English LCCC Newsbulletin For
Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For April 25/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2023/english.april25.23.htm
News Bulletin Achieves
Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006
Click On The Below Link To Join
Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group so you get the LCCC Daily A/E Bulletins every
day
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام
لكروب Eliasbejjaninews
whatsapp group وذلك لإستلام
نشراتي العربية والإنكليزية اليومية بانتظام
Elias Bejjani/Click on the below link to
subscribe to my youtube channel
الياس بجاني/اضغط على الرابط في أسفل للإشتراك في موقعي ع اليوتيوب
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAOOSioLh1GE3C1hp63Camw
15 آذار/2023
Bible Quotations For today
The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of
the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest
Luke 10/01-07: “After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on
ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.
He said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore
ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest. Go on your
way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no
purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you
enter, first say, “Peace to this house!” And if anyone is there who shares in
peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.
Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the
labourer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house.
Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on April 24-25/2023
Israel bombs Hezbollah-linked group near Golan Heights
Who are the MPs determined to obstruct Frangieh's path to Baabda?
LF leader Geagea vows to obstruct quorum if Frangieh secures 65 votes
France dismisses Geagea's claims of economic deal with Hezbollah
Military Court sentences 36 in Khaldeh clashes, efforts for reconciliation
continue
Lebanon expects a good summer season, number of arrivals similar to before 2019:
report
Lebanese-Saudi Business Council thanks KSA's assistance in Lebanese evacuation
from Sudan
Culture Minister to include Beirut Arab University Museum on national museums'
list
Geagea marking Armenian Genocide commemoration: Punishment is the only deterrent
against similar recurrence
PSP marking Armenian Genocide: To assume responsibility and take initiative to
derive lessons, learn from history
Abi Al-Lama on Armenian Genocide: A cause behind which exists a struggling
people does not die
Makhzoumi: For reconsidering military court rulings in order to preserve
national unity
Lebanese evacuated from Khartoum to Saudi Arabia
Geagea: We will prevent the election of the opposition candidate, and linking
France's name to Hezbollah's candidate does not reflect reality
Titles For The Latest English LCCC
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 24-25/2023
Iran Thanks Türkiye for Assistance in Opening an Interests Section in
Albania
U.S. targets Iranian officials for rights violations, censorship
Tehran Outraged at US Pledge to Obstruct its Weapons Program
Sudan Evacuations Speed Up during Fighting Lull
Mass exodus of foreigners as fighting rages in Sudan
Israeli FM demands arrested Jordanian lawmaker 'pay a price'
Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank raid, Palestinian official says
Russia urges Armenia, Azerbaijan to comply with ceasefire agreement
Will Moscow's mediation help reshape Syrian-Turkish relations?
Russia to host Syria-Turkey fence-mending talks Tuesday
China affirms ex-Soviet nations' sovereignty after uproar
Ukraine attacked Russia's main naval base in Crimea with exploding sea drones,
the city's Russian governor said
West scrambles as Putin reveals his energy war trump card
US-led Coalition makes significant progress in defeating ISIS
Wall St muted ahead of tech earnings, economic data
Titles For
The Latest
English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on April 24-25/2023
Christians Continue to be Purged: Armenian Genocide Remembrance
Day/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2023
Two School Employees are Charged with Blasphemy for Desecrating the Holy Quran/Nasir
Saeed/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2023
Auxiliary Armies and the War of Brothers in Sudan/Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April,
24/2023
Sudan And Its Endgames/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 475/April
24/2023
Latest English LCCC Lebanese &
Lebanese Related News & Editorials published
on April 24-25/2023
Israel bombs Hezbollah-linked
group near Golan Heights
Agence France Presse/April 24/2024
Israel's army early Monday shelled a position belonging to a pro-Iran group in
southern Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, a war monitor said, the
second such bombardment in days. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said
"Israeli ground forces" bombarded a location on the outskirts of Quneitra where
fighters from the Syrian Resistance to Liberate the Golan are located, without
reporting any casualties. The Hezbollah-linked, Iran-backed group was formed to
launch attacks in the Israeli-occupied zone. Syrian state media did not report
the bombardment, but two local media outlets close to the government reported an
"Israeli aggression" that targeted the outskirts of Quneitra. The Israeli army
had bombed positions in the Quneitra countryside on April 18, the Observatory
said, targeting areas where Iran-linked groups are present, also without
reporting any casualties. Earlier this month, amid escalating violence in the
region, Israel launched strikes on Syria after several rockets were fired from
there and landed in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The 1,200 square
kilometer region -- patrolled by Israeli soldiers and bordering Lebanon -- was
seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel later annexed it in a move
that was never recognized by the international community. During more than a
decade of civil war in Syria, Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its
territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Lebanese Hezbollah
fighters as well as Syrian army positions. While Israel rarely comments on the
strikes it carries out on Syria, it has repeatedly said it will not allow its
arch-foe Iran to extend its footprint in the war-torn country. The Syrian army
regained control of the southern part of Quneitra in mid-2018, five years after
rebel fighters had overrun it.
Who are the MPs determined to obstruct Frangieh's path to
Baabda?
LBCI/April 24/2024
43 members of parliament (MPs) are needed to prevent the election of a president
for the Republic of Lebanon.
The leader of the Lebanese Forces party has decided that they will block any
session aimed at electing Suleiman Frangieh, the head of the Marada Movement,
without the support of MPs from the Strong Lebanon bloc (Free Patriotic
Movement).
So where will these 43 MPs come from
- 19 MPs from the Lebanese Forces party and their ally in the Strong Republic
bloc, MP Kamil Chamoun.
- Nine MPs from the 12 Change MPs are determined to reject any presidential
candidate that is part of the existing political system.
- Four MPs from the Kataeb party
- Four MPs from the Tajadod bloc
As for the remaining seven MPs needed to reach the 43 required to block the
session, LBCI has been in contact with them and several other independent and
opposition MPs. Some have taken a firm stance in boycotting the election session
for Frangieh based on their rejection of the candidate supported by the
Hezbollah-Amal duo. Others have preferred to remain reserved about announcing
their final position, awaiting the final stance of the Free Patriotic Movement.
These 43 MPs, possibly more, can block the required two-thirds quorum of the
86-member parliament, especially if MPs from the Free Patriotic Movement and
other independent MPs join the boycott. In this case, all doors will be closed
for any hope of gathering votes here and there to elect the candidate supported
by the Hezbollah-Amal duo and their allies.
LF leader Geagea vows to obstruct quorum if Frangieh
secures 65 votes
LBCI/April 24/2024
Lebanon's political turmoil continues as the presidential vacuum began in
October 2022. The Lebanese Forces party, led by Samir Geagea, has changed its
stance regarding participating in election sessions and obstructing quorum.
Initially, Geagea firmly believed that no group had the right to obstruct the
democratic process and the presidential election under the banner of democratic
rights. He stated that they would attend all sessions and that blocking the
quorum continuously was not a viable option. However, a few weeks later,
Geagea's position changed. He stated that if the opposing group could secure 65
votes to elect their candidate, they would only obstruct the quorum for one
session. In a recent statement, Geagea changed his position once again
dramatically. He declared that the party would only participate in the election
sessions under one condition: If the opposing group cannot secure the required
65 votes to elect their candidate, they will attend and ensure the quorum to
confirm that their candidate does not have the necessary votes. However, if they
sense that Hezbollah and its allies have the 65 votes required to elect their
candidate, they will not participate. Geagea added that they would obstruct the
quorum required, 86 votes, without needing the Free Patriotic Movement's MPs.
The question now is how the Lebanese Forces and its allies will secure the
required 43 votes to obstruct the quorum for electing Frangieh and whether they
can do so.
France dismisses Geagea's claims of economic deal with
Hezbollah
LBCI/April 24/2024
The leader of the Lebanese Forces party, Samir Geagea, has accused France of
attempting to promote Sleiman Frangieh's candidacy for the presidency in Lebanon
due to shared interests with Hezbollah. However, a source close to Hezbollah
confirmed that communication with the French is ongoing but dismissed Geagea's
claims as baseless. The source pointed out that if France supports Frangieh,
backed by Hezbollah and Amal Movement, it does not mean there are any shared
interests with Hezbollah. The source then questioned where these interests would
exist, such as in Beirut port or the port of Tripoli. A French diplomatic source
told LBCI that France's relationship with Hezbollah is not special compared to
its relations with other Lebanese parties. The same source emphasized that
France has the ability to talk with all Lebanese parties and is acting in the
interest of the Lebanese people, not for any personal gains. France is
coordinating its efforts with the countries that met in the meeting in Paris.
Furthermore, the source added that while international companies are hesitant to
invest in Lebanon, French companies are interested in specific sectors, such as
Total, which operates in the oil and gas sector, or CMA CGM, which invests in
the ports of Beirut and Tripoli. These investments do not generate significant
financial returns that can be compared to what these companies earn in other
markets around the world. Additionally, French investments in Lebanon provide
job opportunities for the Lebanese people. However, the French diplomatic source
expressed surprise at Geagea's claims about French interests with Hezbollah,
adding that France has no official candidate for the presidential elections in
Lebanon nor any attachment to any particular candidate. The same source also
mentioned that France is committed to the Taif Accord, which seeks to reach a
political and economic rescue solution and will not stand in the way of any
other proposal that could lead to this outcome.
Military Court sentences 36 in Khaldeh clashes, efforts for reconciliation
continue
LBCI/April 24/2024
The tribes of Khaldeh, a town in the suburbs of Beirut, have recently called for
addressing the consequences of the Military Court's ruling against their sons,
who were involved in clashes with Hezbollah almost 20 months ago, known as the
Khaldeh clashes. The verdict, issued before the Eid Al-Fitr, involved 36 of
Khaldeh's tribespeople, nine of whom were sentenced to death and life
imprisonment in absentia, and one detainee received a ten-year sentence.
Meanwhile, five were sentenced to nine years, and the rest were given prison
terms ranging from seven to one and a half years. Additionally, eleven were
acquitted of charges. However, security sources confirmed to LBCI that the Army
Intelligence sought since the outset of the Khaldeh clashes to alleviate
tensions. Additionally, it managed approximately 13 meetings between the tribes
and Hezbollah, with some MPs occasionally attending, to overcome significant
obstacles. The Army Intelligence emphasized the importance of expediting the
verdicts without interfering with the penalties and prison terms that will be
issued, as they are judicial affairs. The same sources noted that many
defendants were acquitted, and the detention period sufficed. As for the death
and life imprisonment sentences in absentia and imprisonment terms ranging from
ten to nine years, they can be distinguished before the Military Court to try to
mitigate the judgments. Moreover, the Army Intelligence Directorate continues
its efforts to complete reconciliation and settlement and prevent a return to
tension.
Lebanon expects a good summer season, number of arrivals
similar to before 2019: report
LBCI/April 24/2024
Despite the crippling economic crisis and the fragmented political situation,
Lebanon remains, with its picturesque nature and people, who rise against death
and love life, the preferred destination for Arab and foreign tourists and its
expatriate, which spread out in most countries of the world. According to the
sector's leaders, tourism flourished during Easter and Eid Al-Fitr holidays in
April, noting that the expected number of arrivals for the next summer season
may approach the numbers that Lebanon was recording before the crisis erupted in
2019. This article was originally published in and translated from Lebanese
newspaper Nidaa al-Watan. President of the Lebanese Federation for Tourism and
Head of the Lebanese Hotel Association Pierre Ashkar said in an interview with
the "Nidaa Al-Watan" that "the number of Lebanese in the Arab Gulf is 450,000
and 250,000 expatriates in Africa. They come to Lebanon during the holidays, but
most reside in the homes of relatives in Lebanon and are not booked in hotels".
He pointed out that "we cannot rely on the numbers that came to Lebanon on Eid
al-Fitr to build expectations about the summer season because the summer holiday
is longer, and therefore the numbers of arrivals to Lebanon from abroad are
generally greater." Commenting on the impact of the economic crisis on the
tourist season in Lebanon, he stressed via "Nidaa Al-Watan" that "the tourism
sector enters foreign currencies into the Lebanese economy," hoping for "the
election of a president and the formation of a new government with the onset of
summer, and that the regional climate and changes in the region will reflect
positively on the situation in Lebanon." Ashkar also hoped that "relations with
the Arab Gulf countries will return to their previous state because Arab
tourists are the backbone of the tourism sector so that life can return to the
large hotels in Lebanon, which include huge investments." However, he fears that
the country's political tension will continue, negatively affecting the summer
tourism season. Regarding the airport's traffic, in numbers, the Director
General of Civil Aviation, Fadi El-Hassan, revealed that the numbers of arrivals
and travelers are close to those that Lebanon witnessed before 2019, expecting
passenger traffic to exceed 7 million by the end of 2023. Regarding Eid Al-Fitr,
El-Hassan said in an interview with "Nidaa al-Watan" that 10 thousand passengers
arrive in Lebanon daily, and at the end of the month, it is expected that the
number of arrivals and departures will be about 600 thousand people. El-Hassan
stressed that the airport security services are committed to the exceptional
measures adopted during the holidays and tourist seasons to ensure the security
of travelers, "they are in constant coordination with the Ministry of Tourism
and are committed to its instructions to facilitate the implementation of its
campaign "Ahla Bhal Talleh Ahla."
Lebanese-Saudi Business Council thanks KSA's assistance in
Lebanese evacuation from Sudan
LBCI/April 24/2024
In a statement, the Lebanese-Saudi Business Council thanked the leadership of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for its assistance in evacuating Lebanese nationals
from Sudan, like many nationals of other countries. The statement added that
"this is not surprising for the Kingdom, which is characterized by its
continuous positive initiatives." Additionally, the Ambassador of Lebanon to the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Fawzi Kabbara, was in charge of coordination between
the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lebanese Embassy in Khartoum.
Culture Minister to include Beirut Arab University Museum
on national museums' list
LBCI/April 24/2024
Lebanon's Caretaker Minister of Culture, Mohammad Mortada, has decided to
feature the Beirut Arab University Museum on the list of national museums. The
Culture Minister's decision came after he inspected the museum and upon
receiving a report from the Ministry of Culture's Museums Authority Committee
that stipulated that it meets international standards that qualify it to be
listed among national museums since it showcases rare and precious books,
publications, and manuscripts. The museum includes around 200 rare books and
manuscripts. The collection focuses on civilizations throughout history,
especially the Egyptian-Pharaonic, Assyrian, Phoenician, Byzantine, Persian,
Roman, Babylonian, Aramaic, Arab and Islamic, and Ottoman Civilizations. This
rather rare collection refers to the eighth century AD, the eleventh century AD
until the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.
According to the Beirut Arab University (BAU), some of the items featured are
unique copies not available anywhere around the world.
Geagea marking Armenian Genocide commemoration: Punishment
is the only deterrent against similar recurrence
NNA/April 24/2024
Marking the 108th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Lebanese Forces Party
Chief Samir Geagea stressed that "a new year is here and the chapters of the
memory of the Armenian massacre are still not complete, for we have not yet
witnessed an acknowledgment of the genocide and the necessary compensation has
not been paid, and these two matters are the only and effective way to rectify
the effects of the massacre that was committed against the innocent men, women
and children.” He added in an interview with “Radio Free Lebanon” that this
right will not be lost because there is a people who will continue their
struggle in this regard. He went on to note that “on this painful occasion,
which falls today, April 24, 2023, I ask the Lebanese to consider this day a
national day for all and not just a memory, because the Armenian brothers, like
the Lebanese, were subjected, through different times, places and executioners,
to suffering, persecution and massacres unparalleled in the past century, and
the common denominator is to continue the struggle in the face of the
criminality of the occupier and usurper...Without this struggle, the issue of
the Armenian Genocide would not have survived, and similarly, Lebanon would not
have survived without real resistance...” On this anniversary, the LF Chief
addressed the United Nations Human Rights Council, asking it to "form an
international commission of inquiry to take over the Armenian Genocide dossier,
in preparation for issuing the necessary resolution and recommendations to
acknowledge the genocide, bear responsibility, and commit to compensation." To
the international community, Geagea said: "Concepts, principles and all related
human rights should not be limited to resounding slogans empty of content.
Therefore, the Armenian Genocide must turn from a memory into a lesson for every
occupier and criminal, as punishment is the only deterrent against repeating
such genocides and massacres, and the evidence is that yesterday, the Syrian
regime committed the same massacres against its people without fear of
punishment or prosecution because the international community solely kept to
verbal condemnation.”
PSP marking Armenian Genocide: To assume responsibility and
take initiative to derive lessons, learn from history
NNA/April 24/2024
In an issued statement in commemoration of the Armenian Genocide which
constitutes one of the most cruel and painful stations throughout history, the
Progressive Socialist Party paid tribute “to the souls of those who died among
the victims and to the struggle of the Armenian people and their sacrifices,”
adding that “with the passage of time, there must be the courage of recognition,
and in parallel the courage of reconciliation, to turn the pages of blood.”“This
requires everyone to show responsibility and take the initiative to derive
lessons and learn from history,” the PSP statement underlined. The party
continued to consider that “the new tension taking place between Armenia and
Azerbaijan requires a careful consideration of the consequences of this
conflict, which has claimed many victims since its inception and will not end
except by adhering to the signed agreements, and through dialogue to reach a
peaceful solution."The statement concluded that whatever the difficulties ahead,
the peaceful solution remains much less costly than the cost of bloodshed and
fighting.
Abi Al-Lama on Armenian Genocide: A cause behind which
exists a struggling people does not die
NNA/April 24/2024
Former MP Majid Eddie Abi Al-Lamaa wrote today on Twitter: "A cause behind which
there is a living, struggling and persevering people will not die...The Armenian
Genocide and the Seyfo massacres are a cause of people engraved in the
conscience."
Makhzoumi: For reconsidering military court rulings in
order to preserve national unity
NNA/April 24/2024
MP Fouad Makhzoumi tweeted today: "Following my participation in the activities
of the conference that was held facing Martyr Hassan Ghosn Mosque in solidarity
with the Arab clans in Khaldeh, in wake of issued military court decisions that
were unjust and unfair against them, those concerned should reconsider these
provisions that ought to be more just in order to preserve national unity and
civil peace."
Lebanese evacuated from Khartoum to Saudi Arabia
NNA/April 24/2024
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates was informed, in a statement by
the Lebanese ambassador to Sudan, that 52 people who arrived yesterday from
Khartoum on a bus at dawn today, Monday, were evacuated from the city of Port
Sudan on board the Saudi Royal Navy ship, and they are now on their way to the
Saudi city of Jeddah. On this occasion, Minister Abdallah Bou Habib thanked the
leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by its Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah Al Saud, Ambassador of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to Sudan, and their assistants, for all the
facilities and assistance provided by the Saudi Kingdom for receiving them as
guests in the city of Jeddah, as a prelude to their return to their homeland as
soon as possible.
Geagea: We will prevent the election of the opposition
candidate, and linking France's name to Hezbollah's candidate does not reflect
reality
NNA/April 24/2024
Head of the "Lebanese Forces" party, Samir Geagea, indicated during an interview
that "there will be no breakthrough soon in the file of the presidential
elections, and evidence of this is the words of Hezbollah's Deputy
Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem," adding, "Hezbollah's equation in this
regard is clear either its candidate or void." Geagea pointed out that "France
is waging a battle to bring Sleiman Franjieh to the presidency of the republic,
against the background of the common interests between it and Hezbollah, from
the port of Beirut to the port of Tripoli and other matters. Hence, the one who
deals with embassies most is the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan
Nasrallah." He stressed that "there is no truth in changing the position of the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or the American softness towards Franjieh's election,
and if he is elected, the doors of Arab countries will be further closed in the
face of Lebanon, and that some of the deputies visited the Kingdom to consult
it, but it refused to enter the naming process." The LF Chief denied "any offer
or deal from the French ambassador, Anne Grillo, in exchange for Franjieh's
approval, otherwise, the crisis will be extended..."He added: "Our position is
clear and we made it clear to our friends. What France is doing will not produce
any result, and is one of the few friends who care about the Lebanese issue,
because its association with the Hezbollah candidate does not reflect its
reality as the mother of democracy and human rights. Franjieh belongs to a
specific political line, and he was never ashamed or denied it, and he is the
son of the axis of resistance, and therefore he can adhere to what he has, not
what he does not have, because the matter is in the hands of Hezbollah."
Regarding the possibility of an agreement with the head of the Free Patriotic
Movement, Gebran Bassil, Geagea stressed that "there is no room for that unless
he decides to elect our candidate." In response to a question about appointing a
new Central Bank Governor and his opinion of the former minister, Kamil Abu
Suleiman, to assume this position, he said: “There is an absolute necessity to
appoint a new governor, and the current government is capable of that because
the necessities allow for prevention. If Abu Suleiman wants to take this
position, I see that he is able to change, but I do not ask him to..." As for
the name of the army commander for the presidency, Geagea said: "General Joseph
Aoun is a statesman and he did not allow anyone to interfere in the military
institution, and if his access is available, we will vote for him, but the
problem is that he is the only candidate who needs 86 votes, and certainly
Bassil will not vote for him because he does not represent his interests."
Geagea also touched on the crisis of the displaced Syrians, stressing the need
to develop a plan to solve it, revealing that a press conference is being
prepared to present a clear plan that includes preparing municipalities to carry
out their tasks.
Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports
And News published on April 24-25/2023
Iran Thanks Türkiye for Assistance in Opening an Interests Section in
Albania
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 24 April, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian announced that Tehran has
agreed to open an interests section through Türkiye in Albania, six months after
severing diplomatic relations with Tirana. During a phone call with his Turkish
counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, Amirabdollahian said the Foreign Ministry would
open a section of Iranian interests in Albania, thanking Ankara for its
assistance regard. Last September, the Albanian government expelled the Iranian
embassy staff from the country over a major cyberattack that the government
blamed on Iran. It is the first known case of a country cutting diplomatic
relations over a cyberattack. Relations between Tehran and Tirana had been
strained in recent years after the Balkan country agreed to receive 3,000
members of the People's Mojahedin Organization, the Iranian opposition group in
exile, at the request of the US and the UN in 2013. In July, the Mojahedin
postponed the "Free Iran World Summit" global conference in Albania that was
dedicated to advocating regime change, due to security threats, upon
recommendations by the Albanian government. Before canceling the conference, the
US embassy in Tirana separately warned of a "potential threat" targeting the
summit and warned its citizens in Albania to avoid the event and keep a low
profile.
U.S. targets Iranian officials for rights
violations, censorship
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Mon, April 24, 2023
The U.S. Treasury Department on Monday imposed sanctions on four senior Iranian
law enforcement and military officials involved in crushing protests that
erupted last year after an Iranian woman died in the custody of the morality
police who enforce strict dress codes. The department said in a statement it was
also taking action against the new secretary of Iran's Supreme Council of
Cyberspace (SCC), the authority responsible for Iran's cyberspace policy and
blockage of popular websites. "The Iranian people deserve freedom of expression
without the threat of violent retaliation and censorship from those in power,"
Brian Nelson, the department's under secretary for terrorism and financial
intelligence, said in the statement. The Treasury said it was placing sanctions
on three senior officials of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC):
Parviz Absalan, the deputy commander of the IRGC Salman Corps of Sistan and
Baluchistan Province; Amanollah Goshtasbi, deputy inspector of the IRGC's ground
forces; and Ahmed Khadem Seyedoshohada, a brigadier general in the IRGC's ground
forces. It also imposed sanctions on Salman Adinehvand, the commander of the
Tehran Police Relief Unit of Iran's LEF, the primary security organization in
charge of crowd control and protest suppression. Also targeted was Seyyed
Mohammad Amin Aghamiri, the new secretary of the SCC, the centralized authority
regarding policymaking in the realm of cyberspace. The SCC is responsible for
Iran's blockage of popular online news and communications platforms and has also
used digital technology to spy on and harass journalists and regime dissidents,
the Treasury said.
Tehran Outraged at US Pledge to Obstruct its Weapons
Program
London - Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 24 April, 2023
Tehran has expressed outrage at US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s pledge to
obstruct Iran’s arms purchases, describing it as “provocative” and an attempt to
“stir up differences” between countries in the region. Iranian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Nasser Kanaani said that Iran’s military program was “merely for
defense and deterrence”, and not against any country that does not intend to
attack Iran. On Thursday, Blinken pledged to obstruct Iran’s quest to engage in
the arms market, accusing Tehran of “destabilization” attempts. He was referring
to a new set of sanctions imposed last Wednesday by the US administration on an
international network of companies that are circumventing sanctions aimed at
preventing Iran from obtaining spare parts for drones. The Iranian Foreign
Ministry spokesman criticized the US sanctions, saying: “The provocative
statements of the US Secretary of State regarding the Iranian military program
aim to continue marketing US weapons.” He accused Washington of “seeking to
consolidate the failed project of intimidation against Iran, and stir up
disputes between the countries of the region.” “Contrary to the irresponsible
statements, the Islamic Republic has always underscored the need for good
neighborliness, dialogue, contribution and cooperation to guarantee security and
joint interests of the regional countries away from foreign interventions,”
Kanaani added. He noted that developments that are moving forward “come in this
context,” referring to Iran’s improving relations with a number of countries in
the region, including Saudi Arabia. Kanaani also blamed what he called the
“ill-considered and wrong actions” of the United States for “insecurity and
instability in the region for decades.”“It is in the interest of this country to
abandon its wrong, interventionist and irresponsible approaches to the issues of
the countries of the region,” he emphasized. Last week, the Iranian army
announced that it had obtained dozens of combat and reconnaissance drones.
Mahmoud Mousavi, Deputy Chief of Army Operations, said that his forces were now
able to plan to carry out drone attacks against distant targets.
Sudan Evacuations Speed Up during Fighting Lull
Asharq Al-Awsat/Monday, 24 April, 2023
European nations, China and others from around the world raced to extract
thousands of their citizens from Khartoum on Monday during an apparent lull in
fierce fighting between the army and Rapid Response Forces (RSF). The sudden
eruption of violence between the military and the RSF paramilitary group on
April 15 has triggered a humanitarian crisis and killed 420 people. Along with
millions of Sudanese without access to basic services and trapped in their
homes, thousands of foreign diplomats, aid workers, students and their families
found themselves stuck in a war zone last week. Fighter jets have bombed the
capital, the main airport has been at the center of fighting and artillery
barrages have made movement unsafe in and out of one of Africa's largest cities.
Diplomats have been targeted in attacks, and at least five aid workers killed.
Despite sustained pressure from countries concerned by the conflict's wider
repercussions as well as the safety of their nationals, the two sides have not
abided by a temporary truce. However, fighting calmed enough over the weekend
for the United States to get embassy staff out by military helicopter,
triggering a rush of evacuations by other countries. At least two convoys
involved in the evacuations came under attack, including one carrying Qatari
embassy staff, and another carrying French citizens, one of whom was injured.
France and Germany on Monday said they had evacuated around 700 people, without
giving a breakdown of their nationalities. A German air force plane carrying
evacuees landed in Berlin early on Monday. Several countries sent military
planes from Djibouti to fly people out from the capital, while other operations
took people by convoy to Port Sudan on the Red Sea, which is about 800 km (500
miles) by road from Khartoum. From there some have boarded ships to Saudi
Arabia. Indonesia said so far more than 500 of its citizens had been evacuated
to the port, and were awaiting transport to Jeddah, across the Red Sea. China,
Denmark, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Sweden also said they had got
nationals out, while Japan said it was preparing to send an evacuation team from
Djibouti. A convoy of about 65 vehicles carrying some 700 international United
Nations, NGO and embassy staff and their dependents drove from Khartoum to Port
Sudan on Sunday as part of the evacuations, a diplomatic source said. The
evacuation of international staff from Darfur, the western region where fighting
has also escalated, is also under way, with some heading to Chad and others to
South Sudan, the source said. The fighting in Sudan has closed most hospitals
and curtailed water and electricity supplies. The killing of aid workers,
including three from the World Food Program, has led the UN agency to pause its
operations in the country, which relies on food aid for about a quarter of its
people. The army and RSF jointly staged a coup in 2021 but fell out during
negotiations to integrate the two groups and form a civilian government four
years after long-ruling President Omar al-Bashir was toppled. Their rivalry has
raised the risk of a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers. Beyond
the capital, people are reported to have fled clashes in several regions
including Darfur's three states, Blue Nile State on the border with Ethiopia and
South Sudan, and North Kordofan State southwest of Khartoum, according to a UN
update on Monday.
Mass exodus of foreigners as fighting rages in Sudan
Agence France Presse/April 24/2024
Foreign nations pushed on Monday with frantic evacuations of their citizens from
chaos-torn Sudan, where heavy fighting raged for a 10th day between forces loyal
to two rival generals. As army and paramilitary forces again clashed in Khartoum
and across the country, terrified Sudanese have endured acute shortages of
water, food, medicines and fuel as well as power and internet blackouts, the
U.N. said. At least 427 people have been killed and more than 3,700 wounded,
according to United Nations agencies, which also reported Sudanese civilians
"fleeing areas affected by fighting, including to Chad, Egypt and South Sudan."
"Morgues are full, corpses litter the streets" and overwhelmed hospitals often
have to stop operations for security reasons, said Dr Attiya Abdallah, head of
the doctors' union. The United States and multiple European, Middle Eastern,
African and Asian nations have launched emergency missions to bring to safety
their embassy staff and Sudan-based citizens by road, air and sea. U.S. special
forces swooped in with Chinook helicopters Sunday to rescue diplomats and their
dependents, while Britain launched a similar rescue mission involving more than
1,000 military personnel. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said
more than 1,000 of the bloc's citizens had been taken out during a "long and
intense weekend" involving missions by France, Germany and other member nations.
With Khartoum international airport disabled after battles that left charred
airplanes on the runways, many foreigners were airlifted out from smaller
airstrips, many to nearby Djibouti. Long convoys of UN cars and buses have made
their way from the capital, where gunfire again echoed through the streets, to
Port Sudan on the Red Sea coast, an arduous 850 kilometer road trip away. "The
war fell upon us all without warning," a Lebanese evacuee told AFPTV upon his
arrival by bus to Port Sudan. "It was very, very sad for everyone, not just the
foreigners -- most of all for the Sudanese people. "The situation in Khartoum in
very sad ... It's destroyed. I left with this T-shirt and these pyjamas, all
that I have with me after 17 years."
'Weapons and narrow interests'
The fighting started on April 15 in the already poverty-stricken African nation
with a history of military coups, sparking fears of a deeper descent into
bloodshed and a wider humanitarian crisis. Across the capital city of five
million, roaming army and paramilitary troops have fought ferocious street
battles, with the sky often blackened by fires in bombed buildings and looted
shops. Life in war-torn Khartoum is "burdened with anxiety and exhaustion," said
resident Tagreed Abdin, an architect. "There was a rocket strike in our
neighborhood a few doors down from us ... It is like nowhere is safe."The city
has endured "more than a week of unspeakable destruction", said Norway's
ambassador Endre Stiansen who was evacuated with his colleagues. "It fills me
with immense sadness that I had to leave so many Sudanese colleagues and friends
behind," he said on Twitter. "I fear for their future, because at present
weapons and narrow interests carry more weight than values and words."Looking
ahead at what fate awaits Sudan, already one of the world's poorest nations, he
said that "most scenarios appear bad". The fighting broke out on April 15
between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his deputy turned
rival Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, who commands the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support
Forces (RSF). The military toppled Bashir in April 2019 following mass citizen
protests. The two generals seized power in a 2021 coup, but later fell out in a
bitter power struggle, most recently centred on the planned integration of the
RSF into the regular army.
Hospitals used as bases
As foreigners who can get out flee the country, the growing impact of the
violence on Sudan's already dire humanitarian situation worsens. Five aid
workers have been killed, said the UN's Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has been
forced to suspend operations.The health care system is close to collapse, with
the World Health Organization (WHO) verifying 11 attacks on hospitals and
clinics, some of which have been overrun by the rival forces and used as
military bases. In Nyala, in South Darfur, a compound of aid agency Doctors
Without Borders was stormed, its medical warehouse raided and vehicles stolen,
the UN said. "The remaining facilities in Khartoum and Darfur states are
stretched beyond capacity and nearly non-functional due to staff fatigue and
lack of supplies," OCHA added in its latest update. Also in Nyala, gunmen
stormed a WFP compound seizing 10 vehicles and six food trucks. "Warehouses in
Nyala, South Darfur have been overrun and looted, with the loss of up to 4,000
metric tonnes of food", OCHA said. The WHO said it had readied additional
emergency medical supplies "such as blood bags, trauma and emergency health kits
to meet the urgent health needs" as other supplies have been "rapidly consumed
due to the heavy trauma load."
Israeli FM demands arrested
Jordanian lawmaker 'pay a price'
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/Mon, April 24, 2023
Israel’s foreign minister on Monday called on Jordan to take action to bring to
justice a Jordanian lawmaker who was arrested in Israel for allegedly trying to
smuggle what appears to have been dozens of guns into the West Bank. Foreign
Minister Eli Cohen said Israel was still investigating the incident, in which
the legislator, Imad Al-Adwan, is accused of attempting to bring in weapons and
gold illegally. Cohen called it an “irresponsible, criminal act” that cannot go
unpunished. "This is a very serious incident," Cohen told Israeli news outlet
YNet. “The basic demand is that he is brought to justice and that he pay a
price.”In a statement, the lawmaker’s brother, Amer Al-Adwan, said he was
counting on Jordanian authorities to bring Imad home. Jordan and its neighbor
Israel have had tense relations over recent years, despite a nearly 30-year-old
peace treaty, and the lawmaker's arrest threatened to further strain the ties.
Al-Adwan was arrested on Saturday at a crossing between the occupied West Bank
and Jordan that Israel controls. It is unclear where he is currently being held.
It was also not known if talks are underway between the two countries to address
the incident. Footage aired by Israeli media showed the alleged weapons smuggled
arranged on a floor, with dozens of handguns and rifles displayed. Cohen said
Israel had received intelligence of a smuggling attempt coming in from Jordan
but was not expecting to find arms. The West Bank has seen a surge in violence
over the past year. Israel says the area has been flooded with illegal weapons,
including guns smuggled from neighboring Jordan. Since Israel’s hard-line
government took office late last year, relations with Jordan have deteriorated
over Israeli settlement construction, violence in the West Bank and policies
over holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City. The ties were at a nadir in 2017, when
a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Jordan shot and killed two
Jordanians, alleging one attacked him with a screw driver. The Israeli guard and
Israel’s then-ambassador were given a hero’s welcome by Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Jordan. Jordan controlled the West Bank and east
Jerusalem before Israel captured the areas in the 1967 Mideast war, but the
kingdom retains custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and other Muslim holy sites
in the Old City.
Israeli troops kill Palestinian in West Bank raid, Palestinian official says
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters)Mon, April 24, 2023
Israeli troops killed a Palestinian during a raid in the occupied West Bank, a
Palestinian official said, and the army said soldiers had shot at suspected
militants who fled arrest. The West Bank, among areas where Palestinians seek
statehood, has seen a surge in violence over the last year as Israel stepped up
incursions following a spate of lethal street attacks in its cities. The army
said troops operating in Aqabat Jabr, a refugee camp near the city of Jericho,
detained a suspected militant and opened fire on two people who tried to escape
the area, hitting at least one of them. "During the activity, two suspects were
spotted fleeing the scene. The soldiers responded with live fire. Hits were
identified," the army statement said. It did not elaborate on why the two
Palestinians were targeted. The official Palestinian news agency WAFA quoted the
governor of Jericho as saying that a man was fatally shot and three others
wounded by the troops. The statement from the governor said the army had not
handed over the man's body to his family. Separately, the Palestinian Prisoner's
Club advocacy group, said Israeli security forces had carried out 30 arrests in
the West Bank overnight and early on Monday.
Russia urges Armenia, Azerbaijan to comply with ceasefire agreement
MOSCOW (Reuters)/Mon, April 24, 2023
Russia on Monday urged Armenia and Azerbaijan to comply with a 2020 ceasefire
agreement, expressing "serious concern" about escalating tensions between the
two countries over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Azerbaijan on Sunday
established a checkpoint at the start of the Lachin Corridor, the only road
route linking Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, in what Armenia called a "gross
violation" of a Moscow-brokered 2020 ceasefire agreement between the two sides.
Nagorno-Karabakh is internationally recognised as part of Azerbaijan but largely
populated by ethnic Armenians. In 2020, Azerbaijan made significant territorial
gains in a six-week war that killed thousands on both sides, before Moscow
struck a ceasefire deal that included the dispatch of a Russian peacekeeping
force to the region. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday
there was "no alternative" to the 2020 agreement and said Moscow was working
with both Baku and Yerevan over the situation. "Russia is continuing contact,
the situation is really difficult," Peskov told reporters. Russia is an ally of
Armenia through a mutual self-defence pact, but also has good relations with
Azerbaijan. While stopping short of directly blaming either side, Russia's
foreign ministry in a separate statement highlighted "the unacceptability of any
unilateral steps" in violation of the 2020 agreement. Azerbaijan agreed in 2020
to "guarantee the security of persons, vehicles and cargo moving along the
Lachin Corridor in both directions." Armenia says the establishment of a
checkpoint at the start of the road is a "gross violation" of those commitments.
Will Moscow's mediation help reshape
Syrian-Turkish relations?
LBCI/April 24/2024
Syrian, Russian, Iranian, and Turkish officials are expected to meet on Tuesday
in Moscow for discussions aimed at continuing previous talks on normalizing
relations between Turkey and Syria and discussing Turkey's withdrawal from
Syria. The meeting will be attended by defense ministers and heads of
intelligence from the four countries. This meeting comes after a similar one was
held at the beginning of April in Moscow, which the deputy foreign ministers of
Russia, Iran, Turkey, and Syria attended. Before the meeting, positive
statements were made by the Turkish side, with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar
stating that positive developments were expected to occur after the upcoming
meeting. However, the Syrian delegation left without any positive indications
regarding Turkey's withdrawal from Syria at the recent meeting, according to the
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister. The Syrian government insists on guarantees from
the Turkish side before proceeding with the normalization process between both
countries, including the scheduling of Turkey's withdrawal from northern Syria.
On the other hand, Turkey considers that its continued military presence in
Syria is linked to the fate of the Syrian Democratic Forces, which it considers
a terrorist group. So will this quadrilateral meeting exert Russian pressure,
especially given that it will take place before the upcoming meeting of foreign
ministers of Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Syria next month? Moscow has previously
stated that no preconditions should be set before the four foreign ministers'
meeting. However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan relies on these talks
to enhance his position in the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections
and has made promises, including the return of refugees. So can relations
between the two countries return to normal?
Russia to host Syria-Turkey fence-mending talks Tuesday
Agence France Presse/April 24/2024
Russia will host a new round of talks on Tuesday aimed at normalizing ties
between Turkey and Syria, Turkey's defense minister said. The talks, also
involving regional power Iran, will be held in Moscow, Hulusi Akar said on
Monday. They will be attended by the defence and intelligence chiefs of all four
countries. Russia is seeking to repair ties between Ankara and its ally
Damascus, which were severed at the start of Syria's civil war in 2011. "We are
preparing for a meeting to be attended by defence ministers and intelligence
chiefs" of Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran, Akar said. "Our aim is to solve the
problems through negotiations and to bring peace to the region as soon as
possible." Ankara and Damascus have had few formal contacts since Turkey began
backing rebel effort to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who once called Assad a "murderer," has opened
up to the idea of holding a peace-building summit with the Syrian leader.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has backed Erdogan's efforts. But Assad, whose
country is slowly coming out of its regional isolation, has said he will only
meet Erdogan if Turkey withdraws troops from northern Syria. Erdogan says he
needs the military presence as a security precaution against attacks on Turkey
by Kurdish groups, which Ankara views as terrorists but which played a central
role in the U.S.-led campaign against Islamic State jihadists. Earlier this
month, diplomats from Iran, Russia, Turkey and Syria met in Moscow to pave the
way for a foreign ministers' meeting.
China affirms ex-Soviet nations' sovereignty after uproar
BEIJING (AP)/Mon, April 24, 2023
The Chinese government said Monday it respects the sovereignty of former Soviet
Union republics after Beijing’s ambassador to France caused an uproar in Europe
by saying they aren’t sovereign nations. The governments of Estonia, Latvia and
Lithuania rejected Ambassador Lu Shaye’s comment to a French broadcaster. While
answering a question about the status of Crimea, which Russia seized from
Ukraine in 2014, Lu said there was no agreement to “solidify their status as a
sovereign country."Beijing declared it had a “no-limits friendship” with Moscow
before its 2022 invasion of Ukraine but has tried to appear neutral, calling for
a cease-fire and peace talks. China has repeated Russian justifications for the
invasion. “China respects the sovereign status of the former soviet countries
after the dissolution of the Soviet Union,” said foreign ministry spokesperson
Mao Ning. Mao said Beijing's position is “consistent and clear” but gave no
indication whether Lu's comment was considered incorrect. The ambassador drew a
parallel with the Baltic nations and other former soviet republics that declared
independence from Moscow when the Soviet Union broke up in 1991. “With regards
to international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries, they do not, they do
not have the status — how to say it? — that’s effective in international law,
because there is no international agreement to solidify their status as a
sovereign country,” Lu told news channel LCI. Russian President Vladimir Putin
has said he doesn’t recognize Ukraine's sovereignty. The Kremlin has made clear
that it sees the independence of the Baltic States and their role in NATO and
the European Union as threats to Russian security. Chinese President Xi
Jinping's government sees Moscow as a partner in opposing U.S. domination of
global affairs. Beijing has said it wants to act as a peace mediator, but
governments including the United States say a cease-fire would legitimize
Putin's territorial gains. “If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States
don’t trust China to ‘broker peace in Ukraine,’ here’s a Chinese ambassador
arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries’ borders have no legal basis,"
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Twitter. The French
foreign ministry noted that governments including China recognized Ukraine’s
borders, including Crimea, when it declared independence in 1991.
Ukraine attacked Russia's main naval base in
Crimea with exploding sea drones, the city's Russian governor said
Kelly McLaughlin/Business Insider/Mon, April 24, 2023
Russia says Ukrainian sea drones attacked its main naval base in Crimea on
Monday morning. The Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea said the
attack happened at 3:30 a.m. No one was injured in the attack, and Ukrainian
officials have not commented on it. The Russian governor of the largest city in
Crimea says that Ukrainian forces attacked Russia's main naval base in the
region using exploding sea drones on Monday morning. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the
Moscow-appointed governor of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on Telegram Monday
morning that the attack on the naval base in Sevastopol started at 3:30 a.m. He
said that Russian forces destroyed one sea drone and that a second drone
exploded on its own. No one was injured in the attack, Razvozhayev said, adding
that the incident happened in the harbor off of Sevastopol and that the drones
didn't make their way into Streletskaya Bay. He said the blast from the drone's
explosion broke windows on four residential buildings, and he ordered
Vice-Governor Evgeny Sergeevich Gorlov to manage the damage. "Now the city is
quiet," Razvozhayev said. "But all forces and services are in a state of combat
readiness." Ukrainian officials have not commented on the attack, though Reuters
reported that Ukraine doesn't usually claim responsibility for attacks on
Sevastopol, which is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine but was
annexed along with the rest of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014. Russian
officials have accused Ukraine of carrying out multiple attacks on Sevastopol
since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In July, Russia claimed a drone
attack on its Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol injured six people. At
the time, Ukraine denied responsibility for the attack.
West scrambles as Putin reveals his energy war trump card
The Telegraph/Matt Oliver/April 24, 2023
In an effort to punish Vladimir Putin, Western governments have hit Russia’s
energy industry with a barrage of punishing sanctions since his invasion of
Ukraine. But one sector has conspicuously escaped their ire so far: nuclear
power. Since the conflict erupted, Russian nuclear exports are actually thought
to have increased while those of coal, oil and gas have been squeezed.
Meanwhile, despite the key role it has played in Moscow’s takeover of the
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar, eastern Ukraine, state monopoly
Rosatom remains untouched by Western sanctions.
The reason, say experts, is the complicated nature of nuclear supply chains –
from the supply of uranium to the construction of reactors – and the dominant
role Russia currently plays in many of them. Through its global nuclear network,
Moscow can exert political and economic pressure on friends and foes alike, the
White House has warned. A new partnership between the UK, the US, Canada, Japan
and France aims to change this. Together the five countries want to squeeze
Russia’s share of nuclear exports and “ensure Putin, nor anyone like him, can
ever think they can hold the world to ransom over their energy again,” said
Grant Shapps, the Energy Security Secretary. The group aims to become
independent from Moscow and help other countries do the same, the agreement
says. Most experts agree that these are achievable goals, but it will require
time, resources and close collaboration.
“The main challenge is to get out of the asymmetric mindset we’ve been in,” says
Lincoln Hill, head of policy at the Nuclear Industry Association (NIA). “In the
past, the West has seen this as a purely commercial, market-based situation and
the Russians approached it as a strategic priority, so our companies were
undercut and struggled to compete.” Raw uranium is no longer used to power
nuclear reactors, so the fuel supply chain is divided into four parts: uranium
mining, conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication. Russia’s share of the
world’s mining of the metal – about 5pc – is by no means the largest, with
Kazakhstan, Namibia, Canada, Australia and Uzbekistan all boasting higher levels
of production. But Moscow’s grip on the later stages is much tighter.
Only four countries – France, China, Canada and Russia – were running conversion
plants to refine uranium in 2020, with Russia responsible for 38pc of total
output, according to the World Nuclear Association.
Meanwhile, Russia controlled about 46pc of the world’s current or planned
enrichment capacity, along with between 15pc and 19pc of the stages in fuel
fabrication. Moscow’s dominance is partly enforced through the web of contracts
Rosatom has with countries around the world – many of them former Soviet bloc
states – which are running Russian-made reactors, leaving them reliant on the
company for parts and fuel. These “VVER” power stations are still being used by
Nato members Turkey, Finland, Czechia, Bulgaria and Hungary, for example, while
other customers include India and China. On top of this, Myanmar and Egypt are
among countries who recently inked deals with Rosatom to build new reactors with
Russian help. Eugene Shwageraus, a professor of nuclear systems engineering at
the Open University, says persuading any of these countries to ditch Russian
supplies will be difficult for a simple but practical reason: VVER reactors use
hexagonal-shaped “fuel assemblies”, an industry term for groups of fuel rods,
whereas Western designs used square-shaped ones. However, even Western countries
that do not rely on Russian technology have become more dependent on Moscow
since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Under the “Megatons to Megawatts” deal, the
US agreed to purchase thousands of metric tonnes of uranium that was
cannibalised from nuclear weapons as the Kremlin scaled back its enormous
arsenal. At one stage this agreement alone provided around 10pc of fuel for
American nuclear power stations. Overall, around 31pc of the enriched uranium
sold to EU utility companies came from Rosatom in 2021, along with 28pc sold to
those in the US. These imports of Uranium have continued since Russia’s attack
on Ukraine.
France, which in turn supplies other allies with fabricated fuel, imported €359m
(£320m) worth of enriched uranium from Russia last year, up from €92.4m in 2021,
according to recent research by the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). The
US imported $829.8m (£667m) worth, up from $645.5m in 2021, along with another
$70m in January alone. In the UK, EDF says fuel used by the Sizewell B nuclear
power plant, in Suffolk, was made using uranium enriched by Rosatom.
Darya Dolzikova, research fellow at RUSI, says there is some evidence to suggest
that Russia has made around $1bn from nuclear exports since the Ukraine invasion
began and that this figure may even be rising.
“In terms of the amount of money that it brings into the Russian economy, it is
not as significant as some of the other energy exports,” she explains. “But at
the same time, that might make it a little bit easier to dismiss – even though
it is a good chunk of money.” Industry insiders say state-backed Rosatom has
spread its tentacles so far by using rock-bottom prices, which made it difficult
for others to compete. However, the West still retains significant nuclear
capabilities and the UK Government and its allies are now taking steps to weaken
the Kremlin’s hold on the market. Part of this is expected to involve greater
sanctions on Rosatom, with the US recently unveiling sanctions on a raft of the
company's foreign subsidiaries and the EU considering sanctions on the company
itself with support from Germany. But it will also require the kind of boost to
domestic production not seen for generations. For example, US-based Westinghouse
received £13m in December to revive its conversion facility in Springfields,
Lancashire, where it already fabricates fuel.
The site will be ready by 2028.
At the same time, Westinghouse has developed a method for making the
Russian-style hexagonal fuel assemblies itself and has signed deals to provide
them to Czechia and Bulgaria. One industry figure says the new product is
nicknamed “freedom fuel”. The firm is already providing them to Ukraine, another
country that uses Russian reactors. Urenco, the British-German-Dutch nuclear
firm part-owned by the UK Government, has also indicated it will expand its
enrichment capacity, including at its site in Capenhurst, Cheshire. There is
also capacity for more conversion in Canada, the US and France. “The capability
is there,” adds Dolzikova. “So it's not a technical issue, but rather an issue
of political will.”Another interesting new source of nuclear fuel could be
recycling. As part of its expansion of Springfields, Westinghouse is developing
a so-called reprocessing facility, where uranium from nuclear waste is recycled
and used again. It will be the only one of its kind outside Russia. Bruce
Hanson, a professor of nuclear process engineering at Leeds University who
worked in industry for more than 25 years, says reprocessing was previously done
in the UK but is now seen as too expensive to be economically viable.
Instead, it is cheaper to simply make new nuclear fuel.
Future efficiency improvements, as well as growing demand for uranium from
China, could change the calculus, however. Reprocessing is also more
sustainable, he argues. “I think if you were to go out and ask people, ‘Should
we be throwing out nuclear [waste] if we can recycle it?’, I'm pretty sure what
most of the British public would say – they’d say we should be recycling it,”
Prof Hanson says. The NIA’s Hill says success will be a matter of perseverance
and giving companies enough certainty to invest. The nuclear business is a long
game, and bosses will not commit if they think the sanctions on Russia will
simply be rolled back in a year’s time. Westinghouse previously closed its
conversion facility in Springfields in 2014 because there was not enough demand
from customers. This is likely to push the costs of nuclear fuel higher, at
least temporarily, while RUSI’s Dolzikova warns that China may also see it as an
opportunity to gain market share from Russia. The West would be swapping one
dependence for another. But Hill argues the trouble will be worth it. “The extra
costs of switching from Russian to Western fuel will easily be worth the
security of supply and energy security benefits, particularly for countries in
Eastern Europe,” he says. “So it’s a challenge, but it’s a very doable
challenge. It will just require close cooperation, clear objectives and concrete
action.”
US-led Coalition makes significant progress in
defeating ISIS
LBCI/April 24/2024
On April 24, 2023, CJTF-OIR Commander Major General Matthew McFarlane and US
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Dana Stroul gave updates on the ongoing
mission to defeat ISIS or Daesh in Iraq and Syria. McFarlane highlighted that
while ISIS no longer holds any territory, its ideology remains unconstrained and
active. However, thanks to the efforts of partners supported by the coalition,
there has been a significant decrease in D-ISIS activity and effectiveness
across the area of operations. From January 1 through the first week of April,
there has been a record 68% reduction in attacks compared to last year in Iraq
and a 55% decrease in Syria. These attacks mainly involve small engagements with
one to a few individuals, and ISIS has failed to organize or coordinate anything
more significant over the past year. During the recent Ramadan period, there
were only 19 recorded attacks in Iraq, representing an 80% decrease from last
year and 87% from 2020. Only 19 attacks were recorded in Syria, representing a
37% decrease from 2022 and a 70% decrease from 2020. These figures demonstrate
the success of partnerships and the efforts made to disrupt and dismantle ISIS
cells and activities. Stroul highlighted the importance of partnership in the
fight against ISIS, noting that the US has transitioned to an "advice, assist,
and enable" role in Iraq, with Iraqi security forces taking the lead. In Syria,
the critical role played by the Syrian Democratic Forces in partnering with the
US to prevent ISIS from reconstituting was emphasized. Stroul also noted that
the enduring defeat of ISIS requires a multifaceted approach, which includes
countering ISIS ideology and financing, as well as facilitating the repatriation
and rehabilitation of displaced persons. She emphasized the need to work with
governments to encourage the repatriation of detainees and their families and to
share best practices on rehabilitation and reintegration. In terms of numbers,
McFarlane noted that over 13,103 country nationals have been repatriated from
the Hol camp by the SDF so far in 2023. However, there is still a large number
of third-country nationals in these camps, waiting to be repatriated to their
homelands. The IDP camps continue to pose a strategic problem that requires an
international solution. Achieving the enduring defeat of ISIS requires a
sustained effort by the international community. McFarlane and Stroul reiterated
their commitment to working with all like-minded countries to achieve this goal.
Stroul noted that "defeating ISIS is not just an Iraqi or Syrian effort; it's a
global effort."
Wall St muted ahead of tech earnings, economic
data
LBCI/Reuters/April 24/2024
Wall Street's main indexes struggled for direction on Monday as investors
awaited results from megacap companies and key data that could shed light on the
U.S. economy and shape the Federal Reserve's monetary policy. Major technology
and growth companies Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O), Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), Amazon.com
Inc (AMZN.O) and Meta Platforms Inc (META.O), which constitute more than 14% of
the value of the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX), are scheduled to report results this
week. A rally in these stocks has supported Wall Street this year, and investors
are waiting to see if the gains can continue amid a gloomy economic outlook.
"Not only must these companies beat, but they must also guide to a
re-acceleration of EPS growth in the second quarter and beyond ... that's what
the Street is looking for," said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek
Research.
U.S. stocks have largely held steady through the start of the earnings season on
stronger-than-expected results from big banks, allaying concerns about a
contagion from the banking crisis in March. Coca-Cola Co (KO.N) gained 1% after
the beverage giant beat estimates for quarterly results on resilient demand for
its sodas despite multiple price increases. Of the 90 S&P 500 companies that
have reported first-quarter results so far, nearly 77% have topped analysts'
profit estimates, as per Refinitiv IBES data. The long-term average beat rate
stands at 66%. Forecasts for earnings have also improved marginally, with
analysts expecting a quarterly profit contraction of 4.7% versus a 5.1% decline
estimated at the start of April. Early readings of first-quarter U.S. GDP,
personal consumer expenditure index (PCE) for March, consumer confidence numbers
for April are among the data scheduled for release this week.
Mixed economic numbers last week cemented bets of another 25-basis-point rate
hike by the Fed in May, with money market traders pricing in a 92% chance of
such a move, as per CME Group's Fedwatch tool. Meanwhile, U.S. House of
Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said the House would vote on his spending
and debt bill this week amid lingering concerns that the U.S. government could
hit its debt ceiling sooner than expected. "Based mostly on history, we seem to
resolve this before we have a real crisis," said Hugh Johnson, chief economist
of Hugh Johnson Economics. "But it's not clear that the House Speaker has a good
plan out there and that it's going to be acceptable." At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow
Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) was up 7.80 points, or 0.02%, at 33,816.76, the
S&P 500 (.SPX) was up 3.84 points, or 0.09%, at 4,137.36, and the Nasdaq
Composite (.IXIC) was up 12.43 points, or 0.10%, at 12,084.89. Bed Bath & Beyond
Inc's (BBBY.O) shares tumbled 26% as the home goods retailer filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection after it failed to secure funds to stay afloat. First
Republic Bank (FRC.N) gained 4.7% ahead of its quarterly report. Advancing
issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.12-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.24-to-1
ratio on the Nasdaq. The S&P index recorded 13 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 51 new lows.
The Latest LCCC English analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published
on April 24-25/2023
Christians Continue to be Purged: Armenian Genocide
Remembrance Day
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/54563/elias-bejjani-a-tribute-of-pride-dignity-to-the-armenian-people%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d8%a7%d8%b3-%d8%a8%d8%ac%d8%a7%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%aa%d8%ad%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%a5%d9%83%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d9%88%d8%a5/
The evidence is overwhelming.
"Each girl had been nailed alive upon her cross, spikes through her feet and
hands..." — Aurora Mardiganian, Ravished Armenia.
Often overlooked... is that this was less a genocide of Armenians and more a
genocide of Christians. Thus the opening sentence of U.S. House Resolution 296,
which passed on the hundredth anniversary of the genocide (2019), correctly
mentions "the campaign of genocide against Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians,
Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians."
Christianity is what all of those otherwise diverse peoples had in common, and
therefore it — not nationality, ethnicity, territory, or grievances — was the
ultimate determining factor concerning who the Turks would and would not
"purge."
"Christians were considered infidels (kafir). The call to Jihad... was part of
the plan." — Joseph Yacoub, author of Year of the Sword: The Assyrian Christian
Genocide
An eyewitness recalled that... "outrages" [were] committed against "even
children"....
"The opportunity [World War I] presented itself for clearing Turkish soil of a
Christian race." — Winston Churchill.
"Turkey is taking advantage of the war in order to thoroughly liquidate its
internal foes, i.e., the indigenous Christians, without being thereby disturbed
by foreign intervention.... The question is settled. There are no more
Armenians." — Talaat Pasha, the de facto leader of the Ottoman Empire during the
genocide, June 1915.
Turkey, in 2020, sent sharia-enforcing "jihadist groups," from Syria and
Libya.... These Muslim groups committed numerous atrocities. These included
raping an Armenian female soldier and mother of three, before hacking off all
four of her limbs, gouging her eyes, and sticking one of her severed fingers
inside her private parts. — Greek City Times, September 25, 2020.
Not only has it gone unpunished; NATO ally Turkey has resumed the genocide
against the very descendants of those whom the Turks nearly exterminated over a
century ago — namely Armenians and Assyrians.
More recently, in late 2022, Turkey launched thousands of attacks — air, mortar,
drone, artillery, etc.—several miles deep into Syria's northern border. This is,
of course, where most of the religious minorities live — Christians, Yazidis,
and Kurds, who a few years earlier experienced a genocide at the hands of the
Islamic State ("ISIS").
"These military attacks by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime are part of a wider
Turkish policy of annihilation of the Kurdish and Assyrian [Christian] people in
northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has committed war crimes and crimes against
humanity, including bombing, shelling, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial
killings. The attacks are part of Turkey's genocidal policies towards Kurds,
Christians, and Ezidis." — Genocide Watch, December 7, 2022.
"This genocide is a pattern we see, and it's certainly nothing new.... For those
who say 'Not on our watch!' or 'Never again!'— here it is, happening again!" —
Charmaine Hedding, president of the US-based Shai Fund, webinar on Turkey's
genocidal assault on Christians in Syria, rumble.com, December 15, 2022.
Not only has the Armenian genocide gone unpunished; NATO ally Turkey has resumed
the genocide against the very descendants of those whom the Turks nearly
exterminated over a century ago — Armenians and Assyrians. Pictured: Ottoman
soldiers force-march Armenian civilians through Harput to a prison in nearby
Mezireh (present-day Elazig), April 1915. (Image source: American Red Cross/Wikimedia
Commons)
Today, April 24, is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. The Genocide Education
Project offers a summary of that tragic event which transpired during World War
I (1914-1918):
"More than one million Armenians perished as the result of execution,
starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical abuse. A people who
lived in eastern Turkey for nearly 3,000 years [and two thousand years before
the invading Turks arrived] lost its homeland and was profoundly decimated in
the first large-scale genocide of the twentieth century. At the beginning of
1915 there were some two million Armenians within Turkey; today there are fewer
than 60,000.
"Despite the vast amount of evidence that points to the historical reality of
the Armenian Genocide, eyewitness accounts, official archives, photographic
evidence, the reports of diplomats, and the testimony of survivors, denial of
the Armenian Genocide by successive regimes in Turkey has gone on from 1915 to
the present."
The evidence is overwhelming. As far back as 1920, a report to the U.S. Senate
by the of the American Military Mission to Armenia stated that "[m]utilation,
violation, torture, and death have left their haunting memories in a hundred
beautiful Armenian valleys, and the traveler in that region is seldom free from
the evidence of this most colossal crime of all the ages."
In her memoir, Ravished Armenia, Aurora Mardiganian described how she was raped
and thrown into a harem (consistent with Islam's rules of war). Unlike thousands
of other Armenian girls who were discarded after being defiled, she managed to
escape. In the city of Malatia, she saw 16 Christian girls crucified: "Each girl
had been nailed alive upon her cross," Mardiganian wrote, "spikes through her
feet and hands, only their hair blown by the wind, covered their bodies." (Such
scenes were portrayed in the 1919 documentary film Auction of Souls.)
Often overlooked, however, is that this was less a genocide of Armenians and
more a genocide of Christians. Thus the opening sentence of U.S. House
Resolution 296, which passed on the hundredth anniversary of the genocide
(2019), correctly mentions "the campaign of genocide against Armenians, Greeks,
Assyrians, Chaldeans, Syriacs, Arameans, Maronites, and other Christians."
That last word — Christians — is key to understanding this tragic chapter of
history: Christianity is what all of those otherwise diverse peoples had in
common, and therefore it — not nationality, ethnicity, territory, or grievances
— was the ultimate determining factor concerning who the Turks would and would
not "purge."
As one Armenian studies professor asked:
"If it [the Armenian Genocide] was a feud between Turks and Armenians, what
explains the genocide carried out by Turkey against the Christian Assyrians at
the same time?"
According to another professor, Joseph Yacoub, author of Year of the Sword: The
Assyrian Christian Genocide,:
"This suicidal policy of ethnic cleansing was stirred up by pan-Islamism and
religious fanaticism. Christians were considered infidels (kafir). The call to
Jihad... was part of the plan."
According to Yacoub (p.19), several key documents including a Syriac one from
1920, confirm that "there was an Ottoman plan to exterminate Turkey's
Christians."
Yacoub recounts many "atrocities carried out by Turks and Kurds from town to
town and from village to village without exception." In one instance, Turks,
Kurds, and other "Sunnis," selected "eighteen of the most beautiful young girls"
and hauled them into a local church, "where they were stripped naked and
violated in turn on top of the Holy Gospel." An eyewitness recalled that the
"outrages" committed against "even children" were "so horrible that one recoils;
it makes the flesh creep."
The genocide is often conflated with the Armenians because many more of them
than other Christians were killed—causing them to be the face of the genocide.
According to reports, the Turks massacred 1.5 million Armenians, 750,000 Greeks,
and 300,000 Assyrians. Relative their numbers, more Assyrians — half of their
total population of 600,000 — were massacred.
Because all of these genocidal atrocities occurred during WWI, some, especially
Turkey, argue that they were, ultimately, a reflection of just that — war, in
all its death-dealing destruction. In reality, war was a factor, but only
because it offered the Turks the necessary cover to do what they had apparently
long wanted to do.
After describing the massacres as an "administrative holocaust," Winston
Churchill observed that "The opportunity [World War I] presented itself for
clearing Turkish soil of a Christian race." Or, in the unequivocal words of
Talaat Pasha, the de facto leader of the Ottoman Empire during the genocide:
"Turkey is taking advantage of the war in order to thoroughly liquidate its
internal foes, i.e., the indigenous Christians, without being thereby disturbed
by foreign intervention.... The question is settled. There are no more
Armenians."
Henry Morgenthau, the U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and personal witness
of the atrocities, attested that "I am confident that the whole history of the
human race contains no such horrible episode as this." He added that what the
Turks were doing was "a carefully planned scheme to thoroughly extinguish the
Armenian race." In 1918, Morgenthau wrote:
"Will the outrageous terrorizing, the cruel torturing, the driving of women into
the harems, the debauchery of innocent girls, the sale of many of them at eighty
cents each, the murdering of hundreds of thousands and the deportation to, and
starvation in, the deserts of other hundreds of thousands, the destruction of
hundreds of villages and cities, will the willful execution of this whole
devilish scheme to annihilate the Armenian, Greek and Syrian [or Assyrian]
Christians of Turkey—will all this go unpunished?"
Not only has it gone unpunished; NATO ally Turkey has resumed the genocide
against the very descendants of those whom the Turks nearly exterminated over a
century ago — namely Armenians and Assyrians.
In late 2020, Muslim Azerbaijan initiated hostilities against Christian Armenian
in a continuation of the 35-year-old landlocked, mountainous Nagorno-Karabakh
land dispute. Turkey quickly joined its Azerbaijani co-religionists and arguably
even spearheaded the war against Armenia, although the dispute clearly did not
concern it. As Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan rhetorically asked, "Why
has Turkey returned to the South Caucasus 100 years [after the dissolution of
the Ottoman Empire]?" His answer: "To continue the Armenian Genocide."
Turkey, in 2020, sent sharia-enforcing "jihadist groups," from Syria and Libya,
including the pro-Muslim Brotherhood Hamza Division—which kept naked women
chained and imprisoned — to terrorize and slaughter the Armenians. These Muslim
groups committed numerous atrocities (here, and here). These included raping an
Armenian female soldier and mother of three, before hacking off all four of her
limbs, gouging her eyes, and sticking one of her severed fingers inside her
private parts.
More recently, in late 2022, Turkey launched thousands of attacks—air, mortar,
drone, artillery, etc.—several miles deep into Syria's northern border. This is,
of course, where most of the religious minorities live —Christians, Yazidis, and
Kurds, who a few years earlier experienced a genocide at the hands of the
Islamic State ("ISIS"). Dozens more were killed, and buildings and
infrastructure destroyed. In response, Genocide Watch issued a Genocide
Emergency Alert on December 7, 2022:
"These military attacks by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime are part of a wider
Turkish policy of annihilation of the Kurdish and Assyrian [Christian] people in
northern Syria and Iraq. Turkey has committed war crimes and crimes against
humanity, including bombing, shelling, abduction, torture, and extrajudicial
killings. The attacks are part of Turkey's genocidal policies towards Kurds,
Christians, and Ezidis."
A later webinar (summarized here) featured several experts who determined that
Turkey's conduct had been genocidal. Charmaine Hedding, president of the Shai
Fund, a humanitarian organization, said that Turkey's ground forces consisted of
former ISIS, al-Qaeda, and Tahrir al-Shams jihadists who "are committing massive
human rights abuses and have an agenda to create a caliphate, and they will
eradicate the religious minorities in this area." Gregory Stanton, president of
Genocide Watch, concluded by saying:
"Turkey is a genocidal society... Turkey has conducted so many genocides in
history... Going back many centuries, it [Turkey] has been anti-Christian, and
has tried to slaughter as many Christians as possible."
In the end, what Turkey has done and is doing to Christians must be seen in the
broader context of what Muslims have done and continue to do to Christians. An
estimated 360 million Christians are currently being persecuted, mostly in the
Muslim world.
Four centuries before the Turks invaded and conquered formerly-Christian Asia
Minor, Arabs conquered and Islamized all of North Africa and the Middle East.
Centuries of persecution and outright jihads (holy wars) saw Christians go from
an overwhelming majority to a tiny minority. In some areas there is the
extinction (for instance, in Algeria, home of Saint Augustine), or
near-extinction, of Christians, especially in the oldest Christian regions, such
as Iraq and Syria, where Christians still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
In Nigeria, which seemingly, apart from Islam, has little in common with Turkey,
at least one Christian is massacred for his/her faith every two hours, even as
the world adamantly ignores that genocide.
Today, therefore, on Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, it is crucial to
remember the true background and significance of that tragic event — Muslim hate
for Christians — and to know that it is still ongoing. As Charmaine Hedding said
during the webinar on Turkey's genocidal assault on Christians in Syria:
"This genocide is a pattern we see, and it's certainly nothing new.... For those
who say 'Not on our watch!' or 'Never again!' — here it is, happening again!"
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified
Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at
the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East
Forum.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19593/armenian-genocide-remembrance
Two School Employees are Charged with
Blasphemy for Desecrating the Holy Quran
Nasir Saeed/Gatestone Institute/April 24, 2023
They had both been asked to clean a store room. During the cleaning they
gathered all the rubbish (Paper etc) and later burnt them.
Since they are both illiterate therefore they didn't know what kind of paper
they were burning, and there were some Qurans page in that rubbish.
After taking a statement from the witnesses, the police have registered a case
under section 295- B of blasphemy law against Musarrat Bibi and Mohammad Sarmad
and taken them into custody at Police Station Sadar Arifwala Park Pandan
[Punjab].
Nasir Saeed, Director CLAAS-UK thar, [said] it is very sad that two illiterate
people are charged with blasphemy. They are completely innocent as both didn't
know what they were doing, they were just doing the work they were asked....
"The case against Bibi and Sarmad should be dismissed and those people who asked
them to clean the store and didn't supervise them should be investigated and
should be punished for their carelessness.... This is completely unfair and
unjust. Such people who don't how to read and write are given such a job and
then they are charged with blasphemy. It is misuse of the blasphemy law and it
has to be stopped." — Nasir Saeed, Director CLAAS-UK, April 22, 2023.
On 15 April, 2023, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against two
people working in Government girls' higher secondary school, EB 66, Arifwala,
Punjab.
According to the FIR , sub inspector police, Abid Hussain received a call from
Kashif Nadeem, who informed him that two people working in the school had
desecrated the Holy Quran.
When he reached the school there were already several people gathered around.
He said that when he reached the principal's office, the principal Nasreen Saeed,
an education officer and some other people were already investigating a
Christian female Musarrat Bibi, who was working as a naib qasid and Mohammad
Sarmad, a gardener. They had both been asked to clean a store room. During the
cleaning they gathered all the rubbish (Paper etc) and later burnt them.
Since they are both illiterate therefore they didn't know what kind of paper
they were burning, and there were some Qurans page in that rubbish.
After taking a statement from the witnesses, the police have registered a case
under section 295- B of blasphemy law against Musarrat Bibi and Mohammad Sarmad
and taken them into custody at Police Station Sadar Arifwala Park Pandan.
Nasir Saeed, Director CLAAS-UK, it is very sad that two illiterate people are
charged with blasphemy. They are completely innocent as both didn't know what
they were doing, they were just doing the work they were asked.
Mr Saeed said:
"The case against Bibi and Sarmad should be dismissed and those people who asked
them to clean the store and didn't supervise them should be investigated and
should be punished for their carelessness.
"This is not the first case of this kind, but I remember a few years back
another Christian who was working in a hospital was given some papers to burn.
"When he was burning them a passer-by saw that there were some papers with
Arabic language, he complained to the police and the worker was charged with
blasphemy.
"This is completely unfair and unjust. Such people who don't how to read and
write are given such a job and then they are charged with blasphemy. It is
misuse of the blasphemy law and it has to be stopped.
"We are trying to speak to the family for further information, and as soon as we
get further information we will share it with you."
Nasir Saeed is the Director of the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance & Settlement
UK (CLAAS-UK). Reprinted by kind permission of CLAAS-UK.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
Auxiliary Armies and the War of Brothers in
Sudan
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat/April, 24/2023
The Saudi-Iranian agreement to reestablish diplomatic ties and avoid interfering
in the domestic affairs of regional states, heralded the cooling of tensions and
conflicts in the Middle East, creating an air of optimism. However, it seems
that the region continues to emit destabilizing vibrations.
The rulers of Sudan have caught these vibrations, introducing a new phase that
will spiral in unpredictable ways if the armed conflict between the army and the
Rapid Support Forces does not end swiftly.
The infighting could turn into a destructive war in a country that is already
embroiled in existential struggles (from the secession of the South to the
regional conflict in the Blue Nile and South Kordofan to the Darfur question)
that have drained its resources and derailed developmental projects in favor of
military spending.
The ongoing clashes are the result of a series of complications that followed
the overthrow of President Omar al-Bashir in 2019. With civilians demanding to
be involved in the transition to democratic rule, a mixed government of civilian
and military figures was formed. After another military coup in October 2021, it
collapsed. In December, a framework for the transfer of power to civilians was
agreed upon, but talks on how to implement it immediately broke down.
The Rapid Support Forces were formed by Mohammad Hamdan Daglo in 2013. They grew
out of the Janjaweed militia, which fought fierce battles against the rebels
resisting the Bashir regime in Darfur. General Daglo also formed a military task
force that intervened in the conflicts in Yemen and Libya. It controls some gold
mines in Sudan and has been accused of committing human rights abuses.
The plan to integrate the Rapid Support Forces into the army, who will lead the
new force once this happens, and which of the two men will be top dog, are the
main points of contention between Daglo and Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the
commander of the armed forces and the de facto ruler of the country.
Whatever the catalysts for the battles in Sudan, however, the presence of
paramilitary auxiliary forces is the primary source of instability in the
country (as well as the region as a whole), and it has been the primary
hindrance to Sudan’s transition to civic democratic rule.
In fact, auxiliary forces have a long history in the Middle East. It begins with
the Ottoman Empire’s formation of the Janissaries, the Mansure Army, and the
Bashi-bazouks. However, the contemporary paramilitary auxiliary forces are a
counterweight to the regular armies of the region, who have a penchant for
launching military coups.
One example is the so-called “Defense Companies” that were led by Rifaat al-Assad
in Syria. Originally tasked with defending the regime of his brother Hafez al-Assad
and the Syrian capital from foreign and domestic incursions, it was incorporated
into the Syrian army and renamed the “Fourth Division” in 1984.
Another is the Iraqi Republican Guard of Saddam Hussein, which was entrusted
with protecting him, his presidential palace, and the capital, Baghdad.
Nonetheless, another force was closer to him, the Special Republican Guard,
which was more powerful than the army.
Still, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, formed by Khomeini in the
aftermath of the revolution and tasked with protecting the regime from domestic
and foreign enemies, is probably the most prominent example.
Auxiliary paramilitary forces seem to have become more appealing in recent
decades. Regimes seeking to ensure their survival are not the only ones using
them anymore. Indeed, regional and international powers have come to make use of
such groups, changing how wars are fought and introducing new concepts like
“proxy war,” “hybrid security,” and “non-state actors”.
The American experience in Afghanistan during the Cold War comes to mind here.
Washington resorted to supporting Islamist forces in their war against the
communist government of Hafizullah Amin. However, Iran is nevertheless the
ultimate pioneer of using foreign groups to wage proxy wars and further its
interests. It backs the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq, the Houthis in
Yemen, and of course Hezbollah, which is tightening the noose around the neck of
the Lebanese state with its sectarian arsenal and the roles it has played in the
region.
In Syria, several militias backed by regional and international powers have
emerged, some fighting alongside the regimes and others against it.
As for the Palestinian Hamas movement, it has imposed itself on the Palestinian
Authority. After rejecting the Oslo Accords between the Palestinian Liberation
Organization and Israel, Hamas exploited it to ascend to power. It thereby
created a fatal schism in Palestinian politics and left the Palestinians with
two leaderships at loggerheads with one another. Even in Israel, we see the
current fanatical government considering the formation of a national guard
controlled by extremists that would be an auxiliary to the army.
While tensions in the region render it fertile ground for the growth of militias
and armed groups that run from a distance, even Europe has not been spared from
this scourge. Indeed, Russia has deployed paramilitary forces as part of its war
against Ukraine, mirroring its experience in Syria and Africa. Meanwhile,
Ukraine’s president has also called for the establishment of a so-called
International Legion to support the Ukrainian army and legislation organizing
what his government has called “national resistance.”
The rising prominence of paramilitary auxiliary forces is among the most
consequential changes in how the world, not just our region, works. As well as
its implications for international relations, it also doubtlessly has
repercussions on the concept of national statehood and national armies.
First of all, the spread of paramilitary auxiliary forces in the region reflects
the deep crisis facing the nation-state in the region. State institutions are
weak in most of the countries in the region, and these countries have failed to
impose their authority, monopolize the legitimate use of violence, build a state
of citizens who enjoy rights and freedoms, face economic and social challenges,
and consolidate their legitimacy. Moreover, they have not established a
framework for the transfer and exercise of power, and they have failed to
embrace diversity and crystallize a united national identity.
The crisis of state building has become more and more apparent since the “Arab
Spring” and the ensuing communal conflicts. In Yemen and Libya, as in other
places, the heterogeneous revolutionary forces failed to offer alternatives to
the toppled regimes. Over the decades that followed the establishment of Arab
states, we saw early omens of armies’ politicization. Military coups would thus
become the defining feature of Arab political life for almost four decades.
Today, with the ideological and political cover that their early predecessors
had enjoyed amid the revolutionary and nationalist wave sweeping through the
region, it has become obvious that today, the armies have no doctrine; they have
become mirrors of societies whose members identify with sub-national, rather
than national, affiliations.
Globally, non-state actors are becoming increasingly popular alternatives to
state bodies. In 2014, President Barack Obama publicly called for the formation
of an Iraqi National Guard to allow Iraqi Sunnis to “liberate themselves” from
ISIS, an idea that essentially mirrored US support for the Sunni Awakening
Movement against al-Qaeda in 2006-2007. In Libya, the United Nations proposed
the formation of a body similar to a “National Guard” called the “Libyan Civil
Army” in 2012. The idea was for this force to ensure stability and police the
country while the regular army underwent training. The US deal with the Taliban
suggests that the Afghan state, which the Americans helped stabilize, is no
longer a viable partner in the transition process. Today, France addresses
Hezbollah as the most powerful party in Lebanon. All that has happened and is
happening seems to be part of a new chapter in politics and the global order.
This new chapter has emerged as a result of the growing roles and activities of
these armed groups since the Iranian revolution in 1979, which also saw the US
support the armed (jihadist) organizations pushing back against the Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan.
Going back to Sudan, the infighting shows that both belligerents seek to
circumvent the civilian movement, demanding a democratic transition. If these
skirmishes persist, the countries sliding back to authoritarian rule or sliding
chaos and civil war will become a very real possibility.
Sudan And Its Endgames
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 475/April 24/2023
A little over a week since military conflict broke out in Sudan on April 15
between the two main military factions, the situation is fluid and confused. As
thousands of Sudanese civilians flee for their lives and Internet connectivity
severely declined as of late on April 22, the situation seems even more murky.
Anyone predicting what will happen or even what is happening, with total
clarity, pursues a fool's errand – the lack of clarity made worse by extensive,
aggressive information operations and disinformation by both sides. But whoever
winds up on top and however long the violence endures there are some broad
trends that can be identified.
The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF)
As of the ninth day of fighting, the regular Sudanese Army (SAF) clearly has the
upper hand in the conflict between itself and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led
by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (nicknamed "Hemedti"). The SAF has recovered
territory initially lost to RSF, such as the northern airbase at Merowe, and
more or less holds the country's north and east, and dominates the Nile River
Valley where most of the country's population still resides.
SAF commander and interim head of state General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan is very
much alive, and has spoken to the Arabic-language media (and to foreign
diplomats) repeatedly. An RSF attempt early on to take SAF General Headquarters
failed, so the Army's leadership seems to be intact and working.
While it is clear that SAF, as of this writing, has the upper hand, it is not
exactly clear what its internal posture actually is, or who is in real control
of the country's regular armed forces. While they are all opposed to Dagalo and
RSF, army leaders are not exactly speaking with one voice. Al-Burhan seems to
have taken the high road – talking of a return to the status quo as of December
2019 or trying to differentiate between RSF and Hemedti himself. He has called
for negotiations to stop the fighting, while making clear that the RSF must be
incorporated into the SAF- but other voices are calling for a harder line.
One of the interesting early developments as fighting broke out was the release
from captivity of Major General Abdel Baqi Al-Bakrawi, former SAF Deputy
Commander of the Armored Corps, who had launched a failed coup in September 2021
aimed as much against Hemedti as against the civilian interim government (that
government that was overthrown in October 2021 by Al-Burhan).
After his release from prison, Bakrawi made a point of giving his first
interview to the hardcore Sudanese Islamist satellite channel Tayyiba, which for
years has been supporter of a very hardline against Hemedti. Breathing fire, he
explained that this was a "battle of national dignity" against those who plotted
against the SAF, the Sudanese state, and the Sudanese people, and that the only
voice that should be heard is the voice of the battlefield.[1]
In the statements of some military figures, of civilian supporters of SAF, and
of Islamists, the preference was for the fighting to continue until the RSF was
utterly destroyed. Partisans of the former Al-Bashir dictatorship are openly
pro-SAF.[2] The question then for SAF is not only whether it will prevail – that
seems possible – but who exactly within it is prevailing and to what end. It is
possible that neither Al-Burhan nor Hemedti are fully in charge of all their
forces.
Still another video, released April 21, showed General Yasser Al-Atta, a member
of the ruling military council (where Hemedti is still, bizarrely, vice
chairman), cheering on a long column of SAF troops mounted on technicals heading
into battle. Al-Atta's name has been whispered in the past as a successor to Al-Burhan.
He was one of the members of the security committee that agreed to disperse the
sit-in of the General Command in Khartoum in June 2019, resulting in the deaths
of hundreds of civilians (Hemedti's RSF was also involved in this slaughter).
Al-Atta had also been criticized for the negative role he played as head of the
Empowerment Removal Committee, tasked with seizing the assets of the previous
regime. He was seen more as blocking the work of the Committee rather than
facilitating it.[3]
A SAF statement issued April 24 made it clear that RSF's days were numbered,
calling it "a former institution" that "rebelled" against the state (thereby
identifying SAF as the state, of course) and calling on RSF members to surrender
and be incorporated into the ranks of te SAF.[4] Evidently, the 2021 military
coup did not constitute "rebellion" against the state in Sudan.
The situation is fluid but, so far, not only has the military establishment
appeared to have the upper hand, but hardline and Islamist members are raising
their profiles with seemingly greater impunity. The confrontation with their
bitter rival has in a sense blessed or normalized all who chose to stand with
the SAF against Hemedti. Some pro-army discourse also includes ultra-nationalist
or xenophobic discourse eerily similar to what one might hear in Cairo.
Rapid Support Forces (RSF)
The good news for the RSF and Hemedti is that they still exist, are still
fighting, and are present in many locations across the country. Their mobility
and ability to hit and run is an advantage as much as airpower has been a major
advantage for SAF. They probably maintain a stronger presence than SAF in Darfur
but even there, every state capital is either contested or still in SAF's hands.
The rest of the news for the RSF is bad. They failed, in the early hours of the
fighting, in the priority task of cutting off the head of the SAF "snake" – the
SAF leadership. They struck important locations but failed to take many of them,
or to keep the ones they did take. At the same time, numerous civilian observers
have been witnesses or victims of looting, robbery, and murder at the hands of
poorly disciplined RSF troops. If Hemedti and the RSF had a poor reputation
before, it is much worse now among the people of Khartoum. Meanwhile, the RSF
defiantly claims that it will only submit to an accounting by a
(yet-to-be-formed) civilian government, rather than the SAF.
It is as if both sides have reverted to type: the SAF is bombing
indiscriminately in Khartoum, hitting civilians as SAF tries to strike elusive
RSF units in a city of 10 million people – in an echo of bloody decades of SAF
bombing of civilians in rebel held areas of Darfur or Nuba Mountains or what is
now South Sudan. Meanwhile, the RSF are acting like bandits and highwaymen in
Khartoum, as they so often did in Darfur, treating the population of the capital
in ways similar to how they dealt with their tribal enemies in Darfur during the
days before the RSF was formed.
The RSF may be able to hold on and survive, but it is hard to see how they can
win outright. Even in Darfur, Hemedti had numerous rivals among his own Darfuri
Arab community and non-Arabs, who will be licking their chops at the possibility
of becoming the region's new big men backed by Khartoum. And if there is one
thing that Khartoum elites know how to do, it is to turn one ethnic or tribal
group against another in the country's vast hinterlands. Hemedti's improbable
and ambitious political project seems balanced on the edge of a knife and on the
verge of falling.
The RSF certainly will never have the influence and presence in the Nile Valley
that they boasted of before this conflict. The best they can hope for is a
bloody draw, a low intensity conflict that leads to some sort of stalemate and a
new deal. This would be a disaster for a Sudanese people already suffering from
a deep economic and social crisis even before the first shot of this fight was
heard. A third of the country's population already needed emergency food aid
before the fighting began.
Sudan's Civilians
As a result of the fighting, Sudan's civilians are experiencing suffering in
ways and places never seen before. Sudan has experienced decades of war and
displacement for decades. But Khartoum was for years, paradoxically, the place
to which where people suffering bombing and bloody conflict would flee from
war-torn regions. Now thousands are fleeing the capital to the countryside,
unsure of when they can return and what will remain when they get there.
Khartoum saw some minor war damage as a result of rebel raids in 1976 and 2008,
but never this type of destruction.
Despite the terrible suffering inflicted on the civilian population in the past
days, the war has revealed the very best qualities of Sudan's civilian
population, as activists and ordinary citizens used social media to share scarce
resources, share information, and try to rescue desperate people trapped in the
fighting. Particularly noteworthy was the work of the Resistance Committees. The
same activists that marched and faced the bullets in demonstrating against the
military dictatorship worked to save lives during the conflict. In sharp relief,
Sudan's political parties have been mostly passive as they seek to calculate how
to ingratiate themselves with the winning side, but it is the Resistance
Committees – often patronized and belittled by foreign diplomats – who turned
out to be the real heroes. Most Sudanese want the fighting to stop.
The International Community
After Sudan's innocent and long-suffering civilians, both the RSF and the
international community working on Sudan are probably the biggest losers in this
conflict to date. While the SAF and RSF have their regional patrons who will
pursue their interests in propping up their patrons as much as possible, Western
countries and their diplomacy, along with the work of UN diplomats, have been
exposed as futile and short-sighted. There have been allegations made of direct
or indirect support, since the fighting began, for one of the factions by Egypt,
Khalifa Haftar's Libya, Russia, the UAE, and Eritrea, often by interested
parties, but not fully confirmed.
It also seems clear to anyone who is honest that the October 25, 2021 military
coup against the civilian government led by Prime Minister Abdullah Hamdok was a
disaster, a clear precursor and key contributor to this current conflict.
Carried out by Al-Burhan's SAF with the tacit approval of Hemedti, the coup
strengthened both rival military factions and sharpened their competition while
dealing a deadly blow to a civilian counterweight to the generals that could
have prevented the fighting.
No one, including the United States, lifted a finger to actually punish the
generals who carried out the 2021 military coup. Somehow, it was felt to be
acceptable by those in authority to have, for well over a year, two armies and
no government in Sudan. Washington either didn't care or, more likely, burdened
by multiple crises elsewhere, placed its hopes in UN mediation and on the
arrival of a new U.S. ambassador in Khartoum – the first in decades – in August
2022. He lasted eight months before the U.S. Embassy was evacuated.
If diplomacy on Sudan was difficult and clumsy before, with diplomats on the
ground trying to manage a democratic transition, it will be even harder with
them outside the country and hobbled with the added burden of immediate problems
such as trying to stop the fighting and provide humanitarian assistance. The
so-called Trilateral Mechanism (African Union-United Nations-Intergovernmental
Authority on Development) held a "virtual meeting" on Sudan on April 19 to try
to plot a path forward.
But the international community has also been discredited with a key audience,
the Sudanese people, who see months and years of expensive, futile foreign
diplomatic coddling of the men with guns leading to disaster. What Sudanese
feared could happen has finally arrived, and the international community needs
to reevaluate many of their cherished premises and take a hard look in the
mirror at their own actions.
A bullet or a bomb falling on the right person could change the equation in the
coming hours or days. But the dueling specters of either anarchic, atavistic
fighting or of military dictatorship loom larger than they have in years in
Sudan, while the dream held by so many Sudanese of a transition to something
much different and better seems to have become more distant. It is not clear
whether the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people will be safer in the
near future, with one predatory military institution instead of two.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Youtube.com/watch?v=Kmo9oXgnTl0&t=647s, April 19, 2023.
[2] Twitter.com/atafmohamed3/status/1649980755416686594, April 22, 2023.
[3] Twitter.com/6a7a_hussein/status/1649382987845312514, April 21, 2023.
[4] Twitter.com/wasilalitaha/status/1650469246953050116, April 24, 2023.