English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 16/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
Jesus Appears to The 12 When Thomas Was With Them: Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.
John20/14-29/Now Thomas (also known as Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 15-16/2023
The Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand receives the Holy Flame
Report: Top Iranian general visited Beirut prior to rockets on Israel
1 hurt as Israel fires stun, smoke grenades at Hezbollah supporters
Geagea: Opposing parties, FPM are disrupting the municipal elections due to their lack of confidence in the results
Judge Aoun: Corruption mafia in Lebanon is very large, beneficiaries are many
Political parties restore the Engineers Syndicate: Amal, the Future Alliance and the Free Movement win
Army: Raid in Brital in search of wanted persons
Qualitative operation by Airport Customs: Thwarting of attempt to smuggle Cocaine capsules swallowed by a passenger
Security Forces: Information Division thwarts international network's plan to smuggle more than 8 million Captagon pills through Tripoli's Port
Al-Murtada praises Saudi-Iranian agreement: Everyone must realize the importance of liberation from spirit of rivalries, our support for Palestinian...
Two earthquakes were felt by residents of the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon and a number of regions

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 15-16/2023
No consensus on Syrian Arab League return after Saudi summit
Arab nations call for 'leadership role' in solution to Syria crisis
Israeli police assault Christians heading to Jerusalem church
Israeli protests of legal overhaul show no signs of slowing
In First, Iran's President Addresses Palestinians in Gaza
Iran vows crack down on people who promote removing the veil
Could Putin be using the war in Ukraine to annex Belarus by stealth?
Vladimir Putin closes loophole that allowed Russian men to avoid military service
Ukraine awaits US missile system after latest Russian strike
Ukraine's Marchenko says G7 support crucial for 'longer' war with Russia
Polish government bans grain and food imports from Ukraine
France's Macron signs contested pension bill into law
China says conducted mid-course missile interception test
Deadly fighting between army, paramilitaries in Sudan capital
Sustained Firing Heard in Sudanese Capital

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 15-16/2023
The Iran-led bloc senses an opportunity to threaten Israeli life ... Does Iran see an opportunity in the cracks in Israeli society?/Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/April 15/2023
Libya and the Blue Gold Reservoir/Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al Awsat/April 15/2023
Tunisia’s decision to snub IMF deal is both reckless and bizarre/Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/April 15/ 2023
France’s Constitutional Council approves key elements of pension reforms/Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/April 15/ 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on April 15-16/2023
The Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand receives the Holy Flame
LCCC/April 15/2023
The flame of the Holy Light, which poured out from the tomb of Christ in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, reached the Patriarchal Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand and was received by a crowd of believers.
The sacred flame was carried from Rafic Hariri International Airport - Beirut to the Monastery of Our Lady of Balamand, by Archimandrite Alexy Abboud, accompanied by the President of the University of Balamand, Dr. Elias Warraq.

Report: Top Iranian general visited Beirut prior to rockets on Israel
Naharnet/April 15/2023
Esmail Qaani, who leads Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ elite Quds Force, has held a series of clandestine meetings with militant leaders across the region in recent weeks, The Wall Street Journal quoted “people familiar with the discussions” as saying. “The Quds Force chief was in Lebanon last week, where he met with the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Palestinian Islamic Jihad at the Iranian embassy in Beirut,” the sources said. Around the same time, militants in southern Lebanon fired a barrage of rockets at Israel, the largest such attack since the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. “The details of the rocket attack were finalized in Gen. Qaani’s meetings in Beirut, including with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his deputy Saleh al-Arouri and Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah,” the sources added. Rockets were also fired at Israel from Gaza and Syria, and Israel responded by launching airstrikes against what it said were militant targets in those areas. “In late March, during the early days of Ramadan, Gen. Qaani held meetings in Syria with members of Palestinian militant groups to discuss a possible coordinated attack on Israel,” sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. He told attendees that Iran had obtained information about Israeli plans for operations against members of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Syria and Lebanon, according to the sources. “Qaani urged them to take action quickly” the sources added. He said that Iran would “provide the necessary tools to carry out attacks to deter Israel from making its own strikes,” they said. “On April 3, IRGC advisers landed in Beirut to plan for a strike on Israel,” sources people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. “Gen. Qaani said it was important to attack Israeli targets within days in response to Israeli strikes that had killed Iranian advisers in Syria,” the sources added. Neither Hezbollah nor Hamas claimed responsibility for last week’s rocket fire at Israel. Israeli leaders blamed Palestinian militants such as Hamas for the attack from Lebanon and emphasized that they were focusing their firepower on them, and not Hezbollah, a message intended at the time to prevent the fighting from spreading. U.S. officials were also on alert in the days following Qaani’s meetings after obtaining intelligence that Iran was poised to carry out a drone strike on a commercial ship in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal said.

1 hurt as Israel fires stun, smoke grenades at Hezbollah supporters
Associated Press/April 15/2023
U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon appealed for calm late Friday after supporters of Hezbollah 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 U.N. 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 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 Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in a televised statement said his party would respond to "any action targeting anyone in Lebanon, in an appropriate scale and manner."

Geagea: Opposing parties, FPM are disrupting the municipal elections due to their lack of confidence in the results
NNA/April 15/2023
Lebanese Forces Party Chief, Samir Geagea, said that “those who claim that they are going to Tuesday’s legislative session to avoid a vacuum in municipal and mayoral posts, especially the opposing party blocs and the Free Patriotic Movement, have false claims, given that Prime Minister Najib Mikati called for a government meeting on Tuesday with securing the necessary funds for conducting the elections on its agenda, and hence there is absolutely no reason to prevent their completion on time."Geagea added in a statement: "As for the administrative and logistical readiness, I will reiterate that the Interior Minister, who is mainly concerned with the municipal elections, has repeatedly affirmed his administrative and logistical readiness to hold them as long as the necessary budget is approved to complete them." He continued to indicate that the blocs of the opposing parties and the Free Patriotic Movement obstructed throughout the past period the course of the municipal elections under flimsy pretexts, until they were forced to fabricate a legislative session on the same day for one unified goal, which is to try to block the road towards securing the budget required for this entitlement.  Geagea asserted that "it has become known to all the Lebanese that the opposing parties' blocs and the Free Patriotic Movement are obstructing the municipal and mayoral elections for one reason: their lack of confidence in the results of the electoral process," adding that they have also shown no respect for constitutional deadlines and institutional regularity since their only basic concern is limited to their narrow and private interests.

Judge Aoun: Corruption mafia in Lebanon is very large, beneficiaries are many
NNA/April 15/2023
Public Prosecutor of Appeal in Mount Lebanon, Judge Ghada Aoun, tweeted today: "Morning...How are the media trumpets doing, those who attack, fabricate and lie each time a judge opens a corruption file, ought they not be held accountable?! The corruption mafia in Lebanon is very large, and the beneficiaries are many...We need the cooperation of all honest journalists, all people of conscience, to defend the truth and the judge who is struggling alone. Greetings to Judge Nazik...and for information only, there is a law called the protection of corruption whistleblowers. Sometimes this law remains the only way to motivate the interrogated to speak. Therefore, the 'suspicious' evictions, as claimed, occurred only in the Nafaa dossier in this context. As a court, we abide by the text of Article 108, except in the event that someone divulges certain information that would benefit the investigation."

Political parties restore the Engineers Syndicate: Amal, the Future Alliance and the Free Movement win
LCCC/April 15/2023
Candidates of the Amal Movement, the Free Patriotic Movement, and the Future Movement were able to win the Engineers Syndicate elections in Beirut, this morning, Saturday, April 15, after the electoral battle between them and independent groups intensified in the last hours before the Engineers Syndicate, Aref Yassin, announced the results of the electoral entitlement to choose three Members of the General Assembly, the head of the second branch is an architect, and the head of the sixth branch are state employees. It was announced that the candidate, Bassam Suhail Ali Hassan, as president of the membership of the second branch of the Syndicate Council, Salman Ali Sobh as president of the membership of the sixth branch of the Syndicate Council, Hassan Muhammad Damj, Jihad Jean Shaheen, and Roy Michel Dagher for membership in the General Assembly of the Council of the Syndicate.

Army: Raid in Brital in search of wanted persons
NNA/April 15/2023
The Army Command announced, on its Twitter account, that an army force is carrying out a raid in the town of Brital in search of wanted persons for murder, theft, shooting, drug and weapons trade, and currency counterfeiting, whereby it seized a factory that contained machines for counterfeiting currency and a large number of forged dollars.

Qualitative operation by Airport Customs: Thwarting of attempt to smuggle Cocaine capsules swallowed by a passenger
NNA/April 15/2023
The Customs Unit at the Passengers and Duty Free Department at Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut were able, through a qualitative process and careful follow-up, to thwart an attempt to bring in a quantity of cocaine that one of the passengers coming from Brazil via Turkey had swallowed.
In details, and after following up on the passengers' manifest and the countries they are coming from, a Brazilian passenger was targeted for suspicion of swallowing a quantity of capsules containing drugs. After reviewing with the concerned judiciary, the passenger was handed over to the Central Narcotics Control Office, and following an extensive investigation, it was found that there were a large number of capsules containing cocaine in his stomach, which he had swallowed to smuggle into Lebanon.

Security Forces: Information Division thwarts international network's plan to smuggle more than 8 million Captagon pills through Tripoli's Port
NNA/April 15/2023
The Internal Security Forces General Directorate’s Public Relations Division issued a communiqué this evening, in which it indicated that “in wake of field and technical efforts carried out by the Information Division to pursue drug smuggling networks to and from Lebanese territory, the Division was able to obtain confirmed information about an international drug smuggling network preparing to smuggle a large amount of Captagon pills to Senegal as a first stop through the port of Tripoli.”“As a result, the Division assigned its specialized units to follow up on this information, reveal the identity of those involved in the operation and track them in preparation for their arrest and thwarting of the drug smuggling operation,” the communiqué added. Following extensive investigations, the Division's personnel determined the location of the warehouse where the quantities of drugs were hidden, in addition to revealing the identity of those involved in this operation, whereby orders were given to the special force within the Division to tighten surveillance on the aforementioned warehouse and the network members involved in the operation in preparation for the appropriate moment to raid the warehouse. “On April 13, 2023, and after a careful monitoring and control process, the Special Forces were able to arrest those involved in the locality of Al-Qubbah while they were transporting two containers carrying a quantity of drugs to the port of Tripoli,” the communiqué stated. Following interrogation of the arrested, they confessed to their crime whereby the legal measures were carried out against them and they were handed over along with their possessions to the concerned judiciary, as work is still underway to arrest the remaining suspects.

Al-Murtada praises Saudi-Iranian agreement: Everyone must realize the importance of liberation from spirit of rivalries, our support for Palestinian...
NNA/April 15/2023
Caretaker Minister of Culture, Judge Muhammad Wissam Al-Murtada, participated this afternoon in a political meeting on the occasion of International Quds Day, which was held by Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, at the new headquarters of the Iranian embassy in the Beirut-Golf area.
In his delivered speech on the occasion, Al-Murtada hailed the Saudi-Iranian agreement, considering that "everyone must realize the importance of unity in the battle of liberation: liberating the land from usurpers and liberating people from the spirit of rivalries that only produce extremism, which in turn leads to ruin, loss of the future and ensuring the rooting of the usurper entity." Al-Murtada considered that the differences of the peoples of the region and the division between their countries is a reassurance for Israel and the first wall that protects it more than the concrete wall of isolation it has built across occupied Palestine, adding that the Israeli enemy is diligently spreading the factors of fragmentation and causes of wars to ensure that its violation of the rights of the people of the land continues. He warned of the Israeli danger to the continued existence of the Lebanese entity and the Lebanese formula, noting that Lebanon “represents the opposite image of the occupation entity that is based on racism and the rejection of the other, leading even to his killing and to genocide...”“Therefore, the Zionists always seek to destroy the Lebanese formula that exposes the essence of their abhorrent entity,” Al-Murtada asserted.
He also paid tribute to the Palestinian people “who have proven that the usurpation of the land is a continuous crime that is not subject to the passage of time,” and that “patriotism is an inherent feature of its historical identity.”
“From here, we can confirm that history, in its movement within the eternal laws of nature, will inevitably lead to the end of the occupation,” Al-Murtada underlined.

Two earthquakes were felt by residents of the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon and a number of regions
NNA/April 15/2023
An earthquake measuring 4.2 degrees on Richter scale, originating from Al-Nabak in Syria, was felt by the residents of Lebanon, especially the residents of the Bekaa and Kesrouan regions, some time ago, NNA correspondent reported. Residents of Mount Lebanon also felt a second earthquake that struck the Fraides area in the Chouf, measuring 3 degrees on the Richter scale.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 15-16/2023
No consensus on Syrian Arab League return after Saudi summit
BEIRUT (AP)/April 15, 2023
After meeting in Saudi Arabia to discuss Syria's political fate, a group of regional leaders promised Saturday to continue talks to reach a political solution to the Syrian conflict, but stopped short of endorsing its return to the Arab League.
The meeting, which included top diplomats from the Arab Gulf countries as well as Egypt, Jordan and Iraq, was convened days after Syria's foreign minister visited Saudi Arabia for the first time since the kingdom cut off diplomatic relations with Syria in 2012. Syria and Saudi Arabia said Thursday they were moving toward reopening embassies and resuming flights between the two countries for the first time in more than a decade. Syria was widely shunned by Arab governments over Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters in a 2011 uprising that descended into civil war. The breakdown in relations culminated with Syria being ousted from the Arab League. However, in recent years, as Assad consolidated control over most of the country, Syria’s neighbors have begun to take steps toward rapprochement. The overtures picked up pace since the massive Feb. 6 earthquake in Turkey and Syria, and the Chinese-brokered reestablishment of ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which had backed opposing sides in the Syrian conflict. Saudi Arabia is hosting the next Arab League summit in May, when Syria’s membership is widely expected to be on the table. Some members, mainly Qatar, have opposed Damascus’ return to the organization. Qatar did not appear to have changed its stance after the meetings convened in Jeddah late Friday. A statement issued by the Saudi foreign ministry Saturday said the ministers had “stressed that a political solution is the only solution to the Syrian crisis, and the importance of having an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis.” They agreed to “set up the necessary mechanisms” to do so and hold "intensifying consultations among Arab countries to ensure the success of these efforts. The ministers also condemned recent Israeli police raids on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City and “emphasized the centrality and priority of the Palestinian cause, and condemned illegal Israeli practices that undermine the two-state solution” with an “independent and sovereign Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem” based on pre-1967 borders, the statement said.
Also on Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad arrived in Algeria on an official visit to discuss “strengthening bilateral relations” and “coordinating positions between the two countries” in the “Arab and international arenas,” Syrian state media reported. Algeria is one of the few Arab countries that did not cut off relations with Syria during the conflict.

Arab nations call for 'leadership role' in solution to Syria crisis
Agence France Presse/April 15, 2023
Diplomats meeting in Saudi Arabia agreed Saturday that the Arab world must play a leading role in efforts to broker a solution to Syria's war, following talks aimed at easing Damascus's isolation. Top diplomats from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- plus Egypt, Iraq and Jordan met in Saudi Arabia at the kingdom's request. They stressed the "importance of having an Arab leadership role in efforts to end the crisis", according to a statement released by the Saudi foreign ministry early Saturday. They also discussed "the necessary mechanisms for this role" and agreed to intensify "consultations among Arab countries to ensure the success of these efforts."Backed by Iran and Russia, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been shunned by many Middle Eastern countries and is a Western pariah over the war -- which has killed more than half a million people and forced about half of Syria's pre-war population from their homes. Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 over Assad's brutal crackdown of pro-democracy protests. But on Wednesday, in the latest sign of an easing in tensions with Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad arrived in Jeddah, the first such visit since the war began. Mekdad and his Saudi counterpart discussed "the necessary steps" to end Damascus's isolation, according to a Saudi statement on Wednesday. And following the latest foreign minister meeting, top Arab diplomats "agreed on the importance of resolving the humanitarian crisis" in Syria and securing conditions that would allow for refugee returns, the Saudi foreign ministry said Saturday.
'Betrayed' -
Syria's rehabilitation sends "a message to the opposition that Assad will triumph in the end and that their foreign backers will betray them", Aron Lund of the Century International think tank told AFP earlier before Saudi Arabia's statement.
Inhabitants of rebel-held Idlib, in northern Syria, said they felt "betrayed" by the moves to rehabilitate Assad's government. "We, the people who live in northern Syria, felt extremely betrayed when we heard about the normalisation with Assad," Rama Sifu, 32, who lives in Idlib, told AFP. "How come after 12 years of struggle and revolution, they come today and tell him: here is your seat back at the Arab League? This is unacceptable, we really felt let down."But late Thursday, the prime minister of Qatar -- an opponent of Assad's government -- poured cold water on talk of Syria's possible return to the Arab League. "There is nothing proposed, it is all speculation," Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani said in a television interview. The Jeddah meeting is one of a flurry of initiatives following Saudi Arabia and Iran's landmark, Chinese-brokered announcement on March 10 that they would resume ties, seven years after an acrimonious split. On Friday, an exchange of nearly 900 prisoners from Yemen's civil war between the Iran-backed Huthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition got under way when flights carrying captives travelled between rebel- and government-controlled areas. The Saudi ambassador to Yemen this week held talks with Huthi forces aimed at ending the devastating civil war that has raged since the Saudi-led military intervention started in 2015.
'Overcome Gulf differences' -
And late on Wednesday, gas-rich Qatar and its tiny but strategic Gulf neighbor Bahrain agreed to re-establish relations, putting aside a long-running diplomatic feud. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, and Shiite theocracy Iran have long been vying for influence around the region, with Yemen and previously Syria among their proxy conflicts. But analysts say Saudi Arabia is now trying to calm the region to allow it to focus on ambitious domestic projects aimed at diversifying its energy-dependent economy. Although the Arab League takes decisions by consensus, unanimous agreement is unlikely, said a Riyadh-based diplomat who declined to be identified. "The meeting aims to overcome the Gulf differences over Syria as much as possible," the diplomat told AFP, singling out Qatar. "The Saudis are trying at least to ensure that Qatar does not object to Syria's return to the Arab League if the issue is put to any vote," the diplomat added.

Israeli police assault Christians heading to Jerusalem church
Arab News/April 15/ 2023
RAMALLAH: Israeli police have been criticized for heavy-handed tactics after hundreds of Orthodox Christians were blocked from celebrating Holy Saturday in a church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Several Coptic Orthodox priests were assaulted in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, according to videos circulating on news websites. Israeli forces blocked the celebrations with roadblocks and barriers at the gates of the Old City, allowing only small numbers of Christians and those with entry permits to enter. They also obstructed traffic in Khan Al-Zeit market and assaulted dozens of worshippers trying to cross the checkpoints, local sources said. The millennium-old celebration usually draws thousands of worshippers to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christians believe Jesus was buried. In contrast to previous years, when as many as 10,000 worshippers packed into the church, only 1,800 will be allowed inside this year, with another 1,200 outside. Additional checkpoints around the Old City will also restrict access to the area around the church. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described it as a “blatant attack on the freedom of worship.”The ministry condemned what is said was a “flagrant attack on the existing political, historical and legal status quo in occupied Jerusalem and on Israel’s obligations as an occupying regime in Jerusalem.”These measures “violate international law, international humanitarian law and signed agreements,” it said. The churches said they would refuse to cooperate with the police restrictions, which they see as part of long-standing efforts to push out the local Christian community. Some church leaders have voiced concern over what they describe as an environment of impunity in the face of rising acts of violence and vandalism targeting Christians and their properties in Jerusalem.
The supreme presidential committee for Palestinian church affairs called for mass participation of Christians in the Saturday of Light activities, despite Israeli restrictions. The Holy Sepulchre lies at the heart of the Old City’s Christian Quarter in East Jerusalem. After hours of anticipation, the ceremony culminates when Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox patriarch emerges from the sealed empty tomb with a lighted candle, a mysterious act considered an annual Holy Saturday miracle before Orthodox Easter Sunday. The light is then quickly dispersed among the faithful gathered in the darkened church and outside it.
Israeli police said they were working to ensure safety for participants in the Holy Fire ceremony. “The safety of all those participating is crucial to the Israel police. Officers are working to assist the flow of participants arriving in large crowds,” a statement said. Nevertheless, the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land expressed profound anger and sorrow as the Israeli occupation forces turned Jerusalem into a military barracks and blocked access to the church in an apparent escalation of state-sponsored religious persecution. Dimitri Diliani, president of the coalition, condemned the oppressive measures, “which flagrantly violate the most basic human rights.” He said that the world at large “should express deep concern about the racist nature of the Israeli occupation authorities, which manifests these days in religious persecution against anyone who is not Jewish. The National Christian Coalition calls for protecting the rights of all, including Muslims and Christians, in Palestine.” He added that despite the brutal suppression of the Israeli occupation forces, the coalition “has worked tirelessly over the past week to mobilize as many worshippers and celebrants as possible, challenging the tyrannical restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation.” Diliani praised the unified stance taken by the patriarchs and heads of the churches of Jerusalem in rejecting the occupation forces’ decisions and refusing to recognize their authority over the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. “We will continue to exercise our natural right to worship freely in Jerusalem, regardless of the risks and challenges we face,” he said. Elsewhere, on Saturday, Israeli police again raided the courtyards of Al-Aqsa Mosque in large numbers and removed banners and flags placed on the Dome of the Rock on Friday.

Israeli protests of legal overhaul show no signs of slowing
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/Sat, April 15, 2023
Israeli demonstrations against the government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary continued on Saturday, despite Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s decision to pause the contentious proposals. Tens of thousands of people participated in the main protest held in the central city of Tel Aviv, while smaller demonstrations took place across the country. Protest organizers, who have held these weekly protests for over three months, aim to maintain momentum and increase pressure on Netanyahu and his government until the proposed changes are scrapped.
Bending to the mass protests, Netanyahu paused the overhaul plans in March, saying he wanted “to avoid civil war.”The plan would give Netanyahu, who is on trial on corruption charges, and his allies in Israel's most hard-line government the final say in appointing the nation’s judges. It would also give parliament, which is controlled by his allies, authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit the court’s ability to review laws. Opponents say it will destroy a system of checks and balances by concentrating power in the hands of Netanyahu and his allies in parliament. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest at a time when he is on trial.

In First, Iran's President Addresses Palestinians in Gaza
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 15 April, 2023
Iran’s president on Friday delivered an unprecedented speech to an annual pro-Palestinian rally in the Gaza Strip — a display of Iran’s importance to the Hamas group that rules the territory.In a virtual address to hundreds of supporters of Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad group gathered at a soccer field, Ebrahim Raisi urged Palestinians to press on with their struggle against Israel, The Associated Press said. “The initiative to self-determination is today in the hands of the Palestinian fighters,” Raisi said, dismissing Hamas' domestic political rival, the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority. The Palestinian Authority administers autonomous enclaves in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Raisi's speech was seen as part of efforts to mend a rift between Hamas and its long-time patron, Iran, over the devastating civil war in Syria. Raisi addressed the crowd on the occasion of “Jerusalem Day,” or al-Quds Day after the city’s Arabic name, which falls on the final Friday of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Jerusalem is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site of Islam. The compound has repeatedly been a flashpoint in the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Last week, Israeli police forcefully removed Palestinian worshippers who had barricaded themselves in the mosque with stones and firecrackers, demanding the right to pray there overnight. After the raid, in which hundreds of Palestinians were detained and dozens hurt, rockets were fired from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria toward Israel.
The Hamas leader in Gaza, Yehiyeh Sinwar, praised the rocket fire during Friday's rally. “The response came like a simple electric shock,” Sinwar said. For the past four decades, al-Quds Day parades have drawn thousands to the streets around the Middle East. The event is most dramatic in Iran, where crowds burn Israeli flags and chant pledges to liberate Jerusalem. Israel captured Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed it as its capital. Palestinians seek the eastern part of the city as a future capital. Hamas has a wing that has long nurtured close ties with Iran, a source of funding and a Shiite powerhouse. Hamas and Iran are brought together by a shared enmity toward Israel. While Iran has not revealed the details of its support, Hamas has publicly praised it for its assistance.

Iran vows crack down on people who promote removing the veil
(Reuters)Sat, April 15, 2023
People who encourage women to remove the hijab will be prosecuted in criminal courts and will have no right of appeal against any conviction, Iran's deputy attorney general was quoted as saying on Saturday. His comments come as an increasing number of women have been defying Iran's compulsory dress code, appearing unveiled in malls, restaurants, shops, streets, and other public areas. Several female celebrities and activists have also in recent months posted photos of themselves on social media without the veil. Iranian police on Saturday installed cameras in public places to identify and penalise unveiled women, Iranian media reported. Police announced the plan last week. "The crime of promoting unveiling will be dealt with in the criminal court whose decisions are final and unappealable," the semi-official Mehr News quoted deputy attorney general Ali Jamadi as saying. "The punishment for the crime of promoting and encouraging others to remove the hijab is much heavier than the crime of removing the hijab itself, because it is one of the clear examples of encouraging corruption," he added. He did not say what the punishments might be or what exactly entails promoting unveiling. A growing number of Iranian women have been ditching their veils since the death of a 22-year-old Kurdish woman while in custody of the morality police last September. Mahsa Amini had been detained for allegedly violating the hijab rule. Security forces violently put down the protests following her death. Videos of unveiled women resisting the morality police have flooded social media.

Could Putin be using the war in Ukraine to annex Belarus by stealth?
Sky News/April 15, 2023
The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are now members of NATO, so are probably beyond Russia's grasp - for now - but with the war in Ukraine dominating world headlines, Russia has been quietly increasing its influence and control over Belarus. Is Belarus the next target on Putin's radar, and is there anything the West can do to arrest Putin's expansionist ambitions? President Lukashenko has been the head of state of Belarus since 1994. Under his rule, the government has been accused of regularly repressing the opposition, and Lukashenko is often referred to as "Europe's last dictator" by media outlets.
The 2020-2021 Belarusian protests were the largest anti-government demonstrations in the country's history. But, with Russia's assistance, the riots were quelled. Between August 2020 and February 2022, Putin then pledged $1.5bn in loans to Belarus and deferred debt payments, providing a lifeline to the already indebted Lukashenko. Russia also provides gas to Belarus at a fraction of the open market price, helping to protect an increasingly unpopular Belarusian leader from domestic unrest. In return, Lukashenko has revisited discussions on the Union State Treaty - a proposed partnership without borders - which would, in effect, make Belarus a "county" of Russia. But domestically, fewer than 25% of the Belarusian population believe they should support Russia - and the most recent poll suggested that less than 5% believe Belarus should join Russia to fight against Ukraine.
It may be that Putin does not want Belarus to become a thriving democracy, but he also knows that his beleaguered military would struggle to take Belarus by force. Instead, Putin appears to be tightening his grip on Lukashenko. Russia has been conducting extensive military training - and basing Russian military aircraft - in Belarus. Moscow has also mounted Russian offensive operations against Ukraine from Belarus soil and, most recently, agreed to deploy tactical nuclear weapons into the country. Lukashenko has also sought security guarantees from Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu during a visit this past week. However, Ukraine has neither the military capability nor intent to attack Belarus, and NATO is a defensive alliance that presents no threat to Belarus. Instead, Russia is leveraging Lukashenko to portray Russia as the only trusted guarantor of Belarusian peace and security, whilst also justifying increasing the Russian military presence in the country. Arguably, Putin is slowly but surely annexing Belarus by stealth. How does Belarus resist? Although the Russian military is overstretched and would struggle to contain an organised Belarusian rebellion, how would any rebellion gain traction? The wider consequences of Belarusian annexation would be profound. Ukraine's long-term security would be further complicated, and it would also risk destabilising neighbouring countries such as Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Poland. Putin could claim a strategic success - perhaps even suggesting that the "special military operation" in Ukraine was some form of sideshow to the main event.
And what could the West do?
Belarus is not a NATO country, and it is unlikely that Lukashenko would appeal to the West for help. Notwithstanding the use of sanctions, there is very little that the West could do to intervene. The West rallied to Zelenskyy's appeal for help in its fight for independence - however, is Putin now using the conflict in Ukraine to drain the West's appetite for military intervention if it ever prepared to annex Belarus?

Vladimir Putin closes loophole that allowed Russian men to avoid military service
Sky News/April 15, 2023
Vladimir Putin has signed a bill allowing authorities to issue electronic mobilisation notices to draftees and reservists. Russia's military service rules previously required the in-person delivery of notices to those who are called up for duty.
Under the new law, the notices issued by local military conscription offices will continue to be sent by post, but they would be considered valid from the moment they are put on a state portal for electronic services.
Ukraine war latest: US secrets leak suspect Jack Teixeira charged in court. In the past, many Russians avoided the draft by staying away from their recorded address. The new law closes that loophole in an apparent effort to enable the Kremlin to speedily beef up the military ahead of a widely anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive in the coming weeks. Recipients who fail to show up for service would be barred from leaving Russia, have their drivers' licences suspended, and would be barred from selling their apartments and other assets. The bill signed into law by Mr Putin was published on the official register of government documents. Kremlin critics and rights activists denounced the legislation as a step toward a "digital prison camp" that gives unprecedented powers to the military conscription offices. Lyudmila Narusova, the widow of former St Petersburg mayor Anatoly Sobchak, was the only house member who spoke against the measure when the Federation Council, the upper house of parliament, considered the bill on Wednesday. Ms Narusova, whose late husband was once the president's mentor, claimed that the bill contradicts the country's constitution and various laws, and strongly objected to its hasty approval. The swift enactment of the law fuelled fears of the government initiating another wave of mobilisation following the one that Putin ordered in the autumn. Russian authorities deny that another mobilisation is being planned. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that the measure was needed to streamline the outdated call-up system in view of the flaws that were revealed by last fall's partial mobilisation. "There was a lot of mess in military conscription offices," he said. "The purpose of the bill is to clean up this mess and make the system modern, effective and convenient for citizens."
Putin announced a call-up of 300,000 reservists in September after a Ukrainian counteroffensive pushed Russian forces out of broad areas in the east. The mobilisation order prompted an exodus of Russian men that was estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands.

Ukraine awaits US missile system after latest Russian strike
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/Sat, April 15, 2023
The death toll from Russian missile strikes on eastern Ukraine's city of Sloviansk rose to 11 Saturday as rescue crews tried to reach people trapped in the rubble of an apartment building, Ukrainian authorities said. Ukraine's air force said the country would soon have weapons with which to try to prevent attacks like the one Friday. The delivery of the Patriot air defense system promised by the U.S. was expected in Ukraine sometime after Easter, Ukrainian air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said. The primarily Orthodox Christian country is preparing to observe Easter on Sunday. Speaking Saturday on Ukrainian state TV, Ihnat declined to give a precise timeline for the arrival of the defensive missile system but said the public would know “as soon as the first Russian aircraft is shot down.” A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers completed their training at Oklahoma's Fort Still Army Post last month and returned to Europe to learn more about using the defensive missile system to track and shoot down enemy aircraft. Officials said at the time that the Ukrainians would then go back to their country with a Patriot missile battery, which typically includes six mobile launchers, a mobile radar, a power generator and an engagement control center.
Germany and the Netherlands also have pledged to provide a Patriot system each to Ukraine. In addition, a SAMP/T anti-missile system pledged by France and Italy “should enter Ukraine in the near future,” Ihnat said this week.
The Ukrainian military is looking to beef up its ability to intercept missiles as it prepares for an expected spring counter-offensive to retake Russian-occupied areas of the country. Although more than a year of fighting has depleted weapons supplies on both sides, Russian forces have intensified their 8 1/2-month campaign to seize the city of Bakhmut, the focus of the war's longest battle so far. Bakhmut and Sloviansk both are located about 45 kilometers (28 miles) apart in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province. Rescue teams in Sloviansk recovered the bodies of two people from under the rubble of a house hit in Friday's missile strikes, according to the State Emergency Service. They also searched Saturday for five people who remained in the wreckage of the apartment building, as well as the residents of three units who were reported missing, Vadym Liakh, the head of the local government, said.
A new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday that allows military offices to send draft notices electronically instead of delivering them in person is part of Russia’s preparation for a protracted war in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said in a Saturday morning assessment.
According to British intelligence, a “unified registry of individuals eligible for military service” will be digitally linked to other government services, allowing Russian authorities to “punish draft-dodgers by automatically limiting employment rights and restricting foreign travel.”
Since the law does not come into force until later in the year, the U.K. Defense Ministry said the e-notices do not automatically point to a “major new wave of enforced mobilization” but rather form part of a “longer-term approach to provide personnel as Russia anticipates a lengthy conflict in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, 52,000 young Russian men already have received draft orders as part of the country's regular spring call-up, and 21,000 of them qualified for military service, Col. Andrey Biryukov, who is in charge of mobilization, said Saturday.
Biryukov addressed concerns that the new electronic conscription law presaged a broader mobilization of reservists, like one Putin ordered in September. “I’d like to stress that all army deferrals for citizens will still be valid. And e-draft orders will not be mailed in bulk,” Biryukov said.

Ukraine's Marchenko says G7 support crucial for 'longer' war with Russia
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Sat, April 15, 2023
A new international economic support package of $115 billion gives Ukraine more confidence that it can prevail in battling Russia's invasion, amid growing recognition that the war could continue for longer than expected, Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said on Saturday.
Marchenko said Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers assured him during this week's International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings in Washington that they will support Ukraine for as long as needed, a shift from last year, when there was more pressure for Ukraine to agree to end the war.
He said the fresh pledge of economic support - unlocked by a new four-year, $15.6 billion IMF loan - was "tremendously" important for Ukraine, now in a second year of war after Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. "It helps us tremendously because it provides certainty that the IMF, together with G7 nations and supporters of Ukraine, will step in with money to cover our needs for four years," he said. "Compared with the last spring meetings, I'm feeling more confident that we can prevail in this war." "Financial support is very necessary, as well as military support," he said, acknowledging growing acceptance that the military conflict could drag on. "We should be ready that this war will last longer than we expected,” he said, noting that G7 partners were no longer pushing Ukraine to accept an end to war - as they had last year - but were now signaling their support for a longer conflict.
Marchenko underscored Ukraine's appreciation for U.S. economic and military support - some $50 billion since the start of the war - and said he was confident the U.S. Congress would maintain bipartisan support for Ukraine, despite calls by some Republicans to scale back funding.
He also underscored the urgency to begin some reconstruction, including energy infrastructure, roads, schools and housing, and that Ukraine needed to expand its capacity to absorb funding. He said one key step would be development of war insurance, something already underway with the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), to reassure global companies to participate in rebuilding the country - an undertaking estimated to cost at least $411 billion. On over $20 billion of debt owed to overseas bondholders, the minister said that he is not yet in talks on whether to extend a two-year debt moratorium agreed in August. "It is necessary to protect the reliability of the markets for future reconstruction," he said. "We will have time to find a solution." Marchenko said there was also growing openness among donor countries to explore using Russia's frozen assets to pay for Ukraine's reconstruction than even six months ago. "Our partners are thinking about the possibility of using Russian assets as a necessary tool to support Ukraine. They don't want to wait until the war ends, they want to find a solution faster," he said. Marchenko said U.S. Treasury officials had told him the United States had a low amount of Russian assets, but the issue was of greater concern in Japan, Switzerland and EU countries. He said G7 officials had told him they were broadly supportive of finding a way to utilize Russian assets, but still needed to find a legal solution to "a very complicated question."U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Saturday cautioned in an interview with CNN there were legal constraints on using frozen Russian assets to pay for damage to Ukraine. Marchenko also said there were intense discussions about financial stability during the week's meetings after the collapse of two U.S. banks and one Swiss bank last month, but he saw no signs of spillover on the Ukrainian banking sector.

Polish government bans grain and food imports from Ukraine
WARSAW (Reuters)/Sat, April 15, 2023
The Polish government has decided to ban imports of grain and other food from Ukraine to protect the Polish agricultural sector, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczyński, said on Saturday. Large quantities of Ukrainian grains, which are cheaper than those produced in the European Union, have ended up staying in Central European states amid logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers. This has created a political problem for the PiS in an election year. "Today, the government has decided on a regulation that prohibits the entry, importation of grain into Poland, but also dozens of other types of food (from Ukraine)," Kaczyński said during the PiS party convention. The list of these goods will be included in the government regulation, and there are goods "from grain to honey products, very, very many things," he added. "We are and remain unchanged friends and allies of Ukraine. We will support her and we support her. ... But it is the duty of every state, every authority, good authority in any case, to protect the interests of its citizens," Kaczyński said. Kaczyński said Poland was ready to start talks with Ukraine to settle the grain issue and the Ukrainian side had already been notified of the decisions of the Polish government.

France's Macron signs contested pension bill into law
PARIS (Reuters)/Sat, April 15, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron has signed into law a bill to raise the state pension age that sparked mass protests, the government's official journal showed on Saturday. The proclamation of the law came after France's Constitutional Council on Friday approved the main pension-age increase and follows months of demonstrations against the plan, which the government forced through parliament without a final vote. The legislation, which will progressively push up the age for drawing a state pension to 64 from 62, is deeply unpopular and protests immediately broke out when the Constitutional Council's decision was announced. Crowds marched through Paris on Friday evening, with some burning trash bins, while in the northwestern city of Rennes the entrance to a police station was set on fire. Trade unions on Friday called on the government not to enact the legislation, despite the green light from the Constitutional Council, and urged workers to turn out in force for marches on Labour Day on May 1. They rejected an invitation by Macron to meet on Tuesday. The president has staked his reputation as a reformer on the pension changes, which he says are needed to avoid billions of euros of deficit each year by the end of the decade. "Never give up, that's my motto," he said on Friday before the Constitutional Council verdict, as he visited Notre-Dame on the anniversary of a fire that gutted the celebrated Paris cathedral. The government plans to apply the new legislation from Sept. 1. Francois Ruffin, a lawmaker from the left-wing LFI party, on Twitter accused the government of proclaiming the pension law "like thieves in the night". Opposition parties have tabled another bid for a citizens' referendum on the reform after the Constitutional Council on Friday rejected a first such proposal. The pension system is a cornerstone of France's cherished social protection model and trade unions say extra funding can be found elsewhere, including by taxing the rich more heavily. Public hostility to the reform has increased since the government, which does not have a majority in parliament, pushed through the bill in March without a final vote using special constitutional powers.

China says conducted mid-course missile interception test
BEIJING (AP)Sat, April 15, 2023
China says it carried out a successful ground-based mid-course missile interception test in an apparent sign of progress in its ability to bring down weapons incoming from space. The Defense Ministry says the operation was carried out late Friday night within Chinese territory and achieved “the desired test objective.”The test was “defensive in nature and not targeted against any country,” the ministry said, giving no other details such as whether it actually struck an object, how many interceptors were fired and where they landed. Such systems, which consist of ground-based interceptor missiles and a huge array of radars and fire control systems, aim to bring down ballistic missiles, including ICBMs carrying nuclear or other warheads, while they are flying in space midcourse on the way to their targets. Referred to by the U.S. as ground-based mid-course defense, or GMD, such systems are hugely complex and expensive to build, test and maintain, and China’s capabilities in the field are not well known. Previously, the Defense Ministry issued a near-identical statement announcing it had conducted just such a test on Feb. 4, 2021, which it said had also met its goals. Another Chinese test reportedly took place in 2018.
Such “kinetic-kill" interceptors can also be used as anti-satellite weapons, and China sparked considerable criticism when it used such a missile to destroy a defunct Chinese weather observation satellite in early 2007. China did not announce the operation and the explosion left a massive debris field that continues to imperil objects in orbit, including China's own space station, Tiangong. China's military-run space program and missile development efforts are intimately linked and it is believed to have used satellite launch centers to conduct missile tests. China already has one of the world's largest arsenals of all types of missiles and is believed to be expanding it rapidly. A Pentagon report released last year said China currently has about 400 nuclear warheads and that number could grow to 1,500 by 2035. GMD forms a major component of missile defense for the U.S. military, which has put it through additional testing in response to North Korea’s increasing number of missile tests. The U.S. has 44 interceptors deployed at Fort Greely, Alaska and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California intended to cover the entire American homeland, according to the U.S. Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency. That's enough to counter a rogue attack from a country such as North Korea, which is developing missiles that could strike the continental United States, but would be easily overwhelmed by a large-scale attack from Russia or China. North Korea said Friday it flight-tested a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile for the first time, a possible breakthrough in its efforts to acquire a more powerful, harder-to-detect weapon targeting the continental United States. U.S. tests have shown such systems are far from infallible and that roughly three interceptors must be fired to bring down one incoming missile. The U.S. also operates the Patriot and THAAD anti-missile systems that cover a smaller geographic area.

Deadly fighting between army, paramilitaries in Sudan capital
Agence France Presse/April 15/2023
Fighting continued into the night in the Sudanese capital Saturday after a day of deadly battles between paramilitaries and the regular army that left at least three civilians dead and sparked international alarm. Explosions and gunfire could still be heard on the deserted streets of Khartoum, according to witnesses, after the paramilitaries said they were in control of the presidential place, Khartoum airport and other vital facilities. The army denied the claims, and in a late Saturday statement, the Sudanese air force urged people to stay indoors as it continued air strikes against bases of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Fighter jets were earlier seen flying overhead. Windows rattled and apartment buildings shook in many parts of Khartoum during the clashes, according to AFP correspondents. Medics reported the three civilian deaths, including at Khartoum airport and in North Kordofan state, but cautioned that the exact toll was still unclear. Saudi Arabia's flag carrier Saudia said one of its planes, with passengers and crew aboard waiting for departure, was "exposed to gunfire damage".Bakry, 24, who works in marketing, said Khartoum residents had "never seen anything like" this unrest, which left dark smoke hanging over the capital."People were terrified and running back home. The streets emptied very quickly", said Bakry, who gave only a first name. Violence erupted after weeks of deepening tensions between military leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy, paramilitary commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, over the planned integration of Daglo's RSF into the regular army. The integration was a key element of talks to finalise a deal that would return the country to civilian rule and end the political-economic crisis sparked by the military's 2021 coup. Created in 2013, the RSF emerged from the Janjaweed militia that then-president Omar al-Bashir unleashed against non-Arab ethnic minorities in the western Darfur region a decade earlier, drawing accusations of war crimes. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, through his spokesperson, warned that "further escalation in the fighting will have a devastating impact on civilians and further aggravate the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country." He said he is engaging with regional leaders and reaffirmed UN support for efforts to restore Sudan's democratic transition.
In a joint call, the Saudi and United Arab Emirates foreign ministers along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasised "the importance of stopping the military escalation", the Saudi ministry said.
Trading blame
Similar appeals came from the African and Arab regional blocs, the European Union, France, Italy, Russia and Iran. But in an interview with UAE-based Sky News Arabia, Daglo, who is also known as Hemeti, said, "Burhan the criminal must surrender."He denied that RSF had started the fight, after Burhan in an earlier statement said he "was surprised by Rapid Support Forces attacking his home at 9:00 am". The army, on its Facebook page, declared Daglo a "wanted criminal" and the RSF a "rebel militia", saying there "will be no negotiations or talks until the dissolution" of the group. The military said it carried out air strikes and destroyed two RSF bases in Khartoum. It said the airport and other bases remain under its "full control", and published a photograph of black smoke billowing from what it said was the RSF headquarters. The latest deaths, during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, came after more than 120 civilians had already been killed in a crackdown on regular pro-democracy demonstrations since the coup. RSF published on Twitter a video showing uniformed men which it claimed were "Egyptian soldiers who surrendered with Sudanese military" in Meroe, northern Sudan. Egypt's army confirmed "the presence of Egyptian forces" in Sudan for exercises, and said it was following the situation. Daglo told Sky News Arabia that the Egyptians will not be harmed and will be returned home. Haggling between Daglo and Burhan has twice delayed the signing of an agreement with civilian factions setting out a roadmap for restoring the democratic transition disrupted by the 2021 coup. On Saturday, witnesses reported clashes around the state media building in Khartoum's sister city Omdurman. Others described clashes in the Darfur region and elsewhere. Chad, which borders Darfur, said it was closing its frontier, "faced with this troubling situation."
Waking up to gunfire -
The military's civilian interlocutors and ex-prime minister Abdalla Hamdok appealed for a ceasefire, a plea echoed by US ambassador John Godfrey who tweeted that he "woke up to the deeply disturbing sounds of gunfire and fighting".
Daglo has said the coup was a mistake that failed to bring about change and reinvigorated remnants of Bashir's regime ousted by the army in 2019 following mass protests. Burhan, who rose through the ranks under Bashir's three-decade rule, maintained the coup was necessary to bring more groups into the political process.

Sustained Firing Heard in Sudanese Capital
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 15 April, 2023 - 09:00
Sustained firing broke out in the Sudanese capital Saturday morning amid simmering tensions between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The sounds of heavy shooting could be heard in a number of areas, including central Khartoum and the neighbourhood of Bahri.
An Asharq Al-Awsat correspondent said that heavy gunfire could be heard in the eastern side of the army's headquarters, near Khartoum International Airport. In a statement issued Saturday morning, the RSF accused the army of attacking its forces at one of its bases in South Khartoum. The military used light and heavy weapons in the attack, it said. Also, a Reuters witness saw cannon and armoured vehicles deployed in streets, and heard the sound of heavy weaponry in the vicinity of the headquarters of both the army and RSF. The source of the gunfire could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters. People could be seen running in a state of panic in Khartoum. The rift between the forces came to the surface on Thursday, when the army said that recent movements by the RSF had happened without coordination and were illegal. A statement by the RSF on Saturday called the army's actions a "brute assault" and called for it to be condemned. It said that the RSF had been in contact with local and international mediators to inform them. A confrontation between the two forces could spell prolonged strife across a vast country already dealing with economic breakdown and flare-ups of tribal violence. The move follows days of tension between the army and the RSF, a powerful paramilitary group, that had sparked concern about a confrontation.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 15-16/2023
الكتلة التي تقودها إيران تستشعر وجود فرصة لتهديد الحياة الإسرائيلية .. هل ترى إيران فرصة في التصدعات في المجتمع الإسرائيلي؟
جوناثان سباير / جيروزاليم بوست / 15 نيسان / أبريل 2023
The Iran-led bloc senses an opportunity to threaten Israeli life ... Does Iran see an opportunity in the cracks in Israeli society?
Jonathan Spyer/Jerusalem Post/April 15/2023
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-739165
Recent events in Syria, Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and the West Bank suggest that a concerted effort is underway by the Iran-led regional bloc to increase pressure on Israel. The evidence suggests that the possibility that this may result in war has been taken into account, and the Iranians and their allies have decided to move ahead nevertheless and take this risk.
The infiltration from south Lebanon by an operative carrying a Claymore mine on March 13, and the launching of 34 rockets from south Lebanon by Hamas on April 6 are the main indications that a concerted attempt is under way. These attacks have been accompanied by a series of ostentatious meetings between Hezbollah leaders in south Lebanon and delegations from both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and by incendiary messages from the leaders of various components in this bloc.
“Zionists are fighting each other and are in a hurry to destroy themselves.”Ebrahim Raisi
Statements by senior Iranian officials in recent days have, for example, enthusiastically predicted the imminent collapse of Israel. President Ebrahim Raisi, quoted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Tasnim channel on Wednesday, said that the “Zionists are fighting each other and are in a hurry to destroy themselves.” Iranian Army chief Maj.-Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi said that “we are observing the confusion and disorientation of the hegemonic system, especially the clearer signals of collapse and breakdown of the Zionist regime.”
Rumblings in pro-Iran regional media, such as the Lebanese Al Akhbar newspaper, repeat the strategy according to which the unifying symbol of al-Aqsa Mosque is to be used to “unify the arenas” of Lebanon, Gaza, Jerusalem, the West Bank and pre-1967 Israel.”
Israel’s response, so far, has been hesitant and uncertain. A recent Israeli media report quoted an assessment given by the IDF to the cabinet according to which the Hezbollah leadership was not forewarned of the Hamas plan to launch rockets from south Lebanon, did not give the go ahead for it, and hence should not be held responsible for it.
The military is, of course, privy to sources of information vastly beyond those of this author. Nevertheless, some skepticism toward this assessment is unavoidable. Perhaps unusually among Israel-based correspondents, I have had the experience of traveling across Lebanon south of the Litani River in a non-military context. It is one of the most tightly secured areas on earth.
Vehicles without license plates, often with blacked-out windows, are ubiquitous in every village and town. These and similarly unmarked motorcycles are visible evidence of Hezbollah's presence. Behind this representation, without doubt, is a yet wider circle of invisible surveillance.
The notion that Hamas or any other Palestinian organization could have brought into this area the necessary personnel and equipment required to launch 34 rockets at Israel without the knowledge of Hezbollah severely strains credulity.
Quite apart from the practical difficulties, it seems less than likely that at a time of visible rapprochement between the two organizations, Hamas would take upon itself of its own volition to embroil Hezbollah in its actions against Israel. Sunni Hamas and Shia Hezbollah backed different sides in the Syrian civil war.
Hamas, with its roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, sought to align with what it thought was an emergent new bloc of conservative Islamic regimes. Hezbollah, of course, as a Shia franchise of the IRGC, stayed with its patron. But the Sunni Islamic bloc that Hamas sought to be part of never emerged. Hamas was forced to try to find its way back to the pro-Iran bloc. With the Arab Spring period now a fading memory, it has largely done so. It makes no sense that it would now jeopardize this process.
The inevitable conclusion is that this assessment is most likely inaccurate. As to whether it was given in order to support a policy preference according to which Israel would respond to the rocket fire in only a limited way, avoiding all damage to Hezbollah facilities, one can only speculate.
Strategic attacks on the Israeli homefront
THE APPARENTLY coordinated series of attacks which Israel is currently experiencing should be seen as emerging from a strategy and praxis of long standing held by Iran and its various franchises and clients. Veteran Israeli journalist and analyst Ehud Yaari, writing shortly after the Second Lebanon War of 2006, termed this outlook the “Muqawama [resistance] Doctrine.”
This doctrine, according to Ya’ari, advocates an open-ended campaign of military pressure against Israel, conducted for the most part by non-state forces. The goal, as he expressed it, is the “methodical erosion of the enemy’s resolve.” The belief underlying this project is that Israel is an internally weak society, beset by contradictions. The intention therefore is to subject this fragile vessel to unrelenting pressure, in the belief that eventually it will begin to crack, and will eventually crumble.
The adherents to this doctrine evidently think that an important moment in this process has been reached, given the current internal crisis in Israel. They are therefore keen to increase the pressure, and are prepared to take significant risks and depart from previous patterns of operation.
The outlook described above is in many ways a descendant of earlier Arab and Palestinian nationalist perceptions of Israel, dating back to the first days of the conflict with Zionism. The current challenge differs from earlier manifestations, however, in that it is headed by a state (Iran) with a particular and sophisticated understanding of the melding of state power with irregular military activity, and the combining of conventional military, paramilitary and political forms of activity. Iran’s methods in this regard have delivered it significant achievements elsewhere in the region, in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.
The focus on this campaign goes back to the first days of the Islamist regime in Iran, and indeed precedes the 1979 Islamic Revolution, in the thinking of those who led it. Ayatollah Khomeini, writing in 1968, for example, asserted that “the danger is directed at the very essence of Islam, it is the duty of all Muslims, and specifically of Islamic states, to take the initiative for the obliteration of this pond of decay [Israel] with all possible means.”
“Zionists are fighting each other and are in a hurry to destroy themselves.”
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
Sheikh Naim Qassem, a veteran and very senior official of Lebanese Hezbollah, quoted from Surah al-Israa of the Koran in his history of his movement, to explain the nature of its campaign. The quote reads: “And we decreed for the Children of Israel in the scripture: Ye verily will work corruption in the earth twice, and ye will become great tyrants. So when the time for the first of the two came, We roused against you slaves of Ours of great might, who ravaged [your] country, and it was a threat performed... When the time for the second of the judgments came, We roused against you others of Our slaves to ravage you, and to enter the Temple even as they entered it the first time, and to lay waste all that they conquered with an utter wasting.”
The available evidence would suggest that the leaders of this bloc have discerned a moment of opportunity for the advancement of the project described above. Israeli planners may have concluded that the current divided Israeli house was in no shape for embarking on a determined response to the recent acts of aggression. If so, Israel’s leaders should be aware that given the nature of the thinking on the other side, the projection of weakness and hesitancy is likely to instill greater confidence, leading to further erosion of deterrence, and increasing the likelihood of additional and yet more reckless moves in the period ahead.

Libya and the Blue Gold Reservoir
Jebril Elabidi/Asharq Al Awsat/April 15/2023
Talk of water scarcity in Libya is nothing more than a series of mere lies and unfounded statements. According to the report issued by the Man-Made River Project Authority, massive quantities of water are found in the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer in the Kufra and Sarir Basins. While it shares this water with Chad, Sudan and Egypt, Libya alone is entitled to enough groundwater to last around 4,800 years. Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad have already signed a Strategic Action Program to manage the world’s largest reserve of groundwater (the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer). Located in the eastern Sahara, this two-million-square-meter aquifer holds an estimated 150,000 cubic kilometers of water.
With the exception of valleys and temporary dams, Libya has no surface water, which accounts for less than three percent of the water the country consumes. Thus, Libya relies heavily on groundwater, which accounts for more than 97 percent of the water it consumes. However, Libya shares its aquifers with many of its neighbors. This is true for the Nubian Sandstone Aquifer, which has a surface area of over 2.2 million square kilometers. 760,000 square kilometers are in Libya, 828,000 square kilometers are in Egypt, 376,000 square kilometers are in Sudan, and 235,000 square kilometers are in Chad.
Libya addressed its water crisis early on, developing the Man-Made River project. This Project allowed groundwater to be transported from the depths of the desert to the Libyan north through massive pipelines. All of them, from the desert to the north, are four meters wide and 4,000 kilometers long. According to the reports of the Man-Made River Project Authority, the countries sharing the aquifer need only 2.5 percent of its water for their consumption.
According to the statement of the Man-Made River Project Authority, it was built to pump 6.4 million cubic meters per day, 70 percent of which is used for agricultural purposes, 28 percent for urban consumption, and two percent for industrial consumption.
The Man-Made River Project is the most consequential project addressing the problem of water being scarce in some regions of Libya and abundant in other regions. It is not merely a pipeline transporting water from the south to the north as the detractors of Gaddafi, who built the Project, claim. While the river maps were available during the reign of the monarch, construction did not begin until he was deposed. The pretext at the time, the extremely high cost of the Project, was not an obstacle to Gaddafi. It proved a genuine success. Indeed, the Project transports more water through natural flow than any other man-made river in the world, covering a network over 4,0000 kilometers long. Without this man-made river, many cities would have gone thirsty, including Tripoli, Benghazi, and the areas around them.
Scientific reports have indicated that Libya has a massive groundwater reservoir estimated to last the country thousands of years that the country shares with its neighbors in the Sahara Desert that is home to the Nubian Basin, which holds the world’s largest aquifer. Regardless of the scale of consumption, this huge reserve of groundwater will not be depleted, and its water will not dry up. The main crisis in Libya is not water scarcity but the management of the water. Indeed, these reports have found that water has been flowing through this man-made river water for over 25 years without interruption or decreases in quantity. This fact affirms that there is plenty of water, particularly in the Kufra Basin, the Libyan oasis that intersects with the Nubian Basin. This massive reservoir of water means Libya will never be associated with water scarcity again.

Tunisia’s decision to snub IMF deal is both reckless and bizarre
Hafed Al-Ghwell/Arab News/April 15/ 2023
In a move that was less of a surprise and more a reflection of just how far gone Tunisia now is, President Kais Saied this month rejected the idea of implementing economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund as part of a $1.9 billion bailout package agreed in October last year.
Tunisia, a North African country that emerged from the Arab Spring as a beacon of democracy, has been grappling with economic hardships and political instability in recent years.
Citing concerns over subsidy cuts and potential unrest, Saied rejected the terms of the bailout package. His administration also balked at cutting public sector wages, even though Tunisia has one of the biggest public wage bills in the world. Meanwhile, record high inflation has left the Tunisian government highly sensitive about making any decisions that might hurt the average citizen’s rapidly decreasing purchasing power.
Without the IMF’s help, however, Tunisia faces significant sociopolitical and economic consequences that are not exactly unknown, and so Saied’s decision has far-reaching implications for the nation’s sociopolitical and economic landscape.
Firstly, the country faces a balance of payments crisis without any readily available financial support. Its fiscal deficit has been growing, with public debt now exceeding 90 percent of the gross domestic product. An already precarious economic situation could be exacerbated, as long as combative politics continues to weigh heavier in the government’s decision-making processes than the more evident needs of average Tunisians.
Ironically, in an attempt to ease pressure on the domestic front, Saied’s government continues to trudge along through a disaster of its own making, neither keen to accept much-needed assistance nor in a hurry to find alternative financing. Nonetheless, Tunis will not be able to dodge the inevitable, because the only way out of this quagmire is to resort to increased borrowing, even if it places further strain on already high debt levels.
Secondly, inflation has been a significant issue for Tunisia, now edging past 10 percent. Without the IMF’s support, the country might struggle to implement the necessary fiscal and monetary policies to curb inflation, which would lead to rapidly rising prices for essential goods and services. This would disproportionately affect the most vulnerable people who are already struggling with high unemployment, stagnant wage growth, and worsening poverty levels.
Paradoxically, if Tunisia is to increase social protections for its most vulnerable people, it will have to rely on the IMF’s help, which entails enacting austerity measures to reduce the fiscal deficit. However, cutting public spending will imperil public sector wages, social safety nets, and other interventions designed to reduce the impact on the swelling ranks of Tunisia’s struggling lower and middle classes.
Thirdly, the deal with the IMF would not only help Tunisia avoid defaulting on debt, it would also enable the embattled country to access up to $5 billion in external funding, mostly from creditors in Europe and the Arabian Gulf, equivalent to about 65 percent of 2023 government-funding needs, or 17 percent of the gross domestic product.
The remaining financing could be provided mostly by local banks but the mechanics of how they can do this without putting significant pressure on their own liquidity remains unclear.
The puzzling decision to reject a bailout could further polarize Tunisia, hindering the government’s ability to implement much-needed reforms.
This only strengthens the case for accepting the IMF’s terms, since doing so would help restore some investor confidence in the country, which would be key to attracting voluminous foreign direct investment to help accelerate economic growth.
Foreign direct investment inflows have been crucial to the nation’s development, particularly in sectors such as tourism and manufacturing. Any further declines would likely result in reduced job opportunities, complicating economic diversification efforts and long-term interventions to enhance Tunisia’s resilience to external shocks - for example, the ongoing adverse effects of the war in Ukraine on food inflation.
Fourthly, tensions arising from a three-way standoff between the Saied regime, the labor unions, and the political opposition will only rise, sparking even more sociopolitical crises and governance deficiencies in a landscape that has been marked by intense fragmentation and instability since 2011.
Tunisia's post-Arab Spring era has experienced multiple changes in government and lack of consensus on key policy issues; the puzzling decision to reject a bailout could further polarize the country, hindering the government’s ability to implement much-needed reforms.
Moreover, Saied himself has acknowledged that subsidy cuts could lead to unrest, and when this is coupled with the potential for reduced social programs, mass civil sector layoffs and rising prices, the risk of violent protests will only increase.
Tunisia has experienced waves of social unrest in recent years, particularly in 2018 when demonstrations erupted in response to austerity measures and increased living costs. Thus, the memories in Carthage Palace are somewhat fresh which likely explains the costly hesitancy.
Unfortunately, without a viable alternative, the Saied regime risks inflaming tensions among Tunisian youths who constitute a significant segment of the country’s population. Chronic unemployment among young people has been a persistent issue, one that Saied’s “back to basics” brand of populism sought to tackle, yet has consistently failed. Now, nearly one in three Tunisian youths are out of work and, with inevitable austerity measures looming, the bleak economic prospects will only continue to agitate a promising demographic that is key to unleashing the country’s so-far squandered potential.
Tunisia’s maladies are eerily reminiscent of the prolonged periods of economic hardship, social unrest, and political instability faced by Argentina and Greece. Those countries ultimately faced years of austerity measures and reduced social services, which led to widespread public protests and political upheaval.
Therefore Saied’s decision to reject IMF help is more than just confounding — it is reckless.The regime in Tunis has not put forward any alternative plan for reducing a ballooning debt-to-GDP ratio, which is compounding fiscal pressures and slowly forcing the Tunisian government into a corner.
For instance, without urgent assistance Tunisia will probably fail to make some foreign loan repayments this year totaling about $2 billion, including a €500 million ($554 million) Eurobond maturing in October.
Meanwhile, Tunisia’s business community is increasingly frustrated with Saied for his seemingly erratic decision-making, so it seems likely that protests will erupt regardless of what happens with the IMF deal.
The short-term consequences of Saied’s expected, yet nonetheless bizarre, decision are already apparent; the longer-term consequences, however, could be more severe and extend beyond the nation’s borders, potentially plunging another North African country into chaos.
Time is quickly running out for Tunis to implement necessary reforms and prolonging the inevitable will only compromise Tunisia’s stability, ultimately hindering its recovery, development, and prosperity.
*Hafed Al-Ghwell is a senior fellow and executive director of the Ibn Khaldun Strategic Initiative at the Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., and the former adviser to the dean of the board of executive directors of the World Bank Group. Twitter: @HafedAlGhwell

France’s Constitutional Council approves key elements of pension reforms
Zaid M. Belbagi/Arab News/April 15/ 2023
It has been decades since France’s 17th-century Palais-Royal has been under such heavy guard. However, in circumstances unique to France’s very particular republic, the royal building has been surrounded by police and armored vehicles — for it hosts France’s Constitutional Council.
France’s highest constitutional authority has been the center of attention this week as protests wracked the country on the 12th day of rage in a year that has seen significant political turbulence. Established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic to ensure its basic principles are upheld, the council has a role central to French democracy. Usually a discreet body, the council no doubt carries out the important work of ruling whether proposed statutes conform with the constitution after they have either been voted on by the parliament or, as in the case of current pension reforms, passed by the government as a decree.
Over its lifespan, the council has reviewed 744 bills and struck down 369, only 17 of them completely. Currently headed by former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius, the council’s members, known as les sages or “the wise,” have a significant influence on new legislation. Only when they have made their ruling can new proposals be signed into law by the president of the republic.
Their task on Friday was to decide if the pension reform and the process through which the legislation was passed is in line with the constitution, and if a referendum can be held on the retirement age.
Given the lack of parliamentary majority for the president’s Renaissance party following elections last year, the proposed reforms to France’s pensions system have faced significant opposition from the outset. Bolstered by significant social unrest, and despite the reforms having been passed in France’s Senate, the president’s would-be allies and political opponents alike in the National Assembly withheld their critical support, leading the government to employ Article 49.3 of the French Constitution and compel the majority to adopt its proposals.
Macron can expect further political upheaval, which Friday’s legal decision will not have discouraged.
Friday’s ruling had been keenly anticipated, as within the context of French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist alliance losing its parliamentary majority, a no confidence vote, and already having used special constitutional powers to pass the 2023 budget — the government was on shaky ground.
Having approved the most controversial element of the proposal, namely the raising of the retirement age, the council’s work is far from over. An 11th-hour proposal from the opposition on Thursday requesting a referendum on the reforms was resubmitted in the hope of stalling matters. However, given that the court has announced it will take several weeks to review this latest proposal, it is more likely that the president will see his reforms become law within a fortnight.
The president said that he would meet with relevant trade unions on Tuesday regardless of Friday’s outcome. Though this meeting is still expected to take place, several trade unions have announced they will not be attending. Rather, France is likely to see more protests. Following the court’s decision, far-left leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon, said “the fight will continue” — setting France up for further turmoil. On Friday, the headquarters of the leading French luxury group LVMH was stormed and protesters clashed with police across the country.
France’s socialist opposition have made sure not to criticize the council’s decision, sharing that its decision was a legal one though this issue has become a wider societal problem in which the majority of the French people are in opposition and therefore to promulgate this law in haste would be undemocratic. The leaders of the conservative Les Republicains have belatedly supported the reforms following the council’s decision. Though they have advocated for the raising of the retirement age, they have been hesitant to extend their support to a government that has undermined their previous electoral success.
France’s unions will be issuing a statement concerning the reforms and will continue to advocate for a decision on a referendum that is expected on May 3. In the interim, Macron can expect further political upheaval, which Friday’s legal decision will not have discouraged. His Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has said that “there are no winners or losers” from the ruling, echoing a wider sentiment in the country regarding the controversial reforms. In circumstances where the cost of France’s aging population and outdated generous public spending must be reviewed, it is little surprise that the government has already stated the reforms will become law by September. Nevertheless, in a country where welfare spending is sacred, the president will face a very tough remaining four years of his presidency should his reforms come into effect.
*Zaid M. Belbagi is a political commentator and an adviser to private clients between London and the GCC. Twitter: @Moulay_Zaid