Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 15-16/2023
Bachir: Is Lebanon’s Eternal glowing torch of pride.
Elias Bejjani/September 14/2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/3461/elias-bejjanibachir-is-lebanons-eternal-glowing-torch-of-pride/
Because ultimately we are all going to die, those of us who die for Lebanon’s holy cause, are in a better position then those who keep waiting for the death to come (Dr. Charles Malek)
Oh Bachir, the son of our beloved Lebanon, the land of holiness and saints.
Oh Bachir, you our life’s dream, the one that renews its strength with each and every beat of our hearts.
Oh Bachir, you are the eternal glowing torch of our pride. This torch will stay lit as long as one Lebanese on the surface of this earth remains clinging to your ideals and platform. As long as he keeps hanging to your awakening dream and following your footsteps in martyrdom, courage, caring and devotion.
Oh Bachir, You are the conscience of our eternal Lebanese nation.
Oh Bachir, how could you not be great great and you the descent of Ahiram, Hiram, Hannibal, Cadmous, Zaynoun, Patriarchs Hajola and Hadchiti, Fakereddine, Grand Bachir, Al Bustani, Gobran and Malek.
Oh Bachir, you are Lebanon’s 10,452 Km2 martyr, the one united Lebanon that is crowned with independence, sovereignty, freedoms and dignity.
Oh Bachir, you have carried with heroic pride Lebanon’s distinguishable, identifying emblem. You made it as tall as our holy Cedars and made it as high as the stars in the vast sky. You openly and proudly advocated for our 7,000 years’ deeply rooted history embodied in Lebanon’s holy soil. The soil that is watered throughout time with our grandfathers’ immaculate hard work, sweat, the blood of our martyrs and the prayers of our Saints.
Oh Bachir, you are the son of our steadfast mountain that has been an impervious forte in the face of the grudges of barbarians, the descendants of Timorlank and those intruding on our beloved Lebanon. Those whose only aim is to eradicate our culture, destroy our identity, abolish our civilization, attack our balanced demography and spread among our loving peaceful people their plaques of terrorism, radicalism, savageness, hatred and intolerance.
Oh Bachir, your dream is not dead as the venomous and malevolent people deluded themselves that is was. Nor as those who fear your faith, stubbornness, and perseverance that are personified in the mind, conscience and struggle of Lebanon’s youth. Those who are revolting against injustice, subservience and slavery. Lebanon’s youth who are calling loudly and courageously day and night for Lebanon’s liberation from the Syrian occupier’s abomination (squalor) and the infidelity (atheism) of its local puppets and servants.
Oh Bachir, twenty-one years have passed since you unwillingly left us. But your appealing voice is still ringing in our ears, the voice that triggered the nationally comprehensive, united call for the withdrawal of all foreign armies and the reclaiming of Lebanon’s independence and its free decision making process. Your voice will never leave us as long as we can breathe and the blood circulates in our veins and arteries. Meanwhile your heroic role model in facing hardships will remain our adopted means in dealing with difficulties and setbacks.
Oh Bachir, the criminals who assassinated you have succeeded in taking only your body away from us. Your dream in a free strong, sovereign and united Lebanon lives day and night with us. Yes, they killed your mortal earthy body but failed to defile your ideals, principles, spirit and dream that remain alive in our minds and hearts.
Oh Bachir, after twenty-one years you are still our companion in our joys as well as in our sadness, in our victories and in our retreats. We still share with you our laughs as well as our tears. No one can kill your presence in our hearts.
Oh Bachir, our headstrong people love dreams of rebellion because Almighty God has endowed them graciously with grants of generosity, love, ambition, hope, faith, self-confidence and creativity. Our people are not touched by dreams of the weak, only dreams of the strong appeal to them and for this fact they cling strongly to your dream. The Pharisees and the tax collectors as well as the temple merchants were deluded by their sick minds that by killing your deadly body they could kill your dream. They failed, and were defeated.
Your dream is still as vivid and as strong as it was on day one. Their conspiracy of killing you did not achieve any of its treacherous and criminal objectives.
Oh Bachir, all your enemies have became a forgotten shameful history while your dream is still alive in the hearts of your people who strive for a future that will witness its fulfillment.
Long Live Free Lebanon. May Almighty God bless the souls of Lebanon’s martyrs. We are Bachir, and the dream will not die.

Glimpse of peace: Signs of calm in Ain al-Hilweh camp after recent clashes
LBCI/15 September 2023
Walking through Ain al-Hilweh's torn alleyways feels like the path to liberate Palestine and Jerusalem. However, the war-torn neighborhood of Ras al-Ahmar in Ain al-Hilweh Camp was destroyed by senseless clashes, with bullet-riddled walls and homes reduced to rubble by shelling. Moving to another street within the camp, the images of the destroyed homes feel like another path toward Palestine. It is a road in the Hatin neighborhood of the camp, which witnessed the fiercest of clashes, where destructive shells ruled the day in confrontations between Fatah and extremist groups.
Hundreds of families benefited from the peace that resulted from Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri's efforts and Army Intelligence's success in brokering a ceasefire in the camp. Families have returned to inspect their homes after seven days of clashes.
Like the camp, Sidon breathed as life returned to its streets and the main road that connects southern cities and villages to the capital. Shops have reopened, and a sense of normalcy is gradually returning. Local deputies and figures, including MP Bahia Hariri and Islamic groups, have raised their voices against the clashes and the language of resorting to arms. This stance was directly conveyed to a Hamas delegation by MP Ousama Saad, emphasizing the necessity of maintaining the ceasefire, ending armed manifestations, and facilitating the return of displaced residents. Will the calm persist after a round of clashes that claimed 17 lives, left 160 wounded, and caused six army personnel to be injured? Or will the failure to hand over the wanted individuals lead to new chaos?

IMF warns Lebanon that the country is still facing enormous challenges
Associated Press/15 September 2023
Four years after Lebanon's historic meltdown began, the small nation is still facing "enormous economic challenges," with a collapsed banking sector, eroding public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty, the International Monetary Fund warned Friday. In a statement issued at the end of a four-day visit by an IMF delegation to the crisis-hit country, the international agency welcomed recent policy decisions by Lebanon's central bank to stop lending to the state and end the work in an exchange platform known as Sayrafa. Sayrafa had helped rein in the spiraling black market that has controlled the Lebanese economy, but it has been depleting the country's foreign currency reserves. The IMF said that despite the move, a permanent solution requires comprehensive policy decisions from the parliament and the government to contain the external and fiscal deficits and start restructuring the banking sector and major state-owned companies. In late August, the interim central bank governor, Wassim Mansouri, called on Lebanon's ruling class to quickly implement economic and financial reforms, warning that the central bank won't offer loans to the state. He also said it does not plan on printing money to cover the huge budget deficit to avoid worsening inflation. Lebanon is in the grips of the worst economic and financial crisis in its modern history. Since the financial meltdown began in October 2019, the country's political class — blamed for decades of corruption and mismanagement — has been resisting economic and financial reforms requested by the international community. Lebanon started talks with the IMF in 2020 to try to secure a bailout, but since reaching a preliminary agreement with the IMF last year, the country's leaders have been reluctant to implement needed reforms.
"Lebanon has not undertaken the urgently needed reforms, and this will weigh on the economy for years to come," the IMF statement said. The lack of political will to "make difficult, yet critical, decisions" to launch reforms leaves Lebanon with an impaired banking sector, inadequate public services, deteriorating infrastructure and worsening poverty and unemployment. Although a seasonal uptick in tourism has increased foreign currency inflows over the summer months, it said, receipts from tourism and remittances fall far short of what is needed to offset a large trade deficit and a lack of external financing.
The IMF also urged that all official exchange rates be unified at the market exchange rate.

Finance Minister Khalil: IMF's statement is an accurate description of the financial, monetary, and economic situation
LBCI/15 September 2023
The caretaker Finance Minister Youssef Khalil considered the statement issued by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to describe the financial, monetary, and economic situation accurately. He stated that it aligns with the Finance Ministry's vision and is consistent with the corrective measures it has initiated. These measures were reflected in the 2022, 2023, and 2024 budgets, primarily contributing to increased revenues, recent financial stability, and reasonable exchange rate stability. He emphasized that the recommendations regarding the completion of reforms confirm the view that urgently needed legislative reforms should complement the Ministry's efforts. However, the ongoing political situation hinders their implementation, requiring a more responsible approach at the legislative level to collectively devise an economic recovery plan on the right track.

Le Drian Concludes New Round of Presidential Talks in Lebanon
Asharq Al-Awsat/Caroline Akoum/15 September 2023
French Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian is set to conclude his mission in Beirut on Friday with a second meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri, amid expectations that he would return to Lebanon to facilitate the election of a new president. The Lebanese parliament has been unable to elect a new president for the country since the end of the term of Michel Aoun on Nov. 1, 2022.In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Berri described the discussions with the French envoy as “excellent”. He stressed that dialogue was not only a demand made by Le Drian, “but rather an Arab and international request because it is the only way out of this crisis.”During his visit to Beirut, Le Drian met separately with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rai in Bkirki, and with a number of independent deputies at the French embassy in Beirut. He also held talks with Sunni MPs, in the presence of Grand Mufti Abdullatif Derian and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari at the latter’s residence in Beirut. MP Ashraf Rifi said the French envoy’s meeting with Sunni representatives was aimed at facilitating the process of electing a president. He pointed to efforts that might lead to a settlement on the election of Army Commander General Joseph Aoun. Referring to Berri’s call for a national dialogue to resolve the presidential crisis, Rifi said: “We expect that the dialogue will be held with whoever attends, and then open election sessions will be called for to elect a president. It is likely that the choice would go towards the Army Commander.” Meanwhile, the head of foreign relations in the Lebanese Forces party (LF), former minister Richard Koyoumjian, who was present at the meeting that brought together the French envoy and LF chief Samir Geagea, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the French initiative has collapsed. Parliamentary sources said that Le Drian is expected to visit Berri on Friday to inform him of the outcome of his talks.

USAID celebrates rehabilitation completion of Beqaa wastewater treatment plant
Naharnet/15 September 2023
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), through its Community Support Program (CSP), has celebrated the completion of the rehabilitation of the Aaitanit Wastewater Treatment Plant in the Beqaa. In partnership with the Beqaa Water Establishment (BWE) and the Bouhaira Union of Municipalities, this $1.5 million intervention treats water for the villages of Aaitanit, Baaloul, Qaraoun, and Machghara, reaching more than 23,700 residents. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was attended by Minister of Energy and Water Dr. Walid Fayyad, Minister of Environment Dr. Nasser Yassin, USAID Lebanon Mission Director Julie Southfield, representatives from the BWE and the Bouhaira Union of Municipalities, and mayors of the benefiting villages. Minister of Water and Energy Dr. Walid Fayyad began his speech by praising this remarkable achievement and adding: “This integrated project aligns with the direct implementation of Law 63, which was issued in 2016 for protecting the Litani River Basin from deteriorating environmental conditions. Our wastewater sector, now under the jurisdiction of the water establishments as per the law, is in dire need of every bit of assistance. This support is invaluable and ensures the continued functionality of these crucial facilities in the face of severe financial constraints. Today marks a significant step forward in our mission to provide reliable and sustainable water and wastewater services to our communities.”In her remarks, USAID Lebanon Mission Director Julie Southfield stated, “Thanks to this $1.5 million intervention, more than 19,000 Lebanese residents and 4,700 Syrian refugees in the towns of Aitanit, Qaraaoun, Machghara, and Baaloul will benefit from cleaner irrigation water and a cleaner environment. This plant is one of many initiatives being undertaken by the $100 million Community Support Program to improve the delivery of essential services and enhance economic opportunities to reduce tensions in underserved communities.”Originally constructed with USAID funding in 2010 with a capacity to treat 5000 m3 of wastewater per day, the Aitanit wastewater facility was and continues to be operated by the Bouhaira Union of Municipalities and the BWE. In 2020, USAID, through CSP, extended its support by rehabilitating the facility’s equipment including the installation of new pumps, screens, and electro-mechanical systems and upgrading its sludge management by providing new thickening and dewatering equipment. This has reduced the sludge volume by 95 percent and prevented raw sewage overflow into the Litani river. USAID said it also equipped the plant with a modern wastewater laboratory to analyze samples and monitor the treatment process and is funding the operation and maintenance of the wastewater treatment facility until the end of 2024. "USAID is also building the capacities of technicians from the BWE and the Bouhaira Union of Municipalities to operate and sustain the facility." Under its wastewater management component, the USAID-funded CSP activity is also implementing major wastewater management interventions in Nmairiye (South Lebanon) and Bchaale (North Lebanon), both of which help serve more than 75,000 residents by treating more 12,000 m3 of wastewater per day.
"The USAID-funded Community Support Program (CSP) provides assistance to Lebanon’s most underserved communities by improving the delivery of essential services and enhancing economic opportunities to improve lives and reduce tensions," USAID said in a statement.

Palestinian fighters in Ain el-Helweh agree new truce
Agence France Presse/15 September 2023
Palestinian fighters have agreed a new ceasefire after more than a week of deadly violence in Lebanon's largest refugee camp, two Palestinian officials told AFP. At least 17 people have been killed and around 100 wounded in the fighting in Ain el-Helweh refugee camp, on the outskirts of the port city of Sidon, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent's Lebanon branch. The clashes have pitted fighters of president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement, which controls the camp, against hardline Islamist militants. "The two parties agreed to implement a ceasefire... starting Thursday at 6 pm (1500 GMT)," Palestinian camp official Fuad Othman told AFP by telephone. A Palestinian official close to Fatah confirmed the agreement, requesting anonymity because they are not allowed to speak to the press. The agreement came after Speaker Nabih Berri, met separately with Fatah's Azzam al-Ahmad and Hamas's Mussa Abu Marzuk on Thursday. Hamas is not involved in the fighting but is in contact with the Islamist hardliners, Othman said. Previous ceasefires had collapsed when the warring parties failed to honour commitments to hand over fighters wanted by the other side, he added. An AFP correspondent in Sidon said the camp was calm after the truce took effect. Five Fatah fighters who died in the clashes were buried on Thursday, he added. Lebanese army chief Joseph Aoun visited a Sidon brigade on Thursday and was briefed "on the missions carried out in light of the clashes" inside the camp, the army said.
By longstanding convention, the Lebanese army stays out of the Palestinian camps and leaves the factions to handle security. Ain el-Helweh is home to more than 54,000 registered refugees and thousands of Palestinians who joined them in recent years from neighbouring Syria, fleeing the civil war there. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has said the fighting has displaced hundreds of families. Five days of fighting in the camp in late July killed 13 people and wounded dozens. Rivals Fatah and Hamas are the most prominent Palestinian factions. Fatah dominates the Palestinian Authority, based in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, while Hamas controls the Gaza Strip.

Report: Nasrallah met Franjieh over presidential chances
Naharnet/15 September 2023
Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has met more than once with Marada leader and presidential candidate Suleiman Franjieh, al-Jadeed reported. The TV network claimed that the two leaders discussed Franjieh's presidential chances and that Franjieh asked Nasrallah during their meetings to be briefed in advance about any upcoming settlement. French Special Presidential Envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is leaving Lebanon today after a four-day visit, has reportedly hinted to some MPs that any of the proposed candidates, Suleiman Franjieh and Jihad Azour, will not be elected and tacitly proposed instead Army chief General Joseph Aoun. Meanwhile, al-Joumhouria newspaper reported Friday that Head of Hezbollah parliamentary bloc MP Mohammad Raad has also met with Franjieh in Bnashii, and assured him that he remains Hezbollah's only candidate. Raad had earlier met with Army Commander General Joseph Aoun away from the spotlight to discuss the presidential file. He told him that Hezbollah respects him as a person and as an army chief, but has a clear candidate -- Franjieh, al-Joumhouria said.

Le Drian, Mikati say President to likely be elected soon after 'positive' talks
Naharnet/15 September 2023
A president will likely be elected soon, French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian and caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday. The PM's office said that Le Drian called Mikati and both assured that Le Drian's talks in Lebanon were "positive" regarding the "imminent election of a president." Le Drian is visiting Lebanon to resume "his good offices mission, initiated last July, in coordination with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt," the French Embassy in Beirut said. He met with all the political players in charge of electing a president to discuss "the priority projects to be addressed by the next President, in order to facilitate the emergence of a consensual solution that will end the institutional crisis." Local media reports said Friday that Le Drian will return to Beirut within days to hold a meeting at the Pine residence. The meeting will discuss the responses that Le Drian received from the Lebanese political parties to a letter he had sent via the French embassy, in which he asked MPs about the required qualifications of the future president. Le Drian met during his four-day visit to Lebanon with Mikati, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Free Patriotic Movement Jebran Bassil, Marada leader Suleiman Franjieh, Army chief Gen. Joseph Aoun, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Kataeb leader Sami Gemayel, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Al-Rahi, and independent and Change MPs. He also met with Sunni MPs and Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari in Yarze.
Before leaving Beirut on Friday, Le Drian met again with Berri, who had reportedly said he is awaiting a feedback from Le Drian after he ends his meetings, to act accordingly. Berri and Le Drian had both called for a dialogue in September. After meeting Le Drian on Wednesday Berri said that Le Drian supported his dialogue initiative and agreed with him that there is no other way but dialogue to end the presidential crisis.

Berri: Le Drian didn't rule out Franjieh's election, dialogue also an Arab, int'l demand
Naharnet/15 September 2023 
French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian has not proposed a third-man solution, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said. Berri told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper, in remarks published Friday, that he and Le Drian are on the same wavelength, denying media reports that had claimed that both candidates, Suleiman Franjieh and Jihad Azour, will not be elected. Local media reports had also said that Le Drian had tacitly proposed the election as president of Army chief General Joseph Aoun in his meetings with Lebanese officials. Le Drian is visiting Lebanon to resume "his good offices mission, initiated last July, in coordination with the United States, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt," the French Embassy in Beirut said. He met with all the political players in charge of electing a president, including Berri, to discuss "the priority projects to be addressed by the next President, in order to facilitate the emergence of a consensual solution that will end the institutional crisis." Before leaving Friday, he met again with Berri. The two had previously met on wednesday, upon Le Drian's arrival to Beirut and Berri said he is awaiting a feedback from Le Drian after he ends of his meetings, to act accordingly.
Berri and Le Drian had both called for a dialogue in September. On August 31, Berri called on the Lebanese parties to engage in seven days of dialogue in parliament prior to going to open-ended electoral sessions to choose a new president. His initiative was rejected by most of the opposition MPs and was eventually criticized by Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil, while Le Drian hoped that Berri's initiative would pave the way for a solution. Berri said after he met Le Drian on Wednesday that Le Drian supported his dialogue initiative and agreed with him that there is no other way but dialogue to end the presidential crisis. "Dialogue is not only Le Drian's wish, it is also an Arab and international demand and the only solution to the crisis," Berri said. Before leaving Beirut, Le Drian called caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and both assured that Le Drian's talks in Lebanon were "positive" regarding the "imminent election of a president."Local media reports said Friday that Le Drian will return to Beirut within days to hold a meeting at the Pine residence. The meeting will discuss the responses that Le Drian received from the Lebanese political parties to a letter he had sent via the French embassy, in which he asked MPs about the required qualifications of the future president.

Rifi expects dialogue with boycotts and Aoun's election as president
Naharnet/15 September 2023 
MP Ashraf Rifi has described as “good” the meeting that was held Thursday in Yarze between Saudi Ambassador Walid Bukhari, French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Daryan and 21 Sunni MPs. It was aimed at “facilitating the presidential election process,” Rifi told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper in remarks published Friday, noting that there is a new drive that might lead to the election of Army chief Joseph Aoun as president. “The inclination is to look for a third candidate other than (Suleiman) Franjieh and (Jihad) Azour,” Rifi added. “We expect that a dialogue will be held with some boycotts after which there will be a call for open sessions for the election of a president, and thus it is likely that the choice has become Army Commander General Joseph Aoun,” the lawmaker went on to say.

Arabs seeking 'settlement president' in Lebanon amid regional progress
Naharnet/15 September 2023 
There are Arab, regional and international efforts to resolve the Lebanese presidential crisis through the election of a “settlement president,” Arab diplomatic sources said, amid a progress in the regional files, especially as to Yemen’s war. The “settlement president” should not be part of any axis and should be acceptable to the majority of parliament’s members, the sources told al-Liwaa newspaper in remarks published Friday. “It has become certain that France, KSA and Qatar are working within a coordinated course to end the presidential vacuum, based on the agreements that were reached in the Paris meetings between (French envoy Jean-Yves) Le Drian, French official Patrick Druel, Saudi minister Nizar al-Aloula and (Saudi) Ambassador (Walid) Bukhari, who began preparing for the meeting that was held at his residence once he returned to Beirut,” the daily added.

Report: Le Drian, Bukhari tell MPs things back to square one
Naharnet/15 September 2023 
French envoy Jean-Yves Le Drian’s visit to Lebanon has failed to achieve any breakthrough in the Lebanese presidential file, a pro-Hezbollah newspaper said on Friday. “It appeared once again that the Saudi stance has not changed … and this made everyone convinced that the dialogue that Speaker Nabih Berri has called for is hinging on the upcoming meeting of the representatives of the five-nation committee for Lebanon, which will be held on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly meetings in New York before the end of this month,” al-Akhbar newspaper said. In their meeting in Yarze with 21 Sunni MPs on Thursday, Le Drian and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari told the conferees that “the election of a president is not imminent,” as the French envoy hinted to the lawmakers that “things have returned to square one,” the daily added. Le Drian also said that “there is a need to look for consensual candidates” and that “the election of any of the proposed names is not possible.” MPs who attended the meeting meanwhile told al-Akhbar that Le Drian announced that he would return to Beirut on a new visit and that his upcoming diplomatic job in Saudi Arabia will not end his role in the Lebanese file. He also hinted that there will be a “new initiative,” the MPs added.

Global assistance: Lebanon seeks international support for forest fire disaster management
LBCI/September 15/2023
Global assistance: Lebanon seeks international support for forest fire disaster management
Lebanon is facing a daunting challenge as it grapples with forest fires. While citizens and the government share significant responsibility, an effective disaster management plan is urgently needed. Last year, the Environment Ministry, in collaboration with relevant authorities, launched a national strategy to reduce the risks of forest fires in Lebanon. As a result, the number of firefighting missions, according to Civil Defense, decreased from approximately 14,000 in 2021 to around 7,000 in 2022, accompanied by a reduction in the burnt areas. The strategy revolves around four fundamental pillars and has been implemented with funding from local sources and international organizations, including a recent $3.2 million grant from the Global Environment Facility through the World Bank. However, additional financial support is crucial to sustain and expand these efforts. Consequently, Lebanon is taking its plan to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, presenting a comprehensive outline of its steps to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The Civil Defense, which plays a pivotal role in this plan, works tirelessly with limited resources, making financial support an urgent necessity. While raising awareness is essential at this stage, financial support is equally vital for implementing the strategy effectively. Can Lebanon convince the international community to provide the necessary assistance to address this pressing issue?

Scarce data: Lebanon's challenges with informal Syrian labor force
LBCI/September 15/2023
The Lebanese government and the Labor Ministry face a difficult task in addressing the repercussions of the Syrian displacement crisis, particularly concerning Syrian laborers. One of the primary challenges confronting the Ministry is the absence of official statistics regarding this labor force, as a significant portion of them have clandestinely entered Lebanon to escape the severe economic crisis in Syria, leaving the state with no information about them. According to estimates by the General Security, the number of Syrians who entered Lebanon clandestinely ranges between one million and 1.5 million.
However, the company "Statistics Lebanon" suggests that the country has approximately 721,000 Syrian workers. These Syrian laborers, aged between 9 and 60, engage in various job sectors, including workshops, gas stations, bakeries, and other industries traditionally occupied by Syrians in Lebanon. Since the war, they have also entered new sectors, such as working in shops, supermarkets, hairstyling, restaurants, healthcare, and more. These laborers have filled the void left by Lebanese workers in collusion with business owners who turn to Syrian labor because it is more cost-effective, saving them social security, residence permits, insurance, and such expenses. Labor Ministry sources emphasized that they lack the authority to regulate these workers. The primary responsibility lies with security agencies, which are expected to prevent their illegal entry into Lebanese territory and subsequently track them down, along with the institutions employing them. The crackdown on violations extends not only to unregistered Syrian workers but also to those who are registered and the businesses where they are employed. The Labor Ministry has taken measures to determine the permissible number of foreign workers in institutions. For every three Lebanese workers, an institution is allowed to employ one foreign worker at most. Failure to comply with this regulation could result in legal action, and the Ministry's inspection teams continuously monitor and issue citations against non-compliant institutions and administrations. Can the Lebanese government effectively address the issue of unregistered and unregulated Syrian laborers that permeate various sectors without oversight or regulation?

Unveiling potential at AUB's ABLE Summit: The 'unseen' heroes among us
LBCI/September 15/2023
Mohammed, an exceptional young man, has not let his health condition hinder his academic and professional ambitions. Many individuals like him exist in society today, but perhaps because we do not see them often, we tend to forget their existence. We fail to acknowledge their potential and overlook their capabilities, which can often surpass those of others. At the American University of Beirut (AUB), the "ABLE Summit" brought together many individuals with disabilities and experts from around the world. Their goal was to assess the current status of people with disabilities and discuss the challenges they face in integrating into technological advancements, whether in education or the job market. Experts from all over the world attend this summit, sharing their proposals to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities and facilitate their adaptation to technological progress. This summit aims to equip participants with the necessary knowledge to benefit as much as possible from all the new discoveries. One of the most significant aspects of such meetings is the unique and diverse ideas that participants share. In the lives of people who have often felt forgotten throughout their lives, initiatives like these are essential and necessary. These ideas, even if simple, create significant change and ensure that we can do better.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 15-16/2023
Executions in Iran Surge Over Past Year
FDD/September 15/2023
Latest Developments
Since nationwide protests in Iran began in September 2022, the clerical regime’s executions have surged. According to the Oslo-based non-profit Iran Human Rights, Tehran executed approximately 697 people between September 2022 and September 2023, including seven for activities related to the protests. Iranian courts have sentenced another 10 protestors to death, and 82 are facing charges that include the death penalty. The United States has accused Iranian authorities of using torture to extract confessions, denying counsel to defendants, and conducting sham trials in the Revolutionary Court.
Expert Analysis
“The regime’s execution spree and ongoing employment of brute force grotesquely aim to deter Iranian protestors from marking the anniversary of the nationwide uprising against the Islamic Republic as well as from continuing to contest the state from the street.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow
“Iran consistently ranks among the countries with the highest numbers of executions worldwide, alongside China, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. The elevated execution rate in Iran stems from the state’s use of archaic Islamic jurisprudence as a weapon for suppressing dissent and imposing a way of life that is out of step with the modern world on millions of Iranians.” — Saeed Ghasseminejad, FDD Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor
“The surge of executions in Iran shows that the regime is desperate, lashing out because its efforts to crush the nationwide uprising over the past year have clearly failed. Yet the Biden administration remains silent. The first anniversary of the protests provides an opportunity for Washington to do what it should have done a year ago: endorse the Iranian people’s call for regime change.” — Tzvi Kahn, FDD Research Fellow and Senior Editor
Vulnerable Minorities Overrepresented in Executions
In 2023, Iran has executed approximately 501 people so far, including 13 women, and is on track to reach its highest number of executions since the regime executed 972 people in 2015. It executed 530 in 2016, 517 in 2017, 273 in 2018, 280 in 2019, and 267 in 2020, before rising to 333 in 2021 and at least 582 in 2022. These figures do not include the hundreds of protestors killed by Iranian security forces since nationwide demonstrations began last September. Iran has consistently ranked only behind China — which does not disclose how many people it executes — in the number of total executions it conducts each year. In particular, Iran sharply increased the executions of those convicted of drug-related offenses.
New Chief Judge Likely to Continue Trend
Tehran’s extensive use of the death penalty reflects the will of Iran’s supreme leader, who directly appoints the head of the judiciary, who in turn appoints all judges. In August, the supreme leader appointed a former prosecutor-general of Iran, Mohammad Jafar Montazeri — who is sanctioned by the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada — as Iran’s new chief judge. As prosecutor-general, Montazeri pushed for harsh sentences for those arrested during the protests that began last year.

US, partners impose new Iran sanctions to mark Amini anniversary
Rina Bassist/Al-Monitor/September 15, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration on Friday imposed new sanctions to mark the anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death, which last year set off sweeping protests against Iran's clerical regime. In connection with the government’s brutal clampdown on the nationwide protest movement, the administration announced sanctions against 25 Iranian individuals, Iranian state-backed media outlets Fars News, Tasnim News and Press TV, and one Iranian internet research firm. It also imposed visa restrictions on 13 Iranian officials and other individuals for their involvement.
The sanctions were undertaken in coordination with Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged that the United States and its partners would “hold accountable those who suppress Iranians’ exercise of human rights.” “One year ago, Mahsa’s tragic and senseless death in the custody of Iran’s so-called 'Morality Police' sparked demonstrations across Iran that were met with unspeakable violence, mass arrests, systemic internet disruptions and censorship by the Iranian regime,” Blinken said in a statement.
British Foreign Minister James Cleverly said in a statement that the UK has sanctioned more than 350 Iranian officials and entities since the beginning of the protests a year ago, adding four individuals on Friday to the list. “Today’s sanctions on those responsible for Iran’s oppressive laws send a clear message that the UK and our partners will continue to stand with Iranian women and call out the repression it is inflicting on its own people,” Cleverly said.  Saturday will mark one year since Amini died while in custody of the Iranian morality police who arrested her days earlier for allegedly violating the law requiring women to wear headscarves in public. Authorities blamed the 22-year-old's death on preexisting medical problems. Her death sparked months of protests under the banner “Woman, Life, Freedom.” What began as demonstrations against the compulsory hijab in Iran’s Kurdish-populated northwest, where Amini lived, soon turned into one of the country’s largest protest movements since the 1979 revolution. Iranian security forces responded by violently cracking down on the demonstrations, killing more than 500 people and detaining some 22,000, according to rights groups. The sanctions announced Friday are the Biden administration’s 13th round of sanctions imposed over the brutal clampdown. The new designations come days before the expected release of five Americans held in Iranian custody. Along with exchanging prisoners, Washington will facilitate Terhran’s access to $6 billion in frozen energy revenue for humanitarian purposes. Blinken this month signed waivers permitting the transfer of the money, held in South Korea, to Qatar’s central bank. The United States and its partners unveiled the sanctions ahead of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s arrival in New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly's annual gathering of world leaders. In an interview with NBC News, Raisi defended his government’s response to the protests but said those who fuel instability in Iran would pay a “big cost.”

Biden confirms Washington stands with Iranians on Mahsa Amini's death anniversary
AFP/September 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden reaffirmed his support for the Iranian people on Friday, one year after the protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, announcing new sanctions against "outrageous violators of human rights." In a statement, Biden said, "As we remember the tragic death of Mahsa today, we emphasize our commitment to the brave Iranian people who continue their mission." He added, "Iranians alone will decide the fate of their country, but the United States remains committed to standing with them, including by providing the necessary tools to support Iranians' ability to defend their future."
The United States will announce "additional sanctions targeting some of the most egregious human rights violators."The Kurdish Iranian Mahsa Amini, 22, died on September 16th last year after being arrested in Tehran for allegedly violating the strict dress codes imposed on women in the Islamic Republic. Her death sparked protests across the country under the slogan "Women, Life, Freedom." The US Treasury Department announced that it has added 25 additional Iranian officials, three media platforms, and a research company to its blacklist of sanctions, all of which are linked to Tehran's crackdown on protests following Amini's death. Most of those targeted are regional leaders of the National Police Force and the Revolutionary Guard. Sanctions were also imposed on Gholamali Mohammadi, who heads the Iranian Prisons Organization, with the Treasury Department stating that he oversees the most severe human rights violations, including torture and rape. State-affiliated media groups, including "Press TV," Tasnim News Agency, and Fars News Agency, were also added to the sanctions list. The "Internet Research Company" is described by the Treasury as a company that assists the government in monitoring the internet and "expanding the regime's capacity for repression." US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the sanctions were imposed in coordination with the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, "as well as other partners imposing sanctions this week."London announced new sanctions against Iran earlier on Friday. These sanctions come after the United States and Iran reached an agreement to release five detained American citizens in exchange for the release of $6 billion in Iranian funds.The release of the American citizens is expected to occur next week.

A year since Mahsa Amini’s killing, Iran’s Kurds brace for renewed crackdown
Amberin Zaman/Al-Monitor/September 15, 2023
The woman whose death in police custody sparked nationwide protests across Iran a year ago was an ethnic Kurd. Her real name was Jina, but her parents were forced to officially name her Mahsa because of bans on Kurdish-language names, just one of the many strictures faced by Iran’s estimated seven million Kurds. The 22-year-old, who was beaten to death for failing to cover her hair adequately, has since come to symbolize the demonstrations — the most threatening to Iran’s clerical regime in recent history. "Jin, Jiyan, Azadi," Kurdish for “Women, Life, Freedom,” the protesters’ rallying call, continues to resonate across the globe. This Kurdish twist to a grassroots civic uprising cutting across ethnic, confessional and gender lines served the regime well. It deftly spun a narrative of Kurdish separatism fomented by malign foreign forces as the root cause of the unrest.
Iran’s clerical leaders continue to tout that line, and with the first anniversary of Amini’s death on Sept. 16 approaching, Iranian authorities are doubling down. Rights monitors say that the regime has been deploying thousands of forces together with tanks and heavy weapons to the Kurdish-majority provinces of Iran as much to deter protests as for a swift and bloody suppression in case they emerge. The Oslo-based Hengaw Organization for Human Rights reported that these include thousands of Revolutionary Guards who were dispatched to Amini’s hometown of Saqqez.
Shler Bapiri, a member of Hengaw’s executive board, told Al-Monitor that the repression of Kurds inside Iran had sharply increased in the wake of the protests, which — under the regime’s ferocious crackdown — petered out by the start of this year. “Therefore, unfortunately, the majority of those executed, demonstrators killed and activists arrested in Iran are Kurds,” Bapiri said. “The ‘Jina Revolution’ showed the world that the Islamic Republic always regarded Kurdistan as a security case and militarized zone, so it beat demonstrators with batons in Tehran and shot demonstrators with weapons in Kurdistan,” Bapiri added. According to the Kurdistan Human Rights Network, another advocacy group, Amini’s father, Amjad, was interrogated by Iranian intelligence four times over the past week about the family’s plans to commemorate their daughter’s death. Her parents remain unswayed by such intimidation, declaring in an Instagram post that “like any other grieving family, we will gather at the grave of our beloved daughter Jina (Mahsa) Amini on the anniversary of her martyrdom to hold traditional and religious ceremonies.”
To be sure, Kurdish national demands did play a role with multiple videos recording slogans of explicitly nationalist content being chanted in various cities during the funerals of those killed in the protests, noted Kamran Matin, a senior lecturer in international relations at the University of Sussex.
Protests unite Iran's minorities
Yet, as Walter Posch, a faculty member of the National Defense Academy in Vienna who specializes in Iran, observed, “Jina was a victim of triple discrimination: as a woman, as a Kurd and as a Sunni.” Posch told Al-Monitor, “The core message of the protests was ‘enough discrimination.'"What was especially unnerving for the regime, he added, was the solidarity that emerged between Iran’s other systematically oppressed ethnic minority, the majority Sunni Baluchis in southwestern Iran. Prominent Sheikh al-Islam Moulana Abdolhamid Esmailzahi from Zahedan in Baluchistan cited Amini’s case as an example of police violence during a sermon and was the first to condole her family. “Perhaps auguring change in the political philosophy of radical Sunni Islam, [the sheikh] based his critique of the Islamic Republic on the secular ground of human rights and citizens’ rights. Women’s rights, denominational rights and ethnic rights were combined into one civic argument: framing the problem as police brutality and institutionalized discrimination, not as secularism or religion,” Posch wrote in a recent essay for Chatham House. Fortuitously for the regime, there is no geographic contiguity between the Baluchi and Kurdish majority regions.
Indeed, by most accounts, the regime has been successful in playing to Persian nationalist sentiments with its systematic propaganda that Iranian Kurdish “terrorist” groups are not only instigating these protests but seeking to divide Iran. “Given how the notion of territorial integrity has been instilled into the consciousness of so many Iranians, especially those of Persian cultural background, this strategy served the purpose of dividing the protesters, with a considerable section of the Iranian opposition groups, especially the royalists, repeating this line of argument,” Matin said.
Arzu Yilmaz, an Erbil-based academic specializing in Kurdish affairs, concurred. “The protests took place with the participation of all of Iran’s ethnic groups, yet the regime succeeded in pinning them on the Kurds and portraying them as an ethnic rebellion. It succeeded in rendering the feminist aspect of the protest that had little to do with ethnic politics in the beginning, ethnic as well,” Yilmaz told Al-Monitor.
Renewed threats
Drawing on such claims, Iran is threatening to launch fresh attacks against armed Iranian Kurdish opposition groups inside neighboring Iraqi Kurdistan. It has set a Sept. 19 deadline for Iraqi authorities to disarm and move them to camps outside the Kurdish zone, or else face Iran’s wrath. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced in a news conference with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, in Tehran Wednesday that several groups of Iranian Kurdish opposition fighters had already been disarmed and moved to camps in an undisclosed area, and that the remaining groups would be disarmed within the “next two days.” These are mainly fighters who were based along the Iran-Iraq border where they levied “taxes” on smugglers carrying cigarettes and alcohol into the Islamic Republic. It’s a well-established fact that the main Iranian Kurdish parties, namely the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI), and two rival left-wing groups, both called Komala, pose no threat to speak of, as they are unable to operate inside Iran and are closely monitored by the Iraqi Kurdish hosts on whose benevolence they depend. The same applies for a smaller group known as the Kurdistan Freedom Party. The sole exception is the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK), which is linked to another Kurdish group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that is fighting Turkey. PJAK is widely acknowledged to be the most active of these groups inside Iran. The others allege that both PJAK and the PKK have secret ties to the regime. Both deny the claims, recalling that Iran cooperates with Turkey against the PKK and has targeted PJAK in the past. PJAK was among the Kurdish opposition groups that called for a general strike inside Iranian Kurdistan to mark the anniversary of Amini’s death.
Either way, Iraqi Kurdish authorities take Iran’s threats very seriously not least because they have acted on them, most recently in the fall of 2022 when it struck the groups inside Iraqi Kurdistan with ballistic missiles and suicide drones (PJAK was not targeted). According to Hengaw, at least 21 people, including two women and an infant, perished in those strikes. KDPI sources speaking not for attribution insisted that their forces had not yet been disarmed and that they would resist any attempt for their weapons to be taken away from them. “We need them to defend ourselves,” one of the sources said. PJAK publicly declared that handing over its weapons was “out of the question.” In any case, both PKK and PJAK forces are high up in the Qandil Mountains bordering Iran, well out of reach of Iraqi forces. Matin reckons that should protests erupt anew, the likelihood of a military strike by the regime against Iraqi Kurdistan “is very high.” The Sept. 19 deadline for disarming the Kurdish opposition groups — which is three days after the anniversary of Amini's death — needs to be assessed in this light, Matin explained.
“Bottom line: For Iran’s Kurds, little has changed,” Yimaz said.

An IRGC speedboat cruises past an oil tanker off the port of Bandar Abbas, southern
Adam Lucente/Al-Monitor/September 15, 2023
Iran has seized two foreign oil tankers, its state media reported on Friday, as tensions between the United States and the Islamic Republic in the Gulf continue. The official Islamic Republic News Agency reported that the navy of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced Thursday it had captured two foreign oil tankers in the Persian Gulf that were carrying 400,000 gallons of smuggled fuel. The tankers, the Steven and the Crown, and were flying under the flags of Panama and Tanzania, IRNA reported. Both ships' crews, 37 people in total, were arrested. Al-Monitor was unable to find ships matching their description in shipping databases. Why it matters: Iran has seized several tankers in recent months for alleged smuggling activities. In July, the IRGC seized a ship it said was smuggling fuel in the Persian Gulf. The same month, the US Navy said it thwarted attempts by Iran to seize two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman. The uptick in seizures follows US efforts to boost enforcement of sanctions on Iran’s oil industry. In April, US authorities confiscated the Suez Rajan, accursed of bringing smuggled Iranian crude to China. The 980,000 barrels aboard the ship were finally offloaded in the United States in August after members of Congress questioned whether threats from the IRGC were preventing it. Relatedly, the United States sent additional forces to the region in August as part of a buildup in response to Iran’s actions at sea. Know more: Iran’s oil production is steadily increasing despite Western sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear program. Production reached 3.15 million barrels per day in August, the highest figure since 2018, when the United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions. The withdrawal from the deal hurt Iran’s oil production and exports, but increased shipments to China have helped the industry this year.

Britain, France and Germany say will keep nuclear, missiles sanctions on Iran
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Britain, France and Germany announced Thursday they will keep their sanctions on Iran related to the Mideast country's atomic program and development of ballistic missiles. The measures were to expire in October under a timetable spelled out in the now defunct nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. In a joint statement, the three European allies known as E3 and which had helped negotiate the nuclear deal, said they would retain their sanctions in a "direct response to Iran's consistent and severe non-compliance" with the accord, also known by its official name as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA. The measures ban Iran from developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons and bar anyone from buying, selling or transferring drones and missiles to and from Iran. They also include an asset freeze for several Iranian individuals and entities involved in the nuclear and ballistic missile program. Iran has violated the sanctions by developing and testing ballistic missiles and sending drones to Russia for its war on Ukraine. The sanctions will remain in place until Tehran "is fully compliant" with the deal, the E3 said. The sanctions, according to the accord from eight years ago, were to expire on Oct. 18. Iran's Foreign Ministry called the European decision an "illegal, provocative action" that will hamper cooperation, in comments quoted by the country's official news agency IRNA. "The actions of the European parties will definitely have negative effects on the efforts to manage the tension and create a suitable environment for more cooperation between the JCPOA parties," the ministry said.
The 2015 nuclear deal was meant to ensure that Iran could not develop atomic weapons. Under the accord, Tehran agreed to limit enrichment of uranium to levels necessary for nuclear power in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. In 2018, then-President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the United States out of the accord, saying he would negotiate a stronger deal, but that did not happen. Iran began breaking the terms a year later and is now enriching uranium to nearly weapons-grade levels, according to a report by the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. Formal talks to try to find a roadmap to restart the deal collapsed in August 2022. The E3 have informed the European Union's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, about their decision, the statement said. Borrell, in turn, said he had forwarded the E3 letter to other signatories of the 2015 deal — China, Russia and Iran. The development comes at a delicate moment as the United States is preparing to finalize a prisoner swap with Iran that would include the unfreezing of Iranian assets held in South Korean banks worth $6 billion. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters that Washington was in touch with the European allies over "the appropriate next steps." "We are working closely with our European allies, including members, of course, of the E3, to address the continued threat that Iran poses including on missiles and arms transfers with the extensive range of unilateral and multilateral tools that are at our disposal," he said. Iran has long denied ever seeking nuclear weapons and continues to insist that its program is entirely for peaceful purposes, though Rafael Mariano Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has warned that Tehran has enough enriched uranium for "several" nuclear bombs if it chose to build them. Under the terms of the nuclear deal, a U.N. arms embargo against Tehran will expire on Oct. 18, after which countries that do not adopt similar sanctions on their own as the E3 — likely Russia and perhaps also China — will no longer be bound by the U.N. restrictions on Iran. However, Iran has lately slowed the pace at which it is enriching uranium, according to a report by the IAEA that was seen by The Associated Press earlier this month. That could be a sign Tehran is trying to ease tensions after years of strain between it and the U.S. "The decision makes sense," Henry Rome, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said of the European decision. "The real question is how Iran will react. Given the broader de-escalation efforts underway, I would expect Iran not to act rashly, but we never know."

Netanyahu to meet Musk as X faces antisemitism controversy
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet billionaire businessman Elon Musk during a trip to the United States next week, the Israeli leader's office said. Netanyahu's office said their meeting, which is scheduled for Monday, will include discussions about artificial intelligence. It comes at a time when Musk is facing accusations of tolerating antisemitic messages on his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The Anti-Defamation League, a prominent Jewish civil-rights organization, has accused Musk of allowing antisemitism and hate speech to spread on X. Its director, Jonathan Greenblatt, said Musk had "amplified" the messages of neo-Nazis and white supremacists who want to ban the league by engaging with them recently on X. In a Sept. 4 post, Musk claimed that the league was "trying to kill this platform by falsely accusing it & me of being anti-Semitic." In other posts, he said the league was responsible for a 60% drop in revenue at X and said his company would have "no choice" but to file a defamation lawsuit against the group. "Oh the irony!" he wrote. As of Thursday, he has not followed through on this threat. X, however, did file a lawsuit against another group that has studied the proliferation of hate speech on the platform. In August, it sued the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate, accusing it of violating X's terms of service by improperly collecting a vast amount of data for its analysis. The lawsuit claims the group's research highlighting an increase in hate speech on the former Twitter since Musk took over cost the company millions of dollars of advertising revenue. But analysts who track Twitter have argued that Musk's chaotic changes to the platform — including jettisoning its well-known brand name — have led to a decline in interest from advertisers. Greenblatt says his group is "willing to work" with X and last week met with the company's chief executive, Linda Yaccarino. Both Musk and Yaccarino have recently posted messages saying they oppose antisemitism. Netanyahu's office said his first U.S. stop — in San Francisco — will include meetings with other tech leaders to discuss artificial intelligence. It did not identify the executives. From there, he heads to New York, where he is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly and meet with President Joe Biden and other world leaders, his office said. They include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as well as South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres.

Yemen rebels seek to overcome 'challenges' in Saudi war talks
Agence France Presse/September 15, 2023
Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they hoped to overcome "challenges" on Friday as they head into unprecedented talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending their devastating eight-year war. The delegation of Huthis, close to Riyadh's long-time rival Tehran, flew in late on Thursday for their first public visit since a Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015. Their visit, five months after hosting a Saudi team in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, is the latest hopeful sign for a war that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "We hope that a serious discussion will take place in the interest of both peoples and that the challenges will be overcome," senior political leader Mohamed Ali al-Huthi posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early on Friday. "Dialogue can only take place with the... coalition, considering that the decision... of the siege and stopping it is in its hands." Yemen was plunged into conflict when the Huthis took control of the capital Sanaa in September 2014, ousting the internationally recognised government and prompting the Saudi-led coalition to launch their offensive the following March. Yemen's government, now operating out of the southern city of Aden, voiced support for the talks and "all initiatives aimed at bringing about a just and comprehensive peace". "The Yemeni government welcomed the efforts... aimed at pushing the Huthi militias towards seriously responding to calls for peace and alleviating the human suffering of the Yemeni people," said a statement on its official Saba news agency.
Cooling in tensions
Yemen's fighting has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced millions from their homes, leaving three-quarters of the population dependent on aid. However, the tide has turned in the past 18 months. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire is largely holding, despite officially expiring in October, and the warring parties have made tentative steps towards peace. In May last year, commercial flights took off from Sanaa airport for the first time in six years as coalition countries reopened their airspace, and this April, nearly 900 detainees were exchanged in a confidence-building prisoner swap. Key to the cooling in tensions has been Saudi Arabia's detente with Iran, after seven years of ruptured ties, in March, as Riyadh tries to focus on revamping its oil-reliant economy and building future prosperity. Days after the surprise rapprochement, the prisoner exchange was sealed during talks in Switzerland. The Saudi ambassador to Yemen led a negotiating team to Sanaa the following month. Saudi state TV Al Ekhbariya said the current talks were aimed at "finding a comprehensive political solution in Yemen." "The kingdom is hosting a negotiating delegation representing the Yemeni Houthi component, intending to continue the discussions aimed at finding a political solution, a comprehensive ceasefire, and moving from the stage of conflicts to stability," it said. The Houthi demands include payment of their civil servants' salaries by the displaced Yemeni government, and the launch of new destinations from Sanaa airport.

Derna closed off as searchers look for 10,100 missing after flood deaths rise to 11,300
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Libyan authorities blocked civilians from entering the flood-stricken eastern city of Derna on Friday so search teams could look through the mud and wrecked buildings for 10,100 people still missing after the known toll rose to 11,300 dead. The disaster after two dams collapsed in heavy rains and sent a massive flood gushing into the Mediterranean city early Monday underscored the storm's intensity but also Libya's vulnerability. The oil-rich state since 2014 has been split between rival governments in the east and west backed by various militia forces and international patrons. Derna was being evacuated and only search and rescue teams would be allowed to enter, Salam al-Fergany, director general of the Ambulance and Emergency Service in eastern Libya, announced late Thursday. The disaster has brought rare unity, as government agencies across Libya's divide rushed to help the affected areas, with the first aid convoys arriving in Derna on Tuesday evening. Relief efforts have been slowed by the destruction after several bridges that connect the city were destroyed. The Libyan Red Crescent said as of Thursday that 11,300 people in Derna had died and another 10,100 were reported missing. Mediterranean storm Daniel also killed about 170 people elsewhere in the country. Eastern Libya's health minister, Othman Abduljaleel, has said the burials so far were in mass graves outside Derna and nearby towns and cities. Abduljaleel said rescue teams were searching wrecked buildings in the city center and divers were combing the sea off Derna. Soon after the storm hit the city Sunday night, residents said they heard loud explosions when the dams outside the city collapsed. Floodwaters gushed down Wadi Derna, a valley that cuts through the city, crashing through buildings and washing people out to sea. Lori Hieber Girardet, the head of the risk knowledge branch the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, told The Associated Press on Thursday that because of years of chaos and conflict Libyan "government institutions are not functioning as they should." As a result, she said, "The amount of attention that should be paid to disaster management, to disaster risk management isn't adequate." The city of Derna is governed by Libya's eastern administration, which is backed by the powerful military commander Khalifa Hiftar.

Iraq steps up repatriations from IS camp in Syria, hoping to reduce militant threats
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Iraq is stepping up repatriation of its citizens from a camp in northeastern Syria housing tens of thousands of people, mostly wives and children of Islamic State fighters but also supporters of the militant group. It's a move that Baghdad hopes will reduce cross-border militant threats and eventually lead to shutting down the facility. After U.S.-backed and Kurdish-led fighters defeated the Islamic State group in Syria in March 2019 — ending its self-proclaimed Islamic "caliphate" that had ruled over a large swath of territory straddling Iraq and Syria — thousands of IS fighters and their families were taken to the camp known as al-Hol. Many of them were Iraqi nationals. Today, Iraqi officials see the facility, close to the Iraq-Syria border, as a major threat to their country's security, a hotbed of the militants' radical ideology and a place where thousands of children have been growing up into future militants. It's "a time bomb that can explode at any moment," warned Ali Jahangir, a spokesman for Iraq's Ministry of Migration and Displaced. Since January, more than 5,000 Iraqis have been repatriated, from al-Hol, with more expected in the coming weeks, he said.
It is mainly women and children who are sent home. Iraqi men who have committed crimes as IS members rarely ask to go back for fear of being put on trial. Those who express readiness to return, have camp authorities send their names to Baghdad, where the government does a security cross-check and grants final approval. Once in Iraq, the detainees are usually taken to the Jadaa camp near the northern city of Mosul, where they undergo rehabilitation programs with the help of U.N. agencies before they are allowed back to their hometowns or villages. The programs involve therapy sessions with psychologists and educational classes meant to help them shed a mindset adopted under IS.
Iraq has been urging other countries to repatriate their citizens from al Hol, describing the camp at a conference held in June in Baghdad as a "source for terrorism."
At the gathering, Iraq's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Sahhaf said it was critical for all countries with citizens at al-Hol "to repatriate them as soon as possible in order to eventually close the camp."The alternative, he warned, is a resurgence of the Islamic State group. The heavily-guarded facility, overseen by Syrian Kurdish-led forces allied with the United States, was once home to 73,000 people, the vast majority of them Syrians and Iraqis. Over the past few years, the population dropped to just over 48,000 and about 3,000 were released since May. Those still at the camp include citizens of about 60 other countries who had joined IS, which is why closing al-Hol will require efforts beyond Iraq and Syria, an Iraqi Defense ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. The camp currently has 23,353 Iraqis, 17,456 Syrians and 7,438 other nationalities, according to Sheikhmous Ahmad, a Kurdish official overseeing camps for displaced in northeastern Syria. And though the foreigners are a minority, they are seen by many as the most problematic at al-Hol — persistently loyal to the core IS ideology.
So far this year, Ahmad said, two groups of Syrians have left the camp for their hometowns in Syria. Earlier in September, 92 families consisting of 355 people returned to the northern city of Raqqa, once the capital of the IS caliphate. In May, 219 people returned to the northern town of Manbij. Syrian nationals are released when Kurdish authorities overseeing the camp determine they are no longer a threat to society. The release of other nationalities is more complicated, since their countries of origin must agree to take them back. Those of non-Syrian or Iraqi nationalities live in a part of the camp known as the Annex, considered the home of the most die-hard IS supporters. Many of them had travelled thousands of miles to join the extremist group after IS swept across the region in 2014. In late August, 31 women and 64 children from the camp were returned to the former Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan on a special flight, the Kyrgyz Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced and thanked the U.S. government for providing "assistance and logistical support" for the repatriation. But other countries — particularly in the West — have largely balked at taking back their nationals who were part of IS. Despite the extremist group's defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria in 2019, IS sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks. Reports of grisly crimes inside al-Hol itself have shocked rights groups, which describe the camp's conditions as inhumane, particularly for children.
Human Rights Watch has cited inadequate food, water and medical care, as well as the physical and sexual abuse of inmates by guards and fellow detainees. Ageed Ibrahim of Rights Defense Initiative, a human rights group in northeastern Syria, has appealed for humanitarian assistance to improve living conditions for people still in the camp. The U.S. military says reducing the camp's population is a necessary step in the ongoing fight against IS and an important part of its long-term defeat. The United States has some 900 troops stationed in eastern Syria alongside an unknown number of contractors. The troops, who first arrived eight years ago, work alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces, an umbrella dominated by Kurdish fighters. The camp "is certainly a security concern over time," said U.S. Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, the commanding general of the anti-IS coalition. He cited the reduction of killings inside the camp as an indication that reducing the population there helps improve security. "Our State Department, working with other ministries of foreign affairs, are focused on decreasing the numbers there to improve the conditions in that camp," he said. The U.S. military posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, recently that successful repatriations from al-Hol ensure that "safety, security, and stability are maintained in the region."

Zelensky's second visit to the White House due on Thursday
AFP/September 15, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House on Thursday as part of efforts to bolster American support for his country in its resistance against the Russian invasion, according to an informed source. The source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that Zelensky would meet with US President Joe Biden after holding talks with international leaders at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Neither the White House nor the Ukrainian Embassy has confirmed the visit. Several media reports had suggested that Zelensky would also visit the US Congress, where there is uncertainty among Biden's Republican opponents regarding providing support to Ukraine. This visit marks Zelensky's second trip to Washington since the start of the Russian invasion of his country in February 2022. In December, he made a secretive visit to Washington, his first international trip during the war, entering the White House in military attire, which has become his distinctive symbol. The Biden administration has pledged long-term support to Kyiv, with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visiting Ukraine earlier this month. The United States has provided $43 billion in military assistance that aided Ukraine in repelling Russian incursions. Last month, Biden asked Congress to approve an additional $40 billion in aid to Ukraine, covering military, economic, and humanitarian support. Republican traditionalists, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have supported providing assistance. However, right-wing populist factions within the Republican Party, especially Donald Trump, who is among the leading contenders for the party's presidential nomination in the next election to challenge Biden, have criticized the substantial aid provided by the United States, calling on the administration to focus on domestic priorities.

Lukashenko meets Putin, suggests joining move to boost ties with North Korea
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting Friday with his Belarusian ally, who suggested that Minsk could could join Moscow's efforts to revive an old alliance with Pyongyang after this week's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Belarusian President Alexander made the proposal as he met with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Russian leader said he would brief him about the talks with Kim on Wednesday at the Vostochny spaceport in Russia's Far East. "I would like to inform you about the discussion on the situation in the region, which was quite important, and also to touch on the most acute issue, the situation in Ukraine," Putin said at the start of the meeting. Lukashenko responded by saying that "we could think about three-way cooperation," adding that "I think a bit of work could be found for Belarus to do there as well." Kim on Friday continued his trip by visiting an aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to see the latest Russian fighter jets. On Saturday, he is scheduled to arrive in Russia's port of Vladivostok where he is expected to see Russian Pacific Fleet warships and visit a university. The U.S. and its allies believe that Kim will likely supply ammunition to Russia for use in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Moscow, a deal that would violate the U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang that ban any arms trade with North Korea. Putin said after meeting Kim that Russia will abide by the U.N. sanctions and he reaffirmed the pledge Friday. "We never violate anything, and in this case we have no intention to violate anything," he told reporters. "But we certainly will look for opportunities for developing Russian-North Korean relations." Putin's meeting with Lukashenko was their seventh this year. Lukashenko, who has relied on Russian subsidies and political support to rule the ex-Soviet nation with an iron hand for nearly three decades, allowed the Kremlin to use Belarusian territory to send troops into Ukraine in February 2022. While Belarus has continued to host Russian troops, Lukashenko has emphasized that his country will not join the fighting. "Lukashenko demonstrates that Belarus only wants to be a military hub for Russia and profit on that to compensate for the closure of Western markets and the sanctions, but it doesn't want to send its soldiers to die in Ukraine," said Belarusian analyst Valery Karbalevich.

Zelensky to visit Washington as Congress debates $24B in aid for Ukraine
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the U.S. during the United Nations General Assembly. Zelensky's trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden's request to provide as much as $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Zelensky will meet with Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans. The Ukrainian president made a wartime visit to Washington in December 2022 and delivered an impassioned address to a joint meeting of Congress. At the time it was his first known trip outside his country since Russia invaded in February of that year. In his speech to cheering lawmakers, Zelensky thanked Americans for helping to fund the war effort and said that the money is "not charity," but an "investment" in global security and democracy. Details of Zelensky's visit next week were not yet being made public. It was first reported by Punchbowl News. The White House National Security Council declined to comment on Zelensky's plans, including whether he would meet with Biden at the White House. Meanwhile, the Treasury and State departments announced they were imposing new sanctions on more than 150 individuals and entities connected with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the U.S. was "continuing our relentless work to target Russia's military supply chains and deprive (Russian President Vladimir) Putin of the equipment, technology, and services he needs to wage his barbaric war on Ukraine." Congress is increasingly divided over providing additional funding for Ukraine as the war is well into its second year. Biden has sought a package of $13.1 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine and $8.5 billion for humanitarian support. It also includes $2.3 billion for financing and to catalyze donors through the World Bank. But conservative Republican lawmakers have been pushing for broad federal spending cuts and some of those allied with Donald Trump, the former president, are specifically looking to stop money to Ukraine. Congress is working to pass its annual appropriations bills before a Sept. 30 deadline to keep the U.S. government running.

Ukrainian forces reclaim village south of Bakhmut as part of counteroffensive
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
Ukraine's forces have recaptured a village in the country's east after intense battles with Russian troops, the military said Friday as the invaded nation pursues a multi-pronged counteroffensive. The village of Andriivka is located about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut, the scene of the longest battle of Russia's war on Ukraine. Its liberation would represent another gain for Kyiv in Ukraine's campaign to oust Moscow's troops from territory they captured. The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces announced the reclaiming of Andriivka early Friday. There was no confirmation or comment from Russia authorities. Ukrainian forces launched their much-anticipated counteroffensive more than three months ago. The reported victory in the Donetsk province village illustrates progress and the challenges they face even with supplies of NATO-standard gear and Western weapons.
The approaching wet weather of winter will likely slow Ukrainian advances. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to visit Washington next week as Congress debates whether to approve more aid for Ukraine.
The 3rd Assault Brigade said it took Andriivka after surrounding the Russian garrison in the village during what it described as a "lightning operation" and destroying it over two days. It called the successful action a breakthrough on the southern flank of Bakhmut and "key to success in all further directions."
The brigade initially contested a statement by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar saying the village was reclaimed but confirmed early Friday that it had recaptured Andriivka. "It was difficult and yesterday's situation changed very dynamically several times," Maliar said. Maliar said Ukraine had regained 50 square kilometers (19 square miles) of land around Bakhmut since the start of the counteroffensive in June. The eight months of fighting for control of Bakhmut, a city known for salt mining that is now in complete ruins, comprised the longest and likely bloodiest battle of the war in Ukraine. Russian forces led by mercenaries from the Wagner Group captured Bakhmut in May. In late June, Wagner leader Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin led his fighters from eastern Ukraine and into Russia as part of a short-lived mutiny. Prigozhin and several of his top lieutenants died in a plane crash while traveling between Moscow and St. Petersburg last month. Ukrainian forces are trying to envelop Bakhmut from the south and the north and have gained ground meter by meter (yard by yard) in the past three months.Military analysts and U.S. officials have questioned the expenditure of forces around the city, but Ukrainian military leaders have said they were successfully exhausting Russian forces by keeping them fixed in position. Andriivka is located between the settlements of Kurdiumivka and the heights of Klischiivka in the Donetsk region, where fighting has been especially intense. Ukraine's General Staff said Ukrainian forces also inflicted heavy losses on Russian troops in the nearby village of Klishchiivka as part of the counteroffensive. The recapture of Andriivka comes weeks after an important tactical victory for Ukrainian forces in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where they punctured through Russia's first line of defense and recaptured the village of Robotyne. The gains in the south are considered more strategically significant since they bring Ukraine's troops closer to the shores of the Sea of Azov, where they could try to cut the land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014. Isolating Crimea would divide the Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine and undermine Russian supply lines.

Russian Submarine Suffers 'Catastrophic' Damage In Ukrainian Missile Strike
Kevin Schofield/HuffPost UK/September 15, 2023
A Russian submarine suffered “catastrophic” damage and a landing ship was completely destroyed by a Ukrainian missile strike, UK officials have revealed. The incident within Russia’s Black Sea Fleet (BSF) Sevastopol naval base in the early hours of September 13. Russian military sources have tried to downplay the damage caused to the landing ship Minsk and Rostov-na-Donu submarine. But in their latest intelligence update on the war, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “Open-source evidence indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage. “Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars.”The MoD also said that “there is a realistic possibility” that the dry docks where the two vessels had been situated will be out of action for “many months” while the wreckage is cleared away. “This would present the BSF with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance,” the MoD update said. “The loss of the Rostov removes one of the BSF’s four cruise-missile capable submarines which have played a major role in striking Ukraine and projecting Russian power across the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.”The incident is another huge blow for Vladimir Putin as the war in Ukraine drags on. Earlier this week it emerged that Russian troops are being “rushed into action” because the country’s military is being “over-stretched” .Meanwhile, Russia is also suffering workforce shortages as a result of the conflict.

EU faces deadline on extending Ukrainian grain ban as countries threaten to pass their own
LONDON (AP) /September 15, 2023
The European Union faced a Friday deadline to decide whether to extend a ban on Ukrainian food from five nearby countries that have complained that an influx of agricultural products from the war-torn nation has hurt their farmers. Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria still allow grain and other Ukrainian food to pass through on the way to parts of the world in need. The five EU members have said food coming from Ukraine has gotten stuck within their borders, creating a glut that has driven down prices for local farmers and hurt their livelihoods. The issue has threatened European unity on supporting Ukraine as it fights Russia's invasion. The leaders of Poland and Hungary have called for a renewal of the import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products, threatening to adopt their own if the EU doesn't act. “For the moment, it seems that the bureaucrats in Brussels don’t want to extend it,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in a Friday radio interview. “If they don’t extend it by today at midnight, then several countries banding together in international cooperation — the Romanians, the Poles, the Hungarians and the Slovaks — are going to extend the import ban on a national level.”
Earlier this week, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that if the ban wasn't renewed, “we will do it ourselves because we cannot allow for a deregulation of the market.” Poland's governing Law and Justice party is trying to attract farmers' votes in an Oct. 15 parliamentary election. However, Bulgaria this week approved resuming imports of Ukrainian food. The government in Kyiv praised the decision and urged other countries to follow. “We believe that any decision, either at the European or national level, that will further restrict Ukrainian agricultural exports will not only be unjustified and illegal, but will also harm the common economic interests of Ukraine, EU member states and the entire European Union, and will have a clear destabilizing effect on the global food market,” Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
In July, Russia pulled out of a U.N.-brokered deal allowing Ukraine to ship grain safely through the Black Sea. Routes through neighboring countries have become the primary way for Ukraine — a major global supplier of wheat, barley, corn and vegetable oil — to export its commodities to parts of the world struggling with hunger. Recent attacks on Ukraine's Danube River ports have raised concerns about a route that has carried millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to Romania’s Black Sea ports every month.
It's meant road and rail routes through Europe have grown increasingly important. They aren't ideal for agriculture-dependent Ukraine either, whose growers face higher transportation costs and lower capacity. After the five countries passed unilateral bans earlier this year, the EU reached a deal allowing them to prohibit Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from entering their markets but still pass through their borders for export elsewhere. The EU also provided an additional 100 million euros ($113 million) in special aid on top of an initial support package of 56.3 million euros to help farmers in the affected countries. The deal is due to expire just before midnight Friday.

South Korea warns North Korea, Russia against breaching UN resolutions
SEOUL (Reuters)/September 15, 2023
South Korea's National Security Council (NSC) said on Thursday North Korea and Russia would "pay a price" if they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions. The council also said it was taking seriously the two countries' discussions on military cooperation, including the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM). While urging Pyongyang and Moscow not to trade weapons, South Korea will work with the United States, Japan and the international community to deal with the situation, the council said in a statement. "The government said that with any actions that threaten our security by North Korea and Russia violating (U.N.) Security Council resolutions, there will be a price to pay," it said. The message comes after the NSC held a meeting to discuss the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The South Korean meeting was attended by senior officials including the foreign minister as well as the unification minister, who is in charge of relations with North Korea. Earlier, Unification Minister Kim Young-ho also expressed concern over military cooperation between North Korea and Russia.

Yemen rebels seek to overcome 'challenges' in Saudi war talks
Agence France Presse/September 15, 2023
Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels said they hoped to overcome "challenges" on Friday as they head into unprecedented talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending their devastating eight-year war. The delegation of Huthis, close to Riyadh's long-time rival Tehran, flew in late on Thursday for their first public visit since a Saudi-led coalition launched a military intervention in Yemen in 2015. Their visit, five months after hosting a Saudi team in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, is the latest hopeful sign for a war that has created one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. "We hope that a serious discussion will take place in the interest of both peoples and that the challenges will be overcome," senior political leader Mohamed Ali al-Huthi posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, early on Friday. "Dialogue can only take place with the... coalition, considering that the decision... of the siege and stopping it is in its hands." Yemen was plunged into conflict when the Huthis took control of the capital Sanaa in September 2014, ousting the internationally recognised government and prompting the Saudi-led coalition to launch their offensive the following March. Yemen's government, now operating out of the southern city of Aden, voiced support for the talks and "all initiatives aimed at bringing about a just and comprehensive peace". "The Yemeni government welcomed the efforts... aimed at pushing the Huthi militias towards seriously responding to calls for peace and alleviating the human suffering of the Yemeni people," said a statement on its official Saba news agency.
Cooling in tensions
Yemen's fighting has left hundreds of thousands dead and forced millions from their homes, leaving three-quarters of the population dependent on aid. However, the tide has turned in the past 18 months. A U.N.-brokered ceasefire is largely holding, despite officially expiring in October, and the warring parties have made tentative steps towards peace. In May last year, commercial flights took off from Sanaa airport for the first time in six years as coalition countries reopened their airspace, and this April, nearly 900 detainees were exchanged in a confidence-building prisoner swap. Key to the cooling in tensions has been Saudi Arabia's detente with Iran, after seven years of ruptured ties, in March, as Riyadh tries to focus on revamping its oil-reliant economy and building future prosperity. Days after the surprise rapprochement, the prisoner exchange was sealed during talks in Switzerland. The Saudi ambassador to Yemen led a negotiating team to Sanaa the following month. Saudi state TV Al Ekhbariya said the current talks were aimed at "finding a comprehensive political solution in Yemen." "The kingdom is hosting a negotiating delegation representing the Yemeni Houthi component, intending to continue the discussions aimed at finding a political solution, a comprehensive ceasefire, and moving from the stage of conflicts to stability," it said. The Houthi demands include payment of their civil servants' salaries by the displaced Yemeni government, and the launch of new destinations from Sanaa airport.

US to send more military aid to Egypt despite rights concerns
Elizabeth Hagedorn/Al-Monitor/September 15, 2023
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will withhold $85 million from Egypt’s annual military assistance over human rights concerns, a smaller sum than Washington held back from Cairo’s aid package in each of the two previous years.
The move will likely come as a disappointment to human rights advocates and many Democratic lawmakers who pushed the administration to withhold the full amount of aid — $320 million — that Congress had made contingent on the North African country improving its rights record.
At $1.3 billion each year, Egypt ranks behind only Israel as the second-largest recipient of US military assistance. Since 2014, lawmakers have sought to use that aid as leverage with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the former military general under whom human rights have sharply deteriorated.
On Monday, the State Department notified lawmakers that it was withholding $85 million, the release of which would have required Secretary of State Antony Blinken to certify that Egypt made “clear and consistent” progress on the release of political prisoners, due process and preventing the intimidation and harassment of Americans. Blinken did not make that determination.
“There has been a significantly reduced pace and number of releases of Egyptian political prisoners this year, coupled as well with an increase in politically motivated arrests,” a senior State Department official told reporters on a phone briefing Thursday.
Those withheld funds, according to the congressional notification seen by Al-Monitor, will be reprogrammed, with $30 million going to the Lebanese armed forces and $55 million to Taiwan. The Biden administration chose to release the remaining $235 million in conditioned aid. Rather than certify that Egypt had met the rights-related conditions attached to it, Blinken used a waiver that allows the administration to release the aid if doing so is determined to be in the US national security interest.
The administration declined to use the waiver during the previous two years, and withheld $130 million in assistance from Egypt.
Senior State Department officials said the decision to waive the conditions this year reflects Egypt's “specific and ongoing contributions to US national security priorities.” They did not elaborate on why Egypt’s cooperation merited a national security waiver this year but not during the administration’s first two years in office. “The specific ongoing contributions naturally change from year to year, and therefore our assessment is also going to change from year to year,” an official said. The administration views Egypt as a key counterterrorism partner and important regional mediator in conflicts between Israel and Gaza-based militants. Biden officials say they’ve repeatedly raised human rights concerns with Egyptian officials both publicly and privately, including during Blinken's visit to Cairo in January. But critics say the administration's decision to bypass the congressionally mandated conditions on Egypt's aid this year runs counter to President Joe Biden’s campaign promise of sending “no more blank checks” to Sisi. Todd Ruffner, advocacy director of the Freedom Initiative, a Washington-based organization that advocates for political prisoners, called the move an “embarrassing blow to US credibility.”The decision "lays bare just how little human rights factor into US priorities,” Ruffner said in a statement. “This represents a reward to Sisi’s Egypt for increased repression.”
Since Sisi came to power after a bloody 2013 coup that unseated the country’s first democratically elected president, rights groups have documented what they say is a crackdown aimed at punishing and intimidating government critics. New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch says at least 60,000 people have been arrested on political grounds in Egypt, many held without trial.  Sisi, who is expected to run for re-election next year, has come under pressure in Egypt for his handling of the economy. Inflation hit a record high last month, and the Egyptian pound has lost roughly half its value against the US dollar since March 2022. On Thursday, the Citizen Lab watchdog group said former Egyptian lawmaker Ahmed Tantawy had his phone hacked several times with European commercial spyware after he announced his intention to run against Sisi in the 2024 election. A US official said Thursday the administration was closely following the story.  Ahead of the US aid decision, Sisi pardoned several high-profile detainees who spent years behind bars. They include prominent rights attorney Mohamed El-Baqer, researcher Patrick Zaki and protest leader Ahmed Douma. Rights groups, however, describe those cases as outliers amid a wave of new arrests. Just last month, Egyptian authorities arrested opposition figure and publisher Hisham Kassem, who faces up to three years in prison on defamation and other charges that rights groups say are politically motivated. A representative for the Egyptian Embassy in Washington did not return a request for comment. The Egyptian government has previously denied holding political prisoners and says many of the protesters, journalists and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood languishing in Egypt’s jails constitute a national security threat.

US says Egypt's human rights picture hasn't improved
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
The Biden administration has said that Egypt's poor human rights record hasn't improved, but it won't withhold as much military aid as it did last year regardless. Administration officials cited what they said were overriding U.S. national security interests for the decision to limit the extent they would penalize Egypt for the abuses. The officials cited regional stability and international support for Ukraine's battle against invading Russian forces as among the U.S. national security interests served by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, despite Sisi's retreat on some human rights benchmarks. They briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the State Department. Egypt has been a top recipient of U.S. military aid since it signed a U.S.-brokered peace deal with Israel in 1979. Congress in recent years has attached restrictions meant to pressure Egyptian leaders to curb human rights abuses to a comparatively small portion of the more than $1 billion in annual military aid to the country. Rights groups and some congressional Democrats had urged the Biden administration to take a hard line against Egypt on human rights, while some lawmakers said strategic interests should be prioritized. An international rights advocate expressed disappointment Thursday, saying the Biden administration's decision was consistent with a long line of U.S. presidents backing oppressive Middle East leaders in the name of stability. "I appreciate this honesty, that they say the situation is really bad but we have to do it because of other national interests," Amr Magdi, a senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, said of administration officials. But "they should rethink what I would say is their short-sighted vision of security," Magdi said. The U.S. decision comes as Egypt has released some writers, journalists and other political detainees in recent weeks and months. But even as the U.S. decision on military aid neared, Egypt detained many other journalists and activists or their family members, including veteran newspaper publisher Hisham Kassem. Sen. Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, called it "a missed opportunity to show the world that our commitment to advancing human rights and democracy is more than a talking point." The decision on how much of that portion of the rights-conditioned aid to give has become an annual assessment of the Egyptian government's retreats or advances on human rights, and an annual test of how hard U.S. administrations and Congress are willing to press for human rights versus strategic concerns.
This year, the amount of rights-conditioned aid was $320 million.
Of that, the State Department said the administration would withhold $85 million that it said it was legally obligated to keep back given Egypt's lack of progress on some specific rights, including regarding political prisoners. The administration intends to send $55 million of that to Taiwan and the rest to Ukraine. For the other $235 million, however, the Biden administration this year is exercising a congressionally allowed waiver for U.S. national security interests to waive the rights restrictions and give that full amount, officials said. The administration in the past two years had said it would hold back $130 million of the aid over Egypt's rights abuses. U.S. officials said the decision announced Thursday did not signal that the U.S. believed Egypt had made progress on human rights. They also said the U.S. would keep up its pressure on Sisi's government for reforms. Sisi's military-backed government has ruled Egypt since 2013. Sisi overthrew an elected president whose Islamist background alarmed Egypt's military and some Gulf countries. Freedom House rates Egypt with 18 points out of 100 points on a global freedom scale. Rights groups and the U.S. State Department cite arbitrary killings, torture and detention and allege systematic repression of civil society, free press and free expression. Rights groups estimate the number of political prisoners in Egypt in the tens of thousands. Under U.S. pressure, the government this year and last released many of the detainees ahead of the U.S. decisions on military aid, and by last year started what it called a national dialogue. However, U.S. officials said Thursday that Egypt had slowed the pace of releases of political prisoners while stepping up the pace of detentions. Rights groups said the government ultimately detained far more people than it released.
Those newly detained include a teacher's union advocate who had been a member of the national dialogue, his associates said Thursday. The PEN America advocacy group and Amnesty International called Thursday for the release of another newly detained rights advocate, Kassem, 64, a longtime Egyptian news publisher. Authorities arrested Kassem last month for alleged libel and slander — punishable in Egypt by prison — over criticism of the country's labor minister. Prosecutors referred him for "urgent trial," which began Sept. 2, according to Amnesty. Kassem for decades ran a series of news outlets that helped keep alive pockets of independent, free press in the country. Like Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia, who was killed by Saudi officials in 2018, generations of foreign journalists came to Kassem for his insights on his country's political situation. International publications have quoted him on everything from the quality of Egypt's beer to decades of past cases of detentions of writers and others. "It's not safe to think in this part of the world," Kassem told one news organization, Newsweek, in 2001.

Kim gets close look at Russian fighter jets as tour narrows its focus to weapons
Associated Press/September 15, 2023
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un peered into the cockpit of Russia's most advanced fighter jet as he toured an aircraft factory Friday on an extended trip that has raised concerns about banned weapons transfer deals between the increasingly isolated countries.
Since entering Russia aboard his armored train on Tuesday, Kim has met President Vladimir Putin and visited weapons and technology sites, underscoring deepening ties between the two nations locked in separate confrontations with the West. Foreign governments and experts speculate Kim will likely supply ammunition to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia. On Friday, Russia's state media published video showing Kim's train pulling into a station in the far eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Kim's convoy sweeping out of the station on the way to the city's aircraft factory. Russia's Cabinet later released video showing Kim, on an elevated platform, looking at the cockpit of the Su-57 — Russia's most sophisticated fighter jet — while listening to its pilot. Kim beamed and clapped his hands after a Su-35 fighter jet landed after a demonstration flight. According to a Russian Cabinet statement, Kim visited a facility producing Sukhoi SJ-100 passenger planes as well. It said he was accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov. "We have shown one of our leading aircraft plants to the leader of (North Korea)," Manturov said in the statement. "We are seeing potential for cooperation in the aircraft-making and other industries, which is particularly acute for solving our countries' task of achieving technological sovereignty."
Kim is to travel next to Vladivostok to view Russia's Pacific fleet, a university and other facilities, Putin told Russian media after he met with Kim on Wednesday.
It was Kim's first foreign trip since April 2019, when he visited Vladivostok for his first meeting with Putin. The 2019 Russian visit came two months after Kim failed to win badly needed sanctions relief from the United States during a second summit with then U.S.-President Donald Trump in Vietnam.
Kim's earlier trip was likely primarily meant to seek Russian help to overcome the brunt of U.S.-led sanctions. But this time, Putin appears to be desperate to receive North Korean conventional arms to replenish his exhausted inventory in the second year of Russia's war in Ukraine. Experts say Kim, in return, would seek Russian assistance to modernize his air force and navy, which are inferior to those of rival South Korea while Kim has devoted much of his own resources to his nuclear weapons program.
The summit between Kim and Putin on Wednesday took place at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia's most important domestic launch center. The venue is likely linked to North Korean struggles to put into space an operational spy satellite to monitor U.S. and South Korean military movements.
Asked if Russia and North Korea could cooperate in space research, Putin said: "That's why we have come here. (Kim) shows keen interest in rocket technology. They're trying to develop space, too."
Since last year, the U.S. accused North Korea of providing ammunition, artillery shells and rockets to Russia, likely much of them copies of Soviet-era munitions. South Korean officials said North Korean weapons provided to Russia have already been used in Ukraine. On Thursday evening, the national security advisers of the U.S., South Korea and Japan talked by phone and expressed "serious concerns" about prospective weapons deals between Russia and North Korea. They warned Russia and North Korea would "pay a clear price" if they go ahead with such deals, according to South Korea's presidential office. The White House said the three national security advisers noted that any arms export from North Korea to Russia would directly violate multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions, including resolutions that Russia, a permanent member of the U.N. council, itself voted to adopt. They reiterated their cooperation toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well, according to a White House statement.
After a meeting in Seoul discussing the allies' nuclear deterrence strategies, U.S. and South Korean officials on Friday stepped up their condemnation of the recent moves by Russia and North Korea. Sasha Baker, the U.S. acting undersecretary of defense for policy, said that Washington will continue to "try to identify and expose and counter Russian attempts to acquire military equipment, again, to prosecute their illegal war on Ukraine." South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Chang Ho-jin said Washington and Seoul, while tightening security cooperation, would ensure that Moscow faces consequences if it proceeds to help advance Pyongyang's weapons program. A possibility that Russian may aid North Korea's nuclear weapons program stocked anger in South Korea, where some argued that Seoul could provide lethal arms to Ukraine in retaliation. But South Korea's Defense Ministry said Thursday that its policy of not supplying weapons to countries at war remains unchanged. Seoul has far limited its support of Ukraine to non-lethal military supplies and humanitarian items. Some analysts question how much Russia would be willing to share its closely guarded high-tech weapons technologies with North Korea in return for its conventional arms. But others say Russia would do so because of its urgent need to refill its drained reserves. Putin told reporters that Russia and North Korea have "lots of interesting projects" in spheres like transportation and agriculture and that Moscow is providing its neighbor with humanitarian aid. But he avoided talking about military cooperation, saying only that Russia is abiding by the sanctions prohibiting procuring weapons from North Korea. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin had accepted Kim's invitation to visit Pyongyang and that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is expected to visit North Korea in October. During Wednesday's summit, Kim vowed "full and unconditional support" for Putin in what he described as a "just fight against hegemonic forces to defend its sovereign rights, security and interests," in an apparent reference to the war in Ukraine.
Information on Kim's trip to Russia is largely from the two nations' official media outlets. North Korean media did not provide updates Friday on Kim's activities. They typically report on Kim's activities a day later, apparently to meet the need for North Korean propaganda to glorify Kim.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 15-16/2023
Syria on the Verge of Collapse?
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/Gatestone Institute/September 15, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/122330/122330/
The country’s southern province of al-Suwayda’, whose population primarily comes from the Druze minority, is currently witnessing protests on an unprecedented scale.
There has also been a definite paradigm shift in these protests: … Calls for the government to resign, for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad and a political transition are now stronger and more prevalent.
However much one might sympathise with the protests, they are probably unlikely to shift the situation in a significant way. The protestors, although immensely courageous, are too few, and have little leverage.
The current status quo means that Syria is effectively divided into three major zones: the majority of the country that is held by the Damascus-based government backed by Russia and Iran; the northeast held by the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (the second largest zone of control); and parts of the northwest and north of the country on and near the border with Turkey, controlled by an assortment of insurgent factions that are backed by Turkey to varying degrees.
There is much debate about the causes of Syria’s economic downturn, but it seems clear that the decline can be attributed in significant part to the Syrian government’s economic isolation and its shortage of hard currency.
In the meantime, the Syrian government has no real solutions to its economic woes. It has been offering up measures such as increasing the salaries of state employees and military personnel while also raising the price for fuel.
Some impugn government corruption but consider criticism of Assad himself to be a red line: they seem to think that he is doing all he can to try to help the country — while being surrounded by corrupt officials.
It is nonetheless important to be realistic about what these protests can achieve. The protestors remain committed for now to sustaining a civil disobedience movement that is peaceful…. Moreover, the Syrian government is adopting a non-confrontational stance towards the protests. The government seems to have issued general directives to its security forces in the province to lie low and avoid opening fire or any repressive measures unless they are attacked.
There are really only two ways in which Assad can be brought down: either by being militarily overthrown (not being contemplated by any international power) or if the elites propping up his rule decide that his presidency is no longer worth preserving…[I]t seems that those closest to Assad who could bring about his removal from within are either largely unaffected by the situation or possibly even benefitting from it.
Sanctions – well-intended no doubt to prevent governments from brutalizing their own people even further and to encourage the leadership toward a democratic form of rule –seem simply not to work. First, it is harder for people who are starving successfully to rise up against a dictatorship: they are too busy looking for food and there is an understandable fear of reprisals. Countries such as Russia and Iran, as we well know, find ways around sanctions; or else the population starves while the leaders go on living in indifferent comfort.
Perhaps a more realistic approach might be: rather than tying sanctions to vague hopes of political transition, sanctions could instead be linked to more specific concessions such as serious efforts to combat drug trafficking, the release of political prisoners, and so on.
Otherwise, sanctions often deliver just a punitive message, which, although understandable for dictators such as Assad, does not really accomplish anything in terms of accountability, change or bettering the lot of Syrians like the protestors in al-Suwayda’.
Syria’s southern province of al-Suwayda’, whose population primarily comes from the Druze minority, is currently witnessing protests on an unprecedented scale.
Syria is clearly on the verge of collapse in terms of the economy and humanitarian situation.
The country’s southern province of al-Suwayda’, whose population primarily comes from the Druze minority, is currently witnessing protests on an unprecedented scale. While the province has previously seen protests motivated primarily by the country’s deteriorating economic and livelihood situation, these protests are now far more widespread in the province and larger in scale.
There has also been a definite paradigm shift in these protests: the main initial demands to improve the economy and livelihood situation were endorsed by the Druze community’s three leading religious authorities in Syria. Calls for the government to resign, for the departure of President Bashar al-Assad and a political transition are now stronger and more prevalent. In multiple localities in the province, which has formally been under government control since the start of the unrest and civil war in 2011, demonstrators have closed the Ba’ath Party headquarters and removed portraits of Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad. While these protests are in themselves remarkable for the province in terms of the numbers participating, their persistence and how open the calls for political change are, they do raise the question about whether they constitute the potential for a real shift in Syria’s “status quo” since spring 2020. However much one might sympathise with the protests, they are probably unlikely to shift the situation in a significant way. The protestors, although immensely courageous, are too few, and have little leverage.
The current status quo means that Syria is effectively divided into three major zones: the majority of the country that is held by the Damascus-based government backed by Russia and Iran; the northeast held by the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (the second-largest zone of control); and parts of the northwest and north of the country on and near the border with Turkey, controlled by an assortment of insurgent factions that are backed by Turkey to varying degrees. What has kept the frontlines frozen since the spring of 2020 are the understandings between the main foreign powers involved in the war as well as policies of deterrence through the stationing of foreign troops in these zones of control. The most important in this regard seems to be the Turkey-Russia dynamic, whereas American influence is far more limited.
At the same time, all the major zones have been seeing low-level skirmishes along their frontlines and experiencing internal security concerns. The Syrian Democratic Forces, for example, which are dominated by Kurdish cadres linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party, are contending with an ongoing Islamic State insurgency and more recently have had to deal with an uprising among Arab tribal elements in the east. In a similar vein, the southern province of Deraa, which is next to al-Suwayda’ and formally came back in its entirety under Syrian government control in 2018, sees regular incidents of assassinations and bomb attacks, some of which can be attributed to Islamic State, while others, in terms of responsibility, remain murky.
For the Syrian government, however, it is not the military frontlines and internal security that are the main issue today, but rather the deterioration of its economy and the accompanying fall in standards of living. The clearest indication of this decline is the fall in the value of the Syrian pound. Since the onset of the war, it had been steadily falling, but took a sharp turn for the worse in late 2019. This steep decline has continued despite some brief hiatuses; the currency now stands at record low values versus the U.S. dollar. In 2010, the rate of exchange was around 50 Syrian pounds to the dollar, now the rate of exchange is hovering near 15,000 Syrian pounds to the dollar.
There is much debate about the causes of this downturn, but it seems clear that the decline can be attributed in significant part to the Syrian government’s economic isolation and its shortage of hard currency. Despite controlling the country’s most important cities and the sole access to the Mediterranean Sea along the northwest coastline, the government faces extensive Western economic sanctions; it does not benefit from the main oil assets held by the Syrian Democratic Forces and sees only marginal trade over the land border with neighbouring Jordan to the south. The Syrian government also has extremely little control over its extensive northern border with Turkey, which could be a major trading partner with the government.
The Syrian government’s isolation has also meant that its economy became ever more intertwined with that of neighbouring Lebanon, which is also facing its most severe economic crisis since the end of the Lebanese civil war in 1990 and has also seen a sharp decline in the value of its currency.
In the meantime, the Syrian government has no real solutions to its economic woes. It has been offering up measures such as increasing the salaries of state employees, military personnel and pensioners while also cutting fuel subsidies. While the normalisation of relations between Arab states and Syria (foremost embodied in Syria’s return to the Arab League) has attracted considerable media attention, it is probably unrealistic to expect that this development will lead to a sudden turn-around in the Syrian government’s economic fortunes. The government is not going to be given handouts of billions of dollars in aid and foreign investment from Arab states or the international community at large in a short timeframe and for nothing in return from Damascus. In the meantime, any concept of normalisation with Turkey still has a long way to go, with a fundamental sticking point: that the Damascus-based government would like Turkey to agree to withdraw troops from Syrian territory, whereas Turkey appears to have no interest in doing so in the near- or even medium-term.
Few within government-held areas would deny that the economic and livelihood situation is difficult. It is common to see people there venting their frustrations on Facebook about the quality of services provided, the rising prices of goods, perceptions of corruption, and so on. Yet opinions about the causes of these woes are varied. Some blame the Western economic sanctions on Syria, others see the economic problems as created from within. Some impugn government corruption but consider criticism of Assad himself to be a red line: they seem to think that he is doing all he can to try to help the country — while being surrounded by corrupt officials. Unfortunately, trying to determine what proportion of people subscribe to which views is virtually impossible: no reliable polling data exist, and it is doubtful anyone could conduct such surveys under the present circumstances.
Yet qualitatively speaking, it can be said that in al-Suwayda’, criticism of Assad is less of a red line than in other areas that have remained under government control throughout the war. Besides the current deterioration of both the economy and living standards, there has long been resentment of a perceived marginalisation of the southern province in economic and developmental terms. In addition, there are grievances against conscription; conspiracy theories that the government colluded with the Islamic State to allow the group, in 2018, to attack the eastern countryside of the province while killing hundreds of Druze in the process; complaints about the spread of drugs in al-Suwayda’ and the use of the province as a gateway for smuggling them into Jordan. The government’s most recent economic decisions to raise salaries of state employees, military personnel and pensioners while cutting fuel subsidies provided a spark for protests in the province that are even larger than before.
It is nonetheless important to be realistic about what these protests can achieve. The protestors remain committed for now to sustaining a civil disobedience movement that is peaceful. There appears to be no plan to launch an armed rebellion and make the province a separate rebellious enclave akin to the Turkish-backed enclaves in the northwest. Moreover, the Syrian government is adopting a non-confrontational stance towards the protests. The government seems to have issued general directives to its security forces in the province to lie low and avoid opening fire or taking any repressive measures unless they are attacked. In effect, these protests remain a peripheral rebellion in the grander scheme of things and are unlikely by themselves to bring down the government and lead to real change. There are really only two ways in which Assad can be brought down: either being militarily overthrown (not being contemplated by any international power) or if the elites propping up his rule decide that his presidency is no longer worth preserving. Despite the deterioration of Syria’s economy and living standards, it seems that those closest to Assad who could bring about his removal from within are either largely unaffected by the situation or possibly even benefitting from it.
To stand some sort of chance of realising change, the al-Suwayda’ protests would have to transform into a large-scale movement of protests and unrest across government-held Syria, including in areas such as the capital Damascus and the coastal regions that have served as key constituencies of support for the government throughout the war.
In turn, these protests raise the question about the efficacy of the ongoing Western sanctions on the Syrian government. A more optimistic portrayal would see the protests as bringing about the precise results intended by the sanctions: a deterioration in the economy and living standards, popular discontent with that deterioration, unrest, and thus some sort of pressure that would lead the government to agree to a peaceful political transition. Yet it is unlikely that these sanctions will accomplish those results. Instead, one finds an immiserated population that is unable to do much to better its own lot, with outbreaks of ultimately ineffectual protests, the continued outflow of people from Syria seeking to migrate to other countries in the region and Europe, and the persistence of the country’s division between its major zones of control.
A greater focus on stemming the country’s collapse in terms of the humanitarian situation could certainly help — if “middlemen” were left out. The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) now faces a much larger shortfall in terms of funding requirements and actual funding for WFP’s operations in Syria, with the result that monthly assistance was cut to 2.5 million people in Syria in July. An important reason behind this reduction, according to the Syria Report, is a reduction in the American contribution to WFP’s global budget. Making up for that shortfall would at least provide some short-term relief.
Sanctions – no doubt well-intended to prevent governments from brutalizing their own people even further and to encourage the leadership toward a democratic form of rule – seem simply not to work. First, it is harder for a people who are starving to rise up against a dictatorship; they are often too busy looking for food and trying to survive on a daily basis, besides having an understandable fear of reprisals. Countries such as Russia and Iran, as we well know, find ways around sanctions; or else the population starves, while the leaders go on living in indifferent comfort.
Perhaps a more realistic approach might be as follows: rather than tying sanctions to vague hopes of political transition, sanctions could instead be linked to more specific concessions such as serious efforts to combat drug trafficking, the release of political prisoners, and so on.
Otherwise, sanctions often deliver just a punitive message, which, although understandable for dictators such as Assad, does not really accomplish anything in terms of accountability, change or bettering the lot of Syrians like the protestors in al-Suwayda’.
*Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is an Arabic translator and editor at Castlereagh Associates (a Middle East-focused consultancy), a writing fellow at the Middle East Forum, and an associate of the Royal Schools of Music. Follow on Twitter and at his independent Substack newsletter.
© 2023 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

The Women's Protest In Iran 2022-23 – Part I: Women's Status In Revolutionary Iran According To Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei
N. Katirachi and A. Savyon/MEMRI/September 15, 2023 |
Iran | Inquiry & Analysis Series No. 1718
Introduction
https://www.memri.org/reports/womens-protest-iran-2022-23-%E2%80%93-part-i-womens-status-revolutionary-iran-according-iranian
The main emphasis of the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests that swept Iran in 2022-2023 was on women's rights and status in the country. The protests broke out in response to the Tehran modesty police's harsh enforcement of hijab wear, which led to the death of a young Kurdish woman, Jina Mahsa Amini, on September 16, 2022.[1]
The civil protests against compulsory hijab wear in public spaces that swept the young people – women, students, and ethnic minorities – are not just cultural, but a manifestation of the political struggle for Iran's character.[2] Removing the hijab is not just a symbol of opposition to religious dress codes, but also a political act against the Islamic Revolutionary regime, which imposes its ideological-religious world view in a way to ensure that Islamic visibility takes over public spaces. To the regime, the hijab is an Islamic political principle, proof of its control of the public sphere, and encoded in law.
This ongoing civil protest against the extremist religious regime has included open, clear opposition to its symbols, and is one of the largest in Iran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The evident power of the protest has prompted the Iranian regime to claim that it is a Western plot intended to bring about the collapse of Iranian society, which is based on Islamic family values, by demanding the removal of the hijab.
More than anything else, the civil protests are an expression of the fact that a significant part of Iran's younger generation leans towards secularization and Westernization, rejecting religiosity and Islam, which to it symbolize an oppressive regime. The Iranian regime even acknowledged the extent of the secularization trend, as evident in a report published in July 2023 by the Labor Group for Women's Issues in Office of the Iranian President. According to the report, 90% of the women in Tehran who do not wear a hijab are young, between 18 and 44.[3]
Faced with the protest's intensity, especially during its early months, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei opted for a pragmatic approach to the hijab-removal phenomenon. He made statements that could be taken to suggest that the regime is backing down from its principal demand that women must wear the hijab in public spaces. When the regime realized that using force to mandate hijab wear could take a significant toll and even endanger its stability, it launched a new policy, placing the responsibility for enforcing hijab wear on society, even encouraging the citizens to enforce it themselves against women in public.
However, six months later, after the regime successfully repressed the protests, Khamenei demanded stricter and harsher enforcement against women, despite public criticism and calls for sensitivity in the treatment of women. As soon as the intensity of protests diminished, and they appeared to no longer pose a significant threat to the regime, legislation is in process that would enforce the hijab, including with the use of advanced facial recognition software to identify women who break the law as well as steep fines.
Responding to the strict enforcement policy and turning citizens against each other, reformist regime entities as well as prominent religious figures have harshly criticized the regime, calling on it to focus on society's real problems.
One year after the death of Jina Mahsa Amini, this series of reports will offer an analysis of the civil protest that shook Iran for six months. The first part will focus on directives by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei regarding women and their place in Islamic revolutionary society versus their place in Western society. The second part will focus on how the Iranian regime is implementing its compulsory hijab policy; the third part will focus on criticism of the regime by reformists and others with regard to the regime's compulsory hijab policy.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's Directives Regarding Women's Status And The Hijab
On January 4, 2023, for the first time since the protests in Iran broke out four months previously Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei addressed the issue of the hijab and women's status. Because the protests were at their height at that time, Khamenei took a pragmatic approach, including in his speech comments that could sound moderate about the hijab, which the Iranian regime sees as an important and symbolic part of its ideology. Referring to women who do not wear their hijab properly as "sisters, not criminals," he said that they merely need to be "educated about the hijab," without attacking them.
However, in a second speech, three months after his first and after the regime had managed to suppress the protests, Khamenei's statements were more extreme, about compulsory hijab wear, as the regime had taken a harder line in enforcing it.
Khamenei In First Speech: "Equality Between Men And Women In Human And Islamic Values Is One Of The Principles Of Islam... Of Course, The Obligations Of Men vs Women Are Related To The Feminine Or Masculine Nature... The Main Role Of Women According To Islam Is Homemaker"
On January 4, 2023, on the eve of the celebration of the birthday of Fatma, daughter of the Prophet Muhammad and a saint in Shi'ia Islam, Khamenei held a meeting with hundreds of women active in areas of culture, society, science, and academia, touting the elevated status of women in Islam versus the exploitation of women economically, sexually, and culturally in the West.
In his speech at the meeting, Khamenei stressed that Islam is the true guardian of women's honor and rights. Hypocritically presenting himself as shielding women while he is actually suppressing them, he harshly criticized Western philosophy and culture that he said oppresses women – in comparison with Islam, which he said maintains true equality between men and women as manifested in no differentiation between the sexes and both being viewed as human beings. Immediately after that, he contradicted himself, saying that Islam has unique obligations for each sex due to the difference in the nature of the sexes.
Women's main role, according to Khamenei, is mother and homemaker, and instilling in her children elements of national identity, morality, and Islamic tradition. The family cannot be run without a woman present to maintain the home. Stressing that women's right to act outside her home is conditional upon her fulfilling her obligations at home, he explained that Western society is on the path to collapse and this cannot be stopped because of the dissolution of the family there. This, he said was because women are not playing the role they are designed for and are instead turning to self-fulfillment.
Khamenei explained women's inferiority according to a materialistic-cultural world view, but only with regard to Western society, and as a factor stemming from industrialization in the West, particularly in the 19th century – without touching at all upon women in Islamic culture in recent centuries or the political rights of women in the West versus those rights in Iran. Explaining that "in Western civilization, the man is the superior sex... and the woman must serve as a vessel for the man's pleasure," he added that the West "has worked hard to convince women that their advantage lies in the kind of behavior that enhances their sexual attractiveness to men."
To support these statements, Khamenei cited the MeToo protests against sexual harassment and attacks on women, criticizing the West's "hypocrisy" in presenting itself as protecting women's freedom while actually holding them captive. Thus, he declared vehemently that one of Iranian society's obligations is to refrain from adopting a Western viewpoint in matters of gender, which legalizes the sex trade, sexual slavery, and the violation of all moral and human limits.
From this, Khamenei concludes that in order to prevent the sexual exploitation of women, they must be hidden from the view of men and confined behind a barrier, both in the public space and in the virtual space. The hijab is the answer for Islamic society and the problem of the visibility of women.
Setting out his view of the hijab and calling, as anticipated, for women to be veiled, he said that the hijab is "a Shi'ite religious obligation about whose observance there is no doubt." Since the reverberations from the protest had not yet died down, Khamenei took a pragmatic approach, mildly criticizing those who, in attempting to speak on his behalf, accused women who wore their hijab loosely of apostasy and counterrevolutionary activity. Although their deeds were inappropriate, he said, they are "the girls and daughters of us all" and must be educated in the righteous path in the spirit of the revolution.
After reviewing several areas of activity in which women have had achievements, such as sports, Khamenei acknowledged that women are indeed absent from the decision-making process in Islamic Iran, and said unenthusiastically that "this is a flaw, and this flaw must be removed."
He admitted that in Iran there is domestic violence against women on the part of their spouses, but explained that just as compulsory hijab would hide women from men's gazes in public, the problem of men's violence against women in the home would be solved by ensuring that "family law is so strong that no man will be able to oppress women."
To view highlights of Khamenei's January 4, 2023 speech on MEMRI TV, click here or below:
The following are excerpts of Khamenei's first speech, delivered on January 4, 2023:
Khamenei: The West "Is Very Much To Blame In The Issue Of Women; They Have Harmed It And Committed Crimes Against It"
"...So far, this women's meeting has been pure and full of leading and excellent ideas. The things raised by the women were very good, and I have greatly benefited from them. Of course, this content cannot be confirmed by listening to it [only] once. One must think and ponder [about them]. Therefore, do absolutely give me your written notes. Even the lady who spoke extemporaneously, without written notes, should write down [what she said]; it will be more accurate, and will give us an opportunity to think and to contemplate, so that I can provide these materials to a group of people who will peruse them and study the issue...
"Perhaps some of this content is connected culturally to the Revolutionary Council... particularly the issue of employing our smart, effective, experienced, well-versed, and intelligent women in various levels of decision making in the country. This is an important issue. I am thinking about this issue; we must find a way for it and see what can be done.
"I have said in the past... that on the issue of women, our position towards the hypocritical Western demands [is argued from] a position of demand, not a position of defense... On the issue of women, the world is to blame. The 'world' I mean is the Western world and the current Western philosophy and culture... They [the West] is very much to blame in the issue of women; they have harmed it and committed crimes against it. Therefore, our statements [about women] have no aspect of defensiveness, but an aspect of expressing the Islamic opinion."
Addressing the women at the meeting, Khamenei said: "The hope is that you will absolutely be able to influence Western public opinion, because their women are truly suffering. The Western society of women is suffering today unconsciously, in specific instances, and in other instances suffering consciously. According to Islam... men and women do not have [different] characteristics; there is no difference between them. Equality between men and women in the area of human and Islamic values is one of the principles of Islam and this is indisputable... Islam's view of women and men is a view of human beings, such that neither's traits are unique.
"Obviously, the mutual obligations of men and women are different, but in this there is balance... That is, for every obligation with which a man or woman is charged, they are also given a privilege... Looking at responsibility, here we must rely on the natural traits of men and women.
"There are differences between men and women – that is, feminine nature and masculine nature. In both body and soul, and in spiritual matters, there are differences; the responsibility corresponds with these differences. These differences influence the type of responsibility that men or women have; it is connected to the feminine or masculine nature. There is also no need for them to do anything against their nature.
"But as far as social obligations go, men's and women's are identical. The roles are different but the missions are the same. That means that jihad is an obligation for both men and women, but men's jihad is one kind, while women's jihad is another...
"In general, the Western capitalist system is a patriarchal system – that is, what they claim about Islam and are mistaken about is exactly correct for them themselves. Why? Because the root of this perception is that in the capitalist system capital ranks higher than humanity, and people serve capital. Thus, anyone who can invest more is worth more. Therefore, men take priority over women in the capitalist system, because capital's primacy over man is more true regarding men...
Khamenei: According To The West, "Since Man Is The Superior Sex, The Woman Must Serve As A Vessel For His Pleasure"
"Thus, we can see that women are abused in two ways under the capitalist system: In work... in these very days, in most Western countries, women are paid less than men for doing the same job, because they are weaker and men are stronger. This is a type of exploitation. One of the reasons for this is that the issue of women's liberation was raised in the 19th century so that women would leave home and go to work in factories for lower wages [than men]...
"Likewise, [according to the West,] since man is the superior sex, the woman must serve as a vessel for his pleasure. It is very hard to talk about this issue in any gathering, let alone a gathering of women, but this is the reality: Everyone has worked hard to convince women that their advantage lies in the kind of behavior that enhances their sexual attractiveness to men. They have tried by all means [to establish this]. This is a very sad story. I have read so many things on this subject that really cannot be expressed. In one of the American magazines they brought me eight years ago, a very prominent American capitalist announced that he had dozens of modern restaurants, very advanced and beautiful, and asked who he should recruit to work [in them]. Young girls [he said,] girls with traits that he listed: one was that clothing and skirts must be above the knee. They also published a picture and wrote that 'this is how to look!'... Well, all these really trampled women's honor...
"So what is the outcome of this patriarchal view? When man is the superior sex in Western civilization, and the civilization is patriarchal, the result is that women try to define the man as her role model; the women follows the men's work, and this is the result...
"Well, here the West's condescension emerges. They [the Westerners] presume to be the standard-bearers of women's rights, with all these blows to women and women's honor! That is, they use the [issue] of women's rights throughout the world. This is truly the ultimate in audacity... This thing [the MeToo movement] that began last year among Western women in the matter of sexual attacks – despite all this, they argue again and again that they support women and their rights! This is what is called women's freedom, in the evil language of the Westerners... This is not freedom – it is captivity, it is insult...
Khamenei: "Today It Can Be Seen That In The Western Environment There Is Sexual Commerce, Sexual Slavery, And Violation Of All Moral And Human Limits"
"Some of their thoughts, that freedom of communication between men and women in the West will satisfy the eyes and hearts of the men and there will be no sexual harassment... Now look and see whether their [i.e. men's] greed is satisfied or has increased a hundredfold in these sexual harassment scenarios... They [i.e. the women themselves] continue to argue that sexual harassment occurs in the workplace, in the street, in the marketplace, and everywhere, even in organizations such as the military – where women are as well. When [women] are under threat, it's not consent.
"Additionally, there is also compulsory exposure – that is, not only are [men's] eyes and heart not satisfied, but greed and lust between the two [sexes] grow a hundredfold. Therefore, today it can be seen that in the Western environment there is sexual commerce, sexual slavery, and violation of all moral and human limits. This homosexuality and other such terms are not only [forbidden] in Islam, they are among the main taboos in all religions; they [the Westerners] have made it legal and people are not even ashamed of it! Therefore, one of the practical obligations in our society is that we diligently refrain from this Western viewpoint on the issue of gender..."
Addressing the women, he continued: "One of your most important missions is to expose the catastrophic viewpoint of Western culture on the issue of gender and women. Tell this to everyone – there are people who are not aware of this...
Khamenei: "Women's Main Role, According To Islam, Is Homemaker"; "The West Has Destroyed The Family – Literally Broken It"
"Mothers are the best means for conveying elements of national identity. National identity is an important thing. That is, traditions, good morals, good habits, all these are conveyed primarily by the mother. The father also has influence, but much less than the mother. Mom has the greatest influence...
"Women's main role, according to Islam, is homemaker, but the most important thing is that 'homemaker' does not mean staying at home. Some are confused about this: When we say housework, they think that we mean sitting inside the home doing nothing, not meeting obligations, not teaching, not fighting, not participating in social activity, not carrying out political activity. That is not what 'homemaker' means. 'Homemaker' means to maintain the home, and in addition to maintaining the home, you can do any other work you can handle and that you have desire and enthusiasm for. At the same time, everything must be under [the category] of house work...
"Truly, managing a family is not possible without a woman's presence, without a woman's activity, without a woman's sense of obligation... Sometimes there are small knots within the family that can only be untangled with a woman's delicate fingers. No matter how strong a man is, he cannot untangle this kind of knot...
"Of course, in the matter of the family, if we want to look at the West, it's a disaster. The West has destroyed the family – literally broken it. Of course, this does not mean that there are no families in the West at all; some of the families are good families, and some, nevertheless, only look like a family from the outside... The Westerners have really destroyed the family with all the kinds of issues I mentioned above. This has led to the gradual collapse of the family, which has raised the voices of Western thinkers themselves... In several Western countries, the collapse has become so swift that it is unstoppable, that is, there is [already] no way of reforming the family...
Khamenei: "The Hijab Is A Shari'a Obligation... There Is No Doubt About The Obligation To Wear It – Everyone Must Know This"
"The hijab is a shari'a obligation. It is a shari'a need – that is, there is no doubt about the obligation to wear it. Everyone must know this. There is no room for doubt. This is a religious obligation that must be upheld, but those who do not fully uphold the obligation of the hijab must not be accused of apostasy and of being against the [Islamic] revolution. I have said this more than once.
"One time, during one of my trips to the [Iranian] provinces, I said to a gathering of scholars: Why do some of you sometimes level accusations against women who have some of their hair outside [their hijab], or, in the common parlance, wear the hijab incorrectly, which now must be called wearing a loose hijab? When I entered that city, the people came to welcome me, but at least a third of them were women who appeared to be weeping. It cannot be said about these women that they were against the revolution – how can it be said of them that they are against the revolution when they turned out in such enthusiasm to take part in a religious ceremony of the revolution? They are the girls and daughters of us all. I reiterated this several times in my Eid Al-Fitr sermons in the Ramadan ceremony of Lailat Al-Qadr – they would bring me pictures from there. Now, when I cannot [go there]... If only I could weep like those girls, like those young women. How can accusations be leveled against such girls?
"True, wearing the hijab loosely or incorrectly is inappropriate, but it does not mean that we are excluding these [women] in the area of the religion and the revolution, and that we consider them to be not like us. Why? Because we all have some flaws; we must rectify them – the more they can be rectified, the better...
"During the prerevolutionary period, there were a few women who were scientists, academics, researchers, and experts in various fields. [Now] there are all these female lecturers in universities, all these doctors, all these scientists, in various departments. When I say various departments, this is because I really did go to them, I saw women who were scientists, women of culture, women technicians who worked there. It was unprecedented before the revolution. This is what the revolution did...
"Our girls participate in sports, become champions, take the gold while wearing the Islamic hijab. Is there a better promotion than this for the hijab? I am truly proud of these women... In various places, women have advanced everywhere.
"With regard to the claims of some of the women, [i.e. that women] do not serve in a practical way in decision-making, yes, this is a flaw, no doubt about it, and this flaw must be removed.
Khamenei: The Way To Protect Women From Domestic Abuse "Is To Have Laws Connected To The Family That Will Be So Strong That No Man Will Be Able To Oppress Women"
"In the recent events, you [women] yourselves saw many [women] opposed to the hijab. Who were those who stood fast again all these efforts and these calling voices? The women themselves. Their [i.e. the enemy's] hope was that those women who wear the hijab loosely would remove it altogether, but they did not. That is, they slapped that [Western] propaganda in the face.
"The last thing I want to talk about is that women are oppressed in some families in our society, and based on their [men's] physical strength, because their voices are louder, they are taller, and their arms are stronger, they act forcefully towards their wives. So what should we do? We also want to preserve the family. The way [to do this] is to have laws connected to the family that will be so strong that no man will be able to oppress women. Of course, there are some instances in which the opposite is true – that is, the women is oppressed. We have some cases like that. Of course, it is less common and most of them are what I said before. We hope that with God's help, all these things will be resolved."[4]
Khamenei In Second Speech: "The Issue Of The Hijab Is A Religious And Legal Restriction... Its Removal Is Forbidden Both By Islam And Politically"; "The Regime Elements [Must] Have A Plan" To Enforce It
On April 4, 2023, three months after his first speech, Khamenei shifted from his apparently moderate approach in the first speech to a more aggressive tack, in advance of Ramadan, in a meeting with various regime officials. He stressed that the hijab was a religious and legal obligation and that its removal was forbidden by Islam and that the need to wear it was based on statements by the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
In his April 4 speech, Khamenei accused the West and its intelligence agencies of being behind what he called the plot of the struggle against the hijab in Iran. The citizens, he said, are not at all opposed to the hijab, but have been deceived by the West – which is where women have no freedom or security as they do in Iran. The following are the main points of his speech:
"...There were, and will be, plots within the country, such as unrest in the past year carried out on the pretext of the issue of women and with the support of Western intelligence agencies. In some of the Western countries, women, by their own admission, are not safe on the street or in military camps or forces. One example of this is a veiled Muslim woman who came to a court [in the West] to file a complaint and was beaten to death by the plaintiff.
"They [in the West] threaten Iran – which gives women the highest possible respect. Some [citizens] in the country, most of whom have been misled by the foreign enemy and traitors from outside the country, have shouted the slogan 'Women's Freedom' accompanied by riots instead of intelligent and logical talk. In what matters are women in Iran not free? Where else in the world do women participate in as many activities as they do in Iran, for example those carried out by Iranian women proudly and with head held high?
"The issue of the hijab is a religious and legal restriction, not a government restriction, and removing it is forbidden both by Islam and politically. Most of those who are removing their hijab are unaware of the incitement that motivates them to do so, that is, from the enemy's spy agencies. If they knew who and which organizations were behind the removal of and struggle against the hijab, they would not be doing this, since most of them are religious women [who believe] in Ramadan and worship. This issue will absolutely be resolved, because in the first weeks of the [Islamic] revolution, the honorable Imam [Khomeini] noted that the issue of the hijab is [religiously] obligatory. Of course, when the enemy acts in this area with an organized plan, so must the regime elements have a plan. Things must not be done in an unorganized and unplanned manner."[5]
Regime Loyalists Support And Reiterate The Importance Of Compulsory Hijab For Women
In a wide range of statements, regime loyalists echoed Khamenei's words about women's status in Islamic culture being much higher than in the West, and about the Islamic Revolution as savior of womankind. The regime mouthpiece Kayhan came out against the secularization trend that it claimed threatens all of Iranian society, equating women's removal of their hijabs with the fall of a soldier's banner on the battlefield.
The reformist sector, which had criticized the compulsory hijab, was also singled out for special treatment, coming under attack for stressing the importance of the economy at the expense of the hijab. Iran's annual Qods Day was harnessed by regime to echo the regime's oft-reiterated theme that the Zionist regime and the West were behind "the hijab-removal plot" because they know that the hijab is the foundation of morality in Iranian society and therefore are taking aim at the hijab in order to damage the society and lead to its collapse.
Furthermore, the hijab is described as a struggle against the true corruption – that is, not the economic corruption that prevails in regime institutions – and is justified because even the West has some kind of dress code. Rejecting the argument that women should be free to dress as they see fit, the regime loyalists argued that even freedom has its limits, such as restrictions on selling drugs as part of freedom of employment.
Regime Mouthpiece Kayhan: "Every Removal Of A Head-Covering And A Hijab From The Heads Of Iranian Girls And Women Is Seen As The Fall Of A Soldier's Banner "
The January 10, 2023 editorial in Kayhan, titled "The Enemy's Resentment Of The Hijab," which was published a few days after Khamenei's speech, underlined the conflict over women's status in Western culture and in Islamic culture. The editorial stated that Islam's respectful view of women had led women worldwide to become enamored of the rights and values radiating from this religion and to adopt it. Describing Iran's Islamic Revolution as rescuing women from the culture of the West, it said that in the past four decades since then it had led to success in science, politics, society, culture, and sports – and that this success had aroused the ire of the West as the latter continued to use propaganda to take control of and destroy life in Iranian society. This, it said, was in an effort to prevent the West's own values from collapsing.
The culture war with the West, continued the editorial, is focused on the symbol of the Islamic Revolution – that is, the hijab, which is the shield for women. As a result, it is attempting to promote refusal to wear it, and success in this attempt is comparable to the "fall of a soldier's banner." Stating that Iranian women must be aware of the enemy's evil motives, it abjures them not to believe the promotion of the Western ideal of beauty and the enemy's lies about how not wearing the hijab means freedom for women. In actuality, it said, following this path will prevent women from being protected, growing, and developing, and bases this statement on the case of the Iranian Olympic athlete who medaled in her sport while wearing the hijab. If the West believed in true freedom, it asked, why did France ban veiled students from attending university?
In conclusion, the editorial appealed to Iranian women to follow the path of the saint Fatma and to realize that the greed of the West does not end when women remove their hijabs, but continues until it drags women into the abyss.
The following are excerpts from the editorial:
Kayhan: The Islamic Revolution Has Brought Women Struck By The Virus Of Western Life To A Position Close To Precious And Lofty Status... By Virtue Of The Quran"
"The important issue – that is, women – has become an arena of conflict between Western and Islamic culture. This conflict [stems from] the West's destructive and humiliating perception of women in the past decades and centuries. The terrible outcome for these women shows itself in these societies. It has even led many concerned and honest thinkers [in the West] to criticize [the Western view of women], such that it is obvious that the authentic Islamic culture's respectful and innovative view of women is what caused many women from various religions and nationalities, and from the most far-flung places in the world, to become enamored of its [Islam's] advanced and humane view of women. It is the attraction of Islam's rights and values for women that has prompted concerned leaders in Western society to think about changing Islamic societies and making Muslim women more like Western women, with the aim of preventing the collapse of their atrophied yet profitable values for women in the West...
"With the victory of the [1979 Islamic] revolution and the rule of Islamic values, a new chapter began, and there was a rare atmosphere of good life and growth and development in the right direction for girls and women. With the proper support and guidance of the Islamic Republic [of Iran] in the past four decades, and thanks to awareness on the part of the daughters of this land regarding their true status and value, there has been a brilliant record of exceptional growth of women in science, politics, society, culture, and sports, and Iranian women are shining in various areas in the world. These things have been said many times, and they cannot be denied, because they are tangible and objective, and even those most hostile to the Islamic Revolution cannot afford to ignore this path of growth and progress for women and their unique advancement in light of the support and existence of the Islamic Republic.
"In contrast to the West, which over several decades has put women on a track that degrades their status and value, out of a view that stems from lust and wealth and has turned them into second-rate goods... the Islamic Revolution has brought women struck by the virus of Western life to a position close to precious and lofty status. [It has done this] by virtue of a healing version [of an outlook] in the form of the book of healing – the Quran – and the savior religion of Islam.
"This is precisely the reason... that the great Islamic Revolution [of Iran] has led Western society to a profound challenge... Today, the Western world is trying to neutralize [Iran's Islamic Revolution], or to divert it and distort it, in order to prevent its expansion and its advancement of this new and attractive perception of the world outside Iran's borders and geography... Many women in various countries have become enchanted with the Islamic outlook and with the culture and revolution of the Iranian people after getting to know them, and have even chosen the religion of Islam and made the hijab and modesty into their tranquil stronghold and refuge.
Kayhan: "One Current Example Of The West's Efforts To Change The Culture Of Islamic Iran And To Promote Western Culture Is The Issue Of The Islamic Hijab For Women"
"Such a sorrowful challenge for the Western world has made it think about drying up the wellspring of Islamic culture in the current era, to extinguish the sun of the Islamic Revolution and to change the culture of Iranian society. For years they have been attempting to advance their [Western] way of life in Islamic Iran by any method and using any tools at their disposal, beginning with the virtual space, cinema, and music, and including false satellite channels.
"One current example of the West's efforts to change the culture of Islamic Iran and to promote Western culture is the issue of the Islamic hijab for women. The bizarre and widespread efforts of a great many official and virtual media affiliated with the West or supported financially and politically by the enemies of Iran to promote rejection of the hijab is a worrying and undeniable reality.
"This conflict includes cultural invasion and war, and every removal of a head covering and a hijab from the heads of Iranian girls and women is seen as the fall of a soldier's banner. The girls and women of this country are expected to be aware of the philosophy of this conflict, and to think about the evil intent of the enemy front... Too much attention to external appearance, and shocking promotion of beauty methods and excessive use of cosmetic products and, later on, too little, or, God forbid, lack of attention to the hijab will not only fail to bring virtue and rights to women – contrary to what is advertised by the West and its misleading media – but will prevent them from growing and developing scientifically, socially, in the family, and so on.
Kayhan: "Many Women Who Have Not Earned Much Success In The Social Arena Have Missed The Correct Way Of Life Because They Devoted Little Attention To The Hijab"
"The falsehood that these media have been telling our girls and women for years is the false belief that the hijab limits and thwarts progress, while many successful women have reached the highest and topmost levels in science, society, sports, and so on by virtue of their wearing of the Islamic hijab. Many women who have not earned much success in the social arena have missed the correct way of life because they devoted little attention to the hijab, and some of them were obsessed with attaining beauty – like the fake Hollywood stars and the fake [television show] presenters on [satellite] channels. Can it be said about that Iranian athlete who medaled in the Olympics that wearing the Islamic hijab held her back, and held back those like her? Would this athlete or those like her be able to repeat their pride-inspiring achievements that they earned because of they wore the hijab and because of the support and encouragement of the Islamic Republic if they emigrated and remove [their] hijab? If [the West] truly believed in freedom of dress, why did France, which says it is a supporter of Iranian women and girls, ban veiled girls from attending universities and schools?
"Behind the shows of compassion for Iranian women, it is clear that the enemy, and the media affiliated with it, has another goal – destroying Iranian Islamic culture and targeting the Islamic hijab as one of the most important symbols and banners of the Islamic Revolution.
"The outcome, and the fate, of the path, and of course, of the trap, set by the Western leaders and the media affiliated with the enemies of Iran in recent years... is the destruction of the institution of the family and the transformation of women into an element slaking the endless sensual desires of men. Attention to women is due to their physical and sexual attractiveness, not to their internal values – and [all this] is the result of this path. Most of Iran's women and girls, who are pure by nature and who cling to human and Islamic values, have disrupted the enemy's evil plan by imitating Islam's greatest woman, Fatma, the symbol of the value of Islam for women. Those few women who follow the path of the enemy must ask themselves: Will abandoning the head covering and the hijab end the greed of the enemies of this country and the dragging of women and girls to the decadent abyss of Western life? Or is it the beginning of a bitter end that portends evil?"[6]
Kayhan Editor Hossein Shariatmadari: "It’s Not The Right Thing" That Some Women Are Abandoning The Hijab – "They Are Breaking The Law"; "If The Revolution Becomes Weak, It's When People Give Up On Islam – That's Impossible"
With the regime's success at repressing the street protests across Iran, Kayhan editor Hossein Shariatmadari showed a moderate face to the British Financial Times daily, calling in an interview published March 27, 2023 to raise awareness of the hijab among women and to educate them to wear it instead of making it compulsory for them to do so. Nevertheless, he stressed unwillingness to compromise with secular women and hinted at a possible escalation of enforcement efforts to solve the problem if women's rejection of the hijab continued into the coming year. The following are excerpts from the interview, in the original English:
"It's not the right thing [that some women are abandoning the hijab]; they are breaking the law. Gradually, they can be made aware of this, but the way to deal with them is not to arrest them, it's to increase awareness. Next year, if you [addressing the interviewer] come here, you will not see this [women in these streets without a hijab]. If the revolution becomes weak, it's when people give up on Islam – that's impossible."
He added that "debate" on different opinions "is normal," but that he is against the idea of making significant concessions to the protestors and secularists.[7]
Kayhan editor Shariatmadari (Source: Fars, April 15, 2023)
Kayhan: "When The Family Unit In America Collapsed, American Society Also Collapsed... This Is The Reason For The Enemy's Bizarre And Powerful Focus On The Issue Of The Hijab And The Family"
An April 20, 2023 Kayhan article referenced a poll by the Wall Street Journal indicating that American values that once defined its society, such as religion, patriotism, and having children were in decline, while the only priority tested in the poll that had grown in importance in the past 25 years is money.[8] In the article, Kayhan presented these findings, which correspond with Supreme Leader Khamenei's narrative that American society is disintegrating. Kayhan also took issue with the reformist stream in Iran that it said places sole emphasis on the economy and none on the values of Iranian society that are rooted in the family unit, which is a source of religion, culture, and the hijab. This collapse of the family unit could lead to the disintegration of Iranian society, said Kayhan, which explains the enemy's focus on the family unit. Maintaining hijab observance is essential to maintaining the economy, the religion, and the culture, and to solving hundreds of other problems that are likely to emerge if women do not wear the hijab.
The following are highlights of the Kayhan article:
"...A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal, an economic and business newspaper, wrote about a study on 'priorities' as part of an extensive investigation. According to the report, the foundations and the fundamental values of American society are collapsing among the younger generation. For example, since 1998, the number of Americans who say that patriotism is important dropped from 70% to 38%... the importance of religion in this country fell from 62% to 32%... [and] social participation in important events in the country also dropped from 47% to 27%.
"The shocking thing in America, according to the statistics, is that the most important issue for Americans, that appears even more important than it did 25 years ago, is whether the citizens have money. An American expert on social issues who read the report responded: 'We are witness to the terrible consequences of the disintegration of society'...
"America alone is a quarter of the global economy, but according to this report, its society is broken, and the issue that is most important to its citizens is to make money! We have stated this point in order to reach the conclusion that it is possible to be a strong economy but [at the same time] to deal with a society in collapse! And that the analysis by the members [i.e. the reformists in Iran] who see 'all the problems' in Iran through an economic lens – how mistaken and inaccurate they can be. Indeed! Economic problems are of course involved in the emergence of social problems, but the economy is not always the main and only reason for this.
"According to this report, when the family unit in America collapsed, American society also collapsed. The maintenance of the family center means preventing the occurrence of hundreds of social and non-social problems. Now we can better understand the importance of issues such as the family. Like issues such as religion and culture, the first of which is the family, so is the issue of the hijab and virtue, that also begins from the family center, and this is the reason for the enemy's bizarre and powerful focus on the issue of the hijab and the family. Have no doubt that after the hijab, they will look for other issues on which to focus, and have no doubt that they will also dictate the need to respect the rights of homosexuals and alcoholics...
"In conclusion, it can be said that one of the most important areas whose preservation and strengthening can prevent disruption in additional areas, including the economy, culture, politics, and more, is the area of the 'Iranian family.' This is the area in which the enemies have taken a long step in order to bring it down, using the trick of 'hijab by choice.' Here we will emphasize that 'hijab by choice' ends with compulsory hijab rejection, and hundreds of other problems that will result from the heart of hijab rejection and immorality. This will ultimately lead Iranian society to a situation like the Wall Street Journal wrote about Western societies – that is, 'societal collapse.'"[9]
Kayhan: "The West's Trampling Of The Hijab For Women In The Past Century In Those Countries Has Led It To The Point Where French President Macron, For Example, Said: 'More And More Women Fear Being Attacked And Harassed, So They No Longer Dare To Use Public Transportation'"
In a June 20, 2023 article, Kayhan justified the Iranian regime's extensive focus on enforcing hijab wear on women by explaining that it was about tackling corruption, and compared refusal to wear the hijab to going naked in public. Even the West, it said, has a dress code for public spaces and even "freedom" there has limits, for example, laws against selling drugs. The hijab, said the article, was more necessary today than ever, in order to prevent sexual harassment of women because of "revealing" and immodest dress, as happens in the West. It concluded by saying that what those who promote immodesty are doing is unforgiveable, and that they must be punished. The following are the main points of the article:
"...Those who think that the struggle against economic corruption, such as theft or embezzlement, takes priority over the struggle concerning modesty and the breaking of the norms of covering [the body] must be asked: Is this embezzlement only in monetary matters? Is absconding with very precious capital, the foundation of society and families [i.e. the hijab], less [grave] than stealing material currency and capital?...
"Some claim, based on the attractive term 'freedom' and without understanding the meaning of their [own] words, that according to the principle of freedom, every woman is entitled to appear in public without a hijab and wearing anything she wants! These people do not, of course, say where the limits of liberty and free will are if this argument is accepted. Under these conditions, can someone appear naked in public without anyone protesting about it, on the pretext of the principle of freedom? Of course, even in the most secular and nonreligious countries in the West there is no such thing as absolute freedom. In the various societies, no one is entitled to appear in society in any way and wearing anything they please, at universities, schools, workplaces, and public places. According to this definition and this logic, the people arguing for freedom can claim that someone who crosses on a red light or uses or sells drugs in public does so as part of freedom. Don't they think that this freedom causes injustice to everyone else?
"The West's trampling of the hijab for women in the past century in those countries has led it to the point where French President Macron, for example, said: 'More and more women fear being attacked and harassed, so they no longer dare to use public transportation. We are going to double the police presence on public transportation, particularly at times when most of the attacks take place.' Or, alternatively, the Daily Mail reported 6,500 incidents of sexual attack in British hospitals! Violence and aggression against women in countries like the U.S. is also a phenomenon with many examples, from sexual harassment of national gymnastics team athletes by their male coaches to many incidents of rape... Of course, today in the West, by means of the satanic social media and the promotion of dangerous ideas, some of them go through the anti-religious phase and reach the dark and terrible place of dehumanization, of which promotion of many ugly and inhuman behaviors such as homosexuality is one example.
"It is an unforgivable mistake in our Islamic society to ignore the experience that the West places before us, and we must not underestimate the issue of modesty and the hijab [observance] by the people, regime elements, and any individual and group that can positively influence [those who are remaining] passive against the enemy plan to harm modesty. From this viewpoint, those who promote immodesty and immorality and economic corruption must be treated appropriately and in ways that will deter them. There is also a need to consider the cultural issue, and to improve the level of modern and attractive education for conveying values perceptions."[10]
Ayatollah Khatami: "The Hijab Is The Word Of God" And "One Of The Foundations Of The Religion"; "A Woman Who Leaves Her Home Without Her Hijab Is Sick"; "I Believe That The Police Are On The Front Line In This Matter And Need To Do Their Duty"; "The Masses... Want To Smell The Fragrance Of The Religion, Not The Fragrance Of Absence Of Religion"
In his Tehran Friday sermon on July 21, 2023, Tehran Friday imam Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami justified the compulsory hijab as an fundamental principle of the religion of Islam, whose source is the Quran. Echoing Khamenei's statements that rejection of the hijab is forbidden both according to the shari'a and politically, he called hijab-less women "sick" and demanded that they be treated accordingly. Furthermore, he stated that the Iranian nation, where most want hijab wear to be compulsory, is entitled to have it that way, because hundreds of thousands of martyrs have sacrificed themselves so that the rules of Islam will prevail in society. The following are the main points of his sermon:
"...Everywhere I go to deliver a speech, the religious people ask me what will happen to those women who do not wear the hijab. The hijab is a matter set out by the clerics. The hijab is the word of God. Over 10 verses of the holy Quran deal with the hijab. Most of the religious sources consider the hijab one of the foundations of the religion, exactly as they consider prayer to be obligatory. By presenting the hijab as a clerical directive, they are deceiving those who do not wear the hijab. Furthermore, while the authorities talked about the hijab a century ago, when it was not political... the hijab was one of the fundamental principles of the religion...
"The Leader has said that not wearing the hijab is forbidden, both according to the shari'a and politically... A woman who leaves her home without her hijab is a sick woman. She should not be slapped, but gently healed. The interactions [i.e. the authorities' treatment of a woman without her hijab] must be humane and loving. They are the daughters of this country. They did not come from abroad. The directive to 'flee evil' must be as written in the Quran.
Friday imam Ayatollah Khatami (Source: Mashregh, Iran, July 21, 2023)
"The hijab is a religious ritual. This [Iranian] people has sacrificed over 200,000 martyrs, and now, at any [given] moment, it is sacrificing [more] martyrs so that the rules of the Quran and Islam prevail in society. This nation that I see [before me] will not allow a handful of people to attack the rules of Islam based on a whim. In the issue of the hijab, everyone has a duty. Families have a duty regarding the hijab. Sometimes, the mother wears a hijab but the daughter does not. All the officials and the heads of the three authorities are unanimous: Rejection of the hijab is a sin. I do not know a single official who is pleased with rejection of the hijab.
"I support the oppressed police forces. I believe that they are on the front line [against these women], and they need to do their duty in this matter. Many citizens wonder whether those who do not wear the hijab will band together, and I promise that as long as you are in the picture, know that rejection of the hijab will not become the norm. The norm in the country is the hijab. I say to the country's officials that the masses want the hijab. They want to smell the fragrance of the religion, not the fragrance of absence of religion."[11]
The Regime's Decision As Read Out At The Nationwide March For International Qods Day In April 2023: "The Hijab Is One Of The Foundations Of Islam – And Disobeying It Is Forbidden By Shari'a And Will Weaken The Basis Of The Family"
The regime's seven-section decision that dealt, inter alia, with the hijab, that was read out by marchers in the national International Qods Day march in Tehran in April 2023, was a direct continuation of the narrative promoted by Leader Khamenei – that is, that the West and the Zionists are behind the struggle over the hijab in Iran.
The regime decision on the hijab stated, inter alia:
"...The hijab is one of the foundations of Islam, and disobeying it is forbidden by shari'a and will weaken the basis of the family. Therefore, we call on the executive bodies to prioritize today the necessary means and measures to prevent the continuation of this violation [i.e. not wearing the hijab] and to liberate Islamic society from this evil souvenir of the Zionist-Western culture that is being advanced with the support of the enemy's spy agencies."[12]
*N. Katirachi is a Research Fellow at MEMRI; Ayelet Savyon is Director of the Iran Media Studies project.
[1] MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1674, Antiregime Protests By Women, Ethnic Minorities, And Students In Iran – Part I: The Protestors' 'Woman, Life, Freedom' Chant vs Islamic Regime Claims That The Protests Are Organized By Foreign Countries, December 23, 2022.
[2] See MEMRI Inquiry and Analysis No. 1654, Iran's Hijab War – An Expression Of The Struggle For Political Freedom: Part I , October 3, 2022, and Iran's Hijab War – An Expression Of The Struggle For Political Freedom: Part II , October 7, 2022.
[3] Asriran.com, July 15, 2023.
[4] Farsi.khamenei.ir, January 4, 2023.
[5] ISNA (Iran), April 4, 2023.
איסנא (איראן), 04.04.2023
[6] Kayhan.ir/fa, January 10, 2023.
[7] Ft.com/content/52d4ed75-5e40-45a5-89a5-86176d0d10fc, March 27, 2023; Asr-e Iran, March 27, 2023.
[8] Wsj.com/articles/americans-pull-back-from-values-that-once-defined-u-s-wsj-norc-poll-finds-df8534cd, March 27, 2023.
[9] Kayhan.ir/fa, April 20, 2023.
[10] Kayhan.ir/fa, June 20, 2023.
[11] Mashreghnews.ir, July 21, 2023.
[12] ISNA.ir, April 14, 2023.

Israel-Saudi normalization stuck as Netanyahu struggles to boost Palestinian Authority
Ben Caspit//Al-Monitor/September 15, 2023
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu knows that to obtain normalization with Saudi Arabia, he must bypass his hard-line coalition partners and offer the Palestinians significant benefits.
TEL AVIV - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have reversed his policy toward the Palestinian Authority (PA), but can he take it far enough to generate the changes the Biden administration and the Saudis are demanding? Two days before his departure for the United States, chances of that happening look bleak.  Truth to be told, having previously helped bring the PA to the brink of collapse, Netanyahu is now not only supporting it, but is providing it with weaponry as well. Until Netanyahu formed his current government in late December 2022, he had sought to undermine the PA in the West Bank while strengthening its rival, Hamas, in the Gaza Strip. It was a strategy to perpetuate the split between Gaza and the West Bank and rule out any suggestion of a newly strengthened Palestinian leadership in Ramallah as potential peace partner for Israel.
Netanyahu tied his own hands
These days, however, Netanyahu needs the PA to advance prospects of normalization with Saudi Arabia, which has made clear that an empowered PA is a precondition for any photo-op with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, not to mention for the Israeli leader’s prospects of a Nobel Peace Prize. Unfortunately for Netanyahu, the partners on whom he depends for his political survival are determined to derail the burgeoning Israeli-Palestinian relationship. In fact, the Religious Zionism and Jewish Power parties aspire to topple the PA and exploit the ensuing chaos and power vacuum to continued Israel’s de facto annexation of the West Bank and quash Palestinian dreams of independence. These opposing goals clashed this week when reports emerged that Israel had approved the supply of 10 armored vehicles to help PA security forces restore governance in Jenin and Nablus, in the northern West Bank, which have been largely overtaken by Hamas-affiliated groups. The reports, some of which also included Israel’s alleged approval of the supply of 1,500 Kalashnikov submachine guns to the PA, set off a political uproar. Itamar Ben-Gvir, national security minister and Jewish Power leader, and Bezalel Smotrich, finance minister and Religious Zionism leader, went as far as to threaten an immediate walkout, dismantling Netanyahu’s coalition. Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, rushed to vehemently deny the Kalashnikov report. As for the armored vehicles, those were said to have been approved by the previous government of Prime Ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid at the request of the Joe Biden administration. Although calm was thus restored, grumbling persists on the far right regarding Israel’s perceived weak and unnecessary capitulation to US pressure. Netanyahu is in a bind. At a meeting of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last June, he caused a stir by saying, "We need the Palestinian Authority. We must not allow its collapse”. A month later, he convened a special cabinet meeting, which was followed by a statement announcing, "In the absence of a change in the national assessment, Israel will act to prevent the collapse of the Palestinian Authority." In the cabinet vote on the matter, Ben-Gvir had opposed the statement, and Smotrich had abstained.
Civilian helicopter for Abbas?
Statements are not enough, however, to ensure the PA's chances of survival. The Saudis and Americans are pressuring Netanyahu to demonstrate his goodwill in the form of generous measures vis-a-vis the PA to advance Israeli-Saudi normalization. Defense officials are also strongly recommending essential moves to improve the PA's resilience and its ability to deal with the waves of terrorism emanating from Jenin and Nablus. Netanyahu listens, and he understands, but he also finds it difficult to implement such measures.
Al-Monitor has learned that Netanyahu recently considered approving the supply of a civilian helicopter for PA President Mahmoud Abbas to facilitate his movement, especially travel abroad, which he does via Jordan. The recent news reports and threats from his coalition partners scuttled the initiative. The aging Palestinian leader will have to continue to travel by land, from Ramallah to Amman and back, whenever he flies abroad. Netanyahu’s only remaining recourse is to promote economic measures to ease the PA's credit and cash flow crunch. For now, his government allows some 18,000 Palestinian workers to leave Gaza every day to work in Israel, and with Israel's consent, a Qatari envoy has just paid a visit to Gaza carrying a suitcase full of cash. Israel has also approved the development of the Gaza Marine natural gas field, off the Gaza coast in the Mediterranean Sea, and is promoting development of a Palestinian industrial zone in Tarqumiya, in the southern West Bank. Also under consideration is the return of the so-called VIP certificates, which allowed senior PA officials to move freely around the West Bank and in Israel, as well as other concessions, mainly regarding taxes that Israel collects for the PA. Netanyahu's partners are trying to block these measures, too. Netanyahu entrusted his two hard-line partners with key positions: Smotrich oversees the state treasury and West Bank settlement advancement, and Ben-Gvir holds sway over the police and other agencies. Absent their support, significant initiatives to improve the PA’s standing are not feasible. During much of Netanyahu's time in power, he has not wanted to help the PA. Now that he needs to, he is finding that he cannot.
These constraints have dashed Netanyahu’s hopes of a long-awaited Oval Office sit-down with Joe Biden. He will have to settle for a rushed meeting with the US president this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meeting in New York. The Palestinians will have to make do with whatever crumbs Netanyahu can throw their way without endangering his government. Biden had hoped to have some tangible progress to show for his administration’s intense efforts to engineer a historic peace deal between Israel and the Arab and Muslim world’s leading power, but has so far been disappointed.
It remains unclear whether Biden, Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Salman can nonetheless conjure up a breakthrough to realize the long-awaited normalization of relations between Riyadh and Jerusalem. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid, who in his recent meetings in Washington was asked about the extent to which he would back Netanyahu’s efforts to meet the Saudis' expectations, outright rejected the idea of joining the Netanyahu government to provide it with the necessary support if the hard-liners walked out over concessions to the Palestinians. Lapid also opposes another part of the proposed package deal with the Saudis — Israeli approval of Saudi uranium enrichment for a power reactor. With every day that passes, it is becoming increasingly clear that to reach a breakthrough with Riyadh, Netanyahu will have to make some weighty leadership decisions, some of them dangerous, some painful. Given his current political and legal woes, whether he is capable of doing so is anybody's guess.

Iraqi Christians’ Never-Ending ‘Black Day’
Raymond Ibrahim/15 September 2023
The Christians of Iraq recently commemorated the ninth anniversary of “The Black Day,” that is, August 6, 2014, when the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) invaded northern Iraq, where most of that nation’s Christian minorities, known as Chaldeans and/or Assyrians, live. The atrocities then committed—and which were correctly labeled genocide by the international community—were unimaginable: I personally remember going through and still have access to numerous reports, many in non-English languages, of how ISIS butchered, enslaved, raped, bought-and-sold Christians as if they were chattel—not to mention the bombing or burning of countless, often ancient heritage-site churches and monasteries. As such, it is fitting to remember the “Black Day” that ushered ISIS into Northern Iraq. To quote from a press release by American FRRME:
On that fateful day, countless families were torn apart, and Iraqi Christians were left with no choice but to flee their homes, leaving behind their cherished memories and traditions. “The Black Day” remains etched in our collective memory as a day of profound loss and suffering, resonating as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable adversity. The surviving members of these ancient Christian communities have demonstrated remarkable courage and fortitude. They have held onto their faith, culture and heritage, even in the midst of great hardship and displacement. Their stories of survival and the ongoing efforts to rebuild their lives serve as a powerful source of inspiration to us all. Although nothing was worse than being under ISIS, it is important to remember that the plight of Iraq’s Christians—one of the oldest Christian communities in the world—began well before the advent of ISIS and continues to the present moment. In other words, ISIS was always only the icing on the jihadist cake, one which continues to be dished out to Christians, even if in smaller slices.
In reality, everything went downhill for Iraq’s Christians following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and subsequent toppling of Saddam Hussein.
Whatever his faults, Saddam was a secularist—meaning that his internal enemies were the same enemies of Christians: observant (“radical”) Muslims who, just as they disliked Christian “infidels,” also disliked and sought to overthrow Saddam for not being a “true” Muslim—for being an apostate as they had long characterized him. As such, he kept them suppressed, which indirectly benefited Christians.
As one leading Vatican official put it, Christians, “paradoxically, were more protected under the dictatorship [of Saddam Hussein].”
Once he was toppled, the genie—or jihadi—bottle was uncorked: “militant” Muslims everywhere—many of them presented for years by the mainstream media as U.S. allies and “freedom fighters”—began to exercise sharia (as they later did in Libya, Yemen, Egypt, and Syria under the Obama-sponsored guise of an “Arab Spring”).
Here, for example, is a telling excerpt from an article I wrote in April, 2011— three years before ISIS even existed and had not yet caused the “Black Day”:
Last week an Iraqi Muslim scholar issued a fatwa that, among other barbarities, asserts that “it is permissible to spill the blood of Iraqi Christians.” Inciting as the fatwa is, it is also redundant. While last October’s Baghdad church attack which killed some sixty Christians is widely known … the fact is, Christian life in Iraq has been a living hell ever since U.S. forces ousted the late Saddam Hussein in 2003…. Among other atrocities, beheading and crucifying Christians are not irregular occurrences; messages saying “you Christian dogs, leave or die,” are typical. Islamists see the church as an “obscene nest of pagans” and threaten to “exterminate Iraqi Christians.”
Again, keep in mind, the Muslims doing this were not ISIS, as ISIS would not even become an entity till 2013. They were just “militant” Muslims who hated Christians for the same reason their ancestors hated and ruthlessly subjugated Christians: Islam, which exploits innate tribalism, makes a detested enemy of the “other”—in this case, the non-Muslim, the infidel, who is to be abused, plundered, and slaughtered at will.
That the real issue was an uncorked Islam, as opposed to an organization called ISIS, is further apparent in the fact that, long after ISIS has been gone, Christians continue to suffer persecution and discrimination—at the hands of regular Iraqi citizens and even the U.S.-installed government.
Since late 2017, when ISIS was officially defeated in Iraq, Christians have continued to be physically attacked, including with knives; Christian shops have been firebombed, Christian churches invaded, Christian lands burned, and Christian homes illegally seized—always with the Iraqi government looking the other way. None of this should be surprising: mainstream Iraqi clerics—Sunnis and Shias, neither “radicals”—continue to spew hate for infidels from their minbars. One Muslim leader on the government’s pay described Christians as “infidels and polytheists” stressing the need for “jihad” against them.
Discussing Islam’s correct approach to non-Muslims, the Grand Ayatollah Ahmad al-Baghdadi, Iraq’s top cleric, even went so far as to say on live television:
If they are people of the book [Jews and Christians] we demand of them the jizya—and if they refuse, then we fight them. That is if he is Christian. He has three choices: either convert to Islam, or, if he refuses and wishes to remain Christian, then pay the jizya [and live according to dhimmi rules]. But if they still refuse—then we fight them, and we abduct their women, and destroy their churches—this is Islam!
In a December 30, 2022 interview, Louis Raphaël I Sako, the Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Babylon, discussed the continuing plight of Christians in post-ISIS Iraq. After saying that Christian minors continue to be pressured to convert to Islam and that sharia is being imposed on Christians, he said:
The [Iraqi] constitution talks about freedom of conscience, but it is just on paper. This mentality and these practices—all this inherited tradition—must end. The world has become a global village. Just look at the Muslims abroad. When I visit abroad and meet with heads of state, I see that the Muslims there have the same rights as the Christians and atheists. Here, however, I am treated as a second-class citizen.
Almost as if to prove him right, the most recent form of Iraqi persecution comes directly from Abdul Latif Rashid, the president of Iraq, and is directed against the Chaldean Patriarch himself. According to a July 13, 2023 report, “Under mounting pressure from a pro-Iran militia group, the Iraqi president earlier this month revoked a decade-old decree that formally recognized Chaldean Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako and granted him powers over Christian endowment affairs.”
Christians are convinced that this move is meant to facilitate the further confiscation of their property, which begun under ISIS. In the words of Diya Butrus Slewa, a human rights activist from Ainkawa, “This is a political maneuver to seize the remainder of what Christians have left in Iraq and Baghdad and to expel them. Unfortunately, this is a blatant targeting of the Christians and a threat to their rights.”
Other Christians gathered in peaceful protests, holding up “placards telling the Iraqi government that they had committed ‘enough injustice’ against the long-suffering Christian community.” Another sign read:
Mr. President, the protector of the constitution should not violate the constitution. The Iraqi president orders the displacement of Christians, and opens the way for violating the property of the Chaldean Church which represents nearly 80 percent of Christians in Iraq and Kurdistan.
In short, Iraq’s Christians have gone from having ISIS, a terrorist organization, persecute them, to the U.S.-sponsored president of Iraq persecuting them, if in an admittedly less sensationalist form (hence why zero coverage from the “mainstream media”).
This should make clear that ISIS was never the cause, but rather an overt symptom of the persecution of Christians in Iraq and the broader Middle East. The true cause—Islamic hostility and contempt for “infidels”—remains alive and well, not least because it must never be named or acknowledged.

Question: “Why did Jesus call the Canaanite woman a dog?”
GotQuestions.org/September 15/2023
Answer: In Matthew 15:21–28, Jesus encounters a Canaanite (Syrophoenician) woman who begs Him to cure her daughter. Jesus initially refuses her request by saying, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs” (Matthew 15:26). Taken out of context, and especially in English, it’s easy to mistake this for an insult. In the flow of the story, however, it’s clear Jesus is creating a metaphor meant to explain the priorities of His ministry. He is also teaching an important lesson to His disciples.
Jews in Jesus’ day sometimes referred to Gentiles as “dogs.” In Greek, this word is kuon, meaning “wild cur” (Matthew 7:6; Luke 16:21; Philippians 3:2). Non-Jews were considered so unspiritual that even being in their presence could make a person ceremonially unclean (John 18:28). Much of Jesus’ ministry, however, involved turning expectations and prejudices on their heads (Matthew 11:19; John 4:9–10). According to Matthew’s narrative, Jesus left Israel and went into Tyre and Sidon, which was Gentile territory (Matthew 15:21). When the Canaanite woman approached and repeatedly asked for healing, the disciples were annoyed and asked Jesus to send her away (Matthew 15:23).
At this point, Jesus explained His current ministry in a way that both the woman and the watching disciples could understand. At that time, His duty was to the people of Israel, not to the Gentiles (Matthew 15:24). Recklessly taking His attention from Israel, in violation of His mission, would be like a father taking food from his children in order to throw it to their pets (Matthews 15:26). The exact word Jesus used here, in Greek, was kunarion, meaning “small dog” or “pet dog.” This is a completely different word from the term kuon, used to refer to unspiritual people or to an “unclean” animal.
Jesus frequently tested people to prove their intentions, often through response questions or challenges (see John 4:16–18; and 4:50–53). His response to the Canaanite woman is similar. In testing her, Jesus declined her request and explained that she had no legitimate expectation of His help. The woman, however, lived out the principle Jesus Himself taught in the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1–8). Her response proved that she understood fully what Jesus was saying, yet had enough conviction to ask anyway (Matthew 15:27). Jesus acknowledged her faith—calling it “great”—and granted her request (Matthew 15:28).
So, according to both the context and language involved, Jesus wasn’t referring to the Canaanite woman as a “dog,” either directly or indirectly. He wasn’t using an epithet or racial slur but making a point about the priorities He’d been given by God. He was also testing the faith of the woman and teaching an important lesson to His disciples.