Sunday, 14 December 2014

Lebanon to launch refugee crisis response plan


BEIRUT: Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas and Ross Mountain, the U.N. resident Coordinator in Lebanon, will launch Monday a crisis response plan to deal with the more than 1.2 millioon Syrian refugees in Lebanon.


The meeting on the plan gets underway at the Grand Serail in Downtown Beirut under the auspices of Prime Minister Tammam Salam and in the presence of Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Jan Eliasson.


Derbas said the plan aims to achieve 37 percent of the total financial support from donor states who have pledged to help Lebanon restore economic stability.


“This financial equation was based from the roadmap that had been prepared by the government for the financial needs of the Lebanese people, and to provide financial support to the sectors of education, health, electricity and others,” Derbas told local daily An-Nahar in remarks published Monday.


He warned of the consequences if the U.N.’s World Food Program suspended providing food aid to Syrian refugees.


Lebanon hosts around 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees, but unofficial figures are much higher. Their presence is exerting enormous pressure on the country’s ailing infrastructure.


"The government has been able to secure financial support from Saudi Arabia to cover the expenses of the food supply for Syrian refugees for December," Derbas said.


A lack of funds has forced the U.N. to stop providing food vouchers for 1.7 million Syrian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt, WFP said earlier this month.


WFP said it needed $64 million to support the refugees for the rest of December.




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Geagea visits Saudi Arabia for talks on presidential void


BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea traveled to Saudi Arabia Sunday on an official visit for talks with senior Saudi officials likely to center on the 6-month-old presidential stalemate.


During his visit, he is also expected to meet former premier Saad Hariri to discuss how to end the void in the country’s top Christian post, an LF source told The Daily Star.


Hariri has called for the election of a consensus president as the only way to break the deadlock.


This is Geagea’s second visit this year to Saudi Arabia, which wields great influence in Lebanon with its support for the Future Movement-led March 14 coalition.


The visit comes as efforts have been stepped up to arrange a meeting between Geagea, the March 14-backed presidential candidate, and his arch political foe, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun, who is backed by the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition for the presidency.


Geagea’s trip also coincided with intensified attempts to launch a dialogue between the Future Movement and Hezbollah with the aim of facilitating the election of a president and defusing sectarian tensions stoked by the war in Syria.


Speaker Nabih Berri said the finalization of the dialogue agenda would lead to holding the first session between officials from the Future Movement and Hezbollah before the end of the year after the return of Nader Hariri, chief of Hariri’s staff, from the United States.


Berri, according to visitors, said he would open the oil and gas file with all its details early next year in light of credible information that Israel has begun stealing gas reserves from Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone from a marine area it had seized as a result of its agreement with Cyprus.


In preparation, Berri is to meet Monday with the parliamentary Energy Committee in the presence of the Petroleum Administration, experts and technicians to gather all information related to the file. He will also meet with the UNIFIL commander in the south for this purpose. He was quoted as saying the dispute over the licensing for offshore gas exploration in five Lebanese blocks has been resolved. “The licensing should cover the five blocks.” Meanwhile, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai urged the four rival Maronite leaders – Aoun, Geagea, Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel and Marada Movement chief MP Sleiman Frangieh – to make sacrifices to facilitate the election of a successor to former President Michel Sleiman.


“Patriarch Rai is fully convinced that the four Maronite leaders should make sacrifices in order to ensure the election of a consensus president,” a senior source close to Bkirki told The Daily Star Sunday night.


This was viewed as an implicit call by the patriarch on the four leaders to withdraw from the presidency race in favor of a compromise candidate.


The source said Rai, who has harshly criticized parliamentarians for failing to elect a president in the past six months, did not support a presidential candidate from either the March 8 or March 14 camp. “The patriarch is seeing that the entire region is on the boil, while the [Syrian] fire is spreading to Lebanon. Therefore, the election of a president is urgently needed to prevent the regional conflagration from engulfing Lebanon,” the source said.


Referring to long-simmering political divisions within the Christian community in general, and the Maronite sect in particular, he said: “The patriarch is continuing his efforts to arrive at the election of a president. For this purpose, he is working to close Maronite ranks with a view to reaching comprehensive national unity through the election of a president.”


MPs from the LF and FPM said efforts were underway to bring Geagea and Aoun together soon. “There is nonstop communication between the FPM and LF which might lead to a dialogue and most probably it will lead to that,” MP Ibrahim Kanaan from Aoun’s bloc told LBCI TV. “We will discuss the presidential election.”


LF MP Antoine Zahra said a meeting between Geagea and Aoun might take place at any moment. “We refuse a dialogue between the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement for the sake of wasting time and taking pictures,” he told the Voice of Lebanon radio station.



Fugitives arrested on way to Arsal militants


BEIRUT: Two wanted Syrians, one of them wearing an explosive belt, were arrested by the Lebanese Army Sunday en route to meet militants holding 25 Lebanese servicemen on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal.


Late Sunday, the Lebanese Army clashed with militants on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Ras Baalbak. The Army’s airborne regiment sent reinforcements to the area, the National News Agency reported.


The two fugitives were among five men – including a Lebanese Muslim Scholars Committee member – arrested by the Army as they were headed to the outskirts of Arsal in a Nissan Armada SUV. The Army also confiscated an explosive belt and weapons packed in their car.


Syrian sheikhs Mohammad Hussein Yahia and Mohammad al-Mohammad are wanted fugitives, security sources told The Daily Star. Yahia, who is close to a Nusra Front emir in the Qalamoun region Sheikh Abu Malek al-Tali, was wearing an explosive belt ready for detonation, the sources said.


From inside the car the Army seized two hand grenades, three rifles, four handguns and ammunition, the military said in a statement.


The Army detonated the explosive belt and handed over the suspects to the relevant authorities.


An Army source told The Daily Star that Committee member Sheikh Hussam Ghali, who is also the general coordinator for Lebanon’s Islamic Medical Association, was among those detained. Ghali was released Sunday evening but his two bodyguards remained incarcerated, security sources confirmed. Ghali told Al-Jadeed TV that the group was going to the outskirts for talks with the captors of 25 Lebanese hostages. The two Syrian sheikhs, Ghali said, were militants tasked with facilitating the Committee member’s voyage to the outskirts and escorting him to the captors’ headquarters.


Ghali added that weapons confiscated from the car belonged to his bodyguards but denied knowing that Yahia was wearing an explosive belt.


Muslim Scholars Committee member Sheikh Adnan Ammama told The Daily Star that Ghali attempted to go to the outskirts in an effort to receive a pledge from the captors to stop killings and threats.


“Though we have not been officially appointed by the government Sheikh Hussam was keen on carrying out this humanitarian duty,” he said.


The Muslim Scholars Committee, a gathering of Salafist sheikhs, brokered a cease-fire that ended five days of clashes between the Army and militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front who overran Arsal in August.


The jihadis withdrew from the town, but took with them more than 30 Army soldiers and Internal Security Forces personnel as hostages.


Last week the Committee said that it wanted to be in charge of mediation efforts with the captors, but that it would only do so if it was formally commissioned by the government to manage the talks.


As sharp differences of opinion over the handling of the hostages file surfaced in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Tammam Salam, the families of Lebanon’s 25 captive soldiers and policemen slammed the government for failing to bring back their men, threatening to take matters into their own hands.


“This is a failed government that cannot bring the sons of its institutions back to their mothers,” Omar Haidar, a member of the captives’ families committee told hundreds of people at a solidarity rally for the hostages in Downtown Beirut.


Haidar criticized lawmakers for agreeing to extend their own mandates and “insulting the Lebanese people’s dignity,” but failing to stop the killings of captive servicemen.


“The baby who was born while his father was absent will ask you, Mr. prime minister: What have you done to my father?” Haidar said, warning that the families have trusted the authorities for too long, and that their patience was running out.


“We will become [like] ISIS if we have to,” he said, suggesting they would resort to violence.


The families Saturday said they had commissioned Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt – who supports a swap deal to free the captives – to speak on their behalf during talks with the Lebanese government as he has “proved to be the sincerest” in dealing with their case.


At the rally, the crowd was most touched by a speech from the 6-year-old daughter of captive Abbas Msheikh.


“I miss you so much, my father. You know that I love you a lot. Where are you?” she said. “You used to get me anything I asked for. This time I am I asking you to come back. Why don’t you?


“You grew up living as an orphan and living without a mother. Why do they want me to live as an orphan as well?”


“I do not want to go the park, I do not want presents or new clothes,” the girl said. “I want you to come back and hug me, father.”


Sabrina Krumba, the wife of captive Ziad Omar, made another emotional speech, recounting to the crowd the story of Ali Bazzal’s killing as told to her by her husband when she visited him recently in Arsal’s outskirts.


She said Ali was called in during the morning like each time the kidnappers had threatened to kill him, but he was not expecting to actually be murdered that day.


“Do not have lunch without me, I’m coming back. I come back every time,” Bazzal told his fellow captives before being taken out of their holding room, she said.


Krumba said that her husband and the hostages have become almost hopeless, and have lost trust in the government’s ability to free them. “Our government has left us. It has given us up,” she quoted her husband as saying. – With additional reporting by Nidal al-Solh



New Lebanon Crisis Response Plan serves those in the greatest need


During my first stay in Lebanon in the late 1990s, like most newcomers, I visited the beautiful cedar forests in Bsharri and the Chouf. Since then I have had many opportunities to appreciate the similarities between Lebanon and its national symbol. Cedars represent strength, durability and versatility. They have provided shelter and resources to many different civilizations through millennia and stood through history’s most difficult times. Like its national symbol, Lebanon today faces a test of endurance. When Lebanon first opened its borders to families fleeing the Syrian conflict in 2011, its communities responded without hesitation. They provided welcome, shelter, services and support – even though in many cases their own needs were already high.


Through almost four years of increasing hardship, Lebanese households have been among the biggest donors to the relief effort for refugees so far. Poor communities are hosting an additional 1.5 million displaced people, sharing their land, their schools, their water resources and health centers. Many are sharing their homes.


As 2015 begins, all vulnerable communities here have reached a critical point. Public services are overwhelmed and economic growth has faltered. Hundreds of thousands of children are unable to attend school. Unemployment is rising at record rates leaving too many young people without options. As social tensions grow, Lebanon is deeply concerned to protect itself against radicalization and violence.


Lebanon has shown extraordinary strength throughout this crisis. This is a testament to the generosity of its people, and their long-standing tradition of diversity and coexistence. Yet the most vulnerable Lebanese now pay a price they can no longer afford for another country’s conflict. Their own needs must be addressed. Refugee families in their turn have been asked to show remarkable courage and endurance. Four out of five are women and children, most without a means of income or access to schooling. Many have come to the end of their savings and live in conditions of desperation. They want only to survive in dignity, stay healthy and go to school until they can return to their own homes in safety. I have heard families tell of how they long for that day.


The needs and vulnerabilities of Lebanese families and Syrian refugees cannot be entirely separated while the crisis lasts. Lebanon’s dilemma is how to meet both – fairly and effectively in a global context where demands on international aid are growing.


First, we need to invest more toward Lebanon’s own needs, to ensure that it can survive this period and recover its prosperity in the medium term. Lebanon is strong – but the threats to its stability are real. We need to add weight to a vital stabilization effort tackling Lebanon’s economy and institutions. Too many Lebanese are facing this crisis following decades of poverty. They need to see visible evidence of investments in their communities – to rebuild their faith in social welfare, health and education services. Decent jobs are a key priority for young people without work or trapped in low wage jobs without skills or prospects. They need better education and training to give them hope, and turn them away from poverty and the risk of radicalization.


Second, we must help to ease the pressure of the refugee burden. Swifter third-country resettlement for Syrian refugees is needed and countries are asked to be more generous. Commitments made at the recent Geneva Conference on Resettlement are promising steps.


Third, we need to find more cost-effective solutions for humanitarian aid delivery. The crisis has lasted longer than any of us expected, and no country can sustain a massive humanitarian project indefinitely. Nonetheless, humanitarian needs are deepening. Most refugees are sinking deeper into debt and half live in dismal, substandard shelters. Two-thirds of refugee children are not in school despite laudable efforts by the Education and Higher Education Ministry to enroll 90,000 last year. By ensuring that humanitarian and development programs reinforce and build on each other, donors get better value and Lebanon can reap important longer-term dividends.


The new Lebanon Crisis Response Plan for 2015-16 serves these collective aims, particularly for communities in the greatest need. The LCRP’s relief and protection program for the poorest Lebanese families and refugees from Syria is complemented by a proposed investment in social services and welfare systems, job creation and conflict mitigation in the poorest communities. Through the LCRP, international financing will strengthen and support Lebanon’s public institutions, civil organizations and private companies. Programs will provide tools and materials for public institutions, employ and train Lebanese workers and create markets for Lebanese goods and services.


There should be no doubt – the violence in Syria must stop before we can find long-term answers to the dilemmas posed by the conflict will be found. Until Syrian families can return home in safety and dignity, they and the countries hosting them will need substantial international support. Every dollar received so far from the international community has been valuable and is appreciated. But as we approach the start of a fifth year of conflict, needs are significantly outstripping funds. However great the competition for international resources, Lebanon’s stability should not be allowed to falter.


Lebanon has done more than its part so far to provide short-term respite to these victims of Syria’s conflict. The coming year offers an important opportunity to reinforce and protect those efforts while the search for peace continues. We must seize it for the sake of Lebanon and the region’s stability, and for all those living here in hope of solutions.


Ross Mountain is the U.N. resident coordinator, humanitarian coordinator, UNDP resident representative, UNFPA representative and UNSCOL deputy special coordinator in Lebanon.



Manipulation a weapon in hostage-takers’ arsenal


BEIRUT: In the five months since he was taken hostage by ISIS militants in Arsal, Mohammad Youssef’s son Hussein has called him four times from captivity, begging his father to save him. “Please do whatever you need to do to help us,” his son pleaded the last time Youssef got a call.


“Go to Roumieh if this means we will be freed.”


Youssef had been driving from Bhamdoun to Beirut’s Riad al-Solh, where the families of the now 25 hostages have set up a permanent protest site. He still has no memory of how he managed to reach the capital, he was in shock.


“Every time it’s the same,” he said. “We fall apart.”


In Roumieh prison’s Block B, where Islamists linked to Fatah al-Islam, the Nusra Front, ISIS and other terror-linked groups are housed, the vicissitudes of the hostage crisis have inspired defiance toward prison staff, a security source told The Daily Star. Some have outright refused to appear in weekly Judicial Council hearings in Beirut, believing that somehow ISIS is taking care of their interests from Qalamoun.


“Every time the militants manipulate the minds of the hostage families the inmates feel stronger, like there’s someone looking out for them,” the source said.


While a war of attrition ensues between the Army and jihadis from the Nusra Front and ISIS in Arsal, the families of the 25 servicemen in militant custody and the prisoners wanted freed in a swap deal are beginning to feel that their lives are increasingly intertwined.


For the families every threat from the militant groups results in an emotionally charged rallying call in which demonstrations block the capital’s main arteries for days at a time.


“Our protest is not the result of their threats,” Youssef said one evening, as the winter rains poured outside his tent in the protesters’ camp in Downtown Beirut. “But it is part of the reason we escalate them.”


Youssef said in the beginning they were opposed to a swap deal involving the release of criminals. But the ensuing five months have led to a change of heart. “If this will release our sons they are obliged to do it.”


Of the 25 families, militants have contacted a dozen over the phone, each time relaying the same message.


“My son just screams,” said Aisha Ahmed, mother of Khaled Moqbel Hasan of Fnaydeq. “Then the kidnappers tell us we should hold the government responsible, that the government knows what they want.”


“How do you expect a mother to respond when her son’s life is being threatened?” she asked. Last month Ahmed was permitted to see her son in Arsal. She was told by ISIS militants that, contrary to media reports at that time, no progress had been made on the hostage file. “I just don’t know who to believe anymore.”


According to psychologist Ghina Ismail, who specializes in trauma, the experience of Youssef and Ahmed suggests that they are enduring virtual captivity, in which the trauma associated with captivity is not endured by the hostages alone but extends to family members.


“Meaning that in practicality, the families are trapped by the constant threats and intimidation, such as random phone calls that put pressure on them to act in a certain way,” Ismail explained.


“There’s an element of uncertainty which is complicated by several factors in the Arsal situation – not knowing whom to turn to, or who to trust, and the overall sense of impunity exercised by the kidnapper, something the kidnapper actually wants to instill,” she said.


Political division over how to proceed with the hostage file has prevented the government from taking a firm stance moving forward.


The connection between the fate of their sons and the release of Islamist prisoners might be another perception that militants want to implant. “Manipulative people in general, whether terrorists or not, want to instill a sense of confusion or horror, of blaming oneself or one’s kin, to forward their own agenda. So the agenda here is that ‘we want you to free prisoners in Roumieh’ so people start thinking, this is what they want, without questioning how accurate it might be.”


Prison staff in Roumieh have been cautious around Block B inmates as a result of the hostage crisis, the security source said. Three weeks ago Islamist inmates scheduled to appear for weekly hearings began refusing to go.


“It’s the ones who are expected to get a death or life sentence,” the source said.


“They are in a place where they know no one will force them.”


Calling on the special forces to oblige prisoners to attend trials, which requires transporting them to Beirut, though requested by the prison, was deemed by superiors to be out of the question, the source said. “Such a thing requires political cover, which we don’t have.”


“It’s because they fear something will happen someplace else,” the source added, alluding to Arsal, where ISIS and Nusra militants are positioned. “It’s all connected.”


Their reluctance to attend trials, the source added, stemmed from the belief that ISIS would eventually broker their release. “It’s also a way of buying extra time, to see what the outcome of the negotiation will be.”


“They think it’s better to be detained and not convicted if there is a chance they will be set free.”


But perhaps the effect of ISIS’ strategy in Lebanon is felt most by the residents of Arsal. Suhad Ezzedine, a schoolteacher, said living in the town was akin to being stuck between two fires. “The militants to one side by the border with Syria, and the Lebanese Army on the other, which has surrounded the town with checkpoints,” she said.


Residents of Bazzalieh have set up checkpoints on the road to Arsal. “If you don’t have a friend there, it’s impossible to leave,” she said.


In the meantime Arsalis grow weary of what might happen next.


“People here are going through a psychological war,” she said.


“In class I have to keep reassuring the kids that there is nothing wrong and that the Army is defending us. But they hear the sounds of bombs coming from the outskirts and start to cry.”



Christmas bells ring in resilient southern suburb


HARET HREIK, Lebanon: The pine tree’s ornaments glinted in the Sunday morning light of Al-Arid Street, a few dozen meters from the site of one of the car bombs that devastated the thoroughfare in the southern suburbs of Beirut last year.


Christmas trees have cropped up over the last two weeks around the majority-Shiite neighborhood and its churches. They are often a short stroll away from the bombing sites, which are now fading memories marked only by uneven asphalt.


Flags pledging allegiance to Imam Hussein and portraits of fighters line the streets, leading to red baubles and a miniature Santa statue.


“We will continue to celebrate and our bells will keep ringing in the East,” said Ziad Waked, the Christian mayor of Haret Hreik.


The birthplace of Free Patriotic movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, Haret Hreik was once a predominantly Christian neighborhood.


Its demographics changed due to the Civil War and the influx of Shiites fleeing from the south in the aftermath of the Israeli incursion of 1978 and the occupation of the south in 1982.


“The war changed the face of the area,” Waked said. He heads the neighborhood’s municipal council, which is split evenly between Christians and Shiites.


Many of the area’s Christians left the country or moved to other Christian neighborhoods, although some still visit the local churches on Sundays and religious festivals, such as Christmas.


Christians remaining in the neighborhood are predominantly supporters of Aoun’s party.


But the sentiment is different this year, amid growing threats to Christians who were forced to flee their homes in Iraq and Syria with the rise of extremist groups like ISIS.


Christians in Lebanon have also had to fight off incursions by militants along the Syrian border, with many deciding to self-arm to protect their land and dwellings.


The top Christian post in the government – the presidency – has been empty since May due to rivalries between Lebanon’s two top Christian leaders, Aoun and Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea.


But local and religious officials from the Christian community in the southern suburbs spoke with defiance against the threat, saying they were growing more determined to remain in communities they have long been part of.


Some also said the fight against “takfiris” has shown the wisdom of allying with Hezbollah, which has played a key role in shielding border villages from militant attacks.


“What’s strange about it?” MP Hikmat Dib said after attending Sunday Mass at the St. Joseph Church in Haret Hreik, when asked about celebrating Christmas in the southern suburbs.


“We are the children of this neighborhood, we are integral to its fabric,” he added.


St. Joseph Church was damaged in the Israeli bombing of south Beirut during the 2006 war, when an air raid targeted the nearby offices of Sayyed Hussein Fadlallah.


The church interior is vibrant, its ceiling painted a light blue with clouds to emulate the sky. Portraits of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ are placed on either side of the altar, along with a nativity scene and Christmas decorations.


The melodic hymns ask for strength and perseverance from God to ward off evil.


“Fear is not present,” said Father Issam Ibrahim, the head priest.


“Every festival is an opportunity for us to declare that our God is eternal, and that our God is with us. If your God is with you, are you going to fear a mere human?”


Still, he urged Lebanese Christians to stay united and not bicker, so as not to be weakened.


Mayor Waked did not shy away from declaring Haret Hreik a “sanctum” of the resistance.


The neighborhood had been repeatedly targeted over the last year and a half due to its association with Hezbollah and the party’s involvement in the Syrian war, often being labeled a “Hezbollah stronghold” even though there is not an overt, armed presence.


But Waked said the term was an “honor” for residents, who he said support the “resistance line.”


“If the people do not have resistance, they will not be able to defend their land, especially against an enemy like Israel, which has clear designs on Lebanon,” he said.


“So we respect and admire and support the Army, but with the Army there must be this resistance that is invisible to the enemy.”


He said that perhaps the rise of takfiri groups like ISIS was a “blessing in disguise” that would show the value of the resistance, and contrast its actions with those of ISIS.


Still, Waked said there was growing alarm at the crises facing Christians in the region.


“The threats and wars in the region around us do create fear for some, but this makes them hold onto their land more ... and to defend co-existence,” he said.


That sentiment was on the mind of Sayyed Mohammed Ali Moussawi, an Iranian scholar and artist who resides in Beirut.


After the Mass, he unveiled the blueprint of a wall painting he intended to gift to the church.


It included a drawing of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, with a stylized portrayal of the Holy Spirit and Iranian calligraphy.


Spaces were also allocated for verses from the Bible and the Quran to be etched together.


Moussawi said the painting was intended to show Muslim reverence for Jesus Christ.


He drew parallels between Islam and Christianity, particularly Shiism, including the prophecy that the Imam Mahdi would return alongside Jesus Christ.


“The Christian religion is part of the heritage of Islam,” he said.


“Whoever believes in God is a Muslim. We cannot claim a monopoly on Islam.”


“A Muslim is one who does not oppress,” he added.



Christmas bells ring in resilient southern suburb


HARET HREIK, Lebanon: The pine tree’s ornaments glinted in the Sunday morning light of Al-Arid Street, a few dozen meters from the site of one of the car bombs that devastated the thoroughfare in the southern suburbs of Beirut last year.


Christmas trees have cropped up over the last two weeks around the majority-Shiite neighborhood and its churches. They are often a short stroll away from the bombing sites, which are now fading memories marked only by uneven asphalt.


Flags pledging allegiance to Imam Hussein and portraits of fighters line the streets, leading to red baubles and a miniature Santa statue.


“We will continue to celebrate and our bells will keep ringing in the East,” said Ziad Waked, the Christian mayor of Haret Hreik.


The birthplace of Free Patriotic movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun, Haret Hreik was once a predominantly Christian neighborhood.


Its demographics changed due to the Civil War and the influx of Shiites fleeing from the south in the aftermath of the Israeli incursion of 1978 and the occupation of the south in 1982.


“The war changed the face of the area,” Waked said. He heads the neighborhood’s municipal council, which is split evenly between Christians and Shiites.


Many of the area’s Christians left the country or moved to other Christian neighborhoods, although some still visit the local churches on Sundays and religious festivals, such as Christmas.


Christians remaining in the neighborhood are predominantly supporters of Aoun’s party.


But the sentiment is different this year, amid growing threats to Christians who were forced to flee their homes in Iraq and Syria with the rise of extremist groups like ISIS.


Christians in Lebanon have also had to fight off incursions by militants along the Syrian border, with many deciding to self-arm to protect their land and dwellings.


The top Christian post in the government – the presidency – has been empty since May due to rivalries between Lebanon’s two top Christian leaders, Aoun and Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea.


But local and religious officials from the Christian community in the southern suburbs spoke with defiance against the threat, saying they were growing more determined to remain in communities they have long been part of.


Some also said the fight against “takfiris” has shown the wisdom of allying with Hezbollah, which has played a key role in shielding border villages from militant attacks.


“What’s strange about it?” MP Hikmat Dib said after attending Sunday Mass at the St. Joseph Church in Haret Hreik, when asked about celebrating Christmas in the southern suburbs.


“We are the children of this neighborhood, we are integral to its fabric,” he added.


St. Joseph Church was damaged in the Israeli bombing of south Beirut during the 2006 war, when an air raid targeted the nearby offices of Sayyed Hussein Fadlallah.


The church interior is vibrant, its ceiling painted a light blue with clouds to emulate the sky. Portraits of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ are placed on either side of the altar, along with a nativity scene and Christmas decorations.


The melodic hymns ask for strength and perseverance from God to ward off evil.


“Fear is not present,” said Father Issam Ibrahim, the head priest.


“Every festival is an opportunity for us to declare that our God is eternal, and that our God is with us. If your God is with you, are you going to fear a mere human?”


Still, he urged Lebanese Christians to stay united and not bicker, so as not to be weakened.


Mayor Waked did not shy away from declaring Haret Hreik a “sanctum” of the resistance.


The neighborhood had been repeatedly targeted over the last year and a half due to its association with Hezbollah and the party’s involvement in the Syrian war, often being labeled a “Hezbollah stronghold” even though there is not an overt, armed presence.


But Waked said the term was an “honor” for residents, who he said support the “resistance line.”


“If the people do not have resistance, they will not be able to defend their land, especially against an enemy like Israel, which has clear designs on Lebanon,” he said.


“So we respect and admire and support the Army, but with the Army there must be this resistance that is invisible to the enemy.”


He said that perhaps the rise of takfiri groups like ISIS was a “blessing in disguise” that would show the value of the resistance, and contrast its actions with those of ISIS.


Still, Waked said there was growing alarm at the crises facing Christians in the region.


“The threats and wars in the region around us do create fear for some, but this makes them hold onto their land more ... and to defend co-existence,” he said.


That sentiment was on the mind of Sayyed Mohammed Ali Moussawi, an Iranian scholar and artist who resides in Beirut.


After the Mass, he unveiled the blueprint of a wall painting he intended to gift to the church.


It included a drawing of the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus, with a stylized portrayal of the Holy Spirit and Iranian calligraphy.


Spaces were also allocated for verses from the Bible and the Quran to be etched together.


Moussawi said the painting was intended to show Muslim reverence for Jesus Christ.


He drew parallels between Islam and Christianity, particularly Shiism, including the prophecy that the Imam Mahdi would return alongside Jesus Christ.


“The Christian religion is part of the heritage of Islam,” he said.


“Whoever believes in God is a Muslim. We cannot claim a monopoly on Islam.”


“A Muslim is one who does not oppress,” he added.



Cheney On Enhanced Interrogation: 'I'd Do It Again In A Minute'



Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, in September. Cheney has been highly critical of the bipartisan Senate reporti i



Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, in September. Cheney has been highly critical of the bipartisan Senate report Cliff Owen/AP hide caption



itoggle caption Cliff Owen/AP

Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, in September. Cheney has been highly critical of the bipartisan Senate report



Former Vice President Dick Cheney speaks at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in Washington, in September. Cheney has been highly critical of the bipartisan Senate report


Cliff Owen/AP


Former Vice President Dick Cheney is standing by his spirited defense of harsh interrogation techniques used against terrorist suspects during the George W. Bush administration.


Given another chance to authorize such methods, Cheney declared on NBC's Meet the Press today: "I'd do it again in a minute."


Reiterating earlier remarks in which he dismissed the Senate Intelligence Committee's so-called that was released last week, Cheney today described the report as "a crock."


He denied that waterboarding was a form of torture and noted that several attorneys general had affirmed that.


"Torture is what the Al Qaeda terrorists did to 3,000 Americans on 9/11," Cheney said on NBC. "There is no comparison between that and what we did with respect to enhanced interrogation."


As Politico writes:




"Cheney also disputed the notion that any American taken prisoner overseas by terrorists was now at greater risk of being subjected to techniques like those used by the CIA.


"'He's not likely to be waterboarded. He's likely to have his head cut off,' the former vice president said of a potential American taken hostage by a group like the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. 'I haven't seen them waterboard anybody.'"




However, the Bush administration official who authored the legal justification for the enhanced interrogation program, says that sleep deprivation, rectal feeding and other harsh treatment outlined in the Senate report might violate U.S. anti-torture laws.


"If these things happened as they're described in the report ... they were not supposed to be done," John Yoo, who was a deputy assistant U.S. attorney general in the Office of the Legal Counsel in 2002, told CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. "And the people who did those are at risk legally because they were acting outside their orders."



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Lebanese patriarch accuses government of cowering before Christian couple's killers



BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai Sunday pressed the Lebanese government to arrest the killers of a couple shot dead last month by members of a powerful clan in the country's east.


Speaking from the Fakhri family home where Sobhi and Nadimeh were shot dead in November by members of the Jaafar clan, Rai denounced authorities for cowering before what he said was political cover being enjoyed by the criminals.


“We launch this call from Btedaai to the Lebanese government and its officials, and we tell every political force protecting the criminals that this is rejected and unacceptable because no one is greater than divine justice,” Rai said in a televised speech during his visit to the village.


Sobhi Fakhri and his wife Nadimeh were killed in November when members of the Jaafar clan shot the couple in their home after they refused to hand over keys to their SUV.


Authorities were accused of deliberately evading the arrest of the culprits, who were running from the Lebanese Army in the Dar al-Wasaa area when they broke into the Fahkri family home and shot dead the couple and wounded one of their sons.


The patriarch said that those protecting the perpetrators are committing an even graver crime, while stressing that “justice generates reconciliation and forgiveness.”


One Friday, the patriarch received a delegation from the Fakhri family and called on the Jaafar clan to hand over the culprits.



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Army detains Muslim Scholars member in Arsal



ARSAL, Lebanon: A Muslim Scholars Committee member was detained Sunday by the Lebanese Army along with two other men as they headed to the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal.


Committee member Sheikh Hussam Ghali, who is also the general-coordinator for Lebanon’s Islamic Medical Association, was arrested by the Army as he attempted to enter Arsal’s outskirts.


Ghali was reportedly going to the outskirts to meet with the captors of 25 Lebanese hostages.


Security sources denied that any of the detained individuals had been wearing a suicide belt, after media reports alleged that one of the suspects was carrying explosives.


It remains unclear why the three men were arrested.


The Muslim Scholars Committee, a gathering of Salafist Sheikhs, brokered a cease-fire that ended five days of clashes between the Army and militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front who overran Arsal in August.


The jihadists withdrew from the town, but took with them more than 30 Army soldiers and Internal Security Forces personnel as hostages.


Last week the committee said that it wanted to be in charge of mediation efforts with the captors, but that it would only do so if it was formally commissioned by the government to manage the talks.



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Senate Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill



Audio for this story from Weekend Edition Sunday will be available at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET.





The Senate voted late Saturday to pass a bill that will fund the government through the end of the fiscal year. NPR's Rachel Martin talks to NPR's Mara Liasson about the rare Saturday session.




Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.


Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.


NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.



Two Views Of The CIA's 'Enhanced' Interrogations



Audio for this story from Weekend Edition Sunday will be available at approximately 12:00 p.m. ET.





The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report Tuesday on the interrogation techniques used by the CIA after 9/11. The report has elicited a number of sharply differing perspectives.




Copyright © 2014 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.


Copyright © 2014 NPR. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to NPR. This transcript is provided for personal, noncommercial use only, pursuant to our Terms of Use. Any other use requires NPR's prior permission. Visit our permissions page for further information.


NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.



Hundreds rally for Lebanon's captive servicemen


BEIRUT: The families of Lebanon's captive soldiers and policemen slammed the government Sunday for failing to bring back their men, threatening to take matters into their own hands.


“This is a failed government that cannot bring back the sons of its institutions to their mothers,” Omar Haidar, a member of the captives’ families committee told hundreds of people at a solidarity rally for the hostages in Downtown Beirut.


Haidar criticized the lawmakers for agreeing to extend their own mandates and “insulting the Lebanese people’s dignity,” but failing to stop the killings captive servicemen.


“The baby who was born while his father was absent will ask you, Prime Minister: What have you done to my father?” Haidar said, warning that the families have trusted the authorities for too long, and that their patience was running out.


“We will become [like] ISIS if we have to,” he said, suggesting they would resort to violence.


Speakers from organizations representing a variety of religious groups addressed the crowd of supporters who held banners in support of the Army and security forces, as well as pictures of the captives.


The speakers stressed on the unity between the different communities of Lebanon around the cause, and called for a quick solution that can put an end to the ongoing crisis and bring back the hostages alive.


“We should not thank those who attended today, because this is the minimum of duties,” TV host Rima Karaki said speaking at the gathering. “We should rather name those who did not.”


“We have done very little to deserve this Army,” Karaki said.


Pastor Tony Khadra, head of a NGO called Labora, called for the creation of a shadow cabinet to monitor the authorities’ performance on the crisis.


Such a shadow government, he said, must include figures from parties and groups who are not represented in the Cabinet, especially NGOs and civil society activist groups.


Among the visitors of the families were a group of student representatives belonging to various political parties, who spoke in support of the families and their actions, and calling on authorities to intensify their efforts.


Sabrina Krumba, the wife of captive Ziad Omar, recanted to the crowd the story of Ali Bazzal’s killing as told to her by her husband when she visited him recently in Arsal’s outskirts.


She said Ali was called in the morning like every time that the kidnappers threaten to execute him, but he was not expecting to actually be killed that day.


“Do not have lunch without me, I’m coming back. I come back every time,” he told his fellow captives before being taken out of their holding room.


Krumba explained that her husband and the hostages have become nearly hopeless, and have lost trust in the government’s ability to free them.


“Our government has left us. It has given us up,” she quoted her husband as saying.


The angry speaker compared ministers to mummies, saying they only cared about their posts in the cabinet and lost all senses of compassion.


“You are not Lebanon, we are Lebanon,” she said, addressing the government. “We will bring them back if you fail to.”



Israel began stealing Lebanon's oil 7 years ago: Hezbollah MP


BEIRUT: Israel has been dipping into Lebanon’s offshore oil and gas reserves for years, Hezbollah MP Nawwaf Musawi warned Sunday, days after Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri made a similar statement.


“The Israeli enemy had started drilling for oil more than seven years ago,” the MP said in a statement released Sunday.


Musawi said that Israel has been violating 860 square kilometers of “Lebanon’s exclusive economic zone,” noting that the violation has yet to receive a governmental response that would allow Lebanon to reclaim the area.


Israel believes it has a claim over the area, while the U.N. considers the same region to be a disputed zone between the two countries, Musawi added.


The U.N. position means that all parties should refrain from drilling, exploration or any other form of activity, he added.


But Lebanon should immediately begin exploring the reserves and extracting what it can, especially if the oil were to be deemed a shared resource, since Israel's seven-year head start puts it at an advantage to sell.


He also warned of the possibility that Israel is using horizontal drilling to access reserves that belong exclusively to Lebanon.


“It is the duty of the government to make it a top priority to preserve Lebanon’s oil resources.”


Last week, Berri told Al-Akhbar that he had received credible information from an unnamed “international scientist” that Israel had started siphoning off gas from one of Lebanon’s reserves in an area close to the southern border with Israel.


The oil and gas is being siphoned off at a very low cost, he told the daily, vowing to raise the issue of licensing for offshore gas exploration at the start of the new year.


Last August, the Lebanese government postponed for the fifth time the first round of licensing for offshore gas exploration due to political disagreements.


The dispute was over the designation of blocks open for bidding and the terms of a draft exploration and production agreement.


Experts had warned that some international companies were re-evaluating the situation in light of the repeated delays of the licensing round.



Aoun, Geagea may meet soon for presidential talks: MPs


BEIRUT: The Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement are in continuous dialogue, and a session joining the two parties’ chiefs is expected to take place soon, lawmakers from both parties announced Sunday.


“There is nonstop communication and dialogue with the [Lebanese] Forces, and this is expected to lead to more dialogue,” Reform and Change Bloc MP Ibrahim Kanaan said in a TV interview Sunday morning. “We will attempt to agree on a common vision despite the healthy democratic competition between us.”


Lebanese Forces MP Antoine Zahra confirmed Kanaan’s comments in an interview with local radio sation Voice of Lebanon 93.3.


“The meeting between [FPM chief] Gen. Michel Aoun and [LF head] Dr. Samir Geagea might happen at any moment,” he said.


Zahra stressed that he opposed a merely symbolic dialogue between the FPM and the LF, and that the dialogue should only be held with the purpose of imrpoving ties.


“We refuse that the dialogue between the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement be for the sake of wasting time and taking pictures,” he said, adding that Aoun’s insistence on reaching the presidential post and his rejection of any other candidates has been hampering the dialogue.


Lebanon has been without head of state since May 25, when former president Michel Sleiman left office at the end of his term.


Aoun and Geagea are March 8 and March 14’s respective presidential candidates, but neither of them have enough parliamentary support to be elected.




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Lebanon mayor warns of plot to destroy his town


BEIRUT: The Army has removed checkpoints it set up in Arsal in the wake of the killing of a Lebanese policeman more than a week ago, mayor of the northeastern town Ali Hujeiri said.


In remarks published Sunday by Saudi newspaper Okaz, the mayor also warned of a plot to target residents of the border town, two days after two Arsalis were kidnapped as they drove through a nearby rival town which was home to the slain policeman.


“All the checkpoints were removed from the town and everybody is back to being rational,” Hujeiri said.


The statement came after the Army last week boosted its security measures in the town, and two days after gunmen kidnapped two Arsal residents as they passed through the nearby village of Bazzalieh.


Hujeiri said the residents of Arsal were victims of the Nusra Front's killing of policeman Ali Bazzal.


He insisted that Arsal supports the state and Army and does not have any links to terrorism, but feared that certain groups are planning to destroy Arsal and kill its residents.


The tensions between Arsal and Bazzalieh have significantly increased since Bazzal's killing. At least 25 other soldiers and policemen are still being held hostage by Nusra and ISIS on the outskirts of Arsal.


On Friday, residents of Bazzalieh reportedly abducted two men from Arsal and later freed one of them.


Residents of Bazzalieh set up checkpoints at the entrances of the town, checking IDs of passing motorists, and stirring fears among Arsalis that they might be attacked or kidnapped in retaliation of Bazzal's murder.



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