English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 01/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news

 

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Bible Quotations For today
Baby Jesus is circumcised and Presented To The Temple
Luke 02/21-39/ And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel."and his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 30-December 01/2020

Hezbollah’s Scheme Is To Provoke The Arabian Gulf States In A bid to Fire & Deport 40000 Lebanese Working There/Elias Bejjani/December 01/2020
Nothing In The Terrorist Hezbollah is Lebanese/Elias Bejjani/November 29/2020
Health Ministry: 1,000 new cases of Corona, 14 deaths
US dollar exchange rate: Buying price at LBP 3850 selling price at LBP 3900
Iran’s Quds Force chief tells Lebanon’s Hezbollah to stand down on Israel: Report
US welcomes Latvia’s decision to designate Lebanon’s Hezbollah as terrorist group
Presidency Information Office: Government formation is achieved by agreement between President and the Prime Minister-Designate
Presidency Refers Parliament's Resolution on Auditing to Premiership
Berri summons committees to joint session to discuss subsidies, welcomes US Ambassador, UN’s Rushdie
Berri Meets Shea, Asks Parliament to Debate Subsidization, Reserves
Foreign Minister condemns killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist
Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks postponed, officials say
Bassil Denies Setting Conditions, Says Only Urging 'Unified Standards'
Report: Lebanon Activates Return of Refugees File after Standstill
Lebanon Eases Virus Two-Week Lockdown ahead of Christmas
Hassan receives donation of PCR devices from World Health Organization
LAF Chief welcomes Kubis, MP Abdel Samad
Education Minister: Coronavirus cases in schools to be followed up

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 30-December 01/2020

Iran’s IRGC commander targeted by a drone near Iraqi-Syrian border
Biden fractures foot playing with dog
Biden Taps Yellen to Lead Barrier-Breaking Economic Team
Biden names diverse economic team with four women in top roles
Why is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explain
Iran judiciary chief urges crackdown on ‘infiltrators’ after killing of scientist
Bahrain condemns the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
Iran Says Israel Remotely Killed Military Nuclear Scientist
IAEA Says Iran Has Nothing to Gain from Halting Nuclear Inspections
Iran uses Fakhrizadeh’s killing to ratchet up nuclear ambitions
Jared Kushner to visit Saudi, Qatar this week
Former residents return to Syria’s Yarmuk refugee camp
French Police Charged over Beating as Macron Seeks Crisis Exit
WHO Says 'Will Do Everything' to Find Covid-19 Origins
Pompeo Calls on Ethiopian PM for 'Complete End' to Fighting
Ethiopia's Abiy Says Has Tigray Leaders in His Sights

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 30-December 01/2020

The killing of Fakhrizadeh reduces Iran to its true size/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/November 30/2020
Israel must speak to Biden with a clear voice on future Iran negotiations/by Jacob Nagel/Washington Examiner/November 30/2020
Iranian Proxies in Bahrain Determined to Sabotage Peace With Israel/Caleb Weiss/Varsha Koduvayur/ Insight/FDD/November 30/2020
Let this be a warning to Biden: Iran has been cheating this whole time/Richard Goldberg/New York Post/November 30/2020
The death of a guest of the Ayatollah/Clifford D. May/ The Washington Times/November 30/2020
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 30-December 01/2020

Hezbollah’s Scheme Is To Provoke The Arabian Gulf States In A bid to Fire & Deport 40000 Lebanese Working There
Elias Bejjani/December 01/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/93082/elias-bejjani-hezbollahs-scheme-is-to-provoke-the-arabian-gulf-states-in-a-bid-to-fire-deport-40000-lebanese-working-there/
It very important that each and every Lebanese in both Lebanon and Diaspora is fully aware of Hezbollah’s Iranian evil ultimate schemes that all aim to destroy Lebanon and every thing that is Lebanese.
In this context comes the role of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry statements and press releases that became fully biased and pro Iranian since Hezbollah installed Michael Aoun as president of the republic in 2016.
Hezbollah and since Iran founded it in 1986 is systematically working on a scheme to topple the Lebanese regime and replace it by a replicate of the Iranian Mullahs one.
To achieve its evil Iranian schemes Hezbollah is working day and night and by all means of terrorism, strives, assassinations, chaos and destruction to impoverish the Lebanese people and destroy all the Lebanese institutions both in the private and governmental sectors.
One of main Hezbollah’s destruction and impoverishing objectives is to provoke the Arabian Gulf states where more than four hundred thousand Lebanese citizens work and live.
Hezbollah openly attacks and harshly and unfairly criticizes the Arabian Gulf States and insults badly its rulers and at the same time trains and helps the Houthi terrorists in Yemen to fire missals on Saudi Arabian civilian and industrial targets in particular.
In its ongoing endeavor to impoverish the Lebanese, Hezbollah is seeking to force the Arab Gulf states to fire and deport 400 thousand Lebanese workers there.
In this realm one should interpret and understand the biased, hostile and pro Iranian statements and press releases that are issued by the Lebanese Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, it is a diplomatic courtesy and national obligation to condemn all acts of terrorism in other countries, provided that the condemnation applies to all countries and not to exclude from it Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.
In summary The Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not currently represent Lebanon and its loving peace people, but sadly it became an Iranian- Hezbollah mouthpiece no more no less.
#Elias_Bejjani_Hezbollah_schemes-against-lebanon
 

Nothing In The Terrorist Hezbollah is Lebanese
Elias Bejjani/November 29/2020
لا شيء لبناني في حزب الله الإرهابي
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/93002/elias-bejjani-nothing-in-the-terrorist-hezbollah-is-lebanese-%d9%84%d8%a7-%d8%b4%d9%8a%d8%a1-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%ad%d8%b2%d8%a8-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%84%d9%87-%d8%a7%d9%84/
Sadly, the majority of our Lebanese politicians, so falsely called political parties, as well as the Terrorist Hezbollah’s hand picked subservient appointed top officials, and in particular the Christian ones are mere Trojans.
They are betraying the peace loving Lebanese people, and marginalizing their deeply rooted great and rich history of 7000 years.
They are evilly practicing with no conscience or shame all sorts of mean Dhimmitude, cowardice, Taqiyya, Deception, treason, political prostitution, ethical meanness, stupidity, and ignorance.
Like Judas Iscariot the majority of these Christian Trojans in particular have sold Lebanon and its people as well as the martyrs, values, and existence with less than thirty pieces of silver.
They, and with no shame or fear of Almighty God and His Last Day of Judgment are currently hailing the Terrorist Hezbollah’s crimes, invasions and wars and feeling sorry not for the victims but for the Hezbollah killers.
These Lebanese deviated Leaders, politicians, corrupted officials and so called political parties are disastrous on all levels and in all domains.
In reality these leaders and politicians are the actual enemies of Lebanon and its people.
In a bid to save and liberate our beloved Lebanon from Both the Iranian terrorist Hezbollah, and at the same time from the current ruling officials and rotten political we call for the implementation of all the UN resolutions that address Lebanon’s crisis,
The Armistice Treaty signed with the State Of Israel as well the UN Resolutions 1701, 1559 and 1680
These four resolutions secure in their articles:
*The Liberation of our beloved Lebanon and the reclaiming of its confiscated independence, freedom and sovereignty.
*The Disarming of all armed militias, Lebanese and non Lebanese and whatever their names and claims are.
*Give the Lebanese Army and all other Lebanese legitimate armed forces to be the sole armed Lebanese units on the entire Lebanese soil.
*Give the Lebanese army solely to take control of the Lebanese borders with both Syria and the state of Israel as well as Lebanon’s maritime borders
May Almighty God Bless and safeguard Lebanon and its loving peace people.

Health Ministry: 1,000 new cases of Corona, 14 deaths
NNA/November 30/2020
The Ministry of Public Health announced, on Monday, that 1,000 new Corona cases have been reported, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 127,903.
It also indicated that 14 death cases were also registered during the past 24 hours.

US dollar exchange rate: Buying price at LBP 3850 selling price at LBP 3900
NNA/November 30/2020
The Money Changers Syndicate announced in a statement addressed to money changing companies and institutions, Monday’s USD exchange rate against the Lebanese pound as follows:
Buying price at a minimum of LBP 3850.
Selling price at a maximum of LBP 3900.

Iran’s Quds Force chief tells Lebanon’s Hezbollah to stand down on Israel: Report
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/30 November ,2020
The commander of Iran’s elite Quds Force visited Beirut recently to meet with Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and to call for refraining from any provocative actions towards Israel, a French-language Lebanese daily reported Monday. L’Orient-Le Jour said that Esmail Qaani “paid a secret visit” to Nasrallah and other officials of the Iran-backed group in the Hezbollah-stronghold of Beirut’s southern suburbs in recent days. It is unclear when precisely the reported trip took place and Al Arabiya English was unable to independently verify the visit. But Qaani reportedly told Nasrallah to remain on high alert after recent developments in the region, including the assassination of Iranian scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh who was killed last week in an ambush while driving in Tehran. Fakhrizadeh is believed by the West to have been the architect of a secret Iranian military nuclear program. Iran has accused Israel of being behind the scientist’s slaying, but no one has admitted to the operation. Some analysts compared Fakhrizadeh to Qaani’s predecessor, Qassem Soleimani, in the importance of his role in the Islamic Republic regime’s foreign operations. During Qaani’s reported visit, he told Nasrallah that it was “necessary to avoid any action that could be considered as an escalation and exploited by Israel” to respond. On Monday, pro-Hezbollah Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar published an article saying that Hezbollah’s fighters were put on alert from Oct. 25 - Oct. 30 “inside and outside of Lebanon.” Along with the article, a graphic was shown with the arsenal Hezbollah reportedly has and where each missile could strike inside of Israel. According to the French-language Lebanese newspaper, Qaani also paid a visit to Syria and Iraq to deliver similar messages to officials and Shia militias and proxies. During his trip to Iraq, Qaani called on Shia militias to stop targeting US interests in the country and to “calm” the situation as the US plans on withdrawing from Iraq, L’Orient-Le Jour reported. US Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller announced last month a withdrawal plan that would cut the number of troops in Afghanistan from more than 4,500 to 2,500 and Iraq from about 3,000 to 2,500. However, an opinion piece published by a hard-line Iranian newspaper on Sunday suggested Iran should attack the Israeli port city of Haifa if Israel carried out the killing of the Iranian scientist.

US welcomes Latvia’s decision to designate Lebanon’s Hezbollah as terrorist group
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/30 November ,2020
The United States Monday praised Latvia’s decision to consider Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in its entirety. “Latvia supports US implementation of sanctions related to Hezbollah and has expressed a readiness to place national travel bans on individuals associated with Hezbollah,” said Cale Brown, Principal Deputy Spokesperson at the US State Department. An increasing number of European countries, as well as Latin American countries, have followed the trend of designating Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in recent months with the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran and its proxies. “The continued announcements by countries in Europe, Latin America, and other regions of actions against the terrorist organization send a strong message to Hezbollah and its backers in Iran that a new day is coming,” Brown said. He added: “On this new day, Hezbollah operatives will no longer be able to operate from European soil, and the European Union will follow the lead of a number of European governments by closing the loopholes opened up by the false distinction between Hezbollah’s so-called military and political wings.”France is among the few major European nations that differentiate between what it says are Hezbollah’s political and military wings. Washington has pushed France to change its position on the Lebanon-based group but to no avail. “The simple fact is that Hezbollah is a terrorist organization, root and branch,” Brown said. Hezbollah was formed in Lebanon in 1982, by the Iranian regime, in an effort to counter Israeli gains in the tiny Mediterranean country. Hezbollah has continuously increased its capabilities to attack Israel and its political influence in Lebanon, where it is one of the few non-state actors that continue to possess weapons outside of the government’s control. It has also spread its military interventions in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Presidency Information Office: Government formation is achieved by agreement between President and the Prime Minister-Designate
NNA/November 30/2020
The Presidency Information Office issued the following statement: “Al-Liwaa” and “Nidaa Al-Watan” newspapers, along with other media websites, have published false information about the process of forming the new Government, by referring to the role of, head of the “Strong Lebanon” Parliamentary Bloc, MP Gebran Bassil, in this process. This data, which is continuously repeated between some media outlets, is false and unfounded, and it is clearly coordinated from well-known parties, for unhidden purposes. The Information Office of the Lebanese Presidency is concerned to reiterate that the Government formation process is carried out through agreement between the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, and the Designated Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, without any role for any third party in the process”.

Presidency Refers Parliament's Resolution on Auditing to Premiership
Naharnet/November 30/2020
The Presidency on Monday referred to the Premiership a recent Parliament resolution calling for a sweeping financial audit of all state institutions.
In a statement, the Presidency said it has asked the Premiership to “take the legal and executive measures in the issue of the concentrated financial auditing of the accounts of the central bank and the related authorities in line with Cabinet’s resolution number 3, dated March 26, 2020.”
Parliament had voted Friday in favor of the sweeping audit, a week after a foreign consultancy firm terminated its contract to audit the central bank over missing data. The International Monetary Fund and France are among creditors demanding an audit of Lebanon's central bank as part of urgent reforms to unlock financial support, as the country faces a grinding economic crisis. But the central bank has claimed that provisions including Lebanon's Banking Secrecy Law prevent it from releasing some of the necessary information, a charge the justice ministry and legal experts have disputed.
Parliament on Friday voted to rule out this justification, clearing the way for the forensic audit to take place. Economist and anti-government activist Jad Chaaban called parliament's decision "a tactic to win time."
"You didn't need the lifting of bank secrecy or anything to conduct the" audit, he said. "The problem is again, how do you allow thieves to audit thieves?" he added, referring to authorities. The forensic audit of the Banque du Liban (BDL) is one of the main points of the government's economic rescue plan, approved at the end of April. Several officials, including the finance minister, have said the government is expected to replace Alvarez and Marsal with another consultancy firm soon.

Berri Meets Shea, Asks Parliament to Debate Subsidization, Reserves
Naharnet/November 30/2020 
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on Monday held separate talks with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, U.N. Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon Najat Rochdi and Lebanon’s caretaker Deputy PM and Defense Minister Zeina Akar. The meetings come after the postponement of this week’s round of negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their disputed maritime borders, which are being held under the auspices of the U.S. and the U.N. A Lebanese official confirmed that the talks have been postponed until further notice. The official did not give a reason for the postponement and also did not elaborate. An Israeli official meanwhile said the American mediators "decided to focus on dialogue between the two sides at the moment, in order to prepare the ground for the next round of talks." Separately, Berri asked the parliamentary committees of finance and budget, administration and justice, national economy and planning, public health, and labor and social affairs to hold a joint session at 10:30 am Wednesday to “study the issue of subsidization and obligatory reserves.”Media reports have quoted an official source as saying that the central bank is studying lowering the threshold for obligatory foreign exchange reserves in order to continue subsidizing key imports next year.

Berri summons committees to joint session to discuss subsidies, welcomes US Ambassador, UN’s Rushdie
NNA/November 30/2020
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Monday welcomed at his Ein Tineh residence US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, who left without giving a statement. Berri later met with United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator in Lebanon, and Resident Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, Najat Rushdie, with whom he discussed the general conditions, in addition to an array of humanitarian affairs. Separately, Berri held a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister, Caretaker Minister of Defense, Zeina Akar. The latest political developments and security conditions were discussed. On another lever, Berri summoned the Finance and Budget, Administration and Justice, National Economy and Planning, Public Health, and Labor and Social Affairs Parliamentary Committees to a joint session on Wednesday at 10:30 am to discuss the issues of subsidies and mandatory reserves.

Foreign Minister condemns killing of top Iranian nuclear scientist
NNA/November 30/2020
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants on Monday condemned the fresh killing of prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, and expressed heartfelt condolences to the Iranian government and people.
In its statement, the Foreign Ministry called all sides for utmost self-restraint to avoid dragging the region into "the worst scenario." "Such assassinations ignite conflicts and shake stability," the Foreign Ministry indicated, adding that the international law and conventions denounce similar acts.

Israel-Lebanon maritime border talks postponed, officials say
NNA/November 30/2020
U.S.-mediated talks between Lebanon and Israel that were scheduled for Wednesday have been postponed until further notice, a Lebanese security source and an Israeli official said on Monday. Long-time foes Israel and Lebanon launched the negotiations in October with delegations convening at a U.N. base to try to resolve a dispute about their maritime border that has held up hydrocarbon exploration in the potentially gas-rich area. The U.S. mediators, who informed the Lebanese side of the delay, will have bilateral contacts with both sides, the Lebanese source said. The Israeli official confirmed the delay but said he could give no further details. -----Reuters

Bassil Denies Setting Conditions, Says Only Urging 'Unified Standards'
Naharnet/November 30/2020
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Monday denied setting conditions or demands regarding the new cabinet, stressing that the FPM is only asking for “unified standards.”In a statement issued by his press office, Bassil described a report published in the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper as “lies and fabrications.”“To date, the FPM chief has not set a condition nor has he announced a demand or imposed an equation. Everything that the FPM has rather called for is specifying unified principles and standards” for the cabinet formation process, the statement said. It noted that the Movement would accordingly “take a stance on such a government, be it participation, rejection, support or opposition.”In its report, Nidaa al-Watan claimed that Bassil has decided to “settle scores” with Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and to block any cabinet line-up that does not secure him the representation he wants.

Report: Lebanon Activates Return of Refugees File after Standstill
Naharnet/November 30/2020
After months of paused efforts to return the Syrian refugees back home, the committee tasked with addressing the file is expected to reactivate the plan’s mechanism this week, the Saudi Asharq el-Awsat newspaper reported on Monday. Lebanon prepares to host an online international humanitarian conference in this regard, and will recommence the committee that mainly includes the ministries of social affairs, interior, foreign affairs, as confirmed by the general supervisor of the Lebanon Crisis Response Plan (LCRP) Asim Abi Ali to the daily. “The committee will resume the work it commenced back in July after its halt for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, the port explosion and the resignation of the government,” Abi Ali said in remarks to the daily. “The committee was waiting for a government to be formed in order to resume its work,” he added, “but Lebanon does not have the luxury of time. We will therefore continue work according to the plan focusing initially on eliminating obstacles, arranging the database, stimulating return, and coordinating with the Syrian state for a guaranteed safe voluntary return,” said Abi Ali. Before the resignation of PM Hassan Diab’s government, it approved a "general policy paper for the return of displaced Syrians" that was prepared by the Ministry of Social Affairs. The policy paper was based on eight major principles, most importantly call for “adhering to the displaced Syrians’ right to return, refusing resettlement, as stipulated in the Lebanese constitution, and not forcibly returning or linking the return of the displaced to the political solution in Syria,” added the daily. Abi Ali stressed on the role of the international community regarding the return, noting that 70 percent of Syrian births in Lebanon, since 2011, are not registered in official records.
Syrians make up one third of the population of Lebanon, which hosts the largest percentage of Syrian refugees relative to its population. According to government estimates, there are 1.5 million Syrian refugees, only 885 thousand are registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Lebanon Eases Virus Two-Week Lockdown ahead of Christmas
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
Lebanon on Monday is to gradually ease restrictions imposed two weeks ago after a surge in coronavirus infections, in a bid to relieve its struggling economy in time for the festive season, officials said. Acting health minister Hamad Hassan told reporters the country "will gradually reopen from Monday" to give citizens and businesses a respite ahead of Christmas and end of year holidays. He said restaurants will reopen at 50 percent capacity, but bars and nightclubs will remain closed and weddings prohibited, while an overnight curfew will start from 11 pm instead of 5pm. Schools would also reopen but with some classes still held online, Hassan said after a meeting of Lebanon's coronavirus task force.He warned that the "danger" of a rise in infections still exists and that the hoped-for results to stem the virus thanks to the curbs would not be known for several days. Before the two-week restrictions went into force in mid-November, bed occupancy in hospital intensive care units was between 80 and 90 percent while "now it stands at 65-70 percent", Hassan said. Since February, the country has recorded more than 125,000 Covid-19 cases, including around 1,000 deaths. Lebanon, with a population of around six million, had been recording some 11,000 coronavirus infections on average each week before mid-November, according to the health ministry. A first country-wide lockdown imposed in March was effective in stemming the spread of the virus, before restrictions were gradually lifted as summer beckoned people outdoors. But the number of cases surged following a monstrous blast at Beirut's port on August 4 that killed more than 200 people, wounded at least 6,500 and overwhelmed hospitals. The blast and the pandemic have exacerbated tensions in the Mediterranean country which has been grappling with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.

Hassan receives donation of PCR devices from World Health Organization
NNA/November 30/2020
Caretaker Minister of Public Health, Dr. Hamad Hassan, on Monday received from the World Health Organization a donation of seven PCR devices for the following six governmental hospitals: Karantina, Hasbaya, Baabda, Minieh, Sir Al-Danniyeh, Mays Al-Jabal, and the Lebanese University - Hadath campus, provided that these devices will be put into service as of the beginning of next week. The handover process took place in presence of World Health Organization representative in Lebanon, Dr. Iman Al-Shanqeeti, and others senior figures and dignitaries. "This donation helps implement the Ministry of Public Health's strategy, which aims at increasing the number of PCR tests,” Minister Hassan said. “PCR devices are now available in 80% of governmental hospitals, which will help the transfer of targeted field campaigns carried out by the Ministry of Public Health teams from open squares to the governmental hospitals in district centers,” Hassan explained. He went on to say that hospitals that receive a PCR device will open a Coronavirus department as part of the third stage of the plan developed by the Ministry of Public Health to help curb the spread of COVID-19. Minister Hassan then pointed out that the ministry awaited additional equipment and supplies that have been requested from the World Health Organization, and that will be funded by a World Bank loan, including a number of PCR tests and medical equipments. He finally declared that the final stage of the Ministry of Public Health’s plan, which will be implemented at a later phase, included equipping 100 additional hospital beds. In a brief speech by Al-Shanqeeti, she affirmed that "the World Health Organization is the Ministry of Public Health’s partner; any service provided forms a part of the plan that was put in place to respond to COVID-19.”
“We will continue to work hand in hand with the Ministry of Public Health,” she added.

LAF Chief welcomes Kubis, MP Abdel Samad
NNA/November 30/2020
Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Monday welcomed at his Yarzeh office UN Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Jan Kubis. Discussions between the pair touched on the most recent developments in Lebanon and the region. Aoun later received MP Jihad Al-Samad, with whom he discussed the country’s general situation.

Education Minister: Coronavirus cases in schools to be followed up
NNA/November 30/2020
Caretaker Education Minister, Tareq Majzoub, on Monday said that the coronavirus cases in schools will be followed up and that the number of infections in each school will be announced. Speaking in a press conference held jointly with Caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan, Majzoub revealed a hotline had been placed to answer citizens' questions around the clock. He also announced that the Ministry of Public Health would provide free PCR tests to teachers. For his part, Minister Hassan explained that symptoms were less severe among children in general, advising parents not to take the risk by sending their kids to school before vaccines are available.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 30-December 01/2020

Iran’s IRGC commander targeted by a drone near Iraqi-Syrian border
Reuters/November 30/2020
An air strike killed a commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards at the Iraq-Syria border sometime between Saturday and Sunday, Iraqi security and local militia officials said on Monday. They could not confirm the identity of the commander, who they said was killed alongside three other men traveling in a vehicle with him. The vehicle was carrying weapons across the Iraqi border and was hit after it had entered Syrian territory, two Iraqi security officials separately said. Iran-backed Iraqi paramilitary groups helped retrieve the bodies, the two officials said, without elaborating or giving the exact time of the incident. Local military and militia sources confirmed the account, although Reuters was unable to verify independently that an Iranian commander had been killed. The incident came just days after Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated in Tehran in a killing that Iran has blamed on Israel.
Israel launched air raids against what it called a wide range of Syrian and Iranian targets in Syria last week, signaling that it will pursue its policy of striking Iranian targets in the region as US President Donald Trump prepares to leave office. Iraqi officials fear a conflagration ahead of President-elect Joe Biden taking office because he is viewed as less confrontational with Iran than the Trump administration. Iran-backed Iraqi militias are still reeling from the US assassination of Iranian military mastermind Qassem Soleimani in January and their Iraqi leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and have vowed revenge against the US.

Biden fractures foot playing with dog
NNA /AFP/November 30/2020
US president-elect Joe Biden has a foot fracture and will likely have to wear a medical boot, his team said Sunday after the 78-year-old was taken to the doctor because he had slipped while playing with his dog. Biden, who will become the oldest US president upon his January swearing-in, suffered the injury Saturday with Major, one of his two German shepherds. The president-elect's personal physician Kevin O'Connor initially said x-rays had not uncovered any "obvious fracture", but added that an additional CT scan would still be done. That scan "confirmed hairline (small) fractures... in the mid-foot," O'Connor said in a subsequent statement released by Biden's office. He added that the former vice president, who won election against Donald Trump in November, "will likely require a walking boot for several weeks". With both Biden and Trump in their 70s, age was an issue in the presidential race, even if it often took a backseat to pressing matters like the Covid-19 pandemic. Trump's health was briefly of intense concern when he caught Covid-19, but the president resumed campaigning after getting a series of treatments -- including an experimental antibody cocktail. Trump, a famously finicky germophobe, was the first president in over a century to not have a dog. The Bidens fostered and then adopted Major in 2018, while Champ has been with the family since 2008. Biden officials have said Major will become the first rescue dog to live in the White House

Biden Taps Yellen to Lead Barrier-Breaking Economic Team
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday formally picked ex-Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen to lead the Treasury, one of a slate of economic officials who would break racial and gender barriers in the U.S. government. The announcement of Biden's economic team comes after running mate Kamala Harris made history as the first woman and first person of both African American and South Asian descent to win the vice presidency. If they win Senate approval, Yellen would be the first female Treasury secretary, and be joined in the executive branch by the first African Americans to serve as her deputy and as head of the White House economic council, as well as the first South Asian in a key budget role. "We face great challenges as a country right now. To recover, we must restore the American dream -- a society where each person can rise to their potential and dream even bigger for their children," Yellen tweeted following the announcement.  "As Treasury Secretary, I will work every day towards rebuilding that dream for all." Job number one for the 74-year-old, who previously made history as the first female Federal Reserve chief from 2014 to 2018, will be helping the U.S. economy recover from the sharp downturn in growth and mass layoffs caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Unless lawmakers are able to overcome their differences in the closing weeks of the year, she will likely be tasked with convincing Democrats and Republicans in Congress to pass another spending bill to aid the recovery amid a months-long deadlock on new aid.
"As we get to work to control the virus, this is the team that will deliver immediate economic relief for the American people during this economic crisis and help us build our economy back better than ever," Biden said in a statement announcing his appointments. He has stressed that he would strive for diversity while choosing staff for when he takes office in January.
The task ahead
Yellen's nomination was first reported last week, and Biden and Vice president-elect Kamala Harris will formally unveil the nominees on Tuesday. Many of those tapped to serve on Biden's economic team include former officials of Barack Obama administration, under whom Biden served as vice president. Nigerian-born Wally Adeyemo, a former deputy national security advisor and current president of the Obama Foundation non-profit, will serve as deputy Treasury secretary. He would be the first African American in that role. Neera Tanden, president of liberal think tank Center for American Progress, was tapped as head the Office of Management and Budget. If confirmed, she would be its first South Asian leader. Also named was Dean of the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs Cecilia Rouse as chair of the Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), the first African American in that post. Jared Bernstein, who previously advised Biden when he was vice president under Obama, will join the CEA, as will Washington Center for Equitable Growth President Heather Boushey. Yellen would take over as Treasury secretary from Steven Mnuchin, who worked with Congress on passing the $2.2 trillion CARES Act in March that expanded unemployment payments and offered loans and grants to small businesses. Those measures were seen as key in keeping the U.S. from an even worse economic slowdown, but they expired over the summer and, despite talks with Mnuchin, Democrats controlling the House and Republicans leading the Senate can't agree on how much to spend, or what to spend it on. A study from progressive think tank The Century Foundation released last week said 12 million Americans will be receiving aid from government programs that will expire at the end of the year, and the policy deadlock raises fears the country's tentative economic recovery could be reversed. While Democrats will retain control of the House when the new Congress is inaugurated in January, control of the Senate, which must approve Biden's nominees, will be decided by two elections in Georgia set for that month.
 

Biden names diverse economic team with four women in top roles
CNN/November 30/2020
President-elect Joe Biden named key members of his economic team on Monday, with the long-expected announcement of Janet Yellen as treasury secretary along with three other women in top roles on a diverse team that will help him navigate the nation's punishing fiscal headwinds in hopes of building an economic recovery.

Why is Iran threatening Israel’s Haifa? Experts explain
Emily Judd and Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/30 November ,2020
For years, Iran has repeatedly threatened to attack the Israeli city of Haifa.
On Sunday, the city was again discussed as a target when an Iranian newspaper urged the government to attack Haifa if Israel is found to be behind the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist. While Haifa may be the third largest city in Israel, in the eyes of the Iranian regime it is the primary target due to its economic significance and proximity to Lebanon, experts say.
‘Economic heart’ of Israel
Tehran believes Haifa is the “most critical business center of Israel,” according to Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior Iran advisor at the Washington think tank Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)
Iran’s Tasnim news agency, close to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), published an article highlighting the economic importance of the city in December 2014. Haifa is Israel’s most important city, the piece claimed, adding that the city “has been dubbed the economic heart of the Israeli regime.”The article, titled “Five vital arteries of Israel in Haifa that are within the range of Hezbollah’s Iranian missiles,” listed five sites in the city as key targets: the port of Haifa, a petrochemical complex, an electricity company, the Matam Hi-Tech and Business Park, and a railway network.
Haifa is known to be Israel’s most ethnically diverse city with a mixed Jewish-Arab population, but the most important characteristic of the city to the Iranian regime is its large petrochemical industrial facilities, according to Israeli expert Dan Arbell. “If the facilities were hit, it may lead to many casualties as the result of the spread in the air of chemicals, fumes, and toxic material,” Arbell, an associate fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) told Al Arabiya English.
Proximity to Lebanon
Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy organization located in Israel’s neighbor Lebanon, attacked Haifa in 2006 with a rocket barrage that killed eight people. Ten years later, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah suggested striking Haifa again, specifically its stores of ammonium nitrate. Haifa, located in the north of Israel, is closer to Lebanon and therefore viewed as more vulnerable by Iran and Hezbollah than major central or southern Israeli cities, according to former Israeli Defense Forces Colonel Miri Eisin. “The perceived Hezbollah capabilities with missiles and precise guiding systems - all supplied by Iran - would be more effective against the northern locations in Israel,” Eisin said in an interview with Al Arabiya English. It is Haifa’s proximity to Lebanon that makes it more practical for Iran or its proxy Hezbollah to carry out a missile attack against it, according to Ghasseminejad. “We know as the distance from targets increases, Iran-manufactured missiles become less reliable,” Ghasseminejad said in an interview with Al Arabiya English.
Iran’s threats against Haifa
The most recent threat against Haifa came from hardline Iranian newspaper Kayhan, which is run by Hossein Shariatmadari, a representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The newspaper published an op-ed on Sunday that suggested that if Israel was found to have killed the prominent Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, then Iran should attack Haifa to destroy facilities and cause “heavy human casualties.”Fakhrizadeh died on Friday due to injuries sustained during a shoot-out between his bodyguards and “armed terrorists,” according to Iran’s defense ministry. The newspaper threat echoed Khamenei’s statements in 2013, when he said in a publicized speech that if Israel were to “make the slightest mistake, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.” Earlier this year, a former IRGC chief said that Iran’s “revenge against America” will include the targeting of Haifa and Israeli military centers after the US ordered a drone strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in January.

Iran judiciary chief urges crackdown on ‘infiltrators’ after killing of scientist
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/30 November ,2020
Iran’s judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi called on the country’s security services on Monday to crackdown on “infiltration networks” following the killing of a top Iranian military nuclear scientist. “The intelligence and security services should not hesitate in identifying and destroying the infiltration networks throughout the country and those who conspire with the enemy from within,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Raisi as saying. Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, believed by the West to have been the architect of a secret Iranian military nuclear program, was killed in an ambush near Tehran on Friday. Iranian officials have accused Israel of being behind Fakhrizadeh’s assassination and vowed retaliation. Israel has declined to comment on the killing. Raisi, a powerful figure who is seen as a likely successor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, called for the formation of a special judicial committee to prosecute the perpetrators. Iranian rights activists have expressed concern that authorities could carry out arbitrary arrests. Raisi also criticized calls for restraint by Western powers following the assassination, saying: “Westerners who call for restraint in response to assassinations are actually giving the green light to terrorists.”Assassinations and sanctions are “two sides of the same coin,” Raisi added, stating: “It is wrong to hope for the lifting of sanctions through negotiation. Experience has shown that one should only be strong against those who sanction and assassinate.”

Bahrain condemns the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/30 November ,2020
Bahrain condemned the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran on Monday evening in a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reported Bahrain News Agency (BNA).
The Foreign Ministry statement stressed the necessity of joining all efforts to ease tension, prevent escalation in the region, and protect security and stability, BNA reported. The statement added that in view of what the region is going through, the Kingdom of Bahrain calls on all parties to exercise maximum restraint to avoid the region drifting to new levels of instability and threatening peace.

Iran Says Israel Remotely Killed Military Nuclear Scientist
Associated Press/November 30/2020
A top Iranian security official on Monday accused Israel of using "electronic devices" to remotely kill a scientist who founded the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program in the 2000s. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, made the comment at the funeral for Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, where Iran's defense minister separately vowed to continue the man's work "with more speed and more power." Israel, long suspected of killing Iranian nuclear scientists over the last decade, has declined to comment on the attack. Fakhrizadeh headed Iran's so-called AMAD program, which Israel and the West have alleged was a military operation looking at the feasibility of building a nuclear weapon. The International Atomic Energy Agency says that "structured program" ended in 2003. U.S. intelligence agencies concurred with that assessment in a 2007 report. Israel insists Iran still maintains the ambition of developing nuclear weapons, pointing to Tehran's ballistic missile program and research into other technologies. Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful. Shamkhani's remarks drastically change the story of Fakhrizadeh's killing Friday. Authorities initially said a truck exploded and then gunmen opened fire on the scientist, killing him. State TV's English-language Press TV earlier reported a weapon recovered from the scene of the attack bore "the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry." State TV's Arabic-language channel, Al-Alam, claimed the weapons used were "controlled by satellite," a claim also made Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency.
None of the outlets immediately offered evidence supporting their claims.
"Unfortunately, the operation was a very complicated operation and was carried out by using electronic devices," Shamkhani told state TV. "No individual was present at the site." Shamkhani also blamed the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq as well for "having a role in this," without elaborating. The MEK did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Monday's service for Fakhrizadeh took place at an outdoor portion of Iran's Defense Ministry in Tehran, with officials including Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Hossein Salami, the Guard's Quds Force leader Gen. Esmail Ghaani, civilian nuclear program chief Ali Akbar Sahei and Intelligence Minister Mamoud Alavi. They sat apart from each other and wore masks due to the coronavirus pandemic as reciters melodically read portions of the Quran and religious texts. Defense Minister Gen. Amir Hatami gave a speech after kissing Fakhrizadeh's casket and putting his forehead against it. He said Fakhrizadeh's killing would make Iranians "more united, more determined." "For the continuation of your path, we will continue with more speed and more power," Hatami said in comments aired live by state television.
Hatami also criticized countries that hadn't condemned Fakhrizadeh's killing, warning: "This will catch up with you someday." Overnight, the United Arab Emirates, which just reached a normalization deal with Israel, issued a statement condemning "the heinous assassination." The UAE, home to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, warned it "could further fuel conflict in the region." Last year, the UAE found itself in the middle of an escalating series of incidents between Iran and the U.S. Though long suspicious of Iran's nuclear program, the Emirates has said it wants to de-escalate the crisis. The UAE just started passenger air service to Israel and Israelis are expected to vacation in the country over Hanukkah in the coming days. Hatami also called the nuclear arsenal of the U.S. — and the stockpile of atomic bombs Israel long has been suspected of holding — "the most dangerous threat against humanity." Mourners later buried Fakhrizadeh in the courtyard of Imamzadeh Saleh mosque in north Tehran.

IAEA Says Iran Has Nothing to Gain from Halting Nuclear Inspections
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
Iran does not have anything to gain from ending inspections of nuclear facilities, the head of the U.N.'s nuclear agency told AFP on Monday. Responding to calls by Iranian MPs to end inspections following the assassination of a top nuclear scientist, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said it was "essential to give the world the necessary and credible assurances that there is no deviation from the nuclear program to military uses."

Iran uses Fakhrizadeh’s killing to ratchet up nuclear ambitions
The Arab Weekly/November 30/2020
TEHRAN--Debate raged in Iran on Sunday over how and when to respond to a top nuclear scientist’s assassination blamed on arch-foe Israel. Two days after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh died from wounds sustained in a firefight between his guards and unidentified gunmen near Tehran, parliament demanded a halt to international inspections of Iranian nuclear sites while a top official hinted Iran should leave the global non-proliferation treaty. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council usually handles decisions related to the country’s nuclear programme, and parliamentary bills must be approved by the powerful Guardians Council. President Hassan Rohani has stressed the country will seek its revenge in “due time” and not be rushed into a “trap.”
Pointing to Israel
Iran’s English-language Press TV said on Monday that the weapon used in the killing of a prominent Iranian nuclear scientist last week was made in Israel. “The weapon collected from the site of the terrorist act (where Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was assassinated) bears the logo and specifications of the Israeli military industry,” an unnamed source told Press TV. But speaking before the Press TV report, Israeli Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told radio station 103 FM on Monday that he did not know who was responsible. Israel says Fakhrizadeh was the head of an Iranian military nuclear programme, the existence of which the Islamic republic has consistently denied, and Washington had sanctioned him in 2008 for activities linked to Iran’s atomic activities. Israeli experts saw the hand of Israeli intelligence in the operation. But if Mossad was responsible, experts were zeroing in on the significance of the timing. Did Israel simply see a chance to carry out an operation long in the planning, or was there a direct link to US President Donald Trump’s imminent departure from the White House? For Israel’s left-leaning Haaretz newspaper, the Trump link was clear.
“The timing of the assassination, even if it was determined by purely operational considerations, is a clear message to President-elect Joe Biden, intended to show Israel’s criticism of the intent to return to the nuclear accord with Iran,” it said. Trump withdrew the US from a multilateral nuclear agreement with Iran in 2018 and then reimposed and beefed up punishing sanctions as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran. Biden has signalled his administration may be prepared to rejoin the accord, but the nuclear scientist’s assassination has revived opposition to the deal among Iranian conservatives. Yossi Kuperwasser, the former head of Israel’s strategic affairs ministry, also tied the assassination to Biden’s January 20 inauguration. Those responsible for the killing “had a short period of time to take action to weaken the Iranian nuclear program and to convince Biden that once he becomes president he should not return to the (nuclear) agreement,” he said. Israeli journalist Ronen Bergman, author of a 2018 book documenting Israel’s covert assassination of its enemies over the years, said Sunday that such an attack, deep in enemy territory, “has to be planned for many months, if not for years.”
“It cannot be carried out merely by pressing a button,” he added, writing in top-selling Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. Bergman’s piece highlighted Netanyahu’s 2018 television appearance to announce that Israeli agents had penetrated a “secret atomic archive” in Tehran and removed tens of thousands of files proving its arms plans. Netanyahu said that Fakhrizadeh played a central role in those plans, adding “remember this name.”
Calling for strikes
The scientist’s body was taken for a ceremony on Sunday at a major shrine in the holy city of Qom before being transported to the shrine of the Islamic republic’s founder Imam Khomeini, according to Iranian media. On Monday, live video from Tehran, shared by national outlet Iran Press, showed uniformed men gathering around images of Fakhrizadeh seemingly ahead of a procession. His funeral will be held in the presence of senior military commanders and his family, the defence ministry said on its website, without specifying where. The head of Iran’s Expediency Council, a key advisory and arbitration body, said there was “no reason why (Iran) should not reconsider the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.” Mohsen Rezaei said Tehran should also halt implementation of the additional protocol, a document prescribing intrusive inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilitates. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Saturday for Fakhrizadeh’s killers to be punished. Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf called Sunday for “a strong reaction” that would “deter and take revenge” on those behind the killing of Fakhrizadeh, who was aged 59 according to Iranian media. Iran’s ultra-conservative Kayhan daily called for strikes on Israel if it were “proven” to be behind the assassination. Kayhan called for the port city of Haifa to be targeted “in a way that would annihilate its infrastructure and leave a heavy human toll.” Iran has responded to the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal by gradually abandoning most of its key nuclear commitments under the agreement.
Nuclear card
In the rhetorical storm about reactions to the killing, Iranians leaders seemed to shift towards using the nuclear card instead of undertaking a retaliatory act that could risk sparking the wrath of Trump during his last weeks in office. They also know that striking at Israel or Israeli interests will trigger a no-holds-barred reaction from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Rezai called on Iran’s atomic agency to take “minimum measures” such as “stopping the online broadcast of cameras, reducing or suspending inspectors and implementing restrictions in their access” to sites, ISNA news agency reported. Iran’s parliament said the “best response” to the assassination would be to “revive Iran’s glorious nuclear industry.” It called for International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to be barred from the country’s atomic sites, said the legislature’s news agency ICANA.  But the spokesman for Iran’s atomic energy organisation, Behrouz Kamalvandi, told IRNA on Saturday that the issue of inspectors’ access “must be decided on at high levels” of the Islamic republic’s leadership.Iran will give a “calculated and decisive” response to the killing of its top nuclear scientist, said a top adviser to Iran’s supreme leader.
“Undoubtedly, Iran will give a calculated and decisive answer to the criminals who took Martyr Mohsen Fakhrizadeh from the Iranian nation,” Kamal Kharrazi, who is also head of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, said in a statement.

Jared Kushner to visit Saudi, Qatar this week
WASHINGTON–US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will visit Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week in a bid for further diplomatic deals in the region before leaving the White House, according to media reports Sunday. The visits would focus on resolving a dispute between Qatar and the Arab quartet, the Wall Street Journal reported, but a number of issues could be on the agenda. Four Arab countries, Saudia Arabia, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, have boycotted Qatar since June 2017 over accusations of support to extremists and close ties to Iran.
A senior administration official said on Sunday that Kushner is to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Saudi city of Neom, and the emir of Qatar in that country in the coming days. Kushner will be joined by Middle East envoys Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook and Adam Boehler, chief executive of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Kushner’s trip comes after the killing on Friday of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in Tehran by unidentified assailants. Western and Israeli governments believe Fakhrizadeh was the architect of a secret Iranian nuclear weapons program.
The senior administration official said Kushner met at the White House last week with the Kuwaiti foreign minister, Sheikh Ahmad Nasser Al-Mohammad Al-Sabah. Kuwait is seen as involved in efforts to resolve a three-year rift between Qatar and other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The clock is ticking on Trump’s time in office, with President-elect Joe Biden due to be sworn in on January 20. Kushner has sought various deals in the region and has developed a relationship with Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In recent months, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have announced normalisation deals with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords, pursued by the White House with a leadng role by Kushner. Sudan has also agreed in principle to normalise ties with Israel.
Mutual concern over Iran has gradually brought Israel and Gulf nations closer, with US encouragement, and there were reports on November 23 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held secret talks in Saudi Arabia.
Even though denied by Riyadh, the Israeli media reports fuelled speculation that Israel may be moving closer to normalising ties with the biggest Gulf power. Saudi Arabia has publicly insisted it would stick to the decades-old Arab League position of not having ties with Israel until it reaches a peace deal with the Palestinians.
 

Former residents return to Syria’s Yarmuk refugee camp
YARMUK, Syria–When Syrian authorities said they would allow returns to the war-ravaged Yarmuk camp for Palestinian refugees in southern Damascus, hundreds of former residents have requested permission to go back to the settlement, home to 160,000 Palestinian refugees and some Syrian families before the conflict broke out in 2011. More than 400 families have returned in the last few months because they cannot afford to rent homes elsewhere after years of displacement, the United Nations said in early November.Syrian government and allied forces retook the camp in 2018 from the Islamic State (ISIS) group. But two years on, reconstruction has been slow and the scars of war remain visible.
Once back
Palestinian refugee Issa al-Loubani, who first left in 2012, is determined to join the ranks of those who returned even if the windows of his wrecked apartment are still covered with plastic sheeting. “Our flat needs major work, but it’s better than paying rent,” said Loubani, who has been living in a Damascus apartment with his wife and daughter. “We still need electricity, running water, and to clear rubble from the streets” before moving back in, the 48-year-old Palestinian refugee said from Yarmuk. The walls of Loubani’s building are pockmarked with bullet holes.
Neighbouring blocks have had their facades blown off or seen their balconies cave. Some structures have collapsed entirely following years of bombardment and heavy fighting. Loubani’s wife, Ilham, finds an old photo from their wedding in the rubble-strewn alley. “That’s Umm Walid,” she says, pointing to one of the guests in the picture.
A vast wasteland
Founded in 1957 with tents for Palestinians who fled or were ousted from their homes with the establishment of Israel, Yarmuk grew into a bustling neighbourhood. In 2012, around 140,000 residents fled as clashes raged. Those who stayed faced severe shortages of food and medicine under a withering years-long government siege. ISIS entered the area in 2015, bringing further suffering to remaining residents until jihadists were forced out three years later. This month, the Damascus municipality said residents could register to return to Yarmuk if their homes were structurally sound. Some 600 families have already signed up, said Mahmoud al-Khaled, a Palestinian who heads a committee that clears rubble in the camp. But the civil engineer who grew up in Yarmuk said less than half of the buildings were currently safe for reoccupation. The 430 families that have already returned despite difficult living conditions rely heavily on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA). Around 75% of UNRWA’s 23 premises in Yarmuk, including 16 schools, need to be completely rebuilt, and all three of its health centres have been destroyed.
To compensate, the organisation sends a mobile health clinic to the camp once a week and provides buses to transport children to schools in Damascus.
Little help
A month ago, Syrian Shehab al-Din Blidi returned to his home — one of the few apartments in Yarmuk largely spared by the fighting. Its cosy living room with bright paint and upholstered armchairs stands in stark contrast with the wasteland outside. “If we had waited for electricity, water and sewage to return, we would have perhaps” had to wait for a year before coming back, Blidi said. With little outside help, he said it was up to residents to fend for themselves. “Reconstruction requires efforts from several countries,” Blidi said. “In the meantime, we have to make do.” The 60-year-old has managed to secure some electricity for his flat through a long cable connected to a power source beyond the camp. With no running water, he buys large bottles from outside Yarmuk and stores them at home.
Fears and concerns
But for camp residents displaced to Idlib — the last major opposition bastion, in north-western Syria — returning is nearly impossible. “No one in the (opposition-held) north can register to return or even reach Yarmuk,” said Ahmad Khormandi, who left the camp when ISIS entered in 2015. He and his family now live in a displacement camp in Idlib province near the border with Turkey. The 43-year-old Palestinian told reporters in north-western Syria that he fears arrest if he returns to Yarmuk. But even if he were allowed back, he said, returning to live in his home would be impossible. “I don’t have the means to fix my house,” he said.

French Police Charged over Beating as Macron Seeks Crisis Exit
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
Four French police officers were charged on Monday over the beating and racial abuse of a black music producer, as President Emmanuel Macron scrambled to contain the political fallout from a case that has sparked outrage. The attack on Michel Zecler, which was caught on camera, has become a rallying cause for those who accuse the police of institutionalized racism and brutality. It has also ramped up pressure on the government to scrap or revise a bill that would restrict the filming of police -- thousands demonstrated against the proposals at the weekend, some rallies turning violent and leaving dozens injured. Lawmakers from Macron's ruling LREM party said on Monday they would propose a "complete rewrite" of part of the draft law. Christophe Castaner, LREM's parliamentary chief, denied the president had backtracked, saying the rewrite aimed to balance the need to protect the police with "the basic right to freedom of information".
- 'Restore confidence' -
Macron earlier held a crisis meeting with cabinet ministers and parliamentary leaders to come up with "suggestions to restore confidence" between the police and the population, government sources said. Castaner acknowledged the "deepening incomprehension" over the draft law, which aims to restrict the right to publish images of on-duty police. Interior Minister Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin denied that there had been "a divorce" between the police and population. "The link was never lost, but we must help people understand the difficulties that police face, and also to understand how the population wants legitimate force to be exercised," he told a parliamentary committee. One committee member had suggested earlier that a rewrite of the offending article would not be enough to restore confidence. "I am therefore in favor of deleting Article 24," Pierre Person, an LREM deputy, told Le Parisien newspaper.
Police denials
Activists say the images of the beating -- first published by the Loopsider news site -- might never have been made public if Article 24 had already been in force. The bill would criminalize publishing images of the police with the intent of harming their "physical or psychological integrity". It was passed by the lower house National Assembly this month, though it still requires approval from the Senate. A Paris investigating magistrate early Monday charged all four officers involved with assault. Three were also charged with fabricating their statement on the incident. Two of the accused will remain behind bars but the other two were granted conditional release, a judicial source told AFP. On Sunday, Paris prosecutor Remy Heitz called for three of the officers to also be charged with racial abuse. He said that the officers had acknowledged that their use of force was unjustified, but that they claimed they had acted in "fear" and "panic" and denied any racist abuse.
'Blood all over the streets'
Zecler had been stopped for not wearing a mask. The police also claimed he smelled strongly of cannabis but only a tiny amount of the substance was later found in a bag, the prosecutor said. Critics says the new security legislation is further evidence of a slide to the right by Macron, who came to power in 2017 as a centrist promising a liberal overhaul of France. Macron said on Friday that the images of Zecler's beating "shame us". The protests in Paris saw a brasserie set alight, cars torched and stones thrown at security forces, who responded with tear gas and anti-riot tactics. Among those hurt was an award-winning Syrian photojournalist, Ameer al-Halbi, 24, seen with a bruised face and much of his head covered in bandages in AFP photos. Al-Halbi is a freelance photographer who has worked for Polka Magazine and AFP. "We are shocked by the injuries suffered by our colleague Ameer al-Halbi and condemn the unprovoked violence," said Phil Chetwynd, AFP's global news director. Al-Halbi, who was unable to get to hospital for several hours, said the events felt like a throwback to the Syrian civil war. "I never expected Paris to be a place where I would see blood all over the streets," he told AFP. Paris prosecutors told AFP on Monday that a formal investigation would be launched into how Al-Halbi sustained his injuries, which are consistent with a baton charge. The probe will be handled by police oversight body IGPN, they said.

WHO Says 'Will Do Everything' to Find Covid-19 Origins
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
The World Health Organization insisted Monday it would do everything possible to find the animal origins of Covid-19, insisting that knowledge was vital to preventing future outbreaks. "We want to know the origin and we will do everything to know the origin," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. He insisted the U.N. health agency was intent on getting to the bottom of the mystery, and urged critics who have accused it of handing the reins of the probe to China to stop "politicizing" the issue.  "WHO's position is very, very clear. We need to know the origin of this virus, because it can help us prevent future outbreaks," Tedros said. The United States, which with more than 262,000 deaths is the country hardest hit by the pandemic, has been harshly critical of the WHO's handling of the crisis and has accused it of kowtowing to China and of dragging its feet on investigating how the outbreak first started. Other critics have also voiced concern that the agency may have allowed China to dictate the terms of an international investigation into the origins of the virus, which first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Since then, more than 1.46 million people have died and nearly 63 million have been infected worldwide. The WHO has for months been working to send a team of international experts, including epidemiologists and animal health specialists, to China to help probe the animal origin of the novel coronavirus pandemic and how the virus first crossed over to humans. The organization sent an advance team to Beijing in July to lay the groundwork for the international probe. But it has remained unclear when the larger team of scientists would be able to travel to China to begin epidemiological studies to try to identify the first human cases and their source of infection. Last week, the WHO's emergencies chief Michael Ryan said the agency was hoping to send the international team to Wuhan "as soon as possible". Tedros meanwhile rejected on Monday criticism over lacking transparency on the probe, stressing that the names of the experts on the team and the terms of reference had been made public.
"There is nothing to hide. We want to know the origin. I don't want to have any confusion on that." Scientists initially believed the killer virus jumped from animals to humans at a market selling exotic animals for meat in the city of Wuhan, where the virus was first detected late last year.
But experts now think the market may not have been the origin of the outbreak, but rather a place where it was amplified. It is widely assumed that the virus originally came from bats, but the intermediate animal host that transmitted it between bats and humans remains unknown.

Pompeo Calls on Ethiopian PM for 'Complete End' to Fighting
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday urged Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed to end fighting, voicing concern as a military offensive pursued the Tigray region's dissident leaders. Pompeo in a phone call with Abiy "called for a complete end to the fighting and constructive dialogue to resolve the crisis," a State Department statement said. The top US diplomat noted Abiy's declaration that major operations were finished but "reiterated the United States' grave concern regarding ongoing hostilities and the risks the conflict pose," it said. Pompeo called for the protection of civilians from harm and "urged the government of Ethiopia to ensure respect for human rights of Tigrayans and all ethnic groups." The phone call came after Abiy said that Tigray's leaders had fled west of the regional capital after a weeks-long military operation that the Ethiopian leader -- winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize -- ordered in response to what he said were attacks on federal army camps.
Ethiopia is a major US ally but concerns have grown after the fighting left thousands dead and sent tens of thousands of refugees fleeing into Sudan.

Ethiopia's Abiy Says Has Tigray Leaders in His Sights
Agence France Presse/November 30/2020
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said Monday the Tigray region's dissident leaders had fled west of the regional capital after weeks of fighting, but indicated that federal forces were monitoring them closely and would attack them soon. Abiy, winner of last year's Nobel Peace Prize, this month ordered military operations against leaders of Tigray's ruling party, the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), in response to what he said were TPLF-organized attacks on Ethiopian federal army camps. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to the Ethiopian leader on Monday, urging him to end fighting that has left thousands dead in the northern region and prompted tens of thousands to flee across the border into Sudan. The conflict has been a dramatic escalation of tensions between Abiy and the leaders of the TPLF, which dominated Ethiopian politics for nearly three decades before anti-government protests swept Abiy to power in 2018. "I want them to hear me: yesterday evening, around midnight, we saw them from the situation room in the area between Hagere Selam and Abiy Addi," Abiy said in remarks to lawmakers, referring to two towns west of the Tigray capital Mekele. "We didn't attack them at night because as they retreated they took their wives, children and abducted soldiers... But this will not continue." Abiy said on Saturday the military operations were "completed" after federal forces claimed control of the Tigray regional capital Mekele. The TPLF leaders have repeatedly vowed to fight on, though their exact whereabouts remain unknown. In a phone call with Abiy, Pompeo "called for a complete end to the fighting and constructive dialogue to resolve the crisis," a State Department statement said. The top US diplomat noted Abiy's declaration that major operations were finished but "reiterated the United States' grave concern regarding ongoing hostilities and the risks the conflict poses," it said.Pompeo called for the protection of civilians from harm and "urged the government of Ethiopia to ensure respect for human rights of Tigrayans and all ethnic groups."
'Mekele is ours'
As the Ethiopian military bore down on Mekele last week, global concern mounted about a possible bloodbath in a city that, before the conflict, had a population of half a million. A communications blackout in Tigray has made it difficult to verify claims from both sides about the fighting.
On Monday, Abiy claimed soldiers did not kill any civilians as they took over Mekele and other cities in Tigray. "Mekele is ours, it was built with our own resources. We are not going to destroy it," he said. "Not even a single person was harmed by the operation in Mekele."The International Committee of the Red Cross said Sunday that hospitals in Mekele were flooded with trauma patients, though it did not specify how the injuries were sustained. Abiy also dismissed claims from TPLF leader Debretsion Gebremichael that air strikes had resulted in many civilian casualties. As Abiy tries to shift towards helping Tigray recover, the national human rights body called Monday for telecommunications to be restored and for water, electricity and health services to resume. The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, which is government-affiliated but independent, also noted "complaints of ethnic profiling" including "forced leave from work" and travel restrictions.
Rising tensions
In a marathon four-hour address, his first to lawmakers since the conflict began, Abiy fielded multiple questions about why he had not moved against the TPLF leadership earlier. The party has complained of being sidelined, targeted for corruption prosecutions and scapegoated for the country's woes under Abiy's rule. Tensions rose dramatically after Tigray held its own elections in September, flouting a nationwide ban on polls because of the coronavirus pandemic. It then tried to brand Abiy an illegitimate ruler. Abiy said Monday that when he took office, he was hemmed in by a TPLF-run security and intelligence apparatus. "My office in general was under the control of other forces. Even the key to my house was controlled by these people, they opened the door, they closed the door, morning and night," Abiy said. He accused the TPLF of fomenting internal conflict, including ethnic clashes, throughout the country during his tenure, leaving only Tigray unaffected. Abiy vowed Monday that Ethiopia would be able to quickly welcome back Ethiopian refugees in Sudan. Abiy's government has seized on a massacre in Mai-Kadra as evidence of pro-TPLF forces' brutality, though refugees in Sudan told AFP that pro-government forces were involved in killings. Abiy also thanked Eritrea for its support during the conflict, including helping Ethiopian soldiers who at one point were forced to retreat over Ethiopia's northern border onto Eritrean soil.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 30-December 01/2020

The killing of Fakhrizadeh reduces Iran to its true size
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/November 30/2020
Israel is not excluded from being behind the recent assassination of Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh in a suburb of Tehran. Such a possibility is more than possible.
This is because it is possible to include the assassination of a prominent scientist who plays a pivotal role in the development of the Iranian nuclear programme in the context of a war that has been going on for several years now between Israel and Iran in two areas.
The first is Iran’s military presence in Syria, especially in the south, and the other is the possibility that Iran will one day possess a nuclear weapon. Israel cannot imagine such a possibility. Therefore, it is focusing its efforts on preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb one day.
Such an Israeli position is quite well-known and does not apply to Iran alone. In 1981, Israel attacked the Iraqi-French nuclear reactor Osirak and destroyed it. This happened under then Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who could not care less about the international or French reactions. At the time, the Israeli government simply dismissed Paris’s assurances that the reactor it was building in Iraq was for peaceful purposes only.
At the current stage and in light of Joe Biden’s victory over US President Donald Trump, it seems important for Israel to let the new team at the White House know that there are certain limits that cannot be breached, regardless of who resides in the White House. In addition, Israel is concerned about the possibility of a qualitative change in the US’s approach to relations with Tehran.
What is certain so far is that there will not be a radical reversal in Washington against Trump’s Iran policies, but it is not unlikely that the new US administration will initiate this week contacts with an Iranian delegation through one of its envoys. The US-Iranian meeting is expected to take place in a European capital, and its aim will be to set a general framework that includes specific conditions allowing America to rethink the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, an agreement that Trump tore up in 2018.
It is also not unlikely that one of the US’s top conditions would be a major change in Iranian policy in Yemen. The Biden administration believes that imposing such a change will greatly relieve Saudi Arabia and significantly contribute to the search for a way out of the crisis there by reducing the Houthis back to their true size rather than eliminating them, after they revealed their aggressive face. Aggressive propensities are the true nature of the Houthis, who ironically call themselves “Ansar Allah” and do not hesitate to launch Iranian-made ballistic missiles towards Saudi territory. The last of these missiles hit an oil facility near the city of Jeddah on the Red Sea.
It is clear that Israel will not be affected by Iran’s reactions. It will undoubtedly consider that, at least until now, there is nothing that proves it is behind Fakhrizadeh’s assassination, which could just as well have been carried out by Iranian opposition elements working for Israel.
What is certain, however, is that the death of Fakhrizadeh is a great loss for the “Islamic Republic.”
This was evidenced by the words of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who vowed to avenge the killing of the Iranian scientist, adding that whatever Fakhrizadeh was working on before his death will continue. Iranian President Hassan Rohani did not hesitate to directly accuse Israel of the killing, saying that “the assassination of Fakhrizadeh shows the desperation of (Iran’s) enemies and the extent of their hatred,” adding that the operation “will not slow down Iran’s nuclear path.”
Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu had previously described Fakhrizadeh as “the father of Iran’s military nuclear programme.” This simply meant that sooner or later, he would be a target for Israeli operations. And that is exactly what happened.
The question now is: “How will Iran respond to the assassination?” It is certain that it will not dare retaliate against Israel, nor retaliate against America. It discovered long ago that it is unable to conduct significant military action against either of these two targets. We saw a sample of that inability when it failed to strike back at the assassination last January near Baghdad Airport of Qassem Soleimani, ex-commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ Quds Force, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a senior leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), which is nothing but an Iraqi militia group affiliated with Iran.Once again, Iran will direct its retaliation to targets in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon or Yemen. In other words, it will target Iraqis, Syrians, Lebanese and Yemenis.
Perhaps it will for the moment dismiss retaliating in Yemen because of its calculations regarding the future Biden administration; so its choices will be limited to one of the Arab countries and maybe from the Palestinian Gaza Strip, where it has militias.
The likely Iranian response will mean that Tehran refuses to acknowledge that the world, as well as the region, has changed and that it is unable to pursue a policy other than the one with no prospects, a policy based on an expansionist project that relies on provoking sectarian instincts.
Iran should have learned from the US administration’s liquidation of Soleimani and understood that it is not a regional power capable of playing a dominant role in the region.
In the final analysis, Iran is a third world country with half of its population living below the poverty line. It can surely destroy, but it cannot build.
We see that everywhere it has intervened. In Iraq, Tehran played the role required of it so the country would never catch its breath in the post-US invasion phase. In Lebanon, it did everything it could to make sure the country never rises again. In Syria, it was, and still is, an effective partner in the war waged by the minority regime against its people for more than nine years. In Yemen, it exacerbated the misery of the Yemeni people. In Gaza, it supported the Taliban-style Muslim Brotherhood emirate there.
The assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist, while tragic, could be an opportunity for Iran to discover its true size and learn from it, and maybe it will discover that it has no viable civilisational model to offer to the Arabs or the world. The US sanctions against Iran were enough to grind its economy to a halt. Isn’t it time for the Iranian regime’s leadership to ask itself: “What good have all the missiles and nuclear bombs brought to the Soviet Union? Did they prevent its collapse in early 1991?”

Israel must speak to Biden with a clear voice on future Iran negotiations
Jacob Nagel/Washington Examiner/November 30/2020
With President-elect Joe Biden's victory, the United States is widely expected to re-enter negotiations with Iran. In advance of the election, some advisers to Biden circulated a white paper exploring a return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the flawed 2015 nuclear deal.
One controversial option was a return to the interim 2013 deal, the Joint Plan of Action, which yielded Iran hundreds of millions of dollars as a show of good faith. Israel is understandably concerned by the possibility of going back to a process that yielded sanctions relief and other concessions far too beneficial for Iran, as far as Israelis were concerned. Faced with this challenge, Israel must demonstrate internal unity. This begins with discipline in speaking with the press. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu can enforce this with a directive for officials speaking on or off the record, with reporters or in official meetings.
Such a directive should have the support of Netanyahu’s coalition partners, including Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi, and be enforced across the rest of the Israeli bureaucracy dealing with the Iran file. This was the way the Israeli expert team worked with the six world powers involved in negotiating the JCPOA. The Israeli team, under clear instructions, explained to the negotiators their concerns while trying to mitigate the JCPOA’s mistakes and improve the flawed deal on the margins.
After 31 years, moving from a home is much more than leaving a structure
Such a unified message should also be crafted with Israel’s new peace partners in the Middle East. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain harbor similar concerns about Iran. Israel must coordinate closely with them and perhaps other governments, such as the Saudis, to speak with one voice. The concerns of America’s regional partners were ignored last time. They should not be ignored again. In voicing their concerns, Israel and its new friends must be wary of joining forces with Republicans who are also opposed to making concessions to Iran. Indeed, this cannot appear to be a partisan issue. At the same time, it is not a bad idea to convey that the next presidential election in 2024 could yield a different policy, making any business with Iran very risky.
Israel and its partners must also convey that Iran’s malign activity has not ceased. Since 2018, when the United States withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal, the regime has engaged in nuclear blackmail, enriching more uranium, installing new and advanced centrifuges in underground facilities, and taking other dangerous steps in the nuclear arena.
In fact, the International Atomic Energy Agency recently issued an unusually harsh report on Tehran’s violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran’s nuclear safeguards agreement, and the 2015 nuclear deal. That report is backed by documents the Mossad captured from Iran’s atomic archive, not to mention site visits in Iran by the nuclear watchdog. Recent IAEA visits yielded new and interesting findings about Iranian violations.
Unfortunately, the international community has failed to take decisive action. The Iranians wisely waited for the U.S. election in the hope that they might be able to outlast current pressure. Israel and its partners should convey to the incoming administration that this cannot be rewarded.
Biden wants a new agreement. That in itself is not the problem — Israel wants one too. The devil is in the details. Israel must press for the next deal to be a good one that does not enable Iran to continue its nuclear activity. A new agreement must not be more of the same with minor improvements. The goal must be to establish new, clear terms to address the absurdity of Iran’s “civilian nuclear program” in underground facilities. Moreover, a new agreement should include all three elements of Iran’s illicit nuclear program: fissile materials, weaponization, and means of delivery.
Weaponization is very difficult to define and monitor. This was made clear from the atomic archive. Therefore, the next deal must require the regime to come clean on all previous activities. No deal can be concluded without Tehran’s admission of previous violations and declaration of its past inventory.
The means of delivery, namely ballistic missiles, require more than United Nations resolutions that are subject to interpretation. The next deal should unequivocally halt the development of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Fissile materials (uranium and plutonium), along with all the technology necessary to produce them, should be completely banned and monitored by the IAEA. There must be no room for negotiation on this.
The U.S. and its allies must also stop hyper-focusing on “breakout time.” This is an outdated concept. Iran will not " break out" but will rather “ sneak out” to a bomb via advanced centrifuges, increased R&D, and underground or clandestine facilities. Any future agreement cannot allow underground facilities, open possible military dimensions questions, or weaponization groups such as the now-sanctioned organization known by its Farsi acronym, SPND.
Finally, the JCPOA included dangerous “sunset” clauses. These are terms of the deal that expired over the course of a decade or so. If sunset clauses are included in a new deal, they should be set to expire many decades from now. Iran must not be led to believe that it has a patient pathway to nuclear weapons.
Some might say these terms would never be accepted by Tehran. This is the wrong mindset for negotiations. The next administration should bring its demands and be in no rush to negotiate. After all, America has many other challenges in the wake of the pandemic and global tensions with China, Russia, and North Korea. If Iran's regime wants sanctions relief and an end to the current administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign, it should be ready to compromise at the negotiating table. The new administration must categorically reject the assertion by Iran’s leaders that the U.S. should atone for President Trump’s Iran policy. Some Biden advisers may believe that sanctions relief will help achieve an agreement and help avert conflict. This, too, is wrong. Sanctions represent leverage that will help America reach the right agreement and prevent conflict. Without sanctions and a credible military threat, the Islamic Republic will not come to the table or negotiate meaningful changes to the last deal.
Sanctions can also help push the regime for other changes in behavior. But Israel and its partners must differentiate between the nuclear program and other concerns. Indeed, it would be a mistake to bind Iran’s terror support or malign actions in Syria and Lebanon to the nuclear negotiations. After solving the nuclear problem, all others can be tackled. Merging the two can lead to dangerous nuclear concessions.
Important decisions await the incoming administration. It must move deliberately and wisely, learning from mistakes of the past. Israel can help, particularly if it speaks in one voice and coordinates carefully with other partners seeking to prevent a return to the flawed agreement of 2015.
*Brigadier General (Res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a visiting professor at the Technion Aerospace Engineering Faculty. He previously served as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acting national security adviser and head of Israel’s National Security.

Iranian Proxies in Bahrain Determined to Sabotage Peace With Israel
Caleb Weiss/Varsha Koduvayur/ Insight/FDD/November 30/2020
Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif al-Zayani made history on Wednesday, becoming the first-ever minister from the island kingdom to conduct an official visit to Israel. The visit marked the second meeting between Bahraini and Israeli delegations after the official establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries last month. The pace of bilateral visits and agreements reveals the genuine momentum undergirding Israel and Bahrain’s rapprochement, but Iranian-backed extremist groups in Bahrain are angling to play spoiler.
Bahrain has a long history of Iran fomenting unrest in the kingdom, stoking the grievances of Bahrain’s Shiite-majority population against the kingdom’s Sunni ruling family. In addition to locally motivated protests or violence, an umbrella of Iran-backed militias has staged attacks in the kingdom in recent years. While none of these militias has conducted a successful attack in retaliation for Bahrain’s normalization with Israel, the possibility cannot be discounted. This serious, if limited, threat means that Bahrain, and Washington, must craft a delicate balance in forging Manama’s ties with Jerusalem: one that accounts for the potential of these militias to play spoiler, while not allowing them to hold progress on normalization hostage.
Iran has already begun working through proxy militias such as Saraya Wa’ad Allah to reverse the trend of warming ties. The group called the peace accord a “false normalization with the Zionist enemy” and a “cancerous gland” on the worldwide Islamic community. The group also announced the creation of a “Martyrs of Jerusalem” unit, dedicated to targeting Israeli interests in Bahrain.
Since the Arab Spring began in early 2011, Bahrain’s Sunni royal family has faced massive protests and limited violence from its primarily Shiite populace over decades of societal marginalization and state abuses, such as torture, arbitrary detentions, and other human rights violations. Bahraini authorities’ heavy-handed security response – aided by Saudi Arabia – led to the creation of several armed militias on the island. These include domestic opposition movements, such as the February 14th Youth Coalition and its various neighborhood and street militias, and more organized Iranian-backed outfits that espouse a more Khomeinist ideology. Seeking to exploit these grievances, Iran has supported a number of militias that have claimed hundreds of small-scale attacks across the island since 2012.
By August 2012, several Iranian-backed groups began to publicly claim attacks against the Bahraini government with the establishment of the Popular Resistance Companies. Between April 2012 and March 2019 (the date of the last claimed attack on the island), at least 21 pro-Iran militias, some of which were likely fronts for larger groups, have claimed or been responsible for at least 750 attacks, according to data kept by one of the authors (Weiss) for FDD’s Long War Journal.
These incidents include claimed and reported shootings; improvised explosive devices; car bombings; fire bombings; attacks against communication lines, municipality buildings, banks, and ATMs; and even attempts to shut down the Bahrain International Airport. The vast majority, however, resulted in few to no casualties.
U.S. and Bahraini officials have documented the extensive financial and logistical ties between Iran and the Bahraini militias. Additionally, the State Department has designated Iran-based members of these outfits, and one organization itself, as global terrorists. For its part, Iranian media has celebrated the burial of killed Bahraini militants in Iran. At least one Bahraini militia has also demonstrated its ties to Iranian-backed militants in Iraq.
Moreover, since 2012, Bahrain has confiscated several tons of explosive material from militant caches across the island. In more recent years, Bahraini security forces have intercepted large quantities of advanced Iranian weapons shipments and explosives, including armor-piercing explosively formed penetrators.
The harsh reaction to the normalization agreement was not the first time Saraya Wa’ad Allah has threatened Israelis. Last year, the group took credit for canceling an Israeli delegation’s meeting with Bahraini officials, after posting an animated video online that included violent threats to the delegation. While the meeting did end up occurring in secret, it was initially reported that the event was canceled due to “security concerns” stemming from Saraya Wa’ad Allah’s threats. Not long after, Saraya Wa’ad Allah posted several purported screenshots of threatening messages and emails it claimed were sent to the Israeli delegation. Another Iranian-backed group, the U.S.-designated Saraya al-Ashtar, has also threatened to target Israelis. In February 2019, the group openly threatened attacks against Israeli targets in Bahrain. A spokesman for the group denounced the “Khalifa regime’s openness to the Zionists” and added that the “Zionist presence is a legitimate target” on the island.
So far, a successful attack against Israelis in Bahrain has yet to occur. But this is not to say that the threat does not exist. On September 20, Bahraini officials announced they had disrupted at least one terrorist plot on the island directed at an Israeli delegation earlier in the year. The alleged group behind that plot, Saraya Qassem Soleimani – named after the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, whom the United States killed in a drone strike in early 2020 – was reportedly connected to the much larger Saraya al-Ashtar.
Clearly, the absence of an attack is not from a lack of trying or intent.
This week’s Jerusalem meeting suggests that Bahrain has no intent to slow down its outreach and approach to Israel. But if Iran-backed militias up the ante – in the form of increased threats or even successfully staging an attack in Bahrain – that could give pause to Bahraini authorities as the implementation process unfolds. Washington would do well to remember the threat these militias pose to Bahrain – and thus to the United States as well given that Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet. U.S. officials are keen to expand the circle of peace, and rightfully so. But the administration of projected President-elect Joe Biden should remember that too much, too soon might do more harm than good. Any American pressure on Bahrain to speed up its interlinkage with the Jewish state could backfire if it allows these Iran-backed militias an opportunity to expand their toehold.
*Caleb Weiss is a research analyst and contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal (LWJ), a project of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Varsha Koduvayur is a senior research analyst focusing on the Persian Gulf and also contributes to FDD’s Iran Program.
For more analysis from Caleb, Varsha, LWJ, and the Iran Program, please subscribe HERE. Follow Caleb and Varsha on Twitter @Weissenberg7 and @varshakoduvayur. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @LongWarJournal and @FDD_Iran. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Let this be a warning to Biden: Iran has been cheating this whole time
Richard Goldberg/New York Post/November 30/2020
Friday’s apparent assassination of the founder of Iran’s nuclear weapons program wasn’t just a setback for the regime’s nuclear ambitions — it was a timely reminder that the Iran nuclear deal was built on Iranian deception from the start.
In 2018, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dramatically revealed to the world the existence of a secret Iranian nuclear archive — a curation of Iran’s past work on nuclear weapons, which had never been disclosed to international inspectors or nuclear deal negotiators. The archive contained a treasure trove of documents and computer files, including information on the organizational structure of Iran’s nuclear work.
Sitting at the top of Iran’s nuclear food chain was Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. “Remember that name, Fakhrizadeh,” Netanyahu said at the time. For those who forgot, a brief refresher.
Fakhrizadeh was the founder of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, known as the Amad Plan — charged with building some of the world’s deadliest weapons for the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. In 2011, he broke off to lead a secretive organization called the Organization for Defensive Innovation and Research, commonly referred to by its Persian acronym of SPND.
In 2014, the Obama administration declared SPND as “primarily responsible for research in the field of nuclear weapons development” and accused Fakhrizadeh’s new organization of taking over “activities related to Iran’s undeclared nuclear program.”
Last year, the State Department revealed that SPND has employed as many as 1,500 individuals, including nuclear weapons scientists associated with the Amad Plan. These scientists “continue to carry out dual-use research and development activities, of which aspects are potentially useful for nuclear weapons and nuclear weapons delivery systems.”The Trump administration imposed sanctions on 14 SPND employees and 17 SPND-linked front companies for their involvement with proliferation-sensitive activities. This September, the Commerce Department blacklisted another five Iranian nuclear scientists “for enabling or assisting Iran’s nuclear development program.”
All of this, of course, prompts an obvious question: How could Fakhrizadeh and SPND continue to operate during the Iran nuclear deal when the deal was premised on Iran’s commitment to an exclusively peaceful nuclear program? Indeed, the existence of SPND and the discovery of Iran’s nuclear archive paints a picture of a regime that never truly halted its nuclear weapons program — but instead separated its pieces, keeping its personnel fresh and ready for a time of Iran’s choosing.
That reality was deliberately obfuscated to sell the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Iran deal supporters wanted the world to believe that Iran had left its nuclear ambitions in the past. To clear the way for the deal, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was pressured to close the book on Iran’s past activities and remove issues related to Iran’s undeclared nuclear work from the agency’s agenda. Outstanding questions were left unresolved. Iran was required to respond to questions posed by the IAEA — but under the terms of the nuclear deal, those responses could remain incomplete, untruthful and unverifiable for sanctions relief to follow.
We now know Iran lied to the IAEA and to the participants of the Iran nuclear deal. Today, the IAEA is again investigating Iran’s concealment of undeclared nuclear material, activities and sites. The investigation reportedly stems from an inspection of a warehouse in Iran where commercial satellite imagery suggested Iran was engaged in sanitization work after Netanyahu had exposed the location in a speech to the UN General Assembly. This month, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi told reporters that Iran’s responses to the agency were deemed “not technically credible” — which is IAEA speak for “liar, liar, pants on fire.”Taken together, SPND’s existence, Iran’s curation of a secret nuclear weapons archive and its concealment of undeclared nuclear material present a simple truth. We do not face an Iran deal crisis created by President Donald Trump, as members of the incoming U.S. administration have alleged. Instead, we face a more fundamental Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty crisis created by Iran.
President-elect Joe Biden can no longer pretend that the Iran deal prevented the Islamic Republic’s nuclear advancement. It did not.
Nor can Biden’s incoming Secretary of State or National Security Adviser — both of whom were instrumental players in putting the deal together — pretend that Iran can return to compliance with that flawed deal without addressing all outstanding questions about the archive, SPND and its undeclared activities.
Team Biden should issue a clear message to Tehran: come clean or say goodbye to future talks.
**Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, previously served as a National Security Council official and deputy chief of staff to former U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.). Follow him on Twitter @rich_goldberg. FDD is a nonpartisan think tank focused on foreign policy and national security issues.

The death of a guest of the Ayatollah
Clifford D. May/ The Washington Times/November 30/2020
An assassination provides insight into relations between Tehran and AQ
The assassins were professionals and they had planned carefully. On Aug. 7, 2020, around 9 o’clock on a warm evening, they rode a motorcycle down a street in Pasdaran, a well-off Tehran neighborhood. They pulled alongside a white Renault L90. A middle-aged man was at the wheel, a young woman in the seat next to him. Five shots were fired from a pistol fitted with a silencer. The motorcycle sped off as the couple in the sedan drew their last breaths.
News of this assassination appeared in October on an al Qaeda-linked social media platform translated by MEMRI. Unnamed intelligence officials subsequently confirmed details to The New York Times which on Nov. 13 published an extensive report naming the primary target of the assassination as Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, 58.
His nom de guerre was Abu Muhammad al-Masri (indicating his Egyptian origin) and the guerre he was fighting was al Qaeda’s: He was the organization’s “deputy emir,” second only to Ayman al Zawahiri, 69, who is presumed to be in hiding in Pakistan or Afghanistan.
For years on the FBI’s Most Wanted list with a $10 million reward for information leading to his capture, Mr. al-Masri is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, precisely 22 years prior to the day of his sudden and violent demise. More than 200 people were killed in those attacks with 20 times that number wounded. He is linked to other terrorist atrocities as well.
The woman accompanying him was his 27-year-old daughter, Miriam. She also was the widow of Hamza bin Laden, a son of Osama bin Laden, who was being groomed as a future AQ leader until he was killed in an American counterterrorism operation somewhere in Afghanistan or Pakistan within the last few years. She, too, was being trained for a leadership role in AQ, an anonymous intelligence source told the Associated Press.
The attack in Tehran “was carried out by Israeli operatives at the behest of the United States,” according to the Times’ sources. However, it is unclear “what role if any was played by the United States, which had been tracking the movements of Mr. al-Masri and other Qaeda operatives in Iran for years.”
Mr. al-Masri is believed to have been in Iran’s “custody” since 2003, but at least since 2015 he had lived freely in Tehran. The clerical regime had even permitted Mr. al-Masri to adopt a false identity: Habib Daoud, a Lebanese history professor. It was this fictious character that Iran’s official media reported to have been killed. Lebanese media parroted those reports.
The revelation that Iran’s rulers have played gracious host to an AQ leader has caused bewilderment at the Times. “That he had been living in Iran was surprising, given that Iran and Al Qaeda are bitter enemies,” the article noted. “Iran, a Shiite Muslim theocracy, and Al Qaeda, a Sunni Muslim jihadist group, have fought each other on the battlefields of Iraq and other places.”
Perhaps I can help sort this out. The regime in Tehran and the terrorist organization with franchises in multiple countries have long collaborated against common enemies, the United States chief among them.
Their theological differences notwithstanding, they have much in common. Both are committed to waging jihad (with terrorism as a signature weapon), spreading their (not identical) interpretations of Islamic law, and re-establishing a great and powerful Islamic empire that is to diminish and eventually defeat America and the West. In other words, they are rivals. Rivals are not the same as enemies, bitter or otherwise.
My colleague, Thomas Joscelyn, has been studying and reporting on the Tehran/AQ relationship for years. “There is a wealth of evidence, stretching back to the early 1990s, showing that the two have repeatedly cooperated,” he wrote last week in The Dispatch. “The 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings are a good example.”
He pointed out that the U.S. government’s own 9/11 Commission “found Iran and its chief terrorist proxy, Hezbollah, gave al-Qaeda the ‘tactical expertise’ necessary for those near-simultaneous attacks” in Africa. “Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants were impressed with how Iranian-backed terrorists forced America’s retreat from Lebanon in the 1980s. And al-Qaeda wanted to replicate that success.”
The current administration has understood that Iran’s rulers do business with al Qaeda, as well as with the Taliban, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad – Sunni groups all. “There is no doubt there is a connection. Period. Full stop,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last April.
The Obama administration also was aware of the AQ/Tehran relationship. Mr. Joscelyn noted: “Beginning in July 2011, the Obama administration’s Treasury and State Departments began exposing the Iranian regime’s ‘secret deal’ with al Qaeda. This deal allows for AQ to maintain its ‘core facilitation pipeline’ inside Iran.”
But such ties did not impede Mr. Obama’s outreach to Iran’s rulers, in particular his provision of billions of dollars and the promise of lucrative trade in exchange for a pledge that they would delay – not terminate – their nuclear weapons program.
Concluded in 2015 without Congressional approval, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was not so comprehensive as to include anything in regard to terrorism sponsored by Tehran, or carried out by Tehran’s proxies and partners, al Qaeda among them.
Joe Biden has defended the JCPOA and indicated that he’d like to revive it. Will the revelation that AQ’s second-in-command has been living comfortably as a guest of the Ayatollah provoke second thoughts? The answer to that question will speak volumes about who Mr. Biden is and who he aspires to become.
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for The Washington Times. Follow him on Twitter @CliffordDMay. FDD is a nonpartisan think tank focused on foreign policy and national security issues.