English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 26/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.may26.22.htm

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Bible Quotations For today
Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation
Mark 16/15-20: “‘Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.’ So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and proclaimed the good news everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that accompanied it.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 25-26/2022
Hezbollah’s Liberation & Resistance Day Is A Big Lie/Elias Bejjani/May 25/2021
Security Council urges swift govt. formation in Lebanon and tangible reforms
Maj. Gen. Ibrahim renews mediation over missing US journalist
Corona - Health Ministry: 81 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
Foreign Affairs Minister discusses with US Senate officials the Lebanese army, security forces' support
Arab Parliament Speaker on GCC founding commemoration: A grand regional edifice
Corm: I understand the suffering of citizens, but it was necessary to change telecommunication services cost
Mawlawi meets his Qatari counterpart, affirms Lebanese determination to work to get the country out of its crisis
Increasing tariffs on mobile lines aims to protect the sector
“Depositors Association" discusses recovery plan with Deputies Najat Saliba, Mark Daou
Ibrahim to soldiers on 'Resistance Day': The next stage is fraught with military, security risks
More Iran sanctions needed to squeeze Hezbollah, says US Congressman Darrell Issa/Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/May 25, 2022
Nasrallah to rivals: Let state survive first so that you ask us to hand over our arms
On the Lebanese Discussion of Change and Weapons: Naivety Is Not the Only Alternative to Stupidity/
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
Lebanon's financial crisis explained: what happened and why is the country stuck?/Sunniva Rose/The National/May 25/2022

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 25-26/2022
Iran systematically undermines the stability of the region, Israeli president tells WEF
Biden administration will submit any new Iran deal to Congress for review: Malley
IAEA at ‘Very Difficult Juncture’ with Iran on Unanswered Questions
Ukraine: 6 Civilians Killed as Russia Focuses Fire in East
Moscow says Ukrainian fighters to stand trial before possible swap
Turkey Says Ties with Israel Help Ease Palestinian Conflict
US. Treasury Targets Covert Hamas Investment Network and Finance Official
UK PM faces 'Partygate' report reckoning

Titles For The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 25-26/2022
‘Shameful’: European Parliament Rejects Discussion on Christian Persecution/Raymond Ibrahim/May 25/2022
National Security Crisis: Russia's and China's Nuclear Threats/Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute./May 25, 2022
Biden Takes Blind Sheikh's Terror Group Off Terror List/Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute./May 25/2022
Khalid bin Salman and Washington/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
Solution to the Ukraine Crisis Demands Innovative Diplomacy/Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
New Balances and Red Lines in Syria/Robert Ford/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
US calls for more crossing points for delivery of aid to Syria/Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/May 26/2022

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 25-26/2022
Hezbollah’s Liberation & Resistance Day Is A Big Lie
Elias Bejjani/May 25/2021
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25 National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry, and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/75168/elias-bejjani-hezbollahs-bogus-liberation-resistance-day-3/
Believe it or not, on May 25 each year since 2000 Lebanon has been celebrating the so-called “Liberation & Resistance Day.” Sadly, this celebration commemorates a bogus event, and a phony heroism that did not actually take place. On May 22, 2000 the Israeli Army unilaterally and for solely Israeli domestic reasons withdrew from the security zone of South Lebanon in accordance with UN Resolution 425.
This miscalculated and hasty withdrawal was a fatal Israeli decision that has inspired the Hamas terrorism acts and the on-going havoc in the Palestinian Gaza strip. Since 2000 many Israeli officials and politicians from all parties openly and harshly criticized Barak’s Government (Barak was PM at that time) hasty and unwise decision through which Israel’ abandoned its ally the South Lebanon Army (SLA) and gave Hezbollah all south Lebanon and the entire Lebanon on a plate of sliver. The unilateral Israeli withdrawal created a security vacuum in south Lebanon.
The Syrians who were occupying Lebanon at that time and fully controlling its government, did not allow the Lebanese Army to deploy in the south and fill this vacuum after the Israeli withdrawal. Instead Syria helped the Hezbollah militia to militarily control the whole southern region, and even patrol the Israeli-Lebanese border.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli army’s withdrawal was executed without any military battles, or even minor skirmishes with Hezbollah, or the Lebanese and Syrian armies. At the same numerous reports published in German and in other western media facilities indicated with proves that Israel forged a secret deal with Hezbollah and its masters, the Iranian Mullahs that mutually arranged all details for the withdrawal.
The Syrian regime, in a bid to justify both its on going occupation of Lebanon and the avoidance of disarming Hezbollah, came up with the “Shabaa Farms occupation big lie” and declared Hezbollah a Liberator, alleging it had forced Israel to withdrawal from South Lebanon. Syria, in the same camouflaging and devious context, dictated to both its puppet Lebanese parliament and government to declare May 25th a National Day under the tag of “Liberation & Resistance Day”.
In reality Hezbollah did not force the Israeli withdrawal, and did not play any role in the Liberation of the southern Lebanese region. In fact both Hezbollah and Syria deliberately hindered and delayed the Israeli withdrawal for more than 14 years. Every time the Israelis called on the Lebanese government to engage in a joint, serious effort under the United Nations umbrella to ensure a safe and mutually organized withdrawal of its army from South Lebanon, the Lebanese government refused to cooperate, did not agree to deploy its army in the south, and accused the Israelis of plotting to divide and split the Syrian-Lebanese joint track.
Since then, Hezbollah has been hijacking Lebanon and its people, refusing to disarm and advocating for the annihilation of Israel. This Iranian mullahs’ terrorist army stationed in Lebanon, is viciously hiding behind labels of resistance, liberation and religion. Hezbollah has recklessly jeopardized the Lebanese peoples’ lives, safety, security and livelihood. It has been growing bolder and bolder and mercilessly taking the Lebanese state and the Lebanese people hostages through terrorism, force and organized crime.
Sadly, Hezbollah is systematically devouring Lebanon day after day, and piece by piece, while at the same time marginalizing all its governmental institutions in a bid to topple the Lebanese state and erect in its place a Shiite Muslim regime, a replica of the Iranian Shiite mullahs’ fundamentalist republic.
Meanwhile the free world and Arabic countries are totally silent, indifferent, and idly watching from far away the horrible crime unfolding without taking any practical or tangible measures to put an end to this anti-Lebanese Syria-Iranian scheme that is executed through their spearhead, the Hezbollah armed militia.
Who is to be blamed for Hezbollah’s current odd and bizarre status? Definitely the Syrians who have occupied Lebanon for more than 28 years (1976-2005). During their bloody and criminal occupation, Syria helped the Iranian Hezbollah militia build a state within Lebanon and fully control the Lebanese Shiite community. But also the majority of the Lebanese politicians, leaders, officials and clergymen share the responsibility because they were subservient and acted in a dire Dhimmitude, selfish and cowardly manner.
If these so-called Lebanese leaders had been courageous and patriotic and had not appeased Hezbollah and turned a blind eye to all its vicious and human rights atrocities, intimidation tactics, crimes and expansionism schemes, this Iranian Shiite fundamentalist militia would not have been able to erect its own mini-state in the southern suburb of Beirut, and its numerous mini-cantons in the Bekaa Valley and the South; nor would Hezbollah have been able to build its mighty military power, with 100 thousand militiamen, or stockpile thousand of missiles and force the Iranian “Wilayat Al-Faqih” religious doctrine on the Lebanese Shiite community and confiscate Lebanon’s decision making process and freedoms.
Since Hezbollah’s emergence in 1982, these politicians have been serving their own selfish interests and not the interests of the Lebanese people and the nation. They went along with Hezbollah’s schemes, deluding themselves that its militia and weaponry would remain in South Lebanon and would not turn against them. This failure to serve the people of Lebanon allowed Hezbollah to make many Lebanese and most of the Arab-Muslim countries through its terrorism propaganda to blindly swallow its big lie of theatrical, faked resistance and Liberation.
Hezbollah would not have been able to refuse to disarm in 1991, like all the other Lebanese militias in accordance to the “Taef Accord,” which called for the disarmament of all militias. Hezbollah would not have become a state inside the Lebanese state, and a world-wide terrorism Iranian-Syrian tool which turned against them all after its war with Israel in year 2006 and after the UN troops were deployed on the Lebanese – Israeli borders in accordance with the UN Resolution 1701.
On May 7, 2008 Hezbollah invaded Sunni Western Beirut killing and injuring in cold blood hundreds of its civilian citizens, and too attempted to take over by force Mount Lebanon. Hezbollah’s General Secretary Sheik Hassan Nasrallah called that day (May 7, 2008) a great and glorious victory for his resistance, and keeps on threatening the Lebanese that a replicate of that day will take place if they do not succumb and obey his Iranian orders.
Hezbollah is a deadly dragon that the Lebanese politicians have been allowing him to feed on sacrifices from the southern Lebanese citizens, especially on those who were living in the “Security Zone” and who fled to Israel in May 2000 after the Israeli withdrawal from south Lebanon. This dragon who enjoyed devouring his southern sacrifices has now turned on all the Lebanese and if they do not stand for their rights and dignity, he will keep on devouring them all one after the other.
We call on the Lebanese government, the Lebanese Parliament and on all the free and patriotic Lebanese politicians and leaders to cancel the May 25 National Day, because it is not national at all, and also to stop calling Hezbollah a resistance, put an end for its mini-state, cantons and weaponry, and secure a dignified, honorable and safe return for all the Lebanese citizens who have been taking refuge in Israel since May 2000.

Security Council urges swift govt. formation in Lebanon and tangible reforms
Naharnet /May 25/2022
The members of the U.N. Security Council have welcomed the holding of legislative elections in Lebanon as scheduled on May 15, despite what they called the "challenging circumstances.""These elections were key to enabling the Lebanese people to exercise their civil and political rights. The members of the Security Council commended the technical support provided by the United Nations, the European Union, the International Organization of La Francophonie, the Arab League and other international and local observers throughout the election process and in close coordination with the government of Lebanon. They took note of the findings and recommendations made by observer missions," a U.N. statement said. The members of the Security Council called for "the swift formation of a new inclusive government and the urgent implementation of previously outlined tangible reforms, including the swift adoption of an appropriate budget for 2022 that would enable the quick conclusion of an agreement with the IMF, to respond to the demands of the Lebanese population." They also stressed the role of the Lebanese institutions, including the newly elected Parliament in the implementation of the reforms necessary to tackle the unprecedented crisis. They also underlined the importance of delivering those reforms in order to :ensure effective international support." Moreover, they encouraged measures to enhance women’s "full, equal and meaningful political participation and representation, including in the new government."
"The members of the Security Council stressed once again the need for a swift conclusion of an independent, impartial, thorough, and transparent investigation into the explosions which struck Beirut on 4 August 2020, which is essential to meet the legitimate aspirations of the Lebanese people for accountability and justice," the statement said. The members of the Security Council also reaffirmed their strong support for the "stability, security, territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, consistent with Security Council resolutions 1701 (2006), 1680 (2006), 1559 (2004), and 2591 (2021), as well as other relevant Security Council resolutions and statements of the President of the Security Council on the situation in Lebanon."Moreover, they called upon all Lebanese parties to implement "a tangible policy of disassociation from any external conflicts, as an important priority, as spelled out in previous declarations, in particular the 2012 Baabda Declaration."

Maj. Gen. Ibrahim renews mediation over missing US journalist
Associated Press/May 25/2022
Lebanon's General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim has met U.S. officials in Washington as part of mediation between Washington and Damascus for the release of an American journalist missing in Syria, the head of a mission that assists hostages said Wednesday.
Nizar Zakka, President of the U.S.-based Hostage Aid Worldwide, told The Associated Press by telephone that Ibrahim was discussing the fate of six Americans held in the Middle East, but that the "primary objective" of his mission is journalist Austin Tice who went missing near the Syrian capital of Damascus a decade ago. Zakka, who met Ibrahim in Washington on Tuesday, said Biden administration officials would not have invited the Lebanese official to Washington had they not reached something "very serious" with regards to the Tice case. He says there are "serious threads" in the case, without elaborating. Tice's fate remains unknown. Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden met Tice's parents and reiterated his commitment to continue to work through all available avenues to secure "Austin's long overdue return to his family."Tice, who is from Houston and whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus in August. 2012. Zakka said the six Americans include Tice and Majd Kamalmaz, a psychologist from Virginia who vanished in Syria in 2017. The four others are held in Iran, according to Zakka, who himself was held in Iran for years before Ibrahim mediated his release in 2019. Ibrahim has mediated complicated hostage releases in the past. He told Lebanon's LBCI TV that his work regarding American hostages "had slowed down during the transitional period between two administrations" in Washington.
"There is a decision now to speed up the process," Ibrahim added. State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Tuesday that U.S. officials "tend not to speak of our efforts in public before Americans come home so as not to jeopardize our efforts precisely to bring them home."
He added that U.S. officials "are deeply engaged on this case."In the final months of the Trump administration, two U.S. officials -- including the government's top hostage negotiator, Roger Carstens -- made a secret visit to Damascus to seek information on Tice and other Americans who have disappeared in Syria. It was the highest-level talk in years between the United States and the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, though Syrian officials offered no meaningful information on Tice. Four years ago, the then-U.S. envoy to Syria, James Jeffrey, said Tice is believed to be alive and held hostage in Syria. He didn't say why officials believe this or who might be holding him. Tice went missing shortly after his 31st birthday on Aug. 14, 2012. A video released a month later showed him blindfolded and held by armed men, saying "Oh, Jesus." He has not been heard from since.
In late April, the U.S. secured the release of Trevor Reed, a U.S. Marine veteran detained in Russia for nearly three years, as part of a prisoner swap.In 2019, Ibrahim's mediation led to the release of U.S. citizen Samuel Goodwin after being held for two months in Syria.

Corona - Health Ministry: 81 new Corona cases, 2 deaths
NNA/May 25/2022
In its daily report on COVID-19 developments, the Ministry of Public Health announced on Wednesday the registration of 81 new Coronavirus infections, which raised the cumulative number of confirmed cases to-date to 1,098,791.
The report added that two deaths were recorded during the past 24 hours.

Foreign Affairs Minister discusses with US Senate officials the Lebanese army, security forces' support
NNA/May 25/2022
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Abdallah Bou Habib, pursued today his visit to Washington, DC, where he met with a prominent member of the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Appropriations Committee, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, and a member of the Subcommittee on Near East and Counterterrorism in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Republican Senator Todd Young. During his encounters, Minister Bou Habib received a promise to speed up the dossier of the aid package for the Lebanese army and security forces, which is still under discussion in the US House of Representatives. Bou Habib also met with the Dean of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank Group, Dr. Mirza Hassan, and the Vice President of the World Bank Group for the Middle East and North Africa, Farid Belhaj, with whom he discussed the progress achieved in projects supported by the Bank, including projects in the electricity and food security sectors, and those awaiting approval by the Parliament and the next steps for cooperation and support for Lebanon.

Arab Parliament Speaker on GCC founding commemoration: A grand regional edifice
NNA/May 25/2022
Speaker of the Arab Parliament, Adel bin Abdul Rahman Al-Asoomi, congratulated the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council states on the 41st anniversary of the GCC founding, praising "the sincere and relentless efforts made by the leaders for the renaissance of their countries and peoples and the strengthening of security and stability in the region."He affirmed that the Council has withstood the many challenges it has faced since its inception, and has proven its ability to achieve many of the aspirations of the peoples of the GCC states. “There are still many accomplishments that the people aspire for to reach greater integration and solidarity in the Gulf at all levels,” he added. The Arab Parliament Speaker also referred to the leaders' belief in the importance of joint Gulf action, which represents the main driving force for the Council's work and the main focus towards activating and developing its role, in a way that enhances the cohesion of the GCC states and allows for more achievements and gains for the citizens’ benefit. "The significant role played by the Gulf Cooperation Council represents an essential tributary of promoting joint Arab action, through advocating consultation and coordination among member states towards issues of common concern, in a manner that serves the interests of the Arab peoples and achieves their aspirations for security, development and stability,” Al-Asoomi concluded.

Corm: I understand the suffering of citizens, but it was necessary to change telecommunication services cost
NNA/May 25/2022
Tele-Communication Minister Johnny Corm said that he took the decision to raise prices for telecommunications and Internet services due to problems with service providers and government officials.
He explained in an interview with VDL that no sector can continue to work at a price of 1500 Lebanese pounds per US dollar in this case, expressing his fears of the sector's collapse. Corm said he understands the suffering of the citizens, noting that the increase in customs duties was a requirement.

Mawlawi meets his Qatari counterpart, affirms Lebanese determination to work to get the country out of its crisis
NNA/May 25/2022
"I had the honor to meet with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani, in Doha, who stressed his country's support for Lebanon," wrote Caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, on his Twitter account.
"It was an occasion in which he stressed the depth of the relations that bind Lebanon with the Arab Gulf states, and affirmed the determination of the Lebanese to work for the nation's revival from its crisis," Mawlawi added.

Increasing tariffs on mobile lines aims to protect the sector
NNA /May 25/2022
Telecommunications Minister Johnny Corm asserted that “the measures taken to increase the tariff on mobile calls were aimed at protecting the sector against collapse,” and that “the price of prepaid cards will be in Lebanese pounds,” expressing surprise at “this rush on part of citizens” and “what is happening on the black market.Speaking to "Radio Ehden" Channel earlier today, he considered that the decision not to increase tariffs would have been bitter, adding, “I don’t think that people would have forgiven me had communication lines been cut-off, and this was on the table...In the absence of any aid, there is no room but to amend the pricing, because it is impossible to continue, especially since 21 percent of the workforce in both cellular companies migrated to search for work opportunities outside, and therefore I refused to bear the burden of the collapse of this productive sector in the country.”

“Depositors Association" discusses recovery plan with Deputies Najat Saliba, Mark Daou
NNA/May 25/2022
The Depositors’ Association met today with newly elected MPs Najat Aoun Saliba and Mark Daou, with talks centering on the depositors’ money dossier, the proposed recovery plan, and the principles underlined by the Association within the “Depositors Bill.”In this context, it was agreed to "cooperate in everything related to legislative work and to exert pressure to protect the interests of depositors."Both Deputies Saliba and Daou expressed their full support for the demands and positions of the Depositors’ Association, and stressed on safeguarding depositors’ rights in the face of attempts to place the banking crisis burden upon them. They underlined, herein, the need for banks to assume their responsibility for the depositors’ crisis by bearing the losses first, before any other party, through their assets and profits, while keeping the state’s assets and properties away from any privatization attempts. Both deputies highlighted the importance of finding the best means to render these assets in the service of citizens and not the corrupt political class and mafias.

Ibrahim to soldiers on 'Resistance Day': The next stage is fraught with military, security risks
NNA/May 25/2022
Director General of Public Security, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, addressed the military and security members today marking the “Resistance and Liberation Day” occasion, saluting the heroes who fell in defense of Lebanon in the face of the mightiest country that claimed to have an unconquerable force, a claim that was destroyed by Lebanon. “This bright juncture in the history of Lebanon, which was a sign of unison for the Lebanese, established a new strategic equation as Lebanon prevented the Israeli enemy from achieving its expansionist goals, so our homeland became the first line of defense for the Arabs, and grew stronger with its army, security institutions, people, and resistance,” he said. “On this national occasion, I call upon you to show the highest degree of discipline, and to ensure permanent readiness to fight security battles in the face of Israeli intelligence violations that breach national security and Lebanon's sovereignty, disregarding all international laws and norms,” Ibrahim went on. He added: “The continuation of the Israeli enemy in committing land, sea and air violations, and its intransigence in continuing to occupy a dear part of our homeland in the hills of Kfar Shouba and Shebaa farms, as well as in the sea, means that Lebanon, with its army, people and resistance, remains on alert and ready for confrontation, and standing as an impenetrable dam against all attempts to prevent it from investing its gas and oil wealth.”Ibrahim considered that the next stage is filled with military and security risks, noting that “despite Lebanon's commitment to the provisions of Resolution 1701, the Israeli attacks and provocations are still recurring on an almost daily basis, and the most dangerous thing we are facing is the enemy's continuation of its war maneuvers."The Major General concluded his message by commending the steadfastness, discipline, and dedication of the military and security apparatuses amidst the difficult economic conditions prevailing in the country. “I also value and appreciate the great efforts you are exerting in fulfillment of the duty that you have pledged to carry out, in preservation of your oath and in implementation of the Directorate’s motto in offering the highest levels of sacrifice and performance in the fields of administration and security,” Ibrahim asserted.

More Iran sanctions needed to squeeze Hezbollah, says US Congressman Darrell Issa
Tarek Ali Ahmad/Arab News/May 25, 2022
Darrell Issa says targeting Iran with further sanctions would undermine Hezbollah’s control over Lebanese affairs
California representative say Lebanon must follow through on election result by ending corruption and malign influence
DAVOS, Switzerland: The Biden administration ought to apply further sanctions on Iran as a means of curtailing the influence of its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon, says Darrell Issa, a US congressman who is part of the American delegation at the World Economic Forum.  Despite generating little of its own revenues, Hezbollah has long enjoyed free rein in Lebanon thanks to Iranian largess, Issa says. He believes targeting Iran with further sanctions would undermine the militia’s control over Lebanese affairs. “As much as I want to sanction Hezbollah, the group doesn’t generate much of their own money,” Issa, a California Republican, told Arab News on the fringes of WEF in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday.  “Their money is disproportionate because of Iranian influence. So, yes, while I do want more bank sanctions, those are ultimately irrelevant, unless we increase our sanctions on Iran.”
Issa was among a group of US congressmen who traveled to Lebanon on a fact-finding mission in November last year, later reporting back to President Joe Biden and Congress to propose ways to help the Lebanese. Iran has a policy of arming and funding proxy militias in neighboring countries to further its own geopolitical agenda, often to the detriment of the security and well-being of local populations. Although Lebanon’s May 15 parliamentary election returned a poor result for Hezbollah and its allies, Issa says history shows the need to follow through on the results and not to simply return to business as usual. “If there’s a follow through, then there should be a new speaker and a new president free of unfair influence by Hezbollah,” Issa told Arab News.  “There should be a realignment of ministries, and more than anything else there should be a resolution to end corruption. “So far, the only thing we have are candidates who campaigned against corruption and who have achieved their goal of changing the majority, but they haven’t achieved the goal of ending corruption yet.” Hezbollah, the only militia that did not disarm after Lebanon’s 1975-1990 civil war, lost its majority in the Lebanese parliament, with its bloc winning just 62 of the 128 seats on offer — three fewer than it needed. The election of many anti-corruption independents has presented Lebanon with a rare opportunity to break free of the militia’s grip on public life and to carry out urgent reforms. Since 2019, Lebanon has been in the throes of its worst ever financial crisis, which has been further compounded by the economic strain of the COVID-19 pandemic and the nation’s political paralysis. For many Lebanese, the final straw was the Beirut port blast of Aug. 2020, which killed 218, injured 7,000, caused $15 billion in property damage, and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. These concurrent crises have sent thousands of young Lebanese abroad in search of security and opportunity, including many of the country’s top medical professionals and educators. For Issa, preventing this brain-drain ought to be a high priority for any incoming government.  “Lebanon can turn around very quickly, but only if those people are still in the country,” Issa said. “And today, the US is trying to help, but there’s a lot of exodus from Lebanon, and that is going to hurt the recovery.”

Nasrallah to rivals: Let state survive first so that you ask us to hand over our arms
Naharnet /May 25/2022
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday cautioned rivals anew that their top concern should be the country’s economic and financial collapse, not his group’s controversial arsenal of weapons. “Since 1982, Hizbullah and the resistance have never been stronger -- militarily, politically and popularly… Do not err in evaluation and interpretation nor in taking the decision. Let there remain a state and a country so that you can ask us to hand over our arms to the state,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech marking Resistance and Liberation Day. Warning of an impending “collapse,” Nasrallah cited the dire economic and financial situations and the dramatic surge in the dollar exchange rate on the black market.
“Resolve the country’s crises to that the army and state can survive, and then come to discuss the defense strategy,” Nasrallah said.
“If you want to discuss everything at once come forward,” he added.
“Let us discuss how to protect our oil fortune and how to extract us, and this only needs some boldness,” Nasrallah went on to say.
“I reiterate the call for partnership and cooperation and we are ready to discuss the defense strategy,” he said.
He also warned that those disregarding the economic crises “lack responsibility.”
Turning to the region, Nasrallah noted that the region might “blow up” within days if the Israelis carry out provocative actions in Jerusalem and at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound. “Within days, things might happen in the region and might lead to the region’s explosion. I say that any harm against al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock will blow up the situation in the region and will lead to dire consequences, becau
Nasrallah: Within days, things might happen in the region and might lead to the region’s explosion. I say that any harm against al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock will blow up the situation in the region and will lead to dire consequences, because it will provoke the sentiments of all Muslims.
Do you want a defense strategy? Let us discuss how to protect and extract our offshore oil and gas.
Lebanon can be a rich state through oil and gas and also through industry and agriculture.
Lebanon is strong through the golden equation.
I reiterate the call for partnership and cooperation and we are ready to discuss the defense strategy.
If the current course continues, there might not remain a state to hand it over our arms.
Those disregarding the economic crises lack responsibility.
Let no one do any wrong calculations in this regard.
Hizbullah has never been stronger militarily and politically.
It is true that any attempt to disarm Hizbullah by force would lead to civil war.
The resistance has obliged Israel to send reassurance messages to Lebanon.
There has never been unanimity over the resistance.
This resistance is protecting (the country) and this does not need a permission from anyone.
Some are asking us "who has tasked you with protecting the country" and they do not consider Israel to be an enemy and a threat.
The question "who tasked you with resisting" is a bizarre question. It was our national, ethical and religious duty that tasked us with resisting.
Our presence in the government and parliament is aimed at protecting the resistance's back and contributing to resolving people's issues.
We entered parliament to be the voice of the resistance and in 2005 we were obliged to join the government in order to protect the resistance's back.
We did not fight for the sake of power in Lebanon, we fought to defend our country.
Hizbullah and the Amal Movement played the biggest role due to geographical reasons.
The resistance has not monopolized the achievement and it has thanked everyone.
Israel's military power started declining in the year 2000.
The liberation of the South gave hope to the Palestinians that they can liberate Palestine.
Those who accept the Israeli occupation of their country cannot be labeled as sovereignty advocates.
The Israeli enemy's barbarism must be highlighted.
We did not wait for Arabs, the U.N. Security Council or anyone in this world.
The vast majority of Lebanese felt joy during that happy day in our modern history.

On the Lebanese Discussion of Change and Weapons: Naivety Is Not the Only Alternative to Stupidity
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
Who Remembers the Decades that Preceded the Two Years War (1975- 1976) in Lebanon?
The forces calling for political and social change at the time were neither few nor unpopular, regardless of the sort of change they were advocating. Those forces left the shell of a single sect and region. That was the case for the Lebanese Communist Party and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, which maintained a presence, albeit unevenly, among all sects and regions.
Other groups calling for an end to sectarianism and its political regime that addressed individuals and groups across sectarian lines also emerged in the pre-civil war period. The Democratic Party and the Awareness Movement, for example, fall into this category. Even a very Christian party, the Lebanese Kataeb (Phalangist) Party, saw the emergence of a “youth wing” or “the Kataeb left,” which also called for overcoming sectarianism and reforming the political system through development.
These aspirations were not alien to the developmentalist bent of Chehabism, which left behind figures who continued to advocate it and see it as the weapon through which sectarianism could be done away with and reform could be realized. Many clubs in both cities and rural areas, intellectuals, an array of cultural initiatives, and some social figures were also part of this wave.
The Lebanon that existed before the Two Years War broke out, which we constantly scorn - and some of that scorn is perhaps warranted, could nonetheless contain all of that.
What happened after 1975-1976? Some of these phenomena disappeared, while others contracted. Increasing numbers returned to their sects and regions of origin. The parties described as secular and non-sectarian began their journey to extinction. Many of those calling for change and stunned by sectarianism and the war lost hope and migrated.
The reason for this is simple: weapons, the primary source for renewing sectarian awareness, expanding its scope, and reinforcing its effectiveness: fear of the other and triggering distant memories of this fear accompanied forced displacement and ethnic cleansing, arbitrary shelling, and slaughter on the basis of identity… All of that repelled anti-sectarian sentiments and left the forces that believe in or defend these sentiments besieged.
The cruel irony of this painful experience was personified by those who carried arms or called for carrying them as they called for political and social change. But at the end of the day, they are the ones who changed, becoming micro forces. Thereafter, falling under the wing of this or that security agency became imperative for staying alive. Their trajectory was akin to suicide.
Why bring this experience up today, especially after the latest parliamentary elections? Because many with good intentions want to discuss change and paths to it without discussing arms.
The latest elections, which followed a peaceful revolution, a crushing economic collapse, and a blast of almost nuclear proportions at the port of Beirut, brought to parliament reformist youths who neither entered politics through their sect nor aim to empower their sect over others through it .
That is all generally positive, though it is far less than one would expect after such massive developments.
Still, two remarks are warranted. First, the “law of the Two Years War,” so to speak, still applies; that is, weapons remain the biggest manufacturer of renewing sectarian consciousness and sharpening it. Second, arms' capacity for disrupting politics and elections is incomparably greater than politics and elections’ capacity for disrupting weapons.
This means that in the end, sectarian affiliation determining political allegiances can transform the demand for change itself into a sectarian demand, as happened in 2005 when calls for dismantling of the security regime, an investigation into the assassination of Rafik Hariri, and the expulsion of the Syrian army from Lebanon were transformed into sectarian demands.
The fact is that we can forget about the arsenal, but the arsenal cannot forget us. Hezbollah’s position is quite understandable: It cannot but seek cover from democratic institutions that reject arms in principle, one that transcends politics and popular will. The party has no choice but to resist the focus shifting to civil and social reform.
Indeed, what the Secretary-General of Hezbollah said recently about the country having coexisted “with the weapon of the resistance for 40 years” is simply untrue. This was a bitter coexistence that came with heavy human and economic costs, paralysis of the state and constitutional institutions, and minor and major wars in the south and east that preceded and followed July 2006.
It also created a disparity among the Lebanese in terms of the degree of power they feel they wield and the rights they feel they enjoy, which were clearly reflected in May 2008. It also established a parallel state, culture and values and fractured the country’s foreign relations, both Arab and international.
Change and arms will always contradict one another, a fact that Hezbollah knows very well, as it consistently proves that it is more intelligent and aware than its supporters with a leftist background demanding that it support reform or concern itself with economic and social issues.
That, however, obviously does not imply support for suicidal idiotic decisions like facing weapons with weapons. Nonetheless, pacifist naivety should not be the only alternative to suicidal idiocy.

Lebanon's financial crisis explained: what happened and why is the country stuck?
Sunniva Rose/The National/May 25/2022
The financial meltdown began in 2019 but successive governments have done little to address it. Here's everything you need to know
The Association of Banks in Lebanon (ABL) on Tuesday rejected a financial recovery road map adopted by the Lebanese government for a second time, drawing a sharp rebuke from the Cabinet.
On the same day, the local currency dropped to a record low of 34,000 Lebanese pounds against the US dollar, meaning it has lost 95 per cent of its value compared to pre-crisis levels.
The ABL and successive governments have disagreed for more than two years about how to address the country’s financial meltdown. The disagreements have held up vital reforms and talks on an IMF bailout.
In the absence of decision-making, small depositors have suffered the brunt of the losses. About three quarters of the population have slid into poverty, according to the UN.
How did Lebanon get here and what caused the country's financial crisis?
How did it all start?
In the summer of 2019, depositors with important cash-flow needs, such as goods importers, reported that they were struggling to withdraw large amounts of dollars from banks.
This had never happened, even during Lebanon's civil war between 1975 and 1990.
For years, people have used dollars and Lebanese pounds interchangeably and Lebanon prided itself on its strong banking sector, which allowed for banking secrecy and attracted foreign depositors thanks to its high interest rates.
But as dollars dried up, the local currency started to slowly slip for the first time since the central bank, the Banque du Liban, and the government pegged it to the dollar in 1997 at the rate of 1,507.5 Lebanese pounds to the greenback.
On its website, the BDL still lists this official exchange rate but in practice, it is not used by anyone except for some transactions involving the state, such as tax payments.
Banks offer a different rate — if they give out dollars to depositors at all — and at currency exchanges, the rates are trading at up to 34,000 Lebanese pounds to the dollar.
In October 2019, banks closed for two weeks as nationwide protests erupted after a minister suggested taxing WhatsApp, a mobile phone application that is popular for its free messages and calls.
When banks reopened on November 1, 2019, they introduced capital controls and banned transfers outside Lebanon. These measures were, and remain, illegal because Parliament did not approve them.
People with accounts in dollars can only withdraw a fraction of their money. If they closed their account, banks issue them a check that they could use at other Lebanese banks, which also implemented capital controls.
Depositors with accounts in Lebanese pounds can withdraw most of their cash, but it is now worth around 20 times less than it was three years ago.
The first plan under Hassan Diab
In March 2020, Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced the first sovereign default in Lebanon's history as he said the country could not repay $1.2 billion owed to creditors on time.
Mr Diab said that Lebanon needed these funds because foreign currency reserves had dropped to “worrying and dangerous levels”.
The government then approved a financial recovery plan prepared with the help of US investment bank Lazard.
The plan evaluated Lebanon’s losses at $69bn, equal at the time to 271 trillion Lebanese pounds, including $44bn of combined net losses between the Banque du Liban and commercial banks.
The plan was intended to protect most deposits, prioritising small and mid-sized accounts at the expense of large deposits.
A source said all deposits under $500,000 could have been preserved at the time, essentially allowing many Lebanese to be spared the worst of the crisis.
Owners of large deposits were to be offered different options, including converting part of their deposits into capital in the bank.
These large depositors were considered to have benefitted from “excessive interest income”, which sources say could go as high as 15 per cent to 20 per cent.
This proposal, called the “Lazard plan”, was supposed to be a basis for negotiations with the IMF for a bailout package.
On May 1, Mr Diab signed a request for assistance from the IMF.
ABL and Parliament kill the Diab plan
But on the same day, the ABL called on Parliament to reject the plan. The ABL said that it was “biased at the expense of the banks” and blamed the state for mismanaging the money that banks lent it.
A few weeks later, the ABL presented an alternative proposal that suggested that the government should sell $40 billion worth of public assets.
Later asked by local daily L’Orient Today how they came up with that figure, the ABL said “there was no study, it was [just] a valuation”.
The ABL was supported by a parliamentary fact-finding committee that included representatives of all major political parties.
In addition to its chairman, Ibrahim Kanaan, from President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, the committee included Nicolas Nahas, who is close to current Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Ali Fayyad from Hezbollah, Yassine Jaber and Ali Hassan Khalil from the Amal Movement, Eddy Abi Lamaa from the Lebanese Forces and Faysal Sayeg from the Progressive Socialist Party.
They calculated that overall losses at between half and a quarter of the Lazard plan.
The Lebanese Centre for Policy Studies, an independent government think tank, said that the parliamentary committee had brought the figure down in a number of ways, including by re-evaluating losses for debt maturing after 2027 at the official exchange rate in the “questionable anticipation of a revaluation of the Lebanese pound over time”.
The think tank also reported that the committee weakened the bargaining position of its own government by proposing a lower cut on government debt. Its aim was, reportedly, to allow banks to remain solvent and for them to preserve some of their equity.
Political and financial elites were then united in their opposition to the government’s financial recovery plan.
The think tank explained their hostility by describing the banking sector as “one of the most effective tools of clientelist redistribution and elite integration”.
The IMF told the media at the time that it backed the government’s figures.
Negotiations unravelled. Two members of Lebanon’s negotiating team quit in protest. In July, the IMF suspended discussions with Lebanon.
In August, a devastating blast at Beirut’s port destroyed large parts of the city and killed at least 190 people.
Mr Diab’s government resigned. Its plan was buried. Lebanese politicians took 11 months to agree on his successor, Mr Mikati, who then formed a government in September.
IMF talks restart
A Lebanese team, headed by Mr Al Shami, began to negotiate again with the IMF in January. France sent an adviser from its economy ministry to advise Mr Al Shami during the discussions.
Mr Al Shami estimated that the country's financial losses stood at about $69bn in December and at $72bn earlier this month.
On April 7, the IMF and Lebanon reached a staff-level agreement. The fund said that it could support Lebanon with the equivalent of about $3bn over four years.
The ABL hailed the agreement as a “crucial first step” towards recovery and urged the banking sector to remain “open to any solution that resolves the crisis”.
But Lebanon must put into effect several difficult reforms before the IMF board meeting in July.
Reforms include a financial sector restructuring that addresses the “large losses” and unifies the country’s numerous exchange rates.
Parliament must approve an “appropriate emergency bank resolution”, reform Lebanon’s bank secrecy law and approve the 2022 budget. However, none of the above has yet to be put into effect.
In April, Parliament was about to vote on a capital control law but backed down in the face of protesters who said that it allowed Lebanese politicians to evade responsibility for the crisis.
A parliamentary election took place on May 15. The new Parliament’s mandate began on May 22. No faction or party won a majority and experts expect it has set the legislature up for further deadlock.
The second government financial recovery plan
On May 20, in one of its final official acts two days before the end of its mandate, Mr Mikati's government approved a new financial recovery plan.
Yet to be released publicly, media reports indicate that the plan calls for an audit of Lebanon’s 14 largest banks. Viable banks would be recapitalised with “significant contributions” from bank shareholders and large depositors.
Reuters reported that the plan would cancel “a large part” of the central bank's foreign currency obligations to commercial banks.
The plan also reportedly states that a full audit of the central bank’s finances should be completed by July and that non-viable banks should be dissolved by November.
Mr Mikati said that deposits under $100,000 would be preserved. This figure, which was not stated in the plan, is five times lower than what the previous government believed was possible in 2020.
Since then, the central bank's reserves have further shrunk. It has been spending about half a million dollars a month to, among other things, support the Lebanese pound. It has about $10 billion left.
It is widely believed that Mr Mikati's now-caretaker government will face difficulties in enacting the reforms requested by the IMF.
Political parties are expected to start the usual back-door negotiations to appoint a new prime minister. This can take months due to Lebanon’s sectarian power-sharing system.
ABL's rejection of the second recovery plan
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ABL said that it “stood with depositors” in rejecting the Mikati administration's plan.
The ABL wrote that Mr Al Shami's plan “absolved the state and the Banque du Liban of their obligations to pay their debts” to commercial banks.
It also said that deposits had been “cancelled at the stroke of a pen” and derided “genius” experts who did not take heed of the ABL’s alternative plan that calls for a fund that manages state assets.
In a statement released a few hours later, Mr Al Shami's media office said the accusations against the state and the BDL were “baseless” and “false”.
He described the ABL’s statement as a “scandalous attempt at claiming to protect depositors” who had “suffered great harm as a result of bad policies”.
“We are in the middle of negotiations that seek to protect the largest possible number of depositors without burdening the state with additional debt,” said Mr Al Shami.
“This state of denial, if it continues, will make everyone regret their actions.”
Mr Al Shami said that Lebanon would not have access to IMF funds if it failed to adopt the plan.
In theory, ABL’s approval is not necessary for Parliament to pass the Mikati government’s financial recovery plan.
But its personal criticism of Mr Al Shami “suggests there is little political and Cabinet buy-in for this plan”, said financial analyst Mike Azar.
“Like the Lazard plan before it, it is a political orphan supported by a handful of technocrats in the government who may be thrown under the bus. It is looking as if the IMF deal was all theatrics to buy time,” he told The National.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 25-26/2022
Iran systematically undermines the stability of the region, Israeli president tells WEF
Arab News/May 25/2022
Israel and all nations of the world cannot accept Iran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities, says President Isaac Herzog
Herzog says Saudi Arabia is a very important country in the region, but joining the Abraham Accords “has to take its time”
DAVOS: Iran systematically undermines the stability of the region and Israel cannot accept Tehran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities, the Israeli President Isaac Herzog told the World Economic Forum on Wednesday. “The Iranian regime systematically undermines the stability of the region. Israel and all nations of the world cannot accept Iran’s pursuit of nuclear capabilities, recognizing the threat it poses to Israel and the entire Middle East,” Herzog said. He said that every country or region infiltrated by Iran has had “the life sucked out of its people and its land,” adding that Tehran spreads hate, pain and suffering.
“Prosperity, human liberty, creativity and growth are all erased,” the president said, pointing to what has happened in Iraq, Yemen, Gaza, Syria and Lebanon. “Israel is eager to share its prosperity and successes with all its neighbors to break down barriers imposed by Iran’s influence. I truly believe that if we only choose the forces of light, the path to a drastically different brighter future is closer than we can imagine,” Herzog said. He added that Israelis will always extend their hands for peace to their neighbors from the “Levant to the Gulf, from the Maghreb to the Mashreq, from our immediate neighbors the Palestinians to the entire Muslim world, and also to the entire continent of Africa, and the entire Middle East.”Israeli President Isaac Herzog smiles ahead of his speech at the World Economic Forum 2022 (WEF) in the Alpine resort of Davos, Switzerland May 25, 2022. (Reuters) When asked whether Saudi Arabia would follow in the footsteps of its Gulf neighbors the UAE and Bahrain in normalizing relations with Israel, Herzog said that although the Kingdom is a “very important country in the region,” the process of joining the Abraham Accords “has to take its time.”
“I think the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a very important country in the region. And we would love to see developments in that direction, but it’s a process that has to take its time I guess,” Herzog commented. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan reiterated the Kingdom’s stance regarding normalization with Israel at the WEF on Tuesday, saying nothing had changed despite recent unconfirmed media reports suggesting otherwise. “I’ve addressed that several times in the past and nothing has changed in how we view the subject. I think we have always seen normalization as the end result, but the end result of a path,” Prince Faisal told the WEF. “We always envisioned that there will be full normalization with Israel, and I’ve said before that a full normalization between us and Israel, between the region and Israel, will bring immense benefits — we won’t be able to reap those benefits unless we address the issue of Palestine,” the foreign minister said. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan reiterated the Kingdom’s stance regarding normalization with Israel at the WEF on Tuesday. (Supplied)
Herzog also spoke about the death of veteran Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, who was killed in Jenin while covering Israeli raids on a refugee camp in the West Bank on May 11. “This is of course a very sad event. And it pains me like it pains many Israelis,” the president said. He said that Israel offered the Palestinians a joint investigation into the circumstances of the “tragic event” but that the Palestinians refused to cooperate. “They took the body. They took the bullet and one cannot substantiate any one of the scenarios without those facts. And Israel was open and transparent and offered the US to join this process of investigation as well because we pay high importance to the freedom of speech and the work of journalists and media channels, and we respect them,” he added.

Biden administration will submit any new Iran deal to Congress for review: Malley
Joseph Haboush, Al Arabiya English/25 May ,2022
The US special envoy for Iran said he was “not particularly optimistic, to put it mildly,” about reaching an agreement.
US Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley said on Wednesday that the Biden administration would submit any potential nuclear deal to Congress for review. Testifying in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC), Malley continued a previous trend of blaming the Trump administration for Iran inching closer to being able to acquire a nuclear weapon. “The alternative theory JCPOA critics advanced was given a chance. It failed, and emphatically so,” he said, using the acronym for the 2015 nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration. Malley was pressed by both Republicans and Democrats during the hearing, where the Biden administration was heavily criticized for its approach and adamance on reaching a deal with Iran. He still said he believed that reaching a deal with Iran was in the best interest of the US but noted that there was a possibility of no agreement being reached. “We do not have a deal with Iran and prospects for reaching one are, at best, tenuous,” he said. For almost a year, Biden administration officials have been saying that Iran is “weeks away” from being able to get a nuclear weapon. Asked about these statements, Malley said: “At this point, it is our technical expert assessment that the non-proliferation benefits of the deal are worth the sanctions relief we would provide.”Doubling down on his skepticism of a deal being reached, Malley said there remained a “huge question.” He said he was “not particularly optimistic, to put it mildly.”Malley also hit back at reports, suggesting Moscow was given the lead role in the talks. Iran has refused to engage in direct dialogue with US officials in Vienna, where officials had been meeting to revive the deal. “I think there’s been a lot written about Russia‘s role, which is pure fantasy. Russia has not played a central role in these negotiations; I think our European allies would take offense at hearing that,” according to Malley.

IAEA at ‘Very Difficult Juncture’ with Iran on Unanswered Questions
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 25 May, 2022
Talks with Iran aimed at ending a long standoff on explaining the origin of uranium particles found at apparently old but undeclared sites are at "a very difficult juncture", UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday. Grossi and Iran agreed in March on a three-month plan to get to the bottom of the issue, which has been a source of tension between Iran and Western powers even during wider negotiations aimed at bringing Tehran and Washington back into full compliance with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Those wider talks are now stalled but Grossi has said it is hard to imagine any agreement to revive the 2015 deal being implemented while the International Atomic Energy Agency still had not received satisfactory answers on this issue. "I suppose I should abstain from having a final conclusion at this point since we haven't finished the process yet but let me say that we are at a very difficult juncture at the moment," Grossi told a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Grossi is due to report to the IAEA's 35-nation Board of Governors on how talks on the open issues have progressed by the time the Board starts a quarterly meeting on June 6. "I hope that the time ... between now and the issuance of my report will (be) put to good use to come (up) at least with a start of a credible answer to these things." While Grossi's effort to obtain answers from Iran is not part of the wider talks to revive the 2015 deal, a lack of progress could lead to fresh confrontation between Iran and the West at the Board that would only complicate the indirect talks between Iran and the United States that were last held in March.

Ukraine: 6 Civilians Killed as Russia Focuses Fire in East
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 25 May, 2022
A regional governor in eastern Ukraine says that at least six civilians have been killed by the latest Russian shelling in a town at the epicenter of fighting three months into the war. Luhansk region Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Wednesday that another eight people have been wounded in the shelling of Sievierodonetsk over the past 24 hours. He accused the Russian troops of deliberately targeting shelters where civilians were hiding. The town is located in in Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland of Donbas, where the Russian forces have been pressing their offensive despite stiff Ukrainian resistance. Moscow-backed separatists have fought Ukrainian forces in the Donbas for eight years and hold large swaths of territory. Sievierodonetsk and neighboring cities are the only part of the Donbas’ Luhansk region still under Ukrainian government control. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Tuesday that the country's forces in the region faced a difficult situation. "Practically the full might of the Russian army, whatever they have left, is being thrown at the offensive there," he said in his nightly address to the nation. "Liman, Popasna, Sievierodonetsk, Slaviansk - the occupiers want to destroy everything there."A solution to getting wheat out of Ukraine for export doesn't appear to be imminent. British military authorities say Ukraine’s overland export routes are "highly unlikely" to offset the problems caused by Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea port of Odessa, putting further pressure on global grain prices. The UK Ministry of Defense, in an update posted Wednesday morning, says there has been no "significant" merchant shipping in or out of Odessa since the start of the Russian invasion. The ministry says that the blockade, combined with the shortage of overland shipping routes, means that significant supplies of grain remain in storage and can’t be exported.

Moscow says Ukrainian fighters to stand trial before possible swap
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 25 May, 2022
Moscow said Wednesday it would be "premature" to consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv before Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered to Russian troops stand trial. Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap with Kyiv after the surrendered Ukrainian fighters "are appropriately convicted, sentenced." "Before that, all talk of an exchange is premature," Rudenko told reporters as quoted by Russian news agencies. Last week, hundreds of Ukrainian defenders of the strategic port city of Mariupol in the country's southeast surrendered after holding out at the city's Azovstal steelworks for weeks. Among the Ukrainian fighters who gave themselves up were members of the Azov regiment, a former paramilitary unit which has integrated into the Ukrainian armed forces. Russia describes the unit, which has had previous links to far-right groups, as a neo-Nazi organization. On Monday, a Kyiv court found Russian serviceman Vadim Shishimarin guilty of war crimes for killing an unarmed civilian and sentenced him to life in prison.

Turkey Says Ties with Israel Help Ease Palestinian Conflict
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 25 May, 2022
Turkey’s foreign minister said Wednesday that normalizing ties with Israel will help efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke in Jerusalem as part of the first visit by a senior Turkish official to Israel in 15 years. The trip comes as Israel and Turkey have worked to reset their relations after years of strained ties. Speaking at a joint press conference with his Israeli counterpart, Cavusoglu said that "working on a positive agenda can also help us to address our disagreements in a more constructive manner." Communications between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Israeli counterpart helped calm tensions between Israel and the Palestinians in Jerusalem during Ramadan, he added. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that the two countries "have always known how to return to dialogue and cooperation." "Nations with long histories always know how to close one chapter and open a new one. That is what we are doing here today," he said. Cavusoglu’s visit to Jerusalem followed a series of high level meetings with Palestinian officials in Ramallah, where he stated Turkey’s commitment to the Palestinians and their independence. The Turkish foreign minister said that he discussed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with both parties, and "we believe that the two-state solution with UN parameters is only the solution for a durable peace."
"We believe that normalization of our ties will also have a positive impact on peaceful resolution of the conflict," he said. Earlier on Wednesday Cavusoglu visited Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, and was to pay a private visit to Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque. Turkey and Israel were close allies, but relations grew tense under Erdogan, who is a vocal critic of Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. The countries withdrew their ambassadors in 2010 after Israeli forces stormed a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians that broke an Israeli-Egyptian blockade. The incident resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish activists. Turkey recalled its ambassador in 2018 after the United States moved its embassy to Jerusalem, prompting Israel to respond in kind. The two countries have not reappointed their ambassadors.

U.S. Department Of The Treasury/PRESS RELEASES
Treasury Targets Covert Hamas Investment Network and Finance Official
May 24, 2022
WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated a Hamas finance official as well as an expansive network of three Hamas financial facilitators and six companies that have generated revenue for the terrorist group through the management of an international investment portfolio.
Hamas’s Investment Office, whose leadership oversees this network, held assets estimated to be worth more than $500 million, including companies operating in Sudan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While Hamas’s Shura Council and Executive Committee exercise control and oversight of the group’s international investment portfolio, the Investment Office is in charge of the day-to-day management of this investment portfolio.
“Today’s action targets the individuals and companies that Hamas uses to conceal and launder funds,” said Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes Elizabeth Rosenberg while in Israel to discuss counter terrorist financing efforts. “Hamas has generated vast sums of revenue through its secret investment portfolio while destabilizing Gaza, which is facing harsh living and economic conditions. Hamas maintains a violent agenda that harms both Israelis and Palestinians. The United States is committed to denying Hamas the ability to generate and move funds and to holding Hamas accountable for its role in promoting and carrying out violence in the region.”
The individuals and companies listed below are being designated under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224, as amended, which targets terrorists, leaders, and officials of terrorist groups, and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism. The United States designated Hamas as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in October 1997, and as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist pursuant to E.O. 13224 in October 2001.
SENIOR OFFICIALS OF HAMAS INVESTMENT OFFICE
Ahmed Sharif Abdallah Odeh and Usama Ali
Ahmed Sharif Abdallah Odeh (Odeh), a Jordanian national, was in charge of the international investment portfolio until 2017. Even after Odeh stepped down as the Investment Office chief, he oversaw the Investment Office on behalf of Hamas’s Shura Council. Odeh regularly met with senior Hamas officials, gave presentations about the portfolio’s business activities, and coordinated financial transfers on behalf of the group.
In mid-2017, Usama Ali was appointed as the head of the Investment Office, a position from which he coordinated financial transfers to Hamas. Although he did not maintain an official role in companies associated with the investment portfolio, he was involved in their business activities. In addition to managing Hamas’s investment portfolio, as of early 2019, Usama Ali was a Hamas operative and member of Hamas’s Shura Council. Additionally, Usama Ali served on Hamas’s Executive Committee. He maintained direct contact with senior Hamas leaders, including Political Bureau Chief Ismail Haniyeh, Political Bureau Deputy Chief Salih al-Aruri, financial official Zahar Jabarin, and others.
Ismail Haniyeh was designated by the State Department on January 31, 2018, pursuant to E.O. 13224. Salih al-Aruri was designated by the Treasury Department on September 10, 2015, pursuant to E.O. 13224. Zahar Jabarin was designated by the Treasury Department on September 10, 2019, pursuant to E.O. 13224.
Ahmed Sharif Abdallah Odeh is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas. Usama Ali is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for being a leader or official of, Hamas.
Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh and Hamas-Affiliated Companies
Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh (Qafisheh) is a Turkey-based Jordanian national who served as Usama Ali’s deputy and played an important role in transferring funds on behalf of various companies linked to Hamas’s investment portfolio. Qafisheh was involved in managing the operations or held key roles in several companies controlled by Hamas including serving as a member of the Board of Directors at Sudan-based Agrogate Holding and the Deputy Chairman of the Board at Turkey-based Trend GYO, and Chairman of the Board at Sudan-based Al Rowad Real Estate Development. Qafisheh also managed Anda Company, a real estate and construction business, which was based in Saudi Arabia.
Agrogate Holding is an infrastructure and mining company in Sudan. Qafisheh and Odeh interviewed and hired candidates for Agrogate leadership and had a direct line of communication to the company board of directors.
As of 2018, Hamas elements held about 75 percent of the issued capital at Turkey-based company Trend GYO. Additionally, Hamas planned to privately issue more than $15 million of Trend GYO’s shares to senior officials in the investment portfolio.
Al Rowad Real Estate Development was established in 2010 by merging several Hamas companies based in Sudan. Qafisheh made hiring and firing decisions at Al Rowad and was also involved in the company’s financial dealings.
Hisham Younis Yahia Qafisheh is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Hamas. Anda Company, Agrogate Holding, Trend GYO, and Al Rowad Real Estate Development are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for being owned, controlled, or directed by, directly or indirectly, Hamas.
Sidar Company and Itqan Real Estate JSC
The Investment Office also covertly held assets in Algeria-based Sidar Company and UAE-based Itqan Real Estate JSC, both of which appeared to operate as legitimate businesses, but in practice, were controlled by Hamas and transferred money to the group. A significant portion of funds transferred by these companies to Hamas were allocated to the group’s military arm, the Izz-Al-Din Al-Qassam Brigades.
Sidar Company, Anda Company, and Agrogate Holding were among Hamas’s larger investments in real estate and construction. Hamas Investment Office leadership actively managed Sidar Company, a real estate development company.
Itqan was among several commercial companies controlled by Hamas’s covert investment portfolio. In mid-2019, Hamas investment portfolio managers considered selling one of Itqan’s highest-value assets, valued at $150 million.
Sidar Company and Itqan Real Estate JSC are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for being owned, controlled, or directed by, directly or indirectly, Hamas.
HAMAS FINANCE OFFICIAL
‘Abdallah Yusuf Faisal Sabri (Sabri), a Kuwait-based Jordanian national, is an accountant who has worked in the Hamas Finance Ministry for several years. Sabri, a Hamas financial official and representative, has been an important figure in the terrorist organization since 2006, and played a role in expanding Hamas’s reach in the region.
Since at least 2018, Sabri has managed Hamas’s operational expenses and oversaw the transfer of large sums of money on behalf of Hamas, including transfers from Iran and Saudi Arabia, which he sent to Hamas members, units, and industries. In 2018, Sabri was appointed chairman of a committee that, together with Hamas’s investment apparatus, would supervise a budget summary report pursuant to a resolution from a recent Hamas leadership meeting. Sabri likely knew details about Hamas’s financial planning and was likely aware of Hamas’s investment projects, sources of income, and financial expenditures.
‘Abdallah Yusuf Faisal Sabri is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended, for being a leader or official of Hamas.
SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS
As a result of today’s action, all property and interests in property of the individuals and entities named above, and of any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly 50 percent or more by it, individually, or with other blocked persons, that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons, must be blocked and reported to OFAC. Unless authorized by a general or specific license issued by OFAC or otherwise exempt, OFAC’s regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within the United States (including transactions transiting the United States) that involve any property or interests in property of designated or otherwise blocked persons.
Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions with the individuals and entities designated today entails risk of secondary sanctions pursuant to E.O. 13224, as amended. Pursuant to this authority, OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on the opening or maintaining in the United States of a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducted or facilitated any significant transaction on behalf of a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.
The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from its ability to designate and add persons to the SDN List, but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from any OFAC list, including the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, please refer to OFAC’s Frequently Asked Question 897. Additional information regarding sanctions programs administered by OFAC can be found here.
View identifying information on the individuals and entities designated today.

UK PM faces 'Partygate' report reckoning
Agence France Presse/May 25/2022
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson braced Wednesday for the release of a senior civil servant's long-awaited full report into a "Partygate" scandal, as new allegations emerged about a culture of lockdown-breaking boozing in his offices. A photograph published by the Daily Mirror newspaper showed a Downing Street table laden with wine bottles and doughnuts, and it said an accompanying WhatsApp message told staff: "Time to open the Covid secure bar."But the Mirror said that particular event in November 2020 was thought not to have been investigated by civil servant Sue Gray or London's Metropolitan Police, which has issued multiple fines over other events, including one against Johnson himself. The prime minister has defied calls to resign after he received the fine, but multiple reports said MPs from his Conservative party were waiting to see the full details revealed by Gray before deciding whether to trigger a leadership ballot. The report was expected on Wednesday, once it is cleared for release by Johnson, according to sources. Johnson is due to hold his weekly session of Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons at 1100 GMT, followed later by a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tories. He is expected to hold a news conference to address Gray's report, Downing Street sources have previously indicated. Gray released a preliminary version of her report in January, but held off fuller publication as the Met announced its own investigation. That is now complete with the issuance of 126 fines to 83 people, although the police force is under pressure to reopen the investigation as new evidence emerges. The BBC's Panorama program on Tuesday interviewed people who attended another leaving party in November 2020, describing a rule-breaking culture with dozens of people crowded into the room.
The party came days after the government ordered a second Covid lockdown in England and banned households from mixing.The event was on a Friday, when the Downing Street press office organized regular "WTF" ("Wine-Time Friday") drinks starting at 4:00 pm, according to Panorama. A security guard was mocked when he tried to stop a party in full flow, people who attended told the BBC. In photos published late on Monday by ITV News, Johnson can be seen raising a glass and chatting with several people around a table with bottles of wine and food. The prime minister faces allegations that he lied to parliament in denying any such party ever took place, which would normally be considering a resigning offence. With opinion polls showing deep public disapproval of "Partygate", Conservative MPs must calculate whether Johnson remains an electoral asset or a liability heading into two important by-elections next month.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 25-26/2022
‘Shameful’: European Parliament Rejects Discussion on Christian Persecution
Raymond Ibrahim/May 25/2022
Once again, a large governmental body has exposed itself as morally bankrupt if not wholly bereft of legitimacy. On May 18, 2022, the European Parliament, one of the European Union’s legislative bodies, rejected a proposal to discuss the elephant in the room: the rampant persecution of Christians around the world. The proposal came in response to the May 12 stoning and burning to death of Deborah Samuel Jacob (Yakuba), a Christian student in Nigeria murdered by Muslims for thanking Jesus on her performance in a test, and, therefore, precipitating an allegation that she had somehow “blasphemed” against Muhammad. Her murderers also made a video laughing at and mocking her burning corpse. Using that tragic incident as a catalyst, Jean-Paul Garraud, a French Member of the European Parliament (MEP), proposed a debate on the persecution of Christians and Christianophobia.
With a vote of 244 against, 231 in favor, and 19 abstentions, the proposal was rejected. Considering that the European Union claims to champion human rights and religious freedom, several of those MEPs who voted for the proposal could be heard booing and shouting “shame on you!” across the plenary floor (video here). Those MEP groups that voted against the proposal included the vast majority of the European United Left, the Greens, the Social Democrats, and the Renew Europe group—in a word, and to use American parlance, the “Left.”
Responding to their hypocrisy and double standards, Jean-Paul Garraud, the MEP who submitted the proposal, lamented that the European Commission “does not want to designate a coordinator for the fight against Christianophobia, when a coordinator of this type was created for anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”Other MEPs were outraged at what they described as “shameful” and “disgraceful” behavior from the Left. Margarita de la Pisa Carrión, of the Spanish political party Vox, and an MEP since 2019, tweeted: “What a shame! The European Parliament does not want to take a stand on the murder of the young Nigerian for being a Christian. They do not want to condemn the persecution that Christians are suffering. This is inexcusable! [Spanish original].”
Similarly, Peter van Dalen, a Dutch MEP, tweeted, “It is an extremely deep disgrace that a majority of the European Parliament refused to debate the murder, by stoning, of the Nigerian Christian student Yakubu, who was falsely accused of blasphemy.”
“Europe should know Deborah Samuel Yakubu’s name,” observed Jean-Paul Van De Walle, of ADF International (Alliance Defending Freedom), in Brussels. “This opportunity to speak out against a brutal and unjust murder of an innocent teenage girl—based on a false accusation of ‘blasphemy,’ no less—has been unforgivably lost. Nobody should be persecuted because of their faith, but it seems that EU has turned a blind eye.”
The irony of all this is that the gruesome murder of Deborah, which some are presenting as an anomaly, is just the tip of the iceberg of the Muslim persecution of Christians. A few weeks before her killing, a Muslim man slaughtered a Christian priest in broad daylight in Egypt. A few days later, another Muslim man killed another Christian in Egypt; afterwards, and just like the murderers of Deborah, he made a video boasting about his actions, adding that he did it out of “loyalty to Allah.”
The list goes on and on. What the Christian woman, Deborah, suffered—being accused and killed for “blasphemy”—is very common throughout the ultra-thin-skinned Muslim world. It seems to be a weekly occurrence in Pakistan, where not a few Christians, including several mentally disabled, have been imprisoned, killed and/or burned alive on the charge.
In short, Christians all around the world are being savagely persecuted, notoriously so in Muslim nations. According to one large study published in early 2022, “over 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith—a rise of 20 million from last year.” Nearly 5,898 Christians were murdered due to their religious identity, and 5,110 churches and other Christian buildings (monasteries, schools, etc.) were attacked and profaned. On average, then, every single day around the world, more than 16 Christians were murdered for their faith, and 14 churches were destroyed or desecrated.
Equally telling is that 39 of the 50 worst nations ranked by this study are Muslim majority or have sizeable Muslim populations.
As for Nigeria, where Deborah Samuel was murdered, according to several international observers, a “pure genocide” against Christians is being waged. Since an Islamic insurgency earnestly began in July 2009—first at the hands of Boko Haram, a professional Islamic terrorist group, and later by the Fulani, Muslim herdsmen also radicalized and motivated by jihadist ideology—over 60,000 Christians have either been butchered or abducted during raids, never to return and believed to be dead by their loved ones. About 20,000 churches and Christian schools have also been torched and destroyed by “Allahu akbar” screaming terrorists during that same timeframe.
So what has been the international community’s response to this unmitigated jihad on Christians all around the world—including, increasingly, in Europe, where several churches are desecrated daily? As recently shown by the European Parliament, not only are large governmental bodies turning a blind eye to it; they are employing their vast resources to present the persecutors as victims and the victims as persecutors, as underscored by the United Nations’ recent “Combat Islamophobia” initiative.
While claiming to champion human rights, Leftists—and virtually all 244 MEPs who voted against the aforementioned proposal are Leftists—habitually refuse to acknowledge much less address one of the most urgent human rights crises of our times: Muslim persecution of Christians; and they do so—if we may be brutally frank for a moment—for the simple and increasingly obvious reason that they hate Christianity.
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of the new book Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam, is a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center, a Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum, and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Gatestone Institute.

National Security Crisis: Russia's and China's Nuclear Threats
Judith Bergman/Gatestone Institute./May 25, 2022
Russia has not only been modernizing its nuclear triad; it has also been developing new types of nuclear systems....
Russia, of course, is not the only nuclear threat to the United States. China has accelerated its nuclear buildup to the extent that Admiral Charles Richard, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee last April, "For the first time in our history, the nation is on a trajectory to face two nuclear-capable, strategic peer adversaries at the same time, who must be deterred differently. We can no longer assume the risk of strategic deterrence failure in conflict will always remain low."
The Minuteman III ICBMs are badly in need of modernization -- they were built in the 1970s and were originally intended to last for just 10 years. The development of a next-generation ICBM, known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) has been decided, but the process has proven slow and the Air Force only expects the GBSD to begin replacing Minuteman III in 2029. According to General John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the GBSD system will not achieve initial operational capability until 2030, or full operational capability until 2035.
"It's going to take us 10 to 15 years to modernize 400 [ICBM] silos that already exist. China is basically building almost that many overnight." — General John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Defense Magazine, regarding the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program, September 13, 2021.
The Minuteman III has grave structural problems stemming from the fact that "the missile itself is 51 years old," but the launch capsules and other support facilities are "58 years old." — Col. Erik Quigley, director of the Minuteman III systems directorate, Air Force Magazine, June 14 2021.
In the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the Trump administration decided that a new Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (known as the SLCM-N).... needed to be added to the US nuclear arsenal to provide the US with "a needed non-strategic regional presence" that would address "the increasing need for flexible and low-yield options." The Biden administration, however, removed it from the FY2023 budget, while several generals have disagreed with that decision, arguing that it is needed against Russia and China.
"The Trump Administration proposed the SLCM-N in 2018. Message to Mr. Putin: If you drop a nuke on NATO soil, the alliance has the will and ability to respond in kind. This reduces the risk Mr. Putin will use a nuke," the WSJ wrote in April. "The Trump Administration said the U.S. might reconsider the SLCM-N if 'Russia returns to compliance with its arms control obligations, reduces its non-strategic nuclear arsenal, and corrects its other destabilizing behaviors.' How's that working out? Now Mr. Biden is surrendering this leverage—probably to placate progressives who are opposed to nuclear weapons as an article of faith." — Wall Street Journal editorial, April 20, 2022.
Russia has not only been modernizing its nuclear triad; it has also been developing new types of nuclear systems. Pictured: Mobile intercontinental ballistic missile launchers at a military parade in Moscow, Russia, on June 24, 2020.
Russia's war on Ukraine has brought renewed attention to Russia's nuclear arsenal and the risk of nuclear war, especially after Russian President Vladimir Putin placed his country's nuclear forces on high alert shortly after invading Ukraine on February 24. Close to half of Americans are very concerned that Russia would directly target the U.S. with nuclear weapons, and an additional 3 in 10 are somewhat concerned about that, according to a recent poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Russia has the world's largest arsenal of nuclear weapons -- 6,255 warheads, compared to the United States' 5550 warheads -- according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) 2021 yearbook. Russia has also been modernizing its huge nuclear arsenal for at least two decades, a process likely to conclude this decade.
Russia has not only been modernizing its nuclear triad; it has also been developing new types of nuclear systems. These include the Sarmat, the world's largest and heaviest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which can deliver up to ten nuclear warheads in the United States or Europe, and the Burevestnik, a nuclear-powered cruise missile designed to have "unlimited range" and dubbed "the flying Chernobyl," so called because of its nuclear reactor.
The new nuclear systems also include the Poseidon nuclear-powered autonomous (unmanned) underwater vehicle, and the Kinzhal, a hypersonic air-launched ballistic missile that can carry both conventional and nuclear warheads and is designed to be launched from MiG-31 fighter jets. Russia said that it fired the Kinzhal in two attacks on Ukraine in March.
The Poseidon has a range of up to 10,000 kilometers, can be deployed on submarines, and be armed with either nuclear or conventional payloads. One report states:
"Russia could release the drone from its submarine off the U.S. coast and detonate it in a way that would 'generate a radioactive tsunami' that could destroy cities and other infrastructure along the U.S. coast."
Russian television recently featured Dmitry Kiselyov, described as Russian President Vladimir Putin's "mouthpiece", saying that Britain could be plunged "to the depths of the sea using Russia's unmanned underwater vehicle Poseidon. Such a barrage alone carries extreme doses of radiation."
An April 21 report by the Congressional Research Service states:
"In December 2020, Russia's President Vladimir Putin reported that about 86% of Russia's strategic nuclear force was made up of modern weapons, a number he expected to rise to 88% in 2021... Russia is modernizing its ICBM force, replacing the last missiles remaining from the Soviet era with new single warhead and multiple warhead missiles. According to U.S. estimates, Russia is likely to complete this modernization around 2022."
As part of its nuclear arsenal, Russia has nearly 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, also known as non-strategic nuclear weapons. Tactical nuclear weapons are designed to be used on a battlefield, as opposed to strategic nuclear weapons, which are designed to be used against enemy cities, factories, and other larger-area targets to damage the enemy's ability to wage war. By comparison, the US only has a few hundred tactical nuclear weapons. America's new Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM-N) would be another such tactical nuclear weapon -- more about that below -- but the Biden administration has decided to cancel it.
"Russia is adding new military capabilities to its existing stockpile of nonstrategic nuclear weapons, including those employable by ships, aircraft, and ground forces," Lt. Gen. Robert P. Ashley of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) noted in 2019.
"These nuclear warheads include theater- and tactical-range systems that Russia relies on to deter and defeat NATO or China in a conflict. Russia's stockpile of non-strategic nuclear weapons [is] already large and diverse and is being modernized with an eye towards greater accuracy, longer ranges, and lower yields to suit their potential warfighting role. We assess Russia to have dozens of these systems already deployed or in development. They include, but are not limited to: short- and close-range ballistic missiles, ground-launched cruise missiles, including the 9M729 missile, which the U.S. Government determined violates the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces or INF Treaty, as well as anti-ship and antisubmarine missiles, torpedoes, and depth charges."
Russia's stockpile of tactical nuclear warheads, according to Ashley, "is likely to grow significantly over the next decade."
Russia, of course, is not the only nuclear threat to the United States. China has accelerated its nuclear buildup to the extent that Admiral Charles Richard, Commander of U.S. Strategic Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee last April:
"For the first time in our history, the nation is on a trajectory to face two nuclear-capable, strategic peer adversaries at the same time, who must be deterred differently. We can no longer assume the risk of strategic deterrence failure in conflict will always remain low."
The US, on the other hand, is in several respects still at the beginning of its nuclear modernization. According to SIPRI:
"US offensive strategic nuclear forces include heavy bomber aircraft, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and SSBNs. These forces, together known as the triad, changed little during 2020. SIPRI estimates that a total of 3570 nuclear warheads are assigned to the triad, of which an estimated 1700 warheads are deployed on missiles and at bomber bases."
When it comes to the land-based ICBMs, a vital part of US nuclear deterrence, "As of January 2021, the USA deployed 400 Minuteman III ICBMs in 450 silos across three missile wings," according to SIPRI.
"The 50 empty silos are kept in a state of readiness and can be reloaded with stored missiles if necessary. Each Minuteman III ICBM is armed with one warhead... SIPRI estimates that there are 800 warheads assigned to the ICBM force, of which 400 are deployed on the missiles."
The Minuteman III ICBMs are badly in need of modernization -- they were built in the 1970s and were originally intended to last for just 10 years. The development of a next-generation ICBM, known as the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) has been decided, but the process has proven slow and the Air Force only expects the GBSD to begin replacing Minuteman III in 2029. According to General John Hyten, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the GBSD system will not achieve initial operational capability until 2030, or full operational capability until 2035.
"There's no margin left," Air Force Global Strike Command chief General Timothy M. Ray said last June. "We're just going to run out of time"
"It's going to take us 10 to 15 years to modernize 400 [intercontinental ballistic missile] silos that already exist," Hyten said in September 2021 about the GBSD program. "China is basically building almost that many overnight."
The Minuteman III has grave structural problems stemming from the fact that "the missile itself is 51 years old," but the launch capsules and other support facilities are "58 years old," according to Col. Erik Quigley, director of the Minuteman III systems directorate. The "brine Chiller lines", which cool the ICBM launch facility, for instance, are "severely corroded at all 400-plus sites," according to Quigley.
"But guess what? We don't attack that problem when we go do programmed depot maintenance out in the field. We just wait for them to break. And when they break, a missile site goes off alert, which is a huge problem."
The missiles, when inoperable, cannot be used.
The US normally tests the Minuteman III ICBMs four times a year. But in March, the Pentagon postponed a pre-scheduled test of a Minuteman III ICBM, for fear of provoking Russia in the midst of the Ukraine war. According Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby:
"In an effort to demonstrate that we have no intention of engaging in any actions that can be misunderstood or misconstrued, the secretary of defense has directed that our Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile test launch scheduled for this week to be postponed. We did not take this decision lightly, but instead to demonstrate that we are a responsible nuclear power."
Admiral Charles Richard, Commander of U-S. Strategic Command recommended "that we maintain our normal set of operations," emphasizing that he needs the tests to "maintain confidence and reliability" in the Minuteman III, which faces growing reliability concerns as it ages and breaks down. Russia, however, could also interpret the postponement decision as weakness in the face of repeated Russian threats.
In the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review, the Trump administration decided that a new Nuclear-Armed Sea-Launched Cruise Missile (known as the SLCM-N), a tactical nuclear weapon, needed to be added to the US nuclear arsenal to provide the US with "a needed non-strategic regional presence" that would address "the increasing need for flexible and low-yield options." The missile was expected to begin development in 2022 and achieve operational capability in the late 2020s. The Biden administration, however, removed it from the FY2023 budget, while several generals have disagreed with that decision, arguing that it is needed against Russia and China.
"The current situation in Ukraine and China's nuclear trajectory convinces me a deterrence and assurance gap exists," Admiral Charles Richard wrote in a letter to lawmakers in April.
"To address this gap, a low-yield, non-ballistic capability to deter and respond without visible generation is necessary to provide a persistent, survivable, regional capability to deter adversaries, assure allies, provide flexible options, as well as complement existing capabilities."
Removing the SLCM-N from the nuclear arsenal also signals weakness. The Wall Street Journal wrote in an April editorial:
"The Trump Administration proposed the SLCM-N in 2018. Message to Mr. Putin: If you drop a nuke on NATO soil, the alliance has the will and ability to respond in kind. This reduces the risk Mr. Putin will use a nuke.... The Trump Administration said the U.S. might reconsider the SLCM-N if 'Russia returns to compliance with its arms control obligations, reduces its non-strategic nuclear arsenal, and corrects its other destabilizing behaviors.' How's that working out? Now Mr. Biden is surrendering this leverage—probably to placate progressives who are opposed to nuclear weapons as an article of faith."
*Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

Biden Takes Blind Sheikh's Terror Group Off Terror List
Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute./May 25/2022
The State Department is not removing Gamaat Islamiya from the terror list because it is defunct. Just the opposite. It's being removed from the terror list because the Biden administration expects it to be active again. And wants to be able to provide support for it.
"Bin Laden will become a symbol of resistance to occupation," Tarek Al-Zumar ranted after the Al Qaeda leader's death. "The U.S. killing of bin Laden will undoubtedly galvanize reaction and retaliation attempts."
This is what Biden's decision to remove Gamaat Islamiya from the terror list is whitewashing.
Gamaat Islamiya is not defunct. It has longstanding ties to Al Qaeda and now ISIS, even while its political arm seeks power by copying the Muslim Brotherhood's political strategy.
The Biden administration wants another Arab Spring in Egypt and it hopes that Al-Zumar and other Gamaat Islamiya Jihadists will help restore its Islamist allies to power. It's embracing Tarek Al-Zumar, the author of such key Jihadist tracts as, "Our Struggle" and "Bonds of Jihad" to pave the way for supporting his new Jihad.
And above all else, Biden has once again betrayed America.
In the early 1990's, the Egyptian Jihadist group Gamaat Islamiya bombed New York's World Trade Center and plotted to bomb the Statue of Liberty and a range of targets all across the city. The Biden administration has now announced that it's taking Gamaat Islamiya off the terror list. The State Department is not removing the group because it is defunct. Just the opposite. It's being removed from the terror list because the Biden administration expects it to be active again. Pictured: Police comb through the site of the Gamaat Islamiya car bomb that exploded in a parking garage underneath the World Trade Center the previous day, February 26 1993, killing six people.
In 1993, the United States finally arrested Omar Abdel-Rahman, popularly known as the Blind Sheikh, the religious leader of the Egyptian Jihadist group Gamaat Islamiya, after three years during which his followers bombed the World Trade Center and plotted to bomb the Statue of Liberty and a range of targets all across New York City.
The Biden administration has now announced that it's taking Gamaat Islamiya off the terror list.
During the original Jihad in New York, an undercover informant described meetings to case potential targets in which a member of the terror cell told him, "Stand here, brother, let me take your picture with the Statue of Liberty because it will not exist anymore" and "Brother, let me take your picture with the World Trade Center because it will not be here anymore".
"The Jews and Christians are the ones that are fighting every Muslim resurrection," the imprisoned sheikh later urged, "Oh, Muslims everywhere! Cut the transportation of their countries, tear it apart, destroy their economy, burn their companies, eliminate their interests, sink their ships, shoot down their planes, kill them on the sea, air, or land."
Throughout the 90s, Gamaat Islamiya continued engaging in terrorist attacks. In 1997, the Islamic terrorist group carried out its ugliest atrocity in Luxor, Egypt, where European and Japanese terrorists were mutilated and disemboweled. Among the horrors, the marauders cut off the ears and noses of several of their victims. A note praising Islam was found inside one disemboweled body. Among the victims was 5-year-old Shaunnah Turner: a little British girl.
The massacre had been funded by Al Qaeda which was allied with Gamaat Islamiya.
After September 11, Gamaat Islamiya was divided between two Jihadist pathways, that of Al Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood, both of which had Egyptian origins. In 2006, some leaders of Gamaat Islamiya announced that the terror group was merging with Al Qaeda. But under Obama, the Muslim Brotherhood forced out Mubarak, one of Gamaat Islamiya's targets, and the Blind Sheikh's terror group joined the Brotherhood in reinventing itself as a political party.
In 2011, the terror group relaunched as the Building and Development Party and was welcomed by the Obama administration. Even though Gamaat Islamiya was still on the list of foreign terrorist organizations, one of its political figures, Hani Nour Eldin, not only received a visa to enter the United States, but was also able to meet with senior Obama administration officials including then Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough.
"Abdel Rahman's ordeal in America has been very severe," Eldin complained. "I was encouraged that I was able to raise the issue with the Deputy National Security Advisor in America."
Obama's State Department reportedly even considered freeing the Blind Sheikh.
Instead the Blind Sheikh died in prison, but the United States, bizarrely, allowed his body to be transferred back to Egypt when he received a hero's funeral.
"Don't let the Americans enjoy safety and security. Kill them, keep a watch on them and plant the fear in their hearts. Seek vengeance for your sheikh," Al Qaeda declared.
When the Obama administration brought Eldin to America, Gamaat Islamiya's presence on the list of terrorist organizations had been awkward. Now the awkwardness has been resolved.
The Biden administration has chosen to remove Gamaat Islamiya from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The official reason for the move is that the terror group is "defunct". But Gamaat Islamiya isn't defunct, it just morphed into an Islamist political party that the Obama and Biden administrations want to see ruling over Egypt alongside the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Building and Development Party has never disavowed its own atrocities and continues treating the Blind Sheikh as a role model. It was banned by the Egyptian government during the wave of terror that followed the popular overthrow of the Muslim Brotherhood regime.
Indeed, the State Department's latest human rights report on Egypt complains about the ban on the Islamist party. Previously, the Egyptians could have retorted that the party had been listed as a terror group by the United States. Biden is conveniently removing that argument.
Under pressure from the Biden administration, Egypt's President Sisi has called for "a national political dialogue with all forces without exception or discrimination." Egypt has been freeing imprisoned members of the Muslim Brotherhood even as the country's courts continue sentencing other Brotherhood members to death for their role in the violence.
Tarek al-Zumar, the head of Gamaat Islamiya's Building and Development Party, has welcomed the prospect of being legalized again.
Secretary of State Blinken justified the decision to delist Gamaat Islamiya by claiming that "the circumstances that were the basis for the designation ... have changed in such a manner to warrant revocation of the designation". The change in question is entirely political.
The State Department is not removing Gamaat Islamiya from the terror list because it is defunct. Just the opposite. It's being removed from the terror list because the Biden administration expects it to be active again. And wants to be able to provide support for it.
What might that look like?
Tarek al-Zuma, like many Islamist terror leaders, is hiding out in Qatar. Egypt had accused Zumar of playing a role in ISIS terrorist attacks in the Sinai. After his initial release from prison, he defended Al Qaeda terrorism as a response to "extreme provocations" by the West.
"The whole Al-Qaeda issue has been blown out of proportion internationally. Do the mistakes made by Al-Qaeda over the past 12 or 15 years equal one-billionth of the mistakes and crimes perpetrated by the US and Britain against the Arab and Islamic nation?" he argued in another interview.
His cousin, another major movement figure, who had served time in prison with Ayman al-Zawahiri, described the head of Al Qaeda as a "man who loves his religion and justice."
"Bin Laden will become a symbol of resistance to occupation," Tarek Al-Zumar ranted after the Al Qaeda leader's death. "The U.S. killing of bin Laden will undoubtedly galvanize reaction and retaliation attempts."
This is what Biden's decision to remove Gamaat Islamiya from the terror list is whitewashing.
Gamaat Islamiya is not defunct. It has longstanding ties to Al Qaeda and now ISIS, even while its political arm seeks power by copying the Muslim Brotherhood's political strategy.
The Biden administration wants another Arab Spring in Egypt and it hopes that Al-Zumar and other Gamaat Islamiya Jihadists will help restore its Islamist allies to power. It's embracing Tarek Al-Zumar, the author of such key Jihadist tracts as, "Our Struggle With the Jews is a Resolved Struggle" and "Bonds of Jihad" to pave the way for supporting his new Jihad.
The delisting of Gamaat Islamiya betrays those seven Americans, born and unborn, who were killed during the original World Trade Center bombing as well as every innocent victim murdered by the terror group and its allies.
Biden's treasonous actions disrespect the memories of American men and women like John DiGiovanni, a sales manager, who was parking his car when the bomb in the World Trade Center went off, Stephen Knapp, a father of two on his lunch break, and Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was seven months pregnant and was on her last day of work before taking maternity leave.
And above all else, Biden has once again betrayed America.
*Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
The article above was reprinted with the kind permission of the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
© 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.

Khalid bin Salman and Washington
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
The tension between Saudi Arabia and the United States is no secret, as are the recent features of rapprochement. It seems that the detente in relations between Riyadh and Washington is taking a different shape and is being prepared slowly.
All this is happening through the remarkable and important visit by Saudi Deputy Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman to the United States - where he visited Washington and Tampa - in terms of the nature and level of his meetings there.
It’s the minister’s second trip to Washington in the recent period. While the first was brief, the latest saw extensive discussions to lay a solid ground for what can be agreed upon before any Saudi-American meeting at the leadership level, especially after CNN revealed an upcoming visit by President Joe Biden to Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, it seems that we are facing an important and new stage in Saudi-American relations, the context of which is drawn according to clear and proactive planning. This is what Prince Khalid bin Salman’s current trip suggests.
As of the time of writing this article, Prince Khalid bin Salman has met with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Dr. Colin Cale.
He also met with US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Deputy Secretary Wendy Sherman. Prince Khalid visited the US Central Command headquarters in Tampa, where he met with its chief Commander General Michael Kurilla.
Each meeting, of course, has implications for the future of Saudi-US relations. The expected breakthrough is being prepared over a slow fire, away from vague media leaks and the noise of official statements.
Evidently, some voices are trying to obstruct the strategic reformulation of relations with Washington. These unofficial subversive voices attempt to pass their ideas through some newspaper articles, or through research centers.
However, it is noteworthy that voices have risen in the US, calling for the need to rationally re-evaluate the bilateral ties. These calls are influential and have an impact even among Democrats, not to mention the Republican support for resetting relations with a reliable ally such as the Kingdom.
I asked an insider in Washington, who closely followed up on Prince Khalid’s meetings, about the assessment of the visit. “My impression is that it was a very successful visit,” he said, on condition of anonymity. Another well-informed source, who is familiar with the progress of Saudi-American relations, told me about an important matter in Saudi politics, which many do not understand.
He said: “There is what I call the Saudi sense. It is neither arrogance nor emotion.”
He explained: “The Saudi sense is our solid belief that we are on the right path, and that error is possible. If it occurs, it will be corrected, and we wait for others to do so.”
It is my permanent conviction that this is what the desert taught us, no matter how high or low oil prices are. Saudi Arabia is a rational country and does not rush. This is politics, the language of interests.

Solution to the Ukraine Crisis Demands Innovative Diplomacy
Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
Winning or losing in armed conflicts is a relative and dynamic proposition. Relative because it is dependent on how the opposing side defines victory and defeat. Dynamic because the goals of the protagonists usually shift to accommodate either all or some of the following factors: evolving conditions on the ground, a change in expectations, extraneous influences such as changing positions of allies and public opinion, domestic and international.
Armed conflicts end in one of two alternatives: either one side wins or it ends in a compromise political settlement when both sides realize that they will not able to achieve total victory in the sense that the declared objectives will not be realized.
A total victory of one side and therefore, a total defeat of the other, usually produces only fleeting success followed by a situation usually worse than the one prevailing before the onset of the conflict.
Hopefully the crisis in Ukraine will end in a negotiated political settlement. Total victory by one side will bring about ominous consequences for all.
The issue is therefore, how each side defines victory and defeat.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, while initially signalling that he can accommodate some of Russia’s demands, such as not joining NATO and accepting the annexation of Crimea and an autonomous status for Donetsk and Luhansk, was emboldened by the political and military support of the West. He has since escalated his demands, raising the bar rather high. Speaking before on May 6 before Chatham House in London, President Zelensky said that his goals are now the restoration of Ukraine’s full territorial integrity by pushing the Russians back from recently claimed territory in the south and east, as well as ultimately from Crimea. He also listed the return of refugees, Ukraine’s admission to the European Union, and the prosecution of Russian military leaders for war crimes. Russia, which had announced its initial objectives as demilitarization and preventing Ukraine from joining NATO and possibly the European Union and "de-nazification" of Ukraine, may have modified its goals. The United States, on the other hand, has given conflicting signals. President Biden said in late March that Russian President Vladimir Putin "cannot remain in power". He later labelled him a war criminal. The administration quickly walked back from this position, indicating that it was merely an emotional outburst and did not represent US policy.
Last month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated that the United States sought a "weakened" Russia. Administration officials quickly added that the goal was specific to military conflict, and was to ensure Putin would think twice about invading another country. He then stated that Ukraine "can win" the war against Russia, and the Biden administration would do "everything we can" to support that goal. A few days later, before the Senate Appropriation Committee, he further softened the US position when he stated that the aim of the US is for "Ukraine to be a sovereign state with a functioning government that can protect its territory" .
Neither Secretary Austin nor other senior officials, however, have specified their idea of what that government will look like, and what territory it will include.
A few days later, the Washington Post posited that the Biden administration and its European allies have started planning for a far different world in which they no longer try to coexist and cooperate with Russia, but actively seek to isolate and weaken it as a matter of long-term strategy.
Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor declared on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that "at the end of the day, what we want to see is a free and independent Ukraine, a weakened and isolated Russia and a stronger, more unified, more determined West … We believe that all three of those objectives are in sight."The problem is that US has a tendency to overreach, particularly when it believes that it is in an advantageous position in a conflict. This is what happened in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The West may be justified in its concern that if Russia achieves even its scaled-down objectives, it might whet its appetite towards other parts of Eastern Europe. On the other hand, it is understandable that Russia is anxious about the intent of the West of both weakening it and fully incorporating Ukraine in its camp. The ultimate goal for both the West and Russia should therefore be a European security architecture that serves both sides interests. This is what they came to realize in the 1970’s, some 25 years into the Cold War, when they embarked on establishing a European security and cooperation system through the Helsinki process. Both should resurrect this understanding again today.
The final settlement will necessarily be a compromise.
What will be included in the compromise will be up to Russia and ostensibly Ukraine, but in reality the US and to a lesser extent the EU, as the issue in essence is European security and the future relations between Russia and the West in general.
What it should not include is more obvious. Things that are considered to be a defeat for either side.
For Russia, it means returning to the status quo ante, i.e. losing its influence on the parts in eastern Ukraine that it considers vital to its security: the Donbas and the Kherson regions. As for Ukraine, it is hardly conceivable that it accepts explicitly ceding formal sovereignty over the same territories. There is room for creative diplomacy to find a formula to bridge these seemingly irreconcilable positions.
It is in this context that the US position needs to be clarified. If the strategy is indeed to weaken Russia by bleeding it in Ukraine, then a compromise settlement will be illusive. If the objective is peace and stability in Europe, then a compromise solution is possible.
A complicating factor, as always with the US, is domestic politics. The midterm congressional elections take place in November. The Democrats may lose both the Senate and House of Representatives. They will try not to appear weak with Russia, thereby avoid offering any compromise on Ukraine. Postponing a settlement agreement to after the US elections will not only increase the suffering of the Ukrainian people, but could complicate matters in such a way that would make a settlement even more remote. Meanwhile, the world at large will continue to bear the perilous consequences of the crisis in Ukraine, including the increased possibility of a new Cold War between the West on one side, and Russia and China on the other.
*Former Egyptian Ambassador and Senior UN official.

New Balances and Red Lines in Syria
Robert Ford/Asharq Al Awsat/May 25/2022
The riskiest time in a low-level conflict is when the balance of power changes and new red lines must be determined.
In Syria now, as Russia reduces its forces, Iranian Revolution Guard forces are increasing their presence and Israel perceives a gradually increasing Iranian threat from both its nuclear program and missile program in Syria. I do not mean that total war is likely to begin in Syria next week or next month. It is possible, however, that any of these countries could unintentionally cross a red line and trigger an escalation that none of the countries actually want.
First, we should not exaggerate about the Russian withdrawal in Syria. It is not big, and Russia, will keep its naval base in Tartus and its air base in Hmeimim. On the ground in Syria, however, there are local reports of Iranian Revolution Guards units and their militia allies taking control of Russian checkpoints and small bases, especially in eastern and northern Syria.
Iran has bigger financial resources to spend on military deployments in Syria. The Central Bank of Iran recently reported that revenues from oil exports in the first half of the Persian year were 18.6 billion dollars, up from 8.5 billion in the first half of last year. Despite its domestic economic problems and protests, Tehran can mobilize more military forces to send to Syria. Bashar al-Assad’s visit to Tehran earlier this month indicates that Iran’s presence and influence in Syria will grow.
The Americans will certainly perceive the growing Iranian military presence in eastern Syria as a threat; in the past year some small American bases came under attack from Iranian drones. We can expect some exchanges of fire between militias loyal to Iran in eastern Syria and the American military forces. These battles will be limited, however. The Americans don’t want a big fight in Syria; they have not yet identified a strategic interest in Syria that justifies a major war there.
By contrast, Israel has identified a strategic national interest connected to the Iran military presence: the continuing Iranian program to deploy guided missiles in Syria could inflict serious damage on Israeli targets and therefore, the Israeli air force continues to bomb Iranian targets regularly. Moscow in the past essentially gave a green light for these Israeli air attacks, although there were angry messages after a Syrian air defense missile shot down a Russian military transport airplane in 2018 in the middle of an Israeli air attack and 15 Russian soldiers died.
The Russians sent their S-300 air defense missiles to Syria after that incident, but the Israelis and Russians restored their coordination and Israeli strikes have continued.
If new Iranian deployments in Syria trigger intensified Israeli air attacks there are two possible risks: first, so far, the Iranians have not responded to the Israelis. Perhaps their patience has no limits and they have no red line with respect to losses among their forces in Syria.
If they have a red line, the Israelis haven’t found it yet, and an Iranian retaliation will be a surprise. An Iranian decision to retaliate will reflect political competition in Tehran; those domestic Iranian politics are complicating an agreement between Iran and international powers about its nuclear program.
If Iran retaliates, Israel will escalate quickly. Israel will be less interested in Iranian politics and more determined to reestablish deterrence and therefore, it will hit hard. Where the escalation between Israel and Iran would end is not clear.
In addition, for the first time the Russians fired an S-300 missile at Israeli warplanes during their May 13 strike at Masyaf. These missiles are under direct Russian control and although the system didn’t use its radar fully, and therefore didn’t present a big threat to the Israeli warplane, this incident was a Russian message, perhaps because Masyaf is only about 70 kilometers from the Russian airbase at Hmeimim.
Had the Russians used their radar and truly threatened the Israeli warplane, they would cross an Israeli red line. Israeli strikes against Russian targets in turn are a Russian red line. Thus, the May 13 Israeli strike came near a Russian red line but the Russian response was careful.
In the weeks ahead, therefore, as more Iranian deployments in Syria provoke intensified Israeli air strikes, several escalation scenarios are possible in Syria.
On the positive side, Russia is unhappy with some Israeli actions with respect to Ukraine, but Moscow does not want a big war in the Middle East now, especially in view of Turkish bans on Russian military overflights that complicate Russian logistics in Syria.
As balances in Syria evolve and red lines are redrawn, the challenge for the states is not to trip over one by mistake.
**Robert Ford is a former US ambassador to Syria and Algeria and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute for Near East Policy in Washington

US calls for more crossing points for delivery of aid to Syria
Ephrem Kossaify/Arab News/May 26/2022
During a meeting of the UN Security Council, American envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called for unity for the sake of millions of Syrians in need
Her Russian counterpart blamed the stalled peace process on “US occupation” of Syrian territories and American “plundering” of the country’s resources
NEW YORK: The denial of access for humanitarian efforts during armed conflicts is reinforcing a vicious cycle of killings and forced displacements, the US warned on Wednesday. The result of this can be seen in Syria where, after 11 years of the “Assad regime’s brutal war,” 14 million people rely on humanitarian aid to survive and 6.6 million are displaced within their own country, said Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the permanent US representative to the UN.
She called for the renewal and expansion of existing crossing points and addition of new crossings to make it easier to deliver aid to the Syrian people.
“Every month, Syrian civilians are attacked and killed by the Assad regime and others,” she said. “And hospitals often don’t have the medicine or supplies to help the injured because humanitarian convoys aren’t able to reach them.”
She was speaking as she convened a meeting of the Security Council, the presidency of which is held by the US this month. It came in the wake of the publication of a report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the protection of civilians during armed conflicts, which paints a bleak picture of the difficulties humanitarian operations face in conflict zones such as Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan and Mali.
It highlights grave concerns about attacks on humanitarian workers and assets; 143 such security incidents were recorded in 14 countries and territories during 2021, which resulted in the deaths of 93 aid workers.
In a concept note distributed before the meeting, the US mission stated that although international humanitarian law and other legal frameworks provide the necessary foundation to facilitate humanitarian access and the protection of aid workers, the legal principles are often ignored.
Focusing on Syria in particular, Thomas-Greenfield told her fellow ambassadors that the Security Council has the power to provide paths for humanitarian access where it is most desperately needed.
“We did this last year when we unanimously voted to renew the mandate for UN cross-border assistance in Syria,” she said.
“That was an important, lifesaving decision for millions of people. It demonstrated the best of what we can do when we work together.”
The UN estimates that 14.6 million Syrians will need humanitarian assistance this year, an increase of almost 10 percent on last year.
“So we have to renew the mandate again,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “And we have to expand it and increase the number of crossing points to meet the rising demands for humanitarian aid in Syria.”
She will visit Bab Al-Hawa, the only crossing point that currently remains open, in the coming days.
Security Council discussions about the issue often prove difficult, with Russia and China consistently insisting that all humanitarian aid deliveries require the consent of the Syrian authorities. When deliveries of international aid to Syria began in 2014, the Security Council approved four border crossings. In January 2020, permanent member Russia used its power of veto to force the closure of all but one. Moscow argues that international aid operations violate the Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, said: “Despite notable successes in the fight against international terrorism, the establishment of complete peace and stability in the country is hindered by the illegal occupation by the United States of a significant part of the (Syrian) territory.
“Camps with inhuman living conditions for the civilian population continue to operate in the occupied territories. Devastation and total lawlessness reign.”
He accused the “occupying US power” of “openly plundering” Syria’s natural and agricultural resources, and of illegally smuggling oil and grain out of the country, describing it as “the American recipe for dealing with the global energy and food crisis.” “Despite the protracted serious humanitarian situation in Syria and the economic crisis, the US and the EU continue to apply illegal, unilateral sanctions against the long-suffering people of Syria, with disastrous consequences,” Nebenzia added. The current mandate for the cross-border mechanism is due to expire in July.