A Bundle Of English Reports, News and Editorials For November 01-02/2019 Addressing the On Going Mass Demonstrations & Sit In-ins In Iranian Occupied Lebanon in its 16th Day
Compiled By: Elias Bejjani
OctoberNovember 01-02/2019
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on November 01-02/2019
Nasrallah Urges Fast Formation of ‘Sovereign Govt.’, Says ‘Strife, Political Coup’ Foiled
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah: Lebanon’s next government must heed protesters
Geagea Urges ‘Salvation Govt.’, Slams Bassil and Bou Saab
Reports: Consultations to Pick New PM Will Likely be Held Monday
Protesters Rally near Baabda Palace, Several Hurt in Sidon Scuffle
Youssef Diab Sentenced to Death over 2013 Tripoli Mosque Bombings
UK Announces $25 Million in Security Aid to Lebanon
Lebanon Uber Driver Gets Death Sentence for Murder of British Woman
UK Embassy Lauds Lebanese Authorities ‘Professionalism’ after Diplomat Killer Convicted
Report: Parliamentary Consultations Next Step for Lebanon
Lebanese Banks Impose New Measures on Depositors
Protesters Storm ABL, Get Arrested by ISF
New Batch of Syrian Refugees Return from Lebanon
Banks Reopen after 2-Week Closure as Protests Ease
‘Strong Lebanon’ Bloc tackles government formation issue, warns against smuggling State-owed funds
Protesters in Lebanon and the World March for ‘a Better Future’
*Nasrallah Urges Fast Formation of ‘Sovereign Govt.’, Says ‘Strife, Political Coup’ Foiled
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday urged the formation of a “sovereign government” within “days,” as he noted the Lebanese have managed to foil a “strife” scheme and a “political coup” attempt. “We call for dialogue and communication between all components and the protest movement’s representatives,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech. “We must speak of the American role that is preventing Lebanon from overcoming its current situation,” Nasrallah said, calling for the formation of a “truly sovereign government in which all components would play their national role” and stressing that “none of its components should contact the U.S. embassy or another embassy before taking decisions.”Adding that the new government should be formed in the “coming days,” Nasrallah urged the Lebanese to “cooperate” in this regard. “Should the caretaking period protract, this means that there will be no government to address the economic situations and people’s demands will be lost,” Nasrallah warned. “We have the brains, experts and human capabilities” to form a “sovereign government” that can “improve our situations,” Hizbullah’s secretary general said.
He added: “The new cabinet must heed the demands of the people who took to the streets, devise a program to fulfill their demands, and regain their confidence.”Commenting on Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s resignation, Nasrallah said: “We did not support this resignation but the premier took this decision and he has his reasons but I don’t want to discuss these reasons now.”“The positive shock that should have been offered to the people should have been ‘night and day emergency cabinet sessions’ in order to refer the draft law on recovering looted funds to parliament,” Nasrallah added, referring to Hariri’s argument that he sought to create a “positive shock” by heeding a key demand for the protesters.
Lamenting that the PM’s resignation “will force the suspension of the reform paper” adopted by the government in the wake of the eruption of protests, Nasrallah decried that “accordingly, there will be no amnesty law or a law for recovering the looted funds, nor a lifting of immunities nor serious draft laws for combating corruption.”As for the unprecedented popular revolt in the country, Nasrallah denied describing the anti-corruption protesters of being “agents of embassies” or accusing them of “receiving funds from embassies,” noting that he was only asking them to be cautious.
“Thanks to a lot of awareness and patience, the Lebanese have managed to avoid falling into the scheme that was being plotted by some parties and to frustrate the wishes of some parties who were wishing to go to chaos, street clashes and eventually strife,” Nasrallah said.
“It was clear that a political coup was being plotted in order to plunge the country into vacuum and this created a state of tension on the streets,” he added. He warned: “No one should push for a sectarian protest movement… The protest movement has proved that it is cross-sectarian.”
As for the attacks on protesters by Hizbullah supporters and others who back the allied AMAL Movement, Nasrallah said: “Violations and reactions to insults took place and some things went out of control, but they were limited incidents in the face of a major and very positive scene, which is the scene of discipline and awareness.”“With all due respect and appreciation for all the popular demands, our concern was to prevent the country from descending into vacuum and chaos,” he said. He added: “The Lebanese who want to continue with protest action have a natural right to do so, but they have to purify their protests and podiums, and we are before a very positive phenomenon that must be capitalized on in the coming period.”
Hezbollah leader Nasrallah: Lebanon’s next government must heed protesters
Arab News/November 01/2019
BEIRUT: The leader of Shiite group Hezbollah said on Friday a new Lebanese government must listen to the demands that fueled protests against the country’s rulers and led Saad Al-Hariri to quit as prime minister. Hariri’s resignation has left Lebanon without a government as it faces the worst economic crisis since the 1975-90 civil war. Hezbollah, a heavily armed group backed by Iran, had opposed the resignation of the coalition of which it was part. “A new government must be formed as soon as possible … and the new government must listen to the demands of the people who took to the streets,” Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a televised address. “There must be serious work because time is tight and so is people’s patience,” he said, adding that the government’s goal must be to restore confidence. The unprecedented, nationwide protests that erupted on Oct. 17 tipped Lebanon into political turmoil at a time when it was already grappling with dire economic conditions and strains in its financial system.
Lebanese banks, which had been closed since Oct. 18, reopened on Friday, with queues building and customers encountering new curbs on transfers abroad and withdrawals from US dollar accounts. Though no formal controls were imposed, banks told customers they could only transfer funds abroad in particular circumstances such repaying loans, education, health, family support or commercial commitments. An hour after doors opened, dozens people of people were waiting at some banks in Beirut and other cities, Reuters witnesses said. At others, fewer were waiting. The Association of Banks in Lebanon praised the public for acting “responsibly.” The Lebanese pound strengthened against the dollar on the parallel market that has emerged in recent months, three dealers said. The central bank had promised not to impose capital controls when banks re-opened, measures that could hamper the currency inflows and investment that Lebanon badly needs. Asked about steps being taken by banks, banking association chief Salim Sfeir said: “I would not call it restrictions but rather efforts by the banks to accommodate all customers, given the pressure resulting from closing for two weeks.”“We stand ready to adjust any measure taken, once the situation in the country is back to normal,” he told Reuters.
Geagea Urges ‘Salvation Govt.’, Slams Bassil and Bou Saab
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday called for the formation of a “salvation government,” as he hit out at caretaker Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil and caretaker Defense Minister Elias Bou Saab. “What’s needed is a salvation government and not any other government. The government should be formed of independent and expert figures who are upright and successful,” Geagea said after a meeting for the LF’s Strong Republic parliamentary bloc. The LF leader also noted that a technocratic government can comprise individuals “who have some political orientations and social relations,” but stressed that these figures “should not belong to any party or certain political figure.”He added: “They are wondering how ministries such as foreign affairs, defense and interior could be in the hands of experts and not political forces, and we in turn ask if there is a foreign ministry at the moment? What is happening at the foreign ministry today other than partisan affairs and arrangements? Can someone tell us what Lebanon’s foreign policy is? Is Lebanon’s foreign policy being studied and raised in Cabinet? What is the defense minister doing other than bickering with the Army Command?”
Reports: Consultations to Pick New PM Will Likely be Held Monday
Naharnet/November 01/2019
The binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier will be held on Monday, or at the latest Tuesday, informed sources told LBCI television on Friday. “The consultations will only take one day, starting 9:00 am, and the premier will be named at the end of the day,” the sources added. MTV meanwhile reported that presidential palace officials have requested from Parliament’s secretariat “a list of the parliamentary blocs’ ‘protocol’ ahead of declaring the date and details of the parliamentary consultations that will be carried out by President (Michel) Aoun.”“The March 8 camp will pick its candidate for the premiership and will decide how its votes will be distributed within the next 48 hours,” MTV added. Protesters on the streets have criticized the ongoing delay in setting a date for the consultations.
Protesters Rally near Baabda Palace, Several Hurt in Sidon Scuffle
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Around 30 protesters on Friday staged a symbolic rally near the presidential palace in Baabda, demanding “the speeding up of the (binding) parliamentary consultations” necessary to form a new government. “Consultations Now!” read the banners that they carried. In a statement recited at the sit-in, the protesters said the new government should comprise competent figures from outside the political class, warning that the cabinet formation process should not take more than two weeks. Another group of protesters meanwhile rallied outside al-Helou barracks in Corniche al-Mazraa to demand the release of an activist who was held in the morning in connection with the storming of the building of the Association of Banks in Lebanon in downtown Beirut. All others activists held over the move had been released earlier in the day. The protesters later left the area after being told that the activist will be released later in the day. They had blocked the road outside the barracks in both directions. In the southern city of Sidon, five protesters and two soldiers were meanwhile injured as the army intervened to reopen the blocked Elia roundabout, MTV said. Lebanon’s banks reopened for the first time in two weeks Friday as the country began to return to normal following mass demonstrations for radical political change. The unprecedented popular push to remove a political class seen as corrupt, incompetent and sectarian, had kept the country on lockdown since October 17. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri submitted his government’s resignation in response to pressure from the street, despite warnings from some of his senior coalition partners against such a move. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday said that his party did not back the government’s resignation. Instead, it would have preferred quick reforms combatting corruption, Nasrallah said in a televised speech. He called for a swift replacement, warning against the chaos caused by a void in government, and urged dialogue between parliament and representatives of the protest movement. President Michel Aoun on Thursday said ministers in the next government should be picked for their skills, not their political affiliation, appearing to endorse demonstrators’ demands for a government of technocrats. Aoun has asked Hariri’s government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new one can be formed, but Lebanon has entered a phase of acute political uncertainty, even by its own dysfunctional standards. With a power-sharing system organized along communal and sectarian lines, the allocation of ministerial posts can typically take months, a delay Lebanon’s donors say the debt-saddled country can ill afford.
Youssef Diab Sentenced to Death over 2013 Tripoli Mosque Bombings
Associated Press/Naharnet/November 01/2019
A Lebanese court has sentenced a man to death for twin car bombings in 2013 that targeted two mosques in the northern city of Tripoli, killing 47 people, state-run National News Agency reported Friday. NNA said the Judicial Council sentenced Youssef Diab to death on Friday. NNA gave no further details regarding the sentence over the near-simultaneous bombings that targeted Sunni mosques in Lebanon’s second largest city. Police said at the time that the bombings wounded some 300 others. The coordinated bombings in the predominantly Sunni city came amid sectarian violence in Lebanon at the time that spilled over from neighboring war-torn Syria. According to the indictment released years ago, Diab detonated one of the bombs remotely.
UK Announces $25 Million in Security Aid to Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 1 November, 2019
The UK announced on Friday up to $25 million in support to the Lebanese army and security forces for 2019-2022. The move is “part of our ongoing support to the sole legitimate defender of Lebanon,” the British embassy in Beirut said on Twitter. “The security forces are entrusted with keeping Lebanon safe – including securing the borders, stopping terrorism and protecting peaceful protests,” it added. The announcement came the same day two US officials told Reuters that President Donald Trump’s administration is withholding $105 million in security aid for Lebanon.. The State Department told Congress on Thursday that the White House budget office and National Security Council had decided to withhold the foreign military assistance, the officials said. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned on Tuesday following huge protests against the ruling elite.
Lebanon Uber Driver Gets Death Sentence for Murder of British Woman
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 1 November, 2019
A Lebanese court sentenced an Uber driver to death on Friday for the murder of British embassy worker Rebecca Dykes in December 2017, state news agency NNA said. The driver, Tariq Houshieh, confessed to raping and strangling 30-year-old Dykes, who worked at the embassy in Lebanon for Britain’s Department for International Development. The British embassy said it hoped the court’s decision would “provide a degree of closure” for those close to Dykes. “Becky was much loved and is deeply missed,” it said in a statement. Lebanese judges routinely call for death sentences in cases of murder. But the country has an unofficial moratorium and has not carried out an execution since 2004, according to the monitoring group Human Rights Watch. “While we welcome the guilty verdict, the UK government continues to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances,” the embassy statement said. The verdict was handed down by the Mount Lebanon criminal court, the district north of Beirut where the crime occurred, NNA reported. A lawyer appointed to represent Houshieh said they would submit an appeal.
UK Embassy Lauds Lebanese Authorities ‘Professionalism’ after Diplomat Killer Convicted
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Rebecca (“Becky”) Dykes was “a talented, devoted humanitarian, whose skill, expertise, and passion improved the lives of many people,” the British embassy in Beirut said on Friday, a few hours after the British diplomat’s murderer was convicted of murder and rape. “She was an impassioned advocate for those who most need support, a true friend of Lebanon, and an outstanding representative for the UK. She had an exciting, bright future ahead of her,” the embassy said in a statement. “Becky was also a hugely popular member of the British Embassy in Beirut. Her energy, smile, determination, kindness, and positivity are fondly remembered by all,” it added. “The British Embassy hopes that for those close to Becky, the Court’s decision will provide a degree of closure. While we welcome the guilty verdict, the UK government continues to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances,” the embassy went on to say. It also thanked “the many Lebanese authorities and officials who have responded to Becky’s murder with the utmost professionalism and compassion.”“The Embassy is also grateful to the individuals, foundations, and organizations that have kept Becky’s memory alive and continue her good work,” it added. “Becky was much loved and is deeply missed. The Embassy would like to take this moment to express its deep and continued sympathy with Becky’s colleagues, friends, and above all, her family,” it said.
Report: Parliamentary Consultations Next Step for Lebanon
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Deliberations to set a date early next week for Lebanon’s parliamentary consultations with President Michel Aoun intensified amid reports that Aoun did not “veto” appointing the now-caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat reported on Friday. Well-informed sources spoke to the daily and denied any delay in setting the date for deliberations, noting that “parliamentary blocs must have an opportunity to hold consultations among themselves to present the name of their candidate for the premiership.”The sources pointed out saying: “Lebanon is passing through unusual circumstances and several roads were still blocked, therefore we can say that the timing of consultations is linked to the security status.”They said President Michel Aoun considers a government in caretaker capacity as a form of vacuum that should not last for a very long time. “Therefore, he will not initiate parliamentary consultations if he is not certain that it will result in the nomination of a figure who garners the majority in Parliament,” they said. Meanwhile, ministerial sources told Asharq al-Awsat that “meetings were held between AMAL Movement and Hizbullah to assess the situation and exchange views for a unified decision.”
Hariri stepped down as PM on Tuesday amid nationwide protests against the political class, whom people blame for Lebanon’s deteriorating economic conditions.Aoun has asked the cabinet to continue in a caretaker capacity. He then has to hold binding consultations with the heads of parliamentary blocs to ask them for their choice of a new prime minister.
Lebanese Banks Impose New Measures on Depositors
Beirut – Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 1 November, 2019
Lebanese banks reopened on Friday after remaining shut for 12 consecutive working days amid a series of new procedures imposed on clients in an effort by the authorities to protect the banking sector. Long queues formed outside banks in the capital, Beirut, as doors opened. Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the new measures would prevent transfers from local banks to outside the country in the coming period. “Currently, there is a cap for outward financial transfers, despite some exceptions allowing transfers for Lebanese students studying abroad,” the sources said. They explained that the banks would raise the ceiling of payments in credit cards abroad. “This given margin on cash withdrawals is exceptional for a limited time. It aims to control a drawdown and to prevent the withdrawal of large sums of money,” the source said. Also, Lebanese lira deposits in banks could be exchanged to a foreign currency, the sources said, adding that such decision aims to confirm the solvency of the Lebanese monetary markets and to boost confidence in the financial situation. Following a meeting held on Thursday, Lebanon’s banking association said banks across the country would open their doors on Friday morning to meet “urgent” needs such as salary payments. Banks in Lebanon were closed for safety reasons following protests that started on Oct. 17 demanding the resignation of the government. Meanwhile, Lebanon’s dollar bonds rose for the first time in ten working days on Thursday. The 2021 issue rose 0.8 cents, its most in six weeks, to 68.5 cents in the dollar, while the 2037 bond added 0.6 cents to 54.9 cents in the dollar, Tradeweb data showed. The bonds have been under huge selling pressure in recent days after two weeks of anti-government protests that have led to the closure of banks and simmering concerns about the government’s ability to meet its debt obligations.
Protesters Storm ABL, Get Arrested by ISF
Naharnet/November 01/2019
The Internal Security Forces arrested a handful of activists on Friday who stormed the headquarters of the Association of Banks in Lebanon in the Gemmayze area. The activists stormed ABL demanding that the “monetary dealings in Lebanon become strictly in Lebanese pounds.”
LBCI later said that three of the detained protesters were released. Lebanon banks reopened for the first time in two weeks on Friday as the country began to return to normal following mass demonstrations for radical political change. There has been widespread concern that the reopening of the banks will be accompanied by a devaluation of the Lebanese pound but the central bank said the currency was still pegged to the greenback at 1,507 pounds to the dollar.
New Batch of Syrian Refugees Return from Lebanon
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Eighty five Syrian refugees have returned on Friday back to Syria in the latest wave of returns to their war-torn country, the National News Agency reported on Friday. Lebanon’s General Security Directorate organized the return of refugees who arrived at the Masnaa border crossing early on Friday coming from the Central Beqaa area. Out of 91 refugees who had their names listed to return home, only 85 returned, said NNA. Many have returned from several areas around Lebanon in the past months.
Banks Reopen after 2-Week Closure as Protests Ease
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/November 01/2019
Lebanon banks reopened for the first time in two weeks Friday as the country began to return to normal following mass demonstrations for radical political change. The unprecedented popular push to remove a political class seen as corrupt, incompetent and sectarian, had kept the country on lockdown since October 17. Large queues starting forming outside banks from early morning and people rushed in as soon as doors opened to cash in their salaries and make transfers. Tellers struggled to handle the flood of customers trying to cram inside bank branches, as queues spilt onto the streets.
In the capital Beirut, a handful of activists briefly stormed the headquarters of the Association of Banks, before they were forced out by riot police. There has been widespread concern that the reopening of the banks will be accompanied by a devaluation of the Lebanese pound but the central bank said the currency was still pegged to the greenback at 1,507 pounds to the dollar. In the parallel market however, the exchange rate is expected to be higher. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Saad Hariri submitted his government’s resignation in response to pressure from the street, despite warnings from some of his senior coalition partners against such a move. President Michel Aoun on Thursday said ministers in the next government should be picked for their skills, not their political affiliation, appearing to endorse demonstrators’ demands for a government of technocrats. Aoun has asked Hariri’s government to stay on in a caretaker capacity until a new one can be formed, but Lebanon has entered a phase of acute political uncertainty, even by its own dysfunctional standards. With a power-sharing system organised along communal and sectarian lines, the allocation of ministerial posts can typically take months, a delay Lebanon’s donors say the debt-saddled country can ill afford. Growth in Lebanon has stalled in the face of the political deadlock of recent years, compounded by the 2011 breakout of civil war in neighbouring Syria. It stood at around 0.2 percent in 2018, compared with more than 10 percent in 2009. It is expected to remain stagnant this year, according to the International Monetary Fund. Economists are also deeply concerned by the country’s crippling debt of $86 billion. This equates to roughly 150 percent of gross domestic product, one of the highest rates in the world. Eighty percent of that debt is owed to Lebanese commercial banks or the central bank.
‘Strong Lebanon’ Bloc tackles government formation issue, warns against smuggling State-owed funds
NNA/Fri 01 Nov 2019
The “Strong Lebanon” Parliamentary Bloc convened on Friday under Caretaker Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Minister Gebran Bassil at the Free Patriotic Movement’s headquarters in Mirna Shallouhi, with discussions focusing on the prevailing political issues and the general situation in the country, most prominently the new government formation. Developments following President Michel Aoun’s speech yesterday also featured high during the meeting, with Bloc members voicing commitment to its content. On a different note, the Bloc warned against “the process of extracting or smuggling funds owed to the State,” stressing on pursuing the matter through legislations or possible legal means. It is to note that Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli, Lebanese Democratic Party Chief, MP Talal Arslan, and Tashnaq Party Secretary-General, MP Hagop Paqradounian, attended the meeting.
Protesters in Lebanon and the World March for ‘a Better Future’
Naharnet/November 01/2019
Protests have flared in Lebanon and around the world, with citizens rallying for the last few weeks demanding change in their countries.
Here are the reasons seven of them from Lebanon to Chile are taking to the streets.
Lebanon
The face of the Joker has become a symbol of protest movements around the world, and a picture by AFP photographer Patrick Baz of a demonstrator in Beirut on October 19 looking like the comic book villain quickly went viral.
Underneath the make-up was Cynthia Albert Aboujaoude, 28, who works in graphic design.
“We’re protesting for a better future. We’re all here for many problems, the roads, the trash, the economy … the water.” If she could change one thing about the country it would be education, she says.
“I would take public schooling a little bit more seriously and make it 100 percent free.
“I found out about the protests by accident. I was leaving a friend’s place when I came across a blocked road with burning tires. That’s when I checked the news and couldn’t help but join the revolt.”
She says she has long felt a connection with the Joker. “So I wore his make-up comfortably and peacefully using the colors of our Lebanese flag with no intentions to start riots or wreak havoc, it was purely to make a statement.”
She says it feels “surreal and overwhelming” to know that so many people have seen her face. “It almost feels insane that a picture in a certain place, time or situation can have such a huge impact.”
Hong Kong
“Why do Hong Kongers have to suffer so much white terror? It’s because the government refuses to face our demands and reach a compromise with us. It should back down and listen to the people’s demands,” said “Mr. A”, a man in his thirties who wanted to remain anonymous.
Hong Kong has been upended by nearly five months of huge, often violent, pro-democracy protests in which participants routinely wear masks to hide their identities and protect themselves from teargas and pepper spray.
The protests were initially sparked by a now-abandoned plan to allow extraditions to the authoritarian mainland, but snowballed into a wider democracy and police accountability movement.
“We must have our five demands,” said Mr. A.
He was referring to the demands of the Hong Kong protest movement including an independent inquiry into police action, amnesty for those arrested and universal suffrage.
Algeria
Wearing trainers, a polo shirt and a Che Guevara hat, Abdenour Ait Said whips up the crowd every Tuesday during student protests in Algiers.
The 22-year-old biology student — known by his friends as Abdou — has emerged as one of the leaders of the eight-month-old rallies.
Always at the front of the march, he keeps up a stream of slogans against the regime, repeated in chorus by the crowd.
In February he was among the first demonstrators to take to the streets to demand the fall of the “system”.
“I protest so my country is freed from this power in place for more than 50 years, who plundered its riches, and I oppose the elections planned for December 12 which we know in advance will be rigged,” he says.
“I denounce the arbitrary arrests of protesters, and the siege of the capital every Friday and Tuesday to prevent demonstrators from other cities joining us.”
He dreams of “a new Algeria where the rule of law reigns”.
Iraq
His face partly covered by a surgical mask, Haydar Sabri holds a picture of his brother as tear gas canisters and stun grenades rain down on Baghdad’s emblematic Tahrir Square.
Underneath he has written: “I am here to find justice for my brother”.
“My brother was protesting peacefully and he was killed by a sniper on October 4” in the same square, says Sabri, who is in his 20s and earns a living from odd jobs.
At the time Iraq was gripped by a first wave of protests, the deadliest since the fall of dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Five days of anti-government rallies brought chaos to Baghdad and southern Iraq despite the authorities’ attempts to quell them with internet blackouts and curfews.
More than 150 people were killed, mostly protesters in the capital, according to official figures, in a country flush with oil wealth but where one-fifth of the population lives in poverty.
Now that the rallies — and deaths — have resumed after a nearly three-week lull, Sabri has joined the demonstrators after keeping up to date with calls to mobilize on Facebook.
He wants “the fall of the government because it’s the only way to find justice for my brother.
“I want to be able to visit his grave and tell him that he died for a good cause,” Sabri tells AFP.
“I want a better country and that will never happen unless the government falls.”
Barcelona
“I protest because the circumstances in recent years have incarcerated Catalonia’s political leaders we elected. They were allowed to propose an electoral program (for independence in Catalonia) and when they wanted to put their plan into action they were detained and sent to prison,” said Gisela Navales Morera, a 39-year-old teacher.
“It seems very unjust,” the Catalan separatist added.
44 percent of people in the region are in favor of forming an independent state in northeast Spain.
“I protest for them to be released and for those ‘exiled’ to return to their country,” she said, referring to former Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and other politicians in the region, who have fled abroad to avoid prosecution.
Navales Morera said she wants “a country where everyone can express what they think, where they feel they can demonstrate.”
She keeps up to date on events on Instagram and uses the social media network Telegram.
She said on social media “we have the chance to see thing the media does not show us”.
Santiago, Chile
“This is the first time that Chileans are united and we must not miss this opportunity,” said 21-year-old student Carlos Morales.
“It is a way of putting pressure on the government to listen to us and that all Chileans can live in peace, and not in poverty.”
The protests were triggered by a hike in the price of underground train tickets.
“I hope that (President Sebastian Pinera) will resign, as well as all those damn thieves. I hope that these damn parliamentarians will lower their salary.
“There are people who earn nine million pesos (11,200 euros over $12,000) per month while the minimum wage is 300,000 pesos (373 euros or $415).
“It causes a lot of anger among people. With the 9.2 percent increase of electricity and the increase in the price of metro tickets, Pinera keeps us in poverty and controls us,” he said.
– La Paz, Bolivia –
With a national flag tied to her t-shirt imprinted with the word ‘No’, 15-year-old schoolgirl Natalia Vasquez marches with her friends, covered in the national colors of red, yellow, green.
“There has been electoral fraud, and that has been proven, it’s been 14 years since President Morales was here, now we want to fight to develop the country,” she said following Evo Morales’s re-election on Sunday.
“We are the young people who are looking for a better future, to have a better Bolivia, if we do not fight, who will guarantee that it will be better after?”
While her family encourage her, they also warn her to be careful when she takes to the streets.
But the teenager, who lives in the upmarket neighborhood of Cota Cota, said she was ready to go to prison “if necessary”.
With her teachers on strike and her school closed, Vasquez and her friends communicate with protest groups via messaging service WhatsApp. She says the messaging groups are at full capacity with 250 people.
“There are also Facebook groups with thousands of members,” she says. Instagram has also been a tool to send videos of speeches made by the president, fights and how to organize protests.
Titles For The Latest Lebanese LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 01-02/2019
NPA: Interview With Dr. Walid Phares/North-Press Agency/November 01/2019
Opinion/Netanyahu vs. Nasrallah/Israel Harel/Haaretz/November 01/2019
Behind The Lines: Revolt Against Iran’s System In Iraq And Lebanon/Jonathan Spyer/November 01/2019
In Middle East: Pull Down Facades/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
My Generation Wants To End Sectarianism/Ghida Tayara/Carnegie/November 01/2019
What the Lebanese Uprising is all About/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
Iran’s Theory on Events in Iraq, Lebanon/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
Soleimani takes helm of Iraqi security from prime minister Abdul-Mahdi/DEBKA/November 01/2019
NPA: Interview With Dr. Walid Phares
North-Press Agency/November 01/2019
U.S. forces redeploying in oil fields, support to continue for SDF” – Former Northern Syria
A former adviser to the United States President Donald Trump said that the decision to withdraw from areas in northern Syria came after Turkish President Erdogan’s determination to enter his forces in the region, which necessitated the American troops to withdraw about 32 km away from the Syrian-Turkish borders.
Walid Phares, a former adviser to the U.S. President Donald Trump and a foreign policy expert said that, the U.S. withdrawal decision was based on the president’s assessment that, the positioning of the American forces in northern Syria doesn’t allow any confrontation, and that the Turkish leadership won’t accept any negotiations on this issue and insist on its operation. Therefore, the President’s decision was that, the U.S. forces would withdraw to Hasakah, the Syrian-Iraqi borders and thus to the oil fields areas.
According to the political expert, the first plan, which was to deploy with the
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) throughout northeastern Syria “is no longer practicable without a massive deployment of the U.S. army and this wasn’t possible at that stage, due to strong opposition against the president in Washington, and therefore they resorted to the Plan B, i.e. the withdrawal, but the Turkish government decided to invade, the matter that led Trump to send his deputy to Ankara for negotiations.
The United States and Turkey accepted the principle of “security zone” along the borders and they required the European countries to deploy their troops to protect the entire components of the region.
During his talk, the former advisor to the U.S. President, mentioned the Plan D, which includes reorganizing, rehabilitating, arming and equipping the SDF and reorganizing its positioning, where it includes redeploying in the south of the 30 km line with the remaining U.S. forces, which will deploy in the oil fields and help to reinforce these forces strategically to transform them from a militia into a regular army.
Regarding the oil fields, Walid Phares pointed out that, this decision is made by President Trump directly, who made it clear in his press conference after al-Baghdadi operation that, the U.S. forces will be there as a strategic force which will defend those areas with all their power, which means that, this is a warning to the east and north, and a warning to Turkey that no one will approach these areas and will be large areas, and therefore a warning to Iran that no one approached its forces and militias to those areas, which means that, there will be a military base, areas and supplements where the U.S. forces will be in the middle and the SDF around them.
The political expert stressed that, there is considerable pressure within the U.S. on the administration, pressure from the Congress and from the majority of President Trump’s popular base not to give up allies in all components of the SDF, and therefore the Plan B has been converted to the Plan D.
The scenario of the Plan D, as Trump said includes strengthening a base in Iraqi Kurdistan in Erbil, so that the cooperation and coordination between Iraqi Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan is necessary without any merge or unity, just strategic cooperation and coordination.
Phares explained that, on this basis the next stage will be repositioning, and “The belief here is that, the SDF lost that region on the borders with Turkey at this stage in order to solve the issues, isn’t right because the SDF hasn’t lost its people”.
Walid Phares told North-Press that, “House of Representative’s vote against Turkey and the sanctions means that, the Congress and the administration are determined to continue the partnership with the SDF and the minorities in northeastern Syria and northern Iraq, and to adopt them as strategic partners.”
He concluded that, “What is happening on the Syrian-Turkish borders has therapies later. All eyes are now focused on the remnants of ISIS, and on preventing Iranian forces from penetrating into northeastern Syria or approaching northern Iraq once again, where the Kurds are.”
Opinion/Netanyahu vs. Nasrallah
Israel Harel/Haaretz/November 01/2019
After the next display of courage by Hezbollah, or Hamas in the south, the IDF must ‘lethally’ liquidate both these organizations’ offensive capabilities
In late August Israeli planes attacked a canister, or canisters, of navigation devices intended to upgrade Hezbollah’s “stupid” missiles into precision missiles.
Hassan Nasrallah, the organization’s leader, promised to take revenge. Since this leader, unlike Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, doesn’t make empty threats, the IDF began to prepare for the bombardment. As usual, it did so with the intention of containing the offensive. Indeed, on September 1 his men fired Kornet missiles at Israel.
This week it was reported that two officers, a battalion commander and a deputy battalion commander, were reprimanded over this incident. For fear of missile fire the forces in the area had been ordered to stop all vehicular movement on roads that could be targeted directly from Lebanon. The order wasn’t passed on, or didn’t flow, to one of the forces, and a missile almost hit an ambulance.
Although no one was hurt, somebody had disobeyed – or ignored – an order. The reprimand was in place, because the moment it had been decided to respond by a policy of containment, it was right to take precautions and stop the traffic. But whoever had made the decision to avoid a preemptive strike put many more people at risk. Hezbollah’s revenge scope wasn’t known, after all. Therefore the willingness to allow Nasrallah to strike the first blow, which could have hurt numerous civilians and soldiers, is the outcome of an erroneous strategic decision, both militarily and morally.
Implementation of a policy of containment was a strategic mistake on the part of the government, and also on the army’s part for failing to object to it. A preemptive strike, or even a harsh retaliation after-the-fact, would have made it clear to Nasrallah that Israel is determined to continue to take action, even over Lebanese skies, to prevent the missile upgrade project.
Also, that the new “lethal” IDF will no longer stand idly by if Nasrallah strikes again. Upon entering office the chief of staff said that IDF moves must be “lethal.” To prove that the IDF shot about 100 “lethal” shells at Lebanon in response to the anti-tank missiles. Like in many cases in the south, the shells were fired at open areas and caused no damage. Except, of course, for intelligence damage. The futile strike signaled to Nasrallah that from now on Israel will treat him the same way it deals with Hamas.
After the event Netanyahu declared “we won…not a single Israeli was scratched.” This is good. But on the strategic level Nasrallah has confirmed anew an absurd strategic balance via which the leader of a terrorist organization has been dictating the rules of the game to a regional power for the past two decades. Even micro-tactical activity, firing a few missiles, deters Israel on the strategic level.
About a week before the reprimand the chief of staff warned of two acute fronts, in the north and south, that pose an immediate threat to our national security. Given what Tehran has been doing lately in the region, like shooting cruise missiles at Saudi oil fields, Israel must urgently neutralize the missile capabilities of Hezbollah, Iran’s front-line proxy. After the next display of courage by Nasrallah, or Hamas in the south, the IDF must “lethally” liquidate both these organizations’ offensive capabilities.
Only thusly can Iran, not only Hezbollah and Hamas, be deterred; only thusly will the ayatollahs understand that Israel has shed its policy of containment. Had we acted in a micro-lethal way in September, it may have been possible to prevent the next big, inevitably macro-lethal, round for a long time to come; perhaps even until after the fall of Tehran’s evil regime.
Behind The Lines: Revolt Against Iran’s System In Iraq And Lebanon
Jonathan Spyer/November 01/2019
Will the people succeed in undermining the Iranian plan to spread power across the region?
The Middle East is currently witnessing the first examples of popular rebellion in countries dominated by Iran. In the very different contexts of Iraq and Lebanon, the protests now under way have a similar focus on political and economic corruption, mismanagement, and limited popular access to power and resources. In both cases, despite this focus, the demonstrators are being confronted with the fact of the domination of their country by an outside-imposed structure.
In Iraq, demonstrations began on October 1. The protests took place in Baghdad, and rapidly spread to a number of cities in the southern part of the country, including Nasiriya, Diwaniya, Babil, Wasit, Muthanna, and Dhi Qar governorates. The immediate cause was the firing by Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi of a popular general, Abdul-Wahab al-Saadi, from his post as deputy commander of the Counter-Terrorism Service.
Saadi’s firing, however, was from the outset redolent of broader issues. A Baghdad Shia himself, Saadi is known for his anti-sectarian positions and professionalism. The CTS, in which he served, is a force established and trained by the Americans. His removal from his position was thus widely interpreted as an effort by the Iran-linked Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) to rid itself of a potential rival.
So while the focus of the demonstrations rapidly shifted to economic and social issues – in particular lack of access to affordable housing for young people – from the outset the issue of the unelected and unaccountable Iranian power that lies at the heart of governance in Iraq was implicitly present.
One demonstrator, 28-year-old Moussa Rahmatallah of Baghdad, described this process in an interview published by the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis. “The problem was community and economic issues, but it got bigger now. Now, the main demand and call from the demonstrations is that they want the regime to fall.”
This, of course, is the old slogan that echoed through the public squares of Arab states during the short-lived “Arab Spring” of 2010-11. But there is a significant difference. In Ben Ali’s Tunisia, Mubarak’s Egypt, Assad’s Syria and so on, it was clear what the regime was. Iraq, however, has a formal system of democracy, a parliament, regular elections. So what is the “regime” that Rahmatallah and his fellow demonstrators were referring to?
One demonstrator expressed it in the following terms in a Facebook post: “Democracy alone while the country is being looted is not enough! What is the use of being able to participate in an election, while seeing militias intimidate the actual winners ’cause of threat of a civil war or whatever, and then allow them to have much greater control over the government?!”
Iran and its allies appear similarly in no doubt that the “regime” in question (the Arabic word “nizam” also translates, perhaps more appropriately here, as “system”) is the one whereby within the structures of formal democracy, Tehran maintains its own independent political and military power structure, against whose decisions there is no appeal.
That the Iranians are convinced in this regard may be gauged not by statements but, rather, by deeds. From the beginning, the armed power of the Shia militias has been mobilized alongside, and in cooperation with, the official security forces of the state, with the intention of brutally suppressing the demonstrations. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani flew into Iraq on October 2, to coordinate the operation, according to a report by The Associated Press.
The result is that in just four weeks of demonstrations, over 250 demonstrators have lost their lives. An October 17 Reuters report detailed the process in which snipers belonging to Iran-backed militias were deployed on rooftops in areas where protests were taking place, with orders to shoot to kill. The operation, according to Reuters, was directed by one Abu Zeinab al-Lami, a senior official of the PMU closely linked to Iran. Iraqi security sources quoted by Reuters claimed that the snipers were “reporting directly to their commander [presumably Lami, or Soleimani] instead of to the commander in chief of the armed forces.”
The precise chain of command, and the extent of collusion remain disputed. But the role of the IRGC-linked forces as the cutting edge of the attempt to crush the protests is clear.
The situation is continuing to escalate and no end is in sight. On Wednesday, live fire was used against protesters in the iconic Shia city of Kerbala. Eighteen people were killed. Iraqi sources say that the Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Ktaeb Hezbollah militias were active in the city. The largest demonstrations are taking place in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square.
IN THE different conditions of Lebanon, an essentially similar dynamic is under way. A protest initially concerned with opposing new taxes on tobacco, petrol and Internet phone services rapidly escalated into a generalized challenged to the entrenched and deeply corrupt political order of the country.
The grievances of the protesters are socioeconomic. They are not directed specifically against Hezbollah and its Iranian masters. The protesters want the current coalition of corrupt, entrenched sectarian interests replaced by a government of technocrats. They are motivated by Lebanon’s dire economic state, its massive unemployment and its soaring national debt.
But as it turns out, this current order is to the liking of the Iranian structure, which is the true ruler in Lebanon. It affords the convenient administrative cover beneath which Hezbollah is able to preserve its own power undisturbed. Consequently, since October 20, when Hassan Nasrallah first spoke against the protests, and with increasing force after October 25, Hezbollah and Amal thugs have been harassing the demonstrations and seeking to provoke violence.
As of now, Prime Minister Saad Hariri has tendered his resignation. The demonstrators have vowed to stay in the streets. They are demanding a government of “experts” and the abolition of the Lebanese sectarian political system, which enables the entrenched elites, whom they hold responsible for the current economic malaise. As the true decision-maker, it is now Hezbollah’s move, with regard to the new government to be assembled.
THE ESSENTIAL point, in both the Iraqi and Lebanese cases, is that any protest or public manifestation must eventually pose the question of power – namely, who decides? and is there a right of appeal? In both the Lebanese and Iraqi situations, once the decorations, fictions and formalities are stripped away, the protesters are faced with an unelected, armed, utterly ruthless political-military structure which is the final decider and wielder of power in the country. This structure, in turn, is controlled from Iran, via the mechanism of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Iran, in its rhetoric, likes to call its regional bloc the “Resistance Axis.” The notion is that it is bringing together oppressed and authentic regional forces against the machinations of the US, Israel and their puppets. In reality, as current events in Iraq and Lebanon are showing, the Iranian system most resembles a colonial one, in which the ability of local populations to decide for themselves disappears, and an Iran-controlled structure places itself in rule over them. This rule is then conducted in a manner intended to benefit Tehran, with indifference to the economic and other interests of the subject population.
The subjects in Iraq and Lebanon are now in revolt against this system. It is not at all clear, however, whether they have the means available to issue it a serious challenge.
*The writer is director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis and a research fellow at the Middle East Forum and at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security. He is the author of Days of the Fall: A Reporter’s Journey in the Syria and Iraq Wars.
In Middle East: Pull Down Facades
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
For the past two weeks or so, the state-controlled media in Tehran have been wondering how to cope with news of popular uprisings in Lebanon and Iraq.
In the first phase, the official line was that the protests reflected anger at poor economic performance and defective public services. The narrative echoed media coverage of last year’s popular protests in Iran itself. It was inconceivable that “the people”, always an abstraction, might not appreciate the blessings of the system let alone revolt against it. In the second phase, the protests were portrayed as indicative of the failure of the authorities to respond to popular grievances. In the third and current phase, the uprising was depicted as the result of sinister plots by “enemies of Islam”, including the usual “Zionist” suspects and “agents of the American Great Satan.”
Thus, Tehran media are advising the “authorities” in Beirut and Baghdad to crush the popular uprisings “by all means necessary”. One of Tehran’s Iraqi propagandists even advised Prime Minister Adel AbdulMahdi “to kill leaders of sedition (fitna)” who had gathered in a restaurant in Baghdad. The daily Kayhan, believed to reflect “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei’s views, started calling for “strong action” against protesters in Lebanon days before units of streetfighters from Hezbollah and Amal attacked the protestors’ base in Beirut.
Anyone following the state-owned media’s coverage would detect as sense of panic in Tehran. What if we were witnessing a version of peripheral revolts that shook the Soviet Empire in its satellite territories in Eastern and Central Europe?
For years, Tehran has been trying to sell its expansionist strategist in the Middle East as a great success not only for the Islamic Revolution but also for Iranian nationalism. In an interview, published posthumously, Revolutionary Guard general Hussein Hamadani boasted about having “saved” Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad from defeat and death at the moment he and his cronies had packed suitcases to run away. However, he also noted that this was the first time since the 7th century AD when Iranian armies had reached the Mediterranean under their pre-Islamic King of Kings Khosrow Parviz.
That narrative also found echoes in Tehran accounts of Yemen. Iranians were told that, under Khosrow Anushiravan, the Sassanid Emperor, a Persian army led by Wahraz had gone to Yemen to expel Abyssinian invaders and that, today, Iran was doing the same thing but sending “arms and advisers” to the Houthis to expel Arab “invaders.” As for Iraq, the Islamic Republic did not only have a right to intervene but a duty to protect the Iraqi Shiites and Kurds as members of “our great family.”
As for Lebanon, the Islamic Republic’s leading role there was the natural continuation of a relationship that started with the importing of large numbers of Lebanese Shiite clerics to Iran in the 16th century, helping convert Iran to Shiism under the Safavids.
There is no doubt that this Khomeinist grand strategy met with some initial successes as Tehran expanded its influence in the Middle East with a minimum of blood sacrifice. Even the treasure spent on acquiring a pseudo-empire was not very big. Best estimates put Iran’s expenditure for gaining a dominant position in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen at around $40 billion over the past four decades. The daily Kayhan compared that figure with “the eight trillion dollars that Trump says the US spent in the Middle East, ending up with nothing.”
In building their empire, the mullahs made a big mistake: they prevented the emergence of genuine local authorities, including national armies that could hold things together in a semi-autonomous way. The British did that with some success in India where they fostered a large number of maharajas, nabobs and sardars enjoying a measure of local legitimacy while the sub-continents security depended on a regular army consisting largely of native, often ethnic and/or confessional minority, elements. As a result the formal organs of state in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen were reduced to mere facades hiding the reality of power exercised by militia groups such as Hezbollah, the Popular Mobilization Forces, Zayanbiyoun and the Houthis.
In the recent attack on Saudi oil installations, the Houthis heard about their own imaginary role in the operation from foreign media quoting Iranian sources. Tehran did not even have the courtesy to tell the Houthis that they would be mentioned as authors of the attack before releasing the claim to world media.
In 2017 Gen. Ismail Qa’ani, number-two of the Quds Crops under Gen. Qassem Soleimani told a Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seminar that real power in all the countries involved rested in the hands of “resistance forces linked to our revolution.” Soleimani put that claim even more starkly in his first ever interview, making it clear that he did not acknowledge the existence of anything resembling a state in Lebanon.
That, of course, is a repeat of the experiment in Iran itself where formal state structures, including a President, a Cabinet, various ministries and even a regular army exist but only as facades for parallel, the notorious “deep state” structures, that wield real power.
The Soviet Empire established a similar scheme in satellite countries where even Communist parties were little more than a façade. That scheme began to unravel when the puppets, including leaders of some local Communist parties, started to resign or even join the opposition.
The current crisis in the countries concerned may well take the same turn. Like the scared Soviet Union, the Khomeinist regime may try to stop the march of history by force. If so, it will fail just as the USSR did in its satellites. However, positive change may well become more possible if those who form the facade of power in the countries concerned find the courage to step down and let Tehran’s surrogates to assume responsibility commensurate with the real power they have behind the scenes.
The Houthis, the Assad clan, Hezbollah, PMF and kindred groups are puppets in a surrealistic show scripted by faceless puppet-masters in Tehran. That they, in turn, hide behind secondary puppets, playing president and/or prime minister, makes for an even more absurd flight into fantasyland. Just over 1000 years ago, Nizam al-Mulk noted that what appears legal is not necessarily legitimate and that being in office but not in power produces the worst kind of tyranny.
My Generation Wants To End Sectarianism
Ghida Tayara/Carnegie/November 01/2019
Lebanon’s youths are fed up with the traditional reflexes of sect that keep the population divided.
The spontaneous protests that began on October 17 proved that the Lebanese are capable of uniting. They showed that socioeconomic difficulties were shared across the country’s different sects and were enough to make well over 1 million citizens take to the streets calling for the abolition of the sectarian system.
For almost two weeks, public spaces across Lebanon were filled with people waving red, white, and green flags, expressing their dissatisfaction with the country’s sectarian political leadership and their corrupt behavior. As beautiful as such scenes were, and as utopian as the demands of the protestors appeared, the realities that also came to the surface were very different.
During the first days of the protests, minor clashes erupted between protestors and groups of young men backed by Hezbollah and the Amal Movement. But then things took a turn for the worse late last week as these groups attacked the protestors more violently. The most disturbing thing was that these men were shouting “Shi‘a, Shi‘a” as they beat up protestors, tore up their tents, and burned their banners. They displayed no sympathy for the protesting crowds, were not involved in their calls to change the Lebanese system, and did not feel any impulse to share the protestors’ pain or concerns. Instead, they went on a rampage, showing a viciousness that was fueled by the sectarian rhetoric of their political parties.
Later that day, Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri resigned, which seemed to divide the protestors. Social media was flooded with pictures of Hariri, with some people portraying him as a hero. What was shocking, however, was that many of those who were praising the prime minister for stepping down were the very same ones who had been in the streets protesting against his government. Suddenly, the protestors’ slogan, Kellon, Ya‘ni Kellon (All of Them Means All of Them), became meaningless as people reverted to supporting their sectarian leaders.
Indeed, when the protests began there were no partisans of Hariri’s Future Movement defending the prime minister and his government. This only occurred after he had stepped down. This revealed a sectarian reflex, since his resignation appeared to signal that the Sunni prime minister was the principal victim of public discontent, not the Maronite president or the Shi‘a speaker of parliament.
Sectarian rhetoric is a tool that political parties have long used in Lebanon, where most parties are based on sect. It only takes one political party using the sectarian card to make people from other communities feel the urge to slide back into the protective shell of their own sects or sectarian political parties.
An outrageous example of someone using the sectarian card is the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, who has backed a discriminatory citizenship law. He supports allowing Lebanese women married to foreigners to pass their nationality on to their children, with the exception of those with Syrian and Palestinian husbands. By doing so, Bassil has sought to guarantee that Christians are not more outnumbered by Muslims than they are today.
Sectarian rhetoric is embedded so deeply in the Lebanese political system, its parties, and society that it may take ten revolutions to get rid of it. The younger generation is showing a greater willingness to embrace a secular national identity, which gives us hope. And with talk of the protests perhaps winding down and protestors losing their battle, we can at least affirm that this generation of Lebanese is striving to effect change.The flame of change is not going to burn out.
What the Lebanese Uprising is all About
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
The Lebanese Uprising has entered its second week, with salient truths that deserve attention:
The First is that the Uprising still has not brought forward any clear leadership, although its demands are; and by the way has its advantages and disadvantages.
The Second is that it has made necessary a second speech from Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General; who effectively is the political and military governor of Lebanon, in which he moved from directly threatening his opponents to openly accusing them of treason and intimidating them by using his black-shirted ‘partisans’.
The Third is that this Uprising does not seem to enjoy any international sympathy; which is ironic, since Nasrallah is accusing the organizers and protesters of being funded by foreign embassies. The same accusation was levelled by Hezbollah’s media against the Iraqi protests too.
The Fourth is that President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), which is now the Christian subordinate henchman of Hezbollah, has been its master’s voice. From the moment of receiving the Shiite militia’s message, it began its own actions against the protesters in the Christian areas, under the pretext of defending Aoun and FPM leader Jebran Bassil, who was the ‘cabinet’s strongman’.
The Fifth is that, for different reasons, the protesters are still not making the direct connection between the rampant corruption and the ‘security services’ deep state’ which has been running the show in Lebanon for more than 30 years. Those 30 years that are frequently being mentioned both by innocent and ‘not very innocent’ protesters in the streets.
Well, let us expand on the above.
Despite the accusations of Hezbollah’s Secretary General, the mere fact that the current Uprising is still leaderless proves that it has been a result of accumulated suffering of ordinary people. The authorities – not only the cabinet – has treated this suffering by drugging, distraction and deception. This is obvious knowing Lebanon’s political system, its fragile structure, the lack of consensus, and the subservience of almost all political players to a de facto ‘occupation’ that follows its own local and regional agenda.
A couple of days ago, when black-shirted thugs ‘revisited’ the squares and streets, they simply reconfirmed a fact that the Lebanese have always wanted to deny. Indeed, at present, the ‘security services’ establishment is in action not only in order to re-open blocked streets by force, or saving protesters from the wrath of those thugs; it has been busy for some time ‘creating’ a public opinion that is concentrating attention on corruption alone, and alluding to one group in particular.
However, the reality is that ‘security state,’ which has been ruling Lebanon behind the scenes since the mid 1970s, under the auspices of Syrian military and security presence, has been the main sponsor and beneficiary of corruption. This, was gradually and simultaneously, taking place since 1979 along with the regional project of the Iranian Khomeinist Revolution.
Thus, Lebanon’s politicians had only few options before them; either accept to be part of the corruption-based set-up, being physically liquidated, or go into exile. Thanks to the establishment’s ‘capabilities’, even the government’s resources became available; legal files against foes were prepared, pseudo-leaderships were created, the media were ‘domesticated’, and everything that would suit the wishes and ambitions of the ruling elite and their associates in securing Lebanon as a satellite became a priority.
Even those, who were willing to bite the bullet and sacrifice for the sake of Lebanon, were eventually destined to pay with their blood the price of leaving ‘The Big Prison’. The Lebanese, may remember well from that period the scandals of money laundering by some banks, deals kickbacks, monopolies, as well as financial blackmails, and across the border protection-money mafias.
So, when today’s protestors innocently parrot ‘lists’ of names of politicians accused of corruption, and huge fortunes they have allegedly amassed, they do not question the reliability of these ‘lists’, their authenticity and those behind them, although the existence of corruption has never been in doubt.
Furthermore, as far as the ready-made accusations of treason, Hezbollah is levelling at its enemies “in defense of the Resistance (against Israel)”; this looks bizarre even to the most naïve. For how is it possible for someone who openly admits receiving money, arms, and support, and takes pride in being a religious and political follower of Iran, to accuse others?!
Since 1979, the “Resistance against Israel” – for those who may have forgotten – has helped destroy three leading Arab countries; which are now partitioned and confiscated by Iran.
Since 1979, Israel has grown stronger, richer and more advanced, while Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon have gone backward, as a result of the collapse of institutions and services, emigration of the talented and educated, destruction of social fabric, and spiraling of religious and sectarian exclusionist extremism.
Since 1979, in Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, education has deteriorated, judiciary was compromised, liberties were stifled, security was shaken, and human development markers plummeted, while regional powers fight for influence and territory at their expense!
Today, when Israel ranks among the world’s top research nations in fields like artificial intelligence, nano-technology, advanced biochemistry, genetics and cell biology, desert agriculture, and competes on a par with the best in West in scientific publications; Tehran-dominated Arab countries suffer terrible living standards, environmental crises – such as desertification and pollution -, epidemics, social, religious and sectarian close-mindedness.
One example is Lebanon, a country, where an American and a French university were founded in 1866 and 1872, respectively, along with many leading private schools; hosted also the Miss Europe pageant in the 1950s, was the financial and service Middle Eastern hub for global companies, and the leading international engineering and maintenance base for major world airlines. However, this country now suffers from frequent shortages in electricity supplies, is unable to handle seasonal bush fires, solve a long-standing garbage treatment, manage to adequately export its agricultural products, protect its citizens of fake medicines and carcinogenic materials, deal properly with rising unemployment, and prove a safety net for its old, disabled and under privileged.
To sum up, Lebanon’s problem is far greater than a vague connotation of ‘corruption’; hence, solving it requires more than new cabinet and early elections.
It is a problem of a country that is prevented from being a sovereign, free and independent nation; only to be used as a bargaining chip for this or that regional player, or as a ‘letterbox’ for global and regional powers. A problem of a lost identity, a deeply entrenched political culture, and a selective popular memory.
Iran’s Theory on Events in Iraq, Lebanon
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Asat/November 01/2019
It is not difficult to realize to what extent the Iranian regime has become unpopular in Iraq and Lebanon. This has nothing to do with Al Arabiya TV or the hashtags of an electronic army, as claimed by Iranian regime officials. In Iraq, there is neither internet nor social media. Iraq’s government has blacked out the internet to please the Iranians, who think that waves of incitement are coming from cyberspace. Yet the uprising is alive and continuing.
Tehran claims that the millions of protesters who have flooded the streets in Iraqi and Lebanese cities in the past two weeks have been stirred by Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iran wants to close its ears to the protesters as it has caused their poverty, militia dominance in their countries and the failure of their governments. The truth is that the accusations match reality.
All armed militias in Iraq are affiliated with Iran or its allies. Hezbollah in Lebanon is stronger than the national army and is affiliated with Iran. Most of the world’s governments have been forced to refrain from dealing with Iraq and Lebanon because of Iran’s influence there.
Saudi Arabia supported Lebanon’s currency by depositing funds in its central bank, while Iran caused depreciation due to Hezbollah’s domination of state institutions. These are well-known facts, and people do not need TV channels or hashtags to point them to the source of their misery.
In Iraq, the Iranian project relied on the seizure of state institutions: Parliament, political parties and the armed forces, which were forced to incorporate Iran’s militias. So the situation worsened and people rose up in Iraq, not as Sunnis against Shiites, nor as one party against another.
The uprising was not led by the remnants of the Baath Party, it did not raise the black flag of Daesh, and the Americans show no interest in supporting it. The Iraqi uprising is purely peaceful and patriotic, despite attempts by Iranian media to describe it as foreign-driven. Its spectrum is broad and its demands refute their accusations.
Peaceful protests have taken place in Baghdad, Basra, Karbala, Najaf, and other parts of Iraq. Most of these governorates have a Shiite majority raising demands that everyone supports. They demand an end to corruption, an improvement in the government’s performance, and the elimination of armed militias and Iran’s influence.
They call for the independence of Iraq and its identity. Iran threatens to demolish everything over the heads of 30 million Iraqis if they stand in the way of its project to govern and control the country.
In Lebanon, the movement has similar features. The protests are against corruption, the political mafia and the government’s sectarianism. The massive protests have not only taken place in Beirut, but also Sunni Tripoli and Shiite Nabatieh and Baalbek.
Christian protesters have demanded the removal of corrupt Christian ministers, Sunnis were the first to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and many Shiite clerics expressed their rejection of Hezbollah.
The poor economic situation has taxed people’s patience and made them break their silence. We know that, in terms of weapons, the balance of power is not on the protesters’ side, but their resolve, determination, and massive public support will bring about change — or at least their message has been received.
