LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

April 05/16

Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.april05.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her."
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 20/11-18:"Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb;and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, "I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." ’Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her."

Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy."
First Letter of Peter 01/10-16:"Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that was to be yours made careful search and inquiry, inquiring about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated, when it testified in advance to the sufferings destined for Christ and the subsequent glory. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you through those who brought you good news by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things into which angels long to look! Therefore prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves; set all your hope on the grace that Jesus Christ will bring you when he is revealed. Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance. Instead, as he who called you is holy, be holy yourselves in all your conduct; for it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy."

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on April 05/16
Al Qods al Arabi article on "Trump's Mideast policies and Walid Phares' foreign policy advising"/Walid Phares/Face Book/April 04/16/

Living with Hezbollah’s Arms/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/April 04/16

Hezbollah readies for offensive near Arsal/Nicholas Blanford/Now Lebanon/April 04/16

Will the Russians be able to help Lebanon get a new president/Sami Nader/Al-Monitor/April 04/16

Netanyahu’s dilemma: Détente with Turkey or recognition of Syrian Kurds/DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 4, 2016
Syrian Refugees – the Myth and Reality of a Brand/Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/April 04/16
The Kerry-Lavrov remedies for solving crises/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
Our selfishness regarding terrorism/Hassan Al Mustafa/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
Our story with Russia/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
The Azrkan oil field between Iran and Iraq/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
ISIS in Europe: How Deep is the "Gray Zone"/Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/April 04/16
Massachusetts Islamism/Samuel Westrop/Gatestone Institute/April 04/16
Syrian Kurds proceed with federal structures despite Turkish threats/Week in Review/Al-Monitor/April 04/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on April 05/16

Recent Pope Frances's Tweets

Al Qods al Arabi article on "Trump's Mideast policies and Walid Phares' foreign policy advising"

Living with Hezbollah’s Arms

Hezbollah readies for offensive near Arsal

Will the Russians be able to help Lebanon get a new president?
UAE Court Jails 3 Lebanese for Forming 'Hizbullah-Linked Group'
Report: Putin Informs Hariri of Russia's Readiness to Assist Lebanon Militarily
Bkirki Spiritual Summit Slams Extremist Religious Speeches, Urges Support for Army
Berri Rejects Concerns over Naturalization of Refugees, Implies it is Linked to Presidential Race
Raad Calls for 'Rescuing Arsal from Threat of Takfiri Terrorists'
Paris Slams 'Violence' against Saudi Daily's Beirut Offices
Hizbullah Targets IS in Ras Baalbek Outskirts
Aoun on Naturalizing Syrians: Our Land Could be Stolen in Front of our Own Eyes
To Flee Lebanon's Trash Crisis, Family Heads to Syria
Salam: Naturalization Debate Being Exploited for Political Gain
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on April 05/16

Migrants arrive for expulsion from Greece to Turkey
Russia: Demands Assad should leave ‘hinders Syria political talks’
Strikes kill Qaeda spokesman, militants in Syria
Syrian army presses ahead with offensive against ISIS
Iraqi forces take northern edge of ISIS-held town
Suicide bombings against Iraqi forces kill at least 20
Coalition planes destroy ISIS-occupied Turkish consulate in Mosul
Speaker of the US House decries 'ridiculous and counterproductive BDS shenanigan
Israel demolishes homes of three Palestinian attackers
Autopsy ‘backs case against’ Israel soldier who shot Palestinian
Suicide Bombings, Mortar Fire Kill 17 in Iraq
Panama Papers: Huge Tax Leak Exposes Putin Aides, World Leaders
Saudi Arabia, India sign cooperation accords
Turkish court jails fighter wanted by Russia for killing pilot

Links From Jihad Watch Site for April 05/16
US seizes thousands of Iranian weapons, including grenade launchers.
Perps of “far-right” hit-and-run on Muslim woman in Molenbeek were Muslims.
“Hitler” clothing store causes stir in Cairo.
Newly discovered 5th-century church shows violence of Muslim conquest.
Ann Marie Waters on “Islam Kills Women” — on The Glazov Gang.
Raymond Ibrahim: Will Reality Trump Fantasy Regarding Muslim Immigration?.
Minneapolis: Pro-jihad imam removed from defense team of accused ISIS supporter.
Scotland: Muslims threaten to kill Muslim who opposes jihad terror.
Sanders brings up Holocaust discussing Trump’s “intolerance” of Muslims.
Feds’ counterterror program failing: Hamas-linked CAIR opposes it.
Obama whines that Iran not following “the spirit of the agreement”.

Recent Pope Frances's Tweets
*Christian faith is a gift which we receive in Baptism and which allows us to encounter God.
*Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of being loved forever despite our sinfulness

Al Qods al Arabi article on "Trump's Mideast policies and Walid Phares' foreign policy advising"
Walid Phares/Face Book/April 04/16/Al Qods al Arabi article on "Trump's Mideast policies and Walid Phares' foreign policy advising"
Pan Arab Al Qods al Arabi weekly published an article on "Donald Trump's projected Mideast policies and on his appointment of Dr Walid Phares as his foreign policy advisor".Journalist Roula Muwafaq wrote that "because of his close knowledge of the region's peoples, cultures and politics, Dr Walid Phares the appointment by Trump of Walid Phares is a major plus for the campaign, and if they succeed for Trump's Administration. For Trump needs a major expertise to re explain his statements but also to build bridges with the Governments and peoples of the region." The article also argued that Phares would help explaining Arab concerns about the Iran deal. Al Quds al Arabi went on to say that "because of his expertise on terrorism on the Iranian deal and on US relations with this and other regions, Phares will be helpful in advising the US on bringing back stability".
PS: This is the second major article about Donald Trump Middle East and Arab world policies in light of his appointment of an Arabic speaker as a Foreign Affairs advisor. But it is the most comprehensive one>

Sunni Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash's son killed fighting for Hezbollah
Now Lebanon 04/16/BEIRUT – The son of a Lebanese Sunni cleric who supports Hezbollah has been killed fighting for the Shiite party in recent battles in Syria. The pro-Hezbollah website SouthLebanon.org which publicizes funerals of the party's fighters killed "in confrontation with the mercenaries of disbelief and Wahhabism" – a reference to Sunni militants – announced his death on April 2. “With all pride and honor, the Islamic Resistance of Hezbollah and the southern city of Sidon trumpet the martyrdom of one of its new heroic knights and leaders, the martyr and mujahid Mohammad Khoder al-Kabash the son of Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash,” the outlet’s death notice said. SouthLebanon.org also revealed Kabash’s nom de guerre, “Zulfiqar,” which is the name of Imam Ali’s double-bladed sword and an important symbol in Shiite Islam. The outlet did not mention where the young man was killed in Syria, however the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on Sunday reported that Hezbollah lost 12 fighters on April 2 in fighting south of Aleppo. Kabash’s father, a Sunni scholar with close ties to pro-Assad figures in Sidon, received condolences for his son’s death over the weekend. Sheikh Afif Naboulsi—a leading Shiite cleric in southern Lebanon—told Sheikh Khoder al-Kabash that his son’s “martyrdom proves that Sunni and Shiites are one spirit in the fight against Takfiri terrorism.” Khoder al-Kabash is known for his friendly relations with the Baath Party in Sidon as well as the leader of Popular Nasserist Party, a pro-March 8 party based in the southern city. He also is a firm supporter of Hezbollah’s Resistance Brigades proxy militia, which was established in 1997 to recruit non-Shiite Muslims as combatants for the party. The Resistance Brigades has stirred controversy in past months with its drive to recruit young Sunni men to fight for the party in Syria. 

Living with Hezbollah’s Arms
Hussain Abdul-HussainéNow Lebanon/April 04/16
For over 12 years now, the UN Security Council and Hezbollah’s Lebanese opponents have failed in disarming the party’s formidable militia. Even Israel and its mighty army have not been able to extract any concessions from the group, thus settling for punishing it by making war prohibitively costly for Hezbollah and its Shiite supporters. Other than harassing Lebanon’s Shiites, world governments have no viable plan for disarming Hezbollah within a reasonable timeframe, say in five to 10 years. And because open-ended policies will make sinking Lebanon sink further, it is time to be innovative and come up with ways on how to coexist with the Hezbollah militia.  Living with Hezbollah’s arms is not an endorsement, but rather the only a realistic way of circumventing the militia and allowing the Lebanese to move on, carry on with their lives and plan for their futures. Living with Hezbollah’s arms is like a patient living with a chronic disease: Unable to cure it but forced to manage it. By now, Hezbollah’s wars are hurting it the most. In Syria, Hezbollah is bruised and reeling. On Israel, the party’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has publicly debated the Dahiyeh Doctrine, suggesting that he is aware that in any future conflict, Tel Aviv will raze down Lebanon’s residential areas wholesale.
But Hezbollah is not hurting alone.
Like all other countries, Lebanon cannot thrive if it remains on a war footing. With its endless wars, Hezbollah has been undermining the country’s security and eroding international trust in the Lebanese state. Throughout the 1990s, Lebanon was engaged in a healthy debate over its economic policies. Which sectors should Beirut grow for its economy to start chugging and creating jobs? At the time, late Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and his team endorsed standard international recommendations that mandated liberalization. Thus, Hariri planned to privatize public facilities, which would have drastically reduced corruption. Hariri embarked on upgrading the infrastructure to make Lebanon attractive for tourism and services (such as banking, higher education and medical care).
Despite Hariri’s efforts, Lebanon remained a hard sell. Many Lebanese accused the late prime minister of corruption, which they blamed for a stumbling economy. Like most Arabs, the Lebanese imagine — without substantiating evidence — that the amount of public embezzlement is enough to make their economies grow and prosper. Yet such argument is mere fantasy. Stolen public funds are a small fraction compared to national budget figures. Hariri also found that it was nearly impossible to grow an economy in a “country of resistance.” As long as combat operations persisted in the south, Lebanon remained economically unattractive. Add to that the Assad regime’s continuous tampering with state institutions, especially the judiciary, and you can understand why Lebanon could not compete with hubs like Dubai.
Growing Lebanon’s economy is also key to undermining Lebanon’s other disaster: The oligarchy. Like with Europe’s industrial revolution, capital demands meritocracy, which in turn reinforces individualism at the expense of tribal sectarianism and its lords. That was America’s idea of how to manage post-Saddam Iraq, except that Americans found Iraq’s switchboard way too late. Because growing Lebanon’s economy is key, the country’s stability becomes priceless. Stability, however, is impossible with Hezbollah’s militia, which does not answer to the Lebanese state and therefore undermines its sovereignty.
This is why the Lebanese need to come to terms with armed Hezbollah, and this is where conflict resolution gurus might have some useful ideas. Maybe the party can hand over the Hariri International Airport to a government-contracted private company that can apply international security standards. If that happens, maybe direct flights between Beirut and major capitals can be resumed. Maybe Beirut’s airport becomes a regional hub that generates income for the treasury and creates high-paying jobs. 
Maybe if Hezbollah’s militia steps back, the barricades erected in Beirut’s downtown to protect Parliament, government and UN’s ESCWA can be dismantled, allowing businesses and tourists to pour back into this urban and architectural marvel.
Maybe if Hezbollah rolls back its tasteless rhetoric about “resistance,” the Lebanese can start branding their country as a destination for its diaspora, tourists, investors, film-makers, wine growers and music festivals.
Maybe if Hezbollah lets the oligarchy play its silly game of who becomes president or prime minister, that will give a semblance of normalcy and renew trust in Lebanon and its state.
Putting Lebanon on hold until Hezbollah disarms is killing the Lebanese. Let Hezbollah keep its arms, on the condition that it keeps them out of sight and out of mind. Better ideas are welcome, only if they are realistic enough and can be measured in months.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Bureau Chief of Kuwaiti newspaper Alrai. He tweets @hahussain

Hezbollah readies for offensive near Arsal
Nicholas Blanford/Now Lebanon/April 04/16
Hezbollah fighters may have begun a long-anticipated offensive against the extremist Islamic State in northeast Lebanon with the apparent goal of driving the militants from Lebanese soil once and for all. On Monday morning, Al-Manar television reported that an ISIS bunker had been destroyed in an area called Zwaytini near Ras Baalbek, killing a number of armed men. More casualties were reportedly inflicted by Hezbollah against ISIS reinforcements heading to the bunker. This would not be the first time that Hezbollah has attacked ISIS positions in the mountains east of Qaa and Ras Baalbek. But the significance of the timing is that it came a day after forces loyal to the Syrian government drove ISIS from much of Qaryatayn, a town in Syria’s Homs province midway between Damascus and Palmyra. Last week, a Hezbollah unit commander told NOW that the party was mobilizing for an offensive against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, Syria’s Al-Qaeda affiliate, in the Arsal-Ras Baalbek area and that it would likely begin once the battle for Qaryatayn was over. Sources close to Hezbollah in Ras Baalbek said on Monday that the attack on the ISIS bunker was "just the beginning", with expectations that the situation on the ground will escalate in the coming days. Also Monday, in comments that could presage the expected offensive, Mohammed Raad, head of Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance parliamentary bloc, said that recent “takfiri” defeats in the Homs province (referring to Palmyra and Qaryatayn) had left the militants in northeast Lebanon isolated, making a move against them timely.
“Why don’t we take a national sovereign decision to rescue Arsal from the threat of these takfiri terrorists?” he asked. Since the Hezbollah-led Qalamoun II offensive fizzled out last summer, Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS militants have been bottled up in mountains east of Ras Baalbek and Arsal. The militants also have de facto control over Arsal itself; the Lebanese army man positions ringing Arsal but are not deployed inside the town itself. Hezbollah mans a string of mountain-top outposts that straddle the border with Syria east of Qaa and are about two kilometres to the north of the nearest ISIS positions. Similarly, Hezbollah is deployed in a line about five kilometers south of Arsal to protect Shiite-populated villages such as Nahle and Younine from advances by Jabhat al-Nusra, which is deployed nearby. The Lebanese army controls the western perimeter of this area, effectively sealing off populated regions of the northern Bekaa from attempted penetrations by the Sunni jihadists. Since January, the uneasy tacit alliance between Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS in the Ras Baalbek/Arsal area has broken down, with both sides battling each other for control of crucial terrain along the border. Jabhat al-Nusra was generally thought to have been the larger and more powerful of the two groups in the Arsal area, with an estimated 700 fighters compared to ISIS’s 600. However, recent indications suggest that ISIS is now larger than Jabhat al-Nusra (the Hezbollah commander claimed that the former fields some 1,000 fighters compared to only 250 for the latter). If the figures are correct, it would support information from Arsal and elsewhere that Jabhat al-Nusra fighters have been defecting to ISIS in recent months.
Lately, some 1,500 Hezbollah fighters have moved into the area around Jarajir on the Syrian side of the border opposite Arsal in preparation for an offensive against ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra. The weapons they are bringing with them include 57mm and ZSU 4x23mm anti-aircraft guns used in an infantry support role and mounted on the back of modified trucks which can be raised off the ground using stabilizers when firing. “In the mountains, it’s the battle of the heavy weapons. We are firing at long distances rather than close combat like in Qusayr,” the Hezbollah commander said, referring to the town near Homs, scene of a 17-day battle in May-June 2013 in which he participated. Hezbollah is also sending to the Qalamoun front truck-mounted multi-barrelled 107mm rocket launchers. The rockets have a range of around 12 kilometers, but Hezbollah is using them in a short-range direct-fire role over distances of as little as 400 meters. While not the most accurate of rocket systems, a barrage from a 12- or 24-barrelled 107mm launcher can have a devastating effect on militant positions when employed at such short range.It is too early to say with certainty that Monday’s attack on ISIS near Ras Baalbek signals the beginning of the offensive. But if Hezbollah does press ahead in the coming weeks with a campaign to drive the militants out of Lebanon, it will have significant repercussions for stability in Arsal and for the future deployment of the Lebanese army in the area. Arsal has been beyond the effective control of the Lebanese state since August 2014 when a combined force of 700 militants, mainly from Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS, overran the town triggering five days fierce fighting with the army. Although a cease-fire deal allowed the militants to slip back to their mountain redoubts, the Lebanese government has been unable to reassert control over the town. Instead, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra, along with criminal gangs, are the dominant forces in Arsal, instituting a reign of terror over most of the inhabitants.
If Hezbollah drives ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra from their positions in the mountainous rural areas outside Ras Baalbek and Arsal back across the border, any surviving militants holed up in Arsal will be surrounded and cut off. Neither Hezbollah nor the army envisage a move to storm Arsal would be politically unacceptable, as it would likely cause huge numbers of civilian and troop casualties, could take weeks to accomplish and would probably leave the town in ruins. Instead, the isolation of the militants could pave the way for a negotiated solution in which they are permitted to leave Lebanon peacefully, allowing the state to resume control over Arsal. If the Jabhat al-Nusra and ISIS militants are driven out of Lebanon, it is unlikely that Hezbollah will begin constructing mountain-top outposts along this stretch of the border as they have done further south in areas backing onto Shiite-populated villages in the eastern Bekaa Valley. Arsal’s Sunni demographics, staunch support for Syrian rebels and hostility toward Hezbollah would make such a step politically confrontational, especially amid recent, and inaccurate, accusations from some Future Movement officials that Hezbollah is “occupying” Arsal. Therefore, the Lebanese army would have to fill the vacuum with new fortified observation posts and checkpoints to prevent the possibility of the Sunni jihadists slipping back into Lebanon at a later date. A deployment closer to a border that has never been demarcated on the ground and the path of which in the Arsal area is disputed by local Lebanese and Syrian farmers would bring its own logistical complications. Nevertheless, the Lebanese army, with support from the UK and US, has proven its capabilities in building and holding new and stronger lines of defense between Qaa and Arsal over the past year and a half. Last week, British Foreign Minister Phillip Hammond visited Lebanon to announce a £19.8 million ($28.3 million) grant for training Lebanese troops, underlining continued international backing for Lebanon’s efforts to secure the border against ISIS and other Sunni jihadist groups.

***Nicholas Blanford is Beirut correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor and Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Middle East Peace and Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security
 

UAE Court Jails 3 Lebanese for Forming 'Hizbullah-Linked Group'
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/April 04/16/An Emirati court sentenced on Monday three Lebanese, including a Canadian dual national, to six months in prison for allegedly forming a local affiliate of Lebanon's Hizbullah, local media said. The supreme federal court convicted the trio of "forming a group for the terrorist Hizbullah (movement) in the country," Ittihad daily reported, adding that they will be deported after serving their sentences. They "were found guilty of setting up an office of the militant group in the UAE and carrying out commercial, economic and political activities without licenses," the daily Gulf News reported. It named the men as Canadian-Lebanese Suhail Naif Gareeb, 62, and Lebanese nationals Asaad Ameen Qansouh, 66, and Ahmed Ebrahim Qansouh, 30. Their trial opened in early February. The Arab League last month declared the Shiite Lebanese movement a "terrorist" group, after Gulf monarchies took similar steps over the movement's alleged interference in Yemen, Iraq and Gulf states.Hizbullah is fighting in Syria in support of President Bashar Assad's regime against opponents including Gulf-backed rebels.

Will the Russians be able to help Lebanon get a new president?
Sami Nader/Al-Monitor/April 04/16
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah's recent rhetoric reveals he is trying to draw parallels between his Lebanon-based movement and Russia, while not sounding too cozy. In a March 21 interview for Al-Mayadeen TV, Nasrallah went so far as to say he feels Russia has common goals with the axis of resistance — Hezbollah, Iran and Syria — against Israel and its Western allies' interests. Nasrallah said he "feels" that Hezbollah, Iran and Russia are on the same page when it comes to the overall battle in Syria. He used "feels” instead of “confirms,” and refrained from using the affirmative oratory that has always marked his speeches. In doing so, he actually called attention to the ambiguous characteristics of the relationship between Russia and Hezbollah. Nasrallah even said, bluntly, “Describing [Iran, Russia, Syria and Hezbollah] as one axis is inaccurate.”Pointing to the increasing cooperation between Russia and Israel as a main point of divergence between Hezbollah and Russia, he said, “Some political analysts and writers in Lebanon or in the region were trying to [embarrass] the resistance axis [by saying] that Russia is part of the resistance axis and is communicating and coordinating with the Israelis. … Who from the resistance axis said that Russia has become part of the resistance axis?”Although Nasrallah differentiated Hezbollah’s desire for unity in Syria from that of Russia's support for a federal system, one question has been preoccupying the Lebanese: Will the Russian withdrawal lead to a similar Hezbollah retreat from Syria? However, Nasrallah straightforwardly ruled out that possibility by bringing up its ongoing military involvement in Syria.
Talking about “a political solution” was also new in Nasrallah’s speech this time. He said that the withdrawal of many Russian forces is a step to a bigger solution in Syria, and he added that Russia wants a political solution. More importantly, Nasrallah did not comment on the federal proposal Russia had launched March 3 through Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov. The latter sees a possibility of establishing a federal republic in Syria “if all parties participating in the negotiations agreed.” Ryabkov spoke out a few days after Russia and the United States announced their Feb. 22 agreement to halt the military hostilities in Syria. It is noteworthy that the federal proposal scared key players in Lebanon, mainly Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, who tweeted March 18, “The Syrian Kurds’ announcement of a federation is the beginning of Syria’s division.” Former Lebanese President Michel Suleiman said in a message he sent to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon during the latter’s March 24 visit to Beirut, “Our main concern is the emergence of unilateral political, ethnic or religious entities as a substitute to the united Syrian state, and this threatens Lebanon’s pluralism and structure.”Suleiman was directly indicating the concerns stemming from the rise of a Shiite canton along the northeastern borders of the Latakia coastline reaching Mount Hermon, which is one of Hezbollah’s deployment areas. On another note, along with Russia’s withdrawal announcement, there was a Russian openness to the Sunni community in Syria and the Middle East. Saudi Arabia welcomed Russia’s decision to withdraw from Syria, and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said March 15, “The partial Russian withdrawal from Syria is a very positive step.”
The Syrian opposition also welcomed the Russian decision, calling it "a good step that depends on its implementation on the ground.”
In Lebanon, Future Movement parliament member Ammar Houri told Al-Monitor, “Russia withdrew from Syria at its convenience.” He added, “The Future Movement supports a political solution that would lead Syria to a civil, democratic rule.” Regarding Russia’s federation proposal as a solution, he said, “The federation is out of the question, in Lebanon and the region alike. We support Syria’s unity, as we do Lebanon’s.” Although the federation proposal voiced by Russia stirred concerns in Lebanon, Russia has undoubtedly gained ground in the Sunni and Arab circles in the region, following its withdrawal and the positive Arab reactions to it. This will allow Russia to play the role of mediator between Iran, which is still supporting President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in the defense battle, and Saudi Arabia, which applauded the withdrawal. Russia’s potential role might allow it to shift the ongoing negotiations in Geneva regarding Syria, or to reach a settlement in Lebanon’s two-year-long presidential vacuum. Future Movement head and former Prime Minister Saad Hariri seems keen to build on Russia's repositioning in Syria. After meeting March 30 with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Russia, Hariri said, “We appreciate the great role that Russia is playing in the region, and we look forward to a Russian role in Lebanon as well.” According to Houri, Hariri’s visit aimed at “urging [the Russians] to help Lebanon elect a president.” After his meeting with Lavrov, Hariri talked about “interventions taking place in the region, especially in Lebanon to prevent the election of a president.” From Lavrov’s offices, Hariri avoided directly accusing Hezbollah or Iran of obstructing elections. However, Lebanese Minister of Interior and Municipalities Nouhad al-Mashnouq, who was present at the meeting with Lavrov, had been more explicit the week before. As Machnouq visited the Royal Institute of International Studies-Chatham House during his March 24 official visit to London, he said, “It is Iran and Hezbollah that are preventing the election of a Lebanese president.” From Moscow, Hariri expressed his readiness to cooperate with Russia “on the military level.” That announcement came after Saudi Arabia canceled aid worth more than $3 billion to the Lebanese army in February. Hariri did not give any further details on how military cooperation with Russia would materialize or how it would be financed, or if what he was hinting at would replace the Saudi deal. Hariri did not miss the opportunity to rebuke, before meeting Lavrov, the federal-state solution in Syria. He said before meeting with Lavrov, “Syria must remain a united state.” Meanwhile, Hezbollah continues with its military involvement in Syria, while other parties such as Suleiman, Jumblatt and the Future Movement are concerned about a solution that might entrench Hezbollah’s deployment further along the Lebanese borders with Syria.

Report: Putin Informs Hariri of Russia's Readiness to Assist Lebanon Militarily
Naharnet/April 04/16/Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri concluded on Friday a trip to Russia where he held talks with President Vladimir Putin before traveling to the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Monday. Mustaqbal sources told the daily that the Russian leader informed the MP of his country's “readiness to support Lebanon on the military and security levels,” especially given the confrontation with terrorists. Russia has experience in fighting terror in wake of its involvement in the conflict in Syria, elaborated Putin, and Lebanon is facing the same threat seeing as the terrorists in Syria are the same ones threatening Lebanon. In addition, Putin and Hariri discussed the ongoing vacuum in the presidency, with the Russian leader inquiring about the delay. The sources said that the “results of the talks between the two officials will not emerge in the upcoming hours or days” because of the fast development of events on the ground. Hariri was accompanied on his trip by Interior Minister Nouhad Mashnouq, ex-MP Ghattas Khoury, Hariri's chief of staff Nader Hariri and his adviser for Russian affairs George Shaaban. The former prime minister had met Wednesday in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014 when the term of President Michel Suleiman ended. The presidential race is mainly confined to Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun and Marada leader MP Suleiman Franjieh. There is also centrist candidate MP Henri Helou. However, not a single candidate is able to garner the needed votes to be elected president. Sessions aimed at electing a head of state are being adjourned over lack of the required two-thirds quorum of the 128-member parliament.

Bkirki Spiritual Summit Slams Extremist Religious Speeches, Urges Support for Army
Naharnet/April 04/16/A summit of Christian religious leaders was held at the seat of the Maronite Patriarchate in Bkirki on Monday to emphasize the need to elect a president and reject extremism. The gatherers announced after the meeting their rejection of “extremist religious speeches that are employed to achieve bloody goals.” They demanded support for the army in its duty in combating terrorism, while stressing the need to fill the vacuum in the presidency that “is weighing heavily on the functioning of state institutions.”“The utmost importance must be placed on the election of a president,” said the meeting, which was chaired by Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. Furthermore, the gatherers urged concerned officials “to work hard and honestly in confronting the economic and social crisis that is affecting everyone, especially the youths.” “We demand equal partnership for all, which will ensure fair representation in society.”The spiritual leaders also condemned the deterioration of ties between Lebanon and Arab countries, “which is negatively impacting the Lebanese people and their interests.”On regional conflicts, they stated that peaceful solutions will ensure the safe return of the displaced Palestinians, Syrians, and Iraqis back to their homeland. They slammed the displacement of Christians in Iraq and Syria at the hands of extremists, comparing it to the genocide committed against Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Berri Rejects Concerns over Naturalization of Refugees, Implies it is Linked to Presidential Race
Naharnet/April 04/16/Speaker Nabih Berri rejected claims that there are plans to naturalize refugees in Lebanon, saying that these concerns have been “exaggerated”, reported As Safir newspaper on Monday. He told the daily that there are no factors on the ground that indicate that refugees will be naturalized, adding that this issue is being exploited for presidential elections purposes.“Does anyone believe that such an alleged plan exists and that I would accept it or remain silent over it?” he asked. “Don't they know me and my history?” he wondered. “We have made the greatest sacrifices to prevent naturalization. We have rejected it in the past and we will not allow it now,” stressed the speaker. “This issue should be kept out of political debates, especially since the constitutions clearly speaks against naturalization,” Berri added. Moreover, he said that United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not address this issue during his recent trip to Lebanon some ten days ago. Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil had warned around a week ago that there are attempts to naturalize refugees in Lebanon, demanding that greater efforts be taken to return displaced Syrians to their homeland. He urged Lebanese officials to take “unilateral” measures to contain the flow of refugees to protect Lebanon's sovereignty. Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people. Lebanese officials say that another half a million Syrians live in the country as well.

Raad Calls for 'Rescuing Arsal from Threat of Takfiri Terrorists'
Naharnet/April 04/16/Hizbullah's top lawmaker called Monday for “rescuing” the northeastern border town of Arsal from what he called “the threat of takfiri terrorists.”“The fall of the (Syrian) city of al-Qaryatain that stretches to (Syria's) Qalamun mountains represents a new bulwark in the face of the takfiris that will stop their infiltration, and they will suffer isolation and a siege that will affect the rest of them who are present in Arsal's outskirts,” head of Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad said. “We will see how our Lebanese state and government will deal with these militants, who are now deprived of supplies and means of communication,” Raad added.“Why should we allow the takfiris to keep tampering with the security of our villages and towns in the Bekaa? Why don't we take a national sovereign decision to rescue Arsal from the threat of these takfiri terrorists?” the lawmaker wondered. “Those who were counting on the presence of these militants to achieve some political goals are now facing a dead end,” the MP added.He called on the alleged parties to “change their roadmap” and to “coexist with their partners in this country instead of being part of a threat that is also targeted against them.”The Syrian army and its allies seized the city of al-Qaryatain on Sunday, according to state television. The city was the last stronghold of the Islamic State group in central Syria. IS jihadists withdrew from the town a week after the Russian-backed army and allied militia scored a major victory in the ancient city of Palmyra, which is also located in the vast province of Homs. Militants from the IS and the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front are entrenched in mountainous areas in Arsal's outskirts and other places along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Jihadists from the two groups stormed Arsal in August 2014 and engaged in deadly battles with the Lebanese army.The army still shells their positions upon detecting suspicious movements and fighters from Hizbullah have also engaged in clashes with them in the border region.

Paris Slams 'Violence' against Saudi Daily's Beirut Offices
Naharnet/April 04/16/France on Monday condemned what it called the “acts of violence” that targeted the Beirut offices of the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat, after they were stormed by protesters on Friday. We deplore “the acts of violence that hit the Beirut offices of the Asharq al-Awsat daily on April 1,” French foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal said, in response to a reporter's question. “Freedom of press is essential and it must be respected by everyone,” Nadal added. “We express our solidarity with the newspaper's editorial board and we hope the perpetrators will be identified and brought to justice,” he went on to say. At least seven protesters have been detained over the incident since Friday. “We are here to turn ourselves in. We are not terrorists, we were defending this flag and the country's sovereignty,” one of them said on Saturday as six wanted protesters turned themselves in to police. “We did not attack anyone and we did not harm anyone,” one of the young men stressed. An ISF patrol had on Saturday arrested the activist Pierre al-Hashash in the northern city of Batroun. According to an ISF statement issued Sunday, Hashash led the attack on the newspaper's offices and incited the other protesters to join him. The young men stormed the offices on Friday in protest at a cartoon deemed insulting to Lebanon. A video posted on social media shows the protesters arguing with Lebanese employees and asking them to stage a strike to condemn the published cartoon, which contains the Lebanese flag and the phrase “The Lebanese State: An April Fools' Lie”. Some of the protesters then move to the office's desks and start pushing stacks of newspapers to the ground, unfazed by the employees' appeals. The incident comes amid tensions between the kingdom and Lebanon's Hizbullah and a series of Saudi measures against Lebanon and the Iran-backed party.

Hizbullah Targets IS in Ras Baalbek Outskirts
Naharnet/April 04/16/Hizbullah fighters launched an attack against an Islamic State position in the outskirts of Ras Baalbek, killing and wounding several, al-Manar TV reported on Monday. The attack was launched against a position in the al-Zwaytini where Hizbullah was able to destroy the militants' fortifications. Sources of al-Manar said that Hizbullah had attacked the group when it was receiving reinforcements. It targeted the IS positions with machine guns and shelled their positions leading to a number of unspecified casualties. The Voice of Lebanon radio (93.3) said that Hizbullah was able to take control of the military point.

Aoun on Naturalizing Syrians: Our Land Could be Stolen in Front of our Own Eyes
Naharnet/April 04/16/Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun said on Monday that the way in which the international community and the United Nations are addressing the Syrian refugees issue in Lebanon “is dubious” and raises fears of hidden intentions to naturalize them. “The international community and the United Nations are addressing the issue of displaced Syrians in a dubious and suspicious manner. It makes us believe that there are intentions to impose naturalization on us as a fait accompli,” Aoun told As Safir daily. Raising the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, the MP voiced fears that the same scenario might repeat itself but this time with the Syrians, saying: “They kept telling us that naturalizing the Palestinians in Lebanon is only a scarecrow until their presence after tens of years became a rooted reality. “No one told us how they were going to return to their homeland, and now I am afraid that our land might be stolen in front of our own eyes to be used in solving the crises of others at Lebanon's expense,” he concluded. Concerns that refugees could be naturalized in Lebanon arose after Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil warned that there are indirect efforts to give the Lebanese nationality to displaced Syrians. His comments triggered a series of reactions that assured the issue has not been suggested by international bodies. Recently, the World Bank and Islamic Development Bank have signed agreements worth hundreds of millions of dollars to help Lebanon cope with the large number of Syrian refugees who were displaced by their country's civil war. Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people. Lebanon says that another half a million Syrians live in the country as well.

To Flee Lebanon's Trash Crisis, Family Heads to Syria
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/April 04/16/Imagine living near a trash dump so putrid that you would rather move to war-torn Syria. That's what Fayyad Ayyash, his wife Riham and their four young daughters plan to do next week, leaving behind their home in Lebanon for neighboring Syria. Their modest two-storey house in the town of Naameh, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Lebanese capital, directly overlooks the infamous and odorous landfill by the same name. "We're going next week. In Syria, there's a possibility I might die. Here, we'll definitely die," Fayyad tells AFP. From his grassy backyard, dozens of large trucks carrying tonnes of waste can be seen -- and smelled -- lining up to add their load to the "trash mountain." The July 2015 closure of the notorious landfill lies at the heart of Lebanon's trash crisis, which has seen rivers of trash spread across the Mediterranean country, triggering protests nationwide. Then last month, the government made a controversial decision to reopen it -- and this was the last straw for residents like Fayyad. Pulling out a bright blue inhaler, he says his family has been suffering from respiratory problems for months because of the dump. His daughters, whose ages range from just under two to 10 years, all have trouble eating and sleeping.
"It's always worse at night than during the day. The whole area is swarming with the same smell and the same sickness," he says. Fayyad says it's become so bad, he's decided to flee across the border to the town of Libeen in southern Syria, a country where a conflict has been raging since 2011. The Naameh landfill opened in 1997 and was meant to be a temporary dump, but an alternative site was never opened. For 20 years, the waste generated in Beirut and Mount Lebanon -- the country's most populous areas -- was dumped in Naameh.The verdant valley swelled into a trash mountain of more than 15 million tons. Furious residents forced the closure of the site in July 2015, saying it was leading to high cancer rates, skin diseases and breathing problems. Uncollected rubbish began piling up around Beirut and its suburbs, emitting a horrible stench that sparked protests in downtown Beirut demanding a long-term solution. After months of political wrangling, Lebanon's cabinet announced a four-year plan to end the waste crisis -- and its first step was reopening Naameh for two months. "When the dump reopened, my baby immediately started throwing up again," Fayyad says.
Fayyad and his Syrian wife, Riham, are both Druze, an offshoot of Islam. Riham estimates that she spends about $1,000 (around 880 euros) per month on doctor's visits, inhalers, and other medication for her children. Pointing to her bare finger, she says she had to sell her wedding ring to cover the costs.
"I wish my kids would eat food as much as they take medicine," she says. Riham's family hails from Libeen, in Syria's southern Sweida province. That's where she will travel to next week, in the hope that the open plains there will be good for her children. Sweida, the heartland of Syria's Druze minority, has come under attack by jihadists of the Islamic State group but has seen less fighting than other parts of the country. "No, it isn't safe, but I'm forced to leave... I have a suitcase packed and ready on top of the closet," Riham says. Farouk Merhebi from the American University of Beirut says the smell has probably made life incredibly uncomfortable for hundreds living within a one-kilometer radius of the dump. Before the crisis began, trash trucks would dump between 2,800 to 3,000 tonnes of waste per day in Naameh, says Merhebi, who is AUB's director of environmental health, safety and risk management. "Now it's about 8,000 to 9,000 tons. The operations almost tripled because they're playing catch-up with the trash that had accumulated," he says. "The waste that has accumulated in streets has fermented, so the smell is offensive... The smell is worse because it's been there for seven to eight months."
But the long-term health effects of the dump on the surrounding area remain untested. Merhebi is part of a team at AUB hoping for funding to complete research in the area "to test the surface water, ground water, and some samples of the soil as well as samples of ambient air." But Fayyad and his family say they cannot wait. "Riham's family said they were thinking of coming to Lebanon," he says. "But we told them, 'do you want to die here from the smell?'"

Salam: Naturalization Debate Being Exploited for Political Gain
Naharnet/April 04/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam expressed his exasperation with the ongoing debate on alleged plans to naturalize refugees in Lebanon, saying that the claims are “baseless,” reported As Safir newspaper on Monday.
“The possibility of naturalization is an illusion,” he added. “Some sides are exploiting this issue for political and sectarian purposes among Christians as if the parliamentary elections will be held tomorrow,” he remarked. “If someone is sad that he has not been able to play a certain role, then this is not the way to make up for the shortcomings,” Salam said in an indirect reference to Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil. Bassil had warned around a week ago that there are attempts to naturalize refugees in Lebanon, demanding that greater efforts be taken to return displaced Syrians to their homeland. He urged Lebanese officials to take “unilateral” measures to contain the flow of refugees to protect Lebanon's sovereignty. He also did not meet with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during his recent trip to Lebanon, accusing him of seeking to further plans to naturalize the displaced. Salam said: “The U.N. is not a colonial empire. Ban's term will end in six months and I did not hear anything suspicious from him during his trip.”“On the contrary, what he proposed serves Lebanon and helps it shoulder the burden of refugees.”“Why should we risk squandering this support through internal political debates. We will only incur more damage and harm this way. We will only be shooting ourselves in the foot.”Lebanon is home to more than 1 million registered Syrian refugees, or nearly a quarter of the country's 4.5 million people. Lebanese officials say that another half a million Syrians live in the country as well.

Migrants arrive for expulsion from Greece to Turkey
AFP, Lesbos, Greece Monday, 4 April 2016/Buses believed to be carrying hundreds of migrants for deportation to Turkey arrived at the Greek island ports of Lesbos and Chios early Monday morning, Agence France-Presse reporters said.By midday, a ferry reportedly arrived in the Turkish port of Dikili on Monday carrying the first migrants sent back by Greece under a EU-Turkish deal aimed at curbing Europe's migration crisis, AFP reporters saw. The catamaran Nezli Jale arrived from the Greek island of Lesbos at 9:20am (0620 GMT) with several dozen passengers on board. Several hundred migrants are expected to arrive Monday in Dikili and the port of Cesme on the first day of operations. The expulsion launches a controversial EU deal to send migrants back across the Aegean Sea that has been criticized by rights groups on ethical grounds. On Lesbos, crews were earlier seen loading supplies onto the ships -- a small ferry and a catamaran. A Turkish-flagged passenger boat carrying migrants to be returned to Turkey leaves the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos. (Reuters) Turkish Interior Minister Efkan Ala has said his country is ready to receive 500 migrants on Monday and Greek authorities have provided 400 names, although these numbers could change. The European Union signed the controversial deal with Turkey in March as it wrestles with the continent’s worst migration crisis since World War II, with more than a million people arriving last year. Activists hold placards as they protest against the return of migrants to Turkey, at the port of Mytilene on the Greek island of Lesbos. (Reuters). Under the agreement, designed to halt new arrivals along the most popular route through Turkey, all “irregular migrants” arriving since March 20 face being sent back. Each case is meant to be examined individually.For every Syrian refugee returned, another Syrian refugee will be resettled from Turkey to the EU, with numbers capped at 72,000.

Russia: Demands Assad should leave ‘hinders Syria political talks’
Reuters Monday, 4 April 2016/Demands for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to step down restrict perspectives for political settlement in this country, Russia’s RIA news agency on Monday quoted Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.Moscow proposes to put off discussions about Assad’s fate, Ryabkov said, adding the issue should be decided later by the sides involved in the Syrian conflict.

Strikes kill Qaeda spokesman, militants in Syria
AFP, Beirut Monday, 4 April 2016/The spokesman for Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, his son and 20 other militants were killed in air strikes Sunday in the northeast of the country, a monitor said. “Abu Firas al-Suri, his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa and jihadists from Uzbekistan were killed in strikes on positions in Idlib province,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP. It was not immediately clear if the raids were carried out by Syrian regime warplanes or their Russian allies. Abdel Rahman said Suri was meeting with other leading militants in Kafar Jales when the raids struck and that two other Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa targets were also attacked. A temporary ceasefire between government forces and rebels has largely held since February 27, but it does not cover Al-Nusra Front and ISIS.On Wednesday, a drone strike near ISIS’s de facto Syrian capital Raqa killed a jihadist commander, according to the Observatory, in the latest in a series of blows to the militants in recent weeks.

Syrian army presses ahead with offensive against ISIS
By AP Beirut Monday, 4 April 2016/Syrian troops and allied militiamen pressed on with an offensive against ISIS in central Syria on Monday, clashing with the extremists around the town of Qaryatain a day after it was captured by pro-government forces. The push into Qaryatain took place under the cover of Russian airstrikes and dealt another setback to ISIS in Syria a week after the army retook the historic town of Palmyra from the group. SANA said the army was fighting ISIS militants in areas around Qaryatain Monday, as well as in farms east and north of Palmyra. The capture of Qaryatain deprives ISIS of a main base in central Syria and could be used by government forces in the future to launch attacks on ISIS-held areas near the Iraqi border. Qaryatain used to be home to a sizable Christian population and lies midway between Palmyra and the capital, Damascus. Activists said last summer that Qaryatain had a mixed population of around 40,000 Sunni Muslims and Christians, as well as thousands of internally displaced people who had fled from the nearby city of Homs. Many of the Christians fled the town after it came under ISIS attack. Dozens of Qaryatain's Christians and other residents have been abducted by ISIS. While the town was under Islamic State control, some were released while others were made to sign pledges to pay a tax imposed on non-Muslims. Meanwhile, monitoring groups said that a senior Al-Qaeda official was killed in air strikes Sunday night that killed at least 21 other militants in Idlib province, a militant stronghold in northern Syria. The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors militant websites, said Abu Firas al-Souri died in US strikes. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the jets were thought to belong to the Syrian or Russian Air Forces. It said they targeted the headquarters of Jund al-Aqsa, an extremist group that fights alongside al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front. Al-Souri was the former official spokesman for the Nusra Front, the group reported on social media Monday. A 2014 biographical video about al-Souri, obtained by SITE, says he used to represent Osama bin Laden in Pakistan after he met the al-Qaeda founder in Afghanistan during the jihad against the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Al-Souri, born outside Damascus in 1949, followed the path of many Syrian militants. A graduate of the country's military college, he trained militant cells in the country between 1977 and 1980, heading several operations against the authorities for the latter part of that period. He was expelled from the Syrian military in part because of his Islamist ties in 1979. He fled to Jordan in 1980 then to Afghanistan in 1981 where he trained militants coming to the war-torn country from across Asia and the Arab world. He became an associate of bin Laden and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a senior al-Qaeda commander who led the organization’s affiliate in Iraq following the 2003 US invasion. Al-Souri participated in a number of major military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan before transferring to Yemen in 2003. In 2013, the al-Qaeda leadership transferred him to Syria to mend the growing rift between the group and ISIS. A media outlet belonging to the Lebanese militia Hezbollah said al-Souri’s son was also killed in the air strikes. Hezbollah has sent thousands of its fighters to fight alongside Syrian government forces in the country’s five-year civil war. The group was reported to have lost a dozen soldiers in fierce fighting in northern Syria last weekend as militant groups alongside rebel militias mounted an offensive against several government positions.

Iraqi forces take northern edge of ISIS-held town
The Associated Press, Hit, Iraq Monday, 4 April 2016/Iraqi forces took the northern edge of the ISIS-held town of Hit, west of Baghdad, on Sunday in an operation led by the country’s elite counterterrorism forces, military officials said. The operation to recapture Hit was relaunched last week, but the troops’ progress has been slowed by hundreds of roadside bombs and efforts to safeguard thousands of civilians trapped inside the town. “We’ve never had a delay like this on one of our targets,” said Gen. Husham al-Jabri of Iraq’s counterterrorism forces. Al-Jabri carefully plotted progress towards Hit on a map in a temporary operations center just south of the city. The initial push to take Hit was launched last month, but was quickly put on hold when Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi pulled forces back to Baghdad after anti-government protests threatened instability in the Iraqi capital.
After the operation resumed, Iraqi forces had to deal with hundreds of roadside bombs laid by ISIS fighters along the main roads leading in and out of Hit, forcing convoys to veer off into the surrounding desert terrain. Even there, the forces’ advance was repeatedly brought to a standstill by booby-trapped explosives. Progress was further complicated by muddy conditions after days of rainfall. “The roadside bomb is the only weapon they have left to depend on,” said Ayad Ghazi, a sergeant with one of the leading battalions inching toward the town. Just a few hundred meters ahead of him plumes of orange smoke rose from controlled blasts. He said it took his men 12 hours to travel just three miles (five kilometers) on Sunday. While initially used on a limited basis by al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to the militant group, ISIS now produces roadside bombs on an industrial scale. ISIS fighters use these bombs defensively, placing the devices to essentially create mine fields to impede advancing government forces. ISIS also litters cities and towns with the explosive devices to hinder pursuit of their fleeing fighters. Iraqi forces have struggled to train and equip enough units to deal with the sheer volume of the bombs. The US-led coalition said Iraqi forces were in the outskirts of Hit and working to surround the town, seeking to build on recent gains made by government forces with the recapture in February of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar Province in central Iraq. Hit, 85 miles (140 kilometers) west of Baghdad, lies along a supply line linking the extremist group’s fighters in Iraq with those in neighboring Syria. Iraqi military officials say retaking Hit would cut ISIS supply lines and allow anti-ISIS forces to link up to the west and north of Baghdad. Iraqi and coalition officials said that retaking Hit will be a key step before an eventual push on Mosul, the largest Iraqi city held by ISIS.

Suicide bombings against Iraqi forces kill at least 20
Reuters, Baghdad Monday, 4 April 2016/More than 20 people were killed on Monday in Iraq, most in suicide attacks targeting members of Shiite militias and military forces, security officials said. One bomber targeted a joint police and army checkpoint in north Baghdad, while two others struck pro-government paramilitaries on a street in Mishahada, north of the capital, and in a restaurant in Nasiriyah in southern Iraq. ISIS, which controls territory in northern and western Iraq, claimed in statements on its Amaq news agency several of these attacks, which also wounded more than 60. (With AFP)

Coalition planes destroy ISIS-occupied Turkish consulate in Mosul
Reuters Monday, 4 April 2016/An aircraft from a US-led coalition on Monday destroyed the Turkish consulate compound in Mosul in northern Iraq which has been occupied by ISIS militants since June 2014, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
It said in a written statement that Turkey’s views had been sought and its approval given for the air strikes, which were carried out at 3 a.m.

Speaker of the US House decries 'ridiculous and counterproductive BDS shenanigan'
Jerusalem Post/April 04/16/Visiting US Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) said Monday that he chose Israel as the destination of his first trip abroad in his powerful new role “to show how important our ties and our alliance with Israel is.” Ryan, in an interview from Jerusalem with the Hugh Hewitt radio show in the US, said “in this dangerous, chaotic part of the world, with terrorism all over the world, Israel is one of our most important allies.” Ryan's comments came after he, and the senior bipartisan congressional delegation he is leading, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Ryan has been speaker of the House for just over four months. While in the past the PMO's office would often provide readouts of the premier’s meetings with US lawmakers, in recent months they have stopped doing this, in what may be an attempt not to be seen as taking sides in the US election. “I’m here to show our support. I’m here to talk with our allies, and to see how we can better cooperate to win this war against radical Islamic terrorism,” Ryan said, pointedly using a phrase – radical Islamic terrorism – avoided by US President Barack Obama. Ryan said that the conversation with Netanyahu dealt with UN resolutions “and any problems they propose,” an obvious reference to concern some in Jerusalem have that in the waning days of the Obama tenure the president may either not veto a French resolution on the Mideast in the UN Security Council, or present his own resolution setting the parameters for a future deal. Ryan also said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, as well as the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe, were discussed in the meeting with Netanyahu. “Europe has been engaging in this ridiculous and counterproductive BDS shenanigan,” he said. “We in the Congress have been very forceful about that. By the way, when you try to boycott, divest and sanction Israel, you’re hurting Palestinians as well.”In addition to meeting Netanyahu, Ryan and his delegation also visited the Knesset and met with Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein. Ryan said the alliance between Israel and the US is “more important now than ever before” in light of “very difficult times, the rise of ISIS, terrorism, Syrian civil war, Iran.” “We see you as our friends, our allies, our partners. You’re an island of freedom in a very difficult, chaotic region, and that is why our partnership is all the more important,” he added. Ryan said it is important for Israel and the US to renew and extend its bilateral security agreement, mentioning missile defense programs like David’s Sling and the Arrow. Following his meeting with Netanyahu, Ryan and the delegation visited an Iron Dome battery. Ryan reiterated to Edelstein that Congress would actively combat boycott efforts against Israel.
“That’s something we take pride in, advancing the kind of [anti-boycott] legislation we’ve already advanced this year in the House, and we pledge to stand shoulder to shoulder with you. That’s why we’re here,” Ryan stated. Edelstein told Ryan that Israel knows “we have true friends in the US, in Congress and the White House. “In our neighborhood, I think it’s not just a question of having another good friend, but also a question of Israel’s security,” he said, adding that continued American aid to Israel is “the guarantor of our existence” in the region.

Israel demolishes homes of three Palestinian attackers
The Associated Press, Jerusalem Monday, 4 April 2016/Israel’s military says it has demolished the West Bank homes of three Palestinians who killed an Israeli security officer and seriously wounded another in Jerusalem in February. Israel completed the demolition early Monday. The three Palestinian men in their early 20’s drew rifles and knives and attacked two female officers during a security check, killing a 19-year-old officer. They were killed by Israeli officers at the scene. Israel says home demolitions are an effective tool to deter attacks, but critics say the tactic amounts to collective punishment. Palestinian attacks in the last six months have killed 28 Israelis and two Americans, and at least 188 Palestinians have died by Israeli fire. Israel says most were attackers, and the rest died in clashes with Israeli security forces.

Autopsy ‘backs case against’ Israel soldier who shot Palestinian
AFP, Jerusalem Monday, 4 April 2016/An autopsy on a Palestinian assailant showed Sunday that he was killed by a bullet to the head, backing a manslaughter case against an Israeli soldier caught on video shooting him, a doctor said. The soldier shot Abdul Fatah al-Sharif in the head on March 24 as he lay on the ground while apparently seriously wounded from earlier gunshot wounds. Video of the incident in Hebron in the occupied West Bank spread widely online and the soldier was arrested, with rights groups labelling it a summary execution. Prosecutors have said they are investigating the 19-year-old soldier for manslaughter, though he has not yet been charged. His identity has remained secret under a gag order. Israel’s Supreme Court allowed the Palestinian’s family to have a doctor of their choice observe the autopsy. “After a full autopsy, the fatal wound was in the head,” the Palestinian doctor, Rayan al-Ali, told AFP. “There were several gunshot wounds. All those wounds were in the muscles, the lower limbs, and there was a wound in his right lung, but it was not fatal and did not lead to his death.” An Israeli forensic team that conducted the autopsy came to the same conclusion, a source close to the investigation told local media. An Israeli military spokeswoman could not confirm the autopsy findings when contacted by AFP. A finding that Sharif was already dead when the soldier shot him in the head could have complicated the investigation.Israeli authorities had not yet commented on the autopsy. What happened? Video showed the 21-year-old Palestinian lying on the ground, shot along with another man after stabbing and moderately wounding a soldier minutes earlier, according to the army. The soldier then shoots him again, in the head, without any apparent provocation. His lawyers have argued that the soldier may have thought the Palestinian was wearing explosives, but he was reportedly already checked for a suicide belt and no one in the video appears to be acting with caution toward him. The case has threatened to exacerbate Israeli-Palestinian tensions amid a wave of violence that began in October. It has also led to major controversy in Israel and sparked political tensions, with far-right supporters calling for the soldier’s release. Violence since October has left 200 Palestinians and 28 Israelis dead.

Suicide Bombings, Mortar Fire Kill 17 in Iraq
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/April 04/16/Four suicide bombings targeting Iraqi security forces and civilians and mortar fire that struck houses near Baghdad killed at least 17 people on Monday, security and medical officials said. The morning attacks also wounded at least 64 people, the sources said. In the deadliest single attack, a suicide bomber struck a street in the southern port city of Basra, killing five people and wounding 10. The Islamic State group, "after the losses it suffered in western areas, is seeking to move the battle to the southern areas," where many of the forces fighting the jihadists are from, Basra Governor Majid al-Nasrawi told journalists. IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led air strikes and training have since regained significant ground, most recently in the western province of Anbar. AFP journalists saw three burned bodies at the scene of the Basra attack -- two still inside vehicles, and a third on a stretcher. The blast set vehicles alight and damaged buildings in the area, one of the journalists said. Another bomber struck a joint police and army checkpoint in north Baghdad, while a third attacked pro-government paramilitaries in Mishahada, north of the capital, and a fourth hit militiamen in a restaurant south of the city of Nasiriyah. And mortar fire struck houses in Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, killing two people and wounding at least seven, officials said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attacks, but the Islamic State group frequently carries out suicide bombings in Iraq targeting civilians and security forces. Like the Basra governor, a U.S. army officer said that as IS loses territory, it is increasingly turning to bombings in a bid to stay relevant. The group is "losing its prominence on the battlefield, and so what we've kinda seen recently is a lot more what we call high profile attacks," Captain Chance McCraw told journalists in Baghdad. The jihadists are seeking "to still stay relevant in the media, because that's how they get their message out," McCraw said. A suicide bomber blew himself up following a football tournament south of Baghdad last month, killing more than 30 people. More than 45 people died in a suicide truck bombing at a checkpoint earlier in March.

Panama Papers: Huge Tax Leak Exposes Putin Aides, World Leaders
Naharnet/Agence France Presse/April 04/16/A furious Kremlin said Monday it was the target of a plot to destabilize Russia after a massive leak of confidential documents fingered President Vladimir Putin's close associates along with other world leaders in allegations of shady offshore financial dealings.
A year-long worldwide media investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from a Panama-based law firm with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of offshore financial dealings by the elite, from Putin's aides to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen stars. The vast stash of records from legal firm Mossack Fonseca, the so-called Panama Papers, was obtained from an anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than 100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Banks, companies and close associates of Putin, who is not himself named in the documents, "secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies", according to the ICIJ. The allegations were not aired by Russian state TV. "Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilize the situation," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who himself figures in the leaked documents, told journalists in Moscow. Peskov said the allegations contained nothing new, lacked details and were based on speculation. "We know this so-called journalist community," he added. "There are a lot of journalists whose main profession is unlikely to be journalism: a lot of former officials from the (U.S.) Department of State, the CIA and other special services." Offshore financial dealings are not illegal in themselves but may be abused to hide assets from tax authorities, launder the proceeds of criminal activities or conceal misappropriated or politically inconvenient wealth.
Chinese leader's relatives named
Among other key findings of the probe, which named about 140 political figures including 12 current or former heads of state: -- The families of some of China's top communist brass -- including the nation's president -- used offshore tax havens to conceal their fortunes. At least eight current or former members of the Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party's most powerful body, have been implicated.
-- A member of FIFA's ethics committee, Juan Pedro Damiani, had business ties with three men indicted in a corruption scandal. Argentine football great Lionel Messi and his father are named as owners of a Panama company that had not previously been disclosed during a Spanish probe into their tax affairs.
-- A Panamanian shell company may have helped hide millions of dollars from a $40 million British gold bullion robbery at London-Heathrow Airport in November 1983 that is etched in criminal folklore, according to the ICIJ. The Panamanian law firm denies the allegation.
-- Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson secretly owned millions of dollars of bank bonds during a financial crisis when the country's banking system collapsed. He refused calls to resign but faces a likely no-confidence vote this week.
-- Three of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's four children, including Maryam, who has been tipped to be his political successor, were named as owners of London real estate through offshore entities. Sharif's son Hussain told Pakistani television: "There is nothing wrong with it and I have never concealed them, nor do I need to do that."
'Nothing wrong with it'
The Panama Papers, from around 214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, also name the president of Ukraine and the king of Saudi Arabia, as well as sporting and movie stars including Jackie Chan. At least 33 people and companies listed in the documents were blacklisted by the U.S. government for wrongdoing, including dealings with North Korea and Iran, as well as Lebanon's Hizbullah, the ICIJ said. "I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents," said ICIJ director Gerard Ryle. One of the Panama law firm's founders, Ramon Fonseca, told AFP the leaks were "a crime, a felony" and "an attack on Panama.""Certain countries don't like it that we are so competitive in attracting companies," he said. Panama's government said it had "zero tolerance" for any shady deals, and vowed to "vigorously cooperate" with any legal investigations. France and Australia announced probes.
'Biggest leak in history'
The huge leak of documents recalls Wikileaks' exploits of 2010 -- which included the release of secret military files and diplomatic cables. However, in terms of size, "the 'Panama Papers' is likely the biggest leak of inside information in history," according to ICIJ. More than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches have worked with Mossack Fonseca since the 1970s to help clients manage offshore companies. UBS set up more than 1,100 and HSBC and its affiliates created more than 2,300. The documents show "banks, law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow legal requirements to make sure clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption," the ICIJ said.
Mossack Fonseca is already subject to investigations in Germany and Brazil, where it is part of a huge money laundering probe that has threatened to topple the current government.

Saudi Arabia, India sign cooperation accords
Saudi Gazette, Riyadh Monday, 4 April 2016/Saudi Arabia’s King Salman and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday reiterated their resolve to achieve strategic partnership in the entire gamut of bilateral relations between the two countries. In a meeting held at al-Yamamah Palace here, the two leaders also vowed to further enhance cooperation and coordination in combating terror as well as in bolstering ties in security and defense fields, besides boosting intra-investments. Several cooperation agreements and memoranda of understanding between the two countries were also signed in the presence of King Salman and the Indian premier. At the outset of the meeting, the King welcomed Modi and the accompanying high-ranking delegation to Saudi Arabia, saying: “Your visit reflects the depth of relations between our friendly countries and peoples. We applaud the economic growth achieved by your country, and look forward to further strengthening the relations and develop it in all spheres, especially the cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, energy and technology, and increase trade exchange between our countries,” the King said.
صدور بيان مشترك بمناسبة زيارة رئيس وزراء جمهورية الهند للمملكة الذي تناول المسائل الثنائية والإقليمية متعددة الجوانب التي تحظى باهتمام مشترك ، حيث أكد القائدان على العلاقات الثنائية الوثيقة الودية التي تعود جذورها إلى التاريخ المشترك بينهما وتستمر بالتطور عبر الشراكة المتنامية في مجالات الاقتصاد، والتعاون متعدد الأوجه، والتواصل فيما بين شعبي البلدين. أعرب القائدان في البيان المشترك عن تقديرهما للتحول الذي تكلل بالنجاح في العلاقات الثنائية في المجالات السياسية، والاقتصاد، والأمن، والدفاع، والقوى العاملة، والتواصل بين الشعبين في السنوات الأخيرة، حيث زاد ذلك الأمر من قوة العلاقات الثنائية، كما أعربا عن ارتياحهما للتبادل المنتظم للزيارات بين البلدين. أكد القائدان على أهمية مواصلة توطيد العلاقات الاستراتيجية الثنائية في إطار مسؤوليتهما تجاه تعزيز السلام والاستقرار والأمن في المنطقة وفي العالم، بما في ذلك مجالات الأمن والدفاع والتعاون لخدمة المصالح المشتركة لكلا البلدين وشعبيهما، واتفق القائدان على تعزيز التعاون وتقوية الأمن البحري في منطقتي الخليج والمحيط الهندي، اللتين تضمنان أمن ورخاء الدولتين. عبر القائدان عن إدانتهما الشديدة لظاهرة الإرهاب في كل أشكاله ومظاهره، بغض النظر عن هوية مرتكبيه وأياً كانت دوافعهم، وذلك إشارة منهما إلى الالتزام بإعلاني (دلهي والرياض) الصادر في عام 2014م، ووضّح القائدان بأن أي تبرير للأعمال الإرهابية أو أي ربط بين الإرهاب والتطرف وبين الدين، هو أمر مرفوض من قبل المجتمع الدولي، وذلك تأكيداً منهما على خطورة التطرف والإرهاب لكل المجتمعات، وعلى عدم ارتباطه بأي عرق أو لون أو ديانة. #واس
King Salman appreciated India’s interest in the affairs of the region and its keenness in supporting the stability of the states in the region. The King hoped that the global efforts to solve the Syrian crisis on the basis of Geneva I resolutions would be fruitful, and that the peace and security would prevail in Yemen and the UN sponsored peace talks would help find a political solution on the basis of the Security Council Resolution 2216.
Before his official talks with King Salman, Prime Minister Modi was accorded an official welcome at the Royal Court where national anthems of the two countries were played. King Salman and Modi later attended the signing ceremony of a cooperation agreement, two cooperation programs, an executive program and a draft memorandum of understanding between the two governments in the fields of investment promotion, standardization, hiring labor, handicrafts, and exchanging intelligence information on money laundering and terrorism financing. The cooperation program for promoting investments between Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and Indian Investment Authority was signed. SAGIA was represented by Prince Saud Bin Khaled Al-Faisal, executive chairman for systems and investment policies at SAGIA, in inking the deal while the Indian side was represented by Amar Sinha, undersecretary for economic relations at the Ministry of External Affairs. The cooperation program in the fields of standardization was signed by Saud Al-Askar, deputy governor of Saudi Standards, Quality and Metrology Organization, and Ahmed Javed, Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The cooperation agreement in hiring general labors was inked by Ziyad al-Sayegh, undersecretary for international labor at the Ministry of Labor and Ahmed Javed, ambassador of India. An executive cooperation program in the field of handicrafts, and a memorandum of understanding for cooperation with regard to exchanging intelligence information on money laundering and terrorism financing were also signed. India’s ties with Saudi Arabia have been on an upswing over the last two decades based on burgeoning energy ties. Both sides are keen on expanding the economic ties in a range of areas besides the oil sector.

Turkish court jails fighter wanted by Russia for killing pilot
AFP, Istanbul Monday, 4 April 2016/A Turkish court on Sunday detained, on firearms charges, a Turkish militia fighter accused by Moscow of killing a Russian pilot who ejected over Syria after being shot down by one of Ankara's war planes.
Alparslan Celik and six others were remanded in custody by the court in the Aegean city of Izmir, the Dogan news agency reported. A date for the trial has yet to be set. Celik was arrested while eating at a restaurant with friends in Izmir last week. Police seized a Kalashnikov, radios, six pistols and bullets after acting on a tip-off. Celik has been accused by Russia of killing Russian pilot Oleg Peshkov in cold blood as he parachuted to the ground after his plane was shot down by Turkish air forces on the Syrian border on November 24. The shooting down of the Russian Su-24 and Peshkov's killing caused an unprecedented crisis in relations between Ankara and Moscow. His detention in Turkey, on charges of possessing illegal firearms, is not directly linked to the incident with the Russian pilot but Celik's lawyer swiftly denounced the move as political. "What is on trial is not my client but patriotism. There are major political factors at play here," said lawyer Naci Tatac. Celik, the son of a prominent local politician from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), had since 2014 been fighting alongside Turkmen forces in Syria. The Turkmen, one of majority Arab Syria's ethnic minorities, speak a language very similar to modern Turkish and are staunch allies of Ankara in fighting forces of Russia's ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Celik in January made a public appearance at a funeral for a Turkish nationalist local politician who was killed fighting with a Turkmen militia in Syria, outraging Moscow even further. Russia's ambassador to Ankara Andrei Karlov in December directly accused Celik of shooting Peshkov. Ankara has on occasion shown signs of wanting to calm the row with Moscow, which has made the arrest of Celik one of its conditions for normalising relations.

Netanyahu’s dilemma: Détente with Turkey or recognition of Syrian Kurds
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report April 4, 2016
They were once good friends
Last Friday, April 1, President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan had his first encounter with a group of American Jewish leaders, at his request. The full details of its contents were hard to sort out because the Turkish translator censored his master’s words with a heavy hand to make them more acceptable to his audience. But Erdogan’s bottom line, debkafile’s New York sources report, was a request for help in explaining to the Obama administration in Washington and the Netanyahu government in Jerusalem why they must on no account extend support to the Syrian Kurdish PYD and its YPG militia or recognize their bid for a separate state in northern Syria.
The Turkish president did not spell out his response to this step, but indicated that a Turkish invasion to confront the Kurdish separatists was under serious consideration in Ankara. His meaning was clear: He would go to war against the Kurds, even if this meant flying in the face of President Barack Obama’s expectation that Turkey would fight the Islamic State.
Relations between the Turkish and US presidents have slipped back another notch in the last two weeks. When he visited Washington for the nuclear summit, Erdogan was pointedly not invited to the White House and his request for a tete a tete with Obama was ruled out. The US president even refused to join Erdogan in ceremonially honoring a new mosque built outside Washington with Turkish government funding.
At odds between them is not just the Kurdish question, but Erdogan’s furious opposition to Obama’s collaboration with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Syrian conflict, and the two presidents' tacit accord to leave Bashar Assad in power indefinitely until a handover becomes manageable.
On Feb. 7, on his return for a Latin American tour, the Turkish president warned Obama that he must choose between Ankara and the Kurds, whom he called “terrorists.” By last week, the US president’s choice was clear. It was the Kurds.
When Erdogan arrived home from Washington last week, he discovered that the roughly four million Syrian Kurds dwelling in three enclaves touching on the Turkish border had taken important steps to advance their goal for self-rule: They were drafting a plan for establishing a “Federal Democratic System” in their three enclaves – Hassakeh-Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin – and had announced the amalgamation of their respective militias under the heading the “Syrian Democratic Forces".
Cold-shouldered in Washington as well as Moscow (since Turkish jets shot down a Russian fighter last November), Erdogan found himself let down by the Jewish leaders whom he tried to woo. They refused to support him or his policy on the Kurdish question for three reasons:
1. Ankara had for years consistently promoted the radical Palestinian Hamas organization. To this, Erdogan replied by denying he had backed Hamas only acted to improve the lives of the Gaza population. And, anyway, he said he had reached understandings with Israel on this issue..
2. His hostility towards Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi. Erdogan’s response to this was a diatribe slamming the Egyptian ruler.
3. No clear reply had been forthcoming from Jerusalem by that time on Israel's relations with Turkey or its policy towards the Kurds, despite the Turkish leader’s positive presentation of mended fences.
The current state of the relationship is laid out by debkafile’s sources:
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is caught on the horns of multiple dilemmas: While reluctant to respond to Ankara’s suit for warm relations with a leader who is shunned by Obama and Putin alike, Turkey is nonetheless offering to be Israel’s best client for its offshore gas.
Israel’s friendship with the Kurdish people goes back many years. The rise of an independent or autonomous state in Syria and its potential link-up with the semiautonomous Kurdish region of Iraq would create an important new state of 40 million people in the heart of the Middle East.
Israel has no wish to make enemies of its longstanding friends by disowning them in favor of Turkey.
Already, Israel’s evolving ties with the Syrian Kurds have given Israel’s strategic position in Syria a new positive spin, upgrading it versus the Assad regime in Damascus and its Hizballah and Iranian allies, who are avowed enemies of the Jewish state. Those ties offer Israel its first foothold in northern Syria.
And finally, Erdogan is not the only opponent of Kurdish separatism; so too are important Sunni Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. By promoting the Kurds, Israel risks jeopardizing its rapidly developing ties with those governments.

Syrian Refugees – the Myth and Reality of a Brand
Amir Taheri/Asharq Al Awsat/April 04/16
As some of us had expected the great European scare built around Syrian refugees has already fallen out of the headlines, barely retaining a place in inside pages. Why is this?
The flow of refugees has not slowed down, let alone stopped. According to latest estimates by the United Nations, over 100,000 new refugees have arrived in Turkey since last February.
What has happened is that Europe has factored in the immigrants’ issue in the complex and constantly changing mix of its political concerns. In some countries immigration has become the number one issue of national politics, even when no or few immigrants are involved.
Britain, for example, has pledged to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years and has so far only admitted 126. And, yet, fear of mass immigration is emerging as a key factor in shaping the result of next June’s referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union.
In Hungry, which has said it won’t take any refugees, the fear of “a tsunami of immigrants” has become a hot topic. Nobel Prize winner for Literature Imre Kertesz has even published a book on the subject. The book’s title “The Last Refuge” refers to Europe which the great Hungarian novelist believes “Muslims are flooding, occupying, in no uncertain terms, destroying Europe.”
In Paris the magazine Valeurs Actuelles warns that France’s national identity is in danger, although the French have wiggled out of European quotas for admitting immigrants. So far, a total of 1003 Syrian refugees have been let in with promises of admitting another 3000 at an unspecified date.
Part of the scare is due to the activities of lobbies that want as many immigrants as they could get away with. Dominated by left-liberal ideologies, the European Union’s huge bureaucracy is sold on the idea of open borders inside the continent. Its ideological allies in several European political parties and hundreds of NGOs go even further in support of open borders beyond the continent.
The massive welfare industry that consists of large segments of the bureaucracy, and numerous charitable organizations often benefiting from the public purse also favor mass immigration if only because immigrants form a significant proportion of welfare recipients.
With the collapse of Communism as an ideology, those who share its view of the world have fallen back on a new theme: equality. They no longer talk of the dictatorship of the proletariat or even the public ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange. Instead, they urge regulation and redistribution from the well-to-do to the underprivileged.
Economists like Thomas Picketty and Joseph Stiglitz have built a whole system on the claim that there is less equality in Western democratic societies today than there was a generation ago. To sustain such a thesis you need a steady flow of poorer people who help bring down the statistical average of income distribution. In other words you need to import poor people to prove your theory right.
Paradoxically, though ideologically close to the right, large segments of the European business community also favor mass immigration because it ensures an endless source of cheap labor that could keep wage levels as low as possible in the same way as the supply of slave labor did in the Roman Empire.
Support for mass immigration comes from another surprising corner: moderate conservative and Christian movements concerned about Europe’s demographic decline. In fact, German Chancellor Mrs. Angela Merkel all but publicly acknowledged this before the “Syrian tsunami” started. She appealed to the youth of other European counties to immigrate to Germany where they would be welcomed and helped to achieve their full potential. Thus when she surprised many by saying Germany would take up to a million Syrian refugees she was, in fact, acting according to a well-thought strategy.
According to German experts, quoted by the weekly Der Spiegel, the federal republic needs at least two million live births each year to avoid speedy demographic decline and even “extinction” within decades. At the moment, however, Germans produce only 700,000 babies each year, a quarter of them from immigrant backgrounds. The demographic picture is equally grim for Italy, Spain, Greece and Sweden.
For its part, Turkey quickly recognized the potential of the Syrian refugee tragedy” to further its own end. It was invited back to the top-table in Europe, given a $6 billion golden handshake and had its years of regression on human rights simply ignored.
Using the “Syrian” label to sell the idea of mass immigration to Europe was a stroke of marketing genius. Here were “innocent civilians” fleeing from a sanguinary despot backed by Iran’s disreputable mullahs, the Hezbollah mercenaries and later Vladimir Putin’s death machine. Any European loyal to his or her “cultural values” would support a policy of open arms to welcome people in such a dire strait. “We could not let Syrian children die on Turkish beaches,” became a mantra for the European liberal left. The head of the Catholic community Pope Francis echoed the sentiment by denouncing the idea of allowing the Mediterranean to become a graveyard of refugees.
But while people talk about “up to 20 million Syrian refugees” coming to settle in Europe, the real picture may show something different. The official data available shows that the tsunami may well turn out to have been more of a spring shower, at least so far.
According to figures presented by the German government to the Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, in 2015 the Federal Republic registered a total of 311,000 immigrants. Of these 99,290 were Syrians while Iraqis, in second place, numbered 36,000. Iranians were in third place with 13,535 people. The rest came from Afghanistan and over 20 other countries, most of them in the African continents. In other words, less than one third were Syrians.
In the same year, the Federal Republic approved 30,000 demands for asylum. Of these more than a third, 11,770, belonged to Kurdish-Turkish refugees. Iranian asylum-seekers were in second place with 5776 approved applications. Syrians came third with 5389.
Also in 2015, the Federal Republic granted temporary resident status to 155,208 immigrants. Of these 87 per cent belonged to the Balkan counters with Serbs at number one receiving 30212 approvals. Kosovars were in second place with 13,533. The Syrians were again in third place with 9,988. Finally, 37,220 refugees agreed to return to their original homelands with financial help from Berlin.
To sum up, while the “Syrian” brand has been massively used for marketing purposes, the number of Syrians offered refuge in Europe is nowhere near the 1 or 2 million figures bandied around. In fact, in 2015 many more Turks, Iranians and Serbs were absorbed in Europe than Syrians. To be sure, Berlin has a further 1.2 million demands for asylum, of which almost half are from Syrians, to consider this year.
According to the United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in 2015 five countries accounted for almost 80 per cent of all asylum seekers: Syria, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Even then the picture is more complicated than it appears. For example, the number of Iranians registered as refugees by the UNHCR is just over 76000 whereas Turkey alone is host to 1.2 million Iranian “exiles” granted temporary residence which is renewed every year. There is no such facility for Syrians.
According to the charity Oxfam, western democracies have admitted 1.4 per cent of those refugees, including a total of 67000 Syrians. The share of the US in that is around 1800.
The moral of the story is that there are interest groups that wish to use and abuse the “Syrian refugee tragedy” as a brand to serve their own political purposes either to dismiss any suggestion that mass immigration poses a threat to the European way of life or to hide the cowardice of western democracies to deal with vicious regimes that drive their people out of their homes.

The Kerry-Lavrov remedies for solving crises
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
The fragility of breakthroughs in the many crises afflicting the Arab region does not necessarily mean the breakthroughs are transient. Rather, this fragility must invite more local, regional, and international resolve so that the available opportunities become plausible and serious policies and solutions.
Some of what is happening in the Libyan, Yemeni, and Syrian issues, especially in terms of internationally brokered diplomatic efforts, is hopeful, promising and deserves serious investments rather than disregard. In truth, the main responsibility now rests with the US Secretary of State John Kerry and the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. For one thing, the two men have portrayed themselves as a “rescue team” who are trying to secure deals and perhaps even the so-called Grand Bargain. However, this does not absolve others of responsibility and accountability, especially given the dismal conditions in the three Arab countries in question in addition to Lebanon and Iraq. Specifically, this means Arab, Iranian, Turkish, and European leaders, bearing in mind the varying degrees of their culpabilities in the region’s disasters. True, both US President Obama and Russian President Putin are behind the decisions being implemented by the Kerry-Lavrov duo, but history will remember them equally as witnesses to the destruction of Syria, and the displacement and dispossession of its people – and children.
The four men will equally be remembered as enablers of an Iranian policy that has helped disrupt an Arab country’s march toward a normal, healthy life. But these men can still reshape their historic legacy if they show seriousness and honesty in pushing for breakthroughs, rather than be remembered for mere ploys. While Libya is not the product of American or Russian policies as much as of European policies, the US-Russian support for accords on Libya remains crucial.
Likewise in Yemen; while not the making of US-Russian policies, their role in transforming the country from the site of a devastating war to a site for regional accord is imperative for both Yemen and regional relations. Naturally, Syria remains at the top of the issues where Kerry and Lavrov’s legacies could be cemented if they don’t want their names to be linked to bloodbaths.
Exceptional opportunity
Thus, the two men have an exceptional opportunity that will not last long, to bring about a radical change in their diplomatic record in the Middle East. Perhaps history could then efface their hallmarks in the region’s tragedies, and remember instead how they adjusted course and worked hard to carve out solutions, away from considerations of ego and narcissism.
Certainly, these two veterans are acting in accordance with the national interests of their two countries, and this is their job as foreign ministers. However, their diplomatic roles and their implications for the Middle East in particular have been marked by their characters and personal relations. For this reason, the focus on this important duo in the history of the Middle East is not arbitrary or random.
Their loyalty to their respective presidents is clear. John Kerry appeared shocked when he led the choir promising severe consequences against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for crossing that infamous “red line” of President Obama. But Kerry then rushed to back off, while many expected him to resign having gone too far in voicing warnings only to backtrack so quickly.
John Kerry was sincere in his pursuit of a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, making visits after visits in the hope of securing some achievement. However, political reality forced him to admit to the failure of his efforts, and to set aside that issue, focusing instead on the Iranian and Syrian issues with his friend Lavrov. They set off together away from the red line and towards the golden formula that satisfied them and Israel: dismantling Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, in return for the US not conducting strikes that would topple the Assad regime.
Sergei Lavrov faithfully carried out the Kremlin’s policy, which set its sights on Syria as the stepping stone toward restoring Russia’s regional and global influence, and at the same time, towards reviving Russian nationalism to mobilize popular support for Russia’s revanchism. Lavrov replaced his signature smile he had as ambassador to UN with a frown and a loud voice, delivering the firmness and inflexible policy of Russia in the new era.
His mind, memory, and heart were preoccupied by Ukraine and the anger over NATO-led sanctions against Russia; Libya and NATO’s “trickery” against Russia in the UN Security Council; and concerns over the Western support for the Islamists’ rise to power, especially in Egypt in the wake of the Arab Spring that was a source of a lot of consternation for Moscow. This to the Kremlin was a toxic combination, but Lavrov found an antidote through his close relationship with his American counterpart as he sought to build mutual trust.
The experience and acumen of the two men have allowed them to try to make history, by turning the page on US animus with Iran and concluding a deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. Russia was the main gateway for the American passage to Iran, and on this issue in particular, Lavrov secured for Kerry what Obama had set out to achieve, namely, the normalization of American-Iranian relations.
The two men realized from the beginning that absolute focus on the nuclear issue and refusing to discuss Iran’s regional ambitions meant giving consent to Iran to continue meddling in the Arab countries. The difference is that Lavrov consented to this wilfully seeing as that was the Kremlin’s policy and given Russia’s alliance with Iran in Syria, while Kerry was implementing the White House’s policy of deliberate denial and appeasement.
Russia was the main gateway for the American passage to Iran, and on this issue in particular, Lavrov secured for Kerry what Obama had set out to achieve, namely, the normalization of American-Iranian relations
The result was the same: the US-Russian blessing of Iranian influence in Iraq, Lebanon through Hezbollah, Yemen through the Houthis, and Syria through Iran’s intervention in the war. A few weeks and months ago, signs emerged of preparations in Yemen and Syria, that could be the result of Russian decisions quintessentially and policies that the Russian and American top diplomats may have helped forge.
In Yemen, where Russian-Saudi and American-Saudi relations have dimensions that go beyond the bilateral, it seems that Moscow and Washington are seriously pushing for radical solutions. The UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is preparing for a key round of negotiations between the Yemeni parties in Kuwait on April 18. The relationship between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis is taking a promising path, if pledges made are implemented. If progress is made on the five key axes of the talks in Kuwait, Yemen could soon be on its way to peace.
This requires naturally not only a US-Russian decision, but also for Saudi Arabia, which leads the Arab coalition, to implement concrete measures that would show to the Yemenis a serious desire to aid and rebuild their country, now and not later. Confidence measures should start immediately and Yemen is also a key stop for confidence building measures in the region.
The hope for a breakthrough in Syria could be expanded, if Russian diplomacy proves that it is not manoeuvring but is intent to broker a serious political solution that goes beyond stopping the bleeding. The political solution is being led by Russia at the decision of the United States. Yet this does not mean full American surrender to Moscow’s designs in Syria, if the future of Bashar al-Assad is what will decide the future of Syria.
Syria and Libya
Breakthroughs have occurred on many fronts, and military operations have decreased. Some besieged areas received relief and aid, and the future of Assad is being discussed in isolation from the consensus regarding the continuation of the regime. UN Envoy Staffan de Mistura, with US-Russian help, has been able to rescue the political process from collapse. He is determined to continue his mission beyond ceasefires, in order to reach political solutions and settlements. His determination, however, remains contingent upon Russian and American decisions and serious help from Kerry and Lavrov.
Libya is a candidate for a breakthrough too, despite its fragility. The European Union welcomed what it said was the only opportunity for unification and reconciliation, after head of the UN-backed reconciliation government Fayez Sarraj arrived in Tripoli. Sarraj arrived with a number of Libyan presidential council members through the main naval base in the capital. This is an important development that could prove crucial to Libya’s democratic transition and march toward peace, security, and stability, according to UN envoy Martin Kobler.
European foreign ministers welcomed the development and praised the courage of Sarraj and his companions. However, this is not enough. The European responsibility for what happened in Libya compels European leaders to be more serious and coherent in their approach to Libya. The Russian consent to NATO measures in Libya is a very important development, bearing in mind that Libya was the epitome of Western “treachery” in Moscow’s thinking.
Therefore, and given that the US does not hold the same level of responsibility for the Libyan tragedy as European powers, any investment by Kerry and Lavrov in pushing Libya towards recovery would be crucial to rallying Europeans behind a prudent salvation policy in Libya.
There is no reason to trust that the fragile breakthroughs will lead to a quantum leap and a grand bargain that would take the Middle East out of its crucible. However, it is not wise to pour cold water on these breakthroughs because of the lack of confidence in American designs and Russian plans for the region.
Perhaps it is naïve to build expectations on two men who have become partners in shaping the fate of the Middle East. But perhaps it is politically realistic for these two men to think about how history will remember them, and be therefore motivated to adjust course and forge a different legacy, away from enabling bloodletting.

Our selfishness regarding terrorism
Hassan Al Mustafa/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
I do not think there is a serious examination of the ideas that generate terrorism. There is no organized and detailed review in Muslim communities. We are subject to the logic of reactions, quick convictions, apologetic and moral attitudes that are closer to self-exoneration than a real sense of the depth of the tragedy being faced. Instead of taking into consideration what victims of terrorism have endured, the focus is on potential acts against Muslims and veiled women in Europe. Others are concerned about the image of Islam being tarnished. All these stances revolve around fearing for ourselves, not for others. This shows our indifference toward them, and how we do not value humanity unless it impacts us, positively or negatively.
Humanity
We should recognize that a human being is valuable, with rights and respect regardless of race, religion or color. Terrorism violates the human values that manage relationships between societies. Instead of taking into consideration what victims of terrorism have endured, the focus is on potential acts against Muslims and veiled women in Europe. Others are concerned about the image of Islam being tarnished. British philosopher John Locke said: “No one has the right, in any way, to harm another person because they belong to another church or religion.” He added that “all the rights and privileges belonging to a person as a human being or citizen shall be maintained and not violated,” and that “rights and privileges have nothing to do with religion.” Religion cannot be imposed on others, or be the basis for one’s relationship with society. Relationships in the modern state between individuals have a civil contractual character. Muslim societies still suffer from a problem of identity and relations with the other. Adonis believes that “the human being is the one who creates his identity with innovative ideas and work.” This awareness is missing from the collective mind of Muslim societies, causing them to be more fundamentalist and inward in order to defend their existence from an imagined threat.

Our story with Russia
Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
Despite the zeal of some ultra-nationalist Russians who shun and ignore Soviet heritage, others still feel the USSR, the mammoth that competed with the USA for the leadership of the world, was an effective tool in promoting “Russian” interests, regardless of whether “internationalist” Bolsheviks had intended it or not. I reckon this particular argument is still far from being settled, within Russia or outside the great country the Arabs and Muslims came to know for the first time through the travels of Ahmad Ibn Fadhlan in 922 AD, during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Al-Muqtadir, who sent with him a letter to “the King of the Slavs”, including the Rus people. On the other hand, I think we as Arabs have failed to get to know the Russian people, their culture, their history as well as their interests, in spite of the fact that they have been among the most interactive “European” peoples with the Arab and Muslim worlds. Without dwelling too much on the subject, it would be beneficial if we keep the following in mind: Firstly, the Russian “geographic” environment has put them sometimes in a state of positive exchange, but more frequently in a state of confrontation with both Muslims and Arabs since the armies of Islamic conquest reached the foothills of the eastern Caucasus at Derbent (Bab Al-Abwab, i.e. “the gate of gates” in Arabic), and began to deal with the local population.
In those days the Muslims and Arabs called the Caucasus massif the “Mountain of the Tongues” (Jabal al-Alsun) denoting the multitude of languages spoken in its inaccessible valleys inhabited by different minorities without a single dominant majority. In fact, a large portion of that region is called Dagestan meaning the “Home or Land of mountains”. When European powers began to show interests in the Middle East, bolstered by religious connections with the holy places in Palestine, Russia established a strong ecclesiastic, educational and cultural presence. Before that, some historians linked the Jews to the Khazar people living on the northern shores of the Caspian Sea, claiming that the then King of the Khazar, already on bad terms with Christian Slavs but unwilling to accept Islam brought by invading armies from the south, decided to adopt Judaism as the religion of his people.Throughout history the lands of the Rus witnessed several waves of invaders and settlers, perhaps the most important of which were the waves of Turkic (Altaic or Turanic) raids, which resulted in the settlement of many Turkic people in today’s Russia. These include the Chuvash – western Russia’s only major Christian Turkic people – the Tatars, the Bashkirs and the “old Bulgars”.Secondly, Russia remains Europe’s largest country and certainly the leading bastion of Slavic culture. Indeed, when European powers began to show interests in the Middle East, bolstered by the never severed religious connections with the holy places in Palestine, Russia was one of these powers which established a strong ecclesiastic, educational and cultural presence. This presence was best reflected in what were known as “Moskovian” seminars and schools.
Going back in time
The remains of that presence are still there despite the spiritual retreat in the face of revolutionary thought during the Soviet decades. I still recall during my school days in Lebanon, namely in the town of Choueifat, the strong Russian ties with the area including the marriage of Aleksei Kruglov, the last Russian consul in Palestine to a Christian Orthodox lady from Choueifat. A grandson of consul Kruglov is a very dear friend and schoolmate. Furthermore, in a study conducted by the Syrian academic Dr Joseph Zeitoun, he mentions that Russia’s interests in the "Mashreq" go back to the early 19th century during the reigns of Emperor (czar) Alexander I and his successors. Zeitoun claims that the first steps in that direction were founding convents, caravanserais and hospices to serve pilgrims and visitors to the Holy Lands, particularly Jerusalem, but also including the Syrian town of Saydnaya, not far from Damascus, due to the significance of its “Convent of Our Lady”, regarded by many Christians as the “third pilgrimage” after Jerusalem and Bethlehem. In the 1830s Russia’s consul in Beirut instructed his council to travel through greater Syria (Bilad Ash-Sham) and prepare a report about the overall situation of Orthodox Christians. This report in turn led the Russian Synod to ask one of its bishops to travel to Palestine in a fact finding mission. The bishop indeed prepared an extensive report about the conditions of the Orthodox Church and its people, and stressed the urgent need for a spiritual, social and educational renaissance, as well as the need to establish a large Russian mission to provide relief not only to Greater Syria but also Egypt.
Men of letters
Actually, as a fruit of such an endeavor, the prominent Lebanese intellectual and man of letters Mikhail Naimy was one of the Syrio-Lebanese graduates of Russo-Ukrainian institutes, and so were the prominent Palestinian author and educator Khalil As-Sakakini, and three members of the Arab Pen League of New York, Raschid Ayyub, Abdul Massih Haddad and Nasib Arida. In addition to those, there was the noted Jerusalemite intellectual and academic Bandali Al-Jouzy who studied and taught in Russia. According to Dr Zeitoun, the first school the Russians founded in Palestine was in the village of Al-Mujaidel near the city of Nazareth in Galilee in 1882. It was soon followed by other schools in the villages of Ar-Rameh, Kufr Yassif and Ash-Shajara in 1883 and 1884. I remember reading two good books covering Russia’s interests in the Middle East; the first The Lebanon and the Lebanese, written in the 19th century by consul Konstantin Petkovich covering the affairs of Mount Lebanon autonomous district between 1862 and 1882 (later translated into Arabic); and the second Peasant Movements in the Lebanon during the first half of the 19th century written later during the Soviet era by Irina M. Smilianskaya.
These books give a clear idea about how seriously the Russians took our region, both in Imperial and Soviet periods. Yet we seem to be unable to understand the motives behind Russia’s intentions. We even do not know, or forget, that the USSR was the first country to recognize the founding of Saudi Arabia!
The fact of the matter is that Russia never ceased to see itself a major and influential player on the world stage; let alone with regards to its often problematic historical relations with Islam and Muslim peoples, its geo-political interests in the midst of global competition, and its economic and oil concerns in a world of conflicts and integration. Today, we as Arabs need experts in Russian as well as Chinese affairs at the same level with those who have studied European and American history and cultures. This is a challenge for us, and we – very simply put – need to know about the Russians and Chinese as much as they know about us!

The Azrkan oil field between Iran and Iraq
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/April 04/16
Tehran’s rush to sign oil contracts with Western companies is unsurprising. Oil is behind reconciliation with the West and fighting with the Arabs. What is troubling, however, is that Iran is focusing on disputed or shared areas, such as a common field with Iraq, which will increase suspicions that the deals will include secret clauses. The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s was due to a border dispute mostly over oil regions. Iran still wants to control them in order to control Baghdad. Since reconciliation with the West, Tehran has rushed to sign several contracts with companies, the most important regarding the border with Iraq, such as the southern Azrkan field. Questions have been raised about Baghdad’s ability to represent and protect Iraqi interests such as borders, water and oil, in light of its weakness. Tehran’s support for opposition political forces and militias in Iraq is one of the reasons behind the failure of Iraq’s government.
The Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s was due to a border dispute mostly over oil regions. Iran still wants to control them in order to control Baghdad. With Baghdad’s weakness, the absence of the role of parliament, and Iranian control of militias that compete with Iraq’s army, Tehran seems unconcerned by Iraqi and international public opinion.
Iranian persistence
The absence of transparency that accompanied the declaration of oil deals between Tehran and Western companies is raising questions, especially with Iranian encroachment into Iraq, and the diversion of river waters that is angering Iraqis dependent on agriculture. Iran’s persistence in dominating and weakening Iraq resembles what Damascus did in Lebanon for 30 years. This will revive conflict and hostility. Iran thinks it won its regional conflict because the West lifted sanctions in exchange for its retreat from its nuclear program, and this explains its involvement in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. However, Iraq is a big country, and will not be easy for Tehran to dominate.

ISIS in Europe: How Deep is the "Gray Zone"?
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone Institute/April 04/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/7764/isis-europe
Among young European Muslims, support for suicide bombings range from 22% in Germany to 29% in Spain, 35% in Britain and 42% in France, according to a Pew poll. In the UK, one in five Muslims have sympathy for the Caliphate. Today more British Muslims join ISIS than the British army. In the Netherlands, a survey shows that the 80% of Dutch Turks see "nothing wrong" in ISIS.
Even if these polls and surveys must be taken with some caution, they all indicate a deep and vibrant "gray zone," which is feeding the Islamic jihad in Europe and the Middle East. We are talking about millions of Muslims who show sympathy, understanding and affinity with the ideology and goals of ISIS.
How many Muslims will this ISIS virus be able to infect in the vast European "gray zone"? The answer will determine our future.
In the 1970s and '80s, Europe was terrorized by a war declared by Communist armed groups, such as the Germany's Baader Meinhof or Italy's Red Brigades. Terrorists seemed determined to undermine democracy and capitalism. They targeted dozens of journalists, public officials, professors, economists and politicians, and in Italy in 1978, even kidnapped and executed Italy's former prime minister, Aldo Moro.
The big question then was: "How deep is the 'gray zone'?" -- the sympathizers of terrorism in the industrial factories, labor unions and universities.
In the last year, the Islamic State's henchmen slaughtered hundreds of Europeans and Westerners. Their last assault, in Brussels, struck at the heart of the West: the postmodern mecca of NATO and the European Union.
We should now answer the same question: How deep is the "gray zone" of the Islamic State in Europe?
Peggy Noonan recently tried to give an answer in the Wall Street Journal:
"There are said to be 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. ... Let's say only 10% of the 1.6 billion harbor feelings of grievance toward 'the West', or desire to expunge the infidel, or hope to re-establish the caliphate. That 10% is 160 million people. Let's say of that group only 10% would be inclined toward jihad. That's 16 million. Assume that of that group only 10% really means it — would really become jihadis or give them aid and sustenance. That's 1.6 million."
That is a lot.
According to a ComRes report commissioned by the BBC, 27% of British Muslims have sympathy for the terrorists who attacked the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris (12 killed). An ICM poll, released by Newsweek, revealed that 16% of French Muslims support ISIS. The number rises to 27% percent for those aged 18-24. In dozens of French schools, the "minute of silence" to commemorate the murdered Charlie Hebdo's journalists was interrupted by Muslim pupils who protested it. How deep is ISIS's popularity in Belgium? Very deep. The most accurate study is a report from Voices From the Blogs, which highlights the high degree of pro-ISIS sympathy in Belgium. The report monitored and analyzed more than two million Arabic messages around the world via Twitter, Facebook and blogs regarding ISIS's actions in the Middle East. The most enthusiastic comments about ISIS come from Qatar at 47%; then Pakistan, at 35%; third overall is Belgium, where 31% of tweets in Arabic on the Islamic State are positive -- more than Libya (24%), Oman (25%), Jordan (19%), Saudi Arabia (20%) and Iraq (20%). This shocking data exposes the success of the network and its easy pro-ISIS recruitment in Belgium.
In other European countries, after Belgium, Britain is at 24%, Spain 21%, France 20%.
In the UK, one in five Muslims have sympathy for the Caliphate. Today more British Muslims join ISIS than the British army. In the Netherlands, a survey conducted by Motivaction shows that the 80% of Dutch Turks see "nothing wrong" in ISIS. Among young European Muslims, support for suicide bombings range from 22% in Germany to 29% in Spain, 35% in Britain and 42% in France, according to a Pew poll. The level of ISIS's popularity in the Arab world has been exposed by many surveys: the Clarion Project published a report based on multiple sources a March 2015 poll by the Iraqi Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies, a November 2014 poll by Zogby Research Services, a November 2014 poll by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, and an October 2014 poll by the Fikra Forum. The result: 42 million people in the Arab world sympathize with ISIS.
After the massacre at Charlie Hebdo, Al-Jazeera conducted a survey asking, "Do you support Isis's victories?" 81% of respondents voted "yes."
Even if these polls and surveys must be taken with some caution, they all indicate a deep and vibrant "gray zone," which is feeding the Islamic jihad in Europe and the Middle East. We are talking about millions of Muslims who show sympathy, understanding and affinity with the ideology and goals of ISIS.
Anthony Glees, an English scholar of political radicalism, revealed the "gray zone" of Germany's Baader-Meinhof terror group: "By 1977, the West German Federal Criminal Agency had a terrorist index which contained the names of some 4.7 million suspects and sympathisers, many of them university students."
The terrorist leaders at that time all came from good German families: Andreas Baader was the son of a professor of history, Ulrike Meinhof was the daughter of a museum director and a famous journalist, Gudrun Ensslin was the daughter of an evangelical pastor, Horst Mahler was the son of a judge.
The Islamic State today has a much deeper gray zone of sympathizers in the Muslim communities of Europe. In the 1970s and '80s, Europe was terrorized by Communist armed groups, such as the Germany's Baader Meinhof (pictured in black and white), which had a "gray zone" of millions of suspected sympathizers. Today's European jihadists, such the late Paris attack mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud (right), have a much deeper "gray zone" of sympathizers in the Muslim communities of Europe. If Baader-Meinhof was at war with the "schweine" (bourgeois "pigs") and targeted specific political figures, the Caliphate's volunteers are at war with all the "kuffar" (unbelievers). ISIS loyalists target the patrons of restaurants, theaters and stadiums in Paris; a café in Copenhagen which held a debate on freedom of expression and Islam; Western tourists at a resort in Tunisia; commuters at the Maelbeek metro station and passengers at the Brussels airport. For ISIS, it is an eternal war in the name of the prophet. As Graeme Wood explained in "What ISIS Really Wants," ISIS "hungers for genocide ... and it considers itself a harbinger of — and headline player in — the imminent end of the world."
A book just published in French by Ivan Rioufol, a journalist for the newspaper Le Figaro, eloquently titled "The Coming Civil War," details the dangers posed by the "apocalyptic ideology" of radical Islam in Europe. How many Muslims will this ISIS virus be able to infect in the vast European "gray zone"? The answer will determine our future. Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
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Massachusetts Islamism
Samuel Westrop/Gatestone Institute/April 04/16
The response of “non-violent” Islamists to counter-extremism programs displays a master class in deception. The greatest mistake made by the Obama administration is to treat groups such as CAIR and the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) as genuine representatives of the Muslim community.
Very few American Muslims believe that CAIR is a legitimate voice of American Islam. A 2011 Gallup poll revealed that around 88% of American Muslims said CAIR does not represent them. It is little wonder that groups such as CAIR disparage genuine moderates. They perceive moderates as a threat to their self-styled reputations as representatives of American Islam. Many in them have learned to speak the language of liberalism and democracy in their pursuit of an ultimately illiberal and anti-democratic ideal. Counter-extremism work is best achieved by marginalizing such groups — by freeing American Muslims from their self-appointed Islamist spokesmen, and by working instead with the genuine moderates. A number of Massachusetts Muslim groups, led by Cambridge city councilor Nadeem Mazen, are currently spearheading a campaign against the Obama administration’s program, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), which has designated Boston as one of its pilot cities.
From the government’s perspective, Boston was an obvious choice. The city has a long, unfortunate history of producing internationally-recognized terrorists, including the Tsarnaev brothers, who bombed the Boston marathon; Aafia Siddiqui, whom FBI Director Robert S. Mueller describes as “an al-Qaeda operative and facilitator;” Abdulrahman Alamoudi, the founder of the Islamic Society of Boston, and named by the federal government as an Al Qaeda fundraiser, and Ahmad Abousamra, a key official within Islamic State, whose father is vice-president of the Muslim American Society’s Boston branch.
During the past decade, in fact, twelve congregants, supporters, officials and donors of the Islamic Society of Boston alone have been imprisoned, deported, killed or are on the run in connection with terrorism offenses.
Despite these alumnae, a number of extremist Islamic organizations, such as the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), have claimed that the government’s attempt to combat radicalization “targets American Muslims” and “undermines our national ideals.”
Cambridge city councilor Nadeem Mazen, who is also a director of CAIR’s Massachusetts branch, has spoken at a number of anti-CVE rallies, condemning the government’s approach as “authoritarian” because it included “violent practices like surveillance and racial profiling.”
In response, Robert Trestan, the Massachusetts director of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), points out that the CVE program “is relatively new in this country. It’s not fair to judge it yet and be overly critical.” He added: “Nothing I’ve seen or participated in has gone anywhere near proposing or suggesting anything close to surveillance, crossing the line of people’s civil rights or profiling.”
What, then, is the basis for this opposition?
Critics of Nadeem Mazen look with concern at his opposition to policing that protects Americans from terrorist attacks. In May, Mazen voted against the Cambridge Police Department budget. He argued that the funding for SWAT teams and the police’s participation in CVE programs only served to “alienate the Muslim community.” The Cambridge SWAT team, however, played a crucial part in the arrest of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev just hours after he and his brother murdered three spectators and injured hundreds at the Boston marathon.
Mazen has also taken part in protests against Boston police departments. Addressing a crowd of activists from a group named Restore the Fourth, Mazen claimed that police counter-terrorism units are part of a larger conspiracy to suppress free speech: “They are working very hard…in the background….but really, there’s never any need. … Some of the research is looking at free speech activists…like me. … It is that type of government operation, it’s that that is the best and the most evident hallmark of tyranny.”
Are Mazen and CAIR, then, simply free speech campaigners?
CAIR does not exactly have a reputation for liberal activism. It was founded in 1994 by three officials of the Islamic Association of Palestine, which, the 2008 Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial would later determine, was a front for the terrorist group, Hamas. During the same trial, the prosecutors designated CAIR as an “unindicted co-conspirator.” U.S. District Court Judge Jorge Solis concluded that, “The government has produced ample evidence to establish the associations of CAIR… with the Islamic Association for Palestine, and with Hamas.” One of CAIR’s original Islamic Association of Palestine founders, Nihad Awad, is today CAIR’s Executive Director. Awad peddles conspiracy theories that the U.S Congress is controlled by Israel, and has stated that U.S. foreign policy was propelled by Clinton administration officials of a particular “ethnic background.” The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) notes that CAIR has long expressed anti-Semitic and pro-terror rhetoric. The ADL adds that, “[CAIR's] public statements cast Jews and Israelis as corrupt agents who control both foreign and domestic U.S. policy and are responsible for the persecution of Muslims in the U.S.” In November 2015, CAIR, which in the Holy Land Foundation terror financing trial was determined to be a front for the terrorist group Hamas, organized a “lobbying day” at the Massachusetts State House. Not all of Massachusetts’s Muslim groups have opposed involvement in the CVE program. In February, the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB), which is partly run by the Muslim American Society, took part in the White House’s summit on Countering Violent Extremism. The ISB’s Director, Yusufi Vali, however, would later criticize the CVE program on the grounds that by focusing on radicalization rather than violence, the authorities were unfairly targeting Muslim-Americans simply because of their faith. Instead, Vali has urged, the government should deputize responsibility for combatting extremism to groups such as his. Boston is a pilot city for the CVE program, he claimed, because of the “strong relationship” between law enforcement and institutions such as the ISB. Only the ISB’s version of Islam, Vali proposed, can “appeal to young people” and “win in the marketplace of ideas.”
But the ideology underpinning the Islamic Society of Boston itself is cause for some concern. In 2008, the Muslim American Society (MAS), which runs the ISB’s Cultural Center, of which Vali is also a board member, was labelled by federal prosecutors “as the overt arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in America.”
Religious leaders of the Muslim American Society have included Hafiz Masood, the brother of Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Saeed, who masterminded the 2008 Mumbai Massacre in which 164 people were murdered. While he was living in the Boston area, according to a Times of India report, Masood was raising money and trying to recruit people for his brother’s terrorist group. After being deported by the government for filing a fraudulent visa application, Masood has since become a spokesperson for Jamaat-ud-Dawa, a branch of his brother’s terrorist group, Lashkar-i-Taiba.[1]
The ISB itself was founded by the Al Qaeda operative Abdulrahman Alamoudi, who was jailed in 2004 for participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The ISB’s other trustees have included prominent Islamist operatives, including Yusuf Al Qaradawi, the spiritual leader of the global Muslim Brotherhood.
In October, an event hosted by the ISB featured a number of extremist preachers. One of them, Hussain Kamani has cited Quranic verse and commentary to warn Muslims, “do not resemble the Jews” and has advised parents to “beat” their children “if they do not [pray].” In a talk titled ‘Sex, Masturbation and Islam,’ Kamani explains that a Muslim man must only fulfil his sexual desires “with his spouse…[or] with a female slave that belongs to him.” Those who commit adultery or have sex outside of marriage, Kamani further declares, must be “stoned to death.” If one looks to European experiences with counter-extremism programs, some of which have been in place for over a decade, Yusufi Vali and the ISB have good reasons to lobby against a focus on radicalization. In Britain, under Prime Minister David Cameron, the government has come to the realization that some of the Islamic groups entrusted with counter-extremism initiatives are, in fact, part of the problem.
In a speech delivered in Munich in 2011, Cameron stated:
“As evidence emerges about the backgrounds of those convicted of terrorist offences, it is clear that many of them were initially influenced by what some have called ‘non-violent extremists’, and they then took those radical beliefs to the next level by embracing violence. … Some organisations that seek to present themselves as a gateway to the Muslim community are showered with public money despite doing little to combat extremism. As others have observed, this is like turning to a right-wing fascist party to fight a violent white supremacist movement.”
Groups similar to the ISB and CAIR, the Conservative government reasons, represent the “non-violent extremists.” These are likely the first stop on the “conveyor belt” path to radicalization: a young is Muslim exposed to anti-Semitism, excuses for terrorism and claims of victimhood and gradually becomes open to committing violent acts.
This insight was not without foundation. The previous Labour government, under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, partnered with British Muslim groups such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), Britain’s most prominent Muslim group — similar in ideology to CAIR and the ISB — to counteract extremist ideas in the Muslim community. In 2008, however, the Labour government severed all relations with the Muslim Council of Britain after it emerged that the group’s deputy secretary general, Daud Abdullah, had signed a declaration supporting attacks against Jewish communities and the British armed forces.
By seeking the partnership of groups such as the ISB, the Obama administration risks making the same mistakes of Britain’s last Labour government. And, in time, the U.S. government will arrive at the same realization as the British government — that non-violent extremists do not offer an alternative to violent extremism; in fact, they make the problem worse.
But all this invites the question: why do some Islamist groups oppose CVE programs while others join in? Although the ISB backed out of the Boston CVE initiative, the Islamic Council of New England (ICNE) remains a key partner. As with CAIR and the ISB, the ICNE is part of the “soft Islamist” network — groups that emerged from Muslim Brotherhood ideology and which have learned to speak the language of liberalism and democracy in their pursuit of an ultimately illiberal and anti-democratic ideal.
In 2002, the ICNE hosted a conference with the Muslim Brotherhood academic, Tariq Ramadan, and the British Salafist, Abdur Raheem Green, a former jihadist who warns Muslims of a Jewish “stench,” encourages the death penalty as a “suitable and effective” punishment for homosexuality and adultery, and has ruled that wife-beating “is allowed.”
The ICNE has announced its continued involvement in CVE programs because “rather than obsessing about the insidious erosion of our ‘civil rights’, Muslims should focus on the more immediate risk of being blind-sided by the overwhelming tsunami of Islamophobia.”
While CAIR protests against CVE, the ICNE believes it can work with counter-extremism programs to its advantage. The ISB lies somewhere in the middle. And yet all these Islamist groups are key partners, mostly founded and managed by the same network of Islamist operatives.
Has the CVE program really caused such discord?
Again, the European experience offers some answers. Daud Abdullah, the former deputy secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, had his group work closely with the British government’s counter-extremism program, before later hosting an event with his other group, Middle East Monitor, which denounced the scheme as a “Cold War on British Muslims.” Similarly, the Cordoba Foundation, a prominent Muslim Brotherhood think tank, procured counter-extremism grants in 2008 only to run events condemning counter-extremism programs in 2009.
Non-violent extremists learn both to exploit and criticize counter-extremism initiatives to their benefit. By working in tandem, some Islamist voices accept government funds that legitimize them as leaders of the Muslim community and portray them as responsible Muslims concerned with extremism; while other Islamist groups oppose counter-extremism efforts in an effort to style themselves as civil rights champions and gain the support of libertarians on both the Left and Right.
The response of “non-violent” Islamists to counter-extremism programs displays a master class in deception. The greatest mistake, if it is one, made by the Obama administration is to treat groups such as CAIR and ISB as genuine representatives of the Muslim community. Very few American Muslims, it seems, actually believe that CAIR is a legitimate voice of American Islam. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, around 88% of American Muslims said CAIR does not represent them. As for the ISB, it operates under the aegis of the Muslim American Society, which claims to be a national group for American Muslims. A 2011 report produced by CAIR itself, however, demonstrates that a mere 3% of American mosques are affiliated with the Muslim American Society. 62% of mosques claimed that they were not affiliated with any organization. It is little wonder that groups such as CAIR disparage genuine moderates. They perceive moderates as a threat to their self-styled reputations as representatives of American Islam. CAIR Massachusetts Director Nadeem Mazen has denounced counter-Islamist Muslim groups that “foist secular attitudes on Muslims” and promote ideas that “are being projected, imperialist-style on to our population.”American Islam is diverse. No group can claim to represent either Massachusetts Muslims or American Muslims. Islamist bodies have imposed their leadership on American Muslims. As inherently political movements, they were best organized to style themselves as community leaders. When politicians in D.C ask to speak to the “Muslim community,” groups such as CAIR and the ISB step forward.
Counter-extremism work is best achieved, in fact, by the government marginalizing such groups — by freeing American Muslims from their self-appointed Islamist spokesmen, by working instead with the genuine moderates among American Muslims, and by recognizing the link between non-violent and violent extremism. European governments have finally understood this reality, but far too late. For the sake of moderate Muslims everywhere, let us hope American politicians are quicker on the uptake.
Samuel Westrop is Research Director for Americans for Peace and Tolerance.
[1] In 2001, United States Secretary of State Colin Powell designated Lashkar-e-Taiba a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Syrian Kurds proceed with federal structures despite Turkish threats
Week in Review/Al-Monitor/April 04/16
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the Obama administration’s support for Syrian Kurdish rebels battling the Islamic State during a visit to Washington last week. Erdogan met with US President Barack Obama on the margins of the Nuclear Security Summit on March 31, after having been previously rebuffed in his request for a private meeting. US Vice President Joe Biden, in a separate meeting with Erdogan, “reiterated that the United States considers the PKK [Turkey's Kurdistan Workers Party] a designated foreign terrorist organization, and the two leaders pledged to deepen cooperation in the fight against all forms of terrorism, including the PKK.”  The Turkish president made his case against the Obama administration’s Syria policies at other forums around the US capital, including a dinner hosted by the Turkey-US Business Council for think tankers and former US officials, as well as at events at the Brookings Institution, the Atlantic Council and in a meeting with American Jewish leaders. Washington got a taste of the Erdogan experience when the Turkish president’s massive security entourage “pushed, threatened, and kicked both Turkish and Western journalists and protesters” prior to his speech at Brookings. As reported by Foreign Policy, “Brookings President Strobe Talbott told a Turkish official that the organization was prepared to call off the visit even though Erdogan’s motorcade was already en route to the event.” The Turkish official intervened to de-escalate the confrontation outside Brookings to allow the speech to proceed.
Obama later said, “I think the approach that they [the Turkish government] have taken towards the press is one that could take Turkey down a path that is very troubling.” The spectacle on Massachusetts Avenue brought home to Washington policy elites the Turkish president’s anti-democratic and increasingly personalized approach to politics, which will be familiar to readers of Al-Monitor’s Turkey Pulse. Metin Gurcan reports this week on a speech by Erdogan at the War Colleges Command, the most prominent educational institution of the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK). “What raised eyebrows among the listeners,” Gurcan writes, “was Erdogan’s deviation from the established practice of treating the ‘commander in chief’ designation as symbolic, in practice allowing the prime minister and the general staff chief to handle security issues. For the first time, Erdogan used the term 'executive commander in chief' — in other words, a functioning commander in chief. Last year, Erdogan’s darts were aimed at the Gulenist movement. This year, the prime target was the West. He spoke of the hypocrisy of Western countries in combating terror. ‘No matter what we said, how much we warned, they didn’t listen. At the end, snakes started to bite them and the mines began to go off under their feet. Now you can see how those who chatter about democracy freedoms, rights and laws forget all about them when they get into trouble,’ he said.”
Semih Idiz writes that Erdogan unleashed on foreign diplomats covering the trial of two Cumhuriyet reporters by saying, “This is not your country. This is Turkey. You can only act within the consulate building or its borders; the rest is subject to permission.”
Idiz adds, “Erdogan was not happy to see US Vice President Joe Biden meet [Cumhuriyet editor Can] Dundar’s family during his visit to Turkey in January, especially after Biden reportedly told Dundar’s son that he had ‘a very brave father he must be proud of.’ Washington continues to stress that this case and other developments that undermine democracy in Turkey concern it deeply. The EU is being criticized for appearing lenient toward Turkey because it needs to cooperate with Ankara over the flood of refugees from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries. However, none of this has prevented EU diplomats from actively following certain cases in Turkey. The German ambassador and the consuls general of key EU countries as well as Australia, the United States and Canada were present at last week’s hearing in Istanbul over the case against Dundar and [Cumhuriyet journalist Erdem] Gul.”
Syrian Kurds establish governance structures
Fehim Tastekin this week examines the declaration of “the Federal Democratic System of Rojava and Northern Syria, [which] would have a population of about 4 million and would incorporate Rojava's three cantons — Jazeera, Kobani and Afrin — as well as Tell Abyad and areas in northern Aleppo province that have been recaptured by Kurdish forces.” Tastekin explains, “This structure is being worked out by the Kurdish political movement despite Turkey’s threats. The Kurds are leading the creation of popular assemblies in places where Kurds are in the majority and the creation of constituent assemblies (councils of elders) elsewhere. For example, the first congress of the Sheba region convened Jan. 28 and declared that it only recognizes the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) set up by the People's Protection Units (YPG), Arab and Turkmen groups, and the Democratic Syrian Assembly that was formed to send a delegation to the Geneva peace talks. Also, after ridding Tell Abyad of IS, the Kurds established a 113-member assembly and an executive council made up of seven Arabs, four Kurds, two Turkmens and one Armenian. … Despite its enmity toward the PYD, the Kurdish National Council, supported by Iraqi Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani, is pro-federalism for a model.” Tastekin adds, “Kurds under PYD leadership are confident of their future in Kurdish-majority areas. The Kurds have long debated the concept of democratic autonomy formulated by Kurdistan Workers Party leader Abdullah Ocalan. But this is not a subject familiar to Syria's tribal Arabs. Kurdish sources say they have switched to federalism because many people could not understand what democratic autonomy and a cantonal system entail. The Kurds are an organized community that can handle the democratic autonomy institutions. They have acquired significant local governance experience over the past five years, starting with grass-roots committees in neighborhoods and villages. Women play a major role in Kurdish self-rule. Kurdish cantons have promoted a 40% quota for women's participation in public affairs. Can this be done in regions where women are denied public roles?...The Kurds are not insisting on including locations that the YPG won’t be able to control in the federation. That is why, if liberated from IS, Raqqa could form a separate federal entity. The same goes for El Bab, Menbic and Azaz, where Kurds are in the minority and YPG control is out of the question. They are aware that any attempt by the YPG to impose its rule over heavily Arab- and Turkmen-populated areas would be suicidal. There are already worrying signs of collective Arab tribal resistance to the Kurdish federal move. In those areas, the SDF made up of Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens promotes itself as the core of the future Syrian army and tries to prove that it is in charge. In short, the freshly introduced federal system will go through a series of serious tests because of international considerations, the attitude of the Syrian regime and the ethnic-sectarian fault lines of the region.”
Hamas-Iran tensions surface again
Adnan Abu Amer explains how the March 11 decision by Hamas to close down the Al-Bakyat El-Salehat Society charity, which is affiliated with the Harakat al-Sabireen Movement headed by Shiite Hisham Salem, is a sign of another difficult patch in Hamas-Iran relations.
“The decision to shut down Al-Bakyat El-Salehat Society in Gaza,” Abu Amer writes, “might seem administrative and legal, but its political dimensions cannot be ignored as it coincides with the ebb and flow in relations between Hamas and Iran. The Ministry of Interior in Gaza officially informed the association of the decision three months after it was issued in December 2015. While Hamas is trying to patch things up with Iran, the latter does not seem satisfied, and perhaps Iran wants Hamas to settle its political options and side with it against Saudi Arabia. But it seems this is not what Hamas wants.”
Ali Hashem reports on a recent meeting in Tehran between a Hamas delegation and Gen. Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ foreign operations branch. Soleimani “advised the movement to keep its distance from all the chaos in the region and pledged Iran’s continued support, although [Hamas international relations officer Mousa] Abu Marzouk, in a leaked phone call, accused Iran of lying about its claims of supporting the movement. Marzouk’s accusation prompted Soleimani to say at the meeting, ‘Iran never lied, and we won’t lie. We sent several ships full of arms to the resistance, [but] some were intercepted. We won’t leave you alone. Whenever there’s a new technology that we can send, we won’t hesitate to. This is our duty. Whoever says the contrary should remember that this is all [taking place] before God’s eyes.’ An Iranian military source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Abu Marzouk has tried to contact Tehran to arrange a visit for the Hamas delegation set to travel from Cairo to Doha, but the Iranians have responded in the negative — not to the delegation, however, but to Abu Marzouk. ‘If he’s sure he wants to come to Tehran, then he has to apologize,’ the Iranian source said.”