English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 23/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today

If any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name
First Letter of Peter 04/12-19/:”Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in so far as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief-maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgement to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And ‘If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?’Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.”:

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 22-23/2021

Elias Bejjani/Visit My LCCC Web site/All That you need to know on Lebanese unfolding news and events in Arabic and English/http://eliasbejjaninews.com/

MoPH: 1512 new coronavirus cases, 30 deaths
Hariri: Pope Francis to Visit Lebanon after a Government is Shaped
Pope meets with Lebanon's PM-designate, urges end of crises
Hariri Meets with Italian PM and FM
Hizbullah Bloc Urges Hariri to Consult with Aoun over Govt.
Aoun calls on Lebanese to be 'patient' as country collapses
Aoun Tells Defense Council Security Forces Must 'Preserve Security Peacefully'
Aoun, Del Col tackle situation in south Lebanon
Presidency Office denies Republican Guard’s assistance in transfer of Mkattaf’s data
Lebanese president urges calm after judicial dispute
Eastern Catholic Churches join Patriarch Raï and invoke international conference on Lebanon
Hezbollah Holds Onto Aoun for Lack of Alternative
Geagea Compares FPM and Its Supporters to '1931 Nazis'
UK Says Eager on ISF ‘Resilience,’ Signs MOU with Directorate
Lebanon on Alert after Locusts Swarm through Neighboring Syria
Report: Ferzli 'Outside' His Bloc, Criticizes Presidential Term

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2021

Europeans warn against attacks on Iran nuclear facilities
Disagreements between Iran and the US persist after recent nuclear talks
Iran media celebrates 'explosion' at 'sensitive Israel missile factory'
Congress: bipartisan support grows for bills expanding Israeli-Arab ties
Jordan releases 16 defendants in ‘sedition’ case
U.S. to Send Reinforcements to Protect Withdrawal from Afghanistan
U.S. Looking for 'Action' on Russian Troops near Ukraine
Russia Orders End to Drills near Ukraine, Putin Offers Zelensky Talks
Kuwaitis Rally over Violence against Women after Grisly Attack
OPCW Says Syria Punishment Shows 'Ethical Commitment'
Riyadh forges alliance with Greece to face Turkish muscle -flexing, Iran threat
Turkey alarmed over Biden’s intent to recognise Armenian ‘genocide’
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 22-23/2021

Russia, the Dilemmas of Liberalization and the Ramblings of Dictatorship/Charles Elias Chartoun/April 22/2021
China's Fishing Fleet Is Vacuuming the Oceans/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/April 22, 2021
The Jihadist Threat Persists/Thomas Joscelyn/FDD/April 22/2021
Syria: From Trump to Biden Monograph/David Adesnik/FDD/April 22/2021
Syria’s return to the Arab League is not of itself sufficient/Ghassan Ibrahim/The Arab Weekly/April 22/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published oon April 22-23/2021

MoPH: 1512 new coronavirus cases, 30 deaths
NNA/April 22/2021
1512 new coronavirus cases and 30 deaths have been recorded in Lebanon in the past 24 hours, as announced by the Ministry of Public Health on Thursday.

Hariri: Pope Francis to Visit Lebanon after a Government is Shaped
Associated Press/April 22/2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday, that the Pope is willing to visit Lebanon but after Lebanese leaders form a government, noting that parties obstructing the formation “are known to the Vatican.”“The Pope wants to visit Lebanon but after a government is formed. This is an important message for us to speed the government formation. The Pope perceives Lebanon as a message of mederation,” said Hariri in remarks to reporters after his meeting with the Pope. Reporters asked Hariri whether Pope Francis mentioned the need to preserve the Chrisian’s rights, as recently advocated by the FPM chief Jebran Bassil. “The Pope said nothing about the rights of Christians, he is only keen on coexistence in Lebanon,” said Hariri. On obstacles hampering the formation, he said: “I believe there are external problems related to Jebran (Bassil) and his alliances. There is a major group hampering the government today.” “There is a group in Lebanon wishing to have a free economy in the country, and another group wants to control the electricity, the banking sector, the telecommunications sector, everything…” added Hariri.
On the French initiative towards Lebanon, the PM-designate said: “It is standing until this moment. I believe the Vatican knows the basis of the Lebanese problem more than anyone else.”Hariri said he asked the Vatican to “be eager on Lebanon and interfere where it finds it effective. Some politicians are trying to picture Lebanon as a hopeless case, but we can stop the collapse if we form a government. But some want the Lebanese entity to collapse.” The Vatican released a statement also saying the 84-year-old pontiff said he would like to visit Lebanon "as soon as the conditions are favourable.”He expressed his "closeness to the Lebanese people, who are experiencing a moment of great difficulty and uncertainty" and called upon "all political forces to urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation".
Francis is hoping that Lebanon can once again embody "the fortress of the cedars, the diversity that from weakness becomes strength in the great reconciled people," the statement said. The Vatican didn't list the meeting on Francis' official agenda given that Hariri isn't yet in office; it was described by the Vatican as a private audience, not an official state visit that carries with it specific protocol. Hariri's visit to the Vatican comes as Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history following decades of widespread corruption. Since late 2019, the local currency has lost 90% of its value, and more than half of the country's population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Hariri has been touring the Middle East and Europe to win support for his efforts to form a government. Among the countries he recently visited were France, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He was also meeting Thursday with Italian officials.Hariri has not been able to form a Cabinet six months after he was chosen for the prime minister's post amid deep disagreements between him and President Michel Aoun. One of the main points of difference includes Aoun's rejection of Hariri's plan to choose some Christian members of the new government.
 

Pope meets with Lebanon's PM-designate, urges end of crises
Nicola Winfield/VATICAN CITY (AP)/April 22/2021

Pope Francis met with Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Thursday and urged all Lebanese political leaders to "urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation," as the country endures a series of crises and disagreements that have prevented the formation of a government. Francis also reaffirmed during the 30-minute audience his desire to visit Lebanon as soon as conditions permit, according to a statement from the Vatican spokesman. "This is a message to all Lebanese and all parties that we have to hurry up in the formation of a government," Hariri told Lebanese reporters traveling with him after the audience. "The pope sees Lebanon as a message of neutrality and coexistence." Hariri's visit to the Vatican comes as Lebanon is experiencing its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history following decades of widespread corruption. Since late 2019, the local currency has lost 90% of its value, and more than half of the country's population now lives in poverty, according to the World Bank. Hariri has been touring the Middle East and Europe to win support for his efforts to form a government. Among the countries he recently visited were France, Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. He was also meeting Thursday with Italian officials. Hariri has not been able to form a Cabinet six months after he was chosen for the prime minister's post amid deep disagreements between him and President Michel Aoun. One of the main points of difference includes Aoun's rejection of Hariri's plan to choose some Christian members of the new government. Aoun is a Maronite Catholic, while Hariri is Sunni Muslim. According to Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president has to be a Maronite and the parliament speaker a Shiite Muslim, while the prime minister has to be a Sunni. Parliament and Cabinet seats are equally split between Muslims and Christians. The Vatican said that during the meeting with Hariri, Francis expressed his solidarity with the Lebanese people who are "living in great difficulty and uncertainty, and recalled the responsibility of all political forces to urgently commit themselves to the benefit of the nation." Francis is hoping that Lebanon can once again embody "the fortress of the cedars, the diversity that from weakness becomes strength in the great reconciled people," the statement said. Hariri said he asked the Vatican "to be concerned about Lebanon and to intervene where they can be effective because this is what concerns Lebanon and the Lebanese." He said: "We are in a very bad situation, but once we form a government we can stop the collapse." The Vatican didn't list the meeting on Francis' official agenda given that Hariri isn't yet in office; it was described by the Vatican as a private audience, not an official state visit that carries with it specific protocol. Lebanon, a Mediterranean nation of 5 million, has the largest percentage of Christians in the Middle East and is the only Arab country with a Christian head of state. Christians make up a third of the population.

*Zeina Karam and Bassem Mroue contributed to this report from Beirut.

Hariri Meets with Italian PM and FM
Naharnet/April 22/2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held talks Thursday evening in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, his press office said. The meeting, at the Italian government’s headquarters, tackled the latest developments and general situations in Lebanon and the region and the bilateral ties between the two countries, especially the role played by the Italian UNIFIL contingent operating in south Lebanon, the press office said in a statement. Hariri had earlier in the day met with Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in the presence of the accompanying delegation.The Hariri-Di Maio talks tackled “the regional and international situations,” the press office said.

Hizbullah Bloc Urges Hariri to Consult with Aoun over Govt.
Naharnet/April 22/2021
Hizbullah’s Loyalty to Resistance parliamentary bloc on Thursday called on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to consult with President Michel Aoun in order to speed up the formation of the new government. “The PM-designate’s consultation and agreement with the president for the issuance of the government’s decrees are not a luxury but rather the natural and constitutional path for Cabinet’s formation,” said the bloc in a statement issued after a periodic meeting.“The Lebanese no longer believe the justifications of any group that wastes time, takes the pain of the Lebanese lightly or causes the deterioration of the state’s situation due to unilateralism or narrow interests,” the bloc warned.
 

Aoun calls on Lebanese to be 'patient' as country collapses
The Daily Star/April 22/2021
BEIRUT: President Michel Aoun Thursday called on the Lebanese people to be "patient" as the country collapses and people are suffering its repercussions. Aoun's comment came during a security meeting at the Baabda Palace, where according to a statement by his media office, he said that the people should be patient and that he understands their pain and suffering which is why he is focusing on the importance of the forensic audit of the Central Bank and state institutions so that the reasons for the country's financial meltdown are revealed and people can reclaim their rigths. Caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab who was also at the meeting insisted that it is necessary for the forensic audit to be carried out for which his government had given the green light for in March 2020. He also stressed that all the efforts should be put to pass the capital control law. Diab also noted that it is important to avoid tensions arising from the dire economic and social situation calling for the formation of a new government as soon as possible. Officials in Baabda also discussed recent events in Awkar, north of Beirut, where Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Ghada Aoun raided the offices of Mecattaf Holdings, a foreign exchange company under investigation, despite being removed from all cases related to financial crimes by State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat which had sparked outrage among people. Confrontations between supporters of Judge Aoun, Oueidat and security officers have been occuring in front of the Justice Palace and at the Mecattaf offices. President Aoun during the meeting stressed on the importance of freedom of expression and protecting public and private property calling on security forces to preserve peace and order.

Aoun Tells Defense Council Security Forces Must 'Preserve Security Peacefully'
Naharnet/April 22/2021
President Michel Aoun on Thursday convened the country’s Higher Defense Council over yesterday’s incidents at the Mecattaf money exchange firm in Awkar. The area outside the company witnessed scuffles between security forces and supporters of Aoun and his Free Patriotic Movement during a new raid by controversial Judge Ghada Aoun on the firm’s offices. The president “stressed the importance of respecting freedom of expression while preserving public and private properties and refraining from attacking them,” a statement issued after the meeting said. “What’s important is to return to order and sympathize with the plight and pain of citizens, especially that they have lost their money and deposits,” Aoun told the conferees, while calling on security forces to “preserve security peacefully according to the applicable regulations.”Caretaker PM Hassan Diab for his part emphasized “the need to avoid tensions resulting from the economic and social situations,” urging the formation of a new government as soon as possible. He also called for approving a capital control law and carrying on with the forensic financial audit that his government had approved in March 2020. Caretaker Interior Minister Mohammed Fahmi for his part commented on the Awkar incidents, noting that the Internal Security Forces “acted within the scope of controlling security and preventing attacks on private and public properties.”Aoun then underlined to the conferees the importance of “avoiding a repetition of what happened,” while calling on citizens to “show patience.”Noting that he understands their “pains and plight,” the president added that he is pushing for a forensic audit to “enable citizens to recover their rights after exposing the reasons behind the financial deterioration in the country.”The meeting was preceded by bilateral talks between Aoun and Diab, who briefed the president on the outcome of his latest visit to Qatar. The caretaker PM told the president that “the Qatari officials are standing by Lebanon and are willing to help it in the various fields,” the statement said.

Aoun, Del Col tackle situation in south Lebanon
NNA/April 22/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Thursday met with UNIFIL Head of Mission and Force Commander, Major General Stefano Del Col, with whom he discussed the general situation in south Lebanon and the activities of the international forces in the country.

Presidency Office denies Republican Guard’s assistance in transfer of Mkattaf’s data
NNA/April 22/2021
The Presidency Press Office issued the following statement:
“Al-Jadeed TV station reported in this afternoon’s news bulletin that “Transferring material and data in Mkattaf company yesterday was under the support of the Republican Guard".This news is false and lies within the framework of deception which is practiced by well-known parties”.

Lebanese president urges calm after judicial dispute
Reuters/April 22/2021
Lebanese President Michel Aoun warned against the destruction of property on Thursday after the removal of a judge from a financial corruption probe last week prompted her and her supporters to storm a currency exchange bureau. Aoun made the remarks in a statement after a security meeting that included caretaker prime minister Hassan Diab, the interior minister and other officials. On Wednesday, judge Ghada Aoun and others had stormed the offices of a foreign exchange dealer in defiance of her removal from the investigation, with some of them breaking down doors, local media reported. It was the second such attempt to enter the bureau by judge Aoun, who is not directly related to the president and whose supporters appeared largely to back President Aoun's party. Judge Aoun, chief prosecutor of the Mount Lebanon region, took folders and computers out of the building with her, the state news agency reported. Security forces deployed to the scene. Aoun, who had also sought to question central bank chief Riad Salameh, has objected to her removal from financial crimes cases last week by Lebanese public prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat. The row has spilled out into the streets and all over local media, with critics saying it laid bare the political grip on the judiciary in a country battered by a financial crisis rooted in graft and debt. The collapse has sunk the currency, paralyzed banks and trapped savers out of their deposits.
 

Eastern Catholic Churches join Patriarch Raï and invoke international conference on Lebanon
The Council of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops met yesterday in Bkerké. The birth of a "salvation" government that is "free from partisan interference" is a priority. The frontal war between President Aoun and the interim prime minister Hariri, who is meeting the Pope today. The power vacuum slows investigations into the double explosion at the port of Beirut.
Beirut (AsiaNews / Agencies)/April 22/2021
The Council of Eastern Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops supports the proposal launched by the Maronite primate, Card. Beshara Raï, for an international conference on Lebanon and the formation of a government "free from partisan interference". The Eastern Catholic dignitaries of the land of cedars, gathered yesterday in Bkerké and in a note issued following the meeting call for a global initiative to resolve the internal crisis and favour the birth of an executive "of salvation and free from any possible political or party interference". Chaired by the Maronite patriarch, the meeting saw the participation of the Greek-Catholic patriarch Youssef Absi, the Syrian-Catholic patriarch Ignace Younan and numerous bishops and personalities of the Eastern Church. Those present recalled that the country has been without a government in office with full powers since 10 August 2020 and that the formation of the new executive has sparked a frontal war of competences and attributions of powers between the head of state Michel Aoun and the Prime Minister in charge. Saad Hariri, today in Rome where he will meet Pope Francis. On behalf of the Council Fr. Claude Nadra stressed that "Lebanon has lost its sovereignty" and "political forces are unable to sit at the same table", which is why "the organization of an international conference" under the aegis of the UN is increasingly necessary. He added that this initiative is "mandatory to defend" the Lebanese people and to enforce "international resolutions" that have never entered into force (in particular UN 1559). Catholic leaders also called for the establishment of a new government "capable of making decisions and getting to work", putting an end to a crisis that has lasted for over eight months, insisting that "neutrality" must remain "the identity of Lebanon." The meeting also discussed the socio-economic crisis that has caused "hunger, misery, poverty and rampant unemployment" in the country. A situation that is not due "only to the new coronavirus pandemic, but to the absence of a government". A power vacuum that is also at the root of the slowness of the investigation into the twin explosion at the port on 4 August, while the families of the victims and injured are still awaiting the compensation promised by the state.
 

Hezbollah Holds Onto Aoun for Lack of Alternative
Beirut - Mohamed Choucair/Asharq Al Awsat/Thursday, 22 April, 2021
Hezbollah is unlikely to abandon his political allies - President Michel Aoun and his son-in-law, the head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) Gebran Bassil – with the lack of any other alternative, a senior political source told Asharq Al-Awsat. The source added that Hezbollah had no interest in weakening the president and his political party, because this would empower its rivals, mainly Al-Mustaqbal Movement of Premier-designate Saad Hariri, the Lebanese Forces and the Kataeb party. The political source told Asharq Al-Awsat that Hezbollah has sympathized with Aoun and Bassil in the government formation process, drawing criticism from other parties for not exerting enough pressure on the president to remove obstacles hindering the announcement of a cabinet lineup in line with the initiative launched by French President Emmanuel Macron last year. Hezbollah, which backed a recent initiative made by its ally Speaker Nabih Berri to end the impasse, has also failed to persuade Aoun and Bassil to abide by it. Bassil, who is seen as the main obstacle to the cabinet formation, insists that any lineup should be favor of his ambition to succeed his father-in-law at Baabda's presidential palace. But the source says that Bassil has realized that his chances are dwindling, not only because of US sanctions imposed on him last year, but also for clashing with most political parties, except for Hezbollah.
 

Geagea Compares FPM and Its Supporters to '1931 Nazis'
Naharnet/Thursday, 22 April, 2021
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Thursday lashed out at the Free Patriotic Movement and its supporters in connection with the latest controversy sparked by the actions of Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun. “The FPM has introduced new concepts to the dictionary of politics in Lebanon, with the protection of the rights of Christian lying in attacking and vandalizing private companies in Awkar, and the fight against corruption being in concealing the culprits as to electricity, telecommunications, customs, illegal border crossings and clientelism in state administrations,” Geagea said in a written statement. “The deposits of the people have meanwhile turned out to be at the Mecattaf firm and not at the banks, which lent them to the state that wasted them and is still wasting them on corruption, favoritism and commissions in tenders and bids and general,” the LF leader added sarcastically. Moreover, he lamented that the recent events in Lebanon “totally remind us of what the Nazis were doing in Germany in the early 1930s, when they used to carry out distraction operations, through attacking institutions or aggressing against private properties and individuals under the excuse of fighting corruption -- all of that to deviate attention from the essential and real problems of the country and to conceal the real criminals and their way of running things.” “But Lebanon is not Germany and today we are in the year 2021 and not in the year 1931,” he added. “All these farces, plays and twisted methods will only deepen the crisis in the country, whereas the only solution lies in the resignation of your parliamentary majority to allow the Lebanese to express their opinion and choose a new parliamentary majority that would pull them out of the hell that you have plunged Lebanon into,” Geagea went on to say.

UK Says Eager on ISF ‘Resilience,’ Signs MOU with Directorate
Naharnet/Thursday, 22 April, 2021 
Head of the British Embassy Martin Longden signed a MOU with Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces leadership, and affirmed continuity of UK cooperation that anchors trust and strengthens the resilience of the ISF. A press release issued on Thursday by the embassy stated: Last Friday, Head of the British Embassy Martin Longden met with caretaker Minister of Interior Mohamed Fahmi and the Director General of the Internal Security Forces General Imad Othman to sign a Memorandum of Understanding that anchors the continuity of co-operation with the Internal Security Forces (ISF) under the British Policing Support Programme, worth £18.5m (2019-2022). The MOU signed during the ISF’s Strategic Programme Management Committee (SPMC) was in the presence of the UK’s Police Attaché Sally Hatfield, Elizabeth Greensides, Head of Conflict, Stability and Security Fund Lebanon Programmes and Sarah Kronfol, Head of Security Programme. The MOU confirms the UK’s support and the MOI’s vision to strengthen the resilience of the Internal Security Forces to deliver internal security, community policing and service to all communities in Lebanon that anchors trust, respect for human rights, accountability and professionalism. After the signature, Dr. Longden said: ‘Lebanon is passing through one of its toughest chapters in recent history. The multitude of current crises, and the lack of any political progress, are putting ever more pressures on public order and those tasked with maintaining it. We understand the importance of a modern, transparent and accountable police force for Lebanon, and value our partnership with the ISF as we work on this transformation agenda together.”

Lebanon on Alert after Locusts Swarm through Neighboring Syria
Naharnet/Thursday, 22 April, 2021  
Caretaker Minister of Agriculture Abbas Mortada gave directives to specialized teams at the ministry on Thursday to be prepared for possible swarms of locusts seen in neighboring Syria. Over fears the locusts could spread to Lebanon, Mortada gave his directives and also urged people living in areas on the border with Syria, to report through the ministry’s hotline whenever locusts were spotted. Moreover, the minister asked caretaker Defense Minister Zeina Akar to have the army helicopters ready for any emergency in that regard. Syria said in a statement it recently published that the images circulating on social media about the density of desert locusts that have reached some Syrian areas are old pictures taken from the Internet, and “not in Syria.”It added, the recently spotted locusts in Syria are few in number, and all necessary measures have been taken to prevent its spread to other areas.

Report: Ferzli 'Outside' His Bloc, Criticizes Presidential Term
Naharnet/Thursday, 22 April, 2021
Deputy Speaker Elie Ferzli made "surprising" remarks about the Presidential term of Michel Aoun saying “the term did not achieve the desired outcome,” after which he was reportedly “ousted” from his Strong Lebanon parliamentary bloc. In remarks to the Saudi newspaper Asharq el-Awsat on Thursday, Ferzli affirmed that his proposal for the army to take over power in Lebanon, came to stop the disintegration and collapse of institutions by the ruling authority, fearing it would drag to the military institution. “Before (being a supporter of the presidential term of Michel Aoun) the (presidential) term, and before my parliamentary position, I can not but be part of the people and citizens in Lebanon. I can not be separate from the reality and collapse which is likely to aggravate,” said Ferzli in remarks to the daily. Listing the manifestations of the collapse in Lebanon, Ferzli pointed to “the resigned government (of Hassan Diab), indefinite halt of the government formation consultations, resigned lawmakers without any intention to stage by-elections to replace them which is a coup against the constitution, and could be a prelude to refrain from staging the municipal elections next year, and consequently the presidential elections.”He said failure to stage these elections could drive “those in power” today, in reference to the President’s political party, the Free Patriotic Movement, to use it as a pretext to extend the term of the president. “Those in power today may use the pretext of “staying” (in power over claims to continue) in order to run public facilities,” he said. “If President Aoun came to say I can not leave my post, what shall we say to him?” stated Ferzli. According to media reports, the Strong Lebanon bloc, led by the son-in-law of Aoun, Jebran Bassil chose to oust Ferzli from the bloc by “creating a whatsapp group without inviting Ferzli to it.”Pointing to the “disintegration” of the state’s institutions, he said: “What made things worse is the latest scene represented by the rebellion of Judge Ghada Aoun against the decision suspending her from investigating financial crimes, accompanied by an explicit call by the Minister of Justice who called for an uprising in the judiciary.” “What prevents the disintegration of the state’s institutions from reaching the military?” he asked. “The term (of Aoun) did not meet the desired target. I have always stood by the President, I expected a lot of his term," said the Deputy Speaker. Ferzli had earlier suggested that the army become in power for a “transitional period” in order to “pave the way for holding elections and recreating authorities on new foundations.”

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 22-23/2021

Europeans warn against attacks on Iran nuclear facilities

Lahav Harkov/Jerusalem Post/April 22/2021
“We condemn escalatory measures by any actor which could jeopardize progress.” Iran’s clerical establishment said it will not return to the 2015 agreement unless all sanctions are lifted. The European parties to the Iran deal warned against taking non-diplomatic steps to stop the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, in a statement released Wednesday. “We encourage all sides to seize the diplomatic opportunity in front of us,” diplomats from Britain, Germany and France said. “We condemn escalatory measures by any actor which could jeopardize progress.” The remarks came over a week after an explosion at Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, which Tehran blamed on Israel. Israel has not commented formally on the incident, but intelligence sources say the Mossad was behind the attack, which set Iran’s nuclear program back by months. Mossad Chief Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi are set to meet with their American counterparts in Washington next week to make Israel’s case against returning to the 2015 Iran deal without significantly strengthening it. The defense officials’ meetings will take place after two rounds of indirect negotiations between the US and Iran to go back to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as the nuclear deal is formally known. “We don’t think it’s a done deal yet,” a senior official said. “We’re going there because we’re going to try to influence the process.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi plan to meet with the defense officials for an Iran policy meeting on Thursday.The senior official remarked that the meetings in Washington will be the first face-to-face ones with top Biden administration officials, with the exception of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin who visited Israel last week. “Austin heard our concerns [about Iran] very directly, and now other people will hear those concerns. It’s important. You can have secure phones, but sometimes you have to stand in the same room,” the official said. The E3, as the European parties to the Iran nuclear deal are known, said on Wednesday that negotiations in Vienna in recent weeks to bring Iran and the US back into compliance with the 2015 JCPOA have been productive, but are far from over. “We welcome the constructive discussions that have taken place in Vienna, and the positive participation by all sides so far,” diplomats from the E3, told reporters. “We have made some progress, but there is still a way to go.”
Under the JCPOA Iran agreed to curb its uranium enrichment in return for relief from US and other sanctions. The deal’s critics point out that its restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities expire in 2030, and that it does not address the Islamic Republic’s missile program or malign actions throughout the Middle East.
US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to rejoin the JCPOA, and said it is ready to remove “all sanctions that are inconsistent” with the deal, without detailing which measures it means. Iran’s clerical establishment has said it will not return to strict observance of the 2015 agreement unless all sanctions reimposed or added by former president Donald Trump after he abandoned the accord in 2018 are rescinded. US State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday that the US will only make concessions once it is certain Iran will return to full compliance with the JCPOA. That would include reducing uranium enrichment from 60% to under 5% and disposing of or selling large numbers of centrifuges.

Disagreements between Iran and the US persist after recent nuclear talks

Omri Nahmias/Reuters/April 22/2021
Negotiations between Tehran and Washington are still far from a conclusion after the latest round of nuclear talks in Vienna, according to a senior American official. Important disagreements between the United States and Iran persist after the latest round of indirect nuclear talks in Vienna this week, with the negotiations still far from conclusion and the outcome uncertain, a senior State Department official said on Wednesday. The main differences between Washington and Tehran are over what sanctions the United States would need to remove and what steps Iran would need to take to resume its obligations to curb its nuclear program, the US official told reporters in a conference call. He added that talks were likely to be a multi-round process. "There still are disagreements and, in some cases, pretty important ones," he said. "We are not near the conclusion of these negotiations. The outcome is still uncertain. We have made some progress. The talks have been business-like and productive, with still many differences that would need to be overcome."“We're still in the process of describing and detailing the steps that each side is going to have to take,” the official said, noting that the sides are not discussing the sequence of returning to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. “A sequence in which the US does everything before Iran does [anything] is not an acceptable sequence – we made that clear to Iran,” the official said. “Beyond that, we're open to different kinds of sequencing, which meet our interest – which is to see both sides in full compliance and not us coming into full compliance before Iran.” He said that at this point, “the discussions that take place in Vienna are about full compliance for full compliance. The discussion with all the participants is about what the US would need to do to come into full compliance and what Iran will need to do to come into full compliance." Asked whether the sides are working to return to the deal before May 15, the official said: “We're not going to rush in order to meet a deadline. It may be within weeks and may be not within weeks. We're hoping that Iran will understand that the goal is to come back into compliance with the JCPOA, all of the JCPOA, and nothing but the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action]. We're prepared to do everything that we need to do to be in full compliance with the deal and we hope Iran will do the same.”The official also addressed Israeli reservations about returning to the deal, saying that: “We have numerous conversations with Israeli officials before and after every round of talks. We will have one again [next week]. "We believe we have been transparent within the process; we intend to be as transparent as we can,” the official said. “We know there's a disagreement with Israel's perspective and we respect that. We'll try to be as transparent as we can about how we do things, [and] that we want to go and listen to their perspective as well."

Iran media celebrates 'explosion' at 'sensitive Israel missile factory'

Seth J. Frantzman/April 22, 2021
Reports indicate the explosion happened near Ramle at a routine test at the Tomer factory for advanced weapons. Iranian state media highlighted a “powerful explosion” that they said took place at a “sensitive Israeli missile factory” during a test. A similar report appeared in Haaretz, and it appears Iranian media took their information from there. The Iranian reports come in the wake of Iran accusing Israel of “nuclear terrorism” for an incident at the Natanz enrichment facility earlier this month, a day after The New York Times ran an article about Iran being “rattled” by “Israeli strikes.” The incident thus occurred at a sensitive time, and some pro-Iranian voices online mocked Israel for the explosion. Tasnim quoted pro-Hamas Palestinian media as referring to the “terrible explosion.” It said it took place at a “sensitive military-industrial site in the Gush Dan area.” It quoted eyewitnesses as seeing flames at a “great height.” It noted that the “Zionist regime” had not commented on it but that “Zionist sources” had said the site was responsible for the production of advanced weapons of war, including various missiles. Nevertheless, Haaretz said that the explosion was the result of a routine test in central Israel at the Tomer factory for advanced weapons.Video posted on April 20 shows a large fiery explosion, similar to the kinds of explosions that take place when munitions explode. Similar types of explosions caused by munitions have happened in Iraq and Ukraine in recent years. Arabs 48, an Arabic site, said that the explosion happened near Ramle. Last year, Calcalist referred to Tomer as a company owned by the government that is involved in rocket propulsion. It said it was developing “secret rocket technology.”

Congress: bipartisan support grows for bills expanding Israeli-Arab ties

Ron Kampeas/JTA/April 22, 2021
It’s a sign of increasing bipartisan support for the initiative launched by former President Donald Trump.
The top Democratic and Republican lawmakers from the House Foreign Affairs Committee have joined a bill that supports the expansion of normalization agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It’s a sign of increasing bipartisan support for the initiative launched by former President Donald Trump.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, the New York Democrat who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and his Republican counterpart, Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas, are among the co-sponsors of the measure introduced Wednesday. A companion bill in the Senate also has bipartisan backing. The bill would task the State Department with identifying opportunities to expand last year’s Abraham Accords, as well as obstacles. The pro-Israel lobby AIPAC backs the legislation. Trump brokered the accords between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan and Morocco. Democrats at first were cautious about backing the Abraham Accords and were particularly skeptical of some of Trump’s incentives, including the sale of stealth combat jets to Saudi Arabia. One of the co-sponsors of this latest normalization bill, Brad Schneider, a Jewish Democrat from Illinois, for a time led a bid to stop the sale of the F-35s. President Joe Biden froze the sale upon assuming office, but earlier this month gave it the go-ahead. The bill features language emphasizing that the accords would be a means to an end of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. Trump officials and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had all but set aside Israeli-Palestinian peace moves by the time the Abraham Accords were brokered in September, and McCaul recently told AIPAC that he understood that marginalizing the Palestinians to be Trump’s intent. Biden has renewed ties with the Palestinians. Other leading sponsors of the bill are Republicans Peter Meijer of Michigan and Anne Wagner of Missouri, as well as Sylvia Garcia, a Texas Democrat.

Jordan releases 16 defendants in ‘sedition’ case
Arab News/April 22, 2021
Bassem Awadallah and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid were not among those released
LONDON: Jordan announced on Thursday that it had released 16 defendants involved in a “sedition” case. “Based on King Abdullah II’s concern for the interest of the homeland and the citizen, and that he said we are in the month of mercy and forgiveness (Ramadan), a number of detainees were released within the legal frameworks and standards,” said the public prosecutor of the State Security Court. Several people have been arrested since the beginning of April following events that threatened to undermine the kingdom’s security and stability. Brig. Gen. Hazem Al-Majali said Bassem Awadallah, a former finance minister and adviser to the Hashemite Royal Court, and Sharif Hassan bin Zaid, a member of the royal family, have not been released “due to their different and varied roles, the facts attributed to them and the degree of incitement, which differ from the rest of the defendants who were released.”
 

U.S. to Send Reinforcements to Protect Withdrawal from Afghanistan
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2021
The United States will temporarily deploy extra troops to Afghanistan to protect international forces as they withdraw, commander of the U.S. military in the Middle East General Kenneth McKenzie said Thursday. McKenzie repeated U.S. military concerns that the withdrawal could allow the Taliban to advance, after President Joe Biden last week announced all American forces would pull out before this year's 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. "We will bring additional resources in, in order to protect the force as it comes out," McKenzie told a U.S. Senate hearing, giving no further details. "That's normal in any kind of disengagement. I'm confident that... we will be able to extract ourselves."Some 2,500 US troops, plus 16,000 civilian contractors and their equipment, must be evacuated from the country, along with some 7,000 NATO soldiers who depend on the US for transport.
The logistical operation will take at least three months to be completed safely, according to the US military. Despite billions of dollars of investment, equipment and training, "my concern is the ability of the Afghan military to hold the ground that they're on now, without the support that they've been used to for many years," McKenzie said. "It's intelligence, it's fire support, it's the enabling things that actually give them an edge over the Taliban. And all that will be gone." He added "the ability of the Afghan Air Force to fly" without support was a key concern. McKenzie dismissed talk of defeat, but he said the Taliban were more numerous than in 2011, estimating they have 50,000 fighters, and that they control more Afghan territory than 10 years ago.

U.S. Looking for 'Action' on Russian Troops near Ukraine
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2021
The United States said Thursday it would wait for follow-up by Russia after it announced an end to military drills near Ukraine that have sent tensions soaring. "We've heard the words. I think what we'll be looking for is action," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters.

Russia Orders End to Drills near Ukraine, Putin Offers Zelensky Talks
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2021
Russia's defense minister has ordered an end to military drills near Ukraine involving tens of thousands of troops and dozens of warships that had exacerbated tensions with the West. The announcement came as President Vladimir Putin invited Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky for talks in Moscow following weeks of renewed fighting in the east of Ukraine between government troops and pro-Moscow separatists. But the Russian leader appeared to shoot down Zelensky's proposal to meet in war-torn eastern Ukraine, saying talks over the years-long conflict should be conducted directly with separatists.
Earlier in the day Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu oversaw massive drills in Moscow-annexed Crimea and said soldiers would begin returning to their permanent bases on Friday. "The troops demonstrated their ability to ensure the reliable protection of our country," he said after flying over the Opuk firing range in a helicopter. "I've made a decision to wind down the checks in the Southern and Western military districts," he said, adding the troop pullback should be completed by May 1.The announcement came after the West repeatedly called on Putin to pull back troops.Shoigu, who had arrived in Crimea earlier in the day to oversee military drills, said Moscow closely watched NATO movements and would remain vigilant.Both armed with binoculars, Shoigu and the army's general chief of staff Valery Gerasimov oversaw the drills from a viewing platform as helicopters flew overhead. The ministry released dramatic footage of the land and sea maneuvers that showed troops practicing amphibious landings, jets streaking through the sky and infantry fighting vehicles traversing green fields.
'NATO remains vigilant' -
Both NATO and Ukraine's Zelensky welcomed Russia's announcement, with Ukrainian leader saying on Twitter that "the reduction of troops on our border proportionally reduces tension". "Any steps towards de-escalation by Russia would be important and well overdue," said a NATO official."NATO remains vigilant and we will continue to closely monitor Russia's unjustified military build-up in and around Ukraine."In Moscow, Putin said Zelensky was welcome in Moscow "any time". "If President Zelensky wants to start repairing relations, then we of course welcome it," he said. But the Russian leader also said that if Zelensky hoped to resolve problems stemming from fighting in eastern Ukraine, then he should first meet with leaders of the breakaway regions in Donetsk and Lugansk. Zelensky had this week invited Putin to hold talks in Ukraine's east, saying millions of lives were at stake.
Putin 'playing games'
Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets strategist at London-based Bluebay Asset Management, said Putin was "playing games" and it was hard for the Ukrainian leader to accept direct talks with separatists. "Everyone knows this is a state vs state conflict but Putin is trying to imply this is a civil war in Ukraine," Ash said. Kiev said one more soldier had died of shrapnel wounds when "Russian armed forces" shelled Ukraine's positions on Thursday. Some 30 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since the start of the year, compared to 50 in all of 2020. The West and Ukraine have accused Russia of sending troops and arms across the border but Moscow has denied the claim. Russia's buildup of troops on the Ukrainian border led to concern in Kiev and the West of a repeat of Russia's 2014 aggression, when Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine. The EU estimated this week the number of Russian troops along the Ukrainian border at more than 100,000. Shoigu has described the movement of Russian troops as training exercises in response to "threatening" NATO actions. On Thursday, he said Russia was closely watching NATO activity including the massive Defender Europe 2021 exercises. Moscow said some 10,000 Russian troops and over 40 warships and other vessels were participating in the Crimea exercises. Russia also said last week it intends to close parts of the Black Sea to foreign military and other ships for six months beginning Saturday. The move could affect access to Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea through the Kerch Strait. Kiev has been battling separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014, with the conflict claiming more than 13,00 lives.

Kuwaitis Rally over Violence against Women after Grisly Attack
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2021
Scores of Kuwaitis staged a rally on Thursday to protest violence against women, after a young mother was kidnapped and murdered by a man who had stalked her relentlessly despite repeated complaints to authorities. The brutal killing of Farah Hamzah Akbar, 32, whose body was dumped outside a hospital on Tuesday, caused shock waves in the oil-rich country. She had been dragged from a car that she was traveling in, accompanied by her two daughters and her sister, in broad daylight. A series of videos that went viral on social media showed the killer's vehicle slammed against Akbar's car, and the sound of her daughters crying while her sister screamed that she had been killed after authorities failed to act."We said that he is going to kill her, and now he killed my sister. Where is the government? We told the judge. I told you many times he would kill her," she said.  Akbar had previously filed two harassment cases against the man, who had proposed to her although she was already married. He had been arrested but was released on bail. The Kuwaiti interior ministry said in a statement that Akbar had been stabbed in the chest. The attacker was quickly arrested and confessed to the crime, triggering calls for his execution. At the rally, some 200 people including men, wore black clothes to mourn the victim and rallied under the slogan "Who is next?" They demanded tougher penalties for those who assault women and raised banners reading "We will not be silent" and "Stop killing women". Others held a large banner with the names of 10 Kuwaiti women who have been killed in recent years, and the message: "These are women who were killed silently and we did not mention their names." 'I will not be silent' The outpouring of emotion comes after women in Kuwait defied conservative norms to speak out against harassment for the first time, in a social media campaign sparked by a popular fashion blogger. An outpointing of testimonies about being stalked, harassed or assaulted emerged online in February, focused on the Instagram account "Lan Asket", Arabic for "I will not be silent". Several members of Akbar's family participated in the rally in Kuwait City, demanding justice. "Where was she at fault, why was she killed?'' asked her aunt. "This stand is for Farah Akbar and for all the women who were killed by their relatives or strangers. Today we lost Farah, but who is next? Will I be the victim, or you, or someone close to you?" said one protester, Amna Al-Kindri. Kuwaiti activist Arwa Al-Waqian demanded that the authorities take action when women complain of harassment. "We have not slept for days because of the injustice against this victim who was killed in broad daylight. We do not know when some obsessive person could confront us on the street," she said.

OPCW Says Syria Punishment Shows 'Ethical Commitment'
Agence France Presse/April 22, 2021
The head of the global chemical weapons watchdog defended Thursday the removal of Syria's voting rights, saying it showed the body's "ethical commitment" to eliminate toxic armaments. Damascus and its ally Moscow both slammed Wednesday's vote by a majority of countries at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to punish Syria. Russia and Syria said the decision, taken after an investigation found Syria had carried out three sarin and chlorine attacks in 2017, showed the Hague-based regulator was becoming politicized by the West. But OPCW chief Fernando Arias said this week's conference of member states had "reaffirmed that the use of chemical weapons is the most serious breach of the (Chemical Weapons) Convention there can be, as people’s lives are taken or destroyed. "By deciding to address the possession and use of chemical weapons by a state party, the conference has reiterated the international community’s ethical commitment to uphold the norm against these weapons."France introduced the motion on behalf of 46 countries including Britain and the United States to punish Syria after it failed to answer questions about the weapons used in the 2017 attacks on the village of Lataminah. Eighty-seven countries voted in favor of the motion on Wednesday, 15 including Syria, Russia, China and Iran voted against, and 34 abstained. Syria's rights will remain suspended until member states decide that Damascus has fully declared all of its chemical weapons and weapons-making facilities. Syria says the Lataminah attacks were fabricated and that it gave up all its chemical weapons after joining the OPCW in 2013, following a suspected sarin attack that killed 1,400 people in the Damascus suburb of Ghouta.

Riyadh forges alliance with Greece to face Turkish muscle -flexing, Iran threat
The Arab Weekly/April 22/2021
RIYADH – Saudi Arabia has moved to establish an unprecedented military cooperation with Greece, the historic nemesis of the Turks, after years of hesitation while trying to contain Turkish expansionist policies that it felt were detrimental to the its interest and those of the region. The Saudi-Hellenic relationship reached a new level with Athens agreeing to lease a key anti-missile technology, represented by the Patriot system, to Riyadh to help it thwart any attacks from the Houthis. Although the military lease contract is for all practical purposes directed at the Houthis and their Iranian backers, Riyadh’s ties with Greece are likely to convey the significant message of a Saudi change of posture in the showdown with Turkey. Greek officials announced Tuesday the signing of an agreement with Saudi Arabia to lend Riyadh a Patriot missile battery that would protect the Gulf country’s critical energy infrastructure in the face of increasing attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The agreement comes after the United States announced in May last year that it would withdraw four of its own Patriot batteries from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met in Riyadh with Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias, who was accompanied by Defence Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
“We signed the agreement to transfer a Patriot battery here in Saudi Arabia,” Dendias said. In a separate statement, Panagiotopoulos said the Patriot battery would be “deployed in the coming period and operated on Saudi Arabian soil… to protect critical energy infrastructure from terrorist threats”.
Saudi Arabia will not find a more credible ally to face the Turks than Greece, especially in the eastern Mediterranean, which has become the new Gulf of gas and oil, experts say. Analysts say this cooperation is more than about just renting military equipment, which Saudi Arabia could have obtained from many other countries. Through their deal with Greece, the Saudis seem to be sending a pointed message to Ankara according to which the continued stationing of Turkish troops in Qatar in line with the pre-Gulf reconciliation mindset will push Riyadh to deal in kind with the Greeks and extend support to the East Mediterranean coalition that opposes Turkey’s growing military ambitions. Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member-countries had agreed last January to a reconciliation process with Qatar and implicitly with Doha’s Turkish allies.
The Saudis consider the presence of this Turkish base in Qatar near their borders to be a threat to their national security and the wider stability of the Gulf region.
In mid-March, Saudi Arabia dashed Turkey’s premature hopes for reconciliation between both countries, when Saudi F-15C fighter jets landed in the island of Crete with their full crews to participate in a training exercise with Greece in the eastern Mediterranean region. Observers believe that Saudi Arabia is responding in kind to Turkey by forging an alliance with Ankara’s rival Greece and carrying out exercises in the nearby region. Riyadh seems to have in mind the activities undertaken by Turkey in Somalia, as part of its plan to expand its military presence in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa in a way that encircles the Gulf countries and possibly threatens their interests. The observers point out that Saudi Arabia is moving in line with a more comprehensive Gulf vision based on building alliances and playing new roles in other regions as it resets the concept of regional security and reshapes it from a more comprehensive security prism.
This explains its presence in the eastern Mediterranean, which has turned into an international magnet for gas exploration and as well as the kingdom’s interest in developments in North Africa and the Sahel region. Bahraini political writer Abdullah Al-Junaid expects an increase in military exercises bringing together the countries of Europe and the Middle East, considering that security and stability in the Mediterranean basin are important to the security of the entire Middle East. Junaid points out that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an economic and military power in the region, “and it is natural that it aspires to developing relations with countries within its geopolitical space.”Saudi Arabia intensified in recent months its exercises with the United States, Sudan, Greece and Pakistan, as it seeks to enhance the efficiency and readiness of all branches of its armed forces and counter the attacks by Iranian proxy militias in Yemen. On a second level, it aims to send messages of readiness to confront any attempts to target its national security as it joins new alliances, such as the one with Greece. The move had been followed with great concern by Turkish officials. Ankara can only view with alarm the rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Greece, Turkey’s arch-enemy, in the eastern Mediterranean. It is in fact worried that Athens has succeeded in infiltrating an area long considered a vital space for the Turkish economy. Tensions had erupted between Greece and Turkey last year over maritime borders and energy exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean, with Athens accusing Ankara of drilling in areas that do not fall within its territorial waters, hence sparking a military build-up in the region.
Aram Nerguizian, a researcher at the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that it is in the interest of the countries with which Saudi Arabia conducted military exercises to try to cooperate in the maritime field. He added that the Saudi exercises should be viewed in the context of the kingdom’s response to the threats of asymmetric warfare and drone attacks, such as the September 14, 2019 strikes on Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq and Khurais oil installations. The Saudi-Greek rapprochement is likely to upend the floated cooperation project between Riyadh and Ankara for the production of a drone that the Turks were hoping would help promote their drone manufacturing knowhow to Saudi Arabia.
“The exercises of Saudi Arabia and Greece demonstrate Riyadh’s support for Athens’ regional policies, which are in conflict with Turkish interests,” said Turkish defence analyst Calgar Cork. He stressed that Turkey has begun to realise that a military show of force is not enough in the eastern Mediterranean without the support of influential actors in the region, a reference to Ankara’s loss of support from important Arab and Gulf countries. Cork added, “Turkey’s priority now is to end its isolation by repairing the damaged relations, as illustrated by Turkey’s rapprochement with Egypt as well as with Saudi Arabia.”The Turkish analyst downplayed tensions over Saudi-Greek cooperation, expressing the view that, “At this stage, the exercises will not have a major impact on the process because the priority is to repair relations.”
 

Turkey alarmed over Biden’s intent to recognise Armenian ‘genocide’
The Arab Weekly/April 22/2021
WASHINGTON--US President Joe Biden is expected to honour a campaign pledge and become the first occupant of the White House to describe the wartime massacre of Ottoman Turkey’s Armenians as “genocide”. This formal recognition of the World War One “genocidal” killing of some 1.5 million Armenians which started in 1915 on orders from the then Ottoman Turkish government, is expected from Biden Saturday at the marking of the 106th anniversary of the start of the mass-killings and deportations. Successive Turkish governments, while admitting that many Armenians died in eastern Turkey, have always angrily denied that the massacres were planned and ordered by the Ottoman military from the country’s then-capital Istanbul. Turks also point out that there had been an Armenian uprising behind the lines when Ottoman troops were fighting a losing campaign against Tsarist Russian forces driving out of the Caucasus. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is likely to furiously push back at Biden’s formal use of the word “genocide”. Clearly anticipating the development, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned on Tuesday that it will further harm already strained ties between the NATO allies.
“Statements that have no legal binding will have no benefit, but they will harm ties,” Cavusoglu warned. “If the United States wants to worsen ties, the decision is theirs,” he said, adding “ the US needs to respect international law”. Biden’s move would be largely symbolic but would mean breaking away from decades of carefully-calibrated language from the White House and comes at a time when Ankara and Washington are already at loggerheads over a string of issues.
Biden is expected to use the word “genocide” as part of a statement on April 24 when annual commemorations for the victims are held around the world, three sources familiar with the matter said. “My understanding is that he took the decision and will use the word genocide in his statement on Saturday,” said a source familiar with the matter. Sources cautioned that given the importance of bilateral ties with Turkey, Biden may still choose not to use the term at the last minute. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday told reporters the White House would likely have “more to say” about the issue on Saturday, but declined to elaborate. The State Department referred queries on the issue to the White House and National Security Council had no comment beyond what Psaki said. A year ago, while still a presidential candidate, Biden commemorated the 1.5 million Armenian men, women, and children who lost their lives in the final years of the Ottoman Empire and said he would back efforts to recognise those killings as a genocide.
“Today, we remember the atrocities faced by the Armenian people in the Metz Yeghern (Great Calamity) the Armenian Genocide. If elected, I pledge to support a resolution recognising the Armenian Genocide and will make universal human rights a top priority,” he said on Twitter at the time. Turkey accepts that many Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed in clashes with Ottoman forces during World War One, but contests the figures and denies the killings were systematically orchestrated and constitute a genocide. At the time, one of the loudest protests over the Armenian massacres and forced death marches into Syria and Iraq came from the then US ambassador to Turkey, Henry Morgenthau. For decades, measures recognising the Armenian genocide stalled in the US Congress and US presidents have refrained from calling it that, stymied by concerns about relations with Turkey and intense lobbying by Ankara.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan had established a close bond with former US President Donald Trump, but he has yet to speak to Biden since he became president in January . While Turkish and American officials have held talks since then, the Biden administration has stepped up pressure on Turkey by frequently expressing its discontent over Ankara’s human rights track record and the gap between the two sides over a host of issues including Turkey’s purchase of Russian weapons systems and policy differences in Syria remains. Ian Bremmer, founder of the Eurasia Group research and consulting firm, said Biden’s expected move reflected the deteriorating relationship between the NATO allies, but Erdogan’s response would be likely limited. “Erdogan is … unlikely to provoke the US with actions that could further undermine Turkey’s weak economy,” he said. In 2019, the US Senate passed a non-binding resolution recognising the killings as a genocide, in a historic move that deeply angered Turkey.
Bi-partisan pressure
Representative Adam Schiff and a group of 100 bipartisan lawmakers sent a letter to Biden this week urging him to follow through on his campaign pledge and “right decades of wrongs.”“For decades, while leaders around the world recognise the first genocide of the 20th century, the president of the United States has remained silent,” the letter said, continuing ” ‘Silence is complicity.’ The shameful silence of the United States government on the historic fact of the Armenian Genocide has gone on for too long, and it must end”. Dozens of other countries including France and Russia have already designated the Armenian killings as genocide. After the Dutch parliament passed a motion in February urging the government to recognise the genocide, Turkey said the move was “aimed at rewriting history based on political motives.”Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America has been prominent in the campaign to have Biden abandon long-standing US ambivalence and call the massacres a genocide. “In the past, the arm twisting from Turkey was, ‘Well we’re such a good friend that you should remain solid with us on this,'” he said, “But they’re proving to be not such a good friend.”Hamparian said he is hopeful that Biden will follow through. He noted that the stinging disappointment, when former President Barack Obama failed to honour his own campaign pledge in 2008 to recognise the Armenian genocide, still lingers for many in the Armenian diaspora. Samantha Power, who served as Obama’s United Nations ambassador and has been nominated by Biden to serve as USAID administrator along with deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes both publicly expressed disappointment that Obama didn’t act on the matter. Obama was concerned about straining the relationship with Turkey, a NATO member whose cooperation was needed on military and diplomatic efforts in Afghanistan, Iran and Syria. Power said in a 2018 interview with Pod Save the World that the administration was “played a little bit” by Erdogan and others invested in delaying a genocide declaration.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 22-23/2021

Russia, the Dilemmas of Liberalization and the Ramblings of Dictatorship
Charles Elias Chartoun/April 22/2021
شارل الياس شرتوني: روسيا ، معضلات التحرر وهذيان الديكتاتوريات
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/98147/charles-elias-chartouni-the-dilemmas-of-liberalization-and-the-ramblings-of-dictatorship-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%b1%d9%88/
The renewed rhetoric of the Cold War sounded in the latest state of the nation speech of Vladimir Putin, reflects the blatant contradictions of a liberalizing social order and the paranoid state of mind of a growing dictatorship. The simulated tensions with Western democracies are inversely proportionate to the acceleration of societal liberalization in Russia, the more the Russians engage the dynamics of a liberal society, the more the autocratic regime heightens the pressure on the inside, feeds the paranoia on the outside, and becomes more polarizing internationally. This tale spinning about a Western threat to Russian security is directly proportional to the increasing repression inside Russia, and the perpetuation of the State Murder legacy and its ostentatious display by Vladimir Putin, betray the very mood of a liberalizing civil society, growing weary and away from a wonted political stratagem based on State terror and official cynicism.
Nothing justifies the paranoid State narrative of Western conspiracy, but the inability of the autocratic regime to cope with the enhancing liberalization and its overall political and social incidence, it’s becoming more and more dysfunctional and doesn’t resonate with the new cultural and political values. Based on the anachronistic tropes and inconsistencies of a dysfunctional imperial narrative, this rhetoric does not cohere anymore with the political mood and proclivities of a liberalizing society, which has no qualms locating itself on a continuum between the democratic and liberal political values and their Western strategic anchors. The repeated assassination essays on Alexei Navalny’s life come at the heels of a time honored State Murder and political terror tradition, and deliberately fail to come to terms with the changing paradigms of a society that has no more tolerance for immemorial political servitude, State subservience and its compliant political apathy.
Cashing on the imponderables of vast geopolitics and a waning imperial script, Putin is growing more and more deaf and walling himself behind the psychotic defenses of the Western conspiracy discourse, the current conflict dynamics of Western democracies, and his insidious determination at derailing them. The so-called state of the nation speech mimicked political tradition reflects poorly its democratic inspiration and embedding, and strives at hijacking the right of the Russian people to speak for itself, define its values, reform its institutions, elaborate its consensuses and set its strategic anchors. This figure of speech doesn’t reflect the organic unity of the czarist era, nor the demented semantics of Bolshevism, it reflects the paradoxes and delusions of an unhinged autocracy which has lost touch with reality and lives within its psychotic bounds. The delirious ramblings discharging in every direction, matching with internal blind repression, institutional mendacity and international warmongering are quite metonymic, they reflect the hazards of an erratic worldview and the fallacies of an expired totalitarianism.

China's Fishing Fleet Is Vacuuming the Oceans
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute/April 22, 2021
"China's leaders see distant water fleets as a way to project presence around the world. The aim is to be present all over the world's oceans so that they can direct the outcomes of international agreements that cover maritime resources." — Tabitha Mallory, CEO of China Ocean Institute and affiliate professor at the University of Washington, Axios, March 23, 2021.
In the past five years, more than 500 abandoned wooden fishing boats, often with skeletons of starved North Korean fishermen aboard, have washed up on the shores of Japan. For years the cause was unknown, until it was found out that the likely reason was that "an armada" of Chinese industrial boats fish illegally in North Korean waters.... It is estimated that China's fishing vessels have depleted squid stocks in North Korean waters by 70%.
Most of the fishing vessels in China's fleet are trawlers. "Fishing by trawling method sweeps out the seafloor in the south, and annihilates its resources," a representative of the fishermen said.
In a number of West African countries -- Sierra Leone, Liberia, Nigeria and others -- Chinese trawlers have for years "taken advantage of poor governance, corruption and the inability of these governments to enforce fishing regulations" according to the China-Africa project. "Today, the Chinese vessels largely operate beyond government control, prompting an increasingly serious environmental crisis brought on from over-fishing that also endangers local coastal communities who depend on these waters for their livelihoods". In July 2020, six Chinese super-trawlers arrived in Liberia, capable of capturing 12,000 tons of fish -- nearly twice the nation's sustainable catch.
In South America, Chinese predatory fishing is now so critical that in March, Argentina announced the creation of a Maritime Joint Command to combat the predatory fishing practices of foreign vessels.
The Chinese fishing fleet, however, is about much more than fishing. "Against the backdrop of China's larger geo-political aspirations, the country's commercial fishermen often serve as de-facto paramilitary personnel whose activities the Chinese government can frame as private actions", stated an August 2020 report by Ian Urbina, published by the Yale School of the Environment. "Under a civilian guise, this ostensibly private armada helps assert territorial domination, especially pushing back fishermen or governments that challenge China's sovereignty claims that encompass nearly all of the South China Sea".
China has by far the world's largest fishing fleet. However, the Chinese fishing fleet is about much more than fishing. According to investigative reporter Ian Urbina, "Against the backdrop of China's larger geo-political aspirations, the country's commercial fishermen often serve as de-facto paramilitary personnel whose activities the Chinese government can frame as private actions." Pictured: Filipinos protest China's incursion in the West Philippine Sea, on June 21, 2019, in Manila, Philippines. Filipino fishermen reported that on June 9, 2019, a Chinese fishing vessel rammed and sank their boat within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone, leaving all 22 Filipino crew floating at sea before being rescued by a Vietnamese fishing vessel. (Photo by Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Communist China seems increasingly to be depleting the world's oceans of marine life. The country has by far the world's largest fishing fleet of anywhere between 200,000 to 800,000 fishing boats -- accounting for nearly half of the world's fishing activity -- approximately 17,000 of which belong to its distant-water fishing fleet. The growth has been made possible by enormous state subsidies. In 2012, for instance, the Chinese state poured $3.2 billion in subsidies into its fishing sector, most of it for fuel. However, according to a report from 2012, "government support for the fishing and aquaculture sector could be as much as CNY 500 billion (USD 80.2 billion, EUR 61.7 billion) when regional and national subsidies for rural-based fish farmers are taken into account."
As noted by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), many industrialized countries, having depleted their domestic waters, go distant-water fishing in the territorial waters of low-income countries, but China's distant-water fleet is by far the largest in the world. The ODI also noted that ownership and operational control of China's fleet is both "complex and opaque".
"China's leaders see distant water fleets as a way to project presence around the world," Tabitha Mallory, CEO of the consulting firm China Ocean Institute and affiliate professor at the University of Washington told Axios. "The aim is to be present all over the world's oceans so that they can direct the outcomes of international agreements that cover maritime resources."
Chinese fishing vessels deplete the stocks of countries not only in Southeast Asia, but also as far away as the Persian Gulf, South America, West Africa and the South Pacific. Their predatory and unsustainable fishing methods are endangering not only marine life, but also the livelihoods of local fishermen. China is considered to be the largest perpetrator of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) in the world, as well as the largest subsidizer in the world of such practices.
Admiral Karl Schultz, the Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, has warned:
"IUU fishing has replaced piracy as the leading global maritime security threat. If IUU fishing continues unchecked, we can expect a deterioration of fragile coastal States and increased tension among foreign-fishing Nations, threatening geo-political stability around the world,"
The consequences are sometimes grisly. One of the most shocking examples is that of North Korea: In the past five years, more than 500 abandoned wooden fishing boats, often with skeletons of starved North Korean fishermen aboard, have washed up on the shores of Japan. For years the cause was unknown, until it was found out that the likely reason was that "an armada" of Chinese industrial boats fish illegally in North Korean waters, forcing the locals to venture further from shore, where some of them die in a vain search for fish and eventually wash up in Japan. It is estimated that China's fishing vessels have depleted squid stocks in North Korean waters by 70%.
In Iran, pro-reform media reported in July that Chinese vessels were "illegally cleaning out fish resources in the Persian Gulf" while "Iranian fishermen are forced to pay ten thousand dollars in bribes to Somalian pirates to let them fish on the African shores". Most of the fishing vessels in China's fleet are trawlers. "Fishing by trawling method sweeps out the seafloor in the south, and annihilates its resources," one representative of the fishermen said. According to a July 2020 report from Iran News Update:
"In recent years, this horrible issue [activity of Chinese trawlers] has contributed to a two-third decrease in Iran's aquatic reserves and sounded alarms about the annihilation of the country's marine ecosystem. Moreover, this kind of fishing negatively affected Iranian fishers' businesses..."
Iran has reportedly been leasing out its territorial waters in the Persian Gulf to Chinese industrial ships for more than a decade. In 2018, the Deputy for Port Affairs of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, Mohammad Ali Hassanzadeh, admitted that Chinese ships were "operating under a 'long-term lease' for fishing at a depth of 200 meters (roughly 656 feet) in Iranian waters."
In a number of West African countries -- Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria and others -- Chinese trawlers have for years "taken advantage of poor governance, corruption and the inability of these governments to enforce fishing regulations" according to the China-Africa project.
"Today, the Chinese vessels largely operate beyond government control, prompting an increasingly serious environmental crisis brought on from over-fishing that also endangers local coastal communities who depend on these waters for their livelihoods".
In July 2020, six Chinese super-trawlers arrived in Liberia, capable of capturing 12,000 tons of fish -- nearly twice the nation's sustainable catch.
A March 24 report by the Environmental Justice Foundation said that Chinese state companies have been "fleecing" Ghana's ocean resources "by camouflaging as locally incorporated trawler owners that pay lower license fees and penalties for engaging in illegal fishing activities", denying the country millions of dollars in license revenues.
"The report details how the Chinese control up to 93 percent of the trawl vessels in Ghana, a country that is now losing between USD 14.4 million and USD 23.7 million (EUR 12.1 million and EUR 20 million) annually in fishing license fees and fines from trawlers."
In South America, Chinese predatory fishing is now so critical that in March, Argentina announced the creation of a Maritime Joint Command to combat the predatory fishing practices of foreign vessels. According to Diálogo, a military magazine published by the U.S. Southern Command:
"Each year, a fleet of foreign fishing vessels, mostly from China, sails along South American coasts, threatening the marine resources in the region. According to the South Pacific Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, the involvement of Chinese vessels in squid fishing in the region has grown steadily over the last two decades."
In June, a huge Chinese fishing fleet of 300 vessels arrived in the area around Ecuador's environmentally protected Galapagos Marine Reserve. The Chinese vessels, which stayed in the area for a month, accounted for "99% of visible fishing just outside the [Galapagos] archipelago's waters between 13 July and 13 August," a report found. They were fishing for squid, which are essential to the unique Galapagos seals and sharks, and for commercial fish that otherwise contribute to the local economy. In 2017, Ecuador jailed 20 Chinese fishermen for capturing 6,600 sharks off the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The sharks are used in shark fin soup, a Chinese delicacy.
In the South Pacific, according to two former U.S. officials, "illegal, unregulated fishing by Chinese vessels has become common in American Samoa and Guam and as far east as Hawaii". The overfishing is so detrimental to the locals that a tuna cannery on American Samoa, one of the island's largest employers, had to suspend operations temporarily due to a lack of fish.
The Chinese fishing fleet, however, is about much more than fishing. In an August 2020 report published by the Yale School of the Environment, investigative reporter Ian Urbina wrote:
"Against the backdrop of China's larger geo-political aspirations, the country's commercial fishermen often serve as de-facto paramilitary personnel whose activities the Chinese government can frame as private actions. Under a civilian guise, this ostensibly private armada helps assert territorial domination, especially pushing back fishermen or governments that challenge China's sovereignty claims that encompass nearly all of the South China Sea."
China's use of fishing boats to assert its power and territorial claims was on full display in March, when a fleet of more than 200 Chinese fishing vessels swarmed and anchored at the Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea. The reef lies within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone.[1] In 2018, more than 90 Chinese fishing vessels anchored within miles of the Philippine Thitu Island, after the Philippine government began work on the island's infrastructure.
In September, the US Coast Guard released a report, "Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing Strategic Outlook," which announced "the U.S. Coast Guard's commitment to leading a global effort to combat illegal exploitation of the ocean's fish stocks and protect our national interests". The report stressed the need to "(1) Promote targeted, effective, intelligence-driven enforcement operations, (2) Counter predatory and irresponsible State behavior, and (3) Expand multilateral fisheries enforcement cooperation" and urged that a coalition of intergovernmental and international partners would be necessary. In April, the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy launched a joint mission in the Western and Central Pacific to combat illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing (IUU fishing) and boost regional security. In February, the Office of Intelligence and Analysis, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security, recommended that the US "consider leading a multilateral coalition with South American nations to push back against China's illegal fishing and trade practices."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
[1] According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations control marine resources within a 200-mile "exclusive economic zone."
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Jihadist Threat Persists
Thomas Joscelyn/FDD/April 22/2021
President Trump and President-elect Biden do not agree on much. But they concur that America needs to extricate itself from “endless wars” against jihadists.1 There is just one problem: Jihadist terrorists will not go away simply because Americans want them to. ISIS and al-Qaeda will continue to fight on, seeking victory and threatening Americans.2 The only question is whether the United States will meet the jihadist terrorist threat proactively overseas or belatedly in America’s homeland.
The political desire to “end” the post-9/11 wars is compounded by a renewed sense of urgency with respect to the great power rivals of China and Russia. Defense and intelligence officials are rightly concerned about the growing military capabilities of these two revisionist powers. However, this should not cloud Washington policymakers’ view of terrorist threats. Indeed, one often hears that America must pivot away from the fight against jihadism so the U.S. military and intelligence establishment has the resources necessary to counter Chinese and Russian aggression.3 However, this argument ignores a simple fact: America has already pivoted away from large-scale post-9/11 wars.
Comparing the number of American service members deployed in jihadist war zones over time is instructive.4 In 2008, there were approximately 190,000 American troops deployed across Afghanistan and Iraq.5 By June 2020, there were fewer than 15,000 American troops across those two countries and Syria.6 Approximately 8,600 of them were stationed in Afghanistan, and the Trump administration is reducing the number to 2,500.7 In addition, approximately 6,000 to 7,000 U.S. troops were located across Africa, where they were assisting others in the fight against al-Qaeda and ISIS.8 In sum, there were only about 22,000 American troops in jihadist war zones by mid-2020.9 That was less than 12 percent of the troops deployed in 2008 in Afghanistan and Iraq.10
The question today is not whether the United States should end massive combat efforts with tens of thousands of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Those efforts have already ended. The question today is whether the United States will continue its modest, economy-of-force missions in support of allies and partners in these locations. If the United States does so, it can – at a relatively low and sustainable cost – secure American interests, prevent jihadist advances, and deprive terrorist groups of the space they need to launch attacks on Americans. If Washington withdraws from these locations, there could be dangerous repercussions.
ISIS, al-Qaeda, and other jihadist groups remain committed to their goal of building an Islamic caliphate. They are attempting to overthrow existing governments throughout Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South Asia. They hope to replace those governments with emirates that rule according to Sharia, or Islamic law.From al-Qaeda’s perspective, the first and most important emirate is the Taliban’s regime in Afghanistan. Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has portrayed the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as the cornerstone of a new caliphate, telling his followers around the globe that they should emulate it as a model for Islamic governance.11
Refusing to take him at his word, the United States seeks an exit from Afghanistan. The international terrorist threats in both Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan will not disappear after America leaves. So, while the war in Afghanistan is not going well, the small U.S. presence has actually made a difference. Even more heartening is the fact that Afghan forces have carried the lion’s share of the burden there since 2012.12 Thus, with a reduced presence in the country, U.S. forces have helped their Afghan partners prevent the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies from seizing provincial capitals.13 This has deprived terrorist groups of the ability to launch another major attack on the United States from Afghanistan. Additionally, the United States has retained a counterterrorism outpost that counters threats across the region – including in Pakistan. Should the United States complete its withdrawal, these gains would dissipate.
A defeat in Afghanistan would also likely inspire al-Qaeda branches elsewhere. In Somalia, al-Shabaab is fighting to topple the internationally recognized federal government and replace it with an al-Qaeda emirate. In West Africa, al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its subsidiary, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM, or the “Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims”), seek to form their own emirate in Mali. Both AQIM and JNIM operate elsewhere throughout North and West Africa as well. In Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has twice seized large chunks of the country and still seeks to build its own Sharia regime. Al-Qaeda groups are also fighting in Syria, where the prospects for a jihadist emirate currently look dim, but the threat persists.
In most of these areas, the United States has partnered with local forces or Western allies. In Somalia, for instance, the United States and regional nations have backed the federal government in Mogadishu, preventing jihadists from overrunning the country.14 America’s support has helped prevent al-Qaeda and ISIS from establishing emirates in parts of Africa. In Syria, a minimal footprint of approximately 2,000 U.S. Special Operations Forces, buttressed by tens of thousands of members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), helped defeat the ISIS caliphate (a smaller ISIS presence remains).15 Without such support, Americans should expect jihadist regimes would rise or return.
Some Americans might dismiss such warnings and ask: Why is jihad overseas a security concern for Americans? The answer is simple: The jihadists have demonstrated time and again since the 1990s that as they gain ground “over there,” the threat to Americans rises “over here.”16
The Obama administration withdrew U.S. troops from Iraq in 2011 based on the appealing but misguided belief that America could declare victory and go home, leaving the troubling Middle East behind. But jihadists stormed through much of Iraq and Syria in the months that followed, seizing territory the size of Tennessee and terrorizing civilians across both countries. Some voices dismissed ISIS’ territorial advances in 2013 and 2014 as a purely local concern.17 But that assessment quickly proved erroneous, as the so-called caliphate mushroomed into a global menace, plotting terrorist attacks around the world.18 Today, should the United States give up its small presence in Iraq and Syria, an ISIS resurgence would be unsurprising.
On a tactical level, wholesale withdrawals that remove American troops entirely would make it more difficult for Washington to target key terrorist leaders. Even as Trump has lamented “endless wars,” the U.S. military and intelligence establishment have utilized the relatively modest remaining military presence in key locations to hunt down dozens of dangerous terrorists around the globe. If they were not running from U.S. and partner forces, these terrorists would have had more opportunities to plot and launch attacks on America or our allies.
Intelligence derived from America’s modest military footprint has also made Americans safer. That includes an October 2019 raid that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.19 It also includes a strike announced one month prior that killed Hamza bin Laden, Osama’s son and ideological heir in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region.20 From September 2019 through June 2020, the United States took out other senior terrorists in Afghanistan, Mali, Syria, and Yemen.21 These strikes likely saved countless American lives.
The disconnect between the political rhetoric concerning “endless wars” and the reality of the terrorist threat could not be more pronounced. It is easy to decry war and call to bring American service members home. But it is not so easy for advocates of American retrenchment to explain how the United States would locate and strike the world’s most dangerous terrorists without a military presence near the jihadists’ strongholds. Supporters of wholesale American military withdrawals often fail to acknowledge the importance of forward U.S. military bases as platforms for intelligence collection and counterterrorism operations.
The days of massive U.S.-led “nation-building” projects or ill-conceived interventions in the wider Middle East and Central and South Asia are long over. But a complete American military retreat would represent an unnecessary and devastating self-inflicted wound that would only invite more terrorist attacks on Americans – and perhaps even prompt another wave of wars most Americans would like to avoid.
 

Syria: From Trump to Biden Monograph
David Adesnik/FDD/April 22/2021
Current Policy
The Trump administration never settled on a clear and consistent policy toward Syria. Rather, there was perennial tension between the president’s determination to withdraw U.S. forces – now fewer than 1,000 in number – and the insistence of both his advisers and Congress that the United States had vital interests at stake.
As a candidate in 2016, Trump made clear his aversion to continued U.S. involvement in Syria for any purpose other than defeating the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).1 Nevertheless, Trump launched air and missile strikes in 2017 and again in 2018 to punish the Bashar al-Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. Trump also accelerated the U.S.-led campaign against the ISIS caliphate, leading to its defeat in 2018.
While that campaign was still underway, however, Trump began to advocate a withdrawal from Syria. In March 2018, he unexpectedly announced at a public rally that the United States would be leaving Syria soon. “Let the other people take care of it now,” Trump said. “We are going to get back to our country, where we belong, where we want to be.”2 On the advice of his national security team, Trump quietly postponed the withdrawal.
Nine months later, following a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Trump surprised both his advisers and the other members of the anti-ISIS coalition by announcing a rapid pullout of the roughly 2,000 U.S. troops then in Syria. “We have won against ISIS. We’ve beaten them, and we’ve beaten them badly,” Trump said. “Now it’s time for our troops to come back home.”3
Trump’s decision led to the resignation of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, while the Senate voted 68-23 to condemn the withdrawal, with 43 Republicans in favor of the resolution and only three against.4 Under pressure, the president gradually distanced himself from his original order. In the end, the United States withdrew about half its troops.
In October 2019, following another call with Erdogan, Trump reissued his order for a complete withdrawal. He stated, “[T]he plan is to get out of endless wars,” adding that Syria is of little concern because “[i]t’s a lot of sand.”5
Trump specifically directed a withdrawal from U.S. positions near the Syrian border with Turkey; Erdogan quickly sent an intervention force across the border to attack Ankara’s Syrian Kurdish adversaries – integral members of the anti-ISIS coalition. A UN report later documented extensive human rights violations by the Turkish military and Turkish-aligned militias in Syria.6 Russian forces also gained access to parts of northeastern Syria where coalition forces once exercised exclusive control.
Three days after Trump announced the withdrawal, a bipartisan majority in the House voted 354-60 to repudiate the decision.7 As pressure mounted, the president turned to a new rationale for keeping troops in Syria: “We’re keeping the oil. We have the oil. The oil is secure. We left troops behind, only for the oil,” he said.8 The Pentagon accordingly relocated some units to Syrian oil fields.9
As 2019 drew to a close, a bipartisan coalition in Congress succeeded in passing the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act (“Caesar Act”), which mandated sanctions on Assad’s foreign enablers while enhancing executive branch authority to target them. The U.S. government also continued to appropriate extensive humanitarian aid, totaling more than $12 billion since the start of the war.10
At the end of Trump’s term, an estimated 500 to 600 troops remained in northeastern Syria. An additional 200 troops serve at a garrison at al-Tanf, a strategic town on the main highway from Baghdad to Damascus – a key artery for Iran’s “land bridge” across the Levant.11
Assessment
Trump’s periodic calls for a withdrawal from Syria derived from a mistaken premise that the United States had stumbled into a quagmire. In fact, the U.S. military applied the lessons it learned in Iraq and Afghanistan to minimize both the human and financial costs of its operations in Syria. Principally, the military employed air power, surveillance capabilities, and a small number of advisers to support local allies, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which fought the bloody ground war against ISIS.12
Previous wars also demonstrated the need to ensure local allies could preserve stability after initial successes on the battlefield. Trump himself frequently condemned the Obama administration for its rushed withdrawal from Iraq from 2009 to 2011, which satisfied a campaign promise yet contributed directly to the rise of ISIS. Nevertheless, Trump ignored his own advice with regard to Syria.
The president also refused to recognize the connection between his policy toward Syria and his campaign of maximum pressure against the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has spent an estimated $20 to $30 billion to prop up the Assad regime.13 A full withdrawal from Syria would have enabled Assad to reassert control of the oil fields and agricultural resources of northeastern Syria, thereby relieving pressure on his own finances and, by extension, Tehran’s. An American departure would also have solidified Tehran’s efforts to build a land bridge to the Mediterranean, facilitating its supply of advanced weapons to Hezbollah for ultimate use in a war with Israel.14
Trump’s unwarranted faith in Erdogan’s assurances also contributed to errors in Syria. Trump claimed that Turkey would assume responsibility for fighting ISIS, yet Erdogan had consistently turned a blind eye to ISIS and al-Qaeda financiers in Turkey, while sending weapons and funding to Syrian extremists, including al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.15
Trump deserves credit, however, for enforcing the U.S. red line that prohibits the use of chemical weapons in Syria. French and British warplanes even participated in the second round of airstrikes in 2018, a rare instance of transatlantic cooperation in recent years. Still, the strikes had a limited impact; Syrian aircraft continued to bomb civilian targets with conventional munitions. The State Department also reported to Congress that the Assad regime continues to procure materials for chemical-weapons production.16
The Trump administration also made a concerted effort to escalate economic pressure on Assad. President Obama’s executive orders granted many of the necessary authorities to the departments of Treasury and State to impose sanctions, yet enforcement was intermittent. From 2017 onward, Treasury worked to disrupt the illicit flow of oil from Iran to Syria, while blacklisting many of the oligarchs generating income for the Assad regime.17 After the Caesar Act took effect in June 2020, Treasury and State began to announce new designations on a monthly basis.
While Trump ultimately settled on the presence of several hundred U.S. troops in Syria, his claim that America would keep Syrian oil illustrated the extent to which misinformation drove his policy. The United States is the world’s leading producer of oil and gas; it has no legal right to Syria’s reserves and does not need them.
The prospects are dim for a resolution of the war in Syria, whether on the battlefield or via diplomacy in Geneva. Trump’s top advisors advocated sustainable policies to secure U.S. interests amid ongoing fragmentation and instability. The president’s failure to follow that course prevented his administration from focusing its efforts on keeping ISIS down, limiting Iranian and Russian influence, managing tensions with Turkey regarding northeastern Syria, protecting and aiding Syrian civilians, and strengthening U.S. relations with Kurdish and Arab partners in the anti-ISIS coalition.
Recommendations
Secretary of State-designate Antony Blinken explained last May that President-elect Biden’s Syria policy would address grave errors made by both the Obama and Trump administrations. As an Obama administration veteran, Blinken said “We failed to prevent a horrific loss of life. We failed to prevent massive displacement of people internally in Syria and, of course, externally as refugees. And it’s something that I will take with me for the rest of my days.”18
Blinken’s candor and openness to self-criticism amount to a refreshing change. To fix past mistakes, the new administration should implement the following recommendations:
Maintain troops in Syria to prevent an ISIS resurgence. Effective operations in Syria also depend on the U.S. military presence in Iraq. The Biden administration should request that the Pentagon determine whether Trump’s partial withdrawals from either country compromised the mission. If so, reverse the withdrawals.
Continue to support and train the SDF. Capable and motivated allies are a rare asset in the region; more than 11,000 SDF fighters lost their lives while fighting ISIS.19
Target revenue streams that enable Assad to engage in atrocities against the Syrian people. The Biden administration must build on current efforts to disrupt Syria’s illicit oil imports as well as its narco-trafficking. It must also employ the Caesar Act and related authorities to target Assad’s oligarchs and foreign facilitators.
Warn U.S. partners in the Arab world not to normalize relations with Assad. The incoming administration should make clear that the United States will punish sanctions evasion by entities from friendly states as well as hostile ones.
Reform and increase humanitarian aid. The United States and its allies rely on the United Nations to distribute aid to populations under Assad’s control, yet the regime diverts massive amounts.20 Donors should hold the United Nations accountable and ensure it establishes comprehensive safeguards. Donors should also pressure Russia and China to stop blocking aid to populations outside regime control, including the displaced persons camp at Rukban.
Oppose reconstruction aid while war crimes continue. Congress may consider an updated version of the No Assistance for Assad Act, which specifies criteria for when reconstruction aid would be permissible.21 The criteria should include safeguards against corruption.
Help local authorities in northeastern Syria to develop their energy resources in a transparent and equitable manner. Moving toward self-sufficiency can reduce the need for economic assistance.
Deter Erdogan from further aggression against the Syrian Kurds. If Turkish military personnel or proxy forces continue to abuse Syrian civilians, the Biden administration should impose human rights sanctions on key commanders and officials.
Press the Assad regime to provide information about the status of American citizens who have disappeared in Syria. The next administration should uphold the U.S. policy of offering no concessions – whether in the form of sanctions relief or diplomatic recognition – for releasing hostages.
Suspend Syria’s rights and privileges within the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Russia will likely attempt to obstruct any effort to hold Damascus accountable, but there is a working majority at the OPCW that will respond to U.S. leadership.
Continue to enforce the U.S. red line on Syrian use of chemical weapons. Assad is likely to test the new administration’s commitment. If the regime employs chemical weapons, the response should deprive Assad of the means to commit further atrocities, by completely destroying his air force and potentially other offensive capabilities.
Notes
Donald Trump, “Transcript of the Second Debate,” Remarks during the second 2016 presidential debate, October 10, 2016. (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/10/us/politics/transcript-second-debate.html)
Ryan Browne and Barbara Star, “Trump says US will withdraw from Syria ‘very soon,’” CNN, March 29, 2018. (https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/29/politics/trump-withdraw-syria-pentagon/index.html)
@realDonaldTrump, “After historic victories against ISIS, it’s time to bring our great young people home!” Twitter, December 19, 2018. (Archived version available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20210108080620/https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1075528854402256896)
U.S. Senate, “Roll Call Vote 116th Congress – 1st Session,” accessed January 2, 2021. (https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=1&vote=00013)
President Donald Trump, The White House, “Remarks by President Trump and President Mattarella of the Italian Republic Before Bilateral Meeting,” Remarks to the press, October 16, 2019. (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-president-mattarella-italian-republic-bilateral-meeting)

Syria’s return to the Arab League is not of itself sufficient
Ghassan Ibrahim/The Arab Weekly/April 22/2021
Syria’s return to the Arab fold, including official reintegration in the Arab League, faces several obstacles after a decade of war, which has transformed the country into an open arena, deserted by the Arabs but dominated by Iran, Turkey, Russia and the United States. With the growing chorus of Arab voices calling for an Arab role that would save Syria from being lost, Syria’s basic realities remain the same.
The Syrian regime and its actions, which were at the root of Syria’s membership suspension, are unchanged. So is the mindset that welcomed the regime’s rescue by Iran with its arrogance and refusal of any concessions to Syrians or Arabs.
What has changed in Syria is the destruction that caused the fragmentation of Syrian society, shattered its infrastructure and made it a theatre for Turkish and Iranian militias while remaining isolated from the Arab world.
There is no doubt that the Arabs have not steered away from Syria and do not intend to abandon it, while the Syrian regime has refused any cooperation with the Arab League on finding a solution, even if that were symbolic.
The Arabs have always shown their desire for the return of Syria to the Arab League and have acted towards that end, but has the Syrian regime submitted a request to return, as required by official procedures?
Did the regime reciprocate the Arabs’ desire and good will towards Syria, or did it just respond by saying that the Arabs should return to Syria and not Syria return to them? There must be an Arab role that saves Syria from itself and from the mindset that has deepened its crisis, whether from the regime or the opposition. There must be a serious Arab role to save it from its predicament and protect it from the large number of players engaged in war and destruction in Syria and from Iranian and Turkish agendas driven by sectarian, ethnic and terrorist ambitions.
There must be, in the final analysis, an Arab solution that rescues Syria culminating in its return to the Arab League. Without a solution that precedes its return, the Syrian regime will not allow any serious Arab role.
The regime’s mentality today is not at all different from what it was during the war, especially since Syria today is without an independent will. Its return to the Arab League requires taking into account regional and international balances, what the Arabs can offer and the prospects of a solution.
The Syrian regime is facing unlimited Iranian influence and strong US pressures exerted through several tracks, most notably the US Caesar Act, which makes Syria’s return to the Arab League more difficult than ever before.
Any Arab solution will face Iran’s intransigence and its obstruction of any Arab attempts to weaken its influence in Syria. It will also face American pressure against the return of the Syrian regime before a political solution in which the Russians and Americans can participate.
Without a political solution among Syrians in which the Arabs participate, this sad story will not end, nor will it end with a decision for the return the Syrian regime to the Arab League.
Today, Western pressure on the regime’s allies is increasing more than ever, and Russia’s attempt to circumvent these pressures by calling on Arab countries to restore the Syrian regime to its Arab standing will not provide the ultimate solution.
Also, Russia’s promises that the return of the Arabs to Syria will weaken the Iranians and the Turks presence in the country, are not supported by facts on the ground. Turkey could not directly intervene in Syria without Russian –and not US– cover. And Iran could not have held out and expanded in Syria had it not been for the Russians’ entry into the Syrian war.
The Arab solution for Syria should put the Russian and American sides in front of their obligations in accordance with the UN resolutions to remove all the militias in Syria. There will be no solution in Syria as long as there are militias that exercise their powers there as if they were an independent state within an exhausted state. Syria’s return to the Arab League is a necessity that requires an Arab effort to participate in shaping the country’s future, not in form, but in practice.
If the objective is purely procedural and consists only in the lifting of the suspension on Syria’s membership in the Arab League, then the situation and the inherent balances of power will not change.
Turkish and Iranian militias will not rush out of Syria and European and American sanctions will not be lifted. The Arabs must put Syria on the path of a solution in order to eventually reach the Arab League.