English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For November 27/2020
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually
First Letter to the Corinthians 02/11-16/:”For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual. Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are discerned spiritually. Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else’s scrutiny. ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 26-27/2021
President Aoun receives more Independence telegrams, holds talks with Ministers of Defense, Sports, and Beirut Governor
Central Bank: USD prices via random platforms and applications “suspicious and illegal”
Lebanese Currency Drops to New Low
Reports: Jreissati May Obstruct Baabda ‘Agreement’, Govt. Won’t Resign
Miqati Says Reports about Cabinet Reshuffle are Baseless
Mikati visits Rome Mosque, Saint Charbel Monastery and Maronite Institute: Faith brings together Muslims and Christians
The Council thus called on "everyone to remove the judiciary from the cycle of polarization and mutual attacks
Lebanon Judges Resign in Protest against Political Interference
Abboud Reportedly Rejects Resignations of Three Judges
Al-Rahi Warns Polls Postponement Would Lead to 'Total Destruction' of Lebanon
Nasrallah Says Judicial Developments Confirm 'Selectivity' in Port Case
The Netherlands joins UNESCO’s Li Beirut initiative to support the media in upcoming Lebanese elections
Aoun: Either Bassil or 'I Won't Hand Presidency to Void!”/Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
Is the Son Setting?/Michael Young/Carnegie/November 26, 2021
Hizbullah Is Running A Drug Industry In Syria With The Knowledge And Collaboration Of The Regime, According To Syrian Opposition Websites/By: N. Mozes/MEMRI/November 26/2021

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 26-27/2021
Pope to persons with disabilities: “The Church is truly your home"
NATO Warns Russia of 'Costs' if Force Used on Ukraine
Iran’s FM calls for lifting of sanctions, days before Vienna nuclear talks
Iran Accuses U.N. Nuclear Watchdog of Bowing to West's Pressure
Demonstrations in Iran’s Isfahan turn violent as police forcibly disperse protesters
Ex-Iranian Official: No Political Prisoners Among 1988 Executions
Syrian Emigrant Stuck In Belarus Refuses to Return to 'Hell'...As Another Reaches the 'European Dream'
Israel Unveils ‘Secret’ Commando Unit in Gaza
Biden Administration ‘Disavows’ Trump’s Policies in Syria
Second Group of Iraqis Return after Failed Europe Gamble
UK Calls for Preserving Independence of the Libyan National Oil Corporation
Libya: UN Decries Attack on Court Ahead of National Vote
More than 90 Houthis killed in last 24 hours in Yemen’s Marib: Arab Coalition
Toronto student union approves anti-Israel resolution
Canada/Minister Joly speaks with Ethiopian counterpart
Canada/Minister of Foreign Affairs urges Canadians to leave Ethiopia
Canada/Minister Joly speaks with Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs

Titles For The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 26-27/2021
Who Keeps Iran Out in the Cold?/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
Are Israel and US clashing over Iran nuclear policy?/Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/November 26/2021
France: Is Éric Zemmour an Anti-Semite?/Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/November 26/2021
Poland's Border Shapes the Future of Migration/Daniel Pipes/Newsweek/November 26/2021

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on November 26-27/2021
President Aoun receives more Independence telegrams, holds talks with Ministers of Defense, Sports, and Beirut Governor
NNA/Friday, 26 November, 2021  
Pope Francis renewed his attachment to Lebanon and the Lebanese and to the unique role of the cedar homeland in the Middle East, and its ability to transcend sectarian affiliations to move towards a common national feeling.
The Pope’s position was stated in a telegram addressed to the President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, on the occasion of Independence Day.
Telegram Text:
“The National Day of Lebanon gives me the opportunity to extend to your Excellency and your citizens my best congratulations. Your nation's project is based on overcoming sectarian affiliations to walk together towards a common national feeling. You know how special Lebanon and its children are to me, as well as to its unique role in the Middle East. From this standpoint, I ask the Almighty God to support your path on the difficult and courageous path in the service of the common good.
President of the State of Palestine:
President Aoun received a congratulatory cable from the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, in which he stressed "The keenness to work together in order to enrich brotherly and historical relations”.
President Abbas also expressed appreciation to Lebanon's "positions in support of the Palestinian people, their cause and their legitimate struggle to restore their land and sanctities and achieve their freedom and independence."
The telegram also stated: “In the midst of your celebration of the 78th anniversary of the glorious independence of the Lebanese Republic, we are pleased to present to Your Excellency, in the name of the state and people of Palestine and in my own name, and through you to the brotherly Lebanese government and people, with the highest brotherly expressions of congratulations. We pray to God Almighty to restore this occasion to Your Excellency, with health, happiness and success, the Lebanese Republic and its brotherly people should achieve more stability and prosperity.
On this important occasion, we affirm our keenness to work together to enrich the brotherly and historical relations that bind our two countries, of which we are very proud, to achieve more fruitful cooperation for the benefit of our two peoples. We highly appreciate the stances of the brotherly Lebanese Republic, under your wise leadership, in support of our people, their cause and their legitimate struggle to restore their land and sanctities and gain their freedom and independence”.
Minister of National Defense:
President Aoun received Minister of National Defense, Maurice Sleem, today at Baabda Palace, and discussed with him current conditions and recent developments, in addition to the security situation in the country and the work of the institutions affiliated with the ministry.
Military conditions, and the difficult living conditions they live in, and ways to address this issue were also tackled.
Minister of Youth and Sports
The President met Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. George Kallas, and discussed with him the general situation, recent developments, and ministerial affairs. After the meeting, Minister Kallas said:
"I was honored to meet His Excellency the President and presented him with a summary of the work progress in the ministry, and stood on his directives regarding the preparations made by the ministry to receive two important Arab events in 2022: The first is Lebanon as the capital of Arab youth 2022, and the second is the Arab Thirtieth Scout Conference 2022.
The two events will be held in Lebanon according to a schedule of celebrations and activities in which ministries related to youth, sports, scouts and tourism will participate. The discussion also dealt with the ministry’s policy of working to revive sports as a development factor in the regions, and to focus on promoting sportsmanship, which we hope will be a “positive infection” that will be reflected in the general political situation, and move us from a precarious situation to a situation of more solidarity and calm, governed by a spirit of sacrifice, and nationalism, in order to preserve Lebanon, the qualitative homeland in its diversity.
His Excellency expressed all the interest in restoring Lebanon's role and presence on the Arab and international sports map”.
Beirut Governor:
President Aoun received the Governor of Beirut, Judge Marwan Abboud.
Governor Abboud said that he briefed the President about the difficulties of working in the city of Beirut as a result of the deterioration of the value of the national currency, as well as the damages caused by obsolescence in the infrastructure. “I briefed His Excellency the President on the method of work followed to face the burdens resulting from the general situation and took his directives for the next stage” Abboud said.
Questions & Answers:
In response to a question about compensation for those affected by the explosion of the Port of Beirut, the Governor explained that the municipality has allocated 50 billion pounds, and “The necessary transactions have been completed to disburse 12 billion of them and the rest are pending completion”.
“His Excellency the President requested to expedite the payment of compensation to the affected people and to overcome the delay that has occurred so far as a result of the administrative routine” Abboud asserted, pointing out that the priority is to help the affected people who have not yet received any financial compensation or partial compensation that must be completed.—Presidency Press Office

Central Bank: USD prices via random platforms and applications “suspicious and illegal”
NNA/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
The Lebanese Central Bank on Friday issued a statement affirming that the real price of the US dollar against the Lebanese pound is that announced daily by the Central Bank via “Sayrafa” exchange platform.  “Sayrafa is the only platform that announces prices and the volume of transactions that have led to these prices,” the statement affirmed.  “As for the random applications and platforms that announce USD prices without indicating the volume of operations that have led to these prices, they are strictly suspicious and illegal applications,” the statement read, adding that the USD prices announced via said platforms do not reflect the reality of the market and its true size. “They move prices day and night, all the days of the week, and during holidays, simultaneously, as if the parallel market is an organized market in the form of a stock exchange. Behind these applications are political and commercial interests,” the statement warned. “Judicial and security authorities have sought to seize these applications at the request of the Lebanese government. Since many of them are located outside Lebanon, the Central Bank has demanded that international Internet companies remove these applications from their networks. The Central Bank will follow up on this matter abroad and will hold companies such as Google, Facebook, and others responsible for the harm these applications have done to Lebanon, and demand that they publish the official price of Sayrafa platform only,” the statement said. “On the other hand, the Central Bank is working on developing payment systems, leading to a return to electronic payments. This will be discussed in the next session of the Central Bank’s Council,” the statement concluded.

Lebanese Currency Drops to New Low
Agence France Presse/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
The Lebanese pound sank to a new low on the black market Friday, 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 25,000 to the dollar, or nearly 17 times less than its official peg value of 1,500. The new record, topping a previous low of more than 24,000 earlier this week, adds to the troubles of the newly-formed Lebanese government, which 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, which was 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 monthly wage of 675,000 pounds is now worth just $27. According to the United Nations, four in five Lebanese are now considered poor. The World Bank estimates it may take Lebanon nearly two decades to recover its pre-crisis per capita GDP. The energy ministry on Friday also raised the prices of petrol, diesel fuel and cooking gas, according to the state-run National News Agency. Fuel prices in Lebanon are adjusted regularly to reflect fluctuations in the exchange rate. Filling a vehicle's fuel tank now costs more than the minimum monthly wage.

Reports: Jreissati May Obstruct Baabda ‘Agreement’, Govt. Won’t Resign
Naharnet/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
President Michel Aoun has promised to let the competent Judiciary set up the legal mechanism to the Baabda meeting decisions, a parliamentary source told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper. Aoun, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Miqati had agreed in a meeting they held in Baabda, on Independence day, to refer the ex-ministers charged with negligence over Beirut port blast to the Higher Council for the Trial of Presidents and Ministers instead of them being interrogated by judge Tarek Bitar. The Presidency’s media office announced after the meeting that Aoun is following up on the implementation of what the three leaders have agreed upon.Meanwhile, sources told Asharq al-Awsat that presidential advisor and former Justice Minister Salim Jreissati “might obstruct the judicial exit” that Aoun, Berri and Miqati have agreed upon. Jreissati had last month snapped back at the Amal Movement over accusations that he was directing Bitar’s actions behind the scenes.On another note, political sources told the newspaper that Miqati’s government won’t resign, and that the suspension of Cabinet sessions will make the government lose international support.

Miqati Says Reports about Cabinet Reshuffle are Baseless
Naharnet/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
Prime Minister Najib Miqati has dismissed the reports about a possible Cabinet reshuffle that would involve the replacement of the Justice Minister as “incorrect and baseless.”He added, in remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper published Friday, that he is satisfied with the outcome of his Thursday talks with Pope Francis. The Prime Minister also confirmed that he invited the pontiff to visit Lebanon soon, noting that the head of the Catholic church will “act in all directions to help Lebanon overcome its crisis,” and that “he will exert vigorous efforts to support it on the humanitarian level.”

Mikati visits Rome Mosque, Saint Charbel Monastery and Maronite Institute: Faith brings together Muslims and Christians
NNA/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Winding up his visit to the Vatican, Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday visited the Rome Mosque and its affiliated Islamic Centre. Premier Mikati was received by the Centre’s Director, Dr. Abdullah Radwan, and the Mosque Imam. Mikati toured the Center and had a look at the public library and the studies center. The PM stressed that “faith unites Muslims and Christians, for heaven has one language and one God.”At the end of the visit, Mikati performed Friday prayers in the mosque. Mikati visited last night Saint Charbel Monastery in Rome affiliated to the Lebanese Maronite Order, in the presence of Minister of Justice, Henry Khoury, and Minister of Tourism, Walid Nassar, as well as MP Nicolas Nahas, and Lebanon's Ambassador to the Vatican, Farid El-Khazen. Premier Mikati and the Lebanese delegation also visited the headquarters of the Maronite Institute in Rome, where they were received by Archbishop Youhanna Rafiq al-Warsha, monks and priests.Protesters Break Into Lebanese Ministry as Crisis Deepens
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
A small group of protesters broke into a ministry building in Beirut early Friday and removed a photo of the president from one of its main rooms, as the Lebanese pound hit new lows amid a worsening economic and political stalemate. The nearly dozen protesters who entered the Ministry of Social Affairs said conditions in the crisis-hit country have become unbearable as a result of the rapid economic collapse and ongoing crash of the pound, which reached 25,100 to the US dollar. The previous record was 25,000. Prices have been skyrocketing in recent weeks as the government lifted subsidies on fuel and some medicines, making them out of reach of many in Lebanon. Some three quarters of the population of six million, including a million Syrian refugees, now live in poverty. The minimum monthly wage is now worth about $27, The Associated Press said. Protesters have blamed the ministry for sluggishness in issuing ration cards that are supposed to give poor families monthly financial aid. The protesters broke into the meeting room at the ministry and turned a framed picture of President Michel Aoun upside down before removing it. They replaced it with a banner in Arabic that read “revolutionaries of October 17.” The protesters were referring to the start of nationwide protests on Oct. 17, 2019 against the country’s ruling class. They are blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement that threw the small nation into its worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history.“Those who usurped public money cannot conduct reforms,” shouted one of the protesters before leaving the building following police intervention. “We have hit rock bottom. Things cannot get worse." The crisis has been made worse by the coronavirus and the Aug. 4, 2020, port blast that killed 216, wounded more than 6,000 and destroyed part of the capital. The Cabinet, formed in September after a 13-month vacuum, has not met in more than six weeks amid deep divisions between rival groups over the judge leading the investigation into the port explosion. Comments by a Cabinet minister that triggered a diplomatic row with oil-rich gulf nations has added to the acrimony. In other parts of the country, protesters placed posters that read “the mafia that destroyed the Lebanese pound” outside some branches of local banks, state-run National News Agency said. For the past two years, local lenders have imposed informal capital controls that prevent many people from accessing their savings.

The Council thus called on "everyone to remove the judiciary from the cycle of polarization and mutual attacks
NNA/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
The Higher Judicial Council announced in a statement, that "the campaigns and attacks targeting the judiciary and judges have exceed all limits, and there is no clear goal for them, other than to undermine confidence in the judiciary and judges."
The Council thus called on "everyone to remove the judiciary from the cycle of polarization and mutual attacks, to enable it to carry out its role, in accordance with the responsibilities and obligations assigned to it."

Lebanon Judges Resign in Protest against Political Interference
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Three Lebanese judges have resigned over interference by politicians in the work of the judiciary, including a probe into last year’s Beirut blast, a judicial source said Thursday. In a country where political leaders determine judicial appointments, including in top courts, there is little room for the judiciary to work against Lebanon’s ruling elite, AFP reported. A probe into last year’s monster port explosion has exposed the extent of such interference, with top officials mounting a complex web of court challenges to obstruct the work of lead investigator Tarek Bitar. On Wednesday three judges, all women, handed in their resignation “to protest...political interference in the work of the judiciary and the undermining of decisions issued by judges and courts,” the judicial source said. The head of the country’s top court has yet to approve the resignations and has called for the matter to be discussed in a meeting, the source added. The resignations came after officials filed dozens of lawsuits against Bitar as well as other judges processing requests by lawmakers demanding his removal. Among those who resigned this week is a judge who turned down a request by an official to remove the investigator. She was consequently hit with a review questioning the validity of her decision. “The constant questioning of the judiciary’s decisions is tarnishing its reputation,” the same court official told AFP on condition of anonymity. While it is the most prominent, the Beirut blast case is not the only one to fall prey to interference by political leaders. A probe into charges of tax evasion and illicit enrichment brought against central bank chief Riad Salameh has also been paused over a lawsuit filed against lead investigator Jean Tannous.

Abboud Reportedly Rejects Resignations of Three Judges
Naharnet/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Higher Judicial Council chief Judge Suheil Abboud has rejected the resignations of the judges Jeanette Hanna, Carla Kassis and Rola al-Husseini, al-Jadeed TV reported on Friday. The judges had submitted the resignations to the Council on Thursday, as reports said the move aimed at protesting political interference in the judiciary. Al-Jadeed, however, said that only Hanna’s resignation has to do with “the probe into the Beirut port blast and the political interference in this file” while Kassis and Husseini have resigned for “private” reasons. A judicial source had said Thursday that the judges handed in their resignation "to protest... political interference in the work of the judiciary and the undermining of decisions issued by judges and courts."

Al-Rahi Warns Polls Postponement Would Lead to 'Total Destruction' of Lebanon
Naharnet/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi has warned that the postponement of the upcoming parliamentary elections would lead to “the total destruction of the country.”“It is very necessary to hold the parliamentary and presidential elections next year, or else we will face the total destruction of the country,” al-Rahi said. Moreover, the patriarch cautioned that “Lebanon’s loss of its identity would lead to its isolation from the entire world,” stressing that Lebanon is not “a war state.”“It has to liberate itself from all regional conflicts,” al-Rahi added, lamenting the presence of “statelets” inside the country.
“If Lebanon comes under attacks from Israel or others, the Lebanese Army must defend this land, even if some figures do not like this rhetoric,” the patriarch went on to say. He added: “Lebanon and its people are not advocates of war. The Lebanese are today thinking of establishing cultural, economic and commercial ties with the other countries, but they are never thinking of war.”

Nasrallah Says Judicial Developments Confirm 'Selectivity' in Port Case
Naharnet/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday decried anew the presence of what he called selectivity and politicization in the Beirut port blast probe as well as in the judiciary’s response to legal motions filed by the accused ex-PM and former ministers. “The judicial decisions of the past two days confirm what we have been saying about selectivity and the current course won't lead to truth and justice,” Nasrallah said in a televised address. “Is there a judge today in the Lebanese judiciary who dares to take a decision to dismiss the investigative judge (Tarek Bitar)? There is a judge (Habib Mezher) who moved in that direction, but they threatened him and fought him,” Nasrallah added. “What's happening today is that the Lebanese judiciary is protecting each other,” Nasrallah noted, referring to judges who had received documents and complaints related to the ammonium nitrate ship and cargo in the years that preceded the catastrophic blast. “All information indicates that the judges concerned with the Beirut port file (following the arrival of the ammonium nitrate ship) are in the circle of suspicion,” Hizbullah’s leader went on to say. He noted that the accused former officials have “resorted to the judicial authorities to rescue them from selectivity,” lamenting that “these judicial authorities are also subject to selectivity and politicization.” The Court of Cassation on Thursday threw out two lawsuits submitted by ex-premier Hassan Diab and ex-interior minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq accusing Bitar of summoning them illegally. It ruled there was no evidence suggesting Bitar had committed any errors. The same court also overturned two similar lawsuits filed by lawmakers Ali Hassan Khalil and Ghazi Zoaiter. Also on Thursday, the Criminal Court of Cassation rejected a lawsuit filed by ex-public works minister Youssef Fenianos that had demanded Bitar's removal from the blast probe. Turning to the issue of the file of the Tayyouneh-Ain al-Remmaneh deadly incidents, Nasrallah decried that the Military Court “has come under very huge pressure from political and religious sides.”“Even those lecturing us to resort to the judiciary refused to go to the judiciary and some of the fugitives are present in Maarab and are being protected there so that they don't get arrested,” Nasrallah charged. Warning that “this is a dangerous behavior,” Hizbullah’s secretary-general warned, criticized certain religious and political sides who are “pressing for the release of the rest of the detainees.” “This is disregard for the martyrs, their families and all the parties they belong to, and that this is insistence on the scheme of strife,” he cautioned. He added that those sides must stop the alleged pressure and that “the judiciary must take its normal course.”m “Those who took part in the killings must be put on trial and continuing the current course is dangerous,” Nasrallah went on to say.

The Netherlands joins UNESCO’s Li Beirut initiative to support the media in upcoming Lebanese elections
NNA/Friday, 26 November, 2021 
The Government of Netherlands and UNESCO signed today a funding agreement in support of the media for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Lebanon, under UNESCO’s flagship initiative Li Beirut. Hans Wesseling, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to UNESCO and Tawfik Jelassi, UNESCO ADG forCommunication and Information, signed the agreement at UNESCO’s HQ in Paris. Responding to the call for support of the Li Beirut initiative, The Netherlands will provide an essential support to the Lebanese media, to ensure access to reliable information by Lebanese voters in the most objective, impartial and accurate way, in preparation for the legislative elections currently scheduled in March 2022. Building on UNESCO’s two decades of experience in developing the capacities of media sectors during elections, this project will support free, plural and fair elections in Lebanon, in times of political tension, economic and health crisis, and disinformation through fostering freedom of expression, including press freedom and public access to information. The funds will be allocated by UNESCO over the next few months to reinforce the capacities and knowledge of key actors involved in elections according to international standards and best practices through a series of activities. These will include capacity development for security forces on freedom of expression and safety of journalists, trainings for journalists to tackle disinformation, hate speech, conflict sensitive reporting and safety, with a special focus on challenges faced by female journalists. Additionally, the project will allow the development of databases of experts to help journalists access more diverse and inclusive sources. A particular attention will also be given for capacity building of voters, mainly youth, on the theme of media and information literacy.
“This commitment means a lot to The Netherlands”, said Ambassador Hans Wesseling. “Supporting freedom of speech is critical but it’s important to translate it to support for the media and the safety of journalists, as well as the safety of women journalists. It is lovely to work with an organization like UNESCO that shows you how to walk the walk rather than talk”, he added, saluting the work that has been accomplished on the field by the UNESCO Office in Beirut, “in very difficult circumstances”. From his side, Tawfik Jelassi affirmed: “I am extremely delighted to sign the agreements today, especially for the benefit of the Li Beirut initiative, to support journalists in preparation for the elections. The Netherlands has been a strong support of the Communication and Information sector at UNESCO, which is a pillar for democracy and access to information. We share your values and esteem the leading role you play. We value your trust and support.” Speaking from Lebanon, Costanza Farina, Director of UNESCO Office in Beirut, thanked The Netherlands for its contribution. “This support is extremely important and strategic for us, she highlighted. It will allow UNESCO to be at the table of a very important dialogue and debate happening right now in Beirut in regards to the elections, to ensure media will provide access to reliable information, and to equip journalists with skills, notably the youth using social media tools in the electoral process”. -- UNESCO

Aoun: Either Bassil or 'I Won't Hand Presidency to Void!”
Hanna Saleh/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
Today (Thursday), the countdown starts for the 340 days left for Lebanon's presidential term. As the declaration of the state of Greater Lebanon enters its second century, many Lebanese shares the view that there is no need to commemorate independence that is being squandered. There is also no need for a traditional speech so long as the man giving it is not prepared to apologize and ask forgiveness for the state Lebanon is in. The past five years, given all the misery they have brought upon citizens, seem to have been long. From another perspective, they have been short. That is how one sees it looking through the lens of how quickly the shift in most peoples’ lives. Very swiftly, they went from enjoying social and economic stability to living in poverty, destitution, and genuine fear for their ability to go on, whether because of the creeping famine or their inability to access basic health care.
The profitable policy of pushing Lebanon into the Iranian axis has isolated that country, which has been crumbling under the weight of collapses, to no surprise to any of the members of the ruling clique. The financial and economic collapses, the dramatic bankruptcies, including the seizure of deposits, and the exacerbating unemployment crisis, were expected by those holding the reins of decision-making in the country. Starting in 2016, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reports came in, one after the other, warning of the risks of the drops in Lebanon’s credit rating. It regressed four positions in three years, dropping to “C,” meaning that the country had entered a highly dangerous phase! Expert voices grew louder, warning that persisting with the same policies would lead to a catastrophic financial and economic collapse. Nonetheless, the authorities continued to opt for the policy of deception: the Lira is fine!
Every member of the ruling clique knows that the other side of the coin of Lebanon’s diplomatic isolation from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states and the steps of economic divestment being taken is the state withering away and being hijacked through weapons. That process began over a decade ago when the statelet began expanding its say and undermining internal balances. This course peaked with the presidential deal of 2016 agreed to with Hezbollah. In the final analysis, the officials had their heads buried in the sand while Lebanon was being turned into a platform for attacking the region on behalf of the Mullah’s regime in Iran.
Throughout Aoun’s presidency, he did not deviate from a disruptive, populist course that characterized his “alliance” with “Hezbollah,” which has allowed them to impose their will. From occupying Downtown Beirut after the July 2006 war to consistently delaying the formation of governments for long months and delaying parliament’s election of the president of the republic for 30 months, the course of obstruction continued with Aoun’s ascension to the presidency. The goal was and remains to impose his will and make factional gains. Indeed, the president, given all of his obstruction, seemed to be in the “opposition”. The exacerbating deterioration of living conditions or the financial and economic crises did not compel him to make any reconsideration. He was not deterred from continuing with this obstructive approach by the estrangement with the Gulf countries and its frightening future repercussions!
Moreover, the president doesn’t seem bothered that Hezbollah turned the current government into a corpse only 32 days after it was formed. Besides the stances declared when foreign visitors are received, on fulfilling constitutional duties and implementing constitutional decisions, the president has not taken any initiative to end the disruption and the hijacking of the council of ministers’ role and authority. He also seemed “neutral” on the judiciary and justice being targeted, the efforts to solidify immunities and leave officials above the law, and the support being shown for impunity through the currently successful disruption of the investigation into the port crime and the provocative demand that Lead Investigator Tarek Bitar be “removed.” He has always demonstrated indifference towards the investigation being drowned with lawsuits raised to “dismiss” the lead investigator, tie his hands, and go against the state… Throughout, Hezbollah has been exploiting the peoples’ suffering to impose its conditions, which in the end, serve the purpose of seizing the country and tying it to the Greater Iranian project! Meanwhile, the president’s considerations do not clash with the course being taken by the statelet, which aims to disrupt the constitutional process and the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Through his populist obstruction, regardless of the implications, it has had on the lives of the majority of the Lebanese, Michel Aoun wants to ensure that the Presidency of the Republic stays in the family through his son-in-law, Bassil, moving into the Presidential Palace! It is no secret that he made this promise in the first year of his presidency! Some may have convinced him that the conditions of 2021 and his reliance on the statelet’s arsenal make things more favorable than they had been in 1989, when he headed a transitional government whose mission was to elect a new president of the republic and announced the dissolution of parliament, making this mission impossible! However, the conclusion of the Taif Agreement and the declaration of the National Accord Document nullified his decisions, turning him into an insurgent. The rest of the story is well documented; he is the one responsible for drawing the Syrian regime’s occupation army to the Republican Palace after fleeing to the French embassy!
Because no priority comes before that of ensuring that Bassil succeeds him, Aoun jumped directly to the presidential election, warning that “no president who comes after me will be like those who preceded me.” Speaking to the Al-Akhbar newspaper on the 19th and the French language daily, L’Orient-Le Jour on the 20th, he revealed what had been hidden, betting that no new president would be elected and that there would be no legitimate government before his term ends, while he will “not hand the presidency to void!” More simply, either you elect Bassil as the next president or disruption will continue and, with it, collapses that cannot be anticipated will arise! On the other hand, the black room has conjured up an unconstitutional ploy to extend Aoun’s term under the pretext of not leaving the position vacant!
It is obvious that the president of the republic, who ignored the collapse, the estrangement with the Gulf states and their repercussions, has used the element of surprise and tried to put Hezbollah, mainly, in an awkward position. He has thus done the same to those behind Hezbollah, the entire axis of resistance, at a decisive moment for the region, a moment in which the pace of change is increasing from Baghdad to Marib and between them Damascus, one that has captured the attention of actors in the region and beyond. While it was natural for him to disregard the positions of members of the ruling clique, he also ignored the people’s reservations. They isolated and punished Bassil before the US imposed its sanctions on him. However, Aoun has nonetheless asked for guarantees regarding the direction Hezbollah is going to take on the question of the next president and the calculations Tehran is making, especially since the president and his movement are losing popular support!
What had been proposed from the sidelines is now on the table. That has put the majority of Lebanese facing a different challenge. It demands going beyond the efforts to elect Bassil president and striving to retrieve the state, thereby liberating the presidency and regaining our independence. It is a challenge that demands that we stand strong during this stage of new suffocating difficulties, during which citizens’ struggles and suffering are exacerbating, as are the repercussions of Lebanon being dominated by Iran. It is a test that has been imposed on the living forces, one that demands a determined effort to uproot the system of corruption, dependence, and subordination!

Is the Son Setting?
Michael Young/Carnegie/November 26, 2021
Saad al-Hariri may not run in Lebanon’s next elections, but writing him off may be hasty.
Rumors have been rife lately that former prime minister Saad al-Hariri may choose not to stand in parliamentary elections next year, if they are held. And while newspaper reports suggest that Hariri has not yet taken a final decision on the matter, everything about his political path lately makes this outcome very possible. The principle reasons are not difficult to guess. Hariri has lost two of the longstanding pillars of his family’s political power in recent years—money and Saudi backing. The first was brought about by the disastrous management and ultimate bankruptcy of the Saudi Oger company established by his father, Rafiq al-Hariri, which Saad owned; the second was the result of Hariri’s fraught relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and a Saudi perception that Hariri has not pushed back hard enough against Hezbollah. Hariri’s last-ditch attempt to ward away political irrelevance was his months-long effort to form a government, which ended in failure. These days, Hariri is spending much of his time in Abu Dhabi. The story is that the United Arab Emirates has asked him to withdraw from politics, and instead focus on ameliorating his financial affairs. Some have suggested that the UAE is keener to bolster Saad’s older brother Bahaa, who has been more active in Lebanon lately. While the tendency today is to assume that Saad al-Hariri is finished politically, it’s best not to be hasty. If Michel Aoun and Samir Geagea could survive their wholehearted destruction of Lebanese Christian society in 1990, and are still earnestly hailed by their followers and others as communal champions, it shows that the Lebanese are willing to resurrect just about anyone when the conditions are right.
However, it’s certainly true that Hariri is at a crossroads in his political journey, and without devising a clear way out of his predicament he may become superfluous. Recall what the Sunni cleric Ahmad al-Assir said when Hariri had left Lebanon after his government was brought down by Hezbollah and its allies in January 2011. Assir criticized Hariri, saying a leader should never abandon his partisans in the midst of a battle. The comment must have stung, but the reality is that Hariri’s absence from Lebanon between 2011 and 2016 was disastrous for his political career, because it showed that the country could function, for good or bad, without him.
Half of politics is about being where things happen, or preventing things from happening when one is not there. Hariri tried to make things happen in 2016 when he thought he could conclude a grand bargain with Michel Aoun and Hezbollah. He would support Aoun’s presidential bid, take a flexible position on Hezbollah, and as prime minister rebuild his patronage networks with new partners. This was a grave mistake as Hariri made three errors: He alienated his allies, alarmed by his opening to Aoun and his son in law Gebran Bassil. He undermined his own credibility with supporters, who felt his return was motivated mainly by a desire to reverse his financial setbacks. And he showed Aoun and Hezbollah that he needed them to be in power, which they repeatedly exploited to squeeze him.
Since October 2019, when Hariri resigned as prime minister in the midst of popular protests, his focus has been on political survival. At the time, he thought that after stepping down he would be able to form a new cabinet on his terms. This plan was torpedoed by the Lebanese Forces, who announced they would not designate Hariri again for the prime minister’s post. The message was widely viewed as an indirect Saudi thumbs down for Hariri, given the close relationship between the Lebanese Forces and the leadership in Riyadh.
Hariri tried a second time, starting in October 2020, after Mustapha Adib had failed to form a government in the context of the French initiative. His wager was that Hezbollah would agree to a Sunni-Shia partnership with him as the basis for a new consensus. This, he felt, would narrow Aoun’s and Bassil’s margin of maneuver and allow him to bring in a government in which the president and his son in law would have to accept whatever Hariri and Hezbollah agreed between themselves. He miscalculated, however, in imagining that Hezbollah would give him precedence over Aoun. For Hezbollah, choosing between Sunnis and Christians isn’t a zero-sum game.
Aoun’s refusal to make concessions that might have brought Hariri a measure of Saudi approval signaled the end. If no agreement was possible between the president and prime minister-elect, then Hariri was dispensable. He was out of options and had no choice but to approve of Najib Mikati as prime minister—if only to retain credibility with the French, whose plan he was purportedly trying to advance. That was the beginning of his eclipse. The closing of the Daily Star newspaper, regardless of whether it was tied to Saad’s political fortunes or not, was symbolic. By discontinuing a publication that could transmit the former prime minister’s perspective to Western audiences, particularly foreign embassies in Beirut, he seemed to be admitting there was no longer a need to do so. Hariri’s political enemies, particularly Aoun and Bassil, might rejoice. However, it’s worth remembering that in the perpetual balancing act that is the Lebanese sectarian system, killing rivals politically is rarely an intelligent thing to do. The enemy of today is invariably the potential ally of tomorrow. Does it really beneit the president and his son in law to leave themselves with no strong counterparts in dealing with Hezbollah? Do both men seriously think that the Christians alone, without Sunni assistance, can effectively oppose the party if its paramount interests or choices go against theirs?
Saad al-Hariri may yet run in elections, though the strong possibility they may not happen is surely something he has factored into his decision. Whichever way Hariri leans, it’s obvious he’s preparing for a long period in the political wilderness. Lebanon may not be the worse for it, but nor is it reassuring that Sunnis should feel that their leaders alone are the ones being eliminated from the political landscape.
*Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

تقرير من موقع ممري يلقي الأضواء الفاضحة على تجارة حزب الله بالمخدرات ومعامل انتاجها ومناطق زراعتها في سوريا بمعرفة وموافقة النظام السوري
Hizbullah Is Running A Drug Industry In Syria With The Knowledge And Collaboration Of The Regime, According To Syrian Opposition Websites
By: N. Mozes/MEMRI/November 26/2021
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/104425/n-mozes-memri-hizbullah-is-running-a-drug-industry-in-syria-with-the-knowledge-and-collaboration-of-the-regime-according-to-syrian-opposition-websites-%d8%aa%d9%82%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%b1-%d9%85%d9%86/
November 26/2021
Click Here to read this report on the MEMRI web site
https://www.memri.org/jttm/hizbullah-running-drug-industry-syria-knowledge-and-collaboration-regime-according-syrian
The following report is now a complimentary offering from MEMRI’s Jihad and Terrorism Threat Monitor (JTTM). For JTTM subscription information, click here.
Introduction
In recent years, the manufacturing, trade and use of drugs in war-torn Syria, whether in areas controlled by anti-state armed groups or those under the Syrian regime’s control, has surged to a new level and it seems that Syria has turned into a point of departure for enormous drug shipments, especially Captagon.[1]
Some of these shipments have been seized at ports in the Mediterranean Basin including Cyprus, Malta, Egypt and the Gulf countries. The most conspicuous example was a billion-dollar Captagon shipment that was confiscated in Italy in June 2020.
Captagon shipment seized in Italy June 2020 (bbc.com, July 1, 2020)
Those shipments originated at ports in regions under Syrian government control, especially Latakia Port. It should be noted that according to some reports, during a 2019 visit to Teheran, Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad promised to transfer control of the Latakia Port to Iran in order to wipe out Syria’s debt for the material and military aid provided by Iran.[2] If these reports are true, they suggest that Iran and its proxy Hizbullah have free reign of the port and can carry out import and export activities without supervision.
This fact as well as the complicated logistics required to run an operation of this scope for the production, shipping, and distribution of narcotics, indicate that Hizbullah, which has an international record in illegal drug trade,[3] and the Syrian regime, are behind this drug enterprise.
During this period, Syrian opposition media outlets and outlets opposed to the Iran-led resistance axis increased their reports saying that Hizbullah and the Syrian regime have made Syria the main center for producing and exporting drugs, especially Captagon.
According to these reports, the drug industry has become a significant source of income for the Syrian regime and for Hizbullah, both of which suffered heavy economic losses as a result of the years-long war and international economic sanctions.
If these allegations are true, Iran and Hizbullah’s control and intervention in Syria will also have criminal implications, in addition to the security, cultural, and social ramifications.[4]
It should be noted that Captagon is known to be popular among members of the Islamic State (ISIS) and other rebel organizations. However, it is doubtful that organizations like ISIS, whose presence in Syria today is relatively limited, or even Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), which controls Idlib, are capable of running operations of this magnitude and of doing so via ports under Syrian government control.
The following report will highlight reports published on Syrian opposition websites and anti-Hizbullah websites suggesting that Hizbullah, with the knowledge and collaboration of the Syrian government, has established an industry in Syria for the production, smuggling, and trade of illegal drugs.
Development By Hizbullah Of The Illegal Drug Trade In Syria
As mentioned, according to reports from outlets opposed to the Syrian regime and the resistance axis, Hizbullah used its presence in Syria, and the free rein granted to it by the Syrian regime in light of its support in fighting the rebels since the early days of the crisis, in order to launch a drug industry in Syria. According to these reports, Hizbullah initially focused on establishing Syria as a way station for drugs it produced in Lebanon. Drugs were smuggled from Lebanon to Syria, and then to the Gulf countries via Jordan, or alternatively, exported through Syria’s ports to Europe, Egypt, or other destinations. Later, as Hizbullah established its presence in Syria following many victories against the rebels, it launched drug-producing laboratories and factories, and developed drug crop cultivation in Syria, possibly as a future alternative to Lebanon, where Hizbullah faces more internal supervision, due to its role as a political actor.
Drug-Smuggling Into Syria
Even before the outbreak of the revolution in March 2011, Syria was a transit country on the drug-smuggling route, although the extent of the smuggling then was relatively small.[5]
The chaos caused by the civil war, the Syrian regime’s inability or unwillingness to enforce the law, and a lack of income sources, all naturally caused an increase in drug trade across Syria, both in regime-controlled areas and areas controlled by the rebels or ISIS.
According to reports on anti-regime and anti-Hizbullah web outlets, Hizbullah exploited this chaos, along with the free reign granted to it by the regime, which to great extent owed its survival to Hizbullah, to smuggle drugs produced in Lebanon into Syria
Many of these drugs were bound for destinations outside Syria – countries in the Gulf and in Europe – with only a small amount intended for the local market.
Syrian opposition websites describe several major routes for smuggling drugs out of Lebanon, most of them originating in the Beqaa Valley area in east Lebanon, a known Hizbullah stronghold and one of the major areas for cultivating hashish in Lebanon.
Map of Lebanon, Beqaa area in blue (source: vectorstock)
One route, referred to as the Rankous route, originates in the villages in the Beqaa Valley area, continues through the Jaroud Rankous mountains on Lebanese-Syria border and from there to Rankous Valley and finally to the Syrian town of Rankous.
The second route described is along the Tfail-‘Assal Al-Ward Road, which originates in the Ras Al-Harf area in the Beqaa Valley and continues to the Al Mabhas area where Hizbullah set up an illegal crossing point. The route continues from there to Tfail village in eastern Baalbek district via the Al-Jaouzeh area in the mountains on the border, and from there to the village of ‘Assal Al-Ward, northeast of Damascus along the Syrian-Lebanese border.
Another route is via Flitah Road, which runs from the villages in the Beqaa Governorate in east Lebanon to the village of Flitah in the mountains near the Al-Thallajat area.in Rif Dimashq governorate.
A fourth route is via Qarah Road, which originates at the Al-Zamrani border crossing, which is an official border crossing, continues from there to the Qarah Mountains in the Mira area and finally to the town of Qarah, in Al-Nabk district of the Rif Dimashq governorate.[6]
According to Syrian opposition sources Hizbullah also uses these routes for the smuggling of weapons, fuel and funds to the regime, in an effort to circumnavigate the sanctions imposed on Syria.[7]
Furthermore, there are reports that smuggling is also taking place via the Bayt Jin area in the west of the Rif Dimashq Governorate and in the Al-Qusayr area, which is under Hizbullah control, in the countryside of the Homs Governorate.[8]
Hizbullah Cultivates Drug Crops In Syria
According to reports from anti-Hizbullah and anti-regime websites, over the years Hizbullah began using Syria’s agricultural land to cultivate drug crops. Reports claimed that the organization exploited the fact that many residents had to leave their homes to avoid the heavy clashes in the area, taking over their lands and sometimes preventing the residents’ return. One of the main areas where Hizbullah cultivates drug crops is Al-Qusayr, on the road connecting Damascus with the Mediterranean coast, near the Syria-Lebanon border, which became one of the main strongholds of Hizbullah in Syria in 2013.[9]
Reports said that Hizbullah took over large swaths of land that were abandoned by their owners during the harsh battles between rebel forces and regime forces and their allies, which took place in the area between 2012-2013, and that Hizbullah has blocked the residents from returning to their homes. Members of Hizbullah’s security forces supervise the cultivation of hashish crops and employ locals who are loyal to the organization. In addition to using farmlands left behind by their owners, Hizbullah also leases land from the locals who remain. [10]
Hizbullah operatives also cultivate hashish in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, mostly near the town of Zabadeen. It was reported that Hizbullah constructed embankments around the borders of its hashish fields. [11]
In 2021 it was reported that Hizbullah also began cultivating hashish in the Deir Al-Zour area of eastern Syria, a known stronghold of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias. According to reports, hashish crops were planted in a 450,000 square meter area known as the “Green Strip,” west of the city of Al-Bukamal. In addition, the group cultivates hashish in the Al-Mazari’ area near the city of Al-Mayadin. One report claimed that Hizbullah ordered the local council to install a pump on the Euphrates River to supply water for these crops. [12]
Syria’s Transformation Into A Captagon Production Capital
For the past two years, Syrian opposition websites have been reporting that Syria is no longer merely a transit country but has become a center for the production of drugs, first and foremost Captagon. Reports suggest that the raw materials are smuggled into Syria from Lebanon and Iran via the border with Iraq.[13]
The drugs are produced in laboratories and factories which are either permanent or mobile and operated by the militias loyal to Iran or their supporters across Syria. For example, in December 2020, the Damascusv.com website reported from “special sources” that “Hizbullah had set up a new factory for [the production] of narcotic pills and Hashish” three kilometers from the town of Serghaya in the Rif Dimashq Governorate near the border with Lebanon.
The factory was established on rocky terrain which belongs to a farmer in the area who is affiliated with Hizbullah. According to the report, “chemical cooks were brought from Lebanon” and the factory is under security surveillance 24/7 by 30 of the organization’s Syrian and Lebanese operatives, and the local residents are forbidden to approach the area.[14]
In addition to the laboratory at Serghaya (1), there are at least 13 laboratories for drug production along the Syria-Lebanon border – at Rankous (2), ‘Assal Al-Ward (3), Al-Jobeh (4), Talfita (5), Bakha’a (6), Tfail (7), Mada, and Al-Saboura – sometimes more than one at a particular location.[15] Another lab was built at Al-Quysar near Homs.[16]
Laboratories were also reportedly set up on the Syria-Jordan border, and in November 2019 the Iamahumanstory.com website reported that Hizbullah had brought tablet presses for the manufacture of Captagon tablets into the Kharab Al-Shahem area in the countryside in the Daraa Governorate.[17] Other laboratories are situated in the town of Zaizoun and in the town of Al-Qusayr near the border with Jordan.[18]
In November 2019, the Syrian opposition website Iamahumanstory.com reported that every few days vehicles which resemble ambulances and are fitted with laboratories for the production of drugs come to the Al-Qusayr area in southern Syria. According to the report, Shi’ite militias which are loyal to Iran are responsible for this operation.[19]
On October 22, 2021, the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies, which is based in Istanbul and Qatar, updated that Hizbullah and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) established six new Captagon factories – two are situated in Al-Bukamal in eastern Syria, two in Tfail in western Al-Qalamoun, one in Al-Nayrab to the southeast of Aleppo in northern Syria and one in the Lajah area, 50 km southeast of Damascus.[20]
International And Local Markets For Syria Drugs
As mentioned, a significant portion of the drugs which is produced in Syria or smuggled from Lebanon into the country are exported via sea.
On July 1, 2020, the Italian authorities reported that about 84 million Captagon tablets, at an estimated value of more than a billion dollars, were seized at the port of Salerno on a ship that set sail from Syria. The pills were hidden inside large drums of paper and gear wheels. According to Italian police estimates, the shipment contained enough Captagon for the entire European market.[21]
In addition to the shipment which was seized in Italy, Greece thwarted an attempt to smuggle a shipment of Captagon tablets valued at $660 million, which were concealed in containers that arrived from Syria.
In 2018, in Malta, a shipment of cannabis valued at $28.5 million was seized from a boat that had set sail from Syria en route to Libya,[22] and Egypt also reported seizing large shipments of drugs which originated in Syrian ports.[23]
Another way to smuggle drugs outside Syria is over land, with Jordan being one of the destination countries, which serves as a gateway to the Gulf countries.
Since 2018, when reconciliation agreements were signed between the Syrian government and the rebel organizations in the south of the country,[24] Hizbullah and the Shi’ite militias loyal to Iran managed to consolidate their presence on the border with Jordan in a manner which grants them a free hand in the area.[25]
As previously stated, reports on Syrian opposition websites claim that Hizbullah and the militias loyal to Iran have set up several laboratories along the border with Jordan where they produce drugs, and that they employ a network of local smugglers.
In December 2019, the Sy-24.com website reported that the major drug-smuggling areas are Tabariyat (1), Koayiah (2), Al-Mata’aiyah, and Bayt Irah (3).[26]
Jordanian security apparatuses frequently report thwarted attempts to smuggle drugs from Syria into Lebanon. In July 2021, there was a report about five such shipments being seized, one of which comprised more than one million Captagon tablets.[27]
On November 8, 2021, the rebel faction Maghawir Al-Thawrah (The Revolutionary Commando Army) that is active in southeast Syria along the Jordanian border, reported that it thwarted an attempt to smuggle a shipment of Captagon pills at an estimated value of thousands of dollars, which is suspected of belonging to Hizbullah. According to the report, the destination of the shipment was Jordan and the Gulf countries. [28]
Local Consumption
The major objective of the drug industry in Syria is the markets outside Syria, where a larger margin of profit may be obtained, however, some of the drugs smuggled into Syria and produced there also reach the local market. Syrian opposition websites report a significant increase in drug trafficking and use across Syria, including in the capital city of Damascus, and including at schools.[29]
Syrian Government Position – Between An Attempt To Reassure The Local Population And Collaboration With Or Turning A Blind Eye To The Developing Drug Industry
Examining statements released by Syrian government shows that the regime is aware of the spread of the drug-production and smuggling phenomenon in the areas under its control.
Majid Al-Ayoubi, president of the criminal courts in Damascus, admitted in 2018 that in the previous years there had been an increase in drug use among students at schools and at universities.
He said that 60% of the drug users who were caught and tried in court were youths, adding that social networks make it easier for them to acquire drugs.[30]
At the same time, the Syrian government blames this problem on the country’s enemies, as it also blames them for the popular uprising against it, the economic situation, and other problems.
Nidal Jreij, the head of the division for combatting drugs in the Interior Ministry, claims that “The countries which support the war of terror against Syria have used every means, first and foremost the introduction of a flow of narcotics substances in order to influence the brains of the young people so as to recruit them to battle, while exploiting Syria’s strategic position as a transit country.”[31]
SANA, the Syrian government news agency, often reports on the capture of drug dealers and addicts.[32] In 2019, it was reported that the government arrested Ra’id Khazem, who at the time was head of the division for combatting drugs, along with other senior members of the security apparatus, on suspicion of accepting bribes in exchange for willfully ignoring the cultivation of illegal drugs.[33]
However, the Syrian opposition website Baladi-news.com reported that those who were arrested were actually working against the drug dealers and that that was the true reason for their arrest.[34]
Moreover, the possibility that the purpose of the arrests was to convince the Syrian public that the government is working to combat the phenomenon should not be ruled out.
Despite the efforts of the Syrian government to appear, at least regarding internal public opinion, to be fighting the spread of the scourge of the drug phenomenon, there are growing indications that alongside tactical enforcement operations, the government is permitting the development of the drug industry in the country either actively, or at least passively.
An investigative report published in the German magazine Der Spiegel several days after the capture of the Captagon that was shipped from Latakia to Italy in June 2020, was doubtful about the initial claims of the Italian security apparatuses that it was ISIS that was behind the shipment and accused the Syrian regime and Hizbullah.[35]
Moreover, according to reports on opposition websites and those which oppose Hizbullah and the Syrian regime, there is collaboration between Hizbullah and the Iran-backed Shi’ite militias and elements within the Syrian government security apparatuses, regarding everything related to the smuggling and distribution of drugs.
According to the Syrian opposition websites, the smuggling, production, and distribution of drugs are conducted via cooperation between Hizbullah and the Shi’ite militias and the Syrian security apparatuses, especially the Fourth Armored Division, Airforce Intelligence, and the National Defense Forces, a pro government militia which is backed by Iran.[36]
Reports indicate that in some cases there is direct collaboration between the security apparatuses and Hizbullah, in which the security apparatuses turn a blind eye to the smuggling and at times even provide security for the convoys carrying the contraband and for the facilities where the drugs are manufactured.[37]
Sometimes confrontations erupt between Hizbullah and the security apparatuses involved in the drug trafficking, which are most likely the results of financial disputes. Thus, from June 2018, reports began to appear around confrontations between Hizbullah forces and operatives in the National Defense Forces, during which several Hizbullah members were killed.[38] The Lebanese anti-Hizbullah Al-Modon daily reported that in late June 2019, an armed confrontation erupted between Hizbullah operatives and members of the National Defense Forces, at a Hizbullah military position situated between the towns of Qarah and Flitah in western Al-Qalamoun. The daily reported that during the clashes four Hizbullah operatives were killed. Al-Modon added that three of those who were killed “were buried under a cloak of secrecy as instructed by the organization, which promised their families that they would continue to pay the salaries of the ‘martyrs’.” It was also reported that the injured were transferred to field hospitals to prevent leaks to the media.[39]
In January 2020, Syrian opposition websites reported on violent confrontations between members of the National Defense Forces and members of an Iraqi Shi’ite militia in the Quneitra Governorate area.[40] However, it appears that the two sides managed to overcome their differences for the sake of their common interests.
Sometimes it is a matter of indirect cooperation. According to the reports, in order to carry out the drug smuggling and trade both within and beyond Syria, Hizbullah and Shi’ite militias loyal to Iran sometimes avail themselves of the services of local residents, some of whom were previously involved in the drug trade,[41] and some of whom are very close to senior members of the Syrian security apparatuses.[42]
Nouh Zeitar– Example Of The Support Granted By The Syrian Government To Lebanese Drug Dealers
One of the most prominent examples of the relationship between the Syrian government and drug dealers who are affiliated with Hizbullah is Nouh Zeitar, one of the major drug lords in Lebanon. There are several warrants from the Lebanese government for the arrest of Zaiter, who was born in the Al-Beqaa Governorate in 1977.
The warrants are for illegal trading in drugs and in weapons, kidnapping, and attacking the security apparatus.[43] According to reports in the Lebanese press, in 2014 Zeitar’s leg was injured when the Lebanese Army conducted a raid near his house and he was transferred to the hospital, only to be smuggled out by his relatives.[44] Despite being a wanted man, Zeitar has granted several interviews to the Lebanese media and admitted that he grows hashish, but stressed that it is the country which pushes the residents of the area to do so because it does not provide any other ways of earning a living.[45]
Zeitar’s interview to Lebanese Al-Jadeed TV, January 27, 2016 (https://www.memri.org/tv/lebanese-drug-lord-nouh-zeitar-offers-supply-hash-parliament-says-we-are-shield-hizbullah)
Zeitar’s connections to Hizbullah are well-known and he does not hide them. In a video clip shared on social media in 2015, Zeitar is seen with armed men pledging allegiance to the organization’s leader Hassan Nasrallah and declaring that he and his people will fight ISIS everywhere. Photographs showing him at Hizbullah outposts in Al-Qalamoun were also published.[46] In an interview he gave to a Lebanese television channel in 2016, Zeitar said that he has supported the organization “since the day he was born.”[47]
In a video clip released by the Lebanese Al-Jadeed TV channel on March 11, 2017, Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek, a senior cleric and one of the founders of Hizbullah, is shown paying a condolence visit to the Zeitar family and shaking hands with and speaking to Nouh Zeitar.[48]The above image shows Nouh Zeitar and senior Hizbullah cleric Sheikh Muhammad Yazbek.
Zeitar is a known supporter of the Assad regime and posts messages on his Facebook page in praise of the regime and its leaders. For example, on December 7, 2020, he posted congratulations to President Assad’s brother, Maher Al-Assad, commander of the Syrian Republican Guard and of the Fourth Armored Division, about which he commented, “53 years of love.”[49]
Zeitar also has other connections with the Assad family and frequently visits Syria. Photographs showing him with Wasim Badi’ Al-Assad, one of Bashar Al-Assad’s relatives, have been published several times on social media. One example is a photograph of Wassim and Zeitar that Wasim published on his Facebook page on March 13, 2019, with the caption, “A Syrian Lebanese brother and friend who loves the Syrian homeland.”[50]
Russian Position – Between Helping Civilians And A Power Struggle With Pro-Iran Shi’ite Militias
Alongside articles about the state-sponsored spread of the drug plague in Syria, Syrian opposition websites have reported on at least two cases in recent months in which the Russian military police attempted to stop the production and smuggling of illegal drugs.
On April 9, 2020, the Syrian opposition website, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported that the Russian military police had raided a storage facility containing narcotic substances in the Ma’raba area in the Al-Tall District of the Rif Dimashq Governorate.
The facility is owned by a local resident affiliated with Hizbullah and the raid took place following complaints made by local dignitaries to the Russian military police about the spread of drug trafficking in the area.[52]
If the report is accurate, it reflects the lack of confidence that the residents in the areas under Syrian government control have in the regime’s ability and desire to deal with the drug problem.
On April 17, 2021, another Syrian opposition website reported that the Russian military police had seized a truck carrying illegal drugs and belonging to the Fourth Armored Division that was travelling from Damascus toward the Deir Al-Zour Governorate.
It was also reported that the cargo was destined for Iraq and that the operation was coordinated by the Fourth Armored Division and the iran-backed Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq Shi’ite militia, which is active in Syria.[53]
It is probable that these actions by the Russian police took place in the context of the struggles for power and influence between Russia and Iran in Syria.[54]
Hizbullah’s Response: These Are Baseless Accusations; Any Activity Related To Drugs Is Forbidden
The accumulation of allegations and suspicions against Hizbullah in recent months, which accuse the organization of involvement in drug production, smuggling, and trafficking, has compelled it to respond. In a January 8, 2021, speech in response to Italian drug bust six months earlier, Nasrallah claimed that the accusations were baseless. He said, “No official Italian source – not the police, not the judicial system, not the state, not the Interior Ministry and not the Justice Ministry – no [Italian] element has accused Hizbullah in this matter […] We even contacted senior officials in Italy to understand the source of these allegations, and it emerged that there is no basis for them. The opposite is true – they are at a loss between ISIS and European and Russian mafia organizations, and this has no connection to Hizbullah.”
Nasrallah stressed, “Our position regarding drugs of any kind and any activity – production, selling, buying, transporting, smuggling, using – all these are forbidden. If Islamic law applied, the punishment would be death. This is the first time [sic] that I have been compelled to speak about this subject.[55] I don’t know what goes on in the other parties, but in Hizbullah the organization has a court called the Organizational Bureau which judges. Every person who belongs to Hizbullah […] about whom it emerges that he has a connection to production, smuggling, assistance in smuggling, or assistance in production, or that he is covering up the production or trafficking or selling or buying – even the smallest quantity, in such a case, if it is proved that the brother is involved in such activity, the Organizational Bureau expels him from the organization – without any warnings or suspension of six months or a year or two years. Expulsion, he is totally removed from Hizbullah. If he is a volunteer, it’s over, and if he received a salary, his salary is not provided anymore. If he is entitled to compensation, he does not receive it. This is known to all our brothers in the organization, so that no one will be tempted or make a mistake like this. We do not permit this, and our sources of authority do not permit this. There are claims that this is used in the arenas of the enemies – even there one should not use this […] You are attacking us, you are insulting our honor, and accusing us of deviant and indecent and very bad things […] You doubt our humanity, our morals, and say that we are criminals. Anyone who deals in Captagon and in drugs is a criminal, a murderer. We will not allow anyone to accuse us of this.”[56]
Furthermore, in June 2021, The Consultative Center for Studies and Documentation, a Lebanese research institute with connections to Hizbullah, published the first part of a report titled, “Refuting the American Claims about Hizbullah’s Role in Latin America.”[57] The report states that its aim is “to understand the process by which these allegations were created and to expose the mechanisms and channels of this process” and that it is based on an examination of “dozens of sessions of the American Congress concerning Hizbullah as well as laws and executive decisions and statements from the Justice Ministry.” The first part of the report, comprising 27 pages, purports to analyze the characteristics of the members of Congress who participated in these meetings and the laws they promoted against Hizbullah and Iran; the research institutes and the researchers who participated in these meetings; and the role of the “Zionist lobby” in the campaign against Hizbullah. The remaining parts of the report will be concerned with the backgrounds of the research institutes which participate in these meetings and their agendas and funding sources.
Conclusion
The decade-long war in Syria, which cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, has also impacted the illegal drug trade in the country. Several groups involved in the fighting, in particular the Syrian regime and its allies, such as Hizbullah, seek to obtain funding for their activities via involvement in the illicit drug trade and the production of Captagon tablets.
Despite Hassan Nasrallah’s denial of any connection between his organization and drug smuggling, production, or trafficking, it appears that Hizbullah and Iran will continue to take advantage of their military presence in Syria to reap financial profits through their involvement in “legitimate” economic projects in the spheres of oil, food and industry[58] and also in criminal activities, such as the drug trade.
The reports in the Syrian opposition press about the Russian military police raiding a drug storage facility and seizing trucks carrying illegal drug shipments may be expressions of the struggle for power and influence between Russia and Iran in Syria, and not purely part of Russia’s counter narcotics efforts.
*N. Mozes is a Research Fellow At MEMRI.
[1] Captagon is an amphetamine, and one of several brand names for the drug compound fenethylline hydrochloride.
[2] See MEMRI Report: Struggle Between Russia, Iran For Control Over Syria’s Centers Of Power, September 23, 2019.
[3] Since 2008, law enforcement agencies in the U.S. have been monitoring worldwide drug and arms syndicates established by Hizbullah, whose annual value is estimated at more than a billion dollars. Politicio.com, December 18, 2017.
[4] For more information about these implications, see MEMRI Reports: Websites Opposed To The Syrian Regime: Iran Continues To Consolidate Its Presence In Southern Syria, In Violation Of Understandings Between Russia, Israel, Jordan, January 4, 2019; Websites Opposed To The Syrian Regime: Iran Continues To Consolidate Its Presence In Southern Syria, In Violation Of Understandings Between Russia, Israel, Jordan, January 4, 2019; Syrian Opposition Websites: Iran Consolidating Its Presence In Eastern Syria, West Of Euphrates, To Form Continuum From Iran, Through Iraq And Syria, To Mediterranean, December 4, 2018; Hizbullah Military Parade In Syrian Town Of Al-Qusayr: Tanks, Cannon, And Machine Guns, November 14, 2016; Iranian Gen. Rostam Ghasemi: Our Involvement in the Syria War Came with a Price, But Opened Economic Opportunities That Will Yield Profit Soon, March 5, 2019; Struggle Between Russia, Iran For Control Over Syria’s Centers Of Power, September 23, 2019; and Together With Its Allies, The Syrian Regime Is Forcing Demographic Change In Areas Of The Country – For Self-Protection And Self-Preservation, November 15, 2016.
[5] sasapost.com, January 10, 2020
[6] Damascusv.com, June 10, 2020.
[7] See for example, Almodon.com, October 10, 2020.
[8] Orient-news.net/, April 27, 2020.
[9] On November 13, 2016, Hizbullah even held a military parade in Al-Qusayr, the first of its kind in Syria. See MEMRI report: The Significance, Ramifications, And Messages Of Hizbullah’s Show Of Military Force In Al-Qusayr, Syria, January 3, 2017.
[10] www.almodon.com, September 8, 2019; nedaa-post.com,
[11] www.sy-24.com, 26.12.2000
[12] janoubia.com, 24.5.2021; sy-24.com, 25.5.2021; stepagency-sy.net, 3.6.2021
[13] For example, the Syrian opposition website Iamahumanstory.com reports that weapons and “biological materials” are flown from Iran’s Isfahan International Airport to Baghdad International Airport, transferred from there to temporary storage facilities in the city of Karbala then overland to Deir Al-Zour airport, Iamahumanstory.com, November 4, 2019.
[14] Damascusv.com, December 27, 2020.
[15] Syriahr.com, February 17, 2021.
[16] Sy-24.com, December 18, 2019.
[17] Iamahumanstory.com, November 4, 2019.
[18] Sy-24.com, December 18, 2019.
[19] Iamahumanstory.com, November 4, 2019.
[20] www.harmoon.org, October 22, 2021. In 2018, opposition websites reported that Hizbullah continues to establish weapons storage facilities and bases in the Al-Lagaah area. See MEMRI report Websites Opposed To The Syrian Regime: Iran Continues To Consolidate Its Presence In Southern Syria, In Violation Of Understandings Between Russia, Israel, Jordan, January 4. 2019.
[21] Bbc.com, July 1, 2020.
[22] Al-Arabi Al-Jadid (London), June 28, 2021.
[23] On November 29, 2020, there was a report about a shipment that was seized at the Damietta Port on a boat which left from a port in Syria and was en route to the UAE, Almasryalyoum.com, November 29, 2020. On December 12, 2018, there was a report about another shipment from Syria which was seized at Damietta Port, Almasryalyoum.com, November 29, 2020.
[24] For more information about the reconciliation agreements between the Syrian government and the rebel organizations, see MEMRI Report: Local Ceasefire Agreements In Syria: Capitulation To Regime’s Siege-AndStarvation Strategy Under UN Sponsorship, January 26, 2016.
[25] For more information about the consolidation of the presence of the Shi’ite militias loyal to Iran in southern Syria, see for example MEMRI Report: Websites Opposed To The Syrian Regime: Iran Continues To Consolidate Its Presence In Southern Syria, In Violation Of Understandings Between Russia, Israel, Jordan, January 4, 2019.
[26] Sy-24.com, December 18, 2019.
[27] Ammonnews.net, July 19, 2021; Orient-news.net, July 20, 2021.
[28] Twitter.com/MaghaweirThowra, November 8, 2021.
[29] Halabtodaytv.net, August 5, 2019; and Damascusv.com, December 9, 2021.
[30] Al-Watan (Syria), March 27, 2018.
[31] Moi.gov.sy, January 27, 2021.
[32] For example, on July 13, 2021, it was reported that the division for the fight against drugs in Damascus arrested a drug dealer in possession of 12 kilos of hashish, SANA News Agency (Syria), July 13, 2021; and on June 7, 2021, it reported that four drug dealers were captured in the Rif Dimashq Governorate, SANA News Agency (Syria), June 7, 2021.
[33] Eqtsad.net, August 20, 2019.
[34] Baladi-news.com, January 5, 2020.
[35] Speigel.de, July 3, 2020.
It should be noted that the initial report from the Italian law enforcement agencies accused the Islamic State (ISIS) of responsibility for the smuggling. However, several days later, reports began to appear in the international media according to which it was actually Hizbullah and the Syrian government which were behind the smuggling attempt, for example, Spiegel.de, July 3, 2020. Also, ISIS denied the allegations. For more information, see MEMRI JTTM Report: ISIS Editorial Accuses Italy Of Drug Trade With Syrian Regime, Regime, Claims U.S. Withdrawal From Afghanistan Is Connected With Opium Trade, July 9, 2020.
[36] For more information about this militia see MEMRI report: Syria Regime Establishing Popular Armed Militias Modeled On Iranian Basij, April 25, 2016.
[37] Orient-news.net, April 27, 2020; Iamahumanstory.com, November 4, 2019; Damascusv.com, December 27, 2020; Sy-24.com, December 18, 2019; and Enabbaladi.net, February 21, 2021.
[38] orient-news,net, June 6, 2018.
[39] Almodon.com, July 2, 2019.
[40] Orient-news.net, January 21, 2020; and damascusv.com, January 13, 2020.
[41] Orient-news.net, January 17, 2021.
[42] It should be noted that some of the heads of the gangs involved in this activity were previously members of rebel organizations who, in 2018, signed reconciliation agreements with the Syrian government, Iamahumanstory.com, November 4, 2019.
[43] The most recent warrant was issued on April 19, 2021, in which he is accused of dealing and distributing drugs, Nna-leb.gov.lb, April 19, 2021.
[44] Aljoumhouria.com, October 10, 2014.
[45] See MEMRITV Clip: Drug Lord Nouh Zeitar Offers to Supply Hash at Parliament, Says: We Are the Shield of Hizbullah, January 27, 2016.
[46] Lebanondebate.com, September 14, 2015.
[47] See MEMRITV Clip: Drug Lord Nouh Zeitar Offers to Supply Hash at Parliament, Says: We Are the Shield of Hizbullah, January 27, 2016.
[48] Janoubia.com, March 11, 2017.
[49] Facebook.com/nouh.zeaiter.5, December 7, 2020.
[50] Facebook.com/wasim.reemalassad.3, March 14, 2019.
[51] Facebook.com/firasalhamzawiq, June 19, 2018.
[52] Syriahr.com, April 9, 2020.
[53] Stepagency-sy.net, April 17, 2021.
[54] For more information about these power struggles see MEMRI Report: Struggle Between Russia, Iran For Control Over Syria’s Centers Of Power, September 23, 2019.
[55] It should be noted that this is not the first time that Nasrallah has been compelled to officially rebuff accusations of drug trafficking directed at his organization. He made similar statements in a speech he delivered on January 19, 2018, following the publication on Politicio.com of an investigative article which states that the Obama Administration prevented steps being taken against drug trafficking by Hizbullah in South America in order to promote the nuclear deal with Iran, Alahednews.com.lb, January 21, 2018.
[56] Almanar.com.lb, January 9, 2021.
[57] Dirasat.net, June, 2021.
[58] For more information about Iranian economic investments in Syria, see for example, MEMRI Report: How The Assad Regime Is Dealing With The Caesar Act Sanctions – Part I: Circumventing The Sanctions With Help Of Russia, Iran, Hizbullah, June 8, 2021.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on November 26-27/2021
Pope to persons with disabilities: “The Church is truly your home"
Vatican News/26 November ,2021
The Vatican on released the message of Pope Francis for the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December: “Pope Francis assures people with disabilities that the Church is truly their home, saying the Church is a community of imperfect people and sinners who are in need of God’s forgiveness. The Pope expresses the Church’s closeness to them in a message on the occasion of the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December The UN General Assembly proclaimed the annual observance in 1992, to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of political, social, economic, and cultural life.”— Vatican News

NATO Warns Russia of 'Costs' if Force Used on Ukraine
Agence France Presse/26 November ,2021
Russia will face consequences if it uses its military on Ukraine, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday as he expressed worries about Moscow's build-up of forces on the border. It is "clear that if Russia uses force against Ukraine, that will have costs, that will have consequences," he told a media conference.

Iran’s FM calls for lifting of sanctions, days before Vienna nuclear talks
Reuters/26 November ,2021
Iran wants the lifting of all sanctions in a verifiable process, its foreign minister said on Friday, three days before nuclear talks resume in Vienna. Monday’s indirect talks between the United States and Iran, with the participation of major powers, aim at bringing the two countries into full compliance with a 2015 deal. Washington abandoned the accord in 2018 and reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran. “If the opposing sides are prepared to return to their full obligations and the lifting of sanctions, a good and even immediate agreement can be reached,” minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said in a telephone conversation with the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Joseph Borrell. “Iran wants a good and verifiable agreement,” Iranian media quoted Amirabdollahian as saying. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday following a trip to Tehran this week that he had made no progress on several disputes, the most pressing of which was getting access to the workshop at the TESA Karaj complex two months after Iran promised to grant it. The workshop makes components for centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium, and was hit by apparent sabotage in June in which one of four IAEA cameras there was destroyed. Iran removed the cameras and the destroyed camera’s footage is missing. “We are close to the point where I would not be able to guarantee continuity of knowledge,” Grossi said. However, Amirabdollahian told Borrell that Iran would attend the Vienna talks in “good faith” - despite the US violation of the 2015 agreement.

Iran Accuses U.N. Nuclear Watchdog of Bowing to West's Pressure
Agence France Presse/26 November ,2021
Iran has accused the U.N.'s nuclear agency of bowing to pressure from its Western financiers to "discriminate" against Tehran, as strains persist ahead of new talks to revive the 2015 atomic deal. "It's a reality. The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) doesn't deal with Iran as it should," Behrouz Kamalvandi, spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, told state television late Thursday. He argued that organizations such as the IAEA were "under the influence of powerful countries" which "finance them and in exchange apply pressure on them." In a phone call on Friday with EU diplomatic chief Josep Borrel, Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said it would be "possible to reach a favorable agreement" if sanctions are lifted. "We will participate in the Vienna talks in good faith and seriously," he said, while calling for "a serious and sufficient guarantee" that the United States will not leave the nuclear deal. After a mission to Tehran this week, IAEA head Rafael Grossi said his talks with Iranian officials had been "constructive" but "inconclusive." "In terms of the substance... we were not able to make progress," Grossi told reporters in Vienna where the IAEA is based.
Kamalvandi said the Islamic republic was "trying to stand up for its rights and to counter the negative image that they (the international community) are trying to fabricate about us." Western countries "say we are seeking a nuclear weapon and that we must be prevented at all costs," he said.
"The nuclear industry is an essential industry and one to which we are committed. Above all, we must not give up but instead pursue our efforts," the spokesman said. Grossi's visit came ahead of the scheduled resumption on Monday of negotiations between Tehran and world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in return for curbs on its nuclear program. The deal has been gradually disintegrating since former U.S. president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018. President Joe Biden's administration, however, says it is working to return the United States to the accord whose other parties are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia.

Demonstrations in Iran’s Isfahan turn violent as police forcibly disperse protesters
Yaghoub Fazeli, Al Arabiya English/26 November ,2021
Security forces in Iran clashed on Friday with demonstrators who were protesting the government’s water management policies in the central city of Isfahan, videos shared on social media showed.Security forces attacked protesters with batons in the dry bed of the Zayandehrud River and fired tear gas to disperse them, some videos shared on social media showed. Other videos showed security forces being chased away by protesters. Fars, a news agency affiliated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, acknowledged the protests on Friday, saying security forces used tear gas to “ensure security and prevent violence and mobility of opportunists.” Farmers in Isfahan, who kick-started the latest round of protests in the city, ended a nearly weeks-long protest on Thursday after reaching an agreement with provincial authorities, Fars said, adding that Friday’s protesters “did not resemble the farmers of Isfahan due to their clothing and age.”Fars was insinuating that Friday’s protests were organized by anti-regime groups. Last Friday, thousands of people in Isfahan took to the dry bed of Zayandehrud River in support of the city’s farmers and to voice their anger at the state of the city’s once-famed Zayanderud River which has dried up due to drought and mismanagement. In July, deadly protests broke out in the southwestern province of Khuzestan over water shortages.

Ex-Iranian Official: No Political Prisoners Among 1988 Executions
Stockholm- Raghida Bahnam/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
A former Iranian prison official accused of handing out death sentences during a 1988 purge of dissidents testified for the first time on Tuesday in a landmark trial in Sweden. Hamid Noury, 60, denied the presence of political prisoners in Iran during the mass executions in the late 80’s, stressing that “prisoners belonged to groups.” According to the lawyer for the civil plaintiffs, Kenneth Lewis, Noury’s testimony “lacks credibility.”In statements to Asharq Al-Awsat, Lewis said that the defendant’s complete denial of any violations in Iranian prisons is not only a “fairy tale” but also “absurd.”“He says he wasn’t there, but we have 58 people who say he was,” Lewis stated. “The whole world knows that there have been human rights violations in Iranian prisons since the eighties,” he added. While not accused of directly carrying out any of the killings, the prosecution has alleged that Noury’s participation included handing down death sentences, bringing prisoners to the execution chamber and helping prosecutors gather prisoners’ names.
Noury has rejected the charges.
He has been on trial in Stockholm's district court since August on charges including murder, crimes against humanity and war crimes. They stem from the period between July 30 to August 16, 1988, when he was allegedly assistant to the deputy prosecutor of Gohardasht prison in Karaj, near Tehran. He tried to show a completely different image of Iranian prisons. In his plea, Noury said there were no torturing acts in Iranian prisons. But throughout the interrogation, he admitted that the prisoners were flogged, stressing that it was “a standard punishment in Iran, not torture.”He added that prisoners’ trials lasted “10 minutes or more.”Prisoners were allowed to present evidence and documents, and the trial’s period was based on the quality of the evidence,” he said. Although he denied working at Gohardasht prison and stressed he only worked as a guard in Evin prison, Noury later said he once went on a mission to Gohardasht, without giving further details. “Iran’s intelligence has dictated Noury his testimony,” MEK spokesman Shahin Gobadi told Ahsarq Al-Awsat, adding that the defendant is “covering up all the crimes he committed with the Iranian regime over the past years.”The Swedish trial has already heard testimony from several witnesses, including from members or ex-members of the MEK.

Syrian Emigrant Stuck In Belarus Refuses to Return to 'Hell'...As Another Reaches the 'European Dream'
London - Ibrahim Hamidi/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
I would rather die here than go back to hell. Even the police officer at Damascus airport asked me about my destination, and whether it was Germany or the Netherlands, and then said to me: Lucky you. I wish I was with you.” Those are the words of “Fouad”, a young Syrian man, who has been stuck in Belarus since his arrival in Minsk on Oct. 28. The fear of this young man and five of his “new friends” prompted them to contact “Arab brokers” in search of a “way out of this trap” between the inability to cross into European Poland, and the fear of “falling” into the hands of the Belarusian authorities who would send them back to Syria. As for “Rafik”, he was among the lucky ones who left the “Syrian nightmare” and reached the “European dream”. When he arrived at the border, “six great soldiers of Belarus came and raised the barbed wire for us, while one of them pointed to Poland, and told us: "Go, good luck.”Indeed, “Rafik”, his father, and others arrived in Germany. “The risk is worth it,” he says. “I will never return to our country.”
How did it all start?
“Fouad” is a young man who lived in Damascus. He graduated from university years ago and worked for a short period with a salary that did not cover the minimum cost of living with the deterioration of the Syrian pound rate against the dollar. But then he lost both his modest job and hope and began dreaming of travelling abroad. He contacted a government-licensed travel and tourism office in central Damascus, borrowed money from his relatives and paid $3,600 to obtain his visa to Belarus. The deal included a visa, flight fare through the Cham Wings airlines, and a reservation in a hotel in Minsk for a few nights. Meanwhile, “Fouad” called a relative to arrange contact with a smuggler from Minsk to the Polish border. For this purpose, he paid the amount of 2,500 euros. He says he was lucky because others paid the smuggler 10,000 euros per person. He collected his basic needs in a bag, and put a mobile phone and $1,000 in his pocket. At nine o’clock in the morning of October 27, he received the visa at the tourism office, which was crowded with dozens of applicants looking for the “European dream”, or “exit from the Syrian nightmare.”
They took the bus to Damascus airport.
“Fouad” recounts: “We got to the window of the border security official… who then asked me: Where are you going? Germany? Then he added, “Lucky you, I wish I was with you.””On board were about 200 people, mostly young men, and some families. They arrived in Minsk around seven o'clock in the evening. When the plane landed, a bus came and took them all to the terminal building. They went upstairs, where the shock was. “All the world was here. Young people and families from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon,” he says. Many hours later, a security man came and “led us like cows. He was walking at the head of the queue, in front of about 200 people. He was leading us left and right, until we reached a hall,” according to “Fouad.”He adds: “There they took each person’s mobile phone. They recorded his serial number with the passport, most likely to monitor us.” After that, each person goes alone to the checkpoint to confirm the passport, phone and visa, with an eye print. The process took a long time. Upon leaving the airport at the dawn of Oct. 28, a bus transported the arrivals to their hotels. While few of the people spent the night in the hotel, many headed straight to Poland’s borders, according to prior arrangements with smugglers, he recounts.
The Borders
When Fouad arrived, the Belarusian mood changed from “raising the wires to facilitate the passage of migrants into Poland, to beating them and returning them to the capital.”Rafik had better luck. He says: “There, the Belarusian army men lifted the barbed wire and encouraged us to cross to Poland…A big soldier raised the wires, and another hit the Polish soldiers with stones so that we could cross without them seeing us.”Some migrants crossed, while about 1,000 people gathered at the border, amid the worsening political crisis between Belarus and European countries. On his way back to the capital, “Fouad” contacted another “Arab broker” whom he had known in front of the hotel. He arranged for his group to rent a basement in a building and promised to try to smuggle them again. Fouad says: “We heard that a plane belonging to Cham Wings will come to Minsk on Nov. 28 to return a group of us to Damascus. We all decided that we would not go back to Hell.”He adds: “We rented an apartment for a month, for $1,000, waiting for one of two solutions; either we cross to Poland, or we go to Moscow, and from there we take a taxi to Finland and then Europe, according to what one of the Arab brokers promised us.”

Israel Unveils ‘Secret’ Commando Unit in Gaza
Tel Aviv- Asharq Al Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
The Israeli Army Command has revealed that a secret commando war unit had operated in the Gaza Strip during the war last May. This revelation came when the army command decided to honor the secret units that operated in the enclave in the recent war, Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Thursday. Army Chief of Staff General Aviv Kochavi will honor the unit members, the newspaper added. “These are previously undisclosed units that carried out major, complex and secret operations in Gaza during the last war,” Kochavi was quoted as saying. He will also honor combat and intelligence units for operating in Gaza and other fronts, Ynet news noted. Military sources refused to give any information that would reveal anything about the nature of the unit’s work and what makes it different from the other units. However, they affirmed that it mastered the sensitive and risky operations, and for this reason, it will be granted an award of excellence.

Biden Administration ‘Disavows’ Trump’s Policies in Syria
Washington - Muath Alamri/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
For months, the international community and those interested in the Syrian file have closely watched the steps of the US administration in dealing with the Syria crisis. Rumors spread right, left, and center about US desire to ignore the file, unlike the previous administration, after the US Treasury officially announced its amendments to Syria sanctions, allowing “limited dealings” with the regime, under the guise of humanitarian support for NGOs. In a US Treasury statement released on Wednesday, the administration introduced amendments that expand the authorizations for nongovernmental organizations to engage in certain transactions and activities. The expansion allows NGOs to have new investments in Syria, purchase of refined petroleum products of Syrian origin for use in Syria, and certain transactions with elements of the Government of Syria. The US Treasury underlined six “non-profit” new investment activities that will be allowed in Syria. These new transactions and activities are authorized only in support of the not-for-profit activities already approved under the general license, including humanitarian projects that meet basic human needs, democracy-building, projects supporting education, non-commercial development projects directly benefiting the Syrian people, and activities to support the preservation and protection of cultural heritage sites. The new amendments are not the only decision taken by the Biden administration. They followed a number of decisions, such as halting the extension license given to Delta Crescent Energy LLC to explore and extract oil from wells located east of Syria in areas under the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) control.
Moreover, the Biden administration chose to remain neutral and not prevent some Arab countries from normalizing ties with the Syrian regime. Finally, the administration did not appoint a special envoy for Syria, contrary to what the previous administration was working on. One of the most important things that the US administration still claims to preserve and not change is the Caesar Act, which aims to protect civilians in Syria, whereby bipartisan US law allows imposing sanctions on any person, Syrian or foreign, who provides assistance to the regime’s military operations or construction, engineering, energy, and aviation sectors in the country. During the last six months of the Trump administration, the Caesar Act and other powers were used to issue more than 100 penalties on the Syrian regime and its elements, including members of the Assad family. Under the current administration, President Joe Biden has so far issued one round of sanctions related to Syria, where he punished several regime prison officials and a Turkish-backed Syrian opposition group in July last summer. Bassam Barbandi, a Syrian dissident and former diplomat at the Syrian embassy in Washington, saw that the new steps taken by the US administration in easing some sanctions for the work of humanitarian organizations in Syria are evidence of the US administration’s approach to facilitating the use of the sanctions tool in foreign policy. The administration intends to use sanctions when needed, not indiscriminately. More so, the Biden administration is adhering to its commitments to allowing the work and transit of humanitarian aid to and from Syria, “and this is the political management line and not a conspiracy.”
The State Department had requested $125 million in economic aid to Syria for the 2022 fiscal year. Barbandi told Asharq Al-Awsat that the most important thing is the continuation of the humanitarian aid crossing from Turkey to Syria and ensuring the continuity of consensus between the Russians and the Americans. Ensuring the US-Russia consensus in Syria will protect aid in the coming period. Barbandi considered that Russia wants the Americans to show leniency in other matters for consensus to persist. “Therefore, the new exceptions ease the transit of money for early recovery and ease the work of organizations and financial transactions in Syria.” For his part, Heiko Wimmen, director of the Syria program at the International Crisis Group, saw the Biden administration’s announcement as another indication of its continued departure from former president Donald Trump’s policy on Syria. “We are witnessing a general tendency [from the Biden administration] to show more flexibility about drawing the line between what counts as early recovery and hence falls under the humanitarian exception, and what is considered reconstruction,” Wimmen told The National. Wimmen said, in theory, the move could strengthen the defense of the sanctions structure in Syria by focusing it on the Assad regime and not the people. “By providing more precise and generous definitions of what is humanitarian, you can draw that distinction and perhaps also deflate some of the criticism against the sanctions regime,” Wimmen argued.

Second Group of Iraqis Return after Failed Europe Gamble
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Defeated but somewhat relieved, a second group of Iraqis returned home to northern Iraq on Friday after a failed quest to reach the European Union, citing maltreatment and abuse suffered at the hands of Belarusian authorities. Over 170 people returned on a flight that landed in Irbil International Airport after 2 a.m. in Iraq's northern Kurdish-run region. A group of children showed reporters their hands with wounds and infections. A returned migrant lowered his surgical mask to embrace his children who came to meet him at the airport, The Associated Press said. Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region has been shaken by a migrant crisis resulting from thousands of people from around the Middle East — a disproportionate number of them Iraqis — trying to cross into the EU through a backdoor opened by non-EU member Belarus. Most of the repatriated Iraqis from Belarus have been Iraqi Kurds. It is the second repatriation flight to return from Minsk. Last week, 430 Iraqis returned home.
Another flight was expected to arrive at 7 a.m. Friday morning, according to a tweet by Lawk Ghafuri, spokesman for the semi-autonomous Kurdistan government. Word on that flight has yet to emerge. Some cited the cruelty of Belarusian border authorities — from beatings to threats — and attempts to push them to cross into neighboring EU countries Poland and Lithuania. They had hoped to cross, just not under threats from the Belarusians. Thousands of migrants remain stranded between borders. Most are fleeing conflict or hopelessness in the Middle East and aim to reach Germany or other western European countries. But Poland has taken a hard line about letting them in, and Belarus didn’t want them returning to the capital of Minsk or otherwise settling in the country. “We are very thankful for arriving home, because the humanity and justice that people say about Europe is far from reality. It is not true at all. We have been beaten badly," said Awat Nassir, a returnee at the airport. “Now people are regretting they went there and demand to come back home, because it is 15 degrees below zero in Belarus now,” he said, an exaggeration of the current temperature of around minus four degrees, but which may feel colder due to the damp and wind chill factor. Iraqi Kurds in large numbers have chosen to make the perilous journey by selling their belongings to pay smugglers. They cite rising unemployment, endemic corruption and a recent economic crisis that slashed state salaries in the Kurdish-run region as driving their desire to leave.
Budget shortfalls spurred by a crash in oil prices last year has made life more difficult for Iraqi Kurds. The autonomous region relies on budget transfers from the federal government to pay public wages, but these have been intermittent because of a long-standing dispute over Kurdistan's independent oil export policy. As a result, austerity measures were introduced and wages were slashed last year. Iraqi Kurds have taken to the streets to protest salary cuts and budget shortfalls. Water cannons were used to disperse dozens of student protesters in Sulaymaniyah province this week. They were mostly university students demanding the Kurdistan Regional Government pay their student allowances fallen into arrears. The West has accused Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko of using the migrants as pawns to destabilize the 27-nation bloc in retaliation for its sanctions on his authoritarian regime. Belarus denies engineering the crisis, which has seen migrants entering the country since summer and then trying to cross into Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. “The most difficult thing is when you see children stuck there," said Emad Hussein, another returnee. “It is very hard.”

UK Calls for Preserving Independence of the Libyan National Oil Corporation
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
Chairman of the Libyan National Oil Corporation (NOC) Mustafa Sanalla held talks with the British Ambassador to Libya, Caroline Hurndall at NOC’s headquarters in Tripoli. During the meeting, Sanalla briefed Hurndall on the challenges facing the oil sector in Libya, highlighting the low level of production "due to lack of funding and scarce budgets,” NOC said in a statement. For her part, Sanalla stressed the importance of supporting NOC and preserving its independence as a non-political technical institution and keeping it away from any tensions. She also said that the oil sector in Libya is a promising sector that encourages investment and attracts investors to enter to maintain and increase production rates in the event that security continues and political stability is achieved, NOC's statement added. She also hailed NOC's role in stabilizing the national economy, as it is the main source of the Libyan economy, which provides hard currencies.”

Libya: UN Decries Attack on Court Ahead of National Vote
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 26 November, 2021
The UN mission in Libya condemned on Friday an attack by armed men on an appeals court as it was set to re-examine an earlier decision that disqualified the son of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi from running for president. On Thursday, armed men surrounded the court in the southern town of Sabha and prevented judges from convening to look into Seif al-Islam Gadhafi's appeal. Earlier, the country's electoral body had deemed Seif al-Islam ineligible to take part in the presidential race set for next month, citing his previous convictions, The Associated Press said. “Attacks against judicial or election facilities or judicial or elections personnel are not only criminal acts, punishable under Libyan law, but (they) also undermine Libyans’ right to participate in the political process,” the UNSMIL tweeted. Libya is set to hold the first round of presidential elections on Dec. 24, after years of UN-led attempts to usher in a more democratic future and end the country’s civil war. However, the upcoming vote faces many challenges including unresolved issues over laws governing the elections, and occasional infighting among armed groups. Other obstacles include the deep rift that remains between the country’s east and west and the presence of thousands of foreign fighters and troops. The county is currently governed by an interim government that was elected by Libyan delegates after UN-led talks in Geneva in February.
Libya’s interim Interior Minister Khaled Mazen vowed on Thursday to hunt down and prosecute the assailants. He insisted that the transitional government is keen on securing the electoral process in order to encourage all Libyans to go to the vote, according to Libya's state-owned news agency.
On Wednesday, High National Elections Committee decided to exclude Seif al-Islam from the race citing his criminal record. Seif al-Islam had been sentenced to death by a Tripoli court in 2015 for using violence against protesters in a 2011 uprising against his father, but that ruling has since been called into question by Libya’s rival authorities. He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity related to the uprising. The announcement of his possible candidacy stirred controversy across the divided country, where a number of other high-profile candidates have also emerged in recent weeks. Among them are powerful military commander Khalifa Hifter and the country’s interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. “The Mission reiterates its call for holding transparent, fair and inclusive elections on 24 December,” said UNSMIL.

More than 90 Houthis killed in last 24 hours in Yemen’s Marib: Arab Coalition
Al Arabiya English/26 November ,2021
The Arab Coalition said on Friday that its forces have conducted 16 military operations targeting positions for the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen’s Marib in the last 24 hours. The Arab Coalition backing the legitimate government in Yemen said in a statement that the operations destroyed 12 military vehicles and killed more than 90 terrorists of the Houthi militia. On Thursday, the coalition said its forces conducted several airstrikes on Houthi military camps and targets in the Yemen’s capital Sanaa, according to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The operation in Sanaa targeted Houthi military camps at the presidential residence in Sanaa, according to the coalition.

Toronto student union approves anti-Israel resolution
Elad Benari/Israel National News/November 26/2021
Jewish groups call on University of Toronto to act after student union at its Scarborough campus votes to eliminate funding for student groups that support Israel. Jewish groups in Canada on Thursday expressed outrage after a student union in Toronto passed an anti-Israel resolution. Hasbara Fellowships Canada demanded that the University of Toronto at Scarborough (UTSC) intervene after its student union (SCSU) voted to eliminate funding for student groups that support Israel. At its annual general meeting on Wednesday, the student union passed a motion in support of the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. A subsection of the original motion passed in 2013 now requires that any kosher food brought to campus must come from an organization that does not support “Israeli apartheid.”The subsection states that if Jewish students cannot find such an organization, kosher food suppliers that support “Israeli apartheid” shall be granted exemptions. The motion also says that student union must “refrain from engaging with organizations, services, or take part in events that further normalize Israeli apartheid.”Gabriela Rosenblum, a Hasbara Fellow at UTSC, harshly condemned the motion and said, “This BDS vote undoes all the critical work done by this student government. This motion requires that Jews at UTSC prove that they are ‘good Jews’ in the eyes of the student government, distinct from the many ‘bad Jews’ who support Israel. This motion even defines antisemitism for the Jewish students on campus.”
“These are hurdles that exist for no other group. It is clear that this motion targets Jews for discrimination. Even for something as simple as ordering jelly donuts for Chanukah, Jewish students at SCSU will now be forced to prove that kosher caterers do not support their Jewish homeland, which is basically impossible,” she continued. Daniel Koren, Executive Director of Hasbara Canada, echoed Gabriela’s sentiments and said, “This motion is a direct assault on Jewish students at UTSC and aims to hinder their ability to live a Jewish life. Whether the SCSU likes it or not, Israel is an essential part of Jewish identity. They do not have the right to tell Jewish students how to practice Judaism on campus.”Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) called for immediate condemnation and action from University of Toronto administration.
“This motion represents yet another attack on Jewish students and faculty members on campus as well as the broader Jewish community. This ups the ante in an already toxic environment for Jews, further infringing on their ability to lead a normal life on campus. Shame on the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union and on the university administration that has allowed the student union to continue down this slippery slope. The University of Toronto must denounce this and ensure the rights and freedoms of Jewish students are protected,” said FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. FSWC said in a statement it has written a letter to U of T President Meric Gertler and U of T Scarborough Principal Wisdom Tettey, calling for the university to immediately speak out against this discriminatory motion and stand up for the rights of Jewish students. B’nai Brith Canada similarly condemned the motion and said, “The recent antisemitic measures announced by the Scarborough Campus Students' Union (SCSU) are disturbing to B'nai Brith Canada but not surprising, as the University of Toronto's Scarborough Campus has been known as a hotbed of antisemitism for many years.”
“U of T administration has repeatedly failed to confront antisemitism within the institution. In our view, the SCSU's actions violate U of T's anti-discrimination policies, and the administration is therefore obligated to withhold all fees remitted to the SCSU,” it added. The University of Toronto has been in the headlines several times in recent years in relation to anti-Israel conduct. In March of 2019, the Graduate Students’ Union approved a motion to make its Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Committee permanent. Last year, B’nai Brith Canada condemned CUPE 3902, a labor union at U of T, following a series of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic tweets issued by its official Twitter account. Several months earlier, CUPE 3902 attempted to host Issam al-Yamani, a Palestinian Arab terrorist facing deportation from Canada, as a speaker at a campus event. The event was nixed by U of T following complaints from B’nai Brith and other groups, but was relocated to CUPE 3902’s own offices instead.

Canada/Minister Joly speaks with Ethiopian counterpart
November 26, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke yesterday with Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister, Demeke Mekonnen.
During their call, Minister Joly emphasized Canada’s profound alarm regarding the rapidly deteriorating situation in Ethiopia, including the worsening humanitarian situation and military escalation. She urged for immediate actions by the Government of Ethiopia to draw the conflict to a peaceful end. In response to Minister Joly’s continuing call to ensure unhindered humanitarian access, Deputy Prime Minister Mekonnen underscored his efforts to ensure that humanitarian assistance enters Tigray immediately.
Both ministers agreed on the importance of all parties working toward a political solution under the auspices of the African Union and High Representative Obasanjo. The two Ministers agreed to remain in contact.

Canada/Minister of Foreign Affairs urges Canadians to leave Ethiopia
Statement
November 26, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement urging Canadians to leave Ethiopia immediately:
“Canada is very concerned by the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Ethiopia.
“Our top priority is the safety and security of Canadians, both at home and abroad. Since November 18, we have been asking Canadians to avoid all travel to Ethiopia. We are now asking Canadians who are already there to leave immediately if it is safe to do so. Should the situation continue to worsen, the availability of commercial flights could soon become limited.
“Ultimately, Canadians abroad are responsible for their own safety and should make the best decisions for themselves and their families, based on their individual situations.
“Our embassy in Addis Ababa remains open, and our consular officials stand ready to help Canadians in need of emergency assistance. However, our ability to provide consular assistance in Ethiopia is limited, including in Addis Ababa. Canadians should make their own travel arrangements now and should not count on evacuation flights.”
Canadians in need of assistance can contact the Embassy of Canada to Ethiopia at 251 11 317 0000 or by email at consul.addis@international.gc.ca.
Canadians can also contact Global Affairs Canada’s Emergency Watch and Response Centre 24/7 by phone at 1 613 996 8885, by email at sos@international.gc.ca or by SMS at 1-613-686-3658.
For the latest information on the situation, Canadians should continue to check our Travel Advice and Advisories for Ethiopia and sign up with the Registration of Canadians Abroad service.

Canada/Minister Joly speaks with Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs
November 26, 2021 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, spoke today with Hayashi Yoshimasa, Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Minister Joly congratulated her counterpart on his recent appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs. Minister Joly highlighted the close and growing collaboration between Canada and Japan in advancing the two countries’ shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. She and Minister Hayashi noted the importance of proceeding with the implementation of the Six Shared Priorities, which were announced by their predecessors in May 2021. Minister Joly also provided background on the commitment to deepen Canada’s partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region and across the Arctic that was included the 2021 Speech from the Throne.
The two ministers exchanged views on recent developments in the Indo-Pacific region. Notably, they spoke of their common concern over repeated North Korean violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions and reaffirmed their commitment to countering maritime sanctions evasion. Minister Joly highlighted Canada’s ongoing contributions to these efforts through the deployment of air and naval assets of the Canadian Armed Forces. She conveyed Canada’s support for Japan’s efforts to secure the return of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea.
Minister Joly and Minister Hayashi also discussed other shared priorities, including international trade. They noted the importance of Canada and Japan working closely together and with their partners in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership to uphold the high standards of the agreement.

The Latest The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on November 26-27/2021
Who Keeps Iran Out in the Cold?
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/November, 26/2021
As the Biden administration prepares for the revival, in some form at least, of the controversial “nuke deal” with the Islamic Republic in Tehran, usual suspects in Washington are peddling an old theme: Bringing Iran in from the cold!
The argument is that the Islamic Republic is behaving badly because, “excluded” from the outside world, it feels like a threatened lone wolf and thus obliged to adopt an aggressive posture.
The argument was first formulated in the 1980s by the then German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher. It was then taken up by French President Jacques Chirac and passed on to a string of British foreign secretaries, most notably Jack Straw who visited Tehran more than another capital during his tenure.
Over the years, numerous Western political figures have adopted it, among them Bill Clinton and his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, British Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Dominic Raab, until recently foreign secretary in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet.
In the past four decades, supporters of “bring Iran in from the cold” have pinned their hopes on various figures in Tehran.
President Bill Clinton did all he could to build up President Mohammad Khatami’s stature and even claimed that he felt “ more at home” with “ moderates” in Tehran than politicians in Washington. A circle of British politicians, including Lord Mandelson from Labor, and Lord Lamont from the Conservative party, formed a bipartisan lobby to help Hojat al-Islam Hassan Rouhani become President of the Islamic Republic and, by resuming Khatami’s unfinished business, “bring Iran in from the cold”.
The most persistent peddlers of that bill of goods have been President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry. It is their efforts that Joe Biden and his secretary of State Anthony Blinken seem determined to resume.
But how true is the “exclusion” theory with regard to the Islamic Republic?
The answer is: not at all.
Far from trying to “exclude” the Islamic Republic almost every country, first among them the United States, have often gone out of their way to include and accommodate Tehran’s new rulers. Ayatollah Khomeini’’s seizure of power was instantly accepted by all members of the United Nations.
The US was even in a hurry to curry favor with Tehran’s new rulers. It never closed its embassy in Tehran and just months after the mullahs seized power sent National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski to Algiers to meet Mehdi Bazargan, the man named by Khomeini as the new regime’s prime minister.
The Carter administration quickly named Lloyd Cutler, the presidential legal advisor, as the ambassador-designate to Tehran and ordered the shipment of arms to Iran to be resumed. What happened was “self-exclusion” as a Khomeinist gang, with a nod and a wink from the ayatollah, raided the US Embassy in Tehran and took its diplomats hostage.
At another level, the Khomeinist regime committed “self-exclusion” by severing diplomatic ties with Egypt because of its decision to make peace with Israel.
Even before the first year of the new Khomeinist regime had ended the 108 nations with which Iran had diplomatic relations had resumed or tried to resume normal “inclusive” ties with what was soon named the Islamic Republic.
Contrast that with the refusal to recognize the seizure of power by the Taliban in Kabul in the 1990s or more recently last August. And that, not to mention ISIS, which at one point controlled an area the size of Switzerland with a population of over four million.
More importantly, it took most countries years if not decades to recognize the Bolshevik regime in the Soviet Union. Many countries, notably the US, took a quarter of a century to grant recognition to the Communist regime in Beijing. In the case of Cuba, it took the US more than five decades to extend some form of recognition to the Castrist regime in Havana.
US efforts to “include” the Islamic Republic reached a new level during Ronald Reagan’s presidency when channels of communication” were opened with rival Khomeinist factions in Tehran. With help from Israel, the US smuggled arms to Iran to help it halt Iraqi advances on the battlefield. A senior US negotiating team, that included a high-ranking MOSSAD officer, also paid a secret visit to Tehran for talks to “normalize” ties with Iran.
The “liberation” of Afghanistan and then Iraq provided further opportunities for “including “the Islamic Republic. Former Islamic President Hashemi Rafsanjani's memoirs depict a working relationship between Tehran and Washington in pursuit of their shared aim of toppling the Taliban and Saddam Hussein.
The Islamic Republic was officially and publicly “included” in US-led plans to reshape Afghanistan. In Iraq, we were personally aware of joint Washington-Tehran efforts to install first Ibrahim al-Jaafari and then Nuri al-Maliki as prime minister in Baghdad.
Former Islamic Foreign Minister Muhammad-Javad Zarif boasts that it was thanks to his efforts that the US vetoed the return of monarchy to Afghanistan and agreed that the new US-backed regime in Kabul be baptized “Islamic Republic”.
The “include Iran” lobby forgets the fact that it has been the Islamic Republic with its negative attitude and hubris that has excluded Iran from normal international life.
For Obama and Biden the “nuke deal” is the surest path to Iran’s “inclusion”. The so-called “JCPOA”, however, is itself a symbol of Iran’s exclusion because it makes Iran the only country in the world to be subjected to a unique regime of industrial, scientific, economic, and trading rules. In exchange, it hopes to impose a halt on Iran’s nuclear project.
Almost 20 years ago, former Foreign Minister of Iran Ardeshir Zahedi, the Iranian diplomat who had helped shape The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) exposed the futility of that pursuit. In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in May 2003 he argued that “Iran cannot unlearn what it has learned in the nuclear field since the 1950s.”
He added: “By mid-1970s, Iran had a well-educated and motivated corps of nuclear scientists who, backed by substantial financial resources, from the government, undertook research into all aspects of the new technology, including its military applications.”
Zahedi passed away in exile in Switzerland last week. But his message is still worthy of scrutiny as the Biden team prepares for new talks with Tehran.

Are Israel and US clashing over Iran nuclear policy?
Yonah Jeremy Bob/Jerusalem Post/November 26/2021
With nuclear negotiations in Vienna set to start on Monday of next week, the open conflict between Israel and the US over Iran policy almost seemed to overtake the conflict between Jerusalem and Tehran.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is extremely concerned that Washington is rushing toward a nuclear deal weaker than the 2015 JCPOA Iran deal, and made his most direct military-sounding threats yet this week.
Israeli-American exchanges on the issue could get a lot worse before they get better, at a time when predictions for the nuclear talks in Israel tend to range from Iran will not agree to anything to America will cave in for a bad deal.
How did we get to this point and where are we going?
THESE LATEST fireworks come after four evolving stages of ups and downs of how Israelis have viewed the Biden administration’s Iran policy over the last 10 months. The current stage seems to have returned to the original deeply worried stance of November 2020, and with Iran itself at a more dangerous point.
When US President Joseph Biden was elected and in his early months, top Israeli officials in the administration of Benjamin Netanyahu ranged between resignation and dread that America would rejoin the JCPOA 2015 Iran nuclear deal with no conditions.
For Israeli officials at that time, this would have erased all of the sanctions and psychological leverage they had built up over Iran over two-and-a-half years. And this without receiving anything, while paving the way for the Islamic Republic to a nuclear weapon when the JCPOA would expire, if not before.
But the second stage was more optimistic in Jerusalem.
Despite demands and threats from Iran that Biden must return to the JCPOA on its terms by January or February, the Biden team took its time and said it would cut a deal only along with an add-on deal afterward that would strengthen and lengthen the JCPOA.
Among some other issues, this goal of Washington is one of the reasons that the April-June negotiations fell short of an agreement, even if they got close.
One could call this period the first Israeli win in that the US stuck to its positions.
However, then there was a third stage of confusion in which there were no negotiations from June until now, where Israel was increasingly disturbed by the Islamic Republic’s escalating nuclear violations.
These violations included enrichment to 60% (only one step below 90% weaponized uranium), sufficient uranium for multiple nuclear weapons (if enriched up to 90%) and blocking IAEA access to key nuclear facilities.
Separately and certainly cumulatively, such stark violations with no serious crisis reaction from the US, Israel or the UN, might have been unthinkable in earlier years.
But on the positive side for Israel, America started to talk about a plan B with Iran.
The US seemed to judge that diplomacy was failing and that the new administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi simply was unwilling to reach anything resembling a reasonable deal.
Although there was uncertainty surrounding how close the Islamic Republic was progressing toward a nuclear weapon, this period was possibly the best for Israeli-US relations because both administrations were equally frustrated with Raisi’s stonewalling.
However, once the IAEA Board of Governors seemed ready to publicly condemn Tehran in September, which could have even led to a UN Security Council referral, Raisi finally signaled a readiness to return to talks.
Even a whiff of a return to talks shut down the expected September IAEA condemnation and brought Washington into engaging in rapid diplomacy.
Despite IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi’s framing of negotiations with Iran as intractable so far (and the IAEA tried to bend over backward to be diplomatic), all signs were that the board of governors would punt the issue again during its meetings this week.
Off the record, US officials also started floating new flexibility toward the Iranians.
It is unclear whether the new flexibility means allowing Tehran to maintain all of its new army of advanced centrifuges for enriching uranium, or whether it means a “less for less” deal in which the US would partially lift sanctions for even a partial reduction in Iranian nuclear violations.
Raisi had already achieved more than his predecessor, Hassan Rouhani, simply by refusing to talk for a few months. This is clear from the fact that the old “less for less” deal floated in 2019 required the Islamic Republic to start returning to the nuclear deal – not just to freeze new violations.
If the 2019 “less for less” deal meant partial sanctions relief would come for Iran shipping out some of its new large uranium stock and freezing all new enrichment, the updated, worse “less for less” deal sounds like mere freezing or slowing of new enrichment – without shipping out any of the uranium stock.
If, in 2019-2020, advanced centrifuges would need to be destroyed (and there were fewer of them anyway), now they could just be placed in storage. Placing them in storage would mean they could easily be returned to operation in a matter of days or weeks.
THE WEAK US position frames much of where things are going.
If the Biden administration is ready for a weaker JCPOA or a weaker “less for less” deal or any negotiations that seem to reduce the sense of crisis, even without a deal – then its original idea of improving the JCPOA would seem to be out the window.
Some top Israeli defense figures, including Defense Minister Benny Gantz, have been promoting Israel working quietly behind the scenes to get a better JCPOA, even if it does not get everything it wants – for example, greater limits either on Iran’s ballistic missiles (there are currently none with any teeth) or on its aggression in the region.
But if Washington is not equipped or committed sufficiently to achieve these improvements, then what exactly can Israel hope to get from the US?
Could it be as narrow as what circumstances Biden would green-light an Israeli preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, even if he will not order a strike on his own?
Would Biden give such a sign-off?
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US CENTCOM head General Kenneth McKenzie Jr. this week both emphasized that the US military option is on the table.
Yet, because of Biden’s passivity in using military force to date and his botched pullout from Afghanistan (Trump also intended to pull out, but his assassination of IRGC Quds Force chief Qasem Soleimani intimidated the ayatollahs more than Biden has to date), many view this as empty talk with no details.
For example, during the Obama administration, US military officials gave public interviews about the readiness to use specific aircraft and weapons – and none have done that yet this round.
POSSIBLE RELUCTANCE on Biden’s part to use force raises the old question, dating back around a decade, of whether Israel has the capability to take out Iran’s deep underground Fordow facility.
There are additional, more recent questions about whether Israel could take out enough of Iran’s multiple nuclear facilities (unlike the cases of Iraq and Syria, where each had only one major facility) on its own to sufficiently set back the program.
Interestingly enough, there was a wide disparity of answers on this question by former top Israeli officials.
Former IDF intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said Israel definitely could.
Former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo and former Mossad Iran desk chief Sima Shine both said they doubted that Israel could on its own.
Pardo’s successor at the Mossad, who just retired in June, Yossi Cohen, told the Jerusalem Post Conference last month and a Haaretz conference this month that Israel should make sure to have or develop such a capability – leaving his position unclear.
Similarly, former National Security Council chief Yaakov Amidror emphasized that Israel needs to have such a capability, but was vague about whether Israel could do so now.
Former IDF chief (2015-2019) Gadi Eisenkot previously confidently told The Jerusalem Post that Israel could take out Iran’s nuclear program, without specifying how.
Whether the “yes” officials are bluffing to deter Iran or the “no” officials are misinformed or are downplaying Israeli capabilities to deter Jerusalem from rushing to pull the trigger, Bennett, even after this week’s speech, has not made it clear at what point he would strike.
With all of Netanyahu’s tough rhetoric, even he was intimidated from striking Iran for several years when the JCPOA was being negotiated or was operating.
Would Bennett really strike the Islamic Republic if there was a new version of the JCPOA operating, holes and all, but with the US back in the deal?
Would he aggressively use the Mossad to sabotage nuclear facilities and slow down the Islamic Republic as Netanyahu did, even if the delays from such hits might be measured only in months and not in years?
IN ALL of this, there is one factor that is much worse now than in the 2012-2015 period, a factor that led Iran to make at least some big short-term nuclear concessions for the JCPOA.
Then, China and Russia wanted the ayatollahs to make concessions and make the crisis go away.
But now China and Russia are both at new low points with the US, and short of Biden offering some game changer on Taiwan or Ukraine, he may have little to offer them to get them to press Tehran to cut a more reasonable deal.
In short, Israel is entering a period where the overall trends for changing Iranian behavior are worse.
It may need to live with an extended period of uncertainty, as the US and Iran start a new game of chicken, which some think could run deep into 2022.
Exact intelligence from the Mossad and others about how far Iran has advanced will be more crucial than ever in walking the tightrope.

France: Is Éric Zemmour an Anti-Semite?
Yves Mamou/Gatestone Institute/November 26/2021
Of course not. What is actually happening in France is a liberation of freedom of speech. For the first time in 40 years, topics such as immigration, Islam, and the preference of the elites for unvetted mass-migration are being spoken about openly on radio and television.
Being French and defending French culture apparently made you a Nazi. Anyone who dared to criticize Muslim immigration and Islam was immediately branded a racist "close to Jean-Marie Le Pen", vilified by the media and even taken to court.
Le Pen was the first to criticize Muslim immigration and raise questions about Islam, but regrettably, he did so in a way.... that it was not difficult... to demonize him -- and often also the very real problems the National Front addressed, such as the identity of the country, the role of secularism, competition in the job market, and the status of women.
During the French Revolution in 1789, and then under Napoleon, Jews became "emancipated". They were granted all the personal rights accorded to other French citizens in exchange for their abandonment of communal rules, such as compulsory marriage between Jews and respect for religious laws ahead of respect for the laws of the Republic. Zemmour is bewildered that these rules, which successfully assimilated Jews into French society, have been abandoned for Muslims.
"[Zemmour] has the merit of putting the question of France at the heart of the debate.... He takes on the existential anguish of a growing number of French people who wonder if France will remain France, if their right to historical continuity will finally be respected or if it will continue to be scorned." — Alain Finkielkraut, author and philosopher, Europe1, October 24, 2021.
For French people, actually, the most important question is not if Zemmour is racist or antisemitic, but if France as they know it ...will continue to exist.
Is Éric Zemmour (pictured), a likely candidate in France's upcoming presidential election, really a racist? Is France on the verge of tipping over into fascism? Of course not. What is actually happening in France is a liberation of freedom of speech. For the first time in 40 years, topics such as immigration, Islam, and the preference of the elites for unvetted mass-migration are being spoken about openly on radio and television.
The rumor that a Jew making racist and anti-Semitic remarks could be a candidate in France's presidential election of spring 2022 has crossed the country's borders. Worse, the rumor is that this supposedly racist, anti-Semitic Jew, Éric Zemmour, is buoyed by polls that forecast him as a very possible second-round candidate against France's current President Emmanuel Macron.
Sacrebleu! How could such a thing have happened? Is Zemmour really a racist? Is he carried by a wave of the extreme right, as many on the left suggest? Is France on the verge of tipping over into fascism?
Of course not. What is actually happening in France is a liberation of freedom of speech. For the first time in 40 years, topics such as immigration, Islam, and the preference of the elites for unvetted mass-migration are being spoken about openly on radio and television.
The reason all these topics are finally on the table is because Zemmour brought them there, to the media. Before Zemmour, if you talked apprehensively about migrants, it was considered "racist". Anyone concerned about the rapid change in France's identity was labelled as a member of the extreme right. Being French and defending French culture apparently made you a Nazi. Anyone who dared to criticize Muslim immigration and Islam was immediately branded a racist "close to Jean-Marie Le Pen", vilified by the media and even taken to court.
Zemmour's achievement is to have broken the wall of shame, with the help of Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of a far-right National Front party. Le Pen was the first to criticize Muslim immigration and raise questions about Islam, but regrettably, he did so in a way so caricatured and racist that it was not difficult for the media and leaders of the Socialist Party to demonize him -- and often also the very real problems the National Front addressed, such as the identity of the country, the role of secularism, competition in the job market, and the status of women.
When the historian Georges Bensoussan addressed the issue of Muslim anti-Semitism on the radio in 2016, he was instantly prosecuted by "anti-racist" associations and taken to court. Although he was acquitted three times, the intimidation had its effect. Who, after such a legal marathon, would have the courage once again to address the complex question of the place of Islam in a Western society in general, and in France in particular?
The accusation that Zemmour is a racist arises not only from subjects related to immigration, but also from the numerous lawsuits that Islamist organiaztions, "anti-racist" organiaztions and some partisan elected officials have brought against him. Most of the time, the judges have acquitted Zemmour, but sometimes not. Judges have occasionally convicted him. In 2011, he was sentenced for claiming that "French people from immigrant backgrounds are stopped by the police more than other [people are] because most of the traffickers are Black and Arabs.... That is a fact". Zemmour was convicted not because he was lying, but because such an assertion was impossible to prove. Ever since World War II, French law has prohibited any mention of ethnicity in official statistics. In 2020, Zemmour was also convicted for "provokimg hate."
The accusations of racism and anti-Semitism leveled against Zemmour come also from the Jewish establishment. The chief rabbi of France recently declared Zemmour to be "Antisemitic certainly, racist obviously." Francis Kalifat, president of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF) called on Jews not to vote for him.
The Jewish establishment has accused Zemmour of rehabilitating Marshal Pétain and the Vichy regime, both of whom collaborated with Nazi Germany during WWII. Zemmour has said that Pétain "protected French Jews while handing over foreign-born Jews to the Nazis in a necessary compromise to occupation. According to Zemmour, "The figures speak for themselves... in France, 40% of foreign Jews were exterminated and 90% of French Jews survived."
The thesis, however, is that of Alain Michel, a rabbi and Jewish historian of French origin now living in Israel. According to Michel, Zemmour should have said that "between 90 and 92%" of French Jews had survived. In addition, Michel claims that:
"contrary to what Serge Klarsfeld [president of the Organization of Sons and Daughters of Jewish Deportees from France] asserts.... these figures cannot be attributed solely to the action of the 'Righteous Among the Nations'. It was the policy applied by the Vichy government, which slowed down the application of the 'Final Solution' in France."
Michel and Zemmour do agree that it is extremely difficult for historians in France to question the popular view that the Vichy regime could not have been anything other than a clone of the Nazi regime.
No one quite understands why Zemmour is bringing up Vichy and the Second World War, but the ferocity of the accusations against him does not prevent him from remaining extremely popular within the Jewish community.
Zemmour does not deny his Jewish origins and goes regularly to synagogue. He makes it clear that he is not a Zionist, but makes it equally clear that he is not anti-Zionist. Zemmour says he belongs first to French culture and French civilisation. He seems to be a "Napoleonic" kind of Jew who considers that his religious identity should be confined to the private sphere, at home or in a synagogue.
During the French Revolution in 1789 and then under Napoleon, Jews became "emancipated". They were granted all the personal rights accorded to other French citizens in exchange for their abandonment of communal rules, such as compulsory marriage between Jews and respect for religious laws ahead of the laws of the Republic. Zemmour is bewildered that these rules, which successfully assimilated Jews into French society, have been abandoned for Muslims.
To save France, Zemmour asserts France has to return to a policy of assimilation. He would like to see Muslims "assimilatd" and more like long-established French citizens. "We must encourage them (all these Muslim migrants who come to France) to become the same," he said, "appropriate the history, the customs, the way of life, the tastes, the literature, savor the words, the language the landscape."
Zemmour puts so much emphasis on his desire to save France and to be a French citizen that he has sometimes verged on the discourteous. In his last book, he unnecessarily hurt people who had been hit hard by Islamist terrorism. He wrote that families of the children murdered in 2012 at a Jewish school near Toulouse were behaving like foreigners for having buried their children in Israel instead of in France. "Anthropologists have taught us that we are from the country where we are buried," he wrote, seemingly applying the same pro-French standards for Jews as for Muslims. Jewish families in France, however, who do not want to risk having the graves of their sons and daughters be desecrated by anti-Semites, may have felt offended.
Zemmour, not yet an official candidate for the 2022 presidential election, will be able to survive politically over the next six months only if he is considered a viable candidate by the media, and that will happen only if he is able to create a "buzz".
The buzz, however, can become unpleasant, not to say vicious. The philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, who admits to some differences with Zemmour, nevertheless regrets the "anathemas" launched against him, and said of Zemmour: "He is the object of an obsessive vindictiveness. It is counterproductive." Finkielkraut added:
"[Zemmour] has the merit of putting the question of France at the heart of the debate.... He takes on the existential anguish of a growing number of French people who wonder if France will remain France, if their right to historical continuity will finally be respected or if it will continue to be scorned."
For French people, actually, the most important question is not if Zemmour is racist or antisemitic, but if France as they know it -- "with the history, the customs, the way of life" -- will continue to exist.
Yves Mamou, author and journalist, based in France, worked for two decades as a journalist for Le Monde.
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Poland's Border Shapes the Future of Migration
Daniel Pipes/Newsweek/November 26/2021
https://www.danielpipes.org/20799/poland-border-shapes-the-future-of-migration
The troubling scene along Poland's border with Belarus turned the problem of illegal migrants into political ammunition. It changed attitudes with likely long-term implications for immigration to Europe.
Immigration has become an ever-growing, impassioned issue that divides Europeans. Broadly speaking, the Establishment (what I call the 6Ps: the police, politicians, press, priests, professors and prosecutors) welcome immigration, legal or not, as a source of vitality for an increasingly aging continent, an engine of multicultural diversity and a way for former imperialists to assuage their consciences. In contrast, a growing body of dissidents sees immigration as a source of crime and disease, a challenge to traditions and a civilizational threat.
This debate peaked in 2015-16, when Angela Merkel, the powerful chancellor of Germany, unilaterally opened her country's borders to migrants, dragging much of Europe with her. As illegals became legals, the split in attitudes among Europeans became more intense, with a Willkommenskultur—or welcoming culture—emerging in Germany even as fences went up around Hungary.
And in mid-2021, the dictator of Belarus, Aleksandr Lukashenko, perhaps with Turkish assistance, came up with a clever idea. To reverse European Union (EU) economic sanctions imposed on him in retaliation for a cooked election, he jacked up visa charges, invited one and all from around the world to fly legally to his country and be bussed to the border with his EU member neighbors: Poland, Lithuania, or Latvia. Once there, the estimated 7,000 migrants—primarily but not exclusively Muslims from the Middle East—rushed the razor-wire fence, sometimes wielding Belarus-supplied wire cutters, sometimes pushed into it by Belarus forces, and hurled debris, stones and stun grenades at Polish police.
Migrants in Belarus focused on Poland because it offers the only route to Germany, their preferred destination.
But the many security personnel on the other side stopped them with tear gas and water cannons, backed by fervent resolve. "This border is sacred," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said. "The border of the Polish state is not just a line on the map. Generations of Poles shed their blood for this border." Warsaw also passed a lawenabling it not only to ignore the asylum claims of illegal migrants but even to push them forcibly out of the country.
Would be illegal migrants assemble to cross from Belarus into Poland.
Lukashenko exploited the illegals as pawns in a tactical game versus the EU. He also used them to make money, as Belarus' state-owned tourism agency charged between $1,800 and $12,000 per migrant and local merchants over-charged ($1,000 for a hotel room, anyone?); perhaps Lukashenko also hoped for a bribe, such as EU members have paidto Turkey and Libya. Meanwhile, the migrants languished, cold and hungry, adults and children, in the fetid forest, about a dozen of them dying.
A would-be illegal migrant in Belarus cuts wires to enter Poland.
The lasting importance of his bellicose move will be further to sour Europeans on immigration by Muslims. Now weaponized by Belarus, more Europeans see Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans as hostile elements intent on doing harm. However inaccurate this generalization, it fits an existing set of biases. Shouts on the streets of Poland have called for border guards to shoot the would-be intruders.
Polish forces deploy water cannons against would-be illegal migrants at the Bruzgi-Kuznica border checkpoint with Belarus.
Unequivocal EU support for Poland shows how much this shift has already taken place. Despite severe ongoing strains with Warsaw, Brussels came quickly and wholeheartedly to Poland's side in its dispute with Belarus. The border problem shunted EU-Polish tensions—and $41 billion in suspended aid—to the margins.
Fortunately, Polish and EU resolve led to Lukashenko backing down. The illegals have abandoned the immediate border area and are either being crowded into a giant Belarus warehouse (a fitting symbolism) or flown to Iraq. Ironically, Lukashenko's gambit to create a migrant crisis in the EU backfired; Belarus, which until this drama had almost no Muslim migrants, now hosts a substantial body of those refusing to return home. "I would rather die here in the cold than go back to Iraq," declared a 32-year-old Iraqi Kurd.
Would-be illegal migrants retreated to an unused warehouse in the Grodno region of Belarus.
I predict that the Belarus provocation will significantly affect European attitudes toward migrants, especially illegal ones, for the worse. Willkommenskultur is now defunct, with little possibility of resurrection. Guilt over racism, imperialism and fascism have somewhat faded in the face of a resolve not to be shown up as idiots by a tin-hat dictator.
Thus might a tragic incident lead to a new resolve and to positive long-term results. Europeans are more aware of the need to protect their borders and democratically to decide their population makeup. That it takes a European dictator to drive this point home yet again confirms history's caprice.
* Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum.