English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 05/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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Bible Quotations For today
The Third Lent Sunday/The Miracle Of Healing The haemorrhagic Woman
Luke08/40-56: 40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him. Then a man named Jairus, a synagogue leader, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, pleading with him to come to his house because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her. She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped. “Who touched me?” Jesus asked. When they all denied it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you.” But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.” Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed.  Then he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace.” While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue leader. “Your daughter is dead,” he said. “Don’t bother the teacher anymore.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child’s father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. “Stop wailing,” Jesus said. “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the hand and said, “My child, get up!” Her spirit returned, and at once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat.  Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.”

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 04-05/2023
The Bleeding Women’s Miracle: Faith & Hope/Elias Bejjani
Geagea says rejected deal involving Franjieh election
Al-Murtada from UNESCO: Terminologies that contradict with our heritage, promoted under guise of development & freedom, denote an organized effort to...
Nassar, Fathi discuss tourism sector, Kfardebian region declared as Arab winter tourism capital
EDL calls on citizens not to succumb to promoters of fake news
Geagea not surprised by Berri's nomination of Suleiman Franjieh for presidency
Khoury bound for Saudi Arabia to partake in International Justice Conference
Agriculture Minister confirms close cooperation with Economy Ministry over food security
Bayram announces agreement to cancel entry visa fee for Lebanese visiting Iraq, says Iraqi PM's visit to Lebanon serves both countries
Abiad to hold press conference on Monday to announce developments related to drugs for cancerous, incurable diseases
Question: “Are we living in the end times?”/GotQuestions.org?
On Sovereignty!/Samir Atallah/Al-Anba newspaper/March, 04/2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 04-05/2023
UN Chief Condemns Rich Countries ‘Vicious’ Tactics Against Poor
IAEA head says 'constructive' Iran talks may lead to 2015 deal revival
Protests in Iran over schoolgirl illnesses, new poisonings reported
Iran President Blames 'Enemies' over School Poisonings Case
Quake caused damage worth $5.1 billion in Syria
Syria mission worth the risk, top US general says after visit
‘No limits’ to cooperation with UAE: Italian PM
US Sending Bridge-launchers to Ukraine for Spring Fight
Departure of third relief plane carrying 30 tons of aid from Saudi Arabia to Ukraine
Jordanian, Australian business groups discuss building investment ties
Israel’s finance minister will not meet US officials after Palestinian village comment
Iraq: Disintegration of Coordination Framework, or New Early Elections
Lesion removed from Biden's chest was cancerous

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 04-05/2023
We’ve Been Talking About the Lab-Leak Hypothesis All Wrong/David Wallace-Wells/The New York Times/March, 04/2023
Iran’s Regime Days Away from Nuclear Weapons/Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 04/2023
Maintaining sanctions on Syria will not harm donor conference/Ghassan Ibrahim/Arab News/March 04, 2023
The West Bank is on fire and who can stop it?/Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/March 04, 2023
Disaster Dynamics: Assessing Middle East Responses to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake and Other Destructive Events/Sarah Cahn, Erik Yavorsky/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023
Iran Formalizes Ties with the Taliban/Aaron Y. Zelin/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023
Opposition in the Iranian Diaspora and among Iranian Reformers: The Case of Mousavi/Majid Nikouei/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 04-05/2023
The Bleeding Women’s Miracle: Faith & Hope
Elias Bejjani
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/36973/elias-bejjani-the-bleeding-women-faith-hope/
(John 6:68): “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life”
Whenever we are in real trouble encountering devastating and harsh conditions either physically or materially, we unconsciously react with sadness, anger, confusion, helplessness and feel abandoned. When in a big mess, we expect our family members and friends to automatically run to our rescue. But in the majority of such difficult situations, we discover with great disappointment that in reality our heartfelt expectations do not unfold as we wish.
What is frustrating and shocking is that very few of our family members and friends would stand beside us during hardships and endeavour to genuinely offer the needed help. Those who have already walked through these rocky life paths and adversities definitely know very well the bitter taste of disappointment. They know exactly the real meaning of the well-know saying, “a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
Sadly our weak human nature is driven by inborn instincts that often make us side with the rich, powerful, healthy and strong over the poor, weak, needy and sick. Those who have no faith in Almighty God find it very difficult to cope in a real mess.
Meanwhile, those whose faith is solid stand up with courage, refuse to give up hope, and call on their Almighty Father for help through praying and worshiping. They know for sure that our Great Father is loving and passionate. He will not abandon any one of us when calling on Him for mercy and help because He said and promised so. Matthew 11/28-30: “Come to me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
One might ask, ‘Why should I pray?’ And, ‘Do I have to ask God for help, can’t He help me without praying to Him?’ The answer is ‘no’. We need to pray and when we do so with faith and confidence God listens and responds (Mark 11/:24): “Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them”
Yes, we have to make the effort and be adamant and persistent. We have to ask and knock in a bid to show our mere submission to Him and He with no doubt shall provide. (Matthew 7/7 & 8): “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened”.
On this second Sunday of Lent in our Catholic Church’s Eastern Maronite rite, we cite and recall the miraculous cure of the bleeding woman in Matthew 9/20-22, Mark 5/25-34, and Luke 8/43-48. As we learn from the Holy Gospel, the bleeding woman’s great faith made her believe without a shred of doubt that her twelve years of chronic bleeding would stop immediately if she touched Jesus’ garment. She knew deeply in her heart that Jesus would cure her even without asking him. Her faith cured the bleeding and made her well. Her prayers were heard and responded to.
Luke 8/:43-49: “A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any, came behind him (Jesus), and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped. Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 8:46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me.” When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”
The woman’s faith cured her chronic bleeding and put her back in the society as a normal and acceptable citizen. During that era women with uterus bleeding were looked upon as sinners, defiled and totally banned from entering synagogues for praying. Meanwhile, because of her sickness she was physically unable to be a mother and bear children. Sadly she was socially and religiously abandoned, humiliated and alienated. But her faith and hope empowered her with the needed strength and perseverance and enabled her to cope successfully against all odds.
Hallelujah! Faith can do miracles. Yes indeed. (Luke17/5 & 6): ” The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” The Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you”. How badly do we today need to have a faith like that of this women?
Let us all on this second Lent Sunday pray with solid faith.
Let us ask Almighty God who cured the bleeding women, and who was crucified on the cross to absolve our original sin, that He would endow His Holy graces of peace, tranquility, and love all over the world. And that He would strengthen the faith, patience and hope of all those persecuted, imprisoned, and deprived for courageously witnessing the Gospel’s message and truth.

Geagea says rejected deal involving Franjieh election
Naharnet/March 04, 2023
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has confirmed that he has rejected “domestic and foreign” proposals for the election of Suleiman Franjieh as president in return for the appointment of a pro-opposition premier. In an interview with The Independent Arabia, Geagea also said that he does not believe that Hezbollah might back down from supporting Franjieh in the current period. “But if it decides so, it will pick a candidate with no flavor, color, stance or personality, and we would take the same stance on such a candidate,” Geagea added. He also accused Hezbollah of seeking to secure the election of a president who would be 100% loyal to it and who would implement its policies, or else it would “block the elections.”Asked about his new stance on boycotting presidential election sessions, Geagea said it would be “idiotic” to facilitate the election of a pro-Hezbollah president after the president and its allies “changed the rules of the democratic game and suspended the constitution” for five months.“They can’t obstruct when they want and then suddenly ask us to facilitate the election of their candidate,” the LF leader added. “When the negotiators asked me about the reason behind my rejection of Franjieh I clarified that the problem is not in the person of the Marada Movement leader, but rather in making steps that would aggravate the crisis instead of resolving it,” Geagea went on to say. He added: “Should Franjieh become president, he will rule based on the force that he relied on to reach the presidency, which is Hezbollah and its allies.”

Al-Murtada from UNESCO: Terminologies that contradict with our heritage, promoted under guise of development & freedom, denote an organized effort to...
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Culture, Judge Muhammad Wissam Al-Mortada, patronized today the opening of the "Family Challenges in Lebanon Conference” organized by the Lebanese Forum for the Preservation of Family and Values, with the participation of the Ministry of Culture, during an official and popular ceremony held at the UNESCO Palace - Beirut. In his opening word, Al-Murtada stressed that family is not only a religious attribute, but rather it is the distinguishing mark that guarantees the continuity of Lebanon, because it is the most complete expression of solidarity, acquaintance and unity within diversity, and convergence for the sake of building. “The dissolution of these values in any society is but a door to controlling and taming it and appropriating its bounties,” he said. He continued to consider that what is being promoted in our country in terms of statements or terminologies that contradict with our heritage, under the guise of development and freedom, actually represent an organized effort to strike at the foundations of our society. However, Al-Mortada asserted that the Lebanese, who throughout history have resisted and overcome many ordeals, particularly when they confronted them in unison, will definitely resist and win when it comes to protecting values, family and familial love. “We all know that it is necessary for us to fight this battle with the spirit of the believer that there is no escape from victory, bearing in mind that defeat will bring us down socially and will even threaten the survival of the Lebanese entity,” he maintained. It is to note that participants in the conference also highlighted the need for emphasizing the responsibility of the Education Ministry and educational institutions in immunizing members of the Lebanese family through educational curricula, counseling courses and awareness campaigns in which specialists, members of the teaching staff, parents and students participate. They also called for taking the necessary steps to legislate and amend laws that preserve the Lebanese family system and protect it from projects and programs that do not conform to our Lebanese values. Likewise, emphasis was made on the role of the Ministry of Information in spreading awareness and developing means that protect against the danger of moral deviations, identifying their manifestations, and cooperating with various social institutions to confront them in scientific and realistic ways, and discouraging the acceptance of such behaviors.

Nassar, Fathi discuss tourism sector, Kfardebian region declared as Arab winter tourism capital
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Tourism Walid Nassar met today at his ministry office with the Secretary-General of the Arab Tourism Organization, former Egyptian Minister of Aviation Sherif Fathi. Discussions touched on the tourism sector in Lebanon and future projects, foremost of which being the selection of Kfardebian region (Faqra and Ayoun El Siman) as the “capital of Arab winter tourism” and placing it on the Arab and international tourism map. On the other hand, Nassar reviewed with a delegation from the "Human for Environment and Development Association" several projects within the memorandum of understanding that was previously signed between the Ministry of Tourism and the Association, most prominently the "Bees Road" project which is a tourist road that connects all villages and sites in the Jbeil district that are home to beekeeping and honey production.

EDL calls on citizens not to succumb to promoters of fake news
NNA/March 04, 2023
The Electricity of Lebanon (EDL) commented, in a statement, on what is being circulated through some social networking sites and applications, in terms of calls to "boycott the payment of electricity bills" that will adopt the new price. "The current bills that have been issued or that are currently being issued and are currently being collected include electricity consumption in two months together, 11 and 12 of the year 2022, based on the exchange rate on the Sayrafa platform +20% on the date of printing the issue, amounting to / 43,600 / L.L. for US dollars (43,600 LL + 20% = 52,320 LL) and not according to the price of the Sayrafa platform today or any other date. In this regard, EDL called on citizens not to succumb to promoters of inaccurate news, stressing that EDL will remain open to public opinion to dispel any concerns of citizens. EDL also explained in its statement that this new electricity tariff is the least expensive for the citizen compared to other methods of extracting electricity, especially from private generators, and that the success of the national emergency plan for the electricity sector, including improving collection on the basis of the new tariff and removing encroachments on the network Electricity ... etc., would achieve one of the objectives of this plan, which is to improve and increase electricity supply hours, successively, at a later stage.

Geagea not surprised by Berri's nomination of Suleiman Franjieh for presidency
NNA/March 04, 2023
Head of the "Lebanese Forces" party, Samir Geagea, expressed that he was not surprised by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's adoption of the nomination of the head of the "Marada Movement", stressing that he "was aware, since the beginning of the constitutional deadline for electing a president of the republic six months ago, that the serious and effective candidate of Hezbollah, Berri and their allies is Suleiman Franjieh." Geagea's words came in an interview with the Arabic "Independent", where he said: "Based on this, our reaction was to reject the fabricated calls for dialogue, on the grounds that it would be a waste of time as long as the other party sticks to its candidate, and the biggest evidence is what was issued by Speaker Berri."Geagea enumerated the current series of direct and indirect dialogues that did not stop, considering that these dialogues did not lead to a result because Hezbollah and its allies only want Franjieh, while the opposition has repeatedly announced that it will not adhere to the candidacy of MP Michel Moawad unless another name is proposed and managed to obtain 65 votes and has specifications that meet the requirements of the current stage. He also accused Hezbollah of wanting a president that would control it 100% and implement its policy, explaining that it had rejected internal and external proposals to elect Franjieh as president in exchange for naming a pro-opposition prime minister.

Khoury bound for Saudi Arabia to partake in International Justice Conference
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Justice Henry Khoury left today for Saudi Arabia, at the invitation of the Minister of Justice in the Saudi Kingdom Waleed bin Muhammad Al-Samaani, to participate in the International Judicial Conference taking place on March 5th & 6th. The conference brings together a group of jurists and interested parties from 30 countries around the world with 4,000 participants, to exchange knowledge and judicial experiences, legal expertise and expanding relations between various states in the judicial field.

Agriculture Minister confirms close cooperation with Economy Ministry over food security
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Ministers of Agriculture, Abbas Hajj Hassan, and Economy & Trade, Amin Salam, discussed today the ongoing cooperation and coordination between their two ministries, especially in the food security dossier. They also tackled the green agricultural transformation project towards economic recovery in Lebanon, and agreed to hold follow-up meetings between technical experts from both ministries in this regard.

Bayram announces agreement to cancel entry visa fee for Lebanese visiting Iraq, says Iraqi PM's visit to Lebanon serves both countries
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Labor Mustafa Bayram announced today the cancellation of entry visa fees for the Lebanese to Iraq, calling on Lebanese investors to invest in the promising Iraqi field. In a press conference held this morning, Bayram touched on the results of his talks with Iraqi officials, stating that the aim of this conference was to brief the Lebanese on the atmosphere of his important visit to Iraq and to keep them abreast on any movement he is taking. He indicated that the first objective of his visit was to organize and protect the Lebanese and Iraqi labor force in both countries; however, he noted that the Lebanese Prime Minister took this a step further by commissioning him to extend an invitation to the Iraqi Prime Minister to visit Lebanon, which the latter duly accepted and will be visiting Lebanon in the next few days. “This is a significant development because he will be the first Iraqi prime minister to come to Lebanon in an official capacity after many years, and he quickly responded to the invitation, and this is a very important issue because of Iraq's strategic and economic weight in the region, as well as the relations between the two countries,” Bayram affirmed.He added that during his meeting with the Iraqi PM, he requested to apply reciprocity with regard to the entry visa fee for the Lebanese visiting Iraq, which amounts to $52, whereby it was approved to remove said fee following a unanimous decision taken by the Iraqi cabinet. Bayram said that the Iraqi PM assured him that his country will do everything that facilitates the work of the Lebanese, thereby encouraging Lebanese businessmen to invest in the promising Iraqi arena. “His presence in Lebanon at this time is very important and has great significance,” he asserted, referring to Iraqi PM’s anticipated visit to Beirut. Responding to a question, Bayram said he briefed PM Mikati and cabinet ministers on the outcome of his visit to Iraq, adding, “The most important thing is to develop and activate the relationship through direct meetings,” while also underlining “Lebanon's openness to all Arab countries.”

Abiad to hold press conference on Monday to announce developments related to drugs for cancerous, incurable diseases
NNA/March 04, 2023
Caretaker Public Health Minister, Firas Abiad, will hold a press conference at 11:00 am on Monday at the Public Health Ministry's Conference Hall, to announce developments related to cancer and incurable diseases and new drugs that will be included in the Meditrack drug tracking system. Abiad will also shed light on the results of adopting mechanization to track and distribute drugs and will launch the national campaign to educate citizens on how to create a unique health ID for a patient and how to submit a medical file on the Aman system.

Question: “Are we living in the end times?”
GotQuestions.org?
Answer: The Bible prophesies of many events that will occur in the end times. These events can be categorized as natural signs, spiritual signs, sociological signs, technological signs, and political signs. We can look to what the Bible says about these things, and, if the signs are present in abundance, we can be certain that we are, in fact, living in the end times. Luke 21:11 lists some of the natural signs that will occur before Jesus’ second coming: “There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.” While we shouldn’t interpret every natural disaster as a sign of the end times, an increase in natural disasters seems to be a warm-up to what is coming next—“birth pangs,” as Jesus called them (Matthew 24:8). The Bible lists both positive and negative spiritual signs. In 2 Timothy 4:3–4 we discover that many people will follow false teachers. We see now an increase in cultic groups, heresy, deception, and occultism, with many choosing to follow New Age or pagan religions. On the positive side, Joel 2:28–29 prophesies that there will be a great outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Joel’s prophecy was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16), and we are still seeing the effects of that outpouring in revivals and Spirit-led Christian movements, and in the worldwide preaching of the gospel message.
Along with the signs in the natural and spiritual realms, there are signs in society. The immorality rampant in society today is a symptom of mankind’s rebellion against God. Abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and child molestation are proof that “evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). We are now living in a hedonistic and materialistic society. People are lovers of themselves—“looking out for number one”—and doing what is right in their own eyes. All these things, and many more, can be seen around us every day (see 2 Timothy 3:1–4).
The fulfillment of some end-times prophecies seemed impossible until the advent of modern technology. Some of the judgments in Revelation are more easily imagined in a nuclear age. In Revelation 13, the Antichrist is said to control commerce by forcing people to take the mark of the beast, and, given today’s advances in computer chip technology, the tools he will use may very well be here already. And through the internet, radio, and television, the gospel can now be proclaimed to the entire world (Mark 13:10).
And there are political signs. The restoration of Israel to her land in 1948 is the single most impressive fulfilled prophecy proving that we live in the end times. At the turn of the 20th century, no one would have dreamed that Israel would be back in her land, let alone occupying Jerusalem. Jerusalem is definitely at the center of geopolitics and stands alone against many enemies; Zechariah 12:3 confirms this: “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.” Matthew 24:6–7 predicted that “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” “Wars and rumors of wars” are definitely characteristic of this present age.
These are just a few of the signs that we are living in the end of the age. There are many more. God gave us these prophecies because He does not want anyone to perish, and He always gives ample warning before pouring out His wrath (2 Peter 3:9).
Are we living in the end times? No one knows when Jesus will return, but the rapture could occur at any moment. God will deal with sin either by grace or by wrath. John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” Those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their savior will remain under the Lord’s wrath.
The good news is that it’s not too late to choose eternal life. All that is required is acceptance, by faith, of God’s free gift of grace. There is nothing you can do to earn grace; Jesus has paid the price for you (Romans 3:24). Are you ready for the Lord’s return? Or will you experience His wrath?
For Further Study: Basic Bible Prophecy: Essential Facts Every Christian Should Know by Ron Rhodes
More insights from your Bible study - Get Started with Logos Bible Software for Free!

On Sovereignty!
Samir Atallah/Al-Anba newspaper/March, 04/2023
President Michel Aoun told his citizens, with all sincerity and frankness, years ago, that Lebanon was going to hell, and they did not believe him. Not because they didn’t trust him, but because they didn’t want to go to a place they have heard so much about. Later, the president said he “will leave a much better country” to his successor. They were utterly bewildered. When Aoun left the Presidential Palace, his supporters in the Free Patriotic Movement gathered around him and chanted in melodious voices, “With you, we will continue.” And they still are.
This is their decision, their freedom and their choice. But why is Lebanon forced to “continue” this march that is killing it, displacing its families, starving its children, closing the doors of its schools, stripping the state of its historical relations, displacing youth by tens of thousands, and drowning the national currency to the worst levels in its history? Everything else can be described as the worst that is happening to Lebanon and the Lebanese... from the price of bread to the shortage of medicines, the lack of jobs, to the complete loss of hope.
If we want to put a symbol for this collapse, we find Gebran Bassil in politics, and the governor of the Central Bank, Riad Salameh, in finance.
The first is standing on top of the rubble, seeking to be elected president, or to appoint someone who would represent him in the presidency, while the second is overseeing the perishing Lebanese lira, waiting for his tenure to be extended until the end of the century, the end of Lebanon, and the end of deposits.
The political leader of the Christians is subject to the harshest US sanctions list, on charges of corruption, to say the least. The financial leader is under Swiss, European-Lebanese investigations on charges of embezzlement and money laundering, along with his wife and brother.
They are sitting! Both of them are sitting in the face of the Lebanese, in the face of the law, and in the face of those dying of hunger and grief. Never in the history of Lebanon has this number of parents committed suicide because they are unable to provide basic necessities for their children.
The first in the series committed suicide by burning himself because he was unable to pay his children’s tuitions, and another committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in front of his house, in order not to leave the scene of blood in his children’s memory for life.
“With you we continue,” but where to and for how long? The daily newscast was disgusted by the impudence of politicians, and began to weep. Just cry. No time for any other feelings. The country is in hell. The prediction was accurate, while the Maronite leaders are still fighting over what remains of the republic, the lira, and the “sovereign” positions.
The Lebanese accept nothing less than sovereignty in everything. They signed “agreements” without being allowed to read them, but with all sovereignty! They elected their president, in a fully sovereign atmosphere! Michel Aoun accepted that the presidency would remain vacant for two and a half years, in order for him to become a sovereign president! Now we are not sure for how long the presidential vacuum will last after him. But in any case, “we will continue”, as there is no other sign of sovereignty!

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 04-05/2023
UN Chief Condemns Rich Countries ‘Vicious’ Tactics Against Poor
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 4 March, 2023
UN leader Antonio Guterres on Saturday slammed the world's rich countries and energy giants for throttling poor nations with "predatory" interest rates and crippling fuel prices. Guterres told a summit of the most deprived states on the planet that wealthy nations should provide $500 billion a year to help others "trapped in vicious cycles" that block their efforts to boost economies and improve health and education. The summit of the 46 Least Developed Countries (LDC) is normally held every 10 years but has twice been delayed since 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to AFP. Afghanistan and Myanmar, two of the poorest countries, are not present at the meeting in Doha because their governments are not recognized by UN members. No leader from any of the world's major economies attended. At the summit opening, Guterres hit out straight away at the way poor nations are treated by the more powerful. "Economic development is challenging when countries are starved for resources, drowning in debt, and still struggling with the historic injustice of an unequal COVID-19 response," he said. "Combatting climate catastrophe that you did nothing to cause is challenging when the cost of capital is sky-high" and the financial help received "is a drop in the bucket", said Guterres. "Fossil fuel giants are raking in huge profits, while millions in your countries cannot put food on the table."Guterres said the poorest nations were being left behind in the "digital revolution" and the Ukraine war had only increased prices they pay for food and fuel.

IAEA head says 'constructive' Iran talks may lead to 2015 deal revival
Agence France Presse/March 04, 2023
The U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Saturday he had "constructive discussions" with Iranian officials that could pave the way for the revival of a landmark 2015 agreement. "By constructive discussions that we are having now, and by good agreements, I'm sure we are going to be paving the way for important agreements," Grossi said in a news conference in Tehran alongside Mohammad Eslami, director of Atomic Energy Agency of Iran.

Protests in Iran over schoolgirl illnesses, new poisonings reported
Reuters/March 04, 2023
TEHRAN: Worried parents protested in Iran’s capital Tehran and other cities on Saturday over a wave of suspected poison attacks that have affected schoolgirls in dozens of schools, according to Iranian news agencies and social media videos. The so-far unexplained illnesses have affected hundreds of schoolgirls in recent months. Iranian officials believe the girls may have been poisoned and have blamed Tehran’s enemies. The country’s health minister has said the girls have suffered “mild poison” attacks and some politicians have suggested the girls could have been targeted by hard-line Islamist groups opposed to girls’ education. Sickness affected more than 30 schools in at least 10 of Iran’s 31 provinces on Saturday. Videos posted on social media showed parents gathered at schools to take their children home and some students being taken to hospitals by ambulance or buses. A gathering of parents outside an Education Ministrybuilding in western Tehran on Saturday to protest over the illnesses turned into an anti-government demonstration, according to a video verified by Reuters. “Basij, Guards, you are our Daesh,” protesters chanted, likening the Revolutionary Guards and other security forces to the Daesh group. Similar protests were held in two other areas in Tehran and other cities including Isfahan and Rasht, according to unverified videos. The outbreak of schoolgirl sickness comes at a critical time for Iran’s clerical rulers, who have faced months of anti-government protests sparked by the death of a young Iranian woman in the custody of the morality police who enforce strict dress codes. Social media posts in recent days have shown photos and videos of girls who have fallen ill, feeling nauseaous or suffering heart palpitations. Others complained of headaches. Reuters could not verify the posts. The United Nations human rights office in Geneva called on Friday for a transparent investigation into the suspected attacks and countries including Germany and the United States have voiced concern. Iran rejected what it views as foreign meddling and “hasty reactions” and said on Friday it was investigating the causes of the incidents. “It is one of the immediate priorities of Iran’s government to pursue this issue as quickly as possible and provide documented information to resolve the families’ concerns and to hold accountable the perpetrators and the causes,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told state media. Schoolgirls were active in the anti-government protests that began in September. They have removed their mandatory headscarves in classrooms, torn up pictures of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and called for his death.

Iran President Blames 'Enemies' over School Poisonings Case
London, Tehran - Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 4 March, 2023
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi blamed the enemies of Iran in the poisoning case of hundreds of high school girls nationwide. Raisi commented for the first time on the incident saying: "This is a security project to cause chaos in the country whereby the enemy seeks to instill fear and insecurity among parents and students." The president did not say who those enemies were, although Iranian leaders occasionally accuse the United States and Israel, among others, of acting against it. Iran had blamed Western countries for fueling the protests that swept across Iran after the death of the young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Amini, while she was in detention at the morality police. Iranian Health Minister Bahram Eynollahi said Tuesday that hundreds of girls in different schools suffered from poisoning. Some politicians suggested that they may be targeted by groups opposed to girls' education.
Arrests
Fars and Tasnim news agencies published a video recording of a truck driver arrested by the authorities on the pretext of spreading toxic substances near a school. The Iranian Ministry of Interior denied reports of arrests. A top official at Pardis suburb in northeastern Tehran said that a fuel tanker found near a school was also spotted in two other cities and is likely to be involved in the poisonings. He stated that the authorities seized the tanker and arrested its driver, according to Reuters, quoting Tasnim Agency. He said the same tanker had also been to Qom and Boroujerd, in Lorestan Province in western Iran, where students have also suffered from poisoning. He did not elaborate.
Public discontent
The issue sparked outrage in the country, with some deploring the authorities' silence over the increasing number of schools at risk. During Friday prayer, the top Sunni leader in Iran, AbdolHamid Ismail Zahi, said that many believe the poisonings are part of the suppressions against protests. Zahi warned the authorities that the attacks on schools would lead to general discontent among Iranians, describing the poisonings as "inhuman and anti-Islamic hostility" towards females. He criticized the Iranian authorities for "lying" about killing protesters and the poison gas attacks on girls' schools. He wondered how officials and security agencies knew everything and couldn't solve who was poising the girls. The cleric warned that the girls who participated in the protests were now facing this treatment, urging an end to such behavior.
Tehran is required to investigate
In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner (UNHCR) for Human Rights called for a transparent investigation into the attacks.
UNHCR spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said in a press briefing: "We're very concerned about these allegations that girls are being deliberately targeted under what appear to be mysterious circumstances."She said the findings of a government investigation should be made public and the perpetrators brought to justice. Furthermore, the World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Margaret Harris said the agency contacted national health authorities and medical professionals about these incidents while "using other means to understand more about the event so that we have better evidence."Additionally, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that reports of poison attacks targeting schoolgirls in Iran are shocking and must be thoroughly investigated, voicing US concerns."Girls must be able to go to school without fear," Baerbock tweeted, adding: "This is nothing less than their human right. All cases must be fully investigated."

Quake caused damage worth $5.1 billion in Syria
Associated Press/March 04, 2023
The World Bank has said that Syria sustained an estimated $5.1 billion in damages in last month's massive earthquake that struck southeast Turkey and northern parts of the war-torn country. The quake killed at least 50,000 people, including about 6,000 in Syria, according to the United Nations. Tens of thousands are still missing and hundreds of thousands were left homeless. In a report released Friday, the World Bank says the level of the damage in Syria is about 10% of the country's gross domestic product. Syria's northern province of Aleppo was the most severely hit region, accounting for 45% of the total damages in Syria and amounting to about $2.3 billion in damages. Also badly hit was the rebel-held region in the northwest, home to some 4.6 million people, many of them previously displaced by Syria's war. Aleppo was followed by the northwestern province of Idlib, with estimated damages of $1.9 billion and Latakia, government-controlled territory on the coast, with $549 million. The earthquake has also compounded myriad other troubles in Syria, where the nearly 12-year civil war has killed nearly half a million people and displaced half the country's pre-war population of 23 million. The World Bank cautioned that there is still a significant degree of uncertainty around its preliminary assessment. "The disaster will cause a decline in economic activity that will further weigh on Syria's growth prospects," said Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank head for the Middle East. The damages assessed in the report include both in the residential and nonresidential sectors, such as direct damages to buildings and structures, as well as damage to cultural heritage sites, which is especially challenging to qualify. In an earlier assessment report, the World Bank said on Monday that the damages in Turkey from last month's earthquake are estimated at $34.2 billion.

Syria mission worth the risk, top US general says after visit
Reuters/March 04, 2023
NORTHEAST SYRIA: The nearly eight-year-old US deployment to Syria to combat Daesh is still worth the risk, the top US military officer said on Saturday, after an unannounced visit to a base to meet US troops in the country’s northeast.
Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, flew to Syria to assess efforts to prevent a resurgence of the militant group and review safeguards for American forces against attacks, including from drones. While Daesh is a shadow of the group that ruled over a third of Syria and Iraq in a Caliphate declared in 2014, hundreds of fighters are still camped in desolate areas where neither the US-led coalition nor the Syrian army, with support from Russia and Iranian-backed militias, exert full control. Thousands of other Daesh fighters are in detention facilities guarded by Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, America’s key ally in the country. American officials say that Daesh could still regenerate into a major threat. Asked by reporters traveling with him if he believed the Syria mission was worth the risk, Milley tied the mission to the security of the United States and its allies, saying: “If you think that that’s important, then the answer is ‘Yes.’““I happen to think that’s important,” Milley said. “So I think that an enduring defeat of Daesh and continuing to support our friends and allies in the region ... I think those are important tasks that can be done.” The mission carries risk. Four US troops were wounded during a helicopter raid last month when a Daesh leader triggered an explosion. Last month, the US military shot down an Iranian-made drone in Syria that was attempting to conduct reconnaissance on a patrol base in northeastern Syria. Three drones targeted a US base in January in Syria’s Al-Tanf region. The US military said two of the drones were shot down while the remaining drone hit the compound, injuring two members of the Syrian Free Army forces. US officials believe the attacks are being directed by Iran-backed militia. US Army Major General Matthew McFarlane, who commands the US-led coalition against Daesh in Iraq and Syria, described the attacks as a “distraction from our main mission.” McFarlane cited progress against Daesh, including through the reduction in the numbers of internally displaced people at refugee camps — a pool of people who could be recruited by Daesh. He also noted ongoing operations against the remnants of Daesh. “Our number one priority is the enduring defeat of Daesh. And we are making progress,” he said.

‘No limits’ to cooperation with UAE: Italian PM
Arab News/March 04, 2023
ROME: There are “no limits to what we can do together with the UAE,” Italy’s prime minister said on Saturday during a press briefing attended by Arab News. “Our cooperation can and will be reinforced,” added Giorgia Meloni, who was received at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.She said all the meetings she had in Abu Dhabi “went really well, even beyond my positive initial expectations.”Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of energy company Eni, were part of the Italian delegation. Energy and environmental sustainability, sustainable economic growth, stability in Libya, social unrest in Tunisia and the war in Ukraine were among the main issues discussed. A source in the Italian prime minister’s office told Arab News that “so many points were found in common,” and that “Meloni believes the UAE can play a huge diplomatic role on those issues.”Tajani and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan signed a strategic partnership agreement. A declaration on enhanced cooperation in the context of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, which will be hosted by the UAE, was signed by Tajani and Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, Emirati minister of industry and advanced technology, and president-designate of the conference. A cooperation agreement was signed between Eni and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.

US Sending Bridge-launchers to Ukraine for Spring Fight
Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 4 March, 2023
The US announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that for the first time includes armored vehicles that can launch bridges — allowing troops to cross rivers or other gaps as Russian and Ukrainian forces remain entrenched on opposite sides of the Dnieper River. The war had largely slowed to a grinding stalemate during the winter months, with Russia and Ukraine firing at each other from across the river. Both sides are expected to launch offensives as temperatures warm, AFP said. This round of aid will be drawn from existing US weapons stockpiles so it can arrive in Ukraine faster. The US and allies are trying to rush additional support to Kyiv to best position it for intensified spring fighting. The Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge is a portable, 60-foot (18-meter) folding metal bridge that is carried on top of a tank body. Providing that system now could make it easier for Ukrainian troops to cross rivers to get to Russian forces. Because Ukraine also continues to face shortages of ammunition in the intense firefight, this aid package, like previous ones, includes thousands of replacement rounds, such as rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and 155mm Howitzer rounds. This package also includes demolition munitions and equipment for clearing obstacles to help Ukraine breakthrough dug-in lines. Since Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, the US has sent in more than $32 billion in weapons and equipment. The US is also roughly tripling the number of Ukrainian forces it is training on advanced battle tactics at a base in Germany, to help them punch through entrenched Russian lines. At the Grafenwoehr training area, Ukrainian forces run through a five-week course that prepares them to conduct advanced combined arms maneuvers with Bradley fighting vehicles, M109 Paladins and Stryker armored personnel carriers. The first 600 Ukrainian troops completed the course last month and 1,600 more are in training. The aid will also include spare parts and equipment for vehicle maintenance and repair. The announcement comes on the heels of a brief meeting Thursday between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a gathering of top diplomats from the Group of 20 nations in New Delhi. It was the highest-level in-person talk between the two countries since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But there was no indication of any movement toward easing the intense tensions between the two nations. Blinken said he told Lavrov the US would continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.Lavrov, who did not mention speaking with Blinken when he held a news conference after the meeting, told reporters Moscow would continue to press its action in Ukraine.

Departure of third relief plane carrying 30 tons of aid from Saudi Arabia to Ukraine
Arab News/March 04, 2023
ANKARA: After Turkiye’s center-right nationalist Good Party abruptly broke ranks with its five opposition party allies on Friday, the leaders of the opposition alliance met on Saturday, with just weeks to go before the national elections on May 14.
The split happened because the Good Party — the second biggest party in the National Alliance opposition bloc — does not support the presidential candidate favored by the other five opposition parties, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP). The Good Party was founded by a group of politicians from the far-right Nationalist Movement Party, now Erdogan’s main ally, in 2017. Instead of Kilicdaroglu, Good Party leader Meral Aksener has proposed the CHP-affiliated mayors of Istanbul and Ankara — Ekrem Imamoglu and Mansur Yavas respectively. And she called on them to rebel not only against Kilicdaroglu but against their own party, and proceed with their own candidatures.
Both mayors, however, have said they have back Kilicdaroglu and have no desire to be president.
“Unity and togetherness beat everything but death,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted on Friday. On Saturday, he met with both Yavas and Imamoglu. The Good Party’s exit from the bloc is a serious blow to the opposition’s long-running efforts to present a unified front against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
However, there is still widespread public displeasure with Turkiye’s deepening economic crisis and with the government’s response to last month’s devastating earthquakes in which more than 45,000 people died, according to official statistics, and many are still missing.
Kilicdaroglu, the frontrunner among the potential candidates, continues to try and expand his support. On Friday, he met with two left-wing parties. Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of London-based Teneo Intelligence, told Arab News: “It remains to be seen whether the CHP and its allies can now successfully appeal to Kurdish voters. On paper, the likely departure of the Good Party should make this attempt easier for whatever is left of the Nation Alliance. “Just as it has for the past 20 years, the opposition is turning out to be Erdogan’s greatest asset. With the main opposition bloc in disarray, Erdogan now looks much better positioned to triumph in the May elections." The pro-government media and government officials have already launched attacks on the opposition bloc, saying that the latest disagreement shows it lacks the unity to govern the country.
Seren Selvin Korkmaz, political scientist and executive director of Istanbul-based think-tank Istanpol Institute, said, “One of the main threats to Erdogan is a unified opposition, and he has always invested in the idea that they cannot govern and stand together,” adding that Erdogan has “narrative superiority” after Aksener’s decision. Analysts also stressed that the government now has a golden opportunity to shift the focus of the general public and gain some space to maneuver. “The outcome of the deadly earthquakes gave Erdogan a hard time, but when we should be talking about the consequences of the earthquakes and the government’s responsibilities, both the government and the opposition are focused on the upcoming elections and the formation of alliances,” Korkmaz said. “This makes it difficult for the opposition to win, because they will have to create a new scenario for the elections. The opposition has to rethink the formulation of its joint bloc, broaden its alliances and create a new psychological aura to give the impression of being capable of winning the elections,” she added. Korkmaz anticipates that the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) will not nominate a separate presidential candidate if the opposition bloc endorses a candidate who suits them.  The Good Party has strongly opposed any strategic alliance with the HDP. Aksener said in September that her party would not sit at a table if the HDP were present. The HDP’s position is considered critical for the elections because neither camp currently has the ability to secure 50 percent of the votes. The party’s central executive committee also convened on Saturday to discuss the latest developments. Following the meeting, HDP co-chair, Mithat Sancar, said: “The HDP is aware of its responsibility ... Nobody should despair.” But Piccoli thinks that any alliance with the HDP could expose Kilicdaroglu and his allies to further criticism from Erdogan about the HDP’s alleged connections to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party and believes that the opposition bloc need to consider any move toward the HDP very carefully. Although there are still several uncertainties about the approaching elections, one thing is clear: They will be the most hotly contested of Erdogan’s 20-year-rule.

Jordanian, Australian business groups discuss building investment ties
Arab News/March 04, 2023
AMMAN: The Jordanian Businessmen Association (JBA) and a visiting delegation of Jordanian-Australian businessmen have discussed prospects of forging closer investment cooperation and expanding trade relations between both countries’ private sectors. Addressing the delegation on Saturday, JBA President Hamdi Tabbaa said that Jordan looks forward to attracting more foreign investment, especially from Australia, through cementing relations between the private sectors in both countries, reported Jordan’s News Agency. Economic relations with Australia saw “remarkable development” in recent years, said Tabbaa, adding: “We aspire to see them further prosper in a manner that reflects on the volume of trade exchange and investment.”He outlined key investment opportunities in mega projects and the need to promote ventures, noting strong bilateral relations, particularly in tourism, health care and education. JBA’s head called on Australian businesspeople to visit Jordan and see firsthand productivity and service projects in the industrial estates and development areas, as well as the possibility for investors to benefit from the Australian Investment Environment Law of 2022 and the advantages and incentives it offers. Shawkat Maslamani, who headed the Australian team, hoped that the visit would help consolidate his country’s relations with Jordan and the Middle East, and the provision of aid in various fields, including education and health and the transfer of knowledge in various industries, namely Australia’s expertise in vocational education. The two sides called for eliminating barriers to cooperation, launching joint ventures in promising sectors and benefiting from economic advantages and incentives offered by both countries.

Israel’s finance minister will not meet US officials after Palestinian village comment
Arab News/March 05, 2023
LONDON: The White House has announced that Israel’s finance minister, who called for a flashpoint Palestinian town to be “erased,” will not meet officials from the Biden administration during his visit to the US next week, Israeli media reported. Bezalel Smotrich, who will be making his first trip to Washington since taking up his ministerial position, will not meet US Treasury Secretary Jen Yellen or any other government officials, the White House told a press briefing on Friday. Smotrich made the comments at a conference on Wednesday amid a spate of deadly Palestinian attacks and Israeli settler violence in the occupied West Bank. When questioned about a weekend settler rampage through the Palestinian village of Huwara, which an Israeli general on Tuesday described as a “pogrom,” Smotrich said: “I think that Huwara needs to be erased.”He is scheduled to speak at the Israel Bonds annual conference in Washington from March 12-14. The US State Department described his comments as an incitement to violence and called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly disavow it. They were irresponsible, they were repugnant, they were disgusting,” spokesman Ned Price told reporters on Wednesday. “Just as we condemn Palestinian incitement to violence, we condemn these provocative remarks that also amount to incitement to violence,” he said. Meanwhile, 120 American Jewish leaders on Friday released a joint statement calling for a boycott against Smotrich’s visit. It said he “should not be given a platform in our community,” Israeli media reported. “The list of signatories on the statement demonstrated that the desire to disassociate with Smotrich extended to more mainstream elements of the Jewish community and well beyond the more progressive groups who already called for the minister to be denied a visa to get into the country,” The Times of Israel reported. After making the Huwara comments, Smotrich issued a statement saying the media had misinterpreted them, without retracting his call for the village to be erased.
(With Reuters and AFP)

Iraq: Disintegration of Coordination Framework, or New Early Elections
Baghdad – Asharq Al-Awsat/Saturday, 4 March, 2023
Sources close to influential parties in Iraq point that the political equation that brought about the government of Mohammad Shia al-Sudani will undergo sharp changes. The sources cited various circumstances, the most important of which is the highly probable return of the leader of As-Sadr movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, to the political arena, and the sharp divisions among the poles of the Coordination Framework. Shiite parties are trying to anticipate “unexpected big turns” by drawing a new map that may include setting a date for early elections and reaching an understanding with al-Sadr on the next stage. According to informed sources, the relationship between Sudani and the Framework has become “turbulent and lacking coordination.” “Al-Sudani and the Framework are both working in opposite directions, and each side looks at the other in a way of domination, not cooperation,” the sources said.
Local media claimed that Al-Sudani would resort to a cabinet reshuffle that might include partisan figures with whom Washington has banned dealings, due to their association with the armed factions. However, Iraqi politicians, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat, said that the premier’s intention was linked to the conflict within the Coordination Framework. In a video broadcast on state television, Sudani appeared to be criticizing the performance of some ministers, noting that others had received threats from their parties. The Iraqi prime minister had never made such frank statements publicly, which were seen by local public opinion as directed at the Framework coalition. “A minister’s relationship with the political forces ends after he is nominated and gains the confidence of parliament [...]. Whoever feels pressured or threatened, I am here,” he said. Questions arise on the status of the Framework, and whether it is able to remain united in supporting the government that it formed. A leader in the Framework said: “Al-Sadr is ready to move, and everything he does raises the anxiety of the leaders of the Shiite parties, while they got involved in major disputes over the sphere of influence within the government.”Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Baghdad Alina Romanowski, held several meetings with anti-Washington Shiite leaders, such as the leader of Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq and the deputy speaker of parliament, Mohsen al-Mandalawi. Although the official statements issued at the end of those meetings were brief in general, the atmosphere of “the coordination framework and the sharp polarization between its parties indicate an accelerated movement that paves the way for a new phase,” as stated by a Shiite leader who assumed a high position in the two previous governments.

Lesion removed from Biden's chest was cancerous
Associated Press/Saturday, 4 March, 2023
A skin lesion removed from President Joe Biden's chest last month was a basal cell carcinoma — a common form of skin cancer — his doctor said Friday, adding that no further treatment was required. Dr. Kevin O'Connor, the White House doctor who has served as Biden's longtime physician, said "all cancerous tissue was successfully removed" during the president's routine physical on Feb. 16. Biden, 80, was deemed by O'Connor to be " healthy, vigorous" and "fit " to handle his White House responsibilities during that physical exam, which comes as he is weeks away from launching an expected bid for reelection in 2024. O'Connor said the site of the removal on Biden's chest has "healed nicely" and the president will continue regular skin screenings as part of his routine health plan. Basal cells are among the most common and easily treated forms of cancer — especially when caught early. O'Connor said they don't tend to spread like other cancers, but could grow in size, which is why they are removed. Biden had "several localized non-melanoma skin cancers" removed from his body before he started his presidency, O'Connor said in his Feb. 16 summary of the president's health, noting it was well established that Biden spent a lot of time in the sun during his youth.First lady Jill Biden in January had two basal cell lesions removed from her right eye and chest. She said in an Associated Press interview last week that she's now "extra careful" about sunscreen, especially when she's at the beach. Basal cell carcinoma is a slow- growing cancer that usually is confined to the surface of skin — doctors almost always can remove it all with a shallow incision — and seldom causes serious complications or becomes life-threatening. The Bidens have long been advocates for fighting cancer. Their adult son Beau died in 2015 from brain cancer.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 04-05/2023
We’ve Been Talking About the Lab-Leak Hypothesis All Wrong
David Wallace-Wells/The New York Times/March, 04/2023
Imagine yourself, if you can, in the months before the Covid-19 pandemic. Imagine being told then that a novel virus would emerge in China that would then spread around the world, infecting much of the global population, by some estimates killing more than 20 million people, and upending much of humanity’s social, political and economic life along the way.
Imagine you were then told that some experts believed that this new virus raised questions about the safety of certain kinds of scientific research, in which virologists collected rare viruses out in the wild, brought them to facilities in or near cities and in some cases tinkered with them there to help prevent or better respond to future pandemics.
Imagine that none of this was presented to you in partisan or nationalistic terms. Imagine that Donald Trump had not been president and that nobody used the term “bioweapon.” And then imagine that a question was put to you: What would the chances have to be that a lab accident was the origin of the pandemic to justify a broad and public conversation about the safety of that research?
What would you say? That a lab-leak theory would have to be proved definitively, beyond any shadow of a doubt, to prompt such a pointed conversation? Or that it would have to be simply likelier than not — a “preponderance of evidence” standard, as lawyers sometimes put it — to generate a global reckoning over lab safety procedures and the wisdom of doing research, called gain-of-function, that can make pathogens more dangerous?
That is the standard that has recently been reached by a group within the Department of Energy, which, according to reporting published Sunday in The Wall Street Journal, revised its own assessment and has now “concluded” — though with only “low confidence” — that the pandemic most likely began with a laboratory leak. The F.B.I. previously came to a similar conclusion, theirs with “moderate confidence.”
Four other government agencies and a national intelligence panel have reached the opposite perspective, that the pandemic had what is called a natural or “zoonotic” origin. Two other agencies commissioned reviews that reached an uncertain conclusion.
None of the follow-up stories about the new D.O.E. conclusion have offered any new evidence in support of it, which makes the news less like a reversal or revelation, justifying claims of vindication and bursts of recrimination, than one additional data point floating beside many others. However the leak may have played on your social media feed, it does not indicate a new consensus but the opposite: a glaring reminder of the complexity of the known facts, with different narratives imposed by different factions trying to make sense of the same uncertain picture. When the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, was asked about the report on CNN on Sunday, he could do little more than essentially shrug, promising that the administration was doing everything it could to investigate the origins of the pandemic but confessing in the same breath that opinion within US intelligence was defined by uncertainty and disagreement.
This puts us in a strange epistemological limbo for such a mystery: No genuine proof seems to have arrived, one way or the other, three years on, in part because investigations have been largely stonewalled by China. That means that anyone contemplating the origins of the pandemic and its relevance for lab safety is operating to some degree from positions of ambiguity and probability.
But if you had been told, back in 2019, that this would be the state of knowledge in 2023, would it not seem extremely weird to you that there has not been a broad public conversation about the wisdom of potentially dangerous virological research in the meantime? That so much more oxygen had been eaten up by partisan theater than by public debate over the policy implications of such a possibility? And that the most significant set of reforms yet proposed — those issued a month ago by an expert panel from the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity and now being reviewed by the White House — were put together quietly, with little public attention paid to them beyond those already engaged in lab-safety debates?
The boundaries of mainstream discourse have suggested that we should resolve the matter of pandemic origins before moving on to the implications of the lab-leak hypothesis. But this has proved a paralyzing standard, and not just because so little definitive progress has been made on the central detective work. The question of how the deadliest pandemic in a century began is an undeniably consequential one. But so is the matter of what steps to take given that it remains to so many — including Anthony Fauci — an open question.
And personally, I think that if I were asked what the chances of an accidental outbreak would have to be to justify a loud and public reckoning over lab safety, I would put the number much lower than full proof. In fact, much lower even than “preponderance of evidence” — as low as 5 percent, perhaps, or 1 percent or less. Truthfully, I’m not sure that it would need to be any higher than zero, given that early in 2020, many of those scientists who would become the most stalwart critics of the lab-leak theory privately acknowledged that the origins of the pandemic were very much up for debate and that a laboratory leak was a perfectly plausible — perhaps even the most likely — explanation for the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 in Wuhan a few months earlier.
Since they were obtained by BuzzFeed via a FOIA lawsuit and published in a June 2021 article, a series of emails between many of the world’s top virologists sent on the last day of January and early days of February 2020 have formed one locus of lab-leak attention. In one, the evolutionary biologist and virologist Kristian Andersen of Scripps Research described the new virus as “inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory.” In another, Jeremy Farrar, then-director of the Wellcome Trust and the incoming chief scientist of the World Health Organization, summarized the perspectives of several other scientists, including Michael Farzan of Scripps, who had put his odds as “70:30” or “60:40” in favor of an “accidental release.” Farrar himself put the odds at “50:50.”
On the email chain, other scientists offered alternate views, favoring a natural explanation, and a conference call was arranged for Feb. 1. Less than a week later, the scientists began preparing a paper — published the following month as a letter in Nature Medicine and bearing the signatures of many of those on the call but not Dr. Fauci, who had helped arrange the call — that amounted to a consensus statement from the research establishment: The overwhelming likelihood was that the disease had evolved naturally; there was no evidence for a lab-leak origin. (“Our analyses clearly show that SARS-CoV-2 is not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus,” the authors wrote emphatically.)
Farrar also co-wrote a February statement published in The Lancet, suggesting that those pushing alternative theories were engaging with conspiracy theories that would only heighten prejudices against Chinese scientists. (Put aside, for a moment, that the predominant “zoonotic” narrative also relied on some racist tropes, in focusing on the unsanitary conditions of Wuhan’s “wet market,” and that any gain-of-function work going on in Wuhan was tied up in American funding and research partnerships.)
For some lab-leak theorists, the fact that so many prominent experts converged so rapidly on a declaration of natural origin so soon after expressing their doubts is proof of a “zoonotic conspiracy” — a coordinated effort to suppress discussion of the possible lab origins of SARS-CoV-2. For their part, many of those participants have described the conference call as an honest exchange of perspectives and the “consensus” that emerged afterward the genuine result of scientific reflection and debate: Further consideration and conversation moved their collective dials away from “possible” to “unlikely” or even “vanishingly unlikely,” with better understanding of the viral genome resolving many of their initial questions about its features.
But to believe we should be talking much more about lab safety and gain-of-function research, you don’t need to see a conspiracy in those emails, or to believe that any of the conference-call participants were acting in bad faith, or that those extending the argument over the next few years were helping in anything like a cover-up. You don’t need to believe that the pandemic came out of a lab, when there is plenty of good reason to suspect it didn’t. You just need to take those scientists at their word: In the early days of the pandemic, knowing nearly as much as anyone in the world about the SARS-CoV-2 genome and the nature of research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, they believed a lab leak was possible. That fact alone is pretty scary. After all, more than 20 million people have died.
Already this term, congressional Republicans have begun an investigation into the origins of the pandemic, with hearings reviving the heated investigation we’ve seen previewed in the Senate. It’s happening even as those National Science Advisory Board lab-safety recommendations sit quietly on the president’s desk — just the latest illustration of the way in which the debate over pandemic origins, rather than provoking conversations about lab safety, seems to have sidelined them.
All along, discussion of lab safety has continued, but it’s often been the under-the-radar or behind-the-scenes kind that Filippa Lentzos of King’s College London — one of the leaders, with Gregory Koblentz, of George Mason University’s Global Biolabs project — described to me as “invisible work.” At the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Angela Kane and others have proposed a “joint assessment mechanism” that would automatically start an investigation of the origins of a novel outbreak, for instance. The disgraced former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried briefly managed to elevate lab safety into a significant preoccupation on Capitol Hill, but even then, it barely captured a sliver of public attention. What is perhaps most striking is that all this has happened when, according to the most recent reliable polling, more than half of Americans seem to believe that the virus did indeed emerge from a lab.

د. ماجد رفي زاده/معهد جيتستون: لم يعد يفصل النظام الإيراني عن القنبلة النووية سوى أيام
Iran’s Regime Days Away from Nuclear Weapons
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh/Gatestone Institute/March 04/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/116285/dr-majid-rafizadeh-gatestone-institute-irans-regime-days-away-from-nuclear-weapons-%d8%af-%d9%85%d8%a7%d8%ac%d8%af-%d8%b1%d9%81%d9%8a-%d8%b2%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%87-%d9%85%d8%b9%d9%87%d8%af-%d8%ac/
Thanks to the Biden Administration’s weak leadership, Iran has been able to make these major nuclear advancements. Unless the Biden Administration quickly emerges from its confusion, Americans may well have the questionable honor of Russia, China and Iran all aiming nuclear weapons at them at once.
The Biden Administration’s domestic policies have been alarming enough: runaway inflation, allowing the Chinese Communist Party the run of the US corral, 100,000 hard-drug overdose deaths each year thanks to Biden’s open border and the effective destruction of both energy independence and mineral extraction. Instead, the Biden Administration has preferred to go hat-in-hand begging to buy oil from “less than friendly countries,” such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela — while ignoring Canada — and minerals from the Chinese Communist Party.
The Biden Administration’s foreign policies, however, are arguably even worse: the surrender to terrorists in Afghanistan; the failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine; helping Ukraine only “too little too late;” what appears a looming failure to deter China from overwhelming both Taiwan and the United States – and, as a crowning triumph, conferring upon the world a brutal, expansionist, nuclear-armed Iran.
This week, US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl announced, in a statement confirmed by the United Nations, that Iran has enriched uranium to nearly weapons-grade level at an underground nuclear site, and could produce “nuclear material for a bomb in about 12 days.”
Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns tried to reassure the House of Representatives: “We don’t see evidence that they’ve made a decision to resume that weaponization program.”
This may very well be a prelude to the Iranian regime’s asking the US, “How much will you pay us not to go nuclear on the Biden Administration’s watch?’
Since the Biden Administration took office, the Iranian regime seems to have enjoyed having a green light to freely advance its nuclear program, enrich uranium to any higher level it desires, spin as many centrifuges as it likes, and march towards becoming a nuclear-armed state — without any negative consequences.
Iran’s ruling mullahs have been gradually advancing their reach for nuclear capability. They first began increasing uranium enrichment to 20%. Iran’s parliament then blocked International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear inspectors from accessing Iranian nuclear sites. A recent report by the Institute for Science and International Security detailed: “Since June 2022, the IAEA has had no ability to monitor Iran’s centrifuge manufacturing or assembly rate, old or new centrifuge stocks, stocks of critical parts and material, or potential diversion of such stocks or manufacturing capabilities to unknown sites. The IAEA has reiterated its concerns about the completeness of the information it has from Iran and its ability to accurately verify Iran’s declared centrifuges. With Iran accelerating its advanced centrifuge deployments, uncertainties will likely grow in the estimated number of advanced centrifuges produced in excess of those deployed, adding concern to the possibility that Iran will again seek to build a clandestine enrichment plant, using advanced centrifuges manufactured in secret.”
The IAEA, a UN agency, even warned that the information gap about the country’s activities has been reaching dangerous levels, adding: “Iran’s decision to remove all of the agency’s equipment previously installed in Iran for surveillance and monitoring activities in relation to the JCPOA has also had detrimental implications for the agency’s ability to provide assurance of the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”
Soon after, as reported last month, Iran raised its uranium enrichment level to 60%, edging closer to weapons-grade levels. Mohammed Bagher Qalibaf, Speaker of Iran’s parliament, boasted about Iran’s ongoing nuclear activities: “The young and God-believing Iranian scientists managed to achieve a 60 percent enriched uranium product. I congratulate the brave nation on this success.”
Already in 2021, Iran had reached a dangerous stage in its nuclear program: producing enriched uranium metal. The IAEA announced on July 6, 2021: “Today, Iran informed the Agency that UO2 (uranium oxide) enriched up to 20% U–235 would be shipped to the R&D laboratory at the Fuel Fabrication Plant in Esfahan, where it would be converted to UF4 (uranium tetrafluoride) and then to uranium metal enriched to 20% U–235, before using it to manufacture the fuel.”
The United Kingdom, France and Germany acknowledged in a joint statement that: “Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon.”
Last month, the IAEA revealed that in Iran, it found uranium enriched to 84% — close to the 90% level needed for weaponization. Enriching uranium to that level is a critical development: the regime is now finally at the threshold of making all the nuclear weapons it wants, with the missiles to deliver them. The Iranian authorities continue to claim that their nuclear program is designed for peaceful purposes only. If that is true, why is the regime refusing to cooperate with the IAEA?
Some Iranian leaders have openly acknowledged that the regime’s nuclear program was always designed to manufacture atomic weapons. Former deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament Ali Motahari disclosed: “From the very beginning, when we entered the nuclear activity, our goal was to build a bomb and strengthen the deterrent forces but we could not maintain the secrecy of this issue.”
The former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani, also admitted that his work was part of a “system” designed to develop nuclear weapons. “When the country’s all-encompassing growth began involving satellites, missiles and nuclear weapons, and surmounted new boundaries of knowledge, the issue became more serious for them.” Thanks to the Biden Administration’s weak leadership, Iran has been able to make these major nuclear advancements. Unless the Biden Administration quickly emerges from its confusion, Americans may well have the questionable honor of Russia, China, and Iran all aiming nuclear weapons at them at once.
The Biden Administration’s domestic policies have been alarming enough: runaway inflation, allowing the Chinese Communist Party the run of the US corral, (here, here, here, here, here and here), 100,000 hard-drug overdose deaths each year thanks to Biden’s open border and the effective destruction of both energy independence and mineral extraction. Instead, the Biden Administration has preferred to go hat-in-hand begging to buy oil from “less than friendly countries,” such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela — while ignoring Canada — and minerals from the Chinese Communist Party.
The Biden Administration’s foreign policies, however, are arguably even worse: the surrender to terrorists in Afghanistan; the failure to deter Russia from invading Ukraine; helping Ukraine only “too little too late;” what appears a looming failure to deter China from overwhelming both Taiwan and the United States – and, as a crowning triumph, conferring upon the world a brutal, expansionist, nuclear-armed Iran.
*Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a business strategist and advisor, Harvard-educated scholar, political scientist, board member of Harvard International Review, and president of the International American Council on the Middle East. He has authored several books on Islam and US Foreign Policy. He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@Post.Harvard.Edu.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19447/iran-nuclear-weapons

Maintaining sanctions on Syria will not harm donor conference
Ghassan Ibrahim/Arab News/March 04, 2023
The Swedish presidency of the EU Council has announced that the bloc is organizing a donor conference in Brussels on March 16 to mobilize funds to support the victims of the earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria.
However, some countries are trying to use the conference to demand the lifting of European and US sanctions on the Syrian regime, which would allow it to utilize the conference funds for its political agenda, away from humanitarian goals. It is essential to keep all funds from the donor conference separate from the attempts to lift the sanctions.
Anyone who calls for the lifting of the sanctions imposed on the regime on the pretext of facilitating humanitarian aid seems to be concerned not so much with getting humanitarian assistance to the victims of the earthquake as with rescuing the Syrian regime from its political crisis.
Those calling for the lifting of sanctions are trying to use the aid and the donor conference for purely political purposes. I do not think they will achieve their goals.
Western sanctions do not prevent the flow of humanitarian aid to Syria, so why are some countries calling for them to be lifted? Any attempt to politicize the conference will delay or prevent the humanitarian aid from reaching its destination.
It is also necessary that the regime and its institutions, or any organizations associated with it, do not attend the conference. Ultimately, this conference is humanitarian, not political, in nature.
Syrian activists in France and London have launched efforts to thwart the regime’s participation in the donor conference. These activists sent a legal memorandum to the French parliament, the European parliament and the European Commission to warn of the dangers of allowing the regime to participate.
For the financial aid to reach those who need it, especially concerning Syria, the conference and sponsors in the EU should take into account 10 important points.
Firstly, there should be a strict mechanism to ensure that the Syrian regime does not benefit from the funds, primarily due to corruption and the presence of certain companies and organizations associated with the leaders of the Syrian army and security forces. These leaders are interfering with everything that enters Syria. In the same context, the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, called for the UN Security Council to continue to “monitor this closely in the light of ongoing concerns that the regime continues to divert and interfere with aid deliveries.”
Point two is that the EU must issue a clear and strongly worded resolution in line with the one adopted by the US. The US House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly approved a resolution condemning the Syrian regime for using the earthquake to avoid international pressure and accountability.
Next is that communication technologies and systems should be introduced to monitor and track the movement of aid, such as linking aid trucks to GPS chips or other satellite-linked networks.
Those calling for the lifting of sanctions are trying to use the aid for purely political purposes.
Fourthly, the US should create databases of the people and associations receiving aid in a way that makes it possible to determine where this aid goes and who receives it.
They should also use electronic fingerprint or facial recognition for each recipient, thus narrowing the scope for corruption or wastage of the funds. Cutting red tape is the sixth point. A large proportion of financial assistance goes to aid workers and officials. Many of these workers work remotely or in administrative offices outside Syria and command high wages compared to what ultimately reaches the beneficiaries. Next is dedicating part of the aid budget to areas related to job creation or supporting small projects, whereby the aid would help to invest in the future, thereby reducing pressure on humanitarian resources over time. They should also improve public services in remote areas or those subjected to natural disasters or war devastation.
Ninth is to ensure that militias deployed throughout Syria do not benefit from this assistance. These militias, especially Iranian ones, tend to interfere in every detail of life in the areas they control. Activists have already confirmed that Iranian militias have intercepted humanitarian aid sent to people in Aleppo who were affected by the earthquake.
Finally, conference attendees should remember that the damage done by the Syrian regime’s war against its people — in cooperation with Iranian-linked terrorist militias — is far more significant than the damage caused by the earthquake. Therefore, the sanctions should remain in force.
Looking back, it was not the sanctions that prevented the arrival of humanitarian aid during the war years. It was the Syrian regime that obstructed the work of international organizations and the flow of humanitarian aid.
It is unreasonable for some states to try to legitimize the Syrian regime under the pretext of humanitarian aid. Helping the Syrian regime to survive, supporting it and normalizing relations with it could cause more suffering for the Syrian people than the magnitude of the earthquake.
• Ghassan Ibrahim is a British-Syrian journalist and researcher on issues regarding the Middle East, most notably Turkiye, Syria and Iran. He can be reached at www.ghassanibrahim.com.

The West Bank is on fire and who can stop it?
Yossi Mekelberg/Arab News/March 04, 2023
As in Akira Kurosawa’s acclaimed film, “Rashomon,” where the four different witnesses of an heinous crime provide four mutually contradictory versions of events, there are many — too many — versions about who carries responsibility for the lack of a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and for the suffering caused by it. It is mainly a blame game that lacks an end game outlining a peaceful path forward to resolving it. However, under these circumstances there are certain acts and behaviors that are unequivocally and unacceptably wrong, and last week’s pogrom committed by Jewish settlers against the Palestinian residents of the town of Huwara is one of them. Justifying such an act as revenge for the earlier killing of two settlers, as condemnable as that was, is a contemptible excuse, and those responsible for this barbaric act should face the full force of the law.
We are barely two months into 2023 and already 66 Palestinians — militants and civilians — and 13 Israelis, one of them a paramilitary police officer, have been killed, and this is before we enter into the tense period when the holy festivals of Ramadan, Passover and Easter will take place in close succession. Much of what is taking place in relations between the Israelis and the Palestinians is disturbing, especially when non-combatants are on the receiving end, but the scenes of 400 Israeli settlers rampaging through the Palestinian West Bank town of Huwara and setting ablaze houses and cars are the most alarming for a very long time. These extreme elements among the settlers seem to have prepared their attack well in advance and were looking for an opportunity to carry it out. The two settler brothers had been killed when a Palestinian gunman, who was reportedly wearing a shirt bearing the insignia of the Nablus-based Lions’ Den militant group, six of whose members were killed during an Israeli raid while five other civilians including two elderly men were killed in the same raid, shot them as they were stuck in a traffic jam in Huwara. In this cycle of violence, with hardly anyone in either community willing or capable of putting their full weight behind containing it, the next loss of life is only a matter of time.
What is most frustrating is that this deteriorating security situation is taking place in circumstances both predictable and preventable. With the formation of the most far-right, provocative and anti-Palestinian government in Israel’s history, the writing that has been on the wall for a long time has become even more ominous. On the Palestinian side, it deepens their despair of Israel’s oppressive occupation ever coming to an end, and also of their own leadership playing any positive role in improving any aspect of their lives. Consequently, the hubs of the armed struggle are beyond the traditional Palestinian centers of power, and there are now independent groups or even individuals carrying out attacks. Within Israel, the main worry is of the government committing a judicial coup, but many of those who protest against it are too short-sighted to see the link between the erosion of Israel’s democracy and the occupation and oppression of Palestinians. In the near term, of even greater concern is the belief among Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and not an unsubstantiated one, that at last they have a government that truly represents them and will implement their religious-messianic ideology, which will turn a blind eye to, if not facilitate, terror attacks on Palestinians at will as they behave as an armed militia while the IDF is either unwilling or too afraid to stop them.
To commit a pogrom against innocent people in Huwara is a particularly unacceptable and unforgivable act of terrorism.
Grief, even anger at the killing of two young settlers, regardless of how clearly damaging the settlements are for Israeli–Palestinian relations, is understandable, but to commit a pogrom against innocent people in Huwara is a particularly unacceptable and unforgivable act of terrorism. By torching cars and houses, and not for the first time, this gang of racist zealots were clearly prepared to burn entire families alive. It was through sheer luck and the initiative of local people and emergency services that they were led to safety, and that an even worse tragedy did not take place. This group of settlers might be relatively small in number, but they practice and weaponize a most dangerous and distorted version of Judaism and Zionism, which acts in direct defiance of the authority of the state. The representatives of these settler militias boast of the atrocities that they are more than happy to carry out while the security forces don’t dare to, according to them.
Ironically, on the very same day of this outburst of violence, senior officials from Jordan, Egypt, Israel, Palestine and the US met in the Jordanian coastal town of Aqaba to discuss how to quench the burning conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, but their joint communique comes across as something between desperation and wishful thinking. De-escalation of the situation, committing to past agreements, avoiding unilateral measures and confidence-building moves are all commendable objectives, but didn’t these horses bolt a long time ago? What stands out about this meeting is that it took place at all, as things seem to be falling apart as both the PA and the Israeli government are losing ground to non-state militant groups that take the law into their own hands, be they Lion’s Den or some among the settlers. One could welcome stopping unilateral actions, but legalizing outposts or expanding settlements is one of the pillars of the Israeli coalition government’s agreements. In his flippant and customary irresponsible manner, Israel’s Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said: “What happened in Jordan (if it happened), will remain in Jordan,” in other words he and his party have no obligation to adhere to it, while other right-wing politicians expressed sympathy with the vandals who attacked Huwara, not to mention several who encouraged such criminal acts.
At this rate, the sympathy that large parts of the world have shown throughout the years for Israel’s security concerns is going up in flames together with the burning houses in Huwara. It is first and foremost for every decent Israeli to distance themselves from these settler-terrorist gangs, and for the authorities to stop handling them with kid gloves and make sure that they are brought to justice.
• Yossi Mekelberg is professor of international relations and an associate fellow of the MENA Program at Chatham House. He is a regular contributor to the international written and electronic media.
Twitter: @YMekelberg

Disaster Dynamics: Assessing Middle East Responses to the Turkey-Syria Earthquake and Other Destructive Events
Sarah Cahn, Erik Yavorsky/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023
The massive earthquake that killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria as of February 28—one of the worst Middle East natural disasters in recent memory—has touched the hearts of leaders and peoples across the world, triggering a flow of urgently needed humanitarian support. Regional states, too, have provided rescue and relief assistance. From the outset, however, politics has played an important role in shaping the scope and direction of such aid. In fact, the politics of humanitarian aid follows a pattern discernible based on previous regional responses to crises, including the 2020 Beirut port explosion and—before it—the 2014 Gaza war.
Open imageiconIntensity of 2023 earthquake in Turkey, Syria
Earthquake epicenter and periphery.
Aid to Turkey
After the earthquake struck on February 6, countries across the Middle East immediately sent financial aid, dispatched search-and-rescue teams, and provided emergency housing, food, and medical assistance to Turkey, which was at the epicenter of the quake. Politics did not impede this humanitarian support, particularly because of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s recent rapprochement with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel. Highlights of regional assistance to Turkey include the following:
Qatar. Doha is—by far—Ankara’s closest regional ally. Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani visited Erdogan on February 13, making him the first world leader to meet the Turkish president after the earthquake. According to the Qatar News Agency, the country has sent a total of forty aircraft to Turkey and Syria. Qatar pledged 10,000 cabin housing units and so far has sent five ships carrying 1,388 of these. Qatar’s Regulatory Authority for Charitable Activities is coordinating a public donation campaign that raised $46 million, including $14 million from Sheikh Tamim himself, for use in both Turkey and Syria. The Qatar Red Crescent has also played an active role, allocating $1 million from its Disaster Response Fund for aid and pledging to raise at least $10 million more.
UAE. According to the Emirati government, the Gulf country allocated $100 million in aid to Turkey and facilitated forty-two flights carrying 840 tons of aid. The government also set up two field hospitals and dispatched search-and-rescue teams.
Kuwait. According to Turkish media, Kuwait has pledged $30 million in support to both Turkey and northwest Syria. As of February 23, eleven cargo aircraft have delivered five hundred tons of aid to Turkey. The Kuwaiti Ministries of Social Affairs, Foreign Affairs, and Interior also organized the “Kuwait by your side” popular campaign for donations to Turkey and Syria, which reportedly has raised more than $67.5 million to support victims.
Bahrain. Bahrain’s Royal Humanitarian Foundation and the Bahrain Radio and TV Corporation organized a $3.7 million public donation campaign for Turkey and Syria. Bahrain sent its first aid shipment on February 15 and its first aircraft to Turkey on February 21, carrying 55.7 tons of aid. A second shipment went to Turkey on February 26.
Saudi Arabia. According to the Saudi Press Agency, as of February 24, Saudi Arabia had flown ten aid aircraft carrying more than 550 tons of relief items to Turkey and had sent at least two teams of relief workers to assist on the ground. Saudi Arabia has also committed to building three thousand temporary housing units for the displaced. As of February 23, the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center had raised more than $122 million from a public campaign for victims in Turkey and Syria; it has not yet been delivered.
Egypt. Egyptian president Abdul Fattah al-Sisi pledged five military cargo planes’ worth of aid. The Egyptian government has delivered at least 650 tons of aid, including tents, blankets, mattresses, and heaters via a cargo ship that arrived at the Mersin port on February 22. That same day, the Egyptian Armed Forces sent two military jets carrying medical aid.
Iraq. The Iraqi government stated that it sent twenty-six planes with 136.5 tons of aid to Turkey, in addition to a search-and-rescue team.
Jordan. In total, the Jordanian government has sent twelve aid planes, twenty-eight relief trucks, and ten thousand tents to Turkey and Syria.
Israel. Israel sent fifteen air force cargo planes carrying “hundreds of tons of equipment” and 230 volunteers to Gaziantep on February 7 to establish a field hospital. Before that, the Israel Defense Forces had already deployed 150 search-and-rescue experts to Turkey. In total, the Israeli team was the second largest sent to the country, after an Azerbaijani delegation.
Iran. Since February 7, Iran has sent at least twelve cargo planes carrying humanitarian supplies and 126 individuals for search-and-rescue, medical, and emergency purposes. Furthermore, Iran has constructed two field hospitals in southern Turkey.
Open imageiconA mobile home cabin en route from Qatar’s Hamad Port to Turkey.
A mobile home cabin en route from Qatar’s Hamad Port to Turkey.
Aid to Syria
In contrast to disaster response in Turkey, regional support to assist victims in Syria—in both regime- and opposition-controlled areas—has been shaped by regional political dynamics. Some Arab states used the crisis as an opportunity to rebuild communication and political channels with the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is still under stiff international sanctions. Others maintained their longstanding opposition to Assad, focusing their rescue and relief support solely on opposition-controlled areas.
Regime-Controlled Syria
Foreign aid to Assad-controlled areas of Syria has broken down as follows:
UAE. According to a dashboard developed by researchers Suhail al-Ghazi, Noor Abdulfattah, and Tarek Hamdan, as of March 2, the Emiratis had flown 134 aircraft carrying 4,413 tons of aid to Syria. Emirati foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan visited Assad on February 12 in Damascus, marking the Syrian leader’s first meeting with a regional official since the earthquake struck. According to the UAE government, the Emiratis have pledged $100 million in assistance and have deployed search-and-rescue teams on the ground. Additionally, the UAE pledged to provide a health delegation to aid Syrian hospitals and ten ambulances.
Iran. Iran had flown in fourteen aid aircraft as of February 28. Additionally, Iran helped set up 172 relief centers in and near Aleppo and initiated food delivery efforts. Esmail Qaani, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force, was dispatched to oversee Iranian aid efforts in Aleppo. He then traveled to Latakia, where he surveyed aid efforts and met with local officials including the provincial governor. Iran-backed organizations such as Hezbollah and Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces have also sent assistance to Syria.
Egypt. Egypt delivered a ship carrying five hundred tons of aid to Latakia on February 21. Two weeks earlier, on February 7, Egypt sent three aid aircraft, landing in Damascus. According to Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Egypt has delivered 1,500 tons of aid to Syria as of February 27.
Iraq. The Iraqi Red Crescent Society and the Iraqi government flew approximately twenty-four aid flights into Syria carrying at least sixty-eight tons of aid, and sent a humanitarian aid convoy carrying 170 tons of supplies to Aleppo and Latakia.
Bahrain. Bahrain has utilized the Nasib border crossing with Jordan to get aid into Syria, including forty-two tons of supplies delivered to the Deraa branch of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent on February 21. Bahrain also sent forty tons of aid via an aircraft that landed at Damascus International Airport on February 23. On February 27, Bahrain’s Royal Humanitarian Foundation and Syria’s Doctors Syndicate signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at providing medical treatment in Syria. Furthermore, as noted earlier, the Royal Humanitarian Foundation and Bahrain TV organized a $3.7 million donation campaign for both Syria and Turkey.
Jordan. The Hashemite Kingdom sent aid convoys to Syria on February 9, February 18, February 20, February 27, and March 2. As of February 27, Jordan had flown three aid aircraft to regime-held areas of Syria.
Saudi Arabia. Riyadh delivered three cargo planes of relief aid over February 14–16, carrying more than seventy tons of supplies to regime-controlled areas.
Opposition-Controlled Syria
In opposition-held areas, run either by the jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham or the pro-Turkish Syrian National Army, aid has arrived as follows:
Qatar. Qatari assistance has been bused in via Turkey. According to the Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), the aid arrived as early as the second day after the earthquake, in the form of food baskets and five hundred tents. Later, the QRCS approved the construction of three hundred housing units and deployed doctors to Idlib. The state-run Qatar Fund for Development has said it will support the Syrian Civil Defense organization, known as the White Helmets, by providing logistical and rescue operations, ambulance repairs, and fuel. And in late February, Qatar announced plans to create an “integrated city” in northwest Syria to house some 70,000 people displaced by the quake.
KRG. Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government sent thirteen humanitarian aid trucks to Jindires, a town in Aleppo governorate hard-hit by the earthquake.
Egypt. The White Helmets publicly thanked Egypt for providing rescue specialists and medical personnel in the earthquake’s aftermath.
Saudi Arabia. On February 11, Saudi Arabia sent eleven trucks carrying 104 tons of aid through the Syrian border crossing at Khusn al-Zaitoun. Similarly, on February 17, Saudi Arabia sent ten relief trucks carrying seventy-six tons of aid through the Bab al-Salameh crossing with Turkey. The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has distributed aid to victims in Jindires, Afrin, and Azaz, some of the worst-hit areas. Finally, on February 28, the King Salman Center sent twenty-two trucks through the Bab al-Hawa crossing and twenty-two trucks through the Bab al-Salameh crossing.
Kuwait. The Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) is using more than $67.5 million crowdsourced from Kuwaiti businesses and residents to deliver aid, with logistical assistance from Kuwait’s government ministries. The KRCS has been delivering aid to northwest Syria since February 11, providing humanitarian supplies directly to victims. On February 22, the KRCS announced the dispatching of twelve aid trucks to both Turkey and northwest Syria. On February 26, the KRCS sent 120 tons of aid loaded in nine trucks to Syria.
AANES. The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria facilitated the transit of 145 aid trucks into rebel-held areas. Additionally, two humanitarian aid convoys were provided by nongovernmental entities within AANES territory.
Open imageiconTrucks from the Autonomous Region, NE Syria, deliver aid after 2023 earthquake
Trucks from Syria's Autonomous Region in the northeast deliver aid.
Response to the Earthquake vs. Earlier Humanitarian Crises
While not on par with the February 6 earthquake in terms of casualty figures or physical destruction, other recent humanitarian crises in the region have produced their own politically weighted patterns of humanitarian support.
Beirut Port Explosion of 2020
After the August 4, 2020, explosion in Beirut killed more than 200 people, injured more than 6,500, and damaged tens of thousands of structures, regional states rallied to provide financial assistance and humanitarian supplies to the Lebanese government and the Lebanese Red Crescent.
Qatar took the lead, providing $10 million to the UN-sponsored Flash Appeal for aid directly related to the explosion. According to the Financial Tracking Service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Kuwait supplied more than $4.5 million for a variety of humanitarian aid and reconstruction projects outside the 2020 Flash Appeal. The tracking service reported that the UAE gave in excess of $4.1 million to explosion-related relief, with $312,189 going to the Flash Appeal and the rest benefiting the Lebanese Red Cross and Lebanese government. Meanwhile, the Saudi government provided at least $1.5 million to the 2020 UN Flash Appeal and $1.7 million outside this pipeline, using both state funds and the resources of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center.
Other countries provided in-kind aid by air and land convoy. Iranian media outlets claimed Iranian sources had sent 155 tons of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, and that the Iranian Red Crescent Society had established a field hospital in southern Beirut just four days after the blast. Iraq’s oil minister pledged to send thirty tankers containing one million liters of oil, after the country sent 800,000 liters in the immediate days after the blast. Egypt sent at least eleven aid flights to Beirut and opened a field hospital, as did Jordan. Turkey sent a search-and-rescue team, equipment, and tents just a day after the blast. Even Israel, whose army had been clashing with Hezbollah days before the blast, offered medical and other unspecified aid.
2014 Gaza War
Another episode that triggered a swift outpouring of humanitarian support was the Hamas-Israel conflict in July–August 2014, which—according to UN statistics—killed 2,251 Palestinians, injured more than 11,000, and damaged or destroyed some 18,000 housing units. In this instance, the largest Arab donor was Saudi Arabia, which—according to OCHA’s Financial Tracking Service—pledged $83 million in immediate support. Others sent much smaller sums: Kuwait, $13.1 million; Qatar, $6.5 million; and Bahrain, $5.2 million.
Additional aid, especially in-kind assistance, came outside UN channels. For example, Iran reportedly sent ninety-five tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza through Egypt, after the Egyptian government issued visas to an Iranian medical team to enter the area. For its part, the Egyptian military sent five hundred tons of aid via trucks that passed through the Rafah border crossing. Turkey also sent at least $1.5 million in medical supplies and food packages, in addition to bringing at least eighty Gazans to Turkey for medical treatment. Similarly, Jordan transferred at least 180 truckloads of relief to Gaza and the West Bank. During the same time period, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories unit facilitated the transfer of humanitarian aid from American and Italian planes that landed in Israel and also the crossing of more than five thousand trucks into Gaza through the Kerem Shalom checkpoint.
In October 2014, two months after the conflict ended, Arab states made substantial pledges to rebuild Gaza during a donor conference in Cairo. Out of a total of $5.4 billion committed, Qatar pledged $1 billion, Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million, the UAE and Kuwait pledged $200 million each, and Bahrain pledged $6.5 million. But according to a Brookings Institution study that cited World Bank figures, only 22 percent of pledged aid, or $419 million, was actually distributed to Gaza.
Conclusion
During the 2020 Beirut port blast and the 2014 Gaza war, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia were the top three regional providers of aid, although war costs were far greater than those associated with the port blast, as reflected in aid amounts. For example, the Emirates gave $200 million for Gaza support in 2014, vis-à-vis $2.5 million to Lebanon in 2020. For the earthquake, UAE donations to Turkey and Syria have already reached the $200 million mark, with more to come. (For a full breakdown of aid commitments by country and crisis, see figure 1, at the end of this study.)
Donations in the quake’s aftermath, however, have not always met the need. For example, Qatar provided more than $200 million to Gaza in 2014 but has given only $14 million to Turkey thus far and none to Syria. Similarly, Saudi Arabia’s contributions have not been equal to its past crisis responses; in Syria, it has provided limited aid to both regime- and opposition-held areas.
Provision of aid can shed light on trends in regional politics. In Turkey, the Emirates and Qatar have been the largest providers of pledged assistance among regional states. In recent years, Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE have all experienced rifts of varying degrees with Turkey, yet each of these states has provided aid to Ankara. Their earthquake assistance fits the mood of rapprochement. Similarly, the large Israeli delegation of engineers, rescue specialists, medical professionals, and aid personnel reflects the recent turnaround in Israel-Turkey relations.
In Syria, the UAE leads regional states regarding assistance to Assad-regime-controlled areas. The Emirates likely seeks to elevate its position as a regional power broker, using aid as a tool to support Assad and his disaster recovery efforts. Moreover, the UAE is leading the regional push toward full normalization with the Syrian regime; UAE foreign minister Abdullah bin Zayed has already met twice with the Syrian president in 2023, including in the latter’s first post-earthquake meeting with a high-level Arab official, as previously noted.
Other historic backers of the Syrian opposition, such as Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, have taken different approaches. Qatar and Kuwait have provided assistance only to opposition-held areas. Saudi Arabia has taken a middle approach by supplying aid to both regime-held and opposition areas but providing more assistance overall to the latter.
Ultimately, while Middle East states have been important sources of aid following regional disasters, with the earthquake serving as an important case, politics does appear to play a role in determining the amount and the target of humanitarian assistance. The flow of aid reflects various shades of friendship, warming, and conflict, and also casts light on emerging changes in interstate dynamics.
Open imageiconDisaster aid from Middle East countries: 2023 earthquake (Turkey, Assad-controlled Syria, opposition-controlled Syria), 2020 Beirut blast, 2014 Gaza war
*Sarah Cahn is a research assistant in The Washington Institute’s Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence.
*Erik Yavorsky is a research assistant in the Institute’s Program on Arab Politics.

Iran Formalizes Ties with the Taliban
Aaron Y. Zelin/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023
The two governments have been engaging for months on standard diplomatic issues, but the new embassy handover may prove more worrisome given that they are both rogue regimes capable of coordinating against U.S. interests in the region.
On February 26, Iran officially handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to diplomats from the Taliban—a big step in formalizing and deepening their ties. Relations between the two governments will not start from scratch, as ties have been developing in a number of areas over the past year and a half. The Taliban previously operated consulate-generals out of Mashhad and Zahedan, while Iran never formally closed its embassy in Kabul following the group’s 2021 takeover in Afghanistan. The situation is notably different from the tensions that characterized the first iteration of the Taliban’s “Islamic Emirate,” when Tehran had deep security concerns about the group due to its mistreatment of Afghanistan’s Shia Hazara community and its 1998 killing of Iranian diplomats at the Mazar-e Sharif consulate. Indeed, the embassy handover is another accomplishment in the Taliban’s slow but persistent push for legitimacy and full international recognition, even if the latter has yet to happen.
Before and After the Fall of Kabul
Although Tehran was standoffish toward the Taliban for many years after the 1998 incident, America’s long involvement in Afghanistan helped thaw relations between the two regimes given their mutual enmity toward Washington and desire for U.S. withdrawal. Hence, the years leading up to the 2021 fall of Kabul saw increasing reports of Iran providing weapons to the Taliban, and their ties would only widen and accelerate afterward.
Tehran’s first publicly announced diplomatic engagements with the new Taliban regime began in early October 2021; three months later, officials from the group were invited for meetings in Tehran. Since then, they have held sixty-seven meetings, the fourth most among the fifty-eight countries that have engaged the Taliban diplomatically, trailing only China, Turkey, and Qatar. Moreover, just four of Iran’s engagements were multilateral, illustrating the depth of their connections. The Taliban was even invited to attend multiple festivities last month related to the anniversary of Iran’s Islamic Revolution—not only in Afghanistan but also in Qatar.
Thus far, most of the meetings between the two have focused on a well-defined set of issues: border security (the massive narcotics trade in particular); investment opportunities in sectors such as energy production, mining, agriculture, and railways; Taliban concerns over the treatment of millions of Afghan refugees in Iran; and the group’s quest to improve its systems back home by gaining expertise in different fields, especially the health sector. Beginning in May 2022, these meetings became more substantive and less like the two sides were feeling each other out. This growing comfort level has resulted in a number of bilateral deals and discussions about cooperation on various issues, and the embassy handover will likely deepen this cooperation even further. Notable moments include:
May 13, 2022: The Taliban’s Ministry of Defense and a delegation from Iran reach a border security deal to curb human trafficking and drug smuggling. A joint committee is created to help coordinate each other’s border patrols.
May 29: The Taliban’s deputy minister of technical affairs and Iran’s deputy minister of public works lead a joint technical team in reviewing the numerous problems with development of the Abu Nasr Farahi Highway, identifying steps to move the project along.
July 16: Taliban foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Iran’s ambassador at the time, Bahadur Aminian, agree to set up joint delegations that will hold regular meetings to streamline future trade talks.
July 23: Representatives from Afghanistan’s state oil and gas company, Da Afghanistan Bank, the Norms and Standards Agency, and the Ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs, and Trade visit Tehran to sign a contract for importing 350,000 tons of Iranian oil. They also agree to extend the existing pipeline between the two countries and set up joint refineries.
August 10: Taliban minister of energy and water Abdul Latif Mansoor reaffirms his government’s commitment to the 1973 Helmand River Water Treaty in a meeting with Iranian energy minister Ali Akbar Mehrabian. The move stems from a dam built by the previous Afghan government, which Iran viewed as harmful to its Hamoun Wetlands ecosystem.
August 14: Iranian Foreign Ministry official Alireza Bikdeli tells the Taliban’s foreign minister that Iranian consulates in Afghanistan will begin providing visas again, with the goal of alleviating illegal migration and getting a better grasp on who is crossing the border.
August 20: Taliban health minister Qalandar Ebad meets with Ambassador Aminian to discuss the completion of hospitals in Bamyan and Kabul as well as Iranian technical training on cancer treatment. In early September, Ebad visits Iran to better understand its healthcare system and implement lessons learned back home.
August 20: Ambassador Aminian invites the Taliban’s minister of higher education, Abdul Baqi Haqqani, and a technical team to tour Iran’s higher education system.
September 4: Iranian deputy ambassador Hassan Mortazavi tells the governor of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province that Tehran is ready to cooperate in the reconstruction of the local airport so that more Afghans with visas can fly to Iran.
November 15: Taliban minister of industry and commerce Nooruddin Azizi and Iranian special envoy Hassan Kazemi Qomi discuss launching a private-sector dialogue to better coordinate opportunities for joint projects. They also note the necessity of increasing Afghan exports to Iran, facilitating the transit and trade of goods through Chabahar Port, and expanding Iranian investments in Afghanistan.
December 13: The first of the planned private-sector dialogues is held in Kabul, with Iranian businessmen pledging to invest $100 million in production factories and expand these efforts if successful.
February 14, 2023: Hassan Kazemi Qomi (by this point Iran’s new ambassador) tells Taliban minister of mines and petroleum Shahabuddin Delawar that Iran wants to establish a joint free economic zone straddling the border, with the goal of creating jobs for both populations and improving exports and imports.
Interestingly, none of these meetings appears to have covered the Islamic State’s Khorasan Province (ISKP), a jihadist branch based in Afghanistan. This omission is surprising given that Iran suffered a deadly ISKP external operations attack in Shiraz last October, then broke up two of the group’s cells this January as they were planning further operations.
Potential Worries in Washington
From a security perspective, the embassy handover will raise alarms in Washington. After all, new al-Qaeda leader Saif al-Adel is based in Iran, and when former leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed by a U.S. airstrike last July, he had been living in a home owned by a top aide to Taliban interior minister Sirajuddin Haqqani. Tehran and Kabul have far wider bilateral interests than anything related to al-Qaeda, of course, and their numerous public engagements thus far seem like standard diplomatic affairs. Yet the embassy in Iran will provide yet another platform to potentially coordinate their responses if Washington decides to press harder on either regime regarding support for terrorism.
*Aaron Zelin is the Richard Borow Fellow at The Washington Institute.

Opposition in the Iranian Diaspora and among Iranian Reformers: The Case of Mousavi
Majid Nikouei/The Washington Institute/Mar 04/2023
As an Iranian opposition coalesces in the diaspora, challenges loom on the horizon. How the diaspora approaches reformists inside Iran calling for a new constitution will help demonstrate just how cohesive Iran’s disparate opposition groups can become.
In September 2022, the latest protest movement in Iran emerged without any leader or organized political party in the wake of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini’s arrest by the country’s infamous morality police and killing while in custody. These protests distinguished themselves from earlier demonstrations through their decentralized nature, as opposed to centralized, massive demonstrations more prone to a brutal crackdown by the armed forces. Protesters experienced a massive crackdown in the summer of 2009 after the reformist candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi disputed the election, and again in November 2020, when an increase in fuel prices sparked demonstrations.
Alongside a decentralized method of protest, the most recent movement is distinct for its lack of organizational leadership. Characterized as a postmodern protest, the longevity of the movement was partly due to the government’s inability to target a leader, although an increased number of casualties nevertheless cooled down the protests. Even so, many among the Iranian diaspora—which itself has been traditionally characterized by a fractured opposition—now maintain that the movement is in dire need of a leader who could negotiate with Western officials to boycott and isolate the regime internationally and possibly hinder any revival of the 2015 JCPOA. Iran’s former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi—who has lived in exile since the 1979 revolution—has in the past few months called for a coordinated front against the regime, saying that the movement should start a new phase. In a televised speech, he suggested that the movement needs to be led by someone who can claim to foreign officials that he is representing the Iranian people.
Subsequent to Pahlavi’s speech, Royalists launched a campaign in mid-January to delegate him as a leader of Iran’s movement on an international scale. Pahlavi, along with Iranian activists Masih Alinejad and Nazanin Boniadi, then presented themselves as a unified opposition at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February, following a forum at Georgetown that brought together disparate opposition figures from the Iranian diaspora.
For his part, Pahlavi has insisted that he is not claiming any power for himself and that the proposed delegation is merely a conduit to transition from the Islamic Republic to a secular, democratic rule, promising to form a constituent assembly after the victory of the revolution. The delegation campaign, however, has not been as successful as its supporters likely expected. As of now, less than half a million people have signed the online petition, endowing Reza Pahlavi the power of attorney to lead this movement. The number of signatures represents less than one percent of the Iranian population.
Inside of Iran, several reformist leaders have also issued public statements over the past few weeks with messages related to those of the diaspora opposition. A few days before the February 11 anniversary of the Islamic Republic, Mousavi—who ran for the presidency in 2009 and became the leader of the Green movement that formed after the disputed presidential election—and the Iranian reformist and former President Mohammad Khatami issued similar remarks. Both warned that there is no sign of the ruling system’s desire for reform. Their statements, however, diverged in their proposed solutions. Mousavi proposed to hold a “free and healthy referendum on the need to change or draft a new constitution,” while Khatami demanded reforms based on the boundaries defined by the existing constitution.
Mousavi, now 81, is a notable figure in Iranian politics, having served as Iran’s Prime Minister for eight years in the 1980s. He led the new Islamic Republic with his Islamic leftist economic program through a gruesome eight-year war with Iraq, and served as a close confidant of Khomeini. During the years of his premiership, Iran left a poor human rights record—most notably in the bloody summer of 1988, when thousands of political prisoners were executed under the direct order of Khomeini. While much has been revealed about those dark days, no connection between Mousavi and those horrific events has been discovered so far, yet his position as PM during this period has led to calls for an investigation into Mousavi’s role during this period.
Mousavi would return to the political stage decades later during the 2009 presidential election, when he competed with the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, backed by the Supreme Leader Khamenei. In his presidential campaign, Mousavi called Khomeini’s period of leadership a “golden age,” but did not call for a return to that period, stating instead that “the regime must attempt to reform from within to achieve the goals of the 1979 revolution, i.e., justice, freedom and spirituality.” In 2009, Mousavi called for reform within the boundaries of the current Constitution, sided with the protesters, led the Green movement, and has in consequence been held under home arrest for more than a decade. The decades of his efforts to work within the system of the Islamic Republic provide the context from which he now maintains that its constitution is unsustainable and calls for a constituent assembly.
Many reformists from inside Iran, such as Mostafa Taj Zadeh and Abolfazl Ghadyani, have welcomed the current position of Mousavi. In contrast, some of the campaigners for Pahlavi’s proposed delegation sought to remind people that Mousavi was the premier of Khomeini, suggesting that he shall be brought before a court the day after the victory of the ongoing revolution. Masih Alinejad, a prominent women’s rights activist, shared this position during the Georgetown forum, while Pahlavi insisted in a more diplomatic statement on the multi-faceted nature of Iran and avoided triggering animosity by taking a stance against Mousavi.
However, the issue remains as to how the gap between those inside of Iran and the diaspora can be bridged, and the question of how other opposition leaders approach Mousavi will be key in answering this question. Mousavi—along with other self-styled leaders of the Iranian movement in and outside of the country—should of course be tried fairly against any well-founded accusations in an independent court. Yet activists should also remember that Mousavi’s gradual change from an admirer of Khomeini to a reformist, and now to a revolutionist, is often the lived experience of many Iranians. There are many who sought to live Khomeini’s idea of the guardianship of an Islamic jurist, and many who initially attempted to reform it from the inside before moving away from it altogether. In addition, even the official results of the rigged election of 2009 indicated that Mousavi received about 14 million votes, signaling that his message had developed a powerful social base as a reformist. If Mousavi continues in his new messaging—suggesting a shared vision with other opposition figures—said opposition will be faced with the question of how they should respond to figures who have attempted to work within the Iranian system.
It is true that many of those who protested in Iran during the most recent movement are members of Generation Z or never bore affiliation with the Islamic Republic. Nevertheless, the question of how the rest of the opposition movement will approach Mousavi will be a bellwether for how expansive this movement can become as Iranians who once supported the vision of the Islamic Republic become disillusioned. The entrenched nature of the Islamic Republic suggests that successfully fighting against it will require cooperation from all colors of the Iranian political carpet who seek to fundamentally alter the state—even including those who once praised Khomeini as Imam.