Saudi FM: We need immediate solution to Iran threats

Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has cast doubt on the usefulness of imposing more sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme.
Prince Saud al-Faisal said the threat posed by Iran demanded a “more immediate solution” than sanctions.
He was speaking in Riyadh at a joint news conference alongside US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who earlier said Iran was “becoming a military dictatorship”.
Prince Saud said: “Sanctions are a long-term solution.
“They may work, we can’t judge. But we see the issue in the shorter term maybe because we are closer to the threat… So we need an immediate resolution rather than a gradual resolution.”BBC

Syrian Human rights demands release of Raghda Hassan

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has learned that the Syrian apparatus (al-Mukhabarat al-’Askariyya)  has arrested Syrian activist and former political prisoner Raghda Hassan last Wednesday February 10  as she was heading  to Lebanon.

West accuses Iran of waging ‘bloody repression’

Western powers accused Tehran of waging “bloody repression” since elections last year as they challenged Iran to open up to international scrutiny during a UN human rights meeting on Monday.

In a public review of Iran’s record at the UN Human Rights Council, Britain, France, the United States and other Western nations expressed deep concern about reports of killings, arrests and torture in a clampdown on dissent.

“The authorities are waging bloody repression against their own people who are peacefully claiming their rights,” French ambassador Jean Baptiste Mattei said.

“France recommends that Iran accept the creation of a credible and independent international inquiry mechanism to shed light on these violations,” he told the Council. AFP

Biden heads to ME in March

US Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the Middle East during the week of March 8, the White House said on Monday.
Biden will be visiting Israel, Egypt , Jordan and Palestinian territories to meet with the leaders

Yemeni rebels release a captured Saudi soldier

Northern rebels in Yemen handed over a captured Saudi soldier to Yemeni government mediators, the latest sign that a six-year-old conflict is calming down.

The Saudi Press Agency quoted Saudi ambassador to Yemen Ali al-Hamdan as saying the soldier was brought from the northern province of Saada, the rebel stronghold, to the embassy in San’a by helicopter. He will be sent back to Saudi Arabia later, the ambassador said. AP

Clinton: Iran is becoming a military dictatorship

Iran is becoming a military dictatorship, Hillary Clinton declared today as the US prepared fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic that would specifically target the Revolutionary Guard.
“We see that the government in Iran, the Supreme Leader, the president, the parliament is being supplanted and that Iran is moving towards a military dictatorship,” the US Secretary of State told students in Qatar.
“The civilian leadership is either preoccupied with its internal domestic political situation or ceding ground to the Revolutionary Guard and that’s a deeply concerning development.” Clinton said
Analysts agreed, saying that the regime increasingly relied on the Guard’s military muscle to stay in power since last June’s hotly-disputed presidential election and in return had allowed it greatly to increase its economic and political power. Times online

Hezbollah planned commemoration stirs inter Christian tension

The decision by Hezbollah to hold the commemoration ceremony of its martyrs Ragheb Harb, Abbas Moussawi, and Imad Mughniyeh Tuesday at St. Joseph-Sagesse-Jdeideh School stirred a wave of tension and questions.
The school was reportedly surprised because the hall was rented for a charity event and not for holding commemoration ceremonies according to the Central News Agency CNA.
CNA reported that intensified contacts between Beirut Maronite Archbishopric Boulos Matar and some concerned sides led to containing the tension by limiting the ceremony to inside the school hall without any external manifestations such as flags, pictures, or loud speakers.
Phalange MP Sami Gemayel reportedly asked the residents of the area to practice restraint and calm and not to ignite any problem that may lead to a tense atmosphere.
“Can Phalange Party or Lebanese Forces organize a ceremony to commemorate (slain President) Bashir Gemayel in Rawdat al-Shahedein?” March 14 General-Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soaid wondered in reference to Hezbollah stronghold south of Beirut. He urged Free Patriotic Movement to convince its ally, Hezbollah, to cancel the event, especially since the church was not aware that Hezbollah planned to hold a ceremony
Mughniyeh was assassinated in Damascus on Feb 13, 2008
Moussawi was assassinated by an Israeli helicopter on February 16 1992
Harb was assassinated by the Israelis on February 16, 1984

Hezbollah will defend Iran, Syria if attacked, official says

Hezbollah considers an attack on any of its allies in the region, including Iran, an attack on the entire region, Hussein Khalil, the political adviser to Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, told Kuwaiti newspaper al-Darsaid during in an interview.
“Hezbollah considers any attack on any faction of the resistance movements or on the two supporting nations of Iran or Syria, as an attack on all of them,” he said.
The subject of Hezbollah and its arms was addressed yesterday during the 5th anniversary commemoration of Lebanon’s former PM Rafik Hariri . Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel and former PM Fouad Siniora urged Hezbollah to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese army to strengthen the state and said the decision of war and peace should be made by the state only.
During the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel neither Iran nor Syria offered to defend Lebanon

Jumblatt headed to Qatar

MP Walid Jumblatt accompanied by a delegation that includes Minister of Transportation and Public Works Ghazi Aridi and MP Nehmeh To’omeh headed to Qatar this afternoon on a private jet.

Clashes between Future, Amal supporters in Beirut

A fight erupted between Future Movement and AMAL supporters in Beirut’s Burj Abu Haidar neighborhood in west Beirut. The army intervened and is trying to contain the situation.