English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For October 14/2022
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2021/english.october14.22.htm
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Bible Quotations For today
I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no
repentance
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint
Luke 15/03-07/:”Jesus told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a
hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the
wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has
found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he
calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for
I have found my sheep that was lost.”Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy
in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who
need no repentance.”’
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on October 13-14/2022
In Remembrance Of The October 13/1990 Massacre/Elias Bejjani/October 13/2022
President Aoun in his address to the nation on southern maritime border deal:
This indirect agreement responds to the Lebanese demands and fully...
Lebanon's MPs again fail to elect new president as quorum not met
Lapid: Israel, Lebanon deal reduces chance of war with Hezbollah
Bassil lashes out at 'traitors' and 'thieves' on Oct. 13 anniversary
Aoun: Lebanon to begin returning Syrians back to war-torn country
Ambassador Shea’s Remarks on the Maritime Boundary Agreement
Aoun calls Berri, Mikati over border deal with Israel
Berri to send MPs copies of border deal with Israel
Report: Mikati threatens to leave Lebanon if Bassil calls for protests
First cholera death in Lebanon as outbreak spreads from Syria
French Foreign Affairs Minister arrives in Beirut
Amin Gemayel broaches developments with KSA Ambassador
LIC Statement on the Lebanon-Israel Maritime Border Agreement
Democracies and deals: From Lebanon to Iran – analysis/Seth J.
Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/October 13/2022
Washington Predicts ‘Difficult Moments’ during Implementation of
Lebanese-Israeli Agreement
Lebanon Abandons Its Gas so Iran Can Export its Oil/Huda al-Husseini/Asharq
Al-Awsat/October, 13/2022
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October 13-14/2022
NATO Chief Warns Russia Not to Cross ‘Very Important Line’
Russian Border Region Says Ukraine Shelled It, Kyiv Blames Stray Russian Fire
UK to Supply Ukraine with Air Defense Missiles
US Congress to Establish Working Group to 'Monitor Iran’s Nuclear, Missile
Program'
Protests Continue to Rage in Iran Despite Authorities Crackdown
Iran’s Khamenei Says 'Enemies' Involved in Protests
Iran President Accuses US of ‘Destabilization’ amid Protests
Protests Reach 19 Cities in Iran Despite Internet Disruption
Iran Reform Advocate Tajzadeh Jailed for Five Years
France: Iranian Drone Transfers to Russia Would Violate UN Nuclear Deal
Resolution
Braving Rocket Attack, Iraqi MPs Elect New State President
Palestinian Factions Discuss Reconciliation Deal in Algiers
Bomb attack on Syrian army bus kills at least 18
Titles For The
Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on October 13-14/2022
Washington’s Push for Nuclear Deal With Iran Aids Tehran Even as
Ayatollahs Crack Down on Protesters/Benny Avni/The New York Sun/October 13/2022
How to Lose Friends and Influence Over People … decade of Obama-Biden foreign
policy has broken the Middle East and America’s security order/Mohammed Khalid
Alyahya/The Tablet/October 13/2022
Effective Ways to Support the Iranian Protests/Hamid Bahrami/ Gatestone
Institute/October 13/2022
Jamal Khashoggi vs. Marc Bennett: Whose Life Matters?/Daniel
Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/October 13/2022
The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on October 13-14/2022
In Remembrance Of The October 13/1990 Massacre
Elias Bejjani/October 13/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112651/elias-bejjani-in-remembrance-of-the-october-13-1990-massacre/
For our fallen heroes who gave themselves in sacrifice at the altar of Lebanon
on October 13/1990, we pray and make the pledge of living with our heads high,
so that Lebanon remains the homeland of dignity and pride, the message of truth,
the cradle of civility and giving, and the crucible of culture and
civilizations.
There is no shed of doubt, as we learn from our deeply rooted history, that the
Patriotic and faithful Lebanese who has God by his side, whose weapon is the
truth, and whose faith is like the rock, shall never be vanquished.
On October 13, 1990, the Barbarian Syrian Army, jointly with evil local armed
mercenaries savagely attacked and occupied the Lebanese presidential palace,
savagely invaded the last remaining free regions of Lebanon, killed and
mutilated hundreds of Lebanese soldiers and innocent citizens in cold blooded
murder, kidnapped tens of soldiers, officers, clergymen, politicians and
citizens, and erected a subservient and puppet regime fully controlled by its
security intelligence headquarters in Damascus.
It is worth mentioning that in year 2005 the Syrian Army was forced to withdraw
from Lebanon in accordance with the UNSC Resolution 1559, but sadly since that
date, the Iranian proxy, the terrorist Hezbollah armed militia has been
occupying Lebanon, and by force controlling fully it governing decision making
process.
The terrorist Hezbollah, by crime, wars, terrorism, impoverishment, dismantling
all government and private institutions is hindering the Lebanese people from
reclaiming their independence, freedom, sovereignty, and turning Lebanon into an
Iranian battle field for Iranian evil schemes and wars.. The Terrorist Hezbollah
Militia is the Syrian-Iranian spearhead of the axis of evil.
We must never forget that on October 13/1990 the Lebanese presidential Palace in
Baabda and all the free regions were desecrated by the horde of Syrian Baathist
gangs, Mafiosi, militias, and other corrupt mercenaries of Tamerlane invaders
vintage.
The soldiers of our valiant army were tortured and butchered in the cities and
villages of Bsous, Aley, Kahale, and other bastions of resistance. Lebanese most
precious of possessions, their freedom, was raped in broad daylight, while the
free world, and all the Arab countries at that time watched in silence.
Remembering the Massacre won’t pass without wiping the tears of sorrow and pain
for those beloved ones, who left this world, and others who emigrated to its
far-flung corners. Lifetime of hard work of many citizens was wiped out
overnight, villages and towns were destroyed, factories closed, fields made lay
fallow and dry and children lost their innocence.
Yet we, the patriotic and faithful Lebanese are a tough and hopeful people, and
no matter the sacrifices and the pain, we are today even more determined with
our strong faith to redeem our freedom, and bring to justice all those who
accepted to be the dirty tools of the conspiracy that has been destroying,
humiliating, and tormenting our country since 1976.
Meanwhile the lessons of October 13/1990, are many and they are all glorious.
The free of our people, civilians and military, ordinary citizens and leaders,
all stood tall and strong in turning back the aggression of the barbarians at
the gate. They resisted valiantly and courageously, writing with their own blood
long epics that will not be soon forgotten by their children and grandchildren,
and other students of history. They refused to sign on an agreement of surrender
and oppression, and spoke up against the shame of capitulation.
Today on the commemoration of the Syrian invasion to Lebanon’s free regions, we
shall pray for the souls of all those Lebanese comrades who fell in the battles
of confrontation, for all our citizens who are still arbitrarily detained in
Syria’s notorious jails, for the safe and dignified return of our refugees from
Israel, for the return of peace to the homeland, and for the repentance of
Lebanon’s leaders and politicians who for personal gains have turned against
their own people, negated their declared convictions, downtrodden their freedom
and liberation slogans, sided with the Axis of evil (Syria, Iran) and forged an
alliance with Hezbollah whose ultimate aim is to replicate the Iranian Mullahs’
regime in Lebanon.
But in spite of the Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon in year 2005, old
and new Syrian-made Lebanese puppets continue to trade demagogy and spread
incitement, profiting from people’s economic needs and the absence of the
state’s law and order. Thanks to the Iranian petro dollars, their consciences
are numbed, and their bank accounts and pockets inflated. Sadly, among those is
General Michele Aoun who after his return from exile to Lebanon in 2005 has
bizarrely transformed from a staunched patriotic Lebanese leader and advocate
for freedom and peace, into a Syrian-Iranian allay, and a loud mouthpiece for
their axis of evil schemes and conspiracies.
General Aoun like the rest of the pro-Syrian-Iranian Lebanese politicians and
leaders care only for his position, family members, personal interests, and
greed.
In the eyes of the patriotic Lebanese, Aoun and the rest of those conscienceless
creatures are nothing but robots and dirty instruments bent on Lebanon’s
destabilization, blocking the return of peace and order to the country, aborting
the mission of the international forces, and the UN security council (UNSC)
resolutions, in particular resolutions 1559 and 1701.
They are hired by the axis of evil nations and organizations to keep our
homeland, the land of the Holy Cedars, an arena and a backyard for “The Wars of
the Others”, a base for chaos and a breeding culture for hatred, terrorism,
hostility and fundamentalism.
Our martyrs, the living and dead alike, must be rolling in anger in their graves
and in the Syrian Baath dungeons, as they witness these leaders today,
especially General Michele Aoun, upon whom they laid their hope, fall into the
gutter of cheap politics.
General Aoun reversed all his theses and slogans and joined the same powers that
invaded the free Lebanon region on October 13, 1990. He selectively had
forgotten who he is, and who his people are, and negated everything he advocated
and lobbied for.
In this year’s commemoration, we proudly hail and remember the passing and
disappearance of hundreds of our people, civilian, military, and religious
personnel who gladly sacrificed themselves on Lebanon’s altar in defense of
freedom, dignity and identity ... We raise our prayers for the rest of their
souls, and for the safe return of all our prisoners held arbitrarily in the
dungeons of the Syrian Baath.
We ask for consolation to all their families, hoping that their grand sacrifices
were not in vain, now that prominent leaders and politicians of that era changed
sides and joined the killers after the liberation of the country. Those
Pharisees were in positions of responsibility to safeguard the nation and its
dignity, and were entrusted to defend the identity, the homeland and the
beliefs.
What truly saddens us is the continuing suffering of our refugees in Israel
since 2000, despite all the recent developments. This is due to the stark
servitude of those Lebanese Leaders and politicians on whom we held our hopes
for a courageous resolution to this humane problem. Instead, they shed their
responsibilities and voided the cause from its humane content, and furthermore,
in order to satisfy their alliances with fundamentalists and radicals, they
betrayed their own people and the cause of Lebanon by agreeing to label our
heroic southern refugees as criminals.
Our refugees in Israel are the ultimate Lebanese patriots who did no wrong, but
who simply suffered for 30 years trying to defend their land, their homes, their
children and their dignity against Syria and the hordes of Islamic
fundamentalists, outlaw Palestinian militias, and even renegade battalions of
the Lebanese Army itself that seceded from the government to fight alongside the
outlaw organizations and militias against Lebanon, the Lebanese State and the
Lebanese people.
God Bless the Souls Of Our Martyrs
Long Live Lebanon
President Aoun in his address to the nation on southern
maritime border deal: This indirect agreement responds to the Lebanese demands
and fully...
NNA/October 13/2022
President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, stressed “Lebanon's position by
agreeing to adopt the final formula prepared by the American mediator to
demarcate the southern maritime borders. This indirect agreement responds to the
Lebanese demands and preserves our rights in full”.
President Aoun also thanked "Everyone who stood by Lebanon in this achievement,
which would not have been achieved without the unity and solidity of the
Lebanese position in resisting all pressures, and for not making any substantial
concessions, and for not engaging in any kind of rejected normalization”.
In addition, the President addressed to the Lebanese at eight o’clock this
evening, which was broadcast on the audio-visual media, President Aoun reviewed
the stages that the demarcation file has gone through since 2010 until today,
with all the domestic and external obstacles and difficulties that he faced, and
the obstacles that were placed in his face for political reasons.
“Concurrently, Lebanon had to activate the process of demarcating its maritime
borders, especially the southern ones, and to correct errors that occurred in
the demarcation with Cyprus” President Aoun said.
On the other hand, the President indicated that Lebanon has the right to
consider what was achieved yesterday as a historic achievement, because we were
able to recover an area of 860 square kilometers that was the subject of a
dispute, and Lebanon did not concede any one kilometer to Israel”.
“We also obtained the entire Qana field without any compensation paid by us for
Although the entire field is not in our waters, our land borders have not been
touched, and Lebanon has not recognized the buoyancy line that Israel created
after its withdrawal from our lands in the year 2000, nor has any normalization
occurred with Israel, nor has any direct talks or agreements been concluded with
it” President Aoun said.
Moreover, the President revealed that the agreement stipulates how to resolve
any disputes in the future, or if any other common oil reservoir appears on both
sides of the border, which gives reassurance and a stronger sense of stability
on both sides of the border, and "We are able today, after we regained the
initiative, thanks to perseverance, effort and defense.
“This is what is right for us and for future generations, who we hope will live
in a better time than the one in which we lived, and that a sovereign fund will
be established that preserves the proceeds for them according to the proposed
law presented in this regard” the President added.
In parallel, President Aoun clarified that the next step "Should be to hold
talks with Syria to resolve the disputed area with it, which is more than 900
square kilometers, through brotherly discussions. The borders drawn with Cyprus
should also be reviewed and what should be done in the future”.
The President addressed the Lebanese: “Through your steadfastness and the
struggle of your resistance, which proved to be an element of strength for
Lebanon, you contributed to fortifying the Lebanese position in negotiation as
well as in confrontation, and you achieved this achievement, for you and for
future generations, all for the sake of your country's elevation, progress,
prosperity and comfort for Lebanon and the Lebanese”.
President Speech:
Address by His Excellency the President of the Republic General Michel Aoun to
the Nation on the southern maritime border deal:
"My fellow Lebanese ladies and gentlemen,
My message to you today will touch upon one subject related to the arduous and
difficult negotiations that Lebanon has been engaged in over the past ten years
to demarcate its southern maritime borders and extract its oil, and which have
been positively concluded. I hope this will be a promising start that would lay
the foundations for an economic jump-start that Lebanon needs by completing oil
and gas exploration with a view to achieving stability, security and development
our country Lebanon needs.
Hence, following consultations with Parliament Speaker Mr. Nabih Berri and Prime
Minister Mr. Najib Mikati, in my capacity as Head of State, after being informed
by US President Joe Biden of Israel’s approval, and after the Israeli government
declared its agreement, I declare Lebanon’s position ofapproving the adoption of
the final version prepared by the American mediator for the demarcation of the
southern maritime borders, awaiting signature of the necessary texts by the
Americans and Israelis, in accordance with the established agreement.
This indirect agreement responds to the Lebanese claims and fully preserves our
rights. I thank everyone who stood by Lebanon in this achievement which would
not have been possible without the unity and steadfastness of the Lebanese
position in resisting all pressures, making no substantiveconcessions, and not
engaging in any kind of rejected normalization.
My dearly beloved,
As you undoubtedly know, the milestone reached yesterday inthe maritime
demarcation file and in the subsequent exploration and extraction, was not the
work of a moment, but the fruit of a long process that actually began in 2010
when the Ministry of Energy and Water, which was then headed by Minister
GebranBassil, prepared the Offshore Petroleum Resources Draft Law, which was
approved in Parliament on August 17, 2010, as well as the issuance of 25 decrees
concerned with the rules and regulations governing petroleum activities, in
addition to the establishment of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration .
Also, Lebanon's first offshore licensing round was launched in May 2013. We hope
that the decree dividing the Lebanese offshore into blocks and the Model
Exploration and Production Agreement decree, which is supposed to be signed with
the awarded companies, will be approved.
The launch of the first licensing round attracted 54 of the world's largest
companies, which expressed their desire to be granted licenses. However, the
political wrangling and the arguments that were invoked by some parties, in
addition to attempts made by others to hamper the vital projects that the
ministerial team which represented us in successive governments was working
onfor purely political motives, have curbed the impulse andcurtailed both
decrees, and this trend continued for more than four years.
When I became President of the Republic, my concern was to remove the obstacles
derailing the process, because I was aware of what it means for Lebanon to be an
oil-producing country.
Thus, I insisted on including the two remaining decrees to close the licensing
round, in the first item on the agenda of the first cabinet meeting held in
January 2017 after the government won the vote of confidence. Following the
approval of both decrees, the qualification round was launched in preparation
for the licensing round. In the meantime, the Council of Ministers approved
Lebanon's accession to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative; thus,
Lebanon became the fifty-second country to join this initiative. In March 2017,
54 companies were qualified to participate in the first licensing round, which
was closed on October 12, 2017. The exploration and production contracts in
Blocks 4 and 9 have been awarded to a single consortium comprising the French
"Total", the Italian "ENI" and the Russian "Novatek" companies. On February 27,
2020, I followed up the field mission undertaken by “Total” vessel to drill the
first well in Block No. 4. However, the work has stalled for reasons I was not
convinced of; this happened in conjunction with the blockade and collapse
Lebanon began to endure.
My dearly beloved,
Parallel to the work on oil and gas exploration, Lebanon had to activate the
maritime borders demarcation process, especially the southern borders, and fix
the errors that occurred in the demarcation with Cyprus, which Israel exploited
to send to the United Nations Line No. 1; but then, Lebanon submitted to the
United Nations Line 23, which was defined by Decree No. 6433 in 2011.
Still, many years of negotiations and discussions on the maritime borders have
passed, and there had only been the proposal by the American mediator at the
time, "Hoff", of the line named after him, which we rejected.
There has been successive American mediators who worked on the file without
reaching a version acceptable to Lebanon, until the mediator Amos Hochstein took
over the task; negotiations resumed between August 11, 2021 and October 10, 2022
when an indirect agreement was reached, during which Lebanon preserved its
borders declared by Decree 6433 of 2011, and all of its blocks, in addition to
the entire Qana field, without prejudice to Lebanon’s share in it, according to
the contract signed with the international operator, in addition to American and
French guarantees of the immediate resumption of Lebanese offshore petroleum
activities.
My dearly beloved,
Lebanon has the right to consider what was accomplished yesterday a historic
achievement, for we were able to recover a disputed area of 860 square
kilometers, and Lebanon did not concede any single kilometer to Israel. We also
obtained the entire Qana field, without having to pay any remuneration, although
the whole field is not located inside our waters.Likewise, our land boundaries
were untouched, and Lebanon did not recognize the buoy line that Israel created
after its withdrawal from our lands in 2000. Besides, no normalization with
Israel took place. No direct talks or agreements were concluded with Israel. As
for the remuneration it demanded for a part of Qana field located in the
occupied waters, it will be paid by “Total”, and this will not affect the
contract signed between Lebanon and “Total”.
The agreement has also provided for the resolution of any disputes in the
future, or in the event of the identification of any other common oil deposit on
both sides of the border, which would add reassurance and impart a stronger
sense of stability on both sides of the border.
Dear Fellow Lebanese,
Despite the internal obstacles that emerged in the oil and gas file, and in the
face of the external pressures that were exerted to prevent us from benefiting
from our gas and oil wealth, Lebanon has become an oil-producing country. That
which was a novel or a dream has become a reality today, owing to our firm
stand, our solidarity and the adherence to our rights. This was enshrined in
laws, decrees, surveys, awards, contracts and exploration that began. In the
coming days, “Total” will have to start exploration works in the Qana field, as
it promised, so that we can make up for the years that have passed without being
able to extract oil and gas, at a time when Israel was pursuing its exploration
and extraction operations, which resulted in an imbalance in the petroleum
activities. However, we are able today, after having taken the lead again, owing
to our persistence and efforts, and by defending what is rightfully ours and the
right of the generations to come; our hope is that future generations will live
better than we did. I also hope that a sovereign fund aimed at preserving oil
proceeds, according to the proposed law submitted in this regard, will be
established. Oil fields 8, 9 and 10 in the exclusive economic zone were
threatened; however, thanks to the agreement, we were able to preserve and
protect them, and we will fully develop them. Indeed, the exploration process
will open doors to new oil reservoirs, and provide opportunities for other
companies to participate in exploration and extraction operations, which will
restore the confidence in our country and foster hope that we could be saved
from the economic cliff. The next step should be to hold talks with Syria to
resolve the disputed area, which exceeds 900 square kilometers, through
brotherly discussions. It is also necessary to review the demarcated borders
with Cyprus and decide what should be done in the future. As I dedicate this
achievement to you, dear Lebanese, I would like, on your behalf, to thank the
President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and especially the
American mediator, Amos Hochstein and his team, as well as the American
ambassador in Beirut and her assistants. I also thank the French state and its
president, my friend Emmanuel Macron and his aides, along with the French
ambassador in Beirut and her assistants, for following up on the negotiations
process, especially with “Total”. I also thank the United Nations, which hosted
part of the negotiations in Naqoura, and which will host the necessary
conclusion of the negotiations. My thanks go also to the brotherly and friendly
countries that stood by the Lebanese right and supported it. In this regard, I
would like to extend my appreciation to the State of Qatar and its Emir Sheikh
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the interest he showed in investing in Lebanon with
a view to promoting its stability. My thanks are also extended to the Speaker of
Parliament, Mr. Nabih Berri, to Prime Minister, Mr. Najib Mikati, to Deputy
Speaker, Mr. Elias Bou Saab, who has led ardious and difficult negotiations in
recent months along with members of the team, including military staff, experts
and technicians. I also thank all other officials who successively dealt with
this file in the Ministries of Energy, Water and Foreign Affairs, the head and
members of the Lebanese Petroleum Administration, the Army Command, especially
the head and members of the negotiating team, the LAF Hydrographic Department,
and all the experts and technicians who have been instrumental in the successful
conclusion of thenegotiation process, owing to their experience and hard work.
As for you, dear Lebanese ladies and gentlemen, I thank you twice, for you have
contributed, through your steadfastness, dedication, and the struggle of your
resistance, which proved to be an element of strength for Lebanon, to fortifying
the Lebanese position in the negotiation and in the confrontation, thus
accomplishing this achievement, for you and for future generations, for the
advancement of your country, its progress, its prosperity and the comfort of its
people. Long live Lebanon!." --Presidency Press Office
Lebanon's MPs again fail to elect new president as
quorum not met
Session adjourned until next Thursday, less than two weeks before President
Michel Aoun's term ends.
Jamie Prentis/The National/October
13/2022
Lebanon's parliament has failed for a second time to elect the country's next
president, with not enough MPs present to reach the quorum. Speaker Nabih Berri
adjourned the house until October 20, less than two weeks before the term of
incumbent Michel Aoun expires. With a consensus candidate yet to emerge, the
prospect of a presidential vacuum looms. An attendance of two thirds — or 86 MPs
― in the 128-seat Parliament is required to meet the quorum. But only 71 were
present in the deeply divided chamber on Thursday. This is the second time that
MPs have failed to elect Lebanon's next head of state after no clear winner
emerged during a vote at an initial session on September 29.
On that day, MP Michel Moawad, whose father Rene served as president for
18 days in 1989 before being assassinated, received the most votes, with 36. He
was mainly backed by a grouping of MPs who are critical of Iran-backed
Hezbollah, the armed group and political party that has significant sway in
Lebanon. “We are ready at any time to elect a
president but it is clear today that several parties are not ready for the
presidential election because of differences,” said Georges Adwan, a senior MP
in the Lebanese Forces party.
The LF, a staunch critic of Hezbollah, supported Mr Moawad in the last round. In
the first polling round, a two-thirds majority is required to win. But only an
absolute majority is needed in subsequent votes. The failure to find a successor
to Mr Aoun, 89, in the first two rounds was not unexpected and has precedent —
it took 46 sessions and 29 months for parliament to elect the former army
commander in 2016. In the country's confessional system, the presidency is
always reserved for a Maronite Christian. Among the key factions absent from
Thursday's session were the 17 MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM), the
party founded by Mr Aoun and led by his son-in-law Gebran Bassil.
Mr Bassil justified his party's lack of attendance by saying the session
was scheduled on an important day for the FPM. On October 13, 1990, Mr Aoun —
then serving as the commander of the Lebanese Army — was ousted from his base at
the presidential palace in Baabda by Syrian forces. “Some people betrayed this
date and did not respect the commemoration,” Mr Bassil said.
Only of a handful of the 13 MPs from Hezbollah were present. Hezbollah MP
Hasan Fadlallah said Mr Moawad's candidacy would “not lead to any results”. If
parliament fails to decide on Mr Aoun's successor before his term ends, the
government will assume presidential powers. However, the government itself is in
a caretaker capacity, adding to the political paralysis. Najib Mikati was named
prime minister-designate in June, a month after parliamentary elections, but
political factions have not yet agreed on the distribution of portfolios in his
Cabinet. Lebanon is facing a financial crisis described by the World Bank as one
of the worst in modern history, with the local currency plunging in value by
more than 95 per cent over the past three years. There are severe shortages in
basic goods such as bread, water, electricity and medicines.
Lapid: Israel, Lebanon deal reduces chance of war with
Hezbollah
Agence France Presse/October 13/2022
Israel's agreement with foe Lebanon to demarcate their maritime border makes
conflict with the Iran-backed Hezbollah less likely, the Israeli premier has
said, after his cabinet voiced support for the deal. Prime Minister Yair Lapid
on Tuesday announced that Israel and Lebanon had reached an "historic"
U.S.-brokered agreement, which potentially unlocks significant offshore gas
production for the eastern Mediterranean neighbors.
The deal between the countries that have remained technically at war since
Israel's creation in 1948 was applauded by world leaders, including U.S.
President Joe Biden.
But at home, Lapid has faced fire from his political opponents ahead of Israel's
November 1 election. Rivals, notably opposition leader and ex-premier Benjamin
Netanyahu, have charged that the centrist, interim prime minister agreed to a
deal that could see fresh energy revenues reach Hezbollah, which holds huge
influence in Lebanon. Rejecting those charges, Lapid told reporters that "this
agreement staves off the possibility of a military clash with Hezbollah." "If we
went out to battle, we would deal them a heavy blow. That being said, if it is
possible to prevent war, it is the job of a responsible government to do so," he
added.Israeli security experts say Hezbollah has an arsenal of thousands of
missiles capable of hitting Israeli population centers. Defense Minister Benny
Gantz, speaking alongside Lapid, said the agreement "has the potential to reduce
Iran's influence on Lebanon". The deal "establishes a new 'security equation'
with regard to the sea," Gantz added, describing it "as positive for the
citizens of Lebanon."One friction point through the maritime border talks was
control of the potentially gas-rich Qana field.Lapid said that under the agreed
terms, Israel "will receive approximately 17 percent of the revenues from the
Lebanese gas field, the Qana-Sidon field, if and when they will open it."
French energy giant Total has been licensed to explore the field. Lapid
said Israel "built this agreement with the Americans so that money from this
field will not reach Hezbollah", without specifying how the deal offers such
assurances.
- Cabinet support -
Another major source of tension was the Karish gas field, which Israel insisted
fell entirely within its waters and was not a subject of negotiation. Lebanon
reportedly claimed part of the field and Hezbollah threatened attacks if Israel
began production there.
"At every step of the way, we made it clear to the Lebanese -- that with or
without an agreement, Israel will not delay by even a single day, the production
(of gas) from the Karish platform, and will not give in to any threat," Lapid
said Wednesday.
Hezbollah a day earlier said it would back the agreement if the Lebanese
government officially endorsed it. Also Wednesday,
Lapid's cabinet "with an overwhelming majority" expressed in principle support
for the agreement mediated by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, Lapid's office said.
Lebanon's presidency said Tuesday the proposed final text submitted by Hochstein
was "satisfactory", although Beirut is yet to officially accept the terms.
Israeli lawmakers were due to receive the text Wednesday night and will have 14
days to review it before it returns to cabinet for final approval. Lapid's
opponents have also launched a legal challenge demanding that the agreement be
ratified by parliament, where the premier's allies do not hold a majority.
Netanyahu has said that the government he hopes to form with his far-right and
religious allies after elections next month would not be bound by an agreement
with Lebanon.
Bassil lashes out at 'traitors' and 'thieves' on Oct. 13
anniversary
Naharnet/October 13/2022
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil on Thursday slammed Speaker Nabih
Berri anew for setting a parliamentary election session on the date of October
13, which is highly sensitive for the FPM. “We must respect the martyrs of each
other and the anniversary, because on this date there were people who died for
the sake of legitimacy and the homeland, whereas some were traitorous on this
date and they have disrespected the anniversary,” Bassil said, after he laid a
wreath on the monument of the unknown soldier. “October 13 marked the beginning
of political resistance through which we managed to regain freedom, sovereignty
and independence, whereas they – the political establishment -- were robbing the
country,” the FPM chief added. The FPM had opted to
boycott Thursday’s session and the session was adjourned due to lack quorum
after Hezbollah’s MPs also decided to boycott the session.
On October 13, 1990, President Michel Aoun, who was the head of a military
government, was ousted from the Baabda Palace through a deadly Syrian-led
offensive. The FPM holds activities to commemorate the date every year.
Aoun: Lebanon to begin returning Syrians back to
war-torn country
MEM/October 13/2022
Lebanese President, Michel Aoun, announced Wednesday that his country will start
returning Syrian refugees to areas controlled by the Syrian regime of Bashar
Al-Assad at the end of next week. In statements
published by the Lebanese Presidency on Twitter, Aoun said "starting next week,
the process of returning the displaced Syrians will begin in batches to their
country". In September, the Lebanese government began
a plan to forcibly return Syrian refugees to their country by preparing a list
of the first batch that will leave the country for Syria.
The list of names was later handed over to the General Directorate of
Lebanese Public Security which, in turn, sent it to the Syrian Ministry of Local
Administration. About 1.5 million Syrian refugees live in Lebanon, who suffer
from deteriorating economic conditions, amid racist incitement by government
officials and the Hezbollah group.
Ambassador Shea’s Remarks on the Maritime Boundary
Agreement
US Beirut Embasy/October 13/2022
Remarks as Presented
مرحبا من السفارة الأميركية ببيروت
As President Biden announced in a statement just a short time ago, I am pleased
to address you tonight following a historic breakthrough regarding demarcation
of the maritime border between Lebanon and Israel. After months of mediation by
the United States, led by Special Presidential Coordinator Amos Hochstein, the
governments of Lebanon and Israel have agreed to formally end their maritime
boundary dispute and establish permanent maritime boundary between them.
President Biden spoke today with President Aoun and Prime Minister Lapid,
who confirmed their readiness to move forward on this historic agreement. In his
phone call with President Aoun, President Biden offered his congratulations. And
it is my distinct honor to also congratulate the people of Lebanon and to
address you on this issue. I should begin by
expressing to all those involved our profound gratitude, starting with President
Aoun and his team; Speaker Berri, and his principal adviser; and Prime Minister
Mikati. And there are many others in the government who also played constructive
roles in these negotiations… too many to mention by name. But I will single out
the Deputy Speaker of Parliament for his tireless efforts.
The agreement your government and the government of Israel announced
today will provide for the development of energy fields for the benefit of both
countries. Your country can look forward to harnessing vital new energy
resources. This sets the stage for a more stable and prosperous Lebanon. This
agreement promotes foreign investment in your country, which is critical against
the backdrop of the devastating economic situation.
The deal allows exploration and exploitation of known and future hydrocarbon
fields, bringing new energy resources onto the global market in a manner that
also promotes regional stability. It will be important now that all parties
uphold their commitments and work toward implementation of this deal.
Again, congratulations to all involved.
ألف مبروك. شكراً. Thank you.
Aoun calls Berri, Mikati over border deal with Israel
Naharnet/October 13/2022
President Michel Aoun on Thursday held phone talks with Speaker Nabih Berri and
PM-designate Najib Mikati to discuss with them the file of sea border
demarcation in light of the final draft sent by U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein to
Lebanese officials, the National News Agency said. Aoun also discussed the
matter in a meeting with caretaker Defense Minister Maurice Slim. Moreover, Aoun
and Slim tackled the situations and needs of the military institution and the
issue of the Military Council appointments in light of the current vacancies in
it. Media reports have said that the president might soon make an address to the
nation regarding the expected border deal with Israel.
Berri to send MPs copies of border deal with Israel
Naharnet/October 13/2022
Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday asked Parliament’s General Secretariat to send
all MPs copies of the sea border demarcation deal with Israel. Berri added that
the copies should be sent out after the agreement’s approval in Cabinet. Some
opposition MPs have decried that parliament has been kept in the dark regarding
the expected deal with Israel.
Report: Mikati threatens to leave Lebanon if Bassil calls for protests
Naharnet/October 13/2022
Prime Minister-designate Najib Mikati has informed Maronite Patriarch Beshara
al-Rahi that he would leave the country if Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran
Bassil asks his supporters to protest in the streets, sources said. The sources,
close to a senior government official, told al-Liwaa newspaper that Mikati
considered that "threatening with protests will not benefit Lebanon's
stability."
"Let Bassil's camp bear the responsibility of any resulting chaos and of leaving
the country without any authority," the sources quoted Mikati as saying.
Al-Rahi, for his part, told Mikati that Bkerki strongly opposes any calls for
protests and any constitutional chaos, the sources said.
First cholera death in Lebanon as outbreak spreads from Syria
Agence France Presse/October 13/2022
Lebanon has recorded its first death from cholera as cases surge after an
outbreak of the extremely virulent disease in neighboring Syria, the health
ministry said. Lebanon has recorded 26 cases of cholera this month, as the
country struggles amid poor sanitation and crumbling infrastructure after three
years of unprecedented economic crisis. "The common point between these cases is
that the majority of patients are displaced Syrians," Health Minister Firas
Abiad said on Tuesday. "The absence of basic services, like safe water and
sewerage networks, in places where refugees gather, constitutes a fertile ground
for the epidemic to spread in Lebanon."Syria has recorded 41 deaths from cholera
and over 700 cases, the country's official SANA news agency reported Tuesday.
The United Nations warned earlier this month that the outbreak is
"evolving alarmingly". Lebanon hosts more than a million refugees from Syria's
civil war, which broke out in 2011. Most live in
poverty, and their living conditions have worsened due to Lebanon's economic
woes. Cholera is generally contracted from contaminated food or water, and
causes diarrhea and vomiting. It can spread in
residential areas that lack proper sewerage networks or mains drinking water.
Cholera can kill within hours if left untreated, according to the World Health
Organization, but many of those infected will have no or mild symptoms. It can
be easily treated with oral rehydration solution, but more severe cases may
require intravenous fluids and antibiotics, the WHO says. Worldwide, the disease
affects between 1.3 million and four million people each year, killing between
21,000 and 143,000 people.
French Foreign Affairs Minister arrives in Beirut
NNA/October 13/2022
French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, arrived this
evening at Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport, on an official visit to
Lebanon that will last till tomorrow. During her
visit, Minister Colonna will meet with President of the Republic, General Michel
Aoun, House Speaker, Nabih Berri, Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Abdallah Bou Habib.
The French Minister was received at Beirut’s Airport by French Ambassador
to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, and the Director of Protocol at the Lebanese Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Abeer Ali.
Amin Gemayel broaches developments with KSA Ambassador
NNA/October 13/2022
Former President, Amin Gemayel, on Thursday welcomed in his office, KSA
Ambassador to Lebanon, Waleed Bukhari, with whom he discussed the most recent
developments at the internal, regional and international levels.
Gemayel saluted "the Kingdom, its monarch and crown prince, for its
decades-long sincere support for Lebanon, despite the negative stances by some
politicians," adding, "There is no doubt that Lebanon is still in a dangerous
square and needs its Arab and international friendships to enable it to overcome
its unprecedented crisis."Ambassador Bukhari, in turn, said that his meeting
with former President Amin Gemayel touched on vital dossiers and developments on
the Lebanese and regional arena. Ambassador Bukhari
also underlined the Kingdom's keenness on Lebanon's security and stability.
LIC Statement on the Lebanon-Israel Maritime Border Agreement
Washington, DC/October 13/2022
The Lebanese Information Center (LIC) welcomes
the announcement of a maritime border resolution between Lebanon and Israel.
This agreement is an important step toward a safe, secure, sovereign, and
prosperous Lebanon. Considerable work remains and the LIC urges the Lebanese
government to promote transparency in all economic matters in the maritime zone,
remain committed to UN Resolution 1701, and seek diplomatic resolutions to its
remaining border disputes.
The LIC is pleased to support the announcement of the Lebanon-Israel maritime
border resolution. “We are particularly thankful to the efforts of the U.S.
mediation team for their guidance and commitment to a diplomatic settlement,
specifically, Senior Advisor on Energy Security Amos Hochstein, as well as for
the political support and encouragement of President Joe Biden and Secretary of
State Antony Blinken,” stated LIC President Dr. Joseph Gebeily. “A peaceful
negotiation to such a sensitive topic was made possible through the deep ties
and trust cultivated between the U.S. and Lebanon and the time, energy, and
political willpower invested by the administration and Congress.”
The resolution of this long-standing maritime border dispute is a crucial step
toward a more stable, secure, and prosperous Lebanon. This agreement will lower
tensions between the two neighbors, promote security and stability in the south,
and allow Lebanon to fully access its sovereign maritime resources, including
oil and gas blocks. A peaceful settlement to a source of conflict demonstrates
that a safe and peaceful Lebanon is possible not through violence committed by
sectarian militias, but with negotiation and diplomacy by the legitimate
representatives of the Lebanese people.
The LIC also stresses the importance of transparency in future negotiations by
the Lebanese government. While the border resolution is a welcome development,
the process has been overdue and opaque. As Lebanon prepares to explore the
now-undisputed areas of its exclusive economic zone, the government must act
with transparency and accountability. The economic benefit from any oil or gas
extraction must be managed through a sovereign wealth fund for the benefit of
the Lebanese people and not be diverted for graft, political favors, or to the
sole benefit of corrupt officials.
The LIC also calls on the Lebanese government to continue the momentum of this
diplomatic breakthrough. The government should work toward the full
implementation of UN Resolution 1701, to include a full delineation of all its
borders, including land and maritime borders with Israel as well as with Syria.
The government should extend its authority over the whole Lebanese territory,
control the borders and ports of entry, disarm all armed groups, and seek a long
term solution to the Israeli conflict.
This historic border agreement is a positive step for Lebanon and demonstrates
the possibility of diplomatic resolutions to difficult situations. The
government should work in other spheres to settle disputes, open new economic
opportunities for the people of Lebanon, and secure peace, stability, and
sovereignty for the country and its citizens.
تحليل سياسي من جريدة الجورزلم بوست بقلم سيس فرتنزمن:
الديموقراطيون والصفقات من لبنان إلى إيران وهو يتناول إتفاق ترسيم الحدود البحرية
بين لبنان وإسرائيل
Democracies and deals: From Lebanon to Iran – analysis
Seth J. Frantzman/Jerusalem Post/October 13/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112683/seth-j-frantzman-jerusalem-post-democracies-and-deals-from-lebanon-to-iran-analysis-%d8%aa%d8%ad%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%84-%d8%b3%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3%d9%8a-%d9%85%d9%86-%d8%ac%d8%b1%d9%8a%d8%af%d8%a9/
It appears that Lebanon terrorist group Hezbollah, which has a
big say in what happens in the country, can at any time decide to fire rockets
over the line that has been agreed.
Israel moving forward on a maritime deal with Lebanon is historic and an
important agreement that will demarcate waters off the coast and enable energy
exploration on both sides of the line.
Ostensibly, this will lead to security because it will mean that Lebanon won’t
oppose Israel extracting gas from areas on the Israel side of the line.
“Were circumstances normal, we should have waited for a decision from the next
government. But the circumstances require us to make a decision now – and yes,
security challenges, as presented by heads of agencies, create a short and
narrow window of opportunity.”
Alternate PM Naftali Bennett
However, it appears that Lebanon terrorist group Hezbollah, which has a big say
in what happens in the country, can at any time decide to fire rockets over the
line that has been agreed. This is a reminder of the complexities facing
democracies in deals like this.
In a rehashing of the Iran deal, we are presented with a story where if we don’t
reach a deal there could be war; but the reason for such a war is, ironically,
due to the talk of the deal; and a change in government could end the deal and
lead to conflict.
Meanwhile in Israel, the agreement will proceed, after approval by the cabinet,
it will be presented to the Knesset for review. It will also be put before in
the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee and then it will be returned
to the cabinet for final ratification.
There are other processes in Lebanon that will play out. It is assumed that
Hezbollah does not oppose the deal but this doesn’t mean that there won’t be
more hurdles on the way to finalizing the agreement, or ratification; but that
the processes in Israel and Lebanon are very different.
Benefits of the maritime agreement
For advocates of the agreement the benefits are clear. Lebanon and Hezbollah are
now seemingly accepting a new reality where Israel exists. This is a relatively
low bar because Israel is the stronger country and it doesn’t need Hezbollah’s
approval.
There is a sense that interests are now overcoming the rhetoric of the past;
meaning Lebanon needs cash and potential profit from gas exploration off the
coast that could help stabilize the country. Critics would argue that any profit
will go toward Hezbollah and that Lebanon seemed to get most of what it wants.
Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Wednesday, “Were circumstances
normal, we should have waited for a decision from the next government. But the
circumstances require us to make a decision now – and yes, security challenges,
as presented by heads of agencies, create a short and narrow window of
opportunity.”
Others disagree. Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu has been consistently
critical of the deal, calling it an historic surrender. This means that the next
government in Israel could walk away from the agreement or seek changes. The
controversy also leads to questions about potential escalation, which Bennett
appeared to hint at with his reference to a “narrow window.”
This is an interesting comment, considering that less than a week ago, Defense
Minister Benny Gantz instructed the IDF to be on alert in case of escalation in
the North. Was Israel put in a position of either making a deal or having a
conflict? Bennett said: “I saw value in reaching a deal; but not at any cost,
and certainly not under threat.” If Israel wasn’t under threat, it’s not clear
why the IDF had to be on alert for possible conflict days before the agreement
was concluded.
The dispute in Israeli politics is a reminder of the rhetoric in the US before
the Iran deal. During the lead-up to the deal there was pressure on the Obama
administration to have Congressional review and there were discussions whether
the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or Iran deal, constituted a treaty,
requiring it to be sent to the Senate.At the time, in early 2015, then
vice-president Joe Biden said, “around the world, America’s influence depends on
its ability to honor its commitments.” He warned that Republican critics that
“the vast majority of our international commitments take effect without
Congressional approval.”Obama eventually secured enough support in the US Senate
to block any kind of challenge to the Iran deal but it didn’t last long and in
May 2018 the Trump administration withdrew from the agreement. A year later, in
May 2019, Iranian threats to US troops in Iraq increased, a US drone was downed;
ships were attacked with mines in the Gulf, US bases were attacked with rockets
and by January 2020 the US had carried out air strikes killed IRGC Quds Force
head Qasem Soleimani.
Washington Predicts ‘Difficult Moments’ during
Implementation of Lebanese-Israeli Agreement
New York - Ali Barada/Asharq Al-Awsat/October, 13/2022
One day after Lebanon and Israel reached a draft-agreement on the demarcation of
their maritime borders, senior US officials said they expect “other difficult
moments” during the implementation of the agreement. The officials stressed that
negotiations did not include consultations with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah.
The agreement was described as a “historic breakthrough” settling a
decades-old maritime border dispute over the control of resources along the
eastern coast of the Mediterranean.
According to the final text of the draft dated Oct. 10, 2022 and leaked by an
Israeli journalist, the said agreement shall enter into force on the date the
United States Government sends a communication containing confirmation of each
party’s consent to the provisions of this agreement.
The final text also stated that on the day on which such notification is sent,
Lebanon and Israel will simultaneously send to the United Nations identical
coordinates defining the location of the maritime boundary.
A senior US official told a group of journalists that the US-led mediation in
the maritime border dispute between Lebanon and Israel “began more than ten
years ago” under President Barack Obama and then Vice President Joe Biden, and
did not lead to any result until 2020 when the two sides announced the cessation
of negotiations. Biden’s administration resumed its mediation in the fall of
2021, “in pursuit of (...) a paradigm shift that would allow for a
breakthrough.”
The senior US official referred to two calls that Biden had on Tuesday with
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Lebanese President Michel Aoun, stressing
that the move would be in the interest of Lebanon, which “is suffering from a
major economic crisis.”“Without addressing the energy and electricity crisis, it
is impossible to see any hope of economic recovery,” he said, stressing that
this agreement would provide Lebanon with “new possibilities for foreign direct
investment”, especially in the energy sector.He also pointed out that Israel was
“very successful” in developing large gas and hydrocarbon resources in the
Mediterranean, noting the agreement with Lebanon “will provide it with a kind of
security and stability.”The US official stated, however, that the negotiations
“were not easy,” expecting “other difficult moments” during the implementation
of the agreement. He added that the US “will continue to provide its assistance
in facilitating any future discussions.”In response to a question about the
impact of the threats made by Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah on
the negotiations and the agreement, the senior US official said that “the Karish
field is not in the disputed area,” stressing that the negotiations “did not
take place in light of (…) threats.”He expected the two countries to sign the
agreement “as soon as possible,” adding that the negotiations that were
conducted under American mediation did not include discussions with Hezbollah.
Asked about the Arab Gas Pipeline agreement, he said the US officials believe
that “importing gas from Egypt through Jordan, up to Lebanon, is a positive
development for the country.”“We will conduct a final review in the United
States to make sure that [the project] is in line with the American sanctions,”
the US official said, referring to Caesar’s Act against Syria. He also expressed
his “confidence that we can deliver gas to Lebanon on a fairly rapid basis if
the country actually takes the reform steps that it has committed to.”
Lebanon Abandons Its Gas so Iran Can Export its Oil
Huda al-Husseini/Asharq Al-Awsat/October, 13/2022
Lebanese media reports have asserted that Quds Force Deputy Commander Reza
Fallahzadeh has made calls to several Hezbollah officials to inform them that an
agreement on a nuclear deal would be delayed despite the parties to it having
agreed on all the details. Reza Fallahzadeh also conveyed the satisfaction of
the Islamic Republic with how Hezbollah has been managing matters, as well as
Iran’s desire that a maritime border agreement with Israel be reached even if
the Karish field, which is undoubtedly within Lebanon’s borders, must be given
up on.
He justified this position by asserting that this serves the supreme interests
of the Axis of Resistance and Iran. Reza Fallahzadeh also told the party he
hoped it would step up its media campaign to defend Iran and its regime against
the ferocious assault it has been facing since the murder of Mahsa Amini.
We can understand the latest appearance of Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan
Nasrallah on the first of the month, which was made hours after the Iranians
called. He told the Lebanese that an agreement had been reached in accordance
with the proposal submitted by US Envoy Amos Hochstein, which was conveyed by
the US Ambassador to Lebanon Dorothy Shea to the president of the republic, the
speaker of parliament, and the prime minister. He devoted the remainder of his
speech to defending what Iran has achieved and the role it has played under the
leadership of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Belittling the intelligence of the
Lebanese people, he claimed that without Iran, the situation in Iraq, Syria and
Lebanon would have been worse after Camp David.
One does not know whether to laugh or cry in response to Nasrallah's claims that
the situation would be worse than it currently is in the countries under the
control of Wilayat al-Faqih’s republic. It is no longer a secret that Nasrallah
and his party have no other goal besides furthering the interests of the Iranian
regime, which demand that Lebanon remain an open field without borders,
sovereignty, security, or stability… for it to remain an isolated country
controlled- with its wealth, resources, and energy- by the Islamic Republic of
Iran through the groups loyal to it, which run their countries to the benefit of
the Islamic Republic rather than the Lebanese people.
On the day Nasrallah signaled his approval of the border demarcation agreement,
reports from Washington claimed that the US Treasury would not object to
allowing Iran to sell up to two million barrels of its oil on global markets
(1.6 million barrels more than it currently sells daily) before an agreement on
the nuclear deal is reached.
This is how Nasrallah carries out his rule of safeguarding Iran’s interests,
conceding territory on land and sea that Lebanon has a demonstrable right to in
return for Iran being allowed to sell an increased quantity of its oil on global
markets. Worse still, Nasrallah, with the ruling clique behind him, does this
while demanding that the Lebanese thank him for the favor of defending their
rights through his resistance and the theatrics of the drones his party
launched. Indeed, these drones, which were nothing but child’s play, were struck
down by the Israelis in seconds.
Before the agreement was announced, historian Dr. Issam Khalifeh said that the
manner in which the border demarcation negotiations had been handled set a
historical precedent. He accused the “corrupt ruling clique” of giving up
Lebanon’s wealth, dubbing the actions of the country’s three top officials (the
president, prime minister, and speaker of parliament, who were all involved in
the negotiations) as “high treason.” Dr. Khalifeh explained that Line 23 does
not start from Ras al-Naqoura, but 30 meters north of that point, adding that
Lebanon is the only country in the world to have demarcated its maritime
economic zone on a different basis to its land borders, and that giving up Ras
al-Naqoura as the point at which the border is drawn as high treason and a
violation of the constitution. Moreover, after the agreement was announced,
Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said that the maritime border agreement
between Lebanon and Israel is historic and enhances Israel’s security.
Now that the maritime border agreement has been signed by the Lebanese state,
every facet of which Hezbollah controls, the US Treasury shall announce that
Iran will be allowed to sell enough oil to bring in 70 billion dollars in annual
revenue for the regime of repression in return for Lebanon granting the Karish
field to Israel. Meanwhile, the small country of Lebanon continues to drown in
darkness, poverty, debt, political upheaval, and chaos.
Israel has indeed signed a contract with Greek energy giant Energean, which has
promised that gas would be pumped out of Karish by the fall, with some reports
suggesting it could happen as early as the end of the month. Meanwhile, experts
have warned that Lebanon will not make money from its gas at sea for at least
eight years, with the high initial costs of excavation and extraction partly
explaining the delay.
Other factors that have shaped the agreement were the economic concerns of
Lebanon and domestic politics, as well as the presence of a less extreme
government in Israel (what would have happened if Benjamin Netanyahu had been in
charge)? Also, Hochstein demonstrated that he is a sharp man and a good
listener, managing to cut short the procrastination of the head Amal Movement
and Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who had left the file in his pocket for
over ten years. Indeed, Hochstein managed to reduce the time required to
conclude what all sides called a “historic deal” from years to months.
After the announcement that Lebanon had received the agreement file, Reuters
quoted Lebanese officials as saying that Hezbollah has acknowledged the
agreement, and also quoted a figure close to Hezbollah that he too has agreed
and that the official state response will soon be declared.
The smallest country in the Arab world has two governments, an army, and a
militia; it has been pregnant with a statelet for over forty years as well. The
actual state is sleeping on its back because it is still pregnant. For this
reason, there will be no agreement unless the militia agrees, and so it cannot
make any moves or take any decisions without the approval of the IRGC.
Of course, Nasrallah will claim that we “owe him” and that he saved Israel the
hassle of going to war. His party will certainly begin preparing for an escape
route or response to claims, which figures close to the party will reiterate,
that this “preliminary” agreement is nothing less than implicit recognition of
Israel, regardless of what he, his resistance, and his supporters say about
their desire to destroy the Jewish state. So long as war has become less likely
for an array of reasons, including the shared economic interests with Israel,
signing any kind of peace agreement could be avoided. Furthermore, if it turns
out that Lebanon has its own gas rigs, it would have a lot to lose in the event
that Hezbollah attacks Israel, which makes it easier for Israel to deter such an
attack. Additionally, it is Israel that will make immediate gains because it is
ready to extract its gas now.
Lebanon is late, and we do not know if any gas will be found at all. Uglier
still is the fact that it is not likely that we will see a change to the rules
of the game governed by Nabih, Najib, Gebran, Suleiman, Samir, Raad, Ali Hassan
and the other men who have been in power for over thirty years. It is no secret
to anyone that Lebanon has been mismanaged and looted; nor is it a secret that
this has left it with 70 billion dollars in losses. It is also unlikely that the
elites will change the manner in which they govern. The fact that the men who
run the country and have grown accustomed to splitting its wealth among
themselves got what they wanted may have facilitated the conclusion of the
agreement, so nothing will change for them or the Lebanese people.
In his call with Lapid, the US president told him: you are making history. And
Michel Aoun’s entourage told him: you are demarcating the border! In a call with
an observer following all the developments in the maritime border demarcation
negotiations between Israel and Lebanon, he gave a remarkable explanation:
The fundamental question is, why did things take so long? Why did Lebanon not
take the initiative in the nineties or later, so it could explore and excavate?
Why did Lebanon sign an agreement with Cyprus that goes against its interests?
How did this harmful approach continue into 2012, giving Israel false pretexts
in terms of maritime law that it managed to pass off because the Lebanese
authorities allowed it?
He adds: what are the conditions under which the Hof Line, which was not based
on any legal reference points either, emerged? Lebanon has two choices today:
Line 23 or managing the dispute based on Line 29. The former is the option that
is possible at the moment, given Lebanon’s financial troubles. Maybe Lebanon was
also forced to concede what rightfully belongs to it in order to avoid war or
further occupation… What will historians say about all of this? What will be
found? Will there be a lot or a bit of gas?
The question currently on the table is whether parliament will vote to ratify
the agreement and send it to the president for signing. Lebanon agreed out of
necessity, and this is perhaps the most realistic outcome given the decades of
corrupt rule, as well as the pressure applied by Hezbollah.
Lest we forget, Iran’s demonic and destructive plans in Lebanon, as well as the
other countries of the region, are more dangerous than any others. It
infiltrates societies under the guise of doctrine and claims to be a champion of
its sect and the oppressed. It then stirs strife among the communities of these
countries through its loyalists, thereby undermining the state and crushing its
foundations, at which point the Iranian octopus captures it- operating within
the framework of divide and conquer that had been used by the colonial powers in
their wars and occupations of countries.
However, the difference is that Iranian occupation is not perpetuated through
war but by inciting tensions and stirring divisions and hatred within societies.
This is even crueler and more painful than war. The regime has even been doing
the same in Iran itself, with the Kurds in Sanandaj and Sunnis becoming its
targets since they began striking in the aftermath of Mahsa Amini’s murder.
The Lebanese should be grateful to Mahsa Amini. It is to her death that
we owe the agreement. It was her death that compelled Iran to push Hezbollah to
back an agreement between Israel and Lebanon. Until the next one.
The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on October 13-14/2022
NATO Chief Warns Russia Not to Cross ‘Very Important Line’
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Russian President Vladimir Putin would be crossing a “very important line” if he
were to order the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens
Stoltenberg warned Thursday, with the military alliance and Russia both due to
hold nuclear exercises in coming days. NATO is holding its exercise, dubbed
“Steadfast Noon,” next week. The long-planned maneuvers are conducted around the
same time every year and run for about one week. They involve fighter jets
capable of carrying nuclear warheads, but do not involve any live bombs. Russia
usually holds its own maneuvers around the same time, and NATO is expecting
Moscow's exercise of its nuclear forces sometime this month. Stoltenberg said
NATO will “closely monitor” what Russia is up to. Asked what NATO would do if
Russia launched a nuclear attack, Stoltenberg said: “We will not go into exactly
how we will respond, but of course this will fundamentally change the nature of
the conflict. It will mean that a very important line has been crossed.”He added
that “even any use of a smaller nuclear weapon will be a very serious thing,
fundamentally changing the nature of the war in Ukraine, and of course that
would have consequences.”Stoltenberg's remarks came after a meeting of NATO's
secretive Nuclear Planning Group, which was held among defense ministers in
Brussels, as concerns deepen over Putin’s insistence that he will use any means
necessary to defend Russian territory. The meeting,
which usually happens once or twice a year, comes against a backdrop of high
tension as some NATO allies, led by the US, supply Ukraine with advanced weapons
and munitions to defend itself against Russian aerial attacks. “Irresponsible
and reckless rhetoric is dangerous,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said of
Russian threats to potentially use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. However, the US
has not seen the need to make any changes to its current military posture or
response, Austin said.
NATO is keeping a wary eye on Russia’s movements in its war with Ukraine, but
has so far seen no change in its nuclear posture. Putin's nuclear exercises
though could make it more difficult for NATO to understand what Russia's
intentions might be, potentially increasing the risk of an accident. “Russia
will also be conducting its annual exercise, I think, the week after or just
after the annual exercise,” UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters
Wednesday. But “what we don’t want is to do things out of routine.” “This is a
routine exercise and it’s all about readiness,” Wallace said, just as “NATO’s
meeting is all about making sure we are ready for anything. I mean, that is the
job of this alliance — to make sure that the 30 partners together are ready for
what is thrown at us. And we have to continue to work at that.”Fourteen NATO
member countries will be involved in “Steadfast Noon,” which was planned before
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. The main part of the maneuvers will be held
more than 1,000 kilometers (625 miles) from Russia. NATO as an organization
doesn't possess any weapons. The nuclear weapons nominally linked to the
alliance remain under the firm control of three member countries — the US, the
UK and France. But France insists on maintaining its nuclear independence and
doesn't take part in Nuclear Planning Group meetings.With the Russian army
retreating in some places when faced with Ukrainian forces armed with Western
weapons, Putin raised the stakes by annexing four Ukrainian regions and
declaring a partial mobilization to buttress the crumbling front line.
As his war plans have gone awry, Putin has repeatedly signaled that he
could resort to nuclear weapons to protect the Russian gains. The threat is also
aimed at deterring NATO nations from sending more sophisticated weapons to
Ukraine. In an interview with France 2 television, French President Emmanuel
Macron suggested that France would not respond with a nuclear strike. He also
warned about the responsibilities of leaders when it comes to nuclear rhetoric
and said he has spoken to Putin “several times.”“We have a (nuclear) doctrine,
which is clear,” Macron said. “The dissuasion is working. But then, the less we
talk about it, the less we brandish the threat, the more credible we are.”“Too
many people are talking about it,” he said.
Russian Border Region Says Ukraine Shelled It, Kyiv
Blames Stray Russian Fire
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
The governor of a Russian border region accused Ukraine of shelling an apartment
block there on Thursday but a Kyiv official said a stray Russian missile was to
blame.Vyacheslav Gladkov said a school had been damaged in a village close to
the border, and that the top floor of an apartment block had been struck in the
city of Belgorod. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on
Twitter that Russia had launched a missile towards the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv
but "something went wrong and it hit (a) residential building". Video showed
rubble next to a 16-storey apartment block with a large rupture near its roof.
Reuters could not independently establish who was to blame for the incident, in
which Gladkov said no one had been hurt. The governor
of another Russian region, Kursk, said an electricity substation had been
damaged by a shell, which had knocked out power to two settlements. Reuters was
not able to independently verify that report. Russian investigators said they
had opened a criminal case into the shelling of the region and blamed the
Ukrainian military. Ukraine's defense ministry did not immediately reply to a
request for comment. Russia's border regions have reported sporadic attacks
since the invasion of Ukraine in February, including on targets such as fuel and
ammunition stores. Ukraine has not admitted responsibility, but an official has
described previous incidents as "karma" for Moscow's war actions.
UK to Supply Ukraine with Air Defense Missiles
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Britain on Thursday said it would supply Ukraine with air defense missiles to
defend itself against Russian assaults and will for the first time provide
rockets capable of shooting down cruise missiles. The
announcement comes after Western allies on Wednesday vowed to rapidly deliver
new air defenses to Ukraine to bolster protection against Russian aerial attack.
Russian President Vladimir Putin unleashed a barrage across Ukraine on Monday
following a blast at a bridge to the annexed Crimea peninsula, said AFP.
"The AMRAAM rockets... will be provided in the coming weeks for use with
the NASAMS air defense systems pledged by the US," the British defense ministry
said in a statement. "The rockets will help to protect Ukraine's critical
national infrastructure," it said. Britain said it
would also send hundreds of drones to support Ukraine's intelligence services as
well as 18 howitzer artillery guns, in addition to 64 already delivered. "These
weapons will help Ukraine defend its skies from attacks and strengthen their
overall missile defense alongside the US NASAMS," British Defense Minister Ben
Wallace said. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky had on Tuesday called on
the G7 club of wealthy nations including Britain to help Kyiv create an "air
shield". NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the "top priority" of Ukraine's
Western backers was to provide Kyiv with more air defenses to protect against
Russia's "indiscriminate" attacks. Defense ministers
from the Western military alliance are meeting on Thursday in Brussels.
US Congress to Establish Working Group to
'Monitor Iran’s Nuclear, Missile Program'
Washington - Rana Abtar/Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have reintroduced a bill aimed at monitoring
Iran’s nuclear program. Rep. Senator Lindsey Graham announced the inclusion of
the Iran Nuclear Weapons Capability Monitoring Act of 2022 - which he had
submitted with Dem. Senator Bob Menendez earlier this year - in the Defense
Department funding budget. Introduced in July 2022, the Iran Nuclear Weapons
Capability Monitoring Act establishes a task force to monitor the nuclear
weapons and missile capabilities of Iran and obliges the US administration to
submit periodic reports to Congress on the status of Iran’s nuclear program. The
legislation also requires that the US Secretary of State “submit an annual
diplomatic strategy for engaging with partners and allies of the United States
regarding the nuclear weapons and missile activities of Iran that will include:
a description of efforts of the United States to counter efforts of Iran to
project political and military influence; a description of a coordinated
whole-of-government approach to use political, economic, and security-related
tools to address such activities; and a comprehensive plan for engaging with
allies and regional partners in all relevant multilateral fora to address such
activities.”
Menendez emphasized the need for the Congress “to obtain regular information
regarding Iran’s nuclear activities.”“With Iran’s unrelenting support of
terrorism, its overmatching missile programs, and defiance in the face of
international censure, there is no reason why the US Congress should not receive
the most up to date information about Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile
activities or the Administration’s diplomatic efforts to address the threats
posed by them. That is exactly what this bill will do,” he stated.
For his part, Graham said: “No matter what happens with the Iran nuclear
negotiations, we must monitor the Iranian nuclear program like a hawk.”
Protests Continue to Rage in Iran Despite Authorities
Crackdown
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Nearing a month of demonstrations following the death of Mahsa Amini, a
22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died in the custody of the morality
police, Iranians continued to step up anti-regime protests despite the brutal
and oppressive crackdown by security authorities. On Wednesday, Iranian Supreme
Leader Ali Khamenei renewed his accusations of “enemy involvement in the riots
in Iran.”Khamenei’s claims were made during his reception of members of the
Expediency Discernment Council. On Oct. 3, Khamenei deemed the protests in Iran
as “pre-planned,” and accused the US and Israel of standing behind their
organization. On Wednesday, he reiterated that recent “riots” are not
spontaneous. Khamenei also stressed the need for “distinguishing between the
different groups of people taking to the streets.” “These recent riots are not
something spontaneous and coming from within. The onslaught of propaganda,
influencing people’s thinking, provoking excitement, actions such as teaching
how to make Molotov cocktails, etc. are clear examples of what the enemy is
doing,” said Khamenei. “Those who participated in the riots aren’t all of the
same type. Some are agents of or in line with the enemy. Others are just
agitated. They shouldn’t be judged the same. For the latter, cultural work is
needed. For the former, judiciary & security officials must do their duty,” he
added. Furthermore, Khamenei claimed that the enemy’s goal in creating recent
unrest is to preoccupy Iran’s officials with everyday issues. Iranian Interior
Minister Ahmad Vahidi underlined that there will be no revolution following the
protests witnessed by Iran. “Our enemies think that they can achieve a political
coup by supporting the protests, but this is stupid; Because they don't know
anything about the country,” said Vahidi. At least 108 people have been killed
in Iran’s crackdown on more than three weeks of nationwide protests sparked by
the death of Amini, said Oslo-based group Iran Human Rights (IHR).
The Iranian security forces also killed at least another 93 people during
separate clashes in the city of Zahedan, in the southeastern province of
Sistan-Baluchistan, IHR said in a statement.
Iran’s Khamenei Says 'Enemies' Involved in Protests
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Iran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei on Wednesday said "enemies" were involved in
street violence that erupted last month over the death of Mahsa Amini. Khamenei
has already accused the United States, Israel and their "agents" of fomenting
the unrest sparked by Amini's death after her arrest for allegedly failing to
adhere to the Iranian republic's strict dress code for women, AFP said.
"Today, everyone confirms the involvement of the enemies in these street
riots," Khamenei said Wednesday in a televised meeting with the Expediency
Council, an advisory body. "The actions of the enemy, such as propaganda, trying
to influence minds, creating excitement, encouraging and even teaching the
manufacture of incendiary materials, are now completely clear," he said, without
identifying the enemy. Earlier Wednesday, the judiciary said it had charged more
than 100 people over the protests in Tehran and Hormozgan provinces. "Some of
these people are either enemy agents or... aligned with the enemy, and some are
excited people," Khamenei said. "The judicial and security authorities must do
their duty" in dealing with the "enemy agents", he said.
Since September 16, dozens of people -- mainly protesters but also
members of the security forces -- have been killed while hundreds of others have
been arrested in several cities across the country. On
Wednesday, gunshots were fired as Iranian security forces confronted protests
over Mahsa Amini's death in a crackdown that rights groups say has already cost
at least 108 lives with many children among the dead. The crack of gunfire
interrupted demonstrators' chants in the cities of Isfahan and Karaj and in
Amini's hometown Saqez, in videos shared by two Norway-based human rights
organizations. "Death to the dictator," shouted female students who had
defiantly taken off their mandatory hijab headscarves as they marched down a
Tehran street, in a video verified by AFP. Shots were heard in Isfahan amid the
"nationwide protests and strikes", Iran Human Rights (IHR) said of a video it
tweeted, and in Saqez, according to the Kurdish rights group Hengaw, which
reported that later "the security forces fled".Amini, 22, died on September 16
after falling into a coma following her arrest in Tehran by the notorious
morality police for an alleged breach of the Iranian republic's strict dress
code for women. Young women, university students and
even schoolgirls have since taken off their hijabs and faced off with security
forces in the biggest wave of social unrest to grip Iran in almost three years.
At least 28 children have been killed and hundreds more detained and held mostly
in adult prisons, rights groups said. Deadly unrest
has rocked especially Sanandaj in Amini's western home province of Kurdistan --
but also Zahedan in Iran's far southeast, where demonstrations erupted on
September 30 over the reported rape of a teenage girl by a police commander.
'Bloody crackdown' feared -
Activists in Tehran called for protesters to turn out "in solidarity with the
people of Sanandaj and the heroic people of Zahedan".
"We don't want spectators. Come and join us," a group of mainly young women
outside Tehran's Azad University sang in IHR footage verified by AFP. The
protest slogan "Woman, Life, Freedom" was spray painted on the wall of the
former US embassy -- abandoned in the wake of the 1979 Iranian Revolution and
subsequent hostage crisis -- but later painted over, an image obtained by AFP
showed. A man who asked not to be identified told the BBC: "The atmosphere is
quite tense and yet it is exciting. People are hopeful this time and we hope
that a real change is just around the corner. I don't think people are willing
to give up this time. "You can hear some sort of protest everywhere, almost
every night. That feels good, that feels really good." IHR said the security
forces had so far killed at least 108 people, and at least another 93 people in
Zahedan, while warning of an "impending bloody crackdown" in Kurdistan. It also
said workers had joined protest strikes this week at the Asalouyeh petrochemical
plant in the southwest, Abadan in the west and Bushehr in the south.
In its widening crackdown, Iran has blocked access to social media,
including Instagram and WhatsApp, and launched a campaign of mass arrests.
Missing children
EU countries on Wednesday agreed punitive measures on Tehran.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said it was "time to
sanction those responsible" in Iran "for the repression of women", while French
President Emmanuel Macron expressed solidarity with the protesters. The
Tehran-based Children's Rights Protection Society, which reported the deaths of
28 minors, condemned security forces for violence against children.
It criticized "families being kept in the dark on their children's
whereabouts, cases proceeding without lawyers and a lack of children's judges
and police". Revolutionary Guards deputy commander Ali Fadavi told Iranian media
on October 5 that the "average age of the detainees from many of the recent
protests was 15".On Twitter, Canada's foreign minister slammed Iran for killing
child protesters. "Canada condemns the Iranian regime’s continued use of
violence against protestors, resulting in the death of civilians, including
children," Melanie Joly wrote. "The ongoing arbitrary detention and mistreatment
of protestors must stop."Human rights lawyer Hassan Raisi said around 300 people
between the ages of 12 and 19 were in police custody, some of them in detention
centers for adult drug offenders. Iran's judiciary said more than 100 people had
been charged in Tehran and Hormozgan provinces alone. An official Iranian
forensic investigation found Amini had died of a longstanding illness rather
than reported beatings. Her parents have denied this and filed a complaint
against the officers involved. A cousin living in Iraq has told AFP she died of
"a violent blow to the head".
Iran President Accuses US of ‘Destabilization’ amid
Protests
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Iran’s president on Thursday accused the US of conducting a “failed policy of
destabilization” targeting his nation, as Iranian protesters continued to call
for the downfall of its rulers despite a violent and wide-ranging crackdown.
President Ebrahim Raisi has repeatedly dismissed the unrest sparked by the death
of a 22-year-old woman in police custody as a purported Western plot, without
providing evidence. His latest remarks came after protests erupted in cities
across Iran on Wednesday, with videos showing security forces apparently firing
toward demonstrators.
The protests, in which girls and women of all ages have removed their mandatory
headscarves, or hijabs, have become one of the greatest challenges to Iran’s
theocracy since the country’s 2009 Green Movement. Raisi, a hard-line protégé of
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has likened the protesters to “flies” and sought to
downplay the unrest. “The Iranian nation has
invalidated the American military option and, as they themselves have admitted,
brought the policy of sanctions and maximum pressure a humiliating failure,”
Raisi said Thursday to a conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“Now, following America’s failure in militarization and sanctions, Washington
and its allies have resorted to the failed policy of destabilization," he said,
according to a transcript of his remarks. Raisi did
not otherwise address the demonstrations, which took place across at least 19
cities on Wednesday. Gathering information about the demonstrations remains
difficult amid the internet restrictions and the arrests of at least 40
journalists in the country, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Iran’s government insists 22-year-old Mahsa Amini was not mistreated, but
her family says her body showed bruises and other signs of beating after she was
detained for violating the country’s strict dress code. It remains unclear how
many people have been killed or arrested so far in the protests.
An Oslo-based group, Iran Human Rights, estimated Wednesday that at least
201 people have been killed. This includes an estimated 90 people killed by
security forces in the eastern Iranian city of Zahedan amid demonstrations
against a police officer accused of rape in a separate case. Iranian authorities
have described the Zahedan violence as involving unnamed separatists, without
providing details or evidence.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said America wasn't
focusing on possible negotiations with Iran over its tattered nuclear deal amid
the demonstrations. Those talks collapsed in the months before Amini's Sept. 16
death.
“Right now, our focus...is on the remarkable bravery and courage that the
Iranian people are exhibiting through their peaceful demonstrations,” Price
said. “And our focus right now is on shining a spotlight on what they’re doing
and supporting them in the ways we can.” Canada, meanwhile, announced additional
sanctions against 17 individuals and three entities in response to what it said
was “the Iranian regime’s systematic human rights violations and ongoing actions
that destabilize regional security.”Meanwhile, an Iranian-American who had been
furloughed from prison while serving a 10-year sentence on internationally
criticized spying charges was put back into Tehran's Evin prison, his lawyer
said. Siamak Namazi had been furloughed from prison as his 85-year-old father,
Baquer Namazi, was freed and allowed to travel to Oman and on to the United Arab
Emirates for medical care. “Iran’s decision to refuse
to renew Siamak’s furlough is devastating, but ultimately unsurprising," lawyer
Jared Genser said. “For Iran to use Baquer’s departure
and Siamak’s temporary release to portray itself as acting in good faith, only
to immediately and needlessly throw him back behind bars, is a telling display
of the precarious situation of the hostages.”
Protests Reach 19 Cities in Iran Despite Internet
Disruption
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Protests swept across at least 19 cities in Iran on Wednesday sparked by the
death of a 22-year-old woman detained last month by the country’s morality
police, even as security forces targeted demonstrators in the streets, activists
said. The protests over the death of Mahsa Amini have become one of the greatest
challenges to Iran’s theocracy since the country’s 2009 Green Movement.
Demonstrators have included oil workers, high school students and women marching
without their mandatory headscarf, or hijab. Calls for
protests beginning at noon Wednesday saw a massive deployment of riot police and
plainclothes officers throughout Tehran and other cities, witnesses said and
videos showed. Witnesses also described disruptions affecting their mobile
internet services. NetBlocks, an advocacy group, said that Iran’s internet
traffic had dropped to some 25% compared to the peak, even during a working day
in which students were in class across the country. “The incident is likely to
further limit the free flow of information amid protests,” NetBlocks said, The
Associated Press reported. Despite the disruption, witnesses saw at least one
demonstration in Tehran by some 30 women who had removed their headscarves while
chanting: “Death to the dictator!” Those cries, referring to Iran’s Supreme
Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, can result in a closed-door trial in the
country’s Revolutionary Court with the threat of a death sentence.
Passing cars honked in support of the women despite the threats of
security forces. Other women simply continued with their day not wearing the
hijab in a silent protest, witnesses said. Demonstrations also occurred on
university campuses in Tehran as well, online videos purported to show. Lawyers
also peacefully demonstrated in front of the Iran Central Bar Association in
Tehran, chanting: “Woman, life, freedom” — a slogan of the demonstrations so
far. The video corresponded to known features of the association’s building. A
later video showed them fleeing after security forces fired tear gas at them,
the New York-based Center for Human Rights in Iran said. At least three lawyers
were among the some two dozen arrested there, the center said. “Lawyers willing
to defend detainees arrested for peaceful protest are the last lifeline for a
citizenry under attack by the Iranian government,” said Hadi Ghaemi, the
center’s executive director. “Protests must be allowed without the threat of
lethal state violence or arbitrary arrest.”The center said it tracked protests
in at least 19 cities across Iran. Gathering
information about the demonstrations remains difficult amid the internet
restrictions and the arrests of at least 40 journalists in the country,
according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Iran Reform Advocate Tajzadeh Jailed for Five Years
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Leading Iran reformist Mostafa Tajzadeh, who has made repeated public calls for
"structural changes" to Iran, has been jailed for five years, his lawyer said
late Tuesday. The 65-year-old, who was arrested on
July 8, before the wave of protests triggered by the death in morality police
custody last month of Mahsa Amini, has begun serving his sentence after choosing
not to appeal, lawyer Houshang Pourbabai said on Twitter. "My client Mostafa
Tajzadeh was sentenced to five years for plotting against state security, two
years for publishing lies and one year for propaganda against the system,"
Pourbabai said, AFP reported. He said the jail sentences would run concurrently,
so his client would serve five years in prison. Tajzadeh refused to put up any
defense at his trial, which opened on August 13, after the court denied him
permission to consult privately with his lawyer. Tajzadeh's wife Fakhrossadat
Mohtashamipour, who is also a leading reform activist, expressed concern that
her husband was being held in solitary confinement despite his ill health.
A former government minister under the presidency of Mohammad Khatami, a
reformist who oversaw a rapprochement with the West between 1997 and 2005,
Tajzadeh already spent seven years in prison. He was jailed with other reformist
leaders after the re-election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked
mass protests in 2009. Tajzadeh registered to stand on a reform platform in last
year's presidential election but, like most other reformist hopefuls, his
candidacy was rejected by the Guardian Council, which vets all candidates for
public office. In his campaign material, Tajzadeh billed himself as a "citizen,
a reformist," and a "political prisoner for seven years". He hit out out against
"blocks on the internet", "interference by the military in politics, the economy
and elections" and a "costly and pro-Russian foreign policy driven by
anti-Americanism".
France: Iranian Drone Transfers to Russia Would Violate UN
Nuclear Deal Resolution
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
France's foreign ministry said on Thursday that any transfer of Iranian drones
to Russia would be a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolution
that endorsed the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers. Three
drones operated by Russian forces attacked the small town of Makariv, west of
Ukraine's capital, early on Thursday, with officials saying that critical
infrastructure facilities were struck by what they said were Iranian-made
suicide drones. "We note a great deal of information
that reports the use of Iranian drones by the Russian armed forces in Ukraine,
in bombardments that were aimed at civilian targets and which likely constitute
war crimes," foreign ministry spokesperson Anne-Claire Legendre said in a daily
online briefing. "Such a supply of Iranian drones to Russia would also violate
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231." Resolution 2231 endorsed the
2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six powers - Britain, China, France, Germany,
Russia and the United States - that limited Tehran’s uranium enrichment
activity, making it harder for Iran to develop nuclear arms while lifting
international sanctions.
Arms embargo
Under that resolution, an arms embargo on Iran was in place until October 2020.
Despite US efforts under former president Donald Trump, who took the United
States out of the deal in 2018, to extend the arms embargo, the Security Council
rejected this, paving the way for Iran to resume arms' exports. However, the
resolution still includes restrictions on missiles and related technologies that
last until October 2023 and that encompass the export and purchase of advanced
military systems. A diplomatic source said the drones in question fell under the
Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an informal political understanding
among states that seeks to limit the proliferation of missiles and missile
technology and whose sale would violate the resolution. Efforts to revive the
nuclear deal have stalled and ties between Iran and the West are increasingly
strained as Iranians keep up anti-government protests despite an increasingly
deadly state crackdown. Ukraine has reported a spate of Russian attacks with
Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones in recent weeks. Iran denies supplying the drones
to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented. Russia
denies targeting civilians in what it calls its "special military operation" in
Ukraine. Legendre said Paris was coordinating with its European partners on how
to respond to the potential transfer of Iranian drones to Russia.
Braving Rocket Attack, Iraqi MPs Elect New State President
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Despite a rocket attack on Baghdad's Green Zone, Iraqi lawmakers Thursday
elected a new president in hopes of ending a year of political gridlock and
violence in the war-scarred nation. Iraqi Kurd Abdel
Latif Rashid, 78, was elected as the new Iraqi head of state, replacing Barham
Salih, by the assembly in the capital's heavily fortified government and
diplomatic district. Rashid won more than 160 votes
against 99 for the incumbent Salih, an assembly official said. Rashid's first
task was expected to be nominating a candidate for prime minister to replace the
current caretaker premier, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, and attempt to form a new
government for the crisis-hit nation. A favored candidate for the prime
minister's post was Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, 52, of the Shiite Coordination
Framework, which includes pro-Iranian former paramilitary groups.
When Sudani was first proposed in July, this sparked mass protests by
backers of his Shiite rival, the fiery populist and cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose
followers breached the Green Zone and stormed parliament. A new reminder of
Iraq's troubles came Thursday as the lawmakers headed into parliament, when a
barrage of nine Katyusha-style rockets rained down on the area, the security
forces said. At least 10 people were wounded, including six members of the
security forces or bodyguards of lawmakers, as well as four civilians in a
nearby district, a security official told AFP. US Ambassador Alina Romanowski
condemned the attack "in the strongest terms" on Twitter and warned that "the
people of Iraq must resolve their political differences & grievances solely thru
peaceful means."Attacks like these undermine democracy & trap Iraq in a
perpetual cycle of violence."
'Crisis breeds instability'
The democratic institutions built in oil-rich Iraq since the 2003 US-led
invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein remain fragile, and neighboring Iran wields
major influence. Over a year since its last general
elections, Iraq has so far failed to form a new government to tackle the
problems facing the country plagued by unemployment, decaying infrastructure,
corruption and the impacts of climate change. The
United Nations mission in Iraq warned this week that "the protracted crisis is
breeding further instability" and that the divisive politics are "generating
bitter public disillusion".Lawmakers had made three previous attempts to elect a
new head of state, in February and March, but failed to even reach the required
two-thirds threshold for a quorum. Under Iraq's
post-Saddam power-sharing system, meant to avoid more sectarian conflict, the
state president by convention is Kurdish, the prime minister is a Shiite and the
parliament speaker a Sunni. The presidency has usually been held by the PUK of
Rashid and Salih. This year the rival Democratic Party of Kurdistan had demanded
the presidency but finally abandoned the bid. Rashid,
a hydraulic engineer versed in environmental issues, is seen as a compromise
candidate for the polarized country. Iraq's rival
Shiite political factions have been bitterly vying for influence and the right
to select the new premier. Sadr has pushed for
parliament to be dissolved and new elections, while the Coordination Framework
has urged a new government before fresh polls are held. The standoff has seen
both sides set up protest camps in the Green Zone this year. Tensions boiled
over on August 29 when more than 30 Sadr supporters were killed in battles with
Iran-backed factions and the army.
Palestinian Factions Discuss Reconciliation Deal in Algiers
Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
Divided Palestinian factions met in Algiers Thursday amid efforts to persuade
them to sign a reconciliation deal to lay out timelines to hold elections within
a year, officials said. "The Palestinians have been
divided for more than 15 years, which has hugely weakened our cause," said Azzam
al-Ahmed, the head of the Fatah delegation in the Algerian capital. Ismael
Haniyeh, chief of the Hamas movement, said the Algerian-mediated talks which
began Tuesday had been "positive and calm". The Fatah party of President Mahmoud
Abbas and its main rival Hamas have been at odds since elections in 2006, which
were won by Hamas but never recognized by the international community.
Months later, the movement seized control of the Gaza Strip in a deadly
conflict that consolidated years of division, with Fatah administering
Palestinian-run areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Parliamentary and
presidential polls, the first since the division, had been set to take place
last year, but were cancelled. Hossam Badran, a senior
Hamas official said that they had "agreed to hold elections for the Palestinian
Legislative Council, the presidency and the Palestinian National Council within
a year".But Fatah, whose head Abbas is at meetings in Kazakhstan rather than at
the talks in Algiers, sparked doubts on Wednesday night that a draft agreement
would be signed. It demanded that members of any
resulting national unity government abide by international law, a point rejected
by Hamas.
"The document proposed by Algeria was general and doesn't go into details," said
Palestinian analyst Khalil Shaheen.
Bomb attack on Syrian army bus kills at least 18
AFP/Thursday, 13 October, 2022
A bomb attack on a Syrian army bus near Damascus Thursday killed at least 18
soldiers and wounded 27 others, state media said, in one of the deadliest such
operations. “A military bus in the suburbs of Damascus was hit by a terrorist
bombing using an explosive device that was planted previously, which led to the
deaths of 18 soldiers” the official SANA news agency said. “27 others were
wounded,” the report added without elaborating. It was not immediately clear who
was behind the latest of a series of bombings targeting Syrian army buses,
mostly by extremists. -- AFP
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on October 13-14/2022
بيني أفني/نيويورك صن: ضغط واشنطن من أجل التوصل إلى اتفاق نووي مع إيران يساعد
نظام طهران حتى في الوقت الذي يقوم فيه الملالي بقمع المحتجين
Washington’s Push for Nuclear Deal With Iran Aids Tehran Even as Ayatollahs
Crack Down on Protesters
Benny Avni/The New York Sun/October 13/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112694/benny-avni-the-new-york-sun-washingtons-push-for-nuclear-deal-with-iran-aids-tehran-even-as-ayatollahs-crack-down-on-protesters-%d8%a8%d9%8a%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a3%d9%81%d9%86%d9%8a-%d9%86%d9%8a/
Biden must ‘stop negotiations as long as women and children are being killed in
Iran,’ a leading protest figure tells the Sun.
As anti-regime protests intensify in Iran, pressures are increasing in
Washington for ending President Biden’s nuclear negotiations with Tehran and for
pushing aside the diplomacy effort’s flag bearer, Robert Malley.
Several Washington sources tell the Sun there is a growing rift between
officials at the treasury department, who are urging Mr. Biden to intensify
sanctions in support of protesters, and Mr. Malley, the special envoy who prizes
a renewal of the 2015 nuclear deal above all.
Tehran diplomats have suspended the Vienna-based negotiations on reviving the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Yet Mr. Malley, who for now is fully backed
by the White House and the state department, is sustaining Washington’s policy
on seeking a renewal of the deal.
By attempting to keep open the JCPOA diplomatic channels, Washington acts to
legitimize the Tehran regime even as its enforcers maim and kill the very street
protesters that Washington claims to support, Mr. Malley’s detractors say.
Mr. Biden must “stop negotiations as long as women and children are being killed
in Iran,” a leading protest figure, Brooklyn-based Iranian-American Masih
Alinejad, told the Sun.
Transitionalists at the state department warn that Iran could suffer the same
chaos now seen in Libya or Iraq. Yet, even some of Mr. Biden’s supporters
increasingly side with protesters calling for the overthrow of the regime.
“For the Iranian people to have freedom, there is no way around regime change,”
President Obama’s ambassador in Israel, Dan Shapiro, tweeted on Monday. He added
that the administration may not be able to advocate regime change publicly, but
it must openly and often proclaim that the regime is “guilty of violating all
standards of decency.”
If Europeans view the JCPOA talks “as a reason to tread cautiously around the
protests,” Mr. Shapiro writes, America “should convince them otherwise. Whether
you hold out hopes for a deal, view the talks as dead, or oppose them, the
approach to the protests should be the same.”
Mr. Shapiro until recently was a member of the team that advised Mr. Biden on
Iran, and left it in early 2022 to join the Atlantic Council. Two other members
of the team, Ariane Tabatabai and Richard Nephew, also left at the time. The
state department denied the departures were related to disagreements with the
team’s chief, Mr. Malley, and stated Mr. Nephew was reassigned within the
department.
Mr. Malley and his current deputy, Jarrett Blanc, now almost single-handedly
drive America’s Iran policy. “Rob is our special envoy on Iran,” the state
department’s spokesman, Ned Price, said Tuesday, adding that Mr. Malley “is
still very much in charge of the team and our efforts here.”
Mr. Price was reacting to Israeli press reports that cited an unnamed official
in Prime Minister Lapid’s entourage who, while briefing reporters this week,
said that Washington’s Iran policy is “out of the hands of Malley’s camp by
now.” That assessment may have been more wishful thinking than reality.
“Biden’s Iran policy is at a dead end. It urgently needs a reset, or the US will
be unable to push back against the Iranian regime’s malign internal and external
policies,” a former American hostage in Iran, Xiyue Wang, tweeted yesterday.
“Such a policy reset must begin with @USEnvoyIran Rob Malley & his
deputy@JarrettBlanc.’’
“Malley is more properly the Envoy for the JCPOA rather than the Envoy for
Iran,” Mr. Wang, a frequent critic of Mr. Biden’s Iran policy, argued yesterday
in a long Twitter thread that was widely read in Washington.
Sources are “baffled why Biden administration still focused on reviving a weak
Iran nuclear deal that would infuse IRGC with funds while brave Iranian women
are standing up to this brutal regime,” and say America “must halt talks and
speak up to help these women,” a Fox News Pentagon reporter, Jeniffer Griffin,
tweeted today.
“That sentiment is shared by a lot of Washington observers and there have been
calls for change for a long time,” the policy director of United Against Nuclear
Iran, Jason Brodsky, told the Sun. “The singular focus on reviving the JCPOA has
clouded all other considerations.”
As brave Iranian protesters prove their resilience even while the death toll
rises, the pressure on Mr. Biden to openly end, or at last publicly suspend, the
JCPOA-based diplomacy will grow.
The administration points to its expression of support for the protesters,
including targeted sanctions and licenses to allow telecommunication companies
to help the demonstrators. Yet, as the rift between Mr. Malley and the treasury
department indicates, even the sanctions are calibered to avoid harming the
JCPOA diplomacy.
Mr. Malley is the Biden administration’s “true north,” an Iran watcher at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Behnam Ben Taleblu, says. “He will be
there as long as the deal is the goal.”
As long as Washington pursues diplomacy with the regime, he adds, Tehran “will
know that there is no serious pushback” against its oppression of the protest
movement.
Correction: Dan Shapiro left the team that advised Mr. Biden on Iran to join the
Atlantic Council. An earlier version misstated the reason for his departure.
**Benny Avni is a columnist who has published in the New York Post, WSJOpinion,
The Daily Beast, Newsweek, Israel Radio, Ha’Aretz, and others. Once New York
Sun, always New York Sun.
https://www.nysun.com/article/washingtons-nuclear-deal-push-aids-tehran-even-as-it-cracks-down-on-protesters
دراسة مهمة جداً باللغة الإنكليزية لمحمد خالد اليحيى من
موقع التبلت، تحكي غباء وفشل وانعدام رؤية الرئيسين أوباما وبايدن مع حلفاء أميركا
واستعدائهم وتحديداً الدول الخليجية وانحيازهما المخيف والوقح لنظام ملالي إيران
الإرهابي والتوسعي والمذهبي.
كيف تفقد الأصدقاء والتأثير على الناس … عقد من السياسة الخارجية لأوباما وبايدن
كسر النظام الأمني في الشرق الأوسط وأمريكا
محمد خالد اليحيى/موقع التابلت/ 13 تشرين الأول/2022
How to Lose Friends and Influence Over People … decade of Obama-Biden foreign
policy has broken the Middle East and America’s security order
Mohammed Khalid Alyahya/The Tablet/October 13/2022
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/112698/112698/
Aericans have a reputation, with others and in their own national literature,
for being careless and breaking things. Often this is because they are so
admirably creative, dynamic, and unattached to the past. But for the last two
decades, the epicenter of American carelessness has been the Middle East, an
area of the world that seems to encourage fantasies among all Westerners, yet
where real-world margins for error are small. The result has been a series of
disasters for the peoples of the region and for American prestige. This week
brought what looks like another unforced error in policymaking, fed by hubris,
fantasy, airy talk, and a refusal to acknowledge reality.
On Tuesday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby announced that
President Joe Biden will be reevaluating America’s relationship with Saudi
Arabia after OPEC+ announced the previous week that it would cut oil production.
Kirby’s announcement followed a statement by Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.,
claiming that Saudi Arabia is helping to “underwrite Putin’s war” through OPEC+.
“As Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” Menendez said, “I will
not green-light any cooperation with Riyadh until the Kingdom reassesses its
position with respect to the war in Ukraine.”
As a Saudi who loves the United States, and believes deeply that our two
countries need each other, the only word that comes to mind regarding the
contemporary “reevaluation” of our relations is: obscene.
It was the Obama administration that decided to give Vladimir Putin a foothold
in the eastern Mediterranean, which it sold to the American people as a way to
“deescalate” the civil war in Syria. As the United States romanced Putin,
offering him Crimea and warm water ports in Syria in exchange for pulling Iran’s
irons out of the fire over the past decade, U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia, the
Gulf States, and Israel have had no choice but to cope. Last month, while
Russian-operated Iranian drones and missiles were pounding Kyiv, Riyadh used its
diplomatic leverage to obtain the release of American and British POWs from
Putin.
America saddled us with the reality of a neighboring country controlled by
Iranian troops and the Russian air force. Worse, as part of its Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the Obama administration sent tens of
billions of dollars flowing into Iranian coffers—money that was used to demolish
Iraq, crush Syria, create chaos in Lebanon, and threaten Saudi territory from
Yemen. Iranian rocket and drone strikes on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia are
now routine. In response to the barrage of missiles on Saudi infrastructure last
year, the Biden administration withdrew U.S. missile defense batteries from
Saudi territory.
Having watched Russian forces support or directly commit atrocities against
innocent civilians and facilitate the use of chemical weapons for seven years in
Syria, the Saudi government was quick to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Unlike many in the West, who expected a short, parade-ground war, the Saudis
understood full well what Putin was capable of. So did the Israelis.
Yet even as countries that had survived two decades of American experiments in
our backyards came together to achieve extraordinary degrees of political and
economic normalization, it was never at America’s expense. We have always sought
to honor America’s role in our defense and as a regional peacemaker, and as a
place where many of us have lived and gone to school. That’s why it was so
painful and alarming for us when the Biden team came into office in January 2021
promising to “recalibrate our relationship with Saudi Arabia,” and to “sideline
the crown prince in order to increase pressure on the royal family to find a
steadier replacement,” and to “make [the Saudis] pay the price, and make them in
fact the pariah that they are.” That’s not how friends talk.
The United States now claims it will have to “reevaluate” its relationship with
Saudi Arabia again, apparently because OPEC+ declined the president’s requests
over the last few months to aid his reelection prospects, which are being
impaired by skyrocketing energy prices. As someone who loves Americans and has
many dear friends there, I take no pleasure whatsoever in the energy inflation
impacting so many of their livelihoods. But the unstable situation in the Middle
East, which America continues to exacerbate by licensing and funding Iranian
terror, does not allow Saudi Arabia such a wide margin of error that it can make
decisions that affect the stability of the global energy market for the sake of
one party’s success in America’s midterm elections.
In addition to the rhetorical, diplomatic, and security damage the Obama-Biden
era has imposed on Saudi Arabia (and Israel), the Biden administration has also
chosen to wage war on carbon-based sources of energy with little realistic
thought about how an energy transition should be managed. The “Green New Deal”
is not just a silly fantasy promoted by unserious congresspeople who don’t
understand how the world or American economies work. It was and is a strategy
aimed at handing power over both fossil fuels and clean energy technologies to
the Russians and the Chinese.
There is also the matter of the administration’s hypocrisy. It is one thing to
advocate for the elimination of fossil fuels and the expulsion of Putin’s Russia
from global energy markets; it is quite another thing to do so while continuing
to purchase Russian energy yourself. In April of 2022, over a month after the
war started and after Western sanctions had already been passed, the United
States imported more Russian oil than any month on record. Last week, the
Financial Times reported that “EU countries have paid more than 100 billion
euros to Russia for fossil fuels since the invasion of Ukraine.” All during this
period, the administration has publicly berated Saudi Arabia, Israel, and other
U.S. allies in the Gulf for not doing enough against Russia. This performance is
not convincing to anyone: not to Saudis, Israelis, Emiratis, Indians, Russians,
or Ukrainians. Judging by certain opinion polls, it is not convincing to many
Americans, either.
Saudi society and governance has only moved further in the direction that
Americans have been advocating for generations.
Over the last 80 years, the Saudis have never known a world without a strong
relationship with the United States. In exchange for the defense architecture
that America built to protect itself and its allies, and the weapons and defense
systems that America sells, Saudi Arabia has held up its end of the bargain by
collaborating on global oil markets, providing a large and eager market for the
U.S. defense industry, loaning out bases for the U.S. military, and cooperating
on regional intelligence matters important to both countries. There were some
very difficult times, of course, in the years leading up to and including the
global war on terror. But since then, Saudi society and governance has only
moved further in the direction that Americans have been advocating for
generations. It was out of a sense of self-preservation, but also goodwill, that
the Saudi government pleaded with the Americans not to go ahead with the
invasion of Iraq, which it knew would be a disaster.
In exchange, the United States has either inadvertently (Bush) or deliberately
(Obama) facilitated the regional ambitions of Iran, the existential enemy of
Saudi Arabia and Israel. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, and Yemen are now in
flames. The Obama administration likewise tried hard to cooperate with enemies
of Jerusalem and Riyadh in Egypt (the Muslim Brotherhood) and Gaza (Hamas).
Far from helping Putin, America’s regional partners have been watching in horror
as the Biden administration has sought to make this whole situation worse by
continuing to bless Russia’s lucrative collaboration in Iran’s nuclear program
and relying on Russian negotiators for the revived nuclear deal, even as Iran
sends drones to Russia that have been used to kill soldiers from NATO countries.
It was the Biden administration, moreover, which began the war in Ukraine by
advising Volodymyr Zelensky not to fight and to leave the country; while the
Ukrainians were demonstrating their heroic courage against Russian expansionism
to the world, the White House and State Department were evacuating American
diplomats and telling others to do the same. This made a profound impact on U.S.
allies around the world.
The majority of both elite and ordinary Saudis share my affection for America
and Americans, and wish neither Democrats nor Republicans ill. We need each
other now, as we have ever since 1945, when Franklin Roosevelt and King
Abdulaziz began the relationship that shaped so many of the years since. But if
a party, any party, in power in the United States not only explicitly threatens
Saudi Arabia, but makes good on many of its threats, Riyadh does not have much
of a choice in how to react. Like any other country on the planet, it must
protect its own people and its own national interests.
American allies in the region are witnessing the unraveling of a post-Soviet
world order that they helped America build. As the White House doubles down on
regional and global policies that are hastening that unraveling, stakeholders
the world over are rightly reassessing their own security interests as America’s
partners.
*Mohammed Khalid Alyahya is a fellow at the Middle East Initiative of Harvard
University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and a senior
fellow at the Hudson Institute’s Center for Middle East Peace and Security. He
is the former Editor-in-Chief of Al Arabiya English.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/how-to-lose-friends-and-influence-over-people-saudi-arabia-obama-biden?fbclid=IwAR3pyUDxC9pQoYfveERE7xcfFm4CtaAAdJcDNVOMz7yqX3mOyQ75o-nFZvo
Effective Ways to Support the Iranian Protests
Hamid Bahrami/ Gatestone Institute/October 13/2022
[T]he Biden administration, even during the Iranian regime's current brutal
crackdown on its own citizens, and the US Special Envoy for Iran, Robert Malley,
are still seeking to revive the lethal "nuclear deal" -- allowing the regime to
enrich uranium to acquire an arsenal of nuclear weapons and the missiles to
deliver them -- and reassuring the mullahs that the US has no "policy of regime
change."
While the West is unwilling to hold Iran's regime to account, the IRGC,
officially designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US Department of
State, does its best to reinstate repression, sparking grave concerns about
further bloodshed in Iran and abroad. If that is how Iran treats its own
citizens, why would anyone expect it to treat others any better?
Sadly, the US and its allies are still using every diplomatic and political
resource to revive the lethal nuclear deal, which would permit the Iranian
regime to enrich uranium for an arsenal of nuclear bombs and the missiles to
deliver it in just a few years -- all to safeguard the West's economic interests
and energy supply, which the US already has in abundance.
President Joe Biden and his foreign policy team's failure in Afghanistan, and
their preliminary message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that a "minor
incursion" would be acceptable, undermined any credible deterrence to Putin to
discourage him from invading Ukraine. Now, the policies of the Biden
administration seem to be repeating similar disasters in Iran and Taiwan.
To support the Iranian people, the White House should announce that the Iran
nuclear deal will not be revived and end the negotiations – which are not even
being conducted by the US, but by Russia - which has most gallantly offered to
hold Iran's "excess" enriched uranium, presumably for future use.
Biden also should replace Malley with someone who understands the Iranian
regime's malevolence not only to its own people, but to other countries as well,
both in the Middle East and throughout Latin America.
Canada needs to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, as the US did in
2019...
[T]he new government of [British] Prime Minister Liz Truss would do well to
support the peaceful protests in Iran and impose punitive measures on the
Iranian regime's military and security forces.
President Joe Biden and his foreign policy team's failure in Afghanistan, and
their preliminary message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that a "minor
incursion" would be acceptable, undermined any credible deterrence to Putin to
discourage him from invading Ukraine. Now, the policies of the Biden
administration seem to be repeating similar disasters in Iran and Taiwan. (Photo
by Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)
Historically, political confusion has led to inadequate responses to
international crises, and with disastrous consequences. Today, the West's ties
to Iran are overshadowed by the widespread anti-regime protests across the
country. Now, as it looks as if the dust does not intend to settle, and it seems
clear that the conflict inside Iran will only deepen.
After the suspicious death 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- who was taken into custody
by Iran's "morality police" apparently for a hijab violation, was reportedly
beaten, fell into a coma, and died three days later on September 19 -- the
Iranian people began pouring out onto the streets.
At the time of writing, at least 185 protestors have been killed by security
forces. Bloodbaths in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, in southeastern
Iran, killed 63 peaceful protestors.
The current nationwide protests in Iran highlight a genuine and strong potential
to overthrow the theocratic regime, and require an appropriate new policy toward
Iran. The international community, celebrities and mainstream media fully
understand the need for a new approach toward human rights abuses in Iran.
Although Canada, the US and its European allies have tried to pressure Tehran by
imposing new sanctions on the regime for censorship and other human rights
violations, it seems that the Western leaders have not fully understood the main
message of Iran's protests.
While the world has witnessed the willingness of the Iranian people to sacrifice
their lives to overthrow their oppressors and establish a secular democracy
based on liberal values, the Biden administration entered into a deal with the
Iranian regime to retrieve two imprisoned dual citizens. Nour News, linked to
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, claimed that the Iranian regime had
received billions of dollars in exchange for releasing the hostages.
The Biden administration has rejected Iranian reports that the deal led to
unfreezing Iranian funds abroad. However, if the US did not unfreeze the Iranian
funds, what was given to them in return for releasing the hostages?
Worse is that the Biden administration, even during the Iranian regime's current
brutal crackdown on its own citizens, and the US Special Envoy for Iran, Robert
Malley, are still seeking to revive the lethal "nuclear deal" -- allowing the
regime to enrich uranium to acquire an arsenal of nuclear weapons and the
missiles to deliver them -- and reassuring the mullahs that the US has no
"policy of regime change."
The US merely imposed ineffective sanctions on seven Iranian officials,
including Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi and Communications Minister Eisa
Zarepour, over the shutdown of the internet access and the vicious crackdown on
peaceful protesters.
Vahidi has been on Interpol's Red List since 2007 for his participation in the
bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 18,
1994. It is not difficult to understand that he does not seem likely to have any
intention of traveling to the US.
Canada appears to be ambling along the same path. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said that his government is taking steps to prevent members of Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from entering Canada. It is clear that the
IRGC's top members will not be travelling to Canada or making investments there.
It is unclear what Trudeau's response will be to questions about his soft
approach toward Iran.
European and British leaders are still pursuing a policy of appeasement. The EU
has limited itself to symbolic actions and issuing statements condemning the
Iranian regime's human rights violations. Belgium's foreign minister, for
instance, in solidarity with protestors in Iran, cut her hair while the Belgium
government also sought to swap prisoners with Tehran. Released was Assadollah
Assadi, a staffer of the Iranian embassy in Vienna, who had been given a 20-year
prison term by a court in Belgium for organizing a plot to bomb a large rally of
an exiled Iranian opposition group in France in 2018.
While the West is unwilling to hold Iran's regime to account, the IRGC,
officially designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the US Department of
State, does its best to reinstate repression, sparking grave concerns about
further bloodshed in Iran and abroad. If that is how Iran treats its own
citizens, why would anyone expect it to treat others any better?
Sadly, the US and its allies are still using every diplomatic and political
resource to revive the lethal nuclear deal, which would permit the Iranian
regime to enrich uranium for an arsenal of nuclear bombs and the missiles to
deliver it in just a few years -- all to safeguard the West's economic interests
and energy supply, which the US already has in abundance.
President Joe Biden and his foreign policy team's failure in Afghanistan, and
their preliminary message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that a "minor
incursion" would be acceptable, undermined any credible deterrence to Putin to
discourage him from invading Ukraine. Now, the policies of the Biden
administration seem to be repeating similar disasters in Iran and Taiwan.
To support the Iranian people, the White House should announce that the Iran
nuclear deal will not be revived and end the negotiations – which are not even
being conducted by the US, but by Russia - which has most gallantly offered to
hold Iran's "excess" enriched uranium, presumably for future use.
Biden also should replace Malley with someone who understands the Iranian
regime's malevolence not only to its own people, but to other countries as well,
both in the Middle East and throughout Latin America.
Canada needs to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, as the US did in
2019, and hold Tehran accountable for the shooting down of Ukraine International
Airlines Flight 752.
The British and European leaders could recall their ambassadors. In addition,
since the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee already recommended
designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, the new government of Prime
Minister Liz Truss would do well to support the peaceful protests in Iran and
impose punitive measures on the Iranian regime's military and security forces.
*Hamid Bahrami is an independent Middle East analyst
based in Glasgow, Scotland. He tweets at @HaBahrami
© 2022 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Jamal Khashoggi vs. Marc Bennett: Whose Life Matters?
Daniel Greenfield/Gatestone Institute/October 13/2022
"Jamal Khashoggi's murder 4 years ago was also an attack on freedom of
expression everywhere," Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted. There's no
such thing as "freedom of expression" among Khashoggi's Qatari employees.
Khashoggi was not fighting for any kind of freedom, but for an Islamist tyranny
of the kind practiced by Qatar's fellow Islamists in Iran. Had he gotten his
way, liberals in Saudi Arabia would be the ones being brutally murdered.
As they are in Iran.
This year, the annual Khashoggi passion play coincides with information about
Qatar's murder of Marc Bennett, a British citizen who was brutally tortured
without a word of protest from the West.
If Blinken has expressed a word of concern about Bennett's killing by
Khashoggi's backers, I have yet to find it. The British government closed the
case and has shown no interest. The Washington Post has never allowed Bennett's
name to appear in its pages. That might offend its Qatari masters.
Unlike Khashoggi's death, Bennett's death was not political. He was just one of
the many foreign workers whom Qatar's slave masters considered their personal
property. When Bennett tried to leave Qatar Airways, he was treated like any of
the other foreign workers, mostly Indian, Asian and African, who are routinely
beaten, tortured and worked to death in the Islamic tyranny.
The only difference between the thousands of foreign workers who have died to
erect the glittering towers of Doha, who prepare for the World Cup, and who
attend to the needs of the slave masters of Qatar, is that Bennett was a
westerner. But to the Islamic slave masters of Qatar and others in the region,
all non-Arabs and non-Muslims are inferior subhuman slaves.
His alleged crime was trying to leave Qatar Airways which, like most of the
major organizations, including Al Jazeera, is controlled by Qatar's ruling
family. According to the Qataris, Bennett later "committed suicide" in a hotel
room in Doha on Christmas Day. The timing must have amused his Islamist killers.
According to his wife, his clothes had been laid in his hotel room as if he were
preparing to go out and the circumstances of the crime scene don't comport with
those of a suicide. British investigators noted, "no specific evidence of
suicidal intent".
The British government has issued multiple statements about Khashoggi's death
even though the Bin Laden pal was never a British citizen or related to the UK
in any meaningful way. It has shrugged at Bennett's death and then gotten on
with the business of asking Qatar for cash.
Last year, the British government declared that it continues to raise the
"terrible crime" of Khashoggi's death with Saudi Arabia. No such efforts have
been made to raise the death of Marc Bennett, a Briton who was not an associate
of Islamic terrorists or an enemy agent.
The relative silence over Bennett's death and the hysterical fury over
Khashoggi's demise reveal more than a double standard, but the deep level of
political control Qatar wields over the West.
Khashoggi's death was indeed revealing. And what it revealed is that our
countries are rotten with politicians and media outlets who willingly serve as
the tools of an Islamic terrorist state.
That is why they won't talk about Bennett's death.
This year, the annual Jamal Khashoggi propaganda ritual coincides with
information about Qatar's murder of Marc Bennett, a British citizen who was
brutally tortured without a word of protest from the West.
In an annual propaganda ritual, the heads of foreign governments and media
operatives marked the anniversary of Jamal Khashoggi's death by tweeting
condemnations of the killing of the old friend of Osama bin Laden who had been
recruited by an Al Qaeda financier to promote Jihad.
It is a testament to the unchallenged power of the Islamic tyranny of Qatar that
everyone in Washington D.C. unquestioningly takes a knee and pays tribute to its
martyred operative.
"Jamal Khashoggi's murder 4 years ago was also an attack on freedom of
expression everywhere," Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted. There's no
such thing as "freedom of expression" among Khashoggi's Qatari employees.
Khashoggi was not fighting for any kind of freedom, but for an Islamist tyranny
of the kind practiced by Qatar's fellow Islamists in Iran. Had he gotten his
way, liberals in Saudi Arabia would be the ones being brutally murdered.
As they are in Iran.
Western elites have spent far less time expressing outrage about the torture and
mass murder by Iran's Islamic regime of thousands of dissidents and protesters
than they have over the death of an Islamist whose death equally outraged Al
Qaeda and ISIS as it did Washington D.C.
The Washington Post was much less exercised about one of its own reporters,
Jason Rezaian, being held hostage in Iran for over a year than over Jamal
Khashoggi, a foreign operative running press releases from the Qatari Foundation
in its digital pages at the behest of Qatar.
This year, the annual Khashoggi passion play coincides with information about
Qatar's murder of Marc Bennett, a British citizen who was brutally tortured
without a word of protest from the West.
If Blinken has expressed a word of concern about Bennett's killing by
Khashoggi's backers, I have yet to find it. The British government closed the
case and has shown no interest. The Washington Post has never allowed Bennett's
name to appear in its pages. That might offend its Qatari masters. Despite
having been killed a year after Khashoggi, there is still virtually no mention
of Bennett by the politicians, influencers and media operatives who claim that
they only care about the Qatari terrorist agenda because they are so deeply
moved by human rights.
Unlike Khashoggi's death, Bennett's death was not political. He was just one of
the many foreign workers whom Qatar's slave masters considered their personal
property. When Bennett tried to leave Qatar Airways, he was treated like any of
the other foreign workers, mostly Indian, Asian and African, who are routinely
beaten, tortured and worked to death in the Islamic tyranny.
The only difference between the thousands of foreign workers who have died to
erect the glittering towers of Doha, who prepare for the World Cup, and who
attend to the needs of the slave masters of Qatar, is that Bennett was a
westerner. But to the Islamic slave masters of Qatar and others in the region,
all non-Arabs and non-Muslims are inferior subhuman slaves.
According to the most recent report in The London Times:
"Bennett had been taken blindfolded and handcuffed to a state security detention
centre. Bennett later described how he was stripped naked, blasted with
high-pressure hoses, slammed against walls."
His alleged crime was trying to leave Qatar Airways which, like most of the
major organizations, including Al Jazeera, is controlled by Qatar's ruling
family. According to the Qataris, Bennett later "committed suicide" in a hotel
room in Doha on Christmas Day. The timing must have amused his Islamist killers.
According to his wife, his clothes had been laid in his hotel room as if he were
preparing to go out and the circumstances of the crime scene don't comport with
those of a suicide. British investigators noted, "no specific evidence of
suicidal intent".
The British government has issued multiple statements about Khashoggi's death
even though the Bin Laden pal was never a British citizen or related to the UK
in any meaningful way. It has shrugged at Bennett's death and then gotten on
with the business of asking Qatar for cash.
The BBC has one mention of Bennett. It has hundreds of results for Khashoggi.
Last year, the British government declared that it continues to raise the
"terrible crime" of Khashoggi's death with Saudi Arabia. No such efforts have
been made to raise the death of Marc Bennett, a Briton who was not an associate
of Islamic terrorists or an enemy agent.
The relative silence over Bennett's death and the hysterical fury over
Khashoggi's demise reveal more than a double standard, but the deep level of
political control Qatar wields over the West.
Westerners don't need to be physically within the boundaries of Qatar, for the
Islamic terror state to have almost as much control over their lives as it did
over that of Marc Bennett.
The oil-glutted Islamic terrorist state has not only escaped the consequences
for its crimes, but it sets the political agenda for Washington D.C. and much of
the western world. Between Al Jazeera, which sets the media's agenda for the
region, and The Brookings Institution, the powerful Democrat think tank whose
associates fill the ranks of the Biden administration, Qatar rules over us.
The Muslim Brotherhood, which Qatar backs, continues to enjoy safe harbor in
America. Its various affiliates have not only been immunized from prosecution,
but have been deeply embedded in our government, our political system and our
culture. To understand not only our failure to stop Islamic terrorism after
9/11, but the disastrous surrender to the Taliban, overseen by Qatar, which
played godfather to the Taliban talks, you have to recognize its influence.
Khashoggi's omnipresence in our culture and Bennett's nonexistence is a
testimony of the far darker truths about how our governments have sold us out to
be killed by Islamic terrorists and their state sponsors while blasting us with
propaganda that turns the terrorists into victims.
"We were hoping to establish an Islamic state anywhere," Khashoggi reminisced
about his time together with Osama bin Laden in the Muslim Brotherhood. "We
believed that the first one would lead to another, and that would have a domino
effect which could reverse the history of mankind."
You can find that Islamic state in Washington D.C. now where everyone from Tim
Kaine to Mitt Romney pushes Khashoggi propaganda. Lindsay Graham tried to hold
up a bill for Osama bin Laden's old pal. Bernie Sanders attacked Biden for not
holding gas prices in this country hostage to the Qatari agent. While our
political class may differ on so many issues, when it comes to what Qatar wants,
they are all in agreement. And they are all betraying us.
Khashoggi's death was indeed revealing. And what it revealed is that our
countries are rotten with politicians and media outlets who willingly serve as
the tools of an Islamic terrorist state.
That is why they won't talk about Bennett's death.
During the Cold War, when a Communist ran into trouble anywhere, human rights
organizations, journalists and politicians would rush to his defense in the name
of humanity. But when countless people were tortured, starved and killed in
Communist prisons, they were silent.
What was true of the USSR is still true of China and of Qatar.
Every time you hear about Jamal Khashoggi, you are seeing Qatar's influence at
work and you are witnessing traitors out themselves. Listen carefully. And
remember Marc Bennett's death.
Khashoggi was an agent of the foreign Islamist powers that rule over us. Bennett
is us.
*Daiel Greenfield is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom
Center. This article previously appeared at the Center's Front Page Magazine.
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