Iran’s president special envoy in Beirut

BEIRUT: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's special envoy Morteza Sarmadi arrived in Beirut early Wednesday for talks on bilateral relations and to brief Lebanese officials on the outcome of a recent nuclear deal cut between Tehran and the West.

A source at Beirut airport said Sarmadi arrived at dawn. Lebanon is the fifth leg of his tour of regional countries.

Iran’s official news agency IRNA said the Sarmadi is scheduled to hold talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam and Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil on the ways of expanding mutual relations, regional and global developments, Yemen, and Syria in particular.

Local newspaper An-Nahar said Sarmadi will likely meet Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah.

A political source said Sarmadi – who has visited Oman, Iraq, Tunisia and Algeria – would begin his day by visiting the grave of Imad Moughnieh, the Hezbollah military commander who was killed in a 2008 car bomb in Damascus, Syria.

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Beirut security plan to launch end of April

BEIRUT: A long-awaited security plan for Beirut and its southern suburbs will be implemented before the end of April, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Wednesday.

“The security plan, which has been implemented across many Lebanese areas, will be carried out in the capital Beirut and the southern suburbs before the end of this month,” Machnouk told local daily As-Safir.

He said he will chair a meeting of the Central Security Council on Thursday in order to resolve some outstanding points, including the share of each security institution in the implementation plan.

Machnouk said 14 wanted men, including a kingpin, have been arrested over the past few days strict the Lebanese Army and police took strict security measures along the Beirut airport road.

He said security forces will pursue and arrest other suspects, including two gang leaders.

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Chicago Mayor Keeps His Job In Tough Runoff Election

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Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel shakes hands at a campaign office Tuesday, as voters gave him a second term. He won a runoff election against Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia. M. Spencer Green/AP hide caption

itoggle caption M. Spencer Green/AP

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel shakes hands at a campaign office Tuesday, as voters gave him a second term. He won a runoff election against Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia.

M. Spencer Green/AP

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has survived a stiff challenge that forced him into a runoff and the former White House chief of staff has won a second term.

Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who had made a strong bid to become Chicago's first Latino mayor, has called Emanuel to concede the election and congratulate the mayor.

With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Emanuel had won 56 percent of the vote to Garcia's 44 percent.

Both candidates had framed the city's first-ever runoff election for mayor as one in which the future of Chicago was at stake.

In many ways, the race mirrors a struggle nationally for the future and the identity of the Democratic party between the more moderate, business friendly wing of the party (represented by Emanuel) and the more liberal or progressive wing which some political activists and analysts say is the future of the Democratic party, in Chicago and nationally.

The Chicago Board of Elections says 44 percent of the city's registered voters turned out in this historic runoff. That's up from just 34 percent turnout in the Feb. 24 election, in which Emanuel won just 45 percent of the vote.

Army kills three ISIS militants in pre-emptive border raid

BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army said it killed three ISIS militants and wounded four others in a dawn raid Tuesday on a strategic hill near the border with Syria, in the military’s latest pre-emptive attack against jihadis threatening to destabilize Lebanon. “A Lebanese Army force carried out at dawn today [Tuesday] a lightning and qualitative raid on terrorist groups on the Mkhairimeh hilltop in the highland of the town of Ras Baalbek, killing three terrorists and wounding four after clashing with them using all types of weapons,” the Army said in a statement.

According to the statement, the raid was staged after the military command had received information that “terrorist groups” were preparing logistics for combat operations on the hilltop, which overlooks Wadi Rafeq, where jihadis in the past have attempted to infiltrate Lebanon.

The Army said it also inflicted heavy damage on the militants’ weapons and equipment, including the destruction of two cannons, a number of heavy machine guns and other armored vehicles.

“The Army force returned to its position without suffering any casualties among its ranks,” the statement said.

“This raid comes as part of pre-emptive military operations carried out by Army units to destroy terrorist groups and prevent them from infiltrating to target Army outposts and attack citizens,” it added.

Mkhairimeh is opposite the Al-Jarash hilltop, which the Army seized from militants in a February attack.

A senior military official described the raid as “a very qualitative operation,” saying that Lebanese troops stormed the militants’ hideout on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek.

“The terrorists belong to ISIS. Today’s raid is part of the Army’s ongoing pre-emptive strikes against terrorism,” the official told The Daily Star.

Asked to comment on growing fears that ISIS and Nusra Front militants, entrenched in mountainous caves on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, were preparing to launch a major offensive against Lebanon when the snow melts, he said: “With snow melting or not, the Army is fully prepared to confront terrorist groups anywhere and at any time.”The policy of pre-emptive strikes was put in place after eight soldiers, including an officer, were killed and 22 others were wounded in fierce clashes with ISIS militants on the outer edge of Ras Baalbek in January.

The Army has frequently clashed with Syria-based militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front. The two groups, which fought Lebanese troops in Arsal last August, are still holding 25 soldiers and policemen hostage after killing four of their captives.

Defense Minister Samir Moqbel met Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi with whom he discussed security developments in the country, particularly the Army’s raid on the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, in addition to the military institution’s needs, the National News Agency reported.

The French Defense Ministry had said it would begin shipping $3 billion worth of weapons paid for by Saudi Arabia to the Lebanese Army in April.

Under the deal first announced in 2013, France will supply armored vehicles, warships, attack helicopters, munitions and communication gear to the Lebanese military. The weapons are designed to bolster the Army’s capabilities in the battle against terrorism.

Kahwagi also met at his office in the Defense Ministry in Yarze with Gen. Michael Nagata, commander of special forces in U.S. Central Command, in the presence of U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale.

Discussions dealt with cooperation between the armies of the two countries, especially the training and equipping of the Lebanese Army’s special regiments, the NNA said.

Negata’s meeting with Kahwagi came a day after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed continued U.S. military assistance to help the Lebanese Army and security forces in the battle against terrorism.

“We continue to support the security services as they protect and preserve Lebanon’s security, stability, independence and sovereignty on behalf of all Lebanese,” Blinken said in a statement after holding talks with Prime Minister Tammam Salam Monday. “Our security assistance – training, equipment, weapons, and ammunition – totals more than $1 billion over the past nine years.”

Meanwhile, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim said social security was essential for dealing with the threat of terrorism.

“Social security is the compulsory passage to any nonmilitary solution to the issue of terrorism, or any other security issue that leads to instability,” Ibrahim said in an editorial published in the monthly General Security magazine Tuesday.

“It is not enough to tell someone: ‘Beware falling into the abyss of terrorism or surrender to violence.’ You must convince him and help him understand this, and dry up the sources that attract him to this quagmire,” he added.

“Social security and economic security are related and both do not conflict with educational security, which will not be [organized] without a contemporary, realistic and objective writing of Lebanon’s history,” said Ibrahim, whose General Security personnel have thwarted a series of terrorist attacks by staging pre-emptive strikes against extremist cells.

When elements of social security are made available within society, Ibrahim said, “this will lead to calm and peace in relations among the people, and facilitates the security mission of both military and security forces, making them more effective and capable of ensuring stability and civil peace, and of protecting the country.”

“Achieving national security based on strong pillars and foundations begins with building a comprehensive national security strategy ... that would take into consideration contemporary regional and international challenges and threats,” Ibrahim added.

Jumblatt says Iran closing in on Syrian Druze areas

BEIRUT: Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard are closing in on Druze areas in Syria, Progressive Socialist Party Leader Walid Jumblatt warned Tuesday, reiterating calls for Lebanon to stand neutral in regional conflicts. “Information shows that thousands of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reached the Swaida area in Jabal al-Druze or Jabal al-Arab in Syria,” Jumblatt said via Twitter, hinting that this might have drastic repercussions for the minority community in Syria.

“What worries me the most is the fate of Arab Druze in this region,” the Druze leader tweeted, referring to Swaida.

Jumblatt said the presence of the Iranian military in the area demonstrated a clear connection between the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah, both supporting President Bashar Assad’s regime. “It has become a reality that if not for Iran, the Syrian regime would’ve collapsed a long time ago,” Jumblatt added.

Since the Syrian uprising began in 2011, Jumblatt, a vocal critic of the Syrian regime, has called on Syrian Druze to stay neutral in the war.

In his weekly column for Al-Anbaa electronic newspaper, Jumblatt said that a military solution to the crisis would only prolong the war in Syria.

“Since the beginning we disagreed with some of our partners in the country over how to read and analyze the situation in Syria when it was still a peaceful revolution,” Jumblatt said. “We saw the need to meet the people’s rightful and legitimate demands for change and freedom, but we warned against military options that might destroy Syria.”

Jumblatt explained that the opposing factions at that time had asserted that matters would be settled in a short time. “And here is Syria, being destroyed for five years now.”

Jumblatt is a long-time proponent of non-intervention in the Syrian crisis and has criticized Hezbollah’s fighting alongside the Syrian regime.

“From the start we were against any kind of intervention in Syria by any side and on any level,” he said.

Jumblatt also warned against involving Lebanon in conflicts in Iraq and Yemen, arguing that Lebanon always ends up paying the price for such allegiances.

“We think that wisdom, reason and national duty forces us to look out for Lebanese interests,” Jumblatt said.

Lebanon’s internal unity, security and stability should be promoted because the country’s political reality cannot bear any more division, he said.

Rival camps laud Iran nuclear deal

BEIRUT: Parliamentary blocs on both sides of the political spectrum Tuesday praised last week’s framework nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers, hoping that the deal would strengthen security and stability in the turbulent region. Meanwhile, a senior political source called for the election of a new president without waiting for the outcome of the Iran nuclear deal or any other regional or international developments.

Asked whether Iran’s deal with world powers over its nuclear program would facilitate the presidential vote, the source told The Daily Star: “So far, nothing has happened in this direction. But a new president must be elected in isolation of any regional or international considerations as U.S. official [Antony] Blinken has hinted during his visit to Lebanon yesterday [Monday].”

However, the Future bloc called for the nuclear deal to be coupled with a change in Iran’s policies in the region, where it has been accused by Arab Gulf states of inciting sectarian tensions and conflicts with its intervention in the internal affairs of regional countries.

“The bloc hopes that Iran’s agreement with the P5+1 states will constitute a step on the road to making the entire Middle East region free of any weapons of mass destruction,” said a statement released after the bloc’s weekly meeting.

The bloc underlined the need for “this agreement on Iran’s nuclear program to be coupled with a change in Iran’s policies in the region, whereby it will stop exporting sectarian strife, unleashing storms of sectarian fanaticism and ending its dreams of empire,” the statement said.

It added that Iran, after the nuclear deal with Western powers, should move toward “exercising a positive and constructive role starting with respecting international legitimacy, international law and the principles of good neighborliness.”

The bloc reiterated its support for the “Decisive Storm” operation, the Saudi-led airstrikes that began on March 26 against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, saying the operation reflected an “Arab will to confront Iran’s expansionist imperial ambitions.”

The bloc implicitly lashed out at Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah for attacking Saudi Arabia and for defending the nuclear deal with the “Great Satan.”

“Great Satan” is a term used by Iran and its allies in Lebanon, mainly Hezbollah, to refer to the United States.

In a TV interview Monday, Nasrallah said the nuclear agreement would bolster Iran’s role in the region and would ward off the specter of a regional war. He also blasted Saudi Arabia’s role in Yemen, saying its military intervention in the impoverished Gulf country was doomed to fail.

“The bloc is surprised that the one [Nasrallah] who has long considered America as the “Great Satan,” and that any agreement with it would be high treason, is today in the position of defending the agreement with the “Great Satan” and has moved to [verbally] attack the Arabs, Arabism and its symbols – on top of which is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the Future MPs said in their statement.

The Kataeb Party, a long-time critic of Hezbollah and Iran’s role in Lebanon, said the nuclear deal would have “a positive impact on boosting security and stability in the region and the world and strengthening international relations and commitment to the principles of good neighborliness among states.”

A statement issued after a meeting of the party’s political bureau chaired by party leader Amine Gemayel urged the Lebanese “to realize these strategic developments in the region and work so that they can be a factor of peace for Lebanon rather than a new pretext for internal conflicts.”

The Iran nuclear deal was also praised by MP Michel Aoun’s parliamentary Change and Reform bloc.

“The international-Iranian nuclear agreement has made Iran a stabilizing power in the region. This balance is supplementary to stability. This is what Gen. Michel Aoun has referred to,” former Labor Minister Salim Jreissati said in a statement after the bloc’s weekly meeting chaired by Aoun at his residence in Rabieh.

Lebanese Forces MP George Adwan said Iran would expand its influence in the region as a result of its nuclear deal with the West.

“When the sanctions are lifted, Iran will be at ease economically and it will boost its role or intervention in areas where it has been intervening,” Adwan said in an interview with Al-Jadeed TV.

He said the LF, which along with other March 14 parties have opposed a gift from Iran to equip the Lebanese Army because of the U.N. sanctions on Tehran, is now ready to support the military gift “if there are no international risks.”

Meanwhile, the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri met with Speaker Nabih Berri in Ain al-Tineh to discuss developments in the region, the National News Agency said. The meeting came amid tension between Hezbollah and Saudi Arabia over the Yemen war after Nasrallah lambasted Riyadh for its military intervention in Yemen.

Separately, Spain’s King Felipe VI called for “peace and harmony” in Lebanon during a visit to Beirut, saying his country remained committed to keeping its UNIFIL troops in southern Lebanon despite the recent death of a Spanish peacekeeper.

“Spain’s commitment to this [peacekeeping] aim is firm and decided,” Felipe said in a speech in Beirut, according to a text in Spanish released by the palace in Spain.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam offered his condolences to the Spanish king over the January death of Cpl. Javier Soria Toledo, 36, who was killed in Israeli shelling.

Salam offered his condolences during a meeting with the king in the Grand Serail two days after a confidential Spanish military report on the death of the peacekeeper said his position was deliberately targeted by Israeli forces.

The premier voiced his gratitude for Spain’s participation in UNIFIL’s mission along Lebanon’s southern border with Israel.

The 10,000-strong UNIFIL force includes some 600 Spanish soldiers and troops from 35 other nations.

Salam lauded efforts undertaken by Spanish peacekeepers, who he said “have succeeded in forging the best of ties with south Lebanon residents.”

A statement released by Salam’s media office said that talks focused on “general issues of interest to the Lebanese government and the Spanish kingdom,” as well as bilateral relations between the two countries.

Three truck drivers back in Lebanon, one still missing

BEIRUT: Three of the Lebanese truck drivers who were kidnapped at the Nassib crossing on the Syrian-Jordanian border arrived in Lebanon Tuesday, while one remains in captivity, a truck owner said. “Three of the four trucks drivers that we couldn’t reach yesterday have now entered Lebanon,” Assem Alam, the associate of Seer al-Dinnieh Mayor Ahmad Alam, told The Daily Star Tuesday. “The fourth is still missing.”

The mayor owns at least eight of the trucks that had been stuck at the Syrian-Jordanian crossing since last Tuesday.

His assistant added that around 25 truckers were waiting at the Masnaa border crossing in east Lebanon for a permit to drive their trucks into the country.

The crossing was taken over by Syrian rebels last Wednesday, one day after it was shut from the Jordanian side over security concerns.

Economy Minister Alain Hakim told NBN TV in an interview Tuesday morning that the kidnappers still held five truck drivers of unknown nationalities at the Nassib crossing.

As for the Lebanese truckers, 14 were released and nine of them already entered Lebanon, he said, adding that 140 others were stuck on the Jordanian side of the border with Saudi Arabia.

His numbers contradicted those of a spokesman from the General Security, which is in charge of border control, who had told The Daily Star that a total of 16 truckers entered Lebanon on April 5 and 6.

He was not available for comment Tuesday.

The numbers mentioned by Hakim had been stated in a report by a local newspaper earlier in the day.

“Up until last night a total of 14 refrigerated truck drivers have been released,” the head of the Refrigerated Trucks Union Omar al-Ali told the local daily. “The fate of about five other truckers is still unknown.”

Ali said more than 120 truck drivers were still stranded at the Jordanian-Saudi border and could not return home due to the closure of the frontier. The number is 140, according to Hakim.

“It’s true that they are in a safe place but they cannot return to Lebanon due to the closure of the Jordanian border,” Ali said.

The truckers had addressed Lebanese authorities Sunday demanding to be transported with their trucks in a ship to Lebanon.

They said their Saudi permits were expiring and the road through Jordan was blocked by developments at the Nassib crossing.