For the majority of the Lebanese people, the holistic patriotic picture has become very clear. In general, they are now fully aware of the precipitating factors and perpetuating elements underlying the ongoing flagrant direct and indirect Syrian-Iranian occupation of their country through armed militias and a bunch of traitorous, Trojan horse politicians and officials spearheaded by the terrorist � fundamentalist Hezbollah.

Lebanese people both in the homeland and Diaspora are very much aware of the numerous evil, vicious Syrian-Iranian obstacles deliberately employed and imposed on them by force and murder to hinder their beloved Lebanon from fully reclaiming its independence, sovereignty, freedom, tranquility and peace.

The free and patriotic Lebanese strongly reject and ridicule the fake and camouflaging slogans of hostility towards Israel, the USA and the Western Free world, as well as those of resistance, liberation, the people, government, and army triad, one people in two countries, and the many other deceitful tools of deception that Hezbollah utilizes as a pretext to maintain its ministate and hegemony on Lebanon and its people.

Since 1975, a state of darkness started to prevail among some misled Lebanese, leaders and citizens because of the Machiavellian Syrian-Iranian "divide and rule" imperialistic tactics. Meanwhile, subservient stances adopted by the Syrian-Iranian installed Lebanese officials and politicians created a class of shameless collaborators, opportunists, mercenaries and traitors. Sadly, these parasites still dominate the country from top to bottom and blindly serve the interests of their masters through persecution of the free Lebanese people.

The current Lebanese government headed by billionaire Najib Mikati is totally manipulated and controlled by Hezbollah on behalf of its two evil regime sponsors, Iran and Syria. This anti-peace and anti-freedom government that was forced on the Lebanese by terrorism, extortion and intimidation has nothing to do with Lebanon the state and the constitution or the interests and welfare of the Lebanese people. Simply it is a human tool that Hezbollah is using and abusing to continue its devouring of the country while hindering by force the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) that has already indicted four of its top notch leaders.

The current Lebanese-installed regime and government and on all levels are fully manipulated by the Syrian and Iranian Axis of Evil regimes. Sadly, our Lebanese people are used mercilessly to serve Syria's and Iran's terrorist and expansionism agendas.

Hopefully, the ambiguousness, terrorism, barbarism, and distortion created by the two Evil of Axis countries since the early seventies to justify their ongoing occupation of Lebanon through murderous armed proxies and mercenary officials and politicians will vanish soon by the help of the Free World, UN, and after the Syrian al-Assad dictatorship regime is toppled and replaced by a new, free and democratic Syrian regime.

The Syrian and Iranian Axis of Evil regimes have polluted Lebanon with their Stone Age education of hatred, rejection of others, hostility, fanaticism, wars, and anti-peace, anti-human rights mentality. The majority of the Lebanese have become completely disgusted with these devious tactics.

The Syrian leadership has imposed its version of nationalism on Lebanon to justify scarifying the Lebanese men, women and children in endless and futile Syrian wars. They brainwashed many politicians, officials and citizens through confusion, terrorism, manipulation, cheating, intimidation, and blatant instigation of sectarian divisions.

Time after time, Syria, Iran and their armed proxies beat the drums of war and raise provocative sectarian slogans to further divide the Lebanese. All along, we have heard and witnessed numerous Syrian and Iranian figures, puppet Lebanese politicians and officials do so by their ferocious rhetorical attacks against each other and against patriotic figures.

Ever since Syria assumed total control over Lebanon in 1990 and installed a Lebanese satellite regime, the Lebanese have been spoon-fed by the Syrianized Lebanese media on a daily basis and told that the civil war will be rekindled should the Syrian army ever be forced to depart from their country. In fact when the Syrian army was forced in 2005 to withdraw from Lebanon, no such fallacies happened, but on the contrary the Lebanese from all sects became more united and laid ground for the Cedars Revolution.

Since the early sixties and even before that, the Syrian regime has instigated all the wars in Lebanon, supplied all the outlaws with arms, encouraged and used the Palestinian refugees to challenge the Lebanese authorities and the army and to erect their own ministates, helped the Iranian mullahs' regime to hijack the Lebanese Shiite community through the armed terrorist group, Hezbollah and establish its ministate. In fact, all Lebanon's problems since 1925 were made in Syria.

Lebanon's enemies currently control its regime and follow the militias' model. They have created sectarian barriers among the people and destroyed the national foundations of the country. They boldly accuse patriotic leaders of preaching hatred and opposing social modernization. What proof do they have for these false allegations? What are their examples? Nobody in fact knows. Although they expect us to blindly believe what they say, march behind them and repeat like parrots whatever they utter, as some simple-minded imbeciles do.

The Syrian regime and its installed puppets in Lebanon do not want us to think or talk about the Syrian-Iranian occupation that is forced through Hezbollah, or otherwise they threaten that the massacres will start again. They want us to lose our national self-confidence and pride. They want us to live in continuous fear and intimidation under the delusion that only the Syrian regime is capable of preventing internal conflicts from igniting.

While the Syrian revolution against the al-Assad dictatorship has been getting stronger and more widespread, the Syrian regime's deceptive media propaganda is trying to sell the Free World a big lie in regard to the safety of Christian communities in both Syria and Lebanon. This lie alleges that al-Assad regime is protecting the Christians and in case it would be toppled the Salafist Sunnis will massacre the Christians as was the situation in Iraq after its liberation from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship by the USA and other Western armies. What a fallacy.

The question is, how can a wolf protect his prey? No way, because a savage, inhuman and murderous regime like that of al-Assad's dictatorship knows only how to enslave, torture and kill. Christians in Syria are abused by al-Assad regime and persecuted like the rest of the Syrian people from all sects. When Hafez al-Assad took over Syria 42 years ago through a bloody coup, Syrian Christian numbers were between 20- 25% of the country's population. Since then their numbers have been reduced to 5-6%.

Meanwhile, during Syria's bloody 30-year occupation of Lebanon all Christian Lebanese communities were persecuted, tortured, imprisoned, kidnapped, liquidated, displaced, terrorized, forced to leave the country and exposed to hardships that they never encountered in their history. In 1994, the Syrian occupation illegally granted Lebanese citizenship to more than half million Muslim Syrian, Arabs and Palestinians making the Christians less than 50% of the country's 4 million population. No occupier in history has harmed Lebanon's Christians more than the Syrian al-Assad regime.

In conclusion, as long as the Syrian Baathist regime remains in power, Lebanon and its people, as well as all the neighboring countries, including Israel, will never have peace or stability. Sadly, Lebanon will remain in the eyes of President Bachar al-Assad and the thugs of his regime the haven they have always aspired to own and control. Without a shred of doubt, Syria would have preferred to keep the Israelis in south Lebanon in the year 2000 so it could continue occupying the rest of the country.

Meanwhile, the Syrian regime will do anything not to lose its iron grip on Lebanon and definitely has no intention whatsoever to let this country peacefully reclaim its confiscated independence and sovereignty. Al-Assad's agenda is to keep Lebanon under occupation indefinitely and accordingly will instigate all kinds of wars no matter what the consequences in a bid to maintain his full hegemony.

Hopefully, the Baathist, al-Assad Stone Age regime will be toppled soon by the free Syrian people simply because the equation for Lebanon is: The Syrian regime's survival is Lebanon's demise.

In my new Arabic editorial that was published earlier this week the main focus was on the heretical and non- Lebanese practices of the last three Lebanese Maronite Presidents, Elias Hrawi, Emile Lahoud, and Michael Suleiman. The three have been as foreign to the true spirit of the Lebanese and Maronites as the oppressive and criminal Syrian regime which put them in power to serve its interests and schemes

The Lebanese in general, and the Maronites in particular, feel that the role of the presidency post in their beloved has been not only marginalized, but humiliated, belittled, hijacked, enslaved and emptied of its context in the symbols of Lebanon’s national unity.

Meanwhile the three presidents who were appointed by the Syrian Dictatorship’s Baathist regime against the will of the majority of the Lebanese people since 1990 have been nothing but puppets. Mere mercenaries for Syria and Iran with no backbone or any kind of decency. They did not represent us, the Free Lebanese, in any manner or way. In reality they were alien from everything that is Lebanese.

These Presidents have proved through the past twenty-one years that in their hearts, minds and consciousnesses they were neither Lebanese nor Maronites. They knew nothing about Lebanon's great history and identity, or its great peoples' love for peace, freedom and independence.

The most sickening and disgusting phenomena that the three presidents shared was that they did not honour the sacrifices of Lebanon's great martyrs and had no respect for law, dignity, order, human rights, national commitments, or international obligations.

The sad and disappointing reality that the whole world must be aware of lies in the bare fact that Lebanon currently is an occupied country by all standards. All its officials, including the Maronite President, the Sunni Prime Minister and the entire new government headed by Najib Mikati and without exception are Syrian or Iranian puppets. These politicians and officials have no role in any matter, internal or external, when it comes to decision making.

Based on this worrying fact, all acts adopted and stances declared by the Lebanese current government at all levels does not represent the will of the majority of the free and peace-loving Lebanese. Simply and without any cosmetics Lebanon is a country occupied by Syria, Iran and their Lebanese armed proxies headed by the Terrorist Iranian Hezbollah militia.

This very heartbreaking reality has been inflicted on Lebanon by Syria, Iran and their Lebanese armed proxies and local mercenaries. But heretical and evil eras like the one Lebanon is suffering from today cannot overturn 7000 years of deeply rooted Lebanese history. In the end, as always, Lebanon emerges from the dust like the phoenix to be victorious over all of its enemies.

The sacred and blessed land of Lebanon needs presidents, officials, politicians and leaders who have solid faith and strong will to stand tall like its holy cedars. Lebanon cannot and will not accept dhimmitude and opportunistic presidents like the three ones appointed by the Syrian regime.

The Lebanese always cling to their strong and solid faith, and always have been able to regain their country and freedom. We strongly believe that whenever life's burdens oppress us and trials seem too much to face, we have to remember God's strength in our weakness, and He'll give us His power and grace. For God gives enough grace for whatever hardships we face, when we hold on to our faith and confidence in Him…”

In conclusion, we, the free Lebanese both at home and in the Diaspora, have a holy obligation to hold dear to our faith and hope. We must witness for the truth and never succumb to occupation or its local collaborators. By God's will the light of liberation shall rise over the skies of our beloved Lebanon, and once again love , tranquility, stability and peace shall prevail.

The world has known many brutal and bloody regimes in the Middle East and elsewhere since WW1, but none of them was more barbaric, savage and cruel than the current Syrian al-Assad Baathist dictatorship. Even the late Saddam Hussein, the dictator of Iraq, and also Hitler and Mussolini, were not as merciless, sadistic, bloody, evil, mean and ferocious as Syria�s al-Assad ruling family dynasty.

The murderous al-Assad Syrian regime that has been in power for almost 42 years shows no respect whatsoever to its own people�s dignity, rights, feelings, pain, grief, safety, and welfare. It has been ruling all these years under the emergency law with an iron and oppressive fist, depriving the Syrian people even of their own basic freedom and rights.

Those Syrians who attempted to oppose al-Assad�s dictatorship and authority even through peaceful and democratic means were either murdered, imprisoned and tortured or forced into exile. When Hama City revolted against this oppressive regime in February 1982, the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad quelled and totally crushed the revolt by sending his malicious private army troops to invade the city, destroy most of the infrastructure and buildings and murder with cold blood more than 25 thousand of its residents. Many other thousands were arbitrarily arrested and left to rot and die in imprisonment without trials.

During its Stalinist occupation era of Lebanon (1976-2005), the Syrian regime resorted to evil tactics of murder, terrorism, kidnapping, assassination, cruelty, a policy of divide and conquer, and barbarism against the Lebanese people. More than 20 thousand Lebanese citizens disappeared, one and half million fled the country, thousands were imprisoned, and scores of presidents, politicians, clergy, journalists and intellectuals were assassinated, and all the country�s governmental institutions were infiltrated with Syrian spies and agents, marginalized and Syrianized.

This awkward Stalinist Syrian regime has never changed and will never do so. The only language that its rulers and officials comprehend is crime, blood and murder. In 1980, the Syrian army that was occupying Lebanon, kidnapped the well known Lebanese journalist Salim Al Lawzi, who opposed the Syrian occupation of Lebanon, cut off his right hand fingers, slashed his throat, badly mutilated his body and dumped him in the woods nearby Beirut.

The same Al Lawzi barbaric scenario was replicated few days ago in the Hama Syrian city. Al-Assad thugs and mobs known as "Al Chabiha" kidnapped the Syrian activist Ibrahim Kashoush, who is also a singer and songwriter, slashed his throat, mutilated his body and dumped him in Al Assi River. Click on the link below and watch the graphic video that was posted on YouTube on Wednesday July 06/11. It shows Kashoush's body with his throat slashed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJ1h2WHwIms

This patriotic Syrian man inspired the Syrian uprising with songs that spread all over Syria and were chanted during the demonstrations. He did not have a gun or a cannon and he was not a terrorist or a fundamentalist. He was just a Syrian citizen who loved peace, freedom and democracy, yearned for a better life and expressed his feelings and wishes through his emotional and patriotic songs.

The Syrian criminal al-Assad regime could not tolerate Kashoush's songs and decided to end his life as was the situation with Al Lawzi and hundreds of Syrian and Lebanese intellectuals and politicians. Al-Assad thugs (Al Chabiha) kidnapped him and ended his life so he can no more annoy al-Assad, while the USA and the Free World countries are still naively calling on this criminal dictator to reform and not calling for toppling his regime and for putting him on trial for committing crimes against humanity.

The question is: are those people who committed this horrible crime human beings? No they are not. They are criminals, killers and mere barbaric savages that must not be left to continue ruling Syria and terrorizing its people.

Excerpts from Ibrahim Kashoush�s popular song lyrics:

Bashar, depart from here

You lost all your legitimacy

Depart depart, Bashar

Bashar, you are not one of us

Take Mahir (Basher�s brother) and depart from here

Depart depart, Bashar

Bashar, you are lying

You had bad speech

Freedom is very near

Depart depart, Bashar

These lyrics are from Ibrahim Kashoush�s song, �Yalla Erhal Ya Bashar� (It�s time to leave, Bashar), demanding an end to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad�s regime. The song gained popularity in recent weeks as thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Hama to protest against the violent crackdowns on civilians in the country.

The Free World and Arab countries have a moral obligation to come to the rescue of the Syrian people and to forcibly topple the brutal al-Assad regime, similar to Afghanistan and Iraq, and the sooner the better.

The Irony here lies in the traumatic reality that while the Syrian people are struggling to topple al-Assad�s barbaric regime, Hezbollah, the Iranian terrorist armed militia, and all the other Lebanese mercenary politicians and officials who are mere puppets of either the Syrian or Iranian regimes have toppled the legitimate Lebanese pro-western government through intimidation, terror, and bribery. Against the will of the majority of the Lebanese people they formed a new government that is totally under the control of the Axis of Evil countries, Syria and Iran. Meanwhile, the Free World and Arab countries, and especially the US administration, are still cajoling and appeasing the Syrian regime and not toppling it.

In conclusion, an ape cannot be made to look like a man no matter how much cosmetics are put on his face, because an ape is an ape and man is a man. At the same time, no sane person who plants a thorn can expect it to bear figs. The same principle applies to the Syrian regime that is uncorrectable, cannot be changed and will not be changed while the only language that its rulers comprehend and respond to is absolute power. Meanwhile, as a Lebanese man living in the Diaspora, I wonder why any free and intelligent Lebanese would not fight to keep the vicious Stone Age Syrian al-Assad regime model far away from Lebanon.

as per the attached flyer.

Guest speakers include local, interstate and international guests with our guest of honour being the very Rev. Fr Metias Nasr Mankarious who serves in the garbage cities of Cairo and recently participated in the Coptic demonstrations outside the Maspiro compound in Cairo.

Also the Federal Minister for Hughes Mr Craig Kelly MP will be in attendance and he will convey an important message to the Conference from Federal Parliament concerning the Coptic rights issue.

The entire conference will be in English and everyone will get the opportunity to meet Fr Metias and our other guest speakers.

We look forward to seeing you on the 9th July at Rhodes.

The Australian Coptic Movement

Sydney, Australia.