Libya

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

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
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Bible Quotations For today
Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
John 06/48-59: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. ’The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.’ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 30-May 01/2020
Hariri Hospital: Two new Covid-19 cases recorded today, five recoveries
MoPH daily report: 4 confirmed Covid-19 cases among repatriated nationals
Aoun: Endorsement of Financial Plan a Historic Step for Lebanon
Diab: Govt. Will Seek IMF Assistance, Over $10 Billion in Foreign Aid
Lebanon approves economic rescue plan following days of deadly violence against protesters
Lebanon to ask for $10bn bailout backed by IMF
Lebanese PM says Cabinet will seek IMF financial assistance
Lebanon PM Hassan Diab hopes for IMF program
Months of Protests in Lebanon
Germany outlaws all Hezbollah activities, including by political wingظRaphael Ahren/Times Of Israel/April 30/2020
Lebanon employer investigated over Nigeria domestic worker abuse/Timour Azhari & Fidelis Mbah/Al Jazeera/April 30/2020
Israel Says German Hizbullah Ban a 'Significant Step'
Report: Military Says Determined to Thwart 'Sabotage' Schemes
Hariri Blasts Bassil, Says Backs 'Ugly Ouster' of Govt. 'if It Fails'
Ex-PMs: Stop Attempts to Turn Parliamentary System into a Presidential One
Kanaan Says Committee Approves Illicit Enrichment Law
'Loyalty to Resistance' bloc berates 'opportunists' for dragging protesters into scuffles with security forces
Finland supports Lebanon’s response to COVID-19
Hitti at Arab Foreign Ministers’ meeting: For wide Arab action before international organizations to halt Israeli aggressions
'Loyalty to Resistance' bloc berates 'opportunists' for dragging protesters into scuffles with security forces
Finland supports Lebanon’s response to COVID-19
Lebanon's Anti-Racism Movement is a lifeline for vulnerable migrant workers during coronavirus/Gasia Ohanes/The NewArab

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 30-May 01/2020
UN warns that ‘tragedy beckons’ in Syria from virus
Arab League slams Israel’s West Bank annexation plans 'a new war crime'
Biden to keep US embassy in Jerusalem if elected rather than move back to Tel Aviv
UAE renews support to Libya's Haftar, calls for UN-supervised solution to end war
Turkey Vows to 'Defend' Tripoli against Haftar 'Dictatorship'
Libya: GNA Rejects National Army’s Ramadan Truce
Abbas Threatens to Cancel Agreements if Israel Proceeds with Annexation Plans
Hopes Rise in Virus Battle as U.S. Scientists Hail Drug Trial
U.S. Oil Prices Extend Rally as Virus Worries Ease

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 30-May 01/2020
China Exploiting the Coronavirus Pandemic to Expand in Asia/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 30, 2020
Democracies Need to Back Taiwan's Bid to Join the World Health Organization/Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone Institute/April 30, 2020
Death and Destruction: “Wherever Christians and Muslims Live Alongside One Another”/Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/April 30/2020
US splits with allies again as it looks to extend Iran weapons ban/Nicole Gaouette, Richard Roth, Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler/CNN/April 30/2020
How our enemies are handling the pandemic/Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/April 30/2020
Khamenei Orders Iran's Guards To Make Persian Gulf Islands Habitable/Radio Farda/April 30/2020
Camel Urine: Islam's 'Best Cure' for Coronavirus/Raymond Ibrahim/American Thinker/April 30/2020
If the U.S. Navy Sinks Iranian Gunboats in the Persian Gulf, What Might the Outcome Be?/Michael Young/Carnegie MEC/April 30/2020
Libya and the Army's Popular Mandate/Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al Awsat/April 30/2020
Covid-19 Has Taken Us From FOMO to ROMO/Sarah Green Carmichael/Bloomberg/April 30/2020
Syria's chemical attacks may have failed to create moral outrage, yet there is hope/Nick March/The National/April 30/2020
IRGC taking Iran toward military dictatorship/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 30/2020
Saudi prince's vision marred by oil price — and a death/Simon Henderson/The Hill/April 30/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 30-May 01/2020
Hariri Hospital: Two new Covid-19 cases recorded today, five recoveries
NNA/April 30/2020
In its daily report on the latest developments of the novel Coronavirus, the Rafic Hariri University Hospital announced on Thursday that out of 178 laboratory tests conducted today, two new Covid-19 cases have been recorded, while the remaining came out negative. It added that the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases infected with the virus that are currently present in the Hospital's isolation area has reached 5 cases, noting that it has admitted 7 cases suspected to be infected with the virus, who were transferred from other hospitals. Meanwhile, the hospital report also indicated that five infected cases have recovered today after their PCR examination tests turned out negative in both times, thus bringing the total number of full recoveries to 129 cases. “All those infected with the virus are receiving the necessary care in the isolation unit, and their condition is stable.”In conclusion, the Hariri Hospital indicated that more information on the number of infected cases on all Lebanese territories can be found in the daily report issued by the Ministry of Public Health.

MoPH daily report: 4 confirmed Covid-19 cases among repatriated nationals
NNA/April 30/2020
The Ministry of Public Health on Thursday indicated in its daily report that four Covid-19 cases had been registered among the repatriated nationals within the last twenty four hours, taking the nation’s tally to 725.

Aoun: Endorsement of Financial Plan a Historic Step for Lebanon
Naharnet/April 30/2020
President Michel Aoun on Thursday considered the government’s endorsement of its financial and monetary plan as a “historic” move for Lebanon, as the country grapples with an unprecedented economic crisis since October 2019.
“Today is a historic day for Lebanon, because for the first time it endorses an economic-financial plan, after lack of planning and the lack of prospects for the future that almost brought the country to ruin,” said Aoun at the beginning of a Cabinet meeting at Baabda Palace. The President also congratulated workers on the occasion of Labor Day, pointing to the difficult conditions the country is enduring, “which prevents the fulfillment of labor demands.”
On Wednesday, the government put the final touches on its long-awaited financial and monetary plan which is expected to be approved in a session held in Baabda.

Diab: Govt. Will Seek IMF Assistance, Over $10 Billion in Foreign Aid
Naharnet/April 30/2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab said on Thursday that his government will go ahead and seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund based on an economic and financial reform plan approved earlier in the day.
In an address to the nation, Diab described the plan adopted unanimously by the Cabinet as a comprehensive "roadmap" for dealing with the country's spiraling financial crisis, the worst since the 1975-90 civil war.
"Today, I can say that we are going the right way to pull Lebanon out of its deep financial crisis," he said. International donors have long demanded that Lebanon institute major economic changes and anti-corruption measures to unlock billions in pledges made in 2018. "We want contributions from the fancy interests that were paid, from those who reaped profit from financial engineering operations and from those who violated the law and stole pubic funds," Diab said. "The plan will restructure the banking and financial sectors..., decrease the current account deficit to 5.6 percent and achieve a return to positive growth as of 2022," he added. Noting that the government will seek "more than $10 billion in foreign aid," Diab said the plan calls for "the instant implementation of the long-awaited reforms." "I call on all Lebanese to consider today a turning point for the future of our country," he said. "The central bank must address the spike in the US dollar exchange rate, because it is responsible for the national currency's stability," Diab suggested. He noted that "the country's problem lies in the fact that corruption is a state within a state." The premier added that the five-year plan will reform "the state's administration, the financial policy, the financial sector, the central bank, the current account and the balance of payments." The plan will "allow the economy to recover, provide good and sustainable job opportunities and launch very promising economic sectors that befit the high capabilities of the Lebanese," Diab promised. "The plan aims to protect the funds of depositors and strengthen and restructure banks so that they can secure people's money and the essential services for the economy. The central bank will then focus on its main mission, which is to protect economic, financial and monetary stability," the PM went on to say.
The plan also promises assistance for the needy and aims to restore an initial budget surplus by 2024, structuring the sovereign debt portfolio and reducing the ratio of public debt to GDP to less than 100 % from the current 170%.
"The road ahead will not be easy, but our determination and optimism will help us overcome our difficulties as we look to better days ahead. If we all unite, we will definitely reach the desired success in the future," Diab said.

Lebanon approves economic rescue plan following days of deadly violence against protesters
The New Arab & agencies/April 30/2020
The Lebanese government on Thursday approved a long-awaited plan to rescue the debt-saddled economy from its worst crisis in decades, following a fresh wave of angry streets protests. A lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic has added to the economic woes besetting the country, which include soaring inflation, a liquidity crunch and a plummeting currency. Demonstrators in northern Lebanon have attacked banks and clashed with security forces for three consecutive nights, re-energising a protest movement launched in October against a political class the activists deem inept and corrupt. The government unanimously approved the economic plan after minor amendments, the presidency said on Twitter following a cabinet meeting in the presidential palace in Baabda. President Michel Aoun called it a "historic day" for Lebanon.
"It is the first time the government approves an economic-financial plan after the country was almost driven to ruin because of the lack of planning," he said in comments carried by the official National News Agency. Diab said that the "practical plan that includes an economic vision for the future of Lebanon" will put the country back on track.Leaks on the economic plan to Lebanese media suggest the country needs $80 billion in funds to exit the crisis, including $10 to $15 billion in external financing in the next five years. Planned reforms reportedly include cuts to state spending and a restructuring of the public debt, one of the highest in the world at 170 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). International donors have said that such reforms are necessary for Lebanon to unlock financial assistance, including $11 billion in grants and loans pledged during a 2018 conference in Paris.
Protesters despair
Thursday's announcement followed another night of violence in northern Lebanon. The army clashed again with protesters angered by soaring inflation and an unprecedented devaluation of the Lebanese pound which hit a record low beyond 4,000 to the dollar this week. Protesters in the city of Tripoli pelted rocks at soldiers who fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds. The violence left 42 people wounded, including 19 soldiers, according to local media. Some local journalist have reported figures nearly double that. "My salary is barely enough for me and my small family," said Alaa Khodr, a 34-year-old protester from Tripoli, who fears he may lose his job at an NGO "at any moment".The government's reform plan has done little to quell his worries, he told AFP. "Previous governments have approved many plans" and "we are now at a stage at which few solutions are viable," he added. On Monday a man was killed after being struck by a bullet fired by a soldier in clashes in Tripoli. In the southern port city of Sidon, demonstrators threw Molotov cocktails at bank branches and offices of the central bank overnight.
Financial collapse
Lebanon is grappling with its worst economic turmoil since the 1975-1990 civil war, compounded by measures to tackle a novel coronavirus outbreak that has infected 721 people and killed 24.The Mediterranean nation has been rocked by a series of political crises in recent years. An economic crunch helped set off unprecedented cross-sectarian mass protests in October and unseated the last government. The demonstrations had largely petered out after a new cabinet was tasked earlier this year with implementing urgent reforms to unlock billions in international aid. But protesters have hit the streets again in recent days in defiance of the lockdown, railing against the slump in the pound and rocketing inflation. Prices have risen by 55 percent, while 45 percent of the population now lives below the poverty line, according to official estimates. The government has yet to request financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund, which has so far only provided technical assistance. Experts have lobbied in favour of an IMF bail out which they say is the country's only escape route from its current slump, but some officials remain wary of the world body. The government in March defaulted on its sovereign debt for the first time because of dwindling foreign currency reserves.

Lebanon to ask for $10bn bailout backed by IMF
The National/April 30/2020
Country's Central Bank under pressure to stop the run on the pound
A demonstrator is seen next to a burning fire in front of a bank during a protest against growing economic hardship in Sidon, Lebanon. REUTERS
Lebanon is turning to the International Monetary Fund for a $10 billion bailout to try and halt the sliding economy, prime minister Hassan Diab said on Thursday as Cabinet approved a reform package to tap into stalled international donations and ease the financial crisis.
Ministers unanimously approved the prime minister's six-point rescue plan that, among other things, involves passing needed reforms to get access to the nearly $11 billion in soft loans and grants pledged in 2018 at a donor conference in Paris dubbed the Cedre conference.
“For the first time, we have an economic-financial plan… and the state has a road map to get it out of its deep financial crisis," Mr Diab said in a speech after the cabinet session on Thursday. "Since October when the Lebanese rose up against corruption, it became clear that the problems of the country lie in the fact that corruption is a state within a state,” the prime minister said. “That corruption exists and is rooted in the arteries and institutions of the state."
He added that the country was on the verge of collapse and simply trying to stabilise the volatile currency was insufficient to solve the country’s problems.
Lebanon faces the worst economic crisis in decades and in recent days the pound – officially pegged to the dollar at 1,507 – has slid passed 4,000 to the dollar.
The country has also been rocked by months of protests that, despite a lull through February and March, have roared back this week with demonstrators clashing with police and burning banks in Tripoli and Sidon.
Mr Diab said that the government will open talks with the IMF “and formalize our negotiations with creditors of Eurobond bonds to move forward with them.
“Consequently, it will reduce the debt burden on our citizens and provide our vision of the economic recovery method to our international friends, partners and investors at home and abroad."
In March, Lebanon defaulted on $1.2 billion Eurobond debts for the first time and sought to negotiate a new repayment schedule for the world’s third most indebted nation. As ministers voted to approve the plan earlier in the day, President Michel Aoun called it a historic step.
“Today is a historic day for Lebanon because for the first time it endorses an economic-financial plan after the lack of planning and the lack of prospects for the future brought the country to ruin,” he said.
The Professor Samir Makdisi, Chair of the Economics Department and Director of the Institute of Financial Economics at the American University of Beirut, said the move was not unexpected but pointed out that the next steps would still require political buy-in from parties.
“Given the dire economic and financial situation Lebanon faces, turning to the IMF is not surprising though there may have been an initial reservation of one of the parties supporting the government,” he told The National. “The important thing is that the government be fully prepared for negotiations on the basis of the plan it approved today keeping in keep in mind firstly that certain parts of this plan remain subject to parliamentary approval and secondly that any conditions put forward by the Fund will be politically viable.”
Mr Diab said his plan involves reforms in the following six areas: financial, economic, banking and cash, and social and development protection. The plan was first presented in early April and over the last month ministers have deliberated the details and discussed it with experts, industries and analysts until - he said - they came to a draft that everyone could get behind.
"Today is a turning point for a better future for our country. The road ahead will not be easy, but our determination and optimism will help us overcome our difficulties."
Detailing the plan, he said they will reduce the deficit to below 100 per cent of GDP, obtain external financial support from the IMF and international donors, return to positive growth by 2022, implement social programmes for the poorest – rising above 40 per cent of the population -
Reforming the electricity sector – currently costing the state between 1-2 billion a year – and putting in progressive taxes that do not discourage business are both included in the plan.
“The plan includes structural reforms in all areas of the economy to create jobs and secure the workable environment, away from corruption and its consequences. The plan also notes measures that allow for increased productivity and competitiveness of our economy,” he said.
He assured depositors that their savings would be safe as many anticipate a so-called hair-cut reduction in holdings to raise capital.
The prime minister said that the country has big losses and the burden of these must be shared out fairly.
Firmly in his sights are those who benefited from extremely high-interest rates and financial engineering as well as those who stole public funds.
He said the rescue plan is based on an exchange rate of 3,500 pounds to the dollar – more than double the official 1,507 peg.
Separately, Information Minister Manal Abdel Samad said that cabinet also agreed to form a special committee to investigate money laundering and plans to fight corruption and mismanagement of spending.
Mr Diab pointed to the 26 reform projects were outlined in the cabinet statement when the new government was formed in January and he had vowed they would be completed within 100 days.
So far, he explained, 14 bills needed to do this have been finalised and three more will be ready in a matter of days. The most pressing, he said, are around banking secrecy and legal reforms. He said the government was working with the Justice Ministry to find solutions to fight corruption and protect the independence of the judiciary.
He said that the government was also working on the new financial rescue package but that “unfortunately” the social crisis pushed Lebanese people to the streets to “express their anger at the difficult living reality.”
“No sane person can blame people for their cry of pain, but no sane person can accept the destruction of property and no sane person can be convinced that a riot is spontaneous and does not carry political objectives,” he said. “Some of the riots organised and destroy the property of the people, increasing the Lebanese losses and distorting the image [of the country].”

Lebanese PM says Cabinet will seek IMF financial assistance
Associated Press/April 30/2020
Lebanese politicians have traded blame over who is responsible for the crisis, the worst since Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prime minister said on Thursday that his government will seek financial assistance from the International Monetary Fund based on an economic and financial reform plan approved earlier in the day.
Hassan Diab described the plan adopted unanimously by the Cabinet as a comprehensive “roadmap” for dealing with the country’s spiraling financial crisis amid a currency collapse and nationwide protests.
“Today, I can say that we are going the right way to extract Lebanon from its deep financial crisis,” Diab told reporters after the meeting.
International donors have long demanded that Lebanon institute major economic changes and anti-corruption measures to unlock 11 billion dollars in donor pledges made in 2018. Despite local opposition by some parties, including the powerful Hezbollah, the IMF is now widely seen as the option available to Lebanon to secure assistance.
The plan was finalized following several days of violent confrontations between protesters and Lebanese security forces that saw dozens of angry youth vandalizing local banks in the northern city of Tripoli and the southern port city of Sidon. The violence left one protester dead and several injured on both sides in some of the most serious anti-government rioting triggered by the economic crisis amid a weeks-long coronavirus lockdown.
Lebanese politicians have traded blame over who is responsible for the crisis, the worst since Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990.
“With this plan as a base, we ... will go ahead and ask for a program with the International Monetary fund and have official negotiations with our creditors for Eurobonds, and therefore ease the burden on our people,” Diab said.
The country’s economic crisis rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement deepened after nationwide protests against the political class erupted in October. Meanwhile, banks have imposed informal capital controls, limiting withdrawal of dollars and foreign transfers in the country, and the cash-strapped government announced in March it is defaulting on its sovereign debt for the first time.
Most are now looking to the IMF, hoping the economic rescue plan opens the door for talks of financial assistance. So far the IMF has only offered Lebanon technical assistance and the government has not formally sought financial support.
Panic and anger have gripped the public as they watched the national currency, the Lebanese pound, which has been pegged to the dollar for almost three decades, plummet, losing more than 60% of its value in recent weeks. Public debt has soared while the economy contracted and foreign inflows dried up in the already heavily indebted country that relies on imports for most of its basic goods.
The tiny Mediterranean country of about 5 million people is one the most indebted in the world, with the national debt forming nearly 170% of the GDP. Nationwide protests broke out in October against the country’s political class because of widespread corruption and mismanagement of resources.
Diab said the five-year plan aims to reduce the current account deficit to 5.6% and to secure $10 billion of external support — in addition to the $11 billion pledges in 2018 by international donors.
The plan also envisions growth would return to positive in 2022 and promises assistance for the needy. The plan also aims to restore an initial budget surplus by 2024, structuring the sovereign debt portfolio and reducing the ratio of public debt to GDP to less than 100 % from the current 170%.
“I call on all Lebanese to consider this day as a turning point for a better future for our country. The road ahead will not be easy, but our determination and optimism will help us overcome our difficulties as we look to better days ahead. If we all unite, we will definitely reach the desired success in the future,” Diab said Diab’s government came to office in January after his predecessor, Saad Hariri, stepped down in the face of mass protests. But the new Cabinet quickly became embroiled in a nationwide health crisis over the novel coronavirus, a crisis that deepened the country’s economic recession.

Lebanon PM Hassan Diab hopes for IMF program
Reuters, Beirut/Thursday 30 April 2020
Lebanon hopes to secure IMF aid based on a financial reform plan approved by the government on Thursday to help the country through an acute economic crisis that could last up to five years, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said.
The financial crisis is seen as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since the 1975-90 civil war. Mounting hardship is fueling a new wave of unrest with a protester killed during rioting in Tripoli this week. Read more: Lebanon from golden age to economic crisis, new data shows rise and fall: Report
“We will use this (plan)... to apply for an IMF program in light of which there will be negotiations,” Diab told reporters after a cabinet session. “If we get (IMF support), and God willing we will, it will help us to pass through this difficult economic phase which could be three, four or five years,” he said. “The amount (the IMF will give) is up to negotiations.”The IMF is widely seen as Lebanon’s only way to secure desperately-needed financing. Foreign governments that have supported Lebanon in the past have said it must implement long-delayed reforms before it gets any support this time.
The crisis is rooted in decades of state waste, corruption and bad governance that landed Lebanon with one of the world’s biggest public debt burdens. Lebanon defaulted on its sovereign debt last month for the first time.
Its currency has shed more than half its value and savers have been largely shut out of their deposits since October, when countrywide protests erupted against ruling politicians. Consumer goods prices in the import-dependent country have shot up by 50 percent since then.
The finalized reform plan was not immediately available.Diab said the plan would also be used to launch negotiations via its financial adviser Lazard to restructure the sovereign debt. It would take six to nine months to be clear how much $31 billion of Eurobonds could be reduced, he said.
An official source said the plan did not deal with the value of the Lebanese pound, still pegged at a rate of 1,507.5 to the dollar, even as it has slumped below 4,000 on a parallel market. Diab said the exchange rate was a matter for the central bank, not the government. He also said the plan did not require approval by parliament. Drafts of the plan have set out vast losses in the financial system, including projections of tens of billions of dollars of losses at the central bank and in the banking system.

Months of Protests in Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 30/2020
Lebanon has been rocked since October 2019 by angry protests over government corruption and economic hardship.
Here is a recap:
'WhatsApp tax' anger -
On October 17, amid a looming economic crisis, the government announces a tax on messaging applications, including WhatsApp.
Seeing it as the last straw, thousands take to the streets in Beirut and other cities, some chanting "the people demand the fall of the regime".
The government of Saad Hariri scraps the tax the same day, but protests continue.
- Demos grow -
On October 18, thousands of demonstrators bring the capital to a standstill in unprecedented cross-sectarian mass protests.
They demand an overhaul of the political system, citing grievances from austerity measures and state corruption to poor infrastructure and regular electricity cuts.
Demonstrations swell over the following days and dozens are arrested.
- Government resigns -
On October 29, Hariri submits his resignation and that of his government, prompting celebrations in the streets.
In a television address on November 3, President Michel Aoun announces plans to tackle corruption, reform the economy and form a new government including technical experts.
But thousands of protesters stream back into Beirut's Martyrs' Square, chanting "Revolution!"
Foreign aid appeal rebuffed
On December 11 at a Paris conference, France, the United States, Russia and other countries rebuff Lebanon's urgent aid appeal, making assistance conditional on the formation of a new reform-minded government.
Hariri also asks the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank for support in drawing up a rescue plan.
New prime minister
On December 19, the president finally names a new prime minister: little-known academic Hassan Diab, who is backed by powerful Hizbullah.
Protesters immediately regroup to condemn the appointment, which outrages members of the Sunni community. Protests continue the following day with roads blocked across the country.
Escalation in Beirut
On January 11, 2020, protests resume after a pause over the holidays. Days later clashes take place in Beirut and several banks are vandalized.
On January 18-19 at least 546 people, demonstrators, but also members of the security forces, are injured in clashes in central Beirut.
Human Rights Watch accuses the police of firing rubber bullets at protesters' eyes.
New government
On the 21, a new government is unveiled, made up of a single political camp, the pro-Iranian Hizbullah and its allies, who have a parliamentary majority.
Demonstrators respond by torching tires and blocking several roads in mainly Sunni towns across the country.
On February 11, parliament votes its confidence in the new government, despite attempts by hundreds of protesters to block the session. The clashes leave more than 370 injured.
Default
On March 7 Lebanon, whose debt burden is equivalent to nearly 170 percent of its gross domestic product, says it will not repay a $1.2-billion Eurobond.
On the 23, it says it will discontinue payments on all dollar-denominated Eurobonds.
Protests resume
On April 17, hundreds protest in Tripoli despite the country's coronavirus lockdown, marking six months since mass rallies broke out.
On April 27-28, in Tripoli, overnight confrontations between troops and hundreds of demonstrators leave one dead and 50 injured among the protesters and 40 injured among the troops.
On the 29, at least 23 demonstrators and 19 soldiers are injured in renewed clashes.
Rescue plan
On the 30, the government approves a plan to rescue the economy.
"We will go to the IMF to request a program," Diab says, promising "a clear roadmap to manage public finances."

Germany outlaws all Hezbollah activities, including by political wing
Raphael Ahren/Times Of Israel/April 30/2020
As ban comes into effect, police raids groups affiliated with Lebanese terror organization; Israel hails ‘valuable and significant step in the global fight against terrorism’
Germany on Thursday officially announced that it has outlawed activities by the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah. In a dramatic departure from Berlin’s previous policy, which was based on the European Union’s stance, the new ban does not differentiate between the group’s military and political wings. Hezbollah activities “violate criminal law and the organization opposes the concept of international understanding,” said German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer.
The group, headed by Hassan Nasrallah, denies Israel’s right to exist and “supports the armed terrorist fight” against the Jewish state, his ministry said in a statement issued Thursday. “It is to be expected that Hezbollah will continue to plot terrorist acts against Israel and Israeli interests also outside the Middle East.”German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wrote on his Twitter account that Hezbollah denies Israel’s right to exist and threatens “with violence and terror and massively upgrades its rocket arsenal. It is important that Germany exhausts the means of the rule of law to take action against criminal and terrorist activities of Hezbollah.”
Early on Thursday morning, German police raided four groups associated with Hezbollah in various locations across the country to ensure that “evidence of potential sub-organizations in Germany could not be destroyed when this ban was announced,” the Interior Ministry said.
Since there is no formal German branch of Hezbollah, Berlin cannot outlaw the organization as such, according to a Interior Ministry statement. Hence the government undertook to ban Hezbollah’s activities, which has the same legal consequences, the statement explained: “It is prohibited to use or display symbols and to organize and participate in assemblies; assets are confiscated and forfeited. Violations of bans on organizations and activities are equally punishable.”
The new policy prohibits the showing of Hezbollah signs and symbols in public, including “in an assembly or in print, audio or visual media, pictures or portrayals.” Even the symbol of the Imam al-Mahdi Scouts, Hezbollah’s youth movement, is banned. The group’s assets will be confiscated.
Israel welcomed Berlin’s new policy. “It is a very important decision and a valuable and significant step in the global fight against terrorism,” Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a statement. “I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the German government for this step and I am sure that many governments in the Middle East as well as the thousands of victims of Hezbollah’s terror join in thanking them for this decision.”
Katz called on other European countries to follow the German move. “All the parts of Hezbollah, including the social, political and military wings are terror organizations and they should be treated as such,” he said.
German authorities estimate that 1,050 people living in the country are affiliated with Hezbollah.
“These and other sympathizers with the organization do not form a uniform structure,” the Interior Ministry said Thursday. “Rather, followers of the organization meet within individual local mosque associations. A connection to Hezbollah is often covered up through intentionally conspiratorial behavior and resistance to penetration from outside.”Furthermore, Hezbollah uses Germany as a “safe haven and a base for recruiting new supporters, as well as for procurement, attack and fundraising activities,” the ministry said. “In recent years, a number of cases have been reported in which Hezbollah has used Germany as its specific area of activity for procurement and for planning attacks.”
Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters, among them supporters of Hezbollah, annually participate in Berlin’s al Quds-Day demonstration. At a counter-demonstration this year, Jewish community officials and the city’s top security official, Andreas Geisel, called on the federal government to outlaw Hezbollah in its entirety. Hezbollah flags have been banned from the event for several years, though they have been seen flashed by supporters occasionally. On Thursday, the Interior Ministry in Berlin said Hezbollah “openly calls for the violent elimination of the State of Israel and questions the right of the State of Israel to exist. The organization is therefore fundamentally against the concept of international understanding, regardless of whether it presents itself as a political, social or military structure.”
German security authorities “use all available instruments of the rule of law to crack down on terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and take strict measures against their activities in Germany,” the statement went on.
Thursday’s announcement did not come as a surprise, as lawmakers and government officials have long been working on a ban of the group.
In December, the Bundestag passed with a large majority a non-binding resolution calling on the government to ban Hezbollah activities, urging Berlin to abandon the current differentiation between the political and military wings of the group.
Until this week, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel recognized only the “military wing” of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but continued to view its “political branch” as legitimate, although analysts have long argued that such a distinction was artificial. Like most other European states, Germany has been wary of banning the Lebanon-based group in its entirety, fearing this could harm Berlin’s diplomatic ties with Beirut.
On Thursday, the Interior Ministry dismissed the very argument it has cited for years: “Just as it is not possible to distinguish between political and religious members of the organization, it is also not possible to divide the organization into its political, social and military wings,” the 32-page long document outlining the new policy stated. The US, the UK, the Netherlands and several Arab states already recognize the organization in its entirety as a terrorist organization.

Lebanon employer investigated over Nigeria domestic worker abuse
Timour Azhari & Fidelis Mbah/Al Jazeera/April 30/2020
Employer banned from hiring domestic workers and referred for criminal investigation after a tip from Al Jazeera.
Beirut, Lebanon - The employer of a Nigerian domestic worker accused of abuse was blacklisted and referred for a criminal investigation after Al Jazeera exposed the case.Ariwolo Olamide Temitope, 31, said she was beaten by Mahmoud Zahran, the husband of her employer, Feyzeh Diab, on April 25 at a home where they live in Choueifat, south of Beirut. Temitope also mentioned past beatings by Diab.Diab was called in for interrogation at the Labor Ministry on Tuesday and was subsequently blacklisted - meaning she will not be able to hire any more domestic workers. Temitope's case follows the arrest of a man last week accused of putting a Nigerian domestic worker up "for sale" on a Facebook page that is used mostly to sell second-hand items.
Both cases have caught the eye of Nigerian authorities, who told Al Jazeera they are worried about increasing abuse of Nigerians, trafficked as domestic workers in Asia and the Middle East, amid complaints of abuse and sexual exploitation.
Julie Okah-Donli, head of Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, said trafficking has soared in the past two years.
"Estimates of the number of such victims in the Middle East range between 5,000 and 10,000," Okah-Donli said. The "majority of these girls have been trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation", she told Al Jazeera.
'Look how they beat me!'
On the night of April 25, Temitope said Diab overheard her speaking on a mobile phone and accused her of stealing it. She said Zahran then hit her in the mouth, causing serious bleeding. Temitope said she had been calling her family in Nigeria to wish her son a happy birthday - he had turned six years old two days before. Reeling from the blow to her mouth, Temitope took a video of herself, revealing the scale of the injury. "Help me. Oh lord. How long do I want to keep doing this? And I didn't take the phone. Look how they beat me! Look how they beat me!" she says as she films.
Coronavirus: How is lockdown worsening domestic violence?
Diab told Al Jazeera her husband "pushed" Temitope "out of self-defence" after she attacked them. She claimed Temitope had stolen the phone and said she had in the past "pulled a knife on me" and "hit me".
"That is a big, big lie. There is nothing of the sort," Temitope said of the claims. "If I had beaten them before, why would they leave me in the house working with them?"The day after the alleged assault, Temitope said she was locked in an empty room on the second floor of the same building her employers live in.
Fearing what they might do to her next, she contacted a Nigerian activist in Lebanon. He agreed to help her, and so she scaled down the outside of the building via the balcony, leaving behind possessions and her passport, and made her way to a safe location.
The day 'their attitude changed'
Temitope said the employers had initially treated her well. When her phone broke following her arrival in Lebanon on October 1, 2019, they had provided one for her, allowing her to contact her husband and two children, aged 6 and 11, back home. But then, she said, Zahran made sexual advances and even offered to pay her $100 a month in exchange. Her entire month's salary was just $200.
"I shouted at him. I'm not going to lie - I spoke to him roughly to say that I'm here to work, so I can have a good life, not for sex," Temitope said. "Since then, their attitude changed."
Diab denied that her husband had made sexual advances, saying he was an old man who spent much of his time away working on a farm.
Diab was called in for interrogation at the Labor Ministry on Tuesday and was subsequently blacklisted - meaning she will not be able to hire any more domestic workers. Temitope's case follows the arrest of a man last week accused of putting a Nigerian domestic worker up "for sale" on a Facebook page that is used mostly to sell second-hand items. Both cases have caught the eye of Nigerian authorities, who told Al Jazeera they are worried about increasing abuse of Nigerians, trafficked as domestic workers in Asia and the Middle East, amid complaints of abuse and sexual exploitation. Julie Okah-Donli, head of Nigeria's National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, said trafficking has soared in the past two years. "Estimates of the number of such victims in the Middle East range between 5,000 and 10,000," Okah-Donli said. The "majority of these girls have been trafficked for domestic servitude and sexual exploitation", she told Al Jazeera.
'Look how they beat me!'
On the night of April 25, Temitope said Diab overheard her speaking on a mobile phone and accused her of stealing it. She said Zahran then hit her in the mouth, causing serious bleeding. Temitope said she had been calling her family in Nigeria to wish her son a happy birthday - he had turned six years old two days before. Reeling from the blow to her mouth, Temitope took a video of herself, revealing the scale of the injury. "Help me. Oh lord. How long do I want to keep doing this? And I didn't take the phone. Look how they beat me! Look how they beat me!" she says as she films.
Coronavirus: How is lockdown worsening domestic violence?
Diab told Al Jazeera her husband "pushed" Temitope "out of self-defence" after she attacked them. She claimed Temitope had stolen the phone and said she had in the past "pulled a knife on me" and "hit me".
"That is a big, big lie. There is nothing of the sort," Temitope said of the claims. "If I had beaten them before, why would they leave me in the house working with them?"The day after the alleged assault, Temitope said she was locked in an empty room on the second floor of the same building her employers live in.
Fearing what they might do to her next, she contacted a Nigerian activist in Lebanon. He agreed to help her, and so she scaled down the outside of the building via the balcony, leaving behind possessions and her passport, and made her way to a safe location.
The day 'their attitude changed'. Temitope said the employers had initially treated her well. When her phone broke following her arrival in Lebanon on October 1, 2019, they had provided one for her, allowing her to contact her husband and two children, aged 6 and 11, back home.
But then, she said, Zahran made sexual advances and even offered to pay her $100 a month in exchange. Her entire month's salary was just $200."I shouted at him. I'm not going to lie - I spoke to him roughly to say that I'm here to work, so I can have a good life, not for sex," Temitope said. "Since then, their attitude changed." Diab denied that her husband had made sexual advances, saying he was an old man who spent much of his time away working on a farm.

Israel Says German Hizbullah Ban a 'Significant Step'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 30/2020
Israel on Thursday applauded Germany's decision to ban all activities of Hizbullah as "a significant step in the global fight against terrorism."The German government labelled Hizbullah "a Shiite terrorist organisation" and announced raids on mosques and other associations linked to the group across the country.
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz hailed the move as a "very important decision.""I call on other European countries as well as the European Union to do the same," he said in a statement. Until now, Germany had only outlawed Hizbullah's military wing while tolerating its political wing, which is the current EU policy. The United States and Israel have long designated Hizbullah as a terrorist group. Hizbullah was established in 1982 during Lebanon's civil war. It is now a major political party in the country, where it holds a majority in parliament along with its allies. Israel and Hizbullah fought a war in 2006. The movement also backs Syria's President Bashar al-Assad in the country's civil war.

Report: Military Says Determined to Thwart 'Sabotage' Schemes
Naharnet/April 30/2020
In the wake of protests and riots triggered by an economic crisis in Lebanon, the security and military bodies warned against attempts to “sabotage” civil peace or pit the people against the army vowing to foil such "schemes", al-Joumhouria daily reported on Thursday. A senior security source who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the daily: “The situation is very delicate, the army will foil any attempt to sabotage security, we will be on the lookout and are fully prepared to thwart such goals.”The source, who spoke without being named because he is not authorized to speak to the public, pointed to what he described as a very “dangerous” situation in the country, mainly after what happened in the northern city of Tripoli. He said: “We have already sounded the alarm and warned all political forces of the entities trying to trigger chaos and drive the country to bad consequences. We warned against road blockages and attacks at private and public property. The right to peaceful demonstrations and expression of opinion is preserved, but threatening civil peace is not. The army and security forces will not tolerate attempts to sabotage peace.”The source however emphasized that political forces are “keen for the army” and refuse to provide any political cover for “aggressors.” On Wednesday, Prime Minister Hassan Diab said that authorities have “full reports about the sides that are inciting riots,” in the wake of days of violent protests that have rocked the country. “The rioting that is taking place and the attempt to pit the people against the army are indications of a malicious plan,” said Diab during a cabinet session at the Grand Serail. Hundreds of protesters in Lebanon's northern city of Tripoli clashed with troops until late Tuesday night leaving several injured on both sides in some of the most serious riots triggered by an economic crisis spiraling out of control amid a weeks-long virus lockdown. Dozens of protesters gathered outside the central bank headquarters in the capital Beirut throwing stones toward the building before Lebanese soldiers dispersed them. Protesters in other parts of Lebanon cut major roads including the highway linking Beirut with southern Lebanon. In Tripoli on Tuesday, protesters set fire to two banks and hurled stones at soldiers who responded with tear gas and batons in renewed clashes triggered by an economic crisis, crash of the local currency and a sharp increase in prices of consumer goods. Smaller protests also erupted elsewhere in Lebanon, including in Beirut's city center, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered Tuesday evening.

Hariri Blasts Bassil, Says Backs 'Ugly Ouster' of Govt. 'if It Fails'
Naharnet/April 30/2020
Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri lashed out Thursday at Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and distanced himself from the latest violent protests, as he said that he supports the “ugly ouster” of the government “if it fails” to rescue the economy.
“The campaign is ongoing through holding us responsible for the past 30 years and issuing prejudiced verdicts against us. And if Mr. Jebran Bassil thinks that he can jail all people he is dreaming, because this is an issue that insults people's dignities,” said Hariri in a chat with reporters at the Center House following a meeting with ex-PMs Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam. “There is a person who was in charge of the electricity sector for 11 years and he cost the state treasury $42 billion in losses. Let the people ask hold him accountable over that,” Hariri added, in a jab at Bassil. “If they want to create a mental hospital and launch constant threats, I tell them that we only fear Almighty God and God is with us,” the ex-PM went on to say. Responding to a questions, Hariri said “Bassil only exists because of Hizbullah.” “The problem in the country today is Jebran Bassil's practices and who is protecting them? Hizbullah certainly does not approve of them most of the time, but in the end Hizbullah bears the responsibility because it is protecting Jebran Bassil,” Hariri went on to say. As for the government, the ex-PM acknowledged that “is it working.”“But I don't understand why PM Diab is insisting on holding us responsible for the past 30 years and why he is echoing the words of Jebran Bassil and the president,” Hariri added. Asked whether he supports the toppling of the government, the ex-PM said: “If it fails, I will certainly support ousting it in an ugly manner.”Asked whether he accepts to be reappointed as premier should the government fall, Hariri said “not with Jebran Bassil.”He also denied that his supporters are behind the renewed protests on the streets.“These are not my supporters. My supporters do not vandalize nor kill. Rafik Hariri's popular base and advocates have not harmed anyone in their lives. The supporters of Rafik Hariri and Saad Hariri build rather than destroy,” he added.

Ex-PMs: Stop Attempts to Turn Parliamentary System into a Presidential One
Naharnet/April 30/2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri held talks Thursday afternoon at the Center House with former premiers Najib Miqati, Fouad Saniora and Tammam Salam and discussions tackled the latest political developments, Hariri's office said. “Lebanon is going through a deep political, economic, financial, monetary and socio-economic crisis. The situation deteriorated recently and threatens to reach a serious national crisis unless the presidency and its government change their policies immediately, return to respecting the constitution, laws and the interest of the Lebanese state, and focus on adopting the measures that can alleviate the suffering of the country and the citizens,” the ex-PMs said in a statement issued after the meeting. “The current government, chosen by the presidential term and its political allies, has unfortunately turned into a tool for settling political scores and for revenge practices, and became a platform for throwing accusations and initiating conflicts in all directions,” the former premiers lamented. They warned that the daily suffering of the Lebanese is getting worse every day, and will intensify, unless the presidency and the government “regain the lost trust locally and on the Arab and international levels, financially and politically.” “Adopt a serious orientation and will to halt the economic, financial and monetary deterioration in agreement with the International Monetary Fund, as the only international institution that has become accredited and relied on by most countries of the international community, to give the necessary credibility to any economic plan that the Lebanese state adheres to,” they added. “Approve the reforms that must be adopted without any delay, instead of diverting attention from the real causes of problems and fabricating political battles that will only lead to more tension in the country and will waste resources and opportunities to put an end to the crises engulfing Lebanon,” they urged. Addressing the presidency, they added: “Stop the attempts to transform the Lebanese system from a parliamentary democratic system into a presidential system; stop targeting the powers of the premiership to make it obedient to the small ambitions or grudges of some; return to the principle of separation of powers, balance and cooperation between these powers; and respect the independence of the judiciary.”

Kanaan Says Committee Approves Illicit Enrichment Law
Naharnet/April 30/2020
Head of the Budget and Finance Parliamentary Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan said a long-awaited Illicit Enrichment Law has been approved by the committee on Thursday. The MP said the law was “approved with its amendments,” and that public employees and figures holding responsible public posts will be required to submit a financial disclosure form.Kanaan said the committee is looking into “seven laws related to combating corruption, and the Special Court for Financial Crimes.”

'Loyalty to Resistance' bloc berates 'opportunists' for dragging protesters into scuffles with security forces
NNA/April 30/2020
The "Loyalty to the Resistance" parliamentary bloc on Thursday berated "opportunist" sides for exploiting popular demonstrations and dragging protesters into clashes with the security and military forces. In a statement issued following its weekly meeting, the bloc highlighted the obligation to heed poverty-swept regions, warning of opportunists seeking to sow seeds of strife and to embarrass their rivals. Moreover, the bloc maintained that the control of goods' prices was the responsibility of the government and the competent ministry, as well as that of merchants and importers alike.
"Price control requires firm decisions and maybe new legislations," the MPs considered."Price control requires firm decisions and maybe new legislations," the MPs considered. In addition, conferees urged the government for the implementation of vital and fruit-bearing projects that would meet the basic needs of the country and the citizens. "Putting an end to the USD exchange rate fluctuations and allowing people to recuperate their looted or smuggled money are dire achievements the Lebanese are looking forward to," the bloc said. On the judiciary, the bloc considered that political pressure and the reticence of some legislations were impediments which must be removed.

Finland supports Lebanon’s response to COVID-19
NNA/April 30/2020
The Embassy of Finland in Beirut is closely following the developments relating to the COVID-19 outbreak in Lebanon. The Embassy congratulates the Government of Lebanon for its swift and active response in responding to the pandemic as well as the Lebanese working towards mitigating the spread of COVID-19 by following government instructions.Finland is listening carefully to needs and requests expressed by the Government of Lebanon and other partners, also during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government of Finland wants to support Lebanon in these exceptionally challenging times. Finland will do this by working together and in coordination with its various partners already active on the ground in Lebanon. As an immediate response, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland is announcing one million Euros in new assistance to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Lebanon. These funds are directed through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to support the work of the Lebanese Red Cross. This new assistance is in addition to Finland’s existing humanitarian and development assistance to Lebanon.
“COVID-19 is a global crisis of preparedness and prevention. It is important to ensure that it will not also develop into a global crisis of recovery. We have decided to channel additional support through IFRC to the Lebanese Red Cross which is in the frontline together with the national healthcare system in tackling the outbreak, said Finland’s Ambassador to Lebanon Ms. Tarja Fernández. Finland has also contributed eight million Euros to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund CERF this year. CERF has provided substantial support for the COVID-19 pandemic response in Lebanon (2.1 million USD so far). Finland is supporting humanitarian needs in the region caused by the Syria crises. These programmes through various UN and other organisations will continue adjusted to current COVID-19 related challenges.

Lebanon's Anti-Racism Movement is a lifeline for vulnerable migrant workers during coronavirus
Gasia OhanesThe NewArab/April 30/2020
In this special series, The New Arab profiles charities, organisations, and initiatives leading the response against the coronavirus pandemic and lending a helping hand to vulnerable individuals and communities. Click here to see other articles in the series.
The coronavirus pandemic is the latest in a string of calamities to hit migrant workers in Lebanon, where a protest movement started last year against corruption and a financial crisis. As of April, nation-wide protests have erupted again, defying a state-mandated ban on large public gatherings as Lebanon grapples with its worst economic crisis since the 1975 civil war ended three decades ago, in tandem with a coronavirus outbreak. According to the Health Ministry's live toll, Lebanon has recorded 725 coronavirus cases and 24 deaths resulting from infection since the first case was confirmed in February.
The spread of the virus to Lebanon and the preceding economic crisis – now characterised by an all-time-high currency depreciation and a shortage of hard currency – has hit some 250,000 migrant workers employed in Lebanon especially hard. The Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), a Lebanese NGO, has become a lifeline for cash-strapped migrant workers otherwise left to fend for themselves after losing their livelihoods while stranded in Lebanon.
Migrants bearing the brunt
Excluded from national labour laws and granted little to no protection under Lebanon's infamous 'Kafala' employment system for foreign workers, migrant workers – most working in different domestic housekeeping jobs – are left particularly vulnerable in the face of crises like the coronavirus pandemic.
With the emergence of the economic crisis in 2019, employers already started slashing monthly salaries of domestic workers or paying them in devalued Lebanese pounds despite initial payment agreements in USD, citing the economic falloff and banking crisis. Some employers have stopped paying wages entirely, according to workers. With the Lebanese government sitting idly, the ARM – now active for a decade – has become the last line of defence for thousands of migrant workers. The ARM has swept in as a first responder, delivering aid boxes to workers who have run out of cash for food and necessities, and advocating to protect migrant tenants, after conducting its own rapid needs assessment in mid-April. In its survey, ARM found 40 percent of migrant workers had lost their jobs after the coronavirus outbreak, while another 18 percent were laid off since the start of the financial crisis. However, the survey could not include in-house domestic workers not allowed access to phones or internet by their employers, in addition to workers who could not afford the services.
Another half of migrant workers in living arrangements separate from their employers said they had limited to no access to food, according to the data compiled by ARM.
An unprecedented need
"The needs [of migrants] have increased and changed dramatically since the beginning of the crisis and now with the coronavirus lockdown. We're seeing a lot of people request food or water," Zeina Ammar, ARM Advocacy and Communications Manager, told The New Arab.
The non-partisan movement, which mainly combats racist discrimination and abuse in Lebanon against migrant workers – mainly domestic workers – their children, as well as Sudanese refugees, has had to focus its efforts on a new front to meet the needs for rapid food and housing assistance.
"Our priorities and interventions have shifted considerably since the beginning of the crisis in 2019. The classes given at the Migrant Community Centers have moved online. We are also faced with very high demand for basic necessities among migrant communities so we had to step in to respond to those emerging needs."On a legal front, the movement is pressing officials for emergency legislation that would grant a grace period for rent to protect migrant tenants.
"Together with the Housing Monitor and 10 other groups and organisations, We sent a letter to the Ministries of Interior, Justice and Social Affairs, as well as the Prime Minister's office urging them to prohibit evictions at this time," Ammar said
For food needs, the ARM is also cooperating with the local non-profit People's Solidarity to document needs and collect donations.
Donation boxes are planned to assist over 2,000 families for half a year, and potentially more if further donations are secured, Ammar said.
"We have a big team, and we're trying to divide and conquer because there is too much to do. We issued a call for volunteers and we hope to find the help we need to cover the needs on the ground," Ammar said figuratively, highlighting the overwhelming need.
Our priorities and interventions have shifted considerably since the beginning of the crisis in 2019
While the distribution of basic necessities tends to the more rapid need, the NGO is advocating in parallel for the inclusion of workers in the national Covid-19 response plan and long-term solutions for migrants, such as integration in the national Labour Law, Ammar said.
ARM, which directly consults and cooperates with local migrant workers is a long-standing critic of the Kafala system, calling for its abolition. The system has also been condemned by international rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, for putting workers at risk of exploitation and abuse.
The Kafala – or sponsorship – system legally binds the worker's residence in the country to their employer. It also traps workers in contracts that can only be terminated with the consent of employers, who often require compensation as penalty, even in the case of abuse or non-payment of salary.
With Lebanon now seemingly slated for further economic deterioration due to the coronavirus pandemic, many migrant workers have expressed an urgent need to return to their countries over fears of starvation and further abuse.
A race against time
In the ARM survey, nearly half of 319 migrant workers who do not live with their employers said they wanted to return to their countries.
Claiming that the closure of the Beirut airport has blocked access to foreign currency, Lebanon's banks have suspended US dollar withdrawals, ensuing further evaporation of liquidity and a ban on foreign transfers – to the detriment of domestic workers who rely on foreign currency to support their families back home.On top of the inability to support families back home, migrant workers in Lebanon are now scared of going hungry themselves.
For freelance domestic workers, the flow of work has slowed exponentially with the spread. "Families are self-isolating so they don't want anyone to come to their homes, which is understandable, but we urge employers to compensate freelance domestic workers for the shifts that they are forced to miss due to the lockdown measures. For many families, this is their only source of income," Ammar said.
The ARM has deployed its workers, as well as volunteers, in the field and on phone operations in a recent campaign, to reach what it said is an unprecedented need for full-force assistance on all fronts.
"It's really a solidarity campaign with migrant workers. We have a budget to assist 2,200 families for about 6 months. The numbers might decrease because the prices are increasing every day but we are trying to secure more funding," Ammar said. With the currency in freefall and further inflation impending, the ARM is in a race against time to meet the needs of workers. Donations, especially those made in hard currency channelled from abroad, might be the key to reach the workers in time. "The box we're packing now, the box that contains the basics, is getting more expensive because of inflation," Ammar added.
A milestone in migrant rights advocacy
The ARM was launched in 2010 as an initiative by a group of young Lebanese women's rights activists in collaboration with migrant workers – specifically domestic workers.
Two years later, ARM registered their NGO and hired staff after a video it released of a racist incident caught on tape by its activists went viral, highlighting Lebanon's alarming institutionalised and social racism.
RM activists at the time summoned the police, and questioned, in the officer's presence, the admissions employee, who said workers were only allowed in if they were in the company of their employers – shedding light on the toxicity of the employer-employee relationship under Lebanon's Kafala system.
The video depicted a migrant worker being denied entry to a private beach resort in Beirut under the guise of 'membership only' access, while a Lebanese person was allowed to go in without a membership.
Since then, ARM has been advocating against the Kafala system and discrimination. The ARM's largest project, the Migrant Community Centers (MCCs), has expanded to two major cities from the Beirut centre opened in 2011, and an additional educational space was launched, operating on Sundays – the only day some migrant workers are allowed to leave their employer's homes.
"It's a community space that migrant workers can use by paying a symbolic membership fee on a yearly basis. The centres host events, birthdays, language classes and capacity building workshops," Ammar said. "It is closed now due to the coronavirus".The centres, where members could also cook, do laundry and organise activism events, closed on 11 March as a coronavirus precautionary measure. But most migrant workers now are more worried about their immediate survival.
*Gasia Ohanes is a journalist with The New Arab.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 30-May 01/2020
UN warns that ‘tragedy beckons’ in Syria from virus
The New Arab & agencies/April 30/2020
The UN humanitarian chief said Wednesday that more than 40 cases of COVID-19 and at least three deaths have been reported in Syria, signaling that "tragedy beckons" after nine years of war that has left the country's health care system decimated. Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council that while the number may sound low compared to other countries, testing in Syria is very limited. The UN special envoy for Syria, meanwhile, called for a lasting cease-fire to fighting in the country. With millions of people displaced in crowded conditions and without adequate sanitation, he said Syria cannot be expected "to cope with a crisis that is challenging even the wealthiest nations."
Efforts are being made to set up isolation areas in displacement camps and health facilities in Syria, but measures aimed at containing the virus are already having side effects such as skyrocketing food prices in some areas, he said.
Lowcock said essential medical supplies and equipment must be allowed into the country, and that the Al Yarubiyah border crossing from Iraq to Syria's northeast must be reopened. The border crossing was closed in January at Russia's insistence, and Lowcock said deliveries of medical supplies to the northeast from Damascus have not filled the gap. Syrian Kurds established an autonomous zone in the northeast in 2012 and were U.S. partners on the ground in fighting the Islamic State extremist group. A Turkish offensive in October against Syrian Kurdish militants led the US to abandon its Kurdish allies, leading to strong criticism of both Washington and Ankara.
Uneasy calm
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a cease-fire to all conflicts around the world on March 23 to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, and at separate Security Council meetings Wednesday on Syria's political and humanitarian situation there was widespread support for his appeal. Geir Pedersen, the UN special envoy for Syria, welcomed the fact that there has been "significant calm in many areas of Syria," with no all-out offensives since early March. He said Russian-Turkish arrangements have taken hold in the northwest, the last opposition stronghold, and cease-fire arrangements between Russia, Turkey and the United States in the northeast "also continue to broadly hold."He said the calm was "uneasy and fragile" and there is a constant risk of things escalating. He appealed for a cease-fire "that results in sustained calm and is nationwide in scope - one that does not see new assaults across lines of contact, and enables Syrians to access equipment and resources necessary to combat COVID-19." But Russia and the U.S. disagreed about who should be in the lead in pursuing a cease-fire and an end to the Syrian conflict.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council that the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran and Turkey - the guarantor states in the so-called "Astana process" aimed at ending the Syria conflict - held a video conference on April 22 and "underscored the leading role of Astana in promoting a Syrian settlement."
He said this includes stabilizing the situation in the country, dealing with refugees, resolving humanitarian problems and promoting a dialogue among Syrians in the committee that is to draft a new constitution. Nebenzia said the ministers of Russia and Iran, who support Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Turkey, which backs the opposition, would prepare for the next Astana summit. The acting US deputy ambassador, Cherith Norman Chalet, said the UN "must be at the center of any effort to establish a comprehensive, enduring, and verifiable nationwide cease-fire."France's UN Ambassador Nicolas de Riviere also stressed that the U.N. must be "at the forefront" of cease-fire efforts. He called for a broader political process than just the constitutional committee and told the council that "France is deeply concerned about the growing instability everywhere in Syria."Russia's Nebenzia ticked off "terrorist" groups operating in Syria's northwest and stressed that the "pandemic cannot be used as a pretext to whitewash terrorists." "Appeals to Damascus to step up its efforts to fight the pandemic are irrelevant as to 30% of territories which are under effective control either of foreign troops or of opposition or of terrorists," Nebenzia said. "Those controlling these territories should be responsible for it."

Arab League slams Israel’s West Bank annexation plans 'a new war crime'
AFP/April 30/2020
CAIRO: Arab countries condemned Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank as a “new war crime” against Palestinians, the Arab League said in a statement after a video conference of Arab foreign ministers on Thursday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in announcing a deal to form a unity government, has said cabinet discussions will start on July 1 on extending Israeli sovereignty to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and annexing the area’s Jordan Valley outright. Palestinians have expressed outrage at Israel’s plans to cement its hold further on land it seized in the 1967 Middle East war, territory they are seeking for a state. Implementing such plans “represents a new war crime added to the Israeli record full of brutal crimes against the Palestinian people,” the Arab foreign ministers said in a statement after their emergency meeting, which was held online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “taking advantage of the global preoccupation with confronting the coronavirus epidemic to impose a new reality on the ground.”
“This step, if taken, would eliminate the possibility of embodying an independent, sovereign, geographically connected and viable Palestinian state. This step, if completed, would end the two-state solution,” Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said during the meeting. Netanyahu said on April 26 that the United states would give Israel the nod within two months to move ahead with de facto annexation of parts of the occupied lands.The Arab countries urged Washington to abide by UN resolutions and “withhold support for plans and maps of the Israeli occupation government woven under the cover of the so-called American-Israeli deal of the century,” the statement said. Palestinians have flatly rejected the US peace proposal announced by President Donald Trump in January, partly because it awards Israel most of what it has sought during decades of conflict, including nearly all the occupied land on which it has built settlements.

Biden to keep US embassy in Jerusalem if elected rather than move back to Tel Aviv
AFP/Thursday 30 April 2020
Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden said Wednesday that he would keep the US embassy in Israel in Jerusalem if elected, even though he disagrees with Donald Trump’s controversial 2017 decision to move it out of Tel Aviv.
The former vice president said the embassy should never have been moved without that decision being part of a wider Middle East peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians. “But now that it’s done, I would not move the embassy back to Tel Aviv,” Biden told a virtual fundraising event. The location of the US embassy is a hot-button issue: the status of Jerusalem is one of the most hotly contested issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel seized control of the east of the city in 1967 and later annexed it in moves never recognized by the international community. Israel considers the city its undivided capital, but Palestinians believe the east is illegally occupied and see it as the capital of their future state. Read more: US no longer considers Israeli settlements ‘inconsistent with international law’ Trump shattered the status quo when he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced his decision to shift the US embassy to the holy city in December 2017. He has repeatedly boasted that he is the most pro-Israeli US president in history, and has slashed aid to the Palestinians while making big concessions to the Israelis. Biden said he would reopen the consulate in Jerusalem “to engage the Palestinians and my administration will urge both sides to take steps to keep the prospect of a two-state solution alive.”

UAE renews support to Libya's Haftar, calls for UN-supervised solution to end war
Reuters, Dubai/Thursday 30 April 2020
The United Arab Emirates called on Thursday on all Libyan parties to commit to the UN-supervised political process to end the war, while at the same time saluting the eastern Libya based-army led by general Khalifa Haftar.
The UAE statement did not comment directly on Haftar's declaration on Monday that his army would take power, ripping up a 2015 political agreement that has been the basis for all international peacemaking efforts. Read more: Libyan National Army declares pause in operations in Ramadan ceasefire The UAE “commends the Libyan National Army for conducting anti-terror operations”, a statement by the Emirati Foreign Ministry said, expressing “its categorical rejection of the Turkish military intervention” in support of the rival, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. The statement expressed the UAE's support for a political solution based on the Berlin conference, calling on “all parties to commit to the political process under the supervision of the United Nations.”

Turkey Vows to 'Defend' Tripoli against Haftar 'Dictatorship'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 30/2020
Turkey on Wednesday accused Libya's strongman Khalifa Haftar of seeking to "create a military dictatorship" and vowed to "defend" the government in Tripoli. The oil-rich North African nation has been mired in chaos since the ouster and killing of long-time dictator Moamer Gadhafi in 2011, with rival administrations in the east and west vying for power. Haftar, who controls swathes of eastern Libya and in April last year launched an offensive to seize Tripoli, said on Monday that his self-styled army had "accepted the will of the people and its mandate." Turkey's foreign ministry denounced the claim. "With this announcement, Haftar has once again demonstrated that he does not seek a political solution to the crisis in Libya, does not support international efforts in this regard... and aims to create a military dictatorship in the country," it said. Turkey backs Libya's U.N.-recognized Government of National Accord in the capital Tripoli, and has dispatched troops and pro-Turkish Syrian fighters there. The ministry urged the international community to "respond, without further delay, to this person, who undoubtedly exposed his intention to establish a junta regime in Libya."And it assured in a statement that Turkey would "definitely continue to stand by the brotherly Libyan people in defending the Government of National Accord and all other legitimate institutions of Libya."

Libya: GNA Rejects National Army’s Ramadan Truce
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 30 April, 2020
The Government of National Accord (GNA) head by Fayez al-Sarraj said on Thursday that its forces would keep fighting after a unilateral ceasefire declaration by Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA). "We confirm our fixed position that we will continue with our legitimate self-defense and strike the source of threat wherever it is," the GNA said in a statement. It said it did not trust the LNA after previous failed ceasefires. LNA spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said late on Wednesday that the Army was adopting a ceasefire during Ramadan in response to requests by the international community and "friendly countries". Mismari warned violations by the GNA would be met with an "immediate and harsh response."

Abbas Threatens to Cancel Agreements if Israel Proceeds with Annexation Plans
Ramallah - Kifah Zaboun/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 30 April, 2020
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will hold two important meetings next week with Fatah’s Central Committee and the executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), announced head of the General Authority of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh.Sheikh, who is also a member of Fatah’s central committee, added that the meetings will discuss the latest political developments and develop strategies to confront the annexation government in Israel. Abbas wants to draw up a clear plan to respond to Israel’s plot to annex parts of the West Bank. Palestinian officials warned that it will be a new, different, and decisive stage, if Israel goes with the plans to annex the West Bank. PA informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that officials are now discussing canceling agreements and suspending recognition of Israel. If the authority went ahead with these plans, then all political, security and economic agreements and understandings with Israel will will be ripped up. The sources believe that the situation can’t get wore, noting that regardless of the price the PA might have to pay, it can’t accept this plan. They indicated that the PA was formed to establish a state for the Palestinian people, adding that Israel wants to change this reality. Israel insists on carrying out the annexation with the support of the US administration. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he is “confident” the US administration will recognize Israeli sovereignty over parts of the occupied West Bank within months. “President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley,” Netanyahu said. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that the Trump administration’s recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the occupying state and the transfer of the US embassy to it was the green light for the occupation authorities to continue the Judaization of occupied territories. The Ministry indicated that the occupation measures and annexations are illegal. “This is a flagrant coup against the international terms of reference of the peace process, mainly the principles of land for peace, the two-state solution and the UN resolutions, which were replaced by the US administration’s so-called 'Deal of the Century’.”

Hopes Rise in Virus Battle as U.S. Scientists Hail Drug Trial
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 30/2020
US scientists have hailed a potential breakthrough in the coronavirus fight after a trial showed patients responding to an antiviral drug, fueling global hopes for a return to normal despite mounting deaths and abysmal economic figures.
The news was enough to propel a rebound on Wall Street even after data showed the pandemic had plunged the United States into its worst economic slump in a decade, and Germany predicted its biggest recession since the aftermath of World War II. It came as the World Health Organization's emergency committee was due to meet Thursday for the first time in three months to discuss the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed more than 226,000 lives worldwide. A clinical trial of the drug remdesivir showed that patients recovered about 30 percent faster than those on a placebo, in the first proof of successful treatment against the new disease. "The data shows that remdesivir has a clear-cut, significant, positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery," Anthony Fauci, the top US epidemiologist who oversaw the study, told reporters.
Fauci likened the finding to the first retrovirals that worked, albeit with modest success, against HIV in the 1980s. Remdesivir failed in trials against the Ebola virus and a smaller study, released last week by the WHO, found limited effects among patients in Wuhan, China, where the illness was first detected in December. Senior WHO official Michael Ryan declined to weigh in on the latest findings, saying he had not reviewed the complete study.
"We are all hoping -- fervently hoping -- that one or more of the treatments currently under observation and under trial will result in altering clinical outcomes" and reducing deaths, he said. US President Donald Trump has accused the UN health agency of not responding quickly or aggressively enough, although critics say he is trying to deflect attention from his own response. Itching to return to the campaign trail as he faces re-election, Trump announced he would resume travel next week with an event in the battleground state of Arizona -- but not yet resume rallies, as contagion remains a risk.
'Unprecedented' contraction
US virus fatalities soared past 60,000 on Wednesday. The country has suffered the most deaths, with Britain's toll shooting up to the world's third worst at over 26,000. More than 27,000 people have died in Italy. Florida became the latest US state to move to reopen, with restaurants able to serve customers outdoors from Monday if tables are at least six feet (1.8 meters) apart. Experts have warned that only a vaccine will allow the full removal of restrictions that this year put half of humanity under some form of lockdown. Governments are nevertheless increasingly loosening the more suffocating rules as their devastating impact on the global economy becomes clearer. The US announced that economic output collapsed 4.8 percent in the first quarter -- ending more than a decade of expansion. Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell warned that economic activity will likely drop "at an unprecedented rate" in the second quarter, in grim news for Trump. Germany, Europe's largest economy, has succeeded in holding off the devastating death tolls seen elsewhere, but is still bracing for an overwhelming economic hit. Germany "will experience the worst recession in the history of the federal republic" founded in 1949, Economy Minister Peter Altmaier warned, predicting that GDP would shrink by a record 6.3 percent. The International Labour Organization said half the global workforce -- around 1.6 billion people -- are in "immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed."
One of the worst-hit sectors is the aviation industry. World air traffic suffered a massive drop of more than half in March compared with the same period last year -- the "largest decline in recent history," the International Air Transport Association said. US plane-builder Boeing announced plans to reduce its workforce by 10 percent and slash production while European giant Airbus also reported big losses.An unprecedented drop in demand for fossil fuels means the pandemic is expected to cause global energy emissions to fall a record eight percent this year, the International Energy Agency said Thursday.
Risks to children
While the world keeps looking for signs of progress against the pandemic, research is also revealing frightening new details about COVID-19. Britain and France have both warned of a possible coronavirus-related syndrome emerging in children -- including abdominal pain and inflammation around the heart.
"I am taking this very seriously. We have absolutely no medical explanation at this stage," French Health Minister Olivier Veran said. Experts have also warned of longer-term psychological tolls on both children and adults after weeks or even months in isolation.Unlike much of continental Europe, Britain has not unveiled a way to exit the lockdown. The sharp rise in its COVID-19 toll, which caused Britain to surpass Spain, came as it included deaths in places such as care homes for the first time. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson initially resisted shutting down the country -- and himself became the highest-profile coronavirus patient, fighting for his life in intensive care. He returned to work this week and on Wednesday became a father again when his partner Carrie Symonds gave birth to a boy.

U.S. Oil Prices Extend Rally as Virus Worries Ease
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 30/2020
US oil prices surged above $17 a barrel Thursday as virus-ravaged markets were lifted by data showing improving demand and a smaller-than-expected rise in stockpiles in the world's top economy. US benchmark West Texas Intermediate rose 16.4 percent to $17.53 a barrel in Asian trade, after jumping by more than a quarter on Wednesday. Brent crude, the international marker, was up 10.4 percent at $24.90. Oil prices have plunged to historic lows in recent weeks as collapsing demand caused by worldwide lockdowns prompted a massive glut and led to storage capacity filling up. Prices fell heavily at the start of the week, but began rebounding Wednesday after data from the US Energy Information Administration showed that crude stockpiles in the world's biggest economy rose by about nine million barrels. That was below market expectations of an increase of 11.7 million barrels, according to analysts. There were also signs that demand may be improving with weekly gasoline supplied rising by 549,000 barrels a day, the most since May last year, Bloomberg News reported. Edward Moya, senior market analyst with OANDA, said the bounce in prices came as traders bet that "demand will continue to improve and as global production levels are forced lower as storage capacity runs out". He added that prices would "continue to play ping-pong here, but continued optimism on the virus front will do wonders, improving both economic activity and crude demand forecasts". A deal by top producers to cut output by almost 10 million barrels is also due to come into effect from Friday. There have been signs that some countries have already started slashing production in line with the agreement, lending further support to prices. The crude market rally tracked advances on Asian bourses and Wall Street, which were boosted by news that a US company reported positive test results for a drug used in treating the coronavirus. "The vaccine is incredibly positive news for the oil market as it suggests a quicker recovery in global demand," said Stephen Innes, chief global market strategist from AxiCorp.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 30-May 01/2020
China Exploiting the Coronavirus Pandemic to Expand in Asia
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/April 30, 2020
The incident prompted a furious response from the Vietnamese government, which accused Beijing of violating its sovereignty and threatening the lives of its fishermen. The US State Department said it was "seriously concerned"....
The dispute concerns China's recent announcement that it intends to administer two disputed groups of islands and reefs in the waterway. One district covers the Paracel Islands, and the other has jurisdiction over the Spratlys, where China has built a network of fortified man-made islands. The Philippines has a presence of its own on at least nine islands and islets in the area, and bitterly opposes Chinese attempts to extend its influence.
Despite the Trump administration's preoccupation with tackling the coronavirus pandemic, Washington is not prepared to tolerate China's aggressive actions. Three ships from the US Seventh Fleet, together with an Australian frigate, have responded by sailing through the disputed waters in a show of force.
China's communist leadership may believe that they can take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to bully their Asian neighbours. But this show of force by the US Navy should send a timely reminder to Beijing as to which country is the real military power in the region.
China's gradual encroachment on the South China Sea and the surrounding area has been resisted by other countries in the region such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, which all have competing claims of their own. As the region's dominant power, China has shown little interest in seeking to resolve these conflicting claims peacefully. Pictured: An aerial view of Qilianyu islands, part of the disputed Paracel Islands chain in the South China Sea, which China claims are part of its Hainan Province.
While the rest of the world is preoccupied with tackling the coronavirus pandemic, China is intensifying its efforts to extend its influence in the South China Sea by intimidating its Asian neighbours.
The arrival of China's Liaoning aircraft carrier, together with five accompanying warships, in the South China Sea earlier this month has resulted in a significant increase in tensions in the Asia-Pacific region as Beijing seeks to take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to flex its muscles.
So far in April, there were claims that a Chinese coast guard vessel deliberately rammed and sank a Vietnamese fishing boat operating close to the disputed Paracel Islands. All the fishermen survived and were transferred to two other Vietnamese fishing vessels operating nearby.
The incident prompted a furious response from the Vietnamese government, which accused Beijing of violating its sovereignty and threatening the lives of its fishermen. The US State Department said it was "seriously concerned" about the incident and called on Beijing "to remain focused on supporting international efforts to combat the global pandemic, and to stop exploiting the distraction or vulnerability of other states to expand its unlawful claims in the South China Sea."
In other incidents, Chinese vessels have been accused of harassing Indonesian fishing boats, as well as tailing Malaysian oil-exploration boats.
At the same time, China has provoked a diplomatic dispute with the Philippines following Beijing's declaration that a region over which Manila claims sovereignty in the South China Sea is Chinese territory.
The dispute concerns China's recent announcement that it intends to administer two disputed groups of islands and reefs in the waterway. One district covers the Paracel Islands, and the other has jurisdiction over the Spratlys, where China has built a network of fortified man-made islands. The Philippines has a presence of its own on at least nine islands and islets in the area, and bitterly opposes Chinese attempts to extend its influence.
Beijing has long claimed control over the South China Sea and the surrounding area because of its strategic significance as one of the world's busiest waterways. Around one third of the world's shipping passes through it and carries trade worth around $3 trillion. In addition, the waters contain lucrative fisheries, and huge oil and gas reserves are believed to lie beneath its seabed.
China's gradual encroachment on the area has been resisted by other countries in the region such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei, which all have competing claims of their own.
As the region's dominant power, China has shown little interest in seeking to resolve these conflicting claims peacefully. Instead, it has resorted to brute force, using its increasingly powerful navy to assert its dominance by harassing the shipping of rival states, even, at times, in their own territorial waters.
China's increasingly aggressive action, known in Beijing as "Wolf Warrior diplomacy", has prompted US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to warn that China is taking advantage of the world's preoccupation with the coronavirus pandemic to push its territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. At a recent briefing to foreign ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Mr Pompeo stated:
"Beijing has moved to take advantage of the distraction [over Covid-19], from China's new unilateral announcement of administrative districts over disputed islands and maritime areas in the South China Sea, its sinking of a Vietnamese fishing vessel earlier this month, and its 'research stations' on Fiery Cross Reef and Subi Reef."
Despite the Trump administration's preoccupation with tackling the coronavirus pandemic, Washington is not prepared to tolerate China's aggressive actions. Three ships from the US Seventh Fleet, together with an Australian frigate, have responded by sailing through the disputed waters in a show of force.
China's communist leadership may believe that they can take advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to bully their Asian neighbours. But this show of force by the US Navy should send a timely reminder to Beijing as to which country is the real military power in the region.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at 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.

Democracies Need to Back Taiwan's Bid to Join the World Health Organization
Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone Institute/April 30, 2020
With a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, China has so far been able to impose its will and deny Taiwan entry into the WHO. Perhaps China should no longer be on the UN Security Council?
Thankfully, the U.S. administration of President Donald J. Trump recently enacted the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, aimed at supporting Taiwan's international presence.
As a member of the WHO, China had an obligation to provide accurate data to help the world learn more about the virus. China, however, still refuses to be transparent.
It would also undoubtedly be better for the world if all 184 countries afflicted with Covid-19 and its ruinous economic aftermath would stop doing business with China: it has proven that it is not friend.
All democratic governments need to come together to develop a strategy to see to it that China is no longer able to stop Taiwan's entry into the World Health Organization. Pictured: Taiwan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (center) presides over a ceremony to donate Taiwanese-made thermal scanner devices to 15 of its diplomatic allies, in Taipei on April 15, 2020.
Recently, 127 European parliamentarians backed a bid by Taiwan (The Republic of China) to join the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO). All democratic governments -- in fact, every government: 184 have been ravaged by Covid-19 and its economic ravages -- need to make Taiwan's WHO membership a reality.
The WHO was founded in 1948 with a mandate to ensure that all peoples of the world attain the highest possible level of health. Ironically, the WHO excludes Taiwan and its more than 23.8 million people from its care. WHO shares little of its biomedical and health research information with Taiwan, which is not invited even to its emergency meetings.
Taiwan nevertheless has one of the best medical systems in the world. It is equipped [1] with technology and big data it gathered during its traumatic 2003 experience with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS, another coronavirus), and it was probably an advantage for Taiwan in handling the current pandemic at home. To date, Taiwan has reported only about 427 cases of Covid-19.
Taiwan, in addition to warning WHO of the lethality of Covid-19 on December 31, 2019 -- warnings which were ignored -- immediately adopted vigorous measures for screening, testing, contact tracing, and enforcing quarantines.
Taiwan also donated masks to countries in need and has been working with U.S. experts to develop more rapid diagnostic test kits and vaccines. Although Taiwan has also continually shared coronavirus data with the WHO, the organization never released that information to the public.
The main hurdle in the inclusion of Taiwan into the WHO has been the communist People's Republic of China (PRC), which claims that Taiwan is one of its provinces and that mainland China alone has the right to represent what it regards as all of China at the United Nations and other international organizations.
With a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, China has so far been able to impose its will and deny Taiwan entry into the WHO. Perhaps China should no longer be on the UN Security Council? Several efforts were made for Taiwan's inclusion into the WHO, but failed.[2] At the 2004 annual meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA), the WHO's decision-making body, only Japan and the United States voted in favour of Taiwan's observer status in the WHO -- without success.
All democratic governments need to come together to develop a strategy to see to it that China is no longer able to stop Taiwan's entry into the WHO. Taiwan has all the elements of statehood required by the contemporary international law: land, population, government and sovereignty, as well as full diplomatic relations with over 15 other nations.
Thankfully, the U.S. administration of President Donald J. Trump recently enacted the Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act, aimed at supporting Taiwan's international presence. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has assured the public that the State Department would "do [its] best to assist" Taiwan in efforts to join the WHO. Other democratic governments could also strengthen Taiwan's case.
Democratic states could also take steps aimed at removing the current WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (he is not an medical doctor; he holds a PhD in Public Health from the University of Nottingham and a Master of Science in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of London). He seems under the control of China too thoroughly to risk displeasing it in any way. His conduct, which has been called criminally negligent [3] -- in addition to his having covered up three cholera outbreaks in Ethiopia earlier in the century -- indicates that it would be best for everyone if he were to resign.
At the upcoming 73rd Session of the WHA (May 17-21, 2020), all democratic governments could initiate steps aimed at relieving Tedros of his position at WHO, as well as others there in leadership positions who were also complicit in the in the Covid-19 coverup. The WHO's current 34-member executive board should help. The current chairman of the board is from Japan, a democracy. The vice chairman is from Finland, another democracy. Other members of board are also from democracies, including the United States, Austria, Germany, Italy, Israel, Australia and Singapore.
As a member of the WHO, China had an obligation to provide accurate data to help the world learn more about the virus. China, however, still refuses to be transparent. According to a report, Chinese authorities recently admitted that more than 4,632 people have died from coronavirus in Wuhan, but even those claims are suspect.
Needless to say, the U.S. government, which donates far more than any other country -- roughly $400 billion each year to China's $40 billion -- has a moral responsibility as well to see to it that the WHO is effective. The U.S. contributes more than 15% of the WHO budget out of its taxpayer funds. No democratic government can afford to let a public fund wreak such global devastation -- both medical and economic, then, now, or ever again.
It would also undoubtedly be better for the world if all 184 countries afflicted with Covid-19 and its ruinous economic aftermath would stop doing business with China: it has proven that it is not friend.
Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi.
[1] Jagdish N Singh, "Filling the gap in the fight against bird flu," Taiwan Journal, Taipei, May 12, 2006.
[2] Ibid
[3] On December 31, Taiwan informed the WHO that the coronavirus was able to be transmitted human-to-human. The Chinese government suppressed the news. As director general of the WHO, Tedros must have known of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan. Instead, without even bothering to investigate, he evidently chose to say what China wanted him to. As late as January 14, the WHO wrote in a tweet that "preliminary investigations conducted by the Chinese authorities have found no clear evidence of human-to-human transmission" of the coronavirus.
© 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.

Death and Destruction: “Wherever Christians and Muslims Live Alongside One Another”
Raymond Ibrahim/FrontPage Magazine/April 30/2020
In a recent interview on the spread of Islamic terror groups in Africa’s Sahel, a French researcher made the following observation:
After having extended their grip on the Muslim Sahara, the terrorists’ next target will be the places where Christians and Muslims live alongside one another. In Burkina Faso and in Nigeria the equilibrium that has existed hitherto is now under threat. In the next five years, these African states will continue to need the support of the West if they are to avoid catastrophe.
While all this is true—Nigeria and Burkina Faso are hotbeds of persecution and slaughter of Christians—the most noteworthy and instructive phrase in the above quote is “where Christians and Muslims live alongside one another.”
This seems to be the crux of the issue, above and beyond the Sahel: wherever Muslims live alongside non-Muslims, conflict, violence, and outright wars tend to be the norm—or, as political scientist Samuel Huntington memorably put it in his Clash of Civilizations, “Islam’s borders are bloody.” He continued:
Wherever one looks along the perimeter of Islam, Muslims have problems living peaceably with their neighbors. The question naturally rises as to whether this pattern of late twentieth century conflict between Muslim and non-Muslim groups is equally true of relations between groups from other civilizations. In fact, it is not. Muslims make up about one-fifth of the world’s population but in the 1990’s they have been far more involved in intergroup violence than the people of any other civilization. The evidence is overwhelming [p. 256].
Indeed, matters have only gotten worse since Huntington’s book came out in 1996. Along with the aforementioned examples from the Sahel, one need only look to those Western European nations that hold significant Muslim populations—where crimes, riots, rapes and other forms of “anti-infidel” assaults proliferate—for confirmation that “Muslims have problems living peaceably with their neighbors.”
Moreover, if Muslims are not waging a full blown jihad inside Europe, that has more to do with circumstances—including the fact that they are still vastly outnumbered—than anything else. For example, not a few Christians from Syria and Iraq reported that, though for years they had lived peacefully alongside their Muslim neighbors, once ISIS came to town, and siding with the jihad became a feasible option, many of their Muslim neighbors—including some that the Christians had long cared for—instantly turned on them, often in vile ways.
But surely as the “experts” tell us, there is nothing intrinsic about this phenomenon? Surely it’s a product of inequality, grievances, “Islamophobia,” and all the rest?
Quite the opposite; in fact, the entire phenomenon of Muslims congregating alongside non-Muslims and engaging in crime/jihad/terrorism is part and parcel of how Islam has always consolidated and spread. It even has a name that still resonates within the Islamic consciousness.
Historically, wherever the jihad was stopped, there, alongside the border of their infidel neighbors, Muslims erected chains of strongholds and fortresses, all filled with professional jihadis dedicated to launching raids onto the non-Muslims. Each of these came to be known as a ribat (رباط), based on an Arabic word rooted to the idea of a “tight fastening” or “bonding” found in Koran 3:200: “O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed [رابطوا] and fear Allah that you may be successful.”
The word ribat lives on, though few recognize its etymology. For example, Rabat, the capital of Morocco, is so named because in origin it was a ribat, whence centuries of Barbary/pirate raids on the Christian Mediterranean were launched. Similarly, Almoravids—the name of a notorious eleventh century North African based jihadi group—is simply a transliteration of the Arabic al-murabitun, which means they who fight along the ribat (not unlike al-mujahidun, they who wage jihad). In 1086 these “Almoravids” invaded Spain and crushed the Castilians at the battle of Sagrajas; afterward they erected a mountain consisting of 2,400 Christian heads to triumphant cries of “Allahu Akbar.”
Spain actually offers numerous examples of the ribat or border phenomenon—most notoriously, the one that formed along the Duero River, separating the Christian north from the Islamic south. For centuries, it too became “a territory where one fights for the faith and a permanent place of the ribat.” As in other borders where Muslims abutted against non-Muslims, a scorched no-man’s land policy prevailed. Ibn Hudayl of Granada (d.812) explained the logic:
It is permissible to set fire to the lands of the enemy, his stores of grain, his beasts of burden—if it is not possible for the Muslims to take possession of them—as well as to cut down his trees, to raze his cities, in a word, to do everything that might ruin and discourage him, provided that the imam deems these measures appropriate, suited to hastening the Islamization of that enemy or to weakening him. Indeed, all this contributes to a military triumph over him or to forcing him to capitulate.
French historian Louis Bertrand (b. 1866) elaborates:
To keep the Christians [of northern Spain] in their place it did not suffice to surround them with a zone of famine and destruction. It was necessary also to go and sow terror and massacre among them. . . . If one bears in mind that this brigandage was almost continual, and that this fury of destruction and extermination was regarded as a work of piety—it was a holy war [jihad] against infidels—it is not surprising that whole regions of Spain should have been made irremediably sterile.
This of course remains a perfectly applicable description of what is currently happening, both in Africa and increasingly in Europe—anywhere, in fact, where Muslims and non-Muslims live alongside one another.

US splits with allies again as it looks to extend Iran weapons ban
Nicole Gaouette, Richard Roth, Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler, CNN/April 30/2020
Washington (CNN)Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday the US intends to take action to extend a conventional weapons embargo on Tehran that is legally set to end under the Iran nuclear deal, provoking anger and disbelief from European allies who point out the US withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and have not participated in any meetings related to it since then.
Speaking at the State Department Wednesday, Pompeo told reporters that the US would work to stop the small arms embargo from sunsetting in October 2020, as outlined by the pact.
"We're not going to let that happen," Pompeo said. The administration is urging the E3 -- Germany, France and the United Kingdom -- "to take action which is within their capacity today," he said.
"We'll work with the UN Security Council to extend that prohibition on those arms sales," Pompeo continued. "And then in the event we can't get anyone else to act, the United States is evaluating every possibility about how we might do that."
The five-year expiration on the arms embargo was part of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The Trump administration withdrew from that deal in May 2018 to launch an ongoing "maximum pressure campaign" against Tehran that has led to increased regional tensions and strained relations with European allies who remain in the agreement.
Now, Pompeo is asserting that the US can still participate in decisions about the embargo as well as the deal and use a provision of the pact to "snapback" sanctions on Iran if the arms embargo ends.
'Either you're in or either you're out'
The US position has caused eyebrows to be raised. Peter Stano, the European Commission spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, pointed out that the "US has not participated in any meetings or activities within the framework of the JCPOA " since withdrawing in May 2018, but said in a statement to CNN that they "do not comment on reports of possible positions the US, or other UN members might take, regarding the JCPOA."
A European source said the sunsetting arms embargo is a concern, given regional tensions, but stressed that countries still in the agreement cannot support the US proposal because the arms embargo's expiration is a formal and legal part of the treaty.
"You won't see the E3 signing up for that because the arms embargo end is a legitimate part of the JCPOA," this source said.
An Iranian official told CNN that "any US claim of being a participant in the JCPOA is basically rejected by the international community. Even every freshman student of international law or relations do not subscribe to the alleged US position."
Other parties to the treaty, including Russia and China, did not respond to requests for comment, but many diplomats shared their disapproval on the condition of anonymity.
"The US pulled out of the JCPOA," one European diplomat said. "Either you're in or either you're out. You cannot cherry pick. ... Either you implement it or not."
A source familiar with administration discussions on Iran said State Department lawyers have prepared a legal argument that the language in the Iran nuclear deal and UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the pact, leave room for the US to argue "that they still are a party even though they've withdrawn."
That interpretation allows the US to say that if the arms embargo isn't extended, Washington can still use a provision of the nuclear deal that allows for sanctions to be snapped back.
The European diplomat dismissed the idea that the US could actually make this plan work, noting that "you will always find a lawyer that tells you what you want to hear."
'Unambiguous'
On Wednesday, Pompeo insisted that the UN Security Council Resolution 2231 was "unambiguous" about the US right to participate.
"UN Security Council Resolution 2231 is unambiguous where the United States is a participant in the UN Security, it's just there in language, there is nothing magic about this. There is no fancy -- someone suggested this is fancy lawyering. It's just reading," Pompeo said. "We are going to make sure that come October of this year, the Iranians aren't able to buy conventional weapons."
In December, President Donald Trump's special envoy for Iran, Brian Hook, showed a draft UN Security Council resolution on the arms embargo to a few countries and it has been shared since with a few more.
The first European source noted that conversations with Pompeo and Hook are "still in the brainstorming space" with a focus on making sure "the Iranian proliferation of arms is managed."
"Come October, it's not a free for all for Iran," said this European source, pointing out that Tehran will still be under other arms embargoes, including a comprehensive European Union arms embargo that lasts until October 2023 and a UN measure on missile technology that also lasts until 2023.
The source familiar said that Pompeo has been hoping the UK would take the lead in bringing a resolution to the UN "at the appropriate time," given that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken a firmer line on Iran. If they can't get the UK to act, the Trump administration will do it on its own and "there will be a huge fight at the UNSC," they said.
'A policy based on coercion only will not make it'
Some countries are trying to work with the US to clearly understand the challenge and walk through the ramifications of a move to snap back sanctions. However, US officials don't expect other parties to the deal -- France, Germany, the European Union, Russia and China -- to agree with the US proposal.
Those countries have signaled displeasure with the US maximum pressure campaign, which has levied heavy sanctions against Iran. In the time since the Trump administration's campaign began, Iran has pulled away from its commitments under the deal, exceeding uranium enrichment levels and resuming use of centrifuges at the Fordow facility for enrichment. Tehran has said it will return to compliance as soon as the US returns to the treaty and lifts its unilateral sanctions against Iran.
Many diplomats also say the US pressure campaign as driving increasing tensions in the Mideast, where Iran has used asymmetric attacks on tankers and oil facilities to try to generate leverage.
"A policy based on coercion only will not make it," said a second European diplomat, speaking about the looming embargo deadline and sanctions regime. "It has been two years now and the expectation has been that Iran will just realize that they should get back to the table and accept a broader and more intrusive and demanding deal and they have not."

How our enemies are handling the pandemic
They’re staying focused on their missions and doing just fine
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/April 30/2020
Founder & President
Last week, I received a letter from the ambassador of a free and friendly country. It began:
Dear Mr. May,
It is no exaggeration to say that in the span of about eight weeks, the focus and priorities of every country in the world have been upended by the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19.
Here’s the response I wrote but haven’t sent:
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
Actually, that is an exaggeration. Countries ruled by regimes hostile to democratic societies such as yours and mine have kept their focus and priorities firmly in place.
Despite the pandemic, their conduct has been as belligerent and oppressive as ever. In fact, with much of the world distracted by the intertwined health and economic crises, some have grown bolder.
Start with China’s rulers. They’ve cracked down on Hong Kong, re-arresting more than a dozen prominent pro-democracy activists, including Jimmy Lai and Martin Lee. They’re violating “one country, two systems,” the promise they made in exchange for which Britain handed the territory over to Communist control in 1997. They’re demanding Hong Kong legislators pass laws criminalizing dissent.
In normal times, such actions would almost certainly have sparked mass demonstrations. However, given the danger of further spreading COVID-19 – a virus that originated under the noses of China’s rulers — protestors have refrained from taking to the streets. That has helped mute media attention and international outrage.
“Hong Kongers can’t fight alone,” democracy activist Catrina Po told Canada’s National Post. “We don’t stand a chance against Beijing when we’re fighting alone.”
Next, let’s look in on the Islamic Republic of Iran, whose rulers are asking for funds they claim they’ll spend to fight the pandemic, as well as to revitalize an economy they’ve debilitated through mismanagement and corruption.
Meanwhile, they continue to spend on a uranium enrichment program that David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, this week called “in equal measure uneconomic, unnecessary for Iran’s civilian nuclear program, and unusually threatening to regional and international security.”
Nor are the gunboats of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps staying in port. This month they harassed U.S. Navy vessels in international waters. Also, and in violation of international agreements, Iran’s rulers last week launched a military satellite that, they proudly acknowledged, will wage “intelligence warfare” against the United States.
Peter Pry, a former CIA officer and congressional advisor, noted that the trajectory of the missile should raise alarms. Nuclear-armed and utilized for EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attacks, such missiles could cause blackouts across the U.S., killing millions and dealing America an economic blow from which it might never recover.
On to North Korea, which last month tested both short-range ballistic missiles and what state media called “super large” multiple rocket launchers.
“In a situation where the entire world is experiencing difficulties due to Covid-19, this kind of military act by North Korea is very inappropriate and we call for an immediate halt,” was the understated response from South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Of course, North Korean authorities claim “not a single person” in the country has been infected with the coronavirus, so perhaps they have no reason to change their focus and priorities. In any case, the big news out of North Korea is that dynastic dictator Kim Jong-un been missing in action since April 11. Rumor has it he’s under the weather.
Russia’s military, by contrast, is apparently in fine fiddle. High above the Mediterranean Sea this month, a Russian SU-35 fighter jet intercepted and buzzed a Navy reconnaissance aircraft. Russia also tested an anti-satellite missile, according to the U.S. Space Command.
Is Russia giving the U.S. a stress test? “Undoubtedly, they see a window of opportunity where the United States is really struggling with COVID-19,” said Bradley Bowman, senior director of FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power. “It’s an observable fact that it has had an impact on readiness.”
You should know, too, Mr. Ambassador, that non-state terrorists are not observing social distancing. In Mozambique this month, members of what authorities believe to be a franchise of the Islamic State killed more than 50 people, according to the BBC. Police said young men who turned down invitations to join the group were beheaded.
On to Kabul, where members of a different Islamic State branch attacked a Sikh temple, killing at least 25 worshippers. And in at least a dozen Afghan provinces, the Taliban struck both soldiers and civilians, ignoring a plea by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres to “End the sickness of war and fight the disease that is ravaging our world.”
So, Mr. Ambassador, here’s the conclusion to which I think these developments lead: You, I, and other decent folks regard the pandemic as hugely significant — a matter of life and death.
But the world is a diverse place. Communists, revolutionary Islamists and other proponents of despotic ideologies consider life and death no big deal. After all, they kill people all the time – civilians and their own subjects very much included.
What they do see as imperative is staying focused on increasing their power at the expense of enemies whose morality and sentimentality they regard as weaknesses. Their goal is a new international order, one that will be illiberal, unfree, undemocratic and intolerant. Under the rules of this new world order, nations like yours and mine will submit — or suffer the consequences.
We find that hard to imagine. We wish it were not so. That may suggest we suffer from a lack of imagination and a surfeit of wishful thinking. In this increasingly sickened world, that’s increasingly dangerous. Stay healthy!
Sincerely,
Cliff
*Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times.

Khamenei Orders Iran's Guards To Make Persian Gulf Islands Habitable
Radio Farda/April 30/2020
The Islamic Republic of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has tasked the IRGC with making Persian Gulf islands "habitable", IRGC Naval Force Commander Alireza Tangsiri has said in an interview with the Iranian state-run radio on Wednesday April 29.
Announcing this, Tangsiri warned that the IRGC would not allow "the presence of foreign warships in this region."
During the first half of the 1990s the administration of President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was preoccupied with the idea of making Persian Gulf islands habitable and economically dynamic in order to establish Iran's presence in a region that was partly disputed by ambitious littoral Arab states.
Rafsanjani turned Kish and Qeshm Islands into free trade zones and established several flights every day to those Islands, encouraged businessmen to open malls and trading offices there and erected many new buildings including recreation centers. Both of these islands had good infrastructure thanks to the development plans of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was ousted by the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Other islands including Siri, Farour and Bani Farour (Farourgan) remained largely arid with very little signs of human presence and wildlife.
Revealing Khamenei's plans to develop the islands, Tangsiri did not elaborate on why and when the ayatollah issued the order. But his interview was carried on the Iranian radio on the occasion of the national day of the Persian Gulf.
While warning foreign warships, Tangsiri also added "Foreigners have no place in this region. They should leave." Although it was taken as a comment about Western fleets in the Persian Gulf, but he could have been also talking about Arab residents of Abu Musa island.
The General Headquarters of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces warned U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf Monday that any "illegal and provocative move" will be met with the crushing response of Iranian forces,
Abu Musa, one of three islands that have been the subject of dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates is partly inhabited by Gulf Arabs and Iran's previous attempts to encourage Iranians to migrate to the island have not been significantly successful. The UAE has been claiming that it owns the three islands of Abu Musa, as well as the Greater and Lesser Tunbs since early 1970s, but Iran rejects the claims.
Posts on social media have also noted that the area is hardly habitable. Radio Farda's Iran analyst Reza Haqiqatnejad noted that Khamenei's order is unlikely to make any difference for the region as long as Iran's major foreign policy problems remain unsolved.
Tangsiri called the U.S. military presence in the region illegitimate, mindless of the fact that it was Iran's aggressive moves including attacks on civilian navigation in international waters in 2019 that prompted U.S. allies in the region to call for the presence of European and U.S. fleets.
He said when Khamenei wants to make the islands habitable, "this means that we want to make the region secure." He added that the IRGC has built international airports in Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb Islands and another island has been constructed in the Lesser Tunb.
Recently, after Iranian gunboats harassed a U.S. naval ship in the regional waters, President Donald Trump ordered U.S. forces in the region to retaliate against any intruding vessels in the future.
Wednesday morning, President Hassan Rouhani addressed "U.S. leaders" and told them to stop conspiring against the Iranian people.

Camel Urine: Islam's 'Best Cure' for Coronavirus
Raymond Ibrahim/American Thinker/April 30/2020
Muslim advocacy for drinking camel urine is back in the news, this time in connection with the coronavirus, which is especially ironic if not deadly, as will be explained. An "Islamic medicine specialist" and director of a religious-scientific institution in Iran recently called on his countrymen to drink camel urine as the "best cure" for coronavirus and other ailments.
Mehdi Sabili, who is affiliated with the Iranian regime, uploaded a video on his Instagram account extolling the virtues of dromedary urine on April 19. The video, which has since gone viral, also depicted him drinking a glass of freshly procured camel urine — which he enthused was best drunk "fresh and warm" — and calling on fellow Iranians to do the same three times a day for three days (i.e., nine full glasses).
Where does this idea come from? As usual and with everything Islamic, the drinking of camel urine for salutary benefits is traced back to Muhammad (and, for Iran's Shias, subsequent imams). According to canonical hadiths or traditions, the prophet medicinally prescribed the ingestion of dromedary urine.
The drinking of camel urine for salutary benefits is traced back to Muhammad.
Somewhat relatedly, Muhammad's own urine — which some of his followers eagerly drank — was and continues to be considered a great and salutary blessing, one that even safeguards against the fires of Hell.
For faithful Muslims such as Iran's Sabili, because urine-drinking — in this case, camels' — was recommended by the prophet, it must remain applicable, regardless of what "science" has come to say on the matter. Such is the totalitarian nature of Islamic law, or sharia, which treats not just the Koran, but canonical hadiths as sacred and not to be questioned.
Nor is this some sudden, desperate response to the coronavirus. For example, back in 2012, Dr. Zaghlul al-Naggar, a prominent Islamic thinker and the chairman of Egypt's Committee of Scientific Notions in the Koran, revealed on a live television show that a medical center in Marsa Matrouh actually specialized in treating people with camel urine — all in accord with the prophet's advice. When another guest challenged al-Naggar, saying urine is where all the body's toxins are carried out — "so, shall we drink it for health?" — the representative of "Islamic science" responded with arrogance: "I am older than you and more learned than you: you are not going to teach me; I will teach generations of people like you."
A few months later, in late 2012, a video appeared showing men collecting camel urine in buckets and giving it to people who, in the narrator's words, are "looking to be healed from influenza, diabetes, infectious diseases, infertility," etc. Several women were shown drinking the camel urine — and doing all they could to keep it down and not vomit. The Egyptian narrator concluded by saying he is airing this video not to mock or revile, but to determine "whether we are moving forward, or whether we are moving backwards."
Indeed, such is the tragedy. Not only is drinking camel urine not beneficial, but it appears to have been directly linked to a coronavirus outbreak: in 2012, only Saudi Arabia — the home of Islam and its holy cities — was plagued by another form of coronavirus (MERS-CoV, AKA "Camel Flu"). A whopping 40% of the more than one thousand Saudis who contracted it died. One of its causes, which the World Health Organization strongly warned against, was the drinking of camel urine.
Relying on other forms of "sharia medicine" — for instance, "inserting velvet oil into the anus" to combat coronavirus — has also led to casualties. In Iran alone, a coronavirus patient who was told by a cleric to smell roses as a cure died soon thereafter, and the son of a prominent ayatollah confessed that his father had died because he had trusted so-called "Islamic medicine specialists."
In the end, the mentality that extols the ingestion of camel urine is the same mentality that calls for "jihad against infidels." Both are defined by blind obedience to the utterances of Muhammad — just as both lead to suffering.
*Raymond Ibrahim is a Judith Friedman Rosen Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

If the U.S. Navy Sinks Iranian Gunboats in the Persian Gulf, What Might the Outcome Be?
Michael Young/Carnegie MEC/April 30/2020
Randa Slim | Senior fellow and director of the Conflict Resolution and Track II Dialogues Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
It is still not clear whether President Donald Trump’s April 22 tweet saying he had instructed the U.S. Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian gunboats harassing U.S. naval vessels in the Persian Gulf meant a change in existing U.S. rules of engagement. These are guided by the inherent right of self-defense and determination of hostile intent and hostile act. To date, the U.S. Navy has responded to harassment by gunboats of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) with escalating actions, including sending warnings by radio as well as firing warning shots. Decisions to escalate beyond warnings, including sinking Iranian gunboats, are usually left to a vessel’s commanding officer.
If such an escalation were to occur, it is unlikely to lead to an all-out war, primarily because the leaders in the United States and Iran do not want a war. There are senior officials in the Trump administration who argue that war with Iran could precipitate regime change in Tehran. There are IRGC officials who argue that a military confrontation would be very costly for the United States and would end its military presence in the Middle East.
While the Trump administration’s maximum pressure has not succeeded in deterring Iranian aggression, Tehran has so far calibrated its incremental escalation against U.S. assets and partners to avoid actions leading to a large military conflict with the U.S. If the U.S. killing of IRGC Major General Qassem Suleimani did not lead to an all-out war, the IRGC’s losing a few gunboats in the Persian Gulf would likely not do so either.
Richard A. Bitzinger | Visiting senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore
If the U.S. Navy, whether provoked or not, decides to attack Iranian gunboats, it could easily lead to an escalation of hostilities. At the moment, the Iranians have confined their actions to buzzing U.S. naval ships in relatively small and lightly armed vessels—mainly a nuisance, like gnats at a picnic. But if their gunboats were targeted, Iran could be prompted to counterattack with much greater force, using fast boats armed with anti-ship cruise missiles—such as the Chinese-made C-701—which can be fired from kilometers away.
Moreover, Iran could decide to attack in swarms of several such boats, which would make it much harder for U.S. naval forces to defend themselves. It is doubtful that the Iranian forces could sink a U.S. warship, but such attacks could cause considerable damage and probably loss of life. If the U.S. Navy then decides to up the ante—by targeting Iranian ports and naval facilities, for example—then the situation could deteriorate into even bloodier conflict.
Mara Karlin | Nonresident senior fellow with the Security and Strategy team at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
President Donald Trump’s declarative tweet that the U.S. Navy would “shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea” has thrust Gulf maritime security into the limelight. Putting aside the colossal and inevitable confusion that “policy by tweet” poses, it can most generously be understood as an effort to reestablish deterrence by reminding Tehran of the U.S. Navy’s outsized capabilities compared to its Iranian counterparts.
If the U.S. Navy is given clear rules of engagement and if the Iranian Navy takes significant, deliberate, and attributable steps to significantly harm U.S. assets and personnel at sea, U.S. naval and air assets could easily destroy Iranian ships and related radar systems. However, it would be shortsighted for the Iranian Navy to do so since both Iran’s military and its clients have operated most effectively and have masterfully flummoxed U.S. responses when they operate in the gray zone instead, thereby impeding and confusing meaningful U.S. military action.

Libya and the Army's Popular Mandate
Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al Awsat/April 30/2020
The Libyan people responded positively to Commander of the Libyan National Army Marshal Khalifa Haftar’s call for tasking the army with ruling the country and dissolving the Presidential Council after the Sukheirat Agreement had failed. After large protests broke out in major Libyan cities, the statements released by the tribes, including the Ashraf and Murabitin tribes, were bold in demanding that the army be allowed to run the country's affairs.
Libyan cities and tribes also mandated the army to lead the country by organizing protests and releasing statements, while activists launched the hashtag about the matter a moment after Haftar’s televised speech ended.
Mandating is the assignment of authority or responsibility, which means a transition and handing over of power, and insofar as the mandate is popular, it is as legitimate as a referendum, especially after the so-called Sukheirat Agreement and its outcomes failed, including the State and Presidential Councils. Both of these institutions failed to represent Libyans after turning into a front for pro-political Islam groups. All of this pushed many to mandate the military institution to maintain the security of the country after losing hope in politicians.
Haftar, said: “This tragic situation that has taken the people’s suffering to its peak leaves no choice in front of the honorable Libyan people but to declare the dissolution of the so-called political agreement and the gang that is the Presidential Council. You need to immediately decide to mandate the institution that you find competent to lead in the coming phase, under a constitutional announcement that sets the stage for the construction of a civil state and armed forces that guarantee the safety of your choices”.
After corruption and looting of public funds reigned, described by the former UN envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, as unprecedented, and after governments failed, especially the Government of National Accord that the Commander of the Libyan Army described as “a treacherous Presidential Council and a mercenary for bringing the Turkish army”, Libya, which lacks a clear and mature political leadership, is awaiting the success of a democratic project under democratic illiteracy. It accepts outcomes with the presence of opportunistic and ideological militias and the dominion of extremist groups affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda, and even remnants of ISIS; the situation has become surreal.
What is most pressing now is taking back the sovereignty of the Libyan state from terrorist groups. After that, talk about a viable democratic project under national sovereignty achieved by the National Army becomes plausible.
The Libyan crisis is essentially a security crisis, so continuing to address it with a political process is schizophrenic, and a form of political futility and luxury. This is why all political solutions have ended with failure, and perhaps Sukheirat is the most recent.
All current political bodies have offended the state and the Libyan people through inadequate policies, some of which amounted to treason, such as bringing foreign mercenaries and paying them with the money of the Libyan people to fight the Libyan people, or conjuring agreements that undermine Libyan borders and resources like the unconstitutional Government of National Accord. All of these ignited the popular movement in Libya and pushed for mandating the Libyan army to run the country for a transitory period until the atmosphere is suited for a free election without the terrorism and dominion of militias.
Mandating the Libyan army will not lead to fear of military rule, the Libyan army’s message is clear and honest: There is no authority over the army except an elected authority, and the Government of National Accord is not elected, it is a product of a fait accompli and is therefore rejected by the people themselves, before the army.
The Libyan people are not afraid of mandating the army, it is a disciplined military institution that believes in the civil state and not stratocracy. It is a national military institution that will protect civil elections and ensure the rebirth of a Libyan state.

Covid-19 Has Taken Us From FOMO to ROMO
Sarah Green Carmichael/Bloomberg/April 30/2020
After the first week of self-isolation, I was startled to hear the same sentiment from friends on different continents: The pandemic is scary, but one silver lining is the total absence of FOMO. They said it was a relief to have stopped worrying that, somewhere, friends were having fun without them.
In lockdown, there’s no fear of missing out, because you know that no one is having fun, anywhere, with anyone. And the social-media sharing of vacation and concert photos that used to foster FOMO has evaporated.
What we have now is something very different. Not FOMO, but ROMO: the reality of missing out. With FOMO, you worry that what you’re doing isn’t cool enough, or Instagrammable enough. With ROMO, you know it isn’t.
The old uncertainty — is my life boring? — has been replaced by new and bigger ones: Is it safe to go to the grocery store? Will I lose my job? Will someone I love die? And when, when will this end?
ROMO means no traveling, no restaurants, no birthday parties. Choice paralysis has gone out the window because there are few choices to make. (“Hmm, should we eat in tonight or … eat in tonight?”)
Some things are delayed (baseball, weddings, haircuts), while others are canceled (Wimbledon, Burning Man, feeling safe in a grocery store).
Some of these I’ve found unexpectedly heart-wrenching. In Massachusetts, where I live, mid-April always means Patriots’ Day, a local Monday holiday commemorating the start of the American Revolution. There are small-town parades with kids on decorated tricycles, an 11 a.m. Red Sox game, the Boston Marathon, re-enactments of the Battle of Lexington and Concord under the bright April sun. Afterward, the minutemen and redcoats share Dunkin’ Donuts coffee.
But this year, the soldiers did not meet at the Old North Bridge. Paul Revere did not ride.
All these cancellations can make it seem as if life is on hold — but it’s really still moving forward, and we’ll never get this time back. That’s the reality of missing out.The authors, directors and musicians who were set to launch their ideas this spring will probably never get the attention their books, movies and albums deserve. The athletes set to compete at the 2020 Olympics may not qualify again when the games are eventually held. High school seniors won’t have a prom. New graduates won’t have a commencement ceremony. Grandparents will miss their new grandbabies’ early days. Some deaths may never be mourned with a funeral.
As for the postponements, people waiting on knee replacements or IVF procedures are stuck in a painful limbo. Missed mammograms and blood-pressure checks could have repercussions beyond the quarantine.
No wonder calls to crisis hotlines are up — in some cases by 40%, in others by almost 900%.
To combat the dark cloud this conjures, the human mind instinctively searches for silver linings, such as the absence of FOMO. Perhaps the fear of missing out was only ever the product of a 10-year bull market and 3.6% unemployment, the side effect of an economic boom we knew wouldn’t last forever. When paper millionaires seemed to pop up overnight and top firms fought for talent, it was only natural for some to worry they weren’t making the most of their opportunities — for money, for advancement, for fun. Now we’re glad to have any opportunities left at all.
The reality of missing out, on the other hand, is like an unwanted houseguest who has overstayed her meager welcome. We have no choice but to accept what she’s brought us: lessons in perspective, gratitude and patience.
The sooner she leaves, the better.

Syria's chemical attacks may have failed to create moral outrage, yet there is hope
Nick March/The National/April 30/2020
The trial of two Syrian intelligence officers in Germany, accused of torture, shows that the only way forward for a country to come together is to match barbarity with the rule of law
April 30 marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, although the famous picture of the evacuation from the rooftop of the American embassy was taken the previous day, on April 29, 1975.
The anniversary will pass without much global attention – in part because much of the world’s gaze is fixed on the present-day Covid-19 crisis – although it has been pointed out that more than 58,000 US servicemen died or are missing in action in Vietnam, while more than that number of people in the US have so far lost their lives to the coronavirus. To put those numbers into historical perspective, more than three million Vietnamese died in the same conflict.
Another anniversary from another conflict – the “war to end all wars” – went by quietly last week.
The 105th anniversary of the first deadly use of chemical weapons during the First World War at the Second Battle of Ypres was on April 22. The moment was observed with dignity at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Belgium, with the Last Post being played through the streets of a town in lockdown.
It is worth recalling the events that sparked such sombre remembrance.
Historical accounts of April 22, 1915 suggest that those soldiers fighting on the Western Front woke to the kind of cloudless skies that many of us seem to be living under today.
It was warm, too, especially so for a northern European spring day in Ypres and, crucially, a fresh breeze softened the sunshine. A strange sound announced the beginning of the chemical weapons attack late that afternoon.
According to George H Cassar’s 2010 book, Hell in Flanders Fields, “French troops heard a loud hissing noise coming from the German lines. As it continued, they saw an approaching greenish-yellow cloud”.
The coloured fumes, which were later found to have been the product of more than 160 tonnes of pressurised liquid chlorine, initially caused confusion among the ranks of soldiers: some thought them to be a smokescreen that had been set up to mask oncoming German troops, others believed it to be the discharge from spent munitions.
Both assumptions quickly unravelled as the smoke drifted towards a trench manned by Algerian soldiers, part of the so-called Army of Africa branch of the French military, in which men from Morocco and Tunisia also served.
Within seconds, Cassar continues: “The men choked, their eyes and lungs burned and they were gripped by violent nausea and stabbing pains in the chest.”
As the smoke moved on, other troops spilled out of the trenches and tried to outrun the cloud, but the wind was by then too strong for them. It was a horrific scene. Around 1,000 soldiers died in the attack.
Far from creating moral outrage, the incident propelled an intense arms race.
An estimated 100,000 tonnes of chemical weapons were used by both sides before the war ended in 1918, by which time the death toll from gas attacks ran into the tens of thousands, with at least a million more injured as a direct result of their use.
Later this year, the 95th anniversary of the accord that was designed to prevent their further use was signed, although the Geneva Protocol of June 1925 and its successors, including the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, have sometimes proved a blunt sword to wield.
Despite the horrors of Ypres in 1915, chemical weapons remain a persistent and pernicious feature of the Syrian conflict.
In August 2013, a chemical weapons attack by Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Ghouta appeared to be the moment when inertia within the international community over the civil war would be replaced by action.
Instead, the then US president Barack Obama and other prominent members of the international community walked their way back from possible confrontation by talking dismissively of “someone else’s civil war” that they had no right to meddle with. Clear red lines were blurred in the prevarication.
As in Europe in 1915, the events in Syria seven years ago produced the opposite result to the one the situation compelled.
The abuses have continued, despite the Assad regime agreeing to dispense with his chemical weapons in the aftermath of the Ghouta attack.
The country’s stockpile was said to have been destroyed by 2014, but the list of chemicals that have been used in Syria since then reads like a roll call of terror: sarin, chlorine and white phosphorus.
Earlier this month, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons categorically confirmed that Syrian regime forces repeatedly attacked Ltamenah, a rebel town, in 2017 using chemical weapons under orders that could only have come from the top. There have been many other incidents, too.
April 30 marks the 45th anniversary of the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War, although the famous picture of the evacuation from the rooftop of the American embassy was taken the previous day, on April 29, 1975.
The anniversary will pass without much global attention – in part because much of the world’s gaze is fixed on the present-day Covid-19 crisis – although it has been pointed out that more than 58,000 US servicemen died or are missing in action in Vietnam, while more than that number of people in the US have so far lost their lives to the coronavirus. To put those numbers into historical perspective, more than three million Vietnamese died in the same conflict.
Another anniversary from another conflict – the “war to end all wars” – went by quietly last week.
The 105th anniversary of the first deadly use of chemical weapons during the First World War at the Second Battle of Ypres was on April 22. The moment was observed with dignity at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing in Belgium, with the Last Post being played through the streets of a town in lockdown.
It is worth recalling the events that sparked such sombre remembrance.
Historical accounts of April 22, 1915 suggest that those soldiers fighting on the Western Front woke to the kind of cloudless skies that many of us seem to be living under today.
It was warm, too, especially so for a northern European spring day in Ypres and, crucially, a fresh breeze softened the sunshine. A strange sound announced the beginning of the chemical weapons attack late that afternoon.
According to George H Cassar’s 2010 book, Hell in Flanders Fields, “French troops heard a loud hissing noise coming from the German lines. As it continued, they saw an approaching greenish-yellow cloud”.
A lone bugler plays the nightly Last Post under the First World War monument, Menin Gate, in Ypres, Belgium last Saturday. All commemorative ceremonies, honouring thousands of Australians and New Zealanders who fought during the war in Belgium, were cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The coloured fumes, which were later found to have been the product of more than 160 tonnes of pressurised liquid chlorine, initially caused confusion among the ranks of soldiers: some thought them to be a smokescreen that had been set up to mask oncoming German troops, others believed it to be the discharge from spent munitions.
Both assumptions quickly unravelled as the smoke drifted towards a trench manned by Algerian soldiers, part of the so-called Army of Africa branch of the French military, in which men from Morocco and Tunisia also served.
Within seconds, Cassar continues: “The men choked, their eyes and lungs burned and they were gripped by violent nausea and stabbing pains in the chest.”
During the Second Battle of Ypres, the Germans released more than 160 tonnes of chlorine gas at the front, in the first deadly gas attack of the war. Getty Images
As the smoke moved on, other troops spilled out of the trenches and tried to outrun the cloud, but the wind was by then too strong for them. It was a horrific scene. Around 1,000 soldiers died in the attack.
Far from creating moral outrage, the incident propelled an intense arms race.
An estimated 100,000 tonnes of chemical weapons were used by both sides before the war ended in 1918, by which time the death toll from gas attacks ran into the tens of thousands, with at least a million more injured as a direct result of their use. Later this year, the 95th anniversary of the accord that was designed to prevent their further use was signed, although the Geneva Protocol of June 1925 and its successors, including the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, have sometimes proved a blunt sword to wield.
Despite the horrors of Ypres in 1915, chemical weapons remain a persistent and pernicious feature of the Syrian conflict.
In August 2013, a chemical weapons attack by Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Ghouta appeared to be the moment when inertia within the international community over the civil war would be replaced by action.
Instead, the then US president Barack Obama and other prominent members of the international community walked their way back from possible confrontation by talking dismissively of “someone else’s civil war” that they had no right to meddle with. Clear red lines were blurred in the prevarication.
As in Europe in 1915, the events in Syria seven years ago produced the opposite result to the one the situation compelled.
Syrian children and adults receive treatment for a suspected chemical attack at a makeshift clinic on the outskirts of Damascus on February 25, 2018. AFP
The abuses have continued, despite the Assad regime agreeing to dispense with his chemical weapons in the aftermath of the Ghouta attack.
The country’s stockpile was said to have been destroyed by 2014, but the list of chemicals that have been used in Syria since then reads like a roll call of terror: sarin, chlorine and white phosphorus.
Earlier this month, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons categorically confirmed that Syrian regime forces repeatedly attacked Ltamenah, a rebel town, in 2017 using chemical weapons under orders that could only have come from the top. There have been many other incidents, too.
Mr Al Assad’s Syria is a broken country that will take decades to reconstruct when the war ends. When that moment comes, truth and reconciliation represent the only way through the smouldering rubble. The actions and verifications of the OPCW and others will prove crucial.
Those who perpetrated illegal acts must be brought to justice. Their crimes must be recounted. Their punishment must reflect the severity of their actions.
The only way forward is to match barbarity with the rule of law. Some of that process is currently under way at a trial of two former Syrian intelligence officers in Germany, who are accused of torture.
While their trial is a small piece in a vast jigsaw, it is still a signal that the path to reconciliation among a fractured society can only be found through truth and justice. It is also a sign that only by confronting the past and breaking the anguish of the present can the future be truly realised.

IRGC taking Iran toward military dictatorship
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 30/2020
The IRGC is cognizant of the fact that the popularity of the ruling clerics has been significantly impacted in recent months, particularly due to its handling of the coronavirus crisis. When the virus first emerged in Iran, top clerics strongly opposed following the health authorities’ recommendations. Mohammad Saeedi, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s representative in Qom, argued that the enemy would not succeed in projecting the holy city as being unsafe.
Saeedi insisted on leaving the shrines in Qom open and encouraged people to visit them in order to be cured of the coronavirus. Iranians quickly witnessed how the clerics’ decisions made Qom the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the country and heightened the crisis. A manager of the Group of Experts of Social Factors Impacting Health at the Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran even admitted in February: “Almost all cases in the country have been caused by Qom. Therefore, our greatest mistake was that we did not control the source.”
Lawmakers have also criticized the clerics for mishandling the situation. Alireza Rahimi, a member of the Majlis (parliament) leadership, was quoted by state-run news agency ISNA as asking: “Why was the coronavirus outbreak in Qom overshadowed by the Majlis elections? Why was Qom not quarantined to prevent the spread of coronavirus across the country?”
People also witnessed how the clerics continued to refuse to follow the health authorities’ recommendations to quarantine Qom. One of the most important criticisms of the clerics came from Nahid Khodakarami, head of Tehran City Council’s Health Commission, who said on March 1: “Two weeks ago, I told Dr. Iraj Harirchi and even Dr. (Ali) Nobakht (the head of the parliamentary health committee) that Qom must be quarantined, but they did not listen. There must be restrictions placed on Qom. Now, the entire country has been infected. Even in a small city like Khansar, three people have tested positive for coronavirus. All three had gone there from Qom. Yesterday, three people traveled from Qom to Tehran and all of them died. If we had not given priority to the concerns of the clerics, we would have been in a much better situation.”
Qom is a center for training powerful Shiite religious figures from other countries, with thousands of seminaries established there. Among those studying in Qom at the time of the outbreak were hundreds of Chinese students.
The top clerics also refused to delay the Majlis elections in late February. Later, a video clip emerged showing the tragic situation in Qom’s mortuary. It was widely circulated among Iranians on social media. Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli admitted: “Some had recommended delaying the elections, and insisted on delaying elections in Qom. But I, as the official for the elections, refused to approve these recommendations.”
Meanwhile, the IRGC has been coy and has shrewdly attempted to increase its popularity by depicting itself as the country’s hero. After the coronavirus outbreak began, the IRGC started marginalizing Rouhani’s government and many of the clerics by infiltrating hospitals, overseeing health officials and introducing nationwide initiatives for supposedly fighting coronavirus.
For example, the IRGC this month unveiled a new Iranian-made device that is reportedly capable of instantly detecting the virus. The commander-in-chief of the IRGC, Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami, boasted: “The device is able to detect every coronavirus infection case within a 100-meter radius by creating a magnetic field and using a bipolar virus inside the device. When the device’s antenna is pointed at a specific location, it will detect the contaminated spot within five seconds. This device has been tested in various hospitals and has an 80 percent accuracy level.”
The IRGC also claimed that it has mobilized thousands of volunteers from its various affiliated organizations, including its paramilitary arm the Basij, to help the nation in fighting coronavirus.
Furthermore, IRGC officials announced they would take a 20 percent pay cut in order to assist the nation in battling the coronavirus pandemic. Spokesman Brig. Gen. Ramezan Sharif stated that all members of the IRGC have “announced readiness to allocate part of their wages to this benevolent act.”
The IRGC has shrewdly attempted to increase its popularity by depicting itself as the country’s hero.
Nevertheless, this does not mean that the Iranian people have put their mistrust of the IRGC aside. It is still viewed as being part of the regime and is also engaged in the repression of dissidents, suppression of the freedoms of speech, press and assembly, and it imprisons political opponents.
In the last four decades, the IRGC has evolved to be the backbone of the clerical establishment. It is controlling significant sections of Iran’s economic and ideological centers and the senior cadres of the IRGC dictate Tehran’s foreign policy and support for proxies. The IRGC is, therefore, likely using the coronavirus outbreak in Iran to advance its efforts to transition the regime from a theocracy to a military dictatorship.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is an Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

Saudi prince's vision marred by oil price — and a death
Simon Henderson/The Hill/April 30/2020
It is supposed to be the future of Saudi Arabia — and it may be. But not in the way that Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, aka MbS, intended if recent events — principally, the low oil price but also, last week, a death — are anything to go by.
The Neom project is a $500 billion dream city in the northwest of the kingdom, bordering on the Red Sea as well as Egypt and Jordan. It is supposed to represent the post-oil future of Saudi Arabia, as high-tech as one could imagine. Saudi scientists and computer whizzes would live in a robotic world, their every need — cleaning their homes, buying food — anticipated electronically and dealt with while they are at work.
Consultants drawing up the details were encouraged to let their imaginations run almost wild. They did: Wanting the local sand to glisten in the moonlight, they contacted NASA seeking any wisdom on how it could be done.
Unfortunately for MbS’s dreams, the area, although remote, rocky and sandy, is not empty. People live there. There are an estimated 20,000 locals, predominantly members of the al-Huwaitat tribe, who make a living from harvesting date palms and fishing.
In the U.S., “eminent domain” — the forced sale to the government of land needed for development — involves lawyers. In Saudi Arabia, the process can be rougher. One local resident, Abdul Rahim Ahmad al-Hwaiti, vowed online to stay in his home. He tweeted his shouts of defiance to police gathering outside. Tweets from others recorded heavy gunfire. Later, cellphone video showed major damage to the interior of his house. An official statement said he had been killed in an exchange of gunfire.
When his funeral took place, a heavy detachment of police brought his body to the cemetery where local tribes people had sullenly gathered. But the end of the story, or this part of it, was on Tuesday morning, when the official Saudi Press Agency reported that the “people of al-Huwaitat tribe in Tabuk region have expressed loyalty” to King Salman and MbS. “The people of the tribe expressed support for the Neom project launched by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince in the Tabuk region as well as projects in Amaala.” (Amaala is the name of the Red Sea development to encourage foreign visitors to the stunningly beautiful coral waters; British tourism entrepreneur Richard Branson was enthused by the project, until the murder of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.)
We shall have to see how much the al-Huwaitat tribe, which stretches also into Egypt and Jordan, continues to respond to Neom — which, for the moment, apparently consists of little more than a royal palace complex or two. But Neom appears to remain central to MbS’s Vision 2030 plan for the transformation of the kingdom. Indeed, MbS is reported to be staying in the region now, locked down with his advisers.
While oil prices remain weak — the widely traded Brent crude was around $23 early Wednesday — the math for by how much MbS’s plans will have to be pruned or delayed is being recalculated, both within the kingdom and outside.
It was reported on Monday that the Saudi sovereign wealth fund had invested $500 million in Live Nation Entertainment, the world’s largest concert promoter, which, to many observers, suggests an over-confidence in the post-viral world. Contrast that with the statement, also Monday, by an International Monetary Fund official who suggested that Middle East sovereign wealth funds should be used to boost local economies.
*Simon Henderson is the Baker Fellow and director of the Bernstein Program on Gulf and Energy Policy at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Follow him on Twitter @shendersongulf.