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

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Bible Quotations For today
“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
Luke 12/22-31: “Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 15-16/2023
The 18th Anniversary of PM Rafik Hariri’s Assassination and the stalled accountability under the Iranian occupation/Elias Bejjani/February 14/2023
Saad Hariri Commemorates Father’s Assassination, Surrounded by Thousands of Supporters
Mikhael Al-Daher... The Washington-Damascus Agreement Failed to Make Him President
Roads blocked in North in protest at dollar surge, economic situation
Body of Elias Haddad pulled from Turkey hotel rubble
FPM MP says Bassil might soon meet Nasrallah
Hariri visits Berri in Ain Al-Tineh
Commander of Lebanese Naval Forces partakes in Multinational Exercise AMAN-23 in Pakistan
Bread bundle price increases in Lebanon
Oil prices edge up in Lebanon
Makary discusses Child Cancer Day with “Chance” association
Four electric motorcycles offered by Medco to the Beirut Guards Brigade
Mikati holds series of meetings at Grand Serail meets Caretaker Minister of Labor, GLC Head, Caretaker Minister of Culture, Papal Ambassador, MP...
Body of Lebanese national Elias Haddad retrieved in Turkey
UNHCR-funded solar panels ensure uninterrupted access to clean water for 25,000 residents in Akkar
UNICEF Inaugurates Al Qaria, in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and LOST: A Social Enterprise to Support Youth and Women
Fayyad says gasoline won't be priced in USD
From Lebanon to Zimbabwe, 15 childhood cancer foundations join St. Jude Global Alliance

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 15-16/2023
Rising toll makes quake deadliest in Turkey's modern history
Syria's Assad could reap rewards from aid crossing deal
Death toll tops 41,000 as desperation grows after earthquake in Turkey, Syria: Updates
Northwest Syria of ‘Greatest Concern’ after Quake, Says WHO
Türkiye Eyes Post-quake Reconstruction, Syrians Seek More Aid
Ukraine Calls on UN, Türkiye to Prevent Russia from Obstructing Grain Deal
A year into war, Ukraine's Zelenskiy defies Putin against the odds
Russia Reports Battlefield Advances as Ukraine Urges Faster Military Aid
US Senators: Netanyahu Has Put His Interests Above Israel's
Japan Says Past Aerial Objects Likely Chinese Spy Balloons
EU to Sanction Iran Entities Involved in Russian War in Ukraine
Britain Provides UN with Evidence on Iran's Arms Violation
Report: US Considers Sending Seized Iranian Weapons to Ukraine
New Israel Law Allows Stripping Residency of Palestinians Convicted of Terrorism

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 15-16/2023
Genocide in Nigeria: The Biden Administration’s Cover-Up/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/February 15, 2023
A Time of Perpetual Crises/Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 15/2023
When will Saudi Arabia Sign Peace with Israel?/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/House of Wisdom/February 15/2023
'Screens' are Not the World/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 15/2023

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 15-16/2023
The 18th Anniversary of PM Rafik Hariri’s Assassination and the stalled accountability under the Iranian occupation
Elias Bejjani/February 14/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115737/115737/
Today, on February 18/2023, Lebanon and the Lebanese people remember with anger and sorrow the 18th anniversary of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s criminal and savage assassination, that took place in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, in broad daylight.
The assassins who carried out the crime, as was confirmed by the Special Tribunal For Lebanon, (STL) were Hezbollah military and intelligence high ranking professional members.
Before the STL ruling that incriminated Hezbollah affiliated assassins, the murderers were well known and revealed by the Lebanese people from the first hour of the assassination occurred.
All evidence confirmed that the Iranian terrorist Hezbollah has committed the massacre with cold blood, and in accordance to a preconceived, well design plotting scheme.
It was also even publicly well known that both regimes in Syria and Iran were behind the horrible crime. Syrian- Iranian intelligence planned and orchestrated the assassination with the protection and supervision of the Syrian occupation forces, as well with help of their installed Lebanese security counterparts and officials.
Despite the money spent by the Lebanese on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (about a billion dollars), that was mandated to investigate the crime by the Security Council, accountability was not carried out, and the court contented itself with naming the individuals who carried out the assassination without being able to arrest or prosecute them, and without indicating who planned and funded the crime, and who gave the orders, namely the Syrian and Iranian dictator oppressive regimes.
In the same context, of the absence of accountability, and despite the knowledge of the parties behind all the assassination crimes that Lebanon has witnessed since the early sixties, the judicial cases of all those who were assassinated under the Palestinian, Syrian and Iranian occupations were and are still are void and none of the killers and those behind them have been held accountable.
In conclusion, as long as the judicial accountability has not taken place to this day, the crime of assassinating Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as all the other assassination massacres  that targeted the constellation of Lebanon’s martyrs, will continue to unfold.
Our prayers goes today to the souls of all the patriotic Lebanese martyrs.

Saad Hariri Commemorates Father’s Assassination, Surrounded by Thousands of Supporters
Beirut - Youssef Diab/Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Former Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri commemorated on Tuesday the eighteenth anniversary of the assassination of his father, late Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, refraining from giving a speech before thousands of supporters, so as not to give the occasion a political dimension. Hariri, who landed on Sunday evening in Beirut a year after withdrawing from the political scene, abstained from fulfilling the desire of his supporters, who were eager to hear words that outline the features of the next stage and determine the date of his return to Lebanon’s political life. However, the heavy crowd present at the commemoration conveyed a significant message, which confirmed that the former premier still enjoyed a wide popular base, mainly among the Sunnis. Hariri arrived at Martyrs' Square in downtown Beirut, at 12.45 in the afternoon on Tuesday, amid tight security measures imposed by the Lebanese Army and Internal Security Forces. He made his way through thousands of people, who gathered to greet him, before reaching the gravesite of his father and his companions, who died in the bombing of February 14, 2005. Hariri greeted the crowd without a word. His silent presence seemed expressive, as if it were a message to his former allies and opponents. No sooner had he moved from downtown Beirut to his Center House residence, than hundreds were waiting for him inside the courtyard and in the streets leading to his house. Hariri saluted them, saying: “I have already told you that this house will remain open, and God willing, it will remain open with your presence and love…You are the good people who wept for Rafik Hariri, and this house will complete this journey with you...”Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat on condition of anonymity, an official of Al-Mustaqbal Movement said that Hariri told his close circles that he would stay in Lebanon “only a few days,” and that he was still reluctant to pursue political work. For his part, former MP Mohammed al-Hajjar said the former premier’s decision to suspend political activity came after a careful review and reading of his experience in governance.He added that the circumstances that dictated the suspension of political action still exist, as “the ruling mentality has not changed, and the events that Lebanon is going through prove the correctness of this option.”

Mikhael Al-Daher... The Washington-Damascus Agreement Failed to Make Him President
Beirut -Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Former Lebanese MP and Minister Mikhael Al-Daher passed away on Tuesday at the age of 95. He was remembered as the presidential candidate, who was likely to succeed President Amin Gemayel in 1988, following an agreement between Syrian President Hafez Al-Assad and US envoy Richard Murphy. Back then, Murphy raised his famous slogan, “Mikhael al-Daher or chaos.” But these elections did not take place, due to the lack of the constitutional quorum to convene a parliament session. The crisis soon developed into the two wars of “Liberation and Abolition” fought by General Michel Aoun - who was the head of the military government formed by Gemayel - against the Syrian forces, and then with the Lebanese Forces, which controlled large parts of what was known as the eastern regions, extending from Beirut to Mount Lebanon. The crisis ended with the Lebanese deputies reaching the Taif Agreement under Saudi sponsorship in 1989. The Lebanese constitution was amended and President Rene Moawad was elected president. But the latter was assassinated just before taking office, following which President Elias Hrawi became the country’s president. Mikhael Al-Daher has always distanced himself from internal political conflicts. He focused his work on the legal field. He was elected deputy for the Akkar region in northern Lebanon, and became minister in one of the governments of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, during Hrawi’s tenure. His neutral stances allowed him to maintain good terms with the different Lebanese political parties.

Roads blocked in North in protest at dollar surge, economic situation
Naharnet/February 15/2023
Demonstrators in northern Lebanon on Wednesday blocked several roads in protest at the unprecedented dollar rate surge and the dire economic situations. In the city of Tripoli, several roads were blocked as some protesters opened fire in the air. Others meanwhile blocked the international al-Beddawi highway in both directions, placing cars, tankers, trash bins, rocks and tires in the middle of the road. The international Minieh road was also blocked in the town of Bhannine. The black market dollar rate had reached a record high of LBP 77,000 in recent hours. The unofficial rate has been steadily surging in recent weeks despite the arrest of top exchangers and currency speculators, with the central bank refraining from taking any measures to control the market.

Body of Elias Haddad pulled from Turkey hotel rubble
Naharnet/February 15/2023
The body of Lebanese citizen Elias Haddad has been recovered from the rubble of a destroyed hotel in the earthquake Turkish city of Antakya. The announcement was made by the Cedars-11 team of Lebanese Civil Defense volunteers, which had traveled to Turkey at its own initiative. The team also managed to recover the body of a girl.A friend of Haddad who was with him in the same hotel room, Bassel Habkouk, had been rescued from the rubble on February 8, two days after the devastating earthquake. Habkouk said the two friends were fleeing through the stairs when the collapse happened. A third Lebanese man, Mohammed al-Mohammed, is still believed to be under the rubble of the same hotel.

FPM MP says Bassil might soon meet Nasrallah
Naharnet/February 15/2023
Free patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil might meet soon with Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, an FPM MP said. MP Ghassan Atallah mentioned a probable meeting between the two leaders, in a TV program broadcast by al-Jadeed on Tuesday night.
"I don't think that the Shiite Duo will accept (Army chief Gen.) Joseph Aoun as a president," Atallah said, adding that the FPM wants a president "who can engage in a dialogue with the foreign countries" and "who isn't confrontational to Hezbollah.""We are seeking a consensual president, other than Gen. Aoun and al-Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh," the lawmaker went on to say.

Hariri visits Berri in Ain Al-Tineh
NNA/February 15/2023
House Speaker Nabih Berri on Wednesday welcomed at his Ain Al-Tineh residence Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri. After the meeting, Hariri joined Speaker Berri’s lunch banquet.

Commander of Lebanese Naval Forces partakes in Multinational Exercise AMAN-23 in Pakistan
NNA/February 15/2023
Senior Captain, Haissam Dannaoui, Commander of Lebanese Naval Forces, on Wednesday participated in Multinational Exercise AMAN-23 in Pakistan, during which he called on Pakistan's Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, and discussed ways to enhance cooperation between the two navies.

Bread bundle price increases in Lebanon
NNA/February 15/2023
The Lebanese Ministry of Economy and Trade set on Wednesday set a new bread bundle price as follows:
- Small bread bundle weighing 338 grams for LBP 16,000
- Medium-sized bundle weighing 812 grams for LBP 27,000
- Large bread bundle weighing 1046 grams for LBP 33,000.

Oil prices edge up in Lebanon
NNA/February 15/2023
Oil prices in Lebanon have edged up on Wednesday as the price of gasoline (95 octanes) has increased by LBP 37,000 and (98 octanes) has increased by LBP 37,000. The price of diesel has increased by LBP 36,000 and the price of a gas canister has increased by LBP 23,000.
Consequently, the new prices are as follows:
95 octanes: LBP 1396.000
98 octanes: LBP 1428.000
Diesel: LBP 1369.000
Gas: LBP 903.000

Makary discusses Child Cancer Day with “Chance” association
NNA/February 15/2023
Caretaker Minister of Information, Ziad Makary, on Wednesday welcomed a delegation representing Chance Association, chaired by Rola Farah. Farah recalled that February 15 is World Childhood Cancer Day, noting that the global cure rate for this disease is 85%.
Moreover, Farah deplored the situation of children with cancer in Lebanon, noting that they are in danger due to the lack of medicines, the difficulty of hospitalization, and the exorbitant cost of treatment. “Civil associations like CHANCE, which have been fighting for 20 years, are sounding the alarm and urging those in charge to provide support and help to children with cancer,” she added.

Four electric motorcycles offered by Medco to the Beirut Guards Brigade
NNA/February 15/2023
As part of its permanent social engagement policy, Medco offered four electric motorcycles to the Beirut Guards Brigade. This donation will allow the brigade to better perform its security missions in the capital, which have become difficult to achieve due to the current socio-economic crisis. In addition, the usage of these new electrical motorcycles, will help the brigade economize and save up considerable amounts pertaining to costs of fuel and maintenance, while carrying out its missions in an ecological and environmentally responsible manner. The motorcycles were offered to the brigade during a ceremony held at the municipality of Beirut, attended by Mr. Maroun Chammas, Vice President and general manager of Medco, Ms. Michele Chammas Garzouzi, innovation director and board member, as well as Judge Marwan Abboud, Governor of Beirut.  Mr. Chammas delivered a speech on this occasion, stressing on the continuous engagement of Medco in supporting the Lebanese citizens who are going through a historically unprecedented and acute crisis. He indicated that the donation of the electric motorcycles has been decided in collaboration with Beirut Governor, who knows exactly what the capital needs, especially since Medco is a pioneer in terms of ecological mobility and electric charging stations. He also indicated that this modest donation by Medco aims to help the guards accomplish their missions in a better way, in hopes of seeing the capital flourish and shine again.

Mikati holds series of meetings at Grand Serail meets Caretaker Minister of Labor, GLC Head, Caretaker Minister of Culture, Papal Ambassador, MP...
NNA/February 15/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday held a series of meetings at the Grand Serail, devoted to an array of social, livelihood and financial dossiers. In this context, Premier Mikati met with Caretaker Minister of Labor, Mustafa Bayram, accompanied by a delegation from the Retired Employees Association. After the meeting, Caretaker Minister Bayram said that they discussed with the Premier the existing conditions of retirees in light of the dire livelihood situation, adding that the delegation handed the Premier a memorandum bearing on their relevant demands in this regard.
Caretaker Premier Mikati also met wit Head of the General Labor Confederation (GLC), Bechara Al-Asmar, and the Secretary-General of the Union, Saad Eddin Hamidi Saqr. Mikati later met with Caretaker Minister of Culture, Judge Mohammad Wissam Al-Murtada, who said on emerging that they discussed an array of public affairs and matters related to the tasks of the Ministry of Culture. Mikati also received at the Grand Serail Papal Ambassador to Lebanon, Monsignor Paolo Borgia, who left without giving a statement. Among the Grand Serail’s visitors for today had been MP Bilal Al-Hashimi.

Body of Lebanese national Elias Haddad retrieved in Turkey
NNA/February 15/2023
The body of Lebanese national Elias Haddad and that of another unidentified girl have been retrieved from under the rubble in Turkey, the Lebanese Civil Defense team who traveled to the quake-hit nation to help in the rescue operations announced.

UNHCR-funded solar panels ensure uninterrupted access to clean water for 25,000 residents in Akkar
NNA/February 15/2023
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and its partner, the Rene Mouawad Foundation, today inaugurated a UNHCR-funded solar-powered system at the Qobayat water station in Akkar, northern Lebanon. The water station, managed by the North Lebanon Water Establishment, is the primary water source for over 20 villages in the Akkar region. UNHCR equipped the water station with a solar-pumping system that generates power through 195 solar panels to support water-pumping from nearby water sources to the tank. Thanks to this intervention, over 20 towns[2] in the Akkar governorate, hosting over 25,000 residents, now have continuous access to clean water. “This project is an example of the positive impact that UNHCR interventions have in ensuring that people in Lebanon have improved access to essential services, such as water,” said Ivo Freijsen, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon. “I’ve met with municipalities that benefited from this project and heard from them how this intervention has a direct impact on the daily lives of all residents.”As part of its support to Lebanese communities, throughout 2022, UNHCR and partners have innovated solutions to Lebanon’s energy crisis through 74 community support projects. These projects have increased Lebanese and refugees’ access to sustainable solar-powered energy by providing electricity to primary healthcare centres, governmental hospitals, and Water Establishment stations, benefiting over 1.5 million persons in more than 84 villages across the country.
“The installation of the solar-powered system in the Qobayat Water Establishment shows how the United Nations and its partners are supporting people in Lebanon with tangible solutions to some of the most pressing everyday problems,” said Imran Riza, United Nations Deputy Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator. “Much has been done by the United Nations over the past years, and we remain committed to increasing the impact of our support to Lebanon through programs that speak to the critical needs of all people,” he added.
In 2022, over 575,000 individuals benefited from UNHCR projects in the Beirut and Mount Lebanon region. For example, UNHCR-installed solar streetlights in Naameh and Sad El Baushrieh have increased the protection of residents from road accidents, thefts, and other risks.
In the Bekaa, UNHCR has supported 11 health facilities with solar-powered solutions that secure potable water and ensure that they continue providing lifesaving treatment to patients. Over 200,000 individuals in the Bekaa and Baalbek-Hermel regions have benefited from such projects. In the South, two water stations supported by UNHCR are providing clean water to over 57,000 residents. In January, UNHCR finalized the installation of solar-powered systems in the Tripoli and Halba governmental hospitals in north Lebanon. Thanks to this intervention, the hospitals are now respectively saving $41,000 and US$ 29,000 per month in fuel expenses.  UNHCR has been supporting Lebanese institutions and communities since 2011, including 655 community support projects to upgrade public infrastructure in towns and villages across Lebanon.
Freijsen added: “UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, supports entire communities - both refugees and Lebanese – during this most difficult time. With compounded crises deeply affecting Lebanon in recent years, we have doubled our efforts to support Lebanese communities and institutions. Our commitment remains strong, and we will continue to stand by the most vulnerable.”

UNICEF Inaugurates Al Qaria, in partnership with Ministry of Agriculture and LOST: A Social Enterprise to Support Youth and Women
NNA/February 15/2023
Today, UNICEF in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and in partnership with Lebanese Organization of Studies and Training (LOST), inaugurated the Dairy Incubator “Al Qaria” in Iaat, Baalbeck. UNICEF supported its national partner, LOST, to launch this incubator as a social enterprise that offers training to build the skills of the youth and create employment opportunities. Within the wider framework of this partnership, close to 8,000 young people have been supported through different types of skilling opportunities, ranging from life skills, innovation and competency-based training, and income generating opportunities. “Our investment in this incubator is an investment in young people’s potential to contribute to the development of their local livelihood and economy” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “Our latest assessment in 2022 showed that 58 per cent of young people were not optimistic about finding a job and 41 per cent felt their only chance was to seek opportunities abroad. It is our collective responsibility to support youth in Lebanon to find hope and opportunities amid the mounting despair imposed on them in this crisis”. The launch event was attended by the Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Abbas Al Hajj Hassan, UNICEF Representative in Lebanon Edouard Beigbeder, Governor Bashir Khodr, the founder of LOST Dr. Rami Lakkis, as well as representatives from embassies, media and young people from the region. In his speech, Minister of Agriculture H.E. Mr. Abbas Al Hajj Hassan said that: ““The Ministry of Agriculture fully supports the efforts of the international organizations to enhance the employability of young people in these times of crisis. We believe in the impact of the effective civil society organizations and in the partnerships with the private sector. Our collaboration with both sectors, the international organizations and the civil society, aims to strengthen the technical capacities of youth, improve their skills in the agriculture and food industries, and to empower them to contribute to their country’s economic prosperity.”In his turn, LOST Founder Dr. Rami Lakkis noted that “the project has a solid impact on providing youth and Women with access to new job opportunities in the region, on providing opportunities for the local capitals to invest in the dairies industry in the area to boost its livelihood and improve quality production and strengthen the linkages among the components of its value chain”. In 2022, through this partnership, 334 youth were provided with a full skill building package and income generating opportunities (in construction, sanitation, dairy production, machine operating and maintenance…), a hundred trained youth will be employed in different type of related occupations, and 200 youth will have access to workplace-based learning opportunities on yearly basis. At least 20% of the trained youth will be supported, coached, and engaged in structured cooperatives in dairy production.
The community, counting around 100,000 families, will have access to dairy products at affordable prices, while 1,000 families will get free dairy products from the incubator corporate social responsibility programme that allocates 5% of its production to vulnerable populations monthly (around 4.5 tons of dairy products). Through its Youth and Adolescent Development Programme, UNICEF’s core response to the crisis is focused on addressing the increasing vulnerabilities of young people aged 15 – 24 through a holistic and integrated approach that promote learning and skill building, economic empowerment and entrepreneurship, leadership, active citizenship, and protection. In 2022 alone, UNICEF was able to support 43,000 adolescents and youth through its partnerships across the 8 governorates and equip them to become agents of changes to contribute positively and meaningfully to Lebanon social and economic development.

Fayyad says gasoline won't be priced in USD
Naharnet/February 15/2023
Caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad has stressed that gasoline will not be priced in USD. Responding to a warning from station owners that they would go on strike unless gasoline is priced in USD, Fayyad told LBCI TV that “the Ministry is working on a platform in order to issue more than two price tables per day in order to catch up with the exchange rate fluctuations.” “But we will not price gasoline in USD and we will not violate the law,” Fayyad added. “As per the consumer protection law, the substance must be delivered to citizens in Lebanese lira,” he went on to say.

From Lebanon to Zimbabwe, 15 childhood cancer foundations join St. Jude Global Alliance
Associated Press/February 15/2023
This month, 15 new members joined the St. Jude Global Alliance, a worldwide network of institutions working to improve survival rates for pediatric cancer and catastrophic diseases. In a historic first for the Alliance, these new partners are fundraising organizations rather than medical institutions, each dedicated to raising funds for hospitals in their home countries.
Each year, an estimated 400,000 children worldwide develop cancer. Globally, approximately 90% of children with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, and far too many of these children lack access to adequate diagnosis and treatment. Compounding the problem is limited public funding for pediatric research and care, and imbalances in the technology available to raise needed funds. Most of these children will unnecessarily die from their diseases.
“Where a child is born should not dictate their health destiny -- but that is the reality faced by far too many kids and families around the world. We are delighted and humbled to see these mission-driven organizations join the St. Jude Global Alliance as part of a concerted effort to address global healthcare inequities for children with catastrophic diseases,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., president and CEO of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “The Alliance is a truly international movement of clinicians, researchers, fundraisers and marketers from all corners of the world each doing their part to ensure that every child, no matter where they live, has a better chance to survive.”
Adding these foundations, and others like them, to the Alliance furthers the global collaboration among hospitals and fundraising organizations to advance the St. Jude mission: Finding cures. Saving children. Everywhere. These new partners will gain access to international networking and educational opportunities while strengthening their connections with like-minded organizations across the globe. By drawing on expertise developed over decades by St. Jude and ALSAC, these foundations will be able to accelerate their work raising critical funds and changing the trajectory of survival rates in their country.
The new partners hail from 15 countries on five continents:
Lebanon: Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon
Armenia: City of Smile Charitable Foundation
Chile: Fundación Nuestros Hijos
Haiti: Fondation Haitïenne Anti-Cancer Infantile
India: Cankids Kidscan
Mexico: Casa de la Amistad para Niños con Cáncer I.A.P.
Moldova: Viata fără Leucemie
Mongolia: National Cancer Council
Morrocco: Association des Parents et Amis des Enfants Atteints de Cancer “L’Avenir”
Poland: Fundacja Herosi
South Africa: CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation
Ukraine: Tabletochki Charity Foundation
Uruguay: Fundación Perez Scremini
Zambia: Kayula Childhood Cancer Foundation
Zimbabwe: Children’s Cancer Relief
“We, at the Children’s Cancer Center of Lebanon, believe that cancer is best addressed together; and our membership in the St. Jude Global Alliance emphasizes our longstanding partnership and leadership in service of children with cancer in the Arab region and beyond,” said Hana Chaar Choueib, CCCL general manager.
The St. Jude Global Alliance was formed in 2018 to bring together individuals and institutions dedicated to the shared vision of improving access to quality healthcare and increasing survival rates of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases with a specific focus on low and middle-income countries.
See the internationally impactful work of St. Jude Global for children with catastrophic diseases as it brings people together to help make access to quality care possible for every child, everywhere.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. When St. Jude opened in 1962, childhood cancer was largely considered incurable. Since then, St. Jude has helped push the overall survival rate from 20% to more than 80%, and it won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude shares the breakthroughs it makes to help doctors and researchers at local hospitals and cancer centers around the world improve the quality of treatment and care for even more children. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on February 15-16/2023
Rising toll makes quake deadliest in Turkey's modern history
Associated Press/February 15/2023
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced that more than 35,000 people have died in Turkey as a result of last week's earthquake, making it the deadliest such disaster since the country's founding 100 years ago. While the death toll is almost certain to rise even further, many of the tens of thousands of survivors left homeless were still struggling to meet basic needs, like finding shelter from the bitter cold. Confirmed deaths in Turkey passed those recorded from the massive Erzincan earthquake in 1939 that killed around 33,000 people.
Erdogan said 105,505 were injured as a result of the Feb. 6 quake centered around Kahramanmaras and its aftershocks. Almost 3,700 deaths have been confirmed in neighboring Syria, taking the combined toll in both countries to over 39,000.
The Turkish president, who has referred to the quake as "the disaster of the century," said more than 13,000 people were still being treated in hospital. Speaking in Ankara following a five-hour Cabinet meeting held at the headquarters of disaster agency AFAD, Erdogan said 47,000 buildings, which contained 211,000 residences, had been destroyed or were so badly damaged as to require demolition. "We will continue our work until we get our last citizen out of the destroyed buildings," Erdogan said of ongoing rescue efforts.
Aid agencies and governments were stepping up efforts to bring help to devastated parts of Turkey and Syria. The situation was particularly desperate in Syria, where a 12-year civil war has complicated relief efforts and meant days of wrangling over how to even move aid into the country, let alone distribute it. Some people there said they have received nothing. In Turkey, meanwhile, families huddled in train cars. The Syrian Health Ministry announced a final count of 1,414 deaths and 1,357 injuries in areas under government control. On Tuesday, the United Nations launched a $397 million appeal to provide "desperately needed, life-saving relief for nearly 5 million Syrians" for three months. It came a day after the global body announced a deal with Damascus to deliver U.N. aid through two more border crossings from Turkey to rebel-held areas of northwest Syria — but the needs remained enormous.
Ahmed Ismail Suleiman set up a shelter of blankets outside his damaged house in the town of Jinderis, one of the worst-hit communities in northwest Syria. He was afraid to move his family back into a house that might not be structurally sound, so 18 people slept outside under the makeshift tent.
"We sit but can't sleep lying down here," he said. "We are waiting for a proper tent."Mahmoud Haffar, head of the town council, said residents have been able to scrounge up about 2,500 tents so far, but some 1,500 families still remain without shelter — as nighttime temperatures fall to around minus 4 degrees Celsius (26 degrees Fahrenheit). "We are ... still hearing the question of when will aid get in," said Haffar.
While tents have been in short supply, one women said the town had a surplus of donated bread and water.
To the southwest, in government-held Latakia, Raeefa Breemo said only those packing into shelters seemed to be getting aid. "We need to eat, we need to drink, we need to survive. Our jobs, our lives, everything have stopped," Breemo said.
Offers of help — from rescue crews and doctors to generators and food — have come from around the world, but the needs remain immense after the magnitude 7.8 quake and powerful aftershocks toppled or damaged tens of thousands of buildings, destroyed roads and closed airports for a time. The quake affected 10 provinces in Turkey that are home to some 13.5 million people, as well as a large area in northwest Syria that is home to millions. Much of the water system in the quake-hit region was not working, and Turkey's health minister said samples from dozens of points of the system showed the water was unsuitable to drink. In the Turkish port city of Iskenderun, displaced families have sheltered in train carriages since last week. While many have left in recent days for nearby camps or other parts of Turkey, dozens of people were still living in the trains on Tuesday. "The wagons have become our home," 50-year-old Nida Karahan told Anadolu Agency. While a first Saudi aid plane, carrying 35 tons of food, landed in Syrian government-held Aleppo on Tuesday, getting aid to the country's rebel-held Idlib has been especially complicated.
Until Monday's deal between the U.N. and the Syrian government of President Bashar Assad, the global body had only been allowed to deliver aid to the area through a single border crossing with Turkey, or via government territory. The newly opened crossings at Bab al-Salam and Al Raée are to function for an initial period of three months. Russia bristled at suggestions that the opening of the crossings might be made permanent, and its Foreign Ministry accused the West of trying to get aid "exclusively" to areas not controlled by the Syrian government.
Major humanitarian organizations welcomed the development but cautioned that logistical problems remain, even as the first U.N. aid convoy with 11 trucks entered northwestern Syria through Bab al-Salam Tuesday. "This is a constant back and forth in negotiations," said World Health Organization spokesman Christian Lindmeier. "Every party has to agree to receive convoys."The death toll in both countries is nearly certain to rise as search teams turn up more bodies — and the window for finding survivors was closing. Nevertheless, more than 200 hours after the quake struck, teacher Emine Akgul was pulled from an apartment building in Antakya by a mining search and rescue team, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported. In Adiyaman province, rescuers reached 18-year-old Muhammed Cafer Cetin, and medics gave him an IV with fluids before attempting a dangerous extraction from a building that crumbled further as rescuers were working. Medics fitted him with a neck brace and he was carted away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask, Turkish TV showed. Many in Turkey have blamed faulty construction for the vast devastation, and authorities continued targeting contractors allegedly linked with buildings that collapsed. Turkey has introduced construction codes that meet earthquake-engineering standards, but experts say the codes are rarely enforced. Erdogan announced Tuesday that the government planned to start construction of 30,000 houses in March.
"Our aim is to complete the construction of high quality and safe buildings in a year to meet the housing need in the entire earthquake zone," he said. At a temporary shelter in a sports center in Afrin in northwest Syria, 190 families were sleeping on the floor of a basketball court, lying on mats typically used for training. The families attempted to create a semblance of privacy by hanging blankets on columns or sports bars. Sabah el Khodr said she and her two toddlers have been sick for the last nine days. The children were wrapped in blankets and sleeping on the floor of the court. Local officials said the shelter is temporary, until new tents are secured.

Syria's Assad could reap rewards from aid crossing deal
Associated Press/February 15/2023
A convoy of 11 trucks from a United Nations agency crossed into northern Syria from Turkey on Tuesday, just hours after the U.N. and Syrian government reached an agreement to temporarily authorize two new border crossings into the rebel enclave, devastated by the region's deadly earthquake. Syrian officials in Damascus said the decision, seven days after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake killed thousands, shows their commitment to supporting victims on both sides of the front line.
The increased flow of help was desperately needed. But some critics say the deal is also a political victory for embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, who permitted the U.N. to open new crossings and gave the impression that he ultimately called the shots on territory under opposition forces.
The U.N. is normally authorized to deliver aid from Turkey to northwest Syria — an area already devastated by 12 years of conflict — through only one border crossing, Bab al-Hawa. Renewing that authorization is a regular battle at the Security Council, where Assad's ally, Russia, has advocated for all aid to be routed through Damascus. The delay in opening new crossings stalled immediate relief and search and rescue efforts when the "time for effective search and rescue is tragically running out," the International Rescue Committee said in statement. Asked why it took so long to increase aid access to the northwest, Syria's U.N. ambassador Bassam Sabbagh told reporters, "Why are you asking me? We don't control these borders."
The move by Damascus to open additional border crossings a week after the quake was more political than humanitarian, said Joseph Daher, a Swiss-Syrian researcher and professor at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy.
"It's a way for the regime to reaffirm its sovereignty, its centrality, and to instrumentalize this tragedy for its own political purposes," he said. Before the deal with Damascus, advocates had been pushing for the Security Council to vote to permanently open more border crossings to aid deliveries — a move almost certain to be vetoed by Russia. Others argue that no Security Council resolution is needed for the U.N. to send aid across borders in an emergency. Daher pointed out that the U.N. had airdropped aid into the Syrian city of Deir Ezzor when it was besieged by Islamic State militants.
Russia's foreign ministry Tuesday issued a statement condemning attempts to "push through" a permanent expansion of the authorized crossings.It said Western nations "continue to strangle" Syria with sanctions that it said have caused a fuel crisis and "prohibited the import of vital goods and equipment."
The United States, United Kingdom and European Union have imposed sanctions on Assad and oppose funneling aid to the northwest through his government, believing it would divert aid to its supporters.
A State Department spokesperson told the AP Tuesday that Washington will push for a U.N. resolution authorizing additional crossings as soon as possible. The U.S. last week issued a license to allow earthquake-related relief to bypass sanctions.
The U.K. welcomed the temporary opening of new crossings, but said "sufficient access needs to be secured in the longer term."When the earthquake hit, the U.N. could not immediately access Bab al-Hawa because of infrastructure damage, leaving the shattered enclave without significant aid for 72 hours.
Northwest Syria's civil defense organization, the White Helmets, said the delay in aid and the U.N.'s failure to take unorthodox measures those first few days cost lives, as they struggled with limited equipment and manpower to rescue thousands of people trapped under the rubble.
The U.N. tried to send a delivery of aid to rebel-held Idlib through government-held territory on Sunday, but the shipment was halted after Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the al-Qaida-linked organization that controls the area, refused to accept aid coming from Assad-controlled areas.
That standoff was "good politically ... for both sides," Daher said, allowing the rebels "to say, 'I'm not collaborating with the regime' and for the regime to say, 'Look, we tried to send assistance." Meanwhile, cargo planes loaded with aid have reached government-held territory, including from the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt — countries that once shunned Assad and have slowly been reviving ties in recent years. Agreeing to the temporary additional crossings is to Assad's political advantage,says Charles Lister, Director of the Syria program at Washington-based think thank Middle East Institute. The decision "goes against everything that the regime has publicly stood by for the past 10-plus years when it comes to cross border aid delivery," Lister said, referring to Syria and Russia's attempts at ending the U.N. cross-border aid mechanism.
But with the deal, the Syrian government "knows it has proved to the world that the United Nations is unwilling to do anything in Syria without the regime's permission."Saria Akkad, partnerships and advocacy manager with the Ataa Humanitarian Relief Association, which works in Turkey and northwest Syria, said that Syrians like him now feel that their advocacy to the U.N. was pointless. "We should maybe go back to Assad, we should discuss with the person who killed his people, how he can support the people in northwest Syria," he said. Lister said the current crisis has allowed Assad to "bait the international community into normalization", though he doesn't expect a total end of his political isolation without major shifts form Washington and London. Syrian officials have urged the U.N. to fund reconstruction, and Lister believes that this, in addition to the lifting of Western sanctions, is what Damascus hopes to get. The temporary authorization ends in three months, around the time negotiations take place before the U.N. Security Council meets in July to review the cross-border resolution. Lister believes that Assad's agreement with the U.N. could allow him to ask for more in return in exchange for allowing the resolution to continue without a Russian veto. "I think what we frankly saw yesterday was the U.N. politicizing aid delivery by going to the regime to secure access to a border crossing they don't have control over," he said. "It put all its eggs into the regime's basket."

Death toll tops 41,000 as desperation grows after earthquake in Turkey, Syria: Updates
Trevor Hughes, John Bacon and Terry Collins, USA TODAY/February 14, 2023
Desperation and loss were growing Tuesday as frantic rescue workers continue their increasingly futile efforts to recover survivors trapped by the devastating earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the death toll in Turkey from last week’s earthquake increased to 35,418; Syrian officials have said at least 5,800 have died there.
Rescue worker Salam Aldeen spent a week digging through the rubble in Antakya, Turkey, about 40 miles south of the coastal city of Iskenderun in a region of about 500,000 people.
Speaking with USA TODAY from a car leaving the city after a week of rescues, Aldeen said international aid groups are helping desperate Turkish rescue teams working around the clock.
"I have never seen so much death and so many dead bodies in my entire life," he said, crying as he spoke. "The conditions are like in an Armageddon movie; it’s unbelievable. The whole city smells of dead people."
He said he helped free four people, including a boy found alive Monday, and recovered 35 bodies.
In a video he shared, red-helmeted fire department workers carefully clear rubble from around the boy, one worker cradling his hand between the metal reinforcing bars embedded in the concrete surrounding him.
Aldeen, the founder of Team Humanity, is a veteran aid and rescue worker who has operated in Greece, Syria, Ukraine and Afghanistan. The magnitude 7.8 and 7.5 quakes struck nine hours apart in southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on Feb. 6.
HOW TO HELP:Relief efforts ongoing after deadliest earthquake in years
New developments:
The impact area of the earthquakes that hit southern Turkey and Syria on Monday was equivalent to about twice the entire area of neighboring Lebanon – which covers about 4,000 square miles, according to Lebanese geologist Tony Nemer.
King Charles met with members of the Syrian and Turkish communities in London, a show of support as they packed aid boxes bound for the earthquake region.
Turkish authorities said more than 150,000 survivors have been moved to shelters outside the affected provinces.
100 YEARS OF EARTHQUAKES: Turkey, Syria disaster could be among this century's worst
Remains of infants, children add to rescue workers' pain
Aldeen recounted finding a dead man trapped beneath rubble, his body cradling a blanket-swaddled infant who also died. In another instance, he said, a woman escaped out a door when a collapse began but lost her husband and two children.
"Her husband, he was holding each child in a hand. When I found them, when I saw the first body, I was begging that it was not them, that I would find them alive," Aldeen said, describing how he clambered through the rubble. "He died while he was still holding his children, a child in each hand."
Aldeen said he and his friends worked nearly 24 hours straight to extricate the bodies, and then he built a fire to keep warm. He and his team lived on crackers and bread for a week, he said, taking occasional naps in their rental car.
"I was watching the bodies in front of me by the fire and I just started crying," he said. "There are bodies everywhere you walk. And they're just on the street, bodies."
TURKEY ISSUES ARREST WARRANTS:Building contractors probed after thousands of buildings toppled
UN: Nearly 9 million Syrians affected by deadly earthquake
Nearly nine million people in Syria have been affected by last week's deadly earthquake, according to the United Nations.
As the organization launched a funding appeal on Tuesday, it said humanitarian agencies will need almost $400 million to respond to "the most pressing humanitarian needs" over the next three months.
"This is a crisis of colossal proportions, one which will be a true litmus test for global generosity, solidarity and diplomacy," said Martin Griffiths, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, after visiting Syria and Turkey.
The funding will be needed to provide shelter, health care, food, water, sanitation, education, nutrition and protection services, the UN said. It also added that funds will be used to repair basic services such as lighting, water and sanitation, agriculture and education as well as create new supply chains.
The UN also hopes the funds will create jobs for residents who want to help move debris.
Over a week has passed since the earthquakes hit, leaving behind shattered lives and homes.
This is a crisis of colossal proportions, one which will be a true litmus test for global generosity, solidarity and diplomacy.
Here is our appeal:
— Martin Griffiths (@UNReliefChief) February 14, 2023
Griffiths also tweeted Tuesday that 11 UN trucks have just gone through the newly opened Syria-Turkey border crossing of Bab al-Salam. The organization said the vehicles are carrying blankets, gas cans and mattresses.
The UN also said 58 trucks crossed from Turkey to northwest Syria through the Bab al Hawa crossing point in the last five days carrying aid ranging from food and tents to cholera testing kits.
Rescuers still hear voices underneath the rubble
More than a week later, search teams say they are still hearing voices from under the rubble, offering some hope that more earthquake victims may be alive.
Several people were pulled from the debris in Southern Turkey Tuesday, CNN reported.
Among those rescued was a 35-year-old woman who was believed to have been buried for more than 200 hours in the Kahramanmaraş region, citing state broadcaster TRT Haber. It is also believed that the woman's husband was also pulled from the rubble, the networks reported.
Also two brothers, a 21-year-old and a 17-year-old, were pulled from collapsed buildings on Tuesday, the Turkish state broadcaster said.
And in the city of Adıyaman, workers pulled an 18-year-old boy and a man alive from the rubble, while Ukraine’s rescue team rescued pulled a woman in the southern province of Hatay, according to CNN's Turkish affiliate.
More than 8,000 people have been rescued alive from rubble in Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said, Al Jazeera reported.
Geologist warns that Turkey could see another quake soon
Tony Nemer, a geologist at Beirut American University in the Lebanese capital, told Anadolu news agency that the fault line that broke in Turkey is more than 200 miles long. But Nemer said that only part of the East Anatolian fault line was broken in the recent earthquake. Almost half the fault line saw no activity, he said. "Now authorities in Turkey need to pay attention to the ... the eastern part of the fault line," Nemers said. "It’s unpredictable when there will be activity in this part. It may be right now, in a short time, or in a few years."
MIRACLE RESCUES: Some survived a week under rubble; Assad to allow more aid into rebel land; death toll surpasses 36,000: Updates

Northwest Syria of ‘Greatest Concern’ after Quake, Says WHO
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday it was particularly concerned over the welfare of people in northwestern Syria, a opposition-held region with little access to aid, since the earthquakes struck last week. "It's clear that the zone of greatest concern at the moment is the area of northwestern Syria," WHO's emergencies director, Mike Ryan, told a briefing in Geneva. "The impact of the earthquake in areas of Syria controlled by the government is significant, but the services are there and there is access to those people. We have to remember here that in Syria, we've had ten years of war. The health system is amazingly fragile. People have been through hell." Efforts to distribute aid have been hampered by a war that has splintered the country for more than a decade. War enmities have obstructed at least two attempts to send aid across frontlines into Syria's northwest, but an aid convoy reached the area overnight.
During a visit to Damascus in the wake of last Monday's quakes, senior WHO officials asked Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to open more border crossings with Türkiye to ensure aid reaches the area, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday.
Assad authorized two more border crossings into northwest Syria on Monday, a move the Human Rights Watch advocacy group described as "too little, too late."Ryan, however, described the opening of the crossing points as a sign "all sides are stepping back and focusing on the needs of the people right now.""It is an impossibility at times to provide adequate health care in the context of eternal conflict," he said. "We've seen a huge ramp up of aid. We've seen the deployment of emergency medical teams. We've seen all the things that we need to see in a disaster. But this is not sustainable unless we have a more peaceful context in which this can happen more effectively."

Türkiye Eyes Post-quake Reconstruction, Syrians Seek More Aid
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Türkiye turned its focus to reconstruction on Wednesday, encouraging those in quake-hit areas whose buildings have been deemed safe to return home, while its stock index soared as it reopened after five days of earthquake-related closure. In neighboring Syria's opposition-held northwest, which was already suffering from more than a decade of bombardment, the earthquake left many war-weary families fending for themselves amid the rubble, with international aid arriving slowly.
The combined death toll in the two countries has climbed over 41,000, and millions are in need over humanitarian aid, with many survivors having been left homeless in near-freezing winter temperatures, and rescues now few and far between. In Türkiye’s southern Hatay province, half of the buildings have either collapsed, been heavily damaged, or need to be demolished quickly, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said. But the government encouraged people to go back home - if they can, based on government checks. "We want citizens to track their building's status on the online system and get back into the buildings which receive safe building report from the urbanization ministry, in order to start getting back to normal," Tourism Minister Nuri Ersoy told a news conference in Malatya, some 160 km from the epicenter of the earthquake. "We will quickly demolish what needs to be demolished and build safe houses," Environment and Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum tweeted. Meanwhile, Türkiye’s stock index soared almost 10% on reopening after five days of earthquake-related closure as government measures to prop equities looked to be working, but analysts warned sentiment was fragile. "You do have to question how strong underlying sentiment is and what investors would be doing if this official support were not there... I would also question how long the authorities can continue with this support given the fragile nature of official finances," said analyst Stuart Cole, head macro economist at Equiti Capital. Late on Tuesday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed to press on with rescue and recovery efforts, after nine were pulled from the rubble that day. A 42-year-old woman was rescued from the rubble of a building in the southern Turkish city of Kahramanmaras on Wednesday, almost 222 hours after a devastating earthquake struck the region, Turkish media reported. But UN authorities have said the rescue phase is coming to a close, with the focus turning to shelter, food and schooling.
'Get us out!'
The Turkish toll was 35,418 killed, Erdogan said. More than 5,814 have died in Syria, according to a Reuters tally of reports from Syrian state media and a UN agency. In Syria, relief efforts have been hampered by a war that has splintered the country and divided regional and global powers. The single border crossing from Türkiye to Syria was closed for days before UN trucks were allowed through. On Tuesday, eight days after the quake, a second border crossing for aid delivery was opened after Syrian President Bashar al Assad gave his assent, marking a shift for Damascus which has long opposed cross-border aid deliveries to the opposition enclave. But the move was met with skepticism and even anger by many residents of Idlib, where a bulk of the 4 million residents hail from other bombed-out provinces. The trucks included none of the heavy equipment and machines that rescuers say they need to remove rubble faster – and that could have helped with reconstruction. "What happened to us – it's the first time it's happened around the world. There was an earthquake and the international community and the UN don't help," said Raed al-Saleh, who heads the 'White Helmets' rescue force operating in opposition-held areas. Walid Ibrahim lost more than two dozen of his family members – among them his brother, his cousin, and all their children. He only managed to remove their bodies from under the rubble two days after the quake."We were removing rock after rock and finding nothing underneath. People were under the concrete screaming, 'Get us out! Get us out!' But we'd come up with empty hands," he said. "Your hands alone aren't enough."

Ukraine Calls on UN, Türkiye to Prevent Russia from Obstructing Grain Deal
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Ukraine appealed on Wednesday to the United Nations and Türkiye to press Russia to immediately stop hindering Ukrainian grain shipments that supply millions of people and not to use the food as a weapon. After an almost six-month blockade caused by the Russian invasion, three Ukrainian Black Sea ports were unblocked at the end of July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the UN and Türkiye. But Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of delaying inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods, leading to reduced shipments and losses for traders. Russia has previously denied the accusations, saying it is meeting all its obligations under the grain export deal. Two top Ukrainian officials said in a joint statement that "Ukraine is deeply concerned about the destructive actions of Russia", which result in the delay of the work of the grain corridor and "obstructing the Black Sea Grain Initiative in general". Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said Russia intentionally slowed down the inspections, demanded unregulated documentation and looked for groundless reasons to stop the inspection. "Such a destructive Russian policy has resulted in a systematic decrease of the freight turnover within the Grain Initiative," the ministers said, noting that the world did not receive 10 million tons of Ukrainian food in the last three months. The Ukrainian officials said Russia at the same time increased uncontrolled traffic volume through its Azov and Black Sea ports. "Inspections of these vessels in the Bosporus are not held. All that makes it possible for Russia to use its commercial vessels for receiving military goods in order to continue the war against Ukraine," the ministers said. Russia said this week that it would be "inappropriate" to extend the Black Sea grain deal unless sanctions affecting its agricultural exports are lifted and other issues are resolved. The agreement was extended by a further 120 days in November and is up for renewal again next month, but Russia has signaled that it is unhappy with some aspects of the deal and asked for sanctions affecting its agricultural exports to be lifted. Russia's agricultural exports have not been explicitly targeted by Western sanctions, but Moscow says blocks on its payments, logistics and insurance industries are a "barrier" to it being able to export its own grains and fertilizers. Ukrainian grain exports in the 2022/23 season, which runs through to June, have fallen 29% to 29.2 million tons as of Feb. 13, due to a smaller harvest and logistical difficulties caused by the Russian invasion.

A year into war, Ukraine's Zelenskiy defies Putin against the odds
Tom Balmforth/Reuters/Wed, February 15, 2023
Zelenskiy has won praise for wartime leadership
He puts his message across in nightly video addresses
President has helped secure foreign aid and arms
But Putin appears to be preparing for a long war
- How long can he keep it going?
Night after night, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy delivers rousing video addresses, rallying his troops in their fight against the Russian invaders and trying to keep the world's attention focused on his nation's plight.
He has successfully lobbied the West for arms, lifting taboo after taboo in the process -- initially on the West sending lethal aid of any kind and more recently on Western deliveries of battle tanks that may help Ukraine mount a counter-offensive.
Zelenskiy, now 45 and in power since 2019, shows no sign of letting up. Nor does Russian President Vladimir Putin, who launched his "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022 and appears to be preparing for a long war. When Russian troops poured over the border, few predicted the transformation in Zelenskiy, a former TV comedian whose trust ratings had been waning as public anger rose over widespread corruption, economic malaise and bad governance.
In the buildup, as Russia massed forces on his borders, he had criticised foreign embassies and companies for leaving Ukraine, saying they were hurting the economy and - in public at least - appeared to play down the threat of a major invasion.
He is now a household name around the world, a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. In Ukraine, his popularity ratings have almost tripled and are unusually stable.
Easy-going and relaxed when meeting newcomers in his heavily fortified headquarters, dressed in military khaki whether meeting royalty or visiting soldiers near the frontline, Zelenskiy projects an image of steadiness and steadfastness.
He has huge milestones still to clear. He is yet to secure supplies of the sophisticated Western fighter jets he says are needed to push back Russian troops, or promises of fast-track membership to the European Union. Joining the NATO military alliance still looks out of reach.
But though sometimes puffy-faced, with lines under his eyes, there is no indication he is running out of steam, and last month he launched a government shake-up to quash a public outcry over a corruption scandal. "Zelenskiy surprised many people ... They underestimated his leadership qualities," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kyiv-based analyst who said Putin misjudged Zelenskiy.
"(Putin) prepared a special operation not a full-fledged war ... because he thought Zelenskiy and the Ukrainian army were weak and that they would not be able to put up lengthy resistance. This proved to be a mistake."
'YA TUT'
As Ukraine's fate hung in the balance at the start of the Russian invasion, Zelenskiy filmed himself on a mobile phone to declare that he and his country would fight on.
"Ya tut," he said, meaning: "I am here."
It was the start of a social media blitz that he has sustained throughout the war, delivering a simple message: "We will win."
Reuters reporters saw Ukrainian soldiers cry in a dugout near the war front as he delivered a rousing New Year's address.
"This is the year when Ukraine changed the world. And the world discovered Ukraine. We were told to surrender. We chose a counterattack!" Zelenskiy said.
By contrast, Putin often seems glum and isolated, issuing threats to the West or Ukraine from the Kremlin and rarely seen in public except at choreographed events. A steady stream of foreign leaders, dignitaries and celebrities have made the long train journey to Kyiv to meet Zelenskiy in the presidential headquarters overlooking Kyiv. Billions of dollars in foreign aid has poured in. Aides describe an over-full schedule that since the day of the invasion has included 377 phone calls with other leaders and heads of international organisation, 41 addresses to parliaments and foreign publics, and 152 meetings and scores of other addresses.
'NOW IS NOT THE TIME'
A Russian-speaking Ukrainian from a Jewish family in the steel-making city of Kryvy Rih, Zelenskiy began his career as an actor. He gained prominence playing the main role in the television series "Servant of the People", which struck a chord with Ukrainians fed up with the corruption. In it, he plays an honest schoolteacher who gains fame after a classroom rant about corruption goes viral online and becomes president, going on to outwit crooked lawmakers and businessmen.
Then in 2019, life imitated art. Zelenskiy was elected president after pledging to fight corruption during a campaign that relied on quirky social media posts in a foretaste of his powerful online outreach during the war. In a video recorded soon after Russia's invasion, he cited intelligence saying Moscow had declared him target number one and that his family - his wife Olena Zelenska and their two children - was target number two. Anton Grushetsky, deputy director of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, put public trust in Zelenskiy at 70% to 80%. "The stability of this trust level is unprecedented in Ukrainian history," he said. His main rivals have been largely frozen out of decision-making, and some foreign diplomats say privately that they are uneasy about the concentration of power in his team's hands.
The political truce has held and Zelenskiy has been able to launch a campaign to weed out officials suspected of corruption, including some close to his own power base.
Former President Petro Poroshenko, whom Zelenskiy defeated in the 2019 election, said giving an assessment of Zelenskiy's wartime performance would be inappropriate during the conflict.
"Since Feb. 24, 2022, I am not the leader of the opposition, because both Zelenskiy and Poroshenko are soldiers. And all Ukrainians should unite not around personalities, but around Ukraine," Poroshenko told Reuters. "The people will give any assessment of the work of Zelenskiy and Poroshenko after our victory."For now, he appears to have the people's support. "He stayed here, he didn't panic," said Anton Fedorenko, a unit commander code named Mazda serving in eastern Ukraine. "He immediately launched a series of actions and deeds. He drew public attention to Ukraine, which is also very important. He brought this problem to the world."(Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Russia Reports Battlefield Advances as Ukraine Urges Faster Military Aid
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Russia said on Wednesday its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defenses on the eastern front, as Kyiv described the situation there as difficult and demanded faster military aid ahead of a predicted Russian offensive. The Russian Defense Ministry said the Ukrainians had retreated in the face of Russian attacks in the Luhansk region, although it provided no details and Reuters was not able to independently verify the battlefield report. "During the offensive ... the Ukrainian troops randomly retreated to a distance of up to 3 km (1.9 miles) from the previously occupied lines," the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app. "Even the more fortified second line of defense of the enemy could not hold the breakthrough of the Russian military." President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's office said Ukrainian forces had repelled some Russian attacks in Luhansk but added: "The situation in the region remains difficult."The Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated. Russia's main effort has been focused on the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk province adjacent to Luhansk. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not mention any significant setbacks in Luhansk in its regular morning update. It said Ukrainian units repelled attacks in the areas of more than 20 settlements, including Bakhmut and Vuhledar - a town 150 km (90 miles) southwest of Bakhmut. Zelenskiy on Tuesday said Russia was in a hurry to achieve as much as it can with its latest push before Ukraine and its allies gather strength. "That is why speed is of the essence," he said as NATO defense chiefs met in Brussels for talks that continue on Wednesday. "Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves people's lives." Bakhmut's capture would provide a stepping stone for Russia to advance on two bigger cities, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk, giving it momentum after months of setbacks ahead of the first anniversary of the invasion on Feb. 24. "The battles are literally for every foot of Ukrainian land," Zelenskiy said, describing the conditions on the eastern frontline in his evening address on Tuesday. Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov said there was fighting "around every single house" in Bakhmut. "The situation remains extremely difficult, but under control of our forces and the front line has not moved," he said in a YouTube video.
Western support
Ukraine is using shells faster than the West can make them and says it needs fighter jets and long-range missiles to counter the Russian offensive and recapture lost territory. The United States and NATO have pledged that Western support will not falter in the face of a looming Russian offensive. Representatives of the 27 European Union countries meet in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss a new batch of sanctions against Russia, which the head of the bloc's executive said could amount to 11 billion euros ($11.8 bln) in lost trade. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said supplying Ukraine with fighter jets would certainly be discussed but that it was not a focus at the moment, and added he was in favor of raising NATO's military spending target. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Western allies could help Ukraine more quickly by supporting their position on the ground rather than focusing on the provision of jets. Russia, which calls the invasion a "special military operation" to eliminate security threats, said NATO demonstrated its hostility towards Russia every day and was becoming more involved in the conflict. Kyiv and its allies call Russia's actions an unprovoked land grab. Russia holds swathes of Ukraine's southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk. Last year, Russia declared it had annexed the four regions in a move condemned by most United Nations members as illegal. Russia plans to seize back all the settlements in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region that it surrendered to Kyiv last year, the head of the Russian-installed administration there said on Wednesday. The upper chamber of Russia's parliament will hold an extraordinary meeting on Feb. 22 that will focus on adoption of laws on the integration of four regions into the Russian Federation, RIA Novosti reported citing a senior lawmaker.

US Senators: Netanyahu Has Put His Interests Above Israel's
Tel Aviv - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
After a series of statements by US administration spokespeople criticizing the Israeli government's policy to carry out a coup against the judiciary, more and more US lawmakers are speaking up and warning that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is putting his interest above Israel's. Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Dick Durbin, said that as a long-time supporter of Israel, he is concerned that Netanyahu is "dangerously putting his own narrow political and legal interests – and those of the troubling extremists in his coalition – ahead of the long-term interests and needs of Israel's democracy."He told Haaretz on Monday that US President Joe Biden was correct in highlighting the importance of democratic checks and balances, strong institutions, and an independent judiciary concerning the test currently facing Israel. Senator Tim Kaine, a former Democratic vice presidential candidate, said that Netanyahu should listen to the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who protested against the plan in the past days. "As tens of thousands of Israelis rally in support of democracy and judicial independence in their country, the Netanyahu administration should listen and avoid taking actions that threaten Israel's democratic institutions," Kaine said. Representative David Cicilline warned that the "sweeping judicial overhaul proposal" championed by Israel's new far-right government would be "catastrophic" for the future of Israeli democracy. He indicated that any attempts to change existing judicial processes must go through a rigorous review, including building a broad consensus with input from opposition parties and civil society. Rep. Dan Goldman expressed concerns over the government's efforts to subvert the independence of the judiciary in a way that undermines Israel's standing as a “beacon” of freedom and democracy.
Goldman added: "As we have learned here at home, democracy is not something we can take for granted, and we must be vigilant about rooting out authoritarianism wherever it reads its ugly head, including with our closest allies like Israel."Another representative, Steve Cohen, warned that the situation was a "disturbing and concerning set of events."Israel has been a democracy and has operated under the rule of law as the US has, said Cohen, noting that American democracy went through a similar stress test under Donald Trump's presidency. "What's happened in Israel is a lot like what happened in America with Trump," he said, adding that American democracy withstood Trump's assault on its institutions. It was a difficult period, and the parallels in Israel and with Netanyahu are evident. "Netanyahu and Trump are a lot alike," Cohen noted, indicating that "hopefully, Israel will see the wrongs of what's happening and force the elements that exist in the Knesset to resist the changes they're seeking."Cohen was optimistic that the US-Israel relationship would remain strong, adding, "just like in America, it's an errant direction, and Israel will find its moral center and move away from this. But right now, it's difficult."

Japan Says Past Aerial Objects Likely Chinese Spy Balloons
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
A fresh analysis of unidentified aerial objects that flew over Japan's airspace in recent years "strongly" suggests they were Chinese spy balloons, according to Tokyo's defense ministry. "After further analysis of specific balloon-shaped flying objects previously identified in Japanese airspace, including those in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, we have concluded that the balloons are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China," the defense ministry said in a statement late Tuesday. It said it had "strongly demanded China's government confirm the facts" of the incident and "that such a situation not occur again in the future". "Violations of airspace by foreign unmanned reconnaissance balloons and other means are totally unacceptable," it added. Japanese media said Wednesday that government officials are now weighing relaxing rules on shooting down aerial objects that violate its airspace, AFP reported. At the moment, weapons can only be used in case of a clear and present danger, Kyodo news agency reported. "This case, I think, raises worries for us that may be a huge hole in Japan's defense," ruling party security policy chief and former defense minister Itsunori Onodera told a meeting Wednesday. Japan said last week it was re-analyzing a series of incidents involving unidentified aerial objects in light of a Chinese spy balloon shot down by the United States after crossing US territory. In the wake of the incident, the US military adjusted radar settings to detect smaller objects and discovered three more unidentified craft that President Joe Biden ordered shot down -- one over Alaska, another over Canada and the third over Lake Huron off Michigan.

EU to Sanction Iran Entities Involved in Russian War in Ukraine
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday the EU will propose sanctions targeting for the first time Iranian economic operators involved in the Russian war in Ukraine.
"For the first time we are also proposing to sanction Iranian entities including those linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard," von der Leyen told European lawmakers in Strasbourg. Von der Leyen said the 10th package of sanctions, worth a total of 11 billion euros ($11.79 billion), would target new trade bans and technology export controls, including drones, helicopters and missiles

Britain Provides UN with Evidence on Iran's Arms Violation
London - Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
The British government on Tuesday said it presented evidence proving Iran has violated UN resolutions on the proliferation of weapons and linking the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to the smuggling of weapon systems in violation of a UN Security Council Resolution.
In a statement, the British Defense Ministry said weapons seized by Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose, which have been presented to the UN as evidence, proved the IRGC is smuggling weapons in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. Early in 2022, HMS Montrose seized Iranian weapons from speedboats operated by smugglers in international waters south of Iran. The items included surface-to-air-missiles and engines for land attack cruise missiles, in contravention of UN Security Council Resolutions 2231 and 2140, approved in 2015.
“The weapons were presented to representatives of the United Nations who provide an assessment of the conflict in Yemen and Iranian nuclear activity,” the statement said. In December 2022, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres referred to the seizure of Iranian arms in his UNSCR 2231 report. These interdictions are expected to also feature in the UNSCR 2140 annual report that will shortly be released. “The UK is committed to upholding international law and will continue to counter Iranian activity that contravenes United Nations Security Council Resolutions and threatens peace across the world,” said Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. “That is why we have a permanent Royal Navy deployment in the Gulf region, conducting vital maritime security operations and working in support of an enduring peace in Yemen,” he added. For his part, British Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Tariq Ahmad said: “Once again, the Iranian regime has been exposed for its reckless proliferation of weapons and destabilizing activity in the region.”The minister also mentioned Iran’s sustained military support to the Houthis and its continued violation of the arms embargo has stoked further conflict and undermined UN-led peace efforts. “The UK will continue to act to protect the security of our partners and hold Iran to account,” Lord Ahmad said. Meanwhile, a key piece of evidence presented by the UK was a commercial quadcopter drone designed for reconnaissance activities.
According to the British statement, “by decrypting the internal memory of the uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) controllers, the UK Ministry of Defense discovered the records of 22 test flights conducted at the IRGC Aerospace Force Headquarters and test facility in western Tehran.”It said the UAV was in the same shipment as a number of Surface to Air Missiles and components for the Iranian Project 351 land attack cruise missile. “This evidence indicated a direct link between the Iranian state and the smuggling of missile systems being used by the Houthis to attack the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,” read the statement. The Ministry added that the threat posed by long range weapons made in Iran is not limited to the Middle East. Since the invasion of Ukraine, it said Iran has supplied attack drones to Russia in violation of UNSCR 2231. “These attacks have killed civilians and damaged critical national infrastructure (such as power substations) far from the front lines of the conflict,” the Defense Ministry statement affirmed. The statement comes in light of a heated debate within the British government regarding the classification of the Revolutionary Guards on the terrorist list. The Times newspaper reported that the government “temporarily” halted a plan to classify Iran’s Guards on the terrorist list due to disagreements between the British Foreign Office and the Ministry of Home Security. The Foreign Office had earlier blocked a plan that would have led to Iran’s IRGC proscribed as a terrorist organization, citing the need to keep communication channels with Tehran open as relations between the two countries continue on a downward spiral.

Report: US Considers Sending Seized Iranian Weapons to Ukraine
Asharq A-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
The US military is considering sending Ukraine thousands of seized weapons and more than a million rounds of ammunition once bound for the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. US officials said they are looking at sending Ukraine more than 5,000 assault rifles, 1.6 million rounds of small arms ammunition, a small number of antitank missiles, and more than 7,000 proximity fuses seized in recent months off the Yemen coast from smugglers suspected of working for Iran, according to the report. The Kremlin has intensified attacks across a swathe of southern and eastern Ukraine in recent weeks, and a major new offensive has been widely anticipated. Russia holds swathes of Ukraine's southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, including its nuclear plant, nearly all of Luhansk and over half of Donetsk, including the regional capital. “The situation on the front line, especially in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, remains very difficult. The battles are literally for every foot of Ukrainian land," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his evening address. "That is why speed is of the essence," he said. "Speed in everything - adopting decisions, carrying out decisions, shipping supplies, training. Speed saves people's lives."

New Israel Law Allows Stripping Residency of Palestinians Convicted of Terrorism
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 15 February, 2023
Israel passed a law on Wednesday that would allow authorities to strip people who have been jailed of citizenship or residency if they receive Palestinian funds for actions deemed as terrorism, as rising violence has stoked fears of escalation. Israel calls stipends for fighters and their families a "pay for slay" policy that encourages violence. Palestinians hail the prisoners as heroes in a struggle against decades of occupation and deserving of support. Following months of deadly Israeli raids against gunmen in the occupied West Bank and fatal Palestinian street attacks on Israelis, the law passed by 94 votes to 10, by the hard-right coalition of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and many opposition lawmakers in a rare moment of political unity. Under the new law, Palestinians from East Jerusalem who directly or through their families receive stipends from the Palestinian Authority after having been jailed in Israel for security offences, can be deported to the Palestinian territories. It could also apply to some members of Israel's Arab minority, many of whom identify as or with the Palestinians. "Our enemies are not worthy of our citizenship and those who come to hurt the state of Israel are not worthy of living here," said far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Most Palestinians in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed in a move not recognized internationally, have a "permanent resident" status, as opposed to the full Israeli citizenship of the Arab minority. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the law as "the ugliest form of racism."Qadoura Fares, chairman of the Palestinian Prisoners Association, said: "This is an unjust and racist law that aims to empty the land of its native residents and eject people from their homes." At the Knesset, opposition lawmakers who objected to the bill said it was discriminatory because it would not apply to Jewish Israelis convicted for attacks against Palestinians. The new legislation comes as already high tension is building ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan and Jewish holiday of Passover.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 15-16/2023
ريمون إبراهيم من معهد جيتستون: سكوت وتستر ادارة الرئيس بايدن عن جرائم الإبادات الجماعية للمسيحيين في نيجيريا
Genocide in Nigeria: The Biden Administration’s Cover-Up
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/February 15, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/115764/115764/
[T]he Biden administration’s decision to delist Nigeria from the list of Countries of Particular Concern was “inexplicable,” according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Christians are being butchered — “purged” — in Nigeria at an alarming rate.
In 2022 alone, 90% of all Christians around the world who were killed for their faith… were slaughtered in Nigeria. On average, that is 14 Christians killed for their faith every day in Nigeria — at least one Christian every two hours.
In just the first month of 2023, in January alone, Muslims slaughtered approximately 60 Christians in Nigeria, raided churches, and kidnapped women and children.
[O]n January 31, 2023, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for not only the return of Nigeria to the State Department’s CPC list, but for the appointment of a special ambassador to monitor the situation.
“[The Fulani] demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and symbols of Christian identity such as churches, and, during attacks, shouted ‘Allah u Akbar,’ ‘destroy the infidels,’ and ‘wipe out the infidels.’… [Despite this] the Department of State mischaracterizes or incompletely characterizes the increasing incidents of large scale violence … [as] solely attributable to competition for scarce natural resources resulting from climate change.” — U.S. House Resolution “Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the need to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern.”
The new resolution also, rather refreshingly, calls out Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari—himself a Fulani, who “has favored and promoted fellow Fulani and other northern Muslim ethnic groups,” while others, chief among them Christians, “are denied equal rights.”
“It’s tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn’t a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black, chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ and screaming ‘Death to Christians.'” — Sister Monica Chikwe, Nigerian nun, cruxnow.com, August 4, 2019.
[B]y removing Nigeria from the CPC list in November, 2021, the Biden administration was simply returning to the status quo. Although jihadists had slaughtered and terrorized Nigeria’s Christians all during President Barack Obama’s eight-year tenure, when Biden was his Vice President (2009-2017), and although the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had, beginning in 2009 and every year afterwards, repeatedly urged that Nigeria be designated as a Country of Particular Concern, the Obama administration had obstinately refused to comply.
It was only in 2020, under the Trump administration, that Nigeria was first designated as a CPC — only to be removed the following year under Biden.
[A]lthough news media initially presented the kidnapped [by Boko Haram] Chibok schoolgirls as Muslim, it later came out that they were Christian, at which point the media quickly lost interest.
Once again, the Biden Administration seems to be prioritizing yet another ruthless dictatorship as more important than a genocide – this time, one persecuting Christians, not Uyghurs. What other reason could there be not to rename Nigeria a “country of particular concern”?
Christians are being butchered — “purged” — in Nigeria at an alarming rate. According to a 2021 report, since Nigeria’s Islamic insurgency began in earnest in July 2009, 43,000 Christians were murdered, and 18,500 were abducted (never to be seen again and assumed to be dead). Pictured: The burnt out shell of the First African Church Mission in Jos, Nigeria on July 6, 2015. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
Swept under the rug for more than a year, one of the Biden administration’s “sins of omission” are making headlines again.
On November 17, 2021, the State Department inexplicably removed Nigeria from its list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC list). These are nations that either engage in, or tolerate, violations of religious freedom. The Biden State Department removed Nigeria from the list despite strong objections from several human rights organizations, many of which insist that Christians are even undergoing a genocide in Nigeria.
Many observers at the time slammed the State Department for its decision to let Nigeria literally get away with mass murder. Christian Solidarity International said:
“The State Department’s decision to de-list a country where thousands of Christians are killed every year reveals Washington’s true priorities…. Removing this largely symbolic sign of concern is a brazen denial of reality and indicates that the U.S. intends to pursue its interests in western Africa through an alliance with Nigeria’s security elite, at the expense of Christians and other victims of widespread sectarian violence…. If the U.S. CPC list means anything at all—an open question at this point—Nigeria belongs on it.”
Even for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan federal commission that monitors and reports on religious freedom to the U.S. government and Congress, the Biden administration’s decision to delist Nigeria was “inexplicable,” a reflection of “turning a blind eye” to “particularly severe religious freedom violations.”
The reason many were shocked is that in Nigeria, Christians are being butchered — purged — at an alarming rate.
According to an August 2021 report, since the Islamic insurgency began in earnest in July 2009 — first at the hands of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization, and later by the Fulani, Muslim herdsmen also motivated by jihadist ideology — 43,000 Christians were murdered, and 18,500 were abducted (never to be seen again and assumed to be dead). During the same time-frame, approximately 17,500 churches and 2,000 Christian schools were torched and destroyed.
Since the publication of that August 2021 report, things have only gotten worse. According to the latest figures, in 2022 alone, 90% of all Christians killed for their faith around the world — 5,014 Christians to be exact — were slaughtered in Nigeria. On average, that is 14 Christians in Nigeria killed for their faith every day — at least one Christian every two hours.
Little has changed with the new year. In January 2023 alone, Muslims slaughtered approximately 60 Christians in Nigeria, raided churches, and kidnapped women and children (based on reports here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
During one of these raids on a church, on Sunday, January 15, Muslims terrorists burned Fr. Isaac Achi, a Catholic priest, alive. They also shot and wounded his assistant priest. Discussing another massacre of Christians, on January 19, a clergyman said:
“The images of the attack are horrifying, and I keep saying that not even ISIS is capable of such brutality. After killing, these guys decapitated some and took the parts away as proof to whoever is the sponsor.”
Such sadism is not exceptional. In another recent attack on a Christian village, the jihadists cut off the breast of a Christian woman.
Recently, however, in response to this unabated assault on Christians, on January 31, 2023, Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), introduced a bipartisan resolution calling for not only the return of Nigeria to the State Department’s CPC list, but for the appointment of a special ambassador to monitor the situation.
The eight-page resolution is worth reading in its entirety. Some of its most noteworthy revelations include the purely Islamic motives of those terrorizing Christians in Nigeria.
Although the Fulani — the one Muslim demographic most responsible for the butchery of Christians — are regularly portrayed in the West as impoverished and non-ideologically motivated herdsmen merely competing for scarce resources, the resolution correctly notes that the Fulani are working to reestablish a “caliphate.” The resolution adds:
“[The Fulani] demonstrated a clear intent to target Christians and symbols of Christian identity such as churches, and, during attacks, shouted ‘Allah u Akbar,’ ‘destroy the infidels,’ and ‘wipe out the infidels.’… [Despite this] the Department of State mischaracterizes or incompletely characterizes the increasing incidents of large scale violence in Nigeria’s northern and central rural regions as ‘communal clashes’ between Muslim herders and Christian farmers, solely attributable to competition for scarce natural resources resulting from climate change.”
This is no exaggeration. Just last summer, after Muslim Fulani massacred more than 40 Christians as they peacefully worshipped inside their church on Pentecost Sunday (June 5, 2022), the president of Ireland, Michael Higgins, issued a statement exonerating the Fulani and blaming the weather.
However, as a Nigerian nun, Sister Monica Chikwe, once observed:
“It’s tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn’t a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black, chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ and screaming ‘Death to Christians.'”
Or as the Christian Association of Nigeria once asked:
“How can it be a [secular or economic] clash when one group [Muslims] is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying, and the other group [Christians] is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed?”
The new resolution also, rather refreshingly, calls out Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari — himself a Fulani, who “has favored and promoted fellow Fulani and other northern Muslim ethnic groups,” while others, chief among them Christians, “are denied equal rights.” There is reason to believe that the Nigerian president has done much worse than discriminate, with several leading Christians in Nigeria accusing him of being complicit in their persecution.
Smith’s resolution concludes:
“(1) the Secretary of State should immediately designate Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern’ for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as mandated by the International Religious Freedom 7 Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6401 et seq.); and
(2) in order to ensure that the Secretary of State receives more complete and accurate reporting and analysis, the President should promptly appoint a person of recognized distinction in the fields of religious freedom and human rights as ‘Special Envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Region’ with the rank of Ambassador, who reports directly to the Secretary of State and coordinates United States Government efforts to monitor and combat atrocities there.”
Although this resolution makes a strong case to return Nigeria to the CPC list, based on precedent, there is reason to doubt it will have the desired effect.
For a start, by removing Nigeria from the CPC list in November, 2021, the Biden administration was simply returning to the status quo. Although jihadists had slaughtered and terrorized Nigeria’s Christians all during President Barack Obama’s eight-year tenure, when Biden was his Vice President (2009-2017), and although the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had, beginning in 2009 and every year afterwards, repeatedly urged that Nigeria be designated as a Country of Particular Concern, the Obama administration had obstinately refused to comply.
It was only in 2020, under the Trump administration, that Nigeria was first designated as a CPC — only to be removed the following year under Biden.
To his credit, President Donald Trump had also forthrightly asked the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari — whom many Nigerian officials insist Obama helped bring to power — “Why are you killing Christians?”
Not only did the Obama State Department refuse to designate Nigeria as a CPC for eight years; during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State (2009-2013), she went so far as to refuse to designate Boko Haram in Nigeria as a “terrorist” organization — even though Boko Haram (which roughly translates as “Western education is forbidden”) is a notorious jihadist group that has slaughtered more Christians and bombed more churches than the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria combined.
As is happening now under Biden’s State Department, Clinton’s refusal had persisted despite the urging of the Justice Department, the FBI, the CIA, and more than a dozen Senators and House Representatives for her to designate Boko Haram. Hillary Clinton’s husband, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, insisted in 2012 that “inequality” and “poverty” are “what’s fueling all this stuff” — a reference to ideologically driven Muslims slaughtering thousands of Christians. This callousness is reminiscent of Hillary Clinton’s response to the murders of Americans in Benghazi, Libya: “What difference at this point does it make?”
In 2014, Boko Haram abducted nearly 300 schoolgirls from Chibok, Nigeria. It was an incident that made headlines and therefore required a response. Publicly, Clinton bemoaned the lot of the kidnapped girls: “The seizure of these young women by this radical extremist group, Boko Haram, is abominable, it’s criminal, it’s an act of terrorism and it really merits the fullest response possible.” Meanwhile, as a 2014 report pointed out,
“The State Department under Hillary Clinton fought hard against placing the al Qaeda-linked militant group Boko Haram on its official list of foreign terrorist organizations for two years. And now, lawmakers and former U.S. officials are saying that the decision may have hampered the American government’s ability to confront the Nigerian group that shocked the world by abducting hundreds of innocent girls.”
Indeed, two years earlier, in 2012, when Clinton was actively shielding Boko Haram from the terrorist label, a spokesman for the group announced that they were planning on doing something just like they did at Chibok—to “strike fear into the Christians of the power of Islam by kidnapping their women” — though that too was ignored by Clinton. Notably, although news media initially presented the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls as Muslims, it later came out that they were Christians, at which point the media quickly lost interest.
Recently, former Rep. Frank Wolf (R- Va), rhetorically asked,
“Does anyone remember hashtag BringBackOurGirls? Well, whatever happened, where’re all those guys who went on television and [posted] the hashtag… 50% of the girls did not return. I met with some of the Chibok parents. They wonder what in the name is the world doing.”
Once again, the Biden Administration seems to be prioritizing yet another ruthless dictatorship as more important than a genocide – this time, one persecuting Christians, not Uyghurs. What other reason could there be not to rename Nigeria a “country of particular concern”?
*Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19402/genocide-in-nigeria

A Time of Perpetual Crises
Abdulrahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 15/2023
It is undeniable that the region is plagued by persistent crises, hindering stability, peace, and sustainable development for its people. Furthermore, these crises are now increasing in frequency.
Reflecting on the region's history, the last time there was any significant collective positive news was when the Arab states declared their independence. This happened about eight decades ago, with overwhelming optimism for the start of a new era. Specifically, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon gained their independence one year after WWII ended. Other Arab states followed suit, with Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan, and Tunisia becoming independent in the 1950s. The departure of the British and French, who were often blamed for the region's crises, enabled the newly independent states to make decisions autonomously. The Arab League was established to continue the momentum of promoting peace and cooperation in the region.
Countries in the region dealt with their problems while being preoccupied with two ongoing dilemmas: the chronic Palestinian issue and another changing crisis such as the Lebanese civil war, leftists fighting in South Yemen, the Iraq-Iran war, Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and the invasion of Iraq. Despite occasional crises, most of this vast region was relatively peaceful. However, the situation is now drastically different, and the region has become the most chaotic in the world due to ongoing conflicts and militias. With many countries becoming failed relics of the 2011 revolutions, what caused the breakdown of regional security leading to over half of the countries in persistent chaos?
In summary, the chain of events began with the swift removal of Bin Ali in Tunisia. Despite avoiding a violent conflict, Tunisia still struggles to overcome its obstacles. Meanwhile, Muammar Gaddafi's refusal to resign during a widespread uprising ultimately led to the intervention of NATO and the collapse of his regime. As a result, a power struggle emerged among the Libyan people.
Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s longest-serving president, relinquished power after the military supported the people on two separate occasions: during the revolution and the counterrevolution. In Syria, the regime lost control of most of the country but held the capital. Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh stepped down, and the Iran-backed Houthi militia took over Sanaa while revolutionaries debated over granting immunity to the deposed President. Bahrain and Kuwait suppressed protests at the Pearl Roundabout – mostly led by Iran-affiliated extremists – and Al-Erada Square, respectively.
Lebanon, Iraq, and Somalia are among the countries that continue to experience failure or chaos beyond the scope of revolutions.
Other countries have learned from past collapses and have found that change often leads to more disasters. With over twelve years having passed, a sound judgment can now be made on the events that occurred.
Some Western analysts initially held a positive view, drawing parallels between the Middle Eastern uprisings and the 1989 Eastern European revolutions, which saw the peaceful collapse of seven regimes in three years, except for Romania.
The comparison is flawed because the changes in Eastern Europe were a consequence of the collapse of the communist government in Moscow and its affiliated regimes. The West took on the responsibility of protecting, aiding, and organizing the transition, preventing it from descending into turmoil or failure.
Since the 1950s, the streets of the Arab world have been dominated by Islamists and leftists. The leftist movement includes Baathists, Nationalists, Nasserists, and socialists who have previously failed to rule in countries such as Egypt, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, and South Yemen. In 2011, they re-emerged through demonstrations and disputed power in Tunisia, Libya, and Syria, leading to disastrous endings.
Containing or coexisting with one or two regional crises is possible, but persistent war and military conflicts pose a risk for all.
As a matter of fact, there have been no significant Arab collective efforts to address the ongoing chaos, possibly due to the belief that it will naturally dissipate, which could have unintended consequences. With deteriorating political conditions, the situation may spiral out of control.

When will Saudi Arabia Sign Peace with Israel?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/House of Wisdom/February 15/2023
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Saudi Arabia's new policy, Vision 2030, requires a newer foreign policy on Palestinians
Today, 78 years ago, the founder of Saudi Arabia King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud met with US President Franklin Roosevelt, aboard USS Quincy in the Red Sea. In the meeting that established an enduring alliance between the two countries, Ibn Saud said that the immigration of Jews to Palestine, and their purchase of land, were a threat to Arabs. The Saudi leader proposed that Jewish refugees be settled in countries of the defeated Axis. He said that “the Arabs and Jews could never cooperate,” and that “the Arabs would choose to die rather than yield their lands to the Jews.”
The late Saudi king was not speaking out of solidarity with the Palestinians but on their behalf and the behalf of Arabs and Muslims. Back then, states were different. They were expansionist, and the Saudis were a leading expansionist power. After reestablishing the Saudi state, Ibn Saud expanded in Najd, defeated the Shammar tribe in Hail and married a Hail women with whom he fathered future King Abdullah. Ibn Saud also wrestled the Hijaz from the Hashemites and decimated the Muslim Brotherhood.
Per the tribal code, the defeated pledged allegiance to the victor, giving Ibn Saud sovereignty over their lands that stretched from Hail, in northwest Saudi Arabia, all the way northward to central Syria. When Ibn Saud tried to annex these lands, France and Britain blocked him. France took Syria while the British got Jordan.
European seizure of tribal territory of the likes of the Ruwwala and the ‘Niza did not deter Ibn Saud from granting members of these tribes Saudi nationality, including to those who lived in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. Ibn Saud saw himself as the leader of the Arabs, and that was why he raised the Palestinian issue with Roosevelt.
Then times changed. Sovereign nation states replaced borderless empires like the one Ibn Saud had in mind.
The Palestinians, however, did not change. Instead of establishing a Palestinian state on the territory that the UN granted them in 1948, they rejected UN resolutions and insisted on destroying Israel and joining the imagined Arab nation.
Saudi Arabia was more reasonable. It saw diplomacy as the only option to wrestle sovereignty from the Jews and giving it to Palestinians. Saudi Arabia led a boycott campaign through the Arab League. But Arab revolutionary powers, led by Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser, shamed Saudi diplomacy and launched several wars on Israel, which they all lost.
Despite the Arab defeats, the majority of Palestinians today still subscribe to conflict and still hold Saudi Arabia responsible for all Palestinian losses.
Today, the world has changed again, and Saudi Arabia is changing. While many Palestinians insist that the Saudis should stay the course, continue boycotting Israel and supporting the open-ended conflict, Riyadh seems to have moved on.
Globalization has rendered obsolete the Saudi model of spending their enormous oil revenue on Saudis and Arabs. The United Arab Emirates was the first to notice this problem.
Today, Saudi Arabia understands that its future depends on transforming its economy from one reliant on oil to one dependent on knowledge and services. Players in such economy compete globally while avoiding countries immersed in open-ended conflicts, like the Palestinian Israeli conflict. Companies from different countries vie for borderless markets and strive to attract global talent while developing local human resources.
Change in Saudi policy has been coupled with a change in Saudi Arabia’s perception of itself. Gone are the days of competing with Iran over regional leadership. Saudi Arabia’s problem with Iran today is not due to rivalry but to Iran posing an existential threat to people of the region and their governments, including Riyadh. Iran is not a good neighbor but rather a bully that is always trying to subjugate others. Tehran probably perceives of itself as the leader of the Muslims world, if not the whole world.
Saudi Arabia has switched from regional politics to national policies, adopting the slogan “Saudi first.” Riyadh is still willing to sweeten the pot of neighboring governments, but only if such payments render measurable gains for Saudi Arabia. This is why the Kingdom has given up on Lebanon and its affairs. Riyadh believes Lebanon is a lost cause, a country that is completely in Tehran’s pocket.
It is odd that the major upgrade in Saudi policy has left intact Riyadh’s outdated views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Even though Saudi Arabia’s national interests demand immediate ratification of peace with Israel, the kingdom is still committed to open-ended solidarity with the Palestinians.
Palestinian demand for Arab solidarity would have made sense had the Palestinians had any kind of leadership, vision or a reasonable ask of Israel. Instead, all what the Palestinians have is more of the same: Slogans, populism, emotions, and an urge to carry on with an open-ended struggle that is not inline with the new ways of Arab countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, whose policies are now pegged to clear timetables. Time is money and wasting it is a waste of resources and opportunities.
There is nothing wrong with Saudi solidarity with Palestinians, just like there is nothing wrong with Turkey’s solidarity, that is solidarity in statements only. When it comes to economic and national interests, Turkey’s relations with Israel are thriving, including steadily growing bilateral trade and diplomatic relations.
Bilateral peace of each Arab country with Israel is a national interest that can be postponed, but only if delay yields clear Palestinian gains. As it stands, Palestinians are in a hole that they have no idea how to dig themselves out of. Instead of asking other Arabs to seek their national interests until Palestinians figure out what they want or how to pursue their interests, Palestinians want the Arabs to jump with them in the hole and stay there, forever.
*Hussain Abdul-Hussain is a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow him on Twitter: @hahussain.
https://hussainabdulhussain.substack.com/p/when-will-saudi-arabia-sign-peace?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=262184&post_id=102846647&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email

'Screens' are Not the World
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 15/2023
In a pre-recorded message broadcast yesterday at the World Government Summit held in Dubai, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said: "In Türkiye, we always say that our stability and security are closely linked to the stability and security of the Gulf region."
The Turkish president's speech comes after the calamitous earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria. Per Reuters, Verisk Analytics, a risk assessment firm, estimates that Türkiye has probably lost in excess of $20 billion.
Erdogan has previously noted that: "Scientists said these tremors released energy equal to the explosion of 500 atomic bombs". These disasters are added to earlier man-made disasters, and as I had mentioned in a previous article for this publication, in reference to the crimes of the Assad regime, Iran, and its militias in Syria. Today, the region has a humanitarian and financial catastrophe to deal with. Thus, President Erdogan's remarks that "In Türkiye, we always say that our stability and security are closely linked to the stability and security of the Gulf region" brings us back to a pivotal, fundamental point, the region's security and stability must be safeguarded.
It is true that the earthquake catastrophe is tragic, and nothing can compensate for the human lives lost. It is also true that people were genuinely moved by the magnitude of the crisis engendered by the earthquake. However, the world is not the television screen that depicts tragic events humanely.
Indeed, the world is worse than we can imagine. Here is one simple, sad story indicative of the dangers we face in our region. Yesterday, an official in Afrin Hospital (Northern Syria) said that gunmen had stormed the hospital where the Syrian girl born under the rubble was being cared for. This child, whose story has moved the world, was born under the rubble of her family's home after it had been destroyed by the earthquake. Her name is Aya. The attackers assaulted the director of the hospital, and we have heard conflicting reports about an attempted kidnapping. This incident occurred despite all these tragedies we have seen. Someone might ask: did it take place in the areas controlled by the opposition or those of the Assad regime? The truth is that the answer here is not important. The most important thing is that the state, its institutions, and even the concept of the state are absent in Syria.
This story shows us how profound the crisis we are facing in our region is - from Iraq to Lebanon and Yemen to Syria. It is a testament to the scale of devastation and destruction that Iran and its militias have brought to our region. Added to them is every party and faction that undermined the notion of statehood to further narrow interests on irrational and non-political grounds. As a result, security and stability are inseparable. It also cannot be achieved without upholding the state's authority, putting a stop to militias, and ending the archaic ideological battles that have cost our region lives and money for decades in vain.
The region's stability and security require upholding the concept of the state and respect for humanity, and this can only be accomplished by putting an end to conflicts and turning to peace in dealing with most crises and issues. This can only be accomplished with political rationality, not just consensus. To achieve this end, a radical political solution in Syria must be found, as well as a cessation of interference in the affairs of other countries and a focus on reforming our own countries from within and ending Iranian meddling in the region.
One of the most notable shortcomings of this region is that only a minority have learned from their mistakes, so is it time to re-learn from these disasters and tragedies?