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English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For September 09/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ,
Letter to the Romans 12/01-08/:”I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 08-09/2020

Treasury Targets Hizballah’s Enablers in Lebanon, Yusuf Finyanus and Ali Hassan Khalil/The USa Department Of The Treasuay/September 8, 2020
U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Hassan Khalil and Youssef Fenianos
US Sanctions 2 Lebanese Ex-Ministers over Corruption, Enabling Hezbollah
Minister Says Hezbollah Removed Stored Ammonium Nitrate from Germany in 2016
Lebanon Kicks off Second Plan to Curb Coronavirus in North
Political Reactions After Haniyeh Threatened Israel From LebanonLebanon: Aoun Bargains with Interior, Finance Ministries to Keep Control Over Energy
Aoun, Del Col Discuss Situation in South after UNIFIL Extension
Conte Meets Aoun: Italy to Contribute to Social, Economic Growth in Lebanon
Adib Meets Aoun amid Reports of 'Christian Share' Hurdles
Fahmi Revises Virus Curfew Hours, Allows Most Sectors to Reopen
Panic as New Fire Erupts at Beirut Port
Salameh Denies Rumors about His Resignation
Report: Govt. Formation Not Final Yet, Conflict Unlikely over Shape
Paris and Washington at Odds over Hizbullah
Hamadeh: No Wonder That Hezbollah Decorates Streets With Murderers’ Names
Lebanese Judge Rejects Release of Suspects Related to Beirut Port Explosion
Outgoing Minister, Security Chiefs to Testify in Lebanon Blast Probe
Cyprus Sends Team to Stop Migrants Fleeing Lebanon
Italy Adds to European Calls for Change in Lebanon amid Crisis
Lebanon: Aoun Bargains with Interior, Finance Ministries to Keep Control Over Energy
Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Warns against Strife after Beirut Shootout
Lebanese Journalist Ali Hamada: The Verdict Issued In The Rafiq Al-Hariri Murder Trial Implicates Hizbullah In The Crime; Hizbullah Is The Embodiment Of Terror And A Threat To Our Future/MEMRI/September 08/2020
Protest actions in Sidon since October 2019 have continued, despite multiple efforts to repress them./Miryam Swaidan/Carnegie MEC/September 08/2020
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy: Academic Freedom Upheld: Case Dismissed involving Phares’ Book, ‘Future Jihad’
Macron, Us and…Reality!/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat//September 08/2020
Palestinian leaders are trying to navigate outside the pale of history/Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/September 08/2020

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 08-09/2020

Syria Kurds Transfer Some ISIS-Linked Foreign Families from Camp
UN Detects Virus Cases in Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan
Arab FMs Meet on Wednesday to Tackle Latest Developments in Palestinian Cause
In Sign of Escalation, Turkey Resumes Weapons Shipments to Libya
Israel Accuses Hamas of Resuming Bombings in Central Region
Libyan National Army Criticizes Morocco Talks
Libyan Talks Hosted by Morocco Kept under Wraps
Burhan Visits Eritrea, Discusses 'Security Situation' with Afwerki

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 08-09/2020

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 08-09/2020

Treasury Targets Hizballah’s Enablers in Lebanon, Yusuf Finyanus and Ali Hassan Khalil/The USa Department Of The Treasuay/September 8, 2020
Washington – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned former Lebanese government ministers Yusuf Finyanus and Ali Hassan Khalil, who provided material support to Hizballah and engaged in corruption. These designations underscore how some Lebanese politicians have conspired with Hizballah at the expense of the Lebanese people and institutions. The United States supports the Lebanese people in their calls for a transparent and accountable government free of corruption. The catastrophic explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020, has amplified these urgent calls, and the U.S government stands firmly in support of the Lebanese people’s demands. “Corruption has run rampant in Lebanon, and Hizballah has exploited the political system to spread its malign influence,” said Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin. “The United States stands with the people of Lebanon in their calls for reform and will continue to use its authorities to target those who oppress and exploit them.”
These individuals are being designated pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended.
The multi-layered crisis in Lebanon stems from decades of corruption and economic mismanagement. Some Lebanese political leaders have used backdoor deals and reliance on Hizballah for personal gain and gains for their political allies ahead of the needs of the Lebanese people. Since October 2019, popular, cross-sectarian protests across the country demanded political and economic reform in Lebanon. The protesters’ calls for “all of them, means all of them” demonstrates the seriousness of their desire for reform and to pull back the curtain on certain groups’ corruption, including Hizballah.
CORRUPT MINISTERS SUPPORT HIZBALLAH AND BENEFIT PERSONALLY
Yusuf Finyanus is the former Minister of Transportation and Public Works (2016-2020). As of mid-2019, Hizballah used its relationship with officials in the Lebanese government, including Finyanus as Minister of Transportation and Public Works, to siphon funds from government budgets to ensure that Hizballah-owned companies won bids for Lebanese government contracts worth millions of dollars. In 2015, Hizballah gave Finyanus hundreds of thousands of dollars in exchange for political favors. Also in 2015, Finyanus met regularly with Wafiq Safa, whom the U.S. Treasury designated in 2019 for his leadership role in Hizballah’s security apparatus. Finyanus also helped Hizballah gain access to sensitive legal documents related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and served as a go-between for Hizballah and political allies. In addition to his activities supporting Hizballah, Finyanus engaged in corruption while in his position as Minister of Transportation and Public Works by diverting funds from the ministry to offer perks to bolster his political allies.
Ali Hassan Khalil previously served as the Minister of Finance (2014-2020) and Minister of Public Health (2011-2014). As Minister of Finance, Khalil was one of the officials Hizballah leveraged a relationship with for financial gain. In late 2017, shortly before the Lebanese parliamentary elections that would take place in May 2018, Hizballah leaders, fearing a weakening of their political alliance with the Amal Movement, reached an agreement with Khalil where he was prepared to receive Hizballah support for his political success. Khalil worked to move money in a manner that would avoid U.S. sanctions enforcement from government ministries to Hizballah-associated institutions. Additionally, Khalil used his position as Minister of Finance to attempt to have U.S. financial restrictions on Hizballah eased so that the group would have less difficulty moving money. Khalil also used the power of his office to exempt a Hizballah affiliate from paying most taxes on electronics imported to Lebanon, and a portion of what was paid was collected to support Hizballah. As of late 2019, Khalil as Finance Minister refused to sign checks payable to government suppliers in an effort to solicit kickbacks. He demanded that a percentage of the contracts be paid to him directly.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
The Treasury Department continues to prioritize disruption of the full range of Hizballah’s illicit financial activity, and with this action has designated over 90 Hizballah-affiliated individuals and entities since 2017. OFAC took this action pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. Hizballah was designated by the Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in October 1997 and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) pursuant to E.O. 13224 in October 2001.
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the individuals named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, 50 percent or more by them, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any blocked person or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods or services from any such person.
Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals designated today entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, and the Hizballah Financial Sanctions Regulations, which implements the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Act of 2015, as amended by the Hizballah International Financing Prevention Amendments Act of 2018. Pursuant to these authorities, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account by a foreign financial institution that knowingly facilitates a significant transaction for a terrorist group like Hizballah, or a person acting on behalf of or at the direction of, or owned or controlled by, an SDGT such as Hizballah.
OFAC closely coordinated this action with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). DEA’s work with OFAC is part of DEA’s broader effort under its Project Cassandra to target Hizballah’s global criminal support network that operates as a logistics, procurement, and financing arm for Hizballah.
View identifying information on the individuals designated today.
https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm1116?fbclid=IwAR2T8meysxTiepqAAwKOVW6mzvSaf5lBA7fW0Gzzx2YoevEV8QkESVQEhEQ

U.S. Slaps Sanctions on Hassan Khalil and Youssef Fenianos
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Naharnet/September 08/2020
The United States on Tuesday slapped sanctions on two former Lebanese ministers for alleged corruption and support of Hizbullah, vowing to isolate the Iran-backed Shiite armed group and political party.
The Treasury Department targeted former finance minister Ali Hassan Khalil and former transport minister Youssef Fenianos but stopped short of targeting any current officials in the nation torn by economic crisis and the aftermath of a deadly explosion in Beirut.
The sanctions mean that any assets they hold in the United States will be blocked and any transactions with them liable to criminal penalties. Khalil is a senior official with the Shiite AMAL Movement that is headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri while Fenianos is a member of the Christian Marada Movement that is allied with Hizbullah and the Syrian government. The U.S. Treasury said Khalil and Fenianos "provided material support to Hizbullah and engaged in corruption."
Commenting on the sanctions, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said "for too long, Lebanon’s political leaders have ignored their responsibility to address the needs of their people and instead built a political system that serves their private interests."
"The August 4 explosion at the Beirut port is the most recent and tragic demonstration of Lebanon’s dysfunctional political system, which has also enabled a terrorist group to hold the country’s governance hostage to its own agenda. The United States supports the Lebanese people’s call for reform, and we will use all available authorities to promote accountability for Lebanese leaders who have failed their people," Pompeo added.
He charged that "while holding positions in previous Lebanese cabinets, Fenianos and Khalil directed political and economic favors to Hizbullah, including ensuring Hizbullah-owned companies won government contracts worth millions of dollars and moving money from government ministries to Hizbullah-associated institutions."Pompeo added: "Today's designations demonstrate that Lebanese politicians who have provided a false veneer of political legitimacy to Hizbullah or abused their positions to direct public funds to the terrorist group are as responsible for its entrenched influence as Hizbullah’s own members or the corrupt businessmen and money launderers that have helped fund the group for decades."Noting that Hizbullah depends on Lebanon's "corrupt political system" for "survival," the top U.S. diplomat warned that "anyone helping to advance Hizbullah's political or economic interests is further eroding what remains of effective governance and facilitating financing for terrorism.""The Lebanese people deserve better, and the United States will continue to support their calls for an end to corruption and political stagnation," Pompeo went on to say. U.S. officials have been warning that a new wave of sanctions will target allies of Hizbullah, which is considered a "terrorist" organization by Washington. The U.S. has been targeting Hizbullah with sanctions for years but this is the first time it has imposed sanctions on officials of parties that are allied with Hizbullah. The action comes as the United States, as well as former colonial power France, press for a new government in Lebanon to push urgent reforms. But while France regards Hizbullah pragmatically, recognizing its constituency among Shiites in Lebanon, Washington has stepped up its campaign against the movement. Khalil served as finance minister from 2014 until April this year when a new technocratic cabinet took over amid street protests in which he was frequently accused of graft. The Treasury Department said that Khalil, who has also served as health minister, helped direct funds to Hizbullah institutions to evade U.S. sanctions. Fenianos, according to the Treasury Department, received "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from Hizbullah in return for political favors. It said he also provided sensitive documents to Hizbullah on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which has recently found a member of Hizbullah guilty over the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Asked if further action was planned, a U.S. official said Tuesday's sanctions "should serve as a warning that the United States will not hesitate to sanction any individual or entity that supports and enables Hizbullah's terrorist and illicit activities."

US Sanctions 2 Lebanese Ex-Ministers over Corruption, Enabling Hezbollah
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The United States on Tuesday expanded its sanctions on Lebanon, blacklisting the former finance and transport ministers and accusing them of providing material and financial help to Iran-backed Hezbollah party, following a cataclysmic blast last month at Beirut port that left the country reeling. "Corruption has run rampant in Lebanon, and Hezbollah has exploited the political system to spread its malign influence," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement, announcing the blacklisting of former Lebanese government ministers Youssef Finyanus and Ali Hassan Khalil, who also aide to parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. "The United States stands with the people of Lebanon in their calls for reform and will continue to use its authorities to target those who oppress and exploit them," he added. The move freezes any US assets of the two blacklisted and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions with the former officials are also at risk of being hit with secondary sanctions, the Treasury said. Fifteen years after the assassination of Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Hezbollah has risen to become the overarching power in a country that is now collapsing under a series of devastating crises. The August 4 Beirut blast killed at least 190 people, injured 6,000 more, and destroyed large swaths of the Mediterranean city, compounding a deep financial crisis. Authorities said the blast was caused by about 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stacked in unsafe conditions in a port warehouse for years. The enraged public accuse the authorities of knowing about the stockpile for years and doing nothing to remove it from the densely populated area. Washington accused Finyanus of accepting "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from Hezbollah in exchange for political favors and said the former transport minister was among the officials Hezbollah used to siphon funds from government budgets to ensure Hezbollah-owned firms won bids for government contracts. The Treasury also said Finyanus helped Hezbollah gain access to sensitive legal documents related to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and served as "a go-between" for Hezbollah and political allies. The STL was set up to probe Hariri’s assassination in a massive bombing in Beirut not far from the port. Ali Hassan Khalil, who was the finance minister until this year, was one of the officials Hezbollah leveraged a relationship with for financial gain, the Treasury said, accusing him of working to move money in a way that would dodge US sanctions. Washington said Khalil used his position as the finance minister to get sanctions relief on Hezbollah, and was demanding a certain personal commission to be paid to him directly from government contracts.

Minister Says Hezbollah Removed Stored Ammonium Nitrate from Germany in 2016
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Hezbollah has stored in Germany the chemical ammonium nitrate, which it has used in bombings across the world, a state interior minister said, according to the Jerusalem Post.“The stored cold packs were brought out of Germany in 2016,” said Baden-Württemberg Minister Thomas Strobl confirmed Friday, according to a regional newspaper. “There are no findings or indications that the local cold pack storage is related to the storage in the Port of Beirut.”Last month, a cataclysmic explosion rocked the port, killing 191 people and injuring more than 6,000. The port contained 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which can be used as a fertilizer or to make explosives, and was stored at the harbor for six years. Hezbollah operatives have used ammonium nitrate for terrorist plots in France, Argentina Britain, Cyprus and Bulgaria. The Iran-backed party has denied any involvement in the Beirut explosion even though Hezbollah is widely viewed as controlling Beirut’s port system, said Jerusalem Post. German paper Die Welt reported last month that the Israeli Mossad warned German authorities that Hezbollah supporters stored hundreds of kilograms of ammonium nitrate in warehouses in southern Germany. It is unclear if Baden-Württemberg was the only southern German state to lodge the chemical. Germany designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization earlier this year.

Lebanon Kicks off Second Plan to Curb Coronavirus in North
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Lebanon’s health ministry continued to warn citizens of the repercussions of ignoring safety precautions amid the coronavirus outbreak, especially as students prepare to return to schools at the end of the month. Speaking from the northern city of Tripoli, which accounts to 20 percent of COVID-19 infections, caretaker Health Minister Hamad Hassan said Monday the healthcare situation was critical throughout the country. "The situation demands the complete awareness of citizens," he told a news conference following with Governor of the North, Ramzi Nohra. He announced the start of the second phase to combat the pandemic by increasing the number of beds at government hospitals in Tripoli, Halba and Sir al-Dinnieh. “One week from now, we will witness a decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases,” he hoped. Moreover, Hassan highlighted the need for joint efforts by the public and private sectors to curb the outbreak. The Coronavirus Crisis Follow-up Cell in the Tripoli Governorate said Monday that 43 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the district in the past 24 hours. Thirty-three were registered in Tripoli, four in Mina and six in al-Beddawi.
Throughout Lebanon, the Health Ministry said 400 new infections were confirmed on Monday, raising the total to 28,426. It confirmed nine more deaths. Meanwhile, caretaker Education Minister Tarek al-Majzoub announced that the new academic year will begin on September 28, adding that the ministry will evaluate the health situation every week to prevent an outbreak of the pandemic. In Palestinian refugee camps, the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) announced that test results have revealed 27 new cases of coronavirus, including one among the agency’s staff. The agency announced the closure of its health center in the Ain al-Hilweh camp and its central clinic in Beirut for them to be disinfected.

Political Reactions After Haniyeh Threatened Israel From Lebanon
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Several Lebanese officials criticized on Monday comments delivered by Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh during his visit to Lebanon last weekend when he announced that his organization has missiles capable of striking the city of Tel Aviv, Israel’s commercial and cultural center, and areas beyond it.
“Haniyeh’s visit comes as part of political propaganda planned by forces of the resistance axis to prove their presence in Lebanon,” Mustafa Alloush, former MP and leading official at the Mustaqbal Movement told Asharq Al-Awsat. He said: “There are some parties that planned the visit to send a message to the inside and outside: If you tighten the noose on us, we will find a way out from somewhere else.”Alloush said Haniyeh’s comments violated Lebanon’s sovereignty, adding that he was not surprised to see no official statements condemning the Hamas leader’s threats, “because the issue is related to Hezbollah.”
During a visit to Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian camp in the southern port city of Sidon, Haniyeh said, “Our missiles had a range of several kilometers (miles) from the border with Gaza.”For his part, member of the Strong Republic (Lebanese Forces) parliamentary bloc, MP Wehbe Katisha also denounced the fact that Haniyeh threatened Israel from Lebanon. “Did we go back to the year 1969 with plans to open a new road to Palestine passing through another Lebanon’s Jounieh (in reference to a popular PLO slogan that said "the road through Jerusalem leads through Jounieh,” a northern, coastal Lebanese city),” the MP wrote on his Twitter account. Also, resigned MP Nadim Gemayel (Phalange Party) wrote Monday, “Lebanon is not a podium from which positions are announced, one day to express support for Syria, another day for Iran, and another for Palestine.” Haniyeh had arrived in Beirut last Tuesday, in his first visit to Lebanon in 27 years. The Hamas leader met with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Hassan Diab, director-general of the Security General, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, and the Grand Mufti of Lebanon, Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian. He also met with Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah and head of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt.

Lebanon: Aoun Bargains with Interior, Finance Ministries to Keep Control Over Energy
Ankara - Saeed Abdul Razzak/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The Turkish Ministry of National Defense reported that a soldier injured in an armed attack by terrorists in Northwest Syria had succumbed to his injuries. The Ministry of Defense Press issued a written statement indicating that a soldier injured as a result of an armed attack by terrorists was transferred to the hospital, but died despite all the interventions. Unknown gunmen opened fire on several Turkish soldiers in the perimeter of their military base in “Mutaram” town nearby Ariha city, south of Idlib. The attack left two Turkish soldiers injured, one of them sustained serious injuries. Turkish armored warfare advanced in the site and transferred the wounded soldiers to Turkish territories. Last week, a car bomb explosion and an armed attack on a Turkish post in Sallat Al-Zuhur village along Latakia-Aleppo international highway (M4) was reported.
A member of one of the Syrian factions, in charge of guarding the Turkish post, was wounded during the attack. Since Feb., Turkey has been increasing its reinforcements and military posts following the regime forces Russian-backed offensive against a Turkish post on the 27th of the same month, leading to the death of 33 Turkish soldiers according to official figures from Ankara.

Aoun, Del Col Discuss Situation in South after UNIFIL Extension
Naharnet/September 08/2020
President Michel Aoun and UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander Major General Stefano Del Col discussed the situation in South Lebanon after the extension of the peacekeeping forces mandate, the National News Agency reported on Tuesday. Aoun emphasized the need for "coordination between the Lebanese army and peacekeeping forces," said NNA. Late in August, the UN renewed the UNIFIL mission in Lebanon for a year but reduced its troop capacity limit from 15,000 to 13,000. It requested that Beirut grant access to tunnels under the border with Israel. The resolution urges Lebanon to give UNIFIL investigators access to areas north of the Blue Line -- the UN-demarcated border between Israel and Lebanon -- where tunnels allowing armed incursions into Israeli were discovered in 2019.

Conte Meets Aoun: Italy to Contribute to Social, Economic Growth in Lebanon
Naharnet/September 08/2020
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Tuesday affirmed strong and old relations between Lebanon and Italy, noting that his country will stand on the front lines regarding the emergency response and the rapid reconstruction of the areas affected by the Beirut explosion.
After meeting President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace, Conte said “the time has come to look forward and build trust between citizens and institutions in Lebanon, as well as writing a new page in Lebanon’s history.”
He said although the step is “challenging, but everything becomes possible thanks to the Lebanese authorities that can adhere to a renewed path for institutions and the government. These demands have been long called by civil society organizations and citizens.” Conte said Italy “respects the Lebanese people’s sovereignty and will stand by its side hoping that a new government is formed to fulfill reconstruction and a reform program incorporating the just demands of citizens.”The PM said he highlighted the above during his talks with Aoun, noting that Italy “will contribute to the support of economic and social development in Lebanon. Lebanon can count on Italy and on its role in the European Union and in the international community.”Extending his condolences to the Lebanese people over the victims of Beirut’s port explosion, he said the blast “shook the whole international community as much as it shook Lebanon.
“Italy was at the forefront to respond to the emergency and early reconstruction phase. We have intervened immediately through the Italian civil defense and sent medical and health aid to Lebanon. We sent a military field hospital with advanced capabilities, and teams were also sent to the engineering regiment in the army,” added Conte.

Adib Meets Aoun amid Reports of 'Christian Share' Hurdles
Naharnet/September 08/2020
Prime Minister-designate Mustafa Adib held talks Tuesday with President Michel Aoun at the Baabda Palace. “We are in a period of consultations with the President and we will continue consultations with the rest of the parties,” Adib told reporters after the meeting. MTV meanwhile reported that the PM-designate will meet anew with the president this week to “delve into the details of the government formation process.”“The PM-designate did not carry to the presidential palace a draft line-up but he rather consulted with Aoun over some points, mainly the principle of the rotation of portfolios, which Adib prefers to apply,” the TV network added. “Adib is saying, ‘I don’t anyone to join me in the issue of forming the government,’ and he has not yet met with (Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran) Bassil, who is reportedly dismayed over this,” MTV said. It also reported that there is a pending obstacle related to the “Christian share” in the new government. “Adib does not intend to give Bassil the biggest share and he is inclined to pick independent Christian ministers,” MTV added. It also said that the political aides of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Speaker Nabih Berri -- Ali Hassan Khalil and Hussein al-Khalil -- have advised Adib “not to confine himself to a small cabinet,” while telling him that Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement are “not clinging to the finance portfolio.”

Fahmi Revises Virus Curfew Hours, Allows Most Sectors to Reopen
Naharnet/September 08/2020
Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi on Tuesday issued a memo revising the duration of the coronavirus nighttime curfew and allowing most sectors to reopen. According to the memo, the curfew will now begin at 1am instead of 10pm. It will still be lifted at 6am. The memo also allows the reopening of bars, pubs, nightclubs, social event halls, popular souks, Casino du Liban, video game centers, video poker centers, public parks, theaters and cinemas. Weddings will meanwhile be allowed at a capacity of 50% of any given venue while “respecting social distancing and health and safety precautions.”
The memo also says that the reopening plan involves four phases. The preparatory phase entails carrying out awareness campaigns in cooperation with media outlets, the first will include the organization of measures and training of employees, the second will entail monitoring by representatives of the sectors themselves to ensure the proper implementation of recommendations and the third will include measures by state authorities against violators. Lebanon has seen a major surge in coronavirus cases and deaths in recent weeks and the government scrapped a planned lockdown in the wake of the deadly blast at Beirut port. The Health Ministry reported 498 new cases and seven more deaths on Tuesday.The cases raise the overall tally to 21,423 -- including 6,722 recoveries -- while the deaths take the death toll to 207.

Panic as New Fire Erupts at Beirut Port
Naharnet/September 08/2020
A new blaze erupted Tuesday at Beirut port, sparking panic among the citizens of a nation still reeling from the cataclysmic August 4 explosion. Around two hours later, the army tweeted that the fire had been doused. "Units from the Lebanese Army's Independent Works Regiment assisted by Civil Defense members and the Beirut Fire Brigade have managed to extinguish a blaze that broke out at Beirut port in rubble mixed with waste, wood remnants and old tires," the army said in the tweet. Al-Jadeed television said the rubble "caught fire" and that the site of the blaze was far from the site of the Aug. 4 blast.
The National News Agency meanwhile described the blaze as "minor," adding that it broke out in "rubble from the remnants of the blast that had been placed in a yard for collecting waste." The Civil Defense told Annahar newspaper that the army "requested assistance from the Civil Defense as a precaution against the spread of the fire."Videos and photos of the white smoke billowing from the port were circulated on social media with some warning people to stay away. The fire was a reminder of the flames and smoke that preceded the massive blast last month that traumatized the nation.

Salameh Denies Rumors about His Resignation
Naharnet/September 08/2020
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh on Tuesday slammed rumors about his resignation and assured that he has “plans to steer Lebanon out of the crisis.”
“I don’t want to resign because I have in my mind a strategy to get out of this crisis,” he told CNBC News Anchor and International Correspondent Hadley Gamble in an interview. “I am sorry to disappoint those who are spreading rumors about my resignation everyday,” he added. Media reports circulated on Monday claiming Salameh plans to step down from his post within 48 hours.On the unprecedented economic and financial crisis, Salameh said the Lebanese have the right “to say that it's time to go, but they do not have to say that it is the central bank of Lebanon that is responsible for this situation.
"We did not create the deficit in the government or in the current account, we have always called for reduction of the deficit. These two deficits over the last five years have cost the country 81 billion dollars. It is not the central bank that created these two deficits,” he said. Asked whether the central bank was the one to “enable” these deficits, he said: “The duty of the central bank according to law is to do whatever is possible to maintain the stability and continuity in the credit market. What we did are regulations that have helped maintain for 27 years this country afloat while it lived wars, assassination and civil strife.”

Report: Govt. Formation Not Final Yet, Conflict Unlikely over Shape
Naharnet/September 08/2020
Crisis-hit Lebanon has not recorded a breakthrough yet in the process of lining up a government, amid different aspirations, some pressing for the formation of a cabinet of experts and others for a techno-political government, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported on Tuesday. PM-designate Mustafa Adib prefers the formation of a small government of 14 or 16 ministers. He also wants its members to be “political moderates or non-provocative figures.”Meanwhile, President Michel Aoun, Hizbullah and the AMAL Movement prefer a techno-political government. After his designation, Adib vowed to form a crisis cabinet within two weeks to push forward with key reforms and lead the country out of political turmoil and an economic crisis that was already crippling the country before the portside blast in Beirut. Sources following up on the formation process, told al-Joumhouria that political parties “will likely agree on a government of experts.” They added that “commitment of all political parties to the French initiative and its success, and to the acceleration of the government formation, in addition to the massive external pressure mainly by the French to expedite the formation process, all tend to weaken any possibility of any clash over the form of the government, or any insistence to involve politicians in it.” They added that political parties likely avoid old habits of bickering over ministerial portfolios and shares, and instead accept the smooth transition to a government of specialists supported by a political cover from outside.

Paris and Washington at Odds over Hizbullah
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 08/2020
When it comes to Lebanon, the US and France have similar outlooks, but one major point of difference involves the Hizbullah movement -- shunned by Washington but tolerated by a pragmatic Parisian leadership. While the United States seeks to isolate and curb the influence of the Iran-backed group it has designated a "terrorist" organisation and punished with sanctions, France recognizes it as a key political actor whose cooperation is needed to lift Lebanon out of crisis. Lebanon's government stepped down last month amid popular anger over a massive blast at Beirut's port on August 4 that killed 191 people, wounded thousands and ravaged large parts of the capital. Both Western powers have agreed Lebanon needs a cabinet different from its predecessors to tackle urgent reforms, but all consensus seems to end there. "France's approach tends to be more realistic," analyst Karim Bitar told AFP.
"France views Lebanon as it is, while the (US President Donald) Trump administration tends to view Lebanon as it would like it to be." The US view is that Hizbullah -- the only group not to have disarmed after the 1975-1990 civil war -- holds excessive influence in Lebanon, "which needs to be contained", Bitar said. But Paris recognises "Hizbullah in Lebanon is a major political actor, that it has a wide captive constituency in Lebanon's Shiite community, that it is here to stay," he added.
'Elected by the people'
The United States has been following closely as French President Emmanuel Macron twice visited Lebanon since August 4 to press for political change and reforms to unlock financial aid. During his last trip, the French leader differentiated between two facets of Hizbullah -- one "terrorist", and the other, a political party "elected by the people" to parliament and allied with the Lebanese president's party that could not be excluded from talks. Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has been notably positive about Macron's visits, not labeling them as "foreign interference" as he might have done for such a move by the US.
The Shiite movement's parliamentary bloc leader, Mohammad Raad, was among lawmakers who met Macron before he said all sides had agreed to form a new government within a fortnight. France, which has outlined a roadmap for reforms for the next government, "wants to maintain a channel of dialogue with Hizbullah in order to prevent the destabilisation of Lebanon", Bitar said.
Paris views itself as "an honest broker" to do this in a time when tensions are at a peak between Washington and Tehran. Observers say France is one of the only Western powers to have maintained direct contact with Hizbullah, pointing to the role of the current French ambassador, who formerly held the same post in Tehran. "There has always been direct contact between Paris and Hizbullah," an Arab diplomat in Beirut told AFP. And as Washington is caught up in preparing for the US presidential polls, it appears to be giving France some leeway on Lebanon. "The Americans have set as a condition that Hizbullah not take part in the (next) government, but they could turn a blind eye to them remaining if there were a deal and reforms," the diplomat said.
Hizbullah 'cannot be trusted'
US Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs David Schenker, also visiting Lebanon last week, told Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar that the US appreciated the French initiative, but differed on a few details, including that Hizbullah was not a legitimate political organisation but a "terrorist" group.
He did not meet with key political figures, instead seeing army chief Joseph Aoun, lawmakers who resigned after the port blast, civil society activists and Shiite figures opposed to Hizbullah. One such Shiite figure told AFP that Schenker said during their meeting that Hizbullah "cannot be trusted" to lead reforms.
"Hizbullah has been given ample opportunity since 2005 to really involve itself in the state and has not changed its behaviour," the source reported Schenker as saying. The United States has demanded Hizbullah lay down its weapons, but also echoed the call of a political minority in Lebanon that the country be "neutral", meaning that it break ties with Iran and distance itself from the region's conflicts. Most Lebanese political sides, however, have accepted that the Shiite movement is a military force to contend with and a political actor present in all branches of state, which, with its allies, currently dominates parliament.
Responding to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling for Hizbullah's weapons to be dealt with as a priority, Druze leader Walid Jumblatt in a televised interview last week responded that the solution would come through politics.
"Let Pompeo forget the rockets for now. That matter will be solved through politics when the time is right," he said.

Hamadeh: No Wonder That Hezbollah Decorates Streets With Murderers’ Names
Cairo - Jamal Jawhar/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Libya’s National Center for Disease Control launched the national campaign for community awareness to contain the spread of the coronavirus, as part of the center's plan for the fourth stage since the emergence of the pandemic in the country. The Director of the National Center, Badreddine al-Najjar, announced in a press conference that the campaign that was launched from the municipalities of Tripoli aims to raise awareness among citizens over the risks that could result from the outbreak. Libya is approaching its 18,000 COVID-19 cases, however, Najjar said it was possible to fix the situation and contain the pandemic in the country if everyone plays their role. He said if efforts were united and everyone adhered to the precautionary measures, the epidemiological situation can be controlled. The national campaign involves the municipalities of greater Tripoli, the Security Directorate of Tripoli, the General Authority for Endowments, the Scouts and Girl Guides Commission, the Commission for Civil Society Institutions, the UNICEF, and the International Organization for Migration, Najjar noted. The center stated that 2,081 persons recovered and the death toll rose to 285. Tripoli tops the list with 313 cases, and Misrata with 64 cases, but according to health authorities and official data, the number of infections has increased in cities and towns. Authorities fear a surge in cases especially with the resumption of education, after baccalaureate students returned to classes on August 31, following 5 months of suspension due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced the completion of the sterilization of 39 Libyan schools in a move to protect both students and educational staff from the coronavirus. UNICEF said that the second phase of the Japan-funded project is aimed at targeting 163 further schools in the west of the country, to be achieved in partnership with the Ministry of Education. Also, Benghazi Medical Center announced that doctors, nurses, and medical staff are being attacked by families of infected persons. The Doctors Syndicate in Benghazi said that doctors are frustrated by the attacks and social media campaigns that deny their efforts in combating the virus, adding that many medical workers are subjected to physical and verbal abuse. The Syndicate asserted that the doctors continue to treat patients especially as numbers doubled in light of the spread of the virus and the weakness of the health system in the country. It called on state agencies to protect doctors and other hospital workers, and maintain medical devices and equipment from sabotage and destruction.

Lebanese Judge Rejects Release of Suspects Related to Beirut Port Explosion
Beirut- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Military Investigation Judge Fadi Sawwan rejected on Monday motions for the release of three detainees in the case of the August 4 Beirut port explosion that killed at least 190 people and wounding thousands more.
The judge ruled that the three suspects stay in custody. Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) said Sawwan also heard the testimonies of four witnesses and will question more witnesses on Tuesday. There are 25 suspects detained in the Beirut port probe, including four military officers in addition to former director of Lebanese customs Shafik Merhi, Lebanese customs administration director-general Badri Daher, director of the Beirut Port, Hassan Koreitem, and director of Land and Maritime Transport Abdel Hafiz Kaissi. Last week, Sawwan listened to the lengthy testimony of caretaker PM Hassan Diab during a meeting at the Grand Serail. Sources with knowledge of the matter told Asharq Al-Awsat that the briefing focused on the correspondence Diab received from security agencies on the stockpile of ammonium nitrate at the port. The PM informed the judge about the orders he gave the agencies and concerned ministries to tackle the stockpile and the reasons why they were not removed from warehouse 12 before they blew up on August 4. The Lebanese government has attributed the enormous blast to the 2,700 tons of the chemical compound ammonium nitrate that had been left lying in a warehouse in Beirut port since 2013. Lebanese authorities are now probing reasons why such highly explosive material was neglected and stored unsafely for years to detonate in a mushroom cloud, wrecking swathes of the city and fueling anger at a political class already blamed for the country’s economic meltdown.

Outgoing Minister, Security Chiefs to Testify in Lebanon Blast Probe
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
A Lebanese judge leading the probe into Beirut's catastrophic port blast has summoned an outgoing minister and two security agency heads to testify, a judicial source said Tuesday. Judge Fadi Sawwan is to hear caretaker transport and public works minister Michel Najjar and State Security agency head Tony Saliba on Thursday, the source said. "If it turns out there had been negligence on their part, they could become suspects and be interrogated as such," it said. Sawwan will also hear the account of the influential head of the General Security apparatus, Abbas Ibrahim, next Monday. Twenty-five suspects are in custody over the monster August 4 monster that killed more than 190 people, wounded thousands, and ravaged homes and business across large parts of the capital. Hundreds of tons of ammonium nitrate had been stored unsafely in a port warehouse for at least six years, it emerged after the explosion. The disclosure sparked widespread outrage over alleged official negligence that many said was to blame for the blast. Some 2,750 tons of the ammonium nitrate were initially stored at the port, but experts believe the quantity that ignited was substantially less than that. After the explosion, State Security said it had warned the authorities of the danger of the unstable chemicals stored in the port's warehouse 12, and signaled that some of it had been stolen due to a hole in a wall. In the week of the blast, workers had begun repairs on the decrepit warehouse. Security sources have suggested the welding work could have started a fire that triggered the blast, but some observers have rejected this as an attempt to shift the blame for high-level failings. Those arrested so far include top port and customs officials, as well as Syrian workers who allegedly carried out the welding hours before the explosion. Lebanon has rejected an international investigation into the country's worst peace-time disaster, but its probe is being aided by foreign experts, including from the FBI and France.

Cyprus Sends Team to Stop Migrants Fleeing Lebanon
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 08/2020
Cyprus said Monday it will send a team to Lebanon to help authorities stop boats with migrants including from war-torn Syria heading for the Mediterranean island after several recent attempts. Officials from various services will visit Lebanon "to deal in the best and most effective way with this phenomenon," Interior Minister Nicos Nouris said. Cyprus, just 160 kilometers from Lebanon's coast, is so close that the deadly explosion that devastated Beirut on August 4 was heard on the island. Syria is even nearer. Cyprus is on alert after at least five boats carrying over 150 migrants were spotted off the coast of the tourist island by authorities in recent days, and the interior ministry held an emergency meeting on the situation on Monday. Many of those on board were Syrians, as well as Lebanese. Some were permitted to disembark, but others were sent back.
Cypriot authorities chartered a boat to take a group back to Lebanon with an escort. Lebanon, which hosts a million Syrian refugees, was already reeling from its worst economic crisis in decades before the cataclysmic explosion in the port of Beirut. Nearby Nicosia fears becoming a magnet for those fleeing a political and economic crisis. European Union member Cyprus and Lebanon have a "send back" agreement to discourage migrants. Cyprus has long complained it is on the frontline of the Mediterranean migration route, with the EU's highest number of first-time asylum seekers per capita of population. "We are no longer able to receive additional numbers of economic migrants simply because" reception facilities are full, Nouris said. Nouris last week praised parliament's approval to cut the time that migrants can appeal rejected asylum applications from 75 to 15 days.
Since the migrant "Balkans route" from Turkey to central Europe was blocked in 2015, asylum applications in Cyprus have soared -- from 2,253 that year, to 13,648 in 2019 -- the interior ministry says. A spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency in Cyprus told AFP: "Any person on a boat who seeks asylum should be admitted at least on a temporary basis to examine the claim."

Italy Adds to European Calls for Change in Lebanon amid Crisis
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Italy's prime minister said it was time for Lebanon to rebuild trust between the people and its institutions, joining France's call for change in a nation devastated by a year-long economic crisis and last month's massive explosion at Beirut port.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was visiting Beirut a week after a trip by French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been leading international efforts to push through major reforms in Lebanon to end decades of state corruption and mismanagement. "Now is the time to look ahead and build trust between the citizens and institutions, and to turn a new page in Lebanon's history," Conte said after talks with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, adding Italy and the European Union were ready to help. He comments were carried in Arabic by the Lebanese National News Agency and broadcasters. During last week's visit, Macron said Lebanese politicians, who usually bicker for months over forming a new government, had promised to agree on a new cabinet under Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib in just two weeks, by mid-September. The swift formation of a new government is the first step in a list of demands laid out in a French political roadmap that should open the way for Lebanon to receive billions of dollars in aid needed to get the heavily indebted nation back on its feet. Those aid pledges of help, first made at an international conference in 2018, were never delivered because Lebanon's previous governments never carried out promised reforms to the system. Adib will need to have a cabinet in pace by early next week to stay on track but, unlike in previous efforts to form a government, there has been little public discussion of ministerial names and public party haggling over posts. Lebanese media and political sources say Adib has proposed a smaller than usual cabinet of about 14 ministers, instead of the usual 24 or so. But the prime minister-designate, a former ambassador to Berlin, has not made any public statements. Aoun has been pushing for a cabinet of 24 ministers.

Lebanon: Aoun Bargains with Interior, Finance Ministries to Keep Control Over Energy
Beirut - Mohammed Shukair/Asharq Al-Awsat//September 08/2020
Lebanese President Michel Aoun is responsible for the delay in the formation of the new government, Lebanese political sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
The president’s first priority, according to the sources, is to bring back his son-in-law, former Minister and MP Gebran Bassil, to the forefront, and to reserve the largest number of ministerial seats for his Christian bloc, including the ministry of Energy. The political sources revealed that the General Security chief, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, has been working behind the scene to resolve the nodes that are hindering the cabinet formation. Ibrahim has recently met with Aoun, who informed him that he favored a government of 24 specialists of political background, “to facilitate the implementation of reforms.”
According to the sources, Aoun supports, in one way or another, Bassil’s request to implement rotation in the redistribution of portfolios to the different sects. They said he suggested that the financial and the interior ministries be the share of the Christians, in exchange for assigning the defense and foreign ministries to the Muslims. The same sources explained that Aoun wanted to convey a message that the Shiites’ insistence on preserving the finance portfolio - which grants them the authority to sign the decrees of a financial nature - does not give them the right to veto the redistribution of ministerial portfolios.
In other words, Aoun - according to these sources - absolutely refuses any party to use the right of veto to prevent the allocation of the ministry of Energy to a Christian minister. The president considers the energy as an exclusive right to his political party, led by Bassil. Therefore, the sources said Aoun was bargaining with the Interior and Finance ministries, in exchange for maintaining the energy within his share. Moreover, the president’s insistence on forming an expanded government was aimed at bringing Bassil to the forefront, in light of the rejection of the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb party to participate in the government, according to the sources. However, Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib would not approve a cabinet of 24 ministers and insisted on excluding Bassil from his ongoing talks with Aoun. Adib is also working to prepare a draft ministerial lineup that he would present to the Baabda Palace at the end of this week.

Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Warns against Strife after Beirut Shootout
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Lebanon’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian warned against a slide towards violence on Tuesday after a deadly Beirut shootout added to concerns about deteriorating law and order in a country grappling with a major economic crisis. The crisis is seen as the biggest threat to Lebanon’s stability since its 1975-90 civil war. One person was killed and two were wounded in the clash on Monday night in the Tariq al-Jadida neighborhood. The army said machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades were used in the confrontation which a military source said spiraled out of a personal dispute between individuals. A gunfight also broke out on Monday in northern area of Lebanon, forcing the army to intervene. In another incident in the Bekaa Valley town of Baalbek, a man was killed in a revenge-driven killing, the National News Agency (NNA) reported. The incidents, along with other deadly violence in the last month, reflect a breakdown in state authority, the military source said, adding: “There is no longer respect for the state.” Derian told caretaker Interior Minister General Mohammed Fahmi that citizens must be “alert and wise and not be drawn into strife, as no dispute is solved with weapons”. Lebanon’s economic crisis, caused by years of industrial-scale state corruption and mismanagement, has worsened hardship in the nation of about 6 million, as the currency has collapsed, driving up unemployment and plunging many into poverty. The crisis forced the government to quit and Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib has yet to name a new cabinet, which he has said will be in place by mid-September, under pressure from France, which is leading an international push for reforms.

Lebanese Journalist Ali Hamada: The Verdict Issued In The Rafiq Al-Hariri Murder Trial Implicates Hizbullah In The Crime; Hizbullah Is The Embodiment Of Terror And A Threat To Our Future

MEMRI/September 08/2020
On August 18, 2020, the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, established to deliver justice in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri, issued its verdict. The tribunal convicted senior Hizbullah operative Salim 'Ayyash of involvement in the murder, but acquitted three other Hizbullah members due to insufficient evidence.
Responding to the verdict in his column in the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily, journalist 'Ali Hamada wrote that, although the tribunal did not convict all four defendants, it is wrong to say that it cleared Hizbullah or the Syrian regime of responsibility for the assassination, because the defendant who was convicted, Salim 'Ayyash, is a senior Hizbullah official to this day. Moreover, he said, a close reading of the verdict leads to the conclusion that Hizbullah was involved in the crime and committed it as an agent of the Bashar Al-Assad regime and of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Hamada added that Hizbullah has occupied Lebanon and controls it using its agents and subordinates, and that it is the embodiment of terror and intimidation, responsible for the severe crisis in Lebanon and for its isolation in the Arab and international community. He called on Lebanon's government and president to arrest Salim 'Ayyash, who was tried in absentia and is still at large, and bring him to justice, even at the cost of a confrontation with Hizbullah. He also called on the Lebanese to appeal to the international community and show it that there are still voices in Lebanon that oppose Hizbullah.
The following are translated excerpts from Hamada's article:
"Although the [supporters] of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Al-Hariri were angry that the special tribunal investigating his murder was unable to gather sufficient decisive evidence to convict all [four] defendants, and although [the verdict] did not mention [certain other individuals] associated with this terrorist crime, it is nevertheless a mistake to claim that the tribunal acquitted Hizbullah and the Syrian regime of the crime. This is because the defendant who was convicted based on decisive evidence that convinced the tribunal [of his guilt, namely Salim 'Ayyash,] is closely associated with Hizbullah and was part of [this organization's] security apparatus. 'Ayyash was a close associate of Mustafa Badr Al-Din, who [before being killed] was Hizbullah's second highest ranking military and security chief. Moreover, whoever examines all parts of the verdict discovers that the tribunal placed the [assassination] in a terroristic political context and associated it with motives of the Syrian regime and Hizbullah.
"Hence, Rafiq Al-Hariri's supporters and the broader independent circles [in Lebanon] are wrong to think that the verdict exonerated Hizbullah or the [Syrian] regime, for Salim 'Ayyash continues to be a Hizbullah security chief wanted for a grievous crime, and the world understands that a large apparatus planned [this crime] and devoted considerable resources to it. [Furthermore,] Hizbullah did not renounce Salim 'Ayyash at any stage. On the contrary, it regards him as one of the organization's 'saints'! [Similarly], the members of Hizbullah are wrong to rejoice as they did two days ago when the verdict was published, because the tribunal did accuse Hizbullah, in some manner, of perpetrating this terrorist crime, and everybody understands that [Hizbullah] committed this crime as an agent of Bashar Al-Assad's regime and Iran's [Islamic] Revolutionary Guards [Corps]. When the public… calls on Hizbullah to turn Salim 'Ayyash in, it clearly places responsibility for Al-Hariri's murder on Hizbullah. Everyone who fought for the establishment of this tribunal respects the verdict that was published.
"Hizbullah has demonstrated once again to what extent it is one of the elements that are always fomenting civil war [in Lebanon], whether by means of assassinations, or through the political intimidation it has been practicing for years, or even by maintaining a sort of secret internal occupation that hides behind whoever holds the positions of prime minister, parliament speaker and president, and behind various political parties…"

Protest actions in Sidon since October 2019 have continued, despite multiple efforts to repress them.
Miryam Swaidan/Carnegie MEC/September 08/2020
As Lebanon’s economic crisis has worsened, with no solution in sight and little but further collapse and poverty on the horizon, the protest movement in Sidon that emerged in October 2019 has kept up its actions. It has done so despite the movement’s loss of momentum in other parts of the country, and in defiance of attempts to snuff it out.
Sidon has seen a string of marches and gatherings due to the deteriorating economic and social situation, with criticism focusing on Lebanon’s banks, in particular the central bank, and money changers. Protestors have also targeted the Hasbat Saida fruit and vegetable market, where prices have skyrocketed in a way that has not reflected the shift in the Lebanese pound-U.S. dollar exchange rate.
The suicide of ‘Alaa al-Saidawi, a man of 20 who hanged himself in his bedroom, passed largely unnoticed in Sidon, and Lebanon more generally. ‘Alaa committed suicide after losing his job at a restaurant. He was not alone, however, and is one of many people in the city without work because of the economic crisis and the sharp fall in the pound’s value. Another Sidonian also killed himself recently over his financial difficulties. Several others have poured fuel on themselves in public squares in further suicide attempts.
However, this has not stopped the Sidon protest movement. Activists have vowed to carry on despite the circumstances and the fact that attendance at their rallies has subsided due to Covid-19 fears in Lebanon. They have also held new kinds of protests, most of them outside utility companies, such as the electricity and water utilities and the Ogero telecoms company. Recently, people demonstrated outside the municipality building to protest against the fact that Sidon’s trash processing plant, which was set up several years ago to deal with the garbage crisis, has still not opened due to political wrangling. As Sidon doesn’t host ministries or company headquarters like Beirut, most protests have taken place outside the municipality building, the main representative of state authority.
The strange thing is the total lack of media coverage of these manifestations. After television channels covered Sidon intensively at the start of the uprising, particularly during the first three months, they have been totally absent of late. This has pushed many Sidonians to alter their methods. Most protests no longer attract more than a hundred people, down from the more than 1,000 in the early days. The movement now relies, instead, on its Facebook page, Saida Tantafed (Sidon Rises Up), to publish its news and publicize events.
The city’s protest movement passed through several key stages that have defined the course of events. Things took a violent turn when protesters attacked banks for effectively holding their deposits hostage, prompting more violence from the security forces. The first stage came with the bombing of a local branch of Fransabank on April 25 because the banks’ were blocking withdrawals, particularly of U.S. dollars. After a review of CCTV footage, two Saida Tantafed activists, Waddah Ghanwi and Mahmoud Mroueh, were charged with causing the blast.
A second significant stage was the escalation in repression of activists by security forces, to the point of beatings, forced disappearances, and electrocution. Activist ‘Alaa ‘Antar was one of seven young men arrested last April near the municipality building, and tortured for four days. In a video posted online, he told the story of what he and several other detained activists had suffered at the hands of the Lebanese Army. “They started hitting us as soon as we were in the army vans,” he said. “They blindfolded us and kept beating us, then one of the soldiers wet one of my socks and electrocuted me. They beat us like crazy and humiliated us in all kinds of ways.”
The protesters’ defense team said in a statement that many of the detainees “were subjected to intense violence during their arrest, inside [military] vehicles and at Army Intelligence detention centers, according to the testimony of lawyers who interviewed them and of detainees released so far. [This] is intended to extract information and punish the detainees, and could amount to crimes of torture.”
Violence by the security agencies has increased of late, especially since the announcement of Covid-19 lockdown measures. Such practices violate two laws—Law No. 65 of 2017 banning torture and Law No. 105 of 2018 outlawing forced disappearances—as well as international treaties to which Lebanon is a signatory.
Human rights groups have documented attacks and violence by security forces against activists. These appear to reflect a decision at the political level to repress the demonstrations by installing a police state aimed at forestalling any form of change that could threaten the ruling oligarchy. Amnesty International has responded by calling on the Lebanese authorities to take all possible measures to protect peaceful protesters and respect their right to freedom of assembly, including by closing streets and refraining from breaking up peaceful rallies by force.
The protestors in the streets of Sidon have built up their sense of awareness in the months since October 17, 2019, with debate sessions and forums notable for the wide range of participants—including communists, Islamists, Nasserites, and Hariri supporters—who would have never met prior to the uprising. The protesters’ determination is summed up in one phrase often heard in Sidon: “We’re carrying on.”

The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy: Academic Freedom Upheld: Case Dismissed involving Phares’ Book, ‘Future Jihad’
WASHINGTON, DC, USA/EINPresswire.com/September 8, 2020
Academic Freedom Upheld: Case Dismissed involving Phares’ Book, ‘Future Jihad’
American Mideast Coalition for Democracy’s advisor, Dr. Walid Phares, was gratified by the decision to dismiss the case brought by Mohamed Sabra and the Council on American Islamic Relations of Arizona against Maricopa County Community College and Professor Nicholas Damask in federal court. CAIR’s attorneys argued that Sabra “was punished for refusing to agree with an anti-Muslim professor’s unconstitutional condemnations of Islam during a Political Science class” and that he was forced to disavow his religion.
The ruling held that merely being exposed to ideas which are contrary to a student’s own, and being asked to demonstrate an understanding of those ideas, does not in any way constitute harm. It is, in fact, a central object of education. The ruling states:
"Examining the course as a whole, a reasonable, objective observer would conclude that the teaching’s primary purpose was not the inhibition of religion. The offending component was only a part of one-sixth of the course and taught in the context of explaining terrorism. One aspect of terrorism is “Islamic terrorism.” Only in picking select quotes from the course can one describe the module as anti-Islam. Dr. Damask also quotes Peter Bergen for the view that the terrorist threat comes from radical terror groups that represent a “twisted” variant of Islam as a whole. Further, as Plaintiff’s counsel misstated in oral argument, Question 19 of Dr. Damask’s quiz on terrorism states: “Walid Phares notes that although ‘gullible’ Westerners are taught that jihad can have two meanings, people in the Arabic world understand that its overwhelmingly obvious meaning is______.” (Doc. 1, Ex. 3). This question merely asks students to identify the opinion of Walid Phares regarding Islam, not to adopt his position on Islam.
"Thus, the Court finds that the primary effect of Dr. Damask’s course is not the inhibition of the practice of Islam. Therefore, the Plaintiffs’ Establishment Clause claims must be dismissed pursuant to Rule 12(b)(6)."
“Besides,” said Imam Mohammed Hajj Hassan of Detroit, “Dr Walid Phares has no position regarding any religion, including Islam. He doesn’t write on theology. His books and articles address a political and ideological movement, a very specific one, the Islamists, otherwise known as Jihadists.” He added, “But CAIR, a political movement, wants to politicize academia and claim the issue is about the core of a religion, which it is not. It is about history in the Middle East, which they want to be interpreted based on their ideological agenda. Phares said that most people in the region know exactly what Jihad is, it is embedded in history and argued that the way that concept is taught in the West is different. CAIR wants to impose its own interpretation on the classroom. The professor wanted to present multiple views. The court understood it was about freedom of thought not religion.”
The court also ruled that the Council on American Islamic Relations had no standing to sue. It is well known that CAIR was formed as a front group for the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas in the U.S., although they pose as a human rights organization. They are listed as a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates.
“If somehow CAIR had won this lawsuit,” said AMCD co-chair, John Hajjar, “one part of the Constitution (guaranteeing freedom of religion) would be used to suppress another freedom – freedom of speech. This is clearly not what the Founders envisioned.”
“Freedom of thought is essential for the full flowering of human potential,” added AMCD co-chair, Tom Harb. “All ideas, including religious ideas, must be subject to examination and debate. Without this essential freedom, human progress is impossible.”
“I am very pleased by this ruling, even if it did involve a slight misunderstanding of my work,” remarked Dr. Phares. “I am very gratified that academic freedom was protected by the court.”
Rebecca Bynum
The American Mideast Coalition for Democracy
+1 615-775-6801

Macron, Us and…Reality!
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat//September 08/2020
Some of us might not agree with everything that French President Emmanuel Macron did in Lebanon. Indeed, some want more, especially concerning Hezbollah’s weapons. But there is no harm in recalling some of what preceded his second visit: On the official opposition level, there was no political engagement with the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Al-Rai’s call for neutrality. The laxity manifested in the former prime ministers performance, especially Saad Hariri, the most prominent among them, impeded the formation of a solid bloc of pressure which Macron could've used.
On the popular opposition level, no real achievements were attained regarding the formation of a parallel power that is unified and cohesive. Sectarian configurations, once again, hindered the emergence of any other effective bodies.
On the level of those in power: they are in the gutter. They are unable to remove the rubble weighing down heavily on victims whose fate is still unknown. They are unable to prevent insults from being hurled on them. They are incapable of the slightest reform and lack the slightest bit of dignity.
Besides pain and collapse, what did Macron find in Lebanon? He found folklore and nostalgia, thus was his visit to Fairouz. The country was lying flat on its back on rock bottom. This absolute emptiness is what made the French president act as though he deputizes the Lebanese state and Lebanese society. He found himself facing Lebanon’s nothingness. But instead of paying attention to our responsibility for this, some found their opportunity to play the morbid game and repeat the same old rhetoric: the colonialism of France and Macron
The centenary celebrations of the French General Henri Gouraud’s announcement of the establishment of “Greater Lebanon” provided the perfect occasion to pour out this rhetoric. “Assad’s Syria”, which displaced its people, hosts countless occupiers, relies on Russian and Iranian forces to support its regime and, almost daily, is hit with Israeli strikes as it simply watches, threw its hat in the ring, celebrating the late Yusuf al-Azma, who fought the French and died in the Battle of Maysalun.
The destruction of Lebanon, Syria and a considerable number of Arab states, under the auspices of their very national regimes, did not change a letter in that dull criticism of what colonialism had done to us. The explicit and growing desire among our peoples for the “mandate’s return” (which will certainly not be coming back) did not impede the critics or compel anyone to contemplate the Arab independence projects’ fatal failure.
The arguments have not changed: the French and the British destroyed the Ottoman Empire (which was blown up in the climate of the First World War by its own gradual and prolonged disintegration), and they divided our region (which had not been united in any sense), and created artificial entities (more than three-quarters of the countries worldwide are artificial entities).
Have we provided alternative and viable frameworks for the models that colonialism brought us? No. Have we established sound models for governance, wealth distribution, civil liberty and reduced our dependence on the extended kinship system? No. This kind of criticism that maintains its loyalty to its canons is irrelevant. It is not struck by the fact that we have tried anti-colonial regimes in their different forms: We have tried the military and security regimes that raise the banner of nationalism. This happened in Egypt with Nasserism, and in Iraq and Syria, with the Baathists, and in Gaddafi’s Libya. We tried the Marxist-Leninist regime and the “leadership of the working class” in what used to be called South Yemen. We tried the Islamic rule that praises conflict with the West in Khomeinist Iran and the Sudan of Hassan al-Turabi and Omar al-Bashir.
In general, the results were devastating. Nationalists, Leftists, and Islamist regimes were all the same and could only be compared to one another according to the degree of devastation created. The global models that these regimes tried to emulate, from Southern and Eastern Europe, did not fare any better and were not any more viable. And because the old Lebanon presented, precisely due to its relations with the democratic West, a relatively refined parliamentary experience, militant and jihadist armed groups went about dragging it toward the swamp by its hair.
The time has come for us to review this jejune project in its entirety. To compare its replete failures to its meager and contested accomplishments. The fact is that, due to this dire scarcity of achievements, we have found nothing with which to define ourselves but anti-colonialism. When colonialism ended, we were left without a self-identity. Without meaning. We retrieve and repeat our old vocabulary, call on colonialism so that we may be called back into being.
Is it not very indicative that Macron’s visit came as Hezbollah and its subordinates were calling on us to “head East,” only to find that we, and Hezbollah, were heading West? This, as everyone agrees, hinges on the US and its presidential elections. This is the reality of the situation, whether we like it or not. Let us live in the real world for once.

Palestinian leaders are trying to navigate outside the pale of history
Khairallah Khairallah/The Arab Weekly/September 08/2020
The only hope left for the Palestinian cause is the Palestinian people themselves, not their current leaders.
The so-called leaders of various Palestinian factions held a meeting via a closed-circuit teleconference between Beirut and Ramallah.
Frankly, it was a meeting totally removed from history.
If this meeting was indicative of anything, it was these leaders’ inability to deal with reality and with the developments that have taken place on the Palestinian issue in recent years, especially since the fall of Iraq in 2003 and the emergence of the true expansionist nature of the Iranian project, soon followed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s own expansionist adventures.
For Iran and Turkey, Palestine and the Palestinians are a business asset. They will use them at every turn to up the ante in their war on the Arabs and even on the Palestinians themselves. Wouldn’t any of the so-called Palestinian leaders expose that? Who among the Palestinian leaders dared speak openly about the Iranian and Turkish roles, which are frankly empty of any content?
While Palestinian leaders continued to ignore this reality, Israeli society veered to the far right under an American administration ready to provide the necessary cover for Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s agenda. You can’t have a clearer evidence for this fact than the transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem and America’s recognition of a united Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
It is strange that none of those who met via the closed circuit between Ramallah and Beirut raised questions such as: How has the annexation of East Jerusalem gone unnoticed? Where was Iran in all of this? The great Islamic Republic even dedicated a day in its yearly calendar for Jerusalem. It is the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan. But did it help liberate one single building or landmark in Jerusalem? And what about Erdogan’s bids? What happened to the great Turkish sultan’s 2010 adventure to break Gaza’s siege?
What the meeting has proven once again is that the current Palestinian leadership is no longer connected to the Palestinian cause in any way. All this leadership is interested in is how to stay in power. Hamas, on the other hand, is looking after its own special interests. These interests are summed up in preserving the “Islamic Emirate” established by the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood in the Gaza Strip with the aim of forcing its inhabitants to continue living in a large open-air prison. What else can one say about this Palestinian territory where, not so long ago, there used to be an airport named after Yasser Arafat and a decent border crossing with Egypt that was jointly supervised with observers from the European Union? Quite obviously, Hamas, after carrying out its coup in mid-2007, would rather forget those details, just as it refuses to remember the heinous crimes it committed against Fatah members.
Instead of the niceties Ismail Haniyeh had for Abu Mazen, why doesn’t the head of Hamas’s political bureau rather present a realistic political project aimed at restoring Palestinian unity instead of consolidating the rift between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip and deepening it more and more? Or perhaps his services to Israel and its policies prevent him from doing that?
As for the leaders and representatives of the other factions, they have become completely out of history and geography. The Popular Front and the Democratic Front, which are surviving on a loot from a bank robbery in Beirut in 1976, had garnered only 1% of the Palestinian votes in the legislative elections that were held in the West Bank and Gaza in early 2006. What a scandal for them!
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joined the meeting from Ramallah, while Ismail Haniyeh chimed in from Beirut. The latter seems to have preferred the Lebanese capital over Istanbul or Tehran, the usual sources of real support for his movement, which still lies outside the Palestine Liberation Organisation. From Beirut also joined the other representatives of the petty Palestinian factions and their leaders who came from Damascus, including a representative of the General Command of Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front. The Front turned out in the end to simply be a branch of the Syrian security services. How can the representatives of the Palestinian factions present in Damascus still claim to represent the Palestinian people in any way, especially when they were unable to protect the Palestinians in Yarmouk camp who were displaced by the Syrian regime?
There was much talk during the meeting, mostly polite talk with Abbas, while the dispute between Hamas and the Palestinian National Authority, that is, the Fatah movement, was skilfully avoided. The meeting was just another Palestinian scandal. It revealed that the so-called factional leaders have nothing to offer but slogans and grandiose rhetoric, much like the fiery speeches that we used to hear in Beirut in the 1970s and early 1980s.
I guess the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian factions are still living in the distant past. During their meeting, there was no indication that anyone has learned the lessons of the Palestinian experiences in Jordan, then in Lebanon, then in Tunisia, or from the experience after the signing of the Oslo Accords. Between living in the past and living off of slogans, what would be the way out of the current miserable status quo? What is still preventing the Palestinian leadership from taking a historic step towards holding presidential and legislative elections?
There is hope that these elections might ensure the transfer of power to a new generation of Palestinian leaders free of the complexes of the past and capable of dealing with the developments of the twenty-first century. There is still a Palestinian people with a solid national identity. These people now know what the setbacks that the Palestinian cause suffered mean in light of extremely complex regional conditions.
About seven million Palestinians are still living on Palestinian land and they know how to manage their affairs and adapt to changes, whether within the framework of one state or two states or a confederation with Jordan. They know that Israel’s goal is to seize the largest part of the West Bank, and that they must fight this project with tools and methods other than slogans and threats that the National Authority makes from time to time.
These threats only indicate a constant desire to flee forward. How could a person like Abu Mazen or others like him be serious about threatening Israel, knowing that to go from Ramallah to Amman they need to have a permit from Israel?
The only hope left for the Palestinian cause is the Palestinian people themselves, not their current leaders. So why doesn’t the National Authority have pity on its people and give them a chance to elect a new leadership that deals with the occupation using a different language? As a matter of fact, such elections are the only service that the Palestine National Authority is still able to provide to the Palestinians…

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 08-09/2020

Syria Kurds Transfer Some ISIS-Linked Foreign Families from Camp
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Syrian Kurds have started to transfer the "least radical" foreign women and their children linked to the ISIS group out of an overcrowded camp in northeast Syria to begin rehabilitation, an official said Tuesday. So far 76 families have been moved since July from Al-Hol to the Roj camp at their request after showing remorse over their ties to the extremist group, Kurdish official Sheikhmous Ahmed told AFP. He did not give their nationalities, but Kurdish authorities say foreigners in Al-Hol hail from around 50 countries. After years of spearheading the fight against ISIS with backing from a US-led international coalition, Syria's Kurds hold thousands of foreigners suspected of supporting the extremist group in their custody. These include alleged fighters in jails, but also thousands more women and children related to them in displacement camps -- many in the sprawling tent city of Al-Hol. Aid groups have repeatedly deplored living conditions in the camp where more than half of its 65,000 inhabitants are under the age of five, and Kurdish authorities reported the first coronavirus case among residents in late August. "The Roj camp has been expanded in coordination with the United Nations... and the international coalition to transfer foreign ISIS children and women after they asked to leave Al-Hol," Ahmed said. They are the "least radical" and "ready to be rehabilitated", he added. "They have asked to return to their countries and reintegrate into society, and have shown remorse." He said 395 families were expected to be moved from Al-Hol to Roj in total, where they would live in their own individual tent and where the face veil worn by radical ISIS followers is not allowed. Local officials have reported several incidents of ISIS followers attacking guards or aid workers in Al-Hol in recent months, or attempting to escape.
Western countries have been largely reluctant to repatriate their ISIS-linked nationals held in northeast Syria, though some have brought home women and children on a case-by-case basis.

UN Detects Virus Cases in Syrian Refugee Camp in Jordan
Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The UN agency for refugees said Tuesday it has confirmed two coronavirus cases in the Azraq camp for Syrian refugees in Jordan. They are the first infections to be detected among Syrians living in refugee camps in Jordan, which are home to more than 100,000 Syrians displaced by that country´s civil war.
The UNHCR says the two patients have been transferred to quarantine facilities and their neighbors have been isolated as more testing is carried out. Azraq is home to some 36,000 Syrian refugees, while the larger Zaatari camp houses some 76,000. Jordan hosts a total of more than 650,000 Syrian refugees.
"This is the first confirmed case of coronavirus in refugee camps in Jordan," the UNHCR said in a statement. "It is a reminder that everyone has been affected by this epidemic, and solutions must be addressed through international solidarity and cooperation."

Arab FMs Meet on Wednesday to Tackle Latest Developments in Palestinian Cause
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The 154th regular session of the Arab League Council kicked off on Monday at the level of permanent delegates to prepare for the meeting of Arab foreign ministers, which will be held on Wednesday. The session was chaired by Palestine, whose ambassador stressed his full commitment to the Arab Peace Initiative. Wednesday’s meeting will be held via videoconference due to the novel coronavirus pandemic, with the latest developments in the Palestinian cause topping the agenda. Palestinian representative to the Arab League, Diab Al-Louh said the meeting will be held as the Palestinian cause is witnessing a complicated and unprecedented phase. He added that the Palestinian leadership has repeatedly underlined that it does not interfere in the internal affairs of Arab countries, but it also reiterated the demand that Arab countries respect the independence of the Palestinian national decisions and the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people. Among these rights, he said, is ending the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. The ambassador reiterated Palestine’s commitment to peace as a strategic choice to resolve the conflict with Israel, based on the two-state solution, international resolutions and the principle of land for peace.

In Sign of Escalation, Turkey Resumes Weapons Shipments to Libya
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Turkey continues to send military cargo planes loaded with weapons to Libya, less than 24 hours after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met the head of the Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA), Fayez al-Sarraj, in Istanbul.
Itamilradar website, which specializes in monitoring military aircraft, reported that Turkish flights to Libya are ongoing, noting that on Monday morning, a Turkish Air Force Airbus A.400M “Atlas” landed in Misrata from Istanbul. It returned to Turkey after unloading its cargo. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that a new batch of about 450 Turkish-backed mercenaries have returned from Libya to Syria, after completing their contracts. Ankara had dispatched them to the North African country to fight alongside the GNA against Libyan National Army (LNA), commanded by Khalifa Haftar. The mercenaries were transported from Tripoli’s Mitiga airport to Istanbul, and they will be sent to areas under the control of Turkish-backed factions in Syria’s Aleppo countryside. Turkey has sent 17,420 Syrian mercenaries to Libya, including 350 under the age of 18. Some 2,500 are Tunisian members of terrorist groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda. Some 6,700 of the mercenaries have since returned to Syria after their contracts ended and they received their financial dues. Turkey, however, is still bringing in more mercenaries to its training camps before sending them to Libya. During his talks with Sarraj, Erdogan stressed that Turkey’s priority is to ensure stability in Libya by protecting its political unity and territorial integrity. In a statement from the Turkish presidency said Erdogan called on the international community to assume a "principled stance" in this regard. It described the Istanbul meeting as fruitful, saying the two parties agreement to develop bilateral relations in order to achieve peace, security and prosperity for the Libyan people. The Turkish president renewed his support to Libya, stressing that achieving peace and calm in Libya will benefit the whole region, especially neighboring countries and Europe. The meeting also addressed the steps to protect the rights of Turkey and Libya in the Eastern Mediterranean and terms to strengthen the cooperation under the deal signed between the two countries, according to the statement. For his part, Sarraj expressed his appreciation for Turkey's support to the GNA, and efforts to ensure the success of the political settlement that will allow the Libyans to return to the constitutional course and hold legislative and presidential elections.

Israel Accuses Hamas of Resuming Bombings in Central Region
Tel Aviv- Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Israeli security services have accused Hamas Movement in the Gaza Strip of resuming bombings in cities of the central region as well as settlements, claiming it “plans to escalate.”Many collaborators with Hamas had been arrested in the past year before carrying out their operations, an Israeli official said on Monday. He expected that the movement would have recruited a number of Palestinians in the West Bank and even residents of Israel (Palestinians 48) for this purpose. According to the official, Hamas aims to take advantage of the cessation of security coordination between the Israeli army and the Palestinian security services. Besides seeking to raise issues that cover its failures in dealing with the economic and health crisis in the Strip, Hamas is also trying to prove its presence as an essential element for negotiations with Israel to reach a long-term ceasefire. On Monday, Israel’s Security Agency (Shin Bet) announced the arrest of nine Palestinian citizens in Israel, who reside in the Bedouin town of Shaqib al-Salam, and claimed they were a Hamas-affiliated cell that was planning to detonate an explosive device at Bilu Junction in the south. Mahmoud Maqdad, 30, was arrested on August 15 after he regretted his approval to carry out the operation and detonated the device in a remote area to get rid of it. During interrogations, he revealed that Hamas seeks to recruit other people from Israel and the West Bank to carry out operations. Indictments on serious security offenses would be filed against Mahmoud and Ahmad Maqdad at the Beersheba District Court, while the others are expected to receive simple charges. Maqad is originally from Rafah and lives there with his wife and children. Yet, he worked in Israel and married a second woman from the Negev, so he started moving freely between Gaza Strip and Israel through the Israeli Beit Hanoun (Erez) border crossing. According to the Shin Bet, Hamas took advantage of his situation and recruited him through its Izz el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades in late 2019. In the beginning, they requested him to provide them with information and pictures about the missile defense system (Iron Dome) in the southern region of the country, as well as several military areas. Then, he received training on how to disassemble and install the explosive device and plant it in the appropriate place, and how to activate and detonate it. Mahmoud informed his family members and acquaintances about this secret and recruited nine of them, mainly from Shaqib al-Salam. The Shin Bet said they are all considered accomplices and accused some of them of either knowing about or helping to plan the attack.

Libyan National Army Criticizes Morocco Talks
Cairo – Khaled Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
Libyan National Army (LNA) spokesman Ahmed al-Mismari said the military has not officially commented on the ongoing dialogue between delegations from the High Council of State and east-based parliament in Morocco. “We always seek security and peace,” he stressed. Implicitly criticizing the talks, he added: “We are now in a whirlwind. I have received dozens of calls from activists and clan elders who are inquiring about the nature of these talks.”He said it was unfortunate that the parliament did not clarify its goal. Mismari also criticized the failure to appoint a new head to the United Nations Support Mission in Libya to succeed Ghassan Salame, speaking of a diplomatic dispute over the post. Talal al-Mayhoub, head of the parliamentary defense and national security committee, had on Sunday said that the Morocco talks would be a “waste of time” if they did not take a decisive position on demanding the withdrawal of Turkish forces and foreign mercenaries and militias from Libya. Parliament spokesman Abdullah Bhelig, however, said the parliament’s delegation in Morocco has been tasked with reaching understandings over “sovereign” positions. The talks will then pave the way for UN-sponsored political dialogue.
Meanwhile, head of the High Council of State, Khalid al-Mishri said the talks in Morocco are “unofficial consultations aimed at reaching means to start dialogue. They are not exactly the beginning of dialogue.”The delegations are searching for ways to return to the point where dialogue was stopped, he explained.

Libyan Talks Hosted by Morocco Kept under Wraps
Bouznika (Morocco) - Hatem Betioui/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The ongoing dialogue between Libya’s High Council of State and east-based parliament continued in Morocco on Monday with participants remaining tight-lipped over the proceedings. Member of the High Council of State delegation, Abdulsalam al-Safrani said the discussions were being held in “positive” conditions. Speaking from Bouznika south of Rabat where the dialogue is being held, he expressed his optimism that “understandings may be reached.” The talks are focusing on the political and institutional division, he revealed. The delegations addressed the issue of audit authorities “because they feel that this is a matter that concerns all Libyans. It is because of them that services deteriorated in Libya, leading to the spread of corruption,” he remarked. The two parties had kicked off their talks on Sunday, met again on Monday and are due to meet again on Tuesday. They hailed Morocco’s “honest” intentions and keenness on providing the necessary fraternal conditions to hold their discussions in hopes of reaching a solution to the Libyan crisis. In Egypt, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri telephoned his Moroccan counterpart Nasser Bourita to tackle the latest developments on Libya as part of their efforts to reach a settlement in the country. An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Shoukri underscored Cairo’s firm support to these efforts that are aimed at reaching a political solution that would preserve Libya’s sovereignty and unity, restore security and stability, safeguard its resources and confront terrorism, extremism and foreign meddling. They agreed to continue their consultations and coordination and intensify their contacts with influential political forces in Libya and with international partners, including the United Nations mission in Libya, African Union and Arab League. The Arab League, for its part, hailed the ongoing talks to push forward inter-Libyan dialogue. In a statement ahead of the Arab foreign ministers meeting on Tuesday, it said it was closely following the Bouznika talks, calling on all Libyan parties to show good intentions towards all efforts aimed at reaching a national and complete solution to their country’s conflict.

Burhan Visits Eritrea, Discusses 'Security Situation' with Afwerki
Khartoum - Ahmad Youness/Asharq Al-Awsat/Tuesday, 8 September, 2020
The President of Sudan’s Transitional Sovereign Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, discussed with Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki the security and border situation and the developments on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD). Burhan arrived in the Eritrean capital, Asmara, for a one-day visit accompanied by a high-ranking security and military delegation. The delegation accompanying Burhan and the timing of the visit indicate its security nature and is linked to the ongoing tensions in eastern Sudan, in the wake of the recent tribal conflicts in Kassala after the appointment of the civilian governor. Asharq Al-Awsat learned that Burhan and Afwerki discussed bilateral and regional relations, in the wake of tension on the border. Burhan is expected to have discussed with Afwerki the mechanisms for ending the issue in eastern Sudan, especially that Asmara faces a strong opposition which benefits from the instability in eastern Sudan. President Afwerki visited Sudan last June for two days, after Burhan visited Eritrea in June 2019. The exchanged visits came after the two countries cut their diplomatic relations and closed the border during the rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir.
Relations between the two countries witnessed severe tensions in February 2018, after the former government of al-Bashir closed the border between the two countries, sending large military reinforcements. He claimed the Eritrean government had massed large forces near its borders with Sudan, sheltered the opposition, and encouraged the smuggling of goods from Sudan. Analysts indicate that members of the isolated Islamist regime are collaborating in eastern Sudan with the Ethiopian extremist organizations to increase tensions on the border. The Sudanese transitional authority aims to restore security and peace in the country. After achieving a breakthrough by signing the peace agreement with armed movements in Darfur, South Kordofan, and Blue Nile, the authority seeks to establish security and stability in the eastern region, which has witnessed several ethnic conflicts.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 08-09/2020

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: 'There Is No Power That Can Stand In The Way Of This Country'; We Will Not Hesitate To Sacrifice Martyrs In This Fight - Are The People Of Greece, France, Certain North African And Gulf Countries Prepared To Make Such Sacrifices?
MEMRI/September 08/2020
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an August 30, 2020 speech in Ankara that was uploaded to his official YouTube channel that Turkey is not a society with an army but a "nation that is an army within itself, [...] there is no power that can stand in the way of this country." He said that Turkey will not hesitate to sacrifice martyrs in the fight against its enemies. Erdoğan asked whether the peoples of Greece, France, and certain countries in North Africa and the Persian Gulf are prepared to make the same sacrifices because of their "greedy and incompetent leaders." He stated that Turkey has never been a colonizer, rather it is a civilization that conquers the hearts. Erdoğan added that the fact that Turkey is brought to the forefront of negative subjects is a sign of the fascism and animosity of its opponents.
"We Are Not A Society That Has An army – We Are A Nation That Is Itself An Army"
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: "As some historians have said, we are not a society that has an army – we are a nation that is itself an army.
"When we combine our technological superiority, our fully developed human resources, and our spiritual power... With Allah's permission, there is no power that can stand in the way of this country.
"We Do Not Run Away From A Fight[;] We Will Not Hesitate To Sacrifice Martyrs..."
"Now, with a more booming voice, with a more sincere faith, and with more trust in ourselves than yesterday, we say to our enemies: 'Bring it on.' Everyone who would stand against us on land, at sea, and in the air has seen Turkey's legitimacy and its determination in protecting its rights, interests, and capabilities based on international law. Be sure that those who have not seen it will face this reality in the field, at the diplomatic table, and in international platforms. We do not run away from a fight. We will not hesitate to sacrifice martyrs and wounded people in this fight. For our independence and our future, we will not hold back from roaring all together as 83 million people, and running over the dams that get in our way, like a flood.
"The real question is this: Can those who oppose us in the Mediterranean Sea and around it accept the risk of the same sacrifices? Do the people of Greece accept what will happen to them because of their greedy and incompetent leaders?
"Do the people of France accept the price they will pay because of their greedy and incompetent leaders?
"Are the brotherly peoples of some North African and countries in the Gulf content with their futures growing darker as a result of their greedy and incompetent leaders? The citizens of countries that are tens of thousands of kilometers away and are eyeing Turkey's democracy, constitutional state, and regional interests – do they realize that this process will turn around and harm them?
"We are aware that we are under siege, and if they could, they would not give this nation [so much as] a breath of air, a sip of water, or a bite of bread. Everything we do, we have done despite them, and we will continue to do so.
"Throughout The World, And Particularly In Europe... Xenophobia, Islamophobia, Anti-Turkishness, And Discrimination Are On The Rise[;] The Fact That Turkey Is Being Brought To The Forefront... Is A Sign Of The Fascism And Animosity In The Back Of Their Minds"
"Throughout its history, Turkey has never been an aggressive country. The Turkish nation is one of the rare peoples that does not have the stain of colonialism in its past. Certainly, our civilization is one of conquest, but our understanding of conquest is not based on taking control of underground and aboveground riches along with land. On the contrary, our understanding of conquest is first the conquest of hearts.
"Throughout the world, and particularly in Europe, we are in a period in which xenophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Turkishness, and discrimination are on the rise. Despite this, the fact that Turkey is being brought to the forefront of every negative subject is not a vulnerability of our nation. Rather, it is a sign of the fascism and animosity in the back of their minds."

In Grip of the Pandemic and Turmoil
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat//September 08/2020
A person has no right to plunge into despair because a pandemic has invaded the world and laboratories have been late to find a cure that eliminates the incoming killer. The world has already seen more painful experiences that generated twice the number of victims. It is early to talk about the defeat of scientific progress, because the world will always face new problems that have not been previously solved, and new epidemics with underlying secrets. It is not possible to survive without having the necessary amount of resilience in the face of surprises.
The number of Covid-19 victims is still far less than the number of those who have died in global wars caused by reckless policies and furious races of interests. Faced with the delay in responding to the new challenge, it is worth remembering that science has succeeded several times in overcoming challenges and saving millions of lives.
It is not appropriate to question the capabilities of science in finding the required answers. It is not possible to use the outbreak of a pandemic as an argument to underestimate human progress as a whole. On the other hand, one cannot underestimate the losses caused by the coronavirus onslaught on the world.
Unemployment rates are registering a continuous increase, especially amid talk that the pandemic will not leave us any time soon. The economic losses are frightening, with unprecedented figures. It is important to point to a loss - the effects of which may become evident in the coming years – that is the disruption of education worldwide and the catastrophic damage, especially in countries that do not have an infrastructure that allows them to resort to distance learning.
This flood of losses on several levels heralds widespread unrest, if the world fails to launch a serious recovery plan. Countries, which were known to be generous, might limit their aid to the less fortunate, given the losses their economies have incurred as a result of the shutdown and disruption of the business cycle.
Another aspect of the crisis haunts the world. The pandemic struck mighty auras. China, from which the virus spread, could not contain it at birth. This great power paid the price for the emergence of this killer on its soil. Were it not for the strict measures provided by the nature of the system, the “factory of the world” would have been deactivated for a longer period, with all its implications on the supply and import chains, and the availability of goods in a world of intertwining destinies. Covid-19 struck the auras of great powers. The staggering rise in the number of deaths and infections in America has left a feeling of bitterness and disappointment. We are talking about the greatest force on Earth; about the country that has the most modern laboratories and the most prestigious universities. The pandemic has shown that there are battles that cannot be conquered quickly, even by major powers such as the United States. The pandemic shook the world’s only superpower and confused its days and possibly its electoral accounts as it entered crucial weeks without a vaccine in the markets.
It can also be said that the epidemic has disturbed the aura of Russia, which constantly reminds the world of its ability to produce hypersonic missiles that do not miss their targets.
The horror of the pandemic, however, did not ease the conflicts that preceded it. On the contrary, it contributed to the escalation of some disputes and revealed implicit intentions, as is the case with US-China relations.
The climate of the world has not changed despite the shock caused by Covid-19. The best evidence is what the eastern Mediterranean region is currently experiencing due to the race for wealth sparked by Erdogan’s insistence on imposing a new fait accompli in this region. But the clearest evidence comes from the new crisis looming between Europe and Russia due to the poisoning of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
The story is simple. Alexei Navalny is a well-known Russian blogger, writer and political activist. He does not hide his opposition to the president, and takes any opportunity to denounce what he describes as the corruption of the current era and its apparatus. He did not hesitate to describe Vladimir Putin’s party as “crooks and thieve”, who “suck the blood out of Russia…”
Despite the threats and attempts to employ the judiciary to create files incriminating him, he decided to proceed with his opposition until the end. Navalny got on the plane in Tomsk, Siberia, and was hoping to fly to Moscow. However, during the flight, he became ill and lost consciousness, so the plane had to land in another city, where he was rushed to hospital. Three days later, the authorities accepted his wife’s request to transfer him to Germany for treatment.
Before his departure, doctors in Russia denied finding any traces of poisoning in the body of the man lying in the intensive care room. But the resounding blow came from Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel personally said that the man was the victim of an attempted murder. She noted that someone “tried to silence him,” pointing to “serious questions that only the Russian government can answer, and is required to do so.”
German investigations showed that Navalny, who only had a cup of tea at the airport before the flight, was poisoned with Novichok, a chemical agent that was mentioned in 2018, when Moscow was accused of poisoning a former spy and his daughter in the British city of Salisbury. Novichok means “newcomer” in Russian. It is a chemical substance developed by the Soviet Union to have a more toxic effect than other chemical weapons.
The great powers did not learn the lesson that they were supposed to have been derived from the coronavirus pandemic, which is the need to freeze conflicts to confront the disaster of human and economic losses. That is why the world is currently living in the custody of both the pandemic and the turmoil, which have exorbitant costs.

Rolls-Royce Is Fast Becoming a British Calamity
Chris Bryant/Bloomberg/September 08/2020
When the employees of Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc read that coronavirus lockdowns and home-working have ignited a technology boom, they could be forgiven for weeping. The company makes the jet engines that power large passenger jets, which is one of the most technically complex engineering tasks known to man. And yet, most of Rolls-Royce’s products are grounded right now because hardly anyone’s flying. On Thursday the British manufacturer revealed the devastation inflicted on its business by Covid-19 travel restrictions: The 5.4 billion-pound ($7.1 billion) loss for the six months to June was one of the biggest profit shortfalls in UK corporate history.
A separate announcement that Rolls-Royce’s chief financial officer, Stephen Daintith, is jumping ship to Ocado Group Plc, an online grocer, compounded the gloom. It’s depressing that e-commerce is seen as a better destination than advanced engineering. But you can’t blame Daintith for grabbing a parachute. Ocado’s shares have doubled this year, valuing the company at almost 19 billion pounds. Rolls-Royce — the pride of British manufacturing — is worth a quarter of that, having lost two-thirds of its value in eight months. Technology companies aren’t all equal in this market.
Incredibly, the 5.4 billion-pound loss wasn’t even the most troubling number in Rolls-Royce’s financial statement. Its balance sheet liabilities now exceed its assets by 8 billion pounds. This partly reflects big swings in the value of currency derivatives, rather than the underlying health of the business. Nevertheless, the massive net liabilities are by far the largest of any European company, according to Bloomberg data. It’s a terrible look for a company that spends years developing new engines, and then makes most of its money from long-term service agreements. Customers need to be confident that it will be around to meet those maintenance obligations.
While Rolls-Royce’s airline customers have their own pandemic problems, they’ve good reason to worry about the financial health of a key supplier. When the coronavirus crisis is over, Rolls-Royce will need to invest heavily in new technology that cuts carbon emissions. It doesn’t have the balance sheet to do that. There’s enough money to keep the lights on for the next 12 months, including 8 billion pounds of cash and undrawn credit facilities. But if there’s a second virus wave that prevents airlines from resuming long-haul flying, things might get tight in the autumn of 2021, when Rolls-Royce must repay or replace a 1.9 billion-pound revolving credit facility. The accounts include a warning of material uncertainty over whether the company can continue as a going concern if the aviation recovery takes longer than expected.
Rolls-Royce is doing all it can to strengthen its defenses. Assets valued at more than 2 billion pounds have been marked for sale. But this is hardly a seller’s market. The company continues to burn through cash, and its net indebtedness (including lease liabilities) is projected to rise to almost 6 billion pounds by the end of this year. Returning to a positive cash position will take years.
A large equity raise looks unavoidable to restore confidence. Unless the share price recovers a lot before then — which is unlikely — shareholders who don’t participate will be heavily diluted.
The group is considering industrial partnerships to share the burden of developing of its next-generation Ultrafan engine — Rolls-Royce’s engineering pride and joy. But if things get much worse, questions will be asked about whether it should remain an independent company in such a capital-intensive industry. A merger — whether with British defense manufacturer BAE Systems Plc or another engine maker — would be a less precarious path to recovery.

Currency Markets Are Making a Dangerous Brexit Bet
John Authers/Bloomberg/September 08/2020
Maybe it is a sign of normality finally returning after the pandemic that Brexit is back in the headlines, and that politicians feel they have the license to put it there. But for now, the market is making a dangerous bet that the positioning from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson doesn’t need to be taken too seriously.
His government is planning to bring legislation this week that would effectively write into British law the negation of much of the deal it reached with the European Union only last year over how Northern Ireland’s border with the Republic of Ireland would be treated after Brexit. It was Johnson’s decision to concede ground on this issue at a meeting with Irish premier Leo Varadkar last October that enabled a negotiated settlement. Without giving way on Northern Ireland, the UK would have left with the dreaded “no-deal.”
Now, no-deal rears its ugly head again. The UK and EU have to negotiate a new trade treaty by the end of this year, to replace the one that held while Britain was a member. Without an agreement, the UK will revert to the baseline terms of the World Trade Organization — which would mean a sharp loss of competitiveness. The EU accounts for a far greater share of the UK’s exports than vice versa, so it appears to have greater negotiating leverage. Yet Johnson is setting Oct. 15 as a deadline to reach a deal, while also apparently promising to rip up the last one.
On the face of it, this is crazy, as my colleague Therese Raphael puts it, not to say breathtakingly reckless, and downright stupid. It might make for tricky internal politics for the UK’s Labor Party, as explained by Paul Waugh of the Huffington Post. The currency market seems to be working on the assumption that Johnson doesn’t mean it. This is a good gesture to give him a little more negotiating strength, and put his increasingly coherent domestic opponents on the back foot — but he surely won’t go through with breaking a treaty he’s only just signed. Such a move would take the UK’s international credibility with it.
That at least seems the best interpretation of a muted response in currency markets. Sterling is down, but has only retraced a small percentage of its strong rally against the dollar and euro. In the following chart, both currencies are indexed to Oct. 9, when Johnson and Varadkar went for their “walk in the woods” and came out with a critical concession on Northern Ireland.
The sharp sell-off to begin the week still leaves sterling slightly above its pre-walk-in-the-woods level against the euro, and still near its highs for the last three years versus the dollar. The pound’s softness against the euro shows that concern has been rising, but it could easily fall much further against both currencies.
That’s because Johnson might actually mean it. A piece by ITV News’s Robert Peston (full disclosure: a boss of mine in a former life) suggests Johnson and his team truly believe that the advantages of a “no-deal” Brexit would outweigh the disadvantages. The critical stumbling block isn’t over trade per se, but rather state aid — how much individual governments can subsidize companies and industries. Such aid can tip the scales of trade competition.
According to Peston, who is known to be close to Johnson’s Svengali-like adviser Dominic Cummings, Downing Street feels differently about that now. The Johnson/Cummings team believes it must have the discretion “to invest without fetter in hi-tech, digital, artificial intelligence and the full gamut of the so-called fourth industrial revolution.” Peston describes the following quote as a Cummings article of faith: "Countries that were late to industrialization were owned/coerced by those early (to it). "The same will happen to countries without trillion dollar tech companies over the next 20 years."
As far as Cummings and Johnson are concerned, the economic hit from breaking off trade terms with the EU would be a price worth paying.

Tesla, Biden and the Hype of a Green-Shaped Recovery
Anjani Trivedi/Bloomberg/September 08/2020
All things green tech are seeing the light of day as the global economy digs its way out of the pandemic slump. Valuations have been skyrocketing, with makers of electric cars and solar glass panels the stocks du jour. But there’s room for skepticism. Dubbed the Green-Shaped Recovery, the trend is projected to draw trillions of dollars of funding for more environmentally friendly projects and industry as well as climate mitigation jobs over coming decades. A lot rides on Joe Biden’s climate change plan. Victory for the Democratic candidate could take the global tally as high as $7 trillion. Regulatory guidelines on emissions that President Donald Trump rolled back would return in more stringent form. One outcome would be to incentivize the car market toward electric vehicles, away from internal combustion engine pickups and sport-utility vehicles.
A Trump re-election would vaporize some of those extra trillions, of course, but the green stimulus pile is still an impressive $1.71 trillion and growing, according to Credit Suisse Group AG analysts. Transport and infrastructure-related areas have received over $300 billion, mostly toward electrification. Wind and solar energy capacity will increase as the European Union’s Green Deal kicks in and the world, with or without the US, tries to reach decarbonization goals. That could mean an average 30% increase in valuations for companies that stand to benefit by 2035, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has forecast.
The flood of money has powered public markets to new highs, at least before last week’s rout. The prospect of the US, China and Europe all united on the green front has made a compelling case for investors. They should tread with care. Technology companies and their newer peers that have any “tech” have driven stock enthusiasm in recent weeks. Doubts around whether the rally has gone too far could hit the weakest link first. Backing companies that build solar panels and power grids, enabling energy generation and transmission, is one thing. Electric car companies that don't even make cars yet are another.
Consider the Chinese electric vehicle companies that went public in recent months. Five-year-old XPeng Inc., which sells itself as a smart EV manufacturer for the mid to high price segment, delivered 5,499 cars in the first six months of 2020, fewer compared to last year. Even allowing for the Covid factor, it continues to lose money. Guangzhou-based XPeng boasts full-stack autonomous driving technology, where, as Sanford C. Bernstein analysts put it, “success has so far eluded much larger rivals.” It managed to raise $1.5 billion in New York, more than hoped.
Li Auto Inc., which touts making “purely electric-driven” cars, has a solution to get around lack of charging infrastructure that sounds somewhat less pure. Here’s a description from the prospectus: “Its energy source and power come from both its battery pack and range extension system… (which) generates electricity with a dedicated ICE designed with high fuel consumption efficiency, an electric generator, and a speed reducer to connect them.” So, there’s an internal combustion engine, energy efficient or not.
No doubt, the Tesla Inc. effect has supercharged the hype, but such companies — if they even manufacture their own cars — don’t make enough to dominate in a single market, let alone surpass traditional vehicles. Manufacturers of good (though expensive) electric cars, like Audi AG’s e-tron and the Daimler AG-owned Mercedes-Benz EQC, haven’t gotten a pop on these models and are still struggling under broader auto sector gloom. A greener area to invest in might be recycling excess batteries based on older technologies still being manufactured and stockpiled, unable to be sold as the market anticipates cheaper and more efficient options. Meanwhile, mining for materials used in electric vehicles can cause considerable harm to biodiversity.
Clean infrastructure and utilities are less frothy, and may be a more fundamentally sound bet. National energy policies across Europe estimate 825 billion euros ($976.8 billion) of investment over the next decade. In China, less efficient operators with lower renewable generation like Huaneng Power International Inc. are adding new wind and solar capacity, presumably to generate more carbon credits to comply with an emission trading scheme. Despite the pandemic’s economic disruption, photovoltaic power capacity rose 20% and wind grew 11% in the first half from a year earlier. Solar energy product manufacturers like Xi’an-based Longi Green Energy Technology Co. have surged this year. So have renewable products like solar glass makers Xinyi Solar Holdings Ltd., up almost 70%, and sister company Xinyi Glass Holdings Ltd., more than 30% higher. They’re also benefiting from a demand-supply dynamic.
Going green isn’t just a priority at this point; it’s a necessity given climate change and its impacts — floods, drought and wild fires to name a few — ravaging the world. A transition to new technologies boosting energy efficiency requires big public capital expenditure toward upgrading infrastructure, like grids and charging stations. Private investment is right to take opportunities.
The case for green is real, but not for all companies claiming the color. There’s still a lot of sifting through to be done.

The Battle of Kulikovo: Russian Liberation from the Muslim Horde
Raymond Ibrahim/September 08/2020
Sergey Prisekin’s rendition of Kulikovo (1980)
Today in history, on September 8, 1380, Russia began its long march to liberation from the Tatar yoke, by way of a battle that is as important to Russian history as the battles of Tours and Vienna are to the West.
Although pagan when they conquered Russia around 1240, by 1300 the Mongols were thoroughly Islamized. Arabic was adopted, “the entire Muslim religious establishment of qadis, muftis, and the like arose in Sarai, the Golden Horde’s capital on the lower Volga,” and “sharia, Muslim religious law,” reigned supreme. “With this the Russo-Tatar conquest society entered the mainstream of Medieval Christian-Muslim frontier life,” that is, it entered into a familiar paradigm of enmity and war, punctuated only by vast sums of gold and slaves flowing from Russia to the Horde.
In 1327, Uzbek Khan’s cousin Shevkal—“the destroyer of Christianity,” according to a Russian chronicle—asked a boon of his khan: “allow me to go to Rus to destroy their Christian faith, to kill their princes and to bring you their wives and children.” Uzbek consented. At the head of a vast horde, Shevkal invaded Russia “with great haughtiness and violence. He inaugurated great persecution of the Christians, [using] force, pillage, torture, and abuse.” Nor were Russians ignorant of the reason behind their (renewed) sufferings: everywhere in their chronicles “they appear as defenders of the faith battling to save Christianity from marauding infidels driven by religious animosity.” Moreover, “Mongol atrocities” are always recorded “as incidents in a continuous religious war.”
When the Golden Horde’s infrastructure began to fracture from internal discord in 1359, the principality of Moscow (or Muscovy) began to defy its overlords. So Khan Mamai, seeking to squash the rebels and “impose Islam on the Russians,” made for Moscow with, according to sources, some 100,000 Turco-Tatars in 1380. Boasting that they would put their swords “to the test for the Russian land and the Christian faith” against “the armor of the Moslems,” the Russians accepted the challenge.
Under the general leadership of Grand Prince Dmitri Ivanovich of Moscow, some 50,000 Russians went out and met the khan at Kulikovo Field, near the Don River and other tributaries. The opposing armies were so vast as to be spread out over eight miles. The Christians strategically positioned themselves between rivers and dense forests, thereby limiting the Tatar horsemen’s maneuvering and flanking abilities.
“I will neither protect my face nor hide in the rear, but let us all brothers fight together,” Dmitri said in response to his nobles’ pleas to stay out of harm’s way: “I want to die for Christianity ahead of anyone else, with deed as well as word, so that all others who see it will become bold.” (More practically, explained the grand prince, “it is better that we fall in battle than become slaves of these infidels.”)
Once battle commenced on September 8, 1380—640 years ago today—“there was such a great massacre and bitter warfare and great noise, such as there never had been in Russian principalities,” writes the chronicler; “blood flowed like a heavy rain and there were many killed on both sides.” Although outnumbered two-to-one, the Russians, “seek[ing] revenge for Tatar offenses,” fought with a savage fury. True to his word, Dmitri was seen at the front “striking to the right and to the left, killing many; he himself was surrounded by many [Tatars] and was hit many times on his head and his body.”
After hours of fierce fighting and despite heavy casualties, the Russians, with the aid of hidden cavalry that had charged out of the surrounding thick woods, managed to rout the Muslims. And so Grand Prince Dmitri—who, on learning the Mongols had fled, instantly collapsed from heavy loss of blood and nearly died—led the first major Russian victory against their Tatar oppressors since their “yoke” began 150 years earlier. Thus the Battle of Kulikovo shattered the myth of Mongol invincibility and bestowed great honor on Moscow.
Even so, full liberation was still a century away. For in 1382, the regrouped and recovered Tatars invaded Moscow, nearly burning the entire city to the ground and leaving some 24,000 corpses in their wake. But the resilient duchy continued to be the chief Russian thorn in the Horde’s side. By 1409, Emir Edigei was warning Grand Prince Vasily Dmitrivich to stop withholding full payment of jizya—“lest evil befall your domain, and Christians meet their final doom, and our anger and war be upon you!” The warning ignored, Edigei came slaughtering, pillaging, and burning, including in Moscow, though he failed to take it.
For what was done at the Kulikovo Field could not now be undone; over the next few decades, Moscow continued to grow in strength and prestige even as the Horde continued to diminish in both. Finally, in October 1480—precisely one hundred years after Kulikovo—the two armies met at the Ugra River, and “thus ended the Horde tsars,” to quote a chronicler. “Then in our Russian Land we were freed from the burden of submission to the Muslim and began to recover as if from winter to clear spring.”
Note: All quotations in the above account were excerpted from and documented in the author’s book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. Raymond Ibrahim is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, and a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.

Turkey's 'Filthy War' Against Syria, Libya
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/September08/2020
The Turkish regime, about a month ago, cut off the water supply to residents of northern Syria, where the temperature in August easily reaches more than 39° Celsius (103° Fahrenheit). It is a move, human rights advocates said, that "amounts to crimes against humanity." They called for launching an international investigation into Erdogan's violations and "crimes."
Political analyst Mayyar Shehadeh pointed out that although the European Union has objected to Erdogan's "provocations", it has not taken any effective action to stop him from pursuing his violations against the civilians in northern Syria.
Maj. Gen. Ahmad Al-Mismari, spokesman of the Libyan National Army, warned Europe against the escalation of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean, and indicated that this migration may not be innocent: there may be terrorist elements among them that cause unrest in Europe.
"The move against Palestine is not a step that can be stomached," Erdogan said. The thirst-ravaged Syrian civilians near the border with Turkey and the victims of the civil war in Libya, however, do not seem to be worried about the Israel-UAE deal. Erdogan's victims want to see him held to account for his crimes against innocent civilians.
"The spirit of conquest is dominant in the modern Turkish political scene and their regional interventions. Rooted in the Ottoman 'law of the sword' – or the idea that the conqueror can rule a conquered country or territory according to his desires – Turkey has returned to its Ottoman ambitions." — Costas Mavrides, Cypriot member of the European Parliament and committee chair at The Union for the Mediterranean.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's human rights violations against Syrian civilians come amid increased indications that Turkey is stepping up its involvement in the civil war in Libya. According to some reports, Erdogan continues to assist "mercenaries" and Syrian militiamen heading to Libya to participate in the fighting between the warring parties there. Pictured: Erdogan (right) meets with Fayez al-Sarraj, the leader of one the two rival governments that control Libya, on June 4, 2020 in Ankara, Turkey. (Photo by Adem Altan/AFP via Getty Images)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is committing "horrific violations" against civilians in northern Syria, according to a report in the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper Al-Roeya on August 30.
As a result of these violations, a million civilians living in the area, parts of which are controlled by Turkey, are facing "an unprecedented humanitarian crisis."
Arab political analysts and human rights advocates who spoke to Al-Roeya said that the Turkish regime, about a month ago, cut off the water supply to the residents of the region, where the temperature in August easily reaches more than 39° Celsius (103° Fahrenheit). It is a move, they said, that "amounts to crimes against humanity." They called for launching an international investigation into Erdogan's violations and "crimes."
Syrian political activists said that Erdogan's "filthy war" comes as a punishment for the residents of the city because they live under the administration of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which Ankara considers its enemy.
According to Hawar News Agency (headquartered in Al-Hasakah, Syria), the Turkish authorities have been in control of the areas of Ras Al-Ayn and Tell Abyad since last October. The area includes the Alouk water station, which used to supply the city of Al-Hasakah and its environs with water.
Since the occupation of Ras Al-Ayn, the Turkish authorities have stopped pumping water from the Alouk station eight times, depriving more than a million people of water and threatening a humanitarian catastrophe there, especially in wake of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Syrian lawyer and human rights activist Khaled Ibrahim said that cutting water to nearly a million people in the city of Al-Hasakah comes as a continuation of Ankara's hostile policies in northeastern Syria.
Ibrahim pointed out that the coronavirus pandemic requires hygiene measures to prevent it from spreading. "The civilians are being punished by Turkey, which is fighting the aspirations of the Syrian people and committing war crimes against humanity," he said.
Human rights activists in the region, Ibrahim added, have been documenting Turkish crimes against civilians in order to hold the Turkish authorities to account for their crimes.
Political analyst Mayyar Shehadeh said that Turkey is "pouring gasoline on the fire and exploiting the state of weakness in the Middle East to extend its influence."
Shehadeh added that the Erdogan regime is trying to "flirt with the Sunni Muslims in the region to have them submit to its control and use them in the war against the Shiites and the Kurds."
He pointed out that although the European Union has objected to Erdogan's "provocations", it has not taken any effective action to stop him from pursuing his violations against the civilians in northern Syria.
Egyptian lawyer and human rights expert Saeed Abdel Hafez said that the occupying Turkish authorities "continue to blackmail about a million citizens (of Al-Hasakah) by cutting off the water supply -- a crime against humanity that requires an urgent investigation by the United Nations bodies to protect civilians."
Another report in the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi about the situation along the Turkey-Syria border revealed that Turkish troops in recent years have killed 464 Syrian civilians, including 59 women and 87 children under the age of 18.
"Ankara has switched from a pledge to return the Syrians to their country to the shooting of any Syrian trying to approach the border separation wall between Turkey and Syria," according to the report.
"In recent months, incidents of violations, including beatings, insults, and racial discrimination, outside the framework of the law and international treaties on the rights of the displaced, have increased almost daily... The Syrians are subjected to beating and insults, and at the end of their detention period they are deported to Syria, with the revocation of temporary protection cards for refugees."
The report also revealed that Syrian refugees held in Turkish detention centers do not get any meal within two days of their detention and are forced to drink water from bathrooms.
"Prison guards take turns insulting the detainees as they enter the prison. The detainees are beaten for trivial reasons, such as looking at the guards. In addition, there are recurring reports that the Turkish soldiers steal the belongings and money of the displaced Syrians caught at the border."
Erdogan's human rights violations against Syrian civilians come amid increased indications that Turkey is stepping up its involvement in the civil war in Libya. According to some reports, Erdogan continues to assist "mercenaries" and Syrian militiamen heading to Libya to participate in the fighting between the warring parties there. Ankara deliberately attracted elements from the Syrian border into Turkish territory and then to Libya to fight alongside the militia of the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA), according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Maj. Gen. Ahmad Al-Mismari, spokesman of the Libyan National Army (which is fighting against the Turkish-backed GNA), said last week that the Turkish armed forces are using four military bases in Libya:
"Turkey has both air and naval bases in Misrata. One of the largest naval military bases in Libya-Khoms – is also under control of Turkey, as well as the Al-Watiya airbase, where the Turkish air forces are deployed with its personnel and equipment."
In July, Al-Mismari disclosed that Turkey was also involved in smuggling mercenaries from Libya to Europe, specifically Italy. "There are about a thousand Syrians who fled via Zuwara and Sabratha towards Europe," he said. He warned Europe against the escalation of illegal immigration across the Mediterranean, and indicated that this migration may not be innocent: there may be terrorist elements among them that cause unrest in Europe.
Recently, Al-Mismari accused Erdogan of "exploiting the poverty of some Syrian youths" to recruit them as mercenaries in the civil war in Libya.
On September 5, Egyptian journalist Mohammed Musa revealed that intelligence reports suggest that Erdogan is involved with the Islamic terror group Al-Qaeda "as part of a scheme to destroy the region and control its resources." Intelligence documents obtained by Musa showed that Erdogan was in contact with the Al-Qaeda-linked Ben Ali terror group, headed by Abdel Azim Musa Ben Ali.
After the announcement of the normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Erdogan threatened to pull back his ambassador from Abu Dhabi in protest of the deal. "The move against Palestine is not a step that can be stomached," Erdogan said. The thirst-ravaged Syrian civilians near the border with Turkey and the victims of the civil war in Libya, however, do not seem to be worried about the Israel-UAE deal. Erdogan's victims want to see him held to account for his crimes against innocent civilians.
According to Costas Mavrides, a Cypriot member of the European Parliament and committee chair at The Union for the Mediterranean:
"In modern neo-Ottoman Turkey, government officials, including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ministers, make statements with complete contempt for international and European Union law while dissenting voices are silenced or persecuted... The spirit of conquest is dominant in the modern Turkish political scene and their regional interventions. Rooted in the Ottoman 'law of the sword' – or the idea that the conqueror can rule a conquered country or territory according to his desires – Turkey has returned to its Ottoman ambitions."
**Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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