Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published  on August 31-September 01/2023
Extension of UNIFIL with 13 votes, with Russia and China abstaining from voting
LBCI/August 31, 2023
The UN Security Council voted in favor of extending the peacekeeping mission in Lebanon for one year, with 13 unanimous votes, with Russia and China abstaining from voting. The Security Council urged the Government of Israel to expedite the withdrawal of its army from northern Ghajar and the adjacent area north of the Blue Line. Moreover, the Council reaffirmed the need for the effective, permanent, and rapid deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon, noting that "UNIFIL operates independently and does not need prior authorization to carry out its tasks."
The Security Council also condemned all violations of the Blue Line by air and land and called upon all parties to respect their international obligations. It then called on the Lebanese government to facilitate UNIFIL's immediate and full access to the locations requested by UNIFIL. On another note, Lebanon's delegate to the Security Council commented on the resolution: "I renew my country's commitment to implementing UN Resolution 1701. The resolution did not fully reflect Lebanon's concerns and did not take into consideration the specificity of the current reality."
However, China's representative to the United Nations expressed his regret that the reservations of Lebanon, the host country for UNIFIL, were not taken into account in the decision, pointing out that China, which participates in UNIFIL, feels that coordination with the Lebanese army is necessary to maintain peace. For its part, Russia's representative to the Security Council expressed, "We regret that the text that was adopted did not take into account the reconciliation reached with Lebanon," stressing "the importance of UNIFIL's coordination with the Lebanese army."

UNIFIL term extended, resolution mentions undeclared patrols
Associated Press/August 31, 2023
The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday demanding that Lebanon guarantee freedom of movement for the UNIFIL peacekeeping force, "including by allowing announced and unannounced patrols."Lebanese officials had pushed to remove a provision in the resolution, first introduced last year, that allows the peacekeepers to patrol without giving prior notice to the Lebanese Army. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech Monday that the provision is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty, and that the United States wants the U.N. peacekeeping force "to be spies for the Israelis." But the council ignored the request and voted 13-0 with Russia and China abstaining, strengthening last year's text and reaffirming that under the agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese government, the peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL "does not require prior authorization or permission to undertake its mandated tasks." Israel has repeatedly accused Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, of impeding UNIFIL peacekeepers from carrying out their mandate. Hezbollah battled Israel to a stalemate in a month-long war in 2006, and in 2019 Israel destroyed a series of what it said were attack tunnels dug under the border by Hezbollah. UNIFIL was created to oversee the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon after a 1978 invasion. The mission was expanded after the 2006 war so peacekeepers could deploy along the Lebanon-Israel border to help Lebanese troops extend their authority into their country's south for the first time in decades. That resolution also called for a full cessation of Israeli-Hezbollah hostilities, which has not happened. Nasrallah said people living in south Lebanon, where Hezbollah has its center of support and military operations, "will not allow a decision to be implemented despite the Lebanese government's rejection of it," although he gave the caveat that they "would not use weapons" against UNIFIL forces. Last year, a group of armed local residents ambushed a UNIFIL convoy and opened fire, killing an Irish peacekeeper. In June, Lebanon's military tribunal charged five men with the killing, with a judicial official alleging that all five were linked with Hezbollah. The group has publicly denied any role in the killing.

Amendments have been made to draft resolution for UNIFIL forces: LBCI sources
LBCI/August 31, 2023
LBCI sources indicated on Thursday that amendments have been made to the draft resolution for the renewal of UNIFIL forces, which will be discussed in the UN Security Council session at 5:00 PM Beirut time. However, the amendments reaffirm the freedom of movement for international forces according to the SOFA agreement, but they have introduced the allowance for undisclosed patrols by these forces. Additionally, the sources stressed that the phrase "outskirts of Mari town" has been removed. In its non-finalized form, the draft project will be subject to a vote either directly or through oral requests for amendments. Moreover, information suggested that the UAE may bring this up at the beginning of the session.

Berri urges 7-day dialogue prior to open-ended presidential vote sessions
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday called on the heads of parliamentary blocs and political parties to participate in “dialogue in parliament for seven days at most in September” before going to “open-ended sessions to elect a president.”“The presidential vote cannot take place through imposing a candidate or paralyzing state institutions. Is it a crime to call for consensus and dialogue?” Berri added, in a speech marking the 45th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa Sadr. “We worked for finalizing the presidential election and we stress that it should be accomplished as soon as possible,” Berri went on to say. Addressing “some parties in the country, especially snitches,” who reportedly incited against him abroad, Berri said: “You have mistaken the address and you don’t know who I am.” Separately, Berri said that his Amal Movement will stand by “the brothers in Hezbollah to defend our holy border” in the face of any Israeli aggression.;

Hochstein tours Blue Line, says US keen on stability in South
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein on Thursday visited south Lebanon where met with UNIFIL chief Maj. Gen. Aroldo Lázaro Sáenz and toured the U.N.-demarcated Blue Line between Lebanon and Israel, LBCI television said. Hochstein later met in Beirut with caretaker Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib and discussed with him the draft U.N. resolution for extending UNIFIL’s mandate. In a statement, the Foreign Ministry said Hochstein “stressed the keenness of his country’s administration on stability in the South.” Hochstein also expressed optimism over gas exploration in Lebanon’s territorial waters and said he is evaluating the readiness of Lebanon and Israel for the launch of negotiations over the land border disputes, with Bou Habib saying that Lebanon is ready to engage in such talks in a manner that would preserve Lebanon’s rights.

Lebanon's path to stability: US Advisor Hochstein engages with Minister Bou Habib on UNIFIL, economic revival
LBCI/August 31, 2023
Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants Abdallah Bou Habib received on Thursday Senior advisor to US President Joe Biden, Amos Hochstein, accompanied by US Ambassador to Lebanon, Dorothy Shea, at the Ministry's headquarters in Beirut.
The attendees discussed the resolution project regarding the extension of UNIFIL's mandate, with Hochstein confirming that "his country's administration is keen on stability in the South."Minister Bou Habib explained that "the stance he carried to New York represents the Lebanese government's consultation with various local parties, aiming to preserve sovereignty, Lebanese interests, and stability in the South." On the other hand, the US envoy expressed "his anticipation to continue the path related to gas exploration in Lebanon's regional waters," noting "global interest in the mentioned exploration." He also expressed "optimism that this momentum, accompanied by necessary reforms and the accomplishment of required constitutional obligations, will set Lebanon on the track towards economic recovery and stability." Regarding the establishment of southern land borders, Hochstein informed that he is currently "assessing the readiness of involved parties to initiate this process, following the successful mediation he conducted for maritime borders, as well as studying the feasibility of conducting this mediation at present, to resolve remaining border disputes in the South." Minister Bou Habib responded, "Lebanon's readiness to initiate this process is in line with safeguarding Lebanese rights."

Hochstein discusses land border, gas and stability in Lebanon talks
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein’s visit to Lebanon reflected “Washington’s interest in stability in south Lebanon in parallel with the launch of oil and gas drilling works in the offshore Block 9 that borders Israel,” a media report said. Hochstein and the Lebanese officials “discussed the file of the land border dispute with Israel, in addition of the oil extraction file, on the eve of the renewal of UNIFIL’s mandate at the (U.N.) Security Council for another year,” Asharq al-Awsat newspaper said. Lebanese sources that followed up on the visit meanwhile told the daily that “the file of delineating the land border was raised in Hochstein’s meetings, especially the pending land border points that are preventing the delineation,” adding that “the Lebanese demand will be raised in an upcoming visit by Hochstein to Tel Aviv.” The talks also tackled “files related to electricity, gas extraction should exploration in Block 9 determine the presence of commercial quantities, and the need for a U.S. guarantee for assistance in the exportation process,” the daily added. Parliamentary sources informed on the visit meanwhile described as “positive” Hochstein’s visit and his meetings with Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker PM Najib Mikati and caretaker Energy Minister Walid Fayyad. “Raising the file of the oil resources, the needed legislation, stability in the border area and defusing tensions indicates that the (American) drive is serious and Lebanon is looking forward to positive results,” the sources added. Al-Joumhouria newspaper meanwhile said that Hochstein called on the Lebanese parties to “elect a president as soon as possible.”

What did Hochstein say about UNIFIL resolution, Hezbollah tent?
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
In his meetings with Lebanese officials on Wednesday, U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein stressed the importance of renewing the mandate of the UNIFIL forces, noting that he does not understand why Lebanon has requested the omission of a paragraph granting the U.N. force freedom of movement in the South, a media report said. “When told that it contradicts with the initial resolution and violates Lebanese sovereignty, he answered: ‘It was not us who formulated this paragraph last year, but rather your ambassador to the U.N., Amal Moudallali, who was present during formulation. Your request to name northern Ghajar as the outskirts of the town of al-Mari is not reasonable, because Israel has stressed that there is a major geographic distance between the two areas,’” al-Akhbar newspaper reported on Thursday. Hochstein also said that UNIFIL should remove the tent that Hezbollah has erected in the occupied Shebaa Farms, pointing out that such a move would help achieve a lot of things, including addressing the disputed land border points, the daily added. Asked by a diplomat taking part in the meetings about the threat emanating from the tent, Hochstein reportedly said: “Militarily it has no value, but it has turned into an issue of morale. The Israeli army has become humiliated in front of its people due to its inability to remove the tent by force.”

'Brushstrokes' of diplomacy: Art, culture, and politics merge in US-Lebanon relations
LBCI/August 31, 2023
From Raouche to Baalbek, over 85 kilometers were covered by US Senior Advisor Amos Hochstein in a visit lasting no more than two days. True, Amos has been desiring to visit some of the tourist areas in Beirut for a while. Still, a simple tour of the accounts of the US Embassy in Beirut on social media reveals a deeper dimension to promoting culture and tourism in Lebanon. From the north of Lebanon to its south, US Ambassador Dorothy Shea has been touring for years. Her tours, documented by her team's cameras, are shared on social media with messages emphasizing Lebanon's cultural richness.
Numerous artists were hosted by the ambassador as part of the "Meet the Artist" initiative. It's a different image from the scenes of political deterioration in the country but has deep-rooted dimensions in politics. For years, music and art, and culture in general, represented diversity and difference in Lebanon. Here, the recurring question in memory arises with every political turn: Which Lebanon do we want? So, tourism and culture, adorned with political messages, begin at the level of axes that penetrate the political arena in the region and reach Lebanon.

Abdollahian from Beirut: I've heard positive words from Saudis about Lebanon
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian arrived Thursday in Beirut after a short visit to Damascus. "The Lebanese must choose a president and we will urge the Lebanese officials for a swift election," Abdollahian stated from Beirut's airport upon his arrival. Abdollahian arrives in Lebanon as U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein also visits the country to follow-up on the October 2022 maritime boundary agreement between Lebanon and Israel. He is set to meet with Lebanese officials, including Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib on Friday. The two foreign ministers will discuss the presidential file and the statement of French President Emmanuel Macron about "Iran's interference in the region," MTV said. Macron had criticized the "regional destabilization activities that Iran has carried out in recent years," and asked Iran to clarify its policy towards its direct neighbors, Israel and Lebanon. Abdollahian had recently met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan in Riyadh. "We have heard positive and constructive statements from the Saudis about supporting Lebanon," Abdollahian said. Sources told Nidaa al-Watan newspaper, in remarks published Thursday, that Abdollahian will discuss the Yemeni war with Hezbollah. He will propose new ideas about Yemen during his short visit to Lebanon, to which Hezbollah would respond.

Iranian FM visits Beirut for second time in less than a year
LBCI/August 31, 2023
For the second time in less than a year, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian lands in Beirut. His second visit raises several questions about the issues he carries. He arrived from Syria following a meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about two weeks ago, who is a guarantor of Syria's return to the Arab fold, albeit with conditions. According to some observers, his visit also coincides with ongoing US movements along the Syrian-Iraqi borders, aimed at severing Iranian support for its factions in the region. This is coupled with the escalation within Israeli territory and reaching the southern Lebanese borders. However, Iran is a key player in the Yemeni issue, prompting speculation that the topic will be discussed with Hezbollah leaders. From the airport, Abdollahian conveyed Saudi positivity regarding Lebanon. Furthermore, part of Abdollahian's statement in Beirut echoed what he said upon arriving in Damascus, particularly concerning the talks he had with Saudi officials weeks ago. During his visit to Syria, which concluded with a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, Abdollahian extended an invitation for Assad to visit Tehran. Sources indicated that Abdollahian is spearheading an Iranian initiative to pave the way for normalization between Syria and Saudi Arabia. Several topics were also on the negotiation table between both parties, including the regional situation and efforts related to the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland and the Turkish withdrawal from Syrian territories as an essential prerequisite for the normalization of relations between Damascus and Ankara. So, what will the region's landscape look like after Abdollahian departs from Beirut? Will there be de-escalation or escalation?"

Bassil says no one accepts that Hezbollah control Lebanon
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, who had recently started a dialogue with Hezbollah, has called for political balance, as he said that "no one would accept that Hezbollah control Lebanon." In an interview published Thursday in Kuwaiti al-Jarida newspaper, Bassil stressed the need to mend ties with the Arab world. "This alone would be enough to restore political balance," he said. According to the FPM chief, this must be done through a political agreement that would restore the role of the state and its institutions, and not through confrontation with Hezbollah, "which will lead to nowhere."
Hezbollah and the FPM's dialogue came after almost one year of tensions over Hezbollah's nomination of Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh for presidency and the participation of its ministers in cabinet sessions boycotted by the FPM. The FPM proposed to Hezbollah the implementation of the broad administrative and financial decentralization law and the trust fund law in return for voting for Franjieh. FPM MP Alain Aoun told Thursday LBCI that Hezbollah and the FPM are trying to reach an agreement on a presidential candidate and that Franjieh is part of the agreement.
"In the coming days, it will become clear whether it is possible to agree on the administrative decentralization and the trust fund,” Aoun said.

Beyond Sayrafa, unveiling the new Bloomberg trading platform: Implications for exchange rate and economy
LBCI/August 31, 2023
On the Cabinet's agenda next week, the Ministry of Finance will present the adoption of the Bloomberg trading platform for the market. What is the purpose of this new platform? Will it affect the exchange rate? Sources from the Central Bank of Lebanon suggest that the Sayrafa platform is no longer needed. From one aspect, the Central Bank of Lebanon is no longer intervening to stabilize the exchange rate, which has remained relatively constant since the beginning of the month. From another aspect, there is no longer a difference between the market rate and the Sayrafa platform rate, which have been closely aligned for a while. From here, the Bloomberg platform will be the alternative, reflecting the exchange rate in the market clearly announced on Bloomberg's global websites and platforms instead of having applications and websites determining the exchange rate. This platform will be available to all citizens who want to buy and sell US dollars or Lebanese lira, unlike the exclusivity that existed with the Sayrafa platform, which benefited a certain number of people and generated profits from the differences between the Sayrafa rate and the market rate, at the expense of the remaining US dollars at the Central Bank of Lebanon, meaning at the expense of all depositors. According to Central Bank of Lebanon sources, the most important thing is that the Bloomberg platform will help achieve two goals: First, an attempt to regulate the cash economy, as only licensed banks and exchange offices will deal with Bloomberg. Therefore, it will naturally be required for them to verify the sources of funds for each individual or company. This contributes to combating money laundering. Second, it aims to move towards unifying the exchange rate, a requirement by the International Monetary Fund to reduce market chaos. Will the Bloomberg platform help reduce the US dollar exchange rate? Indeed, the Bloomberg platform is not the solution to Lebanon's exchange rate crisis. Nothing can solve it except starting with reforms to restore trust and US dollars to the country.

Salameh probe suspended after he files lawsuits against state
Naharnet/August 31, 2023
Former Central Bank governor Riad Salameh has filed lawsuits against the state, alleging that judges have committed errors in handling his file. The lawsuits force the judges looking into his case to suspend their work pending a decision from the general commission of the Court of Cassation, which is currently inactive due to a dispute over the sectarian balance in the appointment of its members. Caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil, who is loyal to Speaker Nabih Berri, had refused to sign the decree of appointments, arguing that the addition of a chamber to the court had raised the number of Christian judges from five to six wheres it still comprises only five Muslim judges. The Court’s paralysis has also forced the suspension of the probe into the 2020 Beirut port blast catastrophe. Informed sources told the Nidaa al-Watan newspaper that Berri has overlooked a draft law submitted by a number of MPs for amending a legal article allowing the suspension of legal cases upon the filing of lawsuits against the state by the plaintiffs. “Had it been approved, this law would have guaranteed the resumption of several cases, including the investigations into the port crime and the financial crimes,” the sources said. Once lauded for reviving Lebanon's economy, Salameh left office on July 31 after three decades in the job, wanted abroad and reviled at home after years of financial meltdown. The 73-year-old French-Lebanese national is widely viewed as a key culprit in the country's dramatic economic crash, which the World Bank called one of the worst in recent history. Salameh is also wanted by authorities in France and Germany for alleged financial crimes, with Interpol issuing Red Notices targeting him. Lebanon does not extradite its citizens. One of the world's longest-serving central bank governors, he faces numerous accusations including embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion in separate probes in Lebanon and abroad. Salameh has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and defended his legacy.European delegations have made several trips this year to Beirut to question Salameh, his brother and others in his close circle. In March 2022, France, Germany and Luxembourg seized assets worth $130 million in a move linked to a French probe into Salameh's personal wealth. Earlier this year, Lebanon charged him with embezzlement, money laundering and tax evasion. The domestic probe was opened following a request for assistance from Switzerland's public prosecutor, who is investigating more than $300 million in fund movements by Salameh and his brother. In February, Swiss media reported that 12 banks in the country had received up to $500 million in money Salameh is alleged to have embezzled.

WCCR  Stands With The People Of Lebanon, Supports Unifil Under Chapter Vii
Date8/29/2023 /(MENAFN- EIN Presswire)
Lebanon simply cannot continue to have two military forces, with two separate loyalties and two separate paymasters.” - Tom Harb, WCCR Secretary General
WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, August 29, 2023/EINPresswire/ -- The World Council for the Cedars Revolution (WCCR) requests the Honorable Antonio Guterres (UN Secretary General) to consider the proposal to renew the mandate for the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter. Lebanon has been unable to elect a new President and is functioning under a caretaker government. On August 16, 2023, thirty-one members of Lebanese Parliament called on the international community for help in the implementation of UNSC resolutions 1559, 1680 and 1701, especially concerning the disarming of militias (Hezbollah). In a surprise move, the Caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdallah Bou Habib, who is currently in New York, attempted to reject the proposal to move the mandate for UNIFIL from Chapter VI to Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter on behalf of the Lebanese government. In a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it was noted that Chapter VI calls for“the peaceful resolution of conflicts,” while Chapter VII“calls for the imposition of Resolution 1701 by force.”
The World Council for the Cedars Revolution (WCCR), representing the Lebanese diaspora, fully supports the UNIFIL charter's move to Chapter VII in order to stop Hezbollah's provocative activities, protect the population of South Lebanon, and stabilize Lebanon as a whole.
“U.S. support for securing a strong Security Council mandate to extend the mandate of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, so it can fulfill its duties,” the United States' Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said in a statement. She also called for“addressing the activities of the organization 'Green Without Borders,' which the United States recently imposed sanctions on for providing support and cover for Hezbollah's operations in southern Lebanon along the Blue Line.”
“Lebanon simply cannot continue to have two military forces, with two separate loyalties and two separate paymasters” (Hezbollah is funded by Iran), said WCCR Secretary General Tom Harb.“Hezbollah is systematically undermining the safety and security of the entire nation, but it is especially menacing to the Christian population of South Lebanon. It must be disarmed by force if necessary.” “The implementation of Resolution 1701 protects Lebanon and guarantees stability, and the mission of UNIFIL is to ensure the implementation of this resolution without the obstacles that have been placed in front of it since 2006 until today,” said Lebanese MP Ashraf Rifi.“Unfortunately, Abdullah Bouhabib plays the role of Hezbollah's foreign minister, not Lebanon's. The state's interest is in cooperation with UNIFIL, not in circumventing and obstructing its mission.”
“UNIFIL has been in existence since the 1970s and is no closer to achieving its mandate than on the day it was created.,” added WCCR National Director, John Hajjar.“This is the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Therefore, the tactics must change, i.e., use force!”WCCR urges the United Nations to renew UNIFIL's mandate under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
Rebecca Bynum
World Council for the Cedars Revolution
+1 6157756801
https://menafn.com/1106979769/Wccr-Stands-With-The-People-Of-Lebanon-Supports-Unifil-Under-Chapter-Vii

Qatar to supply Lebanese army with fuel for 6 months
NNA/August 31, 2023
Qatar said it will supply the Lebanese army with fuel for six months amid a deep economic crisis in the country. Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), the country’s development arm, said the fuel will be provided to the Lebanese army under an agreement worth $30 million.
“This assistance comes as part of the state of Qatar’s consistent commitment to supporting the institutions of the Republic of Lebanon and standing by the side of the Lebanese people,” the QFFD added in a statement. The Fund had previously covered the expenses of diesel fuel for the Lebanese Health Ministry. Lebanon has been facing a crippling economic crisis since 2019, that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.--AA

Fatah Security Chief In Southern Lebanon Abu Iyad Shaalan: Islamic Terrorists Took Over UNRWA Schools, Turned Them Into Military Barracks; UNRWA Must Hand The Schools Back To The Lebanese Government
MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10773/August 31, 2023
Abu Iyad Shaalan, the commander of Fatah's Palestinian National Security in Lebanon's Sidon area, said in an August 18, 2023 show on Falastinona TV (Fatah-Lebanon) that the recent statement of the director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon condemning the presence of armed groups in UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees) schools is insufficient. He asserted that the director must specify the groups in question, enforce their removal from the schools, and return them to the Lebanese government. Shaalan elaborated that UNRWA schools are currently being used as military barracks by terrorist takfiri groups, from where they plan to confront Fatah forces. Shaalan’s interview comes on the backdrop of last month’s clashes in the Ain Al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, during which his predecessor, Abu Ashraf al-Armoushi was assassinated by Islamic militants.
To view the clip of Fatah Security Chief in Southern Lebanon Abu Iyad Shaalan, click here or below:
UNRWA Schools Serve As Military Barracks For Terrorist Groups
Interviewer: "The UNRWA schools in the area [are] controlled by the takfiri groups. In a statement today, the director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon today denounced the military presence in those schools. What's your reaction?"
Abu Iyad Shaalan: "The statement of the director of UNRWA has come late."
Interviewer: "Yes."
Shaalan: "Although we welcome this decision, the director of UNRWA must specify who took over these schools, beginning with the assassination of Abu Ashraf Al-Armoushi – whose killers emerged from an UNRWA school – and to this day. Today these UNRWA schools constitute military barracks for the terrorist groups.
UNRWA Should Have Intervened From Day One... The UN Is Responsible And Must Evacuate These Schools
"UNRWA should have intervened from day one. It should have filed a complaint with the United Nations. The UN is responsible and must evacuate these schools, and [hand them] over to the host state. After all, we are refugees on the land of a host country, which is Lebanon.
"The director did not clarify who exactly took over these schools. Two of these [UNRWA] schools have been turned into military barracks, where the terrorists are concentrated in order to confront our forces. Therefore, if there is a decision to remove the militants from these schools, the UNRWA director must specify who these militants are, and we are ready to do whatever is required of us immediately, on condition that the other side – the terrorists – abide by the decision and pull out of these schools."

The UN has failed to do anything about Hezbollah - editorial
Jerusalem Post-Editorial/August 31/2023
It is incumbent on the UN and others to closely monitor Hezbollah’s activity and prevent spillover that threatens Israel and directly harms civilians on both sides.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres at UN headquarters in New York earlier this week. “The potential for a violent escalation on Israel’s northern border is growing as a result of flagrant violations by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah,” Gallant reportedly told Guterres. “The UN must act immediately.”Hezbollah’s threats have been rising as the terrorist group increasingly conducts provocative activities along the border. UN resolutions were supposed to prevent Hezbollah from increasing its arsenal, but the UN has looked on as Hezbollah expanded its illegal missile stockpiles from several thousand to more than 150,000 today. This has all taken place since 2006 under UN eyes. Hezbollah has not only stockpiled missiles and rockets, it has also increasingly sought to import and manufacture precision-guided munitions, enabling it to carry out more precise attacks on Israel. The group has set up bunkers and infrastructure throughout towns and villages in southern Lebanon, transforming the region into an armed camp and forcing civilians to live next to its dangerous weapons stockpiles. Gallant’s office said he and Guterres held a positive and productive discussion that focused on growing threats to Israel’s security and to stability in the Middle East region. The question now is whether the UN will act.
Gallant and Israel are doing their utmost to raise a red flag through diplomatic channels about the dangers posed by Hezbollah. Israel has often been told that it must consult international partners and work within the guidelines of international organizations such as the UN, which frequently criticize Israel for engaging in self-defense. The UN was warned about Hezbollah. They have managed to stop nothing
Here we see clear evidence that despite Israel’s warnings about the illegal activities of Hezbollah, the UN is failing to do enough to prevent or document the terrorist group’s illegal activities. That Hezbollah operates openly and has so many weapons clearly contravenes international law and UN resolutions.
Hezbollah recently moved a tent into sovereign Israeli territory, and it has established dozens of terrorist outposts along the border. Hezbollah sometimes disguises these outposts as having some kind of environmental or agricultural purpose, but they are fooling no one. Israel has warned about an escalated presence and more patrols along the border by Hezbollah operatives. The UN must immediately intervene to prevent an escalation. It is in the interests of millions of Lebanese and Israeli civilians that Hezbollah’s terrorist army be prevented from engaging in more provocations that could lead to conflict. The UN must implement the UNIFIL mandate in Lebanon, but it can’t do that unless it has freedom of movement in Lebanon. Hezbollah, for its part, has worked to curtail UN operations and has even attacked the UN and murdered an Irish UN peacekeeper.
Israel will not tolerate increasing threats to the security of its citizens, and Gallant has said the country will act as required to defend itself. The wider threat posed by Hezbollah’s sponsor, Iran, is also a growing problem. Iran has sought to destabilize the West Bank, flooding the territory with weapons and funding and promoting terrorism. Iran also operates in Syria and Iraq and is a major threat to many other countries in the region and around the world. The Iranian regime’s role continues to be nefarious and must be checked; its pursuit of nuclear weapons is another part of this threat.
Gallant expressed his appreciation to Guterres for his personal contribution and investment in helping with Israeli soldiers and citizens held by Hamas, which is also supported by Iran. It is essential that the UN and others work to apply pressure on the terrorist organization to release the Israelis held in Gaza.
The Hezbollah moves in southern Lebanon illustrate how the group is acting with impunity. It exploits the power vacuum in Lebanon to do as it pleases. It is essential that the international community and all relevant stakeholders act to ensure that Lebanon is not used by Hezbollah to threaten Israel. It is incumbent on the UN and others to closely monitor Hezbollah’s activity and prevent spillover that threatens Israel and directly harms civilians on both sides.

Netanyahu talks Iran, Hezbollah, AI with Sen. Daines amid terror wave
Tovah Lazaroff/Jerusalem Post/August 31/2023
Daines visited Jerusalem as concern was high among officials that Iran was purposely inflaming tensions in the West Bank to distract Israel from its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the danger of Iran and its proxy group when he met in his office with US Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT). “The two discussed a variety of security-related issues including Iran, Hezbollah, and artificial intelligence,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. "They also spoke about artificial intelligence, including the challenges and opportunities in the field and the need for cooperation between countries,” the Prime Minister’s Office said. The two men discussed ways to strengthen the “special relationship between Israel and the US.” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen also talked about those ties when he met with Daines, as well as the importance of the “fight against Iranian terrorism in the world in general and the Middle East in particular. Concern over Iran inflaming tensions in the West Bank. Daines visited Jerusalem as concern was high among officials that Iran was purposely inflaming tensions in the West Bank and along its southern and northern borders to distract Israel from its pursuit of a nuclear weapons program.
Israel has been particularly vocal in its opposition to a US agreement by which South Korea would unfreeze $6 billion in Iranian assets in exchange for the release of five Americans from jail. Daines has also spoken out against the deal. He wrote a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinkin. “When the Obama administration released $400 million in liquidated assets to Iran in 2016, we warned that this dangerous precedent would put a price on American lives. “Seven years later, the current administration is providing a ransom payment worth at least 15 times that amount to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, in yet another violation of the United States’ long-standing ‘no concessions’ policy. “The release of such a significant sum to the Iranian regime… will only serve to encourage additional hostage-taking for financial or political gain,” he said.

Asharq Al-Awsat publishes recollections of influential players during 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut./Arafat Chose to Fight for 6 Months... Moscow’s Position Was his Greatest Disappointment
London: Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al-Awsat/August 30/2023
Asharq Al-Awsat publishes recollections of influential players during 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut.
On this day in 1982, Beirut was besieged by the Israeli army and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat boarded a ship that took him to his new exile in Tunisia. The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s loss of its last front with Israel would leave its mark on the Palestinians and Lebanon.
As Israel tightened its siege of Beirut, Arafat took a secret decision to carry on fighting for six months until regional and international stances emerged. He was forced to leave Lebanon after 88 days, marking an end of what he described as the “longest Arab-Israeli war.”
The greatest disappointment to the Palestinian resistance and its allies in the Lebanese National Movement came from their Soviet ally. Moscow had refused to deliver a serious warning or send a destroyer off the Lebanese coast or a ship to evacuate the wounded.
Arafat’s insistence that he leave Lebanon by sea, not through Damascus, reflected the extent of the differences between him and Syrian President Hafez al-Assad. Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command (PFLP-GC) Ahmed Jibril recalled that Arafat had bluntly told him that the Syrian leadership will not be credited for him holding out for three months in Beirut.
Asharq Al-Awsat will publish a series of features highlighting the significant developments and recollections of influential players during that heated summer of 1982.
From a building in east Beirut, Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon observed Arafat as he boarded the ship that would take him to Tunisia. He wrongly believed that had broken the Palestinian resistance and that it would fade away in exile. The invasion failed in luring Lebanon to strike a peace deal with Israel. The current Lebanon has an even more hardline position towards Israel.
Against the backdrop of the war, Syria and Iran will lay the foundation of their alliance. Hezbollah would be born in Lebanon. Syria, which had withdrawn its troops from Beirut in wake of the invasion, would redeploy them years later, before again being forced to pull them out in 2005 after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
In the besieged city, I was determined to record the testimonials of influential political and security figures. I tried to obtain Arafat’s testimony, but he turned down the offer, saying he didn’t want the Palestinian people to be punished “because of his memories.”
In Tunisia, Arafat told me: “What do you want me to recount? To tell you about Sabri al-Banna (Abou Nidal), who was hosted by three Arab capitals, Baghdad, Damascus and Tripoli, and who was obsessed with assassinating Palestinians, not Israelis?”
“Do you want me to tell you about the so-called intifada in Fatah that was backed by Syria and funded by Libya? Or do you want me to complain about the practices of Palestinian groups that tarnished our image of resistance or led to our labeling as terrorists? I’m not saying that Fatah was faultless. We all made mistakes, but we always tried not to lose our way and lose our cause.”
“The Palestinian people have been punished a lot. They were punished for clinging on to their cause and for firing the first shot. (...) The PLO was punished for adopting a hard line and punished when it adopted a moderate approach. Do you want the Palestinian people to be punished because of my memoirs? I don’t want to open old wounds.”
“As I was leaving Beirut, a journalist asked me: ‘Where to?’ I replied: ‘To Jerusalem. We are preparing for our date in Palestine and Jerusalem. We don’t have any other place to be.’”
The KGB general and Iran
In 1980, Palestinian ambassador to Tehran and Fatah central committee member Hani al-Hassan received an urgent call to head to Beirut. Upon his arrival, Arafat told him they were headed to a meeting at the Soviet embassy. Hassan understood that he needed to voice Arafat’s views. He knew how influential the Soviets were in the Palestinian revolution. He knew of the consequences of refusing delicate Soviet proposals.
Other Fatah members at the meeting included Salah Khalaf (Abou Ayad) and Khalil al-Wazir (Abou Jihad). The Soviets were represented by General “Alexander” who was the KGB official overseeing operations in the Middle East. The insistence that Palestinian leaders, not their representatives, be present at the meeting meant that Moscow expected the talks to yield a decision.
General “Alexander” spoke about the situation in the region, especially Iran, in wake of the Soviet military invasion of Afghanistan. He said the time had come for the Palestinians to cooperate with the Soviets to facilitate the Communist Party’s control of Iran. The Soviet Union wanted to expand its power in the region and Iran was a significant prize given its geographic location and resources.
Hassan was surprised with the proposal and asked to be excused from the meeting, but Arafat refused. Hassan said he would not stand against the Iranian revolution that had “offered us several major services,” referring to its severing of Iranian-Israeli relations that were forged under the shah.
Tensions soon erupted and the Soviet general declared that the Palestinians “won’t be able to do anything without us.” Hassan replied: “If the Soviets enter Iran, then Israel’s strategic value will grow a million-fold to the West. So, don’t even think about it. For our part, we will ensure that every effort is made to form good Iranian-Soviet relations.”
Hassan believed that the meeting exposed how the Soviets dealt with the situations in Lebanon, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and future conflicts in these countries.
Meeting in a Soviet forest
Another significant meeting was held years earlier. In the early 1970s, head of the PFLP’s External Operations Wadie Haddad met with KGB chief Yuri Andropov in a forest on the outskirts of Moscow. The meeting was held in utmost secrecy because Haddad at the time had been planning plane hijacking operations for years. Haddad asked for weapons from the Soviets, and they were smuggled to him off the coast of Aden, Yemen.
The first high-level contacts between Moscow and the Palestinian revolution took place in 1968 at the suggestion of Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser. Nasser and Arafat traveled to Moscow together on a secret visit. Two years later, a Soviet envoy met with Arafat in Jordan and the relations between the Palestinians and Soviets came out to the open.
Moscow realized the importance of relations with the Palestinians so it forged ties that allowed it in a few years to wield influence in Palestinian political and security decisions. Moscow formed close ties with the Palestinian left, including the PFLP, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and leftists in the Fatah movement.
These relations led the Palestinian resistance and allied parties in Lebanon to rule out the possibility of Israel invading Beirut. It had already launched its invasion on June 6, 1982, and was advancing on the capital. On the day of the invasion, the Fatah and Lebanese National Movement met in Beirut. Present were Abou Ammar, Abou Jihad, Abou Ayad, Abou al-Walid, Secretary General of the Lebanese Communist Party George Hawi and Secretary General of the Communist Action Organization in Lebanon Mohsen Ibrahim.
They discussed the possibility that the invasion could go beyond southern Lebanon, especially with Sharon as defense minister. They never predicted, however, that the Israeli forces would advance on Beirut and reach its outskirts because Syrian troops were in the capital and any clash with the Israelis could lead to a full-scale war between them. They believed that Israel would not provoke Syria, an ally of Moscow.
They were proven wrong when the Israeli army was met with little resistance and eventually besieged Beirut. It was later revealed that the Soviets and their allies did not have information about the Israeli plans. The Syrians were also in the dark.
Meeting with Bashir Gemayel
When the Israeli forces reached the Chouf area in Mount Lebanon and appeared intent on Beirut, a secret meeting was held between Abou Ammar al-Hassan, head of the Lebanese Forces Bashir al-Gemayel and Lebanese military intelligence chief Johnny Abdo. Gemayel wanted to hold the meeting to deliver a message to Arafat that the Palestinians must lay down their arms and leave Lebanon. “I am ready to secure a safe and dignified exit. I want an immediate answer before the Israelis reach Beirut,” he said. Hassan suggested that they take their conversation to the balcony because they feared Abdo’s house would be wiretapped.
Hassan noticed how worried Gemayel appeared. He told him: “Let me speak to you frankly. I follow you and it is my duty to follow you. I know you have presidential ambitions, but you won’t achieve them this way. You were the one who paved the way for the Syrians so that they could strike the Palestinians. Now, you have brought in the Israelis so that they can strike them both.”
“At the end of this game, we will both be struck, and you will be finished. Lebanon is enticing. Neither the Israelis, nor the Syrians will pull out. You are opposed to both of them. Let me repeat, you are mistaken in thinking this is the way that will lead you to the presidency. Your odds will be better if you decide to side with us and the Lebanese National Movement.”
“Who will agree to hosting the Palestinian fighters? Jordan, Syria or others? He vowed that he will ensure that a small number of fighters would remain and they would answer to the Lebanese army. The game slipped from his hands when the Israelis reached Beirut.”
Hassan later informed Mohsen about the meeting. Mohsen then met with Arafat and Hawi. They were primarily concerned with determining whether Moscow could stop the invasion. Hawi, with his close ties to the Soviets, believed that striking the Palestinian revolution was a red line for both sides the Soviets and Communists. After a month or so, he realized that everything was permissible, and nothing was off limits. Arab countries had no way of influencing international powers.
Hawi was hoping Moscow would threaten Israel to withdraw from Lebanon. He hoped they would send a naval vessel off the coast of Beirut or at least evacuate the wounded. Soviet ambassador to Beirut Alexander Soldatov could promise nothing of the sort. Hawi kept relaying these disappointing stances to Arafat. Hawi and others could not believe that the Soviets would stand idly by as Israel invaded Lebanon. Arafat was dealt a crushing blow during a meeting with Soldatov. The ambassador told Arafat to leave Beirut, even if he had to board an American destroyer. Arafat was incredulous and refused to leave. He would eventually relent when it appeared that the Soviets would not support him or stand against the Israelis.

Asharq Al-Awsat publishes recollections of influential players during 1982 Israeli invasion of Beirut./Saudi Initiative to Prevent an Israeli Invasion Collided with Soviet Rejection
London: Ghassan Charbel/Asharq Al Awsat/August 31/2023
As part of the reports published by Asharq Al-Awsat on the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in the summer of 1982, Hani Al-Hassan, a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement, narrates that the Palestinians had gathered information a year before about Israel’s preparation for a wide-scale aggression against the country, with the aim of eliminating the military resistance.
Al-Hassan said that the PLO leadership contacted Saudi Arabia, which responded quickly, by launching an initiative sponsored by then Saudi Crown Prince Fahd bin Abdulaziz.
“The goal of the initiative was to contain a potential war in Lebanon and prevent it from occurring,” he remarked. But the Saudi endeavor collided with the Soviet Union’s rejection.
In the first months of 1982, information began to reach the office of the Director of Intelligence in the Lebanese Army, Colonel Johnny Abdo, about Israeli preparations to carry out a large-scale invasion that might reach Beirut.
Abdo recounted: “We obtained this information from Lebanese sources. I believe that the Western countries themselves were getting their information from Lebanon... It was about a large-scale invasion with an Israeli desire to avoid a clash with the Syrian forces deployed in Lebanon. We did not see how such a broad aggression could be launched without clashing with the Syrian forces. We had questions about the importance of an adventure of this kind, especially in light of Syrian-Soviet relations and the treaty signed between the two countries.”
At that time, statements were issued by pro-Syria Lebanese figures. They put this information within the framework of intimidation attempts that aim to exert pressure on the resistance to push it to facilitate the deployment of the Lebanese army in the South, Abdo said.
He added that the solution to avoid the invasion lied in the withdrawal of the Palestinians from the South and the redeployment of the army there.
“We tried this several times, but Abu Ammar was not willing to abandon South Lebanon. The PLO refused to discuss the issue in detail,” he underlined.
“The Israeli ambassador to London, Shlomo Argov, was shot, and the Israeli raids on Lebanon began, followed by the invasion on June 6. Many thought that the process was limited, but the information available to us indicated otherwise,” the Lebanese official recounted.
Abdo expressed his regret that the Lebanese authority was unable to persuade the PLO to agree on what could have helped to avoid the invasion. He also noted that the Syrian side did not take seriously the information conveyed by Lebanon.
“Yasser Arafat’s state”... and the long journey of torment
Another man was disappointed with the fact that Lebanon had not succeeded in avoiding the catastrophe of the invasion, despite the efforts that had been made. His name is Fouad Boutros, the Foreign Minister of that era.
After turning off the tape recorder, he said: “I want you, as a journalist, to know the story briefly. [Yasser Arafat’s state] was stronger on Lebanese soil than the Lebanese state. It was stronger in the Arab and Islamic worlds. This is in addition to the Soviet Union and the countries within its orbit. We saw some foreign ministers and ambassadors expressing an understanding of Lebanon’s right to deploy its army in the South to avoid Israeli attacks, but this perception was neither declared publicly, nor translated into the policies of these countries. The Palestinian issue enjoyed sanctity that prevented even raising the transgressions of the Palestinian organization that exposed Lebanon to dangers.”
He added: “The PLO considered its military presence in southern Lebanon as its last card to remind of its existence, its demands, and its cause. Arafat was not ready to give up this card. The Arab countries, for their part, were not willing to put pressure on the organization. The media in the region was insensitive to any Lebanese call to impose the sovereignty of the Lebanese state alone on its lands. In addition to all of this, the Lebanese division over the Palestinian military presence was deep and violent, and the mere attempt to control it was labeled as treason.”
Another man was alarmed by Abdo’s information and tried to convince himself not to believe it. He is then-Prime Minister Shafiq Al-Wazzan. Never before in the history of the conflict has Israel occupied an Arab capital.
He recounted: “After the invasion, we summoned the ambassadors of the major powers... It ultimately became clear that we had no choice but to bet on the United States to curb the aggression, or to push Israel to withdraw, even if it was supportive of the invasion or its goals... We wished there was an Arab force capable of intervening and turning the course of events, but the reality was otherwise. Thus, we came under the fire of Israeli aggression... and the long journey of torment began.”
Al-Wazzan added: “I called King Fahd bin Abdulaziz and informed him that Beirut was living without water, bread, or medicine. He was very saddened and told me that he would call me back. Five hours later, King Fahd informed me that he had spoken to President Ronald Reagan asking for his intervention, and that the American president had called Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who promised him the return of the water. In those harsh conditions, we considered the restoration of water an achievement. I would like to stress here that Saudi Arabia has not spared Lebanon any possible assistance.”
The Silent Action Party
I was unable to obtain President Élias Sarkis's testimony about those days. The reasons are many. He was from the party of silent action, not from the party of speech. He was confident, based on his integrity and responsible behavior, that history would do him justice if it was written fairly.
Sarkis saw Beirut burning, besieged, and invaded. He saw the occupation soldiers even approaching the presidential palace. He was the voice of the state and the state was weak. He was the voice of the nation, and the nation was divided. His friends say that he was counting the days waiting for his departure, refusing any proposal to extend his term.
Did the Palestinian side try to avoid the Israeli invasion, and who bears responsibility for thwarting that attempt? I found the answer with Hani Al-Hassan. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Fatah movement and in charge of its political security. He was also in the narrow circle of decision-makers around President Yasser Arafat.
Al-Hassan said that information was gathered in 1981 indicating that Israel was preparing a large-scale aggression against Lebanon with the aim of striking the military presence of the resistance.
He added that the Reagan’s administration facilitated an operation of this kind. The Arab situation was very difficult. Egypt was in semi-Arab isolation, and Iraq was immersed in its war with Iran. The organization’s leadership went to Saudi Arabia and informed its officials, who took a quick action.
Al-Hassan asserted that the goal of the Saudi initiative was to contain the next war in Lebanon and prevent it from occurring.” But the initiative faltered because the Soviet Union issued orders to block it.
He stressed that anyone who wanted to narrate the Palestinian revolution between 1972 and 1982 must always keep the Soviet position in mind, because the Palestinian revolution lived during that period a stage of indecision, where in the end, despite all the differences and the multiplicity of viewpoints, only the Soviet decision prevailed.
Al-Hassan recounted: “The siege took place and Abu Ammar told me that we had to fight for six months... The important thing is that we made a secret decision to fight for six months, and Abu Ammar asked me to assume the political work. That is, he asked me to move forward with political action, but without returning with an agreement. This means that we negotiate for the mere purpose of negotiation, then we see the balance of fighting, the international situation, and the weight of Syrian intervention.”

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published  on August 31-September 01/2023
Saudi Arabia Moves to Assert Influence in West Bank as Normalization with Israel Appears Possible
FDD/August 31, 2023
Latest Developments
Saudi Arabia is offering to resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank in exchange for security guarantees, The Wall Street Journal reported on August 29. The move is apparently an effort to gain Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ support for a U.S.-brokered normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, thereby avoiding blowback from the Muslim world, where many still insist on treating the Jewish state as a pariah.
On August 9, the Journal reported that American and Saudi officials had developed a framework for a potential normalization deal. Biden administration officials promptly denied reports of any meaningful progress but the kingdom’s demonstrations of goodwill towards Israel continue to grow along with its efforts to appease the Palestinians. In mid-August, for example, Riyadh appointed its first-ever ambassador to the Palestinians, who will be based in Jordan.
Expert Analysis
“Once considered a move motivated by anti-Israel sentiments, the funding of the Palestinian Authority is now a measure employed by the Saudis to provide cover for what could come next: normalization with Israel. This is a fascinating turn as the region continues to evolve toward regional integration.” — Jonathan Schanzer, FDD Senior Vice President for Research
“Saudi Arabia has been the biggest sponsor and supporter of the Palestinians — financially, politically, and diplomatically — since the London Conference in 1939. Palestinians have taken Saudi generosity for granted, forcing Riyadh to cut it. The kingdom will now likely reinstate it if the Palestinians show some gratitude and respect sovereign Saudi decisions.” — Hussain Abdul-Hussain, FDD Research Fellow
Tense Saudi-Israeli Relationship
Saudi Arabia has supported the Palestinians financially since before the creation of the Jewish state in 1948. Riyadh began cutting its funding to the PA in 2016, accusing Palestinian leaders of incompetence and corruption. Until early 2016, Saudi Arabia provided the PA with an estimated $20 million a month, or about $240 million per year. Aid then fell to $174 million in 2019 before plunging to zero in 2021.
The Journal cited current Saudi and former Palestinian officials who said that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman first floated the prospect of rebooting Saudi financial support to the PA during Abbas’ visit to Riyadh in April. In return, bin Salman requested that Abbas crack down on violence and the proliferation of Iran-backed militant groups in the West Bank.
Outlines of a Deal
Bin Salman outlined a Saudi proposal for an agreement in March. The request included a commitment from Israel to support creating a Palestinian state and foreign assistance for the Saudi civilian nuclear program — including uranium enrichment capabilities on Saudi soil — fewer restrictions on U.S. arms sales to the kingdom, and security guarantees from the United States.

Iran accuses Israel of supplying potentially exploding parts for ballistic missile program
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)
Iran accused Israel on Thursday of trying to sabotage its ballistic missile program through faulty foreign parts that could explode, damaging or destroying the weapons before they could be used.
The Israeli prime minister's office declined to comment on the allegation, though it comes amid a yearslong effort by both Israel and the U.S. to target Iran. A reporter also said the parts could be used in Iran's extensive arsenal of drones, which have grown in prominence amid their use by Russia in its war on Ukraine. The report described the alleged Israeli operation as “one of the biggest attempts at sabotage” it had ever seen. It accused Israeli Mossad agents of supplying the faulty parts, which the state TV report described as low-price “connectors." Footage aired by state TV showed the alleged parts, some of them popping up into the air, as if affected by an explosive. The pieces shown in the television report appeared to be military-style, high-density circular electrical connectors. Such connectors can be used to attach electronic components of a missile or a drone, such as its guidance computer, and pass both electricity and signals. Video released by Iran in the past showed missile scientists working with similar connectors. “This was planted in a part called the connector, which is responsible for connecting the (computer) network of Iranian-made ballistic missiles, as well as drones," state television military correspondent Younes Shadloo said in the report. "Apparently the part contained a modified explosive kit planted in it and was timed to explode at a certain time.”The state TV report did not explain why Iran sought to purchase the connectors abroad, though some Iranian websites advertising such connectors suggest that Russian-made ones were the best in the market. Russia faces international sanctions over its war on Ukraine, which has seen its own supply of electronics needed for missile systems challenged. Iranian-made drones used by Russia in the war also use circular connectors, according to reports by experts who have torn down the weapons. The TV broadcast did not say when authorities discovered the faulty parts, nor if they had been installed in any ballistic missile prior. In May 2022, an explosion at a major Iranian military and weapons development base east of Tehran called Parchin killed an engineer and wounded another. Other blasts have struck as well, including failures in Iran's space program that the U.S. has long criticized as advancing Tehran's ballistic missile program. The New York Times in 2019 reported the U.S. under then-President Donald Trump had accelerated a sabotage program targeting Iran's missile and rocket program that dated back to the administration of President George W. Bush. The CIA declined to comment on the purported sabotage attack. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, a hard-line force answerable only to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, oversees the country's ballistic missile arsenal. Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who examined the state TV footage of the parts, said the circular connectors “are used in almost every type of ballistic missile.” “It’s quite likely Iran purchases these connectors from abroad,” Hinz said. “This is not the first time Iran is talking about components being tampered with to sabotage the missile program.”Israel also has been suspected in a series of targeted slayings of nuclear scientists in Iran. Sabotage attacks also have damaged Iranian nuclear sites. The Stuxnet computer virus in the late 2000s also attacked control units for uranium centrifuges, causing the sensitive devices to spin out of control and destroy themselves. Experts widely attribute the attack to America and Israel, as does Iran.
*Associated Press writers Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, and Julia Frankel in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Iran warns Israel that it will face retaliation for its airstrike on Syria
Associated Press August 31, 2023
Iran's foreign minister has condemned an Israeli airstrike on the international airport of the Syrian city of Aleppo, saying such attacks would eventually face retaliation. Hossein Amirabdollahian made his comments during a news conference in the Syrian capital, Damascus, where he was beginning a two-day visit. On Monday, an Israeli airstrike damaged Aleppo's airport, putting the runway out of service. The airport has been targeted several times this year, including two attacks in March that also put it out of service. Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled parts of Syria in recent years but it rarely acknowledges or discusses the operations. Often the strikes target Syrian military forces or Iranian-backed groups. Tehran has been a main backer of the Syrian government since a 2011 uprising turned into full-blown civil war. It has sent thousands of Iran-backed fighters to Syria, helping to tip the balance of power in the favor of President Bashar Assad. Israel has targeted airports and sea ports in the government-held parts of Syria in an apparent attempt to prevent arms shipments from Iran to militant groups backed by Tehran, including Lebanon's Hezbollah. "The criminal practices by the Zionist entity in the region will not remain without retaliation," Amirabdollahian said. The Iranian official said he had received a message from his Danish counterpart who informed him about plans by the Danish government to propose a law that would make it illegal to desecrate any holy book in Denmark. A recent string of public desecrations of the Quran in the Scandinavian country by a handful of anti-Islam activists has sparked angry demonstrations in Muslim countries. "We welcome this move and we advise Sweden and other European countries to respect religions and holy books," Amirabdollahian said. For Muslims, the burning of the Quran represents a desecration of their religion's holy text. In the past, Quran burnings have sparked protests across the Muslim world, some of them violent.

Iran's oil output, exports rise as Washington, Tehran talk
LONDON/WASHINGTON (Reuters)/Thu, August 31, 2023
Iran's oil output and exports jumped in August despite U.S. sanctions, according to consultants and companies that track tanker shipments, as Tehran sells to buyers including China. Analysts said the higher exports appear to be the result of Iran's success in evading U.S. sanctions and Washington's discretion in enforcing them as the two countries seek better relations.
The United States has sought to limit Iran's oil exports since Donald Trump exited a 2015 nuclear accord in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions aimed at curbing revenues to Iran's government. But the exports have risen during President Joe Biden's term, with China a top buyer, according to the industry trackers. SVB International, a consultant, estimates Iran's oil production increased in August to 3.15 million barrels per day (bpd), the highest since 2018, with crude oil and condensate exports at just under 2 million bpd. "Iran is on the path to recover its pre-sanctions oil production," said SVB's Sara Vakhshouri. Three other trackers contacted by Reuters had similar estimates. The United States is in talks with Iran over a potential agreement in which five U.S. citizens would be released by Iran and $6 billion in Iranian funds in South Korea would be unfrozen. White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has declined to offer a timeline on a deal. High oil prices are also a political risk for Biden as the November, 2024 elections approach. More supply on the global market could keep prices down. "It seems to be happening," Kevin Book, an analyst at ClearView Energy Partners, said about what he calls enforcement discretion of U.S. sanctions. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said the administration continues to enforce sanctions on Iran and that oil export figures fluctuate over time and according to methodology. "We also regularly engage with other countries to strongly discourage them from taking steps that contravene sanctions on Iran," the spokesperson said. The Treasury Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
'HARD TO STOP'
Iran has for years evaded oil sanctions through measures such as ship-to-ship transfers and "spoofing" - or manipulating GPS transponders so that ships show up in different positions - and the country is only getting better at those tactics, analysts said. Ben Cahill, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, said Iran has also heavily discounted its oil shipments to China, something that has helped encourage buyers to step up purchases. "It's no surprise - if you discount your oil that boosts demand for it. I also think it's just hard to stop this trade," he said. Iranian oil also moves to Syria and Venezuela, according to analysts and shipping data. A production rate of 3.15 million bpd would be the highest figure for Iran since 2018, according to figures from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), of which Iran is a member. TankerTrackers.com, which assesses oil shipments, estimates Iran's crude and condensate exports averaged 1.92 million bpd in the first 27 days of August, of which the crude portion was 1.77 million bpd, in figures provided to Reuters. The August oil exports would be the highest monthly rate this year, according to the company's figures. Another tanker-tracking firm that declined to be named said August crude exports were above 1.5 million bpd. Kpler, a provider of flows data, expects August crude exports to average about 1.2 million bpd, down from a 2018 high of 1.54 million bpd reached in May. The company often revises up its figures. There are no official figures for Iranian exports. Tanker-tracking companies use data from satellites and port loading to monitor flows. Iran has said it expects higher supply in the near term. Iran's oil minister was quoted by state media as saying crude output will reach 3.4 million bpd by the end of September. The rise from Iran comes as OPEC+, which includes OPEC, Russia and others, is cutting output to support the oil market, where expectations that economic weakness will dent demand have weighed on prices. Vakhshouri said a lack of transparency by the Biden administration over Iran oil policy has consequences for global energy security particularly as some OPEC+ members cut output.

An airstrike on southern Syria hits an alleged drug factory, causing damage but no casualties
BEIRUT (AP)/Thu, August 31, 2023
An airstrike early Thursday hit an alleged drug factory in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, causing damage but there was not word on casualties, Syrian opposition activists said. They said the attack was believed to have been carried out by Jordan’s air force. Jordan’s state media reported over the past weeks that several drones carrying drugs were shot down after crossing from Syria. The Captagon industry has been a huge concern for Jordan, as well as Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, as hundreds of millions of pills have been smuggled over the years, where the drug is used recreationally and by people with physically demanding jobs to keep them alert. Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist who covers developments in southern Syria said the target was also used as a narcotics warehouse where smugglers would prepare and package illegal drugs before smuggling them across the southern border into Jordan. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based opposition war monitor, also reported the strike, saying the factory was destroyed. Meanwhile, the pro-government Sham FM radio station said the strike hit a farm, causing material damage. Neither immediately reported any injuries or deaths. The strike was over the village of Um Rumman, a stone’s throw from the Jordanian border, in the Druze-majority southern Sweida province where anti-government protests have stretched for a second week. In May, an airstrike over a village in the southern Sweida province killed a well-known Syrian drug kingpin and his family, which activists believe was conducted by the Jordanians. Amman has been concerned by militias' drug smuggling across the Syrian border into the kingdom, most notably highly addictive Captagon amphetamines, which have turned into an estimated multi-billion-dollar industry in war-torn Syria. Jordan has never confirmed nor denied conducting May's airstrike, but has said on several occasions that it would use force in its ongoing efforts to combat smuggling across the border. Neither Jordanian officials nor Jordanian state media have yet commented on Thursday's strike. The strike also comes as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and other Arab countries continue to work to rekindle ties with Damascus, after relegating Syria to a pariah state because of President Bashar Assad's brutal crackdown on protesters in 2011. The uprising later turned into an all-out war, now in its 13th year, that splintered the country and killed over 300,000 civilians in the first decade, according to the United Nations. The United States, United Kingdom, and western governments have accused Assad and associates in Syria's cash-strapped government of taking the lead in Captagon production, and have sanctioned relatives of Assad, Lebanese drug lynchpins, businessmen and other associates in Syria for their involvement in the industry.

Syria’s Assad receives Abdullahian: What the world is witnessing today proves that the issues we defended true and our policies sound
SANA News Agency /August 31, 2023
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad received Thursday Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and the accompanying delegation. President al-Assad said that what the world is currently witnessing today proves that the issues we defended were true, and that our policies were sound.
President al-Assad indicated that the international image has become clearer due to the developments and changes taking place in the world, which made us more confident in our approach. President al-Assad also discussed with Abdullahian the bilateral relations, the situation in the region, and the efforts related to the return of the Syrian refugees to their country, in addition to topics of the Turkish withdrawal from the Syrian territory and its inevitability as a necessary condition for the return of the normal relations between Damascus and Ankara. President al-Assad noted that the healthy relationship between Iran and the Arab countries contributes to the stability and prosperity of the region. In turn, the Iranian Foreign Minister stressed the need to respect Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. He stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between Syria and Iran, and his country’s keenness to implement the agreements signed during President Ibrahim Raisi’s recent visit to Syria. — SANA News Agency

Palestinian trucker rams Israeli soldiers, is shot dead
NILIN, West Bank (Reuters)/Updated Thu, August 31, 2023
A Palestinian truck driver killed an Israeli during a ramming attack targeting soldiers near a checkpoint on the boundary with the occupied West Bank on Thursday, and was shot dead during an ensuing pursuit, Israeli police and medical officials said. The military said three of its troops were injured in the incident on the Israeli side of Maccabim checkpoint. It said they were heading home on leave and that the driver made a U-turn to run them down, also lightly injuring a roadside vendor. Israeli officials said one of those rammed died. A medical official identified him as a soldier. The military did not immediately confirm this. Police, describing the incident as a terrorist attack, said the driver, a 41-year-old who had a permit to work in Israel, was shot by pursuing forces outside a nearby Palestinian village, Nilin. The Islamist militant group Hamas, which has stepped up attacks in the West Bank in a challenge to Israel and the internationally backed Palestinian Authority, described the incident as an "heroic operation" but did not claim credit. The West Bank, among areas where Palestinians seek statehood, has seen a surge of violence in recent months.

As Israel pushes punitive demolitions, family of 13-year-old Palestinian attacker to lose its home
JERUSALEM (AP)Thu, August 31, 2023
With the walls stripped bare and furniture dismantled, the east Jerusalem apartment is a far cry from the vividly-hued haven it was in early February, when members of the Zalabani family played cards on the cobalt couch and feasted on stewed chicken with richly spiced rice. That February dinner — a day before 13-year-old Mohammed Zalabani boarded a bus at an Israeli army checkpoint in the Shuafat refugee camp and lunged at an Israeli police officer with a kitchen knife — was the last time the Palestinian family gathered in their home that will soon be blown up. Last week, Israel's Supreme Court dismissed the family’s appeal and decided to destroy the new, third-floor apartment where they've lived for almost three years. Demolition crews arrived Thursday to inform the family the explosion would take place within days. The family's case — which rights groups describe as uniquely problematic from a legal prospective — has drawn attention to Israel’s controversial practice of demolishing the family homes of Palestinian assailants. As violence surges in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank, Israel’s far-right government is more aggressively pursuing the policy. The government defends the practice as a deterrent against attacks. “This is no solution,” said Mohammed’s mother, Fida Zalabani, her eyes wet as she recalled the effort that went into decorating a house that Israeli security forces ransacked and boarded up, drilling holes into the walls for explosives. “All my children, an entire community, will witness this and not forget it.”
On Feb. 13, two weeks after seeing Israeli police mistakenly shoot and kill his teenage friend for brandishing what turned out to be a fake gun, Mohammed tried to stab an Israeli police officer before being wrestled to the floor. A private guard protecting the officer fired toward the young assailant but accidentally hit and killed his own colleague.
Mohammed remains in juvenile detention, awaiting trial on murder charges.
Rights watchdogs — like legal aid group HaMoked, which filed the petition on behalf of the Zalabanis — describe such demolitions as collective punishment, leaving uninvolved parents, siblings and spouses homeless. The Zalabanis, a family of seven, have temporarily rented a cramped basement apartment. "Home demolitions intentionally harm innocent people in the hopes that they deter other people from committing attacks,” said Jessica Montell, HaMoked's director. “This is what makes them so blatantly illegal and immoral.”Condemned by Western governments and the United Nations, the tactic also has sown divisions in the Israeli establishment, with some generals and judicial officials expressing concern that rather than containing attacks, the tactic may have the opposite effect. The recent rise in fighting has sharpened scrutiny of Israel’s logic of deterrence, as the stepped-up demolitions and deadly military raids into Palestinian towns have failed to stop the wave of attacks. “When Palestinians see that we destroy houses, their level of fear and frustration and hatred increases,” said Ami Ayalon, former director of Israel's Shin Bet security service. "Those are the reasons that people join terrorist organizations.”The practice is based on regulations imposed by the British Mandate in 1945, which authorized commanders to destroy insurgents' homes. Israel made use of it after capturing east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war. During the first and second Palestinian uprisings, Israel demolished hundreds of homes belonging to militants. Some security officials credit the demolitions — among other harsh tactics — with curbing attacks. Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, described cases in which Palestinian fathers turned in their sons to prevent them from carrying out attacks that would have resulted in Israel’s demolition of their homes. “It is not a silver bullet to stop terrorism,” he said. “It helps.”But in 2005, the Israeli army itself recommended a halt to such demolitions after a military panel determined the policy had no effect beyond inflaming hostility. Udi Shani, the now retired general who headed the army panel, said they couldn't find a single case of deterrence. “It caused revenge,” he said. “It was merely a way for us to look aggressive in the public eye."After almost a decade in which the army hardly blew up any homes, the punitive measure was resumed in 2014 during a spate of attacks in Jerusalem. The revival stirred a new debate over the policy's effectiveness, legitimacy and legality.
“I consider home demolitions to be immoral,” Menachem Mazuz, a former attorney general and retired Supreme Court justice, recently told the Israeli daily Haaretz. “History will not judge us well."Now Netanyahu’s government — whose supporters accuse the previous government of weakness in the face of increased Palestinian attacks — have vowed to accelerate the demolitions. "We want to send a clear message of deterrence,” said hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been convicted in the past of incitement and support for a terrorist group. In the first half of 2023, Israeli forces demolished a dozen homes for punitive reasons, leaving nearly 60 Palestinians homeless, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem — the highest number in seven years. “It’s a security measure,” the Israeli military said. “It’s not a punishment tool.”In an unprecedented move, Ben-Gvir ordered the immediate sealing of two homes belonging to assailants' families before homeowners could appeal. For the past decade, the military has given advance notice of its intention to seal a home. “They surrounded our house and we grabbed whatever we could carry before I understood what was happening,” said Jamal al-Qam, the uncle of a Palestinian gunman who killed seven people in east Jerusalem last February. Last week’s decision on the Zalabani case marks the latest escalation under Netanyahu’s government, HaMoked said. Israel has never before destroyed the family home of an assailant so young, it said, and in the past applied the policy selectively to those accused of perpetuating more serious attacks. Israeli authorities determined the police officer died due to the bullet fired by his colleague, not a stab wound. Further complicating the case, the demolition also affects an unwitting landlord, as the Zalabanis are still paying off their loan on the home. The outcome of court appeals depends on the makeup of Supreme Court justices who remain divided over the tactic, Montell said, and typically rule based on whether they determine families had prior knowledge of the attack. Rewatching footage of her son bursting with youthful exuberance as he pranced on a soccer field, Fida Zalabani refuses to believe he tried to kill anyone. The latest ruling comes as justices face intensified pressure from Netanyahu’s government, which includes ultranationalist Jewish settler leaders. The government is plowing ahead with contentious plans to weaken a Supreme Court that it has branded as liberal and overly interventionist. As the High Court prepares to face off with the government over its own fate, justices have increasingly taken into account right-wing frustration and privileged state interests when it comes to the Palestinians, legal experts say.
“Because everything is so political now, the court is trying to avoid clashing with the government,” said David Kretzmer, expert in international law at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. “(Justices) are on the firing line, attacked by a government of settlers."

Russia says it will deepen ties with North Korea, doesn't confirm Putin-Kim letter exchange
(Reuters)/Thu, August 31, 2023
Russia said on Thursday it intended to develop ties with North Korea, while not confirming a statement by the White House that Russian President Vladimir Putin had exchanged letters with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The White House said on Wednesday it was concerned that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea were advancing actively, and said Putin and Kim had written to each other pledging to increase their cooperation. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not answer directly when asked by reporters if the letter exchange had taken place. "Moscow and Pyongyang maintain good, mutually respectful relations. We intend to develop them further. Contacts are being made at various levels," he said, calling North Korea "a very important neighbour". Washington has warned before that North Korea could provide more weapons to Russia for use against Ukraine. Earlier this month the United States imposed sanctions on three entities it accused of being tied to arms deals between North Korea and Russia.

Ukrainian military says six servicemen killed in helicopter incident
Reuters/August 31, 2023
Six Ukrainian servicemen were killed aboard two helicopters while they were "carrying out missions" in eastern Ukraine, the military said on Wednesday.There was no indication what happened involving two widely-used Mi-8 helicopters on Tuesday. A military statement on Telegram said the men were "carrying out missions" in the sector of the Russian-held eastern city of Bakhmut when they died. The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident occurred near Kramatorsk - a large town west of Bakhmut in Donetsk region, theatre of much of the fighting in Russia's 18-month invasion of its neighbour. Ukrainska Pravda said the two helicopters were "completely destroyed" and the bodies were found at the site. An air force spokesperson identified as Yevhen Rakita told public broadcaster Suspilne that the men aboard were officers. He said a service for the men would take place on Thursday in the central town of Poltava but their ident

Kremlin denies that Russia is causing hunger in Africa
MOSCOW (Reuters)/Thu, August 31, 2023
The Kremlin said on Thursday that Russia remained a reliable supplier of grain despite obstacles created by Western countries, and that food shortages in Africa were nothing to do with Moscow. Russia in July quit a year-old agreement that had allowed Ukraine, one of the world's biggest exporters, to ship grain from its Black Sea ports despite Russia's invasion and military control of Ukrainian waters, and ease a surge in global prices. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was asked in a briefing about reported accusations by the head of Ukraine's Security Council that Moscow was causing hunger in Africa, where many countries depend on imported grain. Those accusations "are completely baseless, they are wrong and they are a deliberate distortion of reality," Peskov said. "The shortage of grains and food shortages on the African continent have nothing to do with our country." "Russia, even now, despite the fact that the deal itself no longer works, takes a responsible position: you know about the initiative to send free grain to the poorest countries of the African continent." In quitting the deal, Russia argued that Western sanctions were impeding its own food and fertiliser exports, in contravention of a separate agreement. Since then, Russian President Vladimir Putin has promised to send up to 50,000 tons of grain for free to each of six African countries - a quantity unlikely to make significant inroads into food shortages on the continent. Peskov said there were no concrete results yet on a proposed scheme to ship Russian grain involving Turkey and Qatar. Russia has proposed the plan, in which Qatar would guarantee deliveries of free grain to poor countries, as an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal. Turkey has, however, been trying to convince Moscow to return to the agreement that it brokered. Two Turkish sources told Reuters that Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan would meet Putin in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Sept. 4 for talks focusing on Black Sea grain exports.

Bahrain political prisoners reject government offer, extend hunger strike
DUBAI (Reuters)/Thu, August 31, 2023
Political prisoners on hunger strike in Bahrain have rebuffed government concessions and will extend their protest, raising the stakes in the biggest showdown for years between dissidents and the Saudi-backed ruling family. The Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa dynasty has largely kept a lid on dissent since Riyadh sent troops to help it crush an "Arab Spring" uprising in 2011 by the mostly Shi'ite opposition, and the hunger strike is the biggest organised protest in years. Neighbouring Sunni Saudi Arabia has historically been keenly sensitive to political upheaval in Bahrain where its Al Khalifa allies rule over a Shi'ite majority and where it has previously accused longtime Shi'ite rival Iran of stirring unrest. Rights groups and families of detainees say some 800 prisoners are on hunger strike at the capital's Jau prison over what they call harsh conditions there, and they said on Thursday that the prisoners had rejected government concessions.
"Based on conversations with prisoners following the Interior Ministry statement, it is clear that the hunger strike will continue until the government addresses their concerns seriously and in good faith," said Sayed Alwadaei, advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy. Alwadaei said prisoners are demanding an end to isolation of some inmates, increased daily open air time, permission to hold prayers in congregation, amended visitation rules and access to more medical care and education.
GOVERNMENT DISPUTES NUMBER ON HUNGER STRIKE
The interior ministry said on Monday that it planned to double the daily outdoor time to two hours, increase the duration of family visits and review rates for phone calls after the hunger strike began on Aug. 7. Bahraini authorities deny targeting the political opposition and say they are protecting national security. They have said they prosecute in accordance with international law those who commit crimes and have rejected criticism over the conduct of trials and detention conditions. The government disputes that 800 prisoners have joined the hunger strike, with the General Directorate of Reform and Rehabilitation (GDRR) saying in an emailed statement to Reuters that the number of detainees who have reported being on hunger strike "is 121 and at no point was it over 124". Bahrain was the only Gulf monarchy to face serious unrest during the Arab Spring protests, with demonstrations that continued, in lower numbers, until 2013.
Since then, Bahrain has dissolved the main opposition groups and prosecuted thousands of people and stripped hundreds of their nationalities in mass trials. Many have fled abroad. Bahraini human rights activist Maryam al-Khawaja said her father Abdulhadi, a prominent opposition figure, was rushed to intensive care twice after the hunger strike started and was denied access to a cardiologist to treat his heart condition. Ahmed Jaafar, another prisoner, was put in isolation after he started the hunger strike and was hospitalised on Aug. 27, his family said in a statement. The government's GDRR said prisoners taking part in the strike are provided with the access and opportunity to undergo medical check-ups on a daily basis. "No detainees taking part in the protest have required critical care or hospitalisation. Any claims to the contrary are false," it said. The United Nations human rights office said it was ready to conduct an assessment of prison conditions in Bahrain and give advice to authorities in line with international standards.

Some in Africa are celebrating the coups, many are fed up and desperate for change
Associated Press/August 31, 2023
After mutinous soldiers in Gabon announced they had deposed the country's president, many residents danced in the streets and declared themselves free from the presidential family's 55-year rule. It's becoming a familiar scene in West and Central Africa, which has recorded eight coups since 2020. "It is an expression of the popular dissatisfaction," said Hermann Ngoulou in the Gabonese capital of Libreville. "The country has been experiencing a deep crisis on all levels due to bad governance, the rising cost of food (and) the high cost of living."
There have been about 100 documented coups across Africa since the 1950s. This resurgence of military takeovers is often prompted by diminishing democratic dividends, according to analysts. In Gabon, the coup occurred shortly after the president was declared the winner of the election from which international observers, for the first time, had been barred. That's not unusual in a region where elections are often alleged to be flawed, longtime leaders pursue the extension or elimination of term limits, and civic space is eroded by misgovernance, said Tiseke Kasambala, the director of Africa programs at the Washington-based Freedom House watchdog group. In the end, the result is "widespread resentment and frustration amongst citizens," she said. At least 27, or half, of the 54 countries in Africa are among the 30 least developed in the world, according to the latest United Nations Human Development Index. Most are in West and Central Africa, often endowed with natural resources whose rich profits are little seen by everyday citizens. The failure of leaders to significantly improve the lives of their populations has left people frustrated and desperate, said Remi Adekoya, a politics lecturer at the University of York.
"Africans do not think the idea of military rule is great; it is the disappointment in what is supposed to be a democratic rule that is causing people, if not openly support military dictatorship, to not be against it," Adekoya said. "The leaders who are supposed to be democrats are not abiding by the rules of democracy … and people are wondering, what is in this system for me?" Research network Afrobarometer's 2023 surveys found that the number of people supporting democracy and elections in Africa has fallen. Only 68% of respondents across 34 countries preferred democracy to any other system of government, down from 73% a decade ago.
"A significant correlation" was established between the number of Africans reporting substantial corruption in the presidential office and dissatisfaction with democracy. Most respondents believed elections are "an imperfect but essential tool for choosing their leaders," the study noted. On Aug. 26, as Gabonese went to the polls, authorities cut off the internet. As service returned in the hours after the coup, the president used it as a megaphone to the world, sharing a video in which he called on friends of Gabon to "make noise" for his restoration.
International sanctions imposed to reverse coups in Africa have often failed, resulting instead in more hardship for populations already struggling with high rates of poverty and hunger. Niger was the world's third-least-developed country before the coup there in July, and has 4.3 million people in need of humanitarian aid, according to the U.N. Sanctions aimed at reversing that coup resulted in "serious socio-economic crises" for Niger's residents, the head of West Africa's regional ECOWAS Commission, Omar Alieu Touray, told reporters recently in Nigeria. Even as frustration grows against what some describe as "electoral coups" that keep longtime leaders in power, analysts warn that military regimes are never the answer, and efforts to intervene should be aimed at entrenching democracies.
"If a country requires reforms before elections, then the best way to support these reforms must be seriously considered, even if the protagonists include military coup leaders," wrote Ornella Moderan, head of the Institute for Security Studies Sahel program.
The mutinous soldiers in Gabon claim to have taken power in the interest of the people — a familiar line in past coups elsewhere. Militaries have sometimes been encouraged by what appears to be popular support, Adekoya said. "What is most encouraging for any would-be coup plotter today is the reaction of the crowd to the coups, the fact that on many streets in these countries, people are coming out to celebrate them," he said. But military regimes have not proven to be a better alternative for good governance. In Mali, where soldiers have been in power since 2020, the Islamic State group almost doubled the territory they control in less than a year, according to U.N. experts. And in Burkina Faso, which recorded two coups in 2020, economic growth slowed to 2.5% in 2022 following a robust 6.9% the year before. In other places like Chad, military regimes have been accused of clamping down on dissidents, sometimes resulting in extrajudicial killings. African countries run by regimes have experienced "a breakdown in the rule of law, an increase in arbitrary arrests and detentions, bans on peaceful protests and impunity for human rights violations committed by military forces," said Kasambala with Freedom House. Still, some of the regimes are supported because of "intrusive" external forces, she said, citing former French colonies such as Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso where "perceived French interference in the affairs of government and what is seen as the propping up of authoritarian rulers has generated widespread anti-French sentiment." In the end, Africans weary of decades of misrule are not asking for much, Adekoya said. "People are just asking for some slight improvements to their fortunes, some slight sense of security, and free and fair elections," he said. "Once you have the majority of people feeling 'the system is not working for me,' then that system is in trouble."

Niger's junta orders police to expel French ambassador, revokes his diplomatic immunity
Associated Press/August 31, 2023
Niger's military junta has revoked the diplomatic immunity of France's ambassador and ordered police to expel him from the country, according to a statement from the military regime. The mutinous soldiers who ousted Niger's president more than a month ago gave French Ambassador Sylvain Itte 48 hours to leave the country last week. The deadline expired on August 28 without France recalling Itte. The French government says it doesn't recognize the coup-plotters as the country's legitimate leaders. The communique sent by Niger's Ministry of Foreign Affairs earlier this week and seen by The Associated Press on Thursday said Itte "no longer enjoys the privileges and immunities attached to his status as a member of the diplomatic staff of the embassy." The document also says the diplomatic cards and visas of the ambassador's families have been canceled. France's government didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. After Itte first was told to leave Niger, French President Emmanuel Macron said the envoy would remain in his post. Macron spoke out firmly against the coup leaders while insisting that France, Niger's former colonial rule, is not the country's enemy.
Since toppling democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum, the junta has leveraged anti-French sentiment among the population to shore up its support. People chant "Down with France" at near daily rallies in front of a French military base in the capital, Niamey . France has some 1,500 military personnel in Niger who trained and conducted joint operations with Nigerien security forces to beat back a growing jihadi insurgency linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group. The operations have ceased since the coup, and jihadi attacks are increasing. Insurgents killed 17 soldiers and wounded nearly 24 this month, the first major attack in half a year against the army in Niger. Regional tensions are also rising as the junta ignores calls from other West African countries to release and reinstate Bazoum, even amid the threat of military force. The regional bloc ECOWAS deployed a "standby" force and ordered it to transition Niger back to constitutional rule. The force has not yet entered Niger, and the bloc says the door remains open to dialogue but it won't wait forever. The junta has appointed a new government and said it would return Niger to the system of government prescribed by the constitution within three years, a timeline that ECOWAS has rejected.

Building fire in Johannesburg kills at least 73 people, many of them homeless
Associated Press/August 31, 2023
A nighttime fire ripped through a rundown five-story building in Johannesburg that was occupied by homeless people and squatters, killing at least 73 people early Thursday, emergency services in South Africa's biggest city said. Some of the people living in a maze of shacks and other makeshift structures inside the building threw themselves out of windows to escape the fire and might have died then, a local government official said. Seven of the victims were children, the youngest a 1-year-old, according to an emergency services spokesperson. As many as 200 people may have been living in the building, witnesses said. Emergency crews expected to find more victims as they worked their way through the building, a process slowed by the conditions inside. Dozens of bodies were lined up on a nearby side road, some in body bags, and others covered with silver sheets and blankets. Another 52 people were injured in the blaze, which broke out at about 1 a.m. in the heart of Johannesburg's central business district, Johannesburg Emergency Services Management spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said. Abandoned and broken-down buildings in the area are common and often taken over by people desperately seeking some form of accommodation. City authorities refer to them as "hijacked buildings." Mulaudzi said the death toll was likely to increase and more bodies were likely trapped inside the building. The fire took three hours to contain, he said, and firefighters had only worked their way through three of the building's five floors by mid-morning.
"This is a tragedy for Johannesburg. Over 20 years in the service, I've never come across something like this," Mulaudzi said. The building's interior was effectively "an informal settlement" where shacks and other structures had been thrown up and people were crammed into rooms, he said. There were "obstructions" everywhere that would have made it very difficult for residents to escape the deadly blaze and which hindered emergency crews trying to work through the site, according to Mulaudzi. Search teams found 73 bodies. The chance of anyone being found alive hours after the fire broke out was "very slim," he said. City officials said 141 families were affected by the tragedy, although they were not able to immediately say how many people were in the building at the time of the blaze. Many of them were believed to be foreign nationals, officials said.
A witness who didn't give his name told television news channel eNCA that he lived in a building next door and heard people screaming for help and shouting "We're dying in here" when the fire started. Mgcini Tshwaku, a local government official, said there were indications that people lit fires inside the building to keep warm in the winter cold. Officials are looking into the cause of the blaze. After the fire was extinguished, smoke still seeped out of windows of the blackened building as daylight broke. Strings of sheets and other material hung out of some of the broken windows. It was not clear if people used those items to try and escape the fire or if they were trying to save their possessions.

Borrell says Gabon's election had been full of irregularities
LBCI/August 31, 2023
European Union Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell emphasized on Thursday that the military coup in Gabon cannot be compared to the coup in Niger. He pointed out that the military intervention in Libreville took place after elections marred by irregularities. Borrell stated, "Military coups are not a solution, of course, but we must not forget that in Gabon, there were elections full of violations." He added that a fraudulent vote could be seen as a "civil institutional coup."

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published  on August 31-September 01/2023
Human Rights Watch's Jihad Against Israel
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute/August 31, 2023
[T]he report fails to mention that during this period Israel has faced a massive wave of terrorism sponsored and funded by the Iranian regime and its Palestinian terror proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
One of the cases "investigated" by HRW is that of Mahmoud al-Sadi, 17, reportedly killed by Israeli security forces as he walked to school near the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on November 21, 2022. Notably, the HRW report does not mention why Israeli troops had entered the refugee camp.
The Jenin Battalion terrorists, who are heavily armed, are mostly affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an extremist Islamist organization responsible for countless terrorist attacks that have killed and injured hundreds of Israelis in the past few decades. There is no mention of this militia or its activities in the HRW report. Evidently, HRW does not want to the facts to spoil its effort to slander Israelis by depicting them as child-killers.
While HRW presents al-Sadi as an unarmed teenage boy, Palestinians posted a photo of him carrying a M-16 rifle. Apparently, for HRW such photos, where Palestinian teenagers are featured brandishing weapons and dressed in military outfits, are irrelevant because they do not serve its anti-Israeli propaganda.
Bizarrely, HRW does admit that the remaining three "children" allegedly killed by Israel were involved in terrorist attacks. Yet, as far as HRW is concerned, Israeli soldiers or police have no right to defend themselves when they are attacked with stones, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks. Why? According to the logic of HRW, the perpetrators are "only" teenagers.
Does HRW really expect Israeli soldiers and policemen to ask someone who shoots or throws a Molotov cocktail at them how old they are before firing back to defend themselves?
Instead of denouncing the Palestinians for using children as combatants, HRW is condemning Israel for defending itself against terrorism.
"Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." — The late Robert L. Bernstein, founder and longtime chairman of Human Rights Watch, New York Times, October 19, 2009.
"Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over some 350 million people, and most remain brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no internal dissent. The plight of their citizens who would most benefit from the kind of attention a large and well-financed international human rights organization can provide is being ignored as Human Rights Watch's Middle East division prepares report after report on Israel." — Robert L. Bernstein, New York Times, October 19, 2009.
"Human Rights Watch has lost critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields. These groups are supported by the government of Iran, which has openly declared its intention not just to destroy Israel but to murder Jews everywhere. This incitement to genocide is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide." — Robert L. Bernstein, New York Times, October 19, 2009.
"Leaders of Human Rights Watch know that Hamas and Hezbollah chose to wage war from densely populated areas, deliberately transforming neighborhoods into battlefields. They know that more and better arms are flowing into both Gaza and Lebanon and are poised to strike again. And they know that this militancy continues to deprive Palestinians of any chance for the peaceful and productive life they deserve. Yet Israel, the repeated victim of aggression, faces the brunt of Human Rights Watch's criticism." — Robert L. Bernstein, New York Times, October 19, 2009.
HRW's ongoing obsession with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, serves as a reminder that the organization is on the side of the terrorists who appear as committed to killing Americans and other Westerners, as to destroying Israel and killing Jews.
The HRW reports are no less dangerous than the non-stop incitement to violence by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Al Menar, Al Jazeera in Arabic, or the regimes of Qatar and Iran. Such reports provide ammunition to Iran and its proxies to pursue their murderous campaign against Israel and the West, and reveal that HRW is not all that different from the Palestinian terrorists and their patrons in Iran.
Perhaps HRW might issue an apology, write accurate reports and turn its attention to actors that really do abuse human rights?
Human Rights Watch has once again exposed its unvarnished anti-Israel bias with outrageous false allegations. Its report fails to mention that Palestinian terrorist groups recruit teenagers as combatants and send them to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers. For example, Mohammad al-Saleem (pictured), a teenage member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terrorist group who was killed while attacking Israeli soldiers with incendiary devices. (Image source: NGO Monitor/Abu Ali Express)
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has once again exposed its unvarnished anti-Israel bias by alleging that Israel systematically targets Palestinian children. The outrageous -- and false -- allegation was included in a new report published by HRW on August 28 under the title: "West Bank: Spike in Israeli killings of Palestinian children." The report claims that "the Israeli military and border police forces are killing Palestinian children with virtually no recourse for accountability."
Noting that HRW "investigated four fatal shootings of Palestinian children by Israeli forces between November 2022 and March 2023," the report fails to mention that during this period Israel has faced a massive wave of terrorism sponsored and funded by the Iranian regime and its Palestinian terror proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The report also fails to mention that the terrorist groups have been recruiting Palestinian teenagers as combatants and sending them to kill Israeli civilians and soldiers.
It even further fails to mention that more than 30 Israelis have been killed since the beginning of this year in a series of terrorist attacks in Israel and the West Bank. In the past two weeks, Palestinian terrorists murdered a Jewish mother of three and a Jewish father and his son in two separate shooting attacks in the West Bank. HRW did not issue a report about that.
One of the cases "investigated" by HRW is that of Mahmoud al-Sadi, 17, reportedly killed by Israeli security forces as he walked to school near the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank on November 21, 2022. Notably, the HRW report does not mention why Israeli troops had entered the refugee camp.
Were the Israeli soldiers bored and thinking, "Gee, might be fun to go shoot up a few kids today"? No. The Israeli security forces went to the camp as part of a counter-terrorism operation designed to foil attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Jenin refugee camp has long been serving as a hub for Iran-backed Islamist terrorists who see themselves engaged in a Jihad (holy war) to eliminate Israel. Several terrorists who carried out shooting attacks in the West Bank and Israel had come from the camp.
In the past two years, a large militia called Jenin Battalion started operating in the camp. Its members have since carried out constant shooting attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians. The Jenin Battalion terrorists, who are heavily armed, are mostly affiliated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an extremist Islamist organization responsible for countless terrorist attacks that have killed and injured hundreds of Israelis in the past few decades. There is no mention of this militia or its activities in the HRW report. Evidently, HRW does not want to the facts to spoil its effort to slander Israelis by depicting them as child-killers.
The exact circumstances of al-Sadi's death will never be known since he was quickly buried by his family and other Palestinians in the refugee camp. The Israeli army said soldiers who were trying to arrest suspected terrorists had come under fire from Palestinian gunmen. Apparently, al-Sadi was killed in the exchange of gunfire.
While HRW presents al-Sadi as an unarmed teenage boy, Palestinians posted a photo of him carrying a M-16 rifle. Apparently, for HRW such photos, where Palestinian teenagers are featured brandishing weapons and dressed in military outfits, are irrelevant because they do not serve its anti-Israeli propaganda.
Bizarrely, HRW does admit that the remaining three "children" allegedly killed by Israel were involved in terrorist attacks. Yet, as far as HRW is concerned, Israeli soldiers or police have no right to defend themselves when they are attacked with stones, Molotov cocktails, and fireworks. Why? According to the logic of HRW, the perpetrators are "only" teenagers.
Does HRW really expect Israeli soldiers and policemen to ask someone who shoots or throws a Molotov cocktail at them how old they are before firing back to defend themselves? The other three Palestinian teenagers mentioned in the report – Wadie Abu Ramuz, Mohammad al-Saleem, and Adam Ayyad – were not killed while they were sleeping in their beds, on their way to school or to buy bread for their moms.
Abu Ramuz, a resident of East Jerusalem, was fatally shot by police officers as he attacked them with fireworks. Al-Saleem, from the West Bank village of Azzun, was a member of an armed group called Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. He too was killed while attacking Israeli soldiers with incendiary devices. Ayyad, a resident of Dheisheh refugee camp near Bethlehem, was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist group. Ayyad went into battle intending to die and left a written will in his pocket. "God fulfilled my dream of becoming a martyr," he wrote in the document. "Martyrdom is not only death. It is pride for us and the whole world."
Instead of denouncing the Palestinians for using children as combatants, HRW is condemning Israel for defending itself against terrorism.
"Following a failed campaign by anti-Israel NGOs to get the Israel Defense Forces included on a United Nations blacklist of child rights abusers, HRW makes another attempt with their new report," noted NGO Monitor, a globally recognized research institute promoting democratic values and good governance.
"The HRW report cites several examples of Palestinian minors who were killed, ignoring publicly available evidence of their terror affiliations [and] failing to condemn their participation in violent acts during the time of their death."
Arsen Ostrovsky, CEO of the International Legal Forum, said that "contrary to HRW's malicious lies and gross distortions of truth and law, Israeli security forces only target Palestinian terrorists." He added:
"If HRW truly cared about the welfare of Palestinian children, it would call out Palestinian terror groups for using Palestinian children as human shields, while the Palestinian Authority [headed by Mahmoud Abbas] continues to create a systematic infrastructure of incitement and glorification of violence."
Each time HRW publishes an anti-Israel report, one cannot help recalling the damning criticism against the organization by its own founder and longtime chairman, the late Robert L. Bernstein.
In a 2009 opinion piece in The New York Times, Bernstein lashed out at HRW over its obsession with Israel:
"Israel, with a population of 7.4 million, is home to at least 80 human rights organizations, a vibrant free press, a democratically elected government, a judiciary that frequently rules against the government, a politically active academia, multiple political parties and, judging by the amount of news coverage, probably more journalists per capita than any other country in the world many of whom are there expressly to cover the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Meanwhile, the Arab and Iranian regimes rule over some 350 million people, and most remain brutal, closed and autocratic, permitting little or no internal dissent. The plight of their citizens who would most benefit from the kind of attention a large and well-financed international human rights organization can provide is being ignored as Human Rights Watch's Middle East division prepares report after report on Israel.
"Human Rights Watch has lost critical perspective on a conflict in which Israel has been repeatedly attacked by Hamas and Hezbollah, organizations that go after Israeli citizens and use their own people as human shields. These groups are supported by the government of Iran, which has openly declared its intention not just to destroy Israel but to murder Jews everywhere. This incitement to genocide is a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
"Leaders of Human Rights Watch know that Hamas and Hezbollah chose to wage war from densely populated areas, deliberately transforming neighborhoods into battlefields. They know that more and better arms are flowing into both Gaza and Lebanon and are poised to strike again. And they know that this militancy continues to deprive Palestinians of any chance for the peaceful and productive life they deserve. Yet Israel, the repeated victim of aggression, faces the brunt of Human Rights Watch's criticism."
Although Bernstein's criticism was published more than a decade ago, HRW continues to prove that every word he said remains as relevant as ever. HRW's ongoing obsession with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, serves as a reminder that the organization is on the side of the terrorists who appear as committed to killing Americans (here, here and here) and other Westerners, as to destroying Israel and killing Jews. As the US approaches the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, we see ISIS virtually doubling the territory it controls in Mali, in addition to other terror threats.
The HRW reports are no less dangerous than the non-stop incitement to violence by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad on Al Menar, Al Jazeera in Arabic, or the regimes of Qatar and Iran. Such reports provide ammunition to Iran and its proxies to pursue their murderous campaign against Israel and the West, and reveal that HRW is not all that different from the Palestinian terrorists and their patrons in Iran.
Perhaps HRW might issue an apology, write accurate reports and turn its attention to actors that really do abuse human rights?
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Middle Eastern Geopolitics, Nihilism is the Name of the Game
Charles Elias Chartouni/August 31, 2023
The state of open rebellion in al Suwayda (Southwestern Syria) opposes the largest Druze community to the Alawite regime, its Iranian mentor and Hezbollah’s henchmen, the lingering civil instability within Iran, the rekindling of inter-ethnic animosities in Iraq, the reignited embers of Sunni terror movements on the interfaces, the perpetuating political deadlocks in Lebanon, the strengthening of Kurdish irredentism across borders, the state of frozen conflicts all along the Syrian, Iraqi, Turkish and Iranian borders monitored and manipulated at will by the Iranian, Turkish and Russian power brokers and their American nemesis, the rekindled polarization of the Israeli-Palestinian scenery, testify to the volatility of a region which has never succeeded its stabilization and mired in violence. What’s appalling in this scenery, is the state of open ended conflicts and pliability to contending power politics and its unending lifecycles, feeding on interlocking regional and international conflict dynamics.
The mere observation of facts doesn’t yield to openings, of whichever nature, be it in terms of addressing contending geopolitical issues, political stabilization, institution building, economic development, Human rights and ecological issues. This region has erected walls of institutionalized conflicts, well entrenched animosities, unruly governance, perpetuating injustices, endemic underdevelopment and nothing seems to swerve from the pre-scripted synopsis. The demarcation line drawing in the shifting sands of conflicts and their unforeseen vicissitudes, sets the the plot around the prevarications of a political culture predicated on asymmetric power relationships, violence, arbitrariness and subordination. What accounts for this state of intractability is the absence of a democratic political culture and its intellectual and institutional hallmarks. When the Americans attempted, after the downfall of the Iraqi regime, to initiate a culture of negotiated conflict resolution, political accommodation and constitutional engineering, they ended up overseeing the brutal demise of the democratization scenario and the return of tribal politics, and the archaic ethno-religious score settlement.
This political scenario was replicated all along in Syria where the bloody Alawite dictator retreated behind the defenses of his Russian and Iranian mentors, flatly rejected the national reconciliation scenarios and reformist proposals, whereas his Islamist nemeses are mortgaging on conflict plodding, incremental alienation and the Turkish geopolitical realignment in Northern Syria (8835 square Km). Lebanon is witnessing the incremental unraveling of its Statehood, democratic and liberal political culture, social capital, financial lifelines, economic and ecological lifecycles, while its demographic and cultural tapestry is eroding around the clock. Whereas, the Israeli-Palestinian scenery is revisiting earlier scenarios of strident ethno-political polarization, and the revival of tensions beyond the political platforms offered, successively, by the Camp David and Abraham accords (1978, 2020). The virtual normalization projected by the Saudi-Iranian dynamic launched by China seems to dissipate in favor of conventional power rivalry, frozen conflict zones and enduring authoritarianism.
The Iranian regime fierce repression of the unabated civil rebellion is the functional counterpart of its regional destabilization politics, the return to power of the Islamist coalition headed by Erdogan highlights the prevalence of authoritarianism, ethno-segregationist policies and the impending imperial projections, and the nihilistic nature of the Russian war of choice in Ukraine is not, by any means, helpful in a region where sacralized hatred, stigmatization and bloodshed are the rule. The prospects of regional stability, the remapping of Middle Eastern geopolitics, the continuing stream of massive displacement and demographic re-engineering taking place throughout the various countries, and their fallouts on European and Western security, are part of the same geopolitical scheme and should be tackled accordingly.

The price of American leadership. It’s high, but the value is higher
Clifford D. May/The Washington Times/August 31, 2023
“A fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing,” Oscar Wilde famously quipped. In Milwaukee last week, the Republican candidates for president – minus one Donald J. Trump – quarreled over both the price and value of American support for Ukraine.
Only Nikki Haley crunched the numbers correctly. From the February 2022 Russian invasion to August of this year, the United States has committed roughly $43 billion to Ukraine. As Ms. Haley suggested, that’s just 3.5 percent of U.S. spending on the Defense Department over the same period.
In other words, without American troops spilling a single drop of blood, Ukrainians are delivering body blows to the offensive military capabilities – e.g., the loss of more than 2,000 tanks to date – of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, America’s No. 2 adversary. (American’s No. 1 adversary, of course, is Chinese Communist leader Xi Jinping whom Mr. Putin has embraced in a “no limits” alliance.)
Another way to look at it: U.S. assistance to Ukraine – military and humanitarian combined – represents just 1.2 percent of U.S. government spending over the past 18 months. Is that not outstanding value? When have American taxpayers received a better – or even comparable – return on investment?
I’m not arguing that $43 billion is chump change. But to put that number in perspective, a recent AP investigation found that more than $280 billion in COVID-19 relief funding may have been stolen with another $123 billion wasted or misspent.
Consider three other misallocations (in my humble opinion) of your tax dollars.
President Biden is adding $80 billion over ten years to the budget of the Internal Revenue Service. His plan to socialize student loans was to cost as much as $430 billion. Since the Supreme Court found that plan unconstitutional the White House has come up with a new plan to transfer $39 billion worth of loans from students to taxpayers.
And the misleadingly named Inflation Reduction Act is projected to cost taxpayers $1.2 trillion over ten years in “green” subsidies. This will “address” but not actually impact climate change.
You also should know: Much of the materiel we’re sending to Ukraine is drawn from existing Defense Department stockpiles and is decades old.
Money spent on new and improved equipment to replace what we’ve transferred to Ukraine bolsters the U.S. defense industrial base which is employing a growing number of skilled American workers. That base has been in steep decline since what we believed (wrongly, I think) was the end of the Cold War in 1991. We took a premature “peace dividend.” The U.S. defense industry also is expected to receive billions of dollars in new orders from European countries to replace materiel they have transferred to Ukraine.
So, support for Ukraine is modernizing American forces and the forces of America’s allies while building U.S. defense industrial capacity so we can better compete with other countries – the People’s Republic of China among them – that make and sell arms.
All this is necessary if Americans are to reliably deter their enemies. Deterrence doesn’t come cheap, but it’s a bargain compared to what it costs when our enemies see us as weak – lacking martial capability or will, or both – and decide to take a shot.
What about diplomacy?
We can try, one more time with feeling, to “reset” relations with Mr. Putin as President Obama did one year after the Russian dictator carved two provinces off neighboring Georgia and five years before he invaded Ukraine for the first time.
We can continue to attempt to “thaw” relations with Mr. Xi. We can bribe Ali Khamenei of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These dictators would be pleased but not appeased.
Offers of “win-win” compromises do not tempt them. Outreached hands in search of unclenched fists hold no appeal. They recognize and respect power – nothing else.
Trust me: If Mr. Putin comes out on top in the current conflict, he won’t devote his golden years to gardening and pickleball. He’ll use the continuing revenue from oil sales to, shall we say, build back better militarily and pursue his dream: the restoration of the Russian Empire. He’ll also utilize Ukrainian resources – both natural and human (the latter with bayonets at their backs). Because Finland and Sweden grasp this reality, they’re no longer neutral. They’re now on our side. Poland is beefing up its defenses.
Indeed, eleven European countries have given more to Ukraine as a percentage of GDP than has the United States. Several other NATO countries have not stepped up as they should – that’s where U.S. diplomacy can be put to good use.
Meanwhile, in South Africa last week, the BRICS bloc – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa – held a summit at which they agreed to admit Iran, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Argentina, and the United Arab Emirates. More than 20 other countries have expressed an interest in joining. With Messrs. Xi and Putin at the helm, and Mr. Khamenei holding their hands, this will become the latest anti-American “international community” – a growth industry. Of course, if you’re an isolationist, you think: Let nations “non-align” against America! Let Russia erase Ukraine! Let NATO crumble! Let Beijing take Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific! Why worry?
No need – if you’re oblivious to the impact all that will have on the security, freedom, rights, and prosperity of your children and grandchildren; if you can’t imagine what it will mean if America becomes a has-been hegemon in a world dominated by Chinese Communists and their America-hating partners in Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang, Havana, Managua, and a lengthening list of other capitals.Yes, the price of maintaining American leadership is high. But the value is higher. Significantly. To refuse to see that is just foolish.
**Clifford D. May is founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and a columnist for the Washington Times. Follow him on X @CliffordDMay. FDD is a nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.

As Iran-Saudi ties stay shaky, Israel should expand Abraham Accords - opinion
Hussain Ehsani/August 31/2023
Amid the unstable Iran-Saudi alliance, Israel has an opportunity to continue expanding the Abraham Accords and sign an agreement with Saudi Arabia.
On July 12, 2023, Israel’s national anthem, “Hatikvah,” played in the video game version of the FIFA World Cup for the first time in Saudi Arabia.
In contrast, a month earlier in Tehran, in an unconventional diplomatic protocol the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry hung a photo of the assassinated Iranian military hero – once a threat to the Saudis – Qassem Soleimani in the conference room of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of the Islamic Republic, during the first visit of Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister – after seven years of tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
In response, the Saudi Arabian delegation refused to proceed to the room. A change of venue was arranged for the joint press conference between Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan. This year, Iran and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement mediated by China, supposedly ending the conflict between the Islamic rivals in the Muslim world after seven years of altercation. However, many indications suggest that this treaty is a shaky accord and that their conflict is ongoing.
Amid this unstable alliance between the two, Israel has an opportunity to continue expanding the Abraham Accords and sign an agreement with Saudi Arabia.
Why the Iran-Saudi Arabia alliance is shaky and unstable
The treaty between Iran and Saudi Arabia is shaky due to historical tension, the regional security dilemma between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and the concerns of Iran’s allies. Although the peace accord is welcomed by various countries in the region and by Iran’s internal parties, both sides are concerned for their own interests. As a Shia-dominated state, Iran has been supporting the Shia forces in the Middle East. Conversely, Saudi Arabia, as a Sunni kingdom, has been active in a counter-influence campaign since Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Historically, Iranian public opinion is against the Islamic caliphate, which imposed the first era of Islam on Iran, and Iranians consider that Islamic Arab Bedouin toppled the symbol of their civilization, the Sasanian Empire, in 651 CE. They have always claimed that the Arab offensive attack and the collapse of the Persian Empire was a turning point in Persian civilization. The significant book of Persian mythology, Shahnameh: The Epic of the Persian Kings, has many verses promoting hatred of Arabs. Additionally, Beeta Baghoolizadeh and Alex Shams argue that “Iran’s cultural encounters with the Arab World and Turkic peoples have been confrontational and highly detrimental to the supposed ‘cultural purity’ of the Iranian peoples.” Furthermore, these Iranian historians add that “The Shahnameh is essentially a secular text and indirectly or directly opposes Islam, Islamic societies, and Arabs.”
Shahnameh and its anti-Arab verses continue to circulate in educational center curricula, and in cafes and tea houses as traditional performances. Thus, most Iranian public opinion is opposed to Saudi Arabia as the perpetrator of the fallen Persian civilization.
In addition, Saudi Arabia’s security concerns about Iran remain.
Mohammad Amin Nouri, director general of The Regional Studies Scientific Association of the University of Tehran, concluded in an article that the treaty between the kingdom and Iran is unstable for many reasons. Another Iranian scholar tweeted that the kingdom is seeking a security guarantee as a pre-condition to joining the Abraham Accords. Rahman Gharemanpour added that if Saudi Arabia is looking for a security guarantee, that is because the kingdom still feels threatened by Iran. Thus, Saudi Arabia seeks a guarantee to counter any possible threat from Iran.
BESIDES THE regional security dilemma between Saudi Arabia and Iran, third parties such as the members of the Houthis group, Ansar Allah, are affected by this agreement and feel disgruntled. Iran had backed the Houthis during a conflict with Saudi Arabia and then utilized them as a wild card during the war. Despite the initial rapprochement, Iran finally abandoned its Zaidi Shia ally. The example of Iran abandoning its allies, which the Houthis experienced, leaves Iran’s partners feeling insecure.
This type of Iranian behavior could spread a message among allies that Iran leaves its allies behind in times of crisis. It is hard to believe that Iran would burn its wild cards, and it is more than likely that Iran will change course and support its allies again. Thus, Iran’s course of action is always to support its allies, which would imply support for the Houthis in Yemen.
Thus, in light of the eventual contentions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, Israel could embrace this significant time as an opportunity to pursue normalization and develop relations with Saudi Arabia.
Israel can start using a soft power approach to normalize its relationship with Saudi Arabia by participating in cultural festivals and sports events. The experience of the Israel Pavilion in Dubai was a positive step, allowing Israel and the United Arab Emirates to exchange common cultural elements and enhance their relations. Saudi Arabia, based on Vision 2030, is investing in a massive cultural festival project in Al-Ula city. The next step toward normalization and hope will be to hear Israel’s national anthem at the upcoming International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management (ICACM) from November 15-16, in Jeddah – and at other cultural and sports events.
The presence of Israel at these festivals could be a significant step toward normalizing relations with Saudi Arabia, while Iran is absent from these cultural events.
The writer is an expert on Middle Eastern affairs based in Canada, who focuses on the Abraham Accords and Canadian foreign policy.

Signs Of Possible War In September-October
*Yigal Carmon/ MEMRI Daily Brief No. 517/August 31/2023
Lately there have been growing indications that a war against Israel may break out in September or October 2023. The trigger may be spiraling violent clashes resulting in many casualties, or the use of new weapons leading to many fatalities on the Israeli side, in the face of which Israel will be unable to suffice with its regular counterterrorism measures.[1] While neither Hamas nor Hizbullah are eager to start a comprehensive confrontation with Israel,[2] such a confrontation could result from an uncontrolled deterioration on the ground or from the use of new and unusually deadly weapons by these movements.
The following are some of the factors pointing to the possibility of a war breaking out in the coming months:
1. Growing Provocations By Hizbullah On Israel's Northern Border
In the recent months, Hizbullah has repeatedly instigated increasingly bold provocations on the border. These included setting up tents in the Har Dov area, inside Israeli territory;[3] dismantling surveillance cameras along the border fence near Fatima Gate,[4] and firing an anti-tank missile into Israel.[5] In addition, Hizbullah, which does not recognize the Blue Line as the international border between Lebanon and Israel, has recently made a new territorial claim, demanding that Israel give Lebanon sovereignty over the northern Rosh Hanikra railway tunnel, likewise in Israeli territory.[6] At the same time, it also demands to curtail UNIFIL's freedom of action in South Lebanon. [7]
2. Adoption Of Gaza Fighting Methods By Islamist Terrorist Organizations In The West Bank, Such As The Firing Of Rockets And Excavation Of Command-And-Control Tunnels
The Palestinian terror organizations, especially Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), seek to change the mode of operation against Israel in the West Bank by duplicating the fighting methods used by the terrorists in Gaza.[8] This is manifest in the firing of rockets from the West Bank into Israel, the excavation of "command-and-control tunnels" in the West Bank (though not, as yet, tunnels infiltrating Israeli localities), and in military cooperation between different terror organizations, following the example of the Joint War Room in Gaza. There has also been an increase in efforts by Iran and Hizbullah to smuggle weapons into the West Bank, similar to the smuggling of weapons into Gaza.[9] PIJ secretary-general Ziad Al-Nakhaleh said that, during his June 2023 meeting with Iranian Leader Ali Khamenei, the latter had "reiterated [the need to] develop the arming of the West Bank and the resistance there." Nakhaleh added: "We, as Palestinians and as resistance forces and movements, understand the importance of arming the West Bank, but this requires efforts by the Palestinians themselves, and also the assistance of our brothers in the Islamic Republic of Iran."[10]
3. Possibility Of Clashes In Al-Aqsa During The Jewish Holidays In September, Potentially Sparking Violence Outside Jerusalem As Well
During the Jewish holidays in September and October, Jews are likely to visit the Al-Aqsa compound, as happens every year. Hamas and Hizbullah spokesmen have stressed that this could lead to a regional war. Saleh Al-'Arouri, deputy chairman of Hamas' Political Bureau and head of the movement's military wing in the West Bank, said in an interview with the Al-Mayadeen channel: "There are some in the [Israeli] cabinet who are contemplating measures like taking over and dividing the Al-Aqsa mosque, and carrying out assassinations." These people, he added, "know that this may lead to regional war." He recalled statements made by Hizbullah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, that "any attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque or on Jerusalem will prompt a regional war." [11]
4. Increased Threats Of Comprehensive Regional War
The leaders of the terror organizations have recently increased their threats of a comprehensive regional war,[12] in response to Israeli threats to assassinate terror operatives and those who dispatch them, including Hamas leader Saleh 'Arouri. In an interview with the Al-Mayadeen channel, the latter threatened to escalate the confrontation with Israel to the point of comprehensive war: "We are preparing for a comprehensive war and are discussing this in closed chambers with all the elements and components [of the resistance axis] that are connected to this war." He added that the resistance axis has "the presence, the motivation and the desire for a regional war to occur, and has an interest in this."[13]
5. Possibility Of Unprecedented Rise In Number Of Israeli Fatalities Following Use Of Deadly New Weapons, Compelling Israel To Respond Even At Cost Of Comprehensive War
There have recently been increasing reports about the potential use of new weapons by Hizbullah, Hamas and the PIJ that can cause a large number of Israeli fatalities. In this situation, Israel will likely be compelled to undertake a large-scale response, above and beyond its routine counterterrorism measures, even at the cost of an all-out war.[14]
It was reported lately that Israel had thwarted an attempt to smuggle into the West Bank, via Jordan, powerful explosive devices manufactured in Iran that spread large amounts of deadly shrapnel. The use of such explosive devices seriously threatens Israeli troops operating in the West Bank and can result in numerous casualties. Journalist 'Abd Al-Bari 'Atwan, editor of the online Arabic daily Al-Rai Al-Yawm, wrote in an article that "the coming days and weeks will see the resistance [fighters] in the West Bank receiving advanced weapons, provided by a number of countries and organizations, including Kornet anti-tank missiles."[15]
* Yigal Carmon is the President and founder of MEMRI.
[1] On the face of it, a large number of Israeli fatalities will be nothing new, but we assess that, in the present circumstances, Israel will undertake an unprecedented, comprehensive response, even at the cost of a comprehensive war with Iran, which is activating the Islamist resistance organizations on the ground.
[2] Recall that both movements are involved to some extent in regional natural gas initiatives that will be undermined by a major confrontation.
[3] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), June 1, 2023.
[4] Twitter.com/alishoeib1970, July 14, 2023.
[5] According to the Lebanese online daily Al-Mudun, the rocket was fired by "Lebanon" (i.e., Hizbullah) in protest against Israel's "annexing" of the village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border. The daily stressed that the firing of the rocket had been deliberately timed to coincide with Hizbullah's issuance of a statement on this matter. (almodon.com, almanar.com.lb, July 6, 2023).
[6] Al-Akhbar (Lebanon), July 16, 2023.
[7] See, for example, remarks by Ahmad Qabalan, a Shi'ite cleric close to Hizbullah, who said recently that "there is no room for international forces of any kind that come at the expense of Lebanon's sovereignty… We will not agree to any alternative to the national formula for defense of the homeland… The time of violating Lebanese territory has passed, and what happens in the [UN] Security Council does not interest us" (almanar.com.lb, August 28, 2023).
[8] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1707 – Palestinian Terror Organizations Are Duplicating Gaza Strip Fighting Methods In West Bank, August 8, 2023
[9] It should be noted that the armament efforts in the West Bank are energetically assisted by the Islamic Republic of Iran, and on orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Khamenei issued these orders a decade ago, and successive commanders of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps have declared numerous times that they are implementing these orders. Hamas and PIJ leaders regularly thank Iran publicly for its military aid to their organizations, including inside the West Bank. On this see MEMRI reports: Inquiry and Analysis No. 1107, Qods Day In Iran: Tehran Calls For Annihilation Of Israel And For Arming The West Bank, July 25, 2014; Special Dispatch No. 10721 - Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Secretary-General Ziad Al-Nakhaleh In Interviews With Iranian Media: We Manufacture Weapons Thanks To Aid Provided By Iran And Seek To Arm All West Bank Cities; No Jew Anywhere In The World Lives In Greater Danger Than The Jews In Palestine – July 24, 2023; Special Dispatch No. 10124 - In Tehran Visit On The Eve Of The Gaza-Israel Conflict, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Leader Nakhaleh, Iranian Regime Heads Praise Iran's Support For PIJ; IRGC Qods Force Commander Qa'ani: 'The Palestinian Fighters Are At The Stage Of Planning To Strike The Final Blows Against The Rotting Body Of The Zionist Regime, When The Time Is Right' – August 8, 2022; Special Dispatch No. 9946 - On International Qods Day, Instituted By The Iranian Regime, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hizbullah And Other Iran Allies Call For Jihad Against Israel, Threaten Regional War – May 4, 2022; Special Dispatch No. 9717 - On Second Anniversary Of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani's Killing, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad Continue To Praise Him; Controversy In Gaza Over Billboards Commemorating Him – January 10, 2022; Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1588 - Destruction Of Israel By The Sword Or By Referendum – Part II: Senior Iranian Regime Officials Link Iran To The May 2021 Gaza Conflict, Urge Hamas And Palestinian Islamic Jihad To Continue Their Fight Against Israel – July 22, 2021; Special Dispatch No. 9123 - Marking Anniversary Of Killing Of IRGC Qods Force Commander Qassem Soleimani, Hamas Continues To Signal Loyalty To Iran, Resistance Axis – January 5, 2021.
[10] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10721 - Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) Secretary-General Ziad Al-Nakhaleh In Interviews With Iranian Media: We Manufacture Weapons Thanks To Aid Provided By Iran And Seek To Arm All West Bank Cities; No Jew Anywhere In The World Lives In Greater Danger Than The Jews In Palestine – July 24, 2023.
[11] Almayadeen.net, August 25, 2023.
[12] These threats of regional war join the rhetoric that the Palestinian resistance factions have long been voicing about establishing a balance of terror and deterrence vis-à-vis Israel, and about uniting the resistance fronts in any future confrontation with Israel. See e.g. MEMRI TV Clip of statement by PIJ Secretary-General Al-Nakhaleh in April 2023; see also MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 10562 - Lebanese Media Reports: On The Evening Before The April 6, 2023 Rocket Attack On Israel, Iranian Qods Force Commander Esmail Qaani Visited Lebanon, Met With Officials From Hizbullah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad – April 13, 2023.
[13] An exchange of threats has also been ongoing between Israel and Hizbullah. In response to a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Galant that, "if Hizbullah starts a war we will send Lebanon back to the Stone Age" (ynet.co.il, August 8, 2023), Nasrallah said: "You too will go back to the Stone Age if you start a war against Lebanon" (alahednews.com.lb, August 14, 2023). In a May 25, 2023 speech, Nasrallah said in response to threats by Israeli PM Netanyahu, "You are not the ones threatening a large-scale war. It is we who threaten you with such a war. Any large-scale war will include all the borders, and hundreds of thousands of fighters will participate in it" (It should be noted that the resistance organizations do not have such a number of fighters) (alahednews.com.lb, May 25, 2023).
[14] In this context it should be mentioned that the Islamist resistance organizations always have the option of renewing the suicide bombings in crowded places like buses and restaurants. Such attacks are nothing new, but will nevertheless force Israel to respond with measures that are not part of its regular counterterrorism policy.
[15] Raialyoum.com, August 25, 2023.
https://www.memri.org/reports/signs-possible-war-september-october