English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 23/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10/38-42: “Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 22-23/2022
U.N. Chief Urges All Parties to 'Respect Decision' of STL
In Rome, Aoun Calls for Vatican-Backed Lebanon Support Fund
Aoun to "La Repubblica" newspaper: Hezbollah's position inside Lebanon is completely different from its view abroad. And Hezbollah has no influence, in any way, on the security situation of the Lebanese internally
Lebanese-Italian summit held at Quirinale Palace in Rome between Presidents Aoun and Matarella
Aoun: Hizbullah Not Playing Domestic Security Role, Resistance is Not Terror
Alleged and Fabricated Report by Hezbollah's Notorious Mouthpiece Al-Akhbar says that the Vatican has Asked al-Rahi to Modify his Rhetoric on Hezbollah
Saudi Arabia Welcomes Miqati's 'Positive' Statement
Berri tackles developments with UNIFIL Commander, Japanese Ambassador, and UNDP’s Hauenstein
New Recusal Request Filed against Judge Bitar
Raja Salameh Questioned by Financial Attorney General
Conflicting Reports on Removal of Red Wax Seals from Fransabank Branches
On UNIFIL's 44th Establishment Day, Lázaro Urges Meaningful Steps for Sustainable Peace
Othman receives United Nations Truce Supervision Organization delegation
Defense Minister welcomes UNIFIL Commander, hails UNIFIL’s role in south Lebanon

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 22-23/2022
Battleground Ukraine: Day 27 of Russia's Invasion
Biden Says Russia Is Considering Using Chemical, Biological Weapons in Ukraine
Zelensky Renews Offer of Putin Talks
Ukraine Refugee Exodus Surpasses 3.5 Million
Ukraine’s Leader Says ‘Nothing Left’ of Mariupol, Kherson Also Facing Humanitarian Disaster
Ukraine Refugee Exodus Surpasses 3.5 Million
Russia’s Gazprom Says It Continues Gas Exports to Europe via Ukraine
Turkey Wants NATO Focused on Ukraine Ceasefire
Israelis Held by Russian Troops in Ukraine Freed
Al-Sisi Hosts UAE, Israeli Leaders at Red Sea Resort
At Least 4 Israelis Killed in Stabbing Attack
Syria Kurds in Record Captagon Seizure

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 22-23/2022
Dropping IRGC from blacklist would be boon for terrorism/Jacob Nagel and Meir Ben-Shabbat/Israel Hayom/March 22/2022
Iran’s Hackers Are Opportunistic, Patient, and Fearless/Annie Fixler/The National Interest/March 22/2022
Assad Visits the UAE, Showing Need for Tougher Enforcement of U.S. Sanctions/David Adesnik/Policy Brief/March 22/2022
America’s New Terrorist Allies: ‘The Mother of all Disasters’/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./March 22, 2022
The Russia/Bermuda Dark Money Subterfuge/Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/March 22/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 22-23/2022
U.N. Chief Urges All Parties to 'Respect Decision' of STL
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres takes note of the judgement delivered by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon in which Hassan Merhi and Hussein Oneissi were convicted in relation to the 14 February 2005 attack in Beirut that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 21 others and injured 226 more, his spokesman said. Noting that Merhi and Oneissi “remain at large,” the spokesman said “the Secretary-General’s thoughts are with the victims of the 14 February attack and their families.”“The Secretary-General expresses his deep appreciation for the dedication and hard work of the judges and staff involved in this case throughout the years,” the spokesman added. “The Secretary-General notes the independence and impartiality of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and calls upon all to respect the decision of the Tribunal. The Secretary-General urges the international community to continue supporting the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon as it brings this case to a close,” he said. The Special Tribunal for Lebanon was established at the request of Lebanon pursuant to an agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Lebanon that was brought into effect by the United Nations Security Council. On March 3, the tribunal’s appeals judges overturned the acquittals of Merhi and Oneissi, who are members of Hizbullah. The five-judge appeals panel convicted the two men of five charges linked to the assassination, including conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and being accomplices to intentional homicide. The unanimous appeals decision said that judges in the original trial verdict "committed errors of law invalidating the Judgment and errors of fact occasioning a miscarriage of justice."Merhi and Oneissi were originally cleared in August 2020 of involvement in the assassination outside a seaside hotel in Beirut. A third Hizbullah member, Salim Ayyash, was convicted at the time as a co-conspirator on five charges linked to his alleged involvement in the 2005 suicide truck bombing that killed Hariri and 21 others. Prosecutors said Merhi and Oneissi played "a significant role" in the plot by distributing a video with a false claim of responsibility after the bombing. All the suspects were tried in their absence as they were never arrested. The court said Merhi and Oneissi will be sentenced at a later date and issued fresh arrest warrants for both men following the convictions. The tribunal's 2020 verdict was met with anger and disappointment in parts of Lebanon after judges said there was no evidence that Hizbullah's leadership and Syria were involved in the attack, despite saying the assassination happened as Hariri and his political allies were discussing calling for Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.

In Rome, Aoun Calls for Vatican-Backed Lebanon Support Fund
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
President Michel Aoun on Monday called, from Rome, for setting up a Vatican-sponsored Lebanon support fund and for boosting aid programs for Lebanon, the Presidency said. The head of the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Qu Dongyu, and the head of the U.N.’s World Food Program, David Beasley, both said that Aoun’s suggestion will be taken into consideration, the Presidency added.

President Aoun to "La Repubblica" newspaper: Hezbollah's position inside Lebanon is completely different from its view abroad. And Hezbollah has no influence, in any way, on the security situation of the Lebanese internally. As for the southern border, cooperation exists between the army and UNIFIL forces. Hezbollah is a party that owns weapons and liberated southern Lebanon from the Israeli occupation. It is made up of Lebanese from the south who suffered from the Israeli occupation. Resisting occupation is not terrorism”.
President Aoun to "La Repubblica" newspaper: I know that the Pope will take an initiative to help Lebanon
NNA/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022 
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, in an exclusive interview to the widespread newspaper La Repubblica, published this morning, asserted that he knows that the Pope will take an initiative to help Lebanon, and that Italy, which provides economic aid, can support the Lebanese parties to meet and agree on a solution.
Regarding the war in Ukraine, the President pointed out that the risks of conflict are comprehensive, and the only solution is peace, "And the best is through negotiations led by the United Nations”.
Regarding the explosion of the port of Beirut, President Aoun expressed his confidence that justice will be achieved, especially as all the Lebanese seek it, stressing his demand to remove all obstacles that prevent its achievement.
The President also pointed out that seeking to implement expanded administrative decentralization would contribute to a better implementation of the Lebanese constitution.
President Aoun also reiterated that Hezbollah has no influence in any way on the security situation of the Lebanese, stressing that the party that liberated southern Lebanon from the Israeli occupation is made up of Lebanese who have suffered from the occupation and "Resisting the occupation is not terrorism”.
In response to another question, President Aoun, indicated that Lebanon is not a country that likes wars, Stating that “There are parts of the lands of Lebanon and Syria that are still occupied. When we reach liberation, there will be no problems with regard to a military conflict, and a process of peace negotiations can be launched with Israel, to preserve rights and national sovereignty and liberate land and water”.
Question: What is the content of your meeting with His Holiness the Pope, and is His Holiness ready to intervene in order to help Lebanon?
Answer: “His Holiness is closely following the crises afflicting our country, and I know that he will take an initiative to help us. But it is not up to us to define the conditions for this assistance or its components”.
Question: Did he assure you that he would visit Lebanon?
Answer: "We have been waiting for the Pope for a long time. I renewed his invitation to visit Lebanon”.
Question: Lebanon needs urgent help from the international community, which in return demands reforms. What role does Italy play in this regard?
Answer: “Lebanon is in definite need of assistance, but at the present time, we are suffering from a worsening food security crisis, which does not enable us to pass a stage of extreme poverty that affects many segments of Lebanese society in particular. It is known that Italy is providing economic aid, in cooperation with the European Union, and it can also play a political role. An assistance based on supporting the Lebanese parties to meet and agree on a solution would be useful”.
Question: Russia is a strategic player in the Middle East, through its allies, and also with regard to what is happening in Lebanon. Do you fear that the conflict in Ukraine will change the balance in the region and change the role of Moscow, in addition to the fear of the possibility of securing the necessary raw materials that your country needs?
Answer: “When the war ends, there will be a victor, and the victor will determine his conditions. At this stage, there are still negotiations going on, but the stage we are going through is very complicated. Everyone is aware that the risks of this conflict are comprehensive, as all countries will be affected in one way or another, especially if we look at the matter from the perspective of agricultural production and not others. The only solution is peace, and the best is through negotiations led by the United Nations”.
Question: Since the explosion that took place in Beirut on August 4, the Lebanese have been calling for justice, but the relevant judicial authorities suffer from obstacles in the progress of investigations. How can citizens trust it?
Answer: “There is a conflict in Lebanon between those who want justice and those who do not, and some parties oppose the existing path. It is necessary to make sacrifices in order to achieve the goal, but I am confident that justice will be achieved, especially since all the Lebanese seek it, and I demanded the removal of all obstacles that prevent its achievement”.
Question: Millions took to the squares in October 2019 to demand radical changes to the system, and this did not happen. Is the Lebanese political class difficult to reform?
Answer: “I was the first to call for change. Our system is complex, based on consensual democracy, and we have 3 main political references, which makes it difficult to find solutions acceptable to all. We seek to implement expanded administrative decentralization that would contribute to a better implementation of our constitution”.
Question: One of the most prominent concerns of the international community with regard to Lebanon is what is related to the existence of a state within the state: Hezbollah, with its full military capacity. What is the government doing to address this issue?
Answer: “Hezbollah's position inside Lebanon is completely different from its view abroad. And Hezbollah has no influence, in any way, on the security situation of the Lebanese internally. As for the southern border, cooperation exists between the army and UNIFIL forces. Hezbollah is a party that owns weapons and liberated southern Lebanon from the Israeli occupation. It is made up of Lebanese from the south who suffered from the Israeli occupation. Resisting occupation is not terrorism”.
Question: There have been agreements between the United Arab Emirates and a number of countries with Israel, which contributed to communication between them. Is it possible to reach such a matter between Israel and Lebanon?
Answer: “The communication between Israel and these countries took place because these countries do not have parts of their lands occupied by Israel, while there are parts of the lands of Lebanon and Syria that are still occupied. When we reach liberation, there will be no problems with regard to a military conflict, and it is possible to start a process of peace negotiations with Israel, in order to preserve rights and national sovereignty and liberate land and water, because Lebanon is not a country that loves wars”.—Presidency Press Office

Lebanese-Italian summit held at Quirinale Palace in Rome between Presidents Aoun and Matarella
NNA/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022  
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, emphasized that Italy has a great role to play in helping Lebanon for its advancement.
The President recalled that Italy is the first European trading partner with Lebanon, and it is also one of the most prominent countries that help Lebanon through what it offers it on the human and cultural levels.
President Aoun thanked Italy for its permanent solidarity with Lebanon, and saw that Lebanon insists, despite all the difficulties, to heal its wounds, especially from the repercussions of the intertwined crises it suffers from, which have become known: the repercussions of the Syrian war and the closure of land crossings for goods into the Arab and Gulf interior, and the crisis of the massive Syrian displacement more than ten years ago, to the exacerbation of the economic and financial crisis, to the repercussions of the Corona pandemic that changed even the nature of international engagement, and the disaster of the Beirut port explosion.
In addition, the President pointed to Lebanon's recovery and revival, and the time has come to adopt a development plan to encourage its children, especially the younger generation, to stay in it and embark on the process of rebuilding.
For his part, the Italian president stressed the importance of Lebanon's role and message in its surroundings and the world, considering that solving any currently intractable problem contributes to solving other problems.
President Matarella stressed that Lebanon remains an example for a country capable of developing again, and it is a model to be followed, especially in light of balances that preserve the rights, and has a key role in the development of the whole region.
Presidents Aoun and Matarella considered the upcoming parliamentary elections an opportunity for more stability.
Stances of Presidents Aoun and Matarella came during the Lebanese-Italian summit which convened this morning at the Presidential Quirinale Palace in Rome.
Summit facts
The President had arrived at the Quirinale Palace at 11:00am, Rome time (12:00 Beirut time), where a group of the Italian Republican Guard saluted him and memorial photos were taken.
Then, President Aoun introduced the members of the official Lebanese delegation.
The Italian President also presented to President Aoun the Italian delegation participating in the talks.
After that, both presidents and delegations entered the great hall where the expanded talks were held.
At the outset of the meeting, President Mattarella welcomed President Aoun, praising the solid friendship between Lebanon and Italy, and the personal friendship that binds them since the first visit of President Aoun to Italy at the beginning of his term.
President Aoun responded by thanking his Italian counterpart for the warm welcome, and considered that the convening of this bilateral summit, especially in the stressful international circumstances and the general preoccupation of European leaders with the ongoing war in Ukraine and its repercussions on the world, is further evidence of the depth of the solid relations between the two countries, in the various political, economic, cultural and civilizational fields.
The President benefitted of the occasion to renew his congratulations to President Mattarella on his re-election for a new presidential term, considering this a sign of confidence renewed by the Italians.
President Aoun also praised Italy's supportive stances for Lebanon in regional and international forums, and commended the role it plays within the Support Group for Lebanon, and its organization of the Rome 1 and Rome 2 conferences in 2014 and 2018 to support the Lebanese army, in addition to its participation in the "UNIFIL" forces in the south. .
The President thanked his Italian counterpart for the donations Italy provides to the army and for training units of the Republican Guard through specialized courses, and considered that this assistance is essential to protect Lebanon, which is still in the crosshairs of terrorist targeting.
Moreover, President Aoun noted that the friendship with Italy is getting stronger day by day.
For his part, the Italian President considered that cooperation between Lebanon and Italy through international forces is continuing, and Italy has provided a frigate to the International Maritime Force, expressing his country's readiness to provide more support to contribute to achieving stability in southern Lebanon, and part of stability in the region.
The summit also tackled the humanitarian and cultural aid provided by Italy to Lebanon, which amounted to about 33.5 million euros in 2020, including what was allocated to the protection of the Lebanese cultural heritage, the expansion of the National Museum in Beirut and the restoration of the monuments of Baalbek and Tyre.
President Mattarella encouraged every effort made by Lebanon to approve the economic recovery plan, expressing his satisfaction with the approval of the electricity reform plan, which allows for more cooperation with the International Monetary Fund.
"We appreciate your efforts personally to get Lebanon out of its current crisis, and we will continue our commitment to help Lebanon in whatever it needs” President Matarella said.
Current conditions in Lebanon and the accumulation of crises in it, were then addressed where President Aoun indicated that one of the most serious challenges of the current crises that must be faced is the massive emigration abroad of the Lebanese elites, which threatens Lebanon in the long run, not only by emptying the country of vital energies, but rather by solidifying its identity and the future of pluralism.
The Italian President considered cooperation relations with Lebanon necessary because Italy considers that stability in Lebanon is a key to stability in the Middle East, and work must be effective to remove tensions in the region that negatively affect the situation in Lebanon, and Italy is willing to cooperate to remove them.
President Aoun addressed the dangers of the continuation of the massive Syrian displacement in Lebanon, and the failure of the international community to contribute to their return to the areas inside Syria from which they were displaced and which are now safe, stressing that Lebanon is no longer able to bear the burdens of this displacement at all levels, and it has no endurance to continue to bear it, especially since it has exacerbated the economic and social problems that Lebanon mainly suffers from.
In this context, President Aoun called on Italy to work within the European community as well as at the international level in order to facilitate their return and help them in the places of return inside Syria, considering that there is a responsibility on the international community to carry out its duties and work to resolve this prolonged crisis, and that donor countries should give incentives inside Syria to motivate the displaced to return.
President Matarella considered it necessary to work for the return of the Syrians in parallel with helping to reach a political solution in which the international community participates, and thus the Syrians will be able to rebuild their country, relieving the burden on Lebanon, while ensuring how the Syrian regime deals with the returnees and creating appropriate conditions for them.
President Mattarella also considered that the great difficulties in Lebanon require the cooperation of all to overcome them, pointing out that Italy will continue to provide support to achieve social and economic development, support Italian companies wishing to help Lebanon, as well as encourage the European Union to be an active participation in providing aid to the Lebanese.
Afterwards, President Aoun hoped that the language of war would stop to resolve disputes between countries and impose a fait accompli, and noted that what is happening in Ukraine, for example, is a painful war and suffering for an innocent people.
President Aoun also pointed to the emerging crisis in terms of wheat stocks after the cracking of containers as a result of the explosion in the port of Beirut, as well as the banking crisis that the Lebanese suffer from at all levels, wishing also that the Vienna track would reach its conclusion by reaching an agreement between Iran and the West on the nuclear issue, which would lead to positive repercussions on the region, considering that peace, when achieved, will have a positive impact on the countries of the region.
For his side, President Mattarella addressed the Russian war on Ukraine, which he considered exacerbated tension in the world, calling for intensified efforts to stop it, appreciating in this context Lebanon's position on it and its respect for international conventions.
The Italian President stressed the importance of Lebanon's role and message in its surroundings and the world, considering that solving any currently intractable problem contributes to solving other problems.
In addition, President Matarella stressed that Lebanon remains an example for a country capable of developing again, and it is a model to be followed, especially in light of balances that preserve the rights of all, and plays an essential role in the development of the whole region.
The two presidents agreed, considering the upcoming parliamentary elections an opportunity for more stability.
Finally, President Aoun invited his Italian counterpart to visit Lebanon, to reaffirm the importance of cooperation between the two countries.
Attendees:
On the Lebanese side, the meeting was attended by: Foreign Affairs Minister, Abdullah Bou Habib, Lebanon's Ambassador to Italy, Mira Daher, advisers Rafic Chelala, Osama Khashaband Raymond Tarabay, and the head of the Lebanese Red Cross, Dr. Antoine Zoghbi.
On the Italian side: Advisor, Benedetto Della Vidova, Assistant Secretary for Foreign Relations and International Cooperation, Ugo Zampetti, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic, Gianfranco Astori, Adviser on Media and Social Contribution, Ambassador Emanuela D'Alessandro, Adviser on Diplomatic Affairs, Francesco Saverio Garvoni, Adviser on the Affairs of the Higher Defense Council, and Giovanni Grasso, Media and Communications Adviser, Gianni Candotti, Military Affairs Adviser, and Fabrizio Saggio Adviser for Diplomatic Relations. -- Presidency Press Office

Aoun: Hizbullah Not Playing Domestic Security Role, Resistance is Not Terror
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
President Michel Aoun has defended Hizbullah in an interview in Rome with leading Italian newspaper La Repubblica. “Hizbullah has no influence in any way on the security situation of the Lebanese inside the country. As for the southern border, there is ongoing cooperation between the army and the UNIFIL forces,” Aoun said. “Hizbullah is a party that possesses weapons and it liberated the Lebanese south from Israeli occupation. It consists of Lebanese southern citizens who suffered from Israeli occupation and resisting occupation is not terrorism,” the President added. Asked about the recent normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab countries, Aoun said: “These countries do not have parts of their territories that are occupied by Israel, whereas parts of the territories of Lebanon and Syria are still occupied.”“When we liberate them, there will be no more problems related to a military conflict and a track of peace negotiations with Israel can be launched, in order to preserve rights and national sovereignty and liberate land and water, seeing as Lebanon is not a state that is fond of wars,” the President added. As for the political controversy over the probe into the Beirut port blast explosion, Aoun said: “There is a conflict in Lebanon between those who want justice and those who don’t want it.”“Some parties are opposed to the current course and it is a duty to carry out sacrifices in order to reach the goal, but I’m confident that justice will be fulfilled, especially that all Lebanese are seeking it,” the President added. “I have demanded the elimination of all obstacles preventing its fulfillment,” Aoun noted.

Alleged and Fabricated Report by Hezbollah's Notorious Mouthpiece Al-Akhbar says that the Vatican has Asked al-Rahi to Modify his Rhetoric on Hezbollah
LCCC/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
According to the Al Akbar Newspaper, the Vatican has informed Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi of the need to “modify” his rhetoric regarding the relation with Hizbullah, al-Akhbar newspaper, which is close to the group, has quoted unnamed sources as saying. The Holy See asked al-Rahi to “restore communication” with Hizbullah, telling him that “a rupture is not favored, even if there are divergent viewpoints,” the sources told the daily in remarks published Tuesday. The Vatican’s stance is “very advanced” regarding “the need for a profound dialogue with Hizbullah,” the sources added, noting that the Holy See “believes that the weapons are in the hands of a Lebanese group that represents a part of the Lebanese fabric.”“That’s why dialogue in this regard must be a domestic dialogue and not with foreign forces,” the sources added, referring to the Vatican’s reported stance. This report is a fabricted piece and a big lie.

Saudi Arabia Welcomes Miqati's 'Positive' Statement
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday welcomed a statement issued by Prime Minister Najib Miqati regrading Lebanon’s desire to repair its ties with the kingdom and the other Arab Gulf nations. In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said it “welcomes the positive points” included in Miqati’s remarks, hoping that will contribute to “restoring Lebanon’s role and standing in the Arab and international arenas.”“The kingdom hopes for peace and security in Lebanon and wishes stability, safety, development and prosperity for the brotherly Lebanese people,” the Ministry added. In his statement on Monday, Miqati had called for putting an end to “all the Lebanon-based political, military, security and media activities that harm the sovereignty, security and stability of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”And stressing that Lebanese authorities will seek to prevent the smuggling of narcotics to KSA and the Gulf, the premier added that the government will work on “barring the use of Lebanese financial and banking channels to conduct any financial transactions that might harm the security of Saudi Arabia and the GCC countries.”Miqati also underlined “commitment to the articles of the Kuwaiti initiative.” In October last year, Saudi Arabia and its allies suspended diplomatic ties with Lebanon after the airing of comments by then information minister George Kordahi criticizing Riyadh's military intervention in Yemen. Kordahi resigned in December in a bid to ease the stand-off.

Berri tackles developments with UNIFIL Commander, Japanese Ambassador, and UNDP’s Hauenstein
NNA/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022  
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Tuesday discussed the most recent local and regional developments with his Ein Al-Tineh visitors. Berri welcomed UNIFIL Commander-in-Chief, Major General Aroldo Lazaro, who paid him a protocol visit upon assuming his new mission in Lebanon. Berri then received Japanese Ambassador to Lebanon, Takeshi Okubo, with whom he reviewed the general situation, as well as bilateral relations between the two countries. Later in the afternoon, Berri had an audience with United Nations Development Program Resident Representative in Lebanon, Melanie Hauenstein, who paid him a protocol visit upon assuming her new mission in Lebanon.

New Recusal Request Filed against Judge Bitar
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
The detained harbormaster of Beirut’s port, Mohammed al-Mawla, has filed a request through his lawyer for transferring the port blast case from the hands of Judge Tarek Bitar to another lead investigative judge. The request cites the current suspension of investigations and keenness on the proper conduct of justice. “The request has been referred to the sixth chamber of the criminal court of cassation, to which Judge Munif Barakat has been appointed as president,” al-Jadeed TV said. Bitar has faced a flurry of legal challenges and lawsuits calling for his removal, which forced him to suspend the probe at least four times. He had summoned and charged several senior officials on charges of intentional negligence that led to the explosion, which killed around 220 people and injured thousands.

Raja Salameh Questioned by Financial Attorney General
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Raja Salameh, the detained brother of Central Bank chief Riad Salameh, was questioned Tuesday by Financial Attorney General Judge Jean Tannous over the file of the brokerage firm that he owns, Forry Associates Ltd, al-Jadeed TV said. The TV network added that Salameh was not interrogated by Mount Lebanon First Examining Magistrate Nicolas Mansour due to the Covid-19 infection of a judicial clerk at Mt. Lebanon’s investigations department. Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun had on Monday filed charges against Riad and Raja Salameh, accusing them of illicit enrichment and money laundering. She also filed charges against Ukrainian national Anna Kosakova for interfering in the alleged offenses. Al-Jadeed TV said charges were also filed against Forry Associates Ltd, which is owned by Raja Salameh and suspected of having laundered money for his brother. The central bank governor had again failed to appear before Judge Aoun on Monday. Speaking to Reuters in the wake of the charges, Riad Salameh noted that he had asked an international firm to carry out an audit which showed that no public funds were a source of his wealth, denying the illicit enrichment charges.
Judge Aoun had earlier in the day frozen all the real estate properties of Raja Salameh. She told The Associated Press that the Salameh brothers and the Ukrainian woman had formed three illusive companies in France to buy property there. Aoun said last week that Riad Salameh had used his brother to buy real-estate in France worth nearly $12 million. Kosakova, who lives in France, reportedly has a daughter from the central bank governor. Kosakova also jointly owns a company with Raja Salameh. Judge Aoun is investigating whether a number of residential apartments in Paris belong to Riad Salemeh, according to a judicial source. His brother had previously claimed the flats belong to the central bank, the source added. The suit against the Salamehs was filed by a group of lawyers who accuse the governor of corruption. In January, Aoun imposed a travel ban and froze some of the assets of the 71-year-old governor who is also being investigated in several European nations, including Switzerland and France, for potential money laundering and embezzlement. Riad Salameh had steered Lebanese finances since 1993, through post-war recovery and bouts of unrest. Once praised as the guardian of Lebanon's financial stability, he has drawn increasing scrutiny since the small country's economic meltdown began in late 2019.

Conflicting Reports on Removal of Red Wax Seals from Fransabank Branches
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Conflicting reports emerged Tuesday on whether a court of appeals has ordered the removal of red wax seals from the assets of Fransabank. "The reports saying the seals have been removed from Fransabank's assets are baseless and the Court of Appeals' ruling prevents the removal of the seals, contrary to what is being rumored," the United for Lebanon activist group said. TV networks had reported earlier in the day that the Civilian Court of Appeals of Beirut had ordered the removal of red wax seals from Fransabank’s branches, days after the bank’s assets were frozen in connection with a lawsuit filed by a depositor.
The lawyers of United for Lebanon meanwhile announced that the depositor, Ayyad Ibrahim, can still move to re-freeze the bank’s assets in order to press the bank to pay him his deposit in cash money. The bank’s assets had been frozen on Wednesday based on an order issued by Judge Mariana Anani, the head of the Enforcement Department in Beirut. The order had prompted the bank to announce that it would not be able to fulfill its clients’ needs, “especially the payment of the salaries of public sector employees and other employees."The bank also noted at the time that the depositor who filed the lawsuit "had closed his account and fully recovered his deposit."The United for Lebanon group later responded to Fransabank's statement and said the judge's decision did not target funds related to salaries and pensions.

On UNIFIL's 44th Establishment Day, Lázaro Urges Meaningful Steps for Sustainable Peace
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
UNIFIL on Monday marked the 44th anniversary of the U.N. mission’s establishment with its newly-appointed head and Force Commander, Major General Aroldo Lázaro, calling on the parties to make “meaningful steps” towards a sustainable peace. Addressing a ceremony in the UNIFIL Headquarters in Naqoura, Lázaro said that while the end-goal of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 is “a permanent ceasefire and a sustainable peace,” the efforts of the parties should be geared towards the same end-goal. “That means courage. It means political will. It means mutual understanding and compromise, on both sides,” he continued. “As we have done for the past 44 years, UNIFIL will continue to work to create the conditions for this to happen, together with government authorities, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), local leaders, and the people in the communities in which we live and work.” The UNIFIL head also paid tribute to thousands of peacekeepers who have served for the cause of peace in south Lebanon since 1978, and especially the 324 peacekeepers who made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of peace. “Every day, each one of us honors their memories through our continued and unyielding efforts toward a permanent peace,” he said. “These efforts have made a real and lasting difference.”On 19 March 1978, the U.N. Security Council established UNIFIL to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese Government in restoring its effective authority in the area. Following the 2006 war, the Council significantly enhanced UNIFIL’s mandate and capacity and assigned it additional tasks working closely with the Lebanese Army in south Lebanon. Today, UNIFIL has more than 10,000 military personnel from 46 countries, including the Maritime Task Force, the only naval force in U.N. peace operations -- and some 900 civilian national and international staff. At today’s ceremony, a total of 41 peacekeepers were awarded U.N. medals for their service in furthering peace in south Lebanon.

Othman receives United Nations Truce Supervision Organization delegation
NNA/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022  
Internal Security Forces (ISF) chief, General Imad Othman, on Tuesday received in his office a delegation of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO), including Mission Head Major General Patrick Gauchat, who came on a visit during which they discussed means to enhance the existing coordination between the ISF and the Mission.

Defense Minister welcomes UNIFIL Commander, hails UNIFIL’s role in south Lebanon
NNA/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Minister of National Defense, Maurice Sleem, on Tuesday welcomed in his office at the Ministry UNIFIL Commander-in-Chief, Major General Aroldo Lazaro, who paid him a protocol visit, with an accompanying delegation, upon assuming his new mission in Lebanon.
Minister Sleem hailed UNIFIL's role and the UN’s special care to Lebanon, especially in these circumstances that the country is going through. Discussions during the meeting reportedly touched on “the existing relationship between UNIFIL and the Lebanese army forces deployed in south Litani, as well as on joint operational matters and frameworks for coordination related to the mission.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 22-23/2022
Battleground Ukraine: Day 27 of Russia's Invasion
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine was largely stalled on the 27th day of the assault Tuesday, with no major advances in the north and east and minimal progress in the south. Western sources said Russian forces were consolidating their positions but Ukrainian forces were showing no sign of stopping resistance and were hitting back with counterattacks. Here is a summary of the situation on the ground, based on statements from both sides, Western defense and intelligence sources, and international organizations.
The east -
Although there was little movement around the mostly encircled city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's military general staff said heavy artillery was being moved up through a neighboring region of Russia. That city would be a key link in the chain if Russia aims -- as many analysts believe -- to encircle Ukrainian forces in the country's east. The city of Sumy further to the north and close to the Russian border is also encircled.
Kyiv and the north
Russians have been reinforcing their positions around the capital, which has not yet been fully surrounded. Ukraine has said the attackers were laying mines around their lines for the first time in the conflict. In Chernihiv meanwhile, which is encircled by Russian troops, the Ukrainian army accused the Russians of shelling civilian areas.
The south -
Russia continued its siege of the port city of Mariupol, a key Russian target to link up the annexed Crimea and separatist-controlled Donbas regions. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are believed to remain in Mariupol, which has no running water or heating and where food is running short.
But the British Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces were continuing to repel Russian attempts to occupy the city. Russian forces earlier in the campaign took the city of Kherson just north of Crimea, the only major city they have captured so far. Although Russian troops are trying to push west along Ukraine's Black Sea coast towards Odessa, they have so far failed to encircle the city of Mykolayiv that stands in the way. There is Russian naval activity in the Black Sea off Odessa but this does not mean that an amphibious assault on the city is imminent, according to the US Defense Department.
The west and center
After deadly airstrikes in Ukraine's west last week, there have been no reports of significant military action in the region or around Dnipro. The west of Ukraine, including the region's main city of Lviv, is still far from the ground offensive but has been the target of air strikes.
Russia has claimed to have used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles in a strike in the Ivano-Frankivsk region on March 18 but Western officials are dubious.
Casualties
According to the office for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, at least 925 civilians have been confirmed killed in Ukraine, including 75 children. It warns this is likely an underestimate. Moscow has given no toll for casualties among its armed forces since announcing on March 2 that 498 troops had been killed. Ukraine says around 15,000 Russian soldiers have been killed. Western sources generally give a lower figure but still numbering several thousand. Kyiv has also not given an update on the number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since President Volodymyr Zelensky announced a week ago that around 1,300 were dead.
Refugees
The U.N. says almost 3.6 million refugees have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, with more than two million of them heading to neighboring Poland.A total of 10 million are believed to have fled their homes, according to the world body, representing over a quarter of the population in regions under government control.

Biden Says Russia Is Considering Using Chemical, Biological Weapons in Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Ukraine's military warned the public on Tuesday of more indiscriminate Russian shelling of critical infrastructure as US President Joe Biden issued one of his strongest warnings yet that Russia is considering using chemical weapons. Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian city more than four weeks into their invasion, and increasingly are resorting to massive destruction of residential areas with air strikes, long-range missiles and artillery. The southern port of Mariupol has become a focal point of Russia's assault and is largely in ruins with bodies on the streets but attacks were also reported to have intensified on the second city of Kharkiv on Monday. Russian forces were expected to continue to attack critical infrastructure with "high-precision weapons and indiscriminate munitions", Ukraine's armed forces said in a statement. Biden, without citing evidence, said Russia's false accusations that Ukraine had biological and chemical weapons illustrated that President Vladimir Putin's "back was against the wall" and he was considering using such weapons. "Now he's talking about new false flags he's setting up including, asserting that we in America have biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe, simply not true," Biden said at a business event. "They are also suggesting that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That's a clear sign he's considering using both of those."The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Biden also told businesses to be alert for cyber attacks by Russia. "It's part of Russia's playbook," he said in a statement. The United States and its allies have previously accused Russia of spreading an unproven claim that Ukraine had a biological weapons program as a possible prelude to using such weapons but Biden's remarks on Monday were some of his strongest on the subject. Russia says it does not attack civilians although the devastation wrought on Ukrainian towns such as Mariupol and Kharkiv are reminiscent of previous Russian assaults on cities in Chechnya and Syria. Putin calls the war, the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two, a "special military operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from "Nazis". The West calls that a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.
Diplomatic pressure
Biden is due to travel to Europe this week for meetings with allied leaders to discuss tighter sanctions on Russia, on top of the unprecedented financial penalties already announced. Ahead of the trip he discussed Russia's "brutal" tactics in a call with European leaders on Monday, the White House said. Russia's siege and bombardment of Mariupol, which European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called "a massive war crime", is increasing pressure for action. But EU foreign ministers on Monday disagreed on whether and how to include energy in sanctions, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to impose an embargo. Biden singled out India for being was "somewhat shaky" in acting against Russia, its biggest supplier of military hardware, but praised the other members of the Quad group, Australia and Japan. India has urged an end to the violence in Ukraine but has abstained from voting against its old Cold War ally Russia. Even though India has grown close to the United States in recent years, it still depends on Russia for a continuous supply of arms and ammunition amid a Himalayan border standoff with China and perennial tension with Pakistan.
No surrender
The conflict has driven almost a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes, and Germany said the number could reach as high as 10 million in coming weeks. Ukraine on Monday rejected a Russian demand to stop defending Mariupol. A part of Mariupol now held by Russian forces, reached by Reuters on Sunday, was an eerie wasteland. Several bodies wrapped in blankets lay by a road. Windows were blasted out and walls were charred black. People who came out of basements sat on benches amid the debris, bundled up in coats. About 8,000 were evacuated on Monday from towns and cities under fire, including about 3,000 from Mariupol, through seven humanitarian corridors, Ukraine's deputy prime minister said. The governor of the Zaporizhzhia region said buses evacuating civilians from front-line areas were hit by shelling on Monday and four children were wounded. The eastern cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv have also been hard hit. Among the dead in Kharkiv is Boris Romanchenko, a 96-year-old Holocaust survivor whose flat was shelled by Russian forces last week. "Please think about how many things he has come through," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Monday. "But (he) was killed by a Russian strike, which hit an ordinary Kharkiv multi-storey building. With each day of this war, it becomes more obvious what denazification means to them." On Monday night, a witness in Kharkiv said she saw people on roofs of apartment buildings dropping grenades or similar ordnance onto the streets. A second witness, outside the city, reported hearing more intense explosions than on any day since Russian troops began attacking last month. Reuters could not immediately verify the accounts. Ukrainian officials hope that Russia will negotiate a withdrawal. Both sides hinted last week at progress in talks on a formula that would include some kind of neutrality for Ukraine, though details were scarce.

Zelensky Renews Offer of Putin Talks
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
ect peace talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin late Monday, declaring the status of disputed territories could be up for debate and a possible referendum. Zelensky told local media that he was ready to meet Putin "in any format" to discuss ending the almost one-month-old war that has shattered several Ukrainian cities. Zelensky said even the status of Russian-occupied Crimea and Russian-backed statelets in Donbas was up for debate, AFP reported. "At the first meeting with the president of Russia, I am ready to raise these issues," he said. "There will be no appeals or historical speeches. I would discuss all issues with him in great detail" Zelensky said. Russia has declared Crimea part of Russia and recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine. All three areas were part of Ukraine following the collapse of the Soviet Union and are at the center of a decade-old crisis that on February 24 spilt into invasion and full-scale war. "If I have this opportunity and Russia has the desire, we would go through all the questions," he told Ukrainian journalists in an interview published by media outlet Suspilne. "Would we solve them all? No. But there is a chance, that we partially could -- at least to stop the war," he added. Although Zelensky signaled that he was willing to talk about the status of the three areas, he has repeatedly insisted all three were part of Ukraine and that his country would not surrender. Zelensky also warned that any peace agreement involving "historic" changes would be put to a national referendum. Sonia Mycak, a Ukraine expert at the Australian National University said the promise of a popular vote likely dooms any suggestion of Kyiv ceding territory. "The vast majority, like 80 percent, of Ukrainians are saying that they do not want to relinquish" those territories, Mycak said, citing two recent public opinion polls. "I think it would be rejected by the population, I really do. Very high numbers of Ukrainians are saying 'we should not stop fighting'," she added. "Ukrainians see themselves as under existential threat. It's not just the loss of territory it's the fact that they would have to live as Russians, there would be heavy Russification, there would be autocratic control." A month of talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials have so far failed to stop or even slow a war that has forced 3.5 million Ukrainians to leave the country. But with Russia's much-larger military seemingly unable to occupy the entire country or topple Zelensky's ever-more-popular government, the Ukrainian leader said the war was inevitably going to end at the negotiating table. "It is impossible not to have a solution. By destroying us, he is definitely destroying himself," Zelensky said of Putin. "I do not want us to go down in history as heroes and as a nation that does not exist... And if they destroy themselves, they won't even have any heroism left."

Ukraine Refugee Exodus Surpasses 3.5 Million
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
The UN refugee agency says more than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, passing another milestone in an exodus that has led to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II. UNHCR reported Tuesday that 3.53 million people have left Ukraine, with Poland taking in the lion’s share — more than 2.1 million — followed by Romania with more than 540,000 and Moldova with more than 367,000, AFP reported. Shortly after the invasion on Feb. 24, UNHCR predicted that some 4 million refugees might leave Ukraine, though it has been re-assessing that prediction. The outflows have been slowing in recent days after peaking at more than 200,000 each on two straight days in early March. The International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly 6.5 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine, suggesting that some if not most of them might flee abroad if the war continues.

Ukraine’s Leader Says ‘Nothing Left’ of Mariupol, Kherson Also Facing Humanitarian Disaster
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Ukraine's president said on Tuesday there was "nothing left" of the city of Mariupol after weeks of Russian bombardment, and Kyiv appealed to Moscow to allow the evacuation of at least 100,000 people who want to leave. Ukraine has issued increasingly dire warnings about the situation in the encircled southern port city, where officials say residents are without food, medicine, power or running water. Officials said 300,000 civilians were also running out of food in the occupied southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, highlighting what an international aid official said was the breakdown of Ukraine's humanitarian system. "There is nothing left there. Only ruins," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said of Mariupol, which has a peacetime population of 400,000, in a video address to the Italian parliament. As he was speaking, the city council said Russian forces had dropped two large bombs on Mariupol but gave no details of casualties or damage. Reuters could not independently verify the report. Russia did not immediately comment on it. "Once again it is clear that the occupiers are not interested in the city of Mariupol. They want to level it to the ground and make it the ashes of a dead land," the council said. Russia denies targeting civilians and blames Ukraine for the repeated failure to establish safe passage for civilians out of Mariupol. Ukraine defied an ultimatum for the city to surrender by dawn on Monday as a condition for Russian forces to let civilians leave safely. "We demand the opening of a humanitarian corridor for civilians," Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Ukrainian television. She later added: "There are at least 100,000 people who want to leave Mariupol but cannot."Vereshchuk said that unless a safe corridor was created and buses were allowed in to evacuate them, they would have to walk from 10 to 20 km (six to 12 miles) to reach relative safety - a risky journey if there is no ceasefire. She and other Ukrainian officials said Russian forces were also preventing humanitarian supplies reaching civilians in Kherson, a city they control. "Kherson´s 300k citizens face a humanitarian catastrophe owing to the Russian army´s blockade. Food and medical supplies have almost run out, yet Russia refuses to open humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians," foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter. Russia did not immediately comment on the situation in Kherson.
Humanitarian system 'broken down'
Steve Gordon, humanitarian response adviser at international aid agency Mercy Corps, expressed concern about the vulnerability of supply chains in Ukraine. "We know that most municipalities in areas seeing the most intense fighting don´t have more than 3-4 days worth of essentials like food," Gordon, who is in Ukraine, said in a statement issued by Mercy Corps. "The reality is that right now the humanitarian system is entirely broken down." Only a few thousand civilians have managed to flee Mariupol, including a convoy of cars witnessed by Mercy Corps. "Some have belongings strapped to the roof but many have nothing and you can tell people had to leave everything behind," Gordon said. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to disarm the country and protect it from "Nazis". The West calls this a false pretext for an unprovoked war. Capturing Mariupol would help Russian forces secure a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine Refugee Exodus Surpasses 3.5 Million
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
The UN refugee agency says more than 3.5 million people have fled Ukraine since Russia’s invasion, passing another milestone in an exodus that has led to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.
UNHCR reported Tuesday that 3.53 million people have left Ukraine, with Poland taking in the lion’s share — more than 2.1 million — followed by Romania with more than 540,000 and Moldova with more than 367,000, AFP reported. Shortly after the invasion on Feb. 24, UNHCR predicted that some 4 million refugees might leave Ukraine, though it has been re-assessing that prediction. The outflows have been slowing in recent days after peaking at more than 200,000 each on two straight days in early March. The International Organization for Migration estimates that nearly 6.5 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine, suggesting that some if not most of them might flee abroad if the war continues.

Russia’s Gazprom Says It Continues Gas Exports to Europe via Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Russian energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) said on Tuesday it was continuing to supply gas to Europe via Ukraine in line with requests from European consumers. The company said requests stood at 108 million cubic meters for March 22, up from 104.7 million cubic meters for March 21. According to Reuters, requests stood at 104.7 million cubic meters for March 21.

Turkey Wants NATO Focused on Ukraine Ceasefire
Associated Press/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Tuesday that this week’s meeting between NATO leaders should be focused on ways of securing a cease-fire in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and not just on sanctions and deterrence. “Everyone’s first aim should be a cease-fire,” Cavusoglu told Turkish journalists on the sideline of an Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Pakistan. “It should be to stop the war that is going on right now. Everyone should act responsibly and constructively.” Cavusoglu continued: “Of course, we need to show unity and solidarity within NATO, we need to show deterrence. But who is paying the price of the ongoing war?”U.S. President Joe Biden and other NATO leaders are scheduled to meet Thursday in Brussels. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday that the meeting is intended not just to show NATO’s “support to Ukraine, but also our readiness to protect and defend all NATO allies.”Cavusoglu said Turkey was pressing with its efforts as a “mediator and facilitator” to end the fighting and was in touch with negotiators on both sides. Turkey was also trying to bring the warring sides to meet face to face again, Cavusoglu said. Earlier this month, the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine met in Turkey on the sidelines of a diplomacy forum.

Israelis Held by Russian Troops in Ukraine Freed
Naharnet/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022 
Three Israelis detained by Russian troops in Ukraine have been freed, the head of the Ukrainian journalists union said Tuesday. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had said on Monday that Mykhailo Kumok, his wife and daughter -- all Israeli nationals -- had been kidnapped by Russian soldiers in the southeastern city Melitopol, currently held by Russian forces. "The family of Mykhailo Kumok were finally released by the occupants," Sergey Tomilenko said on his Facebook account. Tomilenko had indicated they were freed several hours later on Monday after having been interrogated and their telephones confiscated. Kumok was described as being the publisher of the local newspaper Melitopolskie Vedomosti. Three of the newspaper's journalists were also briefly held on Monday and then released, Tomilenko said. "The Ukrainian National Journalists Union condemns the intimidation and pressure being put on journalists and the residents of Melitopol, Berdyansk and Kherson," he wrote. On March 11, Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov was abducted by Russian forces and released several days later.

Al-Sisi Hosts UAE, Israeli Leaders at Red Sea Resort
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted talks Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and the UAE's de facto ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, his office said. The meeting, which took place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, included discussions on "energy, market stability, and food security," Egyptian presidency spokesman Bassam Radi said. The first three-way summit of its kind comes at a crucial time for the Middle East after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sparked concerns about stability and sent commodity prices soaring. "Against the backdrop of the recent developments in the world and the region, the leaders discussed the ties between the three countries and ways to strengthen them on all levels," said a statement from Bennett's office. Bennet and Sheikh Mohammed had arrived in Egypt on Monday. Israeli media said the leaders would also discuss reports that Iran and Western powers, including the United States, are close to a deal to revive the 2015 nuclear accord. Bennett is vehemently opposed to the deal which is designed to prevent Israel's arch foe Iran from acquiring an atomic bomb -- a goal the Islamic republic has always denied. Bennett also travelled to Sharm el-Sheikh in September last year, in what was the first visit in over a decade by an Israeli prime minister. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, after decades of enmity and conflict. The official Emirati news agency WAM said the meeting "discussed ways of enhancing relations between the three countries." It also addressed "the importance of cooperation and coordination to drive development and enhance stability in the region, as well as bolstering global energy security and market stability."The three leaders also "exchanged views on a number of regional and global issues of mutual concern and relevant developments," said WAM. Sheikh Mohammed hosted Bennett in a landmark visit to Abu Dhabi last December, just over a year after the UAE normalized ties with Israel. In 2020, it became the third Arab country to forge diplomatic ties under a series of U.S.-brokered deals known as the Abraham Accords.

At Least 4 Israelis Killed in Stabbing Attack
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
At least four Israelis were killed Tuesday in a stabbing attack outside a shopping center and a gas station in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, Al-Jazeera TV reported. The TV network added that the attacker was also killed in the incident. Israeli police described the event as a suspected "terrorist attack" by a knife-wielding assailant.

Syria Kurds in Record Captagon Seizure
Agence France Presse/Tuesday, 22 March, 2022
Kurdish security forces in northeastern Syria said Tuesday they had seized more than two million captagon pills smuggled in from surrounding rebel-held areas, their biggest such bust to date. The Asayish security forces said 438 kilograms (966 pounds) had been seized, equivalent to 2,570,580 pills. "This is the biggest captagon bust in northeastern Syria," a security official told AFP. The pills were smuggled into Kurdish-held territory from areas to the west controlled by Turkish-backed Syrian rebels. "They were professionally concealed in construction materials such as granite, basalt and ceramics," Asayish officials said during a press conference. A security official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the shipment was seized from a warehouse in Qamishli, the autonomous Kurdish administration's de-facto capital. The shipment was to be transported to neighboring Iraq, the official said. Its final destination was not clear. The bust was the latest in a series of operations targeting captagon shipments from neighboring areas held by rebel or government forces, the official said. Captagon was one of the brand names for the amphetamine-type stimulant fenethylline and is now manufactured illegally, mostly in Lebanon and Syria. The pill is consumed by a wide variety of users, mostly in Gulf countries. According to a European Union-funded report by the Center for Operational Analysis and Research, "captagon exports from Syria reached a market value of at least $3.46 billion" in 2020. Seizures have continued to rise and, according to an AFP count, close to 50 million pills have been seized across the region since the start of the year.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 22-23/2022
Dropping IRGC from blacklist would be boon for terrorism
Jacob Nagel and Meir Ben-Shabbat/Israel Hayom/March 22/2022
When Former US President Donald Trump designated Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, the White House explained that this move recognized a reality in which Tehran not only funds terrorism but actively participates in it and uses the organization to advance its political goals.
The US decision to remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guards from its foreign terrorist organization blacklist would not only be a distortion of truth and adoption of a double standard distinguishing between terrorism and terrorism but worse yet: an American show of surrender to Iran and a reward to the main perpetrator of terrorism of its time, the one that sows chaos in the Middle East and the entire world, from Syria and Lebanon to Argentina.
And yes, it will also be a blow and put sticks in the wheels of Israel and America’s other allies in the region, who deal with destructive terrorist plots daily, courtesy of the Revolutionary Guards.
At the time these lines are written, Washington has not yet made a decision in this regard. The very fact that this discussion is taking place at Iran’s demand, raised by the regime moments before the suspension of nuclear talks, is already a form of insult to the United States.
Were it not for steps previously taken by the Biden administration, one could have suspected that the discussion on the matter was a tactical move by Washington designed to provide them with an opportunity to respond negatively and assume an uncompromising stance, to dull down the arrows of criticism pointed at them for surrendering to Tehran’s demands.
Unfortunately, however, it is difficult to think of such a possibility seriously, when one recalls the words of Russia’s main negotiator in Vienna about Iran’s achievements during the talks. Iran got much more than it expected – Mikhail Ulyanov said.
Moreover, removing the Revolutionary Guards from the blacklist does not seem far-fetched when remembering that one of the first decisions the Biden administration made was removing the Houthis from the same listing only two days after they attacked Saudi Arabia and refrains from adding them back onto the list ever since, despite the fact that rebels conducted more attacks, this time against the United Arab Emirates as well.
In 2019, when then-US President Donald Trump decided to designate the Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, the White House explained that this move recognized a reality in which Iran not only funds terrorism but actively participates in it and uses it to advance its political goals, through this organization.
Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was familiar with the organization’s misdeeds also due to his work as director of the CIA, said it best.
“For 40 years, the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has actively engaged in terrorism and created, supported, and directed other terrorist groups. The IRGC masquerades as a legitimate military organization, but none of us should be fooled … From the moment it was founded, the IRGC’s mandate was to defend and export the regime’s revolution by whatever means possible … The Trump administration is simply recognizing a basic reality. The IRGC will take its rightful place on the same list as terror groups its supports,” like Hezbollah, and others.
The Revolutionary Guards was founded in 1979 by order of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini as a counterweight to the Iranian military which he did not trust because of the American education its senior commanders had received and due to their closeness to the shah. It is organized and operates as a parallel military.
It has ground forces, aerospace forces, a navy, and a special force called Quds Force, an intelligence arm and a Basij mechanism that is used to maintain internal security and brutally oppress opponents of the regime. The Guards also operates Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
The Revolutionary Guards serves not only as the main means of ensuring the survival of the ayatollah regime but as the main means to achieving its ambitious vision: to establish Iranian hegemony in the region and to spread the idea of the Islamic Revolution throughout the world.
The Quds Force is the main Iranian group that manages the military forces and the Shiite militia outside the country. Its work extends to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Gulf States, the Far East, Africa, South America and reaches as far as the Gaza Strip.
The US-led assassination of Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani gave the world the opportunity to understand the scope of the organization’s activities and high regard in Iran.
It has a special status in the Iranian regime that comes from the combination of its military, economic and political power and a special closeness to the leader. Had Iran developed a nuclear weapon, it would most likely be kept and operated by the Quds Force.
Adding an organization to the terrorist listing is not just a symbolic move, it is an essential means to denounce its legitimacy, limit contacts with it and impose heavy economic sanctions on it.
As such, removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list will pave the way for its economic growth, which it will use for military and political growth. And all of this will happen, together with the gain that Iran will get with the release of billions of dollars, following the signing of the nuclear agreement.
And what is Iran required to do in return? – Commit to de-escalation! A commitment that even with regard to its content and characteristics the Iranians are still bargaining over. There is no need to delve deeper into the validity of such a promise.
To understand how much it is worth, taking a brief look at the symbol of the Revolutionary Guards and the Koran verse chosen as its motto will suffice: “Prepare against them whatever you are able of power.”
How is this seen within the context of the US? – It is very interesting to read this within the context of the tweet of Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who “cynically awaits” such an American decision. Individuals like him are familiar with the winds in domestic politics in Washington and understand that such a decision could cause an explosion on both sides of the political map.
In any event, anyone who believes that Iranians will achieve their nuclear aspirations can also believe that “relief and rescue will arise for the Jews from elsewhere” (Book of Esther, 4:14).
**Brig. Gen. (Res.) Professor Jacob Nagel is a former national security adviser to the prime minister and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
**Meir Ben-Shabbat, a visiting senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, served as Israel’s national security adviser and head of the National Security Council between 2017 and 2021. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Iran’s Hackers Are Opportunistic, Patient, and Fearless
Annie Fixler/The National Interest/March 22/2022
Iranian hackers are dangerous not because they have uniquely sophisticated techniques but because they are increasingly less risk-averse than other cyber actors.
Why has Russia not (yet) launched devastating cyberattacks as part of its military invasion of Ukraine? Why has Tehran not successfully executed a headline-grabbing cyberattack against the United States in the years since the Trump administration imposed substantial sanctions on Iran and killed General Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF)? The question of why adversaries use and do not use cyberattacks in particular circumstances is important for understanding the role of cyber operations in a nation’s strategic doctrine. In the case of Iran, however, a focus only on the headlines obscures the worrying trend of Tehran’s improving cyber capabilities and may have lulled policymakers into thinking that previous rounds of sanctions and indictments against the regime and its hackers have deterred Iran.
The disparate but sometimes overlapping hacker groups that work at the direction of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and IRGC are demonstrating “growing expertise,” the U.S. intelligence community said in February in its annual threat assessment. Iran, the assessment concluded, takes an “opportunistic approach” to cyber operations, particularly those that target U.S. and allied critical infrastructure. For example, experts in industrial control systems (ICS)—that is, computer systems that control critical infrastructure—maintain that Iranian hackers lack ICS-specific capabilities, but that has not stopped these operatives from attempting attacks using other means. As the Russian ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline nearly a year ago vividly showed, attackers do not need ICS-specific capabilities to cause a massive disruption of critical infrastructure.
Instead, as the U.S., UK, and Australian governments disclosed late last year, Iranian government-sponsored hackers are targeting the unpatched business networks of critical infrastructure operators using vulnerabilities from as many as three years ago and a Microsoft Exchange vulnerability that received front-page headlines in early 2021 for its severity and scale. These hackers “are actively targeting” U.S. healthcare and public health companies and companies in other industries, the three governments concluded, not for a particular strategic reason, but because these companies are low-hanging fruit when they do not mitigate known vulnerabilities in their systems.
Similarly, in early 2022, researchers at cyber threat intelligence firm Checkpoint discovered Iranian hackers working for the IRGC who were exploiting the widely reported Log4j vulnerability to conduct attacks against unspecified victims. They are not the first hackers to take advantage of this vulnerability, but it is so prevalent across thousands of systems that it is a ripe avenue for attack.
That Iranian hackers are opportunistic does not mean that they are not deliberate. In a November 2021 assessment of Iranian cyber capabilities, Microsoft determined that Tehran’s hackers are displaying more patience and persistence, particularly in their social engineering—the first step in many cyber operations. Whereas operatives previously sent bulk unsolicited emails with malicious attachments, they are now using much more time-consuming and individualized—and often successful—tactics to win the trust of victims in order to lead them to click malicious links and install malware. A more patient adversary is a more dangerous one.
Tehran has also become more dangerous as its hackers have attempted cyberattacks that are reminiscent of the operations successfully deployed by other U.S. adversaries. Witnessing the confusion sown by Russian disinformation operations in the 2016 elections, Iran attempted its own operation during the 2020 presidential election. The U.S. Intelligence Community concluded with “high confidence” that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei likely “authorized the campaign and Iran’s military and intelligence services implemented it,” calling the operation a “whole of government effort.”
Meanwhile, Iran has begun waging cyberattacks on supply chains—a common tactic of Chinese and Russian hackers—in order to penetrate dozens or hundreds of companies. These attacks entail breaching a trusted vendor, managed service provider, or other third party with direct network access to the victim’s systems. In one operation in 2020, Iranian hackers breached a logistics company in Israel, Amital Data, along with other companies in the logistics and import sectors. Then, the hackers used Amital’s list of clients and login information to compromise another forty firms. The combination of the technical details and the lack of ransomware or extortion demands pointed to an Iranian operation aligned with Tehran’s interests, if not directly commissioned by the regime.
Iran’s opportunism and evolving cyber capabilities should prompt greater investment in cyber defense. The United States and its allies must provide Iranian hackers with fewer opportunities to exploit even as Tehran becomes more persistent. But stronger cyber defenses alone may not be sufficient to stop Tehran. The U.S. Intelligence Community warned in February that Iran has a “growing willingness to take risks” in its cyber operations.
As an example, it pointed to an attempted Iranian attack on Israeli water systems in 2020. Yigal Unna, head of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate, speculated at the time that the attempt could mark a “changing point in the history of modern cyber warfare.” This assertion was an overstatement—the attempt was far from the first Iranian effort to attack critical infrastructure, and Russia and China have undertaken numerous operations to compromise U.S. critical infrastructure. Still, Israel took the attempt so seriously that it reportedly responded by launching a cyber operation that knocked a major Iranian port offline.
The regime in Tehran surely understood that Israeli retaliation was inevitable—especially if its hackers had succeeded in causing a public health crisis—but chose to launch the operation, nonetheless. Thus, Iranian hackers are dangerous not because they have uniquely sophisticated techniques but because they are increasingly less risk-averse than other cyber actors.
Underestimating a committed adversary is dangerous, and a misdiagnosis of Tehran’s strategic thinking risks causing an underinvestment not only in cyber defense but also in intelligence gathering about Iranian capabilities and intentions. With intelligence and insights into Tehran’s thinking, the United States and its allies may be able to preempt or disable its hackers’ riskiest and most dangerous activities. The result of underinvestment, however, may be strategic surprise when Tehran exploits an opportunity to launch a devastating attack on the U.S. and its allies.
*Annie Fixler is deputy director of the Center on Cyber and Technology Innovation (CCTI) at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and an FDD research fellow. Follow Annie on Twitter @afixler. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
 
Assad Visits the UAE, Showing Need for Tougher Enforcement of U.S. Sanctions
David Adesnik/Policy Brief/March 22/2022
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad visited the United Arab Emirates on Friday, the first time another Arab government has welcomed Assad since the beginning of the war in Syria in 2011. The State Department said it was “profoundly disappointed” by Abu Dhabi’s “apparent attempt to legitimize Bashar al-Assad,” yet the Biden administration has sent consistent signals to Arab allies indicating its tacit approval of normalization with Damascus.
During the first months of its tenure, the Biden administration opposed efforts to engage with the Assad regime, warning that the United States would fully enforce sanctions mandated by the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act. Last August, however, the White House publicly supported Syria’s inclusion in a four-way energy deal with Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon that directly violates the Caesar Act’s proscription of material support for the Assad regime.
Despite that pivot, the administration insists its policy has not changed. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other senior U.S. officials emphasize that Washington will neither lift sanctions nor pursue normalization with Damascus. Yet Blinken and others are careful not to say that the United States will actively oppose or interfere with such efforts.
In January, senior lawmakers from both parties sent a letter to the president stating their opposition to any “tacit approval of formal diplomatic engagement with the Syrian regime” by Washington’s Arab allies. The authors asserted there should be consequences for such engagement and called on Biden “to utilize the robust, mandatory deterrence mechanisms” in the Caesar Act “to maintain the Assad regime’s isolation.” The State Department’s tepid declaration of disappointment with the Emirates for hosting Assad shows the administration has not heeded lawmakers’ advice.
Under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed of Abu Dhabi, the Emirates have broadly aligned themselves with the United States on key strategic issues, while perennially testing Washington’s readiness to enforce its sanctions on Syria and Iran. In late 2018, the United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus. Weeks later, the Emiratis welcomed a Syrian delegation led by an Assad regime financier whom the U.S. Treasury Department had sanctioned. The Emirates also continued to import hundreds of millions of dollars of Iranian petrochemicals, even after the Trump administration re-imposed sanctions on the Iranian petrochemical sector in November 2018.
The costs of pushing further became clear when Congress passed the Caesar Act in December 2019 with overwhelming bipartisan support. In March 2020, Treasury added five UAE-based firms to its Iran sanctions blacklist.
If the Biden administration wanted to do more than express its disappointment, it could renew the formidable sanctions-enforcement efforts that lapsed when President Joe Biden took office. After the Caesar Act took effect in June 2020, the previous administration designated new sanctions targets each month. During its 12 months in office, by contrast, the Biden administration has issued only two sets of Syria-related sanctions, neither of which affected economically significant targets.
Biden’s commitment to enforcing the Caesar Act and to isolating Assad will remain uncertain at best so long as the administration promotes the four-way energy deal between Damascus, Beirut, Amman, and Cairo. The deal necessitates cabinet-level engagement between the participants, while ensuring Assad receives ample compensation for allowing Egyptian gas and Jordanian electricity to cross through Syria en route to Lebanon.
This week, on the 11th anniversary of the mass demonstrations to which Assad responded with lethal force, the State Department reiterated its commitment to “achieve justice and accountability for the Syrian people.” Yet those words will ring hollow so long as the administration implicitly supports its Arab allies’ engagement with Assad. If the United States does not vigorously oppose normalization with an inveterate war criminal like Assad, Vladimir Putin may draw the lesson that Russian atrocities in Ukraine will not prevent his eventual rehabilitation.
*David Adesnik is research director and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from David and CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow David on Twitter @adesnik. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

مقالة للكاتب خالد أبوطعمة من موقع معهد كايتستون تشرح خطورة سياسة ادارة بايدن الشرق أوسطية من خلال الإنحياز الكامل لملالي إيران ورفع حرسهم الثوري عن قوائم الإرهاب ومباركة اجرام الحوثيين ومعاداة دول الخليج العربي وترك المنطقة للصين وإيران
America’s New Terrorist Allies: ‘The Mother of all Disasters’
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./March 22, 2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/107222/khaled-abu-toameh-gatestone-institute-americas-new-terrorist-allies-the-mother-of-all-disasters%d9%85%d9%82%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a9-%d9%84%d9%84%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%aa%d8%a8-%d8%ae%d8%a7%d8%af-%d8%a3/
The Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are already under attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. The Biden administration removed the Houthis from the list of foreign terrorist organizations and has since refused to reclassify it as a terrorist organization, despite the missile and drone attacks on Washington’s Arab allies and friends as recently as this week.
“It is true that the United States wants to withdraw from the region, but Washington will then have given China, Russia and Iran unprecedented strength…. By removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations, Washington will grant Iran the freedom to move and act in the region in the context of a Russian-Chinese-Iranian alliance.” — Tarik Al-Hamid, Saudi journalist, former editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, March 20, 2022.
Al-Hamid reminded the Biden administration that Saudi Arabia “is the exact opposite of Iran, as it does not want control, but rather the stability and independence of countries.” — Tarik Al-Hamid, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
“Lifting the sanctions while Hezbollah revels in Lebanon and Syria, and Iranian militias wreak havoc in Iraq amid Iran’s continued support for the Houthis in Yemen, is nothing but a crime against our region.” — Tarik Al-Hamid, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
“The problem with this American change is that it came while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are leading internal and regional efforts to bring stability and moderation.” — Saudi political analyst Abdullah bin Bejad Al-Otaibi, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
“There is an American and Western policy that cannot be condoned, which is the insistence on making Saudi Arabia and the UAE militarily exposed to the attacks of the Iranian Houthi militia in Yemen, ballistic missiles and drones, and imposing illogical requirements on the export of arms to confront these serious threats.” — Abdullah bin Bejad Al-Otaibi, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
“The hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, which enabled the Taliban to seize control of the country, removing the Houthi militia from the terrorism list, seeking to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorism, silence about Iranian bombing of Iraqi Kurdistan – these are very dangerous policies for the world and the Arab countries that support stability and peace.” — Abdullah bin Bejad Al-Otaibi, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
The IRGC and the mullahs are “the head of regional and international terrorism, from Al-Qaeda to ISIS, and from the Lebanese Hezbollah to the Shiite terror militias all over the world.” — Abdullah bin Bejad Al-Otaibi, Asharq Al-Awsat, March 20, 2022.
“Have you seen bigger liars?” — Dr. Mahmoud Al-Shami, Syrian writer, Twitter, March 20, 2022.
“What did the Revolutionary Guard offer America as a price for the reward of being removed from the list of terrorist organizations and making billions of dollars available to it by lifting sanctions on Iran so that it could finance its terrorist activities at the expense of threatening the security of the Gulf and the stability of the Middle East?” — Dr. Mohamed El-Sherif, Egyptian, Twitter, March 20, 2022.
“Mr. Blinken, it will be a true holiday for Iranians when they get rid of the murderous [Iranian] regime to which you are making terrible concessions. Mr. Blinken, the Iranian people will not forgive the US if the Revolutionary Guard, the largest terrorist organization backed by an official government, is removed from the list of terrorism.” — Masood A. R., an Iranian opponent of the mullahs, addressing the US Secretary of State, Twitter, March 20, 2022.
“I think that when you remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorist organizations, you will make a big mistake, and this will lead to the spread of Iranian terrorism and this will affect the region and allies, and America and Europe will be vulnerable to direct Iranian terrorism.” — Abdul Hadi Al-Shehri, Saudi writer, Twitter, March 19, 2022.
The question arises: If the Biden administration believes that the Houthi militia and the IRGC are not terrorist organizations, then why not also remove Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the blacklist? Indeed, if the US administration believes that it can do business with these terrorists and their sponsors in Tehran, then why not own up to its policies and straightforwardly declare all these terrorist groups as America’s newest allies?
The Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are already under attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. The Biden administration removed the Houthis from the list of foreign terrorist organizations and has since refused to reclassify it as a terrorist organization, despite the missile and drone attacks on Washington’s Arab allies and friends as recently as this week. Pictured: An Iranian Simorgh drone, carrying a missile, during a military exercise on September 11, 2020, near the Strait of Hormuz. (Photo by Iranian Army Office/AFP via Getty Images)
Unlike the Biden administration, many Arabs do not distinguish between one terrorist group and another. That is why news about the possibility that the Biden administration is considering removing the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the terrorism blacklist has been received by many Arabs with disbelief and shock.
The Arabs hold the mullahs and the IRGC responsible for various war crimes and atrocities against several countries and people around the world. Just last week, the IRGC claimed credit for a missile attack on an alleged “Zionist base” in the city of Erbil in northern Iraq. Days later, the IRGC issued a threat to launch missiles at the Gulf states.
The Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are already under attack by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. The Biden administration removed the Houthis from the list of foreign terrorist organizations and has since refused to reclassify it as a terrorist organization, despite the missile and drone attacks on Washington’s Arab allies and friends as recently as this week.
After the recent drone and missile attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen, Saudi Arabia statement that said:
“The Kingdom stresses the importance of the international community realizing the gravity of Iran’s continued behavior of equipping the terrorist Houthi militia with the technology of the ballistic missiles and advanced UAVs with which they target the Kingdom’s production sites of oil, gas and refined products.”
When the Saudis and other Arabs in the Gulf talk about the international community, they are specifically referring to the US administration, which continues to ignore their demand to redesignate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization.
Instead of listening to its Arab allies, the Biden administration is now reportedly studying the possibility of removing Iran’s IRGC — an even more dangerous organization — from the list of foreign terrorists.
The news has come as a shock to the Arabs, especially those in the Gulf who say that the appeasement policies of the Biden administration towards Iran pose a real threat to security and stability in the Middle East.
“Removing the Revolutionary Guard from the blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations would be tantamount to the shameful US withdrawal from Afghanistan last year,” wrote Saudi journalist Tarik Al-Hamid, former editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper.
“We will remember two historical events that had — and will have — the biggest impact on destabilizing the security and stability of our region. First, when Ayatollah Khomeini boarded a plane and flew from France to Tehran Airport; second, when the Biden administration removes the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of foreign terrorist organizations.”
Al-Hamid warned that if the Biden administration removes the IRGC from the terrorism list, “we will be faced with a real American absurdity, not less than the absurdity of the invasion of Iraq and the absurdity of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.”
“It is true that the United States wants to withdraw from the region, but Washington will then have given China, Russia and Iran unprecedented strength. If this is not political absurdity, what can it be called? By removing the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorist organizations, Washington will grant Iran the freedom to move and act in the region in the context of a Russian-Chinese-Iranian alliance.”
The prominent Saudi journalist warned that the policies of the Biden administration would “strengthen the axis of resistance to the US once again.”
“By lifting the sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards, the US administration will fulfill the aspirations of former President Barack Obama when he spoke in his famous interview with The Atlantic magazine under the title ‘Obama Doctrine’ about sharing the region with Iran. At the time, Obama said: ‘The Saudis need to share the Middle East with their Iranian opponents.'”
Al-Hamid reminded the Biden administration that Saudi Arabia “is the exact opposite of Iran, as it does not want control, but rather the stability and independence of countries.”
“Therefore, removing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards from the sanctions list is nothing but a conspiracy against the region as a whole, especially after the Revolutionary Guard took credit for the recent firing of 12 ballistic missiles on Iraq. Lifting the sanctions while Hezbollah revels in Lebanon and Syria, and Iranian militias wreak havoc in Iraq amid Iran’s continued support for the Houthis in Yemen, is nothing but a crime against our region.”
Abdullah bin Bejad Al-Otaibi, a Saudi political analyst and researcher of Islamic groups, wrote that the US during the Biden era “is very similar to Obama’s America in terms of vision, policies, and directions.”
The Biden administration’s appeasement of Iran and its plans to remove the IRGC from the list of foreign terrorist organizations represents political absurdity, Al-Otaibi argued.
“The signing of the (2015) nuclear agreement with the Iranian regime took place during the Obama era without any consideration for the interests of the Gulf states and Arab countries, and it was just a postponement, not a cancellation, of Iran’s military nuclear project. The administration of President Biden has been eager to revive the ominous agreement. It has also been attacking the Arab countries not only with blatant statements, but also through its regional and international policies and positions. Arab and Gulf countries have not changed their stance toward America, but the opposite is what happened. America’s positions have become more extreme and less concerned about partnership and support for allies. The problem with this American change is that it came while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are leading internal and regional efforts to bring stability and moderation. Bahrain and the UAE have normalized relations with Israel. The Saudi crown prince stated that Saudi Arabia does not view Israel as an enemy, but rather as a potential ally.”
Al-Otaibi reminded the Biden administration that the IRGC and the mullahs are “the head of regional and international terrorism, from Al-Qaeda to ISIS, and from the Lebanese Hezbollah to the Shiite terror militias all over the world.”
Referring to the possibility that the IRGC may be removed from the list of terrorism, the Saudi analyst said:
“This would be a direct threat and danger not only to the Arab countries, but to the whole world, and an unprecedented support for terrorism and its groups and organizations. The Arab countries and Israel will be the first victims. There is an American and Western policy that cannot be condoned, which is the insistence on making Saudi Arabia and the UAE militarily exposed to the attacks of the Iranian Houthi militia in Yemen, ballistic missiles and drones, and imposing illogical requirements on the export of arms to confront these serious threats. The hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan, which enabled the Taliban to seize control of the country, removing the Houthi militia from the terrorism list, seeking to remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorism, silence about Iranian bombing of Iraqi Kurdistan — these are very dangerous policies for the world and the Arab countries that support stability and peace…
“A new approach is knocking on the doors of the world with force and an unprecedented need to close ranks, strengthen alliances and build partnerships, and any neutral observer will find a blatant contradiction in the Biden administration’s policies towards Iran and Saudi Arabia, as it courts Iran in an unprecedented way and does not behave in the same way with Saudi Arabia.”
Syrian writer Dr. Mahmoud Al-Shami expressed astonishment over the Biden administration’s weak and hypocritical attitude towards Iran and its terrorist proxies:
“America condemns the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and says they must stop, while it has since removed Houthis from the list of terrorism, and will also remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the terrorism list as well. [The condemnation came] while America was claiming that Saudi Arabia is its ally and that it will defend it if it is subjected to any aggression. Have you seen bigger liars?”
Dr. Mohamed El-Sherif, an Egyptian, also took to social media to express disgust with the policies of the Biden administration towards the mullahs and their terrorist organizations.
“What did the Revolutionary Guard offer America as a price for the reward of being removed from the list of terrorist organizations and making billions of dollars available to it by lifting sanctions on Iran so that it could finance its terrorist activities at the expense of threatening the security of the Gulf and the stability of the Middle East?”
Kuwaiti university lecturer Professor Abdullah Al-Shayji noted that the US was continuing to lose its credibility among the Arabs:
“Will Biden re-designate the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization after President Trump classified them as terrorists during his presidency?… Will Biden, in the nuclear negotiations with Iran, cancel the designation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization in order to succeed with the nuclear deal?! We are witnessing a decline in trust in America.”
Saudi writer Abdul Hadi Al-Shehri warned the Biden administration that it would be making a grave mistake by removing the IRGC from the terrorism list:
“I think that when you remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorist organizations, you will make a big mistake, and this will lead to the spread of Iranian terrorism and this will affect the region and allies, and America and Europe will be vulnerable to direct Iranian terrorism.”
Bahraini journalist and political analyst Abdul Majed Jalal accused the Biden administration of “betraying” its Arab allies.
“The Biden administration is considering canceling the decision to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization as part of its efforts to revive the nuclear deal with Iran. The mere idea is a clear American betrayal of its allies in the Gulf! The Gulf no longer has much trust in America.”
Dr. Fahad bin Jumah, former member of the Economy and Energy Committee in Saudi Arabia, commented:
“Supporting Iran, returning to the nuclear agreement, and trying to remove the Revolutionary Guard from the list of terrorism, as he did previously with the Houthis, are among the unforgivable mistakes of Mr. Biden.”
Masood A. R., an Iranian opponent of the mullahs, Addressing US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, wrote:
“Mr. Blinken, it will be a true holiday for Iranians when they get rid of the murderous [Iranian] regime to which you are making terrible concessions. Mr. Blinken, the Iranian people will not forgive the US if the Revolutionary Guard, the largest terrorist organization backed by an official government, is removed from the list of terrorism.”
Iraqi social media user Kirar Al-Atiyya added his voice to that of an increasing number of Arabs who were shocked by the news concerning the IRGC:
“If this news is true about the Biden administration’s intention to remove the Revolutionary Guard militia from the list of terrorism, this would be the mother of all disasters. The Revolutionary Guard gangs have committed many crimes. They also contributed to the recruitment of children into the ranks of the terrorist Houthi militia.”
Judging from the severe consternation in the Arab countries over Biden’s mistaken and disastrous policies towards Iran and its terrorist proxies, it’s safe to assume that US credibility has plummeted in the Arab world.
From the Arab point of view, it seems as though the US has chosen to side with the world’s largest terrorist organization — the IRGC — a move that poses an imminent threat to Arab security and the stability of the entire region.
The question arises: If the Biden administration believes that the Houthi militia and the IRGC are not terrorist organizations, then why not also remove Al-Qaeda, ISIS, Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from the blacklist? Indeed, if the US administration believes that it can do business with these terrorists and their sponsors in Tehran, then why not own up to its policies and straightforwardly declare all these terrorist groups as America’s newest allies?
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18350/america-terrorist-allies

The Russia/Bermuda Dark Money Subterfuge
Lawrence Kadish/Gatestone Institute/March 22/2022
Members of the US Congress continue to express deep concern that Putin's Russia may be preventing the West's energy independence by promoting through third parties, who may be unwilling dupes or active co-conspirators, "green" alternatives that are either impractical, aspirational, or an outright fiction. (Image source: iStock)
If there is one thing you can say about the Russians it is that they stick to their proven playbook no matter what carnage they inflict on the innocents or how greatly they deceive the gullible.
During the height of the Cold War, they sought to stop America's introduction of sophisticated weapons that would have blunted any planned invasion of Western Europe by the Red Army by infiltrating the "peace movement" with money and resources.
So it should come as no surprise that members of Congress continue to express deep concern that Putin's Russia may be preventing the West's energy independence by promoting through third parties, who may be unwilling dupes or active co-conspirators, "green" alternatives that are either impractical, aspirational, or an outright fiction.
It has been reported that Russia has been using a legal loophole to actively fund opponents of American energy independence, by funneling untraceable money through an entity in Bermuda, a nation that does require disclosure as to whether funds originated from a foreign government.
The loophole has apparently been serving as an open invitation for Russia -- in particular its largest oil and gas company, Gazprom -- to channel unlimited, unaccountable millions in dark money (anonymous donations) to American non-governmental organizations; these then fund "green" programs that discourage "dirty" energy exploration, and encourage the use of "clean" energy, such as solar panels and wind turbines. Unfortunately, even if they were able to meet all energy needs -- which is disputed -- they are not widely available or ready for use.
Such a strategy would not only be consistent with past Soviet/Russian practices, but would be expected by a Putin whose long game of chess seeks to hold the West hostage by becoming the major supplier of natural gas to Europe at a time when his operatives have helped shut down viable energy alternatives. So as Putin seeks to decapitate Ukraine, he knows that one source of income for his war machine remains the natural gas that nations such as Germany must have in order to survive economically.
Not surprisingly, the Biden administration's seemingly inept energy policy has played directly into Putin's hands. Americans, from the first day of the Biden administration, have been devastated by skyrocketing inflation. The most dramatic example is at the gas pump. In just one year, the price of gasoline -- $2.17 a gallon in 2020 -- has doubled, with no signs of slowing.
How did we get here?
To appease the Progressive wing of his party, Biden, within days of his inauguration, began shutting down virtually America's entire energy independence and oil and gas exploration industry, and is still freezing future oil-and-gas drilling leases. The move not only threw thousands of Americans out of work, it has also forced Americans to pay premium prices for just about everything in the American economy -- whatever is processed, manufactured or transported -- all of which require fossil fuel energy. Wind turbines and solar panels do not truck supplies to your supermarket, or even build the electric vehicles -- costing more than $56,000 a car -- that the Biden administration wants you to buy. If you cannot afford $5-a-gallon gasoline, hey, an electric vehicle is your answer! Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's questionable suggestion was, "Take the bus." The current administration policy seems to be, "Let them eat electric vehicles."
Some members of Congress understand that this kind of response is more than ludicrous. Buying oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela is basically counterproductive. Given the nature of potential threats, it would make America a vassal state.
Congressmen Jim Banks and Bill Johnson have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, asking for an investigation into the reported Russian manipulation of American "green groups" that are seemingly funded with "dark money." The letter was following up on an earlier letter sent by Representatives Lamar Smith and Randy Weber to then Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in 2017. Their letter notes:
"According to Sea Change's tax filing, in 2010 the group received $23 million, half of its total annual contributions, from a Bahamian shell corporation tied to the Russian government. Sea Change then passed that money to groups like the Sierra Club and the Center for American Progress who lobbied strongly against fracking and pro-energy policies, to reduce competition with Russian oil and gas. In 2020, the Center for American Progress donated over $800,000 exclusively to Democrat politicians and groups' and Sierra Club Independent Action spent $3.7 million supporting Democrat candidates.
"Russia also used its state media and social medial disinformation campaigns to attack America's energy industry. Russia Today is especially focused on energy policy. According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Russia Today's coverage 'is likely reflective of the Russian Government's concern about the impact of fracking and US natural gas production on the global energy market and the potential challenges to Gazprom's profitability.' In 2021, after Biden's first year in office, Gazprom, a Russian state-owned energy company, earned record profits."
The paper trail is chilling and as clear a warning as one could ask for. Yet, as of this writing, it is not clear if Yellen has replied.
Recognizing the one strategic card the Russians have to play, the late U.S. Senator John McCain once said "Russia is a gas station masquerading as a country."
In whatever private moments Putin may allow himself, he knows that Russia's energy exports are the one truly genuine weapon he has against the West, democracy, and the forces of history that are coming for him. If he can prevent affordable energy independence from being achieved by America and her allies, he will have secured a victory beyond measure. But he will need the duped assistance of those in the White House to achieve that objective.
*Lawrence Kadish serves on the Board of Governors of Gatestone Institute.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.