English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For March 10/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
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Bible Quotations For today
Jesus said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12/13-21/:”Someone in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the family inheritance with me.’But he said to him, ‘Friend, who set me to be a judge or arbitrator over you?’And he said to them, ‘Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.’Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God.’

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 09-10/2023
Security tightened around Beirut airport following clashes
UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon meets Mikati, al-Rahi
Bkerki denies Saudi veto on Franjieh during Bukhari-Rahi meeting
Envoys of 7 nations reject claims against UK support in Lebanon
Rahi broaches latest developments with UN’s Wronecka
Report: Christian meeting has become imminent
Lebanon's banks to resume strike as of Tuesday
FPM MP says presidential agreement with opposition 'possible'
Nasrallah: We must seek solutions instead of bowing to int'l conditions
Rights group says Lebanon electricity crisis deepens poverty
Berri says Franjieh's nomination can break deadlock
Report: Franjieh-Salam settlement was rejected by Bassil
Ministry of Social Affairs, UNICEF launch “Nahno-Volunteers” a National Youth Volunteering Platform
Mufti Derian broaches situation with UN’s Wronecka, meets Beirut Governor
MP Sleiman: 'National Moderation' bloc backs any candidate enjoying Gulf and international support
Frem: I am a reformist candidate to the presidency of the republic
Joint field visit for Japanese Embassy and FAO in Lebanon to meet farmers beneficiaries of project “Increase resilience of vulnerable smallholder...

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 09-10/2023
Nuclear Iran would change history, Netanyahu tells TV labelled ‘terrorist’ by Tehran
US defense chief's visit to Israel reveals divisions on Iran
Hamas gunman wounds three in Tel Aviv attack before police kill him
Israeli forces kill three Islamic Jihad gunmen in West Bank
Netanyahu airlifted to airport after protesters block road
US defense chief's visit to Israel reveals divisions on Iran
Iran: unions and civil rights groups demand democracy and social justice
Iran is gearing up to attack Britain and the West
Iran Supports Rapprochement Between Türkiye, Syria
Syria, Iran welcome thaw in ties between Damascus and regional states
Russian missile barrage slams into cities across Ukraine
Moscow Hails 'Riyadh’s Role to Resolve the Conflict in Ukraine'
Russian missiles hit Ukraine, causing death and destruction
U.S. sanctions China-based network accused of supplying Iran drone maker
Japan takes gloves off and boosts military spending in face of China’s ambitions on Taiwan

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 09-10/2023
Blinken Builds a Palestinian Hezbollah in the West Bank
Tony Badran/The Tablet/March 09/2023
The EU's Lethal Obsession with Israel/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/March 09/2023
Biden’s State Department ignores Iranian death plots inside America/Jonathan Schanzer/New York Post/March 09/2023
Political Earthquake and Rebuilding in Türkiye/Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/March 09/2023
Iran Seeks to Garner the IAEA’s Sympathy as it Builds Aircraft Carriers?!/Huda al-Husseini/Asharq Al Awsat/March 09/2023
Syrian regime should be rehabilitated despite its nature/Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 09, 2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on March 09-10/2023
Security tightened around Beirut airport following clashes
Najia Houssari/Arab News/March 09, 2023
Rivals fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades after an argument between two families developed into a violent confrontation
The incident has raised further questions about safety at the airport, seen as the only viable international aviation option for Lebanese and Syrians
BEIRUT: Footage of Lebanese gunmen firing in the air as a plane landed nearby has sparked warnings of a growing threat to aircraft and passenger safety at Beirut airport.
The footage was taken on Monday during armed clashes in a southern suburb of the capital, adjacent to one of the airport’s open runways.
Rivals fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades after an argument between two families developed into a violent confrontation during a night of terror in the city.
An informed source told Arab News: “The aircraft crew were terrified during the landing, fearing a bullet could hit the plane and cause a catastrophe.”
The incident has raised further questions about aviation safety at the airport, the only remaining outlet for the Lebanese, as well as Syrians who use it to travel abroad, in addition to international and relief organizations, including the UN and UNIFIL peacekeepers.
A Middle East Airlines aircraft traveling from Jordan was hit by a stray bullet while landing in Beirut in November 2022. Lebanese MP Paula Yacoubian was among the passengers on the flight. No one was hurt.
Airport facilities are frequently struck by stray bullets fired during funerals or celebrations in nearby neighborhoods.
Information International, a Beirut-based research consultancy firm, published a study in 2021 showing that on average seven people are killed and 15 injured by stray bullets in Lebanon every year.
The report said that 81 people died and 169 others were wounded by random gunfire between 2010 and 2021.
Shootings take place in the area surrounding the airport almost daily, either as a result of individual clashes or the security services cracking down on criminals.
The area is considered a Hezbollah and Amal Movement stronghold, and weapons are commonplace.
A security source said that most residents were from the Baalbek-Hermel region, and that many wanted criminals hid among the population, which includes hundreds of poorer families.
Security forces were deployed all over Beirut and tight security measures implemented after Monday’s night of terror.
Ali Hamieh, caretaker minister of public works and transport, said that seven people were arrested by the Lebanese army.
Troops are still deployed near the airport as part of a security crackdown, he said.
“The shooting was an unfortunate incident, but maintaining airport security and aviation safety is a priority for the Lebanese state. We will not be lenient when it comes to such cases and anyone who fires shots randomly in the vicinity of the airport will be detained,” Hamieh said.
Brig. Gen. Elias Baissari, acting director-general of general security, met officials at the airport and highlighted the importance of cooperation between the security and civil services to ensure traveler safety.
Meanwhile, Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon is the scene of growing tension following clashes last week between militants from the Fatah movement and the Asbat Al-Ansar group, which resulted in the death of Fatah member Mahmoud Zubaidat.
Asbat Al-Ansar refuses to hand over the murderer to the Lebanese authorities. Security information indicates that the man has since gone into hiding and the Fatah movement has been on the alert in neighborhoods it controls in the camp.

UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon meets Mikati, al-Rahi
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati met Thursday with United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka at the Grand Serail. Wronecka stressed the need for Lebanon to commit to implementing basic reforms and completing constitutional junctures on time, especially the presidential and municipal polls.She later met with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi in Bkerki.

Bkerki denies Saudi veto on Franjieh during Bukhari-Rahi meeting
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Bkerki’s spokesperson Walid Ghayad said Thursday that Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari did not discuss with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi the names of any presidential candidates, in a meeting they had Tuesday in Bkerki. Ghayad told al-Jadeed TV that Bukhari did not support or oppose the election of any candidate, but rather mentioned the qualifications needed in a president. Al-Akhbar newspaper had claimed Wednesday that Bukhari had openly told al-Rahi that his country refuses the nomination of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh for presidency. On Thursday, the daily went on to say that Bukhari had already informed French Ambassador to Lebanon Anne Grillo about the Saudi objection on Franjieh. "It has also been reported that the Saudis had informed the four other parties during Paris meeting of their opposition to Franjieh's election," al-Akhbar said. Bukhari only urged on Tuesday for the election of an uncorrupt president who can save the country, Ghayad said, adding that al-Rahi has no specific candidate as well, and that Bkerki is "at the same distance from everyone."

Envoys of 7 nations reject claims against UK support in Lebanon
Naharnet/March 09/2023
The ambassadors of the UK, the U.S., Canada, Germany and the Netherlands and the deputy ambassador of Japan have met with caretaker PM Najib Mikati and agreed with him on “continued support for transparency and accountability in Lebanon,” a joint statement said.
“We confirmed our collective support for the IMPACT oversight platform under Central Inspection. IMPACT’s work is ground-breaking and the first of its kind in Lebanon,” the statement said. “We agreed that Central Inspection has a fundamental role in support of governance practice and ensures compliance with laws and regulations across all government institutions. We rejected misleading media allegations that target UK support in Lebanon and welcomed the support that has enabled the development and implementation of the successful IMPACT platform,” the statement added. Mikati for his part agreed to endorse UK support to Central Inspection by ratifying the Memorandum of Understanding as per Lebanese regulations. “We look forward to continued progress on this important agenda,” the statement added.

Rahi broaches latest developments with UN’s Wronecka
NNA/March 09/2023
Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Beshara Boutros Rahi, on Thursday received in Bkerki, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, who came on a visit during which they discussed the latest developments regarding the election of the President of the Republic.
Emphasis was made on the need to place the nation’s interest above any narrow or personal calculation, urging those concerned to “assume their responsibilities towards this country and its citizens, to save them by first electing a President of the Republic, and then activating the work of institutions to secure a decent life for the Lebanese.”

Report: Christian meeting has become imminent
Naharnet/March 09/2023
It seems that a long-awaited inter-Christian meeting will be held soon in Bkirki, after the stances of all parties were “taken into consideration, especially that of the Lebanese Forces,” a media report said on Thursday. The LF had proposed that the meeting “tackle more than one name” who do not belong to the Hezbollah-led camp and that one of them be chosen with the “approval and blessing” of Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. According to ad-Diyar newspaper, the Free Patriotic Movement is willing to “endorse this choice: although it has not taken a final decision, seeing as it is still “carrying out contacts with some allies and friends.”“All parties and components have become convinced that such a meeting has become a dire need and they have informed Archbishop of Antelias Antoine Bou Najem of this,” ad-Diyar said. It added that Bou Najem will carry out a series of new meetings with the Christian parties that will precede al-Rahi’s call for the inter-Christian meeting. The patriarch “will urge everyone to elect a president and agree on a name that is the subject of Christian unanimity,” the daily added.

Lebanon's banks to resume strike as of Tuesday
Naharnet/March 09/2023
The Association of Banks in Lebanon announced Thursday that the country’s banks will resume their open-ended strike on Tuesday, March 14, decrying recent judicial rulings. In a statement, the Association called for “taking swift legal measures to put an end to this flaw in adopting contradictory standards in the issuance of some rulings,” warning that these rulings are “exhausting what’s left of deposits belonging to all depositors and not only some of them.”Moreover, ABL stressed the need to “rectify some arbitrary judicial rulings” against banks, lauding State Prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat’s recent move against Judge Ghada Aoun. The banks had suspended their strike on February 24 at the request of caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati. The strike began on Feb. 7 in protest of a recent court ruling that forced one of the country's largest banks to pay out two of its depositors their trapped savings in cash. Lebanon's banks have been hard hit by the country's historic economic meltdown that began in October 2019 and have since imposed informal capital controls under which depositors have been able to withdraw only small amounts of their savings at an exchange rate far lower than the one used on the market. The economic crisis -- rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by the country's political class -- has left more than three quarters of Lebanon's population of 6 million in poverty. The Lebanese pound has lost 97% of its value against the dollar.
The informal capital controls have prompted some overseas depositors, locked out of their savings, to launch lawsuits overseas and in Lebanon to pressure banks to release their savings in full. In Lebanon, some depositors opted to break into banks, armed, and forced cashiers to hand over their money. Several such armed actions last year prompted the banks to go on strike in September 2022 and close down amid security fears for a week. Earlier in February, Lebanon's Court of Cassation overturned a 2022 verdict in favor of Fransabank, sued by two depositors demanding their money in cash. The ruling threw out the previous verdict, which allowed the bank to pay them with a check. That would not have allowed them to retrieve their money in full since they would have had to deposit the check in a bank account, where the money would get stuck all over again.In mid-February, angry Lebanese smashed windows and set tires on fire outside two of the country's biggest banks in the capital, Beirut, as the value of the Lebanese pound hit a new low. Despite the economic meltdown, Lebanese authorities have not implemented reforms demanded by the international community in order to release billions of dollars in loans and grants. The International Monetary Fund has criticized Lebanon for its sluggish progress on the reforms since talks between the government and the IMF began in May 2020. At the same time, banks have refused attempts to make their shareholders assume responsibility for the crisis -- as envisaged under a proposed economic recovery plan- - and have insisted that the government and their own depositors share the biggest burden for the losses.

FPM MP says presidential agreement with opposition 'possible'
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Free Patriotic Movement Alain Aoun said Thursday that the FPM might agree with the opposition MPs on a presidential candidate.
"We are communicating with all parties," Aoun said, adding that hic bloc hasn't yet decided on a candidate. The lawmaker denied that his bloc has considered boycotting the upcoming presidential election sessions. "We are participating in all the sessions," he said.

Nasrallah: We must seek solutions instead of bowing to int'l conditions
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday lashed out at the United States and called on the Lebanese to “seek solutions instead of bowing to international conditions.”“In the face of the economic and political crisis, I tell the Lebanese not to despair and surrender,” Nasrallah added in a televised address. Acknowledging that “those behind corruption in Lebanon are Lebanese,” Hezbollah’s leader said “America is a partner in corruption” in the country. “America is preventing deposits, loans and investments from coming to Lebanon,” Nasrallah decried. “Do not expect us to surrender and bow,” he stressed. “We will not surrender and we believe that there are solutions (but) a spirit of cooperation and bravery is needed,” Nasrallah went on to say.

Rights group says Lebanon electricity crisis deepens poverty
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Since the collapse of Lebanon's state power grid, many middle and working class families have been forced to spend most of their monthly income to pay shady neighborhood businessmen running private generators. Still, they go without electricity for nearly half the day, according to a report by Human Rights Watch released Thursday. The situation threatens to deepen the poverty of this tiny country embroiled in a devastating economic meltdown. In the report, the New York-based watchdog documented the struggles of over 1,200 lower-income households in Lebanon. Pushed to the bring of bankruptcy, the state-run power company now provides the Lebanese with less than three hours of power a day. Most families told HRW they compromise on food, education, medications and other basic needs to pay for supplemental electricity. According to the report, generator bills take up about 44% of the average family's monthly income, and twice that for the country's poorer families. HRW cited as median monthly income in Lebanon $122, with 40% of the households earning approximately $100 or less a month and 90% earning less than $377 per month.
Most families surveyed also told HRW that expensive generator bills have impacted their ability to pay for food and pay for medical and other crucial services. Meanwhile, a fifth of the families cited in the report -- the poorest among the interviewed -- said they could not afford to pay for generator electricity, leaving them in the dark for all but a few hours a day. The burden of Lebanon's power shortages is "disproportionately borne by the poor," said Lama Fakih, HRW's director for Mideast and North Africa, said at a news conference presenting the report. The situation "exacerbates inequality, pushes people into situation that violates their human rights, and hinders their access to food, water, and health," said Brian Root, a senior analyst who worked on the report.
Since Lebanon's economic crisis erupted in 2019, following decades of rampant corruption and political and financial mismanagement, over three-quarters of the population of 6 million has been plunged into poverty and struggles to get by amid some of the world's highest inflation rates. Lebanon's blackouts increased substantially two years ago, when the cash-strapped government could no longer afford importing fuel for its power plants. And while much of the world has looked to renewable sources of energy to tackle climate change, Lebanon relies on noisy, polluting, and expensive private diesel generators to keep the lights on. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and experts have urged Lebanon for years to restructure its electricity sector but authorities have stalled on a host of reforms required for the IMF to approve a bailout program and for the World Bank to put through an electricity deal that would provide natural gas from Egypt through Syria to boost Lebanon's state-run power grid. Fakih said at the news conference that HRW researchers met with Lebanese officials, including several ministers, but they mostly blamed one another or complained of being obstructed in doing their work.
"These kinds of excuses are undermining the ability for Lebanon to deal with its crisis today," she said. "We need a commitment from government to take this head-on."

Berri says Franjieh's nomination can break deadlock
Naharnet/March 09/2023
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's open nomination to Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh is not a challenge, Berri said, but is supposed to break the presidential deadlock. In remarks published Thursday in al-Joumhouria, Berri said that his nomination to Franjieh is supposed to urge the other parties to announce their candidates, in order to seriously elect a president. "I would call for a presidential election session when there is a democratic competition," Berri told the daily, adding that he definitely won't call for a session before he senses that there is a serious competition and until nominations are announced.

Report: Franjieh-Salam settlement was rejected by Bassil
Naharnet/March 09/2023
The presidential file was recently on the verge of a consensual settlement involving an agreement on both the presidency and the PM post, but the efforts failed in their last stages, a media report said on Thursday.
“Paris played a key role in formulating this settlement, which was based on the Franjieh-Salam equation, or the election of (ex-)minister Suleiman Franjieh as president and the designation of (ex-)ambassador Nawaf Salam as premier,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted “credible” sources as saying. “The Amal Movement-Hezbollah duo agreed to it, but it ran into the rejection of Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil,” the sources added. The sources noted, however, that “the door has not been closed yet in the face of passing any settlement,” pointing out that the contacts are still ongoing. “We do not rule out the emergency of surprises at any moment,” the sources added.

Ministry of Social Affairs, UNICEF launch “Nahno-Volunteers” a National Youth Volunteering Platform
NNA/March 09/2023
A new national platform was launched in Lebanon today to provide young people with volunteering opportunities in their communities and empower them with equal opportunities to increase their skills and contribute to social impact. With the generous funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the Prospects funding, the platform will give youth equal and inclusive opportunity access in their communities, while improving their skills and potentials.
Named ‘Nahno-Volunteers’ (We are Volunteers), the platform aims to bring together both volunteerism and youth engagement while also encouraging real volunteer opportunities in multiple sectors through building partnerships with civil society-based organizations (CBO’s), NGO’s and the private sector across Lebanon. Young people will be able to choose from these volunteer opportunities according to their interest and skills. These opportunities will be provided by various partners and organizations, including private companies, non-governmental organizations, and institutions.
“Volunteer work is one of the most vital mechanisms in achieving social, environmental, economic, sports transformation and institutional work,” said Edouard Beigbeder UNICEF Representative in Lebanon. “Today, young people in Lebanon, especially the most vulnerable, have limited access to opportunities to learn skills, engage in their community and improve their chances of becoming gainfully employed. This platform is an important step to ensure they can bring out positive change within while also equipping them with skills that will improve their chances to access the labour market. It is critical to provide young people with positive opportunities in such critical times”. Minister of Social Affairs, Dr. Hector Hajjar, said: "The culture of volunteering and free giving exists with us as Lebanese, of all ages, even before the establishment of Lebanon, and it is our duty to facilitate the volunteering process, especially for young people. Therefore, "Nahno" platform is not the aim, but rather the mean”. “This safe platform, will allow the volunteers, wherever they are in Lebanon, to register and choose from the several available opportunities, and give them the opportunity to live the experience of “free giving” that may change the course of their lives and give them a new prospect and a feeling of great joy.” He added.
The platform will target mainly youth between the ages of 15 and 24 years, including UNICEF-supported youth groups, with a focus on the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. It will provide equitable access to meaningful engagement opportunities for young people to learn new skills, develop their competencies, as well as to support their transition to adulthood and employment.
“Nahno-Volunteers” is an important milestone under the umbrella of the National Youth Policy Action plan that was launched under the patronage of the Prime Minister in September 2022. UNICEF will manage the operationalization of the platform, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs, to develop an empowering bridge from skills training through volunteering to employment opportunities. Both youth and organizations having volunteering opportunities can sign up on www.nahno-volunteers.com --UNICEF

Mufti Derian broaches situation with UN’s Wronecka, meets Beirut Governor
NNA/March 09/2023
Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel Latif Derian, on Thursday received in Dar-el-Fatwa, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna Wronecka, with whom he discussed the current situation in Lebanon and the region. Mufti Derian also met with Beirut Governor, Judge Marwan Abboud, over an array of matters related to the city of Beirut and its current conditions. Joint field visit for Japanese Embassy and FAO in Lebanon to meet farmers beneficiaries of project “Increase resilience of vulnerable smallholder...

MP Sleiman: 'National Moderation' bloc backs any candidate enjoying Gulf and international support
NNA/March 09/2023
MP Mohammad Sleiman stressed that the "National Moderation" bloc backs any candidate who enjoys the support of the international community and the Gulf, namely Saudi Arabia. In remarks to Voice of All Lebanon radio station, the lawmaker highlighted the necessity of dialogue. "There is no solution but through dialogue," he underlined. He went on saying that his bloc will neither boycott nor obstruct the presidential vote.

Frem: I am a reformist candidate to the presidency of the republic
NNA/March 09/2023
MP Neemat Frem announced that he is a reformist candidate to the presidency of the republic and that he carries a project of rescue.
"I am a reformist presidential candidate with a project of salvation and unification up my sleeve," the lawmaker told Kuwaiti Al-Anba newspaper. "The country does not need a president of coincidence, but a head of state with a clear mission and a unifying project based on building the state institutions so that they redraw the future of the Lebanese," he said. "If we do not commit to electing a president of the republic, designating a prime minister and forming a government, -- whereby voting should be for the unifying mission and project the president and the government carry --, we will then face complete chaos and undesired consequences, which are a stone's throw away," he warned. "We have reached a tipping point and a moment of truth in our nation. People are hungry, in pain, and emigrating; institutions are agonizing; Lebanon is dying," he deplored.
"What I am proposing is based on determining a common ground among the political groups and societal components, in order to reach an agreement and then embark on the rescue operation and exit the crisis," he explained. "The election of a president of the republic paves the way for ending failure, which has for long been the name of the political game, and for stepping into a new era," he continued.
"We have to be open if we are truly ready to admit, as political groups and societal components, that we want to live together," he said, stressing the necessity of addressing all concerns and of acting responsibly in order to rebuild the Lebanese state and its institutions.
Tackling the common ground he touts, Frem highlighted the importance of building this ground on the basis of the social contract in tandem with clinching the national contract. "We shall then endorse the required structural issues, such as the expansive decentralization, the establishment of a senate, the independence of the judiciary, the vote law and the national security policy."
"Just like our national contract, our social contract should not be based on the sharing of quotas, but on complementarity, productivity, and the simulation of all aspirations and concerns, under the ceiling of coexistence," he underlined.
"This is the project of rescue, and what matters is a prior agreement over it and over the personality who is qualified for conducting this rescue mission," he said. "What is needed is a president driven by a mission and carrying a project, a president who can reassure the Lebanese, the Arabs and the international community, and who is capable of sparking the required positive shock based on his ethics on one hand, and his reliance on his people's trust on the other," he added. According to him, this president must have a deep understanding of the critical balances and national constants. He must also work on bridging the gaps among the Lebanese people with his communication and persuasion skills, not to mention his mastering of managing change, rebuilding the institutions, and organizing and activating their structures with utmost momentum and productivity.
"The parliamentary blocs are the ones who nominate (a president), and my name is on the table. I consider myself a point of convergence and at a demarcation line between the world of economy and institutions' building on one hand, and the world of public affairs and politics on the other," he said. "The responsibility of salvation falls upon everybody's shoulder; it is not restricted to one sect or one camp. Addressing the concerns of all the national components is the responsibility of each and every sect and camp," he concluded.

Joint field visit for Japanese Embassy and FAO in Lebanon to meet farmers beneficiaries of project “Increase resilience of vulnerable smallholder...
NNA/March 09/2023
On March 8, Japanese Ambassador MAGOSHI Masayuki joined FAO Representative in Lebanon, Nora Ourabah Haddad for a visit to beneficiaries of the FAO project “Increase resilience of vulnerable smallholder farming families affected by the economic crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. They also met with a number of farmers at the agricultural center of Deir El Ahmar in the presence of head of unions of municipalities of Deir El Ahmar and heads of municipalities from Baalbeck region. Implemented by FAO in 2022 in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and funded by the government of Japan, the project targeted 1145 vulnerable smallholder women and men farmers most affected by the multiple crisis facing the country. The project focused on the distributing of vouchers to enable farmers to purchase agricultural inputs and animal feed for the 2021 agricultural season.
In his speech Ambassador Magoshi Masayuki said:” Japan recognizes the importance of reinforcing Lebanon’s agricultural sector amid growing concerns over the livelihoods of the smallholder farmers and the food security situation across the country. The Government of Japan has therefore decided to support this project to mitigate the impact of the country’s multiple crisis on farmers, help them boost their agricultural production and subsequently contribute to the sustainable economic development.”
For FAO Representative, farmers were able to increase and maintain their agricultural production and income to sustain their livelihoods. She added: “FAO considers the voucher scheme as an entry point to sustain local productivity in view to achieving food security in Lebanon”.The vouchers enabled targeted smallholder farmers to purchase agricultural inputs and animal feed for the 2022 agricultural season from a defined list of quality controlled inputs registered in the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on March 09-10/2023
Nuclear Iran would change history, Netanyahu tells TV labelled ‘terrorist’ by Tehran
Yaghoub Fazeli/Al Arabiya English/10 March ,2023
“History will change” if Iran becomes a nuclear-armed state, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned in an interview with a Persian-language TV network that Tehran has labelled a “terrorist organization.”In an interview Iran International TV aired on Thursday, Netanyahu said that that the prospect of a regime “committed to the destruction” of his country possessing nuclear weapons was unthinkable. “Imagine if they have the weapons of the greatest terror, nuclear weapons with which they can hold the entire world hostage. So I say to Western leaders, to world leaders: history will change if Iran [gets] nuclear weapons,” he said. In November, Iran’s Intelligence Minister described Iran International as a “terrorist organization.” The station announced last month that it would relocate from London to Washington on the advice of UK police, citing alleged threats from Iran. “The imperative now is to free the Iranian people, both for their own sake but also for our common security,” the Israeli leader said. “We cannot let this radical Islamic terrorist regime that oppresses its people [and] terrorizes everyone else have the weapons of mass death. This will change history and we have to stop it before it happens.” Netanyahu called for “crippling sanctions” against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and for a “credible military response and a military threat against the potential development of nuclear weapons” by Iran. He warned that if the Islamic Republic acquired nuclear weapons, it would feel “invulnerable” and seek to “buy immunity” from being overthrown. “Once they have nuclear weapons … they’ll feel that they’re there forever. And one of the things that they want through the acquisition of nuclear weapons is … to be able to be free from the threat of being deposed. They think they’ll buy immunity,” he said.
This week, the US, Britain, France and Germany expressed concern over Iran’s production of uranium enriched to 84 percent purity, just under the 90 percent needed to produce a nuclear bomb, and called for an explanation from Iran. Tehran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only and that it has not attempted to enrich uranium beyond 60 percent purity. Diplomatic efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, which Netanyahu opposes, have stalled since last year. The 2015 deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Netanyahu believes the deal is too generous to Tehran. Former US President Donald Trump, who also thought the deal was too soft on Iran, withdrew Washington from the deal in 2018 and reimposed sweeping sanctions on Tehran. Iran responded by expanding its nuclear program, breaching most of the deal’s restrictions.
Grossi comments ‘totally wrong’
Netanyahu criticized comments made by the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi, who during a visit to Tehran earlier this month said that any military attack on nuclear facilities would be considered illegal. “(Grossi) said something totally wrong and inappropriate. There is nothing more legitimate than preventing a regime that openly calls for your destruction from having the weapons to achieve that goal,” said Netanyahu. “We will maintain our right to defend ourselves and in so doing defend many others, including the people of Iran,” he added. He said that whether there will be a direct military conflict between Israel and Iran depends on Tehran. Netanyahu added that the recent protest movement in Iran had “unmasked the true nature” of the Iranian regime, which he described as the “common enemy” of Iranians and Israelis. He expressed the hope that a different government in Tehran would lead to a friendship between Israel and Iran “surpass[ing] anything that we can imagine.”Iran experienced months of protests following the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian Kurdish woman who died on September 16 shortly after her arrest by the morality police in Tehran for allegedly breaching the country’s strict dress rules for women. The protests, which quickly escalated into calls for the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, were met with a violent crackdown from authorities, who viewed the protests as “riots” backed by foreign powers, namely the US and Israel.

US defense chief's visit to Israel reveals divisions on Iran
The Associated Press/09 March ,2023
Long-running differences between the Biden administration and Israel over how to stop Iran’s rapidly accelerating nuclear program spilled into public view Thursday, as the US defense secretary discussed Tehran's nuclear ambitions with his Israeli counterpart during a visit to the country. Even with efforts to revive the landmark 2015 nuclear deal stalled for months, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin insisted in comments in Tel Aviv that “diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.” Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made no mention of the moribund nuclear talks, instead telling Austin: “We must take all measures necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.” He appeared to suggest that Israel could resort to military action to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. “The Iranian nuclear threat requires us to be prepared for every course of action,” Gallant said and repeated twice for emphasis. The distinction between their statements revealed the countries’ different approaches to Iran.With Biden as his vice president, then-President Barack Obama spearheaded the 2015 nuclear accord, which gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bitterly opposed the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards and did not address non-nuclear Iranian aggression in the region.
After former President Donald Trump abandoned the atomic accord and imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, Tehran gradually increased its uranium enrichment, expanded its stockpiles of enriched uranium and developed advanced centrifuges. UN experts say Iran has enriched uranium to 84 percent purity, just short of weapons grade, though they say Iran is still months away from the ability to build a weapon.
Biden took office pledging that the US would rejoin the 2015 nuclear accord and lift sanctions on Iran if Tehran complied with the deal's strict limits on its nuclear program. But attempts to revive the accord have failed. Israel, meanwhile, has engaged in a yearslong shadow war with its archenemy Iran that has spilled out across the wider Middle East. Since returning to office late last year, Netanyahu has openly advocated military action against Iran. Seeking to roll back Iran's regional entrenchment and slow its ability to enrich nuclear fuel, Israel is believed to have conducted a series of covert sabotage and targeted killing operations. “We must do everything in our power to ensure that the dreams of the ayatollahs are never fulfilled at any cost," Gallant said.
American and European officials have indicated that attempts to revive the nuclear deal have been effectively suspended in the wake of Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests and its selling of armed drones to Russia that have been used in Moscow's war against Ukraine — a decision that has allowed Iran to access “unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles and air defense" from Russia, Austin alleged. Russia's war on Ukraine also exposed stubborn differences between the two close allies. Although Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has refused Kyiv’s frequent requests to send air defense systems and other weapons. It also has refrained from enforcing strict economic sanctions for fear of damaging its vital relations with Moscow. For years, Russia and Israel have enjoyed good working relations and closely coordinated to avoid run-ins in the skies over Syria, Israel’s northeastern neighbor, where Russian air power has propped up embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad. Austin on Thursday appeared to urge Israel to do more to back Ukraine in the grinding war, noting the increasingly close military ties between Iran and Russia. “We're calling on all of our allies and partners to step up now, at this hinge moment in history,” he said. “Nations of good will, and especially our fellow democracies, must all urgently do their part to help Ukraine fight for its freedom.”When asked by a reporter what it would take for Israel to give Ukraine military aid, Gallant was vague. “We are doing our best,” he said. “We are doing it with the understanding of Israeli interests in the region.”

Hamas gunman wounds three in Tel Aviv attack before police kill him
Reuters/09 March ,2023
A Palestinian gunman opened fire in Tel Aviv on Thursday, wounding three people before being killed by police in what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu labelled a “terror attack” amid rising unrest in the West Bank. The militant group Hamas claimed the shooter, a 23-year-old from the occupied West Bank, as a member. Police cordoned off a corner of Dizengoff street in the city center where the attack took place. A restaurant was empty after customers apparently fled mid-meal, Reuters footage showed. Medics treated the wounded on the sidewalk nearby. The shooting followed a spate of attacks by Palestinians around Jerusalem and in the West Bank that have killed 13 Israelis and a Ukrainian woman since late January. Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including both fighters and civilians. More than 40 Israelis have died in attacks by Palestinians over the same period. “There has been another terror attack in the heart of Tel Aviv tonight,” Netanyahu said after being updated on events during a visit to Italy.“We strengthen the security forces and the police who are fighting terrorists this night and every night.”Earlier on Thursday, Israeli forces killed three gunmen from the militant Islamic Jihad group in a gunbattle in the West Bank. Hamas said the Tel Aviv shooting was a response to that. “The heroic operation is a natural response to the crimes conducted by the occupation,” Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem said. The three hurt by the Tel Aviv shooting were rushed to hospital, one in serious condition. Police officers killed the assailant, according to Israel's national security minister. The attack came hours after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ended a brief visit to Israel where he called on all sides to de-escalate the violence. After the shooting, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai asked protesters, who had been rallying against a planned judicial overhaul, to stay at home.

Israeli forces kill three Islamic Jihad gunmen in West Bank
JABA, West Bank (Reuters)/Thu, March 9, 2023
-Israeli forces raided a Palestinian village close to the West Bank city of Jenin on Thursday, killing three Islamic Jihad militants they said were suspected of carrying out shooting attacks in the area. Islamic Jihad claimed the three fighters, who the Israeli military said were suspected of multiple shooting attacks in Jaba village, southwest of Jenin, as well as in the area of Homesh, a nearby settlement outpost that was evacuated in 2005 and is now home to a religious school. The incident came on the same day U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin was visiting Israel, where he was expected to discuss the growing violence on the West Bank. In Jaba, residents said they heard intense gunfire early in the morning and saw a large Israeli force in the village, where the blood-spattered wreckage of the car in which the gunmen were killed remained in the street. A Israeli statement said the gunmen had opened fire from their car when Israeli forces entered the area. It said two members of Islamic Jihad were killed as well as what it described as an additional armed suspect. Jaba, where two Islamic Jihad gunmen were killed in January, has a large presence of armed militants from different factions and as mourners assembled for the funeral of the three killed on Thursday, fighters said the raids would not deter them. "Day after day, more men from Jaba and neighbouring villages join us," said one masked gunman, as dozens of others militants prepared to take part in the funeral marches. Thousands of mourners, some carrying Palestinian flags and the banners of the main factions, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Fatah and chanting for revenge, joined the funeral of the three, as gunmen fired into the air.
GUNBATTLE
Police seized two rifles and another gun as well as explosive devices and arrested three other suspects. According to Noaman Khalileya, owner of a local garage near to where the incident took place, security forces also confiscated his security camera and erased pictures on his mobile telephone. The operation came days after Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in Jenin and killed six Palestinian gunmen, including a Hamas member suspected of killing two brothers from a Jewish settlement near the Palestinian village of Huwara in the West Bank on Feb. 26.
The Palestinian health ministry said a 14-year-old boy, wounded during the gunbattle that broke out in Jenin during the Israeli raid, had died of his wounds. In a statement to Voice of Palestine radio, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, spokesman of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, accused Israel of launching a "full-scale war" against the Palestinians. The Palestinian Authority (PA) announced that it had suspended its security cooperation agreement with Israel in January, following a raid in Jenin that killed nine Palestinians, but the raids have put it under growing pressure. The Islamist group Hamas, which controls the blockaded Gaza Strip but which also has fighters across the West Bank, said PA security forces arrested several members of the group overnight in the West Bank city of Nablus after they took part in the funeral march of the Huwara gunman a day earlier. "Such a behaviour serves the Zionist occupation only," it said in a statement. Israeli forces have conducted near daily raids across the West Bank for months after a spate of deadly attacks by Palestinians in Israel last year. They have made thousands of arrests and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including both fighters and civilians. Over the same period, more than 40 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians.

Netanyahu airlifted to airport after protesters block road
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)/Thu, March 9, 2023
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had to be airlifted on Thursday to the country's main international airport for an official overseas trip after throngs of cars and protesters prevented him from driving there. The demonstrations were part of nationwide protests underway for more than two months against Netanyahu and his government's contentious plan to overhaul the judiciary. Demonstrators had made blocking Netanyahu's route to the airport a centerpiece of their efforts, and the the optics of the Israeli leader having to make alternate travel plans were a win for the protest movement.
The helicopter ride, far from the snarling traffic triggered by the protest, was also sure to deepen Netanyahu's reputation as being out of touch with Israelis at a time when the country finds itself torn apart over the government plan and the economy is slowing. Thursday's disruptions also disrupted a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin, whose schedule was rearranged to keep his engagements close to the airport. Austin briefly waded into the Israeli domestic turmoil during a news conference, where he repeated President Joe Biden's recent comments that the “genius of American democracy and Israeli democracy is that they are both built on strong institutions, on checks and balances and on an independent judiciary.” He also noted that Biden had stressed the need for “building consensus for fundamental changes.”
The protesters, launching a “day of resistance to dictatorship,” descended on the country's main international airport waving Israeli flags and blocking the road leading to the departures area with their cars. Elsewhere, protesters blocked main intersections and scuffled with police in the seaside metropolis of Tel Aviv and other cities. A small flotilla of paddleboards and kayaks tried to close off a main maritime shipping lane off the northern city of Haifa. Some protesters barricaded the Jerusalem offices of a conservative think tank helping to spearhead the judicial changes. “Israel is on the verge of becoming an autocratic country. The current government is trying to destroy our democracy, and actually destroy the country,” said Savion Or, a protester in Tel Aviv. The uproar over Netanyahu's legal overhaul has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. Beyond the protests, which have drawn tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets and recently became violent, opposition has surged from across society, with business leaders and legal officials speaking out against what they say will be the ruinous effects of the plan. The rift has affected Israel's military, which is seeing unprecedented opposition from within its own ranks.
Later Thursday, the military said it suspended a pilot, identified in Israeli media as Col. Gilad Peled, until further notice, saying he had organized a pilots' protest. “Unionizing to synchronize absence from service, though coming from good intentions, is forbidden,” said Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, Israel’s air force chief.
While some former top commanders have identified with the protesters, a group of 36 retired generals, including two former chiefs of staff, released a new letter saying the army must remain above politics and calling on reservists to show up for duty. “We demand that discussion or acts of insubordination be avoided,” said the generals.
Netanyahu, who took office in late December after a protracted political stalemate, and his allies say the measures aim to rein in a court that has overstepped its authority. Critics say the overhaul will upset the country's delicate system of checks and balances and slide Israel toward authoritarianism. Critics also say Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, is driven by personal grievances and that he could find an escape route from the charges through the overhaul. Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, and says the legal changes have nothing to do with his trial.
Despite the demonstrations, Netanyahu and his allies have pledged to press ahead with a series of bills that would strip the Supreme Court of its ability to review legislation and give coalition politicians control over judicial appointments. An attempt by Israel's figurehead president to defuse the crisis through an alternative legal reform has so far been unsuccessful.
The protesters' main objective Thursday was to complicate Netanyahu's journey to the airport ahead of a state visit to Rome. Police, handing out traffic tickets as protesters held signs reading, “dictator: don’t come back!” said they would clear the demonstrators by force if they did not move. There were no immediate reports of serious violence. Netanyahu, who met Austin before his departure, arrived to the airport in a police helicopter, circumventing the protesters, Israeli media reported. Netanyahu’s office declined to comment. Regular flights were not interrupted, an airport spokeswoman said, although some travelers said they had to leave their cars behind the protesters' convoy and reach the terminal by foot. Netanyahu told the Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview before his trip that the protests illustrated a vibrant democracy. But speaking to reporters before takeoff, he suggested the protesters were looking to oust him. “The goal here is to topple a government that was elected democratically,” Netanyahu said. “We won't let anyone disrupt Israeli democracy.” The police, overseen by ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, pledged to prevent the disturbances and said they had made some 15 arrests.
Protesters descended onto Tel Aviv's main highway, blocking midday traffic as mounted police and a water cannon truck hovered nearby. Police allowed the protesters to remain on the highway for over an hour but cleared it in some places by force ahead of afternoon rush hour.
Red billboards festooning the highway read, “resistance to dictatorship is mandatory.” Critics say Ben-Gvir, a key ally in Netanyahu’s coalition government who has dubbed the protesters “anarchists”, is trying to politicize the police. “We support freedom of expression but not anarchy,” Ben-Gvir told reporters while touring the airport. Thursday's demonstration in Tel Aviv, the country’s business center and its liberal heartland, was not nearly as large as one last week, when police cracked down on what had otherwise been peaceful protests, lobbing stun grenades and scuffling with demonstrators. Those protests ended with Netanyahu's wife Sara being extracted from a ritzy Tel Aviv hair salon where demonstrators had gathered after catching wind of her presence. Netanyahu and his wife have gained notoriety for enjoying lavish lifestyles and living off the largesse of taxpayers and wealthy supporters. Some pundits questioned why Netanyahu was flying to Italy for three days at a time of deep national crisis, suggesting the couple were actually traveling to celebrate their wedding anniversary. etanyahu's schedule includes a meeting with Italy's prime minister on Friday, but he does not return until Saturday night. Thursday's visit by Austin, who is on a Mideast tour, was also affected by the protests. His meetings were held at the airport and he did not travel to the Defense Ministry, located in the central Tel Aviv area where protests have been focused.

US defense chief's visit to Israel reveals divisions on Iran
JERUSALEM (AP)/Thu, March 9, 2023
Long-running differences between the Biden administration and Israel over how to stop Iran’s rapidly accelerating nuclear program spilled into public view Thursday, as the U.S. defense secretary discussed Tehran's nuclear ambitions with his Israeli counterpart during a visit to the country.Even with efforts to revive the landmark 2015 nuclear deal stalled for months, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin insisted in comments in Tel Aviv that “diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made no mention of the moribund nuclear talks, instead telling Austin: “We must take all measures necessary to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon.” He appeared to suggest that Israel could resort to military action to take out Iran's nuclear facilities. “The Iranian nuclear threat requires us to be prepared for every course of action,” Gallant said and repeated twice for emphasis.
The distinction between their statements revealed the countries’ different approaches to Iran. With Biden as his vice president, then-President Barack Obama spearheaded the 2015 nuclear accord, which gave Iran relief from economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bitterly opposed the deal, saying it did not contain sufficient safeguards and did not address non-nuclear Iranian aggression in the region.
After former President Donald Trump abandoned the atomic accord and imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, Tehran gradually increased its uranium enrichment, expanded its stockpiles of enriched uranium and developed advanced centrifuges. U.N. experts say Iran has enriched uranium to 84% purity, just short of weapons grade, though they say Iran is still months away from the ability to build a weapon. Biden took office pledging that the United States would rejoin the 2015 nuclear accord and lift sanctions on Iran if Tehran complied with the deal's strict limits on its nuclear program. But attempts to revive the accord have failed. Israel, meanwhile, has engaged in a yearslong shadow war with its archenemy Iran that has spilled out across the wider Middle East. Since returning to office late last year, Netanyahu has openly advocated military action against Iran. Seeking to roll back Iran's regional entrenchment and slow its ability to enrich nuclear fuel, Israel is believed to have conducted a series of covert sabotage and targeted killing operations. “We must do everything in our power to ensure that the dreams of the ayatollahs are never fulfilled at any cost," Gallant said.
American and European officials have indicated that attempts to revive the nuclear deal have been effectively suspended in the wake of Tehran’s violent crackdown on nationwide protests and its selling of armed drones to Russia that have been used in Moscow's war against Ukraine — a decision that has allowed Iran to access “unprecedented defense cooperation, including on missiles and air defense" from Russia, Austin alleged.
Russia's war on Ukraine also exposed stubborn differences between the two close allies. Although Israel has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, it has refused Kyiv’s frequent requests to send air defense systems and other weapons. It also has refrained from enforcing strict economic sanctions for fear of damaging its vital relations with Moscow. For years, Russia and Israel have enjoyed good working relations and closely coordinated to avoid run-ins in the skies over Syria, Israel’s northeastern neighbor, where Russian air power has propped up embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad. Austin on Thursday appeared to urge Israel to do more to back Ukraine in the grinding war, noting the increasingly close military ties between Iran and Russia. “We're calling on all of our allies and partners to step up now, at this hinge moment in history,” he said. “Nations of good will, and especially our fellow democracies, must all urgently do their part to help Ukraine fight for its freedom.” When asked by a reporter what it would take for Israel to give Ukraine military aid, Gallant was vague.“We are doing our best,” he said. “We are doing it with the understanding of Israeli interests in the region.”

Iran: unions and civil rights groups demand democracy and social justice
The Conversation/Thu, March 9, 2023
Forty-four years after Iranians rose up against their hated monarch in February 1979, a group of 20 organisations engaged in long-term social and economic struggles – including labour unions, teachers, women’s groups and youth and student movements – issued an ultimatum to the government of the Islamic Republic. The Charter of Minimum Demands of Independent Trade Union and Civil Organisations of Iran contains 12 demands concerning social justice, democracy and political reform. The charter is a protest: against misogyny and gender-based discrimination, economic instability, the modern enslavement of the workforce, poverty, distress, class violence, and nationalist, centralist, and religious oppression. It is a revolution against any form of tyranny, whether it be under the pretext of religion or not; any form of tyranny that has been inflicted upon us, the majority of the people of Iran. This charter represents the first organised and collective demand from within Iran since the explosion of unrest on Iranian streets after the death of Mahsa Amini at the hands of the morality police in September 2022. The push for transformation inside Iran stands in stark contrast to the attempts of some exiled Iranians who want to reimpose the pre-1979 monarchy.
The revolutionary movement that overthrew Mohammad Reza Shah, the last monarch of Iran, was a broad-based coalition of mostly urban working- and middle-class people. Supporters of the revolution were united by their opposition to the monarchy, but they were motivated by a range of ideologies: socialism, communism, liberalism, secularism, Islamism and nationalism. These groups were also unified by their fierce opposition to Iran’s foreign policy that left it subordinate to the west. Deeply etched in Iranians’ collective memory is the fact that the monarchy had been reinstalled in 1953 after a coup d’etat against the democratically elected president, Mohammad Mosaddegh. The coup had been orchestrated by the US and UK, who backed Mohammad Reza Shah throughout his brutal and oppressive reign, in return for control of Iran’s oil industry. By the 1970s, brutal state oppression was accompanied by increasing inequality. Poor living and working conditions provoked unrest that was met with further repression and Iran’s jails overflowed with political prisoners. In January 1979, Mohammad Reza Shah and his family were forced into exile by a broad-based revolutionary coalition. But the unity that succeeded in ousting the hated regime proved to be shortlived and the theocratic Islamic Republic was established under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. But a large segment of Iranian society that had supported the revolution staunchly opposed the Islamic Republic from the beginning. This opposition has remained firm to the present day and is represented in huge numbers in the street protests that have rocked Iran since the death of Amini. Amini, a Kurdish Iranian, was visiting relatives in Tehran when she was arrested by the morality police for violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code. Her death, after reportedly being brutally beaten while in custody, provoked outrage across the country. In the protests that followed, many young women and men have been killed by security forces. Now the Islamic Republic faces the most serious challenge in its 44-year existence. During the 1979 revolution, the hijab became a symbol of resistance to the Pahlavi monarchy and its commitment to “modernise” – in other words, westernise – Iranian society. Many women wore the headscarf as a protest against the imposition of western norms.
After the Islamic Republic took power the dress code for women became stricter. A month after the revolution – on March 8 1979, women launched massive demonstrations across Iran against what they saw as patriarchal oppression on the part of the new Islamic regime. However, the hijab became obligatory in 1983, by which time Iran was at war with Iraq. So the hijab symbolises Iranian women’s struggle against control by both the monarchy and the theocracy. The killing of Amini in September 2022 was the trigger for the current wave of protests, but they are a manifestation of long-lasting repressive gender relations. It is opposition to deeply rooted patriarchal relations that brought women and girls onto the streets in their hundreds of thousands across almost every city and town. While women led the demonstrations, many men offered support. The slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom”, which places women at the centre of the struggle, also calls for transformative changes in the economy (“life”) and politics (“freedom”). Like in 1979, the current protests enjoy support from diverse social groups. For many, this wave of demonstrations represents continuity with the 1979 revolution, and an opportunity to achieve the objectives that were undermined by the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
Progressive revolution
The 44th anniversary of the 1979 revolution marked a significant moment for which many Iranians have been longing. The new charter calls for “an end to the formation of any kind of power from above and to start a social, progressive, and human revolution for the liberation of peoples from any form of tyranny, discrimination, colonisation, oppression, and dictatorship”.The demands are broad-ranging. They include the freedom of all political prisoners, freedom of belief and expression, equality between men and women and improved wages and conditions for all workers. They demand the free participation of people in democracy through local and national councils and the redistribution of wealth and resources. The charter provides the first draft of a vision for a new Iran. Its proclamation on the anniversary of the 1979 revolution makes a historical connection to that struggle and its anti-imperialist and anti-dictatorial sentiments. The demands put forward demonstrate that Iranians have a clear vision for their future. And it shows that it is time for the reactionary forces outside Iran to accept that Iranian people can indeed alter their society from within. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Simin Fadaee does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Iran is gearing up to attack Britain and the West
Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/Thu, March 9, 2023
With world attention understandably focused on the Ukraine crisis, we should not be surprised that rogue nations should be seeking to exploit the conflict in order to advance their own nefarious agendas. For most of the past decade, British security officials, when asked to rank hostile states that threaten our national wellbeing, have put Russia in first place, with China coming a close second. Other threats, such as those posed by Iran and North Korea, as well as the continuing challenge presented by militant Islamist groups, have been deemed less immediate while still worthy of close monitoring.
The suggestion, therefore, that the Islamic Republic of Iran is now regarded as posing the second most potent threat to Britain in security circles shows just how much progress the ayatollahs have made in developing their military strength while the rest of the world has been distracted by the tragic events unfolding in Ukraine. Western security officials have been obliged to revise their assessment of the Iranian threat following the alarming revelation by nuclear inspectors that uranium particles enriched to 83.7 per cent purity have been discovered at Iran’s Fordow plant, constructed deep beneath a mountain so that it cannot be targeted by Western air strikes. The Fordow plant, which is specifically designed to enrich uranium and is located close to the holy city of Qom, was built in secret during the 2000s as an alternative to the Natanz facility, which fulfils a similar function. The Iranians desperately tried to conceal the existence of both plants from the United Nations, a clear breach of its obligations under the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Work on Fordow began soon after Natanz’s existence was made public by opposition groups in 2002. Another fiction that Tehran has tried to maintain over the past two decades or so is that it has no interest in developing nuclear weapons, and that all its nuclear activities are for peaceful objectives, such as providing alternative energy sources. If that is the case, why have inspectors working for the UN-sponsored International Atomic Energy Agency found traces of uranium at Fordow that are just short of the 90 per cent enrichment level required to make nuclear weapons? It is not the first time that inspectors have found undeclared traces of highly enriched uranium at Iranian facilities. Prior to the nuclear deal with Iran that the Barack Obama administration helped negotiate in 2015, the main cause of the stand-off between Iran and the West was Tehran’s refusal to explain the discovery of enriched particles at several sites.
The latest discoveries must certainly lay to rest any prospect of reviving the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the flawed nuclear deal the West hoped would limit Iran’s nuclear ambitions. With experts warning that Iran could have enough material for a nuclear warhead within two weeks, it also means Britain and its allies need to give serious consideration to how they deal with the emerging threat to their security. Indeed, apart from its nuclear aspirations, Iran has been working hard to develop an arsenal of ballistic weapons capable of hitting targets in the heart of Europe.
Iran’s deepening desire to intensify its confrontation with the West is evident from the support it has given Russia in the Ukraine conflict, where Iranian drones have been involved in a number of attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. US national security officials have warned that Iran is aiming to expand its military support by providing ballistic missiles. Security sources have already reported that Tehran is supplying large quantities of bullets, rockets and mortar shells to sustain the Russian war effort.
At the same time, there is evidence that Iran is increasing its more low-level terrorist activities in Europe. The presence of Iranian hit squads in London sent to silence critics of the regime recently forced a prominent Iranian opposition channel to relocate to Washington. The British authorities could not provide adequate protection, a worrying indication of the poor state of preparedness of our security services to deal with Iran’s nefarious activities. For far too long, the predominant view in Whitehall has been that the best way to contain the Iranian threat is to maintain a dialogue with the so-called “moderates” there in the hope that it will result in improved ties with the West. Instead, all that has happened is that Iran has made significant advances in developing a nuclear threat, from acquiring weapons grade uranium to building ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads. The success of these developments, moreover, appears to have given the regime the confidence to adopt a more aggressive stance towards the West, one that, given the unpredictable nature of Iranian politics, must be a major cause for concern. Rather than pandering to the ayatollahs, there now needs to be a major rethink of how we deal with Iran, one that takes full cognisance of the scale of Tehran’s hostile intent.

Iran Supports Rapprochement Between Türkiye, Syria
Ankara - Saeed Abdulrazek/Thursday, 9 March, 2023
Iran said Wednesday it supports a rapprochement between Türkiye and Syria and the return of relations to their normal status. This came as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Türkiye, Syria and Iran are meeting in Moscow next week as part of the normalization process between Ankara and Damascus. During a joint press conference held with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Ankara, Cavusoglu revealed Russian proposal to hold a meeting between the four countries at the technical level in preparation for a possible meeting between their foreign ministers. “The Iranian side will also attend this meeting,” he added. Cavusoglu said a meeting by the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Syria and Russia was held in Moscow on Dec. 28, 2022, where Turkish and Syrian officials talked for the first time as part of the efforts to ease the tension and restore the relations between the two countries. The Turkish FM stated that during the previous visit of Amir Abdollahian to Türkiye last January, Ankara agreed with the Iranian side on Iran's participation in the meetings, within the framework of the Astana talks. “Astana is the only surviving format (to address) Syria anyway,” Cavusoglu said. The Turkish FM then affirmed that Türkiye and Russia have no problem if Iran is involved in this process and if the meetings are held in a four-way format instead of three. “Now we are planning for a meeting between the four foreign ministers,” he said. Abdollahian, for his part, said Iran is ready to play a role to resolve the different points of view between Türkiye and Syria under regional cooperation. “Iran supports the return of relations between Ankara and Damascus to their normal status,” Amir Abdollahian said.

Syria, Iran welcome thaw in ties between Damascus and regional states
Reuters/10 March ,2023
The foreign ministers of Syria and its close ally Iran on Thursday welcomed a thaw in diplomacy between Damascus and regional states in the aftermath of last month's deadly earthquake, they said at a joint news conference in Damascus. Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said Syria aimed to normalize relations with regional states after President Bashar al-Assad's political isolation for more than a decade of war.Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said Iran welcomed any initiative for talks aimed at reaching an understanding in the region, including meetings of four countries - Iran, Russia, Syria and Turkey - aimed at resolving Syria's crisis. Turkey backs rebels opposed to Assad's rule in a patch of land in the country's northwest. Syria had been isolated by most regional states over Assad's deadly crackdown of protests against him, with the Arab League suspending Syria's membership in 2011 and many Arab countries withdrawing their envoys from Damascus. But Assad has benefited from an outpouring of support by Arab states following the earthquake, which killed more than 5,900 people across his country, according to a tally of UN and Syrian government figures.
The foreign minister of Saudi Arabia said last month that isolating Syria was not working and that dialogue with Damascus was needed, especially to address the humanitarian situation there. The foreign ministers of Jordan and Egypt both visited Damascus last month for the first time since the war began. The Egyptian minister’s visit came after Assad and Egypt’s President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi spoke by phone for the first time on February 7.

Russian missile barrage slams into cities across Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)/Thu, March 9, 2023
Russia launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones that hit residential buildings and critical infrastructure across Ukraine on Thursday, killing six people and leaving hundreds of thousands without heat or electricity. The largest such attack in three weeks also put Europe’s largest nuclear plant at risk by knocking it off the power grid for hours before it was reconnected. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown, and the latest threat to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant once again raised the specter of a nuclear catastrophe
Air raid sirens wailed through the night, as the attacks targeted a wide swath of the country, including in western Ukraine, which is far from the front lines. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the assault that came while many people slept was an attempt by Moscow “to intimidate Ukrainians again.”
The Russian Defense Ministry said the strikes were in retaliation for a recent incursion into the Bryansk region of western Russia by what Moscow claimed were Ukrainian saboteurs. Ukraine denied the claim and warned that Moscow could use the allegations to justify stepping up its own assaults. The war has largely ground to a stalemate on the battlefield over the winter. The Kremlin’s forces started targeting Ukraine’s power supply last October in an apparent attempt to demoralize the civilian population and compel Kyiv to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms. The attacks later became less frequent, with analysts speculating Russia may have been running low on ammunition. The last major bombardment took place on Feb. 16. Overall, Russia launched 81 missiles and eight exploding Iranian-made Shahed drones Thursday, according to Ukraine’s chief commander of the armed forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Thirty-four missiles were intercepted, as were four drones, he said. The mixture of munitions makes it harder for air defenses to cope with the onslaught, military analysts say. Among the weapons were six hypersonic Kinzhal cruise missiles, which are among the most sophisticated weapons in the Russian arsenal, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said. Ukraine says it doesn’t have air defenses that can intercept them.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the barrage hit military and industrial targets in Ukraine “as well as the energy facilities that supply them.” The missile strikes won’t take any toll on the army’s combat capability, but are “playing on the nerves of the civilian population of Ukraine,” Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov told The Associated Press. Nearly half of households in Kyiv were without heat, as were many in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, where the water was also cut on a day the low was expected to be around freezing, according to local officials. Around 150,000 households were left without power in Ukraine’s northwestern Zhytomyr region. In the southern port of Odesa, emergency blackouts occurred due to damaged power lines. Viktor Bukhta, a 57-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Sviatoshynski district, where officials said three people were wounded, said a missile landed nearby in the early morning.
“We went into the yard. People were injured,” he said. “Then the cars caught fire. We tried to extinguish them with car fire extinguishers. And I got a little burned.”The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said he was “astonished by the complacency” of members of the organization he leads, the International Atomic Energy Agency, in relation to the dangers faced by the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
“What are we doing to prevent this happening? We are the IAEA, we are meant to care about nuclear safety,” Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi told its board of directors in a meeting Thursday, according to a statement from the organization. “Each time we are rolling a dice,” he said. “And if we allow this to continue time after time, then one day our luck will run out.” The agency has placed teams of experts at all four of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants to reduce the risk of severe accidents.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was scathing about the Russian attack, tweeting: “No military objective, just Russian barbarism.”Kyiv’s city administration said the capital was attacked with both missiles and exploding drones. Many were intercepted, but its energy infrastructure was hit.
Smoke could be seen rising from a facility in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district and police had cordoned off all roads leading to it. Three men and two women were killed in the western region of Lviv after a missile struck a residential area, Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three buildings were destroyed by fire, and rescue workers were combing through rubble looking for more possible victims, he said. A sixth person was killed and two others wounded in multiple strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted its energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, Gov. Serhii Lysak said. Aside from the hail of missiles, Russian shelling killed six other civilians from Wednesday to Thursday, Ukrainian officials said, including three people at a bus stop in Kherson.

Moscow Hails 'Riyadh’s Role to Resolve the Conflict in Ukraine'
Moscow - Asharq Al-Awsat/Thursday, 9 March, 2023
Saudi Arabia is keen on developing its relations with Russia on all levels, and is ready to help resolve the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday during a visit to Moscow. During a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the Saudi minister voiced hopes that their talks contribute to unifying visions and to strengthening bilateral relations. The visit of the Saudi foreign minister follows his recent visit to Ukraine on Sunday. Discussions between the two officials focused on the challenges facing the world, and their visions regarding international crises. “There is always something new in the relations between our two brotherly countries which we look forward to promoting and developing at all levels,” said the Saudi minister. For his part, Lavrov, through an interpreter, welcomed Saudi Arabia's increased interest to actively participate not only in settling regional issues, but also international matters.He said that he sees the significance of "permanent and mutual" coordination between the two countries at the level of ministries and government agencies and in the areas of trade, economy and investments between Riyadh and Moscow.
"We always agree on the necessary steps to develop cooperation" between Russia and Saudi Arabia, Lavrov said. In a joint press conference between the two officials, the Saudi minister said that “the Kingdom is ready to do the necessary to resolve the conflict in Ukraine (with Russia),” adding “we are ready to facilitate any dialogue between Russia and Ukraine.” Lavrov hailed the Saudi minister’s remarks, welcoming Riyadh’s efforts to resolve the dispute. “The role of Saudi Arabia regarding the Ukraine crisis is not limited to the exchange of hostages,” said Lavrov, adding “(Ukraine's President Volodymyr) Zelensky is the one refusing to sit for dialogue.”

Russian missiles hit Ukraine, causing death and destruction
Associated Press/Thu, March 9, 2023
Russia unleashed a missile barrage targeting energy infrastructure across Ukraine early Thursday, hitting residential buildings and killing at least six people in the largest such attack in three weeks, officials said. In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is occupied by Russian forces, lost power as a result of the missile attacks, according to nuclear state operator Energoatom. It is the sixth time the plant has been in a state of blackout since it was taken over by Russia months ago, forcing it to rely on 18 diesel generators that can run the station for 10 days, Energoatom said. Nuclear plants need constant power to run cooling systems and avoid a meltdown.
"The countdown has begun," Energoatom said.
Five people were killed in the Lviv region after a missile struck a residential area, Lviv Gov. Maksym Kozytskyi said. Three buildings were destroyed by fire and rescue workers were combing through rubble looking for more possible victims, he said.
A sixth person was killed and two others wounded in multiple strikes in the Dnipropetrovsk region that targeted its energy infrastructure and industrial facilities, Gov. Serhii Lysak said. Air raid sirens wailed through the night across Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, where explosions occurred in two western areas of the city. Defense systems were activated around the country. Overall, Russia launched 81 missiles and eight exploding Shahed drones, according to Ukraine's Chief Commander of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Thirty-four cruise missiles were intercepted, as were four drones, he said. Kyiv's city administration said the capital was attacked with both missiles and exploding drones. Many were intercepted but its energy infrastructure was hit. Three people were wounded in Kyiv's Sviatoshynskyi district, according to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, and several cars on a residential street could be seen burned out in the aftermath of the attack, which also shattered the windows of some apartments. "We woke up from the explosion, it was very loud and we saw the cars burning," said Maryna Kuryluk, a 49-year-old resident whose car was among those damaged, possibly from the debris of a missile that had been intercepted.
Klitschko told Germany's Bild newspaper that defense systems had taken down all but one missile, "which damaged critical infrastructure." Smoke could be seen rising from a facility in Kyiv's Holosiivskyi district and police had cordoned off all roads leading to it.
The alarm in Kyiv was lifted just before 8 a.m., with the air raid sirens falling silent after some seven hours. The missile barrage struck as Russia pushed its advance in Ukraine's eastern stronghold of Bakhmut, where a grinding fight between the two sides has gone on for six months and reduced the city to a smoldering wasteland.
It also came hours after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on extending an agreement that allows Ukraine to ship grain from its Black Sea ports and permits Russia to export food and fertilizers.
Private electricity operator DTEK reported that three of its power stations had been hit. There were no casualties, but the company said equipment was severely damaged. In eastern Ukraine, 15 missiles struck Kharkiv and the outlying northeastern region, hitting residential buildings, according to Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov."Objects of critical infrastructure are again in the crosshairs of the occupants," he said in a Telegram post. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported on Telegram that there were "problems with electricity" in some parts of the city.
In the south, Odesa Gov. Maksym Marchenko said residential buildings were hit and several power lines were damaged in strikes on his region. He said six missiles and one drone were shot down. Ukrainian Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko condemned the missile strikes as "another barbaric massive attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine," saying in a Facebook post that facilities in Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions had been targeted.
Ukrainian Railways reported power outages in certain areas, with 15 trains delayed up to an hour.
Preventive emergency power cuts were applied in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Odesa regions, supplier DTEK said. Klitschko said 40% of consumers in Kyiv were without heating because of the emergency power cuts. Water supplies were uninterrupted, he said.
More explosions were reported in the northern city of Chernihiv and the western Lviv region, as well as in the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne. Ukrainian media also reported explosions in the western regions of Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil.
Russia has been hitting Ukraine with these massive missile attacks since last October. Initially, the barrages targeting the country's energy infrastructure took place weekly, plunging entire cities into darkness, but they became more spread out over time, with commentators speculating that Moscow may be saving up ammunition. The last massive barrage took place on Feb. 16.

U.S. sanctions China-based network accused of supplying Iran drone maker
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Thu, March 9, 2023
The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a China-based network over accusations it has shipped aerospace parts to an Iranian company involved in the production of drones that Tehran has used to attack oil tankers and exported to Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department targeted five companies and one person in the network for selling and shipping thousands of aerospace components, including those that can be used for drones, to the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company. The company, known as HESA, has been involved in producing the Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) model that Iran has used to attack oil tankers and exported to Russia, the U.S. Treasury said in a statement. Iran's U.N. mission in New York and China's embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "Iran is directly implicated in the Ukrainian civilian casualties that result from Russia's use of Iranian UAVs in Ukraine," Treasury's head of terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement. "The United States will continue to target global Iranian procurement networks that supply Russia with deadly UAVs for use in its illegal war in Ukraine," he said. Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but said they were sent before Russia's February 2022 invasion on Ukraine. Moscow has denied its forces used Iranian drones in Ukraine. The U.S. move on Thursday comes after the United States has accused China of considering supplying arms to Russia and warned Beijing against such a move. Western powers have provided Ukraine with billions of dollars in weapons to defend against Russia. China has vehemently denied the U.S. claims and said that "sending weapons will not bring peace" in Ukraine. The U.S. sanctions announced on Thursday freeze any U.S. assets of those designated and generally bars Americans from dealing with them. Those engaged in certain transactions with them also risk being hit by sanctions. The White House has said that Iran could be contributing to war crimes in Ukraine by providing drones to Russia that have been used to target civilian infrastructure. Moscow and Tehran have moved to forge closer relations after Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, prompting sweeping Western sanctions. Russia and Iran, which is also under Western sanctions, are among the world's largest oil exporters.

Japan takes gloves off and boosts military spending in face of China’s ambitions on Taiwan
Julian Ryall/The Telegraph/Thu, March 9, 2023
Although the mandarins of Kasumigaseki, the ministry district in the heart of Tokyo, will never say it out loud, pacifism is all but over 80 years after being written into the constitution. Since its defeat in 1945, Japan has been constrained in its military spending, wary of provoking accusations that it was again developing expansionist ambitions. From next month, however, the Japanese military will have an annual budget of ¥6.82 trillion (£43.46 billion) – an increase of more than 26 per cent over the previous year and evidence that Tokyo knows it can no longer afford to keep the gloves on.
Some want Japan to go further. “My personal opinion is that Japan needs to possess independent nuclear weapons to deter Chinese aggression,” Fumio Ohta, a retired admiral in the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force and a former head of the Defence Intelligence Headquarters told the Telegraph.
“The lesson from Ukraine is that they gave away their nuclear weapons and they became an easy target for Russia.”
Japan is not quite ready to break that taboo.
Before December, China was “an issue of concern to the international community”. Now, in new government papers, it is described as an “unprecedented strategic challenge” to regional peace and “a threat” to security. Much of the money will go on advanced new missiles that will give Japan an offensive strike capability again or extending the range of existing missiles designed to counter hostile ships or aircraft, such as the Type 12 Surface-to-Surface missile.Other battle-tested systems will be purchased, such as 500 Tomahawks from the US that will give Japanese submarines the ability to attack enemy bases from which intelligence indicates an attack on Japan is imminent, while £221.16 million is being spent on the Norwegian Joint Strike Missile, air-launched cruise missile. Japan is buying 16 additional Lockheed Martin Lightning F-35 fighters, the most advanced in the world, anti-submarine helicopters and will step up joint development with the UK and Italy of a next-generation Tempest fighter.The success of unmanned aerial vehicles in the conflict in Ukraine has caught Japan’s attention and it has already deployed a unit of US-built MQ-9 Reaper drones to the ASDF’s Kanoya air base, in southern Japan. Tokyo says the aircraft are being deployed in their reconnaissance and search-and-rescue capacities, although they are capable of carrying payloads of up to 3,748 lbs. Japan is also looking into the capabilities that come with deploying multitudes of cheap and relatively simple “swarm drones” against targets. Work is also progressing on the transformation of the two biggest warships in the Japanese fleet – the helicopter carriers Izumo and Kaga – into full aircraft carriers capable of operating the Lightning.
Two of the Taigei class of 3,000-tonne attack submarines have already been delivered to the Maritime Self-Defence Forces, with a further five planned in the class.
Plans are also under way for two new Aegis destroyers, more advanced patrol craft, submarines and increased investment in the Coast Guard, which will serve as an auxiliary navy in the event of a conflict. Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of Nato, met with Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, in Tokyo earlier this year and agreed that Japan would step up its engagement with Nato. Tokyo has also encouraged European nations to carry out joint military exercises with Japanese units, with HMS Queen Elizabeth conducting drills in the region in 2021. Naval and air units from a number of other nations, including Germany, India, the Netherlands and France, have similarly trained with Japanese forces. “One of the lessons that we have learned from the Ukraine war is that alliances are effective in improving resistance and deterring invaders”, said Mr Ohta. “And that is why Tokyo is working hard to build new alliances and friendships”. The Indo-Pacific’s Cold War is most likely to go hot over Taiwan, although Russia remains a concern and a nuclear-armed North Korea is a wild card. “I believe that China knows it has a window of opportunity that is narrowing and, for that reason, they will attack Taiwan by 2030, at the latest”, Mr Ohta said. In late January, a leaked memo from US Air Force General Mike Minihan said “I hope I am wrong. My gut tells me we will fight in 2025”. Admiral Michael Gilday said in October that he “cannot rule out” a war in the region in 2023. Garren Mulloy, a professor at Daito Bunka University, says it is impossible to divine the thinking of the Chinese Communist Party, but he cautions that an invasion of Taiwan “would be far worse than the conflict we are presently seeing in Ukraine”. “The invasion would be across a significant body of water and if the Taiwanese put up a fight, then any factor that threatens China’s mission success would lead them to obliterating centres of military importance, which would include Taiwan’s cities”, he said. In the same way as Vladimir Putin’s failed invasion threatens his own rule at home, Xi Jinping cannot afford to fail. As a consequence, he would use every military capability in his arsenal. Despite the spending splurge, Japan is short of air bases with hardened shelters in the islands of Okinawa, which can be expected to bear the brunt of inevitable Chinese attacks on what would be the northern flank of an invasion of Taiwan. Ammunition stocks are still low. Japan is also worryingly short on logistics capabilities, primarily maritime, with “a logistics tail that is thin and weak”, Mr Mulloy said.
Problems of a shrinking population
All the while the West is desperately scrambling to ramp up munitions production to keep up with demand in Ukraine. The “elephant in the room” over the longer term is Japan’s own demographic problems of a shrinking population and fewer young people wanting to serve in the military.
A public opinion poll last year indicated that around 80 per cent of Japanese agree on the need to bolster the nation’s military capabilities, a figure that has arguably been driven higher due to the scenes of devastation in Ukraine. In the Diet parliament, there is little resistance to Japan increasing military spending. Some voices within the government remain sceptical about the real threat from China. One analyst with Japan’s National Institute of Defence Studies, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Defence, believes a full invasion of Taiwan would be a step too far for Xi Jinping. “There are analysts who talk about a five-year window for China, but even if it was able to obtain a favourable military result the economic costs would be too great”, said the official, who declined to be named as he did not have clearance to speak with the media.
Many analysts thought the same about Mr Putin early last year, however.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on March 09-10/2023
طوني بدران/موقع ذي نابليت: وزير الخارجية الأميركي، بلينكن يستنسخ حزب الله في الضفة الغربية
Blinken Builds a Palestinian Hezbollah in the West Bank
Tony Badran/The Tablet/March 09/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/116391/tony-badran-the-tablet-blinken-builds-a-palestinian-hezbollah-in-the-west-bank-%d8%b7%d9%88%d9%86%d9%8a-%d8%a8%d8%af%d8%b1%d8%a7%d9%86-%d9%85%d9%88%d9%82%d8%b9-%d8%b0%d9%8a-%d9%86%d8%a7%d8%a8%d9%84/
Not content with fueling street demonstrations against Bibi in Tel Aviv, the Biden administration looks to ‘Lebanonize’ Israel with a new, U.S.-funded terror army
While the Biden administration has been busy encouraging and funding the Israeli protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s proposed judicial reforms, it has also launched a far more potentially dangerous and lethal attempt to destabilize the leading military power in the Middle East. The wave of domestic protests in Israel comes on the heels of the most deadly series of Palestinian terror attacks since the end of the Second Intifada. Incredibly, the U.S. is now proposing to take advantage of its ally’s political weakness by standing up a potential 5,000-man Palestinian terror army that would ostensibly fight terrorism in the West Bank in place of the IDF.
Washington, D.C.’s latest bout of Mideast pyromania began with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Ramallah at the end of January, right after a Palestinian terrorist shot dead seven Israelis outside a synagogue in Neve Yaakov. Naturally, the secretary of state came bearing condolence gifts: a lot more money for the Palestinian Authority, an agreement to provide 4G communications in the West Bank—an initiative from U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides, which he “pounded the table” in order to get rolling, even as there are concerns that advanced ICT infrastructure might complicate efforts by Israeli security to monitor terrorist communications—and a commitment to reopen the U.S. Consulate in East Jerusalem.
In addition to those goodies, which in no way constituted a reward for terror, or an incentive for PA-rewarded terrorists to commit further acts of terror targeting Jewish worshippers and other innocent civilians, Blinken also carried with him a new security plan for the West Bank, which the Biden administration has spent the past month putting in play.
The U.S. plan, said to have been drafted by the U.S. security coordinator Lt. Gen. Michael Fenzel, was reportedly presented to the Israeli government and the PA in weeks prior. It envisions the creation of a special Palestinian force that would supposedly go after militias in Jenin and Nablus. Unnamed U.S. officials told Israeli media surrogates that during his visit the secretary of state pressed Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to accept the U.S. plan. He then did the same to Israel, which has been repeatedly victimized by mounting waves of Palestinian terror, incentivized by the PA’s “pay for slay” policy.
At his press briefing in Jerusalem, Blinken relayed the administration’s demand that the Israelis stop “any unilateral actions” that “would add fuel to a fire,” echoing a Palestinian condition that Abbas delivered in his joint presser with Blinken—the message being that Team Biden disapproves of Israeli counterterrorism operations. Blinken implicitly blamed Palestinian terrorism on Israel’s actions, painting the Palestinians themselves as an equally injured party in the recent wave of Palestinian attacks.
A Channel 14 news story, cited by Israeli commentator Caroline Glick, provided additional details of the American plan, which were reportedly raised at the Aqaba summit in February:
1. The administration plans “to provide 5,000 Palestinians with commando training in Jordan and then deploy them to northern Samaria, and perhaps the South Hebron Hills.”
2. As noted earlier, Israel would be required “to sharply curtail IDF counterterror operations.”
3. The plan “foresees the deployment of foreign forces, including U.S. military forces, on the ground.”
The U.S. plan, which is being pushed by Blinken, does several things, none of which seems likely to have a positive impact on the physical security of Israelis, whether living inside or outside the West Bank—which is known to Israelis as Judea and Samaria. First, by standing up a 5,000-strong militia, training it specifically in counterterrorism and commando tactics, and (one must assume) arming and equipping it, the U.S. will be giving the Palestinians military capacities far in excess of anything they can organically create or currently possess. The U.S. plan will create a working military command structure for a faction (the recruitment pool is likely to be controlled by Fatah) likely to be armed with advanced weapons.
While at first glance the new proposals might recall prior U.S. equip-and-train programs in the West Bank, the administration’s plan is in fact shockingly at variance with previous such efforts. Functionally, this small army, as evident from the type of training it will reportedly receive, would not be a gendarmerie or border guard; rather, it would be an organized and well-equipped 5,000-man army with specific expertise in terror tactics.
Providing the Palestinians with guns and bullets, and the training to use them effectively, appears to be the point of the Biden administration’s plan.
How such training will be used by the ostensibly “pro-Western” Fatah faction in the event of Palestinian terror attacks on Israelis, let alone any wider conflict, should not be a mystery. First, the idea of a Palestinian force actually “countering” Palestinian terror is without precedent during the 30-plus years of the Oslo process, meaning it has never happened. Second, there are the words of the Fatah leadership itself. As Tawfiq Tirawi, Yasser Arafat’s former intelligence chief and perhaps the single most capable and best-informed member of Fatah’s senior leadership, put it in a speech posted to his personal Facebook page in 2020, the terrorists themselves are part of the Palestinian Authority’s security establishment and should therefore be left alone by PA security officers. “These fighters are your brothers, so be on their side,” Tirawi urged.
A previous U.S. plan, supervised by U.S. Lt. Gen. Keith Dayton and long ago consigned to the ash heaps, was explicitly designed to train Palestinian troops in riot control and other police methods to control civilians—not counterterrorism. As Dayton put it, “we don’t give out any guns or bullets.” Even the riot control equipment such as body armor, shields, billy clubs, and water cannons was carefully inventoried and supervised by the U.S. military and its contractors in concert with Israeli authorities. “We don’t provide anything to the Palestinians unless it has been thoroughly coordinated with the State of Israel and they agree to it,” Dayton said at the time of his mission. “Sometimes this process drives me crazy—I had a lot more hair when I started—but nevertheless, we make it work.”
Such precautionary measures, designed to guard against the possibility of the U.S. providing the Palestinians with a large-scale terror army, were once understood as foundational for U.S. equip-and-train schemes. Now such thinking appears to have gone out the window. Indeed, providing the Palestinians with guns and bullets, and the training to use them effectively, appears to be the point of the administration’s plan—which in current U.S. parlance aims at “building state capacity.” In the absence of any kind of even semifunctional Palestinian state, the American goal is therefore to create a U.S.-backed Palestinian Hezbollah minus the theology for the West Bank.
In fact, several aspects of the Biden administration’s plan replicate a variant of the U.S. Lebanon model with the Palestinians. In Lebanon, the administration has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into equipment, arms, training, and programs for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). That massive and frankly insane expenditure itself then creates and justifies requirements for continued funding ad infinitum, and not just from the U.S. As a result, U.S. and other international military trainers are constantly in Lebanon in order to shore up their dubious investments. Over the past two years, the administration has picked up the rest of the LAF’s tab, and, in a legally questionable precedent, is now paying their salaries directly, as the economic situation in Lebanon has deteriorated. The logic here, again, is self-sustaining: If we don’t continue to underwrite the LAF, then our entire investment, including all those expensive weapons, will be lost.
It doesn’t take much imagination to see how the Biden administration aims to replay its Lebanese scenario with the Palestinians. In fact, at the time of Blinken’s visit, an Israeli official spelled out what is sure to become a U.S. talking point for perpetual future funding to the new Palestinian special regiment: “Some PA security force members have taken to selling ammunition and weapons to fighters throughout the West Bank as a means to make a living amid Ramallah’s dire financial state,” the official said. So, America, if you don’t want to see all that expensive equipment being sold in Jenin and Nablus, you might want to keep the cash flowing.
Of course, not only does the LAF not go after Hezbollah ever, to the contrary, it facilitates, provides support, coordinates, and deploys jointly with Hezbollah, while also interfacing on its behalf with international interlocutors. And if you thought this was in conflict with American and European expectations for the force, you have it exactly backward. No one defends this behavior more than American policymakers, who ridicule the suggestion that the LAF should perhaps behave differently. Do you want civil war in Lebanon? is the prepackaged retort.
This will most likely be the U.S. posture after the creation of the new Palestinian force, whenever the latter opts not to take action against other factions—as has repeatedly already been the case in the West Bank, where Hamas enjoys a sizable share of public support. We can therefore expect to hear plenty more on how “acting as Israel’s police force” erodes the credibility of the force, or how it could trigger a Palestinian civil war in the West Bank, which “wouldn’t be in Israel’s interest,” and so on.
The point is, the administration’s plan, and the U.S. investments it is designed to create and sustain, are meant to be disincentives for Israeli operations in the West Bank. This is the model the U.S. has been implementing in Lebanon, turning that Hezbollah-run territory into an effective American protectorate run by a terror army that directly benefits from increased U.S. and European investments. In the Palestinian case, the potential deployment of U.S. and other foreign servicemen would serve as an added deterrent to Israel acting in its own defense, and putting American investments at risk.
In addition to the umbrella it provides to the PA, the plan similarly gives the Jordanians one more tool with which to poke the Israelis, for free, while currying favor with Washington and pushing its own share of the Palestinian hot potato onto Israel’s lap.
Team Obama-Biden has sought to redefine the Abraham Accords, locking Israel back into Palestinian-centric forums featuring Egypt and Jordan, such as the Negev Forum and more recently the Aqaba summit. The Israelis had to slow down the tempo of raids ahead of the Aqaba summit, which was billed as an attempt to “deescalate” and to “calm” the situation in the West Bank, and where, according to the above-mentioned Channel 14 report, the security plan was discussed. On the same day as the Aqaba summit, Palestinian terrorists shot and killed two Israeli brothers south of Nablus.
Importantly, despite U.S. pressure, especially after acts of revenge for the Yaniv brothers in Huwara, this week Prime Minister Netanyahu authorized a counterterrorism raid in Jenin that eliminated the terrorist, a Hamas operative from Nablus, who murdered the Yaniv brothers.
As he faces a multipronged American campaign to shackle and possibly unseat him, showcasing that he won’t be distracted or constrained by Washington and its plans for American-sponsored security protectorates, neither in the territories nor with Iran, is critical both for Bibi and for the country he leads.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/blinken-builds-palestinian-hezbollah-in-wes

The EU's Lethal Obsession with Israel
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/March 09/2023
What [EU] Representative [Sven] Koopmans forgot to mention that it is the Palestinians who have built tens of thousands of illegal structures in the West Bank, especially in Area C, which, according to the Oslo Accords, is under full Israeli security and civilian jurisdiction.
Koopmans also forgot to mention that the EU is helping the Palestinian Authority (PA) with the mass-scale illegal construction, paving the way for the de facto annexation of the territory.
The EU does not interfere anyplace else on the planet other than Area C -- not for the Kurds, the Assyrians, the Yazidis, the Uyghurs, the Kashmiris, the Tibetans or the Greek Cypriots. The Palestinians continue to be the only group on the EU's list of people with whom to interfere. This inordinate attention appears to stem not so much from love for the Palestinians as from hatred for Israel.
The EU, it seems, has funded literally thousands of illegal Palestinian modular buildings in territory that is legally under Israeli jurisdiction.
Lately, the EU has been concentrating more on agricultural land: one can acquire a much larger area for a much smaller investment.
By doing so, the EU is encouraging the Palestinians to engage in unilateral actions in violation of the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel.
This is the same EU that continues to warn Israel not to take any "unilateral actions," and that continues to criticize Israel for building and expanding "illegal" settlements in the West Bank.
As of 2022, the EU has built 81,317 illegal structures in Area C....
The EU's commitment to the expansion of illegal Palestinian settlement in Area C persists in full disregard of the Oslo Accords, which the EU purports to uphold.
"The object is to create continuous Palestinian settlement throughout the West Bank and thereby isolate and strangle Israeli communities," wrote Hillel Frisch, professor of Political Science and Middle Eastern History at Bar-Ilan University, in 2019.
The 2009 "Fayyad Plan" (officially titled "Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State") was -- and remains -- a proposal to create facts on the ground that would end up as a Palestinian state if negotiations do not work out, thereby bypassing the need to negotiate with Israel as agreed to in the Oslo Accords.
The catch is: If the Palestinians believe that they can be handed a state by some external entity, such as the EU, at no cost to themselves, why should they ever bother to negotiate? For years, in fact, they have avoided coming to the negotiating table, presumably in the hope of precisely such a windfall.
The best interests of the Jahalin Bedouin were not the main concern of the Palestinian Authority. What was important to the PA was the land -- to take possession of it and then make whatever was built on it appear irreversible.
[T]hese new facts on the ground, of course, encourage the Palestinians not to negotiate. Why should they, if they can get everything they want by just taking it?
Fayyad's unilateral plan to create facts on the ground is totally in violation of the Oslo Accords, which state that "neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations."
At the end of last year, a secret document by the EU's mission in east Jerusalem showed that Brussels is also actively working with, and on behalf of, the Palestinian Authority to take over Area C of the West Bank.
Koopmans and other senior EU officials apparently know they are acting illicitly: they are doing their utmost to hide the fact that they are actively helping the Palestinians to break the law and violate the agreements signed with Israel.
Just as Israel does not meddle in the internal affairs of the EU member states, it is time to put an end to the EU's poisonous intrusion into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Along the way, the EU might also want to consider the real source of its lethal obsession with Israel.
The EU, it seems, has funded literally thousands of illegal Palestinian modular buildings in territory that is legally under Israeli jurisdiction. By doing so, the EU is encouraging the Palestinians to engage in unilateral actions in violation of the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel. Pictured: The illegal Palestinian encampment of Khan Al-Ahmar, located within a few meters of the highway connecting Jerusalem with the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley.
European Union Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans stated on February 17: "The EU wants build stronger ties with Israel, yet relations sadly remain burdened by the construction of illegal settlements on Palestinian land."
What Koopmans forgot to mention that it is the Palestinians who have built literally tens of thousands of illegal structures in the West Bank, especially in Area C, which, according to the Oslo Accords, is under full Israeli security and civilian jurisdiction.
Koopmans also forgot to mention that the EU is helping the Palestinian Authority (PA) with the mass-scale illegal construction, paving the way for the de facto annexation of the territory.
By way of background: Under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into three zones -- unpoetically named Areas A, B and C -- while negotiations were underway for a permanent solution to the borders. Area A is under full Palestinian control, Area B is under Palestinian control apart from security. Area C is officially an Israeli area that is still to be negotiated.
The EU does not interfere anyplace else on the planet other than Area C -- not for the Kurds, the Assyrians, the Yazidis, the Uyghurs, the Kashmiris, the Tibetans or the Greek Cypriots. The Palestinians continue to be the only group on the EU's list of people with whom to interfere. This inordinate attention appears to stem not so much from love for the Palestinians as from hatred for Israel.
The envoys of several EU countries recently expressed concerns about Israel's "unilateral actions," and earlier this year, Josep Borell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, called on Israel to avoid "unilateral actions," including settlement activity and the demolition of illegal Palestinian structures, especially in the West Bank area of Hebron.
When Palestinians complain about "unilateral actions," they are referring to Israel's counterterrorism measures and the construction of new homes for Jewish families. The Palestinians do not want to see the Israeli security forces go after the terrorists. They also do not want to see Israel building homes for Jews.
Israel's Ministry of Intelligence, however, found in a report only recently declassified, that
"foreign governments gave hundreds of millions of euros to Palestinian projects in Area C in Judea and Samaria....Such funding is contrary to international law and relevant agreements... [T]he report describes how the Palestinians use EU funds to build thousands of illegal structures and grab swaths of agricultural land.." [Emphases added]
The EU, it seems, has funded literally thousands of illegal Palestinian modular buildings in territory that is legally under Israeli jurisdiction. The EU, moreover, has never concealed its policy of supporting the Palestinians in their efforts to grab prohibited land and build illegal structures in Israel's Area C.
Lately, the EU has been concentrating more on agricultural land: one can acquire a much larger area for a much smaller investment.
In 2012, the EU developed, for the first time, a comprehensive policy related to Area C, to be followed by a set of concrete steps and action.
Between 2016 and 2019, the EU provided a total of 33 million euros ($35 million) to "humanitarian and development assistance to support Palestinians living in Area C."
The EU says it also works with the Palestinian Authority to "develop" Area C. The EU adds that it "supports projects promoting economic development and improving the quality of life of Palestinian communities in Area C in the areas of the private sector, the environment and agriculture."
The EU is openly admitting that it is assisting the Palestinians to break the law by building illegal structures in an area that is officially under full Israeli sovereignty.
By doing so, the EU is encouraging the Palestinians to engage in unilateral actions in violation of the agreements signed between the Palestinians and Israel.
This is the same EU that continues to warn Israel not to take any "unilateral actions," and that continues to criticize Israel for building and expanding "illegal" settlements in the West Bank.
An Israeli non-governmental organization, Regavim, has documented "5535 new illegal structures built in 2022, compared to 3076 structures in the same period in 2021" -- in one year, nearly double.
Countless EU-funded Palestinian modular homes have also been erected in locations around Jerusalem and the West Bank in the past few years. These structures fly an EU flag and display hundreds of EU signs and stickers.
As of 2022, the EU has built 81,317 illegal structures in Area C, according to Regavim.
"Alongside this mass-scale illegal construction, dispersed over an immense geographic area, additional phenomena are fueling the Palestinian Authority's de facto annexation of the territory, massive illegal agricultural projects on Israeli state land, lawfare funded by foreign concerns... and a coordinated campaign of international pressure. These are all elements of a calculated strategy, carried out under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority with the stated goal of creating facts on the ground in support of a unilateral declaration of Palestinian statehood, dealing a severe blow to Israel's national in interests and security."
The EU's commitment to the expansion of illegal Palestinian settlement in Area C persists in full disregard of the Oslo Accords, which the EU purports to uphold.
"The object is to create continuous Palestinian settlement throughout the West Bank and thereby isolate and strangle Israeli communities," wrote Hillel Frisch, professor of Political Science and Middle Eastern History at Bar-Ilan University, in 2019.
"For the first time in the 100-year-old conflict between the Zionist movement (and later the State of Israel) and the Palestinian Arabs, the Palestinians are surpassing the Jews in strategic settlement, over which the Zionist movement had enjoyed a monopoly. The PA is achieving this under the auspices of the EU."
In April 2012, the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Local Government published a strategic action plan entitled "Planning Support for Palestinian Communities in Area C." The EU announced its support for this plan in an official document called "Land Development and Access to Basic Infrastructure in Area C."
Frisch pointed out that as early as 2016, the EU had already spent a total of 10.5 million euros [$11 million] to draw up and implement zoning plans for 90 Palestinian settlements and support land development projects in Area C in conjunction with the Palestinian Authority.
"The PA-EU's prime objective is clear: to create continuous Arab settlement from the south to the north of the West Bank, while simultaneously thwarting Israeli designs to create continuous neighborhoods from Ma'ale Adumim to Jerusalem (the E-1 plan).
"The PA's achievements have been considerable so far. As new Israeli building dwindles to insignificance in areas east of Jerusalem, the PA, with European help, has succeeded in housing tens of thousands... in a space no larger than nine square kilometers. This number is more than double the number of inhabitants in Ma'ale Adumim and the other Israeli localities in the area.
"Eastward of Ma'ale Adumim, the PA and the EU have identified makeshift Bedouin encampments, the most prominent being al-Khan al-Akhmar, as the chief weapon with which to transform Area C into a Palestinian state. These fast-growing encampments are close to a major highway and are bereft of sewage systems and organized garbage disposal. The Israeli authorities have earmarked an area just south of Abu Dis that would provide all these amenities, yet the PA and the EU continue to abet Bedouin encampments."
Khan al-Ahmar would be a chief weapon because it is located within a few meters of the highway connecting Jerusalem with the Dead Sea and the Jordan Valley. The Palestinians want Khan al-Ahmar to become a Palestinian settlement that would cut off Jerusalem from these areas, then surround the city with Palestinian communities.
The EU and the Palestinians are acting in accordance with a program launched in 2009 by former Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The 2009 "Fayyad Plan" (officially titled "Palestine: Ending the Occupation, Establishing the State") was -- and remains -- a proposal to create facts on the ground that would end up as a Palestinian state if negotiations do not work out, thereby bypassing the need to negotiate with Israel as agreed to in the Oslo Accords.
The catch is: If the Palestinians believe that they can be handed a state by some external entity, such as the EU, at no cost to themselves, why should they ever bother to negotiate? For years, in fact, they have avoided coming to the negotiating table, presumably in the hope of precisely such a windfall.
Some Jahalin Bedouin squatters also presented a perfect means of establishing an extra-judicial foothold.
The best interests of the Jahalin Bedouin were not the main concern of the Palestinian Authority. What was important to the PA was the land -- to take possession of it and then make whatever was built on it appear irreversible. So while the PA and the EU continue to talk about a negotiated settlement for Area C (Areas A and B are already under Palestinian control), illegal construction in Area C, which is officially under Israeli sovereignty, with the final borders to be negotiated, these new facts on the ground, of course, encourage the Palestinians not to negotiate. Why should they, if they can get everything they want by just taking it?
With the help of generous support of EU member states and Arab countries, the Palestinian Authority has also launched a series of "nationalist initiatives," focusing on rural areas and desolate sections of Area C. Concerted efforts were invested in strategic areas that would have the greatest impact on Palestinian claims of de facto sovereignty.
According to Naomi Kahn, International Director of Regavim:
"The Europeans pay for the planning. They pay for the engineering. They pay for the legal support. They pay for the infrastructure. They pay for construction, even though they know it's illegal, and they build into the contracts the possible demolition. They also build into the contract legal representation if and when it comes to court because it's illegal."
Fayyad's unilateral plan to create facts on the ground is totally in violation of the Oslo Accords, which state that "neither side shall initiate or take any step that will change the status of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip pending the outcome of the permanent status negotiations."
"The Palestinians' unilateral establishment of facts on the ground completely undermines Israel's opening position for any negotiated settlement," Regavim has warned. The EU, however, seems clearly determined to continue the illegal Fayyad Plan to help the Palestinians with their land-grabs and mass-scale illegal construction.
At the end of last year, a secret document by the EU's mission in east Jerusalem showed that Brussels is also actively working with, and on behalf of, the Palestinian Authority to take over Area C of the West Bank. According to the document:
"The EU's Area C program aims to foster the resilience of [Palestinian] people, services and institutions, to reinforce Palestinian presence in Area C and to protect the rights of Palestinians living in Area C."
It is time to call out the hypocritical malice of EU officials such as Sven Koopmans, who continue to accuse Israel of taking "unilateral actions" and building "illegal" settlements. Koopmans and other senior EU officials apparently know they are acting illicitly: they are doing their utmost to hide the fact that they are actively helping the Palestinians to break the law and violate the agreements signed with Israel.
Just as Israel does not meddle in the internal affairs of the EU member states, it is time to put an end to the EU's poisonous intrusion into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Along the way, the EU might also want to consider the real source of its lethal obsession with Israel.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Biden’s State Department ignores Iranian death plots inside America
Jonathan Schanzer/New York Post/March 09/2023
It took quite a bit longer than it should have, but the State Department finally released its 2021 Country Reports on Terrorism.
As ever, the document covers the countries that experienced attacks, those that sponsored terrorism and other states of concern. It also includes information on entities “responsible for the death, kidnapping, or injury of Americans.”
The analysis never includes a focus on the threat environment in the United States itself.
But given the Islamic Republic of Iran’s alarming surge in attempts on the lives of American citizens in America, perhaps it’s time to do so.
The recent surge can be attributed in part to the regime’s thirst for revenge after the January 2020 targeted killing of Iranian terror master Qassem Soleimani.
After Soleimani’s years of murdering American and allied soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while executing plots against civilians around the globe, President Donald Trump ordered a drone strike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force chief and others from his terrorist entourage in Iraq.
Since then, regime operatives have been busy here in America.
The Department of Justice last summer unsealed murder-for-hire charges against an Iranian agent plotting to assassinate former US national security adviser John Bolton.
According to court documents, the defendant offered operatives more than $250,000 to kill Bolton in DC or Maryland.
A “second job” worth $1 million apparently targeted former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special representative for Iran, also remains under “serious and credible threat.”
The US government spends more than $175,000 per month on Hook’s security — and $2 million on Pompeo’s.
But the regime’s plots go beyond simple revenge. A decades-old fatwa Iran’s last supreme leader issued against novelist Salman Rushdie for “The Satanic Verses” inspired another attack: In August, an assailant allegedly in contact with the IRGC stabbed Rushdie at a literary event in upstate New York.
The latest high-profile plot targeted Iranian-American dissident and journalist Masih Alinejad. In January, a New York court unsealed murder-for-hire charges against three members of an Iran-backed criminal organization for plotting her assassination.
Alinejad noticed suspicious activity near her Brooklyn home last summer. When police stopped one of the suspects, they found weapons, ammunition, a ski mask and more than $1,000 in his car.
This was not the first attempt on Alinejad, one of the fiercest and most effective critics of the regime in the United States. In 2021, prosecutors charged four Iranian intelligence operatives for planning to kidnap and render her to Iran.
While these threats are recent, the Iranian regime has been operating here for years. In 2011, Tehran tried to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington. An Iran-based Quds Force member and a dual Iranian-American citizen conspired to murder the ambassador by bombing a popular Georgetown restaurant.
The FBI foiled the plot when one of the conspirators hired a Drug Enforcement Administration informant to join the operation.
Then-FBI chief Robert Mueller stated, “Though it reads like the pages of a Hollywood script, the impact would have been very real, and many lives would have been lost.”
In 2018, two Iranian men — one a dual US citizen, the other a California resident — were indicted for “conducting covert surveillance” in the United States on behalf of the regime.
They gathered information on Jewish institutions and the Mujahedin-e Khalq, a prominent Iranian opposition group. The men allegedly discussed “clandestine methods” for transmitting the information back to Tehran. Tehran is not shy about its activities here.
In a recent TV interview, the head of the IRGC aerospace force again threatened Americans responsible for the Soleimani assassination: “God willing, we are looking to kill Trump. Pompeo . . . and military commanders who issued the order should be killed.”
The FBI deserves immense credit for thwarting the majority of the plots.
But the regime is working hard to score a successful attack on American soil. Officials candidly tell us, “The system is blinking red.”
Perhaps the State Department, in next year’s Country Reports on Terrorism, should carve out a section on the threat level in this country, thanks to the Islamic Republic. Better yet, the regime must be disabused of its sense of immunity to operate in the United States.
By failing to impose consequences on Iran, America will remain a country of concern, whether the State Department reports it or not.
*Jonathan Schanzer is senior vice president for research at Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where Natalie Ecanow is a research analyst focusing on the Middle East. Follow Jon on Twitter @JSchanzer. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

Political Earthquake and Rebuilding in Türkiye
Omer Onhon/Asharq Al Awsat/March 09/2023
Süleyman Demirel, who was a veteran politician, seven times Prime Minister and the ninth President of Türkiye always said “24 hours is a very long time in politics”. How true, especially in Turkish politics.
Since February 6, Türkiye has been trying to heal the wounds of the devastating earthquake which is one of the greatest natural disasters ever. Last week on 2 March, Türkiye was shaken again, this time by a political earthquake. The alliance of the six opposition parties, known as “Millet İttifakı/Nation Alliance" or “Table of Six” was expected to announce its joint presidential candidate. Instead, the Table cracked.
Meral Aksener, leader of the İYİ Party, the second largest party within the “Nation Alliance”, claimed that Mayors of Ankara or Istanbul will stand a better chance to win than Kemal Kılıcdaroglu, leader of the main opposition party CHP.
President Erdoğan and his AKP have been in power in Türkiye since 2002. The next Presidential and Parliamentary elections are to be held in May. On the one side, there is “Cumhur İttifakı/People Alliance” which consists mainly of Erdoğan’s AKP and MHP.
Even though not yet officially announced, the presidential candidate of this alliance is most likely to be Erdoğan.
On the other side, “Nation Alliance” is made up of six political parties: the social democrat People's Republican Party (CHP), center right nationalist İYİ Parti, religious Saadet Party (SP), center right Demokrat Parti (DP), conservative nationalist Gelecek Partisi (GP) and conservative liberal DEVA.
These parties may be standing on different points of the political spectrum but they have joined forces on the basis of common objectives. At the top of their agenda are bringing President Erdogan’s rule to end through democratic elections and changing the Presidential system to a strengthened parliamentary system.
It was no secret that some members of the İYİ Party had their doubts about Kılıcdaroglu as the joint presidential candidate of “Nation Alliance” to challenge Erdoğan.
One of the most frequently sighted reasons for their objections to Kılıcdaroglu has been that he would not be the best option to attract votes of the discontented conservative electorate of Anatolia. There were also issues on how to deal with HDP (the so-called Kurdish Party).
But still, Aksener’s kick at the table and her harsh behavior, claiming that “İYİ Party has been squeezed in a clamp and has been forced to make a choice between death and malaria” took everyone by surprise.
Aksener’s step may have appeased the ideological elements in her party, which has been established in 2017 by breakaways from nationalist MHP. The reason they left was their dissatisfaction with the way MHP was run by its leader Devlet Bahceli and his absolute allegiance to Erdoğan. Aksener, by leaving the Table, caused anger within the opposition electorate, including her own party ranks. There were resignations from party membership, mostly to join CHP. Some of the founders of İYİ Party may still be driven by nationalist ideology but most of its electorate are center right/nationalist, secular voters and they want to end Erdoğan’s rule.
As to the mayors of Ankara and Istanbul, who were called upon by Aksener, both are from CHP. In the 2019 Municipal elections, they won back Ankara and Istanbul from the AKP and are popular. The two mayors were not moved by Aksener’s call and reiterated their loyalty to CHP and Kılıcdaroglu. The other five parties in the Table also stood by him.
Aksener was left in the open.
Over the weekend, public reaction and behind the doors diplomacy must have convinced Aksener to return to the Table of Six.
To everyone’s surprise, Aksener attended the meeting of the “Table of Six” on Monday. After almost four hours of meeting, Kılıcdaroglu’s candidacy to a cheering crowd of supporters was announced.
The Table also published a “Road Map of transition to strengthened parliamentary system” which includes an article saying that leaders of all five parties will be deputies of the President.
Shortly before, in a televised speech after the Cabinet meeting, Erdoğan confirmed that elections will take place on 14 May.
Analysts are trying to explain why Aksener acted the way she did. Some claim that she played hardball, drove a very hard bargain, pushed to the limits and got what she wanted.
Others argue that she overestimated her strength, demonstrated bad political brinkmanship and had to backstep.
Whatever it was and even if there may still be differences in opinion and approach, ranks are formed.
Erdoğan will face his most diffıcult challenge in all these years.
The President is now portraying himself as the true statesman trying to heal wounds of the earthquake and secure the future, while the opposition is dwelling on small-time, self centered politics.
He also tries to present the Table as an artificial pack which could not run the country . But after more than two decades in power, Erdoğan and his administration has been worn out with various crises, scandals, allegations of corruption and economic conditions.
The earthquake made things even more difficult for Erdogan.
The disaster came under his watch. One can not blame anyone for not preventing an earthquake but can be very critical on the basis of not being well prepared and not doing what needed to be done in all these years. This is what Erdoğan is facing now.
After the cabinet meeting on Monday, Erdogan said “the era of building on fault lines, stream beds and landslide areas is over. It is our most important duty to hold accountable the institutions that fail to fulfill their responsibilities in this regard.”
This is an incredible statement from a President who has been running the country for over two decades with powers which no Turkish president has enjoyed since 1940’s.
The “Nation Alliance” has seized a very important opportunity and Kılıcdaroglu’s performance has increased his popularity.
Now, as he said, the “Nation Alliance” will aim to proceed by further solidifying its ranks and expanding its base. This means drawing support from AKP and MHP circles, but even more so from HDP and the left of the center left wing parties.
Swords are drawn for a hard fight for probably the most important elections in the history of Türkiye. We may expect an action packed three and half months before the election in mid May.

Iran Seeks to Garner the IAEA’s Sympathy as it Builds Aircraft Carriers?!
Huda al-Husseini/Asharq Al Awsat/March 09/2023
Iranian outlets have reported that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei held a meeting in his home that was attended by his son Mojtaba, Ali Larijani, Atomic Energy Organization of Iran General Director Mohammad Eslami, and Khamenei’s aide Kamal Kharazai. The Supreme Leader expressed his frustration with the Western sanctions on Iran and said that the people’s suffering has reached a tipping point. Lifting these sanctions, he told them, has become a priority that takes precedence over other programs and pursuits, which can be postponed to a later date.
To this end, he asked Mohammad Eslami to contact the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and inform it that the Islamic Republic would allow their inspectors to return and inspect facilities without Iranian restrictions or conditions. He also asked his advisers, Kamal Kharazai and Ali Larijani, to head to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s home and inform him of the decision and impel him to cooperate fully in this regard.
When IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi received the news, he headed to Iran to meet Mohammad Eslami and discuss the developments immediately. He was surprised to hear that the meeting would include Raisi as well as Mr. Eslami, at which point Grossi realized that the Iranians were not wasting his time. On Monday, Grossi and Eslami held a joint press conference in which he praised Iran’s positive stance and announced that the Islamic Republic agreed to allow IAEA inspectors to carry out “verification and monitoring activities” that had previously been rebuffed.
An expert on Iranian affairs believes that this turnaround may have been precipitated by a recent series of events that had begun with the morality police’s murder of Mahsa Amini. The events of the popular uprising that followed, most recently Ali Reza Akbari’s execution against Khamenei’s wishes, have shaken the Supreme Leader. Along with the broad sense of despair and economic deprivation that has taken hold of the country, especially among youths, these developments have driven Khamenei to conclude that Ebrahim Raisi is not fit to run the country.
Indeed, Raisi has only met the Supreme Leader once since Akbari’s execution, as the latter believes that Raisi’s militancy and intransigence, as well as Raisi’s determination to replace him as Supreme Leader, have pushed the country downhill. Sources add that the Supreme Leader has not directly spoken to Raisi since the meeting, addressing Raisi only through his son Mojtaba and his advisors, which has taken a psychological toll on the president.
Khamenei then took a series of decisions to undo Raisi’s actions; all prisoners were released, the state of emergency in the regions where protests had been raging was lifted, and the police officers who had arrested Mahsa Amini were arrested. Allowing the inspectors to return to the country was the latest of these decisions, and Khamenei hopes that it will allow for a resumption of talks with Washington and end his country’s suffocating isolation.
However, Ali Khamenei’s actions are further and deeper than a reaction to Ebrahim Raisi’s failure to run the country properly. The Supreme Leader is aware that there is a global effort, led by the United States, to put his country under all sorts of pressure. Those behind this effort are not apprehensive about the prospect of the regime collapsing and his country, as well as Iran’s regional sphere of influence, plunging into chaos. In fact, the United States failed to protect its faithful ally, the Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1979, leaving him to wander from country to country, begging for a grave to bury himself in. It certainly would not mind if the mullah regime met this unwelcome fate. The Supreme Leader understood the incitement of ethnic strife and the message behind the marches that were launched from Azerbaijan seen near the Natanz reactor last month, and he has received reports on Israel’s substantial presence in this neighboring country.
Last but not least, the Supreme Leader realized that his losing bet on the success of Russia, which the Islamic Republic has given a large number of drones, had incurred heavy losses on his country because Russian President Vladimir Putin has failed to decide the war in his favor. For all these reasons, he is trying to save the regime before he dies and ensure that it survives without him. The major question is: what will the United States demand in return for the resumption of talks?
The costs will certainly be higher than those that had been discussed in Vienna. Indeed, US State Department Spokesman Ned Price has said that only Iran claims the United States is signaling that it wants to revive the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA): “only Iranian officials can speak to why they continue to tell these lies. Iranian officials can repeat their line as often as they want, but it doesn’t change the underlying facts. A revival of the JCPOA has not been on the agenda for months.”
Iran has announced the establishment of an underground airfield - a step that may have been taken to show that it will not change and that allowing international inspectors to access facilities does not imply that it will not continue to build its arsenal. The fact is that the new airfield is added to a long litany of transgressions and aggressive actions by Iran that includes mass prisons, the recent poisoning of female students, the violence perpetrated against the students who stood against attempts to kill the women’s revolution, and the decision to convert shipping containers into aircraft carriers. One thing the announcement certainly demonstrates is that Khamenei’s crocodile tears for his starving people are nothing but a rouse and that the prospect of his regime falling is what terrifies him.
Iranian media also mentioned that Iran had discovered the second-largest reserves of lithium anywhere in the world, but what about the shipping containers?
Several reports published between late December and early January claimed that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy had been converting two commercial container ships into its first aircraft carriers, Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Bagheri. The process is underway in Bandar Abbas near the Strait of Hormuz, which is crucial for maritime transport. The Iranian carriers are not strategic or tactical game-changers, nor do they create strategic and operational superiority like the US Navy’s warships. They could face launch and recovery constraints, as well as constraints on maintenance and repair at sea, and the Iranian tankers may also lack the anti-ship and anti-air defenses needed to withstand attacks and direct engagement.
Nevertheless, Iran’s drone carriers are symbolically significant. They could potentially be used to challenge US initiatives in the Middle East and retaliate against Israeli attacks. They could also be useful in an asymmetric clash, and they can be utilized to launch strikes on naval assets and soft Israeli targets, as well as those of other US allies and partners in the region.
Shahid Mahdavi and Shahid Bagheri are designed to carry runway-launched helicopters and fixed-wing drones. Among the latter are the Kamikaze Drones with explosive warheads and Shahid-136, which has a range of 2,500 km. Russia has been using these drones in its war on Ukraine, mainly targeting critical infrastructure, while Iran claims to have used them in several attacks on tankers linked to Israel in the Arab Gulf.
Drone strikes launched from the sea could also allow Iran to continue to target tankers and other assets owned by its adversaries, as well as escalate its conflict with these countries by hitting further distances both within and without the Arab Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
On Tuesday night, Tabatabai University students chanted, “We will fight, we will die, we will take back Iran.” This is the only path to a solution.

Syrian regime should be rehabilitated despite its nature
Khaled Abou Zahr/Arab News/March 09, 2023
The suspension of Syria from the Arab League took place more than 11 years ago due to the bloodshed caused by the violent crackdown of the Assad regime on its own people. This is a very long time in the Middle East and the geopolitical landscape has flipped many times during this period. Despite the horrors that the regime committed and should be punished for, the core issue of the regime in Syria is its continuous stance against the region’s interests and its full alignment with the mullahs in Iran.
The efforts to bring Syria back into the Arab fold and the international community will take time. Yet, one wonders if, just like its isolation, which did not make much difference, its rehabilitation will make any difference either? We are today in a much more polarized world and Syria’s capacity to impact geopolitical shifts is greatly diminished, if not nonexistent.
Damascus has, for decades, been acting as the Arab enabler or an arm of the mullahs’ regime. It has traded and profiteered from its political decisions at the cost of the interests of the region. And it will continue to do so. The one certainty is that, even if it is rehabilitated, Syria will not be closer to Arab interests. It will stay aligned with the mullahs. The same mullahs that today are killing their own people.
Some still ask if Bashar Assad could split from the mullahs. The answer is clearly no. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other affiliates are too much in control. Not even pushing out the Iranian influence through the support of Russian influence worked in the past. This was the case even after the IRGC and Hezbollah were unable to bring back stability and it was left to Moscow to give most of the Syrian territory back to the Assad regime. Moscow was also the first to put forward the rehabilitation of Assad as part of the reconstruction plans for the country. Now, however, with the war in Ukraine, Russia is less capable of achieving this agenda. Even with the mullahs cornered domestically, their grip on Damascus will not weaken.
Whether in Lebanon or even Syria, the Assad regime has been supplanted by Nasrallah and Hezbollah
In the last decade, Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah have risen to prominence and bypassed Assad. Nasrallah became more powerful and stronger than Assad and his regime. Whether symbolically or on the ground, Hezbollah was promoted over Assad. The Syrian regime has never been so irrelevant. It is no longer capable of playing the games it did for decades. Its masterful leveraging of relations with the Soviet Union and Iran to obtain green lights and gains from Washington are long gone. This was, in fact, an Assad regime trademark; it was on the back of historical shifts in the region that it was able to extract gains from the US. This is how it was granted Lebanon in the 1970s, while its positions on Israel and the first Gulf War earned it an extension of the lease. It also traded on security intelligence, in which it played all sides to make itself essential to Western agencies.
Today, the return of Syria and its reining in of Hezbollah are complete delusion. Assad has not been able to engineer a change in the current Lebanese political dynamics despite what many expected. In fact, whether in Lebanon or even Syria, the Assad regime has been supplanted by Nasrallah and Hezbollah. Assad is incapable of changing this. Even if the next Lebanese president is one of his close allies, it will not change anything in the overall dynamics. It might provide a little relief for Hezbollah, but it stops there.
The fact is that, as long as the IRGC and Hezbollah are in Syria fighting to defend the regime, there is little Assad can do to bring the Iranian proxy back under its control in Lebanon. Taking back control of its decision-making in Damascus is even more inconceivable. This can be simply explained with the news of at least four people being killed in a drone attack in eastern Syria, in an area held by Iranian forces, on Wednesday. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights indicated that the strike targeted an area of ​​Deir Ezzor that houses residences of leaders of the Revolutionary Guards and members of Hezbollah who fight alongside the Syrian regime. Their boots on the ground make Assad irrelevant for now.
Moreover, the political exploitation of the humanitarian aid sent to Syria following last month’s devastating earthquakes hints at the unchanging nature of this regime. It cannot change and will not change. It is, by all measures, an organized crime regime. There is no ideology (not even a flawed one), there are no values and no vision besides blackmail, racketeering, killings and dirty activities. Further proof is the growing Captagon trade, in which it takes part with Hezbollah. Just last week, seizures by law enforcement agencies in the Gulf region and in Italy amounted to more than 15 tons of the drug. There is no other description for this regime than a criminal organization.
And so, considering this regime’s nature, it actually makes sense to bring it back into the fold of the Arab League and to reopen relations with it. Why, you ask? Let me answer that with what the character Michael Corleone says to Mafia caporegime Frank Pentangeli in “The Godfather Part II” movie: “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer.” This bluntly explains why Syria should be brought back. Not for any other reason. Indeed, as long as this regime is subservient to the mullahs in Tehran, it is and will stay an enemy of Arab countries and a peaceful broader Middle East.
*Khaled Abou Zahr is the founder of Barbicane, a space-focused investment syndication platform. He is the CEO of EurabiaMedia and editor of Al-Watan Al-Arabi.