Iraqi VP sentenced to death; West Bank flares up
Russia and the US fail to reach agreement on Syria
Could the United States go it alone on Syria if the Russians continue to block any resolution on the matter? Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hints it may do that, Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports Monday.
Clinton, speaking in the Russian city of Vladivostok, said that reaching an agreement with Syria may be impossible, in which case the US will increase its support for the opposition fighting for regime change.
‘Abdul Qader Salih, commander of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, says that the opposition’s battle is not with “the Alawites or the Shiites”’
London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports “a new Russian-American dispute regarding increased pressure on Assad,” while dedicating its headline to intentions of “Jordanian jihadists” to enter Syria and fight the Assad regime. The daily reports that on Sunday a rally took place in which 200 Islamic extremists pledged to send fighters to Syria and topple the regime. Twenty fighters have reportedly been arrested by Jordan over the past few months while trying to cross the border into Syria.
London-based daily Al-Hayat, whose headline reports “summary executions and aerial strikes on Aleppo neighborhoods,” claims that the new international envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, conducted a phone conversation with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday. The daily reports that Brahimi will travel to Iran following his upcoming visit to Syria, the exact date of which was not yet disclosed.
In an interview with Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera, Abdul Qader Salih, commander of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, says that the opposition’s battle is not with “the Alawites or the Shiites” as sects, but only with the regime of Bashar Assad. Salih insists that the violence in Syria does not amount to a civil war, noting that the opposition was forced to bear arms only as a response to government violence.
Iraqi vice president sentenced to death in absentia
Iraqi Vice President Tareq Hashimi has been sentenced to death in absentia by an Iraqi court Sunday. Hashimi was accused, along with a number of body guards, of instigating a series of terrorist attacks against Shiite targets.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports that the sentence will increase sectarian tensions in the war-torn country, as Hashemi is a well-known symbol of the Sunni population in a country increasingly ruled by Shiite figures.
The sentencing comes as some 300 Iraqis were killed and injured in a series of explosions that rocked eight cities across the country Sunday, Al-Hayat reports.
Hashimi, a member of the Sunni-majority Iraqiyah bloc, fled to the Kurdish region of Iraq as accusations were leveled against him. He currently resides in Turkey, Al-Hayat reports.
Dubai-based news channel Al-Arabiya reports that Amnesty International and the High UN Commissioner on Human Rights have called on Iraq to suspend and even cancel the death sentence, which was reintroduced to Iraqi law in 2004.
Palestinian protests receive major headlines
Al-Hayat, probably the most well-respected newspaper in the Arab world, reports the emergence of the “Palestinian Spring” through anti-government demonstrations across the West Bank.
The daily claims that the youth mobilization in the demonstrations has “surpassed the normal boundaries of courage,” with slogans targeting both Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.
‘At the first procession at Manara Square in downtown Ramallah, demonstrators voiced sarcastic slogans. But the processions and demonstrations began flaring up with time, especially following an attempt by some youths to set themselves on fire in Hebron, Ramallah and other West Bank cities’
The main demands of the protesters, according to the daily, is the resignation of Fayyad and annulment of the Paris Protocol, which regulates Palestinian economic ties with Israel.
Al-Hayat claims that the protocol forces Palestinians to sell products at a price 15 percent lower than in Israel, but to raise taxes every time Israel does so.
“At the first procession at Manara Square in downtown Ramallah, demonstrators voiced sarcastic slogans. But the processions and demonstrations began flaring up with time, especially following an attempt by some youths to set themselves on fire in Hebron, Ramallah and other West Bank cities.”
Palestinian dailies, for their part, are reporting that the Palestinian Authority has asked Israel on Sunday to renegotiate the Paris Protocol.
Hussein A-Sheikh, Palestinian minister for civil affairs, told Palestinian media that he has forwarded an official request to the Israeli Defense Ministry to “reopen the Paris agreement which has become absolutely incompatible with economic developments.”
