‘The butcher continues to kill, the monitors continue to monitor’

The continuation of violence in Syria despite the presence of international monitors on the ground is the main theme of Thursday’s headlines in the Arab press.

The headline of London-based liberal daily Al-Hayat reads: “Syria: The presence of monitors will not prevent targeting protesters.” According to the opposition sources quoted by the daily, 35 Syrians were killed Wednesday, mainly in Homs.

Saudi-owned daily A-Sharq Al-Awsat leads with a similar headline: “Gunfire in the presence of monitors, and the White House: Assad is not credible.” The image displayed both in Al-Hayat and in A-Sharq Al-Awsat is taken from a video clip released by the Syrian’s opposition’s Ugarit News Agency. It shows a handwritten poster taped to the back of a UN vehicle, reading “The butcher continues to kill, the monitors continue to monitor and the people continue their revolution.”

The international monitor team was shot at by Syrian forces while visiting the Damascus hinterland, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports, adding that one monitor was injured by a teargas canister shot by government troops.

Pan-Arab daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reports that Turkey intercepted a ship carrying arms to Syria. The ship, which bore the flag of Antigua, was captured near the Bay of Iskenderun off the Turkish coast.

A-Sharq Al-Awsat columnist Salih Qalab notes that Bashar Assad was chosen as president after his father’s death as a compromise candidate, since he was weaker than his rivals, the Alawite generals, and posed no threat to them. Who will be the weak Alawite replacement to Assad, asks Qalab, and will the international community agree to a solution which will leave the power in the hands of the Alawite minority?

Qalab’s colleague in A-Sharq Al-Awsat, Huda Husseini, writes that what is currently taking place in Syria and Iran is not only a clash between the Sunni and Shiite streams of Islam, but a Cold War-like confrontation between Russia and the United States. The alliance between Russia and Iran is so strong, she argues, that some experts say Russia may establish military bases in Iran, with the strategic goal of controlling the entire Caucus region.

Iran talks back to Emirates

A day after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Arab Gulf states condemned Iran for a provocative visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the occupied island of Abu-Moussa, comes the Iranian reply, widely reported by Arab media.

Two hundred twenty-five members of parliament out of a total of 290 signed a petition condemning the Emirates for their “baseless claims” against Iran, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports.

The parliamentarians claimed the Ahmadinejad’s visit to the island is an internal Iranian affair and that the UAE has no business intervening in the matter.

Qatar-based news channel Al-Jazeera quotes Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast as saying that Iran’s ownership of the three disputed Gulf Islands is “final and nonnegotiable.”

Sudan and South Sudan escalate tones and clashes

The level of tension between Sudan and South Sudan continues to rise Wednesday, as Sudanese President Omar Bashir describes the South Sudanese government as “insects” in a speech delivered to members of his National Congress Party (NCP), Dubai based channel Al-Arabiya reports.

Meanwhile, military clashes have gone beyond the oil-rich area of Higlig which South Sudanese forces occupied last week, to encompass the provinces of Abyei and Miram in South Kordofan as well as two provinces in southern Darfur.

Al-Hayat reports that police in Khartoum has raised the level of alert to 100%, fearing attacks by sleeper cells in the city. International and Arab diplomats are trying to prevent what are still limited clashes from erupting into a full-fledged war.

But Al-Jazeera reports that the clashes are the worst between north and south Sudan since the south seceded in July 2011.

Egyptian Islamists keep up the fight

Two Egyptian candidates disqualified from the presidential race Tuesday are not deterred by the decision, announcing a million-man rally in Tahrir Square Friday calling for an immediate transfer of power from the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) to a democratically elected civilian body.

Salafist candidate Hazem Abu-Ismail still contends that an official US document proving his mother applied and received American citizenship were falsified in order to thwart his candidacy, while Muslim Brotherhood nominee Khairat Shater argues that his removal from the race “indisputably proves that the Mubarak regime continues to rule.”