A temporary colonial frenzy that will collapse in Syria

Arab Affairs

Editorial: A temporary colonial frenzy that will collapse in Syria
The colonial West is acting as though it is witnessing a state of revival following the occupation of Libya and in light of the counterattack being waged by the United States and Europe via an alliance with Israel, Turkey and the Arab governments revolving in the Western space against the East and specifically against Syria and the resistance in Lebanon and Palestine.
– Firstly, the United States and the British and French governments are acting arrogantly in the times of visual deceit, at a time when these states and their tools are witnessing a suffocating crisis without there being any chance of seeing the rise of the forces of hegemony and colonialism once again. The wars of “humanitarian intervention” are going to collapse due to the failure that will come from Libya and the impossibility of such a war in Syria.
– Secondly, the current Libyan reality is exposing the occupation and colonial pillaging, while the Western camp and its partners is trying to establish a puppet regime whose stability is not likely in light of the mounting conflicts between the wings and the blocs that constituted the opposition. In Syria, the predicament of the Western states has become clear, as the latter are incapable of carrying out any military harassment against a unified national state whose population is supporting its national army. And while the protests are definitely retreating, the main facet of the Syrian crisis has become limited to a conflict between the national state and the militias and armed gangs supported by NATO and its partners in the region, namely Turkey, Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
– Thirdly, the partnership between Damascus and Tehran in the face of the Israeli hegemony project is no less important than the fact that Moscow, Beijing and all the capitals of the independent states around the world consider the political and diplomatic defense of Damascus as being a friction line to achieve liberation from Washington’s tyranny at the level of the international equations since the end of the Cold War.
The beginning of the end of the Syrian incidents signals the failure of the colonial campaign that targeted the country and the beginning of new balances throughout the region and the world. When the time for judgment comes, Erdogan will find that his predicament within Turkey is too big to contain, while the Saudi regime will not be distant from the repercussions of the Syrian rise and the revolution in Egypt. As for Hamad’s emirate, it is too unimportant to have any real impact during the days of international labor.

News analysis: Terrorism targeting Syria
For the fourth week in a row, retreat was witnessed at the level of the protests which were activated by the Syrian opposition movements and distanced from their spontaneous character by their armed groups. As for the media campaign participating in the plan to target Syria, it faced a new predicament on Friday as the planners and the organizers of the demonstrations tried to produce images and scenes that would earn credibility to confirm the continuation of the action.
– Firstly, the media outlets implicated in this campaign resorted to old footage that showed the extent of the fabrication, while completely disregarding the names of the locations in which they claimed there were activities against the Syrian national state, thus settling for using the general expression: “Demonstrations throughout the Syrian cities.” This happened although during the past months, they made sure to mention the names of the cities, towns and villages, even the most remote among them.
– Secondly, the people relinquished the Syrian opposition movement and refused to respond to the demonstration calls due to the exposure of the conflicting opposition formations’ foreign connections, namely with the United States and the colonial European countries, their affiliation with the Qatari and Saudi money and their ties with the intelligence apparatus of the government of Ottoman illusion. Hence, Syria is entering a new phase of confrontation with the Western plans targeting it, while the blunt American announcement of the support of the organization of armed militias on Syrian soil accompanied information regarding the introduction of hundreds of Al-Qaeda elements from the Iraqi detention camps into the country by the American occupation forces. In the meantime, Bandar Ben Sultan’s network, in cooperation with the Future Movement in Lebanon and the Jordanian intelligence, is proceeding with the smuggling of arms and money into the Syrian domestic arena.

News analysis: Abu Mazen’s predicament and the negativity of the factions
All those who witnessed the birth and evolution of Fatah and the discussions and conflicts that went on between its wings and directions, know that Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, i.e. Abu Mazen, was always known since the seventies for his calls to relinquish the arms at the peak of the Palestinian action. Abu Mazen is known for being among the most prominent callers for the acceptance of any settlement that would eliminate the right of return, consecrate Israel’s recognition and establish a disarmed entity, even if based on a formula of an administrative self-control under the Israeli occupation.
During the past years that followed the expansion of the Zionist settlements in the West Bank and the assassination of President Yasser Arafat, it became clear that the US and Israel entirely depleted the Palestinian president’s credit, at a time when all his fictive promises to the Palestinian people and the Fatah bases of achieving a breakthrough at the level of the negotiations collapsed, despite all the concessions he offered to the Israeli occupation.
President Abbas is not seeking a solution for the Palestinian cause. He wants a solution for his own political predicament on the Palestinian arena. In fact, he managed to get rid of his presidential alternative Mohammad Dahlan by opening an investigation into the assassination of President Arafat. It is known in this context that he would not have opened this investigation had he not learned that the Israel and the American intelligence apparatuses perceived Dahlan as being a suitable choice in light of the end of Abbas’s role and not due to his refusal to respect any of the commitments required of him by the Americans and the Israelis on the political and security levels, including the sustainment of the Palestinian division.
The request that was presented by Abbas before the United Nations will not change anything on the ground, as long as the alleged geographical structure of the promised mini-state was eaten up by the occupation and the settlements. But even this accomplishment is being vetoed by the US which is acting against a figure that might be the last one subdued to it on the Palestinian arena. What is odd at this level is that the command of Hamas and the other Palestinian factions are adopting a mere negative attitude in the face of the settlement expansion campaigns in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank and settling for their defensive position in the blockaded Gaza Strip. But what is odder is that these factions are not launching popular actions domestically and abroad against the United States and its allies and settling for the issuance of statements regarding their position toward recognition request and mainly against Abbas’s monopolization of the decisions. If some Hamas leaders are delusional about Erdogan’s false promises to secure their movement’s Western recognition, the installation of the missile shield to protect Israel on Turkish soil is part of the conspiracy against Syria that is being punished for embracing the Palestinian national struggle since it was launched in the sixties of last century.

News analysis: Will the Israeli army collapse within the next five years?
During the past months, fears emerged within the Israeli government over a popular revolution that could topple it due to the calls of the Israeli street for social and economic reform, its rise against the high living expenses, the demonstrations staged by tens of thousands of people and the sit ins seen in the streets of Tel Aviv among others. The Israeli government panicked and ordered the hastening of the work of the committee assigned to look into the reforms that would end the social and economic crisis. The committee recommended the decrease of the defense budget by three billion shekels throughout the next three years and the transfer of these funds to the social sectors. According to the Israeli papers, this decrease generated relief within the Finance Ministry but upset the Israeli army commanders who expressed fear over its impact on the army’s performance.
Jerusalem Post thus quoted an Israeli military source as saying that if the government were to proceed with its plans, the army will collapse within five years if not sooner and will be different than the one we currently know.
The fears expressed by the senior Israeli army commanders and the anger they detonated against the committee’s recommendations will increase the disputes within Netanyahu’s government, fuel the criticisms targeting its performance and weaken the determination of the army that was defeated by the Lebanese resistance in 2006. There is no doubt that the threat of seeing this army collapse due to the economic crisis or a new military defeat will only mean the collapse of the Hebrew state.

The Arab file

Libya
• The areas controlled by Kaddafi’s loyalists are still witnessing fierce battles with the revolutionaries, in parallel to the continuation of NATO’s raids against these positions. For his part, Colonel Kaddafi assured he was still in Libya and awaiting his martyrdom in the context of his deterrence of the West and its futile agents. The Libyan national transitional council decided during the consultations held in Benghazi in the last few days to postpone the formation of the government until after the final liberation. It is worth mentioning that Mahmud Jibril, the current Prime Minister, announced he will not be seeking a new term.

Yemen
• The Yemeni opposition announced its rejection of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s speech, in which he announced his willingness to transfer power.
• Saleh had said he was ready for a transitional process based on the Gulf initiative, but through the staging of elections. Yemen is witnessing battles between the loyalist military units and the units opposing the president, as well as among the tribes. These battles led to the fall of numerous dead and wounded.

Palestine
• Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas presented a request to earn full membership for the state of Palestine at the United Nations, announcing he will not accept the resumption of the negotiations with Israel unless this is conducted in accordance with international legitimacy and following the discontinuation of the settlement activities.
• The international Quartet stressed the necessity of seeing the resumption of the negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides within a month.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the Quartet’s call, stressing the principle of “unconditional negotiations.”

Syria
• Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem assured in Syria’s address during the meetings of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly that the positions of the states were governed by their geopolitical circumstances, the problems resulting from these circumstances and what their confrontation imposes in terms of positions and prices.
• Al-Muallem said: “The problem currently facing Syria has two aspects. The first is that the country needs political, economic and social reforms that are required by the people and confirmed by President Bashar al-Assad. However, the political circumstances pushed the internal demands - despite their importance - to second place, right after the priority of confronting the foreign pressures which at times reached the level of blunt conspiracy. As for the second aspect of what is currently witnessed in Syria, it is the exploitation of these popular needs and demands by armed groups trying to generate strife and undermine security to provide a pretext for foreign interventions that were previously confronted by Syria.”
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed his country’s concern for Syria’s security and stability, adding that Russia was continuing to consult and coordinate with it. He then praised the visit of the Russian parliamentary delegation to Syria and the positive impression with which it came out, stressing Russia’s support of the reforms being conducted in the country.
• Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the campaigns targeting Syria, stressed the depth of the exceptional relations tying the two friendly people and countries and conveyed Iran’s support for Syria in the process of achieving reform, security and stability.
• On the field, Syria witnessed kidnapping and killing operations carried out by terrorist and armed gangs against citizens, scientists and cultural elite, as well as against officers and elements from the army and the security apparatus which are still pursuing the outlaws. Additional quantities of weapons, ammunition and bombs smuggled into Syria or handmade were confiscated

Israeli file

• This week, the Jews celebrated the Hebrew New Year according to the Hebrew calendar.

• On the political level, the Israeli papers indicated that the Israeli ministerial council did not reach a decision in regard to the international Quartet’s proposal for the resumption of the negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian authority.

• The social situation in Israel also returned to the forefront of the events following the issuance of the Trachtenberg committee’s report for social change, while the papers featured the expression of disappointment by the opposition representatives, the workers unions and the leaders of the protests.

• The papers also tackled the acute dispute between the Israeli army and government following the decrease of the defense budget, under claims that this cut will place obstacles before the army’s ability to deter the threats facing Israel.

Lebanese affairs

News analysis: Jeajea establishing state within state from Maarab!
The information revealed by Lebanese businessmen Jacques Obeid regarding the details of his kidnapping in Jounieh by a group from the Internal Security Forces operating in favor of the Lebanese Forces security apparatus, dangerously signals Samir Jeajea’s use of an official Lebanese security institution to revive his security and military organization that was known for its criminality, killings, and collaboration with Israel throughout the years of the civil war.
When security men in official uniforms and the bodyguards of a deputy kidnap a Lebanese citizen, lead him to an official security post and interrogate him without any respect for the legal measures, this means the establishment of a state within a state in Kesrwan. This information is extremely dangerous and requires judicial investigation to reveal the truth and adopt judicial measures against Jeajea and his team for having formed a militia that is exploiting the state institutions.
Everyone in Lebanon knows through the media outlets that over 2,000 elements from the Lebanese Forces were introduced into the ISF during the days of Al-Sanyoura‘s and Al-Hariri’s governments. If the information revealed by Obeid is true, the operation aimed at establishing a militia security island led by Samir Jeajea under an official cover.
Political denial is useless at this level. What is firstly required is for the minister of interior to order ISF Chief General Ashraf Rifi and the head of the Information Branch Wissam al-Hassan to open an immediate investigation into this case, and for the judiciary to listen to Mr. Obeid who was the victim of a double crime carried out by a party via an official apparatus.
It seems that the targeting of the Syrian Nationalist Party members by Samir Jeajea witnessed another chapter that raises numerous questions regarding the relationship between the Lebanese forces and the armed gangs that are operating in Syria. Indeed, MTV channel which is close to the Lebanese Forces spoke about the attempted assassination of SSNP member Hassan Wehbe who was present in the city of Hama and was surrounded by armed men who beat him up and left him in the middle of the road in a very dangerous state. Directly afterwards, MTV announced that one of the accused of having participated in the eighties in an attempted assassination targeting Bashir Gemayel was injured in Hama.
A dangerous question thus revolves around what Jeajea and his security apparatus are doing in Lebanon and Syria, starting from his barricaded dens.

The Lebanese file

• Maronite Patriarch Bechara al-Rahi toured the Southern cities and towns with the participation of Amal and Hezbollah leaders, the popular bases and various dignitaries. Al-Rahi considered that his tour aimed at congratulating the Southerners for their victory and steadfastness, they who offered everything for Lebanon, saluting “all the Southerners who resisted and showed patience to allow Lebanon to remain sovereign, free and independent.” He also called for the sustainment of alertness “because we are still facing the threats of division in the region.”

• The Maronite bishops said in their first statement during the term of the new patriarch that the latter, and since the first day of his election, in accordance with the church’s and national principles, made sure to call for dialogue, understanding, unity and partnership.

• In New York, Prime Minster Najib Mikati met with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the presence of Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour. During the meeting the prime minister assured that his government’s priority was to achieve stability in Lebanon and distance it from the repercussions of the internal situation. He then reiterated Lebanon’s respect for its international commitments because “we cannot be selective at the level of respect of the international resolutions.”

• Former Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss quoted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as saying that the painful events witnessed in the country are over and that the Syrian cities that saw the incidents were regaining their full stability. He added that President Al-Assad reassured him that the difficult days will never be seen in Syria again.

• President Assad also received former Prime Minister Omar Karame and discussed the situation in Syria, as well as “the attempts to target its security and stability.” The discussions also tackled the Lebanese situation.