English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For July 05/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10/08-12/:”Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, “Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town”.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 04-05/2021
Our prayers Go for the recovery of His Holiness Pope Francis, who was admitted to the hospital today to undergo A Colon surgery
Monument For South Lebanese Army (SLA) In the northern Israeli town of Metula
Nadim Koteich:t 200 Palestinians were killed in the recent war in Gaza, but that a single barrel bomb, dropped by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, kills just as many people, yet no one condemns these crimes.
Hezbollah top official involved in smuggling operation - IDF
Old City woman gets 2.5 years in jail for spying for Hezbollah, IRGC
Lebanon Medicine Importers Warn Foreign Drugs Running Out
Lebanese Hospitals Say Lives at Risk Due to Electricity Crisis
Geagea Says Spending from Obligatory Reserve Has Begun
Hariri Resignation 'Not Urgent', 'Positive Surprise' Possible
Hariri Talking 'Electricity, Arab Investments' in His Foreign Tour
Alloush: Country to Collapse, Disintegrate before Govt.'s Formation
FPM Urges Unveiling who Brought Ammonium Nitrate, How It Exploded
Syriac Epigraphy in Lebanon: Syriac inscriptions and Art on Maronite Churches/Dr Amine-Jules Iskandar

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 04-05/2021
Pope Francis has surgery for 'colon diverticulitis'
Bennett: No more suitcases of cash for Hamas in Gaza
Israel strikes Hamas targets in response to incendiary balloons
Iran-Israel shadow war suspected in attack on UAE-headed ship
Sisi opens naval base, sends measured message to Egypt’s rivals
Cyprus Seeks Israel, EU Help to Fight Worst Wildfire in Its History
Taliban Seize Key Kandahar District after Fierce Fighting

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 04-05/2021
Does Iran think Israel is vulnerable at sea? - analysis/Seth J. Frentman/Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
Communist China's Genocidal Crackdown on Uyghur Intellectuals/Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/July 04/2021
PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Your Major Determination Gives Great Hope to Arab People/Fouad Siniora/Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021
Israel’s Spies in Iran/Rajeh Khoury./Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021
Ebrahim Raisi: Interior and Foreign Affairs/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on July 04-05/2021
Our prayers Go for the recovery of His Holiness Pope Francis, who was admitted to the hospital today to undergo A Colon surgery
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100348/%d8%b5%d9%84%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%a7-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%a3%d8%ac%d9%84-%d8%b4%d9%81%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d9%82%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%b3%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%a8%d8%a7-%d9%81%d8%b1%d9%86%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%b3/

Monument For South Lebanese Army (SLA) In the northern Israeli town of Metula
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100319/%d9%86%d8%b5%d8%a8-%d8%aa%d8%b0%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a-%d9%84%d8%b4%d9%87%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%a1-%d8%ac%d9%8a%d8%b4-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%ac%d9%86%d9%88%d8%a8%d9%8a-%d8%a7%d9%84/
July 04/2021
Ministry of Defense Spokesperson's Statement:
Minister of Defense and IDF Chief of the General Staff to inaugurate SLA monument and distribute campaign medals to SLA commanders
The inauguration ceremony will be held this evening, in memory of the Southern Lebanese Army (SLA) soldiers who fell in combat between the years 1982-2000. Minister of Defense, Benny Gantz, IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Col., Aviv Kohavi, and Head of the Commemoration and Heritage Department in the Ministry of Defense, Arieh Mualem will attend the ceremony together with SLA veterans and bereaved families. During the ceremony, Defense Minister Gantz and IDF Chief of the General Staff, Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi will distribute campaign medals to SLA veteran commanders who fought shoulder to shoulder with IDF soldiers. In addition, a special memorial prayer will be recited in Arabic in order to honor the fallen soldiers. The monument that will be revealed this evening is located near the “Good Fence” in the northern Israeli town of Metula. Built by the Engineering and Construction Division in the Ministry of Defense, the monument includes a memorial plaza with a symbolic candle, a “memorial road”, an observation area, a grove of trees for gatherings and a parking lot for visitors. It covers 2800 square meters and was built over a period of eight months. It replaces the original monument, which was erected near the village of Marjiyun in southern Lebanon and was destroyed by Hezbollah terrorists after Israel’s withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000. The monument is engraved both in Hebrew and in Arabic with the following words: "We will remember the soldiers of the Southern Lebanese Army who fell while defending the towns of southern Lebanon and northern Israel.” It also includes some historic background information about the heroism of the SLA soldiers and their commanders. The Department of Families, Commemoration and Heritage at the Ministry of Defense initiated the construction of this monument in memory of the SLA soldiers, out of a desire to commemorate and honor the memory of those who fought side by side with IDF soldiers in Lebanon. The monument will tell the story of the SLA's cooperation with the IDF and will be a place to pay tribute to the fallen and to honor the families who have been deprived of the right to visit the graves of their loved ones in Lebanon. The monument will be open to the general public every day of the week.

Nadim Koteich:t 200 Palestinians were killed in the recent war in Gaza, but that a single barrel bomb, dropped by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, kills just as many people, yet no one condemns these crimes.
MEMRI/July 04/2021
He made these remarks in an interview that aired on Al-Kahera Wal –Nas TV (Egypt) on June 20, 2021.
Koteich said that Israel is "an established fact," and it cannot be wiped out in an attack. He added that the Lebanese economy, the future of its people, its currency, and the savings of its people have been hijacked under the pretext of resistance against Israel, and yet no one is fighting against it. Koteich asked why Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser is considered a hero by his people although he lost the Sinai Peninsula, while President Anwar Sadat is considered a traitor, despite regaining the Sinai Peninsula. For more about Nadim Koteich see MEMRI TV clips nos. 8382, 8001, 7769, 7668, 7221, 7140 and 5675.
Nadim Koteich: "Can we imagine a moment when Israel would no longer exist? Don't answer, let me. My answer is: 'No.' Israel is a fact in this region and such it will remain, period. One cannot imagine a scenario in which an attack wipes out Israel.
Nadim Koteich: "When it comes to an end, we will talk about it. No problem. Today it exists, so what is the nature of my relations with it? As a Lebanese, all of the problems that I have with Israel... I'm talking as a Lebanese."
Interviewer: "Yes."
Koteich: "Our country has been hijacked — its economy, the future of its people, its currency, the savings of its people — just because someone wants to fight Israel.
"They have destroyed the country and the future of its people, but they do not fight Israel. So come, sit down and tell me what is your problem with Israel?
"The crimes committed by our Arab regimes against the Arab population have dwarfed those committed by Israel. Look at the [recent] 11-day-war in Gaza... Don't be upset, I want to be frank and blunt. 200 Palestinians were unjustly killed in this war. Right?"
Interviewer: "That's right."
Koteich: "The same number of people are being killed in a single building in Aleppo by a single barrel bomb of Bashar Al-Assad.
"It has been happening for the past ten years. Why do we accept Arab crimes perpetrated against Arabs, but want to describe the Israeli crime as the only crime? This is not true. We should be objective about this.
"Take Egypt, for example. Abdel Nasser lost Sinai, but he is considered a hero. Sadat regained Sinai, but he is considered a traitor. How come? How come the one who lost Sinai is a hero, and the one who regained Sinai is a traitor? By what logic?"
Click on the link below to watch the clip
https://www.memri.org/tv/lebanon-journalist-nadim-koteich-one-assad-barrel-bomb-kills-people-gaza-war-condemn

Hezbollah top official involved in smuggling operation - IDF
Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
Haj Khalil Harb was a security advisor for Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah. The IDF believes that Hajj Khalil Harb, a top Hezbollah official, has been operating a drug and weapons smuggling operation over the border between Israel and Lebanon, the IDF confirmed Sunday.
Harb was Hassan Nasrallah's security advisor, according to the IDF. Nasrallah is the secretary-general of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed terror group based in Lebanon. The IDF accused Harb of being involved in a June 2, 2021, bust in which the IDF seized 15 pistols, 36 kilograms of hashish and dozens of magazines, according to the press release. The items were worth about two million shekels. Harb was involved in Hezbollah activities in the Palestinian territories. He has also helped move large amounts of money from Hezbollah to its allies in Yemen since 2012. He was designated as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the US Treasury Department in August 2013, according to US counterterrorism rewards program Rewards for Justice. The IDF said they will continue monitoring the Lebanese border as well as Harb's activities in order to protect Israeli sovereignty.

Old City woman gets 2.5 years in jail for spying for Hezbollah, IRGC
Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
Until her arrest in August 2020, she had been employed by the National Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Yasmin Jabar, a resident of Jerusalem’s Old City, was sentenced by the Jerusalem District Court to 30 months in prison on Sunday as part of a plea bargain conviction for spying for Hezbollah and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force. Until her arrest in August 2020, she had been employed by the National Library at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her relatively light sentence stemmed from the fact that she cut a deal and that she was caught before she had succeeded in causing significant security damage to Israel. Since she was arrested on August 4, 2020, she could be released as early as February 2023 or possibly even earlier for good behavior. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), Israel Police and other branches of the security apparatus announced in September 2020 how they uncovered Hezbollah’s recruitment of Jabar. Hezbollah organizes conventions for young Palestinians in Lebanon, Turkey and other countries as a way of cultivating recruits from Israel and the West Bank, the security organizations said. Hezbollah seeks to form cells to help with intelligence collection and terrorist attacks, they said. Jabar was identified by Hezbollah operatives when she attended a conference from early to mid-December 2015. She was also given a code name to disguise her identity. During travels to Lebanon, operatives from the joint Hezbollah and IRGC Quds Force unit introduced Jabar to senior operatives named Ataiya Abu Samhadna and Mah Moud Mousa, who were known to have been involved in recruitment in Israel for terrorist activities. The connection between Jabar and Samhadna even became romantic, including visits to Samhadna’s family’s home. Jabar also met with three other senior operatives, but two men never provided her with their names, and one woman provided a likely false name. After being recruited, Jabar maintained contact with Hezbollah and IRGC operatives through coded messages on social-media platforms and met with operatives in Turkey around February 18, 2016 and in 2018. The operatives wanted Jabar to move to Turkey and to return there in April 2019, but she did not go after she became increasingly anxious about being caught. At those meetings, Jabar was instructed to recruit more operatives who would form a terrorist cell under her leadership. She was told to concentrate on recruiting women because they have more freedom of movement. In September 2020, law enforcement said that some acquaintances of Jabar from Jerusalem and Ramallah were also detained, including a Turkish resident of Ramallah who was found to be one of Jabar’s handlers in the terrorism unit. Questioned about how the case turned out against this handler, the Justice Ministry had not provided an answer by press time. The summer 2020 investigation exposed how the terrorism unit operates, including its use of coded messages on social-media platforms, hosting conferences around the world for recruitment purposes and the use of assumed names by operatives to avoid being associated with Hezbollah while recruiting.

Lebanon Medicine Importers Warn Foreign Drugs Running Out
Agence France Presse/July 04/2021
Lebanon's medicine importers Sunday said they had run out of hundreds of essential drugs and warned of further shortages if the cash-strapped central bank did not unblock funds. Lebanese are grappling with a raft of shortages, from petrol to medication, as the caretaker government discusses lifting subsidies it can no longer afford amid what the World Bank says is one of the world's worst financial crises since the 1850s. The local currency has lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market, but the central bank had been providing importers with dollars at the much more favorable official rate to cover a large part of the cost of imported drugs. Medicine "imports have almost completely ground to a halt over the past month," the association of pharmaceuticals importers said in a statement. The syndicate said the central bank has not released the promised dollars to pay suppliers abroad, who are owed more than $600 million in accumulated dues since December, and importers cannot obtain new lines of credit. "Importing companies' stocks of hundreds of medicines to treat chronic and incurable diseases have run out," it warned. "And hundreds more will run out through July if we cannot resume imports as soon as possible."Syndicate head Karim Gebara told AFP some drugs to treat cardiac diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer and multiple sclerosis were already out of stock. If nothing is done, "the situation will be catastrophic by the end of July," depriving "hundreds of thousands of patients" of their medication, he warned. On Thursday, President Michel Aoun said he, outgoing ministers and the central bank chief had agreed to "continue subsidizing medication and medical supplies" selected by the health ministry according to priority. The government resigned after a deadly port explosion on August 4 last year, but a deeply divided political class has failed since to agree on a new cabinet to lift the nation out of crisis.

Lebanese Hospitals Say Lives at Risk Due to Electricity Crisis
Agence France Presse/July 04/2021
Hospitals in Lebanon are warning that worsening power cuts and fuel shortages are gravely impacting the health sector. Asharq al-Awsat newspaper has quoted the head of the private hospital syndicate Suleiman Haroun as saying that hospitals had enough fuel stocks to operate generators for just two days, instead of two weeks. Firass Abiad, the head of the Rafik Hariri main public hospital battling the Covid pandemic, said the lives of patients were also at risk. "For most hospitals in Lebanon, the major concern currently is not the (coronavirus) Delta variant, nor shortages in supplies. The major worry now is electricity, without which medical equipment cannot work," Abiad wrote on Twitter. "Old generators cannot continue running nonstop. When they breakdown, lives will be at risk," he warned. Lebanese citizens are grappling with a raft of shortages, including petrol, as the caretaker government discusses lifting subsidies it can no longer afford amid what the World Bank says is one of the world's worst financial crises since the 1850s. The local currency has meanwhile lost more than 90 percent of its value on the black market. The Lebanese state is providing less than five hours of electricity a day in most areas, as it struggles to come up with the foreign currency for fuel imports. The government resigned after a deadly port explosion on August 4 last year, but a deeply divided political class has failed since to agree on a new cabinet to lift the nation out of crisis.

Geagea Says Spending from Obligatory Reserve Has Begun
Naharnet/July 04/2021
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday warned that spending from the central bank's obligatory reserve of foreign currencies "has started."“The President, the caretaker prime minister, the finance minister and the central bank governor bear the responsibility for eradicating what is left of depositors’ money,” Geagea said in a tweet. “We will do the impossible to try to deter them,” he pledged.

Hariri Resignation 'Not Urgent', 'Positive Surprise' Possible
Naharnet/July 04/2021
The issue of PM-designate Saad Hariri’s resignation is not pressing anymore and Hariri will return to Beirut within 48 hours, sources close to him have said. “Things are still in the hands of President Michel Aoun regarding the possibility of forming a mission-driven government without a blocking one-third and the ball is in his court,” the sources added, in remarks to OTV. A source from the Development and Liberation parliamentary bloc meanwhile told MTV that Speaker Nabih Berri’s initiative is still ongoing. “A positive surprise might happen at the eleventh hour, similarly to what happened with Tammam Salam’s government after 11 months” of negotiations, the source said. A source from the Strong Lebanon bloc meanwhile told MTV that the bloc is “waiting for Hizbullah to openly announce the failure of its endeavor before acting accordingly.”The source however added that his bloc is “ready for any step that can break the current deadlock.”

Hariri Talking 'Electricity, Arab Investments' in His Foreign Tour
Naharnet/July 04/2021
Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is continuing the foreign tour that started in the UAE and later included Turkey and Egypt, a media report said on Sunday. “Hariri’s stances have not changed and the idea of giving up the (government) formation mission is not currently on the table,” Center House sources told the al-Anbaa news portal of the Progressive Socialist Party. “His Arab and regional tours are focused on Lebanon and on securing financial, economic and medical assistance to the country,” the sources said. Informed political sources meanwhile told al-Anbaa that on his current tour, Hariri is discussing Lebanon’s electricity crisis and the possibility of bringing Saudi investments to Lebanon.The PM-designate is exploring “means to help Lebanon rescue this ailing sector and to pull the country out of darkness and out of the hefty cost that the Lebanese are incurring as a result of sever power rationing and the hike in generators bill,” the sources added. He is also seeking to “open a channel between Lebanon and the Arab countries, specifically the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” while attempting to “encourage investments in Lebanon and the investment of the Lebanese in Arab countries,” the sources went on to say. “Hariri’s choice is still to form a mission-driven government that would assume the mission of rescuing Lebanon,” the sources added. “Despite all the obstacles he has faced, Hariri is insisting on (the mission-driven government) because is it the only choice to rescue the country,” the sources stated, adding that Hariri “realizes that stepping down would further complicate things and end any ray of hope for the state’s rise -- something that he does not want.”

Alloush: Country to Collapse, Disintegrate before Govt.'s Formation
Naharnet/July 04/2021
Al-Mustaqbal Movement deputy chief Mustafa Alloush has suggested that “the country will collapse and disintegrate before the government’s formation” should the current political course continue as it is.In a TV interview, Alloush also noted that the presence of Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri outside Lebanon is “a lot more important than his presence in the country.”“He is carrying out his duties and securing an external umbrella to kick off Lebanon’s assistance in a serious manner the moment the government is formed,” the Mustaqbal official added.

FPM Urges Unveiling who Brought Ammonium Nitrate, How It Exploded
Naharnet/July 04/2021
The Free Patriotic Movement called Saturday for unveiling who “brought and used” the ammonium nitrate shipment that caused the August 2020 disaster in Beirut, a day after the judge leading the probe said he will pursue senior politicians and former and current security chiefs in the case. “The Movement stresses the right of the Lebanese to know the full truth about the Beirut port explosion,” the FPM said in a statement issued after a periodic e-meeting for its political bureau. “While respecting the investigation’s independence, the Movement sees that the main objective should be the identification of who brought the nitrates (into the country), who used them and how they exploded, in order to unveil and try the perpetrators and acquit those unfairly detained,” the Movement added. “The port’s crime is not only about professional negligence, despite its importance, but more importantly about the criminal act that killed innocents, destroyed a part of the capital and left incurable wounds in spirits and the society,” the FPM explained. Separately, it called on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to “return to Lebanon and shoulder his responsibilities by speeding up the formation of a government capable of achieving reforms and revival.”

Syriac Epigraphy in Lebanon: Syriac inscriptions and Art on Maronite Churches (part 2)
Dr Amine-Jules Iskandar President of Tur Levnon-Syriac Maronite Union
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/100283/dr-amine-jules-iskandar-syriac-epigraphy-in-lebanon-syriac-inscriptions-and-art-on-maronite-churches-part-1/
What do we see when we look at a Maronite church that presents an epigraph? Simplicity is always there all over the facade. Then appears the entrance door “Tar‘o” emphasized by its frame consisting in megalithic stones. Above it, sits the epigraph with its simple calligraphy as austere as the architecture and the peasants’ life. There is no place for embellishment and certainly no virtuosity. Somewhere on the facade, under or above the epigraph, rules the cross “Slivo”, and sometimes it is flanked by the two circles representing the sun “Shemsho” and the moon “Sahro”. If we look above, we might find an oculus or a simple opening. And some churches even offer the representation of the Chalice “Koso” and occasionally the Paten “Pénko”. This is all that can be found on the entrance facade of a Maronite Church that has a Syriac epigraph. What is the meaning of each of these elements, what is the message conveyed by their juxtaposition?
The Door “Tar ‘o”
The Door is the entrance to the Qurbono (Mass and Eucharist). This is the way to the horizontal communion that can lead to the vertical one with the Divine. The Door gives access to the heavenly kingdom “Malkuto da Shmayo”. It is the symbol of the gates of heaven “Tar‘é da Shmayo”. What is more revealing than the Maronite hymns and especially these chanted by the monks of Saint-Maron monastery in Annéya, while carrying the coffin of Saint Charbel on that Christmas night of 1898? Making its way through the heavy snow, the funeral procession kept on chanting: « Let your doors open » “nétpathoun tar‘ayk” (15). If we consider the writings of the Maronite Patriarch, Mor Estéphanos Douayhi, and those on the wooden door of the church of Saint-Eutilios in Kfar-Sgab, we realize the importance of the symbolism of the doors and we understand the reason such big megaliths are used to emphasize them. Patriarch Estéphanos Douayhi wrote concerning this subject that « we mean by the opening of the doors, the pleasure that God finds in our salvation. He also quotes Isaiah to express the importance of their continuous opening:
On signifie également par l’ouverture des portes, le bon plaisir que Dieu trouve dans notre salut et son désir de voir tous les hommes accéder à sa connaissance. C’est pour cela que les portes des églises sont ouvertes au moment de la proclamation des Livres Saints pour que le peuple entende la Parole de Dieu et qu’il accède à la connaissance de la vérité, selon ce qui est dit en Isaïe:
« Tes portes seront toujours ouvertes. Ni le jour ni la nuit, elles ne seront fermées, pour t’amener les richesses des nations et leurs rois pour les conduire. Car la nation et le royaume qui ne te serviront pas périront, et les nations seront exterminées. La gloire du Liban viendra sur toi, avec le cyprès, le platane et le buis, pour embellir le lieu de mon sanctuaire, pour glorifier le lieu où je me tiens ». (16)
This same passage of Isaiah (Is, 60, 11) is inscribed in garshouné on the wood of the door, dated 1882 (fig. 10) of Saint-Eutilios in Kfar-Sgab under the epigraph, dated 1776 (fig. 11) and the chalice. Its presence here is the sign of a conscious act very aware of the symbolism and the meaning of the door.
The Word “Melto”
Above the Door, is the epigraph. Its purity and simplicity are a must. One hundred epigraphs discovered and assembled in our catalogue are here to prove that there is no place for decoration or virtuosity in the calligraphy. This Syriac script inherited the purity and sacred aspect of Hebraic inscriptions. Embellishment is rejected because it distracts from the honesty of the Truth. The Truth is God with no face and no name. It can’t be ornamented nor beautified. It is the Word in itself; it is the Logos “Melto”.
An uninformed visitor would think the inscriptions are very simple and sometimes harsh because of poverty in the Lebanese mountains. He would imagine they couldn’t do any better. Nevertheless, some of the examples we encountered show very complex frames and floral decorations, yet only outside the epigraph, without altering the purity of the inscription. Because the Maronite mentality belongs to the monastic Christianity as opposed to the imperial one. In this monastic world there is no exaggeration in the images, no flaunt wealth. It is a world of contemplation towards the beyond and towards the within. Invention is limited… only exists the Word “L’invention est limitée… seul existe le Verbe » says Pierre Francastel (17).
This respect to the purity of the Word is a direct heritage from the Old Testament. Jewish epigraphs have always been respectful of these values and the inscriptions are free from all sorts of ornamentations. Hebrew manuscripts with illuminations are only the result of Latin and Celtic influences. However, Hebrew inscriptions in the Middle East are found to be simple and with pure shapes. This reflection of the Word has been transmitted to the Christian Syriac tradition.
The fruits of the Eucharist “Piré d’Oukharistia”
If Judaism forbids the image of God, it is because His face has not been revealed. Consequently, any attempt to represent the unseen can only be a falsification of the unknown truth. With Christianity God revealed Himself through Incarnation. The first mystery of Christianity is the Incarnation of the Word “Melto étgasham”. Through His Son, God has revealed His face: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
From this moment on, figurative representations make their appearance next to the inscriptions. The Word is incarnated and the image becomes tolerated. Christianity expresses the importance of incarnation with all its power and all its meaning. Syriac language has two words to designate the body. “Gushmo” is the physical body, whereas “Pagro” is the biological one. And in their Eucharistic prayer, the Syriacs chose to make use of the word “Pagro”, insisting on the idea of flesh “Besro” and blood “Dmo” of Christ.
Next to the epigraphs and to the crosses, the most dominant figure is the representation of the fruits of the Eucharist: The Host or the Bread of life “Lahmo d Hayé” and the chalice or the wine “Hamro”. They are so clearly visible on churches like Saint-Eutilios of Kfar-Sgab, dated 1776 (fig. 11), and Saint-Shalito of Qotara, dated 1857 (fig. 12). At Notre-Dame-des-Semences in Kphiphén, dated 1838 (fig. 5), this subject of the fruits of Good, or Fruits of Life “Piré d Hayé” is represented with its opposite: the fruits of Evil, signified by the image of the two serpents “Grossé”. Like Saint Ephrem, the great master Saint Jacques of Sarug also insisted on this form of duality embodied by the snakes, when he talked about the fruit of life “Piro d’Hayé” (III 653, 13-14) and the snake “Harmono” that killed Adam (III 653, 15-16) (Note 18).
The Cross “Slivo”
The cross is undoubtedly the most widespread motif on the facades that carry an epigraph. Other than the church’s cross mounted on top of the structure, there is always a second cross carved within the facade and in relation with the inscription.
Once again, at Notre-Dame-des-Semences in Kphiphén (fig. 5), the Cross appears next to the Fruits of Good and Evil. It is represented with diagonals symbolizing the sunlight glowing from it. Because it is light and life, the Christian cross is the instrument of victory of life over death. It is the suffering of Jesus Man and the resurrection of Jesus God. The two stars are here to witness. As demonstrated by Saint Ephrem, the Sun and the Moon “Shemsho w Sahro” represent the divinity and humanity of Christ. All these elements are clearly sculpted on the facade of Notre-Dame-des-Semences in Kphiphén, dated 1838 (fig. 5). The power of the Cross is then revealed explicitly in Notre-Dame de Mayphouq, dated 1904 (fig. 13). We read on its epigraph under the cross: “There is no salvation but by the cross, and no life but through it” “lo pourqono élo ba slivo, w lo hayé élo béh”. Similar inscriptions are found on Syriac Orthodox crosses in the Tur Abdin. In one of them we read: “There is no pride but by the cross of Christ” (19).
The most reveling expression is also the most typical one found on many Syriac crosses in Lebanon and Syria-Mesopotamia. It is very usual in epigraphs as well as in manuscripts. This prayer of protection consists of the Psalm 44,5: “By You we shall wound our enemies, and because of your Name we shall tread upon those who hate us” (20). In Syriac, it appears in two similar forms: “bokh ndaqar labeéldvovayn w bashmokh ndoush lsonayn” or sometimes: “bokh ndaqar labeéldvovayn w métoul shmokh ndoush lsonayn”. We find it in many Churches, and very significantly on the most important Maronite epigraph of Notre-Dame d’Ilige, dated 1276 (fig. 14).
Conclusion
If we consider the entire composition of the facade, while bringing all together the Door, the Epigraph, the symbols of the Eucharist, and the Cross, we notice a vertical axis that organizes all these components. A form of symmetry is revealed as well as a pyramidal effect due to the positioning of the larger elements at the bottom and smaller ones at the top. The base of the pyramid is imposing because of the megaliths shaping the door like at Saint-Joseph of Daraoun, dated 1765 (fig. 15). Sometimes the lintel is over mounted by a second lintel with motifs. Then appear the epigraph, the oculus and the cross in diverse orders according to each church facade. In Epigraphie Syriaque au Liban (21) we mentioned 36 examples of this type of composition. We publish here 6 of them as sketches to provide a visual understanding: Saint-Joseph of Débiyé, dated 1753 (fig. 16), Notre-Dame-des-Champs in Dlebta, dated 1755 (fig. 17), Saint-Joseph of Daraoun, dated 1765 (fig. 18), Saint-Eutilios of Kfar-Sgab, dated 1776 (fig. 19), Saint-Abdon of Maad, dated 1797 (fig. 20), and Notre-Dame-des-Semences in Kphiphén, dated 1838 (fig. 21).
Let us now consider the meaning of each of the features constituting the composition: The door invites us to the liturgy and to the horizontal communion between men. Above it is the purpose of this liturgy that is revealed in its etymology: Leitourgia in Greek derives from leitos (public) and ergon (acheivement). This expresses the importance of the horizontal communion between worshippers. They will accomplish the Qurobo (mass) that is also Qurbono (Eucharist).
Above the door, is the epigraph. The inscription is in Syriac letters even if the language is Garshouné instead of Syriac. The observation is important and confirms that Syriac letters are sacred and are aware of their sacredness. Their purity and lack of ornamentation is a proof of that virtue. The inscription is in that matter, the reflection of the Word.
Then, the images of the Eucharist are inserted into the composition: The Paten, the Chalice, the Host or the oculus. They reveal the purpose of liturgy, but also represent the incarnation of the Word. The image became possible after being forbidden in the Old Testament. The Word is now more than just a body “Gushmo”, it is a biological body “Pagro” made of flesh “Besro”. “I am the bread of life” as we read in John 6:48. Christ is our bread, and He is felt by all our senses.
By evolving from the Word to Incarnation, we enter the mystery of Christianity divulged here by the Christic cycle. This cycle started with the Word as in John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (23) “Breshit itawo Melto…” Then we encounter Incarnation, again as in John 1:14 “The Word became flesh” (24) “W Melto besro hwo”.
After Incarnation, the Christic cycle guides us to Crucifixion. The cross is here to announce sacrifice but not death. Because the cross is life and it is the power of Resurrection. Next to it are the sun, sign of Christ’s humanity “Noshuto” and the moon, sign of His divinity “Alohuto”. In this theological approach chanted by Saint Ephrem, the cycle morphs from Christic to Christological, thus approaching the nature of our Lord.
Resurrection leads to the Ascension of Christ. How is this phenomenon indicated on the facade? There is no inscription nor image designating it. It is actually suggested by the entire composition whose pyramidal shape generates the vertical ascending movement. The Christic cycle is being accomplished by the return of Christ to his Father, to the Word. The church’s facade is revealing the whole cycle by centralizing it on the Mystery of incarnation based on the Word. The Maronite Bishop Simon Atallah, from the Order of the Antonins, elucidates greatly this spectacle and describes it as a descending movement at Christmas, that becomes an ascending movement at Easter. He also adds that at first, God becomes flesh, and then, flesh rises to become Word of life:
« Cet accompagnement ou ce cheminement, conduit par Jésus lui-même, et qui précède la célébration du mystère central du christianisme, la Résurrection, ou mystère de Pâques, est une introduction sérieuse dans le mystère de la Rédemption, mystère de l’illumination et de l’Épiphanie, qui était, à Noël, un mouvement descendant, et maintenant, à Pâques, un mouvement ascendant : le premier mouvement fait que Dieu devienne chair, et le second, que la chair ressuscite et devienne Parole de vie » (24).
In his approach, the bishop insists on the dimension of salvation, visible in every phase of Christ’s life, whether in Incarnation, Passion and Crucifixion, or in Resurrection and Ascension. This dimension adds to the meaning of the pyramidal composition, the concept of Redemption.
Crosses, friezes, cornices, frames, inscriptions and images are assembled to narrate the story of Jesus Salvatore. The composition is read like an icon. It has nothing to do with the art of beauty and visual delectation. Like an icon, it is meant to be read. The entire composition and elements of the Christic cycle are combined and concentrated along the vertical axis and within the pyramidal area. Outside this zone, masonry is left to its total rudeness, austerity and humility. Some stones or rocks are found to be used in their natural shape with no adjustment. The pyramidal composition is meant to be isolated on the facade, concentrating the artistic interventions inside a well defined area. This composition expresses itself in harmony with its message in Utopos (outside any tangible space) and in Uchronos (out of time). These are the characteristics of the icon and those of the Christian image. We might therefore ask ourselves: Isn’t the pyramidal composition on the Maronite facade, the equivalent of the orthodox iconostasis found inside the church?
We are facing a representation of the story of Incarnation and Resurrection, including Christology and Soteriology, in an iconographical display. It is thus significant to see what occurs when Syriac spelling is not used in the epigraph. What are the implications on the meaning and on the message conveyed by the pyramidal composition?
Some Maronite Churches have their epigraphs written in Arabic letters. Their calligraphy is a display of virtuosity in shapes and movements. The letters cover the surface of the stone in every direction showing the skills and talent of the sculptor. Nothing remains from the asceticism of the Syriac script.
The Arabic versions are also longer than the Syriac ones. The numerous praises and literary embellishments burden the text and distract from the heart of the matter. In the form and substance, the inscription is an exhibition of abilities. Richness, virtuosity and pomp replace austerity, simplicity and humility, the attributes of the Word.
The pyramid is still there on the façade, as well as the crosses and the elements of the Eucharist. But the Christic cycle is absent since it has been amputated from the Word that is at the origin of everything. In respect to these observations, it is not overstated to say that Syriac is not just a language, and that language is never just a means of communication that could be replaced by any other medium. Language is the specific expression of a very particular spirituality, special ideals, ethics, understanding of life and its purpose or Raison d’être. It expresses these values related to the civilization and culture that molded it and was molded by it. No other language can replace it without altering the quintessence of the message supposed to be transmitted to forthcoming generations.
*Dr Amine-Jules Iskandar is President of Tur Levnon-Syriac Maronite Union. The association Tur Levnon-Syriac Maronite Union is based in Beirut, and aims to preserve, teach and spread the Syriac language, culture and identity.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 04-05/2021
Pope Francis has surgery for 'colon diverticulitis'
CNN/July 04/2021
Pope Francis is undergoing surgery for "colon diverticulitis," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told CNN on Sunday.It comes just hours after the 84-year-old pontiff attended the traditional Sunday Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square. The Holy See press office said in a statement: "This afternoon his Holiness Pope Francis went to the Gemelli hospital -- Rome -- for a scheduled surgical intervention for a symptomatic stenotic diverticulitis. Surgery will be carried out by professor Sergio Alfieri. At the end of the surgery a medical bulletin will be issued."

Bennett: No more suitcases of cash for Hamas in Gaza
Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
Prior to the 11-day Gaza war, Qatar had provided $30 million in cash payments to Hamas controlled bodies in Gaza for distribution as $100 cash grants to needy families. Hamas must no longer receive cash-filled suitcases, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett told the cabinet Sunday, ahead of a special donor meeting on Palestinian humanitarian assistance, including the Gaza Strip, scheduled for Tuesday. “We are also working on a solution that will allow humanitarian assistance to the residents of Gaza, but without suitcases full of dollars,” he said. “Suitcases full of dollars are something we inherited, and they need to be done away with.”Prior to the 11-day Gaza war in May, Qatar provided $30 million in cash payments to Hamas-controlled bodies in the Gaza Strip for distribution as $100 cash grants to needy families. Yahye Sinwar, Hamas’s leader in Gaza, has called for the resumption of those payments and warned of a resumption of violence without them. Israel is loath to allow money back into Gaza out of concern that it will be diverted to Hamas for military purposes. Reports of a deal by which the United Nations would oversee the cash payments to insure that they were not used for Hamas terrorist attacks has not been verified.
Last Thursday, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland met with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani. They discussed the delivery of aid for the Palestinian people, according to the Qatari Foreign Ministry. Also at issue is the full reopening of Gaza’s main commercial crossing at Kerem Shalom, which is controlled by Israel. In the aftermath of the Gaza war, known as Guardian of the Walls, Israel has halted the entry of dual-use items necessary for civilian reconstruction pending the creation of a mechanism to prevent Hamas from seizing the material for its attack tunnels. Israel has also linked the full reopening of the crossings with Hamas returning the remains of the two soldiers presumed killed during Operation Protective Edge, the 2014 Gaza war, and two Israeli civilians held captive there.
Egyptian-brokered indirect talks between Israel and Hamas for a permanent ceasefire that would include issues of humanitarian aid and the hostages have not yet yielded results. The UN, which oversees the bulk of the humanitarian aid to Gaza, is also involved in the talks, particularly Wennesland.
The issue of Gaza aid is also expected to be raised at Tuesday’s virtual Ad Hoc Liaison Committee meeting, which oversees donor funding to the Palestinians. The AHLC typically meets twice a year, in the spring and on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. This year, the 15-member body, which includes representatives from Israel, the Palestinian Authority, the US and the UN, is holding a special virtual meeting on Gaza. The UN is expected to present a needs assessment report for Gaza at the meeting. At the UN in New York last Thursday, Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said, “I join the appeals to Israel to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid and reconstruction materials into Gaza.”“I also urge Hamas and other militant groups in Gaza to refrain from attacks and provocations that would again destabilize the situation,” she said. “We must avoid short-term fixes and focus on how we can work toward resolving the deadlock in Gaza and the Palestinian divide. Sustaining ceasefires and improving arrangements on the ground are important elements of UN preventive diplomacy, which aims to create space for political action,” DiCarlo said.

Israel strikes Hamas targets in response to incendiary balloons
Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
“The IDF will continue to respond firmly against terror attempts from the Gaza Strip."
Israeli aircraft struck a Hamas rocket launcher and weapons factory in the Gaza Strip overnight in response to incendiary balloons that were launched towards southern Israel from the enclave throughout the weekend. “The strikes were made in response to the arson balloons fired towards Israeli territory. The IDF will continue to respond firmly against terror attempts from the Gaza Strip,” the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said in a statement. During the strikes, machine guns were fired towards Israel but did not set off any alarms, the military said. There were no reports of any injuries in the strikes or from the machine-gun fire.
At the start of the cabinet meeting on Sunday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said, “I would like to clarify again: Things have changed. Israel wants quiet and we have no desire to harm the people of Gaza. However, violence – balloons, marches, harassment of any kind – will be met with a severe response.”
Israel is “also working on a solution that will allow humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza but without suitcases full of dollars," he said. Allowing for the transfer of "suitcases full of dollars [is] something we inherited" from the previous government "and they need to be done away with,” Bennett added.
Jerusalem has been blocking the transfer of Qatari money into the blockaded coastal enclave, but according to a report in the Palestinian al-Quds daily, the UN will now oversee the transfer of the funds. According to the report, following talks between UN special envoy Tor Wennesland, Israeli and Qatari officials, Jerusalem has agreed to the new mechanism which will see the money transferred to banks belonging to the Palestinian Monetary Authority, instead of to local Gazan banks where the money could fall into the hands of Hamas. Since the end of Operation Guardian of the Walls in May, dozens of incendiary and explosive balloons have been launched toward southern Israel. In return, the Israeli army has struck Hamas targets in Gaza. Overnight on Thursday, Israeli jets struck a Hamas weapons factory in response to balloons that sparked at least four fires on Thursday.
Hamas has repeatedly warned that it would restart hostilities over any incidents in Jerusalem, while Israel has vowed that incendiary balloons would be treated like rocket attacks towards Israeli communities. Tensions have been rising this week after Israel demolished a Palestinian shop in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan on Tuesday, triggering clashes between police and protesters who accused authorities of discriminatory enforcement of building permits in the holy city of Jerusalem. A bulldozer escorted by Israeli police flattened a butcher shop in the neighborhood which is overlooked by Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam and the most sensitive site in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Iran-Israel shadow war suspected in attack on UAE-headed ship
The Arab Weekly/July 04/2021
JERUSALEM/DUBAI – Israeli defence officials were checking whether Iranian forces were behind a possible attack on a cargo ship under partial Israeli ownership on Saturday on its way from Jeddah to the United Arab Emirates, Israel’s N12 Television News reported. The crew were not hurt and the ship, possibly hit by a missile, was not badly damaged and continued on its journey after the incident, N12 said, citing unnamed sources within Israel’s defence establishment. Lebanese pro-Iranian TV channel Al Mayadeen had reported the incident earlier. N12 said the vessel, the Tyndall, was owned by Zodiac Maritime Ltd, a London-headquartered international ship management company which later said it did not own or manage the CSAV Tyndall. Ship-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon showed the CSAV Tyndall container ship, which sails under a Liberian flag, was last docked in Jeddah and was now off the coast of Dubai. A UAE government spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Israeli officials had no immediate comment. Iranian media widely reported the attack, citing Al Mayadeen, which was among the first news outlets to report an attack on a commercial vessel owned by an Israeli company in April. Iran’s largest navy ship sank in early June after catching fire in the Gulf of Oman, in what appeared to be the latest incident in a region of sensitive waterways, where arch-enemies Iran and Israel have traded accusations of attacks on each other’s vessels.

Sisi opens naval base, sends measured message to Egypt’s rivals
The Arab Weekly/July 04/2021
CAIRO - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday opened a strategic naval base on the Mediterranean Sea highlighting its intent to project military in the region. “It is the latest Egyptian military base on the Mediterranean, and will be focused on securing the country’s northern and western front,” the Egyptian presidency said in a statement. Analysts noted that Sisi did not, as some expected, use the event to send direct warnings to Turkey, which keeps troops and mercenaries in Libya, or Ethiopia, which continues to challenge Egypt’s water rights by its building of a Nile dam.
The Egyptian seems to have chosen the option of de-escalation with his country’s rivals while sending an indirect message of military readiness for any contingencies through the ceremony itself, added the analysts. The ceremony was attended by Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, and by the president of Libya’s Presidency Council Mohamed al-Menfi. Conspicuously absent was Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, commander of the east-based Libyan National Army (LNA), despite reports he had been invited and was expected to attend. The base lies some 255 kilometres west of Alexandria, towards the border with Libya, a country where both Egypt sees security challenges from Islamic militants and foreign powers, especially Turkey. Cairo pays close attention to interests in next-door Libya. It has worked in recent months to boost ties with the new transitional executive emerged from a UN process that was launched in November in Tunis, then voted on in Geneva and confirmed by Libya’s parliament on March 10. In April, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli travelled to Libya, where he had talks with interim prime minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, in a new sign of warming ties between Cairo and Tripoli. Dbeibah visited Egypt in February on his first official trip abroad after his election. Sisi and his guests watched military manoeuvres involving several vessels, attack helicopters and fighter jets. At the inauguration, two Mistral helicopter carriers acquired from France were on display alongside a German-made submarine and two recently delivered FREMM-class Italian frigates. Naval forces performed exercises that included the firing of rockets, parachute jumps and an amphibious landing as Sisi and his guests looked on from the bridge of one of the Mistrals. State-run newspaper Akhbar Al-Youm reported that the new Egyptian base includes an airstrip and a 1,000-metre long pier. The base was named “July 3” after the day eight years ago when an army-backed popular uprising removed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi from power.
Egypt has three other naval bases in the Mediterranean and one in the Red Sea.

Cyprus Seeks Israel, EU Help to Fight Worst Wildfire in Its History
Naharnet/July 04/2021
Cyprus search crews discovered the bodies of four people outside a fire-swept mountain village on Sunday in what a government minister called the "most destructive" blaze in the east Mediterranean island nation's history. Nicos Nouris said that Civil Defense volunteers discovered the remains just outside the village of Odou on the southern edge of the Troodos mountain range. He said authorities are trying to confirm whether the bodies belong to four Egyptian men who had gone missing and search crews had been trying to locate. "We are experiencing the most destructive fire since the founding of the Cyprus republic in both material damage, but also unfortunately in terms of human lives," Nouris said. Nouris said Greek and Israeli aircraft will join 11 other planes and helicopters in firefighting efforts later Sunday. The blaze, which began on Saturday afternoon, forced the evacuation of at least eight mountain villages, destroyed several homes, and has so far scorched 50 square kilometers (20 square miles) of pine forest and orchards, according to Cyprus' Environment Ministry. Nouris said firefighting aircraft and ground crews are focusing their efforts on two massive fire fronts between the villages of Odou and Vavatsinia. He said authorities are "cautiously optimistic" that they'll make progress in beating back the flames, but strong wings expected later in the day could hamper efforts. He said 36 people who had been evacuated from their homes have been taken to hotels in the capital, Nicosia, while food and water is being supplied to Melini village residents. The blaze forced the Cypriot government to request firefighting aircraft from fellow European Union member countries and neighboring Israel. Fire department officials said the entire department has been mobilized to fight the fire with off-duty staff being called back into service. Around 70 fire engines, seven bulldozers and 10 water tankers have been mobilized. Cypriot government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said that one of two Greek Canadair CL-415 aircraft that were dispatched to the island had to turn back because of a technical malfunction. He said two Israeli planes have been sent, while authorities are awaiting confirmation about the arrival of two Italian aircraft. Police said that a court has ordered that a 67-year-old man remain in custody for eight days to assist in the investigation into the cause of the fire.

Taliban Seize Key Kandahar District after Fierce Fighting
Agence France Presse/July 04/2021
The Taliban have captured a key district in their former bastion of Kandahar after fierce night-time fighting with Afghan government forces, officials said Sunday, the latest area to be seized since US troops began their final withdrawal. The insurgents have pressed on with their campaign to capture territory across Afghanistan's rural areas since early May when the U.S. military began the pullout. The fall of Panjwai district in the southern province of Kandahar comes just two days after U.S. and NATO forces vacated their main Bagram Air Base near Kabul, from where they led operations for two decades against the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies. Over the years, the Taliban and Afghan forces have regularly clashed in and around Panjwai, with the insurgents aiming to seize it given its proximity to Kandahar city, the provincial capital. The province of Kandahar is the birthplace of the Taliban, who went on to rule Afghanistan with a harsh version of Islamic sharia law until being overthrown by a U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Panjwai district governor Hasti Mohammad said Afghan forces and the Taliban clashed during the night, resulting in government forces retreating from the area. "The Taliban have captured the district police headquarters and governor's office building," he told AFP. Kandahar provincial council head Sayed Jan Khakriwal confirmed the fall of Panjwai, but accused government forces of "intentionally withdrawing." Fighting has raged across several provinces of Afghanistan in recent weeks and the Taliban claim to have seized more than 100 out of nearly 400 districts in the country. Afghan officials dispute the claims but acknowledge that government troops have retreated from some districts. It is difficult to independently verify the situation. The exit of foreign troops from Bagram Air Base, north of Kabul, has fueled concerns the insurgents will ramp up their campaign to capture new territory. Bagram Air Base has great military and symbolic significance, with foreign forces previously stationed there offering vital air support in the fight against the insurgents. Afghan authorities who have taken control of the base say they will use it to fight terrorism, and have already re-activated its radar system.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 04-05/2021
Does Iran think Israel is vulnerable at sea? - analysis
Seth J. Frentman/Jerusalem Post/July 04/2021
What is known then is that these incidents appear to have unfolded near the Gulf states and not far from Iran.
Recent reports that a cargo ship allegedly previously linked to Israeli owners was damaged at sea after recently visiting the Gulf illustrate the complexities of defending ships at sea, especially in the murky world of commercial shipping.
The reports appeared at Al-Mayadeen, which is pro-Iran, and also Al-Ain media in the Gulf. Iranian media also reported the incident.
What is important here is not necessarily the exact details of what happened, which may remain unclear, but the fact that pro-Iran media – and therefore the Iranian regime and its proxies – think Israel is vulnerable at sea. They don’t think Israel’s navy is vulnerable, but rather, commercial shipping linked to Israel. This is because what happened on July 3 is at least the fourth such incident in as many months.
In late February, the roll-on-roll-off cargo ship Helios Ray was also targeted. It was, according to reports, a Bahamian-flagged vessel but linked to Israeli owners.
In late March, another ship, whose name was given as the Lori in foreign reports, also “sustained damage” according to Israel’s Channel 12. It was reportedly en route to India at the time. Then, in March, the Hyperion Ray was also targeted in an incident. According to Reuters, the ship was heading to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman from Kuwait.
What is known is that these incidents appear to have unfolded near the Gulf states and not far from Iran. The messaging, if these incidents are all linked, would appear to be that Iran and its proxies have been looking at commercial shipping as a place they can carry out attacks.
THIS ISN’T just directed at ships allegedly linked to Israeli ownership. Iran carried out mining attacks on ships in the Gulf of Oman in May and June 2019. This is because Iran and its IRGC believe that striking commercial vessels is an easy way to send a message that also has plausible deniability. Iran can do this clandestinely and not even sink the ships, but still cause an incident to take place. In fact, it appears not to be in Iran’s interest to sink ships. Recent reports that a cargo ship allegedly previously linked to Israeli owners was damaged at sea after recently visiting the Gulf illustrate the complexities of defending ships at sea, especially in the murky world of commercial shipping.
The reports appeared at Al-Mayadeen, which is pro-Iran, and also Al-Ain media in the Gulf. Iranian media also reported the incident.
What is important here is not necessarily the exact details of what happened, which may remain unclear, but the fact that pro-Iran media – and therefore the Iranian regime and its proxies – think Israel is vulnerable at sea. They don’t think Israel’s navy is vulnerable, but rather, commercial shipping linked to Israel. This is because what happened on July 3 is at least the fourth such incident in as many months.
In late February, the roll-on-roll-off cargo ship Helios Ray was also targeted. It was, according to reports, a Bahamian-flagged vessel but linked to Israeli owners.
In late March, another ship, whose name was given as the Lori in foreign reports, also “sustained damage” according to Israel’s Channel 12. It was reportedly en route to India at the time. Then, in March, the Hyperion Ray was also targeted in an incident. According to Reuters, the ship was heading to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman from Kuwait.
What is known is that these incidents appear to have unfolded near the Gulf states and not far from Iran. The messaging, if these incidents are all linked, would appear to be that Iran and its proxies have been looking at commercial shipping as a place they can carry out attacks.
THIS ISN’T just directed at ships allegedly linked to Israeli ownership. Iran carried out mining attacks on ships in the Gulf of Oman in May and June 2019. This is because Iran and its IRGC believe that striking commercial vessels is an easy way to send a message that also has plausible deniability. Iran can do this clandestinely and not even sink the ships, but still cause an incident to take place. In fact, it appears not to be in Iran’s interest to sink ships.

Communist China's Genocidal Crackdown on Uyghur Intellectuals
Uzay Bulut/Gatestone Institute/July 04/2021
Ahmetjan Juma's brother, Mamatjan, suggested that Ahmetjan is being punished simply because he, his brother, works at Radio Free Asia (RFA) as Deputy Director of the Uyghur Service.
The Chinese government has blocked international organizations and journalists from going to the region to conduct an independent investigation.
"My parents told me not to contact my brothers; that if I have anything to say to them or other relatives, just to tell my mother and she will pass the message along to them." — Mamatjan Juma, brother of Ahmetjan Juma, high school principal and a literary translator, sentenced to 14 years in prison after being held for two years of "training" in China's internment camps; interview with Gatestone.
"Intellectuals are the people who can lead the social discourse, guide and educate people about their history, culture and everything about Uyghurs. A nation without its intellectuals would be like a person without its brain." — Mamatjan Juma, interview with Gatestone.
The report, The Uyghur Genocide, states that China bears state responsibility for an ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, and is in breach of the UN Genocide Convention.
Why is the world -- and particularly the global Muslim community -- largely silent as innocent Uyghurs are destroyed by a brutal, totalitarian regime for the "crime" of having been born a Uyghur?
China's genocide against its Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, presses on. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other minorities have been detained in extrajudicial "re-education camps" where deaths, torture and political indoctrination take place. Pictured: The outer wall of an internment camp on the outskirts of Hotan, in China's Xinjiang region. (Photo by Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
China's genocide against its Uyghur ethnic minority in Xinjiang, also known as East Turkestan, presses on. Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and other minorities have been detained in extrajudicial "re-education camps" where deaths, torture and political indoctrination take place. This genocidal campaign seems now specifically to be targeting Uyghur intellectuals. Hundreds have been taken into internment camps, disappeared or died in custody. Among them are professors, journalists, medical researchers, doctors, actors, poets, publishers, writers and students. They are often subjected to harsher prison sentences, as well as death sentences. Many are missing.
One of the victims, Ahmetjan Juma, the principal of a high school and a literary translator, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after being held for two years of "training" in China's internment camps.
Ahmetjan Juma's brother, Mamatjan, suggested that Ahmetjan is being punished simply because he, his brother, works at Radio Free Asia (RFA) as Deputy Director of the Uyghur Service. On May 1, he tweeted:
"China should end this unjust practice of jailing innocent Uyghur intellectuals like my brother and release him unconditionally.
"My brother, Ahmetjan, has never been a religious person, let alone being a religious extremist. He spoke English, Chinese and Uyghur (Uyghur is his mother tongue) and was praised for being an exemplary teacher before.
"It's horrifying to think that his 4-year-old son, who spent most of his life without his father, will be an adult by the time his father is released (if he is ever going to be released alive). It's heartbreaking. Ahmetjan is innocent and China knows it."
In an interview with Gatestone Institute, Mamatjan Juma said:
"My brothers Ahmetjan and Abdukadir were both detained in May of 2017. Abdulkadir spent more than two years in a prison camp near the city of Urumqi and was transferred into a forced labor facility. He made earphones, and garments for a while. Then he was released some time around 2020.
"Abdukadir graduated from one of China's top Universities, the Communication University of China; he translated many books. His latest translation is Red Sorghum, by the Chinese Noble laureate Mo Yan. I am not sure if he is going to be left alone after his release -- anything could happen. I worry always about his safety and well-being.
"I have lost contact with my brothers since August, 2016. My parents told me not to contact my brothers; that if I have anything to say to them or other relatives, just to tell my mother and she will pass the message along to them."
He stated that the whole Uyghur community has been targeted by the Chinese government:
"China has been imposing many high-pressure oppressive policies on Uyghurs since its occupation of the Uyghur region in 1949. However, since August 2016, the systematic oppression of Uyghurs has intensified tremendously.
"Since then, the Uyghur language has been banned at schools. Cultural signs that represent Uyghur identity have been systematically erased, earlier textbooks were confiscated, many books were seized or burned as 'counter revolutionary' or 'illegal'. Uyghur intellectuals who were involved in compiling Uyghur literature textbooks were arrested and sentenced to various prison terms; some of them to death sentences. The policy has not changed since then, and the Chinese government has blocked international organizations and journalists from going to the region to conduct an independent investigation.
"According to observers, Uyghur women have been sterilized, thousands of Uyghur children sent to state-run orphanages, and families destroyed. Many Uyghurs are forced to slave labor. The US government and the parliaments of Canada, the Netherlands, U.K, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and Belgium have called the atrocities a Genocide."
Uyghur intellectuals are targeted for specific reasons, added Juma.
"Intellectuals are the people who can lead the social discourse, guide and educate people about their history, culture and everything about Uyghurs. A nation without its intellectuals would be like a person without its brain. China deems Uyghur intellectuals as the biggest hurdles in its quest to fully and forcibly assimilate Uyghurs."
The first independent expert application of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention to the ongoing treatment of the Uyghurs in China, undertaken by the Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy in cooperation with the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, was issued on March 8. The report, The Uyghur Genocide, states that China bears state responsibility for an ongoing genocide against the Uyghurs, and is in breach of the UN Genocide Convention.
Among the repeated destructive acts carried out by the Chinese regime with the intent to destroy the Uyghur people, according to the report, is "the selective targeting of intellectuals and community leaders".....
"The intent to destroy the Uyghurs as a group is further demonstrated by the Government's deliberate targeting for prolonged detention or death the guardians and transmitters of Uyghur identity, including household heads, intellectuals, and cultural leaders, regardless of Party affiliation or educational status. The deliberate targeting of Uyghur leaders and sacred sites indicates an intent to destroy the essential elements of Uyghur identity and communal bonds, which define the group as such."
According to Uygur Pen, at least 500 Uyghur intellectuals have arbitrarily been detained, arrested and imprisoned and sent to concentration camps since 2017.
The well-known Uyghur poet, Adil Tuniyaz, arrested alongside his wife in 2017, remains missing. Their eldest son, Imran, 19, was also arrested at a Beijing school and sent to a detention facility in Xinjiang. It is believed that their three younger children have been placed in state-run "orphanages" for Uyghur youths whose family members have been detained. Adil's father-in-law died in a "re-education" camp in Urumchi in 2018.
Another prominent Uyghur writer and poet, Abduqadir Jalalidin, a professor at Xinjiang Normal University, was detained by state security forces in Urumqi in 2018. His family has not been able to obtain information about his situation since learning of his detention.
According to Uyghur PEN:
"Jalalidin's writings have been popular among the Uyghur people, as have his literary translations into Uyghur, including George Orwell's iconic novel Animal Farm. He had advised a number of graduate students, training a new generation of community researchers."
Jalalidin's Japan-based daughter, Bulbulnaz, said that "her father was careful not to discuss politically sensitive issues."
"He's never been a religious man or a political man. He [was] always encouraging people to try new things. I remember people respecting him, and they loved to spend time and [have] conversations with him.'"
The Chinese Communist Party also appears to have brought back the totalitarian practice of book burning. The work by the prominent Uyghur writer Ahtam Omer is one of the victims. Omer was detained from his home in 2017 and has been missing ever since. His work was targeted in a book burning campaign following his detention four years ago, Radio Free Asia reported.
The continued mass imprisonment and persecution of Uyghur intellectuals reveals the Chinese government's motive to criminalize and eventually erase Uyghur art, literature and culture.
On May 10, PEN International issued a statement concerning the silencing and oppression of Uyghur intellectuals:
"'The suppression of human rights in Xinjiang is a colossal tragedy, encompassing the entire range of human rights. The arbitrariness, the secrecy, the unjustness, and the pitiless cruelty of the state has been consistent. The lack of access to information only compounds the tragedy. We wish we could have expressed our outrage earlier. Ahmetjan Juma and Ahtam Omer should not have been jailed at all; and yet they have spent months under incarceration. Such perverse sentencing must stop, as should all the repression the Uyghurs are facing', said Salil Tripathi, Chair of PEN International's Writers in Prison Committee.
"The targeting of Uyghur writers and other intellectuals forms part of the Chinese government's broader efforts to dislocate the Uyghur population from their cultural identity and heritage through overwhelming levels of censorship and repression.
"In an attempt to conceal the true extent of the atrocities being committed, the authorities have imposed a climate of almost complete secrecy surrounding those detained. As a result, many of the detainees have no means of communication with the outside world, making it impossible for family and friends to ascertain their wellbeing while also exposing them to greater risk of abuse. A recent example is Haji Mirzahid Kerimi, a renowned Uyghur poet who was among 14 staff members at the Kashgar Publishing House in Xinjiang who were detained for publishing books that were later deemed to be 'problematic'. Sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment at 80 years old, reports have recently emerged that he died on 9 January 2021 while serving his sentence after sustaining injuries from an incident where he reportedly "jumped and fell". Another example is the presumed detention of the world renowned scholar Rahile Dawut, a leading expert on Uyghur folklore at Xinjiang University, who disappeared without a trace while travelling from Xinjiang to Beijing in December 2017."
Despite all attempts at censorship by the ruling Chinese Communist Party, the severe persecution and genocide against Uyghur people, all well-documented, keep unfolding before the eyes of the entire world. Why is the world -- and particularly the global Muslim community -- largely silent as innocent Uyghurs are destroyed by a brutal, totalitarian regime for the "crime" of having been born a Uyghur?
*Uzay Bulut, a Turkish journalist, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.
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PM Mustafa al-Kadhimi, Your Major Determination Gives Great Hope to Arab People
Fouad Siniora/Former Lebanese prime minister./Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021
Your Excellency,
Your enlightening opinion to Asharq Al-Awsat last Sunday underscores the importance of cooperation among countries in the region to confront a number of challenges: The development of the capabilities of the Iraqi state and Arab countries to carry out reforms, combat corruption, meet the aspirations of the youth for the present and future and continue to fight terrorism and the culture of hatred and hostility. The countries must come together to confront the massive coronavirus pandemic and its impact on the future of the economy and mankind. Arab countries must stand side by side in building the present and prepare for the future seeing as our Arab peoples are united over their common identity and culture, one history and fundamental and constant interests.
In your article, you declared: “It is time for us to assert aloud that we, as Arab peoples, deserve to remember our common factors and our origin, and to support each other in rising to face tomorrow’s challenges.”
You also made an important statement: “It has now become necessary for us to interact with our neighbors from other nations, to engage in honest dialogue about our fears and concerns and to listen openly to theirs as well.”
You concluded your article by saying: “Stability, peace, cooperation, growth and common security in our region are strategic goals that will frame the next stage not as isolated perceptions or readings, but as an expression of a fateful necessity, the key word for which is ‘reestablishing trust.’”
Your Excellency,
Your article reflects a broad vision and a sense of awareness and responsibility of a man of state. When I read your article, you were hosting the president of Egypt and King of Jordan in Baghdad. Prior to that, you had taken initiatives towards Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. When reading the joint and individual statements from each of these parties, as well as others in the Arab world, we realize that the problems are one and the same. We find major interests that can be developed for the sake of all Arab people. We find growing political and strategic wills to confront these concerns and tackle these strategic and constant interests, which as you have acknowledged, no one can shoulder alone.
Your Excellency, The above is highlighted in an article published weeks ago by Asharq Al-Awsat entitled “The Role of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the Arab League.” The article made an urgent and realistic call to renew means of joint Arab work. It also underlined the need to establish healthy relations with countries that neighbor the Arab world.
Your Excellency, many are the concerns and wounds that have threatened and continue to threaten our countries and their stability. The wounds of dear Iraq in particular pain us as much as they pain its people and state and the rest of the Arab world.
I see in your great determination, goodwill and diligence a major hope for the dear people of Iraq and its state and the rest of the people of the Arab world. I would like to take the opportunity to thank you for your generous aid to Lebanon, which is suffering due to mounting crises. The gesture is appreciated by every Lebanese person and every diligent Iraqi, who at one point in the past used to be Lebanon’s greatest trade partner. Iraq has always been a supporter of Lebanon, its people and state, as it strives to once again become sovereign, free, Arab and independent and capable of regaining and bolstering the desired rise aspired to by the Lebanese and its brothers and friends around the world.
Your Excellency, I highly value your vision and the major strides that you have made in Iraq. I value your strenuous efforts to achieve joint Arab interests and bolster joint Arab cooperation. I am certain that your hopes will be met in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world. I believe that your drive will motivate officials in each Arab country to follow your lead towards a bright future.

Israel’s Spies in Iran
Rajeh Khoury./Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021
The statements issued by former Israeli intelligence chief Yossi Cohen a few days ago were astounding and bewildering, as he revealed, in details, how Israel stole the Iranian nuclear archives on January 31, 2018, how it carried out explosive and sabotage attacks against the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility, and how it threatens Iranian nuclear scientists with assassination, hinting that, most recently, it was close to assassinating Mohsen Fakhrizadeh near Tehran in January of last year.
More astounding and bizarre was a statement issued from Iran itself, not from Israel. Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not stop at discussing the theft of the nuclear archives and the explosions and assassinations; rather, he revealed that “the most senior anti-espionage official" was an Israeli spy. Even more astounding than that were the official Iran comments on these dangerous matters. They were timid and not even free of contradictions, with Shahrokh Nazemi, the spokesman for Iran’s mission to the United Nations, saying last Saturday that “Cohen’s comments reflected a long-running pattern of criminal sabotage against Tehran that includes the Stuxnet computer virus attack on Natanz over a decade ago.” He added that “threatening our nuclear scientists with death is madness that must not be tolerated.”
While Shahrokh Nazemi’s statements are a clear admission of what Israel had done, it was strange to see that Iranian nuclear negotiator Abbas Araghchi’s statements were contradictory. He said: “It is an extremely childish and ridiculous play.” Meanwhile, Mohammad Marandi, an Iranian negotiator, said that “Israel has fabricated evidence;” however, the New York Times had quoted an Israeli official as saying that Mossad agents had stormed an Iranian warehouse in which nuclear program archives were bring stored, took the original documents, and smuggled them to Israel that same night!
In the same context, Supreme Leader Khamenei advisor Momeen Rezai accused Israel of stealing the nuclear archive. Also, the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, which reports directly to the Supreme Leader, Momeen Rezai added: “The country has been widely exposed to security violations and before that, the entire nuclear archive had been stolen, and some drones also came and carried out operations!”
What is perhaps more controversial are Ahmadinejad’s statements suggesting a high-level criminal cabal operating in Iran, that this cabal must explain its involvement in the assassination of nuclear scientists and the explosions in Natanz, and that they stole important documents in Turouzabad and the Space Agency.
“Was it merely a single paper to be pocketed before running away? Was it a truckload of documents? If so, how did they make it out of the country despite all the checkpoints? How did so many trucks loaded with documents leave the country?”
Ahmadinejad says that the news was concealed from all, except when the nuclear documents reached Israel and that the documents of the Space Agency were in the head of the organization’s cabinet. How, then, did they enter through the ceiling, open the safe, and take the documents?
Cohen had announced that Israeli agents were within proximity of nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhri when he was assassinated. He added that in some cases, Israel is trying to dissuade Iranian scientists from participating in their country’s nuclear program by sending them messages to the effect that, “If this scientist is willing to change his profession and not harm Israel, he will not be targeted. Some understood this message, and others did not. It is an offer that cannot be refused.”
He revealed that twenty agents participated in the looting of the archive but did not reveal whether they were all Israelis.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad did not stop there but continued to threaten to reveal secrets he seemed to have acquired during his tenure at the Ministry of Security and Intelligence after the dismissal of Haider Moslehi on April 17, 2011.
In this context, Ahmadinejad continued to make these revelatory statements online, divulging that, during his term, Hassan Khojasteh Bagherzadeh, the director of the Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran radio station, said that the brother-in-law of the leader Ali Khamenei planned to travel with his family to Israel via India, where his two-week stay was paid for by an Israeli company. However, Ahmadinejad claims he dismissed Bagherzadeh from the post he had held from 1998 to 2014 and prevented him from making the trip!
Perhaps more staggeringly, in an official admission made on Tuesday, when former Iranian Minister of Intelligence Ali Younesi admitted that the Israeli Mossad had infiltrated various strategic sectors in the country, stressing that the lives of officials were at stake as a result.
In an interview With the Iranian website Jamaran, Younesi warned that the country’s officials ought to watch for their lives, considering that the Mossad has penetrated various sectors. He said that the security services are chasing loyalists instead of identifying infiltrators, stressing that the new agencies created have weakened the work and performance of the Ministry of Intelligence.
It is known that Younesi was Minister of Intelligence in Mohammad Khatami’s government between 1997 and 2005 and that the website Jamaran is tied to Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the regime’s first supreme leader, who is affiliated with the reformists.A few days ago, the New York Times reported that an attack targeted a facility near the city of Karaj, on the outskirts of Tehran, and that the target site was used to produce the centrifuges used in the Fordow and Natanz facilities. However, what is interesting is that the newspaper said the attack was carried out by a small, four-wheel-drive drone that took off from inside the country, at a time when Naftali Bennett, the Prime Minister of Israel, alluded to Israel’s role in the attack.

Ebrahim Raisi: Interior and Foreign Affairs
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al Awsar/July 04/2021
The election of a new Iranian hardliner president is another message to the Biden Administration that Iran does not intend to improve, even if the comprehensive nuclear deal is revived, the Wall Street Journal reported. As residents in the region, we are aware that this has been the case since the revolution, and the belief that the Iranian regime would change is just another misguided belief about a regime that has not witnessed a shred of change for the last 40 years. The new president, Ebrahim Raisi, is no fledgling to the Iranian political scene given his leadership positions he held since the eighties. Tehran’s extremist religious views of itself and the world have not changed, neither did its military projects. It does not take a profound understanding of Iran’s political culture to recognize that no president could ever run, get elected, and be inaugurated unless approved by the Supreme Leader in theatrical elections with predetermined results. The important part of the elections is that they publicly display the conflict between religious leaders, and particularly, those affiliated with Khamenei, the Supreme Leader with the sole political authority and the last say in all matters; any Iranian president must refer to him before making any decision.
The strife among them is no secret to anyone. Most presidents had to pay the price after their terms had come to an end as a result of their disagreements with the ruling powers. President Mohammad Khatami’s brother and a hundred of his companions were arrested when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the 2009 presidential race. Then, after Hassan Rouhani became president, Rahim Mashaei, Ahmadinejad’s relative and most powerful minister, was arrested. In response to Ahmadinejad’s criticism, Mashaei was removed from prison and placed at a psychiatric hospital. After Hashemi Rafsanjani sought to run for president in 2013, conspiracies were formulated to exclude him from the race while his son, Mahdi, was arrested and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
As Rouhani was preparing to leave the presidential office, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) threatened his Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, accusing him of offending the memory of Qassem Soleimani. The conflicts do not pose a real, existential threat to the regime just yet, however, they are probably expediting the ruling in favor of one of the powers, most likely the IRGC.
As for the president’s position and powers, they have become weaker and more marginalized than ever before, especially with the emergence and control of Mojtaba, the son of the Supreme Leader, and the growing influence of the IRGC, which is about to bring to an end the governance of the Islamic Seminary of Qom, whose features and powers were formed in the early years with the arrival of Khomeini, the founder of the Iranian regime.
Perhaps this wheel of change was slowed down, but not stopped, when the US assassinated Soleimani; the IRGC now controls the country’s economy and its highest security positions, imposing its opinion on foreign affairs and managing wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
We do not expect significant changes in the Iranian foreign policy after Ebrahim Raisi’s election since it falls within the jurisdiction of the Supreme Leader. As for the comprehensive nuclear deal negotiated by Rouhani’s team in Vienna, it will be revived.
But a hardliner president, like Raisi, will increase popular resentment against the regime, which we have been seeing its escalation amongst the people since the emergence of the Iranian Green Movement in 2009. The popular uprisings were first limited to the main cities, then later ones appeared in rural areas, where the regime believed it had a popular support. Tehran’s triumvirate of President Raisi, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Mojtaba Khamenei, will maintain the policy of continuing external expansion in Afghanistan and the Arab countries while suppressing the rebellious interior.
**Abdulrahman Al-Rashed is the former general manager of Al-Arabiya television. He is also the former editor-in-chief of Asharq Al-Awsat, and the leading Arabic weekly magazine Al-Majalla. He is also a senior columnist in the daily newspapers Al-Madina and Al-Bilad.