LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 06/2019
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Woe to you Pharisees! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/47-51/:”Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your ancestors killed. So you are witnesses and approve of the deeds of your ancestors; for they killed them, and you build their tombs. Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, “I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute”,so that this generation may be charged with the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation.

Saint Charbel
Watch this video to know more and more about Saint Charbel and about his mericals that are taking place all over the world
https://www.facebook.com/NouralShababtv/videos/390724288295480/

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on September 05-06/2019
Schenker in Beirut Next Week to Resume Border Demarcation Talks
Aoun: Lebanon forever at forefront of defenders of Arab causes
Cabinet decides mechanism for appointments
Hariri Vows 'Huge Effort' by Govt. to 'Protect Lebanon from Storm'
Hariri, Fneish Respond to LF Ministers Remarks on Nasrallah Statements
Duquesne Says CEDRE Donors Still Ready to Help, Oil Not 'Magical Solution'
Duquesne says Lebanon situation alarming
Qaouq: Resistance Today Enjoys Unprecedented Consensus
Activists Put Anti-Turkey Banner on Gate of Turkish Embassy
2nd Group of Students Visits STL under Inter-University Program
Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Rally for Asylum in Canada
Loyalty to Resistance meets in regular session, broaches latest developments
Military judge starts interrogation of detainees in Qabershmoun affair
Egypt President receives Jumblatt
Geagea tackles with Bukhari latest political developme
Ibrahim, UNIFIL's Del Col tackle latest developments
Analysis/Israel Almost Dragged Into War With Hezbollah Due to Operational Failure
Hezbollah Readies for Next War Against Israel
Any Way You Slice it, Hezbollah Had a Very Bad Month
Pompeo to Lebanon: Get rid of 2nd Iranian missile factory or face US-backed Israeli attack
Analysis/Lebanon Pays the Price for a Burden Called Hezbollah
Lebanon Is Bigger Than Hassan Nasrallah

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 05-06/2019
Trump's Mideast peace envoy set to leave the White House
Netanyahu opposes Iran talks after Trump moots meeting Rouhani
Israel Police Bar Druze Religious Leaders From Visiting Syria
Netanyahu Urges More Pressure on Iran after Latest Nuclear Move
Iran to Provide Details of Latest Nuclear Move Saturday
Zarif Says US Sanctions Are Like Being Put in Solitary Confinement
UK's Johnson Appeals for Snap Election to Break Brexit Deadlock
Johnson's Brother Quits UK Govt., Parliament
UK Govt. Schedules New Vote for Monday on Snap Election
Nasr Hariri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Efforts to Finalize Syria’s Constitutional Committee by Sept. 20
France Offers Full Support to Sudan’s Civilian Rule
Halbousi Stresses Distancing Iraq from Certain Regional Policies
Son of Egypt's Morsi Dies of Heart Attack at 25
Six Suspected Jihadists Killed in Egypt

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 05-06/2019
Analysis/Israel Almost Dragged Into War With Hezbollah Due to Operational Failure/Amos Harel/Haaretz/September 04/201
Hezbollah Readies for Next War Against Israel/Sulome Anderson/Foreign Policy site/September 05/2019
Any Way You Slice it, Hezbollah Had a Very Bad Month/Tony Badran/The Tablet Site/September 05/2019
Pompeo to Lebanon: Get rid of 2nd Iranian missile factory or face US-backed Israeli attack/DEBKAfile/September 05/2019
Analysis/Lebanon Pays the Price for a Burden Called Hezbollah/Zvi Bar’el/Haaretz/September 05, 2019
Lebanon Is Bigger Than Hassan Nasrallah/Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
Islamist-inspired Terrorism Returns to Yemen/Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019
Brexit - The Saga Continues/Andrew Ash/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019
Italy: Salvini Down but Not Out/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on September 05-06/2019
Schenker in Beirut Next Week to Resume Border Demarcation Talks
Beirut - Khalil Fleihan/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
The US embassy has informed senior Lebanese officials that the newly appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, David Schenker, would visit Beirut on September 12 to resume negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over the maritime border dispute. Schenker was recently sworn in by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to facilitate the maritime border negotiations between the two countries, a process led by his predecessor Ambassador David Satterfield, who left the mission after being appointed Ambassador to Turkey. Asharq Al-Awsat learned on Wednesday that Lebanese officials believe that the appointment of Schenker to resume the US role in solving the maritime border dispute is a sign on Pompeo’s eagerness for a demarcation without Israel flexing its muscles. The appointment shows that Washington heeded President Michel Aoun’s requests for the negotiations to be held at the UN peacekeeping mission’s headquarters in south Lebanon’s Naqoura, in the presence of UN staff and the attendance of experts from both Lebanon and Israel. Schenker was informed that Speaker Nabih Berri would discuss with him the need to demarcate both the maritime and land borders with Israel and that negotiations must resume from where they last stopped during Satterfield’s mediation, a diplomatic source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The source said that the US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs has no problem in shuttling back and forth between Beirut and Tel Aviv with a mission to bringing viewpoints closer.“Schenker is a veteran diplomat who speaks Arabic and has several friends in Beirut and Tel Aviv,” the source said, adding that his mission should focus on convincing Israel to agree on demarcating both the maritime and land borders.

Aoun: Lebanon forever at forefront of defenders of Arab causes
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
President Michel Aoun stressed that "Lebanon has been and remains at the forefront of defenders of the Arabs causes, especially the Palestine cause. We seek at all occasions to achieve Arab consensus, because differences between Arab countries prevent those from sitting together around the discussion table, thus allowing unwanted solutions to be forced on us.""Our position has become known both in Lebanon and among the various Arab countries. We have repeated it in successive Arab summits or from the highest international forums at the United Nations," he said, expressing his delight over the gathering of Arab youth on Lebanese soil. "It is regrettable that the wars have broken up the Arab position and prevented a unified Arab stance. We have been undermined," Aoun said, hoping "this attempt will not succeed in achieving its goals." "The UN General Assembly will vote in its 13th session on the establishment of the Human Academy for Encounter and Dialogue in Lebanon," the president added, calling to "encourage such an initiative that contributes to bringing different peoples together, so they become messengers of peace, and consolidating relations between Arabs themselves on the one hand and between Arabs and the world on the other hand."The President of the Republic made these remarks during a meeting at the Baabda Palace, in the presence of Minister of State for Foreign Trade Hassan Mourad, with a delegation comprising young men and women from various Arab countries participating in the activities of the "Arab National Youth Camp" which was held in Dar El Hanan in the Bekaa between August 27 and September 4.

Cabinet decides mechanism for appointments
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
The Cabinet held a meeting today at the Grand Serail chaired by the President of the Council of Ministers Saad Hariri. After the meeting, the Minister of Information Jamal Jarrah said: "It was a quick session, during which most of the agenda items were adopted. Some items were withdrawn at the request of the concerned ministers. Prime Minister Hariri opened the session with the subject of appointments. Upon his request, the appointments item will, from now on, be placed on the agenda of the Council of Ministers. The Ministers will receive the curriculum vitae of the candidates and will be informed about them with the agenda. The appointments will be made when a decision is taken by the Council of Ministers. This issue has been decided today. No appointments from outside the agenda and Prime Minister Hariri stressed that the appointments should be on the agenda with the resumes sent in advance to the ministers."
He added: "The Minister of Education proposed holding a special session of the Council of Ministers to address the educational issue this year due to the great pressure on public schools and the increasing demands of citizens to register their children in public schools. Therefore, the absorptive capacity is insufficient now and the Cabinet will take the appropriate decision in this regard. There will be meetings of the Council of Ministers next week for a preliminary reading of the 2020 draft budget and the Cabinet could hold two meetings next week."
Question: Will there be a mechanism for appointments?
Jarrah: Some appointments need a mechanism while others don't, according to what the minister sees.
Question: How will the names be picked?
Jarrah: The administrations that need appointments will be identified, for example the judiciary, three or four names will be being presented with the resumes and will be studied by the ministers before the appointments' session.
Question: What about the item related to the mail?Jarrah: There was renewal for "LibanPost" for eight months according to the amendments prepared by Minister Mohamed Choucair and myself, which would quadruple the state's share. During this period, a new book of conditions will be prepared to launch a new bid and it may or may not be won by LibanPost, with new terms and services. ------PM's Press Office

Hariri Vows 'Huge Effort' by Govt. to 'Protect Lebanon from Storm'
/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Thursday announced that the Lebanese will witness a "huge effort" by the government in the coming days that is aimed at “protecting Lebanon from the storm that it is going through.”“We are passing through difficult days, especially at the economic level,” Hariri said during a ceremony to honor pilgrims at the Mohammed al-Amin Mosque in central Beirut. “We are hearing a lot of theories, but the truth is that the work method in the country must change and we should be honest with people,” the premier added.“The problem these days is that some want to decide on behalf of all citizens, but everyone has rights, and we will hold accountable those who encroach on our rights,” Hariri went on to say.

Hariri, Fneish Respond to LF Ministers Remarks on Nasrallah Statements
/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Two Lebanese Forces ministers on Thursday raised questions about Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s latest remarks about the conflict with Israel. Describing as “dangerous” Nasrallah’s statement that "there will be no such thing as international borders" if Israel attacks Lebanon, Minister Richard Kouyoumjian urged the government during a Cabinet session to voice a firm stance “clinging to the Blue Line and to U.N. resolution 1701.”Prime Minister Saad Hariri responded by reiterating a stance he voiced in a TV interview Wednesday about the commitment of Lebanon and the entire government to the resolution. Kouyoumjian’s remarks also drew a response from Minister Mohammed Fneish of Hizbullah, who said that “some have interpreted the events in a curtailed manner.” Fneish also emphasized that Hizbullah will respond to any Israeli attack. Minister May Chidiac of the LF for her part stressed that “the decisions of war and peace should be exclusively placed in the hand of the Lebanese state. ”Minister of Information Jamal Jarrah meanwhile said after the session: “It was a quick session, during which most of the agenda items were adopted. Some items were withdrawn at the request of the ministers concerned. Prime Minister Hariri opened the session with the subject of appointments. Upon his request, the appointments item will, from now on, be placed on the agenda of the Council of Ministers.”He added: “The Ministers will receive the curriculum vitae of the candidates and will be informed about them with the agenda. The appointments will be made when a decision is taken by the Council of Ministers. This issue has been decided today. No appointments from outside the agenda and Prime Minister Hariri stressed that the appointments should be on the agenda with the resumes sent in advance to the ministers.”
Separately, Jarrah said that the Minister of Education proposed holding a special session of the Council of Ministers to address the educational issue this year due to “the great pressure on public schools and the increasing demands of citizens to register their children in public schools.”“There will be meetings of the Council of Ministers next week for a preliminary reading of the 2020 draft budget and the Cabinet could hold two meetings next week,” Jarrah added. Asked whether there will be a mechanism for appointments, Jarrah said: “Some appointments need a mechanism while others don’t, according to what the minister sees.”As for how the names will be picked, Jarrah said: “The administrations that need appointments will be identified, for example the judiciary, three or four names will be presented with the resumes and will be studied by the ministers before the appointments’ session.”

Duquesne Says CEDRE Donors Still Ready to Help, Oil Not 'Magical Solution'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Pierre Duquesne, the French inter-ministerial delegate for the Mediterranean who is in charge of following up on the implementation of the CEDRE conference resolutions, stressed Thursday that none of the donors has decided to block funds earmarked for Lebanon.
“I have not heard donors telling me that they will refrain from offering funds to Lebanon. It is true that they have some skepticism, which has surged in recent weeks and months, but they are still ready to offer support,” Duquesne said at a press conference wrapping up a visit to Lebanon. “The goal of the reforms should not be to appease the foreign countries but rather to serve the Lebanese people and institutions and to revive Lebanon’s economy,” he added. Noting that oil and gas exploration is not “the magical solution that will resolve all difficulties,” the French diplomat said “this is a positive thing but we have not reached it yet.”“This is a false hope and is not the right path forward,” he warned. He added: “We must remember that 60% of the deficit comes from Electricite du Liban and accordingly action is needed regarding this issue.” Duquesne also lamented that the international donors “have not seen a quick pace in implementing the reforms,” emphasizing that “the adoption of the 2019 budget was delayed and timeframes should be respected and abided by.” "It is certain there is a great urgency, that is something everyone agrees on, because there is not a single economic indicator that is not negative," he added. To reduce the budget deficit, "the bulk of efforts must focus on (public) spending," he said. He also called for tax hikes.
Lebanon has promised donors to slash public spending as part of reforms to unlock over $11 billion in aid and low-interest loans pledged at a conference dubbed CEDRE held in Paris in April 2018.
On Monday, Lebanese authorities declared an "economic emergency" after a meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda. Prime Minister Saad Hariri pledged "swift measures" to stabilize public finances. "We need to accelerate work on the CEDRE agreement," he told reporters. He also stressed "the need to maintain the stability of the exchange rate of the Lebanese pound" against the dollar. Growth in Lebanon has plummeted in the wake of repeated political deadlocks in recent years, compounded by the 2011 outbreak of civil war in neighboring Syria. Lebanon's public debt stands at around $86 billion -- higher than 150 percent of GDP -- according to the finance ministry. Eighty percent of that debt is owed to Lebanon's central bank and local banks. Last month, Fitch bumped Lebanon down to "CCC" in a move that "reflects intensifying pressure on Lebanon's financing model," the credit rating agency said. Standard & Poor's kept Lebanon's "B-/B" rating, but said it could still lower ratings over the next year if banking system deposits and the central bank's foreign exchange reserves continue to fall. In July, parliament passed the 2019 budget, which is expected to trim Lebanon's deficit to 7.59 percent of GDP -- a nearly 4-point drop from the previous year.

Duquesne says Lebanon situation alarming
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
French Envoy assigned to follow up on CEDRE decisions, Ambassador Pierre Duquesne, on Thursday declared that he had winded up his task "with a strong feeling that [Lebanon's] pressing situation had become evident and fathomable.” “This has become quite evident in light of what I've been hearing about the familiarity of this situation in Lebanon and that it was possible to find an easy exit out of the situation," he explained in a press conference held earlier on Thursday at the French Cultural Center. “I met yesterday with the President of the Republic who mentioned a deadline of 6 months; but the situation is urgent and clear. The situation is very urgent, and there is not one economic or financial indicator that isn't negative," the ambassador confirmed. He went on to say that after his meetings, he had found out that there was a significant understanding of the delicate economic situation, but the magical solution "that some were thinking of" did not exist. “I did not hear donors say that they will stop financing Lebanon. They do have some doubts that have increased over the last few weeks and months, but they are still ready to provide support," the ambassador maintained. The diplomat considered that the objective of reforms should not be pleasing outsiders but rather serving the Lebanese people and associations and advancing the Lebanese economy. “The oil discovery is not the magical solution that will cure all the difficulties that Lebanon has faced. While it certainly is a positive discovery, it can't solve things yet. It is a false hope; it is not the right way forward," Duquesne said.“We should remember that 60% of the deficit comes from Electricité du Liban. This is what needs attention right now," the ambassador carried on, stressing the necessity of enhancing the collection of electricity taxes, respecting what was said during Spring concerning raising tariffs as of January 2020 and not delaying it any further. This will acquire trust, which would constitute a good initiative," the ambassador noted. He also highlighted the necessity of carrying out reforms in the retirement system, customs, mechanisms countering tax evasion, and reducing tax exemptions.
Duquesne called upon the Lebanese authorities to set a clear hierarchy of CEDRE projects and specify priorities,P saying, "CEDRE obviously needs carrying out reforms to set the country straight, and not to please the outside."“I heard in my meeting shows the determination of Lebanese officials concerning reform and implementing projects before the required deadlines, which is certainly positive. The Lebanese government has a lot to do, and those in charge in Baabda are committed, as well as donors," the ambassador stated. He confirmed that CEDRE needed to start on all fronts. "There is no date for CEDRE's benefits, but the donors need trust in order to finance Lebanon."“We have not witnessed such a great speed in applying reforms, and the approval of the 2019 budget is late; deadlines should be respected and committed to," Duquesne concluded.

Qaouq: Resistance Today Enjoys Unprecedented Consensus
Naharnet/September 05/2019
Senior Hizbullah official Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on Thursday boasted that “the resistance today enjoys unprecedented national and official consensus,” referring to the period that preceded and followed Hizbullah’s military response to Israel’s latest strikes.
“The resistance has managed to prove its strength and will through carrying out the operation against the Israeli enemy in the middle of the day in order to protect Lebanon,” said Qaouq, who is a member of Hizbullah’s Central Council. “It has consolidated our right to respond and deter any coming aggression against Lebanon, that's why the Lebanese has felt anew that they are before a new victory,” the Hizbullah official added. He also noted that “one of the resistance’s achievements is the Lebanese government’s extraordinary stance as to protecting the right of the Lebanese to respond to Israeli attacks.”“This exceptional stance has exposed the stance of the 2006 Lebanese government, seeing as the resistance today enjoys unprecedented national and official consensus,” Qaouq added, pointing out that “the majority of the parliament, government and people support the resistance and the army-people-resistance equation.”Hizbullah says Israel was behind a drone explosion over the Beirut southern suburb of Mouawad on August 25. The blast lightly injured three people and damaged a Hizbullah media center. Israeli warplanes had earlier struck near Damascus that night, killing two Hizbullah militants. Hizbullah retaliated on Sunday by firing anti-armor missiles at an Israeli vehicle in the northern Israeli area of Avivim, saying the strike caused casualties, a claim disputed by Israel.

Activists Put Anti-Turkey Banner on Gate of Turkish Embassy
Naharnet/September 05/2019
Several activists placed an anti-Turkey banner Thursday morning on the gate of the Turkish embassy in Rabieh, amid a row between Lebanon and Turkey over the 1516-1918 Ottoman administration of Lebanon. “You too bug off”, says the banner, which shows a Turkish flag defiled with what appears to be the angel of death. The slogan emulates an anti-Israel term that Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah used in a speech in recent days. The Lebanese Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned the Turkish ambassador to protest a Turkish statement that criticized President Michel Aoun over his latest remarks about the Ottoman era.In its statement, the Turkish foreign ministry had strongly condemned Aoun’s remarks, describing them as “deeply regrettable and irresponsible.”“President Aoun’s disregard for what happened during the (Western) colonialism period, through distorting history with hallucination and his attempt to put the blame on the Ottoman administration, is a tragic manifestation of his passion for surrendering to colonialism,” the Turkish statement said. In a speech Saturday marking 100 years since the declaration of the State of Greater Lebanon, Aoun said “all attempts for liberation from the Ottoman yoke were met with violence, killings and the sowing of sectarian discord.”“The state terrorism that the Ottomans practiced against the Lebanese, especially during World War I, led to hundreds of thousands of victims, who were killed by famine, conscription and forced labor,” the president added.

2nd Group of Students Visits STL under Inter-University Program
Naharnet/September 05/2019
A group of fifteen students from Lebanese universities visited the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) from 1 to 5 September 2019 as part of a three-day study visit to The Hague. The visit enabled the students who have attended the Inter-University Program on International Criminal Law and Procedure (IUP-ICLP) to see first-hand some of the institutions about which they had been studying. The students’ visit at the STL, the second in a fortnight, included briefings by representatives of the four organs – the Chambers, Registry, Office of the Prosecutor and Defense Office as well as a courtroom tour.
The group also visited the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). They also learned about the work of the T.M.C Asser Instituut, and were briefed by the Legal Staff Advisor on International Crimes from the District Court of The Hague. “We thank the Inter-University Program for this opportunity that provided us with the knowledge and tools to make a better choice for our career. It was one of the greatest experiences for us to learn more about international criminal law and visit international courts such as the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon,” stated one of the students. The study visit to The Hague is part of the seventh edition of the IUP-ICLP. The course, the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region, was set up in 2011 in cooperation with the T.M.C Asser Instituut in The Hague and 11 Lebanese universities. The Program is aimed at law, political science and international affairs students in Lebanese Universities, currently at no cost to them. The curriculum covers topics such as the history of international law, genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes of terrorism and the role of the STL, the rights of the accused in international criminal proceedings, and the role of victims. Almost one thousand Lebanese students have graduated from the IUP-ICLP since its establishment in 2011.
The Universities participating in the Program are the Lebanese University, the American University of Beirut, Beirut Arab University, Université Saint-Esprit de Kaslik, La Sagesse University, Notre Dame University, the American University of Science and Technology, the Lebanese American University, the Academic University College for Non Violence and Human Rights, Balamand University and the Islamic University.

Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon Rally for Asylum in Canada
Associated Press/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Waving Palestinian and Canadian flags, hundreds of Palestinian refugees gathered outside the Canadian Embassy in Beirut on Thursday requesting asylum in the North American country. Many among the group lamented the deteriorating economic and living conditions in Lebanon, which is going through a severe economic crisis, and said they wanted a more dignified life. There are tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees and their descendants in Lebanon. Most of them live in squalid camps with no access to public services, limited employment opportunities and no rights to ownership. "We want to immigrate, we want to go to Canada for a better life. There is no work or money or anything here. I got a stroke and did open heart surgery, no one helped me," said Haneya Mohammed, one of the protesters. The periodic protests outside the embassy on the coastal highway north of Beirut began a few weeks ago, after a crackdown on undocumented foreign labor by Lebanese authorities, triggering protests inside some of the 12 camps spread across the country and in Beirut. The protesters gathered Thursday also decried what they say is widespread corruption at the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees, or UNRWA. They held banners that read: "We want to live with dignity" and "We demand humanitarian asylum" in Arabic and English. The U.N. Relief and Works Agency, known as UNRWA, is dealing with a budget crunch after an unprecedented loss of all funding from the United States, its largest donor.

Loyalty to Resistance meets in regular session, broaches latest developments
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
"Loyalty to Resistance" bloc on Thursday held its periodic meeting at its headquarters in Haret Hreik, under the chairmanship of bloc head, MP Mohammed Raad. The bloc discussed most recent developments in Lebanon and the broad region. In a statement issued in the wake of the meeting, the bloc saluted the resistance men who carried out the latest operation against the Zionist enemy in which they consecrated the equation of "deterrence balance."The bloc said that the resistance in its response to the Israeli aggression has deliberately intended targeting the depth of the occupied land of 1948 and from the liberated Lebanese territory, to affirm its right to deter any aggression and defend Lebanon's national sovereignty. The statement indicated that the resistance also aimed, through its response, to consecrate the principle that any Israeli aggression will not pass without a "deterrent response" that puts terms to the enemy's arrogance and disregard for the security of Lebanon. The Bloc thanked all the Lebanese, regional and international political figures and forces for their positions condemning the recent Israeli aggression against Beirut's southern suburbs and clearly supporting the right of the Lebanese to respond. In this regard, "Loyalty to Resistance" highly appreciated the "responsible national position announced by the President of the Republic, the House Speaker, the Prime Minister, the Supreme Council of Defense and all national political forces in the country."On the recent Baabda economic meeting, the bloc expressed satisfaction regarding the seriousness of the deliberations that took place during the meeting. The bloc affirmed its positive contribution to the adoption of a number of proposals that would push the financial and economic situation forward without resorting to impose additional burdens on low-income people.

Military judge starts interrogation of detainees in Qabershmoun affair
NNA -Thu 05 Sep 2019
Military Investigative Judge, Marcel Bassil has started interrogations over the Qabershmoun affair with four detainees in presence of their defense attorneys, National News Agency correspondent reported on Thursday.

Egypt President receives Jumblatt
NNA -Thu 05 Sep 2019
Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, on Thursday received leader of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, in presence of Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, and a number of Egyptian officials. The PSP leader was accompanied by MPs Taymour Jumblatt and Bilal Abdallah, and former minister Ghazi Aridi. A statement by the PSP indicated that the one-hour talks touched on the Palestinian Cause, the situation in Syria, and general affairs in Lebanon.

Geagea tackles with Bukhari latest political developments
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
"Lebanese Forces" leader Samir Geagea, on Thursday welcomed at his residence in Meerab Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed Bukhari.
Former Minister Melhem Riachy and Geagea's Bureau Chief Elie Baragheed were also present. Talks reportedly touched on most recent political developments on the local and regional arena. Geagea also hosted Bukhari for a lunch banquet.

Ibrahim, UNIFIL's Del Col tackle latest developments
NNA - Thu 05 Sep 2019
General Security Chief, Abbas Ibrahim, on Thursday welcomed in his office UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col, with whom he discussed the latest developments along the southern borders. Discussions also covered means of coordination between the General Security and the UN.

Analysis/Israel Almost Dragged Into War With Hezbollah Due to Operational Failure
عاموس هاريل/هآرتس: كادت إسرائيل أن تنجر إلى حرب مع حزب الله بسبب عطل تقني
Amos Harel/Haaretz/September 04/2019
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/78246/%d8%b9%d8%a7%d9%85%d9%88%d8%b3-%d9%87%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%84-%d9%87%d8%a2%d8%b1%d8%aa%d8%b3-%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%aa-%d8%a5%d8%b3%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%a6%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%a3%d9%86-%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%ac%d8%b1/
Israel celebrates success in tricking Hezbollah, but had the army ambulance taken a direct, lethal hit by a Hezbollah missile on the Lebanon border, there would have been five military funerals
Once the applause dies down and the Israeli media stops patting the army on the back, perhaps we’ll be free to delve more deeply into how Sunday’s incident on the Lebanese border played out. Admittedly, the bottom line of the latest round in the north was positive. Israel took action to thwart a series of threats from Iran and Hezbollah, the government behaved responsibly, the Israel Defense Forces prepared properly for retaliation from Lebanon, and the incident ended with no Israeli casualties. These results lead to justified satisfaction. But they shouldn’t be allowed to obscure the fact that we were just a hair’s breadth away from a major escalation with Hezbollah on Sunday.
This escalation almost happened due to a serious mistake by the IDF that by pure chance (“a lot of luck,” as several officers admitted on Sunday), ended with no casualties. While it is marketing the achievement, the army should also investigate the mishap and how it could have dragged Israel into a conflict it didn’t want. As the intelligence agencies predicted, Hezbollah’s response to the two attacks it blamed on Israel – the air strike on a group of drone operators near Damascus and the bombing of an essential piece of equipment for producing precision missiles in Beirut – came on the Lebanese border and focused on military targets rather than civilian ones. Hezbollah even recycled a scenario from the past – firing anti-tank missiles at IDF soldiers.
One of these, a Kornet missile, hit a military outpost near Moshav Avivim but caused no casualties. Northern Command and the Galilee Division were well prepared; they had reduced the number of targets Hezbollah could hit and changed their deployment. It’s likely that some of Hezbollah’s fire was aimed at empty targets.
But at least two missiles were aimed at a very real target: an armored military ambulance on a road between Kibbutz Yiron and Avivim. Unable to hit soldiers in stationary positions, Hezbollah’s anti-tank units had to search for moving targets, which are harder to hit, but definitely not impossible. As seen in the film clip released by Hezbollah, one missile missed the ambulance, which continued driving fast. The second missile hit the ambulance, but the five soldiers inside managed to escape and no one was hurt.
Had the ambulance suffered a direct, lethal hit with all the soldiers inside, Israel would have woken up on Monday to a very different kind of day, with none of the victory celebrations or the boasting. The armor on most military vehicles used along the border can’t withstand a Kornet strike. What’s particularly worrying about this story is that the ambulance shouldn’t have been there. As part of Northern Command’s preparations, for the past several days soldiers have been using back roads that aren’t vulnerable to flat-trajectory weapons from Lebanon.
Yet for reasons still unknown, the ambulance crew, under the command of a doctor, didn’t take the safer route. Perhaps the crew made a navigational error, or perhaps it wasn’t familiar with the orders in detail. But whatever the reason, the doctor and his crew were driving on a road that was vulnerable to Hezbollah fire. The road between Yiron and Avivim is in the outer ring of roads along the border, but it’s still within the Kornet’s range of roughly 5.5 kilometers. If the person aiming the missile had been more skilled, the media would have been covering several military funerals on Monday.
No less serious is the fact that, since Israel’s military responses are dictated to a large extent by the number of casualties, the country might have been dragged into a serious escalation despite its declared interest in calm.
This isn’t the first time such an incident has happened. The IDF has an ongoing problem with enforcing discipline in the field during emergencies. Just last November, a similar incident occurred on the border of the Gaza Strip. During the escalation that erupted in the wake of a failed special-forces operation in Khan Yunis, Hamas fired a Kornet missile at Israeli troops deployed near the Black Arrow Memorial on Gaza’s northern border. The missile hit a bus, which by pure luck was empty, but a soldier standing nearby was seriously wounded. It later turned out that a nearby checkpoint had failed to enforce divisional and brigade-level orders to prevent unarmored vehicles from entering areas vulnerable to Hamas fire.
Another mistake reminiscent of Sunday’s error occurred in January 2015. In that incident, which has been much discussed over the past week, Hezbollah fired Kornet missiles at an IDF convoy on Mount Dov to avenge the assassination of senior Hezbollah operative Jihad Mughniyeh, an Iranian general and five other Hezbollah fighters. The jeeps that were hit were carrying officers coming to reinforce the sector because of the tension.
Later, questions arose as to whether their presence was actually necessary and whether all the relevant safety instructions had been enforced. It also turned out that the jeeps were traveling within the range of Kornets fired from Lebanon.
Since Sunday, we’ve heard a lot of praise for the IDF’s preparations, along with excessive discussion (which may even be harmful to security) of the trick it used to deceive Hezbollah. As far as we know, Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah has no interest in continuing to trade blows with Israel right now. According to Israeli sources, Hezbollah sent urgent messages via the Lebanese government on Sunday that it wants to resume a cease-fire immediately.
But it would be better not to celebrate our success in tricking Hezbollah too much. First, because a humiliated enemy is one that has a redoubled incentive to take revenge. And second, because at least in the case of the ambulance, Israel was more lucky than smart.

Hezbollah Readies for Next War Against Israel
سولومي اندرسن/فورن بولسي: حزب الله يتحضر للحرب الثانية ضد إسرائيل
Sulome Anderson/Foreign Policy site/September 05/2019
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Despite a pause in hostilities, militia fighters and experts believe the two sides could stumble into their first all-out conflict since 2006.
BEKAA VALLEY, Lebanon—Hilal stretched his legs in a plastic chair on the veranda outside his house, close to a Hezbollah military base in Hermel, Lebanon. Even in late summer, the night air here has a crisp edge to it, and stars dot the sky above the rust-red hills that separate the country from neighboring Syria. But despite his posture, Hilal, who like other Hezbollah fighters interviewed by Foreign Policy asked that his name be changed, was anything but relaxed. An ivory-handled revolver shimmered on his hip. He pointed to where the hills crest into the horizon not far from his home.
“Can you see all those mountains?” he asked. “All of this area is full of missiles. They are all under preparation. Every day, we bring in and deploy them. We have received instructions not to wait for orders [to fire]. At any minute, or any bullet, the guys will not wait.”
Hilal, a missile operator, is one of several Hezbollah fighters in eastern Bekaa Valley who told Foreign Policy during a recent reporting trip that they are preparing for the possibility of the first major outbreak of war with Israel in 13 years. This follows the recent decision by a newly aggressive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to breach an unspoken agreement not to hit Hezbollah in its home country. On Aug. 25, the day after Israel killed two Hezbollah members in a strike against targets in Syria alleged by the Israeli government to be sites where Iran-linked forces were preparing a so-called killer drone attack against the Jewish state, that red line was crossed when an Israeli drone exploded near the Hezbollah media office in Dahieh, a sprawling neighborhood in the southern suburbs of Beirut largely controlled by the group.
And on Tuesday, in a statement to media accompanied by satellite images, Israel accused Hezbollah of setting up precision missile factories in a village not far from Hilal’s house.
Just after the explosion in Lebanon, Israel also reportedly killed a commander of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq. The following day, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported an Israeli drone had struck a base used by a Hezbollah-allied Palestinian militia in the eastern Bekaa Valley, the second drone strike inside Lebanon in two days. These quadruple provocations seemed to signal a new calculus in Israel’s long shadow war against Iran and the military forces it supports across the Middle East.
“This represents part of an escalating pattern of strikes by the Israelis against [Iranian] targets and activities both in Syria, Iraq, and obviously in Lebanon,” said Seth Jones, the director of the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.
On Sunday, Hezbollah struck back, firing several antitank missiles at an Israeli military base and vehicles in northern Israel. The group claimed that several Israeli soldiers had been killed or wounded in the attack, but Israel vehemently denied any casualties and responded by shelling the area in southern Lebanon where the attack originated. Subsequent footage released by a Hezbollah-affiliated television station showed that if there had been no Israeli casualties from the strike, it was likely not due to any military prowess by Israel but “a lot of luck,” as IDF officers put it in statements to Israeli media.
Despite what seems a momentary pause in the tit-for-tat attacks, the vicissitudes of fortune could also determine whether tensions escalate further. Heiko Wimmen, the project director for Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization that works to prevent global conflicts, said that while one possible outcome will be a return to the status quo, any miscalculation could spark a war.
“It’s this game of chicken, so if you blink you lose face,” Wimmen said. “If you lose face, maybe it can be repaired, but if you blink too often, then maybe you actually do lose something. If you don’t blink until the very last moment, then you are not able to avoid conflict. You don’t want it, perhaps, but then at some point things can’t be controlled.”
This is precisely the scenario Amos Yadlin, a former head of Israel’s Military Intelligence Directorate, is concerned will lead to another full-on conflict. “The next war will be devastating for both sides and that’s why both sides want to avoid it,” Yadlin said. “[However], even without planning for a full-scale war, we can find ourselves there.”Until now, much of Hezbollah’s strength has been focused on fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another Iran ally, in the Syrian civil war. But with that conflict winding down, Hezbollah fighters suggest they’re more than ready to renew their old hostilities with the hated Israelis—even if it happens by accident.
“We are constantly in a state of war,” said Hilal, putting out his cigarette. “We’ve been in a state of war since 2006. In that time, we have been preparing, and they are preparing as well.”
In this part of Bekaa, where Hezbollah has a large presence, the distinctive yellow flags of the Iran-backed militant group and political party, known as the Party of God, line most streets, along with smiling posters of Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s much-revered leader. This region is where Hezbollah keeps much of its most sophisticated weaponry, a staggering arsenal of missiles the group has carefully and meticulously amassed in anticipation of another conflict with Israel, which borders Lebanon to the south.
Estimated to number anywhere between 40,000 to 150,000, Hezbollah’s rockets and missiles are said to outmatch the weapons capabilities of most sovereign countries. They are part of the reason the group has successfully evolved from a loosely organized collective of Shiite Muslim militias that coalesced in Lebanon during the 1980s with Iran’s help following one of several Israeli invasions to the single most powerful and well-armed nonstate military actor in the world. Through a combination of military might and political savvy, Hezbollah has also managed to secure a majority in Lebanon’s government, where it influences much of the country’s domestic policy.
But now, politics may be taking a back seat to a renewed militancy that carries worrying echoes of July 2006—the last time hostilities between the group and its enemy country flared into open conflict, which killed approximately 1,300 Lebanese and caused just under 150 Israeli deaths.
The 2006 Lebanon war is not widely viewed as having been a victory for Israel, which was essentially forced to withdraw from the south of the country in response to the success of Hezbollah’s guerrilla tactics as well as thousands of missiles fired across the border by the Shiite group. Hezbollah has ceaselessly touted its victory in the years since while continuing to build up its stockpile of missiles. After the Syrian civil war began eight years ago, much of this arsenal was transported to Lebanon across Syria.
Israel, in an attempt to interfere with this buildup, has struck Hezbollah weapons convoys and military positions in Syria dozens of times in recent years, but now Netanyahu appears to be willing to escalate to neighboring Lebanon. Nasrallah vowed to retaliate against Israel for these provocations in a dramatic speech following the Dahieh strike, and he made good on that promise on Sunday, touching off the most serious exchange of fire since January 2015, when Hezbollah killed two Israeli soldiers with an antitank missile following the deaths of several of the group’s leaders in an Israeli strike on Syria.
In the aftermath of Hezbollah’s Sunday retaliation, Netanyahu, who also serves as Israel’s defense minister, said the country will wait for Hezbollah’s next move before taking further action. “We will decide on the next steps pending developments,” he said in a statement.
Nasrallah responded with a speech on Monday stating that the flare-up was over, but announced a “new phase” of the conflict had begun, in which Hezbollah would allow fighters in the field to target Israeli drones flying over Lebanon. Tensions seemed to momentarily calm—until Tuesday’s announcement regarding Hezbollah’s alleged precision missile factories in the Bekaa signaled that more confrontations may be in store.
Netanyahu’s apparent restraint following Hezbollah’s rocket attack is a striking departure from Israel’s series of actions over the previous week. News coverage of the drone strike in Dahieh, sourced from intelligence officials, reported that Israel was targeting a precision-guided missile manufacturing operation there, but according to six sources in Hezbollah who spoke to Foreign Policy, the Israeli drone attack was a failed assassination attempt against one or more high-level Hezbollah leaders.
In Dahieh, Ali, the leader of a Hezbollah special forces unit active in Syria, described what he knew about the strike, ignoring the hastily prepared plate of food in front of him.
“There were two purposes [with the drone attack],” Ali said. “The first was to test the waters, but [the Israelis] were trying to get someone very important in Hezbollah, I know that for a fact.” He scoffed at reports that Israel’s purpose with the strike had been to target a precision missile manufacturing site. “Well, we could watch Tom and Jerry and say it is a true story,” he said. “We are under fire; the Israelis hit us in our home, in Dahieh. Now, we will retaliate.
“We would love to be martyrs and find God,” he added with a tight, grim smile. “When we die, we believe we will be assessed by our actions, and if we were good, we will live forever. There is a difference between the Israelis waiting and fearing death, and us, who run toward it.”
Several other Hezbollah sources also described the Israeli attack as a failed assassination attempt. “Why are the Israelis lying now, saying they were hitting a high-precision missile factory?” asked a local Hezbollah official at his home in a town near the Israeli border. “They tried to target a high-level meeting, and if [their target] was killed, the war would have started immediately.
But Hanin Ghaddar, a visiting fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, another Washington-based think tank, said Israel has become increasingly worried about Hezbollah’s development of precision missiles over the past few years, and that concern fits with the claim of targeting such a facility in Dahieh.
“[Hezbollah] has been moving a lot of the precision missile factories to Lebanon,” Ghaddar said. “Israel doesn’t want to start a war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. It’s something that they’re also are trying to avoid … but Hezbollah keeps moving GPS kits to Lebanon and working on these facilities, so [the Israelis] have expanded their Syria strategy to Iraq. … In Lebanon, they only did this one attack, and it was against a truck carrying a lot of these kits and material.”
According to Randa Slim, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, regardless of Israel’s purpose in striking Dahieh, for Hezbollah the drone attack represented a serious breach of the rules of engagement.
“As far as Hezbollah is concerned, Israel has been getting away with too much for too long,” Slim said. “At some point, they had to make a decision to respond. … I think they feel that if they don’t raise the costs for Israel for these actions, that Israel will not stop and will feel undeterred to expand even more and cause more harm to their interests.” Slim added: “Until now, [Hezbollah] has been thinking always about the benefit of retaliation versus the cost of retaliation. And previously, the benefits were much lower than the cost, given all that they were engaged in, especially in Syria. But with the war in Syria winding down, I think that calculus has shifted.”
U.S. policy regarding Hezbollah—which the government deems a terrorist group—might also be playing a role in this shifting calculus. Harsh sanctions against the Lebanese banking system imposed by the Trump administration have reportedly been hurting the group’s finances, possibly backing it into a corner from which it is more likely to escalate the conflict. According to Hilal, the missile operator in the Bekaa Valley, a line of thinking among Hezbollah rank-and-file is that if a war breaks out, its patron Iran—despite also facing extreme sanctions—will dig a little deeper into its pockets for the group.
“When the war flares up, the situation changes for our benefit,” Hilal said. “Money will come from everywhere, from all our allies.”
But other Hezbollah fighters reject the idea that U.S. sanctions are affecting the group’s military decisions. “The Americans think that Hezbollah is not doing so well financially, but Hezbollah is doing fine,” said Hisham, the leader of a Hezbollah tank battalion, who shared combat footage from Syria with Foreign Policy before scrolling to photos of a garden at his house in the mountains, proudly showing off his hand-carved outdoor table and the fresh fruit and vegetables he grows.
“Iran will always tend to us, the same way I tend to my garden,” he said, chuckling.
Jones of the Center for Strategic and International Studies believes that while U.S. sanctions have taken their toll on Hezbollah, the likelihood that they have severely limited the group’s capabilities is slim. “In the short run, I don’t think the sanctions have had a notable impact on [Hezbollah’s] ability to operate,” he said. “I think a war actually would almost certainly lead to an increase of sanctions and could hurt their position rather than anything else.”
In fact, other than continuing to sanction the group, it is not quite clear where the United States would stand in the event of outright war between Israel and Hezbollah. It’s certain that the United States would be concerned with the prospect of open conflict between Israel, a close ally, and Iran, which has been at the center of increasingly hostile rhetoric by the Trump administration in recent months as tensions periodically flare in the Persian Gulf.
“There is a relationship between the U.S. and Israeli military and intelligence services, so the U.S. will almost certainly provide some assistance to the Israelis, including on target sets,” Jones said. But he added that both the administration and Capitol Hill will push hard to resolve any conflict. “I suspect that there’s going to be growing pressure from the U.S. both on Capitol Hill and some in the White House, possibly including the president, who thus far has shown that he’s not really interested in war, particularly with Iran.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s aversion to a wider conflict has not gone unnoticed by Hezbollah members. At another house near the group’s base in Hermel, a group of Hezbollah infantry fighters on a break sipped tea and smoked nargileh, their faces covered by masks, machine guns at their sides. One bearded fighter with intricate tattoos winding up his arm spoke very good English and did most of the talking.
“The Americans will play their role under the table,” the fighter said. “Trump is an idiot. Nobody knows what he will do. America will stand behind Israel, but I don’t think he will interfere in Lebanon, because Iran would intervene, and he doesn’t want war with Iran.”
And following Hezbollah’s missile attack against the Israeli military site on Sunday and Israel’s relatively subdued response to it, there is a chance this round of hostilities has now ceased, although Tuesday’s announcement by Israel regarding precision-missile manufacturing operations in the Bekaa is a sign that the conflict is far from resolved. According to the local Hezbollah official in south Lebanon, he anticipates the situation settling down for the moment.
“The Hezbollah attack will be equivalent to the Israeli attack,” said the official, speaking with his 5-year-old daughter perched on his lap. “Hezbollah will do a calculated strike. … It is not to our benefit to go to war with the Israelis now, but we are preparing for the worst. There is no single soldier in Hezbollah who is not in his military position at the moment.”
If there is a war, analysts say it is highly unlikely the conflict would be contained to Lebanon—given the presence of Iranian proxy groups in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen—raising the stakes even higher for everybody involved.
“If you compare this to the last conflict, this one is almost certainly likely to be more destructive and broader in scope,” Jones said. “I find it hard to believe that this would be limited to Israel and Lebanon. … This is a much more dangerous situation than I think we’ve ever seen along the Israeli-Lebanese border.”
On their tea break in Hermel, the group of Hezbollah fighters agreed with this assessment.
“This war won’t just be between Israel and Hezbollah,” said the English-speaking fighter. “Lebanon and Syria will be the red zone, but there are the Houthi in Yemen, the Hashd al-Shaabi [Popular Mobilization Forces] in Iraq. This war will definitely spread, but [the Israelis] wouldn’t be doing what they are doing if they didn’t want a reaction. They wouldn’t be droning Dahieh if they didn’t want a war. They want one, and we are ready for it. … We are used to suffering here, but we will make them suffer now.”
One boyish fighter with light brown curls peeking out from under his face mask chimed in.
“[The Israelis] haven’t fought a real war since 2006,” he said. “We fight in Syria every day. We have training, experience. The Israelis have trained, but they have no heart for war.”
*Anna Ahronheim contributed reporting.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/09/04/hezbollah-readies-for-new-war-against-israel-lebanon-drone-strikes/

Any Way You Slice it, Hezbollah Had a Very Bad Month
طوني بدران من موقع التابلت/ طبقاً لأي معيار نختاره فإن حزب الله واجه شهراً سيئاً للغاية
Tony Badran/The Tablet Site/September 05/2019
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Israeli strikes inside Lebanon together with new U.S. sanctions suggest a significant change in policy toward the terror group.
After a period of relative calm on Israel’s northern border, the past two weeks have seen a sudden spate of attacks and counterattacks between Israel and Hezbollah. The escalation began on Aug. 24 when Israeli Defense Forces thwarted a planned Iranian and Hezbollah drone attack from the Golan Heights. The IDF’s strike killed two Iranian-trained Hezbollah operatives in their compound near Damascus. Israel reportedly followed this operation with another, hitting components of Hezbollah’s missile infrastructure in the heart of its Beirut stronghold. Hezbollah retaliated this past Sunday by attacking an IDF vehicle in northern Israel, prompting a volley of Israeli artillery fire into southern Lebanon.
The dust is still clearing, but what’s clear is that Israel’s operation reflects a new security footing towards Hezbollah that is being put into effect at the same time the U.S. increases pressure on the group on other fronts. All told, it’s plain that August did not end auspiciously for Hezbollah. First, Israel seemingly resumed operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah and Iranian missile capabilities. Then shortly after, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned the Lebanon-based Jammal Trust Bank, which it described as Hezbollah’s “bank of choice.” These actions mark an important shift in both Israeli and U.S. policies, which is likely to deepen Hezbollah’s strategic dilemma.
For the past decade, Hezbollah’s strategy has relied on two key conditions both of which now appear to be coming to an end. The first condition was that the U.S. would continue to pay into the myth of an independent Lebanese state that exists separate and autonomous from the terror group. That indulgence has granted Hezbollah the critical freedom to operate through the auspices of Lebanese institutions like the armed forces and banking system, without facing penalty from the U.S. The second condition on which Hezbollah relied, an outgrowth of Syria’s civil war, was Israel’s general avoidance of conducting military operations inside Lebanese territory. Events over the past month suggest that these twin pillars of the Hezbollah edifice, behind which sits Iran’s designs for the Middle East, are wearing down as the Trump administration’s new security approach to the Middle East opens up new possibilities in the region.
The limited skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah this past Sunday might have looked familiar, only they reflected a shift in the conflict. In a similar incident in January 2015 Hezbollah responded to an Israeli strike on its cadres in southern Syria by firing antitank missiles on IDF vehicles from the Israeli-controlled Shebaa Farms area near the Golan Heights. Sunday’s attack was also carried out in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Hezbollah operatives in southern Syria, and followed an alleged Israeli operation in Dahieh, one of the main Hezbollah-controlled neighborhoods in Beirut, and once again utilized antitank missiles fired on an IDF vehicle—but, unlike in 2015, this time the attack was carried out from inside a Lebanese village, underscoring the shift to Lebanon as the front from which the group now retaliates.
The operation, reportedly involving a drone attack, marked the end of an almost six-year hiatus, during which time the Israelis limited their strikes against Hezbollah and Iranian assets to targets in Syria. Israel’s tacit agreement not to conduct operations inside Lebanon, which was intended to prevent an escalation into full-on war, had jibed well over the past six years with a U.S. policy that prioritized “preserving Lebanon’s stability.” Unable to respond directly to Israel’s ongoing operations in Syria, Iran and Hezbollah launched a project to upgrade the precision of Hezbollah’s stockpile of missiles inside Lebanon.
For the Israelis, this was a red line. About two years ago, Israeli officials began exposing and speaking openly about this emerging threat. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the matter at the U.N. General Assembly last September, displaying a map with the location of missile sites in Beirut. The Israelis also began exposing Iranian commercial flights to Beirut Airport carrying components to turn rockets into precision missiles. The Israelis, communicating through French diplomatic channels, warned: “The Lebanese government must be careful when it comes to Hezbollah’s rocket factories. If the issue isn’t dealt with through diplomatic means by the Lebanese government, Israel will act on its own.” The U.S. has impressed the same point on Lebanon’s government, including most recently during Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri’s visit to Washington last month. Hariri revealed that U.S. officials raised this issue with him again—this after Hariri had accused Israel of fabricating the whole thing. But, Hariri told reporters in D.C., “we are not a policeman for Israel, which continues to violate UNSCR 1701.”
The many warnings went unheeded, and it appears that Israel took action. Reports from late August claimed that the target of what appear to have been drone attacks in Beirut was an industrial planetary mixer, “a vital component in the machinery used to build a precision guided missile, which requires solid fuel. The item is thought to be manufactured in Iran.” Following these reports, the IDF publicized declassified information on the precision missile project in Beirut, and exposed the Iranian figures leading the effort in Beirut.
The reaction of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah to this blow threw his dilemma into sharp relief. It wasn’t just that a number of his promised retaliatory steps were pitiful—namely, vowing to shoot down Israeli drones in Lebanese skies, or demanding that the Lebanese government go and ask the Americans to put pressure on Israel. It’s also that his very threat to retaliate “from Lebanon” itself reflects his and Iran’s failure.
Nasrallah had hoped to transfer the active front against Israel from Lebanon to Syria, so as to create an alternative launching pad for operations against Israel without risking devastation in Lebanon. The plan foundered as Israel’s relentless blows against Hezbollah and the Iranians in Syria, and more recently in Iraq, reached a point where Nasrallah was forced to revive the Lebanese front. In July, for instance, he announced his group would respond “from Lebanon” to any Hezbollah death at Israel’s hands in Syria. He might have thought that such an announcement would deter the Israelis, but instead it has put him in a corner. All he could do, as Hezbollah fired across the border on Sunday at an IDF vehicle, was to hope for low IDF casualties, and for the Israelis not to retaliate with disproportionate force.
Hezbollah’s furious messaging before and after its retaliation, insisting that it does not seek to provoke a broader conflict with Israel at this time, only emphasized the group’s dilemma: It has not deterred Israel, nor can it afford to fully activate the Lebanese front. Consequently, Hezbollah’s response was weak. The Israelis anticipated it, suffered no casualties, and staged a mock evacuation of “wounded” soldiers designed to have Hezbollah declare the end of this round.
The episode is not over yet, as Hezbollah’s retaliation for Israel’s alleged drone attack in Beirut is still presumably forthcoming. The problem for Hezbollah is that it will not deter additional Israeli strikes against its precision missile project.
Meanwhile, the position of the Lebanese government has been instructive, if entirely predictable. Hariri and the government he nominally heads lined up behind Nasrallah to endorse any Hezbollah attacks launched from Lebanese territory against Israel. Moreover, the U.S.-supported Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), which constitutes the centerpiece of Amerian policy in Lebanon, also lined up behind Hezbollah and opened fire on Israeli reconnaissance drones in southern Lebanon. For cheerleaders of the U.S. policy of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the LAF, on the grounds that “Lebanese state institutions” are not only distinct from Hezbollah but also key to weakening it, this should be cause for embarrassment.
Following Nasrallah’s instruction to call on the Americans to rein in the Israelis, the Lebanese government did try to cash in on U.S. investment in their “state institutions.” It didn’t pan out as planned. Instead, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered full-throated support for Israel’s actions against Iranian threats. But it was a senior administration official, responding to a question from Tablet on a background press call on Thursday, who gave the clearest message to the Lebanese (and the Iraqis). “It’s our position,” said the senior official, “that if neighbors of Israel allow a malign third country that does not share a border with Israel to use their sovereign territory as holding ground for increasingly sophisticated dangerous weapons, the only purpose of which is to attack Israel, I think those governments, if they cannot curb or control those elements, are going to have to be prepared to be responsible for them.”
Holding the Lebanese government responsible for what occurs in its own sovereign territory might sound like a basic, commonsensical point, but it had been entirely absent from the past U.S. approach. Instead, American policy had indulged an obviously fictional separation between Lebanon and Hezbollah, a convenience that absolved Lebanese officials and institutions of all responsibility. They were victims or hostages; certainly not accomplices. To be sure, that’s still the prevalent view in D.C., but perhaps, slowly, the kid gloves are coming off.
Right after Israel released the declassified intelligence about the precision missile project in Beirut, the Treasury Department announced the designation of Jammal Trust Bank.
Treasury’s press release described the bank’s relationship with Hezbollah as follows: “Jammal Trust knowingly facilitates the banking activities of U.S.-designated entities openly affiliated with Hizballah, Al-Qard al-Hassan and the Martyrs Foundation, in addition to services it provides to Hizballah’s Executive Council.”
The bank is not a major financial institution in Lebanon. Still, this was the first action the U.S. government has taken against a Lebanese bank since the Treasury Department identified the Lebanese-Canadian Bank as a front operation in 2011. Hezbollah laundered hundreds of millions of dollars a month in drug money through the bank.
In 2015, the Treasury Department sanctioned Lebanese businessman Qassem Hejeij for his direct ties with Hezbollah financier Adham Tabaja, the alleged co-leader of the group’s Business Affairs Component. At the time, Treasury disclosed that “Hejeij has helped open bank accounts for Hizballah in Lebanon and provided credit to Hizballah procurement companies.” Hejeij was the chairman and founder of the Middle East and Africa Bank (MEAB).
Both MEAB and Jammal Trust Bank are named in the U.S. lawsuit filed by the families of 400 American nationals who were killed or injured in Iraq between 2004 and 2011 in attacks for which they allege Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are responsible. The complaint documents extensive alleged dealings by these banks with Hezbollah, underscoring the group’s thorough penetration of the Lebanese economy and financial system.
You get the picture. Hezbollah is present in every nook of the “Lebanese state,” including the banking sector. And the banks’ dealings with Hezbollah appear to continue until the moment the U.S. slaps sanctions on a particular individual and entity. After all, the Treasury Department’s press release on Jammal Trust Bank notes its relationship with Hezbollah since the mid-2000s. Still, U.S. officials persist in the delusion that the governor of Lebanon’s Central Bank is a “partner” in rooting out Hezbollah’s illicit financial activities. The delusion, of course, is only a residue of the grand fantasy about independent Lebanese “institutions” separate from Hezbollah. Sooner or later, as the logic of events drives toward confrontation between Hezbollah and Israel, while Lebanon’s U.S.-backed government and official institutions operate in lockstep with Hezbollah, the lie at the core of American policy becomes untenable.
And that time might be fast approaching. According to a senior U.S. official who spoke to Tablet, the designations reflect a series of staffing and regulatory decisions across the Trump administration that suggest cracks are forming in the longtime consensus that Lebanese state institutions are untouchable. The argument for Lebanon’s “stability” had been prevalent and often had overruled more aggressive action. “These new sanctions suggest willingness to sideline this position and its advocates,” the senior official added. “That’s a good start.”
*Tony Badran, Tablet magazine’s Levant analyst, is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He tweets

Pompeo to Lebanon: Get rid of 2nd Iranian missile factory or face US-backed Israeli attack
موقع دبيكا: بومبيو يحذر الحكم في لبنان من حرب إسرائيلية عليه مدعومة من أميركا ما لم تتخلص من معمل الصواريخ الإيراني الثاني
DEBKAfile/September 05/2019
في رسالة من وزير خارجية أميركا بومبيو إلى قرينه اللبناني جبران باسيل حذر بومبيو من أن إسرائيل تعرف أن هناك معمل صواريخ إيراني ثاني في لبنان وهي تتحضر للقيام بتدميره
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DEBKAfile Exclusive: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Lebanon on Wednesday, Sept. 4, that Israel knows about a second, larger Iranian-Hizballah missile factory and is preparing to bomb it.
Pompeo addressed this urgent message directly to Lebanese Foreign Minister Jubran Basil, who is close to Hizballah’s Hassan Nasrallah, instead of through the usual embassy channels. He sent it on the day after the IDF showed reporters detailed evidence of the existence of a factory at Nebi Shait for arming Hizballah’s surface missiles with precision kits.
The Secretary wrote that Israel intelligence is fully apprised that Iran and Hizballah were building another, more substantial factory in Lebanon, to accommodate their main missile upgrade project. They had hoped to use the Nebi Shait plant as window dressing to throw Israel off the scent.
Pompeo directed Lebanon to dismantle this second factory without delay since Israel was in advanced preparations for its destruction. He stressed that Israel would be acting with full American support, whatever the consequences of the operation. Our sources note that the American message did not specify the location of Missile Factory No. 2.
In support of the US ultimatum to Beirut, Israel on Wednesday night boosted its air defense array on the Lebanese and Syria borders with extra Patriot missiles. They were deployed in case Hizballah retaliated for the potential destruction of its main missile project by launching explosive drones into Israel.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s surprise trip to London – this time in his additional capacity as defense minister – fits in with these preparations. In addition to meeting UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Netanyahu will meet separately with the US Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper. With him are the Israeli Air Force commander Maj. Gen. Amikam Nurkin and head of the IDF Operations Directorate Maj. Gen. Aharon Havilah. They will present Israel’s plans of action in Lebanon in the days ahead.

Analysis/Lebanon Pays the Price for a Burden Called Hezbollah
زفي برئيل/هآرتس: لبنان يدفع ثمن مرتفع جداً بسبب عبء ّوثقل حِّمل اسمه حزب الله
Zvi Bar’el/Haaretz/September 05, 2019
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As international sanctions weaken Lebanon's economy, Hezbollah may reap the profits
Shortly before the Israeli attacks on Hezbollah, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was levying economic sanctions against Lebanon’s Jammal Trust Bank.
In this case, the term “sanctions” does not elucidate the extent of absolute damage this will cause the bank. The American administration demanded of Lebanon that it close the bank, freeze its deposits and prevent it from paying any debts. The governor of Lebanon’s central bank, Riad Salameh, quickly moved to carry out the order. He announced a freeze on the bank’s operations and handed over accounts management to the central bank until a solution could be found.
Salameh made an assurance that “all legitimate deposits compliant with Lebanese laws and the Central Bank’s circulars are insured upon maturity.” In other words, his representatives would have to confirm with the U.S. Treasury Department which account owners are legitimate and which aren’t, thus allowing the American administration unprecedented access to the Lebanese financial institution.
Besides a general statement that Jammal supports Hezbollah’s “illicit financial and banking activities,” the United States did not detail the suspicions, listed no amounts or dates or who was behind such “illicit” activities.
Anwar al-Jammal, owner of the bank that employs 400 people in over two dozen branches across Lebanon and dozens of other representatives worldwide, apparently didn’t understand why exactly the American administration decided to target his bank. Jammal drew praise last year for close cooperation between the bank and USAID and for its “Save and Win” campaign to encourage Lebanese citizens to increase savings. Lebanese economists say that Jammal is not a political man and not the type to conduct relations with Hezbollah. They say it was probably the bank officers who helped Hezbollah without knowledge of senior management, and that there was no justification for punishing all employees and certainly not the deposit owners who are now unsure of the fate of their money because they can’t verify whether they are on a blacklist.
Jammal Bank Trust isn’t Lebanon’s biggest bank, and the immediate repercussions of it closing won’t influence the extent of the current economic crisis. Lebanon’s national debt is around 150 percent of its gross national product and its foreign currency reserves are $31 billion, but designated to serve as a guarantee for repaying debts. Lebanon has a window of opportunity is gas drilling in the Mediterranean, but before it can do that, it needs an agreement to mark its economic borders with Israel. However, the bank’s closure – despite promise by U.S. Treasury Department last year that it did not intend to hurt banks in Lebanon – makes clear the economic burden Hezbollah is placing on the Lebanese government.
The Lebanese government has waited over a year to implement the decisions of the Cedar conference for international donors, which pledged to provide it with loans and grants worth $11 billion. The problem is that donor nations are withholding the funds as long as Hezbollah members serve in government ministries. It is an enormous sum designated to support development projects and to create additional revenue for the government. Lebanese President Michel Aoun has twice convened cabinet members and economic experts to try and build an economic plan that could convince donors that there is a way out of this crisis, but no practical decisions have been made.
Meanwhile, the banks are working together with the central bank to calm the local market and to create a sense of safety among account holders. For example, banks are offering 15 percent interest on deposits in Lebanese pounds. The banks then deposit the funds with the central bank, which pays them 21 percent. Small-account owners, who are pleased with this arrangement, are not aware that the central bank’s ability to pay the banks the high interest rate is liable to dissipate in the not-too-distant future. There is concern that the bank will be forced at a certain point to end this policy, to declare a cut in payments to banks, to place limits on foreign currency purchases and thereby to cause a massive flow of currency out of the country or the bankruptcy of hundreds of thousands of account holders.
Hezbollah is not part of this game because its funds are not managed by Lebanese banks. A widespread banking crisis may lead to a situation in which the group targeted by the international sanctions will actually be the one to emerge with the greatest economic means, allowing it to acquire additional assets at basement prices on top of the billions of dollars in assets it already holds.
Hezbollah may support the idea of the Lebanese government receiving international aid, part of which would end up in the ministries it controls, but it doesn’t need these funds for its operations. As long as it doesn’t rely on supervises banking pipelines, Hezbollah is inure to an economic crisis in Lebanon.

Lebanon Is Bigger Than Hassan Nasrallah
Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
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For decades, Nasrallah has been the ruler in Lebanon. He orders and he is obeyed. He decides war and peace. No regime deters him. No state stops him. If he wants to implicate his country, no one dares to oppose him. If Iran pushes him, he carries out its tactics. He did not take into account whether this would serve Lebanon or harm it. He adopts Iran’s terrorism and punishes the Lebanese economically, politically, and socially. He engages as a party in the Syrian crisis and the whole country suffers.
Thus, Nasrallah, the supreme leader, continued not only by relying on a more powerful weapon than that of the State, but by terrorizing all his opponents. No one could raise his voice, or declare his opposition. Aren’t his opponents, who were punished by assassinations committed by his party, present in everyone’s memory?
With regards to sovereign issues, the party behaves in isolation from the State as usual, and then the response is staggering and beyond Lebanon’s capacity. Of course, Hezbollah and its agents do not care about any disastrous consequences. What is important for them is to achieve their goal even if it turns into an all-out war. This time, following the skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah, the party, and mainly Nasrallah, were surprised that the equation had changed for the first time, and that “terrorizing the adversaries” was slowly waning. The Lebanese awareness - as that of the Arabs - on the lie of the “Islamic Resistance”, differed significantly from what it was after the party’s adventure in 2006.
Lebanese voices were raised in the face of those who abducted their country. Here is Samir Geagea, calling from the first moment not to “lose the compass”, and asking the government to “discuss the issue of the presence of a strategic military and security decision outside the State.”
Fouad Siniora, for his part, noted that when Hezbollah says that it is up to the party to respond to any Israeli violation of Lebanon’s sovereignty, “it looks as if it was responsible for Lebanon in the complete absence of the Lebanese State.”
Sami Gemayel warned that the party would become the State, “and our country, a state within the State, and not vice-versa.”
“What we are witnessing today is an insult to the Lebanese people,” he said.
It is true that these voices emerged while others preferred to remain silent, but remember that such comments were, until recently, described as treason. Populism prevailed, while rationality was absent. Raising the voice in the face of “Hezbollah’s weapons” means that the actions of the party are now being scrutinized and rejected by Lebanese components. Even while recognizing that everyone is against Israeli strikes on any part of Lebanon, not just on Hezbollah’s areas of influence, the country’s interest has always proven that no component should ever act on behalf of the Lebanese State, or drag it into uncalculated “adventures”, as that in 2006.
It is no longer possible for the decision of war and peace to remain in the hands of Hezbollah, which exploits it as dictated by Tehran’s regional strategy, while the Lebanese government remains in the recipient position without assuming any of its responsibilities.
Do these skirmishes and absurd battles serve the interests of the Lebanese people or those of the party alone? Lebanon’s public voice, which has been silent due to the party’s terrorizing strategy, is now resounding. Lebanon is no longer smaller than Hezbollah. Lebanon deserves to become again a sovereign state. A State that has the sole authority to protect its citizens and all their interests. Lebanon does not deserve to be burdened by a revolution, from which the Lebanese have reaped nothing but destruction and devastation.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 05-06/2019
Trump's Mideast peace envoy set to leave the White House
Associated Press/Ynetnews/September 05/2019
Greenblat advocated for decisions to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights -- moves that drew skepticism from Palestinians and Arab nations
The Trump administration official tasked with developing a plan to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians is leaving the White House. Jason Greenblat, Trump's special representative for international negotiations, will depart the administration in the coming weeks, the White House said Thursday.
The former Trump Organization lawyer had been leading the effort to devise the oft-delayed peace plan, and his departure casts further doubt on the proposal's future. The White House says the peace plan is complete but will not be released until at least after this month's Israeli elections. The plan already is facing rejection by Palestinian officials, who object to strengthening ties between the U.S. and Israel. In a tweet, President Donald Trump thanked Greenblat for his service and said that Greenblat "dedication to Israel and to seeking peace between Israel and the Palestinians won't be forgotten." He said Greenblat is pursuing work in the private sector. Greenblat worked in concert with White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law, on the plan. Kushner praised Greenblat and said "work has helped develop the relationships between Israel and its neighbors as he is trusted and respected by all of the leaders throughout the region." Greenblat advocated for decisions to relocate the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights -- moves that drew skepticism from Palestinians and Arab nations. Apart from alienating the Palestinian leadership and securing the tacit support from some Gulf Arab states, the team's only visible accomplishment has been the release of an ambitious $50 billion economic proposal for the West Bank, Gaza and Palestinian communities in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. That plan was rolled out a workshop in Bahrain this year that was boycotted by the Palestinian Authority. Despite the plan's lofty goals, no money for the projects it envisions has been secured. Greenblat had stepped up his public engagement before the announcement of the economic plan, but it was perhaps most notable for criticizing Palestinian leaders on Twitter for their rejection of the proposal and the as-yet unseen political portion of the peace plan. In contrast to Democratic and Republican predecessors, the White House has stopped promoting a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and avoided condemning Israeli settlement expansion on occupied lands. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded by saying "I would like to thank Jason Greenblatt for the work his has done to promote world peace". Netanyahu added Greenblatt never hesitated to speak the truth about Israel. "Thank you Jason" he said. The Jerusalem move, followed by cuts of hundreds of millions of dollars in aid, prompted the Palestinians to sever most ties with the U.S. Nabil Abu Rdeneh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said the Palestinians will "shed no tears" over Greenblat's departure. "He ruined the credibility of the United States and destroyed the peace process," Abu Rdeneh said. The White House peace effort initially operated largely in isolation from the rest of the U.S. foreign policy apparatus. But as Greenblat's departure has approached, the White House has begun integrating it with the State Department's Iran team.
Greenblat's role is expected to be assumed by Kushner aide Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook, the State Department's special representative for Iran.

Netanyahu opposes Iran talks after Trump moots meeting Rouhani
Reuters/Ynetnews/September 05/2019
The prime minister says it's the time to increase pressure on the Islamic Republic rather than hold talks after Iran claimed it will begin developing centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium which can produce fuel for atomic bomb. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged world powers on Thursday not to open a dialogue with Iran, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he may meet his Iranian counterpart to resolve a crisis over Tehran's nuclear programme and sanctions against it. "This is not the time to hold talks with Iran. This is the time to increase the pressure on Iran," Netanyahu told reporters at Ben Gurion Airport before boarding a flight to London. Netanyahu's comments marked rare public discord between the right-wing Israeli leader and Trump on the Iranian nuclear issue. Netanyahu had previously counselled France against its own outreach to Iran. On Wednesday, Trump left the door open to a possible meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly in New York, saying: "Anything's possible. They would like to be able to solve their problem."Tehran has rejected any negotiations with Washington unless Trump drops sanctions he imposed after withdrawing from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, an agreement Netanyahu also opposed. Iran has said that, starting on Friday, it would begin developing centrifuges to speed up the enrichment of uranium, which can produce fuel for power plants or for atomic bombs. The Iranians deny seeking the latter. The centrifuge move would be Iran's latest reduction of its commitments to restrict nuclear projects under the 2015 deal. Netanyahu called this "another violation, another provocation by Iran, this time in the realm of its quest for nuclear weaponry ... This joins Iran’s aggressive acts against international shipping and against countries in the region, as well as its efforts to carry out murderous attacks against the State of Israel, efforts that have not ceased," he said. In London, Netanyahu is due to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper. "I will discuss all of these issue with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper during my snap visit to London," said Netanyahu. "These are important matters for the State of Israel at all times, but especially now.”

Israel Police Bar Druze Religious Leaders From Visiting Syria
Jack Khoury/Haaretz/September 05, 2019
The sheikhs planned to visit a religious site near Damascus but were arrested at the Jordanian border for allegedly seeking to meet with officials of the Assad regime.
The police prevented dozens of Druze religious leaders from entering Syria on Thursday, saying the clerics planned to meet with officials of the Assad regime, not just go on a pilgrimage. Dozens of other Druze then showed up at the border crossing into Jordan at Beit She’an to protest the decision; the sheikhs, who said the visit was purely religious, had planned to cross at Beit She'an. The police said in a statement that the delegation had been warned against visiting Syria. They said they and other security services continued to act to protect national security and Israelis “from terrorism and attempts by terror groups and hostile countries to recruit Israeli citizens.” According to the police, members of the delegation planned “to meet with representatives of the Assad government, which is illegal.” Members of the delegation then blocked the area leading to the crossing. “No one is going in if we don’t go in,” they chanted, announcing that they had no intention of “giving up the right to conduct the visit.”
Sheikh Ali Maadi, the chairman of the committee that organized the trip, called the actions of the police and government “brutal.” “Israel talks about freedom of worship and prevents religious leaders from visiting holy sites,” he said. “Where is the harm to national security in that?” The Druze committee headed by Maadi said the main site on the itinerary was the grave of the Prophet Habil on Mount Qasioun overlooking Damascus, a Druze holy site. The delegation also sought to meet with Druze spiritual leaders in Syria and visit other Druze sites. “It’s our basic right to visit them, as with other communities visiting countries that have no diplomatic ties with Israel,” Maadi said. The delegation planned to travel by bus to the Nasib Border Crossing in Jordan, where it would enter Syria in coordination with the Syrian authorities. A similar delegation went to Syria via Jordan last December, but the members flew to Damascus from Amman because the Syrian army did not yet control the crossing. It was the first visit by Israeli citizens to Syria since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011. Druze religious leaders previously visited Syria in 2007 and 2010; indictments were filed against delegation members and Said Nafa, a Knesset member for Balad between 2007 and 2013. Nafa was sentenced to one year in prison for organizing a visit. In 2014, the Nazareth Magistrate’s Court overturned the conviction of 16 sheikhs for visiting an enemy country, Syria. The sheikhs agreed to a deal in which they pledged not to travel to Syria or Lebanon without coordinating with the Israeli authorities.
*Noa Shpigel contributed repor

Netanyahu Urges More Pressure on Iran after Latest Nuclear Move
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for more international pressure on Iran Thursday after it ended limits to its nuclear research and development in its latest response to U.S. sanctions. "This morning we were informed of another violation, more defiance, by Iran, this time in its striving to attain nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said before leaving for London, where he will meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper. "This is not the time to hold talks with Iran; this is the time to increase the pressure on Iran." Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. President Hassan Rouhani's announcement on Wednesday came shortly after the United States hit Iran with further unilateral sanctions, the latest in a series of punitive measures including a crippling embargo on Iranian oil exports. Iran and three European countries -- Britain, France and Germany -- have been engaged in talks to save a landmark 2015 nuclear accord that has been unraveling since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it in May last year. Iran is Israel's main enemy and Netanyahu campaigned strongly against the 2015 deal, then urged Trump to withdraw from it. Despite having opposed the deal, Netanyahu has recently called on European nations to enforce its parameters as he and the United States seek to raise the pressure on Iran. Tensions between Israel and Iran were heightened in recent weeks. On August 24, Israel carried out a strike in Syria it says stopped a plan by an Iranian force to carry out a drone attack on its territory. Hours later, Tehran-backed Lebanese group Hizbullah accused Israel of using drones to attack its southern Beirut suburbs stronghold. Israel did not acknowledge that attack. Hizbullah responded on Sunday by firing anti-tank missiles at Israeli military targets across the Lebanese border, prompting Israel to fire back. There were no casualties.

Iran to Provide Details of Latest Nuclear Move Saturday
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Iran will announce details Saturday of its latest scaling back of its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal in response to sweeping U.S. sanctions, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported. Atomic energy organisation spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi will hold a news conference to set out the details of Iran's third cut in its nuclear commitments since May, ISNA said on Thursday. President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the new steps included abandoning all limits set by the 2015 deal to Iran's nuclear research and development.

Zarif Says US Sanctions Are Like Being Put in Solitary Confinement
/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
The US Treasury is nothing more than a "jail warden", Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Thursday, a day after Washington imposed fresh sanctions designed to choke off the smuggling of Iranian oil. The United States on Wednesday blacklisted an “oil for terror” network of firms, ships and individuals directed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) for supplying Syria with oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars in breach of US sanctions. "OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control of US Treasury) is nothing more than a JAIL WARDEN: Ask for reprieve (waiver), get thrown in solitary for the audacity. Ask again and you might end up in the gallows," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account. Since last year, when President Donald Trump pulled out the United States from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and Six powers and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, Washington has intensified a US “maximum pressure” campaign aimed at eliminating Iran’s oil exports, its main source of income. "The only way to mitigate US #EconomicTerrorism (sanctions) is to decide to finally free yourself from the hangman’s noose," Zarif said in his tweet. Since May, Iran has started reducing its compliance with the agreement aimed at pressuring European parties to the pact to shield its ailing economy from the US sanctions. Tehran said on Wednesday it would further breach the deal on Friday.

UK's Johnson Appeals for Snap Election to Break Brexit Deadlock
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Thursday for an early election after a series of votes in parliament tore up his hardline Brexit stance and left him without a majority. Johnson will deliver an address in which he "will argue that it is now time for the people to decide after parliament has failed them so we can resolve this once and for all," a Downing Street spokesman said. The timing of the vote itself was still being debated as the country raced toward an October 31 departure from the European Union without a plan for what comes next.
But election battle lines were drawn across the front pages of British newspapers after a particularly bruising week of UK politics did little to resolve the three-year impasse. The main opposition Labor-backing Daily Mirror branded Johnson "Britain's worst PM" for threatening a "reckless no-deal Brexit". The Daily Mail shot back by calling Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn a "chicken" for refusing to back Johnson's call for a general election on October 15. The election talk ramped up despite a vote in parliament on Wednesday in which the main opposition Labor Party refused to heed Johnson's call for an election -- at least for now. An opinion poll conducted by YouGov on Monday and Tuesday showed Johnson's Conservatives leading Labor by 35 to 25 percent. The pro-European Liberal Democrats were on 16 percent while the Brexit Party of populist Nigel Farage was in fourth place with 11 percent.
'No real negotiations'
Parliament is rushing through legislation designed to keep Johnson from breaking Britain off from its closest trading partners without a negotiated agreement with Brussels. They appeared on course to do so by Monday -- a victory that would be accomplished just ahead of five-week shutdown of parliament Johnson controversially ordered at the end of last month. The bill forces Johnson to seek a three-month Brexit extension until January 31 should no deal emerge from an EU summit in Brussels on October 17-18. It passed the lower House of Commons with the support of 21 rebel Conservative MPs -- who were promptly kicked out of the party. The upper House of Lords ended an all-night filibuster by Johnson's supporters early on Thursday and agreed to finish voting on the bill by Friday night. The bill could then end up in the House of Commons on Monday to consider any changes. It would then go to Queen Elizabeth II for final approval. Johnson rose to power in July on a pledge to deliver Brexit next month -- "deal or no deal" -- and refuses to seek a delay. There is also no guarantee that the other 27 EU leaders will grant one for the third time this year. "When I hear the British saying 'Give us three months more and we will solve the problem', we can see that another six months would not solve the problem," France's European Affairs Minister Amelie de Montchalin said on Thursday. Greens European Parliament leader Philippe Lamberts, speaking after a meeting with EU negotiator on Wednesday, said: "For all the PM's bluster about getting a deal, there are no real negotiations going on in Brussels."
'He's going to be okay'
The main debate within Labor and the smaller pro-EU opposition parties is when to schedule Britain's third general election in four years. Labor says it will only back the poll once it makes sure Johnson is unable to take Britain out without a deal. "The problem that we've got is that we cannot at the moment have any confidence in Boris Johnson abiding by any commitment or deal that we could construct," Labor's finance spokesman John McDonnell told BBC radio. "That's the truth of it. So we're now consulting on whether it's better to go long therefore, rather than to go short. And that decision will be taken." Johnson will also face another legal challenge on Thursday against his decision to order the suspension of parliament from next week until October 14 -- a move that his critics have called a "coup" and a "constitutional outrage." He will briefly turn his attention to foreign affairs on Thursday when he hosts Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. "Boris knows how to win. Don't worry about him. He's going to be okay," U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Wednesday.

Johnson's Brother Quits UK Govt., Parliament
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was dealt a fresh blow on Thursday when his brother Jo announced his resignation from the government and from parliament. "In recent weeks I've been torn between family loyalty and the national interest -- it's an unresolvable tension & time for others to take on my roles as MP & Minister," Jo Johnson tweeted.

UK Govt. Schedules New Vote for Monday on Snap Election
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government said Thursday it would make a second attempt next week to call an early general election, to try to break the political deadlock over Brexit. The day after MPs rejected the first attempt to call a snap poll, senior minister Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs he would put forward a "motion relating to an early parliamentary election" to be voted on on Monday evening. It would be put under a 2011 law that requires the support of two-thirds of the 650-seat House of Commons, Downing Street said. A similar move on Wednesday night failed after the main opposition Labor party abstained. Johnson called the election after MPs approved a bill that could undermine his threat to leave the European Union on October 31 without agreeing exit terms. Labor said that while it wanted an election, it wanted the "no deal" bill passed first. The bill is currently being debated in the unelected upper House of Lords but is expected to become law by Monday. Government sources say they hope Labor would at that point back an election. However, Labor is divided over the timing of any poll and could still oppose Johnson's motion on Monday. Johnson wants a public vote before an EU summit on October 17, which could be the last chance to get a Brexit deal before Britain's scheduled departure on October 31. But some in Labor want an election after October 31, which would force Johnson to delay Brexit, thus weakening his support among euroskeptic voters.
There is also the possibility that, if Johnson wins a majority in any early election, he would have the power to force through a "no deal" anyway.

Nasr Hariri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Efforts to Finalize Syria’s Constitutional Committee by Sept. 20
Riyadh - Fatehelrahman Yousif/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
Head of the High Negotiations Committee (SNC) Nasr al-Hariri on Wednesday revealed ongoing efforts to announce Syria’s constitutional committee before a meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 20. Hariri told Asharq Al-Awsat that Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pederson is currently in Tehran and would later visit Ankara to resolve disputes on the committee’s last six members. “We have clear criteria on the selection of the six names, who must be neutral - neither loyal to the Syrian regime nor to the opposition - and part of the component of the Syrian people,” he said. Hariri explained that concerned parties have agreed on more than 95 percent of the procedures for announcing the committee. However, he said “the biggest problem remains in discussing the constitution itself.”Hariri said the international community, including the US, Russia, EU, Turkey and Arab countries, seek to complete the establishment of the constitutional committee, which should be followed by other steps that would speed up Syria’s political process. However, he accused the Syrian regime of maneuvering to prevent the launch of the constitutional path. “The Syrian regime seeks to obstruct the political process by introducing amendments to the current constitution, a process that violates UN Security Council decisions,” he said. Ankara, Tehran, and Moscow have agreed on a proposal to form the constitutional committee at the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in the Russian city of Sochi. The 150-member committee will be tasked with drafting a constitution for post-war Syria with an aim to bring an end to the ongoing conflict in the country as soon as possible. The regime and the opposition have finalized their 50 candidates. However, the list that includes the names of civil society and religious groups is not finalized yet. Last month, Geir Pederson said the UN might announce an agreement to establish the constitutional committee before the UN General Assembly session. Hariri said that Pederson is currently leading efforts to bring an agreement between participants of the Astana Talks on Syria (Russia, Iran, Turkey) and members of the so-called Small Group (the UK, Germany, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the US and France) by finding a common vision between the two parties to support the implementation of UNSC Resolution 2254. However, he said, there are still some obstacles related to Iran, which is playing a negative role in the region, including Iraq, Syria and Yemen. Hariri accused Tehran of supporting terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and other militias in Iraq, Houthis in Yemen and on disrupting a political solution in Syria.

France Offers Full Support to Sudan’s Civilian Rule
Khartoum- Mohammed Amin Yassin/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok received an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Paris for talks. The director general of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry's Department for European and US Affairs, Mohammed Abdullah Tom, said the French ambassador has conveyed the invitation to Hamdok to hold bilateral talks on ways in which France can support Sudan, according to Sudan News Agency (SUNA). Tom noted the French leadership's keen interest in the developments in Sudan and the success of its peaceful revolution, noting that France has reportedly pledged full support for the civilian rule. Hamdok, who has recently assumed his post, expressed his deep appreciation for Macron's invitation and confirmed his willingness to meet with the French president at the earliest opportunity. The PM reiterated the importance of the support France can give to Sudan in view of its international status and political weight, pointing to many areas of economic cooperation that could be a priority to work on in the coming period. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is due to arrive in Khartoum on Friday to discuss cooperation and ways to support Sudan economically through the group of “Sudan’s Friends” that was newly formed by European countries. It will also discuss exempting Sudan from its foreign debt, which has exceeded $51 billion, as well as providing support for the new civilian government. This will be the second visit of a senior European official to Sudan after the visit of German Foreign Minister Heikou Maas on Tuesday. Hamdok also received an invitation to visit the UAE and Egypt, while Iraq officially welcomed the signing of the institutional declaration and the political agreement in Sudan.
The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement hailing the historical agreement between the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC) and the Transitional Military Council (TMC), which led to creating the Sovereign Council and appointing a Prime Minister.
Baghdad hoped this would contribute to establishing security, stability, and prosperity in Sudan, affirming the Iraqi government’s support to all Sudanese in order to achieve their goals in peace. The PM will announce his cabinet Thursday, after resolving the issue of the three ministers, according to sources. A source told Asharq Al-Awsat that a meeting between Hamdok and the FFC's nomination committee was held in Khartoum to select three candidates for the ministries that were a point of disagreement, and the PM approved without any reservations. The three candidates will be subject to security screening before being finally appointed within the staff of the ministry, according to the source who is a senior FFC leader. The source, who preferred to remain anonymous, said the PM was keen to announce the government before the meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Council will discuss the recent developments in Sudan after it had suspended Khartoum’s membership in June pending the transfer of power from the TMC to civilians and the establishment of a civil transitional authority. The source noted that Hamdok hopes to restore Sudan's membership in the AU before his participation in the United Nations General Assembly meeting end of September.

Halbousi Stresses Distancing Iraq from Certain Regional Policies
Baghdad- Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/September 05/2019
Iraq will not be part of any military conflicts or political issues of a controversial nature, said the country’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammed al-Halbousi. In a speech during the opening of the Meeting of Asian Parliamentary Assembly (APA) Standing Committee on Budget and Planning in Baghdad, Halbousi called on his allies in Iraq to acknowledge this policy. “We have followed a clear strategy that we don’t hesitate to announce, and we expect all our allies to understand, namely to distance ourselves from any military conflicts and certain regional policies of a controversial nature,” he explained. Iraq is a crossing point where good wills meet, and it has done everything possible to defuse the crises and bring the different points of views closer to each other, he added. “It is enough what Iraq has payed as a price for conflicts in other regional countries,” Halbousi stressed, adding that Iraq will not be allowed to be part of international conflicts, thus it always calls for “solving international problems by peaceful means.”Iraq establishes its strategic partnerships and common interests with everyone without being biased to any specific party, the Speaker noted. He pointed out that no wonder why Iraq has recently become a hub for regional security and intensified meetings and visits. Defeating ISIS is a “bright page not only for Iraqis but also for humanity’s life, and terrorism did not target Iraq although it chose its territories as an arena for its war.”Halbousi stressed that the war waged from Iraq was targeting the region and the world. He said that his country realizes that the battle is not over yet as there are still some problems left behind by terrorism and still need serious solutions. Activities of the meeting were launched on Wednesday with the participation of 16 Arab and Asian states. The APA’s executive council voted last year for the Iraqi parliament to chair the Meeting of APA’s Standing Committee on Budget and Planning 2019. Speaking to Asharq al-Awsat, member of the parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee MP Alaa Talabani stressed that the meeting has tackled many administrative, financial and security issues along with regional problems and crises. Talabani said several Asian countries represented in this Assembly have been trying to work on bringing ideas and understandings closer and “transferring them to their governments to play their role in encircling the crises and serious problems suffered by the region”.

Son of Egypt's Morsi Dies of Heart Attack at 25
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
The youngest son of deceased ex-president Mohamed Morsi himself died Wednesday night of a heart attack in Cairo, a family lawyer said. Abdallah Morsi, 25, suffered the fatal cardiac arrest while at the wheel of his car, Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told AFP. "A friend who was with him was able to stop the car and take him to hospital," said the lawyer, adding that Abdallah Morsi's funeral was set to take place on Thursday. Mohamed Morsi -- who as Egypt's first freely elected president headed an administration loyal to the now banned Muslim Brotherhood until he was deposed by the military in 2013 -- died in court on June 17. The military overthrow of Morsi was led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ascended to the presidency in 2014 polls, before securing an official 97 percent in elections last year. Mohamed Morsi, 67, collapsed during a court session in Cairo, some six years after his ouster and imprisonment. He had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for offences including "inciting violence" in late 2012 against protesters and "spying" on behalf of Qatar. Sisi has stifled opposition, particularly from the Muslim Brotherhood. Egypt declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation in late 2013.

Six Suspected Jihadists Killed in Egypt
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 05/2019
Six suspected jihadists were killed on Thursday in a shootout with police near the Bahariya oasis southwest of the Egyptian capital, the interior ministry said. Police carried out a dawn raid against "terrorist elements" in a desert area near Bahariya, roughly 300 kilometers (190 miles) southwest of Cairo, the ministry said in a statement. A shootout led to the death of six suspects, the ministry said, adding that a number of hunting rifles and four assault rifles were found at the site. Jihadists have launched several attacks in the vast desert area west of the Nile. In November 2018, an Islamic State group attack killed six Copts and an Anglican after they left the Saint Samuel monastery west of the Nile in Minya province. IS carried out another attack nearby in May 2017, killing 29 Coptic pilgrims, many of them children. Tourists have also been killed in attacks, but the violence has mostly targeted police and soldiers. Hundreds of security personnel have died in an escalation of attacks since the military overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The ouster was led by then-army-chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who became president following 2014 polls before securing an official 97 percent of the vote in elections last year. In February 2018, the army launched a nationwide offensive against jihadists, focused mainly on North Sinai, where the Islamic State group has a significant presence.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 05-06/2019
Islamist-inspired Terrorism Returns to Yemen
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14818/islamist-terrorism-yemen
Recent tensions within the coalition between the Saudis and the Emiratis, over which faction they support in the Yemeni government, has added yet another political dimension to the country's bitter civil war -- one Islamist terrorists have been quick to exploit.
The Saudis and Emiratis are now trying to heal the rift by hosting a peace conference involving the rival factions, in Jeddah.
While the political uncertainty continues, however, al-Qaeda and ISIL are taking advantage of the political vacuum to reestablish their own operations in the country, a deeply worrying development that certainly does not bode well for UN-sponsored attempts to end the country's long-running civil war between the government and the Iranian-backed Houthis.
So long as groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL are able to act with impunity in Yemen, the more remote are the prospects become of ending this dreadful conflict anytime soon.
In the latest wave of terror attacks last month, a suicide bombing in Aden, Yemen claimed the lives of three members of the government's security forces while, in a separate attack, a senior security official survived a roadside bomb attack against his convoy in the centre of the city. Pictured: Militia members aligned with the Yemeni government, on September 19, 2018 in Al Khawkhah, Yemen.
As if war-torn Yemen did not have enough violence to contend with at present, the recent spate of terror attacks in its southern port points to the return of Islamist terror groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL, which are still plying their deadly trade in the country.
In the latest wave of terror attacks last month, a suicide bombing in Aden has claimed the lives of three members of Yemen's security forces while, in a separate attack, a senior Yemeni security official survived a roadside bomb attack against his convoy in the centre of the city.
Initially Yemeni security officials said the attack had been carried out by al-Qaeda, which has claimed responsibility for a number of recent attacks in government-controlled territory in the south of the country. In early August, for example, an al-Qaeda attack on a military base claimed the lives of 19 Yemeni soldiers.
In what is, however, a graphic illustration of the ease with which rival Islamist terror groups are now able to operate in this lawless country, it was ISIL, not al-Qaeda, that eventually claimed responsibility for last weekend's attacks.
Al-Qaeda and ISIL have become fierce rivals in recent years, with ISIL the more recent manifestation of militant Islam that was responsible for establishing the so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria. ISIL claims it is a more extreme alternative to al-Qaeda, the original iteration of Islamist-inspired terrorism.
Both organisations have a history of taking advantage of the chaos created in failed Muslim states to establish bases from which they can plot attacks against the West and its allies. After the recent setbacks they have suffered -- al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, and ISIL in Iraq and Syria -- it is logical that they should turn to Yemen to establish a new foothold.
Al-Qaeda has been operating in Yemen for several years, after the group established its new franchise, Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP). The regrouping was just one result the US-led coalition's having destroyed the organisation's terrorist infrastructure in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Most famously, AQAP used its Yemeni base to plan its attempt to send two ink-cartridge bombs to synagogues in Chicago on flights from the Gulf state of Qatar in late 2010. The plot was foiled following a tip-off from Saudi intelligence officials.
AQAP remains a top priority for American counter-terrorism officials; US drones regularly attack AQAP positions in Yemen from their base in the African port of Djibouti.
The ability of groups such as al-Qaeda to carry out their operations in Yemen has been limited in recent years, since the military intervention of the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels after they attempted to seize control of the country in 2015.
Recent tensions within the coalition between the Saudis and the Emiratis, over which faction they support in the Yemeni government, has added yet another political dimension to the country's bitter civil war -- one Islamist terrorists have been quick to exploit.
The root of the tensions between the Saudis and the Emiratis, who provide the bulk of the coalition forces fighting the Houthi rebels, is over their continued support for the UN-backed government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. In what has been dubbed a "civil war within a civil war", the Saudis are continuing to back Hadi, while the Emiratis have decided to back southern separatist militias known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) who oppose Hadi's links with Islamist groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Saudis and Emiratis are now trying to heal the rift by hosting a peace conference involving the rival factions, in Jeddah.
While the political uncertainty continues, however, al-Qaeda and ISIL are taking advantage of the political vacuum to reestablish their own operations in the country, a deeply worrying development that certainly does not bode well for UN-sponsored attempts to end the country's long-running civil war between the government and the Iranian-backed Houthis.
So long as groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL are able to act with impunity in Yemen, the more remote are the prospects become of ending this dreadful conflict anytime soon.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Brexit - The Saga Continues
Andrew Ash/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14811/brexit-saga-continues
The lack of concern for a 'hard Brexit' shown by both the voters and commentators during the referendum in 2016, was due to a few factors. Those who wanted out, the 'Leavers', were interested in only one thing -- a clean break, whilst the 'Remainers' were so certain they would win the vote, they felt it unnecessary even to contemplate the 'wrong' result.
In 1973, when Britain joined the 'European Economic Community', as it was then known – there was no similar referendum on joining Europe. The people were simply never consulted.
After experiencing firsthand the broken promises and negative effects of an EU membership in which the British public had no say, it was an easy vote, when the referendum came around in 2016, to 'Leave'. It was time to flee from an authoritarian system that had no direct elections, no transparency, no accountability, and no mechanism either for un-electing anyone or for leaving. It was, sort of, a Roach Motel: one can come in but not go out.
Alarm began at the introduction of the Euro currency in 2002, and the eradication of our partners' domestic currencies: these moves magnified the true aim of the European Commission -- to control, and make uniform, every aspect of our lives.
What we have learned in Great Britain from the 'Remainers', and the US as well, is: there are a multitude of ways to snub the result of a democratic vote.
Britain's Prime Minister, Boris Johnson was accused by his opponents of staging a 'constitutional coup' by suspending parliament to block MPs from preventing Britain from finally leaving the Europe Union on October 31.
The Labour party's leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, chimed in -- claiming that the new prime minister is behaving like a 'tin pot dictator' -- thereby inflating the hysterical reaction to Johnson's bid finally to push through the will of the people.
It has been three years since Britain held a referendum on whether or not to remain in the EU. There was never any talk of a 'deal'. The vote was simply: leave or remain. The nitty gritty, should we vote to leave, could supposedly be worked out in the run-up to the departure date.
The lack of concern for a 'hard Brexit' shown by both the voters and commentators during the referendum in 2016, was due to a few factors. Those who wanted out, the 'Leavers', were interested in only one thing -- a clean break, whilst the 'Remainers' were so certain they would win the vote, they felt it unnecessary even to contemplate the 'wrong' result.
Like a parody of former Secretary of State's Hillary Clinton's expected success in the US presidential election the same year, they believed they would win the day -- so what would be the point in thinking ahead? Also parroting the Clinton disaster, they have been crying about it ever since. The winning margin, they claim, was not overwhelming enough. The Leave campaign, they alleged, lied to the voters by diminishing the risks of leaving and falsifying the figures. Britain, they insist, simply must have another referendum.
In 1973, when Britain joined the 'European Economic Community', as it was then known -- there was no similar referendum on joining Europe. The people were simply never consulted. There was a lot of fanfare -- along with overly optimistic leaflets sent out to schools up and down the country during the drive to get us into the 'EEC'.
After experiencing firsthand the broken promises and negative effects of an EU membership in which the British public had no say, it was an easy vote, when the referendum came around in 2016, to 'Leave'. It was time to flee from an authoritarian system that had no direct elections, no transparency, no accountability, and no mechanism either for un-electing anyone or for leaving. It was, sort of, a Roach Motel: one can come in but not go out.
Added to that, if adding were needed, was not just the increased cost of living since Britain became a member state. The wish to leave was also not based on abandoning the familiar metric or decimal system that had been in place for so many years. The reason, furthermore, did not include the mentally defective instructions coming out of Brussels that dictated conformity in the shape of certain vegetables sold in the supermarkets: straight carrots and cucumbers, and perfectly round tomatoes, potatoes and apples. These petty directives served as aggravating factors, which contributed only in complicating the lives of the farmers and producers.
Alarm began at the introduction of the Euro currency in 2002, and the eradication of our partners' domestic currencies: these moves magnified the true aim of the European Commission – to control, and make uniform, every aspect of our lives. That the UK opted out of the Euro, and managed to hang on to the pound sterling, was perhaps a sign of things to come. Not only did it seem wrong on an intuitive level, to get rid of the Italian Lira, the French Franc, the German Deutsche Mark, etc, it did not -- as claimed it would -- aid economic growth or political integration.
Either the Remainers have not noticed the detrimental effects of handing over our sovereign powers to Brussels, or they are afraid of change. Whatever it is, those who won the referendum by voting to leave now deserve their own crack of the whip. After enduring -- and silently putting up with -- the draining, damaging effects of EU membership for so long in the interests of fair play, it is surely time to retake our freedom and independence. Instead of fairness, however, these sore losers, the Remainers, seem to be choosing to flout democracy. Rather than accepting the result and joining forces to ensure a smooth transition, they still are doing everything they can to disrupt the democratic process by -- somewhat patronisingly -- stating that those who voted 'Leave', were confused, misled, or simply a bunch of racist low-lifes who should be ignored. Perhaps those in the Remain camp might learn to take a hard look at the disasters they have brought down on us, and accept the democratic process?
By turning their turned their back on the will of the people for three years and holding the public to ransom, they have given Johnson no other choice but to suspend Parliament. If anyone is looking for a coup, it is they, not the Prime Minister.
*Andrew Ash is based in Great Britain.
© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Italy: Salvini Down but Not Out
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/September 05/2019
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14817/italy-matteo-salvini
The new governing alliance, if realized, may be short lived. In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, former Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the Lega Nord party said that the new government, if it comes to fruition, will be "intrinsically weak" because it would exist, "not for a shared political project but only to avoid elections." He added that there was a possibility that the new government could last for the entire legislature "in order to avoid delivering the country to Salvini."
"Do you think I am afraid of a few months in opposition?" Salvini asked in a Facebook video. "You have not got rid of me with your political games. You do not know me, I do not give in." He has called for a protest against the new government in Rome on October 19. Polls show that 67% of Italians are in favor of early elections.
"We Hungarians will never forget that you [Salvini] were the first Western European leader to make an effort to prevent illegal migrants from flooding Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Irrespective of future political developments in Italy and of the fact that we belong to different European party groups, we consider you as a brother in arms in the fight to preserve Europe's Christian heritage and stop migration." — Hungarian President Viktor Orbán.
Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and interior minister since 2018, has been shut out of the Italian government after his gambit to force snap elections to become prime minister backfired.
Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy premier and interior minister since 2018, has been shut out of the Italian government after his gambit to force snap elections to become prime minister backfired.
As the de facto leader of Europe's anti-mass-migration movement, Salvini's departure from government may set back efforts to slow illegal immigration to the continent. Many analysts, however, believe that Salvini, who continues to lead his rivals in opinion polls, will be back in government soon and in an even stronger position than before.
On August 8, after months of public feuding, Salvini declared the governing coalition between his League party and the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) unworkable. He accused M5S of blocking the League's main policies and said that the only way forward was to hold fresh elections.
The League and M5S, ahead of an inconclusive election in March 2018, had been political adversaries. Three months later, however, they formed an unlikely alliance. Their June 2018 coalition agreement, outlined in a 39-page action plan, promised to crack down on illegal immigration and to deport up to 500,000 undocumented migrants.
Since then, Salvini has accused M5S of failing to implement parts of the coalition agreement. Tensions came to a head on August 7, when, during a session in Parliament, M5S voted against a project supported by Salvini for a high-speed train link with France. "It is useless to go ahead with 'no's' and quarrels," Salvini wrote on his Facebook page. "Italians need certainty and a government that works, not a Mr. 'No.'" Salvini called for new elections to be held on October 13.
In an effort to avoid early elections, which polls show that Salvini would win, M5S reached out to the rival center-left Democratic Party (PD), cutting Salvini's League party out of power. M5S and PD clinched a preliminary coalition agreement on August 28, and a day later Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, an independent, to form a new coalition government. Although the League is Italy's most popular party, M5S and PD are the two largest forces in parliament.
Although the anti-establishment, anti-EU M5S and the pro-establishment, pro-EU PD have long been political enemies, M5S appears to have set aside many of its core principles to meet PD's demands. For now, M5S has insisted on maintaining a hardline anti-illegal immigration law passed with the League in November 2018. The law, championed by Salvini, saw public support for the League skyrocket from 17% in the March 2018 election to 38% in August 2019.
The new government — which aims to govern until the next general election, due to be held no later than May 2023 — will have to be approved in a vote of confidence by both houses of Parliament.
The new governing alliance, if realized, may be short lived. In an interview with the Italian daily La Stampa, former Interior Minister Roberto Maroni of the Lega Nord party said that the new government, if it comes to fruition, will be "intrinsically weak" because it would exist, "not for a shared political project but only to avoid elections." He added that there was a possibility that the new government could last for the entire legislature "in order to avoid delivering the country to Salvini."
Several Italian newspapers reported on efforts by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European officials to prevent early elections in Italy — solely to stop Salvini from becoming prime minister. Merkel reportedly ordered leaders of the PD to reach a coalition agreement with M5S. "Make the agreement and stop Salvini," she reportedly said.
A leaked document showed that outgoing EU Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger had offered to relax EU rules on public debt in exchange for "a pro-European government that does not work against Europe."
Writing for the Italian daily Il Giornale, political correspondent Andrea Indini noted:
"Berlin's interference with the decisions of the Democratic Party are not surprising at all. As we have reported in recent days, the first meeting between M5S and PD dates back to July 16, when Ursula von der Leyen was elected president of the European Commission, thanks in part to support from M5S and PD. Von der Leyen is not just any person, she is Merkel's clone. Her election is part of a strategy executed alongside French President Emmanuel Macron to split the nationalist bloc in Europe. It is certainly not a coincidence that, moments after Salvini pulled the plug on his government, [former Italian prime minister and former European Commission president] Romano Prodi, faster than a slingshot, called for Italy to be governed by an 'Ursula Coalition' that is formed by the same political forces [M5S and PD] that helped to elect von der Leyen.
"That there are international interests behind the formation of the new coalition government is now clear to most. 'The Democratic Party is at the service of foreign countries,' Salvini said last night during a rally in Pinzolo. 'They think we are all sheep and slaves, ready to wait for what they say in Brussels and Paris, but the League defends the Italians, because we are free men.' At this point Salvini has no choice but to play the next match against the opposition with the weapons he has available. His men have already made it known that they will pass nothing in the Parliament that comes from M5S-PD, but above all from those who sponsor them: Merkel, Macron and Ursula von der Leyen."
Salvini's political rivals relished his departure from government. Former Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, in a Facebook post, proclaimed: "Today, Salvini has left the political stage. Institutions 1 — Populism 0."
Salvini, however, has vowed to fight:
"While PD and others are fighting over government positions, we are preparing for the Italy that is to come from among the people. They will not be able to run away from the elections for long, let's get ready to win!"
"Do you think I am afraid of a few months in opposition?" Salvini asked in a Facebook video. "You have not got rid of me with your political games. You do not know me, I do not give in." He has called for a protest against the new government in Rome on October 19. Polls show that 67% of Italians are in favor of early elections.
International commentators agree that Salvini remains a political force to be reckoned with. International Business Editor of The Daily Telegraph, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, noted that Salvini is down but not out:
"Be careful what you wish for in Italian politics. The exile of the volcanic Matteo Salvini is a Faustian Bargain for the EU establishment and the defenders of the euro project.
"There must be a high chance that the Lega strongman — and de facto leader of the Continent's anti-EU rebellion — will sweep back into power with an overwhelming majority next year or soon after.
"He may then be strong enough to push revolutionary changes through the Italian constitutional system that would be impossible sooner: A New Deal spending blitz backed by a politically-controlled Bank of Italy and a parallel "minibot" currency that neutralizes the enforcement tools of the European Central Bank.
"His departure this week means that others will be left to grapple with Italy's intractable stagnation. It is they who will have to push through €23bn of austerity cuts to comply with the EU's stability pact and the fiscal compact, the paraphernalia of arcane budget rules concocted by lawyers and unworkable in a serious downturn. Mr. Salvini's hands will be clean. 'It is a win-win situation for us,' said Claudio Borghi, the Lega's economics chief."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán thanked Salvini for his efforts "benefitting Italy and the whole of Europe including Hungary." In a letter published by the Hungarian news agency MTI, Orbán wrote:
"We Hungarians will never forget that you were the first Western European leader to make an effort to prevent illegal migrants from flooding Europe via the Mediterranean Sea. Irrespective of future political developments in Italy and of the fact that we belong to different European party groups, we consider you as a brother in arms in the fight to preserve Europe's Christian heritage and stop migration."
On August 30, meanwhile, 62 Pakistani migrants landed on an island off Gallipoli in southern Italy. On September 1, Salvini, who remains acting interior minister, banned the Alan Kurdi, a ship operated by the German charity Sea-Eye, with 13 migrants aboard, from entering Italian waters. Another ship, the Mare Jonio, is anchored a kilometer from the Italy's southernmost island of Lampedusa with 34 migrants who were rescued on August 28 off the coast of Libya.
Salvini has warned that the new coalition would end his ban on migrant boats arriving from Africa: "If the PD wants to reopen the doors and allow the business of illegal immigration to start up again, it should tell that to Italians."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
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© 2019 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.