Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 28-29/2023
US aid to the Lebanese Army continues amid political stalemate
Van carrying Syrians runs over Lebanese soldier, driver killed
Lebanese Armenians scuffle with riot police at protest outside Azerbaijan embassy
Power for payment: EDL's strategy to boost power supply in non-compliant regions in Lebanon
Fresh approach: Wassim Mansouri's proposed reforms seek to revive Lebanon's struggling banking sector
Mansouri warns over 'fragile' financial and economic stability
Berri, Jumblat accuse Christians of obstructing presidential solution
Report: Hezbollah not against Aoun election, cares more about new army chief
Le Drian discusses Lebanon with Saudi foreign minister
UN Special Coordinator visits Bekaa and Baalbek
UNRWA postpones start of school year in South due to Ain el-Helweh clashes
New paying options in US dollar or Lebanese lira: The decision that could save you 'big' on electricity bills
Power for payment: EDL's strategy to boost power supply in non-compliant regions in Lebanon
Amin Maalouf becomes new 'perpetual secretary' of Academie Francaise
Lebanese beauty queens in Riyadh speak about unique nature of Arab beauty
Gradually And Then Suddenly: Artsakh's Lessons For Potential Victims And Victimizers/Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/September 28, 2023
Will Qatar mediation end Lebanon political deadlock?
In First-Ever Iranian Acknowledgment Of Iran's Role In 1980s Lebanon Bombings, Issa Tabatabai, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei's Representative In Lebanon, States: 'I Received From Imam Khomeini The Fatwa [Ordering] Martyrdom Operations Against The Americans'; 'I Provided What Was Needed In Order To [Carry Out] Martyrdom Operations In The Place Where The Americans And Israelis Were'/MEMRI/September 28, 2023
Global leaders, hold Iran accountable for deadly attack on Argentina’s Jewish community | Opinion/Ted Deutch and Amos Linetsky/Miami Herald/September 28, 2023

Titles For The Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 28-29/2023
Nagorno-Karabakh to dissolve, ending independence dream
Turkey’s Fidan holds call with Armenia’s FM amid exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh
Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians
Five Israelis, Palestinians charged in Iran spy plot, Shin Bet says
Iranian forces directs lasers at an American helicopter in the Gulf
US accuses Iran’s IRGC of harassing helicopter over the Gulf
Top Israeli court hears challenges to law limiting grounds for PM's removal
Israel reopens the main Gaza crossing for Palestinian laborers and tensions ease
Saudi Arabia and China to hold joint naval training as ties deepen
Germany and Israel sign an agreement for Berlin to buy a US-Israeli missile defense system
Ukraine says 31 drones downed in 'massive' attack
Video shows Russian soldier ranting about tank shells arriving with no explosives in them: 'With these rounds, we aren't going to win this war'
Chechen leader Kadyrov meets Putin after storm over prisoner beating
Tanks and troops out in the open in Ukraine can't go 10 minutes without being spotted and fired upon, Ukrainian official says
Iraq's PM visits wedding fire victims as 2 more people die from injuries
North Korea's Kim urges greater nuclear weapons production in response to 'new Cold War'
Washington sanctions former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti

Titles For The Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 28-29/2023
Where Are the Palestinian Concessions for Peace?/Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./September 28, 2023
Germany is jeopardising the security of the West/Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/September 28, 2023
Sudan’s Problem with the 'Exclusionists'/Osman Mirghani/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 28/2023

Latest English LCCC Lebanese & Lebanese Related News & Editorials published on September 28-29/2023
US aid to the Lebanese Army continues amid political stalemate
LBCI/September 28, 2023
The United States will continue its aid to the Lebanese Army beyond October if a new president is not elected, according to a statement from a US Embassy official in Beirut, as reported by LBCI. However, the financial assistance program for Lebanese military personnel and internal security forces, which provided a monthly stipend of $100 per individual, is set to halt in November due to the expiration of its six-month term, as stated by the US official. Currently, there are no plans to renew this support, primarily because of the Lebanese officials' failure to elect a president and implement the required economic reforms mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Nevertheless, the US Embassy official in Beirut confirmed to LBCI that consultations are underway with allies to explore ways to assist the Lebanese Army, although no further details were disclosed. This clarification from the US follows media reports suggesting potential changes in assistance during the Quintet meeting in Lebanon, held in New York. During the meeting, Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf stated that the US would only continue aiding the Lebanese Army with a comprehensive political solution.
Regarding the concerns raised about whether the monthly aid recipients found the funds helpful in coping with the economic crisis, the US official clarified that a third party handled this. The move was seen as a gesture of transparency and accountability to be presented to the US Congress in the future.

Van carrying Syrians runs over Lebanese soldier, driver killed
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
The driver of a van carrying illegal Syrian migrants on Thursday ran over a Lebanese soldier and tried to flee an army patrol before being killed in the incident, an army statement said. “As an army patrol was trying to stop a Hyundai van carrying Syrians who had illegally entered Lebanon in the al-Qbour al-Beed area on the northern border, the vehicle driver ran over a member of the patrol and tried to flee the site despite the firing of warning shots in the air by the rest of the patrol members,” the statement said. “This forced them to fire at the vehicle’s tires, which resulted in the wounding of the driver, his loss of control over the vehicle and its crash into an electricity pole before his eventual death,” the statement added. MTV meanwhile identified the driver as Khaled al-Saleh, saying that he hailed from the Akkar town of Mashta Hammoud while describing the wounded soldier’s condition as stable.

Lebanese Armenians scuffle with riot police at protest outside Azerbaijan embassy
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
Hundreds of Lebanese Armenians scuffled with riot police on Thursday outside the Azerbaijan Embassy in northern Beirut during a protest against the Azerbaijani military offensive that recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh from the enclave's separatist Armenian authorities. Protesters waved flags of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, and burned posters of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the demonstration in the Ein Aar suburb of the Lebanese capital. Lebanese riot police lobbed teargas canisters at the protesters after they hurled firecrackers toward the embassy building. The 24-hour Azerbaijan military blitz last week forced Armenian separatist authorities to agree to lay down weapons and sit down for talks on Nagorno-Karabakh's "reintegration" into Azerbaijan. The separatist government said Thursday that it would dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by year's end after a three-decade bid for independence. More than 50% of Nagorno-Karabakh's population of 120,000 have left the region for Armenia as of nightfall Wednesday. Though Azerbaijani authorities promised to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians, many fear reprisals. The former head of Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist government was arrested as he tried to cross into Armenia alongside tens of thousands of others who have fled. During the enclave's independence bid, Lebanese Armenians have sent money and aid, and have actively campaigned in the media in support of Nagorno-Karabakh, which they refer to as Artsakh. Lebanon is embroiled in an unprecedented economic crisis, which has lately restricted the financial support of the Lebanese Armenians for Nagorno-Karabakh because of banks imposing tight withdrawal limits. Lebanon, a tiny Mediterranean country of about 6 million people, is home to some 150,000 Armenians. It's one of the largest Armenian communities in the world outside Armenia, most of them descendants of survivors of the 1915 mass killings during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. At the time, an estimated 1.5 million people were killed in the events that are widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century. Turkey denies the deaths constituted genocide, saying the toll has been inflated and that those killed were victims of civil war and unrest.

Power for payment: EDL's strategy to boost power supply in non-compliant regions in Lebanon
LBCI/September 28, 2023
Electricité du Liban (EDL) has significantly changed its power supply strategy to encourage compliance with electricity bills. This shift comes as EDL has been struggling with widespread non-payment issues, threatening the country's already fragile power infrastructure. In December 2022, EDL initiated a plan to address the increasing challenges in the power sector. Out of approximately 800 distribution points, the company has identified around 70 currently compliant with bill payments. Based on this assessment, EDL has decided to extend power supply hours by an additional two hours per day starting from October 1, specifically in areas where non-compliance rates are below 10 percent. Some of the Beirut neighborhoods set to benefit from this increase in power supply include Ashrafieh, Hikmeh, Rmeil, Medawar, Gemmayzeh, Bachoura, Karantina, Al-Naher, Manara, Ras Beirut, and Commodore.
LBCI's sources confirm that the campaign to remove illegal power connections continues. As evidence of their commitment, EDL sent a formal request to the Interior and Municipalities Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, seeking additional security support in Beirut's southern and northern suburbs, as well as in the regions of the north of Lebanon and Akkar, to facilitate the ongoing campaign against illegal power connections. The equation that connects bill payments with access to electricity is beginning to show positive results beyond the campaign against illegal connections. Tax collection rates have reached record levels. For example, in the areas extending from Antelias to Akkar, the November and December 2022 tax collection rate reached 94 percent. Conversely, areas primarily served by the Litani Authority, such as Jezzine, Western Bekaa, and parts of the Chouf region, recorded the lowest tax collection rates at just 40 percent. In conclusion, the message is clear: pay your electricity bills, and you will receive an uninterrupted power supply. Those who fail to comply will face not only fines but also additional charges based on estimated kilowatt-hour consumption. The board of directors of EDL, following a recommendation from the State Council, has approved a fine of $100 for monophasic users and $300 for triphasic users, in addition to the incurred kilowatt-hour charges, all based on an estimated tariff schedule set by EDL.

Fresh approach: Wassim Mansouri's proposed reforms seek to revive Lebanon's struggling banking sector
LBCI/September 28, 2023
Amid the prevailing negative economic landscape in the country, the acting Banque du Liban (BDL) governor, Wassim Mansouri, is exploring ideas to improve the plight of depositors and the country's struggling banking sector. These ideas revolve around the principle that economic recovery is closely tied to a healthy banking sector that can only regain stability by earning the trust of depositors, who are now seeking access to their deposits, or at least a portion of them. Within this framework is talk of a proposed law awaiting approval alongside the demanded reform laws outlined by Mansouri. This law could serve as an alternative to unapproved capital controls, and it includes the following key points: -Gradually increasing the monthly withdrawal limits for depositors, reaching up to $1,000 monthly.
-Granting banks the ability to issue fresh US dollar loans would mean the revival of dollar-based credit activities, with the law ensuring repayment in fresh US dollars.
-Requiring banks to secure investments for these loans from their foreign shareholders. These investments should be safeguarded by any future legislation related to banking sector restructuring. Depositors with fresh US dollars could also invest in US Treasury bonds, enabling them to earn interest and further benefit from their deposits in fresh dollars in Lebanese banks.
- Implementing this legal framework could free up approximately one billion dollars from the mandatory reserve held by the BDL, which would be allocated for payments to depositors.
-This law would protect the new funds for depositors and shareholders from any risks, especially government intervention, even in the event of a bank's bankruptcy.
- Ultimately, this proposed law aims to rejuvenate banking activity, restore confidence among depositors, and stimulate economic activity in various sectors.

Mansouri warns over 'fragile' financial and economic stability
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
Central Bank interim governor Wassim Mansouri on Thursday reassured that the bank will continue to pay the salaries of the public sector in U.S. dollars, which “provides stability to 400,000 families.”“This is not a long-term stability but rather fragile stability, and if no president is elected the economic situations will further deteriorate,” Mansouri warned, following a meeting with the Economic and Social Council of Lebanon. Stressing the need to “re-launch the banking sector through restoring depositors’ confidence,” the interim governor noted that the state will not be able to return depositors’ money before restructuring the country’s banks. “Answers can be given to depositors about their deposits and the responsibility is shared with the government and parliament,” Mansouri added. “I hope we can launch a joint workshop in an attempt to give answers to depositors as soon as possible,” the interim governor went on to say.
Mansouri also pointed out that “the salaries are provided by the Lebanese state, not the central bank,” noting that “there will be no change in the central bank’s policy nor financing of the state -- neither in Lebanese pounds nor in U.S. dollars.”

Berri, Jumblat accuse Christians of obstructing presidential solution
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
After his dialogue initiative failed, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said he no longer has anything to say. "The presidential problem is between the Maronites," Berri charged, in remarks published Thursday in al-Joumhouria newspaper. Berri's old friend, former Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, took his side, accusing the Lebanese Forces and the Free Patriotic Movement of obstructing "the opportunity." "Berri did his best," Jumblat said Wednesday. "But now, unfortunately, there is no breakthrough in the presidential impasse." Later on Wednesday, the Lebanese Forces responded in a statement that Hezbollah and Amal are the ones who obstructed the election of a president, by leaving every session before the second round of voting, clinging to their candidate and refusing a third-man solution proposed by France and later by Qatar.

Report: Hezbollah not against Aoun election, cares more about new army chief
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
Hezbollah is not against “domestic and foreign consensus on the Joseph Aoun choice” for the presidency, but its concern is not solely focused on the new president, seeing as its eyes are on “the army chief who will replace Joseph Aoun once he is elected as president or sent to retirement,” informed political sources said. “The party’s officials are constantly talking about keenness on protecting the back of the resistance, and accordingly Hebzollah’s attention is now focused on the name of the new army chief more than it is focused on the presidency,” the sources told Kuwait’s al-Anbaa newspaper.
Hezbollah also cares about “the policy statement of the new presidential tenure’s government, specifically about the article that the party considers to be fixed and not subject to modification or interpretation, which is known as the army-people-resistance equation,” the sources said. “This all indicates that the army chief’s name is in the lead,” the sources added.

Le Drian discusses Lebanon with Saudi foreign minister
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
French Special Presidential Envoy for Lebanon Jean-Yves Le Drian has met in Saudi Arabia with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, the Saudi foreign ministry said. The talks tackled “the bilateral ties between the kingdom and France, means to intensify common coordination in several fields, in addition to discussing the latest developments of the Lebanese file and the regional and international events,” the ministry added. The meeting was held in the presence of Saudi minister Nizar al-Aloula and Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Walid Bukhari.

UN Special Coordinator visits Bekaa and Baalbek
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka on Thursday visited the Bekaa and Baalbek. She met with local Lebanese authorities, the UNHCR Lebanon Representative and visited a UNHCR community support project. In Baalbek, the Special Coordinator met with Governor Bashir Khodr, the Head of Municipality Mustafa al-Shall as well as the Head of the Union of Municipalities of Baalbek, Shafik Shehadeh. The discussions focused on the political, security, social and economic situation in that area that has been impacted by the country’s political and socio-economic crisis. They also discussed next year’s municipal elections. Highlighting the importance of ongoing cooperation between the U.N. and Lebanese authorities, particularly in response to the growing needs of the population, the Special Coordinator emphasized that, “Baalbek like other Lebanese areas would benefit from the implementation of much needed reforms in Lebanon and fully functional State institutions that deliver to the people.”The Special Coordinator toured a water treatment station in Hawsh Tal Safiyeh for which a solar system has been provided by UNHCR. The mayor of Hawsh Tal Safiyeh, Abbas Moawiyah, explained that the treatment system provides clean, potable water for more than 4,000 Lebanese and refugees living in surrounding villages. During a visit to a UNHCR center in Zahle, UNHCR Representative in Lebanon Ivo Freijsen and UNHCR field staff also briefed the Special Coordinator on the importance of continued support from the international community to maintain critical assistance to both Lebanese and Syrian refugees, as well as community and institutional support to help improve delivery of municipal and other basic services. Underlining the importance of strengthening Lebanese state institutions and “leaving no one behind,” the Special Coordinator reiterated the U.N.’s “commitment to continue supporting Lebanon and its people,” a statement issued by her office said.

UNRWA postpones start of school year in South due to Ain el-Helweh clashes
Naharnet/September 28, 2023
More than 11,000 Palestine Refugees children in South Lebanon will not be able to join their peers at the beginning of the school year on 2 October. This is a quarter of refugee school children and is due to violence and clashes in the Ain el-Helweh camp, the largest in the country. “UNRWA was forced to take this decision given all our eight schools inside the camp have been taken over by armed groups. They have sustained significant destruction and damage. Other schools – outside the camp- are currently being used by displaced families,” said Dorothée Klaus, Director of UNRWA Affairs in Lebanon.
At least 4,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in Ain el-Helweh. Many sought refuge in UNRWA facilities while others are staying with relatives and friends. “UNRWA is currently working to find alternatives so that children from the camp and the surrounding areas can go back to school as soon as possible. Children’s education is a right that should never be compromised. We call on those fighting and those with influence over them to vacate the UNRWA schools inside the camp,” concluded Klaus. Meanwhile, UNRWA has been providing safe spaces and some education material for children and activities so they can have some learning and be able to reconnect with their childhood.

New paying options in US dollar or Lebanese lira: The decision that could save you 'big' on electricity bills
LBCI/September 28, 2023
A question for the public: Did you know that you can soon pay your electricity bill in US dollars or Lebanese lira? Indeed, paying the electricity bill in US dollars is more convenient and cost-effective. Why? Let us explain. Before this new decision, if you did not have Lebanese lira at home and the collector suddenly came to collect your bill, you had to go to the currency exchange to get US dollars to pay because the collector did not accept payment in US dollars. So, when you went to the currency exchange, you lost money on every dollar. For example, if the black market exchange rate for the US dollar was 89,000 Lebanese lira, the teller would buy your dollars at 88,000 Lebanese lira. Paying in dollars to the collector is more cost-effective because, after a circular from the Central Bank of Lebanon, the electricity company was required to invoice its bills at the Sayrafa rate plus 20 percent, and the "electricity dollar" became 102,600 Lebanese lira. In contrast, the black market exchange rate was 89,000 Lebanese lira. So, if your bill were $20, you would pay 2,052,000 Lebanese lira. However, if you decided to pay the same bill in dollars and bought the $20 from the black market at a rate of 89,500 Lebanese lira, these twenty dollars would cost you 1,790,000 Lebanese lira. This way, you saved 262,000 Lebanese lira just by paying in dollars. In addition, the decision to allow payment in dollars will help the electricity company cover the costs of buying fuel for power plants, maintaining the power grid, and even paying suppliers and contractors without waiting for the Central Bank of Lebanon to convert its billions from Lebanese lira to "fresh dollars." The decision to allow citizens to pay their electricity bills in dollars or Lebanese lira will be approved by the board of directors of Électricité du Liban after obtaining legal approval from the Committee of Legislation and Consultations at the Ministry of Justice.  Practically, it is expected to be implemented with issuing invoices for June or July 2023 at the latest.

Power for payment: EDL's strategy to boost power supply in non-compliant regions in Lebanon
LBCI/September 28, 2023
Electricité du Liban (EDL) has significantly changed its power supply strategy to encourage compliance with electricity bills. This shift comes as EDL has been struggling with widespread non-payment issues, threatening the country's already fragile power infrastructure. In December 2022, EDL initiated a plan to address the increasing challenges in the power sector. Out of approximately 800 distribution points, the company has identified around 70 currently compliant with bill payments. Based on this assessment, EDL has decided to extend power supply hours by an additional two hours per day starting from October 1, specifically in areas where non-compliance rates are below 10 percent. Some of the Beirut neighborhoods set to benefit from this increase in power supply include Ashrafieh, Hikmeh, Rmeil, Medawar, Gemmayzeh, Bachoura, Karantina, Al-Naher, Manara, Ras Beirut, and Commodore. LBCI's sources confirm that the campaign to remove illegal power connections continues. As evidence of their commitment, EDL sent a formal request to the Interior and Municipalities Minister, Bassam Mawlawi, seeking additional security support in Beirut's southern and northern suburbs, as well as in the regions of the north of Lebanon and Akkar, to facilitate the ongoing campaign against illegal power connections. The equation that connects bill payments with access to electricity is beginning to show positive results beyond the campaign against illegal connections. Tax collection rates have reached record levels. For example, in the areas extending from Antelias to Akkar, the November and December 2022 tax collection rate reached 94 percent. Conversely, areas primarily served by the Litani Authority, such as Jezzine, Western Bekaa, and parts of the Chouf region, recorded the lowest tax collection rates at just 40 percent. In conclusion, the message is clear: pay your electricity bills, and you will receive an uninterrupted power supply. Those who fail to comply will face not only fines but also additional charges based on estimated kilowatt-hour consumption. The board of directors of EDL, following a recommendation from the State Council, has approved a fine of $100 for monophasic users and $300 for triphasic users, in addition to the incurred kilowatt-hour charges, all based on an estimated tariff schedule set by EDL.

Amin Maalouf becomes new 'perpetual secretary' of Academie Francaise
Agence France Presse/September 28, 2023
"The Immortals" have spoken: the 388-year-old Academie Francaise, custodian and promoter of the French language, has a new leader in the form of author Amin Maalouf. The French-Lebanese writer, 74, becomes only the 33rd person to occupy the post of "perpetual secretary" since the body's founding under King Louis XIII in 1635. He takes over from Helene Carrere d'Encausse, who died last month having held the post since 1999. She did not designate a clear successor but Maalouf, who won France's most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, in 1993 for "The Rock of Tanios", was considered the obvious choice due to his highly active engagement in the institution since being elected in 2011. There was one other candidate, his close friend Jean-Christophe Rufin, though he only threw his hat in the ring at the last minute, fearing there was not enough of a democratic process, joking to one magazine this weekend that it was "like North Korea". The academy is charged with setting the rules of the language to ensure it remains "pure, eloquent and capable of dealing with the arts and sciences."Lately, it most often gains notice as the bulwark against the entry of English words into French usage. Last year it railed against the common practice of using English-sounding terms in French ads and branding -- such as train operator SNCF's low-cost "Ouigo" (pronounced "we go") service -- or simple imports from English like "big data" and "drive-in". It became more assertive under Carrere d'Encausse, even threatening legal action against the government for including English translations on national identity cards. There are currently 35 members of the Academy -- known as "Immortals" in reference to their motto "A l'immortalite" ("To immortality"). Past members include such luminaries as Montesquieu, Voltaire and Victor Hugo. One of Maalouf's priorities will be to complete its ninth dictionary, which the academy has been working on since 1986, and is reportedly close to completion. After centuries of opposition, it agreed in 2019 to allow feminine versions of certain professions, including railway worker, member of parliament and doctor. The first female member of the Academie, Marguerite Yourcenar, was only admitted in 1980 and there are currently six. Novelist and essayist Maalouf started his career as a journalist, working as a foreign correspondent. As well as "The Rock of Tanios", his novels include "Leo Africanus" and "Samarkand". Among his best known non-fiction is "The Crusades Through Arab Eyes".

Lebanese beauty queens in Riyadh speak about unique nature of Arab beauty
Arab News/September 28, 2023
RIYADH: Lebanese beauty queens Maya Aboul Hosn and Yasmina Zaytoun made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as guests at the “Arabian Roots and Routes” event hosted by the Lebanese Embassy in Riyadh. Aboul Hosn shared with Arab News her first impressions while visiting Riyadh, this year’s host for World Tourism Day, for the first time. She said: “I love this place. The thing I most love here are the people. They’re very welcoming and very helpful.”Zaytoun returned only months after she attended the Forbes Middle East Women’s Summit in May, chaired by Princess Noura bint Faisal Al-Saud. Zaytoun said: “In the past year I’ve visited so many cities and I fell in love with so many places, but it’s rare to find a city where there is a view of the future and culture at the same time. “And Riyadh has the culture, the history, the future all at the same time.”
The women were spotted during Tuesday’s event, and Lebanese pride was in their eyes as they heard diplomats and ministers give speeches that focused on Lebanon’s natural, cultural, and historical treasures. Zaytoun and Aboul Hosn became symbols of Lebanese beauty in the 2022 Miss Lebanon beauty pageant — the first to take place since 2018. The crown of Miss Lebanon 2022 was given to Zaytoun with Aboul Hosn the first runner-up. Aboul Hosn will represent Lebanon at Miss Universe in El Salvador in November, competing with over 130 countries for the prestigious pageant title.
Zaytoun took part in the 2022 edition of Miss Universe and will go on to compete in India, this time at Miss World, in December. “Arab beauty, I can say, (is) fierce, strong and very ambitious,” Aboul Hosn said. Zaytoun added: “What I would do is raise my voice more and more to show them who we really are, how strong we are, how ambitious we are. “Because Arab women are the mix of everything: of being strong, being independent, being beautiful, being smart. And I really want to show this to the world.”
In the world of beauty pageants, Miss Universe and Miss World are the most iconic.
Aboul Hosn said: “I would advise them (models) to dream big. Embrace your uniqueness. And the most important thing is to break barriers and to create a world where there’s equality and everyone can achieve their dreams. “I need to tell all the women in the world or the teenagers in the world that they are beautiful just the way they are. “Just the way you look, with your imperfections in your face, in your body. Just love yourself just the way you are. And don’t let anyone change you.” The beauty queens are from small towns and the odds were stacked against them rising to the top of their profession. Aboul Hosn, 25, hails from the small village of Btekhnay in Mount Lebanon while Zaytoun, 21, comes from Kfarchouba in the southern region of the country. Zaytoun is currently studying journalism while Aboul Hosn is a host of LBCI’s daily show “Morning Talk.”Optimism in creating a bright future is synonymous with being Lebanese, the women said. “Lebanon is a place where people are struggling, but they still find hope. They are fighting, but they’re still smiling and being happy,” said Zaytoun. “The word resilience is the definition of being Lebanese.”Aboul Hosn said: “Since I was a child I’ve had a very supportive family who always helped me to reach my goals, reach my dreams, and never prevented me from achieving my dreams.”From Beirut to Riyadh, Aboul Hosn and Zaytoun are joining hands with Saudi women to showcase to the world a new Middle East — a region bursting with ambition, inspiration, and creativity.

Gradually And Then Suddenly: Artsakh's Lessons For Potential Victims And Victimizers
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez/MEMRI/September 28, 2023
South Caucasus | MEMRI Daily Brief No. 527
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/122659/122659/
It would be easy to say that Azerbaijan's corrupt, blustering dictator Ilham Aliyev has outsmarted and outplayed the Biden Administration and the leadership of the European Union. But that is not the whole truth. The truth is that they wanted to be played when it came to the inconvenient existence of the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh. It is a problem they wished would go away. An ancient Christian people living for centuries in their mountainous homeland, they were placed within the borders of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic by then Soviet Commissar for Nationalities Joseph Stalin in 1923.[1] Once the Soviet Union cracked up, those borders were largely treated as sacrosanct by the international community. As of late September 2023, it seems that the survival of the Armenians of Artsakh (as they called their homeland) has been extinguished by the Aliyev regime after nine months of increasing hunger and suffering followed by a short but bloody invasion.
But beyond the very real ethnic cleansing of Karabakh's Armenians, under the very noses of the US, EU and UN, what are the implications going ahead beyond the confines of that immediate conflict?
It seems clear that going ahead, in many cases, territorial lines on a map will matter more than the fate of the people, often vulnerable ethnic or religious minorities, within those borders. In many situations, we will see a return to the old reality where territorial sovereignty matters most and where the rhetoric of human rights and responsibility to protect will remain just that – rhetoric, posturing, and nothing more. As Michael Rubin noted recently, China can make the case now that Taiwan is just as much theirs as Karabakh is an integral part of Azerbaijan.[2]
Of course, there does seem to be places where borders don't matter. Karabakh Armenians or Uyghurs or Rohingya are to be crushed by the regimes that control those populations within their borders. The great exception to this new rise of sovereignty is the West itself – the borders of the United States of America and the European Union, those borders seem quite permeable, unlike the eleven kilometers that separated the starving besieged Armenians of Artsakh from Armenia proper through the Lachin Corridor for almost a year. You can get to Lampedusa by the tens of thousands with impunity but you couldn't get wheat flour to Stepanakert.
The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, a tiny area the size of the US state of Rhode Island, was watched closely elsewhere, far beyond the Caucasus, as a model and a template on how to carry out ethnic cleansing and get away with it. It helped to have Azerbaijan's cash to bribe foreigners, of course, but even more significant was the combination of racist rhetoric used to mobilize your own population, economic blockade of the adversary, and in the end rapid military action carried out while seemingly "discussing peace" with your adversaries and with the gullible West. We see some inkling or echo of this in efforts by the Republic of Kosovo to somehow try to rid itself of its unruly Serbian Christian minority, efforts that are likely to accelerate now.[3]
But also watching very closely the situation in the Caucasus – the combination of effective Turkish/Azeri duplicity and blatant American/European ineptness – were populations in the Middle East. As one Lebanese observer noted, what happened to Karabakh's Armenians is likely to happen to Mount Lebanon in a decade or two. He meant that region's Christian and Druze population, vulnerable to a slow motion and then sudden ethnic cleansing by an increasingly assertive and heavily armed Shia Muslim population – led by Hezbollah and Amal – and abetted by Assad's Syria. This is ethnic policy modeled after that famous Hemingway quote from "The Sun Also Rises": "How did you go bankrupt?" "Two ways." "Gradually and then suddenly." "Diversity" is a ubiquitous Western buzzword. In the East, it is something to be eliminated.
While Lebanon has mixed populations in many areas, there still remain relatively homogenous ethnic pockets of Christians, toward the North, and Druze, toward the South, in what once was the old Mutasarrifate of Mount Lebanon.[4] For Hezbollah, both are problems. The Druze block the contiguous flow of a Shia majority zone stretching from Beirut's Dahiye to the South. Lebanon's Christians cannot be fully crushed as long as they maintain a tenuous hold on a compact Christian heartland, as tiny as it is. There is always the fear, unlikely as that seems, that they might once again find a foreign patron to take up their cause, as both France and Israel did at different times in the past, to the detriment of Hezbollah/Iranian hegemony in the region. And the possibility that a tiny, but free, Lebanese Christian zone would flourish next door to totalitarian Syria and "Hezbollahistan" is something to be avoided at all costs.
If the crushing of Karabakh's Armenians is an object lesson for Lebanon's Christians and Druze, the same is true of the Kurds of Syria and Iraq currently living in relatively autonomous regions. Both are highly susceptible to machinations against them directed from Damascus and Baghdad, and ironically, such moves would likely be with the acquiescence of Turkey, which, of course, has been a key supporter of Azerbaijan in its anti-Armenian campaigns. Turkey already ethnically cleansed the Syrian Kurdish region of Afrin, beginning in 2018, with Western indifference.[5] Turkey would love to control a Kurdish-free border zone along the entirety of its frontier with Syria but would likely settle for a future where it holds on to its current gains while Assad pushes out the American-supported Kurds who rule in the so-called Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). If the West was indifferent in 2018 when Afrin was taken, it is likely to be more so in the near future given the obsession with power politics against Russia and China. This is particularly true if the Biden Administration is successful in securing some sort of new understanding with the regime in Iran.
The hard lesson for Lebanon's Christians and Druze, and for the Kurds, is to plan now for the even more difficult eventuality ahead. This means building foreign ties as much as possible, while at the same time recognizing that these foreign ties may amount to nothing at the time of crisis and that you will be left, as Karabakh's Armenians were in the end, with only your own economic and security resources to try to survive and endure. This is a terrifying possibility but one that cannot be ignored.
*Alberto M. Fernandez is Vice President of MEMRI.
[1] Rferl.org/a/30893222.html, October 14, 2020.
[2] Aei.org/op-eds/did-biden-just-greenlight-world-war-iii, September 25, 2023.
[3] B92.net/eng/news/politics.php?nav_id=116617, September 15, 2023.
[4] Washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/preserving-unity-lebanon-federating-its-political-system, April 20, 2023.
[5] Nybooks.com/online/2018/04/11/how-turkeys-campaign-in-afrin-is-stoking-syrian-hatreds, April 11, 2018.
https://www.memri.org/reports/gradually-and-then-suddenly-artsakhs-lessons-potential-victims-and-victimizers

Will Qatar mediation end Lebanon political deadlock?
Middleeastmonitor/September 28, 2023
Lebanon has been unable to elect a new president since President Michel Aoun left office in October 2022, Anadolu News Agency reports. France has sought to mediate between Lebanese political forces, sending its envoy, Jean Yves Le Drian, twice to the country in a bid to end the deadlock. The efforts, however, did not yield any results. As the political vacuum persisted, Qatar stepped in to help strike a deal between Lebanon’s political groups. Qatari envoy, Jassim bin Fahad Al-Thani, arrived in Lebanon last week in an effort to strike an understanding between the country’s political rivals for electing a new president. According to the local Al-Jadeed TV channel, Qatari Minister of State, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, will visit Lebanon in October to pursue efforts to end the Lebanese political impasse. Lebanon’s Parliament had held 12 sessions to elect a new president, but political rivals failed to agree on a candidate. Two main candidates are vying for the post: Jihad Azour, who is backed by Christian groups, and Suleiman Frangieh, who is supported by Hezbollah group and its allied Amal movement. Lebanon has also been without a fully functioning government since May 2022, with Prime Minister Najib Mikati and his Cabinet having limited powers in their current caretaker status. Since 2019, the country has been facing a crippling economic crisis that, according to the World Bank, is one of the worst the world has seen in modern times.
French failure
Riad Kahwaji, a Middle East defence and security analyst, said Lebanese opposition groups considered France “too tolerant” towards Hezbollah. “They only saw France trying to persuade the opposition to back Hezbollah candidate, Suleiman Franjieh,” he told Anadolu. The French envoy “also failed to convince the opposition to support Parliament Speaker, Nabih Berri’s initiative for dialogue to agree on a consensual candidate,” he added. George Al-Aqouri, a political analyst, said the French mediation was “originally flawed”. “The French initiative was based on bargaining by proposing Frangieh, who is close to Hezbollah, for president and Nawaf Salam, who is close to Saudi Arabia, for premiership,” he said. “This was a wrong approach to deal with the presidential vacuum in Lebanon by France,” he added. Aqouri said he believes the French initiative “has become clinically dead”.“The French, however, did not announce the death of their initiative yet, in an effort to save the face of French diplomacy,” he added.
Qatari initiative
Kahwaji believes that Qatar is dealing with Lebanon’s political deadlock with a “new approach”.“The Qataris aim to put forward three independent candidates for the presidency,” he said. “These candidates are acceptable to all parties.”Kahwaji said that Qatar is trying to convince all Lebanese parties to hold a new parliament session to elect one of the candidates for president. The Qataris have good relations with all parties inside Lebanon. They also have good relations with Iran, which can influence Hezbollah he added.Qataris “have a history of successful initiatives in Lebanon, such as the Doha Agreement in 2008, which ended an internal conflict that prevented the holding of presidential elections at that time,” he added. The Doha Agreement in May 2008 marked the end of a political crisis between the loyalists, backed by the Gulf States and the West, and the opposition, supported by Iran and the Syrian regime, that lasted 18 months, and almost destroyed Lebanese civil peace. “The Qatari mediation is not replacing the French initiative,” Aqouri said, adding that Doha has activated its efforts to mediate between Lebanese groups after the failure of the French mediation.
Arif Al-Abd, a political analyst, said he believes the Qatari mediation “will benefit from the mistakes of the French initiative.” “The French initiative adopted one of the candidates backed by Iran and the Syrian regime, which triggered opposition from many groups,” Al-Abd said. “This is a mistake that Qatar will not commit,” he added. Al-Abd said he thinks that the Qatari initiative “will be a new starting point for most parties to get out of the impasse, despite the difficult conditions and differences in Lebanon.”

In First-Ever Iranian Acknowledgment Of Iran's Role In 1980s Lebanon Bombings, Issa Tabatabai, Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei's Representative In Lebanon, States: 'I Received From Imam Khomeini The Fatwa [Ordering] Martyrdom Operations Against The Americans'; 'I Provided What Was Needed In Order To [Carry Out] Martyrdom Operations In The Place Where The Americans And Israelis Were'
MEMRI/September 28, 2023
https://eliasbejjaninews.com/archives/122651/122651/
Iran | Special Dispatch No. 10817
The Iranian news agency IRNA recently published a five-part interview with Issa Tabatabai, the representative of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in Lebanon. Tabatai had previously served as the representative in Lebanon of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic Republic.
In Part Four of the interview, which was published September 13, 2023, Tabatabai described his contribution to the establishment of Hizbullah as a military organization, and recounts that at his home, which at the time served as military headquarters, dozens of men had signed a declaration of their willingness to carry out martyrdom operations. He also discussed his role in the Iranian resistance and in launching suicide operations against American forces and representatives and Israeli forces in Lebanon.
After acknowledging that he had received, directly from Khomeini, the fatwa ordering suicide operations to be carried out against the Americans and Israelis in Lebanon, he went on to talk about Hizbullah's military activity against Israel in Lebanon and its cooperation with the Palestinian organizations. He spoke of his personal efforts to set up a hospital there, on the orders of Khomeini, who had also called for building a Hussainiya (Shi'ite religious study and community center), Islamic centers, and mosques to spread Iran's resistance ideology.
Tabatai also told of the utter confidence placed in him by both Khomeini and his successor Khamenei, and underlined that he is Khamenei's trusted representative in Lebanon in all things having to do with finance and the spread of the Shi'a.
It is noteworthy that the part of the interview in which Tabatabai acknowledged receiving Khomeini's fatwa ordering attacks on American and Israeli targets in Lebanon was removed by IRNA from its website shortly after publication. This is apparently because no official representative of Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Republic, or of Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, had ever said that Iran had any involvement in ordering, planning and carrying out the massive bombings in Lebanon against, inter alia, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in April 1983 in which 63 people, including 17 Americans, were killed, and the barracks of American and French members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon in October 1983, in which 242 U.S. Marines and 589 French troops were killed.
Iran has always vehemently denied any role in the bombings. It submitted no defense in response to the 2001 U.S. lawsuits filed against it by families of the hundreds of Americans killed or wounded in the barracks bombings. In 2007, the court found Iran legally responsible for providing Hizbullah with financial and logistical support that helped it carry out the bombings, and ordered it to pay over $2.5 billion in damages.
The passage that was removed from the IRNA website.
The following is a translation of the part of Tabatai's interview that was removed by IRNA from its website shortly after it was published, under the headline "I Received From Imam Khomeini The Fatwa [Ordering] Martyrdom Operations Against The Americans":[1]
From Ayatollah Khomeini, "I Received Instructions To Fight Against Israel And Even The Fatwa [Ordering] To Carry Out Martyrdom Operations, And He Confirmed This Three Times..."
"...With the victory of the Islamic Revolution [in Iran], Hizbullah was established [in the summer of 1982]. For two years, [Hizbullah's] military base was located in my home. 'The group' [supporters of the Islamic Revolution] signed a contract declaring their willingness to become martyrs. Perhaps more than 70 [of them] signed this contract in my home. This 'group' was given facilities, and then the [1982] war with Israel broke out in South [Lebanon]... When Israel occupied South Lebanon, we had to launch a movement, and the military movement started in my home. [At the time] we were not thinking of establishing Hizbullah – we were just adhering to the [Iranian] 'resistance.'
"We received many facilities from the Palestinians. The military courses we had with the Palestinians prompted us to launch the struggle, and from the Imam [Khomeini], I received approval for the struggle against Israel and even the fatwa [ordering] to carry out martyrdom operations [ishtihad in the original], and he confirmed this three times...
"I Quickly Went To Lebanon And Provided What Was Needed In Order To [Carry Out] Martyrdom Operations In The Place Where The Americans And Israelis Were"
"I quickly went to Lebanon and provided what was needed in order to [carry out] martyrdom operations in the place where the Americans and Israelis were.
"The efforts to establish [Hizbullah] started in [Lebanon's] Baalbek area, where members of [Iran's] Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps [IRGC] arrived. I had no part in establishing the [political] party [Hizbullah], but God made it possible for me to continue the military activity with the group that had cooperated with us prior to the [Islamic] Revolution's victory..."[2]
https://www.memri.org/reports/first-ever-iranian-acknowledgment-irans-role-1980s-lebanon-bombings-issa-tabatabai-iranian

Global leaders, hold Iran accountable for deadly attack on Argentina’s Jewish community | Opinion
Ted Deutch and Amos Linetsky/Miami Herald/September 28, 2023
This month, leaders from across the world gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, coming together to strengthen diplomatic ties, address common goals, differences and, ultimately, work toward shared values. And yet, they also gave the stage to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi without any plan for holding him, his country and its terror proxy — Hezbollah — accountable for their decades of global terrorism. We offered that stage to the Iranian leader just weeks before the U.N. Security Council ban on Iran’s ballistic missiles is set to expire in the face of neglect and inaction by the United Nations and the world. Just a few days ahead of the Jewish New Year, Israel’s Mossad Director David Barnea shared that the agency and its international partners have thwarted 27 planned Iranian attacks on Jews and Israelis abroad this year alone. According to the U.S. State Department, the Iranian regime has sanctioned and carried out assassinations, terror plots and attacks in 40 countries since coming to power in 1979. This includes the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Argentine Mutual Israel Association (AMIA), which killed 85 people and injured 300 others when a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the six-story building at 633 Pasteur St. in Buenos Aires. It was the deadliest antisemitic attack outside Israel since the Holocaust. Three decades later, amid a worldwide surge in antisemitism, those responsible for this wanton act of terror continue to walk free.
The official Argentine investigation, led by the late prosecutor Alberto Nisman, concluded in 2007 that Iran masterminded the attack, which was carried out by Hezbollah. Interpol issued “red notices” for five suspects, putting the responsibility on member states to arrest the suspected terrorists in their countries when they can. Yet, some of those named by Interpol have been allowed to serve as Iranian ministers and freely travel the globe without any consequence. In June, as part of proceedings to address the local connection to the 1994 attack, Argentine Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issued an international arrest warrant for four Lebanese citizens currently in Paraguay under suspicion of having “cooperated and/or facilitated” the organizers in the months before the bombing. And yet, the only people who have been brought to justice are the individual who provided the van used in the attack and some low-level security officials who conspired to cover it up. How can we, as a global community, claim to stand against terror and for justice if we allow this inaction? Justice delayed is justice denied. The attack against AMIA struck not only a building, but the heart and soul of Argentina and its Jewish community — the sixth largest in the world and the largest in Latin America.
This was a blatant attack on our shared values of peace, inclusion and coexistence. In defending these values, we must come together as a global community to bring these murderers and their benefactors to justice. The United States, since 1997, has recognized Hezbollah as a terror organization. Four years ago, Argentina rightly and courageously conferred this designation as well. The designation was reinforced in 2020, and investigations into Hezbollah’s operations in the Tri-Border Area, shared by Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, are ongoing. American Jewish Committee met with more than 60 top international officials attending the U.N. General Assembly to discuss issues of mutual concern, the Jewish community and Israel as part of our annual Diplomatic Marathon. As we discussed the importance of recognizing the dangers of antisemitism and all forms of hate, violence and bigotry, we also demanded a commitment to the pursuit of justice. We must work together to ensure the voices of the AMIA victims and their families are heard and that their memories are not forgotten. As the global advocacy organization of the Jewish people, American Jewish Committee was on the ground just two days after the bombing in 1994, standing with the Jewish community then as we do today. We are united in our unrelenting fight for justice. We continue to demand that the global community stop ignoring Interpol’s red notices and arrest those responsible for cruelly cutting short 85 lives and to do what’s necessary to prevent future attacks.
But we cannot do this alone. Global leaders must go beyond pledging to stand defiant in the face of hatred and darkness. We must demand real accountability for those who would do us harm and who support and harbor terrorists. We cannot brush aside Iran’s decades old history of terrorism that continues to this day. We must not continue to allow the regime and its Hezbollah proxies to pursue their campaign of violence and terror without consequence. Meetings of the U.N. General Assembly should be neither cocktail parties nor theoretical intellectual debates. The international community needs to act. Extend the ban on ballistic missiles as Iran aids Russia in its illegal war. Stand with protesters fighting for human rights. Prevent Iranian nukes. And arrest the suspects in the AMIA bombing.
**Ted Deutch is CEO of American Jewish Committee. Amos Linetsky is president of AMIA.

Latest English LCCC Miscellaneous Reports And News published on September 28-29/2023
Nagorno-Karabakh to dissolve, ending independence dream
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh announced Thursday that it will dissolve itself and the unrecognized republic will cease to exist by the end of the year, and Armenian officials said more than half of the population has already fled. That is after Azerbaijan carried out a lightning offensive to reclaim full control over its breakaway region and demanded that Armenian troops in Nagorno-Karabakh lay down their weapons and the separatist government dissolve itself. A decree to that effect was signed by the region's separatist President Samvel Shakhramanyan. The document cited an agreement reached last week to end the fighting under which Azerbaijan will allow the "free, voluntary and unhindered movement" of Nagorno-Karabakh residents and disarm troops in Armenia in exchange. Nagorno-Karabakh is a region of Azerbaijan that came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces, backed by the Armenian military, in separatist fighting that ended in 1994. During a six-week war in 2020, Azerbaijan took back parts of the region along with surrounding territory that Armenian forces had claimed during the earlier conflict. Following the latest offensive and a cease-fire agreement brokered by Russian peacekeepers, Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh separatist authorities have begun talks on "reintegrating" the region back into Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani authorities have pledged to respect the rights of ethnic Armenians in the region and restore supplies after a 10-month blockade. Many local residents, however, fear reprisals and have decided to leave for Armenia. By Thursday morning, more than half of Nagorno-Karabakh's population — over 65,000 people — had fled to Armenia, according to Armenian officials. The massive exodus began on Sunday evening, and the only road linking Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia quickly filled up with cars that created an hourslong traffic jam. On Monday night, a fuel reservoir exploded at a gas station where people seeking to leave were lining up for gas that due to the blockade had been in short supply. At least 68 people were killed and nearly 300 injured, with over 100 more still considered missing. It isn't immediately clear if any of the ethnic Armenians that have populated the region will remain there. Shakhramayan's decree on Thursday urged Nagorno-Karabakh's population — including those who left — "to familiarize themselves with the conditions of reintegration offered by the Republic of Azerbaijan, in order to then make an individual decision about the possibility of staying in (or returning to) Nagorno-Karabakh."On Thursday, Azerbaijani authorities charged Ruben Vardanyan, the former head of Nagorno-Karabakh's separatist government who was arrested a day earlier, with financing terrorism, creating illegal armed formations and illegally crossing a state border. Azerbaijani officials said Vardanyan, a billionaire who made his fortune in Russia, was detained as he was trying to cross into Armenia from the breakaway region along with thousands of others. He was escorted to Azerbaijan's capital, Baku. His arrest appeared to indicate Azerbaijan's intention to quickly enforce its grip on the region. Vardanyan moved to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and served as the head the regional government for several months before stepping down earlier this year.

Turkey’s Fidan holds call with Armenia’s FM amid exodus from Nagorno-Karabakh
Ezgi Akin/Al-Monitor/September 28, 2023
ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan held a phone conversation on Wednesday amid a massive Armenian exodus from the Nagorno-Karabakh region following Azerbaijan’s offensive. The two foreign ministers discussed current regional developments, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu News Agency reported, citing Turkish Foreign Ministry sources. No further details were shared about the call, the report added. The conversation marks the first known high-level contact between Ankara and Yerevan since the Azerbaijani offensive against the Armenia-linked separatists in the Nagorno-Karabakh region last Tuesday. While Western powers and Russia denounced the offensive, Turkey expressed its full support behind Baku. Earlier this week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev in the Azeri exclave Nakhchivan bordering Turkey. The phone call comes amid a massive Armenian refugee exodus from the Nagorno-Karabakh region to neighboring Armenia. As of Wednesday, the number of ethnic Armenians who fled the region — which is home to nearly 150,000 — exceeded 50,000, said the Armenian prime minister’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasaryan. The 24-hour-long Azerbaijani offensive, which resulted in Armenian separatists in the region surrendering their weapons, killed at least 392 people from both sides. Azerbaijan’s Health Ministry said Wednesday that 192 Azerbaijani soldiers and one civilian died during its self-proclaimed “counterterror operation.” The Nagorno-Karabakh’s human rights commissioner office, which is linked to the Armenian separatists in the region, last week said the death toll on their side was at least 200, including 10 civilians. Commissioner Gegham Stepanyan said they also received over 600 calls from people who are searching for their loved ones. The hostilities also exacerbated the already dire humanitarian situation on the ground, as main supply routes to Armenian-populated areas had been largely cut off prior to the offensive. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday stressed the need to provide unhindered humanitarian access during a phone call with Aliyev, urging him to allow an international observer mission into Nagorno-Karabakh. “He called on President Aliyev to provide assurances to the residents of Nagorno-Karabakh that they can live securely in their homes and that their rights will be protected,” a State Department readout said. Wednesday’s conversation marked the second contact between Mirzoyan and Fidan, after the latter’s takeover of the post in June. Ankara and Yerevan have been engaged in normalization talks since 2021 in a bid to establish diplomatic ties and open the land border between the two countries. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan was among the foreign leaders who attended Erdogan’s inauguration in June. Pashinyan’s calculus in the normalization talks is believed to be partly relying on hopes that Ankara would use its influence on Baku to rein in the Turkish-backed Azeri military's advances in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Turkey sealed off its border with Armenia in 1993 in solidarity with Azerbaijan after the Armenian invasion of Nagorno-Karabakh regions. The predominantly Armenian-majority region is internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan.

Israel says it foiled Iranian plot to target, spy on senior Israeli politicians
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
Israel has arrested five Palestinians in a plot allegedly hatched in Iran to target and spy on senior Israeli politicians, including Israel's far-right national security minister, the country's internal security agency said. The Shin Bet security service alleged that an Iranian security official living in neighboring Jordan had recruited three Palestinian men in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and another two Palestinian citizens of Israel to gather intelligence about several high-profile Israeli politicians. The targets included National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir — a firebrand Israeli settler leader who oversees the country's police force in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ultranationalist government — as well as Yehuda Glick, an American-born far-right Israeli activist and former member of parliament. The plan was foiled by Israeli intelligence officials, the Shin Bet said, without offering evidence. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. Ben-Gvir, who draws inspiration from a racist rabbi, has provoked outrage across the wider Middle East for his particularly hard-line policies against the Palestinians, anti-Arab rhetoric and stunts and frequent public visits to the holiest and most contested site in the Holy Land. The hilltop compound in Jerusalem, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is at the emotional center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Glick is a leader in a campaign that pushes for increased Jewish access and prayer rights at the sacred Jerusalem compound, the holiest site in Judaism home to ancient biblical Temples. Today, the compound houses the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third-holiest site in Islam. Since Israel captured the site in 1967, Jews have been allowed to visit but not pray there. Glick survived a 2014 Palestinian assassination attempt.
The Shin Bet did not elaborate on the identity of the Iranian official in Jordan who allegedly orchestrated the plot. He is not in custody and apparently remains at large. But the Shin Bet accused three Palestinian men in the West Bank — identified as 47-year old Murad Kamamaja, 34-year-old Hassan Mujarimah and 45-year-old Ziad Shanti — of gathering intelligence and smuggling weapons into Israel. The security service also said that it charged two Palestinian citizens of Israel over their involvement in the plot. It did not specify how the men planned to target Ben-Gvir and the other politicians.
Ben-Gvir claimed that the Palestinian suspects had conspired to "assassinate a minister in Israel," without clarifying whether he meant himself or another minister. He thanked Israeli security forces for uncovering and capturing what he called the "terrorist squad."
Ben-Gvir, who has pushed for harsher treatment for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, also vowed to double down on his hard-line policies in response to the revelations. "I will continue to act fearlessly and even more vigorously for a fundamental change in the conditions of the terrorists' imprisonment," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. Israel has considered Iran to be its greatest enemy since it became a Shiite theocracy during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran is a main patron of Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group, which Israel considers the most potent military threat on its borders, and also backs Palestinian Islamist militant groups in the Gaza Strip.

Five Israelis, Palestinians charged in Iran spy plot, Shin Bet says
Rina Bassist/Al-Monitor/September 28, 2023
Two Israelis and three Palestinians were charged Thursday for their involvement in a "terror cell" operated by a person living in Jordan and working under Iranian instructions, Israel's security agency, Shin Bet, said. Among other things, the five individuals are suspected of trying to gather intelligence on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, receiving instructions to assassinate former Knesset member Yehuda Glick and smuggling weapons, Israeli authorities said. Ben-Gvir heads the far-right Jewish Power party and has provoked condemnation by the Arab world for visiting the Temple Mount while a minister. Glick, who represented Likud in the Knesset, became well known for advocating for Jews to have the right to ascend the Temple Mount. He has been repeatedly arrested for violating the regulation prohibiting Jews from praying aloud at the site.
The Haifa district attorney’s office filed charges against the two Israeli nationals: 23-year-old Hamad Hammadi from Nazareth and 18-year-old Yosef Hamad from the village of Muqeible. Hammadi was indicted for contact with a foreign agent, arson and assisting an illegal resident (a term usually used to designate Palestinians entering Israel without a permit). Hamad was indicted for arson. The three Palestinians — 47-year-old Murad Kamamaja from the West Bank village of Kefar Daan, 34-year-old Hassan Mujarimah from the West Bank city of Jenin and 45-year-old Ziad Shanti also from Jenin — were charged in a military court. The Shin Bet said they were indicted for "serious security offenses."The Shin Bet said that Hammadi had coordinated with Shanti to help smuggle Palestinians into Israel, and that last March he indeed arrived in his car near the border with Jordan, where he collected five people whom he drove into Israeli territory. He was paid for this operation. The Shin Bet also said that Kamamaja and Mujarimah met last May with an Iranian operative based in Jordan who asked them to smuggle weapons from Jordan into the West Bank and Israel. He also asked them to vandalize and burn cars, gas stations and businesses in Israel, and to take pictures of Israeli politicians and police officers.Following that encounter, Kamamaja and Mujarimah contacted Shanti, who in turn enlisted Hammadi. The latter was promised thousands of shekels for each car torched. He was also told that Iran was behind the plan. Together with Hamad, Hammadi torched four cars in the city of Haifa. The Shin Bet believes the operation was a test of sorts to show the Iranian operatives that Hammadi was able to deliver. It is possible that Hamad did not know about the Iranian connection. The Shin Bet claims that Iran is attempting to enlist Israeli citizens, especially those with criminal records, to commit terrorist activities, mostly via existing criminal groups and in exchange for money.
US sanctions on Iran
Separately, the United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on a network it said was helping to purchase sensitive components for Iran's drone program. A statement issued by the US Treasury Department said five entities and two individuals based in Iran, China, Hong Kong, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates "involved in the procurement of sensitive parts for Iran’s one-way attack unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program" were sanctioned. The statement said that the network had facilitated shipments and financial transactions in support of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' procurement of servomotors, a critical component in Iran’s Shahed-series UAVs. "Iran has been supplying Russia with Shahed-136 UAVs to support Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine," the statement added.

Iranian forces directs lasers at an American helicopter in the Gulf
AFP/September 28, 2023
The United States Navy reported on Thursday that the Iranian Navy directed "laser beams" at an American helicopter flying in international airspace over the Gulf. The US Navy revealed that the helicopter, an AH-1Z Viper, belonged to a unit of the amphibious assault ship "USS Bataan," which was deployed months ago as part of American military reinforcements aimed at deterring Iranian "harassment" and particularly attempts to seize ships and oil tankers. Rick Chernitzer, the spokesperson for US Central Command Naval Forces, stated that Iranian ships "repeatedly aimed lasers at the aircraft while it was flying" on Wednesday. In a statement, he regarded this as "unprofessional and dangerous behavior by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy, threatening the lives of US and allied naval personnel and must stop immediately." The United States had announced in early August the arrival of over three thousand sailors to the Middle East as part of a plan to enhance military presence in the region, with the goal of deterring Iran from seizing ships and tankers. This military buildup increased American military presence in vital and strategic waterways for oil trade, which provoked Tehran's anger. Iran accused Washington of causing "instability" in the region. Chernitzer reiterated on Thursday that "US Navy forces will remain vigilant and continue to fly, sail, and operate anywhere international law allows while enhancing regional maritime security." The US military says that Iran has detained or attempted to seize nearly 20 ships in the region over the past two years. Similar incidents have occurred in the Gulf region since 2018 when former US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue and reimposed harsh sanctions on the Islamic Republic, which Washington claims Iran has successfully evaded.

US accuses Iran’s IRGC of harassing helicopter over the Gulf
Al-Monitor/September 28, 2023
Naval forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) shone a laser “multiple times” at a US Marine Corps attack helicopter in international airspace in the Gulf on Wednesday night, the US Navy said. No one was reported hurt in the interaction, but the US Navy called the IRGC’s alleged behavior “unsafe, unprofessional and irresponsible.” “These are not the actions of a professional maritime force,” spokesperson for US Navy’s 5th Fleet Cdr. Rick Chernitzer said in a press release. “US naval forces will remain vigilant and will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows while promoting regional maritime security.” Why it matters: The incident is the first to be reported publicly by the US Navy in several weeks amid a fragile lull in tensions between the United States and Iran across the region.  The US attack helicopter, an AH-1Z Viper, is assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, which arrived in Bahrain last month aboard the USS Bataan amid a wider buildup of US military forces in the Persian Gulf in response to a series of attempts by Iran to seize commercial tankers. Iran’s attempts to seize the tankers followed moves by the US Justice Department to confiscate Iranian fuel cargo onboard a Marshall Islands-flagged ship, the Suez Rajan, which was bound for China in violation of US economic sanctions. The context: The Biden administration has been seeking a de facto cease-fire with Iran and its proxies across the Middle East in hopes of laying the groundwork for future talks on Tehran's nuclear enrichment. Iran’s government has not yet commented publicly on the alleged interaction with the US helicopter. Wednesday’s incident is unlikely to upend the informal detente between the two adversaries. But earlier this week, a lethal drone strike attributed to Yemen's Houthi rebels killed at least two Bahraini soldiers and wounded several others near Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen, raising concerns over a potential escalation. The Houthis, who receive arms and other forms of support from Iran, have been taking a victory lap after attending talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending the conflict, in which the rebels have prevailed against a Saudi-led military coalition. Know more: The Pentagon approved a deployment of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit to ward off Iran’s actions in the Gulf but has not greenlit a proposal put forth by US Central Command to place Marines on commercial ships. The Biden administration is taking a wait-and-see approach, officials say.

Top Israeli court hears challenges to law limiting grounds for PM's removal
JERUSALEM/Reuters/September 28, 2023
Israel's Supreme Court heard arguments on Thursday against a law passed by the ruling coalition limiting conditions for any removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office, in the latest showdown among branches of government to grip the nation. Political watchdog groups and an opposition party have challenged the March 23 amendment to a quasi-constitutional "Basic Law", which Netanyahu's own attorney-general described as designed to preserve his tenure amid a long-running graft trial. The law's proponents say it is meant to safeguard any democratically elected leader from a wrongful ouster. Eleven of the Supreme Court's 15 judges convened for the televised hearing, presided over by Chief Justice Esther Hayut, who retires next month. She has openly criticised a judicial overhaul sought by Netanyahu's religious-nationalist coalition. In a statement, Justice Minister Yariv Levin condemned the hearing as "a de facto discussion of rescinding the results of the election" that returned Netanyahu to power in December. The premier denies wrongdoing in three criminal cases against him. The full court bench is separately preparing a ruling on challenges to a July amendment voiding its power to overrule some cabinet-level decisions on the basis of "reasonableness". Critics say that law removed one of the last checks on the executive and a coalition-controlled parliament, in a country that has no written constitution. Netanyahu argued for redress of what he calls overreach by an unrepresentative judiciary. Next month, the court is due to hear appeals relating to the convening of a committee for appointing judges, delayed due to a dispute over a government bid to shake up its membership. A ruling on the "incapacity clause", defining terms for deeming a premier unfit to serve, was not expected on Thursday. The Supreme Court's options include upholding the legislation as is, quashing it or ruling that it must not come into effect before the next parliamentary elections. Attorney-General Gali Baharav Miara has recommended the latter.

Israel reopens the main Gaza crossing for Palestinian laborers and tensions ease
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)/Thu, September 28, 2023
Israel reopened a main crossing with the Gaza Strip on Thursday, easing tensions and allowing thousands of Palestinian laborers to enter the country for the first time since it was sealed earlier this month. The opening of the crossing was a sign of de-escalation after two weeks of violent protests along Gaza's frontier with Israel, where Palestinian demonstrators have thrown explosives and rocks and launched incendiary balloons that have sparked fires in Israeli farmland. The outbreak of protests came as the Hamas militant group that rules Gaza, cash-strapped as its financial crisis worsens, slashed the salaries of its civil servants by nearly half this month. Political analysts have described the protests at the separation fence as an attempt by Hamas to wring concessions from Israel and the militant group's financial patron, Qatar. Hamas insists that it never called for the protests, though it gave the rallies tacit consent. In response to the turmoil on the frontier, the Israeli military launched airstrikes targeting Hamas militant posts for several days in a row. After the Erez crossing reopened, protest organizers announced they would suspend the daily rallies. They vowed to resume protests if Israel did not adhere to commitments made in recent negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the Untied Nations. Hamas officials have demanded that Israel do more to stop Gaza's economic spiral, including by increasing the number of workers' permits it issues. Late on Wednesday, the Israeli defense body that deals with Palestinian civil affairs, known as COGAT, confirmed the crossing would reopen — and other economic relief measures would resume — in exchange for calm. The spokesperson for Hamas, Hazem Qassem, welcomed the move, saying the closure of the crossing had been a form of “collective punishment." “It is the right of our people in the Gaza Strip to enter and exit freely,” Qassem added. The Erez crossing is the sole pedestrian passageway out of the coastal enclave into Israel for the roughly 18,000 Palestinians from Gaza who work in Israel. The jobs are in great demand, paying up to 10 times as much as similar jobs in Gaza. Unemployment in the territory, which has been under an Israeli-Egyptian blockade since 2007, hovers at some 50%. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from arming itself. But the closure has choked off Gaza’s economy and made life increasingly difficult for the more than 2 million people who live there.
It’s not clear how long the Erez crossing would remain open. The Jewish holiday of Sukkot begins at sundown Friday and Israel typically closes crossings during holidays. Crowds of Jews are expected to visit a contested Jerusalem holy site during the weeklong holiday, raising fears that tensions with Palestinian could soon resurge. But for now, workers in Gaza who see their Israeli work permits as a lifeline expressed relief that they could return to work. The dayslong crossing closure, said Mohammad al-Kahlout, a laborer waiting to cross into Israel on Thursday, was a “nightmare.”
“It felt like someone was trying to suffocate you,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and China to hold joint naval training as ties deepen
Adam Lucente/Al-Monitor/September 28, 2023
Saudi Arabia and China will hold a joint naval drill next month, China announced on Thursday, the latest sign of the strengthening ties between the kingdom and the People’s Republic. The two countries will hold the special operations training exercise in the southern Chinese city of Zhanjiang at an unspecified date in October. The exercise will focus on “overseas maritime counter-terrorism operations,” including sniping, boat driving, helicopter landing and joint rescues, China’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement. The purpose of the training is to “deepen the pragmatic and friendly cooperation between the two militaries and improve the troops' real-combat training level,” said Chinese defense ministry spokesperson Col. Wu Qian. It will be the second time that China and Saudi Arabia have held joint naval drills. In 2019, their two navies held a drill at the King Faisal Naval Base, in Jeddah. The Saudi Ministry of Defense did not immediately comment on the announced exercise. Why it matters: Saudi Arabia and China are rapidly growing closer. Saudi Arabia was China’s top oil supplier last year, and business entities in both countries have signed numerous deals this year.
Notable developments in Saudi-Chinese economic relations in recent months include the following:
The Chinese refiner Jiangsu Eastern Shenghong Co. Ltd said on Wednesday that it had reached a preliminary deal for Saudi Aramco to obtain a minority stake in its petrochemical unit. Saudi Arabia and China’s stock exchanges signed a cooperation agreement in September. The Chinese tech giant Huawei opened a cloud data center in Riyadh, also in September. Saudi and Chinese entities signed $1.33 billion in housing deals during a forum in Beijing in August. Aramco acquired a 10% stake in China’s Rongsheng Petrochemical Co. Ltd. for $3.4 billion. The Arab-China Business Conference in Riyadh yielded more than $10 billion in deals in June. The United States has expressed concern about China’s deepening ties with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region. In March, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf told Al-Monitor that the administration will “protect” its advanced technology with regards to China’s inroads in the Middle East.
The concern is in part due to close military cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Just last week, the Biden administration approved the sale of spare parts for American tanks to the Saudis in a deal worth $500 million. The United States also continues to support the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. In a related matter, the US defense giant RTX called off a deal with the Saudi weapons firm Scopa Defense earlier this year due to concerns that the latter was pursuing business with sanctioned Chinese and Russian entities, The Wall Street Journal reported this month. Know more: China’s focus in the Middle East has shifted from major infrastructure projects to cheaper, tech-focused partnerships, Jaime Moore-Carrillo wrote in a Trend Report for Al-Monitor PRO in May.

Germany and Israel sign an agreement for Berlin to buy a US-Israeli missile defense system
BERLIN (AP)/September 28, 2023
Germany and Israel on Thursday signed an agreement for Berlin to buy the sophisticated Arrow 3 missile defense system, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. The development is the latest step in Berlin's bid to strengthen its air defenses following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Germany aims to integrate the system into wider NATO air defense efforts. Last year, Berlin launched the European Sky Shield Initiative, which now includes 19 countries. Israel secured U.S. approval in August for the $3.5 billion deal, which was needed because the system was jointly developed with the United States. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant signed a memorandum of understanding in Berlin on Thursday for the purchase of Arrow 3. “It is, without exaggerating, a historic day for both our countries,” Pistorius told reporters, describing Arrow as “one of the best systems, if not the best.”“We see from the daily Russian attacks on Ukraine how important air defense is in general,” he added. “Air defense is essential, and particularly for us here in the center of Europe.”Germany plans to start using Arrow in late 2025, with the system then being built up step by step. Gallant said that “with two simple signatures today, we made history" and that Israel is “committed to a timely and effective delivery.” “This is a moving event for every Jew,” he added, pointing to Israel's partnership with Germany decades after the Holocaust and to German contributions to Israel's security.“Only 80 years since the end of the second world war, yet Israel and Germany join hands today in building a safer future for both nations,” Gallant said.

Ukraine says 31 drones downed in 'massive' attack
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
The Ukrainian military on Thursday said that Russia had launched a "massive" drone attack overnight and that it had destroyed 31 out of the 39 aircraft. Russian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted over Black Sea coastal regions and further inland, said Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian southern military command. Russia "does not stop the pressure and searching for new tactics: namely, with the use of mass attacks", Gumenyuk said on the messaging platform Telegram. "Tonight, several groups of strike UAVs were launched... air defence worked along almost the entire southern direction -- in Odesa, Mykolaiv regions. Also, much higher north -- the enemy aimed its attacks on central Ukraine," she said, adding that Ukraine was still assessing the damage. The Ukrainian General Staff said in its daily update that the attack involved "39 attack UAVs of the Shahed-136/131 type" and that air defences had destroyed 31 of them. Since July, when Moscow pulled out of a UN-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine's grain-exporting infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. Meanwhile Sergiy Lysak, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said that Russian forces "directed almost 20 shells" at the Nikopol district overnight, with no injuries or casualties reported.

Video shows Russian soldier ranting about tank shells arriving with no explosives in them: 'With these rounds, we aren't going to win this war'
Joshua Zitser/Business Insider/September 28, 2023
Footage appears to show a Russian soldier ranting about tank shells arriving with no explosives. The commander can also be heard saying that "dozens" of the shells had just arrived. In the video, the soldier complains that: "With these rounds, we aren't going to win this war."New footage circulating online appears to show a Russian soldier ranting about "brand new" tank shells that arrived with no explosives in them, Newsweek was first to report. The video shows the unidentified tank commander dismantling a shell and growing increasingly frustrated at the newly delivered rounds, according to the independent news site Dagens. The camera shows the process of dismantling, followed by a view of the inside of the hollowed-out shell. "Dude, it's empty," he said at one point. "No TNT."Throughout the video, the commander can be heard repeatedly cursing in Russian and ranting about his country's chances in the war.
According to Newsweek's translation, he said: "With these rounds, we aren't going to win this war, they are going to send us to our graves."In the footage, the commander can also be heard saying that "dozens" of those shells had just arrived, Newsweek reported. It's not clear what type of shell it is, or where it was delivered. The video has not been independently verified. The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The video appears to have been initially shared on a TikTok account belonging to user @xmen2701, though the initial post has since been removed. Insider's Alia Shoaib previously reported on how Russia is likely suffering from ammunition shortages as Ukraine continues its counteroffensive. Meanwhile, the US officially announced earlier this month that it was sending Ukraine depleted uranium tank ammunition for US-made Abrams tanks. These shells give Ukraine the capability to punch holes in Russian armor and also ignite inside. At the time, Russia called the move an "indicator of inhumanity," but a US official said that Russia could withdraw its tanks from Ukraine if it had an issue with it, Insider's Sinéad Baker reported.

Chechen leader Kadyrov meets Putin after storm over prisoner beating
Reuters/Updated Thu, September 28, 2023
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he discussed his region's contribution to Russia's war effort in Ukraine at talks with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that came at a sensitive moment in relations between the two sides. Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya ruthlessly as his personal fiefdom, but he angered even pro-Kremlin hardliners this week by praising his 15-year-old son for beating up an ethnic Russian prisoner in Chechen custody. Kadyrov posted on Telegram that he and Putin had talked about a range of topics including the role of Chechen fighters in Ukraine. He added teasingly that "other issues" were raised, and promised "more on this later."It was not clear if he was referring to the beating incident last month in which his son Adam kicked and punched a prisoner called Nikita Zhuravel who is accused of burning the Koran. Kadyrov posted a video of the attack on Monday and said he was proud of his son for defending his Muslim religion. The alleged Koran-burning did not take place in Chechnya but Russian investigators said they transferred Zhuravel to Chechen custody because Muslims there saw themselves as victims of the incident. The beating opened up Putin to accusations that he had handed over an ethnic Russian "to be devoured by the Chechens", former Kremlin speechwriter Abbas Gallyamov, now a harsh Putin critic, said this week. Even pro-Kremlin war commentators described the episode as an outrage. Rumours swirled this month that Kadyrov, 46, was seriously ill in hospital, but he laughed and flexed his biceps when asked about his health by a Russian TV reporter. Kadyrov has mused publicly about handing over power at some point and has raised the profile of his three teenaged sons, the eldest of whom was photographed with Putin in the Kremlin in March. Ensuring stability in Chechnya is vital to Moscow, which has fought two brutal and costly wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union to prevent it from breaking away.

Tanks and troops out in the open in Ukraine can't go 10 minutes without being spotted and fired upon, Ukrainian official says
Thibault Spirlet/Business Insider/September 28, 2023
Tanks and troops out in the open can now be spotted in five minutes, a Ukrainian official said.
Vadym Skibitsky told The Wall Street Journal that they can be hit in a further three minutes.
"The survivability on the move is no more than 10 minutes," he said.
The sheer number of drones operating in Ukraine, as well as battle-management systems that provide real-time imaging and locations, mean that troops and tanks out in the open have just minutes before they are targeted, a top Ukrainian military official told The Wall Street Journal. "Today, a column of tanks or a column of advancing troops can be discovered in three to five minutes and hit in another three minutes," Maj. Gen. Vadym Skibitsky, the deputy commander of Ukraine's HUR military intelligence service, said. "The survivability on the move is no more than 10 minutes," he added. Skibitsky also told the newspaper that "surprises have become very difficult to achieve."Russia and Ukraine are both deploying thousands of drones on the battlefield, and are using cheap drones to target each other's forces. This in turn is bringing into question some fundamentals of American military doctrine. "The days of massed armored assaults, taking many kilometers of ground at a time, like we did in 2003 in Iraq — that stuff is gone because the drones have become so effective now," retired US Army sergeant Bradley Crawford, an Iraq war veteran, told the newspaper. Ukraine has been increasingly relying on cheap, first-person-view drones, or FPVs, to take out Russian military hardware. These drones tend to cost around $400 to $500, which is a lot less than a regular 155mm artillery shell, which can cost up to $3,000, or a T-72 tank, which costs about $1,2 million. Last week, unmanned Ukrainian aerial vehicles struck a record 205 pieces of Russian military hardware in Ukraine, Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said. These included 64 cannons, 27 tanks, and 55 trucks, he said. While the exact number of drones deployed remains unclear, the Royal United Services Institute estimated earlier this year that Ukraine was losing about 10,000 drones per month, a sign of their widespread use. Meanwhile, Russia is working to make a deadlier, more advanced version of Iran's Shahed-136 attack drone, according to documents leaked to The Washington Post.

Iraq's PM visits wedding fire victims as 2 more people die from injuries
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
Iraq's prime minister on Thursday visited injured patients and the families of victims in northern Iraq days after a deadly wedding fire killed around 100 people, as two more people died from their injuries. Mohammed Shia al-Sudani arrived in Nineveh province early Thursday with a delegation of ministers and security officials, state television reported. He met with the wounded and family members of victims at Hamdaniyah Hospital and Al-Jumhoori Hospital. He later visited the Syriac Catholic Mar Behnam Monastery to express his condolences to victims. A health official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations, told The Associated Press that two critically burned victims — a 30-year-old woman and a 4-year-old child — died from their injuries. Around 250 panicked guests surged for the exits on Tuesday night in the Haitham Royal Wedding Hall in the predominantly Christian area of Hamdaniya near Mosul after the ceiling panels above a pyrotechnic machine burst into flames. Authorities said around 100 people died in the incident, and the death toll is expected to rise with at least 100 other people still injured, many of them critically burned. The venue's owners have been accused of violating safety protocols. The Mosul Municipality on Wednesday called for the closure of hotels, restaurants, and other venues that don't have safety approvals or have ignored warnings. Funeral processions continued Thursday at the Saint Behnam Syriac Catholic Church. A video circulating on Iraqi media and social media showed the bride and groom among the crowd mourning. The Interior Ministry said highly flammable building materials contributed to the disaster and accused the owners of violating safety and security protocols. The tragedy was the latest to hit Iraq's Christian minority, which has dwindled to a fraction of its former size over the past decade. A security official told the AP that one of the venue's owners and 13 workers and employees are currently under investigation. The official said that negligence caused the incident and that the government is preparing to compensate survivors and the families of victims. He speak on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press. A government spokesperson said the authorities will conduct strict inspections of hotels, schools, restaurants and event venues to make sure they are complying with safety standards. One owner of the venue, Chonny Suleiman Naboo, told The Associated Press that an electrical fault caused the fire and denied that they had neglected safety procedures.

North Korea's Kim urges greater nuclear weapons production in response to 'new Cold War'
Associated Press/September 28, 2023
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an exponential increase in production of nuclear weapons and for his country to play a larger role in a coalition of nations confronting the United States in a "new Cold War," state media said Thursday. The Korean Central News Agency said Kim made the comments during a two-day session of the country's rubber-stamp parliament which amended the constitution to include his policy of expanding the country's nuclear weapons program. The Supreme People's Assembly's session on Tuesday and Wednesday came after Kim traveled to Russia's Far East this month to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and visit military and technology sites. The trip sparked Western concerns about a possible arms alliance in which North Korea would supply Putin with badly needed munitions to fuel his war on Ukraine in exchange for economic aid and advanced Russian technologies to enhance North Korea's nuclear and missile systems. As North Korea slowly ends its pandemic lockdown, Kim has been actively boosting his partnerships with Moscow and Beijing as he attempts to break out of diplomatic isolation and join a united front against Washington. He has described the world as entering a "new Cold War" and that North Korea should advance its nuclear capabilities in response. KCNA's reports on Kim's comments came a day after North Korea c onfirmed the release of U.S. Army Pvt. Travis King, who is now being flown back to America, two months after he sprinted across the heavily fortified border into the North. King's relatively swift expulsion defied speculation that North Korea might drag out his detention to squeeze concessions from the United States, and possibly reflected the North's disinterest in diplomacy with Washington.
KCNA said members of the assembly gave unanimous approval to a new clause in the constitution to "ensure the country's right to existence and development, deter war and protect regional and global peace by rapidly developing nuclear weapons to a higher level." North Korea's "nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything," Kim said in a speech at the assembly. He stressed the need to "push ahead with the work for exponentially boosting the production of nuclear weapons and diversifying the nuclear strike means," KCNA said. Kim pointed to what he described as a growing threat posed by a hostile United States and its expanding military cooperation with South Korea and Japan, accusing them of creating the "Asian version of NATO, the root cause of war and aggression." "This is just the worst actual threat, not threatening rhetoric or an imaginary entity," he said. Kim urged his diplomats to "further promote solidarity with the nations standing against the U.S. and the West's strategy for hegemony." South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles relations with North Korea, said the North Korean constitutional amendment confirms Kim's unwillingness to relinquish his nuclear weapons program and his unwavering commitment to advancing that arsenal. It said in a statement that South Korea will continue to expand its military cooperation with the U.S. and Japan and work closer with other international partners to increase pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions. Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are at their highest level in years as North Korea has test-fired more than 100 missiles since the start of 2022 and the U.S. has expanded its military exercises with its Asian allies, in tit-for-tat responses. Last year, the assembly passed a new nuclear doctrine into law which authorizes pre-emptive nuclear strikes if North Korea's leadership is perceived as under threat.

Washington sanctions former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti
LBCI/September 28, 2023
The United States announced on Thursday that it has imposed sanctions on former Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti over allegations of obstructing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement to end the country's months-long conflict.
Karti currently serves as the Secretary-General of the Islamic Movement in Sudan and held the position of Foreign Minister from 2010 to 2015 during the rule of ousted President Omar al-Bashir. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a press release that the movement is "an extremist Islamic group that effectively opposes the democratic transition in Sudan." He noted that following al-Bashir's ousting in a military coup in 2019, Karti led efforts to undermine the civilian-led transitional government led by Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok. Washington also accused Karti of obstructing attempts to reach a ceasefire agreement between the army and the Rapid Support Forces in the clashes that erupted between them since mid-April. US Deputy Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson said, "Today's actions hold accountable those who weaken efforts to achieve a peaceful democratic solution in Sudan." He added, "We will continue to target those who perpetuate this conflict for personal gain."Meanwhile, Washington imposed sanctions on GSK ADVANCE, an information technology and security company based in Sudan, over allegations that the Rapid Support Forces used it to obtain military equipment, including Russian-made drones. The sanctions aim to prevent those affected from conducting any business and financial activities and allow for the seizure of their assets subject to US legal authority. Furthermore, the US Department of State indicated that it had added a number of individuals associated with the al-Bashir regime, which ruled the country for three decades, to the list of individuals prohibited from traveling to the United States, without specifying their names.

Latest English LCCC  analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 28-29/2023
Where Are the Palestinian Concessions for Peace?
Bassam Tawil/Gatestone Institute./September 28, 2023
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quoted on September 15 as saying that "normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.... needs to involve a two-state solution." Most Palestinians, however, take quite a different view of the matter.
[A] public opinion poll revealed that a majority of Palestinians are opposed to a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and opposed to the so-called two-state solution. The Saudi two-state solution envisages the establishment of an Iran-backed Arab terror state next to Israel. Israel already has such a terror state next to its border: the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by Iran's proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
On August 25, the American media outlet Axios reported that Blinken told Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer that the Israeli government is "misreading the situation" if it thinks it will not have to make concessions to the Palestinians as part of any Saudi deal.
If anyone is misreading the situation, however, it is Blinken, who thinks that Israeli concessions would convince the Palestinians to accept an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. As the results of the PCPSR poll showed, the Palestinian public is not impressed with the proposed concessions.
If the Palestinian Authority is currently unable or unwilling to prevent terror groups from attacking Israelis, it is truly delusional to think that it would be more diligent in controlling security in any new areas it received from Israel. Abbas has not been willing to send his security officers to arrest or kill the terrorists based in the cities of Jenin and Nablus. He knows that if he does, his people will condemn him as a "traitor" and "collaborator" with Israel, and quickly dispatch him to "drink tea up there" with the Egypt's murdered President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated for brokering his country's 1979 peace deal with Israel. Moreover, Abbas will not go against the terrorists as long as they do not physically go against him.
Most of all, the idea of transferring more land to the Palestinians is terrible because sends a message to the Palestinian Authority that, after it failed to combat terrorism in land under its control, it will be rewarded with even more land.
As the poll illustrates, support for anti-Israel terrorism among the Palestinians has risen from 53% (three months ago) to 58% today. That is why it is unrealistic to expect the Palestinian Authority to take any measures to disarm the terror groups in the West Bank. Unlike Blinken, Palestinian leaders are aware of the massive support for terrorism among their people. Unlike Blinken, Palestinian leaders also know that were it not for Israel's presence in the West Bank, Iran and its terror proxies would have taken complete control of the area a long time ago and ousted Abbas, just as they did in the Gaza Strip in 2007.
In addition, the Palestinian Authority, through its "Pay-for-Slay" program, proudly rewards terrorists who murder or wound Jews. In just one year, "Ramallah paid out around NIS 600 million ($187 million) in salaries for Palestinians imprisoned, jailed, or killed by Israel in 2020, according to a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official."
So, while Blinken is talking about the need to involve the "two-state solution" in a Saudi-Israeli deal, 67% of Palestinians oppose it.
Palestinian officials sound more conciliatory when they speak in English to their American and European counterparts, who after all, are among their major funders. In Arabic, the conversation is quite different.
Rather than demanding that Israel make concessions to the Palestinians as part of a Saudi-Israeli deal, Blinken should put pressure on the Palestinians to enforce law and order in their areas, disarm the terror groups, and stop murdering Israelis. If anyone needs to make concessions for peace it is the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders continue to spread antisemitism and falsehoods about Israel and Jews, promote and glorify violence -- and pay salaries to terrorists and their families to go murder Jews.
The Palestinian Authority (PA), through its "Pay-for-Slay" program, proudly rewards terrorists who murder or wound Jews. In just one year, "Ramallah paid out around NIS 600 million ($187 million) in salaries for Palestinians imprisoned, jailed, or killed by Israel in 2020, according to a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official." In 2018, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said: "We will neither reduce nor withhold the allowances of the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners... if we had one single penny left, we would spend it on the families of the martyrs and the prisoners." (Image source: MEMRI)
During the past three decades, Israel has made countless concessions to the Palestinians as part of an effort to advance peace and coexistence. In 1993-95, Israel signed the Oslo Accords with the Palestinians, giving them full security and civilian control over large parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Thousands of PLO members stationed in different Arab countries were allowed to move to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel released thousands of Palestinian security prisoners, including many who were involved in terrorist attacks against Israelis.
The Palestinians, however, were never asked by the US and other international parties to make concessions to Israel. The Israeli concessions did not advance the peace process with the Palestinians. Instead, the concessions were seen by the Palestinians as a sign of weakness and prompted them to increase their terrorist attacks and incitement against Israel.
The Palestinians turned down two concrete Israeli offers of peace according to their own demands (at the Camp David summit in 2000 and by then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in 2008) that would have given them a state on most of the land of the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
At the Camp David summit, then US President Bill Clinton presented the Israelis and Palestinians with an outline of the parameters for a final status agreement that closely mirrored then Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's proposal, which would have given the Palestinians 97% of the West Bank, full control of the Gaza Strip and large parts of east Jerusalem. Yasser Arafat, then leader of the PLO, rejected the offer, mainly because of a clause in the agreement specifying that the deal meant the end of the conflict. Dennis Ross, then US Middle East envoy who participated in the Camp David negotiations, said: "For him [Arafat] to end the conflict is to end himself."
Mahmoud Abbas, today leader of the PLO and president of the Palestinian Authority, was one of the leading Palestinian negotiators at Camp David in 2000. He said even before the summit that the Palestinians "made clear to the Americans that the Palestinian side is unable to make concessions on anything."
In 2015, Abbas admitted that he rejected the 2008 offer from Olmert for a near-total withdrawal from the West Bank and large parts of east Jerusalem. Abbas claimed he turned down the offer because he wasn't allowed to study the map. "He [Olmert]showed me a map," Abbas said. "He didn't give me a map. He told me, 'This is the map' and took it away."
In recent weeks, talk about a need for Israel to offer new concessions to the Palestinians has resurfaced, as the US administration pursues its effort to achieve a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Yet the experiences of the past have proved that concessions to the Palestinians do not bring peace. The assumption that the more land you give to the Palestinians, the more peace you get, has proved to be false. That's why it's time for the US administration to replace the formula of "land for peace" with "peace for peace." It's also time for the US administration to understand that most Palestinians are unimpressed with any concessions Israel makes. The US should demand that the Palestinians, not Israel, make concessions for peace.
The only concessions the Palestinians are prepared to accept are those that fully comply with their demands. Some Palestinians want a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 (1949 armistice) lines, while others want to destroy Israel and replace it with an Islamic state.
A normalization agreement between Israeli and Saudi Arabia would be good as long as it does not require Israel to make far-reaching concessions that would jeopardize its security, such as the establishment of a Palestinian terror state next to Israel.
Israel signed normalization agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan without making any concessions to the Palestinians. These Arab states did not demand such concessions because, unlike the Biden administration, they understand that the Palestinians do not appreciate any Israeli gestures.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was quoted on September 15 as saying that "normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel cannot come at the expense of the Palestinian cause." The Biden administration, Blinken said, believes that such a deal "needs to involve a two-state solution." Most Palestinians, however, take quite a different view of the matter.
Blinken's statements came less than 48 hours after a public opinion poll revealed that a majority of Palestinians are opposed to a normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel, and opposed to the so-called two-state solution. The Saudi two-state solution envisages the establishment of an Iran-backed Arab terror state next to Israel. Israel already has such a terror state next to its border: the Gaza Strip, ruled since 2007 by Iran's proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The poll, conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) in early September, found that 56% of the Palestinians believe that an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel would constitute a "harmful development that would negatively affect chances of reaching a Palestinian-Israeli peace." Palestinians are afraid that the Arab states would turn their backs on them once the Arab states make peace with Israel. They maintain that the Arabs should make peace with Israel only after Israel withdraws to the pre-1967 lines and agrees to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with east Jerusalem as its capital, as stated in the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative.
The Palestinian opposition to normalization between Israel and the Arab states does not come as a surprise. In the past, the Palestinians denounced Egypt, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for signing peace and normalization treaties with Israel.
While the Palestinian leadership is unlikely to reject a Saudi-Israeli deal publicly, most Palestinians remain vehemently opposed to normalization between the Arab states and Israel. Palestinian leaders are afraid of alienating Saudi Arabia because of its leading and influential role among Arabs and Muslims. Yet, the Palestinian leaders will not be able to prevent Palestinians from taking to the streets to voice their opposition to a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel. They also will not be able to stop other Palestinian factions, such as Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, from issuing statements denouncing the Saudis for making peace with Israel.
The Palestinian leaders are apparently hoping that Saudi Arabia will resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority to obtain their approval of, or at least their quiescence about, a deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
According to the poll, 53% of the Palestinians are also opposed to Israel giving any concessions to the Palestinians in return for a normalization deal with Israel. For the Palestinians, Israeli concessions, such as increasing the number of workers permitted to work in Israel or easing travel restrictions, are insufficient. For them, the conflict is not about improving living conditions or boosting the Palestinian economy, but about displacing Israel entirely.
Another 72% of the Palestinians, the poll showed, oppose any Palestinian participation in a Saudi-Israeli agreement.
The reason? Most Palestinians enthusiastically support Hamas, the Islamist group whose charter calls for the elimination of Israel. If new elections for president of the Palestinian Authority were held today, the poll showed, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh would defeat incumbent Mahmoud Abbas in a landslide.
The results of the poll prove that the Biden Administration's demand that Israel make concessions to the Palestinians as part of a Saudi-Israeli normalization accord is completely meaningless, at least as far as the Palestinians are concerned.
On August 25, the American media outlet Axios reported that Blinken told Israel's Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer that the Israeli government is "misreading the situation" if it thinks it will not have to make concessions to the Palestinians as part of any Saudi deal.
If anyone is misreading the situation, however, it is Blinken, who thinks that Israeli concessions would convince the Palestinians to accept an agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel. As the results of the PCPSR poll showed, the Palestinian public is not impressed with the proposed concessions.
The proposed concessions, according to unconfirmed reports, include expanding the Palestinian Authority's control to more parts of the West Bank. Ironically, the talk about transferring more territory to the Palestinian Authority comes at a time when the Palestinian security forces are losing control over areas already under their rule, especially in the northern West Bank, where armed groups belonging to Iran's Palestinian proxies, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, continue to operate freely and more violently.
If the Palestinian Authority is currently unable or unwilling to prevent terror groups from attacking Israelis, it is truly delusional to think that it would be more diligent in controlling security in any new areas it received from Israel. Abbas has not been willing to send his security officers to arrest or kill the terrorists based in the cities of Jenin and Nablus. He knows that if he does, his people will condemn him as a "traitor" and "collaborator" with Israel, and quickly dispatch him to "drink tea up there" with the Egypt's murdered President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated for brokering his country's 1979 peace deal with Israel. Moreover, Abbas will not go against the terrorists as long as they do not physically go against him.
Most of all, the idea of transferring more land to the Palestinians is terrible because sends a message to the Palestinian Authority that, after it failed to combat terrorism in land under its control, it will be rewarded with even more land. Implementing this lunatic idea would further endanger the lives of both Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians would correctly conclude that "terrorism works!", providing yet a further disincentive for the Palestinian Authority to rein in the terror groups. Israel will be forced to retaliate for terrorist attacks.
As the poll illustrates, support for anti-Israel terrorism among the Palestinians has risen from 53% (three months ago) to 58% today. That is why it is unrealistic to expect the Palestinian Authority to take any measures to disarm the terror groups in the West Bank. Unlike Blinken, Palestinian leaders are aware of the massive support for terrorism among their people. Unlike Blinken, Palestinian leaders also know that were it not for Israel's presence in the West Bank, Iran and its terror proxies would have taken complete control of the area a long time ago and ousted Abbas, just as they did in the Gaza Strip in 2007. According to the Los Angeles Times, reporting on June 14, 2007:
"Hamas gunmen seized military control of the Gaza Strip on Thursday, executing Fatah rivals and provoking the collapse of their power-sharing Palestinian Authority government.
"As Fatah's last security command centers fell after four days of fighting, Hamas military men in black masks moved unchallenged across Gaza City, hunting down foes, blowing up homes and dragging the body of a top Fatah militant through the streets."
Palestinian leaders, therefore, are understandably afraid of being portrayed as traitors if they come out against the terrorists. These leaders, including Mahmoud Abbas, spend a great deal of time praising and glorifying their terrorists. " [F]or us the Martyrs, the wounded, and the prisoners are the most sanctified," Abbas has declared.
In addition, the Palestinian Authority, through its "Pay-for-Slay" program, proudly rewards terrorists who murder or wound Jews. In just one year, "Ramallah paid out around NIS 600 million ($187 million) in salaries for Palestinians imprisoned, jailed, or killed by Israel in 2020, according to a senior Palestine Liberation Organization official."
In February 2019, Abbas vowed:
"If we had only 20-30 million Shekels, which is the [monthly] sum paid for the families of martyrs, we would still pay it to them. If the PA doesn't have anything other than that amount, I will pay it to the families of the martyrs, the prisoners, and the wounded."
On July 23, 2018, at a ceremony honoring Palestinian terrorists, Abbas said:
"We will neither reduce nor withhold the allowances of the families of martyrs, prisoners, and released prisoners, as some want; if we had only a single penny left, we would pay it to families of the martyrs and prisoners."
The assumption that the Palestinian leadership would stop paying stipends to terrorists and their families has endlessly proven to be false. If and when the Saudis do resume financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, the bulk of the money will no doubt be channeled to terrorists and their families.
In addition to rejecting the idea of concessions from Israel, most Palestinians continue to oppose the "two-state solution," according to the poll.
So, while Blinken is talking about the need to involve the "two-state solution" in a Saudi-Israeli deal, 67% of Palestinians oppose it.
Another 27% believe that Hamas, not the Palestinian Authority, deserves to lead and represent the Palestinian people today, while 24% believe that Abbas's ruling Fatah faction deserves to. On the other hand, 44% believe that both parties are unworthy of representing and leading the Palestinians.
It appears that the Biden administration and many European governments have more faith in the Palestinian leadership than most Palestinians do. US and European officials tend to speak to their Palestinian counterparts in Ramallah, the de facto capital of the Palestinians, and make no effort to engage ordinary Palestinians.
Palestinian officials sound more conciliatory when they speak in English to their American and European counterparts, who after all, are among their major funders. In Arabic, the conversation is quite different (such as here, here, and here.) These officials, however, rarely represent the authentic voices of the Palestinians, most of whom (according to the latest poll) are opposed to the "two-state solution" and support armed confrontation against Israel.
Rather than demanding that Israel make concessions to the Palestinians as part of a Saudi-Israeli deal, Blinken should put pressure on the Palestinians to enforce law and order in their areas, disarm the terror groups, and stop murdering Israelis. If anyone needs to make concessions for peace it is the Palestinian Authority, whose leaders continue to spread antisemitism and falsehoods about Israel and Jews, promote and glorify violence -- and pay salaries to terrorists and their families to go murder Jews.
*Bassam Tawil is a Muslim Arab based in the Middle East.
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Germany is jeopardising the security of the West
Con Coughlin/The Telegraph/September 28, 2023
For a country that has pretensions to be the pre-eminent power in European affairs, Germany has an unerring habit of finding itself on the wrong side of history.
Having been ambivalent about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Berlin should by now have learnt that, in the brutal world of global politics, it is vital that countries need to understand where their true interests lie.
Germany’s initial reluctance to fully support Ukraine after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked invasion may in large part have been due to Berlin’s heavy reliance on Moscow for its energy supplies. While German Chancellor Olaf Scholz eventually came round to the more resolute position held by countries such as the UK and Poland, his equivocation delayed the provision of vital equipment, such as main battle tanks, to the Ukrainians.
Yet, even after this salutary experience, it appears that Berlin still has not learned its lesson, particularly if its attitude to another major Western ally, namely Saudi Arabia, is anything to go by.
The Saudis, with their strict adherence to Islamic law, have never been the easiest of allies, but nevertheless have a proven track record of supporting the West in times of crisis. From its pivotal role in the First Gulf War to the vital intelligence it provided in helping to destroy al-Qaeda’s terrorist infrastructure, Riyadh has, time and again, proved its worth as a valued Western ally.
This explains why the British Government has been leading efforts to provide Saudi Arabia with state-of-the-art Typhoon Eurofighters to bolster the kingdom’s defences, a move that makes good strategic sense in terms of protecting UK interests. At the very least, a strong Saudi military acts as an important bulwark against the threat posed by Iran. Riyadh’s interest in buying weapons built by British firms such as BAE Systems also helps to sustain the UK’s military industrial base.
The strong intelligence-sharing and military ties London enjoys with Riyadh date back many decades, reaching their apex in the 1980s when the Thatcher government negotiated the complex al Yamamah deal, which resulted in the Saudi air force acquiring a fleet of Tornado fighters. Subsequent deals have seen the Saudis strengthen their air combat capabilities by signing agreements to acquire more Typhoon fighters and Hawk trainers.
The most recent deal, though, to sell 48 Typhoons to the Saudis, announced soon after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, made his last visit to the UK in 2018, has run into difficulty over Berlin’s refusal to sanction it.
As Germany was part of the original consortium involved in developing the Eurofighter, Berlin has the right to withhold its consent from any arms deal involving the aircraft. Consequently, having attracted widespread criticism for obstructing supplies of battle tanks to Ukraine, Germany now finds itself at risk of making a similar miscalculation by impeding the sale of jets to the Saudis.
Germany’s reluctance to sanction Britain’s latest deal with Riyadh, estimated to be worth £5 billion, is said to stem from concerns over the Saudis’ human rights record, especially their involvement in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi five years ago.
Khashoggi’s murder was indeed a despicable crime, one that the Crown Prince has personally condemned. In a recent interview with Fox News, bin Salman repeated his view that the killing had been a “mistake”, and insisted that reforms had been made to the country’s security forces.
While he showed no hesitation in confronting the criticism his country has received over Khashoggi’s murder, the Crown Prince was equally keen to highlight the dramatic transformation that has taken place in Saudi Arabia during the past five years, both in terms of its economic development and its standing as a major global power.
From hosting an international summit on resolving the Ukraine conflict in August to playing a prominent role in the recent G20 summit in New Delhi, Saudi Arabia is adopting a more assertive role in world affairs, one that is undeniably in the West’s interests. There is even talk of a diplomatic rapprochement between the Saudis and Israel, with Israel’s tourism minister this week becoming the first cabinet member to visit the kingdom.
Yet, thanks to the Biden administration’s incoherent Middle East policy, Riyadh appears to be more interested in forging new alliances with Beijing and Moscow. The West’s declining influence is evident in the construction of Saudi Arabia’s new Neom megacity, which is primarily being built by Chinese firms.
At a time when the global landscape is undergoing radical change, it is vital that Western leaders overcome whatever reservations they have about engaging with the Saudis and ensure that Riyadh regards Washington and London, not Moscow and Beijing, as their principal allies.
The upcoming summit in London between bin Salman and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who is pressing Germany to approve the Typhoon sale, would be a good moment to begin reinvigorating this key alliance.

Sudan’s Problem with the 'Exclusionists'
Osman Mirghani/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 28/2023
In parallel with its vicious armed conflict, another war is being fought over the rubble in Sudan. The flames of this other war also refuse to die down, rather than stop adding to the flames of the conflict. It is true that an array of factors, domestic and external, are perpetuating the conflict and aggravating matters. However, I believe the deep divisions within Sudan and the sharp polarization among rival political forces are among the most consequential.
The rivals - the Forces of Freedom and Change (Central Council) on the one hand and the Islamists on the other - are fiercely battling it out to pin the blame on one another for everything, from the April 15 war to the failure of the democratic transition and the emergence and fortification of the Rapid Support Forces. Their quarrels also extend to how to end this conflict.
The truth is that the writing had been on the wall well before this war broke out. Indeed, many perceptive figures warned us that the persistent acrimonious disputes among rivals would inevitably lead the country to war. The divisions between civilians and the military, and within each of these two camps, were profound. Each camp is still seeking to defeat the other and exclude it from the political scene, which has led to an aggravation of tensions. This maximalist approach has also heightened political polarization, which has spread from the center to the periphery and inflamed tensions there. All of this not only left the transition faltering and toppled the civilian government, but it also ultimately contributed to sparking the war.
To catastrophic effect, these parties continue to fight these battles, instead recognizing the lesson in the cruel experience and developing their perspective for the benefit of the country at this critical juncture. In fact, they have not softened any of their positions and views, and have even hardened their stances on some issues. Some of those primarily responsible for this crisis do not see this war as a calamity wreaking havoc on the country and giving rise to unprecedented levels of suffering; they see it as an opportunity to advance narrow political interests - to exclude their rival from the political scene or to return to power. This seems clear from the discourse prevalent in the media and on social media platforms, where we see virtually nothing but intractable arguments and extremely acrimonious rhetoric, which can go as far as painting those with divergent opinions as traitors.
The Islamists have been obsessed with fears of their marginalization and exclusion from the political scene since the revolution. They see this war as their opportunity to make a comeback and believe that the left and a few other small parties hostile to them have been steering the Forces of Freedom and Change coalition since the larger parties (National Congress Party and the Democratic Unionist Party) weakened. Convinced that their exclusion is sought, the Islamists believe that compromise is impossible.
On the other side, the majority of forces in the Forces of Freedom and Change believe that after thirty years in power, the Islamists have gained control over every state institution, including the army. They see this war as a chance to curb their influence after having previously failed to do so during the transitional period because of the October 25 coup in 2021. These parties are convinced that otherwise, the country will remain unstable even after this conflict ends.
The question is, however: is that what Sudan needs at this critical juncture?
The truth is that exclusionary politics has been a problem in Sudan for decades, undermining stability, fueling wars, and precipitating military coups that ended short-lived attempts at establishing democratic governance. It would not be accurate to claim that the military first became politicized in 1989, with the Islamist coup (by the Kizan) led by Omar al-Bashir. Its politicization began earlier, and the majority of political forces, if not all of them, bear some responsibility, albeit to varying degrees.
Moreover, the politics of exclusion and marginalization that were embraced by all parties and political forces, to divergent degrees and at different stages, hindered the resolution of the country’s chronic governance crisis. This maximalism has prevented the emergence of consensus on how the country should be governed and how to address questions of identity and citizenship, and how to build a stable state and a viable democratic system.
What the Sudanese need, today, is a way out of this impasse. They need consensus instead of attempts to exclude which has led us to this calamity. The first and foremost challenge before us is ending the war. After that, we can confront the mountain of problems and challenges that would remain. Reconstruction and rebuilding the state demands a broad consensus that establishes a degree of stability, without which things will never move forward and no substantial achievements will be realized. The country could face more dangerous setbacks if not.
The majority of the Sudanese see ending this war as their priority. Before anything else, they want security and stability, to go back to their lives. The question that many are asking is: What comes first in this difficult period, disputes with the Islamists (the Kizan) or the national crisis?
Many, even those who strongly disagree with the Islamists, reply that the interest of the nation comes first and that we must reach the light at the end of the tunnel of this war, which has taken its toll and almost become an existential threat.
The dispute with the Kizan is political, and it can thus be resolved later on. Resolving the Sudanese crisis, in contrast, is beyond pressing. As for exclusion, it should be left to the people to decide through the ballot box, whenever they can access it.