English LCCC Newsbulletin For Lebanese, Lebanese Related, Global News & Editorials
For May 20/2023
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
#elias_bejjani_news

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15 آذار/2023

Bible Quotations For today
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you
Saint John 14/01-06/:"‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
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Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 19-20/2023
The May 17, 1983, agreement between Lebanon and Israel was a fair opportunity for peace that Lebanon lost/With the Agreement textظElias Bejjani/May 17/2023
Amer Fakhoury Foundation/Video Link Interview from CBSNews
Amer Fakhoury Foundation attends the 15th annual Geneva Summit
Arab Summit urges Lebanese to engage in dialogue to elect president
Mikati urges repatriation of Syrians, asks KSA to help Lebanon
Report: Consensual president to be elected on June 6
Maher al-Assad to Franjieh: Presidential file in Nasrallah's hands
Al-Sisi urges president election in Lebanon in talks with Mikati
FPM may vote blank if presidential election session held soon
Mikati meets with Iraqi counterpart in Jeddah
Mikati from Jeddah: We look forward to KSA’s support and gesture towards Lebanon to rise again
Rahi meets Makhzoumi, Hawat in Bkerki
Rebirth Beirut Presents "Ghost Like" Solo Exhibition by Ouisam Melhem
Berri calls parliamentary committees for joint session on May 23
Oil prices edge lower in Lebanon
Interior Minister: Lebanon received arrest warrant from Interpol against Lebanese Central Bank Governor
Lebanon receives Salameh's arrest warrant from Interpol, what's next?
Interpol asks Lebanon to arrest its central bank chief
How much trouble is Lebanon's Riad Salameh in after Interpol's red notice?
Deputy PM calls for Salameh's resignation amid corruption allegations
Lebanese Politician Camille Chamoun: The Lebanese Government Are A Bunch Of Idiots For Not Recognizing Israel; Hizbullah Is Leading The Shi'ites In Lebanon Like Sheep

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 19-20/2023
Arab Summit in Jeddah Backs Palestinian Cause, Commits to Peace Initiatives
Arab League concludes summit, adopts Jeddah Declaration
Arab League summit concludes with Assad and Zelensky in attendance
Saudi crown prince meets Syria’s Assad, Arab leaders on sidelines of Jeddah summit
Syrian President al-Assad at Arab Summit: We have to search about big titles that pose threat to our future and produce our crises
King Abdullah at Arab Summit in Jeddah urges capitalizing on opportunities for Arab cooperation
At Arab League Summit, UNRWA Commissioner-General urges Arab countries to renew financial commitment to Palestine Refugees
Saudi surge of diplomacy brings Assad, Zelensky to Arab Summit
Diplomatic tour by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy highlights Putin’s stark isolation
G7 summit: Zelensky accuses some Arab leaders of 'blind eye' to war ahead of Japan trip
Qatar emir skips Assad's Arab League speech in Saudi Arabia
US imposes sanctions on hundreds of targets in fresh Russia action
Middle East brings Syria's Assad in from the cold
New US sanctions target Russia-Iran military trade
Israel's Netanyahu willing to pay 'heavy price' for normalization with Saudi Arabia
Sudan’s top army general formally fires rival paramilitary leader as his deputy in symbolic gesture

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 19-20/2023
Today in History: Jihad Unleashed on Malta/Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/May 18/2023
Murdered Like Animals’: The Genocide of Christians in Nigeria Reaches New Heights/Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/May 19, 2023
Syria: The Last Option Towards Normalized Relations/Sam Menassa/This is Beirut/19 May 2023
Question: “Do we have guardian angels?”/GotQuestions.org/19 May 2023
There should be zero tolerance for hostage takers/Alistair Burt/Arab News/May 19, 2023
The disastrous consequences of Dagalo’s Sudan coup attempt/Ali Mohamed Ahmed Osman/Arab News/May 19/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on May 19-20/2023
The May 17, 1983, agreement between Lebanon and Israel was a fair opportunity for peace that Lebanon lost/With the Agreement text
Elias Bejjani/May 17/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/118293/118293/
Today, Lebanon remembers the May 17 peace agreement that was signed by the Lebanese and Israeli states on May 17, 1983, during the reign of President Amin Gemayel, and Prime Minister Shafiq Al-Wazzan, after through and arduous negotiations, through which the skilled Lebanese negotiators managed to succeed par excellence in consolidating and preserving all the elements of sovereignty and rights. And most importantly securing complete unconditional, peaceful withdrawal of the Israeli army from all Lebanese territories.
The agreement was supported by the majority of the Lebanese people, the Presidency of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, and the parliament. It was also welcomed by most Arab countries, and all countries of the free world. It was indeed a great and irreplaceable opportunity to establish true peace in the Middle East region in general, and between Lebanon and Israel in particular.
However, through its Local cancerous influence on armed Lebanese groups, mercenaries, merchants of the false resistance, leftists and fundamentalists, the Syrian Baathist regime thwarted the agreement and forcibly prevented its implementation. The Syrian regime did not want Lebanon to have peace with Israel in a bid to maintain its barbaric occupation and hegemony.
The Syrian Baathist regime, as well as the current Iranian occupier continue striving to keep Lebanon an open arena for absurd wars, a mailbox for their fiery terrorist messages, and a negotiating and bargaining chip. Syria and Iran falsely claim to be anti - Israel, and use this camouflaging and deceiving tag as an excuse to freely oppress their people and remain in power.
The May 17 agreement, was and still is a need, because the Lebanese want peace, stability and prosperity for their country, just as the Egypt, Jordan, Sudan Morocco, and the majority of the Arabian Gulf states did through peace agreements with Israel. However the Baathist Syria and Iranian mullahs' regimes, along with all merchants of the resistance, the Leftist and fundamentalists, thwarted the May 17 agreement by force, and they are still continuing to impose the same dirty plot on Lebanon and the Lebanese, but with different faces and under new malicious titles.
Certainly, Lebanon will not obtain from Israel at any time, and under any circumstances a peace agreement with better terms and conditions than the May 17 agreement one, therefore all those mercenary mouthpieces who attack the agreement must shut up and swallow their sharp tongues that are only fluent in a wooden language and in all arts of lies, hypocrisy, blasphemy, fabrication, and transgression against others... at the forefront of those are Iran, Hezbollah and their Lebanese mercenaries.
Yes, Lebanon has the right, legally and nationally, for striving to preserve its interests, security, sovereignty and independence, and that was exactly the main goal of the May 17 agreement, which unfortunately was thwarted by the Syrian regime, the resistance merchants and terrorists.
In conclusion, All Patriotic Lebanese leaders are required to put an end to their hypocrisy, trading with the blood and the livelihood the Lebanese, and work hard to serve both their people and country through forging real peace with all countries, including the state of Israel, as the majority of Arab countries did. And YES, The Lebanese have the right to enjoy peace and tranquility in a state that resembles them, and does not resemble the axis of evil, Syrian and Iranian regimes.

Amer Fakhoury Foundation/Video Link Interview from CBSNews
https://twitter.com/amer_foundation/status/1602383215175647232
Thank you for inviting us to speak on our father’s case and the hostage crisis we are facing here in the United States. Click on the link below for full interview https://youtu.be/THjjHxBcfns
It was an honor for the Amer Foundation to attend the Geneva Summit yesterday. Thank you, Hillel Neuer, for giving those who have been silenced a platform to share their story. Hearing the tragic stories yesterday was a reminder of how far we are from democracy around the world. Today, AFF renews the commitment it made to advocating for victims of illegal detention and fighting for a freer, more equitable future, especially in the Middle East.

Amer Fakhoury Foundation attends the 15th annual Geneva Summit
May 19/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/118350/118350/
The Amer Foundation had the privilege of joining other activists, freedom fighters, diplomats, and scholars at the annual Geneva Summit. Many of the tragic stories shared by the courageous speakers shared similar themes; illegal detention, tyranny, injustice.
One of the main topics on the agenda at the 2023 Geneva Summit was Iran’s ongoing human rights abuses and its history of hostage taking. Today alone, Iran executed three men for protesting in the streets of Iran. These men were brutally tortured into confessions and then executed, a tactic used often in Iran. A circle discussion led by Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch and host at the Geneva Summit, on how to handle Iran’s human rights record and its role in hostage taking was held at the summit and joined by Swedish MP, Alireza Akhondi, member of Canadian Parliament, Ali Ehsassi, Mayor of Frankfurt, Dr. Nargess Eskandari-Grünberg, and French MP, Hadrien Ghomi.
Ali Ehsassi stressed the importance of not making deals with Iran because Iran has not once lived up to its international commitments. We have been seeing a rise in hostage taking, especially in Iran and other countries who ally with Iran, such as Russia and China. Iran has a long history of using innocent individuals as bargaining chips in political negotiations. The international community must take a more coordinated and systematic approach to address this issue.
Alireza Akhondi, Swedish MP, emphasized the small window of opportunity that we have right now in holding Iran accountable before it becomes a nuclear power. Iran is not only providing Russia with ammunition and weaponry to continue its war against Ukraine, but has been providing weapons to jihadist groups around the middle east. “The Iranian Regime is active in Syria, Iraq, in Lebanon…they are mining for bitcoins everyday through digital currencies. They are going around the sanctions that we are providing…empty words are not enough” (Akhondi).
AFF members met with Akhondi and shared with him who Amer Fakhoury was and how he was kidnapped in Lebanon by Hezbollah, a militant group in Lebanon that is funded by the IRGC. He was tortured and forced to sign documents that were then used to illegally detain him for 7 months.
AFF members also met with Hillel Neuer and spoke on the work the foundation has been doing regarding advocating for accountability. When tyrannical regimes kidnap and torture innocent individuals and are able to profit off of it by doing one off deals with various countries, we will only continue to see a rise in illegal detention. It was an honor for the Amer Foundation to attend the Geneva Summit yesterday. Thank you, Hillel Neuer, for giving those who have been silenced a platform to share their story. Hearing the tragic stories yesterday was a reminder of how far we are from democracy around the world. Today, AFF renews the commitment it made to advocating for victims of illegal detention and fighting for a freer, more equitable future, especially in the Middle East.

Arab Summit urges Lebanese to engage in dialogue to elect president
Naharnet/May 19, 2023
Arab nations on Friday expressed their “solidarity with Lebanon” in the closing statement of the 32nd Arab Summit that was held in the Saudi city of Jeddah. “We urge all Lebanese parties to engage in dialogue in order to elect a president who would satisfy the aspirations of the Lebanese,” the statement said. It also stressed that the election of a president is necessary for “the regularity of the work of state institutions” and for “approving the reforms that are necessary to pull Lebanon out of its crisis.”

Mikati urges repatriation of Syrians, asks KSA to help Lebanon
Naharnet/May 19, 2023  
The “presidential vacuum” and the “failure to elect a new president” have “aggravated” Lebanon’s crisis, caretaker PM Najib Mikati told the 32nd Arab Summit in Jeddah on Friday. Moreover, Mikati said “the very big growth in the numbers of (Syrian) refugees have made the refugee crisis bigger than Lebanon’s capacity in terms of its infrastructure and the social and political repercussions on the country.” “These refugees have a natural right to return to their cities and villages,” Mikati added. He noted that such a return cannot happen without “unified Arab efforts, assistance from the international community, and communication and dialogue with brotherly Syria.” “Construction and revival projects must be carried out in the destroyed regions in order to devise a roadmap for the return of the Syrian brothers to their homeland,” the premier added. And addressing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Mikati said “it is not difficult for he who has managed to move KSA and its youths to the leadership and pioneering positions they have reached… to be a supporter of his brothers in Lebanon.” “Accordingly, we are looking forward to the kingdom’s sponsorship and its brotherly approach towards my country Lebanon so that it manages to rise once again,” Mikati added. He also called on all “Arab brothers” to quickly return to Lebanon.

Report: Consensual president to be elected on June 6
Naharnet/May 19, 2023
June 6 will be a “serious and strongly likely” date for holding a presidential election session, informed sources said. “Despite the Shiite Duo’s clinging to Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh’s nomination, there are efforts to agree on a candidate who would not be loyal to the ruling camp or the opposition camp,” the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Friday. “The names of five consensual candidates are being circulated and one of them will be picked to be the new president,” the sources added.

Maher al-Assad to Franjieh: Presidential file in Nasrallah's hands
Naharnet/May 19, 2023
Marada Movement chief Suleiman Franjieh has sought to “benefit from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s participation” in Jeddah’s Arab Summit by asking him to discuss his presidential nomination with the kingdom’s leadership, a media report said on Friday. Franjieh made the request in talks with Assad’s powerful brother Maher, who told him to talk to Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah seeing as “the file is in his hands,” Lebanon’s Nidaa al-Watan newspaper reported. According to the daily, Franjieh sought Damascus’ help after he sensed that his presidential chances were declining, especially in light of Maronite “Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi’s visit to France in early June and the reports that the patriarch will not endorse Franjieh’s nomination.”Separately, Arab diplomatic sources told Nidaa al-Watan that Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat is awaiting Franjieh’s chances to totally diminish in order to support an alternative candidate. Meanwhile, the opposition’s efforts to agree on a common candidate are yet to reach any result, the daily said. “Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil has voiced reservations over the nominations of ex-MP Salah Honein and Army Commander General Joseph Aoun, while the Lebanese Forces has voiced reservations over ex-minister Ziad Baroud,” the newspaper added.

Al-Sisi urges president election in Lebanon in talks with Mikati
Naharnet/May 19, 2023  
Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati held a meeting Friday in Jeddah with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, on the sidelines of the 32nd Arab Summit that will kick off later in the day. During the meeting, al-Sisi stressed his “continuous support for Lebanon and for the revival process in it,” expressing hope that a new president will be elected as soon as possible, Lebanon’s National News Agency said. Mikati for his part expressed his appreciation of “the constant support that the Egyptian president is offering to Lebanon in all fields and for the great love that he has for the Lebanese people.”He also lauded Egypt’s efforts to “heal the Arab rift, halt the Israeli aggression against Gaza and address the conflict in Sudan.”The meeting was attended by the members of the Lebanese delegation – caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib, caretaker Industry Minister George Boujikian, caretaker Tourism Minister Walid Nassar and caretaker Agriculture Minister Abbas al-Hajj Hassan. From the Egyptian side Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and General Intelligence chief Abbas Kamel took part in the meeting.

FPM may vote blank if presidential election session held soon
Naharnet/May 19, 2023  
The Free Patriotic Movement might resort to the choice of casting blank votes should there be an imminent call for a presidential election session, MP Alain Aoun said. Such a choice would mean that the FPM is “not siding with any candidate,” Aoun told Radio All of Lebanon. “If the session takes place, that will not necessarily mean that the stances have become ripe for electing a president, that’s why the FPM is keeping its choices open,” the lawmaker added. He also said that the FPM is “still seeking the broadest possible agreement over a president who would enjoy the consensus of all components.” The FPM “will not be part of any clash or confrontation, because it is betting on bringing the parties together,” Aoun added.

Mikati meets with Iraqi counterpart in Jeddah
NNA/May 19, 2023  
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday met on the sidelines of the Arab league summit, which is currently being held in Jeddah, with Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani. During the meeting, the Iraqi Prime Minister expressed his "love for Lebanon”, describing Iraq and Lebanon as “twins”. For his part, Mikati said, "Iraq has always extended its support for Lebanon, especially amid its dire circumstances," thanking the Iraqi state for what it provides to Lebanon on a permanent basis. "The recent Iraqi initiative supplying oil to Lebanon represents a basic support at this stage for all the Lebanese and all the country’s productive sectors,” Mikati added. "We also thank Iraq for facilitating the arrival of transit trucks, through Iraqi territory, to Gulf states,” Mikati concluded, noting that a memorandum of understanding will soon be signed between Lebanon and Iraq.

Mikati meets Egypt's Sisi in Jeddah
NNA/May 19, 2023  
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday met on the sidelines of the Arab league summit, which is currently being held in Jeddah, with Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. During the meeting, President El-Sisi affirmed his "continuous support for Lebanon and the process of its advancement," expressing his hope "to elect a new president for Lebanon as soon as possible." As for the Prime Minister, he expressed his appreciation for "the continuous support provided by the Egyptian President to Lebanon in all fields, the great love he has for the Lebanese people, and his constant efforts to provide everything that would help Lebanon to resolve its crises."He also saluted "Egypt's efforts to heal the Arab rift, stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza, and address the conflict in Sudan."

Mikati from Jeddah: We look forward to KSA’s support and gesture towards Lebanon to rise again
NNA/May 19, 2023  
Caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, on Friday said in his speech at the 32nd Arab Summit in Jeddah: “Allow me to call this summit the ‘healing wounds" Summit, as it was preceded by an agreement to restore normal relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and also the return of sisterly Syria to play its full role in the League of Arab States.” He continued: "We all know the Arab problems and issues, from the tragedy of Palestine, to Yemen and recently to the unfortunate situation in Sudan, but I want to talk about my country, Lebanon, which continues to suffer from multiple crises that have weighed heavily on the Lebanese people…"He said, "This situation has become more complicated with the presidential vacancy and the impossibility of electing a new president. In addition, Lebanon has never hesitated to open its doors to our displaced Syrian brothers, out of faith in the brotherhood of the two peoples and the advancement of humanitarian considerations over everything else. However, the long duration of the crisis, the failure to address it, and the very large increase in the number of displaced persons, render the displacement crisis greater than Lebanon's ability to bear, in terms of its infrastructure, social influences and political repercussions at home, and in terms of the natural right of those displaced to return to their cities and villages.”He added, “This return cannot be achieved without combined Arab efforts, with the support of the international community, and through communication and dialogue with sisterly Syria within the framework of an inclusive and stimulating Arab position through construction and recovery projects for the demolished areas to set a road map for the return of the Syrian brethrens to their homes." He added, “This return cannot be achieved without combined Arab efforts, with the support of the international community, and through communication and dialogue with the sisterly Syria within the framework of an inclusive and stimulating Arab position through construction and recovery projects for the demolished areas to set a road map for the return of the Syrian brethrens to their homes." He continued, "In this meeting, it is necessary to affirm Lebanon's respect for all successive international resolutions issued by the UN Security Council and the decisions of the Arab League and its charter, and its commitment to implementing its provisions. I also affirm, in the name of all of Lebanon, respecting the interests of brotherly countries, their sovereignty, and their social and political security, and combating the export of contraband to them and everything that harms stability in them. It is a firm commitment that stems from a sense of responsibility towards our brethrens and our concern for their security and safety and the purity and sincerity of fraternal relations with them.”He concluded: "Whoever was able to transfer the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its youth to the leadership and pioneering positions they have reached and transform the Kingdom into a productive country in every sense of the word, in a short period, will not find it difficult to support brotherly Lebanon. From here, we look forward to the Kingdom's support and its fraternal gesture towards my country, Lebanon, so that it can rise again."

Rahi meets Makhzoumi, Hawat in Bkerki
NNA/May 19, 2023  
Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Mar Beshara Boutros Al-Rahi, on Friday welcomed in Bkerki "National Dialogue" party leader, MP Fouad Makhzoumi, who said after the meeting, “Let the opposition reach an agreement over a presidential candidate’s name, and whoever gets 65 votes, will win and be congratulated!” Patriarch Al-Rahi separately welcomed MP Ziad Al-Hawat, as well as Judge Arz Al-Alam and his son Fadi, who briefed the Maronite Patriarch on their vision regarding expanded administrative decentralization.

Rebirth Beirut Presents "Ghost Like" Solo Exhibition by Ouisam Melhem
NNA/May 19, 2023
Rebirth Beirut is pleased to announce the opening of the highly anticipated solo exhibition, "Ghost Like", featuring the remarkable works of Ouisam Melhem. The exhibition opening will take place on Tuesday May 23, 2023 from 6:00 PM till 9:00 PM and will remain open until May 29, 2023 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (except Sunday) at the association’s headquarters in Gemmayze. Curated by Dr. Tony Karam, "Ghost Like" promises to captivate art enthusiasts with its elegant, yet complex portrayal of stories on canvas. Ouisam Melhem's distinctive artistic style seamlessly combines simplicity with depth, allowing viewers to delve into a world of emotions and narratives. President and Founder of Rebirth Beirut, Mr. Gaby Fernaine, expressed his excitement about the event, stating, "We are proud to present Ouisam Melhem's 'Ghost Like' exhibition, which not only showcases his exceptional talent but also highlights our commitment to supporting the arts in Beirut. Through events like this, we hope to contribute to the cultural revitalization and healing of our beloved city." Ouisam Melhem, a Lebanese painter and sculptor, is known for his unique ability to express narratives through five core elements: The Human, The City, The Crown, The Bird, and The Cloud. His artworks have garnered recognition both locally and internationally, earning him a place as a featured artist at the Peoria Riverfront Museum in the United States from November 30, 2021, to January 9, 2022. Notably, one of his art pieces has been officially accepted in the permanent collection of the museum.

Berri calls parliamentary committees for joint session on May 23
NNA/May 19, 2023
House Speaker, Nabih Berri, on Friday called the Finance and Budget, Administration and Justice, National Defense, Interior and Municipalities, National Economy, Trade, Industry and Planning, Public Health, Labor, Social Affairs and Human Rights Parliamentary Committees for a joint session at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 23, 2023.

Oil prices edge lower in Lebanon
NNA/May 19, 2023
Oil prices in Lebanon have dropped on Friday. Consequently, the new prices are as follows:
95 octanes: LBP 1,606,000
98 octanes: LBP 1,648,000
Diesel: LBP 1,383,000
Gas: LBP 861,000

Interior Minister: Lebanon received arrest warrant from Interpol against Lebanese Central Bank Governor
NNA/May 19, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Interior and Municipalities, Bassam Mawlawi, on Friday told Reuters that "Lebanon has received an arrest warrant from the International Police Organization (Interpol) against the Lebanese Central Bank Governor, Riad Salameh."

Lebanon receives Salameh's arrest warrant from Interpol, what's next?
Associated Press/May 19, 2023
Lebanon on Friday received an Interpol notice for the country's embattled central bank governor who failed to show up in Paris earlier in the week for questioning in a key corruption case, Caretaker interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said Friday. A French investigative judge Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Salameh after he didn’t show up for questioning. Salameh denies allegations of corruption, and maintains that he amassed his wealth through his previous job as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and investments. In a statement earlier this week, Salameh accused the French investigation and judicial process of “double standards” and of leaking confidential information to the media. He vowed to appeal the arrest warrant. Since Salameh’s remaining time in office is relatively short, rather than recusing himself during any ongoing investigations, “it would be better for him to resign, and if not, the government needs to take a decision," caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Saade Chami said Thursday. Authorities are seriously discussing the fate of Salameh following the Interpol warrant, media reports said. ِِA ministerial meeting Monday will discuss Salameh's file, al-Akhbar newspaper said, as caretaker Prime minister Najib Mikati plans to call for a cabinet session during which ministers will decide whether or not to dismiss Salameh from his post. Salameh’s term comes to an end in July, and he has said he would not seek to extend it. In an interview with Saudi-owned TV station Al-Hadath Thursday, Salameh said that he would resign only if he was convicted of a crime but dismissed the accusations against him as "not a judicial case, but a political case.”The Interior Ministry referred the arrest warrant to the judiciary and Mawlawi reportedly said he would enforce it if the Lebanese judiciary decides so.
However, Lebanon is unlikely to comply with the Interpol notice and arrest and hand over Salameh to French authorities. Under the country's laws, Lebanon does not extradite its own citizens. In 2020, it received two Interpol red notices for tycoon Carlos Ghosn, who faced financial misconduct charges in Japan. Ghosn remains in Lebanon. Public Prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat will have to question Salameh and take a decision. Judicial sources told al-Akhbat that Oueidat would likely tell France that according to the Lebanese law, Lebanese citizens should be tried in Lebanon. He would not arrest Salameh but would ban him from traveling, the sources said.

Interpol asks Lebanon to arrest its central bank chief
Najia Houssari/Arab News/May 19, 2023
BEIRUT: Lebanon has received an Interpol red notice requesting the arrest of Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh after a French magistrate issued a warrant this week. Salameh, 72, has been the target of a series of judicial investigations both at home and abroad on allegations including fraud, money laundering and illicit enrichment. Lebanon’s top prosecutor Judge Ghassan Oueidat said he was studying the notice to set a date for Salameh’s hearing next week and take the necessary legal actions. French Judge Aude Buresi is leading an investigation into allegations of money laundering involving Salameh, particularly the transfer of over $330 million from the Banque du Liban to European banks through Forry Associates, a company owned by Salameh’s brother, Raja Salameh. Lebanon’s caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi said on Friday that Interpol’s request to arrest Salameh was being seriously discussed by authorities. He demanded Salameh’s resignation. A judicial source however told Arab News: “The Interior Minister does not have the authority to arrest or dismiss Salameh. Only the Lebanese judiciary can arrest him, and a decision from the Cabinet can accept it.” The source added that the judiciary “does not have the right to arrest Salameh at this stage because it does not have the necessary documents to do so.” Judge Oueidat needed to request the file on Salameh from the French judiciary, along with the documents relied upon in the red notice, the source said.They added: “The judiciary previously requested the file on the Lebanese businessman Carlos Ghosn, who has been pursued in Japan and France on corruption charges since 2019. “However, the Japanese judiciary did not respond to the Lebanese request, and his file did not reach the Lebanese judiciary. “Lebanon also made the same request to the French authorities to obtain Ghosn’s file in 2022, but the file has not yet reached Lebanon, despite France sending a judicial team to interrogate Ghosn in Beirut.” Judge Jean Tannous, who conducted the preliminary investigations as a public prosecution lawyer, said: “Lebanon does not extradite any Lebanese citizen to any foreign country, even if they hold another nationality. “Therefore, any arrest warrant issued against a Lebanese is not legally enforceable. Instead, Lebanon must try the Lebanese citizen for the criminal acts for which the arrest warrant was issued.” The Lebanese Cabinet is expected to hold a session next week when caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati returns from the Arab League Summit in Jeddah. If the session takes place and no objections are raised, Salameh’s case will be on the agenda. However, given the cabinet’s caretaker nature and the current presidential vacuum, the outcome remains uncertain.
If Salameh resigns, the first deputy governor would in theory assume his duties. However, parliament Speaker Nabih Berri would likely object given that the first deputy is from the Shia sect and the position is officially occupied by a Maronite. The appointment of the next governor is usually suggested by the Lebanese president, a position that also remains unfilled.

How much trouble is Lebanon's Riad Salameh in after Interpol's red notice?
Beatrice Farhat/Al Monitor/May 19/2023
Days earlier, the French judiciary issued an international arrest warrant for Riad Salameh after he failed to show up at a hearing in Paris over his alleged involvement in an embezzlement case.
BEIRUT — Lebanon has received an Interpol red notice for its embattled central bank governor, Riad Salameh, the country’s Interior Ministry said on Friday, after France issued an international arrest warrant for him in a major corruption case. Caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi told Reuters that the notice was issued on Wednesday and he informed Lebanon’s judiciary the next day.
“Whatever the judiciary says, we will do,” Mawlawi added.
Salameh, who has been head of the central bank for three decades, has come under increased scrutiny after Lebanon’s financial collapse in October 2019, with many blaming him and his financial policies for the economic crisis.
The 72-year-old governor is currently the subject of a European investigation into the suspected embezzlement of $330 million from the central bank in money transfers to an obscure offshore company between 2002 and 2015. The investigators had set a hearing for Salameh in Paris on Tuesday where prosecutors were planning to press preliminary fraud and money laundering charges. However, Salameh, who denies any wrongdoing, skipped the hearing and remained in Beirut. The French judiciary subsequently issued an international arrest warrant for him.
Rocky past with Interpol
Salameh, however, is unlikely to be extradited. Lebanon does not extradite its nationals according to its internal laws, instead trying them inside the country.
Beirut has ignored similar notices by the global police agency in the past, including two issued against auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn in 2020 and 2022. Ghosn was arrested in Tokyo in November 2018 on financial misconduct charges. In late 2019, he fled house arrest in Japan in a daring operation during which he was stashed in a case for audio equipment and smuggled out of the country. Since then, Ghosn, who is French-Lebanese, has been residing in Lebanon, which does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. The Interpol’s red notice is a non-binding request for law enforcement authorities worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest a fugitive wanted for prosecution or to serve prison sentences. In a rare instance, Lebanese authorities extradited in 2019 a Lebanese-American man wanted in the United States for kidnapping his son and fleeing to Lebanon after a custody battle with his ex-wife. The two countries do not have an extradition agreement. The lawyer of the child’s mother back then hailed the Lebanese police’s efforts to track down the father and hand him over to the FBI. In December 2020, authorities in Beirut arrested Lebanese-French businessmen Ziad Taqi al-Din based on an Interpol notice. France had issued an arrest warrant against Taqi al-Din over his alleged involvement in the case of the Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign. Taqi al-Din was released after a few days but the judiciary has refused to hand him over to France.
French probe
Lebanese authorities are also leading their own probes into alleged financial crimes committed by Salameh. In March last year, Judge Ghada Aoun charged him with illicit enrichment. A year before, she charged him with mishandling foreign currency and breach of trust.
However, France still has legal leeway to go after Salameh's assets. In 2021, the French association Sherpa and the Collective of Victims of Fraudulent and Criminal Practices in Lebanon group submitted a complaint, demanding French justice to investigate the purchase by Lebanese influential figures of expensive real estates in France. This complaint procedure, known as ‘’ill-gotten goods investigation’’ enables French authorities to force the owners of these real estates to explain the origins of the funds used for the purchase.
If Salameh is found guilty of using ‘unclean money’ for buying luxurious assets in France, authorities can seize these assets, and in principle, could sell them, and then restitute the money to the Lebanese people, in form of assistance projects. The domestic probes into Salameh and his amassed fortune have been widely politicized in the crisis-hit country. The Lebanese judiciary's disciplinary council issued a decision last month to remove Judge Aoun from office. On Thursday, supporters of the Free Patriotic Movement, affiliated with former President Michel Aoun — one of the most vocal critics of Salameh — gathered in front of the governor’s house in the town of Rabieh, 13 kilometers north of Beirut. They demanded that he face justice and recover stolen funds. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Saadeh al-Shami called on Salameh to resign after France issued the arrest warrant. “In any country when someone is accused of such crimes, they should not remain in a position of responsibility and should recuse themselves immediately,” Shami told Reuters on Thursday.In an interview with the pan-Arab al-Hadath TV channel, Salameh said that he would only resign when a judicial ruling is issued against him. “The judicial pathway is unfair, but I am ready for it,” he added. Salameh’s term at the central bank ends in July, and he had said in earlier statements that he will not seek to extend it. Lebanon is in the throes of a grave economic crisis that is worsening by the day amid a lack of reforms, as politicians bicker over a presidential candidate, leaving the country without a president now for more than six months.

Deputy PM calls for Salameh's resignation amid corruption allegations
Associated Press/May 19, 2023
Lebanon's caretaker deputy prime minister Saade Chami, who is heading talks with the International Monetary Fund to bail out Lebanon's tanking economy, has called for the country's embattled central bank chief to resign, amid allegations of corruption and an international arrest warrant issued against him. Once seen as the guardian of Lebanon's financial stability, Central Bank Gov. Riad Salameh is now widely blamed for an economic meltdown that began in 2019. The Lebanese pound has since plummeted in value and wiped out much of the savings of ordinary Lebanese, plunging an estimated three-quarters of the population into poverty. Chami, told The Associated Press in an interview that the allegations against the central bank chief put the government's credibility at risk and "could threaten the country's financial relations with the rest of the world," including with the IMF and other global financial institutions.
Chami is the highest-ranking Lebanese official to call for Salameh's resignation to date. Salameh, 72, has held his post for almost 30 years. A European-led investigation into his personal wealth stashed abroad has raised questions about his tenure at the central bank and wider issues of corruption in Lebanon's financial and political system. A spokesperson for Salameh, who has denied allegations of corruption and mismanagement, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Salameh said in an interview with Saudi-owned TV station Al-Hadath Thursday that he would resign only if he was convicted of a crime but dismissed the accusations against him as "not a judicial case, but a political case." Chami said that although Salameh is innocent until proven guilty, "it is not possible nor acceptable for anyone who is accused of multiple alleged financial crimes in several countries to continue to exercise his powers" as central bank head. The charges against Salameh "are reputational risks" and "will necessarily be a distraction" for a central bank office that is "entrusted with the stability of the financial system," he said.
Salameh's term comes to an end in July, and he has said he would not seek to extend it. Since Salameh's remaining time in office is relatively short, rather than recusing himself during any ongoing investigations, "it would be better for him to resign, and if not, the government needs to take a decision," the deputy prime minister added. A French investigative judge Tuesday issued an international arrest warrant for Salameh after he didn't show up for questioning in France on corruption charges. A European judicial team from France, Germany and Luxembourg has been conducting a corruption investigation into an array of financial crimes they allege were committed by Salameh, his associates and others. The allegations include illicit enrichment and laundering of $330 million. Salameh has repeatedly denied all allegations against him and insisted that his wealth comes from his previous job as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, inherited properties, and investments. In a statement earlier this week, he accused the French investigation and judicial process of "double standards" and of leaking confidential information to the media. He vowed to appeal the arrest warrant. Amid Lebanon's dual economic and political crisis, appointment of a new central bank chief won't be easy. The country has lacked a head of state since former President Michel Aoun left office in October, as political factions have been unable to agree on a replacement, and the caretaker Cabinet has limited powers. Chami said that ideally a new governor would be appointed immediately should Salameh resign or be removed. But if no consensus could be immediately reached on a candidate, the central bank's first vice-governor would automatically take over as a temporary replacement, he added. In the meantime, progress on reforms required to clinch a deal with the IMF has largely stalled, after Lebanon reached a preliminary agreement with the international lender-of-last-resort more than a year ago. At the same time, the financial crisis that began in 2019 has deepened. Ordinary citizens have seen their savings slip away as the market value of the currency plummeted from 1,500 pounds to the dollar pre-crisis to around 95,000 to the dollar today. Lack of trust in the banking system has driven the growth of a chaotic cash-based economy. Fluctuating and multiple exchange rates have allowed some wealthy and politically connected players to make large profits from arbitrage - estimated by the World Bank in a report released this week as at least $2.5 billion. Further delays in making reforms and clinching an IMF deal will exacerbate the crisis, leading to "more unemployment, more migration" and dwindling financial reserves, Chami said. But he said he has not given up hope for a solution, or for an IMF deal. "It is a very dangerous situation, but also it is not extremely difficult to solve if there is a political will," he said.

Lebanese Politician Camille Chamoun: The Lebanese Government Are A Bunch Of Idiots For Not Recognizing Israel; Hizbullah Is Leading The Shi'ites In Lebanon Like Sheep
MEMRI/May 19/2023
Source: OTV (Lebanon)Voice of Lebanon
Lebanese MP Camille Chamoun, the President of the National Liberal Party, said in a May 10, 2023 interview on OTV (Lebanon) that the Lebanese people are a peaceful people and do not want to have enemies any longer. He said that if the Lebanese government were to collect Hizbullah's weapons, a "large portion" of Lebanon's problems would be resolved and Lebanon could become a neutral country that would attract tourists. Chamoun also said that it is not in Lebanon's interests to fight Israel because Israel is much more advanced technologically and militarily, and he said that the Lebanese government are a "bunch of idiots" for failing to recognize Israel. In a May 15, 2023 interview with Voice of Lebanon, Chamoun said that he wants to build Lebanon while Hizbullah wants to destroy it. He also said that if things continue the way they are, then Lebanon is headed towards partition. In addition, he accused Hizbullah of leading Lebanese Shi'ites "like sheep."
Camille Chamoun: "We do not want to have enemies anymore. Enough. The Lebanese are peaceful people. We are merchants, builders, creators, artists. The Lebanese have been successful wherever... How many Lebanese, of all sects, have emigrated?
"We want to collect everybody's weapons. Only the army and the state should have weapons. This will resolve a large portion of the problem."
Interviewer: "So if Hizbullah hands over its weapons, we will become a neutral state?"
Chamoun: "Absolutely. We do not want to fight anyone."
Interviewer: "And if they fight us?"
Chamoun: "Nobody will fight us."
Interviewer: "Can you guarantee that if Hizbullah hands over its weapons, nobody will fight us?"
Chamoun: "Nobody cares about us. On the contrary, they all want to come here and spend money. They want to see this country that should become a diamond once again. We Lebanese must make it a diamond again, so that tourists will stand in line at airports to come visit here. Who would come here under the current circumstances? The streets are full of garbage, the sea is polluted, we do not have proper roads... Our reputation has become one of smugglers, thieves, and plunderers.
"Israel exists, and it is internationally recognized. It has weapons and technology that we Arabs can only dream of having in 100 years. Israel is a very dangerous neighbor that can destroy Lebanon and burn it to the ground. It is not in our interest to fight such a powerful country today, because we will be the ones paying the price.
"Therefore, if we do not want to sign a peace treaty with Israel – like many Arab countries did – we can still maintain a nonhostile relationship, which is manifest in the neutrality we talked about.
Interviewer: "But Lebanon, as a state, does not recognize Israel."
Chamoun: "The Lebanese government is a bunch of idiots, otherwise they would not have brought he country to where it is now.
"I want to build this country, and [Hizbullah] wants to destroy it. They continue to destroy it."
Interviewer: "They also say they want to build it. 'Building and defending' is their slogan."
Chamoun: "These are just words. The reality is that they destroyed Lebanon more than Israel has since 1948.
"If things continue this way, we are heading towards partition."
Interviewer: "Whoa..."
Chamoun: "Yes, we are headed towards partition – not a federal state or decentralization. If they continue this way, partition is better.
"There was a time when we were proud of our Lebanese identity. When you would travel and arrive somewhere with your Lebanese passport, you would receive a VIP welcome at every airport. What reputation do we have today? Of Captagon smugglers and terrorists who blow up embassies. What is our reputation worth today? Zero. Why? Because a sect of the Lebanese are being led like sheep."
Interviewer: "The Shi'ites are being led like sheep?"
Chamoun: "Yes, unfortunately."
https://www.memri.org/tv/lebanese-politician-chamoun-government-bunch-idiots-not-recognize-israel

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on May 19-20/2023
Arab Summit in Jeddah Backs Palestinian Cause, Commits to Peace Initiatives
Asharq Al Awsat/May 19/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/118373/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%ac%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%a4%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1/
The Arab League underlined on Friday the centrality of the Palestinian cause in the Arab world.
Meeting at the 32nd Arab League summit in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah, Arab leaders underscored the Arab identity of East Jerusalem, the capital of an independent Palestinian state.
They stressed the right to the establishment of a sovereign Palestinian state according to the 1967 borders and the need to activate the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
They underlined their commitment to peace as a strategic choice to end the Israeli occupation and resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict according to international law.
They condemned the escalating Israeli crimes against the Palestinian people and slammed the illegal Israeli settlement expansion on Palestinian territories.
Lebanon
The leaders urged Lebanese authorities to continue their efforts to elect a new president and form a government as soon as possible so that constitutional institutions can return to normal functioning.
They stressed the importance of Lebanon carrying out structural economic reforms that would help end its stifling economic and financial crisis.
They underlined the importance of standing in complete solidarity with Lebanon during the most severe political, economic and social crises it has seen in decades.
They hailed the national role played by the army and security forces in preserving peace and stability, expressing support to the state's efforts in imposing its sovereignty on all Lebanese territories.
Moreover, the Arab leaders hailed Lebanon's efforts - in spite of its crippling crises - in hosting Syrian refugees.
They voiced their support for Lebanon's calls to intensify efforts to ensure the safe return of the refugees back to their country where the situation has become more secure.
They rejected all attempts at naturalizing the Syrians in Lebanon seeing as that poses a threat to the host country's identity and existence, demanding that the international community draft a clear roadmap for the safe return of Syrians back home.
Syria
The leaders renewed their commitment to Syria's sovereignty, stability, territorial integrity and regional safety in line with the Arab League charter and principles.
They stressed the importance of continuing and intensifying Arab efforts to help Syria resolve its crisis to end the suffering of its people.
They stressed the importance of bolstering joint Arab work to tackle the impact of the refugee crisis, terrorism and drug smuggling.
Effective steps must be taken to resolve the crisis to preserve Syria's unity and sovereignty and meet the aspirations of its people and rid it of terrorism, they urged. Safe conditions for the voluntary return of the refugees must be established.
The resolution of the crisis must guarantee the withdrawal of all non-legal foreign forces from Syria so that security and stability can be restored in the country.
Furthermore, the leaders rejected all forms of foreign meddling in Syria and the deployment of any illegitimate military forces, saying they were a threat to the country's territorial integrity, violation of its sovereignty and threat to regional security and stability.
The gatherers welcomed the reinstatement of Syria's membership in the Arab League in line with its May 7 announcement.
Sudan
The leaders expressed their full solidarity with Sudan in preserving its sovereignty, independence and territorial unity. They rejected foreign meddling in its internal affairs, saying that its current crisis is an internal issue.
They welcomed the Jeddah humanitarian declaration that was announced on May 11 and signed by the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces. The rival Sudanese parties had agreed to renew their commitment to international humanitarian law.
The gatherers welcomed the ongoing Saudi-American-sponsored talks between the army and RSF in Jeddah and the humanitarian efforts provided by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt and Djibouti to Sudan during its plight.
Yemen
The gatherers at the Arab Summit expressed their commitment to Yemen's unity, sovereignty, security and stability away from any foreign meddling.
They stressed their continued support to the legitimate Yemeni government led by Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council Dr. Rashad al-Alimi.
They underlined support to the council in carrying out its duties in achieving security and stability in Yemen, ending its crisis and suffering of its people, restoring the state and establishing comprehensive and sustainable peace.
They condemned the Iran-backed Houthi militias' ongoing violations and their rejection of United Nations proposals to renew and expand that nationwide truce. The truce between the government and Houthis took effect in April 2022 and expired in October.
The gatherers slammed the Houthis for their ongoing siege of the city of Taiz in spite of repeated demands to lift it.
The condemned the Houthis for their attacks on Yemen's economic and oil facilities. They warned that such attacks are not only a threat to international law and undermine international efforts aimed at ending the war, but a flagrant threat to regional and international energy supplies. They demanded firm action to prevent the Houthis from committing these terrorist attacks once again.
They called on the UN Security Council and international community to reconsider how they handle the Houthis given their ongoing violation of agreements and initiatives aimed at achieving peace in Yemen. They must be pressured to join peace efforts in good faith and prevent them from exploiting the situation to mobilize their forces in preparation for more escalation and violence.
They condemned the grave human rights violations committed by the Houthis, including murder, abductions, forced disappearances, arbitrary arrests, sexual assault, and the bombing of houses, hospitals, places of worship and schools.
The gatherers called on the international community against overlooking the real causes of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Yemen, which is the Houthi coup against the legitimate government.
The gatherers voiced support to the Saudi peace initiative in Yemen that was declared by the Kingdom in March 2021.

Arab League concludes summit, adopts Jeddah Declaration
Saudi Arabia/Amani Hamad, Al Arabiya English/May 19/,2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/118373/%d9%86%d8%b5-%d8%a7%d8%b9%d9%84%d8%a7%d9%86-%d8%ac%d8%af%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af%d8%b1-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%85%d8%a4%d8%aa%d9%85%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d9%82%d9%85%d8%a9-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%b9%d8%b1/
The Arab League concluded its 32nd summit by adopting the Jeddah Declaration, reaffirming the need for unity to achieve security and stability.
The summit, which discussed various topics, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and developments in Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Lebanon, convened in Jeddah and saw Syria’s participation for the first time in over a decade.
On the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the members reaffirmed the centrality of the Palestinian cause and reiterated Palestine’s right “to absolute authority over all territories occupied in 1967, including east Jerusalem.”
The members also voiced the importance of “activating the Arab Peace Initiative,” which the Kingdom proposed and the Arab League endorsed at the Beirut summit in 2002.
Israel-Palestinian violence has been intensifying for months, with frequent Israeli military raids and settler violence in the West Bank amid a spate of Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Since January, more than 140 Palestinians and at least 19 Israelis and foreigners have been killed in the West Bank and Israel.
The bloc welcomed Syria’s return to the Arab League following years of isolation and voiced hope that this move would contribute “to Syria’s stability and unity.”
“[We] must intensify Arab efforts to help Syria resolve its crisis,” the declaration said.
During a press conference at the end of the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said the kingdom would hold discussions with their Western partners regarding ties with Syria. Washington and Europe have been outspoken critics of the Arab League’s decision to normalize relations with the Assad regime.
The 22-member bloc suspended Syria in November 2011 over the regime’s deadly crackdown on protests, which spiraled into a conflict that has killed more than 500,000 people and displaced millions.
Regarding the situation in Sudan, where fighting has raged between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 15, the declaration rejected “foreign interferences that inflame the conflict and threaten regional security and stability.” The Arab League urged dialogue and unity among the warring sides.
The conflict has displaced an estimated 843,000 people within Sudan and forced around 250,000 to flee to neighboring countries, the United Nations refugee agency said on Friday. Last week, US-Saudi mediated talks between the two sides in Jeddah made a slight breakthrough after signing an agreement to protect Sudanese civilians.
During the press conference, Prince Faisal said Riyadh and Washington were continuing to work together to get the warring sides to stop the violence. The top Saudi diplomat called on all sides to immediately stop the fighting and resume dialogue; however, he noted it was too early to discuss a breakthrough.
As for Yemen, the Arab League reaffirmed support for all international and regional efforts that aim to reach a political solution to the yearslong war.
The war in Yemen has also killed tens of thousands of people and left millions dependent on international aid. A UN-brokered ceasefire that started in April 2022 has sharply reduced casualties. The truce expired in October, but fighting has largely remained on hold.
On Lebanon, the Arab states urged authorities to resume efforts to elect a president, form a cabinet “as soon as possible,” and carry out economic reforms to overcome the current crisis.
Lebanon has been mired since 2019 in an economic crisis that the World Bank has dubbed one of the worst in modern history. A caretaker cabinet with limited powers has been at the helm since May last year after legislative polls gave no side a clear majority to elect a new president.
The bloc also voiced rejected “foreign interferences” in Arab countries’ internal affairs.
“[We] completely reject supporting the formation of armed militias… [and warn] that internal military conflicts will only aggravate people’s suffering,” the statement read.
The declaration also said that during Saudi Arabia’s presidency of the Arab Summit – which was handed over earlier by Algeria – the Kingdom will strengthen joint Arab action in various cultural, economic, social and environmental sectors.
These initiatives include teaching the Arabic language to non-native speakers, which targets the children of second and third-generation Arab immigrants to enhance communication between Arab countries and the rest of the world.
Another initiative aims to sustain the supply chains of basic food commodities for Arab countries. It will be implemented using several measures, which include providing investment opportunities with economic and financial feasibility and contributing to achieving food security for the Arab world.

Arab League summit concludes with Assad and Zelensky in attendance
Arab News/May 19, 2023
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Arab League Summit on Friday that they must not allow the region to turn into a conflict zone, but reassured the world that “world peace” was near. The Kingdom hosted the summit in which Syrian President Bashar Assad was welcomed back after a 12-year suspension and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to rally support for his country. “We assure friendly countries in the East and the West that we are moving forward in peace. We will not allow our region to turn into a zone of conflict,” the crown prince said.
“It is enough for us, with turning the page of the past, to remember the painful years of conflicts that the region lived through, it is enough for us to have conflicts that the peoples of the region suffered from and because of which development was faltered in the region,” he added.
And on Syria the crown prince said: “We hope that Syria’s return to the Arab League will mark an end to its crisis.” The crown prince emphasized that the Palestinian cause was, and still is, the pivotal issue for all Arabs. He also expressed hope that dialogue would lead to a resolution of the crisis in Sudan. “Saudi Arabia is welcoming the signing of the Jeddah Declaration by the two parties involved in the conflict in Sudan,” he said. The outgoing chairman of the Arab League has called on the world to bring the Israeli settlement policy to an end and he added: “The Palestinian cause was and still is the central issue of the Arabs.”Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky – who had arrived in Jeddah a short time before – told delegates his country was in a state of war – not just a conflict. He also said he appreciated the Saudi mediation for the release of prisoners of war last year. The crown prince said: “We reaffirm the Kingdom’s position supportive to everything that contributes to reducing the intensity of the crisis in Ukraine, and not to allow further worsening of the humanitarian situation there, Saudi Arabia is ready to continue mediation efforts between the Russian Federation and Ukraine.” Also on Friday, Russian President sent a cable to the Arab League saying his country would continue to provide all possible assistance to settle the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He also said Moscow intended to expand its multifaceted cooperation with Arab countries, and remained keen to support efforts to resolve the crises in Sudan, Libya and Yemen.
In his opening remarks of the summit outgoing Arab League chairman Algerian prime minister Aymen Benabderrahmane, praised Saudi Arabia for hosting the event. He added that the world was going through increased polarization with an energy crisis and face threats to food security.
He said all efforts to solve the ongoing crisis in Yemen would be appreciated.
Jordan’s ruler King Abdullah II told the summit the system of joint Arab action required the cooperation between the countries to be strengthened. And he added: “A fair and comprehensive peace will only be achieved through the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
King Abdullah said the crisis in Syria had come at a high price. “We welcome its return to the Arab League,” he added, addressing the Syrians. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said countries were going through a harsh period. “Preserving the national institutions of our countries is necessary and vital,” he said. He said Egypt was continuing in its efforts to stabilize Gaza, and he affirmed the need to establish a Palestinian state to achieve regional peace. Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas called on the international community to “provide protection to the Palestinian people,” and to “resort to all international courts to restore our rights.” But he thanked his Arab neighbors for their support. “We commend the firm positions of Arab leaders towards the Palestinian cause.”Tunisian President Kais Saied condemned what he described as the international community’s inaction over Palestine.
“There must be an end to the violations against the Palestinian people and the international silence towards them,” he said. Syrian President Bashar Assad thanked Saudi Arabia for promoting the reconciliation in the region in his first speech to the Arab League in over a decade. “We are facing a historic opportunity to sort out our situation without foreign intervention,” he said. Without mentioning specific countries, he then went onto add: “We must prevent foreign interference in our affairs.”Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman had welcomed dignitaries through the afternoon for the start of the Arab League Summit in jeddah. Representatives started arriving for meetings in the build up to the summit earlier in the week. Among the most notable arrivals for the main meeting was Syrian President Basha Assad who was greeted by the crown prince before the pair shook hands and then posed for a photograph.
It's the first time in more than a decade that Assad was excluded from the alliance. A short time before the opening of the summit, images were transmitted around the globe of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as he arrived for what he described as a historic visit to build relations with Arab nations.
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani was the first Arab leader to leave the summit on Friday afternoon, as others began returning home in the evening.

Saudi crown prince meets Syria’s Assad, Arab leaders on sidelines of Jeddah summit
Arab News/May 19, 2023
JEDDAH: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday held talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad, on the sidelines of the 32nd Arab League Summit in Jeddah, the Saudi Press Agency reported. Syria had been welcomed back into the bloc after a 12-year suspension. During the meeting, the two sides discussed ways to enhance relations between their countries, as well as a number of issues of common concern. The Kingdom hosted the summit, taking the presidency from Algeria. Prince Mohammed also held talks with Jordan’s King Abdullah II, where they reviewed ties and held discussions on promoting joint Arab action. The Saudi crown prince held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to review Saudi-Egyptian relations and areas of bilateral cooperation, and a separate meeting with Tunisian President Kais Saeed to discuss promising opportunities for development in various fields.
Prince Mohammed also held similar talks with Somali President Dr. Hassan Sheikh Mahmoud.

Syrian President al-Assad at Arab Summit: We have to search about big titles that pose threat to our future and produce our crises
SANA News Agency/May 19, 2023
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad Friday delivered Syria speech to the 32nd session of the Arab Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. President al-Assad said “We have to search about the big titles that pose threat to our future and produce our crises in order to not drown in addressing the results, not the reasons.”The President added that the joint Arab action is in need to common visions, strategies and targets. President al-Assad hoped the Summit would be a starting point for the Arab action, solidarity among Arab states to achieve peace, prosperity and development in the region instead of war and destruction.
The President added that the cracks that have emerged over the last decade must be addressed, and the most important thing is to let the people manage their internal affairs and avoid external interference in their affair. President al-Assad thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and his highness crown prince Mohammad bin Salman for the great role of Saudi Arabia and its efforts to boost reconciliation in the Arab region and make this summit a success. -- SANA News Agency

King Abdullah at Arab Summit in Jeddah urges capitalizing on opportunities for Arab cooperation
NNA/May 19, 2023
Jordan's King Abdullah on Friday stressed that there can be no hesitation in capitalising on the opportunities before Arab countries, in service of the interests of their peoples. Delivering a speech at the 32nd Ordinary Session of the Council of the League of Arab States at the Summit Level in Jeddah, King Abdullah reaffirmed that the Palestinian cause continues to be "the centre of our attention, and we cannot abandon our pursuit of just and comprehensive peace." Speaking at the summit, attended by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, His Majesty called for stepping up regular Arab meetings, at the highest levels, to achieve economic integration in the region and unify Arab political and security efforts. The King welcomed Syria’s return to the Arab League as an important step, voicing hope that it would contribute to efforts to end the crisis.
His Majesty stressed the importance of bolstering the political track launched from the Amman Meeting, which built on the Jordanian initiative, as well as Saudi and Arab efforts to end the Syrian crisis and address its humanitarian, security, and political implications. The King also expressed support for the steps taken by the Iraqi government to restore Iraq’s role and stature within the Arab region, while bolstering its stability, prosperity, and sovereignty. -- Petra News Agency

At Arab League Summit, UNRWA Commissioner-General urges Arab countries to renew financial commitment to Palestine Refugees
NNA/May 19, 2023
At the request of the UN Secretary-General, the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, attended the Arab League Summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia today.  In his bilateral talks he highlighted the Agency’s dire funding crisis, amid unprecedented needs of Palestine Refugees. The Commissioner-General urgently called on rich Arab states to reinstate or increase their financial support as the Agency struggles to delivers on its mandate and to provide critical services to the Palestine Refugees. “Support to Palestine Refugees is a collective obligation, including from Arab countries. Longtime historic partners have decreased their funding in the last few years, dramatically affecting our ability to maintain quality services, including education, health care and social protection. While countries hosting Palestine Refugees face their own acute political and financial challenges, I am hereby calling on Arab donors to support UNRWA and be among our closest partners,” said Lazzarini. Over the last decade, UNRWA has suffered from underfunding every year, with a heavy toll on the quality of some services in its areas of operations. Meanwhile, refugees’ challenges continued to massively increase amid unprecedented poverty, unemployment, financial crises, neglect and in some cases conflicts and natural disasters.  “Arab countries were among the founders of UNRWA and the most vocal supporters of the rights of Palestine Refugees. Today, as UNRWA risks collapse, I hear supportive statements from the region to Palestinians and urge that they be extended to the refugees through UNRWA,” added Lazzarini.  In 2018, Arab Donors’ funding to the Agency made up one-fourth of its total funding. Since then, it has massively dropped, severely deepening the financial crisis the Agency struggles with.  “While we are one of the largest UN agencies in the world, we live hand to mouth. At the end of every month, we often are uncertain whether we can pay salaries to our nearly 30,000 staff. UNRWA staff is the backbone and the engine of the Agency’s basic services: teachers, medical workers, engineers and logisticians. They should not live in constant uncertainty and limbo, and neither should the Palestine refugees they serve,” concluded Lazzarini.

Saudi surge of diplomacy brings Assad, Zelensky to Arab Summit
Associated Press/May 19, 2023
Saudi Arabia hosted an Arab League summit on Friday in which Syrian President Bashar Assad was welcomed back after a 12-year suspension and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a surprise visit to rally support against Russia. Russian airstrikes have left a swath of destruction across both countries, but in Syria they came at Assad's invitation and helped him cling to power through years of grinding civil war. Other Arab states have deepened ties with Moscow while remaining largely neutral on the Ukraine war. The odd pairing of the two leaders in the same forum is the result of a recent flurry of diplomacy by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is pursuing regional rapprochement with the same vigor he previously brought to the kingdom's confrontation with archrival Iran. In recent months, Saudi Arabia has restored diplomatic ties with Iran, is ending the kingdom's yearslong war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen and led the push for Syria's return to the 22-member Arab League. The Saudi crown prince welcomed both Assad and Zelensky to the Red Sea city of Jeddah, expressing support for "whatever helps in reducing the crisis between Russia and Ukraine." He added that the kingdom, which brokered a prisoner exchange last year, "is ready to exert efforts for mediation." Addressing the summit in English, Zelensky appeared to invoke the Arab world's own troubled history of invasion and occupation, saying Ukraine "will never submit to any foreigners or colonizers."
He took a swipe at Iran for supplying attack drones to Russia and spoke about the suffering of Muslim ethnic Tatars living under Russian occupation in Crimea. He also accused some in the hall of "turning a blind eye" to Russia's violations. The visit comes amid a whirlwind of international travel by the Ukrainian leader, but until now he has mostly visited allied countries.
Saudi Arabia pledged $400 million in aid to Ukraine earlier this year and has voted in favor of U.N. resolutions calling on Russia to end its invasion and opposing the annexation Ukrainian territory. But it has resisted U.S. pressure to increase oil production in order to squeeze Russia's revenues.
Assad, a close ally of both Russia and Iran, said he hoped the summit would mark a "new stage of Arab solidarity" that would bring peace "instead of war and destruction." He added that Arab countries should reject "external interference" in their affairs.
A collective statement issued at the conclusion of the summit rejected any "illegitimate foreign presence" in Syria and supported the eventual return of Syrian refugees. It also condemned Israel's "crimes against the Palestinian people," called on Lebanon to overcome its political paralysis and encouraged dialogue in Sudan, where rival generals have been battling one another for more than a month. In recent years, Assad's forces have recaptured much of Syria's territory from insurgents with crucial military aid from Russia and Iran. Saudi Arabia was a major sponsor of the opposition at the height of the war but pulled back as the insurgents were eventually cornered in a small pocket of northwestern Syria. "Saudi Arabia's push to bring Syria back into the fold is part of a broader shift in the kingdom's approach to regional politics," says Torbjorn Soltvedt, a leading Mideast analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.
"The previously adventurist foreign policy defined by the Yemen intervention and efforts to confront Iran are now being abandoned in favor of a more cautious approach," he said.
Assad's first official meeting on Friday was with his Tunisian counterpart, Kais Saied, who is waging his own crackdown on dissent in the birthplace of the Arab Spring protests that swept the region in 2011.
"We stand together against the movement of darkness," Assad said, apparently referring to extremist groups that came to dominate the Syrian opposition as the civil war ground on, and which drew large numbers of recruits from Tunisia. The Saudi crown prince later welcomed each leader to the summit, including a smiling Assad. The two shook hands and kissed cheeks before the Syrian leader walked into the hall. There are some Arab holdouts to Damascus' rehabilitation, including gas-rich Qatar, which still supports Syria's opposition and says it won't normalize bilateral relations without a political solution to the conflict. Qatar's ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, attended the start of the summit but walked out before Assad spoke, a Saudi official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release details of the proceedings. Western countries, which still view Assad as a pariah over his forces' aerial bombardment and gas attacks against civilians during the 12-year civil war, have criticized his return to the Arab fold and vowed to maintain crippling sanctions that have hampered reconstruction.
Years of heavy fighting involving Assad's forces, the opposition and jihadi outfits like the Islamic State group left entire villages and neighborhoods in ruins. The conflict killed nearly a half million people and displaced half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million.
American lawmakers advanced bipartisan legislation this week that would bar any U.S. federal agency from recognizing or carrying out normal relations with Syria's government as long as it's led by Assad, who came to power in 2000 after the death of his father. The legislation would also plug holes in existing U.S. sanctions targeting Assad. The White House National Security Council said Friday that the administration opposes the legislation. It fears the additional measures "would make it unduly difficult to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people – who are suffering because of the actions of the Assad regime." The administration remains committed to a roadmap to peace drafted more than a decade ago. But several rounds of talks held over the years between Assad's government and the opposition went nowhere, and he has had little incentive to compromise since Russia entered the war on his side.
Arab leaders appear to be focused on more modest goals, like enlisting Assad's help in countering militant groups and drug traffickers, and bringing about the return of Syrian refugees.

Diplomatic tour by Ukraine’s Zelenskyy highlights Putin’s stark isolation
TALLINN, Estonia (AP)/Fri, May 19, 2023
While the world awaits Ukraine’s spring battlefield offensive, its leader, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has launched a diplomatic one. In the span of a week, he's dashed to Italy, the Vatican, Germany, France and Britain to shore up support for defending his country.
On Friday, he was in Saudi Arabia to meet with Arab leaders, some of whom are allies with Moscow. President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, was in the southern Russian city of Pyatigorsk, chairing a meeting with local officials, sitting at a large table at a distance from the other attendees.
The Russian president has faced unprecedented international isolation, with an International Criminal Court arrest warrant hanging over his head and clouding the prospects of traveling to many destinations, including those viewed as Moscow's allies.
With his invasion of Ukraine, “Putin took a gamble and lost really, really big time,” said Theresa Fallon, director of the Brussels-based Centre for Russia Europe Asia Studies. “He is an international pariah, really.”
It was only 10 years ago when Putin stood proudly among his peers at the time -– Barack Obama, Angela Merkel and Shinzo Abe – at a Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland. Russia has since been kicked out of the group, which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, for illegally annexing Crimea in 2014.
Now it appears to be Ukraine’s turn in the spotlight.
There were conflicting messages from Kyiv whether Zelenskyy would attend the G7 in Japan on Sunday. The secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council said on national television the president would be there, but the council later walked back those remarks, saying Zelenskyy would join via video link. The president’s office would not confirm either way for security reasons. But whether in person or via video, it would be of great symbolic and geopolitical significance. “It conveys the fact that the G7 continues to strongly support Ukraine,” said Nigel Gould-Davies, senior fellow for Russia and Eurasia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “It’s a visible marker of the continued commitment of the most highly industrialized and highly developed countries in the world.”It also comes at a time when the optics are just not in the Kremlin’s favor.
There’s uncertainty over whether Putin can travel to Cape Town in August for a summit of the BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Moscow has long showcased the alliance as an alternative to the West’s global dominance, but this year it is already proving awkward for the Kremlin. South Africa, the host of the summit, is a signatory to the ICC and is obligated to comply with the arrest warrant on war crimes charges.
South Africa has not announced that Putin will definitely come to the summit but has been planning for his possible arrival. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed an inter-ministerial committee, led by Deputy President Paul Mashatile, to consider South Africa’s options with regard to its ICC commitment over Putin’s possible trip.
While it is highly unlikely the Russian president would be arrested there if he decides to go, the public debate about whether he can is in itself “an unwelcome development whose impact should not be underestimated,” according to Gould-Davies.
Then there are Moscow’s complicated relations with its own neighbors. Ten days ago, Putin projected the image of solidarity, with leaders of Armenia, Belarus and Central Asian states standing beside him at a Victory Day military parade on Red Square.
This week, however, the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan flocked to China and met with leader Xi Jinping at a summit that highlighted the erosion of Russia’s influence in the region as Beijing seeks to make economic inroads into Central Asia.
Xi is using the opportunity “of a weakened Russia, a distracted Russia, almost a pariah-state Russia to increase (China’s) influence in the region,” Fallon said. Putin’s effort this month to shore up more friends in the South Caucasus by scrapping visa requirements for Georgian nationals and lifting a four-year ban on direct flights to the country also didn’t appear to go as smoothly as the Kremlin may have hoped.
The first flight that landed Friday in Georgia was met with protests, and the country’s pro-Western president has decried the move as a provocation.
Zelenskyy’s ongoing world tour can be seen as a success on many levels.
Invitations from other world leaders is a sign they think Ukraine is "going to come out of the war in good shape,” said Phillips P. O’Brien, professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Otherwise, “it simply wouldn’t be happening,” he said. "No one would want to be around a leader they think is going to be defeated and a country that’s going to collapse.”By contrast, the ICC warrant might make it harder for leaders even to visit Putin in Moscow because “it’s not a good look to visit an indicted war criminal,” Gould-Davies said. European leaders promised him an arsenal of missiles, tanks and drones, and even though no commitment has been made on fighter jets – something Kyiv has wanted for months – a conversation about finding ways to do it has begun. His appearance Friday at the Arab League summit in Jeddah, a Saudi Arabian port on the Red Sea, highlighted Kyiv’s effort to spread its plight for support far and wide, including in some countries whose sympathies are with Russia. In addition to Zelenskyy, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also welcomed Syrian President Bashar Assad at the summit after a 12-year suspension – something analysts say aligns with Moscow’s interests. Anna Borshchevskaya, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute who focuses on Russia’s policy in the Middle East, called it “another testament to the fact that Russia is not isolated globally for its invasion of Ukraine, that the Middle East is one part of the world where Russia is able to find avenues to avoid global isolation – both ideological isolation but also economic isolation.”She added that Zelenskyy and his government deserve credit for “in recognizing that they need to reach out more to improve their diplomatic efforts in this part of the world and other parts of the world where the Russian narrative resonates.”Kyiv could expect that “this is the beginning of a larger shift in perception that could eventually translate into potential support,” Borshchevskaya said. Similarly, the Ukrainian president’s participation in the G7 summit is “a message to the rest of the world, to Russia and beyond, and the so-called Global South,” Gould-Davies believes. There is a concern in the West over the extent to which some major developing economies – Brazil, South Africa and, to a degree, India – “are not criticizing, not condemning Russia and indeed in various ways are helping to mitigate the impact of sanctions on Russia,” he said. “Collectively, economically, they matter. So there is, I think, this felt need for a renewed diplomatic campaign to bring some of these most important states into the kind of the Western way of looking at these things,” Gould-Davies said.

G7 summit: Zelensky accuses some Arab leaders of 'blind eye' to war ahead of Japan trip
Tessa Wong in Hiroshima & James Gregory in London - BBC News/ May 19, 2023
Volodymyr Zelensky has accused some Arab leaders of "turning a blind eye" to Russia's invasion ahead of his expected trip to the G7 in Japan. Ukraine has confirmed that Mr Zelensky will meet President Biden "in the next few days". On Friday, Mr Zelensky was in Saudi Arabia for an Arab League summit. Of the Arab League nations, only Syria has openly supported Russia's invasion. Others have sought to maintain good relations with Moscow. "Unfortunately, there are some in the world and here among you who turn a blind eye to those [prisoner of war] cages and illegal annexations," said Mr Zelensky. "I'm here so that everyone can take an honest look, no matter how hard the Russians try to influence, there must still be independence." Mr Zelensky also told the assembled leaders in Jeddah that his country was defending itself from colonisers and imperialists, appearing to invoke the Arab world's own history of invasion and occupation. Host nation Saudi Arabia has walked a delicate line on the conflict - on the one hand supporting a UN resolution calling for Russia to withdraw its troops and pledging $400m in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, while on the other hand resisting imposing sanctions on Russia, preferring to see itself as neutral on the conflict. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman renewed his offer for Saudi Arabia to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv to end the fighting at the summit. Syria meanwhile has only just been readmitted to the Arab League - its leader Bashar al-Assad told the summit there was an historic opportunity for the region to reshape itself without foreign interference. Mr Zelensky also took aim at Iran, which is not a member of the Arab League, for supplying Shahed drones to Russia. Iran denies supplying drones for the conflict. The Ukrainian leader is expected to travel from Saudi Arabia to the G7 summit, where he will speak to US President Joe Biden. Mr Zelensky's office told Ukrainian media the two men would meet "in the next few days" in Japan. The summit kicked off on Friday with a renewed condemnation of Russia and an announcement of further sanctions.
The group of seven nations, made up of the US, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan, represent the world's richest democracies. This year, eight other countries including Australia and India have also been invited.
G7 leaders slapped more sanctions on Russia on the summit's opening day
The trip to Japan will be the furthest Mr Zelensky has travelled from Kyiv since the war began in February 2022. In the past few days Mr Zelensky has visited Italy, Germany, France and the UK, where he nailed down promises of military support. He also continues to push allies to provide advanced fighter jets to Ukraine, but so far no country has committed to directly providing them. Once he reaches Hiroshima he will probably try to persuade more cautious leaders to provide aid, such as Japanese PM Fumio Kishida and Indian leader Narendra Modi. "By showing up in person, it is a chance for him to ensure he does not come away empty-handed, and that he will head back to Kyiv his arms full with the weapons deals that he wants", including a promise of lethal weapons from Japan, said John Kirton, director of the G7 Research Group think tank.
Though Japan has been hugely sympathetic to Ukraine, its strict military laws have meant that so far it has only given non-lethal defence equipment.
Why G7 has eight more seats at the table this year
Will a Russian diamond ban be effective?
What sanctions are being imposed on Russia?
Earlier on Friday, G7 leaders were welcomed by Mr Kishida at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where they laid wreaths to honour those who died in the US atomic bombing which hastened the end of World War Two.
The summit's first day ended with a statement in which member countries pledged "new steps" to stop the war in Ukraine and promised further sanctions to "increase the costs to Russia and those who are supporting its war effort". They said they would "starve Russia of G7 technology, industrial equipment and services that support its war machine" and limit Russia's revenue from energy and diamond sales. Separately, British PM Rishi Sunak told the BBC the UK would sanction the Russian diamond industry, and would target more people and companies connected to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response to what it termed "anti-Russian" US sanctions, the Russian foreign ministry announced its own set of sanctions on 500 US citizens, including former US President Barack Obama. The G7 summit, which ends on Sunday, is expected to end with a communique on the war in Ukraine.

Qatar emir skips Assad's Arab League speech in Saudi Arabia
Al Monitor/May 19/2023
Arab leaders gathered in the Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday for the annual Arab League summit. Many of them welcomed Syria’s participation, which resumed for the first time in a decade, but Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani notably did not attend the speech by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and left the summit beforehand, seemingly in protest. Sheikh Tamim arrived in Jeddah on Friday morning, a day after the Syrian leader. Assad addressed the summit at around 1 pm local time with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, the State of Palestine and other member states in the audience.
However, at almost the exact time Assad began his speech, the official Qatar News Agency reported that the Qatari Emir had left Jeddah. Qatar has been a fierce critic of the Assad government since the start of the conflict in 2011. The Gulf state lent its support to the Syrian opposition, advocated Assad's ouster from the Arab League in 2011, and was hesitant to readmit Syria into the organization earlier this month. Doha maintains a diplomat boycott of Damascus even as Arab countries and Turkey are attempting to normalize relations with Assad.
For his part Assad has accused Qatar of supporting armed and Islamists groups in Syria . In his speech at the summit, Assad said he hopes for increased cooperation among Arab countries "with the least amount of foreign intervention.”“I hope [the summit] forms the beginning of a new stage of Arab action for solidarity between us, for peace in our region, for development and prosperity as opposed to war destruction,” he said. Assad refrained from criticizing Arab governments, but did lash out against Israel and Turkey, referencing the “crimes of the Zionist entity against the Palestinian people” as well as the "danger of the Ottoman expansionist mentality.”Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also started working to repair its strained ties with the Syrian government. Turkey supports Syrian rebel groups that control parts of northern Syria, much to the chagrin of Assad. Many other Arab leaders welcomed Syria and Assad’s return to the Arab League in their speeches. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chaired the summit, specifically praised Assad for attending.
“We are pleased today with the presence of President Bashar al-Assad at this summit and the issuance of the Arab League's decision regarding the resumption of the participation of the Syrian government's delegations in the meetings of the Arab League,” said Prince Mohammed. “We hope that this will support the stability of Syria, the return of things to normal and the resumption of its usual role in the Arab nation.”
Saudi Arabia severed relations with Syria in 2012 and formally resumed them shortly before the summit following Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal visiting Damascus and meeting with Assad in April. Saudi Arabia also resumed relations with longtime foe Iran in March, and is embracing more diplomatic foreign policy, in an attempt to end the war in Yemen and restore Riyadh's regional soft power. Jordan’s King Abdullah likewise praised Syria rejoining the Arab League. “We welcome Syria’s return to the Arab League as an important step that we hope will contribute to efforts to end the crisis,” he said.
Jordan never formally cut off relations with Syria, but did support rebel groups in the south early on in the civil war. In 2021, Assad and Abdullah spoke on the phone for the first time in a decade. More recently, Jordan hosted a summit earlier this month to discuss Syria’s return to the Arab League.
Jordan is seeking increased trade with Syria, which remains under US and European sanctions. Jordan and Saudi Arabia also both want to curb the flow of drugs from Syria to Jordan. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi likewise welcomed Syria’s participation, saying it “marks a practical activation of an Arab role in finding a resolution to the Syrian crisis.”Know more: President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan notably did not attend the summit, sending Vice President Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan instead. His absence follows reports of a rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Surprisingly, Ukrainian President Vlodymyr Zelenskyy came to Saudi Arabia for the summit in an effort to improve relations. Zelenskyy thanked Arab states for supporting Ukraine at the international level, but also accused unspecified regional states of “turning a blind eye” to Russia’s invasion. Syria is a strong rally of Russia and publicly backed last year’s invasion.

US imposes sanctions on hundreds of targets in fresh Russia action
WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Daphne Psaledakis and Simon Lewis/Fri, May 19, 2023
The United States on Friday announced sanctions on more than 300 targets as Group of Seven leaders met in Japan, aiming to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and intensifying one of the harshest sanctions efforts ever implemented.
The move, which targets Russia's sanctions evasion, future energy revenues and military-industrial supply chains, marks the latest sanctions and export controls targeting Moscow, which have already hit thousands of targets and imposed steep curbs on Russia. "Today’s actions will further tighten the vise on (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s ability to wage his barbaric invasion and will advance our global efforts to cut off Russian attempts to evade sanctions," U.S. Treasury Department Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement. Russia's foreign ministry said former U.S. President Barack Obama was among 500 Americans citizens who would be banned in response to the latest round of U.S. sanctions. The ministry also said Russia had refused the latest U.S. request for consular access to detained reporter Evan Gershkovich, who faces spying charges.
The U.S. and Europe imposed financial penalties on Russia immediately following the start of the war last year and have steadily ratcheted up the pressure since then, targeting Putin and officials close to him, the financial sector and oligarchs. Experts say Washington could still impose tougher penalties, however - while the sanctions have clearly damaged Russia's economy, they have so far failed to stop Putin from pursuing a war that has killed tens of thousands and turned cities to rubble. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday's action targeted an international network that procures components for the Russia-based entity responsible for the manufacture of the Orlan drone, which Russian forces and their proxies are using in Ukraine. An investigation by Reuters and iStories, a Russian media outlet, in collaboration with the Royal United Services Institute, a defense think tank in London, last year uncovered a logistical trail that spans the globe and ends at the Orlan's production line, the Special Technology Centre in St. Petersburg, Russia. The investigation found that among the most important suppliers to Russia's drone program has been a Hong Kong-based exporter, Asia Pacific Links Ltd, which was targeted by Washington on Friday, as was import company SMT iLogic.
HUNDREDS OF TARGETS
The Treasury Department said it imposed sanctions on 22 people and 104 entities with touchpoints in over 20 countries or jurisdictions, including companies that import, ship or manufacture electronics components, semiconductors and microelectronics to Russia.
As part of its crackdown in recent months on Russia's evasion of sanctions, the Treasury Department designated people and entities in Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein on Friday.
Among the targets on Friday were Russian intelligence services procurement networks and agents, including in Liechtenstein and the Netherlands. The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation was also hit with sanctions. Washington has previously warned that the Kremlin has tasked its intelligence services with finding ways to circumvent sanctions to replace equipment lost on the battlefield. The Treasury Department said it was also imposing sanctions on Russia’s energy educational and research institutions in a bid to “limit Russia’s future extractive capabilities” by targeting the training grounds for Russia’s future energy specialists, and sites where new extraction technologies are developed. Additionally, the Treasury implemented a requirement for Americans to report any property in their possession or control in which Russia's Central Bank, National Wealth Fund or Ministry of Finance has an interest.
The State Department also designated or blocked property of almost 200 individuals, entities, vessels and aircraft and imposed sanctions on Polyus and the Russian business of its peer, Polymetal - the largest gold producers in Russia. Polymetal declined to comment. Polyus did not reply to a request for comment. Subsidiaries of Russia's state-owned nuclear energy company Rosatom were also targeted. Washington has not imposed sanctions on Rosatom itself. The State Department also designated two Iranian shipping companies, a port operator and a maritime service provider it said were part of deepening ties between Russia and Iran. U.S. sanctions authorities were also expanded to more sectors of the Russian economy, including architecture, manufacturing and construction, the Treasury said. The Biden administration also halted the export of wide range of consumer goods to Russia on Friday and added 71 companies to a Commerce Department's list that bars suppliers from selling them U.S. technology without a hard-to-obtain license. Dan Fried, a former State Department coordinator for sanctions policy who is now at the Atlantic Council think tank, said Friday's action was a broad and impactful sanctions package, but that further action to escalate could still be taken, including further sanctions on banks and a reduction of the oil price cap. "At first glance, this is a solid list, not a dramatic escalation," Fried said.

Middle East brings Syria's Assad in from the cold
James Rothwell/The Telegraph/ May 19, 2023
Arab leaders welcomed Bashar al-Assad back into the fold on Friday, as regional powers discussed a deal that could see millions of refugees sent back to Syria. Assad, a global pariah over a litany of human rights abuses during the brutal civil war, took part in an Arab League summit in Riyadh for the first time in a decade. In a clear sign that many Arab leaders wish to radically shift their position on the regime, the Syrian leader also met Mohammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia. However, shortly before Assad was due to address the summit, Qatar's representative walked out in an apparent protest. “I hope that it marks the beginning of a new phase of Arab action for solidarity among us, for peace in our region, development and prosperity instead of war and destruction,” Assad said. It came amid reports that the Arab states wish to normalise relations with Assad as part of a deal that would send Syrian refugees back to the war-torn country. The plan - which was drawn up last month at a foreign ministers meeting - also aims to convince the West to ease crippling sanctions on Syria and crack down on its illicit drugs trade. An estimated five million Syrian refugees have been displaced to five neighbouring countries: Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. A further six million Syrians are displaced within the country, and an estimated one million are in Europe, mainly in Germany. Syrian refugees are increasingly subjected to abuse and considered unwelcome in some Middle East nations, notably Turkey, which has frequently vowed to send them back. The scheme was being discussed at the “highest levels” at the UN, sources told The Financial Times. As Britain, along with much of the European Union, remains vehemently opposed to the Assad regime, it is highly unlikely to take part in such a scheme. After a decade of being shunned by the Arab world, Assad has visited both the United Arab Emirates and Oman in recent months, as part of wider efforts to normalise the Damascus regime. When it was announced that Assad would be readmitted to the Arab League, Western officials reacted with alarm as they remain committed to maintaining heavy sanctions on Syria. As recently as last month, the UK imposed sanctions on four Syrians, including relatives of Assad, and two Lebanese citizens involved in manufacturing and trafficking the amphetamine captagon. The diplomatic campaign to normalise Assad is being led by Saudi Arabia and to some extent the United Arab Emirates, which reopened its Damascus embassy in 2018, one of the earliest signs that a deal was underway. Human rights groups and Middle East analysts reacted with shock to scenes of Assad arriving at the summit in Saudi Arabia. “A man against whom international prosecutors hold more evidence than was brought against Hitler & the Nazi Party is being welcomed with open arms by many of the Middle East's leaders,” said Charles Lister, from the Middle East Institute think tank. Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty International UK's crisis response manager, said: “Saudi Arabia and the UAE may think they’re engineering a ‘rehabilitation’ of Bashar al-Assad, but efforts by Syrian human rights campaigners to bring him and his officials to justice for crimes against humanity aren’t going to stop now. “For the last 12 years, Assad has turned Syria into a slaughterhouse of barrel bombing, mass torture and state killing, and it would be an absolute travesty if he’s allowed to escape justice by cloaking himself in the trappings of international ‘respectability’.”Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month, then enjoy 1 year for just $9 with our US-exclusive offer.

New US sanctions target Russia-Iran military trade
Elizabeth Hagedorn/Al Monitor/May 19/2023
The sanctions come days after the White House said Russia was seeking to replenish its supply of Iranian-made attack drones.
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday announced a wave of new sanctions tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine, including new measures meant to curb military-related transfers between Russia and Iran.
The sweeping package of more than 300 sanctions targeted Russia’s financial services sector, its acquisition of critical technology and future energy extraction capabilities. The State Department also designated multiple entities it said were part of a logistics network deepening ties between Russia and Iran. The targets included Khazar Sea Shipping Line, an Iranian shipping company whose vessels the State Department said had made over 60 port calls in Russia in the past year. Also hit with sanctions were Iranian shipping company Nasim Bahr Kish and Grand Sea LLC, a maritime service provider in Makhachkala, Russia. "These designations will constrain military-related transfers between Russia and Iran as Tehran deepens its support for Moscow’s war against Ukraine," the department said in a statement. The White House said Monday that Russia was seeking to replenish its supply of Iranian-made attack drones, including drones “capable of more lethality.” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters that since August, Iran has provided Russia with more than 400 drones, most of which Moscow has expended while targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine.  The United States says Iran’s provision of drones to Russia violates restrictions imposed under UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the 2015 nuclear deal. After initially denying the shipments, Iran acknowledged in November 2022 that it had supplied Russia with drones, but said it did so before the invasion of Ukraine. Moscow denies having deployed Iranian drones in Ukraine despite extensive evidence. In return for its support for Russia's war effort, Iran has sought billions of dollars worth of military equipment from Moscow, Kirby reiterated on Monday, including attack helicopters, radar systems and Yak-130 combat trainer aircraft. In March, Iranian state media said Tehran had finalized a deal to buy Russian-made Su-35 fighter jets. The sanctions Friday were coordinated with the Group of Seven major industrial countries, Australia and other partners. The new measures came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attended the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia before his expected trip to the Japanese city of Hiroshima to meet with G7 leaders.

Israel's Netanyahu willing to pay 'heavy price' for normalization with Saudi Arabia
Ben Caspit/Al Monitor/May 19/2023
A day after the visit of Israel's Foreign Ministry Director General Ronen Levy to Washington, Al-Monitor has learned that the Negev Forum is expected to convene in a month, in Morocco, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken participating.
TEL AVIV — The visit of Israel's Foreign Ministry Director General Ronen Levy in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday and his meetings there with senior American officials do not reflect any change in the position of the White House on avoiding to invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a meeting with US President Joe Biden, say Israeli diplomatic sources.
On the other hand, with Netanyahu banning Cabinet ministers from traveling to Washington before he gets an invite, Levy has become an emissary for messages from the prime minister to Biden administration seniors.
A statement issued by Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman after her meeting with Levy said that among other things, they spoke about ways to ''advance regional integration through the Negev Forum.''
Al-Monitor learned on Friday from a senior diplomatic source that another meeting of the Negev Forum — originally initiated under then-Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, hosting counterparts from the United States, UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt — is expected to convene again in Morocco, in about a month. The source said that Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to come to the meeting, and that efforts are underway to add to the meeting countries that are not yet part of the Abraham Accords.
As a reminder, the Negev Forum was expected to convene last March but got delayed because of regional tensions. After the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, efforts to convene the meeting renewed. Earlier this month, Israel's public broadcaster KAN reported on efforts to get Sudan to participate in the next Negev Forum. Sudan is part of the Abraham Accords, but has not yet finalized its normalization agreement with Israel, and is now embroiled in conflict. The situation in Jerusalem is becoming increasingly awkward. The Biden administration is not hiding its clear distaste for the policies of the Israeli leader and his radical nationalist, racist government. More so, because of Netanyahu’s ban, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has not set foot in the US capital since taking office almost five months ago, and the same goes for Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, to whom the Pentagon and National Security Council have extended invitations to discuss issues of paramount security importance. As such, the meetings of Levy this week with Sherman, White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk and President Biden's senior adviser on the Middle East Amos Hochstein seem especially important. After his meeting with senior Biden administration officials, Levy also met with a group of Congress members considered friends of Israel.
According to the Foreign Ministry, Levy’s visit was aimed at strengthening and expanding the Abraham Accords between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco and dealing with bilateral US-Israeli issues. Such laconic formulations delivered by government officials are generally considered a smokescreen designed to obscure the real and dramatic goals of diplomatic contacts — in this case, intensified efforts to draw Saudi Arabia into normalizing relations with Israel.
Hajj negotiations with Saudi Arabia
Interestingly, one day only after Levy’s Washington visit, Israel’s Maariv reported that negotiations started a year ago on direct flights from Israel to Saudi Arabia for the hajj pilgrimage have advanced considerably. The report said that Riyadh is now inclined to approve the move, which would be open only to Muslims living in Israel who wish to participate in the pilgrimage, allowing them to board planes taking off either from Ben Gurion Airport or from Ramon Airport.
Of course, even if this happens — hajj this year is set for the end of June — it would not mean that normalization between Israel and Saudi Arabia is imminent. Still, Israel and the United States have launched a renewed push to include Saudi Arabia in the Abraham Accords, as Al-Monitor reported last week. In fact, some Biden associates believe such a ground-breaking achievement changing the face of the Middle East could benefit the president’s reelection prospects, especially given criticism of his administration for abandoning major US allies in the region since taking office.
Israeli political sources affirm that any concrete decisions on Israel’s part in a trilateral US-Saudi-Israeli deal will only be made by Netanyahu himself, his close associate Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer or national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi. Netanyahu will not allow anyone else to be credited with making historic peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Nonetheless, Levy has an impressive record that could nudge forward Netanyahu’s burning ambition. Levy devoted much of his career to service in the Shin Bet security agency, where he was widely known by his pseudonym, "Maoz." On loan from the Shin Bet to the National Security Council, he was instrumental in the secret contacts that paved the way for the 2020 Abraham Accords. He is knowledgeable, discreet and well connected in Arab capitals.
Referring to Levy’s Washington meetings, a senior Israeli political source talked to Al-Monitor about Netanyahu's goal in regard to Saudi Arabia. “Netanyahu is willing to pay a heavy price for an agreement with Saudi Arabia. This may include willingness to compromise on the issue of contacts and messengers, because time is pressing and there is a lot of work to be done," the source said. Axios had reported this week that the White House wants to push for a Saudi-Israeli peace deal in the next six to seven months before the election campaign consumes Biden’s agenda.
A former top Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor that while Israel and the Biden administration see eye to eye on the necessity of pushing for a deal with Saudi Arabia, things are different when it comes to Lebanon. Washington was displeased over the dismissive attitude of Netanyahu and his government toward the historic October 2022 Israel-Lebanon gas agreement, which Hochstein was instrumental in achieving. Netanyahu had accused then-Prime Minister Yair Lapid of bargaining away Israel’s “sovereign territory,” in what Haaretz newspaper considered a classic case of sour grapes over the fact that it was achieved by the previous government after Netanyahu’s own efforts on the matter faltered for years.
Apart from the Abraham Accords and perhaps the Lebanon deal, Levy is also believed to have discussed with the Americans Israel’s desire to develop the Negev Forum.
"One thing is certain," a senior Israeli diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. "The director general of the Foreign Ministry did not discuss a possible visit by Netanyahu to Washington, and his boss — Foreign Minister Eli Cohen — knows that he will not see Washington before Netanyahu, just as he will not see the Emirates before Netanyahu does. That's the prime minister's approach, at least for now."
With such an elephant in the room, no wonder that Levy’s Washington work visit attracted much media attention. This attention testifies more than anything to the depth of the crisis in relations Washington and Jerusalem prompted by the deeply controversial judicial overhaul the Netanyahu government has pushed. "The Americans are waiting for quite a few answers from Israel on quite a few strategic issues," a senior European diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. "They still don't know what price Netanyahu is willing to pay for an agreement with Saudi Arabia. Is he willing for the United States to upgrade the weapons systems supplied to Saudi Arabia to the level of those that Israel is sold? Will Israel oppose the supply of civilian nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia? Is Netanyahu capable of significant outreach to the Palestinians and the Palestinian Authority in order to make it easier for Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman to risk open agreement with Israel?"
These answers, or at least some of them, will only be delivered by Netanyahu or his top aides, such as Dermer, Hanegbi or even the esteemed Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog. Netanyahu would, of course, prefer to give the answers himself, but as of now he will clearly have to compromise.

Sudan’s top army general formally fires rival paramilitary leader as his deputy in symbolic gesture
AP/May 19, 2023
CAIRO: In a symbolic gesture, Sudan’s top army general on Friday fired the paramilitary leader — his former ally turned rival — as the deputy of the country’s governing body, state media reported.
The dismissal by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan of Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, commander of the Rapid Support Forces, from the Sovereignty Council comes as the two fueding generals continue to battle for control over this troubled African country. The month-long conflict has killed at least 705 people, the World Health Organization said Friday. The firing, reported by the state SUNA news agency, is unlikely to affect the battlefield where the warring sides appear locked in a stalemate and unwilling to end the hostilities. The paramilitary forces did not immediately comment. The combat has been most acute in the Sudanese capital and in the western Darfur region.
In South Darfur’s regional capital of Nyala, intense fighting between the army and RSF forces flared up Thursday killing at least 18 civilians, the Darfur Bar Association said, a legal group focusing on human rights.
Last weekend, upward of 280 civilians were killed when RSF and other affiliated militias stormed the city of Geneina, also in the Darfur region, and clashed with armed residents, the Sudan Doctors Union said.
Last week, the two sides signed a US-Saudi brokered pact vowing to better protect civilians caught in the crossfire. International efforts are underway to try and build a lasting truce.
Burhan appointed Malik Agar, a once prominent leader of the Sudan Revolutionary Front, a rebel movement in Sudan’s southern Blue Nile State, to replace Dagalo, SUNA said. The United Nations and rights groups have accused Sudan’s warring sides of human rights abuses. The army has been blamed for bombing residential areas and hospitals, while the RSF was condemned for looting, attacking civilians and turning civilian houses into operational bases.

The Latest LCCC English analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on May 19-20/2023
Today in History: Jihad Unleashed on Malta
Raymond Ibrahim/PJ Media/May 18/2023
Today in history, May 18, 1565, one of the most symbolically important military encounters between Islam and Europe began: the Ottoman Turks besieged the tiny island of Malta, in what was then considered the heaviest bombardment any locale had been subjected to.
Around the start of the sixteenth century, Muslim pirates from Algiers began to terrorize the Christian Mediterranean. Like their terrestrial counterparts, they too were indoctrinated in and emboldened by Muhammad’s promises: “A campaign by sea is like ten campaigns by land,” the prophet had said, “and he who loses his bearings at sea is like one who sheds his blood in the path of Allah”—that is, he is rewarded either in the here or hereafter. The piratical lust for booty was, accordingly, heightened by dreams of “martyrdom.”
When Suleiman “the Magnificent”—better known among Muslims as Suleiman “the Ghazi” (jihadi/raider)—became Ottoman sultan in 1520, he instantly took the most notorious of these Barbary pirates, Khair al-Din Barbarossa, into his service and helped him prosecute the sea jihad on Europe. The ensuing reign of terror forced Europeans along the Mediterranean coast to relive the days of their ancestors in the centuries before the Crusades, when the Middle Sea was first inundated with jihad and slave raiding. Over the following two decades, hundreds of thousands of Europeans were enslaved, so that, by 1541, “Algiers teemed with Christian captives, and it became a common saying that a Christian slave was scarce a fair barter for an onion.”
Despite the seaborne jihad’s successes, “You will do no good,” a seasoned corsair counseled Suleiman, “until you have smoked out this nest of vipers.” He was referring to the Knights Hospitaller, who came into being soon after the First Crusade (c.1099) and were now known as the Knights of Saint John, headquartered in Malta. Suleiman had evicted them from Rhodes in 1522—whence for two hundred years they had frustrated all Ottoman naval attempts—and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had bequeathed the island of Malta to the homeless Hospitallers in 1530. They were the emperor’s response to the sultan’s corsairs—and, for more than three decades, a thorn in Suleiman’s side.
In March 1565, after having finally decided to eliminate this “headquarters of infidels,” Suleiman dispatched one of the largest fleets ever assembled—carrying some thirty thousand Ottomans—to take the tiny island, which had a total fighting population of eight thousand. Pope Pius IV implored the kings of Europe to Malta’s aid, to no avail: the king of Spain “has withdrawn into the woods,” complained the pope, “and France, England and Scotland [are] ruled by women and boys.” Only the viceroy of neighboring Sicily responded, but he needed time to raise recruits.
Jean Parisot de Valette (1494–1568), the Grand Master of the Knights—“his disposition is rather sad,” but “for his age [seventy-one], he is very robust” and “very devout”—made preparations for the forthcoming siege, including by explaining to his men what was at stake: “A formidable army composed of audacious barbarians is descending on this island,” he warned; “these persons, my brothers, are the enemies of Jesus Christ. Today it is a question of the defense of our Faith as to whether the book of the Evangelist [the Gospel] is to be superseded by that of the Koran? God on this occasion demands of us our lives, already vowed to His service. Happy will those be who first consummate this sacrifice.”
On May 18, the Ottomans commenced nonstop bombardment, first targeting St. Elmo, one of Malta’s key forts. “With the roar of the artillery and the arquebuses, the hair-raising screams, the smoke and fire and flame,” a chronicler wrote, “it seemed that the whole world was at the point of exploding.” The vastly outnumbered and soon wearied defenders, who were ordered to “fight bravely and sell their lives to the barbarians as dearly as possible,” did just that; and for every Christian killed defending the fort, numerous Muslim besiegers fell. After withstanding all that the Ottomans could throw against it for more than a month, on June 23, St. Elmo, by now a heap of rubble, was finally stormed and captured.
Virtually all 1,500 defenders were slaughtered. The same grisly fate Salah al-Din (Saladin) had centuries earlier consigned to Islam’s staunchest enemies—the Knights Templars and Hospitallers at the disastrous Battle of Hattin (1187)—was now meted out to their heirs. The Knights of Saint John “were hung upside down from iron rings . . . and had their heads split, their chests open, and their hearts torn out.” Ottoman commander Mustafa ordered their mutilated corpses (along with one Maltese priest) nailed to wooden crosses and set adrift in the Grand Harbor in order to deride and demoralize the onlooking defenders.
It failed: the seventy-one-year-old Valette delivered a thundering and defiant speech before the huddled Christians, beheaded all Muslim prisoners, and fired their heads from cannon at the Turkish besiegers. The Ottomans proceeded to subject the rest of the island to, at that time, history’s most sustained bombardment (some 130,000 cannonballs were fired in total). “I don’t know if the image of hell can describe the appalling battle,” wrote a contemporary: “the fire, the heat, the continuous flames from the flamethrowers and fire hoops; the thick smoke, the stench, the disemboweled and mutilated corpses, the clash of arms, the groans, shouts, and cries, the roar of the guns . . . men wounding, killing, scrabbling, throwing one another back, falling and firing.”
Although the rest of the forts were reduced to rubble, much Muslim blood was spilled for each inch gained; for “when they got within arms’ reach the scimitar was no match for the long two-handed sword of the Christians.” Desperate fighting spilled into the streets, where even Maltese women and children participated.
It was now late August and the island was still not taken; that, and mass casualties led to mass demoralization in the Ottoman camp. Embarrassed talk of lifting the siege had already begun when Sicily’s viceroy Garcia de Toledo finally arrived with nearly ten thousand soldiers at St. Paul’s Bay. There, where the apostle was once shipwrecked, the final scene of this Armageddon played out as the fresh newcomers routed the retreating Ottomans, who finally fled on September 11—a day which, wittingly or unwittingly, would be avenged by the jihadi “descendants” of the Ottomans in 2001.
“So great was the stench in the bay,” which was awash with countless bloated Muslim corpses, “that no man could go near it.” As many as twenty thousand Ottomans and five thousand defenders died. After forty years of successful campaigning against Europe, Suleiman finally suffered his first major defeat. One year later he succumbed to death, aged seventy-one.
More importantly for Europe, a chink in the Ottoman armor was first perceived thanks to Malta’s spirited resistance; it showed that a tiny but dedicated force could hold out against what was till then deemed an unstoppable Ottoman war machine.
Accordingly, when in 1570 Ottoman forces invaded the island of Cyprus, the pope easily managed to form a “Holy League” of maritime Catholic nation-states, spearheaded by the Spanish Empire, in 1571. To everyone’s dismay—Christian and Muslim—the Holy League prevailed at the battle of Lepanto. As Miguel Cervantes, who was at the naval clash, has the colorful Don Quixote say: “That day . . . was so happy for Christendom, because all the world learned how mistaken it had been in believing that the Turks were invincible by sea.”
But that sentiment was first realized six years earlier, by the heroic defense of Malta—when the tide of war between Islam and Europe first turned to the latter’s favor.
The above account was excerpted from the author’s books, Sword and Scimitar: Fourteen Centuries of War between Islam and the West. and Defenders of the West: The Christian Heroes Who Stood Against Islam.

Murdered Like Animals’: The Genocide of Christians in Nigeria Reaches New Heights
Raymond Ibrahim/Gatestone Institute/May 19, 2023
الإبادة الجماعية للمسيحيين في نيجيريا تصل إلى آفاق جديدة
ريمون إبراهيم/معهد جيتستون/19 آيار/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/118345/118345/
[S]ince the Islamic uprising began in 2009, 52,250 Christians “have been butchered or hacked to death” in Nigeria. — Report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (“Intersociety”), April 10, 2023.
In just the first 100 days of this year [Jan.1-April 10], “no fewer than 1,041 defenseless Christians were hacked to death by Nigeria’s Jihadists …” — Report by Intersociety, April 10, 2023.
[R]oughly 15-20% of the slaughters were attributed to “Nigerian security forces, particularly the Nigerian Army.”
By far, however, the worst killers are the “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who specifically target and massacre Christians and wantonly destroy or burn down their sacred places of worship and learning; homes and farmlands.” — Report by Intersociety, April 10, 2023.
The Intersociety report makes clear that the jihadists are fervently trying to cleanse Nigeria of any Christian presence….
“This Jihad is based on the Doctrine of Hate taught in Mosques and Islamic Madrasas in northern Nigeria as well as the supremacist ideology of the Fulani. Using both conventional (violent) Jihad, and stealth (civilization) Jihad, the Islamists of northern Nigeria seem determined to turn Nigeria into an Islamic Sultanate and replace Liberal Democracy with Sharia as the National Ideology. … We want a Nigeria, where citizens are treated equally before the law at all levels….” – Christian Association of Nigeria, May 4, 2018.
Turkey…, once a bastion of ancient Christianity with churches everywhere, has, after the Turkish conquest, become so thoroughly Islamized, that its ancient basilicas, such as Hagia Sophia, now serve as mosques.
Although the report appeared on April 10, the massacres and atrocities have continued relentlessly since.
Sunday, Apr. 16…. One 5-year-old boy was beheaded.
[N]ews outlets—including the Catholic News Agency—fail to identify the religions of either the murdered or their murderers. This video, which otherwise captures the tragic aftermath, refers to the Muslim terrorists as “bandits” and their Christian victims as “villagers.”
Esther Duniya, a 14-year-old Christian girl, was abducted from school and forcibly converted to Islam. Instead of helping her father and aunt recover her, police handed the girl “to Daawa, the Islamic group in charge – of converting and indoctrinating Muslims converts….” — The Guardian, May 10, 2023.
[T]he government of Muhammadu Buhari, the Muslim president of Nigeria, has only “protected” the “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen” to “the extent that the Jihadists now invade any Christian Community of their target at will and slaughter its natives and takeover their lands and properties at will.” — Report by Intersociety, April 10, 2023.
According to several Christian leaders in Nigeria (see below), the reason formerly simple Fulani herdsmen have, since Buhari became president in 2015, managed to kill nearly twice as many Christians as the “professional” terrorists (Boko Haram, ISWA, etc.), is “because President Buhari is also of the Fulani ethnic group.” — Breitbart, June 27, 2018.
“Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism… Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people.” — Rev. Musa Asake, the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria, January 16, 2018.
“What Obama, John Kerry and Hilary Clinton did to Nigeria by funding and supporting [current president Muhammadu] Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and helping Boko Haram in 2014/2015 was sheer wickedness and the blood of all those killed by the Buhari administration, his Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram over the last 5 years are on their hands.” — Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Minister of Culture and Tourism, churchmilitant.com, February 21, 2020.
Despite all this, the American “mainstream” remains committed to describing the jihad in Nigeria as a byproduct of “inequality” and “poverty,” to quote former US President Bill Clinton, who once explained what was “fueling all this stuff” (the “stuff” being a reference to the genocide of Christians in Nigeria).
In their quest to blame anything and everything but Islamic, specifically jihadist, ideology, even climate change has been added to the mainstream arsenal of reasons fueling the genocide of Christians.
Worst of all has been the Biden administration’s response. In 2020, Trump placed Nigeria on the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern—that is, nations which engage in, or tolerate violations of, religious freedom. Under Biden, however, the State Department removed Nigeria—this nation where one Christian is butchered every two hours—from the list.
For mainstream media and politicians, black lives—52,250 now and counting—do not matter — at least not when those lives are Christians’ being slaughtered by Muslims.
A variety of Islamic terrorists—including “ISWA [Islamic State in West Africa], Boko Haram, and Ansaru Jihadists”—are responsible for the murders of 52,250 Christians in Nigeria since 2009.
The “pure genocide” of Christians in Nigeria, as it has been characterized by some international observers, has reached new levels, according to an April 10, 2023 report by the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law, also known as “Intersociety”, a nonprofit human rights organization based in Nigeria.
According to the report, since the Islamic uprising began in 2009, 52,250 Christians “have been butchered or hacked to death” in Nigeria. With each passing year, the number of slain grows. In just the first 100 days of this year, “no fewer than 1,041 defenseless Christians were hacked to death by Nigeria’s Jihadists … [from] 1st Jan to 10th April 2023.”
As Open Doors observed a year ago, in Nigeria, “every two hours, a Christian is killed for their faith.”
A variety of Islamic terrorists—including “ISWA [Islamic State in West Africa], Boko Haram, and Ansaru Jihadists”—are responsible for the carnage; roughly 15-20% of the slaughters were attributed to “Nigerian security forces, particularly the Nigerian Army.”
By far, however, the worst killers are:
“… Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen who specifically target and massacre Christians and wantonly destroy or burn down their sacred places of worship and learning; homes and farmlands.”
Also since 2009, 18,000 churches and 2,200 Christian schools were attacked, many “destroyed in part or in whole including being razed or burned down.” Attacks on churches by “the Nigerian Military and the Police crack squads in Eastern Nigeria have also increased…”
As for the mass displacement of Christians,
“No fewer than 50 million Christians [the] majority of them in Northern Nigeria are facing serious threats from Jihadists for being professed Christians; out of which not less than fourteen million have been uprooted and eight million forced to flee their homes to avoid being hacked to death. About five million have been displaced and forced into IDP camps within Nigeria and refugee camps at regional and sub-regional borders.”
The Intersociety report makes clear that the jihadists are fervently trying to cleanse Nigeria of any Christian presence:
“No fewer than 800 Christian communities have [been] uprooted and seized or taken over; with many of them renamed and Islamized by the Jihadists since 2009. BH, ISWAP and Ansaru and Jihadist Fulani Bandits have forced Christians out of their ancestral homes and communities in droves … Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen have sacked and are still sacking hundreds of Christian communities…. Over 150 communities have been affected in Southern Kaduna alone and in Benue, Plateau and Taraba States, Christian homes, churches and settlements have been destroyed and replaced with Mosques and Muslim settlements.”
In 2018, the National Christian Elders Forum of Nigeria succinctly summarized the ultimate source of this onslaught:
“JIHAD has been launched in Nigeria by the Islamists of northern Nigeria led by the Fulani ethnic group. This Jihad is based on the Doctrine of Hate taught in Mosques and Islamic Madrasas in northern Nigeria as well as the supremacist ideology of the Fulani. Using both conventional (violent) Jihad, and stealth (civilization) Jihad, the Islamists of northern Nigeria seem determined to turn Nigeria into an Islamic Sultanate and replace Liberal Democracy with Sharia as the National Ideology. … We want a Nigeria, where citizens are treated equally before the law at all levels….”
The Intersociety report closes by warning that, if nothing is done, “the churches or church buildings in Nigeria will become the present day Turkish church monuments in fifty years’ time or less than that.” This is a reference to how Asia Minor (today’s Turkey), once a bastion of ancient Christianity with churches everywhere, has, since its conquest by Muslim Turks, become so thoroughly Islamized, that its ancient basilicas, such as Hagia Sophia, now serve as mosques.
Although the report appeared on April 10, the massacres and atrocities have continued relentlessly since. A few examples from just the rest of April 2023, include:
April 15-26: Muslim Fulani slaughtered 18 Christians and wounded dozens during raids on various Christian communities in Plateau State.
April 16: Muslims slaughtered 33 Christians in Kaduna State. They also “maimed and burned mostly women and children.” One 5-year-old boy was beheaded.
As often happens, news outlets—including the Catholic News Agency—fail to identify the religions of either the murdered or their murderers. This video, which otherwise captures the tragic aftermath, refers to the Muslim terrorists as “bandits” and their Christian victims as “villagers.”
April 16-19: Muslim Fulani murdered 12 Christians and torched at least 86 homes. Hundreds of Christians were displaced. An area resident said:
“The victims were murdered like animals, while some inhabitants of these communities are still missing. Valuables worth millions of naira have been lost. More than 50 houses have been burnt down to ashes, and food and cash crops were burnt to ashes, too.”
Aside from the outright slaughter of Christians, many other abuses were committed all throughout April. Esther Duniya, a 14-year-old Christian girl, was abducted from school and forcibly converted to Islam. Instead of helping her father and aunt recover her, police handed the girl “to Daawa, the Islamic group in charge of converting and indoctrinating Muslims converts, who are now boasting and threatening to convert even Esther’s aunty.”
According to the Intersociety report, the government of Muhammadu Buhari, the Muslim president of Nigeria, has only “protected” the “Jihadist Fulani Herdsmen” to “the extent that the Jihadists now invade any Christian Community of their target at will and slaughter its natives and takeover their lands and properties at will.”
Intersociety is not alone in accusing Buhari. According to several Christian leaders in Nigeria (see below), the reason formerly simple Fulani herdsmen have, since Buhari became president in 2015, managed to kill nearly twice as many Christians as the “professional” terrorists (Boko Haram, ISWA, etc.), is “because President Buhari is also of the Fulani ethnic group,” to quote Nigerian bishop Matthew Ishaya Audu.
Similar accusations follow:
“[T]he Muslim president [Buhari] has only awarded the murderers with impunity rather than justice and has staffed his government with Islamic officials, while doing essentially nothing to give the nation’s Christians, who make up half the population, due representation….. When they [Christians] tried to defend themselves [against Fulani raids] the Buhari govt. sent in the Airforce to bomb hundreds of them and protect the Fulani aggressors. Is this fair? WORLD TAKE NOTE!” — former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode.
“Under President Buhari, the murderous Fulani herdsmen enjoyed unprecedented protection and favoritism… Rather than arrest and prosecute the Fulani herdsmen, security forces usually manned by Muslims from the North offer them protection as they unleash terror with impunity on the Nigerian people.” — Rev. Musa Asake, the General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria.
Buhari “is openly pursuing an anti-Christian agenda that has resulted in countless murders of Christians all over the nation and destruction of vulnerable Christian communities.” — Bosun Emmanuel, the secretary of the National Christian Elders Forum.
Some Nigerian leaders go beyond Buhari and blame “the evil called Barack Obama” — in the words of Femi Fani-Kayode, Nigeria’s former Minister of Culture and Tourism. On February 21,2020, the former government official wrote:
“What Obama, John Kerry and Hilary Clinton did to Nigeria by funding and supporting [current president Muhammadu] Buhari in the 2015 presidential election and helping Boko Haram in 2014/2015 was sheer wickedness and the blood of all those killed by the Buhari administration, his Fulani herdsmen and Boko Haram over the last 5 years are on their hands.”
Evidence against the Nigerian government continues pouring forth. One day after the Intersociety report was published, another report appeared, saying that on Easter Sunday (Apr. 10), the Nigerian army invaded various Christian regions, where it looted and burned stores:
“[T]he soldiers numbering more than 200 with armoured vehicles invaded the community while people were still in various churches attending Sunday Mass and services in commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ….. They were shooting sporadically when they invaded, which saw people running helter skelter for their dear lives, some who went to church almost got trapped inside the church as they could not leave for fear of being killed.”
In a separate attack that began on Sunday, Apr. 30, the Muslim terrorists had two full days to slaughter Christians, for a total of 20, before local police finally arrived. “We lost hope in the Nigerian Police,” said one Christian villager.
According to yet another April headline, “Nigerian Government Looks Away as [Christian] Farms Continue to be Destroyed.”
Despite all this, the American “mainstream” remains committed to describing the jihad in Nigeria as a byproduct of “inequality” and “poverty,” to quote former US President Bill Clinton, who once explained what was “fueling all this stuff” (the “stuff” being a reference to the genocide of Christians in Nigeria).
In their quest to blame anything and everything but Islamic, specifically jihadist, ideology, even climate change has been added to the mainstream arsenal of reasons fueling the genocide of Christians. As one Nigerian nun, Sister Monica Chikwe, observed, however, “It’s tough to tell Nigerian Christians this isn’t a religious conflict since what they see are Fulani fighters clad entirely in black, chanting ‘Allahu Akbar!’ and screaming ‘Death to Christians.’” Or as the Christian Association of Nigeria once asked,
“How can it be a [secular or economic] clash when one group [Muslims] is persistently attacking, killing, maiming, destroying, and the other group [Christians] is persistently being killed, maimed and their places of worship destroyed?”
Worst of all has been the Biden administration’s response. In 2020, Trump placed Nigeria on the State Department’s list of Countries of Particular Concern—that is, nations which engage in, or tolerate violations of, religious freedom. Under Biden, however, the State Department removed Nigeria—this nation where one Christian is butchered every two hours—from the list.
Many observers responded by slamming the Biden State Department for this inexplicable move. As Sean Nelson, Legal Counsel for Global Religious Freedom for ADF International, noted:
“Outcry over the State Department’s removal of Country of Particular Concern status for Nigeria’s religious freedom violations is entirely warranted. No explanations have been given that could justify this decision. If anything, the situation in Nigeria has grown worse over the last year. Thousands of Christians, as well as Muslims who oppose the goals of terrorist and militia groups, are targeted, killed, and kidnapped, and the government is simply unwilling to stop these atrocities. … Removing Country of Particular Concern status for Nigeria will only embolden the increasingly authoritarian government there.”
Incidentally and to his credit, along with placing Nigeria on the list, Trump once forthrightly asked the Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, “Why are you killing Christians?”
At any rate, such is the current state of affairs: a jihad of genocidal proportions has been declared on the Christian population of Nigeria—even as American media and government present Nigeria’s problems in purely economic terms that defy reality.
For mainstream media and politicians, black lives—52,250 now and counting—do not matter — at least not when those lives are Christians’ being slaughtered by Muslims.
Raymond Ibrahim, author of Defenders of the West, Sword and Scimitar, Crucified Again, and The Al Qaeda Reader, is the Distinguished Senior Shillman Fellow at the Gatestone Institute and the Judith Rosen Friedman Fellow at the Middle East Forum.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19648/murdered-like-animals-the-genocide-of-christians
Pictured Enclosed: A police officer walks beside a burnt prison vehicle in Abuja, Nigeria on July 6, 2022, after Boko Haram terrorists attacked Kuje Prison in a raid to break out imprisoned jihadists.(Photo by Kola Sulaimo/AFP via Getty Images)

Syria: The Last Option Towards Normalized Relations
Sam Menassa/This is Beirut/19 May 2023
Syria’s controversial return to the Arab League has sparked angry feelings of condemnation among some, and welcoming support among others. However, both sides are almost convinced that Bashar al-Assad’s regime has won, although many refuse to openly disclose this “victory”. Syria is a mortified nation, pining away under five occupations, and half of its population has either relocated or emigrated. Hundreds of thousands of others are either dead, wounded, missing, or detained. For 12 years, Bashar al-Assad sustained Russian and Iranian support and held, with his allies, a part of Syria which was described during the war as “profitable Syria”. In addition, he gradually took part in an Arab normalization which began with the UAE in 2018 and 2019, followed by Bahrain and the Sultanate of Oman. And in 2021, Jordan suggested the return of Syria to the Arab fold in return for concessions, which led to Damascus regaining its seat in the Arab League last week.
As a result, those wishing and soliciting the return of Assad to the Arab folds are convinced that the current situation can no longer persist. Indeed, the situation has become a source of contagious and harmful problems and crises for its surrounding countries and for the Syrian population itself. Some of the most salient matters include Syria’s shift into a hotbed of terrorism, drug production, and smuggling, in addition to millions of internally displaced pe ople and emigrants who have overburdened neighboring countries. As such, the persistent boycott of Assad’s regime will not solve any of these crucial issues. This game plan prompted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to press for his strategic decision: to appease to the fullest extent the breeding grounds of tension across the region and allow them to grow economically. In turn, this will have positive repercussions on the KSA, and on the region as a whole.
The same countries, rightfully wishing to see the return of Syria to the Arab League, believe that the region should not continue to pay the high price for the failure of three US administrations in tackling the Syrian war. From Barack Obama’s era to Donald Trump’s, and half of Joe Biden’s term, US policy towards Syria was a failure. The harsh imposed sanctions did not succeed in altering the state of affairs, which remained the same. Obama’s red lines have stumbled, Trump’s sound bombs have fallen on deaf ears, and Biden seems unmoved. Basically, by speaking the same language, albeit with different accents, the three US presidents have allowed the following: enabling Russia and Iran to establish their presence in Syria, allowing Turkey to control the northern part of the country, and finally, letting Israel roam free and chase Iran and its militias as it sees fit.
According to some public statements, the supporters of a normalization of relations with the Syrian regime haven’t been overly taxing regarding their demands and expectations. Instead, they solely chose to stick to the method of a gradual, “step by step” return, as was disclosed, without insisting on a transitional phase. Furthermore, they casually grazed the political process required by UN Resolution 2254.
In return for stable relations and helping to rebuild Syria, what is required from Bashar al-Assad’s regime may be limited to a package deal which starts with the safe return of the refugees through an essential and effective process: the latter should start with the release of a general amnesty law which extends to aspects related to compulsory military service and the elimination of the fear factor that could result from retaliation acts among other practices. In addition, new discussions need to potentially be reopened about a new draft constitution, as well as ending the manufacturing, fostering, and exporting of drugs to the region. Possibly, last week’s Jordanian military operation, which eliminated the biggest drug lords at its borders, fits into this background. In short, the structure of the regime, and everything that could threaten its existence and continuity, will not be addressed. It is also difficult to determine whether the regime promised to act regarding the withdrawal of foreign militias from Syria. And by militias, we refer here to the ones allied with Iran.
In addition, some sources leaked the request from the Syrian regime about an agreement on a settlement with Israel, which does not call for a normalization, nor a peace treaty with the country. This deal is only meant to prevent any chance of skidding into a war that could ignite at the Syrian-Israeli border.
Will Assad react? And will the ones betting on the success of this normalization win? Any effective response, whether in favor of or against Assad, is out of order. So far, experiences with this regime do not call for excessive optimism. Ever since the seventies, the history of the Assad family’s governance is based on refutation, stubbornness, and disagreement. As such, we can recall the “Resistance and confrontation front” which was formed by numerous Arab countries to isolate Egypt internationally as a punishment for signing the peace agreement with Israel. In addition to Syria’s support for the Palestinian Rejectionist Front, its opposition to the PLO’s fighting in Lebanon in 1976, and the expelling of Yasser Arafat from northern Lebanon in 1983, after he left Beirut with his troops following the 1982 Israeli invasion. The epitome of Syria’s decisions was its support for Iran against Iraq in the 1980-1988 war, standing apart from the Arab consensus. These positions were taken while Syria was in the bosom of the Arab League. Back then, it claimed to be the nucleus of Arabism and refused to take a unilateral approach to unify the views regarding the Palestinian issue, even regarding the Palestinian population. Syria perceived the nature of the Palestinian problem as being Arab and not solely Palestinian.
The Syrian-Arab issue must be examined through three standpoints: Saudi-Gulf, Iranian – which diverges from the first due to ideological differences – and Syrian.
The Saudi-Gulf perspective seeks to wipe away conflicts, quell hotbeds of tension in the region, push them towards stability and development, and weave a variety of balanced and independent political and economic relations. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states will continue to follow this path unless something new occurs, diverting their attention from Syria. An example of this is the ongoing fighting in Sudan, which poses a threat to the Red Sea region. Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi expressed the country’s perspective on the matter during his visit to Syria. Back then, he considered Iran and Syria to be “victorious” and reasserted a “unified position”, an attachment to the resistance, and the support for strategic relations between the two countries by signing a wide number of agreements. In short, Iran’s narrative did not waver.
Finally, the Syrian perspective perceives Assad’s pragmatism, his clenching to all available opportunities that serve his interests, and his constant wagering on two factors: time, as well as regional and international changes. His guesstimates were right on target at the beginning of the Syrian war, when he mentioned that all world leaders would eventually be out of power, but the Syrian regime will still stand.
The key collateral victim of Syria’s return to the Arab League is the United Nations. Undoubtedly, two things were mentioned: the Cairo Declaration as well as the Security Council Resolution 2254 as the only bases for a political settlement. But these were mentioned unintentionally. As for the Europeans and the Americans, despite the declared reaction which rejects normalization with the regime and adheres to the sanctions against it, they didn’t hinder the path of the Syrian regime’s return to the Arab League. In Europe, pressure will be exerted by various countries in order for the European Union to soften up and comply with the Arab League, although the majority of European Council members – France and Germany in particular – are hostile to any lifting of sanctions.
It remains to be seen whether normalization and reconciliation will rescue Syria from its agony. Syria’s return to the Arab fold should motivate the West in general, and the Americans in particular, to make a serious attempt at changing their wavering vision and performance regarding the Syrian issue, one that they have largely implemented throughout the years of war.
https://thisisbeirut.com.lb/lebanon/141865?fbclid=IwAR1mk1FiTyxJvlMWrxuMXBc_-tvpCoE6dHebQZBfWi8EO4B7OuFXht2PTDo  

Question: “Do we have guardian angels?”
GotQuestions.org/19 May 2023
Answer: Matthew 18:10 states, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” In the context, “these little ones” could either apply to those who believe in Him (v. 6) or it could refer to the little children (vs. 3-5). This is the key passage regarding guardian angels. There is no doubt that good angels help protect (Daniel 6:20-23; 2 Kings 6:13-17), reveal information (Acts 7:52-53; Luke 1:11-20), guide (Matthew 1:20-21; Acts 8:26), provide for (Genesis 21:17-20; 1 Kings 19:5-7), and minister to believers in general (Hebrews 1:14).
The question is whether each person—or each believer—has an angel assigned to him/her. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel had the archangel (Michael) assigned to it (Daniel 10:21; 12:1), but Scripture nowhere states that an angel is “assigned” to an individual (angels were sometimes sent to individuals, but there is no mention of permanent assignment). The Jews fully developed the belief in guardian angels during the time between the Old and New Testament periods. Some early church fathers believed that each person had not only a good angel assigned to him/her, but a demon as well. The belief in guardian angels has been around for a long time, but there is no explicit scriptural basis for it.
To return to Matthew 18:10, the word “their” is a collective pronoun in the Greek and refers to the fact that believers are served by angels in general. These angels are pictured as “always” watching the face of God so as to hear His command to them to help a believer when it is needed. The angels in this passage do not seem to be guarding a person so much as being attentive to the Father in heaven. The active duty or oversight seems, then, to come more from God than from the angels, which makes perfect sense because God alone is omniscient. He sees every believer at every moment, and He alone knows when one of us needs the intervention of an angel. Because they are continually seeing His face, the angels are at His disposal to help one of His “little ones.”
It cannot be emphatically answered from Scripture whether or not each believer has a guardian angel assigned to him/her. But, as stated earlier, God does use angels in ministering to us. It is scriptural to say that He uses them as He uses us; that is, He in no way needs us or them to accomplish His purposes, but chooses to use us and them nevertheless (Hebrews 1:7). In the end, whether or not we have an angel assigned to protect us, we have an even greater assurance from God: if we are His children through faith in Christ, He works all things together for good (Romans 8:28-30), and Jesus Christ will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5-6). If we have an omniscient, omnipotent, all-loving God with us, does it really matter whether or not there is a finite guardian angel protecting us?

There should be zero tolerance for hostage takers
Alistair Burt/Arab News/May 19, 2023
The Foreign Affairs Select Committee of the British House of Commons reported last month on an inquiry it had undertaken on combating state hostage diplomacy. Although based on the UK’s recent experiences in dealing with the seizure of its citizens by Iran, the implications of the report go wider, and should provide food for thought for other states who have their citizens caught up in international detentions, as well as the wider world community which has some responsibility to stop this practice.
A definition of hostage taking is supplied in the report as “any person who seizes or detains, and threatens to kill, injure or continue to detain another person in order to compel a third party, … to do or abstain from doing any act as an explicit or implicit condition for their release.” It is difficult to obtain actual numbers of those so targeted, as some are known, and others unknown, as the states whose citizens they are, and the families of those involved, work out the best way to respond to their detention publicly or privately — the first cruel responsibility imposed upon them. What we do know is that a variety of countries have been dealing with such seizures, a small number of states are the perpetrators, and the numbers and risks are growing.
It made uncomfortable reading for the British government, and for me as a former minister with personal knowledge of those detained during my time in office. We did not always get things right. But the report is unequivocal that the principal responsibility for such hostage taking and detentions lies squarely with the state seizing the citizen, and with that state alone. They should never be able to shift blame or make excuses for their actions.
The issue is rightly emotive. Away from the high-level state implications, justifications, denials, and mutually hostile accusations, such seizures usually involve the lives of citizens with little or no connection to the workings of government in the states from where they come. For the time they are detained those human lives are destroyed or damaged for no reason whatsoever to do with them, as wicked a denial of the worth of human lives as may be imagined. They rarely suffer simply on their own. Pulled into that web of despair are usually family considerations, perhaps cynically calculated to add to the rationale for seizing them in the first place and adding to supposed pressure to achieve a political end.
No state guilty of such practices should be let near any formal position of recognition and leadership of international or regional bodies.
The best known recent British case involved Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a young mother separated from her child for six long years as an element in a challenging relationship between the UK and Iran, and ultimately to secure the payment of an historic debt legally owed by Britain to Iran since 1979. That the debt should have been paid earlier but for sanctions and other complications should have been irrelevant to the case of a woman wrongly and unfairly detained. It is just this action in making an innocent mother pay the price of other issues that states should be settling in other ways which should make hostage taking an international pariah activity.
The report makes some domestic recommendations, though they would be good practice anywhere. It recommends that the government ensure it communicates more intensively with families than we did, which must be right. It also recommends that having one senior figure responsible for all such detentions, to build up expertise and experience, and also be internationally recognised, as with the US President’s Special Envoy, might enhance the UK’s handling.
On the difficult issue of whether to make all such cases public, the report comes down on the side of doing so, but I remain unsure of that. We had instances of private negotiations being successful, and some families may prefer it that way. But is a hard call.
That call might be made easier if a further recommendation were followed, which is for greater and consistent international collaboration and condemnation of such practices, thus making public awareness of them a real concern to the perpetrators. This is essential. But I would go further. No state guilty of such practices should be let near any formal position of recognition and leadership of international or regional bodies, let alone UN Human Rights Committees. And those working to improve relations with states guilty of such practices, which may have ultimate benefit diplomatically, should make the ending of such practices a bottom line to their new relationship.
The report’s conclusion that “state hostage taking is part of a wider erosion of the rules based international order” is correct. Those who see that the protection of their citizens is a first call in an ordered world should redouble their efforts to protect them from this scourge.
• Alistair Burt is a former UK Member of Parliament who has twice held ministerial positions in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office — as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State from 2010 to 2013 and as Minister of State for the Middle East from 2017 to 2019. Twitter: @AlistairBurtUK

The disastrous consequences of Dagalo’s Sudan coup attempt
Ali Mohamed Ahmed Osman/Arab News/May 19/2023
The recent coup attempt by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo was a threat to the whole of Sudan, including his own Rapid Support Forces militia, and created grave dangers that will continue to have dire consequences for decades to come. This is particularly troubling for a country like Sudan, which is seeking to recover from multiple internal conflicts and which has suffered greatly throughout its modern history.
As one of the most powerful military forces in Africa, the Sudanese Armed Forces has a rich tradition of patriotism, bravery and professionalism. Its military doctrine dates back nearly 100 years and it is known to have taken part in the fight against Nazism and fascism during the Second World War, including liberating two of our neighbors, Libya and Ethiopia/Eritrea, from the perils of fascism. It was the first threat that Dagalo, the rebel leader, disregarded.
There is no comparison between regular forces with this background and his forces, which are primarily made up of tribal and mercenary groups from other African nations seeking to profit from Sudan’s looted money, especially gold revenues. At the same time, Dagalo has benefited and greatly enriched himself by sending young fighters from poor African countries to take part in wars in the region. Above all, these rebel forces lack a well-established combat doctrine.
Dagalo’s biggest mistake was attempting a coup in a situation where the Sudanese political arena was experiencing extreme divisions and a complete lack of consensus — in addition to the international community’s position on military coups, including the firm opposition of the African Union. This represented both political and military suicide, even if the intention was to hand over power to a civilian government, as it was claimed. However, that was just a pretext for circumventing power and is not supported by the facts of the man’s history of treachery.
Dagalo previously betrayed the isolated President Omar Bashir, who had established and sponsored his RSF, as well as his president in the Transitional Military Council and the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan. Before that, he had betrayed the masses of young revolutionaries in the vicinity of the General Command of the Sudanese Armed Forces in the wake of the fall of the previous regime and pounced on them, leaving large numbers of dead and missing.
It is the accepted norm globally that the path to democracy involves enhancing societal and political discourse in order to arrive at a fair agreement on the key issues and guiding principles for the state. One of Dagalo’s paradoxes is that he was the one who was adamant and refused to integrate his forces into the Sudanese Armed Forces. He demanded a minimum period of 10 years to integrate his forces, in contrast to the Sudanese Armed Forces’ position, which demanded two years, or the total length of the transitional period, allowing the elected government to take office without being constrained by the remnants of the past.
The systematic destruction of water and electricity infrastructure, the theft of public funds from banks and government institutions, the looting of people’s money and the forced eviction of residents from their homes, while using them as human shields, are just some of the negative effects of the use of rebel forces that lack proper military doctrine and training. For example, Dagalo’s forces this week attacked a church, injuring the priest and some of the congregation. All of the violations committed by the dissolved rebel RSF in the wake of the failure of its coup attempt will be remembered for generations to come.
The RSF will face wider isolation from the international community if it attempts to take advantage of the latest ceasefire.
Along with the economic destruction brought on by the disruption of Sudan’s market mobilization, the deep psychological effects on the majority of Sudanese people caused by the rebel forces’ violations and hijacking of the political dialogue, which was in its final stages, will have a significant negative economic impact on the nation, especially in the shadow of the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has affected wheat imports to Sudan, thus threatening food security.
All these unfavorable consequences have extended to the many foreign nationals living in Sudan, including the staff members of diplomatic missions and international organizations. The rebel forces have continued to inflict harm on these people even after they made the decision to leave Sudan, as the RSF intercepted the evacuations of many diplomatic missions.
In conclusion, the Jeddah Declaration of Commitment to Protect the Civilians of Sudan, which was agreed last week by the Sudanese government and the rebel forces’ leaders, is a first step toward resolving certain pressing humanitarian challenges. However, there are certified and documented violations by the rebel forces of the similar previous truce initiatives. Therefore, the rebel RSF will face wider isolation from the international community, which has indicated its support for this declaration, if it attempts to take advantage of the latest ceasefire.
*Ali Mohamed Ahmed Osman is the Charge d’affaires of the embassy of the Republic of the Sudan in Tokyo.