English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 06/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

#elias_bejjani_news
 

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Bible Quotations For today
I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16/13-20/:’When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 05- 06/2021

Ministry of Health: 1012 new infections, 22 deaths
Ahead of Beirut visit, French minister threatens Lebanese politicians
President follows up on measures in combating smuggling on Lebanese borders and investigations on smuggled pomegranate boxes to Saudi Arabia
Maronite Bishops call for formation of government capable of halting collapse
Sixth Round of Lebanon-Israel Border Talks Postponed over U.S. 'Preconditions'
Judge Aoun Raids Another Money Transfer Company
59 Containers of Highly Dangerous Substances Removed from Beirut Port
Hajjar Says Cabinet Formation Facing 'Dead End'
Abiad Says Patients' Inability to Afford Treatment is Growing
ABL Denounces Ruling to Freeze Assets of Banks and their Chairmen
Strong Lebanon Bloc Says Govt. Formation Delay a 'National Crime'
Italy supports WFP school meals programme in Lebanon
Nasrallah says enemy knows its entity's presence will be short-lived
Ali visits Foreign Minister: Syria welcomes all serious initiatives out of keenness on brothers and inter-Arab ties
Fahmi chairs security meeting to discuss anti-drug measures
Ministry of Information calls on media professionals wishing to get vaccinated to contact it
Insure & Match Capital Celebrates Achievements of USAID MENA Investment Initiative
Campaign Breathes New Life into Heart Failure Care: “Shedding light on your heart health to brighten up your life”
Former Saudi Ambassador To Lebanon Dr. Ali Asseri: Iran Plans To Destroy Saudi, Gulf Youth With Drugs; It Exploits The Weakness Of Lebanon, Syria To Manufacture, Smuggle Drugs With Hizbullah Protection
Politics, sectarian allotment paralyse Lebanon’s judicial system
The LIC Details Efforts Encouraging a Fact-Finding Mission Nine Months After Explosion in the Port of Beirut
Liban, Le démantèlement d’un État mafieux et ses enjeux/Charles Elias Chartouni/May 05/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 05- 06/2021

One Dead in Israeli Air Strikes Targeting Assad Home Region
1 killed, 6 injured in alleged Israeli airstrike targeting Syrian coast
Kushner to launch an organisation for Arab-Israel normalisation
Dutch intel proves Iran sought weapons of mass destruction tech in 2020/Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/May 05/2021
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief meets with Syrian counterpart in Damascus
Iran Diplomat's 20-year Sentence for France Bomb Plot Confirmed
UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed meets Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, stresses deep ties
After Netanyahu's failure, Lapid tapped to form Israeli government
Israeli Coalition Talks Resume after PM Misses Deadline
Biden to Abu Dhabi crown prince: Normalization with Israel is important
Germany bans ‘Salafist’ group Ansaar over terrorism links, raids offices
In bid to break isolation, Turkey reaches out to Saudi Arabia
Egypt and Turkey Draw Closer as Regional Interests Align
Canada approves use of Pfizer vaccine for kids aged 12 and above
Blinken heads to Ukraine in show of support after Russia troop standoff

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 05- 06/2021

Islamic State Cites ‘Grievances,’ Claims Victim Status against Slaughtered Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/May 05/2021
Arabs Warn West: Do Not Let Iran Fool You/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 05/2021
Egypt is flexing its military muscle at Ethiopia/Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/May 05/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 05- 06/2021

Ministry of Health: 1012 new infections, 22 deaths
NNA/May 05/2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced 1012 new coronavirus infection cases, which raises the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 530217.
22 deaths have been registered over the past 24 hours.

Ahead of Beirut visit, French minister threatens Lebanese politicians
Reuters/05 May ,2021
France's foreign minister said on Wednesday he would carry a strongly worded message to Lebanese politicians when he visits Beirut on Thursday and warned of punitive measures against those who are hindering the political progress. The trip comes after Paris said it had started putting in place measures to restrict entry to France for some Lebanese officials on the grounds that they were blocking efforts to find a solution to Lebanon's political and economic crisis. "Firmness for those who block the formation of a government: We have taken national measures, and it is only the beginning," Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Twitter without providing details. However, until now there has been no official announcement on what measures have actually been taken, if any, and against whom. French officials have declined to comment or respond to requests for details. France has spearheaded international efforts to rescue Lebanon from its deepest crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war, but after eight months has failed so far to persuade squabbling politicians to adopt a reform road map or form a new government to unlock international aid. Le Drian has said the national measures would cover access to French territory. It is not clear how much impact such measures would have as several key Lebanese actors have dual nationality and could not be restricted, while others who could be accused of hindering the political process travel rarely to France. Diplomats have said the national punitive measures could also have a negative impact by hardening positions in Beirut. However, they say that France's opaque announcements could be aimed at focusing minds at European Union level, where Paris is hoping a new sanctions regime for Lebanon will be created that could ultimately see more impactful asset freezes and travel bans. That, however, is likely to take time, diplomats have said. Le Drian is set to meet President Michel Aoun and Shi'ite Hezbollah ally and Speaker of the Parliament Nabih Berri, although officials have declined to confirm a meeting with Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri. He has also asked to meet Gebran Bassil, the leader of Lebanon's biggest Christian political bloc and Aoun's son-in-law, who is under U.S. sanctions for alleged corruption and his ties to Hezbollah.

President follows up on measures in combating smuggling on Lebanese borders and investigations on smuggled pomegranate boxes to Saudi Arabia
NNA/May 05/2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun followed-up on the course of measures taken at last week’s meeting, which was held at Baabda Palace to strictly combat smuggling from Lebanese land, sea and air crossings, especially after the recurrence of recent incidents. The President also continued his follow-up on the investigation regarding the smuggling through pomegranate boxes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, especially the arrests made in this regard.
MP Pano:
The President received MP, Antoine Pano, today at the Presidential Palace. General affairs, especially in the 1st Beirut area and neighborhoods affected by the Port explosion, were addressed in the meeting, where MP Pano thanked President Aoun for the financial allocations to compensate affected individuals, which amounted to around 200 billion Lebanese Pounds. “His Excellency assured me that he is working to provide additional funds to complete the compensation process, in addition to his thorough daily follow-up on the work of the Lebanese Army and official institutions in lifting damage and caring for the affected” MP Pano stated. “I assured His Excellency that citizens of the 1st Beirut district, in particular, and the Lebanese in general, support the steps taken to eradicate corruption, even gradually. They also support forensic audit, amid astonishing reasons which prevented this process from taking place, despite all decisions taken since March 2020. I was also informed by the President that this issue is the basis of any desired reform, and there is no backing down, no matter how intense pressures are, especially pressures exerted by those affected by the audit, who didn’t spare any effort to disrupt it” MP Pano continued. Moreover, MP Pano pointed out that the President’s stance, concerning negotiations in demarcating southern maritime borders, “Confirms once again Lebanon’s adherence to negotiations to restore rights, provided that this is achieved without preconditions and in accordance with international laws, to reach positive results. This will enhance Lebanese sovereignty and serve Lebanese interests, while guaranteeing Lebanese rights”.
PCH Director General:
President Aoun met the Director General of the Public Corporation for Housing, Engineer Roni Lahoud.
Eng. Lahoud briefed the President on the work of the foundation, amid difficult economic conditions which Lebanon passes through. ---Presidency Press Office
 

Maronite Bishops call for formation of government capable of halting collapse
NNA/May 05/2021
The Maronite Bishops held Wednesday their monthly periodic meeting in Bkerki, under the chairmanship of Patriarch Beshara Rahi. In a final statement issued following their meeting, the Bishops called for the formation of a government capable of halting the current collapse, especially amid the imminent dangers stalking Lebanon. onferees urged the friendly states to launch a humanitarian initiative to help the Lebanese. They also highlighted the necessity to keep the central bank's obligatory reserves unscathed.
 

Sixth Round of Lebanon-Israel Border Talks Postponed over U.S. 'Preconditions'
Agence France Presse/May 05/2021
The sixth round of indirect negotiations scheduled Wednesday between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime borders have been postponed to an “unspecified” date, media reports said. Under the U.S. mediation and UN sponsorship, Lebanon and Israel resumed the talks on Tuesday in the town of Naqoura in southern Lebanon after a six-month pause. Disagreements among the Lebanese leadership over the small country's claims prevailed. Today’s session was postponed after President Michel Aoun rejected preconditions set by the US-mediator. Tuesday’s talks ended after five hours with no official statement. Hours later, Lebanon's President Michel Aoun said his country's delegation should negotiate with no preconditions, calling on his delegates to uphold the previously agreed upon claim of 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon's delegation, made up of a mix of army officers and experts, had expanded the small country's claim in talks late last year, drawing up maps that push for an additional 1,430 square kilometers (550 square miles) for Lebanon. The talks then broke down, only to resume Tuesday. Aoun's statement said U.S. mediator Ambassador John Desrocher had asked the Lebanese delegation to stick to the previously accepted demarcation. Desrocher arrived in Lebanon on Monday. "President Aoun gave his instructions to the delegation not to go on negotiating with pre-conditions, but to adopt international law which would be the basis for guaranteeing continued negotiations to reach a fair and just resolution," Aoun said after meeting with the Lebanese delegation, according to a statement from his office. Both Lebanon and Israel, technically at war, claim about 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea as being within their own exclusive economic zones.
Lebanon, experiencing an unprecedented economic crisis, is eager to resolve the border dispute with Israel, paving the way for potential lucrative oil and gas deals.

Judge Aoun Raids Another Money Transfer Company
Naharnet/May 05/2021
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Wednesday raided the offices of the Prosec money transfer firm in Baabda, in a new development that follows her controversial raids on the Mecattaf cash shipping company in Awkar. State-run National News Agency said Aoun raided the firm after it refused to hand over requested data. TV networks said the judge arrived at the company’s premises after an expert dispatched by her was denied access to the data. Al-Jadeed TV meanwhile reported that Aoun was making phone calls to resolve the issue without calling in a metal worker to break the door open.

59 Containers of Highly Dangerous Substances Removed from Beirut Port
Agence France Presse/May 05/2021
Fifty-nine containers of highly dangerous substances were cleared Wednesday from the disaster-hit Beirut port, nine months after the explosion of hundreds of tons of poorly stored ammonium nitrate at the facility caused a deadly and unprecedented peacetime catastrophe in Lebanon. “Following a strenuous follow-up by caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab for more than eight months, fifty-nine containers of highly dangerous substances found at Beirut port and other places after the Aug. 4 blast disaster were exported today,” the Premiership said in a statement. “German firm Combi Lift worked on sealing these containers in a safe manner over the past months, in line with the contract signed with the company to remove this danger from Lebanon,” the statement added. The last of the 59 containers was lifted onto the ship on Friday. Heiko Felderhoff, CEO of Combi Lift, said they would be disposed of in Germany. Elias Assouad, the head of the Lebanese-German Business Council, said the project had cleared the port of "all toxic, cancerous, flammable and highly reactive chemicals that have been stored here for decades." The German firm had been expected "to deal with only 49 containers of hazardous material," he said. But they ended up "handling more than 75, of which 59 will be shipped."He said 15 others would be "disposed of within safe and environmentally sound procedures in situ," without providing more details. A chemical expert managing the operation told AFP after finishing the job in February that Beirut only avoided a second chemical inferno by chance. Michael Wentler said he had "never seen a situation like this before" in his life, describing festering chemical mixtures so corrosive they burned gaping holes right through massive shipping containers. Hydrochloric acid, a corrosive and toxic substance, made up 60 percent of the chemicals Combi Lift came across, he said.

Hajjar Says Cabinet Formation Facing 'Dead End'
Naharnet/May 05/2021
Al-Mustaqbal MP Mohammed el-Hajjar on Wednesday pinned significance on the expected visit of French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Beirut amid the government’s impasse, noting that PM-designate Saad Hariri will eventually “take a decision” on the complex formation of a cabinet, the National News Agency reported. “Things are heading to a dead end, and PM-designate Saad Hariri will have to make a decision at the end of the day. His decision won’t be strange from his adherence to what serves the country’s interest,” said Hajjar in remarks to VDL radio station. Hariri, head of al-Mustaqbal Movement, is adamant to form a government of experts capable of steering the country out of ist crisis, while “others insist on pushing the country to the abyss behaving on the basis of “its either chaos or (MP Jebran) Bassil as President,”” said Hajjar.

Abiad Says Patients' Inability to Afford Treatment is Growing
Naharnet/May 05/2021
Director at the Rafik Hariri International Hospital, Firass Abiad, said on Wednesday that Lebanon’s worsening economic and financial crisis has exacerbated the inability of patients to seek medical treatment.“Yesterday, two places at RHUH were congested. The first, at the two vaccination centers, was a welcome indication of an increased availability of vaccines. The second, at the nonCovid emergency department, reflects a rising inability of patients to afford private healthcare,” said Abiad in a tweet. “In the past, patients could receive treatment at private hospitals as long as they paid additional out-of-pocket sums. Recently, these additional demands have been rising sharply, driving the increasingly impoverished patients into public hospitals,” he added. Abiad said this will lead to “Two crises will result. Public hospitals are not allocated a budget by the health ministry, but bill for services, and receive payment, usually after a one year delay. However, salaries and suppliers have to be paid monthly. Increased activity can precipitate a liquidity crisis. “The other crisis is at private hospitals, who face a shrinking pool of patients who can afford them. Meanwhile, their expenses are also increasing, and their staff are leaving for better opportunities elsewhere. Medical tourism can help, but requires better circumstances.”Lebanon is facing “several crises,” he concluded, “resilience has become a heavy burden. As more people leave, the weight on those who stay just gets heavier.”

ABL Denounces Ruling to Freeze Assets of Banks and their Chairmen
Naharnet/May 05/2021
The Association of Banks in Lebanon denounced on Wednesday a judicial decision to freeze the real estate assets of all Lebanese banks and the real estate assets, shares and stocks of their chairmen. ABL said that some of the recent judicial decisions “bore defects in their contents and may cause negative repercussions on the Lebanese economy,” in reference to Bekaa’s acting First Examining Magistrate Amani Salameh’s decision. Last week, Salameh issued a decision freezing the real estate assets of all Lebanese banks and the real estate assets, shares and stocks of their chairmen. Her ruling follows a complaint filed by The People Want to Reform The Regime civil society group. ABL affirmed in a statement after its board of directors meeting its “respect for the judiciary and its absolute commitment to the law and its provisions,” but considered some of the recent rulings as inaccurate. These decisions “inflict grave damages and risks to what this sector represents socially and economically, with the negative repercussions on the entire Lebanese economy,” said the ABL statement. The complaint, on behalf of Lebanese depositors, accuses all Lebanese banks of “breach of trust, negligent and fraudulent bankruptcy, scam through the smuggling of funds, undermining the state’s financial reputation, money laundering, illicit enrichment and the violation of the constitution.”

Strong Lebanon Bloc Says Govt. Formation Delay a 'National Crime'
Naharnet/May 05/2021
The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc on Tuesday called on Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri to “immediately move to submit a complete cabinet line-up.”In a statement issued after its weekly e-meeting, the bloc said such a line-up should “clearly include the distribution of portfolios to sects” and should specify “the authorities that should name the nonpartisan and specialist ministers.”“It is a national crime that seven months have passed without accomplishing this ordinary issue,” the bloc added. “The assistance of foreign nations for Lebanon is an important thing, especially as to financial aid programs and reforms, but the birth of the government should be the product of real and honest dialogue among the Lebanese in this critical period,” Strong Lebanon went on to say. It also said that the government’s formation requires an “understanding” between President Michel Aoun and PM-designate Hariri and “the approval of the majority of parliamentary blocs.”“It is unjust to await the foreign forces and their developments and changes to mature the government’s line-up, whereas the pressing situations in Lebanon should have matured it from the very first day of the PM-designate’s appointment,” the bloc added.
 

Italy supports WFP school meals programme in Lebanon
NNA/May 05/2021 
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) received a generous €1 million contribution from the Italian Cooperation in support of its school meals program. As schools remain closed in Lebanon, WFP is providing monthly assistance in the form of food parcels for nearly 133,000 vulnerable people. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, schools in Lebanon have been closed since 29 February 2020. Upon consultation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), WFP adjusted its school meals programme to providing monthly family food parcels. This replaces traditional daily in-school snacks and ensures that children and their families continue to get access to food, which frees up families’ limited income so they can afford necessities.  “We are very grateful for the people and Government of Italy for this generous contribution which supported us in doubling the number of people we reached since last December,” says Abdallah Al-Wardat, WFP Representative and Country Director in Lebanon. “It comes at a time when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, as well as the major economic crisis in Lebanon, have led to soaring food prices, placing vulnerable families at further risk of food insecurity.”The Ambassador of Italy, Nicoletta Bombardiere declared: “Italy is committed to continue supporting the Lebanese population, and considers the provision of basic rights, among which education and food security, as top priorities of its efforts in the country. Through the partnership with WFP, Italy promotes a vision that places the vulnerable at the centre of its aid policy”. “Access to education and food are two fundamental rights of children and youth,” said Donatella Procesi, director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Beirut - “today, in Lebanon, they are the vital means for new generations to build their future and the one of their Country. Being this the objective, the Italian Cooperation supports WFP.” WFP’s school meals programme, launched in Lebanon in 2016, is a critical safety net preserving people’s food security. Through the provision of basic assistance and the promotion of social protection mechanisms, it aims to prevent economically vulnerable households from slipping deeper into poverty. Italy has supported WFP Lebanon with a total of approximately EUR 13 million since 2014 of which nearly half have gone to school meals.

Nasrallah says enemy knows its entity's presence will be short-lived
NNA/May 05/2021  
Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said this Wednesday that "recent events confirm the adherence of the Palestinian people to their rights and to the expression of their steadfastness.""The fall of former US President Donald Trump's system and its pillars, and the collapse of the Deal of the Century, are among the most important factors in the region. Recent developments will increase the chances of communication within the resistance axis. Such a communication is important and promising; it gives us hope that Al-Quds is within reach," he said, pointing out that "the profound crises inside the Zionist entity are positive indicators that double the responsibility towards the Al-Quds cause." "The enemy's entity knows that its life is short, and that it has no future. We believe in this near future," Nasrallah said.
 

Ali visits Foreign Minister: Syria welcomes all serious initiatives out of keenness on brothers and inter-Arab ties
NNA/May 05/2021   
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Charbel Wehbe, welcomed this Wednesday the Syrian ambassador to Lebanon, Ali Abdel Karim Ali, and expressed his keenness on bolstering the brotherly relationship between the two countries. The pair discussed a date for Minister Wehbe's visit to Syria, in response to the invitation of Syrian Foreign Minister, Faisal Al-Miqdad, to discuss all issues of concern to the two brotherly countries. In a word in the wake of the meeting, Ali said he discussed with his host "the importance of integration with Syria, at the economic and security levels" and expressed his keenness "to encourage Syrians who wish to return to Syria, those being the majority of course." "Syria has provided all the facilitations that guarantee a safe and dignified return for its sons residing in Lebanon and across all countries of refuge. Syria believes that the Syrians are the most capable of rebuilding their homeland, which has been subjected to a complex aggression in which terrorists of more than a hundred nationalities from the world have been employed. Major powers in the world have tried to invest in this terrorism but they reached a dead end.""Syria welcomes all initiatives that intend to further safety in other countries, and, no doubt it has an interest in correcting the positions of any brothers or countries that were in the wrong and are now reconsidering their positions. Syria welcomes that, for it reflects its strength, the triumph of its vision, and the correctness of its position," he said. The ambassador concluded his address by saying: "Cooperation with Egypt has not been interrupted, and we hope it will be resumed with all countries willing to rectify the situation. Syria welcomes any responsible initiative towards it, as it is keen on its brothers. Saudi Arabia is a sister and dear country, and any step in the interest of inter-Arab or Arab-Syrian relations is welcomes."
 

Fahmi chairs security meeting to discuss anti-drug measures
NNA/May 05/2021   
Caretaker Interior and Municipalities Minister, Mohammad Fahmi, on Wednesday chaired a security meeting in his office, devoted to discussing measures to combat drug smuggling, especially to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The meeting was attended by Head of ISF Information Branch Chief, Brig. Gen. Khaled Hammoud, Commander of the Judicial Police Brigadier General Maher Al-Halabi, Head of the Central Drug Control Office, Colonel Izzat Al-Khatib, and Head of the Service and Operations Division at the Internal Security Forces, Colonel Jean Awwad. On emerging, Minister Fahmi said that this meeting was held to discuss the issue of smuggling, in general, and combating drug smuggling to the Kingdom and all countries, in particular. “This issue also poses a threat to the security of the Lebanese society, and we must work to combat it. The Lebanese state is against destabilizing its relations with brotherly and friendly countries, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, for Lebanon cannot forget the Kingdom’s countless aid it has provided for many years."Fahmi also pointed out that efforts are constantly made by the Information Division and the Central Drug Control Office at the ISF Judicial Police Unit, with distinctive and transparent coordination with all countries, especially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fahmi also pledged to pursue all necessary efforts to combat the smuggling operation.
 

Ministry of Information calls on media professionals wishing to get vaccinated to contact it
NNA/May 05/2021   
The Ministry of Information said on Wednesday that there are currently 7,600 registered media professionals on COVAX platform compared to 6,100 last April, 2021, adding that 6,800 of them have already received received SMS inviting them to get vaccinated. The Ministry’s statement added that 300 media professionals were not yet allowed to receive the vaccine due to their previous infection with Covid-19. The statement then asked of media professionals who have not yet registered on the platform, and those who have not yet received an SMS, to provide the ministry with the necessary information through the following email: info@ministryinfo.gov.lb

Insure & Match Capital Celebrates Achievements of USAID MENA Investment Initiative
NNA/May 05/2021   
Insure & Match Capital (IM Capital) celebrated the achievements under the Middle East and North Africa Investment Initiative (MENA II), a $20 million program funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Launched in 2014, the program is dedicated to providing matching capital, equity guarantees and crucial support to early-stage businesses and investors to leverage private investments and develop the investment ecosystem while contributing to economic growth and job creation in Lebanon. The event, which was streamed on-line, was held at IM Capital Offices in the presence of H.E. U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy C. Shea; USAID/Lebanon Mission Director, Ms. Eileen Devitt; and Berytech President, Mr. Maroun Chammas. It was attended virtually by entrepreneurs, investors, private sector representatives, and other key stakeholders in the investment sector.
Working with early-stage startups, Insure & Match Capital has supported entrepreneurs and innovators across several sectors, including educational technology, agri-food, biomedical, lifestyle and fashion, entertainment and media, hardware, online platforms, and marketplaces. Six years into its $15 million fund, IM Capital has invested over $10 million in 25 Lebanese startups, created 5 groups of angel investors, and trained more than 800 entrepreneurs through technical assistance and mentoring, while creating over 300 jobs. IM Capital also launched, with the support of USAID’s MENA II, the من_قلبي_دعم_لبيروت# emergency relief initiative to assist small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as families impacted by the Beirut explosion by channeling funding through its portfolio of companies across four sectors, including education, housing, food and water security, and business platforms. This initiative helped more than 6,000 individuals, sustained and created over 200 jobs, and supported more than 130 SMEs.
Maroun Chammas, President of Berytech Foundation and MENA II Chief of Party, commented: “Our partnership with USAID allowed us to make a meaningful impact and contribute to the growth of the Lebanese ecosystem. Berytech is and always has been an innovation-led foundation and a national reference for Lebanese startups, working to fostera conducive entrepreneurial environment. Today, our primary focus is on the future; we need to support value-added entrepreneurship and innovation activities as they have can a positive impact on the economy. We thank USAID for its continuous trust in Berytech and for its contribution to the economic well-being of Lebanon.”
H.E. Dorothy C. Shea, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon stated, “Six years ago, we launched this program together because we shared a strong belief in the entrepreneurial spirit and the work ethic shared by both Lebanese and Americans…Today, thanks to MENA II, we are proud to say 25 startups received equity investment to bring their ideas to life. These program participants are a testimony to the power of entrepreneurship as a driving force in the Lebanese economy…. We will continue to be a supporting partner for entrepreneurship and business start-ups in Lebanon through a new program, the Lebanon Investment Initiative, known as LII, which is implemented by Berytech Foundation.”
“Thanks to our growing community of successful entrepreneurs, all-star investors, inspiring mentors, powerful advocates and partners, and most importantly, thanks to USAID’s ongoing assistance, IM Capital was able to enable Lebanese startups and assist entrepreneurs in what matters most to them - growing their startup and realizing its potential”, said Nicolas Rouhana, General Manager of IM Capital. “Our mission is to empower entrepreneurs to drive economic growth, and we help advance gender equality in the workplace by leveling the playing field for women entrepreneurs,” he added.
The event also included a live panel discussion moderated by H.E. Dorothy C. Shea, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon, and which included Ms. Eileen Devitt, USAID Lebanon Mission Director; Mr. Maroun Chammas, Chairman and CEO Berytech; Dr. Nicolas Rouhana, General Manager IM Capital; Ms. Corine Kiame, Investment Manager at IM Capital; Mr. Gabriel Deek, Member of Confideo Venture Mentoring Program launched by IM Capital; Ms. Asmahan Zein, Chairperson of Seeders-LWAF which is a group of angel investors managed by IM Capital; Ms. Audrey Nakad, Co-founder and CEO of Ostaz by Synkers; and Mr. Rabih Nassar, Founder and CEO of ElementN, both of which are MENA II portfolio companies. The panel discussed overall challenges and opportunities in the investment sector.
Insure and Match Capital (IM Capital) provides Matching Capital, Equity Guarantee, and Support Programs to a broad range of qualified early-stage business and investors in Lebanon, reducing the risks associated with investing in early-stage businesses and encouraging increased capitalization. IM Capital is a fully owned subsidiary of Berytech Foundation, which was awarded the management of the USAID MENA Investment Initiative program in Lebanon.

Campaign Breathes New Life into Heart Failure Care: “Shedding light on your heart health to brighten up your life”
NNA/May 05/2021     
The Lebanese Society of Cardiology (LSC), the World Heart Federation (WHF), and AstraZeneca have launched the “Shedding light on your heart health to brighten up your life” campaign to help improve Heart Failure prevention, diagnosis, and treatment in Lebanon through media outreaches and the regional “Your Health is Your Life” Arabic Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Sehtak.Hayatak/ “It’s vital people learn more about Heart Failure so those at risk or living with the disease can reach out to their doctors, especially once they recognize its symptoms which include shortness of breath, persistent coughing, persistent fatigue and weakness, ankle swelling, and impaired thinking,” said Dr. Malek Mohamad, LSC president, at a campaign launch event which also featured presentations from Dr Tony Abdel Massih, Chairman of the Heart Failure Working Group at the LSC; Dr Hadi Skouri, Heart Failure specialist at the American University of Beirut Medical Center; and Dr Georges Saade, the WHF representative at the LSC. “This is more and more important as there are novel treatments that can reduce mortality and hospital admissions; and provide improved quality of life through comprehensive therapy which offers many more event-free years.” “Medical advances only materialize into concrete health benefits when all those concerned come together to prevent and treat diseases,” said Dr. Hiba Baroudi, Medical Affairs Head, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism at AstraZeneca Near East & Maghreb. “We are counting on the media’s support to help alert people at risk of Heart Failure, especially those with symptoms, so they consult with their physicians on how best to prevent, diagnose, and treat their condition.” Heart Failure is a disease in which the heart cannot pump enough blood around the body. It is a chronic and degenerative disease with approximately half of patients dying within five years of diagnosis. Despite its seriousness, common symptoms are not always easily recognised. They include shortness of breath, persistent coughing, persistent fatigue and weakness, ankle swelling, and impaired thinking. Public awareness about heart failure and its impact is worryingly low, leading to underdiagnosis, costly hospital admissions, and premature deaths. Heart Failure affects approximately 64 million people worldwide and can be as life-threatening as some of the most common cancers in both men (prostate and bladder cancer) and women (breast cancer). It is the number one cause of hospital admissions among those over 65 years old; and impairs to a great extent the patient’s quality of life as it feels like growing old overnight. While Hypertension, Cardiovascular Disease and being overweight are key risk factors, Diabetes in particular doubles the risk of developing Heart Failure.

Former Saudi Ambassador To Lebanon Dr. Ali Asseri: Iran Plans To Destroy Saudi, Gulf Youth With Drugs; It Exploits The Weakness Of Lebanon, Syria To Manufacture, Smuggle Drugs With Hizbullah Protection
MEMRI/May 05/2021
Source: Al-Arabiya Network (Dubai/Saudi Arabia)
Former Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon and Pakistan Dr. Ali Awadh Asseri said that there is an Iranian plan to destroy the youth in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. He made these remarks in an interview that aired on Al-Arabiya Network (Saudi Arabia) on April 30, 2021. Dr. Asseri continued to say that Iran uses the drug industry to finance its militias in other countries. He said that Shi'ite Islamic scholars have permitted the sale of drugs to people who are hostile to the resistance, and in fact considered this to be a "religious and moral obligation." Dr. Asseri added that Iran exploits the weakness of Syria and Lebanon and allows the criminals in the area to do as they wish and to set up drug manufacturing factories. He said that Hizbullah provides political protection to the drug smugglers.
Dr. Ali Asseri: "There is a methodical Iranian plan to destroy the youth of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states, for two main reasons: First, in order to achieve the means to finance their militias in many countries. The other problem, which is, in fact, a disaster, concerns fatwas, issued by the Shi'ite ulema, which allow the sale of drugs to societies that are considered hostile to the resistance. Moreover, it sees it as a religious and moral obligation. This is the problem. The third issue concerns the considerable weakness of Syria and Lebanon, which allows the criminals to do whatever they please, and set up [drug] factories in the mountains between Lebanon and Syria."
Interviewer: "Who is responsible for drug smuggling in Lebanon? Is it Hizbullah? Do you have any solid information on this matter, Mr. Ambassador?"
Asseri: "These are Shi'ites, who are protected by Hizbullah, and are well-known in Lebanon. There are families who are known to be involved in this. Hizbullah undoubtedly provides political protection to those criminals."

Politics, sectarian allotment paralyse Lebanon’s judicial system
The Arab Weekly/May 05/2021

Political interference in Lebanon’s judiciary has for years thwarted investigations into corruption, violence and assassinations. But mistrust of the judiciary is thrown into even starker relief now, when Lebanese are crying out for politicians to be held accountable for the disastrous crises in their country — not only the financial collapse but also last August’s massive explosion in Beirut’s port that killed scores and wrecked much of the capital. The explosion has been blamed on incompetence and neglect.Lebanon’s political posts are split up in a power-sharing system among sectarian-based factions. Judicial appointments are subject to the same sectarian allotment and horse-trading.
Ghada Aoun vs Mecattaf Holding
Even after she was taken off an investigation into alleged financial crimes by a money transfer company, the defiant Lebanese prosecutor still charged ahead. Ghada Aoun showed up at a company’s offices outside of Beirut with a group of supporters and a metal worker, who broke open the locked gate. She obtained data from Mecattaf Holding Company that she contends will reveal the identities of people who sneaked billions of dollars out of Lebanon amid the financial meltdown that has hit the country. The move was part of a public feud between Aoun and Lebanon’s state prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat, who had dismissed her from the case, saying she’d overstepped with two earlier raids. Their feud has turned into scuffles between their supporters in the street. Aoun, an investigating judge for the Mount Lebanon district, presents herself as a crusader against corruption and accuses higher-ups of trying to stop her. But to her critics, she’s a tool of her backer, Lebanon’s president, who they say uses her to punish his political opponents and protect his allies. That is the problem in Lebanon; the judiciary is so deeply politicised it paralyses the wheels of justice, mirroring how factional rivalries have paralysed politics.
Sectarian power game
Ghada Aoun is a Maronite Christian, like the country’s president, Michel Aoun, and her supporters are mainly members of the president’s Free Patriotic Movement. The two are not related. The state prosecutor, Oueidat, is a Sunni Muslim, like the prime minister-designate, Saad Hariri. The country’s top financial prosecutor is a Shia Muslim, chosen by the country’s top Shia factions, Amal and Hezbollah. Positions all through the judicial hierarchy are similarly divided up.“Those who hold on to power have set up a judiciary that is loyal to them in order to fight their opponents and protect their interests,” retired state prosecutor Hatem Madi said. President Aoun and prime minister-designate Hariri have been locked in a power struggle that has prevented the formation of a cabinet for more than six months. As a result, there is no leadership to carry out reforms to rescue the country even as the currency collapses in value. Lebanese watched in fury as their own savings and salaries plummet in value and prices skyrocketed. The central bank is struggling to gather enough hard currency to ensure fuel for electricity or other key imports, much less maintain its longtime peg of the currency to the dollar. Even more galling for the public, the wealthy and politically connected transferred billions of dollars to safety outside Lebanon even after banks imposed informal capital controls at the beginning of the crisis. Most people have been unable to access their dollars in bank accounts since late 2019.
Capital flight?
Ghada Aoun, the judge, was probing Mecattaf Holding on suspicion it helped in that flight of capital. Mecattaf, one of Lebanon’s largest money and gold-trading companies, denied any links to suspicious transfers, saying all business it does is legal. Sceptics note that Mecattaf’s owner, Michel Mecattaf, is the publisher of Nidaa al-Watan, a daily newspaper that is harshly critical of President Aoun and his main ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Ghada Aoun has also pursued cases against Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh and former prime minister Najib Mikati, both of them opponents of the president. In tweets, Aoun said she was being sidelined “because I dared to open a major file and tried to establish the truth with evidence.” She accuses her opponents of using “false accusations” against her to “politicise a case of justice, a case where an oppressed people wants accountability.”
After her previous raids, Ouiedat ordered her taken off financial cases. Then on April 20, both he and Aoun appeared at a session of Lebanon’s top judicial body, where they upheld the order. Outside, supporters of the president and the prime minister got into scuffles and nearly into fist-fights before the army separated them. The next day, Aoun carried out her third raid on the company. Sami Kara, a Hariri supporter, said Aoun ruined her long-standing reputation by breaking into the company. “She was used for political purposes and now they threw her away,” said the 61-year-old shop owner.
Trust issues
Lebanese are also closely watching the investigation into the August 4 explosion of nearly 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrates poorly stored at Beirut’s port. The explosion killed 211, wounded more than 6,000 and devastated nearby neighbourhoods. The first investigating judge accused two former cabinet ministers of negligence, but was then removed from the case after the former ministers raised legal challenges against him. Many worry his replacement, Judge Tarek Bitar, will be prevented by politicians from holding anyone accountable for the blast. Judges know that if they want senior posts, they must be loyal to a political leader, said Bushra al-Khalil, a prominent Lebanese lawyer. Knowing this, some people go straight to politicians and ask for their help in cases, rather than go through judicial authorities, she said. Others hire a lawyer with strong political connections to intimidate judges.
Madi said the long-term solution is for the judiciary to be given independence under the constitution. Currently, it comes under the authority of the government. Lebanon “is proving incapable of fighting corruption,” said outgoing Justice Minister Marie-Claude Najm, pointing to the divisions demonstrated in the feud between Aoun and Ouiedat. “After all that has happened,” she said, “how can people feel they respect and trust the judiciary?”

The LIC Details Efforts Encouraging a Fact-Finding Mission Nine Months After Explosion in the Port of Beirut
May 5, 2021
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: joanna@theresolute.group
Washington, D.C. - The Lebanese Information Center (LIC) issued the following statement after the nine-month anniversary of the explosion in the port of Beirut, a day which marked a turning point for Lebanon.
“The handling of the disaster and consequent investigation by the Lebanese authorities - the ruling clique that have led the country to disasters and collapse – proved to be a failure,” said Dr. Joseph Gebeily, President of LIC. “Lebanese at home and abroad are calling for those responsible for this explosion to be held accountable through a thorough and transparent investigation.”
Following the explosion, the LIC launched several initiatives to aid and assist the Lebanese people suffering in the wake of the disaster. They partnered with other Lebanese American organizations to provide both cash assistance – raising almost half a million – and in-kind assistance. Additionally, LIC reached out to USAID and other U.S. governmental offices and agencies to raise awareness about the disaster and seek assistance and support for the people of Beirut.
The LIC also took several key diplomatic actions. First, LIC worked with groups in Lebanon representing families of the victims, and with Members of Parliament from the "Strong Republic" bloc on a petition requesting the United Nations Secretary General to dispatch a fact-finding mission. The letter and corresponding petition highlighted the need for such a mission in the face of the enormity of this explosion and the lack of transparency and an appropriate investigation. The petition was signed by the "Strong Republic" MPs.
Next, LIC worked to build a coalition of support for a fact-finding mission, communicating at the United Nations with the Office of the Secretary-General, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, the U.S. mission, as well as U.S. officials at the State Department, key committees in the U.S. Congress, the French Embassy in Washington D.C., and the French Mission in New York.
“LIC continues its contacts and meetings with the U.N. Offices, the Members of the U.N. Security Council and relevant Missions in an effort to establish a fact-finding mission,” Dr. Gebeily confirmed Tuesday. “The crime that shook the world did not shake the consciences of Lebanon’s rulers. Therefore, it is even more urgent that we reveal the circumstances of this explosion and bring the criminals to justice, instead of continuing the pattern of political crimes and assassinations which remain unsolved.”

Liban, Le démantèlement d’un État mafieux et ses enjeux
Charles Elias Chartouni/May 05/2021
شارل الياس شرتوني/لبنان: تفكيك الدولة المافيوية واشكالياتها
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/98567/charles-elias-chartouni-liban-le-demantelement-dun-etat-mafieux-et-ses-enjeux-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%84%d8%a8%d9%86/

L’arrivée du ministre français des affaires étrangères devrait marquer un changement de cap, en remettant en question la feuille de route adoptée par le gouvernement français à l’endroit de la crise libanaise. Quoique lucide quant à la nature délictueuse et subversive des politiques en place (oligarchies mafieuses et fascismes chiites), la politique française a tenu, jusque-là, à ne pas heurter frontalement la règle du jeu, en composant avec les oligarques et essayant de débloquer la situation au profit d’un “gouvernement de mission” dont l’objectif serait, la mise en place d’un ensemble de réformes qui permettrait au Liban de s’extraire au marasme qui prévaut depuis dix neuf mois.
Loin d’être discret sur la complexion mafieuse de la classe politique libanaise, le gouvernement français a évité toute position maximaliste qui risquerait de mettre à feu le brasier libanais, et mener à l’effondrement d’un pays aux dislocations systémiques.
Ceci dit, il ne faudrait pas oublier les considérations stratégique et de politique régionale qui expliquent également la position médiane de la France, et par voie de procuration celles de l’EU et des États Unis. La France avec ses mandats multiples, cherche à éviter une débâcle généralisée qui détruirait le Liban, et par voie de conséquence les trêves intérimaires d’un ordre régional en lambeaux et ses effets délétères sur la sécurité européenne.
Les faillites en cascade des États du Moyen Orient constituent désormais une menace directe à l’Europe confrontée aux migrations de masse, à leur instrumentalisation par l’islamisme politique, et leurs effets conjugués sur les plans démographique, culturel, politique et budgétaire.
Les louvoiements des oligarchies mafieuse et terroriste qui règnent au Liban, leurs positionnements sur les interstices des politiques de puissance régionale, leurs intérêts financiers recyclés dans des investissements divers au sein des économies occidentales, leur rôle dans les triangulations mafieuse et terroriste de la mondialisation, leur donnent des latitudes manœuvrières dont elles se servent sans ambages.
Il est impératif à la politique française de se redéfinir à partir d’une nouvelle trame, et se renforcer d’une nouvelle mandature accordée par l’EU et les USA, qui lui permettrait d’engager un véritable bras de fer avec les coalitions mafieuse et terroriste, moyennant l’internationalisation de la question politique et la séquestration de la rapine et ses dérives.
La France est tenue de changer de logiciel et de direction, sinon le maintien de la politique d’accommodation suivie, jusque-là, s’avère contre-productive, voire périmée. La nomenclature mafieuse est loin d’être dissuadée par la politique du marchandage continu, bien au contraire, elle l’utilise comme atout en vue de cultiver une image de marque, d’acteur incontournable, et de passage obligé dans la mise en œuvre des politiques régionale et domestique.
La seule politique qui vaut, le cas échéant, est celle de la séquestration des biens, la mise au ban du système banquier international et l’humiliation comme préludes à la judiciarisation et la pénalisation.
Il faudrait que les politiques française et occidentale se rendent à l’évidence du caractère fictif des entités étatiques dans cette région du monde, et leur instrumentalisation par des acteurs qui se situent linéairement entre les luttes meurtrières pour le pouvoir, le crime organisé et le terrorisme d’État. Nous sommes dans la brutalité des rapports de force et la violence mimétique, et il est grand temps d’en prendre acte.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 05- 06/2021

One Dead in Israeli Air Strikes Targeting Assad Home Region
Agence France Presse/May 05/2021
One civilian was killed and six wounded after a rare Israeli air raid on a northeastern Syrian region home to the longtime ruling Assad family, Syria's state media said Wednesday. Since the outbreak of Syria's civil war in 2011, Israel has routinely carried out raids in the country, mostly targeting Iranian and Lebanese Hizbullah forces as well as government troops. The attack on Latakia province -- ancestral home of President Bashar al-Assad -- occurred shortly after 2 am (1100 GMT Tuesday), a military source told Sana news agency. "The Israeli attack left one civilian dead and six wounded, including a boy and his mother," according to the source, who added that the site was a plastics factory. They did not release exact details of the targets, but media reports indicated that the towns of Hifa and Masyaf were hit. The Syrian air defence system was activated to counter Israeli missiles, with "some shot down", the report added. An attack on the Latakia region is unusual. In September 2018, Syrian anti-aircraft systems accidentally shot down a plane belonging to ally Russia -- killing those on board -- after being activated against nearby Israeli missiles. The Jewish nation rarely confirms the strikes, but its army has said it hit about 50 targets in the war-torn country last year, without providing details.

1 killed, 6 injured in alleged Israeli airstrike targeting Syrian coast

Jerusalem Post/May 05/2021
The strike targeted a "civilian plastic warehouse," according to SANA. Initial reports and video from the scene indicated that a large fire had broken out in the area. An alleged Israeli airstrike targeted a site near Latakia and Tartus along Syria's Mediterranean coast on Tuesday night, according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.The strikes also hit the town of Hifa, east of the port city of Latakia, and Misyaf in Hama province.  A civilian was killed and six were injured, including a child, according to Syrian media. The strike targeted a "civilian plastic warehouse," according to SANA. Initial reports and video from the scene indicated that a large fire had broken out in the area.In 2018, a Russian military aircraft was shot down near Latakia by a Syrian S-200 air defense missile during an Israeli airstrike. Russia expressed outrage at the incident at the time, placing the blame on Israel, while Israel blamed Syria.
Russia operates an air base in Latakia and a naval base in Tartus. The last alleged Israeli airstrikes in Syria were reported late last month after a surface-to-air missile was fired from Syria and exploded near the nuclear reactor in Dimona in southern Israel. The missile was reportedly fired in response to an alleged Israeli strike in Syria. *Reuters contributed to this report.

Kushner to launch an organisation for Arab-Israel normalisation
The Arab Weekly/May 05/2021
WASHINGTON--According to US news website Axios, former White House adviser and son-in-law of President Donald Trump, Jared Kushner is to launch an organisation dedicated to promoting “normalisation” between Israel and Arab countries. The organisation, to be called the Abraham Accords Institute for Peace, will be a “non-partisan, non-profit” group to be funded through “private donations”. The new outfit will focus on “increasing trade and tourism between the five signatory countries, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, Morocco and Sudan”. It will also “provide analysis of the benefits of normalisation and the potential benefits additional Arab countries can receive if they join the Abraham Accords.”The institute is being set up by Kushner along with former White House envoy Avi Berkowitz, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi and a number of senior Arab diplomats, said Axios. US President Joe Biden, in a phone call on Tuesday with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, underlined “the strategic importance” of the normalisation of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, the White House said in a statement.

Dutch intel proves Iran sought weapons of mass destruction tech in 2020

Benjamin Weinthal/Jerusalem Post/May 05/2021
The findings from the three European intelligence agencies in 2021 contradict Khamenei’s claims and are likely to fuel a new debate about rejoining the Iran nuclear deal.
A damning new report authored by the Netherlands' General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) asserts that the Islamic Republic of Iran attempted to obtain technology in 2020 for weapons of mass destruction.
The Dutch intelligence document, which was published in April, says the security service "investigated networks that tried to obtain the knowledge and materials to develop weapons of mass destruction. Multiple acquisition attempts have been frustrated by the intervention of the services.”
According to the Dutch report, "The joint Counter-Proliferation Unit [UCP] of the AIVD and the MIVD [the country’s Military Intelligence and Security Service] is investigating how countries try to obtain the knowledge and goods they need to make weapons of mass destruction. Countries such as Syria, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea also tried to acquire such goods and technology in Europe and the Netherlands last year."
The AIVD "conducts investigations, provides information and mobilizes third parties to safeguard the democratic legal order and national security to actively reduce risks and to contribute to foreign policy-making."The Netherlands’ MIVD and AIVD intelligence services, according to the report, "conducted intensive research into several very active networks that are involved in proliferation and use various third parties in European countries. Consequently, export licenses were verified and acquisition attempts frustrated.”Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeted in February that his nation is not interested in nuclear weapons. He wrote that Iran’s regime is not pursuing the building of a nuclear weapons device “based on Islamic fundamentals and commands that prohibit weapons that are used for killing ordinary people.”But the findings from the three European intelligence agencies in 2021 contradict Khamenei’s statement and are likely to fuel a new debate about whether the US should rejoin the heavily criticized 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the formal name for the Iran nuclear deal. Former US President Donald Trump’s administration withdrew from the JCPOA because it did not ensure that Iran will be barred from developing atomic weapons, according to US officials at the time in 2018. The Jerusalem Post reported last month that the Bavarian state intelligence agency in Germany said: “Proliferation-relevant states like Iran, North Korea, Syria and Pakistan are making efforts to expand their conventional arsenal of weapons through the production or constant modernization of weapons of mass destruction.”Also in April, the Post reported that Sweden’s Security Service disclosed in its 2020 intelligence report that the Islamic Republic of Iran sought Swedish technology for its nuclear weapons program.
According to the Swedish intelligence document, “Iran also conducts industrial espionage, which is mainly targeted against Swedish hi-tech industry and Swedish products, which can be used in nuclear weapons programs. Iran is investing heavy resources in this area and some of the resources are used in Sweden.”
 

Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief meets with Syrian counterpart in Damascus

Al-Monitor/May 05/2021
The meeting takes place during the first official visit to Damascus by Saudi Arabia since 2012.
Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief met with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus on Monday in a sign of possible rapprochement between the two governments a decade after relations were severed. London-based Rai al-Youm news outlet reported that Gen. Khalid al-Humaidan’s met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his trusted intelligence chief Ali Mamluk to discuss restoring diplomatic ties after the Eid al-Fitr holiday later this month. The Guardian independently confirmed that Humaidan met with Mamluk.The Saudi visit is the first of its kind since the outbreak of Syria’s civil war in 2012. Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have also signaled interest in restoring ties with the Assad regime in recent months. Syria was expelled from the Arab League in 2012 over its government’s response to pro-democracy protests across the country. The ensuing decadelong civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced roughly half the country’s population. Riyadh was among the primary financiers of the war’s Islamist rebel opposition. Russia’s military intervention on Assad’s behalf in 2015 turned the tide of the conflict and has left his government in control of roughly half of the country.
Islamist groups remain in control of Idlib province. Syria’s northeast is under the control of Kurdish-led fighters backed by the US-led international coalition to defeat the Islamic State. The United States spearheaded an international push to economically isolate Bashar al-Assad. In 2018, the administration of President Donald Trump said that US forces would not leave Syria until Assad agrees to free and fair elections in line with United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254. Syrians head to the polls in June in what international observers widely expect to be a sham election designed as a veneer of legitimacy to Assad’s power. Meanwhile, US forces and their Kurdish-led partners control a majority of Syria’s oil reserves as part of Washington’s economic campaign against the regime. Israel has covertly sabotaged Iranian petroleum deliveries shipped on credit to Damascus. The current US administration of President Joe Biden is reviewing its Syria policy. At the same time, Russia, which backs Assad, is on the move. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov toured the Middle East in March with stops in Abu Dhabi, Cairo and Riyadh. The UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus last year, but investment has so far been forestalled, ostensibly by the passage of the Caesar sanctions law in the United States, which allows Washington to sanction any entity doing business with the Assad regime. A restoration of ties between Assad’s regime and Riyadh would also mark a new step in Saudi Arabia's stance toward Iran. Tehran has vigorously backed Assad’s regime and moved weapons and Hezbollah fighters across Iraq into war-torn Syria. Those moves, along with arms transfers to Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Saudi Arabia’s southern flank, raised alarm bells in Israel and Riyadh and pushed the Trump administration to enact sweeping sanctions on Tehran and leave US troops in Syria as a bulwark. Former US officials who worked on the policy have admitted it has no clear endpoint other than denying Assad, Russia and Iran a victory. The Biden administration is seeking to return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran via ongoing talks in Vienna. Saudi officials have engaged directly with Iranian counterparts in Baghdad in recent months, including on the subject of Syria, according to reports. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the Saudi-Iranian dialogue during an interview with Financial Times on Monday, but suggested US officials did not directly prompt the talks.
 

Iran Diplomat's 20-year Sentence for France Bomb Plot Confirmed
Agence France Presse/May 05/2021
An Iranian diplomat's 20-year sentence in Belgium for plotting to bomb an opposition rally outside Paris was confirmed on Wednesday after he failed to appeal, his lawyer and prosecutors said. Assadollah Assadi, 49, was convicted in February by an Antwerp court of supplying explosives for the planned June 30, 2018 attack on the exiled opposition group the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI). "I confirmed today that Mr Assadi does not wish to appeal," his lawyer, Dimitri de Beco, told AFP, adding that his client contests the legitimacy of the Belgian justice system. A spokesman for Belgium's federal prosecutor's office confirmed that "Mr Assadi's lawyer has failed to lodge an appeal" to the conviction. Three individuals sentenced to between 15 and 18 years in prison as accomplices are maintaining their appeals against their convictions, the spokesman said. Those arguments are to be heard around mid-November. Iran has strongly protested Assadi's conviction. Days after the February verdict, Iran's foreign ministry summoned Belgium's ambassador in Tehran to convey its fury.
Attack foiled
Belgian police thwarted the 2018 attack when they intercepted a car carrying the bomb, acting on information gathered by several European intelligence services. Assadi, who was attached to Iran's embassy in Austria at the time, was arrested the following day in Germany, where he was deemed unable to claim diplomatic immunity. Investigators concluded that he was an Iranian agent working under diplomatic cover. The court ruled on February 4 that Assadi was guilty of an attempted attack "of a terrorist nature" and "participating in activities of a terrorist group" before handing him the maximum sentence. The trial featured surveillance images of Assadi dressed as a tourist, in a hat and with a camera, handing a couple a package in Luxembourg on June 28, 2018.  The couple -- Nasimeh Naami and Amir Saadouni, both Iranian-Belgian dual nationals -- were found to have accepted from Assadi a half-kilogramme of TATP explosives and a detonator. Another Iranian-Belgian, former dissident Mehrdad Arefani, was also found guilty of being an accomplice, tasked with guiding the couple to the rally.
'Terrorist conspiracy'
The NCRI gathering included senior leaders of the dissident group and some high-profile supporters, including former US president Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. In a statement on Wednesday, the NCRI's leader Maryam Rajavi said the "terrorist conspiracy" showed Iran's embassies and state-backed cultural centres in the EU should be closed and Iranian refugees acting as "regime agents" should be deported. The NCRI's lawyer in the case, Georges-Henri Beauthier, told AFP that the big victory in Assadi's conviction was that "the court established that the attack plot was brought about by the Iranian state and that the verdict is definitive". He added that "we might fear that the Iranian state could want to carry out other actions in Europe, given they have lost this round". There are also concerns Iran might seek to pressure Belgium to release Assadi by detaining more European nationals. An Iranian-Swedish academic who guest lectured at Belgium's VUB university, Ahmadreza Djalali, has been given a death sentence by Iran's regime, which has accused him of espionage.

UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed meets Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman, stresses deep ties
Al Arabiya English/05 May ,2021
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces discussed with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bilateral relations and strategic cooperation in a meeting in Jeddah, state news agency WAM reported on Wednesday. They also reviewed Arab, regional, international issues and developments of common interest, WAM said. Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed said: “During a meeting today with my brother Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, we discussed our strategic relations and common goals. We also exchanged views on several regional and international issues and explored our strengthened cooperation for the stability of our region.”
 

After Netanyahu's failure, Lapid tapped to form Israeli government
Al-Monitor/May 05/2021
After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's failure, President Reuven Rivlin has handed the mandate for composing the government to Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid.
Israelis are on another political rollercoaster today. This evening, President Reuven Rivlin announced he was handing Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid the mandate for composing the next government. This morning 56 Knesset members told the president they support Lapid for the job.
Rivlin made his decision after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to compose a majority-supported cabinet. Netanyahu’s mandate expired last night at midnight. The drama has certainly taken a toll on Israelis and is far from over. It is not at all clear if Lapid will succeed at the task. In contrast, Netanyahu’s defeat is clear. Already last week Netanyahu looked closer than ever to losing his grip on power. His long stint in the government seemed to be coming to an end, though he continues to wield enormous power even at this low point. Making things even more dramatic, his impending political demise seems to be brought on by his former acolytes who have worked for him in different capacities as ministers and advisers. They had all admired him once and accepted him as their leader. Now they seem to be rising up against him.
The first member of the group was Netanyahu’s former confidant and political partner, Yisrael Beitenu chair Avigdor Liberman. He has been campaigning against Netanyahu more than two years now. Liberman was followed by New Hope chair Gideon Saar, another close Netanyahu ally who seems to have eventually gotten fed up with the prime minister.
The newest member is Yamina chair Naftali Bennett, who is now playing a central role in this epic saga. If Netanyahu does fall in the next few weeks, it won’t be the result of an ideological revolution shifting power from one bloc to the other. It will be the result of personal vendettas and growing disgust with Netanyahu among people clearly identified with the right. They are so fed up with Netanyahu that they are willing to prevent the formation of a right-wing government and even join forces with parties aligned with the ideological left just to get Netanyahu out.
It all came to a head May 4. After all his political maneuvering hit a dead end, Netanyahu was forced to return his mandate to form a government to Rivlin. Nevertheless, Netanyahu made no formal declaration of his failure, still trying to show that he was in control.
But in the emerging political reality, Netanyahu is far from in control. Having received the mandate from the president, Lapid will now take charge of the Knesset until a new government can be formed. Control of the Knesset will allow him to pass a series of new laws to prevent Netanyahu from running again for prime minister while under indictment for felony offenses.
It would be yet another inconceivable event in the chaotic reality that has been facing Israel for the past two years. As things seem now, even with the mandate to form the next government, and even though he heads the second-largest party in the Knesset, Lapid will not take over from Netanyahu. It will be Bennett, whose seven seats are essential to forcing Netanyahu out. Lapid, who will likely take over from Bennett as prime minister in a rotation agreement, could be the one to cobble together the strangest and most polarized government Israel has ever seen. It will have one purpose: removing Netanyahu from office. Back to rollercoaster that led up to this situation. On Monday, Netanyahu reacted to the impending crisis by leaving Bennett a recorded message, offering him a chance to be first to serve as prime minister in a rotation government if he would agree to join a Netanyahu government. Until then, he had hoped to engineer a government of his own with the help of defectors from the other parties or the outside support of the Raam Party. But all these efforts failed, if only because the far-right Religious Zionism party refused to cooperate with Arab Knesset members under any circumstances, despite Netanyahu's efforts to convince the party’s senior rabbis to get party leader Bezalel Smotrich to concede on this one issue.
Bennett’s response was quick and he offered it before the cameras. He plunged a metaphorical knife deep in Netanyahu’s heart when he said, “I never asked to be prime minister. You don’t need to convince me. Bring us a new government. We’re willing to help.”
There derision in his remarks was clear. Bennett seemed to enjoy pummeling his former political patron by stating unequivocally that Netanyahu doesn’t have a government. Since the last election, Bennett has made no effort to help Netanyahu form a right-wing government. He didn’t apply any pressure on Saar or reject the possibility of heading a government that includes components aligned with the left. Netanyahu knew the truth. Bennett wanted him out of the way. Bennett long ago realized that he would have no room to grow with Netanyahu in the picture, so ever since the last election, Bennett and Saar worked hard to build the infrastructure for an alternative government with the change camp, and Bennett distracted Netanyahu with negotiations that lead nowhere until Netanyahu’s mandate ran out. According to one political insider who spoke with Bennett a week ago, the Yamina chair realized that this was his golden opportunity to become prime minister before he even reached the age of 50 while achieving what so many before him tried to do but failed over the last decade. He would be the one to bring down Netanyahu. The same source told Al-Monitor that Bennett believes that once he is in the prime minister’s office, he will gain widespread public support. He will then be able to build up his own base. Is this the end of the saga? Even now, while Netanyahu lies bleeding, he will continue to fight against the formation of this new government by pressuring Yamina's Knesset roster and other chicanery. Now that Netanyahu no longer holds the mandate, Bennett will face his first and most critical test.

Israeli Coalition Talks Resume after PM Misses Deadline
Associated Press/May 05/2021
Israel's president on Wednesday signaled he would move quickly to task a new candidate with forming a government after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to do so ahead of a midnight deadline. President Reuven Rivlin will meet with the two main candidates for forming a government — opposition leader Yair Lapid and Naftali Bennett, a former Netanyahu ally — on Wednesday morning. He asked parties to make their positions known before 2 p.m. (1100 GMT). Netanyahu's political future was thrown into question when he failed to assemble a ruling coalition in the four weeks allotted to him, raising the possibility that his 12-year run as prime minister — the longest in Israeli history — could soon come to an end. Rivlin, who occupies a mostly ceremonial role, is expected in the coming days to give one of Netanyahu's opponents a chance to form an alternative coalition government. He could ask the parliament to select one of its own members as prime minister. If all else fails, the country would be forced into another election this fall — the fifth in just over two years. Elections held March 23 ended in deadlock for the fourth consecutive time in the past two years. Despite repeated meetings with many of his rivals and unprecedented outreach to the leader of a small Islamist Arab party, Netanyahu was unable to close a deal. Rivlin gave Netanyahu the first chance to form a coalition after 52 members of parliament endorsed him as prime minister last month. That was short of a majority, but the highest number for any party leader. Lapid, who received the backing of 45 lawmakers, now seems to be the most likely candidate to get a chance to form a government. Bennett, head of the small religious, nationalist Yamina party, is also a possibility. The former Netanyahu ally turned rival controls just seven seats in parliament, but he has emerged as a kingmaker of sorts and appears to carry the votes that Lapid would need to secure a parliamentary majority. Lapid has said he is ready to share the prime minister's job with Bennett, with Bennett serving first in a rotation. But they have not reached any firm agreements. The parties opposed to Netanyahu represent a wide range of conflicting ideologies, making it unclear whether they will be able to unite. Netanyahu has become a divisive figure in Israeli politics, with the last four elections all seen as a referendum on his rule. He has been desperate to remain in office while he stands trial, using his position to lash out at prosecutors and seek possible immunity from prosecution. Netanyahu has been charged with fraud, breach of trust and bribery in a series of scandals. The trial has moved into the witness phase, with embarrassing testimony accusing him of trading favors with a powerful media mogul. Netanyahu denies the charges, accusing law enforcement, the judiciary and the media of waging a "witch hunt" against him.

Biden to Abu Dhabi crown prince: Normalization with Israel is important

Omri Nahmias/Jerusalem Post/May 05/2021
President Biden and the Crown Prince discussed the strategic importance of the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, among other regional issues. US President Joe Biden spoke on the Phone with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Tuesday. According to a readout of the call, they discussed several regional issues, including the situation in Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear threat, and “the common quest for de-escalation and peace in the Middle East.”“In that regard, the president underlined the strategic importance of the normalization of relations between the United Arab Emirates and Israel,” the White House said in a statement. “He expressed his full support for strengthening and expanding these arrangements.”Biden and Nahyan also agreed on the priority of “working together to address conflicts, including the humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region of Ethiopia,” the statement reads. He also congratulated the crown prince on the Emirates’ upcoming 50th anniversary of independence, “and reflected on the collaborative efforts the United States and the United Arab Emirates have undertaken on issues ranging from space to climate to defense and security.”

Germany bans ‘Salafist’ group Ansaar over terrorism links, raids offices
The Arab Weekly/May 05/2021
BERLIN – Germany said on Wednesday it was banning Ansaar International, an Islamist organisation which Berlin says has financed terrorism around the world and police have raided affiliates of the group. “If you want to fight terror you have to dry up its sources of funding,” Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Twitter.Ansaar says on its website it provides humanitarian aid to people affected by war and crises by building or financing the construction of hospitals, orphanages and schools. Seehofer said Ansaar and an affiliated organisation “spread a Salafist world view and finance terror around the world under the guise of humanitarian aid.” A man who answered the phone at Ansaar’s main office in the western city of Duesseldorf declined to comment on the ban and raids. The interior ministry said in a statement that about 1,000 police officers had taken part in raids on affiliates of Ansaar in ten German states and that 150,000 euros ($180,000) in cash had been confiscated. In 2019, police raided offices belonging to Ansaar and another organisation on suspicion of financing the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on a European Union terrorism blacklist.

In bid to break isolation, Turkey reaches out to Saudi Arabia
The Arab Weekly/May 05/2021
ANKARA--Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud discussed bilateral ties in a call on Tuesday, the Turkish presidency said, the second such conversation between the two leaders in less than a month. “During the call, relations between the two countries were discussed. The Turkish President also congratulated the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques on the occasion of the blessed Eid al-Fitr,” the Saudi news agency (SPA) reported. Turkey is seeking to improve ties with the Gulf Arab state after they were thrown into crisis by the 2018 murder in Istanbul of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and Ankara’s attempts at exploiting the case politically. Political analysts, however, say Ankara is following a set of contradictory approaches in its relationship with Riyadh. While displaying an intent to surmount the legacy of past problems, Ankara is still trying to impose its regional policies.
Turkey has given its support for Gulf reconciliation and which it claimed would provide it with an opportunity to return to the region through the front door. But it has not taken any steps to show good faith, whether at the political level nor in the media, nor especially on the ground through its network of relations in Yemen or the Horn of Africa. Turkish support for groups and militias linked to the Muslim Brotherhood is one of the factors that have hindered the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement. This support has not eased tensions within Yemen’s “legitimacy” camp and flies in the face of the Saudi plan to speed a Yemeni political settlement that ensures Riyadh’s national security and curtails Iranian influence in the strategic region. According to media reports, Turkey supports the continuation of chaos in Yemen until it secures a strategic foothold for itself in the region. It is also said to be behind the Brotherhood’s control of the oil-rich Shabwa governorate, which overlooks the Arabian Sea coast. It is also reported to have helped build the Qena Port project in Yemen, which will give it greater freedom of movement to carry out its plans in that country and the region.
Ankara has also enhanced its intelligence presence in the region by sending security officers under various covers, including humanitarian missions, such as working for the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation.
The matter does not stop at Yemen nor at obstructing a political settlement there that would enable Riyadh to exit with the least possible damage. Turkish activities blocking the interests of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries have become more obvious in the Horn of Africa, with a focus on securing positions in Somalia and Djibouti. Last year, Saudi businessmen endorsed an unofficial boycott of Turkish goods in response to what they called hostility from Ankara, slashing the value of trade by 98%. Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said last month that Erdogan and King Salman had “a good call” in April and that the foreign ministers of the two countries had agreed to meet. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu had also said in March Saudi Arabia and Turkey had agreed to “continue dialogue” after a “fruitful” meeting last November with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan, according to state-owned Anadolu news agency. Tuesday’s conversation came a day ahead of a meeting between Turkish and Egyptian officials in Cairo, the latest step in Turkey’s push to mend relations with another US-allied Arab power. Turkey said in March it had started talks with Egypt to try to improve relations which collapsed after Egypt’s army toppled a democratically-elected Muslim Brotherhood president close to Turkey in 2013, in what Ankara said was a military coup.
 

Egypt and Turkey Draw Closer as Regional Interests Align
Agence France Presse/May 05/2021
Turkey and Egypt have begun slowly warming ties as they vie for regional primacy a decade after the Arab Spring, but analysts say deep-seated mistrust means full normalisation will take time. A Turkish delegation is visiting Cairo this week for the first time after years of trading barbs, with the Egyptian foreign ministry saying talks began on Tuesday. That comes nearly two months after Ankara established the first diplomatic contacts with Cairo since 2013, as part of wider efforts to mend fences with Middle Eastern rivals. Ankara and Cairo have both faced more US pressure since the departure of president Donald Trump, and both have been extending olive branches to their neighbours. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan have been sparring since the military's 2013 ouster in Cairo of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, personally backed by Erdogan. Egypt's restoration of ties with Qatar in January, after a four-year Gulf blockade along with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, has also boosted efforts towards more regional diplomacy. "What has become apparent to Egypt... is that it's difficult for any regional power to win through a knockout punch, but rather through points," Abdul Khaleq Abdallah, a political science professor in the UAE, told AFP. "Meeting halfway is enough in this instance... but the situation is fluid, so it could flare up again," he added. Cairo has not appeared to share the same level of enthusiasm for rapprochement as Turkey; Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry noted in March that "words are not enough, they must be matched by deeds"."There's a great deal of mistrust fuelled by eight years of open hostility, and so Egypt feels hesitant," said Nael Shama, the author of a book on Egypt's foreign policy under deposed leaders Morsi and Hosni Mubarak.
Harbouring 'traitors'
After the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in several Middle Eastern countries, Istanbul became a refuge for Islamist opposition activists, especially for Egyptians linked to Morsi's outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. In March, Erdogan's advisers demanded popular Egyptian exiled talk show hosts, such as Moataz Matar and Mohamed Nasser, tone down their criticism of Egypt's leader. Previously convicted in absentia to 10 years in prison each and placed on Egypt's terrorism list for "attempting to overthrow the regime", the flamboyant anchors were forced to shut down their programmes, giving their audiences emotional farewells. They are still regularly described as "traitors" and "terrorists" by pro-Sisi media. Among Sisi's supporters, their sidelining was seen as a crucial ideological victory. "Turkey asking the Egyptian opposition to stop its (media) campaign against the Egyptian government is quite significant for Egypt," said Ibrahim Awad, a public policy professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC). But he expressed doubt that Matar and Nasser would be extradited. At massive rallies in past years, Erdogan has frequently raised a four-finger salute seen as a tribute to hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters killed by security forces in Cairo following Morsi's ouster. The Turkish president has won the devotion of his Islamist base as a champion of regional grievances since the Arab Spring.  But Awad noted that if normalisation continues smoothly, in the long run it "reinforces the position of Egypt ... in the Middle East".

- 'Everyone will benefit' -Amr Adib, a popular late-night talk show host who regularly interviews Sisi live on air, struck a cautious tone about the Turkish delegation's visit. "See how things have changed so much... I mean if we manage to get an understanding during the talks then that's all well and good, and if not then that's fine too," he said on Monday. In oil-rich Libya, which descended into chaos in the aftermath of the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ousted dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Turkey and Egypt, backed by the UAE, have been on opposite sides of the conflict. "Everyone will benefit from defusing the acute tensions in the region, including disengagement from hotspots, chiefly Libya," said Aballah, the Emirates-based professor. "The UAE isn't just a backer of Egypt, it has been encouraging of cooling down any flare ups," he added. Since the selection this year of a new interim Libyan prime minister in a UN-sponsored process, Cairo and Ankara have appeared more open to a political solution to that conflict. Ankara working with Cairo to resolve the Libyan conflict could have "a knock-on effect" of improving Turkey's ties with Saudi Arabia, Israel, the UAE and Greece, said Bashir Abdel-Fattah. The researcher at Egypt's state-affiliated Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies voiced optimism for reconciliation despite years of tensions. "It's very easy in politics, that one day you can attack a country and the next day you sit down and hammer out your differences," he said. "This is what's happening now".

Canada approves use of Pfizer vaccine for kids aged 12 and above
AFP, Ottawa/05 May ,2021
Canada on Wednesday approved the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in children aged 12 years and up, becoming the first nation to do so. For more coronavirus news, visit our dedicated page. “This is the first vaccine authorized in Canada for the prevention of COVID-19 in children and marks a significant milestone in Canada’s fight against the pandemic,” Health Canada chief medical advisor Supriya Sharma told a news conference. Data from clinical trials show the vaccine is as safe for adolescents as it is for adults, she said

Blinken heads to Ukraine in show of support after Russia troop standoff
Reuters/06 May ,2021
U.S. President Joe Biden's top diplomat visits Kyiv on Thursday in a show of support after Russia massed troops near Ukraine's eastern border in a weeks-long standoff that sent alarm bells ringing in Western capitals. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, mixing solidarity with calls for Ukraine to stick to a path of reforms and fighting corruption, days after a reformist energy official was sacked. Biden pledged "unwavering support" to Zelenskiy in April as Kyiv and Moscow traded blame for clashes in Ukraine's eastern Donbass region and Russia deployed troops and weapons to the border. Moscow announced a withdrawal of its forces on April 22, helping pave the way for a summit between Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could take place as early as June. The standoff prompted Ukraine to call for the United States and Europe to help speed up Kyiv's entry into the NATO military alliance. Blinken also discussed Russia's troop build-up at a meeting with NATO allies in Brussels last month. "We see this visit as a signal of extremely strong support from the United States in countering Russian hybrid aggression,” Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhenii Yenin said ahead of Blinken's arrival. Washington has been Kyiv's most powerful backer since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the outbreak of the Donbass conflict between Ukrainian soldiers and Russian-backed separatist forces that Kyiv says has killed 14,000 people in seven years. The relationship was tested in 2019 when then-President Donald Trump asked Zelenskiy to investigate Biden and the business activities of his son Hunter in Ukraine, and Trump administration temporarily froze security aid to Kyiv. The fallout from those events, which led to Trump’s impeachment trial, continued last week as federal agents raided the apartment and office of Trump's former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in relation to his activities in Ukraine. Since Biden took office, his administration has urged Ukraine to stick to its reform commitments and Blinken is expected to press Zelenskiy's government on the dismissal of Andriy Kobolyev as head of the state energy firm Naftogaz.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 05- 06/2021

Islamic State Cites ‘Grievances,’ Claims Victim Status against Slaughtered Christians
Raymond Ibrahim/May 05/2021
The Islamic State in Sinai recently executed another Christian on video. In a clip recorded before the execution, the slain Copt, Nabil H. Salama, 62, “confessed” to his crime: building the only church in Bir al-Abd in Sinai—a church which was supposedly “cooperating with the Egyptian army’s and intelligence’s war on the Islamic State.”
Although Salama offered this “confession” only after being tortured—after his front teeth were busted out of his mouth—the charge that Coptic churches are actively and nefariously working to undermine the Islamic order is as widespread among Egypt’s Islamists as it is constantly morphing in absurd directions.
Thus, in an unrestrained tirade back in 2010, Muhammad Salim al-Awwa, former secretary-general of the International Union for Muslim Scholars, appeared on Al-Jazeera and accused the Copts, not of “cooperating” with the Egyptian military, but of “stocking arms and ammunitions in their churches and monasteries”—imported from Israel no less, “the heart of the Coptic Cause”—and “preparing to wage war against Muslims.” He warned that if nothing is done the “country will burn” and incited Muslims to “counteract the strength of the [Coptic] Church.”
In reality, all that ever “burns” are Coptic churches at the hands of Muslims—as when nearly 70 churches were attacked and many destroyed following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Muhammad Morsi. This is to say nothing of all the Coptic churches that have been bombed, leaving scores of Christian worshippers dead, by terrorists. To name just some of the more notable incidents: on Palm Sunday, 2017, two Coptic churches were bombed and 50 worshippers killed; on Sunday, December 11, 2016, a Coptic church was bombed and at least 27 worshippers killed; on New Year’s Eve of 2011, another church was bombed and about 23 Christians killed; and on Christmas Eve of 2010, seven Christians were shot dead while leaving their church.
The fact is, Muslim terrorists are notorious for offering any number of pretexts—many of which border on the absurd—to justify their cowardly targeting and murdering of Christians, in and out of Egypt. The Islamic State cited “grievances” to justify its grisly slaughter of 21 Christians—20 Copts and one Ghanaian—on the shores of Libya in 2015. An article in Dabiq, the Islamic State’s online magazine in English, titled “Revenge for the Muslimat [Muslim women] Persecuted by the Coptic Crusaders of Egypt,” claimed that the 21 Christians were slaughtered in “revenge” for two Coptic women who, back in 2010 and according to Islamic propaganda, were compelled by Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church to recant their conversion to Islam and return to Christianity.
Indeed, the late Coptic Pope Shenouda III, who was then nearly 90-years-old and immobile, was portrayed as “a U.S. agent, an abductor and torturer of female Muslim converts from Christianity, who was stockpiling weapons in monasteries and churches with a view to waging war against the Muslims and dividing Egypt to create a Coptic State.”
The Islamic State also cited the 2010 bombing of Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad as a product of “revenge” for those same supposedly forced-to-reconvert-back-to-Christianity women in Egypt. Then, armed jihadis had stormed the Iraqi church during worship service, opened fire indiscriminately, before detonating their suicide vests, which were “filled with ball bearings to kill as many people as possible.” Nearly 60 Christians—including women, children, and even babies (pictures of aftermath here)—were slaughtered.
Nor is this blame-the-victim strategy limited to Egypt. Speaking two days after a series of bombings rocked Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday, 2019, killing 359 people, a junior defense minister said that the attack “was in retaliation for the attack against Muslims in Christchurch,” where an Australian man killed around 50 Muslims in two mosques in New Zealand.
Two points give the lie to all such claims of Islamic “retaliation” due to “grievances”:
First, what did the Iraqi Christians of Our Lady Church, or the one decapitated Ghanaian, have to do with the imagined crimes of the Coptic Church? For that matter, what do Christians in the Middle East, Africa and Asia have to do with the secular West? Whenever the latter somehow offends Muslims—whether by publishing cartoons or launching military operations in Afghanistan—Muslims “respond” by terrorizing the Christian minorities in their midst. What exactly do brown Sri Lankan Christians celebrating Easter have to do with a white terrorist in New Zealand? Moreover, if the Easter day attack was a form of retaliation, what explains the fact that Muslims bomb churches on virtually every Easter (most recently in Indonesia).
Which leads to the second point: since when did Islamic terrorists that regularly preach hate for the other ever need a reason or excuse to make the lives of non-Muslims, chief among them Christians, miserable? For instance, since July 2011, I have been compiling monthly “Muslim Persecution of Christians” reports (published by Gatestone Institute). In virtually every one of these monthly reports, Muslims bomb, burn, or ban churches and generally terrorize Christians. Are we seriously to believe this is all due to Muslim “grievances” against the disempowered Christian minorities in their midst?
Indeed, even in the most recent murder, that of Nabil Salama the Copt in Sinai, his murderers, perhaps inadvertently, let escape the truth behind their animus. In his execution video, Salama appears on his knees, with three men holding rifles standing behind him. The one in the middle launches into a typical jihadi diatribe: “All praise to Allah, who ordered his slaves [Muslims] to fight and who assigned humiliation onto the infidels” — this latter part is said while the terrorist contemptuously points at the bound and kneeling man before him — “until they pay the jizya while feeling utterly subdued.”
This, of course, is a paraphrasing of Koran 9:29, which commands Muslims to wage jihad against the “People of the Book—Christians and Jews—until they pay tribute and feel themselves utterly subdued. Note: the Koran does not cite any grievances against Christians and Jews—except, of course, for the fact that they are Christians and Jews, that is, infidels, who reject the authority of Muhammad, and are therefore the enemy.
In short, all “grievances” cited by those Muslims who terrorize already disenfranchised religious minorities in their midst are false and meant to “legitimize” their otherwise cowardly and atrocious deeds.

Arabs Warn West: Do Not Let Iran Fool You
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/May 05/2021
خالد ابوطعمة/معهد كايتستون: العرب يحذرون الغرب من ترك إيران تخدعهم
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/98570/khaled-abu-toameh-gatestone-institute-arabs-warn-west-do-not-let-iran-fool-you%d8%ae%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%af-%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%88%d8%b7%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%a9-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%83%d8%a7%d9%8a%d8%aa/

“Those who commit the same mistakes and expect different results are deceiving themselves.” — Abdullah bin Bajad Al-Otibi, Saudi writer and researcher, Alarabiya.net, April 19, 2021.
After the deal expires in a few years…. Iran may build as many nuclear weapons as it wants. In that sense, the JCPOA deal was a runway to a full-blown nuclear weapons program.
“[T]he agreement did not address the Iranian regime’s ambitions of hegemony and its blatant interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries through direct and semi-direct occupation in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen…. Iran today is targeting Saudi oil and global energy supplies, as well as civilians, as the world is watching.” — Abdullah bin Bajad Al-Otibi, Alarabiya.net, April 19, 2021.
“All the concessions that the Western powers intend to make to Tehran do not bind anyone in the Middle East, and cannot force Israel or the Arab countries to respect the outcome of the talks in Vienna, especially if these negotiations increase the danger of the Tehran regime to stability and security.” — Syrian writer Bahaa Al-Alawam, Al-Ain, April 19, 2021
“The truth is that there is a political, military, security and economic Iranian occupation of four Arab countries – Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.” — Former Jordanian Minister of Information and Culture Saleh Al-Kallab, Asharq Al-Awsat, April 15, 2021.
This message, directed mainly at the Biden administration, accuses the West of ignoring Iran’s ongoing occupation and terrorism in the Arab countries. Evidently, there is a profound fear among Arabs that a revival of the nuclear deal will add fuel to the mullahs’ fire and support their slash-and-burn policies of destabilizing Arab countries and promoting terrorism through their proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi militias in Yemen.
Arabs are growing increasingly concerned about Iran’s sinister intentions and deception as the Iranians and representatives of Germany, France, Britain, Russia, and China continue their negotiations in Vienna about reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Arabs are growing increasingly concerned about Iran’s sinister intentions and deception as the Iranians and representatives of Germany, France, Britain, Russia, and China continue their negotiations in Vienna about reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which the Trump administration abandoned in 2018.
The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is ostensibly aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Under the JCPOA, Iran agreed to eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium, cut its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, and reduce by about two-thirds the number of uranium gas centrifuges for 13 years. After the deal expires in a few years, however, Iran may build as many nuclear weapons as it wants. In that sense, the JCPOA deal was a runway to a full-blown nuclear weapons program.
On May 8, 2019, Trump announced the US withdrawal from the JCPOA, which Iran had been secretly violating, and Iran has been repeatedly violating the terms of the accord ever since.
The Iranians appear optimistic that the talks will bring the US back to the deal, saying a “new understanding” seems to be taking shape.
“We think that the talks have reached a stage where parties are able to begin to work on a joint draft,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Iran’s state television. “It seems that a new understanding is taking shape, and now there is agreement over final goals.”
Arab columnists and political analysts who have been following the present negotiations in Vienna are convinced that Iran is once again poised to play the international community for fools. They warned the US and the other world powers against repeating the mistake of the past by falling for the Iranian ploy.
“History is repeating itself,” wrote Saudi writer and researcher Abdullah bin Bajad Al-Otibi. “Those who commit the same mistakes and expect different results are deceiving themselves.”
Al-Otibi described the 2015 Iran nuclear as an utter failure. “Regardless of the results of the Vienna talks, they will repeat the same mistake,” he remarked.
“One of the most important reasons for the failure of the previous agreement was that it excluded the Arab Gulf states completely. Today, the same mistake is being repeated. The result will certainly not be different.”
The Saudi writer pointed out that the Gulf states’ demand to participate in the Vienna talks was ignored by the world powers. “The exclusion of the Gulf states confirms that the talks are aimed at reviving a dead agreement,” Otibi argued. “The Western appeasement of Iran has reached new heights and the Iranian regime is exploiting that with some bravado.”
According to Otibi, one of the “sins” of the previous nuclear deal was that it did not clearly address two main issues:
“First, the agreement did not address the Iranian regime’s ambitions of hegemony and its blatant interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries through direct and semi-direct occupation in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. That is why Iran’s evilness increased after that failed agreement, until a US administration that was tougher with Iran arrived.
“Second, the previous nuclear agreement did not address Iran’s ballistic missiles that were threatening the Gulf states, and that was a major reason for the failure of that agreement. Iran today is targeting Saudi oil and global energy supplies, as well as civilians, as the world is watching.”
Otibi warned that the world will quickly discover that once some sanctions against Iran are lifted, Iranian-sponsored terrorism will continue and “many will pay the price of inaction.”
Syrian writer Bahaa Al-Alawam warned that the Vienna talks were not taking into consideration the interests and legitimate concerns of the Arab countries.
Al-Alawam pointed out that Israel was aware of Iran’s continuous violations of the nuclear deal:
“The Israelis explained the danger [of Iran’s intentions] before the talks [in Vienna]… When they found that the Americans and Europeans were ignoring their concerns, they decided to expose the falsity of what is happening in Vienna. Iran’s nuclear program was never a peaceful one. Those who are negotiating with Iran now care only about their interests.”
Iran’s recent announcement that it has begun enriching uranium to its highest-ever purity (60%), Al-Alawam said, shows that it is moving closer to manufacturing a nuclear bomb, posing a threat to the security of the region and the world.
“The Europeans and Americans are closing their eyes to this threat,” he added.
“They insist that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons is sufficient to convert it to the Switzerland of the Middle East, or guaranteeing the democratization of the mullah’s regime in Tehran. Because of the Western apathy, the countries of the region do not expect much from the Vienna negotiations, and if they are thinking about their independent options to deal with the Iranian threat to them, this is a legitimate matter and no one has the right to object. All the concessions that the Western powers intend to make to Tehran do not bind anyone in the Middle East, and cannot force Israel or the Arab countries to respect the outcome of the talks in Vienna, especially if these negotiations increase the danger of the Tehran regime to stability and security.”
Echoing these concerns, former Jordanian Minister of Information and Culture Saleh Al-Kallab said he did not expect Iran to stop meddling in the internal affairs of the Arab countries:
“The truth is that there is a political, military, security and economic Iranian occupation of four Arab countries – Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen… It is clear that if the US restores its relations with Tehran, the mullahs will become the main decision-makers in the Middle East. The Arabs will not regain their unity unless the Iranians and their followers are expelled from Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.”
The talks in Vienna coincided with a campaign by many Lebanese calling for severing diplomatic relations between Iran and Lebanon.
Last week, dozens of Lebanese activists staged a protest outside the offices of the Lebanese Foreign Ministry in Beirut during which they demanded that their government expel the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon and cut off diplomatic relations with Iran.
The protesters shouted slogans calling for ending Iran’s occupation of Lebanon and disarming Iran’s proxy militia, the Hezbollah terrorist group.
This campaign, like the views expressed by several Arab political analysts and columnists, is aimed at sending a message to those who are currently negotiating with Iran that the Arabs trust the mullahs in Tehran about as far as they can throw them.
This message, directed mainly at the Biden administration, accuses the West of ignoring Iran’s ongoing occupation and terrorism in the Arab countries. Evidently, there is a profound fear among Arabs that a revival of the nuclear deal will add fuel to the mullahs’ fire and support their slash-and-burn policies of destabilizing Arab countries and promoting terrorism through their proxies, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthi militias in Yemen.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2021 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

Egypt is flexing its military muscle at Ethiopia
Rami Rayess/Al Arabiya/May 05/2021
Escalating tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia are alarming, not only for both countries, but for the Middle East and North Africa. With the absence of a political solution for the crisis that erupted from Addis Ababa’s intransigence, and Egypt’s impatience regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), a military option is now on the table, according to Cairo.Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi openly expressed his country’s rising intolerance in light of Ethiopia’s continuous rejection of regional and international mediation to resolve the crisis. Considering the construction of the Dam is an issue of national pride and sovereignty, he said: “I am telling our brothers in Ethiopia, let’s not reach the point where you touch a drop of Egypt’s water, because all options are open”. He added that there would be “inconceivable instability in the region” if Egypt’s water supply was affected by the Dam.
With a population steadfastly growing over several decades, Egypt saw it peak at 100 million a few years ago. It depends on the Nile to secure more than 90 percent of its fresh water needs.In the case of the outbreak of war, the Egyptian military will have ample opportunity to display its growing power that has seen substantial strength since al-Sisi rose to power in 2014. It has German submarines, ships equipped with assault helicopters and French Rafale fighter jets. According to the annual review of Global Firepower, Egypt’s military strength ranked 13th globally from 139 countries in 2021. It finds itself in the company of the United States, Russia, India, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Pakistan and Turkey as a major defense spender.
Former US President Donald Trump had warned, during a phone call with Sudan’s Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok in October 2020 that Egypt might end up “blowing up” the GERD. In the case of that happening, Sudan is set to pay the biggest price. The two combating nations do not share borders, and if the dam is destroyed fully or partially by Egypt, the direction of the flood will move towards Sudanese territories. Khartoum has harmful memory of floods when more than three million people were affected by the catastrophe that happened in 2020 when one third of the country’s cultivated areas were devastated. Sudan does not want to see this happen again. There is an important incentive for Khartoum to take the initiative and mediate between the two conflicting states. It has taken sides in the past few months, aiming to benefit from the relatively cheaper power generation that is expected from GERD, but it could still preserve its role in attempting to resolve the conflict.
Efforts led by the African Union to find a peaceful settlement reached a deadlock in light of Addis Ababa’s refusal to cooperate. The scenario is similar to the talks that stretched over three years led by Washington and the World Bank when a positive closure was expected in February 2020, but Ethiopia withdrew before the signature happened. As all historical lessons have proven, when regional conflicts become wars, they will immediately develop into international crises when big powers and contesting poles on the globe intervene to support one of the two fighting powers. No exception is likely between Egypt and Ethiopia.GERD had been under construction from 2011, and is located 45km east of the border with Sudan. Ethiopia aims to significantly increase its capacities to produce power and electricity for its local needs as well as to sell it to surrounding nations. Sudan comes top of that list.
The cost is up to an estimated $5 billion, financed almost fully from crowd-funding and internal funds raised through micro mechanisms, such as encouraging employees to contribute from their own incomes. This is one of the main reasons why Ethiopia finds it extremely difficult to retreat.
Ethiopia started filling the reservoir in July 2020, a process that is estimated to take between five and seven years. Cairo aims to extend filling it for 21 years. It fears water quantities reducing due to Ethiopia’s timeline resulting in a permanent reduction due to evaporation from the reservoir. Ethiopia’s filling of the Dam could reduce the Nile flows by 25 percent. With Egypt’s tough stance in this crisis and with the absence of a political solution, a military strike on the facility might be imminent. If that happens, Ethiopia’s ability to reconstruct the Dam is crippled, at least for years, if not decades. To not involve military intervention will happen only with a cost that will substantially change the face of North Africa.