International FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2013 Egyptian police arrest senior Islamist Beltagi Islamists vow further protests amid crackdown CAIRO, Qahirah: Egyptian police arrested ther protests, as police continue rounding ment that it would forcefully confront any senior Muslim Brotherhood politician up Islamists, was immediately followed by “attempt to affect the stability of public Mohamed Al-Beltagi and a former Islamist an interior ministry warning that live ammu- security.” “In light of calls by wanted leaders government minister yesterday, the interior nition will be used on protesters who attack of the Muslim Brotherhood for protests on ministry said. public institutions. Friday June 30... the interior ministry affirms The firebrand politician was arrested in a “We welcome any calls for calm, but we its forces’ readiness to confront any viola- In this file picture downloaded from the US Royal Navy village outside Cairo with former labor min- will continue protesting in a peaceful man- tion of the law,” it said. website, USS Stout (DDG 55), a guided-missile destroy- ister Khaled Al-Azhari, who served in ousted ner,” Salah Gomaa, a member of the Anti- In a statement, the Anti-Coup Alliance er, transits in the US 6th Fleet area of responsibility dur- president Mohammed Morsi’s government, Coup Alliance led by Morsi’s Muslim called for the release of prisoners and ing a routine ballistic missile defense deployment. The the ministry said. Beltagi, who had issued Brotherhood, told a news conference. The demanded a probe into the violence over defiant video recordings in hiding, was the Islamist coalition has held almost daily ral- the past month. After arresting much of the US Navy has deployed the USS Stout, the fifth destroyer latest Brotherhood leader detained in a lies following a deadly police operation on movement’s leadership, the police have to be deployed to the eastern Mediterranean, a defense wide-ranging crackdown on the Islamist August 14 to disperse their two protest begun rounding up mid-level operatives official said yesterday.—AFP movement. A former member of parlia- camps in Cairo. More than 1,000 people around the country. The crackdown on the ment, he became one of the most vocifer- were killed in the operation and ensuing Islamists has severely impacted their ability Saudi prince’s ous opponents of the popularly backed mil- violence, and police have rounded up more to muster supporters on the street. Last itary coup that toppled the Islamist Morsi on than 2,000 Islamists, according to security Friday, only several thousand people heed- July 3. Police had already arrested the sources. The interior ministry said in a state- ed their call for marches in Cairo. —AFP swipe at tiny Qatar Brotherhood’s supreme guide Mohamed Badie and much of the senior leadership. draws riposte Badie and his deputies are standing trial on charges of involvement in the murder of DOHA: A US media report quoting the Saudi intelligence chief as protesters who stormed the Brotherhood’s mocking Qatar over its small population has drawn a stinging headquarters on June 30. Prosecutors had rebuke from Doha, underlining tensions between the two Gulf issued a warrant for Beltagi on charges of Arab states over clashing foreign policies. While both are in the inciting violence. Although respected by Gulf Cooperation Council political-military bloc, Qatar and Saudi many Islamist youths, Beltagi was not seen Arabia have strong differences with Doha backing Islamists in as possessing much influence in the top Arab Spring revolts elsewhere and Riyadh opposing them as a ranks of the Brotherhood. threat to regional stability. He became one of the movement’s chief Qatar had taken an especially robust lead in supporting Arab spokesmen after Morsi’s ouster, and out- Spring revolutions in Syria, Egypt and Libya before Saudi Arabia raged the former president’s opponents earlier this year imposed itself as the main external backer of when he said militant attacks on security Syrian rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Al-Assad. The forces in Sinai would end only with Morsi’s Wall Street Journal reported that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a vet- restoration. His daughter, Asmaa, was killed eran Saudi ambassador to Washington who is coordinating Saudi on August 14 in a deadly police operation aid to the rebels, had said at a meeting last summer that Qatar that broke up two Islamist protest camps in was “nothing more than 300 people ... and a TV channel”, quoting Cairo. a person familiar with the exchange. The “TV channel” is Doha- Meanwhile, supporters of Egypt’s based pan-Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera. deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi CAIRO: Essam El-Erian (left), vice chairman of the Freedom And Justice par- Qatari Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Attiya shot back in a Twitter vowed more rallies and called for marches ty, and on his right, Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed El-Beltagy message that became an instant sensation in the tiny Gulf Arab on Friday despite a harsh police crackdown attend the first Egyptian parliament session after the revolution that oust- state. “One Qatari citizen is worth an entire people and the Qatari on their movement. Yesterday’s call for fur- people are equal to an entire nation,” he wrote. “This is what we ed former President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo yesterday.—AP tell our sons, with all respect to the others,” he added. The Qatari newspaper Al-Sharq said on Sunday the message was retweeted by more than 600 people in the first few hours, Lebanon FM warns over Syria strike after a “hashtag insulting to Qatar (Qatar 300 people and a (TV) channel” spread on social media.— Reuters BEIRUT: International punitive strikes sharply divided between supporters and Tripoli, a Sunni stronghold, have fueled sec- against Syrian President Bashar Assad’s opponents of Assad’s regime and is split tarian tensions in the country, pushing the regime without a United Nations mandate along sectarian lines. Two powerful car country to the brink of war itself. Britain sends six will pose a “serious threat” to the security bombings in predominantly Shiite areas There are also fears that a US strike and stability across the Middle East, controlled by the pro-Assad militant group against Assad would trigger Hezbollah retali- Lebanon’s foreign minister said yesterday. Hezbollah, followed by deadly car bombings ation against US ally Israel, potentially draw- Typhoon jets to In an interview with The Associated Press, earlier this month in the northern city of ing in the Jewish State into a wider conflict. Adnan Mansour warned that a Western mili- He warned that Lebanon, in particular, Cyprus base tary strike would escalate tensions in would be affected. “Such an operation will Lebanon and may dramatically increase the have negative repercussions on Lebanon’s LONDON: Britain has sent six RAF Typhoon jets to its number of Syrian refugees. Lebanon is a tiny security and stability, as well as from the Akrotiri base in Cyprus in a move to protect British interests country that shares a porous border with social and humanitarian perspective,” he as tensions grow over Syria, the Ministry of Defense said Syria, and has seen cross-border shelling, added. Mansour said there can be no alter- yesterday. The jets will not take part in any direct military sectarian clashes and car bombings in recent native to end Syria’s 2 1/2 year civil war other action, the ministry said, as the British parliament debates a months related to the civil war raging next than a political solution, adding that a mili- government motion on a possible response to the chemical door. There are concerns that US military tary strike will “complicate” matters. attack near Damascus last week. action in Syria may trigger another wave of “We have the experience of Afghanistan “This is purely a prudent and precautionary measure to refugees fleeing across the border into and Iraq,’ he said. “Iraq is still suffering from ensure the protection of UK interests and the defence of Lebanon - the country of 4.5 million already the chaos and instability and lack of securi- our Sovereign Base Areas at a time of heightened tension in is already host to nearly 1 million Syrian ty,” he said. Mansour rejected accusations the wider region,” the ministry said. “They are not deploy- refugees - and trigger violence across the that the Syrian regime was behind the Aug. ing to take part in any military action against Syria.” British country. “A limited or extended military 21 purported chemical weapons attack near Forces Cyprus confirmed that the six jets had arrived at the strike by one or more countries against Syria Damascus, that killed hundreds of people, Akrotiri base. is a serious threat to the security and stability saying there had to be an investigation “There are Typhoons on the ground at Akrotiri,” a BFC of the region,” said Mansour, who is seen as before accusations are leveled. “The regime spokesman told AFP. British Prime Minister David Cameron sympathetic to the Assad regime. cannot be accused in advance,” he said. He was yesterday facing an uphill struggle to secure parlia- “Any military action against any country, BEIRUT: Lebanese Foreign Minister added that blaming Syria quickly before an ment’s approval for military intervention in Syria after the particularly an Arab state, which is not root- investigation concludes gives the impres- main opposition party said it would vote against the ed in international legitimacy and the (UN) Adnan Mansour speaks during an sion of an intent to frame the Syrian govern- motion. —AFP Security Council, is a direct aggression interview with The Associated ment to provide a cover for a military opera- against this state,” he added.