Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 07-08/2023
The Seventh of August 2001 Crime Remembrance Day, and the importance of not forgetting those who committed it, and those who later betrayed and sold it heroes
Elias Bejjani/07 August/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/120902/120902/
It is important for every Free and dignified Lebanese Free Citizen to remember August 07 Crime, and at the same time never turn a blind eye to those who planned and implemented it in a bid to target and terrorize the free and sovereign youth of Lebanon.
It is very important that we do not ally with them, bury our heads in the sand, and hide behind Dhimmitude and taqiyya camouflage cowardice stances.
In summary let the curse of earth and Heaven be upon those who betrayed the Lebanese holy cause and sold it to join the terrorist the Assad's regime and Hezbollah such as Aoun, his son-in-law, and their sheep, while evilly exchanging sovereignty with governing posts.
The Seventh Of August 2001 was a great day to be remembered with pride, hope and faith.
Justice in Lebanon will remain a mirage as long as it is occupied by the terrorist Hezbollah, and governed by local Trojans.

BDL in crisis management: Lebanon faces short-term solutions for state funding
LBCI/August 07/2023
Governmental sources have indicated that immediate solutions for state funding, mainly securing salaries and wages, may be available in the short term while utilizing the remaining Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Potential treasury revenues in dollars, estimated at around 35 percent of the total budget of about $2 billion, could offer some relief. However, these sources expressed concerns over the prolonged duration of the crisis. According to the sources, the absence of a president for the republic could lead to halting dollar-denominated salary support, as the gap between market rates and the Sayrafa exchange rate remains around LBP 4,000. To address this issue, the government might consider increasing this gap in local currency, contingent on maintaining the current exchange rate stability. Furthermore, the state could collect dollars from the market through customs fees in dollars for a specific amount of time, provided that certain legal amendments are made. The sources revealed that there are dollar-denominated consequences that cannot be disregarded, including the repayment of loans to international institutions and financial funds, as well as funding for critical medications and partial financing for wheat imports. On the other hand, there has been no communication yet between the Finance Ministry and the Acting Governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL), Wassim Mansouri, and the deputy governors. Sources from the Finance Ministry stated that some ideas are under discussion, and Minister Youssef Khalil might meet with them in the upcoming days. These developments are unfolding amidst the realities conveyed to officials in various state administrations, indicating that the BDL will not retract its decision to reject any dollar withdrawals from compulsory reserves. The government is urged to address its situation accordingly.
As the crisis continues, Lebanon grapples with the urgent need for viable funding solutions, and policymakers face the challenge of navigating complex economic circumstances. The uncertain political landscape further complicates the search for sustainable remedies to overcome the financial crisis.

Interior Minister stands firm: Securing Lebanon's future amidst armed challenges
LBCI/August 07/2023
Caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, emphasized after the Central Security Council meeting on Monday that "What is required is the absence of any armed individual on Lebanese territories, and we do not execute anyone's agendas."He further noted that Arab countries are Lebanon's friends, concerned about its interests, and unafraid of security incidents. "As for us, we must preserve the security of our country, and what is happening in the camps should not extend beyond them."He pointed out that "there are armed groups in the camps, and this is under the responsibility of the Army, which acts with precision, wisdom. The Army's leadership is aware and knows how to handle the circumstances." He expressed his concern for the Arabs present on Lebanese territories, "no less than our concern for the Lebanese," affirming to Arab embassies and Arab brethren that "we maintain their security, and our ongoing communication with Arab embassies underscores the Arabs' commitment to Lebanon."

Information Minister assures progress on Tele Liban employee entitlements
LBCI/August 07/2023
The caretaker Information Minister, Engineer Ziad Makari, received a delegation from the Labor Union, led by Bechara Al-Asmar, at his office in the ministry. After the meeting, Al-Asmar pointed out that their visit was to thank the Information Minister for his continuous and persistent efforts to secure Lebanese Television employees' rights (Tele Liban). He stated that these rights include salary and entitlements since November 2021. He emphasized that Minister Makari informed them that these entitlements are ready at the Finance Ministry's Treasury Department and are being executed and made available for disbursement. He called for a positive approach between the union of Tele Liban employees and the Information Ministry, as the minister is working to address the root causes of the dire situation at the television station by securing the necessary revenues to ensure a type of balance and financial independence for Tele Liban. Al-Asmar stated that a positive resolution begins with a dialogue with the minister to end the harmful strike, especially considering that Tele Liban is the national television that conveys the voice of the Lebanese people beyond sectarian and factional boundaries.

Mawlawi reassures Arabs after Central Security Council meeting
Agence France Presse/August 07/2023
Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi on Monday reassured that Lebanese authorities “have taken all the necessary measures to prevent the spread of clashes to areas outside the Ain el-Helweh camp and to preserve the security of Lebanese and Arab brothers.”“Our keenness on Arabs present on Lebanese soil is not less than our keenness on the Lebanese,” Mawlawi said after a meeting of the Central Security Council. “There is no security information that things might spiral out of control at the Ain el-Helweh camp and eventually spread to other camps,” the minister reassured. He added: “There will be no bargaining over the enforcement of the law and we won’t accept to be dragged into another situation.”“Lebanon is not a mailbox and we will not permit that it become an arena for sending messages,” Mawlawi went on to say. The Central Security Council meeting was held at the instructions of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, after the embassies of the Gulf countries issues Lebanon travel warnings for their citizens. "Following discussions with military and security chiefs, the available information indicates that the security situation in general does not call for concern and panic, and that the political and security contacts to address the Ain el-Helweh camp clashes have made major progress," Mikati said on Saturday. Mikati also tasked caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib to "communicate with the Arab brothers to reassure them over the safety of their citizens in Lebanon." The Army Command meanwhile denied social media rumors claiming that the army is "preparing to carry out a military operation in the Ain al-Helweh camp." The Saudi embassy on Friday warned its citizens against "nearing the areas that are witnessing armed conflicts," while urging them to "quickly leave Lebanese territory and abide by the decision banning the travel of Saudis to Lebanon." The Kuwaiti embassy for its part called on its citizens to "observe caution and vigilance, stay away from the sites of security disturbances in some regions, and abide by the instructions issued by the competent local authorities." The UAE, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman later issued similar travel warnings. Relations between Lebanon and Gulf Arab states have at times been strained over the growing regional influence of Lebanon's pro-Iran Hezbollah. Since 2021, Saudis have had to obtain their government's permission before traveling to Lebanon due to strained bilateral ties.
Riyadh returned its ambassador to Beirut in April 2022, just over five months after recalling him amid a diplomatic dispute pitting Lebanon against several Gulf monarchies. Riyadh also suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April 2021, saying shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Lebanon of inaction.

Mikati affirms confidence in Acting Governor's plan amidst budget discussions
LBCI/August 07/2023
The caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati announced that the agenda will be postponed to the next session, and the discussion will be limited to the budget law with the hope of completing it during this session. As for the 2024 budget, it is currently being prepared to be discussed concurrently with finalizing the 2023 budget, and the decision will be up to the Parliament whether to merge both budgets or study them separately. During the opening of the Cabinet session, the Prime Minister also stated that the Education Minister requested the issuance of a decree for holding extraordinary exam sessions for intermediate and secondary school certificates, considering the time constraints. Regarding recent media reports, Mikati clarified that they are unrelated to the truth. He had a lengthy meeting with the Acting Governor of the Banque du Liban (BDL) on Saturday, and they reached an agreement on a clear plan. In addition, the Prime Minister expressed confidence in the Acting Governor and the plan. He noted that the Finance Minister is currently exploring the most suitable and expeditious approach to address the matter. He also requested the Finance Minister to provide accurate numbers related to special drawing rights, as they want to avoid any issues regarding salaries and medicines in August.  The goal is to account for all the amounts spent and their allocation clearly. In response to the warning statements issued by Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), Mikati emphasized that the security agencies' data does not indicate any exceptional security situation. He mentioned that there is unrest in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. On Sunday, Mikati held a lengthy meeting with the Palestinian leadership in Lebanon and Lebanese security officials, and they agreed on a specific mechanism that the Palestinians will adhere to, leading to a statement from the Palestinian side on this matter.

Berri, Jumblat say Lebanon travel warnings by Gulf nations 'incomprehensible'
Naharnet/August 07/2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who met Sunday in Ain el-Tineh, were both confused about statements by Gulf nations warning their citizens not to travel to Lebanon. Bahrain had called on its citizens to leave Lebanon "for their own safety" hours after Saudi Arabia did the same without giving a reason. Qatar called on Qataris in Lebanon to stay away from Ain el-Helweh and the UAE reminded its citizens of a travel ban that has been in effect for years. Kuwait and Oman also issued travel warnings. "The events of Ain al-Helweh are confined to the immediate area and haven't extended to other parts of the country," Berri told al-Jadeed. He added that he had discussed the Gulf nations' statements with Jumblat and that both did not understand the reason behind them. The Saudi embassy in Beirut posted a statement late Friday night on X, formerly known as Twitter, calling on its citizens to avoid going to areas where there are "armed conflicts" and also to leave Lebanon quickly. The decision by the Gulf nations came after days of fighting in the largest Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon between members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah group and militants of Islamic groups. The four days of fighting in Ain el-Helweh camp near the southern port city of Sidon have left 13 people dead and dozens wounded. "We both did not understand the reason behind the embassies' warnings," Jumblat stated after meeting Berri, as he considered the situation in Ain el-Helweh to be under control. "It seems that there are things that we do not know," the former PSP leader added.

UNRWA starts cleaning Ain el-Helweh camp, hopes to open all facilities soon
Naharnet /August 07/2023
UNRWA has congratulated concerned parties to their efforts in returning calm to the Ain el-Helweh camp following armed clashes that took place during the past week. "Over the past two days, the Agency had already collected solid waste from some areas within the camp through a private contractor. "Starting tomorrow, UNRWA Sanitation Laborers will commence their work in areas least affected by the armed hostilities. Expansion to other areas will need to be preceded by an assessment and clearing of remnants of war," UNRWA said in a statement. It added that it hopes to open all of its facilities soonest starting with the Health Center II.

Abbas tells Mikati Fatah committed to Ain el-Helweh truce
Naharnet/August 07/2023
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has sent caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati a message saying that the Fatah Movement is “committed to the ceasefire in Ain el-Helweh,” informed sources said. The message was relayed by Palestinian Authority envoy Azzam al-Ahmad, who met with Mikati on Sunday, the sources told al-Akhbar newspaper in remarks published Monday. Abbas also said that Fatah is committed to the ceasefire’s terms as to the withdrawal of gunmen from the streets and the handover of wanted individuals. “Fatah and the Palestine Liberation Organization are committed to cooperation with the (Lebanese) state’s institutions and coordination with (Lebanese) security agencies and army,” the sources quoted Abbas as saying. “Al-Ahmad complained that Palestinian General Intelligence Service Director Majed Faraj has been held responsible for what happened in the camp, noting that his visit (to the camp a week before the clashes) had been misinterpreted,” the sources added. “The Palestinian delegation meanwhile heard a demonstration of the threats that the country is going through, the last of which was the calls by a number of embassies for their citizens to leave Lebanon,” the sources said.
Mikati demanded that the situation in camps be brought under control “because the country can no longer bear” further deterioration, the sources added. “It was agreed to task the head of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee Bassel al-Hassan with following up with the army and General Security on the file of handing over those wanted over the latest and previous clashes,” the sources said. Moreover, Mikati asked al-Ahmad whether Fatah was ready to “hand over Mohammed Zubeidat, who is accused of opening fire on the Islamists and triggering the latest clashes,” the sources added. “PLO and Fatah secretary Fathi Abou al-Ardat stressed that Fatah was ready to do so,” the sources went on to say.

Bukhari: KSA to back Lebanon tourism if Lebanese resolve crisis
Naharnet /August 07/2023
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari on Monday confirmed that the kingdom’s warning to its citizens to leave Lebanon was linked to the latest deadly clashes in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh. “Saudi Arabia is keen on its citizens wherever they may be,” Bukhari told a delegation from the Renewal for Homeland Movement that was led by Charles Arbid. “Saudi Arabia has been and will be one of the biggest supporters of tourism in Lebanon and the coming period will prove that if the Lebanese reach a solution for their crisis,” Bukhari added. Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Monday that deadly violence in Ain el-Helweh had abated, in a bid to ease fears after Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states warned citizens against travel to the country. "Security and intelligence services... have no information that the situation could spin out of control and spill over to other camps," the interior minister told reporters. Thirteen people were killed in several days of violence that erupted on July 28 -- the worst in years -- pitting members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement against Islamist militants. Last week, Arab Gulf countries -- some of which have already banned their citizens from traveling to Lebanon -- issued warnings urging their nationals to exercise caution in the country, or emphasizing travel restrictions. The moves caught Lebanese by surprise, coming after a cautious calm returned to Ain el-Helweh, where outbreaks of violence are common. Saudi Arabia called on citizens to avoid areas where clashes erupted, and to leave Lebanon immediately, recalling a travel ban already in place. The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain followed suit, while Qatar, Kuwait and Oman urged their citizens to exercise caution and avoid unsafe areas. Gulf nations have issued travel warnings over security incidents in Lebanon in the past. Relations between Beirut and Gulf Arab states have at times been strained over the growing regional influence of Lebanon's pro-Iran Hezbollah. Since 2021, Saudis have had to obtain their government's permission before travelling to Lebanon due to strained bilateral ties. Riyadh returned its ambassador to Beirut in April 2022, just over five months after recalling him amid a diplomatic dispute pitting Lebanon against several Gulf monarchies. Riyadh also suspended fruit and vegetable imports from Lebanon in April 2021, saying shipments were being used for drug smuggling and accusing Beirut of inaction.

Report: Foreign forces behind Ain el-Helweh clashes
Naharnet/August 07/2023
The latest tensions in the region had a “direct link” to the deadly armed clashes that erupted on July 28 in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Helweh in south Lebanon, a senior Western diplomat said. “Foreign forces incited hardline armed factions in the camp in an attempt to seize control of it, which resulted in the assassination of Palestinian National Security official Abou Ashraf al-Armoushi and a number of his companions,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted the diplomat as saying, in remarks published Monday. “A prominent Gulf state meanwhile intervened by financing the Fatah Movement to prevent the spread of the hardliners,” the diplomat said. “The Lebanese Army is carrying out very calculated security missions, including the encirclement of the camp’s entrances, with the aim of preventing the defeat of the Fatah Movement in it, disallowing any gunmen from leaving it and protecting the very vital South highway,” the diplomat added. Hezbollah is meanwhile “in favor of maintaining balance between the warring factions and its decision is not to intervene as long as the army is in control of things and the South highway is secure,” the diplomat said. “In response to the use of the hardline militants card and the financing of the other group (Fatah) by a certain country, and in the face of the return of (drug) smuggling and the creation of tensions in the region, Saudi Arabia expressed its anger and dismay through asking the 400 Saudi citizens in Lebanon to leave it, after they had come to Lebanon through Turkey in violation of their country’s travel ban for Lebanon,” the diplomat added.

Lebanon to send two choppers to help fight Cyprus wildfire
Associated Press/August 07/2023
Lebanon is sending two helicopters to join Greek and Jordanian aircraft in helping European Union member Cyprus fight a blaze that has scorched miles of mountainous terrain, an official said Monday. Cyprus Foreign Ministry spokesman Theodoros Gotsis told The Associated Press that neighboring Lebanon is expected to send a pair of choppers as the wildfire continues to reignite on several fronts. Two Greek Canadair aircraft have been dispatched to help douse the fire in the mountains about 11 miles (17 kilometers) north of the coastal town of Limassol. Jordan is sending three aircraft of its own, including two Super Puma helicopters and a Russian-made Mi26 helicopter. The multinational effort is battling a blaze that has scorched as much as 4 square miles (10 square kilometers) of land. Environment Ministry Secretary Andreas Gregoriou, who is coordinating firefighting efforts, told state-run Cyprus News Agency that talks are ongoing with Israel for additional air support if needed. Greece's Civil Protection Ministry said 20 tons of fire retardant is also on its way to Cyprus. Fire Department spokesman Andreas Kettis posted on the platform known as X, formerly Twitter, that although the fire was brought under partial control early Monday, it rekindled along several areas, forcing air and ground crews to again mobilize. The spokesman had earlier posted that ground crews were working to hem in the blaze by building firebreaks. Officials expressed concerns that the fire could rekindle because of expected strong winds later in the day. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou tweeted on X that he has given instructions for an initial estimate of the damage to private and state-owned property. Officials said the residents of three villages have returned to their homes after being instructed to evacuate as a precaution. Gregoriou, who surveyed the area by helicopter along with the country's fire chief, told state broadcaster CyBC that "hundreds" of fire fighters, including volunteers, managed to contain the fire overnight because winds had died down considerably. The fire started Friday, but authorities said a day later it had been contained. Gregoriou said the blaze apparently reignited on its own, dispelling suggestions that it could've been the work of arsonists.

War, migration, and art: Aida Sabra's impactful unveiling of a mother's story
LBCI/August 07/2023
A mother forced to migrate with her children during the Lebanese civil war, transitioning emotions from pain to anger, solitude, and courage. This is the first role played by veteran actress Aida Sabra since she migrated to Canada for the second time in July 2020 due to the economic crisis.
She performed this role in Paris, in her native Arabic language, on the stage of La Colline Theater, directed by the renowned Lebanese director and writer Wajdi Mouawad. Mouawad has devoted his art to addressing the memory of the Lebanese war, and in the play "Mere," he narrates his mother's story. This story has opened a window onto the global stage for Aida Sabra. Sabra embraces her migration positively as a committed actress who never ceases to reinvent herself and her art, just as she remains committed to Lebanon, even from afar. "I am committed to this country (...) because I know its potential (...) Commitment is a way of expressing non-surrender. And I believe a person never stops changing in their life as long as they have experience and a thinking mind." She also participates in other film and theater projects in Canada. As for the theater in Lebanon, she continues to follow its creators, hoping that someday they will achieve the only thing they lack: funding.

Ministerial Meeting in Diman: Power Struggle and Challenges to Constitutionalism
LBCI/August 07/2023
Last Wednesday, while Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rahi and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati stood on one of the balconies of the Patriarchal See in Diman, overlooking the Valley of the Saints, admiring its natural beauty, al-Rahi said to his guest, "If all the ministers came to this place, perhaps they would agree on everything thanks to the purity of the environment and nature."Soon after the meeting, the humor turned into reality, and it translated into a ministerial meeting in Diman at eleven o'clock on Tuesday morning to discuss a series of thorny issues. The discussion will continue what started last week regarding the Syrian refugees, economic, financial, and security matters. As there is no set agenda, the debate will be open, and it may be attended by several bishops present in Diman if they wish to do so. Despite the boycott by Christian ministers, the meeting's schedule remains unchanged. While the Free Patriotic Movement ministers maintain their stance on the boycott, the Minister of Tourism, who participates in the cabinet sessions, reaffirmed his initial position of boycotting the Diman meeting. As for the ministers accompanying Mikati are ministers from Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, and the Marada Movement, as well as ministers Amin Salam, Abbas Halabi, George Bouchikian, and Issam Sharaf al-Din. Notably, the ministers Najla Riahi and George Kallas, affiliated with Mikati, were part of the delegation that accompanied him to Diman the previous week. On the eve of the ministerial meeting, it is evident that it will intensify the government's power struggle between Mikati and the Free Patriotic Movement. FPM sources said it rejects having someone else dictate to al-Rahi whom to receive. However, it is observed that such a meeting reinforces the trends of undermining the principles of constitutionalism as if it is a carte blanche for someone who has yet to find a way to violate the constitution and constitutionalism.

Berri tackles developments with Ghanaian Foreign Minister and UN’s Wronecka, welcomes newly accredited Indian Ambassador
NNA/August 07/2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Monday welcomed at his Ain al-Tineh residence Ghanaian Foreign Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, with whom he discussed general developments, the historical friendship between both countries and peoples, as well as the best means to strengthen them at various levels, especially within the legislative field. For his part, Speaker Berri, thanked "the Republic of Ghana's presidency, government, parliament, and people for their fraternal and humane embrace of the Lebanese community in Ghana, and the historical Ghanaian participation in UNIFIL forces since 1978.” Speaker Berri separately broached the country’s general developments with United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka. Berri also received the newly accredited Indian Ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Noor Al-Rahman Al-Sheikh, who paid him a protocol visit upon assuming his new diplomatic mission as his country's ambassador to Lebanon. The meeting reviewed the general situation in Lebanon and the region and bilateral relations between the two countries.

Mikati meets Caretaker Ministers of Foreign Affairs, National Defense, chairs meeting over health sector affairs, receives Lebanese...
NNA/August 07/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday held talks with Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib at the Grand Serail. The pair discussed an array of ministerial affairs.Premier also met at the Grand Serail with Caretaker National Defense Minister, Maurice Sleem, with whom he discussed relevant ministerial affairs. On the other hand, Premier Mikati chaired at the Grand Serail a meeting over the health sector affairs, including the medicines and hospitalization issues. The meeting was attended by Caretaker Public Health Minister, Dr. Firas Abiad, and parliamentary health committee members, chaired by MP Bilal Abdullah. Mikati later met the President of the Lebanese University, Bassam Badran, with whom he discussed university related issues. The PM also received MP Bilal Hashimi, with whom he discussed an array of affairs related to the Beqai district. Mikati then met with General Labor Confederation Head Bechara Asmar, accompanied by the Director General of the National Social Security Fund, Dr. Mohammed Karaki. Discussions reportedly touched on the current conditions of the NSSF. Mikati also received United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon, Imran Riza, in the presence of Mikati’s Advisor Ziad Mikati. Discussions touched on the "International Conference on Sustainable Development" to be held in New York, and Lebanon's participation in it.
Discussions also touched on developmental projects in Lebanon.

Mikati chairs cabinet session over 2023 state budget at Grand Serail
NNA/August 07/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Monday said that the cabinet’s agenda would be postponed till next session, noting that “discussions will be limited to the state budget draft law with the hope of completing it during today’s session.” Moreover, the Prime Minister stated that the Education Minister had requested the issuance of a decree for holding extraordinary exam sessions for intermediate and secondary school certificates. Regarding recent media reports, Mikati made it clear that they were far from the truth. “I had a lengthy meeting with the Lebanese Central Bank’s Acting Governor on Saturday, and we’ve reached an agreement over a clear plan,” the PM maintained. In addition, the Mikati expressed full confidence in the Acting Governor and the plan agreed upon. He noted that the Finance Minister was currently exploring the most suitable and swift approach to address the matter without facing issues with salaries and medicines in August. As for the travel warning statements recently issued by Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC), Mikati ruled out any exceptional security situation as per the country’s security apparatuses. As for the unrest being witnessed in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, Mikati said that he had held a lengthy meeting with the Palestinian leadership in Lebanon and with Lebanese security officials. “We’ve agreed on a specific mechanism that the Palestinians will adhere to, leading to a statement from the Palestinian side on this matter,” Mikati concluded.

Army Commander follows up on latest developments at Ain El-Hilweh refugee camp with Palestinian delegation
NNA/August 07/2023
Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Monday welcomed in Yarzeh Palestinian Liberation Organization and "Fatah" movement member, Minister Azzam Al-Ahmad, who visited him in the company of Palestinian ambassador to Lebanon, Ashraf Dabour, and "Fatah" Secretary, Fathi Abu Al-Ardat.The meeting reportedly discussed the latest developments in Ain El-Hilweh refugee camp.

Two Army helicopters carrying 13 officers arrive in Larnaca to help extinguish fires
NNA/August 07/2023
The Lebanese Army Command on Monday said in a statement that two helicopters type AB-212 (Agusta-Bell) of the Lebanese Air Force, carrying a group of 13 members, including army officers and technicians, have arrived at Larnaca Airport - Cyprus to support the Cypriot authorities in extinguishing fires.

Sami Gemayel demands urgent release of forensic audit report on Banque du Liban
NNA/August 07/2023
Kataeb Leader Samy Gemayel sent on Monday a letter to Caretaker Minister of Finance Youssef Khalil, requesting the implementation of the urgent decision issued by the expedited judge, Carl Irani, with reference number 627/2022-2023. The decision obliges Caretaker Minister of Finance to provide Gemayel with a copy of the preliminary report regarding the forensic audit of the accounts and activities of the Banque Du Liban, prepared by "Alvarez & Marsal" company, immediately and without any delay. On June 27, 2023, Gemayel had previously submitted a request to the Ministry of Finance to obtain the information, seeking to be provided with a copy of the forensic audit report based on the Right to Access Information Law number 28, dated February 20, 2017. When Caretaker Minister of Finance rejected his request, Gemayel resorted to the State Shura Council, which ruled that the report belongs to the Lebanese people, who have the right to be informed, parallel to any administrative or judicial authority, of the real, legal, and undisclosed reasons that led to the collapse of the entire economic and financial system of the Lebanese state. The Shura Council's decision also emphasized that the Ministry of Finance cannot use the confidentiality clause included in the contract between "Alvarez & Marsal" company and the Lebanese Republic, as it contradicts the provisions of the Right to Access Information Law. -- Kataeb .org

No tourist exodus from Lebanon despite Gulf nations’ warnings about
Arab News/August 07, 2023
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s interior minister, Bassam Mawlawi, said on Monday that the recent deadly violence at a Palestinian refugee camp had abated, as officials attempted to ease concerns after Gulf states warned their citizens against traveling to the country. “The situation in Ain Al-Helweh camp has now calmed down,” he said, referring to the restive camp in southern Lebanon, the largest of its kind in the country, where armed clashes broke out between members of Fatah and extremist organizations on July 29. “We maintain the security of Arab nationals and communicate with Arab embassies to confirm that.”
The minister’s reassurance came as Fadi Al-Hassan, the director general of Lebanon’s Civil Aviation Authority denied suggestions spreading on social media that large numbers of people are fleeing the country on flights from Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut. Arrivals and departures are operating as usual and passenger levels are normal for the time of year, he said. “Things are still the same,” Al-Hassan added, noting that the airport is extremely busy with people arriving in the country for summer vacations. Officials from organizations related to the tourism, travel and hotel sectors similarly reported no sign of a tourist exodus from Lebanon. The reassurances came after Arab and other countries advised their nationals in Lebanon to take precautions by avoiding the areas around Ain Al-Hilweh refugee camp, or to leave the country. An observer at the airport in Beirut said the number of arrivals last month increased by 12 percent to 924,000, compared with July 2022. The observer said that most of those who arrived were Lebanese expatriates who plan to spend between one and two months in the country and will begin to leave around mid-August for work or to enroll their children in schools overseas.
The airport has recorded the arrival of about 16,000 passengers and the departure of 15,000 since the start of August. Sources said a number of music festivals have taken place in Lebanon this year, which has helped to boost reservations at hotels and guest houses, with knock-on effects for restaurants and nightclubs. Official statistics for air travel, travel agencies and hotel bookings suggest that about a million tourists have arrived in Lebanon so far during the summer season. Jean Abboud, head of the Association of Travel and Tourist Agents in the country, said the tourism sector does not appear to have experienced any repercussions following the warnings about the recent violence from nations in the Gulf and Europe. There have been no reports of canceled reservations, he added, and expatriates continue to arrive. The number of arrivals at Rafic Hariri International Airport currently averages between 20,000 and 21,000 a day, Abboud said, and the number of daily flights exceeds 100. This pace is expected to continue until the end of August, he added. The arrivals include growing numbers visitors from countries that are not traditionally big sources of tourism for Lebanon, he said, which shows the success of efforts by tourism businesses and agencies in the private sector to market Lebanon internationally and put it back on the global tourism map, particularly in Europe, which is helping to support the beleaguered national economy. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mawlawi said that Lebanese authorities will not tolerate any criminal activities and security operations are continuing to identify and detain those responsible for the violence in Ain Al-Hilweh camp. There was no indication that the situation had escalated or spread to other camps, he added. “Lebanon is not a mailbox and we will not allow it to be a theater for sending messages,” he said. The minister was speaking after presiding over a meeting of the country’s Central Security Council that included representatives of the security, military and judicial services. It was called after the warnings from all GCC embassies to their nationals. “We appreciate the measures taken by the army to prevent the situation in Ain Al-Hilweh from breaking loose,” Mawlawi added. He said the atmosphere had been calmed and “what is required is the absence of any armed men on Lebanese soil, and we do not implement anyone’s agendas.”He added: “There are armed groups in the camps. The matter is in the hands of the army, which acted with precision and wisdom, and the army leadership is prudent and knows how to deal with the circumstances.”

WCCR Applauds Senator Risch and Congressmen Issa, LaHood and Miller
On August 3, 2023, two strongly worded letters were mailed to President Biden and Secretary Blinken concerning the deteriorating situation in Lebanon. The first was written by Senator James E. Risch, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and addressed to President Biden. In it, the Senator lays out the deep problems facing Lebanon and its failure to curb the growing power of Hezbollah, noting the failure of the Parliament to elect a President for the twelfth time, as well as the failure to fully investigate the horrific Beirut Port bombing of three years ago. The Senator detailed the growing influence of Hezbollah and its infiltration of numerous government institutions and specifically named the Speaker of the Parliament, Nabih Berri, as acting for Hezbollah and called for increased sanctions. The Senator points out how the current administration’s ambiguous policy toward Iran has allowed it to sell oil to China, thereby funding its terrorist proxies, especially Hezbollah, which, in turn, has strengthened its grip on Lebanon. Senator Risch implored President Biden to tighten sanctions on Iran to prevent Lebanon from collapsing and becoming nothing more than a client state of Iran and the launching pad for an Iranian attack on Israel. The second letter was written by Congressman Darrell Issa, senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Congressman Darin LaHood, and Congressman Max Miller. This letter was addressed to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and it, too, argued for stronger U.S. action in the face of the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, exemplified by the stalled investigation into the Beirut Port blast and the repeated failure of the Lebanese Parliament to elect a President. Due to the pernicious influence of Hezbollah, the institutions of Lebanon’s government are weakening to the point of failure. Iran’s dream of a Shi’a crescent extending through Syria and enveloping Lebanon is coming to pass under the feckless Biden administration. WCCR urges strong and sustained action on the part of the UN, France and the United States to prevent once beautiful, sophisticated Lebanon from joining the ranks of failed, terrorist-dominated states. We believe the implementation of UNSCR 1559, even in phases, would eliminate a lot of issues and change the facts on the ground.

LIC renews the call for Truth, Accountability, and International Inquiry
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, DC - August 7, 2023
Lebanon Marks Third Anniversary of Beirut Port Explosion
This past Friday, August 4, marked the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion and the third year without explanation or accountability for one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history. The blast claimed the lives of 220 people, left more than 300,000 residents homeless, and literally shook the entire country. After three years of grief and rebuilding, the families of the victims are no closer to a clear explanation of what happened and why or any hints of accountability for those responsible for creating and maintaining the conditions for such a dangerous explosion at the heart of Lebanon’s capital.
On August 4, 2020, a massive amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the port of Beirut ignited and detonated, causing catastrophic damage to the capital city. The explosion killed 220 people, including citizens of Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, France, Australia, and the United States. The explosive material had been stored alongside flammable material in a poorly secured hangar in the middle of the port for years and, according to a Human Rights Watch report, several high-level military, security, and government officials were aware of the stockpile, foresaw the significant threat to life it posed, and did nothing to mitigate or eliminate the risk to the city and its inhabitants.
For three years, the families of the victims, those left injured or homeless, and the entire Lebanese community has been left in the dark. Their attempts to uncover the truth of why tons of explosives were left unattended and improperly stored and who knew but chose to do nothing have been met not just with disdain and dismissal, but violence and intimidation. Under immediate scrutiny by the international community, the government began an ultimately toothless investigation. The government refused to lift immunity or allow for the prosecution of parliamentarians or senior security officials, refused to compel witnesses to appear for questioning, and refused to fill necessary judicial positions that would allow for the investigation to continue. In addition, security forces violently suppressed peaceful demonstrations by families of the victims who called for transparency and accountability while Hezbollah and Amal Group staged armed protests to intimidate investigators. This willingness of the political elite to use or disregard elements of the government at whim to avoid accountability echoes the currents that shaped this tragedy. The Lebanese people deserve answers for the devastation of August 4, 2020, and for the ongoing political deadlock that sacrifices the health, wealth, and sanity of ordinary citizens to protect and enrich the few. Given the significant loss of life and destruction as well the as evident inability of the Lebanese government to hold a fair and transparent investigation, the Lebanese Information Center (LIC) appeals to the international community to establish an independent, international fact-finding body to conduct a credible and comprehensive investigation into the events of August 4. Specifically, the LIC calls for a UN Human Rights Council resolution calling for such an outside mission. The Lebanese people need a credible, independent inquiry in accordance with the highest international standards. Such an investigation would provide answers for the families, bolster potential domestic efforts to resume their own investigation, provide evidence for future attempts at prosecution of culpable individuals, and make recommendations to Lebanon and the international community on necessary steps to remedy the human rights violations that occurred and ensure similar wanton negligence does not happen again. The LIC continues to work closely with those affected by the explosion and who continue to call for accountability. Following the blast, we raised and delivered $3 million to assist struggling families and those rebuilding their homes. We remain in communication with families of the victims, legal experts, human rights organizations in Lebanon, and certain political officials that are active in pursuing an investigation. Despite continued obstruction from many elements of the governing class, there are still significant aspects of civil society and some members of parliament who are interested in a credible investigation. The Beirut port explosion was a historic tragedy that wrought devastation upon a country already dealing with political, economic, and health crises. Its causes must be unveiled and addressed. Uncovering the truth of what happened on August 4, 2020, is the cornerstone to redressing and rebuilding the country. The hundreds of thousands of individuals who had their lives upended and the millions who saw their capital city disfigured deserve nothing less.
###
The Lebanese Information Center in the U.S. is the largest grassroots organization of Americans of Lebanese descent, committed to building a free, sovereign, and democratic Lebanon for the good of the Lebanese people and in the interest of the United States of America.
LEBANESE INFORMATION CENTER
1101 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Suite 300, Washington, DC 20004
Phone: 202-505-4542 . Fax: 202-318-8409
Email: lic@licus.org www.licus.org

The Incidents in the Ain el-Hilweh Camp and the ‘Missing Link’
Sam Menassa/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 07/2023
There is nothing new about the infighting among the Palestinians in the Ain el-Hilweh camp near Sidon, the capital of southern Lebanon. City locals and the Lebanese in general have grown accustomed to the cyclical violence of the Palestinian factions, and their approach to settling differences, major and minor, in this way. The latest clashes raise many questions. Foremost, will the current ceasefire become a permanent truce (expecting a real settlement is probably excessively ambitious) if the suspected assassins of Fatah’s National Security Commander in Saida, Maj. Gen. Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi, are not handed in. Indeed, this would become particularly difficult if the Lebanese authorities were to apprehend them, given the implications this would have for the future of the relationship between the Lebanese state and Fatah on the one hand, and the other Palestinian factions that would resent this on the other.
The second matter that deserves our attention is the timing. Indeed, these clashes erupted in the immediate aftermath of the meeting between Palestinian factions in El-Alamein late last month. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, along with his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, brought a broad array of Palestinian groups together in an effort to bridge differences and ensure “Palestinian reconciliation.”
The Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and “As-saiqa” did not attend, and we do not need hints from the stars to find the common affiliation shared by the absent faction and the implications of their non-participation.
The recent incidents seen in the camp were an effort to undercut this meeting that sought to settle some of the disputes dividing the Palestinians and began to take deeper dimensions. In fact, it seemed to suggest divergences within the same front, that is, between those opposed to the Palestinian Authority and the Fatah movement, and “Axis of Resistance’s” allied or adjacent parties.
As for the third matter (and it may be among the most critical of them all), it is the absence of Hamas. After playing no role during the recent Israeli military operations in Gaza, nor the one that followed then in Jenin, it was not involved in the events in the Ain el-Hilweh camp. To be more precise, it is now playing the role of mediator and peacemaker.
The fourth point that deserves our attention is that the ceasefire in the camp almost certainly means that the Islamic factions opposed to Fatah have come to control large segments of the camp, thereby undermining Fatah’s control and influence over this pivotal camp.
In this context, several matters regarding the Islamic factions, of which there are over ten. They are small factions run by forces from outside the camp. They are trained, funded and armed. They have a lot of ammunition, meaning they can withstand long battles. They notoriously constantly went and forth from combat missions in Syria and Iraq to the Ain el-Hilweh. This time, facing off against Fatah is an added objective, and their motives are irrelevant to Palestine and the Palestinians.
Undermining the capabilities of Fatah and its grip on the camp, as well as other camps across Lebanon, might be part of a broader comprehensive regional policy that fluctuates depending on tactical objectives. Indeed, several indications from across the region suggest that US-Iranian tensions are rising in the Gulf and on the Syrian-Iraqi borders. Tensions spilled over to the Lebanese-Israeli border, as Hezbollah set up three tents on the disputed border town of Ghajar and Israel began building a barrier.
Moreover, the battle over who will succeed Abu Mazen in the West Bank is close to boiling point, as are the tensions between the Palestinians and the Netanyahu government. It is not difficult to identify who is fomenting these tensions or why they want to undercut reconciliation and inflame the situation in the West Bank, pushing for conflict between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and even between Hamas and Israel. That is the bottom line, the “missing link” that explains the movement’s appeasement efforts amid all of this.
Indeed, its positions are the result of a leaked Israeli deal with Hamas that long aimed at ensuring durable calm between the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv in exchange for economic and financial benefits for the Strip, on land and sea. This explains the undeclared resentment of the “Axis of Resistance”, which believes that Hamas is disregarding the “united front” strategy in Gaza, Jenin, and the Ain el-Hilweh camp. Is any of this good news?
First of all, we must account for the fact that if the reports about an Israeli deal with Hamas on Gaza are accurate, Palestinian divisions will remain entrenched for a long time, and the position of the Palestinian Authority will be undermined further. This is not good news and does not help the Palestinians on any level. Hamas might eventually become the ultimate beneficiary of the infighting, especially in Ain el-Hilweh.
It would reap the fruits of Fatah’s defeat or the weakening of its political control and military capacity. The “Axis of Resistance” factions, despite their differences and even disputes, have achieved their goals of distancing Fatah and weakening it against Hamas, the strongest of all the factions in every camp. This ultimately serves the interests of the Axis and helps it achieve its goals in the region.
As for the implications for Lebanon, they are grave, even without accounting the hardships of the refugees in the camp. Indeed, some Gulf countries have barred their nationals from traveling to Lebanon because of the clashes. Sidon and its surroundings are now exposed to many political and military threats. The coastal highway leading to the cities and villages of southern Lebanon could also become unsafe during a thriving tourist season. Nonetheless, the hope is that the incidents in the camp are not a regional and domestic signal that security and political tensions will be heightened further as heels are dug even further regarding the election of a Lebanese president, with all the repercussions this implies for state institutions and other key vacancies.

The Sterility of Sideline Politics
Michael Young/Carnegie MEC/August 07/2023
The Lebanese Forces have the largest Christian bloc in parliament, but you wouldn’t know that from their policy of splendid isolation.
On Sunday, Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, a Hezbollah official, denounced the continued deadlock in Lebanon over electing a new president, but offered (what he considered) a sliver of good news. Amid the deadlock and tension, Qaouq said, “the only ray of hope in the country is the dialogue between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement,” led by Gebran Bassil.
Two questions immediately came to mind in reading Qaouq’s remarks. The first is how has he, and Hezbollah in general, been allowed to present the FPM as the leading Christian interlocutor with which Hezbollah must speak over the presidency, even though the Lebanese Forces received a greater number of votes in the elections of 2022, Christian votes in particular, and have a larger bloc in parliament? The second is, where on earth are the Lebanese Forces today, because when it comes to politics they are nowhere to be found?
I exaggerate? Certainly, we do hear quite frequently from the party’s leader Samir Geagea, and occasionally from the Lebanese Forces’ parliamentarians. But that’s not the point. When it comes to offering an alternative to the failed governance structure that exists today in Lebanon, what does the party propose? It has been years since the Lebanese Forces have participated in a government, let alone imposed themselves as a pivotal actor in the affairs of the country. Since 2019, the party seems to have retreated into a form of splendid, calcified isolation. In July, Geagea shared his thinking when he said that he would not engage in discussions with Hezbollah, justifying this on the grounds that there was no point “wasting additional time on a dialogue that will not lead anywhere.”
One has to wonder, then, what it means to have the largest Christian bloc in parliament if you just sit back and do nothing with what you’ve attained? Worse, Geagea has seen his sectarian alliances suffer. His relations today with most of the major communities are bad. He doesn’t speak to Hezbollah, is on polite but cool terms with Walid Joumblatt, and has hit a brick wall with the Sunni community, especially the remnants of Saad Hariri’s followers. His ties with the Aounists are transactional, until they no longer will be and the Lebanese Forces and FPM can go back to the familiarity of being hostile.
Bassil has been cleverer on this front. His dialogue with Hezbollah is aimed at achieving several things. First, it ensures that he remains relevant, at a time when quite a few people had written Bassil off after Michel Aoun’s departure from office. He also remains at the heart of resolving the main national crisis today—the inability to elect a president. Second, Bassil has allowed Hezbollah to anoint the FPM as the “most prominent Christian party,” which it isn’t. By going along with that illusion, Bassil is refloating a sinking FPM ship and eroding the Lebanese Forces’ advantage, which Geagea has done nothing to consolidate, Third, Bassil is talking to Lebanon’s most powerful party, a necessity for anyone who wants to play a political role in the country. Geagea, in turn, is only playing coy.
Bassil is also trying to reanimate his interactions with the other communities. In early August, he inaugurated a youth center in the Shouf, the main area of influence of the Druze leader Walid Joumblatt, and made a conciliatory speech. He stated that “there is no reason why the [FPM] should be hostile to any Lebanese because of their affiliation or thinking, because we accept the thinking of everyone. We can quarrel with people because of their behavior or deeds, but not because of their sect or party or thinking.”
This came only a few weeks after he congratulated Teymour Joumblatt on his election as head of the Progressive Socialist Party. Bassil also pointedly congratulated Walid Joumblatt on the occasion, and expressed “all good wishes for a quiet transition of the leadership of the party, and hope for cooperation for the good of the country.”
While Bassil has had a tougher time with the Sunnis, even before the departure of his father in law from the presidency last year he began to mend fences with the community. This was natural insofar as by that time he knew that Hezbollah would not back his presidency, so he wanted to widen his sectarian reach. In September 2022, Bassil visited the mufti of the Republic, Abdel-Latif Derian, with an FPM delegation, during which he defended the Taif Agreement. Taif gave considerable constitutional powers to the Sunni prime minister, at the expense of the Maronite president, so Bassil’s remarks were an effort to reassure the Sunnis that the Maronites did not seek to dissolve the agreement.
Geagea, in turn, remains on poor terms with most of the major Sunni political forces. Hariri’s followers still blame him, fairly or unfairly, for the way the Saudis turned against the former prime minister. They also remember that on two occasions, Geagea’s refusal to endorse Hariri as prime minister denied him Christian legitimacy, crippling Hariri’s already difficult cabinet-formation efforts. Geagea’s history with those in the community who come from an Arab nationalist, or pro-Palestinian, background was never good, and little has changed.
One gets a sense that Geagea, since the uprising of October 2019, has sought to take a distance from the corrupt political class to avoid being tarred with the same brush. His way of doing so, apparently, is to keep his party outside government and sit behind a neutralizing barrier of principle. But nor has he appealed to the new political forces that emerged from the uprising. His dealings with the so-called Change bloc of parliamentarians who emerged from civil society have been fraught. Geagea, it seems, cannot quite understand why they refuse to follow his lead, missing the perfectly obvious point that the bloc, for all its missteps, insists on remaining independent from the traditional political leadership.
The risk for the Lebanese Forces is that by refusing to take on any responsibility for governance, they will become largely irrelevant. That’s a shame, because in the past the party appointed quite credible people as cabinet ministers. But being perpetually on the outside looking in and criticizing from the sidelines becomes a tiresome habit after a while. I would wager fresh dollars that unless Geagea’s strategy changes, the Lebanese Forces will lose votes in 2026.
For a start, Geagea should act like the leader of the largest Christian party and not allow Hezbollah to outmaneuver him by portraying Bassil as its most representative Christian counterpart. That means, quite simply, that Geagea must talk to Hezbollah, even impose himself. It makes no sense to refuse to communicate with a potent force in the country, nor to give Hezbollah the latitude to delegitimize the Lebanese Forces. It’s not as if Geagea has never engaged in a dialogue with Hezbollah before, because he has on more than one occasion—in 2006 and again in 2008. Moreover, his parliamentarians interact with Hezbollah’s regularly.
Geagea is right that Hezbollah has an agenda on which it is unlikely to concede very much. However, he and Bassil did succeed in uniting and sidelining for a time the party’s choice of Suleiman Franjieh as president when both men backed Jihad Azour as a candidate, forcing Hezbollah to step back and search for a solution. Yet it should have been Geagea, the leader of the largest Christian parliamentary bloc, who should have capitalized on this success by engaging with the party in resolving the stalemate over the most prominent of Maronite Christian positions, not Bassil. But the reality is that it was Bassil who used Geagea to gain leverage in his negotiations with Hezbollah, not the other way around.
Some people admire those who stick to their guns against all odds. Maybe, but the last time Geagea did this, he spent eleven years in a cell. After his release, the Lebanese Forces managed to rebuild themselves, construct cross-sectarian alliances, and become a major player in Lebanon’s political landscape. Yet today the party’s sectarian alliances are very brittle. The Lebanese Forces may be the largest Christian bloc in parliament, but really aren’t that essential to domestic politics because they’ve chosen to remain largely outside the snake pit of daily bargaining. If the party’s role has receded to being a periodic wellspring of unfulfilled injunctions, then elections mean nothing and politics even less so.
*Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

Israeli-Lebanese border tensions raise fears of the unthinkable
Chris Doyle/Arab News/August 07, 2023
For doomsayers fixated on divining the next regional, or even global, disaster, checking out the recent tensions on the Israeli-Lebanese frontier might be worthwhile. Yes, it has been 17 years since a major war across this hot border. It is tough to imagine who would benefit from another showdown between Israel and Hezbollah, but this is an era when the impossible, the inconceivable, so often knocks on the door of the possible.
How real a prospect is it? Border incidents have undeniably escalated. The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, accuses both Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of violating international commitments across the border, the so-called blue line. UNIFIL is one of those interim bodies that in the Middle East lasts forever, but it does at least serve as a crucial warning system. Israeli military analysts believe that the chances of a conflict are higher than at any time since 2006.
Israel has violated Lebanese airspace at will and all too regularly, as any Lebanese knows. UNIFIL reported 131 violations in just four months earlier this year, all, as it states, in breach of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Back in March, Israel claimed a militant crossed the border and planted a roadside bomb near Megiddo. Then, in early April, the Israeli army accused Hamas of firing a salvo of 34 missiles into Israel. Israeli planes then struck three locations near the Palestine refugee camp of Rashidiya, south of Tyre.
In May and then June, Hezbollah set up two tents 100 feet the other side of the blue line. The militant group’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, claimed that the tents were erected in protest at Israel cordoning off parts of Ghajar, a village located on the juncture between the Israeli, Lebanese and Syrian borders, and which the blue line splits in two. Israeli forces have never withdrawn from the northern part of the village they took in 2006 despite UNIFIL requesting that they leave. Israel has boosted its border infrastructure, but Hezbollah has also increased its presence.
Israel and Hezbollah are in more direct confrontation within Syria
Israel and Hezbollah are in more direct confrontation within Syria. The former frequently bombs sites in Syria that it claims are involved with transferring high-tech weaponry to the Lebanese Shiite group from Iran. Hezbollah cannot be happy.
But all parties have so much to lose. Can either Lebanon or Israel afford a war? Can Hezbollah, the Syrian regime or Iran?
Both Israel and Lebanon face widespread domestic political turmoil. Israel has endured mass protests for the past 31 weeks against the judicial reforms being pushed through by what is undeniably the most extreme, violent and anti-democratic coalition in its history. Israeli reservists, including pilots, are refusing to serve. Hezbollah and other groups would be unwise to consider Israel a soft target, but one fears some might feel tempted to exploit the chaos that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has visited once again on his country. Even Netanyahu might baulk at a possible assault on Lebanon as a distraction given the risks. Gaza has always been a far less risky prospect for Israel on this front.
As for Hezbollah, it is certainly paying close attention to events in Israel. Nasrallah was not shy in sharing his views, claiming Israel was “on the path to collapse, fragmentation and disappearance.” Was Hezbollah testing Israeli resolve when it set up the tents?
Lebanon has endured four years of a political, economic and social crisis. This was painfully highlighted last week by the third anniversary of the Beirut port explosion, a crime for which nobody has been held accountable. Since the end of October, Lebanon has had a presidential vacancy. Twelve times the parliament has failed to choose a successor. The country needs not only a proper government, but also bold, drastic, even painful reforms.
The international community has been unable to find a path to assist Lebanon. The economic situation is beyond dire, with the government incapable of addressing the fundamental issues while eating into depleted currency reserves. Lebanese face soaring unemployment, acute shortages of food and medicine, and the usual power cuts. According to the World Food Programme, the country has the world’s highest food price inflation rate of 350 percent.
Other sources of instability include the future of the 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The Lebanese have demonstrated incredible generosity in hosting them for over a decade, but goodwill is drying up, with supporters of the Syrian regime in Lebanon only too keen to stoke anti-refugee bigotry.
Hezbollah and other groups would be unwise to consider Israel a soft target
The fighting in the largest UN refugee camp for Palestinians in Ain Al-Hilweh — the current death toll stands at 13 — likewise shows that the Palestinian issue remains potent in Lebanon. As ever, thousands have been displaced in the fighting, with no idea when they will go back. Palestinian groups can also engage in border hostilities, as the Hamas rocket attacks have shown.
Another change that increases the stakes in the event of conflict is the vital maritime border deal Israel and Lebanon signed last year. Many on both sides were highly suspicious, but an agreement did get over the line. However, the upside is huge, as the major gas field could eventually help Lebanon exit the deep hole into which it has blindly plummeted.
The climate in Lebanon is tense. Most Lebanese feel they have no control over events surrounding the border. “We are powerless. Our fate is in others’ hands as ever,” one Lebanese academic tells me. It is a common refrain.
What would be the impact of an Israel-Hezbollah confrontation? Everything indicates the destruction and loss of life would be far, far worse than the 34-day July war in 2006 when more than 1,000 Lebanese and 159 Israelis lost their lives.
Israeli leaders have consistently made it clear they will not hold back in any future war with Hezbollah. Israel may hit Lebanon much harder, as successive political and military leaders have threatened, but even Israeli officials acknowledge that Hezbollah’s capabilities have made major strides. Israel calculates that the group possesses about 130,000 rockets, up from just 15,000 in 2006, and is capable of striking targets all across Israel. That said, Hezbollah’s engagement in Syria on behalf of the Syrian and Iranian regimes has damaged its regional standing. In 2006, Hezbollah, to the consternation of its opponents, exited the conflict portrayed by too many as heroes. Today, the group is far more polarizing.
Logic suggests there is an element of mutually assured loss involved and, therefore, a war should not be desired by any party. Even Iran will not want to risk losing its response capabilities via Hezbollah should Israel ever dare strike it.
Quite how a military triumph could ever lead to a strategic political victory is simply not clear. Yet, whenever this border heats up, one fears for a war by accident. If wiser heads keep calm and maintain control then these tensions may peter out, but too many hotheads are more than capable of doing the unthinkable.
*Chris Doyle is director of the London-based Council for Arab-British Understanding. He has worked with the council since 1993 after graduating with a first-class honors degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Exeter University. He has organized and accompanied numerous British parliamentary delegations to Arab countries. Twitter: @Doylech

Pride, hope, betrayal: The story of Ain Al-Hilweh is the story of Palestine
Ramzy Baroud/Arab News/August 07, 2023
Ain Al-Hilweh is known as the “Capital of Palestinian Shatat.”
The term might not stir many emotions among those who do not fully understand, let alone experience, the harrowing existence of ethnic cleansing and perpetual exile — and the tremendous violence that followed.
“Shatat” is roughly translated into “exile” or “diaspora”. However, the meaning is much more complex. It can be understood only through lived experience. Even then, it is still not easy to communicate. Perhaps, the Kafkaesque blocks of concrete, zinc and rubble, towered one on top of another and serving as “temporary shelters” for tens of thousands of people, tell a small part of the story.
On July 30, violence returned to the crowded Palestinian camp, claiming the lives of at least 13 people. Scores more were injured and thousands have fled.
Yet, most of the refugees stayed, because several generations of Palestinians in Ain Al-Hilweh understand that there is a point where running away serves no purpose, for it neither guarantees life nor even a dignified death. The massacres of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in September 1982 were a testament to this collective realization.
Before writing this, I spoke to several people in South Lebanon, and sorted through many articles and reports describing what is taking place in the camp now. Yet, the truth is still blurry or, at best, selective.
Many in Arabic media have largely relegated Ain Al-Hilweh to a symbolic representation of a rooted Palestinian pain.
Mainstream Western media was hardly concerned about Palestinian pain, but focused mostly on the “lawlessness” of the camp, the fact that it exists outside the legal jurisdiction of the Lebanese army, and the proliferation of weapons among Palestinian and other factions engaged in seemingly endless and supposedly inexplicable infighting.
But Ain Al-Hilweh, like the 11 other Palestinian refugee encampments in Lebanon, is a story of something else entirely, more urgent than mere symbolism, and more rational than being the result of lawless refugees.
Ain Al-Hilweh is important for the PA, even though the PLO under Abbas’ leadership has largely disowned the refugees of South Lebanon and their right of return
It is essentially the story of Palestine, or rather, the destruction of Palestine at the hands of Zionist militias in 1947-48. It is a story of contradictions, pride, shame, hope, despair and, ultimately, betrayal.
It is not easy to follow the timeline leading up to the latest round of violence. Some suggest that the fighting began when an assassination attempt — blamed on Fatah fighters in the camp — was carried out against a leader of a rival Islamist group. The attempt failed and was followed by an ambush, carried out by alleged Islamists who killed a top Fatah commander and several of his bodyguards.
Others suggest that the assassination of Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi, a military general from Palestinian National Security, was completely unprovoked.
Yet others, including Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati, blamed outside forces and their “repeated attempts to use Lebanon as a battleground for the settling of scores.”
But who are these entities, and what is the point of such meddling?
It gets murkier. Though impoverished and overcrowded, Ain Al-Hilweh, like other Palestinian camps, is a greatly contested political space. In theory, these camps are meant to solidify and protect the right of return for Palestinian refugees. In practice, they are also used to undermine this internationally enshrined right. The Palestinian Authority of Mahmoud Abbas, for example, wants to ensure Fatah loyalists dominate the camp, hence laboring to deny Palestinian rivals any role in South Lebanon.
Fatah is the largest Palestinian group within the Palestine Liberation Organization. It dominates both the PLO and the PA. In the past, the group lost its dominance over Ain Al-Hilweh and other camps. For Fatah in Lebanon, it is a constant struggle for relevance.
Ain Al-Hilweh is important for the PA, even though the PLO under Abbas’ leadership has largely disowned the refugees of South Lebanon and their right of return, and instead has focused mostly on governing specific regions in the West Bank under the auspices of the Israeli occupation.
Yet, Lebanon’s refugees remain important for the PA for two main reasons: one, as a source of validation for Fatah and, two, to stave off any criticism of, let alone resistance to, the Western-backed Palestinian camp, in Lebanon and everywhere else.
Over the years, hundreds of Ain Al-Hilweh refugees have been killed in Israeli bombings, but also by Palestinian-Lebanese and Palestinian-Palestinian infighting.
Israel carried out most of the killings to ensure Palestinian resistance in Lebanon is eliminated at source.
The rest of the violence was carried out by groups that sought dominance and power, sometimes for their own sake, but often as proxy militias for outside powers.
Trapped in the middle are 120,000 people, the estimated population of Ain Al-Hilweh — and, by extension, all of Lebanon’s Palestinian refugees.
Not all Ain Al-Hilweh’s inhabitants are registered Palestinian refugees. The latter is estimated by the UN refugee agency, UNRWA, at about 63,000. The rest fled there following the Syrian war, which swelled the population of the Lebanon camps and heightened existing tensions.
The entrapments of refugees, however, are manifold: the actual physical confinement dictated by the lack of opportunities and acceptance in mainstream Lebanese society; the great risks of leaving Lebanon as undocumented refugees smuggled across the Mediterranean; and the feeling, especially among older generations, that leaving the camps is tantamount to the betrayal of the right of return.
All of this is happening in a political context, where the Palestinian leadership has completely removed the refugees from its calculations, where the PA sees the refugees only as pawns in a power play between Fatah and its rivals.
For decades, Israel has sought to dismiss the discussion on Palestinian refugees and their right of return. Its constant attacks on Palestinian refugee camps in Palestine itself, and its interest in what is taking place in the Shatat, is part of its quest to shake the very foundation of the Palestinian cause.
Infighting in Ain Al-Hilweh, if not brought under total and lasting control, might eventually get Israel exactly what it wants: presenting Palestinian refugees as a liability to host countries and, ultimately, destroying the “Capital of Shatat,” along with the hope of four generations of Palestinian refugees to, some day, go back home.
*Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books, and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. Twitter: @RamzyBaroud

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 07-08/2023
Israeli strikes near Damascus kill six
Associated Press/August 07/2023
Four Syrian soldiers and two Iran-backed fighters were killed Monday in pre-dawn Israeli strikes near Damascus, a war monitor said, in the latest deadly Israeli air raid to hit war-torn Syria's capital. The airstrikes targeted Syrian regime forces, and military positions and weapons depots used by armed groups supported by Tehran, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. During more than a decade of war in Syria, neighbouring Israel has launched hundreds of air strikes on its territory, primarily targeting Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters as well as Syrian army positions. Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, told AFP that "four Syrian soldiers including one officer, as well as two Iran-backed fighters were killed in air strikes on Tehran-supported groups' positions and warehouses for ammunition and weapons." Two regime forces and five foreign fighters were wounded in the strikes, he added, saying four of them were in critical condition. The Israeli strikes hit areas near Damascus International Airport, Dimas Airport and Kisweh, all close to the capital, destroying weapons and ammunition depots belonging to Iran-backed groups, said the Britain-based monitor which relies on a wide network inside Syria. Earlier Monday, state media said four Syrian soldiers were killed and four others wounded in the strikes, citing a military source. "At 2:20 am (2320 GMT Sunday), the Israeli enemy carried out an air attack from the direction of the occupied Syrian Golan, targeting areas in the vicinity of Damascus," official news agency SANA reported. The raid killed "four soldiers and wounded four others", it said, reporting unspecified material damage and adding that Syrian air defences intercepted some Israeli missiles. An AFP correspondent in the capital reported hearing the sound of explosions. Israel rarely comments on strikes it carries out on Syria, but it has repeatedly said it would not allow its archfoe Iran, which supports the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, to expand its footprint there. With Iranian as well as Syrian support, Assad's government has clawed back much of the territory it had lost to rebels early in the conflict which broke out in 2011 and has pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists. Asked about Monday's strikes, an Israeli army spokesperson told AFP in a statement: "We do not comment on reports in the foreign media."
'Criminal'
On July 19, Israeli air strikes near Damascus killed three pro-government fighters and wounded four others, the Syrian Observatory said at the time. SANA had reported two soldiers were wounded in those strikes. It quoted a military source as saying the bombing targeted "certain positions in the vicinity of Damascus". Syria's foreign ministry had condemned that attack "in the strongest terms". In a statement carried by SANA, it called on the United Nations and the Security Council to "take immediate action" to oblige Israel "to desist from these criminal policies".Early last month, state media said Israel had carried out air strikes near the government-held city of Homs. The Israeli army later said it struck an anti-aircraft battery after rocket fire. On June 14, Israel carried out air strikes near Damascus wounding a soldier, according to SANA. Those strikes came after others which in late May hit the Damascus region, with the Observatory reporting five wounded in attacks on air defence sites that host fighters from Lebanon's Hezbollah. Previous Israeli strikes have put both Damascus and Aleppo airports out of service. And in late March and early April, Israel stepped up its strikes on Syria with four raids on government-held areas in less than a week, targeting positions of Syrian government forces and pro-Iran groups.

Israel to include Gaza Americans in U.S. visa waiver pilot next month
JERUSALEM (Reuters)/August 7, 2023
Israel plans to ease travel for Palestinian Americans from the blockaded Gaza Strip next month as part of preparations for Israelis to be able to enter the United States without visas, an Israeli official said on Monday. As a condition for its accession to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP), Israel has since July 20 loosened access through its borders, and in and out of the occupied West Bank, for Palestinian Americans in what the allies deem a pilot period. Gaza, whose governing Islamist Hamas is designated a terrorist group by Israel and the United States, has so far not been included. That has stirred protests by Palestinian Americans and calls from Washington for a change in practice. Gil Bringer, Israel's VWP project manager, put the number of Palestinian Americans living in Gaza at between 100 and 130 and said that, as part of the pilot, they can travel by special shuttle bus to the West Bank, cross into Jordan and continue from there to other foreign destinations on family visits. By Sept. 15, those of them who satisfy Israel's security criteria will be able to enter it on "B2" tourist visas and fly out of its main Ben Gurion Airport, Bringer told Reuters. "That will basically mean they're included in the pilot," he said in a phone interview, adding that the target date had originally been Sept. 22 and "if we can bring it forward further, we will". In an advisory issued on Monday, the U.S. Embassy signaled it had yet to be formally notified of the Israeli decision. The advisory noted Israel had previously said, without providing specifics, that Gaza policy would be reviewed by Sept 15. "As soon as the new procedures are announced, we will send another message to the U.S. citizen community," it said. Hani Almadhoun, a Virginia-based Palestinian American who has family in Gaza, welcomed the news and said he and friends planned to fly into Tel Aviv on Sept. 15 to test the measures. "I am a proud American. I am now an even prouder American because I have a government that represents me and pushes the Israelis to do the right thing and to treat all Americans with equality," Madhoun told Reuters. In the first two weeks of the pilot, around 2,500 Palestinian Americans travelled through Israel's borders and a similar number crossed in or out of the West Bank, Bringer said. Under the pilot, he said, Israel is also allowing Palestinian Americans from abroad who have first-degree relatives in Gaza to make once-yearly visits of up to 90 days. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has declined comment on the pilot, referring queries to Israeli officials. In separate remarks, Bringer predicted Israel would satisfy VWP criteria by a Sept 30 deadline, enabling its citizens to enter the United States visa-free by November. "The project is charging ahead and the expectation is that it will be completed in seven weeks," Bringer told Israel's Army Radio. Palestinian and U.S. officials have assessed that the number of dual U.S. nationals in Gaza may be several hundred. Asked about the apparent discrepancy in the figures, Bringer said most of those are not full-time Gaza residents.

How the U.S. and Iran Might Reach a Nuclear ‘Understanding’
Gregory Brew/Time/August 7, 2023
About a month ago, the U.S. and Iran were reportedly close to an informal understanding that would reduce their tensions over the latter’s nuclear program. A month later, progress on an “understanding” seems limited. A prisoner exchange deal is stuck; there have been no new talks. Relations between Washington and Tehran have, if anything, gotten more tense in recent weeks. But it’s too soon to declare diplomacy dead. There remains space for both sides to avoid serious escalation while leaving the door open to further, albeit incremental, diplomacy somewhere down the line.
Unspoken arrangement
Since efforts to renegotiate the original 2015 nuclear deal collapsed last August, Iran has escalated its enrichment of uranium, to the point that it could likely race to a bomb in a matter of weeks. A return to the original deal is impossible after the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the accord and enacted painful sanctions under former President Donald Trump. But American officials have suggested a more limited arrangement in a series of talks held earlier this year. If Iran agreed to ramp down its enrichment of uranium, hand over several U.S. citizens it holds prisoner, pull back its support for Russia, and generally avoid taking action against U.S. forces positioned throughout the Middle East, the U.S. would release several billion dollars in Iran’s money currently frozen in bank accounts in Iraq and South Korea. With the offer came a threat: if Iran, which currently enriches uranium to 60% purity, took the final step to enrich to 90% needed to produce a nuclear weapon, the U.S. would respond immediately—and probably with military force. This isn’t a new nuclear deal. The U.S. is framing this as an “understanding,” while Iran has said very little about it. If they really did come to an agreement, don’t expect either side to trumpet it. For President Joe Biden, talking to Iran carries significant political risks, given its deadly support for Russia’s war in Ukraine and the recent crackdown on domestic protests. Iran’s leadership, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, distrust the U.S. and have baked anti-Americanism into their governing ideology—a turn back toward negotiating would cost them credibility within the “nezam,” or system, which Khamenei (who is 84 and in fragile health) is conscious of retaining as he looks ahead to the succession crisis that would come after his death. For now, a limited understanding to avoid major escalation is about as much as either side is willing to consider.
Where’s the understanding?
Even this limited arrangement looks like a heavy lift. On July 5, Iran attacked several oil tankers exiting the Persian Gulf, including one owned by Chevron. The U.S. dispatched advanced F-35 aircraft and more troops to the Gulf to deter further Iranian attacks. Iran continues to supply Russia with drones and is assisting with the construction of a drone factory inside Russia. The surprising exit of Biden’s special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, an advocate for diplomatic engagement, over alleged mishandling of classified documents and a lack of progress on a prisoner exchange suggests that this year’s diplomatic push has failed to yield any positive results. Yet on the most important issue at stake—Iran’s ever-expanding nuclear program—there remains grounds for limited, cautious optimism. The U.S. has urged Iran to cease its stockpiling of uranium enriched to 60%, and Iran has reportedly agreed in principle. Whether it will do so in reality depends on its willingness to cooperate with U.N. nuclear inspectors. Earlier this year, Iran agreed to an expansion of U.N. surveillance and has even provided some information to settle long-running U.N. investigations into its past nuclear activities. This move came shortly after the inspectors discovered evidence of Iran enriching trace amounts of uranium to 83.7%, tantalizingly close to the 90% needed to produce a bomb; Iran has explained to the U.N. that this escalation was accidental.
Looking ahead for good news…or bad
The outlook for Iran is a mix of good and bad. While tensions with the U.S. appear to be worsening, the limited cooperation between Tehran and the U.N. inspectors suggests some slight progress on the nuclear issue. The U.S. has warned Iran from enriching to 90%, and so far, Iran seems to be listening. It may continue to add to its stockpile without taking the final step to weaponization. Whether Iran decides to actually ramp down its enrichment, as the U.S. has pushed it to do, will become clear soon, as U.N. inspectors are expected to report on Iran’s enrichment activities by the end of August. For now, it’s a question of “wait and see.”The result is a shaky status quo with both the U.S. and Iran avoiding escalation. Even as both sides rattle the saber, neither appears willing to take things to the next level. This shaky state of affairs could very easily disintegrate into a more serious confrontation, should a new crisis arise or should Israel try to attack Iran’s nuclear program without U.S. cooperation. For now, though, the situation between the U.S. and Iran is stuck in a kind of limbo. The understanding hinted at a month ago remains largely theoretical. But there’s an opening for de-escalation, should Iran be willing to take the necessary steps on enrichment. Iran and the U.S. may not be close to talking, but they’re still not ready to start shooting. That, at least, offers some hope that things may improve in the near-term.

Thousands of US sailors, Marines reach Red Sea after Iran tensions
Agence France Presse/August 07/2023
More than 3,000 U.S. military personnel have arrived in the Red Sea aboard two warships, as part of increased deployments after tanker seizures by Iran, the US Navy said Monday. The US sailors and Marines entered the Red Sea on Sunday after transiting through the Suez Canal in a pre-announced deployment, the US Navy's Fifth Fleet said in a statement. They arrived on board the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall warships, providing "greater flexibility and maritime capability" to the Fifth Fleet, the statement added. The US military says Iran has either seized or attempted to take control of nearly 20 internationally flagged ships in the region over the past two years. USS Bataan is an amphibious assault ship which can carry fixed-wing and rotary aircraft as well as landing craft. The USS Carter Hall, a dock landing ship, transports Marines, their gear, and lands them ashore. "These units add significant operational flexibility and capability as we work... to deter destabilising activity and deescalate regional tensions caused by Iran's harassment and seizures of merchant vessels," Fifth Fleet spokesman Commander Tim Hawkins told AFP.The deployment comes after Washington said its forces blocked two attempts by Iran to seize commercial tankers in international waters off Oman on July 5. The maritime services in Iran said one of the two tankers, the Bahamian-flagged Richmond Voyager, had collided with an Iranian vessel, seriously injuring five crew members, according to state news agency IRNA. In April and early May, Iran seized two oil tankers within a week in regional waters. Those incidents came after Israel and the United States blamed Iran in November for what they said was a drone strike against a tanker operated by an Israeli-owned firm carrying gas oil off the coast of Oman. The US announced last month that it would deploy a destroyer, F-35 and F-16 warplanes, along with the Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit, to the Middle East to deter Iran from seizing ships in the Gulf. Last week, a U.S. official told AFP that Washington is also preparing to deploy Marines and Navy personnel aboard commercial tankers transiting the Gulf as an added layer of defense.

Russia to launch lunar mission Friday, first in nearly 50 years
AFP/August 7, 2023
Russia said Monday it plans to launch a lunar lander later this week after multiple delays, hoping to return to the Moon for the first time in nearly fifty years. "A Soyuz (rocket) for the launch of the Luna-25 (lander) has been assembled," the Russian space agency said, ahead of what will be Moscow's first lunar mission since 1976. "The launch is on August 11."-

Ukraine: The Latest - Kyiv strike on Russian oil tanker a "significant moment in the war"
David Knowles/The Telegraph/August 7, 2023
Today on Ukraine: The Latest, we bring you the latest updates from Ukraine, report on the heavy fighting that continues across the front lines and analyse the Ukrainian strike on an oil tanker. Foreign Correspondent James Kilner explains the story of a naval drone attack on an oil tanker off Crimea: This happened just before midnight on Friday. Ukraine is trying to undermine the Kremlin’s veneer of control, trying to bring the war home to ordinary Russians, and it ties in with their increased drone attacks on Moscow itself, and on oil installations and other industrial enterprises around Russia, which has been going on for a while now with drones. Now this was a departure because this was the first attack on a so-called civilian ship in the Black Sea since the war started. Some grainy black and white footage showed the naval drone scouting for its target, finding its target and then smashing to the side of it. Later pictures showed the cabin area; the ceilings had fallen in, the desk had been scattered, papers everywhere and there was water in one of the engine rooms. A Russian news agency said that Russia deployed two tugboats to tow this tanker into port because it had lost power. Now, the tanker itself is a really important target as it flies the Russian flag. We know that it had previously been sanctioned by the U. S. in 2019 because it is one of the tankers that Russia has been using to supply jet fuel to its air force in Syria. It would pick up its cargo at one of Russia’s ports in the Sea of Azov, sail out through the Kerch Strait, across the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus, past Istanbul, into the Mediterranean, and then dock it in Syria. The analysts were saying this is a fair military target because it was once again carrying jet fuel to the Russian air force. Assistant Comment Editor Francis Dearnley talks about the implications of this attack: The attacks on shipping in the Black Sea are interesting; Ukrainian officials have also issued a notice to mariners using a series of Russian ports that they may be targeted for offensive operations. By one estimate, 30% of Russian oil exports leave from these ports. Significantly, there is insufficient pipeline infrastructure to transport all the oil China is buying, so ships are still used. Russia may be trying to starve the world via grain terrorism, but Ukraine appears to be attempting to cut off the oil exports that are still sustaining the Russian war machine.
Francis continues:
Wheat prices have climbed higher after Ukraine threatened a key export route for Russian commodities through the Black Sea. This matters for its energy markets, but it also matters for food: Russia moves most of its grain through the waterway and is in the midst of a second bumper harvest, making this a crucial time for getting crops to markets and ensuring enough supply to constrain global food costs. The chief executive officer of broker and adviser IKON Commodities, said: “The risk in the Black Sea is increasing by the day and any threat to Russian exports is much more potent than a threat to the Ukrainian export corridor.”
Wheat futures in Chicago, the global benchmark, climbed as much as 3.4pc to $6.545 a bushel. Prices closed 1pc higher on Friday, paring most of a 4.3pc intraday gain after the Ukraine attack on the naval vessel. Traffic at the port was halted for several hours. Listen to Ukraine: the Latest, The Telegraph’s daily podcast, using the audio player at the top of this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favourite podcast app. War in Ukraine is reshaping our world. Every weekday The Telegraph’s top journalists analyse the invasion from all angles - military, humanitarian, political, economic, historical - and tell you what you need to know to stay updated. With over 40 million downloads, our Ukraine: The Latest podcast is your go-to source for all the latest analysis, live reaction and correspondents reporting on the ground. We have been broadcasting ever since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine: The Latest’s regular contributors are:
David Knowles
David is Head of Audio Development at The Telegraph, where he has worked for nearly three years. He has reported from across Ukraine during the full-scale invasion.
Dominic Nicholls
Dom is Associate Editor (Defence) at The Telegraph, having joined in 2018. He previously served for 23 years in the British Army, in tank and helicopter units. He had operational deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland.
Francis Dearnley
Francis is assistant comment editor at The Telegraph. Prior to working as a journalist, he was chief of staff to the Chair of the Prime Minister’s Policy Board at the Houses of Parliament in London. He studied History at Cambridge University and on the podcast explores how the past shines a light on the latest diplomatic, political, and strategic developments. They are also regularly joined by The Telegraph’s foreign correspondents around the world, including Joe Barnes (Brussels), Sophia Yan (China), Nataliya Vasilyeva (Russia), Roland Oliphant (Senior Reporter) and Colin Freeman (Reporter). In London, Venetia Rainey (Weekend Foreign Editor), Katie O’Neill (Assistant Foreign Editor), and Verity Bowman (News Reporter) also frequently appear to offer updates.

Putin has debased and exiled Russia’s own geniuses
Andrew Orlowski/The Telegraph/August 7, 2023
Is it unpatriotic to work in technology? It could well be, a gathering of Russian software developers, entrepreneurs and officials was warned by the country’s top internet official. “If you want to harm the country, invest in training IT specialists in the Russian Federation. You can’t harm Russia more,” Dmitry Marinichev told a Civic Chamber event in October 2015. As Putin’s tanks rumbled towards Kyiv 18 months ago, one of Russia’s most valuable assets began to wish it was somewhere else. Officially the state made efforts to keep technology workers inside the Federation, and many IT employees were halted at the borders. But many made it through, and this exodus accelerated with Putin’s draft last autumn.
According to official government figures, around 100,000 employees in technology emigrated in 2022 – some 10pc of the total workforce. But really, that trend had been underway for some years, thanks to the policy that Mr Marinichev was articulating in 2015. Yet to erase any doubts, he doubled down. “First an army comes on a territory, then merchants, and then there is state power and a market. It’s only that way, and no other way,” he told Novaya Gazeta, the independent newspaper that shut down soon after the invasion of Ukraine. “Therefore if at a government level we choose the regimen of ‘Russia against all’, then we will have no chance to sell our products and technologies except by conducting geopolitical expansion in the world.” In which case, Marinichev explained, why bother developing a tech sector?
“Preparing IT specialists for foreign-based technologies is essentially to undermine Russia’s sovereignty,” he said. By then it wasn’t something that Marinichev himself, a technology entrepreneur and advocate, sounded particularly keen on. But the direction of travel was set: Russia was turning away from global markets, and becoming an autarky. A third of Russia’s GDP growth between 2015 and 2021 came from the tech sector, some $47.8bn. The latest sanctions are far more severe than those that followed Putin’s invasion of Crimea.
Today Russia is cut out of global supply chains and financial markets. Putin has been obliged to move closer to China, leading to a wide-ranging Sino-Russian science and technology pact. And in this endeavour, Russia now finds itself very much the junior partner. Perhaps the biggest blow is to Russian technologists own self-esteem. From Russian-born executives and venture capitalists to aspiring developers still in school, Russians pride themselves on being able to get along with anyone, pretty much anywhere. The country has a rich history of valuing its technologists and scientists highly; in the Soviet era, boffins and engineers were heroes. Russian universities still turn out world class physics, engineering and maths graduates, and Russian developers have a global reputation as reliable and inventive problem-solvers. But technology is heavily dependent on human capital, and today, all that employees need for the day job goes in their carry-on luggage. In recent years, this has created a growing diaspora, one documented in a fascinating ethnographic study by authors Mario Biagioli and Vincent Antonin Lépinay, From Russia With Code. From over 300 interviews with technology workers, inside and outside Russia, what emerges are fiercely independent technology professionals and communities who seek to navigate their way out of a risky business environment. “Connections were being built with Western businesses,” says one digital entrepreneur with teams across Europe. “The evolution of digital services generally made it much easier to export business norms and law effectively.” But state gangsterism was ever-present. “When you’re sitting on their money it’s a different relationship - they want to get paid.”And after Putin’s “special military operation”, technology workers could no longer view the regime as a temporary aberration that could be endured. The autarky was now permanent.
Yandex is Russia’s biggest digital company and one of the few in the world to have fended off the Google search monopoly, and on merit. It’s now a giant, offering services ranging from food delivery to transport. Once described as a nation within a nation, Yandex independence has diminished, and around a sixth of its workforce has emigrated, according to some estimates.Among the beneficiaries of the tech exodus are Georgia, Bulgaria and Serbia, all boasting cosmopolitan capital cities that welcome younger software developers. But the biggest beneficiary of all has been Israel. In the old Soviet Union, engineering was one of the careers most open to Jews – Government work was not available – and 40pc of engineers were women. The first post-Soviet waves of migration transformed the Israeli economy, and Russians were followed by Ukrainians. Tens of thousands more have followed since the invasion of Ukraine. Israel not only offered citizenship, but employers took risks too, allowing them to learn on the job. Last year, Yandex co-founder Arkady Volozh, a billionaire before Yandex’s stock price crashed, became a citizen. Russian technical ingenuity is evident on the battlefield, as its engineering talent is bent to the dark arts of cyber warfare and electronic sabotage. Note how talk of wars fought largely by drones has diminished a little recently; a report this May by the Royal United Services Institute said Ukraine was losing 10,000 drone a month to crude and clever countermeasures. An army of a million robots can be disabled at a keystroke, exploiting a bug left by sloppy code. It’s a tragedy for Russia that its best technical brains are devoted to death and destruction, and not building businesses for the future, like Yandex. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

Russia blasts KSA talks on ending war in Ukraine
Associated Press/August 07/2023
Russia's Foreign Ministry on Monday chided efforts by international officials meeting in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement for the war in Ukraine, saying the talks don't have "the slightest added value" because Moscow — unlike Kyiv — wasn't invited. Senior officials from around 40 countries gathered Sunday in Jeddah for a two-day meeting that aims to agree on key principles about how to end the conflict that has raged for more than 17 months. But without Russia's participation and without taking into account Moscow's interests, the meeting was pointless, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said. It repeated previous assurances that Russia is open to a diplomatic solution on its terms that ends the war and is ready to respond to serious proposals. But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky, ruled out Moscow's previous demands that would give Russia time to dig in deeper in the parts of Ukraine it has occupied. He said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that Russian forces must fully withdraw from the occupied areas and there would be no Kyiv compromise on that. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Security Service announced Monday it had detained an alleged Russian informant who gathered intelligence about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's trip to the southern Mykolaiv region last month. It claimed the woman "was collecting data for an airstrike during Zelenskyy's visit." The woman attempted to establish Zelensky's route, times and visits in the region. She was detained when she tried to pass the information to the Russians, the statement said, without providing evidence. Zelensky has been a prime target for the Kremlin since Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, when he refused to leave Kyiv as Moscow's forces approached. He has been one of Ukraine's unexpected trump cards in the war, playing a key role in rallying public morale, including a nightly video address, and becoming a recognizable face across the world as he presses allies and others to help Ukraine. Also Monday, Russian shelling struck a nine-story residential building in the city of Kherson, killing one person and wounding four others, according to regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin. He said Kherson had endured a "tough night" as the Russians "covered the central part of the city with fire." A 57-year-old woman was killed and four people were wounded in the Russian shelling of a village in the northeastern Kharkiv province, Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said.

Multinational force fights stubborn wildfire in Cyprus, including Lebanon, Greece and Jordan
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP)/Mon, August 7, 2023
A multinational force is helping Cyprus fight stubborn wildfires in the summer heat, with Israel joining Lebanon, Greece and Jordan in sending aircraft to fight a blaze that has scorched miles of mountainous terrain, officials said Monday. Israel said two “Air-Tractor” firefighting aircraft, ground crews and wildfire experts along with six tons of flame retardants were on their way to the island nation, adding to the 20 tons of material that Greece is sending. Lebanon is pitching in with a pair of helicopters, while two Greek Canadair aircraft have been dispatched to help douse the fire in the mountains about 11 miles (17 kilometers) north of the coastal town of Limassol. Jordan has sent three aircraft of its own, including two Super Puma helicopters and a Russian-made Mi26 helicopter. The multinational effort is battling a blaze that according to Agriculture and Environment Minister Petros Xenophontos scorched around 3.2 square miles (8.5 square kilometers) of land. Xenophontos said the fire had been largely contained overnight but had rekindled along several areas Monday, forcing air and ground crews to again mobilize. He said crews would remain at the scene for as long as needed to counter any flare-ups. “Fires are here, climate change exists and unfortunately it won't go away,” Xenophontos told reporters at a fire coordinating hub near the fire. Justice Minister Anna Koukkides-Procopiou told reporters late Monday that firefighting aircraft would again operate early Tuesday as a precautionary measure to snuff out any potential pockets of fire because of concerns over rekindling in some areas. Fire Department spokesman Andreas Kettis had earlier posted on the platform known as X, formerly Twitter, that ground crews were working to hem in the blaze by building firebreaks. Interior Minister Constantinos Ioannou tweeted on X that he has given instructions for an initial estimate of the damage to private and state-owned property. Officials said the residents of three villages have returned to their homes after being instructed to evacuate as a precaution. Gregoriou, who surveyed the area by helicopter along with the country’s fire chief, told state broadcaster CyBC that “hundreds” of fire fighters, including volunteers, managed to contain the fire overnight because winds had died down considerably. The fire started Friday, but authorities said a day later it had been contained. Xenophontos said the fact that the fire reignited “is something that concerns us” and would be looked at by officials over the next few days. He downplayed suggestions that it may have been the work of arsonists, saying that strong winds were lashing the spot where the fire is believed to have reignited. Some firefighters who have been on the front lines have been relieved to rest up for any possible fires elsewhere on the island, the minister said.

Residents near Sudanese capital ordered to evacuate over fighting
AFP/August 07, 2023
WAD MADANI, Sudan: Residents of an area near Sudan’s capital on Monday were ordered to evacuate, locals said, as fighting between the army and paramilitary forces continues to shake the capital. “Heavy artillery fire” fell on densely populated areas of the Sudanese capital and nearby areas, witnesses told AFP. In adjacent Omdurman, Khartoum’s battle-scarred twin city, shelling fell on residential homes. The army and paramilitary forces ordered the evacuation of civilians from Abu Rouf, according to the neighborhood’s resistance committee, one of the many groups that used to organize pro-democracy demonstrations and now provides assistance to families in the line of fire. The army conducted airstrikes and fired artillery at the Shambat Bridge to cut off access to the area from their foes, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The paramilitary group used the bridge to resupply from the other side of the Nile, according to a resident discussing the evacuations. The war between the army chief General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy, RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, has killed more than 3,900 people, according to a conservative estimate by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project. It has displaced more than 3.3 million, according to the United Nations, and plunged millions more into hunger. Much of the country’s already fragile infrastructure has been destroyed, with more than 80 percent of Sudan’s hospitals no longer in service, the World Health Organization (WHO) said. The few health facilities that remain often come under fire or are looted, and struggle to provide care. Consequently, for the victims of sexual violence that has run rampant during the war, “receiving the necessary health care” is an “immense challenge,” Souleima Ishaq Al-Khalifa, the head doctor in the government’s agency combating violence against women, told AFP. Since April 15, Khalifa and her colleagues have documented 108 sexual assaults in Khartoum and Darfur — the restive western region on the border with Chad where a quarter of Sudan’s 48 million people live. That toll is likely underestimated, like the human losses, as victims and caregivers are unable to travel due to the conflict. Survivors of rape face a double burden, she adds, as “there are no more medicines in Khartoum,” and “in Nyala (South Darfur), they cannot reach the hospital because there is an RSF base in the way.” Entire towns and villages have been destroyed in Darfur, an RSF stronghold, which was already ravaged in the 2000s by a bloody civil war and is now an epicenter of the ongoing fighting.

Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 07-08/2023
Can Trump Get an "Impartial Jury" in DC? What the Law Requires
Alan M. Dershowitz/Gatestone Institute/August 07/2023
What should happen... when it is virtually impossible for the defendant to get an impartial jury in that state or district?
The prosecution of Donald Trump for the events around January 6, 2021 would seem to call for a change of venue. The District of Columbia is the most extreme Democratic district in the country. Approximately 95% of the potential jurors register and vote Democrat. Whereas approximately 5% voted for Trump. Furthermore, the anger against Trump is understandable in light of the fact that the events of January 6th directly involved many citizens of the district. Moreover, the judge randomly selected to preside over this case has a long history of bias against Trump and his supporters, and her law firm has a long history of conflicts and corruption.
It is imperative, therefore, that in a case where the incumbent president has urged his Attorney General to pursue his political opponent aggressively, that all efforts must be made to ensure fairness. Prosecutors must lean over backwards to persuade the public that partisan considerations played absolutely no role in the decision to indict. Agreeing to a change of venue and judge would go a long way toward seeing that justice is done.
Change of venue motions are only rarely granted, as are motions to recuse a selected judge. But this is a case where justice demands that these motions be granted, both in the interests of the defendants and in the interests of justice. The government should not oppose such motions, though they generally do if it gives them a tactical advantage.
It is likely therefore that these defense requests will be denied by the trial judge.
If an unfair trial results in a conviction, the impact will already be felt, even if it is reversed on appeal after the election, as the prosecution likely anticipates.
If the prosecution case is strong, it should have no fear of a jury and judge outside of DC. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly said: the job of a prosecutor is not merely to maximize the chances of winning, but to assure that he wins fairly and justly. In order to achieve that goal, the prosecutors in this case should not oppose defense motions for a change of venue and judge. Nor should it oppose an appeal if the trial judge denies these well-founded defense motions.
In all likelihood, prosecutors will vigorously fight all efforts by the defense to assure an impartial jury and judge, because they want every advantage that will help them secure a victory. They will point to defense efforts to secure advantages for their client and argue that the adversary system of justice requires them to do the same. But that is not the law. The Supreme Court clearly delineated a different role for persecutors who represent the government: "The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all, and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done." The prosecutors in the January 6th case should study this opinion before they deny Trump an impartial jury.
The prosecution of Donald Trump for the events around January 6, 2021 would seem to call for a change of venue. The District of Columbia is the most extreme Democratic district in the country. Pictured: Trump speaks during the Alabama Republican Party's 2023 summer meeting on August 4, 2023 in Montgomery, Alabama.
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees the accused the right to "an impartial jury." But it also states that the trial should take place in "the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." What should happen, therefore, when it is virtually impossible for the defendant to get an impartial jury in that state or district?
In federal cases, the law provides for a change of venue under appropriate circumstances. The prosecution of Donald Trump for the events around January 6, 2021 would seem to call for a change of venue. The District of Columbia is the most extreme Democratic district in the country. Approximately 95% of the potential jurors register and vote Democrat. Whereas approximately 5% voted for Trump. Furthermore, the anger against Trump is understandable in light of the fact that the events of January 6th directly involved many citizens of the district. Moreover, the judge randomly selected to preside over this case has a long history of bias against Trump and his supporters, and her law firm has a long history of conflicts and corruption.
The goal of the Sixth Amendment is to assure not only that the defendant is treated justly, but that the appearance of justice is satisfied as well. A jury and judge that are impartial, and seen to be impartial, are essential to achieving this goal. It is imperative, therefore, that in a case where the incumbent president has urged his Attorney General to pursue his political opponent aggressively, that all efforts must be made to ensure fairness. Prosecutors must lean over backwards to persuade the public that partisan considerations played absolutely no role in the decision to indict. Agreeing to a change of venue and judge would go a long way toward seeing that justice is done.
Change of venue motions are only rarely granted, as are motions to recuse a selected judge. But this is a case where justice demands that these motions be granted, both in the interests of the defendants and in the interests of justice. The government should not oppose such motions, though they generally do if it gives them a tactical advantage.
It is likely, therefore, that these defense requests will be denied by the trial judge. Trump's lawyers will try to take an immediate interlocutory appeal before trial.
Though such appeals before trial are generally disfavored, the arguments for allowing it in this case are strong. The trial itself promises to play an important role in the 2024 election, especially since the prosecution wants it to occur in the middle of the campaign season. If an unfair trial results in a conviction, the impact will already be felt, even if it is reversed on appeal after the election, as the prosecution likely anticipates.
So the appellate courts should be able to assure in advance that a fair trial occurs in a fair venue presided over by a fair judge, especially if it takes place before the presidential election.
If the prosecution case is strong, it should have no fear of a jury and judge outside of DC. As the Supreme Court has repeatedly said: the job of a prosecutor is not merely to maximize the chances of winning, but to assure that he wins fairly and justly. In order to achieve that goal, the prosecutors in this case should not oppose defense motions for a change of venue and judge. Nor should it oppose an appeal if the trial judge denies these well-founded defense motions.
In all likelihood, prosecutors will vigorously fight all efforts by the defense to assure an impartial jury and judge, because they want every advantage that will help them secure a victory. They will point to defense efforts to secure advantages for their client and argue that the adversary system of justice requires them to do the same. But that is not the law. The Supreme Court clearly delineated a different role for persecutors who represent the government:
"The United States Attorney is the representative not of an ordinary party to a controversy, but of a sovereignty whose obligation to govern impartially is as compelling as its obligation to govern at all, and whose interest, therefore, in a criminal prosecution is not that it shall win a case, but that justice shall be done."
The prosecutors in the January 6th case should study this opinion before they deny Trump an impartial jury.
*Alan M. Dershowitz is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law, Emeritus at Harvard Law School, and the author most recently of Get Trump: The Threat to Civil Liberties, Due Process, and Our Constitutional Rule of Law. He is the Jack Roth Charitable Foundation Fellow at Gatestone Institute, and is also the host of "The Dershow" podcast.
© 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.

Let Ukraine Bomb Russia
Con Coughlin/Gatestone Institute./August 6, 2023
The Ukrainian military's growing willingness to attack targets inside Russian territory is causing deep unease among some of Kyiv's Western allies, especially in Washington, where the Biden administration seems obsessed with preventing the Ukrainians from taking any action that might upset Putin.
While the White House has been reluctantly persuaded to give the go-ahead for Kyiv to be provided this equipment, the Biden administration remains reluctant to provide any kit that the Ukrainians could use to attack targets inside Russia.
Biden's failure to provide Ukraine with the weapons it requires to prevail on the battlefield, including the ability to attack targets inside Russian territory, demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of what is at stake in this dreadful conflict, namely the future security of the Western alliance.
A Ukrainian victory would not only inflict a devastating defeat on Putin and his authoritarian regime, it would send a signal to other autocratic regimes that they threaten the West and allies, such as Taiwan, at their peril.
Another concern that is inhibiting the Biden administration's handling of the Ukraine crisis are fears that if Putin is removed from power, he could be replaced by an ultra-nationalist who would make the threat Russia poses to global security even worse -- an eventuality that is bound to happen at some point and, to a strong US government, should probably be irrelevant.
There are also concerns about Moscow's constant threats to revert to nuclear weapons, even though this nothing more than a dangerous bluff on the part of the Kremlin, as China – among others – has made it clear it would not tolerate the use of such weapons. And without Chinese backing, Russia's predicament would be far worse. Rather than exploring the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with Moscow, one that would inevitably betray Ukraine's sovereign integrity, Biden should be redoubling Washington's efforts to make sure that Putin's chances of surviving in power once the war is over are non-existent.
Ukraine's ability to launch attacks deep within Russian territory are vital if the Ukrainian military's counteroffensive is to stand any chance of liberating its territory from Russian occupation.
Ukraine's ability to launch attacks deep within Russian territory are vital if the Ukrainian military's counteroffensive is to stand any chance of liberating its territory from Russian occupation.In recent days, Ukraine has launched a series of drone attacks against Russian targets, including two drone strikes against a skyscraper in central Moscow and an attempted drone strike against Russian naval ships in the Black Sea. The skyscraper, which houses teams from Russia's Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, and Ministry of Industry and Trade, was the target of drone strikes on two consecutive days.
Russian security officials claimed that several Ukrainian drones had been shot down by the country's air defences, but two of the aircraft succeeded in striking the target. The attacks briefly prompted the closure of Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, while staff working at the skyscraper were ordered to work from home. Russia also claimed that three Ukrainian sea drones were destroyed while trying to attack Russian naval ships in the Black Sea. While Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, they are very much in line with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent warning that, 18 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the war was now coming back to Russia. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the drone attacks on Moscow, Zelensky said attacks on Russian territory were an "inevitable, natural and absolutely fair process" of the war between the two countries. Ukrainian forces have launched dozens of attacks against targets located within Russian territory since the start of the year, including an alleged assassination attempt against Putin during a drone strike on the Kremlin in May.
Unlike Russia, which has regularly launched attacks against Ukraine's civilian infrastructure in an attempt to demoralise the Ukrainian people, Ukraine's attacks have been primarily focused on targeting Russian military assets, such as communications hubs and arms depots in an effort to undermine the effectiveness of Moscow's war-fighting capabilities, a perfectly legitimate undertaking under the laws of modern warfare. Even so, the Ukrainian military's growing willingness to attack targets inside Russian territory is causing deep unease among some of Kyiv's Western allies, especially in Washington, where the Biden administration seems obsessed with preventing the Ukrainians from taking any action that might upset Putin.
From the start of the conflict, President Joe Biden has been reluctant to respond positively to Zelensky's calls to be provided with more sophisticated weaponry for fear of provoking an escalation in the conflict between Russia and the West. This has resulted in delays in providing much-needed tanks and other heavy armour as well as warplanes.While the White House has been reluctantly persuaded to give the go-ahead for Kyiv to be provided this equipment, the Biden administration remains reluctant to provide any kit that the Ukrainians could use to attack targets inside Russia. The latest example of the administration's squeamishness about providing Ukraine with the means to take the fight into Russian territory was its recent decision to block the delivery of the US Army's long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to Kyiv. Expectations that Washington would send the weapons to Ukraine were raised in May when Biden said that the technology was "still in play", and the president is said to have discussed the issue of providing the weapons at the recent Nato summit in Vilnius.
According to the Washington Post, the administration has now ruled out sending the missiles on the grounds that it could deplete US missile stocks, and also fears that the conflict could escalate out of control if Ukraine fired the weapons into Russian territory. Biden's failure to provide Ukraine with the weapons it requires to prevail on the battlefield, including the ability to attack targets inside Russian territory, demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of what is at stake in this dreadful conflict, namely the future security of the Western alliance.
A Ukrainian victory would not only inflict a devastating defeat on Putin and his authoritarian regime, it would send a signal to other autocratic regimes that they threaten the West and allies, such as Taiwan, at their peril.
Rather than pulling their punches, which is the Biden administration's current approach, the US and its allies should be straining every sinew to ensure that Zelensky has all the means at his disposal to achieve total victory over his Russian adversary. The weakness of Putin's domestic position, moreover, in the wake of the failed Wagner Group's coup against Moscow is another factor that the Biden administration needs to take into account as they weigh up their options over Ukraine. Another concern that is inhibiting the Biden administration's handling of the Ukraine crisis are fears that if Putin is removed from power, he could be replaced by an ultra-nationalist who would make the threat Russia poses to global security even worse -- an eventuality that is bound to happen at some point and, to a strong US government, should probably be irrelevant.
There are also concerns about Moscow's constant threats to revert to nuclear weapons, even though this nothing more than a dangerous bluff on the part of the Kremlin, as China – among others – has made it clear it would not tolerate the use of such weapons. And without Chinese backing, Russia's predicament would be far worse. Rather than exploring the possibility of negotiating a peace deal with Moscow, one that would inevitably betray Ukraine's sovereign integrity, Biden should be redoubling Washington's efforts to make sure that Putin's chances of surviving in power once the war is over are non-existent.
*Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence and Foreign Affairs Editor and a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.
© 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.

How Iran is courting Africa to confront the West
Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami/Arab News/August 07, 2023
In July 2023, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi visited three African countries, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, to pursue three main objectives. First, to bypass US sanctions at a time of a stalemate in nuclear talks with Washington. Second, Raisi wished to expand Iranian ideological influence on the African continent and to gather political support for Iranian positions in international organizations. Lastly, these visits aimed to demonstrate that the conservative faction inside the Iranian establishment is focusing on fostering ties with non-aligned countries. This was, indeed, the first visit of an Iranian president to the African continent since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit 11 years ago. The African continent was less of a priority for Iranian foreign policy decision-makers during the 2013-2021 tenure of the moderate President Hassan Rouhani.
Iran’s presence in Africa is an ideological, economic and security issue. Indeed, in the vision of the Iranian revolutionary political elite since 1979, relations with countries from the Global South are to be understood not only within the framework of the Khomeinist ideological tenet of anti-imperialism but also in the context of exporting the Iranian politico-religious model. This ambition requires interfering in the internal affairs of African states to carry out missionary activities, but also to build networks of non-state actors, such as religious actors, cultural associations, front-companies and drug networks.
The aim behind this Iranian desire to assert power in Africa is to target the “enemies” of Iran, including regional rivals and global foes, especially the US. A new aspect apparent during Raisi’s recent visit to Africa was the search for new markets for Iranian military exports, such as drones and unsophisticated weapons systems.
The official Iranian diplomatic stance sets very ambitious objectives for mutual Iranian-African cooperation. Nevertheless, difficulties are apparent in carrying out economic cooperation projects, and tensions often emerge in relation to Iran’s ideological and security activities on the African continent. For instance, Iran-Zimbabwe bilateral trade amounted to less than $5 million in 2021 and during the recent visit 12 memorandums of understanding were signed without any details regarding the future Iranian investments in the country. Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa greeted Raisi after the Iranian president’s plane landed at Robert Mugabe International Airport in Harare and referred to him as “my brother.” Despite this apparent warmth, the economic rationality of the visit became a topic of debate inside Iran given the lack of economic complementary between the two countries.
What GCC investments and others indicate is that despite reconciliation with Iran, there is room for competition in other theaters, especially in resource-rich Africa
Overall, Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it expects trade with African countries to increase to more than $2 billion in 2023, up from an estimated figure of between $500 million and $1 billion in 2021 and 2022. The official Iranian objective of increasing trade with the continent to $5 billion is extremely insignificant and inferior to the UAE’s $50 billion and Turkiye’s $35 billion trade with Africa, which has a $600 billion global trade.
Saudi Arabia’s financial investments in the continent are in line with its aim of becoming a global investment powerhouse, as outlined in its Vision 2030 policy framework. The Kingdom’s growing financial footprint in the continent, especially in West Africa, was expressed on Nov. 15, 2022, when Guinean President Mamady Doumbouya met the CEO of the Saudi Fund for Development Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad. The healthy discussions led to a memorandum of understanding, with the Saudi fund agreeing to provide $8 million for a water project in the country and build 140 wells.
On Oct. 17, 2022, the Kingdom signed several major deals with South Africa to develop the country’s emerging hydrogen industry, as well as other renewable sources. In total, the deals totalled around $15 billion in Saudi investments. Only a week before the October deals, the fund also agreed to provide $5 million for solar-powered street lights in the Central African Republic.
What GCC investments and others indicate is that despite reconciliation with Iran, there is room for competition in other theaters, especially in resource-rich Africa, which has been a strategic sphere of contest among global powers for centuries. A present example is the scenario unfolding in Niger that has exposed France’s entrenched economic interests and dependence on the country, particularly for importing uranium. The difference today is that global powers are facing competition in Africa from rising powers with vast financial outlays such as the GCC, especially Saudi Arabia.
The unlikelihood of a rapid settlement of the nuclear issue in 2023 because of the war in Ukraine and the complications facing the Biden administration in reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will prevent a real deepening of Iranian economic cooperation with African countries. On the other hand, a security escalation between Tehran and Washington could lead the former to use its African networks of influence to challenge the US presence by targeting US diplomatic facilities on the continent.
Moreover, with Iranian military support for Russia's armed forces — delivery of drones and artillery ammunition, in particular — and its refusal to diplomatically condemn the Russian war in Ukraine, Tehran is also exposing itself to accelerated marginalization on the international scene.
Finally, the weakening of Russia’s international economic influence, a consequence of its desire to enter confrontation with Washington, could certainly contribute to the emergence of a post-Western international order by pushing Moscow to seek alternatives to its dependence on the US financial system. This hope of the leaders of the Islamic Republic and some African leaders nevertheless risks coming up against economic limits that will hinder their ideological objective.
The aim of maintaining a degree of balance between Russia and the West in the war in Ukraine through the emergence of a new form of neutrality or non-alignment risks not being a sufficient condition for Iranian-African rapprochement which will take place under the aegis of Moscow over the next few years. On the contrary, the proximity with Iran weakened by decades of economic sanctions is likely to burden the economic development of the African states that choose to bet on Iranian influence instead of the West.
*Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami is the founder and president of the International Institute for Iranian Studies (Rasanah). Twitter: @mohalsulami

Jeddah’s Ukrainian Appointment
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 07/2023
The participants at the Jeddah meeting on Ukraine were aware that they discussed a crisis that the world hasn’t seen in decades. The crisis has embroiled Europe and another major power. The West has gone to great lengths to prevent Russia from claiming victory. Both sides of the conflict don’t have the ability to advance or retreat. The political, economic and military consequences of the ongoing conflict are massive and have crippled the United Nations’ ability to remind others of its founding principles.
Saudi Arabia’s ability to sponsor a meeting over such a thorny and complex issue is a testament to its reputation, which it has strongly boosted in recent years. It is a reputation that is built on responsibly approaching regional and international crises. Along with the internal renaissance launched by its Vision 2030, Riyadh has been keen on building a network of international relations that has allowed it to consolidate its presence in economic and political world affairs.
A review of the series of summits hosted by Saudi Arabia in recent years and the series of visits carried out by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to various influential and rising capitals demonstrate that it is not unusual for Jeddah to host talks on Ukraine. Saudi Arabia has forged new relations and still pays attention to its old ones. It has adopted an approach of extending its hand towards countries near and far.
Fundamental interests overcame the strain in the relations with the United States. With Russia, it established close ties that go beyond their seats at the OPEC+ group. With China, it formed actual strategic relations that prompted Beijing to host the Saudi-Iranian dialogue that concluded with the famed trilateral statement. Moreover, Saudi Arabia welcomed the Ukrainian president during the latest Arab League summit that was hosted by the Kingdom and later strengthened its ties with India, Brazil, Türkiye and South Africa.
This arsenal of international, honest and trustworthy relations has granted the Saudi player the ability to handle difficult files, most notably the Russian-Ukrainian war.
It was evident that the participants at the Jeddah talks did not all share the same position on the conflict. China’s calculations are very complex. Russia’s defeat in the war would dent its hopes in reclaiming Taiwan, while openly siding with President Vladimir Putin would lead to a major boycott by the West that could threaten the global economy and even the Chinese economy itself.
India also has complicated calculations, so it has preferred to walk the neutral ground, avoiding tilting the balance towards its old relations with Russia. It is warily monitoring China’s growing arsenal and is seeking to reap the rewards of western fears as the “Chinese age” looms large.
Other attendees at the Jeddah talks included European countries that have taken a decisive stand against the “Russian aggression” and countries from other continents that have opted against taking a stand, but have instead called for peace.
The Jeddah meeting was held amid growing concerns that the conflict would enter a more dangerous phase. Ukrainian drones have deprived Putin of keeping Moscow and Russian territories safe. Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskiy's drones have repeatedly flown over Moscow, home to the Kremlin and Putin himself.
The eruption of the “grain war” has been felt by the poor in countries across the globe. Putin’s presents to some African countries do not solve the problem. The “grain war” led to the “ports war” and the Black Sea seems to be a trap set up for the entire world.
It is an unprecedented global crisis. Putin is too deep in the war to retreat without any gains that would help him declare victory that would make up for the loss of thousands of soldiers and the harm to the economy, not to mention the hit to his image. If this is how the Russian army fought against the Ukrainian military, then what would happen if it were to take on the whole of NATO?
Putin’s inability to simply go back from the war is a problem that needs a solution. He is incapable of deciding the battle in his favor. He is incapable of imposing a ceasefire according to the current situation. The Russian army needs to repel the Ukrainian counteroffensive that has forced it to plant a massive number of landmines and reminded the people of the horrors of World War II.
The Jeddah meeting concluded on August 6, which coincidentally is the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, another unprecedented development and frightening event that has left its mark on the world. The occasion is often used as a reminder of a hard lesson the world should have learned. The anniversary is more pertinent with the Ukrainian war. Statements by Russian officials about the conditions for the use of nuclear weapons and the possibility of the world slipping into such a situation have awoken several of these fears. The statements by the UN Secretary-General that the “drums of nuclear war are beating once again” have given credence to these fears.
Saudi Arabia sought to host the Jeddah meeting amid the growing global concern that the Russian-Ukrainian war is open to the greatest of dangers. The credibility of the Kingdom’s foreign policy led to more countries joining the talks, doubling the number that had taken part in the Copenhagen meeting that had the same purpose.
The conflict cannot be resolved with a magical statement. It is a dangerous and complex conflict that is not only tied to the future of Ukraine, but to Russia’s position in the world that is being formed on the rubble of the unipolar world. Russia may have been absent from the Jeddah meeting, but it was closely following it.
There is an international will to truly seek out an end to the war. The size of human losses on both sides of the conflict, the damage to the global economy, suffering from the “grain war”, fears that the war may expand and the rising nuclear threat are all pressing factors that should prompt finding a solution to the Ukrainian calamity. The Jeddah meeting was a step forward in reaching a collective will to resolve the conflict in spite of the diverging views. Perhaps the world can even bank on the weariness of the fighters and their despair in ever claiming victory.