasqas.

Armed clashes overnight in Tarik el-Jdideh between supporters of the Future Movement and their rivals in the Arab Movement Party headed by Shaker Berjawi, an ally of the Syrian government, left three people dead and 15 wounded overnight.

The fighting in Beirut was the most intense since May 7, 2008, when Hezbollah gunmen swept through Sunnite neighborhoods and torched the Future Movement’s TV station after the government tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network.

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rasheed Qabbani has declared three days of mourning over Sheikh Abdul-Wahed’s death.

Future Movement MPs, including Khaled Daher and Marwan Hamadeh, said the incident was a targeted hit.

"If shots were fired at the tires, we would say there was a mistake. But we consider this a direct targeting from the army," he told Reuters.

"Frankly, we do not want to see the army here because it works at the service of the Syrian regime," he said.

Hamadeh said a number of lawmakers would seek a parliamentary probe into “the practices of some army intelligence and General Security personnel… that join efforts by the crumbling regime in Damascus to inflame the situation in Lebanon ahead of its downfall.”

Future Movement leader Saad Hariri also pointed the finger at Assad "infiltrators" in the military for the deaths.

"There are some infiltrators who want to use the military and its image to import the crisis of the Syrian regime to Lebanon in a desperate attempt to save Assad's regime from its inevitable end," he said.

Abdelqader Abdul-Wahed, the slain cleric’s brother, echoed the sentiments in an interview with Lebanon’s MTV. "Unfortunately, we have some infiltrated elements in the Lebanese army, possibly officers who work for the Assad regime," he said. "I hope the army institution cleanse itself from these elements."

After the Lebanese Army curbed the May 12-14 clashes between Tripoli's two adjacent districts -- the predominantly Sunnite “Bab al-Tebbaneh” and the overwhelmingly Alawite “Jabal Mohsen” – Lebanese Alawite chieftain Rifaat Eid talked tough at his Jabal Mohsen stronghold.

He told a May 16 press conference, “Everyone should be aware that sliding further into the unknown would mean no one could pacify Lebanon except through the intervention of an Arab army. And no one would be able to do so except Syria. If you asked me my opinion, I have no problem with (the Syrian army coming in). Better this happened today than tomorrow…”

Speaking in an interview broadcast the same day on Russian state news channel Rossiya-24, Assad put the blame for the Syria violence on the Arab Spring and said weapons bound for Syrian rebels were entering his country from Lebanon, adding: "And as I have said, if you sow chaos in Syria you may be infected by it yourself, and they understand this perfectly well." (See my May 17 post, “How Syria fire is creeping up on Lebanon”).

Syria’s UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari wrote in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon dated May 17 saying, “In some Lebanese areas bordering Syria, several warehouses have been set up to stockpile weapons and ammunition that are reaching Lebanon illegally…”

He said the weapons are “moved first to Akkar, then to Wadi Khaled, ahead of their smuggling into Syria… Premises of charities run by Salafists and the Future Movement in Lebanese areas bordering Syria are being used to provide safe havens to al-Qaeda and Muslim Brotherhood terrorists to launch hit-and-run criminal operations inside Syria. The injured among them are treated under fake names in hospitals and clinics affiliated to those (Salafist and Future Movement) groups and funded by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.” (See my May 18 post, “Syria seen lighting the Lebanon fuse”).

Lebanese political analyst Rosanna Boumounsef, in her column for the independent Beirut daily an-Nahar, says in light of the weekend developments in Akkar, “the Syrian regime’s resolve to forcibly drag Lebanon into its crisis leaves the Lebanese government in an extremely embarrassing position.”

Disputing the allegations made by Ja’afari verbally – as Prime Minister Najib Mikati has already done -- is not enough, she explains.  Ja’afari specifically wrote Ban Ki-moon and the president of the Security Council saying, “It would be highly appreciated if the annexed letter (describing Lebanon as a hotbed of terrorism) could be circulated urgently as an official document of the Security Council.”

This, Boumounsef writes, requires Lebanon “to respond in the same way – by writing a letter to Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council president challenging the contents of the Syrian document. This is part of the duties of the Lebanese government, irrespective of its makeup, since the document presented by Syria defames the whole of Lebanon and casts aspersions on its reputation. If the Lebanese government allowed the Syrian document to pass without a riposte addressed to the UN and the Security Council, it would be held accountable for document’s fallouts.”

Charles Habbour, in his think piece for the Lebanese independent daily al-Joumhouria published by former defense minister Elias el-Murr, sees Lebanon being forced to change direction and become Syria’s “playing field instead of its outlet.”

The north Lebanon turmoil, he says, shows Syria to be “in a hurry.” Within weeks of the attempt on the life of Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea that was meant to destabilize the Christian community, Damascus turned its gunsight on the Sunnites to export its crisis.

Habbour says Damascus “decided to push Lebanon to change course. Instead of perceiving Lebanon as its political, diplomatic, financial and economic outlet, Syria wants Lebanon to become a playing field and a trump card primed for explosion, coercion or a tradeoff.”

Habbour gives three reasons for the U-turn by Damascus:

1.     Lebanon can no more serve as Syria’s “lung.” Given persistent pressure from the U.S. Treasury, Lebanese banks are finding it increasingly difficult to launder Syrian money or handle financial transactions with the Syrian regime and its supporters.

2.   Syria wants to use Lebanon as a bargaining chip. It is telling the Saudis that the regime’s confrontation with its Sunnites has now spread to Lebanon. It is also inviting the Americans to do a deal for the sake of regional stability.

3.     Seeing no end to the uprising, Syria wants to expand the lines of confrontation in an attempt to “escape forward.”    

“As usual, Lebanon is made to foot the bill,” Egyptian media celebrity Imad Adeeb writes for the leading Saudi daily Asharq Alawsat. “The crisis is in Syria and Lebanon pays the price. The killer is in Damascus and the fatality will be in Beirut. It looks as though Syria is sending a regional and international message saying, ‘If you pressured us further, we would wreck your summer, your interests and your allies.’

“It is the same old game dating back almost half a century – the mafia’s game of trading off one crisis for another, one prisoner for a new and one hotspot for an additional.”