English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 15/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
Jesus Appears to His Disciples/Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
John 20/19-23/On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 14-15/2023
Report: Paris recommends that Franjieh withdraw from race
Report: Arabs want president in Lebanon before mid-June
France advises Christian' trio' to reach an agreement to name a presidential candidate: report
Lebanon's MoFA welcomes joint Saudi-Syrian statement
Nasrallah vows response to any Israeli attack in Lebanon
Questions surround upcoming hearing for Lebanon's Central Bank Governor in Paris
Al-Makary: We did not learn from April 13 & everyone is responsible for our current stage
Geagea: What is happening in regards to municipal elections is a fraudulent act to disrupt them
Kanaan from Washington: Serious interest in Lebanon, but generalizing vacuum freezes solutions, doubles solution cost
Abou Al-Hassan: "Democratic Gathering" will partake in Tuesday's session to avoid vacuum & total paralysis
FPM Media Committee: Who do we believe, Samir Geagea or his deputies?
UNFPA Lebanon marks "World Health Day" by holding 'One-Day Policy-Level Meeting' on addressing Gender-Based Violence for women’s better health
Pitch for peace: Lebanese MPs mark civil war anniversary with football friendly
Sayyed Nasrallah Threatens Netanyahu: You Will See!
Hezbollah chief: Israel didn't hit Hamas in Lebanon strikes
Hezbollah flag sparks Lebanon-Israel border tensions
Lebanon seizes 10 million captagon pills being smuggled abroad- minister

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 14-15/2023
Iranians mark Jerusalem Day to support Palestinians
Iran-Saudi rapprochement could redraw Mideast map
IRGC Retrieves Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Abroad
Positive Atmosphere Surrounds Talks on Syria’s Return to Arab League
Will Syria regain its seat in the Arab League this year?
Syria Registers an Uptick in Number of Tourists
ICRC: Yemen Prisoner Exchange Begins
Leaked Pentagon documents include rumour Putin is undergoing chemotherapy
Suspect in US leak probe talked about God, guns and war secrets
Tougher sanctions will leave Putin with nowhere to hide
Five dead, 15 wounded in Russian strike on east Ukraine city - governor
Finland starts fence on Russian border amid migration, security concerns
Ukraine will 'test and use' any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea: official
G7 diplomats to grapple with Ukraine, China, N. Korea crises
Yemen prisoner swap begins with 318 released on day one

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 14-15/2023
Iran: The Dollarization Temptation/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April, 14/2023
So Taiwan Does Not Become Another Ukraine/Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April, 14/2023
Climate Change Alarmism Is a Lie that Must Stop/Drieu Godefridi/Gatestone Institute./April 14, 2023
Will Iran Succeed in Changing How Hezbollah Operates?/Huda al-Husseini/Asharq Al Awsat/April, 13/2023
Question: “Why is the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ so important?”GotQuestions.org?/April, 13/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 14-15/2023
Report: Paris recommends that Franjieh withdraw from race
Naharnet/April 14, 2023
“Important developments” over the past few days have pushed France to believe that Suleiman Franjieh’s nomination for the presidency has reached a dead end, a media report said. “Through contacts that she made over the past 48 hours, French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo informed those concerned that her country has turned the page on Franjieh and that he has no other choice but to announce his withdrawal from the presidential race, knowing that he has not officially announced his nomination,” the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. As for French presidential envoy Patrick Durel’s latest visit to Riyadh, the daily said that the French official carried Franjieh’s presidential pledges to the Saudi capital.

Report: Arabs want president in Lebanon before mid-June
Naharnet/April 14, 2023
The influential Arab countries want to end Lebanon’s presidential vacuum before mid-June, a media report said on Friday. “Efforts are now focused on returning Syria to the Arab League and preparing for Riyadh’s Arab Summit on May 19,” a diplomatic source told al-Liwaa newspaper. Arab nations also see “a dire need to fill the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, within a timeframe not exceeding mid-June, in light of the size of the financial, banking, monetary and administrative junctures that require restructuring state institutions from the Presidency to a new government carrying a reformist agenda,” the source added.

France advises Christian' trio' to reach an agreement to name a presidential candidate: report
LBCI/April 14, 2023
Unlike the rest of the ambassadors of the Paris five-party meeting, a notable activity was recorded for the French Ambassador to Beirut, Anne Grillo, who held, in the past days, a series of announced and unannounced meetings with several leaders. Before she visited Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri yesterday, Grillo toured Christian leaders opposing the election of the head of the Marada Movement, Suleiman Frangieh, in an attempt to contain the storm of criticism directed by these leaders against French policy in Lebanon, against the background of the French barter project that carries Frangieh to the presidential palace and Nawaf Salam to the Grand Serail. This article was originally published in, translated from the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar. It is noteworthy that what was reported about Grillo, in her meetings with the head of the Free Patriotic Movement, Gebran Bassil, the head of the Lebanese Forces Party, Samir Geagea, and the head of the Kataeb Party, Samy Gemayel, suggested the existence of a new French approach. However, the parties supporting Frangieh's candidacy did not hear from Grillo or Paris any amendment to what was reported to Frangieh during his visit to the French capital, which according to the information, included a promise from President Emmanuel Macron to continue his efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to settle the barter. Al-Akhbar learned that Grillo confirmed in her meetings with Christian leaders that Frangieh's candidacy is one of the options offered by France to get out of the crisis and that naming him comes in the context of understanding the Lebanese reality and its balances in terms of the inability to impose a president that the other side does not accept.

Lebanon's MoFA welcomes joint Saudi-Syrian statement
LBCI/April 14, 2023
The Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants welcomed the joint Saudi-Syrian statement issued at the conclusion of the meeting of the two countries' foreign ministers in Jeddah. The Ministry appreciated the desire of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Syrian Arab Republic to work to create appropriate conditions and assistance to achieve a safe return for the Syrian refugees to their homeland. Lebanon's MoFA also announced its willingness to cooperate to end the suffering of the refugees in Lebanon. "Lebanon also supports and encourages all good Arab endeavors and efforts to reach an Arab solution to the Syrian crisis within the framework of a political solution that preserves the unity, sovereignty, and stability of the Syrian territories," said the Ministry via Twitter. Adding that it also supports the extension of state authority over all its soil in a way that achieves the hopes and aspirations of the Syrian people for prosperity and security.

Nasrallah vows response to any Israeli attack in Lebanon
Associated Press/April 14, 2023
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Friday pledged to respond against any Israeli attack in Lebanon following last week's major cross-border escalation. Describing the flare-up as “an important and major event,” Nasrallah said that Hezbollah’s “policy of silence is the best choice in managing the battle with the enemy.”“There is no need to delve into details or answer questions that the enemy is still confused about,” Nasrallah added. “The Israelis themselves acknowledge that the balance of deterrence is what made their response to what happened in the South limited and silly,” Hezbollah’s leader went on to say. He added: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu is threatening the resistance and threatening me personally, and we as a resistance in Lebanon also tell him, ‘We will see.’ Days are between us and his calculations and interpretation might be wrong.”Nasrallah accordingly vowed that Hezbollah “will respond in the appropriate manner against any attack or security act in Lebanon.”Nasrallah also said that Israel did not hit Hamas or Hezbollah targets in last week's strikes on southern Lebanon. The strikes last Friday in south Lebanon came a day after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it had targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in southern Lebanon. Speaking at an a ceremony in Beirut's southern suburbs marking "Quds Day," or Jerusalem Day — an annual show of support for the Palestinians held on the last Friday of every Islamic holy month of Ramadan — Nasrallah called the Israeli statements "a barefaced lie" and that "no Hezbollah or Hamas infrastructure was struck." Rather, he said, the Israelis hit "banana groves" and a water irrigation channel. There was no immediate comment from Israel. While Israeli military officials have not said they hit any Hezbollah targets, Netanyahu in a speech Monday said Israel had targeted both Hamas and Hezbollah infrastructure. Nasrallah called this "the biggest lie." According to Associated Press reporters on the ground, several missiles fired by Israeli warplanes struck an open field in the town of Qlayleh, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal southern city of Tyre. Others struck a bridge and power transformer in the nearby town of Maaliya and a farm on the outskirts of Rashidiyeh, killing several sheep. No human deaths were reported.

Questions surround upcoming hearing for Lebanon's Central Bank Governor in Paris
LBCI/April 14, 2023
On May 16, Lebanon's Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh is scheduled to attend a hearing before the French judiciary in Paris. With Judge Ghada Aoun lifting the travel ban on Salame, there are increasing questions about the fate of the Paris hearing. Initially, it is unclear whether Salameh has been informed of the hearing date and if he plans to attend. According to his legal representative in Lebanon, Salameh has not yet been notified. Judicial sources told LBCI that the official summons reached the Lebanese Attorney General's Office two days ago. On Thursday, it was referred to the Beirut Appeals Prosecutor, Raja Hamoush, who is expected to forward it to Investigative Judge Charbel Abou Samra. There are divided opinions on who should notify Salameh of the summons. Some believe that the Lebanese judiciary should follow legal procedures and notify him, while others think the notification should be sent directly to Salameh through the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice, as the investigation is taking place outside Lebanon. If Salameh is not informed, the hearing will be postponed to a later date. If he is notified, his legal representative in France may submit an excuse for non-attendance if the hearing conflicts with his appearance before the Lebanese Investigative Judge, which would require him to be in Lebanon. According to his Lebanese legal representative, this is possible because the general principle gives priority to Lebanese investigative procedures over external investigations.
If the French judge, Aude Buresi, accepts the excuse, the hearing will be postponed. However, if she rejects it, she could issue an international arrest warrant through Interpol. Lebanon does not extradite its citizens to other countries, according to its penal code, and the judiciary could request the case file and try the governor in Lebanon. In any case, all possibilities are open, including Salameh's attorney in France objecting to the French investigative procedures. The final decision lies solely in Salameh's hands.

Al-Makary: We did not learn from April 13 & everyone is responsible for our current stage
NNA/April 14, 2023
The "Greater Lebanon" Website celebrated on Thursday night, April 13, its second founding commemoration with a “suhoor” held at the "Imperial Hotel” in Raouche, in the presence of Caretaker Information Minister Ziad Al-Makary and a number of MPs, political officials and prominent figures. The celebration began by showing a short film on "Greater Lebanon, the Homeland", which focused on the history of April 13 and the civil war leading to Greater Lebanon, followed by an outline of the successful programs launched by the website over the course of two years.
In his word during the event, Minister Al-Makary highlighted the role of the Ministry of Information as a protector of freedoms in the country. He added: “On occasions like this, I am overjoyed when I find media platforms that include young women and men in the media who chose to stay, stand firm, and work in Lebanon, at a time when they could have traveled in search for a better future abroad...At the same time, I feel sad when I find the state's institutions decaying and suffering from very difficult conditions, at a time when we can, with little will and money, create institutions that are much better than the ones we run."
On the memory of April 13, Makary considered that we did not learn from this painful experience, wondering how a country can witness a quick rise, follwed by a quick fall...? He added: “We did not learn from our devastating experience, we did not understand what happened, and in the end everyone is responsible for where we have reached, and everyone is responsible for rebuilding this country."

Geagea: What is happening in regards to municipal elections is a fraudulent act to disrupt them
NNA/April 14, 2023
"Lebanese Forces" Party Chief, Samir Geagea, warned in a statement today, against "a new calamity that is being plotted for the Lebanese citizens by the parliamentary blocs that are preparing to disrupt the municipal elections, through extending the mandate of current municipal councils during the legislative session that House Speaker Nabih Berri has called for on Tuesday, April 18, 2023." Geagea considered the pretexts provided by opposing axis blocs, namely that the Ministry of Interior is not ready nor has the necessary funds to conduct these elections, are resoundingly invalid since the Ministry has repeatedly confirmed its readiness to hold said elections on time if the necessary expenses, which are less than 10 million dollars, are secured. The LF Chief considered that what is happening at the level of the municipal elections is a “described fraud” carried out by the opposing axis blocs in order to disrupt the municipal and mayoral elections, adding that the current parliament council is an electoral and not a legislative body and therefore the extension of municipal councils’ mandate is unconstitutional based on Constitutional Council Resolution No. 1/1997 dated 9/12/1997.
Geagea deemed it also surprising that the Free Patriotic Movement’s bloc, which refused the holding of any cabinet session even to discuss matters of urgency, is seen today as accepting the parliament session on an issue that is of no urgency and under a pretext that does not exist, which is how to finance the municipal elections, knowing that this matter is in the hands of the government.

Kanaan from Washington: Serious interest in Lebanon, but generalizing vacuum freezes solutions, doubles solution cost
NNA/April 14, 2023
Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee, MP Ibrahim Kanaan, continued his meetings in the American capital, Washington, on the sidelines of the annual conference of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, in which he participated upon an official invitation by the organizers of the conference. In this context, Kanaan met with the official responsible for Lebanon and Jordan at the White House, Nadine Zaatar, and also with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury for Africa and the Middle East, Eric Meyer, and Director of the Middle East Office of Financial Terrorism and Financial Crimes at the Treasury Department, Jamie Crote, and their assistants. He met as well with the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for the Middle East, Eiten Goldrich, and the official in charge of the Lebanon office at the State Department, Michael Hanna.
Kanaan’s meetings in Washington focused on the situation in Lebanon, especially in light of the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement and its potential impact on Lebanon, and the position and role of the United States in this agreement, as well as its political and geographical extent.
There was also an assessment of the latest financial developments in Lebanon and the related reforms, the draft laws that were approved and are still under study in the government and in parliament and the relationship with the IMF, whereby it was agreed to continue cooperation with the Fund from the latest points reached and not to return to square one. The presidential election, in terms of the necessity of holding it without interfering with the choices of the Lebanese at the level of individual candidates, was the common denominator in these meetings and was deemed the main prelude for the required solutions at all financial, economic and political levels in the country; provided that it is accompanied by a rescue vision that transcends traditional authoritarian conflicts and constitutes a road map for the next stage both locally and internationally. MP Kanaan confirmed, following his Washington meetings, that he "felt serious interest in Lebanon and a willingness to support the efforts exerted to get it out of its ordeal, provided that this begins by fulfilling the current political and financial obligations, as well as addressing the internal crisis of confidence between the Lebanese and the state, including the entire banking sector."
He explained that "confidence is linked to two things, the first is yielding an effective leadership capable of executing the dossiers of the next stage at the local and international levels, and the second is restructuring and organizing the banking sector and addressing the issue of deposits seriously and realistically away from fake proposals and accusations..."Kanaan expressed his satisfaction "with the visit in form and content,” noting that he will follow-up in Beirut on what was reached with the IMF and the World Bank, especially in terms of completing negotiations, implementing and financing projects in a number of vital sectors in Lebanon, as well as focusing on ending the vacuum because its spread to Lebanese institutions constitutes the greatest danger to Lebanon's ability to go on and doubles the solution cost.

Abou Al-Hassan: "Democratic Gathering" will partake in Tuesday's session to avoid vacuum & total paralysis
NNA/April 14, 2023
MP Hadi Abou Al-Hassan reiterated today that the “Democratic Gathering” Bloc’s stance has been clear from the start in regards to its demand for holding municipal and mayoral elections. He explained in an interview with "Al-Anbaa" online newspaer that the postponement of these elections will not solve the problem or the concerns of some, adding that what is happening today is a grave mistake and a violation of constitutional principles.“The issue is not a matter of logistics or funding as much as it is a matter of a political decision based on lack of conviction in holding the elections,” he said. Abou Al-Hassan affirmed that the “Democratic Gathering” members will participate in the parliament session on Tuesday but will try not to allow for a long extension, particularly since the government has on its upcoming agenda the issue of financing the increase of wages in the public sector.
He emphasized that the Democratic Gathering's insistence on holding the elections is based on its respect for constitutional entitlements and the principle of rotation of powers and development.

FPM Media Committee: Who do we believe, Samir Geagea or his deputies?
NNA/April 14, 2023
The Free Patriotic Movement Central Committee for Media and Communication issued the following statement:
1- Who to believe, Samir Geagea or his MPs? What we read in the statement of the President of the Lebanese Forces contradicts the positions of his MPs in the parliamentary sessions, them being the ones who announced that they sensed the lack of readiness of the Ministry of Interior and the state agencies as a whole to hold the municipal elections, and they expressed that within the parliamentary session and in the media.
2- The government has resigned and is not entitled to convene as a cabinet while the parliament is standing, and we have announced that we are with the legislation imposed by emergency circumstances and force majeure. It is not permissible to compare a resigned government with an existing parliament. Geagea should remember that the Lebanese Forces had participated in several parliamentary sessions between 2014-2016.
3- The problem is not only with funding, but rather with the lack of readiness of the state, as judges and professors are on strike, and government departments from the Ministry of Finance and governorates are closed, as evidenced by the fact that no candidacy request has been accepted so far. And let everyone know that the FPM, which does not practice populism exploitation like others, is ready for the municipal elections, and it has launched its electoral machine and internal candidacy mechanism some time ago, but where is the state’s readiness, as we are only 5 working days away from the deadline to accept candidacy applications in the north? It is sad that populism becomes an infection and comes to be the most prominent means for many to carry out their political work.
---- FPM Statement

UNFPA Lebanon marks "World Health Day" by holding 'One-Day Policy-Level Meeting' on addressing Gender-Based Violence for women’s better health
PRESS RELEASE
In Celebration of World Health Day, UNFPA Lebanon held One-Day Policy-Level Meeting on addressing Gender-Based Violence for women’s better health
NNA/April 14, 2023
Beirut, Lebanon - On April 13, 2023, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Lebanon held a one-day policy-level meeting in celebration of World Health Day under the patronage of the minister of public health Dr. Firass Abiad and in attendance of MP Judge George Okais. The aim of this event was to spur evidence-based policy dialogue on a wide range of gender-based violence (GBV) and women’s reproductive health related topics, strengthen policies, systems, services, and coordination to advance GBV prevention and response and promote women’s empowerment and wellbeing.
“The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health is delighted to collaborate as a strategic ally with organizations namely UNFPA Lebanon that tackle gender-based violence, to guarantee improved health outcomes. It is imperative to ensure that medical care is not only available to the privileged few in Lebanon, but that access to healthcare is universal and extended to all members of society” said the minister of Public Health in Lebanon Dr Firass Abiad.
During the one-day policy-level meeting, key objectives, key findings, and key recommendations were presented and highlighted, including policy advice for leveraging the opportunities in the current crisis context of the following research studies conducted in 2022 by UNFPA: Intimate Partner Violence and Health: Can Resilience Mitigate the Effect?; Mistreatment, Disrespect, and Violence Practices in Obstetric Care in Lebanon; Situation Analysis on Gender-Based Violence Against Women and Girls with Disabilities in Lebanon; Perception Assessment of Vulnerabilities to Women and Adolescent Girls with Disabilities; and Building Further Evidence for the Relevance and Importance of Adopting Sustainable Solutions for Tackling period poverty in Lebanon.
The event consisted of four sessions addressing intimate partner violence, obstetric violence, GBV and disability, and period poverty. Each session was moderated by relevant panelists, including the study researcher and a policy/decision maker (representative of an NGO, academic institution, or key governmental institution). Each session shared key findings and facilitated dialogue and exchange of ideas between experts and stakeholders for advancing sexual and reproductive health (SRHR) and mitigating/preventing GBV against women and girls in Lebanon.
“We are here today to deliberate and strategize based on evidence generated from four pioneering research studies on sexual and reproductive health and GBV led in 2022 by UNFPA and its partners, and therefore to adopt policies that are effective and inclusive to improve the health and well-being of women and girls in Lebanon…” said Ms. Asma Kurdahi, UNFPA Lebanon head of office.
This event was an opportunity for participants to commit to key priorities and actions that address recommendations emanating from research and assessment. The UNFPA Lebanon office was pleased to welcome key stakeholders from the government, civil society, academia, UN agencies, donors, and the media.For more information, please contact Nour El Hoda Wahid, Communications and Media Officer at UNFPA Lebanon on nwahid@unfpa.org.
-- Press Release

Pitch for peace: Lebanese MPs mark civil war anniversary with football friendly
Najia Houssari/Arab News/April 14, 2023
BEIRUT: Lebanese politicians have marked the 48th anniversary of the country’s civil war — a 15-year conflict that cost more than 120,000 lives and forced 1 million people to flee — by playing a football match.
Former energy and water minister Nada Boustani was among MPs from different political backgrounds who took to the pitch in the friendly contest against members of the Civil Defense at a stadium in Dbayeh, north of Beirut.
According to MP Simon Abi Ramia, the football match sent “message of peace and love” that could be shared in political meetings, helping to reach solutions at a national level. “This is an opportunity to overcome political differences so that future generations will not live the experience of conflict and fighting or violent clashes,” he said. Community groups around Lebanon also recalled the outbreak of the civil war on April 13, 1975 with cultural and social activities.
But amid the country’s economic turmoil, many Lebanese said they were too busy with daily concerns to join the commemorative events.
A boy stands in the balcony of a building ravaged by Lebanon's Civil War, in Beirut's Ras Al-Nabeh district on April 13, 2023. (AFP)
One man, a 61-year-old university professor from the Shiah area, near Beirut, said: “We failed to learn anything from the war and its horrific repercussions. We are still in the vortex of war.”
The man, who declined to be named, said that political rivals have “almost reopened the closed chapters of the war. It is as if they do not want to admit that the war was never really over.”
Politicians voiced hopes that the war would not be repeated.
Former prime minister Saad Hariri tweeted: “April 13 is a date that always reminds us of the curse of those who start civil wars and the mercy of those who end them.”
Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces Party, tweeted: “We were never fans of the war.”
Independent MP Neemat Frem said: “Isn’t it time to learn our lessons from history? There are no victories in wars that destroy homelands and people.”
Free Patriotic Movement MP Edgard Traboulsi, said: “Fifteen years of madness, massacres, displacement, destruction, and continuous tragedies; 32 years later and some have not learned. May God protect Lebanon.”
MP Tony Frangieh, the son of Hezbollah’s presidential candidate Suleiman Frangieh, said: “The war is over. Unfortunately, its repercussions continued. This is why there is no alternative to dialogue, honesty, tolerance, forgiveness, and unity around a common vision for a safe and prosperous tomorrow.”
Fouad Abou Nader, a Christian politician and former leader of the Lebanese Forces, said: “Lawmakers are commemorating the war with a football match and are not addressing the causes of the problem and the power struggle.”
He added: “Lebanon is still living with the repercussions of April 13 daily. Officials did not learn from these bitter experiences, as if they had adapted to them.”

Sayyed Nasrallah Threatens Netanyahu: You Will See!
Al-Manar English Website
Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah responded to the threats of the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu by similarly saying in an intimidating tone, “You Will See!”
Sayyed Nasrallah abstained from commenting on the missile fire from Southern Lebanon at the Zionist settlements, stressing that reassuring the Zionist enemy is forbidden. Hezbollah will resort to silence and avoid clarifying the missile fire from Southern Lebanon in order to keep ‘Israel’ confused and terrified, according to the Resistance Leader. Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that the Israelis themselves acknowledge that the response to the missile fire from Lebanon was feeble due to the balance of deterrence maintained by the Resistance, highlighting the strategic reflection of the Zionist keenness on avoiding any direct clash with Hezbollah.
“The Israelis have boasted the only achievement of avoiding any direct clash with Hezbollah.”Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Israeli raids did not target any site for Hezbollah or Hamas, but that an irrigation canal and a banana farm were hit. His eminence maintained that all the Israeli threats are useless, rather they reinforce the Resistance commitment to accumulate all the required capabilities in order to sustain the balance of deterrence and confront any Zionist aggression on Lebanon. Any Zionist attack on the Lebanese territories or any person present in Lebanon will be responded to without any hesitation, Sayyed Nasrallah maintained. Addressing Hezbollah central ceremony marking International Quds Day in Beirut’s Dahiyeh, Sayyed Nasrallah warned the Israeli enemy of any folly against Al-Aqsa Mosque, Al-Quds, West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon or Syria may lead to an all-out war in the whole region.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that Imam Khomeini announced Al-Quds International Day more than 40 years ago in order to be an occasion of voicing and expressing solidarity with Palestine. Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that marking Al-Quds International Day sends a message of solidarity with the sacrificing Palestinian people, adding that Muslims and Christians as well as Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of Resurrection in Palestine are not left alone. His eminence pointed out that Marking Al-Quds International Day is also aimed at intimidating the Israeli enemy that feels concerned and has made void threats to all the surrounding countries.
Hezbollah Secretary General highlighted the developments that occurred since last year’s Al-Quds Day and reviewed their effects on the Palestinian cause. To begin with, Sayyed Nasrallah underlined the recession of the US hegemony all over the world, shedding light on the Venezuelan sample.
America was obliged to back off in Venezuela after a political and economic siege, according to Sayyed Nasrallah. Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that one of the most important factors behind the regional changes is the milestone US defeat in Afghanistan, “which was wailed by the Israeli officials”.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that ‘Israel’, Gulf states, and other regional countries have become convinced that the US is unreliable for protection, adding that some Arab countries have started to consider dialogue and agreement as a way to maintain the regional stability. Sayyed Nasrallah noted that USA is now concentrating on the confrontation with Russia and China more than Eastern Asia and the Middle East, adding that this is worrying the Israelis. Such developments move towards a multipolar world system that cannot be ruled by the USA alone, according to Sayyed Nasrallah.
Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that the US administration moves according to its interests, adding that it even imposed the normalization deals on the Arab countries and that the Israeli officials falsely claim they have made this “achievement”.
The US political decline will lead to the decline of the normalization deals as well as the Israeli deterrence power and strategic status. The powerful emergence of the axis of the resistance from the global war run by the US which employed states and criminal organizations will affect the conflict with the Israeli enemy, Sayyed Nasrallah said, recalling the bets on the collapse of the the Resistance coalition. Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted Syria’s recovery and the restoration of its diplomatic ties with a number of the Arab countries, including Algeria, Tunisia, Saudi, UAE and Egypt, mentioning also the issue of Syria’s return to the Arab League and the Turkish endeavor to normalize relations with Damascus. Sayyed Nasrallah emphasized that Yemen, which we have supported since the beginning of the war in 2015, is witnessing positive developments pertaining the peace talks, noting that this would leave positive effects on the axis of resistance, Palestine and Al-Quds. Hezbollah Chief hailed Algeria’s return to support the Palestinian cause displayed by the expelling of the Zionist delegation from the African Union Summit,
Sayyed Nasrallah highlighted Iraq’s considerable recovery from its crises, adding that the axis of resistance bets on the Iraqi people support to the Palestinian cause and underlining their enormous human and materialistic capabilities. Sayyed Nasrallah also mentioned Iran development and steadfastness in face of the siege, isolation and recent trivial riots, adding that the Iranian-Saudi agreement has speedily started showing its positive outcomes. Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that Iran-KSA pact frustrated the normalization schemes and the Israeli plot to establish coalition against Iran, adding that the concentration of the attack on the Islamic Republic is caused by the fact that it is the main supporter of the regional countries and resistance movements. Hezbollah Leader indicated that the recent rift which appeared in the Zionist entity over the judicial amendments which reflect an existential war waged by Netanyahu and the right groups against the rest of the political parties. This war would have turned to be bloody had not the US administration interfered few weeks ago to prevent the escalation would threatened the army, businessmen and all the Zionist society, according to Sayyed Nasrallah, who also highlighted the lack of confidence in the Israeli army and the military readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of the occupation entity.
Sayyed Nasrallah stressed that the escalating armed resistance in the West Bank, the popular steadfastness, sacrifice and support to the resistance fighters inside and outside Palestine, the youths (Lone Wolves) participation in the heroic clashes with the Zionist occupation forces despite the discrepancy of military capabilities, the Palestinian persistence and insistence on defending Al-Aqsa Mosque in spite of the Israeli aggression versus the Zionist confusion and fear, and the growing capabilities of the resistance in the Gaza have maintained the certainty of victory.
Sayyed Nasrallah indicated that Syria considers several factors before deciding a response to the Israeli raids as its army units are deployed along hundreds of kilometers in face of the terrorist groups, warning Israeli enemy must beware that Syria may get rid of the current formula and respond at a certain time to the Zionist raids.
West Bank
Hezbollah Secretary General reiterated that the West Bank is indeed the shield of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque, calling for supporting the West Bank and its resistance financially and militarily in order to sustain its steadfastness.
Sayyed Nasrallah asserted that all who can dispatch weapons to the West Bank, must do that, adding that the political support provided by the Arab and Muslim states is also important. Sayyed Nasrallah warned the US and ‘Israel’ against any folly in the region will lead to a major war, warning the Zionist enemy against tampering with the Islamic and Christian sanctities in Palestine.

Hezbollah chief: Israel didn't hit Hamas in Lebanon strikes
BEIRUT (AP)/Fri, April 14, 2023
The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group on Friday claimed that Israel did not hit Hamas or Hezbollah targets in last week’s strikes on southern Lebanon. The strikes last Friday in south Lebanon came a day after militants fired nearly three dozen rockets from there at Israel, wounding two people and causing some property damage. The Israeli military said it had targeted installations of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, in southern Lebanon. Speaking at an a ceremony in Beirut marking “Quds Day,” or Jerusalem Day — an annual show of support for the Palestinians held on the last Friday of every Islamic holy month of Ramadan — Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah called the Israeli statements “a barefaced lie” and that “no Hezbollah or Hamas infrastructure was struck.” Rather, he said, the Israelis hit “banana groves” and a water irrigation channel. There was no immediate comment from Israel. While Israeli military officials have not said they hit any Hezbollah targets, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech Monday said Israel had targeted both Hamas and Hezbollah infrastructure. Nasrallah called this “the biggest lie.” According to Associated Press reporters on the ground, several missiles fired by Israeli warplanes struck an open field in the town of Qalili, near the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh, close to the coastal southern city of Tyre. Others struck a bridge and power transformer in the nearby town of Maaliya and a farm on the outskirts of Rashidiyeh, killing several sheep. No human deaths were reported. It could not be independently verified if any other locations were hit.

Hezbollah flag sparks Lebanon-Israel border tensions
AFP, Beirut/14 April ,2023
UN peacekeepers in Lebanon appealed for calm late Friday after supporters of the Hezbollah movement clashed with Israeli border guards as Iran and Arab countries marked Jerusalem Day. The annual commemoration is staged in support of the Palestinian cause, and earlier in the day Palestinian factions paraded in the Burj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Lebanon, a Hezbollah stronghold. Later, Hezbollah supporters approached the border fence with Israel in south Lebanon and placed one of the group’s flags there. “UNIFIL peacekeepers observed a crowd of 50 or 60 individuals throwing stones and placing a Hezbollah flag in the technical fence,” deputy UN Interim Force in Lebanon spokesperson Kandice Ardiel said. Israeli forces “responded with stun and smoke grenades,” she said, adding that Lebanese troops soon arrived and worked with UNIFIL to calm the situation. “Especially at this sensitive time, we strongly urge everyone to refrain from any acts that could be perceived as provocative and could cause the situation to escalate,” Ardiel said. Recent weeks have seen deadly attacks and clashes in Israel, annexed east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, as well as cross-border fire between Israeli forces and militants in the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Syria. Lebanon’s official ANI news agency said one person was injured when hit in the head by a smoke grenade during a demonstration at the border. Hours earlier, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in a televised statement said his party would respond to “any action targeting anyone in Lebanon, in an appropriate scale and manner.”

Lebanon seizes 10 million captagon pills being smuggled abroad- minister
BEIRUT (Reuters)/Fri, April 14, 2023
Lebanon's security forces have seized an estimated 10 million captagon pills that were to be smuggled to Senegal and then on to Saudi Arabia, Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said in a tweet on Friday. The drugs were found in a shipment of rubber carbon during an operation in which four people were arrested in the Al-Qubbah area, in northern Lebanon, Mawlawi said. Captagon - a mix of amphetamines also known as the "poor man's cocaine" - is one of the more popular recreational drugs among the youth in the Middle East. Large quantities are produced in Syria and smuggled through neighboring Lebanon and Jordan to the Gulf, according to security officials in those countries. In 2021, Saudi Arabia put in place an import ban on Lebanese products over drug smuggling. Last month, the United States Treasury sanctioned two Lebanese nationals accused of involvement in the trafficking of captagon from Syria.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 14-15/2023
Iranians mark Jerusalem Day to support Palestinians
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)/Fri, April 14, 2023
Tens of thousands of Iranians, some chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” marched in the capital of Tehran on Friday to mark Jerusalem Day, an annual show of support for the Palestinians. Senior Iranian officials attended the rally, including President Ebrahim Raisi. Since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the rallies marking what is also known as al-Quds Day have typically been held typically held on the last Friday of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem, the contested city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it to its capital. The Palestinians seek the eastern part of Jerusalem as a future capital. Jerusalem is the home of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest shrine in Islam. The compound, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, is also the most sacred site in Judaism. Raisi said that Friday's rallies show the “liberation of al-Quds is very close, closer than expected,” the official IRNA news agency reported. They also show Palestinian militant groups fighting Israel that “they are not alone,” Raisi added. He slammed the normalization of ties between Israel and some Gulf Arab states, saying it would not bring security to the region or Israel. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Qalibaf told demonstrators that Israel is the “root" of problems in the region and that Palestinian militants are hindering Israel's plans. The rally was the first al-Quds Day demonstration since Iran was shaken by months of anti-government protests. Waves of protests erupted after the September death of a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating Iran’s strict Islamic dress code. The protests rapidly escalated into calls for the overthrow of Iran’s ruling Shiite clerics, marking a major challenge to their four-decade rule. Iran has blamed the unrest on foreign powers. Demonstrators in Tehran marched on Friday from 10 different directions to Tehran University's campus, where the ceremony ended in time for Friday noon prayers. Iranian state TV showed footage of similar rallies in other cities and towns across the country. Many demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and the banner of the Iran-backed Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. Demonstrators in some places set fire to American and Israeli flags, as well as effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Reza Masoumi, 63, a retired teacher, said he participated the rallies to remind Israel that “they cannot suppress Palestinians. We Iranians stand by Palestine.” Fatemeh Yasrebi, a 20-year-old student, said she supports Palestinians “until Israel withdraws from (the) occupied lands of Palestinians. Peace between Muslim nations and Israel is impossible.”State TV has in recent days broadcast footage of Israeli police storming Palestinian worshippers inside the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Iran does not recognize Israel and supports the anti-Israeli militant Palestinian groups like Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah. Israel and Iran view each other as archenemies in the Middle East.

Iran-Saudi rapprochement could redraw Mideast map
Agence France Presse/Fri, April 14, 2023
The rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia under Chinese mediation could redraw the Middle East map completely, with significant spillovers for the strategic and troubled region.
A paradigm shift
The Tehran-Riyadh accord "is an illustration of a much larger paradigm shift that has been going on for years," says Pierre Razoux of the Mediterranean Foundation of Strategic Studies (FMES). "The United States is no longer viewed as the region's dominant power. Its traditional allies doubt the U.S. commitment to protect them, so they're looking elsewhere." Razoux believes that "China is now seen as a new stabilizing power." Beijing's objective "is not to pacify the region but to stabilize it, using financial incentives. China is not yet ready to engage militarily in the region."
Political scientist Fatiha Dazi-Heni, of the Institute for Strategic Research (IRSEM) in Paris, says that despite its deal with Iran, Saudi Arabia "does not want to align itself against the United States." "All of Riyadh's official statements... aim to reassure its American partner, underlining its desire to find a fine balance between the two superpowers," she wrote.
Assad rehabilitated?
The regional powers, mainly Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia and Shiite-majority Iran, have waged proxy wars for years. Their coming together "could have consequences in Yemen, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon," says Razoux. He believes that although this may not resolve crises in those countries, it "may ease them, since regional actors will no longer have any interest in pouring oil on the fire."Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, with Iranian and Russian support, has survived the civil war that has ravaged his country since 2011, despite Riyadh being among states which backed the rebels. The pariah of the international community is once again becoming acceptable to countries in the region. "Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Bashar al-Assad would allow Riyadh to counter Russian and Turkish influence and invest in the country's reconstruction," Razoux says.
Appeasement in Yemen? -
Tehran backs Yemen's Huthi rebels battling the government, which has been supported by a Saudi-led military coalition since 2015. Yasmine Farouk, of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, says Riyadh is relying on a comprehensive approach from China to safeguard Saudi interests. "Saudi Arabia is relying on regulated coexistence in the Gulf, and a mix of competition and containment in Syria and Iraq," she says. Nadwa al-Dawsari, of the Middle East Institute, says: "The Huthis' military gains have allowed them to dictate the path of international diplomacy in Yemen," she says. "A slow-burning proxy conflict has been brewing in southern Yemen between the Saudis and Emiratis," she adds. Razoux believes these allies "do not share the same vision of Yemen's future," and that Abu Dhabi "would be satisfied with its partition."This would allow the UAE to pursue its own geopolitical objectives in the Red Sea and off the Horn of Africa.
Iraq, Lebanon and Israel
In Iraq, where Tehran plays a key role, "Riyadh also wants this normalization to calm things with the Shiite militias" there, says Dazi-Heni. "The agreement could make it possible to ease internal tensions, reducing the risks of a relapse into civil war, with each country having to give guarantees to the other parties," believes Razoux. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who heads the Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, has said that the Saudi-Iran deal could help resolve problems in that country. "Iran and the Saudis should agree to prevent the country from collapsing," Razoux says of Lebanon, because such a scenario would "harm both parties," For Israel, the consequences of the Saudi-Iran deal appear less favorable, given that it faces a decline in U.S. influence and a crippling domestic political crisis. "Riyadh's decision to resume diplomatic relations" with Iran is "extremely problematic" for Israel, write researchers Giorgio Cafiero and Shehab Al Makahleh in the Quincy Institute magazine "Responsible Statecraft". The cornerstone of Israel's foreign policy is to isolate its arch-enemy Tehran. It has sought to integrate Riyadh into the coalition confronting Iran as it rapidly approaches the status of a nuclear-armed power.

IRGC Retrieves Hundreds of Millions of Dollars from Abroad
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 14 April, 2023
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps intelligence unit announced it retrieved $560 million in revenues from frozen mining sector exports abroad. The al-Khabar Online website reported that the IRGC's public relations returned over 92 percent of the financial pledges to the Chadormalu Mining and Industrial Company in Yazd province, equivalent to $560 million. The statement said that the intelligence service was tasked with returning the foreign currency resulting from Chadormalu's exports, noting that the operation was carried out by the "Unkinw Soldiers of Imam Zaman" in Yazd. The statement did not disclose the country from which the intelligence services transferred the money or the date of the operation. The Tehran Stock Exchange data, dating back to 2016, indicate that Chadormalu's resources amount to $2 billion annually. Bank Sepah, which is linked to the military, and the National Steel Company are among the major investors in the group. Last January, the mining and mineral industries' resources exceeded $9 billion. The announcement would expose Chadormalu, one of the largest iron companies in the country, to the risk of US sanctions, given the sanctions facing the IRGC.
It could also deprive Iranian banks of financial transfers and use the Swift network after the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which combats money laundry, said Iran would stay on the blacklist. Iran is struggling to return tens of billions of its frozen assets while facing harsh US sanctions after former President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal. Recently, the authorities have tried to curb a record decline in the exchange rate of the Iranian riyal against foreign currencies, especially the US dollar. On March 10, a member of the Iranian-Iraqi Chamber of Commerce, Hamid Hosseini, said Iraq would return $500 million of Iranian funds frozen in its banks. He predicted that Iran's exports would exceed $9 billion annually. Iran has frozen assets in Iraq from the proceeds of selling gas and electricity. Hosseini said that Iraq's debts to Iran exceeded $10 billion and that it was recently decided to pay off some debts. Information about frozen Iranian assets abroad is conflicting, and some unofficial estimates indicate that they range between $100 billion and $120 billion. Iran is currently demanding the return of frozen assets from its oil sales in Japan and South Korea. Tehran's holdings in South Korea are estimated at $7 billion, $1.6 billion in Japan, and $1.5 billion in Luxembourg. Last December, Iranian newspapers reported that Iran's frozen assets in China amounted to $30 billion.

Positive Atmosphere Surrounds Talks on Syria’s Return to Arab League
Cairo – Osama Saeed/Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 14 April, 2023
A consultative meeting gathers in Jeddah on Friday the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with their counterparts from Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, to discuss, among other files, Syria’s return to the Arab League and its presence at the next Arab Summit. An Arab diplomatic source, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, said the decision to accept Syria’s return to the Arab League “is still ripening,” pointing to a “positive” atmosphere prevailing in the current consultations between several active Arab capitals. The diplomat said the shuttle visits by Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Al-Miqdad to a number of Arab countries, and the rapprochement and diplomatic movement that the Syrian arena witnessed in the aftermath of the earthquake of Feb. 6, helped soften stances. He also noted that only a few countries still reject Syria’s return to the Arab League. Miqdad visited Jeddah on Wednesday on his first official visit to Saudi Arabia since relations between the Riyadh and Damascus were severed at the beginning of the conflict in Syria. The Arab foreign ministers had suspended Syria’s membership in the organization following an emergency meeting in Cairo in Nov. 2011, around eight months after the outbreak of protests in Syria. In the past two months, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad visited Oman and the United Arab Emirates. On April 3, the Tunisian presidency announced that Tunisian President Kais Saied had instructed Foreign Minister Nabil Ammar to initiate procedures for appointing an ambassador for his country in Damascus. The UAE reopened its embassy in the Syrian capital in 2018. Dr. Mohammad Ezz Al-Arab, head of the Arab and Regional Studies Unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the Jeddah meeting would be a turning point in the Arab decision on Syria’s return to the Arab League, expressing his belief that “the atmosphere is more prepared than ever” for the country’s presence in the next Arab summit in Riyadh. He stressed “the importance of the Saudi role in this regard, especially after Saudi Arabia, which will host the upcoming Arab summit, received the Syrian foreign minister.”He added that for the first time in 11 years, several circumstances support the return of Syria to its seat in the Arab League, including the great Arab sympathy for the country following the February earthquake. Ezz Al-Arab also pointed to a shift in regional positions, and the revival of ties between active Arab and regional countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the UAE with Türkiye and Iran, which represents a starting point for improving inter-Arab relations. Regarding the demands that could be raised in exchange for reinstating Syria’s membership, he indicated that Syria will be required to contain the peaceful Syrian opposition, in addition to facilitating transparent elections and the safe return of refugees, and allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to all Syrian territories, especially those controlled by the regime.

Will Syria regain its seat in the Arab League this year?
LBCI/Friday, 14 April, 2023
Syria's seat in the Arab League has been vacant since 2011, but it might be occupied again this year. Is Syria's return to its seat in the league subject to a vote by the member countries? The Arab League's internal regulations confirm that there is no need for a vote, as decisions within the council are usually taken by consensus, and dissenting countries register their reservations, especially if it is one or two countries. In limited cases, the Arab League Charter refers to the possibility of resorting to voting when consensus becomes impossible, as happened in the decision to condemn Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and allowing the use of foreign forces. So far, several countries still oppose Damascus's return to the Arab League, most notably Qatar. The Qatari Prime Minister has described talks about Syria's return as speculation. Deliberations in Jeddah among the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, along with Jordan, Iraq, and Egypt, which are considering the possibilities of Syria's return to the league before the Arab Summit scheduled for May 19, will determine the outcome. The answer will emerge after the deliberations, which begin tonight and continue until late at night. During the Jeddah meeting, a plan proposed by Jordan will also be discussed, which, according to a Jordanian official who spoke to Reuters, could potentially resolve the Syrian crisis. This plan includes the formation of an Arab group that directly communicates with the Syrian government and addresses ways to address the humanitarian, security, and political aspects of the conflict. In the end, the coming days will answer the following question: Will Syria return to its Arab friends?

Syria Registers an Uptick in Number of Tourists
Damascus – Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 14 April, 2023
The owner of an oriental shop in the old city of Damascus was asked if European tourists had returned to the historic streets of the Syrian capital. “I couldn't believe what I saw... Two tourists coming from China to Damascus looked like they came straight out of a folk-art magazine. Everyone who saw them in the Hamidiyah market wanted to take a picture with them,” the owner, who requested anonymity, told Asharq Al-Awsat. The owner also confirmed the arrival of European tourists but noted that the numbers are still very low. While mentioning that the two Chinese tourists walking around in traditional wear turned into a spectacle in the market, the owner said: “For the past 10 years, we haven't seen European tour groups like those that used to come to Syria before the war.”“The majority of those who arrived last year wander about to observe the lifestyle in Damascus and engage with locals, rather than visiting historical sites or purchasing traditional products,” explained the owner. The proprietor of the oriental emporium expressed delight at the arrival of a European tour group, comprising over 20 tourists who scanned the wares. However, they only purchased a single postcard, perhaps as a memento. Even though the store is in a tourist district that draws visitors to sacred sites, there is no buying activity, reported the owner. Syrian Minister of Tourism Rami Martini announced in media statements on Wednesday an uptick in visitor numbers, with 385,000 arrivals in the first quarter of 2023. Of these, 345,000 are from Arab countries, while 40,000 are foreigners. Notably, during the same period in 2022, there were 236,000 arrivals, consisting of 206,000 from Arab countries and 30,000 from foreign nations. Martini did not disclose the nationalities of the foreign tourists, but local sources indicated that most of them are from allied nations such as Russia, Iran, and China, as well as expatriate Syrians who hold foreign passports.

ICRC: Yemen Prisoner Exchange Begins
Asharq Al-Awsat/Friday, 14 April, 2023
The release and swap of nearly 900 detainees by the two sides in Yemen's conflict began on Friday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The ICRC, which is managing the process, said its planes would be used to carry the released detainees between six cities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Warring parties agreed at negotiations in Switzerland last month to free 887 detainees and to meet again in May to discuss further releases. Negotiators had hoped for an "all for all" deal involving all remaining detainees during the 10 days of talks held near the Swiss capital Bern. The talks were the latest in a series of meetings that led to releases of prisoners in 2022 and 2020 under a UN-mediated deal known as the Stockholm Agreement. "With this act of goodwill, hundreds of families torn apart by conflict are being reunited ... Our deep desire is that these releases provide momentum for a broader political solution," said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East. Riyadh and Tehran last month agreed to restore diplomatic ties severed in 2016, raising hopes that Yemen's peace process would see progress. A Saudi delegation on Thursday concluded peace talks in Sanaa with the Iran-backed Houthi militias whose officials cited progress and said further discussions were needed to iron out remaining differences.

Leaked Pentagon documents include rumour Putin is undergoing chemotherapy
The Independent/ April 14, 2023
Recently leaked documents from the Pentagon include a rumour that Russian President Vladimir Putin is undergoing chemotherapy. The papers, labelled as “Top Secret”, also indicate that Russian Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev “devised” a plan to “sabotage” Mr Putin while he undergoes medical treatment. “Russia planned to divert resources from Taganrog, Russia to Mariupol, Ukraine and focus its attention on the southern front,” the document says. “According to [redacted] source, the plan for “the offensive” (no further information) was suspected to be a strategy devised by [Mr Gerasimov and Mr Patrushev] to sabotage Putin.”The papers do not specify what alleged medical condition Mr Putin has that requires chemotherapy but there have been longstanding rumours that the Russian president has cancer. The source’s name is redacted in the report and claims they received their information from an unidentified Russian source who has access to Kremlin officials. The rumour in the document has not been confirmed. At the top of the documents are abbreviations indicating the information is top secret and only viewable to people with top-secret security clearance in the US or other Five Eyes countries, according to Vice. Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance between the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada. The document is part of a greater leak that was released last week on social media platforms like Discord, Telegram, and Twitter. The leak first occurred on Discord where an individual posted pages of top-secret documents that contained information about the Ukraine-Russia conflict as well as other countries like South Korea and China. It is unclear where the documents originated from, though federal investigators arrested a 21-year-old air national guardsman on Thursday morning. The leak was posted to a Discord group of “mostly young men and teenagers” who speak about their “shared loved of guns, racist online memes, and video games,” according to The New York Times. Classified document leaks have occurred on Discord before but this most recent leak is more alarming for US officials because some of the documents were less than 50 days old.

Suspect in US leak probe talked about God, guns and war secrets
Associated Press/Thu, April 14, 2023
In a social media world that produces traceable digital fingerprints, it didn't take long for federal authorities and journalists adept at sifting through data to land on the name of Jack Teixeira. Teixeira, 21, who served in the Massachusetts Air National Guard, was arrested Thursday in connection with the far-reaching leak of classified documents that have shaken capitals from Washington to Kyiv to Seoul with revelations of U.S. spying on allies and foes alike and the disclosure of sensitive military intelligence about the war in Ukraine. Attorney General Merrick Garland said Teixeira would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information. There were clues in messages posted in a chatroom on Discord, a social media platform where Teixeira is believed to have posted for years about guns, games and his favorite memes — and, according to some others chatting with him, closely guarded U.S. secrets. The investigative website Bellingcat and The New York Times first publicly identified Teixeira, minutes before federal officials confirmed he was a subject of interest in the investigation. They reported tracking profiles on other more obscure sites linked to Teixeira. The suspect, as part of his duties, reportedly had access to highly classified information. The case underscores the challenges the U.S. and other governments have in keeping secrets in an era of omnipresent data and an ever growing army of savvy users who know how to exploit it. When asked how such a young service member could have had access to highly sensitive documents, the Pentagon spokesman, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, said it was the nature of the military to trust its very young service members with high and sometimes grave levels of responsibility, including high levels of security clearance. Soldiers fresh out of high school went to fight in Iraq, Afghanistan and other combat zones for a generation, often using top-secret intelligence and programs to target adversaries.
"We entrust our members with a lot of responsibility at a very early age. Think about a young combat platoon sergeant, and the responsibility and trust that we put into those individuals to lead troops into combat," Ryder said. In previous Associated Press stories, the leaker was identified as "the O.G." by a member of an online chat group where Teixeira and others posted for years. The member of the chat group declined to give his name to the AP, citing concerns for his personal safety. The chat group, called "Thug Shaker Central," drew roughly two dozen enthusiasts who talked about their favorite types of guns and also shared memes and jokes, some of them racist. The group also included a running discussion on wars that included talk of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In that discussion, "the O.G." would for months post material that he said was classified — originally typing it out with his own notations, then a few months ago switching to posting images of folded-up papers because he felt his writings weren't being taken seriously, the person said. A different participant in the group shared some of the files several weeks ago in a different chat group — and from there they appear to have spread across the Internet. The person who spoke to the AP said he had not communicated with Teixeira on Thursday but had stayed in touch earlier in the week. Teixeira had said he knew the FBI was looking for him, the person said. Teixeira was an airman first class detailed to an Air Force intelligence unit, according to Facebook posts from the 102nd Intelligence Wing based at Otis Air National Guard Base in Massachusetts. Teixeira's specialty in the Air National Guard was as a "cyber transport systems specialist," essentially an IT specialist responsible for military communications networks, including their cabling and hubs. In that role Teixeira would have had a higher level of security clearance because he would have also been tasked with responsibility to access and ensure protection for the network, a defense official told the AP. The National Guard issued a statement saying it was aware of the investigation and "takes this issue very seriously."
"National security is our foremost priority and any attempt to undermine it compromises our values and degrades trust among our members, the public, allies and partners," the statement said.
Local police on Thursday had blocked off the street in front of a home listed as belonging to his family. The person who spoke to the AP says "the O.G." — who he acknowledged Thursday was Teixeira — was an observant Christian who often spoke of God and prayed with members of the chat group. While he was enlisted, Teixeira opposed many of the priorities of the U.S. government and denounced the military "since it was run by the elite politicians," the person said, adding that he didn't know why Teixeira had signed up in the first place. "He expressed regret (about) joining a lot," the person said. "He even said he'd kick my ass if I thought about joining." But the person has stressed that he didn't believe Teixeira leaked documents to undermine the U.S. government or for an ideological reason. When The New York Times first published a story last week about the documents, the person said, members of the group were on a video call when "the O.G." talked to them. "Basically what he said was, 'I'm sorry, guys, I prayed every single day that this wouldn't happen,'" the person said. "'I prayed, and I prayed, and now it's only up to God what happens next.'"

Tougher sanctions will leave Putin with nowhere to hide
The Telegraph/Fri, April 14, 2023
For a year now, Britain and its NATO partners have needed to provide an off-ramp for Russia’s satellite states, not only for the good of their burgeoning freedom and democracy, but because without isolating Russia from its military and economic alliances Putin’s war machine is not isolated at all. Unfortunately, that need has not been met. New evidence released in recent weeks shows why it is more important than ever to act. Sanctions simply are not working as they should. The Kremlin has been able to swiftly and neatly bypass nearly every barrier placed in its way. Countries that are members of Russia’s copycat version of the EU – a five-country single market and customs union called the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – along with other erstwhile allies are acting as sieves through which materiel and technology for the Kremlin’s war effort are passing. The statistics are stark: Russia’s own GDP declined by around 3 per cent in 2022; yet countries within its economic sphere of influence are experiencing booms so fantastical it can only be through connivance with the Russian authorities. Georgia’s GDP is up around 10 per cent in the last year. Economic growth in Kyrgyzstan is up 7.2 per cent. But the most absurd is Armenia, whose 13 per cent economic expansion in only 12 months makes it a candidate for third-fastest growing economy in the world. According to the World Bank, an influx to the country of ICT and banking specialists – young peace-minded Russians who have no desire to die early in Putin’s illegal war – explains the growth. Indeed, now youthful Russians are unable to gain visas for Britain and Europe it is hardly a surprise that they relocate to a long-term Russian ally where cultural and religious traditions are so similar. The same is the case with Serbia – not in the EAEU – but orthodox Christian and familiar and therefore another safe landing zone. In total it is estimated upward of 700,000 Russians have left. Yet none of this explains the trade flows. The German Centre for the South Caucasus, a Berlin-based think-tank revealed last month that exports from Germany to Armenia rose from €178 million to €505 million in 2022. That’s from just one EU country. Exports from Armenia to the EU in the same twelve months doubled from €753 million to €1.3 billion. With a population of barely three million and a GDP per capita of less than a tenth of the average Briton, these are impossible numbers. But they are real. What is clear is that imports to and exports from Russia – which are tariff and duty free between all EAEU countries – are being near-seamlessly diverted to the outside world via their satellite states.
Fortunately, there has only been twelve months of this circumvention, and there is some evidence it is starting to be cauterised. At the beginning of March two American citizens were arrested for skirting US sanctions to sell sophisticated aviation equipment to Russia through third countries, including Armenia.
As for the Germans – serious laggards in so many aspects of this war from cutting off Russian gas pipelines to supplying tanks to Ukraine – they are also now alive to this challenge. Indeed, whether by coincidence or design, only days before Armenian prime minister earlier this month met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the latter’s economy minister Robert Halbeck unveiled a plan to clamp down the “sanctions evasion” by companies supplying Russia via third countries. Germany’s attempts to take the initiative by forcing businesses to provide transparent “end-use statements” for exported products should be replicated by Britain. And while our country may not equal Germany’s manufacturing power, we more than match them in financial services, where similar requirements to produce proof of end-use should be a necessity for financing and facilitation.
Britain must also use its diplomatic credibility that rivals that of any country in Europe to apply both carrot and stick to countries such as Armenia. Other former Soviet satellites such as Azerbaijan and the three Baltic states have since their independence escaped from under the Kremlin’s grasp – the former now a reliable supplier of an alternative to Russian gas, and the latter members of NATO and the EU. All four have managed this despite sharing land borders with Russia and significant Russian-speaking populations. With no land border and no less economic connections to Russia than the Baltic states, Armenia has little excuse when allowing itself to act as a third-country transit point. For Britain to work with Germany and others to close sanctions evasion may not make Ukraine win this conflict, but it will help Russia lose it. The off-ramp of friendship alone is clearly not enough to stop those who wish to make money from Putin’s war. Therefore, it must be combined with a slippery slope that leads to consequences for those who collude to profit from it. Mat Whatley is a British army veteran. He is also the former head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Donetsk, Ukraine, the EU Monitoring Mission in Georgia, and an OSCE spokesman in former Yugoslavia.

Five dead, 15 wounded in Russian strike on east Ukraine city - governor
KYIV (Reuters)/Fri, April 14, 2023
At least five people were killed and 15 wounded on Friday by a Russian missile strike on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the regional governor said. Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram that seven more people remained under the rubble after S-300 missiles damaged five apartment buildings and five private buildings, among other objects. "The evil state once again demonstrates its essence," President Volodymyr Zelenskyi wrote in a separate post accompanied by footage of a damaged building. "Just killing people in broad daylight. Ruining, destroying all life."Kyrylenko said rescuers, paramedics and police were working on the scene. Sloviansk is one of two eastern cities coveted by Russian forces, currently bogged down in nearby Bakhmut, as they push ahead with their invasion of Ukraine.

Finland starts fence on Russian border amid migration, security concerns
IMATRA, Finland (Reuters)Fri, April 14, 2023
- Finland is building the first stretch of a fence on its border with Russia on Friday, less than two weeks after it joined the NATO military alliance to complete a security U-turn taken in response to the war in Ukraine. Fearing retaliation from the east following its NATO application, the government decided last year to construct the barrier, primarily in case Russia moved to flood the border with migrants. Finland aims to guard against a repeat of events on the European Union's eastern frontier in Poland in winter 2021, when the bloc accused neighbouring Belarus - a staunch Russian ally - of engineering a crisis by flying in migrants from the Middle East, giving them visas and pushing them across the border.Made of steel mesh, the Finnish fence is scheduled to cover some 200 kilometres (125 miles) of the most critical parts of its border by the end of 2026. Project manager Ismo Kurki said on Friday that, while it is not intended to stop any invasion attempt, the fence will have surveillance equipment. Meanwhile, there has so far been little human activity along the border, which stretches to 1,300 km in all. Last year, Finland detected only 30 illegal crossings there, while Russian border guards stopped some 800 attempts to enter Finland, the Finnish Border Guard said. "The situation at the Finnish-Russian border has been stable and is stable at the moment," said Border Guard Brigadier General Jari Tolppanen, as one of his teams worked on the first 3-kilometre (1.9-miles) stage of the fence at Imatra, some 250km (155 miles) northeast of Helsinki.
"But in this totally changed (security) situation, Finland must have more credible and more independent border control. And Finland needs to be less dependent on the Russian border control," he added. Poland and the Baltic States have already began erecting fences on their borders with Russia and Belarus following the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Until now, the Finnish-Russian border has been a mere line in the vast forests covering the area, marked only by a low wire fence intended to stop cattle and other domestic animals but not people. The new fence will be 3 metres (10ft) high, topped with razor-wire and tracked by a road, and cost an estimated 380 million euros ($417 million). "Most of (the border area) is very remote and very difficult to access. We construct the target areas which are accessible by vehicle and where large-scale illegal immigration is likely," Tolppanen said.

Ukraine will 'test and use' any non-banned weapons to retake Crimea: official
Reuters/April 14, 2023
Ukraine will "test and use" any non-banned weapons to liberate its territory, including Russian-occupied Crimea, the head of its National Security and Defence Council said on Friday. Oleksiy Danilov's comment comes with Kyiv expected to mount a counteroffensive in the coming weeks or months aimed at retaking Russian-held territory in the south and east. "Crimea is the territory of Ukraine, and we will test and use there any weapons not prohibited by international laws, that will help liberate our territories," he tweeted. Kyiv's Western partners have provided crucial military support, including modern battle tanks and armoured vehicles, since Russia's full-scale invasion last year. But they have stopped short of providing heavier weapons, such as F-16 fighter jets, which Ukraine has asked for. Kyiv has also been developing its own weapons, such as drones and the Neptune missile, which it says it used to sink the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet last year. Russia seized control of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

G7 diplomats to grapple with Ukraine, China, N. Korea crises
Associated Press/April 14, 2023
Russian threats to nuke Ukraine. China's belligerent military moves around rival Taiwan. North Korea's unprecedented run of missile testing.
The top diplomats from some of the world's most powerful democracies will have plenty to discuss when they gather in the hot spring resort town of Karuizawa on Sunday for the so-called Group of Seven foreign ministers' meeting. Some believe that with the weakening of the United Nations, amid Russian and Chinese intransigence on the Security Council, global forums like the G7 are even more important. But there's also considerable doubt that diplomats from mostly Western democracies can find ways to influence, let alone stop, authoritarian nations that are more and more willing to use violence, or its threat, to pursue their interests. Besides the global hotspots, foreign ministers from Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and the European Union are expected to discuss ways to improve human rights and democracy, and also issues important to poorer nations that may feel underrepresented by the focus on wealthy countries with stable governments. The agenda will be dominated, however, by worries over Russia, China and North Korea, and an awareness of the unmistakable interconnectedness of these and other foreign policy headaches. This year's G7 meetings are the most important in the gathering's history, given the pressing need to end Russia's war in Ukraine and to stop a potential invasion of Taiwan by China, according to Yuichi Hosoya, an international politics professor at Keio University in Japan. With the stakes so high, here is a look at what diplomats will face in talks that end Tuesday:
THE WAR IN UKRAINE
A broad concentration on nuclear issues was always going to be important at this year's G7 talks, which culminate with the main leaders' summit next month in Hiroshima, the target of the first nuclear bomb used in war.
The issue is more urgent amid fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he becomes desperate over failures in Ukraine, might use a tactical nuclear weapon to win the war. China is seen as one of the few nations that might influence Russia's moves in Ukraine, and the foreign policy alignment between the world's two largest autocracies will be a major focus in Karuizawa. Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who appears increasingly emboldened to pursue his authoritarian impulses, recently traveled to Moscow and committed to deepen bilateral relations. That has "cast a shadow over hopes that Beijing would pressure Putin to draw down (his) conflict," according to Stephen Nagy, an Asia expert at International Christian University in Tokyo. During his visit to Beijing this month, French President Emmanuel Macron appealed to Xi to "bring Russia to its senses," but received only a tepid response and additional calls for a political resolution. Japan might use the G7 to announce a boost to its already substantial support of Ukraine, said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies. "Japan's leadership sees cooperation on security issues related to Ukraine as a possible avenue towards greater security cooperation in the Pacific," Hall said.
CHINA'S RISE
China's increasingly bold attempts to intimidate self-governing Taiwan were on full display when Beijing recently sent planes and ships to conduct a simulated encirclement of the island, which China claims as its territory. China's broad military expansion, including a rapid jump in its nuclear warheads, a tougher line on its claim to the South China Sea and recent statements from Xi painting a scenario of impending confrontation have galvanized fears among G7 nations. Beijing and Pyongyang are especially worried about Japanese military expansion, which they see as an attempt to "weaken both capitals' efforts to rewrite the regional security architecture in their favor," Nagy said. Under Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Tokyo has made a major break from its self-defense-only post-World War II principles, looking to acquire preemptive strike capabilities and cruise missiles to counter growing threats from North Korea, China and Russia.While the G7 examines ways to manage China's rise, Beijing is bolstering relations with countries from Pakistan to Argentina eager for trade and investment. This will massively expand China's global footprint and challenge North American and European attempts to link investment to good governance and respect for human rights. Kishida's decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the leaders' summit next month "signals Japan's desire to strengthen security cooperation with one of China's rivals. When Japan calls for a 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific,' it is calling for nations to stand against the way China and Russia conduct themselves internationally," Hall said. ___
NORTH KOREAN THREATS
This year's G7 talks are crucial in revitalizing diplomacy aimed at pressuring a hostile North Korea to return to disarmament negotiations, especially with a dysfunctional U.N. Security Council that's divided between permanent members, according to Park Won Gon, a professor at Seoul's Ewha Womans University. Since last year North Korea has test-fired around 100 missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles that showed the potential of reaching the U.S. mainland and a variety of other shorter-range weapons that threaten South Korea and Japan. Leader Kim Jong Un may be looking to use the global distraction of Russia's war on Ukraine to expand a nuclear arsenal he sees as the strongest guarantee of his family's dynastic rule. Beijing and Moscow last year blocked a U.S.-led drive to tighten Security Council sanctions on North Korea over its major missile tests. It's unlikely that the Security Council will tighten sanctions even if North Korea conducts what would be its first nuclear test since 2017. But a meaningful punitive response could be generated by a network of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States, its allies and "like-minded" European partners gathered at the G7, a tact similar to the way Washington pressures Moscow over its aggression in Ukraine, Park said. "The importance of the G7 has been greatly strengthened as it's obvious that the role and function of the U.N. Security Council is being unraveled by Russia and China and there is a need to find something new to replace it," Park said.

Yemen prisoner swap begins with 318 released on day one
Long-awaited detainee exchange comes amid latest effort to end the civil war
Nada AlTaher/The National/April 14/2023
A three-day prisoner exchange between Yemen's warring parties began on Friday as 318 prisoners were released, the International Committee of the Red Cross said at the end of the operation's first day. About 70 prisoners were travelling from the rebel-held capital Sanaa to Aden, the government's temporary base, on two flights, with 250 being sent from Aden to Sanaa on board a Yemenia flight. More than 500 detainees will be transferred on Saturday, said Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC's regional director for the Near and Middle East. "This breakthrough prisoner exchange is being overseen by the ICRC and was the result of many months of constructive engagement and mediation overseen by the UN’s Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg," he said. "The United States is proud to support this UN-led engagement and we will continue to do all we can to help consolidate the truce that has now been in effect for over one year, helping to set the conditions for a more enduring peace. The past year in Yemen has been the quietest since the war began, Mr Sullivan said, saving thousands of lives and allowing for vast increases in humanitarian assistance, fuel imports, and civilian flights to and from Sanaa.
"Building on the prisoner exchange today, we encourage all parties to further consolidate these positive trends and ultimately forge a diplomatic resolution to the conflict," he said. The first flight from Sanaa took off at about 10am local time on Friday carrying 35 prisoners, while the second, from Aden to Sanaa, took off at 11am with 125 prisoners on board, the ICRC told The National. Mahmoud Al Subeihi, the country's former defence minister, and Nasser Mansur Hadi, brother of former president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who had been detained since 2015, were among the prisoners being released from Sanaa.
A red carpet and military salute welcomed the former officials when they landed in Aden at about noon. Footage from the airport showed people dancing in celebration. Mr Hadi will be travelling onward to Riyadh for medical treatment later on Friday, a government source told The National.
"This comes at a time of hope for Yemen as a reminder that constructive dialogue and mutual compromises are powerful tools capable of achieving great outcomes," UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a statement.
"Hundreds of Yemeni families get to celebrate Eid with their loved ones because the parties negotiated."“A sight for sore eyes,” said Yemeni conflict analyst and former Houthi detainee Hisham Al Omeisy.
“I remember how my kids rushed to me when I was released and there was no feeling in the world to top the relief and happiness felt.”More ICRC flights carrying prisoners are scheduled on Saturday, including from Sanaa to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, as well as from the southern Saudi city of Abha to Sanaa, and between Sanaa and the Yemeni city of Mokha on the Red Sea coast. There will be flights both ways on Sunday between Marib, capital of the eponymous Yemeni province, and Sanaa. "ICRC teams will accompany the detainees, overseeing the transfer and addressing any medical needs," ICRC spokeswoman Jessica Moussan said in a statement on Friday. The Yemen Red Crescent Society and Saudi Red Crescent Authority will also play "vital roles", Ms Moussan said. "Their medical staff and volunteers will be present at the six airports to help infirm detainees on and off the planes and provide first aid and ambulance services." The prisoner exchange is one of several recent developments that have raised hopes of a long-term truce between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-backed Houthi rebels that could pave the way for talks on a political solution to end the civil war in Yemen. Saudi ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al Jaber visited Sanaa this week with officials from Oman to discuss renewing a UN-brokered truce that expired in October. The Saudi ambassador left on Thursday after several days of negotiations, a Yemeni government official confirmed to The National.
Pro-Houthi official Mohammed Al Bukhaiti told Reuters that the talks were "going well". The talks are also expected to cover the reopening of all Yemeni ports, releasing all prisoners of war, and unifying the two central banks under the rebel and government administrations. Another Houthi official, Abdulmalik Alejri, said on Twitter that "with determination and honest intentions remaining difficulties can be resolved".

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 14-15/2023
Iran: The Dollarization Temptation
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al-Awsat/April, 14/2023
To dollarize or not to dollarize? This is the question that the ruling elite in Tehran is beginning to ask both in private and, increasingly, in public. At issue is to accept the US dollar as a de facto second currency of Iran at a time that national currency, often known as touman, continues a plummeting trajectory that enters its fifth year.
According to the newly appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, Muhammad Reza Farzin, Iran has just completed its fourth year of negative economic growth and is entering a fifth year with no prospect of a turnabout for at least two more years.
Farzin blames the dismal performance on three factors: a tsunami of liquidity that has fueled inflation rate which, he claims, is approaching 50 percent per annum, a lack of discipline by the banking sector that is technically, bankrupt and, last but not least, widespread fears about the future that has led to a seemingly insatiable thirst for US dollars at almost all levels of society. The Central Bank makes a 15 percent profit on dollars sold to semi-private banks.
In the last Iranian year, which ended on 20 March, Iranians converted much of their savings to US dollars. Farzin did not say what portion of the $16 billion in private hands was siphoned out of the country. But official figures show that private Iranian investors now feature in the top list of foreign nationals investing or buying property in Turkey, Georgia, Oman, Dubai, and, more recently, Kazakhstan.
According to Frazin the Central Bank is knowable to provide the $65 billion that the government needs for its projected expenditure in the next 11 months. What he does not say is how much of it will come from printing more money and selling US dollars to private Iranian investors. Yet, he drops a hint that liquidity is set to grow by a whopping 25 percent in the same period.
Because, thanks to oil exports, the government is the main source of dollars it is also the main beneficiary from the decline in the value of the national currency. This leads to a fundamental flaw in the government’s economic strategy. On the one hand you need to print money to compensate for lack of growth and, on the other, you have to tame inflation to encourage investment and productivity and a return to economic growth.
For the root cause of inflation shortage on the supply side which cannot be compensated by mass imports when the national currency is jittery. Devaluation, intended or not, could boost domestic production, but, as is happening in the case of Iran, increased domestic production coupled with a cheap currency encourages exports, thus aggravating supply problems at the national level.
Another factor aggravates the situation: the subsidies that the government provides in the hope of reducing the pressure that inflation exerts on families. For example petrol and a range of petrochemical products at subsidized prices are re-exported by private companies to Turkey, Armenia and Iraq with the proceedings converted to US dollars that seldom return to Iran.
According to official reports petrol consumption in Iran is increasing at an annual rate of 9 percent an anomaly when we have negative economic growth. The reason is semi-official export to neighboring countries to obtain US dollars. Thus, Iran is selling below the cost petrol not only to China, which has secured a 20 percent cut on the international bench-mark per barrel, but also to a number of neighboring countries.
Thanks to generous discounts, China now accounts for 30 percent of Iranian oil exports, and is slated to pass the 50 percent mark by 2028. That could create a semi-monopsony in which Beijing would be able to dictate further price cuts.
Farzin and other new members of President Ibrahim Raisi’s economic team are already hinting at an increase in domestic petrol prices, a move that could lead to a remake of nationwide riots where it was tried almost a decade ago.
The new head of the Tehran Stock Exchange, Majid Eshqi, has also hinted at dollarization as a means of encouraging domestic savors to invest in public businesses and properties scheduled for privatization. The exchange has just approved the creation of 90 new investment funds using the US dollars as a de facto currency. Talk of dollarization as a means of taming inflation and stabilizing the economy has encouraged a number of trade unions in both public and private sectors to formally demand a scheme in which employees and pensioners’ wage and salaries are calculated in dollars rather than the national currency. Because, compared to the national currency, the US dollar is more or less stable, wage and salary earners would be partially protected against the devastating effects of runaway inflation.
That would also encourage private investors to put their savings in newly privatized businesses and properties. Between 2010 and 2015 private investors suffered massive losses because of downturns in the Tehran Stock Exchange.
Raisi’s new economic advisors may find it hard to persuade the ultimate decision-makers, believed to be part of the inner circle of “Supreme Guide” Ali Khamenei to approve full-blown dollarization of the kind that helped several countries, notably Argentina, to tame inflation and return to economic growth.
In fact the inner circle is working on a different scheme aimed at tying the Iranian economy to the Chinese, ad to a lesser extent, the Russian economies. This is presented as part of a scheme by the trio to “dethrone the dollar” and reduce US economic power globally. The first step in that direction is Tehran’s decision to accept the Chinese currency in payment for part of oil imports from Iran.
The trouble is that while the value of the dollar is worked out by the market, the value of the Chinese currency is decided by the Central Committee of the Communist Party. Thus as in any monopsony, China would be able to pay Iran whatever the Central Committee decides.
Meanwhile, the inner circle is adding adjectives to its economic strategy. It started as Unitarian economy (eqtesad towhidi in Arabic), became Pure Islamic economy, and is now presented as Islamic Resistance economy. To inject the dollar in that ideal mix wouldn’t be easy. Still, with those who don’t treat economics as a science with its own rules, one can never know.

So Taiwan Does Not Become Another Ukraine
Elias Harfoush/Asharq Al-Awsat/April, 14/2023
It is difficult to understand why the US has been provoking China on Taiwan and what it hopes to achieve from this provocation, especially at this time. Indeed, several Western powers are trying to establish channels of communication with Beijing as they strive to contain the escalating war in Ukraine by impelling China to help mediate between Moscow and Kyiv. As a French official accompanying President Emmanuel Macron on his recent visit to Beijing said, China is the only country in the world that can push the conflict in both directions.
The assessment of the US military makes these provocations even harder to comprehend. The American army has concluded that the prospect of the “Spring Offensive” achieving a military breakthrough seems unlikely. This fact is not only evident from recent US intelligence leaks of documents discussing the personnel and equipment shortages of the Ukrainian army, but also from previous statements by the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, that affirm the leaked assessments.
Moreover, General Milley has said that, given the vastness of the territory being fought over, things are very difficult in Ukraine. In a press conference in Germany with Defense Minister Lloyd Austin held in late January, Milley said that the Ukraine war must end through negotiation.
If the US military believes that this war will end through negotiations, what purpose does provoking a crisis with China, which is better placed to broker an end to the conflict than any other country, serve at this moment in time? Vladimir Putin cannot reject Chinese mediation if Beijing decides it wants to play this role. For his part, Zelensky did not object to a previous initiative by Beijing to settle the dispute. This initiative was based on 12 provisions; not all of them are aligned with the West’s position, but they can help pave the way for an escape from the impasse that the world finds itself in.
There is nothing new about the situation in Taiwan. Beijing has always maintained that the island adjacent to the Chinese mainland is its territory, and Washington has always adopted a policy of “strategic ambiguity” on this matter. So, given that China has not announced any intentions to invade Taiwan or change the status quo through force, what justifies threatening military intervention to defend Taiwan?
In response to unjustified American escalation, China has been flexing its military muscle in the face of the island it considers Chinese territory. US provocations, such as former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit or her successor’s meeting with the president of Taiwan in Los Angeles, do nothing to push things forward. Indeed, President Xi Jinping’s call for his army to conduct exercises oriented towards “real combat” was the latest manifestation of the troubling aggravation of tensions over Taiwan.
China feels that the recent escalation over Taiwan is the latest attempt by the US to contain China militarily and compete for influence in Asia. This escalation followed the formation of AUKUS, an alliance that includes the United States, Australia and Britain, as well as efforts to strengthen the military alliance with Japan, which has enhanced its military capacity against the backdrop of the Ukrainian conflict. “The Economist” argues there are parallels between Beijing’s fears of “American encirclement” and Vladimir Putin’s apprehensions regarding NATO expansion reaching his country’s borders - at “its doorstep,” as Putin put it - which contributed to sparking the current crisis in Ukraine.
What matters now is that escalation between the US and China makes Beijing mediating an end to the war in Ukraine less likely. While many are striving to have China play this role, especially in Europe, which is directly paying the price for the crisis as its economy and living standards decline. The protests in France, the economic crisis in Britain, and the energy issues in Germany are all symptoms of this crisis.
With this context in mind, we can see why Emmanuel Macron stressed that Europe needs to be “independent” amid competition between the US and China. The German Foreign Minister’s ongoing visit to China, as well as the visits of German Chancellor Schultz and the Prime Minister of Spain that preceded it, also came within the framework of European leaders’ attempts to break through this wall and establish, at the very least, a cease-fire that can open the door to a negotiated settlement that ends the war.
China has proven that it has the capacity to settle disputes that seemed intractable just a few months ago. The role played by China in settling the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran speaks for itself. The positive atmosphere that now prevails in our region is an outcome of these efforts. China also demonstrated this capacity when it condemned North Korea’s nuclear tests despite being allied with it.
Even in the Ukraine crisis, China’s position has remained balanced despite its close ties with the Russian Federation. Indeed, China has not recognized Russia’s annexation of Crimea or its annexation of four provinces in eastern Ukraine. It has also refused to supply Russia with arms despite the fact that other countries, such as Iran, have done so. China also abstained from voting on resolutions in the Security Council and the General Assembly on the Ukrainian conflict, while other countries, such as Belarus, Syria, and North Korea, voted in Russia’s favor…
Although Xi is no Putin, and the Chinese give more weight to the economy in calculating their interests than the Russians, the risk of slipping into a clash over Taiwan must not be ignored. Like Russia, China opposes the “unipolar” world order. It believes that Washington’s escalation is an attempt to impose on the US governance model, reviving the Cold War mentality and disregarding the particularities of regimes and societies, as well as the security interests of states.
If the price China demands for brokering a settlement to the Ukrainian conflict is putting an end to the unjustified escalation over Taiwan, it is a price worth paying to save the world from the perils of this conflict.

Climate Change Alarmism Is a Lie that Must Stop
Drieu Godefridi/Gatestone Institute./April 14, 2023
With China opening an average of two new coal-fired power plants a week and India apparently more determined than ever to continue its development curve, as is the entire non-Western world, global CO2 emissions will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. There is not yet any available, inexpensive alternative to fossil fuels.
This increase in global CO2 emissions would be inevitable even if the West persists in its efforts to reduce emissions: Western reductions are -- and will continue to be -- more than offset by the increase in emissions in the rest of the world.
"Setting an example" to regimes and countries around the world that often hate the West simply enables those countries to grow stronger, while the countries setting the example weaken themselves by committing themselves to severe economic disadvantage -- while having virtually no net effect on the climate.... Meanwhile, as they grow, they would doubtless be extremely happy to see the West hobbling itself.
The climate knows neither Europe nor Asia. Nothing that Europe and the West accomplish in this field has the slightest meaning if reduction of emissions is not global.
In its fifth and latest (full) report, the IPCC estimates that a 3° warming -- twice the Paris Agreement target -- would reduce global economic growth by 3%. Three per cent a year? No, 3% by the year 2100. This amount represents a reduction in global economic growth of 0.04% a year, a number that is barely measurable statistically. That is in the IPCC's pessimistic scenario. In the more optimistic scenarios, the economic impact of warming will be virtually non-existent.
[A]ccording to the data of the IPCC itself, the economic growth and well-being in Europe and the United States are more threatened by extremist and delusional environmental policies than by global warming.
"The EU and its Member States have focused on climate policy, mobilizing enormous financial and human resources, thereby reducing the resources necessary for the development of its industry and weakening the security of energy supply." — Jean-Pierre Schaeken Willemaers, Thomas More Institute, president of the Energy, Climate and Environment Cluster, science-climat-energie.be, February 22, 2023.
Future generations will judge us harshly for allowing extremist environmental activism to enfeeble us in the West, while a hostile East – China, Russia, North Korea and Iran -- continue to advance their industrial and military capabilities. Instead of trying to fight CO2 emissions, we would do better to invest in researching ways to make reliable supplies of energy both cleaner and less expensive so that everyone -- by choice -- will rush to use them.
Global emissions and the accumulated stock of CO2 in the atmosphere will, unfortunately, not be decreasing any time soon, but that is no reason to let the global standing of the West decrease instead.
Since 1992, global CO2 emissions have continued to rise, with China opening an average of two new coal-fired power plants a week. Do we really believe that China, Russia and India will let the West dictate their economic conditions and CO2 emissions? Meanwhile, as they grow, they are doubtless happy to see the West hobbling itself by persisting in efforts to reduce its own emissions. Pictured: A steel mill with a coal-fired generator in Hebei, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)
Since 1992 and the Earth Summit in Rio, the West has been living under the spell of a "climate emergency" that is repeatedly renewed but never happened. Since then, the West – and only the West -- has set itself the main goal of reducing CO2 emissions (and other greenhouse gases, implied in the rest of this article).
It is now 2023, time for a review:
1. CO2 emissions have not stopped growing and will continue to grow.
Since 1992, global CO2 emissions have continued to rise. With China opening an average of two new coal-fired power plants a week and India apparently more determined than ever to continue its development curve, as is the entire non-Western world, global CO2 emissions will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. There is not yet any available, inexpensive alternative to fossil fuels.
This increase in global CO2 emissions would be inevitable even if the West persists in its efforts to reduce emissions: Western reductions are -- and will continue to be -- more than offset by the increase in emissions in the rest of the world.
2. Will the warming target of the Paris Agreement -- "to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels" -- be met?
Achieving the Paris Agreement target requires drastic reductions in CO2 emissions. This has not happened. We are not on track. This global reduction will not happen. Therefore, the Paris Agreement target will not be achieved. This is now a certainty or, in the words of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a projection with a very high degree of reliability.
3. Will the EU's target of "decarbonisation by 2050" be met?
Even more extreme than the Paris Agreement is the EU's goal of decarbonisation. As stated earlier, even if the EU ceased to exist, global CO2 emissions would continue to rise. From this perspective, reducing European emissions only makes sense if it is part of an effective global framework, not a national or regional one. "Setting an example" to regimes and countries around the world that often hate the West simply enables those countries to grow stronger, while the countries setting the example weaken themselves by committing themselves to severe economic disadvantage -- while having virtually no net effect on the climate. Do we really believe that China, Russia and India will let the West dictate their economic conditions and CO2 emissions? Meanwhile, as they grow, they would doubtless be extremely happy to see the West hobbling itself.
Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, probably the most zealous extremist to come to power in Europe since 1945 -- whose chief of cabinet is the former leader of Greenpeace's anti-nuclear campaign -- multiplies measures, initiatives and declarations aimed at drastically reducing European CO2 emissions -- even at the cost of Europe's economic devastation, at the cost of freedom, and at the cost of causing a cruel increase in Europe's dependence on China's rare earth minerals.
The climate knows neither Europe nor Asia. Nothing that Europe and the West accomplish in this field has the slightest meaning if reduction of emissions is not global.
4. Would the economic consequences of even the most pessimistic IPCC global warming scenario matter?
Let us now look at the issue of the economic impact of CO2 emissions.
The climate expert and physicist Steven Koonin, former Under Secretary for Science during the Obama Administration, notes in his latest book, Unsettled that even if the IPCC's most pessimistic warming scenario were to come true, the global economic impact would be negligible (Unsettled: Dallas, BenBella Books, 2021, chapter 9, 'Apocalypses that ain't', page 179s.)
In its fifth and latest (full) report, the IPCC estimates that a 3° warming -- twice the Paris Agreement target -- would reduce global economic growth by 3%. Three per cent a year? No, 3% by the year 2100. This amount represents a reduction in global economic growth of 0.04% a year, a number that is barely measurable statistically. That is in the IPCC's pessimistic scenario. In the more optimistic scenarios, the economic impact of warming will be virtually non-existent. The IPCC, AR5, Working Group II, chapter 10 states:
"For most economic sectors, the impact of climate change will be small relative to the impacts of other drivers.... Changes in population, age, income, technology, relative prices... and many other aspects of socioeconomic development will have an impact on the supply and demand of economic goods and services that is largely relative to the impact of climate change."
In other words, according to the data of the IPCC itself, the economic growth and well-being in Europe and the United States are more threatened by extremist and delusional environmental policies than by global warming. As Jean-Pierre Schaeken Willemaers of the Thomas More Institute, president of the Energy, Climate and Environment Cluster, noted on February 22:
"The EU and its Member States have focused on climate policy, mobilizing enormous financial and human resources, thereby reducing the resources necessary for the development of its industry and weakening the security of energy supply."
The lesson of all this is simple: Future generations will judge us harshly for allowing extremist environmental activism to enfeeble us in the West, while a hostile East – China, Russia, North Korea and Iran -- continue to advance their industrial and military capabilities. Instead of trying to fight CO2 emissions, we would do better to invest in researching ways to make reliable supplies of energy both cleaner and less expensive so that everyone -- by choice -- will rush to use them.
Global emissions and the accumulated stock of CO2 in the atmosphere will, unfortunately, not be decreasing any time soon, but that is no reason to let the global standing of the West decrease instead.
*Drieu Godefridi is a jurist (Saint-Louis University of Louvain), a philosopher (Saint-Louis University of Louvain) and a doctor in legal theory (Paris IV-Sorbonne). He is the author of The Green Reich.
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Will Iran Succeed in Changing How Hezbollah Operates?
Huda al-Husseini/Asharq Al Awsat/April, 13/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/117415/117415/
Contradictory reports have been circulating amid the ambiguity around why rockets were fired at Israel from Lebanon and who launched them. Hezbollah sources have said that it had not been informed about the operation, claiming the rockets were fired by Hamas in retaliation to Israel’s assault on worshipers in Al-Aqsa Mosque and that the incident does not change the rules of engagement in South Lebanon. Despite Israel retaliating in Lebanon and escalating its daily strike on the Hezbollah bases in Syria, the party kept quiet and avoided escalation. In turn, Al-Manar TV defended Hezbollah’s silence as the correct course of action. It argued that keeping tight-lipped is a strategy of psychological warfare that intimidates the Israel enemy as they sleep in shelters in anticipation of what the party might do. Everyone knows that Hezbollah has total, unfettered control over South Lebanon. The party even determines the scope of the United Nations Multinational Force In Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) field of operation. When the UNIFIL goes beyond the boundaries set by Hezbollah, the party incites attacks by its supporters, as happened in January 2022, when unidentified men intercepted a UNIFIL patrol in Bint Jbeil, beating UNIFIL forces on patrol and setting fire to their vehicles. They justified the assault with claims that the patrol was filming in the area. Meanwhile, UNIFIL Command said that the patrol had accidentally strayed from its course. And a similar attack was witnessed last December, when an Irish member of the UNIFIL forces was killed. Once again, the pretext was that his patrol had been filming – a claim the UNIFIL spokesperson denied.
It is also a well-established fact the Lebanese army coordinates all of its operations in the South with the military leadership of Hezbollah. Indeed, the Lebanese remember very well the martyrdom of First Lieutenant Samer Hanna. The party shot a rocket at the pilot’s helicopter because it was passing over the town of Sujud, which lies within an area that Hezbollah has declared off-limits to aircraft. Former President Michel Aoun justified the attack egregiously, asking why the martyred First Lieutenant had been flying over this area. Thus, claims that Hamas or any other group could have fired 34 rockets at Israel without Hezbollah’s knowledge are untenable. Hezbollah was either implicated in the attack or, if its claims are to be believed, suffered a serious security breach. Here, we should keep in mind the reports that Haniyeh’s decision to launch Hamas rockets from Lebanon followed a meeting with Nasrallah over iftar that brought them together with Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani and the Iranian Ambassador to Beirut, Mojtaba Amani. So, what does Hezbollah hope to achieve from this incident? Sources in contact with the Axis of Resistance in Lebanon have stressed that the party is apprehensive about the rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The party leadership had not been informed about its imminence, and Hezbollah is alarmed by the pace at which events have been unfolding since the two countries agreed on the principles of their new relationship under the auspices of China. Although both Saudi Arabia and Iran are both primarily focused on Yemen, as there is much to be resolved there, we have seen the agreement swiftly precipitate developments on other fronts. There are signs that Syria’s isolation from the Arab world is coming to an end, and all of this inevitably implies scaling down the expansion of Hezbollah in Yemen and Syria.
Hezbollah is aware that in this event, Iran will probably change the nature of the party’s operations after having used it to fight for the Velayat-e Faqih across the region. The reason is simple. There will be no Iranian-Saudi conflict, and a great power, China, will guarantee this peace. Thus, Hezbollah wanted to send messages to its leaders in Iran. It let them know that it would not pay the price for the Saudi-Iranian agreement and that, at any moment, it could turn the tables and set the region alight by sparking a war with Israel, whose outcome and repercussions would be impossible to predict.
Media outlets associated with the Axis of Resistance depicting images of Hassan Nasrallah receiving Ismail Haniyeh signaled that the Hamas missiles were his. However, Benjamin Netanyahu hit back at Haniyeh and Nasrallah swiftly. On Monday evening, Netanyahu warned that he would not allow Hamas to establish a base in South Lebanon.
Will this threat be enough for caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, who merely assured the Lebanese that the faction behind the rockets fired from the Lebanese Qulaileh region is not Lebanese, without telling us who had informed him of this fact? Was it a Lebanese party? Did boy scouts, for example, inform Mikati of who had been behind the missiles? Did pigeons land, fire the missiles, and fly away? Najib Mikati tasked Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Bou Habib with filing a complaint with the Security Council against Israel for attacking Lebanon! In this sense, it was Israel that informed Lebanon of who had fired the missiles, cornering the caretaker prime minister. He and the “republic’s policeman,” Abdullah Bou Habib, did the right thing; when Israel bombards the country, the solution will be in their pockets. For his part, Hassan Nasrallah should know that the region will inevitably change and that it will do so very rapidly. Meanwhile, Hezbollah cannot wrap its head around these changes, let alone prevent them. Accordingly, its confusion will continue to engender blunders domestically.
Tehran will probably not account for the repercussions, as a burden has been removed from its shoulders. Indeed, Iran is now looking forward to a new stage, which it hopes will see sanctions scaled down. In fact, this new stage has already begun. According to recent reports, Iran and Russia are in discussions to increase trade through the Caspian Sea, with senior officials from both countries exploring different options for increasing the volume of goods shipped through .During a meeting held in Tehran last Sunday, the Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development Mehrdad Bezrpash and Russia’s Igor Levitin, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussed bilateral cooperation to boost trade by air, sea, land, and rail. Discussing the long history of cooperation in maritime trade between Iran and Russia, the Iranian minister underlined the need for both countries to benefit from other countries’ ports to facilitate their bilateral trade as well. He also said that, for the first time in 21 years, the massive Russian Ro-Ro ship docked in the Port of Nowshahr (northern Iran) last April, adding that he believes this is a major step in augmenting maritime trade between the two countries. Earlier on in his stay in Tehran, Levitin held a meeting with the Iranian First Vice President, Mohammad Mokhber. On Saturday, they discussed work on the strategically significant International North-South Transport Corridor. During this meeting, Levitin said that Iran and Russia could be turned into regional centers for the export of foodstuffs through joint projects between the countries. Will Nasrallah dare to put a stick in the wheels of these Iranian-Russian initiatives to please Ismail Haniyeh, or is he being asked to do so?!

Question: “Why is the truth of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ so important?”
GotQuestions.org?/April, 13/2023
Answer: The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important event in history, providing irrefutable evidence that Jesus is who He claimed to be – the Son of God. The resurrection was not only the supreme validation of His deity; it also validated the Scriptures, which foretold His coming and resurrection. Moreover, it authenticated Christ’s claims that He would be raised on the third day (John 2:19-21; Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34). If Christ’s body was not resurrected, we have no hope that ours will be (1 Corinthians 15:13, 16). In fact, apart from Christ’s bodily resurrection, we have no Savior, no salvation, and no hope of eternal life. As the apostle Paul said, our faith would be “useless” and the life-giving power of the gospel would be altogether eliminated.
Because our eternal destinies ride on the truth of this historical event, the resurrection has been the target of Satan’s greatest attacks against the church. Accordingly, the historicity of Christ’s bodily resurrection has been examined and investigated from every angle and studied endlessly by countless scholars, theologians, professors, and others over the centuries. And even though a number of theories have been postulated that attempt to disprove this momentous event, no credible historical evidence exists which would validate anything other than His literal bodily resurrection. On the other hand, the clear and convincing evidence of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ is overwhelming.
Nonetheless, from the Christians in ancient Corinth to many today, misunderstandings persist relative to certain aspects of our Savior’s resurrection. Why, some ask, is it important that Christ’s body was resurrected? Couldn’t His resurrection have just been spiritual? Why and how does the resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantee the bodily resurrection of believers? Will our resurrected bodies be the same as our earthly bodies? If not, what will they be like? The answers to these questions are found in the fifteenth chapter of Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth, a church that he established several years earlier during his second missionary journey.
In addition to growing factions in the young Corinthian church, there was rampant misunderstanding of some key Christian doctrines, including the resurrection. Although many of the Corinthians accepted that Christ has been resurrected (1 Corinthians 15:1, 11), they had difficulty believing others could or would be resurrected. The continuing influence of Gnostic philosophy, which held that everything spiritual was good whereas everything physical, such as our bodies, was intrinsically evil, was essentially responsible for their confusion regarding their own resurrection. The idea of a detestable corpse being eternally resurrected was, therefore, strongly opposed by some and certainly by the Greek philosophers of the day (Acts 17:32).
Yet, most of the Corinthians understood that Christ’s resurrection was bodily and not spiritual. After all, resurrection means “a rising from the dead”; something comes back to life. They understood that all souls were immortal and at death immediately went to be with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). Thus, a “spiritual” resurrection would make no sense, as the spirit doesn’t die and therefore cannot be resurrected. Additionally, they were aware that the Scriptures, as well as Christ Himself, stated that His body would rise again on the third day. Scripture also made it clear that Christ’s body would see no decay (Psalm 16:10; Acts 2:27), a charge that would make no sense if His body was not resurrected. Lastly, Christ emphatically told His disciples it was His body that was resurrected: “A spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:39).
Again, however, the Corinthians’ concern was regarding their personal resurrection. Accordingly, Paul tried to convince the Corinthians that because Christ rose from the dead, they also would rise from the dead some day, and that the two resurrections – Christ’s and ours – must stand or fall together, for “if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised” (1 Corinthians 15:13).
“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
When Jesus Christ was resurrected, He became the “first fruits” of all who would be raised (see also Colossians 1:18). The Israelites could not fully harvest their crops until they brought a representative sampling (first fruits) to the priests as an offering to the Lord (Leviticus 23:10). This is what Paul is saying in 1 Corinthians 15:20-22; Christ’s own resurrection was the “first fruits” of the resurrection “harvest” of the believing dead. The “first fruits” language Paul uses indicates something to follow, and that something would be His followers – the rest of the “crop.” This is how Christ’s resurrection guarantees ours. Indeed, His resurrection requires our resurrection.
And to allay their concerns regarding connecting the spirit to what was deemed an undesirable body, Paul explained to them the nature of our resurrected bodies and how they would differ from our earthly bodies. Paul likened our deceased earthly bodies to a “seed,” and God would ultimately provide another body (1 Corinthians 15:37-38) that would be like Christ’s glorious resurrected body (1 Corinthians 15:49; Philippians 3:21). Indeed, just as with our Lord, our bodies which are now perishable, dishonored, weak, and natural will one day be raised into bodies that are imperishable, glorious, powerful, and spiritual (1 Corinthians 15:42-44). Our spiritual bodies will be perfectly equipped for heavenly, supernatural living.