Arab media bashes Romney on Iran and Palestinians

Syria continues to lead Arab news on Monday with provocative statements by its foreign minister Walid Muallem, who is visiting Tehran. That’s closely followed by coverage of presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel.

“Muallem warns from Tehran: We will defeat the global war on Syria,” reads the headline of London-based daily Al-Hayat. The daily interviews an unnamed senior Jordanian military official who claims that Syria is trying to “export” the crisis to Jordan by repeatedly violating Jordanian sovereignty and by targeting fleeing Syrian civilians near the Jordanian border.

“We have strict instructions to respond with intense fire to any attempt to attack our borders,” the official tells the daily.

Another unnamed Jordanian military official tells Al-Jazeera that the Syrian army deployed on the Jordanian border is “confused and suffers from disorientation.”

“Muallem threatens from Tehran and the Free Syrian Army stands firm,” reads the headline of A-Sharq Al-Awsat. The photo attached to the article features Syrian rebels attempting to camouflage a tank captured from the regime forces.

London-based daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi focuses its headline on Muallem’s accusation of Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia for preventing the cessation of violence.

‘General Manaf Tlas never waged a war against Israel or anyone else, and is not known for his military excellence or his bravery on the battlefield’

Abd Al-Bari Atwan, the daily’s editor-in-chief, dedicates his editorial Monday to rumors that Manaf Tlas, a senior Syrian defector and former friend of Bashar Assad, is being groomed as successor to Assad.

“General Manaf Tlas never waged a war against Israel or anyone else, and is not known for his military excellence or his bravery on the battlefield. All that’s known about him is that he is the son of former defense minister Mustafa Tlas who spent most of his life in the shadow of deceased president Hafez Assad.”

Al-Hayat columnist Jameel Theyabi lambastes all the high-profile Syrian defectors, including Tlas, as opportunists. He compares Manaf Tlas to a young Syrian officer named Abd Al-Razaq Tlas who defected in the early days of the uprising at great risk to him and his family.

“No doubt, the defection of Manaf Tlas and Nawaf Fares [the former Syrian ambassador to Iraq] and others serve a blow to the Assad regime, but the Syrian people does not want these defectors to go to Paris, Ankara, Doha and Jedda to make statements from five-star hotels and give advice to the the rebels and claim they are heroes of the time. It wants them to carry weapons with its comrades and fight and defend the oppressed to win the people’s revolution,” writes Theyabi.

Romney gets a bashing in Arab media

Mitt Romney’s visit to Israel is receiving major coverage in Arab press Monday. Photos of  Romney with a skullcap at the Western Wall feature on many of the articles.

“American presidential battle rages in Israel: Warm welcome for Romney and Iran is at the heart of the race,” reads the headline of Al-Hayat. The daily claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s close circle has expressed Netanyahu’s preference for Romney’s candidacy, since Romney has openly supported Israel’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program.

“Romney makes pledges to Israeli politicians and the Palestinian territories are not included in his itinerary,” reads the headline of A-Sharq Al-Awsat, featuring a photo of Netanyahu shaking hands with Romney. The daily claims that Netanyahu is “courting” the Republican nominee, while opposition leader Shaul Mofaz and President Shimon Peres have praised Obama’s policy in his presence.

The daily leads with the fact that Romney did not meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and only met with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem.

A-Sharq Al-Awsat leads with the fact that Romney did not meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and only met with Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Jerusalem

“Mitt Romney… finds himself among family and friends in his current visit to occupied Jerusalem,” reads an editorial in Al-Quds Al-Arabi. “Benjamin Netanyahu does not hide his preference [of Romney] over the current president Barack Obama … and most Israelis and American Jews share his opinion.”

The editor predicts that Romney will strike Iran, to the detriment of the region and the world at large.

“The United States occupied Iraq at the behest of Israeli dictations stemmed by fabricated fear of the former Iraqi regime and weapons of mass destruction … it lost 5,000 soldiers and killed over 1 million Iraqis. Now it wants to repeat the same crime for the same reasons, but the scale of victims may be higher, to the detriment of the region and its peoples.”