English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 25/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.april25.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers
are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his
harvest.
Luke 10/01-07: “After this the Lord appointed
seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place
where he himself intended to go. He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but
the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out
labourers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs
into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one
on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, “Peace to this house!”And if
anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if
not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking
whatever they provide, for the labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about
from house to house.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on April 24-25/2022
A Tribute Of Pride & Dignity to The Armenian People/Elias Bejjani/April
24/2022
Israel bombed sites in southern Lebanon with 20 artillary shells
Al-Rahi addressing politicians, judges: How do you stifle the voice of God in
your conscience?
Anger in Lebanon with army after people-smuggling boat sinks
Nine bodies recovered in migrant shipwreck off Lebanon’s Tripoli
At least 6 dead, 48 rescued after migrant boat capsizes off Tripoli
Defense Minister: The transparent investigation of the army command, military &
judicial bodies into the Tripoli incident will ensure that the complete truth is
revealed, responsibilities are determined
Dinnaoui: Army tried to prevent the boat from setting sail
Army says Tripoli boat was 'conducting maneuvers' when it collided with navy
vessel
Unrest engulfs Tripoli over deadly boat tragedy
Hariri threatens escalation if no fast probe into Tripoli boat sinking
Nasrallah warns against 'taking country to strife' after Tripoli boat tragedy
Hezbollah regrets the tragedy in Tripoli: To prosecute smugglers, avoid
violence, security harm
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 24-25/2022
Pope Francis calls for a truce in Ukraine on the occasion of Easter for
the Orthodox
'Holy Fire' glows as Jerusalem Christians celebrate Orthodox Easter ritual
‘Coptic Miracle’: an Arab News Deep Dive into the history, hopes and fears of
Egypt’s Coptic Christian community
Jordanian king heads to Cairo for trilateral talks with UAE, Egypt: Royal court
Biden plans to visit Israel in the coming months: Israeli PM's office
Jerusalem church glows in 'Holy Fire' ritual attended by thousands
Iran, Saudis resume talks in Iraq after months
UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed, Egypt’s Sisi, Jordan’s King discuss Jerusalem
developments
Macron re-elected as president of France
Zelenskyy meets Blinken, Austin in Kyiv: Ukraine presidency
Ukraine's military says Russian forces are trying to storm Azovstal plant
Zelenskyy threatens to quit talks if Russia holds ‘pseudo-referendums’
Ukraine leader pushes for more arms; US officials to visit
Russia's standing in G-20 not threatened by Ukraine invasion
Oil facility damaged in Dbeibah militia clashes amid widening chaos
Houthi exfiltration suspicions block Sana'a commercial flight
Canada/Statement on International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace
Titles For The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 24-25/2022
The Persecution of Christians In March 2022, This Is Not the Country We Were
Enjoying Before/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatstone Institute/April 24/2022
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day: Revisiting Islam’s Greatest Slaughter of
Christians/Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/April 24/2019
Between Biden’s Determination and Putin’s Intransigence: A World With No Order
or Rules/Raghida Dergham/The National/April 24/2-22
The search for a magic formula to end Russia-Ukraine war/Yasar Yakis/Arab
News/April 24, 2022
Questions remain over Ukraine’s EU accession/Dr. Diana Galeeva/Arab News/April
24/2022
New Iran nuclear deal would be a significant victory for Tehran/Dr. Majid
Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 24, 2022
Hunger in the MENA region could be easily avoided/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/April
24/202
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 24-25/2022
A Tribute Of Pride & Dignity to The
Armenian People
Elias Bejjani/April 24/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/54563/elias-bejjani-a-tribute-of-pride-dignity-to-the-armenian-people%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%aa%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a5%d9%83%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%a5/
Genuinely, with pride, and loudly we pay tribute to the Armenian
People and to its courageous and blessed martyrs. A tribute to the Armenian
people who are steadfast and stubborn in defending its religious faith,
existence, history and civilization. Every year on April 24th the Armenian
people renew their holy vows to be who they are no matter what and to hold on to
their existence, holy cause and faith.
Israel bombed sites in southern Lebanon with 20 artillary
shells
LCCC/Arabiya/April 25/2022
At dawn on Monday, the Israeli army launched artillery shelling on sites in
southern Lebanon, according to Al-Arabiya correspondent. The reporter added that
20 Israeli artillery shells were fired at sites in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile,
Lebanese media reported that Israeli artillery bombed an area between Majdal
Zoun and Zebqin in southern Lebanon. This came after the Israeli army announced
earlier that a rocket-propelled grenade was fired from Lebanese territory toward
Israel and landed in an open area. He said on Twitter that no alerts were
activated or a state of alert was declared in northern Israel, according to
Reuters. These developments come in the wake of clashes over the past two weeks
between Palestinians and Israeli police at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. It is
noteworthy that the northern borders of Israel have witnessed a state of calm in
general since the war between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah in 2006.
While small Palestinian factions have been shooting sporadic at Israel in the
past.
Al-Rahi addressing politicians, judges: How do you
stifle the voice of God in your conscience?
NNA/April 24, 2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rahi, presided over Sunday Mass
at the "Chapel of the Resurrection" in Bkirki this morning. In his homily, the
Patriarch said: "The manifestation of divine mercy addresses the conscience of
man who seeks to eliminate the idea of mercy, and eradicate it from his heart.
For this reason he is floundering in his spiritual, moral, political, economic
and social crises. Man, especially in positions of responsibility, cannot stifle
the voice of God within him, which is the conscience, and which calls for mercy
based on the Lord's merciful approach to us: Blessed are the merciful, for they
will have mercy (Matthew 7:5)."Addressing the people of power and the judiciary,
al-Rahi said: "How can you silence the voice of God in your conscience? You who
obstruct the judicial investigation into the crime of Beirut's port bombing,
alongside changing the forensic investigators one by one? And the judicial
appointments? Why assassinate people who have information and photos? Why are
there accused individuals fleeing from justice? If the explosion was fateful,
why are you afraid of the investigation? How do you stifle the voice of God in
your conscience?"
He criticized the judges "who fabricate dossiers at the request of influentials
and distort the image of the judiciary," and also criticized the officials "who
deprive the families of the martyrs and the victims of their long due
compensations...leaving half the capital in ruins while remaining content with
declaring their inability to rebuild it, so its damaged properties remain loose
and open for sale to unknown parties."Referring to the parliamentary elections,
al-Rahi said: "As their date approaches, we call on the people to elect those
who meet their need for a new assembly that will rise up to the lurking
challenges, foremost of which is the election of a new president of the republic
at the constitutional date, so that this assemply works to modernize the
relations of the charter components in a state that is capable of accommodating
pluralism and embracing everyone in an expanded decentralized system...while
striving to unite allegiances, adhere to impartiality, fold all intrusive
projects into our country and society, and have an equal view of Lebanon, in
which the parties perceive each other as partners and brothers, and not as
enemies..."He continued to indicate that "the new president will focus his
powers on strengthening Lebanon's independence, sovereignty, and authentic
identity through a legitimacy that is committed to the constitution and the
charter.""Based on this awareness, it is the duty of citizens to choose those in
whom they perceive national and cognitive ability, and those who stand firm in
their Lebanese stances, and those who do not change colors, do not fear, do not
bargain, and do not barter over the constants in order to attain positions," the
Patriarch underscored.
Moving on to the issue preoccupying the citizens' minds and concerns, namely
their deposited money and the confusion arising around the Capital Control
project law, the Partriarch said: "It is the government's duty to explain to the
people the fate of their money and the impact of any new legislation on the
freedom to dispose of it....People and political forces should oppose everything
that is ambiguous, suspicious and affects the rights of citizens, the free
Lebanese economic system, and the rules of banking.""If an understanding with
the International Monetary Fund is desirable, preserving the rights of people
and their money is sacred," the Patriarch affirmed. Over the tragic boat
incident in Tripoli, al-Rahi said: "We were saddened yesterday by the sinking of
a boat off the coast of the city of Tripoli, as its passengers were trying to
escape illegally from the bitter reality of their lives. As we congratulate the
survivors and hope for the rescue of those who are still missing, we offer our
deepest condolences to the families of the victims who died in this terrible
accident, asking the Lord Almighty to rest their souls in peace and grant their
families solace and comfort to endure their loss. "We pray to the Lord that
every person preserves the mercy He has planted in his heart, which beautifies
his humanity and renders him truly in the image and likeness of God," al-Rahi
concluded.
Anger in Lebanon with army after people-smuggling boat sinks
Najia Houssari/Arab News/April 24, 2022
BEIRUT: Tensions rose in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli on Sunday after a
boat capsized and sank off its coast as it was being pursued by the army, with
agitated crowds gathering outside the hospitals treating the survivors.
Six people, including an 18-month-old girl called Taleen Al-Hamwi and two women,
died. There were 45 survivors as of Sunday morning, and more than 10 people
remain missing. About 60 people had boarded the boat from an area between
Qalamoun and Harisha, a beach that is not subject to strict security control and
is often used for human smuggling activities. The boat was headed toward Cyprus
and then onto mainland Europe. Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced a
national day of mourning on Monday. Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri called for
a “quick investigation that reveals the circumstances and determines the
responsibility. Otherwise, we have something else to say.”He tweeted: “When
conditions force Lebanese citizens to resort to death boats to escape from the
state's hell, this means that we are in a fallen state. Tripoli is announcing
today this fall through its victims. The testimonies of the victims of the death
boat are dangerous, and we will not allow (these testimonies) to be buried in
the sea of the city.”Families of the victims headed to the shore to find out the
fate of the missing. Their anger also focused on the Lebanese army. Journalist
Ghassan Rifi from Tripoli told Arab News that the boat had a lower cabin where
the women and children were probably hiding. There was a possibility they may
have sunk along with the boat, he said. The commander of the naval forces, Col.
Haitham Dannawi, accused the boat's captain of trying to escape and crashing the
vessel into the naval forces' cruiser.
The ill-fated boat was made in 1974, he said.
It was small, 10 meters long, 3 meters wide, and the permitted load was only 10
people, he told a press conference. But it lacked safety measures. He said: “The
patrol that followed the boat a few miles from the shore and in the territorial
waters tried to urge it to return because the situation was not safe and, if we
did not stop the boat, it would have sunk outside the territorial waters.”No
weapons were used by naval forces, he said. “The boat sank quickly because of
the overload and were it not for the presence of our forces near it, the number
of victims would have been greater.”He said the boat carried 15 times more
weight than it could handle and that the army did not commit any mistake on a
technical and ground level. “We bear our full responsibilities in the army
leadership, and if there is any verbal offense, we will hold the person
concerned responsible.”A dispute broke out between soldiers and the families at
the port of Tripoli after the families tried to prevent Social Affairs Minister
Hector Hajjar, delegated by Mikati, from completing his press statement. The
families confronted him and the other officials present with insults, while the
Al-Qubba area witnessed heavy gunfire during the victims’ funerals. Angry
protesters in Tripoli destroyed a military medical center amid calls to take to
the city’s streets and “declare a major escalation.” One of the survivors, a
young man in his twenties who was wet and shivering, said shortly after midnight
on Saturday: “The security cruiser chased us, and the officers on board said
they would bury us. Then, they rammed the boat in the middle and on the sides
until it sank.”Security sources suggested that the number of victims could rise.
The tragic incident came a week after the army thwarted an illegal immigration
operation at the Arida border point in the north with the capture of a boat that
had 20 Syrians on board, including women and children. “Smugglers get thousands
of dollars from migrants. In the Saturday incident, each person paid at least
$2,000,” said Rifi. Last year, the army stopped 21 boats carrying 707 people,
according to the Lebanese Army Guidance Directorate. In 2020, the army stopped
four boats carrying 126 people.
Nine bodies recovered in migrant shipwreck off
Lebanon’s Tripoli
AP//The Arab Weekly/April 24/2022
The Lebanese military Sunday recovered the bodies of eight migrants whose boat
carrying at least 56 people capsized the night before, raising the death toll to
nine, state media reported. The National News Agency said the eight bodies were
found near a small island off the coast of the northern city of Tripoli. Several
survivors told local TV stations that the Lebanese navy is to blame for the
accident. They said a military ship rammed their migrant boat twice, damaging
it, in an effort to force it to return to the coast. The military said it would
hold a news conference later Sunday to explain what happened. Survivors called
on the military to bring in officers involved for questioning. Earlier on
Sunday, the Lebanese military announced that 47 people were rescued and the body
of a young girl was recovered. The military said high waves submerged the boat,
which was carrying more people than it could hold.
Several of the rescued were treated on the spot while others were taken to
nearby hospitals. One person was detained on suspicion of being a smuggler who
sent the migrants, the military said. Search operations began Saturday night
after the boat, apparently heading to Europe, capsized shortly after leaving the
coastal Lebanese town of Qalamoun. Transportation Minister Ali Hamieh on Sunday
morning confirmed to the local Al-Jadeed TV station that eight more bodies were
recovered. The Lebanese army and security forces were deployed at Tripoli's port
on Sunday where ambulances were on standby to receive survivors.Relatives of
those on board the capsized ship held a vigil at the entrance to the port to
await news of their loved ones. "My nephew, he has five children and his wife is
pregnant with twins. He was trying to escape hunger and poverty," said one man
waiting to enter the harbour.Nissrine Merheb was also waiting for news from her
two cousins and their children who were also onboard the ship. "The people of
Tripoli are destined to die," she wrote in a post on Facebook. "Even when we are
trying to run away from the filth of politicians and their corruption... death
catches up with us," she said.
For many years Lebanon was a country that took in refugees, but since the
country’s economic meltdown began in October 2019, hundreds of people have left
on boats hoping for a better life in Europe. Migrants from Lebanon pay thousands
of dollars to smugglers to take them to Europe hoping for a better life.
Hundreds have made it to European countries, while dozens of others have been
stopped and forced to return home by the Lebanese navy. Several people have lost
their lives on the way to Europe over the past three years. Lebanon, a small
Mediterranean nation of 6 million people, including 1 million Syrian refugees,
is in the grip of the worst economic crisis in the country’s modern history. The
economic meltdown has put more than three-quarters of the country’s population
into poverty. The World Bank describes the crisis as among the worst in the
world since the 1850s. Tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs and the
Lebanese pound has lost more than 90% of its value.
At least 6 dead, 48 rescued after migrant boat
capsizes off Tripoli
Naharnet/April 24/2022
At least six people died, including a little girl, and almost 50 others were
rescued after an overloaded migrant boat capsized off north Lebanon during a
chase by naval forces, Lebanese officials said. The boat carrying nearly 60
people capsized on Saturday night near the port city of Tripoli, the departure
point for a growing number of people attempting a potentially lethal sea escape.
The deadly accident, weeks ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for May
15, is not the first of its kind for the crisis-hit country grappling with its
worst-ever financial crash. But it marks a grim reminder of the suffering behind
a growing number of people, including Lebanese nationals and Syrian refugees,
risking their lives at sea in search of a future abroad. "The army's naval
forces managed to rescue 48 people and retrieve the body of a dead girl... from
a boat that sank while trying to illegally smuggle them out," the army said in a
statement, adding that a suspect had been arrested for alleged involvement in
the smuggling operation. "Most people on board were rescued," the army said,
without specifying their nationalities. The army retrieved five corpses off
Tripoli's coast on Sunday, the state-run National News Agency reported, hours
after the body of a little girl was returned to shore. "My nephew, he has five
children and his wife is pregnant with twins. He was trying to escape hunger and
poverty," one man told AFP at Tripoli's port, where he was waiting to hear news
of his missing relative.
Sunk in seconds -
Haitham Dannaoui, the head of Lebanon's naval forces, said the 10-meter
(33-foot) boat built in 1974 was crammed with nearly 60 would-be migrants and
took to sea without any safety precautions. He told a news conference that the
army tried to thwart the smuggling operation before the ship sailed out of the
Qalamoun region, south of Tripoli, but could not reach the departure point in
time. An ensuing sea chase saw two naval patrols trying to force the migrant
boat to turn back. "Unfortunately, the captain (of the migrant boat) decided to
carry out maneuvers to escape," leading to the vessel crashing into the patrol
ships, Dannaoui said. The impact cracked the hull of the migrant boat, which
quickly submerged, he said. "In less than five seconds, the boat was under
water," Dannaoui said, adding that passengers were quickly handed life jackets.
But one of the survivors said a naval ship had deliberately crashed into the
migrant boat to force them to return. "The patrol boat crashed into us
twice...to drown us," the man told AFP at the port, before he was silenced and
carried off by a crowd of survivors' relatives. Last November, a boat carrying
dozens of would-be migrants also sank off Tripoli's coast after being chased by
the Lebanese army.The passengers were rescued and towed back to shore.
'Destined to die' -
The latest incident stoked public anger in Tripoli, Lebanon's second city and
one of its poorest. Growing poverty and unemployment rates have turned Tripoli
into a launchpad for illegal migrants. Calls circulated on social media networks
for protests outside the Tripoli home of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, who
declared Monday a day of national mourning to grieve the victims. The relatives
of the victims and the missing lashed out at the country's leaders. "The people
of Tripoli are destined to die," said Nissrine Merheb who hasn't heard from her
two cousins and their three children since the sinking. "Even when we are trying
to run away from the filth of politicians and their corruption... death catches
up with us." Lebanon, which has a "turnback" agreement with Cyprus to prevent
crossings, is in the grips of an unprecedented financial crisis, with the
currency losing more than 90 percent of its value and the majority of the
population living below the poverty line. The economic crash has spurred an
uptick in sea crossings out, with an increasing number of Lebanese joining the
ranks of Syrian and Palestinian refugees trying to illegally cross into Europe.
The U.N. refugee agency says at least 1,570 people, 186 of them Lebanese, left
or tried to leave illegally by sea from Lebanon between January and November
2021. Most were hoping to reach European Union member Cyprus, an island 175
kilometers (110 miles) away.
Defense Minister: The transparent investigation of the
army command, military & judicial bodies into the Tripoli incident will ensure
that the complete truth is revealed, responsibilities are determined
NNA/April 24/2022
Minister of National Defense, Maurice Selim, expressed his "pain for the tragedy
that resulted from the sinking of the boat carrying Lebanese and non-Lebanese
passengers who tried to leave Lebanon's territorial waters illegally on board
the boat," offering his sincere condolences to the families of the victims and
wishing a speedy recovery to the injured and salvation for those who are still
missing. He stressed in a statement that "the difficult circumstances that
prompted the boat's passengers to leave Lebanon illegally, are suffered by most
of the Lebanese as a result of the successive crises that afflicted Lebanon, and
the government is trying to address these repercussions." However, he deemed
that such circumstances ought not push citizens to fall victim to traders and
smugglers who blackmail them and tempt them into dangerous adventures that have
no guaranteed outcome, such as last night's tragic incident in Tripoli. Minister
Selim also asserted that the extent of anger as a result of the tragedy cannot
be expressed by attacking the military establishment, whose men performed their
duty to persuade the passengers of the boat not to complete their way and return
to the shore. He emphasized herein that "the transparent investigation carried
out by the army command and the competent military and judicial bodies will help
to reveal the complete truth, which we are fully keen on so as to put matters
into perspective, determine responsibilities and block any exploitation of the
blood of the victims and the fate of the missing and the sufferings of their
relatives and families."The Defense Minister affirmed that "the grief
experienced by the northern region, with its capital, Tripoli, and the villages
and towns of the victims' families, is the grief of all Lebanese in all parts of
the country, and it requires great awareness to confront what happened in a way
that preserves stability and security and does not cause any imbalance."Minister
Selim was briefed earlier by the Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on the
details of what happened off the Tripoli shore, and the circumstances that
accompanied the sinking of the boat, whereby he requested a thorough and
detailed investigation into the regretful incident.
Dinnaoui: Army tried to prevent the boat from setting
sail
NNA/April 24/2022
Commander of the Army's Naval Forces, Colonel Haitham Dinnaoui, said in a press
conference this afternoon that "the boat which sank off Tripoli's shore
yesterday night is a small boat made in 1974, which is 10 meters in length and 3
meters in width, with a maximum permissible load of only 10 persons."
He added that "there were no life jackets or life rafts on the boat," stressing
that "the army tried to prevent the boat from setting out, but it was faster
than us." "The boat's cargo prevented it from moving away from the shore," the
Colonel said, adding that "the captain of the boat took the decision to carry
out maneuvers to escape from the sentinel in a way that led to the boat's
crash." "The number of survivors reached 45, and today we have 5 bodies, in
addition to the girl who died yesterday, and it is possible that there are
missing persons that we are trying to identify," explained Dinnaoui.
Army says Tripoli boat was 'conducting maneuvers' when
it collided with navy vessel
Associated Press/April 24/2022
The Lebanese Army said Sunday that a boat that capsized off Tripoli was
conducting escape "maneuvers" when it "collided" with a Lebanese army vessel,
after some survivors accused the navy of deliberately ramming the boat.
Several survivors had told local TV stations that the Lebanese navy is to blame
for the incident. They said a military ship rammed their migrant boat twice,
damaging it, in an effort to force it to return to the coast. Col. Haitham
Dinnawi, commander of the Lebanese navy, told reporters the migrant boat was old
and only capable of carrying six people. He added that no precautionary measures
were taken on the boat and no one was wearing life vests. Dinnawi blamed the
captain of the migrant boat for maneuvering to avoid being forced to return back
to shore and blamed him for ramming into one of two navy vessels. He showed
photographs of the damage on the side and back of one navy boat. "It was a crime
to take people on such a boat," Dinnawi said, adding that it was manufactured in
1974 and carrying 15 times its capacity. He said search operations are still
ongoing for the missing adding that they have recovered the bodies of six people
so far, including five on Sunday and one on Saturday.
Unrest engulfs Tripoli over deadly boat tragedy
Agence France Presse/April 24/2022
Violent protests engulfed Tripoli on Sunday in connection with the deadly
sinking of a migrant boat off the city overnight. Survivors accused the army of
deliberately ramming a navy vessel into the ill-fated boat, as the military said
a collision occurred as the migrant boat's captain was carrying out escape
maneuvers. Wails of relatives rang out from a Tripoli morgue where the corpses
were being kept, an AFP correspondent said. Dozens looked on as a group of men
stormed the morgue and pulled out the corpse of a victim for burial, the
correspondent said. Outside, dozens of young men lobbed stones at two army tanks
and at a nearby army checkpoint, prompting soldiers to fire live rounds in the
air. Gunfire meanwhile continued to echo across the city throughout the day as
several key roads were blocked. Separately, a man was shot dead in a dispute
over a picture of ex-minister Ashraf Rifi.
Hariri threatens escalation if no fast probe into
Tripoli boat sinking
Naharnet/April 24/2022
Ex-PM Saad Hariri on Sunday described testimonies by survivors of a migrant boat
that capsized off Tripoli as “dangerous,” demanding a swift probe, after some of
those who were on the boat accused the Lebanese navy of deliberately sinking
their vessel. “When the Lebanese citizen reaches the extent of resorting to
death boats to escape from the state’s hell, this means that we have become in a
fallen state. With the tongues of its victims, Tripoli is today declaring this
fall,” Hariri tweeted. “The testimonies made by the victims of the death boat
are dangerous and we will not accept that they be buried in the city’s sea. A
swift probe is needed to unveil circumstances and identify responsibilities, or
else we will have other words,” Hariri warned.
Nasrallah warns against 'taking country to strife' after Tripoli boat tragedy
Naharnet/April 24/2022
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday urged a fast probe into the
Tripoli boat tragedy, stressing that “no one should be allowed to plunge the
country into strife.” “All of the elements of the investigation are known and
hurrying up in the probe is the least duty that one can do,” Nasrallah said in a
speech marking Ramadan’s Qadr Night. “We must not allow anyone to take the
country to strife and this incident must be addressed at the national level,” he
added. Nasrallah also called on the government to “stand by the families.”At
least six people were killed and many went missing when a migrant boat capsized
off Tripoli as it was being chased by the Lebanese navy. Violent protests
erupted in Tripoli in the wake of the tragedy, with many accusing the army of
deliberately forcing the boat’s sinking. The army meanwhile announced that the
boat’s captain crashed the boat into a navy vessel as he was maneuvering to
escape
Hezbollah regrets the tragedy in Tripoli: To prosecute
smugglers, avoid violence, security harm
NNA/April 24/2022
Hezbollah" regretted in an issued statement today, "the painful tragedy
that befell the beloved city of Tripoli and its good people," extending its
"deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims and all of our
people in Tripoli and the North, asking God Almighty to grant them patience and
solace and to have mercy on the fallen victims.""We consider what happened as a
very tragic manifestation of the deepening economic and social crisis in the
country as a result of wrong policies and long decades of negligence and
deprivation that ultimately led to the difficult conditions that our country and
people are going through," the statement said. It added that the incident comes
as a cry of warning to all officials at all levels, and an appeal to the
conscience of the state and society alike, to deal seriously with the
consequences of the crisis with social and broad national solidarity, so as to
get out of the severe ordeal our country is witnessing which is pushing dozens
of families to emigrate and risk their lives for a better living. "This tragedy,
like previous tragedies, calls for a quick, transparent, impartial and fair
judicial investigation to uncover the truth of what happened and to prosecute
the perpetrators of this sorrowful incident," the statement underlined. "We call
on the relevant state apparatuses to stand by the families of the victims,
embrace them and provide them with all forms of assistance," Hezballah's
statement concluded, urging all "to show a spirit of patience and national
responsibility and to stay away from acts of violence, sabotage and harm to
internal security and stability."
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 24-25/2022
Pope Francis calls for a truce in
Ukraine on the occasion of Easter for the Orthodox
NNA/April 24/2022
Pope Francis has called for a halt to attacks in Ukraine so that aid can reach
an exhausted population, urging political leaders to listen to "the voices of
the people" who fear an escalation, according to "Reuters". Speaking to tens of
thousands of people who gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pope noted that the
day most Eastern Christians, including Orthodox and Catholics in Ukraine and
Russia, celebrate Easter falls two months after the start of the war."Instead of
stopping (the war), it escalated," he said from his official office window. "I
renew the call for a truce...(especially on Easter), as a concrete sign of the
desire for peace....To stop the attacks in order to tend to the pain of the
exhausted population. Let's stop," he added. "It is sad to hear in these days,
which are sacred to all Christians, the roar of weapons instead of the sound of
church bells announcing the Resurrection. It is sad that weapons are
increasingly taking the place of the word," regretted Pope Francis. "Let the
political leaders listen to the voices of the people who want peace and not an
escalation of the conflict," he affirmed.
'Holy Fire' glows as Jerusalem Christians celebrate Orthodox Easter ritual
AP/The Arab Weekly/April 24/2022
Jerusalem/Thousands on Saturday celebrated the traditional "Holy Fire" ceremony
of blazing candles at Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark the eve
of Orthodox Easter. Tens of thousands of faithful have attended the ceremony in
earlier years but coronavirus constraints severely limited attendance on the
past two occasions. This year, joyous, shouting faithful crowded together
unmasked, holding aloft wads of thin candles bound together to produce thick
orange flames that danced inside the darkened Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The
church is built on the site where according to Christian tradition Jesus was
crucified, buried and resurrected. Israel's foreign ministry gave a crowd
estimate of thousands, who celebrated in a tense Jerusalem after days of clashes
between Palestinians and Israeli forces at the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the rest of the Old City lies in east
Jerusalem, occupied and later annexed by Israel following the Six-Day War of
1967. Worshippers had waited from the morning hours with candles in hand. They
cheered with excitement and bells rang in the early afternoon when Greek
Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III exited the Edicule, traditionally believed to
be Christ's burial place, holding burning candles. The flames spread from
believer to believer, filling the ancient church with light. Worshippers hold
lit candles as Christians gather around the Edicule, during the Holy Anthony
Botros, who came all the way from Canada, said that being able to participate in
the ceremony was "honestly surreal." "I would not have imagined I would ever be
here. It's something you can't describe. You just have to be there and
experience it. Just tears. So peaceful," the 25-year-old said. Church leaders
had initially been at odds with Israel over the event's size, after authorities
sought to limit the number of participants to ensure their safety. On Thursday,
the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it had rejected police limiting the
numbers, which it considered an "infringement to the right to freedom of
worship," noting the church's capacity of 11,000 people. The Patriarchate
petitioned the police decision at the Supreme Court, with a compromise allowing
4,000 believers to attend the ceremony in the church and square outside, a
police spokeswoman said. Israel has tightened limitations on the number of
celebrants at all religious festivals after a stampede at a Jewish festival last
April caused the death of 45 men and boys. The Greek Orthodox, Armenian and
Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church. Christians made up
more than 18 percent of the population of the Holy Land when Israel was founded
in 1948, but now form less than two percent, mostly Orthodox.
‘Coptic Miracle’: an Arab News Deep Dive into the
history, hopes and fears of Egypt’s Coptic Christian community
Arab News/April 24/2022
LONDON: On Sunday, the 15 million Coptic Christians in Egypt and 2 million more
in scattered migrant communities across the world celebrate Orthodox Easter.
The following day, together with Egyptians of all faiths, Coptic Christians will
celebrate the national holiday of Sham Ennessim. Like the Copts themselves, the
festival of spring, whose origins date back millennia to the days of the
pharaohs, survived the Arabization of Egypt in the seventh century to become an
integral part of Egyptian society. In a special Minority Report, Arab News tells
the extraordinary story of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, which
parted company with the rest of Christendom in the fifth century after a
fundamental disagreement over the nature of Christ’s divinity. Founded in the
great city of Alexandria by Mark the Evangelist in about A.D. 60, the church and
its followers have undergone centuries of turmoil. During the Roman era, Coptic
Christians were singled out for bloody persecution, with St. Mark himself
brutally martyred in A.D. 68.
During the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian (A.D. 245-313), what became
known as the Diocletianic Persecution saw countless hundreds of Christians
massacred in Alexandria alone. Among them was Peter, the Patriarch of
Alexandria, who was beheaded. After the rise of Islam and the conquest of Egypt
in the seventh century, although there were isolated periods of persecution,
over the centuries the Copts were treated well enough. But the pressure of
rising taxes imposed on non-Muslims saw many Christians convert to Islam, while
the rapid spread of Arabic culture caused the Coptic language to fall into
disuse. Although rarely heard outside the churches, today the language, a direct
descendant of the ancient Egyptian tongue spoken in the time of the pharaohs,
lives on in the liturgies and monasteries of the faith. In modern times, the
Copts in Egypt have faced waves of violence at the hands of Islamists, who have
bombed Coptic churches and murdered believers. The filmed killings of 20 migrant
Coptic workers in Libya in 2015 shocked the world, while a wave of attacks on
Copts and their churches in Egypt in 2017 left dozens dead. “One of the most
important things for Copts today, in Egypt and abroad, is that over the past
decade we have seen a much greater, harmonious existence between Christians and
Muslims.”Archbishop Anba Angaelos, Coptic Orthodox Archbishop of London. Since
the 1970s, many Copts, driven either by fear or economic pressures, have
emigrated to seek new futures in the West, mainly in the US, Canada, Australia
and the UK. Wherever they have put down roots, Coptic communities and their
churches have blossomed, and maintain close links with Egypt and the faith.
Today, Coptic leaders look optimistically toward a brighter future. “One of the
most important things for Copts today, in Egypt and abroad, is that over the
past decade we have seen a much greater, harmonious existence between Christians
and Muslims,” Archbishop Anba Angaelos, head of the Coptic Church in the UK,
exclusively told Arab News. In “The Coptic Miracle,” Arab News tells the story
of how Egypt’s historic Christian church not only survived but thrived, at home
and abroad.
Jordanian king heads to Cairo for trilateral talks
with UAE, Egypt: Royal court
Arab News/April 24, 2022 17:44
AMMAN: Jordan's King Abdullah II traveled to Cairo on Sunday for three-way talks
with the Egyptian and Emirati leaders, a royal palace statement said. The
statement added that the trip had not previously been scheduled. Abu Dhabi Crown
Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah
El-Sisi will also be in attendance, Jordan's state news agency added. King
Abdullah will be accompanied by the Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah.
Biden plans to visit Israel in the coming months:
Israeli PM's office
Reuters/April 24, 2022
JERUSALEM: US President Joe Biden has accepted an invitation from Israeli Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett to visit Israel and intends to make the trip in the
coming months, Bennett’s office said in a statement on Sunday. The two leaders
spoke on Sunday and Bennett briefed Biden on efforts “to stop the violence and
incitement in Jerusalem,” the statement said, in reference to
Israeli-Palestinian clashes at the site of the Al-Aqsa mosque in the holy city.
At least 57 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli police within the
Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday, raising concern of a repeat of last year’s
war between Israel and the Hamas Islamists ruling Gaza.According to the
statement, Biden accepted Bennett’s invitation to come to Israel “and informed
him that he intends to visit ... in the coming months.”
Jerusalem church glows in 'Holy Fire' ritual
attended by thousands
Agence France Presse/April 24, 2022
Thousands have celebrated the traditional "Holy Fire" ceremony of blazing
candles at Christianity's holiest site in Jerusalem to mark the eve of Orthodox
Easter. Tens of thousands of faithful have attended the ceremony in earlier
years but coronavirus constraints severely limited attendance on the past two
occasions. This year, joyous, shouting faithful crowded together unmasked,
holding aloft wads of thin candles bound together to produce thick orange flames
that danced inside the darkened Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is
built on the site where according to Christian tradition Jesus was crucified,
buried and resurrected. Israel's Foreign Ministry gave a crowd estimate of
thousands, who celebrated in a tense Jerusalem after days of clashes between
Palestinians and Israeli forces at the nearby Al-Aqsa mosque compound. The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the rest of the Old City lies in east
Jerusalem, occupied and later annexed by Israel following the Six-Day War of
1967. Worshippers had waited from the morning hours with candles in hand. They
cheered with excitement and bells rang in the early afternoon when Greek
Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III exited the Edicule, traditionally believed to
be Christ's burial place, holding burning candles. The flames spread from
believer to believer, filling the ancient church with light. Anthony Botros, who
came all the way from Canada, said that being able to participate in the
ceremony was "honestly surreal." "I would not have imagined I would ever be
here. It's something you can't describe. You just have to be there and
experience it. Just tears. So peaceful," the 25-year-old told AFP. Church
leaders had initially been at odds with Israel over the event's size, after
authorities sought to limit the number of participants to ensure their safety.
On Thursday, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it had rejected police
limiting the numbers, which it considered an "infringement to the right to
freedom of worship," noting the church's capacity of 11,000 people. The
Patriarchate petitioned the police decision at the Supreme Court, with a
compromise allowing 4,000 believers to attend the ceremony in the church and
square outside, a police spokeswoman told AFP. Israel has tightened limitations
on the number of celebrants at all religious festivals after a stampede at a
Jewish festival last April caused the death of 45 men and boys. The Greek
Orthodox, Armenian and Roman Catholic denominations share custody of the church.
Christians made up more than 18 percent of the population of the Holy Land when
Israel was founded in 1948, but now form less than two percent, mostly Orthodox.
Iran, Saudis resume talks in Iraq after months
Associated Press/April 24, 2022
Iran resumed talks with regional rival Saudi Arabia months after secret
Baghdad-brokered talks were suspended, state-linked media has reported. The
Iranian news website Nournews, considered to be close to the country's Supreme
National Security Council, said a fifth round of talks was held in Baghdad.
Ranking security officials from both sides as well as Iraqi and Omani officials,
participated it said. It was not immediately clear when the talks took place.
The fourth round took place in September. Nournews reported a positive
atmosphere permeated the talks increasing hopes for "steps on the path of
resumption of ties" between the two nations, including a joint meeting of
foreign ministers. Nournews also published a photo of two Iranian and Saudi
officials standing at the side of Iraqi premier Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Iraq borders
both Iran and Saudi Arabia. Iran, the largest Shiite Muslim country in the
world, and Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties in 2016 after
Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Angry Iranians
protesting the execution stormed two Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran, fueling
years of animosity between the nations.
In March, Tehran said it temporarily suspend the talks, aimed at defusing
yearslong tensions, after Saudi Arabia put to death 81 people convicted of
crimes ranging from killings to ties to militant groups. Activists believe more
three dozen Shiites were among those executed.
The Baghdad-mediated talks between the regional foes began quietly in Iraq's
capital last year as Saudi Arabia sought a way to end its disastrous war against
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The conflict has spawned one of the world's
worst humanitarian disasters and brought bombs from rebel drones and missiles
raining down on Saudi airports and oil facilities. Saudi Shiites, who live
primarily in the kingdom's oil-rich east, have long complained of being treated
as second-class citizens. Saudi Arabia's executions of Shiites have stirred
regional unrest in the past.
UAE’s Mohammed bin Zayed, Egypt’s Sisi, Jordan’s King
discuss Jerusalem developments
Al Arabiya English/25 April ,2022
Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed discussed the developments in Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa
compound with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Jordan's King Abdullah
during their meeting in Cairo, state news agency WAM reported on Sunday. “The
three leaders also touched on the developments taking place in the city of
Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque, stressing the need to stop any practices that
violate the sanctity of the holy mosque and change the status quo there in
addition to avoiding escalation and calming the situation,” WAM reported. It
added: “They stressed that the region is in need for peace, stability and
cooperation in order to promote peace and development and ultimately achieve the
aspirations of the peoples of the region for progress and prosperity.”
The three leaders also discussed the war in Ukraine and called on all parties
concerned to exert maximum efforts to settle the conflict through giving
priority to diplomacy and dialogue to restore security and stability. “The
meeting dealt with strengthening joint Arab action and the importance of mutual
coordination in light of the challenges and crises besetting the Arab region and
threatening its security and stability,” WAM said.
Macron re-elected as president of France
Agence France Presse/April 24, 2022
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday defeated his rival Marine Le Pen in
presidential elections, projections showed, prompting a wave of relief in Europe
that the far-right had been prevented from taking power. Centrist Macron was set
to win 57.0-58.5 percent of the vote compared with Le Pen on 41.5-43.0 percent,
according to projections by polling firms for French television channels based
on a sample of the vote count. The result is narrower than the second-round
clash in 2017, when the same two candidates met in the run-off and Macron polled
over 66 percent of the vote. The outcome, expected to be confirmed by official
results overnight, caused immense relief in Europe after fears a Le Pen
presidency would leave the continent rudderless following Brexit and the
departure of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Italian Prime Minister Mario
Draghi called Macron's victory "great news for all of Europe". EU president
Charles Michel said the bloc can now "count on France for five more years" while
commission chief Ursula von der Leyen rapidly congratulated him saying she was
"delighted to be able to continue our excellent cooperation". In a combative
speech to supporters in Paris where she accepted the result but showed no sign
of quitting politics, Le Pen, 53, said she would "never abandon" the French and
was already preparing for June legislative elections. "The result represents a
brilliant victory," she said to cheers. The relatively comfortable margin of
victory gives Macron some confidence as he heads into a second five-year
mandate, but the election also represents the closest the far-right has ever
come to winning power in France. Macron is the first French president to win
re-election since Jacques Chirac in 2002 after his predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy
and Francois Hollande left office after only one term. The 44-year-old is to
make a victory speech on the Champ de Mars in central Paris at the foot of the
Eiffel Tower where flag-waving supporters erupted in joy when the projections
appeared at 8:00 pm local time (1800 GMT).
High ambitions
Macron will be hoping for a less complicated second term that will allow him to
implement his vision of more pro-business reform and tighter EU integration
after a first term shadowed by protests, then the pandemic and finally Russia's
invasion of Ukraine. But he will have to win over those who backed his opponents
and the millions of French who did not bother to vote. On the basis of the
official figures, polling organizations estimated that the abstention rate was
on course for 28 percent which, if confirmed, would be the highest in any
presidential election second-round run-off since 1969. The outcome of the first
round on April 10 had left Macron in a solid but not unassailable position to
retain the presidency. Convincing supporters of the hard-left third-placed
candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon to hold their noses and vote for the former
investment banker was a key priority for Macron in the second phase of the
campaign. Macron will also need to ensure his party finds strong grassroots
support to keep control of a parliamentary majority in the legislative elections
in June and avoid any awkward "cohabitation" with a premier who does not share
his political views.
- Bitter pill for Le Pen -
High on his to-do-list is pension reform including a raising of the French
retirement age which Macron has argued is essential for the budget but is likely
to run into strong opposition and protests. He will also have to rapidly return
from the campaign trail to dealing with the Russian onslaught against Ukraine,
with pressure on France to step up supplies of weapons to Kyiv and signs
President Vladimir Putin is losing interest in any diplomacy. For Le Pen, her
third defeat in presidential polls will be a bitter pill to swallow after she
ploughed years of effort into making herself electable and distancing her party
from the legacy of its founder, her father Jean-Marie Le Pen. Critics insisted
her party never stopped being extreme-right and racist while Macron repeatedly
pointed to her plan to ban the wearing of the Muslim headscarf in public if
elected. When Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the second round in 2002, the result
stunned France and he won less than 18 percent in the subsequent run-off against
Chirac.
Zelenskyy meets Blinken, Austin in Kyiv: Ukraine
presidency
AFP/25 April ,2022
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Kyiv, his office said Sunday.
Presidential aide Oleksiy Arestovych, speaking during an interview on YouTube
earlier Sunday, confirmed that the meeting was ongoing. “Talking to the
president. Maybe they can help.” he added. This was the first meeting between
Zelenskyy and US officials since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on
February 24. Arestovych repeated Ukraine's appeal for offensive weapons,
“because as long as there are no 'offensives', there will be a new Bucha every
day”, he added, referring to the town where UN officials said they had
documented the unlawful killings of around 50 civilians. Referring to the
visiting US officials, Arestovych said: “They wouldn't come here if they weren't
ready to give (weapons).”On Saturday, Zelenskyy said that he was grateful for
the help Washington had provided to Ukraine thus far, even if he wanted heavier,
more powerful weapons to use against the Russian forces. During his YouTube
interview, Arestovych said in the Black Sea port of Mariupol, where the
remaining Ukrainian forces are surrounded, the defence was “on the brink of
collapse”.
Ukraine's military says Russian forces are trying to storm
Azovstal plant
Reuters/24 April ,2022
Russian forces attempted to storm the Ukrainian-held Azovstal steel plant in the
besieged southeastern city of Mariupol on Sunday, Ukrainian officials said,
despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's comments last week that the complex
did not need to be taken. Ukraine's armed forces command wrote on Facebook that
Russian forces were firing and performing “offensive operations” in the Azovstal
area, as well as conducting air strikes on civilian infrastructure. Serhiy
Volyna, commander of Ukraine's 36th Marine brigade forces in Mariupol, said in
an interview with an opposition lawmaker that was shown on YouTube on Sunday
that Russia was hitting the complex with air and artillery bombardments. “We are
taking casualties, the situation is critical... we have very many wounded men,
(some) are dying, it's a difficult (situation) with guns, ammunition, food,
medicines... the situation is rapidly worsening,” Volyna said, speaking from his
location at the plant. Konstantin Ivaschenko, the official who has been
designated mayor of Mariupol by Russia but not recognised as such by Ukraine,
denied that any fighting was taking place in the city in comments reported by
Russian news outlet TASS on Sunday.
Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian or Russian the accounts.
The Azovstal steel factory is the main remaining Ukrainian stronghold in
Mariupol, a city that has seen sustained bombardment since the start of the
Russian invasion on Feb. 24. Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian presidential adviser
Oleksiy Arestovych wrote on Facebook that “Russian troops are trying to finish
off the defenders of Azovstal and more than 1,000 civilians who are hiding at
the plant”. Russia has denied targeting civilians in what it calls a “special
military operation” to demilitarise and “denazify” Ukraine. Later on Sunday,
Arestovych said in a video address released by the president's office that
Ukraine was offering Russia a “special” round of negotiations to be held in
Mariupol to discuss the fate of the civilians and Ukrainian troops still trapped
in the city.The negotiations would be intended to establish an immediate
ceasefire in Mariupol, “multi-day” humanitarian corridors, and the freeing or
swapping of Ukrainian fighters trapped in the Azovstal plant, Arestovych said.
Russian troops surrounded the Azovstal plant in early March and have gradually
taken control of most of the city. Last Thursday, Putin declared that Mariupol
had been “liberated” and publicly told his defence minister to call off the
storming of the Azovstal plant so as to save the lives of Russian soldiers.
Putin said the plant should be “blocked off” instead.
Zelenskyy threatens to quit talks if Russia holds
‘pseudo-referendums’
Agencies/24 April ,2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Kyiv would quit
talks with Moscow if Russia destroys Ukraine’s people in the city of Mariupol
and holds “pseudo-referendums” to create “pseudo-republics” in Russian-occupied
areas. The Ukrainian president was speaking at a news conference in Kyiv.“If our
men are killed in Mariupol and if these pseudo-referendums are organized in the
[southern] region of Kherson, then Ukraine will withdraw from any negotiation
process,” he said. He was ready to exchange Ukraine’s soldiers defending the
city “in whatever format” to save “these people who find themselves in a
horrible situation, surrounded.”He said the “last contact” with the Mariupol
soldiers had been an hour ago, adding “today is one of the hardest days” since
the start of the Russian siege of the city at the beginning of March.
Ukraine leader pushes for more arms; US officials to
visit
AP/April 24, 2022
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pressed the West for more powerful
weapons as he prepared to meet with top US officials in the war-torn country’s
capital Sunday, while Russian forces concentrated their attacks on the east,
including trying to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port of
Mariupol. Zelensky announced the planned visit by US Secretary of State Antony
Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a news conference Saturday
night in a Kyiv subway station. The White House has not commented. Zelensky said
he was looking for the Americans to produce results, both in arms and security
guarantees. “You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not
just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and
specific weapons,” he said. The visit would be the first by senior US officials
since Russia invaded Ukraine 60 days ago. Blinken stepped briefly onto Ukrainian
soil in March to meet with the country’s foreign minister during a visit to
Poland. Zelensky’s last face-to-face meeting with a US leader was Feb. 19 in
Munich with Vice President Kamala Harris. While the West has funneled military
equipment to Ukraine, Zelensky has stressed repeatedly that the country needs
more heavy weapons, including long-range air defense systems, as well as
warplanes. His meeting with Austin and Blinken was set to take place as
Ukrainians and Russians observed Orthodox Easter, when the faithful celebrate
the resurrection of Jesus. Speaking from Kyiv’s ancient St. Sophia Cathedral,
Zelensky, who is Jewish, highlighted the significance of the occasion to a
nation wracked by nearly two months of war. “The great holiday today gives us
great hope and unwavering faith that light will overcome darkness, good will
overcome evil, life will overcome death, and therefore Ukraine will surely win!”
he said. Still, the war cast a shadow over celebrations. In the northern village
of Ivanivka, where Russian tanks still littered the roads, Olena Koptyl said
“the Easter holiday doesn’t bring any joy. I’m crying a lot. We cannot forget
how we lived.”
Victor Lobush of Kyiv said Ukraine needs more weapons and financial support, and
for Western nations “not to buy even a drop of the Russian oil.”
“Actions, not words, are needed,” he said on Independence Square.
The Russian military reported hitting 423 Ukrainian targets overnight, including
fortified positions and troop concentrations, while its warplanes destroyed 26
Ukrainian military sites, including an explosives factory and several artillery
depots. Most of Sunday’s fighting focused on the Donbas in the east, where
Ukrainian forces are concentrated and where Moscow-backed separatists controlled
some territory before the war. Since failing to capture Kyiv, the Russians are
aiming to gain full control over the eastern industrial heartland. Ukraine’s
national police said two girls, aged 5 and 14, died in shelling in the town of
Ocheretyne, part of the industrial region. Russian forces launched fresh
airstrikes on a Mariupol steel plant where an estimated 1,000 civilians are
sheltering along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters. The Azovstal steel mill
where the defenders are holed up is the last corner of resistance in the city,
which the Russians have otherwise occupied. Zelensky said he stressed the need
to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, including from the steel plant, in a Sunday
call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is scheduled to speak
later with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Guterres is scheduled to travel to Turkey
on Monday and then Moscow and Kyiv. Zelensky it was a mistake for Guterres to
visit Russia before Ukraine.
“Why? To hand over signals from Russia? What should we look for?” Zelensky said
Saturday. “There are no corpses scattered on the Kutuzovsky Prospect,” he said,
referring to one of Moscow’s main avenues.
Mariupol has seen fierce fighting since the start of the war due to its location
on the Sea of Azov. Its capture would deprive Ukraine of a vital port, free up
Russian troops to fight elsewhere, and allow Moscow to establish a land corridor
to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
More than 100,000 people — down from a prewar population of about 430,000 — are
believed to remain in Mariupol with scant food, water or heat. Ukrainian
authorities estimate that over 20,000 civilians have been killed. Recent
satellite images showed what appeared to be mass graves dug in towns to the west
and east of Mariupol.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser, called for a localized
Easter truce. He urged Russia to allow civilians to leave the steel plant and
suggested talks to negotiate an exit for the Ukrainian soldiers.
Podolyak tweeted that the Russian military was attacking the plant with heavy
bombs and artillery while accumulating forces and equipment for a direct
assault.
During his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky accused Russians of
committing war crimes by killing civilians, as well as of setting up “filtration
camps” near Mariupol for people caught trying to leave the city.
From there, he said, Ukrainians are sent to areas under Russian occupation or to
Russia itself, often as far as Siberia or the Far East. Many of them, he said,
are children. The claims could not be independently verified. But they were
repeated by Yevheniya Kravchuk, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, on ABC’s “This
Week.”
“They have pulled these people from Mariupol — they are put to filtration camps
... it’s sort of something that can’t be happening in the 21st century,”
Kravchuk said.
Zelensky claimed that intercepted communications recorded Russian troops
discussing “how they conceal the traces of their crimes” in Mariupol. He also
highlighted the death of a 3-month old girl in a Russian missile strike Saturday
on the Black Sea port of Odesa.
In attacks on the eve of Orthodox Easter, Russian forces pounded cities and
towns in southern and eastern Ukraine. The baby was among eight people killed
when Russia fired cruise missiles at Odesa, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN, citing social media posts, reported that the
infant’s mother, Valeria Glodan, and grandmother also died when a missile hit a
residential area. Zelensky promised to find and punish those responsible.
“The war started when this baby was 1 month old,” Zelensky said. Can you imagine
what is happening? They are filthy scum, there are no other words for it.”
For the Donbas offensive, Russia has reassembled troops who fought around Kyiv
and in northern Ukraine. The British Ministry of Defense said Ukrainian forces
had repelled numerous assaults in the past week and “inflicted significant cost
on Russian forces.”“Poor Russian morale and limited time to reconstitute,
re-equip and reorganize forces from prior offensives are likely hindering
Russian combat effectiveness,” the ministry said in an intelligence update.The
spiritual leaders of the world’s Orthodox Christians and Roman Catholics
appealed for relief for Ukraine’s suffering population.
From Istanbul, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said a “human tragedy” was
unfolding. Bartholomew, considered the first among his Eastern Orthodox
patriarch equals, cited in particular “the thousands of people surrounded in
Mariupol, civilians, among them the wounded, the elderly, women and many
children.”Pope Francis, speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter’s Square,
renewed his call for an Easter truce, calling it “a minimal and tangible sign of
a desire for peace.”
“The attacks must be stopped, to respond to the suffering of the exhausted
population,” Francis said without naming the aggressor.
Russia's standing in G-20 not threatened by Ukraine invasion
Associated Press/April 24, 2022
The last time Russia invaded Ukraine, in 2014, outraged world leaders booted
Russia out of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, which quickly rebranded
itself the Group of Seven. Eight years later, the G-7 is still holding at seven
— a collection of countries that meet to talk through big issues like trade,
economics and security. This past week, as global leaders gathered in Washington
for spring meetings involving officials from the International Monetary Fund,
World Bank, G-7 and the larger Group of 20, it quickly became apparent that
despite Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine, its membership in the G-20 remains
firmly intact. While Russia has been rendered a pariah country by Western
states, it will remain part of the G-20 and associated organizations unless
member countries achieve a consensus that it should go. That appears less and
less likely, as several countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa,
have made clear they will support Russia's membership in the G-20, which
represents industrial and emerging-market countries. Why would Russia want to
stick around when its presence in the group is clearly unwelcome to many? It has
much to gain from disrupting events and sowing general discord between countries
in the forums. A glimpse of this was seen this past week when Russia blocked the
IMF's key advisory committee from issuing a communique condemning its invasion
of Ukraine. Faced with the questions over what to do about Russia's membership
in the organization, various world finance leaders at the meetings alternately
squirmed, dodged, walked out in protest or stayed put. IMF Managing Director
Kristalina Georgieva, when asked about the prospect of kicking Russia out of the
G-20, avoided calling for its ouster. "There are clearly very, very unsettling
facts we have to deal with,'' she said of Russia's aggression. But then she
pivoted to focusing on the "need for cooperation" to solve big world problems.
"Make a list of questions that no country can solve on its own," she said, "and
it's obvious that cooperation must continue.''
Nadia Calvino, Spain's economy minister and chair of the IMF advisory committee,
lamented that the meeting had "obviously not been business as usual." "Russia's
war against Ukraine has made it impossible to come to a consensus on a
communique," she said, adding that the committee "has traditionally worked on
the basis of consensus, so when one member breaks away, we cannot reach the
agreement that the overwhelming majority of us would have wanted.''The World
Bank said it stopped all of its programs in Russia and allied Belarus after the
invasion in late February and has not approved any new investments in Russia
since 2014 or in Belarus since mid-2020. The IMF said it hasn't loaned money to
Russia in decades and supports no programs there.The dispute at the IMF meeting
highlighted the problems that government leaders are likely to face in Indonesia
in November, when G-20 leaders are set to gather in Bali. President Joe Biden
has called for Russia to be kicked out of the group, but the U.S. has not said
whether Biden would boycott the gathering if Russia participates.
The G-20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China,
France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. Spain is invited as a
permanent guest. The U.S. and Canada have been the biggest critics of Russia's
membership. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Canadian Finance Minister
Chrystia Freeland were among a number of officials who walked out of a Group of
20 meeting Wednesday when Russia's representative started talking. Freeland
later tweeted: "This week's meetings in Washington are about supporting the
world economy — and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine is a grave threat to
the global economy. Russia should not be participating or included in these
meetings." But several countries, including China, Brazil and South Africa, have
been vocal about rejecting measures to remove Russia. They've argued that
engagement is more important than isolation in troubled times."To expel Russia
would only isolate it and make it more difficult to achieve constructive
engagement,' said Clayson Monyela, a spokesman for South Africa's Department of
International Relations and Cooperation. "South Africa believes it is more
useful to keep Russia in and to engage with it to find the lasting peace that we
are all yearning for."South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has blamed NATO
for the war in Ukraine. Brazilian Foreign Minister Carlos França told a news
conference in Brasilia that excluding Russia "doesn't help us find a solution to
the immediate problem that we have," which is the need to cease hostilities and
have Russia and Ukraine negotiate a lasting peace. Stewart Patrick, director of
the International Institutions and Global Governance Program at the Council on
Foreign Relations, said boycotting the G-20 would be a mistake on the part of
the U.S. Rather, he said, "the U.S. should take every opportunity to hammer the
Russians and others should take every opportunity to hammer the Russians,"
during the meetings later this year. "Boycotting is not sustainable," he said.
"There should be efforts to try to shame Russia. It would be a mistake for the
U.S. to take its ball and go elsewhere, because we would leave a hole in the
G-20 to be controlled by China." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang
Wenbin said last month Russia remains an "important member" of the G-20 and no
member has the right to expel another. The G-20 should "practice genuine
multilateralism, strengthen solidarity and cooperation, and work together to
address outstanding challenges in the areas of economics, finance and
sustainable development," Wang said. Adam Lipsky, senior director of the
Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center, said Russia has the most to gain from
the discord that comes from the U.S. calling for its removal. "By showing up
they're potentially derailing the whole G-20," he said of the Russians. "That's
giving them more control than they should have. If the U.S. boycotts, then the
G-20 falls apart and that's to Russia's benefit."
Oil facility damaged in Dbeibah militia clashes amid
widening chaos
AFP/The Arab Weekly/April 24/2022
Clashes between government-allied militias in western Libya caused damage to a
sprawling oil facility, the state-run oil company said Saturday, the latest blow
to the energy sector in the chaos-stricken Mediterranean nation.
The fighting erupted Friday in the coastal town of Zawiya between two rival
militias allied with the government of Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, which
is based in the capital of Tripoli. The National Oil Corp. said the fighting
damaged at least 29 sites, including storage tanks, at the Zawiya refinery
complex. It said an assessment was continuing to determine the extent of the
damage. The refinery is a major source of domestic fuel raising fears of an
energy crisis amid the heat of the summer. The National Commission for Human
Rights, a local group, condemned the clashes, which pitted the so-called
Stability Support Authority against the self-styled Criminal Investigation
Department in Zawiya. It was not clear what caused the clashes. It cast doubt on
the ability of Dbeibah to control the vast array of militias that he has enticed
to support his hold on power amid a power struggle with the parliament appointed
government of Fathi Bashagha. Dbeibah vowed to hold these responsible for the
clashes accountable without naming the two involved militias. The rival
administration, led by Bashagha, voiced concern and called on armed groups to
stop fighting which left an unknown number of people dead. Tensions have soared
in Libya, especially in the western region, since the east-based parliament
appointed Bashagha in February to lead a transitional government after the
country failed to hold elections last year. Occasional fighting between militias
also occurred in the capital.
Bashagha has been unable to enter the capital as Dbeibah remained defiant
against efforts to replace his government, insisting that he will hand over
power only to an elected government. Tribal leaders and protesters in the
southern region also shut down oil facilities, including Libya’s largest oil
field, demanding Dbeibah step down. The region is controlled by forces of
east-based Libyan National Army (LNA) commander Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar.
The blockade came as oil prices skyrocketed since Russia’s war on Ukraine. Brent
crude, the international pricing standard, traded at more than $106 per barrel
Friday.
The developments have raised fears that the country could return to civil war
amid the ongoing standoff between the two rival governments. The oil-rich North
African country has been wrecked by conflict since the NATO-backed uprising
toppled and killed longtime ruler Muammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country has
fragmented for years between rival administrations in the east and west, each
backed by armed groups and foreign governments.
Houthi exfiltration suspicions block Sana'a commercial flight
AFP/The Arab Weekly/April 24/2022
SANA’A, Yemen-
The first commercial flight out of Yemen's rebel-held capital in six years was
indefinitely postponed, on Sunday, over suspicions the Iran-backed Houthi rebels
were trying to exfiltrate members of Tehran's Revolutionary Guards and Lebanese
militant group Hezbollah onto the flight.Yemen's Information Minister Moammar
al-Eryani said the Houthis were responsible for the flight being scrapped,
Yemen's official Saba news agency reported. Eryani accused the Houthis of trying
to take advantage of the flights to "smuggle" members of Lebanese militant group
Hezbollah and Iran's Revolutionary Guards onto the plane using "fake names and
forged documents." While the government had approved 104 passengers, the Houthis
"refused" and insisted on adding 60 more "passengers with unreliable passports",
he added. The flight "faltered due to the Houthi terrorist militia's
non-compliance with the agreement stipulating the approval of passports issued
by the legitimate government," Eryani said. In Houthi-controlled Sana’a, the
deputy head of civil aviation Raed Talib Jabal said the coalition's refusal to
permit Sunday's flight was "a violation of the truce" that began earlier this
month. The capital's airport was due to receive the commercial aircraft Sunday
morning, reviving hopes that the war-torn country could resume some normal
operations. A brutal seven-year conflict pitting Yemen's Saudi-backed government
against Iran-backed Houthi rebels has killed hundreds of thousands of people and
pushed the country to the brink of famine. The plane, operated by national
carrier Yemenia, was due to take off from the government-controlled southern
port city of Aden, stop off in Sana’a, and take passengers in need of medical
treatment to Jordan's capital Amman. The flight was set up as part of a
two-month truce that went into effect in early April. But hours before the
flight, the airline said "it has not yet received operating permits". It
expressed "deep regret to the travellers for not being allowed to operate" the
long-awaited flight. Yemenia added that it hoped "all problems will be overcome
in the near future", without specifying a date.
Temporary setback? Iran and Hezbollah are accused of smuggling weapons to the
rebels and sending operatives to Yemen to train them to use drones and ballistic
missiles against the government and against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates, another member of the coalition. The flight postponement was a setback
for a truce deal that has provided a rare respite from violence in much of the
country and has also seen fuel tankers begin arriving at the port of Hodeida,
potentially easing fuel shortages in Sana’a and elsewhere. Analysts still
expressed hope it is a temporary glitch in an otherwise uneventful process. The
airport in Houthi-controlled Sana’a has been closed to commercial traffic since
August 2016 when airstrikes disrupted service to the city. Aid flights continue
to land in Sana’a, although service has periodically halted. The pause of
commercial flights has prevented "thousands of sick Yemeni civilians from
seeking urgent medical treatment outside the country," humanitarian groups CARE
and the Norwegian Refugee Council said last August. They also cited "economic
losses estimated to be in the billions."Daily flights out of Aden, as well as
the eastern city of Seiyun, fly both domestically and to other countries in the
region.
Canada/Statement on International Day of Multilateralism
and Diplomacy for Peace
April 24, 2022 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs
Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the
following statement:
“Multilateralism and diplomacy are essential to peace in our world. Over
decades, Canada and its global partners have painstakingly built a global
security system based on just a few key principles: the territorial integrity
and sovereignty of states, the peaceful resolution of disputes and the
protection of human rights. Diplomacy is the glue that holds this remarkable
system together.
“This system is now being put to the test. Russia’s attack on Ukraine is more
than a direct threat to the lives, rights and freedoms of Ukrainians, it is a
threat to the sovereign equality of all states and to the rules and institutions
that facilitate global peace and security.
“In response, we must not only directly help Ukraine, we must ensure that our
multilateral institutions are able to support justice and advance peace in our
world. Russia’s invasion cannot succeed.
“The resounding condemnation of the Russian invasion at the UN General Assembly
in March 2022 and the subsequent suspension of Russia from the UN Human Rights
Council shows the world’s desire to choose peace over aggression. President
Putin stands increasingly isolated.
“Our message to those who choose force must be clear: diplomacy remains the only
way to resolve disputes peacefully. Let that be our message on this and every
day, as we continuously strive to make our multilateral institutions and
diplomatic efforts more relevant and effective.”
The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 24-25/2022
The Persecution of Christians In March 2022, This Is Not
the Country We Were Enjoying Before/جردة بحوادث اضطهاد المسيحيين في العالم خلال
شهر آذار/2022..هذه ليست البلاد التي كنا نتمتع برغد العيش فيها
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatstone Institute/April 24/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/108166/raymond-ibrahim-gatstone-institute-the-persecution-of-christians-in-march-2022-this-is-not-the-country-we-were-enjoying-before-%d8%ac%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%a8%d8%ad%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%ab-%d8%a7/
”For the entirety of March 8, social media comment columns were awash with
people who, as always, condoned the murder…. Old pictures of Maria were passed
around, in which she was still wearing a hijab, and people commented, ‘see, this
is what happens when you leave your faith,’…. Lies and slander were spread about
her, and men and women threw themselves into a contest to see who could blame
her most for her murder.” — medyanews.net, March 10, 2022 – Iraq.
”[M]y father went inside the room and picked up a bottle of acid and began
spraying it on us while the group started shouting, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the
greatest], you deserve death'”… The following day, while all three family
members were still hspitalized, Muslim relatives set their home ablaze. —
Morning Star News, March 22, 2022 – Uganda.
A few days after a Christian man and a Muslim woman got married—and photos of
their wedding in a Catholic church went viral—…the Indonesian Ulema Council the
nation’s leading Islamic clerical body, declared that “the marriage of this
couple is invalid and cannot be allowed.” According to Islamic law, or sharia,
interfaith marriages are permissible only when the man (seen as the head of the
woman and future children) is Muslim. The married couple responded by ignoring
the clerics. — Union of Catholic Asian News, March 9, 2022 – Indonesia.
“Egyptian authorities have failed not only to protect Coptic Christians from
repeated sectarian attacks against their communities, but also to bring those
responsible for such violence to justice.” — Philip Luther, Amnesty
International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director,
Amnesty.org, March
The following are among the abuses Muslims inflicted on Christians throughout
the month of March, 2022:
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Iraq: Family members murdered Eman Sami Maghdid, 20, known as “Maria.” Her
“crime” was having embraced Christianity and abandoning the marriage she had
been forced into at the age of 12. Her 18-year-old brother and perhaps uncle
responded by slaughtering her on Sunday, March 6. Her body “tied with a tape,
thrown at the side of the road, with many stab wounds,” was found later,
according to a local source:
“[S]he was punished by her family for leaving Islam, specifically for being
emancipated and embracing the Christian religion; in short, she was ‘guilty’ of
apostasy…. The young woman was well known for her activism, her struggle for
women’s rights, which—together with her conversion to Christianity—led her to be
condemned by her family….
News of her murder surfaced on International Women’s Day, March 8. Rather than
highlight the incident as evidence that much still needs to be done for women’s
rights, support for the murderers — and abuse for their victim — was evident
throughout Iraq:
“[O]n the evening of March 8th, a radio interview was aired by what is one of
the largest broadcasters, K24, where Maria’s brother and murderer was able to
explain the motives of his cold-blooded murder for almost 15 minutes uncensored
and without criticism—while he was still on the run…
For the entirety of March 8, social media comment columns were awash with people
who, as always, condoned the murder. Old pictures of Maria were passed around,
in which she was still wearing a hijab, and people commented, ‘see, this is what
happens when you leave your faith,’ as many speculated that Maria converted to
Christianity. Lies and slander were spread about her, and men and women threw
themselves into a contest to see who could blame her most for her murder. By
March 9, the brother was found in Kirkuk and detained, but until then, a large
part of the Kurdish public managed to assassinate Marias’s character post
mortem.”
Uganda: Muslims publicly beat a Christian preacher to death before setting his
body on fire. According to a March 8 report,
“John Michael Okero was quoting verses from the Koran about Christ [during an
open-air evangelistic meeting] … when a Muslim identified only as Shakuuru
grabbed the microphone from him. He and other Muslims started beating Okero as
they accused him of blaspheming Allah by saying that he has a Son,
misinterpreting the Koran, touching the Koran without ritual cleansing and
disrespecting it by placing it under the Bible… They beat him to death with iron
bars, stones and sticks and later burned his body to a chant in the Ateso
language referring to a thief who steals people from one religion to join a bad
religion, the source said. Okero was 43.”
Egypt: On March 1, six Muslim men killed and mutilated three Christian men (two
brothers and one of their sons). The Christians were working on their field when
the Muslims unexpectedly attacked and killed them, before proceeding to carve
their bodies with knives while reportedly singing and dancing. It was later
portrayed as a “revenge” killing for the killing of a Muslim ancestor that
occurred seventy years ago—decades before the eldest of the slain Christians was
even born. According to lawyer Romani Michel,
“This heinous crime cannot be an act of revenge, because the method of killing
involves the element of mutilating corpses, which does not happen in typical
revenge crimes. Rather, the method shows that it was committed in the same way
as ISIS, and therefore the security and prosecution must verify the truth of the
motives behind the crime, which has the smell of murder on religious identity.”
Other factors—”the village of the perpetrators turned into celebrations with
drums and flutes to celebrate the killing,” even as the triumphant murderers
chanted “Allahu Akbar”— further suggest that religious hostility played at least
some role in the gruesome slaying.
Separately, also in Egypt, a Muslim man stabbed a Christian man seven times with
a knife, after the Christian tried to save his son from their neighbor, a
Muslim, who was holding the teenager against his will. Earlier in the day, the
man, Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, had asked Thomas, his 17-year-old Christian neighbor,
to bring him medicine because he was ill. When the youth entered Mahmoud’s
premises, the Muslim lunged at him and tried to stab him. Thomas managed to
escape to Mahmoud’s balcony, where he locked himself in. From there, the
teenager’s father, Magdy Fathy Shehata, heard Thomas’s cries for help, and
rushed to his Muslim neighbor’s home. On entering, Mahmoud ambushed and began to
stab him, while calling the Christian and his son infidels (kuffar), and crying
“Allahu Akbar!” Magdy was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Quoting a
local source, the March 24 report says that Mahmoud had long targeted Christian
“infidels,” including by playing “Koran recitations through loudspeakers” and
“mistreating and insulting Christians.”
Germany: A Muslim migrant from Somalia living in a homeless shelter stabbed to
death and beheaded a fellow resident, in part due to his Christian background.
During his trial, defense lawyers argued that the accused suffered from mental
problems:
“Two therapists reported several conversations with the accused. He had told
different versions of the crime… The accused had told of voices in his head and
of statues standing behind him and staring at him. He was also afraid that the
Christian faith [of his victim] would be inserted to him like a hard drive.”
Democratic Republic of Congo: In a raid that began on Sunday, March 13 and
continued into the next day, members of the Allied Democratic Forces, an Islamic
terror organization pledged to the Islamic State, butchered 52 people in the
predominantly Christian nation.
Nigeria: Some of the accounts of terrorization and slaughter that Christians
experienced in the month of March include:
On Sunday, March 20, an Islamic goup of more than 100 Fulani terrorists invaded
a Christian village where they slaughtered 32 Christians and torched 200 homes.
Many local residents were interviewed during the aftermath. “My mum’s family
houses were all razed down, and one of my cousins was burnt to death in their
house,” a resident, Violet Peter, said. “We haven’t been able to reach some of
our [other] relatives. Lord please, this is too much for us.” Flora Kundi,
another local, expressed similar sentiments: “This is too much for us, my
colleague has been killed.” “I’ve never experienced what I did last night,”
another area resident, Favour Gimbiya, said. “We could hear the gunshots very
close to us. This is not the country we were enjoying before. Our children can’t
go to school today; we don’t know our fate anymore.” “Is this a war declared
against Christians?” was all that Florence Tachio, another local, could say.
On March 3, Islamic terrorists slaughtered three Christians and abducted four
others. “I have always heard of kidnapping but never knew it would come right at
my doorstep,” a survivor said. “I am now a victim as my Dad, Funom Bage, 57, and
elder brother, James Bage, 30, were killed right in our house.”
On March 8, Muslim terrorists killed a church security guard during their
abduction of the Rev. Joseph Akeke of St. John’s Catholic Church. Another man
was killed in the Christian majority region as the murderers shot sporadically
while making their getaway. A woman and two children were also kidnapped. In a
different region, a young female Christian student at the University of Jos was
also abducted the same day.
Between March 26 and 27, Muslim Fulani raided six villages and abducted 45
Christians, one of whom was a priest, the Rev. Leo Raphael Ozigi of Mary’s
Catholic Church. “Activities of Fulani herdsmen and terrorist elements here in
Niger state have placed so much pressure on Christians, as entire Christian
communities … are in disarray,” another pastor said in response.
On March 17, Muslim Fulani herdsmen kidnapped 46 Christians, including many
children, during a raid in Kaduna state. “The herdsmen terrorists invaded our
village, while the Christian villagers were sleeping,” an area resident said.
“They trooped into our village in large numbers and began shooting
indiscriminately at anyone on sight…. Please be in prayer for these Christians
being held captive in an unknown location at the moment.”
Muslim Attacks on Apostates and Blasphemers
Uganda: Muslim relatives of a family consisting of a husband (38), wife (32),
and daughter (13) who had recently converted to Christianity sprayed them with
acid. Two weeks earlier, Muslims learned that the family had embraced Christ,
and on March 8, called them together. “During the meeting,” said Juma Waiswa,
the father, “we were asked about our salvation, and we affirmed to them that we
had believed in Jesus and converted to Christianity. They told us to renounce
Jesus, but we stood by the newly founded faith in Jesus.”
“When we refused to recant our faith in Jesus, my father, Arajabu, recited some
koranic verses, and after that they forcefully started beating us with sticks as
prescribed in the Koran, claiming that we were apostates. As this was not
enough, my father went inside the room and picked up a bottle of acid and began
spraying it on us while the group started shouting, ‘Allah Akbar [Allah is the
greatest], you deserve death,’ and then disowned us… [A]s we were fleeing for
our lives, we started feeling some serious itching that continued till the pain
intensified. A nearby Christian neighbor called the pastor, who arrived
immediately and took us to hospital in Mbale, but our daughter was seriously
affected and was referred to a hospital in Jinja.”
The following day, while all three family members were still hospitalized,
Muslim relatives set their home ablaze. Last reported, the “three are still
undergoing hospital treatment.”
Separately, also in Uganda, Muslims beat a former mosque leader for converting
to Christianity. Soon after Swaleh Mulongo stopped appearing at the mosque, the
new mosque leader, on learning of his defection from Islam, organized a manhunt.
They eventually located the church he attends and, on March 13, intercepted him.
According to Mulongo,
“It was around 8 a.m. when four Muslims stopped me and began asking me so many
questions regarding Christianity, but I did not respond. Then the men started
beating me up with blows and sticks, but thank God when they saw some people
approaching, they fled away.”
With deep and serious wounds to his head and back, and a broken wrist, he was
rushed to a hospital. Not content, his assailants continued until they had
located the home of the pastor who had led Mulongo to Christ and slaughtered his
goats and chickens. They also left a letter:
“We know you are a deceiver, and that you converted our imam to Christianity. We
shall soon get hold of you, which will be a big regret to your family and the
entire church.”
Pakistan: On March 16, authorities arrested, beat, and tortured a Christian man,
Fansan Shahid, 54, into confessing that he had made “blasphemous” remarks about
Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, on Facebook. Before the torture he had rejected
the accusation. Officials raided his home shortly after midnight, before hauling
him away to extract a confession. According to his wife, Safia:
“When my husband opened the gate, over a dozen policemen rushed inside and
started beating him up. My two children and I screamed and cried as they
tortured Shahid and searched the rooms.”
The arrest came soon after an Islamic cleric had registered a complaint against
Shahid. The blasphemous remarks he allegedly made were posted by a cell phone he
had lost back in 2019, his wife said:
“We believe that the lost phone was misused by someone to post the blasphemous
comment, because my husband did not use a passcode for its security, and his
Facebook account was also logged in.”
A legal representative remarked:
“Shahid has been charged under Sections 295-C, which calls for a mandatory death
sentence for blaspheming Muhammad, and 295-A, which mandates up to 10 years in
prison for ‘deliberate and malicious acts intended to outreach religious
feelings.'”
Because virtually every Christian in Pakistan is cognizant of these blasphemy
related penalties, Shahid “would never post such comments as he was fully aware
of the consequences,” his wife said, and often reminded their children “to
refrain from discussing religion with Muslims.”
A separate report that appeared on March 15, a day before Shahid’s arrest, seems
to confirm his wife’s claims. In an attempt to forestall discrimination and
persecution against them, not only are Christian families careful not to offend
Muslims, but they are going as far as to deny their Christian identities and
pretend to be Muslims. One young Christian boy interviewed said that, while he
is proud of being a Christian, “because of my faith, I often face challenges.”
Although he used to wear a cross necklace, he has since stopped wearing it as it
had exposed him for abuse. According to another interviewed Christian woman aged
40,
“I changed my name because I faced discrimination by the instructors of
Islamiyat classes in school. I have started to wear a hijab so people can’t find
out more about me. My life has become much easier.”
The experiences of her husband, the only Christian worker at a cement factory,
confirmed her decision: “I was always discriminated against because of my
faith,” he said, “and some of the Muslim employees used to harass me and make
slogans to tease me. I resigned from the job in 2012.” He too now dresses like a
Muslim. The couple have given their three children Muslim names and instructed
them never to talk about religion. “My mother suggested I cover myself in school
and college like other Muslim girls,” another young Christian girl that was
interviewed said.
“Since then my life has been free of discrimination and harassment, as no one in
my class knows I am a Christian. I take Islamic Studies classes with them and
pretend to be a Muslim.”
Muslim Attacks on Christian Churches
Pakistan: A Muslim man named Muhammed Bilal Saleem climbed atop a large cross on
church property, wrapped himself around the cross and started swinging his body
violently in an attempt to bring it down—all while chanting Koran verses,
shouting “Allahu Akbar,” and generally threatening Christians (video here). Two
other Muslim men accompanying him insulted local Christian men while ogling and
making crude sexual gestures to Christian girls. According to the March 19
report, Muhammad was so “intent to tip the cross over,” and “in such a religious
frenzy” that “he was risking his life to do so.” Not only did his attempt
fail—the cross did not come down—but he hurt himself while jumping to the
ground. In response,
“Church members and other Christian people rushed to his rescue and, in a
country known for its religious fundamentalism, they showed a real example of
love. Instead of beating the man or lynching him, which many Muslims would do
for much lighter religious offence[s], the Christian community placed the man on
a charpai [bed] and brought him water.”
Sudan: Angry Muslims, evidently upset by the presence of a church, locked it up
and shut it down. In response, authorities arrested and questioned the church’s
leaders. One evangelist of the Sudanese Church of Christ, Dalman Hassan, after
his release, said that “the Muslims accused church members of hostility toward
Islam by holding gatherings on Fridays, the Muslim day of mosque prayer.” Or, in
the words of one of the charges brought to officials, “They [Christians meeting
in church] cause chaos and disrespect others’ religion.” Another church member
said that “hardline Muslims also charged the church with providing food to
[Muslim] children to win them to Christianity…”
Egypt: On March 30, Amnesty International issued a report calling on Egyptian
authorities to “immediately release nine Coptic Christians who were arbitrarily
detained after peacefully protesting against the authorities’ refusal to rebuild
a church that had burned down over five years ago…” Discussing that incident,
Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and
Advocacy Director, elaborated:
“The Egyptian authorities have for years ignored calls to rebuild the church,
leaving around 800 Coptic Christians without a place to worship in their
village. Now, in their shameful efforts to silence these calls, they are
arbitrarily detaining villagers, criminalizing peaceful protests, and slapping
ludicrous charges on those who dare to speak out…. Coptic Christians in Egypt
should be afforded the right to collectively practise their religion. For too
long, their religious freedom has been undermined by discriminatory laws and
practices, which place undue restrictions on the construction and renovation of
churches and grant unbridled power to governors and security forces to make
decisions over church repairs…. The right to freedom of religion should never be
restricted on discriminatory grounds, including people’s faith, economic status
or location. The Egyptian authorities must immediately repeal the country’s
discriminatory church law and replace it with one that ensures the right to
freedom of religion for all without imposing additional conditions and barriers
on religious minorities…. Egyptian authorities have failed not only to protect
Coptic Christians from repeated sectarian attacks against their communities, but
also to bring those responsible for such violence to justice.”
Generic Discrimination against Christians
Egypt: In an attempt to demonstrate Egypt’s advancement concerning women, the
nation’s discriminatory views on non-Muslims were equally displayed. On March 3,
98 female judges took the legal oath in preparation for assuming judicial roles
in Egypt’s State Council. This is considered a major and unprecedented
development; since its inception 75 years earlier, not a single woman had sat on
the podium of the State Council court—and now 98 will. And yet, not one of them
is a Christian—despite the fact that Christian Copts, Egypt’s most native
inhabitants, account for more than ten percent of the nation’s population,
suggesting that 10 of the 98 should have, for proper representation, been
Christians.
Indonesia: A few days after a Christian man and a Muslim woman got married—and
photos of their wedding in a Catholic church went viral—on March 9, the
Indonesian Ulema Council the nation’s leading Islamic clerical body, declared
that “the marriage of this couple is invalid and cannot be allowed.” According
to Islamic law, or sharia, interfaith marriages are permissible only when the
man (seen as the head of the woman and future children) is Muslim. The married
couple responded by ignoring the clerics.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book, Defenders of the West: The Christian
Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the
Gatestone Institute, a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, and
a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
About this Series
While not all, or even most, Muslims are involved, persecution of Christians by
extremists is growing. The report posits that such persecution is not random but
rather systematic, and takes place irrespective of language, ethnicity, or
location. It includes incidents that take place during, or are reported on, any
given month.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18464/persecution-of-christians-march
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day: Revisiting Islam’s
Greatest Slaughter of Christians
ريموند إبراهيم: ذكرى المجاز العثمانية بحق الأرمن
Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/April 24/2019
A still frame from the 1919 documentary film Auction of Souls, which portrayed
eye witnessed events from the Armenian Genocide, including stripped naked and
crucified Christian girls.
Today, April 24, marks the “Great Crime,” that is, the genocide of
Christians—mostly Armenians but also Assyrians—that took place under the Islamic
Ottoman Empire, throughout World War I. Then, the Turks liquidated approximately
1.5 million Armenians and 300,000 Assyrians.
Most objective American historians who have studied the question unequivocally
agree that it was a deliberate, calculated genocide:
More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution, starvation,
disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. A people who lived in
eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [more than double the amount of time the
invading Islamic Turks had occupied Anatolia, now known as “Turkey”] lost its
homeland and was profoundly decimated in the first large-scale genocide of the
twentieth century. At the beginning of 1915 there were some two million
Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer than 60,000…. Despite the vast
amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of the Armenian
Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic evidence, the
reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of the Armenian
Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to the present.
Similarly, in 1920, U.S. Senate Resolution 359 heard testimony that included
evidence of “[m]utilation, violation, torture, and death [which] have left their
haunting memories in a hundred beautiful Armenian valleys, and the traveler in
that region is seldom free from the evidence of this most colossal crime of all
the ages.”
In her memoir, Ravished Armenia, Aurora Mardiganian described being raped and
thrown into a harem (consistent with Islam’s rules of war). Unlike thousands of
other Armenian girls who were discarded after being defiled, she managed to
escape. In the city of Malatia, she saw 16 Christian girls crucified: “Each girl
had been nailed alive upon her cross,” she wrote, “spikes through her feet and
hands, only their hair blown by the wind, covered their bodies.” Such scenes
were portrayed in the 1919 documentary film Auction of Souls, some of which is
based on Mardiganian’s memoirs.
Whereas the genocide is largely acknowledged in the West, one of its primary if
not fundamental causes is habitually overlooked: religion. The genocide is
usually articulated through a singularly secular paradigm, one that factors only
things that are intelligible from a secular, Western point of view—such as
identity and gender politics, nationalism, and territorial disputes. Such an
approach does little more than project modern Western perspectives onto vastly
different civilizations and eras.
War, of course, is another factor that clouds the true face of the genocide.
Because these atrocities mostly occurred during World War I, so the argument
goes, they are ultimately a reflection of just that—war, in all its chaos and
destruction, and nothing more. But as Winston Churchill, who described the
massacres as an “administrative holocaust,” correctly observed, “The opportunity
[WWI] presented itself for clearing Turkish soil of a Christian race.” Even
Adolf Hitler had pointed out that “Turkey is taking advantage of the war in
order to thoroughly liquidate its internal foes, i.e., the indigenous
Christians, without being thereby disturbed by foreign intervention.”
It’s worth noting that little has changed; in the context of war in Iraq, Syria,
and Libya, the first to be targeted for genocide have been Christians and other
minorities.
But even the most cited factor of the Armenian Genocide, “ethnic identity
conflict,” while legitimate, must be understood in light of the fact that,
historically, religion accounted more for a person’s identity than language or
heritage. This is daily demonstrated throughout the Islamic world today, where
Muslim governments and Muslim mobs persecute Christian minorities who share the
same race, ethnicity, language, and culture; minorities who are
indistinguishable from the majority—except, of course, for being non-Muslims, or
“infidels.”
As one Armenian studies professor asks, “If it [the Armenian Genocide] was a
feud between Turks and Armenians, what explains the genocide carried out by
Turkey against the Christian Assyrians at the same time?”
Indeed, according to a 2017 book, Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian
Genocide, the “policy of ethnic cleansing was stirred up by pan-Islamism and
religious fanaticism. Christians were considered infidels (kafir). The call to
Jihad, decreed on 29 November 1914 and instigated and orchestrated for political
ends, was part of the plan” to “combine and sweep over the lands of Christians
and to exterminate them.” As with the Armenians, eyewitness accounts tell of the
sadistic eye-gouging of Assyrians and the gang rape of their children on church
altars. According to key documents, all this was part of “an Ottoman plan to
exterminate Turkey’s Christians.”
Today, from Indonesia in the east to Morocco in the west, from Central Asia in
the north, to sub-Sahara Africa—that is, throughout the entire Islamic
world—Muslims are, to varying degrees, persecuting, killing, raping, enslaving,
torturing and dislocating Christians; where formal Islamic groups such as the
Islamic State (ISIS), Al Shabaab, Boko Haram, etc., hold sway, Christians and
other “infidels” are literally experiencing a genocide. (See my book, Crucified
Again: Exposing Islam’s New War on Christians — or my monthly “Muslim
Persecution of Christians” report — for a comprehensive and ongoing account of
the “great crime” of our times.)
To understand how the historic genocide of Armenians and Assyrians is
representative of the modern day plight of Christians under Islam, one need only
read the following words written in 1918 by President Theodore Roosevelt;
however, read “Armenian” as “Christian” and “Turkish” as “Islamic,” as supplied
in brackets:
the Armenian [Christian] massacre was the greatest crime of the war, and the
failure to act against Turkey [the Islamic world] is to condone it… the failure
to deal radically with the Turkish [Islamic] horror means that all talk of
guaranteeing the future peace of the world is mischievous nonsense.
Similarly, if we “fail to deal radically” with the “horror” currently being
visited upon millions of Christians around the Islamic world, we “condone it”
and had better cease talking “mischievous nonsense” of a utopian world of peace
and tolerance.
Put differently, silence is always the ally of those who would liquidate the
“other.” In 1915, Adolf Hitler rationalized his genocidal plans, which he
implemented some three decades later, when he rhetorically asked: “Who, after
all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”
And who among today’s major politicians speaks—let alone does anything—about the
ongoing annihilation of Christians by Muslims, most recently (but not
singularly) seen in the Easter Sunday church bombings of Sri Lanka that left
over 300 dead?
Note: Chapter 4 of the author’s recent book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen
Centuries of War between Islam and the West, documents how the first “genocide”
of Armenians at the hands of Turks actually began precisely one millennium ago,
in the year 1019.
Between Biden’s Determination and Putin’s Intransigence:
A World With No Order or Rules
Raghida Dergham/The National/April 24/2-22
US President Joe Biden is growing more determined by the day to defeat Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine and shrink down Putinism in Russia itself.
Biden is going as far as gambling a direct role in the Ukraine war; he has
entered the tunnel and there is no going back. For the United States and Europe,
the battle is fateful. For Biden, the battle is personal: The Russian war on
Ukraine has made him a proactive leader of the NATO alliance and has taken
relations between Washington and Moscow to a hotter phase than even the Cold War
era.
For his part, the Russian president is growing more determined by the day to
achieve victory in his war and will not back down even if the events on the
battlefield were to lead to an expanded war between Russia and NATO. For Putin,
it is an existential battle. He finds himself today in a dual dilemma – unable
to win militarily and unable to retreat, and unable to advance serious political
negotiations and unable to fully pull out from them. Yet Putin is determined to
make history, and he has the means to do it.
The Ukraine war is now entering a dangerous new phase, from Mariupol to Donbas,
and from advanced weapons shipments from the West to Ukraine to Russian testing
of intercontinental missiles like the Sarmat. Red lines between Russia and the
West are stretching further. Europe is in the eye of the storm if the war
expands beyond Ukraine, but the United States then would not remain a player
from afar, which would in turn have implications for Bidenism.
Bidenism had shapeshifted following the Putinist adventure in Ukraine. It turned
President Biden from someone obsessed with reviving the nuclear deal (JCPOA)
with Iran at any cost, to someone fully immersed in the Ukrainian priority and
the confrontation with Russia – not just Putinism.
The revival of the JCPOA is no longer a top priority for the Biden
administration, and Russia no longer a partner in the quest for a deal. The
IRGC’s hopes have receded after it had been preparing for a huge leap in its
activities and influence once sanctions on Iran were lifted, emboldened by
Russia’s adventure. Tehran has insisted on delisting the IRGC as a terrorist
organization, boosted by Russia – and Europe – and prompted by the deep
entrenchment of the IRGC in Iran’s entire ruling structure, not just its foreign
policy. In other words, the benefits of lifting sanctions on Iran would be
limited by keeping the IRGC on the terror list.
Now, Tehran is caught in the crossfire of the US-Russian standoff. It is trying
to sell a ‘promise’ that the IRGC – which oversees proxy militias in sovereign
countries that take their marching orders from Tehran in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria,
and Yemen – would not carry out operations outside Iran. However, no one
believes this ‘promise’ because it would practically mean changing the entire
identity of the Islamic Republic in Iran based on the central role of the IRGC
in the regime and its bid to export its model to the Arab world.
Moreover, developments in Israel have dampened the Biden administration’s
enthusiasm for the deal with Iran, including movements in Congress and remarks
issued by Iran.
Quoting an Iranian source, Al-Jazeera reported that Tehran sent Tel Aviv through
European intermediaries a dossier that contains imagery and maps of Israel’s
alleged nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons facilities, hinting that these
would be targeted if Israel decided to launch a war on Iran.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi had warned last week that Tehran would target
Israel if it made “the slightest move” against Iran. Furthermore, the escalation
of Palestinian-Israeli clashes imposes additional constraints on the movements
of the Biden team concerned with Iran. Despite the fact that the US envoy for
Iran Robert Malley considers himself strictly concerned with nuclear
negotiations and not Iran’s regional behavior, the facts on the ground have
forced him to widen his horizons, which had not been in his or Iran’s
calculations.
More importantly, the US president is now personally invested in the Ukrainian
issue much more than he is in the Iranian issue. This imposes a new game with
new rules and different priorities. The Iranians understand that it is
unrealistic to expect any immediate breakthrough in the nuclear issue, despite
the talk about the importance of Iran’s oil in the time of growing embargoes on
Russian oil. The problem of delisting the IRGC, the absence of Russia’s
traditional role in the nuclear talks, and the developments of Israel have
hindered further progress for now.
President Biden appears determined to teach Putin the lesson of his life,
including by moving ahead with risky measures. Listing Russia as a state sponsor
of terrorism requires US, European, and international measures against Russia.
Putin would see such a designation as crossing a ‘red line’, especially since
that would lead to the total severance of diplomatic relations with the United
States.
Russia’s test of the Sarmat missile this week did not surprise the United
States, which said Moscow has informed it of its timing. Yet the timing carries
important implications. For the launch, President Putin said the new missile has
no analogues in the world and won’t have for a long time to come, and would make
those who try to threaten Russia “think twice”.
The possibility of listing Russia as a sponsor of terrorism is not the only
element that motivated the missile test, but also the influx of American
weaponry to Ukraine in the heat of the battles, and the economic blockade of
Russia coupled with economic support for Ukraine. In other words, the target of
the Sarmat missile is the United States first and foremost, a test balloon aimed
at President Biden. For Moscow, Washington is the main funder and armer of
Ukraine who is overseeing the entire operational aspect of Ukraine’s military,
and the main source of Russia’s problems.
From a military perspective, it may inevitable that Russia will target US and
European arms shipments and railways to disrupt the delivery of weapons to the
Ukrainian army. Only then can the Russian army move to the second and third
phases of its military operations in Ukraine. Politically, this would be
extremely costly for Russia and practically, destroying NATO arms shipments
would mean escalating the war into a Russia-NATO war, including a Russia-US war,
albeit in Europe. This is not to mention ballistic missiles that can enter the
equation where the war could be fought directly between Russia and the United
States. Already, the Russian foreign minister is paving the way, hinting that
NATO shipments to Ukraine are legitimate targets for the Russian armed forces.
What would the Biden administration do if Russia attacks railway links between
Poland and Ukraine, and hits US arms shipments which would mean a direct attack
on US materiel? Are NATO members ready for a broader war in Europe, or do they
not take Russian threats seriously? Who would pay the biggest cost for a war in
Europe? Would Russia and Europe both be decimated if the war is expanded?
The military challenges Russia is facing in Ukraine are increasing every day.
Even if Russia seizes Mariupol, launching a second phase of operations in Donbas
is fraught with risks. Concluding operations in Mariupol is necessary to allow
Russian forces to focus on Donbas but the most difficult question Putin faces
here is what to do with 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers in Donbas who are well trained
and full of hatred for their Russian counterparts? These forces will refuse to
surrender and take their orders from a Ukrainian government that refuses to
capitulate to Vladimir Putin.
What will the Russian president do about the Ukrainian forces in Donbas? Will he
try to crush them because he cannot conclude the second phase of his military
operation in Ukraine without doing that first? How will the world react to the
decimation of 60,000 encircled soldiers? This is a major dilemma because
‘liberating’ Donbas requires crushing the entire Ukrainian army there, and
moving to the third phase in Odessa, Kyiv, and Kharkov requires concluding the
operation in Donbas and further Russian manpower.
The Russian army did not anticipate this protracted war, which could last much
longer and escalate in unknown directions. The cost of the war for Russia will
increase further. Moscow had expected it to finish the war early before it met
with fierce Ukrainian resistance, backed by logistical, military, and moral
support from NATO.
While Mariupol has proven difficult to tame, the Russian army will find itself
in an even a tougher position in Donbas, where it is forced to overcome tens of
thousands of hostile soldiers. Odessa would be even further from reach, given
the vulnerability of Russian warships in the proximity of the coastal city.
In terms of morale, Russia’s army is coming under immense pressure. Russian
popular disappointment is mounting, after the war in Ukraine exposed the army’s
weakness and bad intel. Ultimately, we do not know how the war will progress.
Maybe Putin knows a little and Biden knows a lot. The problem is that they have
both entered the tunnel of confrontation without an exit strategy or an offramp.
And now, the whole world is trembling in fear.
The search for a magic formula to end Russia-Ukraine war
Yasar Yakis/Arab News/April 24, 2022
The war in Ukraine continues to be full of uncertainties. In a bilateral
dispute, both sides may have legitimate claims and expectations, but this cannot
justify the deaths of tens of thousands of human beings or the colossal damage
to physical infrastructure.There are signs that subordinate actors are working
hard to find a negotiated solution to the conflict. Russia’s failure to achieve
its initial military goals has pushed it to prove that it is still capable of
causing considerable harm to Ukraine. Russians and Ukrainians constitute such an
intermingled society — on both sides of their shared border — that they may be
considered as two halves of an apple. There must be hundreds of thousands of
mixed families. There may also be Russians who believe that their country has
gone beyond what is justified, such as Russian TV worker Maria Ovsyannikova, who
displayed a banner that read “No War” during a live broadcast. Similarly, there
may be Ukrainians who believe that Russia should not have been provoked to such
an extent.
Regrettably, there are some NATO member countries that do not care much about
bringing an early end to the hostilities. They seem to be more interested in
weakening and pestering Russia. In other words, they are throwing Ukrainian
civilians under the bus. Weakening a country that you see as an opponent may be
justified, but doing it at the expense of innocent Ukrainians is a morally
debatable attitude. There is a long list of difficult subjects to solve in the
Ukrainian crisis, but five of them are particularly important: The status of
Crimea; the Donbas and the self-declared states of Donetsk and Luhansk; the
Bucha massacre; the clashes in Mariupol; and an internationally guaranteed
neutral status for Ukraine. If these are not solved, both countries will
continue to bleed.
The first two questions will have to be allowed to cool down and be taken up
again when conditions are riper after a ceasefire has been secured. The horrible
pictures that have come from Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, showed about 500
corpses, some with their hands bound behind their back. Mediation efforts have
not been entirely ended, but such massacres have made the peace efforts more
difficult. In Mariupol, Russia is trying to open up a corridor between this city
and Crimea.
The most important issue for Russia is to prevent Ukraine from becoming a member
of NATO.
Because of Moscow’s veto at the UN Security Council, the only resolution to be
passed on the Russian invasion was tabled at the UN General Assembly, which
condemned it with 141 votes in favor, five against and 35 abstentions. Russia
has difficulties in taking a step back, but it has to draw conclusions from this
overwhelming vote. The most important issue for Russia is to prevent Ukraine
from becoming a member of NATO. Moscow has always been uneasy at the thought of
bordering a country that has a strong army that may cause it trouble with the
help of NATO. In turn, Ukraine does not want to become a country that Russia can
reprimand at will. This would be inconsistent with the status of a sovereign
country. The negotiators are trying to find a magic formula that will meet the
expectations of both sides.
A tacit agreement seems to have been reached that Ukraine’s NATO membership is
off the table for the foreseeable future. A more realistic status that is now
being considered is to make it a country with an internationally guaranteed
neutral status.
Ukraine has proposed that the guarantor countries be the five permanent members
of the UN Security Council plus Turkey and Germany. Belarus has also been
mentioned. Ukraine has also proposed a corollary of the procedure contained in
Article 5 of the NATO Charter. According to this procedure, if a NATO country is
attacked, all member countries will consider it an attack directed against their
own country. Such a proposal is not rational because Russia’s presence among the
guarantors might cause a problem.
Ankara is now conducting consultations on an alternative framework for the team
of guarantor countries, which might consist of the P5 (minus Russia), along with
Turkey and Germany. This framework proposes that the guarantor countries would
act in unanimity to ward off any violations of Ukraine’s neutrality.
Many countries are eager to contribute to the solution of this crisis, but
without burning their fingers. They are hesitant to become a guarantor because
they do not want to face Russian hostility in case the two countries clash
again.
*Yasar Yakis is a former foreign minister of Turkey and founding member of the
ruling AK Party. Twitter: @yakis_yasar
Questions remain over Ukraine’s EU accession
Dr. Diana Galeeva/Arab News/April 24/2022
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for his country to
join the EU on Feb. 28. Less than two months later, on April 18, Zelensky handed
over a completed questionnaire for Ukraine’s obtaining of EU candidate country
status to the head of the EU delegation to Ukraine, Matti Maasikas. According to
Maasikas, Ukraine’s questionnaire will be analyzed very quickly. How has the
relationship between Ukraine and the EU developed over time, given the complex
relations with Moscow? And what does the possibility of Kyiv being part of the
EU family mean in the context of the Ukraine war?
Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 and in 1994
signed a Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU. Over the years, the
country has faced the dilemma of having to ally itself either with Russia or the
EU/West. For example, in 2002, Ukraine officially declared its intention to join
NATO. Between 2004 and 2005, the runoff vote of the 2004 Ukrainian presidential
election incited the Orange Revolution against the victory of Viktor Yanukovych
— who was assumed to have pro-Russian policies. Opposition to Yanukovych was
strong in the western and central parts of Ukraine (including Kyiv), while his
supporters were mainly from the eastern and southern regions. The Russian public
was predominantly supportive of Yanukovych, while Western partners were
generally opposed.
In 2013, another wave of demonstrations and unrest, known as Euromaidan, began
in Ukraine, which also involved the Russian issue. The protests started after
the Ukrainian government’s decision to suspend the signing of an association
agreement with the EU, which was seen as a choice to ally itself with Russia and
the Eurasian Economic Union instead. However, in 2014, after signing an
agreement on the settlement of the political crisis in Ukraine, the president
was removed from office by parliament.
The peak of the crisis between Russia and Ukraine was reached with the
pro-Russian unrest in eastern Ukraine and the Crimea crisis. In 2019, the
Ukrainian parliament approved a constitutional amendment making EU (and NATO)
membership long-term goals of the country. By then, President Petro Poroshenko
had lost the 2019 election to Zelensky. The latter declared pro-EU policies,
keeping Ukraine on a path to EU integration and NATO membership, seeking EU
support for anti-corruption and judicial reform measures.
Accepting Ukraine’s membership might mean officially recognizing a state of war
between Russia and the EU.
Prior to February’s full-scale Russian invasion, Zelensky had explicitly
expressed a desire for Ukraine to join the EU, but an application was not
imminent. Even now, as Zelensky stresses that Ukraine’s movement toward Brussels
is taking place at a very tragic time, when many Ukrainians who profess European
values are losing their lives, the potential status of Kyiv as a member of the
EU raises several questions and highlights obstacles.
The submission of a membership application by a country is the first formal
step. The European Commission then examines the application and makes a judgment
as to whether that country meets the accession standards, known as the
Copenhagen criteria. On average, EU accession takes five years between the
opening of negotiations and a country becoming a member state. Recent examples
show the process can take even longer, with Bulgaria and Romania both having to
wait seven years and Croatia eight years.
Prior to the ongoing war, there were long-term concerns about corruption in
Ukraine, which were a major obstacle to its chances of having an application
accepted. Within the context of the Ukraine war, there are other questions, such
as uncertainty about when and how the conflict will end, whether the possibility
of Ukraine’s neutral status will be achieved, as discussed in negotiations, and
what Moscow’s response will be.
Indeed, the context of every application is different and the circumstances of
Ukraine’s bid are unprecedented. Were the EU to accept the application, it would
be seen as an act of solidarity and a message to Ukrainians and Russia alike
that the EU has a long-term commitment to ever-closer relations. However, this
would also mean that the EU would be “formally” fighting Russia by supporting
Ukraine. The bloc has already provided €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) in financial
aid loans to Ukraine and €500 million of weapons. While Russia calls the EU
countries, the UK and the US “unfriendly states,” Ukraine’s membership might
mean officially recognizing a state of war between Russia and the EU.
Fast-tracking EU accession for Ukraine could also create grievances among other
states that have been struggling for years to win approval for an application
(Bosnia and Herzegovina, for example) or a negotiating mandate (such as Albania
and North Macedonia). Also, the recent formal application for EU membership by
another two former Soviet republics, Georgia and Moldova, might transform the
bloc from normative power to hard power, with only one primary concern —
security.
It appears the final obstacle is the EU’s transforming status, such as the
Brexit vote and the UK’s subsequent exit from the union. There are also
uncertainties over the ongoing popularity of far-right leaders, with continuing
discourses about potential changes in the EU. All these factors are only adding
more questions over the status of Ukraine in the EU in the current
circumstances.
Dr. Diana Galeeva is an academic visitor to St. Antony’s College, Oxford
University. Dr. Galeeva is the author of two books: “Qatar: The Practice of
Rented Power” (Routledge, 2022) and “Russia and the GCC: The Case of Tatarstan’s
Paradiplomacy” (I.B. Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2022). She is also a co-editor of the
collection “Post-Brexit Europe and UK: Policy Challenges Towards Iran and the
GCC States” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).
New Iran nuclear deal would be a significant victory for
Tehran
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/April 24, 2022
In order to reach a new deal with the Iranian regime concerning its nuclear
program, the Biden administration has already made significant concessions to
Tehran. And it appears that the proposed deal is much weaker than the 2015
agreement. This will have severe repercussions for peace and stability in the
region. The Biden administration’s policy toward the Iran regime can be
characterized as a reversal of the Trump administration’s policy. Its
appeasement policies toward the clerical establishment include revoking the
terrorist designations of the Iran-backed Yemeni militia group the Houthis last
year.
The US State Department explained at the time: “This decision is a recognition
of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen… (The designations) could have a
devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic commodities like food and fuel.
The revocations are intended to ensure that relevant US policies do not impede
assistance to those already suffering what has been called the world’s worst
humanitarian crisis.”
But this move only emboldened the Iranian regime and its proxy. Just two days
later, the State Department had to call on the Houthis to “immediately cease
attacks impacting civilian areas inside Saudi Arabia and to halt any new
military offensives inside Yemen.” The Houthis had launched four armed drones
into the Kingdom, which the Saudis “intercepted and destroyed.” And in a major
escalation in January, the Houthis launched a military attack on the UAE by
blowing up three oil tanker trucks in Abu Dhabi, killing three people.
The terror group, which, according to a Yemeni government intelligence report,
“works closely” with Al-Qaeda and Daesh, appears to have committed crimes
against humanity. It has, since 2015, reportedly killed or injured more than
17,500 civilians — and it recruits, injures and kills children.
It would help the regime destabilize the region, target and attack US allies and
fund and sponsor its militia and terror groups.
The White House has also suggested that not only is it willing to lift
nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, but that it is considering lifting
non-nuclear-related sanctions if a new nuclear deal is agreed. In June last
year, the Biden administration lifted sanctions on three former Iranian
officials and several energy companies. Then, in a blow to the Iranian people
and advocates of democracy and human rights — and just a few days after the
Iranian regime had hand-picked a purported mass murderer, Ebrahim Raisi, to be
its next president — the US announced it was also considering lifting sanctions
against Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Furthermore, the new nuclear deal appears
to be much weaker than the Obama administration’s 2015 agreement. With this
proposed deal, the Iranian regime will be much closer to obtaining nuclear
weapons. Restrictions on the regime’s nuclear program will be lifted only two
years after it is signed, permitting Tehran to enrich uranium to any level it
desires and to spin as many centrifuges as it wants.
The new deal will not force the regime to reveal its past nuclear activities,
which had military dimensions. It will also not address Iran’s ballistic
program, meaning that Tehran will continue to attack other nations, provide
missiles to its militia groups and increase the range of its intercontinental
ballistic missiles. In addition, Russia, Iran’s ally, will be trusted with the
responsibility of storing Iran’s enriched uranium — and Moscow will be paid for
this task.
To meet the Iranian leaders’ demands, the new deal will most likely include the
US removing the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its elite branch the Quds
Force from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. Last but not least,
economic sanctions will also be lifted against the Iranian regime and this will
facilitate the flow of billions of dollars to the ruling mullahs.
This will help the regime destabilize the region, target and attack US allies
and fund and sponsor its militia and terror groups across the world. This month,
more than 45 retired US generals wrote a letter to the Biden administration
warning: “The new Iran deal currently being negotiated, which Russia has played
a central role in crafting, will enable the world’s leading state sponsor of
terrorism to cast its own nuclear shadow over the Middle East. As retired
American military leaders who devoted their lives to the defense of our nation,
we oppose this emerging deal that is poised to instantly fuel explosive Iranian
aggression and pave Iran’s path to become a nuclear power, threatening the
American homeland and the very existence of America’s regional allies.”
In a nutshell, the Biden administration’s proposed new nuclear deal is much
worse than the previous agreement, which was reached in 2015. If signed, Biden’s
deal will secure a significant victory for the Iranian regime, the IRGC and its
militia and terror groups across the region.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist.
Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh
Hunger in the MENA region could be easily avoided
Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/April 24/2022
The longer the war in Ukraine continues, the more its adverse effects will be
felt not only in Europe, but also in the Middle East and North Africa,
especially in the region’s already fragile countries, such as Syria, Lebanon and
Yemen. The Ukraine crisis threatens to endanger these states’ food security.
The undisputed fact is that there is no country immune to being affected by
significant events, revolutions and wars, no matter where they occur.
Human Rights Watch reported in March that “on March 9, 2022, Ukraine banned
exports of grain and other food products to prevent a domestic humanitarian
crisis. Even if these supply chain disruptions are resolved soon, the problems
would most likely persist because farmers are fleeing the fighting, and the
conflict is destroying infrastructure and equipment. The war could also gravely
diminish the coming harvest, particularly if it continues into the start of the
planting season in April.”
In addition to all the financial troubles Lebanon has suffered, this crisis has
added insult to injury. Beirut continues its official warnings of an upcoming
severe shortage of wheat. The country imports 600,000 tons of wheat every year,
an average of 50,000 tons per month, with 60 percent of these imports coming
from Ukraine and about 20 percent from Russia and Romania.
Lebanon cannot store vast quantities of wheat within its territory. The port of
Beirut used to house enormous silos, but the August 2020 explosion destroyed
these along with its stock.
Several countries could substitute Ukrainian wheat, including the US, Canada,
Australia, Romania and Bulgaria, but that would not come cheap. “The prices of
food commodities will rise in Lebanon, meaning that citizens will incur
additional burdens on them amid a significant decrease in their purchasing power
with the collapse of the Lebanese lira,” Hani Bohsali, head of the Syndicate of
Food Importers in Lebanon, told a news agency.
To stop the exacerbation of the hunger crisis, governments in the region should
immediately take drastic measures.
The situation in neighboring Syria is different. The close ties between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad will worsen
Syria’s humanitarian and economic crises. Moscow has established a significant
foothold in Syria since 2015. While it has made itself a key party to any path
that leads to a political solution, it has spread militarily in many areas of
the country. Therefore, the sanctions imposed by the US and its allies that
targeted the Russian financial and economic sector will have repercussions for
the Assad regime.
As soon as the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the price of goods and food
gradually increased in the Syrian markets. The matter quickly developed into
shortages of some vital food commodities.
Another war-torn country in the region that is facing famine is Yemen. In
mid-March, the UN World Food Program issued a report stating that 17.4 million
Yemenis are in need of immediate assistance, with an expectation that this would
rise to 19 million by the end of this year.
Although Egypt is stable politically and economically, it faces a big food
crisis. It is the world’s top importer of wheat and 85 percent of its supplies
come from Russia and Ukraine. The director of the Carnegie Middle East Program,
Amr Hamzawy, wrote that the Egyptian government should use more financial
resources to secure wheat supplies and avoid threats to the country’s food
security due to high inflation. “The recent government announcement to expand
wheat cultivation to 2 million acres by the end of 2024 is a viable medium-term
strategy to bolster Egypt’s food security. It does not, however, ease the
population’s immediate vulnerability resulting from the Ukraine war,” Hamzawy
said.
The food crisis has been spreading throughout the MENA region. Tunisia, for
example, is no different since it imports more than 60 percent of its grain from
Ukraine and Russia, which has led to a rise in prices. Although the Ministry of
Agriculture has reached agreements to import grain from France, South America
and the US, the cost will be higher since the already high price of shipping has
been raised by 10 percent.
Under international human rights law, everyone has the right to access
sufficient and adequate food to live a healthy and active life. To stop the
exacerbation of the MENA hunger crisis, governments in the region should
immediately take drastic measures to protect that right. We should remember that
more than 51 million people, including children, are suffering from hunger.
Arab governments need to overcome their political differences and work together
on a regional program to provide safe and healthy food for about 400 million
people. If there is a will and determination, there will be a solution.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi