Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on August 29-30/2023
Ahead of Security Council Meeting, Debate Rages in Beirut over Extension of UNIFIL’s Term)
Beirut: Youssef Diab/Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
Debate is raging in Lebanon over the extension of the term of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) that operates in the South. The UN Security Council is expected to meet soon to issue a resolution that would extend the term for another year.
Beirut appears at a loss over whether to commit to the international push to expand the duties of the peacekeepers that would grant them the authority to operate independently from or with prior coordination with the Lebanese army. Such a move would be seen as a provocation to Hezbollah that is wary of UNIFIL and believes that it is spying on its activities in the South and inspecting whether the party was storing weapons in houses in border villages. Caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib is in New York where he is trying to persuade concerned countries of the need to maintain the cooperation between the army and UNIFIL. A ministerial source told Asharq Al-Awsat that caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is in contact with Bou Habib and has been clear that the government would reject any resolution that would undermine security and stability in the South. The source said a return to the resolution that was adopted before 2022 would protect the Lebanese people and UNIFIL. It would limit clashes that have taken place between parties and civilians with the peacekeepers in their area of operation. “The UN troops in the South are peacekeepers, not deterrence forces that would impose their will on the Lebanese people,” remarked the source. Experts agree that any resolution that goes against Lebanon’s interest will have security, political and legal implications on both the people and UNIFIL. Military expert Dr. Hisham Jaber warned that any amendment to UNIFIL’s duties will be a “major provocation” to Hezbollah and “may expose the international troops to danger.” In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat he urged the Lebanese negotiator to reject the amendment, which “is primarily an Israeli demand.”
Expanding the duties of the international forces will be interpreted as allowing them to carry out espionage and violate the privacy of people’s homes, as well as the people’s freedoms, he went on to say. Jaber underlined the Lebanese state’s right to impose its conditions given that UNIFIL is deployed on Lebanese territories. Moreover, he dismissed the peacekeepers’ importance in preserving Lebanon’s security, noting: “They have never guaranteed Lebanon’s security. They have been deployed in the South for 45 years and could not prevent the Israeli invasions of 1978, 1982 and 1996.”
Furthermore, he warned that any change to the peacekeepers’ duties would be a challenge to the international community and a test to its ability to carry out its resolutions given Hezbollah’s opposition to the resolution. “If the duties are expanded and the UN forces enter villages, then Hezbollah will lie in the shadows and leave the people the freedom to confront them on the ground,” he predicted. Last year, a soldier from UNIFIL’s Irish contingent was killed after a convoy of two armored utility vehicles carrying eight personnel traveling to Beirut came under small arms fire. Residents of the southern town of al-Aqbiyah, just outside UNIFIL’s area of operations in the South, confronted the convoy for taking a different route than the usual one. Jaber added that if the amendment is inevitable, then the Lebanese state must demand a condition that stipulates that it would not be held responsible for any clash between the peacekeepers and the residents. Meanwhile, international law professor at the American University of Beirut Dr. Antoine Sfeir said Lebanon’s rejection of the resolution would not prevent it from being implemented given that it is tied to international security and peace. He warned that if the resolution is issued under Chapter 7, Lebanon would be exposed to “all sorts of dangers and could face dire consequences.” He urged the government to intensify its contacts with friendly nations, such as Saudi Arabia, France and Britain, to contain the situation. Even if Lebanon were to demand that UNIFIL’s mission be terminated, that does not mean that the UN would comply, he added.

Israel calls for UNIFIL freedom of movement, reports 'flagrant Hezbollah violations'
Naharnet/August 29/2023
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has told U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that the potential for escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border is growing because of "ongoing provocations" and "flagrant violations" by Hezbollah. "Iran is pushing Hezbollah to act," Gallant said in a meeting with Guterres in New York on Monday night. The minister mentioned the Shebaa tents erected by Hezbollah in a disputed area, patrols, and dozens of military compounds along the border, as he called on the U.N. to “act immediately” by strengthening UNIFIL's authority in the region and ensuring its freedom of movement. The mandate of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, which expires Thursday, was extended last year with a modification that Hezbollah criticized as "a violation of Lebanese sovereignty." The Security Council on Wednesday is to meet on extending UNIFIL's mandate. Hezbollah chief Sayyed hassan Nasrallah warned on Monday evening against renewing on the same terms the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping force in the country's south. Under the modified mandate the peacekeeping force "is allowed to conduct its operations independently", without coordination with the Lebanese army.

Macron takes swipe at Iran's role in Lebanon
Naharnet/August 29/2023
French President Emmanuel Macron has stressed that one of the keys to reaching a political solution in Lebanon would be “the need to clarify Iran's interference in the region.”The remarks come days ahead of the arrival in Lebanon of French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is trying to find a way out of the presidential impasse that Lebanon is going through. Macron criticized the "regional destabilization activities that Iran has carried out in recent years." He thus affirmed that to restore a constructive engagement, it would be crucial for Iran to clarify its policy towards its direct neighbors, Israel and regional security, as well as Lebanon and its stability. In this context, Macron expressed his gratitude to Le Drian for his role in the search for a political solution in Lebanon. According to recent information, Le Drian is expected in Beirut between September 10 and 12 to continue his mediation efforts.

Hochstein arrives in Beirut Wednesday, may visit South
Naharnet/August 29/2023
U.S. Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security Amos Hochstein will arrive in Beirut on Wednesday, al-Liwaa newspaper said. He will meet with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. “Hochstein’s expected meeting with General Aoun will be limited to the issue of the land border (with Israel), which will be tackled in his meetings with the officials,” the daily said. Informed sources meanwhile told al-Liwaa that the U.S. envoy will likely visit the South to inspect UNIFIL peacekeepers and the work of the gas drilling rig in Lebanon’s Block 9.

Report: LF tells Le Drian 'defiance candidate' unacceptable
Naharnet/August 29/2023
Lebanese Forces sources have stressed that “the presidential vote should take place in parliament and in the ballot box, not through dialogue tables that establish new norms that violate the constitution.” In remarks to al-Joumhouria newspaper, the sources also revealed that the the LF “has informed the French presidential envoy that asking the Lebanese to choose between vacuum and the election of the (Axis of) Defiance candidate shall not pass.” “Lebanon needs a president who is not bound to a regional agenda and whose priority is only Lebanese,” the sources added. The sources also rejected any dialogue over the presidential election, noting that the discussions should be bilateral. “The opposition is determined to elect a president who is capable to achieve salvation,” the sources added.

Report: Iranian FM to visit Beirut this week
Naharnet/August 29/2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian will arrive in Beirut this week on a previously unannounced visit, the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. The development comes after Abdollahian’s recent visit to Saudi Arabia and his meetings there with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. “Hezbollah escalated its rhetoric against the kingdom during the visit, which pushed Tehran to dispatch Abdollahian’s aide to ask Sayyed (Hassan) Nasrallah to pacify the stance towards Saudi Arabia, something that eventually took place,” the newspaper added.

Report: Mikati preparing decree for extending army chief's term
Naharnet/August 29/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati is preparing a decree for extending by three years the term of Army chief General Joseph Aoun, a media report said. Mikati will coordinate with Speaker Nabih Berri in this regard, ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Tuesday. Aoun’s term expires at the beginning of January 2024. “This decree will also include the appointment of a Lebanese Army chief of staff and members of the military council,” the daily added. The chief of staff post is currently vacant.

Lawsuit freezes Lebanese investigations into Riad Salameh
Najia Houssari/Arab News/August 29, 2023
BEIRUT: Prosecutors in Beirut decided not to arrest the former governor of the Banque Du Liban, Riad Salameh, after a dispute was filed by his attorney on Tuesday. The Indictment Division communicated its decision to the head of the Cases Authority at the Ministry of Justice, Judge Helena Iskandar, having accepted the appeal submitted by the judge against leaving Salameh under investigation after he was questioned a few weeks ago. Charbel Abu Samra, the first investigative judge in Beirut, left Salameh under investigation last month after accusations were made against him, his brother Raja Salameh and former aide Marianne Hoayek over “embezzlement of public money, money laundering, forgery, the use of counterfeiting, illegal enrichment, violation of employment law, and tax evasion.”Hafez Zakhour, Salameh’s attorney, appeared before the indictment committee and announced that his client “will not attend the session held by the Division to decide whether or not to arrest him.”Instead, Zakhour filed a lawsuit against the Indictment Division, saying Salameh was being “investigated for alleged and unrealistic crimes.”He continued: “The Indictment Division, as an appellate reference for the decisions of the investigating judge, is not entitled to take over the file and invite the defendant to a session before it in order to interrogate him or expand the investigation with him. The Indictment Division’s decision can be considered null and void. The Division cannot interrogate a defendant who is still undergoing interrogation before the investigative judge (Samra). Otherwise, we would be before two judicial authorities who interrogate the same defendant in the same case before one of them decides the fate of arresting or leaving the defendant.”A judicial source told Arab News the Salameh investigation has been frozen in a manner similar to how the Beirut Port explosion investigation was frustrated and halted. “Salameh is still a suspect in the Lebanese investigations, despite the accusation against him, until an indictment is issued that may make him an accused (party),” the source said. “What is happening in this file is similar to what happened in the file of investigations into the crime of the Beirut Port explosion, which was also frozen a year ago due to the lawsuits filed against the judicial investigator in the crime, Judge Tarek Bitar, by several ministers and MPs, who were defendants in the investigation.”Salameh’s mandate as governor of the BDL expired at the end of July, and security services have not been able to notify him since then of dates for his questioning sessions, under the pretext of not being able to find his place of residence in Lebanon. The Lebanese judiciary confiscated Salameh’s Lebanese and French passports and prevented him from traveling on May 24, the day after authorities received a red notice from Interpol based on French and German arrest warrants against him. Salameh is facing European investigations on charges of corruption, forgery, the formation of a gang for money laundering, and embezzlement of public funds in Lebanon worth more than $330 million between 2002 and 2021. A year ago, France, Germany and Luxembourg froze €120 million euros ($129.88 million) of Lebanese assets following an investigation targeting Salameh and those close to him on charges of money laundering.

Bassil says would vote for Franjieh in return for decentralization, trust fund
Naharnet/August 29/2023
An ongoing dialogue between Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement is progressing positively, the FPM chief said. Jebran Bassil revealed, in an interview published Tuesday in al-Modon news portal, that Hezbollah's feedback on a reform paper proposed by the FPM was "positive", which paved the way for completing the discussions. The reform paper mainly proposes the implementation of the broad administrative and financial decentralization law and the trust fund law. In a televised speech Monday, Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said that Hezbollah's answers regarding the presidential priorities that the FPM has proposed are ready. "We are in a serious and profound dialogue that needs some time,” he revealed, after he described the talks as “the only open dialogue in the country which can be relied on.”Hezbollah and the FPM's dialogue came after almost one year of tensions over Hezbollah's nomination of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh for presidency and the participation of its ministers in cabinet sessions boycotted by the FPM. Bassil had said that he is "willing to sacrifice" regarding the next president's identity in return for "two gains for Lebanon: broad administrative and financial decentralization and the trust fund.""If Hezbollah commits to passing these two laws and to give legal and legislative guarantees for their implementation, I wouldn't mind voting for Franjieh," Bassil told al-Modon. "I will vote for him in return for that, and I will bear all costs, because I know that what will be achieved in return is much greater and more important."

Lebanon loses 79-85 to France in Basketball World Cup
Associated Press/August 29/2023
Lebanon lost its third Basketball World Cup game Tuesday. Seven teams had already reached the knockout stage — defending champion Spain, the United States, Canada, Germany Latvia, Lithuania and Montenegro. Eight teams including Lebanon cannot advance. The other seven are France, Finland, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Angola and Mexico.At Jakarta, Guerschon Yabusele had 18 points and teammate Evan Fournier had 17 as France (1-2) salvaged a victory in the tournament. France won the Olympic silver medal two years ago in Tokyo and was probably the most disappointing team in the World Cup.
Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert did not play because of an ankle injury. Wael Arakji had 29 points for Lebanon (0-3), which lost its opening two games by an average of 47 points. Both teams had already been eliminated from contention for the knockout round.

Lebanese Delegation Headed by Honorary Consul General of Nepal Engages in Multi-Level Talks in Kathmandu
NNA/August 29/2023
Representing Lebanon, a delegation headed by Sheikh Mohammed Wissam Ghouzayel, the Honorary Consul General of the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal in Lebanon, engaged in a series of high-level meetings with top Nepali officials.
On Tuesday, the delegation met with the Chief of the Nepali Army to discuss military training programs between the two countries. Later the same day, they convened with the President of the Federation, Mr. Chandra Dhakla, and his deputy, Mr. Hem Raj Dhakal, to discuss a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Lebanese Chamber of Commerce and its Nepali counterpart. On Wednesday, the delegation was received by the Nepali Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General of the Ministry, where bilateral relations and pending MOUs were discussed. The next day involved talks with the Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister of Nepal on the same subjects.
In conclusion, the delegation highlighted the warm reception they received in Nepal and the continued support from the Nepali government.

Defense and Displaced Ministers discuss new wave of illegal Syrian refugee entries to Lebanon
NNA/August 29/2023
Caretaker Minister of Defense, Maurice Slim, on Tuesday met in Yarzeh with Caretaker Displaced Minister, Issam Charafeddine. Both men reviewed the country’s general situation, most importantly the illegal influx of Syrian refugees to Lebanon three weeks ago, stressing the importance of coordination between all military entities and administrations to control Lebanon’s borders with Syria. For his part, Minister Sleem affirmed that the Lebanese army units were sparing no effort to deal with this phenomenon, noting that the Army has succeeded in thwarting an attempt by hundreds of Syrian refugees to illegally enter Lebanon through border crossing points a few weeks ago.

LBCI Exclusively Receives Final Draft for UNIFIL's Renewed Mandate in Lebanon, Featuring Key Changes Requested by Lebanese Government
LBCI/August 29/2023
In an exclusive revelation, LBCI has obtained the final draft detailing the renewal of the mandate for the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL). The draft reflects significant alterations pushed for by the Lebanese government. The most noteworthy change mandates that UNIFIL will "continue coordinating with the Government of Lebanon, as per the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA)."UNIFIL's Enhanced Coordination with Lebanese Government. The draft underlines that UNIFIL does not require prior authorization to undertake its tasks as mandated by the UN Security Council. However, the force is to "conduct its operations independently, while continuing to coordinate with the Government of Lebanon," in accordance with the SOFA. Moreover, the draft "condemns in the strongest terms" any attempts to restrict UNIFIL’s personnel movement, attacks on personnel and equipment, as well as harassment, intimidation, and disinformation campaigns against UNIFIL.Israel Urged to Withdraw from the outskirts of the town of Al-Mari or Northern Ghajar. One more significant point in the draft is an explicit urging for the Government of Israel to expedite the withdrawal of its army from northern Ghajar and the adjacent area north of the Blue Line, specifically in the outskirts of the town of Al-Mari. The draft states that this withdrawal should be coordinated "without further delay" and in coordination with UNIFIL, which has actively engaged both Israel and Lebanon to facilitate such a move.

Lebanese comedian Nour Hajjar granted release after judicial order
LBCI/August 29/2023
Lebanese comedian Nour Hajjar was released on bail on Tuesday evening, under a residency permit, upon an order from the General Prosecutor of the Cassation Court, Judge Ghassan Oueidat.

In Lebanon: Questions arise of Road Traffic Authority employees' fate amid corruption charges
LBCI/August 29/2023
Do you remember the Road Traffic Authority (RTA) employees whose number exceeded a hundred and who were criminally charged by the Public Prosecution in Mount Lebanon with corruption crimes, such as accepting bribes, forging official documents, using forgeries, money laundering, and illegal enrichment?
Thirty of them applied to the Traffic Management Authority through registered mail with requests to return to their jobs as soon as their four-month work suspension period ended, which was set by the investigating judges in Mount Lebanon when they were released.
LBCI's sources indicate that the current Traffic Management Authority, composed of Governor Marwan Abboud and Colonel Ali Taha, vehemently refuses to reinstate these individuals to their offices. The reason is that they are still under trial and were released from prison on residency bonds and financial bail. Importantly, they haven't received any judicial acquittal verdict yet.Before these individuals submitted their job return requests, the Traffic Management Authority referred their files to the Higher Disciplinary Council to initiate an administrative investigation and take necessary actions against them. However, the latter hasn't made any decision yet, even though it has the power to prevent them from resuming work if its investigations prove their involvement. The information also suggests that the Traffic Management Authority has contacted the Civil Service Council, requesting legal advice on the situation of these employees and whether it has the authority to reinstate them to their jobs. However, the Civil Service Council has not yet given its opinion. Amidst these correspondences, even if the responses from the Higher Disciplinary Council and the Civil Service Council are delayed, the ultimate decision regarding the fate of these employees remains with the supervisory authority, namely the Caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi. Interior sources confirm to LBCI that Mawlawi has not yet received this file and will make an appropriate decision as soon as he receives it at the Interior Ministry.
It is worth noting that LBCI's sources suggest that the Minister of Interior leans towards not reinstating these employees to their positions before their judicial acquittal. The current solution might involve transferring them away from the Vehicle Registration Center, either by redistributing them to directorates within the Ministry of Interior or to other departments within the Road Traffic Authority (RTA) that are unrelated to vehicle registration.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on August 29-30/2023
Israelis on flight return to Tel Aviv after emergency landing in Saudi Arabia
Associated Press/August 29, 2023
A plane carrying Israelis home from the Indian Ocean island nation of Seychelles made an emergency stop in Saudi Arabia before flying back to Tel Aviv on Tuesday, in what Israel praised as a sign of goodwill as Washington works to establish formal relations between the two countries. Israeli media reported the Air Seychelles flight carrying 128 passengers was forced to land Monday because of an electrical malfunction. Israel's Foreign Ministry said the passengers spent the night at an airport hotel in Jeddah and were flown back by the airline on an alternate plane. Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official ties, although they have developed strong but informal connections over recent years over their shared concerns about Iran's growing influence in the region. After Israel and four Arab states signed normalization deals in 2020 under the former Trump administration, President Joe Biden has been working to strike a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has made an agreement with Saudi Arabia a major goal, seized on the incident to highlight the potential for improved ties. "I greatly appreciate the warm attitude of the Saudi authorities to the Israeli passengers whose flight was in distress," he said in a video recorded in Hebrew with Arabic subtitles, as he gestured toward a map of the region behind him. "I greatly appreciate the good neighborliness."In interviews with Israeli media, the passengers said their experience in Jeddah was pleasant, with some Saudis even greeting them in Hebrew. There was no immediate reaction in Saudi Arabia. A normalization deal with Saudi Arabia, the most powerful and wealthy Arab state, has the potential to reshape the region and boost Israel's standing in historic ways. But brokering such a deal is a heavy lift as the kingdom has said it won't officially recognize Israel before a resolution to the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Saudis are also apparently seeking defense guarantees and access to American nuclear technology. Extracting any major concessions to the Palestinians from Israel will be difficult under Israel's current government, which is made up of ultranationalists who support expanding Jewish settlements on land the Palestinians seek for a state and oppose Palestinian independence.

Fighting in eastern Syria between US-backed fighters and Arab tribesmen kills 10
BEIRUT (AP)/August 29, 2023
Arab tribesmen clashed with U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters in several areas of eastern Syria on Tuesday, leaving at least 10 people dead and others wounded, opposition activists and pro-government media said. The clashes are among the worst in recent years in the region along the border with Iraq where hundreds of U.S. troops have been based since 2015 to help in the fight against the Islamic State group. The clashes first broke out Monday, a day after the U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces detained the commander of a formerly allied group and several other members of his faction after they were invited to a meeting in the northeastern city of Hassakeh. Some Arab tribesmen in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour were angered by the detention of Ahmad Khbeil, better known as Abu Khawla. He heads the Deir el-Zour Military Council, which was allied with the SDF in its yearslong battle against the Islamic State group in Syria. The clashes raise concerns of more divisions between U.S.-backed Kurdish and Arab fighters in eastern Syria, where the Islamic State group once enjoyed a wide presence. U.S.-backed fighters play a major role in targeting Islamic State sleeper cells that still carry out deadly attacks. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported that 10 Arab tribesmen and three SDF fighters were killed in clashes in the villages of Hrejieh and Breeha. Another activist collective that covers news in the region, Deir Ezzor 24, said eight civilians were killed in the village of Hrejieh, where the fighting was the most intense. The pro-government Sham FM radio station said 10 people were killed in Hrejieh and Breeha and that dozens of civilians were wounded as well. On any day, there are at least 900 U.S. forces in eastern Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors. They partner with the SDF to work to prevent a comeback by the Islamic State group.

Syria protests spurred by economic misery stir memories of 2011 uprising
Associated Press/August 29, 2023
Anti-government protests in southern Syria have stretched into a second week, with demonstrators waving the colorful flag of the minority Druze community, burning banners of President Bashar Assad's government and at one point raiding several offices of his ruling party. The protests were initially driven by surging inflation and the war-torn country's spiraling economy but quickly shifted focus, with marchers calling for the fall of the Assad government. The demonstrations have been centered in the government-controlled province of Sweida, the heartland of Syria's Druze, who had largely stayed on the sidelines during the long-running conflict between Assad and those trying to topple him. In a scene that once would have been unthinkable in the Druze stronghold, protesters kicked members of Assad's Baath party out of some of their offices, welded the doors shut and spray-painted anti-government slogans on the walls.
The protests have rattled the Assad government, but don't seem to pose an existential threat. They come at a time when government forces have consolidated control over most of the country. Meanwhile, Damascus has returned to the Arab fold and restored ties with most governments in the region. Still, anger is building, even among Syrians who did not join the initial anti-Assad protests in 2011. Those demonstrations were met with a harsh crackdown and plunged the country into years of civil war. For some, the final straw came two weeks ago when the Syrian president further scaled back the country's expensive fuel and gasoline subsidy program. Assad also doubled meager public sector wages and pensions, but those actions did little to cushion the blow, instead accelerating inflation and further weakening the already sinking Syrian pound. The results further piled on the economic pressure on millions living in poverty.
Soon after, protests kicked off in Sweida and the neighboring province of Daraa. Over the past decade, Sweida had largely isolated itself from Syria's uprising-turned-conflict. The province witnessed sporadic protests decrying corruption and the country's economic backslide. This time, crowds quickly swelled into the hundreds, calling out political repression by Assad's government and stirring echoes of the protests that rocked the country in 2011. "People have reached a point where they can no longer withstand the situation," Rayan Maarouf, editor-in-chief of the local activist media collective Suwayda24, told The Associated Press. "Everything is crumbling." While Assad's political fortunes have been on the rise in recent months, life for much of the country's population has become increasingly miserable. At least 300,000 civilians have been killed in the conflict, half of Syria's prewar population of 23 million has been displaced and large parts of the infrastructure have been crippled. Ninety percent of Syrians live in poverty. Rampant corruption and Western-led sanctions have also worsened poverty and inflation. In Daraa — often referred to as the birthplace of the 2011 uprising but now under government control — at least 57 people were arrested in the current protests, according to the Britain-based Syrian Network for Human Rights. Unlike in 2011, government forces did not use lethal force. In Sweida, the response has been more restrained, with Assad apparently wary of exerting too much force against the Druze. During the years of civil war, his government presented itself as a defender of religious minorities against Islamist extremism. Over the years, the province's young men also have armed themselves to defend their villages from Islamic State militants and Damascus-associated militias that produce and trade in illegal amphetamine pills, known as Captagon. Joseph Daher, a Swiss-Syrian researcher and professor at the European University Institute in Florence, believes that this provides a layer of protection for protesters. "Unlike other government-held areas, Sweida has some form of limited autonomy," Daher said. Meanwhile, in Damascus, Lattakia, Tartous and other urban government strongholds, some are voicing their discontent more quietly. They write messages of support for the protests on paper, take pictures of those notes on the streets of their towns, and share them on social media. Others suffer in silence and focus on daily survival. In Damascus, some have taken to carrying backpacks instead of wallets to carry the wads of cash they need to make everyday purchases amid the rampant inflation, while families struggle to buy basic necessities. "If I buy (my son) two containers of milk, I'd have spent my entire month's salary," Damascus resident Ghaswan al-Wadi told the AP while preparing her family dinner at home after a long day at work. The ongoing protests highlight Assad's vulnerability as a result of the failing economy, even in areas that tried to withstand the situation and not hold large-scale protests against his rule. Could the protests eventually threaten his rule? Daher said this could only happen if the protesters banded together. "You have forms of solidarity from other cities (with Sweida)," Daher said. "But you can't say it would have a real effect on the regime, unless there would be collaboration between (protesters in) different cities."

Macron Urges Iran to Cease ‘Destabilizing Regional Activities’
Paris: Michel Abou Najm/Asharq Al Awsat/29 August 2023
President Emmanuel Macron covered a wide array of topics and challenges facing France in the coming years as he addressed the French diplomatic corps on the occasion of the annual conference for the 163 ambassadors and 15 delegates to international organizations. He dedicated a segment to Iran when discussing France’s commitments to countries in the Middle East and the broader Eastern region, particularly in the context of counterterrorism efforts. Furthermore, it appears that the issue of the four detained French individuals - Macron mistakenly mentioned six detainees twice in his speech - whom France regards as “state hostages,” continues to cast a shadow over the relations between Paris and Tehran. Macron’s firm stance regarding the hostage situation is not limited to that aspect alone; it also extends to Iran’s nuclear activities and its regional policies, which Paris still describes as “destabilizing.”This characterization persists despite the recent rapprochement between Tehran and several regional capitals. Macron affirmed that his country’s policy toward Iran is “clear and not tainted by any weakness.”The president did not hesitate to express his satisfaction with “the progress achieved in recent weeks,” referring to the agreement reached between the US and Tehran last month concerning the release of five dual-national American citizens. However, based on his experience, Macron conveyed that he wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about the agreement. As for the case of the four French individuals detained in Iran, Macron sternly urged Tehran to release them, asserting that “nothing justifies their detention in prisons under unacceptable conditions,” and their imprisonment is an “arbitrary act.”He emphasized that Paris will persist in both demanding and working towards their release. This isn't the first time that Paris has made such a request. However, the prevailing belief in France is that Tehran is seeking a quid pro quo, similar to what recently transpired with Belgium, where Tehran released its citizen who was working in the humanitarian field in Iran in exchange for the release of Assadollah Assadi. Assadi, an Iranian diplomat accredited in Austria, was apprehended in Germany and handed over to Belgium, where he was tried and sentenced to prison.

Tehran Open to Nuclear Talks on Sidelines of UN General Assembly
London: Asharq Al Awsat Tehran/Asharq Al Awsat/29 August 2023
Tehran has left the door open for a revival of stalled nuclear negotiations, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the coming month. Nasser Kanaani, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, stated during a weekly press conference on Monday that the “US government must prove itself as a trustworthy party for agreement and dialogue,” reiterating Iranian criticism of Washington’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement. Then President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from the pact and impose a policy of maximum pressure on Tehran. Kanaani remarked that “the US has once again proven itself an unreliable party, and it must make up for violating commitments and demonstrate its credibility.” The official also discussed progress in the prisoner swap deal with the US in return for releasing frozen Iranian assets in South Korean and Iraqi banks, expected to be completed within two months. “Despite this understanding, we continue to witness provocative steps from the US to increase sanctions, as well as the seizure of Iranian oil shipments,” said Kanaani. “These actions are inconsistent with the US messages for dialogue and agreement. The Americans must reconsider their approach towards Iran,” he added. When asked about the possibility of Tehran and the parties to the nuclear agreement returning to the negotiating table on the sidelines of the General Assembly, Kanaani said direct negotiations with the parties to the agreement and indirect ones with the Americans were held on the sidelines of the UN meeting last year. “Iran will not miss any diplomatic opportunity to lift the oppressive sanctions on the Iranian people, and this is one of the diplomatic priorities,” he stressed. He made his remarks a week after he denied the possibility of Tehran engaging in direct talks with the US. In other news, Iran summoned a Swiss diplomat over the apparent US seizure of Iranian crude oil from a ship that sat for months off Texas, as the oil now appeared to be moored in Houston. “The subject of the seizure of an Iranian oil consignment by the US ... is a completely unproductive action,” Kanaani said. He said the US government was, on the one hand, expressing interest in direct talks to pave the way for a renewed nuclear deal and, on the other, was imposing new sanctions and seizing oil.

Israeli PM orders ministries to get his OK before secret talks, as drama over Libya meeting persists
AP/August 29, 2023
JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued an order Tuesday mandating that his office approve all secret diplomatic meetings in advance, his spokesperson said, as officials scrambled to contain the growing diplomatic firestorm over Israel’s disclosure that its top diplomat had met with his Libyan counterpart. The exposure of the first-ever known encounter between Israeli and Libyan foreign ministers ignited angry street protests in several Libyan cities and sent Libyan Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush fleeing to Turkiye for fear of her safety. Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, who heads one of the country’s rival governments, said he was temporarily suspending Mangoush from her position over the reported meeting. Libya has a history of unremitting hostility toward Israel. Netanyahu sent the directive Tuesday to all government ministries, requesting they receive approval from his office before conducting any covert political talks. The order also asked that Netanyahu personally approve the publication of news concerning such sensitive meetings. A Netanyahu aide, Topaz Luk, said Netanyahu issued the order in response to fallout from the Libya scandal. It was not known if Netanyahu knew about Foreign Minister Eli Cohen’s meeting with Mangoush ahead of time. Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced Sunday that Cohen met Mangoush in Rome last week in what it hailed as a “historic” step toward the normalization of ties with Libya. Having established diplomatic ties with the UAE and Bahrain, during the Trump administration, Netanyahu’s government anxiously wants to do so with other Arab states to change its status in its long-hostile neighborhood and end its regional isolation. But the backlash served as a glaring reminder that despite the warming ties between Israel and the Arab world, challenges remain as ordinary citizens in the region still oppose closer relations with Israel. Within hours of the revelation, Mangoush was on a plane to Turkiye, Dbeibah announced her suspension and Netanyahu’s political opponents were seizing on the crisis to criticize the foreign minister and his lack of discretion.
A ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss behind-the-scenes diplomacy, said the ministry was forced to go public after an Israeli news site learned about the meeting. Israeli media said the acting United States ambassador to Israel, Stephanie Hallett, had expressed American displeasure with the Israeli announcement in a meeting with Cohen on Monday. The US Embassy had no immediate comment. In Libya, protests erupted for a second straight night Monday over the prospect of normalization with Israel. Demonstrators set tires ablaze, waved Palestinian national flags and chanted against Dbeibah, the prime minister. The leader of Libya’s Tripoli-based administration in the country’s west, Dbeibah has defied calls for him to hand over power. The oil-rich nation has for years been split between two rival governments in its eastern and western halves. Each side has been backed by armed groups and foreign governments. Libya was plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. Qaddafi was hostile to Israel and a staunch supporter of the Palestinians, including radical militant groups.

Israel: Meeting with Libya's Mangoush Was Coordinated at Highest Levels
Asharq Al Awsat/August 2023
The Libyan and Israeli foreign ministers spoke for more than two hours last week in a meeting approved "at the highest levels" in Libya, an Israeli official said on Monday, contradicting Libyan accounts of an encounter which prompted protests across Libya.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah suspended Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush late on Sunday after Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said he had met her in Italy last week despite the countries not having formal relations. The Foreign Ministry in Tripoli said Mangoush had met Cohen only in an informal, unplanned encounter during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Antonio Tajani and that she had previously rejected a formal meeting with Cohen. The Israeli official disputed that account. "The meeting was coordinated at the highest levels in Libya and lasted almost two hours. The Libya prime minister sees Israel as a possible bridge to the West and the US administration," the official said. Protesters demonstrated in front of Libya's Foreign Ministry late on Sunday, causing some damage outside the building, where a large security presence was visible early on Monday. Protests took place in other parts of Tripoli, as well as other cities.

Palestinian and Israeli activists protest in the West Bank against the seizure of land and water supply cuts in Palestinian villages in October 2021.
Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Monday that the “apartheid regime” in Israel has created a broken Palestinian legal, administrative and economic system that requires international intervention. Speaking at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting held in Ramallah, Shtayyeh said the world should take a clear stand and the necessary steps to stop Israel’s crimes of apartheid against the Palestinian people. The PM accused Israel of enacting several laws that serve its “racist regime”, whether it is the nation-state law or otherwise. “This Israeli government espouses the doctrine of killing, burning, erasure and genocide,” Shtayyeh affirmed. He highlighted the discrimination, giving the example of the distribution of water between Palestinians and Israelis. He revealed that a Palestinian receives 72 liters per day compared to 430 to one Israeli. He also cited the denial of construction on Palestinian land, the segregation barrier, the siege on Gaza, policies in occupied East Jerusalem, and ban on family unification for Palestinians. Shtayyeh’s comments came shortly after Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir declared: “The right of me, my wife and kids to travel around the West Bank is more important than that of the Arabs.”Meanwhile, a recent report published by Israel’s Haaretz showed that Palestinians barely get enough water to bathe their children and wash their clothes, while in sharp contrast, neighboring Jewish settlements look like an oasis. “Wildflowers burst through the soil. Farmed fish swim in neat rows of ponds. Children splash in community pools,” the newspaper wrote. Across the West Bank, it said water troubles have stalked Palestinian towns and cities since interim peace accords of the 1990s gave Israel control over 80 percent of the West Bank’s water reserves — and most other aspects of Palestinian life. Palestinians have protested in the West Bank over the water shortages that have, in some areas, stretched for around a month. “This is the hardest summer we’ve had in nine years,” said Palestinian Water Minister Mazen Ghunaim. The Minister accused Israel’s national water company of reducing water supplies to the Palestinian cities of Bethlehem and Hebron by 25 percent in the past nine weeks. Ghunaim claimed the recent water cuts were a “political problem” under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultranationalist government, which has taken a particularly hard line against the Palestinians. “If we were settlers, they would solve this problem instantly,” he said. The 500,000 Jewish settlers who live in the West Bank are connected to the Israeli water grid through a sophisticated network that provides water continuously, compared to more than three million Palestinians who have only sporadic access to municipal water.

Israel publicizing secret meeting with Libya FM damages Arab ties
Ben Caspit/Al Monitor/August 29, 2023
TEL AVIV — Israel’s clandestine relationships with a host of Muslim states unwilling to go public about them were dealt a serious blow this week with the government's announcement that Foreign Minister Eli Cohen had held a “historic” meeting with his Libyan counterpart to discuss forging official ties.
Cohen’s reckless, amateurish move set off riots in Tripoli and led Libyan Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush to flee the country, destabilizing the fragile regime of Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibeh, infuriating the Italian government that hosted last week’s secret meeting and angering the Biden administration.  The Cohen-Mangoush meeting followed contacts between the UN-backed Tripoli government and the US administration in keeping with continued efforts to include Libya in the US-sponsored Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab states. A Libyan official told The Associated Press that normalization of relations between Libya and Israel was first discussed in a meeting between Dbeibeh and CIA Director William Burns, who visited the Libyan capital in January.
The uproar created by the Israeli announcement prompted an embarrassed Libyan request to Israel’s Foreign Ministry to urgently remove the Arabic version of the statement, claiming that the meeting in Rome was happenstance and the prime minister knew nothing about it. According to Haaretz, Arab foreign ministers from countries that maintain contact with Israel and those that do not warned that the incident would directly harm Israel's efforts to reach breakthroughs with other countries in the region. The premature publication also cast a dark shadow over intense US efforts to rope Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords. Cohen himself, responding to the fallout, said Sunday’s official statement followed a leak of the meeting, which aides suggested had originated with the Mossad spy agency or the National Security Council. No one takes this version seriously, just as few now take seriously the Foreign Ministry of the hard-line Israeli government. "I wonder what else Cohen can accomplish in the time he has left in office," a senior Israeli political source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, referring to the scheduled job rotation at the end of the year between Cohen and Energy Minister Israel Katz.
"That's the problem when you form an amateur government that includes people who know how to brag, but are a little less experienced in real work," a former senior Israeli political source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. The foreign relations debacle followed last week’s deeply damaging statement by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir that his right to move freely along West Bank roads takes precedence over Palestinian rights to such freedom, highlighting persistent accusations that Israel engages in a policy of apartheid. Netanyahu's hard-line, nationalist government is a loose patchwork of fiefdoms reflecting the political considerations required to ensure the support of various parties for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This is particularly striking in the foreign policy arena, which Netanyahu has divided up among various ministers in order to ensure their loyalty. The two foreign policy matters that Netanyahu holds most important — dealings with the US administration and contacts with Saudi Arabia — have been entrusted to his confidant, Strategic Affairs Minister and former Israeli Ambassador to Washington Ron Dermer. The Foreign Ministry itself was entrusted to Cohen, but only for one year, after which it will be handed over to Katz. Two years on, the two will once again exchange jobs, with Cohen serving as foreign minister for the remaining year of the government’s term. The damage of the Israeli-Libyan farce is not limited to relations between the two countries nor to persistent attempts to engineer official Saudi-Israeli peace. The Israeli Mossad and other security entities have maintained discreet, sensitive contacts with various Libyan figures for many years. At the same time, they have carefully manoeuvred between the various factions fighting for control of the Tripoli regime. Israeli leaks and indiscrete announcements about secret contacts with Indonesia, Sudan and other Muslim and Arab countries have resulted in adverse effects over the years. In November 2020, Netanyahu met secretly in Saudi Arabia with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. After Netanyahu leaked the news, the crown prince vowed to avoid future contact with the Israeli leader. "As things stand," a senior Middle Eastern diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, "Israel — once synonymous with secrecy and discretion — has become a kind of rooster, an uncontrollable blabbermouth. No one will be willing to conduct discreet relationships with it any longer." Cohen himself said a few months ago on television that the second meeting of the Negev Forum — a fledgling US-sponsored regional cooperation framework comprised of Bahrain, Egypt, Israel, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates — would soon take place in Morocco. Responding to the publication, Morocco postponed the event indefinitely. Surrounded by enemies vowing its destruction, Israel has for years woven a complex, diverse and completely secret web of contacts and blossoming relationships with the Muslim world and its allies, often providing technological and military assistance to their governments. The Mossad agency has an entire wing — called Tevel — tasked with developing and maintaining relations with the many countries and entities that do not maintain official diplomatic relations with Israel or are even identified as its enemies. These decadeslong relationships are conducted far away from the spotlights and official diplomatic traffic. However, in its rush to gain international legitimacy and silence its domestic opposition, the current government has been quick to blab about contacts that have not yet matured. Cohen and his Foreign Ministry's Director General Ronen Levy (Maoz) have become diplomatic lepers of sorts this week, along with the ministry they head. The damage will be difficult to repair.

Use nuclear strike to stop Ukraine’s counter-offensive, says former Russian general
Joe Barnes/The Telegraph/August 29, 2023
A former Russian general has called for a tactical nuclear strike in southern Ukraine after Kyiv’s forces were said to be gaining a foothold near some of Moscow’s weakest defences in the area. Pro-Kremlin MP Andrey Gurulev, 55, a retired lieutenant-general, urged Russian military leaders to target the Zaporizhzhia region village of Robotyne recently recaptured by Kyiv. “The village of Rabotino is an ideal place for the use of tactical nuclear weapons,” Mr Gurulev said. “They [Ukrainians] have all gathered there in one place... It’s just perfect.” Ukraine celebrated the tiny settlement’s liberation on Monday at the culmination of an 11-week battle on the southern front line. On Tuesday, Kyiv’s military announced its troops had made further progress around Verbove, around seven miles to the east, in their push southwards towards the Sea of Azov. The latest assault appeared to be targeting a Russian anti-tank ditch between the two villages of Robotyne and Verbove. Images captured from a Nasa satellite showed burn marks close to the trench and nearby concrete dragon’s teeth anti-tank barricades. Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had “achieved success... within the recaptured frontiers” and were hitting enemy targets with artillery fire.
Enemy closing in
Russian sources warned that their enemy was slowly closing in on one of Moscow’s main lines of defence in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. One prominent pro-Kremlin military blogger, Romanov, described the situation in the area as “very dangerous” in a post on the Telegram messaging app on Tuesday. WarGonzo, another blogger, who has more than a million subscribers, voiced concerns over the vulnerabilities of Russian positions along the defensive lines between Robotyne and Verbove if Ukraine continues to push in the area. Success around Verbove would hand Kyiv’s forces a wider wedge of territory as they attempt to push towards the Russian-occupied Tokmak, a key road and rail hub.Western analysts have suggested Ukraine was pushing to find a potential weakness in Russia’s “Surovikin Line”, the main chain of fortifications protecting its land bridge to Crimea. The defensive line west of Verbove appeared to be “in a significantly worse state” than other areas across the heavily-fortified southern front line, Emil Kastehelmi, an open source intelligence analyst, said.
‘No covered firing positions’
A comparison of satellite images taken at the beginning and end of August appeared to show “almost no signs of any trench improvements”, he added. “There are sections with no covered firing positions and very few accommodation bunkers, even though great effort was put into this in other places.”Ukraine’s advance has been slow through the southern region as its forces attempt to fight through the Russian fortifications. Minefields that stretch for more than half a mile each were blamed for much of the damage dealt to Western-donated tanks and armoured vehicles used by Kyiv’s men. In the 13 weeks since Ukraine launched its counter-offensive, its forces have lost five of the 71 German-made Leopard 2 tanks, Forbes reported. Meanwhile, a senior Ukrainian official announced the mandatory evacuation of children from several villages close to the front lines in Zaporizhzhia. Yuri Malashko, head of the region’s military administration, said: “There are 54 children and 67 accompanying family members. That is 121 people that need to be evacuated.”
“There are on average of 90 to 120 attacks per day, and these are the settlements that are constantly under fire. Given the fact that our information campaign that was constantly conducted did not give results, and due to the unconsciousness and negligence of parents, children suffered first of all, we decided that a decision should be made on mandatory evacuation,” he added. Elsewhere on Tuesday, Ukraine’s military said it was continuing offensive operations south of the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut, while halting Russian efforts to advance in other parts of the oblast. Ukrainian forces purportedly raised their blue and yellow national flag near the Antonivka Bridge on the Russian-occupied left bank of the Dnipro River near the city of Kherson. A video of the moment was shared by Andriy Yermak, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, who said: “The Ukrainian flag in the left-bank Kherson region. Summer houses near the Antonivka Bridge.” Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

Kremlin: Putin Won’t Attend Prigozhin’s Funeral
Asharq Al Awsat/August 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed when his plane crashed last week, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. The crash came two months to the day after Prigozhin and his mercenaries staged a mutiny against Putin's top military commanders in which they took control of the southern city of Rostov and advanced towards Moscow before turning back 200 km (125 miles) from the capital. "The presence of the president is not envisaged," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked if Putin would attend. Peskov said the Kremlin did not have any specific information about the funeral, and the arrangements were up to the family. Investigators said on Sunday that genetic tests had confirmed that Prigozhin was among the 10 people killed in the crash. The Kremlin has rejected as an "absolute lie" the suggestion by some Western politicians and commentators that Putin ordered Prigozhin to be killed in revenge.

Russian Shelling Kills One in Northeast Ukraine, Kyiv Says It’s Pushing South
Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
Russian shelling killed a 45-year-old civilian man in the town of Kupiansk on Tuesday, local officials said, as Moscow's forces try to advance in northeastern Ukraine. Russia seized Kupiansk in the northeastern region of Kharkiv soon after its invasion in February 2022, but Ukrainian forces recaptured the town last September and it is now under daily fire. Some residents remain in the town, but regional authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation of civilians from near the Kupiansk front because of the difficult situation. Regional governor Oleh Synehubov said the man killed on Tuesday was a guard at a meat processing plant that was hit in the latest shelling. The prosecutor general's office said a 67-year-old man had also been hurt during the shelling. Kupiansk was home to about 27,000 people before the war and is a rail hub about 100 km (62 miles) east of the regional capital, Kharkiv. Losing the town a second time would be a considerable blow to Kyiv's battlefield momentum. Reuters could not verify the situation in the town, or reports of fighting elsewhere. Ukrainian troops began a counteroffensive in the east and south in early June but have made slow progress through Russian minefields and trenches blocking their southern push, intended to reach the Sea of Azov and split Russian forces. A military spokesperson said Ukrainian forces were pushing on southwards in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia after recapturing Robotyne, the latest of a cluster of settlements and villages it says it has taken back in recent weeks. Kyiv also said its troops had had some "success" in the direction of the village of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region, but gave no details. But officials said over 50 children, plus family members and people with limited mobility, were being evacuated from five settlements in the region because of "the difficult security situation and enemy shelling." Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said fighting was heavy in the country but that Ukrainian forces were making progress around the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut in the east.
Russian officials had said Moscow's forces are holding their ground in Bakhmut, and have not confirmed the loss of Robotyne.

Egypt’s Sisi Receives Sudan’s Burhan in el-Alamein
Khartoum/Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
Sudan’s top military officer arrived in Egypt on Tuesday on his first trip abroad since the country plunged into a bitter conflict this year, authorities said. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, was received by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi at the airport in the Mediterranean city of el-Alamein, according to the council. The council said in an earlier statement the two leaders would discuss the latest developments in Sudan and the ties between the neighboring countries. Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere. The conflict has reduced the capital to an urban battlefield, with the RSF controlling vast swaths of the city. The military command, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict. In his trip to Egypt, Burhan was accompanied by Acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq and Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadel, head of the General Intelligence Authority, and other military officers. Burhan managed last week to leave the military headquarters. He visited military facilities in Khartoum's sister city of Omdurman and elsewhere in the country. Burhan traveled to Egypt from the coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Despite months of fighting, neither side has managed to gain control of Khartoum or other key areas in the country. Last week, large explosions and plumes of black smoke could be seen above key areas of the capital, including near its airport. In July, Sisi hosted a meeting of Sudan’s neighbors and announced a plan for a ceasefire. A series of fragile truces, brokered by the US and Saudi Arabia, have failed to hold. 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. Clashes also intensified earlier this month in the provinces of South Kordofan and West Kordofan. The fighting is estimated to have killed at least 4,000 people, according to the UN human rights office, though activists and doctors on the ground say the death toll is likely far higher. More than 4.6 million people have been displaced, according to the UN migration agency. Those include over 3.6 million who fled to safer areas inside Sudan and more than 1 million others who crossed into neighboring countries.

Sudan's military leader travels to Egypt in first trip abroad since war
Associated Press/August 29/2023
Sudan's top military officer is traveling to Egypt on Tuesday on his first trip abroad since the country plunged into a bitter conflict this year, authorities said. Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan, chairman of the ruling Sovereign Council, was expected to hold talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on the latest developments in Sudan, the council said in a statement. Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April when simmering tensions between the military, led by Burhan, and the powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, exploded into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, and elsewhere. The conflict has reduced the capital to an urban battlefield, with the RSF controlling vast swaths of the city. The military command, where Burhan has purportedly been stationed since April, has been one of the epicenters of the conflict.
In his trip to Egypt, Burhan was accompanied by Acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq, and Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim Mufadel, head of the General Intelligence Authority, and other military officers. Burhan managed last week to leave the military headquarters. He visited military facilities in Khartoum's sister city of Omdurman and elsewhere in the country. Burhan traveled to Egypt from the coastal city of Port Sudan on the Red Sea. Despite months of fighting, neither side has managed to gain control of Khartoum or other key areas in the country. Last week, large explosions and plumes of black smoke could be seen above key areas of the capital, including near its airport. Egypt has longstanding ties with the Sudanese army and its top generals. In July, el-Sissi hosted a meeting of Sudan's neighbors and announced a plan for a cease-fire. A series of fragile truces, brokered by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, have failed to hold. 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. The fighting is estimated to have killed at least 4,000 people, according to the U.N. human rights office, though activists and doctors on the ground say the death toll is likely far higher. More than 4.6 million people have been displaced, according to the U.N. migration agency. Those include over 3.6 million who fled to safer areas inside Sudan and more than 1 million others who crossed into neighboring countries.

Displacement in Yemen Decreases
Taiz: Mohammed Nasser/Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
Internal displacement in Yemen decreased by 76 percent compared to the pre-truce period, according to UN data. The truce has been active for 17 months. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that currently neither war nor peace prevails in Yemen. “Displacement decreased by 76 percent during the months of the truce,” according to OCHA. As the Houthis continue to hinder peace efforts, the UN affirmed that “the cost of the minimum household expenditures basket rose by over 50 percent in the space of a single year. In the absence of a comprehensive political settlement, continued displacement, the economic situation, and lack of capacity of state institutions, are likely to remain a key driver of needs.” “An estimated 4.5 million people—14 percent of the population—are currently displaced, most of whom have been displaced multiple times over a number of years... Natural disasters and climate-induced events, such as drought and flooding, are also key drivers of displacement and have heightened existing needs,” said the UN. “Many IDPs in Yemen live in flood-prone areas or dangerous locations.” “Continuing protracted displacement even with lower rates of new displacement may well ensure Yemen remains among the top six largest internal displacements in the world.” “Throughout 2023, humanitarian needs are likely to hold steady and the resilience of vulnerable populations to decrease as a result of the ongoing breakdown of basic services and the fragility of Yemen’s economy due to macroeconomic instability and the depreciation of the Yemeni Rial (YER), the de facto separation of economic institutions and issuance of competing monetary policies, low household purchasing power, inflation and high prices of food, fuel, and other essential commodities.” “An estimated 5.4 million - 25 percent - of the people in need across Yemen are affected by access constraints. Access challenges are most prevalent in northwest Yemen, where they are largely bureaucratic impediments.” These areas are ruled by the Houthis. “At the same time increasing security issues (such as carjackings, kidnappings, and other forms of violence) have been registered particularly across areas primarily under the control of the internationally recognized Government of Yemen (GoY).” “The vast majority of access constraints are issues related to bureaucratic impediments, which mainly include denials of movement and delays of travel permits. Bureaucratic impediments include two key challenges on the rise into 2023.”The first is the increasing imposition of mahram requirements primarily by the Houthis, whereby women must be accompanied by a close male family member to travel. “This has impacted female national staff traveling on field missions, leading to the delay and cancellation of field visits, needs assessments, and life-saving assistance deliveries. It likewise has had a major impact on the access of women to essential services, education, and livelihoods opportunities. The second is long delays in approval of sub-agreements, leading regularly to delayed implementation of urgently required humanitarian projects and services for the better part of a year.”The Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan 2023 report added that “access challenges remain the most important challenge to effective humanitarian action in Yemen. As such, coordinated action to safeguard operational space and ensure safe, unimpeded, and principled access will be a cornerstone of the response in 2023.”“Clusters are targeting only the most vulnerable people in need through highly prioritized planning and humanitarian actors are increasingly implementing integrated programs to improve quality and efficiencies of response. However, the per unit price of activities has increased in eight out of ten clusters, due to high global supply chain costs, rises in commodity prices, the continued fragility of Yemen’s economy, and access impediments. These factors have driven overall funding requirements upwards despite a decrease in the number of people targeted, compared to 2022.”

France's education minister bans long robes in classrooms, worn mainly by Muslims
Associated Press/August 29/2023
France's education minister has announced a ban on long robes in classrooms starting with the new school year, saying the garments worn mainly by Muslims are testing secularism in the nation's schools. Critics say that abayas, worn by women, and khamis, the male garb, are no more than a fashion statement. They say the garments do not constitute an ostentatious sign of religion and should not be banned from classrooms under a 2004 law. For Gabriel Attal, the recently appointed education chief, the garments are "an infringement on secularism," a foundational principle for France, and, in some cases, a bid to destabilize schools. The 34-year-old Attal, appointed in July, was potentially moving into a minefield with his ban on long robes to "protect" secularism, prompted by growing reports of the garments in some classrooms around the country. Previous statements and laws on secularism have seeded acrimonious debate. "Our schools are continually tested. We know that," Attal said at a news conference a week ahead of the start of the school year. He said that the wearing of abayas and khamis had grown recently, and must be met with a firm response to tackle what sometimes amounts to "infringements, attempts at destabilization." "We must stand together. We will stand together. ... The abaya has no place in school, no more than religious symbols," Attal said, referring to the 2004 law which banned Muslim headscarves, Jewish kippas, large crosses and other "ostentatious" religious accoutrements from classrooms. French authorities have increasingly moved to defend secularism, a constitutional principle meant to guarantee religious neutrality in a multicultural nation. Authorities fear that religious symbols are a gateway to Islamic radicalism, which has erupted in violence in France in the past. Some Muslims, however, feel stigmatized by efforts to make them conform. Islam is the second religion in France. A 2021 law against what officials refer to as "separatism" was aimed at further strengthening French secularism, notably by increasing oversight of mosques, schools and sports clubs to root out signs of Islamic radicalism.
Voices were quickly raised against the plan to ban long robes from schools. "For me, the abaya is not a religious garb. It's a kind of fashion," Abdallah Zekri, a leader of the French Council for the Muslim Faith, said on the news station BFMTV. The abaya is "a long and ample robe. It has nothing to do (with religion)." Zekri's words reflected the position of his organization, that the abaya is not a religious sign for Muslims.
Attal's predecessor as education minister, Pap Ndiaye, effectively left it up to school principals whether to crack down on long robes in the classroom as the phenomenon grew. Between the 2021-2022 school year and 2022-2023, signs of infringement on secularism increased 120%, from 2,167 to 4,710, according to a confidential government note obtained by the newspaper Le Monde. The increase was largely due to the wearing of abayas and khamis, it said. France has 12 million school pupils nationwide. "Public schools must, at all costs, perhaps more than any other institution, be protected from religious proselytism, from any embryo of communitarianism," Attal said, referring to the notion of communities leaning into their own cultural, spiritual or other aspects of their origins at the expense of their Frenchness.To enforce the ban on abayas and khamis in classrooms, Attal said that 14,000 educational personnel in leadership positions would be trained by the end of this year, and 300,000 personnel would be trained by 2025. Top administrators will visit schools seeking help as well as those "where we judge specific needs to manage the start of school with them." The 2004 law banning religious symbols in classrooms was passed after months of bitter wrangling and a marathon parliamentary debate. It was too early to say whether Attal's order banning long robes from schools would lead to acrimony inside classrooms. Hard-right politician Eric Zemmour, head of the small Reconquest! party opposed to immigrants, posted on X, the former Twitter: "Banning abayas is a good first step if it is applied." He wants uniforms in classrooms. A lawmaker for the hard-left France Unbowed party, Clementine Autain, called the move "anti-constitutional" and asked, "How far will the clothes police go?"

French soldier killed in clashes with extremists in Iraq
Associated Press/August 29/2023
A French soldier serving alongside Iraqi forces was killed in combat during a counterterrorism operation north of Baghdad, according to the French military. Such losses among foreign forces in Iraq have been rare in recent years. Two Iraqi soldiers and four other French troops were also wounded in the operation, which an Iraqi official said was targeting a cell of the Islamic State group. Sgt. Nicolas Mazier of parachute commando No. 10 was on a reconnaissance mission Monday with Iraqi forces about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Baghdad when a group of extremists attacked Iraqi forces, the French military said in a statement. Mazier was wounded in the ensuing shootout and died in the hospital Tuesday, the statement said. Clashes continued until Tuesday morning. French forces were providing air support to the operation, which targeted an IS cell in the al-Aith area of Salahaddin province, said an Iraqi security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. IS was defeated and lost all territory it once controlled in Syria and Iraq, with its last stronghold in Syria falling to the U.S.-backed campaign in 2019. However, sleeper cells remain and have carried out attacks that have killed scores of Iraqis and Syrians. Rural areas of Kirkuk, Diyala, Ninevah and Salahaddin provinces in particular have been difficult to police, with Iraqi security forces spread thin and IS militants routinely terrorizing residents. At times they have managed to overrun towns overnight due to the security gaps. Mazier had been deployed since July in France's military operation in the region, called Chammal, to help train Iraqi anti-terrorism forces. In a tribute to Mazier, French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed "France's determination in its fight against terrorism at Iraq's side.'' He was the third French soldier to die in Iraq this month, after one was fatally wounded during an urban combat training exercise, and another died in a traffic accident.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 29-30/2023
Brown Future: Migration Flows And The Law Of Unintended Consequences
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez*/MEMRI Daily Brief No. 516/August 29/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121739/121739/
The report is horrible to contemplate. A major Western human rights organization reports that Saudi border troops may have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants attempting to enter the Kingdom's borders from Yemen.[1] Whatever the details or context of this particular case turn out to be, the upshot is that here was a country that would defend its borders aggressively, with deadly force. Despite frequent criticism of American and European border policies, that rarely happens with those countries.
If anything, the border defenses of the EU and the USA resemble a sieve more than a wall. Almost seven million migrants have flooded north across the Mexico-United States border since Joe Biden became President in January 2021. Monthly encounters by the US Border Patrol with migrants are at record highs. Migration flows into Europe are also high. 20,000 – mostly young men from Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Mali – have entered Spain in small boats this year alone.[2] "Irregular" migration into the United Kingdom is up 17 percent, with 85 percent of them arriving in small boats from France.[3] Twice as many migrants have arrived in Italy by sea this year – 113,500 – than had at the same time last year.[4]
Saudi Arabia is unusual in being so aggressive but is not alone. Syrian migrants trying to cross in Turkey have also been shot dead. African migrants coming into South Africa from other countries have been massacred. Some advanced countries seem to avoid migration pressure by virtue of policies that value ethnic homogeneity and exclude foreigners, Japan and South Korea (two countries with very low fertility rates) are two examples, but such a stance seems impossible in the West.
While economic globalization may have hit a rough spot since COVID, migration flows have recovered as the pandemic has ebbed. Migrants to the West – and their Western progressive advocates – have learned how to manipulate and bend laws and global humanitarian conventions to their benefit.[5] Strange new pathways have sprung up, with Mauritanians utilizing cheap tickets across the Atlantic and temporary visas to the Nicaraguan regime of dictator Daniel Ortega as a stratagem to enter the United States.[6]
And while large percentages of those coming into the United States and Europe are unaccompanied, and often poorly educated, solitary males, the flows are not limited to the poor or destitute. A 2022 poll found that 43.9 percent of Nigerian doctors want to emigrate, 91.3 percent of them said that they wanted to do so because of poor renumeration at home.[7] African, Latin American and Filipino priests have filled positions in Catholic parishes in America and Europe facing a severe shortage of local clergy.[8]
Much of the rhetoric about this subject has been deeply polarizing. Many see it as an unalloyed good, essentially as essential labor flows going to where they are needed most. In Spain, the leftist government has promoted migration with the idea that these newcomers will pay the pensions of Spain's future elderly population. Others have decried these migration flows as a disaster, as a flood that seeks to replace the native population with foreigners or a phenomenon that brings crime and instability. 46 percent of those condemned for sexual assault in Spain are of foreign origin.[9]
While President Biden noted that America will soon have a "minority White European" population by 2040, Black residents and politicians in Chicago and New York City have decried the sudden arrival of large numbers of migrants.[10] The United States is the largest global recipient of international migrants (India is the largest sender of migrants).[11]
Rather than decry or applaud, I wanted to mention some likely trends on how migration will change both the United States and Europe. Some trends are obvious: the United States will be more Hispanic and the EU will be more Islamic in coming years.
One change that will affect the United States in ways many do not seem to have fully comprehended will be the slow, steady erosion of Black political power in the United States. Urban areas that were once uniformly Black and that produced political figures likes Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama will become more foreign-born and "browner." In a trend already seen in Miami decades ago, Spanish speaking newcomers will gradually seek and secure greater representation in these cities, replacing local elites. That tension has already been on display in Los Angeles and Chicago where Blacks try to hold on to power as the numbers – and eventual voting power – of the newcomers continues to rise.[12] The 2020 U.S. Census revealed a considerable increase in Blacks abandoning these urban areas in the North for smaller towns, the suburbs and even the South.[13]
Diversity rules created in the West, particularly the United States, means that "diverse" arriving foreign populations will gain some benefits over locals, not just local Whites but local non-Whites. It is an interesting irony that the offspring of Indian Brahmins and Latin American oligarchs will likely be considered as part of the "oppressed" diverse population of the United States, worthy of preference in both public and private sectors, once they hit America's shores.
Another development to watch will be the perhaps volatile combination of ethnic and generational politics. One of the justifications in the West for increased migration flows is that they are needed to prop up the welfare state, including paying for the elderly.[14] But, at least initially, this will mean the working young largely drawn from the new arrivals supposedly paying for the elderly from the original population, an unstated, and untested, social and generational bargain.
Still another consequence, although perhaps not entirely unintended, will occur not in the West but in the countries where migrants are fleeing from. While the brain drain is an obvious issue, an even more important result will be the export of political dissent. Here Cuba with its more than 60 years of "exporting" its political opposition was an early model.[15]
Expect to see the same trends of using migration as a political safety valve happening in regions like North Africa and the Middle East. The result will be regimes that will be even more calcified and resistant to change than before, like the sclerotic regime in Cuba. Instead of plotting for revolution at home, the desperate and dissatisfied will plot how to leave.[16] They may be losing young people and some well-educated sectors of the population – a trend that will hurt in the future – but regimes in Algeria and Cairo will be strengthened by encouraging their hotheads to emigrate. Less population and less unhappy populations will mean less pressure to change.
Ironically, these migration flows are likely to weaken democratic tendencies in the sending countries while placing greater stress on democratic processes in the receiving countries. This is especially true in nations where the elite is much more in favor of unrestricted migration than the voting public.[17]
Exporting their critics will help these sending regimes. But they will also, paradoxically, create populations in foreign countries that not only send remittances home, but that create powerful "lobbies" – on the street, in terms of street muscle – in Europe as we have seen with Turkish Grey Wolves[18] in certain regions and urban toughs from Algeria in France who still retain fervent, idealized loyalties to the land they, or their parents, came from.
Many are familiar with second-generation Muslim migrants being susceptible to Jihadist propaganda, but many others were susceptible to regime propaganda in ways to contribute to instability and discord in the West, not just terrorism.[19] During the recent riots in France, the Algerian dictatorship postured as being not only the "moral guardian" of Algerian migrants, but also of their descendants.[20]
These trends are already occurring now, even before climate change migration becomes a major global cause.[21] The hard edges and friction caused by these historic population flows will no doubt lead to other, less foreseen, challenges in the near future. One of the major challenges for Western governments will be to manage this issue which is not only an administrative and technical task but also a deeply political and divisive one.
***Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Hrw.org/report/2023/08/21/they-fired-us-rain/saudi-arabian-mass-killings-ethiopian-migrants-yemen-saudi, August 21, 2023.
[2] Gaceta.es/espana/mas-de-20-000-inmigrantes-ilegales-han-entrado-en-espana-en-lo-que-va-de-ano-20230827-1434, August 27, 2023.
[3] Gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2023/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-june-2023, August 24, 2023.
[4] Reuters.com/world/europe/italy-struggles-with-spike-migrant-arrivals-2023-08-28, August 28, 2023.
[5] Abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/eus-top-court-hungary-broke-law-forcing-migrants-100298844, June 22, 2023.
[6] Africanews.com/2023/08/21/mauritanian-migrants-explore-new-routes-to-the-united-states, August 21, 2023.
[7] human-resources-health.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12960-022-00788-z, accessed August 29, 2023.
[8] Catholicherald.co.uk/africas-priests-are-disappearing-in-europe, August 20, 2023.
[9] Theobjective.com/espana/2022-10-02/agresion-sexual-espana-extranjeros, February 10, 2022.
[10] Abc7chicago.com/migrants-chicago-migrant-shelters-crisis-deputy-mayor-beatriz-ponce-de-leon/13553392, July 26, 2023.
[11] Pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/12/16/key-facts-about-recent-trends-in-global-migration, December 16, 2022.
[12] Politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/07/chicago-black-population-decline-523563, July 12, 2021.
[13] Politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/07/chicago-black-population-decline-523563, July 12, 2021.
[14] Vox.com/2018/8/1/17561014/immigration-social-security, October 23, 2018.
[15] Theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/19/cuba-dissidents-exile-human-rights, June 19, 2019.
[16] Arabbarometer.org/wp-content/uploads/ABVII_Migration_Report-EN.pdf, July 2022.
[17] Cnews.fr/france/2022-11-17/sondage-39-des-francais-estiment-que-les-migrants-sont-une-menace-pour-la-france, November 17, 2022.
[18] See MEMRI Inquiry & Analysis No. 1622, Turkey's Grey Wolves Organization – An Arm Of President Erdoğan's Governing Coalition – Fights In Syria, Azerbaijan, Praises Chechen Terrorist Shamil Basayev, Runs Branches In U.S., Europe, February 9, 2022.
[19] Lemonde.fr/en/le-monde-africa/article/2023/07/03/french-riots-echo-in-the-maghreb-france-continues-to-marginalize-generations-of-immigrants_6042018_124.html, July 3, 2023.
[20] Youtube.com/watch?v=wh9erbsPxIg&t=38s, accessed August 29, 2023.
[21] News.gallup.com/poll/468218/nearly-900-million-worldwide-wanted-migrate-2021.aspx, January 24, 2023.
https://www.memri.org/reports/brown-future-migration-flows-and-law-unintended-consequences

Communist China Helps Itself to Ecuador
Robert Williams/Gatestone Institute./August 29, 2023
"We are basically being plundered. There are no words. There are no words to describe this tragedy.... China took control of the natural resources. They control the hydroelectric plants, they control the oil, a large part of mining, and they control political power. We've been colonized. Again." — Fernando Villavicencio, Ecuadorean investigative journalist and presidential candidate in the award-winning 2022 documentary, This Stolen Country of Mine.
From 2007 to 2017, Villavicencio, who was a leading critic of the country's sellout to China and government corruption, investigated the corruption and China dealings of left-wing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who effectively sold the country and its rich resources to China. In 2020, Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption but had already fled to Belgium. Today, China is Ecuador's largest creditor.
[I]n March 2023, Honduras cut ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with China in order to handle its enormous debt and need for investments.
Even more disturbing is the fact that China's activities in Latin America amount to a significant security threat against US interests.
"What concerns me as a Combatant Commander is the myriad of ways in which the PRC is spreading its malign influence, wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence... The PRC is investing in critical infrastructure, including deep-water ports, cyber, and space facilities which can have a potential dual use for malign commercial and military activities. In any potential global conflict, the PRC could leverage strategic regional ports to restrict U.S. naval and commercial ship access. This is a strategic risk that we can't accept or ignore... This is a decisive decade and our actions or inactions regarding the PRC will have ramifications for decades to come." — General Laura Jane Richardson, Commander of the US Southern Command, to the House Armed Services Committee regarding her concerns over China's activities in Latin America. Those include China's recent financing of a $3 billion container port in Peru, and the establishment of a space monitoring station near the Strait of Magellan. March 8, 2023.
"We are basically being plundered. There are no words. There are no words to describe this tragedy. They [China] have control of the natural resources." — Ecuadorean investigative journalist and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who was assassinated on August 9, 2023. Ecuador is just one of the Latin American countries that China is colonizing and exploiting.
"We are basically being plundered. There are no words. There are no words to describe this tragedy. They [China] have control of the natural resources," said Ecuadorean investigative journalist and presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in the award-winning 2022 documentary, This Stolen Country of Mine. "China took control of the natural resources. They control the hydroelectric plants, they control the oil, a large part of mining, and they control political power. We've been colonized. Again."
From 2007 to 2017, Villavicencio, who was a leading critic of the country's sellout to China and government corruption, investigated the corruption and China dealings of left-wing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, who effectively sold the country and its rich resources to China. In 2020, Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption, but had already fled to Belgium. Today, China is Ecuador's largest creditor.
Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno, the left-wing politician who succeeded Correa in the post in 2019, only deepened and broadened China's activities there, now including the industrial-scale destruction of the land of indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest. Moreno signed contracts with China for the exploration -- and exploitation -- of Ecuador's Amazon for oil, "mostly," according to Villavicencio, "in protected areas." Regarding mining, Moreno signed even more contracts with the Chinese for what Villavicencio called "brutal projects."
"The indigenous people were next," Villavicencio noted. "They are the victims. Their houses were violently destroyed, their children attacked, people being detained, trials, the criminalization of their parents..."
Villavicencio, a leading figure in the fight against government corruption, the Ecuadorian government's sellout to China and drug cartels, was assassinated on August 9, just days before the presidential elections, which took place on August 20. It is still not clear who killed him.
Villagers and indigenous people are trying to fight back against the Chinese mining, which contaminates the water of the locals and destroys their surroundings.
"This is our land. We are claiming our rights, and they [the Ecuadorean police and army] call us thieves... they call us criminals and terrorists. We are being persecuted... the reality is that we're defending our rights," explained one protestor, who was fighting against Chinese silver- and gold-mining in the Rio Blanco area, where hundreds of tons of the metals have been extracted.
"It has been several years since the Ecuadorian state has unjustly begun to hand over land to other countries. China is currently the largest beneficiary, " said another protestor, Abel Arpi. "It has caused problems in all parts of the country. There have been imprisonments, deaths, persecutions."
"In this area, in Molleturo and Chaucha" said still another protestor, "there is not only gold but also minerals such as uranium. We want to ensure these minerals stay in the earth, too. But if we let them turn Molleturo into mining camps, all the future will bring us is death and disease."
Ecuador is just one of the Latin American countries that China is colonizing and exploiting. The Chinese Communist Party has been working simultaneously across the continent; so far, 21 out of the 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have joined China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Most recently, in March 2023, Honduras cut ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with China, in order to handle its enormous debt and need for investments.
Even more disturbing is the fact that China's activities in Latin America amount to a significant security threat against US interests.
"What concerns me as a Combatant Commander is the myriad of ways in which the PRC is spreading its malign influence, wielding its economic might, and conducting gray zone activities to expand its military and political access and influence," General Laura Jane Richardson, Commander of the US Southern Command, told the House Armed Services Committee in March regarding her concerns over China's activities in Latin America. These include China's recent financing of a $3 billion container port in Peru, and the establishment of a space monitoring station near the Strait of Magellan.
"The PRC is investing in critical infrastructure, including deep-water ports, cyber, and space facilities which can have a potential dual use for malign commercial and military activities. In any potential global conflict, the PRC could leverage strategic regional ports to restrict U.S. naval and commercial ship access. This is a strategic risk that we can't accept or ignore... This is a decisive decade and our actions or inactions regarding the PRC will have ramifications for decades to come."
As China proceeds to turn Latin America into its own backyard, as one headline put it last year, where is the Biden administration? Apparently nowhere to be seen.
Biden, as part of his presidential campaign, promised to counter Chinese influence in Latin America, however, after closing the China Initiative, banning mining, allowing the spy balloon to traverse America's most sensitive military installations for a week before shooting it down, failing to stop either China's illegal police stations or rebranded Confucius Institutes, that does not seem to be what is happening.
In fact, China has been making even more headway under Biden. When it comes to Ecuador, specifically, in October 2021 the Biden Administration offered a $150 million loan earmarked to support women-owned businesses in Ecuador.
"We're focused on projects that exemplify our values," said US deputy national security adviser Daleep Singh. "So female-owned businesses in the developing world need help, and we're going to provide that help."
Focusing on feminist values is not exactly what will successfully counter China's ongoing colonization of Ecuador and the rest of Latin America: the suggestion is embarrassing.
Sadly, many officials from the Biden administration even visited Ecuador last year, without, unsurprisingly, bringing home anything substantial.
"Although US-Ecuador ties have advanced on multiple fronts this year, a concrete positive outcome from the partnership remains to be seen," wrote Isabel Chiriboga from the Atlantic Council in December 2022.
"The United States' lack of impact opens the door for China. Last week, [Ecuadorian President] Lasso announced that Ecuador's free trade agreement with China is 'practically signed.' Earlier this year, China surpassed the United States as Ecuador's main commercial partner on non-petroleum goods. The absence of more comprehensive negotiations between Quito and Washington prevents the United States from counterbalancing China's growing influence over trade and investment frameworks across the region, as Ecuador is set to become the fourth country in Latin America to have a free trade agreement with China."
In short, in the face of the continuing incompetence of the Biden administration, China keeps helping itself to still more of Latin America.
*Robert Williams is a researcher based in the United States.
© 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.

The New Levant... the Opportunity Remains
Mustafa al-Kadhimi/Ex Iraqi PM/Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/121744/121744/
Two years ago, almost to the day, the world’s attention turned to Baghdad amid its efforts to further peace. It held an exceptional summit at an exceptional time. Overcoming deep polarization was its agenda, as my brothers and I, alongside the rulers of neighboring countries, worked tirelessly to achieve this pivotal objective for the public interest.
We wanted this conference to be a step towards resolving disputes and developing solutions founded on a shared vision of how to serve the nations of our region and replace perpetual tensions with stability and tranquility. We thus proposed economic-political-cultural projects that go beyond monetary rewards and serve the interests of our peoples in the near future.
Ideas, proposals, and projects were put forward in bilateral, tripartite and multiparty discussions. However, I believe that the “New Levant” is the most prominent among them. With tripartite economic cooperation between the Republic of Iraq, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the Arab Republic of Egypt as its nucleus, this initiative was a model that could appeal for the entire region. It could be replicated by others seeking to synergize and invest in their capabilities and capacities, partners from West Asia to Southeast Europe and the Arab world seeking to improve the lives of this region’s peoples.
This idea that I put a lot of into was shared by a number of interested friends about ten years ago, and we developed it together. It was a “realistic” framework for realizing our dream of cooperating around an integrated economic project that could transform our countries and turn them into prominent economic powers, if not the most powerful.
We began by assessing the capacities and capabilities afforded to us by our geography, political influence, and human capital. It is no secret that the proposal has evolved substantially after 2020, when I became Prime Minister. The conceptual foundations became more precise, as leaders became more willing to move forward with an integrated project that fills gaps and allows for overcoming differences through a vision based on cooperation and partnership.
The complicated local, regional, and international circumstances of this period compelled me to move forward, as Iraq and its surroundings were in dire need of such a similar project that could lead us out of our tunnels and trenches into the open fields of joint action and cooperation.
Since major shifts always face pushback and inevitably inspire apprehension, deep dialogue with many local and external powers were needed. Paradoxically, while some of my compatriots saw it as a threat to our economy, the brothers and neighbors of Iraq were extremely enthusiastic about this project.
Indeed, some compatriots pushed this view although it ran up against the facts and figures. It was at this moment that I got a sense that domestic Iraqi actors would be concerned about any project for regional integration that included Iraq. The perception that any regional cooperation would serve our partners at our expense had become engrained because of an accumulation of failed attempts and misconceptions.
Here, we go over our contemporary history. In the 1950s, Prime Minister Nuri al-Saeed put forward a proposal for the Hashemite Arab Federation that would unite Iraq and Jordan. The idea was founded on the vast commonalities between the two countries, their rulers, and their peoples. He did everything in his power to ensure its success despite fierce local opposition, which presented the initiative as a framework for integrating the country in the pro-American regional alliance. Domestic complications and misguided local perceptions pushed on by external forces prevented his project from materializing.
Saeed sought to make Iraq part of the system of international relations that emerged after World War II, to improve its stature and enhance its influence in the region and the world. He understood the balance of power at play during this time, and he was well aware of the capabilities and potential of Iraq, Jordan and other regional actors.
He understood the boom surrounding the country and sought to prevent Iraq from being subservient or undermined. Saeed’s lesson was right there before me. Skepticism and objection to the New Levant stems from a neurosis gripping a broad segment of the Iraqi political elite. It is not a social complex. Rather, it is mostly a political one founded on a conception of our circumstances and shifts.
In Iraq, we have a notion that entering into regional partnerships amounts to yielding to external actors whose aim is to pillage the country’s wealth and squander the future of its youths to the benefit of our partners. This neurotic notion captivates political consciousness in our region. It is shared by rulers and a broad segment of the population, treating requires a revision of our history and experiences and understanding them better. This does not imply altering them, but choosing suitable examples and building on them, avoiding polemics, and dismantling them through dialogue and patient efforts.
It is my personal conviction that this neurosis stems from an individualistic view of politics. Some look at joint projects between countries like they were a zero-sum commercial transaction between groups of individuals. This conception shared by some elites shapes their politics. They do not see the public interest from a national perspective. Instead, they approach it based on how it will affect their personal interests and the gains they have made.
This approach is evident from the governance of some of the figures who have ruled Iraq and the region. And states and nations’ freedoms cannot be built on individuals’ vision; they demand collaborative planning and a deeper understanding of history and geopolitics.
Unfortunately, those who believe in this individualistic view (and there are many of them) refuse to think like statesmen. Statements, on the other hand, unequivocally claim that making gains made through cooperation or partnership is better than missing out on them. Today, the world is rushing towards expanding cooperation and collaboration between countries. This was evident in South Africa a few days ago, with the accession of a number of countries in the region to BRICS.
Let us take another example, the experience of European countries with the United States after World War II. European countries accepted the Marshall Plan although they knew the United States was its ultimate beneficiary. European leaders were severely criticized by “Eastern” politicians, who argued that the Europeans had made a fatal error by falling into this trap. However, the European leaders of what used to be the “Western Axis” saw the project positively.
The difference in criteria was behind their divergent views. One saw the interest of the individual/ individuals as the criteria, and the others founded their view on the interest of the state (and saving it). The question is, after all these years, did the European leaders end up saving their countries by accepting this project? The answer can be discerned by looking into the degree of development that each has achieved there over the past few decades.
Let’s go back to our region and reflect on our experiences. After decades of armed and unarmed confrontations, what has become of those advocating “progressiveness?” What has the “nationalist” discourse achieved in terms of development that benefited our countries and nations? Are we to sacrifice more of our capacities and resources to deprive our children of development in favor of leaders’ desires and reassure their neurotic apprehensions? Should we develop similar discourses but with “new” terminology that increases our isolation?
The monumental advances elsewhere in the region, especially in the Arab Gulf, deserve our attention. We should congratulate them, and we are ready to integrate into these development projects, not only the Arab ones, but also those of the countries stretching from West Asia to Southeast Europe. It is thus that we would allow for economic integration that creates political balance, averts threats, accommodates differences, assures our people, and inspires hope. We must pursue this end in the spirit of dialogue, honesty and reconciliation, understanding the intertwined interests that began by establishing small blocs that became larger blocs and wield significant influence.
Over the past two years, I have been struggling to deal with the limited worldview of a substantial segment of the Iraqi political elite. Despite the difficult circumstances and challenges I faced, I continue to strive to ensure the success of this project. Indeed, I was - and I remain - confident that Iraq’s renaissance can be achieved through a regional project grounded in economic and political integration.
I was looking at the project through the lens of the state, not my person. This is how we can help Iraq and its surroundings move past our impasse. We will overcome internal crises through joint action. All we need is conviction and a vision, determination and action, and to seize opportunities and invest in them. Otherwise, history will show us no mercy. We owe it to history. We must preserve what our ancestors have afforded us for the sake of the youths who “want a homeland” that meets their dreams in this turbulent world.

Life As a Burden on the Living…
Hazem Saghieh/Asharq Al Awsat/August 29/2023
In various ways, philosophers and thinkers have said that life is absurd and futile, and that its culmination in death attests to its absurdity and affirms its futility.
But what about when death is not merely an event that brings life to an end but is the very essence of life?
This question is not delirium masking as contemplation. It is an attempt to characterize the conditions of this region mired in wars, both civil and uncivil, or dealing with war as an eminent possibility. Today, in Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, approximately 160 million people find themselves embroiled in one of the two options. And who knows what belligerent surprises could blow up in our faces tomorrow, in this or that Arab country?
Nations could fight for a year, or two or three years, and this has happened frequently throughout history, and it continues today. As for remaining in a state of war, year after year and generation after generation, this might be a “civilizational” hallmark exclusive to us. Indeed, as far as those who had fought them are concerned, the “Hundred Years’ War” and the “Forty Years’ War” have become a thing of the past. As for us, war oscillates between being a present and being a future.
The fact is that fighting one’s enemy so long as one is alive means killing one’s people so long as one is alive. They can be killed in an array of ways: from being made to continuously swallow death in drips, to having to endure the persecution of oppressive regimes and their prisons, violence, poverty, and disease, to internal and external displacement, and all the individual and collective suffering that come with it. As for those among them qualified as living, in addition to their misery, they are robbed of their ability to decide their future or determine the course of their lives, leaving them half dead. And for these numerous victims, life will never be anything but “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short,” as Hobbes famously put it.
However, among the many factors responsible for this generalized hell on earth, two are more significant than any others. One is political authorities lacking any legitimacy seeking to derive legitimacy through some conflict or other, and the second is societies that are not willing to be societies and are determined to remain spiteful warring communities. In both cases, we see a magnification of “causes” characterized as fateful that lead only to the erosion of the future and engender nothing but pain. These two factors, which are often mutually reinforcing, are readily and abundantly available in our region.
Turning life into killing and fighting nullifies, or rather trivializes, demands for a legitimate regime. Instead of intercommunal infighting being presented as madness and chaos, it is rendered a desire for salvation or glorious liberation.
Amid this state of affairs, one thing that remains astonishing is that the expanding scale of war, i.e. the broadening scale of death, is coupled with decreasing contemplation of war. One still scarcely reads a text on the virtues of peace or the vices of violence, and rarely do we see efforts, conferences, or research symposiums to address this dire question.
As for examining the history of this violence, its roots, assigning blame for it, and thinking of exits or paths to end it, they are not on the agenda for any of us. Indeed, above all, the bickering of conflicting parties dominates the discussion: “They started it;” “No, they did.” And while each of the factions amplifies the toxicity of the others, fueling their fanaticism and obstinacy, the polemical dispute over how things began does nothing to change the conclusion that will be shared in practice: broad misery for all.
Of course, as in all wars, we have a lexicon supporting and justifying the killing. It goes back in history to emphasize its inevitability and seeks help from interests and geopolitics, as well as honor and dignity, to entrench this inevitability. If a political actor attempts to put an end to the fighting, usually foreign actors, we put these efforts down to “ulterior motives, “proceed as we were, and go on killing and being killed.
Peace is already frail in our culture, we who have never had a single robust anti-war movement advocating peace. The most prominent example remains the Communists’ ‘Peace Partisans,’ which was established in keeping with the Soviets’ Cold War customs. However, the prominent action by those ‘Partisans’ in Iraq was the massacres which they exchanged with the Arab nationalists in Mosul in 1959. With the Oslo Accords in 1993, there only emerged the bare minimum of serious literature in defense of or opposition to this peace.
As for the proponents of seeing life as conflict, who are swayed by either blind loyalties, oversight, frivolity, or personal benefit, they overlook the fact that this costs them a basic element of their humanity - one that should be taken for granted - preferring life over death. And when they defend their choice with the pretext that they see death as the path to life, they do nothing but add a morbid chapter to the history of mythology.
No cause, no matter how noble, can justify turning life into a burden on living. This is a blatant, ongoing crime - a crime that repulses every atom in the bodies of those who love life and freedom and want it for themselves and others.

After Prigozhin, Russia’s scramble for Africa continues
Baria Alamuddin/Arab News/August 29, 2023
On June 29, days after Wagner mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin’s failed uprising, Russian President Vladimir Putin assembled the group’s leadership to ask if they would be willing to work under a different commander. Although several nodded in the affirmative, Prigozhin vigorously blocked the proposal — thereby making his appointment with death a virtual certainty.
Paramilitary groups linked to Putin loyalists, such as Konvoi and Redut, then embarked on a recruitment drive for operations in Africa, highlighting the Kremlin’s determination to sideline Prigozhin. In a last-ditch effort to forestall such maneuverings, Prigozhin spent his final days in Mali and the Central African Republic trying to shore up support. He is also thought to have received a consignment of gold from the Wagner-backed paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan. The plane crash that wiped out Prigozhin and Wagner’s entire top echelon put a definitive end to these exploits.
Alongside Prigozhin’s swansong African odyssey, Russian officials were making parallel journeys with a very different message. A day before the crash, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister visited Benghazi to reassure allies that Wagner fighters would remain in Libya — but under Kremlin control.
These tussles for supremacy highlight Moscow’s focus on its African power grab, even while Russia is supposedly consumed by Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu wants to fully integrate Wagner into the regular armed forces, while the GRU foreign military intelligence agency may oversee Wagner’s lucrative African operations. There is much at stake in this struggle for control of Wagner’s assets: monopolization of gold and diamond mines, oil wells, and mineral and agricultural resources. Thousands of Wagner personnel and a dense network of shell companies were embroiled in economic sectors such as timber, beer, vodka, logistics and entertainment.
These tussles for supremacy highlight Moscow’s focus on its African power grab, even while Russia is supposedly consumed by Ukraine
Overseas recipients of Moscow’s largesse are probably less worried about who their Russian point man is than whether the spigot of military support will remain open. Without Prigozhin’s blood-drenched Syrian intervention around 2016, Bashar Assad would not still be in power. After Wagner withdrew many of its forces from Syria, and then lost Putin’s backing, anti-Assad forces perceive a moment of regime vulnerability that may be exploited to the full. Protesters have taken to the streets throughout Syria’s south, chanting anti-regime slogans and decrying subsidy cuts and hyperinflation.
Three post-coup West African regimes — Mali, Burkina Faso and most recently Niger — appear to have been in various stages of mortgaging their security to Wagner, while demanding the ejection of Western forces. This is already proving a disaster that has enabled the rapid expansion of ascendant jihadists. After the recent Niger coup, noisily championed by Prigozhin, troops were pulled back to protect the capital from a possible counter-coup invasion. Predictably, Daesh in both the west and east seized the opportunity to go on the offensive.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield warned the UN last week that the activities of Russian paramilitaries in Africa were “destabilizing, and we’ve encouraged countries in Africa to condemn their presence.” Experts at the same Security Council meeting warned that Daesh was exploiting the instability from successive coups and Russian interference to expand its West African operations.
In practice, the number of Russian mercenaries deployed to these states is often very small, not capable of much more than protecting regime leaders and securing key economic assets for their own profit. Wagner frequently compensated for numerical weakness by committing widespread atrocities against unarmed civilians in naked displays of unrestrained force. In Darfur, the indiscriminate supply of Wagner munitions has precipitated wholesale genocide.
Western powers in their arrogance have consistently failed to perceive and act upon glaring symptoms of emerging crises with planet-wide ramifications throughout the developing world. The predatory and destabilizing behavior of entities such as Wagner is largely the fault of the international community in failing to actively support region-wide stability and good governance, causing a domino effect of contagious state collapse across sub-Saharan Africa.
Can Russian overseas mercenaries remain a significantly potent force after Prigozhin’s death? He literally had to wage war against the Defense Ministry to acquire sufficient ammunition and weaponry, even for strategically crucial operations in Bakhmut. Prigozhin’s demise is furthermore predicted to have a cataclysmic impact on paramilitary morale, with his forces obliged to pledge loyalty to Putin personally. How much more difficult will it be for these troops — without a charismatic, outspoken demagogue leader — to receive sufficient weaponry to wage war in obscure corners of Africa?
Bouts of mourning for Prigozhin, particularly among ultranationalist and militia demographics, should also give Putin sleepless nights worrying where future manifestations of dissent and revolt will emerge from.
These militia catalysts of chaos ultimately become Trojan horses for hostile foreign domination, and open a Pandora’s box of interminable anarchy and violence
Prigozhin’s troll factories and propaganda outlets championed Wagner as a force for liberation and stabilization, hence the enthusiastic Russian flag-waving and support throughout West African capitals. Russian-backed channels have unleashed a flood of self-serving propaganda in the aftermath of the Niger coup. Central African Republic presidential adviser Fidèle Gouandjika paraded for cameras in a Wagner T-shirt and eulogized Prigozhin as a national hero who had saved the country. “There will be another Prigozhin,” he enthusiastically declared. “We’re awaiting the next one.”
While Wagner’s decapitation was categorized by some as a spectacular show of strength by Putin, the media’s characterization of a president allegedly blowing a plane out of the sky with the aim of killing off one of his previously most powerful warlord allies is hardly likely to inspire confidence in regime stability.
This latest Russian turmoil should provoke disquiet among African citizens in considering whether Wagner and its kleptocratic successors are genuine champions of African rights, liberties and national sovereignty — or whether their arrival ushers in a new phase of imperialist oppression and all that comes with it in terms of atrocities, industrial-scale looting of resources, and colonialist subjugation. This also offers a lesson for dysfunctional states such as Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan and Libya, that foreign-sponsored militias can never be relied on to secure regime survival or social stability. These militia catalysts of chaos ultimately become Trojan horses for hostile foreign domination, and open a Pandora’s box of interminable anarchy and violence.
• 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.