Nasrallah lambastes Saudi Arabia, draws Hariri rebuke

BEIRUT: Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah launched a fierce tirade against Saudi Arabia Friday night, saying its military offensive in Yemen was doomed to fail and vowing that the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels would emerge victorious from the “Saudi-U.S. aggression.”

Nasrallah’s remarks drew a quick response from former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who said the Lebanese were treated to “a storm of hatred against Saudi Arabia and Gulf states in response to the “Decisive Storm” campaign against the Iranian infiltration in Yemen.”

“This storm of hatred deserves only to be ignored because it is the outcome of anger, frustration and tension,” Hariri said on his Twitter account Friday night.

Hariri, however, pledged to pursue his Future Movement’s 3-month-old dialogue with Hezbollah “because the interests of our country are above any other consideration.”

“We stress the need to continue the dialogue in order to protect Lebanon,” he said.

In a fiery speech broadcast by Al-Manar TV and other local channels, Nasrallah said there was still a chance to reach a political solution to end the bloody conflict in Yemen, which has opened a new front in a long-brewing rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran.

He blasted Saudi Arabia for spearheading a coalition of 10 countries to launch a campaign against Yemen, while failing to carry out a similar action to save the Palestinians from Israeli killing and repression in their decadeslong struggle with Israel.

Speaking on the second day of the Saudi-led military assault against the Houthi rebels, Nasrallah said Hezbollah would have joined the coalition if its warplanes targeted Israel instead of Yemen.

He accused Riyadh of launching the war in an attempt to regain control over Yemen and rejected Saudi claims that Iran posed a threat to the kingdom and other Gulf states.

“The real reason for this war is that Saudi Arabia has failed in Yemen and felt that Yemen now belongs to its people and to real sovereign forces that do not fall under the hegemony of anyone,” Nasrallah said. “The aim [of the war] is to regain control and hegemony over Yemen.”

Nasrallah , who has voiced support in past speeches for the Houthis in their power struggle in Yemen, called for the “aggression” to stop and for the resumption of talks aimed at a political solution to the conflict.

“We call on the people of governments joining the coalition to consider that the blood of their armies are spilling in Yemen for the sole purpose of helping Saudi royalty reclaim control over Yemen,” he said. “A chance still exists for a political solution ... Let there be an Arab or a Muslim initiative [to end the conflict], or else invaders will be doomed to defeat and disgrace,” he added. “The Saudis must not be happy with some air raids. All military schools know that aerial bombing will not make victory.”

“It is the right of the oppressed and brave Yemeni people to defend and resist the aggression. They will do and they will emerge victorious because these are the laws of God and history,” Nasrallah said.

He rejected Gulf states’ claims that Iran was threatening to intervene and control the region and that Yemen was under Iranian occupation.

“Where is the evidence that Yemen is occupied by Iran? Where are the Iranian armies in Yemen? Are there Iranian bases in Yemen? These are lies,” the Hezbollah chief said.

In some of his harshest comments to date, Nasrallah accused Saudi Arabia of sending suicide bombers to Iraq and of creating the ISIS group. Addressing Saudi Arabia, he said Iran had expanded its influence in the region because “you are lazy, losers and you don’t take responsibility.”

Responding to Nasrallah, Hariri said: “Insistence on placing Iran’s interests above Lebanon’s has been existing for years. We will not recognize its benefits and we will not be pushed today to match it with hasty responses.”

He added that Lebanon’s relations with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states would not be shaken by “malicious campaigns.”

“Saudi Arabia has offered Lebanon and Arab states peace and honest brotherly support, while others have offered and are still offering sophisticated plans for wars, conflicts and hegemony,” Hariri said in a clear reference to Iran.

Nasrallah expressed hope that “this new political division in the Gulf” would not lead to negative repercussions in Lebanon, especially with regards to the government and dialogue with the Future Movement.

With regards to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Nasrallah said he wasn’t concerned with developments at the U.N.-backed court since the party didn’t recognize the legitimacy of the tribunal.

U.S. special forces operating recon drones in Lebanon

BEIRUT: U.S. special forces personnel are operating pilotless reconnaissance drones in Lebanon to help the Lebanese Army confront ISIS and other extremist groups entrenched along the northeast border with Syria, The Daily Star has learned.

The drone support is part of an accelerated package of military assistance, including weapons and ammunition, provided by Washington to bolster the Lebanese Army in recognition of the continuing threat posed by radical groups and expectations of “spring offensives” being waged by one or more parties along the volatile eastern border in the coming weeks.

The Lebanese Army’s current air assets along the northeast border consist of two Cessna Caravan aircraft, one of which is armed with laser-guided Hellfire missiles while the other is unarmed and used in a reconnaissance-only capacity.

The Cessnas, which are designed for counterinsurgency operations, have played a significant role in aiding the Lebanese Army against the militants holed up in the mountains opposite Ras Baalbek and Arsal. Both can track the movement and monitor the positions of the militants, while the armed Cessna provided fire support in recent battles waged by the army in Tallet al-Hamra east of Ras Baalbek in January and the subsequent assault and capture of the adjacent Jabal Jarash.

The unarmed Cessna will soon be fitted to carry Hellfire missiles and should be operational in four months’ time. A third armed Cessna will join the fleet in December.

To augment the Lebanese Army’s surveillance capabilities in the area, the U.S., at the Defense Ministry’s request, is operating two Aerosonde MK 4.7 unarmed reconnaissance drones out of Hamat air base near Batroun, according to several military and diplomatic sources.

The Aerosonde is a small catapult-launched midendurance reconnaissance drone with a 10-hour flying time. In 2012, the aircraft was selected by U.S. Special Forces command for its midendurance reconnaissance needs on a three-year contract.

A diplomatic source said that the Lebanese Army had been “very aggressive in tasking” the drones on reconnaissance missions along the northeast border.

The Aerosonde is not the only drone plowing the skies above the northern Bekaa Valley. Other than Israeli drones which regularly breach Lebanese airspace to circle above the Baalbek and Hermel regions, Hezbollah is also operating some of its own drones in the northeast ahead of the party’s widely anticipated offensive against ISIS, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front and Syrian rebel factions in Qalamoun.In another of the many ironies of the convoluted and intertwined conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Hezbollah and the U.S. military, through its technical and logistical support for the Lebanese Army, find themselves tacit allies in the fight against the extremists dug into the mountains straddling the Lebanon-Syria border. The drones of both U.S. special forces and Hezbollah are monitoring the same enemy. That raises the intriguing – but as yet unanswered – question as to whether there is any sharing of intelligence data collected by the drones operated by Hezbollah and the Americans.

Since the battle of Arsal last August, the Lebanese Army has greatly improved its defensive posture along the northeast border in a line between Naamat, northeast of Al-Qaa to just south of Arsal, an average of 8.5 kilometers distance from the border.

Although there has been some discussion within Army circles to push toward the border, an offensive is unlikely to occur until at least after the arrival of the initial tranches of French weapons and equipment as part of the Saudi $3 billion arms package.

The French deal has taken longer than expected to materialize, but diplomatic sources familiar with the agreement say that delays were to be expected given the nature of a large and complicated one-off package.

The deal includes items from the mundane such as large quantities of ammunition to advanced systems including a military air traffic control system and the Combattante FS 56 fast attack naval vessel.

Some of the larger items are not in stock in France and require dedicated production runs which means not all the promised systems will arrive for at least another two to three years.

Meanwhile, the U.S. has been able to swiftly expedite much-needed arms, ammunition and equipment to the Lebanese Army because the purchase-and-transfer system is already in place and has helped deliver over $1 billion in material over the past eight years.

According to the U.S. Embassy, recent acquisitions of U.S. arms by the Lebanese Army include 72 M198 towed 155mm artillery guns, 29 armored humvees, 30 M113 armored personnel carriers and 12 M109 self-propelled 155mm artillery guns from Jordan.

Jordanian instructors are due in Lebanon at the end of the month to train the Army’s 1st Artillery Regiment on the new system. Deliveries in the coming days and weeks include 239 TOW2 anti-tank missiles along with 20 launchers, 1,000 M16A4 assault rifles and $32.5 million worth of ammunition from small arms to artillery.

Funding for the armaments comes from the existing U.S. Foreign Military Financing program as well as the Saudi $1 billion grant offered last August of which approximately half is allocated to the Lebanese Army.

In the longer term, six Super Tucano light attack and reconnaissance turbo prop aircraft are on order.

Although Lebanon was allowed to “jump the queue” over other international orders for the aircraft, the six Super Tucanos are not expected to arrive until 2018, the diplomatic sources said.

The Lebanese Army’s six Huey II helicopters will be augmented by another three in the next delivery. Eventually, the fleet will total 18 Huey IIs with the older Huey Is being phased out.

The Lebanese Army is also exploring with the U.S. the possibility of purchasing 77 M1A1 tanks. If the deal goes ahead, the M1A1s would replace the Army’s current inventory of T54/55, M48 and M60 tanks, the diplomatic sources said.

A life of hurt for Syria’s Palestinians

SIDON, Lebanon: On the second floor of the Malaab Building, at the entrance of Ain al-Hilweh, Umm Ammar Ghar sits in a small room roofed with plastic boards. Ghar came to Lebanon from Syria’s Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp after fighting erupted there.

“Fate carried me to Lebanon,” Ghar said. “I used to own two buildings, one inside the Yarmouk camp and the other outside it. My financial situation was excellent; I used to make a living off the rent.”

But when the Syrian crisis started, everything went downhill, she explained. People began to leave the camp as the situation deteriorated and became dangerous. After the death of her son, Ghar is now also responsible for two grandchildren.

Beginning in 2012, thousands of Palestinians fleeing Syria looked for refuge in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian camps. More than 8,000 settled in Ain al-Hilweh, the largest, some settled in the nearby Mieh Mieh camp, while others joined relatives spread across the other 10.

Most of these refugees are from Syria’s Yarmouk, Sayyida Zeinab and Husseinieh camps and took only their identity papers when they left.

Although the number of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon coming from Syria has reportedly decreased, the intensity of their suffering continues unabated. Local relief organizations are trying to help, but with UNRWA reducing the level of aid it provides, the lives of thousands of refugees have become more difficult.

At the southern entrance of Ain al-Hilweh, the al-Furqan Association for Charity Work distributes milk bottles.

Fawzeya Sakr stood in a queue, holding her child, as she waited for her name to be called out. She receives three bottles of dried milk.

“Thank God,” she said. “There’s someone who’s thinking about us and providing us with milk for the children.” Sakr, who gave birth to her second child in Lebanon, said she hoped the international community would extend more help to refugees.

The Palestinian camps in Lebanon were already impoverished and overcrowded when the Syrian war began, and were ill-equipped to handle the influx.

The Kifah School has been turned into a shelter for around 40 families; 128 people, mostly from Yarmouk and Sayyida Zeinab, now live there.

Standing near the school, 6-year-old Ali Shehadeh carries 1,000 Syrian pounds that his father kept with him when he came from Syria.

“I don’t know how many sweets I can buy with this,” he said.

Women in the complex share two washing machines. Umm Diab has just one hour to use it before it’s her neighbor’s turn.

“We live a miserable life of poverty and negligence,” Diab said. “I pray to God that there will be a spark of hope so that we feel we’re living and can move from this darkness to the light.”

Ahmad Younis lives with his family at the shelter. He came to Lebanon from the Sayyida Zeinab camp in 2012. Like many refugees, Younis had to flee the war to keep his family safe.

“I used to own a house and a large part of it was destroyed,” he said. “I lost 24 of my relatives.”

Younis used to work as a print engineer, but has had difficulty finding a job that will provide a decent livelihood. He works odd jobs and hopes to make enough money by the end of the day.

“We are suffering from unemployment and the biggest concern is rent,” Younis said. “In Syria, we were blessed with security and peace; we had nothing to do with [the fighting].”

Younis said he hoped to travel to Europe to establish a better life, a dream shared by many refugees.

Ibrahim Maqdah, the secretary of the Union of Islamic Institutions in Ain al-Hilweh, explained to The Daily Star that while organizations try to meet the needs of refugees, there are a number of barriers to doing so.

“The beginning of the refugee crisis was miserable and reminded us of the tragedy of our displacement from Palestine,” Maqdah said.

But as the Syrian war enters its fifth year, the number of Palestinian refugees coming from Syria has stabilized, according to Maqdah.

However, he said, their tragic situation continues. “Palestinian refugees who fled Syria to Lebanon aren’t considered to be refugees; rather their treatment is based on a residency [paper] that the Lebanese government demands.” This presents a problem, he said, as many aren’t able to afford it.

Maqdah also bemoaned the reduction in support provided by UNRWA. He said the organization still provides refugees with $100 to pay for rent, but has cut back other vital services.

“Everyone knows that the minimum cost for a room, kitchen and toilet is $300 per month,” protested Maqdah, adding that aid organizations struggle to make up the rest.

Medical care is also another area of neglect, according to Maqdah.

“The number of families now is 1,500; in 2014 there were 3,000 families, but many returned to Syria, emigrated, or died in the sea [making the passage to Europe],” he said. Many of the ones who left, Maqdah added, decided that in both cases they could be considered dead, be it in Lebanon due to the harsh living conditions or in Syria as a result of the fighting.

“Many of these families don’t have someone to support them.”

Maqdah said the Union of Islamic Institutions treats all refugees equally, based on their level of need.

“We don’t discriminate between Palestinian Syrian and native Syrians,” Maqdah explained. “We don’t ask refugees about their political affiliations because they’re refugees, so we don’t interfere in their personal affairs.”

He said the institutions provide food and urgent assistance such as milk and diapers for children, as well as cooking equipment.

“Palestinian Syrian [refugees] have the right to study, so many students have been enrolled in schools. We also hold educational workshops,” he said.

The institutions also have a psychological support program for children. However, Maqdah said there are 88 people with disabilities who require higher quality care than they can currently provide.

Palestinian Syrian refugee Hanan Ahmad does social work with women and girls and explained that the refugees’ problems extend far beyond material deprivation. “Providing services doesn’t stop with shelter, food and medication,” she said. “We follow up on them socially when there are problems among the families that we need to solve.”

However, despite such efforts, the outlook for Syria’s Palestinians refugees remains bleak.

Childhood cancer combatted with new donations app

BEIRUT: The Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon launched a new campaign Friday that would allow people to donate to the charity directly from their smartphone. The new app “Light a Candle” will allow users to donate $1, $5, $10 or $20, which will be deducted from their prepaid bills or added to their postpaid bills.

“It’s like lighting a candle for your child,” CCCL General Manager Hana Chaar Choueib told The Daily Star. “We hope that all the people will light candles for our children in order to ensure a new life for them.”

The “Light a Candle” initiative was started through a partnership between telecommunications company touch and the CCCL. It was launched at the Yacht Club in Zaitunay Bay Friday.

CCCL is a nonprofit association that deals with the treatment of children with cancer, and was set up 13 years ago. All CCCL patients are treated for free. According to Choueib, each child’s treatment costs $50,000 per year and, according to their website, CCCL have a very strong cure rate of 80 percent.

According to a 2012 National Health Statistics Report, there were almost 200 children under the age of 15 who were diagnosed with cancer in 2007, 3.8 percent of the total cancer cases in Lebanon.

Choueib is hoping that this campaign will help them raise more funds as the organization relies entirely on donations.

The new app will be available throughout 2015 and may be renewed next year if the campaign is successful, she said. However, the app is only available on Google Play, and therefore only users with Android phones who are subscribed to touch will be able to use the app.

Choueib and several others spoke at the launching event, including Vice Chairman and General Manager of touch Wassim Mansour, the mother of a previous CCCL patient Gita Bou Nader and Telecommunications Minister Boutros Harb.

Harb expressed his support for the campaign and highlighted that initiatives such as this should take priority over political ones.

Bou Nader, whose daughter was cured of cancer at CCCL, also expressed her heartfelt support for the “Light a Candle” campaign.

“I have been lighting a candle for my daughter Thea every day for the last five years,” she said during her address. “The CCCL has had a major role in Thea’s recovery and her triumph over cancer. I am eternally grateful to the CCCL donors whose support has saved my daughter’s life.

“The survival of the center is the guarantee of the survival of children with cancer in Lebanon.”

Gas tank explosion causes major fire in Adonis factory

BEIRUT: A gas tank explosion at a cosmetics factory 40 kilometers north of Beirut sparked a major fire Friday that spread to two nearby buildings and injured at least three people, security sources said.

The factory, owned by Elie Antoine Maalouf in an industrial neighborhood in Adonis, caught fire around 5 p.m. Friday, the sources said. They explained that the structure produced shampoo, soap and cosmetics, including hairspray.

Flammable chemicals used to make some of the products may explain the rapid speed at which the fire spread. All three floors of the building were engulfed in flames.

Civil Defense confirmed that the fire resulted from a gas tank explosion inside the factory, and said their firefighting teams were trying to put it out.

Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan said preliminary information indicated that the fire was caused by a gas leakage which happened when a gas tank driver hit the factory’s outer wall. The gas spread and reacted with the chemicals inside the factory, leading to the explosion and fire.

Lebanese Red Cross chief Georges Kettaneh told MTV that three people inside the factory were injured in the fire, and that it had spread to two neighboring buildings.

The nearby buildings were evacuated, Kettaneh added.

Hajj Hasan expressed his deep regrets about the accident, expressing his relief that no one was killed by the fire. The minister said that the factory was licensed by the Industry Ministry and met the technical requirements it stipulated.

Such incidents have become a regular occurrence, with many factories in Lebanon not resorting to required safety measures.

Last month, a large fire swept through a factory north of Beirut that specializes in fire-rated wood, leaving seven employees injured and one missing. The fire erupted on the second floor of a factory owned by Khalil Matar in the industrial zone of Dikwaneh, in the Metn district of Mount Lebanon.

Army seizes hilltops from militants in dawn raid

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army seized Friday at dawn positions used by jihadi militants to infiltrate Lebanon’s northeastern border, scoring a new success in its confrontation with Islamist fighters. Meanwhile, the Syrian army, backed by Hezbollah fighters, drove Syrian rebels Friday out of several hills in Syria’s Zabadani region, a security source told The Daily Star.

The source said that regime forces captured 11 bodies of Syrian opposition fighters during fierce clashes.

“Army units carried out a ‘lightening fast’ operation on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal, seizing full control of some positions used by terrorist organizations to infiltrate [Lebanon] and wage attacks against Army positions,” an Army statement read.

The Army established a military presence in the area and has linked the new positions to other Army posts stationed along the border.

According to the statement, the move is part of military efforts aimed at securing Army posts and Lebanese villages and towns that lie close to the eastern border, in order to “prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups and [thwart] attacks on the people.”

Speaking to The Daily Star, a senior Army source said that the military was “nibbling away” at the jihadis’ positions.

“We are advancing every time we see that the time and our military situation is appropriate.” The source also described the hills seized by the Army Friday as “very important.”

“We are getting closer to [the jihadis] and tightening the noose on them,” he added.

The Army’s action came around a month after troops conducted a similar operation in the village of Ras Baalbek, also on the northeastern border, seizing two strategic hilltops above the town.

“By now, we have warded off danger from all towns and villages in the area, such as Arsal and Ras Baalbek,” the source said.

The military has significantly fortified its positions along the eastern border following a five-day battle last August with militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front, who briefly entered Arsal and captured over 30 servicemen.

ISIS beheaded two of the captured security personnel and the Nusra Front shot dead two others. Around 25 are still held by the groups.

Also Friday, the Lebanese Army announced the arrest of two men in Arsal suspected of involvement in last summer’s battles.

The two suspects, identified as Ahmad Ali Kornobi and Ali Abdullah Kornobi, were wanted over terror charges.

Besides allegedly participating in the Arsal battles, the two detainees are suspected to have been involved in the kidnapping of the Lebanese servicemen. Security sources told The Daily Star the two suspects are affiliated with the Nusra Front.

Earlier this week, the Lebanese Army detained two “terrorists,” including an ISIS suspect accused of beheading one of the soldiers.

Separately, the Central News Agency reported that Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammad bin Salman could visit Lebanon next month to see the arrival of the first batch of French weapons to be delivered to the Lebanese Army as part of a $3 billion Saudi-funded arms deal.

Media reports said that French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian would also be attending.

Week in Review: 5 Years of the ACA, Our Fifth Science Fair, and a Talk About the War on Drugs

This week, the President celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act becoming law, hosted students at the fifth-annual White House Science Fair, sat down with the creator of “The Wire” to discuss criminal justice policy, and traveled to Birmingham, Alabama to highlight new actions to crack down on abusive payday lending practices.

Find out more about the past week in our latest weekly wrap-up.

5 Years Later

On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed a historic law that has transformed the lives of millions of Americans. Thanks to Obamacare, people across the country have more affordable coverage, higher-quality care, and better health.

Today, more than 16 million Americans have gained health coverage that suits their needs. 76 million people are now benefiting from preventive care coverage. Up to 129 million people with pre-existing conditions are no longer at risk of being denied coverage.

5 years ago, we declared that quality, affordable health care is a right, not a privilege: http://bit.ly/1xGN0ne #BetterWithObamacare –bo

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 23, 2015

The facts are in: The Affordable Care Act is working. Look back at the passage of the Affordable Care Act and see all it's done for America since.

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