Egypt police open fire on protesters, killing 5 people

Thu Aug 14, 2014

At least five people have been killed after Egyptian police opened fire on protesters marking the first anniversary of the mass killing of the supporters of former president Mohamed Morsi in Cairo.

Police forces also wounded dozens of others across the country on Thursday.

The rallies were called by pro-Morsi Anti-Coup Alliance under the slogan “We Demand Retribution.”

On August 14, 2013, after then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted Egypt's first freely elected president, the security forces launched a brutal crackdown on thousands of the Morsi supporters at protest camps in Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares, leaving hundreds of people dead.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released on Tuesday that the assault was “one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history.”

HRW said its report titled “All According to Plan: The Rabaa Massacre and Mass Killings of Protesters in Egypt” identifies Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, Sisi, and top security official Medhat Menshawy as senior leaders who should face proceedings for the deadly crackdown at Rabaa al-Adawiya Square.

The New York-based international non-governmental organization added at least 817 demonstrators died due to the heavy-handed crackdown in Rabaa al-Adawiya.

“An international investigation and prosecutions of those implicated are needed... states should further suspend military and law enforcement aid to Egypt until it adopts measures to end its serious rights violations,” HRW said.

Since Morsi’s ouster on July 3 last year, Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and Morsi’s supporters.

Rights groups say the government crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead, and at least 15,000 have been jailed. Hundreds of the former president’s supporters have so far been sentenced to death or long prison terms.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/14/375292/egypt-police-kill-five-protesters/.

Year after Cairo carnage, Sisi tightens grip on Egypt

2014-08-12
By Jay Deshmukh
Cairo

A year after a bloody Cairo crackdown, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has tightened his grip on Egypt, crushed the Muslim Brotherhood, jailed top opponents and turned the page on the Arab Spring, critics say.

On August 14, 2013, after having overthrown Egypt's first freely elected president, Mohamed Morsi, the crackdown on thousands of his supporters at protest camps in Cairo's Rabaa al-Adawiya and Nahda squares left hundreds dead.

The assault was "one of the largest killings of demonstrators in a single day in recent history," said New York-based Human Rights Watch in a report released Tuesday to mark the anniversary.

In Rabaa al-Adawiya alone, at least 817 people were killed, it said, calling for top officials to be investigated for likely "crimes against humanity".

According to an AFP correspondent who was at the square, more than 100 protesters were killed several hours into the crackdown.

Police said eight policemen also died in Rabaa, from a total of 42 policemen killed across Egypt that day.

The crackdown was launched after thousands of pro-Morsi supporters refused to end their sit-ins despite repeated warnings by the interim authorities installed by then army chief Sisi.

Since that day, more than 1,400 people have been killed in street clashes, including the Rabaa carnage, over 15,000 jailed including Morsi and the top leadership of his Muslim Brotherhood, and over 200 sentenced to death in speedy trials.

The authorities have also dissolved the Brotherhood's political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party, since Sisi became Egypt's second democratically elected president following a landslide victory in a May vote.

"Sisi has succeeded in eliminating most opposition within Egypt to his rule," said James Dorsey of the Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

"He has banned organizations, jailed opponents and certainly in early days after the ouster of Mohamed Morsi used brutal force to suppress groups like the Muslim Brotherhood," he said.

"He is operating in an environment where for all practical purposes there is no independent media to hold him to account. As a result he has consolidated his rule."

- 'Random shootings' -

Survivors say the Rabaa al-Adawiya crackdown was not just to break the pro-Morsi sit-in but to eliminate the Islamist's supporters.

"It was horrible ...it was genocide," said Ammar Yasser, a 22-year-old engineering graduate and survivor who said security forces were "shooting randomly" at protesters at the square.

"There were snipers in army choppers above our heads...There were corpses around us ... Eight people around me had their brains blown out," while all streets leading to the square were sealed off by security forces, he said.

HRW said the assault was methodically planned by top Egyptian government officials.

"This wasn't merely a case of excessive force or poor training. It was a violent crackdown planned at the highest levels of the Egyptian government," said HRW's executive director Kenneth Roth.

"Many of the same officials are still in power in Egypt, and have a lot to answer for."

Roth and fellow activist Sarah Leah Whitson were barred from entering Egypt ahead of Tuesday's release of the report.

Egypt's liberal activists who revolted in 2011 against longtime president Hosni Mubarak seeking democratic freedoms largely kept quiet over the crackdown, but soon bore the brunt as authorities banned all unauthorized rallies.

The secular April 6 movement which in the heady days of the Arab Spring led the anti-Mubarak revolution has also been banned, prompting activists to charge that Egypt was heading to a worse autocracy than under Mubarak.

Sisi had made it clear even before becoming president that his priority was Egypt's stability rather than democratic ideals.

It could take "20 to 25 years to achieve true democracy" in Egypt, Sisi said in early May.

- Brotherhood needs 'strategy' -

The crackdown has crippled the Brotherhood, which swept all elections after Mubarak's fall until Morsi's ouster, and triggered divisions within its ranks, according to analysts.

Officials accuse the movement of being implicated in militant attacks which they say have killed more than 500 security personnel since the July 2013 ouster of Morsi.

"The challenge for the Brotherhood is not to allow internal divisions to translate into an organizational split," said Shadi Hamid, fellow at Brookings Institution's Center for Middle East Policy.

The movement lacks a strategy to counter Sisi's "resilience" to stay in power and needs a long-term formula, he said.

"They don't have any major strategy beyond protests, protests, protests, while waiting for the economy to suffer," said Hamid.

The new authorities have succeeded in "destroying the status which the Brotherhood achieved" after Mubarak's ouster, said Ziad Akl, researcher at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.

"Today their businesses are confiscated, journalists giving their side of the story are jailed ... The regime has succeeded in turning the Brotherhood into an illegitimate entity and forced it to go underground."

Source: Middle East Online.
Link: http://middle-east-online.com/english/?id=67549.

Egypt opposition forms anti-coup council in Turkey

Sun Aug 10, 2014

Political figures from different Egyptian opposition groups have reportedly gathered in Turkey and established a “revolutionary council” to work against the military-backed government in Cairo.

According to a Saturday report by Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News, representatives of Egypt’s opposition groups, including former ministers of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood administration, officially declared the establishment of the “Egyptian Revolutionary Council” in Istanbul.

Mohammed Sharif Kamil, the council’s spokesman, pointed to the military-led ouster of Egypt’s former President Mohamed Morsi last July and said the new group in Turkey seeks to unite “all revolutionary forces and youths who are opposed to the military regime” in Cairo.

“The revolutionary and national forces…are capable of confronting the bloody terrorist coup which stole our revolution, killed and imprisoned our people, sold our country and spread destruction and fear through the land and kidnapped Dr. Mohamed Morsi,” Kamil added.

The Egyptian politician also called on all governments and nations in the world to support the council’s “cause of freedom, justice and human rights in Egypt.”

Egypt’s first democratically-elected president was toppled in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the country’s current president and then army commander.

Since Morsi’s removal, Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and supporters of the ousted president.

Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces.

On Saturday, an Egyptian court dissolved the country’s Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing, and ordered its assets liquidated amid Cairo’s harsh crackdown on the members of the movement.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/10/374708/egyptians-form-anticoup-body-in-turkey/.

Egypt court dissolves Brotherhood party wing

Sat Aug 9, 2014

An Egyptian court has dissolved the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered its assets liquidated.

In its ruling on Saturday, the Supreme Administrative Court ordered "the dissolution of the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) because it broke the law regarding political parties."

According to the state-run Middle East News Agency, the decision is final and not open to appeal.

The measure against the FJP comes after a recommendation by the court's advisory panel that noted the party's leaders had already been accused, and in some cases convicted of murder and inciting violence.

Moreover, the court decision is part of a wider crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood and members of the movement.

Since the ouster of former Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, on July 3 last year, Egypt has been the scene of anti-government protests with continuous clashes between security forces and Morsi’s supporters.

Morsi, Egypt’s first democratically-elected president, was toppled in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt’s current president and then army commander.

Following Morsi’s ouster, Sisi announced his candidacy for the nation’s presidency and was sworn in as president after winning an election in which less than 50 percent of eligible voters participated.

Sisi is accused of leading the suppression of Muslim Brotherhood supporters as hundreds of them have been killed in clashes with Egyptian security forces.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has left over 1,400 people dead and 22,000 others arrested.

At least 200 people have also been sentenced to death in mass trials, including Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, although none of the sentences has been carried out so far.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/09/374650/egypt-court-dissolves-brotherhood-party-wing/.

Rome mayor defiantly registers 16 gay marriages

October 18, 2014

ROME (AP) — The gay marriage debate arrived within walking distance of the Vatican on Saturday as Rome's mayor registered 16 gay marriages celebrated abroad in open defiance of Italy's government.

Gay marriage is illegal in Italy. Interior Minister Angelino Alfano recently sent a notice to local prefects saying any registrations of gay marriages celebrated abroad would be voided, and Rome's prefect has vowed to do so immediately.

Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino received thunderous applause as he arrived in the city hall reception room where the couples, their friends and family gathered to make their marriages official in Rome's city ledger. One by one, the couples — gay and lesbian, some with children — were called up to witness Marino transcribe the date and locations of their weddings, including in Spain, Portugal and the U.S.

Marino said Saturday was an important day in the fight for equal rights for all and that "the most important right is to say to your companion 'I love you' and to have that be recognized. "We have a lot of work to do to make sure everyone's rights are recognized," he said before transcribing the first of 16 marriages, standing with the spouses after handing them the registration document and posing for photos.

Jonathon Dominic Spada, a 26-year-old from Santa Barbara, California, and Fabrizio Maffeo, 35, a Roman computer specialist, were there to register their 2013 marriage in Boston. "It's important — a limited recognition, but it's something," Maffeo said. "I'm proud of our mayor."

The next step, he said, was for Italy to change its law to allow gay marriage and gay adoption — a step he said they were looking forward to. Premier Matteo Renzi has said he would propose legislation allowing gay unions, though it wouldn't include adoption.

In Libya's Benghazi, mood of resignation over war

October 17, 2014

BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — As fighting raged Friday between Islamist militias and forces loyal to Libya's elected government, the mood was of resigned indifference in this embattled city that once took pride in being the first to rise up against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Residents ignored the crack of gunfire and blasts from artillery and airstrikes that at times nearly drowned out the mosques' call to prayers and went about their daily routines. At a mosque in the upscale district of Hadayk, a wedding party gathered just a few hundred yards from heavy battles. Young men smoked water pipes in a cafe only blocks away from other clashes.

"It has become very normal to pass by a corpse in the street and not stop. Now, as we are going to pray, in the background, we hear explosions," said Mohsen Wagdi, a 20-year-old student, as he headed to Friday prayers.

Still, signs of battle were everywhere. Many neighborhoods were deserted, while young men sealed off others with makeshift checkpoints. Intense fighting in some business and residential areas has left hundreds of families trapped, prompting the Red Crescent to plead for a cease-fire "even for one hour" to evacuate civilians.

The death toll from three days of fighting stood at 49, including 19 bodies, most of them civilians, brought Friday to a Benghazi hospital, according to hospital officials and a relief group that has been collecting bodies and bringing them to the main morgue. The exact number of deaths could be much higher, however, as warring groups usually retrieve the bodies of their own.

The latest cycle of violence follows more than two years of dashed hopes and failed attempts by civilians to stand up to the Islamist militias. Activists, judges, journalists, policemen and army officers have been gunned down in a series of assassinations carried out by assailants who have not been caught. As the central government flounders, hard-line Islamists act with impunity.

In May, much of Benghazi supported an offensive by renegade Gen. Khalifa Hifter to take back the city using his own forces and remnants of the national army. The offensive failed, leaving Hifter's troops cornered in the city's airport.

On Wednesday, Hifter, who once was an army chief under Gadhafi before joining his opponents, called upon citizens to take up arms in a new operation he described as a final push against the Islamist fighters.

Now, Benghazi youths who once fought side by side against Gadhafi are pointing guns against each other in a struggle where neither side appears able to deal a decisive blow. One group is dominated by extremist Islamist militiamen — many former rebels who refused to join the army or police — operating under an umbrella group called the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries. Their adversaries, a coalition of pro-government forces and armed civilians, have sided with ultraconservative Salafi fighters known as Sahwa — similar to the Iraqi Sunni militias that joined U.S. troops in the fight against al-Qaida at the height of that country's insurgency in 2007 and 2008.

As the battles rage, Libya remains deeply split. The oil-rich North African nation has two rival governments. One, based in Tripoli, was set up by Islamist-allied militias from the coastal city of Misrata who lead an umbrella group called Libya Dawn.

On the other side, the parliament elected in June — a body dominated by anti-Islamist lawmakers — was forced to flee to the remote coastal city of Tobruk, near the Egyptian border, more than 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) from Tripoli. It has set up an internationally recognized government there with Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni at the head, backed by a few militias of its own, as well as the weak and shattered military.

All around the country, cities, towns, tribes and ethnic minorities are now choosing sides, raising the possibility of greater conflict. Social networking sites have been flooded with gruesome pictures.

One Islamist faction known as Rafallah Sehati posted on its official Facebook page Friday the names and pictures of a father and his three sons who were allegedly killed by pro-government militias. Al-Wasat newspaper reported that a fourth son was a member of the Islamist militias.

The looming state of uncertainty and prolonged violence has prompted many to adjust to the news of killings and bloodshed. "You can find a wedding and a mourning tent side by side now. A state of mental alienation is a strategy for adopting to life in a war zone," said Faraj Najm, a historian and Benghazi resident.

"The militarization of civilians in the streets is very dangerous. Killings of families will only lead to retaliatory attacks," he added. "It is a grave mistake to ask people to take up weapons... The people's support should always be through peaceful means, or we will end up with more militias and ignite a civil war."

Michael reported from Cairo.

German train drivers launch 2-day strike

October 18, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — Train drivers at Germany's national railway have started a two-day strike after their union rejected a new pay offer in a bitter dispute complicated by rivalry between unions.

The GDL union called members out on strike from early Saturday morning until early Monday morning, its second walkout this week. GDL wants a 5 percent pay increase and shorter working hours. A bigger sticking point is its demand to negotiate for other staff traditionally represented by a rival union.

National railway Deutsche Bahn says it offered a raise of 5 percent over 30 months on Friday for the drivers but won't accept rival pay deals for other employees. GDL rejected what it called a "sham offer."

Deutsche Bahn aimed to operate 30 percent of scheduled long-distance trains.

Berlin governing party chooses new mayor

October 18, 2014

BERLIN (AP) — Members of Berlin's main governing party have chosen the city's development minister to be its new mayor after the charismatic and long-serving incumbent announced his resignation.

The center-left Social Democrats said Saturday that Michael Mueller won 59.1 percent support in a membership ballot. He was far ahead of two rivals — local party chairman Jan Stoess with 20.9 percent and Palestinian-born caucus leader Raed Saleh, who won 18.6 percent.

Mayor Klaus Wowereit plans to step down Dec. 11 after over 13 years in power, two years before his term expires. He was long popular but his reputation suffered from persistent delays in opening Berlin's new airport.

The Berlin state parliament will elect his successor. Since a Social Democrat-led coalition has a majority there, Mueller is all but guaranteed the job.

Philippine militants free 2 kidnapped Germans

October 18, 2014

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two Germans freed after being held for six months in the southern Philippines by a militant group that threatened to behead one of them if ransom was not paid were flown to Manila on Saturday under the care of their embassy, a Philippine military spokesman said.

Following their release Friday, Stefan Okonek and Henrike Dielen were flown to Manila under arrangements made by the German Embassy, said Maj. Gen. Domingo Tutaan. The two have not spoken publicly about their ordeal and German diplomats could not be reached for comment.

Philippine Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin confirmed their released late Friday, just hours after the Abu Sayyaf militant group had threatened to behead Okonek. Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Rami told radio station DXRZ in southern Zamboanga City that his group received 250 million pesos ($5.6 million) in ransom. He did not say who paid it.

Gazmin said he was "not privy" to information about any ransom payment, though other Philippine officials confirmed that ransom had been paid. "We're happy they're safe. I hope there will be no more (kidnappings)," Gazmin told The Associated Press by phone.

The German Foreign Ministry thanked the Philippine government for its "close and trustful cooperation," but did not give details on how the release came about. Herminio Coloma, a spokesman for Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, said officials were still trying to piece together details of the release. He said there was "no change in the 'no ransom' policy of the government."

"With the release from captivity of the two German nationals, our security forces will continue efforts to stem the tide of criminality perpetrated by bandit elements," Coloma said in a statement. Tutaan said Okonek and Dielen were brought by a Philippine navy ship to southern Zamboanga City after their release and spent the night at a military hospital there.

Military officials and government agents monitoring the hostage crisis, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the amount of ransom that was paid ranged from 50 million pesos to 240 million pesos ($112,000 to $5.4 million).

One of the officials said that Okonek appeared to have been beaten up by his captors because he had a black eye. In a video earlier released by the Abu Sayyaf, he was shown being roughed up and slapped.

Abu Sayyaf gunmen seized Okonek and Dielen from a yacht in April between Malaysia's Sabah state on Borneo Island and the western Philippine province of Palawan. They were taken by boat to predominantly Muslim Sulu province, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of Manila, where militants are holding other hostages.

Abu Rami had threatened to behead Okonek at 3 p.m. Friday, but extended the deadline for the ransom payment. The group also had demanded the withdrawal of German support for the U.S.-led air strikes against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

In a call to the Zamboanga radio station, Rami said Okonek and Dielen were released around 8:45 p.m. Friday to a negotiator in a village in Patikul township on Jolo Island, an Abu Sayyaf stronghold. "The 250 million pesos arrived, no more, no less," he said.

In an interview with DXRZ allowed by the militants earlier in the week, Okonek, 71, who said he was a medical doctor, appealed to "please do everything to get us out of here." "I hope you will negotiate my release and so with my wife," he said, addressing no one in particular.

He said he was speaking from inside a 5-meter by 3-meter (15-foot by 10-foot) "grave" the gunmen have dug for him in the jungle. He said he and Dielen were separated by the militants about a day before.

Military chief of staff Gen. Gregorio Catapang said the Abu Sayyaf is still holding more than a dozen other Filipino and foreign hostages, including two European birdwatchers who were kidnapped two years ago.

The kidnappings dramatize the threats still posed by the Abu Sayyaf despite more than a decade of U.S.-backed Philippine military offensives that has crippled the group. Their ransom kidnappings have alarmed nearby countries like Malaysia.

In 2000, Abu Sayyaf gunmen snatched 21 European tourists, including three Germans, and Malaysian and Filipino workers from Malaysia's Sipadan diving resort and brought them to Sulu, where they eventually were freed in exchange for large ransom payments.

Associated Press writers Jim Gomez and Teresa Cerojano in Manila and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this story.

Lebanon pulled into war with Islamic State group

October 18, 2014

BEIRUT (AP) — With all eyes on the Islamic State group's onslaught in Iraq and Syria, a less conspicuous but potentially just as explosive front line with the extremists is emerging in Lebanon, where Lebanese soldiers and Shiite Hezbollah guerrillas are increasingly pulled into deadly fighting with the Sunni militants along the country's border with Syria.

The U.S. has been speeding up delivery of small ammunition to shore up Lebanon's army, but recent cross-border attacks and beheading of Lebanese soldiers by Islamic State fighters — and the defection of four others to the extremists — has sent shockwaves across this Mediterranean country, eliciting fear of a potential slide into the kind of militant, sectarian violence afflicting both Syria and Iraq, and increasingly prompting minorities to take up arms.

The crisis was slow in coming. For long, Lebanon managed to miraculously avoid the all-out chaos gripping neighboring countries — despite sporadic street clashes and car bombings, and despite being awash with weapons and taking in an endless stream of refugees from Syria who now constitute a staggering one third of its population of 4.5 million people.

Unlike in Syria or Iraq, the al-Qaida-breakaway Islamic State group does not hold territory in Lebanon. But along with Syria's al-Qaida affiliate, the Nusra Front, it has established footholds in remote mountains along Lebanon's remote eastern border, from where it launches almost daily incursions further afield.

Jihadi recruitment in impoverished Sunni areas of northern Lebanon is on the rise, and black Islamic State group flags fly freely in some areas, reflecting pockets of growing support for the radical group.

"Lebanon is in the eye of the storm," said Fadia Kiwan, a political science professor at Beirut's St. Joseph University. The Lebanese are bitterly divided over Syria's civil war. Hezbollah fighters have gone to join Syrian President Bashar Assad's forces in their battle against Sunni rebels, drawing anger at home from Lebanon's Sunnis and stoking Sunni-Shiite tensions. This in turn led to tit-for-tat suicide bombings and several rounds of street clashes in Lebanon in the past year.

The Islamic State group threat first came to Lebanon in August, two months after the group's summer blitz in which it seized large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria. In a surprise attack, Islamic State group and Nusra Front militants crossed over from Syria and overran the predominantly Sunni Lebanese border town of Arsal, hitting Lebanese army positions and killing nearly 20 soldiers.

After weeklong clashes, the militants pulled back to mountain caves near Syria's border, taking more than 20 Lebanese soldiers and policemen with them. Islamic State fighters have since beheaded two Lebanese soldiers. Nusra Front militants have shot dead a third. In return for remaining hostages, they have issued various demands, including the withdrawal of Hezbollah troops from Syria, and the release of Islamists from Lebanese prisons.

Lebanese army commander Jean Kahwaji said in comments published this week that the militants from Syria want to ignite civil war and create a passage to Lebanon's coastline by linking the Syrian Qalamoun mountains with Arsal on the border and the northern Lebanese town of Akkar, an impoverished Sunni area.

Analysts agree that in Lebanon, the Islamic State group fighters also see an opportunity to strike at Hezbollah's patron, the Shiite powerhouse Iran but that they are not too eager to immediately embark on yet another war.

"The territory of Lebanon is a longer-term goal," said David Schenker, director of the program on Arab politics at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. But there are fears that eventually, Schenker said, the Islamic State group could stage a spectacular bombing of, for example, the Hezbollah stronghold of Dahyeh south of Beirut, recreating an incident similar to a 2006 attack in the Iraqi city of Samarra, and "unleash this incredible sectarian tension that results in a resumption of civil war."

In Samarra, the Sunni extremists bombed a major Shiite shrine, setting in motion two years of sectarian bloodletting that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war. Lebanon is still recovering from a 15-year civil war that ended in 1990.

The global war against Islamic State group and its attacks in Lebanon have somewhat bolstered Hezbollah's narrative that its intervention in Syria was necessary to ward off a Sunni extremist threat to Lebanon.

Paradoxically, it has brought Hezbollah closer to Christians and other Lebanese minorities through their shared fear of the Sunni militants. But the Lebanese Shiite group is hated by most Lebanese Sunnis, many of whom refer to Hezbollah as the "Party of Satan" — a dark play on Hezbollah's name, which in English means "Party of God."

In addition to being bogged down in the fighting in Syria, Hezbollah is increasingly embroiled in clashes inside Lebanon. In an unprecedented attack, Nusra Front fighters overran positions manned by Hezbollah along the Syrian border last week, killing eight of its fighters in battles that lasted several hours.

"Such attacks not only erode the stature of Hezbollah, they show it to be vulnerable. I think in the long run or as the months go by we're going to see more and more of this," Schenker said. In a rare excursion outside his underground bunkers, Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah traveled to the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon last week to meet his fighters, Hezbollah official Mohammad Afif said — an apparent move to boost their morale.

"Hezbollah entered a battle that is bigger than Lebanon," said Kiwan, the political science professor. "Today, Hezbollah is obliged to continue in the battle that it started." Along with the Lebanese army, Hezbollah is fighting almost daily incursions by Islamic State group militants in Bekaa, prompting accusations that the army is collaborating with the Shiite guerrilla against the Lebanese Sunnis, placing the army in the thick of the Sunni-Shiite confrontation.

Adding to the deadly mix, four Lebanese soldiers, all Sunnis from north Lebanon, have deserted from the army and joined either the IS or the Nusra Front since July. One of the deserters, Abdallah Shehadeh, said in a video posted online by Nusra Front this week that he had initially "enlisted in the army to defend the Lebanese people" — only to find that the army is a "Hezbollah tool."

Though a handful of desertions do not pose an imminent risk to the stature of Lebanon's military, such publicized statements may eventually hurt it and make the recruitment of Sunni conscripts more difficult, analysts say.

Because of the Lebanese Sunni-Shiite divisions and the pro- and anti-Assad split, the civil war in Syria has completely paralyzed the government in Beirut. Lebanon has been without a president since May, and parliament is set to postpone elections for the second time, ostensibly because the security situation makes it impossible to hold a vote.

Moreover, the government faces escalating protests by families of the captive soldiers and policemen who have blocked roads and set up protest tents, including several pitched last week near the government building that blocked traffic in Beirut's commercial center. They families accuse the government of not doing enough to secure the freedom of their loved ones.

"We hope that the state (of Lebanon) will do something that restores its dignity," said Layal Dirani, the sister of policeman Suleiman Dirani, who was taken captive by the Nusra Front on Aug. 2.

In Hong Kong, no endgame for chaotic protests

October 18, 2014

HONG KONG (AP) — Three weeks ago, students at a rally stormed a fenced-off courtyard outside Hong Kong's government headquarters, triggering unprecedented mass protests for greater democracy in the semiautonomous Chinese city.

Since then, the movement has spiraled into a volatile and dangerous crisis with no clear endgame. Support for protesters is fast waning, as days of violent clashes between activists, their opponents and police overshadow the movement. Vast differences over political reforms divide the students and the government. Key thoroughfares remain closed. Some protesters are digging in for the long haul at the main occupation zone, while others fight to retake ground lost to police.

Against this backdrop, a government offer to negotiate with students appears highly unlikely to resolve the largest uprising since the former British colony returned to Chinese control 17 years ago. "The endgame is nowhere in sight," said Willy Lam, a China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Short of using a high degree of force, which might exacerbate dissatisfaction among the public, it looks like neither Beijing nor the Hong Kong government has what it takes to defuse the crisis."

Here are three key questions as the democracy protests continue to unfold:

Q: WHAT IS THE HONG KONG GOVERNMENT'S STRATEGY?

A: Hong Kong authorities have been inconsistent both in handling the students' call for political reform and in tactics to clear the streets.

The city's highly unpopular leader, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying — known as CY — angered protesters when he abruptly called off scheduled talks last week, saying a constructive outcome was unlikely. He then revived the proposal for talks a week later, amid soaring tensions and public anger over a video showing police beating a handcuffed protester.

Even if the talks materialize, chances that they could resolve the deadlock quickly are slim. Leung repeatedly has said that Beijing will not give in to the students' demand to open up nominations for the city's inaugural direct election in 2017, and he has little wiggle room to offer compromises to the students.

"At this stage, Beijing is running the show. Beijing is dictating ways and means that it hopes the Hong Kong government will take to defuse the crisis," Lam said.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong's police appear entirely unprepared as they face a level of civil unrest not seen in the territory for decades.

A heavy-handed strategy of unleashing tear gas to disperse protesters on Sept. 28 and detaining student leaders backfired, drawing more supporters to the streets.

Police then veered toward a softer approach, leaving the protest zones alone. This week they carried out surprise pre-dawn operations to retake parts of the streets — including clearing out the second-biggest encampment, in blue-collar Mong Kok — but those actions appear to have triggered a backlash from angry protesters. Hundreds returned to Mong Kok on Friday, leaving the area convulsed in chaos for hours as police tried to hold back the crowds.

The volatility and Leung's ineffective leadership are putting huge pressure on police to maintain order, said Steve Vickers, former head of intelligence with the colonial-era Royal Hong Kong Police Force, who now runs his own risk consultancy.

"The absence of any dialogue between the government and the public puts the police in a very exposed position," he said. "The inability of the Hong Kong government to directly make decisions is exacerbating the situation. What I'm saying is CY's not fully in charge."

With Beijing appearing to want to avoid both bloodshed and a compromise with the student leaders, Lam said, "we have the making of a stalemate."

Q: WHERE DOES THE PROTEST MOVEMENT STAND NOW?

A: From the start, a key feature of the protests has been their amorphous and organic nature. Three groups at the heart of the movement have rallied the crowds and led efforts to negotiate protesters' demands with the government, but there's no central leadership. Many taking part say the groups, headed by students and a law professor, do not represent them.

That spontaneity appealed to many supporters, but it's become clear that the movement is unraveling at the edges and losing its unity of purpose.

As the standoff drags on, factions of more radical protesters are breaking off from the peaceful sit-ins at the main protest zone. For several nights in a row, large, rowdy crowds have stepped up their tactics to gain control of streets, scuffling with riot police. Others responded to calls on social media for flash mobs and what police condemned as "guerrilla tactics," sporadically rushing into traffic to dump barriers in the road before running away.

Most protesters say they want the movement to stay peaceful, and some are frustrated by the divisions among activists.

The video of police officers kicking a handcuffed protester — and images of police dragging activists away and aiming pepper spray at protesters' faces — have ignited even more volatility.

On Thursday, student leaders urged protesters not to let anger at police distract from the movement's core purpose, or drive more ugly scenes that would spoil the movement's public image.

"We came here to protest, not to let out our emotions," Joshua Wong, an 18-year-old student leader, told protesters.

Q: WHAT ARE THE LIKELY OUTCOMES?

A: The Hong Kong government now faces myriad scenarios, none of them particularly palatable.

Both sides could try to move forward on talks based on minor compromises. Officials hinted Thursday that there could be room for maneuvering over how a committee that nominates Hong Kong's leader is picked, and that changes to elections could take place after 2017.

"If we don't do it in 2017, we could try to do it in 2022," Leung said.

The students could also be placated by Leung's resignation, though it's unlikely that Chinese President Xi Jinping would allow that, given his hard-line stance on dissent in China's other outlying regions, such as Tibet.

In the shorter term, authorities could continue trying to wait the students out while police clear more protest zones in surprise raids. The strategy could be used to shut down the third and smallest site, in the Causeway Bay shopping district, where as few as 30 protesters were occupying about 100 meters (yards) of road on Friday morning.

But chances of success are less certain at the main site in Admiralty, a sprawling zone filled with tents, banners and protest art.

Vickers said the single biggest risk in the days ahead is the escalation of clashes between the protesters and their opponents, including triads, or criminal gangs who are widely suspected of being paid by shadowy pro-Beijing groups to stir up trouble.

"Police are going to be caught between the two groups, and that is not a nice place to be," he said.