LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Detailed Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For September 08/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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Bible Quotations
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’
Luke 10/25-28: "Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’"

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Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 07-08/18

IDF to Hizballah: Don’t try and surprise us after withdrawing from Syria/DEBKAfile/September 07/18
Lebanese Politicians Should Avoid Ruffling Feathers in Washington by Appeasing Hezbollah/Michael Young/The National/September 07/18
Israeli wall rising near border with Lebanon stokes tensions/Associated Press/September 07/18
With Hezbollah in Mind, Israel Builds a New Wall/AFP/ Friday 07th September 2018
Trump agrees to an indefinite military effort and new diplomatic push in Syria, U.S. officials say/Karen DeYoung/The Washington Post/September 06/18
Iran red-flagged at India-US 2+2 talks/C. Uday Bhaskar/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
Trump, Obama and the book wars/Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
Woodward and the fly/Mamdouh AlMuhaini/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s predicament/Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
The Straw that May Break the US' Back as Middle East Peacemakers/Hady Amr/The Hill/September 07/18

Titles For The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on September 07-08/18

Report: Aoun Mulls Letter to Parliament on PM Designation, Mustaqbal Throws ‘Delay’ Blame on Bassil
Aoun Meets Khalil Who Assures ‘Intact’ Monetary Conditions
Ibrahim Makes ‘Quick’ Visit to Syria to Discuss Repatriation File
U.S. Sanctions Syria, Lebanon-Based Oil Delivery Networks
System Malfunction Causes Chaos at Beirut Airport
Kanaan Says Govt. Formation Process in 'Final Square'
Hariri Meets Officials after Airport Baggage System Fails Causing Chaos
Richard Attends Ceremony Marking Repatriation of Middle Bronze Age Ax
Lebanese Order of Physicians members accused of leaking Al Kassab report
Israeli Army Official: Hezbollah Controls Lebanon's Army
UK Education Technology Industries Visit Lebanon: Opportunities and Investments
IDF to Hizballah: Don’t try and surprise us after withdrawing from Syria
Lebanese Politicians Should Avoid Ruffling Feathers in Washington by Appeasing Hezbollah
Israeli wall rising near border with Lebanon stokes tensions
With Hezbollah in Mind, Israel Builds a New Wall

Titles For The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 07-08/18
UN Security Council warns against massacre in Syria’s Idlib
Putin: Tehran summit calls for stability in Syria’s Idlib ‘in stages’
Russia, Turkey, Iran Discuss 'Phased Stabilization' in Syria's Idlib
Russian air strikes pound Syria’s Idlib while key summit takes place
U.N. Envoy Calls for Opening Evacuation Routes from Syria's Idlib
Idlib Residents Urge Turkey to Stave Off Regime Attack
US has seen evidence of Syria preparing chemical weapons in Idlib -envoy
US Treasury targets Syria oil delivery networks with new sanctions
Europeans at UN urge protection for Idlib civilians
Iraq’s Sistani: Shortcomings of government have been exposed in Basra
Iran closes border crossing with Iraq following burning of consulate in Basra
Iraq Parliament to Hold Emergency Session after Basra Burns
Mattis Makes Unannounced Visit to Afghanistan
Qatar Emir Plans 10 Billion Euros of Investment in Germany
Philippines’ Duterte offers troops to Amman to fight ISIS

The Latest LCCC Lebanese Related News published on September 07-08/18

Report: Aoun Mulls Letter to Parliament on PM Designation, Mustaqbal Throws ‘Delay’ Blame on Bassil
Naharnet/September 07/18/President Michel Aoun is reportedly mulling over the possibility of sending a letter to the parliament to address an “open-ended designation period” of PM Saad Hariri in light of the delay in forming a new government, the Saudi Asharq al-Awsat daily reported Friday. Although political forces acknowledge the President's constitutional right to address the parliament asking it to deem “the appropriate thing”, constitutional experts told the daily “parliament is not authorized to overthrow the mandate of Hariri, nor is anyone prepared to engage the country in a constitutional conflict.”Experts believe that “Aoun’s message, if it happens, is aimed at pressuring Hariri to expedite the formation under his own terms and the terms of his (Aoun’s) Free Patriotic Movement team,” said the daily. A Mustaqbal Movement official noted the “president's right to send a letter to any side he deems appropriate, conditionally it falls in his jurisdiction,” but he told the daily in a statement “merely, its a waste of time. It will change nothing in the designation of the PM.” He added “Aoun should address a letter to his son-in-law, Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil (head of the FPM) asking him to make concessions and stop the obstruction. It is the shortest way to solve the crisis.”Shall the content of the “letter” “overstep” the jurisdictions of Hariri, it could “rupture” the presidential settlement, said the daily. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Elie Ferzli (member of the Strong Lebanon Parliamentary bloc led by Bassil) said: “The President has a constitutional right to send a letter to parliament. Then, the Speaker (Nabih Berri) must put this letter for discussion at a parliament meeting he calls for.” For his part, constitutional expert former MP Salah Hnein told the newspaper: “No one has the authority to withdraw the mandate of the PM-designate. Although the President is not a partner in the designation process, but he is a partner in the formation of the government in agreement with PM. “A message to the parliament aims to pressure Hariri, while the President also bears half of the responsibility in this area,” he said.

Aoun Meets Khalil Who Assures ‘Intact’ Monetary Conditions
Naharnet/September 07/18/President Michel Aoun held talks with Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil at the Baabda Palace where talks focused on Lebanon’s economic conditions, the National News Agency reported Friday. “We have discussed the economic situation. All indicators point out that Lebanon’s monetary and financial conditions are intact,” said Khalil after the meeting. The meeting was held in the presence of head of the Finance and Budget Parliamentary Committee MP Ibrahim Kanaan. For his part, Kanaan said: “It is our duty to follow up on the reforms approved in the fiscal budget. Threats about the economy collapse are inaccurate.” On Thursday, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri described the economic situation in Lebanon as “dangerous and does not have the resilience it enjoyed during the eras of the formation of the previous governments.”However, he clarified that his warning on the economic situation was not related to the status of the Lebanese lira. Moreover, a statement released by the IMF in June said Lebanon needs immediate financial control to improve its capacity to serve the high public debt, which was over 150 percent of GDP at the end of 2017. It also said that “traditional drivers of growth in Lebanon are subdued with weak real estate and construction and a strong rebound is unlikely soon.”

Ibrahim Makes ‘Quick’ Visit to Syria to Discuss Repatriation File
Naharnet/September 07/18/Head of Lebanon’s General Security agency Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim made a “quick” visit to Syria where he met with Syrian officials and discussed various files including the repatriation of Syrians in Lebanon, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Friday. The Syrian side assured that it will continue to receive refugees wishing to return to their hometowns but “within the same framework and mechanism currently applied,” in an operation overseen by General Security in coordination with Damascus, said the daily. Applicants need to get an approval from Damascus first in order to return. Syria promised returnees that they will not face legal consequences when they go back to Syria. Thousands of Syrians have this year registered for the scheme, and several hundreds have returned home last week alone. Ibrahim said: “The Syrian side is working on the file with all credibility and the necessary speed. It informs the general security of every Syrian displaced wanted on a judicial order in order to settle it.” The Russian military in Syria set up a mechanism to help settle issues related to the refugees' return. Moscow, which has provided crucial military support to Assad, is eager to show that the situation in Syria is normalizing now that the government has recaptured most opposition strongholds.

U.S. Sanctions Syria, Lebanon-Based Oil Delivery Networks
Naharnet/September 07/18/The US Treasury announced sanctions Thursday targeting a network of business groups that supplies fuels to the regime of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, along with one that handles regime trade with the Islamic State group. The Treasury said the four individuals and five companies added to its financial blacklist were important to helping Assad's regime obtain much-needed crude oil and fuels despite sanctions on Syria. It named Muhammad al-Qatirji and his Qatirji Company as a key broker of fuel trade between the Assad regime and the Islamic State group, despite the two sides fighting each other on the battlefield. Qatirji provides oil products to the jihadist group but also ships weapons and food for the regime, according to the Treasury. In a 2016 deal, it said, Qatirji was named the "exclusive agent" for providing suppliers to IS areas, according to the Treasury. Also identified for sanctions was a Lebanon-United Arab Emirates network for fuel shipments to Syria involving Lebanon-based Abar Petroleum and company "advisor" Adnan al-Ali, and Lebanon-based Nasco Polymers and its owner Fadi Nasser. Another group placed on the blacklist is UAE-based Hesco Engineering, which the Treasury said facilitates payments that originate in Syria. The sanctions seek to freeze any property owned by those named in US jurisdictions and to block their access to the global financial system. "Today's action shows that the United States will continue to take concrete and forceful action to cut off material support to the Assad regime and its supporters," the State Department said in a statement on the sanctions. "The United States will continue to use all available mechanisms to isolate the Assad regime, a government which has systematically arrested, tortured, and murdered tens of thousands of Syrian civilians."

System Malfunction Causes Chaos at Beirut Airport
Kataeb.org/Friday 07th September 2018/Passengers have been suffering major disruption at the Beirut Airport since Thursday night after the departures and bag drop processing systems crashed. According to a statement issued by the General Directorate of Civil Aviation, the technical malfunction occurred Thursday at around 11 p.m., when the aviation tech operating system, SITA, failed to register bags. The Daily Star newspaper reported that passengers who had crossed the check-in area were trapped with no water or food until 7 a.m. The system was repaired at 4:30 a.m., but early morning flights were delayed to the afternoon. The Middle East Airlines announced the postponement of all its flights scheduled on Friday, September 7. Meanwhile, security attachés at European Union embassies in Beirut convened to discuss the airport security in the light of a comprehensive report prepared by a European agency that lists the shortcomings and the dangers of said facility. According to Al-Akhbar newspaper, the diplomats issued a stern warning to the Lebanese authorities, demanding it to resolve all security loopholes and deficiencies by addressing them based on international aviation standards. Caretaker Prime Minister Saad Hariri chaired a meeting Friday afternoon to discuss the situation with the relevant ministers and officials.

Kanaan Says Govt. Formation Process in 'Final Square'
Naharnet/September 07/18/Strong Lebanon bloc secretary MP Ibrahim Kanaan reassured Friday that things “have not returned to square one” in the Cabinet formation process. “We are in the final square regarding the Cabinet formation process, and if there is a real Lebanese will to form it, the issue will be settled through consultations between the President and the Prime Minister-designate,” Kanaan said in an interview on MTV. The lawmaker also called for “Lebanizing the governmental file” and noted that the Free Patriotic Movement is the “most aggrieved party.”“Today, the FPM is the most aggrieved party and the public interest requires us to stand firm, but one day we will call things by their name,” Kanaan went on to say. Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri was tasked with forming a new government on May 24. His mission is being hampered by political wrangling over ministerial seats, especially over Christian and Druze representation. On Monday, Hariri presented to President Michel Aoun a draft line-up reportedly granting the Lebanese Forces four ministerial portfolios. Aoun voiced reservations over the draft and is scheduled to meet with Hariri's adviser Ghattas Khoury later on Friday.

Hariri Meets Officials after Airport Baggage System Fails Causing Chaos
Naharnet/September 07/18/Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri on Friday summoned the caretaker ministers of public works, interior and finance as well as security and administrative officials to discuss the latest episode of chaos at Beirut's airport that followed an outage of the luggage and registration processing system. Hariri's move came after the head of the Central Inspection Bureau, Judge George Atiyeh, summoned to his office Fadi al-Hassan, the chief of the Rafik Hariri International Airport, and Civil Aviation Director General Mohammed Shehabeddine to question them over “the circumstances of the congestion that occurred overnight and at dawn at the airport,” the National News Agency said. Atiyeh acted on instructions from caretaker Justice Minister Salim Jreissati, NNA added. The agency had reported that the malfunction had been repaired at 4:30 am, noting that it affected a baggage drop and passengers system operated by SITA, a multinational company providing IT and telecommunication services to the global air transport industry. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation had issued a statement saying the system failure had occurred Thursday at 11:30 pm, resulting in a “total suspension of the registration process and congestion in the departure sections.”In another statement, the Directorate clarified that SITA is the operator of more than 70% of the luggage registration systems around the world, including at Beirut's airport, adding that “the full responsibility for the malfunction falls on the company” and vowing to take “the necessary legal measures” against SITA. The chaos prompted Lebanon's Middle East Airlines to delay all its flights for Friday.

Richard Attends Ceremony Marking Repatriation of Middle Bronze Age Ax
Naharnet/September 07/18/U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard on Friday commemorated, at the Beirut National Museum, the return to Lebanon of an ancient ax dating to the Middle Bronze Age (2200-2000 B.C.), the U.S. embassy said in a statement. The “Bronze Ax” will be displayed permanently at the Beirut National Museum. In her remarks, Richard highlighted U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) efforts to locate and recover the Bronze Ax. After receiving a notice from the Government of Lebanon alerting the potential unlawful sale of the Bronze Ax, the FBI launched an investigation and recovered the artifact, the embassy said. Richard recognized the close collaboration between the U.S. and Lebanese governments to repatriate stolen archeological treasures and combat the illicit trafficking of cultural property – blocking a source of funding for criminal and terrorist networks.

Lebanese Order of Physicians members accused of leaking Al Kassab report
Annahar Staff/September 07/18/BEIRUT: Mount Lebanon Judge Rami Abdallah is set to hear a case against three members Lebanese Order of Physicians after they were accused of leaking their investigation report into the death Farah Al-Kassab. Raymond Al Sayegh, Claude Semaan, and Joe Haddad are accused of leaking the report in which Dr. Nader Saab is seemingly absolved of any wrongdoing. Al-Kassab died as a result of health complications after undergoing liposuction and rhinoplasty surgery at Saab's hospital last year. In his testimony before the judiciary, Saab said “Al-Kassab was transferred in an ambulance, and her health deteriorated when she arrived [at the Lady of Lebanon hospital] before passing away."

Israeli Army Official: Hezbollah Controls Lebanon's Army
Agencies/Kataeb.org/Friday 07th September 2018/Hezbollah has been gaining strength in Lebanon in recent years and is virtually in control of the Lebanese army, a senior Israeli commander said Wednesday. He warned that Israel will not distinguish between Hezbollah and the country's armed forces during the next military confrontation. "The distinction we made between Hezbollah and Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War was a mistake," the senior officer in the Northern Command said about the 2006 conflict. "In the next war we will not make this distinction. We will hit Lebanon and any infrastructure that would contribute to the fighting." "If the choice is between pummeling Lebanon or making a distinction between Lebanon and Hezbollah, I'll take pummeling Lebanon," the officer added.

UK Education Technology Industries Visit Lebanon: Opportunities and Investments
Naharnet/September 07/18/The biggest British education mission since 2012 has ended a two-day visit to Lebanon, the British embassy in Beirut said on Friday. The 12-member delegation of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) met with Lebanese senior officials, ministers and visited schools.
The delegation, accompanied by embassy members from the Department for International Trade and the Department For International Development (DFID), held meetings with the caretaker minister of Education and Higher Education Marwan Hamadeh, the Chamber of Commerce and the UK-Lebanon Tech Hub team. They also visited the American University of Beirut, SABIS School and Dhour Shweir Public Secondary School. BESA is the trade association representing the entirety of the UK education suppliers sector from EdTech to school furniture. BESA delegation’s visit aims to “explore opportunities for UK education technology industries to make investments in Lebanon in the educational system,” the British embassy said. “The UK has been a key player in providing education to all children of schooling age in Lebanon, including Syrian and Palestinian refugee children,” it added. British Ambassador Designate Chris Rampling meanwhile said: “I’m thrilled to have the biggest education mission to date in Beirut looking for opportunities and businesses for Lebanon and the UK. I have heard wonderful things about this country and our continued work to support Lebanon’s educational programs. Education remains one of the UK’s key pillars to ensure that there is access to quality education to all children in Lebanon and that there is no lost generation in the region.”

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IDF to Hizballah: Don’t try and surprise us after withdrawing from Syria
موقع دبكا: الجيش الإسرائيلي يقول لحزب الله لا تحاول أن تفاجئنا عقب اسحابك من سوريا
DEBKAfile/September 07/18
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Intelligence monitors report deepening Hizballah control of Lebanese army forces near the Israeli frontier, raising concerns that the Iranian-backed group is refocusing on Israel as its troops return from the Syrian war. In a briefing to reporters, an Israeli official stressed that in the month-long conflict in 2006, the IDF differentiated between Lebanon state forces and the Hizballah militia. This mistake would not be repeated in another round of fighting, he said. Lebanon the state would be targeted together with any national facilities supporting the war – even if this means “smashing Lebanon.”
Another senior military officer, in a briefing before the New Year festival, noted that Hizballah can now augment the stocks of tens of thousands of rockets and missiles capable of reaching any part of Israel, with its Raduan commando unit, now returned from the battlefields of Syria. Its strategists have charted a plan to seize an Israeli village or IDF post in Galilee. The IDF officer explained that such an action would be more for shock effect than military gain, and the special unit would be quickly destroyed. Hizballah won’t surprise Israel again, the officer said, the IDF is fully prepared for every eventuality.
This week, Israel conducted a large-scale, multiple-unit exercise in the north simulating several Hizballah war scenarios.
The officer then stated: Hizballah has been “deterred for 12 years” and will go to war “only when it has no other option.” He added: “I don’t see the Iranians kickstarting a Hizballah assault.”
DEBKAfile sums up the doctrine articulated of late by Israel’s generals: Hamas shies against escalation in the Gaza Strip; Hizballah is against war; and Iran is not about to send its proxy into action against Israel. If full deterrence has been achieved on both sides of the two borders, what is the point of Israel’s hectic preparations for the next conflict and the IDF threat to “smash Lebanon?” Could it be that Israel’s generals are singing in the dark?
After all, there is no guarantee that Tehran will not decide at any moment to send Hizballah into battle against Israel, in reprisal for ramped-up IDF attacks on Iranian military targets in Syria and the Syrian-Iraqi border. In recent weeks, Hizballah has been pulling its troops out of Syria after five years of supporting Bashar Assad’s war against a nationwide insurgency. Hizballah’s vast missile arsenal is supported by troops that are no longer a Shiite militia, but a trained, professional army which has won its spurs in real war combat.
For now, Israel is investing heavily in a defensive wall on its northern frontier with Lebanon twin to the barriers under construction on the Gaza Strip’s land and sea borders.
Brig. Gen. Eran Ofir, Director of IDF border wall projects, reported this week that the first 13km, 9m high section of the 130-km wall guarding the Lebanese border should be finished by the end of the year. This section abuts the small Israeli towns of Rosh Hanikra, Shlomi and Maalot near the Mediterranean coast. The entire $450m project should be completed in two years. The wall is mostly made of concrete with steel mesh sensors and surveillance cameras. Last month, the Lebanese army complained to UNIFIL, the UN peacekeeping force, saying Israeli bulldozers working on the barrier had crossed into Lebanon. UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti confirmed that since it began in February, all construction had kept to the Israeli side of the Blue Line which marks the frontier.
The small border communities of Rosh Hanikra, Shlomi and Maalot, whose total population is around 50,000, are considered high risk for a Hizballah surprise attack. Even a partial incursion would be hailed as a major strategic feat and confer high kudos on the Shiite terrorist group. Therefore, say DEBKAfile’s military analysts, while the IDF envisions a war that would quickly move onto Lebanese soil, Hizballah sees a future conflict as a another surprise thrust across the border into Israel.

Lebanese Politicians Should Avoid Ruffling Feathers in Washington by Appeasing Hezbollah
Michael Young/The National/September 07/18
The continued delay in finalising a new Lebanese government is becoming increasingly worrisome at a time when the country’s economy is in deep crisis. The official reason is continued disagreement over the appointment of Christian and Druse ministers. Yet a more profound problem looms over the cabinet formation process and Lebanese officials should be worried.
One thing that prime minister-designate Saad Hariri has not mentioned in discussing the government until now is that there are red lines that have been imposed by the United States. So even if he can remove the Christian and Druse obstacles, another major impediment might be waiting.
Hezbollah has made clear that it wants a services ministry in the new government, principally the health ministry. After spending five years fighting in Syria, the party would like to distribute favours, such as healthcare, to its base, which is uneasy about Hezbollah’s Syrian deployment. Moreover, due to Iran’s economic problems, financial transfers to Hezbollah have reportedly been cut, so the party would like to compensate for this by having access to state funds.
Yet Washington has warned Mr Hariri that while he is free to do what he wants in finalising his cabinet, giving Hezbollah a patronage ministry that would increase its support would not be a good idea – implying that this could threaten continued US assistance to Lebanon. At a time when the mood in the US is shifting on Lebanon and Iran, the prime minister-designate is caught in a dilemma between what Hezbollah wants and what the Americans want.
What has been evident in recent months is how out of touch Lebanese politicians are with the drift in Washington. Many wrongly believe that because the US has continued to supply the Lebanese army with weapons, this shows a long-term commitment to Lebanon. But even friendly US officials affirm that Lebanon is not that important to the administration of US President Donald Trump. So there might soon come a point where the government’s co-operative attitude toward Hezbollah causes an irreparable backlash in Washington.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil has hardly improved matters in this regard. Mr Bassil is a presidential hopeful and has frequently taken positions echoing those of Hezbollah and Syria, two of the major decision-makers in determining which candidates emerge as favourites for the presidency. Yet adopting such positions only alienates US officials, particularly when Pentagon aid to the Lebanese military is drawing growing criticism from Congress.
The Lebanese government has also moved closer to Russia, on the assumption that Moscow will have greater influence in the Levant in the future. For instance, the Russians have proposed creating committees with Lebanon and Jordan to repatriate Syrian refugees. But while strengthening ties with Russia makes sense, it is acutely important for the Lebanese not to be seen to be taking sides in the growing tensions between Russia and the West.
Most damagingly, the Lebanese authorities have failed to condemn Hezbollah’s invitations to Lebanon of Iranian allies, including Houthi representatives and leaders of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Units. When US officials brought this up with their Lebanese counterparts, the Lebanese reportedly admitted that the Americans were right, then shrugged it off. That passivity is very unlikely to endear Lebanon to American decision-makers.
All this reinforces a narrative that is gaining momentum in the US, namely that Lebanon equals Hezbollah and Hezbollah equals Lebanon. This simplistic appraisal – which Hezbollah has also repeated incessantly to discredit the Lebanese state – is not one easily disproved by Lebanese politicians currying favour with the party. Ultimately, Mr Trump cut assistance to Pakistan and to the Palestinians and doing the same to Lebanon would be no big deal for him.
At a time when Lebanon is already not in the good graces of the Gulf states, which employ hundreds of thousands of Lebanese, what would American retaliation mean for the country? What if students and families couldn’t travel to the US? If Lebanese banks became pariahs in the global financial system, what would happen? These are questions that need to be asked, because any successful campaign to identify Lebanon with Iran and its allies could lead to sanctions that undermine a highly fragile economy and society.
Until now Lebanon has been relatively lucky, despite repeatedly shooting itself in the foot. Some months ago the Military Tribunal sentenced a Lebanese researcher, Hanin Ghaddar, to a prison term for criticising the army. She worked at the same Washington research institute as a recently appointed US assistant secretary of state for Near East policy. Not surprisingly, when the head of the tribunal saw his US visa revoked, the Lebanese government backtracked.
Lebanon has a low threshold for pain when it comes to the US. That’s why it’s best to avoid cheap political manoeuvres targeting Washington, designed to gain minor advantages in Lebanon’s political game. Politicians in Beirut need not approve of everything the Americans say, but nor does it make any sense to wave a red flag at an administration that has not shied away from fights and certainly will not do so with the feeblest of countries.

Israeli wall rising near border with Lebanon stokes tensions
Associated Press/September 07/18

إسرائيل تبني جداراً على حدودها مع لبنان يسبب توتراً

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Last month, the Lebanese army complained to UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force, saying Israeli bulldozers working on the barrier were encroaching on the Lebanese side.
ROSH HANIKRA, Israel: Israel is building a massive wall along its northern border, saying the barrier is needed to protect civilians from Hezbollah attacks, but the project has raised tensions with Lebanon, which fears the fence will encroach on its territory.
The Israeli military insists the entire barrier is being constructed in Israeli territory, and the U.N. peacekeeping force in the area agrees. But Hezbollah has never fully accepted the border, and a senior Israeli military official stressed the need for the wall, saying that while Israeli intelligence closely monitors the militant group, “we are prepared for the possibility that they will surprise us.”
The official spoke on condition of anonymity under military guidelines during a military-led tour of the border region provided for reporters.
Israel’s military conducted a large-scale combined arms drill in northern Israel this week simulating a future conflict with Hezbollah, with which it fought a monthlong war in 2006. Israelis fear there could be a renewal of hostilities as the civil war winds down in neighboring Syria, where the Iran-backed militant group has been fighting alongside President Bashar Assad’s forces for the last seven years.
Hezbollah, which is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. and Israel, is believed to have an even larger and more sophisticated arsenal of rockets than in 2006, when it fought Israel’s vaunted military to a stalemate in southern Lebanon. That war began with a deadly cross-border raid in which Hezbollah killed eight Israeli soldiers and abducted two others, whose remains were returned to Israel in a prisoner exchange two years later.
ig. Gen. Eran Ofir, the commander in charge of Israel’s border wall projects, said around seven miles of the 80-mile (130-kilometer) barrier has been built. The $450 million project is slated for completion in two years. Most of the barrier is a concrete wall topped by steel mesh, sensors and surveillance cameras. Steel fencing replaces the concrete wall in especially rugged areas.
Earthmovers and other large machinery rumbled alongside a completed section of the 30-foot (9-meter) high concrete wall earlier this week near the Mediterranean coast. Lebanese soldiers looked over the barrier from a guard post on the opposite side of the Blue Line, which was demarcated by the U.N. after Israeli forces withdrew from south Lebanon in 2000 following an 18-year military occupation. The two countries technically remain at war.
Last month, the Lebanese army complained to UNIFIL, the U.N. peacekeeping force, saying Israeli bulldozers working on the barrier were encroaching on the Lebanese side. A Lebanese security official at the time said that following the Lebanese request, the Israeli bulldozers stopped their work and pulled back 50 meters (160 feet).
The U.N. Security Council warned last month that violations of the cease-fire agreement between Lebanon and Israel could lead to fresh conflict, and Lebanon’s top security body earlier this year described the planned border wall as an “aggression” against its sovereignty.
“This wall, if it is built, will be considered an aggression against Lebanon,” it said in a statement. “The Higher Defense Council has given instructions to confront this aggression to prevent Israel from building this so-called wall barrier on Lebanese territory,” it added.
Maj. Tomer Gilad, Israel’s liaison officer with UNIFIL, said there are monthly meetings with the Lebanese military and U.N. officials to coordinate the barrier’s construction.
“Even for the past year before we started this construction, we’ve coordinated this activity with UNIFIL, and through UNIFIL with the Lebanese Armed Forces. We’ve alerted them of our intention to do so, to construct this defensive mechanism,” Gilad told reporters.
r, construction has proceeded “very calmly with the participation on all sides to maintain the stability,” Gilad said. “We expect UNIFIL and the Lebanese Armed Force to maintain stability over here throughout this construction, because this construction is a stabilizing measure.”
UNIFIL spokesman Andrea Tenenti said that since construction began in February 2018, everything has been built south of the Blue Line and away from sensitive areas.
Israel says the barrier’s purpose is to defend Israeli communities from Hezbollah, pointing to sporadic cross-border attacks on Israeli troops and civilians in recent years. The volatile border between the two countries has been relatively quiet since the 2006 war, with few major cross-border attacks or incidents.
Israel warplanes, however, regularly violate Lebanese airspace, including to carry out airstrikes in neighboring Syria.
In 2010, an Israeli army officer was killed and another was seriously wounded when Israeli troops came under fire by Lebanese army forces while trimming trees on the Israeli side of the border. Three Lebanese soldiers and a Lebanese journalist were killed in Israeli retaliatory shelling. In 2013, an Israeli soldier was killed by a Lebanese army sniper while driving along the border, and in 2015 Hezbollah fired an anti-tank missile at an Israeli military convoy, killing two soldiers and wounding seven.
The Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the army has noticed a troubling rise in “very close cooperation between Lebanese Army Forces and Hezbollah” near the Israeli frontier in the past year. He says the military expects even more Hezbollah fighters to arrive in the area after the Syrian war ends.

Israeli wall rising near border with Lebanon stokes tensions
Associated Press/September 07/18

إسرائيل تبني جداراً على حدودها مع لبنان يسبب توتراً

With Hezbollah in Mind, Israel Builds a New Wall
AFP/ Friday 07th September 2018

"NOT JUST WHAT YOU'LL SEE"
Tensions run deep between Israel and the Iranian-backed group. Hezbollah has been preoccupied with other issues in recent years, having sent several thousand of its fighters to back Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in his country's civil war. It has lost many hundreds of fighters, including senior commanders, since it deployed in Syria, where the war is now winding down. But from Israel's point of view, it has gained as well by learning new tactics while fighting alongside Iranian and Russian troops, who are also backing Assad. Israel's military believes Hezbollah has between 100,000 and 120,000 short-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred longer-range missiles. But the potential for shootings and infiltrations, as well as the need for surveillance, is the reason for the wall, it says. "It's not just what you'll see, the cement wall," the senior Israeli military official said, adding there were components he could not talk about that make "what we can see from this much, much better."

The Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 07-08/18

UN Security Council warns against massacre in Syria’s Idlib
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 7 September 2018/The French envoy to the UN Security Council said on Friday, that any massacre in Syria’s Idlib would be the responsibility of the parties supporting the regime of Bashar al-Assad. The UN Security Council meeting on Friday discussed the rebel-held Idlib province as the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey agreed during a summit in Tehran to work in a “spirit of cooperation” to stabilize the situation in Idlib. The French envoy further added that there is still time to spare Idlib a military operation, calling on all parties involved to respect the ceasefire there. For his part, linked by video-conference call from Geneva with the Security Council meeting, UN envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura called for evacuation corridors to be opened for civilians to flee a looming Syrian offensive in Idlibthat could lead to a “horrific and bloody battle.”“People should be granted safe passage to places of their own choosing if they want to leave,” Staffan de Mistura told the Security Council meeting on the crisis in Idlib. “We must allow the opening of sufficient number of protected voluntary evacuation routes for civilians in any direction: east, north and south,” he said. De Mistura told the council that he was ready to make proposals on separating al-Qaeda-linked groups fighting in Idlib from other rebels in a bid to ensure the protection of civilians. The UN envoy is scheduled to hold talks with the three guarantors - Russia, Turkey and Iran - next week in Geneva on the crisis in Idlib.More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria’s seven-year war, but UN diplomats fear the assault on Idlib could trigger one of the worst bloodbaths of the conflict. With AFP

Putin: Tehran summit calls for stability in Syria’s Idlib ‘in stages’
Agencies/Friday, 7 September 2018/The presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey began a meeting Friday in Tehran to discuss the war in Syria, with all eyes on a possible military offensive to retake the last rebel-held bastion of Idlib. The summit between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan may determine whether diplomacy halts any military action. Even before it began, an airstrike early Friday struck Idlib's southern edge, killing at least one person. Rouhani, hosting the meeting, made a point to call on the US to end its intervention in Syria. There are some 2,000 American forces in the country. “The fires of war and bloodshed in Syria are reaching their end," Rouhani said, while adding that terrorism must "be uprooted in Syria, particularly in Idlib.” Russian president, Vladimir Putin, seemed to agree saying: “Syria's government has the right to retake all of its territories.” Turkish president, Erdogan used the summit to urge groups such as Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), al-Nusra to put down weapons, while calling on Russia and Iran leaders to back the ceasefire in Idlib.
Interests

Each of the three nations has its own interests in the years-long war in Syria. Iran wants to keep its foothold in the Mediterranean nation neighboring Israel and Lebanon. Turkey, which backed opposition forces against Syrian President Bashar Assad, fears a flood of refugees fleeing a military offensive and destabilizing areas it now holds in Syria. And Russia wants to maintain its regional presence to fill the vacuum left by America's long uncertainty about what it wants in the conflict. Northwestern Idlib province and surrounding areas are home to about 3 million people - nearly half of them civilians displaced from other parts of Syria. That also includes an estimated 10,000 hard-core fighters, including al-Qaeda-linked militants. For Russia and Iran, both allies of the Syrian government, retaking Idlib is crucial to complete what they see as a military victory in Syria's civil war after Syrian troops recaptured nearly all other major towns and cities, largely defeating the rebellion against Assad. A bloody offensive that creates a massive wave of death and displacement, however, runs counter to their narrative that the situation in Syria is normalizing, and could hurt Russia's longer-term efforts to encourage the return of refugees and get Western countries to invest in Syria's postwar reconstruction.
Refugees on borders
For Turkey, the stakes couldn't be higher. Turkey already hosts 3.5 million Syrian refugees and has sealed its borders to newcomers. It has also created zones of control in northern Syria and has several hundred troops deployed at 12 observation posts in Idlib. A government assault creates a nightmare scenario of potentially hundreds of thousands of people, including militants, fleeing toward its border and destabilizing towns and cities in northern Syria under its control. Naji al-Mustafa, a spokesman for the Turkey-backed National Front for Liberation, said Friday his fighters were prepared for a battle that they expect will spark a major humanitarian crisis. “The least the summit can do is to prevent this military war,” he said. Early on Friday, a series of airstrikes struck villages in southwest Idlib, targeting insurgent posts and killing a fighter, said Rami Abdurrahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Abdurrahman said suspected Russian warplanes carried out the attack. Turkey also doesn't want to see another Kurdish-controlled area rise along its border, as it already faces in northern Iraq.

Russia, Turkey, Iran Discuss 'Phased Stabilization' in Syria's Idlib
Agence France Presse/Associated Press/Naharnet/September 07/18/The leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Friday discussed a step-by-step "stabilization" in Syria's Idlib, with a possibility of peace with some rebel groups, Russian President Vladimir Putin said after the talks. "We have discussed concrete measures regarding a phased stabilization in the Idlib de-escalation zone, which stipulate... a possibility of making peace for those ready for dialogue," Putin said after the summit in Tehran to discuss the fate of Syria's last rebel bastion. Putin said that Russia hopes that its "call for peace in Idlib zone as well will be heard... we will strive for peace among all warring sides, and we have never factored in terrorist organizations.""We hope that representatives of terrorist organizations will have enough common sense to stop resistance and lay down (their) weapons," Putin said. A joint statement released after the talks gave few more details on the plans for Syria's Idlib. The communique said the leaders "took up the situation in (the) Idlib de-escalation area and decided to address it in line with... the spirit of cooperation that characterized the Astana format."The three countries are guarantors of the Astana process, a track of talks on Syria's civil war launched after Russia's game-changing 2015 military intervention, which led to the creation of de-escalation zones. While Iran and Russia back the regime of Bashar al-Assad, Turkey backs opposition fighters and has warned against an offensive on Idlib that could turn it into a "bloodbath."

Russian air strikes pound Syria’s Idlib while key summit takes place
AFP, Beirut/Friday, 7 September 2018/Russian air strikes killed two people in Syria’s Idlib Friday, a monitor said, as President Vladimir Putin was in Tehran for a summit on the fate of the last major rebel bastion. Putin, who backs the Damascus regime, was to meet the leaders of fellow government ally Iran and rebel backer Turkey to determine the future of the northwestern province on the Turkish border. Government forces have been massing around Idlib for weeks ahead of an expected offensive on the province, which is held by extremists led by Al-Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate and rival Turkish-backed rebels. On Friday morning, Russian air raids targeted rebel positions in the southwest of the province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Among them were positions of the extremist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, as well as of the hardline Ahrar al-Sham group, the Britain-based monitor said. They destroyed one Ahrar al-Sham post, killing one of its fighters and wounding 14 others in the area of Hobait, it said. A shepherd was also killed and four other people wounded in the bombardment, the Observatory said, although it was not immediately clear if they were fighters or civilians. “The aim was to destroy rebel fortifications,” Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman. Russian warplanes then carried out a second wave of strikes on the same target, preventing rescue workers from extracting victims from the rubble, he said. HTS controls more than half of Idlib province, while other rebels, including Ahrar al-Sham, hold most of the rest. The Damascus regime is present in a southeastern chunk of the province. On Thursday, Russia said it would continue to kill “terrorists” in Idlib and elsewhere in Syria to bring back peace. Aid groups have warned that any military offensive in Idlib could spark one of the worst humanitarian disasters of Syria’s seven-year civil war. Almost three million people live in Idlib and adjacent rebel-held areas, half of whom have already been displaced from other parts of the country, the United Nations says. More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the war erupted in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

U.N. Envoy Calls for Opening Evacuation Routes from Syria's Idlib
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/18/The U.N. peace envoy for Syria on Friday called for evacuation corridors to be opened for civilians to flee a looming Syrian offensive in rebel-held Idlib province that could lead to a "horrific and bloody battle." The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian disaster if Syria forces, backed by Russia and Iran, launch an all-out attack in Idlib, the last major rebel bastion. "People should be granted safe passage to places of their own choosing if they want to leave," Staffan de Mistura told a Security Council meeting on the crisis in Idlib. "We must allow the opening of sufficient number of protected voluntary evacuation routes for civilians in any direction: east, north and south," he said, adding that the United Nations would establish a presence there. The council was meeting as the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey agreed during a summit in Tehran to work in a "spirit of cooperation" to stabilize the situation in Idlib. The three countries are guarantors of the Astana process, a track of talks on Syria's war launched after Russia's 2015 military intervention, which led to the creation of de-escalation zones. De Mistura told the council that he was ready to make proposals on separating al-Qaida-linked groups fighting in Idlib from other rebels in a bid to ensure the protection of civilians. The U.N. envoy is scheduled to hold talks with the three guarantors next week in Geneva on the crisis in Idlib. More than 350,000 people have been killed in Syria's seven-year war, but U.N. diplomats fear the assault on Idlib could trigger one of the worst bloodbaths of the conflict. "Any battle for Idlib could be, would be, a horrific and bloody battle," said De Mistura, speaking by video-conference from Geneva.

Idlib Residents Urge Turkey to Stave Off Regime Attack
Hundreds of Syrians took to the streets in the country's last major rebel bastion of Idlib Friday, calling on neighboring Turkey to help prevent a regime assault on their region.
Demonstrators in the northwestern province also denounced a summit in Tehran between the leaders of rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia and Iran to determine the province's fate. "We all came to protest to say that this people will not back down and will not return to the era of (President) Bashar al-Assad," said Abdurazzaq Awwad, a father-of-one in Idlib city. "We expect the Turks to stand by this people," said Awwad, 31. "We are not happy at all that the fate of Idlib is being decided in Tehran," said Awwad, who sported a black beard and wore a white shirt. "Idlib's fate should be decided by its people." Around him, protesters held up the three-star flag of the Syrian opposition. "Your plots and conferences mean nothing to us," read one sign. Yussef Sadiq, 35, condemned the conference in Tehran as "Iran is part of the problem." "Most Syrians hope that Turkey's efforts will succeed in stopping an assault against Idlib and in protecting its population," said the bespectacled young man, whose home city of Aleppo was retaken by regime forces in late 2016 after a crippling siege and deadly bombardment. Some three million people live in Idlib province and adjacent areas, the United Nations says, around half of whom have already fled their homes in other parts of Syria. Assad's regime has massed forces around Idlib in recent weeks, sparking international alarm over an imminent offensive on the region controlled by al-Qaida's former Syrian affiliate and rebels.The United Nations says up to 800,000 people could be displaced by fighting and aid groups fear the worst humanitarian crisis so far in Syria's seven-year war. Turkey, which already hosts more than three million refugees, is keen to avoid a new influx across its border. Sawsan Al-Saeed, a 45-year-old pharmacist from the same city, was defiant. "I am certain that Turkey won't leave the region," she said. Similar demonstrations were held in Idlib's towns of Khan Sheikhun and Jisr al-Shughur, as well as opposition-held areas in the neighboring provinces of Hama and Aleppo, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said. Assad's Russia-backed regime has retaken large parts of Syria from rebels and jihadists, especially in recent months, through a combination of deadly military campaigns and surrender deals. More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since the start of the conflict in 2011 with a brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

US has seen evidence of Syria preparing chemical weapons in Idlib -envoy
Reuters, Washington/Friday, 7 September 2018/There is “lots of evidence” that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib in northwest Syria, the new US adviser for Syria said on Thursday, as he warned of the risks of an offensive on the country’s last big rebel enclave.“I am very sure that we have very, very good grounds to be making these warnings,” said Jim Jeffrey, who was named on Aug. 17 as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s special adviser on Syria overseeing talks on a political transition in that country. “Any offensive is to us objectionable as a reckless escalation,” Jeffrey told a few reporters in his first interview on the situation in Syria since his appointment. “There is lots of evidence that chemical weapons are being prepared.”The White House has warned that the United States and its allies would respond “swiftly and vigorously” if government forces used chemical weapons in the widely expected offensive. Jeffrey said an attack by Russian and Syrian forces, and the use of chemical weapons, would force huge refugee flows into southeastern Turkey or areas in Syria under Turkish control. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has massed his army and allied forces on the frontlines in the northwest, and Russian planes have joined his bombardment of rebels there, in a prelude to a possible assault. The fate of the insurgent stronghold in and around Idlib province rests on a meeting to be held in Tehran on Friday between the leaders of Assad’s supporters Russia and Iran, and the rebels’ ally, Turkey. “We will find out to some degree tomorrow if the Russians are willing to come to a compromise with the Turks,” Jeffrey said. Backed by Russian air power, Assad has in recent years taken back one rebel enclave after another. Idlib and its surroundings are now the only significant area where armed opposition to Damascus remains. Jeffrey described the situation in Idlib as “very dangerous” and said Turkey was trying to avoid an all-out Syrian government offensive. “I think the last chapter of the Idlib story has not been written. The Turks are trying to find a way out. The Turks have shown a great deal of resistance to an attack,” he said. He said the United States had repeatedly asked Russia whether it could “operate” in Idlib to eliminate the last holdouts of Islamic State and other extremist groups. Asked whether that would include US air strikes, Jeffrey said: “That would be one way.”
There was periodic cooperation between the United States and Russia against the same jihadist groups operating in Idlib until mid-2017.
Diplomatic initiative
As sides close in on the remaining jihadist forces operating in Syria, Jeffrey said it was time for a “major diplomatic initiative” to end the seven-year conflict. There was a “a new commitment” by the administration to remain in Syria until Islamic State militants were defeated, while ensuring Iran left the country, he added. While President Donald Trump had signaled that he wanted US forces out of Syria, in April he agreed to keep troops there a little longer. Trump will chair a UN Security Council meeting on Iran during an annual gathering of world leaders in New York later this month. The meeting will focus on Iran’s nuclear program and its meddling in the wars in Syria and Yemen. France has invited the United States, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Britain for talks on the sidelines of the UN meeting to discuss Syria, Jeffrey said. He said Assad “has no future as a ruler” in Syria, but it was not up to Washington to get rid of him and it would work with Moscow on a political transition. “Right now (the Syrian government) is a cadaver sitting in rubble with just half the territory of Syria under regime control on a good day,” Jeffrey said.

US Treasury targets Syria oil delivery networks with new sanctions
Reuters, Washington/Friday, 7 September 2018/The US Treasury Department said on Thursday it was imposing sanctions on four people and five entities it said facilitated petroleum shipments and financing to the Syrian government.It said in a statement the sanctions targeted Muhammad al-Qatirji and his trucking company, which it said facilitated fuel trade between the Syrian government and ISIS militants. Qatirji has close relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and has worked directly with ISIS, which has been driven out of much of the Syrian territory it once controlled, to provide it oil products, the statement said. Also targeted by sanctions was a fuel-procurement network that operates in Syria and Lebanon to secure deliveries to Syria, the statement said. "The United States will continue to target those who facilitate transactions with the murderous Assad regime and support ISIS," US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said. The Syria-based Qatirji Company has also shipped weapons to Syria from Iraq, the statement said. It said Abar Petroleum Service SAL, one of the entities involved in the multi-state fuel network, last year brokered shipments of petroleum products including gasoline, gasoil, and liquefied petroleum gas to Syria worth more than $30 million. Other components of the network were Adnan Al-Ali, Sonex Investments Ltd, Nasco Polymers & Chemicals, and Fadi Nasser, the US statement said. "Lebanon-based Nasco Polymers and UAE-based Sonex Investments were designated for facilitating shipments to Syrian ports by serving as consignees and chartering the vessels," it said. Nasser, chairman of Nasco Polymers, has received millions of dollars for arranging delivery of thousands of tons of fuel to Syria, the statement said. The sanctions mean any property in the United States of those targeted will be blocked and Americans are prohibited from doing business with them.

Europeans at UN urge protection for Idlib civilians
AFP, United Nations, United States/Friday, 7 September 2018/On the eve of a summit between Russia, Iran and Turkey on Syria’s military plan to retake rebel-held Idlib, the eight European UN Security Council members issued an appeal on Thursday for civilian protection. Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden said in a joint statement they were “deeply concerned” about military action in northwest Syria “with potentially catastrophic humanitarian consequences for civilians.”The presidents of Syria's military allies, Russia and Iran, along with Turkey, which supports some rebel groups, will meet in Tehran on Friday for talks expected to decide the fate of Idlib, Syria’s last major rebel bastion. The eight nations urged Russia, Iran and Turkey to uphold the ceasefire and de-escalation arrangements that had been agreed in Idlib, “including protecting civilians as a matter of priority.”“A full-scale military offensive in Idlib would put at risk the lives of more than three million civilians, including one million children, living in the region,” said the joint statement. They warned of possible mass displacement and recalled that any use of chemical weapons would be “totally unacceptable.”Russia, Turkey and Iran are the guarantors of the Astana process, a track of negotiations that has eclipsed the older Geneva process and is a de facto help for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in re-asserting his authority on the country. Swedish Ambassador Olof Skoog said the European council members were sending a “strong message” to the guarantors of the Astana process ahead of the Tehran summit. The Security Council is due to hold an emergency meeting on Friday on the crisis in Idlib. The United States has urged Syria and its military backers to halt plans for an all-out attack on Idlib. More than 350,000 people have died in Syria’s seven-year war, but UN diplomats fear the assault on Idlib could trigger one of the worst bloodbaths of the conflict.

Iraq’s Sistani: Shortcomings of government have been exposed in Basra
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 7 September 2018/Iraq’s top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan said on Friday that the tragic reality the country is going through can not be changed if the long awaited government is formed by the same standards of the existing one. In late July, Sistani warned the government of the way it handled the protests that swept the country, especially in the southern oil-rich city of Basra, saying if the government does not abide by its commitments, people will develop other peaceful means of protests to impose their will on the authority, adding that in this situation there will be a different scene "that we will regret". On Friday, Sistani voiced his concern, saying he is watching the evolving of events in Basra, and denouncing the firing of live bullets at protesters. He warned saying that the shortcomings in Basra and the ineligibility of some government officials "have been exposed."
Sistani also strongly condemned the attack on security forces in charge of protecting government institutions and public property. The top Shiite cleric further said that the people can no longer tolerate the indifference of officials and their preoccupation with positions. “The suffering of the citizens in Basra and the provinces is a natural result of the performance of senior officials in successive governments of quotas, and this tragic reality can not change if the government was formed on the same basis and standards,” Sistani said. He stressed the need for the next government to be different from its predecessors, and to take into account “integrity, efficiency, determination and courage in the selection of senior officials.” He appealed to Iraqis to desist from the excessive use of violence and abuse of property. Sistani’ stance on the Iraqi situation comes as angry protesters in Basra stormed and set fire to a provincial government building and several Iran-backed political parties’ headquarters, with many moved toward the Iranian consulate on Thursday night where they chanted slogans against “Iranian interference” in their country. Earlier on Thursday, one protester was killed, and 14 injured during the violent protests in Basra city.

Iran closes border crossing with Iraq following burning of consulate in Basra
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English/Friday, 7 September 2018/Hundreds of demonstrators on Friday stormed the Iranian consulate in the southern province of Basra, which has been witnessing protests for the past four days against the backdrop of social and service demands that resulted in the deaths of nine people. The Iranian consulate in Basra confirmed the burning and destruction of its building. There were also reports of demonstrators heading towards the presidential palaces in Basra. One of the demonstrators was killed in Basra shooting, according to the Al Arabiya correspondent. Security and medical sources confirmed the killing of the protestor and wounding 11 during the Basra demonstrations. According to latest reports, the demonstrators are trying to storm the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization forces in Basra. The Iranian Consulate is in the upscale neighborhood of al-Bardaiya, southeast of the city center. Following the burning of the Consulate, Iran closed the Shalamjah border crossing with Iraq and called on its citizens to leave Basra, according to Iraqi sources. A spokesman for the Iranian foreign ministry condemned the storming and burning of the Iranian consulate in Basra and reminded the Iraqi authorities of their “grave responsibility” in maintaining diplomatic missions, calling for the harshest sanctions against “elements behind the incident.” “Unfortunately, the news is true, and as a result of the brutal attack and the burning of the consulate, there was a great financial loss,” Bahram Qasimi told a news conference on Friday night. However, he stressed that all the Consulate staff were safe.
According to an AFP photographer at the scene, thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of the Consulate, while hundreds stormed the building and set fire to it. The photographer pointed toward the thick smoke that was rising from the building. Demonstrators have targeted local government buildings and political party offices since protests intensified on Monday. Social media showed protestors marching to the Iranian Consulate. The Iranian Consulate confirmed soon after that the building in Basra was burned and destroyed. Protesters in Basra had stormed and set fire to a provincial government building and several Iran-backed political parties’ headquarters, before moving to the Iranian consulate on Thursday night where they chanted slogans against “Iranian interference” in their country. The protester said that people’s living conditions are “tragic because our government is a subordinate and does not include any noble person.” (AFP). Several social media users and news sites shared a video of one of the protesters condemning the “dependence of some officials on neighboring countries who claim that they are an Islamic state” where he was referring to Iran.
SEE ALSO: Iraq’s Sistani: Shortcomings of government have been exposed in Basra
The protester went on to say that Iran cut of the water supply from Iraq for their own benefit, adding that people’s living conditions are “tragic because our government is a subordinate and does not include any noble person.”“We want an independent country not run by parties, no, no to political parties,” he said. Iraqi protesters had stormed and set fire to a provincial government building in Basra on Thursday, despite a curfew imposed by authorities to try and quell demonstrations against poor public services and unemployment that have turned violent. The angry protesters burned the headquarters of the Iranian-backed Asaib Ahl al-Haq militia. According to local security sources, one protester was killed, and 14 injured during the violent protests in Basra on Thursday. Ten members of the security forces were also wounded, the sources said. The protests that began about a week ago in Basra have so far left at least 10 dead.

Iraq Parliament to Hold Emergency Session after Basra Burns
Iraq's parliament on Friday called an emergency session after a curfew was imposed in the southern city of Basra following a fresh outbreak of deadly protests over poor public services and as shells were fired into Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. Lawmakers and ministers will meet on Saturday to discuss the water contamination crisis which has triggered the protests, parliament said in a statement. Mehdi al-Tamimi, head of Basra's human rights council, said nine demonstrators have been killed since Tuesday in clashes with security forces as anger boils over after the hospitalization of 30,000 people who had drunk polluted water. "We're thirsty, we're hungry, we are sick and abandoned," protester Ali Hussein told AFP Friday after another night of violence. "Demonstrating is a sacred duty and all honest people ought to join." Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and key ministers are to attend Saturday's parliament session, which was demanded by populist cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose political bloc won the largest number of seats in May elections although a new government has yet to be formed. The rare assault by unidentified attackers on the Green Zone, which houses parliament, government offices and the U.S. embassy, caused no casualties or damage, Baghdad's security chief said. Sadr, whose supporters held protests inside the Green Zone in 2016 to condemn corruption among Iraqi officials, called for "demonstrations of peaceful anger" in Basra after the main weekly Muslim prayers on Friday. And the representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, spiritual leader of Iraq's Shiite majority, in his Friday sermon denounced "the bad behavior of senior officials" and called for the next government to be "different from its predecessors."
In Basra, the epicenter of protests that have rocked Iraq since July, demonstrators on Thursday set fire to the local government headquarters and both political party and militia offices.
'Government doesn't care' The fire spread across Basra's massive government complex, with witnesses saying it tore through offices housing state TV channel Iraqiya. The nearby governor's residence was also set ablaze, AFP journalists reported. At least 24 people have been killed in the demonstrations since they erupted in Basra on July 8. Human rights activists have accused the security forces of opening fire on the demonstrators, while the government has blamed provocateurs in the crowds and said troops have been ordered not to use live rounds. Rights group Amnesty International on Friday denounced "the use of excessive force by security forces", who it said had used live fire against demonstrators for the second time since July. Amnesty researcher Razaw Salihy called on Abadi to stick to his promise of conducting an investigation into the deaths and to bring those responsible "to justice in fair trials." Ali Saad, a 25-year-old at a rally on Thursday attended by thousands of demonstrators, said the government was treating protesters as "vandals.""Nobody (here) is a vandal. The people are fed up, so yes they throw stones and burn tires because nobody cares," he told AFP. Ahmed Kazem, who was also at the protest, urged leaders to respond to the demands of the demonstrators "so that the situation doesn't degenerate."
The 42-year-old said their demands included "public services, water, electricity and jobs."

'Intentional policy of neglect'

For Tamimi, the anger on Basra streets was "in response to the government's intentional policy of neglect" of the oil-rich region. "We've been warning the authorities about this for a long time," he said. Abadi has scrambled to defuse the anger and authorities have pledged a multi-billion dollar emergency plan to revive infrastructure and services in southern Iraq. But Iraqis remain deeply skeptical as the country remains in a state of political limbo. Shiite cleric Sadr on Thursday called for politicians to present "radical and immediate" solutions at the emergency meeting of parliament or step down if they fail to do so.
Abadi, for his part, is trying to hold onto his post in the future government through forming an alliance with Sadr, a former militia chief who has called for Iraq to have greater political independence from both neighboring Iran and the United States.

Mattis Makes Unannounced Visit to Afghanistan
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/18/US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis landed in Kabul on Friday for an unannounced visit to war-torn Afghanistan, adding his weight to a flurry of diplomatic efforts to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. His trip comes a little more than a year after President Donald Trump unveiled a revamped strategy for Afghanistan that saw him commit thousands of additional US forces to the country on an open-ended basis. Mattis, on his fourth visit to the country since becoming defence chief in January 2017, will meet with President Ashraf Ghani and the new US commander for American and NATO forces, General Scott Miller. His arrival in Kabul comes at a sensitive time in the 17-year war. The grinding conflict has seen little progress by Afghan or US forces against the Taliban, the country's largest militant group. Afghan and international players have been ratcheting up efforts to hold peace talks with the Taliban, which was toppled from power by US-led forces in 2001. An unprecedented ceasefire in June followed by talks between US officials and Taliban representatives in Qatar in July fuelled hopes that negotiations could bring an end to the fighting.
But a recent spate of attacks by the Taliban and the smaller but potent Islamic State group that left hundreds of people dead has severely dented that optimism. - Battlefield setbacks -A twin bomb attack on a wrestling club in a Shiite neighbourhood of Kabul on Wednesday was just the latest in a long line of devastating assaults, killing at least 26 people and wounding 91. The attack underscored the challenges facing Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces that have been beset by corruption and low morale. Trump's strategy, announced in August 2017, increased the US troop presence in the country and now includes a renewed push to bring the Taliban to the negotiating table. Speaking to reporters as he headed to Asia this week, Mattis said he had reason to hope the Taliban may be ready for talks. There's "still hard fighting, but right now we have more indications that reconciliation is no longer just a shimmer out there, no longer just a mirage," he said, adding that Afghan security forces were now taking the fight to the enemy. But there are fears that Trump is growing frustrated with the pace of progress in the country, spurring US diplomats and other officials to intensify their efforts. The Taliban have long insisted on direct talks with Washington and refused to negotiate with the Afghan government, which they see as illegitimate. There is speculation that another meeting between US and Taliban representatives could be held this month. Mattis arrived in Kabul from Delhi where he and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with their Indian counterparts. Pompeo also visited Islamabad on Wednesday where he held talks with new premier Imran Khan and other senior officials. Pompeo said he was "hopeful" of resetting the troubled relationship with Pakistan, a key player in the Afghan conflict. He made the remarks after confirming Zalmay Khalilzad, a high-profile former US ambassador to Kabul, Baghdad and the United Nations, would be appointed to lead peace efforts in Afghanistan. Miller, who took command of US and NATO forces at a handover ceremony in Kabul on Sunday, replaces General John Nicholson, who rotated out of the role after a more than two-year deployment. Nicholson told reporters last month that the warring parties now had an "unprecedented" opportunity for peace, and insisted Trump's strategy for the country was working. But his optimism belied recent setbacks on the battlefield.
The Taliban last month launched an extraordinary attack on the provincial capital of Ghazni -- just a two-hour drive from Kabul. Militants held large parts of the city for days and Afghan forces needed US air power to push them back.

Qatar Emir Plans 10 Billion Euros of Investment in Germany
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 07/18/Qatar's emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said in Berlin Friday his country would invest some 10 billion euros ($11.6 billion) in Germany, as he battles a policy of isolation by neighbouring states. "We are announcing Qatar's desire to invest 10 billion euros in the German economy over the coming five years," the Gulf state leader said as he opened a German-Qatari business forum alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel. Qatar plans to invest in the car, high-tech and banking sectors -- three traditional strengths of the German economy.
Business daily Handelsblatt reported that Doha is especially interested in Germany's dense network of small- and medium-sized firms known as the "Mittelstand". In recent years its German investments in larger industrial or financial firms have often soured, including in the country's troubled largest lender Deutsche Bank. For more than a year, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt have cut off ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting "terrorist" movements, cosying up to Iran and undermining stability in the region. The cold shoulder from its neighbours has prompted Qatari leaders to fall back on more distant allies, with Germany now its third-weightiest trading partner after the US and China. Bilateral trade has more than doubled since 2011, to around 2.8 billion euros. Also Friday, Merkel confirmed German plans to build a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal in Germany. Qatar is the world's largest exporter of the fuel. Both capitals also have a common interest in Turkey, with Qatar announcing $15 billion of investments there last month. Meanwhile Berlin is bound to Ankara by Germany's millions-strong Turkish diaspora community and an agreement for Turkey to hold back refugees from the Middle East from reaching Europe.Turkey's lira currency has been weakened recently as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Donald Trump engage in a diplomatic face-off with mutual sanctions.

Philippines’ Duterte offers troops to Amman to fight ISIS
Reuters, Manila/Friday, 7 September 2018/Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has offered to send troops to Jordan to help combat ISIS, after agreeing to deepen military cooperation with the Middle Eastern nation to fight extremism. Both countries have been battling ISIS influence, with Jordan playing a key role in an international coalition, and the Philippines on alert after a five-month occupation of a city by the extremist group - its worst conflict since World War Two. “If there is anything that we can do, if you are short in your army, let me know,” Duterte said on Thursday at a business forum in Amman in a comment to King Abdullah, who earlier lamented the “evil” both states were facing. “You need one battalion... I will send them to you. I will commit my government in the right side of history.” King Abdullah is an important Middle East ally of Western powers, with Jordan playing a prominent role in the US-led coalition against ISIS, providing military, logistical and intelligence support. Earlier this year, Jordan announced it will provide the Philippines with two Cobra attack helicopters to help fight insurgents. Duterte is on a six-day visit to Jordan and Israel, and his activities have been broadcast in the Philippines. He has signed agreements with Israeli companies to buy small arms, armored vehicles, and surveillance and reconnaissance equipment.

The Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 07-08/18
Trump agrees to an indefinite military effort and new diplomatic push in Syria, U.S. officials say
Karen DeYoung/The Washington Post/September 06/18
President Trump, who just five months ago said he wanted “to get out” of Syria and bring U.S. troops home soon, has agreed to a new strategy that indefinitely extends the military effort there and launches a major diplomatic push to achieve American objectives, according to senior State Department officials.
Although the military campaign against the Islamic State has been nearly completed, the administration has redefined its goals to include the exit of all Iranian military and proxy forces from Syria, and establishment of a stable, nonthreatening government acceptable to all Syrians and the international community.
Much of the motivation for the change, officials said, stems from growing doubts about whether Russia, which Trump has said could be a partner, is able and willing to help eject Iran. Russia and Iran have together been Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s principal allies in obliterating a years-long effort by domestic rebels to oust the Syrian leader.
“The new policy is we’re no longer pulling out by the end of the year,” said James Jeffrey, a retired senior Foreign Service officer who last month was named Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “representative for Syria engagement.” About 2,200 U.S. troops are serving in Syria, virtually all of them devoted to the war against the Islamic State in the eastern third of the country.
Jeffrey said U.S. forces are to remain in the country to ensure an Iranian departure and the “enduring defeat” of the Islamic State.
“That means we are not in a hurry,” he said. Asked whether Trump had signed off on what he called “a more active approach,” Jeffrey said, “I am confident the president is on board with this.”
'A perfect storm': U.N. warns of potential humanitarian catastrophe in Syria's Idlib
United Nations official Staffan de Mistura warned Aug. 30 that Idlib, the last rebel-held area in Syria, could see "the most horrific tragedy" of the Syrian war (Reuters)
Jeffrey declined to describe any new military mission. But he emphasized what he said would be a “major diplomatic initiative” in the United Nations and elsewhere, and the use of economic tools, presumably including more sanctions on Iran and Russia and the stated U.S. refusal to fund reconstruction in Assad-
controlled Syria.
But the more-activist policies he outlined, and only in vague terms, could increase the likelihood of a direct confrontation with Iran, and potentially with Russia.
Jeffrey’s description of a much broader U.S. role follows years of criticism from lawmakers and analysts that neither Trump nor his predecessor, Barack Obama, had a coherent strategy for Syria. Trump, like Obama, insisted that U.S. interests were focused on defeating the Islamic State, and he resisted significant involvement in the civil war against Assad raging in the rest of the country, even as both Iran and Russia increased their influence.
Jeffrey and retired U.S. Army Col. Joel Rayburn, who transferred to the State Department from the National Security Council last month to become “special envoy for Syria,” were brought in to try to create a coherent blueprint that would prevent a repeat of what the administration sees as the mistakes of Iraq — where a precipitous U.S. pullout left the field open for Iran, and for a resurgence of Sunni militants that gave birth to the Islamic State.
Pompeo first listed Iran’s withdrawal from Syria as one of 12 U.S. demands of Tehran in a May speech at the Heritage Foundation.
What you need to know about Russia, Syria and the complex war that led to U.S. airstrikes
The Post's Anton Troianovski and Louisa Loveluck explain why the joint United States military strike against Syria on April 13 will likely have little effect. (Anton Troianovski, Louisa Loveluck, Joyce Lee/The Washington Post)
U.S. policy is not that “Assad must go,” Jeffrey said. “Assad has no future, but it’s not our job to get rid of him.” He said, however, that he found it hard to think of Assad as a leader who could “meet the requirements of not just us but the international community” as someone who “doesn’t threaten his neighbors” or abuse his own citizens, “doesn’t allow chemical weapons or provide a platform for Iran.”
The first test of the administration’s expanded role in Syria may come sooner rather than later in Idlib, in the northwest part of the country.
The province is the last bastion of rebel control after seven years of civil war, during which Assad, with extensive Russian and Iranian assistance, pounded opposition forces into submission. His scorched-earth tactics and, at times, use of chemical weapons have killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and driven millions from their homes.
Idlib has now become a crowded holding pen for up to 70,000 opposition fighters, along with about 2 million Syrian civilians displaced from other battle zones, and activists and aid workers trying to assist them.
Turkish military forces are also in Idlib, where they have pushed back Syrian Kurds from the Syria-Turkey border. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who fears a new exodus of Syrian refugees, is due to attend a summit in Tehran on Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Assad has said he is preparing a final offensive in Idlib, and Russian warplanes this week began bombing the region. Humanitarian organizations have warned of an unprecedented level of civilian bloodshed, and Trump himself has threatened U.S. retaliation if an all-out offensive is launched, especially with the use of chemical weapons.
“If it’s a slaughter, the world is going to get very, very angry. And the United States is going to get very angry, too,” Trump said Wednesday. Pompeo, Jeffrey said, has delivered the same message by telephone to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as did White House national security adviser John Bolton in a recent meeting with his Russian counterpart.
Russia, which has beefed up its naval and other forces in the region in recent weeks, has charged that the United States is preparing to manufacture a chemical weapons attack to justify military intervention. It says its operations in Idlib are aimed at up to 14,000 fighters linked to al-Qaeda.
While the United States agrees that those forces must be wiped out, it rejects “the idea that we have to go in there . . . to clean out the terrorists, most of the people fighting . . . they’re not terrorists, but people fighting a civil war against a brutal dictator,” as well as millions of civilians, Jeffrey said. Instead, the United States has called for a cooperative approach with other outside actors.
“We’ve started using new language,” Jeffrey said, referring to previous warnings against the use of chemical weapons. Now, he said, the United States will not tolerate “an attack. Period.”
“Any offensive is to us objectionable as a reckless escalation” he said. “You add to that, if you use chemical weapons, or create refugee flows or attack innocent civilians,” and “the consequences of that are that we will shift our positions and use all of our tools to make it clear that we’ll have to find ways to achieve our goals that are less reliant on the goodwill of the Russians.”
Trump has twice authorized U.S. air and missile attacks on Syrian government targets as punishment for chemical weapons use.
Asked whether potential U.S. retaliation for any offensive in Idlib, with or without chemical weapons, would include airstrikes, Jeffrey said, “We have asked repeatedly for permission to operate,” and “that would be one way” to respond.
“In some respects, we are potentially entering a new phase, where you have forces from the different countries facing each other,” rather than pursuing their separate goals, he said, listing Russia, the United States, Iran, Turkey and Israel, which has conducted its own airstrikes against Iran-linked forces inside Syria. “Now all of them have accomplished their primary jobs” there. “But nobody is happy with the situation in Syria.”

Iran red-flagged at India-US 2+2 talks
C. Uday Bhaskar/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
The twice delayed 2 plus 2 talks between India and the US concluded on a rather satisfactory note in New Delhi on Thursday (Sep 6) despite the initial apprehension that discordant issues, such as Russia and Iran, would muddy the final outcome.
The 2 plus 2 is a distinctive ministerial level framework that brings together the foreign and defense minister equivalents on both sides for an annual consultative meeting and this first meeting appeared to be jinxed – for it was postponed on two earlier occasions.
It was an unusual photo-op on Thursday when the Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and her cabinet colleague Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman – the two women members in the Cabinet Committee on Political /Security Affairs received their US counterparts Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary General Jim Mattis.
In the run up to this inaugural meet, there was speculation that the recently introduced Trump led punitive US legislation in relation to nations engaging with Russia and Iran would be brought under the CAATSA (Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) provisions and that India would become an affected party. This stemmed from the fact that Moscow is a major supplier of military inventory to India and the possibility of Delhi acquiring a Russian anti-missile system is being negotiated. Specific to the Trump triggered turbulence in many of the other bi-laterals that the US has with its allies and partners, the one with India has been relatively more stable
Pressure on Iran
In relation to Iran, ever since the Trump administration has walked out of the Obama led nuclear deal, the US has been mounting pressure on its allies and partners to reduce oil imports from Tehran and isolate that country. This has significant implications for Delhi, since Iran is a major hydrocarbon supplier for oil deficient India. Thus there was anxiety that the already jinxed 2 plus 2 would get off to an awkward and stalled launch – but the final outcome was more than satisfactory. There was no reference to any of the contentious issues in the final statements – neither Russia nor Iran found any mention – and the more significant outcome was in the defense and security basket.
After years of deliberation, India finally inked the COMCASA (Communication Compatibility and Security Arrangement) protocol with the US. This communication agreement with its embedded security template will enable greater inter-operability between US supplied military platforms such as maritime reconnaissance aircraft, drones and such like that have been (or will be) acquired by India. This is a significant development in the India-US bi-lateral, where Delhi’s natural aversion to any kind of formal military engagement with a major power has been a noticeable feature. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shed this reticence and enabled visible traction in a defense cooperation framework that was first mooted as far back as June 2005 as part of Rumsfeld-Mukherjee agreement. In the Thursday deliberations, India and the US also agreed to hold their first ever inter-service military exercise off the east coast of India in 2019. This would be a strong signal to the ASEAN nations and east Asia including China about the degree of bi-lateral inter-operability that is being envisioned. Iran has been an issue where India and the US have tacitly agreed to follow their own paths. The Trump administration has introduced certain punitive domestic legislation and related strictures against Teheran for what it perceives as nuclear and terrorism related transgressions. However, New Delhi has indicated that it will only adhere to UN mandated sanctions in relation to Iran and has conveyed its inability to accept US domestic legislation aimed at isolating Tehran.
Energy relevance
The energy relevance of Iran is reflected in the statistic that after Saudi Arabia and Iraq, currently Iran is the third largest supplier of hydrocarbons for India. This accounts for almost 12 percent of India’s total crude oil import. However the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo noted at the press briefing in Delhi (Sep 6) that the US expects all countries including India to cut oil imports from Iran to “zero” by November. “We have told the Indians consistently, as we have told every nation, that on November 4th the sanctions with respect to Iranian crude oil will be enforced. We will consider waivers where appropriate, but that it is our expectation that the purchases of Iranian crude oil will go to zero from every country, or sanctions will be imposed,” Mattis said. It merits recall that Iran supplied India more than 20 million tons of crude oil during April 2017 to March 2018 – the Indian fiscal year. Thus while a reduction in the actual quantum imported from Iran may be a possibility – coming down to “zero” is unlikely without causing serious damage to the Indian economy and causing hardship to the average citizen. The US diktat over Iran is not India-specific as Pompeo pointed out and within Asia, the Iranian export of crude (2016) is China 33 percent; India 23 percent; South Korea 16 percent and Japan 11 percent. More than 80 percent of total Iranian crude oil production goes to Asia and a little over 11 percent is exported to EU nations. It is understood that the Trump administration is in talks with the other major Middle East oil producers to see what kind of a viable option could be considered for those nations dependent on Iranian crude but it is unlikely that any major economy can come down to the “zero” level within the next two months. Specific to the Trump triggered turbulence in many of the other bi-laterals that the US has with its allies and partners, the one with India has been relatively more stable. The outcome of the inaugural 2 plus 2 talks in Delhi is a case in point but the dissonance over Iran and Russia could still muddy the script.

Trump, Obama and the book wars
Mashari Althaydi/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
It seems we are in the phase of “the war of books” in this political and propagandist confrontation in the American arena.
A number of books have been released in a short period of time just about Trump. These books were by marginal writers as well major authors such as famous American journalist Bob Woodward who will publish his book ‘Fear: Trump in the White House’ next Tuesday.
However, most of these books lack credibility and integrity. Hence, they’ve become mere trumpets and winding horns in the endless war between the American leftist media and President Trump. “Serious” books are usually written after the president’s term or terms end or even after a decade or more so the vision is purer and more comprehensive. However, what happened with Trump, and with Bush Jr. before him, due to these tribes of authors had nothing to do with these writing habits. Most of these books lack credibility and integrity. Hence, they’ve become mere trumpets and winding horns in the endless war between the American leftist media and President Trump
Books with a message
Speaking of books, 'Losing An Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy' by Trita Parsi, an Iranian political activist in America, was recently published in Arabic by Arab Scientific Publishers. Parsi is the current president of the National Iranian American Council, one of the Iranian lobby institutions in the US. This dangerous activist of course defended the “deal of the century” between the West and Iran – the mean deal that came at the expense of Arabs and which was weaved by Obama and his minister Kerry.
Parsi met the people who cooked this poisonous dinner, including former Secretary of State John Kerry, former Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes (Rhodes also published a book that is very dangerous about Obama’s phase), Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and others.
Speaking of Kerry, the tailor of the secret agreement with Iran and which betrayed Arabs – or most Arabs – also published his memoir 'Every Day is Extra' and mentioned his side of the story about the Syrian tragedy in which he admits, one way or another, that his President Obama is the one who “opened its wound” and left it open. Among the confessions Kerry made about Bashar and Syria is the statement: “Yes, we knew there were precursor chemicals” in Bashar’s possession. They knew this after Obama’s administration announced that Syria handed over its entire chemical weapons arsenal. This misinformation was later exposed when the Syrian regime launched other chemical attacks on, for instance, Khan Shaykhun.
Kerry discussed “the difficult negotiations” regarding the Iranian deal and the hours spent on them, and he presented himself as the deal’s hero. President Trump picked this up and attacked Kerry who is preparing himself for the 2020 presidential race from now – a race in which he recorded a failure yesterday – and Trump shamed Kerry as “the father of the Iranian nuclear deal.” Regardless of the intentions of the authors of these books, we are, in the midst of this enmity, insults and boasts, attaining information that used to be confidential – things that were done in the dark in the near past and which explain to us part of what we are seeing in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Woodward and the fly
Mamdouh AlMuhaini/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
A few weeks ago, Omarosa Newman, a former political aide to President Donald Trump, published a book about Trump entitled Unhinged. She is a sharp-tongued woman who had participated in Trump’s famous show The Apprentice.
There are many controversial stories surrounding her including that she offered famous television presenter Piers Morgan sex to win a reality TV show. She is addicted to eavesdropping and she hasn’t left a single conversation unrecorded, she even recorded a phone call with the American president as well as the moment she was fired from her job. Her publication stirred a small whirlwind that didn’t last for more than a few days, unlike Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury. Two days ago, a new boxing round began with a new book entitled Fear by Bob Woodward, the famous journalist who exposed the Watergate scandal, the largest journalistic scoop in recent decades.Woodward is a journalist with a long experience and his book is different than that of the “dog” Omarosa, as Trump described her, or Wolff, the slanderer, but despite that it won’t go far in its influence and it will be a momentary punch that misses the president’s head
The same stories
The main goal or idea of the book is not different than previous books, and it’s to picture Trump as an unbalanced man and expose the overwhelming chaos inside the White House and more extensively, the executive apparatus. Woodward reported that in conversations between high-ranking officials, they mocked Trump’s intelligence level and said it does not exceed that of a child who is incapable of comprehending complicated matters. In another instance, Woodward said the current office is suffering from a mental breakdown.
Woodward is a journalist with a long experience and his book is different than that of the “dog” Omarosa, as Trump described her, or Wolff, the slanderer, but despite that it won’t go far in its influence and it will be a momentary punch that misses the president’s head. It will only achieve its financial goal and it will not bring Trump to his knees like it hopes. The people who hate Trump will see nothing new in all of this as to them, Trump is a deranged man who eats Big Mac meals with a fork and knife. His supporters though will see him as a fearless hero who shook traditional institutions and defied the arrogant elite in Washington and New York.
Wolff depended on cheap talk like saying that Trump pursued his friends’ wives but Woodward is smarter than going down to this level. He wanted to destroy Trump while wearing gloves and without dirtying his clothes. He mentioned half the facts and built his narrative on them.
He said the White House suffers from overwhelming chaos and this was true during the first few months when Trump became president. He described the situation as an Oval Office with a revolving door. Michael Flynn, the former United States National Security Advisor, lied so he had to be fired. Steve Bannon was a confrontational and ideological character and this did not suit the post he was in so he was fired.
Anthony Scaramucci, the former White House Communications Director, is an intelligent figure but he is unmanageable and hyperactive. He caused overwhelming chaos and attacked then-White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus in a report published by the New Yorker. Two weeks later, he was fired.
Priebus himself was a star during the presidential campaign and became a burden later. He was an ambiguous character who could not manage the administration’s rhythm so Trump replaced him with John Kelly who was able to manage work as per the military way, and ever since things have been stable. Hence, half of Woodward’s statements are true but he keeps silent over the other half, and this is a skill which experienced journalists are aware of.
Pointing fingers at Trump
Is Trump a crazy and foolish man? This is the second argument, which many have echoed before him as they said he will ignite World War III. Woodward did not say Trump was crazy but he noted that he is unbalanced and thoughtless. It’s clear after these two years in office that Trump will not engage in any war, neither a world war nor a regional one. He held dialogue with North Korea, suffocated Iran and economically confronted China without firing a single bullet. As for the story about assassinating Bashar al-Assad, then this is something in his favor not against him especially that we’re talking about the most abject dictator in our times. Even his critics cannot deny that striking Assad twice was one of his best decisions.
The book also says that those close to Trump prevented him from taking thoughtless decisions. Those who follow up on developments closely can see that most of the promises Trump made during his electoral campaign have been kept so which decisions was he prevented from taking?
He has succeeded on the domestic economic level and on the level of foreign policy as he is more realistic than Bush’s perfectionistic approach and Obama’s negative approach. Despite all this fuss, his decisions are not hasty. It’s true that Trump barks on Twitter but in reality he does not bite. The book includes stories that are difficult to swallow and the author bases them on anonymous sources that were present and that circulated what happened behind closed doors and hallways.
Adopting this style of quoting people who are quoting others is something that Woodward is famous for and it’s a well-known flaw in his writings, and it weakens his credibility. He conveys stories with all their accurate details and soft whispers, as if he is a snoopy fly that sneaked into the room without anyone noticing. This style is well-known in journalistic writing, and it relies on spicing things up. Among these stories is the one saying that an official rushed to Trump’s office and took a paper from him that he was planning to sign to undermine commercial relations with South Korea. He took the paper in the last minute, and Trump did not notice the paper has disappeared and he forgot all about it.
Only a naïve person will shake his head and believe this story as a huge decision like this one cannot just end by hiding a paper from in front of a president! Even a small children’s toy store has better administrative structure and a dossier to keep purchase and sale contracts, let alone the White House.
The book, however, conveys stories that seem true about Trump and that match his character such as his mockery of figures whom he does not like. The book says that he despised former National Security Advisor McMaster and imitated the annoying way he breathed. This is no secret as it’s said that Trump interrupted him once while delivering a detailed briefing and told the attendees: Look at the big words he uses.
It’s not unlikely that he described Priebus as a rat. His attacks on Jeff Sessions, the Attorney General of the United States, are public and frequent but he denied that he called him “dumb” because he does not want to anger his popular base that is centered in southern states.
However all these are stories for entertainment. In brief is it an interesting and exciting book? Of course, yes. Will it electorally harm Trump and tarnish his image in front of his supporters? Of course not, that is if it does not increase his popular capital.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict’s predicament
Shehab Al-Makahleh/Al Arabiya/September 07/18
The question that was raised in the past few months, can Arabs and Israelis sit back again and negotiate to put final touches on the two-state solution, or will it end up with one state at the expense of other Arab countries that received an influx of Palestinian refugees since 1948?
To end the 70-year-old conflict, regional and international players should be effectively engaged to resolve this conflict without giving the chance for extremists to find a leeway to turn their activities within certain communities to trespass borders, exacerbate Middle Eastern peace and vex international solidarity and stability.Israel calls for further security guarantees to ensure that no future wars between Israel on one hand, and the Palestinians and Arabs would break out. Russia has the aptitudes to successfully bring both parties to talks to settle their issues and end the long-standing conflict
Washington-Moscow mediation
The Middle East is divided into two camps: pro-West and pro-Russia. Though the number of Arab states, which are allies to the US and its Western partners, outnumber those in a strategic relationship with Russia, this does not belittle the significance of Russian presence in the Middle East as a key player along with the US. Once Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that there should be a regional agreement before a peace deal between the Palestinians and the Israelis is realised. This is a very central point to ruminate, as it is vital, symptomatic, revealing and indicative that Tel Aviv will not accept any covenant with the Palestinians without a regional settlement first. In other words, Israelis deem their national security as an imperative and a must regardless of others’ concerns.
The US and its Western allies have tried to bring both parties, the Palestinians and the Israelis, back to talks to finalise a pact that ends the seven-decade-old conflict, but failed. This is simply because the Western allies were biased towards one party. To be an honest broker, this helps to resolve the impasse, without the whole region sliding into futile wars. The current situation means opening the door wide to extremists who will benefit from the vacuum that may result from the dispute over the future of a Palestinian state or its proposed form.
The European Union (EU) had been playing a focal role in the past before both Israelis and Palestinians accused the EU of being jaundiced. Sometimes, the union was blamed for lacking the clout to resolve the real causes of the conflict.
Since the Israelis are not willing to relinquish the West Bank, which the Palestinians and Arabs have been struggling for over 50 years to regain along with East Jerusalem, the only way out is to get those involved in the creation of an Israeli state in the solution of the lingering dispute: France, the UK and Russia to achieve the final settlement. Since the European countries are having their own international issues, the other partner, which can handle the final status of the Palestinian-Israeli agreement, would be Russia for various reasons.
Russia as an honest broker
Israel calls for further security guarantees to ensure that no future wars between Israel on one hand and the Palestinians and Arabs would break out; Russia has the aptitudes to successfully bring both parties to talks to settle their issues and end the long-standing conflict.
Tel Aviv is currently asking the international communities for these assurances. At present, neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis are keen on discussing their issues as both accuse each other of inciting an upsurge of violence. As Palestinians lost confidence in old peace partners, the only honest broker left for both Israelis and Palestinians are the Russians as they have very good ties with Israelis and Palestinians as well as other key regional players.
Russia is keen on Israel’s national security interests because Moscow is seeking to end this protracted conflict, which has become another nightmare for Russians after Moscow has almost managed to defuse tension and terrorism in Syria. If the Palestinian issue is not resolved, this would create an atmosphere for extremism and cross-border terrorism.
Since Russia is closer to the Middle East than the EU and the US geographically and culturally, it is in Russia’s interest to seek with all parties concerned a comprehensive and speedy solution because, in one way or another, the war in the Middle East would lead to an explosion in the region militarily, a threat to Israeli, Palestinian, Middle Eastern and international security. Thousands of Russian Jews left the Soviet Union after the demise of the communist regime because many of them found life in the former union very difficult for them. By then, Israel offered them better opportunities to live. Today there are a large number of Russian Jews and other Jews from other republics of the Soviet Union who live in Israel.
Since President Vladimir Putin came to power, he has sought better relations with Israel. Over the years, there have been many official visits: several Israeli prime ministers have visited Russia and President Putin and other Russian officials have visited Israel on numerous occasions.
As Russia has good relations with the Palestinians, like other countries in the region, Moscow can work with Washington to ensure stability in the turbulent Mideast because of Russia’s fear that extremism will spill over into its backyard. Superpowers are known for their building on contradictions to realize a reality. This has been the issue with the Palestinian cause.
Both the Israeli and the Palestinian sides today need to return to the negotiations with full support of the two superpowers because the present moment is existential for the Palestinians; the time factor is not in their favor; the status quo is not in Israel’s favor; the risk of sparking extremism and terrorism on a larger scale to fill the vacuum is against international peace and stability. Thus, it is either act to resolve the pending issues or the whole region will be once again in quagmire and anarchy. The Israelis and Palestinians have been in a logjam for too long and something has to change. The existing state of affairs is untenable, not only for the Israelis but also for the Palestinians as well to some extent. They both have to return to the negotiations table to ensure their nations live in peace, security and stability and not to permit for extremists to build on these loopholes to act on behalf of both governments.
Russia sounds to be an enthusiastic partner to broker a deal. Yet, the warring sides have to be ready to thaw the freezing channels and to stop accusing one another of enticing security problems for the other because both Palestinians and Israelis are experiencing existential moments and threats. Will a two-state solution wok out, the answer could come from Moscow.

The Straw that May Break the US' Back as Middle East Peacemakers
Hady Amr/The Hill/September 07/18
While many in America were absorbing the death of U.S. foreign policy icon Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the Trump administration made an error on the Middle East that was so profound and misguided that it will haunt us for years to come. On Friday, the State Department abruptly announced that the Trump administration would no longer fund the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), an organization funded by every American president — Republican and Democrat — since it was created 70 years ago as a cornerstone of America’s support for stability in the Middle East and flagship of our values to provide for the most vulnerable.
Indeed, UNWRA is so in-sync with our values that American citizens directly donate millions of dollars to UNWRA each year — more than some countries. But should we really be surprised? We already know that Trump’s actions have been antithetical to refugees at home and abroad, and we also know that in a global economy of over $100 trillion dollars, a meager $300 million cut by the U.S. should be able to be covered by another country. That's true on both counts, but in that truth lies the problem: the problem for America, for Palestinians and even for Israelis. What is also true is that Trump’s action is based on such a fundamentally flawed misunderstanding of the situation that it may have the opposite of its intended effect. But before we get to that, let’s look at the immediate impact: UNWRA, which provides vital life-saving services, health care and education to stateless refugees in the Middle East, is now scrambling for funds.These funds go toward a modern, secular education for 500,000 boys and girls; vaccinations and health clinics that provide services to over 3 million refugees and a basic level of dignity for millions who otherwise would lead lives of despair. While some donors like Canada, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have stepped in to offset part of what the U.S. is cutting, UNWRA will still have to reduce services. Those service reductions hurt people who are not even citizens of any nation.
So when UNRWA cuts back services in the impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, the West Bank and Gaza, what forces on the ground will fill the void? Whomever it is, they are unlikely to be America’s friends.Nowhere are the UNWRA cuts more acute than in the Gaza Strip, where 2 million souls inhabit a tiny sliver of land that few can gain permission to leave. There UNRWA provides services to 1.3 million people, spending about 40 percent of its overall budget. Roughly 262,000 boys and girls are enrolled in 267 UNWRA schools there. Twenty-two health clinics provide for millions of patient visits a year. It is unlikely that any agency could provide significantly better quality services for less cost. Through these moves, America has further written itself out of the process of peacemaking in the Middle East. Trump has sent an unmistakable message to the Palestinian people: He callously disregards their most basic needs. Trump has also sent that powerful message to their friends and allies across the Middle East and the rest of the world. Trump’s message will engender the opposite of goodwill and will further erode America’s moral leadership in the Middle East.
Indeed, the long-term problem is more profound, and it’s essential to understand because the Trump administration seeks to redefine what it means to be a Palestinian refugee, which in turn could have implications for refugees worldwide. Underlying the Trump administration’s cuts to UNRWA is the false premise that Palestinian refugees derive their refugee status from UNRWA. They don’t. They derive it from international law. UNWRA is simply provide social services to these stateless refugees. Also underlying Trump’s attack on UNWRA is the false premise that other refugee populations don’t transfer their refugee status to their children. Wrong again. International law conveys refugee status to children of other refugee populations until permanent homes can be found. Finally, underlying Trump’s attack is the false premise that somehow cutting funds to UNWRA and to development projects in the West Bank and Gaza will somehow pressure the Palestinian National Authority. Again, it won’t; others will fill the void. Anyhow, Trump is so unpopular there that any pressure he applies to the Palestinian leadership only makes them look stronger. At its core, the century-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict is about two fundamental things: land and people. In particular, it's about which group of people gets to live on which part of the land.
Although Jews and Arabs are about of equal number in the Holy Land, in the past decades, Israel has had full control of roughly 90 percent of the land. The Palestinians have significant — but not full — control of around 5 percent. Around 5 percent is shared. What Trump’s actions seem to seek to achieve is to somehow convince the millions of Palestinian refugees to give up their deep and abiding emotional attachment to their homeland. Their homeland is the Holy Land, and their attachment to it won't just vanish. Trump need look no further than the Jewish people’s 2,000-year longing to return to understand that a few meager decades will not diminish the longing of Palestinian refugees to return. In September of 1993, on the lawn of the White House, an agreement was signed between Israeli and Palestinian leaders that many hoped would help channel the aspirations for peace, security, sovereignty and prosperity into a lasting agreement. Although those objectives have not yet been achieved, failing to recognize one group’s attachment to the land —or seeking to obliterate their connection — will only serve the opposite of the cause of peace and profoundly damage America in the process.
As with Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, American redemption may require a reversal by a future president. Meanwhile, perhaps direct donations by U.S. citizens can help recuperate a shred of our American dignity.

Detailed Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For September 08/2018 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

Detailed Lebanese & Lebanese Related LCCC English New Bulletin For September 08/2018
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani