English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 29/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
King Herod, Herodias’s Daughter & The Beheading Of John The Baptist
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 06/14-29/:”King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’ name had become known. Some were saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 28-29/2021
MoPH: 1320 new coronavirus infections, five deaths
Lebanon’s Mikati says hurdles obstruct cabinet as warnings mount
Reports: Govt. Formation Process Back to Square One
Berri, Jumblatt meet
Seven prisoners flee Dahr al-Baydar police station
General Security responds to PSP’s statement
Majzoub to Radio Lebanon: We have studied all dimensions of the return to school plan, and the student cannot stay at home for the third year in a row
FPM holds its periodic meeting
Hawat: There is no change or modification in the prices of recharge cards or other services
Brax promises gradual improvement of the situation at gas stations
Geagea to Aoun, Diab: They bear responsibility for what is happening at the gas stations
Arab American group demands protected status for Lebanese nationals in the US/Ali Younis/Arab News/August 28/2021
A court de tout/Jean-Marie Kassab/August 28/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 28-29/2021
Biden, Bennett discuss steps to deter Iran’s ‘dangerous regional behaviour’/“If diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options,” said the US president.
Israel’s PM presented Biden with ‘death by a thousand cuts’ Iran strategy: Reports
Khamenei says Biden has same demands as Trump on Iran nuclear issue
U.S. Strikes IS Target in Afghanistan, Pushes Airlift into Final Stage
Biden: Strike in Afghanistan not last, another ISIS attack likely in next 24-36 hours
Pentagon identifies US military casualties in Kabul airport attack
US military begins withdrawal from Kabul airport: Pentagon
Taliban claim to enter resistance stronghold Panjshir, Massoud supporters deny
Slain US Marine who cradled baby at Kabul airport loved her job
Macron at the Baghdad summit: ISIS still poses a threat
Iraq Hosts Regional Meeting Aimed at Easing Mideast Tensions
Amnesty Urges Syria Govt to Lift 'Siege' Off Daraa
Thousands in Berlin protest coronavirus measures
Sisi’s remarks revive debate in Egypt about mention of religion on IDs
Opposition accuses Ankara of allowing Afghan refugees ‘for money’

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 28-29/2021
In new escalation, Algeria to stop supplying Spain with gas through Morocco/Mohamed Alaoui/The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
Why apathy on Palestinian injustice will backfire/Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/August 28, 2021
Road to Libya’s elections is fraught with peril/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/August 28/2021
G7 flexes its political muscles again/Andrew Hammondy/Arab News/August 28, 2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 28-29/2021
MoPH: 1320 new coronavirus infections, five deaths
NNA/August 28/2021
Lebanon has recorded 1320 new coronavirus cases and five deaths in the last 24 hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Saturday.

Lebanon’s Mikati says hurdles obstruct cabinet as warnings mount
The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
BEIRUT--Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati said on Friday he still had to overcome major hurdles to forming a new government, amid a deep economic and political crisis that has left the country with a caretaker administration for a year.
Mikati, the third person picked to try to form a government since last year, told Saudi-owned television network Al Hadath that the situation in Lebanon remained grave. Forming a government is a necessary first step to secure international support to help pull Lebanon out of its deepest crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. The currency has collapsed, while medicines and fuel are running out. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, a heavily armed Shia militant movement backed by Iran and under US sanctions, has said Iranian fuel shipments were on their way to help ease shortages. “We have agreed to start loading a third vessel,” he said in a televised speech. Nasrallah blamed the country’s economic crisis on what he called an economic siege by the United States adding that so-called Caesar sanctions imposed by Washington on Syria had harmed Lebanon. “Go ahead and give Lebanon an exemption for Iranian gasoline and diesel … go ahead and give Lebanon an exemption from Caesar,” Nasrallah said, addressing the United States in his speechز Asked about Nasrallah’s comments, Mikati said he was against anything that would harm Lebanon’s interests. “We will not let anyone lead us to new sanctions,” he said. “But I tell the critics and the Arab League give us a candle, we can’t say no to the shipment without having an alternative.”The prime minister’s position is held by a Sunni according to Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system. Lebanon has been run by the caretaker government of Prime Minister Hassan Diab, who resigned with his cabinet after a massive Beirut port blast ripped through the capital a year ago. Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian, the state’s most senior Sunni Muslim cleric, warned on Friday Lebanon is heading towards complete collapse. The head of one of the main security agencies, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, ordered his officers to stand firm in the face of the crisis, saying it could be protracted and warning of the chaos that would ensue if the state collapsed. The warnings are some of the strongest yet from Lebanese officials about the gravity of the situation. The accelerating pace of the deterioration has added to international concern about a state that was pieced back together after a 1975-90 civil war and is still deeply riven by sectarian and factional rivalries. The UN secretary general on Thursday called for a new government to be formed urgently.

Reports: Govt. Formation Process Back to Square One
Naharnet/August 28/2021
The government formation process returned to square one during the latest meeting between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Najib Miqati, al-Joumhouria daily quoted "credible sources" as saying in remarks published Saturday.
"The main hurdles is neither about portfolios nor about candidates. It rather lies in the naming of the two Christian ministers who are not part of the shares of the President, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party," the sources said.

Berri, Jumblatt meet
NNA/August 28/2021
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri received at his residence in Ain al-Tineh, the head of the Progressive Socialist Party, Walid Jumblatt, with discussions reportedly focusing one the general situation and the latest political developments in the country.
After the meeting, Jumblatt left without making any statement.

Seven prisoners flee Dahr al-Baydar police station
NNA/August 28/2021
Seven prisoners, including Syrians, Lebanese, and Palestinians, have successfully escaped from Dahr al-Baydar police station, NNA Correspondent said.

General Security responds to PSP’s statement
NNA/August 28/2021
The General Directorate of Public Security issued the following statement
“The Progressive Socialist Party indicated, in a statement issued on 28/8/202, that five Syrian citizens disappeared during their visit to their country's embassy in Lebanon last week, without any justification, explanation or clarification of the legal situation and without clarifying their fate, and that the Socialist Party places the incident of their disappearance in the name of Local and international human rights institutions, and the Lebanese General Security responsible for implementing official decisions not to forcible deportation, as well as the responsibility of the Lebanese state or what remains of it, and it is required to prevent such humanitarian violations, whatever the circumstances.”“The General Directorate of Public Security confirms that the powers entrusted to it at the border crossings are limited to stamping travel documents in the possession of transients after verifying them and completing judicial procedures, and it is not the task of its soldiers to search vehicles or people, knowing that these tasks fall within the jurisdiction of the competent authorities at the crossings,” the statement added. “As for the question posed by the Progressive Socialist Party to those who demand the return of Syrian refugees to their country about the model represented by this dangerous phenomenon of supposed “safe” return, the General Directorate of Public Security made it clear that all return trips organized by the Directorate during the past years were flawless, no incident was recorded with any Syrian citizen who returned to his country under the supervision of General Security and under the supervision of the United Nations agencies operating in Lebanon,” the statement read.

Majzoub to Radio Lebanon: We have studied all dimensions of the return to school plan, and the student cannot stay at home for the third year in a row
NNA/August 28/2021
Caretaker Education Minister Tarek Al-Majzoub indicated, in an interview with "Radio Lebanon", that his insistence on implementing the return to school plan "is purely educational, as the student cannot stay at home for the third year in a row," pointing out that all dimensions of this plan and its educational aspects have been studied, including the psychological ones for the students and for the parents as well. “If we lose education, we will lose everything, and everything is compensated except for education, and I will not leave the matter to the next minister, the plan is drawn up because the school year, parents, students and schools must be prepared, and all of this needs time,” Majzoub said. The minister added: "In addition to the educational plan that has been developed, financial and economic steps will be taken regarding returning to school, as we cannot wait for a solution to economic issues without students going to their schools, and during the next week we will have positive signs."He revealed that he had made successive visits "to a number of concerned ministers to cooperate with them on the issue of returning to school to receive the assistance of those ministries with all their capabilities for the success of the return plan, because the economic and financial concern has increased significantly, and the cooperation aims to alleviate financial concerns," hoping to announce during the next week financial and economic steps regarding returning to school. He called on the parents to wait in buying books because most schools have not distributed the book lists so far, and to wait for the steps that will be issued by the Ministry of Education in terms of a solution with the ministries and concerned authorities to reduce the prices of books, declaring that “a meeting will take place with the Central Bank next Monday about this matter.”He stressed that "most schools support the return of students, while the Ministry of Education is working on the demands of teachers, parents and students that this return is safe and easy."

FPM holds its periodic meeting
NNA/August 28/2021
The "Free Patriotic Movement" political body held its periodic meeting today, chaired by its Chief, MP Gebran Bassil, following which an issued statement deemed that monopoly of storage and smuggling of fuels, contrary to the law and morals, constitute an organized crime.
The political body expressed its concern over attempts to obstruct the investigation into the crime of the Beirut port explosion in order to obscure the truth about who imported ammonium nitrate, who is responsible for storing it, and whether its detonation is a deliberate criminal act. The FPM political body called on the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister-designate, to cooperate constructively as constitutional partners in forming a government that would put an end to the collapse and establish financial recovery. Finally, the political body concluded its statement by saying: "We hope that the President and the PM- designate will be able to overcome these existing sedition attempts to sow discord between them, and overcome them through cooperation and agreement within the constitution that we are working to protect from any harm or manipulation."

Hawat: There is no change or modification in the prices of recharge cards or other services
NNA/August 28/2021
Caretaker Minister of Communications, Talal Hawat, confirmed in a statement that there is no change or modification in the prices of recharge cards for prepaid lines in all categories or other services, or in the tariff for communication or the Internet.
He added that "the only motive for his decision not to raise prices stems from his sensitivity to the suffering of citizens and his standing by their side in this deadly economic crisis

Brax promises gradual improvement of the situation at gas stations
NNA/August 28/2021
Member of the Syndicate of Gas Station Owners, George Brax, said in a statement that a large number of stations that closed last week have opened and deliver fuel back to customers after being renewed by their suppliers. "This scene will continue and we will witness a gradual improvement and a decrease in the density of queues," he added.

Geagea to Aoun, Diab: They bear responsibility for what is happening at the gas stations
NNA/August 28/2021
Head of the "Lebanese Forces" party, Samir Geagea, addressed the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, and caretaker Prime Minister, Hassan Diab, saying: You bear the responsibility for everything that happens at the gas stations these days, just as you bear the responsibility for any accident that occurs in these stations, as well as any malfunction in any hospital or sector, and any collapse that occurs in a factory, cafe or store as a result of the overwhelming chaos prevailing in the fuel market in Lebanon. He added: “You bear the responsibility for all of this, because the solution is clear and known, and you are reluctant to make a decision. The actual solution is to liberate the prices of fuel and medicine and issue the financing card immediately. Everything else is getting bigger and bigger, and chaos is spreading, and the Lebanese citizen is left to his destiny.”

Arab American group demands protected status for Lebanese nationals in the US
Ali Younis/Arab News/August 28/2021
ATLANTA: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) has requested that the US government designate Lebanon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) due to its political instability and looming economic meltdown. The move was co-sponsored by more than 70 civic, legal and religious organizations in the US seeking to protect Lebanese nationals who are presently in the US on non-immigrant visas but would face dire circumstances should they go back to Lebanon under the current conditions. The letter was sent to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this week, who would take such a decision. It requested the designation status fearing that further escalations and tensions in Lebanon’s fractious and dysfunctional political system might escalate into a regional armed conflict. Lebanon’s political and economic problems became more acute in the aftermath of Beirut port explosion last year that killed at least 200 people and injured thousands more and devastated the country’s fragile economy.
TPS is a temporary protection that allows people from a designated country to remain in the US while conditions in their home country make safe return impossible. The Secretary of Homeland Security can designate a country for TPS if the country is experiencing armed conflict, natural disaster or other extraordinary and temporary conditions. The designation lasts 18 months and can be renewed several times. If granted, TPS would allow Lebanese nationals to stay in the United States during the designation period and to legally work. The letter estimates the number of Lebanese nationals who could benefit from the TPS designation at around 28,500 people. Among the groups that co-sponsored in this effort are Amnesty International USA, the Arab American Institute, Jewish Voice for Peace, Atlanta Chapter and the National Council of Churches.
Commenting on the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, ADC president Samer Khalaf said: “The conditions in Lebanon are grim. The circumstances and facts on the ground make it abundantly clear that Lebanon is not in a position to safely accept the return of its citizens at this time. We call on the Biden administration to quickly designate TPS protections for Lebanon.”Addressing concerns over immigration issues that might arise, the letter said that there is no real risk that such a designation would result in an immigration influx into the US from Lebanon. “There has also been no indication that TPS designation has encouraged greater, irregular numbers of migration from the designated areas, including when Lebanon has been designated in the past,” the letter said. “The US has already invested billions of dollars over the past 10 years in Lebanon’s recovery. TPS would strengthen that investment. Lebanon’s stability is also key to the stability of the region, which is within US foreign policy interests,” it added. Abed Ayoub, ADC’s legal director, told the Arab News that he feels optimistic that the US President Joe Biden would show compassion and grant the request.
“We urge the Biden administration to do the right thing and designate Lebanon for TPS, Lebanon is on the verge of a complete economic and humanitarian collapse, granting TPS is the morally correct thing to do, and will help provide safe haven to nationals of the country currently in the US,” he said.

A court de tout.
Jean-Marie Kassab/August 28/2021
Comme tous les Libanais. A court d'essence , d'éléctricité, de médicaments, de dignité, de rêve d'avenir, d'éspoir...Et la liste s'allonge.
Pour ma part je suis surtout à court de jurons.
De jurons contre l'occupant et ses agents surtout. Mais aussi à l'adresse de ceux qui ne firent rien et regardèrent le pays couler sans bouger le doigt et se contentèrent de faire les guignols tout le long.
A court de juron envers moi-même bien sûr de ne pas les avoir exterminés quand c'était possible. De ne pas avoir laissé éclater ma colère dans la bonne direction dernièrement au lieu de me contenter de jurer et épuiser mon stock de gros mots.
Considérez ce billet comme un
SOS de la dernière heure.
Les jours qui viennent risquent d' être boueux.
Mikati qui probablement s'en ira. Bon, qui s'en fout , de toute façon il n'aurait rien fait lui et les 40 voleurs. Mais allez expliquez ça au dollars qui va flamber. On l'avait un peu oublié celui-là , sauf que lui ne nous a pas oublié et fera à sa guise.
Les carburants seront peut-être un peu disponibles mais inabordables pour nombre de Libanais. Et puis la rentrée, un cauchemar pour tout le monde..
L' arrivée du navire fantôme Iranien coincidera avec tout ça et ce sera le bordel total.
Un cocktail de cette sorte est censé réveiller un mort et le sortir de la tombe. Le peuple Libanais est-il mort ? Se reveillera t- il pour frapper dans la bonne direction et déloger ces criminels ?
On verra bien.
SOS

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 28-29/2021
Biden, Bennett discuss steps to deter Iran’s ‘dangerous regional behaviour’/“If diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options,” said the US president.
The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
WASHINGTON--President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in White House talks on Friday that he was putting “diplomacy first” to try to rein in Iran’s nuclear program but that if negotiations fail he would be prepared to turn to other unspecified options. After a one-day delay due to a deadly suicide bombing in Kabul during the chaotic US evacuation from Afghanistan, Biden and Bennett held their first meeting seeking to reset US-Israeli relations and narrow differences over how to deal with Iran’s nuclear advances. Tensions complicated relations between Bennett’s predecessor, Benjamin Netanyahu, who was close to former President Donald Trump, and the last Democratic administration led by Barack Obama, with Biden as his vice president. But the meeting was eclipsed by Thursday’s attack outside Kabul airport that killed at least 92 people, including 13 US service members, confronting Biden with the worst crisis of his young presidency. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, both leaders touched on Iran, one of the thorniest issues between them, but mostly they papered over their disagreements. Biden said they discussed “our commitment to ensure Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.”
“We’re putting diplomacy first and we’ll see where that takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we’re ready to turn to other options,” Biden added, without offering specifics. A White House statement issued later said the two also “reviewed steps to deter and contain Iran’s dangerous regional behaviour.”
Bennett, a far-right politician who ended Netanyahu’s 12-year run as prime minister in June, was expected to press Biden in private to harden his approach to Iran and back out of negotiations aimed at reviving an international nuclear deal with Tehran that Trump abandoned.
US-Iran talks have stalled as Washington awaits the next move by Iran’s new hard-line president. “I was happy to hear your clear words that Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon,” Bennett told Biden. “You emphasised that you’ll try the diplomatic route but there’s other options if that doesn’t work out,” he added, also stopping short of identifying the possibilities.
Bennett said he came with his own strategy to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions that he would discuss in private with Biden. “Iran is the world’s number one exporter of terror, instability, and human rights violations,” Bennett said. “And as we sit here right now the Iranians are spinning their centrifuges in Natanz and Fordo. And we got to stop it, and we both agree.”Since the US withdrawal from the deal in 2018, Tehran over time has abandoned every limitation the accord imposed on its nuclear enrichment. The country now enriches a small amount of uranium up to 63%, a short step from weapons-grade levels, compared with 3.67% under the deal. It also spins far more advanced centrifuges and more of them than were allowed under the accord, worrying nuclear nonproliferation experts even though Tehran insists its program is peaceful.
Different style, same goal
Bennett has sought to move on from Netanyahu’s combative public style but has been just as adamant as Netanyahu was in pledging to do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran, which Israel views as an existential threat, from building a nuclear weapon. Iran consistently denies it is seeking a bomb.
Bennett told reporters that Israel has developed a “comprehensive strategy” to keep Iran away from nuclear breakout and stop its “regional aggression.”Alluding to Israel’s threats of military action and the billions of dollars in US military aid it receives, Bennett said: “It’s our responsibility to take care of our fate, but we do thank you for the tools you’ve been giving us.”The visit gave Biden an opportunity to demonstrate business as usual with a key partner while grappling with the aftermath of the Afghan attack. On the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Biden and Bennett remain far apart. Biden, according to the White House statement, reiterated support for a two-state solution, after Trump distanced himself from that longstanding tenet of US policy. Bennett opposes Palestinian statehood. Biden made only a brief reference to the issue in his remarks. But the White House said he “underscored the importance of steps to improve the lives of Palestinians.” Bennett did not mention the Palestinians in his remarks. The consensus among Biden’s aides is that now is not the time to push for a resumption of long-dormant peace talks or major Israeli concessions, which could destabilise Bennett’s ideologically diverse coalition.
But Biden’s aides say privately they hopes Bennett will make at least make modest gestures to help avoid a recurrence of the Israel-Hamas fighting in the Gaza Strip earlier this year. Though the White House made no mention of Biden’s opposition to further expansion of Jewish settlements on occupied land, it said he stressed “the importance of refraining from actions that could exacerbate tensions.”Bennett, 49, the son of American immigrants to Israel, has been a vocal proponent of settlements. The leaders also discussed “new opportunities” to expand Israel’s relations with the Arab world, the White House said, after normalisation agreements reached under Trump with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.

Israel’s PM presented Biden with ‘death by a thousand cuts’ Iran strategy: Reports
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/28 August ,2021
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett presented US President Joe Biden with what Tel Aviv officials described as a “death by a thousand cuts” strategy against Iran, the Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday citing diplomatic sources. The report said the diplomats compared the strategy to the Cold War, with “Israel playing the role of the US and Iran being the Soviet Union.” “Israel has already started in that vein, so it doesn’t need Biden’s approval, per se, but it would very much like its cooperation and support,” the report added. Biden and Bennett met in the White House on Friday, where the US President told the PM that if diplomatic negotiations failed regarding Iran’s nuclear deal then Washington was prepared with other options. “We're putting diplomacy first and we'll see where that takes us. But if diplomacy fails, we're ready to turn to other options,” Biden said without adding further details.
He stressed to Bennet the US commitment to ensure Iran never developed a nuclear weapon. On his part, Bennett was pleased with Biden’s remarks, saying: “I was happy to hear your clear words that Iran will never be able to acquire a nuclear weapon. You emphasized that you'll try the diplomatic route but there's other options if that doesn't work out.”Axios further elaborated on the “death by a thousand cuts” strategy, citing Israeli officials as saying that it involved countering Iran through a “combination of many small actions across several fronts — both military and diplomatic — instead of a single dramatic strike.”

Khamenei says Biden has same demands as Trump on Iran nuclear issue
AFP/August 28/2021
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday accused US President Joe Biden's administration of making the same demands as his predecessor Donald Trump in talks to revive a nuclear accord. The multilateral deal that offers Iran relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme was torpedoed by Trump's decision to withdraw the United States from it in 2018. A last round of negotiations between Iran and the deal's remaining parties to revive the 2015 accord concluded in June with no resumption in sight. "America's current administration is no different from the previous one, because what it demands from Iran on the nuclear issue is different in words, but the same thing that Trump demanded," Khamenei said, quoted by his official website. "The Americans truly have no shame on the nuclear issue, and even though they withdrew from the JCPOA... they now talk in a way and make demands as it was (Iran) that withdrew," he added, referring to the deal by its official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with President Ebrahim Raisi's newly formed cabinet, during which he acknowledged public trust in government had been "damaged". The ultraconservative Raisi won a June 18 election marred by record low turnout and an absence of significant competitors. He succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani, the architect of the political opening that culminated in the nuclear agreement between Tehran and six major powers. A year after Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal and impose sanctions on Iran, the Islamic republic retaliated by gradually waiving most of the key nuclear commitments that it had accepted under the agreement. Six rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers -- with the US indirectly taking part -- were held in Vienna between April and June. The last round concluded on June 20, with no date set for another. "Behind the scenes of America's foreign policy, there is a predator wolf that sometimes changes to a cunning fox," Khamenei said.

U.S. Strikes IS Target in Afghanistan, Pushes Airlift into Final Stage
Agence France Presse/August 28/2021
The United States conducted a drone strike against an Islamic State target in Afghanistan on Saturday, as the airlift of those desperate to flee moved into its fraught final stages with fresh terror attack warnings and encroaching Taliban forces primed to take over Kabul airport. U.S. forces overseeing the evacuation have been forced into closer security cooperation with the Taliban to prevent any repeat of the suicide bombing that killed scores of civilians crowded around one of the airport's main access gates and 13 American troops. The attack was claimed by a regional Islamic State chapter, and the Pentagon announced it had carried out a drone attack on a "planner" from the jihadist group in eastern Afghanistan. "Initial indications are that we killed the target," said Captain Bill Urban of the Central Command. With the airlift window narrowing sharply ahead of an August 31 deadline, more than 5,000 people remain inside Kabul airport awaiting evacuation. But crowds pleading for entry outside the perimeter gates have thinned to hundreds, according to two people who gained access on Saturday. The carnage of Thursday's suicide attack injected further stress and tension into a situation already fraught with panic and despair for those wanting to leave and high risk for the US forces tasked with securing the operation. On Saturday, two senior health officials from the former Afghan administration told AFP the death toll from the blast had topped 100, including the 13 Americans. Some media have put the toll as high as 170. The bombing followed a chorus of warnings about an imminent threat and, as people gathered outside the airport Saturday, the United States issued a fresh alert for its citizens to leave areas around the main gates "immediately". In recent years, the Islamic State's Afghanistan-Pakistan chapter has been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks in those countries -- massacring civilians at mosques, shrines, public squares and even hospitals.
'Future attempts' -
At the White House, President Joe Biden's press secretary Jen Psaki said U.S. national security experts consider another attack is "likely" and the next few days will be "the most dangerous period to date. "Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi tweeted that the group's fighters had already moved into parts of the military side of Kabul airport, but the Pentagon stressed that U.S. forces retained control over the gates and airlift operations. Racing to meet the Tuesday withdrawal deadline has required close cooperation with the Taliban on evacuee movements and the IS threat. The head of U.S. forces at Hamid Karzai International, Rear Admiral Peter Vasely, is in constant contact with the Taliban official overseeing security around the airport. And with the Taliban poised to take over when the last U.S. plane leaves, discussions have begun on resuming normal flight operations. Turkish officials have held initial talks with the Taliban in Kabul about helping get the airport back up and running. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the Taliban offer was for them to oversee security at the airport, while Ankara runs logistical operations.
Refugee exodus
Under enormous criticism at home and abroad for his handling of the Afghan crisis and the U.S. military withdrawal, Biden has pledged to stick to the airlift deadline and to punish those responsible for the suicide blast. About 109,000 people have been flown out of the country since August 14, the day before the Taliban swept to power, according to the U.S. government. Some Western allies, including Britain and Spain, announced an end to their airlifts on Friday, following other nations such as Canada and Australia earlier in the week. The United Nations said it was bracing for a "worst-case scenario" of up to half a million more refugees from Afghanistan by the end of 2021. The Taliban have promised a softer brand of rule compared with their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, which ended when the United States invaded Afghanistan following the September 11 attacks. But many Afghans fear a repeat of their brutal interpretation of Islamic law, as well as reprisals against those working with foreign militaries, Western missions or the previous US-backed government. Women's role in society has been one of the biggest concerns, after they were banned from work and education and confined to their homes during the group's previous rule. Taliban official Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, the former deputy chief negotiator of peace talks in Doha, said Friday that women have "an innate right" to work."They can work, they can study, they can take part in politics and they can do business," he told a press conference.

Biden: Strike in Afghanistan not last, another ISIS attack likely in next 24-36 hours
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/28 August ,2021
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday the US drone strike targeting ISIS-K in Afghanistan will not be the last one, and that the threat of another attack by the extremist group remains high. “I said we would go after the group responsible for the attack on our troops and innocent civilians in Kabul, and we have. This strike was not the last. We will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay,” he said in a statement. The drone strike was in retaliation for the suicide bombing which targeted Kabul airport on Thursday and led to the deaths of over a 100 Afghans and wounded scores more was claimed by ISIS.The Pentagon said the airstrike a “facilitator and a planner” from ISIS-K, the arm of the group in Afghanistan, with no civilian casualties. Biden added that the threat of another attack on US troops remained eminent. “The situation on the ground continues to be extremely dangerous, and the threat of terrorist attacks on the airport remains high. Our commanders informed me that an attack is highly likely in the next 24-36 hours,” he said.“I directed them to take every possible measure to prioritize force protection, and ensured that they have all the authorities, resources and plans to protect our men and women on the ground. They assured me that they did, and that they could take these measures while completing the mission and safely retrograding our personnel,” Biden added.

Pentagon identifies US military casualties in Kabul airport attack
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/28 August ,2021
The Pentagon released on Saturday the list of names identifying the 13 US servicemen who died in the deadly attack on Kabul airport.
The suicide bombing which targeted Kabul airport on Thursday and led to the deaths of over a 100 Afghans and wounded scores more was claimed by ISIS.
The list of deceased US servicemen and their ages are as follows:
Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Darin T. Hoover, 31, of Salt Lake City, Utah.
Marine Corps Sgt. Johanny Rosariopichardo, 25, of Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole L. Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California.
Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez, 22, of Indio, California.
Marine Corps Cpl. Daegan W. Page, 23, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Marine Corps Cpl. Humberto A. Sanchez, 22, of Logansport, Indiana.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. David L. Espinoza, 20, of Rio Bravo, Texas.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jared M. Schmitz, 20, of St. Charles, Missouri.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum, 20, of Jackson, Wyoming.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Kareem M. Nikoui, 20, of Norco, California.
Navy Hospitalman Maxton W. Soviak, 22, of Berlin Heights, Ohio.
Army Staff Sgt. Ryan C. Knauss, 23, of Corryton, Tennessee.
The US retaliated in less than 48 hours by launching a drone strike in eastern Afghanistan which the Pentagon said killed a “facilitator and a planner” from ISIS-K, the arm of the group in Afghanistan, with no civilian casualties.
President Joe Biden vowed to retaliate against the attackers. “We will not forgive; we will not forget. We will hunt you down and make you pay. I will defend our interests and our people with every measure at my command,” he said at the White House on Thursday.

US military begins withdrawal from Kabul airport: Pentagon
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/28 August ,2021
US troops have begun their withdrawal from Kabul airport, Major General Hank Taylor said on Saturday. “Now as the military mission begins to end in Kabul, thousands of service members are working across the globe and within the United States to complete this incredibly important mission,” he said. US President Joe Biden had sent thousands of troops to the airport earlier this month to help evacuate American citizens and Afghans at risk, after the Taliban seized control of the country on August 15. Evacuations are underway ahead of the August 31 deadline for the US and its allies to withdraw from Afghanistan. “We continue to evacuate American citizens and vulnerable Afghans out of Kabul. In fact, there are approximately 1,400 individuals at the Kabul airport who have been screened and manifested for flights today,” Taylor said. State Department Spokesman Ned Price had said on Friday that since August 14, the US evacuated and facilitated the evacuation of approximately 105,000 people. Since the end of July, the US has relocated approximately 110,600 people. “There are approximately 500 American citizens we are currently working with who want to leave and with whom we are communicating directly to facilitate their evacuations,” Price added.

Taliban claim to enter resistance stronghold Panjshir, Massoud supporters deny
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/28 August ,2021
The Taliban said their fighters entered Panjshir province on Saturday without facing any resistance, Afghan news outlet ToloNews reported. “No fighting occurred, but the.. [Taliban fighters] advanced from various directions without facing any resistance. The [Taliban] forces have entered Panjshir from different directions,” said Anaamullah Samangani, a member of the Taliban’s Cultural Commission. After the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on August 15, Panjshir province in the country’s northwest remained an unconquered area. It has become a stronghold for resistance, mobilizing under Ahmad Massoud, the 32-year-old son of the slain leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, who vowed to resist the Taliban. Massoud's supporters rejected the Taliban's claim of entering Panjshir. “There is no fight in Panjshir and no one has entered the province,” said Mohammad Almas Zahid, head of the Resistance Front delegation.
The Taliban's Samangani said that the door remained open for negotiations with Massoud's supporters and on Saturday a delegation of Ahmad Massoud met with a Taliban delegation in Kabul, ToloNews reported. The Taliban announced last week that hundreds of their fighters were heading to Panjshir to control the province.

Slain US Marine who cradled baby at Kabul airport loved her job
The Associated Press/29 August ,2021
A woman who cradled a baby in her arms at the airport and posted on social media that she loved her job. A young husband with a child on the way. Another man who always wanted to be in the military. A man who planned to become a sheriff’s deputy when his deployment ended. Heart-wrenching details have emerged about some of the 13 US troops killed in a horrific suicide bombing at Afghanistan’s Kabul airport, which also claimed the lives of more than 160 Afghans. A week before she was killed, Sgt. Nicole Gee cradled a baby in her arms at the Kabul airport. She posted the photo on Instagram and wrote, “I love my job.” Gee, 23, of Sacramento, California, was a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit from Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. Sgt. Mallory Harrison, who lived with Gee for three years and called her a “sister forever” and best friend, wrote about the magnitude of her loss.
“I can’t quite describe the feeling I get when I force myself to come back to reality & think about how I’m never going to see her again,” Harrison wrote on Facebook. “How her last breath was taken doing what she loved — helping people. … Then there was an explosion. And just like that, she’s gone.”
Gee’s Instagram page shows another photo of her in fatigues, holding a rifle next to a line of people walking into the belly of a large transport plane. She wrote: “escorting evacuees onto the bird.”The social media account that includes many selfies after working out at the gym lists her location as California, North Carolina and “somewhere overseas.”Photos show her on a camel in Saudi Arabia, in a bikini on a Greek isle and holding a beer in Spain. One from this month in Kuwait shows her beaming with her meritorious promotion to sergeant. Harrison said her generation of Marines hears war stories from veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, but they seem distant amid boring deployments until “the peaceful float you were on turns into … your friends never coming home.”Gee’s car was still parked in a lot at Camp Lejeune and Harrison mused about all the Marines who walked past it while she was overseas. “Some of them knew her. Some of them didn’t.” she said. “They all walked past it. The war stories, the losses, the flag-draped coffins, the KIA bracelets & the heartbreak. It’s not so distant anymore.”

Macron at the Baghdad summit: ISIS still poses a threat
MEA 24/August 28/2021
Today, Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a joint press conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi in Baghdad that “we should not be complacent” in the face of the militants, stressing that “ISIS is still a threat.” For his part, Al-Kazemi stressed that “Iraq and France are key partners in the war against terrorism,” in statements that come during a two-day visit by the French president to Baghdad, as part of a regional conference in which a number of neighboring countries, especially Iran and Saudi Arabia, will participate. The Presidency of the Iraqi government said in a statement, “Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi received French President Emmanuel Macron, upon his arrival at Baghdad airport to participate in the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership.” Iraq will host a conference on “cooperation and partnership”, the most prominent of which is French President Macron, and includes a number of regional countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, and is expected to be overshadowed by developments in Afghanistan. The correspondent of Al-Araby Al-Jadeed confirmed the arrival of official delegations from Egypt, Kuwait and Iran to the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to participate in the regional conference. Through the conference, Iraq hopes to obtain support to restore security and economic stability, and to enhance its regional role. It is likely that the talks will focus on the rapid developments in Afghanistan, the Taliban’s control of the country, and the emergence of the “ISIS” organization, which on Thursday adopted an attack on Kabul Airport, which reinforces fears of the resurgence of its influence again, after it was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2018, with the support of From an international coalition led by the United States. Since yesterday night, hundreds of members of the Counter-Terrorism Service have deployed in and around the Green Zone, in which the conference will be held, while the army and the Federal Police have deployed in a number of areas of the capital, especially near the Green Zone and near Baghdad International Airport Street --/

Iraq Hosts Regional Meeting Aimed at Easing Mideast Tensions
Associated Press/August 28/2021
Iraqi security forces fanned out across the Iraqi capital Saturday ahead of a regional conference aimed at easing tensions in the Middle East and emphasizing the Arab country's new role as mediator. Among the invitees are archenemies Iran and Saudi Arabia, whose rivalry has often played out in Iraq and other countries, including Yemen and Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has said it would be represented by its foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan. It was not clear what kind of representation Iran would have at the conference. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Jordan's King Abdullah as well as representatives from Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were expected to participate. French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is co-organizing the meeting, arrived in Baghdad early Saturday. Participants were expected to discuss a regional water crisis, the war in Yemen and a severe economic and political crisis in Lebanon that has brought the country to the point of collapse. Iraqi special forces deployed in Baghdad, particularly around the Green Zone, which houses foreign embassies and is the seat of the Iraqi government. Sunday's meeting is a chance for Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi to showcase his recent efforts to portray Iraq as a neutral mediator in the region's crises and re-engage with the world after decades of conflict. Earlier this year, the country hosted several rounds of direct talks between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran, with mid-level officials discussing issues related to Yemen and Lebanon, according to Iraqi officials. The talks signaled a possible de-escalation following years of animosity that often spilled into neighboring countries and at least one still-raging war. The talks, while significant, fell short of a breakthrough in relations given the deep strains, historic rivalry and continued sporadic attacks on Saudi oil targets by Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen. There has been talk, however, of the potential for Saudi Arabia to reopen its embassy in Tehran, which was ransacked and shuttered following outrage over the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric in early 2016.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates have called for any nuclear agreement between world powers and Iran to also address its ballistic missile program and support for militias. Saudi Arabia has sought talks with Iran as the kingdom tries to end its years-long war in Yemen against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Tehran, meanwhile, appears to have calculated that a gradual detente with Riyadh, a longtime U.S. ally, will work in its favor during renewed nuclear talks with Washington and world powers. An Iraqi government official told The Associated Press he anticipated Saudi and Iranian officials would hold talks on the sidelines of Saturday's meetings. He said the aim was to bring opponents to the same table and create a political atmosphere for resolving outstanding problems. Iraq's message at the summit is that it stands at the same distance from all sides, the official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements. For Iraq, hosting the talks is seen as a significant step. After decades of conflict, the country is seeking to reclaim a leadership role and status in the Arab world with a centrist policy and a determination among the country's top leaders to maintain good relations with both Iran and the United States and its regional allies. The Shiite-majority country lies on the fault line between Shiite Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world, led by powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and has long been a theater in which Saudi-Iran rivalry for regional supremacy played out.

Amnesty Urges Syria Govt to Lift 'Siege' Off Daraa
Agence France Presse/August 28/2021
Rights group Amnesty International has urged the Syrian government to immediately allow humanitarian aid into a rebel holdout under regime "siege" in the southern city of Daraa. The United Nations has warned of food shortages in opposition-held Daraa al-Balad, which is surrounded by Russia-backed regime fighters seeking to retake control of the area. Clashes have raged between both sides in recent weeks, before a shaky Moscow-brokered truce deal saw dozens of rebels quit the area this week. "The Syrian government must immediately lift the siege to facilitate unfettered access for humanitarian organisations and allow the medical evacuation of the sick and injured," said Amnesty's Syria researcher Diana Semaan. She called on all sides to "grant safe passage to civilians wanting to flee the area". The rights group said the government now rarely approved medical evacuations, while many of the ill or wounded feared they would be detained or face reprisals if they stepped into regime-held territory. One woman told Amnesty last week the shops were almost empty of all food. Her cousin had died because he was not granted permission to leave for urgent medical treatment, she told the rights group. The UN humanitarian agency OCHA said Tuesday that 38,600 people -- more than half of them children -- had fled Daraa al-Balad and been registered in and around the city. Amnesty said the exodus happened after the government briefly opened a checkpoint for people to leave the area. Around 20,000 people remained inside with scarce supplies, it said. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitor with sources inside Syria, said regime forces fired mortar rounds at Daraa al-Balad on Friday. There was no sign of any resumption of the evacuation of rebels under the truce deal, it added. The Observatory had said that 53 people, mostly "fighters who rejected the reconciliation deal", left on Thursday. Syria's state news agency said the number had been 45 and included family members. Thursday's evacuation came two days after an initial smaller group of opposition fighters boarded buses bound for the rebel-held north of the country, according to the Observatory. The wider province of Daraa, seen as the birthplace of Syria's uprising in 2011 and held for years by opposition forces, was returned to government control in 2018. Some rebels left under a previous Moscow-backed ceasefire at the time, but others kept their weapons and remained in control of several areas, including Daraa al-Balad.

Thousands in Berlin protest coronavirus measures
AP/August 28/2021
Thousands turned out in Berlin on Saturday to protest the government’s coronavirus measures, despite bans against several planned gatherings. Police banned nine planned demonstrations for Saturday, including one from the Stuttgart-based Querdenker movement, the most visible anti-lockdown movement in Germany. A court ruled in favor of allowing one protest, planned for 500 people, on Saturday and Sunday. More than 2,000 police officers were stationed around the city to respond to those who showed up despite the bans. Meanwhile, a counter-protest called the “Love Train,” complete with techno music, drew a large crowd of its own. Those demonstrators support government restrictions to slow the spread of the coronavirus. The Saturday protests come amid debates in Germany about how and whether to impose restrictions for unvaccinated people, a question taking on more urgency as coronavirus case numbers rise. Similar protests took place in Berlin in early August, which ended in clashes with police and hundreds of people detained.

Sisi’s remarks revive debate in Egypt about mention of religion on IDs
The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
CAIRO--The mention of religious affiliation on official identification papers has always been a controversial issue among Muslims and Christian alike in Egypt. The subject seems to have been revived by recent remarks by President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi during a telephone call with a live programme on the Sada Al-Balad TV channel. Ripple effects from his remarks have been felt throughout political and cultural elites. Sisi called for the renewal of religious discourse and stressed the importance of awareness in dealing with the matter, saying, “We are all born Muslim or non-Muslim according to our ID. We should reformulate our understanding of belief. We inherit our religion. We were young and did not know. We have grown up. But did we think or are we too afraid to think?”Analysts say Sisi’s comments are enough to open the door to serious discussion this time about deleting the mention of religion from the ID card that every Egyptian who reaches the age of sixteen must carry. Advocates have linked the call for suppression of the mention of religious affiliation to concepts of civil state and citizenship in Egypt. But every time the issue of religion is raised, it faces objections from some Muslim and Christian extremists alike, who want to preserve the mention of religious affiliation, even though it contradicts the principle of the civil state and the narrative underlying the notion of “new republic” being promoted by the regime, which considers equality between people to be based on citizenship and not on religion.
In everyday life, some jobs in Egypt have been tacitly restricted to Muslims, even though the constitution stresses the equality of all citizens without discrimination. Muslim and Christian businesses tend at times to reserve positions to applicants from their respective faith. The abolition of the mention of religion from the identity cards could help eliminate the suspicion of discrimination. But its implementation would need the review of a large number of administrative procedures, such as the registration of births, marriage, divorce and the issuance of death and inheritance certificates, where the proof of religious affiliation in these official documents is an important matter. .
In 2018, an MP submitted a draft law to compel the Egyptian government to remove the religious affiliation mention from the ID cards, based on Article 53 of the Constitution, which states that “citizens are equal before the law and there is no discrimination between them for reasons, including religion or belief”.
Since that time, the issue has not been seriously discussed in public, but Sisi’s remarks have brought it back. However, the problem in Egypt goes beyond merely amending the texts of laws or cancelling the mention of religion, because the names themselves indicate the religious affiliation of its owner.
Egyptian writer and senator Farida El-Shoubashi says the president’s remarks make it opportune today to raise the issue again. However, she felt that beyond doing away with the mention of religious affiliation, there is a need to change the prevailing culture of citizens and specifically the propensity of conspicuous display of religious symbols. She added that, implementing the president’s directives requires a “serious approach towards extremist platforms including campaigns that publicise the importance of the decision in schools, universities and the media, if not (the authorities) will face crises as a result of citizens not being convinced”. She added, “We need to reach a deep understanding of the saying: Religion is for God and the homeland is for all.”

Opposition accuses Ankara of allowing Afghan refugees ‘for money’
The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
VAN, Turkey--As Turkey braces for a possible influx of refugees fleeing Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover, concern over the potential impact is growing, fuelled by festering resentment over refugees already sheltering in the country. Turkey already hosts 3.7 million Syrians, the world’s largest refugee population and the mood has soured in recent weeks as social media videos allegedly showing Afghans entering by the hundreds unhindered sparked outrage. Officials say around 300,000 Afghans are also currently in Turkey. Some have been there for several years. They include an estimated 120,000 unregistered people, although the opposition say the number is far higher. Gravestones of those who have died after crossing the border dot a cemetery in the city. While President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AK Party have defended accepting millions of Syrians who fled conflict in their country, they have said a new wave would not be welcome. “Turkey … cannot handle another burden of migration stemming from Syria or Afghanistan,” Erdogan said on Wednesday. He has also warned EU leaders that Turkey will not be a “migrant storage unit” for Afghans trying to reach Europe. More Afghans are already arriving. Officials have not given details of how many a day, but say they have not yet seen signs of a major surge since the Taliban’s victory. However, the long distances through Iran mean migrants could take weeks to arrive. Baran was one of around 20 people in Van who said that Turkey should stop accepting migrants and send back people already in the country.In the capital Ankara this month a crowd of Turks attacked shops and homes belonging to Syrians in the wake of a fight that led to a Turkish youth being fatally stabbed.
“Border is honour”
Most of those who spoke to Reuters in Van said migrants were damaging the economy, while locals have to cope with inflation and unemployment in double figures. Authorities have reinforced the border with Iran to keep Afghan migrants out, but some still slip through. Police have also detained thousands of Afghan migrants already in the country in recent weeks. They are taken to repatriation centres but they are currently not being sent back due to the turmoil in Afghanistan. “If the government took necessary measures, there wouldn’t be migration,” said 54-year-old Mehmet Serif Karatas, speaking outside a textile shop in Van, a transit point for most Afghans crossing into Turkey. Opposition parties have also criticised Erdogan’s administration for not securing the frontier. Last week, the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) put up giant banners on its buildings, reading “Border is honour”.
CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu said that the West may try to make a new deal with Turkey in return for money, similar to Turkey’s 2016 agreement with the European Union to stem the flow of migrants to Europe in return for billions of euros for refugee projects. “How did … thousands of Afghans cross the border and come to Turkey and who allowed it? We have to blame the ones who allow it,” Kilicdaroglu said on Wednesday. “They are doing this for money.”Selami Kiye, a 48-year-old shopkeeper in Van’s Russian Bazaar, said Europe or other countries should take in the migrants. “Let them go elsewhere. We don’t care about them,” Kiye said.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials published on August 28-29/2021
In new escalation, Algeria to stop supplying Spain with gas through Morocco
Mohamed Alaoui/The Arab Weekly/August 28/2021
RABAT--After unilaterally deciding to sever diplomatic relations with Rabat, Algiers has announced it will stop supplying Spain with gas through the Maghreb-Europe gas pipeline, which runs overland through Morocco. According to analysts, the decision was prompted by Morocco’s calm posture and by the widespread reactions of mockery and sarcasm on social media after Algeria’s decision to cut ties with Rabat.
Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra had not mentioned the decision regarding the gas pipeline during the conference during which he announced the suspension of diplomatic ties, although he spoke at length about the motives for the move and what it would entail, hence confirming that the decision was subsequently taken in response to Morocco’s cool posture. Algerian Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab confirmed on Thursday that all Algerian natural gas supplies to Spain and from there to Europe will go in the future through the Medgaz pipeline that crosses the Mediterranean.
Morocco is currently supplied with natural gas through the Maghreb-Europe pipeline (GME) that links Algeria to Spain and runs across the kingdom. Algeria has a second pipeline, Medgaz, that does not cross Morocco, and Energy Minister Mohamed Arkab said it would supply all of Spain’s gas supplies.
Medgaz directly links its facilities in the western town of Beni Saf to Almeria, in southeastern Spain, with annual capacity of 8 billion cubic metres.Moroccan international law expert, Sabri El-Ho, said that Algeria believes that with this step it will cut Moroccan revenues. Annual profits from the pipeline’s passage through Moroccan territory are estimated at about $50 million. Talking to The Arab Weekly, El-Ho added, “That is why Algeria recently extended a line and connected it to the old pipeline to boost its capacity. The goal is to reach, before the end of October 2021, a capacity that meets Spain’s needs of gas without the Maghreb pipeline that passes through Morocco.” Sabri El-Ho concluded that “the intent was there for a while. The move was clearly premeditated”. International relations experts agree that Morocco’s stretched hand and its restrained response to the severing of ties seem to have displeased Algerian decision-makers who opted for escalation. The experts stress that the Algerian decision is political and will not achieve its purpose of pressuring Morocco. Moroccan economist Driss Elfina stressed that the Algerian decision is intended only for domestic consumption so as to show that severing diplomatic relations will not be without economic consequences for Morocco. He pointed out that “Morocco receives supplies of gas from several countries, mainly the United States, Spain and Norway.”Commenting on the decision, the director-general of the Moroccan Office of Hydrocarbons and Minerals, Amina Benkhadra, told the Maroc-Le Jour website that Morocco supports the continuation of the use of the pipeline which transports gas from Algeria to Spain through Moroccan soil.
She added that Morocco expressed this position both in private talks and in public statements, stressing that the pipeline represents an instrument of regional cooperation.
The tripartite agreement between Algeria, Rabat and Madrid is set to expire on October 31, and the pipeline guarantees the supply of gas from Algeria to Spain and Portugal via Morocco. Algerian media previously indicated that Algeria intended to impose new contractual conditions on Morocco to market gas quantities of 1 billion cubic meters annually, to meet Spain and Portugal’s gas needs through the “Medgaz” pipeline. Accordingly, Rabat would lose the advantage of transit rights and will be forced to accept the new conditions imposed by Algeria based on market prices, which have increased by 640 percent. Driss Elfina stressed that after the decision, it is necessary to return to the agreement that binds Sonatrach and the Moroccan parties, and if there is a violation of the terms of this agreement, it is the right of Morocco – or other concerned parties – to seek compensation for damages.
He considered that the decision is not in the interest of Algeria, as Sonatrach knows very well that maintaining the pipeline that links Algeria to Morocco is necessary for Sonatrach, even if it is just to anticipate any contingency affecting the pipeline that passes from Algeria to Spain. Sabri El-Ho believes that Algeria is also maneuvering so as to prevent Morocco from reviewing transit fees, because starting from next March, the infrastructure will be the property of Morocco, and therefore transit fees will be subject to review so as to include the cost of the infrastructure.

Why apathy on Palestinian injustice will backfire
Daoud Kuttab/Arab News/August 28, 2021
It is often difficult to analyze the real results of a summit based on the public statements before and after the meeting, but the latest talks between Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett and US President Joe Biden are easy to examine.
The one-day delay caused by the terrorist attack at Kabul airport threw the observant Jewish leader’s schedule off because of the impracticality of returning before the sabbath. It was a reminder that despite the usual US broken record of “shared values” and total support for Israel, there are many other issues more important to Washington than Israel.
In the limited time that a press briefing provides, the new Israeli prime minister, who grew up in New Jersey, managed to talk about using Amtrak trains (a favorite subject for Biden, who used the train for years to commute from Delaware to DC), but couldn’t muster a single word on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He even found time to mention the third COVID-19 booster shot and, of course, the Iranian issue, but there was not a single mention of the decades-long occupation and the colonization of millions of Palestinians.
The mood at the White House and apparently throughout the US capital reflected the fact that after years of having to deal with the Netanyahus — their lies, their quirks, and even their dirty laundry — a more stable political leader from Israel was making the rounds in Washington.
While the Israeli leader said nothing on the Palestinian issue, Biden did — both in his public remarks and, according to leaks, in the tête-à-tête with Bennett. President Biden noted before the meeting that he and his Israeli guest “also are going to discuss ways to advance peace and security and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.” Biden privately pressed Bennett on the threatened eviction of Palestinian families from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers, and on the need to reopen the US consulate in Jerusalem.
While Bennett made no mention of Palestinians in his public statements, both he and the US president apparently talked about the repeated Israeli calls for a visa waiver for Israelis wishing to visit the US. Biden said: “We’re also going to direct our teams to work toward Israel fulfilling the requirements of the visa waiver program and get that done.” However,Israel’s request has been regularly rejected because of the country’s discriminatory policies. There is a huge file of documented cases in which Israel has discriminated against Americans of Arab origin, especially American Palestinians,at the various border crossings. It wasn’t clear if Bennett made any gesture on the Israeli security service’s regular profiling of Americans of Arab origin — although the issue is currently moot, since no foreigners are allowed to visit Israel because of COVID-19 restrictions.
If ever there was a time for Palestinian national unity and a reassessment of the Palestinian national liberation strategy, that time is now.
While Washington is not in agreement with the Bennett administration on sidelining the Palestinian issue, there does appear to be some convergence on avoiding any major political or diplomatic effort at present. The Biden administration has publicly said that it is not a high priority for Washington, and apart from a short period in May when Gaza-Israel violence escalated, the US appears to have stayed on course in downgrading the Palestine issue.
Biden is under pressure from progressives in his own Democratic Party to reopen the Palestinian mission in DC and the US consulate in Jerusalem, and to put an end to the high-profile house demolitions and evictions, but other than that it doesn’t appear that the US will do much to get the Palestinian-Israeli talks back on track. Overall, Israeli and US apathy over the rights of Palestinians could not have been more clearly illustrated than in that Biden-Bennett summit.
As has happened before, however, such short-sightedness will inevitably backfire, because the tension in Gaza will blow up again if the illegal Israeli blockade is not lifted. The Abbas government in Ramallah is also in bad economic shape; it is running out of money because Israel is withholding a chunk of the taxes and customs it collects on goods destined forPalestine. The EU, which made a rare strong statement against the Palestinian security crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, has been the main financial backer, covering most of the salaries of Palestinian public servants. Arab countries, which were regular financial contributors to the Palestinians as part of publicly declared pledges at consecutive Arab League summits, reduced their support in response to requests from Donald Trump when he was US president, and have yet to restore it. They are waiting for Biden to make a public request for it, possibly in the hope that they can make some political gains in return. The only Arab leader who has met Biden has been King Abdullah of Jordan.
Palestinians and their friends need to make a somber evaluation of what is happening. There appears to be no seriouseffort on the horizon for a breakthrough in the deadlocked Palestinian-Israeli relationship. Israeli and US efforts to improve the lives of Palestinians will not suffice so long as the Israeli occupation and its land-grabbing colonial settlement enterprise continue. US reluctance to use aid as an instrument of pressure means that Israel will continue to get away with its apartheid regime and its harsh militaristic crackdown on Palestinian resistance.
If ever there was a time for Palestinian national unity and a reassessment of the Palestinian national liberation strategy, that time is now.
*Daoud Kuttab is an award-winning Palestinian journalist and former Ferris Professor of Journalism at Princeton University. Twitter: @daoudkuttab

Road to Libya’s elections is fraught with peril
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/August 28/2021
Presidential and parliamentary elections in December this year will be the ultimate test of whether Libya can return to some sort of stability after years of conflict. Tensions and rivalries among domestic and foreign actors have intensified amid competition for influence in what most observers believe will be a relatively stable post-election Libya.
However, rather than heralding a return to the semblance of normality, the prospect of Libyans heading to the polls to upend a decade-old status quo may just unleash more chaos. The road to Dec. 24 is fraught with risks that even the most radical mitigating efforts will never fully counteract.
A sense of weariness, unease and exasperation haunts conversations about the state of affairs in Libya. Hard-won progress achieved by corralling stakeholders into agreeing to basic and elementary common goals in the service of mutual interests is easily and frequently derailed. These setbacks come from troubling declarations and feigned outrage by local actors, aided in part by the Machiavellian maneuvering of their external backers.
Granted, most stakeholders acknowledge that elections are inevitable, even if squabbles about their constitutionality persist. This is a natural consequence of the fact that all sides agree there is no military solution to Libya’s debacle, and that the current landscape is unsustainable. The foundation has been laid for a negotiated political outcome, which should culminate in the December ballot — if it is ever held.
The failure to agree on the legality of the elections is now a political dispute between the House of Representatives, led by Aguila Saleh, and the High Council of State, led by Khalid Meshri. The latter would prefer to stick to the LPDF's Roadmap agreed on last year in Tunisia, while the former is seeking to operate unilaterally, particularly on appointments to key sovereign posts.
Each side accuses the other of obstruction, creating an opening for other actors, whose interests are not fully served by the LPDF, to position themselves and leverage their preferred candidates.
Notably, Russia is betting on the candidacy of Saif Al-Islam Qaddafi, who has emerged from years of seclusion. The late Muammar Qaddafi’s heir seems to enjoy broad support from tribes based in central, western and southern Libya. Some polling data even places him in close second behind interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. In Moscow’s calculation, beyond legacy ties dating back to the pre-2011 heydays of the Qaddafi regime, Saif Al-Islam is perhaps a “safe” bet.
For Russia, the uncharacteristically risky geopolitical gamble of propping up Khalifa Haftar’s eastern hegemony has failed to pay off as well as it did in Syria, Venezuela and Belarus. Memories of Haftar’s failed 14-month offensive in western Libya, even with Russian military backing, have sapped confidence in Moscow that its ambitions for Libya will be realized should the ailing 77-year-old assume the helm. However, signaling its intent to back Saif Al-Islam’s candidacy this early is equally risky. Critics argue that Saif’s leadership role in the former regime are disqualifying, a view shared by Saleh. The HoR, which is essentially a Haftar surrogate now, has proposed an electoral law that prohibits Libyans wanted by the International Criminal Court from running for the presidency. It is an obvious shot across the bow for those in Saif’s camp to rein in their ambitions. Saif’s possible return threatens to attract the tribal base of both Haftar and Aguila.
All of this is emblematic of the Haftar-Saif dynamic, replete with its conundrums, mutualities and confusing allegiances, in which their representatives have coordinated to reject any conditions restricting their candidacies. Now, however, Russia pressuring Haftar to suspend his political ambitions in favor of Saif Al-Islam will make this dynamic go awry.
Saif's emergence risks splitting Haftar's self-styled Libyan Arab Army, which allied itself with remnants of Qaddafi regime security battalions headed by loyalist officers, and has since integrated them. But divided loyalties and the skirmishes that may ensue are the least of Haftar’s problems.
In short, a new reality is taking shape in Libya as different sides gauge their interests and priorities in a constantly shifting landscape leading up to Dec. 24
Russia is confident its plans for Saif Al-Islam will also be backed by Egypt and (surprisingly) Italy. For now, Cairo has declined to reveal its preferred candidate, opting instead to facilitate dialogue, cooperation and collaboration across the spectrum. It is a logical outcome given Egypt’s vested interest in its western neighbor’s stability, regardless of who Libyans elect to the presidency. A stable Libya is less of a security threat, and affords Egypt opportunities to capitalize on at least a quarter of the contracts to emanate from Libya’s post-conflict reconstruction and the return of millions of Egyptian laborers to Libya — an outcome put at risk by more conflict.
Even if Haftar’s external backers are able to sideline him or subordinate his political ambitions in favor of Saif Al-Islam, he will remain a relevant player in Libya’s post-election landscape. This assumes the elections do proceed on schedule, and no major security threats endanger Libyans trying to cast their ballots.
The frequent clashes between east and west are, for now, engineered to coerce other stakeholders into accepting Haftar’s candidacy. However, should Libyans resist this power grab through the ballot box, it is likely eastern authorities will challenge the results of elections mandated by an unelected LPDF, calling into question the legitimacy of the newly elected government.
Additionally, Haftar has already rejected the Presidency Council’s attempts to enforce its authority as supreme commander of the Libyan armed forces. The failure to disarm Libya’s myriad armed actors has given the warlord a coercive force of battle-hardened fighters. This will complicate any newly elected government’s plans to consolidate Libya's security apparatus as a necessary measure to force the expulsion of the thousands of foreign mercenaries within its borders and mostly allied to Haftar.
Already, beyond Haftar resisting the integration of the LNA into a single, unified security force, Aguila Saleh has also threatened to form a parallel government to the GNU, currently headed by Dbeibah. In another twist, former interior minister and current presidential candidate Fathy Bashagha is a possible prime minister to replace Dbeibah at the end of the year if elections fail to take place .
Bashagha and Saleh joined forces and presented themselves as candidates for the transitional government before Dbeibah and Mohammed Al-Manfi’s appointments as prime minister and chairman of the Presidency Council. This alliance has authored a proposal for the constitutional basis for elections, which the LPDF will vote on later. But this same proposal is based on a plan for the HoR to withdraw its confidence in the GNU, paving the way for the HoR to designate Bashagha as the new head of government.
In short, a new reality is taking shape in Libya as different sides gauge their interests and priorities in a constantly shifting landscape leading up to Dec. 24. Most stakeholders may have agreed to the elections in principle and are angling to participate in them but, so far, none have committed to respecting the results. It is worrying that the desperate push for elections is ignoring the very real possibility that even if they are held successfully and on time, Libyans will not wake up to a new dawn but a slightly different version of the status quo.
• Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Institute at the John Hopkins University School of AdvancedInternational Studies. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell

G7 flexes its political muscles again
Andrew Hammondy/Arab News/August 28, 2021
While the G7 was created in the 1970s to monitor developments in the world economy, last week’s crisis meeting of Western leaders illustrated the group’s often under-appreciated importance as an international security linchpin.
The G7 has also shown that other international organizations can still play a significant role in Afghanistan. To this end, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called a meeting on Monday of the permanent members of the Security Council, and this year’s G20 chair, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, is seeking to convene a September summit.
For now, however, it is the G7 powers that are having the most impact in the Afghan chaos. In the frenzy following the Daesh terrorist attack on Thursday, the group is developing a roadmap for future engagement with the Taliban, including safe passage for people who want to leave Afghanistan beyond Tuesday, when the international airlift from Kabul ends.
The chair of this year’s G7, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, said on Friday that the group was using its now limited leverage — economic, diplomatic and political — with the Taliban to try to ensure this. According to the UN, up to half a million Afghans may now flee, highlighting the importance of acquiescence from the Taliban and of neighboring countries keeping their borders open.
Perhaps the key remaining point of leverage the G7 has is whether it recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate administration in Kabul, which will be key if the regime wants to have any significant engagement with the West. Such diplomatic recognition could unlock billions of dollars in frozen funds. Recognition is also likely to be made conditional on the country not lurching back into becoming a breeding ground for terrorism, and on human rights factors such as the education of girls.
It is not the first time geopolitics has dominated G7 meetings this year. At June’s leadership summit, international security issues framed the agenda, with the group calling out this year’s significant Russian troop build-up on Ukraine’s border; agreeing tough, further measures on Myanmar if the military there refuses to change course; and issuing fresh condemnation of human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
Perhaps the key remaining point of leverage the G7 has is whether it recognizes the Taliban as the legitimate administration in Kabul, which will be key if the regime wants to have any significant engagement with the West.
Issues with China and Russia dominated that session, with the leaders discussing how the G7 can forge broader alliances of democracies to combat their disruptive activities. While Moscow is a big concern here, it is Beijing that is perceived as the stand-out challenge. This emphasis by the G7 on geopolitics is by no means unusual. The 2017 G7 process, for instance, was dominated by the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Manchester, England, and nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula.
The G7’s involvement in this multitude of geopolitical dialogues is not without controversy given its original macroeconomic mandate. For instance, China has strongly objected to a number of this year’s G7 communiques amid accusations of “blatantly meddling” in its internal affairs, including Xinjiang.
Given these controversies, it is sometimes asserted, especially by developing countries, that the G7 lacks the legitimacy of the UN, or even the G20, to engage in international security issues, and is a historical anomaly because of the rise of new powers such as China. However, it is not the case that the international security role of the G7 is new.
An early example of its linchpin function was during the Cold War, when it coordinated Western strategy toward the Soviet Union. Moreover, following the September 2001 terrorist attacks, it assumed a key role in the US-led campaign against terrorism, including in Afghanistan.
One of the reasons that geopolitics has become a more salient part of the G7 agenda is that it has helped to patch over cracks on other issues, from climate change to international trade, especially during the Trump presidency.
Since Trump left office, the remaining divisions in the West are not as stark or as broad based. However, the emphasis on international security remains.
*Andrew Hammond is an Associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics