English LCCC Newsbulletin For Le

English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For January 02/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.january02.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
The Sunday Of Finding Jesus Christ The Boy at the Temple
Luke 02/41-52/Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them.Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 01-02/2022
Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2022/Elias Bejjani/January 01/2022
Al-Rahi Says National Dialogue Must be Sponsored by U.N.
Al-Rahi calls for national dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations
Corona - MoPH: 3358 new coronavirus cases, 17 deaths
Mikati praises security forces for maintaining security on New Year's Eve
Interior minister praises security forces’ work in ensuring security
Army Chief: Army will remain cohesive, capable of carrying out its sacred mission
Hezbollah Hands Over to Israel a Man Wanting to Join its Ranks
Al-Tufayli Says Hezbollah, FPM Are Corrupt Partners
The Lebanese Citizens’ Dream/Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al Awsat/January, 01/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 01-02/20222
Pope Urges Working for Peace in New Year's Message
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in New Year Video Message
Clash in southeast of Iran kills three IRGC members, six ‘armed criminals’
Iran Space Launch Fails to Put Payloads Into Orbit
Iraqi Minister Sacks Babylon Police Chief after Deadly Operation
20-Member Family Killed in Iraq Massacre
Russian Warplanes Hit Areas in Northwest Syria
Senior Ennahdha Official Held in Tunisia
Gaza Rockets Fall into Sea Off Tel Aviv
Ukrainian Soldier Killed as Tensions with Russia Soar
US Announces Support for Rescheduling ‘Realistic Elections’ in Libya

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 01-02/2022
Biden Administration Must At Least Help Any Country Trying to Confront Iran's Mullahs/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 01/2022
2022: Plague and War, But Good Stuff Too/Andreas Kluth/Bloomberg/January, 01/2022
What Biden Can Learn from Trump’s Iran Policy/Eli Lake/Bloomberg/January, 01/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on January 01-02/2022
Video-Text: Resolutions For the new year of 2022
Elias Bejjani/January 01/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/81879/elias-bejjani-resolutions-for-the-new-year-of-2020/
(First published on 01 January/2021)
How healthy and fruitful would it be if each and every one of us is fully ready to welcome the new year of 2022 with a clear conscience and a joyful reconciliation with himself/herself, as well and with all others, especially those who are the beloved ones, e.g, parents, family members, friends, etc.
How self gratifying would be for any faithful and wise person to enter the new year of 2022 and he/she is completely free from all past heavy and worrying loads of hostility, hatred, enmities, grudges, strives and jealousy.
And because our life is very short on this mortal-perishable earthly world.
And due to the fact that, Our Heavenly Father, Almighty God may at any moment take back His Gift of life from any one of us.
Because of all these solid facts and realities, we are ought to leave behind all the 2021 hardships, pains and disappointments with no regrets at all.
We are ought to happily welcome and enter the 2022 new year with a totally empty page of our lives….ready for a new start.
Hopefully, every wise, loving, caring and faithful person would feel better in striving to begin this new year of 2022 with love, forgiveness, faith, hope, extended hands, open heart, and self-confidence.
I wish every one a Happy, Happy new Year that hopefully will carry with it all that is love, forgiveness, faith, hope, extended hands, open heartd, and self-confidence.
Notice: Click Here To Read The Arabic Version of the above piece

Al-Rahi Says National Dialogue Must be Sponsored by U.N.
Naharnet/January 01/2022
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Saturday commented on President Michel Aoun’s latest call for national dialogue. “We laud the promising preliminary step that was taken by the President, the Prime Minister and the Interior Minister to set the date of the parliamentary elections and sign the decree of organizing them,” al-Rahi said in his New Year’s Day sermon. He added that “should there be good intentions, the remaining period would be enough to revive governmental work, finish talks with international financial institutions, control the border, repair ties with Gulf nations topped by KSA, and to rectify Lebanon’s position.” Lebanon would then “move from alignment to neutrality and from the policy of axes to the policy of balance,” a-Rahi said. “This is how Lebanon would provide the appropriate atmosphere to launch in the future a national dialogue sponsored by the U.N., as part of an international conference that would give dialogue a U.N. guarantee and an executive mechanism,” the patriarch added. He explained that “the domestic dialogues, which we had always welcomed and supported, remained without implementation, and some participating parties disavowed them.” “What also necessitates an international conference is that some aspects of the Lebanese crisis are related to regional and international issues, such as the fate of Palestinian refugees, the return of displaced Syrians and the settling of the border and security disputes with Israel,” the patriarch went on to say.

Al-Rahi calls for national dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations
NNA/January 01/2022
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, considered in the New Year's mass that "Lebanon is sick with the loss of its identity, and like any patient who complains of losing his health, it must be returned to him...Because of its geographical location, its religious and cultural diversity, its openness to all countries, and its historical role as a cultural, economic and commercial bridge, a place of convergence and dialogue, and an element of stability in the region, Lebanon is a state whose identity is positive and active neutrality."Al-Rahi commended the initial and promising step taken by the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Interior by setting a date for the parliamentary elections and signing a decree to hold them. The Patriarch stressed the necessity of holding the legislative elections under the supervision of international observers, especially that there is a desire among the Lebanese public opinion and the United Nations.Commenting on the President of the Republic’s invitation to hold a national dialogue session, Al-Rahi considered that the internal dialogues that he had always welcomed and supported remained unimplemented, preferring, in the event of an appropriate atmosphere in the future, to launch a national dialogue under the auspices of the United Nations within the framework of an international conference that gives a guarantee for an international and operational mechanism. Finally, he attributed the reason for holding an international conference to the fact that some aspects of the Lebanese crisis are related to regional and international issues such as the fate of Palestinian refugees, the return of displaced Syrians, and the resolution of border and security problems with Israel.

Corona - MoPH: 3358 new coronavirus cases, 17 deaths
NNA/January 01/2022
Lebanon has recorded 3358 new coronavirus cases and 17 deaths in the last 24 hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Saturday.

Mikati praises security forces for maintaining security on New Year's Eve
NNA/January 01/2022
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in a tweet, praised the army and security forces for "their work to maintain security despite the harsh conditions in which they live, and the exceptional effort they made on New Year's Eve, and their perseverance in implementing the decisions taken to limit the spread of Corona."

Interior minister praises security forces’ work in ensuring security
NNA/January 01/2022
Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, hailed the Internal Security Forces for the efforts that were made to maintain security, on New Year's Eve, despite the difficult circumstances. The minister also praised "the work of the civil defense volunteers and the Lebanese Red Cross, who were keen on the citizens' comfort and responded to their calls, as well as other military and security forces." Mawlawi pointed out that "the names of the shooters are now in the custody of the security forces that are working to pursue and arrest them in accordance with the law."

Army Chief: Army will remain cohesive, capable of carrying out its sacred mission
NNA/January 01/2022
Lebanese Armed Forces Commander, General Joseph Aoun, tweeted Friday on the New Year occasion, saying: “Tonight we are turning the page of 2021 with all its tragedies and crises, so that 2022 will bring goodness to all the Lebanese, including the military, who still have the will and determination despite the difficult economic conditions.”He added: “We also remember all the families who lost their loved ones this year; may the coming year bring solace to their hearts. Let our wishes be for a new year of peace and stability for our homeland, and a new opportunity for dialogue and reconciliation.”
“We pledge that the army will remain solid and cohesive and able to carry out its sacred mission," affirmed the Army Chief.

Hezbollah Hands Over to Israel a Man Wanting to Join its Ranks
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
An Arab-Israeli man who had crossed into Lebanon from Israel about a month ago was repatriated by Hezbollah through the mediation of UN peacekeepers. The negotiations for his return "were handled quietly and carefully" while he remained in Lebanon, according to Israeli army spokesman Brig. Gen. Ran Kochav. He crossed into the territory on foot, Kochav said, and "returned unharmed and in good health,” via Ras al-Naqoura. The man is identified as a civilian resident of the south with a criminal record and known mental health issues. The man had intended to get to Lebanon in order to join Hezbollah’s ranks. After crossing, he was stopped by Hezbollah members who took him in for questioning. In February, to secure the release of an Israeli woman held in Syria, Israel agreed to finance a supply of Russian-made Covid-19 vaccines for Damascus. In return for her freedom, the Israeli government announced, she had been exchanged for two Syrian shepherds captured by the Israelis. In secret, Israel had in fact also agreed to a far more contentious ransom: the financing of an undisclosed number of coronavirus vaccines for Syria.

Al-Tufayli Says Hezbollah, FPM Are Corrupt Partners
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
The former Secretary General of Hezbollah, Subhi al-Tufayli, has slammed the party, accusing it of taking the Lebanese government “hostage.” In remarks to the Central News Agency (Al Markazia) on Friday, Tufayli, who for years has opposed Hezbollah’s policies, said that the party is adopting “destructive” stances “to paralyze and disintegrate state institutions.” He dubbed Hezbollah and its ally the Free Patriotic Movement, which has been founded by President Michel Aoun, as the “corrupt duo.”“Taking the cabinet captive and preventing the state from functioning is part of (Hezbollah’s) destructive policy,” he said. The cabinet formed in September has not met in more than two months amid a political row on the investigation into the 2020 Beirut Port blast. Hezbollah wants the lead investigator, Judge Tareq Bitar, to step down. “The country has been destroyed, the state has been lost and the people have gone hungry under the reign of the corrupt duo - Hezbollah and the FPM,” Tufayli said.

The Lebanese Citizens’ Dream
Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al Awsat/January, 01/2022
Lebanese citizens have nothing left but the luxury to dream of the new year.
Nothing happening today gives the Lebanese grounds to await a less miserable future. They only have dreams. The dream of getting back the fruit of their life’s labor deposited in banks. The dream of light during their evenings, which have been made dark by the constant electricity cuts. The dream of an employment opportunity for their children that doesn’t require joining the droves of migrants striving to find work halfway around the world. The dream of the investigation into the port explosion crime coming to a conclusion that gives the families of the victims hope that their loved ones were not killed twice; the first time because of deliberate negligence and complicity, and the second because of the criminals’ conspiracy to conceal the truth and impede accountability and prosecution. The dream of officials who do not share what remains of the country’s corpse as citizens wait in queues for bread and gasoline, in a race with the exchange rate to meet their needs for the day.
The Lebanese dream of a country like the others around the world. A nation that is not an arena on which sects compete for shares but one where politicians compete to show citizens that they would provide the best future for their country.
Next year will not be a normal one for the citizens of Lebanon. It could be said that it will be a year of reckoning. I hope that it will be a year in which they hold themselves accountable, first for their misguided choices. These choices have taken those whom citizens are complaining of positions that have allowed them to humiliate citizens and their children in all kinds of ways. The Lebanese have a habit of decrying the wretched state they find their country in, accusing everyone of being responsible and disregarding the fact that it is they who are primarily responsible.
Next year should be one in which Lebanese officials are punished for what they have done. This reckoning requires that Lebanese citizens abandon the culture of the herd, which has led them to march behind leaders whose sectarian sensibilities are aligned with theirs and who ensure their petty interests are furthered at the expense of the national interest. Thus, good choices must be made.
When I say that Lebanese citizens can do nothing but dream, I am not exaggerating. How could Lebanon’s conditions improve if the citizens remain as they are and their leaders remain as they are, continuing to disregard the country’s interests and behaving with an obnoxiousness that leaves them looking down on citizens’ pain?
Where will we find citizens capable of disregarding their narrow partisan and sectarian proclivities so they can gain insights and make good choices? And where will we find these brave politicians who leave their interests behind and build the courage to work for the nation and speak candidly about the reasons for the situation that Lebanon is now in without hesitating to admit their responsibility for that situation.
In his end-of-year speech, did President Michel Aoun decide to go over his term and discuss it openly with his citizens? What did he find? Speaking about the “Shiite duo’s” boycott of the government because of objections about the investigation into the crime of the explosion at the Port of Beirut, the president discovered, five years into his term, that systematic, deliberate and unjustified disruption is breaking institutions apart and eating away at the state!
Who made this discovery? The president who allowed state institutions to be disrupted for two and half years - by allying and colluding with Hezbollah - so that parliament would be obliged to elect him president of the republic. He is the same man who was not embarrassed about [Saad] Hariri’s government being brought down, through a decision announced from Aoun’s home in Rabieh, to prevent the Special Tribunal for Lebanon from investigating the crime of Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
The president did not ignore the question of Hezbollah’s weapons, though he did address it circuitously. He referred to the “tripartite” (army, people resistance) that Hezbollah has imposed on the state and ministerial declarations. However, he said that despite this “tripartite” that notes the role of the “resistance,” the state alone should be responsible for implementing the “defense strategy” and determining how best to protect Lebanon. And Aoun is the president who could, if he wanted to, impose the correct national position on Hezbollah and compel it to put its weapons at the service of the national military establishment. Nonetheless, what happened is that Aoun took the cover he needed to ascend to Baabda Palace from Hezbollah in return for ignoring - rather, providing cover for - Hezbollah’s hegemony over political and judicial decisions domestically and the harm it has done to Lebanon’s Arab ties.
Most Lebanese parties have been disregarding the role Hezbollah plays in strengthening the culture of loyalty to the sect at the expense of loyalty to the nation. True, all sects and religious confessions share this mentality, but the biggest impediment to the emergence of a national cross-sectarian culture has become that it is being imposed through the force of arms on the Shiite sect, which is only represented in both government and parliament by the “Shiite duo.” Added to that is Hezbollah’s loyalty to an Iranian ideology and figure, which contradicts its claims to being a Lebanese party, an argument Prime Minister Najib Mikati recently used to defend it, calling Hezbollah “a political party like the others on the Lebanese parties scene.” Mikati did so although he knew the truth about the threats that Hezbollah’s policies have come to pose, not just to the country’s political and judicial institutions, but on the identity of the country itself.
Declaring these stances requires a lot of courage. Nonetheless, the fact is that with such policies and under the mercy of such politicians, the Lebanese can do nothing but enjoy the blessing of dreams and nothing else, a different future or the blessing of living in another country.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on January 01-02/2022
Pope Urges Working for Peace in New Year's Message
Agence France Presse/January 01/2022
Pope Francis urged the world to "roll up our sleeves" for peace in a New Year's message Saturday, telling the faithful to keep positive while working to build a better society. Marking the 55th World Day of Peace, the head of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics devoted his Angelus address to encouraging a stop to violence around the world, telling the assembled crowd at Saint Peter's Square to keep peace at the forefront of their thoughts.
"Let's go home thinking peace, peace, peace. We need peace," said the pope, following his Angelus prayer. "I was looking at the images in the television program "In His Image" today, about war, displaced people, the miseries. This is happening today in the world. We want peace."Under sunny skies, the pope -- who turned 85 on December 17 -- reminded the faithful that peace required "concrete actions," such as forgiving others and promoting justice.
"And it needs a positive outlook as well, one that always sees, in the Church as well as in society, not the evil that divides us, but the good that unites us!" he said, speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace. "Getting depressed or complaining is useless. We need to roll up our sleeves to build peace."
Earlier Saturday, during mass in Saint Peter's Basilica in honor of the Virgin Mary, Francis delivered a homily in which he called violence against women an insult to God. "The Church is mother, the Church is woman. And since mothers bestow life and women 'keep' the world, let us all make greater efforts to promote mothers and to protect women," he said. "How much violence is directed against women! Enough! To hurt a woman is to insult God, who from a woman took on our humanity." On New Year's Eve, Pope Francis did not preside over vespers at St Peter's Basilica as planned, instead turning the service over to the dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals.

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in New Year Video Message
Agencies/Naharnet/January 01/2022
The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has issued the 2022 New Year’s message, in which he takes stock of U.N.’s major breakthroughs in 2021 at the health, political, socio-economic and environmental levels, and wishes that 2022 will be "a year of recovery for everyone."
Below is the full text of Guterres' message and the url of the English-language video:
"The world welcomes 2022 with our hopes for the future being tested.
By deepening poverty and worsening inequality.
By an unequal distribution of COVID vaccines.
By climate commitments that fall short.
And by ongoing conflict, division, and misinformation.
These are not just policy tests.
These are moral and real-life tests.
And they are tests that humanity can pass — if we commit to making 2022 a year of recovery for everyone.
Recovery from the pandemic — with a bold plan to vaccinate every person, everywhere.
Recovery for our economies — with wealthier countries supporting the developing world with financing, investment and debt relief.
Recovery from mistrust and division — with a new emphasis on science, facts and reason.
Recovery from conflicts — with a renewed spirit of dialogue, compromise and reconciliation.
And recovery for our planet — with climate commitments that match the scale and urgency of the crisis.
Moments of great difficulty are also moments of great opportunity.
To come together in solidarity.
To unite behind solutions that can benefit all people.
And to move forward — together — with hope in what our human family can accomplish.
Together, let’s make recovery our resolution for 2022.
For people, planet and prosperity.
I wish you all a happy and peaceful New Year."

Clash in southeast of Iran kills three IRGC members, six ‘armed criminals’
Tuqa Khalid, Al Arabiya English/01 January ,2022
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and a group of “armed criminals” clashed in the southeast of the country, leaving three IRGC members dead in addition to six criminals, state news agency IRNA reported on Saturday. The IRGC said in a statement they identified through their intelligence a hideout and headquarters of a number of well-known armed criminals. The clash between the IRGC and the criminals also lead to five other criminals being wounded and the destruction of their headquarters. According to the IRGC statement, the criminals used “human shields” in the clash, and that three local members of the Basij militia fighting along the IRGC were killed in the clashes. The clash took place in the predominantly Sunni Muslim Sistan-Baluchistan province near the border with Pakistan. The area has long seen clashes with drug traffickers, since it’s also near the border with Afghanistan where the trade of opium and heroin thrives.
The Sistan-Baluchistan province has also long been plagued by Sunni militants fighting the Iranian regime’s Shia authorities, as many Sunni Iranians complain of discrimination, which Tehran denies.

Iran Space Launch Fails to Put Payloads Into Orbit
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
Iran's space launch on Thursday failed to put its three payloads into orbit after the rocket was unable to reach the required speed, a defense ministry spokesman said in remarks carried on state television on Friday. The attempted launch, which came as indirect US-Iran talks take place in Austria to try to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal, drew criticism from the United States, Germany and France. "For a payload to enter orbit, it needs to reach speeds above 7,600 (meters per second). We reached 7,350," the spokesman, Ahmad Hosseini, said in a documentary about the launch vehicle broadcast on state TV and posted online. On Thursday, Hosseini did not clarify whether the devices had reached orbit, but suggested the launch was a test ahead of coming attempts to put satellites into orbit. Iran has suffered several failed satellite launches in the past few years due to technical issues. Washington has said it is concerned by Iran’s development of space launch vehicles, and a German diplomat said Berlin had called on Iran to stop sending satellite launch rockets into space, adding that they violated a UN Security Council resolution. France said on Friday the rocket launch aimed at sending three research devices into space violated UN rules and was "even more regrettable" as nuclear talks with world powers were making progress. According to Reuters, Iran's foreign ministry rejected the US, German and French criticism of Tehran's launch of the satellite-carrying rocket. "Scientific and research advances, including in the field of aerospace, are the inalienable right of the Iranian people, and such meddling statements will not undermine the Iranian people's determination to make progress in this field," it said in a statement carried by state media. A UN resolution in 2015 "called upon" Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons following an agreement with six world powers. Some states said the language did not make such a pledge obligatory.

Iraqi Minister Sacks Babylon Police Chief after Deadly Operation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
Iraq's interior minister dismissed Babylon province's police chief on Friday and several officers were called for questioning following an operation that reportedly led to the deaths of 20 members of the same family. The operation, details of which remain unclear, took place Thursday when rapid intervention units and intelligence forces sought to storm a house in the village of Al-Rashayed in the central Iraqi province. In a brief initial statement, security forces said they had "pursued two individuals accused of terrorism" who "opened fire indiscriminately" once surrounded. An investigation was opened "after the discovery of a number of dead bodies of citizens in a house", the statement added. On Friday, Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanemi travelled to Al-Rashayed where he sacked the police chief and announced the formation of a commission to investigate "the unit that carried out the operation,” AFP reported. The official Iraqi News Agency gave a death toll of 20 civilians from the same family, and said that the owner of the property had opened fire and "refused to surrender". A separate statement from the security forces said a "number of officers and individuals" had been called in for questioning in connection with the incident, without providing details on their identities. Interior ministry official Saad Maan posted a video of the premises on Twitter, showing a house with a blackened facade and gutted doors and windows. He denounced a "crime on all levels", without identifying those to blame, and said the investigation was ongoing to "understand all the circumstances of the incident".On Thursday evening, security sources and media outlets had suggested a suspect linked with ISIS or drug trafficking rings had been involved.

20-Member Family Killed in Iraq Massacre
Baghdad - Fadhel al-Nashmi/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
Twenty members of a single family were killed in Iraq's Babylon province on Thursday in a horrific massacre that has shocked a nation that is reeling from decades of violence. Official and nonofficial accounts of what led to the massacre have exposed the limited means of the country's security and intelligence agencies. Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi has ordered a fair probe into the massacre. Interior Minister Othman al-Ghanemi had visited the crime scene to oversee the investigations. The official account of the crime said that authorities had received word that two wanted figures were seen at the residence of Raheem Kazem al-Ghariri. When the intelligence directorate sent agents to the house, Ghariri opened fire at them. Witnesses offered a different account. It said the family was massacred by Ghariri's son-in-law, who works as an officer at a security agency, in wake of a family dispute. Another account said that Ghariri himself had killed his own family after a three-hour faceoff with the security agencies. Once the fight was over, the security forces entered his house and discovered the crime. Ghariri's sister gave a different account of events. In a video, she accused the son-in-law of committing the crime, adding that her brother would never have done such a thing. The victims include Ghariri himself, his wife, six children, and six grandchildren. Member of the Iraqi High Commission For Human Rights, Ali al-Bayati criticized how authorities have handled the crime. In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, he pointed to the contradictory testimonies, saying they reflect a major weakness in intelligence information. He accused the security forces of failing to protect civilians as they attempted to arrest a wanted suspect. "Arresting a suspect does not mean risking the lives of other citizens," he stated. He added that High Commission has repeatedly called for the formation of a committee that could train members of the security forces on how to properly deal with suspects and citizens alike.

Russian Warplanes Hit Areas in Northwest Syria
Idlib - Firas Karam/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
Russian warplanes hit areas in the countryside of Idlib, in the northwest of Syria, on New Year’s Eve, as 2021 registered the lowest yearly death toll since the start of the war in the country a decade ago. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 3,882 people in 2021.
It said 1,558 civilians were killed, including 383 children under the age of 18, and 193 women over the age of 18. Also, 109 loyalists to Iranian and regime forces of non-Syrian citizens mostly of the Shiite sect were killed since the start of the year, in addition to 11 Hezbollah members, 30 Turkish soldiers and two Russians. Meanwhile, the Observatory said Russian fighter jets launched Friday eight airstrikes in Idlib’s countryside, targeting positions in Kansafra, Al-Bara in Jabal Al-Zawiyah, the surrounding areas of Kafr Daryan, the surrounding areas of Al-Jadidah town near Jisr Al-Shughour city and Al-Namerah area in Sahl Al-Rouj in Idlib countryside. “The Russian airstrikes targeted a poultry farm nearby Kafr Daryan on the Syrian border with Iskenderun, leaving two civilian casualties and six injuries,” the London-based watchdog said. Russian fighters also launched two airstrikes on the “Putin-Erdogan” area, targeting the vicinity of Bara village and the vicinity of Kansafra village in Jabal Al-Zawiyah in the southern Idlib countryside. The Observatory said the number of Russian airstrikes on the “de-escalation zone” since early December has exceeded 40. A day earlier, SOHR activists monitored four new raids by Russian fighter jets on the de-escalation zone, targeting Al-Sheikh Bahr area on the northern outskirts of Idlib city, bringing the number of airstrikes during the day to 12. On Friday, the Observatory said that bloodshed continues in Syria despite all attempts to reach solutions.

Senior Ennahdha Official Held in Tunisia
Tunis - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
Plainclothes officers in Tunisia's capital on Friday arrested Noureddine Bhiri, a senior official of the Ennahdha party, Agence France Presse reported. The movement condemned the arrest of Bhiri, a former justice minister and deputy president of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha, as a "dangerous precedent".
Bhiri is close to Tunisia's parliament speaker Rached Ghannouchi, head of Ennahdha. "Plainclothes agents in two cars arrested Noureddine Bhiri when he was leaving home with his wife," Samir Dilou, a lawyer and former legislator, told AFP. In a statement issued late Friday, the interior ministry said it had ordered two people, whom it did not identify, to be placed under house arrest. This "preventive measure was dictated by the need to safeguard national security," it said, without elaborating. President Kais Saied on July 25 sacked the Ennahdha-supported government and suspended parliament.
He later took steps to rule by decree, and in early December vowed to press on with reforms to the political system. The former law professor announced an 11-week "popular consultation" to produce "draft constitutional and other reforms" ahead of a referendum set for July 25. His opponents have denounced a "coup" and warned against what they see as Saied's wish to settle scores with those he has called "enemies" but never names. A Tunisian court last week sentenced in absentia exiled former president Moncef Marzouki, a fierce critic of Saied, to four years in prison.
Bhiri was "arrested brutally and taken to an unknown destination", Dilou said. Agents also seized the mobile phone of Bhiri's wife Saida Akremi, who is a lawyer, he added. In a statement, Ennahdha said that Bhiri was being questioned by authorities and denounced "a kidnapping and dangerous precedent marking the country's entry into a tunnel to dictatorship." Party official Mohamed Goumani told a press conference that Saied and the interior minister "bear responsibility" and decried the "intimidation" of those opposed to the president's moves.

Gaza Rockets Fall into Sea Off Tel Aviv
Agence France Presse/January 01/2022
Two rockets fired from Gaza early Saturday fell into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tel Aviv, the Israeli army said, with no injuries reported. "Earlier this morning, two rocket launches were identified from the Gaza Strip toward the Mediterranean," the army said in a statement.
"The rockets fell off the coast of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area," it added. No sirens were sounded and Israel's Iron Dome rocket interception system did not deploy, the army added. It was unclear who fired the projectiles. Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group that controls Gaza, did not claim responsibility.
Israel has maintained a blockade on the impoverished enclave since 2007, the year Hamas took power. Last year Hamas fired barrages of rockets toward Israel during an 11-day conflict sparked by tensions in Jerusalem. A fragile ceasefire came into force in late May, and since then, only five rockets or mortar rounds were fired from Gaza towards Israeli territory, the military had said in an annual report released at the end of December, before the latest launches.

Ukrainian Soldier Killed as Tensions with Russia Soar
Agence France Presse/January 01/2022
Ukraine said Saturday one of its soldiers was killed in fighting with pro-Moscow separatists, as the US again warned Russia against any attacks on the country. U.S. President Joe Biden was due to speak to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday, after warning Russian President Vladimir Putin for the second time of a tough response should he invade Ukraine. In his New Year's Eve address, Zelensky said ending the war in the east remains his "main goal". "One serviceman of the Joint Forces was fatally wounded," the army said in a statement, adding that separatists had launched three attacks within 24 hours, using grenade launchers and small arms. The army gave no further details of how the soldier was killed. Tensions with Moscow have soared in recent months, with Russia massing troops near Ukraine's borders. The West has accused the Kremlin of planning an invasion. This week, Biden held his second phone call with Putin in just over three weeks, threatening Moscow with major economic sanctions should it launch an attack. The Russian leader said anti-Moscow sanctions would be a "colossal mistake". On December 22 international monitors said Russia and Ukraine had agreed to restore a ceasefire, but as early as the next day Kiev and separatists accused each other of new violations. The soldier's death on Saturday was the first since the truce was agreed. All previous ceasefires -- including the previous truce agreed in July 2020 -- crumbled. Kiev has been battling a pro-Moscow insurgency in two breakaway regions bordering Russia since 2014, when the Kremlin annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The conflict in eastern Ukraine has so far left more than 13,000 dead.

US Announces Support for Rescheduling ‘Realistic Elections’ in Libya
Cairo - Khalid Mahmoud/Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 1 January, 2022
US Ambassador to Libya Richard Norland has announced his support for the efforts exerted by “Libyan leaders” to hold “realistic elections.” “The United States shares the disappointment that so many Libyan people feel” that the elections scheduled for December have been postponed, he said in a message to the Libyan people on the occasion of the New Year. However, “the momentum for elections is still very strong,” he said. “Two and a half million Libyans have registered to vote and they want to cast their ballots.” “Libyan leaders are working very hard to try to reschedule realistic elections in an early timeframe. The United states supports that process,” the diplomat added. As for Stephanie Williams, the special adviser to the UN chief on Libya, she reiterated “the UN’s firm commitment to support the relevant authorities to fulfill the legitimate and longstanding aspirations of 2.8 million Libyan citizens who registered to vote.”“I stress once again the importance of ensuring suitable conditions to keep the electoral process moving forward on a solid basis and on a level playing field in which no candidate enjoys unfair advantages.”

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on January 01-02/2022
Biden Administration Must At Least Help Any Country Trying to Confront Iran's Mullahs
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/January 01/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105224/105224/
While the mullahs are using religion to justify their mission of taking over the region, they are more likely attempting to take control of all the oil in the region; they appear to be advancing their hegemonic ambitions to this end.
Iran has for decades been encircling the Middle East -- in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq -- by building a squeeze maneuver known as the "Shia Crescent; " it has been trying to unseat the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Iran's Houthi proxies in Yemen, and it long ago attached itself to South America's most oil-rich country, Venezuela.
Please now imagine how much more destabilizing the Iranian regime would be if it had nuclear weapons, how much easier it would be for the regime to fulfill its constitutional mission of "extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world."
Biden's legacy now looks as if will add up to surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban; allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons; permitting China to take over Taiwan; enabling Russia to blackmail Europe with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; failing to deter Russia from seizing Ukraine; harming the poorest Americans by forcing them pay more for everything by shutting off American oil and instead enriching Russia by buying it there at inflated prices; effectively cutting pay to the military and threatening to punish people who work by raising their taxes, all while paying millions of other people not to work; and to top it off, crippling the US military by diverting it from its core mission: winning wars.
If... any real response to Iran's threats will have to wait until 2024, will that be too late to stop at least one of these imminent catastrophes?
The Iranian regime has made it clear that its mission is to take over the region and create a single community under its version of Islamic leadership. Iran has for decades been encircling the Middle East -- in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen -- by building a squeeze maneuver known as the "Shia Crescent." Imagine how much more destabilizing the Iranian regime would be if it had nuclear weapons. (Image source: iStock)
The Iranian regime has made it clear that its mission is to take over the region and create a single community under its version of Islamic leadership. The Islamic Republic's constitution states:
"The Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad. In particular, in the development of international relations, the Constitution will strive with other Islamic and popular movements to prepare the way for the formation of a single world community (in accordance with the Qur'anic verse: This, your community, is a single community, and I am your Lord, so worship Me)."
For the ruling mullahs of Iran, their mission is a form of Jihad that must be accomplished through military force. The mullahs' constitution adds:
"Accordingly, the Army of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] are to be organized in conformity with this goal, and they will be responsible not only for guarding and preserving the frontiers of the country, but also for fulfilling the ideological mission of jihad in God's way; that is, extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world (in accordance with the Qur'anic verse [8:60]: Prepare against them whatever force you are able to muster, and strings of horses, striking fear into the enemy of God and your enemy, and others besides them ". [Emphasis added]
While the mullahs are using religion to justify their mission of taking over the region, they are more likely attempting to take control of all the oil in the region; they appear to be advancing their hegemonic ambitions to this end.
Iran has for decades been encircling the Middle East -- in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq -- by building a squeeze maneuver known as the "Shia Crescent;" it has been trying to unseat the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through Iran's Houthi proxies in Yemen, and it long ago attached itself to South America's most oil-rich country, Venezuela.
Please now imagine how much more destabilizing the Iranian regime would be if it had nuclear weapons, how much easier it would be for the regime to fulfill its constitutional mission of "extending the sovereignty of God's law throughout the world." The mission would start with getting "the Little Satan," Israel, out of the way, then taking control of the Gulf states, with an eye to eventually encircling the "Great Satan," the United States. In addition, the nuclear weapons will be sold to or fall into the hands of the world's assorted bad actors and terrorist groups.
If the Biden administration does not want to stop the Iranian regime, there are apparently countries in the region that are prepared to prevent the ruling mullahs of Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons to achieve this goal. The Biden administration should at least step in and help those countries.
"We must not see Iran only as Israel's problem and exempt the rest of the world," said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz. When asked whether the Iranian regime should be confronted militarily, he said, "Yes, yes," and added, "and Israel has to do its part."
"We see that Iran is advancing toward the level of enrichment that would allow it, when it wished, to become a threshold state — and we are making every effort to prevent that," he said.
Israel has ordered advanced US-made planes, KC-46 Pegasus aerial refueling tankers, that are critical to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. By using refueling planes, Israeli fighter-bomber jets on long-range missions do not need to make a stop for refueling. As the Times of Israel wrote:
"The [New York Times] report noted that the tankers would be a significant upgrade for Israel and that without them, Jerusalem would need to rely on its aging fleet of refueling planes for a strike on Iran, or make a pit stop in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates, neither of which would want to be linked to an attack on rival Iran."
Although the sale of eight new KC-46 planes to Israel was approved by the State Department in March 2020 during the former US administration, the Biden administration is refusing to deliver.
Meanwhile, former Secretary of State John Kerry, has reportedly divulged to Iran "HUNDREDS of Israel's covert attacks." Although Kerry has denied that he leaked any secrets to Iran, his denials reportedly "do not add up," and the Biden administration has been refusing to address the issue.
Biden's legacy now looks as if will add up to surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban; allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons; permitting China to take over Taiwan; enabling Russia to blackmail Europe with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline; failing to deter Russia from seizing Ukraine; harming the poorest Americans by forcing them pay more for everything by shutting off American oil and instead enriching Russia by buying it there at inflated prices; effectively cutting pay to the military and threatening to punish people who work by raising their taxes, all while paying millions of other people not to work; and to top it off, crippling the US military by diverting it from its core mission: winning wars.
If, as now published, any real response to Iran's threats will have to wait until 2024, will that be too late to stop at least one of these imminent catastrophes?
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US foreign policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu
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2022: Plague and War, But Good Stuff Too
Andreas Kluth/Bloomberg/January, 01/2022
Two of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will keep us busy in 2022 as they did in 2021. One is plague — in our case the SARS-CoV-2 virus that keeps mutating. As I predicted in March, we’re in for a seemingly permanent struggle between us (science) and nature (evolution). We keep coming up with new and better vaccines, but nature keeps changing the virus just enough to evade any immunity we can build up. I’ll certainly keep watching how this race evolves, and how it changes us socially, economically, psychologically and politically.
Another Horseman is war. Russia under President Vladimir Putin and China under President Xi Jinping are, in different ways, testing the norms — imperfect though those may have been — that have kept the world relatively stable since the Cold War. Xi has his eye on Taiwan, among other things. And Putin is right now trying to blackmail NATO and “the West” into staying out of eastern Europe so he can turn it into his sphere of influence. He’s massed his troops and may invade Ukraine. If so, how will the West — including Germany, where I live and which has a new and untested government — respond?
The other two Horsemen won’t be far, of course. In our context, Famine and Death could stand for climate change and mass extinction. Still, as I was in 2021, I’ll be careful throughout 2022 to look not only at the bad and nasty this world offers but also at the good and creative. Yes, we humans cause a lot of problems. But we sure are good at solving them too.
From the year behind us:
We Must Start Planning For a Permanent Pandemic: With coronavirus mutations pitted against vaccinations in a global arms race, we may never go back to normal.
mRNA Vaccines Could Vanquish Covid Today, Cancer Tomorrow: The best news about the mRNA shots from BioNTech and Moderna is that the same technique could also defeat many other diseases.
What Is Consciousness? Scientists Compete to Find Out: A new type of experiment could get us closer to grasping human consciousness. Or it could simply raise it.
Science Shows Why Simplifying Is Hard and Complicating Is Easy: Our brains appear hardwired to add stuff rather than take things away. That explains a lot about the messes we keep making.
The Post-Heroic Legacy of Angela Merkel: History’s verdict, I believe, will be that Merkel deserves huge and lasting credit for managing situations that could have become disasters, but that her departure became necessary for a new era to be born.

What Biden Can Learn from Trump’s Iran Policy
Eli Lake/Bloomberg/January, 01/2022
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/105224/105224/
Next week the Iranian regime will commemorate the two-year anniversary of the death of General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed by a US drone strike on Jan. 3, 2020. President Joe Biden should also mark the occasion — by noting that the US is prepared to go beyond economic sanctions in its efforts to deter Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Soleimani — who built Iran’s Quds Force into a kind of NATO for terrorists, connecting militias in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen into a strategic alliance — was Iran’s most important military leader. In response to his killing, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles at the Al Asad airbase in Iraq, causing serious brain injuries for more than 100 US troops. Iranian forces also mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines flight.
Soleimani’s assassination is a grievance Iran’s leaders will nurse for the foreseeable future. They see his killing as further justification for Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile program, as well as its broader policy of bullying weaker Middle Eastern countries. Iran’s leaders see themselves as victims under constant threat. The reality is different. The assassination of Soleimani was a response to a series of escalations that began after 2018, when former President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. In 2019, Iran launched missiles and drones at Saudi oil fields, attacked ships in the Gulf and stepped up militia attacks against US positions in Iraq. The final straw came at the end of that year, when a coordinated mob nearly overran the US embassy in Baghdad.
After the Soleimani strike, Iran’s militias continued probing attacks on US positions in Iraq, while Iran’s scientists continued to install more advanced centrifuges in its nuclear facilities. But Iran stopped menacing commercial ships, and US embassies did not face more mobs. And while some of this can be explained by the Covid pandemic, Trump’s show of force was also a factor.
Then Biden took office, and Iran’s escalations became more brazen. Even though Biden offered to lift the economic sanctions imposed by Trump if Iran returned to the enrichment limits of the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran is now enriching uranium to 40% purity, very close to the level needed for a weapon. In October, Iranian proxies launched a drone attack on a US base on the Syrian-Iraqi border. In November, an Iranian drone laden with explosives attempted to assassinate Iraq’s prime minister. All the while, Iran has continued to arm its alliance of regional militias with more military technology.
Faced with these escalations, the Biden administration has tried to walk a tightrope on Iran. On the one hand, it has continued to hold out hope for diplomacy even though Iran’s diplomats in Vienna will no longer meet with the US envoy. The US has also relaxed enforcement of some sanctions, leading to an increase in Iranian oil exports, but has not unilaterally lifted them. And early in his administration, Biden ordered a missile strike on Iranian-backed militia bases in response to an attack.
Most troubling, however, is that the US has let it be known that it does not approve of Israeli intelligence operations against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. Some administration officials doubt the efficacy of Israel’s sabotage and assassinations inside Iran, according to the New York Times, fearing that they provide an incentive for Iran to build back its nuclear program better. This is the wrong message. Not only does it risk alienating America’s most important ally against Iran, as former Israeli ambassador to the US Ron Dermer noted at a web conference this month. It also risks more provocations from Iran: If the regime’s leaders believe they face only economic consequences for their predations, then they will continue to test America’s resolve.
That’s why Biden, like the Iranian regime, should also mark the anniversary of Soleimani’s death. He should make clear that the US is willing to use force against a regime that remains undeterred by sanctions alone.