English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 04/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today

When you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift
Matthew 05/21-26/:”‘You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, “You shall not murder”; and “whoever murders shall be liable to judgement.” But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, “You fool”, you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 03- 04/2021

MoPH: 3320 new coronavirus cases, 89 deaths
Abiad Says Vaccine the 'Only Game Changer' as Lebanon Hits Record Deaths
President Aoun follows up with Minister Ghajar on fuel negotiations with Iraq, discusses Student Dollar Law with parents of students abroad
10 Referred to Military Prosecution over Tripoli Unrest
Hariri Holds Talks with al-Sisi in Cairo
Al-Sisi Voices Support for Lebanon During Hariri Talks
Lebanon: Labor Unions Reject Price Hike of Subsidized Bread, Diesel
ISIS Exploits Lebanon’s Power Vacuum
Lebanon’s Tripoli at breaking point amid multiple crises
Missiles fired at Israeli drone over Lebanon: Israeli army
Blast Heard in South as Hizbullah Targets Israeli Drone
Lebanon seizes 5 mln Captagon pills at Beirut port
UN veteran Timur Goksel dies aged 76 in Beirut after contracting COVID-19
Rights Group Slams Turkey's 'Illegal' Transfer of Syria Detainees
Armed Men Enter SSNP's Batroun Dept. amid Party Rift
Shea, al-Rahi Stress Need for New Govt. as Soon as Possible
Abbas Ibrahim: Lebanon Prominent Spy Chief and Go-to Man
Berri Dispatches AMAL Delegation to Tripoli
Geagea: Port Blast Crime Shall Not be Obliterated
United Nations in Lebanon supports women’s participation in Beirut’s Port Explosion response, recovery process
Lettre ouverte à Macron : Le problème ne réside pas dans la Constitution de Taëf/OLJ / Par Toufic HINDI, le 03 février 2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 03- 04/2021

Israel attacks Syrian regime, Iran-backed militias in Quneitra: Reports
Blinken tells US envoy Malley to form Iran team not ‘dominated’ by one side: Official
Biden orders USS Nimitz aircraft carrier home in possible signal to Iran
US intends to restore humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people
Iran deepens breach of nuclear deal at underground enrichment site
US seeks to seize suspected Iranian oil aboard foreign tanker
Iran responsible for attempted bomb attack on opposition group in France: Lawyer
Iran’s President Rouhani rules out changes to nuclear deal
EU priority to get US back to Iran nuclear deal: Spokesperson
Sirens sound from US embassy in Iraq’s Baghdad: Report
UN Delegation in Baghdad to Discuss Monitoring of Parliamentary Elections
Arabs, EU Decry Kosovo’s Decision to Establish Embassy in Jerusalem
Russia Angered as Damascus Banks on Dialogue with US amid Stalled Talks
Egypt Intensifies Diplomatic Efforts to Resolve GERD Dispute
HRW Slams Turkey's 'Illegal' Transfer of Syria Detainees
 

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 03- 04/2021
Where Does the World’s Problem with Us Lie? Where is our Problem with the World?/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2021
US Decision on Western Sahara … the Surprise and Solution/Nasser Bourita/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2021
Palestinians: No to Normalization with the 'Zionist entity'/Khaled Abu Toameh/ consent of Gatestone/February 3, 2021
F-35 is more than just a US arms deal for the UAE/Haitham El-Zobaidi/The Arab Weekly/February 03/2021
Treasury Report Highlights Turkey as Islamic State’s Logistical Hub/Aykan Erdemir/FDD/February 03/2021
Iran Isn’t Just a Nuclear File/Karen Kramer/Foreign Policy/February 03/2021
A New Law to Contain Islamic Radicalism Threatens French Protestants/Mark Durie/Markdurie.com/February 03/2021
 

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 03- 04/2021

MoPH: 3320 new coronavirus cases, 89 deaths
NNA/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021 
3320 new coronavirus cases and 89 deaths have been recorded during the past 24 hours in Lebanon, as announced by the Ministry of Public Health on Wednesday.

Abiad Says Vaccine the 'Only Game Changer' as Lebanon Hits Record Deaths
Naharnet/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Head of the main hospital leading the fight against Coronavirus, Doctor Firas Abiad, said Wednesday that initiating an “efficient” vaccination campaign is the only “game changer” after Lebanon hit a record high number of deaths, noting that it would be “unsafe” to ease the lockdown.
“While most Lebanese are waiting for the Covid numbers to improve so they can leave their homes, healthcare workers are waiting for the Covid numbers to improve so they can return to their homes. The latest numbers, however, must have been disappointing for both,” said Abiad on Twitter.
“The test positivity rate reported yesterday has decreased from before to 16%, and this was reflected in a drop in the daily number of new cases. The hope is for this to continue and become a trend. Still, it is much higher than it should be for a safe easing of the lockdown,” head of the Rafik Hariri University Hospital added. Abiad noted that “the hospital situation meanwhile is no better. Tragedies occur daily in emergency departments, Regular wards, and ICUs, and are, to our shame, being well documented in local and international press. The remaining hospital capacity can not cope with any new surge in cases,” he cautioned. “Yesterday recorded the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic,” in February last year, he noted. “Lebanon recorded in one month, January, almost an equal number of deaths to the total recorded last year. The death toll is one price we pay when Covid goes rampant if wrong choices are made.” Lebanon recorded 2,770 coronavirus infections on Tuesday and 81 deaths, its highest since the first infection was detected in February. “Can the poor and vulnerable, or the dithering business sectors, survive an extension of the lockdown. That is highly unlikely. Already, the increasing activity in the streets reveal that many are defying or working around the lockdown measures. Hunger can be a strong drive,” Abiad stated.Extending a lockdown or choosing otherwise are “both different faces of the same bad coin,” he said, adding that “the only game changer now is the vaccine, and a competent roll out campaign. It is that, or bust.”

 President Aoun follows up with Minister Ghajar on fuel negotiations with Iraq, discusses Student Dollar Law with parents of students abroad
NNA/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021 
Energy Minister, Dr. Raymond Ghajar assured the Lebanese that "Lebanon is not going into the dark” and that the Ministry of Energy is working day and night with transparency to secure the Lebanese market's needs of fuel.
Ghajar's stances came after his meeting with the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, today at Baabda Palace, where he briefed the President on the results of the negotiations that the General Director of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, had carried out with Iraq to secure fuel for Lebanon, which led to a decision issued by the Iraqi Council of Ministers to supply Lebanon With 500 thousand tons of heavy fuel as a first stage. During the meeting, the issue of spot cargo was also addressed, which is currently approved by the Ministry of Energy to secure immediate shipments of fuel and save half a million dollars for each shipment.
Minister Ghajar:
After the meeting, Minister Ghajar made the following statement:
“We have briefed His Excellency President Aoun about the negotiations that we are conducting with Iraq, in addition to the issue of spot cargo. As you know, there is a lot of talks that Lebanon is heading towards darkness, and there is no fuel due to the interruption of supply from Sonatrach. We have put in place a transparent book of conditions, and the Oil Directorate is placing bids for the purchase of spot cargo for the benefit of EDL, and we obtained offers, accordingly from local and foreign companies, and we were able to achieve with each shipment of 35 thousand tons, a saving of up to half a million dollars. That is, today we buy about 4 shipments per month, and we save two million dollars in fuel A and B, and if we are able to continue adopting this method, we will be able to achieve an increase in competition, and in the number of companies that can participate in this process, and we provide the fuel market for the EDL on a regular basis.
The Iraqi Council of Ministers has taken a decision to supply Lebanon with 500 thousand tons of heavy fuel, as a first stage and for a period of one year. In addition, the Iraqi government is grateful for that, and I and the Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, visited Iraq to negotiate on this issue, and we asked for more quantities, but today, what has been achieved and as a first stage is considered good, because the fuel has been secured continuously, and it is true that it is not sufficient, but with the Spot cargo this is considered good, especially as we supply a quantity of fuel from Iraq, which, as you know, is not in conformity with the specifications that we adopt in Lebanon, but we are able to transfer it in Iraq, or to conduct a swap operation, that is, one of the Iraqi companies replaces this fuel and provides Lebanon with another fuel acquiring the specifications approved here, with a deferred payment mechanism, for a period of at least six months according to the decision issued by the Iraqi Council of Ministers. As for the approved payment mechanism, it is not within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Energy. This agreement has been negotiated, but of course it has not been signed yet, and this is what His Excellency the President has been briefed about, and upon signing the payment mechanism methods are discussed with the Prime Minister.
I assure the Lebanese that we are not going to the dark, and the Ministry of Energy is not working to go to the dark. On the contrary, our ministry is working day and night in a very transparent manner, to secure fuel and electricity, and everyone can see the books of conditions published on the electronic platform of the Ministry of Energy, and companies can verify this and they do so, and all negotiations and required procedures are done electronically online and not directly. Bidding is submitted electronically, and prices are viewed, and participation is via the zoom platform, and a record is placed on this and binding is done. Lebanon still enjoys an acceptable reputation in the market, and it is not true that no one wants to deal with it. There are many companies that deal with Lebanon and offer good prices. The more we enter the market more and more responsibly, the more we can get lower prices. As we explained, we have a saving of half a million dollars in the shipment, and if we take more risks, and we have the ability to do so thanks to the agreement with Iraq, we will achieve greater savings. Half a million can turn into a million with each shipment, in addition of course to the existence of the private market, namely gasoline and diesel for local markets. All of that we can do and this is what requires more patience, and the citizens must trust that the ministry is not sleeping, but rather it is working to preserve electricity in Lebanon as well as the oil market.
Usually the tender takes place according to a one or two year contract in order for the company in question to provide the Ministry of Energy or the Oil Directorate or the facilities with ships for shipments over a period of one or six months. And when such a tender is made of this size, the companies take precautions. The price is higher than usual, but in the event that the company fails to deliver, we have guarantees that allow us to withdraw the contract. In Lebanon however, we do not have the means to adopt this method, because we are an economically and financially volatile country, so we resort to the same tender with the same book of conditions, but on one shipment, and this shipment may or may not succeed. Because it is a single shipment and the risk is less, the price is, overall, less, and it is certainly less than the price on a tender for ten shipments. We placed the bid on this shipment one month before the date of receiving it, so that, in the event of failure, we can perform another bid on a second shipment.
The strategic reserve in Lebanon, and if we want to secure it for a period of six months, we need half a billion dollars to buy the required fuel and store it. Who funds this operation? Therefore, carrying out this procedure is not possible in a country like Lebanon, where the reserves amount to only a month or two".
The Lebanese Association for Parents of Students in Foreign Universities:
President Aoun stressed that Parliament-approved laws must be fully implemented, and therefore the law known as the "Student Dollar Law", which became effective from the date of its issuance in the Official Gazette. Concerned authorities must abide by its implementation in order to preserve the interests of Lebanese students abroad who are facing difficulties in paying their university fees, housing costs, and the ramifications.
President Aoun's stances came while meeting the delegation of the Lebanese Association for Parents of Students in Foreign Universities, which included Mr. Elie Freiha and Dr. Rabih Kanj.
MP Salim Aoun and Director General of the Presidency of the Republic Dr. Antoine Choucair, were also attending the meeting.
The delegation addressed, with President Aoun, the existing reality as a result of the inability of the families of Lebanese students in universities abroad from transferring money to their children despite the issuance of Law 193 which authorized the transfer of 10 thousand dollars for each student pursuing his studies abroad.  They also indicated that the Central Bank and banks are still refraining from implementing the law that aims to oblige banks operating in Lebanon to spend 10 thousand dollars according to the official exchange rate of the dollar (1515) for the 2020 academic year for Lebanese students registered in universities or technical institutes. Then, the delegation explained that the students’ parents, according to the law, provided all the requirements, such as a current registration statement at the university or the technical institute, a statement of university payments before the date of 31/12/2020, the current housing lease contract or the receipt of the last monthly payment, and yet the banks did not undertake to transfer the required sums. Then, they pointed out that the meeting with President Aoun is a continuation of the meeting held yesterday at the Grand Serail, headed by the caretaker PM, Dr. Hassan Diab, and in the presence of the Central Bank Governor and representatives of the Association of Banks. In turn, President Aoun gave his instructions to the concerned authorities to implement the law in all its aspects. ----Presidency Press Office
 

10 Referred to Military Prosecution over Tripoli Unrest
Naharnet/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Ten detainees have been referred to the military prosecution over their suspected involvement in the latest unrest in Tripoli, the army said on Wednesday. “The Intelligence Directorate has referred to the military prosecution 10 detainees, including one of the Syrian nationality, for their carrying out of acts of rioting and attacks on public and private property, including the torching of the Tripoli Municipality building, during the incidents that occurred in the aforementioned city,” an army statement said. “The rest of those involved are being pursued so that they be arrested and referred to the relevant judicial authorities,” the statement added. Days of angry demonstrations in the city last week left one person dead and 400 others wounded. Protesters have said they were angry at pandemic lockdown restrictions that have deprived them of their income. Some politicians and media have meanwhile questioned the spontaneity of the protests, suggesting that they have been instigated by suspicious political agendas.

Hariri Holds Talks with al-Sisi in Cairo
Naharnet/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Wednesday met Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi at theAal-Ittihadia Palace in Cairo, his media office said in a statement. The two men discussed the latest developments, the situation in Lebanon and the region, and the bilateral relations between the two countries, added the statement. Hariri will also meet with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, and Secretary-General of the Arab League Ahmed Abul el-Gheit. Talks will highlight the latest developments in Lebanon and the region, it added. Center House sources have placed Hariri’s visit to Cairo as part of a regional and Western tour in an attempt to restore Lebanon’s ties with brethren and friendly nations.
 

Al-Sisi Voices Support for Lebanon During Hariri Talks
Naharnet/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Wednesday voiced continued support for crisis-hit Lebanon during his meeting with PM-designate Saad Hariri in Cairo, stressing that a Lebanese government should be formed soon to face the challenges. “Egypt is ready to provide all kinds of support and assistance to help Lebanon overcome its crises, mainly the repercussions of the port explosion and the Coronavirus pandemic,” said al-Sisi. On the delayed government formation, he said: "We hope the acceleration of efforts to form an independent government capable of handling the challenges and preserving the capabilities of the brotherly Lebanese people and the unity of its national fabric,” stated Sisi. Hariri had arrived in Cairo Wednesday for talks the Egyptian President. He will later meet with the Egyptian foreign minister and the Arab league chief.
 

Lebanon: Labor Unions Reject Price Hike of Subsidized Bread, Diesel
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Lebanon’s labor unions rejected on Tuesday a government proposal to increase the price of subsidized bread and diesel, considering the move as a prelude to fully lifting subsidies on all basic goods. An increase in the prices of bread and diesel comes as Lebanon’s economic crisis continues to worsen and people lose their purchasing power. The government is currently considering those cuts as the central bank's foreign currency reserves become increasingly depleted. Beshara Asmar, the head of the General Labor Union, said that the government’s plan to increase bread prices and raise the price of diesel to LL20,000 per can clearly suggests that subsidies on basic materials would be gradually removed. He said this move comes in the absence of any economic plan that would recover stolen funds or billions transferred abroad, or protect the money of depositors.
Asmar stressed the need to establish a committee of labor unions and concerned syndicates tasked with studying the prices of bread, fuel and medicine. On Tuesday, the National Federation of Employee and Worker Unions in Lebanon held the caretaker government of Hassan Diab responsible for a security deterioration that might result from further impoverishment and unemployment. On Monday, the National News Agency said a large bag of flat bread, previously weighing 900 grams and costing 2,000 Lebanese pounds, would now weigh 930 grams and cost 2,500 pounds, a rise of around 20 percent. Caretaker Economy Minister Raoul Nehme said the price hike was due to an increase of wheat prices worldwide coupled with the high exchange rate to buy dollars. Last January, the ministry set the 900-gram bread loaf price at 2,250 Lebanese pounds, also saying the rise was due to a hike in global wheat prices.

ISIS Exploits Lebanon’s Power Vacuum
Beirut - Paula Astih/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
An announcement by the Lebanese Army Command on the arrest of 18 ISIS-linked suspects has raised concerns that the terrorist organization was planning to regain foothold in the country. The Army statement on Monday spoke about a series of operations launched over the past two weeks by the Intelligence Directorate in the Arsal region – on the eastern border with Syria - that led to the arrest of Lebanese and Syrians linked to ISIS. Military sources told Asharq al-Awsat that investigations were underway to arrest other suspects and uncover their plots. “[The recent arrests] are an achievement, especially as the Lebanese Army is already overstretched with various missions, whether at the border or internally, with the deteriorating living conditions, protests, the Covid-19 pandemic and other challenges that drain its forces,” the sources said. Observers noted that in light of the political crisis and the continuous failure to form a new government, some parties might be seeking to revive extremist organizations in Lebanon. They pointed to a link between the movement of ISIS in Syria and the terrorist group’s resurgence in Lebanon. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that the organization was seeking to make a comeback, after “reuniting” its elements scattered in the desert, as well as in areas controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and those under Turkish influence.
Riad Kahwaji, the head of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA), said that extremist organizations usually stage a resurgence when there is a power vacuum and central governments are weak, “but most importantly, where sectarian tensions arise.” “ISIS was defeated and expelled from many regions, but it has not been fully eliminated,” Kahwaji said. “As long as this organization remains a doctrine and a way of thinking, it works to fill the vacuums created by the absence of power in failed states and where governments are weak.”

Lebanon’s Tripoli at breaking point amid multiple crises
The Arab Weekly/February 03/2021
TRIPOLI--Lebanon’s poorest city, Tripoli, was again racked by violent protests last week, and some politicians and experts warn that unrest could spread if more is not done to support people facing deepening poverty amid coronavirus restrictions. The country was already in financial meltdown before the pandemic struck, with national debt spiralling, unemployment high and a tumbling currency stoking inflation. For residents of Tripoli, on Lebanon’s northern coast, the 24-hour curfew imposed from January 11 to control the spread of COVID-19 was the final straw, preventing many from working. “We are headed towards famine,” said Haytham Kurdi, a 49-year-old fish kiosk owner in the city. “The fish that we get is $3. That used to mean 4,500 pounds and we used to sell for 6,000 so we make a dollar profit. Now $3 is around 25,000 pounds and someone who earns 30,000 to 40,000 pounds a day, how can they buy a couple of kilos of fish?”Protests last week culminated in the burning of Tripoli’s municipality building as demonstrators clashed with police. “There is practically a total absence of government action, so the situation in Tripoli is … worrisome and it reflects an extreme form of what is happening elsewhere in the country,” said Toufic Gaspard, an economist who has worked as an adviser at the IMF and to a former finance minister.
Suppressing subsidies
If subsidies on basic foodstuffs like bread are eased because of dwindling reserves and dollar shortages, more Lebanese will feel the pinch. Nationwide protests erupted in October 2019, amid financial meltdown, bringing cities including the capital Beirut to a standstill as tens of thousands of people vented their anger at politicians they blamed for ineptitude and graft. Today, roughly half of the workforce relies on daily wages mostly paid in local currency, and a recent study by aid organisation CARE found that 94% of Lebanon’s population are earning less then the minimum wage.
“Should subsidies be lifted, the scene from Tripoli will be repeated everywhere,” MP Faisal Karameh told local media. France’s Emmanuel Macron is leading efforts to unlock foreign aid to help Lebanon out of its crisis. But the initiative has been hampered by political paralysis in Lebanon, which has been unable to form a new government since the last one quit in the aftermath of an August 4 Beirut port explosion that destroyed large parts of the city. The caretaker government said it was giving 230,000 of the poorest families 400,000 liras a month, or less than $50 at the market rate, to help them make ends meet. Lebanon has a population of around 6 million. Many are still falling through the cracks. “If you walk down the street you will see people looking through garbage for something to eat,” said Bilal Tasieh, a 46-year-old carpenter from Tripoli. A government decision to close supermarkets and grocery shops during lockdown, making daily essentials only available through delivery services, has drawn criticism. “If I am poor then delivery is out of the question for me, it costs 10 to 15% more,” said Nasser Saidi, a leading economist and former minister.

Missiles fired at Israeli drone over Lebanon: Israeli army
Reuters/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Anti-aircraft missiles were fired at an Israeli drone flying over south Lebanon on Wednesday but did not hit the target, the Israeli military spokesman said. Two Lebanese security sources said Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed movement fired at the drone. One of the sources said the missile did not hit the aircraft, which then returned across the border. Witnesses said they heard the sound of an explosion. Local channel NBN had said earlier that a drone blew up. Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has a dominant presence in the south near the border, has vowed to bring down Israeli drones breaching Lebanese airspace. The two neighboring enemies last fought a month-long war in 2006. Earlier this week, Hezbollah said it had brought down an Israeli drone, while Israel’s military said the aircraft had fallen inside Lebanon. Lebanon’s government regularly files complaints to the United Nations against Israeli drones and jets that often fly into Lebanon.

Blast Heard in South as Hizbullah Targets Israeli Drone
Associated Press/Wednesday 03 February 2021
The Israeli army said anti-aircraft fire targeted one of its drones over south Lebanon on Wednesday, as Lebanese media reports said that Hizbullah fired a surface-to-air missile at the drone. In a tweet, Israeli army spokesman Avichay Adraee said the unmanned drone was not hit by the missile and that it continued its “routine” mission. Lebanese media outlets had earlier reported that a blast was heard in the southern regions of al-Zahrani and Nabatiyeh. Early on Wednesday, residents of Beirut's southern suburbs reported low-flying Israeli reconnaissance aircraft buzzing overhead for hours. The area is a stronghold of Hizbullah. The frequency of low-flying warplanes over Beirut and other parts of Lebanon has intensified in the past weeks, making residents jittery. Thursday's incident comes just three days after Hizbullah said it downed a small Israeli drone near the border, apparently through electronic means.
Earlier in January, the Israeli army shot down an unmanned aircraft it said had entered its airspace from Lebanon. In August 2020, Hizbullah also said it downed and seized an Israeli drone that flew into Lebanese airspace. Israel at the time said the drone had "fallen." Hizbullah had in September 2019 vowed to down Israeli drones overflying Lebanon following an incident a month earlier when two drones packed with explosives targeted Hizbullah's stronghold in Beirut’s southern suburbs. Israel and Hizbullah fought a monthlong war in 2006 that ended in a stalemate. Israel accuses Hizbullah of violating the terms of a U.N. cease-fire and says its overflights are needed to keep an eye on the group. Lebanon has routinely complained to the U.N. about Israel's daily violations of its airspace and mock raids around the country. Israeli officials say Hizbullah has amassed a stockpile over some 150,000 rockets and missiles capable of striking anywhere in Israel. It also accuses the group of trying to develop and produce sophisticated precision-guided missiles. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah recently boasted that the group now has twice as many precision-guided missiles as it had a year ago. But he strongly denied Israeli claims about Hizbullah having factories to produce such missiles in Lebanon. In a major policy address last week, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi, Israel's military commander, accused Hizbullah of storing its missiles in populated areas of Lebanon and said these areas will not be spared if war erupts.
He said residents would be given time to flee ahead of time, but "because these areas are flooded with rockets and missiles, they will be flooded with attacks by the Israeli army."
 

Lebanon seizes 5 mln Captagon pills at Beirut port
AFP/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Lebanese customs seized five million banned captagon pills at Beirut port on Wednesday, an amphetamine shipment intended for Greece and Saudi Arabia, a customs official said. Following a tip-off, officers had found the drugs hidden inside a tile-making machine, the official said, asking to remain anonymous as he was not allowed to speak to the press. Three Lebanese citizens were detained over the affair, he said. It was latest in a string of similar drug busts in Lebanon. In 2015, a Saudi prince was detained as he tried to smuggle out two tonnes of captagon on a private plane from Beirut airport. Captagon is an amphetamine manufactured in Lebanon and probably also in Syria and Iraq, mainly for consumption in Saudi Arabia, according to the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT). It has been one of the most commonly used drugs in the war in Syria, where fighters say it helps them stay awake for days. Captagon is cheap and easy to manufacture, and experts say there have also been attempts to market it as a low-priced alternative to cocaine, including in the West. In July last year, Italy seized a record 14-tonne haul of the drug -- or 84 million pills -- that had arrived from Syria.

UN veteran Timur Goksel dies aged 76 in Beirut after contracting COVID-19
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Former senior adviser and spokesman for the UN, Timur Goksel, has died in Beirut aged 76 after contracting COVID-19. The former diplomat was hospitalized with an acute lung infection. Goksel joined the UN in 1968 where he started as Information Assistant then became the officer-in-charge of the newly opened UN information center in Ankara. In 1979, he was assigned as Press Information Officer and Spokesman to UNIFIL at Naqoura and later in 1995 he became a Senior Adviser of UNIFIL where he conducted lectures, seminars and workshops for diplomats and military officials on public information, communication policies in peacekeeping, theory, and practice of peacekeeping and international organizations.

Rights Group Slams Turkey's 'Illegal' Transfer of Syria Detainees
Agence France Presse/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Human Rights Watch Wednesday condemned the "illegal transfers" to Turkey of more than 60 Syrians arrested by Ankara and its local proxies in Syria's northeast in 2019. Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies arrested the 63 Syrians between October and December 2019 in the border area of Ras al-Ain in Syria's northeast, after seizing the region from Kurdish fighters, the rights group said. The men, Arabs and Kurds, are being held over their alleged links to Kurdish groups viewed by Ankara as "terrorists", according to HRW. They have been charged with "undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state, membership in a terrorist organisation, and murder", the rights group added. "Not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey –- life without parole" -- on at least five of them, said Michael Page, HRW's deputy regional director. Turkey and its Syrian proxies seized control of Ras al-Ain during an October 2019 offensive that saw it wrest a 120-kilometre (70-mile) long strip of land from Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of its southern border.
Turkish authorities have not produced evidence that the detainees committed crimes or were active fighters with Kurdish groups, HRW said. "Turkish authorities, as an occupying power, are required to respect people's rights under the law of occupation in northeastern Syria, including the prohibition on arbitrary detention and on the transfer of people to their territory," Page said. "Instead, they are violating their obligations by arresting these Syrian men and carting them off to Turkey to face the most dubious and vaguest of charges connected to alleged activity in Syria."While HRW said it could only confirm 63 transfers, it said available evidence suggests the number of Syrians taken to Turkey could be almost 200.The alleged arrests and transfers are only the latest violations Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies are accused of carrying out in areas under their control. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned last year of growing violence and criminality in areas captured by Turkey and its Syrian proxies, including in Ras al-Ain. Her office has reported a pattern of violations in recent months, including increased killings, kidnappings, and seizures of land and properties.
Those who are critical of Turkey and its armed groups bear the brunt of these violations, the UN said.
 

Armed Men Enter SSNP's Batroun Dept. amid Party Rift
Naharnet/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Armed members of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party on Wednesday seized control of the SSNP department’s office in the northern city of Batroun, amid a dispute between rival factions over the legitimacy of the party’s latest internal elections. A video that went viral on social media shows a party official making a statement inside the office, flanked by two young men carrying machineguns. “The office has been closed for more than a year and the party has been obliged to take a decision to use the office,” the official says. “It is our mission to protect this department with our blood and souls,” he adds, noting that “any comrade who would like to cooperate and join the Batroun department will be considered an SSNP comrade.” But he threatened that “any person who dares to transgress will be considered a traitor!”In a statement, a rival SSNP faction accused “an armed clique belonging to MP Asaad Hardan” of “storming the SSNP department’s office in the heart of the souks of the safe city of Batroun, in a behavior resembling the work of outlaw gangs.”It also stressed to Batroun’s residents that it is “keen on the region’s stability and the security of its people,” noting that “this act does not reflect the ethics of SSNP members.”
A statement issued by the pro-Hardan faction meanwhile accused the rival faction of being “impersonators claiming to be the party’s leadership through falsification and violations,” in reference to the latest disputed internal elections. “The circulated story about elements loyal to MP Hardan storming the Batroun department’s office is fabricated and contradicts reality and those present in the office are the SSNP members who operate within the party’s institution,” the faction said. It added that it is keen on “addressing things within the institutional and legal frameworks on the basis that SSNP supporters who are members of the party’s institutions have the full and ultimate right to be present inside the party’s offices.” The army later announced the arrest of the armed SSNP members who entered into the Batroun office.
 

Shea, al-Rahi Stress Need for New Govt. as Soon as Possible
Naharnet /Wednesday 03 February 2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi held talks Wednesday in Bkirki with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea. The National News Agency said al-Rahi and Shea discussed the general situations and stressed the need for the formation of a new government as soon as possible. They agreed that the new government will have a mission to “rescue Lebanon from its political, economic and social crises,” NNA added.
 

Abbas Ibrahim: Lebanon Prominent Spy Chief and Go-to Man
Agence France Presse /Wednesday 03 February 2021
Lebanon's spy chief Abbas Ibrahim has emerged as a master deal-broker, from securing the return of hostages and prisoners held abroad to mediating in seemingly intractable political feuds at home. The 61-year-old head of Lebanon's top intelligence agency has become an increasingly visible pointman on thorny dossiers and is widely expected to further step out of the shadow in the future. Critics argue that Ibrahim owes his clout to the support he has from Iranian-backed Hizbullah but the General Security chief has worked to preserve an image of political neutrality. Ibrahim forged a strong and trusting relationship with the powerful Shiite group when he was army intelligence chief for the south of the country. This was "the foundation that has allowed Ibrahim to become a go-to for foreign and Arab states looking to communicate with Hizbullah," political pundit Ali al-Amin told AFP. "But any breach of (Hizbullah's) trust would spell the end of Ibrahim's professional and political career." Over a decade as Lebanon's spymaster, he has deftly walked that tightrope and built a growing reputation as a regional troubleshooter. His last appearance in the news came this week with a trademark deal to secure the return of 11 Lebanese citizens held in the United Arab Emirates.
Next speaker?
Ibrahim, whose current tenure runs out in 2022, is often tipped as the only serious candidate to take over from veteran parliament speaker Nabih Berri. Ibrahim was an army cadet at 19 and moved up the ranks to head up the army's intelligence branch in Hizbullah-dominated south Lebanon before clinching the top security job in 2011. Starting out when the Syrian conflict erupted next door, Ibrahim had to grapple with a host of challenges, most notably the war's spillover in Lebanon. His influence quickly extended beyond Lebanon's borders as he started negotiating with Qatar to release hostages held by Syrian rebels.
In October 2013, he secured the release of a group of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims who were held for 17 months by Syrian Sunni rebels near the Turkish border. In March 2014, Ibrahim helped free a group of Greek Orthodox nuns abducted by al-Qaida's Syria affiliate from their convent in Maaloula, outside Damascus. In the summer of 2019, Ibrahim -- by then the go-to man for anyone looking to free hostages in Syria -- was instrumental in freeing detained Canadian and U.S. travelers Kristian Lee Baxter and Sam Goodwin. That same summer, he helped negotiate the release of Nizar Zakka, a U.S.-based Lebanese businessman arrested in Iran in 2015 on charges of spying for the U.S. On Monday, he announced a deal had been struck for the return of Lebanese citizens detained in Emirati jails, mostly over alleged links to Hizbullah. The spymaster, a rare senior Lebanese official with direct lines to both Hizbullah and Washington, is also involved in efforts to elucidate the fate of Austin Tice, an American journalist who went missing in Syria in 2012. Last year, he met with Tice's parents in Washington, where the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation awarded him its "International Hostage Freedom Award" for his work on the release of Zakka and Goodwin.
Political 'postman
Ibrahim has used his position for other diplomatic and political missions that don't usually fall within General Security's remit. He coordinates closely on security issues with authorities in Damascus despite Lebanon's official policy of dissociation from the conflict. Last year, he made diplomatic visits to France and several Gulf states to drum up support for Lebanon as it grapples with its worst economic crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war. Domestically, he has mediated between bickering political factions, a role usually played by Berri. Yet Ibrahim balks at being described as "a postman for the political elite."
"No one ever asks me to intervene. It is always me who initiates action, based on my own reading of political" developments, he told AFP in a recent interview. He insists that he always consults all relevant parties before moving forward and credits his mediating prowess on his networking and "ability to communicate with all sides."Ibrahim is unphased by the label some have given him as Hizbullah's man in Lebanon. "It doesn't bother me," he told AFP, pointing out that he is also routinely accused of being America's man. Lebanon would need more than Ibrahim's brokering skills to break the political deadlock and pull it back from economic doom. But the spy chief's broad acceptability across the political spectrum already makes him stand out in a political class crippled by age-old vendettas.When asked about the future, he smiled but said little to deny his purported political aspirations. "I'm aiming to retire in my village, but I do not know what circumstances will take over and what they will require of me," he said.

Berri Dispatches AMAL Delegation to Tripoli
Naharnet /Wednesday 03 February 2021
Speaker Nabih Berri dispatched on Wednesday a delegation of AMAL Movement to the northern city of Tripoli that witnessed recent clashes between protesters and security forces, and the burning of its historic municipal building.
The National News Agency said the delegation was received by Tripoli Mayor Riad Yamak. Protesters in the impoverished city of Tripoli began demonstrations on January 25, angry at pandemic lockdown restrictions they say are destroying their livelihoods. Mainly night clashes continued until Sunday, the latest violence between security forces and protesters furious at the economic fallout of strict lockdown measures. Youths gathered outside government buildings, and police lobbed tear gas from the roofs to disperse crowds. Soldiers, deployed after the unrest earlier in the week.The army arrested several on charges including "rioting, destruction (and) attacking public and private property," during the week's protests. Some were arrested for hurling Molotov cocktails at security forces and for trying to set fire to Tripoli's government headquarters, the army statement said.

Berri receives letter from French Senate Head
NNA/Wednesday 03 February 2021
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Wednesday received a letter from French Senate Head, Gerard Larcher, in which he indicated that "the delicate stage that Lebanon is going through due to the economic, health and social predicaments, coupling with regional tensions in the region, requires a balance between the aspirations of emerging generations and reforms,” hailing “the prominent and important role assumed by Speaker Berri in this regard as head of the legislative authority." Larcher underlined that the politically-diverse French Senate will always stand by Lebanon.

Geagea: Port Blast Crime Shall Not be Obliterated
Naharnet /Wednesday 03 February 2021
Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea on Wednesday reiterated calls for an “international investigation committee” into the port blast, stressing that the truth behind the “crime shall not be erased.”“Despite the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic, the dire living conditions, the high cost of bread and fuel, the three and a half months without a new government, and all of the other difficulties and tragedies that the Lebanese have been enduring, "we will never forget the Beirut Port crime,” said Geagea in a statement. He criticized the local authorities' investigation into the case, and called for an international probe.
Geagea said: “The past months have unfortunately proven what we had expected from a local investigation into the Beirut Port crime. This is due, first and foremost, to the corruption of the current ruling class. We reaffirm our demand to form an international fact-finding committee to uncover the circumstances of this horrific crime.” "Nobody will be able to obliterate the truth behind this crime as if nothing had happened," he concluded.

United Nations in Lebanon supports women’s participation in Beirut’s Port Explosion response, recovery process
NNA /Wednesday 03 February 2021 
The Beirut Port explosions on 4 August 2020 created significant immediate humanitarian needs and severe long-term consequences. A rapid gender assessment of the Beirut Port Explosion recommended, among other things, increasing the meaningful participation of women and marginalized groups in the decision-making for the design, implementation, management and evaluation of national and international response and recovery efforts.
To support this and other related work, the United Nations in Lebanon has recently launched a window of the global Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF). With UN Women serving as the Fund secretariat, a Call for Proposal has been issued that seeks to identify partners to support women’s participation in the Beirut’s Port Explosion response and recovery process, women’s participation in the country’s political recovery from the explosion, and to address issues of women and men’s exclusion from relief and recovery due to lack of formal documentation.
Funded by the Government of Germany, with participation from the Government of Canada and the European Union, this window aims to fund small and emerging women-led or women’s rights organizations from across Lebanon and seeks to compliment the work of the Lebanon Humanitarian Fund.
“Female-led organizations have played an impressive role in response to the port explosion. But all too often, female activists tell me that they struggle because demand keeps growing relentlessly as a result of rising poverty and rampant inflation’, said His Excellency Andreas Kindl, Ambassador of Germany to Lebanon. ‘That is why Germany has decided to help set up the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund in Lebanon. I hope that other donors will join us soon. We look forward to receiving many innovative proposals, including from recently-established organizations that strive for profound structural change.”
“The women of Lebanon played a vital role in the response to the horrendous Beirut port explosions. They made every effort to support those in need, to clear streets and houses from debris and be part of wider relief efforts. They proved to be ‘Leaders of Change’ and ‘Messengers of Hope’,” said Najat Rochdi, Deputy Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon. “It is these women that we want to support and further empower to shape a peaceful and gender equal society where no one is left behind,” she added. “Thanks to the generous funding of the Government of Germany and the valuable support of the Government of Canada and the European Union, together we aim to reach an equitable recovery through women’s leading projects and people-centered initiatives”.
This Call for Proposal encourages joint applications and will provide special attention to applications from small women-led organization and women’s rights organization and proposals that target in their approaches women and girls who face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, such as those marginalized and excluded due to poverty, ethnicity, disability, age, geography, sexual orientation, lack of citizenship or because of their migratory status.
An information session will be organized for all interested organizations on February 11th at 11am (Beirut time). Organizations can attend it by registering on the following link (https://ee.humanitarianresponse.info/x/yaSkxWV2) or via email (cfp.lebanon@unwomen.org).
The proposals need to be sent to cfp.lebanon@unwomen.org not later than March 8th.
Questions regarding the Call for Proposal can be sent via the following email: cfp.lebanon@unwomen.org.—UNIC
 

Lettre ouverte à Macron : Le problème ne réside pas dans la Constitution de Taëf
OLJ / Par Toufic HINDI, le 03 février 2021
Monsieur le Président de la République française,
Le Liban vous sait certainement gré pour toute l’attention que vous lui portez. Vous êtes certainement plus libanais que les soi-disant politiciens appartenant à la classe politique voyou qui sont au « pouvoir » grâce au bon vouloir du Hezbollah et qui gigotent sous sa houlette.
L’équation entre l’organisation chiite et la classe politique est bien simple : vous avez les miettes du pouvoir et vous pouvez escroquer les Libanais à satiété en contrepartie de quoi j’exige votre soumission à l’occupation iranienne que je représente.
C’est que, Monsieur le Président, le parti de Dieu, quoique ses membres soient libanais, n’est certainement pas un parti libanais. Il fait partie intégrante de la République islamique d’Iran. Vous le savez sans doute autant que moi.
Son projet est tout bonnement l’islamisation du monde sur la base de la wilayat el-faqih. Point de départ : le Moyen-Orient. Mode d’action : le jihad concrétisé par l’« axe de la résistance ».
Aujourd’hui, le Hezbollah contrôle tout l’appareil d’État : ses institutions constitutionnelles (Parlement, présidence de la République, gouvernement), les appareils administratif et judiciaire, ainsi que les services de sécurité.
L’État libanais est non seulement un État voyou, mais un État défaillant. Le Liban vit tout simplement une situation de non-État. Le Liban – en tant qu’entité, en tant qu’État et en tant que peuple – est en perdition.
Le problème ne réside ni dans la Constitution libanaise ni dans le contrat sociopolitique représenté par l’accord de Taëf. Ce dernier ne devrait être mis à jour ni sous la pression des armes miliciennes ni à travers une table ronde des larrons de la politique libanaise sous l’égide de puissances extérieures.
Le Liban est en fait sous une double occupation : l’occupation iranienne et celle de la classe politique voyou.
La clé de voûte de cette double occupation est bien évidemment le Hezbollah.
Par ailleurs, la révolution du 17 octobre 2019 s’est affirmée en tant que force de changement. Elle demeure cependant dans l’incapacité d’opérer le sauvetage du Liban. Même si elle unifierait ses rangs et son programme, et même si elle mobiliserait des millions de Libanais, le Hezbollah utiliserait ultimement la force brutale pour terroriser les insurgés et faire échec à leur révolution.
De plus, il est désormais clair qu’il y a incapacité d’une sortie de crise à travers les processus constitutionnels (élections législatives et présidentielle, formation de gouvernement). C’est une question de rapport de forces.
Aucun espoir de réforme : le parti de Dieu ne permettrait aucun changement au sein du pouvoir étatique par les voies constitutionnelles (formation d’un gouvernement, élections législatives). Il en a la capacité : les armes, la majorité parlementaire et l’alliance solide avec la présidence de la République.
De plus, il est évident que le Liban, sous ce pouvoir inique et incompétent, ne peut pas faire face aux immenses défis économiques, financiers, environnementaux, sociaux, humanitaires... Il s’est transformé en bourreau du peuple.
En un mot, le peuple libanais qui se débat dans un problème humanitaire insoluble n’est plus en mesure de s’autogouverner.
La « somalisation » du Liban en cours conduira inéluctablement au renforcement du Hezbollah et par suite augmentera son potentiel déstabilisateur dans la région, menaçant par le fait même les intérêts des États de la région et du monde. Cette même « somalisation » pourrait réveiller les cellules jihadistes dormantes dans les camps syriens et palestiniens, et favoriser l’émigration illégale vers l’Europe.
Le problème libanais n’est plus intrinsèquement libanais.
Le Liban est devenu une bombe à retardement pour la sécurité, la stabilité et la paix dans la région et dans le monde.
Monsieur le Président, vu la position centrale de la France sur l’échiquier mondial, je vous propose humblement une feuille de route pour le sauvetage du Liban qui, du coup, serait bénéfique pour la sécurité, la stabilité et la paix régionale et internationale.
Celle-ci pourrait se concrétiser comme suit :
1) l’application d’une résolution du Conseil de sécurité plaçant les résolutions 1559 et 1701 sous le chapitre sept et élargissant les tâches de la Finul ;
2) une résolution plaçant le Liban sous mandat international conformément aux chapitres 12 et 13 de la Charte des Nations unies ou via l’invocation des « droits de l’homme » pour faire face à un pouvoir criminel.
Dans le cadre de la tutelle internationale susmentionnée, une autorité militaro-civile temporaire pourrait être formée, similaire à ce qui s’est passé au Soudan. Elle suspendrait la Constitution et travaillerait sous supervision internationale pour nettoyer toutes les institutions étatiques des effets du clientélisme politique et de la corruption pour revenir ultérieurement à l’application de la Constitution. Les élections parlementaires se dérouleraient alors conformément à une nouvelle loi, suivies de l’élection présidentielle et de la formation d’un gouvernement qui ouvrirait la voie à la levée de la tutelle internationale et au redressement du Liban à tous les niveaux.
Pourquoi cette tutelle internationale est-elle nécessaire ? Parce que la corruption au Liban est structurelle et découle de sa structure sociopolitique. Elle a été décrite par Ohannès Pacha Kouyoumjian, le dernier moutassarref du Liban, comme étant un mélange hybride du féodalisme aryen et du tribalisme sémitique. C’est cette dualité qui a produit les anciennes et les nouvelles familles politiques qui composent la classe politique voyou. Feu le président Fouad Chéhab avait tenté de les déraciner. Il les qualifiait de « fromagistes ». Il a cependant échoué dans sa louable entreprise.
Il faut espérer que la jeunesse de la révolution barre la route au retour de cette classe politique au pouvoir après son déracinement de toutes les institutions étatiques.

Open letter to Macron: The problem is not in Taif's Constitution
OLJ / By Toufic HINDI, February 03, 2021
Mr President of the French Republic,
Lebanon is certainly grateful for all your attention. You're certainly more Lebanese than the so-called politicians belonging to the rogue political class who are in ′′ power ′′ thanks to Hezbollah's good will and who jiggle under his leadership.The equation between the Shia organization and the political class is simple: you have the crumbs of power and you can swindle the Lebanese to satiety in return for what I demand your submission to the Iranian occupation that I represent. Mr President, God's party, although its members are Lebanese, is certainly not a Lebanese party. It is part of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You probably know this as much as I do. Hezbollah's project is simply the Islamicization of the world based on the wilayat el-faqih. Starting point: the middle east. Mode of action: jihad made it true by the ′′ axis of resistance ".
Today, Hezbollah controls the whole state machinery: its constitutional institutions (parliament, presidency of the Republic, government), administrative and judicial apparatus, and security services.
The Lebanese state is not only a rogue state but a failing state. Lebanon is simply experiencing a non-state situation. Lebanon - as an entity, as a state and as a people - is in loss.
The problem lies neither in the Lebanese Constitution nor in the socio-political contract represented by the Taif Agreement. The latter should not be updated under the pressure of militia weapons or through a panel discussion of Lebanese politics under the auspices of external powers.
Lebanon is actually under a double occupation: Iranian occupation and that of the rogue political class. The key to this double occupation is of course Hezbollah. On the other hand, the Revolution of October 17, 2019 affirmed itself as a force of change. However, it remains unable to rescue Lebanon. Even if it would unite its ranks and agenda, and even if it would mobilize millions of Lebanese, Hezbollah would ultimately use brutal force to terrorize insurgents and defeat their revolution. In addition, it is now clear that there is no way out of crisis through constitutional process (parliamentary and presidential elections, formation of government). It's a matter of force relationship.No hope for reform: God's party would allow no change in the state power through constitutional means (formation of a government, parliamentary elections). He has the capacity: weapons, parliamentary majority and solid alliance with the Presidency of the Republic. In addition, it is obvious that Lebanon, under this iniquitous and incompetent power, cannot cope with the huge economic, financial, environmental, social, humanitarian challenges... It has transformed itself into the executioner of the people.
In short, the Lebanese people struggling in an insoluble humanitarian problem are no longer able to self-govern themselves. Lebanon's ′′ somalization ′′ in progress will inevitably lead to the strengthening of Hezbollah and consequently increase its destabilizing potential in the region, thus threatening the interests of States in the region and the world. This same ′′ somalization ′′ could awaken dormant jihadist cells in the Syrian and Palestinian camps, and promote illegal emigration to Europe.
The Lebanese problem is no longer inherently Lebanese.
Lebanon has become a time bomb for security, stability and peace in the region and around the world.
Mr President, given France's central position on the world chess board, I humbly propose a roadmap for Lebanon's rescue which would therefore be beneficial for security, stability and regional and international peace.
This could be achieved as follows:
1) Implementing a Security Council resolution placing resolutions 1559 and 1701 under chapter seven and expanding the tasks of Finul;
2) a resolution placing Lebanon under international mandate in accordance with Chapters 12 and 13 of the United Nations Charter or through the invocation of ′′ human rights ′′ to cope with criminal power.
Within the framework of the above international guardianship, a temporary military-civil authority could be formed, similar to what happened in the Sudan. She would suspend the Constitution and work under international supervision to clean up all state institutions from the effects of political patronage and corruption and then return to the implementation of the Constitution. The parliamentary elections would then take place in accordance with a new law, followed by the presidential election and the formation of a government that would pave the way for the lifting of international guardianship and Lebanon's recovery at all levels. Why is this international guardianship needed? Because corruption in Lebanon is structural and derives from its socio-political structure. It has been described by Ohannès Pasha Kouyoumjian, Lebanon's last sheep, as a hybrid mix of Aryan feudalism and semitic tribalism. It is this duality that produced the old and new political families that make up the rogue political class. The late President Fouad Chehab had tried to uproot them. He called them ′′ cheese workers ". However, he failed in his worthy business.
It is to be hoped that the youth of the revolution will block the road to the return of this political class to power after its uprooting of all state institutions.
 

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 03- 04/2021

Israel attacks Syrian regime, Iran-backed militias in Quneitra: Reports
Rawad Taha, Al Arabiya English/Thursday 04 February 2021
Syrian air defense forces responded late Thursday to an “Israeli aggression” in the south of the country, state news agency SANA reported. “Our anti-air defenses responded, targeting most of the missiles,” the source added. SANA only reported strikes in the southern region without offering details on the target. It was followed by Syrian air defenses that responded to the attack, the agency said. The sound of the air defenses could be heard in the capital Damascus. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said that several explosions occurred in the countryside of Quneitra, as a result of Israeli bombing targeting a military site of the regime forces and Iranian militias, coinciding with the regime's ground-based counterattacks attempting to counter the missiles, without information about casualties until this moment. On January 22, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored an Israeli air strike on Syrian territory, from over Lebanese territory, targeting at least five locations where members of militias loyal to Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah were present within the regime's military units in Hama, which led to its complete destruction.
- With AP

Blinken tells US envoy Malley to form Iran team not ‘dominated’ by one side: Official
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Newly appointed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has tasked President Biden’s Iran envoy to form a team made up of people with differing points of view on policy toward Iran, a State Department official said Wednesday. Reports earlier in the day quoted sources close to the Biden administration as saying that Blinken had called on Robert Malley to include individuals with “more hawkish” stances on Iran. Asked about these reports, State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said Blinken wanted a wide range of views in the State Department, “across the board.” “That is no different” when it comes to the Iran team, Price told reporters in Washington. Price added that the top US diplomat wanted “to ensure that our thinking is never dominated” by one group. fficials, the US team was led and made up of individuals considered to have taken a soft stance on Iran. The team, led by then-Secretary of State John Kerry, also did not include regional partners and allies during the talks. The leading powers in the region, such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel, were sidelined during the negotiations that led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in 2015. Critics were skeptical that an incoming Biden administration would take a soft stance toward Tehran after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and began an aggressive economic sanctions regime on the Islamic Republic. However, Biden and other senior US officials have remained adamant that the US will not move toward re-entering the JCPOA until, and if, Iran returns to full compliance first. Price doubled down on this stance Wednesday, saying that Iran had distanced itself from the JCPOA “in very proficient ways.”At the current stage, the US is discussing potential steps with allies and partners before moving ahead.
But Price was quick to point out that reaching a new deal would not occur soon.
 

Biden orders USS Nimitz aircraft carrier home in possible signal to Iran
Jerusalem Post/February 03/2021
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin instructed the carrier and and the 5,000 sailors and Marines of its strike group to return home after being deployed for over 240 days. The United States aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, known for anchoring US power in the Middle East, has been ordered back home, US Naval Institute News said citing American officials. The move was seen as a possible signal to Iran to deescalate tensions amid efforts by the Biden administration to open negotiations on a new nuclear deal. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin instructed the carrier and the 5,000 sailors and Marines of its strike group to return home after being deployed for over 240 days. Over the course of its deployment, the USS Nimitz was responsible for providing air cover during the troop drawbacks in Afghanistan, running operations and exercises to strengthen US Central Command and US Indo-Pacific Command areas of responsibility, according to the Pentagon. It has also conducted brief missions in Somalia carrying out air raids on extremists in the country and it was involved in training the Indian Navy's 7th Fleet. The Nimitz is 100,000 tons of power. Laid down in 1968, it is one of the largest American warships. It is one of 10 similar ships in its class: the Eisenhower, Vinson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Washington, Stennis, Truman, Reagan and Bush. US Naval Institute News says that the Nimitz was operating within the US 7th Fleet off the coast of west India when it got the order to go home after nearly eight months on the water.
Just prior to the beginning of the year, the Nimitz was ordered to come "directly" home by the acting US Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller. Ninety-six hours later, the carrier got another order to “halt its routine redeployment” and remain in the area of US Central Command following threats from Tehran on the anniversary of the killing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Qasem Soleimani. The regiment deployed in June, but has been away from their families since April, following the routine maintenance period and two-week lockdown to prevent coronavirus outbreaks on the ship. The crew should be home by the end of the month.Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday noted that the US intends to keep a presence in the region, although it is unclear which carrier strike group will replace the Nimitz. According to US Naval Institute News, it will be replaced by the USS Eisenhower, which is currently in training to deploy off the east coast, and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group – operating alongside a squadron of Marine F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters – which is currently operating of the coast of Somalia. A US naval aircraft carrier is a big fist that the US can deploy in case of any problems with Tehran. Iran has been threatening the US with retaliation, putting its IRGC fast boats and rowboat-like navy on alert in the Persian Gulf. A US aircraft carrier could destroy Iran’s navy in an afternoon if called upon to do so. What worries Washington is militia attacks by Iran’s proxies in Iraq or Yemen, or some kind of attack in the Gulf like the one in 2019 on Saudi Arabia. Tehran has claimed there are “false flag” plots afoot to bring the US and Iran to war. It’s doubtful the F-18s will get to have one last mission before they return.
*Seth J. Frantzman contributed to this report.

US intends to restore humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people

Jerusalem Post/February 03/2021
WASHINGTON - Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, confirmed at a press briefing on Tuesday that “the United States does intend to restore humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.” Price added that there is currently no clear time frame for resuming the financial aid. “This is something we are working on very quickly to restore and to announce,” he said. “We're not doing that as a favor, but because it's in the interest of the United States to do so globally,” Price continued. “Our humanitarian assistance provides critical relief such as emergency food assistance, healthcare, education. And the suspension of aid to the Palestinian people has neither produced political progress nor secured concessions from the Palestinian leadership. It has only harmed innocent Palestinians.”He went on to say that the United States “will reinvigorate our humanitarian leadership and work to galvanize the international community to meet its humanitarian obligations, including to the Palestinian people.”He also addressed several questions about the Biden administration’s policy towards Iran. “When it comes to our strategy for the JCPOA and to contain Iran's nuclear program, as we said in the first instance, we're going to have to consult closely with our allies and partners,” Price noted. “We're also consulting with members of Congress. So we haven't had any discussions with the Iranians and I wouldn't expect we would, until those initial steps go forward.” “[We will be] consulting with our allies; consulting with our partners; consulting with Congress before we're reaching the point where we're going to engage directly with the Iranians and willing to entertain any sort of proposal, especially since we've been very clear about the proposition we have put on the table,” Price said. He went on to say that the American position is that if Iran comes back into full compliance with its obligations under the JCPOA, the United States would do the same, “and then we would use that as a platform to build a longer and a stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern.” “Of course we are a long way from that,” he added. “Iran has distanced itself from compliance on a number of fronts, and there are many steps in that process.”

Iran deepens breach of nuclear deal at underground enrichment site
Francois Murphy/VIENNA/Reuters
Iran has deepened a key breach of its 2015 nuclear deal, enriching uranium with a larger number of advanced centrifuge machines in an underground plant as it faces off with the new U.S. administration on salvaging the accord. Tehran has recently accelerated its breaches of the deal, raising pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden as both sides say they are willing to come back into compliance with the badly eroded agreement if the other side moves first. Iran began its breaches in 2019 in response to Washington’s withdrawal in 2018 under then-President Donald Trump and the reimposition of U.S. economic sanctions against Tehran that were lifted under the deal. The accord says Iran can refine uranium only at its main enrichment site - an underground plant at Natanz - with first-generation IR-1 centrifuges. Last year Iran began enriching there with a cascade, or cluster, of much more efficient IR-2m machines and said in December it would install three more. “Iran has completed the installation of one of these three cascades, containing 174 IR-2m centrifuges, and, on 30 January 2021, Iran began feeding the cascade with UF6,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report obtained by Reuters on Tuesday, referring to uranium hexafluoride feedstock. The IAEA later confirmed that the Islamic Republic had started enriching with the second cascade. Tehran is also pressing ahead with the installation of more advanced centrifuges, the report indicated. Of the remaining two cascades of IR-2m machines, installation of one had begun while the other’s installation was “nearing completion,” it said. Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Kazem Gharibabadi, said on Twitter Tehran had also started installing IR-6 centrifuges at Fordow, a site dug into a mountain where Iran has begun enriching uranium to the 20% purity it last achieved before the 2015 deal. In a second report on Tuesday evening also reviewed by Reuters, the IAEA said only that Iran had informed it in a letter dated Feb. 1 that two cascades of IR-6 centrifuges would be installed at Fordow to be used with the 1,044 IR-1 machines already enriching in six cascades there.The report did not say installation had begun. The IAEA confirmed in a statement that Iran had informed it that the two cascades would be installed at Fordow. In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters Iran’s latest actions increased U.S. “urgency” to address Iran’s atomic program. “It has undergirded our belief that this is a challenge we have to tackle immediately,” he said. He said he was referring to the broad issue of ensuring Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons. Earlier on Tuesday Israel’s energy minister said it would now take Iran about six months to produce enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon, a timeline almost twice as long as that anticipated by a senior Biden administration official. Iran denies any intent to produce nuclear weapons. The nuclear deal sets a limit of 3.67% enrichment purity, suitable for producing civilian nuclear energy and far below the 90% that is weapons-grade.
*Reporting by Francois MurphyAdditional reporting by Dubai newsroomEditing by Mark Heinrich, Richard Chang and Sonya Hepinstall

US seeks to seize suspected Iranian oil aboard foreign tanker
Reuters, London/Wednesday 03 February 2021
The US has filed a lawsuit to seize a cargo of oil it says came from Iran rather than Iraq, as stated on the bill of lading, and contravenes US terrorism regulations. The lawsuit filed with the US District of Colombia on Tuesday alleges that Iran sought to mask the origin of the oil by transferring it to several vessels before it ended up aboard the Liberian-flagged Achilleas tanker destined for China. Washington said the scheme involved multiple entities affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and its elite Qods Force, both of which have been declared by foreign terrorist organizations by the US. “Participants in the scheme attempted to disguise the origin of the oil using ship-to-ship transfers, falsified documents, and other means, and provided a fraudulent bill of lading to deceive the owners of the Achilleas into loading the oil in question,” the Department of Justice said in a statement. It said the Achilleas tanker was subject to seizure based on US terrorism forfeiture laws. The move to seize the cargo followed an investigation by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Homeland Security. A source at the tanker’s Greek operator Capital Ship Management said the Achilleas was now heading to the United States in full cooperation with US authorities, where the company has a trading license. The Achilleas’ last reported position was off the coast of South America. The US Gulf port of Galveston was its destination with a scheduled arrival on February 15, Refinitiv ship tracking data showed on Wednesday.
Iran has not commented on the tanker as yet.

Iran responsible for attempted bomb attack on opposition group in France: Lawyer
Tamara Abueish, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Iran is responsible for the attempted bomb attack by a diplomat and several others at an event held by an exiled Iranian opposition group in France in 2018, the civil party’s lawyer Rik Vanreusel told Al Arabiya. “There was a bomb planted, or almost planted, on a gathering of the opposition of the state of Iran. That the bomb was planted by a diplomat… That this spy has recruited several other agents to perform this heinous attack and this having been done without Iran knowing, to me, is impossible,” Vanreusel said in an interview. A Belgian court is expected to issue its final verdict against the Vienna-based diplomat Assadolah Assadi, and three other Iranians on Thursday for planning to bomb a meeting held by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in France. The verdict was initially due at the end of January, but the Antwerp court deferred it to February 4, without giving any reason for the delay. Over 1,000 Iranian dissidents, politicians, activists, and lawmakers, including members of the US Congress, the European Parliament, and members of parliaments from several Arab countries, had attended the meeting. A joint operation between France, Germany, and Belgium thwarted the attack. “The state of Iran as a governing body is responsible and can therefore be identified with state sponsored terrorism. I think this case is a clear example of that,” Vanreusel said. Assadi, who was the third counselor at Iran’s embassy in Vienna, did not only act on orders from Iran, but also recruited others to help plant the bomb, the lawyer claimed. Posted in Vienna, the diplomat’s mission covered cracking down on Iranian opposition groups operating outside the country, authorities believe. While Iran has denied allegations of involvement in the attack, Vanreusel told Al Arabiya that Tehran has never distanced itself from the diplomat, and sent foreign dignitaries from the embassy to visit him in prison. “Iran never said on international levels ‘This diplomat is a lone wolf. He has gone rogue.’ They never acknowledged this. They always denied their own involvement, but they never parted ways with the diplomat,” Vanreusel said. Arrested in 2018, while on holiday in Germany, Assadi’s extradition to Belgium followed two accomplices detained with half a kilogram of the explosive TATP and a detonator. During an interrogation interview, Assadi threatened Belgian authorities of possible retaliation if he is found guilty.

Iran’s President Rouhani rules out changes to nuclear deal
AFP, Tehran/Wednesday 03 February 2021
President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday ruled out changes to Iran’s nuclear accord with world powers and dismissed calls to broaden the terms of the deal and include regional countries. US President Joe Biden has voiced support for returning to the accord, from which Donald Trump exited, but has insisted that Tehran first resume full compliance and consider expanding the deal beyond the nuclear issue. Iran’s regional arch rival, Saudi Arabia, has also called for a role in any future talks on the agreement. “No clause of the JCPOA will change. Know this. And no one will be added to the JCPOA,” Rouhani said at a televised cabinet meeting, using the deal’s official name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. “This is the agreement. If they want it, everyone come into compliance. If they don’t, they can go live their lives,” he said. Trump withdrew the US from the JCPOA and imposed crippling sanctions on Iran in 2018, maintaining a policy of “maximum pressure” against the country. Iran a year later responded by gradually suspending its compliance with most of its key nuclear commitments in the deal, under which it was promised economic relief for limits on its nuclear program. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday asked the European Union to coordinate a synchronized return of both Washington and Tehran to the deal, following a diplomatic standoff on who will act first. Zarif said that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell should play a role in his capacity of coordinator of the 2015 agreement, which also included Britain, France and Germany as well as Russia and China. But the US State Department spokesman Ned Price said it was still too early to accept such a proposal, repeating calls on Tehran to return to compliance first.
 

EU priority to get US back to Iran nuclear deal: Spokesperson
Ismaeel Naar, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 03 February 2021
The European Union’s top priorities are to get the United States back into the nuclear deal with Iran and for Tehran to return to full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a spokesman told Al Arabiya on Tuesday. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called a day earlier on the bloc's top envoy Josep Borrell to coordinate a synchronized return of Washington into the 2015 agreement and Tehran's full compliance with it. “The High Representative Josep Borrell as a coordinator of the nuclear deal is working very hard and he's in regular contact with partners from the JCPOA participating countries, but also within the new [US] administration, with the priority to ensure a possible return of the US back to the deal and return of Iran to the full compliance,” EU Spokesman Peter Stano said.The EU, which coordinates implementation of the deal, has been scrambling along with world powers who signed it to save the pact since former US leader Donald Trump pulled out in 2018 and slapped tough sanctions on Iran. US President Joe Biden has voiced support for returning to the deal but has insisted that Tehran first come back into compliance by reversing measures it took to protest the sweeping US sanctions. Ned Price, the spokesperson for the US State Department, said on Tuesday that Washington would not budge on its demand for Tehran to return to full compliance with the JCPOA. “This is a challenge we have to tackle immediately … and that is the broader challenge of ensuring Iran is not in a position to develop a nuclear weapon,” Price told reporters during his first press briefing. For his part, Stano acknowledged that Iran is moving away from full compliance to the deal but said Tehran was still away from a “full breach.”“To stay that there is a full breach, Iran would need to do more dramatic steps. For us, the most important thing is the assessment of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, which still has full access, which still is able to verify everything that needs to be verified based on the deal,” Stano said.

Sirens sound from US embassy in Iraq’s Baghdad: Report
Al Arabiya English/Wednesday 03 February 2021
Sirens sounded from the US Embassy in Iraq’s Baghdad, an Al Arabiya correspondent reported on Wednesday. For months, the Green Zone, which includes the US embassy in Baghdad, as well as the military bases that host coalition forces, has been subjected to missile strikes and IED attacks, Al Arabiya reported. Washington has accused Iranian militias in Iraq of being behind the missile attacks on the embassy and Iraqi military bases hosting American soldiers.
In December, multiple Katyusha rockets targeted the US embassy in Iraq’s Green Zone area as tensions rose over the US’ imposition of sanctions on Iran and the one year anniversary of the killing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander, Qassem Soleimani, in early January 2020 in an American strike.

UN Delegation in Baghdad to Discuss Monitoring of Parliamentary Elections
Baghdad – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
A delegation of experts from the United Nations kicked off on Tuesday talks with Iraqi officials over their monitoring of parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for October. Head of the Independent High Electoral Commission Jalil Khalaf Adnan received the experts, expressing his gratitude to the UN for its support of the commission. The experts will provide technical and management support to organizers. They include experts in procedures and training, media, voter outreach, electoral administration, legal affairs, information technology, among others. Adnan stressed that the commission was keen on holding the elections, underlining the importance of international monitors due to their “significant role in ensuring the transparency and fairness of the polls.”Meanwhile, President Barham Salih announced that he has updated his biometric card ahead of polls, encouraging voters to follow suit. Updating the card is necessary to hold transparent elections, he stressed in a tweet, saying it “guarantees the freedom of choice away from fraud.” Head of the Hikma alliance, Ammar al-Hakim, expressed his support for international monitoring of the elections on condition that it refrains from meddling in electoral affairs.
Only the commission is entitled to interfere in the elections, he stated, while urging the need to hold the polls on time. Former head of the Baghdad electoral district, Adil al-Lami told Asharq Al-Awsat that people needed to distinguish between the supervising and monitoring of the polls and technical assistance. Overseeing entails direct involvement in proceedings, he explained, while monitoring observes whether the process is in line with international democratic practices. In 2005, he continued, the UN was involved for strictly technical assistance. Some political parties are now objecting to the overseeing of the elections, not their monitoring, because they fear that their voter fraud will be exposed, he added. Lami said that the UN has yet to clearly announce whether it will be involved in a monitoring or supervisory capacity.

Arabs, EU Decry Kosovo’s Decision to Establish Embassy in Jerusalem
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
The Arab world and the European Union decried on Tuesday Kosovo's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and its decision to move its embassy to the occupied holy city. Arab League Secretary General Ahmad Aboul Gheit and Arab Parliament Speaker Adel Asoomi issued separate statements urging Kosovo to backtrack on its controversial decision. Aboul Gheit said Kosovo's decision is "illegitimate” and constitutes a breach of the international law that recognizes the city of Jerusalem as occupied territory whereby barring transfer of embassies to it. "The decision also contradicts international unanimity with regard to opening embassies in occupied Jerusalem where only two states have violated this stance, the United States and Guatemala,” he said. The Secretary General added that opening an embassy in the city does not alter the reality that it is under occupation and its fate can only be determined through negotiations. Asoomi said in a statement that Kosovo’s decision has no legal impact. He stressed that Jerusalem's fate should only be determined through negotiations and not through unilateral decisions that violate the international law. European Commission spokesman Peter Stano also said there is no EU member state with an embassy in Jerusalem. “Any diplomatic steps that could call into question the EU’s common position on Jerusalem are a matter of serious concern and regret.”

Russia Angered as Damascus Banks on Dialogue with US amid Stalled Talks
Moscow - Raed Jaber/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov held talks with United Nations envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen on the results of the fifth round of the Constitutional Committee meetings amid Moscow’s evident disappointment with their failure. Even though Moscow had lowered its expectation ahead of last month’s committee talks, it had preferred that “any progress be announced instead of failure,” said Russian diplomatic sources. Bogdanov’s talks with Pedersen will pave the way for further coordination between them as the envoy prepares to brief the UN Security Council next week on the latest round of talks.
Moscow is closely monitoring Pedersen’s moves, especially amid the possibility that he will openly announce who is responsible for hindering progress at the committee. Moreover, the Astana group is set to meet in Sochi on February 16 with Moscow preparing to hold “serious discussions” aimed at pressing Damascus to show greater flexibility in constitutional reforms, said a Russian source. Diplomat Rami al-Shaar, who is close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, told Asharq Al-Awsat that after the failure of the Constitutional Committee talks, it has become clear that the Damascus leadership was not listening to its allies.The regime is insistent on maintaining its own agenda, which is defending Syrian territorial unity and sovereignty and defeating terrorism, and avoiding talks about the constitution and reform. This unyielding position stems from Damascus’ conviction that Russia will continue to support it because it has no other options, he explained. In fact, some officials, who are close to Damascus, have gone so far as to declare that the regime is in a better position now with the arrival of a new administration to the White House, he revealed. These official believe that Damascus need only make a simple gesture that could reverse American-Syrian relations and prompt Washington to support the regime and ensure its survival in exchange for eliminating Russia’s role in the conflict and the entire Middle East, he said. Reports of secret security contacts being held between Damascus, Washington and Tel Aviv, through suspicious mediators, should therefore come to no surprise to anyone, Shaar remarked.

Egypt Intensifies Diplomatic Efforts to Resolve GERD Dispute
Cairo - Mohammed Abdo Hassanein/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Egypt has continued its international diplomatic efforts to move forward the stalled talks on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), hoping to pressure Ethiopia to reach a legally binding agreement on regulating the dam’s filling and operation. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received on Tuesday his Congolese counterpart Felix Tshisekedi, the next president of the African Union (AU), which has been sponsoring talks between Cairo, Khartoum and Addis Ababa since July 2020. According to presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady, they discussed the latest regional developments, especially the GERD issue, and agreed to bolster coordination and joint consultation. Sisi highlighted Egypt’s position that “the Nile River is a source of cooperation and development and a lifeline that links peoples of the Nile Basin countries.”
Leaders held individual discussions followed by expanded discussions between both countries’ delegations, the presidential statement noted. The statement quoted Tshisekedi as expressing appreciation for the distinguished historic relations with Egypt and the sincere and firm Egyptian political support for Congo. He stressed his country’s keenness to develop these relations in various fields, especially trade and economic cooperation. Meanwhile, the Egyptian embassy in Washington held on Monday an expanded virtual session with Congress aides from the House and Senate. During the session, Ambassador Motaz Zahran reviewed the GERD’s “negative impact” on Egypt and Sudan’s water security. Cairo is not opposed to Ethiopia's right to development, provided that its aspirations do not affect Egyptian interests and water security, Zahran stressed. The meeting aims to provide an accurate explanation to Congress members on Egypt’s stance on the negotiations. Cairo and Khartoum stress the need to reach a binding and comprehensive agreement that guarantees the rights and interests of the three countries, and include a mechanism for settling disputes filling and operation of the dam.
They fear the potential negative impact of GERD on the flow of their annual share of the Nile’s 55.5 billion cubic meters of water. The GERD dispute has taken two courses of so far faltered negotiations. The first was mediated by the US, the World Bank and European Union observers in early 2020 and the second by the AU.
 

HRW Slams Turkey's 'Illegal' Transfer of Syria Detainees
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 3 February, 2021
Human Rights Watch Wednesday condemned the "illegal transfers" to Turkey of more than 60 Syrians arrested by Ankara and its local proxies in Syria's northeast in 2019. Turkey and its Syrian opposition proxies arrested the 63 Syrians between October and December 2019 in the border area of Ras al-Ain in Syria's northeast, after seizing the region from Kurdish fighters, the rights group said. The men, Arabs and Kurds, are being held over their alleged links to Kurdish groups viewed by Ankara as "terrorists", according to HRW. They have been charged with "undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the state, membership in a terrorist organization, and murder", the rights group added. "Not only have these Syrians been illegally transferred to Turkey for abusive prosecutions, but in an extraordinarily cruel move, the courts have imposed the highest sentence possible in Turkey –- life without parole" -- on at least five of them, said Michael Page, HRW's deputy regional director. Turkey and its Syrian proxies seized control of Ras al-Ain during an October 2019 offensive that saw it wrest a 120-kilometer long strip of land from Kurdish forces on the Syrian side of its southern border. Turkish authorities have not produced evidence that the detainees committed crimes or were active fighters with Kurdish groups, AFP quoted HRW as saying. "Turkish authorities, as an occupying power, are required to respect people's rights under the law of occupation in northeastern Syria, including the prohibition on arbitrary detention and on the transfer of people to their territory," Page said. "Instead, they are violating their obligations by arresting these Syrian men and carting them off to Turkey to face the most dubious and vaguest of charges connected to alleged activity in Syria." While HRW said it could only confirm 63 transfers, it said available evidence suggests the number of Syrians taken to Turkey could be almost 200.
 

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 03- 04/2021

Where Does the World’s Problem with Us Lie? Where is our Problem with the World?
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2021
This column does not claim to provide a conclusive answer, and it does not entail any a priori value judgments. The only thing it does is question and call for asking questions regarding us, as Arabs, the state of justice in the world today, and/ or the extent to which we are ready to integrate into this world.
Let us revise some of the significant events of a deep “miscomprehension” from which a deeper “misunderstanding” arose, one whose effects remain palpable today. After the First World War, the Arabs, both as elites and peoples, objected to what the wars’ victors had done through the League of Nations that they established. They decided to impose mandates on large swaths of what had previously been the Ottoman Empire and German colonies in Africa. We, in turn, greeted these mandates with insurgencies and emphasized our refusal of the “fragmentation status quo” and our determination to “revive the order” as that had supposedly once been. The stars of our history are still those who faced off with these mandates: The 1920 Revolution in Iraq, Sultan Al-Atrash, Saleh Al-Ali, Yousuf Al-Azma, etc.…
The wars’ victors were celebrating a post-imperial world, and we were at pains to confront their victory, which we saw as nothing more than the colonization of ourselves. Most bizarrely of all, our new states' rulers seemed embarrassed by the states they themselves governed. Many of them apologized for being obliged to play such a role as abhorrent as this.
After the Second World War, the dichotomy of celebration there and mourning here was repeated. With the exception of Britain, which had the mandate over Palestine, there was a consensus among victors of this war, including the Soviet Union, in support of partitioning Palestine. Opposition to the famous 1947 Resolution issued by the United Nations, which the same victors had established, turned into a unified cry of war that brought the Arab region and some of the Islamic world together. Foiling the “conspiracy of partition” became seen as a foremost and sacrosanct national duty. Seventeen years later, Tunisia’s president at the time, Habib Bourguiba, tried to reconsider the issue principle of partition and was subsequently defamed in the Levante and described as a traitor.
With the end of the Cold War (1989- 1991), the Arab region was also the sight for retaliating against the victors of the war. As the euphoria that had hit the Western victors’ victory at the Soviet Union’s disintegration was peaking, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, defying the emerging global order of the day. Ten years later, Osama bin Laden launched his “raid” on New York and Washington.
In other regions around the world, retaliation to post-Cold War neoliberal economic policies arose: for example, in Bolivia, the poor revolted against Bechtel, a US company that privatized drinking water. In our part of the world, the response was of an imperial nature, of an empire that had been prevented from exercising its imperial control. We did not respond as poor and weak entities but as strong players that had been deprived of exercising their power.
Through a comparison with Russia, another place which is not linked with particular friendliness to the West, we realize the following: after the First World War, Soviet Russia stood with those opposed to the war’s victors. In the second war, it became most prominent of these victors. With the Cold War, it contributed, with Mikhail Gorbachev and then Boris Yeltsin, to paving the way for the West’s victory over its own model.
There are, of course, a few Arab exceptions that confirm the rule:
-The 1916 Hashemite Revolution that cooperated with the British was supposed to have been among the First World War's victors. However, four years later, after the mandates’ establishment, its officers led most of the uprisings against it. The Iraqis among them, who had acclimated with the new status quo, most notably Nuri al-Saeed, faced an unenviable fate. Peoples’ damnations haunt them to this day.
-The Arab communist parties, because of their links to the Soviets, were supposed to have been among the victors of the Second World War. Nevertheless, partly because of their links to the Soviets, they soon integrated into the forces opposing the war’s victors.
-Some of those who are described as liberals were supposed to have been among the Cold War’s victors. However, the feebleness of their democratic and pluralistic sensibilities, rather their weakness as an independent group, ruled out any possibility for a solid effect stemming from such a transformation.
Claiming that the world “is against us,” based on these repeating turns of events that do not change much, leads to the prevalence of the conspiracy theories in our part of the world and widens the gap that separates us from any shared universal consensus. Saying that we are “against” the world, on the other hand, presents us as a strange exception, whose causes, circumstances and motives do not need to be understood.
Three times in one century, this clash has taken place. Why is that? This issue, in all likelihood, deserves to be pondered and contemplated.

US Decision on Western Sahara … the Surprise and Solution
Nasser Bourita/Asharq Al-Awsat/February 03/2021
The United States’ decision to recognize Morocco’s sovereignty over all of its Saharan territories and its clear support for the Moroccan initiative for autonomous rule came as a surprise to many. Some were concerned, while the majority of the international community welcomed the move.
The importance of this decision stems from the significance of the country that approved it. The US is a major power and a permanent member of the Security Council. It is also a major ally of the Moroccan kingdom with which it has developed strategic relations during the past two decades under the wise leadership of King Mohammed VI. Moreover, these historic ties that also look to the future have been strengthened by various successive American administrations.
The measure of the importance of the move is primarily tied to the opportunities it provides in finding a solution to this conflict that has been going on for too long. Resolving the conflict will achieve permanent stability and security in a strategic region, which has implications that extend to southern Europe and central Africa. The 1991 ceasefire agreement silenced the weapons and paved the way for political and diplomatic solutions and opportunities. The Polisario Front, however, did not wait for the American decision to declare its repeated violations of the agreement and futile provocations.
We are confronted with two opposing views. On the one hand, we have the Moroccan view, promoted by the King, who is seeking a better future through major investments, worth over 7 billion dollars, in the southern regions. The royal vision does not want to leave a single area hostage to a stalled political process. On the other hand, we have a position that is relying on the stalled process, which it is exploiting to hamper regional economic integration and threaten region security, heedless of the negative humanitarian impact.
Amid these two varying positions, the reasonable people of the world realize the importance of the American decision as the beginning of a decisive line of action that would reach a realistic and permanent political solution.
Amid these developments, which are eying the future, Morocco decided to allow the residents of the Western Sahara to practice a form of autonomous rule under the authority of national sovereignty. Such a move allows the Western Sahara to manage its political, economic and social affairs through legislative, executive and judicial bodies that are exclusive to its region. The United States is aware of the details of this file, as well as its implications. Moreover, the move on autonomous rule is a product of deep consultations held between King Mohammed VI and the administration of Bill Clinton. They were carried on by the George W. Bush administration and later supported by the Barack Obama administration.
The successive administrations all offered their support for autonomous rule, viewing it as a solution to the regional conflict. The Trump administration’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty is a culmination of the efforts over the years and a sign of Washington’s constant position on the issue.
Away from official statements, the US has been eying the sovereignty decision since 2015 with Rabat’s view to develop the southern regions. From this same position, trade agreements signed between Morocco and the European Union all include the southern regions. Based on the above, the American recognition of Moroccan sovereignty of the Sahara should not come to a shock to anyone, expect those with a bad memory.
The American declaration is also in line with developments in the file at the UN. Previous UN envoys had repeatedly said that the “independence of the Sahara” was not a realistic option. Moreover, the recent 17 recommendations offered by the Security Council stem from a clear conviction of the need to reach a “realistic and permanent political solution”. It hailed the serious and credible efforts exerted by Morocco to end the impasse over this issue.
To achieve its goal, Morocco will remain committed to the UN-sponsored political path. It will follow clear standards based on determining and including the real parties involved in this regional conflict. This a commitment voiced by King Mohammed VI to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Those who oppose Morocco’s move on autonomous rule are doing nothing by prolonging the impasse and hindering a solution. We believe that autonomous rule is real and it will leave no party as victor or vanquished. This move is garnering international support with every passing day. It was evident at a ministerial conference that was organized by Morocco and the US to support autonomous rule. Forty-two countries took part in the event. Furthermore, the American decision to join 20 other countries in inaugurating consulates in Laayoune and Dakhla will definitely encourage others to follow suit soon.
By signing the December 22 tripartite declaration that included the American presidential declaration, Morocco was also placing its seal to a moral commitment that encourages stability in the wider Morocco area in the service of peace in the Middle East. It is an opportunity for us all to adopt constructive positions and move forward towards achieving a realistic, fair and permanent solution.
*Nasser Bourita is Morocco’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Palestinians: No to Normalization with the 'Zionist entity'
Khaled Abu Toameh/ consent of Gatestone/February 3, 2021
The anti-normalization campaign, which is also waged by Palestinians, means that any Palestinian leader or negotiator who is seen sitting with an Israeli will be condemned by Palestinians and possibly other Arabs as a traitor.... and accused of committing treason.
The last thing any Palestinian officials wants is to be labeled a traitor because, in the world of Fatah and Hamas, that crime is punishable by death.
If... Abbas wants to avoid such a fate, he must do an about-face and put an end to the anti-Israel incitement that is coming, first and foremost, from his very own loyalists.
If Palestinian journalists are banned from meeting Israelis, what will be the Palestinians' reaction the day they see Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas or his officials sitting at a negotiating table with Israel? The Palestinian representatives will undoubtedly be accused of committing treason, a crime punishable by death. Pictured: Palestinian protesters carry portraits of Abbas at a demonstration against the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in the city of Tubas, near the Jordan Valley, on September 27, 2020.
If and when the Biden administration manages to revive the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians, it will have to take into consideration that the Arab campaign against normalization with Israel remains as aggressive as ever.
The anti-normalization campaign, which is also waged by Palestinians, means that any Palestinian leader or negotiator who is seen sitting with an Israeli will be condemned by Palestinians and possibly other Arabs as a traitor.
Two recent examples of the ongoing campaign:
On January 6, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a body dominated by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's ruling Fatah faction and representing hundreds of Palestinian journalists, issued a warning to its members against engaging in normalization activities with Israelis.
The warning came in response to reports that the Israel Defense Forces had invited Palestinian journalists to participate in a Zoom briefing on Israel's measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Some of the Palestinian journalists who reportedly received the invitation alerted the PJS, which swiftly issued the warning to all its members.
It is important to note the wording of the statement issued by the PJS, whose heads are considered loyalists of Abbas:
"The syndicate, while expressing its complete refusal of such invitations, affirms that these conferences and meetings, held by the occupation army, are dangerous, even if they are related to health issues. All these meetings, even if they are held through social media [platforms], only lead to normalization with the Zionist entity. The syndicate warns against participation in these meetings."
First, the Palestinian group is saying that it does not care about the subject of the meeting, even if it is related to a pandemic. It is opposed to any meeting with Israelis because that would promote normalization with Israel. If the journalists are strongly opposed to medical cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians, why did the PJS not condemn the Palestinian leadership for accepting vaccines from Israel on February 1? Why is it acceptable for the Palestinian Authority to receive vaccines from Israel, while Palestinian journalists are not permitted to attend an Israeli-sponsored Zoom conference on the coronavirus?
Second, the warning itself may be seen as a threat to those journalists who participate in any online conferences with Israelis. The threat implies that the journalists may be expelled from the PJS or have their names placed on a blacklist, which means they will be boycotted by their colleagues and branded as traitors for appearing with Israelis. In the past, the PJS has called for boycotting the Israeli media and banned its members from attending conferences with Israelis anywhere, including Europe and the US.
Third, by referring to Israel as the "Zionist entity," the PJS is signaling that, like Hamas and Iran, it does not recognize Israel. They consider the word "Israel" anathema, to the point that they cannot even bring themselves to mention it.
It is also worth pointing out that the PJS's warning shows that there is not much difference between Fatah and Hamas, especially when it comes to calling Israel the "Zionist entity" and banning any form of normalization with Israel.
Last year, Hamas arrested several Palestinian activists in the Gaza Strip on charges of treason after they participated in a "WEconference" with Israelis. Explaining the arrests, the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry said: "Holding any activity or contact with the Israeli occupation under any cover is a crime punishable by law and a betrayal for the [Palestinian] people and their sacrifices."
Although they have been engaged in a bitter power struggle for the past 14 years, Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas have nevertheless both denounced the normalization agreements signed last year between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco. Fatah and Hamas are both ready to lay aside their bloody feud to oppose any form of normalization with Israel, not only by Palestinians, but by Arab countries as well.
The second example that the anti-normalization campaign is alive and continuing: Palestinian denunciations of an interview with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz by the Egyptian-based TV station, Al-Ghad.
The TV station is now being condemned by Palestinians (and other Arabs) for allegedly promoting normalization with Israel by interviewing an Israeli. On Twitter, many Palestinians are calling for a boycott of the station, accusing it of "betraying" them.
If Palestinian journalists are banned from meeting Israelis, and if an Arab TV station is not allowed to interview an Israeli, what will be the Palestinians' reaction the day they see Abbas or any other Palestinian sitting at a negotiating table with Israel? The Palestinian representatives will undoubtedly be accused of committing treason.
If the Biden administration is serious about resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, it needs to take into account that calls for boycotting Israel or banning normalization activities will terrify any Palestinian away from the negotiating table.
As long as the anti-Israel voices and campaigns are raging among Palestinians, Abbas and his entourage will think a thousand times before they agree to be seen sitting across a table from any Israeli.
The last thing any Palestinian officials wants is to be labeled a traitor because, in the world of Fatah and Hamas, that crime is punishable by death. If, on the other hand, Abbas wants to avoid such a fate, he must do an about-face and put an end to the anti-Israel incitement that is coming, first and foremost, from his very own loyalists.
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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F-35 is more than just a US arms deal for the UAE
Haitham El-Zobaidi/The Arab Weekly/February 03/2021
In describing the capabilities of the F-35 fighter jet, an expert said that at their best working conditions, advanced radar systems can spot this fighter plane as a metal ball the size of a golf ball. This sums up the difficulty of capturing radar signals and directing any defence systems to counter them.
This in a way describes the way the Israelis conduct their air campaign in Syria. Israeli F-35 fighter jets fly in sorties over Syria or in western parts of Iraq without fear of being detected or targeted. The Israeli fighters can strike as they wish at concentrations of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) troops and their various weapon systems, especially drones and missiles, despite the fact that Russian radar devices enhance the detection capabilities of Syrians, Iranians and Iraqis. The F-35 is a military armament quantum leap.
If you want to sum up modern scientific and technical achievements in one thing, it would be the modern US F-35 fighter.
The fifth-generation multi-task fighter combines all types of air combat functions taking off from ground bases or aircraft carriers. It possesses airspace infiltration capabilities (stealth as it is now known) without being detected by radars and thermal signal detectors
It can take off practically like a helicopter, or from a very short runway, and carry various countermeasures and jam equipment to evade the missiles that would target it. It conceals weapons inside the fuselage, making it more flexible and endowing it with exceptional stealth capabilities.
It was completely computer-designed before its first flight test. It carries on board the best that computer control and informatics technology can offer — the FlybyWire. Most of all, it is designed to operate for decades as an air superiority aircraft and makes it possible to dispense with entire generations of fighters that require more complex and costly maintenance operations.
Whoever buys this advanced fighter contributes retroactively to the cost of its development, and also participates in the development of future military technologies. No magic wand produces such advanced technologies.
The UAE’s keenness to acquire this unique fighter jet has been clear. Some commentators viewed the armament contract as a gift to the administration of former US President Donald Trump in the last few months of his Republican administration. This is a naive reading that does not take into consideration the reality of strategic balances in the region.
In reality, the UAE was in a rush to complete the deal, and this is exactly what happened when its ambassador to Washington, Yousef Al Otaiba, announced in the final days of Trump’s administration that the mission had been accomplished.
Then came the incoming administration of US President Joe Biden’s decision to review the deal, a decision that appears to be cosmetic but bears many indications. This is an administration that has its own Iranian agenda, and is aware of the deterrence capability provided by this type of combat aircraft.
Deterrence will be the name of the game. After Iranian drones and cruise missiles attacked Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq oil facilities and managed to strike at them without really being challenged by Saudi air defences, it became clear that an important part of the Gulf has been exposed, whether the missiles were fired at it from Iran or launched by Tehran’s allies in Yemen or Iraq.
Given the low cost and ease of manufacturing these missiles and drones, and the abundance of these weapons exhibited by Iran in its continuous exercises, one can imagine that future use of these simple and effective weapons is a possibility. Any countermeasures will have to face the dual challenge of simple technology and an abundance of weapons, which require a review of the whole Gulf defence strategy. The United States has acted and is exploring the possibility of a second line of defence along the Red Sea. But what can Saudi Arabia, the UAE and even Qatar, which is close to Iran, do? “This is our country, this is our geography and we will defend it.” To impose its own tempo on the supposed negotiations, the US has resorted to intimidation. It says that Iran is on its way to developing nuclear weapons very soon. But what about all of Iran’s other weapons — from drones, to ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, to the youngest militia fighter in its proxies in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen and Syria?
The deterrence exercised by Israel in the face of Iran is quite effective. Intelligence uses human information or satellite imagery, and the F-35 fighter jets are subsequently launched to carry out their missions.
Iran is not allowed to keep missile bases near Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu bases deterrence on this logic, and is backed by all Israeli politicians. This issue is greater than any consideration regarding relations with the United States. This is not 1991, the year the Israeli government found Patriot missiles sufficient to deter Iraqi ballistic missile attacks.
The Patriot system remained a passive bystander when waves of drones and cruise missiles struck at Abqaiq. The Iranian lesson to Saudi Arabia resonated more in Jerusalem.
Deterrence is necessary if the counter-weapon is not available or has limited effect. Even the stealth technology provided by advanced US aircraft is not foolproof. A year and a half ago, relatively rudimentary Iranian missiles hailing back to 1970s technology shot down an unmanned Global Hawk RQ-4A stealth aircraft over the Strait of Hormuz.
This was an “old-generation” missile worth less than $1 million dollars shooting down a “young-generation” plane with a price tag of $180 million. And before that, Iran managed to capture another stealth reconnaissance plane, the RQ-170, and bring it down, dismantle it and learn its technical details — from the material that makes it invisible to radar, to its cameras and electronic sensors.
The UAE is one of the US’s closest allies in the region. Its sense of safety is essential as it confronts Iran, which has spared no opportunity to intimidate and threaten all those it deems to be its enemies.
The UAE is fundamentally outside the realm of ideological confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. This confrontation, which escalates and cools down according to various considerations, has reached its climax after the collapse of the strategic balance represented by Iraq, first in 1991 and then definitively in 2003. The UAE realises that war is the last thing it wants for the region, which strives for stability. Its confrontation with the Muslim Brotherhood-type political Islam project is a reminder that the two versions of Shia and Sunni political Islam, which have been in conflict since 1979, do not need a third version. We have watched how quickly this can breed a tide of war and terror in Syria and Libya.
Therefore, and for many other reasons, it would hardly be an option for the US to delay or stall the F-35 deal.
Considering the issue part of Washington’s efforts to pressure regional allies to accept the nuclear deal, leaving other details such as missiles and influence for the negotiating table, is unthinkable and unacceptable.
US President Joe Biden is a practicing Catholic. On the way from his home and the White House, he stopped to pray in church. Piety makes him aware of the danger of betraying an ally. His religious piety keeps Judas Iscariot on his mind. There is no telling how much silver Iran will give in order to convince Biden to “sell out” an ally like the United Arab Emirates or to bargain over its security and the security of the region as a whole.
*Dr Haitham El-Zobaidi is the executive editor of Al Arab Group.

Treasury Report Highlights Turkey as Islamic State’s Logistical Hub
Aykan Erdemir/FDD/February 03/2021
The U.S. Department of the Treasury reported last month that the Islamic State often relied on “logistical hubs in Turkey” to transfer funds internationally, especially between Iraq and Syria. Treasury has designated Turkey-based Islamic State networks three times since 2019, which, along with the department’s latest finding, shows that jihadists continue to thrive in the permissive environment Ankara has cultivated.
On January 4, Treasury’s Office of Inspector General presented its first quarterly report of the year to the Department of Defense regarding Treasury’s support for Operation Inherent Resolve, the campaign against the Islamic State. The report highlights that the Islamic State continues to raise funds through “extortion of oil smuggling networks in eastern Syria, kidnapping for ransom targeting civilian businesses and populations, looting, and possibly the operation of front companies” and has “as much as $100 million available in cash reserves dispersed across the region.” According to Treasury’s assessment, the Islamic State uses money services businesses to transfer funds, often utilizing logistical hubs in Turkey.
Since 2014, Turkey has been a key jurisdiction the Islamic State exploits for smuggling militants, weapons, and funds to Syria. In early 2019, after stepping down as U.S. special envoy for the international coalition against the Islamic State, Brett McGurk wrote that although President Barack Obama repeatedly asked his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “to control the Turkish border with Syria,” through which Islamic State fighters and materiel “flowed freely,” Erdogan “took no action.” Six months later, following a U.S. Special Operations Forces raid that killed Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, McGurk said that Turkey “has some explaining to do,” since Baghdadi was found “just a few miles from Turkey’s border,” in a province “protected by a dozen Turkish military outposts since early 2018.”
Over the last two years, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has taken repeated steps to designate Islamic State networks exploiting Turkey’s permissive environment. In April 2019, Treasury sanctioned six individuals and a currency exchange company based in Turkey with links to the Rawi Network, whose members are key financiers for the Islamic State. Five months later, OFAC designated Turkey-based terror financiers working for both the Islamic State and Hamas. In November 2019, OFAC issued sanctions against three Turkish entities and two Turkish citizens for “providing critical financial and logistical support” to the Islamic State. Last month, Treasury designated two Egyptians based in Turkey for being leaders of Harakat Sawa’d Misr, a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
As it did following Baghdadi’s death, Ankara often responds to such shaming with frantic roundups of alleged Islamic State members within its jurisdiction. This time around, Ankara also responded to Treasury’s findings by launching well-publicized police operations against the Islamic State in 15 provinces and arresting 35 suspects. Such publicity stunts, however, rarely result in a sustained effort against jihadists in concert with the U.S.-led international coalition against the Islamic State. The Paris-based news agency Agence France-Presse, for example, exposed in November 2019 that Ankara had been detaining key Islamic State figures since 2018 but failed to mention them to allies for over a year.
The Biden administration should urge Ankara to adopt a zero-tolerance policy toward terror finance and to end its permissive policies and lenient treatment of jihadist networks within Turkey. Treasury, meanwhile, should continue to issue sanctions against Turkey-based terror financiers.
*Aykan Erdemir is a former member of the Turkish parliament and senior director of the Turkey Program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where he also contributes to FDD’s Center on Economic and Financial Power (CEFP). For more analysis from Aykan, the Turkey Program, and CEFP, please subscribe HERE. Follow Aykan on Twitter @aykan_erdemir. Follow FDD on Twitter @FDD and @FDD_CEFP. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Iran Isn’t Just a Nuclear File
Karen Kramer/Foreign Policy/February 03/2021
As President Joe Biden sets the course for a new U.S. policy toward Iran, he would do well to put human rights at the center of the American agenda. Under former President Donald Trump, the United States occasionally voiced concern about Iranian human rights abuses, but such advocacy was widely seen as little more than a political bludgeon, and as such it was ineffective. European diplomats went largely silent on the issue, as the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal left them focused on preventing the agreement’s collapse. The new administration in Washington has the opportunity and the imperative to address a human rights situation in Iran that is not only deteriorating but also intimately connected to multiple areas of strategic concern.
The last four years have been dark ones for human rights in Iran. Societal discontent over worsening economic conditions and continued repression exploded in November 2019 into the most serious protests the country has seen in decades. To crush them, security forces used indiscriminate, lethal violence. The judiciary has also issued increasingly harsh prison sentences to human rights lawyers and activists after unfair trials and meted out death sentences to protesters and dissidents.
Yet still the world remains fixated on the nuclear file, portraying it as the foremost issue to resolve with Iran. That view overlooks the link between human rights and security concerns—including the spread of nuclear weapons. Indeed, the United States can more effectively address all of its key strategic interests regarding Iran—nuclear proliferation, missile production, regional conflict, terrorism, and oil markets—by affording human rights a central place in its foreign policy.
Protecting basic civil rights and liberties promotes good governance, and good governance in turn promotes domestic stability. Only with freedom of expression and the rule of law, for example, can officials be held accountable. Without such accountability, stability will always be at risk. Iran’s recent history has amply demonstrated the relationship between poor governance and unrest. Those who protested in the streets of Iranian cities in November 2019 did so explicitly in response to the Islamic Republic’s mismanagement and injustices. The state crushed these protests with extreme violence; security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of unarmed civilians, killing hundreds and arresting thousands in a matter of days.
Some U.S. policymakers have welcomed the prospect of a destabilized Iran. But if Iran were to descend into chaos, the most likely outcome would be further chaos throughout the Middle East. Domestic stability is inextricably linked to regional stability: throughout the region, weak and failed states have fueled destructive substate actors, radical transnational movements, and interstate conflict. Sustained domestic turmoil in Iran could lead to fragmentation along ethnic, religious, and ideological lines and a violent internecine conflict that would open the door to proxy wars among regional rivals and further great-power conflict in the region. All the nearby conflicts, particularly those in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen where Iran is already enmeshed, would be exacerbated, as the drive for the various players to capitalize on the chaos intensified.
The last four years have been dark ones for human rights in Iran.
Burgeoning regional conflicts would put a great many security interests at risk. Weapons would rapidly proliferate. Refugees would surge across borders, bringing destabilizing effects not only to the region but also to Europe. The radicalism that has fueled international terrorism would have a new lease on life. And oil markets would be disrupted at a time when economies worldwide have sharply contracted due to COVID-19.
Put simply, peace and security on the country level are inseparable from peace and security on the regional level—and both depend on the defense of human rights. Basic civil and political liberties are, at the end of the day, a reflection of the rule of law. As such they form the basis of both sound domestic governance and international comity.
DISSIDENTS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
The pen may not always be mightier than the sword, but the history of the Cold War shows that dissidents matter. Their voices carry weight and can significantly affect the legitimacy of a state. Such figures are listened to in their own societies, and that is precisely why repressive governments lock them up: tyrants fear them. Figures such as Andrei Sakharov in the former Soviet Union, Vaclav Havel in the former Czechoslovakia, and Nelson Mandela in South Africa were instrumental in critiquing the state structures of their home countries. The further and more deeply these dissidents’ voices resonated, the more legitimacy drained from the governments that repressed them.
Likewise, in Iran, imprisoned lawyers and activists, such as the defense attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh and the recently released activist Narges Mohammadi, carry great authority. Such figures have not been silenced by incarceration. Rather, their letters from prison circulate widely on Iranian social media. Dozens of lesser known activists have joined the chorus calling for civil and political liberties. Supporting them and the rights they advocate by amplifying their voices, working with allies to jointly raise their causes, and forcefully objecting to their prosecution in every possible forum is not only a moral imperative but a strategic one. More broadly, a freer expressive space in Iran would serve American interests by lessening the potential for regional conflict. It has been well established that countries with strong human rights records are less likely than those with weak ones to engage in aggression against their neighbors. The costs of war are simply harder to force upon an informed citizenry, and citizens whose civil liberties are protected are able to voice their opposition to acts of aggression. Currently, Iranians do post bitter commentary on social media, not only about human rights abuses but also about the government’s actions in Syria and expenditures in Lebanon. The commentary—and the pressure on the government—would surely be much fiercer if political expression were less constrained.
THE IRANIAN CENTER
Respecting human rights could be the first step toward true political reform in Iran. The country’s moderate center—which has consistently supported engagement with the West, nuclear negotiation, and a reduced regional footprint for the Islamic Republic—has demonstrated its numerical dominance in a majority of the country’s elections, both presidential and parliamentary. Yet this moderate center has been unable to sway policy in Iran. Power in the Islamic Republic lies in the hands of the supreme leader, his religious cronies, and the security apparatus that reports to him. Iran’s elected officials have proved unable to deliver on any of their promised reforms, and those identified as “reformists” have all but lost credibility as agents of positive change.
Change remains possible in Iran, but not without respect for human rights. If the country were to honor basic political and civil liberties, such as the right to peacefully dissent, to freely associate with others, and to form real political parties, it would open political space to new, independent candidates who could pursue the widespread demand for nonviolent reform and the structural transformation of the country’s politics. Such a shift can take years. But it could eventually mean the empowerment of a largely centrist citizenry that has long eschewed violence and extremism.
If Iran’s government is to be compelled to respect human rights, it must come under sustained pressure. The authorities in Iran have demonstrated that they are sensitive to public opinion, both domestic and international, especially when the two are combined. For example, for more than a decade, civil society inside Iran and international human rights organizations persistently demanded reform of Iran’s death penalty policies, ultimately leading to a major policy reversal in which the authorities ceased applying the death penalty to low-level drug crimes. The government’s attempts to shape the public narrative—by censoring the Internet, controlling the media, broadcasting the forced “confessions” of detainees, and intimidating the families of journalists and dissidents into silence—attest to its concern for public opinion. The more Iranians can access information and share their views, the costlier rights violations and political repression will become for the government.
A HUMAN RIGHTS FOREIGN POLICY
External actors have only a limited ability to influence any country’s domestic human rights policies, and the effort to bring about such change is a long-term endeavor that may yield few short-term results. But on almost every continent, examples can be found of brutal and repressive governments finally yielding to international demands for rights, freedoms, and accountability. An Iran policy that builds toward such an outcome is not beyond the realm of the possible—but it would require the United States to recalibrate some of its priorities.
Change remains possible in Iran, but not without respect for human rights.
A U.S. foreign policy that prioritized human rights would continuously and vigorously raise Iran’s human rights record in its bilateral dealings with other countries—not as a perfunctory sidebar but as a central concern, signaling that the United States considered the issue important enough to seek coordinated international action to address it. The United States could use multilateral forums to push for the global censure of the Islamic Republic’s human rights abuses. And by linking progress on human rights to things that the Iranian authorities want—benefits rising from trade, investment, and scientific exchange, for example—the United States could exact clearly delineated costs for continued violations.
A Washington that understood the centrality of human rights to its Iran policy would also consult with human rights organizations frequently and meaningfully, thereby ensuring that its policy was informed by accurate, independent, and nonpartisan information on the state of human rights in Iran and the central needs of Iranian civil society. Moreover, it would make human rights a major component of its policy toward the larger region, demonstrating that such rights were a fundamental U.S. priority rather than a political tool.
The mandate of the negotiations for the Iran nuclear deal was never about anything other than the nuclear file. And progress on nuclear nonproliferation should not be held hostage to other issues. But that does not mean other critical issues—including human rights—should not be pursued just as robustly alongside the nuclear negotiations. A comprehensive approach to security that places human rights on an equal footing with other strategic issues is ultimately the only way to begin to bring peace, stability, and political and economic development to the troubled Middle East.

A New Law to Contain Islamic Radicalism Threatens French Protestants
Mark Durie/Markdurie.com/February 03/2021
Though intended to curb radical Islam, a new bill before the French parliament would rob Christians of their freedoms.
Six years ago, when I was serving as the pastor of an Anglican church, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission wrote to the parish requesting that it implement measures to stop our church from funding terrorists.
Warning a quiet suburban Anglican parish against funding terrorism seems more than faintly ridiculous, but for some types of charities it could be entirely reasonable. For example, during the 1990's the Islamic Council of Victoria was administering a "mujihadeen" account, to raise funds for jihad in Afghanistan, although representatives of the Council later stated that the ICV never funded any jihadis who were 'extremist'.
The ICV's mujahideen campaign had a religious basis in Islam. One of the obligatory five pillars of the faith is to make financial contributions, known as zakat. According to the Qur'an, these 'alms' can be used for various purposes, not all of which would meet the conventional Christian understanding of 'charity'. One of the permitted uses is to fund jihadis. The Qur'an calls this 'alms ... in the path of Allah'. This phrase was explained by the renowned Muslim commentator Ibn Kathir as "'in the path of Allah' is exclusive for the benefit of fighters in jihad."
A scattergun response to Islamic radicalism risks damaging the freedoms of other religions.
The Islamic sharia presents many unique and specific regulative challenges for secular governments. In addressing these challenges the authorities are understandably loath to discriminate between religions, so when they set out to impose legislative boundaries around Islamic radicalism, there is a risk that the freedoms of other religions will be damaged. Freedoms and privileges currently enjoyed by Christian charities could be wound back, as collateral damage of a scattergun response to Islamic radicalism.
This risk is proving all too real in France today. Under President Macron, the nation of liberté, égalité, and fraternité has a bill before parliament intended to curb radical Islam. This law applies to '1905 associations', which were established by the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State. However, in reality, 80% of registered 1905 associations in France are Protestant churches. Most French mosques have been established, not as religious entities under the 1905 law, but as community organisations under a different 1901 Law of Associations. So changes to the 1905 Associations laws will impact Protestants most, including 90% of Evangelical churches. François Clavairoly, president of the Protestant Federation of French Churches, has stated, "This is the first time ... that I find myself in the position of defending freedom of worship. I never imagined that in my own country something like this could happen."
80% of registered 1905 associations in France are Protestant churches.
The Catholic Church will not be affected. It had vehemently opposed the introduction of the 1905 associations arrangements, until in 1924 a concession was granted for Catholics to form 'diocesan associations'. This means that Catholic churches will not be captured in the dragnet of these new laws.
The proposed changes can only be described as draconian. Every five years, churches will have to apply to their prefecture to keep their status as a church, and the prefect can close a church without any hearing or legal process. The authorities can close a church if teachings are considered to incite hate against a person or group of persons, which will put the state in a position to censor the religious beliefs and preaching of churches. Churches will have to have their accounts formally audited, which will cost thousands of euros, and a pastor will be personally fined 9,000 euros if a church is non-compliant. Homeschooling, which is widely practiced by French Evangelicals, is to be banned, with few exceptions: freedom of religious conscience is not one of the allowed exceptions.
France has had a troubled and violent religious history, from the Catholic-Protestant wars of the 16th century and the St Bartholomew's Day massacres of protestants in 1572, through to the Reign of Terror and violent dechristianisation which followed the French Revolution, with repeated seizure of church assets continuing until 1905.
The legislation is a testimony to the religious illiteracy of France's elites.
It is ironic that new laws, intended to contain the jihad, are in reality going to impact Protestants most, who have already had long and bitter experience of persecution and discrimination in France. This outcome, if it comes to pass, will be a testimony to the religious illiteracy of France's elites, and perhaps even evidence of a latent hostility to Christianity, but it will do little to solve France's problems with the Sharia. These laws will rob Christians of their freedoms and damage France's much-vaunted liberté, égalité, and fraternité.
*Mark Durie is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum, founding director of the Institute for Spiritual Awareness, and a senior research fellow of the Arthur Jeffery Centre for the Study of Islam at the Melbourne School of Theology.