English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese
Related, Global News & Editorials
For
May 12/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/eliasnews19/english.may12.20.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas, the rock
John 01/35-42.: “The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples,
and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God! ’
The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. When Jesus turned
and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said
to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ He
said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they
remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of
the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’
(which is translated Anointed).He brought Simon to Jesus, who looked at him and
said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is
translated Peter). the rock”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 11-12/2020
Mother’s Day in Canada: All people have hearts, but Mothers’ Hearts brings all
hearts together/Elias Bejjani/May 10/2020
Lebanon Records 14 New Coronavirus Cases
In One Beirut Hospital, COVID Warriors through Their Own Eyes
WHO representative visits Hassan, says people must be responsible facing
Covid-19
Army warns smoking doubles risk of Covid-19
Aoun was briefed by Bishop Aoudeh on deliberations of Archdiocese meeting:
Keenness on preserving rights of all communities especially Greek Orthodox
Franjieh Says No Oil in Lebanon, Launches Fiercest Attack Yet on FPM
Presidency Accuses Franjieh of 'Protecting Fugitives'
Casino Opts Not to Reopen as 3rd Phase of Easing Lockdown Begins
Hoballah: With every $1 that industrialists are deprived from, the economy loses
$4
Hariri receives Ambassadors of Kuwait, Norway, Switzerland, and Canada
Diab meets UN’s Kubis, Chinese ambassador
Prime Minister Hassan Diabr meets US Ambassador over financial reforms plan
Hitti meets with US Ambassador
Hariri, Jumblatt tackle political developments
Abdel Samad calls on media to resume coronavirus awareness campaign
Lebanon Faces Grave Threat to Stability as Poverty Mounts
MP Sami Gemayel, Egyptian ambassador discuss latest developments
Lebanon Faces Grave Threat to Stability as Poverty Mounts
Lebanese Government Kicks off Talks with IMF
Hariri, Saudi Ambassador to Beirut Discuss Latest Developments
Rai Calls for Freeing Lebanon From 'De Facto Influence'
Lebanon and Syria: One Occupation in Two Countries/Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al
Awsat/May 11/2020
ED’N’RAY, the young and loud DJ duo shaking Beirut/Chiri Choukeir/Annahar/May
11/2020
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
May 10-11/2020
Iran navy hits own ship with missile, kills 19 sailors near Persian Gulf waters
Iraq PM Launches Anti-Corruption Battle by Warning His Brother
Sudan: Criminal Charges Against Egyptian Brotherhood Members
Palestinians Plan to Counter Annexation, Europe Mulls Sanctions against Israel
Israel Razes Home of Alleged Palestinian Attacker
Hundreds Protest Afghan Migrant Drownings at Iran Border
SDF Commanders Flee to Turkey, Finance Officer Killed
LNA Vows to End Erdogan’s Plans in Libya
Egypt Underscores Need to Maintain Global ‘Multilateral’ System
Cheers and Tears as Europe's Kids Go Back to School
Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous
sources published on
May 10-11/2020
After Five Bloody Years in Syria, Russia Is Turning Against Iran—and Assad/Jeremy Hodge/The Daily Beast/May 11/2020
Libyan Civil War Aggravated by the Threat of COVID-19/Tzvi Kahn/New Africa
Daily/May 11/2020
COVID-19, hostages, drowning: Iranian regime criminality may be increasing
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/May 11/2020
How Iran is losing its grip in Iraq/Eli Lake/Bloomberg/May 11/2020
Pompeo to Israel: A Scene Setter/Jacob Nagel & Jonathan Schanzer/FDD/May 11/2020
The JCPOA Has Not Improved Iran’s Human Rights Record/Tzvi Kahn & Alireza Nader/FDD/May
11/2020
How to Deal with Iranian Speedboats/James Stavridis/Bloomberg/May 11/2020
Boris Johnson’s Coronavirus Response Fails Better/Therese Raphael/Bloomberg/May
11/2020
Land of Two Ambassadors/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/May 11/2020
Palestinian Leaders: A Policy of Piracy, Blackmail and Plunder/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone
Institute/May 11, 2020
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News &
Editorials published on
May 10-11/2020
Mother’s Day in Canada: All people have hearts, but
Mothers’ Hearts brings all hearts together
Elias Bejjani/May 10/2020
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86018/86018/
Canada celebrates today, on the tenth of May 2020, “The Mother’s
Day” and honors with love and gratitude all her sacrifices, devotion, and
commitments.
This blessed ritual of genuine honoring is certainly a faith obligation and a
human, moral, ethical, religious and ecclesiastical duty for each and every
believer who fears God and the day of his last reckoning, and at the same
adheres in his/her pattern of lifestyle, and practices to the Ten Biblical
Commandments in which its fifth one verbatim reads: “Honor your father and your
mother that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is
giving you”.
Honor means to give high regard, respect and esteem to; to bring respect or
credit to; an outward token, sign or act that manifests high regard.
Respect means to have deferential regard for, to treat with propriety and
consideration; to regard as inviolable.
Meanwhile, this honor and respect, though primarily intended by God to be given
to parents, are not limited to them. In spirit it includes civil, religious and
educational authorities as well.
God want us to honor our parents because the family is the basic building block
or unit of society, thus the stability of the community depends on the stability
of the families that comprise it.
“In God’s eyes—and in a small child’s—a parent stands in the place of God
Himself. In the physical sense, parents are the child’s creator, provider,
lawgiver, teacher, and protector—and sometimes even savior. A child’s response
to this relationship will greatly determine his later response to larger
relationships in society. And it is ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN to affect his
relationship with God. Thus, since parents represent God, it becomes their
obligation to live lives worthy of that honor. Ultimately, the responsibility
for keeping this commandment falls on the child, but it begins with the parents
through child training and example. If parents neither provide the correct
example nor teach the correct way, they can hardly expect their children to
honor them” (John W. Ritenbaugh).
Mothers and fathers, through the bond of sacred marriage, secure the continuity
of humanity. This holy and blessed institution, the institution of the family
“Marriage” is the cornerstone of every society. Without it, societies
disintegrate, lose values and morals after which destructive chaos and all
forms of loss of faith and immorality prevail.
In one of our proverbs back home in Lebanon we say: The Good mother is like a
magnet that pulls together her family members and holds them under her wings.
Practically this means that with her love, warm and big heart, devotion,
passionate, role model, hard work and sacrifices she brings her family members
together, embraces them, nurtures them, and always works to cultivate in them
all values of love, forgiveness, giving, humility, tolerance, and faith.
We congratulate the mothers on their annual day, and pray for the eternal rest
of the souls of the mothers who have passed away.
We ask our mothers who are in heaven dwelling in God’s mentions to pray for us
and for peace in the world, especially during this time of world wide state of
loss, confusion, despair and fear, while facing the deadly threats of Corona
Virus plague.
A Special Prayer For The Mothers
Dear God,
Thank you for your endless provisions of grace and mercy. We come to you today
to lift up every woman who answers to the name of “mom.” We ask that you supply
each one with the strength they need for those difficult days. Give them wisdom
to know when to encourage and when to correct their children. Supply them with
an extra dose of patience. Remind them that children are a heritage and a reward
from You (Psalm 127:3 CSB), and shower them with special moments they can
cherish. Lord, we also ask that you draw them close to you daily. Remind them of
their worth in Your eyes – that they, too, are cherished children of a loving
Father. We pray for contentment in this very special calling. May every mom
realize that this is a mission from You, one that brings truly great rewards in
the end. quoted from the Batchelor Brothers page)
Amen
Lebanon Records 14 New Coronavirus Cases
Naharnet/May 11/2020
Lebanon on Monday confirmed 14 more COVID-19 coronavirus cases, which raises the
country's tally to 859, the Health Ministry said. Twelve of the cases were
recorded among residents while two were confirmed among repatriated expats, the
Ministry added in a statement. The country's death toll still stands at 26 while
the number of recoveries has reached 234. Lebanon had on Sunday witnessed its
biggest spike in weeks in the numbers of daily coronavirus cases, prompting the
health and interior ministers to warn that a strict lockdown could be
re-imposed. Cabinet is expected to reassess the anti-coronavirus measures on
Tuesday.
In One Beirut Hospital, COVID Warriors through Their Own
Eyes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 11/2020
In the harshly-lit corridors of a Beirut hospital, a team of nurses has been
snapping pictures with their mobile phones of life behind the scenes of the
battle against the coronavirus. The images taken at the Hotel-Dieu de France
Hospital and selected by AFP for a photo project offer a glimpse of their epic
struggle against the pandemic.Exhaustion, prayer, pride and a strong team spirit
-- the photos chronicle the emotional roller coaster these nurses have been
through in two months. As they prepare to receive another accolade for their
front line role with the May 12 marking of International Nurses Day, their
smiles still show behind the masks and goggles. But many of them have gone weeks
without seeing their families and, while infections have remained relatively
limited in Lebanon, they fear a second wave will flood their wards. "People
don't understand the difficulties we face here," said Sylvia Beudjekian, the
head nurse in her unit at Hotel Dieu, one of the main hospitals in the Lebanese
capital. "Everybody's tired. We do much more than administer drugs to patients,
we look after people who do not have their families by their side to battle
sickness," she said. Drinking coffee, playing guitar or celebrating Easter --
the pictures document some of the little down time they have enjoyed since
COVID-19 grounded them at their workplace and permanently clad them in white and
blue protective gear. "We've laughed and we've cried and we've learned a lot,"
Beudjekian said."We will continue to do everything we can to be there for
everyone but people should be very careful and stay home."
WHO representative visits Hassan, says people must be
responsible facing Covid-19
MNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Minister of Health, Hamad Hassan, on Monday welcomed World Health Organization
(WHO) representative in Lebanon, Imane al-Chankiti, with whom he assessed the
adopted procedures to contain the novel coronavirus pandemic after a recent
significant increase in the number of cases across Lebanon. “The meeting had
been devoted to review a number of plans to equip hospitals and isolation
centers, and the possibility of increasing the number of laboratory tests,” al-Chankiti
said. “We are still at a stage where we’re able to contain the pandemic,” the
WHO representative added, expressing fear of sliding into a more dangerous stage
in the event that the some citizens continue to ignore prevention guidelines.
Al-Chankiti stressed the need for people, especially those arriving from abroad,
to act responsibly and apply the quarantine procedures recommended by the
Ministry of Health’s medical teams.
Army warns smoking doubles risk of Covid-19
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
The Lebanese Army on Monday warned via Twitter that smoking of all kinds doubled
the risk of the novel Coronavirus. “Smoking cigarettes and hookah increases the
symptoms of the Coronavirus and doubles the possibility of contracting the
virus. Awareness is your responsibility and prevention is the best treatment,”
the Lebanese Army tweeted. The Army’s tweet was followed by thee hashtags:
#Together we face Corona #With our solidarity, we succeed
Aoun was briefed by Bishop Aoudeh on deliberations of
Archdiocese meeting: Keenness on preserving rights of all communities especially
Greek Orthodox
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted keenness to preserve
rights of all sects, especially the Greek Orthodox community, which gave the
Lebanese administration officials who are known for their competence, sincerity
and good conduct.
The President stances came during his reception the Beirut Metropolitan for the
Greek Orthodox, Archbishop Elias Aoudeh, in the presence of MPElias Bou Saab.
President Aoun and Archbishop Aoudeh discussed the general situation and affairs
of the Greek Orthodox community.
For his part, Bishop Aoudeh expressedappreciation for the combined role of the
President and heads of constitutional institutions, stressing the importance of
participation of members of the Orthodox community in administrative and
functional sites based on experience, competence and palm cleanliness.
Bishop Aoudeh also briefed President Aoun on the deliberations of the meeting
held in the Archdiocese of Ashrafiyeh, which issued a written statement
unanimously of those present, affirming that the Orthodox stood beside the
option of a civil state based on true citizenship and equality of rights and
duties, especially since they were never sectarian. Aoudeh indicated that until
the establishment of the civil state, the Orthodox have the right to participate
effectively in building a state through administrative, judicial and military
positions, considering that replacing senior Orthodox employees with others
should be for good reasons without any injustice, especially if these employees
were not perpetrators.
Then, Bishop Aoudeh said that he had placed the Orthodox appointments file in
the President’s custody, calling for the removal of injustice in the Orthodox
community members.
MP Fouad Makhzoumi:
Later, President Aoun met head of the National Dialogue party, MP Fouad
Makhzoumi, accompanied by his political advisor, Dr. Carol Zwein.
After the meeting, MP Makhzoumi explained that his deliberations with the
President tackled general conditions in the country in light of the harsh health
and economic living conditions.
Makhzoumi praised the Cabinet-approved economic rescue plan, considering that it
includes positives. “The most important thing is commitment to the required
reforms, especially since the country is going through a suffocating crisis on
various levels, starting from the Dollar exchange rate to the collapse of the
banking sector” Makhzoumi stated.
Then Makhzoumi stressed the necessity of controlling illegal border crossings
and putting an end to the smuggling of flour, fuel, electronic devices and other
goods to Syria, “Because this liquidation is an integral part of the crisis of
wasting public money”.
“The most important issue today is to seek solutions to the living crisis in
order to restore the confidence of the depressed people, and to preserve the
country’s stability and improve Lebanon’s image before the international
community” Makhzoumi pointed out.
Makhzoumi also expressed surprise at the “Controversial atmosphere, tensions and
unfortunate conflicts between some political forces and even within the same
teams”, indicating that the situation in Lebanon requires behavior upgrading and
the assumption of national responsibilities. MP Makhzoumi then stressed the need
for strict measures to confront Corona pandemic, especially after the rise in
the number of infections that we have witnessed in the past few days, calling on
the Lebanese to adhere to prevention standards and to be aware and patient to
pass this ordeal.
Former Minister Boustany:
President Aoun received Former Minister, Naji Al-Boustany, and discussed with
him the general situation in light of recent developments.
Boustany said that President Aoun is keen to maintain stability in the “Jabal”
region, and for a decent living for all its children.
Damour Mayor:
The President received the Mayor of Damour town, Charles Ghafari, who informed
him of the Municipal Council decision to allocate a land area of one hundred
thousand sq. meters to establish the Human Academy for Meeting and Dialogue,
which was launched by President Aoun and approved by the UN General assembly at
its regular session last September.
President Aoun thanked Ghafari, noting the importance of establishing this
academy in Damour, a town which enjoys a unique national and cultural
heritage.--Presidency Press Office
Franjieh Says No Oil in Lebanon, Launches Fiercest Attack
Yet on FPM
Naharnet/May 11/2020
Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh on Monday alleged that there are no
offshore oil or gas reserves in Lebanon and launched his fiercest attack ever on
his one-time allies the Free Patriotic Movement. His stances were voiced during
a press conference he held to comment on the controversy over the counterfeit
fuel file. The head of the Energy Ministry's oil facilities department "Sarkis
Hleis will appear before the judiciary, but not before the justice of (FPM
chief) Jebran Bassil and the judges of Jebran Bassil," Franjieh said. Noting
that he believes in Hleis' "innocence," Franjieh said his movement's conscience
is "very clear.""The judiciary will decide whether Sarkis Hleis is guilty or not
and we consider the counterfeit fuel file a politicized file, because the side
and judges who raised it are known," Franjieh added. "In the fuel file, six
ministers belong to the FPM. Don't these ministers bear any responsibility in
this file?" Franjieh asked. Turning to the issue of offshore oil and gas
exploration, the Marada chief dropped the bombshell claim that Lebanon "is not
an oil country." "And there is no trace of gas in it. They are lying to you and
I bear the responsibility for my words," he added. Addressing the FPM, Franjieh
went on to say: “You lied to people in 1989 and you destroyed Lebanon and the
Christian regions. You lied to people in 2005 and now you are lying to people.
Your strength was based on popular support and today your strength stems from
being in power. But when power goes, you will become equivalent to nothing and
if the judiciary won't put you on trial history will.”“If you want war we are
ready and if you want peace we are ready. But you are weak and cowardly and
history will not be merciful towards you,” he added.
Presidency Accuses Franjieh of 'Protecting Fugitives'
Naharnet/May 11/2020
The Lebanese Presidency hit back Monday at Marada Movement chief Suleiman
Franjieh after he launched his fiercest political attack ever against President
Michel Aoun and the Free Patriotic Movement and claimed that Lebanon has no oil
or gas reserves. “The most honest thing that Mr. Franjieh said was that he
stands by his people whether they are wrongdoers or accused of receiving bribes.
And instead of boasting of his protection of fugitives, Mr. Franjieh should have
lifted the cover off them and allowed them to appear before the judiciary, which
is the competent authority to acquit them or convict them,” the Presidency's
press office said in a statement. “Anyhow, this issue remains in the hands of
the judiciary, which alone has the right to take the appropriate measures,” the
press office added. “Most of Mr. Franjieh's intemperate remarks are baseless and
false, and accordingly are not worthy of a response, although they were full of
insults that harm Lebanon's reputation, interest, economy, role and presence in
its neighborhood and the world, especially what he mentioned about the issue of
oil and gas exploration,” the office said. Franjieh's stances were voiced during
a press conference that he held to comment on the controversy over the
counterfeit fuel file. The head of the Energy Ministry's oil facilities
department "Sarkis Hleis will appear before the judiciary, but not before the
justice of (FPM chief) Jebran Bassil and the judges of Jebran Bassil," Franjieh
said. Noting that he believes in Hleis' "innocence," Franjieh said his
movement's conscience is "very clear.""The judiciary will decide whether Sarkis
Hleis is guilty or not and we consider the counterfeit fuel file a politicized
file, because the side and judges who raised it are known," Franjieh added.
Casino Opts Not to Reopen as 3rd Phase of Easing Lockdown
Begins
Naharnet/May 11/2020
Casino du Liban announced Monday that it will not reopen its doors to customers,
reversing an earlier decision, as Lebanon started the third phase of a reopening
plan despite a sudden and significant spike in coronavirus cases. "The casino's
administration announces the postponement of the (reopening) date until further
notice, in line with the decision of the interior minister to extend general
mobilization," it said in a statement. "As the casino's administration
apologizes to its customers, it hopes they will understand this step out of
keenness on their safety and as a contribution from it and them to the efforts
to contain this pandemic, which has turned into a national concern," it added.
In an earlier statement, the casino had explained the precautionary measures it
intended to take. The measures included a “sanitizing tunnel” at the entrance,
body temperature checks, the distribution of masks to willing customers, the
disinfection of machines and tables and providing customers with hand
sanitizers. The third phase of the plan also includes the reopening of
construction sites, cement plants, the state-run Motor Vehicle Inspection
Center, financial brokering and bourse-related firms and shopping centers that
are smaller than malls. Restaurants and cafes will meanwhile be allowed to up
their customer capacity from 30 to 50% and buses (24-33 passengers) will be
allowed to operate. Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi had on Sunday revised the
night curfew hours to begin at 7pm instead of 9pm and warned that all
non-essential private and public institutions will be re-closed should some
citizens continue to breach the coronavirus precautionary measures. The
minister's warning comes amid Lebanon's biggest spike in weeks in the numbers of
confirmed coronavirus cases with 36 recorded on Sunday and 13 on Saturday.
Health Minister Hamad Hasan had issued a similar warning and Cabinet is expected
to review the measures in its session on Tuesday.
Hoballah: With every $1 that industrialists are deprived
from, the economy loses $4
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Minister of Industry, Imad Hoballah, on Monday said that the Lebanese government
had multiple priorities, most important of which the development of local
industries and agriculture “because other policies have proven to be
unsuccessful.”In a televised interview, the Minister said that the novel
Coronavirus crisis was huge on a global scale; however, he deemed the corrupt
system that dragged Lebanon into the current financial and economic perils “the
biggest crisis in Lebanon”. “Unemployment is very high in Lebanon, and everyone
should be aware of the magnitude of the crisis. Therefore, we are called forth
to encourage initiatives and investments in the industrial sector, and this is
what we’ve been doing,” the Minister said. He expressed the Ministry's readiness
to embrace new innovative initiatives and to employ them in the service of
industrial production.
“It has been agreed with the Governor of the Lebanese Central Bank to secure
$100 million for industrialists to purchase raw materials, and so far the banks
have not responded properly to this matter,” he added.
“There was also a LBP 300 billion law proposal that had been submitted by the
government to the parliament, but was not approved in the last legislative
session. We’ve also developed a proposal to establish a private investment bank
for the industrial sector. Every $1 that industrialists are deprived from to buy
raw materials will eventually cost the economy $4, not to mention closing
factories and increasing unemployment,” warned Hoballah. He explained that the
government was vigorously moving towards controlling prices and preventing
monopoly. He called on merchants to "fear the Lord”, and have mercy on people.
Furthermore, Hoballah explained the importance of a future vision to support the
industrial sector in Lebanon. “In tours that I undertake, I aim to listen to the
demands of industrialists and to present them with a vision that is based on
industrial self-sufficiency — in a bid to raise local production, encourage
existing and modern industries, halt smuggling, and restore agreements signed
between Lebanon and abroad,” Hoballah explained.
Hariri receives Ambassadors of Kuwait, Norway, Switzerland,
and Canada
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri received this afternoon at the Center House
the ambassadors of Norway, Leni Stenseth, Switzerland, Monika Schmutz Kirgöz and
Canada, Emmanuelle Lamoureux, in the presence of former minister Ghattas Khoury.
After the meeting, the three ambassadors said that the meeting focused on the
economic situation and the challenges facing Lebanon as well as the required
reforms in the framework of the economic plan that was approved by the
government. They considered this plan as a good first step to accurately
diagnose the challenges, adding that what is important is to implement it and
make the required reforms. Hariri also received the Kuwaiti ambassador to
Lebanon, Abdel-Aal Al-Kinai, and discussed with him the situation and the
bilateral relations between the two countries.
Diab meets UN’s Kubis, Chinese ambassador
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Prime Minister, Dr. Hassan Diab, received this morning, at the Grand Serail, the
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Jan Kubis, with whom he discussed the
Cabinet’s economic and financial plan in addition to general developments.
PM Diab has received as well a delegation from Makassed Association, headed by
Faysal Senno, in the presence of PM advisor Khodor Taleb. After the meeting, M.
Senno said: “We have congratulated Prime Minister Diab on Cabinet formation and
on the onset of the Holy month of Ramadan. We support PM Diab in fighting
corruption, provided that it touches on everyone”. PM Diab has also met with
Chinese Ambassador Wang Kajian in the presence of PM advisor Khaled Akkari.
After the meeting, Ambassador Kajian said that the meeting has touched on
bilateral relations and cooperation especially in the fight against coronavirus.
Prime Minister Hassan Diabr meets US Ambassador over
financial reforms plan
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Prime Minister Hassan Diab on Monday met with US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy
Shea. Discussions touched on the government’s financial reforms plan.—Presidency
Press Office
Hitti meets with US Ambassador
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Nassif Hitti, this Monday received
U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, with whom he discussed issues related
to the extension of the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)
and the government’s economic plan.
Minister Hitti asked the ambassador for US help in the fight against the
coronavirus (Covid-19).
Hariri, Jumblatt tackle political developments
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, received this afternoon at his “Center
House” Progressive Socialist Party leader, Walid Jumbaltt, with whom he
discussed the latest political developments and the general situation in the
country. The meeting took place in the presence of former Minister Dr. Ghattas
Khoury.
Abdel Samad calls on media to resume coronavirus awareness
campaign
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Minister of Information, Dr. Manal Abdel Samad Najd, on Monday called on media
outlets to resume their awareness campaign on the coronavirus (COVID-19), filmed
in cooperation between the Ministry of Information and the Lebanese Army
Guidance Directorate, which emphasizes the importance of being strict in
adopting the necessary preventive measures on the dangers and risks arising from
the coronavirus, especially after the increase of infectious cases in recent
days.
Lebanon Faces Grave Threat to Stability as Poverty Mounts
Associated Press/Naharnet/May 11/2020
Living in a slum built precariously on the banks of a sewage-tainted river in
Lebanon, Faiqqa Homsi feels her family being pushed closer and closer to the
edge. A mother of five, she was already struggling, relying on donations to care
for a baby daughter with cancer. The coronavirus shutdown cost her husband his
meager income driving a school bus. She hoped to earn some change selling carrot
juice after a charity gave her a juicer. But as Lebanon's currency collapsed,
carrots became too expensive. "It is all closing in our face," Homsi said.
Lebanese are growing more desperate as jobs disappear and their money's value
evaporates in a terrifying confluence of events. An unprecedented economic
crisis, nationwide protests and coronavirus pose the biggest threat to stability
since the end of the civil war in 1990, and there are fears of a new slide into
violence. Nowhere is the despair deeper than in Tripoli, Homsi's hometown and
Lebanon's poorest city. Overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and home to over 700,000
people, Tripoli has suffered years of neglect and is stigmatized with violence
and extremism. Mounting poverty is turning it into a powder keg.
Even before the crises, almost the entire city's workforce depended on
day-to-day income, and 60% of them made less than $1 a day. More than half of
the families were in the poorest classification, lacking basic services,
education and health care, said Suheir Ghali, a university professor who carried
out a study of Tripoli. Things will get worse as Lebanon's economy contracts.
Already 45% of the country's population is below the poverty line. The currency
has lost nearly 60% of its value to the dollar. Unemployment has risen to 35%,
nearly double the current U.S. figures rivaling the Great Depression.
Divisions among Lebanon's sectarian leadership hamper attempts to address the
crisis. The powerful Iran-backed Hizbullah reluctantly supported plans to seek
help from the International Monetary Fund, a sign of its concern about widening
hardships. IMF support will likely mean cuts in the public sector, the largest
employer, likely to cause squabbling among political factions. The prime
minister, a Sunni, has Hizbullah's backing but little within his own sect or in
Tripoli.
Tripoli was thrust into the forefront of the anti-government protests that first
broke out in October. Its boisterous rallies inspired other protesters, who
called it the "bride" of the uprising. Protests returned late last month, more
furious and violent, targeting banks. A protester was killed in Tripoli when the
army broke up a rally. "The risk that things might go on a downward spiral (in
Tripoli) is real," said Nasser Yassin, a professor of policy planning at the
American University of Beirut.
Tripoli has been the scene of some of Lebanon's worst violence since the civil
war's end. For weeks in 2007, Islamists battled troops north of the city. The
uprising in Syria reignited a bloody rivalry between some of Tripoli's Sunni and
Alawite residents, who belong to the same sect as Syria's leadership.
Syria's war -- now in its 10th year -- stripped Tripoli of its strong trade ties
with Syria, a key lifeline. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have moved
into Tripoli and surrounding areas.
Residents are also bitter over grand promises that never materialize from rival
Sunni politicians vying for their support. Development of Tripoli's port, a
hoped-for gateway for rebuilding post-war Syria, never picked up. A trade
fairground designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s remains
abandoned. At a crafts market project, workshops are shutting down one after the
other. Growing numbers of poor scramble for aid.
Homsi broke into tears when she saw a woman, the age of her mother-in-law,
pushed around in a line for food stamps. Homsi lives in Mulawiya, an illegal
favela-like settlement of narrow alleys and ramshackle houses built on top of
each other up the steep banks of Abu Ali River. Homsi's family is crammed into
two bedrooms -- the kids sleeping in bunk beds next to the kitchen. A large
collection of tea and coffee cups -- part of her wedding trousseau -- is neatly
stacked on the kitchen shelves.
Her daughter Maya was diagnosed with cancer as a newborn three years ago. Homsi
takes her twice a month to Beirut, a 90-minute bus ride, to a hospital where her
treatment is paid for by philanthropists. The little girl has lost half her hair
from the chemo and radiotherapy.
Homsi's eldest son, now 17, dropped out of school to help the family. A fifth of
her husband's $340-a-month salary went for the trip to Beirut. Now that income
is gone. "I try as best as I can. Sometimes it is at the expense of the other
children. It is not because I am harsh, but because there are things I can't
secure," she said. It took her weeks to fix her 7-year-old son's broken glasses.
Nearby Bab al-Tabbaneh, one of Tripoli's poorest slums, has always been a
destination for Lebanese to fix a broken car or wooden door at low cost.
On an early afternoon this week, a mini-mart was nearly empty. A produce vendor,
Mohammed Harou, said he doesn't display fruit because no one can afford it. His
friend, Ibrahim Abdullah, a scrap metal dealer, idled outside his shop with no
work. No one in the market wore a face mask or gloves.
"The virus won't survive here," said Harou, pointing to sewage water collecting
at his building entrance. Harou, 54, said a local politician used to pay for his
daughters' education, but then stopped after the 2018 parliament elections.
"They don't need us now," he said.
Abdullah predicted that more chaos was coming. Smashing banks "was just a poke.
Imagine when the balloon explodes."
Linda Borghol, an activist, started a soup kitchen during the protests. She
negotiated to keep it going after the protest camp was broken up.
She now distributes 600 meals a day to the poor. "We are heading toward a
famine. I want to be there, even if with something this small," she said.
MP Sami Gemayel, Egyptian ambassador discuss latest
developments
NNA/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Lebanese Kataeb Party Chief, MP Sami Gemayel, received this Monday at the 'Kataeb
House' in Saifi the Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Yasser Alawi, with whom he
discussed most recent developments.
Lebanon Faces Grave Threat to Stability as Poverty Mounts
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Living in a slum built precariously on the banks of a sewage-tainted river in
Lebanon, Faiqqa Homsi feels her family being pushed closer and closer to the
edge. A mother of five, she was already struggling, relying on donations to care
for a baby daughter with cancer. The coronavirus shutdown cost her husband his
meager income driving a school bus. She hoped to earn some change selling carrot
juice after a charity gave her a juicer. But as Lebanon’s currency collapsed,
carrots became too expensive. “It is all closing in our face,” Homsi said,
according to The Associated Press.
Lebanese are growing more desperate as jobs disappear and their money’s value
evaporates in a terrifying confluence of events. An unprecedented economic
crisis, nationwide protests and coronavirus pose the biggest threat to stability
since the end of the civil war in 1990, and there are fears of a new slide into
violence. Nowhere is the despair deeper than in Tripoli, Homsi’s hometown and
Lebanon’s poorest city. Home to over 700,000 people, Tripoli has suffered years
of neglect and is stigmatized with violence and extremism. Mounting poverty is
turning it into a powder keg.
Even before the crises, almost the entire city's workforce depended on
day-to-day income, and 60 percent of them made less than $1 a day. More than
half of the families were in the poorest classification, lacking basic services,
education and health care, said Suheir Ghali, a university professor who carried
out a study of Tripoli. Things will get worse as Lebanon’s economy contracts.
Already 45 percent of the country’s population is below the poverty line. The
currency has lost nearly 60 percent of its value to the dollar. Unemployment has
risen to 35 percent, nearly double the current US figures rivaling the Great
Depression. Divisions among Lebanon's sectarian leadership hamper attempts to
address the crisis. Hezbollah, which holds sway in government, reluctantly
supported plans to seek help from the International Monetary Fund, a sign of its
concern about widening hardships. IMF support will likely mean cuts in the
public sector, the largest employer, likely to cause squabbling among political
factions.
Tripoli was thrust into the forefront of the anti-government protests that first
broke out in October. Its boisterous rallies inspired other protesters, who
called it the “bride” of the uprising. Protests returned late last month, more
furious and violent, targeting banks. A protester was killed in Tripoli when the
army broke up a rally. “The risk that things might go on a downward spiral (in
Tripoli) is real,” said Nasser Yassin, a professor of policy planning at the
American University of Beirut. Tripoli has been the scene of some of Lebanon’s
worst violence since the civil war’s end. For weeks in 2007, extremists battled
troops north of the city. The uprising in Syria reignited a bloody rivalry
between some of Tripoli’s Sunni and Alawite residents, who belong to the same
sect as Syria’s leadership.
Syria's war — now in its 10th year — stripped Tripoli of its strong trade ties
with Syria, a key lifeline. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees have moved
into Tripoli and surrounding areas.
Residents are also bitter over grand promises that never materialize from rival
local politicians vying for their support. Development of Tripoli’s port, a
hoped-for gateway for rebuilding post-war Syria, never picked up. A trade
fairground designed by Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960s remains
abandoned. At a crafts market project, workshops are shutting down one after the
other. Growing numbers of poor scramble for aid.
Homsi broke into tears when she saw a woman, the age of her mother-in-law,
pushed around in a line for food stamps.
Homsi lives in Mulawiya, an illegal favela-like settlement of narrow alleys and
ramshackle houses built on top of each other up the steep banks of Abu Ali
River. Homsi’s family is crammed into two bedrooms — the kids sleeping in bunk
beds next to the kitchen. A large collection of tea and coffee cups — part of
her wedding trousseau — is neatly stacked on the kitchen shelves.
Her daughter Maya was diagnosed with cancer as a newborn three years ago. Homsi
takes her twice a month to Beirut, a 90-minute bus ride, to a hospital where her
treatment is paid for by philanthropists. The little girl has lost half her hair
from the chemo and radiotherapy.
Homsi’s eldest son, now 17, dropped out of school to help the family. A fifth of
her husband’s $340-a-month salary went for the trip to Beirut. Now that income
is gone. “I try as best as I can. Sometimes it is at the expense of the other
children. It is not because I am harsh, but because there are things I can’t
secure,” she said. It took her weeks to fix her 7-year-old son’s broken glasses.
Nearby Bab al-Tebanneh, one of Tripoli’s poorest slums, has always been a
destination for Lebanese to fix a broken car or wooden door at low cost.
On an early afternoon this week, a mini-mart was nearly empty. A produce vendor,
Mohamed Harou, said he doesn’t display fruit because no one can afford it. His
friend, Ibrahim Abdulla, a scrap metal dealer, idled outside his shop with no
work. No one in the market wore a face mask or gloves.
“The virus won’t survive here,” said Harou, pointing to sewage water collecting
at his building entrance. Harou, 54, said a local politician used to pay for his
daughters’ education, but then stopped after the 2018 parliament elections.
“They don’t need us now,” he said. Abdulla predicted that more chaos was coming.
Smashing banks “was just a poke. Imagine when the balloon explodes.”Linda
Borghol, an activist, started a soup kitchen during the protests. She negotiated
to keep it going after the protest camp was broken up.
She now distributes 600 meals a day to the poor. “We are heading toward a
famine. I want to be there, even if with something this small,” she said.
Lebanese Government Kicks off Talks with IMF
Beirut – Mohammed Shuqair/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
The Lebanese government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will begin on
Monday negotiations over the draft rescue plan, which seeks aid from the
international organization to stop the financial and economic collapse and curb
the deficit in the state budget. Parliamentary sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that
the IMF would not easily approve funding the government’s plan, adding that the
first round of talks would be followed by a series of negotiations, which would
also include Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh, the Association of Lebanese
Banks and the relevant financial authorities.
According to the sources, the government would run marathon discussions, which
would perhaps end with the IMF’s approval of the plan, allowing Lebanon to
obtain a financial loan under an official agreement with the Fund. The sources
noted that the country would not have been forced to resort to the IMF, had
previous governments succeeded in seizing international opportunities, such as
the Paris and CEDRE conferences.The government must restore the confidence of
the Lebanese in order to regain the trust of the international community, they
underlined.
Moreover, the IMF would insist that the government prepare an integrated plan to
adopt permanent solutions to the electricity file, including the formation of
regulatory bodies to curb the deficit in this sector, the sources told Asharq
Al-Awsat. As for Hezbollah’s stance on resorting to the IMF, the sources
wondered whether the party would have the ability to set its conditions and
whether there was an alternative to cooperation with it. Ultimately, the
government and the IMF will engage into lengthy negotiations, with no tangible
results in the near future, the parliamentary sources predicted.
Hariri, Saudi Ambassador to Beirut Discuss Latest
Developments
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri has met with Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid
Bukhari, the ex-PM’s press office said on Sunday. The diplomat visited Hariri at
the Center House, where they discussed the latest political developments, it
said. Discussions also focused on bilateral relations between the two countries,
it added.
Rai Calls for Freeing Lebanon From 'De Facto Influence'
Beirut/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai called on Lebanon’s political parties to
support the government in implementing reforms and “free the state's decision
from the influence and interference of de facto forces.”During Sunday’s mass
sermon in Bkirki, Rai said rival parties should cooperate to help the government
achieve the required reforms. “We all have the duty to distinguish between what
is positive, and cooperate to promote it; and what is negative, to work together
to correct it,” the patriarch stressed. “This is what we expected from last
Wednesday’s consultative meeting at the Presidential Palace, to study the draft
economic rescue plan, before its submission to Parliament in its full form,” he
added, referring to last week’s meeting that gathered the heads of political
blocs to discuss the cabinet’s reform plan. As he welcomed the move taken by the
government, Rai emphasized that the government had local and external
obligations. “Internally, it has a duty to look into citizens’ urgent affairs
and take swift measures to solve their financial, health, environmental, and
living problems, in addition to unemployment, hunger, and poverty,” he said.
He continued: “Externally, the government should accelerate the completion of
the reform plan and submit it to Parliament for approval, in order to be able to
conduct constructive negotiations … especially with the International Monetary
Fund.”The Maronite patriarch finally urged the political parties to “encourage
and support the government in achieving the required reforms” both locally and
externally, and “free the state’s decision from the influence and interference
of de facto forces and strengthen Lebanon’s relations with its surroundings and
with the international community.”
Lebanon and Syria: One Occupation in Two Countries
Eyad Abu Shakra/Asharq Al Awsat/May 11/2020
Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia, has
delivered a speech, his first after Germany declared this pro-Iran militia a
“terrorist organization” on German soil. It was also the first after the
Lebanese “government” announcement of what it described as a “historic step” in
its endeavor to rescue the ailing, indeed, almost bankrupt economy.
The German move does not really add much to what many countries, leaders and
organizations already knew a long time ago. However, it begs the thought of what
it might entail in the wider political context. The fact of the matter is that
this militia is not a wild plant that suddenly emerged from the ground, and grew
and expanded on its own. Far from it; it is actually, by the admission of its
Secretary General, fully dependent on Iran, its clerical establishment and its
Revolutionary Guards (IRGC); ideologically, organizationally, financially,
strategically and logistically.
What I mean is that it would be strange if a sophisticated Western government,
like the German government, can see the branch but not the tree. It is
implausible that Berlin regards as a “terrorist organization” the pro-Iran
militia that “occupies” Lebanon, displaces people in Syria, destroys in Iraq and
sponsors terrorism in Yemen, but still believes that Iran has the right to have
its own nuclear program.
It doesn’t make sense that Berlin remains unaware of the aggressive intentions,
if not the loud boasting of the IRGC about their de facto “control” of four Arab
countries all of which are UN member states; let alone Iran’s incessant
encroachments and harassments in the Middle East’s international waterways. It,
simply, cannot separate the part from the whole; and here let us address the
tragic situations in both Lebanon and Syria.
In Lebanon, after the formation of the current cabinet as a successor to Saad
Hariri’s government, its identity was clear as were its intentions, backers and
program. Thus, wise observers did not waste any time before calling it the
“Hezbollah cabinet,” which is absolutely true.
Since its formation, on January 21, the new cabinet has embodied a mentality of
vengefulness and political spitefulness, and made a habit of escaping forward
and blaming the legacy of the last 30 years in the history of Lebanon for every
crime or transgression.
Even the last “October Popular Uprising,” which led to the resignation of
Hariri’s cabinet, has been shamelessly exploited, and selectively made an excuse
to settling old political scores. The facades of the real power in the country,
which is Hezbollah, have been working in unison with misled groups to claim that
corruption appeared in Lebanon only after the end of the Lebanese War, in 1990.
This implies that corruption was brought about after the Taif Accord.
So, for the enemies of the Taif Accord and the Constitution – in which these
Accords are enshrined – claiming to fight corruption became a cover of their
conspiracy against the Constitution, even if this meant distorting history. They
are doing this as people have no memories or documents; or as if there is no
international community that remembers who saved Lebanon, and who wanted to ruin
it on every occasion.
When the facades of “Hezbollah’s reign” claim that throughout the last 30 years
no proper “future plans” were made to avert “destruction,” they intentionally
ignore Arab and international support packages that were agreed upon based on
meticulously prepared plans discussed in a number international conferences.The
same applies to these facades’ ignoring the responsibility of those behind the
absurd wars, sectarian agitation, malevolent destruction and plundering under
the protection of illegitimate weapons, for the corruption. They are doing this
because their real and only intention is revenge, not reconstruction,
institutions, or development.
Yes, they intend to destroy Lebanon’s institutions including the banking and
tourist sectors, as well as undermining the country’s Arab and international
relations, and speeding up the constitutional coup and demographic change. Even
when these facades attempted to “rephrase” a quote about Lebanon by the French
Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the attempt badly backfired when the
French Foreign Ministry set the record straight in written document. The
Ministry made it clear that “no financial aid will be given without real reform…
and what did not happen in 2018 (because of the obstruction of the Hezbollah-Aoun
alliance) will not happen voluntarily. We have turned the page”.
The same kind of suicidal Lebanese tactics continue in Syria since 2011, if not
before 2011.
The backers of the Assad regime have managed to exploit several local, regional
and international factors to keep it alive. However, those who have been
benefitting from keeping a failed regime for their own ends, now either have
diverging interests or have realized that it is impossible to maintain a “junta”
that carries in its chemistry the causes of its death.
There have been intersecting interests between Iran, Russia, and Israel in
keeping this regime as a “mail box” between them, so long as they oppose both
the democratic and the “Islamist” alternatives. Then, President Barack Obama’s
enthusiasm to strike a deal with Iran aborted the Syrian popular revolt; just
before the divergences started to appear, followed by the current cracks within
the “junta” itself.
Recently, the massacres of Al-Baidha and Ras Al-Naba’ (near the coastal town of
Banyas) in 2013, were commemorated. Hundreds of civilians were killed in these
sectarian massacres, which were perpetrated by the regime’s forces, are still
regarded among the worst committed in the Syrian conflict.
Since then, many other massacres were committed all over Syria, from Idlib and
Aleppo to Qamishli, and from Homs to Souweida, without sparing the suburbs of
Damascus. In all these massacres regime forces and Iran-backed militias
slaughtered hundreds of thousands and displaced millions, as they ruined the
country.
However, despite this, and just like what is happening in Lebanon, the remnants
of the Damascus regime continue to escape forward, while international readings
and positions change.
As things appear so far, the Republican administration in Washington does not
seem to believe that getting the Iranians out but keeping the Assad regime is
possible anymore. The Russian position vis-à-vis the regime also seems to have
become less enthusiastic, noting here that there seems to be no significant
American opposition to the continued Russian military presence in Syria; thus,
making political change much easier. Furthermore, the Israelis also do not
appear to regard the presence of Assad is an important strategic matter.
To conclude, it is obvious that Lebanon and Syria have been under one and the
same “occupation”; but the problem is that the henchmen of this “occupation”
reflect perfectly Talleyrand’s famous quotes “they have learned nothing, and
forgotten nothing!”.
ED’N’RAY, the young and loud DJ duo shaking Beirut
Chiri Choukeir/Annahar/May 11/2020
BEIRUT: Finding a passion for sound and music at the young age of 14, two best
friends decided to go against all odds and create the music they’ve always
wanted to.
Today, these two friends are now 24, having their own radio stream on NRJ radio
station, the duo has already won two awards, opened for the biggest names in the
EDM music scene such as David Guetta, The Chainsmokers, and Armin Van Buuren,
and many more international artists.
Eddy Hamati and Ryan Hamaoui, known by their stage name ED’N’RAY, decided to
start their career after winning a competition hosted by NRJ radio station in
2013. The duo quickly got their own exclusive show that was initially aired at 4
a.m.
“In the beginning, we were just DJing for our school parties and proms.” Hamati
told Annahar, “when we started, it was a dream for us to play at NRJ, but we
tried our chance anyway at 17. They called us back and it was like a dream come
true.”
The duo did not stop on the radio, the continued to host events, taking over
clubs, and getting international artists to Lebanon. It wasn’t long until they
released their single “Tell Me” which quickly made its way onto the top charts.
And from top charts to competitions, the duo went on to win two NRJ DJ Awards
and got their own show called “NRJ Extravadance” with 56000 listeners per week.
At first, it was scary for the young duo to get out and play their music in
front of big crowds, however, as soon as they started playing more often the
stage became a comfortable place for the duo who put on more than 287 shows so
far and many more of which they organized on their own.
The duo explained how they found their sound by combining different Acapellas on
one single track. “We did live remixes, Ray learned and developed his own
technique to do so,” Hamaoui said, we also want to do something with live
instruments as I play the drums and Eddy plays the guitar so we can combine the
performance with a launchpad and live remixes.”
ED’N’RAY stand out with their live performances and unique blend of genres
ranging from commercial, pop, electric, progressive house, hip hop, and rap.
Their immense success comes with a lot of struggle as the duo are independent
and have to divide their time between work and their passion.
“We have full-time jobs; I am a jewelry designer and currently I am creating my
own brand while Eddy is a marketing specialist in an IT company.” Hamaoui added,
“we have no managers, no strategists, no consultant, we learned everything on
our own very early on. I take care of PR and events while Eddy does the
marketing and social media.”
Recently with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, ED’N’RAY had to move
their party from stages outdoors to screen indoors as they started
live-streaming their performances every week to entertain their followers and
fanbase during the quarantine.
Although currently the duo only streams a weekly 30-minute set, their plan is
big as they plan to start doing their live sets with live interviews as well as
opening a club with Artists & More Entertainment afterlife presumes its normal
pace.
“We have a community in which we created a very nice connection with people,”
Hamati said, “We want to continue growing this community and just make our plans
bigger”.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
May 10-11/2020
Iran navy hits own ship with missile, kills
19 sailors near Persian Gulf waters
Erin Cunningham/The Washington Post/May 11/2020
ISTANBUL — A missile fired by an Iranian ship during a training exercise in the
Gulf of Oman mistakenly hit a support vessel, killing 19 sailors and injuring
more than a dozen others, Iran's state media reported. The ship was hit near the
southern port of Jask not far from the Strait of Hormuz late Sunday, and rescue
teams helped evacuate the wounded, according to reports. The incident comes amid
severe tensions between Iran and the United States and its allies in the Persian
Gulf region in recent months. The U.S. Navy has accused Iran of harassing its
vessels in the area. Iranian forces towed the ship, Konarak, to a nearby naval
base following the incident, state media reported. The Dutch-made vessel was in
service since 1988 and usually carries a crew of 20 sailors, according to the
Associated Press. Top Iranian general w.arns U.S. against ‘dangerous behavior’
in Persian Gulf after Trump threat. Search-and-rescue teams were immediately
dispatched to the area to evacuate the wounded, media reports said. The Konarak
was reportedly targeted with a Noor anti-ship missile that has long been a part
of Iran’s anti-ship arsenal, according to the intelligence analysis firm,
Jane’s. The loss of the ship “will not have a significant impact on the wider
capabilities of the Iranian Navy,” Jane’s senior military capabilities analyst,
Reed Foster, said in an email. But “a replacement will likely take years to come
into service,” he said. Foster said that it was possible that the test-firing
“may have been a capability demonstration coming off the heels of heightened
tensions in the gulf following IRGC harassment of U.S. Navy ships last month,”
he said, referring to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iraq PM Launches Anti-Corruption Battle by Warning His
Brother
Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
The new Iraqi Prime Minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, launched on Sunday his battle
against corruption by warning his brother from the consequences of mediating or
acting on his behalf. The premiership’s information service broadcast a video of
Kadhimi during a visit to the Public Pensions Department speaking on the phone
with his eldest brother, warning him from mediating on his behalf. The PM said
if such behavior happens, it would be equivalent to identity theft that is
punishable by law. Kadhimi’s presence at the Department also secured the release
of salaries of around three million Iraqi pensioners.
The PM’s keenness to fight corruption was preceded by other similar moves, when
he ordered the release of demonstrators arrested during the mass protests that
erupted in October last year. The Prime Minister also ordered to reinstate a top
general dismissed by former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi in September. “We
ordered the return of the hero brother, First Lieutenant General Abdel-Wahab Al-Saadi,
and to promote him as the head of the Anti-Terrorism Agency,” he said. As
Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Kadhimi said all security services have
been ordered to respect human rights.
Amid unprecedented differences between groups supporting the October
demonstrations, protests were held in Baghdad and other cities in central and
southern Iraq against the new government, shortly after Kadhimi announced the
formation of a supreme legal committee to investigate the events that took place
starting October 1, 2019. Sunday’s protests raised questions regarding their
timing. Several sources warned from the “agendas” of some political parties and
forces that seek to harm the PM’s term by renewing protests. A former candidate
for the Iraqi premiership, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, told Asharq Al-Awsat that
Kadhimi proved to have self-confidence, mainly when he ordered the return of
Saadi. “This is considered one of the most important decisions taken by the PM
so far,” he said. MP of Iraqi Forces Alliance Abdullah al-Kharbit told Asharq
Al-Awsat that most difficulties that Kadhimi would face in the future are
“internal.”“He has a very difficult mission due to accumulated problems,”
Kharbit said.
Sudan: Criminal Charges Against Egyptian Brotherhood
Members
Khartoum - Ahmed Younis/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Sudan's authorities have arrested and issued criminal charges against members of
the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, a senior Sudanese official told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The public prosecutor and the judiciary will decide later if the suspects will
be handed over to the Egyptian authorities.
The official, who asked not to be named, said that security agencies have
arrested a number of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members residing in Sudan. They
were then referred to the public prosecutor who charged them, without clarifying
the charges. Sudanese sources stated that the group includes five leaders of the
so-called “Sawaed Misr - Hasm” which was affiliated with the “Muslim
Brotherhood,” and established armed terrorist groups that fought battles with
the police and military in Egypt. Last month, a number of media reports
indicated that Sudanese and Egyptian authorities have since February been
coordinating security efforts to extradite the detainees, who were arrested
while trying to escape to Turkey. Meanwhile, Asharq Al-Awsat learned that four
imprisoned senior army officers were infected with COVID-19, and authorities
transferred them to an isolation center for treatment. The officers are former
joint chiefs of staff General Hashim Abdel Mottalib Ahmed, Major General Ibrahim
Ahmed Abdulrahim, Brigadier General Muhyiddin Ahmed al-Hadi, and Brigadier
General Mohammed Qureshi who were arrested for plotting a coup against the
transitional government.
In July 2019, Sudan’s military said it thwarted a coup attempt and arrested an
unspecified number of senior officers in connection with the plot. The military
revealed the attempted plot involved Ahmed and a number of high-ranking officers
from the armed forces and the National Intelligence and Security Service, along
with leaders of the Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party, led by
former President Omar al-Bashir. They sought to abort the revolution and disrupt
the path for a political solution that aims to establish a civilian state.
Palestinians Plan to Counter Annexation, Europe Mulls Sanctions against Israel
Ramallah - Kifah Zboun//Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
European Union foreign ministers are considering the possibility of imposing
sanctions against Israel if it goes ahead with its plan to annex parts of the
occupied West Bank. The Palestinian leadership will hold a meeting this week to
draft a comprehensive strategy to respond to Israeli annexation plans.
On Sunday, sources familiar with the European initiative told Israel Hayom that
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who is known for his “animosity” toward
Israel, is pushing for sanctions. Another well-informed European source told the
Palestinian news agency, WAFA, that there has been growing momentum within the
EU aimed at finding ways to confront the annexation plan, which, if implemented,
would dash hopes for the implementation of the two-state solution. The source
pointed out that any resolution taken within the Union must be approved by the
27 members, despite predictions that some countries will veto such a resolution
due to their relations with Israel. "In order to avoid the veto," said the
source, "the bloc will resort to other steps, such as freezing the Horizon
Europe 2021-2027 program, through which Israeli think-tanks receive billions of
dollars.” It is also considering the possibility of suspending the EU–Israel
Association Agreement, which gives Tel Aviv the freedom of access to European
markets. Non-renewal of the agreement means depriving Israel of significant
economic advantages, WAFA reported. The source added that the EU will aim at
pressuring Israel through diplomatic and political channels to prevent it from
taking any unilateral steps. Meanwhile, Saeb Erekat, Secretary-General of the
PLO Executive Committee, said the Palestinian leadership will hold a meeting,
headed by President Mahmoud Abbas, on Thursday to draft a full strategy to
retaliate to annexation plans. Speaking to the official Voice of Palestine
radio, he held the American administration fully responsible for any steps taken
by Israel in this regard. He also slammed US ambassador to Israel David
Friedman, for saying that the establishment of a Palestinian state will only
take place "when the Palestinians become Canadians." He denounced the remarks as
unprecedented insolence from a man promoting violence, murder and Israeli
settlements.
Israel Razes Home of Alleged Palestinian Attacker
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
The Israeli military on Monday said its forces demolished the home of a
Palestinian accused of being behind a deadly blast in the West Bank last year.
Israel says 22-year-old Qassem Barghouti carried out the attack in August, which
killed 17-year-old Israeli Rina Shnerb and wounded her father and brother as
they were hiking down to a spring in the West Bank near the settlement of Dolev.
Dozens of Palestinians burned tires and hurled rocks and firebombs toward
Israeli troops as they were carrying out the demolition in the village of Kobar,
near Ramallah. Witnesses said several Palestinians were injured, including one
that the Red Crescent said was hit in the head with a gas canister. The military
said the crowd was eventually dispersed.
Israel claims demolishing the family homes of alleged militants deters violence,
but critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment. The demolition was
only carried out after Israel's high court rejected the family’s petitions
against the order. Israel's Shin Bet security service launched a massive manhunt
after the Aug. 23 bombing that killed 17-year-old Rina Shnerb and seriously
wounded her father and older brother. Such bombings, a hallmark of the 2000-2005
Palestinian uprising, have been rare in recent years.
Authorities blamed the attack on the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, or PFLP, a leftist political party that has an armed wing. Israel,
the US and the European Union consider it a terrorist group because of
high-profile attacks going back decades, including plane hijackings and the
assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001. The Shin Bet was accused
of torturing some of those it arrested in connection with the attack.
Barghouti's lawyer says his client was bitten by a security dog when authorities
raided his home to arrest him.
Hundreds Protest Afghan Migrant Drownings at Iran Border
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Hundreds of people protested outside the Iranian consulate in western
Afghanistan Monday over the deaths of several migrants who were forced into a
river by Iranian border guards and drowned. Afghan officials claim the migrants
died while they were illegally crossing into neighboring Iran from Herat
province earlier this month. Eighteen bodies, some bearing signs of torture and
beatings, have been recovered from the Harirud river so far, Gulran district
governor Abdul Ghani Noori told AFP last week. Noori said 55 migrants were
forced into the river. A government-backed probe is under way, but Iranian
authorities have dismissed the claims, saying the incident occurred inside
Afghanistan's territory. "Death to (President Hassan) Rouhani, Death to (Ali)
Khamenei," chanted protesters outside the consulate in Herat's provincial
capital of the same name. "These Afghan laborers, who had gone for a morsel of
food, were viciously and brutally killed by the Iranians and thrown into the
river," Nafisa Danish, an activist at the protest, told AFP. "Where are the
human rights? This Iranian massacre should be condemned." Another protester
Suraya Ahmadi called on Afghan, UN and Iranian authorities to probe the case.
"We staged this protest to condemn the killing of our people who went to Iran to
support their families," Ahmadi said. Forensic evidence and survivor accounts
show the Iranian border guards first flogged the victims with wire cables then
forced them at gunpoint to jump into the river, Noori said last week. The Afghan
Human Rights Commission has said the Iranian guards made the migrants cross the
Harirud river and "as a result a number of them drowned".The United States,
which frequently trades threats with Iran and has imposed strict sanctions on
the country, has backed the Kabul administration's decision to investigate the
incident. "Iran's cruel treatment and abuse of Afghan migrants alleged in these
reports is horrifying," US Acting Assistant Secretary for South Asia Alice Wells
said on Twitter last week. Between 1.5 million and three million Afghan refugees
live and work in Iran, most of them as wage laborers on construction projects.
Tens of thousands returned to Afghanistan after the coronavirus outbreak, but as
restrictions ease in badly hit Iran, many are again seeking work there.
SDF Commanders Flee to Turkey, Finance Officer Killed
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Kurdish commanders from the Syrian Democratic Forces, carrying the Turkish
nationality, have been recently escaping to Turkey, reports said Sunday. The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that a Turkish Kurd SDF finance
official was killed while attempting to cross the border to Turkey.
The official "serves as a finance officer in the Syrian Democratic Forces. He
was trying to escape to Turkey with large sums of money in his possession, while
another person was escorting him,” the Observatory said. It said the official
planned to cross into Turkey through Jatli village and Qarmani town on the
border where Turkish vehicles were waiting for him. “However, after repeated
visits to the area, he was tracked by SDF intelligence members and was shot dead
while attempting to escape. There were no further details on the fate of the
person escorting him,” SOHR said. The London-based watchdog said it recently
monitored similar incidents, which suggest that the escape of SDF commanders
from Turkey’s Kurds is on the rise. “In the past few days, another finance
official in al-Derbasiyah managed to escape with large sums of cash after
coordinating with Turkey,” the Observatory said. It added that a Turkish-born
woman, who serves as an SDF commander in Raqqa, and another official responsible
for tunnels in Kobani have also managed to flee to Turkey. Separately, an armed
clash erupted Sunday among Turkish-backed factions in north Hasaka.The fighting
took place between “Al-Hamzat Division” faction and “Sultan Suleiman Shah”
faction in the area between the villages of Al-Dadoya and Al-Arisha in rural Ras
al-Ain, north of Hasaka province. No casualties were reported. The Observatory
said the residents demanded the demilitarization of their city.
LNA Vows to End Erdogan’s Plans in Libya
Cairo - Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Leader of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Khalifa Haftar has vowed to defeat
militias and put a stop to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s plans in the
country. LNA spokesman Major General Ahmed al-Mismari announced that the Army
will not stop until liberating Tripoli and defeating extremists, criminal
militias, mercenaries, foreign fighters, and Turkish invaders. He warned foreign
troops that they are running low on time and the LNA will not stop until the
“extremist Erdogan’s project” has been terminated.
Mismari announced that LNA’s air defenses downed a Turkish ‘Bayraktar’ Mini
Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), south of Tripoli. Meanwhile, head of the
Government of National Accord Fayez al-Sarraj accused the LNA of firing hundreds
of rockets at residential neighborhoods in the vicinity of Mitiga airport. The
rockets also reached the airport and damaged its facilities. "The forces of war
criminal (Haftar) fired more than a hundred rockets and missiles at residential
areas in the center of the capital Tripoli Saturday", the GNA said in a
statement. Sarraj said the government has no choice but to respond to the
aggression. Turkey's Foreign Ministry announced that the strikes targeted its
interests, including representative offices in Libya, warning that it will
consider Haftar’s elements as a legitimate target. However, LNA said that Turkey
has set up a military airbase in Mitiga airport, despite GNA’s denial. Civil
aviation has been suspended at the airport for about two months due to repeated
bombardments. Operation Volcano of Rage announced that three people were killed
and 12 others injured, including three children, in LNA’s attacks. It indicated
that the airport was also damaged. The Operation announced that since the
beginning of Ramadan, over 34 people have been killed and more than 80 wounded,
including women and children. It also noted that the attack destroyed a number
of the city’s infrastructure and homes.In addition, Libya’s National Oil Corp (NOC)
announced that fuel tanks at Tripoli’s Mitiga airport were targeted in the
attack, causing a large fire. The NOC statement indicated that four tanks were
directly hit and completely burnt, while six others were extensively damaged.
Videos and images shared from the scene showed plumes of black smoke near the
airport.
The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) strongly condemned the
increased attacks on civilian populated areas in Tripoli, including the shelling
on Tripoli’s Zawiat al-Dahmani neighborhood, near the Turkish embassy and the
Italian ambassador’s residence, which reportedly killed at least two civilians
and injured three others. UNSMIL will continue to document violations to be
shared, where relevant, with the Panel of Experts and the International Criminal
Court, it said. Unlike previous statements, UNSMIL did not call on parties to
end all clashes and resume the political process.
Egypt Underscores Need to Maintain Global ‘Multilateral’ System
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 11 May, 2020
Egypt's Permanent Representative to the UN Mohamed Idris.
Egypt urged effective international solidarity in confronting world challenges,
starting with the coronavirus pandemic. Such solidarity will be part of a new
international vision that paves the way for a new phase in the global system to
achieve the United Nations’ sustainable development goals and preserve the
legitimacy and credibility of the multilateral international system, said
Egypt's Permanent Representative to the UN Mohamed Idris. He made his remarks
during a virtual Security Council meeting on Sunday marking the 75th anniversary
of the end of the second World War.
The ambassador noted that even with the international system’s success in
preventing a new world war, it failed to sufficiently settle regional clashes
and conflicts and eliminate nuclear weapons.Moreover, he said that despite
achieving some progress in sustainable development and protecting human rights,
large numbers of people still suffer from poverty, famine and lack of
essential needs. According to Idris, the COVID-19 pandemic tested the concept of
international cooperation and demonstrated that despite the need for
multilateral work, the international community was still sorely lacking in this
regard. It is necessary for the international community to show coordinated
solidarity to effectively confront the current and future challenges caused by
the pandemic through a new international vision that derives lessons from the
past, he suggested.
Cheers and Tears as Europe's Kids Go Back to School
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/May 11/2020
Excited children greeted their friends and weary parents got used to early
starts again as schools in several European countries reopened after a nearly
two-month coronavirus break. Pupils toted their backpacks for the first time
since March in France and the Netherlands as primary schools partially reopened,
with strict measures in place to prevent a second wave of the pandemic.
As wider lockdown measures eased across the continent, schools also reopened
their doors in Switzerland and the Balkans, while secondary schools in Greece
were coming back to life. "The children were really looking forward to coming
back to school. They were jumping with joy when they saw their friends again,
they were very happy," 43-year-old Manon told AFP as she dropped off her three
children at Willemspark primary school in The Hague. "It's good for them. We've
been through a unique period... they liked the free time but of course they
missed their friends a lot, and the structure that schools give them," added the
Dutch healthcare worker, who asked that her surname not be used. She added that
the family "had to get up early, like we did before." To prevent any resurgence
of the virus, Dutch schools were allowing only half the normal number of
children in at one time, with children either attending morning or afternoon
sessions, or coming in on alternate days. Measures to disinfect schools were
also being taken but Manon said "luckily the children can go near each other
without having to respect the 1.5-metre (social distancing) rule. They really
appreciate that, they can touch and play games without worrying."
'I won't go'
Scandinavian countries and Austria led the way with school reopenings earlier
this month, partly on the grounds that children appear less susceptible to the
disease. But there are still worries that Monday's wave of reopenings has come
too soon. French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to reopen schools has
sparked criticism, even in regions where the number of cases is especially low,
over fears it will cause a new spike in infections. Italy and Spain, hit hard by
the coronavirus, are among at least half a dozen countries that have cancelled
class until September. Britain has said some primary school students may be able
to return from June. In Greece, where only students in the final year of
secondary school are returning on Monday, there were similar worries. "I won't
go. Most of the pupils I know won't go," Anastasia Kyriazis, a 17-year-old pupil
from Nea Manolada in western Greece, told AFP. "If we were to return we would
attend classes for about a month. I prefer to stay home and study ahead of the
exams."At the Ninth Athens high school in the heart of the Greek capital few
students were wearing masks. Small groups of students appeared happy to see each
other again after the break. In Switzerland, the atmosphere was similar to after
the long summer holidays -- albeit with schools reopening with half groups, and
with extra hygiene measures and social distancing. At one Geneva school some
small children were in tears as they had to leave their parents' arms, an AFP
reporter saw. Parents weren't allowed to go into the playground with their
children, and police standing nearby enforced the rules.
- 'We're ready' -
Many schools were also returning across the Balkans. In Croatia, nurseries and
schools for children aged six to 10 were allowed back on an optional basis, for
example if both parents work outside home and have no other means to take care
of their child. Class sizes are also halved. However the move sparked a heated
debate as the responsibility was put on parents, while many warned that it would
be impossible for children and teachers to follow social distancing regulations.
Serbian primary schools and nurseries were also reopening on Monday but on a
similarly optional basis and with restrictions. Children also required a medical
certificate to return. Olivera Zubic, 37, who runs a small private primary
school in Belgrade, said around a third of her pupils were expected to return.
"We've made all the preparations and the parents will come at fixed times, one
couple by one. They will be met by a nurse who will measure their temperature
and their childrens'," she said. "We're ready but it remains to be seen how it
will work in practice."
The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on
May 10-11/2020
After Five Bloody Years in Syria, Russia Is Turning Against
Iran—and Assad
Jeremy Hodge/The Daily Beast/May 11/2020
جيرمي هودج/ديلي بيست: روسيا وبعد 5 سنوات دامية في سوريا تنقلب ضد إيران والأسد
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/86080/%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b1%d9%85%d9%8a-%d9%87%d9%88%d8%af%d8%ac-%d8%af%d9%8a%d9%84%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d8%b3%d8%aa-%d8%b1%d9%88%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7-%d9%88%d8%a8%d8%b9%d8%af-5-%d8%b3%d9%86%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%aa/
Vladimir Putin wants a stable Syria, with billions from abroad for his oligarch
cronies to rebuild the country. But Assad’s infamy and the ayatollahs stand in
the way.
GAZIANTEP, Turkey—After five years fighting to preserve Bashar al-Assad’s regime
in Syria, Russia now appears inclined to dispose of its infamous client. Assad’s
persistent brutality and corruption, and his inability to establish even the
semblance of a functioning state, has grown to be a burden Moscow would prefer
not to bear.
And then there’s the problem of Iran. Assad, members of his family, and his
Alawite clansmen enjoy close, perhaps unbreakable, bonds to the regime in Tehran
and to Iranian-backed militias in Syria. All of which undermines Moscow’s
primary mission there: to rehabilitate the Assad regime as a symbol of stability
capable of attracting hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investment for
reconstruction, which Russian firms would then be poised to receive.
As long as Assad’s relatives continue to function as a mafia and give free rein
to Iranian troops using Syria as base of operations to threaten Israel and plan
attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq, those countries likely to foot the bill for
Syrian reconstruction—the nations of Europe and the Gulf—are unlikely to come up
with the cash.
This has not gone unnoticed by the United States.
“Assad has done nothing to help the Russians sell this regime,”James Jeffrey,
the U.S. special envoy for the Coalition to Defeat ISIS, told reporters in a
State Department briefing on Thursday. “You find Assad has nothing but thugs
around him, and they don’t sell well either in the Arab world or in Europe. We
have heard repeatedly from Russians we take as credible that they understand how
bad Assad is.”
The Syrian president’s “refusal to make any compromises” in order to secure
diplomatic recognition and acceptance for his regime has jeopardized “hundreds
of billions of dollars in reconstruction assistance” for Syria, according to
Jeffrey.
Yet the Trump administration is unlikely to exploit this growing rift. “Getting
Russia out of Syria,” Jeffrey said, “has never been our goal. Russia has been
there for 30 years. It has a long-term relationship with Syria. We don’t think
it has been healthy for the region. We don’t think it really is even healthy for
Russia. But that’s not our policy.”
MEDIA FRENZY
Jeffrey’s statements come just one week after Russian state media unleashed a
slew of reports and editorials targeting Assad, portraying the beleaguered
president as hopelessly corrupt and unfit to govern, and suggesting the time had
come to replace him with a new leader.
The first batch of articles was published by the Russia’s Federal News Agency (FNA),
an outlet owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch and chairman of several
companies implicated in the 2016 U.S. elections scandal. Appearing over the
course of a mere three hours on April 17, they would shake Syria to its core.
The first of the three articles in question highlighted a corruption scheme
carried out by the regime in summer 2019 in which the Syrian prime minister
purportedly lied to citizens about oil and gas scarcities in order to justify
the occurrence of long power outages while selling Syrian electricity to
businessmen in Lebanon. The second piece cited an opinion poll claiming only 32
percent of Syrians would vote for Assad in the country’s upcoming 2021
presidential election.
The third and final article, entitled, “Corruption is Worse than Terrorism,”
chastized President Assad for personally failing to combat corruption, prevalent
at all levels of the state.
That these were published by Prigozhin’s news agency was the kind of signal it
would be hard for Assad to miss. Prigozhin, who first built his fortune as a
caterer, is sometimes known as “Putin’s chef.” But of particular relevance to
Syria is his role as chairman of the Wagner Group, whose mercenaries have fought
alongside Assad regime forces since October 2015 and helped the latter take back
control of key revenue generating infrastructure such as the al-Sha’ir gas field
in Homs province.
Deputy Assistant Secretary Christopher Robin told the same State Department
briefing Thursday, “Wagner is often misleadingly referred to as a Russian
private military company, but in fact it’s an instrument of the Russian
government which the Kremlin uses as a low-cost and low-risk instrument to
advance its goals.”
The article on corruption would also point out, suggestively, that the Assads
are not the only powerful family in Syria, “there are also the Makhloufs.”
Rami Makhlouf, who is in fact Bashar al-Assad’s first cousin, is Syria’s
wealthiest man, and also, it would seem, Russia’s man. Certainly he has strong
ties to the Kremlin and for years has been one of the most vocal critics of
Iran’s presence in Syria. In July 2018, the al-Watan newspaper, one Syria’s most
prominent pro-regime mouthpieces and owned by Rami Makhlouf since 2006,
published a then unprecedented public rebuke to Iran, accusing it of sponsoring
Islamist fanaticism throughout the Middle East alongside Turkey and Qatar, the
main backers of Syria’s opposition. (Rami Makhlouf’s father Muhammad and brother
Hafiz meanwhile are alleged by some to be living in Russia.)
The April 17 articles published by Prigozhin’s FNA preceded the release of a
wave of other articles and items in the media over the next 12 days that would
further drive home the point that Moscow was considering options other than
Assad to rule Syria.
TASS, Russia’s largest state-run news agency, wrote in one editorial that,
“Russia suspects that Assad is not only unable to lead the country anymore, but
also that the head of the Syrian regime is dragging Moscow towards the Afghani
scenario.” This is like evoking the Vietnam War for an American audience, a
reference to the Kremlin’s botched campaign through the 1980s that helped
bankrupt the Soviet Union and finally break it apart.
Amid this coverage, TASS would also take swipes at Iran, claiming that the
Islamic Republic has “no interest in achieving stability in the region, because
it considers it a battlefield with Washington”.
On April 30, the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), a think tank
established by Moscow’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, released a scathing report
saying Russia was in talks with other parties to the Syrian conflict to draw up
plans for a political resolution that did not include Bashar al-Assad as
president. The report highlighted purported Russian efforts to compel the Syrian
regime to commit to ceasefires with both American-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian
Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA)
opposition, while beginning steps to form a new unity government that would
include representatives from both.
That day, Rami Makhlouf, whose assets were frozen five months earlier as part of
a tax dispute, uploaded a video onto his personal Facebook page accusing the
Assad regime of corruption. In a state known for carrying out the full-scale
slaughter of those who test its authority, Makhlouf’s videos, coming on the
heels of the unprecedented Russian attacks in the media, sent shockwaves
throughout the country.
THE ROYAL FAMILY
While the Makhlouf clan clearly has thrown its lot in with Russia, key members
of Bashar al-Assad’s immediate family and others with ties to Qardaha in Syria’s
largely Alawite Latakia province, are among the most prominent Iranian-backed
militia leaders in Syria. It’s an alliance that traces back to his father Hafez
al-Assad, who was born in Qardaha, and who forged ties with the Iranian
revolution almost from its beginning more than 40 years ago. The Iranians
responded by offering religious legitimacy to the Alawite sect, which is
regarded as heretical by Sunnis and indeed by many Shi’a.
These Qardaha militia leaders have regularly engaged in armed clashes against
Russian backed units. They are among the most egregious violators and abusers of
power, overseeing wide networks of corruption similar to those lamented in the
Russian media. And foremost among them is Bashar’s younger brother, Maher
al-Assad.
Since April 2018, Maher al-Assad has commanded the Syrian Army’s 4th Armored
Division, one of country’s oldest, best equipped and overwhelmingly Alawite
brigades. After the 2011 outbreak of the Syrian revolution, when the loyalty of
much of the army was in doubt, it became a refuge for numerous Alawite-Shi’a
dominated pro-regime militias.
Currently, the 4th Armored Division’s members control many smuggling operations
throughout the country, in cities from Albu Kamel on Syria’s eastern border with
Iraq to Latakia on the Syrian coast, where the port was leased to Iran on
October 1 last year. It has since become one of the biggest export hubs for
drugs headed to markets in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
Examples abound:
On July 5, 2019, Greek coast guard and drug enforcement officials announced the
biggest drug bust in history, seizing 5.25 tons (33 million pills) of Captagon
amphetamines worth $660m hidden in shipping containers loaded at the Latakia
port in Syria. That followed a long string of such seizures made by Greek
authorities. More recently, in late April, customs officials in both Saudi
Arabia and Egypt also announced the seizure of similar quantities of drugs in
containers traced back to Latakia. Local reports have accused a range of actors
including Maher al-Assad’s 4th Division, Hizbollah, Rami Makhlouf, and others of
profiting from the massive drug exports emanating from the port.
In January 2019 the 4th Armored Division launched attacks on the Russian-backed
Tiger Forces unit in an attempt to wrest control of smuggling routes between
regime- and opposition-held territory in Idlib province. The clashes led to the
death of 70 fighters. These and other skirmishes prompted Russia to back a major
campaign to arrest 4th Division and other Iranian-backed units throughout the
country beginning in April 2019, which succeeded in rounding up numerous
mid-ranking Iranian-backed officers.
Among those targeted in the campaign was Bashar Talal al-Assad, a cousin to the
president (similar name, different people) who was wanted on drug and weapons
trafficking charges. Unlike others who were detained in the roundup, Bashar
Talal al-Assad and his ‘Areen Brigade managed to fight off Russian-backed forces
that sought to arrest him in Qardaha. He then pledged to attack Russia’s Hmeimim
military base, located 17 miles east of Latakia city, in the event the regime
sought to arrest him again.
For Russia, the threat of such attacks on its military infrastructure is a real
concern. The Hmeimim base—from which Moscow has directed its entire military
campaign in Syria—had already been subject to a series of attacks from January
to October 2018 by other Iranian-backed militias in the area.
The threat posed by both Iran’s acquisition of the Latakia port and its support
for local Assad family proxies in Syria’s coastal region is exacerbated by the
fact that Tehran has also begun making progress toward completing construction
of its Shalamcha railroad, which, via stops in Basra, Baghdad, Albu Kamel and
Damascus, will give Tehran direct access to the Syrian and Lebanese coasts.
If Iran succeeds in integrating the Latakia port with the Shalamcha rail line,
this will cut off Hmeimim from Russian forces in central and southern Syria and
enable Tehran to quickly deliver weapons to proxy forces in Latakia that are
already engaged in clashes against Russian-backed groups.
WORLDWIDE CONSENSUS
Moscow’s inability to control Iranian backed Syrian militiamen engaged in
widespread crime, corruption, and assaults on Russian forces has infuriated the
Kremlin. But Russia is not the only major player on the ground with scores to
settle against Iran, and the Russian military leadership in Syria has ignored if
not largely encouraged Israeli strikes on Iranian troops throughout the country.
It may not be coincidental that the Israeli attacks have increased in pace and
scope since April, following the flurry of Russian media articles attacking
Assad and his regime. “We have moved from blocking Iran’s entrenchment in Syria
to forcing it out of there, and we will not stop,” Israel’s new defense
minister, Naftali Bennett, declared on April 28.
Without Russia, Iran has found itself the odd man out in Syria, the single party
still seeking to push for war at a time when most other international players
have been struck with fatigue and simply seek to put Syria’s pieces back
together. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, the last patron of Syria’s
battered FSA opposition, has himself made peace with Moscow, effectively
agreeing last March to cede control of wide swaths of rebel held territory after
a particularly bloody Russian led campaign against the last FSA holdout in Idlib
province that ended in victory for regime forces.
Ironically, Erdoğan’s long-held desire to overthrow Syria’s president may still
come to fruition, albeit not as he expected, as Assad’s ouster may come at the
hands of Russia itself, and not the revolution.
Libyan Civil War Aggravated by the Threat of COVID-19
Tzvi Kahn/New Africa Daily/May 11/2020
According to official statistics COVID-19 has barely affected Libya, but the
true number of cases is likely underreported. An ongoing civil war, a large
refugee and migrant population, and a deficient healthcare system threaten to
exacerbate the spread of the disease, further destabilizing a country already
devastated by years of conflict.
To date, the Libyan National Center for Disease Control has reported sixty-four
COVID-19 infections and three deaths. The country’s ability to monitor the
outbreak is very limited; as of May 7, the country has performed only 2,338
tests. To forestall further infections, the Government of National Accord
imposed a ten-day, 24-hour curfew in areas under its control from April 17,
forbade intercity travel, banned driving, and closed the country’s borders and
airspace.
“Now is not the time to reduce caution,” says Elizabeth Hoff, head of mission
for the World Health Organization in Libya. “The low numbers reported should not
fool us into a false sense of security. Libya is in the early stages of the
epidemic and has not yet reached the height of infection. Until the test becomes
more widespread, it will be impossible to ascertain the extent of the disease
and its geographical spread.”
HOSPITALS UNDER ATTACK
The pandemic comes amid the long-running civil war between the Tripoli-based,
UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, known as the Government
of National Accord (GNA), and the eastern-based government backed by the House
of Representatives, which has aligned itself with Field Marshall Khalifa
Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA). As Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace has noted, the latest stage of the conflict,
which began in April 2019 when Haftar’s forces launched an attack on Tripoli,
has further compounded the damage to Libya’s already weak health system.
The International Rescue Committee reported in March that there had been
sixty-two attacks on hospitals and other health facilities in the previous year,
and in April rockets fired by the LNA struck Al-Khadra General Hospital in
Tripoli, where COVID-19 patients are treated. “This is a health system that was
close to collapse before you got COVID-19,” Hoff says.
THE PANDEMIC COULD BE CATASTROPHIC FOR MIGRANTS
The country’s sizable population of refugees and migrants—an estimated 700,000
in total—further intensifies the crisis. Many of them reside in densely
populated, unhygienic detention centers where other diseases, rape, extortion,
and abuse are prevalent. A spokesman for the UN International Organization for
Migration has warned that an outbreak of COVID-19 would be “truly catastrophic”
for this population.
“International intervention has also continued unabated” in the civil war,
writes Wehrey, “with thousands of mercenaries, including Syrians, Russians, and
Sudanese, flowing into both sides and acting as potential pathogen vectors.”
THE CONFLICT HAS TO END
A UN official has warned that failure to end the civil war would likely lead to
further infections. “If Libya is to have any chance against COVID-19, the
ongoing conflict must come to an immediate halt,” said Yacoub El Hillo, the UN
secretary-general’s deputy special representative in Libya as he condemned the
latest attack on the Tripoli hospital.
An immediate end to the war, however, remains unlikely. On April 20, the UN
Support Mission in Libya issued a statement expressing “grave concern” about
“the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Tripoli and its surroundings as a
result of the intensification of fighting in the past few days”. This fighting,
the statement continued, had resulted in the wounding of at least twenty-eight
civilians and five deaths. “Indiscriminate attacks,” the statement added, could
“amount to war crimes.” Four days later, shelling of Tripoli by Haftar’s forces
killed another three civilians.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court warned of potential war
crimes in Libya.
For now, though, pro-GNA forces appear to have the upper hand. The GNA has said
it was close to breaking Haftar’s siege of Tripoli after pro-GNA forces had
seized several key towns in the west. Those forces have begun a siege on the
town of Tarhouna, Haftar’s key western stronghold.
On April 27, Haftar declared in a televised speech that the 2015 UN-brokered
agreement to unite the country was a “thing of the past”, and that he would form
a new government for the entire country. This statement further inflamed
tensions between the east and the west. Two days later, Haftar’s forces declared
a unilateral ceasefire, noting that it was responding to international calls for
a humanitarian pause during the holy month of Ramadan, but the GNA rejected the
truce, suspecting Haftar was using it merely to resupply his forces.
Since then, hostilities have resumed. On May 5, Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court, warned of potential war crimes in Libya.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister al-Sarraj called for a resumption of UN-brokered
talks.
Should the two sides lay down their arms, they may be able to refocus their
attention on combatting COVID-19. In the meantime, the civilian population
caught in the middle will continue to pay a heavy price.
*Tzvi Kahn is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD).
Follow Tzvi on Twitter @TzviKahn. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD. Based in
Washington, D.C., FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national
security and foreign policy.
COVID-19, hostages, drowning: Iranian regime criminality
may be increasing
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/May 11/2020
جيرازالم بوست: ما بين الرهائن واغراق وقتل المعارضين والكورونا النظام الإيراني
يزداد اجراماً
Iran's human rights violations and the regime’s criminal actions are often
ignored or wrapped up in larger discussions about its other behavior.
In January Iran shot down a Ukrainian Airlines civilian airliner. Since then,
Iran has put up roadblocks to the investigation its mass killing of the 176
people on board, and has prevented quick handover of black boxes and joint
investigations.
Last week, the BBC accused Iran’s Mahan Air of operating amid the coronavirus
pandemic and spreading the virus across the region and the world without proper
safeguards.
Over the weekend it was revealed that Iran had beaten, tortured and drowned
dozens of poor Afghan migrants. In addition, Tehran continues to hold hostage a
British-Australian academic which UK reports say has damaged her health. Last
year, Iran gunned down numerous protesters and sent proxy groups to Iraq to
conduct a wave of attacks on protesters there.
Steinitz: US, Israel to discuss drawing down peacekeeping force in Sinai
While Iran’s decision to advance its ballistic missile or nuclear program is
generally seen through the lens of international relations and discussions about
how to “deal” with the regime, its human rights violations and the regime’s
criminal actions are often ignored or wrapped up in larger discussions about its
other behavior. For instance, Iran’s nuclear program and its prodding of proxies
to harass ships in the Gulf and US forces in Iraq is seen as a form of
“provocation” that was brought on by US-Iran tensions.
Antony Blinken, a foreign policy advisor under Obama recently pointed out that
the US “maximum pressure” campaign is leading to Iran “restarting dangerous
elements of its nuclear program.” Obama administration insider Ben Rhodes
tweeted on May 8 that the results of dismantling Obama’s Iran policies resulted
in Iran being “closer to a nuke.”
However, a larger question looms regarding the Iranian regime policies that are
not linked to purely military initiatives. For instance, while Iran put a
military satellite into orbit recently and has built new drones and missiles,
the other side of Iran’s actions tend to be more outwardly criminal. For
instance, downing the civilian airliner and initially denying it. Or drowning
migrants or kidnapping foreign academics and holding them hostage.
Regime apologists present no explanation for how this behavior is linked to
something that was done to Iran. Tehran’s leadership tends to play up the idea
that Iran is a victim, either of Western support for the Shah, a 1953 coup,
sanctions or other actions. In this narrative, the regime can present itself
abroad as other countries do.
BUT THE actual behavior of the regime is not just about getting around
sanctions, which every government would likely seek to do. Nothing forces Iran
to drown migrants, down civilian airliners or purposely obfuscate about the
extent of coronavirus in the country, while flying airliners around the world
and endangering passengers and crew. If Iran is merely trying to get around
sanctions and trying to prove to the world that the US behavior is problematic,
why kidnap and use foreign academics as bargaining chips, keeping them in harsh
conditions in prisons when they committed no crime?
Iran is not the only regime that does this: Turkey and North Korea have detained
Westerners and then suddenly released them. But the multiple layers of Iran’s
behavior compared to how it tries to present itself on the international stage
is unique.
Has Iran’s criminal behavior increased with the recent drownings, coronavirus
cover-ups, abuses of academics, shooting of protesters, and the downing of a
civilian airliner? The regime may be increasing its brutality and using the
tensions with America as a cover. For instance Iran’s foreign ministry sought to
use the coronavirus crisis to demand a way around sanctions, claiming that the
sanctions harmed its battle against the virus. If this had been accurate, then
Iran would have stopped Mahan air flights and sought aid in mid-February.
Instead, Iran hid the extent of the virus in February and even prevented Doctors
Without Borders from helping. The Islamic Republic could have admitted
immediately that it shot down a civilian airliner in January and helped Ukraine
study the black boxes, instead of harming the investigation.
Why did Iranian border guards force 57 men and children into a river on May 1,
where most of them drowned? Amateur videos have now located where the poor
workers died. The regime’s order to murder the Afghans is not unique. It also
guns down Kurdish workers without trial in the West Azerbaijan province city of
Khoy, accusing them of smuggling. Over the weekend, Iranian security forces shot
at a group of these Kurdish “kolbars” causing the death of one of them.
The long list of regime crimes paints a picture of state policy, from downing
airliners to shooting protesters and migrants and abusing academics, to
spreading a virus among vulnerable airline staff.
How Iran is losing its grip in Iraq
Eli Lake/Bloomberg/May 11/2020
إيلي ليك من بلومبرك: إيران تفقد قبضتها على العراق
When US missiles killed Iran’s most important general and its most important
militia leader in early January as they were visiting Baghdad, it looked like
American forces would be kicked out of Iraq. Iraq’s parliament convened just
hours after the strike and approved a symbolic resolution to expel the US.
More than four months later, not only are US forces still there, but it’s clear
that the killings have created space for a new Iraqi government to assert some
independence from its powerful neighbour.
The signs of this new approach have been building over recent months, and the
ascendancies last week of Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to the post of transitional prime
minister is the latest and most profound.
Kadhimi’s platform is not as pointed in its criticism of US actions as his
predecessor’s was. It says Iraq will not allow its territories to be used as a
base for launching aggression against any of its neighbours and will not become
a battlefield for regional and international conflicts
Consider that Kataib Hezbollah, the militia largely responsible for attacks on
US positions in Iraq, openly accused the new prime minister of participating in
the US plot to kill the Iranian leaders during the negotiations to select an
interim prime minister. The militia opposed Kadhimi and threatened violence if
he became prime minister. The Iraqi Parliament ignored it.
Normally, the opposition of a militia supported and directed by Iran would be a
clear sign that Iran sees Kadhimi as an unacceptable choice for prime minister.
Kataib Hezbollah acts as an arm of the Quds Force commanded by General Qassem
Soleimani, who was killed in the US drone strike.
This time around, the Iranians have indicated that they will live with him.
Why? Kadhimi was able to take advantage of schisms within Iran’s own power
centers, says Nibras Kazimi, the founder of Talisman Gate. A turf battle among
Iranian factions in Iraq has “opened up space in Baghdad for previously
unexpected outcomes,” he says.
Those schisms in Iran could nonetheless be good for US interests. Kadhimi’s
platform explicitly calls for reform of the Interior Ministry, whose forces
coordinated with Iranian-backed militias to violently disperse recent peaceful
protests against Iranian influence.
The new chief of that ministry will be General Othman Ghanimi, an
American-trained officer who is currently the chief of staff of Iraq’s military.
His new ministry was once infiltrated by militia leaders who showed more loyalty
to Soleimani and Iran than to Iraq. He now has an opportunity to clean house, a
longtime US objective.
Kadhimi has also pledged to take on corruption, which is the primary issue for
the national protest movement “and a primary reason that Iran is able to exert
influence in Iraq.
Independent foreign policy
Kadhimi’s platform is not as pointed in its criticism of US actions as his
predecessor’s was. It says Iraq will not allow “its territories to be used as a
base for launching aggression against any of its neighbours and will not become
a battlefield for regional and international conflicts.”
At the same time, it indirectly says it will not allow Iran to manage its
relationship with Iraq the way it did in the Soleimani years: “As far as foreign
relations are concerned, the state shall communicate with official institutions
only, and according to the international diplomatic norms, and not with
individuals or non-official entities.”
There is no single event that has caused Iran’s current loss of influence in
Iraq. Nationwide protests against corruption and Iranian influence, as well as
internal strife within and among Iranian-backed militias, helped Kadhimi’s rise.
At the same time, Soleimani’s death was a factor.
“When Soleimani was killed, Iran had already overplayed its hand and was
suffering the consequences,” says Michael Knights, a senior fellow at the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Since his death, he says, Iran’s
position in Iraq has weakened even further. “It still has influence, but not
control.”
If that’s true, it’s a positive development — not just for Iraq but for the
entire Middle East.
*Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and
foreign policy
Pompeo to Israel: A Scene Setter
Jacob Nagel & Jonathan Schanzer/FDD/May 11/2020
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting Israel on Wednesday. It will be
the first international trip by a senior American official since the COVID-19
pandemic began. During his visit, Pompeo will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and the man who will be his new defense minister and primary coalition
partner, Benny Gantz, perhaps on the day they form their new unity government.
Before his last meeting with Pompeo in Lisbon, Netanyahu told reporters that he
planned to discuss three topics: Iran, Iran, and Iran. His priorities have not
changed. Netanyahu will undoubtedly want to discuss the Islamic Republic of Iran
and its wide range of malign activity. Israel remains very concerned about
Iran’s nuclear advances but also Tehran’s proliferation of dangerous weapons,
including precision–guided munitions (PGMs), to proxies such as Shiite militias
in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The facilities that produce those weapons are
a major Israeli concern, as are Iran’s plans to remain in Syria for the long
term. In addition, Pompeo, Netanyahu, and Gantz are certain to discuss Israel’s
plans for annexing territory in the West Bank. Israeli business ties with China
may also come up, particularly given recent tensions between Beijing and
Washington over China’s failure to contain the COVID-19 crisis.
Iran Iran long ago crossed the threshold on low-enriched uranium, producing
enough fissile material for more than one nuclear device. The U.S. policy of
maximum sanctions pressure on Iran continues, imposed mostly on a unilateral
basis. Finding international partners to constrain Iran remains a priority for
both countries. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is working to
resolve issues relating to Iranian nuclear violations, especially Comprehensive
Safeguards Agreement violations revealed by documents Israel captured in a 2018
raid on an Iranian nuclear archive. IAEA inspectors subsequently visited some
sites exposed by those documents. The IAEA is requesting immediate and
unrestricted admission to three suspected nuclear sites, but Iran is stalling
for time. Israel continues to support Pompeo’s 12 requirements that Iran must
meet to demonstrate that it is a “normal country,” ranging from halting
terrorism sponsorship abroad to ceasing other malign behavior around the Middle
East. The Israelis view the January 3 strike on Islamic Revolutionary Guard
Corps Major General Qassem Soleimani as a boost for U.S. policy because it
restored the credible threat of military force. But it is unclear to officials
in Jerusalem whether the Trump administration is willing to strike Iran in the
future in response to other attacks on America or its regional interests. Nor is
it clear how the Trump administration will respond to Iranian violations of U.S.
and Israeli “red lines” associated with Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli
officials remain concerned that Iran’s nuclear advances and other destabilizing
activities could increase, particularly if Tehran is able to convince the
international community to grant sanctions relief. The international arms
embargo on Iran is set to lapse in October, only adding to these concerns.
Iran’s Proxies
Even without sanctions relief, Iran is pushing ahead with plans to provide its
proxies with PGMs, which Israel deems to be “game changing weapons.” Israel is
concerned that Hezbollah or Iran’s other proxies may acquire an independent
capability to produce these weapons or to convert unguided missiles into an
accurate ones. If Iran’s proxies amass enough PGMs to pose a significant threat,
Israel will need to act preemptively. Israel seeks to maintain total freedom to
strike at these weapons.
Media reports suggest that Israel conducted five separate strikes on Iranian
assets and proxies in Syria over the last two weeks. The Israelis do not always
take credit for these attacks. But from the Israeli perspective, the goal is
always the same: There can be no Iranian or Hezbollah forces on Syrian soil,
including Shiite militias. Israel continues to strike targets involved in the
transshipment of PMGs. Many, if not most, of them are destined for Hezbollah,
which continues to grow its modest stockpile of these advanced weapons. Israel
has also made it clear that it will neutralize terrorist threats on its northern
border.
Netanyahu is expected to urge Pompeo to express full support for Israel’s right
to defend its citizens through military means and to reject any international
agreement that allows Iran or its proxies to operate in Syria. This is
consistent with longstanding U.S. policy.
Annexation
U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman broke news last week on the timeline
for Israel to apply sovereignty to roughly 30 percent of the West Bank. Pursuant
to President Donald Trump’s “Deal of the Century,” a joint U.S.-Israeli
commission is currently mapping out potential new borders that would include
existing Israeli settlement blocs and the Jordan Valley. The work should be
completed by July. But even after recommendations are submitted, annexation is
no simple matter. The issue is a sensitive one given the potential challenges of
sustaining diplomatic momentum with some of the regional states that seek to
improve relations with Israel but oppose annexation. Moreover, should Trump lose
the U.S. election in November, the next U.S. administration may not approve of
the annexation. Bilateral discussions are now focused on Israeli steps that are
sustainable. While Netanyahu frames the issue as cut and dry, the outcome is
uncertain.
China
The Trump administration continues to urge Israel to decouple economically from
China. Business ventures that involve Israeli technology have prompted
particular American concern. Pompeo is expected to raise this issue again and
ask Israel to reconsider its deals with China, including most recently a Chinese
tender for the construction of a desalination plant that would produce 20
percent of Israel’s water supply.
This U.S. request should not be viewed as inhibiting free trade. America is
entering a global competition with China, and Washington wants reliable allies,
especially when sensitive technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum,
hypersonic missiles, high power computing, and more are on the line. Even
civilian technologies that appear innocuous could be exploited by China in
deleterious ways. Israel understands this and thus created an advisory committee
to review foreign investments. While the body has a long way to go before it
meets the standards set by its American counterpart, the Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States, Israel has taken other steps to address
American concerns, such as blocking Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from
taking part in Israel’s 5G network.
The United States provides Israel with significant security and economic
assistance. Israel should pay attention to America’s needs, especially regarding
next–generation technologies. But the United States must also consider the
economic impact its requests will have on Israel. China accounts for roughly 10
to 15 percent of Israel’s economy. America must begin to offer alternatives.
Win-win solutions must be the focus.
Fortunately, Israel and the United States are already exploring ways to turn
crisis into opportunity. Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Gary Peters (D-MI)
recently proposed the establishment of a U.S.-Israel Operations–Technology
Working Group to institutionalize research and development (R&D) cooperation to
address the capability gaps and needs faced by both militaries. This would
ensure the two countries work together exclusively on key technologies and
weapons. Israeli ingenuity and advanced R&D capabilities can help the United
States, which in turn can benefit Israel.
Of course, U.S. funding has in the past supported cooperation between Israeli
and American companies focused on developing cutting-edge systems, anti-terror
technologies, and more. Both countries also continue to enjoy close cooperation
in intelligence and cyber. One important example of the fruits of this
cooperation is Israel’s multi-layered missile defense, which comprises systems
developed jointly and independently by the United States and Israel. The recent
attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq only underscore how the Israeli Iron Dome or
Israeli-U.S. David’s Sling systems could help protect American troops on the
battlefield. Another opportunity for U.S.-Israel cooperation could come from
leveraging Israeli technological innovations to bolster America’s own efforts to
combat COVID-19. Israeli biotechnology firms are renowned worldwide and recently
announced some breakthroughs.
Conclusion
The U.S.-Israel relationship is anchored in decades of close coordination and
strong bilateral ties. But amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the priorities and
needs of both countries are shifting. Both sides will need to listen carefully
and work to ensure that the U.S.-Israel strategic alliance and military
partnership continues to serve the national security interests of both countries
well into the future. And they will need to leave politics out of it,
particularly as America enters an election cycle. The bipartisan nature of the
U.S.-Israel relationship has served the national security interests of both
countries for more than seven decades. It will be important to keep it that way.
*Brigadier General (res.) Jacob Nagel is a senior fellow at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a visiting professor at the Technion Faculty of
Aerospace Engineering. He previously served as the head of Israel’s National
Security Council and as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s acting national
security advisor. Jonathan Schanzer, a former terrorism finance analyst at the
U.S. Treasury Department, is senior vice president for research at FDD. They
both contribute to FDD’s Center on Military and Political Power (CMPP). For more
analysis from Jacob, Jonathan, and CMPP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Jonathan
on Twitter @JSchanzer. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CMPP. FDD is a
Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national
security and foreign policy.
The JCPOA Has Not Improved Iran’s Human Rights Record
Tzvi Kahn & Alireza Nader/FDD/May 11/2020
The Obama administration routinely argued that the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran
could spur Tehran to moderate, thereby reducing its systematic human rights
abuses. But this forecast has proven unfounded: The Islamic Republic’s
repression has only increased since 2015, demonstrating that one-sided nuclear
concessions cannot produce reform in a regime defined by its radical Islamist
ideology.
After reaching the agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of
Action (JCPOA), President Barack Obama heralded a new day in Iran’s geopolitical
standing. “[T]he truth of the matter is that Iran will be and should be a
regional power,” he said. This belief rested on the assumption that the JCPOA,
as Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes put it, would produce “an
evolution in Iranian behavior” in which Iran is “less dependent upon the types
of [destabilizing] activities that they’ve been engaged in.”
Obama’s approach also stemmed from the premise that Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani was a moderate whose 2013 election marked a sea-change in Iranian
politics. Rhodes asserted that Rouhani was a “different type of candidate,”
elected by “an Iranian populace that clearly wants to move in a different
direction.” This view appeared to rely on Rouhani’s reformist rhetoric,
including his release of a Charter on Citizen’s Rights, which would supposedly
lead to the termination of Iran’s human rights abuses.
Yet as the State Department has consistently documented in its annual human
rights reports since 2015, the regime in Tehran regularly perpetrates arbitrary
or unlawful killings and arrests; torture, forced confessions, and other cruel,
inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; unfair trials with no semblance
of due process; repression of civil liberties, including press freedom, internet
freedom, academic freedom, and freedom of peaceful assembly; rampant corruption
and lack of transparency in government; and discrimination against women, the
LGBTI community, and ethnic minorities.
Similarly, the Islamic Republic’s treatment of religious minorities,
particularly the Bahai and Christians, has consistently been among the worst in
the world, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The regime represses religious minorities in order to create and sustain its own
totalitarian vision of an ideal Islamist state. The ostensibly “Islamic”
Republic does not even allow the building of Sunni mosques in Tehran.
As Asma Jahangir, the late UN special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, said
in 2017, Rouhani did not “walk the talk.” In fact, she said, Rouhani’s moderate
statements “render many of the reports that I continue to receive all the more
painful, and the need for institutional reform all the more pressing.”
Successive reports by the current special rapporteur, Javaid Rehman, show no
meaningful improvement in the clerical regime’s conduct. The Charter on
Citizen’s Rights remains unimplemented.
Tehran’s grim record accounts in part for the nationwide protests that have
consumed Iran over the past two-and-a-half years and that have received a
violent government response. Tehran killed about 1,500 demonstrators in
November, according to Reuters. In particular, women’s rights have assumed
center stage as countless Iranian women publicly refuse to wear the mandatory
hijab, or headscarf. The regime has arrested scores of them, along with
thousands of other peaceful dissenters.
As the Trump administration continues its maximum pressure campaign against Iran
for the purpose of securing a better deal, the White House should recognize that
many oppressed Iranians look to the United States for inspiration and
leadership. The administration should add a requirement to its list of 12
preconditions for any acceptable agreement that Iran halt its human rights
abuses. Unless the regime puts an end to its grave human rights violations,
there will be little hope of reaching an agreement under which the regime will
fundamentally change its threats to others in the region and beyond.
Tzvi Kahn is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD),
where Alireza Nader is a senior follow. They both contribute to FDD’s Center on
Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from Tzvi, Alireza, and
CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Tzvi and Alireza on Twitter @TzviKahn and @AlirezaNader.
Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based,
nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
How to Deal with Iranian Speedboats
James Stavridis/Bloomberg/May 11/2020
President Donald Trump sent a warning shot across the bow of Iran last month,
tweeting that any further “harassment” of US warships by Tehran’s navy in the
Gulf would result in the destruction of the Iranian units. The tweet was
evidently a response to videos of Iranian ships behaving badly, and intended as
a warning to stop small surface combatants – some armed with short-range
missiles or guns – from buzzing by US ships at close and therefore dangerous
range.
The Department of Defense, when queried about what many see as Trump’s new rules
of engagement, simply said that commanding officers already have all the tools
they need to respond appropriately to Iran. Translation: Thanks, but we’ve got
this covered, Mr. President. How should the US and its allies think about this
latest twist on Iran’s campaign to threaten stability in the region?
I’ve got a fair amount of experience in the matter. Back in the long, hot summer
of 1987, I was a mid-grade naval officer serving as operations officer on the
Valley Forge, a brand-new cruiser fitted with the Aegis guided-missile system
that was deployed to the Gulf. The so-called tanker war -- a campaign of Iranian
attacks on ships carrying crude -- was in full bloom, and our mission was to
keep the Strait of Hormuz open. We escorted Kuwaiti tankers that had be
“re-flagged” to the US so that we could legally provide escort service.
The threat from the Iranians was reasonably high due to their land-based Styx
cruise missiles, small naval combatants with surface-to-surface missiles, some
combat aircraft with air-to-surface capability, and diesel submarines. It wasn’t
quite a state of war, but enough so that we spent a great deal of time at battle
stations, called “general quarters” in the Navy.
As the ops boss, I was responsible for training the wardroom in the rules of
engagement -- the highly detailed, classified directives that determine when and
under what circumstances it is appropriate to use deadly force. An Aegis cruiser
is mightily armed with its land-attack cruise missiles; anti-air guns and
missiles; super-fast Gatling guns called Vulcan Phalanxes that shoot depleted
uranium bullets against air and surface targets; .50 caliber machine guns; and
various electronic warfare capabilities.
The trick for those standing watch was not finding the right weapon to use if
attacked, but rather knowing when (and when not) to use all of that firepower.
Our captain, a wise mariner and tactician who went on to become an admiral, used
to say, “Remember that when you release ordnance, everything changes.” What he
meant was that even a seemingly minor tactical event in a theater of operations
thousands of miles from Washington could have major geopolitical implications.
The basis of any decision to open fire against an opponent is straightforward.
It is based on either observation of a “hostile act” (someone shooting at you)
or a clear indication of “hostile intent” (you deciding someone is about to open
fire at you). In such cases, returning fire is unlikely to become controversial,
but taking the first shot at an opponent because you think the other guy is
about to fire can require complex analysis done in a matter of minutes or less.
Indications of hostile intent can include being illuminated by an opponent’s
fire-control radar; observing weapons being pointed in your direction;
intercepting radio or other telecommunications indicating an attack is imminent;
a general pattern of belligerent behavior; observing combat aircraft carrying
weapons headed on an attack profile; or hearing torpedo doors opening under
water over a sonar listening device.
During that late-80s deployment, we gave the order to conduct an offensive
attack only once, when we observed what seemed like clear hostile intent: an
Iranian combat aircraft on what appeared to be an attack profile headed toward
the aircraft carrier we were guarding. Our actions were effective in eliminating
the threat, and were deemed appropriate after the fact.
But on many, many occasions, we came close to taking offensive action -- again
based on various indicators of what might have almost been hostile intent. It
was tense and dangerous duty, and we were glad to accomplish our turn and sail
home.
A few months after we departed, another Aegis cruiser, the Vincennes, had less
luck. The crew acted on perceived hostile intent against what they thought was
an Iranian F-14 armed with air-to-surface missiles. They accidentally shot down
a commercial airliner, killing 290 civilians flying from Tehran to Dubai. It was
one of the most tragic mistakes the US Navy ever made.
I understand Trump’s intent in warning the Iranian government. But we should
remember that all those relatively young officers and sailors in this hot spring
of 2020 are already on a hair-trigger alert. They have watched Iran attack
tankers and oil fields with missiles, seize and hold hostage tankers and crews,
and launch ballistic missiles at US bases in Iraq. The US has responded with a
variety of means, including killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani with a
drone strike.
US sailors are well trained. They will not -- nor should they -- respond to
“harassment” (which can range from bad seamanship to taunts on bridge-to-bridge
radio) unless and until it poses a clear, justifiable and credible threat of
hostile action. We don’t want any mistakes or miscalculations in an already
fraught environment.
Bottom line, Mr. President: Let the Defense Department and the Navy do the job
on the front lines.
Boris Johnson’s Coronavirus Response Fails Better
Therese Raphael/Bloomberg/May 11/2020
Governments are seldom good at radically changing existing systems, much less
inventing new ones and then ramping up delivery of the resulting solution in a
short time span. That’s why countries caught flat-footed when the coronavirus
hit have paid in lives. And yet a rare bright spot in the UK’s otherwise dismal
coronavirus record was announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Friday, in
the manner of a child with failing grades pulling off his first A.
It was pretty evident that Hancock’s job was the on the line. In early April, as
Britain moved briskly up the epidemiological curve, Hancock pledged that by the
end of the month the country would be testing 100,000 people a day. At the time,
the government was struggling to test one-tenth that many people, while Germany
was already testing 70,000 a day comfortably. There was every reason to doubt he
would succeed. With death toll now above 28,000, Britain couldn’t afford a
failure.
Hancock’s announcement Friday that the target had been more than reached —
122,347 tests were provided in the 24 hours up to the announcement — was a
significant milestone in Britain’s coronavirus battle. Whether it is also a
turning point remains to be seen.
Mass testing is essential if the government’s track and trace policy is to prove
effective. It goes hand in hand with plans underway to hire 18,000 contact
tracers and to convince well over half the population to download and use a new
Covid-19 app being trialed this week. When potential infections are identified,
and the web of contacts mapped, tests have to be available. Regular testing can
also inform people when they should isolate and when it might be safe to go to
work. Finally, testing will be critical in determining if a second or third wave
of concentrated infections is brewing.
Of course, there were quibbles about Hancock’s numbers. It turned out that only
70,000 people had actually been tested; the total figure included kits delivered
to people’s homes and those sent out to hospitals and other sites run by the
country’s National Health Service that may not have been used or sent back to
laboratories.
And yet, if the momentum can be sustained, the exact number is less important
than the distance traveled. It was right to set an ambitious goal. The testing
figures showed the ability of government, not normally the nimblest of
operators, to find solutions when push comes to shove, including by partnering
with the private sector. Doing so, however, required a massive course
correction.
Back in mid-January, after Chinese scientists had published the full genetic
code for the virus, it was a government facility — the Colindale laboratory —
that developed a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for Covid-19. Back in
2002, the facility had also developed a test for SARS, a preceding coronavirus,
and by February it seemed confidently ahead of the game on this virus too. Its
diagnostic test would be conducted from 12 labs operated, like Colindale, by the
state executive agency Public Health England.
The capacity announced was modest, but so they thought was demand. The UK had
initially brushed off the World Health Organization’s advice to “test, test,
test.” The country’s scientific advisors and government were leaning toward herd
immunity — essentially just letting the virus rip until enough people had it
that it burnt itself out. But that underestimated the number of infected who
would need hospitalization, threatening to overwhelm the National Health
Service.
As the number of cases, and deaths, shot up, Prime Minister Boris Johnson
pivoted and promised the government would quickly ramp up testing. But Public
Health England’s capabilities were nowhere near sufficient. Then there were
problems getting enough swabs and reagents for the tests. And worries about
reliability.
Ultimately, the government switched to commercial testing. Three mega-labs were
set up to test samples supplemented by 50 drive-through testing centers, a
home-testing service and mobile units.
The belated public-private partnership appears to have been successful. There is
still a way to go, however. There are black spots around the country, places
like Cornwall on the west coast where residents live more than an hour from
their nearest test center. The overall testing level, as a share of population
size, is still too low. There are logistical problems in getting tests to the
people who need them most — especially in care homes without convenient access
to testing sites. And two days after Hancock’s triumphant announcement, the
government had already failed to meet the daily target.
Even so, the UK’s testing story underlines both the strengths of the British
system and weaknesses that have proved fatal for so many. If Britain has
suffered unduly in this crisis, it is because its response to the virus was
initially so hesitant and incremental. If Johnson’s government struggled to
provide the levels of testing and personal protective equipment that other
countries had managed to achieve, it is partly because public bodies were too
leaden and reluctant to share control.
Johnson’s long absence as he battled to recover from his own coronavirus
infection didn’t help. Now that he’s back, government communications — so often
cryptic and defensive as the crisis unfolded — have also improved, emulating the
transparency and seriousness of communications by German Chancellor Angela
Merkel and her key advisers.
Whether the UK government can apply the lessons of its recent testing success —
set bold targets, be nimble in pursuing them and be transparent — will soon
become clear as it rolls out the program for mass tracing and as Johnson
prepares to reveal the plan for lifting lockdown restrictions in the coming
week.
Another key test is whether the government can now relieve continued shortages
in personal protection equipment that have endangered medical staff, forcing
nearly half of doctors to source their own.
Any government can be judged on two aspects of their coronavirus response: How
quickly did it act at the start to contain the virus, and how well did it learn
from early mistakes and adapt? Britain started poorly and the costs for that
have been tremendous. Perhaps it will now fail better.
Land of Two Ambassadors
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/May 11/2020
Mustapha Kadhimi knows that he became prime minister at a critical time. He
knows that the world is approaching a bleak and very difficult stage. We are not
saying this out of skepticism, but out of acknowledging facts and figures.
It is a depressing phase because we keep hearing more and more calls to coexist
with the pandemic, which will inevitably claim more and more lives. The wait for
good news to emerge over finding a cure or vaccine is painful. As the wait goes
on, more funerals will be held and the world will grow more aware of how fragile
it is. It is truly a terrible thing for a mysterious virus to remind the
arsenals, spaceships and robots of the world of just how weak they are. It is
terrible that an unknown monster could transform the world into a vast prison
and trap.
It is a difficult phase because the people coming up with the figures are
speaking of an unprecedented depression and a series of catastrophes: the
emergence of droves of unemployed people, a massive wave of bankruptcies and
concern over the rise in poverty rates and hunger.
Hope could have been pinned on aid from wealthy countries, but the pandemic has
also struck them, diminishing the hopes of poor countries in the generosity of
others. The pandemic has also reopened old wounds in international relations,
specifically between the United States and China. It has also exposed Europe’s
weaknesses. If the upcoming phase will be difficult to even the countries with
modern and stable institutions that can adapt and seek accountability, then what
will it be like for countries that do not?
Kadhimi does not need to be reminded of the horrors of the Saddam Hussein
regime. He could not tolerate living with it, so he left the country and tallied
the regime’s violations. He returned after the regime’s collapse and set about
documenting its crimes. He carried out his mission as a citizen who dreamed of a
new Iraq and as a journalist who is entitled to document that phase. However,
talk about the crimes of the Saddam era now seem outdated. Kadhimi realizes that
there are more pressing and dangerous issues at hand. He knows what happened
after the Saddam regime was overthrown and reports pouring into his office
doubled when he served as chief of intelligence four years ago.
Indeed, the most dangerous file on the new prime minister’s table is Iraq’s
clear failure in the post-Saddam era. It failed in building solid constitutional
institutions that preserve both the rights of the people and integrity of the
state, despite the various elections that have been held. The elections and
arduous efforts to form successive governments have exposed the extent of the
divisions between Shiites and Sunnis that led to bloody clashes. It was through
these conflicts that ISIS and al-Qaeda were able to rear their heads in Iraq.
The truth is that the majority of political forces did not join the battle to
build a state, preferring instead to wage the battle to divide it and loot its
resources.
Kadhimi realizes that the “legitimacy” obtained by the militias through their
participation in the fight against ISIS has become a lethal burden because of
their insistence on prioritizing the mentality of factions and threatening to
use force instead of resorting to the state of law. It is also no secret that
Iraq is victim to an unprecedented looting of resources that has turned a
country swimming in oil on the verge of being unable to pay pensions.
The reality is that corruption has been the greatest political player in Iraq in
the post-Saddam era. Such player transcends sectarian and racial borders.
Kadhimi knows that the post-Saddam era is witnessing blows traded between the US
and Iran on Iraqi soil. This came to the fore after the withdrawal of American
troops. Those who have closely monitored developments in Baghdad in recent years
know very well that Iran has claimed for itself what appears as the right to
manage Iraqi affairs, taking American reservations into account. Those who know
the story of the birth of Iraqi governments know that they always had Qassem
Soleimani’s touch after another bout of Iranian-American tensions.
Soleimani almost played the role of guide in the post-Saddam era. This role
sometimes came close to the lines drawn by the top Shiite religious authority,
Ali al-Sisitani, who avoided a direct and open clash with Iran. It also clashed
with Washington’s attempts to prevent Iraq from completely slipping into Iran’s
clutches.
Last year’s Iraqi intifada came as a sort of scream of protest over the failure
of successive governments in tackling corruption and mending relations with the
country’s various components. The intifada also showed that the Iraqis are tired
of their country being used for tests of strength between the US and Iran,
especially after the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear deal and
reimposed sanctions on Tehran. The killing of protesters, which have gone
unpunished, underlines that the mentality of factions still overpowers the
mentality of the state.
Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s resignation in December was another example of
just how dire the political, economic and social situation is in Iraq. It was
also new evidence of the growing tensions between the US and Iran, which came to
a head when Trump took the decision avoided by his predecessors in killing Quds
Force commander Soleimani, one of Ali Khamenei’s closest men.
The Iraqi parliament granted Kadhimi’s government confidence as the world
grapples with the coronavirus. He faces an arduous and complicated mission. He
must listen to the protesters and tackle, if possible, the issue of those who
took liberties in assassinating them. He must tackle the economic crisis and put
an end to the looting of state resources. He must also mend relations with the
Kurdistan Region and work tirelessly in preventing ISIS’ resurgence in the
country.
The most difficult task, however, will be how to no longer allow Iraq to be used
as an open arena for the US and Iran to trade blows and exchange messages. This
probably explains why Kadhimi chose to begin his tenure in office by holding
talks with each of the American and Iranian ambassadors. He said that Iraq will
not accept to be used as an arena to settle scores or as a platform to attack a
neighboring or friendly state. It is not easy being a prime minister in the land
of two rivers and a land of two ambassadors.
Palestinian Leaders: A Policy of Piracy, Blackmail and
Plunder
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 11, 2020
The Palestinian leader's critics and political rivals say that Abbas is the one
engaged in piracy, political extortion and theft of Palestinian money.
Palestinian human rights organizations have strongly condemned Abbas for using
the salaries and pensions as a means of extortion against his political rivals
and critics. Cutting salaries and pensions to political opponents for daring to
speak out against corruption and the epic policy failures of the Palestinian
leadership is doomed to drive these people into the open arms of terrorist
groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The next time Abbas accuses Israel of "piracy" and "theft" of Palestinian money,
the international community might inquire into the Palestinian leader's own
practice of depriving his people of their livelihoods because of their political
affiliations and resistance to his policy of plunder.
Critics and political rivals of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
(pictured) say that he is engaged in piracy, political extortion and theft of
Palestinian money.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has spent the past few years
accusing Israel of "piracy," "theft" and "blackmail." What is all the
name-calling about?
Abbas, it seems, is furious about Israel's decision to deduct millions of
dollars from the Palestinian Authority's tax revenue dues as a punishment for
paying part of the money to families of Palestinian terrorists.
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, signed between Israel and the PLO in 1993,
Israel collects duties on imports that reach the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
via Israeli ports, in addition to other taxes, and forwards a large sum of it to
the Palestinian Authority, after deducting payments for water and electricity.
Abbas has repeatedly condemned Israel for also deducting some of these payments
to compensate Israel for a Palestinian policy of "pay-to-slay" -- which
incentivizes terrorism as a seductive job -- and has vowed to continue paying
salaries to the families of Palestinian terrorists who are in Israeli prisons or
were killed while carrying out terror attacks against Israel.
"Even if we have only a penny left, we will give it to the martyrs, the
prisoners and their families," Abbas said in July 2018. "We view the prisoners
and martyrs as stars in the skies of the Palestinian struggle, and they have
priority in everything."
On several occasions, Abbas has used the words "piracy," "theft" and "blackmail"
to denounce the Israeli move. He claimed that by deducting the same amount of
money paid to the terrorists' families from the tax revenues, Israel was "waging
war" on the Palestinians.
In a parallel worth noting, the Palestinian leader's critics and political
rivals say that Abbas is the one engaged in piracy, political extortion and
theft of Palestinian money.
While Israel is deducting these funds to stop the Palestinian Authority from
paying reward-money to families of terrorists, Abbas is trying to silence his
critics and political opponents by cutting their salaries or depriving them of
their pensions.
This suppression has, in fact, been a longstanding policy for Abbas, but it has
failed to capture much interest on the part of the international community and
media. Abbas's policy aims to send a warning to all Palestinians: "If you say a
bad word about me, I will cut your salary and deprive you of your pension and
other financial and social privileges."
One of the victims of this policy is Sufyan Abu Zayda, a senior Palestinian
official and member of Abbas's ruling Fatah faction.
Abu Zayda, who previously served as a minister in the Palestinian Authority
cabinet and was involved in peace talks with Israel after the Oslo Accords,
discovered last year that the PA had halted his pension payments without any
explanation. Although he obtained a court order for the PA to rescind its
decision, Abu Zayda has still not seen a penny in his bank account.
Now Abu Zayda is accusing Abbas and the Palestinian leadership of stealing his
pension and is threatening to take his case to international institutions.
In a letter to PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat, Abu Zayda wrote:
"I know that you personally have nothing to do with the evil decision to cut my
salary, but that does not relieve you of responsibility by virtue of your
position. For me, money is not the only issue. Rather, this is a matter of
rights and an issue of dignity. I'm not someone who surrenders to the theft of
his rights in broad daylight."
Abbas has not offered any explanation for having cut the pension, but
Palestinians believe the punitive measure came in response to Abu Zayda's
recurring criticism of the Palestinian Authority and his affiliation with Fatah
leader Mohammed Dahlan, an arch-rival of Abbas currently living in self-exile in
the United Arab Emirates. Dahlan fled the West Bank in 2011 after falling out
with Abbas and his sons.
Abu Zayda, however, is not the only senior official who has been deprived of his
salary because of his political views or criticism of Abbas and the Palestinian
leadership.
Last year, 47 members of the Palestinian parliament (Palestinian Legislative
Council) also awoke one morning to discover that they had lost their salaries,
apparently because of their affiliation with Hamas and other opposition groups.
Hassan Khraisheh, an independent deputy speaker of the parliament and longtime
critic of Abbas and corruption in the Palestinian Authority, was among those
whose salaries had been trimmed. Khraisheh denounced the move as "flawed and
irresponsible" and said that "killing a person was easier than cutting off his
or her source of livelihood, against the backdrop of political rivalry."
He called on Abbas to assume responsibility and end "the catastrophic situation
that our Palestinian people have reached due to the state of division [between
the Palestinian Authority and Hamas] and the hatred that is growing day by day.
Real leadership is one that transcends unity and achieves cohesion among the
people. Those who practice hatred are not leaders and they will never be."
In 2017, another five members of the parliament complained that Abbas had cut
their salaries because of their outspoken criticism of the Palestinian Authority
and its policies. The five, who belong to Abbas's Fatah faction, are: Majed Abu
Shamaleh, Ala' Yaghi, Abdel Hamid al-Eileh, Najat Abu Baker and Ni'meh
al-Sheikh.
In the past five years, thousands of Palestinian civil service and security
employees in the Gaza Strip have also fallen victim to Abbas's policy. Abbas's
move is seen by Palestinians in the context of his repeatedly failed attempts to
undermine his Hamas rivals and punish them for their violent takeover of the
Gaza Strip in 2007, a move that resulted in the humiliating toppling and
expulsion of the Palestinian Authority from the coastal enclave.
Palestinian human rights organizations have strongly condemned Abbas for using
the salaries and pensions as a means of extortion against his political rivals
and critics.
The Palestinians who have been deprived of their financial rights and privileges
continue to protest Abbas's measures, and refer to them an act of piracy and
theft on his part.
In the past few weeks, it turned out that Abbas was also using money to punish
his partners in the PLO, but for the wrong reason. He halted funding to the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist terrorist group
founded by George Habash in 1967, and one of several Palestinian groups forming
the PLO. As such, the PFLP, like the other groups, receives monthly funding from
the PLO.
Abbas did not halt the funding to the PFLP because of its rejection of peace
with Israel or involvement in terrorism. Instead, he cut the funding because of
the PFLP leaders' frequent criticism of his policies and decisions. Abbas is
also reported to be at odds with the PFLP because of its refusal to recognize
the PLO as the "sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people."
The PFLP is now accusing Abbas of "piracy," "political extortion" and "theft"
because he stopped the PLO funding to the group.
Abbas, in other words, is not reining in the PFLP. He is simply retaliating
against it as part of his long-term project to silence critical voices and
political rivals. While he appears unfazed by the PFLP's continuing terror
attacks against Israel, he is quite up in arms about the group's dissatisfaction
with him.
The Palestinian leadership's ongoing efforts to muzzle its critics not only
deprives Palestinians of their salaries and pensions, it also involves
intimidation and arrests.
Defunding a terrorist organization is a good thing, but when it is done for the
wrong reason -- political pressure to force the organization to stop criticizing
the leadership -- it actually plays into the hands of extremist groups such as
the PFLP and Hamas, wins them further sympathy among the Palestinian people and
actually encourages people to join those radical groups.
Similarly, cutting salaries and pensions to political opponents for daring to
speak out against corruption, in addition to the epic policy failures of the
Palestinian leadership, are also doomed to drive these people into the open arms
of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The next time Abbas accuses Israel of "piracy" and "theft" of Palestinian money,
the international community might inquire into the Palestinian leader's own
practice of depriving his people of their livelihoods because of their political
affiliations and resistance to his policy of plunder.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a
Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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