English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 16/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today

‘You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 07/25-30: “Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah? Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.’Then Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.’Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 15-16/2020

Tens of political assassinations have marked the history of Lebanon/Roger Bejjani/December 15/2020
Health Ministry: 1264 new Covid19 cases, 13 deaths
Sawwan Sets Wednesday Date for Khalil, Zoaiter Interrogation
State Security Denies Report that Naddaf Opened Hole in Hangar 12
Lifting subsidies on commodities delayed as Lebanon awaits new government formation
Lebanon’s path to new cabinet totally blocked: Speaker Berri
Bassil Says ‘Love and Revenge’ Kind of Relation with Hariri
FPM Bloc Warns of 'Plots' to Halt Port Probe, Hits Out at Hariri
Lebanese Army Warns against Accepting 'Mossad' Friend Requests
Israeli Patrol Opens Fire towards Southern Lebanon
Report: Berri Says Lebanon Entered the Dark 'Tunnel'
TBHF pledges $2.37 million to reconstruct 142yearold St. George Hospital damaged in Beirut explosion
Aoun-Hariri’s 'war of words' casts gloom on Cabinet formation
Hezbollah: A systematic violator of international law - opinion/Eli Bar-On/December 15/2020

Revealed: $100m hunt for Hezbollah funds after Bulgarian bus bombing/Paul Peachey/The National/December 15/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 15-16/2020

It’s Official: Joe Biden Secures Enough Electors To Become The 46th President
Republican Senate Leader Congratulates Biden on Election Win
Trump Aide Kushner Heads to Israel, Morocco after Deal on Ties
Biden Says He'll Receive Coronavirus Vaccination Publicly Soon
With Eye on Iran, Israel Tests Missile Defense System
Israel’s historic missile test: A message to Iran, Hezbollah, allies
Text of Treasury Department press release: Treasury sanctions senior Iranian intelligence officers involved in the abduction and detention of Robert Levinson
U.S. imposes sanctions on two Iranians for abduction, probable death of former FBI agent Robert Levinson
Pompeo accuses Russia of sowing 'chaos' in the Mediterranean
Bomb kills deputy governor in Afghan capital Kabul
Record number of journalists jailed in 2020, says watchdog
After Arab Spring, a Decade of Upheaval and Lost Hopes
Iraqi Activist Shot Dead in Baghdad
Algeria Says Arrested Four Islamists, One Surrenders
Santa 'immune' to COVID, can still make Christmas rounds: WHO

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 15-16/2020

Dominion Voting System "Designed...to Create Systemic Fraud"/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 15/2020
Abbas seeks Qatari support as regional pressure mounts on PA to adjust course/The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020
Iran seeks to end row with Turkey, but tensions live on/The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020
Iran flexes muscles ahead of Biden’s inauguration/The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 15-16/2020

Tens of political assassinations have marked the history of Lebanon.
Roger Bejjani/December 15/2020
2 have diverted the trajectory of the country for the worst.
The first one was the assassination of Bachir Gemayel. Bach would have undoubtedly saved Lebanon from the grip of the Assad régime, would have secured a swift and coordinated withdrawal of the Israeli Army and of course would have crushed the Iranian terrorist group in its cradle. He would have positioned Lebanon on the trajectory of progress and rule of law. The second assassination that has doomed this country was the one of Rafic Hariri the rebuilder of Beirut.The latter wanted the same kind of Lebanon that Bachir had always wanted: a prosperous, modern and neutral country. He had a different MO of course. Rafic Hariri alive would have never allowed our country to be dismissed as it is today by the world and labeled as « Titanic without the music band ».Those 2 assassinations and the assassins behind them are the real responsible of our dramatic demise.

Health Ministry: 1264 new Covid19 cases, 13 deaths
NNA/December 15/2020
The Ministry of Public Health on Tuesday announced that 1264 Coronavirus cases have been reported, thus raising the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 148877.
It also indicated that 13 death cases were also registered during the past 24 hours.

Sawwan Sets Wednesday Date for Khalil, Zoaiter Interrogation
Naharnet/December 15/2020
The lead judicial investigator into the port blast, Judge Fadi Sawwan, has scheduled Wednesday sessions for the interrogation of ex-minister Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter, the National News Agency said. Khalil and Zoaiter “have been officially notified via Parliament’s General Secretariat and memos have also been sent to their houses,” NNA added. Sawwan has also summoned the former army chief of staff, retired Maj. Gen. Walid Salman, for interrogation as a witness, the agency said. Khalil and Zoaiter as well as caretaker PM Hassan Diab had refused to appear before Sawwan on Monday. Sawwan has also summoned former public works minister Youssef Fenianos. The charges against the politicians, especially against Diab, has sparked a political and legal uproar in the country.

State Security Denies Report that Naddaf Opened Hole in Hangar 12
Naharnet/December 15/2020
The investigation into the Beirut port blast is not limited to interrogations with political officials but also security and military leaders have also been summoned, the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa daily reported on Tuesday. After hearing the testimony of State Security agency head Tony Saliba, judge Fadi Sawwan reportedly decided to have Saliba and the State Security Major Joseph al-Naddaf meet face to face later this week, said the daily. Sawwan has also summoned former chief of staff in the Lebanese army, Major General Walid Salman, for questioning tomorrow, according to the daily.
Quoting a ministerial source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the daily said that Sawwan has a recorded confession by Naddaf that he received an order from his head, Saliba, to open a hole in the back side of Ward No. 12 in Beirut port, where the ammonium nitrate was located, to see what was inside, and that he assigned one of his elements at the port to do the job where an electric welding was used. Later on Tuesday, Naddaf’s family categorically denied the report. “It only aims to discredit the reputation and the State Security apparatus,” they said in a statement. The State Security agency also issued a statement describing the reports as "totally baseless and aimed at misleading the investigation."

Lifting subsidies on commodities delayed as Lebanon awaits new government formation
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya EnglishTuesday 15 December 2020
Meetings between governmental figures and the General Labor Union in Lebanon were concluded with a decision to delay lifting subsidies on wheat and flour along with a set of alternative choices related to the subsidizing of fuel and medical supplies. Governmental figures and the General Labor Union agreed on not lifting subsidies on flour and wheat and not to classify the flour between what is intended for the manufacture of loaf bread and other derivatives. As for oil and fuel supply, a statement released by the Labor Union noted that negotiations are underway "vigorously and positively" with the Iraqi state to secure raw materials at low prices and extended repayment terms. "Diesel will not be subject to any taxation or increase in price. It seems that the negotiations will lead to a positive outcome soon," said Bechara al-Asmar, President of the General Labor Union in Lebanon, in a press conference after he met with Prime Minister Hassan Diab and other ministers. The two parties also agreed on reducing the bill of imported medicines while maintaining the subsidy on medications related to chronic diseases, thus reducing the bill by $250 million. The reduction decision needs a series of measures that will be followed up with the Minister of Health, medical unions, importers, pharmacists, and medical equipment importers to put them into practice. "Because we want to reach our goal of supporting all the poor and impoverished Lebanese people, and because the country is experiencing its saddest political, financial and economic days, and because we are betting on the conscience of the political class, and also because the option of holding a national strike is in our hands whenever we want and when matters are called for. Therefore, we announce the suspension of the comprehensive national general strike tomorrow, Wednesday," al-Asmar concluded his statement. Minister of Economy and Trade Raoul Nehme said that the central bank's foreign currency support is draining about $550 million from reserves and the negatives of the subsidy policy are the depletion and waste of public money, the decline in the central bank's reserves, smuggling and the lack of benefit for the poor. "Any Central Bank's decision to stop the injection of foreign currency leads to an increase in the demand for US dollars, and thus the deterioration of the Lebanese Lira's value. This would lead to an increase in prices. Therefore, there is no choice but to continue providing dollars until the formation of a government. Still, it is not possible to continue to support all commercial goods, and subsidizing must be replaced by a cash compensation program targeting the poor," Nehme concluded.

Lebanon’s path to new cabinet totally blocked: Speaker Berri
Reuters, BeirutTuesday 15 December 2020
The path to a new Lebanese government is completely blocked, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said in comments published on Tuesday, but he held out hope that French President Emmanuel Macron might be able to help in a forthcoming visit. Fractious politicians have been unable to agree on a new government since the last one quit in the aftermath of the Aug. 4 Beirut port explosion, leaving Lebanon rudderless as it sinks deeper into economic and financial crisis. “We have entered a tunnel and I don’t know how we will get out of it,” Berri told al-Joumhuria newspaper. “We are in a pitiful situation. The government situation is completely blocked.” Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri and President Michel Aoun aired their differences over the government in statements on Monday, each blaming the other for the delay. “Why this blockage? The answer certainly lies with the president and prime minister-designate,” said Berri, an ally of the armed Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah. “God willing, the French President Emmanuel Macron will be able to do something in his coming visit. We can only wait.”Macron is due to visit Lebanon later this month, his third visit since the devastating port explosion which worsened an economic crisis.
Caused by decades of corruption and bad governance, the financial meltdown is the worst crisis to hit Lebanon since its 1975-90 civil war. Following the blast, Macron led efforts to get Lebanese politicians to agree on a new government which could enact reforms and in turn unlock international support.
But Lebanese leaders have delivered no reforms. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Lebanon’s political and economic collapse was like the sinking of the Titanic, only without the music which it is believed the orchestra played as the ship went down.

Bassil Says ‘Love and Revenge’ Kind of Relation with Hariri
Naharnet/December 15/2020
Head of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Jebran Bassil described his relationship with PM-designate Saad Hariri as one of “love and revenge,” while on the other hand urging the judicial authority to pursue investigation into the port blast. "It is a relationship of love and revenge. Love is on my side and revenge is on his side,” said Bassil in remarks to French newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour on Tuesday. The MP urged Lebanon’s judiciary to pursue investigation into the Beirut port bombing until its final completion, criticizing attempts of some politicians to trigger political and sectarian tension in order to thwart the investigation. Bassil expressed belief that “there is a kind of arbitrariness and discretion in the recent judicial allegations issued by Judge Fadi Sawan,” the lead investigator into the August 4 colossal explosion. He said although he refuses violations against the premiership post--a seat reserved for a Sunni Muslim in the sectarian power-sharing system-- “but defending it should not go through sectarian mobilization.”“I am confident that no responsibility lies on caretaker PM Hassan Diab and the same applies to the defendant ministers and to the Customs,” he stated, pointing to “scrutiny,” in the probe and “how names of some employees in the Customs have been surprisingly excluded.”Regarding his position that the judicial investigator could request a hearing with President Michel Aoun, Bassil’s father-in-law, he said: “There are legal procedures and principles for this, but I do support that the President contact the judicial investigator and ask him to hear his testimony."

FPM Bloc Warns of 'Plots' to Halt Port Probe, Hits Out at Hariri
Naharnet/December 15/2020
The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday warned of the presence of “intentions, and perhaps plots, to impede the judicial investigation” into the Beirut port explosion. This might later “apply to the rest of the files that are before the judiciary, especially those related to the crimes of corruption and the waste of public funds,” said the bloc in a statement issued after its weekly e-meeting. Moreover, the bloc stressed “the need that the investigation answer the following questions: who brought the explosive material to Lebanon and how and why did that happen in addition to the real reasons behind the bombing incident.” “Limiting the issue to pinpointing the administrative responsibilities related to negligence and shortcomings without pinpointing the criminal responsibility resembles a second attack on the victims and on all Lebanese,” Strong Lebanon went on to say. Turning to the issue of the bickering over the formation of the new government, the bloc called on PM-designate Saad Hariri to “stop taking part in or creating problems, escalating stances and fabricating threats surrounding the premiership post.”“The bloc is keen on the premiership post like it is keen on all constitutional posts and it fears that the objective might be to erect sectarian walls aimed at halting the fight against corruption and inventing reasons to delay the formation of the government,” the bloc added. It accordingly called for “speeding up the adoption of the necessary norms and rules for the formation of the government instead of fabricating methods that are against the National Pact and the constitution.”

Lebanese Army Warns against Accepting 'Mossad' Friend Requests
Naharnet/December 15/2020
The Lebanese Army on Tuesday warned citizens against accepting Facebook friend requests from Israel’s Mossad spy agency. “A number of citizens have received Facebook friend requests and messages carrying the name of the Mossad and coming from the intelligence agency of the Israeli enemy,” an army statement said. The messages “included invitations to join the agency and communicate with it,” the statement added. “The Army Command warns citizens against being lured by these attempts and calls for refraining from heeding and responding to these requests under penalty of facing legal prosecution,” it cautioned.

Israeli Patrol Opens Fire towards Southern Lebanon
Naharnet/December 15/2020
An Israeli military patrol opened gunfire towards the outskirts of Mays el-Jabal in south Lebanon, in al-Berkeh neighborhood before returning to the Israeli side, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. NNA said the reasons for this behavior have not been known. The agency added that the troops positioned a Merkava tank on the Lebanese-Palestinian border opposite the town of Hula in al-Abbad neighborhood. Al-Jadeed TV station said the troops opened gunfire towards a 9-year-old boy, who lives with his family near the technical separation fence, who was chasing a hen that escaped from the coop. A Lebanese army patrol and UNIFIL troops arrived at the scene, and opened an investigation into the incident, said the TV station. Lebanon and Israel, still technically at war and with no diplomatic ties. The two have lately agreed to hold indirect sea border talks under U.N. and U.S. auspices to allow for offshore energy exploration.

Report: Berri Says Lebanon Entered the Dark 'Tunnel'
Naharnet/December 15/2020
Speaker Nabih Berri reflected pessimism on Tuesday in light of a government formation impasse and a crippling economic and financial crisis only growing intense every day. “The situation is not comforting at all (in Lebanon), we have entered a tunnel and I do not know how we are going to get out of it,” said Berri. He said that President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Saad Hariri “have the answers,” to the impasse. “The government situation is completely blocked, we are in a dire situation. Why this blockage? Indeed, the answer is with the President and the PM-designate,” he added. "God willing, French President Emmanuel Macron will be able to do something on his next visit, and we only have to wait,” noted Berri. Macron is expected to visit Lebanon on December 21-23. It would be his third visit to Lebanon after two trips he made in August after the port explosion. Macron urged Lebanese leaders to form a reform-oriented government of specialists to unlock funds and international assistance for the crisis-hit country. “The situation we have reached requires a speedy government formation,” emphasized the Speaker. Lebanon is grappling with an unprecedented economic crisis as a result of years of mismanagement and corruption.

TBHF pledges $2.37 million to reconstruct 142yearold St. George Hospital damaged in Beirut explosion
NNA/December 15/2020
Sharjah-based global humanitarian organization, The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), has announced the allocation of US$2,369,300 (8,702,912 AED) to support the reconstruction of the emergency and trauma (ERT) unit of the Saint George Hospital University Medical Center (SGHUMC) in Beirut that was rendered inoperative by the devastating explosion that shook the Lebanese capital in August 2020. The project falls under the Salam Beirut initiative, an emergency aid and relief campaign launched by Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah, Chairperson of The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF) and Eminent Advocate for Refugee Children at UNHCR, to boost local and internationally aided relief operations directed towards bringing normalcy back to the city of Beirut.
The reconstruction project was launched in December and is expected to be completed in three months, and will utilize TBHF's funding for both infrastructural development as well as for the purchase of medical and administrative equipment. Once complete, the newly built and fitted out ERT unit at SGHUMC which will be named after " The Big Heart Foundation" is expected to increase its capacity to treat 40,000 patients per year, which will allow the non-profit medical institution to expand its outreach and cater to the needs of the surrounding community.
A section of TBHF's funding will be used for the development of a new paediatric section that will include three regular paediatric cubicles, one paediatric resuscitation room and one paediatric isolation room. An isolation unit of international standards equipped to deal with all kinds of possible outbreaks including NRBC (Nuclear, Radiological, Biological and Chemical) will be constructed as part of the project, which will be equipped with the latest medical equipment. SGHUMC is a cornerstone, non-profit hospital that has served its community for 142 years. Standing only 900 metres away from the epicentre of the Port Beirut blast, it became non-operational for the first time since its establishment in 1878. Speaking about why Salam Beirut identified this hospital reconstruction project as one of its benefactors, Mariam Al Hammadi, Director of TBHF, said: "Saint George Hospital University Medical Center (SGHUMC) is a highly respected institution, one that embodies a strong sense of civic pride. TBHF chose SGHUMC for its historical and social relevance in the city of Beirut and beyond. A prestigious humanitarian landmark, it represents a tangible heritage of the city's cultural identity and has etched itself into the fabric of the Lebanese community, which it has been serving for more than a century. SGHUMC's long-standing history in delivering access to quality, free healthcare services, has made the 142-year-old non-profit hospital a haven for patients who are unable to afford the high costs of treatment for several ailments."
She added: "Boosting this prestigious non-profit medical institution's capacities falls in line with Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher Al Qasimi's consistent and strategic efforts to improve people's access to healthcare, especially for those who cannot afford expensive medical care, in this region and across the world. For our shared humanitarian goals and efforts to serve the maximum people in need with compassion and generosity, SGHUMC and TBHF are natural partners, and thus supporting this project is an extension of TBHF's moral responsibility. At TBHF, we believe that healthy communities are the foundation of sustainable peace and progress, and good, affordable and accessible medical care are a must to ensure this."-- TBHF

Aoun-Hariri’s 'war of words' casts gloom on Cabinet formation
Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star/December 15/2020
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri Monday engaged in a “war of words,” reflecting tensions between them and a widening gap over the makeup of a new government badly needed to enact reforms and rescue Lebanon’s crumbling economy.
The tensions between Aoun and Hariri, less than a week after the premier-designate submitted a draft Cabinet lineup to the president, and a raging juidicial row sparked by a prosecutor’s charges filed against caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three former ministers for negligence in the Beirut Port explosion, have dashed hopes for the formation of a new government ahead of a new visit to Lebanon by French President Emmanuel Macron next week. Macron is scheduled to visit Beirut on Dec. 22-23, marking his third trip to the crises-stricken country since the port blast.
Hariri issued a statement Monday shedding light for the first time on wide differences with Aoun over the shape of the Cabinet, including a demand for a veto power by the president and the Free Patriotic Movement. Hariri, who staunchly rejects granting any party veto power in the next government, also implicitly blamed Aoun’s son-in-law, FPM leader MP Gebran Bassil, for the obstruction of the Cabinet formation.
Hariri also disclosed that Aoun wanted a government in which all political parties are represented, which runs contrary to the premier-designate’s decision to exclude representatives of those parties. The statement issued by Hariri’s media office was in response to an “open letter” addressed by Aoun’s adviser, former minister Salim Jreissati, to the premier-designate. In the “open letter” published in An-Nahar newspaper Monday, Jreissati blamed Hariri for the delay in the Cabinet formation. “The prime minister-designate met with the president of the republic 12 times, in a relentless attempt to reach an understanding on the formation of the government. Each time, he would express his satisfaction with the discussion, but unfortunately, things would change when Premier Hariri left Baabda Palace,” the statement said. The statement pointed out that Hariri wanted “a government of nonpartisan specialists to stop the collapse of the country and rebuild what was destroyed by the port explosion” in line with the French initiative designed to steer Lebanon out of its worst economic and financial crisis since the 1975-90 Civil War.
“For his part, the president is asking for a government in which all political parties are represented, whether those who nominated the prime minister-designate or those that objected to his nomination, which will inevitably lead to controlling it and repeating the experiences of several governments controlled by quotas and political tensions,” the statement added. Hariri, during his last visit to Baabda Palace last Wednesday, presented Aoun with “a complete government lineup with names and portfolios, including four names from the list that the president presented to the prime minister-designate in their second meeting, a list that includes the names of candidates, men and women, considered suitable for the position by the president,” the statement said.
In what was seen as rejection of Hariri’s Cabinet lineup, Aoun handed the prime minister-designate “a complete Cabinet proposal containing a distribution of portfolios on the basis of clear principles.”The statement noted that Hariri had an “integrated program” to implement reforms that was waiting for Aoun’s signature of the Cabinet formation decrees. “Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, since his designation to form the government, has not stopped communicating with international funds, international financing institutions and the governments of brotherly and friendly countries, and now has an integrated program to launch a well-studied mechanism to stop the collapse and rebuild what was destroyed by the port explosion, implement reforms and approve essential laws such as the capital control law,” the statement said. “All this awaits the signature of the president of the republic on the decrees to form the government and putting aside the partisan interests pressuring him, especially the demand of a blocking third [veto power] by one party, which will never happen under any pretext,” it added. It was clearly referring to the FPM, which along with Aoun, was reported to demanding seven ministers in the proposed 18-member Cabinet that would grant it a veto power, or one-third of the 18 ministers plus one.The statement emphasized that Hariri’s goal was not to become prime minister, nor to form just any government, but rather to stop the country’s economic collapse and reconstruct Beirut after the massive Aug. 4 explosion that devastated Beirut Port, damaged half of the capital, killed nearly 200 people and injured thousands.
“This can only happen by implementing reforms that persuade the Lebanese and the international community to pull the country out from the pit in which it has been stumbling for a year and a half,” the statement said. “It would be better for [Aoun’s] adviser to address his letter to the party responsible for delaying the formation, which is steps away from his office in the presidential palace,” it added, referring to Bassil who reportedly has an office at Baabda Palace.
Responding to Hariri’s statement, the presidency’s media office said Aoun objected to the premier-designate’s unilateral decision to name ministers, especially Christian ministers, without an agreement with the president. “The objection expressed by the president of the republic was based mainly on the method of distributing ministerial portfolios among the sects, and the proposed names were not discussed,” said a statement issued by the presidency’s media office. “The president of the republic saw that the criteria are not uniform in the distribution of the portfolios, and he asked the PM-designate to reconsider them. President Aoun also objected to Prime Minister Hariri's unilateral naming of ministers, especially the Christian ministers, without an agreement with the president, noting that the Constitution stipulates that the formation of the government takes place by agreement between the president of the republic and the PM,” the statement said.
It added that Aoun did not deliver a list of names of potential ministers, rather, he proposed during the discussion a set of names that were included in a paper that the PM-designate presented for review. According to the statement, Aoun never presented the names of partisan candidates for the Cabinet. “He was asking the PM-designate to necessarily consult with the heads of parliamentary blocs who would give his government confidence and cooperate with him in the reform bills that the government intended to adopt,” the statement said. It added that Aoun never mentioned the control of the decision-making by parties involved or repeating the experiences of several governments controlled by the factors of quotas and political tensions. “His concern first and foremost was to reach a homogenous government that would be able to face the difficult conditions the country is going through, which require flexibility in dealing with frankness and realism and not stubbornness and distortion of facts,” the presidency’s statement added.
Later Monday night, Hariri’s media office issued a statement denying that the premier-designate acted unilaterally to name Christian ministers as claimed by the presidency’s statement. “The premier-designate received a list of candidates’ names for the Cabinet from the president in the second meeting between them and he chose four names of Christian figures, contrary to the [Baabda] palace’s statement that the premier-designate unilaterally named Christian ministers,” said the statement issued by Hariri’s media office. It added that Hariri also received from the president a specific proposal to reconsider the distribution of portfolios and to communicate with parliamentary blocs in a way that would lead to represent them in the Cabinet lineup and secure a veto power to one of the parties. The statement hoped that the presidency would issue instructions to stop manipulating the Cabinet formation process and to fine-tune advisers in order to facilitate the formation process. “Top priority is to emerge from the crisis and its economic repercussions and put the country on the real rescue path,” it added.

Hezbollah: A systematic violator of international law - opinion
Eli Bar-On/December 15/2020
In defiance of this basic principle of the law, Hezbollah makes no effort to hide its intention to kill and maim Israeli civilians.
The laws of armed conflict, also known as international humanitarian law, are the manifestation of the various norms the international community has adopted as the legal framework for conducting war in modern times.
This corpus of law was put in place to ensure that the unimaginable suffering to which humanity was exposed during the two world wars in the 20th century would not repeat itself. Accordingly, these laws strike a balance between militaries’ need to win the wars they engage in, and their obligation to do so while minimizing harm to civilians. A clear indication of how these laws value human life can be found in the principle of distinction, one of the key principles of the laws of war.
This principle obligates all belligerents to distinguish between combatants and civilians, and between military objectives and civilian objects, and to carry out attacks only against combatants and military objectives. Additionally, this principle states that combatants must distinguish themselves from the civilians around them (both enemy civilians and their own civilians), and they are forbidden from using the presence of civilians in their vicinity to render themselves immune from attack.
In defiance of this basic principle of the law, Hezbollah makes no effort to hide its intention to kill and maim Israeli civilians. One way it plans to do this is through cross-border ground raids in the next war with Israel. Hezbollah has repeatedly declared its intention of sending its elite Radwan Force death squads into the Galilee region, with the mission of attacking civilians.
The IDF’s uncovering of six large Hezbollah cross-border tunnels in 2018 exposed just how Hezbollah planned to carry out such an attack.
In order to terrorize citizens across the border, Hezbollah publications have shown the group’s terrorists holding signs saying that combat in Syria is merely a “practice run” for their planned cross-border killing raids into Israel.
Hezbollah’s intentions regarding its massive projectile arsenal are no different. The arsenal, replenished by Iran since the 2006 Second Lebanon War, has grown to 170,000 rockets and missiles, according to some estimates.
It includes unguided short-range projectiles, long-range rockets, and missiles with ranges of more than 300 km., as well as hundreds of attack drones. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has repeatedly threatened to use his long-range missiles to strike Israel’s nuclear power reactor in Dimona.
In what has become the top-priority conventional threat to Israel, Iran and Hezbollah are also engaged in an effort to build precision-guided munitions (PGMs). Iran has attempted to smuggle precision-guidance kits into Lebanon to ensure that Hezbollah’s projectiles reach their targets and the organization’s ammunition is not wasted.
Israeli military experts suggest that Hezbollah and Iran have succeeded in their efforts, at least to some extent, and Hezbollah is now in possession of a few dozen precision-guided missiles. Such a capability will allow Hezbollah to conduct pinpoint strikes in any future conflict with Israel and target the country’s top strategic assets.
Hezbollah can fire up to 4,000 projectiles a day, compared to a total of fewer than 4,000 rockets fired throughout the entirety of the 34-day conflict in 2006. Its surface-to-surface firepower capability is greater than that of 95% of the world’s militaries.
In 2006, with a significantly inferior arsenal, Hezbollah’s rockets hit Israeli schools, hospitals, and other civilian sites. Some 300,000 Israelis became internally displaced during the war. Forty-three civilians and 12 soldiers were killed inside Israel, thousands were injured, and major property damage was sustained.
In 2016, Nasrallah declared that he has his own version of an “atomic bomb,” in the form of a missile strike on Haifa’s ammonium storage site – which has since been emptied – that would result in the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians.
Consequently, in any future war, the IDF will have no choice but to operate deep in Lebanon – both through airstrikes and a ground campaign – to neutralize Hezbollah’s capabilities. Unfortunately, in light of Hezbollah’s modus operandi, and the multiple ways in which it disregards the laws of armed conflict to shield itself with Lebanese civilians, and to deliberately target Israeli civilians, it is inevitable that the Lebanese population will pay a price.
The question is whether the international community will recognize the flagrant violations by Hezbollah and its role in all but guaranteeing the suffering of the Lebanese population.
*The writer, a retired IDF colonel, is a publishing expert at MirYamInstitute.Org and a former deputy military advocate general of the IDF.

Revealed: $100m hunt for Hezbollah funds after Bulgarian bus bombing
Paul Peachey/The National/December 15/2020
Iran-backed terrorist group's assets sought for compensation to families of dead Israeli tourists.
A worldwide search is under way for Hezbollah assets to retrieve $100 million in court-ordered compensation for families of victims and survivors of a suicide bus bombing in Bulgaria that killed six people, The National can reveal. Lawyers instructed by about 50 people affected by the attack on a tour bus are considering legal action in the US, UK and elsewhere to try to pierce the veil around the funding of the Iran-backed terrorist group. A Bulgarian court sentenced two men in their absence to life imprisonment in September and ordered them to pay more than 100 million Bulgarian lev ($67m) to relatives of the six dead – five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver – and another 40 people wounded in the 2012 attack.Lawyers representing most of the victims said the total compensation package could reach $100m for the group’s first terrorist attack in Europe since the mid-1980s.
Yaki Rand, the lawyer acting for the families, said he was considering an appeal but believed the court’s initial ruling gave him enough scope to focus on Iran-supported Hezbollah's funds.
“We are looking all over the world for assets in each part of the world, in every country," Mr Rand said. "I don’t think it’s a good idea to share with everyone, including Hezbollah, our methods and our system to find these assets. As you can imagine, we have techniques on how to find them.
“At this moment, the judgment is against the two terrorists without Hezbollah. "We know there’s a huge linkage and there’s more evidence. We will see what we can do later. An appeal against the verdict is one of the options."Mr Rand has already lodged legal claims in the Israeli courts against two Iranian banks and the state of Iran, which the victims allege failed to take steps that could have prevented the attacks. The lawsuit also targets an Iranian airline that provides logistical support and carries weapons on behalf of Hezbollah, Mr Rand said.
A Bulgarian judge made the order against two surviving members of the bombing team but lawyers for the victims will pursue Hezbollah to try to secure the money. Experts in Hezbollah funding spoke of the difficulties in trying to seize the group’s assets, which come from sources including personal donations, illegal drugs operations, couriered cash and funding from Iran.
The Bulgaria bus bombing prompted the EU to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organisation but some countries, including France, the home of the suicide bomber, resisted proscribing the group to avoid antagonising its leaders, while seeking to secure political reforms in Lebanon.
Hunt for the attack's masterminds Critics said the attack highlighted Hezbollah’s ability to strike beyond its borders amid US claims that the group has been stockpiling ammonium nitrate, the chemical used in the Bulgarian bombing, in Europe. French-Lebanese citizen Mohamad El Husseini died when his explosive-filled rucksack blew up at a parked tourist bus at the airport of the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Burgas.His father was a Hezbollah financier, the court was told. The two men sentenced to jail in their absence were key organisers for the attack. Bulgarian prosecutors were unable to establish if El Husseini or his accomplices triggered the fatal explosion. Witnesses said the bomber, with the Israeli tourists, was trying to put his backpack in the luggage compartment when it exploded. Meliad Farah, 39, a Lebanese-Australian former car salesman, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Lebanese-Canadian, were convicted for their roles in the attack and ordered to pay compensation to the victims.
Their current whereabouts are unknown but the men are the subject of Interpol red notices requesting that member states detain them.
Prosecutors said they had “links to the radical wing of the Shiite group Hezbollah”.
Bulgarian law does not allow for organisations to be prosecuted but the legal teams are seeking court permission to proceed. “If an appeal does not succeed, we have already checked with the US and it’s possible to execute the verdict as it is, but we want to improve our legal situation,” Mr Rand said.
Meliad Farah, 39, a Lebanese-Australian former car salesman, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Lebanese Canadian, were convicted this year of plotting the attack. Meliad Farah, 39, a Lebanese-Australian former car salesman, and Hassan El Hajj Hassan, 32, a Lebanese Canadian, were convicted this year of plotting the attack. Lawyers also issued a claim against an accountancy firm that Mr Rand said “closed its eyes when a bank in Lebanon gave support to Hezbollah and its financial systems”. Analysts said Hezbollah was traditionally a step ahead of investigators in the US, Israel and the West, with the group quickly adapting to efforts to pinpoint its financial sources. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in a televised speech this month, shrugged off the effects of US sanctions, saying the group did not keep money in banks or travel abroad often. “When we start to counter them, they have always prepared for that,” said David Daoud, a research analyst at the US-based group United Against Nuclear Iran, which tracks Hezbollah. “In a lot of ways that Hezbollah operates abroad, it creates room for plausible deniability. “If you catch the person carrying out the illegal act of smuggling drugs, you have to go through multiple steps to get it back to Hezbollah. "And Hezbollah doesn’t recognise the jurisdiction of US courts.”
Updated: December 16, 2020 03:13 AM

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 15-16/2020

It’s Official: Joe Biden Secures Enough Electors To Become The 46th President
Alanna Vagianos·Women's Reporter, HuffPost/December 15, 2020,

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/joe-biden-electors-46th-president-223107437.html?.tsrc=bell-brknews
Joe Biden has officially secured enough electoral votes to become the next president of the United States.
Biden crossed the Electoral College’s 270-vote threshold on Monday, confirming his win in the Nov. 7 election. In total, Biden received 306 electoral votes and Donald Trump received 232.
The elector votes will be officially tallied during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.
Just as he did in election projections, state certifications, recounts and numerous lawsuits, Donald Trump lost. “If anyone didn’t know it before, they know now,” Biden said from Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday night. “What beats deep in the hearts of the American people is this: democracy, the right to be heard, to have your vote counted, to choose the leaders of this nation, to govern ourselves.” Under normal circumstances, this step in the process would not be big news, as the clear loser would have already conceded. But Trump — who got nearly 7 million fewer votes than Biden, and has not raised a single credible voting irregularity — has refused to acknowledge his defeat, and has desperately tried to overturn the results. Before and after Election Day, Trump cast doubt on the integrity of the U.S. voting system, repeatedly and baselessly calling mail-in ballots fraudulent. Trump’s campaign filed dozens of election lawsuits in multiple states, losing nearly all 60 of them. It’s unclear whether the electoral votes will influence congressional Republicans, most of whom are following Trump’s lead in claiming that election results are still up in the air.
“This year, it seems as if Joe Biden has had to be declared the winner of the presidential election again and again and again ― and still, our Republican colleagues have not fully come to grips with that reality,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Monday on the Senate floor. “Just how many times does President Trump have to lose before rank-and-file Republicans, before most senators acknowledge that Joe Biden will be the next president of the United States?”
Some Republican senators cautiously acknowledged Biden as the next president after he passed the 270 mark. “As soon as he crosses the 270 vote threshold ― I mean, there are still a couple of last steps in the process ― but in my view, that’s how in this country we decide presidential elections, that’s our Constitution, and I believe in following the Constitution,” Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters Monday. When asked after the Electoral College vote if she acknowledged Biden as president-elect, Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.) told reporters: “It certainly looks that way, and I think it’s time to turn the page and begin a new administration.” Sen. John Cornyn of Texas said he also considers Biden to be president-elect, barring “any other litigation that could occur between now and January 20.”
Although the country has known for weeks that Biden would likely become the 46th president, the Constitution requires the Electoral College to pick the president, not voters. The Electoral College is made up of 538 electors ― people picked in all 50 states by state parties. Some electors are political heavyweights like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams, while others are from other walks of life. “I believe we should abolish the Electoral College and select our president by the winner of the popular vote, same as every other office,” Clinton, a New York elector, tweeted on Monday afternoon. “But while it still exists, I was proud to cast my vote in New York for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.” Clinton, who won the popular vote but lost the presidential election in 2016, is one of many Democrats who have called to end the Electoral College because it is inherently undemocratic. For example, if around 80,000 votes in a few key states were different, Biden would be the Electoral College loser despite his 7 million-vote win. Though Trump still hasn’t conceded, Biden celebrated the electoral win as a win for democracy during his speech Monday night.
“In America, politicians don’t take power. People grant power to them,” he said. “The flame of democracy was lit in this nation a long time ago. And we now know that nothing — not even a pandemic or an abuse of power — can extinguish that flame.”

*Igor Bobic contributed reporting.

Republican Senate Leader Congratulates Biden on Election Win
Agence France Presse/December 15, 2020,
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday, dealing a blow to any lingering hopes Donald Trump may have had of reversing his election defeat. "The Electoral College has spoken," the powerful senator from Kentucky said in a speech on the Senate floor. "So today I want to congratulate president-elect Joe Biden."

Trump Aide Kushner Heads to Israel, Morocco after Deal on Ties
Agence France Presse/December 15, 2020,
Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor, will visit Israel and Morocco next week to discuss the normalization of ties between the two countries, a U.S. official told AFP Tuesday. The American delegation, headed by Kushner, will take the first direct commercial flight from Tel Aviv to Rabat, the source said. Kushner is expected Monday in Israel. Morocco last week announced a "resumption of relations" with Israel, in an announcement making it the fourth Arab country this year to unveil plans to normalize ties with Tel Aviv through a U.S.-brokered deal, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. The announcement came after Trump tweeted that Rabat and the Jewish state had agreed to "full diplomatic relations."That followed Trump's recognition of Morocco's contested sovereignty in Western Sahara, infuriating the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which controls about one-fifth of the vast, arid region. Western Sahara is a disputed and divided former Spanish colony, mostly under Morocco's control, where tensions with the pro-independence Polisario have simmered since the 1970s. The movement has dismissed Trump's announcement and vowed to fight on until Moroccan forces withdraw from the entire region.
 

Biden Says He'll Receive Coronavirus Vaccination Publicly Soon
Agence France Presse/December 15, 2020,
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that he will receive a coronavirus vaccination publicly and that top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci has recommended it be "sooner than later.""I want to make sure we do it by the numbers and when I do it, you'll have notice and we'll do it publicly," Biden told reporters before leaving for Georgia to campaign for two Democratic Senate candidates."Dr. Fauci recommends I get the vaccine sooner than later," the 78-year-old President-elect said. More than 300,000 people have died from Covid-19 in the US and a winter surge is continuing across much of the country. The US kicked off a mass vaccination drive on Monday and the authorities hope to immunize 20 million people this month, with health care workers and long-term care residents at the front of the line. Authorities want to reach the rest of the population by summer, but much will depend on vaccine confidence. Experts estimate more than 70 percent of people will need to be vaccinated to stem the outbreak.

With Eye on Iran, Israel Tests Missile Defense System
Associated Press/December 14, 2020,
Israel's Defense Ministry said Tuesday it successfully conducted a series of live fire drills with its multi-range missile-defense system, providing protection against threats posed by arch-enemy Iran and its proxies along Israel's northern and southern borders. Defense officials said it was the first time they have conducted an integrated test bringing together the various components. They are the "Arrow," which intercepts long-range missiles; "David's Sling," meant to shoot down medium-range missiles; and the "Iron Dome," which has been used for years to defend against incoming rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Moshe Patel, head of Israel's Middle Defense Organization, said the drill "demonstrated a multi-layered approach to dealing with threats" that incorporates all three systems. "Using this approach, a variety of threats may be identified and intercepted via full coordination and interoperability between the systems," he said.
Israel faces a wide range of rocket and missile threats from Palestinian militants in Gaza, from the Iranian-backed Hizbullah in neighboring Lebanon, and from Iran. Officials have expressed concerns about Iran's development of long-range weapons and what they say are Hizbullah attempts to import or develop guided missiles capable of striking virtually anywhere in Israel with great precision. Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav, head of the Israeli Air Force's air defense program, said the drill had simulated a series of threats and involved complex human and computerized decision making. He said it was a major accomplishment to intercept a cruise missile, which he said are tricky targets because of their speed, altitude and maneuverability. "What was special with this test is that it was a live drill dealing with a concrete scenario. You can understand the geopolitical situation in the Middle East has changed," he said. "It advances us operationally and technologically, and allows us to absorb these advanced systems into the air force, carry out evaluation and training and knowledge so that we can get better." Israel has developed the various missile defenses in conjunction with the United States. Tuesday's drill was conducted with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, officials said. The test was conducted over the Mediterranean Sea and tested the systems' capability to intercept a range of aerial targets from drones to larger and longer range ballistic missiles. Pini Yungman, head of the air and missile defense division at state-owned Israeli defense contractor Rafael, said the results were "magnificent" and "all the targets were destroyed in all the tests, and no threat, no target remained in the air after the interception." Patel said it was "too early" to begin selling these weapons systems to Israel's new allies in the Middle East - the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. "This is something that can be considered potentially in the future."

Israel’s historic missile test: A message to Iran, Hezbollah, allies
The Jerusalem Post/December 15/2020
Today’s warfare is not about hunting down terrorists in buildings or using tanks, it is also about confronting hi-tech missiles and drones
Israel’s Missile Defense Organization and the US Missile Defense Agency have successfully completed an unprecedented, historic test designed to confront multiple threats using a multitiered system. Nothing like this has ever been reported to have been done before, and it represents a response to the latest threats emerging in the region.
The test comes in the wake of Iran using cruise missiles and drones to attack Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil facilities a year ago. That drone-swarm attack was a chance for Iran to show off its capabilities. Reports also indicated Iran sent ballistic missiles to militias in Iraq in 2018 and 2019 and that it sends precision-guided munitions to Syria and to Hezbollah in Lebanon. It also has drones that it has used from the T-4 base in Syria against Israel in 2018. The threat matrix is changing, and among today’s enemies, Iran is Israel’s main regional adversary with multiple complex missiles and drones. To confront these myriad threats, Israel needs its own complex multitiered system. Iron Dome has worked for 10 years to confront close-range threats and is the workhorse of Israel’s air defenders. David’s Sling, which is supposed to face higher-level threats and is similar to the US’s Patriot batteries, uses an impressive interceptor to stop enemy missiles. Both David’s Sling and Iron Dome are built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Israel’s traditional research and development defense behemoth. Together with ELTA radar from IAI and other systems from Elbit, this exercise over recent weeks showcased Israel’s world-class defense companies and cooperation with allies such as the United States.
It is important to understand that the defense systems were used in this manner in the context of the emerging threats and Israel’s new ties in the Gulf and as the current US administration is leaving office. Israel rolled out the Momentum plan between late 2019 and early 2020. It calls for a dedicated IDF general to focus on “third circle” threats. Third circle is the term Israel uses to describe Iran or countries that lie beyond the direct area of engagement from Gaza to the Golan Heights. Israel’s historic mode of warfare has mainly been on land against enemies along the borders, from the tank battles of the 1950s and ’60s to the Palestinian insurgency of 2000, the Second Intifada. However, today’s warfare is not about hunting down terrorists in buildings or using tanks; it is also about confronting hi-tech missiles and drones.
These modern threats have been on display as Hezbollah stockpiled 150,000 missiles and rockets. The recent war in the Caucasus also showcased how drones can transform war. That is why everyone in the region now wants missiles and missile-defense systems. The United Arab Emirates is seeking to upgrade its systems through its purchase of F-35s from the US and many more drones and missiles. This illustrates that Israel’s missile-defense test has major ramifications for its new relations with Gulf states. But not only Israel needs missile defense. Saudi Arabia has used Patriots supplied by the US in recent years, and the US in Iraq also needed to deploy a system called C-RAM to confront rocket threats from Iranian-backed militias. Add all this together and you can see a rapidly changing region in need of the kind of defense technology that Israel has developed with US backing.
The US is a partner in the Arrow and David’s Sling programs and has supported Iron Dome. But the latter is a unique Israeli solution, and together with David’s Sling, Israel is able to cover almost 100% of potential incoming threats.
This means that when an enemy launches missiles or drones, the multitiered system will kick in with sensors, such as radar tracking the threats and displaying them on a map, forming an integrated picture of the threat and of the systems capable of stopping them. Arrow and David’s Sling combine to cover long-range threats, whereas Iron Dome batteries are a point defense that can defend a certain area. By deploying Iron Dome batteries at the right locations with radar on land and at sea, such as aboard the Sa’ar 5 and new Sa’ar 6 ships, Israel bolsters its massive multilayered defense umbrella.
This drill in the lead-up to Hanukkah showcased what Israel has accomplished in the last decade. Israeli missile defense has its origins in the 1990s, and close cooperation with the US led us here. However, it is important to note that the real revolution took place in the last decade through a unique partnership with companies such as Rafael and Israel’s decision to correctly anticipate emerging threats and invest in staying at least one step ahead of the enemy. Iran can’t blackmail the region as long as Israel can increasingly build and deploy these systems.
That is important because as the end of the Trump administration nears, the Iranian octopus of threats in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen appears to be growing, and it is chomping at the bit to begin a new reign of terror if it feels it is being appeased by the West.
Israel has the most hi-tech array of defense systems ever fielded in world history. But the question, as always, will be how these systems perform in real scenarios. That means also using Arrow as part of these drills, rather than conducting tests at sea or with the Arrow system’s sensors being used but without the actual missile. This is a struggle because real-world threats come in over mountainous areas, like the Golan, with drones or missiles trying to hide by being close to the ground. The recent test was a game changer, but the threats will continue until these systems are put to the test on the battlefield.

Text of Treasury Department press release: Treasury sanctions senior Iranian intelligence officers involved in the abduction and detention of Robert Levinson
Treasury Sanctions Senior Iranian Intelligence Officers Involved in the Abduction and Detention of Robert Levinson
December 14, 2020
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated two senior officials of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who were involved in the abduction of Robert A. “Bob” Levinson on Iran’s Kish Island on or about March 9, 2007. For 13 years, the Iranian government, which continues to take foreigners and dual-nationals hostage as political leverage, has denied knowledge of Mr. Levinson’s whereabouts or condition. However, senior Iranian officials authorized Levinson’s abduction and detention and launched a disinformation campaign to deflect blame from the Iranian regime. The individuals designated today, Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, acted in their capacity as MOIS officers in the abduction, detention, and probable death of Mr. Levinson.
“The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States will always prioritize the safety and security of the American people and will continue to aggressively pursue those who played a role in Mr. Levinson’s detention and probable death.”“The government of Iran pledged to provide assistance in bringing Bob Levinson home, but it has never followed through. The truth is that Iranian intelligence officers —with the approval of senior Iranian officials — were involved in Bob’s abduction and detention,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. “While no one should be as cruelly treated as Bob was, this situation is personal because Bob served as a special agent for 22 years and will always be a part of the FBI family. We will never waver from our commitment to find out more about Bob’s long captivity, to give the Levinson family the answers they deserve, and to finally bring Bob home.”
The MOIS has been designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13553 for being complicit in the commission of serious human rights abuses against the Iranian people since June 12, 2009, as well as previously designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to E.O. 13224.
Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai
Mohammad Baseri is a high-ranking MOIS officer involved in counterespionage activities in and outside of Iran, who has been involved in sensitive investigations related to Iranian national security issues. Baseri has worked directly with intelligence officials from other countries in order to harm U.S. interests. Ahmad Khazai is a high-ranking member of the MOIS who, in his role as a senior official of the MOIS, has led MOIS delegations to other countries to assess the security situation.
Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, acting in their capacity as MOIS officers, were involved in the abduction, detention, and probable death of Mr. Levinson.
OFAC is designating Baseri and Khazai pursuant to E.O. 13553 for acting for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Iran’s MOIS.
Sanctions Implications
All property and interests in property of these persons that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons must be blocked and reported to OFAC. OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all dealings by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked or designated persons. In addition, non-U.S. persons that engage in certain transactions with the persons designated today may themselves be exposed to designation. Furthermore, any foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates a significant transaction for or on behalf of the persons designated today could be subject to U.S. correspondent or payable-through account sanctions.

U.S. imposes sanctions on two Iranians for abduction, probable death of former FBI agent Robert Levinson
Carol Morello/The Washington Post/December 15/2020
The Trump administration imposed sanctions Monday on two Iranian intelligence officials it holds responsible for the abduction, detention and probable death of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran almost 14 years ago.
Senior U.S. officials provided no evidence for their claims, so as not to compromise intelligence sources. The two officials designated are high-ranking officers in the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, the Iranian equivalent of the CIA.
The U.S. officials said the decision to publicly assign blame in Levinson’s disappearance now, in the final weeks of President Trump’s time in office, was related to new information and the lengthy process of getting government lawyers to approve the decision.
But the timing also appears to be an attempt to narrow the parameters of any potential negotiations if President-elect Joe Biden seeks to rejoin the nuclear agreement with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018. At least three Americans are currently detained in Iran.
Biden has vowed to quickly restore the Iran nuclear deal, but that may be easier said than done
“There should be no agreement negotiated with Iran ever again that doesn’t free Americans who are unjustly detained in that country,” said one of the senior U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity under rules imposed by the White House. “We all expect negotiations next year. That negotiation must include the return home of all the Americans unjustly detained in that country.”
Levinson, who would be 72 if he is alive, disappeared under murky circumstances in March 2007 while on Kish Island, a tourist spot off the coast of Iran. He was there on an unauthorized trip for the CIA to gather intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program.
Levinson, who had spent 28 years working for the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration, was last seen alive nearly a decade ago when he appeared in a hostage video dressed in an orange prison suit. The Iranian government has repeatedly denied any involvement in his abduction and detention.
But both the Levinson family and U.S. officials who work on hostage matters have for some time concluded that he died in captivity. The State and Justice departments have jointly offered $25 million for information leading to his discovery and return. U.S. officials told reporters they hoped naming the Iranian intelligence officers, Mohammad Baseri and Ahmad Khazai, would encourage more people to come forward with tips leading to his location.
“The truth is that Iranian intelligence officers — with the approval of senior Iranian officials — were involved in Bob’s abduction and detention,” FBI Director Christopher A. Wray said in a statement released by the Treasury Department. “While no one should be as cruelly treated as Bob was, this situation is personal because Bob served as a special agent for 22 years and will always be a part of the FBI family. We will never waver from our commitment to find out more about Bob’s long captivity, to give the Levinson family the answers they deserve, and to finally bring Bob home.”
The Treasury Department said Baseri and Khazai were involved in Levinson’s abduction, which it said was authorized by senior Iranian officials.
“The abduction of Mr. Levinson in Iran is an outrageous example of the Iranian regime’s willingness to commit unjust acts,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said.
The Levinson family issued a poignant statement thanking the Trump administration — particularly the men and women of the FBI who have worked on his case — and made clear that they, too, believe he has died.
“Robert Levinson will never come home to his family alive because of the cruel, cynical and inhumane actions of the Iranian authorities,” the statement said. “Because of these men and others like them, our wonderful husband, father and grandfather died alone, thousands of miles from everyone he loved. This is just one step in a long road toward achieving justice for him, but it is an important one.”
“No matter how long it takes,” they added, “we will find the individuals who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, and we will hold them accountable.”
Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have been harshly critical of the Obama administration for finalizing the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran without demanding information on Levinson and the release of Baquer Namazi, 84, and his son Siamak. The Namazis, who hold dual citizenship, have languished in an Iranian prison for more than five years after being convicted of ­espionage-related charges. Morad Tahbaz, an Iranian American conservationist, was seized in 2018 and convicted the following year for “contacts with the U.S. enemy government.”
“The Iranian regime has a 41-year history of abducting and detaining foreigners and dual-nationals as political leverage,” Pompeo said in a separate statement. “We reiterate our strong warning to U.S. citizens and dual-nationals that traveling to Iran may jeopardize their personal safety. The abduction, detention, and probable death of Mr. Levinson is another egregious example of the regime’s callous disregard toward human life.”
Relations between Washington and Tehran have been on a downward spiral since Trump withdrew from the nuclear accord and began imposing a long string of sanctions aimed at getting Iran to renegotiate the nuclear deal, stop arming militants in the region and rein in its ballistic missile testing. Even as Iran’s economy has crumbled, the government has stepped up its nuclear program beyond the limits it agreed to in the nuclear deal.
As the Trump administration’s days dwindle, the United States has accelerated its “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions on Iran, so far to no avail.
*Carol Morello is the diplomatic correspondent for The Washington Post, covering the State Department. She previously wrote about demographics and the census. She has worked at The Post since 2000. Before that, she was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and USA Today. Follow
 

U.S. Hits Alleged Iran-Backed Bahrain Group with Sanctions
Agence France Presse/December 15/2020
The Trump administration on Tuesday slapped sanctions on an alleged Iranian-backed Shiite group in Bahrain that it accuses of trying to overthrow Bahrain's government and plotting terrorist attacks on Americans in the country, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. The State and Treasury departments announced the sanctions as part of an administration-wide push to ramp up pressure on Iran before President Donald Trump leaves office next month. The sanctions freeze any assets the Saraya al-Mukhtar group has within U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing any business with it or its members."Saraya al-Mukhtar's self-described goal is to depose the Bahraini government with the intention of paving the way for Iran to exert greater influence in Bahrain," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. "This action notifies the U.S. public and the international community that Saraya al-Mukhtar poses a significant risk of committing acts of terrorism." Bahrain's Sunni government has long accused Iran of fomenting unrest in the country. While Iran has not directly seized or targeted a tanker in recent months as it did last year, a mine struck an oil tanker off Saudi Arabia and a cargo ship near Yemen came under assault recently. Suspicion for that immediately fell on Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for being behind both attacks. The Houthis have not commented on either

Pompeo accuses Russia of sowing 'chaos' in the Mediterranean
NNA/AFP/December 15/2020
America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo on Tuesday accused Russia of continuing to "threaten Mediterranean stability" and sowing "chaos, conflict and division" in countries around the region. In a statement on "Russian Influence in the Mediterranean," the outgoing Secretary of State responded to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who he said "accused the United States of playing political games" in the region. Lavrov "again gets the facts wrong and attempts to rewrite history," Pompeo said, denouncing Moscow's actions in Libya, Greece and Syria. In Libya, he said, the US "supports the formation of an inclusive government that can secure the country and meet the economic and humanitarian needs of the Libyan people," and is working with the United Nations towards that goal. "Russia on the other hand undermines Mediterranean domestic politics, supports Syria's brutal dictator, and fuels Libya's conflict with its proxy. Who is playing games here?" he added on Twitter. He elaborated in the statement, saying: "Russia continues to threaten Mediterranean stability using a variety of techniques to spread disinformation, undermine national sovereignty, and sow chaos, conflict, and division within countries throughout the region."Outgoing US President Donald Trump was never really able to keep his promise to improve relations with Russia, stumbling over accusations of Russian interference in his 2016 victory and the bipartisan hostility of American politicians against the Kremlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin waited more than a month to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on his victory against Trump in the November 3 US presidential election. "For my part, I am ready for collaboration and contacts with you," Putin told Biden in a congratulatory telegram on Tuesday, according to a Kremlin statement.--

Bomb kills deputy governor in Afghan capital Kabul
NNA/AFP/December 15/2020
A deputy governor of Kabul province and his aide were killed on Tuesday (Dec 15) by a bomb in the Afghan capital, officials said, the latest in a wave of targeted killings in the country. Mr Mahbobullah Mohebi was killed when a bomb attached to his vehicle detonated while he was on his way to his office, the interior ministry said. His secretary, who was travelling with him, was also killed and two bodyguards were wounded. Violence has raged across the country since the Taleban and Afghan government launched peace talks in Qatar in September. Peace talks have been paused until January, with government negotiators expected to return to Kabul from Qatar this week to meet senior officials. mAfghanistan - and especially Kabul - have seen a spate of murders of prominent figures, including journalists, clerics, politicians and rights activists. In a separate attack in Kabul on Tuesday, a policeman was killed and two others wounded when gunmen attacked their checkpoint, officials said.

Record number of journalists jailed in 2020, says watchdog
NNA/ AFP/December 15/2020
A record number of journalists were behind bars this year, a US-based watchdog said Tuesday, accusing governments worldwide of suppressing the media and fueling misinformation amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The annual report by the Committee to Protect Journalists found that 274 journalists were imprisoned in 2020 -- the highest number since the non-profit organisation began its survey in the 1990s. The report also found that 26 journalists and media workers had been murdered this year, with Mexico listed as the world's most dangerous country for the press. "It's shocking and appalling," CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said in a statement. "This wave of repression is a form of censorship that is disrupting the flow of information and fueling the infodemic," he added. The worst offender was China for the second consecutive year, the survey found, with 47 reporters behind bars and where authorities only last week detained a Bloomberg employee on suspicion of endangering national security. Other top jailers were Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, with Belarus and Ethiopia -- where popular unrest and armed conflict flared this year -- also seeing sharp increases in the number of reporters behind bars.--

After Arab Spring, a Decade of Upheaval and Lost Hopes
Associated Press/December 15/2020
It's all been erased so completely, so much blood has been shed and destruction wreaked over the past decade. The idea that there was a moment when millions across the Middle East wanted freedom and change so much that they took to the streets seems like romantic nostalgia.
"It was very brief, man. It was so brief," said Badr Elbendary, an Egyptian activist. Elbendary was blinded on the third day of his country's revolt in 2011, when security forces shot him in the face. It happened during a clash that became iconic among Egypt's "revolutionaries," when protesters and police battled on a bridge over the Nile in Cairo for hours, ending with the police scattering. Today, he's in the United States. He can't return home. Many of his comrades from the protests languish in prisons in Egypt. In December 2010, the uprising began in Tunisia and quickly spread from country to country in revolts against longtime authoritarian rulers. It became known as the Arab Spring, but for those who took to the streets, the call was "revolution." The uprisings were about more than just removing autocrats. At their heart, they were a mass demand by the public for better governance and economies, rule of law, greater rights and, most of all, a voice in how their countries are run. For a time after 2011, the surge toward those dreams seemed irreversible. Now they are further than ever. Those who keep the faith are convinced that yearning was real and remains — or is even growing as people across the Arab world struggle with worsening economies and heavier repression. Eventually, they say, it will emerge again. "We have lowered our dreams," said Amani Ballour, a Syrian doctor who ran an underground clinic treating casualties in the opposition enclave of Ghouta outside Damascus until it collapsed under a long, brutal siege by Syrian government forces in 2018. She was evacuated with other residents to northwest Syria, and from there she left the country. "The spirit of the demonstrations may be over for now ... But all those who suffered from the war, from the regime's repression, they won't put up with it," she said from Germany. "Even in the areas controlled by the regime, there is great frustration and anger building up among the people."
"Eventually" could be years.
The region is traumatized and exhausted by its most destructive decade of the modern era, perhaps the most destructive in centuries. Across Syria, Yemen and Iraq, millions have lost their homes in war and struggle to find livelihoods, educate their children or even to feed themselves. Armed factions have proliferated in those countries and Libya, raking in money and recruiting young people who find few other options. Poverty rates have risen around the region, especially with the coronavirus pandemic. Activists and analysts have had a decade to pore over why it went wrong. Secular liberals failed to present a cohesive front or leadership. Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood overplayed their hand. Labor organizations, neutered by decades of autocratic rule, couldn't step up as a powerful mobilizer or political force. It's perhaps no coincidence that the countries with some success, Tunisia and Sudan, both had strong labor and professional movements. The international scene was pitted against the uprisings. The United States and Europe were muddled in their responses, torn between their rhetoric about backing democracy and their interest in stability and worries about Islamists. In the end, they largely listened to the latter.
Gulf monarchies used oil wealth to smother any revolutionary tide and back reactionary powers. Russia, Iran, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates waded into the region's wars, either sending their own forces or arming factions. Ultimately, few expected just how wide some leaders were willing to throw open the gates of Hell to keep power. Syria's Bashar Assad proved the most ruthless. Faced with armed rebellion, he and his Russian and Iranian allies decimated cities, and he used chemical weapons on his own people, clawing back Syria's heartland and main cities and preserving his rule.
In Yemen, strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh was forced to step down in late 2011 in the face of the protests. But he soon tried to regain power by allying with his longtime enemy, the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels. Together, they captured the capital and Yemen's north, pulling Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries into a U.S.-backed campaign to rescue the government.
The resulting civil war has been catastrophic, killing tens of thousands and pushing the population toward starvation in the world's worst ongoing humanitarian disaster. Saleh himself was killed by the Houthis when they suspected him of turning on them. In Libya, the U.S. and European countries retreated from involvement after their bombardment helped bring down Moammar Gadhafi. The oil-rich Mediterranean nation promptly collapsed into a constantly shape-shifting civil war. Over the years, it has involved the many local militias, units of the old national army, al-Qaida, the Islamic State group, Russian mercenaries and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters, with at least two — at one point three — rival claimant governments.
Europe's main priority has been to stop the flow of African migrants from Libya across the Mediterranean. So Libya has become a horrific dead end for thousands of men and women trying to migrate from Central and East Africa only to find themselves locked up and tortured by militiamen.
Syria's civil war gave al-Qaida's former Iraq branch, rebranded as the Islamic State group, a theater in which to build strength. From there it overran a swath of Syria and Iraq and declare the creation of an Islamic "caliphate" — opening up yet another war that wreaked destruction in Iraq.
In Egypt, President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi often points to the wreckage around the region to bolster one of his key claims to legitimacy — "without me, chaos."El-Sissi has taken the lesson from 2011 that even the slightest opening gives a foothold for turmoil, often saying stability is needed while he reshapes the economy. It's an argument that resonates among many Egyptians, shaken not only by wars in Syria and Libya but also Egypt's turmoil for years after Hosni Mubarak's fall.
The result has been repression of dissent far beyond what was seen under Mubarak. The crushing of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamists included a brutal attack on a sit-in that left hundreds dead. In recent years, his government has arrested secular activists and others, often bringing them before terrorism court.
Still, even with much of the region deep in the counter-Arab Spring era, uprisings for change erupt. Massive protests spread around Lebanon and Iraq in late 2019 and early 2020, with crowds demanding entire ruling classes be removed. In Sudan, protesters forced out longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir. Learning a lesson from 2011, they kept up their protests, trying to dislodge the military from power as well. They were only partially successful. Those revolts point to how the ambitions of the initial uprisings still echo around the region. But for the time being, even incremental change often seems too much to hope for. Rather than real democracy, "my dream before I die is to see less torture, fewer arrests, and a real, better economy," said Ramy Yaacoub, who was involved in Egypt's protests and post-revolution politics during the heady days after Mubarak's fall.
"This is as realistic as I can be."
"Change is not overnight. I don't want to be all wonky and say the French Revolution took decades, but it did. It doesn't happen over a year or two," said Yaacoub, who founded and now heads the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Studies in Washington. Some activists have turned to improving themselves, studying and building skills, keeping away despair. Elbendary has regained partial sight in one eye — though he said it jarred him after getting accustomed to blindness. In the years since leaving Egypt, he has been doing consulting work on community organizing, policy research, independent media development and conflict resolution around the region. A brief visit home to Egypt in late 2018 and early 2019 made it clear it wasn't safe for him to stay. Now in Washington, he wrestles with exile. He still celebrates the uprising as "my rebirth" in his Twitter bio. The hope lies with a generation gaining knowledge that can one day benefit their homelands.But when? Several years at the most optimistic, he said — not for real change, "for a slight opening, a slight margin where we can breathe."

Iraqi Activist Shot Dead in Baghdad
Agence France Presse/December 15/2020
An Iraqi anti-government protester was shot dead in east Baghdad by masked gunmen on Tuesday evening, according to a security source, a medic and an activist network. Salah al-Iraqi was well-known for his active role in the rallies that erupted in Iraq's capital and the Shiite-majority south last year, slamming the government as corrupt, inefficient and beholden to neighboring Iran. Iraqi was killed in the capital's Baghdad al-Jadida district, according to a medic, a security source and the Iraqi Network for Social Media (INSM), a collection of activists who reported on the protests and their aftermath. All three sources confirmed to AFP that Iraqi died on his arrival at the nearby Sheikh Zayed hospital. Baghdad al-Jadida is a few kilometers (miles) from Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the capital's protests from where Iraqi, always energetic, would broadcast live footage. INSM said he had already been targeted twice before Tuesday's shooting.
In his last post on Facebook on Tuesday afternoon, Iraqi had written: "The innocent die while the cowards rule."Nearly 600 people have lost their lives in protest-related violence since rallies began in October 2019, including young organizers who were shot dead.
Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who came to power in May after street pressure forced the previous premier to resign, has pledged to protect rallies and arrest those responsible for past violence. But last week, eight local and international rights groups said they were worried about "the lack of accountability for the extrajudicial executions that have taken place this year, targeting individuals for their peaceful expression." The authorities' "failure" to bring the perpetrators to justice was "perpetuating and further entrenching decades of impunity that have left brave individuals without the most basic protection," the groups said, which included Amnesty and Human Rights Watch. HRW on Tuesday cited the recent case of Arshad Heibat Fakhry. The 31-year-old has not been heard from since he was detained by unidentified armed men in November. HRW said Kadhemi's government "has precious little to show for these promises, and disappearances have continued."

Algeria Says Arrested Four Islamists, One Surrenders
Agence France Presse/December 15/2020
Algerian security forces have arrested four Islamists, while another heavily armed militant handed himself in, the defense ministry said in a statement Tuesday. The Islamist who surrendered was in possession of a machine gun, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ammunition, in Tamanrasset, in the extreme south of the country near the border with Mali, the statement said. The arrests take the number of people detained on suspicion of supporting "terrorist groups" to 17 across the country since the start of December, according to the ministry. Algerian authorities use the term "terrorist" to describe armed Islamists who have been active in the country since the early 1990s. On December 1, the ministry reported that three Islamists had been killed in clashes with the army in the northeastern province of Jijel, and said the following day that an Algerian soldier had been killed in clashes in the same area.
State media has reported that the army recently thwarted a plan by Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to redeploy. AQIM's leader Abdelmalek Droukdel was killed in June by French forces in northern Mali, but was replaced in November by Abu Obaida Yusuf al-Annabi, a well-known AQIM veteran and Algerian national.

Santa 'immune' to COVID, can still make Christmas rounds: WHO
NNA/AFP/December 15/2020
The pandemic need not deter Santa from traveling the world and handing out gifts this coming Christmas because he is immune to COVID-19, a World Health Organization official said Monday. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, WHO's lead on the crisis Maria Van Kerkhove told a press briefing she understood many children were worried how the virus could impact Father Christmas. "I understand the concern for Santa, because he is of older age," she said, responding to a journalist's question about whether the fantasy, gift-bearing figure, known for his grey whiskers and big belly, might not be at heightened risk from COVID. "I can tell you that Santa Claus is immune to this virus," said Van Kerkhove, who herself has two young sons."We had a brief chat with him and he is doing very well and Mrs Claus is doing very well, and they are very busy right now," she said.
Finland, on Dec. 13, 2018 (Reuters/Attila Cser)
The pandemic need not deter Santa from traveling the world and handing out gifts this coming Christmas because he is immune to COVID-19, a World Health Organization official said Monday. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to rage, WHO's lead on the crisis Maria Van Kerkhove told a press briefing she understood many children were worried how the virus could impact Father Christmas. "I understand the concern for Santa, because he is of older age," she said, responding to a journalist's question about whether the fantasy, gift-bearing figure, known for his grey whiskers and big belly, might not be at heightened risk from COVID. "I can tell you that Santa Claus is immune to this virus," said Van Kerkhove, who herself has two young sons. "We had a brief chat with him and he is doing very well and Mrs Claus is doing very well, and they are very busy right now," she said.
She also said WHO had heard from a number of world leaders, who said they had relaxed the quarantine measures that are hampering global travel and would allow Santa and his flying reindeer to enter their airspace. "So he will be able to travel in and out of the airspace and be able to deliver presents to children," she said. But while seeming eager to help spread the holiday cheer, Van Kerkhove also stuck to the WHO's role of advising how best to stay safe and halt transmission of the virus that has killed more than 1.6 million people in the past year. "I think it is very important that all the children of the world understand that physical distancing by Santa Claus and also of the children themselves must be strictly enforced," she said. Kids should listen to their parents and "make sure that they go to bed early on Christmas Eve," she said, stressing that "Santa will be able to travel around the world to deliver presents."-
 

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 15-16/2020

Dominion Voting System "Designed...to Create Systemic Fraud"
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/December 15/2020
"We conclude that the Dominion Voting System is intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results. The system intentionally generates an enormously high number of ballot errors. The electronic ballots are then transferred for adjudication." — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.
"The allowable election error rate established by the Federal Election Commission guidelines is of 1 in 250,000 ballots (.0008%). We observed an error rate of 68.05%. This demonstrated a significant and fatal error in security and election integrity." — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.
"Significantly, the computer system shows vote adjudication logs for prior years; but all adjudication log entries for the 2020 election cycle are missing. The adjudication process is the simplest way to manually manipulate votes. The lack of records prevents any form of audit accountability, and their conspicuous absence is extremely suspicious since the files exist for previous years using the same software." — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.
"On November 21, 2020, an unauthorized user unsuccessfully attempted to zero out election results. This demonstrates additional tampering with data." — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.
"Based on the preliminary results, we conclude that the errors are so significant that they call into question the integrity and legitimacy of the results in the Antrim County 2020 election to the point that the results are not certifiable. Because the same machines and software are used in 48 other counties in Michigan, this casts doubt on the integrity of the entire election in the state of Michigan." — Allied Security Operations Group, Antrim Michigan Forensics Report, Revised Preliminary Summary, v2, December 13, 2020.
A forensic audit of voting equipment produced by Dominion Voting Systems and used in the State of Michigan for the 2020 election, ordered by the 13th Circuit Court for Michigan's Grand Traverse, Antrim and Leelanau counties, has found major irregularities in the tabulation of votes. Pictured: The Grand Traverse County Courthouse, seat of Michigan's 13th Circuit Court. (Image source: rossograph/Wikimedia Commons)
A forensic audit of voting equipment produced by Dominion Voting Systems and used in the State of Michigan for the 2020 election has found major irregularities in the tabulation of votes. The audit found a 68% error rate in Antrim County, where thousands of votes for U.S. President Donald J. Trump were wrongly "flipped" to former Vice President Joe Biden on November 3, 2020.
The high error rate was, according to the auditors, due to an algorithm placed inside the Dominion software that assigned different weights to votes cast for different candidates at a 2/3 to 1/3 ratio. This allowed election officials to apply a weighted numerical value to candidates and change the overall result. The declaration of winners was done on a basis of points, not votes, according to the auditors.
The audit also found that all server security logs prior to 11:03 pm on November 4, 2020 were wiped clean. As a result, all security logs for the day after the election, on election day, and prior to election day are missing. In addition, all vote adjudication log entries for the 2020 election cycle are missing. The adjudication process is the simplest way to manually manipulate votes, according to the auditors. Federal law requires that all election records must be preserved for a period of 22 months from the date of any general election.
The court-ordered audit, which was limited to 22 voting machines in one county, does not prove that fraud occurred in the other U.S. states that use Dominion voting software. It does, however, raise suspicions and will fuel demands for a full forensic audit of the 2020 election in six battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — where Biden leads Trump by relatively small margins.
The 23-page audit — ordered by Judge Kevin Elsenheimer of the 13th Circuit Court for Michigan's Grand Traverse, Antrim and Leelanau counties and carried out by Allied Security Operations Group, a team of military and intelligence professionals — effectively confirms the conclusions of other data scientists and expert witnesses who have warned that the equipment produced by Dominion is designed to produce fraudulent election results.
Key points of the audit include:
"We conclude that the Dominion Voting System is intentionally and purposefully designed with inherent errors to create systemic fraud and influence election results. The system intentionally generates an enormously high number of ballot errors. The electronic ballots are then transferred for adjudication. The intentional errors lead to bulk adjudication of ballots with no oversight, no transparency, and no audit trail. This leads to voter or election fraud. Based on our study, we conclude that the Dominion Voting System should not be used in Michigan. We further conclude that the results of Antrim County should not have been certified."
"The Antrim County Clerk and Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson have stated that the election night error [the vote 'flip' from Trump to Biden] was the result of human error caused by the failure to update the Mancelona Township tabulator prior to election night for a down ballot race. We disagree and conclude that the vote flip occurred because of machine error built into the voting software designed to create error."
"The allowable election error rate established by the Federal Election Commission guidelines is of 1 in 250,000 ballots (.0008%). We observed an error rate of 68.05%. This demonstrated a significant and fatal error in security and election integrity."
"The tabulation log for the forensic examination of the server for Antrim County from December 6, 2020 consists of 15,676 individual events, of which 10,667 or 68.05% of the events were recorded errors. These errors resulted in overall tabulation errors or ballots being sent to adjudication. This high error rates proves the Dominion Voting System is flawed and does not meet state or federal election laws."
"It is critical to understand that the Dominion system classifies ballots into two categories, 1) normal ballots and 2) adjudicated ballots. Ballots sent to adjudication can be altered by administrators, and adjudication files can be moved between different Results Tally and Reporting (RTR) terminals with no audit trail of which administrator actually adjudicates (i.e. votes) the ballot batch. This demonstrated a significant and fatal error in security and election integrity because it provides no meaningful observation of the adjudication processor audit trail of which administrator actually adjudicated the ballots."
"A staggering number of votes required adjudication. This was a 2020 issue not seen in previous election cycles still stored on the server. This is caused by intentional errors in the system. The intentional errors lead to bulk adjudication of ballots with no oversight, no transparency or audit trail. Our examination of the server logs indicates that this high error rate was incongruent with patterns from previous years. The statement attributing these issues to human error is not consistent with the forensic evaluation, which points more correctly to systemic machine and/or software errors. The systemic errors are intentionally designed to create errors in order to push a high volume of ballots to bulk adjudication."
"Antrim County failed to properly update its system. A purposeful lack of providing basic computer security updates in the system software and hardware demonstrates incompetence, gross negligence, bad faith, and/or willful non-compliance in providing the fundamental system security required by federal and state law. There is no way this election management system could have passed tests or have been legally certified to conduct the 2020 elections in Michigan under the current laws."
"Significantly, the computer system shows vote adjudication logs for prior years; but all adjudication log entries for the 2020 election cycle are missing. The adjudication process is the simplest way to manually manipulate votes. The lack of records prevents any form of audit accountability, and their conspicuous absence is extremely suspicious since the files exist for previous years using the same software. Removal of these files violates state law and prevents a meaningful audit, even if the Secretary wanted to conduct an audit. We must conclude that the 2020 election cycle records have been manually removed."
"Likewise, all server security logs prior to 11:03 pm on November 4, 2020 are missing. This means that all security logs for the day after the election, on election day, and prior to election day are gone. Security logs are very important to an audit trail, forensics, and for detecting advanced persistent threats and outside attacks, especially on systems with outdated system files. These logs would contain domain controls, authentication failures, error codes, times users logged on and off, network connections to file servers between file accesses, internet connections, times, and data transfers. Other server logs before November 4, 2020 are present; therefore, there is no reasonable explanation for the security logs to be missing."
"On November 21, 2020, an unauthorized user unsuccessfully attempted to zero out election results. This demonstrates additional tampering with data."
"Based on the preliminary results, we conclude that the errors are so significant that they call into question the integrity and legitimacy of the results in the Antrim County 2020 election to the point that the results are not certifiable. Because the same machines and software are used in 48 other counties in Michigan, this casts doubt on the integrity of the entire election in the state of Michigan."
"On Sunday December 6, 2020, our forensics team visited the Antrim County Clerk. There were two USB memory sticks used, one contained the software package used to tabulate election results on November 3, 2020, and the other was programmed on November 6, 2020 with a different software package which yielded significantly different voting outcomes."
"This software programming should be standard across all voting machines systems for the duration of the entire election if accurate tabulation is the expected outcome as required by US Election Law. This intentional difference in software programming is a design feature to alter election outcomes."
"The election day outcomes were calculated using the original software programming on November 3, 2020. On November 5, 2020 the township clerk was asked to re-run the Central Lake Township ballots and was given no explanation for this unusual request. On November 6, 2020 the Antrim County Clerk, Sheryl Guy, issued the second version of software to re-run the same Central Lake Township ballots and oversaw the process. This resulted in greater than a 60% change in voting results."
"As the tabulator tape totals prove, there were large numbers of votes switched from the November 3, 2020 tape to the November 6, 2020 tape. This was solely based on using different software versions of the operating program to calculate votes, not tabulate votes. This is evidenced by using same the Dominion System with two different software program versions contained on the two different USB Memory Devices."
"The Help America Vote Act, Safe Harbor provides a 90-day period prior to elections where no changes can be made to election systems. To make changes would require recertification of the entire system for use in the election."
"The November 6, 2020 note from The Office of the Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson states: 'The correct results always were and continue to be reflected on the tabulator totals tape and on the ballots themselves. Even if the error in the reported unofficial results had not been quickly noticed, it would have been identified during the county canvass. Boards of County Canvassers, which are composed of 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans, review the printed totals tape from each tabulator during the canvass to verify the reported vote totals are correct.'"
"Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's statement is false. Our findings show that the tabulator tape totals were significantly altered by utilization of two different program versions, and not just the Dominion Election Management System. This is the opposite of the claim that the Office of the Secretary of State made on its website. The fact that these significant errors were not caught in ballot testing and not caught by the local county clerk shows that there are major inherent built-in vulnerabilities and process flaws in the Dominion Election Management System, and that other townships/precincts and the entire election have been affected."
"A high 'error rate' in the election software (in this case 68.05%) reflects an algorithm used that will weight one candidate greater than another (for instance, weight a specific candidate at a 2/3 to approximately 1/3 ratio). In the logs we identified that the RCV or Ranked Choice Voting Algorithm was enabled. This allows the user to apply a weighted numerical value to candidates and change the overall result. The declaration of winners can be done on a basis of points, not votes."
"The Dominion software configuration logs in the Divert Options, shows that all write-in ballots were flagged to be diverted automatically for adjudication. This means that all write-in ballots were sent for 'adjudication' by a poll worker or election official to process the ballot based on voter 'intent'. Adjudication files allow a computer operator to decide to whom to award those votes (or to trash them)."
The audit corroborates testimony by numerous technology experts that Dominion voting machines are inherently insecure and vulnerable to manipulation.
In Georgia, for instance, an election supervisor in Coffee County demonstrated in a video how easily ballots can be altered with no trace.
In Pennsylvania, retired Army Colonel Phil Waldron, a cybersecurity expert, explained how Dominion voting systems were built to be manipulated:
"So, these systems, in a nutshell, allow authorized and unauthorized users to cancel votes, shift votes, pre-load votes, vote blank ballots, all in real-time, and in large numbers. Our experts and other academics believe that up to 1.2 million Pennsylvania votes could have been altered or fraudulent. Only a detailed forensic analysis of the actual machines and software will truly show how many Pennsylvania citizens have had their civil rights violated."
In Texas, election authorities rejected the use of Dominion hardware and software at least three times due to security concerns. A document dated January 24, 2020 from the Texas Secretary of State noted:
"The examiner reports identified multiple hardware and software issues that preclude the Office of the Texas Secretary of State from determining that the Democracy Suite 5.5-A system satisfies each of the voting-system requirements set forth in the Texas Election Code. Specifically, the examiner reports raise concerns about whether the Democracy Suite 5.5-A system is suitable for its intended purpose; operates efficiently and accurately; and is safe from fraudulent or unauthorized manipulation. Therefore, the Democracy Suite 5.5-A system and corresponding hardware devices do not meet the standards for certification prescribed by Section 122.001 of the Texas Election Code."
In Arizona, legislators have called for an independent audit of the Dominion hardware and software used by Maricopa County in the 2020 general election.
In an interview with The Epoch Times, Gary Miliefsky, a founding member of the Department of Homeland Security and publisher of Cyber Defense Magazine, said of the Michigan audit team:
"Looking at their team, their patents, their experience, we now have a credible analysis that, as I predicted, the Algorithms being used in the Dominion Voting System is intentionally and purposefully designed to create systematic fraud and influence election results and, in this case, not in the favor of President Trump."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2020 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Abbas seeks Qatari support as regional pressure mounts on PA to adjust course
The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020
Palestinian sources in Ramallah say that the Palestinian president wants Qatar to play a supportive role with the new US administration in order to ensure that the Palestinian file is on the top of American priorities.

CAIRO – Well informed Palestinian sources said that President Mahmoud Abbas’s visit to the Qatari capital, Doha, which ended Monday, aimed to ensure “Qatari support” for the Palestinian authority, in the face of increasing Arab pressure, especially from Saudi Arabia and Egypt, pushing the Palestinian president to engage in the new peace momentum created by recent normalisation moves. The aim of the pressures on the PA, according to analysts, is to see Palestinians negotiate directly with Israel new understandings, which would help open the scope of Arab-Israeli engagement.
Sources revealed that Egypt advised Abbas to be more open to Arab countries that have chosen the new peace track or those that are about to join it and to stop avoiding this process. He was assured that such an open posture would be welcomed by various Arab countries, especially the Gulf states led by Saudi Arabia. This would mitigate the muted public rejection of Abbas and would give Arab countries a margin of manoeuvre to better defend the Palestinian issue to the administration of US President-elect Joe Biden. It would also put the brakes on the frenetic pace with which Israel is pushing for normalisation with Arab nations with an eye on isolating the Palestinian leadership.
The sources said that Egypt asked the Palestinian president, during his recent visit to Cairo, to show more flexibility and change the impression of hard-line militancy that he projected recently. Egyptians tried to convince Abbas that he has a good opportunity now to break the current stalemate on the Palestinian issue, locally and in the Arab world. Egypt sees that as necessary in order to strike a balance between normalisation and final settlement. Abbas has recently chosen to bet on Qatar and Turkey and on a rapprochement with Hamas as a reaction to the Trump administration’s decision to go straight to the stage of direct agreements between Israel and Arab countries without waiting for progress on the Palestinian-Israeli track. This occurred after Abbas refused to go along with Trump and his administration’s efforts to revitalise the settlement process according to Washington’s vision of peace.
The Palestinians’ choice put a damper on the relationship between Ramallah and Arab capitals, such as Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, especially since Abbas’s move showed the Palestinian leader to be taking sides in favour of the Turkish-Qatari axis in the latter’s dispute with the Gulf states and Egypt.
Abbas’s visit to Doha, which was not previously scheduled, came on a personal initiative of the Palestinian President, after the administration of President-elect Joe Biden and the new State Department team headed by Antony Blinken ignored his requests to speak with Biden by phone. On top of that, the new US administration seemed to ignore the recent concession offered by the Palestinian Authority as it resumed security coordination with Israel and showed willingness to sit again at the negotiating table, something that it had refused for months.
Palestinian sources in Ramallah say that the Palestinian president wants Qatar to play a supportive role with the new US administration in order to ensure that the Palestinian file is on the top of American priorities. His move shows that, despite his doubts, he continues to believe Doha’s claims that it will be the closest to the Biden administration regionally.
According to the same sources, Abbas wants to test the truth of the reports according to which the new US administration is redefining its expectations from Qatar by limiting it to following up on Islamist currents in all their extremist and moderate expressions, provided that it lifts its hands from many of the region’s crises, including the Palestinian file. Abbas also wants to restore warmth in the PA’s relationship with Qatar in terms of financial support, after the latter had sent back his messenger to Doha empty-handed twice already. In a disappointing response to the Palestinian president’s request for financial aid, Doha had asked Hussein al-Sheikh, the civil affairs official in the Palestinian Authority and one of Abbas’s closest aides, to return to security coordination with Israel in order to obtain the tax income funds seized by the Israeli side.
Doha had also urged Hussein al-Sheikh to have the Palestinian Authority immediately approve an Israeli loan at the Authority’s disposal worth 900 million shekels.
The Arab Weekly sources said that Abbas was also seeking to visit Saudi Arabia and the UAE in order to restore balance to his Arab relations and enable him to diversify his options in opening communication channels with the new US administration.
Abbas has yet to receive clear signals from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi welcoming visits he would like to make. Mohamed Masharqa, director of the Progress Centre for Policies in London, said that Abbas’s visit to Doha strengthens the conviction that the Palestinian leadership is in a state of political confusion and that it has completely lost all sense of direction. In a statement to The Arab Weekly, Masharqa pointed out that regional and global changes, including the change in the position of the next administration in Washington, require intense activity that begins first with the Palestinian political administration seeing the wisdom of quickly proceeding with legislative and presidential elections, and advancing new initiatives that take in consideration ongoing changes and contribute to encouraging the Biden administration to give priority to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Masharqa called on President Abbas to “restore normalcy in Palestinian relations with all Arab capitals, so that these capitals take his side and help restore the momentum for solutions and settlement mechanisms with the Israeli side.”

Iran seeks to end row with Turkey, but tensions live on
The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020
TEHRAN--Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Monday Tehran could move past a diplomatic quarrel with Turkey but recent developments in the region indicate that tensions between Ankara and Tehran are set to persist, deepening the schism between the capitals.Historically speaking, Turkey and Iran have historically been rivals rather than close partners as both pursue expansionist policies and have interests that are at odds in many areas across the Middle East. First and foremost, the two states have fundamentally different political identities and ideologies. While Iran has its own Shia regional project that aims to create an ideological Shia crescent from Beirut to the Persian Gulf, Turkey is pursuing an increasingly daring neo-Ottoman policy throughout the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean in a push that is motivated in part by the need to help the economy bounce back.
The Azeri issue
Earlier this week, a row erupted between Ankara and Tehran over a poem recited by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a visit to Azerbaijan, which Tehran called a threat to its territorial integrity. Iran summoned Turkey’s envoy last week after Erdogan recited an Azeri-Iranian poem lamenting the 19th century division of Azerbaijan’s territory between Russia and Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif lashed at Erdogan and reasserted Iran’s sovereignty over its Azeri regions. A media war, then, flared, pitting Iranian and Turkish social media users against each other. It remains, however, unclear whether this social media war was officially directed. Still, the interventions on social media exposed several underlying issues. Tehran appeared concerned his remarks questioned Iran’s territorial integrity and could fan separatist tendencies among its Azeri minority. Azeris are the largest minority in Iran, and millions live in an Iranian region which shares the same name as the independent state of Azerbaijan, a former Soviet Republic. Azeris speak a language very similar to Turkish, while mostly observing Shia Islam, Iran’s state religion.
Turkey has become a close ally of Azerbaijan, helping it make major territorial gains against Armenians in a war that ended with a ceasefire last month.
Iran’s attempts at appeasing Turkey
Following the tensions over the Azeri issue, Rohani rushed Monday to end a diplomatic quarrel before it flares. “In my opinion, with the explanations (Turkish officials) gave, we can move beyond this issue, but the sensitivity of our people is very important,” the Iranian president told a televised news conference in Tehran. “Based on my past knowledge of Mr Erdogan, it is very unlikely that he had any intention of insulting our territorial integrity,” Rohani said. “He always recites poetry in his speeches.”
Tehran’s attempts to ease tensions with Turkey, according to observers, indicate the wariness by the Islamic Republic of being further isolated in a region that has been hostile to Tehran’s policies, including Iranian interference in its neighbours’ affairs and the support of Shia proxies across the region, notably in Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.
Tehran, the observers say, wants to focus its attention on the main regional and international rivals, particularly the United States and Saudi Arabia. This, of course, goes hand in hand with preserving the few interests Tehran has with countries such as Turkey and Qatar. In another sign of Tehran’s attempt to appease Ankara and rally it to its side, Iran’s foreign minister condemned on Tuesday the imposition of US sanctions on Turkey over its procurement of Russia’s S-400 air defence system, saying it showed “contempt for international law.”
“We strongly condemn recent US sanctions against Turkey and stand with its people and government,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted, using the hashtag “#NeighboursFirst.”On Monday, Washington banned all US export licences and loan credits for Ankara’s military procurement agency, and said it would not allow its president to travel or hold assets in the United States. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the sanctions would send “a clear signal” that the US “will not tolerate significant transactions with Russia’s defence and intelligence sectors.” But Zarif, whose country has been under crippling US sanctions since 2018 when the administration of outgoing President Donald Trump abandoned a nuclear agreement between it and major powers, said the move against Ankara showed how quickly Washington resorted to sanctions. “US addiction to sanctions and contempt for international law at full display again,” he said.
The mistrust lives on
Despite Tehran’s appeasing moves, the mistrust persists between Turkey and Iran and though the two countries have close and longstanding political and trade relations, they find themselves on opposite sides of the war in Syria and have other regional disputes.
Turkey on Monday detained 11 people suspected of spying and abducting an Iranian political dissident on behalf of Tehran, the Turkish police said. Agents from Turkey’s MIT intelligence service arrested the Turkish nationals following the disappearance in Istanbul of Iranian political dissident Habib Chaab, the police added.
The exiled Iranian opposition figure lived in Sweden and visited Turkey in October. Iran’s state media officially reported his arrest in November but provided no details about how he ended up in Iranian custody. Tehran accuses Chaab of involvement in an Arab separatist group known as the ASMLA. The Turkish police said the suspects grabbed Chaab in Istanbul and smuggled him to the Iranian border region of Van before giving him up to Iranian officials. The 11 Turkish suspects are accused of crimes including kidnapping, spying and assassinations allegedly carried out for a major Iranian drug trafficker.
This most recent spying case highlights Turkey’s mistrust of Iran and shows that Ankara is not troubled with the existing tensions between the two countries. For Turkey, Washington remains an ally. While Tehran has antagonised Washington over the last two decades, Turkey is still a fellow member of the NATO alliance and is not ready to give up its interests in maintaining good relations with Washington. A Turkish defense official sanctioned by the United States said on Tuesday bilateral relations will not be affected despite the Trump administration’s decision to finally punish Turkey for its purchase of a Russian air defense system. Ismail Demir, the head of Turkey’s military procurement agency, emphasised that Turkey and the US are NATO allies who will continue working together.
He also argued that the sanctions could serve as a “warning” for Turkey’s local defense industries to continue and speed up their work. “This is an exclusive event that should remain alone, I think, we expect this to not affect relations much,” Demir told journalists.

Iran flexes muscles ahead of Biden’s inauguration
The Arab Weekly/December 15/2020
An attack on an oil tanker anchored in the Saudi port of Jeddah on Monday revealed that Iran is seeking to boast its capabilities by threatening navigation in the Red Sea, weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20.
JEDDAH – An attack on an oil tanker anchored in the Saudi port of Jeddah on Monday revealed that Iran is seeking to boast its capabilities by threatening navigation in the Red Sea, weeks before US President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20. The tanker was targeted by a “booby-trapped boat” off the port of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, in an attack that Riyadh described as “terrorist.”
The finger of blame points to Iran and its Houthi proxies in Yemen, which have intensified their attacks against targets in the kingdom.
The attack on the port of Jeddah brought back memories of the so-called “tanker war” that took place during the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s, when both Iraq and Iran exchanged attacks on tankers in the territorial waters of the two countries.
The oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jeddah suffered an explosion early Monday after being hit by “an external source,” the shipping company Haifna said.
The ship was“hit from an external source whilst discharging,” said the tanker company under the BW Group that owns and operates the ship.
The strike caused an explosion and fire onboard the ship, damaging its hull. All 22 sailors on board escaped without injury and firefighters later extinguished the blaze, Haifna said. Some oil may have polluted the water alongside the ship, though the company said it was still assessing the damage.
Iran is trying to use the “tanker war” card, deploying drones and booby-trapped boats, to show that it is the strongest party in the region.
By doing so, Iran hopes to demonstrate that no one can overlook its role. This sends a direct message to Biden, who intends to renegotiate the nuclear file in exchange for Iran pledging to stop its detrimental activities in the region.
In recent years, Iran has played an active role in conflicts in Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon, sending weapons and military equipment to its proxies in the countries. Tehran’s detrimental activities have also included threats to energy supplies and the security of maritime navigation in the region.
Analysts believe that the recent attacks on Saudi targets aim to drag Biden and his advisers into reviewing the significance of Iran’s regional role in a way that will dissuade Washington from backing Israel’s plans to counter Iran’s regional influence, a strategy that is strongly supported in the US.
Iran believes that Biden is no different from former US President Barack Obama in his tendency to favour dialogue and avoid confrontation.
Hence, Tehran is flexing its muscles to confront Biden witha new reality, hoping that he will tolerate its regional activities in exchange for cosmetic concessions it would possibly make to resolve the nuclear dispute.
The Iranians, experts say, want to exploit the differences in positions between Biden and Trump on domestic and international issues to obtain quick concessions from the new president, especially an end to sanctions on the oil sector and threats to companies operating in the energy sector.
Tehran is aided in this strategy by a loyal lobby it has within the US State Department. This lobby previously helped Tehran obtain gains from the Obama administration, including its decision to withdraw US forces from Iraq in 2011, as well as tolerate Iran’s involvement into Syria, which coincided with a US move to lift support for the Syrian opposition.
The Iranians have succeeded in recent years in carrying out various attacks on oil installations and sites, either directly or through their Houthi allies.
Despite Trump’s efforts to counter Iran’s regional role, his administration was content with threatening to punish the Iranians without taking any practical steps, which helped Iran press ahead with its threats to regional and maritime security.
Last November, an explosion rocked a Greek tanker in the Saudi port of Shuqaiq, according to Athens, with the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen condemning a “terrorist act” carried out by the Houthi militias.
The Houthis also targeted a distribution station for petroleum products belonging to Aramco in the north of the city of Jeddah, two days before the attack on the Greek tanker.
Oil tankers in the Gulf region and the Red Sea have been subjected to “mysterious” attacks over the past two years. Saudi Arabia and the United States have blamed Iran, which has denied any role in these attacks.
Saudi Arabia has also repeatedly accused Iran of supplying the Houthis with advanced weapons, and held it responsible for unprecedented attacks against Aramco facilities in September 2019. The attacks caused about half of production to stop for days.
The kingdom has also displayed ballistic missiles and explosive drones launched from Yemen towards its airports and oil installations, accusing Tehran of threatening regional security.