Uprooted Palestinian: SALAM ALQUDS ALAYKUM – سلام القدس عليكم

Sunday, 12 June 2016

Russia Defense Report: Russian Forces in Armenia

Written and produced by SF Team: J.Hawk, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson

The Russian military involvement in assistance of the government of Syria had led to a sharp deterioration of relations between Russia and Turkey, which until recently had been seen as if not an ally then at least a solid partner. While the reasons for Turkish president Erdogan’s betrayal of trust with Russia are still not fully known, this unexpected turn of events had instantly elevated the importance of the Russian military contingent in Armenia, a country which is not only tied to Russia by a range of collective security treaties but also shares a long border with Turkey, which is after all a member of NATO, as well as with Azerbaijan and Georgia, both of which have been building their ties to NATO in recent years. Which means that Armenia is the Transcaucasus equivalent of Belarus–a buffer state between the suddenly hostile NATO and Russia. Any escalation of the Russia-NATO differences of opinion over the future of Syria would necessarily involve the Russian forces already stationed there, plus whatever reinforcements could be sent to the area.

The presence of Russian forces in Armenia is also significant for the reason of the still unresolved Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over the future of Nagorno-Karabakh. Given Armenia’s geographic importance and its political and military alignment with Russia through the Collective Security Treat Organization and the Eurasian Economic Union, one also has to keep in mind that Armenia represents a tempting “color revolution” target. For that reason, Russian troops stationed there can rightly consider themselves to be part of a frontline deployment.

The permanent contingent of Russian forces in that country centers around the 102nd Military Base near the city of Gyumri, with Russian troops enjoying basing rights there thanks to a bilateral Russia-Armenia agreement until 2044. The 102nd Base was established on the basis of the 127th Motorized Rifle Division that was based in Gyumri. Its equipment strength includes 74 Main Battle Tanks, nearly 200 BTRs and BMPs, as well as artillery systems including long-range Smerch MRLs, which is equivalent to a reduced-strength motorized rifle division of three motorized rifle regiments (each with one tank company) plus a separate tank battalion, consistent with the number of 4500 Russian soldiers stationed at Gyumri. The 102nd is not the only such formation in existence–the 201st Military Base in Tajikistan that is intended to help maintain security in Central Asia also as part of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, has roughly similar organization and strength.

However, while the 201st only needs to worry about Taliban, Al Qaeda, and, now also ISIS infiltration from Afghanistan, the 102nd is based in close proximity to a NATO state which necessitates protection against air attack. That protection is provided by the 988th Air Defense Missile Regiment with S-300 and Buk-M systems and a flight of MiG-29SMT fighters based at the nearby Erebuni airfield which recently also received 18 Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters. Rounding off the 13 thousand strong Russian contingent in Armenia are the 4.5 thousand FSB Border Guards based at Gyumri, Armavir, Artashat, and Megri.

This force serves a number of peacetime functions. It extends Russian conventional deterrence umbrella over Armenia against any external attempts to violate Armenia’s sovereignty. It helps integrate Armenia into the CSTO, with Russian troops serving as military trainers and advisors in a fashion similar to the role their counterparts played in Syria. Indeed, Russian and Armenian forces hold frequent joint military exercises to hone their interoperability. Should the situation deteriorate, the 102nd’s organization and strength make it suitable to wage a low intensity counter-insurgency campaign against well organized “foreign fighters” and, in the event of a major military threat to Armenia, it is sufficiently powerful to screen Armenia’s borders until reinforcements could be sent, while bombarding key enemy sites with Iskander-M missiles. Even though Armenia does not share a border with Russia, it does have one with Iran, whose close security relationship with Russia shows no signs of weakening which means that, should the worst come to worst, Iranian airspace could be used to reinforce Armenia.

Current Russian national security plans foresee the Russian force grouping in Armenia to be increased, as part of the overall enhancement of the role of CSTO in guaranteeing regional security and in response to increased NATO activity in the region. What happens next is really up to the West. Should it insist on continuing the course toward confrontation, Russian forces in Armenia could greatly complicate its strategic calculations.

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Hidden Struggle: Why Kurds 'Must be Kept Under the Roof of Damascus'

Female fighters from the Kurdish People Protection Unit (YPG) take a break on the front line in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh on September 4, 2015.

11.06.2016

Ekaterina Blinova

A hidden struggle for hearts and minds is going on in Syria: Western geopolitical players are trying to establish their control over the region by hook or by crook, Syrian political analyst Ghassan Kadi told Sputnik. However, this time a new “Sykes-Picot” plan won’t work.

The West is trying to overhype the Kurdish ethnic issue in order to use it as a weapon against Syria, Ghassan Kadi, a Syrian political analyst and expert on Middle Eastern affairs, told Sputnik.

Kadi drew attention to the fact that Washington has repeatedly tried to alienate the Syrian Kurds from Damascus and pull them into the American fold. Therefore, the Kurdish question should be tackled in the most serious way.

The Kurdish Question

“To begin with, we must acknowledge that Syrian Kurds are Syrians and any attempts to marginalize them or keep them out of the equation is not any less realistic than marginalizing, say, any Syrian religious group or province. Once again, the recent outcries that we have heard and read describing Kurds as fifth columnists and comparing their role to the role that Albanians allegedly played in the former Yugoslavia, is historically incorrect, vexatious, malicious, divisive and highly dangerous. Ironically, such allegations came from non-Syrians who clearly know little or nothing at all about the history and demographics of Syria,” Kadi told Sputnik.

Syrian army and militias fight for Palmyra

By Retaking Raqqa Syrian Army May Upset ‘Federalization’ Plan

“Ironically also, and to prove their ignorance, that loud and vocal mob accused me of meddling in Syria’s affairs because I am ‘Lebanese,’ i.e. in their eyes ‘non-Syrian.’ Little do they seem to know the very recent history of Syria and that Lebanon is part of Syria. If they do not know this fact, in retrospect, I cannot blame them for not knowing who the Kurds are. If some people opt to believe the story of Humpty Dumpty, then this is entirely their prerogative,” he remarked.Kadi underscored that the Kurds are not the only non-Arab ethnicity in Syria: there are also the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Aramaics, Armenians and many others. The expert explained that the Kurds have recently become the focus of worldwide attention because they constitute the biggest non-Arab ethnicity and because they have several paramilitary organizations.

“But just like the nation of Russia is an amalgam of many ethnicities, so is Syria,” the expert highlighted.

It is no secret that Washington wants to use the Kurds to create divisions.

Members of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) monitor the positions of Islamic State (IS) group in the Syrian town of Ras al-Ain, close to the Turkish border on March 13, 2015

“However, if Kurds get the security they seek under Syrian sovereignty, it will be much harder for America to lure them to her bosom. By all peaceful means possible and conceivable, Syrian Kurds must be kept under the roof of Damascus, and even though I’ve said this many times, I was described as one advocating the partition of Syria,” Ghassan Kadi emphasized.

“The perception of this particular aspect of the Kurdish issue seems to be more prominent in the English-language social media than it is in reality. The pro-Syrian social media need a serious reality check,” he added.

There is yet another problem which is largely neglected in the media.

How the West May Upset the Fragile Ethnic and Religious Balance in Syria

Manbij Military Council fighters take an overwatch position in the southern rural area of Manbij, in Aleppo Governorate, Syria. file photo

The Fall of Manbij: Kurds, Democratic Forces Poised to Liberate Syrian City

Various Western “sectarian” groups and “new-age” churches are pushing to get a foothold in Syria amid the ongoing war, Kadi noted.While it does not seemingly spell trouble, there is a hidden agenda behind it.

“Firstly, I must put an umbrella label on those Western ‘sectarian’ groups you mentioned. They are Christian-Zionists; no more, and no less. Their recent and sudden attempts to attack and hide following the efforts that others and I made to expose them speak volumes,” Kadi told Sputnik.

“Those “missionary evangelists” are trying to ride on the bandwagon of the anti-Daesh sentiment in order to ‘prove’ that their version of Christianity is better than Islam. I have reiterated several times in the past that only reform within Islam will keep Daesh at bay. Islam is a great religion of peace and wisdom when properly understood. It is only the fundamentalist and perverted interpretations that have given rise to violence in its name,” the Syrian expert continued.

In his recent article for The Vineyard of the Saker, Ghassan Kadi pointed out that over the last few decades, “new-age” Western missionaries have tried to gain ground in the Levant by recruiting young followers.

According to the analyst, these religious conglomerates are upsetting the fragile ethnic and religious balance in the region.

The crux of the matter is that some such “sectarian” groups are alienating its raw recruits from their community. Some of them go even so far as to prohibit their members from voting, to donate blood, to join the military, to engage in political or religious activities, and to trust others outside their faith.

“As I explained in my most recent article on ‘The Saker,’ those “evangelists” will find it very hard to lure recruits from the Muslim community. They will therefore focus on the Syrian Orthodox community, as their ‘colleagues’ have done in the past in nearby Lebanon and several other places,” Kadi noted.

“If the Syrian Orthodox Church is weakened, Syria will become much more vulnerable to future attempts at Jihadi takeovers. Furthermore, Syrian Orthodoxy is an essential part of Syria’s cultural fabric and history. It is currently in grave danger, a stronger danger in my opinion than that of Daesh, because this danger lurks around in darkness, and it works more insidiously in peace time than Daesh does in wartime,” the expert explained.

Young Syrian Orthodox Christians play music during the Palm Sunday procession on April 5, 2015 in the Syrian capital in Damascus

“What really irks is that a significant proportion of the support base on which the Western evangelists are trying to build their ’empire’ within Syria are well-intentioned Syrians. Gladly however, little by little, they are waking up. If we keep up the momentum, they will wake up sooner,” he stressed.

“Upholding Syrian Orthodoxy and shielding it from what could otherwise become an avalanche of Western ‘evangelists’ from many denominations, is perhaps the surest way of keeping that delicate balance as it had been for many centuries. It is a balance that has its weaknesses of course. It is far from perfect, but to upset it by introducing a new ‘species,’ as it were, is tantamount to playing with fire. With all the problems Syria has now, she does need the introduction of a whole new line of Western Christian-Zionist churches. They can stay in Texas…. or in Virginia,” the expert pointed out.

He stressed that it is of ultimate importance to shine a spotlight on this largely neglected problem to protect Syrian society, already hit by the war, from further destruction.

All for One: Syrian Political Parties Rally Round Assad

Along with the attempts to break the delicate social fabric in Syria, the West continues to spread its distorted narrative about the political balance of power in the region, misinterpreting the term “opposition” and “moderates.”

What parties and movements in Syria constitute a real and healthy political opposition?

“To answer your question, one has to start with defining the term ‘healthy (Syrian) opposition’ or ‘opposition’ in general,” Kadi stressed.

“If we are talking about a party-based political opposition to single-party rule, the current political plurality of the Syrian Parliament and Cabinet clearly indicate that single-party rule is a thing of the past. More pertinently, parties and organizations that understand this development and work within its framework are, in context of the conflict, not at all considered to be in ‘opposition’,” he emphasized.

Free Syrian Army fighters clean their weapons and check ammunition at their base on the outskirts of Aleppo, Syria.

‘Moderate’ Islamism? Washington, Brussels Playing With Fire in Syria, Iraq

At the same time, if we go to the other extreme and adopt the Western definition of the so-called “moderate opposition” we will clearly realize that they are militants not very different at all from Daesh and the al-Nusra Front, Kadi explained.”Thus far, the West has not been able to wield the alleged ‘moderate opposition’ groups, let alone identify them,” the expert pointed out.

“In reality therefore, there is no such thing as ‘healthy opposition’ and/or ‘moderate opposition’ in Syria, regardless of how one defines them. Those who represent the ‘opposition’ in Geneva and Vienna are there simply because the West does not allow for such talks to happen without their participation. In reality they are the cronies of the West, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Their only objective is for President Assad to step down. One might ask how this constitutes a reform agenda!” Kadi told Sputnik.

A fighter from the Jaish al-Islam (Islam Army), the foremost rebel group in Damascus province guards a position on the front line in Jobar, on the eastern edge of the Syrian capital

Soldiers of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). File photo

Russia Will ‘Poke US in the Eye’ if Assad Retakes Raqqa Before Rebels

The Syrian expert drew attention to the fact that the Syrian ruling party Baath and the Syrian Arab Army have a powerful political ally inside the country: the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).”Here I must emphasize that the SSNP has been a powerful and effective ally of the Syrian Army, and the recent attempts of some to put the role of the SSNP under the microscope, accusing it of inciting a rebellion against the Baath Party and/or to seek partition of Syria is unsubstantiated, juvenile, and I would like to say laughable, had it not been quite dangerous,” Kadi stressed.

“The Syrian government is internationally an ally of Russia, and domestically an ally of the SSNP as well as other domestic and regional players. Anyone who casts any doubts about the solidarity of those alliances is inadvertently undermining the national securities of both Russia and Syria and their combined effort to fight [fundamentalist] terror,” the political analyst concluded.

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RENEGADE BROADCASTING INTERVIEWS JONATHAN AZAZIAH ABOUT ZIONIST HANDS IN LATIN AMERICA

JUNE 11, 2016 MADDCOLDSONOFKUFA

by Jonathan Azaziah

Now that the Zionist origins of the coup in Brazil against Dilma Rousseff have beenfirmly established thanks to Mouqawamah Music, it is most important to share a recent radio broadcast I did with my dear, dear brother and old friend Nick Spero for his Circus Maximus program over on the Renegade Broadcasting Network. Name of the show, conducted on 5-27-16, is “The Mask of Zion”, an ode to my original website as well as the concept that I and my brethren at The Ugly Truth have helped popularize over the last several years that behind most “Imperialist” plots you will find the domineering hands of the Judaics at all levels, be it financial, political, military, intelligence, cultural or “spiritual” in the form of toxic ideologies like “Christian” Zionism, Freemasonry, satanic cults, etc. And in that spirit, my good friend and I went deep into the grime of Jewish-Zionist intrigue in Latin America, beginning with ‘Israel’ founding father Samuel Zemurray’s United Fruit Company, then bouncing over to numerous CIA-Zionist coups against National Socialist governments throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s–which Zemurray also played a major part in–spent some time on the heavy, slaughterous ‘Israeli’ role in the war criminal Montt’s genocide of hundreds of thousands of indigenous persons in Guatemala, tackled the Earth-changing revolution of El Comandante Hugo Chavez, and much, much more. Syria, Yemen, Libya, the Kalergi Plan and the urgent need for Islamic-Christian/European-Arab-Muslim unity in the face of the Parasitic Pirates were discussed as well. For those looking for a starting point on just how abyssal the Zionist role in Latin America is, then you need this in your life.

Download, listen and take notes! It’s truly a crash course in how World Zionism executes its schemes against Global South nations and I assure you, you’re not going to hear anything else like it ANYWHERE.

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SYRIAN ARMY FORTIFIES POSITIONS AROUND TABQA; KILLS 15 ISIS RODENTS IN DZ; THWARTS MISERABLE ATTACK BY AL-QAEDA IN DER’AH

Ziad Fadel

Syrian civilians who volunteered to join local Self Protection Units to protect their neighbourhoods alongside the Syrian army attend training in Damascus countryside, Syria

The epaulet says “Humaatu-Al-Diyaar”, the title of Syria’s national anthem. It means “Defenders of the Country”. On his chest, this member of the Popular Defense Committees proudly announces that he belongs to “Assad’s Soldiers”.

AL-RAQQA: (June 8, 2016) The Syrian Army is 50 kms from Al-Raqqa after it annihilated all ISIS positions around the village of Al-Rusaafa. The SAA and PDC destroyed a van carrying weapons and medical supplies to the terrorists. Both the driver and his passenger were identified as a Bangla-Deshi and an Iraqi, respectively. In the air, the story was even more sanguine. The SAAF and RuAF conducted multiple sorties over positions once held by ISIS and pulverized 11 armored vehicles and an estimated 20 pickups with 23mm and 14.5mm cannons. One of the most disastrous days in the life of the rat gang called ISIS.

(June 10, 2016) At the Al-Rusaafa Crossing, the Syrian Army has retaken 2 oil pumping facilities from ISIS, further deepening the economic crisis afflicting this criminal cabal of cannibals. The Syrian Army has also taken over the Electrical Station that used to provide Al-Raqqa with electricity. The Syrian military is in no hurry to restore electricity to ISIS. We can confirm the death or wounding of 92 rodents on this day as reported by the rodents themselves. 21+ pickups were destroyed by the SAAF and SAA rangers carrying RPGs or Kornets. All supply lines to terrorists between Al-Rusaafa and the administrative borders of Aleppo have been closed. There are reports of ISIS terrorists trying to redeploy to northern Aleppo province due to their inability to escape eastwards.

Via Wikimapia:http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=35.539769&lon=38.395500&z=12&m=b&search=al-rusafa

الجيش يسيطر على مفرق الرصافة ومحطتي ضخ النفط وكهرباء الطبقة بريف الرقة

(June 11, 2016) The Athariyya-Tabqa Road was the target of a counter-offensive by those same terrorists I just mentioned in the post of June 10, 2016. Unable to escape, the terrorist commander thought he would find eternal bliss in Paradise by attacking the attackers at the location of the SyriaTel Tower which gives a nice view of the surrounding landscape. Unfortunately for the terrorist vermin, holding the hilltop where the tower is located only speeds up the process of starvation as there are no supply lines any longer to this area. All of that is quite academic, since the rodents were not able to occupy the hilltop and were decisively pushed back. It was obvious to SAA commanders on the ground that the pathetic vultures were trying desperately to surround SAA forces by interdicting their movements with well-positioned artillery on the hill. The SAA used medium caliber weapons to foil the attack and the plan and, then, laid waste to the quivering rats. All 39 ISIS rodents were killed except for one who was taken prisoner with minor wounds. He pleaded for mercy and explained his membership to be a “terrible mistake”. That mistake is now being corrected by the Air Force Intelligence agents who are most expert in matters concerning repentance.

Another unit of the SAA cleverly used the maneuverings of the terrorist rodents at this juncture and surrounded them. Offers to surrender were refused. The Syrian Army killed all the rodents.

We are now 4kms from Sufyaan Village which is only 15kms from the Tabqa Airbase. As I write, the SAA and PDC are fortifying their presence at Bi`r Abu Al-‘Allaaj Village.

__________________________________________________

DAYR EL-ZOR:

In fighting in Al-Rushdiyya Quarter, Al-Tharda Mountain and ‘Ayyaash Village, the SAA and PDC killed a confirmed 15 ISIS buzzards. In the Tharda Mountain area, mobile units of the Republican Guards set a trap for a truck loaded with weapons and ammunition and completely destroyed it killing 3 terrorists aboard. Upon inspection, Syrian soldiers determined that all the equipment coming into the area on this truck was from Turkey.

__________________________________________________

DER’AH: Most fighting here took place at the Der’ah Station where the SAA and PDC foiled an attempted Alqaeda/Nusra infiltration killing several rodents. Another SAA unit took advantage of the commotion and distractions and cut a line into Al-KarakRoundabout and to the South of Al-Manshiyya Quarter destroying whole rows of fortifications.

______________________________________________________

PHOTO OF THE DAY:

(Thanks, Khaled)

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War Party Leader Obama Endorses War Goddess Clinton

by Stephen Lendman

Obama, Clinton and bipartisan neocons infesting Washington explain the deplorable state of America today – a democracy in name only, enriching the privileged few at the expense of most others, waging endless wars on humanity, leaving its fate up for grabs.

Clinton was chosen Democrat party nominee last year before primary/caucus season began, assuring endless wars of aggression if elected, perhaps the madness of confronting Russia and China belligerently.

The possibility of her succeeding Obama should terrify everyone, heightening the risk of global war with super-weapons making WW II ones look like toys by comparison.

On Thursday, Obama made it official, endorsing Clinton for president, one war criminal supporting another, both wanting all challengers to US hegemony eliminated, planet earth colonized, its resources stolen, it people exploited as serfs.

After meeting with Sanders on Thursday, a video he recorded days earlier congratulated Clinton for “making history” – saying

“I’m with her. I am fired up and I cannot wait to get out there and campaign for Hillary.”

“She’s got the courage, the compassion and the heart to get the job done. I have seen her judgment. I’ve seen her toughness. I’ve seen her commitment to our values up close…I don’t think there’s ever been someone so qualified to hold this office.”

Demagogic doublespeak/Big Lies can’t conceal the enormous harm he and Clinton caused millions of people worldwide – at home and abroad.

Francis Boyle calls her “a psychopath and a war criminal.” James Petras said she’s“a proven political psychopath.”

Her finger on the nuclear trigger risks the unthinkable, a she devil committed to endless wars, mass slaughter and destruction, a lunatic unfit for any public office – a racketeer/war criminal belonging in prison.

Expect Sanders to suspend his campaign and formally endorse her at a moment of his choosing – yesterday nearly making it official, saying “I am going to do everything in my power and I will work as hard as I can to make sure that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States.”

He told Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D. NV) he’ll wind down his campaign ahead – beginning after next week’s District of Columbia primary, the finale of a long, torturous pre-convention political season.

His rhetoric about supporting a progressive America is hollow. His deplorable public record proves otherwise – saying one thing, doing another.

Throughout his House and Senate years, he voted 98% of the time with fellow democrats, most often backing imperial wars, too often supporting legislation benefitting wealth and privilege at the expense of populism.

Expect him to endorse Clinton pre-convention, likely in days, claiming it’s to keep Trump from becoming president.

He’ll likely be offered and willingly accept a high-level position in her administration, perhaps as her running mate – his final betrayal of supporters if things turn out this way.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

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Hezbollah Calls on Some Lebanese Banks to Stop ‘Conspiracy’ & ‘Slyness’: Report

Local Editor

Hezbollah urged some banks to refrain from ‘conspiracy’ and ‘slyness’, calling upon the owners of Banks and Lebanon’s Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh to draw back from carrying out the US agenda, well-informed sources told Al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday.

Some Hezbollah officials say that facing the US banking ‘mandate’ is in no way less important than facing those who want to backstab the Resistance and target its weapons. Others assure that this conflict is ‘inevitable’, Al-Akhbar newspaper mentioned, provided that the owners of some Banks, including Lebanon’s CBG, retract from implementing the US policy.

The paper said US officials show ‘keenness’ to preserve the Lebanese banking sector as one of their most important tools to carry out their policies in the country, an aspiration not shared by Hezbollah when such sector becomes a tool threatening social security in Lebanon, according to March 8 sources. “Such sanctions are tantamount to establishing an ‘Apartheid Wall’ in Lebanon,” the sources said.

The paper quoted the sources as saying that the negative impacts of such decision by some Banks would not be limited to Hezbollah environment, public, or the Shiite sect only, but would harm a wide range of institutions, suppliers and insurance companies, whose owners belong to different regions, communities and political affiliations.

“The Lebanese social security is threatened as a whole, not only a political or sectarian group.”

What Hezbollah wants? The sources answer:

“That banks and Salameh stop conspiracy and beating around the bush. The party just wants measures that would preserve the Lebanese social and economic security and reach a settlement.”

In a weekly meeting for Hezbollah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc, the party warned that remarks by Salameh about the suspension of 100 Hezbollah-linked bank accounts reflect an inclination to renounce national sovereignty.

“The policy of blackmail and various types of pressures that the US administrations practice against countries and forces that are opposed to their policies will never manage to arm-twist Hezbollah or change its stances against the US tyranny and injustice,” the statement read.

The party warned that such policies are doomed to fail and held the government and the Central Bank responsible for protecting Lebanon’s sovereignty and its monetary and social stability.

There’s a growing rage among Hezbollah families and supporters who had called for punitive measures against Banks who submitted to the US decision, but there’s no official decision from the resistance party regarding what measures would it take against those banks.


Source: Newspapers	11-06-2016 - 13:39 Last updated 11-06-2016 - 13:39

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UN’s Ban Slams Saudis for ’Undue Pressure’ over Child Rights Blacklist

Local Editor

United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that Saudi Arabia exerted “unacceptable” undue pressure by threatening to cut off vital funding to the world body after a U.N. report blacklisted the Saudi-led military coalition for killing children in Yemen.

The U.N. announced on Monday it had removed the coalition from a child rights blacklist – released last week – pending a joint review by the organization and the coalition of cases of child deaths and injuries during the year-old war in Yemen.

Ban said his decision to temporarily remove the coalition from the list was “one of the most painful and difficult decisions I have had to make,” and that the threats to pull funding raised “the very real prospect that millions of other children would suffer grievously.”

“Children already at risk in Palestine, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and so many other places would fall further into despair,” he told reporters.

“It is unacceptable for member states to exert undue pressure,” he added. “Scrutiny is a natural and necessary part of the work of the United Nations.”

Ban did not explicitly mention the Saudi-led coalition, though it was clearly the focus of his remarks.

Earlier this week, Reuters reported that allies of Saudi Arabia piled pressure on Ban over the coalition’s blacklisting, with Riyadh threatening to cut Palestinian aid and funds to other U.N. programs, diplomatic sources said.

The blacklist includes countries and armed groups accused of violating the rights of children during armed conflicts.

Saudi Arabia on Thursday denied threatening a cut-off of humanitarian funding to pressure the United Nations to remove the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a blacklist of child rights violators.

“We did not use threats or intimidation and we did not talk about funding,” Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi told reporters.