BEIRUT: Lebanon issued Monday an arrest warrant in absentia for Syrian general Ali Mamlouk for his alleged involvement in a plot to carry out terrorist attacks in Lebanon. Investigative Judge Riad Abu Ghayda referred the file to Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr after completion of the investigation, judicial sources told The Daily Star.   They said […]

  Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi condemned on Sunday the recent clash in the Bekaa town of Arsal that left two army officers dead.   He said during his Sunday sermon: “We hold political powers responsible for their deaths due to their covering up of such assaults against the army and security forces.” Furthermore, he added: “They […]

  President Michel Suleiman on Sunday said that “no one should harbor armed men,” stressing that the killers of Major Pierre Bashaalani and First Sergeant Ibrahim Zahraman “will be punished.” “The state and the army must come first and we hope that justice will be served and the criminals will be arrested,” Suleiman said from the […]

Much like the air campaign against Hamas targets inside the Gaza strip, Israel’s airstrike in Syria looks like a well-timed tactical move—and the confusing media reports regarding the attack may be part of the plan.The Jerusalem Post reports that a Western diplomatic source told Iraqi daily Azzaman that the attack took place more than 48 hours before it was leaked by Israel Furthermore, the source said the reports about a strike on a convoy carrying weapons into Lebanon were probably meant to divert attention away from the operation’s main objective: To use F-16 aircraft to fire at least eight guided missiles at a military research center near Damascus.

On Wednesday U.S. officials — who said they were given forewarning of the strike — told The Wall Street Journal and other outlets that the Israelis were targeting a convoy of trucks allegedly carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah. Syria insisted that the reports about the convoy attack were "baseless," and that the real target was a military research center in Jamraya, which lies about three miles from Damascus and eight miles from the Lebanese border.

Maj. Gen. Adnan Salo, a former head of the chemical weapons unit in the Syrian Army who defected and is now in Turkey, told The New York Times that the complex produces both conventional and chemical weapons. The Azzaman source said that the complex is heavily fortified and houses experts from Russia and has been guarded for years by at least three thousand Iranian Revolutionary Guards, adding that the Guards suffered heavy casualties in the strike. The Syrian rebel commander in the Damascus area told Reuters that rebels attacked the facility with "six 120 millimeter mortars" at about the same time that Israeli planes bombed the convoy. But there has been no confirmation of the convoy attack besides unnamed diplomatic and rebel sources saying it occurred three miles south of where the main Damascus-Beirut highway crosses the border into Lebanon.

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Why would Israel attack Syria?

As the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad nears its third year, concern has been expressed about the possibility of widespread chaos resulting in the loss of control – or deliberate dissemination – of weapons of mass destruction, such as chemical arms Damascus is said to possess. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reported to have threatened to take action in the event of a loss of control by Mr Assad. Israeli military intelligence is thought to be monitoring the area via satellite for any movement of weapons outside Syria’s borders. Israel fears that Syria may unravel in such a way as to seek to destabilise the entire region.

Of particular concern in Israel is Damascus’s support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Israeli officials believe that Hezbollah’s arsenal has improved to include thousands of rockets and missiles and the ability to strike almost anywhere inside Israel. A former Israeli intelligence official, Amnon Sofrin, says Hezbollah is known to have been storing some of its more advanced weapons in Syria and will seek to move everything it can into Lebanon. "As soon as these weapons reach Lebanon, they are swallowed up in secret underground stockpiles. Looking for them will be like searching for a needle in a haystack," Israeli defence analyst Alex Fishman said in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. "If chemical weapons are brought into Lebanon, Israel will probably not hesitate – and will attack," Mr Fishman said. Israeli Home Front Defence Minister Avi Dichter said on Tuesday that options to prevent Syria from using or transferring the weapons included deterrence and "attempts to hit the stockpiles".

Rome, Italy, Jan 29, 2013 / 01:15 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict XVI is having his message for this year’s World Day of the Sick published in Arabic for the very first time."The Holy Father probably wants to transmit a message on this day to the Syrian people because it’s the first time that his message will be published in Arabic," said Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Health Care Workers. The Pope’s message, drafted in several languages, is centered on the Good Samaritan. It is titled "Go and you, too, do the same," and was released at a Jan. 29 press conference in Rome.

The World Day of the Sick is observed annually on Feb. 11 for the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, and this year it will be held at the Marian shrine of Altötting in Bavaria, Germany. "The World Day of the Sick was created by Blessed John Paul II 20 years ago," explained Archbishop Zimowski.

"Pope John Paul II, a suffering man among the suffering, wanted for suffering to be seen close to Jesus Christ, who suffered for us for our salvation," the archbishop reflected. "He wanted that God’s people become more sensitive to the sick and the suffering and that those suffering find a deeper meaning to their suffering," he added.

Archbishop Zimowski noted that John Paul II wrote about the Good Samaritan and he taught that “doing good to those who suffer is doing good from one’s own suffering.”

  President Michel Suleiman stated on Tuesday that officials cannot “turn a blind eye” to couples getting married through civil marriage ceremonies, noting that a draft law on such unions had been devised in the past. He said during a cabinet session at the Baabda Palace: “Failure to tackle draft laws at constitutional institutions is a […]

Washington D.C., Jan 28, 2013 / 01:58 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Christian pastor Saeed Abedini’s sentence of eight years in prison by an Iranian judge for allegedly threatening local security with his leadership of house churches has been met with harsh criticism. “This is a real travesty – a mockery of justice,” said Jordan Sekulow, the director of the American Center for Law and Justice which represents Abedini’s family living in the U.S. “Iran has not only abused its own laws, it has trampled on the fundamentals of human rights. We call on the citizens of the world to rise up in protest. We call on governments around the world to stand and defend Pastor Saeed.”

On Jan. 27 judge Pir-Abassi of the Iranian Revolutionary Court convicted and verbally sentenced Abedini. His trial began Jan. 21, and both Abedini and his attorney were allowed to attend only one day. His sentence was approved by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, according to the American Center for Law and Justice. Nasser Sarbazi, Abedini’s attorney, defended his Christian activities the single day he was allowed at the trial. He argued they do not threaten Iran’s national security, and are motivated not by politics but by religion. Abedini is a native of Iran, but has United States citizenship. He was granted citizenship in 2010 through marriage to his American wife. “Here’s the troubling reality,” Sekulow added. “We have a U.S. citizen, who has been beaten and tortured since him imprisonment last fall, now facing eight years in Evin Prison, one of the most brutal prisons in Iran. A harsh sentence in a notorious prison – likely facing life-threatening torture and abuse at the hands of the Iranian regime.” The U.S. state department stated at a Jan. 25 press briefing that “we remain very concerned” about Abedini, and about “the fairness and transparency of his trial.”

“We condemn Iran’s continued violation of the universal rights of freedom of religion, and we call on the Iranian authorities to respect Mr. Abedini’s human rights and to release him. We are in close contact with his family as well and we’re actively engaged in the case.” Abedini converted from Islam to Christianity in 2000, and in 2008 became an evangelical pastor.

  BEIRUT: Special Tribunal for Lebanon Registrar Herman von Hebel will visit Beirut this week to meet Lebanese and foreign officials, the court said Monday. During his stay, the registrar will meet with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and other Lebanese officials as well as “various representatives of the diplomatic community,” according to the tribunal. He added that […]