LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 21/18
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations For today
Prable Of The Wise & Foolish bridesmaids/Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 25/01-13: "‘Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a shout, "Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him." Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the wise replied, "No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves." And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, "Lord, lord, open to us." But he replied, "Truly I tell you, I do not know you." Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour."

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 20-21/18
Seventh Meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group Focused on Countering Hizballah's Terrorist Activities
Lebanon: Foreign Ministry Affirms Commitment to UNSCR 1701
Israel Urges UN to Condemn Hizbullah over Tunnels
UN: Hezbollah Tunnels Have No Exit Points in Israel
Macron Says Lebanon Must Form Government to Promote Cooperation
Lebanon’s Aoun, Hariri Put Final Touches on Cabinet Lineup
Saudi ambassador to Lebanon presents credentials to president
Hariri Receives Saudi Ambassador
Khalil Meets Pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs, Agree on Adra in Overnight Meeting
Report: Stakes High for Govt. Formation despite Row between Sunni MPs over ‘Adra Nomination’

Titles For The Latest  English LCCC  Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 20-21/18
US Defense Secretary Mattis retiring, Trump says
Turkey, Iran Vow to Work Closer on Syria after US Announcement
France to Stay in Syria after US Troops Ordered Home
Trump Stuns Allies by Ordering US Troops Home from Syria
Germany: US Syria Pullout Could Hurt Fight against IS
US Allies in Syria Rattled by Trump Decision to Withdraw
After U.S. Announces Syria Pullout, Netanyahu Says Israel Will Increase Actions Against Iran With Full U.S. Support
After Trump Announces Syria Withdrawal, Turkey Says Kurdish Militants Will Be Buried in Ditches
France to Stay in Syria as UK Says Still More to Do Against ISIS
Russia Plans Intra-Palestinian Reconciliation, Haniyeh Visits Moscow Soon
Egypt Says it Thwarted Militant Attacks on Christians
Sisi Reviews Investment Opportunities in Egypt, Concludes Visit to Vienna
Anger in Libya after Seizure of Arms Sent from Turkey
Spanish Government to Meet in Barcelona amid Separatist Protests
Drone Used to Smuggle Drugs into Kuwait
Morocco Eyes 'Terror' Link as It Makes New Arrests in Hikers Murder

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 20-21/18
Seventh Meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group Focused on Countering Hizballah's Terrorist Activities/U.S. Department Of State/December 19/18
Israel Urges UN to Condemn Hizbullah over Tunnels/Associated Press/Naharnet/December 20/18
More People Means More Cars, More Deaths/Nathanial Bullard/Bloomberg/December, 20/18
It’s a Qatari – Not a Gulf – Crisis/Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/December, 20/18
Palestinian Children: Victims of Arab Apartheid/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./December 20/18
Does China's Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Missile Threaten U.S. Deterrence?/Debalina Ghoshal/Gatestone Institute/December 20/18
As the Climate Changes, Avoid Green Energy Bets/Gary Shilling/Bloomberg/December, 20/18
Analysis/Despite the Blow to Its National Security, Israel Will Bow to Trump’s Syria Withdrawal/Chemi Shalev/Haaretz/December 20/18
Analysis/Trump's Pullout Leaves Russia Holding the Cards in Syria, to Israel's Bitter Disappointment/Amos Harel/Haaretz/December 20/18
Explained /Trump Abandons the Kurds in Syria: Will Turkey Now Crush Their Dream of a 'Secular Utopia?/Alexander Griffing/Haaretz/December 20/18
Analysis/U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Shows Washington Is an Ally, but Only to a Point/Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/December 20/18
Opinion/Donald Trump's Big Lie on Syria Will Come Back to Haunt America/David Rothkopf/Haaretz/December 20/18
Iran: debunking the myths and fallacies/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 20/18

Latest LCCC English Lebanese & Lebanese Related News published on December 20-21/18
Seventh Meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group Focused on Countering Hizballah's Terrorist Activities
U.S. Department Of State/December 19/18
https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/12/288212.htm#.XBtf4Hw7dlM.twitter
Media Note/Office of the Spokesperson/Washington, DC
On December 17-18, the United States and Europol convened the seventh meeting of the Law Enforcement Coordination Group (LECG) on countering Hizballah’s terrorist and illicit activities in Europe. Governments from the Middle East, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and North America participated in this session, along with Europol and INTERPOL.
Hizballah continues to plot terrorism and raise money around the world, and countering the threat of Iran-backed terrorist groups is a top priority for the Administration. The LECG remains a crucial vehicle to improve international cooperation on combating Hizballah’s terrorist and criminal schemes.
Officials from the U.S. Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Counterterrorism Center, and Drug Enforcement Administration also participated in this meeting. The LECG will convene again in Europe in 2019.

Lebanon: Foreign Ministry Affirms Commitment to UNSCR 1701
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/Lebanon’s foreign ministry expressed its concern about the recent UNIFIL statement, stressing the country’s clear stance towards the full compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and its rejection of violations of any kind. The ministry said in a statement that the Lebanese government had requested that the Army take all necessary measures, in coordination with UNIFIL, to ensure the resolution is not violated.
“Lebanon requests that the Security Council ensures Israel commits to ceasing all violations of Lebanese sovereignty, which are over 1,800 yearly ... averaging five per day,” the statement added. Stressing that Lebanon and the United Nations have not discovered any operations on the Lebanese side since the imposition of Resolution 1701, the ministry noted that Israeli warplanes “fly on low altitudes, causing panic among resident, damage to property and losses to the Lebanese economy.” “Israel also plants spying devices in Lebanon and blows them up once they are discovered. It also sends threatening messages to Lebanese citizens, in addition to other violations,” according to the statement. The foreign ministry stressed “Lebanon’s keenness and its efforts to establish security and stability on its southern borders and its permanent efforts with the international community and UNIFIL to maintain this situation without prejudice to the sovereignty of its territory.”

Israel Urges UN to Condemn Hizbullah over Tunnels
Associated Press/Naharnet/December 20/18/
Israel on Wednesday urged a special session of the U.N. Security Council to condemn Hizbullah and designate it a terrorist organization following the discovery of cross-border tunnels stretching into Israel.
Following a stormy session, the council took no action on the Israeli request, though several members sided with Israel and expressed concerns over Hizbullah's violation of a U.N. Security Council resolution that ended a 2006 war between the bitter enemies.
Israel has previously urged the U.N.'s most powerful body to condemn Hizbullah, but has never succeeded because of divisions in the council, and there was no move Wednesday to circulate a draft resolution on the tunnels. A key reason for the lack of council action is that some members would insist that Israeli violations of the 2006 resolution also be included in a resolution.
Early this month, Israel announced the discovery of what it said was a network of cross-border Hizbullah attack tunnels and launched an open-ended military operation to destroy them. It so far has exposed four tunnels that it says were to be used to infiltrate and attack Israeli towns and abduct Israeli civilians. Ahead of Wednesday's debate, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the council to condemn Hizbullah.
"This is not merely an act of aggression. This is an act of war," Netanyahu said. "The people of Lebanon have to understand that Hizbullah is putting them in jeopardy and we expect Lebanon to take action against this."At the United Nations, Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon showed an aerial photograph of what Israel called a "private compound" near the border that concealed a tunnel. He also presented an aerial photo showing what he said were weapons-storage sites concealed in a border village.
He said Israel had given the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, "precise information" about the tunnels that was shared with the Lebanese army. He accused the Lebanese army of then relaying the information to Hizbullah, allowing it to try to conceal the tunnels. "Lebanese army officials are working for Hizbullah, while UNIFIL is not working to fulfill its mandate in the region in the necessary manner," Danon said.
The U.N.'s peacekeeping chief, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, said UNIFIL had confirmed four tunnels, including two that cross the frontier into Israel. Calling them a "serious violation" of the 2006 cease-fire resolution, Lacroix said UNIFIL is "acting judiciously" to complete its investigation and to work with both sides to disable all tunnels that cross the border.
"This is a matter of serious concern," he said. Lebanon's ambassador, Amal Mudallali, said her country took the matter seriously and remains committed to the cease-fire resolution.
"This commitment is not rhetoric, and these are not mere words, because this commitment is in the interest of my country and my people," she said, adding that the Lebanese army is "deployed heavily" in the south to make sure the cease-fire is honored.
But she also accused Israel of repeatedly violating the resolution by having its air force routinely fly through Lebanese skies. "If we were to call for a Security Council meeting every time Israel had violated Lebanon's sovereignty since 2006, you will be in a 24/7 shift to address them," she said. Several council members joined Israel in condemning the tunnels. Sweden said Hizbullah's military capabilities pose a "clear risk" to regional stability. The Netherlands strongly condemned the tunnel activities as a "flagrant violation" of Israeli sovereignty and international law.
Russia's deputy U.N. ambassador, Vladimir Safronkov, stressed Moscow's "historically friendly relations" with Israel and Lebanon in his speech to the council. Like many other council members, he called for calm and dialogue as well as an end to "emotional polemics."
Safronkov said Russia takes note of UNIFIL's preliminary conclusion on the violation of the 2006 resolution over the tunnels. But he quickly referred to Israeli violations as well.
"We see that all violations of the provisions in this Security Council resolution should cease, from either side — all violations," Safronkov said. "We cannot have a selective approach to implementation of the resolution."He said Israel has a right to prevent illegal incursions into its territory but expressed hope its activities "will not go against the grain" of the 2006 resolution.
Hizbullah, a powerful organization that acts independently in Lebanon, has yet to comment on the Israeli discovery. Israel has long called for a crackdown on the Iranian-backed Hizbullah, a heavily armed mini-army that is believed to possess an arsenal of some 150,000 rockets that can reach nearly all of Israel.
In recent years, Hizbullah has been bogged down in fighting in Syria on behalf of Syrian President Bashar Assad's government. But with that civil war winding down, Israeli security officials fear Hizbullah is refocusing its attention on Israel.
Though it appeared the Lebanese army was unaware of the Hizbullah tunnels, Netanyahu said, they know about it now and must neutralize them for their own country's sake. Israel holds the Lebanese government responsible for the actions of Hizbullah. "The fact that the Lebanese army is doing nothing means that they are either unable or unwilling or both to do anything about this. But it doesn't absolve Lebanon's culpability," he said.
"My message is: Hizbullah is putting you in great jeopardy." Israel also accuses Hizbullah of using private homes to store weapons or other military activity. Netanyahu called these actions a "double war crime" since it threatened to harm Israeli civilians and put Lebanese civilians in danger as well. On Wednesday, the Israeli military escorted reporters along the Israel-Lebanon border to the site of one of the tunnels found in recent weeks near the town of Metula. Heavy mist and rain nearly obscured the Lebanese villas perched on the mountains overlooking Israeli army bulldozers and tractors trundling through the mud. Hizbullah, Lebanese and Palestinian flags fluttered on the opposite side of the border as Israeli soldiers lowered cameras 26 meters (85 feet) into the mouth of a rock-hewn tunnel they said was the first exposed in "Operation Northern Shield" emanating from the Lebanese village of Kafr Kela just a few hundred meters (yards) away.

UN: Hezbollah Tunnels Have No Exit Points in Israel
New York - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/A United Nations Security Council session held under the request of Israel and the United States on the alleged cross-border tunnels of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, failed on Wednesday to issue a statement or express a condemnation. "A thorough investigation to establish the trajectories and points of origin of the identified tunnels is a complex task," said Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the deputy head of UN peacekeeping operations. "The tunnels are between 29 and 46 meters below ground, difficult to detect and in close proximity to areas sensitive to both parties," he told the Security Council, according to Agence France Presse. Calling the tunnels "a serious violation of Resolution 1701" -- which ended the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah -- Lacroix said they "do not appear thus far to have exit points on the Israeli side."He said two of the four tunnels that had been detected stretched south of the so-called Blue Line, the demarcation line between Lebanon and Israel drawn up by the UN to verify Israel's withdraw from Lebanon in 2000. Israel's UN ambassador Danny Danon presented the Security Council with aerial photos that he said proved Hezbollah's presence below the Blue Line. "With a terror base of operations on the Israeli border, if Hezbollah dares to attack Israel, it will bring the ruin of Lebanon," he said. But Kuwait’s UN Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi reaffirmed Lebanon’s right to protect its sovereignty. “Lebanon has long been living with threats and violations by Israel's army,” the diplomat said. He urged the international community to force Israel into abiding by Resolution 1701, which it continues to violate mainly through overflights in Lebanon.

Macron Says Lebanon Must Form Government to Promote Cooperation
Naharnet/December 20/18/French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that Lebanon must form a new government "as soon as possible" in order to promote cooperation between the two countries. In remarks he made on Twitter, Macron wrote in Arabic that “France is working to ensure the stability and independence of Lebanon. “I have held talks with the President Michel Aoun, and Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and we hope a Lebanese government is formed as soon as possible to promote cooperation between the two countries,” he said.
Lebanon’s government is on the verge of formation after strenuous efforts in the past days to ease the so-called Independent Sunni MPs obstacle. A deal between Lebanon's political leaders has seemed close on several occasions, but they have repeatedly failed to reach full agreement on a line-up. Lebanon's economy has often looked on the brink of collapse, but a Paris conference dubbed CEDRE in April 2018 earned it $11 billion in aid pledges.
France last week warned that Lebanon risked heavy losses if the unprecedented solidarity expressed by donors was to fizzle out.

Lebanon’s Aoun, Hariri Put Final Touches on Cabinet Lineup
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri is set to announce his national unity cabinet this week if no new obstacles delay the formation of the government. Several officials who took part in the last-minute consultations aimed at removing the final hurdle to announcing the cabinet lineup, confirmed that President Michel Aoun and Hariri were putting the final touches on the expected decree. The decree is set to be issued following a meeting between Aoun, Hariri and six Hezbollah-backed Sunni lawmakers, whose demands for representation in the new government, had been the last remaining obstacle. The breakthrough came this week when concerned parties agreed that the six MPs get a representation by a figure from outside their Consultative Gathering after Aoun accepted to cede one of his bloc's seats in the government to the Hezbollah-allied Sunni figure.
“Things are on the right track,” a source at Baabda Palace told Asharq Al-Awsat. “The cabinet formation decree will be issued Friday evening.” But the sources said that if there were any delay, then the process could take a couple of more days. The Consultative Gathering’s six lawmakers are expected to meet at the residence of MP Abdul Rahim Mrad in Beirut as soon as MP Faisal Karami returns from abroad. “The conferees will then head to Baabda Palace to meet with President Aoun, who is expected to announce the name of the figure who will be given a cabinet seat,” sources following up the consultations told Asharq Al-Awsat. “Then Hariri would join the talks, ending his boycott” of the Consultative Gathering, they said. After the six MPs leave Baabda Palace, Speaker Nabih Berri is expected to head to the presidential seat to review the final draft line-up. Then the Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers is invited to announce the decree on the cabinet formation, the sources added. "We are on the brink of forming the government," Berri was quoted as saying by one of his MPs on Wednesday. Caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil also said the remaining details should not need more than "two days ... and we will have a government". Ali Hassan Khalil, a top aide to Berri, will remain finance minister, a senior official and a senior political source told Reuters. The source said Bassil, Aoun’s son-in-law and head of the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) he founded, would keep his job as foreign minister.

Saudi ambassador to Lebanon presents credentials to president
Arab News/December 20/18/JEDDAH: Lebanese President Michel Aoun received the credentials of Saudi Ambassador Walid bin Abdullah Bukhari in Beirut on Wednesday. Bukhari had been the charge d’ affaires of the Saudi Embassy in Lebanon since March 12.
Saudi Arabia and Lebanon enjoy cordial ties. Recently, Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri highlighted the potential for strong commercial and investment ties between the two countries at a conference in London. He described his relationship with Saudi Arabia as a good one: “I believe that the Saudi market is a good market for Lebanon. “We have prepared many agreements that we will be signing with Saudi Arabia as soon as we form an administration. When we form a government, we will see Saudi Arabia taking some serious steps toward Lebanon. “We want to prepare Lebanon as a platform for foreign companies to come and invest in, and make Lebanon a hub for them to take advantage of reconstruction in Syria, Iraq and even Libya.”

Hariri Receives Saudi Ambassador
Naharnet/December 20/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri held talks at the Center House on Wednesday with the Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari, Hairir’s media office said. Hariri received Bukhari in a protocol visit after his accreditation as ambassador to Lebanon. Discussions focused on the situation and the bilateral relations.

Khalil Meets Pro-Hizbullah Sunni MPs, Agree on Adra in Overnight Meeting
Naharnet/December 20/18/The Consultative Gathering MPs have reportedly agreed to nominate Jawad Adra for a ministerial seat to represent them in the new government, LBCI TV station reported on Thursday. Sources close to MP Faisal Karami, told LBCI that the “MPs have agreed on Adra, and await to determine the date for a meeting with President Michel Aoun at Baabda Palace tomorrow to announce the agreement.” According to information, a meeting took place late on Wednesday between political adviser of Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah, Hajj Hussein Khalil, and five of the Independent Sunni MPs (except for Karami who is expected to return to Beirut on Friday). The gatherers agreed on Adra. MP Jihad Samad had clarified that Adra was one of the names initially proposed by the Consultative Gathering MPs. “If he is the lucky one, he is going to represent us in the Cabinet.”

Report: Stakes High for Govt. Formation despite Row between Sunni MPs over ‘Adra Nomination’
Naharnet/December 20/18/The shuttle movement to form Lebanon’s government by Friday or Saturday accelerated after agreeing on a way out to name a minister representing the pro-Hizbullah Independent Sunni MPs from outside their Consultative Gathering, al-Hayat newspaper reported on Thursday. A new name emerged in addition to the three names that some of these deputies proposed for President Michel Aoun to choose from. MP Qassem Hashem (of the six MPs), a member of the Development and Liberation bloc (of Speaker Nabih Berri) has proposed businessman Jawad Adra as candidate. The name caused a disagreement between the six MPs who still have to decide on whether to agree on Adra or not, said the daily. Meanwhile, General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, who mediated the latest initiative that could possibly lead to a breakthrough in the formation, was active in “putting the final touches on the government formation with Lebanon’s officials,” said al-Hayat. Prominent sources told the daily “the intention of issuing the government decrees in the next two days is still in place.” Head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, after meeting with the PM-designate Saad Hariri and Ibrahim, voiced hopes the government would be formed before the year-end. Hashem’s nomination of Jawad Adra as a candidate for the cabinet seat was rejected by some of deputies of the so-called Independent Sunni MPs. They said the name was suggested from outside the list they presented to Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim during their meeting. Meanwhile, Hashem had said that he handed Ibrahim the name in a closed envelope. Al-Hayat said the name of Adra, Founder and Managing Partner of Information International SAL, was suggested two days ago but was only leaked yesterday.
The sources suggested consensus between President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and perhaps Hizbullah on the name. Four of the six MPs have reportedly met away from the spotlight in the absence of Hashem and MP Faisal Karami, who is abroad, to address the matter. According to LBCI television, the meeting was “stormy” and interlocutors “did not agree to support Adra's candidacy because he does not represent them.”
“Nothing has been decided yet,” one the six MPs was quoted as saying.

Latest LCCC English Miscellaneous Reports & News published on December 20-21/18
US Defense Secretary Mattis retiring, Trump says
Agencies/December 20/18/WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, a retired Marine Corps general who was known as a stabilizing force in President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, will leave his job at the end of February, Trump said in a tweet on Thursday. His departure had been anticipated since Trump announced on Wednesday that he was withdrawing US troops from Syria despite opposition from US allies and top US military officials. Mattis said in his resignation letter that he was stepping down so Trump could have a defense chief whose views align more closely with his own. Trump said he would nominate a successor to Mattis shortly. Mattis joins a long list of former Trump administration senior figures who have either quit or been removed, some unceremoniously like Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who Trump fired via Twitter in March. Trump’s White House has had the highest turnover of senior-level staff of the past five presidents, according to the Brookings Institution think tank. Speculation that Mattis might not last long in his post grew in October when Trump said in a CBS interview that the general was “sort of a Democrat” and might be leaving.

Turkey, Iran Vow to Work Closer on Syria after US Announcement
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Thursday vowed to work closer to end the fighting in Syria. But the two leaders made no comment on US President Donald Trump's shock announcement that he was pulling US troops out of the war-ravaged nation. "There are many steps that Turkey and Iran can take together to stop the fighting in the region and to establish peace," said Erdogan, without elaborating, at a joint news conference with Rouhani in Ankara. "Syria's territorial integrity must be respected by all sides. Both countries are of the same opinion regarding this," Rouhani said in translated remarks. The two leaders' meeting had been arranged before Trump's announcement about the US pull-out, a move already welcomed on Thursday by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Some Western analysts consider the US presence a key counterweight to Iranian influence in the region. Ankara has repeatedly called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's ouster and supported Syrian opposition fighters. Tehran and Moscow meanwhile are Damascus's strongest allies and have helped to turn the war in Assad's favour. Turkey, despite its differences with Iran and Russia over Syria, has worked closely with both countries to find a political solution to the war through the Astana process launched last year. As part of the peace talks which began in the Kazakh capital, Turkey, Iran and Russia agreed four "de-escalation" zones in Syria. All of those except the northwestern province of Idlib have been retaken by Damascus. At Thursday's news conference, Rouhani said Turkey and Iran would continue their cooperation under the Astana peace process.
Turkey 'stands by Iran'
Erdogan threatened last week to launch a new operation east of the Euphrates in northern Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). This US-backed Kurdish militia is viewed by Ankara as a "terrorist offshoot" of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey. There are around 2,000 US forces in Syria, most of them on a train-and-advise mission helping the YPG under the banner of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance fighting against the Islamic State extremist group. Turkey and Iran, regional rivals for centuries, have in recent times focused on developing a pragmatic relationship and boosting trade. Erdogan on Thursday repeated Turkey's criticism of the US this year pulling out of the nuclear deal with Iran and imposing new sanctions on the Islamic republic. "I want to stress once more than we (Turkey) do not support these decisions and that American's sanctions against Iran increase the risks to the region's safety," he said, adding that Turkey would "stand by the Iranian people". The deal envisaged sanctions on Iran being lifted in return for it accepting inspections by the UN atomic watchdog and limits on its nuclear activities.

France to Stay in Syria after US Troops Ordered Home
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/France will maintain its participation in the coalition fighting Islamic State forces in Syria, government officials said Thursday after President Donald Trump surprised Washington's allies by ordering US troops home. "For now of course we remain in Syria," France's European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said on CNews television, adding "the fight against terrorism is not over.""It's true that the coalition has made significant progress in Syria, but this fight continues, and we will continue it," she said.
France has stationed fighter jets in Jordan and artillery along the Syrian border in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition, as well as an undisclosed number of special forces on the ground. On Wednesday Trump said in a Twitter video that "We've won against ISIS," another acronym for the Islamic State group, and that it was time to bring the roughly 2,000 US soldiers fighting the jihadists home. It was a stunning reversal of a US policy which had vowed its support for Kurdish allies who have been key fighters against IS forces in Syria. Its allies have warned that despite losing most of the territory it once controlled during the bloody Syrian civil war, the IS threat has not been totally eradicated. French Defence Minister Florence Parly said on Twitter Thursday that the group "has not been wiped of the map, nor have its roots.""We must definitively defeat the last pockets of this terrorist organisation," she said.

Trump Stuns Allies by Ordering US Troops Home from Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/US allies were stunned Thursday after President Donald Trump declared victory over the Islamic State group in Syria and abruptly ordered the withdrawal of US ground troops from the country. The decision runs counter to long-established US policy for Syria and the region. It blindsided lawmakers, the Pentagon and international allies alike. Britain and France warned on Thursday that the fight against jihadists in Syria was not finished. Trump earlier said: "We've won against ISIS," in a short video posted on Twitter. "We've beaten them and we've beaten them badly. We've taken back the land. And now it's time for our troops to come back home." A withdrawal could have major geopolitical ramifications, and plunges into uncertainty the fate of US-backed Kurdish fighters who have been tackling Islamic State jihadists, thousands of whom are thought to remain in Syria.
A US official told AFP that Trump's decision was finalized Tuesday. "Full withdrawal, all means all," the official said when asked if the troops would be pulled from across Syria.
Currently, about 2,000 US forces are in the country, most of them on a train-and-advise mission to support local forces fighting IS. Pentagon officials scrambled for a reaction. A spokeswoman eventually said the Defense Department had "started the process" of bringing troops home.
Lawmakers assailed Trump's decision, saying it could embolden Ankara to attack US-backed Kurdish fighters. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, said the president's decision was unwise and put the Kurds "at risk."
Democratic Senator Jack Reed said it amounted to a "betrayal" of the Kurds that "provides further evidence of President Trump's inability to lead on the world stage."Blasting the move as a "huge Obama-like mistake," Graham said "I fear it will lead to devastating consequences for our nation, the region and throughout the world." Most US troops are stationed in northern Syria, though a small contingent is based at a garrison in Al-Tanaf, near the Jordanian and Iraqi borders. Trump has previously voiced skepticism about the US presence in Syria, saying in March he wanted to bring troops home "soon."But military advisors and international allies warned Trump against a precipitous pullout, and he later acquiesced to an indefinite Syria mission. The US official would not provide a withdrawal timeline, saying only it would come "as quickly as possible." White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the US-led coalition that includes dozens of nations would continue fighting the jihadists. "These victories over ISIS in Syria do not signal the end of the Global Coalition or its campaign," Sanders said in a statement.
The Pentagon refused to say what effect the troop withdrawal would have on air operations in Syria that have been ongoing since late 2014. A senior administration official said Trump's decision was consistent with comments he has made for years. "The notion that anyone within the administration was caught unaware, I would challenge that," the official said.
Fate of Kurdish fighters?
A large contingent of the main US-backed, anti-IS fighting force in Syria, an alliance known as the Syrian Democratic forces (SDF), is Kurdish. Turkey terms it a "terrorist" group.
Ankara has said it plans to launch an operation against the Kurdish militia known as the YPG (Kurdish People's Protection Units). While the YPG has spearheaded Washington's fight against IS, US support has strained relations between the NATO allies. The US decision to withdraw from Syria marks a remarkable development not just for the Kurds, but for years-old US doctrine in the region. Only last week, Brett McGurk, the special envoy to defeat IS, said "nobody is declaring a mission accomplished." "If we've learned one thing over the years, enduring defeat of a group like (IS) means you can't just defeat their physical space and then leave," he said.
'Short-sighted and naive'
A statement issued by the British government, which has long supported the anti-IS campaign in Syria, said "much remains to be done" against the jihadists. "We must not lose sight of the threat they pose. Even without territory, (IS) will remain a threat," the statement read. Junior defence minister Tobias Ellwood was more blunt, retweeting a message from Trump that the jihadists had been defeated in Syria with the words: "I strongly disagree. "It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive." The Times newspaper on Thursday reported that Britain had not been informed of the decision before Trump announced it. France said Thursday it will maintain its participation in the coalition fighting IS forces in Syria. European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said "the fight against terrorism is not over." A US presence in Syria is seen as key to pushing against Russian and Iranian influence. Pro-Iran militias have supported Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and Moscow in 2015 intervened in the conflict to prop him up. Charles Lister, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, called the decision "extraordinarily short-sighted and naive." "This is not just a dream scenario for ISIS, but also for Russia, Iran and the Assad regime, all of whom stand to benefit substantially from a US withdrawal," Lister said.

Germany: US Syria Pullout Could Hurt Fight against IS
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/Germany warned Thursday that US President Donald Trump's decision to pull troops out of Syria could endanger a battle against Islamic State militants and jeopardise achievements on the front. "The IS has been pushed back, but the threat is not over. There is a danger that the consequences of (Trump's) decision could hurt the fight against the IS and endanger what has been achieved," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a statement. The battle against the Islamist militants would be "decided in the long run -- militarily and with civilian means", said Maas. The foreign minister stressed the need for a political process under the auspices of the United Nations, in order to bring lasting stability back to war-torn Syria.

US Allies in Syria Rattled by Trump Decision to Withdraw
Associated Press/Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw troops from Syria has rattled Washington's Kurdish allies, who are its most reliable partner in Syria and among the most effective ground forces battling the Islamic State group. Kurds in northern Syria said commanders and fighters met into the night, discussing their response to Wednesday's surprise announcement. Arin Sheikmos, a Kurdish journalist and commentator, says "we have every right to be afraid." The move is widely seen as an abandonment of a loyal ally, one that could prompt Turkey to launch a fresh offensive against the Kurds or drive the Kurds into a new alliance with Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iran and Russia. A Syrian member of parliament, Peter Marjana, said Thursday that a U.S. pullout would be a "recognition that Syria has won."

After U.S. Announces Syria Pullout, Netanyahu Says Israel Will Increase Actions Against Iran With Full U.S. Support
Noa Landau/Haaretz/December 20/18/Putin says he agrees with Trump that ISIS has been defeated in Syria but that he doesn't know what a U.S. withdrawal really means, as he has not seen signs of it yet.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he largely agrees with Trump that ISIS has been defeated in Syria, adding that there is a risk that ISIS militants could regroup. Putin also called the U.S. military presence in Syria illegitimate. Putin noted that he doesn't know what a U.S. withdrawal from Syria really means, adding that Russia hasn't seen any signs of withdrawal yet. Putin said that the U.S. has said many times before that it is leaving Afghanistan, but it is still there.  The White House said on Wednesday that the United States has started sending troops back from Syria but that the move does not signify the end of the campaign or a halt to the work of the global coalition in the war-torn country.  All U.S. State Department personnel are being evacuated from Syria within 24 hours, a U.S. official told Reuters. The decision came after a phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Friday. "Everything that has followed is implementing the agreement that was made in that call," the official said.  Israel was aware of Trump's intentions, and has been trying to postpone the decision over the last year. However, it was the timing of the move which caught the political echelon off-guard and came at a moment when Israel is facing the repercussions of the September downing a Russian spy plane in Syria. Since the incident, Netanyahu has yet to be invited to Moscow, and Israel was hoping this would happen before the U.S. withdrawal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he spoke Monday with U.S. President Donald Trump and with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. "The U.S. administration has told me that it was the president's intention to pull out their troops from Syria. They clarified that they have other ways to wield their influence in that arena," the premier stated.
Netanyahu added that Israel will closely follow the time table of the American troops' withdrawl and what repercussions this move will have on Jerusalem. "In any case we will make sure to ensure the safety of Israel and protect ourselves from this arena." Israel's envoy at the UN, Danny Danon, voiced concern over the American move later Wednesday. Speaking at a UN Security Council session on Hezbollah's cross-border tunnels, the Israeli ambassador said that while Israel respected its ally's decision it still had its own concerns about the situation in Syria.

After Trump Announces Syria Withdrawal, Turkey Says Kurdish Militants Will Be Buried in Ditches
Reuters/December 20/18/Trump's move stunned U.S. lawmakers and allies and upends American policy in the Middle East. For NATO ally Turkey, however, the news is likely to be welcome.
Turkey said Kurdish militants east of the Euphrates in Syria “will be buried in their ditches when the time comes,” after U.S. President Donald Trump began what will be a total withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria. Trump’s decision to pull out completely was confirmed by U.S. officials and is expected in the coming months. The move stunned U.S. lawmakers and allies and upends American policy in the Middle East. For NATO ally Turkey, however, the news is likely to be welcome. The two countries have long had their relations strained by differences over Syria, where the United States has backed the Syrian Kurdish YPG in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist group and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). “Now we have Manbij and the east of the Euphrates in front of us. We are working intensively on this subject,” state-owned Anadolu news agency on Thursday reported Defence Minister Hulusi Akar as saying during a visit to a Qatari-Turkish joint military base in Doha. “Right now it is being said that some ditches, tunnels were dug in Manbij and to the east of the Euphrates. They can dig tunnels or ditches if they want, they can go underground if they want, when the time and place comes they will buried in the ditches they dug. No one should doubt this.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this week that Turkey may start a new military operation in Syria at any moment, touting support from Trump even though the Pentagon had issued a stern warning to Ankara. The Pentagon had said that unilateral military action by any party in northeast Syria, where U.S. forces operate, would be unacceptable.Turkey has already intervened to sweep YPG and Islamic State fighters from territory west of the Euphrates over the past two years. It has not gone east of the river, partly to avoid direct confrontation with U.S. forces.

France to Stay in Syria as UK Says Still More to Do Against ISIS
Asharq Al-Awsat Thursday, 20 December, 2018 /France said Thursday that it will maintain its participation in the anti-ISIS coalition in Syria as Britain insisted "much remains to be done" in fighting the terrorist group in the war-torn country, amid reports it was not given prior warning of President Donald Trump's decision to pull out US ground troops. "For now of course we remain in Syria," France's European Affairs Minister Nathalie Loiseau said on CNews television, adding "the fight against terrorism is not over." "It's true that the coalition has made significant progress in Syria, but this fight continues, and we will continue it," she said. A UK government statement came in line with Loiseau’s remarks. "Since military operations began, the coalition and its partners in Syria and Iraq have recaptured the vast majority of ISIS territory and important advances have been made in recent days in the last area of eastern Syria which ISIS has occupied."But much remains to be done and we must not lose sight of the threat they pose. Even without territory, ISIS will remain a threat." Britain’s Junior defense minister Tobias Ellwood was more blunt, retweeting a message from Trump that the militants had been defeated in Syria with the words: "I strongly disagree. "It has morphed into other forms of extremism and the threat is very much alive."Trump declared on Wednesday that ISIS had been "beaten" in Syria and announced the pullout of American ground forces from the war-ravaged nation.
Currently, about 2,000 US forces are in Syria, most of them on a train-and-advise mission to support local forces fighting ISIS. The Pentagon refused to say what effect the troop withdrawal would have on air operations in Syria that have been ongoing since late 2014.
Britain takes part in the air strikes as part of an international coalition. The statement from London said: "We remain committed to the global coalition and the campaign to deny ISIS territory and ensure its enduring defeat, working alongside our critical regional partners in Syria and beyond. "As the situation on the ground develops, we will continue to discuss how we achieve these aims with our coalition partners, including the US." The Times newspaper reported that Britain had not been informed of the decision before Trump announced it. As for France, it has stationed fighter jets in Jordan and artillery along the Syrian border in Iraq as part of the US-led coalition, as well as an undisclosed number of special forces on the ground. French Defense Minister Florence Parly said on Twitter Thursday that ISIS "has not been wiped of the map, nor have its roots." "We must definitively defeat the last pockets of this terrorist organization," she said. Germany also expressed concern that the US decision could undermine efforts to combat ISIS. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said in a statement that "the abrupt change of course by the American side comes as a surprise not only for us." He said that while ISIS has been pushed back, "the threat is not yet over."Maas said "there is a danger that the consequences of this decision could damage the fight against ISIS and endanger the successes that have been achieved." He pointed to "underground structures" and continued activity in eastern Syria.

Russia Plans Intra-Palestinian Reconciliation, Haniyeh Visits Moscow Soon
Ramallah, Tel Aviv - Kifah Zboun & Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018 /Russia plans to achieve Palestinian reconciliation between the "Fatah" and "Hamas" movements, informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat. "The Russians have informed all parties, including Israel, that they are examining this matter with Hamas and the PA," the sources said, adding that they believe it helps in restoring calm and supports the establishment of a Palestinian state. According to the sources, this was a major reason behind the Russian Foreign Ministry’s invitation for Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh to visit Moscow. They confirmed that arrangements have been made for this visit for quite some time. Haniyeh is scheduled to leave Gaza Strip by the end of this week or early next week, heading to Egypt before Moscow. “He was supposed to start his tour earlier, but he is waiting for an Egyptian arrangement,” sources noted. Notably, Haniyeh who will be heading a Hamas delegation, might also visit Qatar, Turkey, Lebanon, Sudan, Kuwait and other countries. This will mark Haniyeh's first tour since he headed Hamas’s political bureau in May 2017.
In November, Russia’s Foreign Ministry sent an invitation to Haniyeh to visit Moscow. It was conveyed by Haydar Rashid, the diplomatic representative of Russia in Ramallah. This is not the first time Moscow invites Hamas officials to visit it, as former Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal had visited Moscow on more than one occasion. Israel, in return, has in recent weeks lodged furious protests with Russia over its recent invitation to Hamas leader. The objections were raised both by Israel’s embassy in Moscow and in talks with the Russian embassy in Tel Aviv. However, Russian officials reportedly rejected the complaints, noting that Jerusalem was also holding talks with Hamas, albeit indirectly. Head of the Jewish Agency Yitzhak Herzog discussed the matter on Wednesday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov, for his part, said that his country called on Haniyeh to visit as part of its efforts to prevent the deterioration of the situation in the region. Russia had voted against a US-drafted UN General Assembly resolution condemning Hamas for a recent wave of violence in Gaza initiated by Tel Aviv. The motion failed to muster the two-thirds majority. Israel retaliated on Monday by voting in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution that voiced “grave concern over the progressive militarization of Crimea” and urged Moscow to “end its temporary occupation of Ukraine’s territory”.

Egypt Says it Thwarted Militant Attacks on Christians
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/The Egyptian Interior Ministry said Thursday that security forces have killed eight militants and detained four more who planned attacks on Coptic Christians during the upcoming holiday season. In a statement, the ministry said the 12 belonged to "Hasm," an armed faction of the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo considers a terrorist organization. It said two of the eight killed were separately shot dead after they opened fire on security forces storming two residences in Cairo. The remaining six were killed in a shootout as they tried to flee the capital. Egypt’s Christian minority has increasingly been targeted in recent years by militants including ISIS, which is waging an insurgency in the north of the remote Sinai Peninsula.

Sisi Reviews Investment Opportunities in Egypt, Concludes Visit to Vienna
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi concluded on Wednesday his four-day state visit to the Austrian capital Vienna. “The Egyptian market is very large in the region and includes 100 million citizens,” Sisi noted, adding that Egypt is a gateway to African countries and has concluded many agreements with some major regional and international groupings.He also met in his residence 16 of the top Austrian companies that are operating in Egypt in addition to a number of Egyptian businessmen, who are members of the Egyptian-Austrian business council. He reviewed with them some investment opportunities in the economic zone of the Suez Canal and the new Suez Canal, which reduced half the transit time of ships. The Egyptian President’s participation in the high-level Africa-Europe Forum came at an invitation of Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, current president of the European Union, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, current president of the African Union. Sisi emphasized Egypt’s balanced foreign political relations with all Middle Eastern countries, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said in a press statement.
According to Rady, Sisi described these relationships as balanced, constructive and based on development, mutual respect and cooperation. He stressed the importance of settling part of the Austrian expertise and industries in Egypt to guarantee sustainability and good prices.
Rady added that Sisi reviewed in the meeting the current investment opportunities in Egypt and procedures taken by the government to facilitate foreign investments. Sisi met during his visit with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellenand and praised the Egyptian-Austrian friendship. He said Egypt looks forward to deepen and strengthen these relations, especially at the economic and commercial levels by increasing the volume of Austrian investments in his country. In this context, Sisi also met with the Austrian Chancellor in which both sides discussed means of boosting bilateral cooperation and coordination at all levels, especially in light of the pivotal role that Egypt is playing as a pillar of stability, security and peace in the Middle East and Africa.Both sides also discussed regional and international issues of common concern.

Anger in Libya after Seizure of Arms Sent from Turkey
Cairo - Jamal JawharAsharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 20 December, 2018/There was widespread anger in Libya this week after al-Khoms port authorities east of the capital Tripoli seized a container laden with weapons and ammunition coming from Turkey. The authorities in the port said this was the second such seizure in al-Khoms this year. They said the cargo included 3,000 handguns, 400 hunting rifles in addition to 2.3 million bullets. The head of Libya’s National Committee for Human Rights, Ahmed Hamza, said that the commission was following up the matter with great concern.
He warned against the continued violation of the arms embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council and the European Union since the fall of the former regime in 2011. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Hamza said that the transfer of weapons and ammunition to Libya would increase the cycle of violence among the bickering factions. Such violence would reflect on the safety and security of civilians, he warned.Hamza urged the UN Libya Experts Panel to launch a comprehensive investigation into the arms smuggling. His comments came as several Libyan lawmakers expressed their rejection of Turkish  policies towards Libya. A parliamentarian from eastern Libya, who refused to be identified, said that he will propose to the legislature to take measures against Turkey and criminalize its weapons transfers, which he said are aimed at creating further chaos in the country.

Spanish Government to Meet in Barcelona amid Separatist Protests
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez will hold a cabinet meeting in Barcelona on Friday amid tight security as Catalan pro-independence groups plan to hold protests and block roads in the region. The meeting comes a year to the day after Madrid held snap elections in Catalonia after blocking the wealthy northeastern region's move for independence and many separatists have called the timing of the meeting "a provocation". In protest, the powerful grassroots separatist organisation ANC, which has previously staged massive pro-independence street demonstrations in Barcelona, urged its supporters to block the streets of the Catalan capital with their vehicles.Radical grassroots group, the Committees for the Defence of the Republic (CDRs), also plans to meet near the palace where the cabinet meeting will be held. Its members have clashed with police in the past. "We will be ungovernable on December 21," the group said in a tweet, accompanied by a picture of Spain's King Felipe VI on fire. Pro-independence groups are also planning to march through the streets of Barcelona on Friday afternoon after the meeting which will get under way at 10 am (0900 GMT).
Tight security is expected to cordon off the palace where the Spanish government will gather.
'Not a provocation' -
Separatists are still reeling from the steps Spain's central government took to block Catalonia's independence bid. In October 2017, Catalan leaders pushed ahead with a controversial independence referendum despite a court ban, then declared independence on the basis of the results. The then conservative Spanish government responded by deposing the Catalan executive, dissolving the regional parliament and calling snap elections for December 21.
Separatist parties again won a majority in the Catalan parliament in the election, even though many candidates were in jail or self-imposed exiled over their role in the failed independence bid. Spain's Supreme Court last October ordered 18 former Catalan separatist leaders to stand trial over the independence bid. Nine defendants are being held in jail ahead of their trial, which is expected to start in early 2019. Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo said Wednesday that the Barcelona cabinet meeting "was not a provocation". Sanchez's six-month-old Socialist government already held a cabinet meeting in the southern city of Seville in October.
'Not enough'
The prime minister will meet with the head of the Catalan regional government, Quim Torra, on Thursday on the eve of the cabinet meeting. Sanchez took office in June after winning a surprise vote of no-confidence in parliament against the previous conservative government which was backed by Catalan separatist parties. The separatists withdrew their support for his government after public prosecutors in November called for prison sentences of up to 25 years for the 18 Catalan separatist leaders facing trial next year. Sanchez initially adopted a more conciliatory tone towards Catalonia than his predecessor, prompting accusations from the right that he was weak in the face of separatists who threaten to break up Spain. But his tone has hardened after far-right party Vox, which takes a tough line against Catalan separatism, won seats for the first time in a regional parliament during an early election on December 2 in Andalusia, a Socialist stronghold. During a debate in parliament earlier this month Sanchez said Catalan separatists "only have lies to back their political positions". Catalan vice president Pere Aragones said the first months of Sanchez's government were "a breath of fresh air".
"But fresh air is not enough, there have to be concrete measures. The longer it takes for the State to recognise that there is a political problem here that needs to be resolved with courage, the harder it will be to find a solution," he told AFP.

Drone Used to Smuggle Drugs into Kuwait
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/Kuwaiti authorities have arrested a man who used a drone to smuggle in drugs from a neighboring country, the anti-narcotics department said Thursday. It said the department had seized four kilograms (nine pounds) of amphetamine and one kilogram of hashish. Kuwait's interior ministry posted a picture of the drone and the drugs on its Twitter handle. The authorities have regularly reported drug seizures at the airport and border crossings, but this was the first time they say a drone was used. Drones are sold in Kuwait but authorization is required from the interior ministry for their use. Under Kuwaiti law, operating a drone without permission can result in a three-year jail sentence or a 3,000-dinar ($10,000) fine.

Morocco Eyes 'Terror' Link as It Makes New Arrests in Hikers Murder
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December 20/18/Moroccan investigators said Thursday they have arrested three fugitive suspects in the grisly murder of two Scandinavian hikers as they follow a link to Islamic extremism. The arrests in the city of Marrakesh on Thursday morning follow a first arrest on Monday of a man suspected of belonging to an Islamic extremist group, hours after the discovery of the two women's bodies in the High Atlas mountains. "The suspects have been arrested" and investigators are in the process of "verifying the terrorist motive, which is supported by the evidence and the findings of enquiries," a statement from Morocco's central judicial investigations office said. The bodies of Danish student Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, and 28-year-old Maren Ueland from Norway were found on Monday, after the women had pitched their tent at an isolated mountain site two hours walk from the tourist village of Imlil. Moroccan police have focused on the terrorism line of inquiry since arresting the first suspect on Monday in a poor neighbourhood of the region's main city of Marrakesh, which is a magnet for foreign tourists. "The radical Islamist line has not been removed, because of the profile of the (first) suspect arrested and the three" others, who have links to radical Islamic circles, a source close to the investigation told AFP on Wednesday. Investigators released profiles of the three fugitives late on Wednesday as they launched an intensified manhunt. In one of the black and white photos circulated by the authorities, one of the suspects wears long white clothing and a white skullcap, and has a long beard.  A second suspect also has a long beard, while the third has a thin face and a goatee. All three hail from Marrakesh, and one of them had "a court record linked to terrorist acts", police spokesman Boubker Sabik said.
'Brutal and meaningless' A source close to the investigation told AFP that "the arrests highlight the efficiency of the security forces". Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen denounced what he called a "beastly crime". Addressing reporters on Thursday morning, Rasmussen said "like the whole world, we react with consternation, disgust and a profound sadness."Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg condemned what she called a "brutal and meaningless attack on innocents". Authorities are still determining the authenticity of a grisly video posted on social media allegedly showing the murder of one of the women, an investigation source said. The killings have sparked fears of a hit to Morocco's crucial tourist sector -- which accounts for 10 percent of national income -- as the kingdom's relative security has always been a major selling point. "What most of us had feared - that is to say a terrorist angle to the double crime in the region of Imlil, has been confirmed," said leading news website Medias 24. "Shock, sadness and revulsion are perceptible in Morocco," it added. Traumatised by the murders, residents of Imlil are deeply fearful for their livelihoods, and have lent their help to investigators in identifying suspects, a tourism sector source told AFP. Morocco has been spared jihadist attacks since 2011, when a bomb attack on a cafe in Marrakesh's famed Jamaa El Fna Square killed 17 people, most of them European tourists. An attack in the financial capital Casablanca killed 33 people in 2003.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 20-21/18
More People Means More Cars, More Deaths
Nathanial Bullard/Bloomberg/December, 20/18
More than 1.3 million people died in road-traffic accidents in 2016, an all-time high, according to the World Health Organization. A world with more people and more cars means more death on the world’s roads. Those deaths, though, are not evenly distributed. “Road traffic injuries are now the leading killer of people aged 5-29 years,” notes the WHO’s new Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018. “The burden is disproportionately borne by pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists, in particular those living in developing countries.”
There is nuance within those figures. While the total number of such deaths has risen, the death rate per 100,000 people has fallen slightly since 2000. The change in safety on a per-vehicle basis is far more striking. The number of automobiles on the world’s roads rose from 850 million in 2000 to 2.1 billion in 2016. But the number of road-traffic deaths per vehicle fell by more than half, from 135 per 100,000 to 64 per 100,000. Still, a slightly lower rate of road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people and a much lower rate of deaths per 100,000 vehicles is still resulting in more deaths every year. Road traffic might be the single biggest killer of people ages 5 to 29, but if we look deeper into the WHO’s data, that “biggest killer” status is even more astonishing.
Looking at the 15-29 age cohort, road-traffic deaths are 75 percent higher than deaths due to self-harm and 87 percent higher than deaths from interpersonal violence, and more than twice the number of deaths due to maternal conditions. 1 If the world’s population of 15- to 29-year-olds is an ecosystem, then motor vehicles are its alpha predators.
Just as astonishing: Male road-traffic deaths far outnumber female deaths in every age cohort the WHO specifies, and for the 15-to-49 population, men make up 4 out of 5 road-traffic deaths.
Why are men predominantly the victims in road-traffic fatalities? Men are more likely than women to drive in many parts of the world, and they drive more miles than their female counterparts. Men are also more prone to engage in aggressive, potentially fatal risk-taking behaviors such as tailgating, cutting off other vehicles, or even ramming other vehicles on purpose. Road-traffic deaths have continued to increase as the human population increases. As Michael R. Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News, notes in his foreword to the WHO’s report, “Road safety is an issue that does not receive anywhere near the attention it deserves — and it really is one of the great opportunities to save lives around the world.” The Bloomberg Philanthropies Initiative for Global Road Safety has dedicated more than a quarter-billion dollars over the past 12 years to that opportunity. And there are glimmers of positive development in the WHO report: Road-traffic deaths per 100,000 people have fallen slightly this century, and vehicles have become much safer. Turning the growing number of total deaths into a decline, however, will require much greater safety — for vehicles, for drivers and for pedestrians — in a future with more cars and more people.

It’s a Qatari – Not a Gulf – Crisis
Salman Al-dossary/Asharq Al Awsat/December, 20/18
Nearly 18 months after the Quarter’s boycott of Qatar, the crisis seems to be marginal and unnoticed. It may be cited in a weekly news sub-line, or at a trivial press conference as a response to a question by a reporter from Qatar, or even a desperate attempt by Doha’s allies in Ankara and Tehran to revive the issue. Besides that, no one is mentioning the crisis, except for the Qatari regime, which considers it an existential crisis and has the right to do so. The entire Qatari state, its government, its emir and its institutions, and obviously its Riyal, have maintained their desperate attempt to prevent the crisis from falling into oblivion. For the past one-and-a-half-year, they were only busy with touring the globe in search for help. But day after day, the theory that the entire world has approved is confirmed: the crisis is Qatari par excellence - and not a Gulf one, as promoted by Doha. Hence, the concerned country should work to solve it, no one else. Perhaps all those who expected the crisis to be only instant, temporary or of a short-term, mainly those in Doha, have reconsidered there opinion and understood that the problem was more complex and needed more than mere forgiveness. This rule is no longer politically valid in the current phase. If the strategy, upon which Hamad bin Khalifa’s regime is based, did not change, the crisis will continue for many long years that have just started.
It is true that pressures have led to a slight change and national concessions in dealing with terrorist groups, as the Western intelligence has been closely monitoring the movements of the Qatari regime, but the journey is still long for Doha to meet all the obligations imposed on it. Therefore, any solutions to the Qatar crisis are not in the horizon; so the Qatari battle is now confined to the idea that the crisis is not Qatari but concerns the Gulf, in order to prove that there are those who share the suffering and that it is not alone in its predicament.
As Qatar continues to live under its existential crisis, while the world forgets it and coexists with its status after the boycott, the strategy upon which Doha depends is limited to searching for any domestic issues in the four countries to amplify them, exploit them in the media, and sponsor pressure groups to provoke them. It does so strongly and unyieldingly, to give the impression to the Qatari public opinion that there are huge issues in those countries, and not only Qataris are suffering from the boycott crisis.
Doha, therefore, believes that stirring up its neighbors’ crises through media will suggest that there are other crises similar to its own. Qatar overlooks the fact that all the countries of the world pass through difficulties but finally succeed in overcoming them. But the Qatari crisis has seen no shimmer of progress, and will last… Indeed, as Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, said: “It is not our crisis, it is the crisis of Qatar. There is no need for a mediator to solve it, but the need for rational people in Qatar.”
For the four boycotting countries, the Qatari crisis belongs to the past. All of them have coexisted with it. They even forgot that there was a boycotted country. They kept walking and did not turn back. But what about Qatar? It pretends to be witnessing a better situation after the boycott; but at the same time, it dispatches its ministers, begs for mediators and rejoices in its participation in the Gulf Summit, just to say: I am here. This is Qatar, as we have always known it, living in its own contradictions.
The world has forgotten its crisis, while it remains isolated and unnoticed.

Palestinian Children: Victims of Arab Apartheid
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute./December 20/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13442/palestinian-children-apartheid
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), "legal prohibitions persist on access for Palestinian refugees to 36 liberal or syndicated professions (including in medicine, farming, fishery, and public transportation)... In order to work, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are required to obtain an annual work permit. Following a change in the law in 2001, Palestinian refugees are reportedly prevented from legal acquiring, transferring or inheriting real property in Lebanon."
The latest failure serves as a reminder of the apartheid and discrimination Palestinians face in Lebanon. According to various human rights organizations, Palestinians there suffer systematic discrimination in nearly every aspect of daily life. The UNHCR also points out that the Palestinians in Lebanon do not have access to Lebanese public health services and rely mostly on UNRWA for health services, as well as non-profit organizations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The Palestinians are also denied access to Lebanese public schools.
Where are all the international human rights organizations and pro-Palestinian groups around the world that feign concern for the suffering of the Palestinians? Will they remain silent over the neglect of Wahbeh because because he died in an Arab country and Israel had nothing to do with his death?
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has denied responsibility for the death in Lebanon this week of a three-year-old Palestinian boy from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, after Lebanese hospitals refused to receive him because his parents were unable to cover the cost of his medical treatment. Pictured: The Wavel Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, administered by UNRWA. (Image source: European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations/Flickr)
Mohammed Majdi Wahbeh, a three-year-old Palestinian boy from the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon, is the latest victim of apartheid and discriminatory laws targeting Palestinians in an Arab country.
Wahbeh was pronounced dead this week after Lebanese hospitals refused to receive him because his parents were unable to cover the cost of his medical treatment. According to reports in the Lebanese media, one hospital asked the boy's family to pay $2,000 for his admittance. The boy had been in coma for three days before his death, but no hospital agreed to receive him because his family could not afford to cover the expenses of his treatment.
The death of the Palestinian boy at the entrance to the hospital has sparked a wave of anger among many Lebanese and Palestinians. Addressing the Lebanese Minister of Health, Ghassan Husbani, Lebanese journalist Dima Sadek wrote on Twitter:
"Mr. Minister, as residents, we ask you: Why did a three-year-old boy die at the entrance to a hospital, and who issued the order to prevent him from being admitted? Doesn't your ministry bear responsibility? Since when does an illness differentiate between a Palestinian boy and a Lebanese boy? What is your responsibility with regard to this crime?"
Prominent Lebanese journalist and TV host, Neshan Der Haroutiounian, posted a video on social media of the dead boy lying on a hospital bed, his grandmother crying nearby. In the video, the grandmother complains: "No one cares about us the Palestinians." In a tweet accompanying the video, the journalist wrote: "This Palestinian boy died in Lebanon. He was three years old."Rabia Zayyat, another famous Lebanese journalist, took to Twitter to express her outrage.
"Oh My God! How can a boy die at the entrance to a hospital because of a bunch of dollars? If the hospital has no mercy, couldn't its administration have phoned an official to cover the cost instead of the money spent on a party or banquet? How can we continue to live in a country that doesn't acknowledge human rights?"
Hussein Banjak, a Lebanese resident, also expressed outrage and disgust over the death of the boy because of his family's inability to pay the cost of his treatment:
"The boy was killed in my country, without war, by those who have no conscience. He died because of $2,000 - the cost of a leader's ties, the cost of the shoe of a leader's wife, the cost of a bottle of cologne for the son of a leader, the cost of a leader's handbag, the cost of medicine for a leader's dog."
The Lebanese Ministry of Health said in a statement that the Palestinian boy had previously been admitted to three different hospitals, where he had undergone surgery on his head. According to the ministry, Wahbeh was admitted to the Tripoli Government Hospital on December 17. The statement continued that his previous medical bills had been covered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). "He died inside the hospital," the ministry said, denying claims that he has died at the entrance.
The ministry's statement lays the blame at the door of UNRWA for refusing to cover the cost of his admission to the last hospital.
UNRWA, for its part, has denied responsibility: representatives said that it had provided financial and medical coverage for the boy. According to the agency, the doctors tried to transfer Wahbeh to a pediatric intensive care unit in another hospital, but were told that there was no room in any of Lebanon's hospitals.
To protest the death of the boy, Palestinians in Nahr al-Bared camp took to the streets, where they burned tires and blocked roads as they chanted slogans condemning both UNRWA and the Lebanese authorities for their failure to save the boy's life.
The tragedy of the Palestinian boy was not the first of its kind in Lebanon. In 2011, another Palestinian boy, Mohammed Nabil Taha, age 11, also died at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital, after doctors refused to receive him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.
The latest failure serves as a reminder of the apartheid and discrimination Palestinians face in Lebanon. According to various human rights organizations, Palestinians there suffer systematic discrimination in nearly every aspect of daily life. They are prohibited from working in most professions, including medicine and transportation.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
"... legal prohibitions persist on access for Palestinian refugees to 36 liberal or syndicated professions (including in medicine, farming, fishery, and public transportation). Moreover, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have reportedly only partial access to the National Social Security Fund. In order to work, Palestinian refugees in Lebanon are required to obtain an annual work permit. Following a change in the law in 2001, Palestinian refugees are reportedly prevented from legal acquiring, transferring or inheriting real property in Lebanon."
As if that were not enough, the UNHCR also points out that the Palestinians in Lebanon do not have access to Lebanese public health services and rely mostly on UNRWA for health services, as well as non-profit organizations and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. The Palestinians are also denied access to Lebanese public schools.
Lebanon's leaders, however, appear to be living in denial and engaging in deception. Instead of acknowledging that Palestinians suffer from discrimination and apartheid in this Arab country, the leaders of Lebanon are trying to point an accusatory finger at Israel. Several Lebanese leaders, including President Michel Aoun, continue to accuse Israel of practicing "racism" against Palestinians. These accusations represent the height of hypocrisy on the part of an Arab country that denies Palestinians most basic rights. By shifting the blame to Israel, the leaders of the apartheid regime in Lebanon are trying to cover up for their mistreatment and discrimination of the Palestinians living among them. A country that denies urgent medical treatment to a three-year-old boy is not entitled to continue lying to the world that it supports the Palestinians and their cause.
Finally, the question that arises whenever one hears about such tragedies is: Where are all the international human rights organizations and pro-Palestinian groups around the world that feign concern for the suffering of the Palestinians? Will they remain silent over the neglect of Wahbeh because because he died in an Arab country and Israel had nothing to do with his death?
*Khaled Abu Toameh, an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at 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.

Does China's Nuclear-Capable Hypersonic Missile Threaten U.S. Deterrence?
Debalina Ghoshal/Gatestone Institute/December 20/18
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/13443/china-hypersonic-missile
U.S. officials revealed in August that China had test-fired a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and of thwarting missile-defense systems. About two months earlier, China tested the advanced DF-41 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It has a range of 12,000-15,000 km, and is capable of carrying 10 miniaturized nuclear warheads.
China is no doubt assuming that if its ICBMs can reach the United States mainland, they will deter the U.S. from interfering in China's affairs in the South- and East China Seas.
China is no doubt assuming that if its intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can reach the United States mainland, they will deter the U.S. from interfering in China's affairs in the South- and East China Seas. Pictured: A DF-31 intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying nuclear warheads, on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in China. (Image source: Tyg728/Wikimedia Commons)
U.S. officials revealed in August that China had test-fired a hypersonic missile -- the Xingkong-2 or Starry Sky-2 -- capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and of thwarting missile-defense systems. Although this was the first such test that was openly acknowledged by Beijing, it was, according to the Washington Free Beacon, merely one of many that the U.S. has been monitoring.
About two months earlier, China tested the DF-41 -- one of its most advanced intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). It has a range of 12,000-15,000 km, and is capable of carrying 10 miniaturized nuclear warheads, rather than a single large one.
These miniaturized nuclear warheads on a single ballistic missile are referred to as "multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles" (MIRVs). MIRV-ing a missile enables it to counter enemy missile-defense systems. Because the DF-41 uses solid rather than liquid fuel -- as does the DF-5 ICBM -- it is more mobile and its launching requires less preparation time. Although it can be dispatched from mobile launchers, it can also be launched from silos. Over the years, China has developed dummy silos -- to confuse the enemy and force it to have to distinguish between real and fake ones.
The DF-41 can also be canister-launched. This is a cause for concern, because until now, China has kept its nuclear warheads and delivery systems separate, as part of its "no first use" doctrine, but canister launches require the missile to be fitted with nuclear warheads. And when the missile is fitted with nuclear warheads, its attack time decreases considerably, thus enhancing China's nuclear deterrence and increasing both the mobility and operational flexibility of the missile.
China is no doubt assuming that if its ICBMs can reach the United States mainland, they will deter the US from interfering in China's affairs in the South and East China Seas.
Although the United States is improving the National Missile Defense (NMD) and Theater Missile Defense (TMD) programs, and counting on them to protect its homeland from enemy attack, its current ability to intercept China's ICBMs remains to be seen. China is working unrelentingly to make up for its quantitative disadvantage in its nuclear arms race against the U.S. by competing qualitatively. This development is not something about which the United States can afford to be complacent.
*Debalina Ghoshal, an independent consultant specializing in nuclear and missile issues, is based in India.
© 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.

As the Climate Changes, Avoid Green Energy Bets
Gary Shilling/Bloomberg/December, 20/18
Hurricanes, severe winter storms, wildfires, droughts and several recently issued reports have raised fresh concerns about climate change and the threat it may pose to the planet. The first thing investors should do in reaction to the global warming issue is not panic.
Steven Koonin, a theoretical physicist who served as undersecretary of energy and science in the Obama administration, points out that the fourth National Climate Assessment released late last month shows that overall effect of human-caused climate change is quite small. That report’s worst-case scenario assumes an increase in global temperatures of 9 degrees Fahrenheit by 2090, a huge leap and 12 times faster than the 1.4-degree rise recorded since 1880. It also assumes the U.S. economy grows at only a 2 percent annual rate versus, versus the 3.3 percent average so far this year. Still, the forecast reduction in annual economic growth is a tiny 0.05 percentage point.
If you still want to invest in anticipation of rapid global warming, avoid green energy areas because they continue to require huge government subsidies and mandates. Corrosive ethanol would collapse without government requirements that it be included in automotive fuel. Wind farms require government mandates and subsidies to be viable. What the government giveth, the government can taketh away. Also, recall the recent gyrations among solar panel producers after the Trump administration charged the Chinese with dumping them here and restricted their imports.
If you fear significant temperature rises, avoid properties in coastal areas. The Union of Concerned Scientists believes 311,000 coastal homes worth $118 billion are at risk of chronic flooding in the next 30 years, as are 14,000 coastal commercial properties assessed at $18.5 billion. If it gets hotter in Florida, retiring baby boomers may not move there, reducing the demand for retirement communities.
The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says higher temperatures would hit hardest poor countries in tropical and subtropical regions, with reductions in crop yields due to less water and more insects. So avoid investments in the frontier markets of Asia and Africa.
Warmer average temperatures will increase summer tourism in northern and southern latitudes. Rising temperatures would also enhance the growth of forests in North America, Europe and Russia, while more frost-free days each year open huge new acreage to soybeans, corn, wheat and other crops in northern U.S. states and Canada.
Still, I’d bet on the suppliers of the picks and shovels, rather than grubstake gold miners. So consider producers of farm and logging equipment as well as grain merchants. And don’t forget pesticide manufacturers, since higher temperatures spawn more bugs.
If the Arctic Ocean becomes ice-free in summer by mid-century, the sea route from Japan to Europe will be reduced to 7,600 miles instead of 11,300 miles via the Suez Canal. Here again, I favor shipbuilders over the shippers and cruise lines. Lots more global warming would unlock huge quantities of crude oil and natural gas that lie under Arctic ice. Once again, I’d prefer the energy-service companies over the producers.
The earth’s climate is extremely complicated. Even the best of computer models cannot explain many phenomena, and require assumptions that inherently reflect human biases. So don’t expect today’s forecasts to survive the next batch of computer model outputs.

Analysis/Despite the Blow to Its National Security, Israel Will Bow to Trump’s Syria Withdrawal
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم شيمي شاليف: بالرغم من الضربة التي تلقاها الأمن الإسرائيلي جراء انسحاب ترامب من سوريا فإن تل أبيب سوف تذعن للأمر
Chemi Shalev/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70190/chemi-shalev-haaretz%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%B4/
Trump’s decision to cede hegemony to Russia could be part of a nefarious payoff, of the kind being investigated by Robert Mueller.
The U.S. President is weak. He is running away, with America’s tail between its legs. He is abandoning Israel, betraying the Kurds and sticking a knife in the back of Bashar Assad’s opponents. He is strengthening Iran, handing a victory to Russia, throwing a lifeline to ISIS and encouraging radical Islam. This is what Benjamin Netanyahu and his disciples would undoubtedly be reciting now, if the U.S. President’s name were Barack Hussein Obama, with added emphasis on his middle name, so that everyone gets the message.
But the President of the U.S. is Donald Trump, Lion of Judea, Cyrus incarnate, Netanyahu’s soul mate and the best friend that Israel ever had. He abandoned the Iran nuclear deal, moved the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and told the Palestinians where to get off. So that when it is Trump who suddenly decides to withdraw 2000 American troops from Syria, Israel understands. It respects any decision. Its criticism, if at all, will be nuanced and coated with sugar. And it will pray that its apprehensions about the American move are not borne out.
This is what happens to a country and a prime minister who have wagered all their chips on empty gestures, such as the embassy move, at the expense of the far greater and more immediate threat on its northern border. This is what happens when one relies on evangelicals – who couldn’t care less about Syria, at best, or are praying for it to spark the war of Gog and Magog, at worst – as its sole advocate in Washington. This is what awaits an Israeli leader who gets bogged down in the thick molasses of flattery and kowtowing to a U.S. President, to the extent that he effectively loses any ability to challenge him or to enlist Congress and public opinion against his decisions. This is the destiny of a prime minister who is terrified that any direct public rebuke could make Trump blow his top and endanger the beautiful friendship he worked so hard to build.
In the next few weeks and months, Israel will watch with bated breath as the U.S. relinquishes much of its ability to influence events on the ground in Syria. Although U.S. officials promised on Wednesday to maintain the U.S. air campaign, without a significant ground presence, its deterrence will be weakened, its ability to quickly deploy troops on the ground will disappear and its impact on a final settlement of the Syrian civil war will diminish dramatically.
The withdrawal, announced on Wednesday by U.S. defense officials, concedes hegemony in Syria to the Kremlin, either because this is what Trump promised in his election campaign or as part of a more nefarious payoff, of the kind that is now being investigated by Robert Mueller.
According to reports in U.S. media, Trump overruled senior army and Pentagon officials, who objected to the quick pullback. Trump tweeted on Wednesday “We have defeated ISIS” but U.S. defense experts claim that the Islamic terrorists continue to hold significant swaths of territory in northern Syria, that the organization is definitely down, but certainly not out. If a worst case scenario emerges, history might list Trump’s ISIS braggadocio alongside George Bush’s woeful 2003 declaration “Mission Accomplished” on Iraq or Senator George Aiken’s famous 1966 recommendation that the U.S. declare victory in Vietnam before it scurries away.
The Kurds, who were armed by the U.S. and manned the front lines of the war on ISIS, will now be left to fend for themselves against a bigger and stronger Turkish army, which takes no prisoners. For them, Trump’s withdrawal is a great betrayal, and possibly a gateway to disaster and massacre.
The imminent U.S. withdrawal has symbolic and not only military portent. Solve your own problems, the White House is telling the Middle East. You will soon be alone, against the Kremlin, the Ayatollahs in Tehran and Assad’s murderous regime, it is signaling Israel. We are no longer engaged. We’ve spent too much money on your fruitless wars already. After all, we are for America First, not America and Israel first, in case you misheard.
Israel will know how to defend itself, Netanyahu said on Wednesday, putting on a brave face. It’s quite possible he’s right. But it will be doing so from a weakened position, with its big brother no longer behind it, at a time when its room for maneuver has been seriously curtailed already, in the wake of the September downing of the Russian aircraft over Latakia.
Trump’s decision, if it stays in force, inflicts a direct and harsh blow on Israel’s national security, but Jerusalem will accept the setback with empathy and love. It will now have to pretend that the spit from the White House is actually the bountiful rain we’ve all been waiting for.

Analysis/Trump's Pullout Leaves Russia Holding the Cards in Syria, to Israel's Bitter Disappointment
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم عاموس هاريل: خيبة لإسرائيل كون الإنسحاب الأميركي من سوريا يضع كل الأوراق بيد روسيا
Amos Harel/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70197/amos-harel-haaretz-trumps-pullout-leaves-russia-holding-the-cards-in-syria-to-israels-bitter-disappointment-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7/
Despite his declared sympathy for Israel, Trump's move goes against Netanyahu's position and further isolates the country in its attempt to subdue Iranian influence.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement that American troops are being withdrawn from Syria — assuming that a full withdrawal will be carried out — is of strategic importance to Syria and the entire region. It may have implications for the entire Middle East and the battle for influence between the United States and Russia.
Trump was irresolute from the start about the continued U.S. military presence in the region. When he spoke of “America First” during his campaign (and exaggerated, with some rewriting of history, his opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003), his intent was also to reduce American military investment in the Middle East.
But three months after Trump’s inauguration, Bashar Assad’s regime put up a challenge when it resumed using chemical weapons against civilians despite American warnings.
Trump responded with unusual aggressiveness, using cruise missiles, a step his predecessor, Barack Obama, decided against at the last minute under similar circumstances in 2013.
Afterward, the new president accepted the recommendation of his generals and left the U.S. soldiers in Syria; around two months ago, it was even reported that he had authorized a doubling of the force, to about 4,000 soldiers. But now he has announced that American diplomats will leave Syria within 48 hours and the last soldier will pack out in a hundred days.
The argument Trump made Wednesday was pretty logical. Obama in the end sent U.S. soldiers to Syria in the summer of 2014 as part of the war he’d declared on the Islamic State. That campaign has more or less ended, in an operational victory for the U.S.-led coalition. The caliphates that Islamic State had declared collapsed, together with its hold on the cities of Mosul, in Iraq and Raqqa, in Syria, after aerial bombardment by the coalition (and ground combat by the Iraqi army in Mosul and particularly Kurdish units in Raqqa).
While thousands of Islamic State militants remain active, they are not concentrated in a single zone of control and their chain of command has been badly damaged.
But the line presented by the generals, led by Defense Secretary James Mattis, was different. Focusing the American military effort against Islamic State made it easier for the Assad regime to retake control of other parts of Syria and the south.
After Islamic State was defeated, the United States maintained a presence in Syria in two main areas: the Kurdish region in the northeast and the al-Tanf enclave around a U.S. air base in southern Syria, near the border with Iraq and Jordan. The U.S. presence was seen as blocking the expansion of Iranian influence in Syria.
Tanf in particular served as a “plug” that made it difficult for the Iranians to exploit the new situation and establish an active land corridor from Iran, through Iraq and Syria, to Lebanon. In recent weeks senior Israeli defense officials have said that leaving the American soldiers there is of prime importance. Now, according to Trump, they are on their way out.
In recent months Russia has been pressing Iran to reduce arms smuggling to Hezbollah through Syrian territory. But the U.S. hold on Tanf, which it defended aggressively, also aided deterrence.
The list of countries and parties concerned about the Trump decision is long. It includes, along with Israel, the Kurds, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that Trump informed him of the move in a telephone conversation earlier this week. The prime minister added that Israel will examine its ramifications and act to guarantee national security.
In the past two years, the prime minister has enjoyed free access to Trump and apparently also has extraordinary influence on him. The administration’s decisions regarding the Middle East — the forgiving attitude toward Saudi Arabia following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the relocation of the embassy to Jerusalem and the jewel in Netanyahu’s crown, the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear agreement with Iran — all seemed to have been taken from Likud’s wish list.
But Trump’s latest announcement (made on Twitter, characteristically) is deeply disappointing to Jerusalem. Israel was counting on Tanf as a bargaining chip; the Pentagon had promised it that the U.S. soldiers would leave only as part of an agreement under which Iranian forces also withdrew from Syria. Unless it emerge that the U.S. withdrawal is part of a comprehensive agreement with Russia — and for now there’s no indication of this — it will leave Moscow holding the cards in Syria.
From Israel’s perspective, this has two implications: First, it is more isolated than before in its efforts to remove the Iranians from Syria, since there is still tension with the Russians in the wake of the downing of the plane in September. Second, Trump, despite his declared sympathy for Netanyahu, is taking a step that totally conflicts with the prime minister’s position. It also raises questions about the future, especially at a time when Trump will be preoccupied with the trade war with China and the cordon tightening on him from the special prosecutor’s investigation into Russian influence on the U.S. election results two years ago.

Explained /Trump Abandons the Kurds in Syria: Will Turkey Now Crush Their Dream of a 'Secular Utopia?
تقرير من الهآرتس بقلم الكسندر جريفنج: هل تخلي ترامب عن الأكراد في سوريا سيسمح لتركيا بسحق حلمهم بكيان مثالي وعلماني
Alexander Griffing/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70199/alexander-griffing-haaretz-trump-abandons-the-kurds-in-syria-will-turkey-now-crush-their-dream-of-a-secular-utopia-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA/
Without U.S. soldiers as a buffer, the Kurds are now stuck between Turkey, Assad and ISIS.
As the war in Syria unfolded and President Bashar Assad pulled his troops out of the Kurdish northeast to quell uprisings in the country’s western population centers, Syria’s Kurds – with U.S. support – took it upon themselves to defeat the Islamic State on their territory.
As the Kurds pushed ISIS back in brutal battles in first Kobani and later Raqqa, Rojava – or “The land where the sun sets” – began to take shape.
The autonomous state was declared in 2014. While it was never officially recognized by Assad, the United Nations or NATO, it had the de facto support of the United States since its inception, as the Americans provided Kurdish fighters with air cover and weapons in their fight against ISIS. But now, with President Donald Trump ordering the full withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s looming threats to attack, the days of Kurdish autonomy in Syria appear to be numbered.
In 2016, Rojava morphed into the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (DFNS) as the Kurds incorporated other ethnic groups into their governing bodies and militias – forming the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The federation was heralded as a fledgling democracy forged out of the horrors of civil war and a “secular utopia” in totalitarian, ISIS-ravaged Syria.
Rojava and later the DFNS governed its some 2 million people with an ideology antithetical to ISIS: Promoting minority rights, religious tolerance, gender equality and governing by direct democracy. Kurdish women fight in the Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) and even famously held a rally in Raqqa – the former de facto capital of ISIS – to denounce violence against women after they helped defeat the terror group.
The philosophy underpinning the state came from leftist revolutionary Abdullah Öcalan, one of the founding members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) but currently in prison in Turkey. Turkey and the United States both designate the PKK a foreign terrorist organization.
Syrian Kurdish parties said last Friday that Turkish threats to attack their region amounted to a "declaration of war," and asked world powers to prevent an assault. Erdogan has vowed to clear Syria of all terrorists east of the Euphrates River. The Turkish president sees the Kurdish militia in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), as a “terrorist offshoot” of the PKK – which has been conducting a deadly insurgency against Turkey since 1984.
"All the forces in north and east Syria … are asked to agree on strategies to confront this aggression," read a statement signed by Syria's main Kurdish parties and other allied groups.
There are contradictory statements about the U.S.’ stance regarding the Turkish offensive. Speaking at a political rally on Monday, Erdogan said: “We talked with Mr. Trump. He gave a positive answer. We are going to sweep Syrian lands until the last terrorist is eliminated.”
However, a day later, when asked by Kurdistan24 whether Erdogan’s claim about Trump’s approval for the attack on northeastern Syria was a “misstatement,” U.S. State Department spokesperson Robert Palladino responded with a direct “Yes.”
‘Never U.S. soldiers’
About 30 million Kurds live in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, with the Council on Foreign Relations noting that “many who remain in their ancestral lands maintain a strong sense of a distinctly Kurdish identity.” Kurds are one of the world’s largest ethnic groups without a sovereign state.
Erdogan aims to keep it that way. In June 2015 he said: ‘‘We will never allow the establishment of a state in Syria’s north and our south. We will continue to fight in this regard no matter what it costs.’
As Erdogan ramped up his threats to attack, a spokesman for a Turkish-backed rebel force called the National Army, Maj. Youssef Hamoud, told Reuters last week, “The battle will be launched simultaneously from several fronts. It will be in Manbij and Tel Abyad and Ras al-Ayn,” he said, referring to towns about 200 kilometers (125 miles) apart near Syria’s northern border.
Speaking on Wednesday, Erdogan said Turkey’s target “is never U.S. soldiers,” highlighting both the importance of the U.S. presence in the region for the Kurds and Erdogan’s growing frustration with his NATO ally.
Up to 15,000 Syrian rebels, including from the Free Syrian Army (FSA), are ready to join a Turkish military offensive against U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in northeast Syria. On Thursday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar was quoted as saying, they YPG “can dig tunnels or ditches if they want, they can go underground if they want. When the time and place comes, they will be buried in the ditches they dug. No one should doubt this.”
The operation will be Turkey’s third cross-border operation into Syria since 2016, following the successful Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch, in which Turkey recaptured Afrin (a Kurdish enclave in the northwest of Syria that was part of Rojava).
In June 2018, a report by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) detailed large-scale human rights abuses in areas under Turkish control such as Afrin, which was taken from the YPG in March.
The report said, “Civilians now living in areas under the control of Turkish forces and affiliated armed groups continue to face hardships, which in some instances may amount to violations of international humanitarian law and violations or abuses of international human rights law.”
However, the YPG has been dogged by allegations of human rights abuses in areas under its control. In June 2014, Human Rights Watch reported “arbitrary arrests, due process violations, and failed to address unsolved killings and disappearances” in the three Syrian enclaves administered by the Kurds.
HRW noted that the Kurds are running a local administration with courts, prisons and police, and “Kurdish-run areas of Syria are quieter than war-torn parts of the country, but serious abuses are still taking place.”
Trump’s surprise
While both Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received advance notice of Trump’s order to withdrawal the 2,000 or so American troops from Syria, the Pentagon, State Department and U.S. Congress appeared to be caught mostly off guard.
“I have no idea what’s going on,” GOP Sen. Bob Corker, the outgoing Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair, said after the withdrawal announcement. “I did not know and I think I should have been [notified],” said GOP Sen. Jim Inhofe, the Senate Armed Services Committee chief. “I believe that they should have notified probably all of Congress but certainly our committee.”
The withdrawal was also met with immediate criticism from the president’s allies within his own party. Sen. Lindsey Graham called the withdrawal a “huge Obama-like mistake” and said “ISIS is not defeated” in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan – as Trump claimed in a tweet after news of the withdrawal broke. Graham concluded, “An American withdrawal at this time would be a big win for ISIS, Iran, Bashar al Assad of Syria, and Russia.”
GOP Sen. Marco Rubio even retweeted the Russian Embassy praising the withdrawal with the comment, “I found someone who is supportive of the decision to retreat from #Syria.”
The United States had committed in September to keep troops in Syria indefinitely, to bolster Kurdish forces in an effort to keep Iranian influence out of the area – a commitment that infuriated Turkey and left the Americans effectively in control of a little less than a third of Syria.
Mr. Kurd
Also in September, during a press conference at the UN, Kurdish journalist Rahim Rashidi made headlines around the world when Trump referred to him as “Mr. Kurd.” Rashidi asked Trump what a future relationship with the Kurds would look like in a “post-ISIS” world.
“We’re trying to get along very well,” Trump responded. “We do get along great with the Kurds. We’re trying to help them a lot. Don’t forget, that’s their territory. We have to help them. I want to help them. They fought with us. They died with us. They died. We lost tens of thousands of Kurds, died fighting ISIS. They died for us and with us. And for themselves. They died for themselves. They’re great people. And we have not forgotten. We don’t forget.”
“Mr. Kurd” was trending on Twitter after the exchange, and while many Western journalists mocked Trump and viewed the label as crude, it became a sensation among Middle Eastern Kurds – who see their identity as rarely recognized on the world stage.
Trump calls on Kurdish reporter by saying 'Mr. Kurd'
“I loved it – because all the time, our identity is ignored by the Turkish government, by the Iranian government,” Rashidi told The Washington Post. “We are proud of our struggle for democracy, for justice, for freedom. He made me so happy when he called me Mr. Kurd. It was a moment of respect for us, for me.”
After Trump’s plan to withdrawal was announced on Wednesday, many critics immediately saw the move as a betrayal of the Syrian Kurds who fought side-by-side with U.S. soldiers to end the atrocities of ISIS – Trump’s number one priority in Syria.
Without U.S. soldiers as a buffer, the Kurds are now left to fend for themselves against the second-largest military in NATO, one that has vowed to destroy them before handing their territory back over to the Assad regime that for decades stripped them of autonomy and identity.

Analysis/U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Shows Washington Is an Ally, but Only to a Point
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم زفي بارئيل: انسحاب الولايات المتحدة من سوريا يظهر أن واشنطن هي حليف لإسرائيل ولكن فقط بحدود معينة
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70202/zvi-barel-haaretz-u-s-withdrawal-from-syria-shows-washington-is-an-ally-but-only-to-a-point-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2/
Not only will Iran and Syria portray Trump's decision as a resounding victory – the pullout will also be viewed as a stab in the back of the Kurdish minority.
Reports concerning President Trump’s intention to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria should come as no surprise, at least for one reason. Trump usually changes policies like one changes socks, and there was no reason to assume he would act any differently in Syria.
It’s true that back in April he declared he would pull out American troops, but since then he changed his mind, coming into serious conflict with the Pentagon and the State Department. Only three weeks ago, the U.S. special envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said an American withdrawal from Syria is contingent on an acceptable diplomatic resolution in Syria and the establishment of a reasonable regime there. In other words, victory over ISIS, which until then was the main reason for the U.S. presence in Syria, was replaced by a new argument: waiting for a stable regime in Syria.
Even in this, the U.S. contributes nothing, since the management of diplomatic developments in Syria is entirely in the hands of Russia, joined by Turkey and Iran. Predicating American withdrawal on a diplomatic resolution not only failed to impress Russia and its allies, it put America in a position in which it was dependent on Russia’s ability to reach such a resolution. It actually made finding one much harder, since as long as Kurdish forces believed they had an American umbrella against Turkey, which would enable them to continue holding territory they had acquired and use it as a bargaining chip before withdrawing, Russia had a hard time forming a united coalition of rebels who would accept Russia’s blueprint for a solution.
If Trump sticks to his decision to withdraw and doesn’t yield to pressure exerted on him by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis, or if he wakes up with some new fantasy, the U.S. will evacuate the base at al-Tanf on the Syrian-Iraqi border, which acted as a deterrent to the entry of Shi’ite militia units into Syria. The U.S. will also evacuate its northern bases, which served as a base for strikes against ISIS, and it will also give up the idea of setting up observation posts along the border with Turkey which would protect the Kurds. This would leave the city of Manbij, now under Kurdish rule, open to a Turkish occupation, from where it could spread to other Kurdish enclaves east of the Euphrates.
It’s true that the extent of American forces in Syria was not sufficient for conducting significant tactical operations, but their very presence marked a territory of control and deterrence, preventing conflict with Russian, Turkish, Syrian and Iranian forces. Thus, the U.S. prevented the expansion of the Turkish invasion eastwards from the city of Afrin, by warning that hurting American soldiers would lead to painful retaliation.
Wariness of a conflict with American forces led Turkey to sign with clenched teeth an agreement to cooperate with the U.S. in jointly monitoring the city of Manbij, which had become a source of diplomatic conflict between the two countries. The American obstacle will no longer deter Turkey, and the Kurds will have to decide whether to wage a long and possibly hopeless war against Turkey, or to seek shelter with Moscow, without being able to pose conditions regarding future arrangements in Syria.
The Kurds are undoubtedly the biggest losers following the U.S. decision. This won’t be the first time in their history in which the U.S. is shown to be an unreliable ally. The State Department is rightly concerned that withdrawal from Syria would provide further proof to American allies that there’s no one that can be trusted in Washington and that Trump’s commitments are not worth the virtual space his tweets occupy.
However, the value of America’s commitment to its allies, with all its importance, is for now secondary to the main issue, which is the foreign forces involved in Syria, mainly those of Iran. One of the reasons given by the U.S. for its continued presence in Syria was based on the equation that as long as there are foreign forces in Syria, American troops would also continue their mission. Russia and Iran countered that their presence was legitimate since they had been invited by Syria, in contrast to the U.S. and Turkey, who had invaded the country.
The U.S. ignored this argument, and even though it clarified that the removal of Iranian forces would not be achieved through military means but through diplomatic ones, it was clear that the Iranian presence gave justification for its operations in Syria. American withdrawal will now be presented by Syria and Iran as a rout, which could impact the status and influence of the United States in the region, including Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and even Saudi Arabia, which could view an American retreat from Syria as a serious blow to the joint campaign against Iran.
For Israel, the U.S. presence in Syria did not carry much weight in terms of its campaign against the Iranian presence in Syria, but it had great importance in setting the rules of the game with regard to Russia, in delineating regions of reduced conflict in southern Syria and in removing Iranian forces from the Golan border. In all of these, Washington was either directly or indirectly involved, through its backing of Israel in multilateral meetings, and through its presence in Syria, which gave it the status of an active partner. Furthermore, as long as there are American bases in Syria they enable some military “elasticity,” which allows increasing the number of troops when more extensive local interventions are needed, without this appearing as a game-changer or a precedent.
Withdrawal of these forces means that any new deployment in Syria will now become a complex and prolonged political move, requiring Congressional approval, since such a move could be interpreted as an act of war. Trump can now boast that he’s fulfilled a campaign promise, returning troops home, but at the same time he’s disengaging the U.S. from another arena in which it could have had great impact.

Opinion/Donald Trump's Big Lie on Syria Will Come Back to Haunt America
تعليق سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم ديفيد روثكوبف: كذبة ترامب الكبيرة في سوريا سوف تطارد أميركا
David Rothkopf/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70204/david-rothkopf-haaretz-donald-trumps-big-lie-on-syria-will-come-back-to-haunt-america-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA/
ISIS, Erdogan, Iran, Putin and Assad. What's wrong with the list of big winners from Trump's immoral, incompetent retreat from Syria? How much worse can the president's Mideast 'policymaking' get?
It seems that a perverse contest has been taking place among the last three presidents of the United States, with each vying for the dishonor of having the worst Middle East policy.
George W. Bush, of course, still has the edge with his catastrophic, profoundly misguided and destabilizing invasion of Iraq. Barack Obama takes the special jury prize for fecklessness, offering high-minded speeches and largely ruminating himself into indecision amid the alienation of all of America’s allies in the region.
But Donald Trump has only been in office two years, and with his recent decision to ignore the advice of his advisors and the national interest of both the U.S. and our allies in the region combined with his pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal and kowtowing to despots, tyrants and wannabes from Putin to Erdogan to MBS to Benjamin Netanyahu, he seems like he is positioning himself for a run for the title.
Bush’s catastrophe was redeemed somewhat by his ability to learn from his errors, get rid of the members of his team that were the most wrong-headed and make some progress in restoring relations with allies in the region during his final years in office.
Obama, of course, built on efforts that took place under Bush and finally got Bin Laden, and despite the failures of his Syria policies and his bungled diplomacy in Israel, Turkey, Egypt, Libya and the Gulf, he did fashion the Iran nuclear deal which, although imperfect, reduced the immediate nuclear threat from Tehran.
Both also had a healthy skepticism of the motives and actions of Russia and a broader sense of America’s strategic interests. They also had policy processes that while flawed, had them listening to their advisors and weighing decisions in a relatively thoughtful manner (Iraq aside.)
But what makes Trump so different and potentially so much worse is illustrated in his mercurial decision on Syria - one that caught his State Department, Defense Department, Intelligence Community, and allies by surprise.
In the days before the decision was announced on Wednesday, Trump advisors had repeatedly pledged a commitment in Syria until the job was done—the Islamic State was defeated, a political settlement was in place, and a de-escalation of the conflict (the goals that were enumerated by Trump’s Special Envoy for Syria James Jeffrey a month ago.) Jeffrey repeated the point as recently as the beginning of this week. Behind the scenes, they also all urged the president not to pull the troops out suddenly.
But then in true Trump style with a tweet, the president announced he was done. He said that the only reason he had troops in Syria was to defeat the Islamic State and that work was completed.
Quite apart from the bizarre personalization of the announcement (it was about him rather than about the country), it was also not only inconsistent with the views of his team, it was based on a lie. The Islamic State is not defeated. They are still active in Northern Syria and there is no doubt that the pull out of U.S. troops will create conditions that might actually lead to their regaining strength.
Reporting suggests that Trump had decided to do this as part of an agreement with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, one of the many despots in the region for which Trump has a warm place in his heart - and one from whom he would like help suppressing further investigations into the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
But Erdogan was hardly the only big winner from the decision. Trump’s patron Vladimir Putin also was a winner with Russian influence in Syria and the Assad regime it has supported now left firmly in control. Iran too, a stated nemesis of Trump’s, is also a winner, but that seems only to illustrate how half-baked the move was.
The New York Times reported that in the U.S. Defense Department there was immediate speculation Trump was doing this to try to distract from the maelstrom of scandals currently swirling around him.
And of course, that was a prime motivation. Trump is flailing. In the best of times, everything he does is motivated by self-interest. But as he reaches crisis that malignant narcissism only grows worth. He will do anything to change the subject or to save himself.
That is what puts Trump in the position to go from bad to much much worse in his Middle East policies (and I use the term loosely: they are more like impulses or fits.)
Trump has already thrown his lot in with the cruel, autocratic and destabilizing regime in Riyadh - pitting himself not only against what is right but against many of the people of the region who are chafing under the leadership of such regimes. He has lit the fuse for a conflict with Iran, egged on by his buddy Bibi. He has given Bibi carte blanche to behave as brutally as he likes with regard to the Palestinians.
Further, he has shown absolute disregard for the human costs of the wars in Syria and Yemen, of Saudi or Turkish or Egyptian abuse of dissidents, of the harshness of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people or the likely Erdogan crackdown on the Kurds.
It is a formula both for the further empowerment of bad actors like the Russians, Assad, Iran, MBS and of extremists of every stripe from Israel and across the region. It raises the possibility of further brutality in Syria, war with Iran, and political unrest.
And at the same time, because Trump is so polarizing a figure at home and his ties to the worst figures in this world are so caught up in scandal and compromise, those allies he has chosen will find themselves under political attack in the U.S. and their cases viewed - largely by their own choice - in highly partisan and damaging terms.
Suddenly pulling out of Syria without any rhyme or reason is not an error on the scale of Iraq. But Trump is an especially bad president: not just the most corrupt in American history, but the least competent. And so this move should not be seen in isolation, but rather as a harbinger of potentially very unhappy events to come.
*David Rothkopf is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and host of the Deep State Radio podcast .

Iran: debunking the myths and fallacies
د. ماجد ربيزاده/إيران: فضح الأساطير والمغالطات
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 20/18
This week, Iran’s state-owned Persian news outlets put significant emphasis on comments made by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. He made a series of statements that are not only blatantly absurd but, more importantly, demonstrate his party’s shift from being pragmatic and “moderate” into a hard-line faction that is prioritizing the revolutionary ideals of the Islamic Republic rather than the economic interests of the nation.
To begin with, Zarif intriguingly admitted for the first time that his government evades sanctions. In fact, he boasted about Iran’s skill in sanctions evasion and highlighted the regime’s willingness to help its allies — which include militias, terror groups, state actors and proxies — to similarly skirt international sanctions. He bragged: “If there is an art we have perfected in Iran and can teach to others for a price, it is the art of evading sanctions.”
The Iranian regime resorts to a variety of methods to bypass sanctions and access the global financial system, including using front and shell companies, smuggling, illicit trade and fraudulent business practices.
In addition, and similar to Iran’s hardliners, the foreign minister accused and lashed out at the West and regional powers, blaming them for being the underlying causes of regional instability.
“I think actions speak much louder than words; what is happening in our region, now people are witnessing the source of instability in region, be it in Yemen, be it elsewhere...it’s the wrong policies that are being followed, not only by Saudi Arabia but by its allies in the West who have given it a blank check to continue to make these very dangerous escalations in the region,” he said.
Zarif failed to mention how his government’s sectarian policies, military adventurism and expansionist policies are, in fact, the major causes of conflicts and tensions in the region. In Iraq, the Iranian regime continues to intervene through various strategies, ranging from influencing elections through the use of money, to dispatching troops and transferring arms and missiles to militias.
Lately, according to British security officials, Iran has been deploying hit squads in Iraq — under the instructions of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force — to silence individuals or groups that oppose the Iranian regime’s policies and interventions in Iraq’s internal affairs. For example, Shawki Al-Haddad and Adel Shaker El-Tamimi, who was a supporter of former Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi, were among the victims of these Quds Force hit squads.
Lately, according to British security officials, Iran has been deploying hit squads in Iraq — under the instructions of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard's elite Quds Force — to silence individuals or groups that oppose the Iranian regime’s policies and interventions in Iraq’s internal affairs.
Iran consistently attempts to dictate Iraq’s foreign policy. This heightened meddling led to Iraqi Vice President Ayad Allawi calling on Tehran to stop interfering in his country’s internal affairs.
“Iran does not have the right to meddle in Iraqi affairs and I hope that (Iraq’s) relations with Saudi Arabia will be strategic,” he said.
In Syria, Iran is spending between $15 billion and $20 billion a year to keep Assad’s regime in power and to build permanent military bases. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues to build a coalition of Shiite forces and militias in Syria that have committed crimes against humanity, some of the members of which came from countries such as Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Lebanon. These militias advance Iran’s interests and are turning into the bedrock of Syria’s sociopolitical and socioeconomic infrastructures.
Regarding the Yemeni conflict and Tehran’s support for the Houthis, Iran’s foreign minister strongly denied any involvement, saying: “We have never provided weapons to Houthis…they have enough weapons, they don’t need weapons from Iran.”
It is inconceivable to argue that the Houthis could have obtained the military capabilities and advanced weapons they possess without the assistance of the IRGC and the Quds Force. Several ballistic missiles that were fired at Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi militias were reportedly designed by Iran. Furthermore, Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, previously confirmed that the Houthi missiles were manufactured by Iran.
Zarif should listen to his own government’s generals, who frequently admit assisting the Houthis. The deputy commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, Esmail Ghani, boasted that: “Those defending Yemen have been trained under the flag of the Islamic Republic.” Statements by the UN and US, as well as reports by intelligence agencies, have also asserted that Iran is involved in providing arms to the Houthis.
Tehran has also been increasing its efforts to ship advanced weaponry to its militias and proxies, such as Hezbollah, that can turn unguided rockets into precision-guided missiles. Iran’s terror and militant groups across the region are among the key reasons for the ongoing tensions, conflicts and instability.
Iran’s foreign minister did utter one statement that was surprisingly accurate.
“It is obvious that we are facing pressure by the US sanctions but will that lead to a change in policy? I can assure you it won’t,” he said.
Indeed, since its establishment, the Islamic Republic has been repeatedly caught red-handed and sanctioned for violating international laws and several UN resolutions. But the theocratic establishment in Tehran has not altered its revolutionary ideology and extremist principles, which were set by the regime’s founding fathers in 1979.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. He is a leading expert on Iran and US foreign policy, a businessman and president of the International American Council. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
 

Opinion/Donald Trump's Big Lie on Syria Will Come Back to Haunt America
تعليق سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم ديفيد روثكوبف: كذبة ترامب الكبيرة في سوريا سوف تطارد أميركا
David Rothkopf/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70204/david-rothkopf-haaretz-donald-trumps-big-lie-on-syria-will-come-back-to-haunt-america-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA/

Analysis/U.S. Withdrawal From Syria Shows Washington Is an Ally, but Only to a Point
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم زفي بارئيل: انسحاب الولايات المتحدة من سوريا يظهر أن واشنطن هي حليف لإسرائيل ولكن فقط بحدود معينة
Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70202/zvi-barel-haaretz-u-s-withdrawal-from-syria-shows-washington-is-an-ally-but-only-to-a-point-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2/

Explained /Trump Abandons the Kurds in Syria: Will Turkey Now Crush Their Dream of a 'Secular Utopia?
تقرير من الهآرتس بقلم الكسندر جريفنج: هل تخلي ترامب عن الأكراد في سوريا سيسمح لتركيا بسحق حلمهم بكيان مثالي وعلماني
Alexander Griffing/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70199/alexander-griffing-haaretz-trump-abandons-the-kurds-in-syria-will-turkey-now-crush-their-dream-of-a-secular-utopia-%D8%AA%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%B1-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA/

Analysis/Trump's Pullout Leaves Russia Holding the Cards in Syria, to Israel's Bitter Disappointment
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم عاموس هاريل: خيبة لإسرائيل كون الإنسحاب الأميركي من سوريا يضع كل الأوراق بيد روسيا
Amos Harel/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70197/amos-harel-haaretz-trumps-pullout-leaves-russia-holding-the-cards-in-syria-to-israels-bitter-disappointment-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7/

Analysis/Despite the Blow to Its National Security, Israel Will Bow to Trump’s Syria Withdrawal
تحليل سياسي من الهآرتس بقلم شيمي شاليف: بالرغم من الضربة التي تلقاها الأمن الإسرائيلي جراء انسحاب ترامب من سوريا فإن تل أبيب سوف تذعن للأمر
Chemi Shalev/Haaretz/December 20/18
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/70190/chemi-shalev-haaretz%D8%AA%D8%AD%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%8A-%D9%85%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%A2%D8%B1%D8%AA%D8%B3-%D8%A8%D9%82%D9%84%D9%85-%D8%B4%D9%8A%D9%85%D9%8A-%D8%B4/