English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For December 09/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.december09.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds
Saint Matthew 11/16-19/:’‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, “We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.” For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 08-09/2022
Lebanon MPs again fail to fill vacant presidency
Parliament fails to elect president amid high Hezbollah-FPM tensions
Berri to turn presidential vote into dialogue session if blocs agree
FPM slams Hezbollah statement as containing 'contradictions, allegations and fallacies'
Hezbollah slams FPM's accusations as 'unwise, inappropriate'
Geagea will never again accept a Hezbollah candidate after Aoun's 'lesson'
Mikati denies interfering to prevent Stephanie Saliba's arrest
Lebanese aviation chief denies Iranian planes carrying arms to Hezbollah
FPM MP says his bloc may vote for Kanaan in next session
Lebanese banks battered by meltdown struggle to survive
Report: Qatar tells Iran, Bassil it wants army chief as president
Mikati arrives in Riyadh to attend Arab-China summit at invitation of Custodian of Two Holy Mosques
Makary from Arab League: We accepted "Beirut, Capital of Arab Media 2023" challenge despite circumstances
Berri meets with David Hale in Ain Al-Tineh, broaches developments with French Ambassador
Startups win $55,000 at the American University of Beirut President’s Innovation Challenge
Oil prices edge up in Lebanon
EBRD and EU boost support for SMEs in Lebanon: New business advisory programme to support SME innovation and competitiveness
Lebanon detainees stuck in limbo as judges’ strike drags on
Economic Crisis Increases Number of 'Israeli Spies' in Lebanon
Lebanese Banks Battered by Meltdown Struggle to Survive

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2022
Iran Executes Protester for Injuring Guard with Knife
US imposes sanctions on Turkish businessman, citing links to Iran’s
An official appeared to say Iran's 'morality police' would close. The truth is more thorny
Russian Delegation Discusses in Türkiye the Military Operation, Rapprochement with Assad
Backfired: Putin’s Prison Recruits Spiral Out of Russia’s Control
Ukraine recap: prepare for a 'long war' says Putin – but most Russians beg to disagree
Pederson: Syria's Status Quo Is In Nobody's Interest
Egypt, Jordan, Iraq Coordinate Efforts to Confront Regional Crises
EU Freezes Draft Agreement With Israeli Police
Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu moves closer to coalition deal
Israeli Army Kills 3 Palestinians in West Bank Raid
Sudan Forum Affirms Strong Arab-Chinese Relations
Saudi Arabia signs Huawei deal, deepening China ties on Xi visit

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2022
Turkey and Israel: 'On' Again, Only to Be 'Off' Again/Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2022
The Regional Impact of Iran’s Drones in Ukraine/Omar Alradad/Washington Institute/December 08/2022
The Next Step Is to Abolish Iran’s Guardian Council and Hold Free Elections/Camelia Entekhabifard/Editor-in-chief of the Independent Persian/Asharq Al-Awsat/December, 08/ 2022
Iran regime has increased its persecution of minorities/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 08, 2022
“Kiss My Foot, O Lowly Infidel!”/Raymond Ibrahim/December, 08/ 2022
Iran regime likely to repeat Syria’s violence to quell protests/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab NJews/December 08, 2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on December 08-09/2022
Lebanon MPs again fail to fill vacant presidency
Najia Houssari/Arab News/December 08, 2022
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s divided parliament failed to elect a new president on Thursday for a ninth time, with many MPs spoiling their ballots, including one who cast a vote for “Nelson Mandela.”
Hezbollah opponent Michel Moawad won the support of 39 MPs, but fell well short of the required majority.
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned the session and announced a new meeting next Thursday, the last session for 2022.
Berri reiterated calls for dialogue among MPs to find a consensus candidate to prevent the process dragging on for months.
Only 105 of 128 MPs showed up for the vote on Thursday and many of them spoilt their ballots. For the first time, and after eight parliamentary sessions, the number of blank ballots cast by Hezbollah and its allies was equal to the number of votes received by Mouawad.
This tie came against the backdrop of the dispute that arose between Hezbollah and its Christian ally in Lebanon, the Free Patriotic Movement, since the Cabinet session last Monday.
According to a parliamentary observer, the FPM decided to stop casting blank ballots as before and distribute its votes in a calculated manner.
Although the session failed to elect a president, the FPM’s move sent a calculated message to Hezbollah on its open decisions by leaking some of its deputies’ votes in favor of Mouawad, thereby reducing the number of blank votes, the observer said.
The winning candidate requires at least 86 votes in the first round of voting, and an absolute majority of 65 votes in subsequent rounds.
The parliament again failed to hold a second round for loss of quorum after the withdrawal of Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and MPs from other blocs. Nine MPs voted for “The New Lebanon,” five for Issam Khalifeh and three for the customs chief Badri Daher, who is in detention in relation to the investigation into the Beirut port explosion.
Former deputy Ziad Baroud, legal expert and candidate Salah Honein, and activist and candidate Fawzi Bou Malhab received one vote each.
One vote contained the inscription “For Lebanon,” and another “the agreement.” One vote was cast for “Nelson Mandela,” in addition to canceled votes.
The results of the ballot showed that the FPM deputies amounting to 17 chose their options carefully, as they did not direct all their votes toward Mouawad.Some votes containing the inscriptions “Mouawad,” “Michel” and “Mouawad Badri Daher” were annulled, among others.
Hezbollah and the FPM deputies did not give any statement after the session, but engaged in a quick side talk. The Amal Movement MPs avoided discussing the dispute between Hezbollah and the FPM.
MP Ali Hassan Khalil said every party should review its stances, so “we can move forward with this dialogue.”He said: “We are keen on preserving the relationships between the political forces and we don’t intervene in this matter. “Everyone should know that the only way to overcome this crisis is through dialogue and communication.”
Mouawad said that “what happened emphasized the solid stances of the blocs voting for me. Some wanted to send a message but they cannot keep doing so till the end. What is happening is disgusting.”
The MP said that he is refusing to get caught up in what he calls “the votes exchange.”He said: “What is needed is a sovereign president and not a consensual one in the negative sense.”
The dispute between Hezbollah and the FPM has deteriorated to this point for the first time. A few hours before the parliamentary session, Hezbollah issued a statement in response to Gebran Bassil’s harsh criticism of the party, accusing it of failing to fulfill its promises.
The accusation came against the backdrop of Hezbollah’s participation in the Cabinet’s session seen by the FPM as an illegal way to take over the presidential prerogatives. Hezbollah affirmed in its statement that the party did not promise anyone that the cabinet won’t convene unless upon the approval of all its components, and therefore, there was no reason for Bassil to consider this move a broken promise.”The statement added: “Hezbollah didn’t promise the FPM that it won’t attend the Cabinet’s urgent meetings if the ministers of the party (the FPM) boycott it.”Hezbollah said that “using the language of betrayel and distrust is an unwise and inappropriate behavior.”Hezbollah said “what Lebanon needs today is communication and dialogue.”Lebanon has been quick to confirm the safety of Rafik Hariri International Airport and those traveling through it.
Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said that they will continue to “combat smuggling at all border crossings in cooperation with all security and military bodies.”He made the remarks after inspecting the airport security service and meeting with officers on Thursday.
The visit followed a report on Al-Arabiya–Al-Hadath channel that security sources warned that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were using Iranian airline Meraj flights to transport weapons and equipment to Hezbollah. Regarding the landing of Iranian airline flights linked to the Revolutionary Guards at Beirut airport, Mawlawi said: “We are keen on enforcing the laws and protecting Lebanon.”Fadi Al-Hassan, Lebanon’s Civil Aviation director-general, denied the claims. Al-Hassan said the timing of the “baseless” report harmed the airport’s reputation.
The Meraj company is not affiliated with any party, he said. The airline operated its first flight to Beirut’s international airport on Nov. 14, and meets all the security requirements, Al-Hassan said. David Hill, former US assistant secretary of state, met with Berri in other developments. Hill said in a statement that the situation in Lebanon was not hopeless and that political will is needed to carry out reforms.

Parliament fails to elect president amid high Hezbollah-FPM tensions
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Parliament failed Thursday for the ninth time to elect a new president, amid high tensions between the two allies Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement. Thirty nine blank votes were cast and thirty nine MPs voted for MP Michel Mouawad. Nine MPs voted for New Lebanon, five voted for prominent historian and academic Issam khalifeh, and one MP voted for former Minister Ziad Baroud. Three votes went to jailed customs chief Badri Daher. FPM chief Jebran Bassil had blasted Hezbollah for attending an FPM-boycotted caretaker cabinet session on Monday, accusing them of "betrayal". Hezbollah responded by dabbing Bassil's comment as "unwise" and "inappropriate." It said, in a statement Thursday, that it had not promised the FPM that its ministers would not attend cabinet sessions. Al-Jadeed TV had earlier said that some of the FPM MPs might vote for Mouawad during today's session, as a political message.
Some votes for "Mouawad," "Michel," "Mouawad Badri Daher," were annulled. In the past eight session, Hezbollah, Amal and the FPM had cast blank ballots, while the Lebanese Forces, the Progressive Socialist Party and some change and independent MPs had endorsed Mouawad.
MP Wael Bou Faour from the Democratic Gathering bloc said that his bloc might endorse in the future former MP Salah Honein after holding discussions with other blocs. Honein had officially announced on Wednesday his candidacy for presidency. He garnered only one vote in today's session. Quorum was lost as usual before the second round of voting. Parliament will convene again next Thursday to elect a president.

Berri to turn presidential vote into dialogue session if blocs agree
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri announced Thursday that he would turn next week’s presidential election session into a parliamentary dialogue if the blocs agree to such a move. “I will explore the opinion of all colleagues and parliamentary blocs regarding the issue of dialogue. If it turns out to be positive, I will turn next Thursday’s session into a dialogue session in parliament,” Berri said. Lebanon's divided parliament had earlier in the day failed to elect a new president for a ninth time. Parliament is split between supporters of the powerful Iran-backed Hezbollah and its opponents, neither of whom have a clear majority. "Holding a session every week won't change anything," said lawmaker Alain Aoun of the Free Patriotic Movement. Hezbollah opponent Michel Mouawad, who is seen as close to the United States, won the support of 39 MPs but fell well short of the required majority. Mouawad's candidacy is opposed by Hezbollah, whose leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called last month for a president ready to stand up to Washington. Lebanon can ill afford a prolonged power vacuum as it grapples with a financial crisis dubbed by the World Bank as one of the worst in modern history, with a currency in free fall, severe electricity shortages and soaring poverty rates. The country's caretaker government has limited powers and cannot enact the sweeping reforms demanded by international lenders to release billions of dollars in bailout loans.

FPM slams Hezbollah statement as containing 'contradictions, allegations and fallacies'
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
The Free Patriotic Movement on Thursday issued a rare statement criticizing its ally Hezbollah by name in connection with the controversy over the latest caretaker cabinet session. “The last thing we wanted was to engage in a media exchange with Hezbollah, but the truth obliges us to clarify it and say that what was mentioned in the statement of Hezbollah’s media relations department was very ambiguous and carried a contradiction between keenness on the unanimity of the government’s components in taking decisions while not applying this to the attendance of sessions,” the FPM’s central media and communication committee said in a statement. “It seems that there is ambiguity and lack of clarity on the part of Hezbollah’s leadership regarding what happened and we are still hoping it will be rectified,” the statement added. “As for friendship, the FPM knows its meaning well, because it is offering everything needed to preserve it and protect it, except for what is related to the issue of the role, existence and partnership,” the statement said. It added that FPM chief Jebran Bassil will talk about “all these fallacies” and will explain “the gravity of what happened” in an interview on LBCI television on Sunday evening. In a statement issued earlier on Thursday, Hezbollah hit back at betrayal accusations by Bassil and the FPM, noting that it had not promised anyone that “the caretaker cabinet would not convene except after all its components agree on the meeting.” Commenting on accusations by “some FPM circles,” Hezbollah also said that “the use of the rhetoric of treachery accusations, betrayal and reneging, especially among friends, is an unwise and inappropriate behavior.”

Hezbollah slams FPM's accusations as 'unwise, inappropriate'
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Hezbollah on Thursday hit back at betrayal accusations by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, noting that it had not promised anyone that “the caretaker cabinet would not convene except after all its components agree on the meeting.”
“We do not want to engage in a debate with any of our friends, although a lot of what was mentioned in (ex-)Minister Bassil’s remarks requires a discussion. However, we find ourselves concerned with commenting on two issues in light of the need to clarify them to the public opinion,” Hezbollah’s media relations unit said in a statement. “Hezbollah did not promise anyone that the caretaker cabinet would not convene except after all its components agree on the meeting for (ex-)Minister Bassil to consider that the cabinet meeting that took place was a reneging on a promise,” the statement said.
It added: “Hezbollah did not promise the FPM that it would not attend emergency cabinet sessions if the FPM’s ministers boycotted it.”“Accordingly, the honest ones have not reneged on a promise, and (ex-)Minister Bassil might have mixed things up and wrongfully accused the honest ones with something that they have not committed,” Hezbollah went on to say, using terms that Bassil had mentioned in his latest press conference. Moreover, the party said that giving its participation in the session political interpretations related to “pressing a political party in the presidential elections, bending anyone’s arm or targeting the Christian role are all mere illusions.”Commenting on accusations by “some FPM circles,” Hezbollah said that “the use of the rhetoric of treachery accusations, betrayal and reneging, especially among friends, is an unwise and inappropriate behavior.”“Our keenness on friendship and friends is what governs our reactions, especially that Lebanon today is in dire need for communication, dialogue and domestic discussions to exit the difficult crises that it is suffering from,” the party added.

Geagea will never again accept a Hezbollah candidate after Aoun's 'lesson'
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Thursday that any presidential candidate backed by Hezbollah would lead to "a further collapse."Geagea reiterated his categorical rejection to the election of Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil or Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh. He accused again Hezbollah and its allies of obstructing the election of a new president. "They are obstructing (the election sessions) until the situation worsens in the country, to pressure us to accept their candidate as a better option than vacuum," Geagea said of Hezbollah. "This is unfortunately their logic."He added that his party will never accept Hezbollah's candidate. "We have learned from the last time we agreed on the name of General Michel Aoun that any Hezbollah candidate will lead the country to more deterioration, calamities and tragedies," Geagea said. "We will never do it again."

Mikati denies interfering to prevent Stephanie Saliba's arrest
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati on Thursday denied a media report claiming that he had mediated with security agencies to prevent the arrest of the actress Stephanie Saliba at the Rafik Hariri International Airport. “What al-Akhbar newspaper has reported about an interference by PM Mikati in a file related to Ms. Stephanie Saliba is totally baseless,” Mikati’s press office said in a statement.The daily had reported that Mt. Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun had issued a search and investigation warrant against Saliba “based on Lebanese and European investigations into the embezzlement, money laundering and theft file in which Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is accused.”“The warrant was circulated to security agencies, but political interferences at a high level, especially by caretaker PM Najib Mikati, prevented Saliba’s arrest upon her arrival today to Beirut’s airport,” the newspaper said.

Lebanese aviation chief denies Iranian planes carrying arms to Hezbollah
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Director General Fadi al-Hassan on Thursday denied a media report claiming that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard might take advantage of the flights of Iranian airline Meraj to transfer arms and sensitive equipment to Hezbollah. “This report is baseless,” al-Hassan told al-Jadeed television. “The air company, which operated its first flight to Beirut’s international airport on November 14, meets all the security requirements,” al-Hassan added. “The timing of this report harms the reputation of Beirut’s airport,” he said. The report had been recently broadcast by the Saudi-owned Al-Hadath television.

FPM MP says his bloc may vote for Kanaan in next session
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
The Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc might vote for its member MP Ibrahim Kanaan in the upcoming presidential election session, MP Salim Aoun said on Thursday. “The FPM has several choices, including MP Ibrahim Kanaan, but they are not limited to him,” Aoun said, in an interview with Radio Voice of All Lebanon. “The decision to break from the blank votes might take place in next week’s session at the latest,” the MP added, prior to today’s session.

Lebanese banks battered by meltdown struggle to survive
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Lebanon's once burgeoning banking sector has been hard hit by the country's historic economic meltdown. It has suffered staggering losses worth tens of billions of dollars and many of the small nation's lenders now face possible closures or mergers.
Yet bankers have been resisting attempts to make their shareholders assume responsibility for those losses and instead have been trying to shift the burden to the government or even their own depositors. The country's political class, blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement that led to the meltdown, has also resisted reforms.
Restructuring the banking sector is a key demand of the International Monetary Fund to start getting Lebanon out of its paralyzing financial crisis. The proposed IMF reforms will likely force most of the country's 46 banks — a huge number for a nation of 5 million people — to close down or merge.
In the years after Lebanon's 15-year civil war ended in 1990, the banking sector was the crown jewel of the country's economy, offering high interest rates that lured in investments and deposits from around the world. Most of those depositors have now lost access to their savings after the country's lenders for years made risky investments by buying Lebanese treasury bills despite widespread corruption and overspending by the country's political class. These practices helped lead to the economic crisis that started in October 2019.
Today, banks in Lebanon neither give loans nor take new deposits, and they return to people a small fraction of their savings in U.S. dollars at an exchange rate that is far lower than market value.
"They have become zombie banks," says financial adviser Michel Kozah, who writes a financial column for a Lebanese newspaper.
Despite the banks' informal capital controls, billions of dollars are estimated to have been laundered out of the country by major political and financial officials, according to local reports.
In recent months, angry depositors have been storming bank branches around Lebanon to get their trapped savings by force, leading to confrontations with bank employees, who have also been victims of the meltdown. Since the crisis began, the number of bank employees dropped by one-third, to just under 16,500 and one in five branches has closed. Jinane Hayek, who lost her job as a branch manager at one of the largest banks in the country two years ago, said she understands the pain of the depositors, but that the bank branches are constrained by the current economic conditions.
"There are some people who cannot afford to eat because their money is stuck in the bank," she said at the bakery she opened after her layoff in the mountain town of Bekfaya, adding that she is happy to be far from the fray. The future of banks is unclear. A tentative agreement between the IMF and the Lebanese government, reached in April, called for an "externally assisted bank-by-bank evaluation for the 14 largest banks."
But so far nothing has been done by either the government or the lenders. The banking sector has mounted a vigorous opposition to proposed measures that would put the system's losses on the shoulders of shareholders rather than ordinary depositors.
A proposed government economic recovery plan released in September values the financial sector's losses at about $72 billion, mostly at the central bank. The plan noted that the huge scale of the losses means that the central bank cannot give back the banks most of their money and the banks cannot return most of the money to depositors. The World Bank said in a recent report that the losses are more than three times the GDP of 2021, making a bailout impossible because there aren't enough public funds. The best solution is "a bail-in (that) makes large creditors and shareholders bear the main cost of bank restructuring" rather than small depositors, the report said.
Banks have been opposed to a bail-in solution, suggesting that state assets should be sold or invested to make up for the losses on the long-term. Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, one of Lebanon's largest lenders, accused the government of a "complete abdication of responsibility."He said that while the banking sector was attracting foreign currency from around the world, the government failed to implement any structural reforms and squandered the funds. He said a 2017 decision to increase civil service salaries, initially estimated at $800 million, ended up costing three times as much. It doubled the fiscal deficit in one year and contributed to the financial crisis, he said. The banks were also negatively affected by the government's decision to default on its foreign debt in March 2020, he said.
Kozah, the financial columnist, said that a solution to covering the losses is still possible by having an auditing firm look into accounts and return the money that was illicitly transferred outside the country by influential people after the crisis began, as well as attempting to separate good banks from bad ones. Meanwhile, there has been little progress in talks with the IMF over the proposed reforms. In October, Lebanon's parliament approved amendments to a banking secrecy law, another IMF demand, but advocacy groups say the amendments are not enough. The central bank still uses several exchange rates at a time when the IMF has been pressing for unifying them to one rate. Progress on other proposed measures is now on hold amid a power vacuum in the presidency and the Cabinet. Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Shami, who is leading the talks with the IMF, said recently that all deposits worth $100,000 and less will be returned to depositors while those with larger amounts will be compensated in the long term through a sovereign fund."There is no fair plan for all depositors," Shami acknowledged. Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said that whenever the government is discussing the distribution of losses and responsibilities, there is a push back from the banks. The government is aware that it "needs to save the banking sector, because ... without a banking sector, we will not be able to get the economy standing back on its feet."

Report: Qatar tells Iran, Bassil it wants army chief as president
Naharnet/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Qatar has “strongly” waded into the Lebanese presidential file in terms of negotiating with Iran, sources involved in the file said.
“It had told Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil during his recent presence in Doha that it supports the election as president of Army chief General Joseph Aoun,” the sources told ad-Diyar newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. Qatar argued that Aoun “enjoys the support of most political parties in Lebanon, does not represent a provocation to anyone, and is accepted regionally and internationally,” the sources added.

Mikati arrives in Riyadh to attend Arab-China summit at invitation of Custodian of Two Holy Mosques
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, arrived in Riyadh this evening, at the invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, to attend the Arab-China summit that the Kingdom will host tomorrow, Friday, December 9th.
The Lebanese official delegation to the summit includes Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Dr. Abdullah Bou Habib, Minister of Finance Dr. Youssef El-Khalil, Minister of Industry George Bouchikian, Premier Mikati’s Advisor and former Minister Nicolas Nahhas, Ambassador of Lebanon to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Dr. Fawzi Kabbara, Ambassador of Lebanon to Egypt and to the League of Arab States Ali Al-Halabi, and Ambassador of Lebanon to the People's Republic of China Milia Jabbour.

Makary from Arab League: We accepted "Beirut, Capital of Arab Media 2023" challenge despite circumstances
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Caretaker Minister of Information, Ziad Makary, on Wednesday met at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, with the Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Media and Communications Sector of the League of Arab States, Ambassador Ahmed Rashid Khattabi, and members of the joint committee concerned with organizing and preparing for the celebration of “Beirut, Capital of Arab Media” for 2023. The meeting comes in implementation of resolution 517 issued by the Council of Arab Information Ministers at its 52nd session held last year in Cairo. The meeting discussed the program of media, cultural and artistic activities and events proposed by Lebanon to celebrate "Beirut, Capital of Arab Media" throughout the year 2023, through which the Ministry of Information is keen to "create a common space between Lebanon and its Arab brethrens, reflecting full, constant and continuous solidarity at the various levels.”The proposals submitted by the members of the joint committee were also discussed. Minister Makary said: “Lebanon is keen to demonstrate its Arabism through the title "Beirut, Capital of Arab Media,” adding “This title constitutes a challenge amid Lebanon’s difficult political and economic conditions; yet we have accepted this challenge. We will ensure the success of all events that will extend for a whole year.”

Berri meets with David Hale in Ain Al-Tineh, broaches developments with French Ambassador
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Thursday welcomed at the second presidential residence in Ain al-Tineh, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Director of the Wilson Center in Washington, David Hale, who visited him with an accompanying delegation.Discussions reportedly touched on the latest developments and the current general situation. On emerging, Hale described his meeting with Speaker Berri as very positive, saying “It was an honor for me to meet him (Berri) on my first visit to Beirut as a citizen and director of the Wilson Center in Washington after serving 34 years in the US State Department. As it is known, the Wilson Center is an independent center that holds discussions and researches, and organizes open dialogues in Washington on a number of global issues."He added that the Center’s Middle East department launched a program on Lebanon and on the economic issue and the political program.Hale also indicated that the situation in Lebanon is not hopeless and he is optimistic about a better future for Lebanon. On the other hand, Speaker Berri Speaker received French Ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, with whom he discussed the current general situation, the latest developments and the bilateral relations between Lebanon and France.

Startups win $55,000 at the American University of Beirut President’s Innovation Challenge
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Out of 100 applicants, 11 startups made it to the final round and competed at the American University of Beirut President’s Innovation Challenge pitching and awards ceremony held at the Beirut Digital District. “This annual occasion allows us to celebrate innovation as an instrument of entrepreneurship, and as a sign that we have taken on our human responsibility to play a role in improving our lives, and the lives of others around us,” said Dr. Fadlo Khuri, president of the American University of Beirut. The challenge, now in its third edition, gathers startups from the AUB community – including students, staff, faculty members, and alumni – with innovative ideas that can be developed into a scalable and financially sustainable business model, which in turn can have a considerable impact on people’s lives and well-being. “We truly believe that young innovative ideas will have a significant impact on the world we live in,” said Dr. Yousif Asfour, American University of Beirut’s chief innovation and transformation officer. “The Talal and Madiha Zein AUB Innovation Park is here to help discover and nurture those ideas into fully impactful projects.”The themes explored this year were in the areas of artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, healthcare, environment, society, supply chain, as well as cultural and environmental fitness. Each finalist team had three minutes to pitch their idea, followed by a four-minute Q&A session with the judges. The first prize, worth $30,000, went to NADEERA, which helps instill circular economy practices through technology-enabled interventions. The second prize, worth $15,000, went to Neural Vision, the first software that analyzes OCT eye scans to assess healing after surgery. The Chinyeh Hostler Award worth $10,000, which was given for the first time to the winning team for social innovation, went to HOL XP, which empowers everyone to code using natural language. The People’s Choice Award was also introduced this year for the first time, where the public got to vote for their favorite team. This award went to U Paint, a solution using easy coded points on canvas to paint. All winners benefit from incubation as well as mentorship support at the Talal and Madiha Zein AUB Innovation Park. Other finalists were TAعBIR, an Arabic mental health bot; Organic Farm, which offers farmers affordable and effective fertilizers through organic waste transformation; Host & Ghost, a platform that helps cloudify any restaurant to expand and scale anywhere in the world; Numu, an easy-to-use financial software; Intervu.ai, helping employers unearth the right talent; Phish E, which protects companies from phishing attacks; and No Deaffence, a software that translates speech into sign language.

Oil prices edge up in Lebanon
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Oil prices in Lebanon have edged up on Thursday as the price of gasoline (95 octanes) has increased by LBP 8000 and (98 octanes) has increased by LBP 8000. The price of diesel has increased by LBP 8000, and the price of a gas canister has increased by LBP 4000.
Consequently, the new prices are as follows:
95 octanes: LBP 781000
98 octanes: LBP 799000
Diesel: LBP 824000
Gas: LBP 466000

EBRD and EU boost support for SMEs in Lebanon: New business advisory programme to support SME innovation and competitiveness
NNA/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the EBRD) and the European Union (the EU) are bolstering their support for Lebanon’s private sector with a new advisory programme that aims to help Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) innovate, grow and become more competitive. The Bank will deploy EU funds to help SMEs and start-ups connect with research and development institutions and innovate their products and processes. The new five-year programme will focus on innovation as a key lever for growth, helping SMEs compete on the international stage, increase their market share, create more jobs and support Lebanon’s economic recovery. The programme builds on the success of the first phase of the EU-supported Advice for Small Businesses programme in Lebanon which was launched in 2018. To date, it has helped almost 180 SMEs access the critical know-how they need to address market challenges and support their productivity and turnover. Local and international consultants specializing in a broad range of areas from strategy and marketing, to energy efficiency, operations, quality and financial management helped SMEs enhance their green, digital and inclusive business practices. Upon project completion, 54 per cent of beneficiary SMEs reported an increase in their labour force, and 41 per cent noted a rise in their turnover and exports. Furthermore, local consultants have also benefited from a variety of capacity-building activities, which aim to strengthen their skillset and help them deliver tailored business advice for SMEs. Over 150 representatives from the business community, the EU Ambassador to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf, small and medium-sized enterprises, business associations, NGOs, consultants and the media attended the ceremony at the InterContinental Phoenicia Hotel in Beirut.
Richard Jones, EBRD Director for SME F&D’s Regional Network said: “SMEs play an essential role in supporting a sustainable and competitive private sector in Lebanon, and we are proud that our partnership with the EU has helped small businesses adapt and grow, especially in such challenging market conditions. We look forward to continuing to help Lebanese SMEs deliver unique value and impact, building a stronger, and more inclusive and competitive economy.”Ambassador Tarraf, added: “The EU is committed to facilitating and supporting SMEs’ adoption and development of innovation, hoping that, in turn, it will bring much-needed added-value to the country, boosting local economy and, hopefully, contributing to Lebanon’s economic recovery.” The Bank has 25 years of experience in engaging with SMEs across its regions and supporting their growth and development with access to expertise and financing. To date, the Bank has invested more than €880 million in Lebanon with a focus on supporting private sector competitiveness, promoting a sustainable energy supply and enhancing the quality and efficiency of public service delivery. The EBRD is a multilateral bank that promotes the development of the private sector and entrepreneurial initiative in 38 economies across three continents. The Bank is owned by 71 countries as well as the EU and the European Investment Bank (EIB). EBRD investments are aimed at making the economies in its regions competitive, inclusive, well-governed, green, and integrated.

Lebanon detainees stuck in limbo as judges’ strike drags on
AFP/December 08, 2022
BEIRUT: Taxi driver Youssef Daher has languished for months in prison without charge, one of scores stuck after Lebanese judges launched an open-ended strike in August to demand better wages in a collapsed economy. Judges have suspended their work as rampant inflation eats away at their salaries, paralysing the judiciary and leaving detainees in limbo — the latest outcome of Lebanon’s years-long financial crisis. From his jail cell in the northern city of Tripoli, Daher sends daily messages to his lawyer asking him whether judges have ended what is already the longest strike for their profession in Lebanese history.“My family lost their sole breadwinner and must now rely on aid to survive,” he told AFP. Daher has not seen his wife and three children since he was arrested eight months ago because they cannot afford transportation to get to the prison, he said. Security forces arrested Daher after he gave a ride to a passenger accused of kidnapping — unbeknownst to him, he said. Authorities did not press charges against Daher after questioning, so his lawyer requested his release. Then judges began their strike.
His request has been pending ever since. Bureaucracy and rampant corruption have long delayed verdicts and judicial proceedings in Lebanon, where 8,000 people are estimated to be jailed, most of them awaiting a verdict. But now, underfunded public institutions have taken a hit after the country’s economy went into free-fall in 2019, with basic state services like renewing passports or completing a real estate transaction often taking months to complete. Although judges’ salaries are expected to triple as part of Lebanon’s 2022 budget, their wages are currently worth only around $160 on average due to soaring inflation. “How can a judge live with his family on such a salary?” one striker asked, adding that some of his colleagues with chronic illnesses could no longer afford medication.
“Judges were forced to launch this strike because their financial situation has become unbearable,” he said. Judges who spoke to AFP said they also wanted better working conditions as they had been forced to toil without electricity or running water and buy their own office supplies like pens and paper.
Lebanon’s state electricity provider produces an hour of daily power on average, forcing residents to rely on private generators that public institutions often cannot afford. The judges’ strike has compounded an already bleak reality for detainees, many of whom spend months or years awaiting a verdict.
Lawyer Jocelyn Al-Rai said her client, a Syrian youth, was arrested two months ago on drug trafficking charges without a warrant and has yet to face questioning, because the public prosecutor’s office has stopped working. Despite the strike, certain courts continue to function.
In Beirut on Thursday, a criminal court sentenced Hassan Dekko, a man known as the “Captagon King,” to seven years in prison with hard labor for producing and trafficking the stimulant, a judicial source said. Dekko had been arrested in April last year. Yet the judges’ strike is also contributing to overcrowding in the already cramped prisons, stretching detention facilities that have seen increasing numbers of escape attempts, a source at the Palace of Justice in the Beirut suburb of Baabda told AFP. “About 350 people used to be released from prison every month... that number has now been reduced to about 25,” said the source, adding that most are released after “mediators intervene with the judge handling the case.”About 13 inmates who completed their sentences two and a half months ago have been stuck in the Palace of Justice’s cells because criminal courts have not met to sign off their release, he added.
A judicial source who declined to be named said detainees were bearing the brunt of the strike’s knock-on effects. “Judges have a right to a decent life,” he said, but “detainees are also suffering from injustice, even those whose only crime was stealing a loaf of bread.”

Economic Crisis Increases Number of 'Israeli Spies' in Lebanon
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Lebanon has registered the highest number of arrests on charges of dealing with Israel over the past three years. Security forces have arrested 185 people suspected of collaborating with Israel since the beginning of the economic collapse in 2019. The new figures highlight a remarkable increase compared to previous years. More than 100 people were arrested on charges of spying for Israel between April 2009 and 2014, most of them military personnel or employees of the telecommunications sector. AFP quoted a security source as saying: “This is the first time that so many people have been arrested on charges of collaborating with Israel, and it’s because of the crisis.” That number has jumped significantly from a previous average of four or five arrests a year, another source said, adding that the main reason was likely the economic crisis, the repercussions of the collapse of the Lebanese pound, and then the explosion of the Beirut port, which prompted the Lebanese to search for another source of livelihood to obtain hard currency. Out of all those arrested since 2019, only three had been allegedly working with Israel prior to the crisis, one of the sources said. Of the 185, so far 165 had been prosecuted and 25 convicted and sentenced. Among those arrested were two people who sent e-mails to the Mossad asking to work with the organization, the sources cited by AFP said. “This was a boon for the Israelis, who targeted Lebanese on social media with job advertisements…,” one of the sources noted.
According to the same source, the Israelis later communicated with job applicants by phone. In January 2022, a prominent judicial official reported that 21 people had been arrested as part of a security operation to dismantle 17 spy networks for Israel. According to the informed security source, some detainees admitted that they were not aware at first that they were working for Israel despite their suspicion, but they continued to do so out of their opposition to Hezbollah. Over the years, the Lebanese security services have arrested dozens of people on suspicion of dealing with Israel. Court rulings were issued against a number of detainees, which sometimes reached 25 years of imprisonment.

Lebanese Banks Battered by Meltdown Struggle to Survive
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Lebanon’s once burgeoning banking sector has been hard hit by the country’s historic economic meltdown. It has suffered staggering losses worth tens of billions of dollars and many of the small nation’s lenders now face possible closures or mergers.
Yet bankers have been resisting attempts to make their shareholders assume responsibility for those losses and instead have been trying to shift the burden to the government or even their own depositors. The country’s political class, blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement that led to the meltdown, has also resisted reforms, The Associated Press reported.
Restructuring the banking sector is a key demand of the International Monetary Fund to start getting Lebanon out of its paralyzing financial crisis. The proposed IMF reforms will likely force most of the country’s 46 banks — a huge number for a nation of 5 million people — to close down or merge.
In the years after Lebanon’s 15-year civil war ended in 1990, the banking sector was the crown jewel of the country’s economy, offering high-interest rates that lured in investments and deposits from around the world. Most of those depositors have now lost access to their savings after the country’s lenders for years made risky investments by buying Lebanese treasury bills despite widespread corruption and overspending by the country’s political class. These practices helped lead to the economic crisis that started in October 2019. Today, banks in Lebanon neither give loans nor take new deposits, and they return to people a small fraction of their savings in US dollars at an exchange rate that is far lower than market value. “They have become zombie banks,” says financial adviser Michel Kozah, who writes a financial column for a Lebanese newspaper. Despite the banks' informal capital controls, billions of dollars are estimated to have been laundered out of the country by major political and financial officials, according to local reports.
In recent months, angry depositors have been storming bank branches around Lebanon to get their trapped savings by force, leading to confrontations with bank employees, who have also been victims of the meltdown. Since the crisis began, the number of bank employees dropped by one-third, to just under 16,500 and one in five branches has closed. Jinane Hayek, who lost her job as a branch manager at one of the largest banks in the country two years ago, said she understands the pain of the depositors, but that the bank branches are constrained by the current economic conditions.
“There are some people who cannot afford to eat because their money is stuck in the bank,” she said at the bakery she opened after her layoff in the mountain town of Bekfaya, adding that she is happy to be far from the fray. The future of banks is unclear. A tentative agreement between the IMF and the Lebanese government, reached in April, called for an “externally assisted bank-by-bank evaluation for the 14 largest banks.” But so far nothing has been done by either the government or the lenders. The banking sector has mounted a vigorous opposition to proposed measures that would put the system’s losses on the shoulders of shareholders rather than ordinary depositors.A proposed government economic recovery plan released in September values the financial sector’s losses at about $72 billion, mostly at the central bank. The plan noted that the huge scale of the losses means that the central bank cannot give back the banks most of their money and the banks cannot return most of the money to depositors.
The World Bank said in a recent report that the losses are more than three times the GDP of 2021, making a bailout impossible because there aren’t enough public funds. The best solution is “a bail-in (that) makes large creditors and shareholders bear the main cost of bank restructuring” rather than small depositors, the report said. Banks have been opposed to a bail-in solution, suggesting that state assets should be sold or invested to make up for the losses on the long-term. Nassib Ghobril, chief economist at Byblos Bank, one of Lebanon’s largest lenders, accused the government of a “complete abdication of responsibility.”He said that while the banking sector was attracting foreign currency from around the world, the government failed to implement any structural reforms and squandered the funds. He said a 2017 decision to increase civil service salaries, initially estimated at $800 million, ended up costing three times as much. It doubled the fiscal deficit in one year and contributed to the financial crisis, he said.
The banks were also negatively affected by the government’s decision to default on its foreign debt in March 2020, he said. Kozah, the financial columnist, said that a solution to covering the losses is still possible by having an auditing firm look into accounts and return the money that was illicitly transferred outside the country by influential people after the crisis began, as well as attempting to separate good banks from bad ones. Meanwhile, there has been little progress in talks with the IMF over the proposed reforms. In October, Lebanon’s parliament approved amendments to a banking secrecy law, another IMF demand, but advocacy groups say the amendments are not enough. The central bank still uses several exchange rates at a time when the IMF has been pressing for unifying them to one rate. Progress on other proposed measures is now on hold amid a power vacuum in the presidency and the Cabinet. Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh Shami, who is leading the talks with the IMF, said recently that all deposits worth $100,000 and less will be returned to depositors while those with larger amounts will be compensated in the long term through a sovereign fund.
“There is no fair plan for all depositors,” Shami acknowledged. Caretaker Economy Minister Amin Salam said that whenever the government is discussing the distribution of losses and responsibilities, there is a push back from the banks. The government is aware that it “needs to save the banking sector, because ... without a banking sector, we will not be able to get the economy standing back on its feet."

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 08-09/2022
Iran Executes Protester for Injuring Guard with Knife
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Iran executed a protester on Thursday who was convicted of injuring a security guard with a knife and closing off a street in the capital, Tehran, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, part of a clampdown on nationwide unrest. Nationwide protests erupted after the death of 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman Mahsa Amini on Sept. 16. The Tasnim news agency identified the person who was executed as Mohsen Shekari but gave no more details. Authorities have been cracking down on the protests and on Monday, the Revolutionary Guards praised the judiciary for its tough stand and encouraged it to swiftly and decisively issue judgements for defendants accused of "crimes against the security of the nation and Islam". Judiciary spokesman Masoud Setayeshi announced on Tuesday that five people indicted in the killing of a Basij militia member, Rouhollah Ajamian, were sentenced to death in a verdict which they can appeal. Amnesty International has said the Iranian authorities are seeking the death penalty for at least 21 people in what it called "sham trials designed to intimidate those participating in the popular uprising that has rocked Iran". “The Iranian authorities must immediately quash all death sentences, refrain from seeking the imposition of the death penalty and drop all charges against those arrested in connection with their peaceful participation in protests," it said.

US imposes sanctions on Turkish businessman, citing links to Iran’s
Reuters/December 08, 2022
WASHINGTON: The Biden administration on Thursday is set to impose sanctions on prominent Turkish businessman Sitki Ayan and his network of companies, accusing him of acting as a facilitator for oil sales and money laundering on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
According to a Treasury statement due to be released later on Thursday and seen by Reuters, Ayan’s companies have established international sales contracts for Iranian oil, arranged shipments and helped launder the proceeds and obscured the origin of the Iranian oil on behalf of Iran’s Quds Force, an arm of the IRGC. “Ayan has established business contracts to sell Iranian oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars to buyers,” in China and Europe, the statement says, adding that he then funneled the proceeds back to the Quds Force. Ayan’s son Bahaddin Ayan, his associate Kasim Oztas and another individual will also be designated, along with at least two dozen companies including his ASB Group of Companies, a Gibraltar-based holding company. The Treasury action will freeze any US assets of those designated and generally bar Americans from dealing with them. Those that engage in certain transactions would also risk being hit with sanctions. The US measures come at a time when ties between the United States and Turkiye are strained over a host of issues, including disagreement over Syria policy and Ankara’s purchase of Russian air defense systems. Most recently, Washington has warned Turkiye to refrain from carrying out a military incursion into northern Syria after Ankara said it was preparing a possible ground invasion against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia that it views as terrorists but who make up the bulk of US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Washington maintains sweeping sanctions on Iran and has looked for ways to increase pressure as efforts to resurrect a 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran have stalled. US President Joe Biden had sought to negotiate the return of Iran to the nuclear deal after former President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018. The 2015 agreement limited Iran’s uranium enrichment activity to make it harder for Tehran to develop nuclear arms in return for lifting international sanctions. Iran denies wanting to acquire nuclear weapons.

An official appeared to say Iran's 'morality police' would close. The truth is more thorny
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY/December 8, 2022
Reports circulated this week that Iran's "morality police" would be dismantled following some confusing comments to that effect by a senior Iranian official. The comments were seemingly in response to anti-regime protests that have persisted for nearly three months and were initially triggered by the arrest of Mahsa Amini for allegedly wearing her hijab incorrectly. The 22-year-old died while in police custody after being detained by members of the unit, known in Iran as "Guidance Patrol."Yet amid a flurry of international media stories proclaiming its closure, Iran experts noted there had been no official order to abolish the program. "Did Iran say it will shut the Guidance Patrol (Hijab police)?" said Arash Azizi, a Middle East scholar affiliated with New York University, on Twitter. "No. ... at best (it made) a very unclear and inconclusive remark uttered in the middle of a presser."So which is it? Dismantled or not? The whole thing is a bit of a puzzle. Here's what Iran's "morality police" is and what was reported (or misreported) about it: Who are the 'morality police' and what do they actually do?
The "morality police" enforce social behaviors and regulations in the Islamic Republic in accordance with the government's interpretation of Islamic law. For instance, wearing a hijab became mandatory in Iran after its 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, an Oslo, Norway-based Iranian human rights activist, said that the morality police program was established in 2006 to help formalize and cement the government's rules for a new generation of Iranians who were born after the revolution and had access to the internet, and thus to the outside world.
"They realized they needed to be more organized, to have more of a legal and visible basis for this oppression," he said. Both men and women make up the morality police and they patrol Iran's streets and parks in distinctive green and white vans. They can issue warnings and fines and make arrests, though enforcement is often uneven and arbitrary. The morality police have not been actively involved in policing the recent protests. That has fallen to a plethora of Iranian security services, including a paramilitary unit known as the "Basij."
'Morality police' confusion: What are the roots of the bewilderment?
The confusion began when Mohammad Jafar Montazeri, Iran's attorney general, was asked about the program during a press conference over the weekend. Montazeri responded to the question by saying, they "have been shut down from where they were set up." These comments were published by Iranian state media such as ISNA. They were then picked up by international newswire agencies including The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse. The AP and AFP both ran stories indicating the program, per Montazeri's comments, would be phased out.
But a number of problems with these stories quickly emerged. Both outlets later updated their stories to clarify that the status of the morality police was unclear.
For a start, Montazeri may be a high-ranking official in Iran's justice department. But the morality police program is administered by the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, a conservative-cleric dominated body established by Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's first supreme leader, and today headed by President Ebrahim Raisi, not the judiciary. So there was no official confirmation that the program was going anywhere. In fact, Iranian state TV and a number of officials swiftly issued denials the program would be closed.
The morality police "has not come to an end and has not closed," noted SNN.ir, a hardline news agency closely affiliated with the government. "No official authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran has confirmed the closure of the morality police," Montazeri later clarified in his own comments to Etemad Online, an Iranian newspaper.
"The international news agencies translated (Montazeri's) comments correctly," said Amiry-Moghaddam. "They didn't understand the significance, or how Iranian officials talk. Very often they just come with 'fake news'. What Montazeri was actually saying was that the morality police has not been heavily involved in policing the protests. That much is true. There was no indication Iranian authorities are going to reduce their persecution or oppression of women and their rights. Montazeri was clear about that."
Still, Azizi noted in his Twitter thread that "there is some evidence that some inside the regime are debating whether to relax, change, repackage or do something to the Hijab laws although (Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali) Khamenei is very unlikely to concede anything on this front."What do Iran's protesters want, and where does all this leave them?
"Obviously, there has been a lot of hype over what appears to have been an off-the-cuff remark by the attorney general," said Barbara Slavin, director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. Slavin undertook multiple reporting trips to Iran when she was a USA TODAY correspondent. "I doubt it will impact the protestors who want to see an end to the clerical-led regime, not just to be able to wear what they want," she said.  Slavin said Iran offers no political freedom, limited personal freedom and growing poverty and international isolation. "That is hardly a winning formula."Three months on, there are few signs protesters are willing to relinquish their demands despite the government's increasingly heavy-handed crackdown. On Monday, shopkeepers and truck drivers started a three-day general nationwide strike over their grievances connected to government economic mismanagement and corruption. "I think there is no going back. The Iranians have broken their ties with this regime," Taghi Rahmani, an exiled Iranian writer and regime critic, said in an interview published Wednesday with the Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS.
"We are experiencing the genesis of a revolution." Human Rights Iran, the organization Amiry-Moghaddam directs from Oslo, has tracked, since September, about 20,000 civilian arrests and just under 500 deaths from running street battles with Iran's various security services. Eleven protesters have been sentenced to death and a further 30 are facing charges punishable by death. On Thursday, Iran announced the first execution of a protester convicted over the recent anti-government unrest. Mohsen Shekari was hanged Thursday, state media reported. He was accused of injuring a security officer with a machete, according to the Mizan News Agency, which is affiliated with Iran's judiciary. "As of last week, 600 protesters had lost one or both eyes because of pellet guns," he said, a testament to this being the "biggest crisis the Islamic Republic has faced since it was established" and that the protests are about far more than Iranians asking for "one or two rights. It's about all the rights. Getting rid of the regime. Living a normal life."
*This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Iran appeared to signal 'morality police' closure. The truth is thorny

Russian Delegation Discusses in Türkiye the Military Operation, Rapprochement with Assad
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
A Russian delegation will visit Türkiye to discuss the situation in Syria and the military operation that Ankara threatened to carry out against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday that a Russian delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin, would visit Türkiye Thursday and Friday, to discuss issues of common interest. The FM announced that discussions between the two countries continue, and the exchange of views continues on Ukraine and other regional issues, such as Syria, Libya, and others. Cavusoglu added, during a press conference with Moldovan counterpart Nicu Popescu in Istanbul on Wednesday, that Türkiye continues to discuss all issues with Russia, despite disagreements. On the Astana process, Cavusoglu said that officials have not yet decided on the ninth meeting of the Constitutional Committee, knowing that the Russian delegation would not go to Geneva because of the visa issue. He asserted that they are working on alternatives, but the political process needs to be accelerated, reiterating the importance of achieving stability in Syria. The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced Wednesday that delegations headed by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal and his Russian counterpart Sergey Vershinin would address the Black Sea grain export deal and regional issues such as Syria, Libya, and Palestine.
Russian demands
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov explained that Moscow seeks the return of Turkish-Syrian relations, which could ensure border security. Speaking at an international forum in Moscow, Lavrov said that Syria and Türkiye must secure borders and return relations as they were during former president Hafez al-Assad, noting that based on the Adana Agreement signed between Ankara and Damascus in 1998, the two countries can resume talks. Lavrov added that Türkiye and Syria should solve specific issues related to ensuring border security, considering Ankara's legitimate concerns recognized by the Damascus government. He stressed that Russia seeks to ensure there be no encroachments on Syria's territorial integrity, considering that whoever influences Syria must hold talks with President al-Assad and his regime. The Foreign Minister pointed out that Moscow and Ankara agreed to sort out the armed opposition factions based on the ones that accept dialogue with the Syrian regime. Lavrov called on the SDF to conduct a dialogue with the Syrian regime, warning that those labeled as "terrorists" feel safe in the areas controlled by the US forces in Syria.
US warning
Meanwhile, the US warned of any Turkish attack on the SDF sites in Syria. The US envoy for northeastern Syria, Nicolas Granger, stressed that any Turkish military attack on the region would have dire consequences, saying that Washington did not give Ankara the green light to do so. Speaking to Kurdish media, Granger said that the US opposed Turkish military activities and rejected destabilization in northeastern Syria, warning that any Turkish attack would destabilize the region and reflect negatively on efforts to combat ISIS. Meanwhile, Turkish security sources identified the "terrorist" female neutralized by Turkish intelligence last July in northern Syria as Civana Heso, code-named Roj Habur. Heso was trained by US forces and trained more terrorists to act against Türkiye at the Dilovan academy affiliated with the Kurdish People's Defense Units. In July, the US Central Command angered Türkiye by tweeting condolences for a Syrian Kurdish deputy commander and two other female fighters killed by a drone strike.
Clashes continue
Turkish forces stationed in the Peace Spring areas targeted Abu Rasin town, northwest of al-Hasakah, with heavy artillery, amid the displacement of civilians towards the eastern countryside. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) pointed out that the Turkish attack came after the killing of a member of the pro-Ankara al-Hamzat Division and the injury of others. SDF fired heavy artillery shells and missiles on positions of Turkish-backed factions in Anik Al-Hawa and Dawodiyah Mala Salman villages within the "Peace Spring" area.

Backfired: Putin’s Prison Recruits Spiral Out of Russia’s Control
Allison Quinn/The Daily Beast/December 8, 2022
Russia’s most deranged gambit in its war against Ukraine is rapidly turning into a crisis as military leaders lose control over the prison inmates freed in exchange for a stint on the battlefield.
About 20 armed inmates fled from the frontline in occupied Donetsk in recent days and the Russian military was forced to launch a manhunt for members of its own team, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday. Three of the “fugitives” were killed in the ensuing search, Ukrainian authorities said, wryly noting: “Beat your own, so that others are afraid, as they say.”
The hunt was reportedly still on for the other fleeing inmates. The news comes just two days after a suspected Russian deserter fleeing the battlefield in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas crossed the border into Russia before opening fire and injuring two police officers. Independent media outlets identified the gunman as a prison inmate recruited to fight in the war. While many experts saw the prison-recruitment scheme for what it was from the get-go—a convenient way to bolster Russia’s fledgling troops using men deemed easily disposable—it seems many of the inmates are themselves finally coming around to that realization.
The public sledgehammer-execution of Wagner defector Yevgeny Nuzhin last month certainly didn’t help matters, no matter how much Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mastermind behind the prison recruitment scheme, told inmates they’d go down in history as “heroes.”
Now, Russian inmates say there have been other executions carried out against those perceived to have “betrayed” the mercenary group—and wannabe recruits are shown videos of it.
One inmate at a penal colony in the Far East told the BBC’s Russian service that Wagner recruiters showed execution videos to inmates in the facility’s recreation room.
In one video played for a group of inmates who expressed an interest in joining Wagner, he said, a man told the camera, “‘I, such and such, am a traitor and a bitch, I abandoned my own on the frontline,’ and then they shoot him in the back of the head.”
Another inmate in a different colony told the BBC he’d also been shown another video in which a person was hung from an iron beam.
Sources close to Wagner were quoted telling the BBC there have been at least three such executions, with one calling them “training videos.”
Olga Romanova, the head of the human rights group Russia Behind Bars, has said inmates have reported a few dozen extrajudicial killings of prisoners tossed into the war.
Russian inmates captured by Ukraine have now also reportedly begun begging not to be handed back over to Russia as part of any prisoner swaps, fearing they’d be executed just like Nuzhin was.
An inmate who signed up to fight for Wagner in Ukraine and was subsequently captured by the Ukrainian side was seen in a video pleading not to be sent back over the weekend.
Identified by the independent Russian outlet Verstka as Alexander Bolchev, he told a Ukrainian journalist, “I don’t want a swap because they’ll immediately kill me. I know they’ll kill me.”
One of his female relatives told the BBC the same thing, saying: “It’s good that he’s alive, but they’ll hand him over and he’ll be killed, he’ll definitely be killed.”Experts also say the prison recruiting could prove to be a “catastrophe” for ordinary Russians. “The social situation in the country may seriously suffer after these prisoners return from the war zone and have their sentences reduced or get released for ‘atonement’ of their crimes with blood,” Alexander Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military expert, told iStories. “And they will return not just with the baggage of crimes committed in Russia and Ukraine, but also with post-traumatic stress disorder, which no psychologists will treat.”
Russia’s most deranged gambit in its war against Ukraine is rapidly turning into a crisis as military leaders lose control over the prison inmates freed in exchange for a stint on the battlefield.
About 20 armed inmates fled from the frontline in occupied Donetsk in recent days and the Russian military was forced to launch a manhunt for members of its own team, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Thursday. Three of the “fugitives” were killed in the ensuing search, Ukrainian authorities said, wryly noting: “Beat your own, so that others are afraid, as they say.”
The hunt was reportedly still on for the other fleeing inmates. The news comes just two days after a suspected Russian deserter fleeing the battlefield in Ukraine’s occupied Donbas crossed the border into Russia before opening fire and injuring two police officers. Independent media outlets identified the gunman as a prison inmate recruited to fight in the war. While many experts saw the prison-recruitment scheme for what it was from the get-go—a convenient way to bolster Russia’s fledgling troops using men deemed easily disposable—it seems many of the inmates are themselves finally coming around to that realization.
The public sledgehammer-execution of Wagner defector Yevgeny Nuzhin last month certainly didn’t help matters, no matter how much Yevgeny Prigozhin, the mastermind behind the prison recruitment scheme, told inmates they’d go down in history as “heroes.”
Now, Russian inmates say there have been other executions carried out against those perceived to have “betrayed” the mercenary group—and wannabe recruits are shown videos of it.
One inmate at a penal colony in the Far East told the BBC’s Russian service that Wagner recruiters showed execution videos to inmates in the facility’s recreation room. In one video played for a group of inmates who expressed an interest in joining Wagner, he said, a man told the camera, “‘I, such and such, am a traitor and a bitch, I abandoned my own on the frontline,’ and then they shoot him in the back of the head.”
Another inmate in a different colony told the BBC he’d also been shown another video in which a person was hung from an iron beam.
Sources close to Wagner were quoted telling the BBC there have been at least three such executions, with one calling them “training videos.”
Olga Romanova, the head of the human rights group Russia Behind Bars, has said inmates have reported a few dozen extrajudicial killings of prisoners tossed into the war. Russian inmates captured by Ukraine have now also reportedly begun begging not to be handed back over to Russia as part of any prisoner swaps, fearing they’d be executed just like Nuzhin was. An inmate who signed up to fight for Wagner in Ukraine and was subsequently captured by the Ukrainian side was seen in a video pleading not to be sent back over the weekend.
Identified by the independent Russian outlet Verstka as Alexander Bolchev, he told a Ukrainian journalist, “I don’t want a swap because they’ll immediately kill me. I know they’ll kill me.”
One of his female relatives told the BBC the same thing, saying: “It’s good that he’s alive, but they’ll hand him over and he’ll be killed, he’ll definitely be killed.”Experts also say the prison recruiting could prove to be a “catastrophe” for ordinary Russians. “The social situation in the country may seriously suffer after these prisoners return from the war zone and have their sentences reduced or get released for ‘atonement’ of their crimes with blood,” Alexander Kovalenko, a Ukrainian military expert, told iStories. “And they will return not just with the baggage of crimes committed in Russia and Ukraine, but also with post-traumatic stress disorder, which no psychologists will treat.”

Ukraine recap: prepare for a 'long war' says Putin – but most Russians beg to disagree
The Conversation/December 8, 2022
If nuclear weapons are used in Ukraine, it won’t be Russia that starts it, says Russian president Vladimir Putin – ostensibly seeking to reassure the world while also delivering an arch reminder that he does, after all, have the power to swing the world’s largest nuclear arsenal into action if he chooses. Putin was speaking to what has been described as “his personal human rights council”, skirting for the moment the convenience of having your own human rights council when the United Nations human rights council, the OHCHR, tends to insist on paying more than lip service to awkward things such as … human rights.
The Russian president also said he thought that the war in Ukraine was becoming a lengthier operation than he had initially thought, but reassured the public that he had no plans for further mobilisation. This last point is a key message for Putin, who will have been concerned at recent internal polling conducted for the Kremlin’s Federal Guard Service (FSO) and leaked to the exiled dissident news website Meduza, that support for the war has fallen to about one in four of the population. Natasha Lindstaedt of the University of Essex, one of whose research specialisms is the operation of authoritarian regimes, believes that while this collapse in support for the war will certainly give Putin much food for thought, the idea that his leadership is at risk – which many media outlets took as a cue for intense speculation – is, for the present at least, fanciful. Over more than two decades Putin has effectively “coup-proofed” his presidency and he has more or less complete control over Russia’s political and social elites. But if Russia’s military continues its below-par performance on the battlefield, you can expect the level of dissatisfaction to continue to rise. Despite Russia’s attempts to destroy Ukraine’s power grids, the Ukrainian people continue to make do and mend, constantly repairing and patching up and conserving power through scheduled blackouts when needed. Scott Lucas, a professor of international affairs at the Clinton Institute, University College Dublin, explains this and various other factors which are likely to be hallmarks of the conflict as winter sets in. This is our weekly recap of expert analysis of the Ukraine conflict. The Conversation, a not-for-profit newsgroup, works with a wide range of academics across its global network to produce evidence-based analysis. Get these recaps in your inbox every Thursday. Subscribe here.
Battlefields: Ukraine and Syria
Among other things, Lucas gives us a brief snapshot of the various battlefronts, chiefly in the south and east of the country. But Frank Ledwidge, a specialist in military strategy at the University of Portsmouth, drills right down into the Kinburn spit, a tiny headland at the mouth of the Dnipro river, which – he says – will be of “enormous strategic importance” over coming weeks. A tiny strip of land about 40km long and between 4km and 12km wide, the spit’s position enable whoever controls it to command entry to the Dnipro river and also project influence south and east into the Black Sea. Its strategic importance, writes Ledwidge, explains the numerous battles that have been fought to control it over centuries. Ledwidge believes an operation to retake it is already underway. We’ll be watching carefully in the coming days and weeks. Meanwhile – despite the accepted wisdom that fighting slows down or stops in winter in inhospitable climates such as Russia and Ukraine, some military analysts believe that Ukraine will seek to capitalise on the Russian military’s low morale and shortages of munitions to press ahead with its counteroffensives in the south and east. Liam Collins, a former US military intelligence officer and the founder of the Modern War Institute of the United States Military Academy West Point, writes that Russia “lacks the ability to conduct large-scale attacks, and it is left with little option but to continue … conducting missile strikes against targets that are either defenseless or offer little strategic value”. He adds that: “the cold will further lower – if that is possible – the already low morale of Russia’s poorly outfitted and undertrained soldiers”. It’s often overlooked that, thousands of miles from the battlefields of Ukraine, Russia is already embroiled in a conflict in Syria where it backs the regime of Bashar al-Assad against opposition groups variously supported by the US and its allies and others supported by the regional power, Turkey. Turkey recently launched airstrikes against Kurdish groups in the north of Syria and Iraq. Stefan Wolff, an international security expert from the University of Birmingham, believes that reigniting the conflict in Syria could benefit Russia by bringing Ankara and Moscow closer together as it will inevitably pit Turkey and its proxies against groups that derive their support from the US. And Putin’s support for Assad will go down well with Iran, which may help in negotiations over fresh arms supplies.
The diplomatic front
We also have this fascinating piece about the way Turkey has often rather adroitly pivoted between supporting Russia and the west from Georgios Giannakopoulos, from the Centre for Hellenic Studies, King’s College London. Giannakopoulos charts the delicate diplomatic game being played by the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, as he tries to fulfil his country’s obligations as a Nato member while also maintaining a close relationship with Putin. This east-west divide is a dilemma that has exercised Turkish leaders for a century or more.
Since Putin sent his military into Ukraine at the end of February, around 1.5 million Ukrainians have settled in neighbouring Poland, which initially welcomed them with open arms. There were already about 1.3 million Ukrainians living in Poland – mostly young men of working age who have taken up residence there for mainly economic reasons but also to escape the turmoil after Russia’s intervention and annexation of Crimea in 2014. Félix Krawatzek and Piotr Goldstein, of the University of Oxford and the Zentrum für Osteuropa und Internationale Studien (ZOiS) in Berlin, have conducted a survey in Poland of both young people and those older Poles who remember the turmoil of the early 1990s. It reveals that while most people believe Poland is doing the right thing by hosting so many desperate people, the sense of kinship with their neighbouring Ukrainians has come interesting nuances.
Finally – and with a nod to the aforementioned survey which finds most Russians want negotiations to end the conflict, we have some pointers from the Northern Ireland peace agreement that all sides would do well to bear in mind. Thomas Hadden, now professor emeritus with the school of law at Queen’s University Belfast, was involved over many years and in various capacities with the peace process. He believes that “only compromise will make it possible to bring this conflict to an end” – and offers examples of his reasoning from Northern Ireland as well as Colombia and South Africa.

Pederson: Syria's Status Quo Is In Nobody's Interest
Damascus – Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Mekdad on Wednesday discussed with the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, the latest developments related to the situation in Syria and the region. The official Syrian News Agency, SANA, said Pedersen presented the results of the tours and meetings he conducted over the past period. For his part, Mekdad explained the main challenges facing Syria, particularly the negative impacts left behind by the terrorism and unilateral coercive measures imposed on the Syrian economy and the lives of Syrians. The talks also tackled “the illegitimate Turkish and US occupation presence on the Syrian territories in a flagrant violation of the Syrian sovereignty and the international law,” SANA reported. Following the meeting, Pedersen told journalists that his visit to Syria is a continuance to boost dialogue with the Syrian State. According to the German news agency, Pedersen said the current status quo in Syria is unacceptable when nearly 15 million people need humanitarian assistance. “It is not in anyone’s interest to maintain the current situation in Syria," he said, urging the need to discuss the file of aids and the affairs of refugees inside and outside the country. The Syrian Al-Watan newspaper said Pedersen told reporters he had presented a briefing to the United Nations Security Council a day earlier on the situation in Syria, warning of the dangers of military escalation in the north. The UN official had urged all actors to restrain themselves, reinstate calm and move towards a nationwide ceasefire and a cooperative approach to counter-terrorism in line with international humanitarian law. “This is an important message. Syria doesn't need more war, it needs peace, and it needs political process,” he stressed.

Egypt, Jordan, Iraq Coordinate Efforts to Confront Regional Crises
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq have agreed to coordinate efforts and continue consultations to resolve regional crises and serve Arab causes and interests. The three countries' foreign ministers held a meeting Wednesday, in Amman, as part of the Jordanian-Iraqi-Egyptian trilateral cooperation mechanism to generate closer partnerships. The mechanism is based on the aspirations of the three nations to increase coordination within the political, economic, commercial, industrial, and security fields, among others. Egypt's Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, reaffirmed in a joint press conference that solidarity between the three countries achieves regional security and stability, stressing the importance of intensifying collective Arab action. Shoukry added that the trilateral mechanism aims primarily to boost the ties between the three countries based on integration, economic opportunities, and exchanging visions related to regional issues. He affirmed the continuation of trilateral talks, noting that the next meeting would be held in Iraq ahead of the summit to be hosted by Egypt next year. Shoukry noted that the three countries face many challenges given the existing geopolitical climate, economic pressures arising from the Ukrainian crisis, and food security and energy security issues. All issues necessitate further cooperation to address them. The top official noted that solidarity, cooperation, and joint action would increase the possibility of overcoming these obstacles. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said the mechanism aims to increase cooperation in trade, industry, economy, land transport, electrical interconnection, and energy. Hussein stated that the meeting discussed various issues, namely the economy, extremism, and terrorism, and the preparations for the Arab-Chinese summit in Riyadh. He stressed that regional countries face food and energy security challenges, pointing out that Iraq achieved a historic victory over ISIS and began rebuilding. The foreign minister revealed that the Iraqi government is in talks with other parties to end the interferences, which must be resolved through dialogue. Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi reaffirmed Amman’s and Cairo's full solidarity with Iraq and support for its security, stability, and sovereignty. Safadi affirmed that Egyptian water security is part of the security of Arab states more broadly, noting that Jordan is consistent in its support of Egypt. The ministers discussed several Arab issues, including the Palestinian cause, stressing the importance of ongoing efforts, coordination, and consultation to resolve regional crises and serve Arab interests to achieve regional security and stability. They agreed to hold further meetings in preparation for the Egypt-hosted fourth trilateral cooperation mechanism summit next year. The mechanism for coordination and trilateral cooperation between Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq was launched in Cairo in 2019, and the foreign ministers of the three countries held a series of meetings within the framework of the mechanism, the latest of which was on Nov 2.

EU Freezes Draft Agreement With Israeli Police
Tel Aviv – Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
The European Union informed Israeli Ambassador Haim Regev that it will not be moving forward with a draft agreement for intelligence cooperation between the Israeli police and the European Police Agency, Europol, political sources in Tel Aviv said Wednesday. The sources told Haaretz newspaper that the decision is the first European indication that the change in Israeli policy in the occupied West Bank will harm cooperation with the EU. Haaretz said several European countries fear that Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu would form a far-right government that intends to legalize the occupation and expand settlements in the West Bank, in addition to pursue a policy of racial discrimination against the Arab citizens of Israel and an apartheid policy towards the Palestinians. Last September, Israel and the EU signed a draft agreement to improve the transfer of intelligence information between member countries to prevent crime and terrorism. In recent years, Israel helped thwart series of terror attack on European soil through intelligence it provided, whereas intelligence provided by Europe has often aided in combatting organized crime in Israel. Sources told Haaretz that the emerging agreement is expected to include a clause preventing Israel from using any information it receives from Europe in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. The signed agreement was presented to European Parliament members for signing this month. But after the far-right wing led by Netanyahu won the recent Israeli election, representatives from several EU countries said the new government in Tel Aviv needs to clarify its policy towards the Palestinians, inside the Green Line and in the West Bank, before they ratify the agreement. “There's pressure to be less forgiving with Israel, now that the government is changing,” one Israeli source told the newspaper.

Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu moves closer to coalition deal
AFP/December 08, 2022
JERUSALEM: Israel’s prime-minister designate Benjamin Netanyahu struck a deal with an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party Thursday on allocating cabinet jobs in a key step toward forming a government ahead of a looming deadline.The deal announced overnight promises the Shas party five ministerial jobs in Netanyahu’s incoming government, which is expected to be the most right-wing in Israel’s history.n“We have achieved another step toward forming a government,” said Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving premier, whose victory in a November 1 election set him up to retake power after just 14 months in opposition. Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party has already signed coalition deals with three controversial extreme right parties — Religious Zionism, Jewish Power and the virulently anti-LGBT Noam. Likud’s agreements with Shas and another ultra-Orthodox bloc, United Torah Judaism, are provisional, not binding coalition deals. Additional pacts will be required before a government is announced, the parties have said. One complication is that Shas leader Aryeh Deri has been convicted of tax offenses, which, according to Israel’s attorney general, bars him from serving in cabinet.
Israel’s parliament, where Netanyahu and his allies now control a majority, may seek to pass legislation allowing Deri to serve in cabinet before firming up a coalition deal. Under the Shas-Likud deal, Deri will be both interior minister and health minister in Netanyahu’s next government, in addition to being named deputy prime minister. If confirmed, Deri would become Israel’s first ultra-Orthodox Jewish deputy premier. Last month’s election put Netanyahu and his allies in a position to form a stable, right-wing government, ending an unprecedented period of political deadlock that forced five elections in less than four years. Some Israeli political analysts had forecast that Netanyahu would move to announce a coalition days after receiving his mandate from President Isaac Herzog on November 13. But the coalition talks have proved complex, with Netanyahu forced to give sensitive portfolios to controversial figures, including Jewish Power leader Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been promised the national security ministry with responsiblity for the border police in the occupied West Bank despite his fiercely anti-Arab rhetoric. Netanyahu’s 28-day mandate from Herzog expires at midnight (2200 GMT) Sunday.
He is widely expected to seek a two-week extension, as several issues remain unresolved, including the allocation of portfolios within his own Likud party, according to Israeli media reports.

Israeli Army Kills 3 Palestinians in West Bank Raid
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Israeli forces killed three Palestinians on Thursday during a pre-dawn raid in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said it was carrying out an arrest raid in the flashpoint city of Jenin in the northern West Bank when forces came under fire and then responded with live fire. Jenin, and its adjacent refugee camp, are a stronghold for Palestinian militants and Israel has stepped up raids there in recent months. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that “confrontations and violent clashes” erupted between residents of Jenin and the Israeli forces. The Palestinian Health Ministry identified the three men as Atta Shalabi, 46, Tarek al-Damj, 29, and Sedki Zakarneh, 29. It was not immediately clear if they were affiliated with a militant group. Palestinian media shared footage showing an ambulance hit by Israeli gunshots in Jenin. Palestinian factions in the city called for a general strike to mourn the dead and show solidarity with their families. On Wednesday, Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian militant who opened fire at them near the West Bank settlement of Ofra. According to the Palestinian health ministry, more than 210 Palestinians have been killed this year.

Sudan Forum Affirms Strong Arab-Chinese Relations
Khartoum - Mohammed Amin Yassin/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 8 December, 2022
Ambassadors of Arab countries in Khartoum called for deepening Arab-Chinese relations, stressing the mutual strategic interests between Arab countries and Beijing and the importance of pushing them to the highest level of comprehensive cooperation. Khartoum hosted on Wednesday a forum on the "Arab-Chinese Summit: Current Challenges and Future Prospects" ahead of the three summits in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia will host the Saudi-Chinese, GCC-Chinese, and Arab-Chinese summits with the participation of 30 leaders of countries and international organizations. The Moroccan ambassador to Sudan, Mohamed Maa el-Enein, said that the Arab countries view China as an attractive and active economic hub, expecting a qualitative shift in relations and an increase in trade exchange during the next two decades. Maa el-Enein asserted that Arab countries must boost relations with emerging powers. The ambassador said that trade exchange between the Arab countries and China amounted to about $320 billion during 2021, describing it as an encouraging indicator for developing these ties. The Secretary-General of the Association of Arab-Chinese Friendship Societies, Ali Yousif, said that Riyadh would be hosting the Arab-Chinese summit amid historical and exceptional circumstances, namely the Russian-Ukrainian war, which poses a threat to global security and safety. He reiterated the summit's importance, calling on Arab and Chinese leaders to put the Arab and Chinese peoples at the forefront of their discussions. For his part, the head of the Asian Department of the Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Mohamed Abdullah, said that Arab countries developed a shared vision from a strategic perspective with China. Abdullah noted that the Arab states want to develop ties to higher levels of comprehensive multi-dimensional and multi-level cooperation. He called for boosting mutual strategic trust and maintaining common interests based on declared principles of mutual benefit. Arab countries are cooperating with China to maintain standard security and sustainable collaboration, said the official, adding that they are pushing for the implementation of the global security initiative and reaching just solutions to the issues of the Arab region. The meeting included the Chinese ambassador, Ma Xinmin, the ambassadors of Morocco, Yemen, Palestine, and Oman, the Qatari charge d'affaires, officials of the Sudanese Foreign Ministry, representatives of diplomatic missions, and members of the diplomatic corps of Arab countries. The meeting addressed regional and international developments, economic cooperation, and investments between Arab countries and China. They also discussed the Belt and Road Initiative launched by China to improve interdependence and cooperation on a large scale that extends across continents and its role in developing Arab and Chinese relations.

Saudi Arabia signs Huawei deal, deepening China ties on Xi visit
Aziz El Yaakoubi and Eduardo Baptista/Reuters/December 8, 2022
Saudi Arabia and China showcased deepening ties with a series of strategic deals on Thursday during a visit by President Xi Jinping, including one with tech giant Huawei, whose growing foray into the Gulf region has raised U.S. security concerns. King Salman signed a "comprehensive strategic partnership agreement" with Xi, who received a lavish welcome in a country forging new global partnerships beyond the West. Xi's car was escorted to the king's palace by members of the Saudi Royal Guard riding Arabian horses and carrying Chinese and Saudi flags, and he later attended a welcome banquet. The Chinese leader held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, de facto ruler of the oil giant, who greeted him with a warm smile. Xi heralded "a new era" in Arab ties. The display stood in stark contrast to the low-key welcome extended in July to U.S. President Joe Biden, with whom ties have been strained by Saudi energy policy and the 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi that had overshadowed the awkward visit. The United States, warily watching China's growing sway and with its ties to Riyadh at a nadir, said on Wednesday Xi's trip was an example of Chinese attempts to exert influence around the world and would not change U.S. policy towards the Middle East. A memorandum with China's Huawei Technologies, on cloud computing and building high-tech complexes in Saudi cities, was agreed despite U.S. unease with Gulf allies over a possible security risk in using the Chinese firm's technology. Huawei has participated in building 5G networks in most Gulf states despite the U.S. concerns.
Prince Mohammed, with whom Biden bumped fists instead of shaking hands in July, has made a comeback on the world stage following the Khashoggi killing and has been defiant in the face of U.S. ire over oil supplies and pressure from Washington to help isolate Russia. In further burnishing of his international credentials, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said on Thursday that the prince and the UAE president jointly led mediation efforts that secured the release of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner in a prisoner swap with Russia. In an op-ed published in Saudi media, Xi said he was on a "pioneering trip" to "open a new era of China's relations with the Arab world, the Arab countries of the Gulf, and Saudi Arabia". China and Arab countries would "continue to hold high the banner of non-interference in internal affairs", Xi added. That sentiment was echoed by the crown prince, who said his country opposed any "interference in China's internal affairs in the name of human rights", Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. Xi, due to meet other Gulf oil producers and attend a wider gathering of Arab leaders on Friday, said China would work to make those summits "milestone events in the history of China-Arab relations", and that Beijing sees Riyadh as "an important force in the multipolar world". Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates have said that they would not choose sides between global powers and were diversifying partners to serve national economic and security interests.
"TRUSTED PARTNER"
China, the world's biggest energy consumer, is a major trade partner of Gulf states and bilateral ties have expanded as the region pushes economic diversification, raising U.S. hackles about Chinese involvement in sensitive Gulf infrastructure. The Saudi energy minister on Wednesday said Riyadh would stay a "trusted and reliable" energy partner for Beijing and the two would boost cooperation in energy supply chains by setting up a regional centre in the kingdom for Chinese factories. Chinese and Saudi firms also signed 34 deals for investment in green energy, information technology, cloud services, transport, construction and other sectors, state news agency SPA reported. It gave no figures, but had earlier said the two countries would seal initial agreements worth $30 billion. Tang Tianbo, Middle East specialist at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) - a Chinese government-affiliated think tank - said the visit would result in further expansion of energy cooperation.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 08-09/2022
Turkey and Israel: 'On' Again, Only to Be 'Off' Again
Burak Bekdil/Gatestone Institute/December 08/2022
Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, appears to be on yet another hoax charm offensive: he is faking the restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel and Egypt, and even signalling peace with President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
He needs to look pretty to his Middle East nemeses to A) avoid further Western sanctions, B) wink at Washington, and C) raise some international cash flows into the badly ailing Turkish economy that threatens to end his reign after two decades of uninterrupted rule.
Erdoğan and his ministers pledged to isolate Israel internationally. Instead, it was Turkey that was isolated by the international community, including the European Union, the US, Israel, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
There will always be the risk of Turkish-Israeli friction, including the possibility of a new break up, as long as any Islamist regime in Turkey refuses fully to respect the Jewish state's sovereignty and admit that Hamas is a terrorist entity that aims to annihilate Israel by any means necessary (see Hamas charter).
Come May 2023, with the commemoration day of the "Nakba" ("catastrophe") -- meaning the loss by five invading Arab armies of the war they had initiated to try to destroy Israel in 1948 -- there is likely to be a new escalation of hostilities with a fresh wave of Hamas violence, and Israel's response to Hamas's violence, then Turkey's response to Israel's response. Erdoğan will try to exploit this in Turkey's June presidential elections.
Once again Erdoğan plans to be shining as the anti-Zionist, Islamist neo-Ottoman sultan, the savior of oppressed Muslims!
Turkey's Islamist strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, appears to be on yet another hoax charm offensive: he is faking the restoration of diplomatic relations with Israel and Egypt, and even signalling peace with President Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria -- in addition to his earlier reconciliation efforts with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He needs to look pretty to his Middle East nemeses to A) avoid further Western sanctions, B) wink at Washington, and C) raise some international cash flows into the badly ailing Turkish economy that threatens to end his reign after two decades of uninterrupted rule. It is true that foreign policy is often more about interests, rather than love and hate. Erdoğan, however, represents a school of his own: pragmatism in dire times blended with high doses of ideology and emotion. He once suggested that Zionism must be designated a crime against humanity. The civilized world was shocked.
He also called then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "an invader, a terrorist, an oppressor and a thief" in 2018. Erdoğan's foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, not to be outdone, called Netanyahu a "baby killer."
In 2018, Erdoğan said he did not deem Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that rules the Gaza Strip, a terrorist organization, and repeated his earlier words:
"Our support to the resistance of the Palestinians upsets them [Israelis and the West]. But in this context I do not deem Hamas a terrorist organization. Hamas is one of the resistance movements working to liberate the occupied territories of the Palestinians."
May 2010 was a landmark that history will probably not soon be able to change. The pro-Palestinian Free Gaza Movement and the pro-Hamas Turkish Humanitarian Relief Fund organized a six-ship flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza to break Israel's blockade of the territory to prevent proscribed offensive weapons from being smuggled in. The ships refused an Israeli offer to deliver the goods via the port of Ashdod. On May 31, Israeli naval special forces intercepted the convoy in international waters. They took control of five of the ships without resistance. However, some activists on the Mavi Marmara, a large Turkish passenger ferry that was the main ship in the flotilla, attacked the Israeli commandos. The confrontation resulted in nine Turks and one Turkish-American killed, more than 20 passengers wounded, and 10 Israeli commandos wounded. Of course, the Mavi Marmara, turned out to be loaded with offensive weapons.
Erdoğan prescribed punishment for Israel: "Today (May 30) is a turning point. They once again showed their ability to perpetrate slaughters ... Israel had to 'absolutely be punished by all means,'" he said.
Then-Turkish President Abdullah Gul, echoing the same pessimism, added: "Turkish-Israeli relations can never be as before from now on."
Erdoğan and his ministers pledged to isolate Israel internationally. Instead, it was Turkey that was isolated by the international community, including the European Union, the US, Israel, Egypt, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Erdoğan also promised that Turkey would open an embassy to [a wished-for] state of Palestine in Jerusalem.
Actually, in the past decade, Turkish efforts to isolate a country internationally in the region had been spectacularly successful; but that country was not Israel. Instead, Erdoğan found himself in complete international isolation as his regional rivals, including Israel, Cyprus, Greece, Israel and Egypt, teamed up around the exploitation of natural gas in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, leaving Turkey as the odd one out. Erdoğan was grudgingly forced to make a U-turn.
In February, Erdoğan hosted Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Ankara. Soon afterwards, Turkey and Israel agreed to appoint ambassadors, ending their ambassador-less diplomatic relations since 2018. So far, so good. All the same, a new parameter entered into the rocky equation while peacemakers on both sides were prematurely celebrating.
Netanyahu's conservative Likud Party and its religious and right-wing allies marked a clear victory in Israel's Nov. 1 election, thanks largely as a reaction to stepped-up Palestinian terrorism. On Nov. 25, Likud signed its first coalition deal with Itamar Ben-Gvir's right-wing Jewish Power Party. Despite initial signs of quiet in Ankara and Jerusalem, the new quarrel theater of Erdoğan vs. Netanyahu may jeopardize the new, infant ambassador-level relationship between the two countries.
No matter how much Erdoğan's new policy calculus may try to conceal it, the bad blood between the Turkish and Israeli leaders is likely to remain where it is, possibly lasting until Erdoğan's political legacy has been completely deleted from the Turkish political psyche.
In late October, during a visit to Ankara, Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz urged Erdoğan to expel the Hamas leaders residing in Turkey. Hamas, a proxy client of Iran, was officially designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. in 1997 and is openly committed to Israel's destruction.
In November, Turkey refused to comply with Israel's request to expel the Hamas leaders living there. Responding to a question from MPs, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu said Ankara does not view Hamas as a terror group and refused to expel its members. "We didn't satisfy any [Israeli] request on Hamas, because we don't perceive Hamas as a terror group," Çavuşoğlu said.
There will always be the risk of Turkish-Israeli friction, including the possibility of a new break up, as long as any Islamist regime in Turkey refuses fully to respect the Jewish state's sovereignty and admit that Hamas is a terrorist entity that aims to annihilate Israel by any means necessary (see the Hamas charter).
Come May 2023, with the commemoration day of the "Nakba" ("catastrophe") -- meaning the loss by five invading Arab armies of the war they had initiated to try to destroy Israel in 1948 -- there is likely to be a new escalation of hostilities with a fresh wave of Hamas violence, and Israel's response to Hamas's violence, then Turkey's response to Israel's response. Erdoğan will try to exploit this in Turkey's June presidential elections.
Once again, Erdoğan plans to be shining as the anti-Zionist, Islamist neo-Ottoman sultan, the savior of oppressed Muslims!
It is a Turkish opera buffa that has gotten old, stale and boring.
*Burak Bekdil, one of Turkey's leading journalists, was recently fired from the country's most noted newspaper after 29 years, for writing in Gatestone what is taking place in Turkey. He is a Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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The Regional Impact of Iran’s Drones in Ukraine
Omar Alradad/Washington Institute/December 08/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/113928/%d8%b9%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b1%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d9%88%d8%a7%d8%b4%d9%86%d8%b7%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%af%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%82/
Russia's use of Iranian drones in Ukraine foreshadows potentially dangerous developments for U.S. forces and their allies in the Middle East.
After months of denial, Iran’s foreign minister acknowledged on November 5 that they had supplied Russia with drones. Prior to this, the Supreme Leader of Iran had made several statements concerning the use of Iranian-manufactured drones by Russian armed forces in Ukraine, but these statements only highlighted the power of Iran’s drone system. They included saying that “those who used to say that photos of Iranian drones were created and modified in photoshop now warn that they are dangerous,” and “they wish to hold Iran to account by asking why it sells weapons to one party or another.”
The Supreme Leader had all but verified Ukraine’s claims in this praise, but the foreign minister’s admission officially put to rest any lingering doubts in the absence of evidence from Ukraine or Iranian counter-evidence, especially after the flood of initial statements by the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with support from the Representative of Iran to the United Nations, attempted to deny that Iran had provided Russia with any missiles or drones. Notably, this attempt to deny drone use echoed Iran’s longstanding denial of supplying missiles to Houthi forces in Yemen. Now, Ukraine has become a means for Iran to conduct live tests of its drone fleet against defense systems supplied by the United States and NATO.
Iranian drones—particularly kamikaze drones—are a potent mix of efficacy and affordability, at an estimated cost of $20,000 per drone. Of course, these drones do have shortcomings, including their inability to carry explosives weighing more than 50 kilograms and the slow speeds that make them easily detectable. However, while individual drones make easy targets, sending a large number of drones per raid makes the drones significantly more dangerous, in keeping with the military approach that it is sufficient to strike 20 percent of one’s targets.
Moreover, Iranian leadership has practiced doublespeak regarding the drone issue, with the Supreme Leader expressing Iranian public opinion and praising drone manufacturers in his comments on the situation while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses a more diplomatic discourse. For the rest of the region, Iran’s handling of the message is particularly important given the ways that Iran has exploited the Ukraine issue to project certain messages about itself. In particular, it seems that Iran has aimed to situate themselves as a partner or affiliate of a ‘new world order’ viz-a-vis Moscow and Beijing. This message is undoubtedly directed at the West, portraying Iran as a power capable of playing a game-changing role in both regional and international conflicts, especially if the nuclear negotiations don’t go their way. However, this message is also clear to those wary of Iranian military buildup on their eastern borders.
The use of Iranian drones in Russia’s war against Ukraine has provoked crucial questions in Middle East military circles. More specifically, regional forces—including U.S. forces in the Middle East, the Gulf states, and Jordan—have been attempting to gauge the true extent of the threat posed by these Iranian drones for some time now. While previous data was somewhat limited, their regional deployment has provided a growing series of successful attacks, including effective strikes in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It has also been widely reported that drug smuggling gangs in Jordan linked to Iran and Syria have been actively launching drones from southern Syria towards Jordan since the beginning of the year.
At least some of Iran’s drones have proved similarly effective in striking their Ukrainian targets. In light of Iran’s policy of hostility towards Gulf countries, especially, the availability of this weaponry to Iran-allied militias would further disturb the security and stability of the entire region.
Of course, this will put Arab armies in front of new challenges regarding ways to confront Iranian drones, and they must search for solutions, including importing drones from the United States and European countries. Some may even buy Israeli or Turkish planes and technology to confront Iranian weapons, especially since the Ukrainian army has reportedly seen success with these technologies. Such developments could spark a new arms race in the region similar to the nuclear and missile race.
In the immediate context, it is unlikely that Iran’s drones will cause major strategic shifts in the war in Ukraine. Russia is using them specifically to strike civilian targets and to destroy Ukrainian infrastructure in an attempt to break the people’s will. Furthermore, the United States and NATO countries have many ways to deal with the Iranian drones on a practical level—including new Euro-American sanctions on Iran and on the individuals and entities responsible for the Iranian drone development program, as well as presenting the issue to the UN Security Council.
Nevertheless, these measures have not been entirely sufficient. Ukraine must obtain better military aid to deal more effectively with Iranian drones. Since these drones are technically simplistic and poor quality, defense technologies would do wonders in Ukraine’s fight against new threats. And looking further afield, the United States, NATO, and regional militaries must also work to strengthen their own capacity to combat Iranian drones and disrupt Iran’s drone program. This program will likely be used against the United States and its allies in the Middle East in the future.

The Next Step Is to Abolish Iran’s Guardian Council and Hold Free Elections
Camelia Entekhabifard/Editor-in-chief of the Independent Persian/Asharq Al-Awsat/December, 08/ 2022
In recent weeks, we’ve seen state murders, summons, interrogation, kidnapping, torture and deaths; none of which is new to the Iranian nation. What’s different is how common this has become and the oppressors can’t hide it anymore.
Now, instead of executing people in prison, they execute them on the streets with bullets of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Basij. More than 400 people have been killed on the streets and we worry for the life of citizens who are being cruelly massacred in the open.
The repression that started in the first months and years of the revolution, and the mass executions they accompanied, never stopped. Believing that they were controlling the nation, they expanded intelligence and security bodies and continued their silent monitoring along with executions, arrests and threats.
In all these years, they kidnapped and killed people from inside and outside Iran. They sent people to prison, exile, lashing and death. But as Iran’s Queen Farah repeatedly says, the mythical Phoenix of Iran has risen from the ashes.
In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, people are being literally slaughtered with knives. Comparatively, under the mullahs' rule in Iran, people are killed with methods that are seemingly more modern: with batons and bullets.
Taliban equal the most brutal type of animals who lack the capacity to think. The murderers ruling over Iran are no different from those portrayed in ancient mythologies of Iran: the blood-thirsty and imposing figures of Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh or the cruelest characters in the story of Amir Arsalan who had to fight thousands of monsters and evil species.
We know that reading of Shahname has become implicitly banned in Iran. We know that stories of Saadi are deleted from schoolbooks and the same has happened to Hafez and Rumi.
This plan to counter the great Persianate poets and sages is partly based on their logic for opposing their message of awakening and their caution against ignorance, darkness and religious obscurantism and their promotion of free thinking. More importantly, it is because this criminal sect is anti-Iranian.
The great Ferdowsi suffered a lot to write his great masterpiece, Shahname, to safeguard the language and thoughts of Iranians and express the glorious history of this land. Banning the reading of Shahname is done to cut the spiritual and intellectual connection of the Iranian nation with its past.
The occupiers of this land, in order to reach their goal of forming their desired Islamic Ummah, must damage the identity and nationalism of Iranians and their links to their own history and civilization. A nation that doesn’t know its own past and loses its links with its roots will became a mere instrument, without its own agency, who will resort to the ruling caste for a vague glory.
We can see this in the regime ruling over the Republic of Azerbaijan which attempts to create a new identity for itself by denying its common history with the Iranian nation; an identity based on individuality which could change as the heads of governments change.
Rumi starts his Masnavi with such profoundly strong verses:
“Listen to this reed how it complains, telling a tale of separations…
Everyone who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it.”
For the Iranian people, this being “left far from the source” didn’t take more than 43 years and despite the lack of information amongst the young generation of Shahname myths (since it’s forbidden in the Islamic Republic), people continue to seek to their roots; so much so that they’ve stunned the world. When they speak and write of Zahak and the snakes on his shoulders and how this evil force victimized the Iranian youth, they show the depth of their awakening and knowledge.
When Arabs attacked Iran 1,400 years ago, a large part of Iranian history in the Sassanian period was forgotten as they dominated and occupied the country. Much turbulence followed and destruction of much historical, artistic and cultural evidence didn’t allow a restoration. It was possible during the Constitutional Revolution of 1905 and the rise of the Iranian nation of the rule of law and affirmation of national identity.
The rule of Reza Shah was one of fighting ignorance, disease and bringing Iranians out of feudal conditions. It was a period in which the nation was given an individual identity: those without a family name now had to pick one and get an ID card. Previously, having a family name only belonged to elite families in society and everybody else only had a first name.
Eradicating cholera, polio and other infected diseases; urban plumbing; building a railway and many, many more measures all took place during this period. It was once more a Western conspiracy and occupation of Iran that stopped it.
After the Second World War, Iran’s young crown prince who became Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi went on to develop culture, review cultural and historical roots of Iran and also develop social services. But conspiracies and abuses of the reactionary clerical class didn’t allow the late Shah to bring Iran back to the same credit and glory of the Sassanian period.
An unread part of Iranian history during Iran’s occupation by Arabs is about how they dominated Iranian homes to change their culture. They forced Iranians to marry their occupiers so that they would be obedient and accept the new religion and refuse to revolt.
A caste of clerics who are called “seyed” and claim to be descendants of the Prophet Mohammad have created opportunities for themselves by abusing the name of the prophet. Their “Seyed” status doesn’t mean they descend from the prophet. Although, even if they were, this would be no reason for superiority.
In the Arabic language, “seyed” means “Mr” and “seyedah” is used to address women. Thus, the adding of this suffix to names of some Iranian men and women doesn’t certify that they are related to the Prophet. History tells us that in the first century of Iran’s occupation, Iranian people called their occupiers as “seyed” and “seyedah” in their own language. This means that they addressed Arabs in the Arabic language and thus this title was also used for these people’s children who were born in Iran.
In expressing this historical reality, I don’t mean to disrespect some Iranian clerics. I am just aiming to clarify a truth that has not been expressed for centuries out of fear. Nations intermixing with each other is an accepted thing and their marriage to each other is beautiful.
Iranians passed through that dark and difficult historical period and today think of a union that has kept them up for thousands of years despite repression by ethnicities, various occupiers and conspiracies of Westerners.
For me and thousands more, it is shocking to hear that people would dig up the grave of their loved ones to bury them in a place of their choosing, out of reach of the agents of the criminal sect. It is unbelievably painful to hear that someone would steal a corpse from a morgue so that the Zahak agents could not get to it. It is shocking to hear that a mother would put ice on the corpse of her killed son to keep him away from the child-killing monsters.
But this behavior, which breaks our hearts and shakes the world, carries a secret. It shows that the people of Iran have abandoned fear and will now do things that are hard to imagine for the ruling class.
The mullahs have failed to change the history of the nation. They failed to erase it. They failed to export their Shiite revolution and the people of Iran and countries of the region did not convert to their sect.
The solution to ending the protests of the Iranian people lies in getting rid of the ruling class. They have to acknowledge their Iranianness.
If they have discontinued the Guidance Patrol (agent of oppression and humiliation for Iranian women and men), they should now abolish the Guardian Council and hold free elections to form an interim popular government based on the constitution of the Constitutional Revolution.
The people of Iran don’t want the Islamic Republic and if the current rulers who act like occupiers have a modicum of wisdom, they should accept free choice. It will then be proven that the people don’t want them. The constitutional revolution is the result of the blood of tens of thousands of martyrs. It is the biggest achievement of the Iranian nation in previous centuries. And ultimately, the new Shahname that the Iranian nation is creating will have a bad end not for the people but for the occupiers of Iran.

Iran regime has increased its persecution of minorities
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Arab News/December 08, 2022
The Iranian regime’s suppression, specifically of religious and ethnic minorities, has reached a new peak. Some of the most violent attacks on protesters over the last three months have been occurring in provinces where minorities, including Kurds, Arabs, Sunnis and Balochis, reside.
Three major institutions appear to be involved: The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, its paramilitary group the Basij and the regime’s security forces. The deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, Adam Coogle, warned that attacks by IRGC forces “on residential areas in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (are) part of a long history of lethal attacks on civilians, including during the war in Syria. Countries seeking to hold Iran accountable for its brutal crackdown … should also ensure that those responsible for indiscriminately killing civilians abroad are held accountable as well.”
It is worth noting that Mahsa Amini, whose death while in the custody of Iran’s so-called morality police sparked the ongoing nationwide protests, was from the Kurdish ethnic minority group and the Sunni religious minority group. While many Iranians are subjected to persecution for exercising their basic rights, such as freedom of expression, the persecution of ethnic minorities appears to be proportionally much greater.
As Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division, previously pointed out: “Iranian authorities show little tolerance of political dissent anywhere in the country, but they are particularly hostile to dissent in minority areas where there has been any history of separatist activities.”Iran has several ethnic minority groups, which mainly live in provinces bordering other countries. The ethnic minorities include the Arabs, who live near the Iraqi border in southwest Iran; Kurds, who reside in the northwest in what is known as Iranian Kurdistan; the Azeris, who are from several provinces including Tehran, Hamadan and East Azerbaijan; and the Balochis, who mostly reside in the southeastern province of Sistan and Balochistan, which borders Pakistan.
This also suggests that there is greater discrimination against people living in the border provinces. Many members of the ethnic minority groups also happen to belong to Iran’s religious minority, the Sunnis. Sunnis are the largest religious minority in the country, with many belonging to the Arab, Balochi, Turkmen and Kurdish ethnic groups.
Since its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic has generally viewed the country’s ethnic and religious minorities through the lens of suspicion
According to the UN’s special rapporteur for human rights in Iran, the country’s Sunnis have long raised serious concerns that the “authorities do not appoint or employ them in high-ranking government positions, such as Cabinet-level ministers or governors. They have also raised concerns regarding reported restrictions on the construction of Sunni mosques in Shiite-majority areas, including the capital Tehran, and the execution or imminent execution of Sunni activists the government alleges were involved in terrorist-related activities.”
Since its establishment in 1979, the Islamic Republic has generally viewed the country’s ethnic and religious minorities through the lens of suspicion and regarded them as an opposition group or as outsiders. In addition, since one of the major revolutionary and religious principles of Iran’s ruling clerics is to export Shiite ideology, non-Shiite groups are generally considered rivals, conspirators or threats to achieving the regime’s ideological goals. This explains why, even though Sunnis make up about 10 percent of Iran’s population, no Sunni has been appointed to a high-level government position since the establishment of the regime in 1979. This has all been happening despite Article 12 of the Islamic Republic’s constitution stipulating: “Other Islamic schools, including the Hanafi, Shafi’i, Maliki, Hanbali and Zaydi, are to be accorded full respect and their followers are free to act in accordance with their own jurisprudence in performing their religious rites. These schools enjoy official status in matters pertaining to religious education, affairs of personal status (marriage, divorce, inheritance and wills) and related litigation in courts of law.”
It should also be noted that Iran’s ethnic and religious minorities generally live in provinces that have an abundance of natural resources. For example, Khuzestan is one of Iran’s wealthiest provinces when it comes to oil and natural gas. It reportedly produces 85 percent to 90 percent of Iran’s oil, making it the main pillar of the country’s economy and the government’s revenues. But in spite of the fact that Khuzestan is rich in natural resources, many of its Arab and Sunni population live in poverty. Balochis face the same dire situation, as they are treated like second-class citizens, repressed and sidelined.
In a nutshell, the Iranian regime has recently escalated its brutal crackdown on and suppression of ethnic and religious minorities. The country’s minorities, including the Kurds, Arabs, Balochis and Sunnis, should be free to exercise their constitutional rights. It is important that human rights groups and the international political community pressure the Iranian regime into halting its persecution and harassment of religious and ethnic minorities.
• Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a Harvard-educated Iranian-American political scientist. Twitter: @Dr_Rafizadeh

“Kiss My Foot, O Lowly Infidel!”
Raymond Ibrahim/December, 08/ 2022
Muslims are at it again—forcing the despised “other,” in this case, Jews, to kiss their feet.
On Dec. 1, 2022, two Palestinian teenagers accosted, threatened, and ordered a Jewish (Haredi) man to kiss their feet in Jerusalem’s Old City. They videotaped and posted the incident on TikTok (image above), to the audio of an Arabic rapper who, among other vulgarities, employs the notorious Arabic insult kuss umak (“your mama’s vagina”), which was presumably directed at the Jew in question, as he kissed the hand and foot of one of the Muslims.
This is hardly the first incident of its kind. According to a Dec. 2 report devoted to this incident,
The phenomenon of Palestinians filming themselves assaulting or humiliating ultra-Orthodox residents sparked outrage and clashes last year, leading to several arrests. In one particularly viral video, a Palestinian was filmed pouring hot coffee on an Orthodox man, leading to a two-year prison sentence.
Nor is this despicable phenomenon limited to the Middle East. According to a 2109 report from Australia:
A 12-year-old Jewish student was forced to kneel down and kiss the shoes of a Muslim classmate, while a five-year-old boy was allegedly called a “Jewish cockroach” and repeatedly hounded in the school toilets by his young classmates.… The older boy’s act of kissing another student’s shoes, under threat of being swarmed by several other boys, was filmed, photographed and shared on social media [image below] …. One of the boys who watched on was later suspended for five days for assaulting the Jewish student in the school locker room.
Some might argue that Muslim “grievances,” in the above cases, the Arab-Israeli conflict, is the driving force behind Muslims trying to degrade and humiliate Jews. In reality, however, this form of abject “obeisance” was always expected of non-Muslims, for no more of a “grievance” than that they were non-Muslims—infidels.
For example, in The Adventures of Thomas Pellow, an Englishman (d.1747) who wrote of his experiences in Morocco as an abducted slave, references to European slaves being compelled to kiss their Muslim master’s feet are not uncommon.
Sultan Muley Ismail—who enforced sharia and regularly prayed—went one step further, according to Pellow: Abducted Europeans were required to “pull off their shoes, put on a particular habit they have to denote a slave, and when they approach him fall down and kiss the ground at his horse’s feet.” Those not conforming to such abject behavior—the “lucky” ones—instantly lost their heads. The rest were slowly tortured in ways that beggar belief.
Perhaps this is the only “good news” regarding the recent, modern day foot kissing incidents. As vile as they may be, they underscore an important fact: few things are as reliably consistent as Muslim behavior—particularly the sort we are regularly assured has “nothing to do with Islam.” Otherwise, why does one keep finding the same “disquieting” behavior in regions that widely differ in both time and space, such as contemporary Israel and Australia, and premodern Morocco?
Incidentally, and as another parallel, Pellow and other European slaves in Africa were regularly and consistently called “Christian dogs”—including before they were beheaded by scimitars. This characterization of subhuman infidels as animals remains a fixture today, and for the same reason. For instance, another persecuted Jewish pupil, age 5, at the same aforementioned Australian school, was called a “Jewish cockroach.”
Such is the great irony: even in the minutest of details, and whether in word or deed, the negative behavior that Muslims exhibit today has a long and unwavering paper trail, one that crosses centuries and continents. The only difference—the only discontinuity—between now and then is how the West responds.
In both the recent incident in Israel, and the 2019 one from Australia, authorities would not even admit that an ideological factor—Islamic supremacism—might have motivated those Muslims who forced Jews to kiss their feet.
The disconnect is evident in another, especially ignoble manner: whereas Muslims have long forced non-Muslims under their power to kiss their feet, both figuratively and literally, today the man who holds an office that for centuries sponsored the West’s staunch resistance to Islam—the Catholic pope—willingly prostrates himself before and kisses Muslim feet, further reinforcing this abject relationship to Muslims who do not understand acts of humility.

Iran regime likely to repeat Syria’s violence to quell protests
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab NJews/December 08, 2022
The past week has seen some uncertainty from the regime in Iran. Indeed, the news of the disbandment of the so-called morality police ended up not being confirmed. Whether this was a ploy to create confusion among protesters or a test balloon, it ended up showing the determination and resilience of the Iranian people. None of the protests, strikes or movements were stopped in response to this news. This popular movement is and always has been about more than just the morality police. The morality police is just one of the symbols of this regime. And the people want real change. They do not want theatrics and will not be duped. The unconfirmed news of the disbandment seemed to most please the Western pundits. They jumped to share their views that this showed that the regime was ready to bring some change. In an ironic twist, the same people that state that Ukrainians should not negotiate with Russia for their freedom have ruled that the Iranian people should renounce theirs. Moreover, they quickly put this into the frame of the nuclear negotiations and that these should move forward. Never have I seen such desire to rehabilitate or protect a regime and deny ordinary people their will.
The Iranian regime has been emboldened by the weak statements of its declared so-called enemies. Obviously, no one can bring about change for the Iranian people. Not a single country can or should send troops to do this. But giving the regime international legitimacy puts a bigger wall in front of the protesters. After four months, hundreds of deaths, violence in the streets and ruthless repression, the situation on the ground has reached a dead end.
What comes next in Iran? Will the protests bring change? Will the people be able to overthrow the current regime, as they clearly now demand? Will the protesters answer the regime’s violence with violence or will they stay peaceful? Can the regime dissipate protests through divisions? Would people accept the structural transformation of the country? Is the regime even willing?
The only certainty is that in order for the protests to succeed and bring change, they absolutely need the support of a strong military apparatus. This is the only way they will be capable of forcing change. This cannot be the police, for obvious reasons. Historically, including in Iran in 1979, the shift always comes when the army switches sides. However, the regime in Tehran has built enough militias globally to avoid this or make such a transformation futile. The army might not even be able to do so in fact. The people want the pursuit of happiness and not the pursuit of death to be the slogan of their country
And so, we are now in the classic vicious cycle of increasing violence. There is, for now, not even a “too little, too late” situation because the regime is simply offering nothing. It does not accept or recognize the protests as being legitimate. And so, if this turnaround from an armed institution that would take on the cause of the people does not happen, what are the chances of Iran following the same track as Syria did in 2011? Could Iran fall into full confrontation and chaos?
The situation in Syria was different. Firstly, the Assad regime was part of a different religious minority — the Alawis — than the Sunni-majority protesters. And so, the regime’s pillars and military did not hesitate for one second to use absolute violence and with terrifying methods to protect themselves. Those who split from the army and joined the protests were hence Sunni and nonessential to the military institution, which stayed in place. But they had combat knowledge and changed the nature of the confrontation. The appearance of Daesh against the Assad regime gave it the opportunity to use absolute violence with the support of Iran and the blessing of the international community.
Facing the resolve of the people, will the Iranian regime and its members be able to kill in big numbers, like the regime in Syria did? And would any sizable numbers split from their military to join the people in their fight ? This all comes down to the answer to a single question: Will their religious beliefs blind them to horrific violence, just as it did with elements of the regime in Syria?
The regime’s accusations of foreign interference in the protests gives us the first indication. This is the first step toward justifying more violence against the protesters in order to protect what this regime claims it stands for. The regime, which openly negotiates with the West on the nuclear file, is nevertheless capable of issuing a moral accusation against the people of Iran. This is the hypocrisy the people will not stand for. And so, if the protests drag on, extreme violence can definitely take over Iran and the regime.
Is there another route? Former President Mohammed Khatami stated this week that the rulers must heed the protesters’ demands. Is this a true appeal or another ploy to divide the people and create confusion, just like the news of the dissolution of the morality police? Could the reformists present an acceptable alternative or transition to avoid Iran sinking into absolute chaos? The voices coming from the streets in Iran indicate the opposite. They no longer accept the dance between reformists and hard-liners. They see them as one. The people want the pursuit of happiness and not the pursuit of death to be the slogan of their country.
• Khaled Abou Zahr is chief executive of Eurabia, a media and tech company, and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.