English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For February 23/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/aaaanewsfor2023/english.february23.23.htm

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to enter the LCCC Arabic/English news bulletins Achieves since 2006 

Click On The Below Link To Join Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group so you get the LCCC Daily A/E Bulletins every day
https://chat.whatsapp.com/FPF0N7lE5S484LNaSm0MjW
اضغط على الرابط في أعلى للإنضمام لكروب Eliasbejjaninews whatsapp group وذلك لإستلام نشراتي العربية والإنكليزية اليومية بانتظام

Bible Quotations For today
Giving to the Needy/Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them
Matthew 06/01-04: “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 22-23/2023
Lebanese panic as tremor strikes, sea retreats
Video Interview With Nadim Shehade/MTV Podcast
4.2 earthquake hits Mediterranean sea off Lebanon coast
Mikati to call for Monday cabinet session
Civil Defense rescues 21 from Concord factory fire in Naameh
Rahi meets French Ambassador
Bou Habib tackles Syrian refugee affairs with EU’s Castaldo, Denmark’s Nielsen
Army Commander broaches developments with Czech Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Baalbek Governor
UN, Lebanese Government kick-off work on UN Cooperation Framework for Lebanon’s Sustainable Development
Lebanese envoy at UN meeting of Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations: Israel in no position to preach about safety of peacekeepers
Mikati: I am neither covering nor protecting Riad Salameh
Mikati at launching of joint committee to implement UNSDCF: Priority is for putting Lebanon on recovery track
Mikati inspects National Center for Geophysics in Bhannes, affirms Grand Serail’s DRM unit “has taken all necessary measures to protect...
Mikati urges leaders to stop obstructions and accusations, elect president
Mikati says seeking legal exit for Ibrahim's term extension
Mikati, Bou Saab clash over Egyptian gas deal
Judge Aoun slams Mikati's 'interference' as he urges measures against her
Judge Aoun: If Al-Qard Al-Hasan is proven to be a bank, the Central Bank must take action
Third B2B event on Multifunctional Olive Systems in Lebanon emphasizes increasing interest in agroforestry
Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy/Ali Younis/Arab News/February 22/2023
Lebanon’s never-ending natural and human-made disasters/Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/February 22/2023
Arabists & the Arabic Civilization/Edmond El Chidiac/February 22/2023
Petition/To: European Parliment and ICC

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 22-23/2023
Benjamin Netanyahu preparing for ‘attack on Iranian nuclear installations’
10 Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid
Israeli parliament advances bill that may override top court
What's behind the Israeli army's deadly Nablus arrest raid?
IDF Captures Syrian Working for Hezbollah in the Golan
EU, UK Impose New Sanctions on Iran as Protests Surge
10 Palestinians killed, including Islamic Jihad commanders, in rare IDF daylight operation in West Bank
Germany Expels 2 Iranian Diplomats over Death Sentence
Report: Iran Says IAEA Resolving Nuclear Enrichment Ambiguities
Two Berlin Festival Films Relive Torture in Iranian Prisons
Iran foreign minister in Iraq for security talks
Iranian Foundation Offers Land to Salman Rushdie’s Attacker
Two Berlin Festival Films Relive Torture in Iranian Prisons
Putin 'tried to launch Satan II missile' while Biden was in Kyiv
Russia Says It Won’t Return to Nuclear Treaty until West Is Ready to Talk
Biden to meet eastern flank NATO leaders amid Russia worries
Ukraine Wants One-Year Grain Deal Extension to Include New Ports
Russian economy shrugs off sanctions; militia owner blames Kremlin for soldiers' deaths: Ukraine live updates
Türkiye Offers Economic Support in Earthquake Zone
N.Korea Calls UN Chief’s Remarks on Missile Test ‘Unfair’
UN court calls for end to Nagorno-Karabakh roadblock
Statement on behalf of UN Special Envoy for Syria’s office in wake of Geneva meeting

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 22-23/2023
Iran…We’re Almost There!/Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 22/2023
How long will escalating Israel-Iran hostilities remain a covert conflict?/Paul Iddon/Arab News/February 22, 2023
We stand united with Ukraine/Arab News/February 22, 2023
From shock at Russia’s aggression to a thirst for victory/Anatolii Petrenko/Arab News/February 22, 2023
A foundation for mankind and a pillar for values/Nayef bin Marzouq Al-Fahadi/Arab News/February 22, 2023

The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on February 22-23/2023
Lebanese panic as tremor strikes, sea retreats
Najia Houssari/Arab News/February 22, 2023
BEIRUT: A small earthquake that struck South Lebanon early on Wednesday sparked widespread panic as residents ran from their homes barefoot, with many saying they “feared for their children’s lives.”The 4.3-magnitude tremor, the latest in a series of minor quakes, hit the coastline near the southern city of Sidon shortly after 8 a.m., further terrifying Lebanese still recovering from the shock of twin earthquakes that devastated large areas of Turkiye and Syria over two weeks ago. Earlier, a 6.3-magnitude quake centered 20 km offshore struck northern Lebanon on Monday night, followed by two others off the coast of southern Lebanon, near Sidon, on Tuesday.
Experts joined caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati in appealing for calm. However, many Lebanese fear their houses will be unable to withstand a violent quake and that they will be abandoned to their fate by the state. Mikati visited the National Center for Geophysics on Wednesday to inspect its seismic monitoring equipment, but warned: “What is certain, according to science, is that no one can predict when an earthquake or tremor may occur.”
He appealed for calm, adding that the Disaster Management Authority has taken “all necessary measures to protect citizens” and is testing its readiness with trials in several governorates.
Amid growing alarm after the quake on Monday, American University of Beirut earthquake researcher Tony Nemer said that people must accept that Lebanon is located in a seismic zone.
“But the Lebanese must remain calm,” he added.
George Kettaneh, head of the Lebanese Red Cross, said that several cases of anxiety and panic attacks were treated after the quake. Zeina, 50, who lives on the 13th floor of an apartment block in Beirut, said: “My family and I will not be able to escape if a major earthquake hits. We have decided to stay, but I do not hide the fact that we are psychologically devastated and can no longer bear the stress.”Ghada, 31, who lives two floors below, said: “The sound of the building shaking was terrifying. My husband refuses to leave and believes it does not make sense to go outside. I tried my best to remain calm and seated on the couch during Monday’s tremors. Thankfully, I did not feel Tuesday’s earthquakes, but God knows what could happen and when. We are living an ongoing trauma.”
Ezzat, 35, said: “I feared for my children’s lives. I put my family in the car and started driving like hundreds of others around us. In Lebanon, one cannot know for sure if the building is earthquake-resistant or if the laws were circumvented.
“Over two years ago, we survived the Beirut port explosion, and now we have to survive daily tremors. I live in a newly constructed building, but who knows if it can withstand so many tremors?”
Many Lebanese were also alarmed by photos showing a noticeable fall in the sea level near Sidon, with some linking the phenomenon to the latest earthquake.
However, Milad Fakhri, director of the National Center for Marine Sciences, said: “This is a natural phenomenon related to the tidal process and occurs throughout the year. It is in no way related to the quakes and tremors hitting the region, nor is it an early sign of a possible tsunami.”

Video Interview With Nadim Shehade/MTV Podcast
Interview conducted by Ronnie Chatah/February 21/2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppx_ML3hHOk
The Generational Divide with Nadim Shehadi & Ronnie Chatah
Ronnie Chatah is host of The Beirut Banyan podcast @TheBeirutBanyan, founder of the WalkBeirut tour and opinion columnist for a variety of outlets on Lebanese affairs. You can find him on Instagram, Facebook & Twitter @thebeirutbanyan

4.2 earthquake hits Mediterranean sea off Lebanon coast
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Another earthquake with the magnitude of 4.2 was felt in Lebanon on Wednesday morning at 8:01 am. The quake hit the Mediterranean sea off the coast of Lebanon at 61 Kilometers from Sidon with no reports of damage or casualties. The quake was felt in Syria and Palestine.
Lebanon’s residents have been jittery since a devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6 and was strongly felt in Lebanon. The quake left nearly 45,000 dead in both countries. The deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks and some of them were also felt in Lebanon.On Monday, a 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Turkey's southern province of Hatay and northern Syria, killing eight people and sparking fresh panic in Lebanon, where some residents fled their homes, especially in Tripoli and Beirut.

Mikati to call for Monday cabinet session
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati will call for a cabinet session that will be held on Monday, media reports said. Al-Akhbar newspaper said the session was supposed to be held on Thursday or Friday but was delayed due to the travel of some ministers. Mikati had on Tuesday convened a ministerial panel and agreed with caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil and the Ministry’s director general George Maarawi to increase productivity and transportation compensations and the salaries of public sector employees after obtaining the approval of the parliament speaker. “It has been decided to obtain a cover from the cabinet so that Mikati and Khalil do not bear the ramifications alone,” al-Akhbar said. Ministerial sources meanwhile said that a treasury loan for paying the salaries of OGERO and the Telecom Ministry and the adjustment of the “customs dollar” value might also be on the session’s agenda.

Civil Defense rescues 21 from Concord factory fire in Naameh
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Director General of the Lebanese Civil Defense General Raymond Khattar said Wednesday that the Civil Defense rescued Tuesday 21 workers who were trapped on the roof of the Concord household appliances factory in the town of Naameh. A fire, caused by a short circuit, had broke out on Tuesday afternoon in the Concord factory, killing one worker and injuring at least four. A Pakistani worker died after being transported to a nearby hospital, the National News Agency said. Caretaker Environment Minister Nasser Yassin warned Tuesday of flammable materials and said that the authorities were working on "isolating the area" to control the situation. Efforts against the fire continued throughout the night, Khattar said, adding that the main priority was to isolate the factory building and temporary evacuate the neighboring buildings.

Rahi meets French Ambassador
NNA /February 22/2023
Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rahi is currently meeting with French Ambassador to Lebanon, Anne Grillo, in Bkekri.

Bou Habib tackles Syrian refugee affairs with EU’s Castaldo, Denmark’s Nielsen
NNA /February 22/2023
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, Dr. Abdallah Bou Habib, on Wednesday discussed Syrian refugee affairs with Italian Member of the European Parliament, Massimo Fabio Castaldo.  The pair reportedly tackled the dire repercussions of the refugee crisis on Lebanon, and the difficulties that Lebanon faces dealing with this issue. Minister Bou Habib separately met with Denmark’s Special Representative for UN Security Council Candidature, Holger Nielsen. Both men discussed Denmark's candidacy for a seat at the UN Security Council for the years 2026-2025. They also discussed coordination within international organizations between Lebanon and Denmark, bilateral relations, as well as Syrian refugee affairs.

Army Commander broaches developments with Czech Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Baalbek Governor
NNA /February 22/2023
Lebanese Army Commander, General Joseph Aoun, on Wednesday welcomed at his Yarzeh office Czech Embassy Chargé d'Affaires, Mrs. Lydia SKOLILOVA, accompanied by military attache, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav VASEK. The meeting reportedly discussed relations and cooperation between the armies of both countries.  Aoun also welcomed Governor of Baalbek-Hermel, Judge Bashir Khoder, who offered condolences upon the loss of three army soldiers. Khoder praised "the army's role in preserving the security and safety of the Bekaa region."

UN, Lebanese Government kick-off work on UN Cooperation Framework for Lebanon’s Sustainable Development
NNA /February 22/2023
Caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Imran Riza, co-chaired today the first meeting of the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) that was signed between the Government of Lebanon and the United Nations Country Team on 28 April 2022. The meeting discussed the 2023 priorities of the UN Cooperation Framework and introduced the role and functions of the JSC as well as the overall way forward on the implementation of the Framework.
“The JSC constitutes the high-level accountability forum between the UN and the Government of Lebanon for the Cooperation Framework, and plays a key role in providing strategic direction, oversight, and coordination for the UN programmatic and operational interventions in the development field in Lebanon,” said Riza in his opening remarks. “The Committee will monitor the progress made towards the implementation of the Cooperation Framework that aims to help put Lebanon back on the development track. Government’s role and leadership are critical for the advancement of this framework” he stressed. The Committee, which is co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, is composed of Heads of the UN entities operating in Lebanon and of relevant ministers to advance the priorities of the CF, who were also present in the meeting. For his part, Mikati stressed that the meeting aims to secure technical and developmental support to put Lebanon back on the road to recovery, explaining that “extensive consultations and meetings between the relevant Lebanese ministries and United Nations organizations have contributed to defining the priorities that will put us back on the path of sustainable development and social and economic recovery.” He added that “there is no sustainable development without political stability,” renewing his call to all leaders, officials and stakeholders to “put an end to obstruction and pointless political accusations that have no helpful role to play in the day-to-day life of the suffering citizens.” The JSC will also ensure alignment of the national Government priorities with the Cooperation Framework and monitor its implementation and results on regular basis.

Lebanese envoy at UN meeting of Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations: Israel in no position to preach about safety of peacekeepers
NNA /February 22/2023
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants has been informed in a statement about the response of the Lebanese envoy to the United Nations in New York to an Israeli delegate asking of him to refrain from the “regrettable” and “disgraceful” exploitation of the killing of an Irish UNIFIL peace keeper in South Lebanon “for political goals”. “This does not serve UNIFIL's efforts to establish an atmosphere of peace and stability in a region that is in dire need of it,” the Lebanese envoy said during the meeting of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. The Lebanese envoy further affirmed Lebanon’s official position condemning this painful incident and highlighted the seriousness of the investigations being carried out by the Lebanese judiciary, which have thus far led to “the issuance of an indictment against seven suspects, one of whom has been arrested while other prosecutions remain ongoing.”“The Israeli side is no position to throw direct accusations or even preach about the security of peacekeepers, especially that there are many examples of Israeli attacks on peacekeeping forces, starting with the bombing of UNIFIL’s Fijian battalion headquarters in Qana back in 1996,” the Lebanese envoy said as addressing the Israeli delegate — as per the statement received by Lebanon’s MoFA. “Let alone the air raid and the killing of four UN observers, who were present at the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization observatory building back in 2006 in the town of Khiam - south Lebanon, as well as the naval maneuvers carried out by Israeli fighters alongside a UNIFIL ship, according to what has been stated in a recent report by the United Nations Secretary-General (July 2022) on the implementation of Resolution #1701,” the statement added as quoting the Lebanese envoy. In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs affirmed that Lebanon’s relationship with the United Nations and UNIFIL forces was strictly based on cooperation, as well as permanent and constructive dialogue.

Mikati: I am neither covering nor protecting Riad Salameh
NNA /February 22/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said that he is neither covering or protecting central bank chief Riad Salameh. "I am neither covering nor protecting Riad Salameh. I do not back people; i only support institutions," he stressed. "I am trying with the central bank governor to take all the necessary measures to curb the USD rise, and the bank's central council will meet tomorrow to discuss the means to control this rate," Mikati told a TV interview. "The USD exchange rate will drop by tens of thousands of pounds when the constitutional life is regulated and a president of the republic is elected," he expected.
"The dollar crisis is political," he said. "Lebanon has not gone bankrupt, and nothing prevents returning money to depositors. I affirm that all deposits deposited before October 17, 2019, will be fully returned to their owners," he pledged. Moreover, Mikati said he is seeking to resolve the crisis of banks and their open-ended strike. "I hope that the strike will end in 48 hours," he indicated. He also said that he does not interfere in the work of the judiciary, but he noted that the ongoing news about money laundering inside banks are unacceptable and they harm Lebanon's reputation. Asked about the extension of the mandate of the General Security Chief, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, Mikati said this move must be made inside the parliament, revealing that he has been asked to find a legal exit for this matter given the intricacy to convene the parliament presently. "Passing the urgent laws is necessary and the state institutions must never be disrupted," he underlined. Furthermore, Mikati said that he will visit the Vatican next month for talks with Pope Francis over the presidential file. Lashing out at the Free Patriotic Movement, he said it has become a movement of obstruction. According to Mikati, there are signs that a president of the republic will be elected soon. "There is a team who wants the country to fully deteriorate," he charged.

Mikati at launching of joint committee to implement UNSDCF: Priority is for putting Lebanon on recovery track
NNA /February 22/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, stressed the obligation of putting Lebanon back on the track of recovery, in remarks made on Wednesday during the launching of the joint committee tasked with the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), also referred to as the “Cooperation Framework” (CF), for the years 2023-2025.  "What mainly brings us together today is the transparent partnership between the Lebanese government, the UN family in Lebanon, and the donors, for the sake of the public interest and the guarantee of the Lebanese citizens' rights," said the PM. "Nowadays, Lebanon is facing a host of challenges, including the restructuring of the economic model, especially in light of the devaluation of the national currency, the lift of subsidies, the crippled social conditions, the inappropriate policies at the level of infrastructures, and the brain drain," he went on saying. "The priority of this meeting is to secure the technical and developmental support to put Lebanon back on the recovery track," he noted. "Since sustainable development is not feasible without a political stability, we urge all the leaderships and the concerned officials, once again, to cease the method of obstruction and the trade of useless political accusations," he underlined, calling the lawmakers to reach an agreement to elect a new president of the republic in order to embark on Lebanon's recovery, enact the required reforms, and finalize a deal with the International Monetary Fund.n"We thank the UN and its institutions for their continuous support for Lebanon in these very difficult days. We hope that we will soon overcome the current ordeal and that Lebanon will recover and restore its substantial presence on the global political map," Mikati concluded.

Mikati inspects National Center for Geophysics in Bhannes, affirms Grand Serail’s DRM unit “has taken all necessary measures to protect...
NNA /February 22/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Wednesday visited with an accompanying delegation the National Center for Geophysics in Bhannes, which is affiliated to the "National Council for Scientific Research". Mikati inspected the center's activity assessing seismic risks in Lebanon through scientific studies and seismic monitoring via the national network, which includes several stations spread across Lebanese territories and are linked to the main center. In addition to land and sea studies of active fault lines, Mikati was briefed on the deformations of the earth's crust, and the measurement of the tidal level using two devices, one of which is linked to the tsunami warning network in the Mediterranean. “These equipment can confirm the occurrence of an earthquake and its location to warn people, but what is certain and what science says is that no one can predict when an earthquake or tremor may occur,” Mikati said. "This visit has been an opportunity to check whether there was a shortage of equipment. I’ve also seized the opportunity to congratulate the supervisors of the center for their presence, perseverance, and follow-up on the smallest details monitoring tremors and aftershocks. The Disaster Risk Management unit has accompanied us on this visit seeking the means to establish full cooperation with this center. We’ve also agreed on the means to deal with an earthquake,” Mikati added. “The Disaster Risk Management unit has taken all the necessary measures, and it has put in place all the required mechanisms to protect citizens. We’ve agreed to conduct experiments on the ground in a number of governorates to make sure that these theories are applicable ones, coupled with our constant prayers that God spare our country from disasters,” Mikati concluded.

Mikati urges leaders to stop obstructions and accusations, elect president
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati urged Wednesday all leaders and politicians to stop the obstruction approach and the political accusations. Mikati dubbed the obstruction and accusations as "useless," adding that they have no meaning to "the people who are patiently suffering."As he launched the Joint Committee for the Implementation of the United Nations Framework, the PM hoped for the election of a new president, which he said would put Lebanon on the recovery path and prompt the required reforms. In an interview with al-Jadeed TV on Tuesday, Mikati had said that the dollar exchange rate would decline when a president is elected, and that the Lebanese pound would trade at 10,000 less against the dollar. He added that he does not regret being designated to form the government, but that he doesn't wish or seek to return to the premiership. The meeting on Wednesday aims to secure technical and developmental support to put Lebanon back on the road to recovery, Mikati said. He added that "after extensive consultations and meetings between the relevant Lebanese ministries and United Nations organizations, we have come to define priorities that will put us back on the path of sustainable development and economic and social recovery."

Mikati says seeking legal exit for Ibrahim's term extension
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati has announced that he is seeking a “legal exit” for the issue of extending the term of General Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim. “I have been asked to look for a legal exit regarding the issue of extending Maj. Gen. Ibrahim’s tenure and the search is ongoing,” Mikati said in an interview on al-Jadeed TV. And noting that he has not talked to Speaker Nabih Berri or Hezbollah about the issue, Mikati said the matter can be resolved by him and the caretaker interior minister and that the move would not require a cabinet session. Al-Akhbar newspaper meanwhile reported that “Mikati will hold a meeting at the Grand Serail with a number of judges, including Mawlawi, to seek a legal exit for extension.”

Mikati, Bou Saab clash over Egyptian gas deal
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Deputy Speaker Elias Bou Saab accused Wednesday caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati of not revealing to the Lebanese the truth about the Egyptian gas. "I did not disclose what the World Bank told me about the Egyptian gas loan, and which you haven't told the Lebanese about" Bou Saab said. "The MPs are witnesses to this," Bou Saab added. Mikati had asked, in an interview with al-Jadeed TV, why is Bou Saab interfering in the Egyptian gas file, accusing him of "bragging". "I am not used to brag," Bou Saab responded, adding that he is ready to address the issue in the media. "We know our powers and our responsibilities towards the Lebanese, as deputies, while the government is completely absent," Bou Saab said. "We MPs do not need your authorization," the lawmaker went on to say.

Judge Aoun slams Mikati's 'interference' as he urges measures against her
Naharnet/February 21/2023
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun on Wednesday told the European Parliament that caretaker PM Najib Mikati is “blatantly interfering in the judiciary,” after he called for legal measures against her. “Urgent appeal to international authorities in the European Parliament .. Mr. Mikati is interfering in a flagrant way with justice in order to stop the investigations that I am conducting in the case of banks and money laundering. For the defense of the sovereignty of law help us,” Aoun tweeted in French. She also accused Mikati of “attacking the public prosecutor's office of Mount Lebanon by asking the Minister of Interior not to execute her orders.” Mikati meanwhile called on caretaker Interior Minister Bassam al-Mawlawi to take legal measures against Aoun, accusing her of refusing to receive recusal notices and usurping power. Mawlawi later asked the Internal Security Forces and General Security not to enforce Aoun's orders.

Judge Aoun: If Al-Qard Al-Hasan is proven to be a bank, the Central Bank must take action
NNA /February 22/2023
Mount Lebanon Prosecutor Judge Ghada Aoun said, in a tweet on Wednesday, that if Al-Qard Al-Hasan is proven to be a bank and not a mere financial institution, the Central Bank mus then take the necessary legal action before the Financial Prosecution pursuant to the Code of Money and Credit. "Pertaining to the issue of Al-Qard Al-Hasan, against which I am accused of not taking any action, legal knowledge is necessary. If this institution is proven to be a bank, the Central Bank must conduct the required investigation and press charges before the Financial Prosecution pursuant to the Code of Money and Credit," she tweeted. "Those concerned are asked to act in this direction," she urged.

Third B2B event on Multifunctional Olive Systems in Lebanon emphasizes increasing interest in agroforestry
NNA /February 22/2023
The Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI), the Regional Forest Agency for Land and Environment of Sardinia (Fo.Re.S.T.A.S.) and the whole LIVINGAGRO Consortium hosted the Third B2B event on Multifunctional Olive Systems in Beirut-Lebanon on the 16th of February 2023 at the Hilton Beirut Habtoor Grand. With a strong participation exceeding 100 attendees, the event highlighted the growing interest of stakeholders in agroforestry issues, especially those related to multifunctional olive systems in the Mediterranean region.
Throughout the day, experts and acclaimed speakers from Lebanon, Italy and Greece shared their experiences and addressed various issues and innovative solutions with farmers, entrepreneurs, local administrators, researchers, private companies, policy makers and multiple stakeholders in Lebanon interested in agroforestry issues.
The Seminar
Dr. Milad El Riachy, the Coordinator of the LIVINGAGRO project for LARI, delivered the welcoming speech on behalf of Dr. Michel Afram, the General Director and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI)- Lebanon, stressing the fact that the project provides farmers with a sustainable support based on state-of-the-art innovations and scientific methods, allowing them to develop their agricultural skills and capabilities. Dr. El Riachy invited farmers to reach out to experts through the ICT Platform created for this purpose allowing e-farmers to find information about all initiatives and research conducted by LARI and the other international partners in the framework of the LIVINGAGRO project.
In his turn, Dr. Peter Moubarak, the Project Manager for LARI, presented the achievements of the project during the last three years passing through the field trials, field visits, e-learning modules, previous B2B events and much more activities.
Dr. Antonio Casula, Director General of Forestas-Italy welcomed participants to the event, while Dr. Maurizio Malloci, Director of Technical Service of Forestas-Italy and project coordinator, presented an overview of Forestas’ ongoing efforts for cross-border cooperation with Mediterranean partner countries through several European funded projects. Also speaking on behalf of Forestas- Italy, the Project Manager Dr. Sara Maltoni underlined the fruitful cooperation among the countries taking part in the LIVINGAGRO project and the achieved results, among which the building of two Living Laboratory for Agroforestry Systems, namely Multifunctional Olive Systems (MOS) and Grazed Woodlands. In her speech, Dr. Maltoni emphasized the importance of agroforestry to face the challenges of climate change, affirming the role of the living laboratory as an open innovation environment aiming to support farmers and create interaction between stakeholders through ground-breaking technologies to increase the technology transfer of innovations in this field. She invited all attendees to join the LIVINGAGRO ICT Platform at the link https://livingagrolab.eu/ and Register to be part of the cross border living laboratories.
After this short introduction to the project, it was time for the presentation of the innovations in the field of MOS.
Prof. Theodore Tsiligiridis, Professor of Information and Communication Technology at the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece, presented the FuitFlyNet-ii Project as an innovation working on an automated monitoring and control system against the olive fly and Mediterranean fruit fly.
Dr. Claudio Porqueddu from the CNR-ISPAAM- Italy, tackled the benefits and objectives of using innovative legume-based mixtures as cover crops. These include achieving sustainable soil management, preventing soil erosion, reducing the use of pesticides and fertilizers, improving carbon sequestration while retaining olive oil production.
Dr. Milad El Riachy focused on the “Time Domain-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance” (TD-NMR) as a useful tool to determine the oil content in olive paste. According to Dr. El Riachy, “the methods used today are very expensive and time-consuming, in addition to the problem caused by the large quantities of chemicals used that pollute the environment. Therefore, the TD-NMR offers a new alternative to determine the oil content in olive fruits in a short and cost effective way. Dr. El Riachy pointed out that this innovation depends on the absorption of radiofrequency radiation by an atomic nucleus in an intense magnetic field.
Dr. Andrea Pisanelli from the CNR-IRET in Italy, joined online to describe the traditional practice of using cover crops and green manure systems (olive pruning residues) as a sustainable and environmentally friendly model in agroforestry, emphasizing its ability to support olive cultivation, provide fodder for grazing animals in times of forage shortage, ultimately offering a sustainable method that provides social, economic and environmental benefits by improving soil fertility, providing natural habitat for beneficial organisms and reducing the cost of production mainly by reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides.
Dr. Antonio Brunori Director of PEFC -Italy presented a study on the marketing and expansion of agroforestry systems through the Pan European Forest Certification Program (PEFC). Dr. Brunori stated that this initiative is led by an international non-governmental non-profit organization, dedicated to promoting sustainable forest management through independent third-party certification and has recently developed a standard specifically addressed to Agroforestry Systems, as a way to address market needs for sustainably managed systems.
Dr. Luciana Baldoni from CNR-IBBR- Italy, discussed the effects of climate change on olive orchards revealing an exploration methodology to identify and test climate-adapted and stress-tolerant olive varieties, calling for a wide survey at the regional level within traditional olive orchards, possibly including old trees.
Prof. Prokopios Magiatis from the National and Kapodistrian University- Greece, introduced the Olive Predictor, a device consisting of a mini press that includes a small mill, a mini mixer and a centrifugal system capable of producing a sufficient amount of oil. This predictor helps to make the best choice of harvesting time, aiming to achieve the best compromise in terms of quantity and quality.
Dr. Abdel Kader El Hajj from LARI-Lebanon discussed the results of a two-years experiment carried out within the LIVINGAGRO project to assess green manure and cover crops effects on soil characteristics and olive orchard productivity in the town of Abra (south Lebanon). Dr. El Hajj presented details of the experiment, highlighting the land problems and how it benefited from the cover crops and agroforestry methods.
Open Discussion
Following the event’s schedule, attendees had the opportunity to participate in open discussions through Q&A with experts and representatives of the LIVINGAGRO consortium, focusing on how to implement or further develop the innovations in their farms or research labs, and how to maintain the productivity of the system by using state-of-the-art scientific methods and innovations.
Answering the attendees' questions, Dr. Andrea Pisanelli encouraged farmers to adopt new spraying methods and to regulate the quantity of chemicals used in a way that does not damage the crop used by animals, stressing the importance of animal grazing in olive orchards to eliminate bad weeds.
Dr. Luciana Baldoni highlighted the new strategies pursued in olive growing, and the need to continually improve the search of traditional varieties and olive germplasm suited for a changing environment. In her discussion Dr. Baldoni underscored the necessity to identify the human skills and traditional knowledge that play an active role in improving the quantity and quality of oil.
Dr. Milad El Riachy called for the introduction of new technologies, but he expressed concern regarding the high cost of these technologies, which prevents their use by farmers due to the financial hardship experienced today in Lebanon.
Prof. Theodore Tsiligiridis stated that “farmers are looking for direct support and easy-to-apply solutions and not for guidance about the appropriate solution, and this is wrong because we have to find an integrated solution”. He explained that first we need to study the site where to plant, the time required for planting, and what types of pesticides to use, and all of this must precede the choice of technology that we want to use.
On the sidelines
On the sidelines of the event, Dr. Sara Maltoni underscored the value of the LIVINGAGRO consortium and the professional organization of the LARI team, and its importance to help farmers facing challenges in Lebanon. She praised the existing cooperation between Lebanon and Italy in the agroforestry field, stressing that Lebanon is always highly devoted to conducting research, developing agricultural methods and helping farmers implement all new innovations despite the crisis the country is going through, and this indicates perseverance, strength and value of knowledge sharing.
Dr. Peter Moubarak, National Director of the LIVINGAGRO project noted that the response to the event was great and increased significantly, pointing out that the high number of registrations exceeded expectations. Dr. Moubarak explained that farmers aim to increase the production and reduce costs, that’s why they are interested in issues related to the implementation of new techniques and methods. These topics are raised in workshops, where farmers can benefit, mainly, from the exchange of experiences with national and international experts, the research presented on the platform, and the exposure they get to new technologies.
Participants to the Third B2B event on Multifunctional Olive Systems, expressed their gratitude for this workshop, affirming that it will contribute to enhancing their knowledge in the scope of agroforestry work. Elie-Nazih Hedwane, project manager at Jouzour Loubnan, explained that the association works to preserve forest wealth and all existing biodiversity, hence their interest in agroforestry and this event to help farmers. According to Hedwane, benefiting from such a workshop “means that we are on the path toward a better development of our agriculture, and the implementation of new technologies and important innovations… awareness is not enough, the farmer needs encouragement to go through a new experience”. Hedwane pointed out the existence of “a cooperation with the French Association of Agroforestry and this cooperation will expand to other agriculture”. As for Youssef Bouezz, a farmer who owns an olive orchard, he affirmed that the interest in the LIVINGAGRO project stems from his aim to develop his agricultural system in an integrated manner and implement new scientific methods that could help him increase production and expand the marketing area. He believes that the cover crops topic, which was discussed during this workshop, will help to reduce the cost of production and the consumption of chemicals.
The Cross Border Living Laboratories for Agroforestry (LIVINGAGRO) project is co-funded by the European Union through the ENI CBC Med Programme 2014 – 2020 and implemented in Italy, Greece, Lebanon and Jordan. The project aims to support education, research and development, innovation, and technology transfer, including sharing of research results, by establishing two Living Labs, one for multifunctional olive systems (Living Lab 1) and the other for grazed woodlands (Living Lab 2).
For more information on the project, please contact: mraichy@lari.gov.lb

Lebanese economy should benefit from maritime border deal with Israel: US envoy
Ali Younis/Arab News/February 22, 2023
WASHINGTON: With the success of the US-brokered maritime border agreement with Israel, Lebanon could be on the path to economic recovery, said Amos Hochstein, US special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security.
Hochstein, the primary mediator of the agreement, was speaking at an event on Wednesday organized by the US institute of Peace in Washington D.C. and attended by Arab News.
Israel and Lebanon signed the agreement on Oct. 27, 2022. It aimed to end a dispute over maritime boundaries between the two countries in the eastern Mediterranean region where oil and natural gas have been discovered in recent years.
“The agreement at its core is a boundary agreement, not an energy agreement,” said Hochstein, adding that it created legally and internationally recognized maritime borders between the two countries.
Lebanon and Israel are officially still in a state of war ever since the latter’s establishment in 1948.
Hochstein said the agreement gives Lebanon the rights to the Qana gas field, which has not yet been explored.
However, he added that Israel has a “fair right to some of the gas” because parts of the field extend beyond the agreed-upon boundary.
Israel agreed in the deal that a consortium led by French energy company Total will buy its share of discovered gas.
Hochstein described the negotiations as complex because both countries have no formal ties and do not deal with each other directly, and therefore had to sign separate agreements with the US and with the consortium.
Therefore, he said, “the maritime agreement isn’t just one agreement, it’s multiple separate agreements.”
He added that what helped make it possible after years of failed attempts were new political and economic conditions on the ground in both countries, especially Lebanon.
Hochstein said Lebanon suffers from a severe economic crisis, lacks proper energy infrastructure and has very limited electricity output, which created public pressure on the ruling elite.
He added that Israel has ample supplies of natural gas it extracts from other fields, especially the neighboring Karish field in the Mediterranean, which provides its economy with cheap electricity. What motivated Israel to sign the deal is its political and security considerations, he said.
Hochstein highlighted some of the positive steps Lebanon has taken regarding some of the economic reforms recommended by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, which would help attract foreign investors in the aftermath of the maritime agreement with Israel. He said one of the benefits of the deal is that it creates an economic and political environment for international companies such as Total to invest in Lebanon.
As an example, he said when one member of the international consortium that is supposed to explore gas in the Qana field left, Qatar quickly joined the consortium in its place.
Hochstein added that the US-sponsored regional agreement to supply Lebanon with gas and electricity from Egypt and Jordan via Syria is ready, and Lebanon can benefit from it immediately once its domestic bureaucratic and political hurdles are removed.
“It could flow into Lebanon tomorrow,” he said, adding that the country needs to think more about establishing a renewable energy infrastructure that would give it energy security and more electricity.
He said the government should mandate every new building to have some measure of rooftop solar energy.

Lebanon’s never-ending natural and human-made disasters
Mohamed Chebaro/Arab News/February 22, 2023
The people living in Lebanon, like those in Syria, Turkiye and across the Eastern Mediterranean, have been feeling the tremors and aftershocks of the earthquakes that have struck the region over the last two weeks. Though the season of natural tremors seems to be unrelenting, the Lebanese have also been regularly waking up to developments that are human-made, which have been rocking their daily lives amid the constant spiraling descent of the country into the political, economic and social abyss.
When renewed tremors were felt in the capital Beirut on Monday evening, people used the stairs to escape the buildings they live in and rushed to open spaces. They did not need reminders from the civil defense agency not to use the lifts, as they rarely see the supply to the power grid connected. The lifts stand idle or rely on expensive ad hoc generator supply, costing households between $100 and $300 per month to get 10 to 12 hours of electrical supply daily, as the country’s treasury often has no funds to buy fuel to power its electricity generation.
Like most responsible governments, the Lebanese authorities ought to rush to inspect any damage to critical infrastructure as a result of the two weeks of tremors felt in various parts of the country. But most municipalities and public works sectors lack the necessary access to fuel and funds to carry out their critical missions. Every family in Lebanon has a small bag packed with passports, essential paperwork and deeds of ownership, if they are lucky, as well as money to see them through in case things take a turn for the worse. These bags recently had to be modified, as the devalued Lebanese lira meant that families had to resort to larger bags to hold extra banknotes due to the currency’s meager value. It continues to hit record lows against the US dollar, with $1 now worth about 82,000 lira.
The earthquakes may not have hit Lebanon directly, but the suffering felt in the country as a result of the political void and stalemate are too great for any citizen to withstand. Banks this month decided to close their doors in protest after many court investigations resumed that could destroy a sector that has long been part of Lebanon’s many prosperity tools, despite the sector’s many shortcomings.
In Lebanon nowadays, people are no longer scared of earthquakes, as families throughout the country bear the brunt of the crisis. They suffer from the incredible rise in the cost of living, ballooning inflation and a lack of employment, while teachers and nurses are not earning enough to afford to reach their places of work, with many relying on handouts to subsist.
Any rescue plans to deal with the impact of the many human-made earthquakes that have battered Lebanon for several years now are handicapped by the ongoing political stalemate and the failure of the political elite to agree on a vision to run the country amid a local and regional alignment that has resulted in a void in the upper echelons of power. Lebanon continues to fail to elect a president of the republic and the caretaker government lacks the necessary constitutional and operational powers to fill the void. The parliament, meanwhile, has merely been tasked with the simple act of sitting in sessions dedicated to electing a president. However, it often lacks a quorum or some of its members prefer to vote with a blank piece of paper as a means to apply pressure and impose their preferred candidate.
The horizon is crowded with challenges and adversities for what is left of Lebanon’s sovereign independent state and its divided society.
The root causes of the human-made earthquake in Lebanon — a formerly middle-income country — are, by the admission of senior politicians themselves, the decades of profligate spending and corruption that led the financial system, the main lender to the state, to collapse. Even before the latest wave of natural tremors, three out of four Lebanese experienced stress “a lot of the day,” which is a new high after 16 years of pollster Gallup measuring this trend. In the same poll, 63 percent of Lebanese adults said they would like to leave the country permanently.
Many Lebanese have been living on family remittances of about $200 per month, along with handouts from ever-dwindling charity cash, leaving them unable to send their children to school, access healthcare or medicine, or afford more than one meal a day, with even that often donated by local charitable organizations.
Lebanon’s crisis continues to deepen with every day that its leadership and ruling parties fail to pass the reforms agreed with the International Monetary Fund last April, which are required to unlock billions of dollars in aid.
While the country awaits a new-found lifeline following the demarcation of its maritime border with Israel, giving it access to a Mediterranean gas field, basic state services have crumbled, subsidies on almost all goods have been removed and tens of thousands of Lebanese have left the country in the biggest emigration wave since the civil war of 1975-1990.
The World Bank has dubbed the situation in Lebanon a “deliberate depression” orchestrated by political and financial elites, which have managed to deflate the initial public pressure for reform that peaked during the 2019 protests and totally subsided after the August 2020 Beirut port blast. The parties that have ruled for decades still took the vast majority of seats in last year’s parliamentary elections.
Earthquakes destroy and kill. The Lebanese have long accepted their country’s fate of being on numerous geological, political, economic and religious fault lines, which have led to deadly direct and indirect tremors. The latest shocks and aftershocks, both natural and man-made, only pile more uncertainties on to the Lebanese, who have been using all their ingenuity to survive. The horizon is crowded with challenges and adversities for what is left of Lebanon’s sovereign independent state and its divided society.
• Mohamed Chebaro is a British-Lebanese journalist, media consultant and trainer with more than 25 years of experience covering war, terrorism, defense, current affairs and diplomacy.

Arabists & the Arabic Civilization!!!
Edmond El Chidiac/February 22/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/76788/%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%85%d9%88%d9%86-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b4%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a7%d9%82-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d9%86%d9%81%d8%b5%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%86-%d9%88%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a5%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%8a-2/
Introduction
Long before the establishment of “Grand Lebanon” in 1920, the Arabists were aggressively and viciously fighting to annihilate Lebanon’s distinguishable identity, eradicate its national memory, brainwash its new generations history wise, forge Lebanon’s rich, deeply rooted history and sabotage its unique pluralistic, mosaic and multi-cultural society.
The prime objectives of the Arabists’ ongoing cultural venomous scheme against the entity of Lebanon and its rich pluralism have always been crystal clear, especially during the last six years. The current scheme is extremely frantic, accusative, and intimidating in its theme and treacherous nature.
At the present time, the scheme is evilly portrayed through an ongoing debate revolving around the state’s “history book” that is still in preparation. This book will be adopted by Lebanon’s official educational curricula and taught in its schools. The Arabists have been forging the contents of this book in a bid to hide Lebanon’s actual history and portray the barbaric and savage Arabic occupation as an act of public re-liberation of a stolen country.
The Arabists and state of Lebanon
The Arabists, known also as unionists, have been, and still are, endeavoring laboriously with bold persistence and tunnel vision mentality to force their Arabism doctrine on Lebanon’s pluralistic, multi-ethnic communities. They are committing this assault on the account of the many deeply rooted civilizations that compose Lebanon’s pluralistic rich society. They justify these hostile, immoral acts by banners of fate, unity, language, life courses and even religion.
From day one since the Arabic occupation of Lebanon, the Arabists have been infringing on the Lebanese people’s rights and aggressively attempting to impose the doctrine of Arabism on them. These attempts have been taking numerous forms and changeable courses. By the end of the Ottoman era they carried their scheme under the pretext of fighting the”Turkeyiazation”, and after that under the flag of battling imperialism, occupation, Zionism and the safeguard of unity between the Near East and North Africa that they tagged as the “Arabic world”.
The Arabists who refuse to recognize tolerance toward other cultures and religious faiths do not honor any kind of civilized argument or debate. In their own narrow concepts, everybody else must adopt blindly the Arabism doctrine and blindly believe in the faith of all its principles and obligations, or otherwise those others are fascist, separatists, isolationists, Zionists and collaborators.
The Arabists have staunchly rejected the declaration of “Grand Lebanon” in 1920 due to the fact that they were longing for Lebanon’s unity with Syria and then for a a comprehensive unity of all the Arabic countries.
The Arabists’ rejection of the “Grand Lebanon” state was expressed in their hostile boycotting of the 1922 State’s General Census. They boldly and openly abstained from registering themselves in this census and refused to recognize and carry an identity card that says they are Lebanese citizens, as stated by Mohammed Jamil Bayham in his book (The Political Conflicts in Lebanon, page 12). Bayham added: “They carried on their boycotting, until General Goro convinced them to end it, after which he took off the lower section of the identity card that denoted its holder is Lebanese”.
Is the Arab Unity viable
In the early sixties, Mohammed Hassanaen Haikal, the well-known Egyptian journalist, paid a visit to the respectable Lebanese historian, Jawad Boulous and listened to his views on Arabic unity. Boulous, who opposed such unity, reminded his guest with the two setbacks in this unity realm. He reminded him of Mohammed Ali’s attempt that failed in Egypt and that of Jamal Abdel Nasser’s contemporary Egyptian-Syrian unity that ended with a bloody military Syrian coup d’état in 1961.
Why both Arabic unity attempts were nipped in the bud.
Both attempts were a failure due to many vital elements that were ignored. For example, the emotional and enthusiastic Egyptian-Syrian unity took place under the influence of language and religion, but afterwards could not hold on in the face of geographical and historical solid factors.
At the present time, what makes a political and military unity between Arab states impossible lies in the strong rejection of the people of these countries to abandon their freedom and independence for another country, even to a brotherly Arabic one. Their rejection stems from historic hardships, humiliation and oppression that they have experienced through eras of foreign occupation and hegemony to their countries.
The majority of the Middle East countries–ie., Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, and the Arabic Peninsula–form a big oasis where they are separated from each other by vast deserts. Some of these deserts comprise small oases that are inhibited by nomads (Bedouins). This geographical formation not only rendered the Arab countries’ unity–or at least some of them–difficult, but definitely makes it impossible politically and even socially on a voluntary basis. The deserts that are natural obstacles have hindered such unity, while there are no means of transpiration even among those neighboring Arabic countries.
These factors are among many other vital ones that have prevented any partial or complete unity of the Arab countries in one state all through history, except for very short intervals and only via military means. On the other side the separation has always been a trend every time the power that united these countries was weakened.
As a pretax for man-made laws and for their political, economical and social procedures to be successful, they ought to perfectly match and appeal to the environment’s needs and take into consideration the society’s natural inclinations where they are going to be implemented and adopted.
Meanwhile social changes that are enforced through decrees–mostly made by oppressive, shortsighted politicians–always end in disaster. History teaches us that nations are not reformed or changed merely by laws, but through their peoples’ faith, hard work and freedom of choice.
Facts that should be known
The unilateral rigid concepts in the domains of civilizations, ethnicities, cultures, history, religions, etc. are bold infringements on the freedom that Almighty God has granted to man and an underestimation of man’s intelligence. These sickening concepts contradict the pluralism, multi-cultural and mosaic bases on which the Lebanese state and other free world democratic countries, like Canada, USA, Australia, etc. were established.
Pluralism calls for the respect of differences in ethnicities, religions, cultures and civilizations. It calls for the kind of societies where respect among people is mutual and tolerance is honored as well as equality, freedom and democracy. It calls for no dominance of majorities over minorities on the bases of religion, culture or ethnicity.
It is worth mentioning that the so-called Arabic civilization does not have the needed elements required to eliminate other civilizations and replace them through enforced biased laws, especially when many of the Eastern civilizations are historically deeply rooted and have been solidly established through thousands of years.
The prime aim of this editorial is to amend many of the derailed, thwarted social, religious and ethnic concepts derived from an environment that bizarrely philosophizes its awkwardness and attempts to impose it on others. These stone-aged Arabists brag about a mirage civilization that has no solid foundations except in myths that they have fabricated and spread.
Realities and facts
1- More than 20% of the Arab countries’ inhabitants are not Muslims and have no inferiority complexes in regard to their ancestries’ attribution to Qoraiesh. They are fully aware of the numerous realities of their history prior to the Arabic conquest. They call on their Arabic brothers in Lebanon and other Near East countries to respect the non Arabic-Muslim cultures and the history of other peoples in the region since there is no logic or fairness in ignoring more than 7,000 years of history and civilization that prevailed in the Near East countries and its vicinity.
Meanwhile forged and manipulated history, culture and traditions that the Arabists are attempting to force on Lebanon and its neighboring countries are mere infringements on human rights. They will not hold because they are solely based on fanaticism, hatred, awkwardness and rejection of others. We strongly believe that Islam as a religion has nothing to do with these infringements, while those who carry their flags are not following the teachings of this religion.
2- If all Arabs are Muslims, it is a mistake to allege that all Muslims are Arabs. No one can deny the Pharaohian roots of the Egyptians, the Sumaric-Assyrian and Chaldean roots of the Iraqis, the Persian roots of the Iranians and the Barbarian root of the Libyans, Algerians and Tunisians. Most importantly, who can deny the Phoenician roots of the Lebanese, including many of Lebanon’s Muslim population.
It is worth mentioning that the percentage of those with Arabic roots among the peoples living in the so-called Arabic countries does not exceed 10%, while the majority of those who say they are Arabs stem from emotional and religious affiliations and not from ethnic or historical realities and facts.
Here is what the historian Dr. Philip Hitti has stated in his book (The history of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, second edition, pages 88, 89 and 96): “The numbers of the Arabic Army that conquered Syria were around twenty thousand. The numbers of the Muslim and Arab soldiers during the reign of Merwan the First (684-685) were twenty thousand, as documented in the “Dewan Al Jond” records in Homs and its vicinity. Their numbers during Al-Walid’s reign (705-715) were forty-five thousand in Damascus and its adjuncts”.
Based on these figures, the number of Muslims in Syria in the first century after the conquest could not have exceeded two hundred thousand of the total estimated population of three and half million. Meanwhile the majority of Lebanon’s inhabitants remained Aramaics who came from Phoenician descendents. A minority of Bedouins (nomads) were scattered all around.
3- According to the Qur’an, Arabs are the descendents of Ishmael who was Abraham’s son. Abraham was Aramaic, according to the Old Testament statement in the Bible in (Deuteronomy 26-5: “Then, in the LORD’s presence you will recite these words, ‘My ancestor was a wandering Aramean”)
Abraham lived in Haran (North East Aleppo, located at the present time in Turkey). His origin was from the Chaldean Or in Iraq. Ishmael, who escaped with his mother Haggar, is an Aramean according to both the Bible and the Qur’an. He came from outside the Arabic Peninsula and his descendents have the same roots.
Based on these facts, those who allege to be of an Arabic origin are required to review the Holy Books and recognize that the Aramaic civilization represents them, or otherwise they would be contradicting these Holy Books that clearly delineate their ancestry.
4- The Arabic civilization as a productive, genuine and creative entity does not actually exist due to the fact that it is merely a transcribing one. It copied from the Aramaic civilization, and then it was detached and isolated in the dry desert that destroyed its components. Later on it was revived religiously by the emerging of Islam, but not as a civilization. Meanwhile the civilizations that Islam oppressed have molded the Arabic civilization and have given it their marvelous creativity and form.
The great Lebanese historian Jawad Bolous delineates this fact in his book (“Great transformations in the Near East History- in the third printing, page 158-160) he states: “In an inclusive sense, there is no absolute and pure Arabic civilization. The Islamic civilization during the first “Abasi era”, that by some was called, an Arabic civilization, was in fact an Eastern, Islamic one that used the Arabic language. The Arabic civilization was founded and colored by writers, authors, scientists, doctors, philosophers, scholars, theologians and artists, most of whom came from non-Arabic ancestries”.
These facts were also stressed by the Lebanese historian Dr. Philip Hitti in his book, (The Arab, a Summarized History- in pages 76-77) he says: “The Arabs’ conquest of the Fertile Crescent, Persia and Egypt made them own the most ancient centers of civilization in the world. They borrowed (learned) science and arts from them; e.g., building, philosophy, medicine, mathematics, literature and governing knowledge, as they had nothing of all of these. With the help of their brothers–from the inhabitants of the conquest countries–the Arabs were able to learn from and invest in their intellectual and educational heritage and shape them to match their mentality”.
Dr. Hitti continues to say: “Accordingly the ‘Arabic’ civilization, was not Arabic in its origin, or in its basic formation, nor in its major national characteristics. The input of the genuine Arabs in this civilization did not exceed the language knowledge and some religious facets. The Arabic – Islamic civilization was basically Aramaic, Greek and Persian. It evolved and progressed under the Qalifa’s flag and expressed itself through an Arabic tongue. The Arabic civilization was in fact a logical continuation for the ancient deeply rooted Semitic civilization that was founded by the Babylonians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Arameans and Hebrews.”
Based on all of the above we can conclude that this civilization was not Arabic, except in its name, but actually was an Islamic one that stuck to an Arabic name due to the fact that Islam’s language was and is still Arabic. Even the progress of this civilization that reached its peak in the ninth and tenth century was proportional in comparison with that of the West which was drawn into its ages of darkness (the Middle ages).
For all of the above reasons, and for many others that could not be addressed in this editorial, we call on the Arabists:
1- To use logic and abide by the Human Rights’ basic principle of tolerance before imposing their “Arabic personality” on others. Meanwhile there is no shame if this personality is tailored to their own size and to match their ambitions, but the shame lies in acts of forcing its limitations and restrictions on others while they claim to honor openness and respect for other civilizations.
2- To restrain themselves from using and abusing the Islamic religion in their irresponsible and bizarre acts, as well as in their fantasies and day dreaming strategies revolving around Arabism. They are also required to abstain from forcing their stone-aged ideologies on others in the name of the Islamic religion when in fact this religion is innocent from all these heretic acts.
Historically Arabists and those akin to them have been the worst enemies of the Muslim faith that advocates freedom of choice in matters of religion in the Qur’an. While Almighty God has given man freedom of choice in regard to religion, how could anyone justify the Arabists’ ongoing military war to force certain civilizations on others. One wonders if these Arabists are wiser in their own eyes than God’s prophets and angels!!!
The Balanco civilization
We advise the Arabists and all those who advocate for a Lebanese-Syrian unity on the bases of brotherhood and comprehensive Arabic unity to confer first with families of thousands of Lebanese innocent citizens from all denominations and ideologists whose loved ones were either kidnapped, arbitrarily detained, oppressed, humiliated, sent into exile, tortured or brutally murdered by the Syrian Baathist regime and their Lebanese, Palestinian, Irani and Arabic proxies during the past thirty years.
It would be fair, very informative and extremely helpful for those advocates, those akin to them and for all Lebanese people to know how in the name of Arabism, Arabic civilization and Arabic unity, hundreds of Lebanese villages, towns and cities were savagely destroyed, and how many thousands of innocent Lebanese citizens were murdered under these same pretenses. The only crime that all these unfortunate courageous Lebanese have committed is their longing for freedom, peace, equality, democracy, respect of their human rights and the liberation of their occupied beloved country, Lebanon from Syrian and other foreign occupiers.
The Arabists’ Balanco civilization of one religion, one civilization, one ideology, torture, murder, assassinations, oppression, infringements on other civilizations, discrimination and lack of tolerance is not the kind of civilization the majority of the Lebanese multi-cultural and pluralistic communities would welcome and hale.
NB: Translated by Elias Bejjani

Petition/To: European Parliment and ICC
https://petitions.eko.org/petitions/lebanese-people-stand-with-her-honour-judge-ghada-aoun?source=facebook-share-button&time=1677087861&utm_source=facebook&share=2a60d7e1-0853-4692-ba9a-94610927aaef&fbclid=IwAR3aK8-ErQKtnpNFO8t4_ZAUinsUdkPqKDuMAbNnONK3FUUWHdaAoCNhN4M
Lebanese People stand with her Honour Judge Ghada Aoun
Her honour Judge Ghada Aoun, has been investigating serious money laundering cases, high level corruption and major fraud cases committed by Lebanese political figures, local and international mafia and banking industry.
The political figures in Lebanon have been trying to stop her and mislead the investigation. The last action committee today by corrupt prime minister Najeeb Mikati and his gang, he ordered all security forces to ignore Her Honours orders and investigation and set her authority on the side. Another angle of attack was from her own corrupt legal system who are trying to cast her as a rebel.
We ask European Union and Parliment to stand with Her honour Judge Ghada Aoun in any way possible. Thank you
Why is this important?
The life of her honour is in stake as well as the investigation of major corruption and fraud by high end political figures will be erased.
How it will be delivered
This petition will be delivered by electronic mail go ICC and EU parliament
Ekō will protect your privacy, and keep you updated about this and similar campaigns. You can opt out of receiving our messages at any time. Just go to our unsubscribe page. By entering your details you confirm that you are 16 or older.
Lebanon

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on February 22-23/2023
Benjamin Netanyahu preparing for ‘attack on Iranian nuclear installations’
Campbell MacDiarmid/The Telegraph/February 22/2023
Benjamin Netanyahu is preparing for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear installations in a series of secret high-level meetings with senior defence officials, according to a leaked report.
Mr Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has held five meetings with his defence chiefs, intelligence officials and the head of Mossad to discuss a potential strike on Iran’s nuclear programme, Channel 12 reported on Tuesday.
While Israel does not typically announce strikes in advance, it has consistently messaged its concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, suggesting the leak could be a deliberate signal from the Israeli government to compel Western allies to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons. Israel is believed to have carried out regular attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities and staff, but never admits responsibility. Israel has reportedly shared its secret plans with the United States and France, warning them it will act alone if the international community will not provide support. Details of the meetings emerged a day after Mr Netanyahu said on Tuesday: “The only thing that has ever stopped rogue nations from developing nuclear weapons is a credible military threat or a credible military action. A necessary condition and often a sufficient condition is credible military action. The longer you wait, the harder that becomes. We’ve waited very long.”
Mr Netanyahu has long claimed that Iran’s nuclear programme poses an existential threat to Israel, though Tehran maintains it does not seek atomic weapons and that its research is for peaceful purposes.
Israel opposes world powers renewing a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran from which former US president Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018. Since then Iran has steadily reduced its compliance with the agreement, and talks have stalled over reviving the agreement between Tehran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany. While the Iran nuclear deal limited the purity to which Tehran could enrich uranium to 3.67 per cent, by April 2021 it was enriching to 60 per cent. Last week, Bloomberg news reported that the UN nuclear watchdog had detected uranium enriched to 84 per cent purity at an Iranian nuclear facility, close to weapons grade. On Monday, a spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation described the presence of any enriched material above 60 percent as “an anomaly”. “So far, we have not made any attempt to enrich above 60 per cent,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, in remarks published by state news agency IRNA. “The presence of particles above 60 per cent enrichment does not mean production with an enrichment above 60 per cent.”
‘Ambiguities’
On Wednesday, Iran’s nuclear chief Mohammed Eslami said inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog were in Tehran resolving any “ambiguities”. “Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency are in Tehran and have been starting negotiations, visits and checks. Ambiguities created by an inspector are being resolved,” Mr Eslami said, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency. These claims were contradicted however by Hossein Amirabdollahian, the Iranian foreign minister, who said that officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency would visit Tehran in the coming days. “We hope that IAEA Director Grossi will reach an agreement with Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation from a non-political and technical standpoint,” Mr Amirabdollahian said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought to acquire an atomic bomb,” he added.

10 Palestinians killed, scores hurt in Israel West Bank raid
JERUSALEM (AP)/Wed, February 22, 2023
Israeli forces on Wednesday stormed into a major Palestinian city in the occupied West Bank for a rare daylight arrest raid, triggering a fierce gunbattle that killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded scores of others. It was one of the bloodiest battles in nearly a year of fighting in the West Bank and east Jerusalem and raised the likelihood of further bloodshed. Israeli police said they were on heightened alert, while the Hamas militant group in Gaza said its patience was “running out.” Islamic Jihad, another militant group, vowed to retaliate.
Among the dead were two Palestinian men, ages 72 and 61, and a 16-year-old boy, according to health officials. The four-hour operation left a broad swath of damage in a centuries-old marketplace in Nablus. In one emotional scene, an overwhelmed medic pronounced a man dead, only to notice the lifeless patient was his father. An amateur video showed two men, apparently unarmed, being shot as they ran in the street. Israel has been carrying out stepped-up arrest raids of wanted militants in the West Bank since a series of deadly Palestinian attacks in Israel last spring.
Israeli officials liken these operations to “mowing the lawn,” saying they are necessary to prevent a difficult situation from turning worse. But the raids have shown few signs of slowing the violence, and in cases like Wednesday's operation, they raise the likelihood of reprisals.
The Israeli military said it entered Nablus, the West Bank’s commercial center, to arrest three militants suspected in previous shooting attacks. The main suspect was wanted in the killing of an Israeli soldier last fall.
The military usually conducts raids at night in what it says is a tactic meant to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. But military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said forces moved quickly after intelligence services tracked down the men in a hideout. Hecht said that Israeli forces surrounded the building and asked the men to surrender, but instead they opened fire. One militant who tried to flee the building was shot and killed. He said the military then fired missiles at the house, flattening the building and killing the other two men.
At the same time, he said troops that had set up an outside perimeter came under heavy fire, setting off an intense gunfight. The military said others hurled rocks and explosives at the troops, and officials released a video taken from inside an armored vehicle as crowds of Palestinian youths pelted it with stones. There were no Israeli casualties.
The influx of wounded overwhelmed the city’s Najah Hospital, said Ahmad Aswad, the head nurse of the cardiology department.
The 36-year-old medic told The Associated Press that he saw many patients shot in the chest, head and thighs. “They shot to kill,” he said.
In a moment he said will haunt him, he and a colleague carefully extracted a bullet from a 61-year-old man’s heart. After the chaos subsided and they pronounced their patient dead, they calmed down enough to look at the man’s face. It was his colleague’s father, 61-year-old Abdelaziz Ashqar. His colleague, Elias Ashqar, was overcome and went silent. “It didn’t feel like we were in reality,” Aswad said.
In the Old City of Nablus, people stared at the rubble that had been a large home in the centuries-old marketplace. From one end to the other, shops were riddled with bullets. Parked cars were crushed. Blood stained the cement ruins. Furniture from the destroyed home was scattered among mounds of debris. Time-stamped security footage widely shared online appeared to show two unarmed young men running down a street. Gunshots are heard, and both fall to the ground, with one’s hat flying off his head. Hecht called the video “problematic,” and said the military was looking into it.
The Palestinian Health Ministry pronounced 10 people dead, including Ashqar and a 72-year-old man. Various Palestinian militant groups claimed six of the dead — including the three targeted in the raid — as members. There was no immediate word on whether the others belonged to armed groups. As the bodies were paraded through the crowd on stretchers, thousands of people packed the streets, chanting in support of the militants. Masked men fired into the air.
Israel’s police force said it was beefing up security in the West Bank and east Jerusalem in anticipation of violence.
Last month, Israeli troops killed 10 people in a similar raid in the northern West Bank. In response, Palestinian militants fired rockets from Gaza. The following day, a lone Palestinian gunman opened fire near a synagogue in an east Jerusalem settlement, killing seven people.
Days later, five Palestinian militants were killed in an Israeli arrest raid elsewhere in the West Bank. That was followed by a Palestinian car ramming that killed three Israelis, including two young brothers, in Jerusalem. The fighting comes at a sensitive time, less than two months after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new hard-line government took office. The government is dominated by ultranationalists who have pushed for tougher action against Palestinian militants and vowed to entrench Israeli rule in the occupied West Bank. Israeli media have quoted top security officials as expressing concern that this could lead to even more violence as the Muslim holy month of Ramadan approaches. The Cabinet includes a number of West Bank settler leaders, one of whom has been promised authority over settlement construction. In a move that could further raise tensions, Yesha, the settlement council, announced that Israeli planning officials had granted approval to nearly 2,000 new homes in settlements across the West Bank. There was no immediate confirmation from the government, but an announcement was expected Thursday after a planning committee wrapped up a two-day meeting.
The Palestinians and most of the international community say settlements built on occupied lands are illegal and obstacles to peace. Over 700,000 settlers now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by the Palestinians for a future state. The Israeli decision comes in the wake of a U.N. presidential statement that strongly criticized settlements.
The U.S. blocked what would have been a stronger, legally binding council resolution. American diplomats claimed to have extracted an Israeli pledge to halt unilateral action to block the resolution. The approval of new settlements by Israel would appear to undermine that claim.At the U.N., Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the Israeli operation “deeply concerning” and said the situation “is at its most combustible in years.” He called for stepped-up efforts to restore calm.
The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, called on the international community "to put an end to these massacres against our people.”In the Gaza Strip, Abu Obeda, a spokesman for the ruling Hamas militant group, issued a veiled threat.
“The resistance in Gaza is observing the enemy’s escalating crimes against our people in the occupied West Bank, and its patience is running out,” he said. Late Wednesday, Palestinian activists burned tires along Gaza’s frontier with Israel in protest.
Hamas has battled Israel in four wars since seizing control of Gaza in 2007. Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad Al-Nakhala called the Israeli raid a “huge crime.”“It is our duty as resistance forces to respond to this crime without hesitation,” he said.
Nearly 60 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem this year, according to an AP tally, a pace that could exceed last year’s death toll. Last year, nearly 150 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, making it the deadliest year in those areas since 2004, according to figures by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem. Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians seek for their hoped-for independent state.

Israeli parliament advances bill that may override top court
Associated Press/Wed, February 22, 2023
Israel's parliament advanced a bill Wednesday that would enable lawmakers to overturn a Supreme Court decision with a simple majority, a law that critics say would severely erode the country's democratic checks and balances. The "Supreme Court override" bill's approval in a preliminary vote in the Knesset was the latest step by Benjamin Netanyahu's ruling coalition toward realizing the judicial overhaul that is steaming ahead despite calls for dialogue and consensus from American Jews and Israel's president, and weekly protest by tens of thousands of Israelis.Netanyahu and his ultranationalist and ultra-Orthodox allies seek to enact a series of laws that would severely restrict the authority of the Supreme Court, which they believe has had unchecked power for years. Critics say they will erode democratic norms, concentrate power with the ruling coalition in parliament, and make Israel an illiberal democracy. The Netanyahu administration's proposed judicial overhaul have drawn fierce opposition and vocal protest in Israel and abroad. Earlier this week parliament approved a first reading of bills to give the governing coalition control over judicial appointments and strip the court of judicial review over Basic Laws — Israel's quasi-constitutional legislation. A draft bill brought before parliament Wednesday would require a unanimous Supreme Court decision to amend or strike down a law for violating a Basic Law, and that parliament would be able to pass laws impervious to Supreme Court review even if it violates a Basic Law. The preliminary vote passed 61-52. Each of these bills now faces committee approval before final votes in parliament to pass them into law. Netanyahu returned to power as prime minister in December at the head of the country's most hardline and religious government in its almost 75-year history following Israel's fifth election in less than four years. The longtime leader's trial for charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes has dragged on for nearly three years.

What's behind the Israeli army's deadly Nablus arrest raid?
JERUSALEM (AP)/Wed, February 22, 2023
The northern West Bank city of Nablus, the Palestinian commercial center, resembled a war zone on Wednesday, after a daytime Israeli military raid triggered a firefight that killed at least 10 Palestinians and wounded more than 100 others.
It was the latest bloody escalation in a monthslong surge of Israeli raids into the the occupied territory that has led to the deaths of some 200 Palestinians and the arrest of at least 2,600 others. Last month, a similarly deadly raid in the northern West Bank city of Jenin triggered a Palestinian attack outside a synagogue in Jerusalem and a burst of rocket fire from Gaza. This period of heightened violence in the West Bank and east Jerusalem has prompted comparisons with aspects of the second intifada, or Palestinian uprising, in the early 2000s and stoked fears of further bloodshed under the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s new ultranationalist coalition has vowed to take a hard-line stance against the Palestinians and to entrench Israeli rule over lands they seek for a future state.
WHY DID THE ISRAELI ARMY ENTER NABLUS?
Much of the violence between Israelis and Palestinians for the past year has focused on Nablus, along with the nearby city of Jenin. The Israeli military said Wednesday's daytime raid targeted a Nablus-based armed group of young men known as the Lions’ Den, which emerged last year. The group has surged in popularity among Palestinians who see them as heroes for fighting Israel’s open-ended occupation of the West Bank, now in its 56th year. Although the Lion’s Den portrays itself as independent of established Palestinian factions, experts say the group is funded by Islamist militant groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israel has blamed the Lion’s Den for a string of shootings aimed at troops and Israeli settlements in the past months, including one that killed a soldier last October.
WHY DID THE RAID TAKE PLACE DURING THE DAY?
The Israeli army usually raids cities in the West Bank late at night in what it says is a tactic meant to reduce the risk of civilian casualties. But on Wednesday, as Israeli military vehicles rumbled into Nablus' Old City, its warren of homes and shops teeming with vendors and residents going about their routines under the bright sky. Fighting between Israeli security forces and Palestinian gunmen erupted in the stone alleys and the Israeli army even fired missiles at a house after the militants holed up there refused to surrender. The Israeli military said intelligence services had tracked down three wanted members of the Lion’s Den, including one involved in the killing of the Israeli soldier last fall, and determined they were all in the same house — offering a rare window of opportunity to target them. The army claimed the militants posed an immediate threat to Israeli lives, without providing evidence.
WHO WAS KILLED IN THE RAID?
At least 10 Palestinians were killed, including a 16-year-old boy and older men 72 and 61. The Lion’s Den claimed six of the dead as its members. A 66-year-old later died from tear gas inhalation, officials said. Other men were killed in unclear circumstances that the Israeli army said it was investigating. CCTV footage widely shared online showed two young men, apparently unarmed, shot after sprinting down the street, away from echoing gunfire. Another video circulating on social media, confirmed by witnesses, shows the body of 72-year-old Adnan Baara inert on the ground of the Old City market, his clothes covered in dust, beside a cart of bread. “We’re looking into everything,” said Lt. Col. Richard Hecht, an army spokesman. So far this year, at least 59 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, according to a tally by The Associated Press. While many of those killed in recent army raids are militants, stone-throwing youths protesting the incursions and others not involved in confrontations have also been killed.
WHY WAS THE DEATH TOLL SO HIGH?
The Israeli military said that its troops came under heavy fire as they stormed into the city. Young Palestinian men are increasingly taking up guns and organizing into small militant groups. The Israeli army’s escalating efforts to pursue them last year led to bloodshed in the West Bank at levels not seen since 2004. Fed up with the Israeli occupation that constrains their lives and disillusioned by the long-stalemated peace process and the unpopular Palestinian Authority that exercises limited control in parts of the West Bank, many young Palestinians have gotten their hands on M-16s, often smuggled from Israeli army bases or neighboring Jordan. Instead of slinging stones at troops entering their towns, they open fire. Israeli forces fire back. During a raid into the Jenin refugee camp last month, 10 Palestinians were killed, including a 61-year-old woman peering out at the chaos from her apartment window.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
The Islamist militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, Hamas, issued a veiled threat after the deadly raid, saying its “patience is running out.” Senior Palestinian official Hussein al-Sheikh said that the Palestinian Authority is “considering taking steps at all levels in response,” without elaborating. Its options are limited. After last month’s raid in Jenin, the PA suspended security coordination with Israel, a move it has announced before with little impact. Although Israel says that its stepped-up arrest raids in the West Bank are intended to prevent future attacks, Palestinian residents and critics say the operations only inflame a ceaseless cycle of hatred and bloodshed. The Lion's Den on Wednesday promised revenge. “The size of the pain that befell Nablus today," it warned, “Israel will swallow twice as much.”

IDF Captures Syrian Working for Hezbollah in the Golan
FDD/February 22, 2023
Latest Developments
Israeli troops captured two terrorist suspects who crossed into Israel from Syria on January 27, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stated on Monday. One of the suspects, identified as Ghaith Abdallah, was acting on behalf of Hezbollah to gather intelligence for future terror attacks. Abdallah’s capture confirms that Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed proxies continue to operate in southern Syria as a part of an overall strategy to intensify attacks within Israel.
Expert Analysis
“The recent capture of a Hezbollah-linked operative by the Israeli military is more than just a breach of Israeli sovereignty; it underscores the grave threat posed by Iran-backed Hezbollah’s ongoing attempts to expand a foothold in southern Syria. The January 27 incident reaffirms the extent of Iran’s aggression in the region and highlights the urgent need for the international community to take decisive action in monitoring and countering the activities of these malign actors.” — Keren Hajioff, FDD Senior Advisor
Hezbollah’s Project in Southern Syria Began in 2013
According to a report in Israel Hayom, Hezbollah efforts to establish a presence in southern Syria began in the first years of the Syrian civil war. “In May of 2013, Syrian President Bashar Assad opened the Golan frontier to Hezbollah to act against Israel, in an effort to divert attention from [the] raging Syrian civil war,” the report stated.
On March 13, 2019, the IDF stated that Hezbollah had established the “Golan File,” a new unit operating in southern Syria with the aim of gathering intelligence and carrying out future attacks against Israel. This action reflected Hezbollah’s intensifying effort to form a second northern front against Israel. According to the IDF, the terrorist group tasked a long-time Hezbollah operative to lead the unit, Ali Musa Daqduq, who had previously killed five American troops in Iraq.
Israel Monitors Hezbollah-Syria Cooperation
On November 25, 2021, the IDF’s Arabic spokesperson disclosed intelligence that an active duty Syrian Arab Army (SAA) captain, Naqib Bashar al-Hussein, was also serving as the primary liaison between Hezbollah and the SAA’s First Corps Division. The outing of Hussein acted as a warning to Hezbollah and the Syrian military that Israel was keeping close tabs on their activity.
IDF Targets Hezbollah in Syria
Citing Lebanese media, Israel Hayom reported in February 2022 that the IDF targeted positions belonging to Iranian proxy groups and the SAA in the southern Syrian villages of Madinat al-Baath and Rwihinah. Israel Hayom also quoted Saudi media, which said the strike “focused on sites belonging to the seventh division of Assad’s army used by Hezbollah.” On March 17, 2020, the IDF said it thwarted an attack against Israeli troops orchestrated by Hezbollah and the Syrian military.

EU, UK Impose New Sanctions on Iran as Protests Surge
FDD/February 22, 2023
Latest Developments
The European Union and the United Kingdom on Monday imposed new sanctions to address Tehran’s brutal suppression of protests. The sanctions, which come in the wake of a fresh surge of demonstrations in Iran, target Iranian judges, lawmakers, and commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), among others. The sanctions also follow an announcement on Saturday by Iran International, a Farsi-language news channel, that it would relocate from London to Washington due to threats against its staff by Iranian agents. Nevertheless, the EU and the UK have stopped short of designating the IRGC itself as a terrorist organization, defying demands by the European Parliament and Iranian dissidents.
Expert Analysis
“The new sanctions against Iran by the EU and the UK are a welcome step, but Europe must go further. So long as the continent refuses to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Tehran understands that it can continue to repress its people and foment terrorism worldwide with relative impunity.”
— Tzvi Kahn, FDD Research Fellow and Senior Editor
Protests in Iran Persist
After a brief lull, protests in Iran resumed in full force last week despite Tehran’s bloody response to earlier demonstrations. CNN reported today that Iran had established more than three dozen unofficial, clandestine detention centers where the regime tortured demonstrators. “I was given electric shocks at the back of my head, my neck and my back,” one protester recalled. “I remember vividly they electrocuted my genitals for several seconds.” The renewed wave of protests, however, suggests that the Iranian people remain committed to their cause.
Iran Targets the UK Media and Dissidents
The new UK sanctions stem in part from Iran’s efforts to target British media and dissidents. The head of the counterterrorism unit of London’s Metropolitan Police, Assistant Commissioner Matt Jukes, said the MI5 domestic intelligence service had thwarted “15 plots since the start of 2022 to either kidnap or even kill British or U.K.-based individuals perceived as enemies of the regime.”
In addition to targeting Iran International, Tehran has also persecuted the staff of London-based BBC Persian for years, threatening to arrest its journalists and seize their assets in Iran. In November 2019, Tehran threatened to snatch BBC journalists off the streets of London if they failed to resign their posts.
Designating the IRGC as a Terrorist Organization is Overdue
In January 2023, the European Parliament, by a vote of 598 to 9 with 31 abstentions, urged the EU to designate the IRGC as a terrorist organization. In the same month, the UK House of Commons unanimously voted in favor of a motion urging the British government to proscribe the IRGC. If these efforts succeed, the EU and the UK would join the United States, which designated the IRGC as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019. However, the EU and the UK have failed to act, apparently in fear that proscribing the IRGC would undermine prospects for future nuclear negotiations with Tehran.

10 Palestinians killed, including Islamic Jihad commanders, in rare IDF daylight operation in West Bank
CNN/February 22/2023
At least 10 Palestinians, including two Islamic Jihad commanders, were killed Wednesday in a major IDF operation in the West Bank that also left more than 100 injured, Palestinian officials said.
In an unusual daytime raid, Israeli military forces entered Nablus in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said.

Germany Expels 2 Iranian Diplomats over Death Sentence
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Germany said Wednesday that it is expelling two Iranian diplomats over the death sentence imposed in Iran against one of its citizens. Authorities in Iran announced Tuesday that Jamshid Sharmahd, a 67-year-old Iranian-German national and US resident, was sentenced to death after being convicted of terrorist activities. Iran claims Sharmahd is the leader of the armed wing of a group advocating the restoration of the monarchy that was overthrown in the 1979 revolution, but his family say he was merely the spokesman for the opposition group and deny he was involved in any attacks. They accuse Iranian intelligence of abducting him from Dubai in 2020. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said she summoned Iran’s charge d'affaires in Berlin and informed him that “we will not accept this massive breach of a German citizen's rights.”“As a consequence the German government has declared two members of the Iranian embassy unwanted persons and asked them to leave Germany at short notice,” she said. “We demand that Iran revokes the death sentence against Jamshid Sharmahd and allows him to have an appeal that is fair and in line with the rule of law.”Germany has said that Sharmahd, who lives in Glendora, California, did not have “even the beginning of a fair trial” and that consular access and access to the trial had been repeatedly denied. She also said he had been arrested “under highly questionable circumstances,” without elaborating. The death sentence — which can be appealed — comes against the backdrop of months of anti-government protests in Iran and a fierce crackdown on dissent. Monarchists based outside Iran support the protests, as do other groups and individuals with different ideologies. The official website of Iran's judiciary said Sharmahd was convicted of plotting terrorist activities. He was tried in a Revolutionary Court, where proceedings are held behind closed doors and where rights groups say defendants are unable to choose their lawyers or see the evidence against them.

Report: Iran Says IAEA Resolving Nuclear Enrichment Ambiguities
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Inspectors from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog are in Tehran and are resolving "ambiguities", Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the country's nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami as saying on Wednesday. "Officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency are in Tehran and have been starting negotiations, visits and checks ... Ambiguities created by an inspector are being resolved," the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said. Last week, the UN nuclear watchdog said it was discussing the results of recent verification activities with Iran after Bloomberg News reported that the agency had detected uranium enriched to 84% purity, which is close to weapons grade. A spokesperson for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization denied the report on Monday and said Tehran's uranium enrichment did not exceed 60% purity. "Through interactions and coordination, we are preventing the rise of new ambiguities and disruptions to our cooperation with the agency," Eslami was quoted as saying on Wednesday. Since the US withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal in 2018, Iran has gradually started going beyond the pact's nuclear curbs and enriching uranium to up to 60% purity in April 2021.

Two Berlin Festival Films Relive Torture in Iranian Prisons
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
In “Where God is Not”, Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon´s unflinching account of the torture of former political prisoners in Iran, the director asks his interviewees to relive the horrors of their incarceration. The film – which opened at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday as part of a Tamadon double-bill exploring abuse in Iranian prisons – spotlights torture practices the director says intensified following the revolution of 1979 and continue today. “It´s happening right now,” Tamadon told Reuters. “I´m sure that tonight somebody is being tortured in that way.”Shot in an abandoned warehouse in Paris, where Tamadon lives, the film features interviews with three ex-prisoners in reconstructed cells and interrogation chambers made from wood. One interviewee, who says he ran a video equipment rental company in Iran before competitors with government ties accused him of spying, describes how electric cables were wrapped around his feet, lacerating his skin, and assumes the excruciating “bundle” position, lying face down with his hands cuffed to his folded legs, Reuters reported. Another former inmate recounted with tears how a small yet sadistic tormenter named “Mr. Punisher” beat her and other female prisoners. The journalist Taghi Rahmani, who has been imprisoned multiple times, reveals how he maintained sanity while kept in a tiny cell. The film, which forms part of an Iran focus at this year´s Berlinale, aims to confront prison guards in Iran with their own cruelty, Tamadon said. “One objective is to show what is happening in Iran,” he added. “The second objective is for the interrogators to see themselves in a mirror.” Iran´s most infamous prisons have drawn headlines in recent years, with sixteen video clips leaked in 2021 from Evin prison – often nicknamed “Evin University” because of the many dissident journalists and writers incarcerated there – showing what Amnesty International described at the time as “appalling abuse of prisoners”. Iranian prisons chief Mohammad Mehdi Haj-Mohammadi later accepted responsibility, describing the scenes in a tweet as "unacceptable behaviour".
In “My Worst Enemy”, another Tamadon documentary that premiered at the Berlinale on Tuesday, the director turns the tables, asking three Iranian political refugees to interrogate him as if they were agents of Iran. Tamadon said that films draw viewers into torture victims´ worlds. “We can´t really show the violence in a documentary, can we?” he said. “What is important is for the viewer to experience it in the cinema.”

Iran foreign minister in Iraq for security talks
Agence France Presse/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Iran's top diplomat Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held talks with neighboring ally Iraq Wednesday to discuss stalled talks with arch-rival Saudi Arabia to ease regional tensions, as well as on border security. Iraq has taken a key role as a mediator between Iran and Saudi Arabia since 2021, after Riyadh broke off diplomatic relations in 2016, but efforts have been deadlocked for several months. Amir-Abdollahian, speaking to reporters in Baghdad alongside his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein, hailed the efforts "to strengthen talks and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Iran".
Since April 2021, Iraq has hosted a series of meetings between the two sides, but no talks have been publicly announced since April 2022. "As part of the strengthening of cooperation with... the countries of the region, we welcome a resumption of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia," he said. Iran and Saudi Arabia have backed opposing sides in various conflicts in the region, including in Yemen. Amir-Abdollahian also spoke to similar mediation efforts carried out between Iran and Egypt. He also mentioned slow progress in talks in Vienna with world powers aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear accord, which promised Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for cutting back its nuclear activities. The United States unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions, prompting Iran to begin walking back on its commitments under the accord. Negotiations to return to the deal started in 2021 but stalled last year. Iran is ready "to take steps to conclude the negotiations... on the basis of previous discussions and respecting the red lines" defined by Tehran, Amir-Abdollahian said. "But if the American side chooses another path... all options are on the table", he added, without elaborating. His Iraqi counterpart pleaded for a resumption of talks. "It is important for Iraq that the Iranian and American parties reach an agreement", Hussein said. The two ministers also discussed security on their border, after Iran last year bombed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups sheltering in northern Iraq. Tehran accuses Iraq-based Kurdish groups of carrying out attacks in Iran, and of encouraging the months-long protests that erupted after the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, following her arrest for an alleged breach of dress rules. Iraq later redeployed border guards to limit tensions. "The Iraqi government has taken a series of measures to protect the frontier, and we agree that certain groups should not be allowed to cross this border," Hussein said.

Iranian Foundation Offers Land to Salman Rushdie’s Attacker
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
An Iranian foundation has praised a man accused of severely injuring novelist Salman Rushdie in an attack last year and promised him 1,000 sq metres of agricultural land, state TV reported on Tuesday on its Telegram channel. Rushdie, 75, lost an eye and the use of one hand following the assault on the stage of a literary event held near Lake Erie in western New York state in August. Hadi Matar, a Shiite Muslim American from New Jersey, has pleaded ‘not guilty’ to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault. “We sincerely thank the brave action of the young American who made Muslims happy by blinding one of Rushdie’s eyes and disabling one of his hands,” said Mohammad Esmail Zarei, secretary of the Foundation to Implement Imam Khomeini’s Fatwas. “Rushdie is now no more than living dead and, to honour this brave action, about 1,000 square metres of agricultural land will be donated to the person or any of his legal representatives.”The Indian-born novelist was set to deliver a lecture on artistic freedom at the Chautauqua Institution when police say Matar rushed the stage and stabbed him, Reuters reported. The attack came 33 years after Iran’s late supreme leader Khomeini issued a fatwa or religious edict calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie. Matar’s family comes from the south Lebanon town of Yaroun. A law enforcement review of Matar’s social media accounts showed he was sympathetic to Shiite extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the NBC New York news outlet. Streets in Yaroun bear posters of Khomeini, while the logo of Lebanon’s Iranian-armed Hezbollah group adorns monuments to its fighters. Hezbollah said in August it did not know anything about the attack on Rushdie. Ali Tehfe, mayor of Yaroun, said Matar’s parents had emigrated to the United States, where Matar was born and raised, but that he had no information on their political views. Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri family, spent nine years in hiding under British police protection. While a pro-reform Iranian government under president Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa in the late 1990s, the multimillion-dollar bounty hanging over him has kept growing and the fatwa has never been lifted. Khomeini’s successor as supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa against Rushdie was “irrevocable”.

Two Berlin Festival Films Relive Torture in Iranian Prisons
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
In “Where God is Not”, Iranian filmmaker Mehran Tamadon´s unflinching account of the torture of former political prisoners in Iran, the director asks his interviewees to relive the horrors of their incarceration. The film – which opened at the Berlin International Film Festival on Saturday as part of a Tamadon double-bill exploring abuse in Iranian prisons – spotlights torture practices the director says intensified following the revolution of 1979 and continue today. “It´s happening right now,” Tamadon told Reuters. “I´m sure that tonight somebody is being tortured in that way.”Shot in an abandoned warehouse in Paris, where Tamadon lives, the film features interviews with three ex-prisoners in reconstructed cells and interrogation chambers made from wood. One interviewee, who says he ran a video equipment rental company in Iran before competitors with government ties accused him of spying, describes how electric cables were wrapped around his feet, lacerating his skin, and assumes the excruciating “bundle” position, lying face down with his hands cuffed to his folded legs, Reuters reported. Another former inmate recounted with tears how a small yet sadistic tormenter named “Mr. Punisher” beat her and other female prisoners. The journalist Taghi Rahmani, who has been imprisoned multiple times, reveals how he maintained sanity while kept in a tiny cell. The film, which forms part of an Iran focus at this year´s Berlinale, aims to confront prison guards in Iran with their own cruelty, Tamadon said. “One objective is to show what is happening in Iran,” he added. “The second objective is for the interrogators to see themselves in a mirror.”Iran´s most infamous prisons have drawn headlines in recent years, with sixteen video clips leaked in 2021 from Evin prison – often nicknamed “Evin University” because of the many dissident journalists and writers incarcerated there – showing what Amnesty International described at the time as “appalling abuse of prisoners”. Iranian prisons chief Mohammad Mehdi Haj-Mohammadi later accepted responsibility, describing the scenes in a tweet as "unacceptable behaviour". In “My Worst Enemy”, another Tamadon documentary that premiered at the Berlinale on Tuesday, the director turns the tables, asking three Iranian political refugees to interrogate him as if they were agents of Iran. Tamadon said that films draw viewers into torture victims´ worlds. “We can´t really show the violence in a documentary, can we?” he said. “What is important is for the viewer to experience it in the cinema.”

Putin 'tried to launch Satan II missile' while Biden was in Kyiv
The Telegraph/Joe Barnes/Wed, February 22, 2023
Russia tried and failed a test launch of its new intercontinental ballistic missile while Joe Biden was in neighbouring Ukraine, it has been reported. Moscow was said to have tested the 200-tonne nuclear missile, known as “Satan II”, which can carry a dozen warheads and strike anywhere in the world, while the US President was meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, on Monday. Russian officials warned Washington through so-called deconfliction lines that the launch would be going ahead, US officials told CNN. The sources said they did not see the test launch as an anomaly or escalation, according to the broadcaster. Mr Biden's aides used the same lines of communication to notify Moscow of his visit to Kyiv, warning against any attack on the city.
Missile 'could reach London in as little as 13 minutes'
It is not clear if the attempted launch took place during the four hours the US President was in the Ukrainian capital to mark the one-year anniversary of Vladimir Putin's invasion. The Russian president has previously boasted his new missile, officially known as Sarmat, would "give thought to those who are trying to threaten Russia". The missile reportedly has a range of 18,000km (11,000 miles) and can deliver between 10 and 15 nuclear warheads at hypersonic speeds. Military analysts have said it could reach London in as little as 13 minutes if it was based in Russia's extreme west. In the past, Putin has announced successful ICBM tests, including last April, just months after he had ordered his armed forces to attempt to seize Kyiv. But in his first state-of-the-nation address since invading Ukraine, the Russian leader on Tuesday made no mention of the launch. However, he announced that he was withdrawing from the world's last remaining nuclear arms control treaty. He said he would suspend the New Start treaty, branding efforts to allow US inspections on Russian soil a "theatre of absurdity". Russian military's Grad multiple rocket launcher firing rockets at Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location - Rusian Defense Ministry Press Service
Russian military's Grad multiple rocket launcher firing rockets at Ukrainian troops at an undisclosed location - Rusian Defense Ministry Press Service. The 2010 agreement limits both the US and Russia each to deploy 1,550 nuclear warheads, and includes provisions for monitoring compliance, such as on-site inspections. The move to withdraw from it follows months of nuclear sabre-rattling from Putin, that most in the West believe is to distract from the failings on the battlefield in Ukraine. “They want to deal us a strategic defeat and are meddling with our nuclear facilities,” Putin told members of both houses of the Russian parliament. “In this context, I have to declare today that Russia is suspending its participation in the treaty on strategic offensive arms.”The Russian leader warned he would restart nuclear testing if Washington did so.

Russia Says It Won’t Return to Nuclear Treaty until West Is Ready to Talk
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Russia said on Wednesday it would need to see a change in NATO's stance and a willingness for dialogue before it would consider returning to its last remaining nuclear treaty with the United States. The lower house of the Russian parliament voted quickly in favor of suspending Moscow's participation in the New START treaty, rubber-stamping a decision that President Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday when he accused the West of trying to inflict a "strategic defeat" on Russia in Ukraine. The 2010 treaty limits each country's deployed nuclear warheads to 1,550. Security analysts say its potential collapse could unleash a new arms race at a perilous moment when Putin is increasingly portraying the Ukraine war he launched one year ago as a direct confrontation with the West. Asked in what circumstances Russia would return to the deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "Everything will depend on the position of the West... When there's a willingness to take into account our concerns, then the situation will change." Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying: "We will, of course, be closely monitoring the further actions of the United States and its allies, including with a view to taking further countermeasures, if necessary."Responding to a CNN report that Russia had unsuccessfully tested its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this week - a weapon capable of carrying multiple nuclear warheads - Interfax quoted Ryabkov as saying: "You cannot trust everything that appears in the media, especially if the source is CNN."
Stalled inspections
The suspended treaty gives each side the right to inspect the other’s sites – though visits had been halted since 2020 because of COVID and the Ukraine war – and obliges the parties to provide detailed notifications on their respective deployments. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that the Russian move was "deeply unfortunate and irresponsible". NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said it made the world more dangerous and urged Putin to reconsider. Russia said, however, it would continue to abide by the limits on the number of warheads it can deploy and stood open to reversing its decision. Before passing the vote in Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, speaker Vyacheslav Volodin blamed the United States for the breakdown. "By ceasing to comply with its obligations and rejecting our country's proposals on global security issues, the United States destroyed the architecture of international stability," Volodin said in a statement. Russia is now demanding that British and French nuclear weapons targeted against Russia should be included in the arms control framework, something analysts say is a non-starter for Washington after more than half a century of bilateral nuclear treaties with Moscow. "We will obviously pay special attention to what line and what decisions London and Paris are taking, which can no longer, even hypothetically, be considered outside of the Russian-US dialogue on nuclear arms control," the TASS news agency quoted Ryabkov as saying. He said there was currently no direct dialogue between Moscow and Washington on nuclear issues and it was unknown whether it would resume.

Biden to meet eastern flank NATO leaders amid Russia worries
Associated Press/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
President Joe Biden is wrapping up his whirlwind, four-day visit to Poland and Ukraine by reassuring eastern flank NATO allies that his administration is highly attuned to the looming threats and other impacts spurred by the grinding Russian invasion of Ukraine. Before departing Warsaw on Wednesday, Biden will hold talks with leaders from the Bucharest Nine, a collection of nations on the most eastern parts of the NATO alliance that came together in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. As the war in Ukraine drags on, the Bucharest Nine countries' anxieties have remained heightened. Many worry Putin could move to take military action against them next if he's successful in Ukraine. The alliance includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. "When Russia invaded, it wasn't just Ukraine being tested. The whole world faced a test for the ages," Biden said in an address from the foot of Warsaw's Royal Castle on Tuesday to mark the somber milestone of the year-old Russian invasion. "Europe was being tested. America was being tested. NATO was being tested. All democracies were being tested."Biden met Tuesday in Warsaw with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who last week claimed Moscow was behind a plot to overthrow her country's government using external saboteurs.
Sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania and one of Europe's poorest countries, the Eastern European nation has had historic ties to Russia but wants to join the 27-nation European Union. Biden in his remarks endorsed Moldova's bid to join the EU "I'm proud to stand with you and the freedom-loving people of Moldova," Biden said of Sandu and her country in his Tuesday address. Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly a year ago, Moldova, a former Soviet republic of about 2.6 million people, has sought to forge closer ties with its Western partners. Last June, it was granted EU candidate status, the same day as Ukraine. Sandu spoke out last week about a Russian plot "to overthrow the constitutional order." She spoke out after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country had intercepted plans by Russian secret services to destroy Moldova. Those claims were later confirmed by Moldovan intelligence officials. Biden's speech on the Ukraine war came one day after he made a surprise visit to Kyiv, a grand gesture of solidarity with the Ukraine. The address was part affirmation of Europe's role in helping Ukraine repel Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and part sharply worded warning to Putin that the U.S. won't abide Moscow defeating Ukraine. The White House has praised several eastern flank countries, including Lithuania, Poland and Romania, over the last year for stepping up efforts to back Ukraine with weapons and economic aid and taking in refugees. Biden has given particular attention to Poland's efforts. The country is hosting about 1.5 million Ukrainian refugees and has committed $3.8 billion in military and economic assistance to Kyiv. "The truth of the matter is: The United States needs Poland and NATO as much as NATO needs the United States," Biden said during talks with Duda on Wednesday.

Ukraine Wants One-Year Grain Deal Extension to Include New Ports
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Ukraine will ask Türkiye and the United Nations this week to start talks to roll over the Black Sea grain deal, seeking an extension of at least one year that would include the ports of Mykolaiv, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday. The Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by the UN and Türkiye last July allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports. The agreement was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed. "A formal proposal will come out from us this week on the need to work on an extension," Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine's deputy minister of restoration, told Reuters in an interview. He said the exact date of the talks, which have previously taken place in Türkiye, had not yet been set. "We will request ... to extend it not for 120 days but for at least one year because the Ukrainian and global agricultural market needs to be able to plan these volumes (of exports) in the long term," Vaskov said. He said Ukraine would insist on an increase in the number of inspection teams "in order to eliminate the accumulation of vessels waiting for inspections". Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of delaying inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian agricultural goods, leading to reduced shipments and losses for traders. Russia has denied those accusations, saying it is meeting all its obligations under the grain export deal. Vaskov said that since November, the situation with inspections had not changed and that there were only three inspection teams from the Russian side. "There is no positive momentum. At the same time, the UN, Türkiye and Ukraine are ready to conduct 40 inspections per day if necessary. And there is such a need - about 140 ships are waiting for inspection," he said. Potential to boost exports
A major global grain grower and exporter, Ukraine's grain exports were down 28.7% at 30.3 million tons in the 2022/23 season as of Feb. 20, hit by a smaller harvest and logistical difficulties caused by the Russian invasion. Ukraine exports around 3 million tons of agricultural products a month under the deal, but Vaskov said Ukraine was able to export 6 million tons a month from the ports of Odesa region and boost it to 8 million tons if Mykolaiv joins. Despite a decrease in the 2022 grain harvest to around 54 million tons from a record 86 million in 2021, at least 30 million tons of grain are still in silos and could be exported, according to the agriculture ministry. Vaskov said Mykolaiv's ports, which accounted for 35% of Ukrainian food exports before the Russian invasion, were ready to join the initiative and would need a maximum of two weeks to start operations.
He said Kyiv did not see Russia's occupation of the Kinburn spit as an obstacle to adding Mykolaiv's ports to an extended deal. The spit of land overlooks the route that ships would use to sail from Mykolaiv's ports into the Black Sea. "If the ports (of Mykoliav) are included in the initiative, there will be an obligation not to attack ships carrying agricultural products, which can work even in the current situation," Vaskov said.

Russian economy shrugs off sanctions; militia owner blames Kremlin for soldiers' deaths: Ukraine live updates
John Bacon, USA TODAY/Wed, February 22, 2023
Is there an end in sight for the war in Ukraine? What we know one year into the conflict.Scroll back up to restore default view.
The global economic sanctions fueled by Putin's invasion of Ukraine a year ago have slowed but not crippled the Russian economy, experts say.Russia's economy did shrink 2.2% in 2022 – far short of predictions of 15% or more that Biden administration and other western economists had forecast. This year, its economy is projected to outperform the U.K.'s, growing 0.3% while the U.K. faces a 0.6% contraction, according to the International Monetary Fund. EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell said Russia's economy survived because of high energy prices. “But this is over," he said. "We have gotten rid of our dependency on Russia’s hydrocarbons and the prices are going down. Russia is selling its oil at $40 a barrel – half the price of the Brent in international markets."
TRUMP WARNS OF WWIII: Russia can't produce enough arms for its needs
Developments:
►Ukraine issued a decree halting all transactions involving assets owned by Russian financial institutions. The decree, to last 50 years, prohibits establishing business relations, transactions and investments with Russian banks.
►The International Federation of Journalists suspended the membership of the Russian Union of Journalists. Federation President Dominique Pradalié said efforts by Russian journalists to establish union branches in annexed Ukrainian territories have "clearly shattered ... solidarity and sown divisions among sister unions."
►Investigators have so far identified at least 91 Russian soldiers involved in war crimes in and around the town of Bucha, where more than 1,700 civilians were killed, Ukraine Prosecutor General Andrey Kostin said Wednesday.
►Wang Yi, the Chinese Communist Party's most senior foreign policy official, held meetings with high-ranking Russian officials Wednesday in Moscow as political ties between the two nations continued to strengthen. U.S. officials have expressed concern that China could provide weapons that Russia badly needs.
Russian militia founder steps up criticism of military leaders
The founder of a Russian mercenary militia stepped up his social media attacks on Moscow's military leadership Wednesday, publishing a photo of his dead soldiers and blaming the Kremlin for failing to provide his Wagner Group with adequate ammunition.
“If every Russian at his own level ... would simply say ‘give ammunition to Wagner,’ as is already going on social media, then this would already be important,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy entrepreneur and close associate of President Vladimir Putin, said Wednesday on Telegram.
The posting came one day after Prigozhin released an audio statement claiming “direct resistance” from the Russian military was an attempt to destroy Wagner. He added that the behavior of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov "can be likened to high treason in the very moment when Wagner is ... losing hundreds of its fighters every day."The Defense Ministry scolded Prigohzin in a statement late Tuesday, saying equipping the mercenary group properly has been a priority.
“Attempts to sow rifts in the tight mechanism of cooperation and support among the units of Russian forces are counterproductive and are only aiding the enemy,” the ministry said.
Finland to decide whether to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine
Authorities in Finland will decide as soon as Thursday on a proposal to provide German-built Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Finland is believed to own about 200 tanks, but it also has an 800-mile border with Russia to defend. Finland has sought but not yet been granted NATO membership, thus NATO would not be committed to fully support Finland's defense should Russia invade. Finland and Sweden are seeking membership but have been blocked by Turkey and Hungary. Hungary's parliament is expected to ratify NATO membership for both nations as early next month, Hungarian media has reported. Turkey adopted a more conciliatory stance this week – after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Cavusoglu discussed possible purchase of U.S. F-16 aircraft with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
An up-close look at the frontline in Ukraine
Ukrainian military officials say U.S. weapons are making a major difference in their efforts to repel the Russian invasion. To highlight the value of the weapons, a senior Ukrainian military intelligence officer and several special forces soldiers guided a USA TODAY reporter in mid-February to a secret location on a ridge a few miles outside the frontline town of Bakhmut, in Ukraine's mineral-rich eastern Donbas region. A Ukrainian lieutenant colonel stood on frozen ground near what he regards as one of the Ukrainian military's most prized possessions: an American-made M777 howitzer. It's a powerful, towable and easily hidden long-range artillery weapon.
"This weapon changed the trajectory of the war for us," he said. Read more here.
– Kim Hjelmgaard
IT'S HARD BUT THEY'RE HOLDING ON: On the ground in Ukraine, the war depends on U.S. weapons
Biden hopes to assuage concerns of Bucharest Nine
President Biden will wrap up his historic trip to Ukraine and Poland on Wednesday after holding talks in Warsaw with leaders from the Bucharest Nine, a collection of nations on the eastern edge of the NATO alliance that came together in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
The alliance members – including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – are concerned they could be next if Russia is successful in Ukraine. The White House has consistently lauded Poland and several other eastern flank nations for supporting Ukraine with weapons and economic aid and taking in refugees. Contributing: The Associated Press

Türkiye Offers Economic Support in Earthquake Zone
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
Türkiye has launched a temporary wage support scheme and banned layoffs in 10 cities on Wednesday to protect workers and businesses from the financial impact of the massive earthquakes that hit the south of the country earlier this month. A 7.8 magnitude earthquake on Feb. 6 killed more than 47,000 people, damaged or destroyed hundreds of thousands of buildings in Türkiye and Syria and left millions homeless. In Türkiye, 865,000 people are living in tents and 23,500 in containers, while 376,000 are in student dormitories and public guesthouses outside the earthquake zone, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday. Under Ankara's new economic relief plan, employers whose workplaces were "heavily or moderately damaged" would benefit from support to partially cover wages of workers whose hours had been cut, the country's Official Gazette said on Wednesday.
A ban on layoffs was also introduced in 10 earthquake-hit provinces covered by a state of emergency. Business groups and economists have said the earthquake could cost Ankara up to $100 billion to rebuild housing and infrastructure, and shave one to two percentage points off economic growth this year.
Erdogan has promised a swift reconstruction effort, although experts say it could be a recipe for another disaster if safety steps are sacrificed in the race to rebuild. Six people were killed in the latest earthquake to strike the border region of Türkiye and Syria, authorities said on Tuesday. It was followed by 90 aftershocks, Türkiye’s Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) said, adding fresh trauma to Antakya residents left homeless by the previous earthquake. In power for two decades, Erdogan faces presidential and parliamentary elections in May, although the disaster could prompt a delay in the vote. Even before the quakes, opinion polls showed he was under pressure from a cost of living crisis, which could worsen as the disaster has disrupted agricultural production. Moves by the government to control information around the earthquake have been met with public anger. Türkiye’s internet authority blocked access to a popular online forum, Eksi Sozluk, on Tuesday, two weeks after it briefly blocked access to Twitter, citing the spread of disinformation. Information Technologies and Communications Authority (BTK) website shows the website was blocked late on Tuesday, without citing any explicit reason. Turkish police last week arrested dozens of people accused of creating fear and panic by "sharing provocative posts" about the earthquake on social media.

N.Korea Calls UN Chief’s Remarks on Missile Test ‘Unfair’
Asharq Al-Awsat/Wednesday, 22 February, 2023
North Korea on Wednesday accused UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres of “an extremely unfair and imbalanced attitude,” as it lambasted him for condemning its recent missile test but ignoring alleged US hostility against the North. The accusation came as US, South Korean and Japanese destroyers were holding trilateral anti-missile training near the Korean Peninsula, a move the North could regard as a provocation. After the North’s intercontinental ballistic missile test on Saturday, Guterres strongly condemned the launch and reiterated his call for the North to immediately desist from making any further provocations. In a statement, Guterres also urged North Korea to resume talks on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
“To be most deplorable, the UN secretary-general is going on the rampage of illogical and miserable remarks, which are little different from those of U.S. State Department officials over the years,” Kim Son Gyong, the North’s vice foreign minister for international bodies, said in a statement carried by state media.
Kim said North Korea’s ICBM test was a response to the security threat the US posed to the North by temporarily deploying long-range bombers for joint training with South Korea earlier this year. Kim said the test was also a warning to the earlier convocation of the UN Security Council on the North.
North Korea views US-South Korea military drills as an invasion rehearsal and is particularly sensitive to the US mobilization of B-1B bombers that can carry a massive conventional payload of both guided and unguided weapons. After the North’s ICBM test, the United States flew B-1B bombers again for separate drills with South Korean and Japanese warplanes. “The UN secretary-general should clearly understand that his unreasonable and prejudiced stand on the Korean Peninsula issue is acting as a factor inciting the hostile acts of the US and its followers against (North Korea),” Kim said.
Last November, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui called Guterres “a puppet of the United States” for condemning an earlier ICBM test by the North. Saturday’s ICBM test, the North’s first missile test since Jan. 1, was made on a steep angle to avoid neighboring countries. The reported launch details again suggested the North has missiles that can reach the US mainland. But many foreign experts say the North still must master some last remaining technologies to acquire functioning nuclear-tipped missiles, such as one shielding missiles from the harsh conditions during atmospheric reentry.
In response to the latest US deployment of B1-B bombers on Sunday, North Korea said its 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher fired two rounds off its east coast the next day. North Korea has said its rockets can carry nuclear warheads. South Korea views the weapons as a short-range ballistic missile. South Korea and the United States are to hold a set of joint military drills in coming weeks, including a table-top exercise set to take place at the Pentagon on Wednesday. The US-South Korea-Japan exercise Wednesday took place in international waters off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. The three countries were meant to practice procedures to detect, track and intercept missiles while sharing related information among themselves, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. It was their first trilateral training in four months. Last year, North Korea test-launched more than 70 missiles, the most ever in a single year, as part of its efforts to enlarge its weapons arsenal. Observers say the North would eventually want to win international recognition as a legitimate nuclear state and use that status as a way to get UN and other international sanctions on it lifted.

UN court calls for end to Nagorno-Karabakh roadblock
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)/Wed, February 22, 2023
The United Nations' highest court ordered Azerbaijan on Wednesday to “take all steps at its disposal” to allow free movement of traffic along the only road between Armenia and the ethnic Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh region in Azerbaijan that has been blocked by protesters in a move that has further fueled tensions between the two countries. The legally binding 13-2 ruling by the International Court of Justice results from the latest legal skirmishes in a long-running feud between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Each country filed a case with the court accusing the other of breaching a convention aimed at stamping out racial discrimination. Wednesday's ruling on the blocked road known as the Lachin Corridor came just over two years after the neighboring nations ended a war in Nagorno-Karabakh that killed about 6,800 soldiers and displaced around 90,000 civilians.
The remote and rugged region is within Azerbaijan but had been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since the end of a separatist war in 1994. A cease-fire brokered by Russia ended the 2020 war and granted Azerbaijan control over parts of Nagorno-Karabakh as well as adjacent land occupied by Armenians. Russia sent a peacekeeping force of 2,000 troops to maintain order, including controlling the Lachin Corridor. Armenia’s lawyers said during court hearings last month that the roadblock set up late last year by protesters claiming to be environmental activists was part of an Azerbaijani campaign the Armenians labeled “ethnic cleansing.”International Court of Justice President Joan E. Donoghue said the evidence presented by Armenia established that the blockade “has impeded the transfer of persons of Armenian national and ethnic origin hospitalized in Nagorno-Karabakh to medical facilities in Armenia for urgent medical care." It also interrupted supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh of “essential goods causing shortages of food, medicine and other lifesaving medical supplies,” Donoghue said. In their majority decision, the court's judges ordered Azerbaijan to “take all measures at its disposal to ensure unimpeded movement of persons, vehicles and cargo along the Lachin Corridor in both directions.”In a statement, Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the court's ruling “took note of Azerbaijan’s representation that Azerbaijan has and undertakes to continue to take all steps within its power and at its disposal to guarantee safe movement along the Lachin road.”The statement said Azerbaijan "will continue to uphold the rights of all people under international law and to hold Armenia to account for its ongoing and historic grave violations of human rights.”The court, in its ruling, said that Armenia's request for judges to order Azerbaijan to “cease its orchestration and support" of the protests on the Lachin Corridor was "not warranted.”The judges rejected Armenia's request for an order for Azerbaijan not to block gas supplies to Nagorno-Karabakh, saying that Armenian lawyers did not provide enough evidence to back their claim that Azerbaijan was disrupting the supply. The judges also declined a request by Azerbaijan for an order to stop or prevent Armenia from laying landmines and booby traps in areas of the region to which Azerbaijani citizens are to return. The world court ordered both nations a little over a year ago to prevent discrimination against one another’s citizens in the aftermath of the war and to not further aggravate the conflict.

Statement on behalf of UN Special Envoy for Syria’s office in wake of Geneva meeting
NNA/February, 22/2023
The following is a statement on behalf of the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria following the International Syria Support Group Humanitarian Task Force meeting in Geneva:
“United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Syria Ms. Najat Rochdi convened the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) Humanitarian Task Force (HTF) in Geneva today.
This is the second HTF meeting since the devastating 6 February earthquake affected Syria and came two days after a second series of earthquakes and aftershocks. The meeting focused on the needs and key asks to facilitate humanitarian assistance to all affected areas as well as on quick disbursement of funding in response to the Flash Appeal. At the outset of the meeting, United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Mr. Geir O. Pedersen briefed HTF members on his recent visit to the region in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Deputy Special Envoy Ms. Rochdi noted that in Syria at least 8.8 million people have been affected by the earthquake, with the majority of those expected to need some form of humanitarian assistance. Many more Syrians in Turkiye are also heavily impacted. Syrians have lost loved ones, homes, shelters, sustenance, services and more. The Deputy Special Envoy recalled that the earthquake struck when needs in Syria were already at an all-time high.
The Deputy Special Envoy reiterated that there must not be a politicisation of response or of aid. She stressed that parties with influence must work to ensure that humanitarian assistance can travel through all routes and all modalities. In this context, Deputy Special Envoy Rochdi welcomed the rapid resumption and scaling up of the cross-border operations, including through additional border crossings of Bab Al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee. She also called for the resumption and increase of crossline operations into northwest Syria following the blanket approval by the Government of Syria until July. She called on concerned parties and those with influence to work to secure the necessary approvals and security guarantees without delay. She also stressed that there also must be simplified, expedited procedures for humanitarian staff movement, without restrictions, into northwest Syria to continue to address the needs.
Taking note of additional humanitarian exemptions announced by key donors in response to the earthquake, Deputy Special Envoy Rochdi urged donor countries to ensure that all relevant humanitarian exemptions for sanctions, which could interfere with the humanitarian response, be fully utilised.
The UN humanitarian leadership in Syria and the UN regional hubs in Turkiye and Amman briefed HTF members on the UN response across the country. In all affected areas, UN efforts are being accelerated to deal with the immense needs. The UN is providing emergency relief including food, nutrition and drinking water, medical supplies, thermal blankets, tents, warm clothes, and other non-food items. Immediate and ongoing priorities include winterisation and shelter support, health needs, including medical supplies, ambulances and medicine, water, sanitation, food, nutrition, protection, and cash assistance. Donors were urged to support humanitarian agencies and partners as they replenish their stocks.
Donors were urged to support the Flash Appeal for a rapid scale-up of the humanitarian response in areas most affected by the earthquake. Humanitarian partners require $397.6 million to help more than 4.9 million people in most acute need until May 2023.
Noting that the earthquake has created a crisis within a crisis, the Deputy Special Envoy concluded by calling for an end to all violence and a sustained calm in Syria to enable humanitarian assistance to be delivered in all areas of Syria and to all Syrians and to give all Syrians a respite at this tragic time. She expressed the UN’s readiness to work with all parties to the conflict to further address the needs of all Syrians. Ms. Rochdi stressed that life-saving and humanitarian assistance has never been more critical for the entire country, and HTF members were urged to do everything they can to alleviate the suffering of all Syrians wherever they are."

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 22-23/2023
Iran…We’re Almost There!
Tariq Al-Homayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/February, 22/2023
As the West confirms reports on Iran approaching the level of enrichment needed to build a “nuclear bomb,” the clash over the Iranian nuclear issue has become imminent. Things could play out in one of three ways, all of which are dangerous.
Reuters quoted diplomats as saying that the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had found uranium enriched to 84 percent in Iran, which is very close to bomb-grade.
A diplomat confirmed the accuracy of this to AFP, adding that the IAEA is now allowing Iran to clarify the issue because it seems that enrichment levels could peak. His statements affirm the report by Bloomberg last Sunday.
Accordingly, Iran enriching uranium of 84 percent purity means that one of three outcomes awaits us. The first is approaching a conflict that will change the region. We cannot ascertain how it would develop and end, especially given Israel’s unwavering determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The second is Iran developing the capacity to make nuclear weapons. This would also change the region, sparking a nuclear arms race and emboldening Iran to wreak even more havoc on the region.
The third potential outcome is that Tehran is doing this now to push the negotiations with the US and the West along. Just recently, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said that the ball is in Iran’s court and that the onus is on it to break the impasse. Blinken also accused Tehran of supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine, stressing that his country, alongside Israel, is committed to ensuring that Tehran does not obtain a “nuclear weapon.” He also noted that there is nothing new and that President Biden has been “very clear that all options are on the table.”
Of course, Iran’s primary objective is obtaining nuclear weapons. Indeed, it believes such arms would enable it to impose its agenda in the region and make the world more acquiescence to its perverse project and see it as inevitable.
Now, it seems that Iran is increasing the purity of its uranium because the mullah regime is convinced that possessing nuclear weapons would afford the regime protection as protests continue to rage at home nearly five months after they began. All three outcomes would lead to a clash. The most significant actor, at this point, is neither the US nor China, or Russia, nor is it the countries of the region. Rather, the position to watch is that of the Israeli hard-liners, how will they react to Iran obtaining nuclear weapons or the current agreement being concluded.
The fact of the matter is that Tehran pushed things this far. It took a naive approach to the nuclear deal, especially given the flexibility in negotiations that Washington has shown Tehran since President Biden was elected.
To conclude, all three outcomes would leave us “on the brink” with no easy options. The complications of reaching a deal have become more acute since the Europeans adopted a more stringent position after Iran implicated itself in the war in Ukraine. Another aggravating fact is the constant Israeli attacks on the mullahs’ troops in Iran and Syria, where a meeting of IRGC leaders was recently targeted. Beyond any doubt, it is now Tehran that is paying the price after having made costly miscalculations.

How long will escalating Israel-Iran hostilities remain a covert conflict?
Paul Iddon/Arab News/February 22, 2023
Israel is widely thought to be behind ongoing attacks and acts of sabotage against IRGC and Tehran’s nuclear program
With the nuclear deal all but dead and Netanyahu back in office, the regional power calculations appear to have changed
IRBIL, IRAQI KURDISTAN: Barely two months in and 2023 has already proven an eventful year in the ongoing covert conflict between Israel and Iran.
Early on Sunday, an Israeli airstrike killed five people and damaged several buildings in Syria’s capital Damascus. Two Western intelligence agents cited by Reuters news agency said the attack’s target was a logistics center run by Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The strike in the heart of Syria’s capital followed two noteworthy incidents in January. On Jan. 28, a night-time drone strike targeted a military facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan. This was swiftly followed by another air attack the following night against a convoy of Iranian trucks that had entered Syria from Iraq.
Experts believe that Israel was most likely behind all of these covert operations.
Over the past decade, Israel has been conducting an air campaign to prevent the IRGC from transferring advanced weaponry to its regional militia proxies, particularly Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It has also sought to deny the IRGC a military foothold in Syria. In fact, the Al-Qaim border crossing between Iraq and Syria, the site of the Jan. 29 attack, is an area frequently targeted in such strikes.
Israel is also thought to have been behind a series of covert strikes and acts of sabotage against drone- and missile-production facilities inside Iran and the country’s nuclear program.
Furthermore, it is the prime suspect in the assassination of senior Iranian nuclear scientists, most notably Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, killed in November 2020 in a road ambush near Tehran, allegedly involving an autonomous satellite-operated gun.
The flurry of strikes in 2023 may signal that Israel is accelerating and intensifying these concurrent campaigns at a time of changing geopolitical priorities.
The 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which sought to curb Iran’s uranium enrichment in return for sanctions relief, is all but dead, despite the best efforts of the Biden administration and its European allies.
Far from reining in its nuclear program, Tehran has stepped up uranium enrichment to the point that it can build “several” nuclear weapons if it chooses, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“One thing is true: They have amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one, at this point,” Grossi told European lawmakers on Jan. 24. “They have 70 kilograms (155 pounds) of uranium enriched at 60 percent ... The amount is there. That doesn’t mean they have a nuclear weapon. So, they haven’t proliferated yet.”
He also noted that the level of enrichment “is long past” the point that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned about back in 2012.
At the UN that year, Netanyahu famously held up a card featuring a cartoon bomb to illustrate how much highly enriched uranium Iran needed before it could build a bomb.
Given this context, and Netanyahu’s return to office at the helm of a shaky new coalition with a hard-right constituency, further attacks across Iran and the wider region are a strong possibility in the coming weeks and months.
Given the recent return to power of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu — pictured in 2019 talking about Iran’s nuclear research — as head of a far-right coalition government, some analysts think it likely Israel will step up its attacks on Iran. (AFP)
“To me, both attacks are the continuation of Israel’s long-range interdiction campaign to prevent Iran from (fully) weaponizing Syria and Hezbollah and achieving a nuclear weapons capability,” Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst and associate fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, told Arab News.
“The timing might be by accident, but I would not be surprised to learn that the production hall that was attacked in Isfahan was somehow involved in Hezbollah’s precision munitions program or fabrication of components for Iran’s nuclear program.
“This was the policy of previous Israeli administrations and will continue to be the priority of current and future Israeli governments.”
Nadimi predicts that these attacks will likely increase “in size and numbers” since “the Iranian regime is expected to accelerate all its offensive deterrent programs in the future.”
Despite an “ever-existing risk of escalation at any moment,” he is unsure whether there could be an all-out war between Israel and Iran in 2023. Nevertheless, he believes “a serious exchange before 2025 is a possibility.”
Nicholas Heras, senior director of strategy and innovation at the New Lines Institute, believes a military confrontation is inevitable if Iran moves to produce a nuclear weapon.
“We are approaching midnight before a region-wide war between Iran and Israel and the US breaks out,” he told Arab News.
“Israel, with US support, is sending a clear signal to Iran that there is a military option on the table to bring a war to Iranian soil if Iran decides to build nuclear weapons.”
In hindsight, Heras said: “It is clear that the calculations in Washington have changed and that there is a growing sense that Netanyahu might be right that only the credible threat of war will stop Iran from going for the bomb.”
Israel’s actions are part of a broader effort to pre-empt Iran’s attempt to weaponize its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and the Gaza Strip.
An image from a video that reportedly shows a drone attack on an Iranian military site in Isfahan province on Jan. 28. Experts believe Israel was probably behind this and the other recent attack on an Iranian target, in Syria. (AFP)
“With ongoing uncertainty in the West Bank, and Netanyahu’s coalition partners pushing for the annexation of Palestinian land, Netanyahu is trying to refocus his political allies in Israel on Iran,” Heras said.
“Netanyahu sees Iran, and the Iranian weapons programs, especially AI and advanced missiles, as the strategic threat to Israel.”
Kyle Orton, an independent Middle East analyst, views the latest strikes as part of the “new normal” of low-level warfare between Israel and Iran and an extension of the Syria air campaign.
“The Israeli operation in Isfahan looks to have been mostly symbolic, a statement from Israel’s new government, primarily to its domestic audience,” he told Arab News. “The evidence available suggests there was not much damage, so whatever was destroyed will cause minimal disruption.”
Orton also questions whether the Israeli campaign has inflicted any serious or lasting damage on Iran and its proxies, pointing out that Israel has struck many of the same targets in Syria multiple times to negligible effect.
“The focus on physical infrastructure with the Israeli strikes, and only occasionally on IRGC officials and scientific staff in the nuclear program, means Iran’s regime can easily regenerate what is lost,” he said.
While Israel has extensively infiltrated the Iranian intelligence apparatus, to the extent that it has neutralized the foreign operations of the IRGC and established a broad reach inside Iran, Orton says that it nevertheless continues to lose ground “at a strategic level.”
In his view, Iran has already entrenched itself in Syria to the point that it cannot be removed. He also is unimpressed by “the continued Israeli belief that Russia is ‘allowing’ them to strike at Iran in Syria, rather than being incapable of stopping them.”
He described this as a “dangerous delusion” with a ripple effect that has damaged Israel’s political relations with the US and Europe since it is “holding up this ‘understanding’ with Russia as an explanation for doing so little over Ukraine.”
Iran’s entrenchment in Syria is not the only area in which it is challenging Israel. On Feb. 10, a suspected Iranian drone targeted an Israeli-linked commercial shipping tanker in the Arabian Sea.
The attack on the Liberian-flagged oil tanker linked to Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer, which caused minor damage, was viewed by observers of the “shadow war” as a salvo from the Iranian side.
“Iran also continues to be dominant in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen, with threatening and growing outposts of the (Islamic) revolution in Bahrain, Afghanistan and West Africa,” Orton said.
“Iran has amassed enough nuclear material for several nuclear weapons, not one, at this point,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency
In effect, this has left Israel “sharing three borders with Iran,” he added.
In Lebanon, Syria and Gaza, the IRGC has also been building up the quantity and quality of the weapons systems it has supplied its proxies.
For example, as part of its precision-munitions program, the IRGC has been upgrading Hezbollah’s large arsenal of missiles in Lebanon so the group can accurately strike specific targets.
As a result, according to Orton, these groups could potentially “inflict catastrophic damage” on Israel in retaliation for airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program.
“At some point, this might well be a sufficient deterrent to prevent Israel even contemplating such an attack,” he said.
“It has to be admitted that the moment where Israel could militarily stop Iran from acquiring the bomb has probably already passed. The Iranians have not formally crossed the nuclear threshold, i.e., carried out a test explosion, more for political reasons than technical ones.”
In the meantime, Heras says, Iran will continue embarking on “a clandestine campaign to ramp up pressure on the US in Iraq and to strike at Israeli assets in the region and globally.”

We stand united with Ukraine
GWYNETH KUTZ & PATRICK SIMONNET & LUDOVIC POUILLE & DIETER LAMLÉ & ROBERTO CANTONE & IWAI FUMIO & ANATOLII PETRENKO & NEIL CROMPTON & MARTINA STRONG
Arab News/February 22, 2023
A year ago, an overwhelming Russian force attacked Ukraine, a sovereign and independent neighbor. Russia’s brutal assault on Ukraine and its population represents a blatant attack on and a manifest violation of the UN Charter and its key principles guaranteeing sovereignty and territorial integrity for all member states. These principles are the bedrock of the international rules-based order on which our collective peace and security depend.
Through its heroic defenders and resilient civilians, Ukraine’s courageous stance against Russia’s overwhelming force has rallied the world. A vast majority of UN members repeatedly voted to condemn Russia’s illegal aggression. In October, 143 UN members stood on the side of freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity. This wholesale rejection of Russia’s efforts to dismember another sovereign UN member state sent an unmistakable signal to the Kremlin and to the rest of the world.
Allies and partners have rushed lifesaving assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. Approximately 50 countries have contributed security assistance, economic and energy support, as well as humanitarian aid to ease Ukraine’s suffering. We welcome Saudi Arabia’s recent pledge of $400 million and an earlier pledge of $10 million to aid Ukrainians. Similarly, we applaud the Kingdom’s leadership in mediating a prisoner exchange between Ukraine and Russia last fall that released hundreds of prisoners of war.
Russia’s merciless attacks have deliberately and continuously targeted Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure. In recent months, Russia has sought to weaponize winter, deliberately attacking Ukraine’s energy facilities and networks. These attacks deprive innocent civilians of heat and electricity during a frigid winter, freezing Ukrainian men, women, children and the elderly to death.
The staggering human toll of Russia’s aggression extends far beyond Ukraine’s borders. The war caused food, fertilizer, fuel and energy prices to skyrocket, putting 70 million people around the world at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition. This has implications for regional stability. High food prices are driving popular discontent in some countries in the Middle East, North Africa and, particularly, the Horn of Africa, which is also suffering from drought. In the face of this global crisis, Saudi Arabia has worked with other donors to save lives, helping to feed and support many through its generous assistance. However, as long as Russia continues its brutal war of choice in Ukraine, millions around the world will continue to suffer.
Every country has a vital interest in defending the principles and values enshrined in the UN Charter.
Gwyneth Kutz, Patrick Simonnet, Ludovic Pouille, Dieter Lamlé, Roberto Cantone, Iwai Fumio, Anatolii Petrenko, Neil Crompton & Martina Strong
This conflict is not just about security in Europe. Every country has a vital interest in defending the principles and values enshrined in the UN Charter that protect borders, sovereignty and people.
There is abundant evidence that Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles have been used to attack Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and cities. We firmly condemn any transfer of Iranian UAVs to Russia and their use in Russia’s war against Ukraine, just as we condemned UAV and missile attacks against the Kingdom.
Iran-Russia military collaboration in Ukraine brings this conflict closer to the Gulf and threatens our shared stability.
We will continue to stand with Ukraine to protect the Ukrainian people and territory against Russia’s illegal, unprovoked and unjustified war of aggression. We will also stand with Saudi Arabia to protect the Kingdom’s people and territory from Iranian proxies and their attacks.
A year into Russia’s illegal and unjustified war, as brave Ukrainians fight for survival and their country’s independence, we will continue to stand united with Ukraine as long as it takes. Indeed, it is crucial to present a united front to deny Russia the opportunity to undermine peace, security and prosperity in Ukraine and around the world. The international community cannot accept violations of the core principles of the UN Charter.
Russia is the sole obstacle to peace in Ukraine. Russian troops and military equipment must withdraw unconditionally from the entire territory of Ukraine and hostilities must cease in order for there to be a just and comprehensive peace. We call on President Vladimir Putin to end this war today without further human suffering. As we stood with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and our other Gulf partners against an unjust invasion in the 1990s, we stand together now with Ukraine.
• Gwyneth Kutz is chargé d’affaires at the Embassy of Canada in Riyadh.
• Patrick Simonnet is the EU ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
• Ludovic Pouille is the ambassador of France to Saudi Arabia.
• Dieter Lamlé is the German ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
• Roberto Cantone is the Italian ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
• Iwai Fumio is the Japanese ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
• Anatolii Petrenko is the ambassador of Ukraine to Saudi Arabia.
• Neil Crompton is the ambassador of the UK to Saudi Arabia.
• Martina Strong is chargé d’affaires at the US Embassy in Riyadh.
*Arab News reached out to the Russian ambassador for a column on the occasion of the war’s one-year anniversary but did not get a response. The invitation remains open.

From shock at Russia’s aggression to a thirst for victory
Anatolii Petrenko/Arab News/February 22, 2023
Feb. 24, 2022, is the date that has been heavily engraved in the hearts of all Ukrainians. This day has become the cornerstone for the reassessment of the role of Ukraine in the world. By destroying false stereotypes about Ukraine, that it “is not ready or able” to defend itself, we have persuaded the international community of our determination to fight for every patch of native land, thus protecting our shared fundamental democratic principles and values.
During this painful year, the whole world has witnessed appalling war crimes, enormous damage, murders and ruined destinies. People living their ordinary lives, enjoying every moment of peaceful being, making plans, building careers and contributing to the development of their country, unexpectedly faced a new reality. A reality that was saturated with cruelty, barbarity and unlimited violence.
Just some shocking figures to take note of: 9,576 civilians, including 461 children, have died; 69,768 war crimes and crimes of aggression have been committed; 80,080 civilian infrastructure assets have been damaged or destroyed; and a third of Ukraine’s territory requires demining.
That is what Ukrainians are undergoing day by day, month by month throughout the year. But our losses and the widespread destruction indicate the resilience and unity of the Ukrainian nation. Our position remains unchanged: We will continue to stand up for our freedom. Our cause is just and right.
War against Ukraine is a massive social phenomenon, led by an imperialistic leadership and comprehensively supported by a vicious Russian community. This is a fact sustained by the year-long passive behavior of most Russians, who have betrayed the idea of peaceful coexistence and totally ignored the Russian-led aggression in a neighboring country.
Moreover, according to open data statistics, more than 70 percent of Russian people support the war on the territory of Ukraine, with a majority of them standing for continued warfare, despite the scale and number of their own losses. People have grown up with hatred of other nations, fueled by a distorted perception of a “progressing Russia” and a “decaying West.” All of this is powered by militarized consciousness, effectively developed by a war ideology, which has been widely proliferated among ordinary Russians by the political leadership for decades.
Instead of dealing with domestic problems like poverty, corruption, economic instability and a total absence of liberty, Russians are trying to impose their destructive lifestyle on others. They have so much land to develop, they could have so much potential to evolve, but the only thing they are craving is destruction. Just look at the debris and ruins they left in Ukrainian cities. Mariupol, Popasna, Bakhmut and many others. Only ashes and black lands. That is what their “Russian world” looks like.
That is why the Russian aggression cannot be considered as purely “Putin’s war” — it is the war of all Russians. It is the war of their common choice and desire.
Russia’s irresponsible behavior threatens all subjects of world order. Its disrespect of and arrogance toward international law are causing problems for nations that are far away from Europe. Comprehension of the negative effects of its actions does not stop Russia from further aggravation. Maybe they like finding themselves in a position as an influential global force. But the only thing they can influence is the stability and security of other countries. Thus, having influence for them means the ability to cause trouble.
Why do our people have to suffer from high prices, malnutrition, terrorism and other social and economic woes? If Russians cannot live according to international rules or just refuse to live in a civilized world, then the only option left is to allow them to live in their marginal world.
Our losses and the widespread destruction indicate the resilience and unity of the Ukrainian nation.
Meanwhile, reliable partnerships and friendship are among the values that Ukraine appreciates to the utmost extent. The US has always been considered a strategic partner and its solidity has been successfully tested numerous times. Our American friends are leaders in consolidating the efforts of the international community to support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, to counter the aggression of Russia, and to provide multifaceted assistance to Ukraine. Ukraine-US strategic relations will remain an essential foundation that is capable of persuading others who are perhaps hesitating to decide which side of history they will choose.
Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine has not only accelerated a number of global trends, but also furthered the process of Ukrainian self-determination. The fact is that Ukraine has always been and will remain a member of the European family, historically, culturally and economically, with Ukrainians sincerely and unconditionally sharing its democratic values and liberal views. This is confirmed by Ukraine’s consistent movement toward EU membership, while receiving reciprocal support.
Despite Russia’s invasion, Ukraine continues to successfully transform itself and looks forward to opening accession talks. Ukraine's membership in the EU is in the bloc’s best strategic interest. As an EU member state, Ukraine will significantly strengthen the security of Europe and its global standing, with Ukraine also becoming a new success story of the European project.
Ukraine’s ambition to become a full-fledged member of the EU is indispensable to its Euro-Atlantic integration. Almost 90 percent of the Ukrainian population supports aspirations on this track. And that is going to be a strategic solution for Ukraine’s stability and security in years to come.
Despite the pessimistic forecasts of global intelligence and military analysts, who gave Ukraine only a few hours to resist, the Ukrainian nation has been fighting a real people’s war for freedom, identity and the right to exist throughout the last year, showing unprecedented courage and bravery. Ukraine has demonstrated that her lion-hearted nation is ready to stand up for our shared ideals and principles with all possible means and instruments.
We must honor all those who have perished, making the ultimate sacrifice in the war for the freedom of Ukraine.
Special words of respect must go to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who amaze everyone with their impressive quick-thinking and incredible skills, especially in speedily mastering foreign weapons systems. Now, Ukraine has one of the most capable defense forces in the world, is prevailing over its enemy in terms of tactics and strategy, and is demonstrating world-class competence and qualifications.
Every day, the forces of Ukraine effectively protect the whole of Europe from Russian chauvinism and imperial folly, which poses a threat to the global security architecture.
No nation desires peace more than Ukraine, but what is needed is a just and lasting peace that will prevent any new war against Ukraine or any other nation. The president of Ukraine has proposed a complex initiative consisting of 10 specific steps to reestablish all the elements of peaceful coexistence in the interests of the entire international community. For a diplomatic resolution of the war to be successful, we need the united will of the whole world. The West's voice is strong, but not enough to reinstate global security and guarantee long-term international peace. To achieve this goal, the countries of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America must come forward and use their weight and influence.
Every voice and every country matters, as the UN Charter does not differentiate between “big” and “small” states, or influential and non-influential ones. Those who are earnestly seeking peace should join the consolidated international efforts to implement the Ukrainian Peace Formula. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, being a respectful regional leader, could make a great contribution. We hope to see it taking the lead in one of the prominent elements of the Ukrainian initiative.
Ukraine alone has taken the shock of the Russian invasion and, by her national resilience and adherence to international law, has generated a worldwide thirst for victory. This is noble, this is right and we should maximize all efforts to bring much-needed peace to Ukraine and deliver lasting stability to the entire world.
• Anatolii Petrenko is the ambassador of Ukraine to Saudi Arabia.
Arab News reached out to the Russian ambassador for a column on the occasion of the war’s one-year anniversary but did not get a response. The invitation remains open.

A foundation for mankind and a pillar for values
Nayef bin Marzouq Al-Fahadi/Arab News/February 22, 2023
For man to find certainty, values, steadfastness and collective identity in an age characterized by turmoil, doubt and narrow conflicts of interests. For man to wake up to a future being shaped today by a well-established vision, the good of humanity and the interest of the planet as a whole at a time when even the most deeply entrenched values are subjected to the winds of political monetization and mobilization.
For man to find three centuries of history characterized by tireless building, continuous fidelity and a great succession of leaders, men and women who devoted their lives to set the building blocks of the finished structure we see today. There is the identity, which explains building the human being and developing the land. There is the future, which means sacrificing today for the good and interest of future generations. There is loyalty, which harnesses the narrow interests of oneself to elevate noble goals. Then there is the homeland.
Celebrating Saudi Arabia’s Founding Day, in particular, means celebrating what has been entrenched in the citizens of this land, men or women, young or old, and what the people of the era specifically need in terms of being aware of the first pillar and acknowledging what generations, driven by faith alone, have had to endure for three centuries.
The concept of righteousness, on the banks of which the homeland’s flag and palm trees were planted, goes beyond sticking to what is politically correct and changing the notions and values as the current interest changes. It stemmed from a long-standing authentic culture adopted by men who truly believed in it with a renewed faith that never changed according to temporary opportunities. It originated from a divine message that became a part of our nature and guided our behavior before we even took our first step on this Earth.
Therefore, we did not let humanity be stolen by experiments and overwhelming whims. Similarly, we did not leave room for our homeland to be caught in a tug of war due to the conflicts of interest and the arrogance of emergent intentions.
We did not leave room for our homeland to be caught in a tug of war due to the conflicts of interest and the arrogance of emergent intentions.
I have not read a history that resembles that of this homeland and its long and rich line of men. It is as if the first men, imams and kings alike, worked as one determined entity. It is as if they agreed irrevocably to abide by a reference of authentic Arab and Islamic values. They did not deviate from the values of generosity and nobility. They stood tall in the face of their aggressors and were soft toward their brothers and friends. They were firm in the face of ignorance and chaos and soft toward agreement and development. It is as if three centuries were written on a single page in the book of the goodness of humanity, the righteousness of values and the certainty of the destination.
I rarely find a present as bright as my homeland’s on its Founding Day. I find it in the renewed meaning and the pride in an identity held by the land and its people. I find it in the words of its leader, King Salman. I find it in the hope represented by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as he embodies this pride in the Kingdom’s identity, history and values. We stand together on this one eternal day.
*Nayef bin Marzouq Al-Fahadi is the Saudi Ambassador to Japan.