English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For August 22/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
Healing on the Sabbath/Which of you, if your son or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?

Luke14/01-06/ When he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees on a Sabbath to eat bread, they were watching him. Behold, a certain man who had dropsy was in front of him.  Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they were silent .He took him, and healed him, and let him go. He answered them, “Which of you, if your son† or an ox fell into a well, wouldn’t immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?” They couldn’t answer him regarding these things.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-22/2023
Reports: Raisi's visit to KSA to tackle Lebanon's presidential file
Report: Le Drian may delay visit to give time to Hezbollah-FPM talks
Opposition Forces Delegation Visits Lebanese Army Commander
Army chief meets Kahaleh town families delegation
Opposition MPs affirm support for LAF, urge justice and fairness in dealing with recent security developments
Challenging Negotiations Continue for UNIFIL Renewal in South Lebanon
Hezbollah  attacks  “UNIFIL”, in a message to the United Nations
Berri says 'would have been better' for opposition to respond to France call for dialogue
Ex-MP says FPM-Hezbollah talks progressing, Azour still FPM candidate
Uncertain start of school year in Lebanon amid teacher salary dispute
Berri meets new Algerian Ambassador, UNRWA Affairs Director, broaches financial situation with Central Bank’s interim head
Calling for an international fact-finding committee: Beirut fire brigade martyrs' association seeks justice for blast victims
Armed groups take over all schools in Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp
Minister of Tourism: 1.35 Mln People Visited Lebanon This Summer
Organ donation in Lebanon relies on individual initiatives
On the Culture War in Lebanon/Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 21/2023
After Destroying Lebanon, Iran-controlled Hezbollah Threatens War with Israel/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/August 21, 2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/2023
Syrian TV says Israel attacks targets around Damascus
Russian strikes kill 8 fighters in Syria's rebel-held northwest
Netanyahu says recent attacks on Israelis are backed by Iran
Iran Says Prisoner Exchange Process with US Will Take Up to Two Months
IRGC Issues Warnings to US Warships in Strait of Hormuz
Iranian Minister of Intelligence Says His Country Holds ‘Spies’ from France, Sweden, UK
Suspected Palestinian Gunman Kills Israeli, Wounds Another in Latest Attack in West Bank
Egypt FM Stresses Keenness of Arab Ministerial Liaison Committee to Resolve Syria Crisis
French Soldier Died in Iraq on Sunday, Paris Says
Kurdistan President Offers Condolences Over Death of French Soldier in Iraq
8 'Nusra' Militants Killed in Russian Strikes Northwest Syria
New Protest in Regime-Held South Syria over Living Conditions
Sistani Breaks Silence on Jadriya Land Seizures
Sudan: Global Aid Official Appeals for Funds to Help Sudanese Trapped in War
Two Injured in Ukrainian Drone Attack in Moscow Region, Nearly 50 Flights Disrupted
Greece offers to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters: Zelenskiy
Ukraine Says it Repels Russian Attacks in Kharkiv Region, Gains in East
Zelenskyy Thanks Danes in Person for F-16s, Though the Planes Won’t Have an Immediate War Impact
BRICS Summit set for Johannesburg

Titles For The Latest English LCCC
 analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-22/2023
A Window of Stability in a Stormy Sea/Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 21/2023
‘Killing Christians Takes Us to Paradise’: The Persecution of Christians, July 2023/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/August 20, 2023
Women bear the brunt of Taliban’s gender apartheid/Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 21/2023
US border policies in spotlight as illegal immigrant numbers surge/Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/August 21/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 21-22/2023
Reports: Raisi's visit to KSA to tackle Lebanon's presidential file
Naharnet/21 August 2023
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s upcoming visit to Saudi Arabia will tackle the Lebanese presidential file, media reports said. The kingdom will ask Iran to “facilitate the election in light of its relation with Hezbollah,” Annahar newspaper reported on Monday.
The Iranian foreign ministry had announced last Monday that Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz had officially invited Raisi to visit the kingdom and that the visit’s date was yet to be announced.

Report: Le Drian may delay visit to give time to Hezbollah-FPM talks

Naharnet/21 August 2023
The French President’s Special Envoy to Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian might postpone his upcoming visit to Lebanon from the first week of September to the third week of September, the Progressive Socialist Party’s al-Anbaa news portal reported on Monday.
The delay would be aimed at “giving time to the efforts seeking to pacify the opposition’s stance as well as allowing the Haret Hreik-Mirna Chalouhi dialogue to make progress,” al-Anbaa said. “France is looking forward to the dialogue between Hezbollah and Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil and is awaiting its outcome and hoping it will be positive, because any presidential agreement between the two parties might largely mean that Bassil would back Suleiman Franjieh’s nomination,” al-Anbaa added. However, the outcome is not guaranteed until the moment and sources informed on the discussions have said that the negotiations are making progress albeit slowly, al-Anbaa said. Moreover, the news portal said that the Lebanese Forces “will not take part in Le Drian’s dialogue should he call for it in September and will not answer the questions that the French envoy had sent (to parliament) days ago.”

Opposition Forces Delegation Visits Lebanese Army Commander
LBCI/21 August 2023
A delegation of opposition members of parliament visited the Chief of the Army, General Joseph Aoun, in his office in Yarzeh this morning. The purpose of the visit was to reaffirm their support for the military institution and all security agencies as the safeguard of the state and its citizens. The parliamentarians emphasized the necessity of asserting the authority of the Lebanese Army and all official security apparatuses throughout the country's territories. They stressed the importance of empowering the Army to carry out its border protection and control tasks through the constitutional right granted to official military and security forces for the exclusive use of force and arms. They highlighted the need to resolve evolving events threatening civil peace and citizens' safety. The delegation also prioritized expediting ongoing investigations into Ain Abel and al-Kahaleh incidents. They stressed the importance of achieving decisive, swift, and conclusive results, particularly regarding identifying the killers of Elias Al-Hassrouni in Ain Abel and Fadi Bejjani in al-Kahaleh and delivering them to the competent judiciary. The delegation underscored the judiciary's responsibility to uphold justice. It urged it to conduct fair investigations, treating victims' families and all Lebanese equitably. They emphasized the need to prevent those trying to exploit the situation and create a rift between the people and the Army to destabilize the nation and the state. The delegation called for a definitive confiscation of seized materials and ammunition, essential evidence in a clear-cut crime.

Army chief meets Kahaleh town families delegation
NNA/August 21/2023
Maj. Gen. Aoun also received a delegation from the families of the town of Kahaleh, in the presence of the Army Intelligence Director. Discussions touched on the affairs of the town and the recent incidents, in addition to the concerns of its people. The delegation hailed the role of the army during the current stage, stressing "the importance of the historical relationship between the town and the military institution, and the keenness to continue this relationship based on respect, and to follow up on the file judicially."

Opposition MPs affirm support for LAF, urge justice and fairness in dealing with recent security developments

LBCI/21 August 2023
A delegation of opposition MPs visited Army Commander General Joseph Aoun in his office in Yarze on Monday morning to reaffirm their support for the military institution and all security agencies as a safety valve for the state and its citizens.
The deputies emphasized their commitment to the necessity of the Lebanese Army and all official security agencies asserting the state's authority across all territories, enabling the Army to carry out its border protection and control tasks. This is in accordance with the constitutional right that grants the official military and security forces the exclusive use of force and arms. They stressed the need to swiftly handle the events that threaten civil peace and citizens' safety. The delegation also expressed the priority of expediting the ongoing investigations into the Ain Ebel and Kahaleh incidents and the necessity of reaching conclusive, decisive, and prompt results, particularly in identifying the killers of Elias Hasrouni in Ain Ebel and the killers of Fadi Bejjani in Kahaleh.They emphasized the judiciary's responsibility to uphold justice, urging it to complete the investigations reasonably and to treat the victims and all Lebanese with impartiality and fairness. This is to prevent those seeking to exploit the situation from creating a rift between the people and the Army, leading to the downfall of both the institution and the state. They demanded a final seizure of the confiscated materials and ammunition as part of an apparent crime. The delegation also addressed the latest developments in the investigations of the events in Khaldeh. They stressed the necessity of the judiciary pursuing all those involved who incited the confrontation and have not been arrested yet. It has become essential for the military court to swiftly adjudicate this case and release the innocent detainees from the Arab tribes. The delegation included the following MPs: Ghassan Hasbani, Mark Daou, Ashraf Rifi, Salim El Sayegh, Elias Hankach, Bilal Houshaymi, and Waddah Sadek.

Challenging Negotiations Continue for UNIFIL Renewal in South Lebanon
LBCI/21 August 2023
As the vote on the renewal of UNIFIL forces in southern Lebanon, scheduled for August 31, approaches, sources following the matter describe the negotiations as challenging. On the 23rd of this month, the countdown begins for the voting session after the government coordinator with the emergency forces, Brigadier General Mounir Chehadeh and Caretaker Foreign Affairs Minister Abdallah Bou Habib arrive in New York. Intensive meetings are expected with permanent representatives of Security Council member states. It's worth noting that the draft resolution prepared by the Lebanese dossier specialist at the Security Council arrived in Lebanon about three weeks ago. Following this, a meeting was held between Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, and Brigadier General Mounir Chehadeh to discuss the draft and to present the Lebanese Army's observations on it, particularly those related to granting freedom of movement to UNIFIL.According to the information, the draft text states that UNIFIL does not require prior permits or approvals from the United Nations or the Lebanese government to carry out its assigned tasks. It emphasizes that UNIFIL has the right to carry out its tasks independently and strongly condemns any attempts to hinder or restrict UNIFIL's movements. However, Lebanon is requesting the removal of this paragraph and its replacement with "UNIFIL has the right to enjoy freedom of movement in coordination with the Lebanese government."Lebanon has also requested the removal of other paragraphs that discuss shortcomings in electing a president and reproachfully implementing financial and economic reforms. Additionally, Lebanon seeks the removal of the paragraph related to UNIFIL's movement towards warehouses belonging to the "Green Without Borders" association affiliated with Hezbollah, as these are not considered military sites.Among the paragraphs that Lebanon requests to amend is the one that mentions "the delineation agreement between Lebanon and Israel." Instead, Lebanon proposes the following wording: "An agreement between Lebanon and the United Nations through the US mediator and the third party, which is Israel." Another demand from Lebanon is to assign the name "Al-Mari" to the occupied north, starting from the village of Al-Ghajar, to assert Lebanon's right in that area. Only now, it's evident that the diplomatic efforts led by the Foreign Minister and Lebanon's representative to the Security Council, Jean Mrad, along with ambassadors and delegates from permanent member states, have yet to result in a successful vote in favor of Lebanon. Israel's lobbying efforts continue. While Russia and China are close to Lebanon's stance, France, Britain, and the United States are still distant. If a deadlock is reached, Lebanon might adopt a position in this regard, according to sources.

Hezbollah  attacks  “UNIFIL”, in a message to the United Nations
Janoubia Site/August 21/2023 (Google Translation)
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121492/121492/

What does Hezbollah Party want? A question that comes to the minds of the Lebanese, with the succession of the security incidents that this party fabricates throughout the Lebanese territory, and renews it when its need calls for it, without taking into account the existence of an army, people, and state. This kind of behaviour shows as if it is waging its last battle to control the joints of state institutions and the field, and to preserve its existence after it lost The popular and sectarian incubator, and it has become a strange entity among a people looking for life and stability in their land and homeland, which has turned into a warehouse of iron and gunpowder.
After “Ain al-Hilweh”, al-Kahala, Ain Ebel and Hay al-Salam, and the sporadic daily events in the Shiite villages and towns, the party’s latest and not the last, yesterday afternoon, came to add to its records a new attack on the “UNIFIL” forces near the Sahl al-Khiam at the al-Wazzani junction by The “People’s Unit”, which specializes in attacking these forces, is represented by a number of young men blocking the road in front of the international forces, while they raise the flags of “Hezbollah”, encircle them and demand that they leave with threats and insults. This attack coincides with the ongoing deliberations in the corridors of the United Nations to renew the “UNIFIL” in Lebanon, which ends at the end of August of each year, amid attempts by “Hezbollah” through the ruling system, to amend the decision that grants the “UNIFIL” forces the powers of inspection, raids and patrols without Coordination with the Lebanese army, and there is a draft project in the nations to expand its tasks, especially after the assassinations that took place in the areas of influence of “Hezbollah” in the south, and the disintegration of the party south and north of the Litani, bypassing Resolution 1701.
These repeated attacks during this month are not intended only to send messages to the interior and abroad, as is clear, but what is happening, according to a field source for Janoubia, “is the result of confusion and loss of balance after the series of defeats of the axis in the region, describing the party as a “raging bull within His arena,” especially after the demarcation of the maritime borders, and the drawing up of new rules of engagement that are closer to peace than to war, despite the skirmishes on the borders that both sides realize are for local consumption only, and will not lead to a major war.
And directing a new case in which he justifies his actions and covers up behind them, after he lost the justification for his existence, especially with the growing popular resentment against him, in light of the difficult economic and living conditions and the spread of crime, which revealed the falsity of his reformist slogans over the past years. He was not surprised that “Hezbollah’s weapons went inside after it lost the external mission and is now looking for a” job “for it.”
Everyone accepts this matter and moves away from its arsenal, presenting the duty of obedience, and the second message to the outside, to the effect that its weapons are a reality over the entire area of Lebanon and for regional purposes and all the interests of those who oppose it are subject to targeting, including the international emergency forces.

Berri says 'would have been better' for opposition to respond to France call for dialogue
Naharnet/21 August 2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri has criticized those rejecting a Lebanese dialogue proposed by France, his circles told An-Nahar newspaper, in remarks published Monday.
The sources quoted Berri as saying that it would have been better for the opposition MPs to respond to French envoy Jean Yves Le Drian's call for a dialogue, instead of "betting on other options."Le Drian is scheduled to return to Lebanon in September after he had proposed on his last visit to Lebanon to invite all those taking part in the process of electing a president to a meeting in September to achieve a consensus on the challenges and on the priority projects the future president will have to carry out, and consequently the qualities necessary for tackling them. Thirty one opposition MPs said in a joint statement last week that "any dialogue with Hezbollah would be futile" and that dialogue should only be held after a president is elected. The dialogue should be about "the fate of illegal weapons" and "limiting foreign and internal security to the state represented by the army and security agencies," the opposition MPs said.

Ex-MP says FPM-Hezbollah talks progressing, Azour still FPM candidate
Naharnet/21 August 2023
Talks between the Free Patriotic Movement and Hezbollah are progressing calmly and rationally, a former FPM MP said. Ex-lawmaker Amal Abou Zeid told Kuwaiti newspaper al-Anbaa, in remarks published Monday, that FPM chief Jebran Bassil and Hezbollah coordination and liaison official Wafiq Safa are calmly negotiating to find effective solutions not only to the presidential crisis, but also to a number of political, economic and security crises. The talks include the Trust Fund and the broad administrative and financial decentralization. "What is being said in the media about the stumbling of the negotiations is not true," Abou Zeid said, adding that Hezbollah and the FPM have not yet discussed the name of a presidential candidate. "Until now, former minister Jihad Azour is still the FPM's candidate," Abou Zeid said, denying that Bassil has turned against his intersection with the opposition on Azour.

Uncertain start of school year in Lebanon amid teacher salary dispute

LBCI/21 August 2023
The fate of approximately 300,000 students in Lebanon's public schools hangs in the balance as a standoff over teachers' salaries continues. According to the Ministry of Education, schools are logistically ready to open but will remain closed unless teachers' salary demands are met. Teachers are demanding monthly salaries of no less than $700 or its equivalent in Lebanese pounds at market rates. Last week, the Minister of Education proposed a plan to allocate $150 million for covering incentives, health benefits, and educational supplies. However, the cabinet approved an advance of 5,000 billion Lebanese pounds, approximately 35% of the proposed $150 million, specifically for productivity bonuses separate from the salary. Educational sources indicate that this amount is sufficient to pay productivity bonuses ranging between $200 and $300 per month for each permanent teacher for two months. This is a significant increase from the $125 they received last year. Contractual teachers will also see an unspecified hike in their hourly rates.

Berri meets new Algerian Ambassador, UNRWA Affairs Director, broaches financial situation with Central Bank’s interim head
NNA/21 August 2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Monday received at the Second Presidency in Ain El-Tineh, Algerian Ambassador to Lebanon, Belbagi Rachid, who came on a protocol visit upon assuming his new duties in Lebanon. The visit was an occasion during which the general situation in Lebanon and the region and the bilateral relations between the two countries were presented. Speaker Berri also received at Ain El-Tineh, the Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon, Dorothee Klaus. This afternoon, Berri met with the Lebanese Central Bank’s Acting Governor Wassim Mansouri, with whom he discussed the country’s general conditions especially the financial one.

Calling for an international fact-finding committee: Beirut fire brigade martyrs' association seeks justice for blast victims
LBCI/21 August 2023
The association of the Beirut fire brigade martyrs released a statement expressing their gratitude to all Lebanese citizens who joined them in commemorating the August 4th tragedy. The statement, addressed the media, conveyed the association's appreciation for its coverage and unwavering support, emphasizing the importance of keeping their cause alive until the truth is revealed and accountability is established. Facing a deadlock in the Lebanese investigation into the Beirut Port explosion case, the association raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest.  They highlighted that the crime scene falls within the jurisdiction and responsibility of the Lebanese state, government, judiciary, and military. Many officials remain in their positions, raising questions about the feasibility of holding the same authority accountable. Despite this, the association affirmed that the Lebanese judiciary was given a three-year opportunity to pursue the case, but no substantial progress has been made. To preserve the integrity of the investigation and prevent the manipulation of evidence, the association requested all MPs to collectively sign a petition urging the United Nations to establish an international fact-finding committee.
The purpose of this committee would be to uncover the truth behind the incident and continue the investigations that have stagnated within Lebanon. The Lebanese authorities would be required to provide the committee with relevant documents. The association thanked all those who signed the petition. It continued, "We hope and request from the Secretary-General of the United Nations, exercising his prerogatives, or from the Security Council or the General Assembly, to approve our request and subsequently request the Lebanese judiciary to provide the committee with copies of the investigations and information available to the relevant authorities," affirming the following:
- This petition and the establishment of the committee do not conflict with the local investigation but complement it;
- This committee will not financially burden the Lebanese state and is not an international court;
- This request does not contradict the petition submitted to the Human Rights Council.
The statement pointed out that the decision to pursue this petition was driven by a drastic shift in international and local perspectives. Notably, the European Parliament's call for the committee's establishment on August 3rd has added urgency to the matter.
Moreover, three ambassadors representing Australia, the Netherlands, and Germany have requested the Lebanese state's cooperation with the committee due to the victims from their nations. Highlighting the alignment of their stance with that of the Prosecutor General, Judge Ghassan Oweidat, the association acknowledged his endorsement of an international fact-finding committee. With the support of a majority of the Lebanese Parliament members, the association planned to present the petition to UN officials in Lebanon, the UN Security Council, and the embassies of Security Council member states, as well as countries with citizens affected by the explosion, including Australia, Germany, and the Netherlands.
In conclusion, the statement expressed gratitude for the widespread support and declared a commitment to the victims of the August 4th explosion, assuring that their cause would not be forgotten.

Armed groups take over all schools in Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp
Nada Homsi/The National/August 21, 2023
All schools in the Ain Al Hilweh refugee camp in Lebanon have been occupied by armed fighters, a UN source confirmed on Monday. There are eight schools in Ain Al Hilweh, the largest refugee camp for Palestinians in Lebanon. The confirmation that all eight had been taken over by armed insurgents follows a statement last week by the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) that a second school compound had been taken over. UN agency calls on armed groups to leave its facilities in Lebanon's largest refugee camp. The occupation by the extremist factions has thrown the start of the academic year "for 5,900 children” into jeopardy. The UN agency on Friday called for the immediate withdrawal of armed groups occupying its facilities, including its schools. “We are getting credible reports of severe damage to the school buildings and looting of children’s education material and equipment from the schools,” Dorothee Klaus, director of UNRWA affairs in Lebanon, said last week. UNRWA temporarily suspended its services in the camp last Friday after reports of armed groups occupying one of its compounds – one day before they overtook a second educational compound.
The suspension lasted for a day.
Lebanon’s refugee camps – over which the Lebanese state does not have jurisdiction due to a decades-old, now defunct agreement – are highly dependent on UNRWA to provide much-needed services such as education, health and waste collection. The camps have no officially recognised governance but are instead administered by various Palestinian political factions and a network of representatives who make up committees. The first UNRWA educational compound occupation came during a battle for control of Ain Al Hilweh between armed groups and the powerful political faction Fatah – the party to which Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas belongs. Thirteen people were killed in the week-long battle, while dozens were injured and about 2,000 refugees were displaced, forced to seek shelter in schools and mosques. Although a ceasefire has tentatively held, armed insurgents have so far refused to leave occupied UNRWA property. A senior member of Fatah security told The National a meeting would be held on Tuesday between the camp’s political leadership to determine the next steps. The battle, which began last month but dragged into August, broke out following the death of high-profile Fatah commander Abu Ashraf Al Armoushi and four of his bodyguards. While clashes between rival factions are not uncommon, this month’s battles have been especially ferocious due to the high-profile nature of the assassination. Fatah identified those behind the killing as members of the militant group Jund Al Sham and "takfiri gangs", according to Palestinian security officials. Jund Al Sham is the name of several Al Qaeda-affiliated militant groups, one of which operates in Ain al Hilweh. The Lebanese state's reluctance to enter Palestinian refugee camps has left them vulnerable to infiltration by outlaws and smaller networks of Islamist militants. Ain al Hilweh has earned a reputation for being such a haven, although Fatah has for years attempted to contain the presence of insurgents who seek to gain control of the camp. Clashes between Fatah and rival Islamist extremists are not uncommon in Ain al Hilweh, which holds more than 50,000 registered refugees. It is also home to some of the 30,000 Palestinian refugees displaced from the Nahr Al Bared camp in 2007 during 15 weeks of fighting between the Lebanese army and Islamist extremists – including Jund Al Sham – which led to the destruction of the camp.

Minister of Tourism: 1.35 Mln People Visited Lebanon This Summer
Reuters/21 August 2023
Caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar revealed that 1.35 million travelers, with 30 percent of them being foreigners, had arrived in Lebanon this summer. The country received the highest number of expatriates since 2018, reviving the tourism, service and restaurant sectors as helping it deal with its severe economic and living crises. The Ministry of Tourism has sponsored 132 festivals this summer. Nassar stressed that Lebanon boasts all the elements “that allow us to live in this country, invest in it, and work towards its economic and financial development.” He emphasized the importance of implementing administrative decentralization to boost investments and development. “Despite the poor economic and living conditions we are experiencing, from airport, infrastructure, electricity, and telecommunications problems, the Lebanese love life and refuse to give up.”
Meanwhile, caretaker Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamieh stressed on Saturday the need to maintain the electricity supply at Beirut international airport and the capital’s seaport as the country grapples with a stifling energy crisis.

Organ donation in Lebanon relies on individual initiatives
Najia Houssari/Arab News/August 21, 2023
BEIRUT: Organ donation in Lebanon is relying on individual initiatives, although the issue still generates controversy among the public. Former Health Minister Mohamed Jawad Khalife told Arab News: “The recommendation to donate organs is still rare in Lebanon, and this is due to the prevailing culture that considered this work to be taboo, even though religions do not prohibit it.” Khalife founded the National Organization for Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplant in Lebanon during his ministry in 2005. Khalife, a surgeon, added: “When the NOD LB was formed, it was welcomed by clergy from different communities, who even took part in awareness campaigns to educate the people about the importance of organ donation. “The momentum of the campaigns declined after the 2006 July war and continued until the coronavirus pandemic.”Khalife said that organ donation is currently restricted to individual initiatives. He added: “In Europe, the country where people donate organs the most is Spain. In the rest of the EU, organ donation is between 15 and 20 per million. In Lebanon, the percentage does not exceed 1.5 percent of the population.”
NOD LB is responsible for monitoring every donation and tissue transplant that takes place on Lebanese soil. It believes that people’s views on the subject are slowly changing, thanks to awareness-raising campaigns. Two weeks ago, a young Lebanese man, Ali Mahmoud Sharafeddine, was in a traffic accident in a town in the south of the country and died in hospital. His family decided to donate a number of his body parts to six patients, according to his wishes. The move resulted in religious scholar Sayyid Ali Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah getting in touch with the family. He said the act represented “the highest level of responsibility toward society.”Fadlallah, whose late father, Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, was a religious guide, urged “the need to revive and strengthen this tradition, which is one of the most prominent examples of sacrifice and devotion, so that others may live and enjoy what they had lost.”However, organ donation in Lebanon is still causing controversy. Lawmakers have established legal rules governing the donation of organs. They state that “the identity of the donor, who is required to be over 18 years old, remains unknown because donation has no identity, gender, doctrine or race.” Two decrees regulating organ donation and transplantation were issued after the country’s first transplant in 1972. One of them declared that the donation should be “free and unconditional.” Awareness campaigns to encourage organ donation have included initiatives in schools, universities, and military institutions. Donors must first fill out a form available on the NOD LB website. However, the organization said: “There has been no improvement in the actual donation rate and it has been limited to individual cases.”The NOD LB is also facing a lack of coordination between hospitals, particularly in the reporting of brain deaths.
An additional issue is that attempts are made by some individuals to sell organs, especially kidneys, rather than donate them.

On the Culture War in Lebanon
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 21/2023
A cultural war, the likes of which the country has not seen since the mid-1970s, is raging in Lebanon. Youths influenced by freedom movements across the globe, or who have lived in the West, or who feel that no one has the right to tell them how to think and love, or what to watch... have begun crying out in protest. In 2019, those voices were stifled, but the tragedies that followed have revived them. The questions that are now turning into the theme of this clash encompass everything from movies to sexual practices, and George Soros to entertainment culture... And if the sound of artillery set off by political disputes never goes silent on our televisions, then these cultural disputes are providing the artillery with additional shells. With that, some clarification is needed: this culture war is not being fought between sectarian or partisan groups who never budge on their positions. In fact, the same fanatical rhetoric we hear from this sectarian or political authority could be heard from another sectarian or political authority, and these two authorities could be hostile to one another or diverge on many fundamental questions.
In this sense, the culture war does not correspond to the sectarian-political war. We could, perhaps, even see the former as an occasion for one of the latter’s momentary truces or interruptions, especially since the most extreme parties in every sect always are leaning on what they believe to be common to all religions and values. This is precisely what the Lebanese Minister of Culture did recently, bringing all of the prophets together in himself and speaking in all of their tongues throughout his ongoing campaign against culture.
However, the recognition does not negate Hezbollah’s particular, distinct and multi-faceted responsibility. It drew the lines of the field on which this game is being played. In addition to being a party in which the man of the sect and the man of politics are one and the same, it sets the agenda for Lebanese public affairs in general, leaving others almost exclusively reacting to its actions. Adding to its political and military worlds, it has completed drawing its cultural world. The party is a model of a parallel society inflated by its ritual and sectarian particularities, leaving it perpetually caught in a latent culture war. Spending half an hour watching its broadcaster, Al-Manar, is enough to ascertain that it pushes out and rejects anyone with a different culture or preferences. Even the leftists and “anti-imperialists” who support Hezbollah’s resistance, got a kicking on the values front. Like every cohesive and closed doctrinal structure, it has its definitive answers, usually announced by its secretary general, for all the questions of temporal life, as well as matters of religion.
In all likelihood, the mood of Iranian officials has become more inclined to this exceptional gloominess after the murder of Mahsa Amini, women, the veil and sexual violence against women becoming central themes in Iranian politics, and the spike in repression whose blade strikes intellectuals and filmmakers. “He who teaches me a letter becomes my master,” as the Arab saying goes. Moreover, Hezbollah is stoking the climate of cultural tensions with its rhetoric. In fact, it is stoking two climates that form the distant or immediate background for what is going on: the first, combatting normalization, is admonishing, and the assiduous toil exerted to this end knows no limits or restrictions; the second is opposing the West and its values, and firmly linking the West’s culture and Western policies that Hezbollah and its proponents oppose. Both these climates have been filled with toxicity.
There is another reason why the party bears greater responsibility than the other reactionaries: the climate of tension, fear, and polarized mobilization stirred by its arms does not create an ideal environment for novel and enlightened ideas. It pushes every other sect and community to vomit the worst and most backward things inside it, as amid the sectarian apprehensions, the verdict of the sect’s men carries more weight in determining right from wrong and the permissible from the impermissible.
However, the war on culture and freedoms could cost a country like Lebanon more than it has any other country. Without its universities, publishing houses, media, cinemas, theaters, and television stations..., Lebanon would lose its wings, not merely economically, but even in terms of its meaning.
Anti-intellectualism, under these circumstances, is nothing less than a catastrophe added to the calamities of our economy, politics, judiciary, education, and what remains of our coexistence, that we have endured and are enduring. Indeed, it would have been bizarre for culture to be spared by this wanton onslaught destroying everything else in its path. However, because of their awareness of this truth and their sensibilities toward it, those who ruled the country before 1975 rebuffed the idea of a state ideology imposed from above. Before we became infected with the glorification of resistance, as well as the Baathist (among others) idea of “Lebanon’s Arabness,” we had no sacrosanct icons, nor did the political system allow itself to be reflected culturally. The fact is that the leading figures of what was dubbed an “isolationist culture” were subjected, during the “isolationist” era”, to criticism that was largely polemical or defamatory. This is true of Michel Chiha, Kamal Al-Hajj, Charles Malek, the Rahbani brothers, and others. As for today, the sacrosanct continues its charge, and freedoms honorably remain steadfast.

After Destroying Lebanon, Iran-controlled Hezbollah Threatens War with Israel
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/August 21, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121470/121470/
Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of the Hezbollah terror group, recently threatened to send Israel back "to the Stone Age" if it goes to war with Lebanon -- meaning defend itself against an Iranian-Lebanese attack.
While Nasrallah's threat to destroy Israel is not new, he surely knows a thing or two about sending countries back to the Stone Age. His Iran-backed group, which functions as a state-within-a-state in Lebanon, is responsible for turning the Arab country into a failed state.
Two days after Nasrallah made his latest threat against Israel, Lebanon witnessed widespread blackouts, forcing Beirut Airport to run on electric generators.
"On the other side of the spectrum is the understanding that Lebanon was coerced into collapse by Hezbollah and its regional broker, Iran." — Fadi Nassar, assistant professor in political science and international affairs, Lebanese American University; Saleh El Machnouk, lecturer in political science, Saint-Joseph University, Beirut; mei.edu, March 24, 2023.
"Lebanon has been hit by a debilitating new wave of hyperinflation, the imposition of its judiciary over the local investigation into the Port of Beirut blast, and a European investigation into the Central Bank." — Fadi Nassar and Saleh El Machnouk; mei.edu, March 24, 2023.
"Hezbollah and [former Lebanese president Michel] Aoun have destroyed everything that made Lebanon great. The Arab world's banking capital is bankrupt. Tourists don't frequent destabilized states run by terrorists. Former regional partners refuse to have anything to do with us. Our celebrated culture is trampled underfoot by barbarian theocrats. Beirut no longer has a viable port." — Baria Alamuddin, award-winning Lebanese journalist and broadcaster, arabnews.com, September 27, 2020.
Since the explosion at the Port of Beirut [which killed more than 200 people, injured thousands more, and displaced half of Lebanon's capital city], Hezbollah has been trying to obstruct the investigation into the incident by the Lebanese authorities.
"All indications, signs, and collected evidence of weapons and explosives, prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Hezbollah, backed by the mullahs in Iran, have turned Lebanon into a massive arms and explosives warehouse." — Mohammed al Shaikh, Saudi political analyst, alarabiya.net, September 29, 2020.
"Hezbollah's militia, as was publicly and boldly recognized by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, is trying to convert Lebanon into an Iranian mullah's province, from which he receives his arms and all the funds and equipment he requires. Hence, the crimes committed by Hezbollah, including the Beirut explosion, are in fact an extension of Tehran's orders... Although they cannot be publicly vocal about it, all the Lebanese hold Hezbollah responsible for the port bombing. People know that if they do express their opinion, physical liquidation awaits them...." — Mohammed al Shaikh, alarabiya.net, September 29, 2020.
Nasrallah and his masters in Iran care nothing about the suffering of the Lebanese people. What they care about is power, spreading their control to other Arab countries, and fulfilling their ambition to destroy the only successful and democratic country in the Middle East: Israel. Besides Lebanon, Iran's terror proxies have also wreaked havoc in Syria, Yemen and Iraq. How ironic that Nasrallah, the terrorist leader who has decimated his own country, is now, with the backing of Iran, threatening to take another state back to the Stone Age.
Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary-General of the Hezbollah terror group, recently threatened to send Israel back "to the Stone Age" if it goes to war with Lebanon -- meaning defend itself against an Iranian-Lebanese attack:
"Today, I can present evidence, when I say to the [Israeli] enemy: You, too, will return to the Stone Age. The civilian airports, the military airports, the Air Force bases, the power plants and electricity distribution grid, the water plants, the main communication centers, various infrastructure – there is no need to go into detail. The oil, petrol, and ammonium nitrate plants. You can also add Dimona [nuclear] plant. All of these are located in a small territory [Israel]. If the fighting expands to the entire resistance axis, nothing will be left of Israel."
While Nasrallah's threat to destroy Israel is not new, he surely knows a thing or two about sending countries back to the Stone Age. His Iran-backed group, which functions as a state-within-a-state in Lebanon, is responsible for turning the Arab country, only a few years ago known as the "Switzerland of the Middle East" and its capital, Beirut as the "Paris of the Middle East" into a failed state, the "Venezuela of the Middle East."
Associated Press reported in September 2021:
"As Lebanon sinks deeper into poverty, many Lebanese are more openly criticizing Iran-backed Hezbollah. They blame the group – along with the ruling class – for the devastating, multiple crises plaguing the country, including a dramatic currency crash and severe shortages in medicine and fuel."
Two days after Nasrallah made his latest threat against Israel, Lebanon witnessed widespread blackouts, forcing Beirut Airport to run on electric generators. The Electricity Authority of Lebanon announced that the al-Zahrani and Deir Amman power stations ceased operations due to the operating company's financial debt. Lebanon's Central Bank refuses to approve additional credit to the company to operate the power plants without legislation backing such a move (the bank refuses to accept responsibility for the matter and wants Parliament to take responsibility).
Many Lebanese hold Hezbollah directly responsible for the four-year-long crisis.
"Lebanon has been hit by a debilitating new wave of hyperinflation, the imposition of its judiciary over the local investigation into the Port of Beirut blast, and a European investigation into the Central Bank," according to Fadi Nassar, an assistant professor in political science and international affairs at the Lebanese American University, and Saleh El Machnouk, a lecturer in political science at Saint-Joseph University in Beirut.
"On one side of the spectrum, France has largely characterized Lebanon's crisis as a consequence of a deeply-flawed power-sharing system that allowed sectarian allies to divvy up the spoils of the state to the point of bankruptcy. Lebanon's failure, therefore, is rooted in corruption and mismanagement...
"On the other side of the spectrum is the understanding that Lebanon was coerced into collapse by Hezbollah and its regional broker, Iran. Through political assassinations, forced paralysis, and a military takeover in 2008, Hezbollah filled the power void in Lebanon left by the [Syrian] regime's withdrawal in 2005. Central to that theory is that Hezbollah's costly regional military interventions – from Syria to Yemen – and coercion of its opponents, paralyzed the government and cut the country from its traditional Gulf economic lifeline...
"After years of confrontation between Hezbollah and the anti-Syrian March 14 forces, the former had managed –using both sticks and carrots – to either subdue or co-opt various political opponents into the so-called national unity governments. This process...culminated in 2016 with the election of a Hezbollah ally, Michel Aoun, as president. By then, Lebanon had fully delved into a Faustian, transactional arrangement between the militia (Hezbollah) and the mafia (the co-opted cartel of sectarian political elites)..."
The two Lebanese authors point out that Lebanon's Central Bank governor, Riad Salameh, acting as the mafia's financial architect, siphoned depositors' money from commercial banks to fund the elite's expanding clientelist network, resulting in the loss of life savings for hundreds of thousands of Lebanese. They added:
"The recent case of the US's sanctioning of Hezbollah-affiliated money exchanger Hassan Moukalled, accused of supporting Hezbollah's finances by acting as intermediary between the Central Bank and the black market, demonstrates how Salameh's control of the Central Bank is a key component of Hezbollah's evolving ability to capture state resources and circumvent international sanctions."
Dr. Ellie Abouaoun, Director of North Africa Programs and Regional Hub at the United States Institute of Peace, noted that multidimensional poverty in Lebanon rose from 53% (pre-2019) to 82% in 2019 because of what the World Bank described as a deliberate depression orchestrated by Lebanon's elite and one of the top three most severe economic collapses worldwide since the 1850s.
"Holding the community of nations solely responsible for Lebanon's mess is not only unfair, but essentially preposterous," Abouaoun argued.
"It is clear by now that some Lebanese citizens easily qualify as perpetrators, while the rest are either unwilling or unfit to be part of a solution, are held hostage by the current elite, or are just idle babblers, too politically immature to conceive and execute a way out of the quagmire...
"Lebanon is a country with endemic corruption, dysfunctional legislative, executive, and judiciary powers, where services are hardly accessible and poverty rates are alarming."
Baria Alamuddin, an award-winning Lebanese journalist and broadcaster, accused Hezbollah of destroying everything that made Lebanon great. "Does anyone know how many Lebanese prime ministers have been appointed over the past year?" she asked in an article in September 2020.
"With the resignation of Mustapha Adib at the weekend, Hezbollah has thwarted every attempt to form a competent, technocratic administration to steer Lebanon out of this catastrophe; demanding, like gangsters, that it must possess the Finance Ministry, Health, Transport, and everything else it can get its hands on.
"We have warned for years that Hassan Nasrallah...and Ayatollah Khamenei would burn Lebanon to the ground to protect their interests...
"Hezbollah and [former Lebanese president Michel] Aoun have destroyed everything that made Lebanon great. The Arab world's banking capital is bankrupt. Tourists don't frequent destabilized states run by terrorists. Former regional partners refuse to have anything to do with us. Our celebrated culture is trampled underfoot by barbarian theocrats. Beirut no longer has a viable port."
Further evidence that Hezbollah has sent Lebanon back to the Stone Age can be found in the August 4, 2020 explosion at the Port of Beirut, which killed more than 200 people, injured thousands more, and displaced half of Lebanon's capital city.
Although the ammonium nitrate the caused the massive explosion is not directly linked to Hezbollah, some people have been holding the terror group responsible for the tragedy, pointing out its previous use of the explosive. Hezbollah has been accused of preventing the stash from being disposed of after they were seized by Lebanese authorities in 2013 from a Moldovan-flagged ship en route from Georgia to Mozambique.
Hezbollah's name is tied up with ammonium nitrate in several historical cases. In 2020, Israel reportedly provided Germany with information about Hezbollah's activities on German soil, including the stashing of hundreds of kilograms of ammonium nitrate. In 2015, British intelligence, acting on a tip from a foreign intelligence agency, caught an alleged Hezbollah terrorist stockpiling more than three tons of the explosive packed in thousands of disposable ice packs in North West London. In a similar case in 2015 in Cyprus, a Hezbollah agent was found with 8.2 tons of ammonium nitrate.
Since the explosion at the Port of Beirut, Hezbollah has been trying to obstruct the investigation into the incident by the Lebanese authorities. "All indications, signs, and collected evidence of weapons and explosives, prove beyond the shadow of a doubt, that Hezbollah, backed by the mullahs in Iran, have turned Lebanon into a massive arms and explosives warehouse," said Saudi political analyst Mohammed al Shaikh.
"Hezbollah's militia, as was publicly and boldly recognized by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, is trying to convert Lebanon into an Iranian mullah's province, from which he receives his arms and all the funds and equipment he requires.
"Hence, the crimes committed by Hezbollah, including the Beirut explosion, are in fact an extension of Tehran's orders...
"Although they cannot be publicly vocal about it, all the Lebanese hold Hezbollah responsible for the port bombing. People know that if they do express their opinion, physical liquidation awaits them, as this terrorist party does with whoever opposes it, and Lebanese judges dare not press charges against it. The local jurisdiction is too weak to handle this brutal and bloody monster fairly and transparently."
Nasrallah and his masters in Iran care nothing about the suffering of the Lebanese people. What they care about is power, spreading their control to other Arab countries, and fulfilling their ambition to destroy the only successful and democratic country in the Middle East: Israel. Besides Lebanon, Iran's terror proxies have also wreaked havoc in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. How ironic that Nasrallah, the terrorist leader who has decimated his own country, is now threatening to take another state back to the Stone Age.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19916/lebanon-iran-hezbollah-war

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 21-22/2023
Syrian TV says Israel attacks targets around Damascus
Reuters/August 21, 2023
BEIRUT: The Syrian state television channel said late on Monday that Israel had attacked targets on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, Damascus. State TV did not give any more details about the targets of the attack but the semi-official newspaper, Al Watan, said on its website that “Damascus international airport was unaffected. Israel has for years carried out attacks on what it has described as Iran-linked targets in Syria, where Tehran’s influence has grown since it began supporting President Bashar Assad in a civil war that started in 2011.

Russian strikes kill 8 fighters in Syria's rebel-held northwest
Agence France Presse/August 22, 2023
At least eight fighters were killed in Russian air strikes early Monday targeting a rebel base in Syria's northwest, a war monitor said. "Russian warplanes carried out air strikes on the western outskirts of Idlib city, targeting a military base belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)... killing at least eight fighters," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Several other fighters were wounded in the strikes, with some in critical condition, said the Britain-based monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources inside Syria. Jihadist group HTS, led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls swathes of Idlib province, parts of which form the last bastions of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's rule. HTS also controls parts of the adjacent Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces. An AFP correspondent at the site said the jihadist group cordoned off the area after the strikes, which came shortly after midnight. Russia has repeatedly struck the Idlib stronghold over the years. Syria's civil war broke out in 2011 after the government's repression of peaceful demonstrations escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global jihadists. Moscow is a major ally of Damascus, and its intervention in Syria since 2015 helped to turn the tide in the regime's favour. On August 5, three family members, all civilians, were killed when Russian warplanes struck the outskirts of Idlib city, the Observatory said at the time. On June 25, Russian air strikes killed at least 13 people including nine civilians in Idlib province, in what the Observatory said was the deadliest such attack on the country this year. A member of the Turkistan Islamic Party, a Uyghur-dominated jihadist group, was among the four fighters killed in those strikes, which also wounded at least 30 civilians, the monitor had said. With Russian and Iranian support, Damascus has clawed back much of the territory it had lost to rebels early in the conflict. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and forced around half of the country's pre-war population from their homes. The rebel-held Idlib region is home to about three million people, around half of them displaced from other parts of the country. Since 2020, a ceasefire deal brokered by Damascus ally Moscow and rebel-backer Ankara has largely held in Syria's northwest, despite periodic clashes.

Netanyahu says recent attacks on Israelis are backed by Iran
Reuters/August 22, 2023
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that a series of recent deadly attacks against Israelis has been funded and encouraged by Iran. “We are in the midst of a terror attack. This terror attack is encouraged, guided, funded by Iran and its satellite states,” Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks. He spoke in the occupied West Bank at a site where hours earlier an Israeli woman was shot dead by suspected Palestinian gunmen. Israel, he said, would employ measures to settle the score with the attackers and those who sent them, from near or far.

Iran Says Prisoner Exchange Process with US Will Take Up to Two Months
. Reuters/ 21 August 2023
The process of releasing US prisoners held in Iran will take up to two months, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday during a press conference. "A specific time frame has been announced by relevant authorities, and it will take a maximum of two months for this process to take place," Kanaani said. Earlier this month, Tehran and Washington reached an agreement whereby five US citizens held in Iran would be freed while $6 billion of Iranian assets frozen in South Korea would be released. South Korean media reported on Monday that the assets have been transferred to Switzerland's central bank last week for exchange and transfer to Iran. The Swiss National Bank plans to exchange the $6 billion holdings in won for dollars and then euros in the currency market, converting about 300 billion won ($223.85 million) to 400 billion each day for next five weeks, Yonhap Infomax reported, citing an unnamed currency market source. An official at South Korea's finance ministry declined to confirm the report, citing the legal and diplomatic sensitivity of the matter. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said last week that the released assets would be used to enhance domestic production.

IRGC Issues Warnings to US Warships in Strait of Hormuz
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
Commander of the IRGC Navy Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said that his forces issued a warning to an American warship in the Strait of Hormuz, said IRGC-affiliated Tasnim news agency. IRGC released footage of the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall that traveled through the Strait of Hormuz, last Saturday. The American forces didn’t comment on the matter. Tasnim quoted Tangsiri as saying that during monitoring the American warship, a US helicopter took off from the vessel's flying deck but was forced to land shortly after warnings from the watch tower in the Strait of Hormuz, and the presence of the ‘Revolutionary Guard’ naval boats. He added it was the first entry by the Americans into the waters off the southern coasts of Iran since 2021, stressing that Iran and the neighboring countries in the Gulf can ensure security in the regional waters and there is no need for foreigners' presence. Tangsiri said the IRGC Navy’s success in monitoring the maritime movements in the Persian Gulf and its vigilance in the face of threats, particularly from the warships of extra-regional countries, proved that the Iranian forces would never allow enemies to undermine the security of the Gulf and the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Last week, Western naval forces operating in the Gulf warned ships sailing in the strategic Strait of Hormuz against approaching Iranian waters to avoid the risk of seizure. The warnings issued on Saturday and Sunday follow a week that saw the United States boost its military presence in the region and an agreement between Washington and Tehran that has raised hopes of reducing tensions between the adversaries. In April and May, Iran seized two tankers within a week in regional waters. A few days earlier, Washington announced the arrival of more than 3,000 US Marines and sailors to the Middle East on board warships as part of a plan to boost the military presence in the region, which it confirmed aims to deter Iran from seizing ships and oil tankers.

Iranian Minister of Intelligence Says His Country Holds ‘Spies’ from France, Sweden, UK

Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
Iran’s Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib said that Iran is holding spies from Sweden, France, Britain, and several other countries and that some of them had been put to death. Speaking at the 24th Supreme Assembly of Commanders of the IRGC, Khatib warned that “the enemy’s” aim is to destabilize Iran and reduce participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections in March. Reiterating Khamenei's statements, Khatib said that the enemies are trying to use the Baha'is, public frustration, trade union movements, and political currents that incite sedition and change, to provoke crises in society.
The intelligence chief said more than 50 foreign intelligence agencies have established an “Iran desk” to counter Iran. The minister also blasted the US for creating the ISIS terrorist group. Iran has foiled many plots after about 200 terrorists entered Iran and were looking to destabilize the country and the region during the 40th of Imam Hussain rituals in Iraq, the minister revealed. Iran announced that ISIS claimed responsibility for an attack on a shrine in Iran's city of Shiraz that killed two and wounded seven. Iranian officials said that they apprehended the logistics official for the group’s operations and the link between "ISIS Khorasan" and "ISIS in the Syrian territories". The officials, however, didn’t provide any evidence.
Khatib revealed that spies from Sweden, France, Britain, and several other countries, are in Iran’s captivity. “Despite pressure from abroad, some of those spies were sentenced to death and executed,” said the minister. He emphasized that coordination and collaboration among all parts of the intelligence community are key factors in Iran’s success in apprehending spies, said ISNA news agency. Iran’s “Revolutionary Guards” have arrested dozens of dual nationals during the past two years, mostly on spying charges. While rights activists accuse Iran of arresting dual nationals to use them as bargaining chips, some Western capitals describe their detained citizens as “state hostages”. In January, Iran executed a former senior official over charges of espionage in favor of Britain. Tension worsened between London and Tehran after the execution of dual Iranian-British national Ali Shamkhani, who once held a high-ranking position in the country's defense ministry. Iran does not recognize dual nationality for Iranians. This means that if dual nationals are detained, the government will not grant consular access to foreign officials to visit them in detention. Earlier this year, Iran freed Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele, a Danish, and two Austrians in return for Iranian diplomat Asadollah Assadi who was serving a 20-year jail for his role in a bomb plot targeting a rally by opponents of the Iranian regime in 2018. This month, Iran has moved five Iranian-Americans from prison to house arrest in exchange for billions of dollars frozen in South Korea. After the funds are transferred to the Swiss Central Bank account in Germany, they will be transferred to two bank accounts in Qatar. The White House stressed last week that there would be restrictions on what Iran could do with any funds unfrozen under an emerging agreement. Meanwhile, the adviser to the commander in chief of the “Revolutionary Guards”, Hossein Taeb said that protests and riots are decreasing as the elections approach, but the political confrontations are increasing. In this context, he said that the enemies now plot to destabilize political stability instead of security stability, according to ISNA. More than 500 protesters were killed in the violent crackdown on the protests in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death. Over 20,000 people were arrested and seven were executed on charges of attacking the security forces.

Suspected Palestinian Gunman Kills Israeli, Wounds Another in Latest Attack in West Bank
dpa/21 August 2023
A suspected Palestinian attacker killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man in the south of the occupied West Bank on Monday, Israeli authorities said, as violence continued to flare in the restive territory shortly after another shooting killed two Israelis.
The latest attack is part of a sharp escalation of violence in the region in recent months involving Palestinian gunmen, Israeli security forces and radical Jewish settlers.  The combustible mix of armed Palestinians carrying out shooting attacks against Israelis across the West Bank and within Israel as well as near-nightly — and often deadly — raids by the Israeli army to arrest gunmen has fueled the worst fighting between Israel and the Palestinians in the West Bank in nearly two decades. Israeli security forces said the suspected Palestinian gunman opened fire on Route 60, the main north-south road in the West Bank, near the major city of Hebron. The army said the attack killed an Israeli woman and seriously wounded a man as the two were driving in the area. The Israeli rescue service reported the two victims were in their 40s. The deadly shooting came just days after another Palestinian attack killed an Israeli father and son who were washing their car in the Palestinian town of Hawara in the northern occupied West Bank, prompting security forces to embark on an extended manhunt and putting the West Bank on edge. Nearly 180 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank since the start of this year, according to a tally by The Associated Press. Israel says most of the Palestinians killed were militants. But stone throwing youths protesting the incursions and those not involved in the confrontations have also been killed. Some 30 people have been killed by Palestinian attacks against Israelis during that time. Israel says the raids are meant to dismantle militant networks and thwart future attacks. Palestinians say the raids undermine their security forces, inspire more militancy and entrench Israeli control over lands they seek for a hoped-for future state. Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.

Egypt FM Stresses Keenness of Arab Ministerial Liaison Committee to Resolve Syria Crisis

Reuters/Cairo, Egypt,/21 August 2023
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received on Sunday a phone call from Geir Pedersen, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, to discuss the outcomes of the meeting of the Arab Ministerial Liaison Committee on Syria, which was held in Cairo on August 15. Shoukry stressed the committee's keenness to complete the task entrusted to it in order to reach a settlement to the Syrian crisis, and to preserve the unity and stability of Syria, said Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry. Pedersen, for his part, underlined his keenness on coordinating with the various concerned parties to build on the agreements reached at the meeting. Last week, the committee underscored that a political solution is the only way to resolve the Syrian crisis. It hoped that the constitutional path would be resumed to achieve that goal, including holding a meeting of the Constitutional Committee in Oman before the end of the year. The Cairo meeting also emphasized the importance of intensified efforts to end the humanitarian suffering of the Syrian people and the need to address the refugee crisis. Shoukry and Pedersen agreed to meet on the sideline of the United Nations General Assembly next month.

French Soldier Died in Iraq on Sunday, Paris Says
AFP/21 August 2023
A French soldier died on Sunday in Iraq, where he was posted on a training mission, the French government said. "Nicolas Latourte lost his life in the line of duty", President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said in a post the death had occurred on Sunday, adding Latourte had been on a mission to train Iraq's armed forces "to fight against terrorism".

Kurdistan President Offers Condolences Over Death of French Soldier in Iraq
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani extended on Saturday his condolences to the family of a French soldier who died in a car accident in Iraq. “I offer my deepest condolences to his family, to President Emmanuel Macron, and to the people and government of France at this difficult time. May God Almighty bestow His mercy upon him and grant everyone comfort and patience. I wish his colleague who was injured in the same accident a speedy recovery.”“The people of Kurdistan appreciate the support and assistance of the French military within the framework of the International Coalition Forces Against ISIS, who continue to provide support and assistance to Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for the eradication of terrorism,” said Barzani. Sergeant Baptiste Gauchot was killed in a road accident in Iraq, where he was “taking part in a training mission for the Iraqi armed forces,” Macron said on Friday. Gauchot “was very seriously wounded when his vehicle went off the road,” France’s armed forces ministry said. He received emergency surgery at Erbil hospital but died from his injuries, while a soldier he was with at the time is being treated in a Baghdad military hospital, it added. In 2021, Macron stressed that “no matter what choices the Americans make, we will maintain our presence in Iraq to fight against terrorism.”

8 'Nusra' Militants Killed in Russian Strikes Northwest Syria
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
At least eight fighters were killed in Russian air strikes early Monday targeting a military base belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), commonly referred to as Nusra Front, in Syria's northwest, a war monitor said. "Russian warplanes carried out air strikes on the western outskirts of Idlib city, targeting a military base belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)... killing at least eight fighters," said Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The militant group HTS, led by Syria's former Al-Qaeda affiliate, controls swathes of Idlib province, parts of which form the last bastions of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad's rule. An AFP correspondent at the site said the strikes, which came shortly after midnight, targeted an area on the outskirts of Idlib city near swimming pools. Syria's civil war broke out in 2011 after the government's repression of peaceful demonstrations escalated into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global militants. The war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions. The opposition-held Idlib region is home to about three million people, around half of them displaced from other parts of the country.

New Protest in Regime-Held South Syria over Living Conditions

AFP//21 August 2023
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets again Monday in Syria's southern city of Sweida, local media and an activist reported, as dire living conditions stoke discontent in regime-held areas. Days of rare protests have erupted in the south after the government lifted fuel subsidies last week, dealing a blow to Syrians already struggling with the heavy toll that 12 years of war have exacted on the economy. Local news outlet Suwayda24 posted videos showing hundreds of people gathered in the city on Monday, holding banners and chanting anti-government slogans including "freedom" and "long live Syria, down with (President) Bashar al-Assad"."We've had enough, the Syrian people are suffocating," one activist in Sweida said on condition of anonymity for security reasons, adding that hundreds had gathered to protest in the city. Soaring inflation, the rising cost of living, instability and poverty have plagued the country, pushing desperate Syrians to take to the streets, the activist said. Security forces have not cracked down on demonstrators so far, he noted. "My only hope is that this movement will spread to other provinces and that our voices will be heard," he told AFP. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions since it broke out in 2011 following Assad's repression of peaceful pro-democracy protests. It spiraled into a deadly conflict that pulled in foreign powers and global extremists. Sunday saw a strike over deteriorating living conditions and price hikes across Sweida province -- the heartland of the country's Druze minority -- which has been mostly spared the worst of the civil conflict.
'Quasi-mafia'
One senior Druze religious leader has expressed support for demonstrators and chastised the government. Footage on Monday showed protesters carrying local Druze sheikhs on their shoulders. In December, one protester and a policeman were killed when security forces cracked down on a demonstration in Sweida against deteriorating living conditions. On Saturday, dozens demonstrated in southern Syria's Daraa province, some raising the opposition flag and calling for Assad's departure, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor. An activist said there were further protests on Sunday evening in the province, the cradle of Syria's uprising. Daraa returned to regime control in 2018 under a Russia-backed ceasefire deal, and has since been wracked by violence and dire living conditions. Some residents also gathered in recent days in Jaramana, a suburb of the capital Damascus, to protest against recurrent power cuts, a witness told AFP. The conflict has ravaged the country's infrastructure and industry, the Syrian pound has lost most of its value against the dollar, and most of the population has been pushed into poverty. Jihad Yazigi, editor of economic publication The Syria Report, said the fuel price hike came after years of punishing inflation, high unemployment and "generally an exhaustion of the population from the consequences of the war", among other factors. Resentment against Assad and his family "runs deep and the regime, which operates as a quasi-mafia, is simply incapable of offering long-term solutions", he told AFP. "The key will be to watch what happens in loyalist areas and in Damascus. That's where it really matters," he said.

Sistani Breaks Silence on Jadriya Land Seizures
Baghdad: Hamza Mustafa/Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
The highest Shiite authority in Iraq, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, has publicly denounced the seizure of lands belonging to Iraqi citizens in the upscale Jadriya neighborhood of Baghdad by influential entities that operate outside the bounds of the law. Sistani’s denunciation follows the formation of a probe committee by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani last week. The committee was formed in response to public outcries from citizens who appeared on television programs and video clips. They claimed that armed groups, whose identities remained concealed, coerced them into selling their lands at unjustly low prices, threatening forceful appropriation if they resisted. A widely-shared video clip on news agencies and social media platforms showed the First Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament and prominent leader of the Sadrist movement, Hakim al-Zamili, siding with the affected citizens. He promised legal action against the entities responsible for these transgressions. This development prompted the authorities to delve deeper into the matter, which has now become a public concern. While the results of an investigation conducted by Iraqi Interior Minister Abdul Amir al-Shammari are still pending, the stance of Sistani against such practices has reignited the issue. Given the top Shiite cleric’s influence, his positions are seen as binding for his followers and carry significant weight. This adds pressure on the official authorities conducting the investigation, especially when influential factions, including armed groups, are involved, bolstering the push for more stringent punitive measures. Although the statement issued by Sistani’s office was concise, it has sparked both official and public reactions to various practices that have surfaced over the past years. During a meeting with residents of the Jadriya region who had previously appeared in the media complaining about pressures and threats to relinquish their lands to certain entities, Sistani, according to a statement from his office, condemned “these practices that violate both religious and legal standards.” He emphasized that “one of the primary duties of those in positions of authority, holding the reins of the country, is to protect the properties and rights of its citizens, and to stand against those aiming to infringe upon them through terror and intimidation, especially those bearing official capacities.”

Sudan: Global Aid Official Appeals for Funds to Help Sudanese Trapped in War
Asharq Al Awsat/21 August 2023
A global aid official urged the international community Sunday to provide more funds to help Sudanese citizens trapped by a monthslong military conflict between rival generals in the African nation. Jagan Chapagain, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said his organizations have received only 7% of the $45 million they appealed for to help those inside Sudan. The war pits the military against the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. “The needs are real,” he told The Associated Press in an interview in Cairo. “Sudanese people need urgent support, urgent solidarity and urgent interest.”Sudan was plunged into chaos in April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the RSF, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere.The conflict has turned Khartoum and other urban areas into battlefields. Many residents live without water and electricity, and the country’s health care system has nearly collapsed. The sprawling region of Darfur saw some of the worst bouts of violence in the conflict, and the fighting there has morphed into ethnic clashes with RSF and allied Arab militia targeting ethnic African communities. Clashes also intensified earlier this month in the provinces of South Kordofan and West Kordofan. A rebel group attacked Kadugli, the provincial capital of South Kordofan and clashed with the military, killing and displacing civilians, according to the UN mission in Sudan. In al-Fula, the provincial capital of West Kordofan, fighting erupted for days between the military and the RSF before local officials helped stop the clashes, the UN mission, known as UNITAMS, said Sunday. But government offices, banks and the offices of the UN and other aid agencies were looted, it said More than 3.4 million people were forced to flee their homes to safer areas inside Sudan, according to the United Nations' migration agency. Over a million crossed into neighboring countries, including Egypt, Chad, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Central African Republic, the agency added. Chapagain called for the international community to show the same solidarity with Sudanese people they showed last year when they rushed to help those who fled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “I see the humanitarian side of the Ukraine is a good example. That’s how the world community can come together. We need a similar solidarity for Sudan now,” he said. Along with the $45 million needed to help those inside Sudan, Chapagain said another $35 million is needed to provide assistance to those who fled the fighting to Sudan's neighboring countries. His comments came following a trip to the Egyptian border with Sudan, where he met with customs officials and Sudanese refugees who fled the fighting in Khartoum. Egypt received more than 272,000 Sudanese as of Aug. 1, according to official figures. Although the operations at the Egyptian side of the border were organized, he said, there were long lines for people on the Sudanese side waiting to be allowed into Egypt. He said between 400 and 600 people are crossing daily into Egypt compared to thousands in the first weeks of the war. Chapagain said the Egyptian government is under economic pressure as they are hosting more than 9 million migrants, including Sudanese, Syrians and others, as well as the country’s growing population of over 105 million. “They want to be generous. They want to be welcoming,” he said. “But at the same time, they do have concern in the sense that ... they are still a developing country.”

Two Injured in Ukrainian Drone Attack in Moscow Region, Nearly 50 Flights Disrupted
AP/21 August 2023
At least two people were injured on Monday when parts of a Ukrainian drone destroyed by Russian air defenses fell on a house in the Moscow region, the regional governor said.  Nearly 50 plane flights in and out of the capital were disrupted after Russia said it jammed a Ukrainian drone in the Ruzsky district west of the capital and destroyed another one in the Istrinsky district nearby. Arrivals and departures from Moscow's four main airports - Vnukovo, Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo and Zhukovsky - were restricted, disrupting 45 passenger planes and two cargo planes, Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsia said.  Russian officials have repeatedly cautioned that military drones flying over Moscow - which along with its surrounding region has a population of nearly 22 million people - could cause a major disaster. Drone air strikes deep inside Russia have increased since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Drone strikes on the Russian capital have become increasingly common in recent months. It is unclear what impact the drone attacks will have on perceptions of the war among the Russian population. Polling indicates support for the Russian military operation in Ukraine remains high, around 75%, though there are questions over how accurate polling is in Russia. Ukraine typically does not comment on who is behind attacks on Russian territory, although officials have publicly expressed satisfaction over them.

Greece offers to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters: Zelenskiy
LBCI/21 August 2023
During an official visit to Greece on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced that Athens has offered to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets.
Zelensky stated to journalists in the presence of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, "Today we have an important result for the air alliance: Greece will participate in training our pilots on F-16 fighters. Thank you for this offer."

Ukraine Says it Repels Russian Attacks in Kharkiv Region, Gains in East

AFP/21 August 2023
The situation in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv is "difficult" but Ukraine's forces are repelling Russian attacks and have re-taken several square kilometers on the eastern front over the past week, a deputy defense minister said on Monday. The Ukrainian military said last week that Russia was attacking towards Kupiansk, a town in the Kharkiv region. "The situation in the Kupiansk direction is difficult. The enemy is not leaving plans to move forward, the enemy is pulling up additional forces," Hanna Maliar told the national television broadcaster. "We are confident in our defenders, but it is very difficult for them there and the enemy is not advancing there," she said. Maliar said that Ukrainian forces were advancing south of Bakhmut, the city occupied by Russian forces in May after a bloody months-long struggle, and had liberated another three square kilometers over the past week. Reuters was not able to verify the reports.Maliar said there were no significant changes in the situation in the south, where Ukrainian forces are trying to split Russian forces and reach the Sea of Azov. "We should not underestimate the enemy," Maliar said. "We should all be patient and support our armed forces."The Ukrainian military said on Thursday it had made gains on the southeastern front, pushing forward from the newly liberated village of Urozhaine. However, a US official said last week Ukrainian forces did not appear likely to be able to reach and retake the Russian-occupied strategic southeastern city of Melitopol during their counteroffensive.

Zelenskyy Thanks Danes in Person for F-16s, Though the Planes Won’t Have an Immediate War Impact
dpa/21 August 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Danish lawmakers on Monday for helping his country resist Russia’s invasion, a day after Denmark and the Netherlands announced they will provide Kyiv with American-made F-16 warplanes that could be delivered around the end of the year. Zelenskyy told the lawmakers in Copenhagen that if Russia’s invasion is successful, other parts of Europe would be at risk from the Kremlin’s military aggression. “All of Russia’s neighbors are under threat if Ukraine does not prevail,” he said in a speech. Zelenskyy portrays Ukraine as defending Western values of freedom and democracy against tyranny. He has argued that Ukraine needs to be properly provisioned to fend off Russia’s much bigger force. Ukraine has been pressing its Western allies for months to give it F-16s. Its armed forces are still using aging Soviet-era combat planes from the 1970s and '80s, and its counteroffensive against Russian positions is advancing without air support, which analysts say is a major handicap. Zelenskyy said on Telegram that Ukraine would get 42 jets. Denmark pledged 19 F-16s, which could be delivered around the end of the year when pilot training lasting four to six months is completed. However, getting Ukrainian squadrons battle-ready could take much longer. US Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of US air forces in Europe and Africa, said last week that he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take “four or five years,” he said.  While some training has already begun for Ukrainian pilots, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Sunday it’s just language lessons so far. Training Ukrainian pilots is just one of the challenges in the anticipated deployment of F-16s. Questions also remain over who will carry out crucial aircraft maintenance, the supply of spare parts, runway maintenance and protective shelters for the planes on the ground, and what weapons the West will supply to arm the fighter jets. Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the F-16s will help Ukraine “change the course of events” in the war. “Air superiority is the key to success on the ground,” he said in televised remarks. Denmark rolled out the red carpet for Zelenskyy's trip to Copenhagen. He also met at the Christiansborg Palace, the building housing the Danish parliament, with Denmark’s 83-year-old figurehead monarch, Queen Margrethe, who returned from vacation for the occasion. Afterward, he addressed the crowds gathered outside the parliament steps. The United States last week announced its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver the F-16s. That is needed because the aircraft are made in the United States. On Sunday, Zelenskyy visited the Netherlands and inspected two gray F-16s parked in a hangar at a Dutch base in the southern city of Eindhoven together with Rutte. Rutte didn’t provide a number or timeframe for deliveries, saying it depends on how soon Ukrainian crews and infrastructure are ready.
Zelenskyy started his trip Saturday in Sweden, where he asked Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson for Swedish Gripen fighter jets. Sweden has said it will allow Ukrainian pilots to test the planes but has not made any commitments to hand them over.
Kristersson said Monday that Sweden needs the Gripen planes for its own defense, noting that the country’s bid to join NATO has not been finalized. “We don’t rule anything out in the future,” he told the TV4 channel. “We will do everything we can to support them also with aircraft. But right now there are no new commitments to provide Swedish aircraft to Ukraine.” On Monday, Russian air defenses jammed a Ukrainian drone west of Moscow and shot down another one on the outskirts of the city, Russia’s Defense Ministry said. Two people were injured and one of them was hospitalized when drone fragments fell on a private house, Andrei Vorobyov, the governor of the Moscow region, said. Such drone attacks have become an almost daily occurrence in Russia in recent weeks. Also, Russian rail officials said that a relay cabinet used to run train traffic was set ablaze on the outskirts of Moscow, causing delays, according to the state RIA Novosti news agency. Russian authorities have reported multiple similar incidents across the country, some of which have been blamed on acts of sabotage encouraged by Ukrainian security agencies. In Ukraine, at least four civilians were killed and 25 others wounded by the latest Russian attacks, according to the Ukrainian presidential office. The dead included a 71-year-old man killed by Russian shelling in the northeastern Kharkiv region, near the border with Russia.

BRICS Summit set for Johannesburg
Arab News/August 21, 2023
JOHANNESBURG: The 15th BRICS Summit, which involves member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, is set to begin in Johannesburg on Tuesday. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said during an address on Sunday: “Together, the members of BRICS … make up a quarter of the global economy, they account for a fifth of global trade, and are home to more than 40 percent of the world’s population. “BRICS as a formation plays an important role in the world due to its economic power, market potential, political influence, and development cooperation.”The summit, which takes place from Aug. 22-24, is expected to welcome more than 40 heads of state and international dignitaries. The first BRICS meeting of foreign ministers was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2006. The organization was known as BRIC before South Africa joined. The first BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in June 2009, and one year later South Africa was invited to join BRICS and attended the third summit, in Sanya, China, in 2011. BRICS is focused on three main pillars of cooperation: political and security, financial and economic, and cultural. Dignitaries and heads of state were expected to arrive in Johannesburg on Monday. The South African president revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping will be one of those arriving in South Africa, on his fourth state visit. Ramaphosa said: “This BRICS Summit and the state visit by President Xi Jinping, as well as the many bilateral engagements we will have with President Lula da Silva of Brazil, Prime Minister Modi of India, and many other heads of state on the sidelines of the summit, have a bearing on our relationships with other countries and South Africa’s place in the world.” An expansion of the membership of BRICS will be one of the topics of discussion. Ramaphosa said that more than 20 countries had formally applied to join the organization and several others had expressed an interest in joining. He said: “South Africa supports the expansion of the membership of BRICS. The value of BRICS extends beyond the interests of its current members. “For its efforts to be more effective, BRICS needs to build partnerships with other countries that share its aspirations and perspectives.”South Africa was named the chair of the grouping on Jan. 1, 2023. The main themes of the country’s presidency include tackling climate change and helping toward transformational changes across all sectors of the economy; educational and continuous skills development; emphasis on the African Continental Free Trade Area and investments in Africa; the strengthening of post-pandemic socio-economic recovery; and working toward Sustainable Development goals, while strengthening multilateralism.

The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 21-22/2023
A Window of Stability in a Stormy Sea
Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper/August 21/2023
The Middle East has wasted decades – if not more – of the lives of its people. They were squandered when the region fell victim to coups, interventions and fear. Policies that are obsessed with victory and making others yield to them, while ignoring the pressing need for stability. Wealth was wasted and revolutions lost. Rivers of blood flowed, and maps were torn apart. The region was plagued with chronic and recurring conflicts and agendas for vengeance for events that happened in the distant and not too distant past.
Most of the countries in the region have grown exhausted by this long suffering. There is no need to look up numbers to sense the poverty, unemployment, drop in the quality of education and healthcare, and the people’s feeling of being wronged and oppressed. They feel that the injustice has turned their countries into cages from which they need to flee. Some are desperate enough to escape in “death boats” even as the sea shows no mercy to the passengers.
The tricks of the past no longer work. The national anthem does not fill the void caused by hunger. Stoking intolerance will not force a patient to forget their need for their medication. Talk of foreign conspiracies no longer works on people demanding to live a normal dignified life.
It is a painful situation. Countries are living in the grips of arsenals and drones, while lacking the resources to douse summer wildfires. The most dangerous aspect of all of this is the people’s feeling that it is impossible to get rid of corrupt or failed governments. It must be trying for a citizen to dream of electricity during the age of artificial intelligence and to dream of a drop of drinking water during the age of successive technological revolutions. It’s not easy at all for generations to live in cities that only promise them immigration or a semblance of a life.
The Middle East needs stability. Iraq needs it to treat the deep wounds caused by several wars. Yemen needs to allow its people to unite and accept the other so that they can reach an agreement that ends war and fragmentation. They need dialogue that unites all Yemenis. Syria needs stability and dialogue that would pave the way for reconstruction and the swift return of millions of refugees. Lebanon needs stability to allow the Lebanese the opportunity to set aside their differences.
Sudan urgently needs stability. It is terrifying to read about morgues that can no longer take in corpses and are left with no choice but to let them rot given the lack of electricity. It is terrifying to read about hospitals in Khartoum that have been put out of service and of Sudanese regions that would not hesitate to secede from the current map. The wars in Darfur are a warning of more dire things to come.
Libya needs stability to restore unity between its various governments, parliaments and militias. Libya’s suffering can no longer be blamed on the late colonel and his practices.
My ideas about stability emerged as I observed the visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to Saudi Arabia that was capped with a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The visit gave the impression that the train that was launched with the Beijing statement, with China’s partnership, has started to make its way. The truth is that the essence of the tripartite statement goes beyond restoring diplomatic relations between two important regional countries. Rather, it is based on the principle of dialogue, respecting the sovereignty of nations and refraining from meddling in their internal affairs.These three factors allow rival forces in broken countries a real opportunity if they choose to seize it. A halt to meddling may force these powers to search for solutions instead of victories that will only prolong crises. Perhaps these powers could derive a lesson from the Saudi-Iranian agreement that put an end to the boycott and instead turned to dialogue, the reactivation of past agreements and a search for future opportunities.
The disputes between Saudi Arabia and Iran are not at all simple. They have accumulated over the decades because the two countries follow different policies in reading the situation in the region and world. In spite of this, they were determined to steer away from confrontation and tense rhetoric. Instead, they turned to building bridges of cooperation and seeking investment, prosperity and positive coexistence without infringing on each other.
The window of stability offered by the Beijing statement is very important to the region. It becomes more important if we take into consideration a world that is headed towards very difficult – and even precarious – years. Look no further than the Russian war in Ukraine and the inability of both parties in achieving firm advances that would pave the way for a ceasefire. The war has entered a new phase after Ukrainian drones are now making their way to Russia, including Moscow, on a daily basis.
The Russian security council’s claim that the West’s defeat in Ukraine is inevitable underlines the extent and severity of the conflict. The same can be said about Washington’s opportune agreement to deliver F-16s to Ukraine through countries that possess them. The situation will no longer be the same once American planes are seen fighting Russian jets over Ukraine..The situation is also dangerous on the Taiwan front, especially in wake of the summit hosted by Joe Biden at Camp David, brining together the president of South Korea and prime minister of Japan. The summit will only reinforce China’s impression that efforts are underway to undermine it exactly as NATO has been doing with Russia.
Developments are showing that the world is headed towards very tense years. It is in the interest of the people of the Middle East to steer clear of them to avoid paying a heavy price. Saudi-Iranian relations can act as a window of regional stability in a turbulent world. Or they can at least help limit the damage.

‘Killing Christians Takes Us to Paradise’: The Persecution of Christians, July 2023
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/August 20, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121480/121480/
“The Taliban are working to completely erase Christianity or any religious minority from the country, even stating that there are no Christians in Afghanistan, an obviously false claim. Many Christians have gone underground to avoid being kidnapped by the Taliban ‘courts.’ The rising starvation rates and increasing poverty in Afghanistan create an even higher security threat to these believers since now the Taliban are offering financial compensation to anyone who reports on Christians… and Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to Christians.] Unless ransomed by their families, Christians captured by the ‘courts’ face brutal torture and even death. If redeemed, the survivors and their families, often bankrupt from the exorbitant ransom demands, must flee their homes to avoid repeated kidnappings from the various Taliban gangs. Because of the persecution, many Christians escape to Pakistan and risk capture and death by the Taliban. Even if they make it to Pakistan, they must conceal their faith for fear of receiving worse treatment in already poor conditions. Some Christian refugees decide to return to Afghanistan, deciding they have a better chance of survival under the Taliban than in Pakistan.” — Report by International Christian Concern, July 13, 2023, Afghanistan.
Arguing that churches should never exist in Muslim-majority regions, on Sunday, July 2, Muslims broke up a Christian worship service even as police stood by looking on. — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.
She was heard yelling, “You the minorities should not always ask to be respected!” — Morning Star News, July 17, 2023, Indonesia.
This video captures some of the most recent damage of beheadings and desecrations. The report concludes by saying the motivation of the “unknown vandals” remains “a mystery to police.” — Kronen Zeitung, Austria.
“Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan. At least 1,949 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2021, according to the Center for Social Justice. A large number of these blasphemy cases are still awaiting justice.” — Morning Star News, July 12, 2023, Pakistan.
These laws are, moreover, becoming more, not less, severe….
“The… situation became tense after the Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers asking people to gather for a protest.” — Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian and former lawmaker, Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.
“The blasphemy charge against Shahzad stems from personal grudges against him by the complainant, Ullah … [who] had engaged in legal battles with Shahzad over a piece of land allotted by the government for constructing a church building.” If found guilty, [he] faces up to ten years in prison. — Morning Star News, July 4, 2023, Pakistan.
“Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan,” according to Morning Star News.
The following are among the murders and abuses inflicted on Christians by Muslims throughout the month of July 2023.
The Muslim Slaughter of Christians
Uganda: On July 9, a Muslim man murdered his wife, a mother of three, hours after she became Christian. Ten days earlier, Amina Nanfuka, 31, while being treated for medical complications, had gone to stay with a relative. During her stay, a pastor visited and prayed for her recovery. According to the relative (name withheld), who had become Christian prior to Amina’s visit:
“I shared the saving power of Jesus, and she showed a desire to accept and to believe in Jesus but requested waiting for the day that the doctor in Kampala had given her for a check-up and thereafter attend the church.”
On the morning of July 9, they attended church, where she converted and was given a Bible. As they were leaving the church, a Muslim business partner of Amina’s husband saw her. “You mean nowadays you go to church?” he asked, but she just smiled and left. The two women returned to Amina’s home around 5pm, and by 8pm, her husband was back from work and knocked loudly on the door. According to the relative:
“Without greeting us, he started shouting at his wife saying, ‘Why did you lie to me that you were going for a medical check-up and instead decided to go to church?’ Amina was tongue-tied.”
He then yanked his wife into their bedroom, locked the door, and began demanding that she surrender the Bible.
“Immediately I heard a loud bang inside with kicks and slaps. She started screaming and calling for help. I feared for my life and rushed outside the room shouting and wailing for help.”
Neighbors approached, at which point they saw the husband storm out of the house:
“We then went inside the bedroom and found her unconscious with blood coming out of her mouth. She was rushed to a nearby clinic in Bugiri, but soon the doctor pronounced her dead upon arrival. She was strangled and hit with an object around her mouth.”
In a separate incident, on July 8, Muslims murdered a former Muslim for converting to Christianity. According to a church pastor who knew the victim, 22-year-old Abudu Amisi:
“Immediately after his conversion [on June 22], Amisi was very fearful of his life from the Muslims in his village … The church then housed him in a rental house, and he remained indoors for two weeks.”
On July 8, the church sent two young Christians to accompany Amisi to the local market to buy food. One of the youths said Abudu was met by a Muslim who seemed to know him, and who “greeted them cheerfully,” chatting for ten minutes before leaving them to shop.
“After buying the food items, we then began our journey back to the church. About 50 meters from the market area, people began shouting and mentioning the name of Amisi, saying, ‘Here comes the betrayer of Islam. He should not see the light of the day.’ There and then they surrounded him and then began cutting him with long knives on his head, face and neck, and fractured his legs and hand.”
The two young Christians fled and contacted their pastor, who immediately called police. The pastor continued:
“They hurriedly tried to rescue him, but it was too late, they had already cut Amisi, and he had lost a lot of blood and died on the way to Mbale Regional Referral Hospital.”
Amisi is survived by his wife and 3-year-old son.
Mozambique: On July 9, jihadists beheaded a Christian fisherman in Cabo Delgado Province. According to the report:
“[T]he terrorists abducted two men, both fishermen. The other man was allowed to go free because he was a Muslim. Pray for the grieving family and friends of our brother, and ask the Lord to bring an end to the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.”
Nigeria: As part of the jihadist genocide being waged on the West African nation’s Christians, on July 1, militants raided the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Ogun State. They murdered the pastor and abducted seven other Christians who were eventually released. In a statement, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria said it mourned “the loss of the Pastor and condemn the kidnapping of worshippers who were simply exercising their religious freedom to worship.”
Separately, 35 Christians were butchered in a series of raids by Fulani herdsmen between July 4 and July 11. According to the report:
“The attacks are attributed to Islamic terrorists, members of the Fulani ethnicity. The violence has been ongoing in the region since May 16, taking the lives of over 350 residents… A radicalized faction of the Fulani people has been accused of killing three times more Christians than the insurgency known as Boko Haram in recent years. According to Intersociety, this year alone [between Jan-Jun, 2023], Fulani militants have jointly killed more than 2,500 Nigerian Christians, including at least 500 in Plateau State.”
Democratic Republic of Congo: Jihadists of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an Islamic terror group, massacred 17 Christians and torched two churches in separate attacks throughout July. A survivor of a church attack said these terror raids are getting “worse,” because they are “targeting the church leaders,” adding:
“We are overwhelmed. What can we do? Because of this massacre in which we are [living], which is one too many and we don’t know what to do… So keep praying for us; whatever difficulties become harder and harder, may God sustain us to stand firm.”
General Muslim Persecution of Christians
Egypt: According to a July 31 report:
“Two Christian women in Egypt have been reported missing from an area of Cairo known for persecution incidents. Both women disappeared while traveling to or from church. Neither family has received adequate help from the police in locating them.”
The husband of one of these missing women, Neveen Lamei, 24, said:
“On Sunday morning, Neveen followed her usual routine. She got up early, prayed, and read the Bible. She left her son Tadros sleeping and went to attend her regular Sunday morning church service. After she didn’t return, I tried to call her mobile phone many times, but it was switched off. I searched for her everywhere, but I couldn’t find her. I found out that she never arrived at church.”
After her husband filed a formal report with police, one of them suggested that maybe she “ran away” to become Muslim. Her husband said that would be completely out of character:
“Neveen loves her faith very much…. She was constantly praying and reading the Bible every day. She was constantly going to church to attend prayer meetings and masses. I believe my wife was kidnapped while she was on her way to the church.”
The other missing Christian is a teenage girl, Mariam Nasser Kamal, 17. Also a regular church-goer, she too disappeared while returning home from a prayer meeting. According to the report, the region in which both these Christian women “disappeared” has a history:
“The El Marg district in Northern Cairo has historically been a dangerous place for Egyptian Christians, with overt attacks and incidents of sectarian violence. In 2017, two Coptic Orthodox priests were brutally assaulted, resulting in one death and another with severe injury. Another Christian man was killed in the same neighborhood two years later. Many Christians in this area feel that the police and government are not on their side since they are of a minority faith.”
Iran: More than 50 converts to Christianity were arrested in a “rash of new incidents across five Iranian cities over the past seven days,” a July 18 article reports, “with fears the number could rise much higher as fresh reports keep coming.” Most of those arrested were plucked out of their homes or church-homes and “remain in detention on unknown charges.” According to Mansour Borji, Article18’s advocacy director:
“The reason for this sudden surge in nationwide arrests of Christians is not clear at this stage. What is obvious is that Iran has begun a fresh crackdown on civil liberties, and the traditionally vulnerable groups, like Christians, are on the front line of those targeted.”
Iraq: According to a July 13 report:
“Under mounting pressure from a pro-Iran militia group, the Iraqi president earlier this month revoked a decade-old decree that formally recognized Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako and granted him powers over Christian endowment affairs.”
Christians believe this move is meant to facilitate the further confiscation of their property, which begun under ISIS. In the words of Diya Butrus Slewa, a human rights activist from Ainkawa,
“This is a political maneuver to seize the remainder of what Christians have left in Iraq and Baghdad and to expel them. Unfortunately, this is a blatant targeting of the Christians and a threat to their rights.”
Other Christians gathered in peaceful protests, holding up “placards telling the Iraqi government that they had committed ‘enough injustice’ against the long-suffering Christian community.” Another sign read:
“Mr. President, the protector of the constitution should not violate the constitution. The Iraqi president orders the displacement of Christians, and opens the way for violating the property of the Chaldean Church which represents nearly 80 percent of Christians in Iraq and Kurdistan.”
Afghanistan: A July 13 report sheds light on the horrific condition of Christians under Taliban rule:
“The Taliban are working to completely erase Christianity or any religious minority from the country, even stating that there are no Christians in Afghanistan, an obviously false claim. Many Christians have gone underground to avoid being kidnapped by the Taliban ‘courts.’ The rising starvation rates and increasing poverty in Afghanistan create an even higher security threat to these believers since now the Taliban are offering financial compensation to anyone who reports on Christians… and Afghans are desperate, further heightening the security risk [to Christians.] Unless ransomed by their families, Christians captured by the ‘courts’ face brutal torture and even death. If redeemed, the survivors and their families, often bankrupt from the exorbitant ransom demands, must flee their homes to avoid repeated kidnappings from the various Taliban gangs. Because of the persecution, many Christians escape to Pakistan and risk capture and death by the Taliban. Even if they make it to Pakistan, they must conceal their faith for fear of receiving worse treatment in already poor conditions. Some Christian refugees decide to return to Afghanistan, deciding they have a better chance of survival under the Taliban than in Pakistan.”
Austria: Two young Muslims living in Austria recently confessed that they would like to “kill Christians” and “restore the caliphate.” The boys, aged 15 and 16, were put on trial at the Leoben Regional Court on July 16, 2023. They had made plans to massacre as many people as possible during an attack on the middle school attended by the 15-year-old, in Bruck an der Mur, where they both lived. When confronted in court, the boys — who both have a history of violence and criminality— admitted that “We wanted to shoot all the Christians in the class!” Asked how they would have responded if police had intervened, they said, “We would have surrendered” — adding that “Allah would have forgiven” them in prison, since “Killing Christians takes us to paradise.” According to one report:
“The boys also made it clear via platforms that they didn’t believe in ‘boring knife attacks.’ They wanted to use explosives much more because they could ‘kill’ many more people at the same time…. and they repeatedly expressed their hatred of the West, which oppresses Muslims.”
Based on their monitored chats, authorities also discovered that another friend had “offered them a submachine gun from his father’s collection. Unfortunately, he later posted, he couldn’t get into the safe. The youngsters then decided to save up for a gun.” The court sentenced them to two years’ imprisonment—though they only need to serve eight months. (The maximum penalty for juveniles is five years.) The court also ordered that they undergo “anti-aggression training and a de-radicalization program.”
Muslim Attacks on Churches and Christian Symbols
Indonesia: Arguing that churches should never exist in Muslim-majority regions, on Sunday, July 2, Muslims broke up a Christian worship service even as police stood by looking on.
According to the report:
“After demonstrations against the church, a hijab-clad Muslim woman led the disruption of the service, a video on social media shows. Standing next to a police officer, she is seen loudly refusing to allow Christians to worship.”
She was heard yelling, “You the minorities should not always ask to be respected!” A human rights activist responded by saying:
“Suddenly they come screaming in protest, ‘Why are they worshiping in Muslim-majority areas?’ Since when are non-Muslim[s] not allowed to worship in a Muslim area?”
This is the second disruption experienced by the Mawar Sharon Church congregation in two months:
“The church’s worship was previously disrupted on May 19, when at least 40 Muslims stopped the midday service at the café.”
Austria: On July 3, in Vienna—a city which has more Muslim than Catholic students—several statues of Jesus and Mary in a prayer garden long known for being a “spiritual oasis” were found desecrated and beheaded, leaving visitors who had come to meditate and pray shocked and terrorized. The garden has been attacked before. In one instance, a Mary statue had hard -to-remove lipstick smeared on it; in another, police caught but released the vandals, described in the report only as “young people.” This video captures some of the most recent damage of beheadings and desecrations. The report concludes by saying the motivation of the “unknown vandals” remains “a mystery to police.”
Italy: On July 14, the altar of Saint Lucia Church in northern Italy—where most of the nation’s large Muslim migrant population reside—was vandalized and a beloved statue of the saint “thrown to the ground and completely destroyed.” Responding to this incident, Denis Paoli, the provincial councilor of Trento, said:
“What happened constitutes an intolerable outrage not only for the religious community, but for the entire civil society. The damages, both material and moral, are of an unprecedented gravity and what arouses greater indignation is the treatment reserved for the statue of the Saint.”
France: On July 5, the Saint-Martin Church in Avallon was found vandalized and robbed of valuable items. According to the report, the historic tabernacle, where the consecrated hosts are kept—and “in particular to bring communion to the sick”—was “smashed in broad daylight.” A gold adorned monstrance and two ciboria (religious vases which also keep the hosts) were also stolen. The report adds that a few days earlier, on June 26, the nearby Saint-Lazare church was also vandalized and robbed.
Blasphemy in Pakistan
On July 8, police arrested Zaki Masih, a 35-year-old Christian man, on the accusation that he shared a Facebook post (dealing with food) deemed offensive to Islam. According to the accused’s brother, Wasim Masih, Zaki was framed by the complainant, a Muslim man named Awais, with whose friends the brothers had earlier been engaged in a property dispute:
“We reconciled with the other party due to the intervention of the village elders, but it seems they nurtured a grudge and trapped my brother in the fake case.”
On Friday, July 7, when Awais first tried to incite local Muslims against the Christians, “Even the imam of the village mosque told them that the post contained nothing derogatory against Islam,” said the brother, “and that they should desist from stoking religious tension. However, the complainant filed a case against my brother, and the police raided his shop and took him into custody.”
He is charged under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s Penal Code concerning “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.” If convicted, he faces up to ten years’ imprisonment. According to the report:
“Blasphemy laws are often used as a weapon of revenge against both Muslims and non-Muslims to settle personal scores or to resolve disputes over money, property or business. A mere allegation is enough to provoke a mob to riot and lynch falsely accused suspects in Pakistan. At least 1,949 persons were accused under the blasphemy laws between 1987 and 2021, according to the Center for Social Justice. A large number of these blasphemy cases are still awaiting justice.”
These laws are, moreover, becoming more, not less, severe:
“In January, the National Assembly passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, increasing punishment for insulting the companions, wives and family members of Islam’s prophet, Muhammad, from three years to 10 years and a fine of 1 million rupees.”
In a separate incident, on Friday, July 30, police arrested a Christian man for posting biblical verses on Facebook that “infuriated Muslims” and caused them to rise up in violence. Without adding any personal commentary, Haroon Shahzad posted 1 Corinthians 10:18-21, which condemns food sacrificed to idols as food sacrificed to demons that should be refrained from eating. Unfortunately for him, he made this post right around when Muslims were celebrating Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), which involves slaughtering and eating an animal. A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the biblical post and shared it with other Muslims, accusing Haroon of insulting Islam. According to Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a Christian and former lawmaker,
“The post began circulating in Muslim circles on Thursday, but the situation became tense after the Friday prayers when announcements were made from mosque loudspeakers asking people to gather for a protest.”
Before long, large Muslim mobs, including from other villages, had formed around the mosque, preparing to dish out some retribution. Chaudhry continued:
“Fearing that the situation could get out of hand, a majority of the Christian families fled their homes, leaving everything behind…. The police registered a case against Haroon on Friday under Sections 295-A and 298, under the pressure of the mobs backed by the extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan [TLP]. The FIR [First Information Report] is unwarranted, because Haroon had only shared a biblical verse and had made no personal comment that could be deemed blasphemous or inflammatory.”
Before police even arrived, Haroon and his wife and six children—and several other family members and siblings—went into hiding. Speaking from an undisclosed location, Irfan Shahzad, Haroon’s younger brother, said that, in an effort to prompt Haroon to come out of hiding and surrender himself, police seized two of his sisters-in-law:
“When we learned that [Muslim] people from at least two or three villages had started gathering, we ran to save our lives. We couldn’t take our parents along because of their medical condition, so my two sisters-in-law volunteered to stay back and look after their needs. It’s a shame that the police detained them despite knowing that they have infant children.”
The women were finally released after another of Haroon’s brothers and two other youths presented themselves for detention in their stead. Soon thereafter, Haroon gave himself up. The report concludes:
“The blasphemy charge against Shahzad stems from personal grudges against him by the complainant, Ullah … [who] had engaged in legal battles with Shahzad over a piece of land allotted by the government for constructing a church building.”
If found guilty, Haroon faces up to ten years in prison.
Finally, in yet another incident in July, more Christian families were forced to flee Islamic fury from an accusation of blasphemy. On July 16, Muslim masses protested, partly by blocking a major highway for hours, after mosques urged them to protest the alleged appearance of posters carrying unflattering caricatures of Muhammad and his child-bride, Aisha, on the walls of a mosque. As a result, based on precedent, the 3,500 Christian families of Maryam Town, near to the mosque in question, “panicked.” Discussing this situation, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, a former lawmaker (the same quoted above in the case concerning Haroon) said:
“The mosque announcements accused Christians of being involved in the incident because the posters were purportedly written by ‘an unknown soldier of Maryam Town.'”
Both Chaudhry and other human rights activists expressed suspicions that the Christians are being framed. Chaudhry said:
“This third incident points to a deliberate attempt to spark religious unrest and target Christians… We told police and Islamic leaders that Christians already live in fear due to the abuse of blasphemy accusations. It’s highly unlikely that anyone would commit such a heinous crime and put the entire community at risk, so we have no objection to a fair investigation.”
Even more telling, the mosque that called for protests is the same mosque that had incited mobs against Haroon, in the incident above. As Chaudhry observed:
“There are two other mosques near the mosque where the blasphemous posters were found, but they did not initiate the call for protests. The police must investigate this aspect.”
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
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https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19909/killing-christians-paradise
**Picture Enclosed/ Thousands of people in Karachi, Pakistan, demand the execution of Asia Bibi, on November 21, 2018. Bibi, a Christian woman, spent 8 years on death row in Pakistan because of a false accusation of blasphemy, before being released and exiled. (Photo by Asif Hassan/AFP via Getty Images)

Women bear the brunt of Taliban’s gender apartheid
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 21/2023
In a country where financial, health and welfare systems have collapsed, half the population are starving, there are four million drug addicts, and 20 percent suffer mental health problems, the Taliban are obsessed with one policy agenda — robbing women of any kind of purposeful existence.
Among the 80 decrees issued during the Taliban’s two years in power in Afghanistan, 54 are explicitly directed at women, with the objective of erasing their fundamental rights and liberties.
“Most of the girls from my class have had suicidal thoughts. We are all suffering from depression and anxiety. We have no hope.” These are the words of an Afghan girl in her early twenties who should have her entire life ahead of her, but who tried to take her own life after students were barred from attending university. A UN report found a surge in women who had attempted suicide, with teenage girls, prevented from pursuing education or careers, particularly vulnerable.
“Most of our patients lately are women; women's rights activists, former government employees, journalists, and women who were actively employed under the previous Afghan government but who have now lost their jobs,” one mental health practitioner explained.
Given the extreme marginalization and discrimination women have traditionally faced, Afghanistan has the dubious distinction of being the only country where women have substantially higher suicide rates than men, representing upwards of 80 percent of cases. Domestic violence levels are among the highest in the world. In one example of how women are treated like voiceless units of exchange, an estimated 10 percent of marriages result from a tribal custom in which a girl from a convicted criminal’s family is provided in compensation to the victim’s relatives, as a servant or a bride. Eighty percent of marriages occur without the consent of the bride, who frequently is a child.
In some provinces the Taliban has instructed schools to halt attendance for girls above Year 3, compared with the current standard of Year 6. This corresponds to the Taliban’s manifesto, which states that girls are mature adults from the age of 9.
The closure of beauty salons has erased one of the few safe spaces where women could socially come together, taking them one step closer to a nationwide life sentence of house arrest. The salons’ closure means another 60,000 women losing their incomes.
Yet Afghanistan does have one growth area: Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has mandated 100,000 jobs for the madrassa sector, reallocating resources and staff away from mainstream education. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on hundreds of new boys-only madrassas, with several million children to be enrolled. In remaining schools starved of funding which haven’t been converted into madrassas, modern subjects are replaced with Talibanized Islamic education.
The Taliban last month closed all 49 of Afghanistan’s teacher training centers. This is particularly disastrous, as more than half the staff in many education institutions have fled overseas.
“The depth and breadth of the changes made by the Taliban’s higher education authorities — and their profound and wide-ranging repercussions — point to a rapid and radical process of Talibanization, theocratization and instrumentalization of higher education,” one research paper warned. Foreign Policy magazine remarked: “An even bigger problem than the girls who can’t go to school are the boys who do,” and the “extremist curriculum is teaching children how to hate, not how to think.”
Although the Taliban are supposedly combating Daesh, such anti-education policies are a gift for extremist groups, nurturing a generation of men steeped in the most regressive and intolerant interpretations of Islam, with no other skills or economic prospects.
Among the 80 decrees issued during the Taliban’s two years in power in Afghanistan, 54 are explicitly directed at women, with the objective of erasing their fundamental rights and liberties.
Observers warn that the Taliban are turning a blind eye to the expansion of Al-Qaeda, the Pakistani TTP, and other like-minded entities, in explicit violation of the Taliban’s Doha Accord commitments. Meanwhile, freedom of speech and media protections are non-existent. Reporters sans Frontières this month warned that Afghanistan's “media have been decimated.” Over 80 percent of female journalists lost their jobs over the past two years.
In Donald Trump's ill-advised rush to withdraw US assets from Afghanistan, his Doha Accord gave the Taliban everything they wanted with no mechanism for holding them to account. Biden was subsequently warned about the consequences of allowing the Taliban’s return to power, but went ahead with his botched withdrawal anyway. After lip service that the Taliban would be held to account, the world is largely distracted by Ukraine and the Taliban have been allowed to proceed with the full extent of its gender apartheid policies. States such as Turkey, Pakistan, Russia, Iran, India and China are sidling towards de facto diplomatic recognition. China in particular has stepped up investment and engagement, seeing Afghanistan as a key plank in its Belt and Road strategy.
As with its promises under the Doha Accord, practically every Taliban public statement and commitment to the world has been a lie — starting with pledges to protect women’s rights, and finishing with rhetoric about preventing Afghanistan reemerging as a global jihad staging point.
The UN Security Council advocates an international “multipronged strategy” toward the Taliban. This would include ensuring full compliance with the Doha Accord; encouraging a greater role for centrist political and civil society actors – including women; and facilitating broad-based national dialogue. To promote human rights, combat corruption and enshrine the rule of law, international legal bodies should be given full jurisdiction.
The Taliban multiheaded hydra is as much at war with itself as the outside world. Just because Hibatullah’s regressive hardliners dictate policy today doesn’t mean that relative pragmatists won’t be pulling the strings tomorrow — particularly as it is obvious to all external and domestic observers that Afghanistan is a profoundly sick country in need of healing and rehabilitation, and no nation can thrive when the female component is oppressed and marginalized.
We can state with absolute certainty that women are Afghanistan’s future, with all their capabilities, energies and wisdom. Such a vision stands in stark contrast with the ignorant, regressive and extremist minds that Hibatullah’s madrassas seek to cultivate.
The only question is how much unnecessary misery, repression and deprivation the Taliban will subject this long-suffering nation to before acknowledging this inescapable fact.
• Baria Alamuddin is an award-winning journalist and broadcaster in the Middle East and the UK. She is editor of the Media Services Syndicate and has interviewed numerous heads of state.

US border policies in spotlight as illegal immigrant numbers surge

Dalia Al-Aqidi/Arab News/August 21/2023
In the early days of his presidency, Joe Biden made a swift and momentous decision that continues to feed the ongoing immigration crisis. One of his initial actions in the White House was the termination of the Migrant Protection Protocols, often referred to as the “Remain in Mexico” program. While the program was effective, its discontinuation brought about significant consequences.
The essence of Remain in Mexico lay in its approach to handling apprehended illegal aliens at the US-Mexico border. Under this policy, individuals seeking asylum were required to stay in Mexico while awaiting the resolution of their removal cases. This approach had been regarded as a success, as it managed to curb the influx of unauthorized entries and address specific concerns related to border security.
However, Biden’s policy shift brought about a fundamental transformation. The decision to end the program meant that apprehended individuals were no longer required to remain in Mexico while their cases were pending. Instead, they were released into the US, sparking concerns about the potential repercussions on border control, national security and immigration processing.
A significant development occurred when a federal judge mandated the Biden administration to revive the Remain in Mexico program. Nevertheless, the actual implementation of this court order seemed to be an uphill battle, as only a limited number of migrants were placed back into the program. This scenario further fueled debates about the administration’s commitment to the rule of law and the enforcement of immigration policies.
The apex of this narrative was reached in June 2022, when the Supreme Court issued a ruling permitting the Biden administration to legally rescind the Remain in Mexico policy. While upholding the president’s authority, this verdict has been met with varying reactions. Supporters of the decision emphasize the need for flexibility and humanitarian considerations in immigration policies. At the same time, critics argue that this stance might inadvertently encourage unauthorized border crossings and potentially exacerbate the existing challenges. Indeed, the sequence of events unfolded exactly as described. This sequence of actions and their outcomes highlights the intricate and evolving nature of Biden’s immigration policy decisions and their impact.
Furthermore, compounding these changes, on the very first day of the new administration, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf implemented a 100-day pause on deportations of illegal immigrants. This decision was accompanied by the establishment of fresh interim enforcement priorities, effectively signaling a shift away from deportations for the mere act of being an undocumented immigrant.
The rapid and profound changes in deportation policy, enforcement criteria and procedural requirements have had far-reaching consequences, culminating in one of the most significant crises in the US today. This crisis casts a dark shadow over major metropolises and smaller urban centers alike, affecting communities of all sizes, particularly those governed by the Democratic Party.
The ramifications of these shifts have become acutely apparent in the streets of cities across the nation, where the impact has been felt at various levels. Law enforcement agencies, local authorities and communities found themselves grappling with the repercussions of altered immigration enforcement strategies. The fallout of these changes has been manifested in increased strain on public resources, heightened security concerns and complex social dynamics.
Since Biden assumed the role of president on Jan. 20, 2021, an estimated 5.6 million illegal immigrants have entered the US through its northern and southern borders.
There is a need for careful considerations that balance humanitarian concerns with practical capacity limitations.
Despite Democratic claims of prioritizing humanitarian concerns, the party’s actions do not align with these professed values. The apparent lack of comprehensive care for these illegal immigrants, many of whom find themselves homeless and in gravely dangerous situations, raises doubts about how their well-being is being addressed or even considered. Led by progressive politicians who pretend to advocate for the rights and dignity of immigrants, the Democratic Party has nothing in mind other than numbers. Each immigrant will be a potential voter. That is how they plan to change the political demographics.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams last month made a significant announcement that underscored the pressing challenges his city is facing. With an intake of approximately 90,000 migrants since April of last year, Adams revealed that New York had reached its capacity to accommodate additional arrivals. This declaration, emanating from the leader of the most populous American city, reflects the gravity of the situation.
The Democratic mayor emphasized the stark reality by stating that the city could no longer accommodate further migrants due to space limitations. He proposed a policy change to address the evolving situation: single adult migrants would be limited to a 60-day stay in the city’s shelters.
Currently, a staggering 105,800 individuals reside in New York’s shelters, a record high. Among these individuals, more than 54,000 are asylum seekers, underlining the multifaceted nature of the challenge facing the city due to the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
The dynamics at play in New York City summarize the complexities inherent in managing large-scale immigration movements. Adams’ announcement reflects the need for careful considerations that balance humanitarian concerns with practical capacity limitations.
The repercussions of the influx of migrants extend beyond New York City, with other urban centers grappling with similar challenges. The associated costs, both financial and social, have proven to be substantial.
Chicago, for instance, has not been immune to the challenges that accompany an increased migrant population. Reports of illegal immigrants in a high-capacity shelter engaging in disruptive behaviors such as loitering, late-night parties, prostitution, littering and even conflicts with community members have generated concerns among locals. These occurrences shed light on the complex dynamics that arise when a country adopts open-border policies.
In Massachusetts, a state known for its liberal stance and sanctuary policies concerning illegal immigration, the situation mirrors other regions. Emergency shelters are becoming overwhelmed as the demand for temporary housing continues to surge.
Open-border policies without stringent controls present a formidable challenge to any responsible nation’s commitment to safeguarding its citizens and maintaining national security.
Progressive politicians are motivated by political gains rather than the overall welfare of the nation, while the taxpayers are footing the bill.
However, the upcoming 2024 election offers Americans a significant opportunity to voice their opinions in how they want to shape the nation’s policies.
*Dalia Al-Aqidi is a senior fellow at the Center for Security Policy. Twitter: @DaliaAlAqidi