English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For 05 July/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
Signs Of The End Of Time
Saint Mak/13/01-37
1 As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see
what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”
2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left
here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.”
3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and
Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the
sign that these things are all about to be fulfilled?”
5 Jesus, answering, began to tell them, “Be careful that no one leads you
astray. 6 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’* and will lead many
astray.
7 “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be troubled. For those must
happen, but the end is not yet. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will
be famines and troubles. These things are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be
beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a
testimony to them. 10 The Good News must first be preached to all the nations.
11 When they lead you away and deliver you up, don’t be anxious beforehand or
premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour.
For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
12 “Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children
will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. 13 You will be
hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be
saved.
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation,✡ spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let
those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, 15 and let him who is on the
housetop not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. 16 Let
him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak. 17 But woe to those
who are with child and to those who nurse babies in those days! 18 Pray that
your flight won’t be in the winter. 19 For in those days there will be
oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the
creation which God created until now, and never will be. 20 Unless the Lord had
shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the
chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. 21 Then if anyone tells
you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, there!’ don’t believe it. 22 For
false christs and false prophets will arise and will show signs and wonders,
that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 23 But you watch.
“Behold, I have told you all things beforehand. 24 But in those days, after that
oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 25 the
stars will be falling from the sky, and the powers that are in the heavens will
be shaken.✡ 26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great
power and glory. 27 Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together
his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of
the sky.
28 “Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become
tender and produces its leaves, you know that the summer is near; 29 even so you
also, when you see these things coming to pass, know that it is near, at the
doors. 30 Most certainly I say to you, this generation† will not pass away until
all these things happen. 31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will
not pass away.
32 “But of that day or that hour no one knows—not even the angels in heaven, nor
the Son, but only the Father. 33 Watch, keep alert, and pray; for you don’t know
when the time is.
34 “It is like a man traveling to another country, having left his house and
given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded
the doorkeeper to keep watch. 35 Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the
lord of the house is coming—whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the
rooster crows, or in the morning; 36 lest, coming suddenly, he might find you
sleeping. 37 What I tell you, I tell all: Watch!”
Titels
For English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News
& Editorials published on July 04-05/2022
Hezbollah drones expose Lebanon to unnecessary risks, say prime minister
and foreign minister
Lebanon on Hezbollah drones: Any act outside state responsibility is
unacceptable, dangerous
Lebanon PM criticizes unofficial moves in Israel row after Hezbollah sent drones
Lebanese PM criticizes Hezbollah over drone provocation
Bou Habib expects border deal with Israel in September
Corona - MoPH: 1079 new Coronavirus infections, one death
Beirut Governor discusses with UNDP delegation solid waste file, repercussions
Berri welcomes Iranian Ambassador, receives final report on parliamentary polls
from EU EOM
LF MP says Hezbollah drones targeted against Aoun's powers
Mikati says 'things positive' regarding government formation
Lapid: Hezbollah undermining Lebanon ability to reach sea border deal
US Navy offers cash for tips to seize Mideast drugs, weapons
The Shebaa Farms, UN Resolution 1559 and the Baathinization of Truth/Elias
Bejjani/July 04/2022
Titles For Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
July 04-05/2022
Six killed in shooting at July 4 parade in Chicago suburb of Highland
Park
Iran TV: Sandstorm Shuts Offices, Schools in Tehran, Region
US Navy Offers Cash for Tips to Seize Middle East Drugs, Weapons
IRGC Says Won’t Allow its Ranks to be Infiltrated
Rafsanjani's Daughter Accused of Propaganda Against Iranian Regime
Putin orders Ukraine offensive to continue after capture of Lugansk
Ukraine War to Shift to Donetsk after Fall of Luhansk; Russia Claims Major
Victory
Israel, Poland to Restore Relations Strained by Holocaust Restitution Row
Ukraine FM Rules out Russian Use of Nuclear Weapons, Calls for Isolating Moscow
over its Threats
Russian Wheat Prices Down as New Crop Arrives, Export Tax Falls
Pope Francis Denies he is Planning to Resign Soon
UK to Pledge Long-term Support to Rebuild Ukraine
British Army's Twitter, YouTube Accounts Restored after Hack
Ukraine War to Shift to Donetsk after Fall of Luhansk; Russia Claims Major
Victory
Tens of Thousands of Sydney Residents Told to Evacuate over Flooding
'Colossal' Work ahead, as Ukraine Recovery Meet to Open in Lugano
3 Killed in Copenhagen Mall Shooting, 22-Year-Old Arrested
Titles For LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on July 04-05/2022
I’m an American, Why Have I Been Left to Rot as a Hostage of Iran?/Siamak
Namazi/The New York Times/ July, 04/2022
The BRICS/Dr. Abdullah Al-Raddadi/Asharq Al Awsat/July 04/2022
The US Can Put Sanctions on Russian Gas to Punish Putin. I’m Asking It to Do the
Same in Myanmar/Thinzar Shunlei Yi/The New York Times/July 04/2022
Brexit Has the UK Traveling the Wrong Way in Time/Niall Ferguson/Bloomberg/July
04/2022
The 'Two-State Solution' to Destroy Israel/Khaled Abu Toameh/ Gatestone
Institute/July 04/2022
Humiliation piled on humiliation for Iran’s spy agencies/Baria Alamuddin/Arab
News/July 04, 2022
The Latest English LCCC
Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on July 04-05/2022
Hezbollah drones expose Lebanon to
unnecessary risks, say prime minister and foreign minister
Najia Houssari/Arab News/July 04/2022
Plans drafted to ensure repatriation of 15,000 Syrian refugees a month
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s prime minister and foreign minister have criticized Hezbollah
for sending three drones over an Israeli gas installation last week, saying any
interference in US-mediated talks to demarcate the country’s maritime border
with Israel was “unacceptable.”The comments followed the movement’s launch of
unarmed reconnaissance drones on Saturday toward the offshore Karish gas
field.Lebanon announced its official “rejection of the incident, which took
place outside the framework of the state's responsibility and the diplomatic
context, especially since the indirect negotiations to demarcate the maritime
borders are underway and the efforts from US mediator Amos Hochstein have
reached advanced stages.”
FASTFACT
The official position included the demand to stop the ‘continuous Israeli
violations of Lebanon’s sovereignty by sea, land, and air.’Caretaker Prime
Minister Najib Mikati and Foreign Minister Abdullah Bouhabib on Monday affirmed
Lebanon’s support for Hochstein’s efforts to reach a solution that preserved
“Lebanese rights in full and with complete clarity, and the demand to speed up
the pace of negotiations.”“Lebanon is counting on continued American efforts to
support it, preserve its rights to its water wealth, and restore its economic
and social strength,” they said. “Lebanon considers that any action outside the
framework of the state's responsibility and the diplomatic context in which
negotiations are taking place is unacceptable and exposes it to unnecessary
dangers. “Therefore, we call upon all parties to show a spirit of high national
responsibility and abide by the previous declaration, which states that everyone
without exception is behind the state in the negotiation process.” The official
position included the demand to stop the “continuous Israeli violations of
Lebanon's sovereignty by sea, land, and air.”
Lebanon’s position on the drone incident is advanced, especially since Hezbollah
and its allies still constitute a majority in authority. The anti-Hezbollah
grouping Our Lady of the Mountain Gathering, which includes political and
intellectual figures, said the movement’s drone launch came hours after it
leaked information about the Israeli response to Lebanon’s proposals on the
maritime border demarcation that had been handed to Hochstein. “This confirms
that Hezbollah, which previously announced that it is behind the decision of the
Lebanese state in the matter of demarcating the maritime borders in the south,
is actually behind Iran's decision to demarcate the borders of its influence in
the region, and the Lebanese demarcation file is nothing but a card in its
(Hezbollah's) hands, on behalf of Iran and above the interests of the afflicted
Lebanese people,” it added.
Reports said that Hochstein had made progress on the possibility of moving the
indirect negotiations again after Lebanese authorities, represented by President
Michel Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, and Mikati, abandoned the demand
for Line 29 and the adoption of Line 23.
Lebanon has been unable to confirm that Line 29 — which includes the Karish gas
field — is the maritime border of Lebanon due to the failure of Aoun to sign a
draft amendment to Decree 6433. It was issued in 2011 and specified that Line 23
was the point for negotiations with Israel to demarcate the maritime borders.
However, Aoun considers Line 29 to be the point for negotiations.
Line 29 gives Lebanon an additional area estimated at 1,430 square km while,
according to the decree deposited with the UN, Lebanon only gets 860 square km
of the disputed area. Lebanon is also dealing with the issue of Syrian refugees,
with Aoun seeking to achieve a breakthrough before the end of his term in
October.
The minister of the displaced in the caretaker government, Issam Sharaf El-Din,
affirmed Lebanon's “total rejection of Syrian refugees not returning to their
country after the war ended and it became safe.”After meeting Aoun, Sharaf
El-Din said that Lebanon planned to repatriate 15,000 displaced people per
month. He referred to proposals submitted by Lebanon to UNHCR regional director
Ayaki Ito, who promised to refer the issue to his superiors and get a written
answer.The minister also referred to a plan to form a tripartite committee with
the Syrian state and the UNHCR, and a four-party committee with Turkey, Iraq,
and Jordan to achieve repatriation targets. He claimed to be in touch with the
Syrian side and said it was extending its hand to cooperate and facilitate the
repatriation in a dignified and safe manner.
“There was an understanding with the regional director of the UNHCR regarding
the request for the Syrian state to establish a tripartite committee that
includes the Syrian state, the Lebanese state, and the UNHCR. If this committee
is established, we will have made an important step. We proposed that the
refugees receive material and in-kind assistance in Syria. Unfortunately, this
was not accepted. “We asked the UNHCR to stop aid for the 15,000 refugees whose
turn comes to return to their country every month because paying aid to them in
Lebanon is an incentive for them to stay in Lebanon.”Sharaf El-Din said there
was a meeting with the Turkish ambassador to Lebanon, who was understanding and
cooperative. “We agreed on the gradual repatriation based on village-by-village
or district-by-district.”He said the Turkish side had an idea to establish a
safe zone where refugees would return, but it was a political issue that Lebanon
had nothing to do with. “However, we agreed to form a quadripartite committee
that includes the Turkish state, which hosts 3,700,000 Syrian refugees, Lebanon,
which hosts 1,500,000 refugees, Iraq, which hosts 170,000 refugees, and Jordan,
which hosts 670,000 refugees, so that there will be a unified demand with UN
agencies to facilitate the repatriation of refugees humanely.”
Lebanon on Hezbollah drones: Any act outside state responsibility is
unacceptable, dangerous
Naharnet/04 July ,2022
The Lebanese state on Monday distanced itself from the drones that Hezbollah
sent Saturday towards the Karish offshore field, saying “any act outside the
state’s responsibility” is “unacceptable” and dangerous.The statement was issued
by Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati’s office after the premier met with
caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, who is close to President Michel
Aoun. The statement said Mikati and Bou Habib tackled “the situation in the
South, the issue of the three drones that were launched in the vicinity of the
disputed maritime area, and the reactions they stirred regarding the usefulness
of this operation, which occurred outside the state’s responsibility and the
diplomatic course, especially that the ongoing negotiations have reached
advanced stages.” “In this regard, Lebanon reiterates its support for the
efforts of the U.S. mediator in order to reach a solution that would fully and
clearly preserve the Lebanese rights,” the statement added, while calling for
“speeding up the pace of the negotiations.” “Lebanon
considers that any act outside the state’s responsibility and the diplomatic
course of the negotiations is unacceptable and would subject Lebanon to dangers
that it can do without,” the statement went on to say.
Apparently addressing Hezbollah, the statement called on “all parties” to “show
a spirit of high national responsibility and abide by what was previously
declared as to that everyone, without exception, are behind the state in the
negotiations process.”“Lebanon also renews its demand for halting the continuous
maritime, territorial and aerial Israeli violations of its sovereignty,” the
statement added. The statement comes a day after Bou
Habib announced that he met with U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea, who
conveyed to him U.S. objection against Hezbollah’s launching of the drones. U.S.
mediator Amos Hochstein has also held phone talks with Deputy Speaker Elias Bou
Saab, demanding clarifications over Hezbollah’s move and warning that “the
launching of the drones could halt the negotiations and affect the positivity
that engulfed the latest talks,” media reports said.
But Bou Habib revealed that the U.S. ambassador was optimistic about the
possibility of reaching an agreement, saying the talks have reached a “very
advanced stage.”And noting that Lebanon is yet to receive a written response
from the Israelis, Bou Habib emphasized that Lebanon is “clinging to the 860
square kilometers and wants the entire Qana field.”
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid has accused Hezbollah of undermining Lebanon's
efforts to reach an agreement on the disputed energy-rich maritime border.
On Saturday, Israel's army said it had intercepted three drones launched
by Hezbollah that were headed towards an offshore gas field in the
Mediterranean, near a disputed area that is the subject of U.S.-mediated
maritime talks. "Hezbollah is continuing on the path
of terrorism and is hurting Lebanon's ability to reach an agreement on a
maritime border," Lapid said. Hezbollah confirmed it had launched the drones,
saying their “reconnaissance” mission was aimed at sending a “message” to
Israel, while noting that the area the drones had been headed for is “disputed.”Israel
and previous United Nations maps put Karish within Israel's maritime borders,
and not in the disputed area subject to ongoing negotiations.
But Lebanon last month condemned Israel when a vessel chartered by Israel
and operated by London-listed Greek energy firm Energean entered the Karish
field.
Hezbollah at the time warned Energean against proceeding with its activities.
Lebanon and Israel resumed indirect negotiations on their maritime border
in 2020, but the process was stalled by Beirut's claim that the map used by the
U.N. in the talks needed modifying. Lebanon initially demanded 860 square
kilometers of waters it said were under dispute, but then asked for an
additional 1,430 square kilometers, including part of the Karish field. However,
in the latest talks with Hochstein, Lebanon renounced the so-called Line 29,
instead demanding Line 23 and the entire Qana field.
Lebanon PM criticizes unofficial moves in Israel row after Hezbollah sent drones
Reuters, Beirut/04 July ,2022
Lebanon’s prime minister on Monday criticized as risky and unacceptable any
unofficial dealings over its sea border row with Israel, after the Hezbollah
movement sent three drones towards an Israeli gas rig that were shot down.
Hezbollah launched its operation on Saturday following long-standing but so far
fruitless US-mediated efforts to agree on a maritime border between the two
countries near an area where Israel has made large natural gas discoveries.
“Lebanon considers that any action outside the framework of the state’s
responsibility and the diplomatic context in which the negotiations are
happening is unacceptable and exposes [Lebanon] to unnecessary risks,” a
statement by the office of Prime Minister designate Najib Mikati office said.
The statement was issued following a meeting between Mikati and Foreign Minister
Abdallah Bou Habib. The statement called for “everyone, without exception” to
stand behind the Lebanese state in the negotiation process, which it said had
reached “advanced stages.”Hezbollah said on Saturday the drones, launched
towards the Karish gas field in waters claimed by both countries, had
successfully carried out a reconnaissance mission and said “the message was
delivered.”The Israeli military said it had intercepted the drones, the first time an
Israeli naval ship had downed an incoming target. Israeli Defense Minister Benny
Gantz said after the incident that Hezbollah was “preventing the state of
Lebanon from reaching an agreement regarding maritime borders.”
Lebanese PM criticizes Hezbollah over drone provocation
Kareem Chehayeb/AP/04 July ,2022
BEIRUT — Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister on Monday criticized the militant
group Hezbollah for sending three unmanned aircraft over an Israeli gas
installation last week, saying it was an unnecessarily risky action.
Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on Russia's
war in Ukraine. Najib Mikati’s comment came two days after Hezbollah launched
three drones over the Karish gas field in the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli
military said on Saturday said that it has shot down the three drones, before
Hezbollah issued a statement saying they were unarmed and were sent on a
reconnaissance mission. “The mission was accomplished and the message was
received,” Hezbollah said. Lebanon claims the Karish gas field is disputed
territory under ongoing maritime border negotiations, whereas Israel says it
lies within its internationally recognized economic waters. “Lebanon believes
that any actions outside the state’s framework and diplomatic context while
negotiations are taking place is unacceptable and exposes it to unnecessary
risks,” Foreign Minister Abdallah Bouhabib said, citing Mikati’s statement.
Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies that fought a monthlong war in the
summer of 2006. Israel considers the group its most serious immediate threat,
estimating it has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel.
The incident in the Karish gas field took place soon after U.S. mediator Amos
Hochstein recently visited Lebanese and Israeli officials, as talks were
advancing.
Mikati on Saturday told reporters that Lebanon had received “encouraging
information” regarding the border dispute, but refused to comment until after he
receives a “written official response to the suggestions by the Lebanese side.”Negotiations between Lebanon and Israel to determine their maritime borders
commenced in October 2020, when the two sides held indirect U.S.-mediated talks
in southern Lebanon. Since taking over the mediation from late 2021, Hochstein
has resorted to shuttle diplomacy with visits to both Beirut and Jerusalem. The
two countries, which have been officially at war since Israel’s creation in
1948, both claim some 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the
Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore gas reserves as it grapples
with the worst economic crisis in its modern history.
Bou Habib expects border deal with Israel in September
Naharnet/04 July ,2022
Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib said Sunday that he expects
Lebanon and Israel to reach a sea border demarcation agreement in September. Bou
Habib made the announcement in remarks to LBCI television. The statement comes a
day after Hezbollah sent three unarmed drones towards an Israeli gas rig in the
Karish field, in what it said was a reconaissance mission over a "disputed"
territory. Hezbollah also said that the launching of the drones was aimed at
sending a "message" to Israel. Hezbollah's move appears to be an attempt to
influence U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their
maritime border, an area that is rich in natural gas. Israel last month set up a
gas rig in the Karish field, which it says lies within part of its
internationally recognized economic waters. Lebanon has claimed it is in
disputed waters. The U.S. last week said that mediator Amos Hochstein had held
conversations with the Lebanese and Israeli sides. "The exchanges were
productive and advanced the objective of narrowing differences between the two
sides. The United States will remain engaged with parties in the days and weeks
ahead," his office said in a statement last week. Lebanon and Israel, which have
been officially at war since Israel's creation in 1948, both claim some 860
square kilometers of the Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore
gas reserves as it grapples with the worst economic crisis in its modern
history. On Saturday, careraker Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters that
Lebanon received "encouraging information" regarding the border dispute but
refused to comment further saying Beirut is waiting for the "written official
response to the suggestions by the Lebanese side."
Corona - MoPH: 1079 new Coronavirus infections, one
death
NNA/04 July ,2022
Lebanon has recorded 1079 new coronavirus cases and one death in the last 24
hours, as reported by the Ministry of Public Health on Monday.
Beirut Governor discusses with UNDP delegation solid waste
file, repercussions
NNA/04 July ,2022
Beirut Governor, Judge Marwan Abboud, on Monday welcomed UNDP Resident
Representative, Melanie Hauenstein, who visited him with an accompanying
delegation. The meeting reportedly took stock of the many challenges facing
Beirut city on various levels, the most important of which is the solid waste
file and its repercussions on public health. Abboud presented the emerging facts
and the substantial need to support the municipality in order to develop
sustainable environmental solutions to avoid the return of trash across Beirut
streets, especially in light of the impending expiration date of the current
company’s contract. A statement issued by Abboud’s office indicated that both
sides had agreed to develop an action plan in order to avoid the repercussions
of the financial crisis on the solid waste dossier.
Berri welcomes Iranian Ambassador, receives final report on
parliamentary polls from EU EOM
NNA/04 July ,2022
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Monday welcomed at his Ain al-Tineh residence the
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Lebanon, Mohammad-Jalal Firouznia,
who paid him a farewell visit marking the end of his diplomatic mission in
Lebanon. During the meeting, the general situation in Lebanon, as well as
bilateral relations between the two countries, were discussed. Berri also
received Head of the European Union Election Observation Mission in Lebanon, Mr.
György Hölvényi, and an accompanying delegation, in the presence of EU
Ambassador to Lebanon, Ralph Tarraf. The EU EOM delegation handed Berri the
final report prepared by the mission on the Lebanese parliamentary elections of
2022. Berri separately welcomed former Minister, Faisal Karami, with whom he
discussed the general situation and political developments. Berri also had an
audience with MP Fouad Makhzoumi.
LF MP says Hezbollah drones targeted against Aoun's
powers
Naharnet/04 July ,2022
Hezbollah's "Iranian drones geographically flew towards the Karish field" on
Saturday, "but politically they overflew the Baabda Palace," MP Pierre Bou Assi
of the Lebanese Forces said on Monday. "The target was Article 52 of the
constitution and the President's powers as to negotiating over international
treaties," Bou Assi tweeted. "Our republic is targeted and our constitution is
in danger," the lawmaker warned.
Mikati says 'things positive' regarding government
formation
Naharnet/04 July ,2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati announced Monday that “things are
positive” regarding the new government’s formation. “Things are positive
regarding the formation of the government, which once formed will continue what
the current government had started,” Mikati said after talks with Greek Orthodox
Metropolitan of Beirut Elias Aude. Responding to a reporter’s question, Mikati
said he will visit President Michel Aoun within two day
Lapid: Hezbollah undermining Lebanon ability to reach
sea border deal
Associated Press/04 July ,2022
Israel's caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Sunday warned that Israel would
take any step necessary to "defend" itself, after it shot down three drones
launched by Hezbollah a day earlier. Hezbollah launched the unmanned aircraft
toward an area where an Israeli gas platform was recently installed in the
Mediterranean Sea. The move appeared to be an attempt by Hezbollah to influence
U.S.-brokered negotiations between Israel and Lebanon over their maritime
border, an area that is rich in natural gas. "Hezbollah continues its path of
terrorism, undermining Lebanon's ability to reach an agreement on the maritime
border. Israel will continue to protect itself, its citizens and its assets,"
Lapid said. He noted that the drones "attempted to damage Israeli infrastructure
in Israel's economic waters."Referring to Israel's domestic political turmoil,
Lapid said: "The education crisis cannot wait. Budgets for hospitals cannot be
postponed. The Iranians, Hamas and Hezbollah are not waiting. We have to act
against them in all arenas, at any given moment, and that is exactly what we
will do."On Saturday, in his first speech as caretaker PM, Lapid had said: "I
stand before you at this moment and say to everyone seeking our demise, from
Gaza to Tehran, from the shores of Lebanon to Syria: Don't test us.""Israel
knows how to use its strength against every threat, against every enemy," he
added. Israel last month set up a gas rig in the Karish field, which it says
lies within part of its internationally recognized economic waters. Lebanon has
claimed it is in disputed waters. Hezbollah issued a short statement, confirming
it had launched three unarmed drones toward the disputed maritime issue over the
Karish field on a reconnaissance mission. "The mission was accomplished and the
message was received" by Israel, it said. Israel and Hezbollah are bitter
enemies that fought a monthlong war in the summer of 2006. Israel considers the
Iranian-backed Lebanese group its most serious immediate threat, estimating it
has some 150,000 rockets and missiles aimed at Israel. The U.S. last week said
that mediator Amos Hochstein had held conversations with the Lebanese and
Israeli sides. "The exchanges were productive and advanced the objective of
narrowing differences between the two sides. The United States will remain
engaged with parties in the days and weeks ahead," his office said in a
statement last week. Lebanon and Israel, which have been officially at war since
Israel's creation in 1948, both claim some 860 square kilometers of the
Mediterranean Sea. Lebanon hopes to exploit offshore gas reserves as it grapples
with the worst economic crisis in its modern history. On Saturday, careraker
Prime Minister Najib Mikati told reporters that Lebanon received "encouraging
information" regarding the border dispute but refused to comment further saying
Beirut is waiting for the "written official response to the suggestions by the
Lebanese side."
US Navy offers cash for tips to seize Mideast drugs,
weapons
Associated Press/04 July ,2022
The U.S. Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer rewards for
information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs and other illicit
shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program and
Tehran's arming of Yemen's Houthi rebels. While avoiding directly mentioning
Iran, the 5th Fleet's decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable
intelligence in the Persian Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase
pressure on the flow of weapons to the Houthis as a shaky cease-fire still holds
in Yemen. Already, the Houthis have threatened a new allied task force organized
by the 5th Fleet in the Red Sea, though there's been no attack by the
Iranian-backed forces on the Navy in the time since. Meanwhile, the 5th Fleet
says it and its partners seized $500 million in drugs alone in 2021 — more than
the four prior years combined. The 5th Fleet also intercepted 9,000 weapons in
the same period, three times the number seized in 2020. "Any destabilizing
activity has our attention," Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman, told
The Associated Press. "Definitely we have seen in the last year skyrocketing
success in seizing both illegal narcotics and illicit weapons. This represents
another step in our effort to enhance regional maritime security."
The 5th Fleet's new initiative launches on Tuesday through the Department of
Defense Rewards Program, which saw troops offer cash and goods for tips on the
battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere after al-Qaida launched the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since ground fighting has largely halted across the
region, the 5th Fleet decided to try to use the program as it patrols the
waterways of the Middle East. Hawkins said operators fluent in Arabic, English
and Farsi would man a hotline, while the Navy also would take tips additionally
online, in Dari and Pashto. Payouts can be as high as $100,000 or the equivalent
in vehicles, boats or food for tips that also include information on planned
attacks targeting Americans, Hawkins said. It's unclear if the 5th Fleet's
uptick in seizures represents a return to shipping after the coronavirus
pandemic or an increase overall in the number of illicit shipments in the
region. Traffickers typically use stateless dhows, traditional wooden sailing
craft common in the Mideast, to transport drugs and weapons. One destination for
weapons appears to be Yemen. The Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in
September 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government into exile.
A Saudi-led coalition armed with U.S. weaponry and intelligence entered the war
on the side of Yemen's exiled government in March 2015. Years of inconclusive
fighting has pushed the Arab world's poorest nation to the brink of famine. A
truce that began around the holy Muslim month of Ramadan appears for now to
still be holding.
Despite a United Nations Security Council arms embargo on Yemen, Iran long has
been transferring rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weaponry
to the Houthis. Though Iran denies arming the Houthis, independent experts,
Western nations and U.N. experts have traced components back to Iran.
Asked about whether new seizures could increase tensions with Iran, Hawkins
listed the weapons and drugs the Navy hoped to intercept under the program.
"That's what we're after," the commander said. "That's not in the interest of
regional stability and security."Iran's mission to the United Nations did not
respond to a request for comment. The U.S. Navy and Iran continue to have tense
encounters in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through
which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The rewards program marks the latest
initiative under 5th Fleet Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, who also launched a drone task
force last year amid tensions with Iran. Cooper's other effort, the Red Sea task
force, has drawn criticism from the Houthis in the past. The rebel group, which
has repeatedly denied being armed by Iran, did not respond to a request for
comment on the new Navy program. However, Ali al-Qahom, a Houthi official,
tweeted last week that the rebels are monitoring increased U.S. activity in the
Red Sea and Persian Gulf waters. "Because of this, defense and confrontation
options are open," he said. "They and their diabolical projects have no place"
in the region.
The Shebaa Farms, UN Resolution 1559 and the Baathinization of Truth
Elias Bejjani/July 04/2022
Translated from Arabic by Dr. Joseph Hitti
This Study was first published in English on July 03/2004
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/74304/elias-bejjani-the-shebaa-farms-un-resolution-1559-and-the-baathinization-of-truth/
Under the puppet Lebanese regime in place since 1990 and the hegemony of the
Syrian Baathist occupier of Lebanon, the “Shebaa Farms” issue has become a big
lie and a pretext to pre-empt the ability of the Lebanese state to assume its
responsibilities, an alibi to maintain tensions along the Israeli-Lebanese
border, and a justification for maintaining the Syrian Army in control of the
lives of the Lebanese people. Through cheap intelligence and moronic political
manipulations, including threats, promises and bribes, the Baathies occupier
continues today to try and place sticks in the wheels of resolution 1559, but to
no avail. Neither the Lebanese people, nor the international community are
buying any of it, and the eviction of the Syrian occupier from all Lebanon’s
territories is imminent.
Truths have been falsified, history has been disfigured, and a case has been
fabricated from scratch for no other reason but to serve the interests of the
Syrian Baathists, and with no import whatsoever to Lebanon or the Palestinian
cause. The objective of this document is to shed light on the Shebaa Farms
“occupation” fabrication in a chronological overview spanning the period from
1924 to the present. A naive and isolated Baathist Syria stands today against
the international will – with the stubbornness of Saddam and the ill-logic of
Suhhafi – refusing to implement resolution 1559 and to end its hegemony over
Lebanon.
On May 25, 2000 the Israeli Labor government decided to implement UN Resolution
425 issued by the Security Council on March 19, 1978 and withdrew its troops
from the “security zone” border strip. At the same time, it also implemented the
clauses pertaining to it of UN resolution 426 that was voted by the Security
Council on the same date and which represents a mechanism for implementing
resolution 425.
It is worth noting that the Israeli withdrawal and its background are no longer
a secret since it was carried out as part of a total agreement between Israel,
Iran, Syria, the Lebanese regime and Hezbollah under the supervision of the
United Nations represented by Terje Rod-Larsen, the Special Envoy of the UN
Secretary General. The agreement stipulated, among many other conditions, the
dismantling of the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and the decommissioning of its
weapons, the closure of all passage points between the Lebanese border strip and
Israel, the facilitation of Hezbollah’s takeover and control of the south and
the dispatch of its fighters along the borders instead of the Lebanese Army.
The Lebanese Taef regime did not implement the clauses of Resolution 426
pertaining to it, which calls for handing over security on the international
border to the Lebanese Army and spreading the authority of the Lebanese State
over the entire South. A combination of Syrian will and international-Israeli
complicity granted Hezbollah the exclusivity of controlling the South, thus
preventing the Lebanese State from shouldering its responsibilities in the
region as it is supposed to do. Hezbollah continues to this day to carry out
this highly suspicious mission assigned to it, maintaining in a historically
unprecedented and twisted logic that the Lebanese Army is not a police force and
will not be deployed to protect the Israeli border. Meanwhile, Damascus and its
barkers in Beirut continue to accuse of treason any Lebanese who demands the
spread of the authority of the Lebanese State – through its legitimate forces –
to the South and along the Lebanese-Israeli border.
Only one week after the Israeli withdrawal, Syria concocted the problem of the
Shebaa Farms and made a hot issue out of it, cloaking around it a false cause
for a new resistance to replace the resistance pretext that was lost with the
Israeli withdrawal. The fact is that the vast majority of the Lebanese people,
and first among them the howlers of steadfastness, merchants of liberation, and
peddlers of unity of purpose and destiny, and all the Quixotic wielders of
swords, butcher’s knives and daggers had never heard of the Farms and had no
idea whatsoever if the Farms were in Lebanon or in Timbuktu !!.
The Syrian producer of this tragic comedy had decided to hand over the South to
Hezbollah under the pretext of a continued Israeli occupation of the Shebaa
Farms. Damascus had from the start tried to play the card of the seven Lebanese
villages that were annexed to Palestine in 1924 by mandatory Britain and France
when the latter drew the borders between Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. But
Syria did not find this issue to be fertile ground for achieving its goal of
maintaining tensions on the Lebanese-Israeli border.
It should be noted here that the borders between the three countries were
confirmed internationally in 1949 after the creation of the state of Israel. And
from that time, the Armistice Agreement between Lebanon and Israel became the
working modality for the borderline between the two countries, and the
Engineering Corps of the Lebanese Army drew the borderline under the supervision
of international observers in the early 1960s.
Since 1924, the Shebaa Farms were treated as Lebanese territory, but Syria
refused to recognize this fact, as it refused indeed to recognize the
independence of Lebanon as a sovereign country. In the 1950s, Syria seized the
Shebaa Farms and kept the territory under its control until Israel occupied the
Farms – along with the Golan Heights – in 1967. Syrian control of the Farms was
an anomaly because the inhabitants and properties were Lebanese, but the
administration and authorities in charge were Syrian.
Lebanon did not accept Syria’s control of the Farms but did not seek redress at
the United Nations or with the Arab League out of fear of adding complexity to
the issue. Still, the Syrians remained obstinate in maintaining their grip on
the territory and never paid much attention to Lebanon’s claims.
In 1961, Lebanon tried to open a police station in the Shebaa Farms, but Syrian
forces there killed a number of Lebanese gendarmes and evicted the others by
military force. This event si documented in one of the issues of the Lebanese
Army Magazine. In a press conference organized by An-Nahar on December 4, 2000,
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Adnan Shaaban said that the Shebaa Farms is Lebanese
territory under Syrian sovereignty, reminding those who forgot of the document
published by the Lebanese Soldier Magazine in 1961, in which it is reported that
4 Lebanese soldiers of various ranks were killed by the Syrian “brothers”
because they entered into territory under Syrian sovereignty (according to the
Syrian version of events). The photos of their sacrifice are available in the
files of the Directorate of Orientation and Information.
The inhabitants of the Farms and land owners there have raised the matter and
complained many times to successive Lebanese governments – from the time of
Bechara El-Khoury through the presidency of Fuad Shihab. They also raised the
issue many times directly to the Syrian authorities with petitions, sit-ins,
dispatching delegations and mediators, but unfortunately to no avail. Syria
insisted on imposing its authority by force over the Shebaa Farms.
In his book, “Lebanon: Political Absurdity and Unknwon Fate” (Dar An-Nahar
Press, pp. 293-294), the former Prime Minister of Lebanon, the late Sami Solh,
mentions the Shebaa Farms as follows: “Lebanese-Syrian relations continued to
deteriorate during 1956-1958, whereby severe border problems came up when Syrian
authorities established a police station and a ‘Mujahideen’ camp in the Shebaa
Farms, as reported by Lebanese security sources. The inhabitants of the Shebaa
Farms were warned (September 1957) by Syrian authorities that families there
should submit statements saying that they accept the Syrian identity instead of
the Lebanese. With the recurrence of attacks against Lebanese civilians, a
delegation of the notables of Shebaa led by the Mayor of the Farms went to
Damascus to talk to senior officials in the Syrian leadership, beginning with
Prime Minister Sabri Al-Assali and Speaker of Parliament Akram Al-Hourani, but
to no avail. When the same southern delegation came to visit me, and I was
informed of the details of developments there, I emphasized to the delegation
the necessity of holding on to their Lebanese identity and keeping it, and I
promised the southerners to work to solve the issue, support their
steadfastness, prevent the attacks, and reduce the pressures on them. After
that, I immediately contacted the Egyptian ambassador in Damascus, Mahmoud
Riyad, and explained to him the situation and what the Lebanese citizens have to
endure, and that these actions are not in the interest of Egypt, nor are they in
the interests of Syria and Lebanon. To the contrary, they hurt relations and the
basic interests between the concerned nations and their peoples. I also informed
him very emphatically that the issue was having a negative influence on the
Arab and international scenes because the matter was no longer limited to the
dispatching of men and weapons across the border , but has now reached the
point of cutting off territories and annexing them along with their inhabitants.
At the same time, I issued Decree No. 493, dated December 14, 1957 calling on
the Lebanese authorities in the Shebaa Farms to record all events and
transgressions, and exert their utmost efforts to protect and preserve the
Lebanese identity of the Shebaa Farms (including: Kfar Douma, Marah Malloul,
Qafwa, Ramta, Khallit Ghazaleh, Fashkoul, Jourit Al-Aqareb, Al-Rubaa, Beit
Dhimmi, Aardata, etc.)
During the Six-Day War on June 6, 1967, Israel invaded and occupied the Golan
and with it the Shebaa Farms. UN resolution 242 issued by the Security Council
on November 22, 1967 after the war did not mention the Shebaa Farms as Lebanese
territory. It did, however, clearly state that all territories occupied by
Israel on the Syrian-Israeli front are Syrian territories. Lebanon was not a
participant to the war, and did not at the time claim in any official manner
that Israel had occupied part of its territory.
In 1972, Israel entered in some portions of the Israeli-Lebanese border fence,
but this entry was limited and did not go beyond the southern town of Houla.
When the 1973 war broke out between Israel and the Arabs, Lebanon did not
participate either, neither did it consider at the end of the war that Israel
occupied any of its territory. Resolution 338 of the Security Council dated
November 22, 1973 did not mention anything at all suggesting any occupied
Lebanese territory. Not one official in the Lebanese government at the time said
anything about Israel occupying a single inch of its territory, and Lebanon
remained officially bound by the 1949 Armistice Agreement.
In 1978, Israel entered the south of Lebanon on its “Operation Litani” campaign,
and on March 9, 1978, the Security Council issued resolution 425 and its
implementation mechanism in resolution 426. That resolution did not mention the
Shebaa Farms, and official Lebanon again never said anything in any Lebanese,
Arab, international or regional venue that Israel occupied the Shebaa Farms. In
fact, the concerned countries, namely Syria and Lebanon, all the Arab countries
and Israel did not consider that resolutions 242 and 338 pertain in any way to
Lebanese territory. Similarly, resolutions 425 and 426 did not mention the
Shebaa Farms and did not consider them as Lebanese territory that is occupied by
Israel.
In 1982, Israel invaded Lebanon and reached the capital Beirut. It then withdrew
to the south and remained there until May 2000. The Security Council had issued
on September 17, 1982, resolution 520 that demands the withdrawal of all foreign
forces from all Lebanon, the respect for Lebanon’s sovereignty and
internationally-recognized borders, and the spread of the authority of the
Lebanese State with its own national forces over its entire territory. This
resolution did not mention the Shebaa Farms since the UN believes the Farms
belong to Syrian territory covered by resolutions 425 and 338 which globally
apply to the Golan heights.
It is important to remember here that a resolution was adopted by the Lebanese
Parliament in 1991, which “requested that the government attend the Madrid
Conference on the basis of several principles, including the principle that
resolutions 242 and 338 do not pertain to Lebanon”, but that the governments
that were formed after that parliament was dissolved and three
non-representative parliaments were set up officially linked the Lebanese cause
with the implementation of those two resolutions, thereby nullifying the Taef
Accord. In October 1991, and after the Gulf War, all Arab countries, as well as
Israel and Lebanon, participated at the Madrid Conference under American-Russian
sponsorship. Then the completely Syrian-occupied Lebanon of the Taef regime said
that resolutions 242 and 338 were immaterial to Lebanon and instead focused on
resolutions 425 and 426, demanding a return to a commitment to the Armistice
Agreement signed with Israel in 1949. Not one Arab country, and neither Israel
nor Syria pointed then to the Shebaa Farms as occupied Lebanese territory. The
same position was also adopted by Taef Lebanon and Baathist Syria in their
negotiations with Israel that took place in the US over several periods of time
between 1994 and 1996 during the Clinton administration. Nowhere in the minutes
and proceedings of these negotiations were the Shebaa Famrs mentioned, while
Lebanon called for a return to the implementation of the Armistice Agreement
with Israel. The Lebanese Foreign Minister again reiterated that it was not
concerned by resolutions 242 and 338, but only by resolution 425.
Ever since Israel occupied the Golan in 1967, and since the international
observers have been watching the Syrian-Israeli border, the Shebaa Farmd have
always been considered as Syrian territories by the international community.
Several international maps place the Farms inside Syrian territory that is
occupied by Israel. Former Syrian president Amin Hafez mentions in his memoirs
(available on the Al-Jazeerah web site) that the regime of Hafez Assad had
delivered the Golan to Israel in exchange for maintaining him and his band
safely in power.
From all the preceding, it is clear that the Shebaa Farms question landed on the
Lebanese in a Syrian Baathist parachute, a poisoned gift such as all the gifts
the Baath offered the Lebanese. The Baath fabricated this story to maintain its
occupation of Lebanon and create an anomalous situation at the Lebanese border
with Israel that prevents the rise of the Lebanese State, and to keep its
control of the Lebanese scene, directly through its intelligence and soldiers,
and indirectly through Hezbollah, the Amal Movement and the rest of the Lebanese
and Palestinian organizations that are completely in its grip.
Following the Israeli withdrawal of May 2000, the United Nations tasked its
delegates, with Lebanese and Israeli participation, with the mission of
delineating the border between Lebanon and Israel. The Blue Line was thus drawn
with the stipulation that the Shebaa Farms were located inside Syrian
territories. Lebanon and Syria, as well as Israel and all Arab countries
recognized the Blue Line as the official border.
Lebanon’s recognition was double-sided. General Emile Lahoud, the Lebanese
President, sent a secret letter to the Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan
without the knowledge of his Primie Minister Salim Hoss, in which he accepted
the Blue Line. Yet, publicly and in the media, the matter was presented as
though Lebanon refused to recognize the Blue Line before an Israeli withdrawal
from the Shebaa Farms.
The Lebanese media, towing the Syrian line, then began a campaign of inciting
the people in order to justify keeping weapons in the hands of Hezbollah and
preventing the Lebanese Army from deploying along the border with Israel and
entering the Palestinian camps, and basically prevent the Lebanese government
from spreading and exercising its authority over its entire territory.
The Lebanese South was to remain a time-bomb in the hands of the Syrian and
Iranian rulers through under upside-down argument that the Lebanese Army ought
not to be deployed to the Lebanese border with Israel so as not protect the
Israeli border! A sick and tragic logic that made Lebanon and those in its
government the laughing stock of the international community.
The UN tried to peacefully dismantle the Shebaa Farms time bomb through the
modalities of international law. It requested both the Lebanese and Syrian
governments to submit official documents signed by both countries clearly
stating Syria’s recognition of the Shebaa Farms as Lebanese land. However, Syria
refused to comply with this request, and instead had its Foreign Minister Farouq
Sharaa place an unofficial telephone call to the UN Secretary General Annan.
Annan reiterated his demand several times, but Syria ignored the request while
the rulers of the Lebanese puppet regime did not dare raise the issue with the
Syrians. Instead, they persisted in their lies, their incitements and their
faithful execution of the Syrian dictates, all of this against the background of
the Baathist slogan of “one-path, one-destiny”.
In an interview with a French magazine, the Maronite Patriarch Sfeir said:”Some
tell us that Shebaa is Lebanese, and some tell us it is Syrian, and to this date
we have no information about any official Syrian document presented to the UN
that certifies Syria’s recognition of the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa Farms.
We do not see how the Farms can be liberated by throwing stones across the Blue
Line between Israel and Lebanon, but by negotiating through the UN, especially
since the Secretary General, Washington, and the European countries have
acknowledged that Israel has implemented Resolution 425. The Farms, which were
under Syrian control when Israel occupied the Golan in 1967, are covered under
Resolution 242, and not Resolution 425.”
To those who are concerned and have an open mind to understand the facts, we
simply say…Yes, the Shebaa Farms are 100% Lebanese land, but Syria seized them
by force and took control of them administratively and militarily from the early
1960s. In the process, it killed Lebanese gendarmes and shut down the Lebanese
police station there, which was tantamount to evicting the Lebanese authorities
from the Farms.
If the Syrian Baath regime indeed wanted to help recover the Shebaa Farms and
rid it of the Israeli occupation, it would have presented the official
documentation required by the UN and officially recognized the Lebanese identity
of the Farms. The UN in turn would guarantee the return of the Farms to Lebanon
without firing a single bullet. Israel has in fact expressed its readiness to
withdraw from the Farms the moment Syria formally recognizes Lebanon’s
sovereignty over the Farms and the Lebanese Army deploys on the border.
Syria never recognized Lebanon’s right to exist as an independent country since
the borders of the State of Greater Lebanon were drawn in 1920, even as it
continued to speak about brotherhood, geography and history. Syria always and
categorically rejected the idea of establishing diplomatic relations with
Lebanon and it also refrained from undertaking any official assessment of the
borders between the two countries, consistent with its hidden ambition under the
slogans of “one people in two states”, “the unity of geography and history”,
“Lebanon is the ‘soft flank’ of Syria, “the unity of path and destiny”, and
others.
And here is Syrian today refusing to implement UN resolution 1559, linking it to
the implementation of 1,300 UN resolutions pertaining to the Arab-Israeli
conflict, including resolution 194 that calls for a return of Palestinian
refugees.
If the “Baathinized” Lebanese regime really wanted to liberate the Farms, it
would have asked Syria for the official document requested by the UN, and if
Hezbollah genuinely wanted to liberate the Farms as it claims, it would have
surrendered its weapons to the Lebanese State after Israel implemented
Resolution 425 by withdrawing from the border strip, and would have allowed the
Lebanese Army to deploy along the border and spread the State’s authority over
all Lebanese land. It also would have facilitated the implementation by the
State of its obligations under Resolution 426.
And if Syria were truly in Lebanon to defend it against Israeli attacks, it
would have fired at least one bullet on one Israeli soldier through the hundreds
of Israeli attacks against Lebanese soil, the Lebanese people and their
institutions, by land, air and by sea. Syria, after all, has been militarily
present in Lebanon since 1976 under that pretext. And if Syria really wanted to
protect Lebanon, it should have begun by protecting itself and its own occupied
and annexed Golan, it would not have abandoned the territory of Iskenderun (Alexandretta)
to Turkey with whom it has signed agreements. Fact is, Syria cannot offer what
it has lost.
To the rulers of Syria and their followers we say: “You can fool only some
people some of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. You
have ceased to demand “All of Palestine” back, you have recognized Israel the
day you agreed to participate in the Madrid Conference, and like all other Arab
League countries you did not mention the Lebanese identity of the Shebaa Farms,
which defeats all of your resistance and liberation pretenses. The silence of
the Golan Heights front since their occupation by Israel exposes your hypocrisy.
Enough lying to your people and to our people. The presence of the Syrian Army
in Lebanon has nothing to do with the strategic wars against Israel because all
those wars are doomed to failure and are gone for no return. The presence of the
repressive Baathist Syrian Army in Lebanon is entirely tied to your Baathist
plans aiming at eliminating Lebanon, uprooting its history, erasing its
identity, displacing its people, killing its distinct culture and reduce it to a
Syrian province.
It would better for the Baath Party in Syria to convince the Syrian people that
the fate of the Golan will not be different from the fate of Iskenderun after
the Baath abandoned its claims to it and signed joint security and water
agreements with Ankara!
Let the Baath rulers of Damascus drop the lie of the Shebaa Farms and concern
themselves with the Golan and Iskenderun, and the Lebanese are capable – after
implementing resolution 1559 and ridding themselves of the hegemony of the
Syrian Army and Intelligence Services – of recovering the Shebaa Farms
peacefully through the United Nations and without firing a single bullet.
Will the rulers of Damascus finally live and let live, and let us, the Lebanese
people live and recover our freedom and independence?
The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on July 04-05/2022
Six killed in shooting at July 4 parade in
Chicago suburb of Highland Park
Arab News/July 04, 2022
HIGHLAND PARK, Chicago: At least six people have been killed and more than 24
were injured in a shooting at a Fourth of July parade in the wealthy Chicago
suburb of Highland Park on Monday, officials said, as panicked spectators fled
the scene. Officials told a news conference that six people were killed and 24
taken to hospital, and that a rifle was recovered from the scene. “Law
enforcement agencies are searching for the suspect; evidence of a firearm has
been recovered,” the city of Highland Park reported on its website. “Numerous
law enforcement officers are responding and have secured a perimeter around
downtown Highland Park.”The shooting comes with gun violence fresh on the minds
of many Americans, after a massacre on May 24 killed 19 school children and two
teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and the May 14 attack that
killed 10 people at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York. Democrat Senator Julie
Morrison was in the area when the shooting occurred. “Today while participating
in the Highland Park 4th of July parade, my family and I — and the entire
Highland Park community — experienced the trauma of what far too many across the
country are experiencing: the paralyzing terror of gun violence,” she said.
“Like so many other families, I was with my husband, our three children and our
grandchildren on what was to be a day of festivities and a beloved community
event. Instead, we were running for safety, desperately praying that no one
would die from the gunshots we heard in the distance. “Even in Highland Park, a
town with some of the strictest gun laws in Illinois, lives are at risk from the
lack of gun control.”She continued: “Gun violence has been normalized and no one
is to blame except elected officials who have the power to put their
constituents’ lives ahead of the gun lobby, but fail to do so every chance they
get. Instead we have a Supreme Court that just put our country on a path to even
more guns on our streets and a Congress that’s patting themselves on the back
over a watered down gun reform package that does little to stop the death
sentence that is life in America right now.“I am enraged by the gun free-for-all
that’s killing our children, our seniors and everyone in between. The only way
we can end this crisis is for our state and federal government to pass the laws
that we’ve all been demanding. Until that happens, we are not safe anywhere—not
at our places of worship, our schools, our community gatherings. If you’re not
committed to saving lives then you have absolutely no place in public office.
“Thank you to the first responders who bravely stepped in to an active shooting
and undoubtedly saved hundreds of lives today. I pray for healing for the
victims — and my promise to you is that my years-long crusade against gun
violence will continue stronger than ever.”* With Reuters
Iran TV: Sandstorm Shuts Offices, Schools in
Tehran, Region
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Schools and government offices closed in Iran's capital and several other cities
in the country on Monday, after yet another sandstorm blanketed Tehran and the
surrounding region. State-run TV warned of poor air quality and advised the
elderly, those sick and children to take precautions. Banks and the Tehran Stock
Exchange would remain open, the report said. This is the second time that Tehran
shuttered schools and government offices and the fourth bad sandstorm since
mid-April. Schools and government offices in Tehran were closed for the first
time on account of a sandstorm in May. However, the country’s west, along the
border with Iraq, has seen frequent closures of schools and offices due to
sandstorms, AFP said. Tehran is among the most polluted cities in the world.
Experts blame poor government policies, desertification and low water levels, as
well as climate change, for the frequency and intensity of recent sandstorms.
US Navy Offers Cash for Tips to Seize Middle East
Drugs, Weapons
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
The US Navy's Mideast-based 5th Fleet is starting to offer rewards for
information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs and other illicit
shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran's nuclear program and
Tehran's arming of Yemen's Houthi militias. While avoiding directly mentioning
Iran, the 5th Fleet's decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable
intelligence in the Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase pressure on
the flow of weapons to the Houthis as a shaky ceasefire still holds in Yemen.
Already, the Houthis have threatened a new allied task force organized by the
5th Fleet in the Red Sea, though there's been no attack by the Iranian-backed
forces on the Navy in the time since. Meanwhile, the 5th Fleet says it and its
partners seized $500 million in drugs alone in 2021 - more than the four prior
years combined. The 5th Fleet also intercepted 9,000 weapons in the same period,
three times the number seized in 2020. "Any destabilizing activity has our
attention," Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman, told The Associated
Press. "Definitely we have seen in the last year skyrocketing success in seizing
both illegal narcotics and illicit weapons. This represents another step in our
effort to enhance regional maritime security." The 5th Fleet's new initiative
launches on Tuesday through the Department of Defense Rewards Program, which saw
troops offer cash and goods for tips on the battlefields in Afghanistan, Iraq
and elsewhere after al-Qaeda launched the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Since ground
fighting has largely halted across the region, the 5th Fleet decided to try to
use the program as it patrols the waterways of the Middle East. Hawkins said
operators fluent in Arabic, English and Farsi would man a hotline, while the
Navy also would take tips additionally online, in Dari and Pashto. Payouts can
be as high as $100,000 or the equivalent in vehicles, boats or food for tips
that also include information on planned attacks targeting Americans, Hawkins
said. It's unclear if the 5th Fleet's uptick in seizures represents a return to
shipping after the coronavirus pandemic or an increase overall in the number of
illicit shipments in the region. Traffickers typically use stateless dhows,
traditional wooden sailing craft common in the Mideast, to transport drugs and
weapons. One destination for weapons appears to be Yemen. Despite a United
Nations Security Council arms embargo on Yemen, Iran long has been transferring
rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weaponry to the Houthis.
Though Iran denies arming the Houthis, independent experts, Western nations and
UN experts have traced components back to Iran. Asked about whether new seizures
could increase tensions with Iran, Hawkins listed the weapons and drugs the Navy
hoped to intercept under the program. "That’s what we’re after," the commander
said. "That’s not in the interest of regional stability and security." Iran's
mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The US
Navy and Iran continue to have tense encounters in the Strait of Hormuz, the
narrow mouth of the Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. The
rewards program marks the latest initiative under 5th Fleet Vice Adm. Brad
Cooper, who also launched a drone task force last year amid tensions with Iran.
IRGC Says Won’t Allow its Ranks to be Infiltrated
London - Tehran/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) will not allow the entry of "virus
and termites" into the military institution, asserted the deputy of the Supreme
Leader's representative, Hossein Tayyebifar. Tayyebifar, the IRGC's deputy for
clerical affairs, said the IRGC should train forces who will not hesitate to
pull the trigger. Earlier, the former commander of the Guards' Protection of
Information Unit, Brigadier Ali Nasiri, denied reports of his arrest on charges
of spying for Israel. The IRGC remained silent about the reports that circulated
after the sacking of its intelligence chief, Hussein Taeb. Taeb was dismissed
after a failed Iranian assassination operation targeting Israelis in Turkey. The
Unit is tasked with oversight and supervision of the organization's work. It
combats espionage and information leakage. The Telegraph reported that Iran
purged its security services of senior leaders, including an IRGC general, amid
fears that Israeli spies had infiltrated it. The newspaper reported that a week
after sacking Taeb, a senior officer was arrested on suspicion of spying for
Israel. Taeb was dismissed in the wake of three major embarrassments for the
Iranian intelligence services, which Israeli security officials claim have left
the regime "shocked and rattled." The first was an alleged botched attempt by
Iran to carry out a series of revenge attacks on Israeli citizens in Turkey.
Israel had publicly raised the alarm about the plot and ordered its citizens to
flee the country after warning of an imminent attack.
Last May, Israel published a series of intercepted Iranian documents online,
including details about its nuclear program. Iran suspects that Israel
assassinated two of its nuclear scientists by sending agents to poison their
food at dinner parties before vanishing.
Speaking to The Telegraph, Israeli officials said the string of events was part
of a new tactic to undermine Iranian intelligence known as the "Octopus
doctrine," which compares Iran's leadership to the head of an octopus, and its
tentacles are the various Iranian proxy groups spread across the Middle East,
notably in Syria and Lebanon. But instead of limiting the effect of these
tentacles, the Israeli forces are now heading towards the octopus' head
directly. "The Iranians saw all of that information released by Israel as a huge
slap in the face. And they were shocked. They were rattled by it," an Israeli
security official told The Telegraph.Iranian analysts told the newspaper that
Hossein Taeb was a crucial figure in the Iranian leadership and enjoyed a close
relationship with the Supreme Leader. Taeb was referred to as "The Judge"
because he oversaw the interrogation of prisoners, according to an Iran affairs
analyst and former hostage, Kylie Moore-Gilbert. "Most theories for Taeb's
removal are due to IRGC Intel's inability to prevent Israel from operating
inside Iran's borders, including conducting high-profile assassinations," said
Moore-Gilbert. The IRGC is not a professional intelligence agency, its members
are recruited based on ideological and religious affiliation, and everything is
kept 'in the family,' she said, adding that: "you have to have contacts and
already know people on the inside to get a foot in the door.""Many of its
operatives are incompetent and poorly skilled for the job. Many of them lack a
security mindset or a proper understanding of the conduct of espionage."
Rafsanjani's Daughter Accused of Propaganda Against
Iranian Regime
Tehran/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
An Iranian court has charged the daughter of the former Iranian president, Akbar
Hashemi Rafsanjani, with carrying out propaganda against the regime and
blasphemy in social media posts, the Iranian judiciary announced Sunday.
Tehran's Public Prosecutor, Ali Salehi, said that the indictment was issued and
referred to the court on charges of "propaganda activity against the system of
Iran and blasphemy," according to the judiciary's website Mizan. The charges
relate to supposed comments made by Faezeh Rafsanjani, who is a former lawmaker
and women's rights activist, during a radio debate on a social media forum last
April. Local media quoted Faezeh Rafsanjani as saying that Iran's request to
remove the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from the US list of foreign
terrorist organizations is harmful to "national interests."The official Iranian
news agency IRNA later reported that Rafsanjani's daughter had apologized on
April 23, saying she was "joking without intending to insult."Faezeh, 59, is the
daughter of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who advocated
rapprochement with the West and the US. The former MP was arrested and sentenced
to six months in prison at the end of 2012 on charges of "propaganda against the
Republic." The removal of the Revolutionary Guards from the list of terrorism is
one of the tricky demands in the negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear
agreement. Informed sources had recently stated that it is likely that
European-mediated efforts to revive the 2015 Iranian nuclear agreement will be
resumed following the visit of US President Joe Biden to the Middle East this
month. According to Bloomberg, a recent round of talks in Qatar failed to
overcome the differences within the framework of the negotiations. Two European
diplomats with direct knowledge of the Doha negotiations said the talks had not
made progress, but efforts to restore the deal are expected to continue beyond
the July deadline suggested by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Putin orders Ukraine offensive to continue after capture
of Lugansk
Agence France Presse/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu to press ahead with Moscow's offensive in Ukraine after troops took
control of the entire Lugansk region. "Military units, including the East group
and the West group, must carry out their tasks according to previously approved
plans," Putin told Shoigu. "I hope that everything
will continue in their direction as has happened in Lugansk so far." Shoigu told
Putin this weekend that Moscow's forces were now in full control of the Lugansk
region, a major victory for the Kremlin more than four months after its leader
sent troops into Ukraine. Putin said on Monday that troops that took part in the
Lugansk campaign should "rest and rebuild their combat capabilities".
After giving up on its initial aim of capturing the capital, Kyiv,
following tough Ukrainian resistance, Russia has focused its efforts on securing
full control of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine War to Shift to Donetsk after Fall of Luhansk;
Russia Claims Major Victory
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Russian forces in Ukraine will focus on trying to seize all of
the Donetsk region, having forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the last
major city under their control in the neighboring Luhansk region, the governor
of Luhansk said on Monday. After abandoning an assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian
capital, during the early weeks of the war, Russia concentrated its military
operation on the industrial Donbas heartland that comprises the Luhansk and
Donetsk regions, where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been fighting
Ukraine since 2014.
Russia said it had established full control over the Luhansk region after
Ukrainian forces pulled out of the bombed-out city of Lysychansk. "In terms of
the military, it is bad to leave positions, but there is nothing critical (in
the loss of Lysychansk). We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk,"
Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Reuters in an interview.
"It hurts a lot, but it's not losing the war."
He said the withdrawal from Lysychansk had been "centralized", indicating that
it had been planned and orderly, but that Ukrainian forces had risked being
surrounded. "Still, for them (Russian forces) goal number 1 is the Donetsk
region. Sloviansk and Bakhmut will come under attack - Bakhmut has already
started being shelled very hard," he said. Gaidai said that he expected the city
of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut in particular to come under attack as
Russia tries to take full control of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine. Moscow said
the capture of Lysychansk less than a week after taking neighboring
Sievierdonetsk meant it had "liberated" Luhansk, a major Kremlin war goal.
Moscow said it would give the captured territory to the self-proclaimed
Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic whose independence it recognized on the
eve of the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday night vowed to regain
the lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons. Zelenskiy said
Russia was concentrating its firepower on the Donbas front, but Ukraine would
hit back with long-range weapons such as the US-supplied HIMARS rocket
launchers. "The fact that we protect the lives of our soldiers, our people,
plays an equally important role. We will rebuild the walls, we will win back the
land, and people must be protected above all else," Zelenskiy said in his
nightly video address. In Sloviansk, west of Lysychansk in Donetsk region, Mayor
Vadym Lyakh wrote on Facebook that on Sunday fierce shelling had killed at least
six people, including a 10-year-old girl.
Costly campaign
Thousands of civilians have been killed and cities leveled since Russia invaded
on Feb. 24, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians.
Moscow denies this. Russia says what it calls a "special military operation" in
Ukraine aims to protect Russian speakers from nationalists. Ukraine and its
Western allies say this is a baseless pretext for flagrant aggression that aims
to seize territory. The Ukraine war has sparked a global energy and food crisis
and Western-led sanctions against Moscow have triggered the worst economic
crisis in Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union.
Germany has warned of gas shortages due to dwindling supplies from Russia. The
head of its energy regulator said the 15 billion euros' ($15.64 billion) of
government credit to buy gas for storage may not be enough, according to an
interview in the WirtschaftsWoche magazine on Monday. While Russia would try to
frame its advance in Luhansk as a significant moment in the war, it came at a
high cost to Russia's military, said Neil Melvin of the London-based think tank
RUSI. "Ukraine's position was never that they could defend all of this. What
they've been trying to do is to slow down the Russian assault and cause maximum
damage, while they build up for a counteroffensive," he said. Ukraine has
repeatedly appealed for an acceleration in weapons supplies from the West,
saying its forces are heavily outgunned.
Strikes on Kharkiv
Zelenskiy's office said Russian artillery strikes hit residential and farm
buildings in the Kharkiv region. Russia's defense ministry also said on Sunday
it had struck the military infrastructure of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest
city in the northeast, where a Reuters reporter said Ukrainian forces had been
building fortifications after nightly shelling. Outside a school in Kharkiv,
some residents threw debris into a large crater created by an early morning
rocket strike while others got help repairing damaged houses. "The wife was
lucky that she woke up early in the morning because the roof fell exactly where
she had been sleeping," one resident, Oleksii Mihulin, told Reuters. About 70 km
(44 miles) from Kharkiv on the Russian side of the border, Russia also reported
explosions on Sunday in Belgorod, which it said killed at least three people and
destroyed homes. "The sound was so strong that I jumped up, I woke up, got very
scared and started screaming," a Belgorod resident told Reuters, adding the
blasts occurred around 3 a.m. (0000 GMT). Moscow has accused Kyiv of numerous
attacks on Belgorod and other areas bordering Ukraine. Kyiv has never claimed
responsibility for any of these incidents. Ukraine said its air force had flown
some 15 sorties "in virtually all directions of hostilities", destroying
equipment and two ammunition depots. In the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian
city of Melitopol, Ukrainian forces hit a military logistics base with more than
30 strikes on Sunday, the city's exiled mayor Ivan Fedorov said. A
Russian-installed official confirmed that strikes had hit the city.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Israel, Poland to Restore Relations Strained by Holocaust
Restitution Row
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Israel and Poland have agreed to improve relations that had deteriorated after
Warsaw introduced a law last year limiting the ability of Jews to recover World
War Two properties, saying on Monday they would mutually restore ambassadors.
The move marked a shift for new Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who as
foreign minister had denounced as "anti-Semitic and immoral" the bill affecting
property seized by Nazi German occupiers and retained by Poland's post-war
communist rulers. "It was agreed that relations would be restored to their
proper course," said a statement issued by Israeli President Isaac Herzog after
he spoke to his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. "Both presidents expressed
their hope that any future issues between Poland and Israel will be solved
through sincere and open dialogue and in a spirit of mutual respect," it added.
Duda's office said the Polish ambassador to Israel, recalled during the row,
should return. Herzog's office said the new Israeli ambassador-designate to
Poland will present his credentials in the coming days.
Ukraine FM Rules out Russian Use of Nuclear Weapons, Calls for
Isolating Moscow over its Threats
Riyadh - Fatehrahman Yousif/Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
The world is laying out the worst scenarios for the Russian-Ukraine war.
Predictions are morbid, whether they are about protracting the conflict,
widening the global food gap, or hiking prices of supply chains and energy.
Moreover, concerns are growing around the race towards acquiring advanced
weapons, including nuclear arms. Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has
shown relative optimism about the international community succeeding in stopping
the war by implementing harsher sanctions on Russia. According to Kuleba,
stronger sanctions would affect Russia’s economy and force Moscow to opt for a
political solution. Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Kuleba urged Ukraine’s partners
to provide his country with advanced anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems. He
urged Ukraine partners to provide his country with advanced anti-aircraft and
anti-missile systems. “If we make our skies safe, we will save many civilian
lives,” he explained.
Kuleba also estimated Ukraine’s economic and infrastructure losses at a whopping
$1 trillion. Reviewing the Ukraine-Gulf ministerial meeting held on June 1,
Kuleba said that his country anticipates for Arab Gulf countries to play an
effective role in resolving the current global food and energy problems. Kuleba
noted that Russia is using food and energy shortages as tools of war to pressure
the international community. The top diplomat affirmed that Ukraine has
submitted a proposal to establish a special advisory council between Ukraine and
the Gulf states. The platform would be used to discuss pressing issues, such as
grain and energy security. Kuleba predicted that Ukraine's GDP would fall by
30%, and inflation would reach 20% in the first quarter of 2022.
Russia’s aggression on Ukraine has wiped out 30% of the latter’s infrastructure
at an estimated cost of $100 billion. “It is difficult to give exact figures
while the war is still raging, but Ukraine's GDP is expected to fall by at least
30% in 2022, and inflation could reach 20% in the first quarter of this year,”
said Kuleba. “Ukraine's GDP has already lost 16%, making up a monthly budget
deficit of more than $3 billion,” he added. When asked about Russian President
Vladimir Putin's threat to strike new targets if the West continues to deliver
long-range missiles to Ukraine, Kuleba said: “those are empty threats.”“Putin is
already indiscriminately hitting targets in Ukraine, and he is already engaged
in a brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,” said the foreign minister. “He (Putin)
does everything that terrifies Ukraine and he continues to kill Ukrainians every
day. “The Russian army is waging a barbaric war and mostly hits civilian
targets.”“Last week, Russia struck many Ukrainian cities and towns with
long-range missiles, killing dozens of innocent people,” he said. Commenting on
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s claims about the presence of hundreds
of US and UK intelligence personnel operating in Ukraine, Kuleba said that it is
all a part of Russian propaganda. “The Russian foreign minister is trying one
way or another to justify his country's aggressive war against Ukraine,” said
Kuleba, adding that Lavrov’s excuses were laughable. “The Russian invasion,
which was supposed to achieve its goals within days, continues so far for the
fifth month without major successes,” noted Kuleba. On Russia’s occupation of
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Kuleba said: “Russians are stealing Ukrainian
minerals and grain, looting private property, kidnapping, torturing and killing
people.”“The takeover (of Zaporizhzhia) is an attempt to seize Ukrainian state
property, and just another heinous act in a series of Russian crimes that will
surely be punished.”“I assure that the heroic Ukrainian resistance and the
support of our partners will defeat the Russian plan. Russians need to
understand that they made a mistake by invading Ukraine and they should withdraw
their forces from our lands,” Kuleba told Asharq Al-Awsat. As for Ukraine’s
hopes for joining NATO, Kuleba said that his country can’t wait forever,
especially in the face of the existential threat posed by Russia. “We need
effective security guarantees now, not at some point in the future,” said the
top diplomat. Regarding the threat of nuclear warfare, Kuleba said that it was
unlikely for Russia to use its nuclear arsenal to attack Ukraine.
“It is unlikely that Russia will use nuclear weapons, but its officials and its
spokesmen on television propaganda talk about them casually. I am sure that they
should be punished for the threat to use nuclear weapons,” said Kuleba.
According to the Ukrainian minister, Russia threatening to use nuclear weapons
against another sovereign country warrants its isolation from the international
theater. “In the course of its aggression, Russia has already demonstrated its
complete disregard for nuclear safety,” said Kuleba. While Ukraine has demanded
sanctioning Russian oil and gas, there are some countries, such as Hungary, that
reject the proposal. “Doing business as usual with Russia, and buying their oil
and gas, means taking care of its war machine, and its ability to destroy
Ukraine and kill the Ukrainians, and this is contrary to the principles of
justice and international laws,” said Kuleba. “But the issue of sanctions is not
morally perfect, there is also a practical aspect to it. For example, reliance
on Russian energy and supplies is the main blackmail chip in the Kremlin,” he
explained.
“They use energy as a weapon, blackmailing states by threatening to cut supplies
if they oppose Moscow’s political decisions,” he added, noting that Russia has
banned Ukrainian food exports. “We hope to work on the seventh package of
sanctions at an accelerated pace, as Russia's GDP growth fell from 5.6 % in
January to 3 % last April and is expected to shrink by 8% to 15% this
year.”Asked to comment on Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, Kuleba said: “Russia
now does not want to negotiate.” “Putin's spokesman said a few days ago that
Ukraine can end this war the day it lays down its arms and accepts all Russian
requests, which means that Russia is not ready for negotiations and is seeking
military solutions.”“Putin's path to the negotiating table is through defeats on
the battlefield. Only when he realizes that his army cannot win over Ukraine
will he get serious about the talks,” clarified Kuleba. The Minister stressed
that Ukraine will focus on the restoration of territorial integrity, economic
recovery, punishment for war crimes, and compensation for damages in any future
talks. Moreover, Ukraine will push for a new system of security guarantees,
which is currently under discussion with potential guarantor states. Discussing
prospects for a Saudi role in making Russian-Ukrainian negotiations successful,
Kuleba said: “We are grateful for the proposal by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed
bin Salman to contribute to de-escalation and mediation between Russia and
Ukraine expressed in the call with President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on
March 3.”“We expressed the Ukrainian side's interest in deepening engagement
with Saudi Arabia and all other Arab countries, especially in the reconstruction
efforts,” said Kuleba. “We also affirmed our hope that the Gulf states will play
an active role in solving the current global food and energy problem, which
Russia uses as tools of war and pressure on the international community,” he
added.“It is time for decisive action and confident steps,” said the minister.
Russian Wheat Prices Down as New Crop Arrives, Export Tax
Falls
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Russian wheat export prices fell last week due to pressure from the new crop,
which farmers have just started harvesting, a reduced export tax and a decline
in Chicago prices, analysts said on Monday. Sanctions-hit Russia reduced its
grain exports taxes sharply last week to support shipments in the July-June
marketing season, Reuters said. Prices for the new wheat crop with 12.5% protein
content and for supply from Black Sea ports fell by $25 to $375 per ton free on
board (FOB) at the end of last week, the IKAR agriculture consultancy said.
Sovecon, another consultancy, said wheat prices for supply in July-August were
at $375-385 per ton compared to $390-$400 a week ago. Russia exported 250,000
tons of grain last week compared with 500,000 tons a week earlier, Sovecon said,
citing data from ports. Russian farmers, mainly in the southern Stavropol
region, have started harvesting new crop wheat. As of June 30, they had
harvested from 92,200 hectares versus 117,900 hectares at the same date a year
earlier. The average yield was 2.73 tonnes per hectare, up from 2.35 a year
earlier. "This does not look like a great yield but bear in mind that farmers
typically harvest the worst fields first which suffered the most during the
earlier dryness,"Sovecon said. Dry weather in most parts of Russia's southern
regions is expected to benefit the harvesting this week after rain last week.
Other Russian data provided by Sovecon and IKAR:
Product: Price at the end Change from week of last week: earlier
- Domestic 3rd class 13,425 rbls/t -750 rbls wheat, European part ($243.4) of
Russia, excludes delivery (Sovecon)
- Sunflower seeds 27,325 rbls/t -1,125 rbls (Sovecon)
- Domestic sunflower 75,000 rbls/t -4,825 rbls oil (Sovecon)
- Domestic soybeans 36,100 rbls/t -500 rbls (Sovecon)
- Export sunflower $1,560/t -$40 oil (Sovecon)
- Export sunflower $1,390/t -$110 oil (IKAR)
- White sugar, $1,089/t +$83 Russia's south
Pope Francis Denies he is Planning to Resign Soon
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Pope Francis has dismissed reports that he plans to resign in the near future,
saying he is on track to visit Canada this month and hopes to be able to go to
Moscow and Kyiv as soon as possible after that. In an exclusive interview in his
Vatican residence, Francis also denied rumors that he had cancer, joking that
his doctors "didn't tell me anything about it", and for the first time gave
details of the knee condition that has prevented him carrying out some duties.
In a 90-minute conversation with Reuters on Saturday afternoon, conducted in
Italian, with no aides present, the 85-year-old pontiff also repeated his
condemnation of abortion following the US Supreme Court ruling last month.
Rumors have swirled in the media that a conjunction of events in late August,
including meetings with the world's cardinals to discuss a new Vatican
constitution, a ceremony to induct new cardinals, and a visit to the Italian
city of L'Aquila, could foreshadow a resignation announcement. L'Aquila is
associated with Pope Celestine V, who resigned the papacy in 1294. Pope Benedict
XVI visited the city four years before he resigned in 2013, the first pope to do
so in about 600 years. But Francis, alert and at ease throughout the interview
as he discussed a wide range of international and Church issues, laughed the
idea off. "All of these coincidences made some think that the same 'liturgy'
would happen," he said. "But it never entered my mind. For the moment no, for
the moment, no. Really!" Francis did, however, repeat his often stated position
that he might resign someday if failing health made it impossible for him to run
the Church - something that had been almost unthinkable before Benedict XVI.
Asked when he thought that might be, he said: "We don't know. God will say." The
interview took place on the day he was to have left for Democratic Republic of
Congo and South Sudan, a trip he had to cancel because doctors said he might
also have to miss a trip to Canada from July 24-30 unless he agreed to have 20
more days of therapy and rest for his right knee. He said the decision to cancel
the Africa trip had caused him "much suffering", particularly because he wanted
to promote peace in both countries. Francis used a cane as he walked into a
reception room on the ground floor of the Santa Marta guest house where he has
lived since his election in 2013, eschewing the papal apartment in the Apostolic
Palace used by his predecessors. The room has a copy of one of Francis' favorite
paintings: "Mary, Untier of Knots", created around 1700 by the German Joachim
Schmidtner. Asked how he was, the pope joked: "I'm still alive!" He gave details
of his ailment for the first time in public, saying he had suffered "a small
fracture" in the knee when he took a misstep while a ligament was inflamed. "I
am well, I am slowly getting better," he said, adding that the fracture was
knitting, helped by laser and magnet therapy. Francis also dismissed rumors that
a cancer had been found a year ago when he underwent a six-hour operation to
remove part of his colon because of diverticulitis, a condition common in the
elderly."It (the operation) was a great success," he said, adding with a laugh
that "they didn't tell me anything" about the supposed cancer, which he
dismissed as "court gossip". But he said he did not want an operation on his
knee because the general anesthetic in last year's surgery had had negative
side-effects.
PAPAL TRIP TO MOSCOW?
Speaking of the situation in Ukraine, Francis noted that there have been
contacts between Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about a possible trip to Moscow. The initial
signs were not good. No pope has ever visited Moscow, and Francis has repeatedly
condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine; last Thursday he implicitly accused it
of waging a "cruel and senseless war of aggression". When the Vatican first
asked about a trip several months ago, Francis said Moscow replied that it was
not the right time. But he hinted that something may now have changed. "I would
like to go (to Ukraine), and I wanted to go to Moscow first. We exchanged
messages about this because I thought that if the Russian president gave me a
small window to serve the cause of peace ..."And now it is possible, after I
come back from Canada, it is possible that I manage to go to Ukraine," he said.
"The first thing is to go to Russia to try to help in some way, but I would like
to go to both capitals."
ABORTION RULING
Asked about the US Supreme Court's ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade
ruling establishing a woman's right to have an abortion, Francis said he
respected the decision but did not have enough information to speak about it
from a juridical point of view. But he strongly condemned abortion, comparing it
to "hiring a hit man". The Catholic Church teaches that life begins at the
moment of conception. "I ask: Is it legitimate, is it right, to eliminate a
human life to resolve a problem?"Francis was asked about a debate in the United
States over whether a Catholic politician who is personally opposed to abortion
but supports others' right to choose should be allowed to receive the sacrament
of communion. House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, for example, has
been barred by the conservative archbishop of her home diocese of San Francisco
from receiving it there, but is regularly given communion at a parish in
Washington, D.C. Last week, she received the sacrament at a papal Mass in the
Vatican. "When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his
pastoral nature, it causes a political problem," the pope said. "That's all I
can say."
UK to Pledge Long-term Support to Rebuild Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will on Monday commit long-term British support for
Ukraine, to help the country rebuild when the conflict with Russia ends. Truss
is due to attend a Ukraine Recovery Conference in Switzerland, where she will
pledge both immediate humanitarian assistance as well as access to British
financial and economic expertise, AFP reported. British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson has been hawkish in his support for President Volodymyr Zelensky,
visiting Kyiv twice since the conflict began in late February. Last week, he
pledged another £1 billion ($1.2 billion) in military aid to Ukraine, taking the
total support provided in terms of weapons and other hardware to £2.3 billion.
According to Truss's department, she will tell delegates that Ukraine's recovery
"will be a symbol of the power of democracy over autocracy". "It will show Putin
that his attempts to destroy Ukraine have only produced a stronger, more
prosperous and more united nation. "The UK is resolute in its support of
Ukraine's territorial integrity and will remain at Ukraine's side as it emerges
as a strong, thriving and cutting-edge democracy."At Zelensky's request, Britain
will "champion" the recovery of the Ukrainian capital and the surrounding
region, the foreign office said. Truss will announce plans to host next year's
recovery conference, establishing an office in London to help coordinate the
Ukraine-led recovery process.
British Army's Twitter, YouTube Accounts Restored after
Hack
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
The British Army regained control of its Twitter and YouTube accounts on Sunday
after they were briefly hacked and used to post about cryptocurrencies and
non-fungible tokens. "Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We
will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident," a post on the @BritishArmy
Twitter handle said. Earlier the account had retweeted several posts about NFTs.
The army's YouTube account, which had been renamed 'Ark Invest' and showed
several videos relating to cryptocurrency, was also restored to its original
state. Its Twitter feed currently has 362,000 followers, while the YouTube
channel has 177,000 subscribers. Ark Invest is the name of a global investment
firm. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted
via email and the company's website.
Ukraine War to Shift to Donetsk after Fall of Luhansk;
Russia Claims Major Victory
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Russian forces in Ukraine will focus on trying to seize all of the Donetsk
region, having forced Ukrainian troops to withdraw from the last major city
under their control in the neighboring Luhansk region, the governor of Luhansk
said on Monday. After abandoning an assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital,
during the early weeks of the war, Russia concentrated its military operation on
the industrial Donbas heartland that comprises the Luhansk and Donetsk regions,
where Moscow-backed separatist proxies have been fighting Ukraine since 2014.
Russia said it had established full control over the Luhansk region after
Ukrainian forces pulled out of the bombed-out city of Lysychansk. "In terms of
the military, it is bad to leave positions, but there is nothing critical (in
the loss of Lysychansk). We need to win the war, not the battle for Lysychansk,"
Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Reuters in an interview. "It hurts a lot, but it's
not losing the war."He said the withdrawal from Lysychansk had been
"centralized", indicating that it had been planned and orderly, but that
Ukrainian forces had risked being surrounded. "Still, for them (Russian forces)
goal number 1 is the Donetsk region. Sloviansk and Bakhmut will come under
attack - Bakhmut has already started being shelled very hard," he said. Gaidai
said that he expected the city of Sloviansk and the town of Bakhmut in
particular to come under attack as Russia tries to take full control of the
Donbas in eastern Ukraine. Moscow said the capture of Lysychansk less than a
week after taking neighboring Sievierdonetsk meant it had "liberated" Luhansk, a
major Kremlin war goal. Moscow said it would give the captured territory to the
self-proclaimed Russian-backed Luhansk People's Republic whose independence it
recognized on the eve of the war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Sunday night
vowed to regain the lost territory with the help of long-range Western weapons.
Zelenskiy said Russia was concentrating its firepower on the Donbas front, but
Ukraine would hit back with long-range weapons such as the US-supplied HIMARS
rocket launchers. "The fact that we protect the lives of our soldiers, our
people, plays an equally important role. We will rebuild the walls, we will win
back the land, and people must be protected above all else," Zelenskiy said in
his nightly video address.In Sloviansk, west of Lysychansk in Donetsk region,
Mayor Vadym Lyakh wrote on Facebook that on Sunday fierce shelling had killed at
least six people, including a 10-year-old girl.
Costly campaign
Thousands of civilians have been killed and cities leveled since Russia invaded
on Feb. 24, with Kyiv accusing Moscow of deliberately targeting civilians.
Moscow denies this. Russia says what it calls a "special military operation" in
Ukraine aims to protect Russian speakers from nationalists. Ukraine and its
Western allies say this is a baseless pretext for flagrant aggression that aims
to seize territory. The Ukraine war has sparked a global energy and food crisis
and Western-led sanctions against Moscow have triggered the worst economic
crisis in Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. Germany has warned of
gas shortages due to dwindling supplies from Russia. The head of its energy
regulator said the 15 billion euros' ($15.64 billion) of government credit to
buy gas for storage may not be enough, according to an interview in the
WirtschaftsWoche magazine on Monday.
While Russia would try to frame its advance in Luhansk as a significant moment
in the war, it came at a high cost to Russia's military, said Neil Melvin of the
London-based think tank RUSI. "Ukraine's position was never that they could
defend all of this. What they've been trying to do is to slow down the Russian
assault and cause maximum damage, while they build up for a counteroffensive,"
he said. Ukraine has repeatedly appealed for an acceleration in weapons supplies
from the West, saying its forces are heavily outgunned.
Strikes on Kharkiv
Zelenskiy's office said Russian artillery strikes hit residential and farm
buildings in the Kharkiv region. Russia's defense ministry also said on Sunday
it had struck the military infrastructure of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest
city in the northeast, where a Reuters reporter said Ukrainian forces had been
building fortifications after nightly shelling. Outside a school in Kharkiv,
some residents threw debris into a large crater created by an early morning
rocket strike while others got help repairing damaged houses. "The wife was
lucky that she woke up early in the morning because the roof fell exactly where
she had been sleeping," one resident, Oleksii Mihulin, told Reuters. About 70 km
(44 miles) from Kharkiv on the Russian side of the border, Russia also reported
explosions on Sunday in Belgorod, which it said killed at least three people and
destroyed homes. "The sound was so strong that I jumped up, I woke up, got very
scared and started screaming," a Belgorod resident told Reuters, adding the
blasts occurred around 3 a.m. (0000 GMT). Moscow has accused Kyiv of numerous
attacks on Belgorod and other areas bordering Ukraine. Kyiv has never claimed
responsibility for any of these incidents.
Ukraine said its air force had flown some 15 sorties "in virtually all
directions of hostilities", destroying equipment and two ammunition depots. In
the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, Ukrainian forces hit
a military logistics base with more than 30 strikes on Sunday, the city's exiled
mayor Ivan Fedorov said. A Russian-installed official confirmed that strikes had
hit the city.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Tens of Thousands of Sydney Residents Told to Evacuate over
Flooding
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Fresh evacuation orders were issued for tens of thousands of Sydney residents on
Monday after relentless rains triggered floods for the third time this year in
some low-lying suburbs. An intense low-pressure system off Australia's east
coast is forecast to bring heavy rain through Monday across New South Wales
after several places in the state were hit with about a month's worth over the
weekend. Since Sunday, about 30,000 residents in New South Wales state have been
told to either evacuate or warned they might receive evacuation orders.
Frustration swelled in several suburbs in the west of Australia's largest city
after floods submerged homes, farms and bridges. "It's just devastating. We are
in disbelief," Camden Mayor Theresa Fedeli said. "Most of them have just come
out of the last flood, getting their homes back in place, their businesses back
in place and unfortunately we are saying it is happening again." More than 200mm
of rain have fallen over many areas, with some hit by as much as 350mm since
Saturday. Some areas could approach or exceed the flood levels seen in March
2021, and in March and April this year, the weather bureau warned. The risk of
major flooding remained though the intense weather system may weaken later on
Monday, it said. An operation was underway to rescue 21 crew members from a
cargo ship, which lost power south of Sydney and risked being swept ashore,
local media reported. A more powerful tugboat was heading to the location to tow
the stranded ship to sea. A plan to airlift the ship’s crew to safety was
abandoned because of bad weather. "It has been a very difficult time for many
months to have this flood event off the back of others. It makes it more
challenging," New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet said during a televised
media briefing.
'Colossal' Work ahead, as Ukraine Recovery Meet to Open in
Lugano
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
Leaders from dozens of countries, international organizations and the private
sector gathered in Switzerland Monday to hash out a "Marshall Plan" to rebuild
war-ravaged Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who will take part
virtually, warned Sunday that the work ahead in the areas that have been
liberated alone was "really colossal". "And we will have to free over 2,000
villages and towns in the east and south of Ukraine," he said. The two-day
conference, held under tight security in the picturesque southern Swiss city of
Lugano, had been planned well before Russia launched its full-scale invasion on
February 24, AFP said. It had originally been slated to discuss reforms in
Ukraine, but once the Russian bombs began to fall it was repurposed to focus on
reconstruction. As billions of dollars in aid flows into Ukraine, however,
lingering concerns about widespread corruption in the country mean far-reaching
reforms remain in focus and will be a condition for any recovery plan decided
here.
'Roadmap' -
Lugano is not a pledging conference, but will instead attempt to lay out the
principles and priorities for a rebuilding process aimed to begin even as
Russia's war in Ukraine continues to rage. Ukraine's ambassador to Switzerland
Artem Rybchenko said ahead of the conference that it would help create "the
roadmap" to his country's recovery. Zelensky had initially been scheduled to
come and co-host the event alongside his Swiss counterpart Ignazio Cassis, but
now he is due to give his address Monday afternoon via video link. Ukrainian
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal has however made a rare trip out of Ukraine since
the war began to attend, and was met at the airport Sunday by Cassis and
regional leaders. Five other government ministers were also among the around 100
Ukrainians who made the long and perilous journey, although Foreign Minister
Dmytro Kuleba reportedly had to cancel at the last moment due to illness. In
all, around 1,000 people were scheduled to participate in the conference,
including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, several government
chiefs and numerous ministers.
'Marshall Plan' -
Questions have been raised about the value in discussing reconstruction when
there is no end in sight to the war. But Robert Mardini, director-general of the
International Committee of the Red Cross, told the RTS broadcaster that while
the reconstruction itself could only happen fully after the bombs have stopped,
it is vital to give "a positive perspective to civilians who have lost their
homes, and who are struggling with anxiety and uncertainty for the future".
Others stress the need to begin laying the groundwork well in advance, as was
done with the wildly successful Marshall Plan, a US initiative that pumped vast
sums in foreign aid into Western Europe to help the continent rebuild and
recover after World War II.
The task is daunting.
Rebuilding Ukraine, which four months into the war has already seen devastating
destruction, is expected to cost hundreds of billions of dollars. The effort
will require "colossal investments", Zelensky acknowledged at the weekend. Kyiv
School of Economics (KSE) has estimated the damage done so far to buildings and
infrastructure at nearly $104 billion. It estimated that at least 45 million
square meters of housing, 256 enterprises, 656 medical institutions, and 1,177
educational institutions had been damaged, destroyed or seized, while Ukraine's
economy had already suffered losses of up to $600 billion.
Could last decades -
Simon Pidoux, the Swiss ambassador in charge of the conference, said that it was
too early to try to estimate all the needs, insisting Lugano instead should
provide "a compass" for the work ahead. "I think the effort will last for years
if not decades," he said. While not a donor conference, a number of participants
are expected to make new pledges and propose frameworks for providing more
funds. The European Investment Bank will for instance propose the creation of a
new Ukraine trust fund, which with investments from EU and non-EU states could
eventually swell to 100 billion euros, according to sources familiar with the
draft plans. The proposal, which is due to be announced Monday afternoon, aims
to create a platform able to generate investment towards reconstruction, and
also towards Ukraine's EU accession goals, they said. British Foreign Secretary
Liz Truss is meanwhile due to set out her country's vision for the rebuilding,
according to a statement. In her comments to the conference Monday, she is
expected to highlight the importance of Ukraine's full recovery from "Russia’s
war of aggression". That, she will say, will be "a symbol of the power of
democracy over autocracy."
3 Killed in Copenhagen Mall Shooting, 22-Year-Old Arrested
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 4 July, 2022
A gunman killed three people and wounded several others in a shooting at a busy
Copenhagen mall on Sunday as panicked shoppers said they ran for their lives. A
22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting but his motives were
unclear, police said. The shooter, who was believed to have acted alone, was
known to the police "but only peripherally". "He's not someone we particularly
know," Copenhagen police chief Soren Thomassen told a news conference after the
rare mass shooting, the first since February 2015. The young man, who according
to witnesses was armed with a large rifle, was arrested peacefully shortly after
police arrived at the large Fields shopping mall, located between the city
center and Copenhagen airport. "There are three dead and several injured, three
of them in critical condition," Thomassen said. The three dead were a man in his
forties and two young people whose ages were not specified. On social networks,
people had been speculating about a racist motive, or some other motive, the
head of the investigation said, "but I cannot say that we have anything which
supports that at this moment."Police however confirmed they were investigating
videos posted online which claimed to show the suspect with weapons and pointing
a gun at his head. Images from the scene showed parents carrying their children
as they fled the building and ambulance personnel taking people away on
stretchers. The shooting occurred around 5:30 pm, causing panic in the mall.
Many visitors were there for a concert with British singer Harry Styles at the
nearby Royal Arena, which was cancelled. "My daughters were supposed to go see
Harry Styles. They called me to say someone was shooting. They were in a
restaurant when it happened," Hans Christian Stolz, a 53-year-old Swede who came
to pick up his children, told AFP. "We thought at first people were running
because they had seen Harry Styles, then we understood that it was people in
panic ... We ran for our lives," his daughter Cassandra said. Styles said he was
devastated by news of the attack. "I'm heartbroken along with the people of
Copenhagen. I adore this city," the singer posted on Twitter. "I'm devastated
for the victims, their families, and everyone hurting. I'm sorry we couldn't be
together. Please look after each other."The attack occurred two days after this
year's Tour de France cycling competition started from Copenhagen, and the Tour
organizers released a statement expressing their sympathy. "The entire caravan
of the Tour de France sends its sincerest condolences to the victims and their
families," it said. Witnesses quoted by the Danish media described how the
suspect had tried to trick people by saying his weapon was a fake one, to get
them to approach. "He was sufficiently psychopathic to go and hunt people, but
he wasn't running," one witness told DR state television. Other eyewitnesses
told Danish media they had seen more than 100 people rush towards the mall's
exit as the first shots were fired. "We could see that many people suddenly ran
towards the exit and then we heard a bang," Thea Schmidt, who was in the mall at
the time of the attack told broadcaster TV2. "Then we ran out of Field's too."
The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on July 04-05/2022
I’m an American, Why Have I Been Left to Rot as a Hostage
of Iran?
Siamak Namazi/The New York Times/ July, 04/2022
Risking a public appeal while caged in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison speaks
volumes about the depth of my despair. I have suffered quietly as nearly 2,500
of what should have been the best and most productive days of my life were lost
behind these bars. But I am compelled to break that silence now because I
believe that the Biden administration’s approach to rescuing Americans in
distress in Iran has failed spectacularly so far and unless the president
intervenes immediately, we are likely to languish in this abyss for the
foreseeable future.
I was incarcerated in October 2015 and handed a 10-year sentence after a
closed-door trial. The judge ruled that activities such as speaking at
university conferences, holding fellowships at Washington think tanks and even
having a connection to the World Economic Forum were tantamount to attempting to
overthrow the regime in collaboration with a hostile foreign government —
meaning the United States. A probe by the United Nations called my arrest
“arbitrary.” The US government and countless human rights organizations have
proclaimed my innocence, refer to me as a hostage and have demanded my immediate
release.
But the ugly reality is that Iran will free its captives only if offered
sufficient incentives. Critics reject this solution without providing viable
alternatives. Nevertheless, it seems any president considering the authorization
of a deal for our release factors in the unavoidable political costs of doing
so. Indifferent to this political calculus, Tehran seems to be demanding more
for our release than the White House can stomach.
This catastrophic dynamic has helped me earn the unenviable title of the
longest-held Iranian American hostage in history. My father, Baquer — a retired
UNICEF official — isn’t far behind, and the conservationist Morad Tahbaz and the
businessman Emad Shargi are also still detained.
A little over a year ago, the four of us had good reason to be optimistic that
this scourge would finally end. There was widespread hope that negotiations to
bring Iran and the United States back into the nuclear deal would culminate in
success, and the Biden administration has said a nuclear deal would be hard to
envision without a hostage deal.
That was the right approach. But forgoing an opportunity to free us because the
nuclear talks have stalled is not.
Last summer, Tehran claimed that it had worked out the contours of an agreement
with Washington for our release. The deal reportedly involved freeing us in a
prisoner swap topped off with the unfreezing of Iranian assets in South Korea.
The Iranians have repeatedly expressed willingness to carry out this
“humanitarian exchange” immediately and accuse the White House of faltering.
Iran’s account is undoubtedly skewed; Washington says that this deal was never
finalized. But from what I can surmise from behind these bars, the Biden
administration is ignoring the plight of American detainees and making our
freedom dependent on how the unpredictable nuclear discussions end.
A deal to rescue citizens at risk should come first as a matter of principle.
Such a gambit also makes sense because it would inject desperately needed good
will into the nuclear negotiations. I can conclude only that with greater
political will and courage from the White House, we could have been home a year
ago.
Instead, we and our families were practically unhinged each time world diplomats
mistakenly predicted that a deal was about to be reached on the nuclear issue.
There is no greater agony for a prisoner than being tantalized with the prospect
of imminent freedom that never materializes. No greater pain than surrendering
to hope, only to have it whisked out of reach.
So what happens if the nuclear talks — now on life support — fall apart without
the United States securing our release?
The administration might genuinely believe that in such a scenario it could get
Iran to accept a different package of incentives to free us. But that is a huge
gamble. As President Biden has seen — with me specifically — freedom delayed
easily becomes freedom denied in these cases.
I was not included in the Obama administration’s hostage deal with Iran. In
January 2016, other American prisoners were returned safely to the United
States. I was left behind to rot in a high-security detention center.
Often kept in a bare, closet-size room, I slept on the floor and received food
from under the door — like a dog. I endured unutterable indignities during the
27 months I spent in that corner of hell before being moved to the general ward.
John Kerry, the secretary of state at the time, assumed he would have another
opportunity to secure my release. Our hope turned to horror, however, when the
Iranians instead tossed my then-79-year-old father into a solitary cell.
Although we suffered just a few meters apart, we were denied contact for a year.
I knew only that the strain of those inhuman conditions resulted in his
hospitalization on multiple occasions. It took two years and more than one heart
surgery before he was put on medical furlough.
Sadly, change in the White House brought us no relief. The Trump administration
also cut deals freeing some American detainees while leaving us behind.
Mr. Biden, I implore you to put the lives of innocent American detainees above
Washington politics and make the tough decisions necessary to free all of us
immediately. While political backlash is inevitable, the prolonged suffering and
potential deaths of hostages are not. It is hard to imagine my now 85-year-old
father surviving the wait for another opportunity.
End this nightmare.
The BRICS
Dr. Abdullah Al-Raddadi/Asharq Al Awsat/July 04/2022
When the BRICS Summits officially began in 2009, the goal was clear, giving
emerging economies a voice in the international community. The group was
initially composed of four countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China, while
South Africa, representing the African continent, joined the grouping whose name
is composed of the first letter in each member’s name a year later.
It represents 41 percent of the world’s population, i.e., more than ninefold the
population of the US, and its countries make up around 29 percent of the world’s
surface. Its members are also members of the G20. Initially a Western concept,
the term BRICS first appeared in a 2000 Goldman Sachs report on the most
important emerging economies, and it was only put up for debate among these
countries in 2006, and the idea crystallized and took off three years later.
However, its position and importance in the world have changed significantly
since then. When it was established, the combined GDP of the (BRICS) countries
was around 10 trillion dollars, less than 12 percent of global GDP. Today, their
combined GDP amounts to more than 27 trillion dollars, about a quarter of the
global GDP.
To give an idea of their scale, the BRICS can be compared with the countries of
the G7 (the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Italy).
The G7’s combined GDP is 34 trillion dollars, and indicators suggest that the
next decade will see the BRICS make up around half of the global GDP, which
would mean that its economies would outperform those of the G7. The BRICS
population of 3.2 billion (and its increasing) is more than three times the G7’s
population of 987 million.
The BRICS countries see the degree of influence they can exert on the
international scene to be unfairly weak. China and India are the world’s second
and fifth largest economies, respectively. With that, their influence and
representation in international bodies like the World Bank and the IMF are
incomparable to that of European countries; the same is true for other BRICS
countries. The BRICS’ view on this matter is clear.
These bodies were established by Western forces and thus tend to favor Western
countries. In response, the BRICS established the New Development Bank (NDB) in
2015 with 50 billion dollars in capital, to which the five countries contributed
equally. The NDB aims to support infrastructure projects in these countries, and
it has funded over 70 infrastructure projects with over 25 billion dollars. This
makes it clear that the BRICS commitment to their pledges is firm, and studies
have shown they commit to their promises almost as much as the G7.
The importance of BRICS stems, particularly today, from the emergence of the
idea of a demarcation line between East and West, which the BRICS have been
pushing for in several ways. Firstly, we have the fourteenth summit held in
China late last month, which coincided with the G7 Summit in Germany and the
NATO Summit in Spain. During the latter, the conviction that China poses a
security threat was asserted by NATO for the first time.
Secondly, the Russian-Ukrainian war has made it crystal clear that China and
India will not stand with the West if doing so goes against their interests.
Moreover, both countries are currently buying oil from Russia at a discount.
During last month’s BRICS Summit, the Russian President (Putin) said that trade
exchange between Russia and the BRICS countries had increased by 38 percent
recently. Thirdly, the BRICS have become stronger than before, as shown by the
number of countries seeking membership, which leaves the West more apprehensive
about the group.
Despite its global significance, the BRICS do not operate as a single unit. The
divergences among its members are many, particularly those of its two largest
countries, China and India. China is uneasy with India’s strong ties with the
United States, and India is unhappy with the partnership between China and
Pakistan to build the Silk Road.
Furthermore, China’s massive influence within this grouping should be
overlooked, as its economy makes up 70 percent of the BRICS’ GDP, a far greater
figure than its closest BRICS rival, India, whose economy makes up only 13
percent of the total! While the introduction of new countries to the group could
strengthen the BRICS, it may weaken the positions of its current members, even
with the entry conditioned on unanimous approval! Their differences could prove
highly consequential for the group’s future, especially if Western powers
exploit their disagreements to divide them.
The US Can Put Sanctions on Russian Gas to Punish Putin.
I’m Asking It to Do the Same in Myanmar.
Thinzar Shunlei Yi/The New York Times/July 04/2022
Myanmar’s modern history has been marked by colonial exploitation, military
repression, violence and democracy denied. Grass-roots activists like me and
thousands before me have dedicated our lives and sacrificed our safety to change
this. But over the past year, an even deeper darkness has descended.
Since it overthrew our elected leaders in February 2021, the brutal and corrupt
military that has held sway for decades has gunned down protesters, tortured
opponents and plunged Myanmar into chaos.
The United States has rightfully condemned the junta and put in place some
punitive measures. But Washington has refrained from taking a simple step that
would weaken the generals’ ability to make war on their own people: imposing
sanctions on Myanmar’s lucrative gas revenues.
The state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, or MOGE, which is now under the
control of the junta, brings in estimated revenues of at least $1.5 billion per
year through the sale of natural gas drawn from offshore fields. It provides
around half of the hard currency that the military can use to pay for the
bullets and troops that it turns against innocent civilians. Sanctions would
save lives by cutting off a critical revenue stream that has helped bankroll the
repression of Myanmar’s people for far too long.
Myanmar became independent in 1948 with the end of British colonial rule, but
the military, known as the Tatmadaw, seized power in 1962. The generals and
their cronies have dominated Myanmar since, profiting from our mineral, timber,
energy and other natural wealth while imposing a self-isolation that deprived
our people of the economic growth that has uplifted millions elsewhere in Asia.
Public health standards are appalling, and corruption, drug trafficking and
other criminal activity are rife. Ethnic minorities have faced decades of human
rights abuses by the Tatmadaw, and ethnic organizations have taken up arms to
resist this in an almost constant state of civil war. A new generation in
Myanmar will no longer stand for this.
We had hoped that elections in 2015, in which the people resoundingly voted for
democracy, would be a genuine leap forward in Myanmar’s democratic transition.
Internet access had just become affordable for the average person, and we became
more aware of the outside world and connected with global democracy movements.
Over the next few years we also learned more about the treatment of our many
ethnic minorities. Myanmar’s military was accused of genocide against the
Rohingya people after the 2015 election. We were demoralized when the civilian
government we had voted for, headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, defended these
horrors. The military retained substantial powers, but we had come too far to be
ordered back into a cage. Then came last year’s coup.
Led by the junta chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, it followed another
crushing electoral victory by pro-democracy groups. A nonviolent nationwide
civil disobedience campaign was met with indiscriminate killing, torture, forced
disappearances, use of people as human shields and other terror tactics.
According to the United Nations, more than 1,900 people have been killed,
including at least 142 children, and more than 13,500 have been arrested for
opposing the junta.
Our nation of 54 million is now in free fall. One million people have been
internally displaced, and an estimated 14 million urgently need humanitarian
aid. State institutions and the already weak health system are collapsing. We
are resisting nationwide. Tens of thousands have taken up arms in the jungle,
reliant on the support of ethnic minority resistance organizations that in
return have faced Tatmadaw airstrikes and artillery bombardments. Yet the
Western reaction has been limited.
The Biden administration froze $1 billion in Myanmar government funds and
imposed sanctions on many of Myanmar’s generals and on gemstone, timber and
pearl enterprises that also fill their bank accounts. But amid lobbying by
Chevron, which is involved in a joint venture with MOGE, President Biden
refrained from targeting gas revenues.
Doing so would be a heavy blow to junta finances. MOGE’s operations are the
single largest source of revenue for the state. Much of that comes from the
major gas field that Chevron and France’s TotalEnergies operate along with MOGE
and a Thai energy company. Both Chevron and TotalEnergies have argued that
sanctions would saddle Myanmar citizens with escalating power cuts because
natural gas is responsible for generating a portion of Myanmar’s electricity.
But sanctions need not turn the gas off, and we are offended by the suggestion
that we trade our freedom and safety for a few hours of electricity. The calls
for sanctions on MOGE are being spearheaded not from abroad but from within
Myanmar by hundreds of civil society organizations, activist groups and unions
that have taken part in peaceful resistance to the military.
This year, TotalEnergies and Chevron announced plans to withdraw from Myanmar,
but the junta would still be able to seize gas revenues through MOGE.
The European Union imposed some sanctions on MOGE, but they contain holes that
can be exploited. We need US-led sanctions with real bite, like those employed
to limit Russia’s ability to make war on Ukraine.
This won’t solve all of the problems that have built up in Myanmar through
decades of military domination and misrule. But we must start with cutting off
the Tatmadaw’s access to planes, bombs, bullets, jet fuel, surveillance
equipment and other imported tools of repression. We want peace, prosperity and
a truly democratic future for all of Myanmar’s people, no matter their
ethnicity, free of military domination once and for all.
But as long as the gas revenue flows, so will the blood of Myanmar’s people.
Brexit Has the UK Traveling the Wrong Way in Time
Niall Ferguson/Bloomberg/July 04/2022
The idea of time travel is an old British preoccupation, from H.G. Wells’s 1895
novel to the seemingly immortal television series “Doctor Who,” which first
aired in 1963, the year before I was born. Although I didn’t travel by Tardis or
encounter any murderous Daleks, returning to my native land last month felt more
than usually like a “Doctor Who” episode.
It was partly the bucolic pleasures of the Chalke Valley History Festival in
Wiltshire that felt like time travel. It’s a medieval fair, complete with tents
and amusements (only dancing bears are lacking), but with the main business a
series of talks by historians of more or less all persuasions.
There is something uniquely British about sitting talking about the historical
precedents for a war in Eastern Europe while in the background battle
re-enactors march past, dressed up for the Battle of Waterloo, bearded
blacksmiths demonstrate the craft of armor manufacture and a 19th-century
steam-driven tractor roars into life. The verdant fields provide an idyllic
backdrop. From a distance, with your glasses off, the cluster of cream-colored
tents recalls Henry V’s camp on the eve of Agincourt.
“Nothing like this is possible in Germany,” said an enthused visitor from that
country. Considering how much Second World War hardware and paraphernalia there
was on display, that’s probably just as well. A Japanese television producer
looked equally amazed to see such an unabashed celebration of a country’s past.
Yet the real time travel began even before I had set off for Salisbury, the
nearest town to the festival — with the announcement of three days of strike
action by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, or RMT.
Ah, train strikes. Nothing reminds me more vividly of my boyhood in 1970s
Scotland than the cancellation of the train I had planned to catch.
I have already argued here and here that the world is being transported back to
the 1970s by a combination of inflation, political polarization and war. Nowhere
is this analogy more compelling than in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
(for now) Northern Ireland.
It’s not just the return of rail strikes, complete with a rare appearance by
Arthur Scargill, the former firebrand leader of the National Union of
Mineworkers, now 84. Nor is it just the dogged refusal of Paul McCartney (80)
and Mick Jagger (78) to join Scargill in retirement. (Both were headlining the
same weekend I was in Chalke Valley: the former at Glastonbury, the latter at
Hyde Park.) It’s Britain’s general sense of economic gloom and political
disillusionment, which goes far beyond the post-Covid hangover and Ukraine-war
headache that nearly every country is enduring.
Consumers all over the world are in the grip of a massive mood swing from
post-pandemic euphoria to inflation-induced sticker shock. (So much for the
“Roaring Twenties” thesis. As I warned last year, we got the Roaring 2021.) But
the British case stands out among developed markets. In May, UK consumer
confidence plummeted to its lowest level since data collection began in 1974.
Inflation is a part of the story. Over the past dozen years Britain’s prices
have indeed gone up more than America’s or Europe’s, and Citigroup Inc. expects
UK inflation to be “stickier over the medium to long term.” In Britain, as in
Europe, inflation is being driven by higher energy prices, the result not just
of the war in Ukraine but also of unrealistic green policies that have
discouraged investment in natural gas and nuclear capacity.
The Bank of England has not handled this well. In late October, its governor,
Andrew Bailey, signaled that the Monetary Policy Committee would raise its
policy rate at its November meeting, but this did not happen. In March, the bank
surprised markets with a dovish-sounding monetary policy statement. These were
unforced errors.
Government regulation can do little to mitigate the energy shock. The reset of
the UK’s household energy price cap in April created a sharp upward spike in
most energy-related consumer price index categories. The base effects will
persist throughout summer. The cap is due to reset to a higher level again in
October, which will generate another spike in the UK all-items index before
year-end, as Bailey acknowledged last week. Double-digit inflation is coming
soon.
The energy crisis is also a headache for Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.
In May he announced a £15 billion package to assist households with the
“cost-of-living crisis,” funded by additional borrowing (£10 billion) and a
windfall tax on UK energy companies (£5 billion). The package earmarked £6
billion to help households pay their energy bills. However, the headline measure
— a £400-per-household discount on bills, which would kick in from October 2022
— would still leave average energy prices paid by the lowest quintile of
households £900-£1000 higher than in 2021, according to a recent parliamentary
report.
The Conservative Party’s Thatcherite wing opposes Sunak’s package. It wants to
cut taxes rather than increase transfers. In June, Sunak previewed a range of
targeted corporate tax cuts to be announced in the autumn budget. However, the
Treasury is unlikely to cut personal income taxes this year. Sunak simply cannot
afford to allow debt to rise any further: It has nearly tripled relative to GDP
since the 2008-9 financial crisis hit. That’s as big a jump as in the first half
of World War I.
The government needs to worry not only about inflation but also about the effect
of rising interest rates on its debt-service costs — not forgetting the downward
pressure on sterling, which will drive inflation even higher. The UK’s current
account deficit was 8.3% of GDP in the first quarter of 2022, the biggest since
quarterly balance of payments data were first published in 1955. Sterling’s real
effective exchange rate has not recovered from the big declines that occurred
during the financial crisis and immediately after the Brexit referendum.
And that brings us to what might be called the £350 million question: How much
of Britain’s current malaise can be blamed on the 2016 popular vote to leave the
European Union? Clearly not all of it. It is far from easy to disentangle the
effects of Britain’s leaving the European Single Market from the effects of
Covid and war — not to mention the structural problems, like the chronic
shortage of affordable housing in the populous southeast of the country, which
has caused a striking decline in British homeownership.
“As recently as 1996,” the Center for Policy Studies pointed out last month,
“65% of those aged 25-34 owned their own home. Today, that figure is down to
41%. … Britain has the fifth lowest home ownership rate in Europe, lower than 22
out of 27 EU members.” That is a shocking reflection on 12 years of Conservative
government. But you can’t blame it on Brexit.
Nor, however, can it seriously be pretended that there have been no costs to
Britain’s departure from the EU. The Vote Leave claim that Brexit would save the
UK £350 million a week was never plausible. However, as Tom McTague recently
pointed out in the Atlantic, the Leavers’ other pledges “have been largely
fulfilled: Liberated from the EU’s ‘freedom of movement’ principle, Britain now
operates its own border outside the EU and its own immigration system; no longer
part of the EU’s trading bloc, it operates its own trade policy and manages its
own internal market, governed by its own laws; and, of course, it no longer
contributes to the EU budget.”
So what are the benefits of this new autonomy?
Few people choose to get divorced in order to enjoy the delights of solitude.
The authors of a new report by the Center for Brexit Policy, a pro-Leave
advocacy group, argue that Brexit “was a victory of self-confidence over
pessimism.” Unshackled from the EU, the UK is now able to make more of its
relationships with the Commonwealth and the US. And these relationships matter
more than in the past, the authors argue, because of the new challenges posed by
the Russian Federation and China.
I have questions. Was it not possible before Brexit for the UK to foster its
historic ties to the Commonwealth and the US? True, in theory Britain can now
independently strike trade agreements with them, as well as with other groups of
countries, which it could not do as an EU member. But is there compelling
evidence that such agreements are within reach — and on a scale to compensate
for Britain’s departure from the single market? (In 2021, the EU still accounted
for around half of the UK’s total exports of goods.)
If a trade deal with the US proved elusive when Donald Trump was president — he
who proclaimed himself “Mr. Brexit” — is it more likely under his Irish-American
successor, Joe Biden, who is manifestly no Anglophile?
The report’s authors see the UK playing a bigger role in various American
alliances and partnerships: the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, of course,
but also AUKUS, the new security partnership with Australia and the US, and the
Quad (to which the UK does not belong, though the report’s authors would like it
to join). Certainly, few NATO members can match the enthusiasm of Britain’s
commitment to the Ukrainian cause. And there may be something to be said for the
UK once again playing a more expansive military role “east of Suez.”
But how much real geopolitical clout can the Commonwealth wield? And how
important an ally can Britain really be for the US when its defense
establishment is so much smaller than it was 50 years ago? According to one
estimate, “Ukraine has lost more troops, killed and wounded [since February 24],
than there are infantry in the British Army.”
Perhaps it’s not coincidental that, on the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong’s
handover to China, Beijing is introducing school textbooks that assert the city
was never in fact a British colony but always “part of China’s territory.” You
see — the British Empire was a figment of the imagination all along!
American critics of Brexit have often claimed that Leave voters were inspired by
nostalgia for the days of empire. I do not remember encountering that on the
campaign trail in 2016, but talk of a revived Commonwealth may lend some
credibility to such claims. (After all, what is the Commonwealth if not a
residue of empire?)
Yet the somewhat different claim that Brexit was a vote against immigration —
for a whiter Britain — is not supported by the migration trends. Immigration
from the EU is down steeply since 2016, but immigration from the rest of the
world is not. Net immigration from non-EU countries totaled 250,000 in the
latest year for which data are available. This spring, according to the
Spectator, 19% of all UK workers were immigrants, twice the rate of 20 years
ago. As the EU share falls, the British workforce is becoming more ethnically
diverse, not less.
Yes, but what about the economics? Wasn’t the main rationale for Brexit to free
the British economy of the cumbersome burdens of EU regulation? Asked recently
to name some burdensome EU-mandated laws that had been removed by Brexit, Jacob
Rees-Mogg — the minister for Brexit Opportunities — replied that now road signs
in tunnels could be expressed in round numbers of yards, because they no longer
had to be aligned with European metric standards. It was a risible example.
Meanwhile, the costs are all too visible to any business trading with the EU.
All goods moving from Britain to France now must be checked by EU customs
officials, yet hardly any are checked by the UK in return. The resulting red
tape has caused a “steep decline” in the number of UK-EU trading relationships,
according to a study by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School
of Economics. The number of buyer-seller relationships has fallen by almost a
third since the new customs checks came into force. Other Group of Seven
countries have seen a much stronger recovery of trade since the pandemic’s
economic nadir in 2020.
Business investment, meanwhile, has strikingly stagnated since 2016 and clearly
lags behind that of other advanced countries, despite £25 billion of
“super-deductions” in corporation tax. The timing of the deviation from trend
makes Brexit look suspiciously like the culprit.
Simon Kuper of the Financial Times has argued that Britain’s economic stagnation
is about something more profound than Brexit. “Neither main party now offers a
vision of the future,” he wrote on Thursday. “No wonder: an ageing society
doesn’t particularly need one.”
Yet Kuper has just published a book about Britain’s relatively youthful
political class, most of whom were my contemporaries at Oxford in the 1980s or
studied there more recently. They seem an unlikely group of people to want to
turn the clock back to the 1978-79 Winter of Discontent, which increasingly
looks to be what they will re-live in a matter of five or six months, as the
temperatures drop, heating bills rise and strikes spread.
Brexit was supposed to be a vision of the future. In the mind of Dom Cummings,
the architect of Vote Leave and then of “getting Brexit done” after Boris
Johnson replaced Theresa May as prime minister in July 2019, Brexit was not an
end itself but the necessary precondition for a revolution designed to transform
the British state into something more akin to a Silicon Valley tech company. But
Cummings’s revolution was stillborn.
Without him, Johnson has lived up to his nickname (“The Trolley”), careening
like an out-of-control shopping cart from one crisis to another. After the surge
in popularity that propelled the Tories to victory in December 2019, they now
trail the Labour Party by six percentage points in the Politico poll of polls.
Two disastrous by-elections last month — one a loss to the Liberal Democrats’
candidate in Tiverton and Honiton in Devon, the other to Labour in Wakefield in
the north of England — look like more than the usual difficulties of a party
that has been in office too long. The Tiverton result was the third-biggest
swing from the Conservatives to the Liberal Democrats in history, in a seat that
has been Tory since 1841. If, in a general election, the Tories lose similar
seats in the south to the Liberal Democrats and similar seats in the north to
Labour, they would struggle to form another government.
As a senior cabinet minister said to me on Thursday night, the result of such a
swing would not be a Labour landslide, but a close result. Yet that, he added,
was just the kind of thing that happened repeatedly in Britain in the 1970s.
Quite so.
The trouble about getting Brexit done, but aborting the revolution in
government, is that you risk just turning the clock back to a time today’s
politicians only remember from their childhoods, if at all — the time before
Britain joined the European Economic Community, under the leadership of Ted
Heath in January 1973.
If I had a time machine, 1972 isn’t the destination I would choose for Britain —
not with so much inflation, strike action and strife just around the corner.
But then I suppose the Doctor never chooses to land just as London is falling to
the Daleks.
The 'Two-State Solution' to Destroy Israel
Khaled Abu Toameh/ Gatestone Institute/July 04/2022
The vast majority of the Palestinians, however, make it abundantly clear that
they do not believe in the "two-state solution" and would rather see Hamas, the
Iranian-backed terror group whose charter calls for the elimination of Israel,
replace the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
According to the results of the poll, opposition to the concept of the
"two-state solution" stands at 69%. Another 75% of respondents also expressed
opposition to the idea of a one-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians
would live together and enjoy equal rights. – Poll conducted by the Palestinian
Center for Policy and Survey Research, June 28, 2022
Most Palestinians said [in the poll] that Hamas is the most deserving to
represent and lead the Palestinian people.
Hamas's rising popularity among the Palestinians means that the Palestinian
state the Biden administration is seeking to establish next to Israel would soon
be ruled by an Islamist group whose covenant states that "Israel will exist and
will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as Islam obliterated
others before it."
Hamas leaders have never been anything but clear and consistent about their
intention to eliminate Israel and kill Jews.
Hamas and its supporters do not believe in Biden's "two-state solution or any
peace process with Israel. The only solution they want is one that would see
Israel and the Jews vanish from this world. Sadly, a majority of the
Palestinians (as evidenced by the latest poll) share the ideology of Hamas and
want to see even more Jews killed.
The Biden administration needs to understand that, under the current
circumstances, advancing the idea of a "two-state solution" is tantamount to
advocating bloodshed and violence in the Middle East.
The administration also needs to understand that Abbas, the Palestinian leader
it is endeavoring to engage and relying on to make peace, utterly lacks the
backing of a majority of his people for any peace plan with Israel.
The vast majority of the Palestinians make it abundantly clear that they do not
believe in the "two-state solution" and would rather see the Hamas terrorist
group replace the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas. Pictured: Abbas
talks with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on April 5, 2007 in Gaza City.
While the Biden administration continues to talk about its commitment to the
"two-state solution," a majority of the Palestinians are saying that they
support the Islamist Hamas terror group and want to see more terrorist attacks
against Jews.
The Biden administration is living under the illusion that the "two-state
solution," which would see the establishment of an independent and sovereign
Palestinian state alongside Israel, is the only way to achieve peace, security
and stability in the Middle East.
The vast majority of the Palestinians, however, make it abundantly clear that
they do not believe in the "two-state solution" and would rather see Hamas, the
Iranian-backed terror group whose charter calls for the elimination of Israel,
replace the Palestinian Authority headed by Mahmoud Abbas.
On June 30, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Abbas to discuss
President Joe Biden's upcoming trip to the Middle East.
"Secretary Blinken stressed the US commitment to improving the quality of life
of the Palestinian people in tangible ways and the Administration's support for
a negotiated two-state solution," said State Department Spokesperson Ned Price.
On the eve of Biden's visit to Israel, the West Bank and Saudi Arabia, a public
opinion poll conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research
indicated a significant drop in support among the Palestinians for the
"two-state solution" and a rise in support for a return to an armed intifada
(uprising) and terrorist attacks inside Israel.
According to the results of the poll, opposition to the concept of the
"two-state solution" stands at 69%. Another 75% of respondents also expressed
opposition to the idea of a one-state solution, where Israelis and Palestinians
would live together and enjoy equal rights.
The poll found that 55% of the Palestinians support a return to armed
confrontations and an intifada, an increase from 51% who supported a return to
violence three months ago.
In addition, a majority of 59% said that they supported terrorist attacks
carried out inside Israel by Palestinians during the past few months.
The vast majority of the Palestinians (69%) are also opposed to an unconditional
resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace negotiations. Another 65% are opposed to
dialogue with the Biden administration.
The poll found that a majority of the Palestinians do not have confidence in
Abbas, with whom the Biden administration is dealing with.
If new presidential elections were held today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would
receive 55% of the votes, while Abbas would get only 33%, the poll showed.
Seventy-three percent of the Palestinians expressed dissatisfaction with the
performance of Abbas, while another 77% said that they want him to resign.
Most Palestinians said that Hamas is the most deserving to represent and lead
the Palestinian people.
Hamas's rising popularity among the Palestinians means that the Palestinian
state the Biden administration is seeking to establish next to Israel would soon
be ruled by an Islamist group whose covenant states that "Israel will exist and
will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as Islam obliterated
others before it."
As a majority of the Palestinians want to replace Abbas with a Hamas leader, it
means that the proposed Palestinian state will be committed to the covenant of
the terror group, which does not believe in Israel's right to exist.
In case the Biden administration and the rest of the international community are
not aware of Hamas's agenda, they need to take a look at what the terror group's
covenant says.
Article 11 of the covenant states:
"The Islamic Resistance Movement believes that the land of Palestine is an
Islamic Waqf consecrated for future Muslim generations until Judgement Day. It,
or any part of it, should not be squandered; it, or any part of it, should not
be given up. Neither a single Arab country nor all Arab countries, neither any
king of president, nor all the kings and presidents, neither any organization
nor all of them, be they Palestinian or Arab, possess the right to do that."
The covenant (article seven) reminds Muslims of the famous hadith (saying)
attributed to the prophet Mohammed:
"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the
Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims,
O Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him."
The Palestinian state that the Biden administration is pushing for will
undoubtedly be used by Hamas and its patrons in Iran as a launching pad to
obliterate Israel.
Hamas leaders have never been anything but clear and consistent about their
intention to eliminate Israel and kill Jews.
During a recent visit to Lebanon, Haniyeh, the Palestinians' preferred candidate
for president, stated that there is "no future" for Israel on "the land of
Palestine."
Haniyeh announced that Hamas was preparing for a "strategic battle" with Israel.
"The Zionist entity is facing a dark future because of the Islamic resistance,"
he said, praising Palestinians who carry out terrorist attacks against Israel.
Haniyeh said that in the event of a new military confrontation with Israel,
Hamas will destroy the "Zionist entity" in a matter of minutes. "The Zionist
entity will be struck with 150 rockets in less than five minutes," he
threatened.
During his visit to Lebanon, the Hamas leader participated in a meeting of the
so-called National Islamic Conference together with leaders of the
Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror militia. The conference was also attended by
representatives from several Arab countries, including Egypt, Libya, Kuwait,
Syria, Morocco, Jordan, Yemen, Lebanon, and Algeria.
The conference expressed full support for Hamas and terrorism against Israel and
lashed out at Arab countries that established normalization with Israel.
"The conference notes the achievements and heroisms made by the Palestinian
resistance in the against the Zionist enemy," read a statement issued by the
participants at the end of the meeting. "The conference supports all forms of
resistance in the face of the Zionist enemy."
The conference condemned some Arab countries' efforts "to normalize with the
Zionist enemy and open their countries to its army, economy, settlers and
politicians." It further denounced the efforts of Arab countries "to enter into
military alliances with the Zionist enemy," and called for canceling the Oslo
Accords signed in 1993 between Israel and the PLO. The conference said that it
"affirms the right of the Palestinian people to their historical land from the
[Jordan] River to the [Mediterranean] Sea."
This statement is a huge boost to Hamas because the conference actually endorsed
the terror group's effort to destroy Israel and replace it with an
Iranian-backed Islamist state run by Haniyeh and the mullahs in Tehran.
Hamas and its supporters do not believe in Biden's "two-state solution" or any
peace process with Israel. The only solution they want is one that would see
Israel and the Jews vanish from this world. Sadly, a majority of the
Palestinians (as evidenced by the latest poll) share the ideology of Hamas and
want to see even more Jews killed.
The Biden administration needs to understand that, under the current
circumstances, advancing the idea of a "two-state solution" is tantamount to
advocating bloodshed and violence in the Middle East.
The administration also needs to understand that Abbas, the Palestinian leader
it is endeavoring to engage and relying on to make peace, utterly lacks the
backing of a majority of his people for any peace plan with Israel.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Humiliation piled on humiliation for Iran’s spy agencies
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/July 04, 2022
It turns out Iran’s intelligence services aren’t so intelligent after all. After
a series of mortifying failures, Hossein Taeb — Iran’s “untouchable” spy chief,
with close ties to the supreme leader — has been summarily thrown overboard.
This was a man who enjoyed immense power and unimaginable resources, and was
responsible for crushing domestic dissent and eliminating threats and irritants
overseas.
Taeb climbed to the top of Iran’s greasy pole in 2009 through playing a
prominent role in the mass killing and torture of protesters. In recent days the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps lauded such atrocities as great
accomplishments.
Taeb was exposed as comically incompetent when Israeli agents assassinated at
least seven nuclear scientists and intelligence officials in the past two
months. Attackers struck deep inside some of Iran’s most secret locations; they
came out of nowhere then simply melted away, giving rise to confused reports in
the Iranian media about killer robots, suicide drones, masked assassins and
self-firing machineguns. Some of these sabotage operations were overseen from
neighboring Azerbaijan and Iraqi Kurdistan. Those coordinating the strikes
succeeded in recruiting significant numbers of Iranians with the necessary
skills and connections, probably including employees at these sites, and even
carried out two attacks on the flagship Natanz nuclear plant.
The rot goes all the way to the top: Gen Ali Nasiri, a senior Guards commander,
was arrested for spying for Israel, and several dozen employees from the
Ministry of Defense’s missile development program are thought to have been
detained on suspicion of leaking classified military information, including
missile blueprints, to Israel. Ayoob Entezari, an aerospace engineer, was
fatally poisoned at a dinner party. The event’s host hasn’t been seen since.
Entezari’s “martyrdom” was first denounced as an act of “biological terror,”
before the Iranian media suddenly changed its story — denying foul play, or even
that Entezari held a sensitive role, in a transparent attempt to hide how badly
the intelligence agencies had bungled. Again! Hardly a week goes by without
reports of mysterious explosions, assassinations, and hacking of critical
infrastructure. Last week three Iranian steel factories, major suppliers to the
Guards, were hit by a cyberattack.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gloated about his “octopus
doctrine” — instead of focusing on the tentacles, he goes “straight for the
head.” Unfortunately, although these attacks are shattering the regime’s morale,
they are mere pinpricks. If Israel wants to halt Iran’s nuclear program and its
transnational paramilitary armies, full-on decapitation is required.
In the meantime, this demented octopus has flailed about, wildly threatening
revenge but rarely delivering. Remember all the promises to unleash “divine
vengeance” for the 2020 killing of Qassim Soleimani and Abu-Mahdi Al-Muhandis?
Or to avenge the assassination of nuclear chief Mohsen Fakhrizadeh?
The Islamic Republic is a time bomb waiting to implode through the accumulation
of its own failures. Never has there been a better time for regional powers to
light the fuse and put an end to this evil once and for all.
Taeb sought retribution for the killing of Col. Sayad Khodaei, deputy commander
of a covert Guards assassinations unit, by sending his goons to Turkey to kill
Israeli diplomats and tourists. However, Israel tipped off Ankara and the
conspiracy was thwarted. Similar operations appear to have been planned in
Egypt. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu declared that Ankara would not
tolerate terror attacks on its soil, an indication of how such botched
operations are pulling Turkey closer into the coalescing alliance of anti-Iran
states.
Entrenched Iranian positions and outlandish new demands are derailing the
revival of the Iran nuclear deal. Neither side holds out much hope for success,
but they fear the consequences of admitting that talks have failed.
Nevertheless, American officials asserted that Iran had been severely
discountenanced by prospects of a regional defense pact. Israel has acquiesced
to the supply of sophisticated air defense systems, radars, and cyber technology
to new allies, the US is encouraging Egypt and Jordan to deepen security ties
with Israel, and there is the game-changing prospect that Israel and Saudi
Arabia could be part of such an alliance.
Such nervousness is certainly motivating Tehran’s recent outreach to Riyadh.
Saudi officials are right to not trust a word they hear, stressing that they
need to see de-escalatory actions, not empty words. Perhaps the Iranian
president’s recent voicing of support for a ceasefire in Yemen is a move in this
direction.
Lack of progress is spurring Iran to apply pressure elsewhere, including efforts
to take over the government in Iraq, and an incident in which Israel shot down
three Hezbollah drones near an Israeli gas rig in an area of sea claimed by
Lebanon.
“The region is changing, alliances are changing… These are serious threats that
need to be thwarted,” one senior Iranian official nervously told Reuters.
However, another one commented: “Our nuclear program is advancing every day.
Time is on our side.”The Revolutionary Guards probably don’t want a revived
nuclear deal. The paradoxical impact of sanctions has been that most oil is
smuggled out via their vast economic conglomerates, and as the price soars they
are making a killing. Their revenues now mostly come from outside the official
government budget, something that wouldn’t be tenable if the deal were revived —
hence the deliberately obstructive demand that sanctions be lifted from the the
Guards’ economic empire, Khatam Al-Anbiya.
Iran meanwhile is disintegrating from the inside. Last month there were major
anti-government protests and strikes throughout the country. Pensioners have
been demonstrating over the wiping out of their pensions by runaway inflation,
the result of incompetent regime policies. The currency plunged 25 percent in
four months.
The Islamic Republic is its own worst enemy. The most likely prospect for
slaying this dragon is collapse from within: Iranians hate this regime and much
of the country is a patchwork of oppressed minorities who sooner or later will
unite to oust the detested ayatollahs. Regional powers are right to put their
energies into a defensive alliance to counter Iranian expansionism; the only
regret is that this didn’t happen 40 years ago. However, the most fertile avenue
for ending such maleficence is for a focused campaign within Iran itself,
capitalizing on the ayatollahs’ incompetence, misgovernance and unpopularity.
The Islamic Republic is a time bomb waiting to implode through the accumulation
of its own failures. Never has there been a better time for regional powers to
light the fuse and put an end to this evil once and for all.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle
East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has
interviewed numerous heads of state.