English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 25/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
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Bible Quotations For today
God has
sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’So you are no
longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.”
Letter to the Galatians 04/01-07/:”My point is this: heirs, as
long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners
of all the property; but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date
set by the father. So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the
elemental spirits of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent
his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were
under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you
are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba!
Father!’So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an
heir, through God.”
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials
published on November 24-25/2021
Ministry of Health: 1099 new cases, 10 deaths
President Aoun: Forensic audit is my duty, and it cost me a lot of time and
seriousness
President Aoun chairs meeting to discuss obstacles being faced by Alvarez &
Marsal
Aoun Slams 'Lies' and 'Political Assassination Attempts'
Lebanese Currency Sinks to New Low
2 Pro-Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Syria Airstrike
Australia lists neo-Nazi group and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations
Australia Lists Hezbollah as Terrorist Organization
Israel Thanks Australia for Blacklisting Hizbullah's Political Wing
US Ambassador in Bkirki
Economic Crisis Threatens Garbage Piling Up on Beirut’s Streets
Berri Wins Settlement of Bitar's Issue in Parliament if No Judicial Solution
FPM to Reportedly Attend Parliament Session for Settling Bitar Row
UNIFIL Dismisses 'Unsubstantiated Allegations' about Port Blast Case
Cabinet Won’t Vote on Sacking Kordahi
Jumblat Says Principle of 'Managing Disagreements' with Hizbullah ‘Still Valid’
A growing list of blacklistings/Nicholas Frakes/Now Lebanon/November 24/2021
Hezbollah experiencing political confusion, says political analyst/Najia Hossari/Arab
New/November 24/2021
Mettre fin à l’extraterritorialité du Hezbollah/Charles Elias Chartouni/Novembre
24/2021
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
November 24-25/2021
Syria Says Israeli Attack Kills 2 Civilians
IAEA Chief Says He 'Could Not Agree' in Talks with Iran
IAEA Chief Says Negotiations in Iran Proved Inconclusive
Envoy Says U.S. Will Not 'Sit Idly' If Iran Drags out Nuclear Talks
Iran Executes Man Arrested For Murder At Age 17 Israel, Morocco Ink Defense Deal
after Normalizing Ties
Russian-Palestinian Summit Discusses Mechanisms to Revive Political Settlement
Damascus Reports Bombing of US Base East of the Euphrates
Qatari Ambassador In Gaza For Talks With Hamas, Israel
Security Forces Disperse Student Demonstration in Iraqi Kurdistan
Egyptian President Vows to Enhance Regional Economic Integration
Sudan: Hamdok to Review Appointments Made by Military
US Describes Hamdok, Burhan Agreement as 'First Step’
US Renews Support for Morocco’s Self-Determination in Sahara Dispute
Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC
English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on
November 24-25/2021
How Would Syria Change and 'Moderate?'/Hazem Saghieh/ Asharq Al-Awsat/November
24/2021
How America Lost Its Leverage on Iran/Richard Goldberg/Mosaic-FDD/November 24,
2021
How China Is Trying to Turn the U.S. against Itself/Nathan Picarsic and Emily De
La Bruyere/Notional Review/November 24, 2021
In fight against Islamic State, the Taliban holds major advantage/Bill Roggio/FDD/November
24/2021
Europe's Migrant Crisis Demonstrates Biden's Weakness/Con Coughlin/Gatestone
Institute/November 24, 2021
The Liverpool Bombing: Islam’s Mindboggling Deceptions Exposed/Raymond
Ibrahim/November 24, 2021
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on November 24-25/2021
Ministry of Health: 1099 new cases, 10
deaths
NNA/November 24, 2021
The Ministry of Public Health announced 1099 new coronavirus infection cases,
which raises the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 662269.
10 deaths have been reported.
President Aoun: Forensic audit is my duty, and it cost
me a lot of time and seriousness
NNA/November 24, 2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, asserted that “From a
political point of view, there are crises, some of which are artificial in terms
of a political conflict on the ground, which could have been avoided and allowed
international intervention in Lebanese affairs, and others are natural”.
“From the beginning, I was insisting that forensic audit should be carried out
since it would be a new beginning, which would reveal those responsible for
wasting money. This is my duty and cost me a lot of time and effort, and I
confronted a lot of resistance and those who worked to put obstacles” the
President said. Moreover, President Aoun stated that negotiations are underway
with the International Monetary Fund to present an economic plan on the basis of
which long-term loans can be obtained, after all which was said about the
reality of the financial situation, according to reports which were received
from the highest responsible authorities in this field.
In addition, the President referred to organized campaigns based on lies and
distortion of facts which aim at political assassination, stressing that he is
determined to try to bring about the necessary changes, “Regardless of
challenges”. President Aoun also affirmed that forensic audit is the precursor
to this desired change, especially in terms of monitoring those responsible for
public funds in various official institutions.
The President’s stances came while meeting a delegation from the International
Lions Club Association, District 351, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, today at the
Presidential Palace. The delegation visited the President after the election of
their new Governor, Aida Kaawar, and to offer congratulations on Independence
Day.
Governor Kaawar:
Governor Kaawar congratulated the President on Independence, and delivered the
following word: “From the land of the nobles, from the beloved Jordan and from
Lebanon, we have come to you with a goal to serve the human being, a goal which
we have dictated ourselves to. We serve by restoring around 1,800 homes, several
hospitals, schools, and commercial establishments and providing a rescue boat to
the Civil Defense. Our achievements are numerous, from medical and environmental
campaigns, to fighting hunger through the implementation of the Good Meal
Program. District 351 has received many gifts and grants, through which it
established a dialysis ward at Al-Bwar Governmental Hospital, and an advanced
academy and clinics for early diabetes detection at Al-Shamal Hospital. We also
provide moral and care support to children with cancer and their families”.
President Aoun:
The President welcomed the delegation and congratulated Lions Club on electing a
new Governor, praising the work such clubs do in Lebanon at social, health and
humanitarian levels, including helping to equip Bwar Governmental Hospital to
receive and accompany patients. President Aoun also thanked the club’s members
for their dedication and devotion to humanitarian issues in Lebanon, and for
embodying the values of free love which have become rare in our world today. The
President expressed readiness to meet all the demands he receives, which would
activate medical devices in government hospitals.
On the other hand, the President indicated that the bad conditions which Lebanon
is experiencing are the result of the accumulation of problems, which are
exacerbated by the new difficulties which have been resolved.
“Debt has reached around 200 billion dollars, the war in Syria has closed the
outlets to the markets of Arab countries, and more than 1.5 million Syrians have
been displaced, causing annual losses estimated at around 3 billion US Dollars.
Lebanon also suffered from demonstrations, Corona pandemic and the tragic Port
blast” President Aoun continued. “As for the political aspect, there are crises,
some of which are artificial in terms of the political conflict on the ground
that could have been avoided and allowed international interference in Lebanese
affairs, and others are natural. It is true that we were able to maintain the
security situation, but what is happening does not compensate for the need that
the citizen suffers from, especially at the financial and economic level, after
they lost their lives savings, which is unacceptable, but it was imposed on us
because of the imbalance in the use of public money” President Aoun added.
“From here, it was necessary to conduct a forensic audit to reveal the culprits
and who is behind this matter” President Aoun said, stressing that he was
insisting from the beginning that such an audit should be conducted because it
would be a new beginning, and it would reveal those responsible for wasting
money. “This is my duty and it cost me a lot of time and effort. There was a lot
of resistance and people working to put up obstacles to this procedure” the
President asserted.
Moreover, President Aoun indicated that negotiations are underway with the
International Monetary Fund to present an economic plan on the basis of which
long-term loans can be obtained, after all talk was said in the air about the
reality of financial conditions, according to reports that were received from
the highest responsible authorities in this field.
In conclusion, the President referred to the organized campaigns based on lies
and distortion of facts that aim at political assassination, stressing that he
is determined to try to bring about the necessary changes, regardless of the
challenges, and the forensic audit is the sign of this desired change,
especially in terms of monitoring those responsible for public funds in various
official institutions.
Letter from President Putin:
The President met Russian Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Rudakov, and received
from him a letter from Russian President, Vladimir Putin. The letter included
Independence congratulations, and an affirmation of the friendly relations
between Lebanon and Russia, where President Putin expressed his confidence that
these relations will remain in the future “So that we can, thanks to our joint
efforts, ensure further development for the interest of our two peoples and in
order to enhance security and stability in the Middle East”.
In addition, President Putin affirmed Russian permanent commitment to “Support
Lebanon’s sovereignty and unity, and the impermissibility of any external
interference in Lebanon’s internal affairs”.
The meeting between the President and the Russian Ambassador tackled the results
of the visit of Foreign Affairs’ Minister, Abdullah Bou Habib, to Moscow, and
the talks he held with his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, aiming to
strengthen bilateral relations between Lebanon and Russia.
For his side, the President had conveyed Ambassador Rudakov his greetings to
President Putin, and thanked him for the quick response shown by handing over to
Lebanon the aerial photos taken by Russian satellites before and after the
Beirut Port blast on August 4, 2020. The President also pointed out that these
photos will be placed at the disposal of forensic investigation, hoping that
they will help in knowing new facts about this crime.
Finally, President Aoun commended the initiatives undertaken by Moscow to help
Lebanon overcome the difficult circumstances it is going through.
MP Maalouf:
President Aoun met MP, Cesar Al-Maalouf, and addressed with him general affairs
and a number of issues that concern Zahle and its region. Developmental
needs of Zahle and its surroundings were also tackled, including the
rehabilitation of Masnaa-Dahr Al-Baydar road, before the onset of winter due to
the importance of this road in connecting the Beqaa valley with other Lebanese
regions. MP Maalouf also indicated that the meeting discussed electricity issues
and the necessity of providing diesel fuel, in addition to the high cost of
living and the sufferings of Beqaa residents. -- Press office
President Aoun chairs meeting to discuss obstacles being
faced by Alvarez & Marsal
NNA/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on Wednesday chaired a meeting
attended by Finance Minister, Youssef Khalil, Central Bank Governor, Riad
Salameh, and former Minister, Salim Jreissati, to discuss the obstacles being
faced by "Alvarez & Marsal" in its forensic financial audit of the Lebanese
Central Bank’s financial accounts.
Aoun Slams 'Lies' and 'Political Assassination Attempts'
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
President Michel Aoun on Wednesday lamented the presence of “systematic
campaigns that are based on lies and aimed at political assassination.”The
President, however, stressed that he is determined to “try and make the
necessary change, no matter the challenges.”“Politically, there are fabricated
and normal crises, and the forensic audit is my duty and it has cost me a lot of
time and effort and a confrontation against obstructors,” Aoun said in a meeting
with a delegation from Lions Clubs International. The President had earlier in
the day met with Finance Minister Youssef al-Khalil and Central Bank Governor
Riad Salameh, in the presence of his advisor Salim Jreissati. The meeting was
dedicated to discussing the financial situations in the country and the
difficulties that the Alvarez & Marsal firm is facing regarding the forensic
audit of the central bank’s accounts. During the meeting, Aoun insisted on “the
start of forensic audit operations into the accounts of the central bank,”
calling for granting Alvarez & Marsal full access to the requested data and
documents so that it can “issue a preliminary reports by 12 weeks at the latest
in line with the contract’s stipulations.”Khalil and Salameh for their part said
that they are carrying out “the necessary measures with the possible speed in
this regard.”Aoun meanwhile warned the conferees that the repercussions from
failing to conduct the audit would be “negative on all levels,” noting that “the
law stipulates that forensic audit should target all state administrations and
institutions.”
Lebanese Currency Sinks to New Low
Agence France Presse/November 24, 2021
The Lebanese pound sank to a new low on the black market Wednesday, with no end
in sight to the economic and political crisis plunging ever growing numbers into
poverty. According to websites monitoring the black market rate, the pound was
trading at 24,000 to the dollar, or 16 times less than its official peg value of
1,500. The new record, topping a previous peak in July, comes as the
newly-formed government has failed to meet for more than a month amid a
festering diplomatic crisis with Gulf countries. Lebanon's much-reviled
political barons are also divided over the fate of the judge probing the deadly
August 2020 Beirut port blast widely blamed on government negligence and
corruption. With the currency losing more than 90 percent of its value in two
years on the black market, the purchasing power of Lebanese is plummeting and
the minimum wage is now worth less than $30. According to the United Nations,
four in five Lebanese are now considered poor. The World Bank estimates Lebanon
may need almost two decades to recover its pre-crisis per capita GDP.
2 Pro-Hizbullah Fighters Killed in Syria Airstrike
Agence France Presse/November 24, 2021
Israeli strikes targeting a part of Syria where fighters loyal to Lebanon's
Hizbullah are based killed five people Wednesday, a war monitor said. The
Israeli missiles struck an area near three villages in the west of Homs
province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group
with a wide network of sources on the ground. Three Syrian soldiers as well as
two Syrian militiamen affiliated with Hizbullah were killed in the early morning
strikes, the monitoring organization said. The official Syrian news agency SANA,
citing a military official, had reported earlier that two civilians had been
killed and seven people injured in Israeli "aerial aggression."Syria's air
defenses "repelled the aggression and shot down most" of the missiles, SANA
said, quoting the same source. The Israeli military, which rarely acknowledges
individual strikes on Syria, declined to comment on "reports in the foreign
media." Israel has said repeatedly it will not allow neighboring Syria to become
a launchpad for its foe Iran. Since civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Israel
has carried out hundreds of air strikes on Syrian territory, targeting
government positions as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hizbullah
fighters. SANA had reported on November 8 that two Syrian soldiers were injured
by Israeli missile strikes on areas in the center and the west of the country.
On October 30, five pro-Iranian militiamen were killed in an Israeli strike that
destroyed Hizbullah and Iranian weapons and ammunition near the Syrian capital,
the monitor said. An Israeli strike in mid-October killed nine pro-government
fighters near the T4 airbase east of Palmyra in central Syria, according to the
same source.
Australia lists neo-Nazi group and Hezbollah as terrorist organisations
Reuters/November 24, 2021
Australia on Wednesday classified neo-Nazi organisation The Base and Hezbollah,
the Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, as terrorist
organisations. The classification makes it illegal for anyone to be a member of
The Base, the white supremacist group formed in 2018, or Hezbollah. Anyone
convicted of being a member can be imprisoned for up to 25 years. "There is
absolutely no place in Australia for violent extremism. There is no cause –
religious or ideological – that can justify killing innocent people," Minister
for Home Affairs Karen Andrews told reporters in Canberra.
Hezbollah is not believed to be active in Australia, though authorities have
said The Base has actively sought to develop cells. Andrews declined to specify
how many members of The Base there are in Australia. The Base was formed in the
United States and has been listed as a terrorist organisation in Canada and
Britain. U.S. ally Australia is on heightened alert after a series of “lone
wolf” attacks in recent years.
Australia Lists Hezbollah as Terrorist Organization
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Australia on Wednesday listed all of Lebanon’s Hezbollah as a "terrorist
organization", extending an existing ban on armed units to the entire movement.
Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews said that the Iran-backed Shiite group
"continues to threaten terrorist attacks and provide support to terrorist
organizations" and poses a "real" and "credible" threat to Australia. Australia
had since 2003 banned Hezbollah's so-called External Security Organization. From
now membership of the entire organization or providing funding for it will be
proscribed in Australia, which has a large Lebanese community. Matthew Levitt, a
former US counter-terrorism financing official now with the Washington Institute
for Near East policy, told AFP the move was "long overdue."In June, he testified
to the Australian parliament that the previous designation was "insufficient"
adding that "Hezbollah is structured and operates as a singular
organization.""In recent years a laundry list of Hezbollah terrorist plots and
illicit financial schemes have involved Australian citizens and/or activities on
Australian soil," he said. No reason was given for the timing of Canberra's
decision, which comes as Lebanon reels from spiraling political and economic
crises.
Before 2018 polls, Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the surprise move of
recognizing west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, helping secure votes in a
battleground Sydney seat with a sizable Jewish community.
Israel's embassy in Canberra welcomed the decision, saying "there is no division
between the political and the military wings of the terror organization
Hezbollah, and this acknowledgement is essential to combating the enduring
threat of terrorism."
Israel Thanks Australia for Blacklisting Hizbullah's
Political Wing
Associated Press/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Australia on Wednesday listed all of Hizbullah as a "terrorist organization,"
extending a ban on the armed wing to the entire movement, which wields
considerable power in Lebanon. Australian Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews
said that the Tehran-backed group "continues to threaten terrorist attacks and
provide support to terrorist organizations" and poses a "real" and "credible"
threat to Australia. Some countries have sought to distinguish between
Hizbullah's political and militant factions, fearing a blanket ban could further
destabilize Lebanon and hamper contacts with authorities. Australia had such a
policy since 2003, when it banned Hizbullah's so-called External Security
Organization -- a part of the movement's military wing that is chiefly focused
on shadowy overseas operations. From now, membership of the entire organization
or providing funding for it will now be proscribed in Australia, which has a
large Lebanese community. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett thanked his
"friend" and Australian counterpart Scott Morrison for the move. "Hizbullah is
an Iranian-backed terror organization in Lebanon responsible for countless
attacks in Israel & around the world," he tweeted.
'Long overdue' -
No reason was given for the timing of Canberra's decision, which comes as
Lebanon reels from spiraling political and economic crises. The move may play
well domestically for Australia's conservative government, ahead of its own
elections expected next year. Before 2018 polls, Morrison made the surprise move
of recognizing west Jerusalem as Israel's capital, helping secure votes in a
battleground Sydney seat with a sizable Jewish community. Matthew Levitt, a
former U.S. counter-terrorism financing official now with the Washington
Institue for Near East policy, told AFP the move was "long overdue."In June, he
testified to the Australian parliament that the previous designation was
"insufficient" adding that "Hizbullah is structured and operates as a singular
organization.""In recent years a laundry list of Hizbullah terrorist plots and
illicit financial schemes have involved Australian citizens and/or activities on
Australian soil," he said. Australia's government also announced Wednesday that
it would be listing far-right group "The Base" as a terror group. "They are a
violent, racist neo-Nazi group known by security agencies to be planning and
preparing terrorist attacks," Andrews said.
US Ambassador in Bkirki
NNA/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi, welcomed at the
patriarchal edifice in Bkeirki the US ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea.
Economic Crisis Threatens Garbage Piling Up on Beirut’s Streets
Beirut - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Lebanon’s economic crunch threatens to trigger another trash crisis as waste
management companies have warned they would halt operations for failing to raise
the wage of their employees. “Officials mock us, and we had offered them
solutions, but it fell on deaf ears,” Ramco CEO Walid Abou Saad told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“We had been promised that a session for the Council for Development and
Reconstruction will be held to approve part of our just demands, and we were
shocked last Wednesday that the Council did not meet due to internal problems,
and the meeting may be postponed until after the New Year,” added Saad.
Lebanon’s currency crisis has also been poorly reflected in the trash management
sector. Contractors have fallen into a deficit, given that their contracts are
in Lebanese pounds, while the prices of fuel, maintenance services, and the cost
of foreign workers’ wages rose at a record level. While contractors continue to
pay the high costs in dollars (23,000 Lebanese pounds on the black market), no
adjustments had been made to the amounts received from the state.The government
is still paying these contractors at the exchange rate of 1,500 Lebanese pounds
to the dollar, exposing them to heavy losses. “We are the ones who pay the
price,” said Saad, noting that his company is at a loss by the day. “Neither the
government nor the Council for Development and Reconstruction cares about this
matter.” “On the other hand, people say that Ramco is not doing its job, and we
get blamed,” complained Saad.
Meanwhile, the streets of the Lebanese capital have fallen victim to accumulated
garbage in containers, and an unpleasant odor has spread across neighborhoods.
“Ramco can no longer collect waste daily due to the high costs we incur, and due
to the lack of drivers, after we lost 50% of employees during the economic
crisis,” noted Saad.
Berri Wins Settlement of Bitar's Issue in Parliament if
No Judicial Solution
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
In his meeting with President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Miqati,
Speaker Nabih Berri “won the issue of settling investigative judge Tarek Bitar’s
issue in parliament, should the judiciary fail to find a solution within a
week,” informed sources said. Miqati was meanwhile promised with the resumption
of Cabinet sessions although a specific date was not agreed, the sources told
Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper in remarks published Wednesday.“President Michel
Aoun, who mediated between Berri and Miqati, was relieved by leaving the issue
of Information Minister George Kordahi to the minister himself,” the sources
added.
FPM to Reportedly Attend Parliament Session for Settling
Bitar Row
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
A “scenario” for resolving the governmental and judicial crises is making
progress, highly informed sources said. The reported solution is based on the
pledges that President Michel Aoun, Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib
Miqati made to each other in their latest meeting in Baabda, the sources told
al-Joumhouria newspaper in remarks published Wednesday. Under the reported
settlement, the Free Patriotic Movement-led Strong Lebanon bloc would “attend a
parliamentary session for referring the file of the ex-PM and former ministers
charged in the port blast case to the Higher Council for Trial of Presidents and
Ministers,” the sources said. “Cabinet would later convene with the
participation of the Amal Movement and Hizbullah ministers, after which
Information Minister George Kordahi would announce his resignation,” the sources
added.
UNIFIL Dismisses 'Unsubstantiated Allegations' about
Port Blast Case
Naharnet/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
UNIFIL Spokesperson Andrea Tenenti has dismissed what he called “unsubstantiated
allegations,” after al-Mayadeen TV mentioned UNIFIL’s naval force in a report
about the Beirut port blast and the ship that carried the huge quantity of the
explosive ammonium nitrate substance.
“Some recent media reports speculating on the activities of the UNIFIL Maritime
Task Force (MTF) in the context of the tragic Beirut port explosion of 4 August
2020 have made unsubstantiated allegations with disregard to UNIFIL's mandate
and the way the MTF operates,” Tenenti said in response to a question by
state-run National News Agency about the report. He explained that UNIFIL’s MTF
has been deployed at the request of the Government of Lebanon for “very specific
tasks in support of the Lebanese authorities.” “The nature of such assistance is
clearly defined by the Lebanese authorities, who retain the sovereign
prerogative and related responsibility to secure their maritime borders,”
Tenenti added. “Accordingly, as requested by the government, the role of
UNIFIL’s MTF is to hail ships that are approaching Lebanon and refer any
suspicious ships to the Lebanese authorities, who are the ones responsible for
carrying out the inspection of those ships independently. UNIFIL cannot board
and conduct physical inspection of any vessel in Lebanese territorial waters
unless specifically requested by the Lebanese authorities,” the UNIFIL spokesman
pointed out. He added: “UNIFIL’s MTF is also not responsible for authorizing
entry into Lebanese ports. This again is the sovereign prerogative of the
Lebanese authorities. As such, after a ship has been referred to the Lebanese
authorities, UNIFIL has no involvement unless the Lebanese authorities were to
request any further assistance within the scope of UNIFIL's mandate.”“With
respect to the Beirut port explosion, due to the ongoing judicial investigation,
it will not be appropriate for UNIFIL to comment on this particular case.
However, UNIFIL has been fully cooperating with the Lebanese judicial
authorities and has provided them with all requested assistance within the scope
of UNIFIL's mandate,” Tenenti stressed. “In this context, some accusations made
in the media misrepresent the way in which UNIFIL operates,” he added, calling
upon all concerned to “refrain from baseless and misleading speculations on such
a serious and tragic matter.”
Cabinet Won’t Vote on Sacking Kordahi
Naharnet/November 24/2021
The first step in resolving the diplomatic crisis with the Gulf is Information
Minister George Kordahi's resignation, political sources told LBCI. The sources
affirmed to the TV channel that Kordahi’s sacking won’t be discussed in the
cabinet for voting. “There is almost an agreement on the name of the minister
who will replace Kordahi,” the sources revealed, adding that the minister-to-be
is close to Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh.
Jumblat Says Principle of 'Managing Disagreements' with
Hizbullah ‘Still Valid’
Naharnet/November 24/2021
Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said the principle of
“managing or suspending the disagreements” with Hizbullah is still valid. He
told al-Joumhouria newspaper, in remarks published Wednesday, that “one has the
right to raise his voice sometimes in order to express a position or a
cry.”Jumblat had said earlier this month that his “patience on Hizbullah is
running out,” describing the fuel trucks that Hizbullah imported from Iran as
“beggary” and accusing Hizbullah of “ruining the lives” of the Lebanese who work
in the Gulf in connection with the diplomatic crisis with Saudi Arabia.
A growing list of blacklistings
Nicholas Frakes/Now Lebanon/November 24/2021
Australia has designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization on Tuesday, but
some analysts say that it is unlikely that the move has any significant impact
on the group in Lebanon. Australia announced on Tuesday that it has designated
Hezbollah in its entirety as a terrorist organization after having designated
its military wing as such nearly two decades ago. The Australian Home Affairs
Minister Karen Andrews announced the new designation, along with that of the
white supremacist group, The Base, saying that this was meant to counter the
growing threat of terrorism around the globe.
“We know there is a threat of terrorism here in Australia and that there is a
threat of terrorism right across the world,” Andrews stated. “The Government has
zero tolerance for violence, and there is no cause – religious or ideological –
that can justify killing innocent people,” she later added. Israeli Prime
Minister Neftali Bennet thanked Australia for the move. Hezbollah issued a
statement on Wednesday strongly condemning the Australian authorities’ decision.
The statement said that the Lebanese group “considers it servile submission to
American and Zionist dictates and blindly engaging in serving Israel’s interests
and its policy based on terrorism, murder and massacres.”“This decision and
similar decisions made by some Western countries that are biased against the
peoples of this region and their just issues and their right to liberation and
independence will not affect the morale of our loyal people in Lebanon, nor the
morale of the free and honorable people in the whole world, nor the position of
Hezbollah. God and his natural right to resist, defend his country and people,
and support the resistance movements against the Zionist occupation and
aggression,” Hezbollah said in the statement released to the Lebanese media.
In Lebanon, the announcement has been met with silence, with very few
exceptions. Politician Bahaa Hariri, former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri’s eldest son, expressed his support for Australia’s decision, calling it
“a positive step for Lebanon’s salvation from the militia that monopolizes the
decision of peace and war, and isolates it from the world and cuts it apart.”
One more country
Australia, home to around 230,000 Lebanese or people of Lebanese descent, had
banned Hezbollah’s External Security Organization in 2003. However, the United
Kingdom expanded its proscription of Hezbollah from just the military wing to
include the whole organization in March 2019, and called on both Australia and
New Zealand – which also has blacklisted the military wing in 2010 – to follow
suit. Hezbollah’s financial, political and military activities have also been
under scrutiny in the past months in the region. Australia’s announcement comes
a month after Saudi Arabia named the Hezbollah-affiliated Qard al-Hassan Bank as
a terrorist organization. Earlier this month, Kuwait detained 18 people
that the country says are suspected of helping to finance Hezbollah. The
individuals are currently in detention for 21 days while they are being
investigated by Kuwaiti authorities for “membership in a prohibited party, money
laundering and spying.”Lebanon is in the midst of a diplomatic crisis with
several Arab Gulf countries, including Kuwait, over the continually expanding
role and power that Hezbollah has in Lebanon. The US has also continued to
impose sanctions on Hezbollah-affiliated businessmen, a process that went into
overdrive under former President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign
against Iran. The US Department of Treasury has imposed sanctions against nearly
1,000 people or entities linked to Hezbollah in and outside of Lebanon. Most
recently, in October, the US sanctioned MP Jamil Sayyed and two other
businesspeople who have close ties to Hezbollah were sanctioned after
accusations of corruption and undermining rule of law in Lebanon. In September,
the US sanctioned businessman Morteza Minaye Hashemi for supporting the Quds
Force, a secretive group within the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and major
backer of Hezbollah, and Chinese nationals Yan Su Xuan and Song Jing for their
aiding of Hashemi.
Symbolic moves
Middle East independent analyst Bachar el-Halabi says that this action by
Australia is purely symbolic and will have little impact on the Lebanese group.
“Australia is insignificant for Hezbollah’s global network of financiers and
supporters and such designation from the Australian side is more political than
legal,” Halabi told NOW. He argued that one of the most important designations
that might have really impacted Hezbollah was by Germany in April 2020, when the
European nation banned all activity of the Lebanese group on German soil
following pressure from Israel and the United States.
The European Union as a whole banned Hezbollah’s military wing in July 2013,
also after intense lobbying by both the Israeli and US governments. According to
Halabi, Germany has a large Lebanese Shiite community, with a significant
portion throwing their support behind Hezbollah.
In the German capital of Berlin and in other parts of the country, Hezbollah
flags have been openly displayed on windows and balconies, he said. In addition
to this, according to the German government, Hezbollah had several NGOs that
were linked to the group, which they used to “send money and support the
party.”Halabi also pointed out how Hezbollah and Germany, historically, “enjoyed
really good diplomatic relations”. Germany played an important role in mediating
prisoner swaps between Hezbollah and Israel in 2008. Designations and sanctions
against Hezbollah might have an impact internationally, Halabi says, but
locally, they are unlikely to impact the group’s power and image, mainly due to
Iran’s unwavering support and the financial and military backing of the
organization. “In Lebanon, nothing will impact Hezbollah’s standing as long as
it has the weapons and as long as the regime in Tehran remains in power,” Halabi
stated. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is set to give a speech on Friday,
where many expect that he will mention the recent designation by Australia. “I
think he would brush it off,” Halabi said. “Or [he may] use it as part of his
conspiracy rhetoric about the world punishing Lebanon because of Hezbollah.”
*Nicholas Frakes is a multimedia journalist with @NOW_leb. He tweets @nicfrakesjourno.
Hezbollah experiencing political confusion, says
political analyst
Najia Hossari/Arab New/November 24/2021
BEIRUT: Hezbollah is experiencing political confusion, writer and political
analyst Sana Aljak said on Wednesday, amid reports of a disagreement between the
party and the Amal Movement headed by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri on their
earlier call to remove Judge Tarek Bitar from his investigation into last year's
Beirut port blast.
The government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati has been stuck over how to respond
to calls for Bitar's removal, and the positive atmosphere that prevailed in a
meeting on Monday between Berri, Mikati and President Michel Aoun had not
materialized into concrete steps by the middle of the week.
There were also claims of a dispute between Berri and Hezbollah on the solutions
proposed for resuming Cabinet meetings.
The two allies have boycotted the meetings since Oct. 12, against the backdrop
of the port blast investigation, and the government turmoil has been aggravated
by a provocative statement from Information Minister George Kordahi about the
war in Yemen.
The meeting on Lebanon’s Independence Day produced, according to the information
that followed, “flexibility, positivity, and openness to resolving outstanding
problems.”
There has been an increasing level of conversation about solutions related to
Kordahi. There are also reports that Aoun promised to facilitate understanding
on solutions provided that the prime minister, after his Vatican visit to meet
Pope Francis, invited a Cabinet session that conveyed to the international
community the government’s seriousness about implementing commitments to save
Lebanon from collapse.
The information circulated said the way out regarding Hezbollah’s demand to
suspend Bitar was to limit his powers.
Accordingly, out of respect for the provisions of the constitution, Bitar should
not be allowed to investigate accused officials, including ministers, MPs and a
former prime minister, and try these officials before the Supreme Council for
the trial of presidents and ministers.
This solution requires that Bitar be removed from the trial of political
officials, rather than suspending him entirely.
Respecting the constitution was a requirement for Berri as well as other
political parties, especially since the prime minister reiterated his refusal to
interfere in the work of the judiciary and was committed to the separation of
powers.
But this solution, according to the information circulated, means withdrawing
the demand for Bitar's dismissal, a condition that Hezbollah is sticking to in
order to let its ministers attend Cabinet sessions.
This development has led to claims of disagreement between Hezbollah and the
Amal Movement.
MP Mohammed Khawaja, a member of the Parliamentary Development and Liberation
Bloc headed by Berri, confirmed that the speaker “has been making, since the
beginning of the crisis, every effort for the return of the government to
business and address the thorny files, including the judicial file, whose course
is required to be corrected as a starting point to the rest of the issues,
foremost of which is the living conditions that affect all citizens and
pressurize most of the Lebanese who have become poor.”
Khawaja said: “It is natural that there is a difference in attitudes between the
Amal Movement and Hezbollah, especially in their view of internal political
affairs and how to deal with them since they are not one party. The two parties
meet on strategic matters and complement each other. There is no need to
exaggerate the dispute.”
Aljak said the dispute was “a division of roles” between Hezbollah and Berri.
She told Arab News: “Hezbollah was not able to completely remove Bitar from the
file, so the party tried to overthrow the head of the Supreme Judicial Council,
who protects Bitar. But it could not (do) either. Hezbollah, which is very
powerful in Lebanon, has found that it is incapable of controlling everything
and that it is even helpless. The party is now entering into reconciliation with
the tribes of Khaldeh, that is, with the murderer of one of its leaders.
Hezbollah can no longer use the excess power it possesses. When he boasts that
he has 100,000 fighters, this is a sign of weakness, not strength.”
Aljak referred to the attack by a Hezbollah leader, Ghaleb Abu Zainab, against
political leaders last Monday, and how the party was forced to say that he did
not represent the party's positions.
“This is evidence that Hezbollah has reached a stage where it thought it could
control everything, but suddenly it discovered that its excess power did not
benefit it. Hezbollah intervened in many places in the region, but what did it
gain? Everyone is talking about an Iranian occupation. Hezbollah's prestige has
declined. Hezbollah has become like a dictator who no longer bothers to convince
people to like him, but suddenly discovers that people hate him.
“The party no longer knows how to get out of all the places it has been involved
in,” Aljak added.
شارل الياس
شرتوني: حزب الله ووضع حد للاستثناء السيادي
Mettre fin à l’extraterritorialité du Hezbollah
Charles Elias Chartouni/Novembre 24/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/104381/charles-elias-chartouni-mettre-fin-a-lextraterritorialite-du-hezbollah-%d8%b4%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%84-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%b4%d8%b1%d8%aa%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%86%d9%87%d8%a7%d9%8a/
La décision de l’Australie de classer le Hezbollah organisation terroriste et
mettre fin aux équivoques statutaires dont il se prévaut, est une démarche de
bon augure dont il faudrait se saisir afin de finir avec l’extraterritorialité
dont il se réclame au sein de la communauté nationale libanaise. L’Etat-lige
qu’est le Liban doit sa fiction juridique d’État à l’alternance des vassalités
qui lui ont concédé des statuts intérimaires d’existence nationale. L’importance
de la démarche australienne, qui succède à celle des États Unis et de
l’Allemagne, tient au fait qu’elle dénie à cette organisation terroriste et de
criminalité organisée tout statut juridique qui lui permette d’avaliser
une"normalité" et un mandement pro-étatique qui lui ont permis tout au long des
trois dernières décennies, d’opérer sur la base d’une extraterritorialité de
fait. Il est impossible de redonner au Liban une raison d’être étatique en
perdurant le paralogisme de l’"armée, peuple, résistance" et des inepties
auxquelles il a donné lieu, en en faisant un subterfuge juridique derrière
lequel s’abritent des réalités disparates qui pourfendent la souveraineté
libanaise, et des visées politiques impériales qui se recommandent de la
politique de subversion chiite pilotée par l’Iran sur le plan régional.
Il est impératif de poursuivre cette politique de mise au ban de la communauté
internationale d’une formation politique qui usurpe d’une titulature concédée
par l’état de fiction juridique à laquelle se trouve être relégué l’État
libanais, qui n’est que la sommation des condominiums alternatifs qui se
succèdent depuis soixante ans. Ce travail de balisage bute sur un obstacle de
taille, celui de la représentativité du Hezbollah au sein de la communauté
chiite libanaise, de la contestation de légitimité de l’entité nationale
libanaise qui prévaut dans le discours politique chiite, de l’état larvé de
guerre civile, de l’instrumentalisation du Liban comme plateforme de subversion
et de criminalité organisée, de la marginalité à laquelle notre pays est voué
sur le plan international, et de l’état d’implosion d’une aire sans ancrages
normatif ou géopolitique . Nous sommes face à un travail de recadrage qui ne
peut pas faire l’économie d’un balisage conceptuel et de reconstruction des
paradigmes étatiques et ceux d’un ordre régional en éclats.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
November 24-25/2021
Syria Says Israeli Attack Kills 2 Civilians
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
An Israeli "air aggression" on Syria's central region killed two civilians and
injured seven others, official media said on Wednesday. State media said Syrian
air defenses intercepted the attack above the city of Homs. "An Israeli air
aggression targeted parts of the central region, and the air defenses are
responding," it said. Two civilians were killed, and one civilian and six
soldiers were injured in the attack, Syrian state TV said. The attack also
resulted in material damage.
IAEA Chief Says He 'Could Not Agree' in Talks with Iran
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
The U.N. nuclear watchdog's head said on Wednesday that he "could not agree" in
talks with Iranian officials to resolve disputes over the monitoring of the
country's atomic program, a day after returning from Tehran. Rafael Grossi,
director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told the
quarterly meeting of the board of governors that his talks in Tehran were
"inconclusive," despite what he had earlier described as "intense" negotiations.
"We could not agree yesterday, in spite of my best efforts," Grossi told
reporters on Wednesday, shortly after addressing the board meeting. Among other
officials in Tehran, he met Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran. He had been hoping to make progress on several points of
contention between the agency and Tehran. These include the constraints put on
IAEA inspections activity earlier this year, outstanding questions over the
presence of undeclared nuclear material at sites in Iran, and the treatment of
IAEA staff in the country. The talks came ahead of the scheduled resumption on
Monday of negotiations between Tehran and world powers aimed at reviving the
2015 deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear
program.
IAEA Chief Says Negotiations in Iran Proved Inconclusive
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
UN atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told his agency's Board of Governors on
Wednesday that negotiations he had held in Tehran this week over Iran's nuclear
program had proved inconclusive. Grossi returned from Tehran on Tuesday after
meeting the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization and Iran's foreign
minister as he sought to strike a deal with Iran to reinstall four of his
agency's cameras at a centrifuge-parts workshop that was the victim of apparent
sabotage, Reuters said. But he appeared to return without progress leaving a
thorn in the side of relations between Iran and the West days before indirect
talks between Tehran and Washington over reviving the battered 2015 Iran nuclear
deal resume on Monday. "Despite my best efforts, these extensive negotiations
and deliberations to address Iran's outstanding safeguards issues, detailed in
the two reports, proved inconclusive," Grossi told the 35-nation Board of
Governors at the start of its quarterly meeting, according to the text of the
speech sent to reporters. He was referring to reports recently issued by the
agency. The standoff over the Karaj workshop that makes parts for advanced
centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, is one of several issues that have
soured relations between Iran and the IAEA and angered Western powers that say
Tehran must back down. The IAEA also wants answers from Iran on the origin of
uranium particles found at several apparently old but undeclared sites, and has
told its member states that Iran keeps subjecting its inspectors to "excessively
invasive searches, which resulted in them feeling intimidated" during security
checks. The United States and its European allies would normally pressure Iran
on those issues by trying to pass a resolution against it at the quarterly
meetings. With the wider talks on the 2015 deal due to resume on Monday after a
five-month break, however, diplomats say it is unlikely there will be any such
attempt for fear of jeopardizing those talks.
Envoy Says U.S. Will Not 'Sit Idly' If Iran Drags out Nuclear Talks
Associated Press/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
The United States will not "sit idly" on Iran if it does not work quickly to
return to a nuclear accord in talks resuming next week, the U.S. special envoy
said. "If they start getting too close, too close for comfort, then of course we
will not be prepared to sit idly," U.S. negotiator Rob Malley told National
Public Radio.
Iran Executes Man Arrested For Murder At Age 17
AFP/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Iran executed a man Wednesday who was arrested for murder at the age of 17, the
judiciary said, despite appeals to spare his life by rights groups including
Amnesty International. Arman Abdolali was executed at dawn in Rajai Shahr prison
near Tehran, in line with the “qesas” eye-for-an-eye style justice demanded by
the victim’s family, said the judiciary’s Mizan Online website. Amnesty
International had appealed on October 11 for Iran to halt the execution of the
25-year-old who was arrested in 2014 and later convicted of murdering his
girlfriend. The London-based rights group said he had been sentenced to death
twice but that the execution was stopped both times following an international
outcry. It said Abdolali had first been sentenced to death in December 2015
after “a grossly unfair trial” by a court that “relied on torture-tainted
‘confessions'” following his girlfriend’s disappearance the year before. It said
Abdolali was sentenced to death again in 2020 in a retrial, as the court ruled
that the teenager was responsible for the acts in the absence of evidence to the
contrary, Amnesty reported. UN human rights experts also appealed to Iran to
halt the execution. “International human rights law unequivocally forbids
imposition of the death sentence on anyone under 18 years of age,” said the
Geneva-based UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. In 2020, there
were 246 executions in Iran, according to Amnesty International. Iran has often
faced international criticism for executing people convicted of crimes committed
when they were minors, in violation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
that has been ratified by the Islamic republic.
Israel, Morocco Ink Defense Deal after Normalizing Ties
Associated Press/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Israel and Morocco signed a landmark agreement Wednesday that lays the
foundation for security cooperation, intelligence sharing, and future arms
sales. The memorandum of understanding is the centerpiece of a visit this week
by Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to Morocco, which established formal
relations with Israel last year as part of the U.S.-brokered Abraham Accords.
Gantz's trip is the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to one
of the Arab states that normalized ties under the accords. In a statement, Gantz
said that the agreement was "very significant and will allow us to exchange
ideas, enter joint projects and enable Israeli military exports here."The
agreement was signed during a meeting between Gantz and his Moroccan counterpart
Abdellatif Loudiyi in Rabat, with military attaches and two Israeli parliament
members in attendance. Gantz also met with the Moroccan military chief of staff,
and was greeted by a color guard of soldiers clad in red tunics, blue slacks and
gleaming gold epaulets. Ahead of his meeting with Loudiyi, Gantz paid his
respects at the tomb of Mohamed V, the grandfather of the reigning monarch.
Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan signed agreements to
normalize relations with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords, which
were brokered by the Trump administration. Israel and Morocco enjoyed low-level
diplomatic relations in the 1990s, but Morocco severed them after a Palestinian
uprising erupted in 2000. Despite that, the two states have maintained informal
relations. Nearly half a million Israelis claim Moroccan heritage — more than
200,000 immigrated to Israel after the founding of the state in 1948 — and
thousands visit the country each year. Morocco is still home to a small Jewish
community, and Rabat has one remaining synagogue, where Gantz will visit at the
close of his two-day trip. In exchange for Morocco normalizing relations with
Israel, the Trump administration promised in December 2020 to recognize Moroccan
sovereignty over Western Sahara, a disputed north African territory. The
announcement upset decades of U.S. policy and international consensus that
Western Sahara's status should be settled by a U.N. referendum. Since then, the
Biden administration has cautiously walked back that recognition. The Abraham
Accords broke a longstanding consensus among Arab states that normalization with
Israel only take place as part of a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Because of that, the Palestinians view the agreements as a betrayal
that eroded their leverage with Israel.
Russian-Palestinian Summit Discusses Mechanisms to Revive
Political Settlement
Moscow - Raed Jaber/ Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a round of “comprehensive and detailed”
talks on Tuesday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the Kremlin said.
Putin underlined his country’s commitment to a settlement of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict “on the basis of the relevant international
resolutions and within the framework of a just solution that achieves the
interests of all parties.” Abbas reiterated his call for organizing an
international conference for the Middle East. At the beginning of the meeting,
which took place in the Russian resort of Sochi on the Black Sea, Putin stressed
that Moscow’s “firm position on settling the Palestinian issue has not changed.”
“The Palestinian problem must be resolved in accordance with previous UN
Security Council resolutions, on a just basis that takes into account the
interests of all,” the Russian president said, pledging to “continue to work
towards achieving this goal, no matter how difficult it is.” On bilateral
relations, Putin said it was necessary to resume the work of the joint
intergovernmental commission between Russia and Palestine as soon as possible.
Abbas emphasized his appreciation of Russia’s firm position in support of
Palestinian rights, and pointed to the importance of maintaining coordination in
order to address major developments facing Palestine and the region.
Prior to his arrival in Russia, the Palestinian president announced his
intention to discuss ways to revive the political process. In an interview with
the Russian Sputnik agency, he said that he was counting on discussing the
process with Putin, stressing his confidence in Russian support. He added that
he was hinging on Moscow’s backing to organize an international peace
conference. “If the two-state solution is not implemented, there will be other
alternatives, including going to a one-state solution for all Palestinian and
Israeli citizens living on the land of historic Palestine, or returning to the
partition resolution issued in 1947,” Abbas told the agency. Earlier, Moscow
confirmed its endeavor to revive the work of the International Quartet on the
Middle East. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed disappointment over the
reluctance of “some parties” to accept the repeated Russian invitation to hold a
meeting at the level of foreign ministers of the Quartet. The committee, which
includes Russia, the United States, the United Nations and the European Union,
held three video conferences in the past months at the level of delegates, but
Moscow insisted that in order to push the talks further, a meeting must be
organized at the ministerial level to take decisions and establish practical
mechanisms to advance the settlement process in the Middle East.
Damascus Reports Bombing of US Base East of the Euphrates
Qamishli: Kamal Cheikhou - Damascus: Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November,
2021
Sources in Damascus reported that a US base in northeastern Syria was bombed
with five rockets at a time when a fierce campaign is being led against US
economic aid being given to the Autonomous Administration of North and East
Syria. The Kharab al-Jir military base used by US forces in the Hasaka
Governorate in northeastern Syria was targeted by rockets, reported the Syrian
state news agency SANA. According to the report, five rockets were fired at the
base. No casualties have been reported. The sources explained that “immediately
after the targeting of the base, the area witnessed an intense flight of
helicopters and warplanes belonging to US forces.” According to SANA, US bases
in the Al-Omar oil and Konico gas fields in the eastern countryside of Deir
Ezzor and Kharab Al-Jir in the Hasaka countryside have been subjected to several
missile attacks during the past two months.
“US forces removed a military convoy of 110 vehicles from their base at Kharab
al-Jir airbase in the Hasaka countryside to northern Iraq through the illegal
Al-Waleed crossing,” added SANA. Meanwhile, laboratory analysis at the Ministry
of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform have proven the invalidity of the
Turkish-origin wheat seeds, which have been provided by the US forces through
the so-called US Agency for International Development “USAID” to the farmers in
several areas in the Qamishli countryside. “The Agriculture and Agrarian Reform
Directorate in Hasaka province sent a sample of the wheat seeds provided by the
American occupation to the laboratories of the Ministry of Agriculture, and it
was found that they are not suitable for cultivation,” Head of the Directorate
Eng. Said Hajji said in a statement to SANA. He warned farmers in the Qamishli
countryside and the region against using these seeds, calling to destroy them
and not plant them because the damage they cause will last for years and put the
agricultural lands out of investment.
Qatari Ambassador In Gaza For Talks With Hamas, Israel
Ramallah - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Palestinian officials said that Qatari Ambassador Mohammad al-Emadi, who heads
the Qatari Committee for the Reconstruction of Gaza, is working to achieve the
implementation of an agreement with Egypt and Israel on the salaries of Hamas
government employees in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Emadi is visiting the Gaza Strip to meet with Hamas and Israeli officials to
finalize the agreement on supplying fuel and basic building materials for the
area, which will resolve the salary crisis for Hamas government employees.
In this regard, the head of the government media office in the Gaza Strip,
Salameh Maarouf, said the Qatari-Egyptian agreement was ready, adding that the
relevant authorities in the Gaza Strip were waiting for the start of the fuel
pumping operations.“Qatar will pay the value of the monthly grant to Gaza
employees, which ranges between seven and ten million dollars in the form of
fuel that will be delivered through the Rafah crossing, and then sold in the
markets, provided that the money will be supplied to the treasury of the
Ministry of Finance, which will be paid later for the benefit of the employees,”
the Palestinian official said. The move came a few days after Israeli sources
confirmed an expected breakthrough in the file, after long months of dispute
over the matter. The sources revealed intensive efforts in Israel, Egypt and
Qatar to reach an agreement on the mechanism for paying the salary grant to tens
of thousands of employees in Gaza, in a move aimed at maintaining calm and
delaying any possible escalation with the Gaza Strip. Since the last escalation
in May, Qatar has paid twice a financial grant to 95,000 families in the Gaza
Strip (USD 100 per family), after a long pause due to Israeli objections and Tel
Aviv’s insistence on finding a new mechanism, which was finally reached in
agreement with the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations. Qatar
distributed the funds through the United Nations and via specific distribution
centers in the governorates of the Gaza Strip.
Security Forces Disperse Student Demonstration in Iraqi
Kurdistan
Sulaymaniyah – Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Security forces in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of
Iraq, on Tuesday, dispersed thousands of students partaking in a demonstration
demanding the restoration of monthly payments. Riot police disbanded the
protest, firing shots in the air and a volley of tear gas canisters. Such
turmoil and severe social inequalities affect the image of the Kurdistan region,
which is trying to emerge as a haven for stability and economic prosperity in an
Iraq that repeated wars have undermined. According to AFP, thousands of students
gathered on Tuesday for the third day in a row in front of Sulaymaniyah
University and blocked the highway linking Sulaymaniyah to the city of Kirkuk.
Demonstrators are demanding the repayment of $40-$66 monthly allowances that
were granted to students but have been suspended since 2014. The financial
stipend program was frozen after the collapse of global oil prices and due to
budget disputes between Kurdistan and Baghdad. Security forces fired tear gas
canisters at the demonstrators several times before firing warning shots into
the air to force the students to disperse. This was followed by hit-and-run
raids in the city featuring security forces and protesters who set piles of
trash on fire. “We, as students, are demonstrating because of the six-year
cut-off in stipends,” said one of the protesters under the conditions of
anonymity. “We desperately need this small amount. There are students among our
colleagues who are unable to travel to their home in the districts and
sub-districts due to the lack of sufficient funds for that,” they added. “There
are other students who can’t eat three meals a day,” revealed the protester.
“The protesters’ demands are legitimate. Students are suffering from a difficult
economic situation, and the government must respond to their demands,” said Sara
Qadr, a PhD student at the Sulaymaniyah University.
Egyptian President Vows to Enhance Regional Economic
Integration
Cairo - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has pledged to achieve his country's
vision of deepening economic integration among the regional countries and speed
up the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. During his presidency of
the 21st session of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African Countries
(COMESA), Sisi stressed the vital role played by the regional economic group to
achieve sustainable development for member states. In his acceptance speech to
the presidency of the COMESA gathering, Sisi stressed the necessity of joint
efforts to confront the challenges in the region, noting that the global and
regional economies have witnessed many developments since the last COMESA summit
in 2018. The president indicated that the progress made in continental economic
integration has also been accompanied by many challenges.Despite the efforts
made to confront the coronavirus pandemic, the region is still suffering from
its repercussions and the recovery is slow. He explained that the achievements
demonstrate a true will and a firm determination of COMESA member states to
realize "regional economic integration in the area, by adopting the best
practices and policies to free trade among our countries, upgrade the
infrastructure, achieve industrial development, and work toward attracting more
investments to the region.""This summit came up with tangible results
represented in the launch of the COMESA medium-term Strategy 2021-2025, which
came as evidence of a clear and thoughtful vision by all member states to
enhance cooperation in all fields."Sisi confirmed Egypt's full support and
continued assistance to all the African peoples in their pursuit of achieving
regional economic integration. "We have confidence in the strength and
determination of the continent's peoples to lead their countries towards
achieving peace, security, stability, and justice, being the pillars for
realizing economic development."Sisi explained that the repercussions of the
pandemic assert the importance of regional integration and joint action to
confront it. He indicated that the joint market must develop a clear plan to
create regional integration in the health sector and national policies to ensure
easy access to medical and pharmaceutical products among member states. The
president urged member states to increase awareness among the citizens of the
COMESA region to benefit from the COVID-19 vaccines.
Sudan: Hamdok to Review Appointments Made by Military
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok will review appointments and dismissals
made by the military to key state posts, the General Secretariat of the cabinet
said. After seizing power on Oct. 25, Sudan's military rulers drew on veteran
ex-officials of toppled leader Omar al-Bashir for important positions in the
state bureaucracy. Hamdok, who was arrested during the coup and then reinstated
under a deal with the military reached on Sunday, issued a directive to freeze
all hiring and dismissals in state jobs. "In addition, all the appointments and
dismissals that have taken place in the previous period will be placed under
study, evaluation and review," Reuters quoted the secretariat as saying.
According to a statement from his office, Hamdok also said that an investigation
has been launched into violations committed against protesters. Hamdok's
comments came during a meeting on Tuesday evening with a group from the Forces
of Freedom and Change (FFC), the main civilian coalition opposing military rule.
FFC had previously said on Sunday that it does not recognize any political
agreement with the military leadership. The group stressed during the meeting
the importance of laying out a roadmap to implementing the political agreement,
reversing all political appointments that took place after the military takeover
and reinstating all those who were fired during that period, according to the
statement. Last week, protesters and a Reuters witness said they saw security
forces chase protesters into neighborhoods and homes to carry out arrests. At
least 15 people were shot dead during the anti-coup protests, according to
medics. Hamdok and the group called for political prisoners to be released as
soon as possible and for the right to peacefully protest to be respected.
US Describes Hamdok, Burhan Agreement as 'First Step’
Washington - Ali Barada/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
The US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, urged Sudanese Prime Minister
Abdalla Hamdok and the head of the Sovereign Council, Lieutenant-General Abdul
Fattah Al-Burhan, to work rapidly to put Sudan's democratic transition back on
track. State Department spokesman Ned Price stated that Blinken recognized the
"important first step" taken with the release and reinstatement to the office of
Hamdok but noted the outstanding transitional tasks. However, Blinken urged the
need to "restore public confidence" in the transition and immediately release
all political detainees, calling for the immediate lifting of the state of
emergency. He underscored the imperative for all parties to renew their focus on
completing Sudan's transition to democracy by implementing the transitional
tasks outlined in the Constitutional Declaration and the Juba Peace Agreement.
He reiterated the US' calls to respect peaceful protests and called on the
security forces to desist from violence against demonstrators. The Secretary
urged Hamdok and Burhan to take timely action to implement the elements of the
agreement reached on November 21 in fulfillment of the aspirations of the
Sudanese people, including creating a transitional legislative council, judicial
structures, electoral institutions, and a constitutional convention. Both voiced
their support for an effective and mutually beneficial US-Sudan relationship,
reported the spokesman.
Asked about the $700 million in economic assistance to Sudan, Price said that
"we don't have any announcements to make at this time regarding our assistance,
any changes to our posture," noting that the decisions will be predicated
entirely on what happens in the "coming hours, in the coming days, in the coming
weeks." The spokesman noted that the US message is to continue to see progress,
and Sudan must move back down the democratic path, which starts with the
reinstitution of the prime minister, but it certainly doesn't end there. "We are
encouraged by what we've seen so far, but this cannot – it must not – be the
final step in what we see going forward."US Senator Jim Risch, the ranking
member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the agreement
between Hamdok and Burhan reflects the complexity and imbalance of Sudan's
democratic transition.
"While we all hope this deal will bring Sudan closer to the democracy desired by
the Sudanese citizens that drove the 2019 revolution and helped install Prime
Minister Hamdok, I remain skeptical,” Risch said.
He noted that the deal does not change the fact that Sudan's military leaders
carried out a coup on October 25, seized power, and senselessly killed
protesters demanding the restoration of the civilian-led transition.
"The United States must continue to support the Sudanese people in their quest
for a more democratic country, insist on civilian leadership of the country, and
hold accountable those who seek to undermine Sudan's future," he concluded.
Meanwhile, UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the UN confirms the need to
protect the constitutional system and fundamental freedoms of political action
in Sudan. He urged partners in the transitional phase to urgently address
outstanding issues to complete the political transition while respecting human
rights and the rule of law.
US Renews Support for Morocco’s Self-Determination in
Sahara Dispute
Rabat - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 24 November, 2021
Washington renewed its support for the Moroccan initiative for
self-determination by describing it as a durable and dignified resolution to the
conflict in Western Sahara. “We continue to view Morocco’s autonomy plan as
serious, credible, and realistic, and one potential approach to satisfy the
aspirations of the people of Western Sahara,” US State Department spokesperson
Ned Price said in a press release following a meeting between Secretary of State
Antony Blinken and his Moroccan counterpart, Nasser Bourita, in Washington on
Monday. Price said Blinken and Bourita expressed strong support for the new
Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General, Staffan de Mistura, in leading the
UN-led political process for Western Sahara. The two ministers also discussed a
range of regional issues, including the continued deepening of relations between
Morocco and Israel. They hailed the upcoming first anniversary of the Joint
Declaration among Morocco, Israel, and the United States on December 22, which
enshrined the US recognition of Morocco's full sovereignty over the Sahara. In
December 2020, US President Donald Trump announced his recognition of Moroccan
sovereignty over Western Sahara in return for Rabat agreeing to normalize
relations with Israel. The Blinken-Bourita meeting came two days before the
unprecedented visit of Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz to Rabat that kicked
off on Tuesday. In a brief statement before the start of talks with Bourita, the
US top diplomat welcomed the "solid and longstanding" partnership between the US
and Morocco, while reaffirming the will of his country to further consolidate
it. For his part, the Moroccan minister highlighted the centuries-old and
multidimensional relations binding the two countries as well as the importance
of further consolidating them in the face of common challenges, in accordance
with the Vision of King Mohammed VI. "We have a very longstanding partnership
and it is time to enrich it further, to enrich our strategic dialogue, our
military cooperation, and defend our interests and our values in the world," he
said. Bourita mentioned, on this occasion, a series of common challenges,
including climate change, extremism, peace and security, all of which, he said,
"give more relevance to this relation.”
The Latest The Latest LCCC English
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on November 24-25/2021
How Would Syria Change and 'Moderate?'
Hazem Saghieh/ Asharq Al-Awsat/November 24/2021
Barack Obama’s decision to reject every form of intervention in Syria, limiting
himself to fighting ISIS, revealed his weak sense of moral responsibility.
However, and this is what concerns us here, his decision didn’t demonstrate
political or strategic ingenuity either. Upon assessing some of the
repercussions of the United States’ gradual withdrawal from the region, starting
with Iraq, we find that what is more dangerous is the view that denies the
significance of Syria, as well as the importance of Iraq.
Nevertheless, denying the importance of Syria- which has a substantial impact on
Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine and the conflict with Israel, and has some impact on
Iraq and, to a lesser extent, Turkey- is taking different forms than that of
Obama’s abandonment. We also have those implicated in belittling Syria and the
Syrian people through engaging with its affairs. Among the manifestations of
this trend, which rears its head every few years before swiftly putting it down
after hitting a wall, is the theory of changing the Syrian regime from the
inside, or at least changing its foreign alliances.
Let’s remember, here, that intermittent attempts to turn Syria from a country
allied with the Soviet camp to one allied with the Western camp were made by
Arab and Western powers during the fifties. At the time, in what Patrick Seal
called the “struggle for Syria,” the attempts also bore very little fruit. Syria
broke the monopoly of Western weaponry and introduced Soviet arms into the
region before throwing itself so deep into Gamal Abdel Nasser’s lap that it
disappeared. That did not happen without blood being spilled under the pretext
of Officer Adnan al-Malki’s assassination.
How are the fifties similar to today, and Soviet Moscow to Khomeinist Tehran?
The beginning of the answer to the question has to do with the Syrian regime
itself: in the fifties, it was a military and security regime, though hidden
behind a political and parliamentary facade, and today it is far more of a
military security regime. On top of that, its apprehensions are far more grave
today, given Bashar al-Assad’s inability to take the reins and control his
country and the fact that he has to share power with several internal and
external forces. We also know that these forces’ intervention is what protected
him from falling in the years preceding 2014.
And so, the first thing this regime needs, what it puts above any other
consideration, is the provision of the tools needed to protect itself from its
people. As for the only matter that could leave it reluctant and hesitant, it is
a clash between its primary sources of its protection, Iran on land and Russia
from the air, while opting for the former is likely if there is no choice
between the two.
What distinguishes the Iranian (and Russian) regime, the quality that makes it
irreplaceable, is that it is willing to protect the Syrian regime without
stopping to think about the position, will, and suffering of the Syrian people
for one second. The exact opposite is true: the resemblance between the regime
supporting and the one being supported makes the arrangement uniquely appealing
in the eyes of both.
For this reason, and because of the military-security regime’s longevity, Syria
has been, between 1949 and today, the “Third World” country most opposed to the
West, most prone to clashing with the countries that surround it, and most
hostile to and skeptical about regional settlements. This is in the DNA of the
Syrian military-security regime. Indeed, it is more than a little indicative
that the moments in which Western and Arab powers cooperated with this regime
came to nothing worth mentioning. Neither did it put Lebanon back in order, nor
did it leave Syria included in a comprehensive settlement to the Arab-Israeli
conflict, nor did it undermine Damascus’ relationship with Iran in any way.
Some of those moments were very caricatural, like Husni al-Zaim’s regime which,
in 1949, inaugurated the military coups. That regime, which was linked to Zaim’s
deal with the US oil company Tapline, fell after only four months.
This early experience proves that Western states, even if they wanted to, were
not equipped to support a security-military regime in Syria. On the other hand,
such a regime supported by the West would necessarily be a caricature. The
Soviet Union and Khomienist Iran are immeasurably better equipped and prepared
for this task.
True, the military-security regime can open up to others in the region or the
world described as “moderate,” either out of covetousness for financial aid or
to give the impression that it is making a breakthrough, and Hafez al-Assad
excelled at this for years. However, this regime is not drawn, viscerally and
structurally, to any regimes but those that have weapons and nothing but
weapons, regimes that would recommend greater severity in dealing with the
Syrian people if consulted, seeing the rights they enjoy as excessive.
This is especially true today, as Iran is more offensive and radical than it has
ever been, exactly as the Soviet Union had been at the beginning of the Cold
War, especially after Joseph Stalin’s death and Moscow developing its strategy
for the Arab world. Of course, in both cases, we have Israel, the West’s greed
and the rest of the tune that goes with it to cement these alliances.
And so, the scenarios circulating today about Syria “moderating” its regional
politics are not convincing. Syria only changes or “moderates” in one case: when
protecting the regime stops being the top priority and the Syrian people, as
free individuals and free communities, are allowed to build their future and
strive to realize their interests as they themselves see them.
How America Lost Its Leverage on Iran
Richard Goldberg/Mosaic-FDD/November 24, 2021
Ten years ago, two senators, one Republican and one Democrat, joined together to
force America to sanction Iran. In the years since, the leverage they built has
dissipated. Why?
Next week, President Joe Biden will send his envoys back to Vienna for yet
another round of indirect talks with Iran. This will be Iran’s first
multilateral engagement over its nuclear program since President Ebrahim Raisi
took office in August. But while the cast has changed, the Iranian script
remains the same as it was when negotiations began during Barack Obama’s first
term: buy time to stabilize an economy freed of the burdens imposed by U.S.
sanctions enforcement, obscure its clandestine nuclear activities from
international inspectors, and secure future pathways to nuclear weapons.
Without an unexpected change in direction, it should come as no surprise if, in
the months ahead, we learn of an Israeli airstrike on Iran’s nuclear
facilities—or that Iran has tested a nuclear weapon. But for those in Congress
who still hold out hope that Iran’s nuclear program can be dismantled through
coercive diplomacy, the window for taking action is closing fast. A showdown in
Congress about whether to preserve any economic leverage over Tehran may soon
emerge from Biden’s diplomatic foray in Vienna. The results may leave America
with only two options: military action or a nuclear-armed Iran.
This month marks the tenth anniversary of one of the most impressive
foreign-policy accomplishments in the history of the Senate. Facing the
ever-growing threat from Iran’s nuclear program, alongside the regime’s
continued sponsorship of terrorism and accelerated ballistic-missile
development, two U.S. senators—the Republican Mark Kirk and the Democrat Robert
Menendez—introduced an amendment to the annual defense bill that would impose
sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran. The sanctions would attack the economic
lifeblood of the Islamic Republic—its oil export revenue—and cut the country off
from the international financial system.
At the time, the price of oil hovered above $100 a barrel. The Obama
administration fiercely opposed the amendment, fearing it could cause gas prices
to spike in an election year and alienate U.S. allies that purchase Iranian
crude. But Kirk and Menendez secured a unanimous vote in favor of the amendment.
Years later, President Obama would credit these sanctions with bringing Iran to
the table to negotiate what would become the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally
known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). President Trump would
then restore these sanctions and add new ones, in what his administration termed
a “maximum-pressure” campaign, but it was the Menendez-Kirk amendment that
forced other countries to cease importing oil from the Islamic Republic,
dramatically reducing the regime’s accessible foreign-exchange reserves.
Rather than use the current sanctions to force Iran into a “longer and stronger”
version of the JCPOA—in the words of Secretary of State Antony Blinken—the Biden
administration has during these last nine months rolled back the Trump-era
economic pressure. Although some of the White House’s defenders have pointed out
that the sanctions are still formally on the books, that is hardly relevant,
since the Treasury Department simply hasn’t been enforcing them.
A key tool of economic pressure is what are called secondary sanctions: if an
entity from a third country, such as China, buys Iranian oil, the U.S. can use
these sanctions to cut off Chinese state-owned enterprises from the American
financial system. But if China understands that a president will not enforce
U.S. sanctions, then it will violate them. And, indeed, that’s exactly what
we’ve seen this entire year as Chinese imports of Iranian oil have increased
dramatically with barely a peep from Washington.
Market psychology, too, plays a role. When the market perceives that sanctions
are being enforced and more are the on the way, a regime like Iran enters a
downward economic spiral from which it cannot escape. When the market perceives
no more sanctions are coming and that sanctions may not even be enforced, the
spiral is replaced with a flywheel—and the economy stabilizes. Biden, moreover,
has also provided billions of dollars to Iran in direct sanctions relief,
dramatically expanding its ability to use previously inaccessible
foreign-exchange reserves to repay foreign debts and to import any goods that
could conceivably be defined as “humanitarian” or “COVID-related.”
In short, there is no maximum economic pressure in place today. There hasn’t
been since January. The failure to coax concessions out of Iran isn’t a result
of an overreliance on sanctions, but of their underutilization.
Ten years on, America needs another Menendez-Kirk moment.
A return to the JCPOA, which the Biden administration professes to be its
primary objective, would not prevent an Iranian bomb. The nuclear pact
guaranteed Tehran pathways to advanced centrifuges, stockpiles of weapons-grade
uranium, and nuclear-capable missiles within a few short years. It did not put
Iran’s nuclear program “in a box,” as Biden’s advisers suggest, but rather on a
slow and steady glide-path to the threshold of nuclear weapons. Iran essentially
agreed not to race to a bomb—but to get paid instead to walk calmly toward it
over a decade.
During the last year, however, Tehran has raced forward, rapidly expanding its
nuclear activities while enjoying Biden’s sanctions relief at the same time. The
regime heads to the Vienna talks with a key objective: maintain its nuclear
advances and receive sanctions relief at the same time.
That’s essentially what President Biden’s proposed “Plan B” would deliver.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has already signaled that the goal is no
longer to return to the JCPOA, and certainly not to achieve a “longer and
stronger” deal, but simply to come to some agreement with Iran. Whatever the
details, such a deal is apt to involve further easing of the Menendez-Kirk
sanctions on Tehran’s central bank in exchange for Iran modestly curtailing its
now vastly expanded nuclear program. In short, Iran gets more money to retain a
more threating nuclear program. The arrangement might be characterized as
interim, temporary, or a bridge to a longer, stronger deal. But once Iran gets
more cash and banks its nuclear progress, the odds that it will become a nuclear
power before the end of this decade increase significantly.
The administration’s claims that the JCPOA or some other kind of limited nuclear
deal would “put a lid” on Iran’s advance to the bomb are deceptions. A lid atop
a container with no sides doesn’t contain. Absent a credible threat of military
force, and without unrelenting political and economic pressure, the clerical
regime will carry the international community on its back, slowly but surely,
all the way to the finish line: a test of a nuclear weapon.
To its critics on the left, maximum pressure was a recipe for war, perhaps even
intentionally so. Sanctions would eventually meet with a violent response from
Tehran, which would in turn provoke a military response from Washington.
According to some of these critics, Trump’s talk of using maximum economic
pressure to set up a negotiation with Iran over an agreement that was tougher,
more comprehensive, and more enduring than the 2015 accord was just a ruse; the
administration knew the mullahs would never accede to its conditions, and merely
sought a pretext for military intervention.
On the right, some hawks saw the maximum-pressure campaign in the exact opposite
light. Economic and political pressure alone, they argued, could never deter the
Islamic Republic. Deterrence requires Tehran to believe that the United States
is truly on the verge of using overwhelming military force to put the regime in
jeopardy. And that belief can only result from a demonstration of Washington’s
willingness use force, starting with a rollback of the Iranian military presence
throughout the region. In this view, maximum pressure was the politically
expedient way for Trump to satisfy his isolationist base while talking a tough
game. These critics also worried that Trump’s vision of leveraging maximum
economic pressure for a “better nuclear deal” would ultimately lead the
president to legitimize and empower an evil and dangerous regime.
Both camps were wrong—at least in that they misunderstood the intention of the
framers of maximum pressure. Economic warfare was conceived of as part of a
strategy involving political and military power as well as covert action to turn
the screws on Iran, based loosely on the approach Ronald Reagan used to defeat
the Soviet Union. In practice, the economic element of the maximum-pressure
campaign became its defining feature, but the entire strategy could only work if
the United States were willing to use force as a last resort: to defend U.S.
interests if ever attacked and to destroy nuclear and missile sites if red lines
were crossed.
The Iranian response to this approach tested American resolve on two fronts.
Starting in June 2019, weeks after Trump’s sanctions sent Iranian oil exports
plummeting toward zero, Iran opened a two-pronged counter-pressure campaign:
terrorist attacks against U.S. forces and allies, and incremental expansion of
its nuclear program.
Trump did not respond militarily that June when Iran shot down an American
drone. Nor did he defend Saudi Arabia three months later when its oil
infrastructure was attacked. Nor did any retaliation come in the wake of Iranian
mine and drone attacks on maritime shipping that same year. This passivity led
to a fatal miscalculation in Tehran: that Trump was a Twitter tiger, that Iran
would pay no price for continued violence, and that such violence could
ultimately erode public opinion back in the United States, forcing Trump to pull
back on the maximum-pressure campaign. Trump closed the door on that illusion
when he ordered the killing of Qassem Suleimani.
After firing off a salvo of ballistic missiles that left no Americans dead, the
Islamic Republic stood down. World War III did not start. The mullahs had
executed a face-saving counterattack for propaganda purposes but were unwilling
to risk further escalation. And while Iran kept producing more low-enriched
uranium than the JCPOA allowed, it refrained from producing highly enriched
uranium until it was clear that Trump, by then on his way out of office, was
handcuffed from taking military action.
The conclusion from these years is clear: the regime may be made up of religious
ideologues irrationally obsessed with the United States and Israel, but the
mullahs at their core still fear anything that might threaten their survival.
They know they can’t win a conventional war against the United States. And they
act accordingly.
Today, it’s hard to imagine that Iran’s supreme leader believes President Biden
is willing to use military means to prevent Tehran from crossing the nuclear
threshold. Biden’s failure to respond forcefully to an Iran-directed attack on a
U.S. base in western Iraq that left an American contractor dead was a reversal
of Trump-era doctrine of defending American forces and interests. Even this past
month, Biden declined to retaliate after an Iran-directed drone strike against
U.S. forces in Syria. Combined with continued sanctions relief, the lack of a
credible military threat invites miscalculation and adventurism by the
mullahs—both on the nuclear and terrorism fronts.
In August 2013, 77 senators sent a letter to then-President Barack Obama urging
him to “reinforce the credibility of our option to use military force” against
Iran to deny the regime nuclear weapons. They demanded “a convincing threat of
the use of force that Iran will believe,” and concluded that the U.S. “must be
prepared to act, and Iran must see that we are prepared.”
The first signature on the letter: Robert Menendez, the current Democratic
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But also on the list:
now-Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Jack
Reed, Kirsten Gillibrand, Richard Blumenthal, and many others.
Legislators should deliver the same message to President Biden along with a
clear defense of the Menendez-Kirk sanctions architecture.
The Central Bank of Iran, the National Iranian Oil Company, and the National
Iranian Tanker Company are all currently subject to U.S. terrorism sanctions for
their financing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. It makes little sense to
lift sanctions on these entities and allow them to funnel money into terrorist
groups in exchange for mild concessions that neither end Iran’s sponsorship of
terrorism nor permanently dismantle its nuclear weapons-related infrastructure.
Ideally, Congress should pass a law to prevent President Biden from lifting any
terror-related sanctions until Iran has ceased all sponsorship of terrorism—and
to establish rigorous oversight and accountability for enforcement. This would
keep the Menendez-Kirk amendment fully intact and maintain significant economic
leverage for the United States to negotiate something better than Biden’s Plan
B.
Even if that’s not possible due to a lack of bipartisan support, members of
Congress—and those running for president in 2024—can send a clear message to
importers, banks, investors, insurers, and shippers: there is no evidence these
institutions have changed their terror-supporting ways; U.S. sanctions will soon
return with a vengeance; and investigations will be launched into anyone who did
business with Iran’s Terror Inc. while Joe Biden was president.
Noting the loss of American leverage, the lack of an American military threat,
and the potential for more Iranian escalation in the weeks ahead, Israel has
launched a rather public effort to signal that it is developing its own military
option against Iran. Its military is budgeting for preparations for a strike on
the Islamic Republic, and sources tell the media the IDF will begin rehearsing
various scenarios next year.
The moves feel a bit hokey coming from a military that built up its mystique by
operating with a “show don’t tell” philosophy. Indeed, these pronouncements have
a distinctly political flavor—especially in the context of the razor-thin
majority of the fragile governing coalition and the desire to project strength
vis-à-vis Tehran while Benjamin Netanyahu (who billed himself as Mr. Iran) leads
the opposition. And President Biden might not mind a little Israeli saber
rattling, believing it helpful to empower the negotiation of his disastrous Plan
B nuclear arrangement.
No one truly knows the Israeli red line for military action, although there’s
little doubt that it’s approaching much faster than America’s. The Israelis
believe the U.S. military has the luxury of waiting longer because of its
capabilities for penetrating deep underground mountain-covered facilities. The
“zone of immunity” for nuclear-weapons capability, therefore, comes much sooner
for Israel than it does for the United States.
The conventional wisdom posits that Israel has long maintained the military
capability to degrade Iran’s nuclear program but not to destroy it. That may or
may not be true. As evidenced by its Hollywood-style covert actions in recent
years, the Mossad has deeply penetrated the inner sanctum of the Islamic
Republic, gaining an unknown treasure trove of intelligence along the way.
Through a combination of bombs, electronic warfare, cyberattacks, and sabotage,
the Israeli Air Force, Mossad, and Unit 8200 (Israel’s National Security Agency)
might well be able to do considerable damage to Iranian nuclear infrastructure.
Whether it can destroy it, rather than just set it back, remains an open
question—as does whether it can reach Iran’s under-the-mountain enrichment
facility near the holy city of Qom.
The Abraham Accords raise the possibility that Israel would no longer have to
worry about the air-to-air refueling challenges that a sustained aerial bombing
campaign would present, since Israeli jets could land on Arab desert airfields
for quick refueling. Jerusalem, in recent days, expressed interest in buying
America’s latest bunker-buster, a 5,000-pound bomb that can be launched from an
F-15 fighter. The Biden administration should approve that request—and Congress
should support it.
But Israel shouldn’t have to do the world’s dirty work. A nuclear-threshold
terror-sponsoring regime with long-range missiles presents a grave threat to
American national security. And while more creative and bolder than the American
military at times, the IDF is no match for the power of the United States.
Mark Kirk was defeated for re-election in 2016. But Menendez is still there, and
now the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. We need another
Menendez-Kirk moment a decade after the last. Who will stand up and take on the
mantle?
*Richard Goldberg is a Mosaic columnist and senior advisor at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies. He has served on Capitol Hill, on the U.S. National
Security Council, as the chief of staff for Illinois’s governor, and as a Navy
Reserve Intelligence Officer. Follow Richard on Twitter @rich_goldberg. FDD is a
Washington, D.C.-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national
security and foreign policy.
How China Is Trying to Turn the U.S. against Itself
Nathan Picarsic and Emily De La Bruyere/Notional Review/November 24, 2021
Across the country, Beijing has worked to cultivate relationships with state and
local governments and private businesses in an effort to advance its agenda
As Congress advances a set of bills to protect against Beijing’s efforts to
subvert American democracy, China is using our system of government to block and
tackle. On November 12, Reuters reported that Chinese officials have been
pressuring American companies, executives, and trade groups to lobby against the
legislation, threatening to reduce their share of the Chinese market if the
bills pass. Unfortunately, such attempts to turn the U.S. system of government
against itself are not new, or unusual. And they take place at the subnational
as well as national levels.
In 2015, Xi Jinping visited the United States for the first time since becoming
general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). During the trip, Xi made
the requisite appearance at the White House and attended the 70th anniversary of
the United Nations in New York. But those stops were not Xi’s priority. Instead,
his first stop was in Seattle, where he attended the third China–U.S. Governors
Forum.
The CCP has cemented a subversive influence apparatus across the United States.
Xi’s visit to Seattle offers a roadmap of that apparatus: its pervasive
presence, its targets, its sprawling objectives, and the cross-cutting
mechanisms by which it achieves them. During his two days in Seattle, Xi
prioritized three main groups: leading U.S. companies and their executives,
local organizations dedicated to fostering closer U.S.–China ties, and,
especially, state- and local-level government officials.
The CCP’s active-measures toolkit would make the Soviet Union drool. Beijing
directs that toolkit at state and local elected officials, as well as the
business, media, and nonprofit sectors. The Reuters report offered just the most
recent example of the CCP’s subnational strategy, which is accelerating: Beijing
has identified the vulnerable nodes through which it might defeat tough federal
China legislation, and U.S. state, local, and nongovernmental actors are largely
blind to the threat.
This is unsurprising: It’s not their job to guard against such threats. But it’s
also dangerous: Beijing is poised to subvert the subnational U.S. system,
turning the country inside-out against itself. The federal government needs to
step up, recognize the challenge, and do its job. In the meantime, state and
local governments will have to start doing the federal government’s job for it.
“There is a saying in American politics,” wrote Jia Zhongzheng of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences in 2017, “that all politics is local.” He suggested
that state and local governments could be particularly open to China’s
overtures, tempted by promises of trade and investment even when the federal
government raised security concerns. “Chinese entrepreneurs who are willing to
invest in state governments are generally treated as guests by state politicians
and officials, regardless of their party or ruling philosophy,” explained
scholars affiliated with the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization in
a 2017 piece. Events over the past decade certainly suggest that that has been
the case, to the detriment of U.S. prosperity and security. In 2011, the U.S.
and China held the inaugural China–U.S. Governors Forum. The state-owned China
Daily’s coverage of the event focused on a series of deals that provided China
the necessary footholds to hollow out the U.S. renewable-energy industry. At the
forum, the Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone in Anhui Province
reached a deal with California-based NuvoSun for a thin-film solar-cells
project; Asia Silicon (Qinghai) and New Hampshire-based GT Solar agreed to work
together; and the chairman of China’s CHINT Group Corporation, a member of the
Zhejiang Province delegation, announced plans to “write a billion-dollar check”
as part of a partnership with a Missouri-based firm focused on semiconductor-
and solar-related wafer products.
The precise details of those agreements remain unclear. What is clear is that
the next year, the U.S. Commerce Department found that both Asia Silicon and the
CHINT Group, among other Chinese players, were dumping solar products into the
American market. Over the decade since, China has established a monopoly
position in the international solar-panel supply chain, which the United States
once dominated. China has done so in large part thanks to the acquisition of
technology from American players, as well as domestic subsidies and preferential
policies.
This example underlines the long-term costs that the U.S. private sector and
state and local governments invite when they get into bed with Beijing. It also
presents a cruel reminder of the human-rights risks that taint such
arrangements: Revelations over the past year have made clear that China’s
solar-power industry, bolstered by those deals signed at the 2011 Governors
Forum, is associated with forced labor and the genocide of the Uyghur ethnic
minority in Xinjiang Province. The solar sector has become ground zero in the
fight to protect against such atrocities.
When Xi visited the United States in 2015, skirting diplomatic protocol to meet
with subnational actors on the West Coast before visiting D.C., John Kerry was
secretary of state. Six years later, as State Department climate envoy, Kerry
has reportedly lobbied against the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. Asked how
he is balancing his desire for climate-change-related cooperation with China and
forced labor in the solar-panel supply chain, Kerry said in a November interview
that such human-rights atrocities are simply “not my lane.”
This is just another example of Beijing’s active-measures toolkit. The CCP is
shaping the incentives of U.S. political leaders and private companies,
promising them short-term economic or climate-policy inducements in exchange for
Beijing’s longer-term cannibalization of American industry, security, and
values. And a decade after the first Governors Forum, the U.S. is still getting
suckered.
The Chinese Communist Party seeks a united front of influence across the globe,
including in the United States. The U.S. federal government has a responsibility
to identify channels of malign influence and block Beijing’s advance on U.S.
soil. But doing so will require waking up to the threat and actively
coordinating a response with the subnational actors China is targeting across
the country. Nathan Picarsic and Emily de La Bruyère are senior fellows at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies and co-founders of Horizon Advisory. Their
recent report is “All Over the Map: The Chinese Communist Party’s Subnational
Interests in the United States.”
In fight against Islamic State, the Taliban holds major
advantage
Bill Roggio/FDD/November 24/2021
After defeating the Islamic Government of Afghanistan and taking control of the
country on Aug. 15, the Taliban is beginning to ramp up its fight against the
Islamic State’s Khorasan Province.
The Islamic State’s Khorasan Province or ISKP, which is often referred to as
ISIS-K, has increased attacks against the Taliban over the past two months. ISKP
has orchestrated a handful of high-profile suicide attacks on soft targets such
as mosques and hospitals, and conducted smaller but more numerous IED and small
arms attacks against Taliban military forces. In response, the Taliban has sent
more than 1,000 fighters to battle the group in Nangarhar province, the hub of
ISKP operations, according to The Washington Post.
Much of the reporting from Afghanistan has boosted the threat of ISKP while
ignoring the Taliban’s very real advantages in the fight. The Taliban has the
advantage in all of the key areas, save one. The Taliban has state sponsors,
terrorist allies, regional support, a marked superiority in weapons and numbers,
and controls all of Afghanistan. ISKP can only match the Taliban in one area,
and this their will to fight and persevere.
To be clear, ISKP is a decided underdog when matched up against the Taliban.
Either way, the United States and the West community should not be rooting for a
Taliban victory over ISKP. The Taliban continues to support international terror
groups that seek to overthrow friendly governments and attack the West. The
Taliban’s relationship with Al Qaeda endures, and has strengthened after 20
years of war and victory in Afghanistan.
Here is the tale of the tape as a battle ensues between the Taliban and the
Islamic State’s Khorasan Province:
State Sponsors
Advantage: Taliban.
Pakistan and Iran have both invested deeply in the Taliban project, providing
the group with safe haven, weapons, financial support and training. Pakistan is
certainly continuing its support of the Taliban. Iran’s support was initially
focused on driving the U.S. and NATO from Afghanistan, and it is unclear if
Iran’s support will wane or continue. Iran will likely continue a level of
support to maintain a degree of influence. However, ISKP rejects state
sponsorship, and Iran and Pakistan are both its enemies. State sponsorship is a
key driver for a successful insurgency, and ISKP has no state sponsors.
Terrorist Allies
Advantage: Taliban.
In addition to the state sponsors of Pakistan and Iran, the Taliban has the
support of all of the powerful regional terror groups, including but not limited
to: Al Qaeda, The Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad,
Harakat-ul-Mujahideen, Ansarullah, Turkistan Islamic Party, Islamic Jihad Union,
Jamaat Imam al Bukhari, and a host of other South and Central Asian terror
organizations. The Taliban can pool thousands if not tens of thousands of
fighters if needed in its fight against ISKP, just as it did in its victory
against the former Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. ISKP, on the other hand,
remains on an island with no regional terror allies as it insists its allies
swear allegiance to its emir.
Neighbors
Advantage: Taliban.
With the exception of Tajikistan, which opposes the Taliban regime, all of the
Afghanistan’s neighbors, including China, as well as Russia, which isn’t a
neighboring country but wields significant influence in the ‘Stans, are pushing
for international recognition and humanitarian support of the Taliban regime.
However, the regional view that these nations can work with the Taliban to
suppress the jihadist threats emanating from Afghanistan is deeply flawed. For
instance, the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan is an ally of the Afghan
Taliban, as is Turkistan Islamic Party, which seeks to wage jihad in China. ISKP
is a direct threat to all of Afghanistan’s neighbors, which seek to use the
Taliban to suppress and defeat it.
Numbers
Advantage: Taliban.
The low end estimate of the Taliban forces, as noted by The Washington Post, is
70,000, while the Islamic State is estimated to have several thousand fighters
in its ranks. The exact number of fighters for each group is impossible to know.
FDD’s Long War Journal has estimated in the past that the Taliban has well over
100,000 fighters under its command, and given the sophistication and scope of
its summer offensive to take control of the country, we stand by this estimate.
The Taliban can flood the zone in key battlefields where the fight intensifies,
as it is beginning to do in Nangarhar, while the Islamic State has limited
resources. It remains to be seen if a brutal crackdown on the Islamic State
increases its recruiting potential, or if it grinds it down.
Weapons
Advantage: Taliban.
The Taliban obtained a massive cache of weapons as it overran Afghan forces and
seized control of Afghanistan over the summer. These weapons include small and
heavy arms, armored vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, and
HUMVEEs, artillery pieces, helicopters and aircraft. The Taliban has been adept
at adapting these weapons systems to the battlefield. The Islamic State only
possesses small arms, and its main tool to attack the Taliban has been IEDs and
suicide bombs.
Terrain
Advantage: Taliban.
The Taliban is fully in control of all of Afghanistan 34 provinces while the
Islamic State does not control any ground. The Taliban can muster the resources
of all of Afghanistan’s provinces; troops, weapons, ammunition, fuel, food, and
other supplies. The Taliban can operate hospitals, recruiting and training
centers, and base troops. It can tax the local population and border crossings.
ISKP must operate clandestinely and is extremely limited in how it can support
its forces.
Will To Win
Advantage: Even.
The will to fight and ultimately win is perhaps the most important factor in
this fight. Both groups have displayed a commitment to fight for the long haul.
The Taliban displayed a remarkable will to win in its 20-year war against the
U.S., Coalition, and Afghan government. The Taliban was written off in 2002
after suffering a string of battlefield defeats, and again in 2012 after the
“surge.” Yet the Taliban persisted. After its victory over the summer, the
Taliban again displayed its will to win by taking over the vaunted bastion of
resistance in Panjshir in less than two weeks. Yet this is one area where ISKP
can match the Taliban. ISKP has persisted for nearly a decade in Afghanistan
despite long odds. ISKP has no allies or state sponsors, and has suffered a
string of defeats at the hands of the Taliban. It is outnumbered, has inferior
weapons and resources, and its recruiting pool is limited, at least at the
moment. ISKP has persevered, which makes it a dangerous enemy.
Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and
the Editor of FDD's Long War Journal.
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Europe's Migrant Crisis Demonstrates Biden's Weakness
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute/November 24, 2021
Mr Xi's confidence that he has nothing to fear from Mr Biden was clearly
reflected in the patronising tone he adopted towards the US leader from the
outset of their three-and-a-half hour meeting, referring to Mr Biden as his "old
friend", when he is clearly no such thing.
By contrast Mr Biden proved unwilling to raise any issues that might prove
uncomfortable for the Chinese leader, such as Beijing's role in causing the
Covid-19 pandemic that has wrought havoc throughout the world.
The Russian autocrat [Putin] is also well aware of Mr Biden's weak disposition
as a result of the three-hour summit the two leaders attended in Geneva last
June, the most notable outcome being the American President's utter capitulation
to Moscow on long-standing arms control demands.
Consequently, the only winners from Europe's latest migrant crisis are likely to
be Mr Putin and his thuggish Belarusian ally....
Nothing better illustrates the ability of rogue states to take advantage of Joe
Biden's pitifully weak leadership than the role Belarusian despot Alexander
Lukashenko (pictured) has played in creating a migrant crisis in the heart of
Europe. (Photo by Maxim Gucheck/Belta//AFP via Getty Images)
Nothing better illustrates the ability of rogue states to take advantage of Joe
Biden's pitifully weak leadership than the role Belarusian despot Alexander
Lukashenko has played in creating a migrant crisis in the heart of Europe.
As Mr Biden's unimpressive performance during his recent video summit with
Chinese President Xi Jinping has graphically demonstrated, the US leader appears
increasingly out of his depth on the world stage, to the extent that
Washington's adversaries see Mr Biden's weakness as working to their advantage.
Mr Xi's confidence that he has nothing to fear from Mr Biden was clearly
reflected in the patronising tone he adopted towards the US leader from the
outset of their three-and-a-half hour meeting, referring to Mr Biden as his "old
friend", when he is clearly no such thing.
Furthermore, Mr Xi demonstrated his evident feeling of superiority over his
American rival by warning him that Mr Biden that he was "playing with fire" over
the issue of Taiwan.
"Some people in the US intend to use Taiwan to control China. This trend is
dangerous and is like playing with fire, and those who play with fire will get
burned," Mr Xi said, according to Beijing's readout.
By contrast Mr Biden proved unwilling to raise any issues that might prove
uncomfortable for the Chinese leader, such as Beijing's role in causing the
Covid-19 pandemic that has wrought havoc throughout the world.
Nor is China the only rogue nation that believes that the Biden administration's
inherent weakness gives them carte blanche to cause mischief in other parts of
the world.
Another example of rogue leaders taking full advantage of Mr Biden's inept
leadership is the deepening migrant crisis in eastern Europe, where Mr
Lukashenko has been accused of deliberately stirring up trouble on the Polish
and Lithuanian borders by encouraging thousands of illegal migrants to try to
seek asylum in the European Union.
EU officials believe Mr Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir
Putin, is personally responsible for provoking the crisis, accusing the
Belarusian leader of adopting "an inhuman, gangster-style approach."
Mr Lukashenko's reasons for provoking the crisis is aimed at blackmailing the EU
into lifting the sanctions it imposed after his regime launched a brutal
crackdown against opposition activists following the country's 2020 presidential
elections, which were widely condemned as a sham.
Further sanctions were imposed after Mr Lukashenko ordered the Belarusian
military to intercept a Ryanair passenger jet in May, which was diverted to
Minsk so that the authorities could detain two activists who were travelling on
the aircraft.
While Mr Lukashenko's primary motivation in provoking the crisis is focused on
getting the sanctions lifted, it is also abundantly clear that Mr Putin is keen
to exploit the crisis as an opportunity to sow division and discord within the
Western alliance.
The Russian autocrat is also well aware of Mr Biden's weak disposition as a
result of the three-hour summit the two leaders attended in Geneva last June,
the most notable outcome being the American President's utter capitulation to
Moscow on long-standing arms control demands.
Since then Mr Putin has made clear his unwillingness to take arms control issues
seriously by conducting a number of provocative acts, such as its recent
demonstration of its ability to destroy a satellite with a newly-developed
missile.
Mr Putin is always looking for an excuse to weaken the Western alliance, and the
latest migrant crisis in Europe has therefore presented him with the perfect
opportunity to cause trouble.
The Kremlin has issued its customary denials that it is in any way responsible
for the crisis, but this has been dismissed by countries such as Poland, which
have accused Russia of using the migrants as pawns in an attempt to further
destabilise the EU.
To judge by the increasingly acrimonious exchanges taking place between European
leaders, the migrant crisis is having the desired effect of causing division
among EU member states.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's decision, for example, to schedule a telephone
conversation with Mr Lukashenko, the first contact the Belarusian despot has had
with a Western leader since the 2020 elections, has provoked bitter criticism
from a number of east European states.
Poland, which is on the frontline of the crisis, has complained that it is being
left out of discussions regarding its own border, while Lithuania, which has
declared a state of emergency, has accused Mrs Merkel of playing into Mr
Lukashenko's hands by giving him the recognition he craves.
Despite these tensions between member states, the EU is trying to present a firm
line by resisting pressure to ease sanctions against Minsk.
In normal circumstances, moreover, the EU would expect to receive support from
the US in its stand-off with Russia.
On this occasion, though, Mr Biden's inability to provide anything approaching
clear and effective leadership has meant that the US has been required to take a
back seat, a woeful state of affairs that will not be lost on Mr Putin, as well
as other adversaries such as Mr Xi.
It is a measure of the Biden administration's impotence that, despite Europe
being one of Washington's closest allies, the White House has still not managed
to appoint new ambassadors to key European countries such as Britain, France,
Germany and Poland, thereby severely limiting Washington's ability to maintain
high level contacts with its allies.
Consequently, the only winners from Europe's latest migrant crisis are likely to
be Mr Putin and his thuggish Belarusian ally, while for Mr Biden it will only
serve as yet further evidence that, while he may still be in office, he has
absolutely no power when it comes to exercising influence in world affairs.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a
Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
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not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
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or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The Liverpool Bombing: Islam’s Mindboggling Deceptions Exposed
Raymond Ibrahim/November 24, 2021
On November 14, 2021, a man detonated an improvised explosive device near the
main entrance of Liverpool Women’s Hospital in England. Only he died, though the
taxi driver who had just dropped him off was also injured. Although he botched
it, investigators concluded that his was a terrorist attack that was planned
months in advance.
Emad al-Swealmeen, 32, the would-be terrorist in question, was a born Muslim who
arrived in the UK in 2014 and applied for asylum by claiming he was a Syrian
refugee. It turned out he was from Iraq or Jordan, and his asylum application
was rejected.
Soon thereafter, Emad formally converted to Christianity; in 2015 he was
baptized, and in 2017 confirmed, at Liverpool Cathedral. Although it is common
for Muslim migrants to pretend to be Christian in order to receive asylum—based
on their projected but erroneous belief that Western nations will naturally be
more welcoming of Christians—those Christians close to him argue that his
conversion was genuine:
[Thus] a church worker in Liverpool who once housed Al Swealmeen said he
believed he was a “genuine Christian”… Members of the congregation at Emmanuel
Church in Fazakerley, Liverpool, which Al Swealmeen attended from 2017 to 2019,
said he had been “a committed Christian” who baked for church cake sales. The
Reverend Mike Hindley said Al Swealmeen … was “a really kind guy.”
Moreover, according to a spokesperson from the cathedral that baptized and
confirmed al-Swealmeen:
Liverpool Cathedral has developed robust processes for discerning whether
someone might be expressing a genuine commitment to faith. These include
requirements for regular attendance alongside taking part in a recognised
Christian basics course. We would expect someone to be closely connected with
the community for at least two years before we would consider supporting an
[asylum] application.
Similarly, a spokesperson for the Church of England argued that their clergy
would not baptize someone without first being “confident that those seeking
baptism fully understand what it signifies…. We are not aware of any evidence to
suggest a widespread correlation between conversion to Christianity, or any
other faith, and abuse of the asylum system.”
From here, the problem becomes clear: if al-Swealmeen was a genuine
Christian—and everyone seems agreed that he was—what motivated him to plot and
try to execute a terrorist attack?
The arguments offered from those convinced that he was a true Christian range
from claims that he was suffering from a mental illness to claims that
Christianity no less than Islam promotes “martyrdom operations” (debunked here).
Others argue that his conversion was indeed sincere, but he later regretted and
sought to expiate it by becoming a jihadist “martyr.”
Few, however, are willing to consider that, from the very start, he may have
been pretending to be a Christian. After all, who would spend years masquerading
as something he’s not—going to church regularly, praying, reading the Bible, and
overall expressing genuine faith—even baking cakes for church sales?
The problem with this position is that it fails to take into account the extent
some Muslims are willing to go to in order to deceive their infidel
enemies—especially when threatened with deportation from the boons of infidel
living.
History offers an especially applicable example. In 1492, Granada, the final
Muslim bastion of Spain, was reconquered. Its Muslims were initially granted
lenient terms, including the right to travel abroad and practice Islam freely.
However, whenever the opportunity arose, they launched many hard-to-quell
uprisings—several “involving the stoning, dismembering, beheading, impaling, and
burning alive of Christians”—and regularly colluded with foreign Muslim powers
(e.g., Ottoman Turks) in an effort to subvert Spain back to Islam.
The Spanish crown eventually issued an edict that Muslims either had to convert
to Christianity—and therefore slough off their jihadist animus—or quit the
peninsula. In response, the entire population of Granada—hundreds of thousands
of Muslims—openly embraced Christianity but remained crypto-Muslims. Publicly
they went to church and baptized their children; at home they recited the Koran,
preached undying hate for the infidel and their obligation to re-subjugate Spain
to Islam. And all this deception was legitimized by the fatwas of leading
Islamic clerics.
One historian explains the great lengths these “Moriscos”—that is, Muslim
converts to Christianity who were still “Moorish,” or Islamic—went to deceive
the Christians:
For a Morisco to pass as a good Christian took more than a simple statement to
that effect. It required a sustained performance involving hundreds of
individual statements and actions of different types, many of which might have
little to do with expressions of belief or ritual per se. Dissimulation [taqiyya]
was an institutionalized practice in Morisco communities that involved regular
patterns of behaviour passed on from one generation to the next.
Despite this elaborate masquerade, Christians increasingly caught on: “With the
permission and license that their accursed sect accorded them,” a frustrated
Spaniard remarked in the seventeenth century, “they could feign any religion
outwardly and without sinning, as long as they kept their hearts nevertheless
devoted to their false impostor of a prophet. We saw so many of them who died
while worshipping the Cross and speaking well of our Catholic Religion yet who
were inwardly excellent Muslims.”
In short, generation after generation of Muslims pretended to be and lived as
model Christians in Spain—even as they had nothing but hatred for Christianity
and Christians—and all to remain and eventually reconquer Spain for Islam.
Nor do Muslims go to such great lengths of deception only to evade deportation.
Some employ it for exclusively murderous ends. In 2013, for example, an
assassination plot against a Christian pastor in Turkey was exposed; 14 Muslim
suspects, including at least three women, were arrested. According to the pastor
in question, Emre Karaali: “Two of them attended our church for over a year and
they were like family.” One was even baptized. In reality, “These people had
infiltrated our church and collected information about me, my family and the
church and were preparing an attack against us.”
From here, the idea that Emad al-Swealmeen was baptized and attended church for
a couple of years in order to gain asylum—and then showed his true colors by
going full jihadist mode when denied—do not seem farfetched.
Historic quotes dealing with Islam in Spain were excerpted from and are
documented in the author’s book, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War
between Islam and the West.