LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
April 19/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias
Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the
lccc Site
http://data.eliasbejjaninews.com/newselias18/english.april19.18.htm
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Bible
Quotations
We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that
suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character,
hope
Romans 05/01-11: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast
in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our
sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to
shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the
Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when
we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will
anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might
possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this:
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been
justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath
through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him
through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall
we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation.
Titles For
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources
published on April 18-19/18
What Happened In Beirut On April 18/1983/Walid Phares/Face Book/April 18/18
Hezbollah's War Of Wards Telegraphs Iran's Message To Jerusalem/Jerusalem
Post/April 18/18
Revealed: Israel 'Struck Advanced Iranian Air-defense System' in Syria/Haaretz/April/
18, 2018/
Israel Releases Maps, Photos of Iranian Military Locations in Syria/
Asharq Al Awsat/April 18/18
Trump fulfills Syria promise by showing what a ‘red line’ really means/Mashari
Althaydi/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
Turkey’s rapprochement with Iran, tactical or strategic/Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al
Arabiya/ April 18/18
Can Arab women set the cybersecurity agenda/Wayne Loveless/Al Arabiya/ April
18/18
Will Trump fire John Kelly/Ahmad al-Farraj/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
Let Turkish Scholars Speak: See What Islamism Is About/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone
Institute/April 18/18
Hamas "Press Office": Truth Finishes Last/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone
Institute/April 18/18
Germany: Crackdown on Middle Eastern Crime Families/"The state must destroy
the clan structures./Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 18/18
Iran's Real Enemy in Syria/The Atlantic/Karim Sadjadpour/April 1818
Titles For Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on April 18-19/18
What Happened in Beirut On April 18,
1983?
Hezbollah's War Of Wards Telegraphs Iran's Message To Jerusalem
President Signs Budget Law, Refers Controversial Clause Back to Parliament
Aoun: Repatriation of Displaced Helps Social Stability
US Gen. Votel Expected in Beirut Current Week
Ruling Authority Seeking to Replace Constitutional Council Members Before
electione
Kataeb's Deputy-President Salim Sayegh: Kataeb Party to Face Naturalization
Scheme Once Again
Mashnouq, Bassil Say Expatriate Voting Most Important Reformist Item in
Election Law
500 Syrian Refugees in Lebanon to Return to Syria
Election Fever Hits Lebanon, Nine Years since Last Legislative Vote
Electoral Clash Escalates into Gunfire in Dinniyeh
Lebanon: Jreissati Calls on STL President to Speed Up Trials
Mother Kills Daughter in Khalde over 'Family Honor'
Record Women Candidates in Lebanon Vote, but You Can't Tell from TV
Titles For Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 18-19/18
Revealed: Israel
'Struck Advanced Iranian Air-defense System' in Syria
Israel Releases Maps, Photos of Iranian Military Locations in Syria
Israeli PM Announces More Countries to Relocate Embassies to Jerusalem
UAE forces capture Iranian drone loaded with explosives in Yemen
Trump on Israel: We Have No Better Friends Anywhere
Pentagon Denies Mattis Wanted Congress to Approve Syria Strike
Syria Chemical Probe Mission on Hold amid Security Fears
UN Praises Riyadh Effort to Fight Terrorism
Saudi King meets with top Vatican cardinal for inter-religious dialogue
Gargash: Iran continues to publish false news against UAE, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Renews Offer to Deploy Troops to Syria
Ahead of Summit, CIA Chief Secretly Meets with NKorea's Kim
Trump Confirms CIA Chief Met Kim Jong Un in North Korea
Inspectors Enter Douma amid Fears of Tampering with Chemical Evidence
Syria Regime Forces Shell Damascus Jihadist Bastion
More than 300 Sentenced to Death in Iraq for IS Links
Egypt Army Says Killed Jihadist Leader in Sinai
Five Palestinians Injured by Israeli Fire near Gaza Border
Former US First Lady Barbara Bush Dies at 92
Diaz-Canel Sole Candidate to Succeed Cuba's Castro
U.N. Security Council Postpones Visit to Iraq
Latest
Lebanese Related News published on April 18-19/18
What Happened On April 18, 1983??
Walid Phares/Face Book/April 18/18
On April 18, 1983, a Hezbollah suicide bomber detonated 1/2 ton pickup truck
laden with 2,000 pounds of TNT in front of the U.S Embassy Beirut, Lebanon,
killing 63 people including 17 Americans. I've seen the destruction myself.
It won't be forgotten. Justice should be served.
*Reports from civil society and opposition in Lebanon reflects different
realities & assessments than those reported by the panel. Hopefully the
subcommittee would widen the scope of the hearings 4 the US public to get
the full picture
Hezbollah's War Of Wards Telegraphs Iran's Message To Jerusalem
Jerusalem
Post/April 18/18
Israel and Iran are in “direct confrontation,” Naim al-Qassem, Hezbollah’s
deputy secretary-general, warned on Tuesday. His comments should be
interpreted as a message to Jerusalem that the gloves are coming off in
Tehran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is angry about alleged
Israeli strikes on Iranian assets in Syria.
The strike on the T4 air base on April 9 was a blow to Iran, more than just
an attempt to do what some Israeli experts have called “mowing the grass” to
reduce threats. Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shamir argued in a 2014 paper that
“Israel’s strategy in the 21st century against hostile non-state groups,
reflects the assumption that Israel finds itself in a protracted intractable
conflict.” Use of force is designed to weaken the enemy, not to achieve
“impossible political goals.” An impossible goal would be to remove Iran
entirely from Syria.
Why send the Hezbollah messenger? Because Tehran prefers to send mixed
messages as part of its strategy. “Israel is trying to draw lines, limiting
the ‘resistance axis’ and its freedom of action,” Qassem said. He claimed,
as Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has in the past, that Israel does not
want a real war. Hezbollah claims that its and the rest of Iran’s proxies
and “axis of resistance’s” freedom of action will not be curtailed by
Israel. Iran is still mourning the seven IRGC soldiers killed the air strike
on its T4 base in Syria, including Col. Mehdi Dehgan, who led its drone
unit. We know now that the February attempt by Iran to fly a drone into
Israel was a greater threat than previously reported. It was armed with
explosives and, according to reports, not meant to merely test or harass.
Iranian regime media is playing up the Hezbollah comments. Press TV and Fars
News both have it on their homepages, claiming “Israel won’t be allowed to
set rules of engagement in Syria.” Press TV also is attempting to highlight
Israel’s alleged violation of Syrian airspace and flouting Russian air
defense in Syria, by claiming that Israel has said it will not have its
actions limited in Syria.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi said on Monday that “sooner
or later” Tehran will respond to Israel’s “hostile policies.”Should all this
be believed? Hezbollah keeps saying that Israel does not want a real war.
Hezbollah says that limits must be set on Israel’s actions. Tehran reports
that Hezbollah wants those limits put into place. It almost seems like each
one is passing the buck to the other, hoping to goad the other into taking
action. And if not Hezbollah or Tehran, then they want to encourage Russia
to do something in Syria to curtail what they claim is Israel’s impunity.
President Signs Budget Law, Refers
Controversial Clause Back to Parliament
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 18th April 2018/President Michel
Aoun on Wednesday signed the 2018 budget law, but ordered that the Article
49, which grants a temporary residency for foreign nationals who buy
properties in Lebanon, be referred back to the Parliament for a revision. In
a statement issued by his media office, Aoun said that he will be sending
the Parliament a letter in which he will elaborate on the reasons why this
clause should be re-examined. Kataeb leader Samy Gemayel was the first to
sound the alarm over said clause given that it will indirectly lead to the
naturalization of Syrian and Palestinian refugees who will be entitled to
claim Lebanon's citizenship after a certain period of holding a residency in
the country. The controversial article allows any foreign national who
acquires a real estate, starting at around $500,000 inside Beirut and
$330,000 elsewhere, to obtain a Lebanese residency. Gemayel also criticized
the amended version of the clause in which a "permanent" residency was
replaced with a "temporary" one with a validity that extends throughout the
ownership period. "This is absurd! Anyone can buy an apartment and keep it
for life. That would mean that the buyer would practically have a permanent
residency because he will most likely keep owning the apartment he bought,"
Gemayel told journalists earlier this month. "A temporary residency should
be given for a definite period of time. By linking it to the ownership
period, it becomes a permanent residency."
Aoun: Repatriation of Displaced Helps Social Stability
Naharnet/April 18/18/As hundreds of Syrian refugees left
Lebanon returning back to safe zones in Syria, President Michel Aoun said
the return of displaced people “contributes to Lebanon’s social stability,”
the Presidency media office said on Twitter on Wednesday. “The return of
displaced people contributes to return of stability. We rely on
international assistance, especially American assistance to achieve this,”
he was quoted as saying. On Wednesday, 500 displaced Syrians were
voluntarily repatriated from Lebanon’s southern towns of Shebaa and Hasbya
back to Syria. On the other hand, Aoun said that “Israel is pressing other
religions to evacuate holy sites. Pressure will increase if the US embassy
is moved to Jerusalem.”
US Gen. Votel Expected in Beirut Current Week
Naharnet/April 18/18/Gen. Joseph Votel, head of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM),
is expected to arrive in Beirut on Friday leading a “large” delegation of
senior aides, al-Joumhouria daily reported Wednesday. Votel’s visit carries
a “special significance,” and comes after the Rome II conference that was
held on March 14 and 15, dedicated to strengthening the capabilities of the
Lebanese army, security and military services, said the daily. The visit
also comes after the US-French-British triple strikes on Syria, it added.
Votel is expected to meet with senior Lebanese officials, including the army
chief, to assess developments in the region and discuss ways to enhance
cooperation between the regional leadership and Lebanon.
Ruling Authority Seeking to Replace Constitutional
Council Members Before electione
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 18th April 2018/The
ruling authority is set to engage in a new scandal as Foreign Minister
Gebran Bassil brought up the issue of appointing new members of the
Constitutional Council, claiming that this must take place before the
parliamentary polls. It is worth noting that the Constitutional Council
consists of ten members, of whom half are appointed by the Parliament with
an absolute majority while the others are named by the government with a
two-third majority. Many observers have cautioned against such a step,
deeming it as suspicious given that it can be regarded as a way to
intimidate and pressure the council members. "At the present time, it is
unacceptable to make any appointments that are related to the polls. When a
ruling authority, which is totally involved in the elections, appoints new
members of the Constitutional Council that will later look into the
election-related challenges, that means that it is making sure that said
body is catered to meet its interests," sources told Al-Joumhouria
newspaper. Former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi told the newspaper that such
a move would prove that the ruling authority is using power to serve its own
interests, adding that all the red lines are being crossed when it comes to
the transparency and democracy of the elections.
Kataeb's
Deputy-President Salim Sayegh: Kataeb Party to Face Naturalization Scheme
Once Again
Kataeb.org/Wednesday 18th April 2018/Kataeb's Deputy-President Salim Sayegh
on Wednesday affirmed that inequality and the use of state institutions as a
platform for electoral campaigns will not prevent the party from fully
engaging in the elections, assuring that the Kataeb will defend democracy
despite the flawed electoral law and the violations being committed by the
ruling authority. Sayegh warned that casting a blank ballot will only
benefit the ruling authority, adding that voters will have to choose between
electing candidates who will keep the current situation unchanged or
electing those who can bring change. "We cannot pass over to a real state
unless we foil shady deals and eradicate corruption," he said, adding that
voters must remember that Hezbollah has been hijacking the state's
decision-making power, encroaching on sovereignty and linking Lebanon to
regional axes. Sayegh stressed that the Kataeb party will face the Article
49 of the budget "with all the available democratic means", affirming that
it will confront naturalization schemes as it did once with the Palestinian
refugees. "The party which paid the lives of 6,000 martyrs as a price so
that Jounieh would not be turned into Haifa is not seeking the permission of
anyone. We consider the Palestinian cause to be sacred in Palestine. They
have no rights in Lebanon, except for those agreed on.""Those who will sign
the budget law must realize well what their signature would mean," he said,
warning that said clause will eventually foment sedition, disrupt stability
and alter Lebanon's identity.Sayegh dismissed claims that the Article 49 was
introduced so as to boost the real estate sector in Lebanon, saying that
this is done by enabling the Lebanese themselves to acquire apartments in
their country. "This article was tailored to meet the interests of refugees,
not European nationals who don't care about buying apartments in Lebanon,"
he added, warning that global NGOs might start granting refugees soft loans
to acquire houses in Lebanon. Sayegh deemed the objection voiced by FPM
candidate Chamel Roukoz as a mere electoral "outbidding", calling on the
latter to demand President Aoun to revoke the budget law if he truly means
what he is saying.
Mashnouq, Bassil Say Expatriate Voting Most Important Reformist Item in
Election Law
Naharnet/April 18/18/Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq said in a joint
press conference held with Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, that "the most
important reformist item that is totally undisputable in the new election
law is the Lebanese expatriates voting from abroad.”"This reformist clause
has all the security and moral conditions to ensure proper, flawless
balloting from abroad," he said, applauding “Bassil and his team's efforts
to make expatriates voting happen.”For his part, Bassil explained that "the
authority in charge of implementing the law regarding expatriates' voting is
the Ministry of Interior,” assuring constant coordination between the two
ministries in that regard. Bassil said all electoral details and lists are
now available through the ministries of interior and foreign and on their
respective websites. Lebanon will stage its general elections on May 6 based
on a proportional representation system in 15 electoral districts. Across
the country, 917 candidates are running on 77 lists. In the past, voters
could individually pick candidates for each seat in their district. Under
the new law, they choose among the lists, but can also cast an extra
preferential vote for a specific candidate. The law replaces a majoritarian
system with a proportional one and allows Lebanese expatriates to vote
abroad for the first time -- some 82,000 have registered to do so.
500 Syrian Refugees in Lebanon to Return to Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Several hundred displaced Syrians
have gathered early on Wednesday at the southern edge of Shebaa town,
waiting for buses that will take them back to Syrian towns of Beit Jinn and
Mazraat Bit jin, the National News Agency reported. NNA said, 500 displaced
people of different ages, have decided to return voluntarily. Al-Joumhouria
daily reported that around 500 Syrian refugees will be evacuated, through
the Masnaa border crossing in Lebanon's eastern Bekaa valley, from Lebanon’s
southern towns of Shebaa and Hasbaya to “safe zones in Syria.”The
repatriation was directly coordinated between the Syrian authorities and
refugees themselves, in a first where Syrian refugees move from Lebanon to
safe areas in Syria, said the daily. Sources following up on the eviction
said it’s a “direct reflection of al-Ghouta battle, now that the surrounding
area is safe and stable. It is a prelude to a series of successive
operations under a Syrian-Syrian coordination, and has nothing to do with
the Lebanese government.”The UNHCR has made direct contacts with the
displaced persons making sure their return is voluntary of their own accord.
Lebanon’s General Security Service will supervise the transfer, said the
daily, and will check their identity papers and accompany them with
logistical and security measures. In a country of four million Lebanese
nationals, the Government of Lebanon has estimated that there are 1.5
million Syrian refugees, in addition to more than 280,000 Palestine
refugees.
Election Fever Hits Lebanon, Nine Years since Last Legislative Vote
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/As its first parliamentary vote in
nearly a decade approaches, Lebanon has been swept into campaign fever:
posters on every corner, televised debates, and neighbours bickering over
new electoral procedures. Stakes are high in the long-awaited May 6 poll,
the first test of Lebanon's 2017 voting law, that will carve out the
country's political and economic trajectory for years to come. Voters and
candidates alike are eager for polling to start, nearly ten years after the
last parliamentary elections in June 2009. The 128 lawmakers elected back
then have extended their mandate three times, citing potential spillover
from the war in neighbouring Syria and an unsatisfactory voting law. But
after years of deadlock, Lebanon's politicians agreed to elect a president,
form a government and move towards a complex new ballot system, paving the
way for next month's historic vote. "It's a new electoral experience for
Lebanon," said Imad Salame, a professor of political science at Beirut's
Lebanese American University.
The next parliament will select Lebanon's future prime minister and
legislate on major social and economic issues, while attempting to keep
sectarian tensions in check. "The stakes in this election are quite high due
to the delicate balance of power between the different sectarian groups in
the country," Salame said.
The country of just over four million is governed by a power-sharing
agreement that leaves little to chance, with parliament equally divided
between Muslims and Christians then further split among different sects. -
Lebanon 'needs change' -But the new electoral system, the frustration of
young voters and the candidacy of scores of independents have sparked hope
for something different. "This country needs a change. I've been complaining
about it for years, so not doing anything is not a solution," said Ingrid
Hag, 25. The communications consultant, who will be casting her ballot for
the first time, said she had yet to decide how she will vote, but wants a
government that cares about environmental issues, women's rights and
reliable public services. Across the country, 917 candidates are running on
77 lists, launching their campaigns with Oscars-style ceremonies and huge
billboards dominating highways.
In every neighbourhood, images of the incumbent political elite, like Prime
Minister Saad Hariri, stare down first-time hopefuls.
Television channels are offering candidates pricey media packages for up to
$6,000 per minute of airtime and have launched slick shows to explain the
new ballot-casting process. In the past, voters could individually pick
candidates for each seat in their district. Under the new law, they choose
among the lists, but can also cast an extra preferential vote for a specific
candidate. The law replaces a majoritarian system with a proportional one
and allows Lebanese expatriates to vote abroad for the first time -- some
82,000 have registered to do so.
'Pragmatic' list-making -The new list system has further ruptured Lebanon's
bipolar political class, long split between the pro-Iran March 8 and
pro-Saudi March 14 alliances. Now parties are being "pragmatic," said
Salamey, reaching across the aisle to form mutually-beneficial electoral
blocs in some districts whilst opposing each other elsewhere. "It's based on
each candidate, how many votes he or she can get to the list and accordingly
alliances are formulated," he said. The only party not to ally with rivals
is the powerful Tehran-backed Hezbollah, popular across Lebanon's south and
centre but considered a "terror" group by the US. "From a western
perspective, there is a concern that Hezbollah may sweep electoral seats and
turn the balance in its favour, making any government to be formed after the
election a 'Hezbollah' government," said Salamey. But the new law has also
prompted candidates outside Lebanon's traditional political class to join
forces, and attracted a record number of women -- including writer and
activist Joumana Haddad. Running on the Libaladi (For My Country) list,
Haddad pledges to end religion's influence on issues like marriage and
inheritance. "With the civil status law, there will be more justice, less
sectarianism and more equality," she told AFP. "This new electoral law,
despite its many flaws, allows a tiny percentage of independents to get to
the parliament. This is the tiny percentage we are trying to work on," said
Haddad, 47. That unpredictability unsettles Ibrahim Saleh, a former cleric
who votes in the fiercely contested northern city of Tripoli. "Voters in
general just don't get the new law. Half of Tripoli's voters are totally
confused and could throw everything off," he told AFP. Candidates in
Lebanon's north include Sunni millionaires, an all-female list and
ex-military figures.
"There's no guaranteed result in these elections. I'm really afraid of
instability," Saleh said.
Electoral Clash Escalates into Gunfire in Dinniyeh
Naharnet/April 18/18/An elections-related clash escalated into gunfire
Tuesday in the northern town of Bakhoun in the Dinniyeh district. “A clash
broke out between young men in Bakhoun's al-Saa Square in connection with
the hanging and removal of candidates' posters,” the National News Agency
said. “Gunshots were fired into the air during the incident and the army has
since intervened to contain the situation,” NNA added. LBCI television
meanwhile reported that the clash pitted supporters of al-Mustaqbal Movement
and ex-MP Jihad al-Samad and that no casualties were reported. Al-Samad is
running on a list led by ex-minister Faisal Karami in the Tripoli-Minieh-Dinniyeh
electoral district.
Lebanon: Jreissati Calls on STL President to Speed Up Trials
Beirut- Asharq Al Awsat/Wednesday, 18 April, 2018/Lebanese
Justice Minister Salim Jreissati called on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon
(STL) to accelerate its work in order to reach the truth about former Prime
Minister Rafik Hariri’s assassination. Jreissati met on Tuesday with the STL
president, Ivana Hrdličková, who was heading a judicial and administrative
delegation from the tribunal. According to available information, STL
Prosecutor Norman Farrell filed a new indictment for the crimes against
Georges Hawi, Marwan Hamadeh and Elias al-Murr. Farrell reportedly accused
new Hezbollah officials, other than the five members of the party, who are
being tried in absentia for the assassination of Hariri. “Time is gold and
the Tribunal has got to move forward; its harmonious work must prevail;
which does not seem imminent,” Jreissati said following the meeting. The
justice minister, on the other hand, stressed that the meeting with
Hrdličková was very productive, highlighting strong cooperation between the
STL and the Lebanese government. Last month, the Registrar of the STL, Daryl
Mundis met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri during a working visit
to Beirut and discussed various matters related to the work of the Tribunal.
He also met with the Prosecutor General Samir Hammoud and members of the
diplomatic community in Lebanon.
Mother Kills Daughter
in Khalde over 'Family Honor'
Naharnet/April 18/18/A young Syrian woman has been murdered by her mother in
Khalde in an “honor killing” incident, the Internal Security Forces said on
Wednesday. “At 10:00 pm Tuesday, the Aramoun police station received a phone
call about a homicide inside a house in the Talaat Abu Dib street in Khalde,”
the ISF said in a statement. “A patrol from the station immediately headed
to the location and found the body of 19-year-old Syrian woman Th.H. Her
mother H.H., a 38-year-old Syrian, was sitting near the bed in a state of
confusion,” the statement added. During interrogation, the mother confessed
to killing her daughter over “family reasons related to honor,” the ISF
said. “She strangled her with her hands, electrocuted her and placed a
pillow on her face,” the ISF explained. An investigation has since been
launched under the supervision of the relevant judicial authorities.
Record Women Candidates in Lebanon Vote, but You
Can't Tell from TV
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/A
record number of women are running in Lebanon's upcoming parliamentary
elections, but they are getting much less television air time than their
male counterparts, a media monitor has said. A total of 86 women are seeking
legislative office in Lebanon's May 6 vote, out of 597 candidates. A study
by Maharat, a media monitor now closely following the elections, found
television coverage of the elections rarely includes female candidates. From
March 26 until April 8, it monitored talk shows, live programming, and news
broadcasts, and one-on-one interviews on local television stations. Female
candidates were featured as guests just 5.89% percent of the time, Maharat
said, although they make up almost 15% of the candidates. The vote will be
Lebanon's first in nine years, after the parliament formed in 2009 extended
its mandate three times, citing security concerns and an unsatisfactory
electoral law. The 128-member body agreed on a new voting system last year,
paving the way for next month's elections. "The electoral law guarantees
fair competition between the male and female candidates and says they could
be granted equal opportunity," said Tony Mikhael, who heads Maharat's media
monitoring team. Media organizations, he said, "should support gender
equality and give women the same opportunities to put themselves forward as
candidates."The country's media outlets have been providing round-the-clock
coverage of Lebanon's elections, but Maharat says that comes with a price.
The organization has noted that outlets are charging candidates thousands of
dollars for air time and even more for interviews. Many candidates,
particularly those coming from outside Lebanon's traditional political
elite, say they cannot afford to pay for television coverage. Of the 86
women running, only 12 hail from Lebanon's conventional political parties.
One party, Hizbullah, refused to put forward any female candidates. "We in
Hizbullah don't have women for this job," said the group's head Sayyed
Hassan Nasrallah in a televised speech in January. The 86 women candidates
represent a more than seven-fold increase in female representation compared
with the 2009 vote, when just 12 women ran for office.
Latest LCCC
Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on April 18-19/18
Revealed: Israel 'Struck Advanced Iranian Air-defense System' in Syria
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/63965
Haaretz/April/ 18, 2018/
According to Wall Street Journal report, attack
drones weren't the only target - Netanyahu conferred with Trump before
ordering strike on Tor missile system at T4 base in Syria. The Israeli
military targeted an advanced Iranian air-defense system at the T4 base in
Syria last week and not just attack drone deployment, the Wall Street
Journal reported Wednesday. The report noted that Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu ordered the strike after conferring with U.S. President Donald
Trump, in hopes of preventing Iran from using the anti-aircraft battery
against Israeli jets carrying out strikes in Syria. Haaretz previously
reported that the strike apparently targeted armaments aside from the
drones, which could have reduced the Israel Air Force's freedom of operation
in Syrian airspace. Earlier this week, a senior Israeli military
official admitted to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that Israel
targeted T4, adding that "it was the first time we attacked live Iranian
targets - both facilities and people." According to the Wall Street Journal,
Iran began bolstering air defenses following an escalation triggered by Iran
sending an armed drone into Israeli airspace. Israel shot down the drone and
retaliated with strikes in Syria, during which an Israeli F-16 war plane was
downed. The Israeli official told the New York Times that the incident
"opened a new period," adding that "this is the first time we saw Iran do
something against Israel - not by proxy." The Wall Street Journal reported
that Israel tracked an Iranian plane flying a Tor missile system from Tehran
to T4 following the flare-up. The report notes that Israel moved quickly to
destory Iran's new defense system before it could be set up, citing
intelligence officials. Seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards' Quds Force
members, including drone unit commander Colonel Mehdi Dehgan, were killed in
the strikes on T4.
Israel Releases Maps,
Photos of Iranian Military Locations in Syria
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/63965
Asharq Al Awsat/Ramallah - Kifah Ziboun/Wednesday,
18 April, 2018
The Israeli military released on Tuesday
maps and aerial footage of Iranian military positions in Syria, in what was
interpreted as a new Israeli threat against Tehran. The release of the
images came at a time when Iran was preparing for an anticipated retaliation
to Israel strikes against Syria’s T-4 airbase in Homs last week. The strike
left 14 people dead, including seven Iranians. Israel accused Tehran of
taking up base in Syria and seeking all possible efforts to entrench itself
there. “Iran is transferring to Syria several combat methods under the
pretense of delivering humanitarian aid,” said an Israeli military official.
The air force linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards has since 2015 been
carrying out routine flights to Syria, he continued. Tehran is focusing in
particular on air power in order to be able to directly confront Israel in
case of an escalation, similar to what happened two months ago, he
explained. In February, Israel downed an Iranian drone after it had
infiltrated its airspace. Israel said last week that the aircraft was loaded
with explosives and ready to carry out an attack against it. The images
released by the Israeli military showed Iranian bases and airports in
Aleppo, Deir al-Zour and Damascus. Iranian Revolutionary Guards and Russian
aircraft are present at these facilities, said the army. They are dedicated
to delivering rockets and ammunition to the Lebanese “Hezbollah” group, as
well as launching drones operated by the Guards. Israel acknowledged on
Monday that it had carried out the T-4 airbase strike, saying it was in
retaliation to the February drone incident. Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor
Lieberman said on Monday: "We will not tolerate a significant Iranian
military force in Syria in the form of military ports and airports or the
deployment of sophisticated weaponry.”"We will maintain total freedom of
action. We will not accept any limitation when it comes to the defense of
our security interests,” he warned.
Israeli PM Announces More Countries to Relocate
Embassies to Jerusalem
Ramallah - Kifah Ziboun/Wednesday, 18 April, 2018/Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu said more countries will relocate their embassies to
Jerusalem, noting that the US embassy would be open within weeks. “Relations
with the US have resulted in an unprecedented diplomatic achievement, which
comes in the form of an official recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of
Israel,” he said on Tuesday in a speech during a ceremony held by the
Israeli Foreign Ministry to honor diplomats. “We will meet in this
particular place after several weeks to host visitors on the occasion of the
opening of the US Embassy in Jerusalem; not to mention the announcement of
other countries to transfer their embassies to our capital,” he added.
Netanyahu went on to say: “We have won political sovereignty with the
support of the international community; we have been recognized by most of
the world, and we have successfully confronted those who sought to isolate
us. Today, we are making Israel a rising world power.”The prime minister’s
remarks came as Israelis prepare to celebrate “independence day”, which also
marks the Palestinian Nakba. Last week, the parliament of Honduras approved
the transfer of its embassy from Tel Aviv to the occupied city of Jerusalem
and referred the plan to the government. The parliament’s decision came at a
time when Palestinians are calling on the US to go back on its decision to
recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Israel hosted 40 ambassadors
to the United Nations on the eve of its celebrations, which begin on
Thursday. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry described the hosting of UN
ambassadors as a major misinformation campaign. “The Occupation state
continues to carry out misleading campaigns and falsify the facts among
international public opinion and officials, in order to conceal its grave
violations of international law and its crimes against our people, land,
property and sanctities,” the ministry said in a statement.
UAE forces capture Iranian drone loaded with
explosives in Yemen
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 18 April 2018/The anti-aircraft
defense unit of UAE’s armed forces was able to discover and control an
Iranian-made Qusaf-1 aircraft loaded with explosives trying to sneak into
positions close to Yemeni forces loyal to legitimacy and supported by the
Arab coalition forces on the western coast of Yemen. During the examination
of the aircraft, the competent teams on the ground discovered a large
quantity of explosive material intended to be used against targets in Yemen.
“The Arab coalition has continued to address these Iranian capabilities
which pose a direct threat not only to the Yemeni forces and people, but
also threaten the freedom of shipping routes in the Red Sea in the same way
that it threatens civilian installations,” a statement on UAE state agency
WAM read.
Trump on Israel: We Have No Better Friends Anywhere
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 18/18/U.S. President Donald
Trump on Wednesday sent his “best wishes” to Israelis and Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel marked 70 years since its creation. “Best
wishes to Prime Minister @Netanyahu and all of the people of Israel on the
70th Anniversary of your Great Independence. We have no better friends
anywhere,” Trump tweeted. He also announced that he is “looking forward” to
moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem “next month.”Trump
overturned decades of U.S. policy last year by announcing the U.S. would
move its embassy to Jerusalem. The controversial step has infuriated the
Palestinians, who claim part of Jerusalem for the capital of a future state
and have now rejected U.S. mediation in efforts to resume long-stalled peace
talks with Israel.
Pentagon Denies Mattis Wanted Congress to Approve Syria
Strike
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/The Pentagon on Wednesday denied a
report that President Donald Trump had rebuffed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis
after the Pentagon chief urged him to seek congressional approval for last
week's air strikes in Syria. Citing anonymous military and administration
officials, the New York Times said Mattis had pushed Trump to get a green
light from Congress ahead of launching last Friday's cruise missile barrage
against three targets the Pentagon said were tied to Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad's chemical weapons program. According to the Times, Mattis met with
Trump in a series of meetings and pushed him to get congressional
authorization, stressing the need to link military operations to public
support. But in a short statement, Pentagon spokeswoman Dana White's office
said the article's claim about Mattis pushing Trump for congressional
approval is "blatantly false."
A Pentagon official told AFP that there was no debate, and that "everyone"
agreed Trump had the authority needed to launch the strikes. Chemical
weapons inspectors are waiting to go into Douma, near Damascus, to probe
allegations of a chemical gas attack on April 7. The following day, Trump
tweeted there would be a "big price to pay" after a "mindless CHEMICAL
attack" and later promised missiles would be coming. His remarks virtually
ensured a speedy response to the alleged chemical attack, even though many
U.S. lawmakers have expressed reservations over further military engagement
in Syria unless Trump can articulate a long-term strategy for the country.
Syria Chemical Probe Mission on Hold amid Security
Fears
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/The world's chemical arms watchdog
froze its probe into an alleged chemical attack near Damascus Wednesday,
demanding "unhindered access" after a U.N. reconnaissance mission came under
fire. Four days after reaching the Syrian capital, OPCW inspectors had yet
to begin their field work in Douma, where dozens were killed in a reported
gas attack widely blamed on Syria's government. The Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said its fact-finding mission (FFM) would
stay put in Damascus if its safety was not guaranteed.
Officers from the U.N. security agency (UNDSS) went on a reconnaissance
mission Tuesday to Douma, a town that was controlled by rebels until
Russian-backed regime forces fully retook it last week. At one of two
visited sites, "the team came under small arms fire and an explosive was
detonated," Ahmet Uzumcu, the chief of the Netherlands-based OPCW, said in a
statement. He did not specify who might have opened fire on the UN
reconnaissance mission on Tuesday, nor did any other official. Uzumcu said
he would only consider deploying the team to Douma with UNDSS approval and
if the inspectors had "unhindered access to the sites". "This incident again
highlights the highly volatile environment in which the FFM is having to
work and the security risks our staff are facing," he said. Uzumcu had
earlier said Syrian authorities had offered the OPCW interviews with "22
witnesses who could be brought to Damascus" while security issues were
worked out.Syria's U.N. ambassador Bashar Jaafari told the Security Council
on Tuesday that the OPCW experts would begin their investigation once they
received the all-clear from the U.N. security team. "If this United Nations
security team decides that the situation is sound in Douma, then the
fact-finding mission will begin its work in Douma tomorrow," Jaafari said.
Mission in limbo
Holdout fighters from the Islamist group Jaish al-Islam said an April 7
attack by the regime was carried out with chemical munitions and forced them
to accept a transfer deal. That dashed their hopes of an agreement to remain
in Douma and ended a six-year opposition presence in Eastern Ghouta, a
semi-rural area within mortar range of central Damascus. The alleged
chemical attack, grisly footage of which shocked the world, prompted a
coordinated wave of unprecedented missile strikes by the United States,
France and Britain against regime targets. Syria's ally Russia was given
prior notice and the missiles struck mostly empty buildings, in what many
analysts saw as a hollow move that allowed all sides to save face. The
strikes were conducted on the day the OPCW inspectors arrived in the country
with a mandate to determine the circumstances of the alleged chemical
attack. Damascus invited the mission and has consistently denied using
chemical arms that day. Moscow has relentlessly accused the West and medics
in Douma of staging the attack. Now the future of the mission launched by
the OPCW, which won the Nobel Peace Prize during earlier efforts to destroy
Syria's chemical stockpile, looked more uncertain than ever. "At present, we
do not know when the FFM team can be deployed to Douma," the OPCW chief
said. Western ambassadors to the organization accused the Syrian regime of
obstructing the mission. Several experts have said it was likely that the
Russian and Syrian forces that have controlled Douma over the past week have
tried to remove or tampered with any incriminating evidence.
Burial site
The head of the Syrian Civil Defense organization, known as the "White
Helmets", said he was working closely with the inspectors. "We provided
information on the burial place of those killed in the chemical attack,"
Raed Saleh told AFP. Another member of the White Helmets, whose volunteers
were first responders during the deadly two-month bombardment of Eastern
Ghouta, said he was concerned inspectors would not be able to conduct their
investigation. "The regime is hiding all the evidence. It is essential they
(the inspectors) visit the site of the attack -- all the evidence is there.
Everything else is secondary," he said. "That is where we buried everyone
who died in the chemical attack and other bombing," he added. Wresting back
the Eastern Ghouta opposition stronghold on the doorstep of Damascus had
been a priority for the resurgent regime of President Bashar al-Assad. His
forces and their allies are now focusing on neighborhoods of southern
Damascus still controlled by the Islamic State jihadist group. Regime forces
on Wednesday shelled the Yarmuk neighborhood, which hosts what used to be
the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, for the second day running.
UN Praises Riyadh Effort to Fight Terrorism
Riyadh- Abdul Hadi Habtoor/Wednesday, 18 April, 2018/The United Nations
Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, expressed his thanks and appreciation
to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its generous support to the international
organization and its strenuous efforts to fight terrorism. Guterres was
speaking at the sixteenth meeting of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism
Center Advisory Board in Riyadh on Tuesday. “I want to express my deep
gratitude to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its generous support to the
United Nations Counter-Terrorism Center, a support without which the Centre
would probably never have been able to be born,” he said. The UN
Secretary-General noted that the meeting was an opportunity to look at means
to enhance the center’s capacity-building assistance to Member States to
counter the evolving threat of terrorism. Guterres said that while military
and security measures against terrorism were essential, “the underlying
conditions that are conducive to young men and women being lured by
terrorism and violent extremism” must be addressed. “No one is born a
terrorist, and nothing justifies terrorism, but we know that factors such as
prolonged unresolved conflicts, lack of the rule of law and socioeconomic
marginalization can all play a role in transforming grievances into
destructive action,” he stated. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
underlined the role assumed by his country in countering terrorism and
drying up its financial sources, pointing out that Saudi Arabia was a key
partner of the UN and the international community in this fight at all
levels. “Saudi Arabia is a major partner of the United Nations and the
international community in the fight against terrorism at all levels. My
country has contributed to the efforts and financing of many
counter-terrorism initiatives worldwide, the most recent of which is an
assistance worth 100 million Euros to combat terrorism in the Sahel
countries in Africa; it has also established the Islamic alliance to combat
extremism and terrorism, which includes more than 40 countries and is based
in Riyadh,” Jubeir said. “The Kingdom continues to play an active role in
the international coalition against ISIS,” he added.
Saudi King meets with top Vatican cardinal for
inter-religious dialogue
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 18 April 2018/Saudi Arabia’s
King Salman bin Abdulaziz received at al-Yamamah palace the President of the
Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Vatican State,
Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran and his accompanying delegation. During
the meeting on Wednesday, the importance of the role of followers of
religions and cultures in renouncing violence, extremism, terrorism and
achieving security and stability in the world was emphasized. It was
attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Minister of
Interior, Secretary General of the Muslim World League Dr. Mohammed bin
Abdul Kareem Al-Isa and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir and a
number of officials.
Gargash: Iran continues to publish false news against UAE, Saudi Arabia
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Wednesday, 18 April 2018/The UAE’s Minister
for Foreign Affairs, Anwar al-Gargash, said on Wednesday that “false news
against the UAE and Saudi Arabia continue to surface from Iranian
sources.”Making the statement via his personal twitter handle, Gargash said:
“Such news emanate from places such as the FARS news agency or other
newspapers.”On the phenomenon of false news, the minister said: “Let us
always corroborate the source to realize the magnitude of the corrupted
campaign against us.”
Saudi Renews Offer to Deploy Troops to Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir
reaffirmed on Tuesday the kingdom's willingness to deploy troops to Syria as
part of US-led efforts to stabilise the conflict-torn country."We are in discussions with the US and have been since the beginning of the
Syrian crisis (in 2011) about sending forces into Syria," Jubeir said at a
press conference in Riyadh with UN chief Antonio Guterres. The comments were
in response to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday that US President
Donald Trump's administration was seeking to assemble an Arab force,
including troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to replace
a US military contingent in Syria. The report follows weekend strikes by the
United States, Britain and France against Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad's
government that hit targets they said were linked to a state chemical
weapons programme.
Jubeir emphasised that the proposal to send its troops as part of a broader
international coalition was "not new". "We made a proposal to the (previous
US) Obama administration that if the US were to send forces... then Saudi
Arabia would consider along with other countries sending forces as part of
this contingent," he said. Before the weekend's Western strikes, Saudi Crown
Prince Mohammed bin Salman had indicated that the kingdom would back an
international military action in Syria. Guterres, who also met Saudi King
Salman on Tuesday, emphasised the need for a political solution in Syria,
free of foreign interference. Syria's war, the most tangled of the region's
conflicts, is a key point of contention pitting Riyadh and its allies, who
mainly back Sunni Muslim rebels, against regime backer Iran and its Lebanese
ally Hezbollah. Riyadh and Shiite rival Tehran also back opposing sides in
other hotspots across the mainly Sunni Middle East, including Lebanon, Iraq
and Saudi Arabia's southern neighbour, Yemen.
Ahead of Summit, CIA Chief Secretly Meets with NKorea's Kim
Associated Press/Naharnet/April 18/18/CIA Director Mike Pompeo recently
traveled to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un, a highly unusual,
secret visit undertaken as the enemy nations prepared for a meeting between
President Donald Trump and Kim within the next few months.
Two officials confirmed the trip to The Associated Press on Tuesday. The
officials were not authorized to discuss the visit publicly and spoke on
condition of anonymity. The Washington Post, which first reported Pompeo's
meeting with Kim, said it took place over Easter weekend — just over two
weeks ago, shortly after the CIA chief was nominated to become secretary of
state.
Trump, who was hosting Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Florida
estate, said the U.S. and North Korea were holding direct talks at
"extremely high levels" in preparation for a possible summit with Kim. He
said five locations were under consideration for the meeting, which was
slated to take place by early June. White House press secretary Sarah
Huckabee Sanders said Trump and Kim had not spoken directly. Kim's offer for
a summit was initially conveyed to Trump by South Korea last month, and the
president shocked many by accepting it. U.S. officials indicated over the
past two weeks that North Korea's government had communicated directly with
Washington that it was ready to discuss its nuclear weapons program.
It would be the first-ever summit between U.S. and North Korea during more
than six decades of hostility since the Korean War. North Korea's nuclear
weapons and its capability to deliver them by ballistic missile pose a
growing threat to the U.S. mainland.
The U.S. and North Korea do not have formal diplomatic relations,
complicating the arrangements for contacts between the two governments. It
is not unprecedented for U.S. intelligence officials to serve as a conduit
for communication with Pyongyang.
In 2014, then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper secretly
visited North Korea to bring back two American detainees.
At his confirmation hearing last week to become secretary of state, Pompeo
played down expectations for a breakthrough deal on ending North Korea's
nuclear weapons at the planned Trump-Kim summit, but he said it could lay
the groundwork for a comprehensive agreement on denuclearization.
"I'm optimistic that the United States government can set the conditions for
that appropriately so that the president and the North Korean leader can
have that conversation and will set us down the course of achieving a
diplomatic outcome that America and the world so desperately need," Pompeo
told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. After a year of escalating
tensions, when North Korea conducted nuclear and long-range missile tests
that drew world condemnation, Kim has pivoted to international outreach.
The young leader met China's President Xi Jinping in Beijing in late March,
Kim's first trip abroad since taking power six years ago. He is set to meet
South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the demilitarized zone between the
rival Koreas on April 27.
Trump Confirms CIA Chief Met Kim Jong Un in North Korea
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/US President Donald Trump
confirmed Wednesday that his CIA director had met North Korean leader Kim
Jong Un on a secret visit to Pyongyang, ahead of a planned summit between
the two leaders. "Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea last week.
Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of
Summit are being worked out now," tweeted Trump. "Denuclearization will be a
great thing for World, but also for North Korea!" he added. The tweet came
after the Washington Post reported Tuesday that Pompeo made the trip over
the first weekend of April. The meeting was part of an effort to prepare for
a historic meeting in the coming weeks between Trump and Kim, the paper
said, quoting two people with direct knowledge of the trip. The visit came
shortly after Pompeo was nominated to be secretary of state, the paper said.
Speaking on Tuesday in Florida where he was hosting Prime Minister Shinzo
Abe of Japan, Trump said he had given his blessing to discussions aimed at
formally ending the Korean war. Setting the stage for a major breakthrough,
he added that "a great chance to solve a world problem" was within reach on
the Korean peninsula. Trump had also confirmed that Washington and Pyongyang
had been in contact at "very high levels" and that "five locations" were
being considered for his meeting with Kim.
Inspectors Enter Douma amid Fears of Tampering
with Chemical Evidence
Paris, New York, Moscow - Michel Abou Najem, Ali Barda and Asharq Al-Awsat/April
18/18/Preparations are underway to extensively discuss the Syrian crisis
during a conclave held by United Nations Security Council 15-member states
with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Stockholm during the upcoming
weekend, revealed diplomatic sources to Asharq Al-Awsat. Russia has
meanwhile rejected to get involved in discussions concerning a new
resolution on Syria, which was spearheaded by France and backed by the US
and the UK. It instead called for an independent investigation into the
Douma chemical weapons attack that prompted cruise missile strikes by the
Western allies on Friday. In Syria, the official news agency SANA reported
that inspectors from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical
Weapons (OPCW) entered Douma. Security sources in the Syrian city told the
German news agency that members of the Fact-Finding Mission entered the town
on Tuesday afternoon under the protection of the Russian military police.
OPCW inspectors first headed to the local hospital where the victims of the
April 7 chemical attack were treated. The sources added that the mission
would stay in Douma for three days to meet and interrogate hospital staff
and to meet the victims of the attack. The French Foreign Ministry said it
is “very likely” that evidence has disappeared from the location of the
poison gas attack, adding it was essential that international inspectors be
given full access to the site where at least 40 people were killed.
Meanwhile, the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations, including the
US, France, Britain and Germany, issued a joint statement early Tuesday in
which they condemned the chemical attack.
Syria Regime Forces Shell Damascus Jihadist Bastion
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Syrian regime forces shelled the
last pockets in Damascus controlled by the Islamic State group, preparing
the ground for a possible assault on the jihadist stronghold, a monitor said
Wednesday.
After fully retaking the Eastern Ghouta region on the edge of the capital,
the Syrian regime has turned its attention to other areas across the country
that still escape its control. Among them are neighbourhoods in southern
Damascus from which many civilians have fled but are still held by IS,
including the Yarmuk area that hosts a Palestinian refugee camp. "Regime
forces shelled several IS positions in Yarmuk camp and Hajar al-Aswad,
killing one person and wounded several others," the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights said. Both sides had traded fire the previous night, the
Britain-based monitor said, causing at least five deaths, most of them
regime soldiers. "The regime is turning up the heat ahead of a big assault
that would break IS's back and force them to evacuate the area," the head of
the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said. IS still has a presence in Yarmuk,
and the neighbouring areas of Hajar al-Aswad, Tadamon and Qadam. Yarmuk used
to be the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Syria, with a population of
160,000, but only a few thousand people remain inside the devastated area.
The Syrian army and its allies have focused their efforts on securing
Damascus lately. They retook full control earlier this month of Eastern
Ghouta, a large semi-rural area to the east of the capital that was held by
rebels for six years.The state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that a
deal had been reached for rebels to quit Dumayr, a town further to the east,
where a reconciliation agreement had kept a security status quo since 2016.
More than 300 Sentenced to Death in Iraq for IS Links
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Iraqi courts have sentenced to
death a total of more than 300 people, including dozens of foreigners, for
belonging to the Islamic State group, judicial sources said Wednesday.
The suspects are being tried by two courts, one near the former jihadist
stronghold of Mosul in northern Iraq and another in Baghdad which is dealing
notably with foreigners and women. Since January in the capital, 103 foreign
nationals have been condemned to death -- including six Turks sentenced on
Wednesday -- and 185 to life in prison, according to a judicial source.
Most of the women sentenced were from Turkey and republics of the former
Soviet Union. In January, an Iraqi court condemned a German woman to death
after finding her guilty of belonging to IS while on Tuesday a French woman
was sentenced to life in prison.
At the court In Tel Keif near Mosul, 212 people have been sentenced to
death, 150 to life in prison and 341 to other jails terms, Supreme Judicial
Council spokesman Abdel Sattar Bayraqdar said in a statement. "It has been
proven that they carried out criminal actions at public hearings conducted
in accordance with the law during which the convicts' rights were
guaranteed," he said. Iraq declared victory in December against IS -- also
known as ISIS -- which at one point controlled a third of the country. On
Monday the justice ministry said 11 people convicted of terrorism-related
charges had been executed in Iraq, which according to New York-based Human
Rights Watch is the world's number four executioner. "These executions
follow rushed trials of ISIS suspects which are riddled with due process
violations, including convictions based solely on confessions which are
sometimes extracted by torture," said HRW senior Iraq researcher Belkis
Wille. "Iraq's mishandling of the ISIS trials not only denies victims real
justice, but also risks sending innocent Iraqis to their deaths."
Egypt Army Says Killed Jihadist Leader in Sinai
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Egypt's military said Wednesday it
had killed a jihadist leader in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Islamic State
group is carrying out an insurgency.
During an operation in mountainous areas, Egyptian forces "killed Nasser Abu
Zaqul, the central Sinai commander of the terrorist group, after significant
exchanges of fire," the army said in a statement. The military said it found
a rifle, two grenades and a large quantity of ammunition with the slain
insurgent leader.
Egypt's army launched a major offensive against the jihadists on February 9
in the northern Sinai Peninsula, in an attempt to neutralise a local branch
of IS.
More than 100 of the rebels and at least 30 government troops have been
killed since the operation, dubbed "Sinai 2018," was launched, according to
official figures. Egypt has been hit by significant militant attacks in
recent years, especially after the army toppled Islamist former president
Mohamed Morsi in the summer of 2013, amid mass protests against his
government. Hundreds of soldiers, police and civilians have been killed in
the attacks. In late November, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi gave three
months for his security forces to re-establish control in Sinai, a deadline
since extended. Sisi secured a second term with an overwhelming victory in a
presidential poll last month with 97.1% of the vote. On Saturday the
president extended a nationwide state of emergency originally declared in
April 2017 by a further three months. It is the fourth extension of the
measure, imposed in the wake of attacks against Coptic Christian churches in
the cities of Tanta and Alexandria, which killed 45 people. A regional state
of emergency has already been in place in Sinai for several years.
Five Palestinians Injured by Israeli Fire near Gaza Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Five Palestinians were injured by
Israeli fire along the Gaza border Wednesday, the health ministry in the
Palestinian enclave said, with tensions high over recent protests and
clashes there. The five were injured by Israeli artillery fire east of Khan
Yunis, the ministry said. It said the men were on a base belonging to the
military wing of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas when they were struck.
The Israeli army confirmed it had fired on five Palestinians it said had
approached the border. In a statement, the army said at least one of the men
was armed. It did not provide details on what type of fire its soldiers
used.
The Gaza border has seen protests and clashes since March 30.
At least 34 Palestinians have been killed and hundreds wounded by Israeli
fire since the protests began. There have been no Israeli casualties. Israel
says it only opens fire when necessary to stop damage to the fence,
infiltrations and attempts at attacks. Palestinians say protesters are being
shot while posing no threat to soldiers, while the European Union and UN
chief Antonio Guterres have called for an independent investigation. Israel
has rejected calls for an independent probe, saying its open-fire rules are
necessary to defend the border. Israel and Hamas have fought three wars
since 2008 and the Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade for more
than a decade.
Former US First Lady Barbara Bush Dies at 92
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 18 April, 2018
Former US first lady Barbara Bush passed away on Tuesday, sparking a stream
of condolences and praise for a figure, who was considered the rock at the
center of one of America's most prominent political families. Barbara, 92,
and George H.W. Bush were married for 73 years, and the widower "of course
is heart-broken to lose his beloved Barbara," his chief of staff Jean Becker
said in a statement. "He held her hand all day today and was at her side
when (she) left this good Earth."The ex-president, who is 93 and has been in
ill health in recent years, is "determined to be there" for his family while
in mourning, Becker added. A funeral is planned Saturday at St. Martin's
Episcopal Church in Houston. Bush will lie in repose Friday at the church
for members of the public who want to pay respects. Saturday's service will
be by invitation only, according to the George Bush Presidential Library
Foundation.
Bush was also survived by five of her children and their spouses, 17
grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and her brother, Scott Pierce. She
was preceded in death by her second child, Robin, who died of leukemia as a
toddler. In honor of Bush's life, President Donald Trump ordered that the US
flag be flown at half-staff until sundown on the day she is buried, at all
public buildings and grounds, as well as military posts and vessels.
She first met her husband-to-be at the age of 16 when she was a schoolgirl
and he was a student at an elite preparatory school in Massachusetts. They
married in 1945 while he was on leave from wartime service as a naval
officer. The couple had six children. As first lady, from 1989 to 1993, she
embraced the cause of universal literacy, and founded a foundation for
family literacy. The wife of the nation's 41st president and mother of the
43rd brought a plainspoken, grandmotherly style to buttoned-down Washington,
displaying an utter lack of vanity about her white hair and wrinkles. "What
you see with me is what you get. I'm not running for president — George Bush
is," she said at the 1988 Republican National Convention, where her husband,
then vice president, was nominated to succeed Ronald Reagan."I had the best
job in America," she wrote in a 1994 memoir describing her time in the White
House. "Every single day was interesting, rewarding, and sometimes just
plain fun."The publisher's daughter and oilman's wife could be caustic in
private, but her public image was that of a self-sacrificing, supportive
spouse who referred to her husband as her "hero."In the White House, "you
need a friend, someone who loves you, who's going to say, 'You are great,'"
Mrs. Bush said in a 1992 television interview.
Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum to honor her life.
Trump hailed her as an "advocate of the American family." "Amongst her
greatest achievements was recognizing the importance of literacy as a
fundamental family value that requires nurturing and protection," Trump
said. "She will be long remembered for her strong devotion to country and
family, both of which she served unfailingly well."Her son Jeb wrote: "I'm
exceptionally privileged to be the son of George Bush and the exceptionally
gracious, gregarious, fun, funny, loving, tough, smart, graceful woman who
was the force of nature known as Barbara Bush."And his son George P. Bush
tweeted: "I will miss you, Ganny —- but know we will see you again.""Barbara
inspired us all to be the best version of ourselves," said Orrin Hatch,
America's longest-serving Republican senator. Trump's Democratic predecessor
Barack Obama and his wife Michelle said "We'll always be grateful to Mrs.
Bush for the generosity she showed to us throughout our time in the White
House.""But we're even more grateful for the way she lived her life –- as a
testament to the fact that public service is an important and noble calling;
as an example of the humility and decency that reflects the very best of the
American spirit," they added. Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve
as US secretary of state, remembered Bush as a "woman of incredible
determination, wit and compassion who embodied America's best values." Bill
Clinton, who succeeded her husband in office, added: "Barbara Bush was a
remarkable woman. She had grit and grace, brains and beauty.
"She was fierce and feisty in support of her family and friends, her country
and her causes. She showed us what an honest, vibrant, full life looks like.
Hillary and I mourn her passing and bless her memory."Bush gained a
reputation for toughness, wry humor and straight-speaking.
"She was smart, generous, kind, & a force to be reckoned with," said House
Republican Steve Pearce. Asked in 2010 about former Alaska governor Sarah
Palin -- who sought the vice presidency in 2008 -- she told an interviewer:
"I sat next to her once, thought she was beautiful, and I think she's very
happy in Alaska, and I hope she'll stay there."Senator John McCain, who is
battling cancer and was at the top of the ticket with Palin a decade ago,
recalled that "Barbara understood that the greatest joy in life comes from
putting the needs of others before yourself."
Diaz-Canel Sole
Candidate to Succeed Cuba's Castro
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/Miguel Diaz-Canel
is the sole candidate to succeed Cuba's President Raul Castro, officials
announced Wednesday on the eve of a vote in the National Assembly. Diaz-Canel,
a 57-year-old Communist Party official and the country's current first vice
president, is due to be confirmed on Thursday as the successor to Castro,
whose departure will end his family's six-decade grip on power. The
announcement came after the National Assembly began a historic two-day
meeting to elect a successor to the 86-year-old Castro, and usher in a
post-Castro era. Diaz-Canel has since last year been widely expected to take
over from Castro, who made it clear his deputy was his personal choice.
Diaz-Canel has spent decades climbing the party ranks, becoming Castro's
right-hand man in 2013. At the two-day meeting, which began early on
Wednesday, the 605-seat National Assembly is to vote in a new Council of
State, which counts 31 members and whose head will automatically become
president. Although the session was initially planned for Thursday,
officials decided earlier this week to extend it across two days "to
facilitate the procedures during an event of such significance."The session
is closed to the press and no details have been given about the program.
Although the vote could take place on Wednesday, the new president's name is
not expected to be made public until Thursday, which is April 19 -- a date
heavy with symbolism. It falls on the 57th anniversary of the Bay of
Pigs invasion in 1961, when the CIA tried to overthrow the leader of the
1959 revolution, Fidel Castro, an episode Havana has long proclaimed as
American imperialism's first great defeat in Latin America. Raul Castro has
been in power since 2006, when he took over after illness sidelined Fidel.
Between them, the Castro brothers ruled Cuba for nearly 60 years, making the
Caribbean island a key player in the Cold War and helping keep communism
afloat despite the collapse of the Soviet Union.
U.N. Security Council Postpones Visit to Iraq
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/April 18/18/The U.N. Security Council has
decided to postpone a planned visit to Iraq ahead of May elections at the
request of the Iraqi government, diplomats said Wednesday. Iraq told the
council in a letter this week that many officials will be busy with the
election campaign, which kicked off on Saturday, and will not be able to
meet with the ambassadors. "Given the start of the Iraqi election campaign
on April 14, and that all political parties and constitutional authorities
in Iraq are now involving (sic) in the campaign, which may not enable the
council members to meet the Iraqi officials, the Iraqi mission kindly
requests that the council defer its intended visit," wrote Iraqi Ambassador
Mohammad Hussein Bahr Aluloom in the letter seen by AFP. The ambassador said
the mission "looks forward to welcoming council members to Baghdad in the
future." No new date for the visit was announced.
Iraq will be filling 329 seats in the national parliament in the May 12
election and choosing representatives to provincial assemblies, in the first
poll held after the defeat of the Islamic State. The United States was set
to lead the council mission with this month's president, Peru. Peruvian
Ambassador Gustavo Meza-Cuadra told reporters this month that the council
trip to Iraq would be to show support for the elections after three years of
war against the Islamic State. Iraq "needs support from the international
community for rebuilding the country and to ensure reconciliation" after
Baghdad's successful campaign to re-take territory from the Islamic State
group, he said.
Latest LCCC Bulletin
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
April 18-19/18
Trump fulfills Syria promise by showing what a ‘red line’ really means
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
US President Donald Trump did it and proved that he is not like his “soft,”
if not to say the conspirator, predecessor Barack Obama. Trump has fulfilled
his promise and showed what his ‘red line’ means on the Syrian map, the map
of death and terrorism and international political vileness.
He struck Al-Shayrat airbase with several Tomahawk missiles after the Syrian
regime’s chemical attacks last year. Still, Bashar and his protectors,
Russia and Iran, were not deterred. They carried out another chemical attack
in Douma and then feigned innocence along with some Arab and non-Arab groups
from around the world, such as the heirs of the Latin Guevara hot temper
that’s mixed with the comrades’ cigars, like Bolivia.
“We did not do it, you are defaming us, and you are violating international
law,” Russian President Putin bellowed along with Iranian supreme guide
Khamenei and Bashar al-Assad’s international speaker whom you can call
Bashar al-Jaafari.
You cannot blame them for making such statements as they are the ones who
committed the crime or tried to hide it, not just in Douma but in other
places. There has been a sustained method of carrying out attacks, both
chemical and non-chemical, ever since the Syrian crisis erupted in 2011.
The big moral disgrace is the stance taken by groups, figures and movements
like Hamas in Palestine, other “progressive” Arabs and a few retired
“nationalists.”
When it comes to death, the poor peasant in Daraa or Aleppo’s countryside
will not tell the difference between dying by the attacks of the Sukhoi,
Tornado, Rafale and F-16, or by Bashar’s barrels, Nasrallah’s Grad rockets,
Al-Nusra’s mortar, ISIS’ explosives or the Sarin gas produced by Assad’s
Jamraya lab.
They did not see Bashar’s crimes in Houla, Baba Amr, Zabadani, Madaya, Al-Qusayr,
Idlib and Aleppo and in the evil perpetrated in the prisons of Sednaya,
Mezzeh, Palmyra and Homs. They did not see the brutality and savagery of
Assad’s officers, like Issam Zahreddine, Colonel al-Nemr, Suhail al-Hassan
and Maher al-Assad. They appear oblivious to the forced displacement of
millions of Syrians, the sectarian cleansing and the import of Shiite
militias from Afghanistan, Lebanon and through Iraq. Last but not least,
they did not take note of the chemical attack in Douma and in the entire of
Ghouta and in Khan Shaykhun before that.
This reflects a scandalous lack of values and of conscience. Bashar Al-Assad
has destroyed Syria, divided people, planted sectarian and national hatred
and legislated the law of the jungle. When it comes to death, the poor
peasant in Daraa or Aleppo’s countryside will not tell the difference
between dying by the attacks of the Sukhoi, Tornado, Rafale and F-16, or by
Bashar’s barrels, Nasrallah’s Grad rockets, Al-Nusra’s mortar, ISIS’
explosives or the Sarin gas produced by Assad’s Jamraya lab.
During his phone call with Rouhani, Putin described the US strikes as “an
act of aggression against a sovereign state that is at the forefront of
fighting terrorism!” This is what Putin said and he first bears the
“logical” then the moral responsibility for these remarks.
Imagine a well-known writer from Gaza which wants the world’s sympathy with
it against Israeli aggression is saying this when commenting on Assad’s
strikes. Ibrahim Abrash, Professor of Political Science at Al-Azhar
University in Gaza, said in an article: “Regarding the use of chemical
weapons, this is controversial.”We are faced with an incurable Arab and
international leftist “cultural” disease, which is openly manifesting
itself.
Turkey’s rapprochement with Iran, tactical or
strategic?
Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
At a time when relations between the traditional rivals of the US and Russia
do not seem well with so many complicated files including the Syrian cause,
Turkish President Recep Teyyip Erdogan has been trying to walk on the
Russian and American tight ropes, in an attempt to achieve Ankara’s
interests.
Washington supports Ankara in its opposition to the Syrian regime, bringing
Turkey closer to the Gulf capitals and Tel Aviv, while Moscow provides
Ankara with support against the Kurds. However, the question that arises is
the following – the current Iranian-Turkish rapprochement tactical or
strategic?
At present, following the 14th of April tripartite missile strike against
Syria, it seems that Erdogan’s dance on Russian music may not be beneficial,
especially after Turkey hailed the strikes against Damascus, which is
rejected by Moscow and Tehran.
Erdogan has tried to play with the two superpowers in the absence of a
consensus and full understanding between Ankara and Moscow regarding Afrin,
Manbij and Idlib as well as some other Syrian opposition fighters.
Between Washington and Moscow
Today, Turkey is reaping from the conflicting interests of Moscow and
Washington. In 2013 and early 2014, Turkish border cities became a chief
logistical hub for foreign fighters seeking to enter Syria and Iraq to join
ISIS and other rebel groups. By August 2015, Turkey did eventually tighten
up security on its borders. Though the Russians are dealing with the Turkish
government at the top levels; yet, Moscow is not fully satisfied with
Erdogan’s attitude and his perspective toward the Syrian conflict. Erdogan
described as “very wrong” the approach of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov to the future of Syria’s Afrin, where Turkey carried out an offensive
to drive out the Kurdish YPG militia. The lack of Arab presence and its
inability to formulate new parameters for national and regional security
have allowed Turkey and Iran to balance their regional roles within the Arab
world. The following are the most important regional determinants. It seems
rapprochement between Ankara and Tehran is just a tactical move driven by
regional and global developments and circumstances
Politically and strategically
Turkey moves according to an ideology based on exporting itself as a
democratic state that sponsors its principles and supports them as an excuse
to intervene in the internal affairs of Arab countries under the guise of
supporting democracy. The opportunity of the Arab Spring was the elixir of
life for the Turkish project in passing its expansionist policy aimed at
returning to the region by supporting demonstrations in some Arab countries
including Syria and Egypt. Turkey has been surrounded by enemies, and this
has forced the Turkish government to play a role through intervention in
internal affairs of the Arab countries on the basis that Arab countries’
instability is of interest to Turkey. Therefore, Turkey considered Arab
revolutions or Arab Spring as a way to play an important role in shaping the
security of the Arab region to suit its aspirations.
Economic and military
Turkey and Iran have given the military dimension an important role in
shaping their regional role. Turkey used pre-emptive military intervention
in its movements in the Arab region after adopting a defensive military
approach based on protecting the borders. Turkey is also using its economic
growth by branding itself as a country with Islamic economy to serve the
Arab and Muslim countries. In addition, Turkey does not cease to declare its
right to the Ottoman historical heritage in the city of Mosul, which was
part of Turkey for four centuries until WWI, which Turkey lost after the
signing of the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923 and the Ankara Agreement of 1926
between Turkey, the UK and Iraq. Turkey has always declared its historical
and international rights to be the area extending from Aleppo to Mosul.
Rapprochement with Tehran
The main idea with regard to the external political motives behind the
Turkish-Iranian rapprochement is Turkey’s difficulty in achieving the goal
it sought to bring about, driving Ankara to strive to lead the region by
supporting Islamic groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt and
in some other Arab countries. However, the fall of the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt has been deemed a blow to Turkey’s regional ambitions. In this regard,
it is possible to refer to Ankara’s efforts during the entire year of the
rule of Mohammad Morsi to support Egypt politically and economically in
order to overcome the difficulties it has faced and ultimately to
consolidate the Muslim Brotherhood’s rule in Egypt. Since the situation
seems more complicated for Syria, Ankara was quick to support the Syrian
revolution and worked in many positions to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s
regime. However, the recent developments in Syria were tectonic, especially
in light of the Russian-US misunderstanding and the launch of a massive
“military strike” on Syria. The Syrian crisis showed the overlap of issues
in the region and that no file can be resolved without resolving the other
and that the regional players should be involved with super powers to bring
solutions to these questions politically. Thus, the Syrian dilemma is
looking more and more difficult to solve and radical Islamists have become
the common enemy of all. Economic motives have played an important role in
stimulating Turkey’s rapprochement with Iran, especially in light of the
problems that the Turkish economy. It seems that the rapprochement between
Ankara and Tehran is just a tactical move driven by regional and global
developments and circumstances. In general, there is a state of division
between the observers and analysts on characterizing the nature of the
Turkish move towards Iran. The Turkish move came as a tactical step by which
Ankara is trying to absorb the negative repercussions it has suffered as a
result of developments in the region, whether in Egypt or Syria. Turkey,
which was presenting itself as the spearhead of the project to topple
President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, is suffering internal crises and the
backlash of terrorist groups in Syria.
Can Arab women set the cybersecurity agenda?
Wayne Loveless/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
The digital future presents one of the greatest challenges to global
security that world has ever faced. Cybersecurity has moved from being a
back office team of a few people trying to protect a few databases and
applications from disruption to being at the forefront of every government
agency, multinational company and leading economic sectors. With this rapid
growth of the digital landscape and increasing cyber threats, organizations
across the globe are struggling to recruit, retain, train, build, and supply
a qualified cyber security workforce. By 2022, the Center for Cyber Safety
and Education have predicted there will be 1.8 million unfilled
cybersecurity positions. Much of this is in part due to globally low number
of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) oriented
graduates and exaggerated by a significant gap in individuals seeking to
join the cybersecurity ranks.
Further, the global cybersecurity labor supply is negatively impacted by a
continued perception that only candidates with ten years of experience in
the field can be of any value. While some of the issues are more about
perspectives on building a cyber workforce, the real world problem lies with
developing human capital in cyber security. The opportunity for MENA based
organizations and governments to set the global pace and trend for inclusion
of women in the cyber workforce remains readily apparent
Women in cyber
A golden opportunity lies in capturing the potential of women STEM
candidates in MENA to address the workforce shortage in cybersecurity. Over
the past few years, there has been a steady increase in the number of women
in STEM aligned cyber educational background.
According to data compiled by researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi
(NYUAD), the percentage of women graduates in engineering related degrees in
the Middle East is very high, compared with the US and Europe. In Saudi
Arabia, for example, the number of women with degrees in Computer Sciences
reaches thousands each year and many universities have introduced academic
programs and degrees in network security specialties. Data from a leading
Saudi university indicates that 20 percent of all local computer science
graduates over the last five years are female.
With so many potential technically qualified candidates being produced by
the academic systems in MENA, organizations and governments should develop
and implement programs of mentorship, apprenticeship, training, development,
and internship that can set a foundation for building a qualified and
locally sourced cyber security workforce. These initiatives and campaigns to
attract and further develop cyber skills present an ideal solution to the
cyber workforce challenge by expanding into previously untapped resources.
In the MENA region in particular, organizations and government entities have
the prospect of countering misplaced international perspectives of women’s
rights in the region, and demonstrating through action how these perceptions
can be changed, all while securing their national and regional future in the
advancing digital economies.
STEM-qualified women
With the confluence of the global shortage of qualified and skilled labor
and leadership in the cybersecurity field, the higher percentage of STEM
qualified women in the MENA region, and the cultural evolution that is
embracing women as an integral part of the workforce, the MENA region could
be a leading example of best practice for women in cybersecurity. Leaders in
organizations are beginning to identify this untapped resource as a key
element to building a strong, diverse, and technically proficient workforce.
While further work is yet to be done, the opportunity for MENA based
organizations and governments to set the global pace and trend for inclusion
of women in the cyber workforce remains readily apparent. Leaders should
capitalize on this opportunity and demonstrate to the world that not only
can women participate in greater numbers within the cyber security ranks,
but they can also represent the future of the field and lead the way across
the digital landscape to ensure a secure future for MENA.
**Wafa Al Showaib and Nora
Alosaimi of EY Cybersecurity Advisory contributed to this piece.
*Wayne Loveless is cybersecurity leader at EY Saudi Arabia.
Will Trump fire John Kelly?
Ahmad al-Farraj/Al Arabiya/ April 18/18
In mid-2017, President Donald Trump realized that his appointments for
important posts of his administration were not good because he lacked
political experience. Sentiments dominated while making these appointments
and he initially chose those close and loyal to him.
However, he soon realized that leading a state the size of the US is
radically different from managing a private company. So, he began to decide
who to keep and who to fire. Among those fired were Reince Priebus, the
White House Chief of Staff.
Priebus was the chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) when
Trump was still a presidential candidate. He had supported Trump and
strongly stood by him against some Republicans who tried to oust him as he
was not the favorite candidate of the Republican party, which takes pride in
the fact that it’s the party of Abraham Lincoln — one of the country’s
greatest presidents.
After Priebus was fired, Trump made one of the most important decisions
which helped calm the situation. He appointed retired General John Kelly as
the new White House chief of staff. Back then, I had said in an article that
appointing a military figure to this post was uncommon, but Trump who had
faced cases of leaks to the media thought the appointment of a dignified
military figure would control the situation within the White House.
Eventually, the number of leaks decreased and serenity gradually returned to
the White House. Trump has realized that leading a state the size of the US
is radically different from managing a private company
Homeland Security
Before his appointment as chief of staff, Kelly was secretary of homeland
secretary – a post which Trump had nominated him for after winning the
elections. The Homeland Security Department is a new ministry which was
established during the presidential term of George W. Bush following the
September 2001 terror attacks. General John Kelly, whose soldier son was
killed in Afghanistan, has an impeccable military record and has studied in
prestigious universities. He has served as commander of the US Southern
Command which is in charge of the US army’s operations in Central America,
South America and the Caribbean. A conservative in his political views, he
sees eye to eye with Trump on almost all issues. However, his work at the
White House has not been void of mistakes as he once positively spoke about
Robert E. Lee, commander of the army of the Confederate States which
separated from the US in 1860 because it opposed the abolition of slavery.
This is a very sensitive subject for Americans as it is considered having
racist undertones. Today, there is speculation that Kelly may be fired soon
as part of the recent wave of firings, which included that of Rex Tillerson,
the former Secretary of State and H. R. McMaster, the National Security
Advisor. If Kelly is fired, Trump would have removed the most important
pillars of his administration in a very short time, which is unprecedented.
Let’s wait and watch the upcoming developments.
Let Turkish Scholars Speak: See What Islamism Is About
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/April 18/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12079/turkish-scholars-islamism
In a 2016 fatwa, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Turkey's
highest religious authority, ruled that it was not forbidden in Islam if a
father felt lust for his own daughter "on condition that the daughter is
older than nine."
According to celebrity Islamist scholar Nureddin Yıldız, Allah allows men to
beat their wives not to torture them or hurt them but only to relax.
Yıldız's sermon on "what would the ummah lose if women work" is a must-read
piece to understand the typical Islamist thinking on gender equality, family
and tribal ambitions to grow still more numerous.
The word ulama in its Arabic context denotes scholars of almost all
disciplines. In the context of Sunni Islam, however, ulama are regarded as
"the guardians, transmitters and interpreters of religious knowledge." With
the rise of Islamism as the dominant, state-sponsored ideology, the Turkish
ulama have gained prominence: talk shows, books, newspaper columns, sermons
and fatwas come in abundance. Devout Turks take them seriously. Secular
Turks often mock them. Yet the Turkish ulama provide a rich context for
those who want to understand Islamic piety as interpreted by religious
scholars.
Now, according to the Global Gender Gap Report published by the World
Economic Forum, Turkey ranks 130th among 144 countries measured. This
embarrassing score does not go without good reason. Ironically, women's
rights marchers in Ankara were met with tear gas and arrests on March 5 as
they gathered for a protest ahead of International Women's Day (March 8).
After the marchers ignored calls to disperse, Turkish riot police fired tear
gas and detained about 15 women. That was how Turkish women "celebrated"
Women's Day.
Child abuse is also increasingly visible in Muslim Turkey. According to the
Turkish Statistical Institute, the number of child sexual abuse cases–- just
those actually reported to law enforcement -- rose from over 11,000 in 2014
to nearly 17,000 in 2016. Experts say of course that many more cases are not
reported.
Against that backdrop, Turkish Islamic scholars remain largely mute but
preach on matters that do not quite look sane to secular observers. One such
celebrity scholar is Nureddin Yıldız, author of 35 books on Islamic
practices. Yıldız is the darling of Islamist media and has literally
millions of followers. In his student years, he was a member of the National
Turkish Students' Union, the hardline Islamist student group which also had
among its members Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
In a 2012 sermon on television Yıldız said:
"Jews are the greatest enemies of Muslims. Some say some of the Jews can be
innocent. I cannot believe that. I believe in the Quran. It is not possible
to know the devil without knowing the Jew. Jews are traitors. They kill
children."
Racism aside, the fatwas [opinions] of Turkey's ulama are often
jaw-dropping. In a 2016 fatwa, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet),
Turkey's highest religious authority, ruled that it was not forbidden (haram)
in Islam if a father felt lust for his own daughter "on condition that the
daughter is older than nine". Enter Yıldız, again: In 2016 the prominent
theologian ruled that girls who are older than five should not be present in
front of male visitors at their homes.
In 2017 Yıldız said that it was permissible in Islam to marry a six-year-old
girl, sparking a public controversy. Journalist Mustafa Hoş called Yıldız "pedophilic,"
and Yıldız sued Hoş for insulting him. At the second hearing of the case at
an Istanbul court, Yıldız's lawyer called journalists "enemies of Islam." In
this pervert's thinking, one has to be an enemy of Islam if he thinks that
marrying a six-year-old girl would be pedophilic.
More recently Yıldız advised fellow Muslims that a man and a woman should
not share the same elevator alone; otherwise, "they might sin." "If a man
takes the elevator alone the woman should wait," he ruled.
Yıldız's sermon on "what would the ummah [community] lose if women work" is
a must-read piece to understand the typical Islamist thinking on gender
equality, family and tribal ambitions to grow still more numerous:
"Each working woman means a [sexually] unsatisfied man. Her husband will
then [sexually] abuse other women, paving the way to prostitution. If women
work, they will give no or fewer births. It will be murderous if the
population of ummah declines. If women work, chastity and moral values will
fade away."
According to Turkish celebrity Islamist scholar Nureddin Yıldız (pictured),
Allah allows men to beat their wives not to torture them or hurt them but
only to relax.
A few years ago Yıldız made headlines when he described how good Muslim men
should beat their wives. The Islamic jurisprudence, he said, allows men to
beat their wives. But, he cautioned, women should not be punched on the
face, on the chest or on the belly. When beating their wives men should not
use sticks longer than a ruler. Allah, Yıldız said, allows men to beat their
wives not to torture them or hurt them but only to relax.
These days Yıldız is on the headlines again, with his "elevator" and other
fatwas. Some Turks shrug him off, saying he is just another devout clown.
Perhaps he is. But his teachings, embraced by millions, show exactly why
Turkey, not yet a shariah state, is at the bottom of international rankings
on gender equality.
**Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from
Turkey's leading newspaper after 29 years, for writing what was taking place
in Turkey for Gatestone. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2018 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.
Hamas "Press Office": Truth Finishes Last
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/April 18/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12178/hamas-press-office
Finally, the Hamas "Press Office" instructed Palestinian journalists to
focus on the "humanization" of the stories of the Palestinians who are
killed or injured during the mass demonstrations. Translation: If the
"victim" is a Hamas terrorist, the journalists are to avoid mentioning that
and instead report about his having been a beloved husband, father and
community member.
Aren't Fatah and Abbas receiving financial aid from the US and EU because of
their presumed support for a peace process with Israel? Why should the
Americans and Europeans be supporting a Palestinian faction whose
journalists openly incite against their Israeli colleagues?
Three weeks after the beginning of the mass demonstrations along the border
between the Gaza Strip and Israel, which are being held as part of the
so-called "March of Return," Hamas is trying to intimidate journalists into
covering the events in a way that distorts the truth and reality.
Hamas, one of several Palestinian groups responsible for the anti-Israel
demonstrations, does not want the world to see pictures of Palestinians
throwing stones, firebombs and explosive devices at Israeli soldiers.
Hamas does not want journalists to use the words "clashes" and
"confrontations" when reporting about the demonstrations.
Hamas does not want journalists to report the fact that some of the
demonstrators killed during the "March of Return" were actually members of
its armed group, Izaddin Al-Qassam.
In other words, Hamas wants journalists to report as if they were working
for its propaganda machine. Any journalist who dares to challenge the Hamas
narrative is denounced as a "traitor" and punished.
To ensure that Palestinian journalists comply with its wishes, Hamas's
"Press Office" earlier this week issued directives to reporters as to how
they should cover the "March of Return."
The first order that Hamas requires the journalists to obey is to refrain
from focusing on the actions of individuals participating in the
demonstrations.
This means that a photographer who sees a Palestinian protester engaged in
violence, such as hurling a stone, firebomb or explosive device at Israeli
troops, should look the other way. Why? Because, according to Hamas, such
pictures refute its claim that the "March of Return" is a "peaceful and
nonviolent uprising by unarmed civilians."
Hamas, according to its "Press Office," also instructed Palestinian
journalists to stop using the words "clashes" and "confrontations" in their
stories about the demonstrations. These words, Hamas argues, create the
impression that the Palestinian demonstrators are engaged in violence. The
pictures and videos from the scenes of the demonstrations, of course, depict
just that.
Several videos even show masked Palestinian demonstrators trying to destroy
the security fence and barbed wires along the border between the Gaza Strip
and Israel. This is part of the plan of the organizers of the "March of
Return" to infiltrate the border and flood Israel with hundreds of thousands
of Palestinians.
Palestinian journalists, in the words of Hamas's "Press Office," are to
portray the events at the border with Israel as "an assault by the
occupation army and its snipers on a peaceful and nonviolent civilian
uprising." Hamas wants journalists to show only one side of the story by
solely focusing on Israel's response to the violent demonstrations. The
violence that triggered the response is, for Hamas, inadmissible evidence.
Pictured: Palestinians in Gaza attempt to break through a section of the
border fence with Israel, under cover of a smokescreen, March 30, 2018.
(Image source: Ateya Bahar video screenshot).
In line with Hamas's own fictitious narrative about its bloody behavior, it
wants the coverage of the "March of Return" to be along the lines of "it all
started when Israel fired back." Nothing new here: this is exactly the
tactic Hamas has used during its previous wars with Israel. Hamas has never
allowed journalists to show its members in the process of firing rockets at
Israel. The only stories journalists were allowed to report where those of
Palestinian casualties resulting from Israeli military strikes against
people launching the rocket attacks from schools and populated areas of the
Gaza Strip.
Hamas's "Press Office" additionally warned Palestinian journalists against
quoting or relying on Israeli media in their reporting about the events in
the Gaza Strip. This means that the journalists are not allowed to inform
the Palestinian public of what Israel is saying about the "March of Return,"
especially concerning violent attacks on Israeli soldiers.
In this regard, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), a body
dominated by Hamas's rivals in Fatah, seems fully to agree with Hamas. In a
statement published in Ramallah, the PJS accused Israeli journalists of
being "complicit in crimes and killings." It also claimed that Israeli
journalists were part of the Israeli army's propaganda machine.
Such incitement against Israeli journalists should be taken with utmost
seriousness. It endangers the lives of reporters who cover Palestinian
issues and often travel to Palestinian cities and villages.
Hamas's incitement against Israeli journalists is predictable. But when the
incitement originates from a Fatah-affiliated institution in the West Bank,
and controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas's loyalists, it gives pause. Isn't
Fatah supposed to be the "moderate" Palestinian faction that ostensibly
believes in the two-state solution and peace with Israel? Isn't Mahmoud
Abbas supposed to be the "moderate" and "pragmatic" Palestinian leader with
whom Israel is supposed to make peace? Aren't Fatah and Abbas receiving
financial aid from the US and EU because of their presumed support for a
peace process with Israel? Why should the Americans and Europeans be
supporting a Palestinian faction whose journalists openly incite against
their Israeli colleagues?
The incitement by Fatah and Hamas is an attempt to intimidate and silence
not only Palestinian journalists, but their Israeli colleagues as well. It
is an attempt to force Israeli journalists to toe the line and endorse the
Hamas and Fatah narrative not only regarding the "March of Return," but also
the entire Palestinian cause. Apparently in agreement with Hamas and Fatah,
international human rights organizations and advocates of free media around
the world do not seem bothered at all by the life-threatening attacks on
Israeli journalists.
Finally, the Hamas "Press Office" instructed Palestinian journalists to
focus on the "humanization" of the stories of the Palestinians who are
killed or injured during the mass demonstrations. The journalists are
required to highlight the "various personal and social aspects" of the
Palestinian victims. Translation: If the "victim" is a Hamas terrorist, the
journalists are to avoid mentioning that and instead report about his having
been a beloved husband, father, and community member.
Again, this is part of Hamas's effort to lie to the world and present the
Palestinians killed and injured during the riots as unarmed innocent
civilians. The truth, however, is that Hamas has sent hundreds of its
militiamen to take part in the demonstrations disguised as civilians.
Since the Palestinian journalists covering the "March of Return" are
unlikely to ignore Hamas's new instructions, this will affect the reporting
of the international media. Most international media outlets and
correspondents employ Palestinian producers and translators and "fixers" to
assist in covering Palestinian issues.
A Palestinian journalist who is afraid to defy the Hamas instructions will
not tell his employers everything he sees and hears. Some of the Palestinian
journalists will also be doing that of their own volition and not
necessarily out of fear of Hamas or any other Palestinian group. These
journalists see themselves as foot soldiers of the "revolution" and are
convinced that their loyalty should be, first and foremost, to their people
and cause. And the truth? Well, the truth finishes last.
The 'March of Return" is scheduled to continue until May 15, the Gregorian
date for Israel Independence Day. More protests are planned along the border
between the Gaza Strip and Israel in the coming weeks. The Palestinians say
that the real goal of the protests is to achieve the "right of return," by
which they would return to "all of Palestine, from the Mediterranean Sea to
the Jordan River."
The planned demonstrations will parallel those which took place the past
three weeks. Those demonstrations, too, will involve Palestinians throwing
rocks, firebombs and explosive devices at Israeli soldiers. Those
demonstrations, too, will see Palestinians chanting slogans calling for the
annihilation of Israel and see Hamas terrorists dressed in civilian clothes
participating in the "peaceful" demonstrations.
Given the threats made by Hamas and Fatah, the question is: Will we see all
these things, or will the cover-up continue? And, will the international
media allow itself to be used as a platform for disseminating Hamas's lies?
The Hamas "Press Office," for its part, is working overtime to cover the
ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim based in the Middle East.
© 2018 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.
Germany: Crackdown on Middle Eastern Crime
Families/"The state must destroy the clan structures."
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/April 18/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12177/germany-crime-families
Middle Eastern crime clans now control large swathes of German cities and
towns — areas that are effectively lawless and which German police
increasingly fear to approach. The crime families, which have thousands of
members, have for decades been allowed operate with virtual impunity: German
judges and prosecutors were unable or unwilling to stop them, apparently out
of fear of retribution.
"The police cannot win a war with the Lebanese because we outnumber them." —
Criminal clan members to Gelsenkirchen Police Chief Ralf Feldmann.
Peter Biesenbach, now Justice Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, had
repeatedly called for an official inquiry to determine the scope of clan
activity. Those pleas had been rejected by his predecessor, because such a
study would be politically incorrect.
German authorities have launched a crackdown on Middle Eastern crime
families in Essen, a city in North Rhine-Westphalia where some 70 Turkish,
Kurdish and Arab-born clan members regularly engage in racketeering,
extortion, money laundering, pimping and trafficking in humans, weapons and
drugs.
Middle Eastern crime clans now control large swathes of German cities and
towns — areas that are effectively lawless and which German police
increasingly fear to approach.
The crime families, which have thousands of members, have for decades been
allowed operate with virtual impunity: German judges and prosecutors were
unable or unwilling to stop them, apparently out of fear of retribution.
The nascent crackdown comes nearly a year after the center-right Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) won regional elections in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW)
and replaced the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD), which, apart
from one legislative period, has ruled the region since 1966.
Observers say that the clans have become so powerful and ruthless that the
government's only solution is to wage all-out war to utterly annihilate the
clans. If the initial raid in Essen is any indication, however, the Middle
Eastern crime families in Germany have little to fear.
On April 12, more than 300 police officers, accompanied by dozens of
customs, tax and anti-money-laundering agents, searched nearly 100
commercial businesses, hookah bars, gambling halls and betting offices in
downtown Essen. After questioning 600 individuals and searching 60 vehicles
at checkpoints, police arrested eight people, most of whom were wanted on
open arrest warrants. Another 20 people were charged with drugs and
immigration violations.
Many of the so-called Lebanese clans actually consist of ethnic Kurds from
Southeastern Anatolia who migrated to Lebanon in search of work, and then
moved to Germany during Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. In Germany, they
built parallel societies based on tribal and clan customs and Islamic honor
codes.
Many clan members receive unemployment benefits while they launder profits
from illegal activities through bars, restaurants and the used-car trade.
Police have been no match for the clans, whose members use cellphones to
summon backup support. Within moments, dozens of clan members form mobs to
insult and intimidate law enforcement officers.
"Respect for the police tends towards zero with these clans," said Arnold
Plickert, head of the GdP police union in NRW. "These people live in their
own parallel society and have no regard for the German constitutional
state."
Focus magazine described the brute-force methods used by the clans to gain
control over the sports betting sector in Essen:
"Five years ago, three leading clan members harassed the operator of several
betting shops. They demanded 10,000 euros per month in protection money. In
addition, he was told to open two new betting offices for blackmailers and
pay another 150,000 euros. Moreover, he was told that he could not operate
any business in Essen without participation by the clans. If he refused to
comply, he would be killed.
"The businessman turned to the police for help but the investigation dragged
on. After a while the police stopped the telephone monitoring. The judge
took three years before scheduling the trial. In the end, the accused were
found not guilty for lack of evidence.
"Abdou Gabbar, the victim's lawyer, has now appealed the verdict: 'The
experience with the Essen police and justice in matters regarding the Al-Zein
clan was frustrating. The district court did not even want to translate the
incriminating telephone calls properly, and simply pronounced the defendants
free.'"Further charges against the protagonists, including for insulting
police officers, were also dropped. The judge deemed the risk was too high
that clan members would riot in the courtroom."
Police guard the scene of a shooting murder in Essen, Germany, on April 9,
2016. The murder was part of a bloody feud within a Lebanese clan.
In nearby Gelsenkirchen, Kurdish and Lebanese clans are vying for control of
city streets, some of which have become zones that are off-limits to German
authorities. Senior members of the Gelsenkirchen police department have held
secret meetings with representatives of the clans to "cultivate social peace
between Germans and Lebanese."
According to a leaked police report, clan members informed Police Chief Ralf
Feldmann that "the police cannot win a war with the Lebanese because we
outnumber them." They added: "This applies to all of Gelsenkirchen, if we so
choose."When Feldman countered that he would dispatch police reinforcements
to disrupt their activities, the clan members laughed and said: "The
government does not have enough money to deploy the numbers of police
necessary to confront the Lebanese." The police report concluded that German
authorities must be realistic about the actual balance of power: "The police
would be defeated."
In Duisburg, a leaked report prepared for the NRW state parliament revealed
that Lebanese clans do not recognize the authority of the police and have
divided up neighborhoods to pursue criminal activities. Their members are
males between the ages of 15 and 25 and "nearly 100%" of them are known to
police.
The report described the situation in Duisburg's Laar district, where two
large Lebanese families seem to have taken over control: "The streets are
actually regarded as a separate territory. Outsiders are physically
assaulted, robbed and harassed. Experience shows that the Lebanese clans can
mobilize several hundred people in a very short period of time by means of a
telephone call."
Police say they are alarmed by the aggressiveness and brutality of the
clans, which are said to view crime as leisure activity. If police
intervene, hundreds of clan members are mobilized to confront the police.
"If this is not a no-go area, then I do not know what is," said Peter
Biesenbach (CDU), now NRW Justice Minister. Before assuming his current
post, he repeatedly called for an official inquiry to determine the scope of
clan activity. Those pleas were rejected by the previous NRW Interior
Minister Ralf Jäger (SPD) because such a study would be politically
incorrect:
"Further data collection is not legally permissible. Both internally and
externally, any classification that could be used to depreciate human beings
must be avoided. In this respect, the use of the term 'family clan' (Familienclan)
is forbidden from the police point of view."
The new NRW Interior Minister, Herbert Reul (CDU), has pledged a course
correction: "We will not tolerate any illegal activities or parallel
justice. We have a zero-tolerance-strategy. We will use all means of the
rule of law to fight crime." How effective his strategy will be remains to
be seen.
Ralph Ghadban, a Lebanese-German political scientist and a leading expert on
Middle Eastern clans in Germany, said that the only way for Germany to
achieve control over the clans is to destroy them. In an interview with
Focus, he explained:
"In their concept of masculinity, only power and force matter; if someone is
humane and civil, this is considered a weakness. In clan structures, in
tribal culture everywhere in the world, ethics are confined to the clan
itself. Everything outside the clan is enemy territory.
"I have been following this trend for years. The clans now feel so strong
that they are attacking the authority of the state and the police. They have
nothing but contempt for the judiciary.... The main problem in dealing with
clans: state institutions give no resistance. This makes the families more
and more aggressive — they simply have no respect for the authorities....
"The state must destroy the clan structures. Strong and well-trained police
officers must be respected on the street. In addition, lawyers and judges
must be trained. The courts are issuing feeble judgments based on a false
understanding of multiculturalism and the fear of the stigma of being
branded as racist."
An Emnid poll published by Bild on April 14 found that 51% of those surveyed
were worried about German no-go zones, areas where the state is unable or
unwilling to enforce the law; 77% said that they wanted the state to take
more forceful action against the clans.
"The state has not managed to get the problem under control," said Ghadban,
the clan expert. The reason for this is the prevailing political ideology:
"The police can only act as politicians allow. The multicultural atmosphere,
in which everything is to be tolerated, leads in practice to the fact that
the clans are not pursued."
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
© 2018 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.
Iran's Real Enemy in Syria
The Atlantic/Karim Sadjadpour/April 18/2018
Regionalism
“What kind of a nation wants to be associated with the mass murder of
innocent men, women, and children?” President Trump asked Russia and Iran
Friday night after launching air strikes against the Syrian regime. “The
nations of the world can be judged by the friends they keep.”
Despite his speechwriters’ best efforts, if there is one thing Donald Trump
and Iran share it is an inability to be shamed. Over the last seven years no
country has done more, financially and militarily, to back the Bashar
al-Assad regime’s mass murder of Syrians than the Islamic Republic of Iran,
a theocracy that claims to rule from a moral high ground. Within hours of
joint American, French, and British targeted military strikes in Syria,
Iranian president Hassan Rouhani called Assad to pledge his solidarity.
At a time of great economic hardship in Iran, Tehran has provided billions
of dollars to arm, train, and pay tens of thousands of Arab, Afghan, and
Pakistani Shia militants help Assad crush Sunni Islamist rebels. Tehran, the
victim of heinous chemical weapons attacks by Saddam Hussein three decades
ago, has provided Assad the means to deliver these same weapons, while
simultaneously denying that he uses them. The question is why?
Distilled to its essence, Tehran’s steadfast support for Assad is not driven
by the geopolitical or financial interests of the Iranian nation, nor the
religious convictions of the Islamic Republic, but by a visceral and
seemingly inextinguishable hatred for the state of Israel. As senior Iranian
officials like Ali Akbar Velayati, a close adviser to Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have commonly said, “The chain of Resistance against
Israel by Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, the new Iraqi government and Hamas passes
through the Syrian highway. … Syria is the golden ring of the chain of
resistance against Israel.” So long as the 78-year-old Khamenei remains in
power, this hatred will justify Tehran’s continued commitment of blood and
treasure to support Assad’s use of all means necessary—including chemical
weapons—to preserve his rule.
Though Israel has virtually no direct impact on the daily lives of Iranians,
opposition to the Jewish state has been the most enduring pillar of Iranian
revolutionary ideology. Whether Khamenei is giving a speech about
agriculture or education, he invariably returns to the evils of Zionism.
“The Zionist regime is a true cancer tumor on this region that should be cut
off,” Khamenei said in a 2012 speech. “We will support and help any nations,
any groups fighting against the Zionist regime across the world.” Given
Israel’s military superiority, Khamenei’s stated strategy is not Israel’s
short-term annihilation, but its long-term political dissolution. “If
Muslims and Palestinians unite and all fight,” he commonly says, “the
Zionist regime will not be in existence in 25 years.”
In ostensibly trying to avenge what he portrays as one injustice, however,
Tehran has helped Assad perpetrate a far greater one. The number of Syrian
deaths since 2011 (an estimated 500,000, though the UN has stopped counting)
is more than five times greater than the approximately 90,000 Arabs (roughly
20-30 percent of them Palestinian) killed in the last 70 years of the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, while more than twice as many Syrians (12
million) as Palestinians have been displaced.* Indeed since 2011 far more
Palestinians have been killed by Assad (nearly 3,700) than by Israel,
including by chemical weapons. “If their way to return Palestinians back
home is displacing millions of Syrians,” said my friend Kassem Eid, one of
around half a million Palestinian refugees who grew up in Syria, and a
victim of one of Assad’s chemical weapons attack, “I don't want to go back
to Palestine.”
The Iran-Assad alliance is a study in contradictions. While Iranian
advocates for secularism are viciously repressed, Assad routinely says, “The
most important thing is that Syria should be secular.” Iranian women who
defy the mandatory hijab are subject to violence and imprisonment, while
Hezbollah fighters celebrate military victories in Damascus nightclubs
alongside scantily-clad escorts. While nude Renaissance art is censored in
Europe so as not to offend the religious sensibilities of visiting Iranian
officials, Assad’s forces have deliberately used rape as a tool of
repression against opponents. Khamenei implores his subjects to buy Iranian
products to boost economic self-sufficiency, while Tehran’s largesse has
helped subsidize Assad’s wife Asmaa—an unveiled fashionista—sustain what
looks like her primary passion: shopping in London.
From the outset of the Syrian uprising in 2011, Assad and Iran assiduously
sought to crush moderate opposition and indulge radical Islamists in order
to engineer a no-win proposition for the West: Assad or jihadists. Yet
Tehran has tried to portray its role in Syria as an existential battle for
Iran, against the forces of Sunni radicalism. “Syria is Iran’s 35th
province,” said Mehdi Taeb, a head of the Revolutionary Guards intelligence
wing and a close advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“If we lose Syria we won’t be able to hold Tehran.” While Assad’s collapse
would undoubtedly be a strategic blow to the Islamic Republic, Iran has been
a nation-state for virtually 2,500 years before now without the benefit of a
Syrian vassal state. Just as Russia outlived the USSR, so will Iran outlive
the Islamic Republic.
Today the Tehran-Damascus axis has come to resemble a mutually exploitative
love affair: Iran likes Syria for its body (which borders Israel and serves
as Tehran’s waystation to Hezbollah), and Syria likes Iran for its money. In
exchange for Iranian largesse, Assad has forsaken his sovereignty. “Syria is
occupied by the Iranian regime,” said former Syrian Prime Minister Riad
Hijab. “The person who runs the country is not Bashar al-Assad but [Iranian
Revolutionary Guard Corps commander] Qassem Suleimani.” As for the other
half of the couple, Tehran’s staggering expenditures in Syria—estimated to
be several billion annually—have become a growing cause of popular
resentment amidst deteriorating economic conditions in Iran. During
anti-government protests last January in Iran, residents of Mashhad—a large
Shiite Shrine town—chanted “Leave Syria alone, think about us.”
Though Iranians feel the financial costs of the Syria war, Tehran has
outsourced the human costs. Iran’s 40,000-strong Shia foreign
legion—composed of Lebanese, Afghans, Iraqis, and Pakistanis—have endured
five times more casualties in Syria than Iranians. Afghan militias—known as
the Fatemiyoun Division—have paid the highest price. Most are not
enthusiastic holy warriors but undocumented manual laborers, some underage,
whom the Iranian Revolutionary Guards present with an offer they can’t
refuse: 10-year residency permits in Iran—mitigating the risk of forced
deportation—and $800 per month to go to Syria, purportedly to protect the
Shiite shrine of Sayyida Zainab, a granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad,
outside Damascus. Lacking basic training and often illiterate, these Afghan
troops are instead used as initial assault cannon fodder. "Sometimes we had
no supplies,” said one former Afghan fighter, “no water, no bread—hungry and
thirsty in the middle of the desert.” For Palestine.
The burden of defending Iran’s role in Syria to Western audiences has fallen
on the shoulders of Tehran’s U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
Among Zarif’s considerable talents is an ability, and willingness, to tell
brazen untruths with tremendous conviction. Shortly after Zarif insisted
Iran had “no boots on the ground” in Syria, for example, the Revolutionary
Guards announced their 1,000th casualty. In the aftermath of each chemical
weapons attack by Assad, Zarif has systematically absolved Assad of
responsibility by following the same playbook:
First, remind everyone that Saddam Hussein—backed by Western powers—used
chemical weapons against Iran during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. In other
words, Syrian children are not the victims; Iran is still the victim.
Second, ambiguously condemn chemical weapons use "by anyone." This allows
Zarif’s Western allies to acknowledge his humanity. When pressed, however,
Zarif has always claimed that it was the Syrian opposition—backed by
American and Israel—that has used chemical weapons, not Assad. Zarif has
paid little reputational cost for this whitewashing; the Nobel Peace Prize
committee continues to mention him as an annual nominee.
After seven years, and with billions of dollars of sunk costs, an assertive
Russian partner, and a U.S. president that aspires to withdraw from the
region, Tehran feels vindicated in Syria. It is alleged to be building
permanent military bases outside Damascus, with armed drones capable of
reaching Israel. Periodic, limited U.S. military strikes against Assad’s
weapons depots are not likely to change this calculus. Hopes that Assad’s
mass repression or use of chemical weapons would compel Tehran to reassess
its support have been proven wrong. Just as Iranians today frequently evoke
how Saddam used chemical weapons against Iran over three decades ago,
Syrians will have similarly long memories of Iranian complicity.
While Friday night’s missile shower illustrated the clear power asymmetry
between Washington and Tehran, the last seven years have also illustrated
the two countries’ asymmetry of commitment in Syria. In contrast to Donald
Trump—who did not care about Syria last week and will likely not care about
Syria next week—Ayatollah Khamenei’s opposition to Israel, and his
commitment to Syria, has not wavered for four decades. Like Captain Ahab
chasing Moby Dick, the 78-year-old Khamenei will take this pursuit to the
grave with him.
In the 1998 movie American History X, a vivid portrait of America’s neo-Nazi
movement—America’s Islamist equivalent—Edward Norton’s character is a young
radical sent to prison for committing a hate crime. When a sympathetic
former teacher visits him in prison to try to talk sense, he remains
intransigent. The teacher’s simple parting comment, however, was powerful
enough to cause Norton to reflect. “Just ask yourself one thing,” said the
teacher. “Has anything you’ve done made your life better?”
Amidst all the carnage and destruction in Syria, a similar question could be
posed to Khamenei. Has anything that Iran has done in Syria, or elsewhere
for that matter, advanced its goal of destroying Israel and liberating
Palestine? Khamenei appeared to contemplate this question recently. “Today
the body of Muslim world is severely wounded,” he said. “Enemies of Islam
have managed to baffle the Muslim world by staging war and discord, giving
the enemy more security in the region. In Western Asia, the Zionist regime
thrives in a safe haven, while Muslims are posed against one another.” Long
live Palestine.