LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS
BULLETIN
December 26/16
Compiled
& Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The
Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.december26.16.htm
News Bulletin
Achieves Since 2006
Click
Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006
Bible Quotations For Today
He has scattered the proud
in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their
thrones, and lifted up the lowly
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 01/,46-55/:"Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he
has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all
generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His
mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown
strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their
hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the
lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in
Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
Letter to the Ephesians 01/03-14/:"Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing
in the heavenly places, just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of
the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for
adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure
of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of
our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight. he has
made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that
he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all
things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In Christ we have also
obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him
who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who
were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his
glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of
your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the
promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption
as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory."
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis
& editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December 25-26/16
Hezbollah’s ties with Russia in Syria alarm Israelis/Nicholas Blanford/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
On the American role in Syria’s hell/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
Re-establishing the private sector in Saudi Arabia/Abdulrahman
al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December
25/16
Saudi 2017 budget based on rationalization, not skimping/Turki
Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December
25/16
Obama’s parting shot at Israel/Fawaz Turki/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
Obama – the beginning and the end/Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
The Fifth Legion: A New Auxiliary Force/By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/ Syria
Comment/December 24/16
Islamists Attack Christmas, but Europeans Abolish It/ Giulio
Meotti/Gatestone Institute/December 25/16
How serious is the animosity between Israel and Iran/Mamoon
Alabbasi/The Arab Weekly//December 25/16
In Iraq, more than 200 civilians arrested daily/ Mustafa Habib/The
Arab Weekly/December 25/16
The rise of the Russian Phoenix/Mohamed Kawas/The
Arab Weekly/December 25/16
The Middle East after Aleppo/Khattar Abu Diab/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
UN tiptoes back to Golan as Syrian tensions simmer/Nicholas Blanford/The
Arab Weekly/December 25/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on December 25-26/16
President Aoun vows to end vaccuum
in public posts
Hariri says vote for Aoun was to safeguard country
Raad Says 'Unacceptable' to Bin Proportional
Representation over Some Parties' Concerns
Al-Rahi Urges 'Comprehensive National
Reconciliation', Says Refugees Threat to Stability
Aude Says Women Should Constitute 'Half' of Cabinet
Aoun Visits Bkirki, Says
State Institutions Vacancies to be Filled
Gunfire during Fatah Official Funeral amid Cautious Calm at Ain el-Hilweh
Berri Calls al-Rahi as AMAL
Delegation Visits Bkirki
Hariri: Lebanon Today in a Better Situation
Report: Concerns over Iraq-Like Parliamentary Legalization of Hizbullah Forces
Berri Calls Parliament to Convene Next Week to
Discuss Policy Statement
Hezbollah’s ties with Russia in Syria alarm Israelis
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 25-26/16
Pope Says Israelis, Palestinians Must 'Write New Page of History'
High-Security Christmas in Europe as Pope Comforts Terror Victims
Syria-Bound Russian Military Jet Crashes with 92 Onboard
Pakistan issues nuclear warning to Israel in response to 'fake news' story
Tunisia Security Forces Warn of Returning Jihadis
Russian military plane ‘carrying 92’ crashes
Sixteen hurt in Christmas eve blast at Catholic church in Philippines
Iraq patriarch urges protection for displaced Christians
Russian jets bolster raids on rebel-held Idlib and
rural Aleppo
Trump: UN vote makes peace talks 'much harder'
Israel Strikes Back after U.N. Settlement Vote
Netanyahu fumes at ‘shameful, biased’ UN vote
Putin, Rowhani welcome Aleppo ‘victory’
Saudis among other Arabs arrested in US immigration sting
Syrian Opposition and the Iranian Resistance Held a Joint Demonstration in
Paris
Iran: Plundering $15.5 Million Budget Belonged to Homeless People
Iran: Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike Urgently Transferred to Prison
Infirmary
India's Center for Social Research Declares Support for Justice Seeking
Campaign of 1988 Massacre in Iran
Latest
Lebanese Related News published on December 25-26/16
President Aoun vows to end vaccuum
in public posts
The Daily Star/December 25, 2016/BEIRUT:
President Michel Aoun said Sunday that he will be
working to end the vacuum in state institutions. “We will be
struggling... to fill the vacancies... in the authorities with competent
personnel,” Aoun said in a brief statement following
his meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai in Bkirki east of Beirut.
When asked by a reporter, Aoun did not specify
when the much anticipated electoral law would be endorsed. Lebanese
parties are divided between adopting a proportional vote law or a hybrid
electoral law, which includes aspects of the proportional and winner-take-all
systems. The current 1960 winner-take-all system, which was used in the 2009
elections, divides the constituencies based on administrative districts. The
Free Patriotic Movement, Hezbollah and Amal Movement
have been lobbying for a pure proportional law with Lebanon as a single constituency. A
hybrid law would blend the proportional and winner-takes-all systems with
varying electoral constituencies. Aoun then
joined the First Lady to attend the Christmas morning mass. Later, Rai held a sermon during the mass in which he congratulated
believers on the occasion of Christmas. He also condemned corruption in
state institutions and conflicts over appointments in public offices over
sectarian backgrounds. Rai noted the presence
of more than 2 million refugees in Lebanon,
citing security and economic threats against Lebanon. He, meanwhile, expressed
full sympathy for their suffering. The patriarch urged state institutions
and international organizations to ensure a proper solution to the refugee
crisis and granting them the right to return to their homelands. Rai also called on politicians to address the pressing
social issues like poverty and the deterioration of living standards, rather
than acting for selfish reasons.
Hariri says
vote for Aoun was to safeguard country
The Daily Star/December 25, 2016/BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad
Hariri Sunday said that his endorsement of President Michel Aoun's
candidacy was to safeguard the country and to prioritize its interests. "I
did what I felt should be done," Hariri told Al-Jadeed
TV in an interview. He pointed out that "anyone else would've favored his own interest, but we should always put the
interests of the country at the top.""No
one is bigger than his country." Hariri said that the important
matter is to continue. "We should always look forward and learn from the past."Hariri announced his support for Aoun earlier in October, paving way for the president's
election and ending more than two years of vacuum at the country's top
Christian post. The PM formed his Cabinet last week and endorsed its policy
statement on Saturday. The new government is expected to win a parliamentary
vote of confidence next week after lawmakers discuss the policy statement in
three consecutive sessions starting Tuesday.
Raad Says 'Unacceptable' to Bin Proportional
Representation over Some Parties' Concerns
Naharnet/December 25/16/Hizbullah's top lawmaker
Mohammed Raad announced Sunday that it is “irrational
and unacceptable” to bin proposals for passing an electoral law fully based on
proportional representation in order to appease some political parties and
leaders.
“The new government has a major responsibility, which is devising a new
electoral law, because we will not accept the 1960 law and others are also
saying they won't accept it. Let this materialize through debating a new
electoral law,” Raad, the head of the Loyalty to
Resistance bloc, said. “The mandatory path for achieving reform and change in
our country is the adoption of a law that reflects the correct, fair and
comprehensive representation of the Lebanese people in parliament, and such a
law can only be fully based on proportional representation in a single or
several expanded electoral districts,” Raad added. Admitting that “some parties have concerns over endorsing a law
fully based on proportional representation,” he said the idea should be
“discussed,” not “binned.”
“Let us discuss these concerns in order to reach a conclusion that
proportional representation is a valid system,” the lawmaker went on to say.
“It would be irrational and unacceptable to bin a law fully based on
proportional representation to appease the concerns of some Lebanese, leaders or
groups,” he emphasized. Raad added: “We are concerned
with debating others over a law fully based on proportional representation in a
single or several expanded electoral districts, the same as we debated the laws
that they have proposed.”
“We fear possible settlements and deals that would lead to passing the 1960 law
after adding a slight hint of proportional representation to it, in a manner
that would mislead the Lebanese public opinion and delude people into thinking
that an achievement has been made at the level of the electoral law,” Raad added. “We realize that the Lebanese mosaic and the
religious and sectarian components of Lebanon will hinder our endeavor to reach a correct and fair law that achieves
satisfactory representation for all Lebanese,” the MP said.
MP Ghazi Aridi of MP Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party had stressed
Wednesday that the PSP “cannot be blackmailed with any electoral law.”“When some parties propose the proportional
representation system for sectarian motives, this has nothing to do with
proportional representation, because it would not lead to political reform or
correct representation in the Lebanese political system,” Aridi
said. “We cannot accept that the electoral law be used to intimidate any main
political component in the country or to threaten to push it away from the
center of political decision-making,” the lawmaker added. A Free Patriotic
Movement delegation had announced after talks with Jumblat
earlier this month that the PSP leader “did not flatly reject a proportional
representation system that takes concerns into consideration and does not
eliminate any sectarian component.”Hizbullah has
repeatedly called for an electoral law fully based on proportional
representation but other political parties, especially al-Mustaqbal
Movement, have rejected the proposal and argued that the party's controversial
arsenal of arms would prevent serious competition in regions where the
Iran-backed party has clout. Mustaqbal, the Lebanese
Forces and the PSP have meanwhile proposed a hybrid electoral law that mixes
the proportional representation and the winner-takes-all systems. Speaker Nabih Berri has also proposed a
hybrid law. The country has not voted for a parliament since 2009, with the
legislature instead twice extending its own mandate. The 2009 polls were held
under an amended version of the 1960 electoral law and the next elections are
scheduled for May 2017.
Al-Rahi Urges
'Comprehensive National Reconciliation', Says Refugees Threat to Stability
Naharnet/December 25/16/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi on Sunday called
for a “comprehensive national reconciliation” in Lebanon and issued an stark
warning over the presence of “two million refugees” in the country. “Lebanon cannot
rise unless all parties unite their efforts,” al-Rahi
said during Christmas Day mass, hailing the formation of the new government
“that represents all of the country's components.” “This proves that Lebanon is the
land of pluralism and dialogue,” the patriarch added. Addressing President Michel
Aoun, who attended the mass, al-Rahi said the country “needs a comprehensive
national reconciliation containing the spirit of partnership and love.” Turning
to the issue of refugees, the patriarch cautioned that “social security is
threatened by the presence of two million refugees” from Syria and Palestine.
“They are threatening domestic stability, depriving the Lebanese of vital
income, representing a major burden, and subjecting themselves to sectarian,
political and terrorist exploitation,” al-Rahi warned.
Accordingly, he called for “serious and quick efforts in coordination with the
international community to return them to their country and offer them aid
there so that they can reclaim their homes, dignity and rights.”
Aude Says Women Should Constitute 'Half' of Cabinet
Naharnet/December 25/16/Greek Orthodox Metropolitan
of Beirut Elias Aude on Sunday announced that women
should have constituted “half” of the new government that was formed last week.“We hope women will be regarded as citizens with full
rights and duties, which means that they must shoulder responsibility alongside
men, not behind them, in state institutions and in parliament and Cabinet,” Aude said in a sermon during Christmas Day mass. “It's
about time we saw in our parliament dozens of women MPs, in order to become
equal not only with the European countries but also with some Arab countries
that have outpaced us,” Aude added. “We hope women
will be given several portfolios, and why not half the portfolios of Cabinet,”
the metropolitan went on to say. Lebanon formed a 30-member
government last Sunday with only one woman among its ranks, State Minister for
Administrative Development Enaya Ezzeddine.
The appointment of a man for a newly-created portfolio, state minister for
women's affairs, has raised eyebrows in Lebanon and abroad.
Aoun Visits Bkirki, Says State
Institutions Vacancies to be Filled
Naharnet/December 25/16/Michel Aoun
announced Sunday that the vacancies in state institutions will soon be filled
with “competent” civil servants. “We will do all we can to make the (new) year
a good year and we will work seriously and vigorously to achieve what the
Lebanese have been waiting for,” Aoun said in a brief
statement in Bkirki before taking part in a Christmas
Day mass led by Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. “The vacancies
in state institutions will be filled with competent individuals within a
reasonable timeframe,” Aoun promised. The president
had held a close-door meeting with al-Rahi upon his
arrival to Bkirki.
Gunfire during Fatah Official Funeral amid
Cautious Calm at Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/December 25/16/Gunfire was heard Sunday at
the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp during the
funeral of Fatah Movement official Suleiman Abu al-Nimr,
who was killed in a blast Saturday, state-run National News Agency reported. It
earlier reported that cautious calm was engulfing the camp after a hand grenade
exploded overnight on the camp's al-Fawqani street
without causing casualties. A few volleys of machinegun fire were also heard in
the morning amid a total closure of shops, NNA said. The violence had first
erupted on Wednesday after the assassination of Samr Hmeid, aka Samer Nejmeh, who was a member of the hardline
Islamist group Usbat al-Ansar.
The assassination has since triggered several rounds of clashes that have
resulted in the death of at least five people and the wounding of several
others.
Berri Calls al-Rahi as AMAL
Delegation Visits Bkirki
Naharnet/December 25/16/Speaker Nabih
Berri on Sunday telephoned Maronite
Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi
to offer Christmas greetings as a delegation from his AMAL Movement visited Bkirki for talks with the patriarch, state-run National
News Agency said. “In the name of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the movement's leadership and its chief, Speaker Nabih Berri, we came to the
patriarchal seat to offer seasons greetings,” AMAL's
central cultural officer Sheikh Hassan Abdullah said from Bkirki.
He described the election of a new president and the formation of a new
government as promising developments for Lebanon. The delegation also
comprised the head of AMAL's Mount Lebanon
department, Mohammed Dagher, and Mount Lebanon's
cultural officer Sheikh Bassam al-Itawi.
“We hope the government will win the vote of confidence in parliament and that
state institutions in Lebanon
will stabilize through the approval of an electoral law based on proportional
representation, which would meet the aspirations of the Lebanese and give
everyone the right to vote and be represented,” Abdullah added. Ties between Berri and al-Rahi had witnessed
some tensions prior to the election of President Michel Aoun
and the formation of the new government. Al-Rahi had
criticized Berri's call for a so-called package deal
that precedes the presidential election and he later criticized some parties'
insistence on certain ministerial portfolios after Berri
and the Marada Movement refused to give up the
finance and public works portfolios.
Hariri: Lebanon Today in a Better
Situation
Naharnet/December 25/16/Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced Sunday that the situation in the
country improved after his appointment as premier and the election of General
Michel Aoun as president.“Lebanon today
is in a better situation and we hope to start working on improving things after
the government wins the vote of confidence in parliament,” Hariri added.
Lebanon
acquired a new 30-minister government last Sunday which brought together the
entire political spectrum except for the Kataeb Party
that rejected to be represented by a state minister. The government was formed
six weeks after the election of Aoun. New portfolios
include an anti-corruption post and, for the first time, a minister of state
for women's affairs. Hariri's appointment and Aoun's
election after two and a half years of presidential vacuum have raised hopes
that Lebanon
can begin tackling challenges including a stagnant economy, a moribund
political class and the influx of more than a million Syrian refugees. The
government agreed on its policy statement on Saturday and it is expected to win
a vote of confidence during the parliamentary sessions that will be held on
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Report: Concerns over Iraq-Like
Parliamentary Legalization of Hizbullah Forces
Naharnet/December 25/16/Concerns have surfaced that Hizbullah might be seeking an electoral law that allows it
and its allies to take the parliamentary majority in a manner that would enable
them to legalize Hizbullah's presence as a
paramilitary force, a media report said on Sunday. “The ministers of the
Lebanese Forces have been the most concerned over how to deal with the issue of
the resistance in the policy statement and the calls for an electoral law fully
based on proportional representation,” the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa
newspaper quoted unnamed sources as saying. “Some circles have concerns that
there are efforts to seize control of parliament, in the vein of what happened
in the government, in a manner similar to the situation in Iraq,” the
sources added, referring to the Iraqi parliament's legalization of the
Shiite-led Popular Mobilization Forces. On November 26, the Iraqi parliament
passed a bill recognizing the PMF, also known as Hashed al-Shaabi,
as a government entity operating alongside the military. LF's
ministers had on Saturday voiced reservations over a clause pertaining to
resistance against Israel
in the policy statement of the new government.
Berri Calls Parliament to Convene Next Week to Discuss
Policy Statement
Naharnet/December 25/16/Speaker Nabih
Berri called the parliament on Saturday to convene
next week in order to discuss the government policy statement, the National
News Agency reported. Berri called the lawmakers for
meetings over three consecutive days starting Tuesday through Thursday where
the meetings will begin at 11:00 a.m. The cabinet will be subject to a vote of
confidence after the policy statement was approved by the council of ministers
Saturday. The statement was approved amid some reservations expressed by the
Lebanese Forces and State Minister Michel Pharaon
over a clause on the so called “role of the resistance” in confronting Israel.
Hezbollah’s
ties with Russia in Syria alarm Israelis
Nicholas Blanford/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/12/25/nicholas-blanfordthe-arab-weekly-hezbollahs-ties-with-russia-in-syria-alarm-israelis/
Lebanese group’s own development in Syrian war is expected to expand further
through growing tactical ties to Russian forces in Syria.
Hezbollah fighter looking towards Syria while standing in fields of border
village of Brital
Beirut - Hezbollah’s importance in Syria has been enhanced by the role its
battle-hardened forces and its patron, Iran, are playing in reshaping the badly
battered Syrian Army from a conventional force structured to fight Israel to
one more suited to the largely asymmetric Syrian conflict.
The Lebanese group’s own development in the Syrian war from a guerrilla
organisation to a force more akin to a conventional army with tanks, artillery
and drones is expected to expand further through growing tactical ties to
Russian forces in Syria.
This has not gone unnoticed by Israel,
which is concerned that Russian influence on improving Hezbollah’s combat
capabilities could have ramifications for the Lebanese group’s enduring
confrontation with the Jewish state.
While Hezbollah is passing on its own skill set to Syrian military formations,
it is also looking to augment its martial prowess by association with Russian
special forces units such as the elite Spetsnaz.
Lebanon’s
Al Akhbar newspaper reported on November 24th that
Russian officers and Hezbollah field commanders had met for the first time a
week earlier at the Russians’ initiative. Previously, interaction between Russia’s military and Hezbollah was limited to
the operations rooms in Damascus and Baghdad, Al Akhbar said.
The Russians have been impressed with Hezbollah’s performance in Aleppo and now want to
coordinate on a tactical level.
Abu Khalil, a veteran Hezbollah fighter, said it and
“the cream of the Russian army”, specifically special forces
and anti-tank missile teams, have been fighting together in Aleppo.
“If you play with a good football team, you’ll learn something from them.
We’re learning from them and they’re learning from us,” he observed.
Israeli military officials are concerned that the battlefield experiences
a new generation of Hezbollah fighters are accruing in the Syrian cauldron and
the operational lessons they learn from Russian forces could be used against
the country.
A report by Israel’s
National Security Council warned that Hezbollah could develop skills from the
Russians in electronic warfare, training and commando operations.
“Massive training in the techniques of Spetsnaz
could considerably improve the general readiness of Hezbollah and its ability
to deal with Israeli special units that penetrate into different theatres,”
the report said.
It is not clear how Iran, Hezbollah’s patron and paymaster, views the
tactical cooperation between Russia and the Lebanese group, a move that
supposedly would expand Moscow’s control of the Syrian battlefield. But it
must be assumed that Tehran has approved the
development even though Russia
and Iran have divergent
strategic objectives in Syria.
So the emerging Russia-Hezbollah partnership may be limited.
Nonetheless, if Hezbollah learns new war-fighting techniques that one day
might be used against Israel,
Tehran should
have no reason to object to the new arrangement even if it adds another layer
of complexity to an already bewildering conflict.
Hezbollah is helping Syria
rebuild its battered army, whose armoured and mechanised divisions have largely
disintegrated after nearly six years of casualties, desertions and exhaustion.
What has emerged is a leaner amalgam of military units fighting alongside
foreign paramilitary forces, such as Hezbollah and Iraqi, Afghan and
Pakistani Shia militias and some Russian infantry and
special forces units.
Hezbollah’s well-trained fighters have spearheaded many successful
offensives but relations between Syrian troops and Hezbollah fighters have
never been strong and appear to be deteriorating further even as the regime is
making major battlefield gains.
Hezbollah men have long grumbled about ill-disciplined and untrustworthy
Syrian troops.
“A Syrian soldier will happily take $10 and shoot us in the back,” Abu Khalil said.
Today, Syrian units often take orders from Hezbollah commanders and this
is breeding resentment among Syrian officers. Sources close to Hezbollah said
that in late November, Hezbollah fighters and Syrian soldiers fought each other
in Aleppo using
machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
The dispute was triggered by a Syrian officer embarrassed at being given
orders in front of his men by a young Hezbollah fighter.
These intra-loyalist tensions probably do not pose a long-term risk to
the durability of the pro- Assad military alliance but they do illustrate
Hezbollah’s growing battlefield influence.
To ameliorate the perceived unreliability of the Syrian Army and its
chronic manpower shortage, Iranian forces and Hezbollah have built a parallel
military structure that falls largely under their command.
Iran
helped establish, train and fund the National Defence Force militia, thought to
number 80,000 volunteers and used mainly to garrison areas conquered by the regime.
In November, the Syrian Army announced plans to form a new commando
force, the Fifth Attack Troops Corps of Volunteers. Lebanon’s As Safir
newspaper reported that Hezbollah field commanders would play a major role in
leading this unit.
Over the past year, Hezbollah has trained a new 50,000-strong unit of
Syrian volunteers in Qusayr in Homs province, which has become a major
military base for the movement since it defeated rebels there in June 2013.
Nicholas Blanford is the author of Warriors of
God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against
Israel (Random House 2011). He lives in Beirut.
Latest
LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on December 25-26/16
Pope Says Israelis,
Palestinians Must 'Write New Page of History'
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
25/16/Pope Francis on Sunday hoped for peace between Israelis and Palestinians
as he gave his Christmas address, urging the two sides to "write a new
page of history." "Peace to women and men of the beloved Holy Land,
the land chosen and favored by God," the pontiff
told crowds at the Vatican
in his traditional "Urbi et Orbi"
(To the City and The World) message. "May Israelis and Palestinians have
the courage and the determination to write a new page of history, where hate
and revenge give way to the will to build together a future of mutual
understanding and harmony."
High-Security Christmas in Europe as Pope
Comforts Terror Victims
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
25/16/Pope Francis urged peace in the Middle East as tens of thousands gathered
to hear his Christmas address Sunday, while offering comfort to victims of
terrorism after a year of bloody jihadist attacks.
The 80-year-old Argentine called for guns to fall silent in Syria, saying "far too much
blood has been spilled" in the nearly six-year conflict. And he urged
Israelis and Palestinians to "have the courage and the determination to
write a new page of history" in his message from the balcony of Saint
Peter's Basilica to a crowd of 40,000 gathered in the square below which,
despite the sunny weather, was far from full. As Europe
ramped up security for the holiday just days after the truck attack that left
12 dead at a Berlin Christmas market, the leader of the world's 1.2 billion
Catholics said he hoped for "peace to those who have lost a person dear to
them as a result of brutal acts of terrorism."In
Milan, where suspected Berlin attacker Anis Amri
was killed in a police shootout on Friday, there was a heavy police presence
around the cathedral. The entrance has been protected by concrete barriers
since the Berlin
attack. In France, where Berlin has raised grim memories of the jihadist truck
rampage in June that left 86 people dead, 91,000 members of the security forces
have been deployed to guard public spaces including churches and markets over
the weekend. Religious ceremonies in Germany were heavy with the weight
of Monday's attack, which was claimed by the Islamic State group.
"Christmas this year carries a deep wound -- we are celebrating this
festival in a different way this year," said Gebhard
Fuerst, bishop of Rothenburg
in the southeast. But Baden bishop Jochen Cornelius-Bundschuh
offered a note of hope. "At Christmas, a light shines in the world -- it
shines in powerful darknesses like those we have seen
in recent years with the horror of war, civil war and terrorist attacks,"
he said.
'Closed doors, defended borders'
In Israel,
security was tight for Christmas celebrations coinciding with the Jewish
festival of Hanukkah. Some 2,500 worshipers packed the Church of the Nativity
complex, built over the grotto where Christians believe Jesus was born, for
midnight mass in Bethlehem in the
Israeli-occupied West Bank. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa used his
homily there to plead for compassion for refugees and for a halt to the
violence wracking the Middle East. "We
fear the stranger who knocks at the door of our home and at the borders of our
countries," he said. "Closed doors, defended borders, before personal
and political choices, are a metaphor for the fear that inevitably breed the violent dynamics of the present time."Pope Francis struck a similar tone in his
Christmas Eve mass, urging a 10,000-strong crowd in St. Peter's Square to feel
compassion for children, notably victims of war, migration and homelessness.
Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury who leads
the world's Anglicans, meanwhile said 2016 had left the world more divided and
fearful. "The end of 2016 finds us all in a different kind of world; one
less predictable and certain, which feels more awash with fear and
division," he was due to say in his sermon Sunday.
Icy swim, meat auction
Queen Elizabeth II missed the Christmas Day church service attended by the
British royal family as she suffered from a heavy cold, Buckingham Palace
said. The 90-year-old, who is the supreme governor of the Church of England,
will join in the family festivities later in the day.
In London,
meat-lovers converged on Smithfield Market for the traditional Christmas Eve
auction at butcher Harts, waving banknotes in the air as they bid on turkeys,
pork cuts and rump steaks. Elsewhere in the world, despite the security fears,
many were braving winter temperatures to take part in traditional revelry.
Among them some 30 hardy Slovaks participated in a winter swim at Bratislava's Zlate Piesky lake,
some drinking beer in the nearly freezing water. But in the world's
conflict-torn countries, there were reminders of the violence that has ravaged
the world this year. Christians in Syria's
Aleppo were
preparing for Christmas services after President Bashar
Assad's forces retook full control of the ruined former economic hub. The Old City's
Saint Elias Cathedral, its roof collapsed under rocket fire, was set to host
its first Christmas mass in five years. And in Bartalla,
near the Iraqi city of Mosul,
Christians filled the pews of the fire-scarred Mar Shimoni
church for the first service since the town was retaken from IS jihadists who
had seized it in 2014. In the mostly Catholic Philippines, a blast ripped
through a police car outside a church as worshipers were arriving for a
Christmas Eve mass south of Manila, injuring 13 people.
Syria-Bound Russian Military Jet Crashes with 92 Onboard
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
25/16/A Russian military plane heading to Syria crashed into the Black Sea on
Sunday, with no sign of survivors among the 92 on board, including Red Army
Choir members on their way to celebrate the New Year with troops.
The Tu-154 plane went down shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler where it had been refueling, defense ministry
spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing broadcast
on the ministry's website. It disappeared from radar just two minutes after it
took off at 5:25 am (0225 GMT). The ministry told agencies there was no sign of
any survivors at the crash site and that 10 bodies had been recovered off the
coast of the resort city of Sochi,
as authorities pledged to dispatch more than 100 divers to aid in the search.
"Fragments of the Tu-154 plane of the Russian defense
ministry were found 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles) from
the Black Sea coast of the city of Sochi
at a depth of 50 to 70 meters (165 to 230 feet)," the ministry said.
President Vladimir Putin told state television that Russia will observe a national day
of mourning on Monday. The plane had been on a routine flight to Russia's Hmeimim air
base in western Syria, which
has been used to launch air strikes in Moscow's
military campaign supporting its ally President Bashar
Assad in the country's devastating civil war.
Among the plane's 84 passengers were Russian servicemen as well as 64 members
of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the army's official
musical group also known as the Red Army Choir, and its conductor Valery Khalilov. They were headed to Syria to participate in New Year
celebrations at the air base. Authorities have not put forward any possible
causes of the crash. A number of unnamed sources have provided news agencies
with conflicting theories about the crash, but terrorism has so far not been
invoked as a possible cause. The passengers also included nine journalists,
with state-run channels Pervy Kanal,
NTV and Zvezda saying they each had three staff
onboard the flight. There were also eight crew members, the ministry said. A
list of passengers published by the defense ministry
also included Elizaveta Glinka, a doctor and charity
worker who serves on the Kremlin human rights council.
Probing cause of crash
Mikhail Fedotov, who heads the council, said Glinka
was traveling to Syria to
bring medication to a university hospital in the coastal city of Latakia
near the air base, agencies reported. Assad, as well as German Chancellor
Angela Merkel, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, expressed
condolences over the crash. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
said that Putin was being kept updated on the search operation and was in
constant contact with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. Konashenkov said that
deputy defense minister Pavel
Popov had flown to Adler along with a team tasked with clarifying the
circumstances surrounding the crash. He later added that 32 ships, 80 divers,
five helicopters and drones had been dispatched to the area to take part in the
search operation. Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov,
who is heading a state commission probing the crash, arrived in Sochi on Sunday evening, his ministry said, adding that
the bodies recovered from the crash site would be sent to Moscow for identification. Konashenkov said that the aircraft had been in service
since 1983 and had flown some 7,000 hours since. The plane last underwent
repairs in December 2014 and was serviced in September, he said. Russia's
Investigative Committee said a criminal probe had been launched to determine
whether violations of air transportation safety had led to the crash.
Indefinite deployment -
Investigators are currently questioning the technical personnel responsible for
preparing the plane for take-off, the committee said. Tu-154 aircraft have been
involved in a number of accidents in the past. In April 2010 many high-ranking
Polish officials, including then president Lech Kaczynski, were killed when a
Tu-154 airliner went down in thick fog while approaching Smolensk
airport in western Russia.
Moscow has been conducting a bombing campaign in
Syria
in support of Assad since September 2015 and has taken steps to boost its
presence in the country. In October, Putin approved a law ratifying Moscow's deal with Damascus
to deploy its forces in the country indefinitely, firming up Russia's long-term presence in Syria.
Russian warplanes have flown out of the Hmeimim base
to conduct air strikes, and the base is also home to an S-400 air defense system.
Pakistan issues nuclear warning to Israel
in response to 'fake news' story
Matt Broomfield/Independent/December 25/16/The Defence Minister
of Pakistan has issued a
reminder to Israel
of his country's nuclear capability, in apparent response to a false news
story. Khawaja Muhammad Asif
said in a tweet: "Israeli [Defence Minister] threatens nuclear retaliation
presuming [Pakistani] role in Syria
against Daesh. Israel
forgets Pakistan
is a Nuclear state too."Pakistan has remained relatively neutral
in the Syrian civil war, though they have placed themselves on the side of the
Assad regime, with their Foreign Secretary saying the world's sixth-largest
country is "against foreign military intervention in Syria." But a fake story published
on the website AWDnews falsely suggested that Pakistan planned to "send ground troops to Syria as part
of an international coalition to fight against Islamic State". The
anonymously-authored story then features an apparently invented quote from former
Israeli defence minister Moshe Yaalon, who resigned
in May this year, sayig: "If, by misfortune,
they arrive in Syria... we will destroy them with a nuclear attack." It is
this story, which also includes a fabricated quote from the Pakistani Foreign
Minister, which seemingly prompted Mr Asif's tweet.
The Israeli Ministry of Defence replied with a tweet of its own, pointing out
the story was "completely fictitious". Pakistan is one of nine states
officially considered to possess nuclear weapons, with its stockpile estimated
at around 130 warheads. Israel,
on the other hand, neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons. However,
it is widely believed to have an unofficial stockpile, with one tally
estimating the country has around 80 weapons.Mr
Asif has previously warned he will use his country's
nuclear capability to "annihilate" India "if our safety is
threatened". He issued that threat in September of this year,
during ongoing violence in the disputed Kashmir
border region. Some of the news stories on the AWDnews
site are legitimate. Others include "CIA created ISIS", "Foreign
minister of Israel revealed that she practised sex with several Arab
personalities in order to engage in sex scandals", and a warning from
Vladimir Putin that he will "defeat the Illuminati
with his bare hands".
Tunisia Security Forces Warn of Returning Jihadis
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
25/16/Tunisia's security forces called on the government Sunday to take
"exceptional measures" to combat the return of jihadists fighting for
extremist groups abroad.
Tunisia has witnessed a wave
of jihadist attacks since its 2011 revolution, including on foreign tourists,
and the United Nations estimates that their are more
than 5,000 Tunisians fighting for extremist outfits, mainly in Iraq and Syria. "The return of
terrorists from hotbeds of unrest in Tunisia is worrying and could lead
to the Somalization of the country," said a
statement from the internal security forces' national union. Battle-hardened
fighters "have received military training and have learnt to use all sorts
of sophisticated weapons," it added. The warning came a day after Tunisian
authorities said they had arrested three people including the nephew of Anis Amri, a national suspected of carrying out a deadly truck
attack on a Berlin Christmas market this week. Hundreds of people gathered
outside parliament in Tunis
on Saturday to protest against letting jihadists back in the country. President
Beji Caid Essebsi said earlier this month that Tunisia would refuse to pardon
Tunisians who fight for jihadist organizations. "Many of them want to
return, and we can't prevent a Tunisian from returning to his country," he
told AFP, "but we will be vigilant."Following
a storm of criticism in the press and on social media, on December 15 he told
Tunisian local television that "we will not be indulgent with the terrorists."On Friday evening, the country's Interior
Minister Hedi Majdoub told
parliament 800 Tunisian nationals who had fought for extremist groups abroad
had since returned to the country.
Russian
military plane ‘carrying 92’ crashes
Agencies Sunday, 25 December 2016/A Russian Defence Ministry TU-154 plane
that had disappeared from radar over the Black Sea with 92 people on board has
crashed, the Interfax news agency reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified
source. A rescue team had found the crash site in the Black Sea near the coast
of the Sochi,
Interfax said. Other Russian news agencies reported earlier that the Russian
aircraft had disappeared from radar soon after taking off from Sochi,
a Black Sea resort town. The plane had
disappeared from radar just minutes after take-off from Sochi, the BBC reported, citing Russian media
sources. Sources at the defense ministry said that
there were 84 passengers and 8 crew members on board.
Fragments found
Fragments of the plane have already been found at a depth of 50-70 metres
at a distance of around 1.5 kilometres (0.93 miles)from
the Russian coast, agencies reported. Russia's RIA news agency, citing an
unidentified security source, said preliminary data indicated that the plane
had crashed because of a technical malfunction or a pilot error. The Interfax
news agency cited an unnamed source as saying the plane had not sent an SOS
signal. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told
reporters on Sunday it was too early to say what had caused the crash.
President Vladimir Putin was being kept informed of latest developments, Peskov added. More than 60 members of the
internationally-renowned Red Army Choir were on board, Russia's defence
ministry said. A list of passengers and crew published by the ministry showed
that 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, the
army's official musical group, and its conductor Valery Khalilov
were on board the Tu-154 traveling to Syria to celebrate the New Year
with Russian troops. Russia's
Defence Ministry regularly flies musicians into Syria to put on concerts for
military personnel. The base they were heading for, Hmeymim,
is in Latakia province. It is from there that Russia flies
air strikes against Syrian rebels. Earlier in December, another Russian Defence
Ministry crashed in Siberia with 39 people on
board as it tried to make an emergency landing near a Soviet-era military base.
Nobody was been killed in that incident, though 32 people were airlifted to
hospital.
Sixteen hurt in Christmas eve blast at
Catholic church in Philippines
MANILA, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Sixteen people were wounded in a grenade explosion
outside a Catholic church during a Christmas eve mass in the Philippines'
restive southern island of Mindanao, a priest and police said on Saturday.
Security forces across Southeast Asia are on alert ahead of the Christmas
and New Year holidays, as police in Australia
and Indonesia
said they had foiled bomb plots and Malaysian security forces arrested
suspected militants. No group has claimed responsibility for the Mindanao attack, but Muslim rebels and Islamist
extremists are known to be active in the province, where there have been blasts
in the past. Bernardo Tayong, Midsayap town police chief, said most of the injured had
been standing outside the Sto. Nino
parish church in Midsayap town, North
Cotabato. Father Jay Virador said the blast sent the congregation fleeing.
"There was no more concluding prayers as
there was a commotion," Virador said.
"People hurriedly left the Church." One police officer was
wounded because he was standing near a patrol car where the grenade exploded,
about 30 metres from the church entrance, Tayong
said.
Tayong said bomb experts were still at the
site. There were reports that another grenade or improvised bomb was also left
in the area. "Our details are sketchy yet," he said. The U.S. embassy in Manila said citizens had been warned against
travelling to volatile southern islands due to kidnapping and bombing threats.
In September, 14 people died and 70 were wounded when an improvised bomb
exploded in a crowded market in Davao
City, hometown of
President Rodrigo Duterte. Nine people, who were
linked to an Islamic State militant-affiliated group
have been arrested for the attack. (Reporting by Manuel Mogato; Editing by Susan Thomas)
Iraq patriarch urges protection for displaced Christians
Baghdad (AFP) - 25 December/16/The patriarch of Iraq's
Chaldean Catholic Church has appealed for international protection to help
Iraqi Christians displaced by war return to their homes. Tens of thousands of
Christians fled northern Iraqi towns in 2014 as the Islamic State group seized
second city Mosul and swathes of the surrounding
Nineveh
province. Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to oust the
jihadists from their last Iraqi stronghold. "There was great joy among
Christians at the start of the liberation of Nineveh," Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako told AFP on Saturday. "But as the battle
continues, they are waiting with fear as well as hope," he said. Iraqi
fighters backed by an international coalition have retaken parts of Mosul but are facing
fierce resistance from jihadists defending their last Iraqi stronghold.
While the group has been ousted from several
Christian-majority towns, others such as Tal Kayf, 15
kilometres (nine miles) north of Mosul,
are still in jihadist hands. "In the liberated villages, the damage
is immense. I have visited these villages, they are 30 to 40 percent
destroyed," Sako said. "The churches have
been damaged, the streets and the infrastructure too."But
he warned that IS must be ousted from Mosul
itself before Christians can safely return. "If Mosul is not liberated, Daesh
will be able to infiltrate villages and sow panic," he said, using an
Arabic acronym for the group. He urged Christians not to join militias such as
the Babylon Brigade, a Christian unit within the Hashed al-Shaabi
(Popular Mobilisation) a loose grouping of mainly Shiite paramilitary groups
including several backed by Iran.
"If Christians want to protect their towns, they should join the army or
the (Kurdish) peshmerga," Sako
said. "The militias, it's anarchy."
Christian exodus
Iraq
had well over a million Christians before the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003,
but the population has dwindled to just 350,000 as sectarian violence wracked
the country. The majority of those who remain are Chaldeans, an eastern
Christian community affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church with roots in
northern Iraq.
The jihadist occupation of Nineveh and much of
western Iraq
in 2014 accelerated the exodus. IS presented Christians with
a grim choice: conversion, a heavy tax, exile or death. Around 120,000
fled. Sako said they needed protection if they were
to return to areas formerly occupied by the jihadists. "We have demanded
guarantees from the international community," he said. "There should
be some kind of UN or European Union office to monitor things, rather than
throwing people unprotected into their villages where they risk being
threatened by their neighbours."He suggested
that European countries each take charge of reconstructing a village or town.
"That would encourage inhabitants who have sought refuge in Europe to go home," he said. He called for a
national dialogue to reconcile Iraq's
mosaic of sects and ethnicities, saying Prime Minister Haider
al-Abadi's Shiite-dominated government and Muslim
religious authorities had changed their discourse. "(Muslim) religious
authorities have said that it is good to celebrate Christmas with the
Christians," he said.
Russian jets bolster raids on rebel-held Idlib and rural Aleppo
Reuters Sunday, 25 December 2016/Russian jets stepped up strikes on several
towns in Syria's rebel-held Idlib province and rural Aleppo
two days after the evacuation of rebels from their last pocket in the northern
city of Aleppo,
rebels and residents said on Saturday. They said at least eight strikes
targeted Binish, Saraqeb
and Jisr al Shaqour - main
towns in the northwestern Syrian province of Idlib. There were reports of
several casualties, mainly among civilians. Idlib
province for months has been a target of Russia's heavy bombing campaign
against rebel-held areas. It came even while the former eastern part of Aleppo under insurgent
control faced an escalation in aerial raids and shelling until its defenses collapsed and the rebels were forced to agree to
an evacuation deal. The Syrian army has hinted the next major campaign after
its victory in Aleppo
was to rout insurgents in their stronghold of Idlib
province, where mainly Islamist brigades operating under a coalition known as Jaish al Fateh are in control.
Residents and rebels said Russian and Syrian jets also staged heavy strikes on
rebel-held parts of western and southern parts of rural Aleppo
for the second day since the last rebels left their remaining pocket of
territory in Aleppo
city. They raided the town of Khan al Asal,
about 14 km (9 miles) west of Aleppo,
with cluster bombs while several strikes hit Hreitan
and Andan, according to a rebel fighter from Jaish al Mujahdeen. The nearby
town of Atareb
was also hit. Although the Syrian army, with the help of Iranian-backed
militias, was able to take full control of Aleppo
city after Russia conducted
hundreds of raids that pulverized rebel-held parts, large swathes of western
and southern Aleppo
countryside remain in rebel hands. Rebels said they repelled an Iranian-backed
militia assault on Saturday to gain ground in the Rashideen
area, west of Aleppo
city. The Syrian army continued to comb areas in eastern Aleppo that fell under its control on
Thursday. The Lebanese Hizbollah- run military news
service said weapons caches left by insurgents exploded, causing two deaths and
wounding scores.
Trump: UN
vote makes peace talks 'much harder'
AFP/Ynetnews/December 25/16/US
president-elect posted on Twitter that the vote constituted a 'big loss' for
peace negotiations, but vowed that 'we will get it done anyway'; Trump also
reiterated last week that Washington should use veto to block resolution.
US President-elect Donald Trump said Saturday that the UN vote demanding
Israel halt settlements in the West Bank and declaring all those built thus far
illegal—including those in eastern Jerusalem—would make a peace deal "much
harder," but said it could happen anyway. "The big loss
yesterday for Israel
in the United Nations will make it much harder to negotiate peace. Too bad, but
we will get it done anyway!" Trump said in a message on Twitter. The US's decision to abstain from the vote, thereby
enabling its passage, marked a stark departure from long-standing US
policy to veto anti-Israel resolutions in the world body. The US abstention meant the adoption of the first UN
resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.
By deciding not to veto the move, the US
took a rare step that deeply angered Israel,
which accused President Barack Obama of abandoning its closest Middle East ally in the waning days of his
administration. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the resolution as a
"shameful blow against Israel
at the United Nations." Trump, who campaigned on a promise to
recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, had bluntly said Thursday that
Washington
should use its veto to block the resolution. "As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians
will only come through direct negotiations between the parties, and not through
the imposition of terms by the United Nations," he said in a statement.
Trump has chosen as ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who has said Washington will not pressure Israel
to curtail settlement building in the West Bank.
Israel Strikes Back after U.N.
Settlement Vote
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/December
25/16/Israel on Sunday summoned representatives of states that supported a U.N.
resolution demanding it halt settlement activity, while cutting civilian
coordination with Palestinians by way of rebuke. Foreign ministry spokesman
Emmanuel Nahshon said that the 14 envoys of U.N.
Security Council members will visit the ministry in Jerusalem throughout the day.The Council passed the measure Friday after the United
States abstained, enabling the adoption of the first resolution since 1979 to
condemn Israel over its settlement policy. The U.S. envoy was not summoned. The
resolution demands "Israel
immediately and completely cease all settlement
activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem." It says
settlements have "no legal validity" and are "dangerously imperiling the viability of the two-state solution."
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had rejected the resolution as a
"shameful blow against Israel,"
repeated on Sunday the Israeli claim that U.S. President Barack Obama and
Secretary of State John Kerry were behind the resolution. "We have no
doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated
the drafts and demanded to pass it," Netanyahu said at the beginning of
the weekly cabinet meeting. "This is of course in total contradiction to
the traditional American policy of not trying to impose conditions of a final
resolution," Netanyahu said, "and of course the explicit commitment
of President Obama himself in 2011 to avoid such measures." While the
resolution contains no sanctions, Israeli officials are concerned it could
widen the possibility of prosecution at the International Criminal Court. They
are also worried it could encourage some countries to impose sanctions against
Israeli settlers and goods produced in the settlements. Earlier on Sunday, army
radio reported that Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman ordered the Israeli security
establishment to cease to all cooperation on civilian matters with the
Palestinians, while retaining security coordination.
Israeli officials refused to comment on the report. The measures taken Sunday
join Netanyahu's order to review engagements at the United Nations, including
funding for U.N. agencies and the presence of U.N. representatives in Israel.
Rightwing Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Saturday night that Israel should "announce a full
annexation of settlement blocs" in response to the resolution. Education
Minister Naftali Bennett of the far-right Jewish Home
told army radio that his party would "soon propose a bill to annex Maale Adumim," a settlement
city east of Jerusalem.
Netanyahu fumes at ‘shameful, biased’ UN
vote
AFP, Jerusalem Sunday, 25 December 2016/Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu on Saturday rejected a UN resolution demanding a halt to Israeli
settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. "The decision that
was taken was biased and shameful, but we will withstand it," he said in
his first official reaction since Friday's Security Council vote. "It will
take time, but this decision will be annulled," he said at a Hanukkah
candle-lighting ceremony broadcast by Israeli television. The council passed
the measure after the United States
abstained, enabling the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to
condemn Israel
over its settlement policy. Netanyahu hit out at the administration of US
President Barack Obama, accusing it of striking a "shameful blow against Israel at the
United Nations". He said Obama had broken a long-standing US commitment not to "dictate the terms of
peace to Israel"
at the UN body. Netanyahu added he had given Israel's
foreign minister a month to review "all Israel's engagements at the UN,
including Israeli funding for UN agencies and the presence in Israel of UN
representatives".
Putin, Rowhani
welcome Aleppo ‘victory’
AFP, Tehran Sunday, 25 December 2016/Iran’s President Hassan Rowhani and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin welcomed
the “Syrian army’s victory against the terrorists in Aleppo” during a
late-night phone call, Iranian media reported on Sunday. “The Syrian
army’s victory sends a message that the terrorists cannot achieve their
objectives. We must stop terrorists using the ceasefire to rebuild their forces
and create new bases in other regions of Syria,” Rowhani
said following the call on Saturday night, according to a statement published
by state media. Putin also welcomed the defeat of rebel forces in Syria’s second city and said cooperation between
Tehran and Moscow
“will continue”. They said peace talks would take place in Kazakhstan,
without providing further details. Iran
and Russia
have been the key backers of Syrian President Bashar
al-Assad and label all rebel forces in the country as “terrorists.”“The
result of this cooperation is a major victory in the fight against
international terrorism,” added Putin. Syrian troops this week retook control
of eastern Aleppo,
which has been held by disparate rebel groups since mid-2012, after a
devastating month-long offensive that has caused tens of thousands of refugees
to flee their homes. Russia’s
entry into the conflict in September 2015 - primarily through air strikes -
helped turn the tide for Assad, while Iran has provided military advisors
and frontline “volunteer” fighters.
Saudis among other Arabs arrested in US immigration sting
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Sunday, 25 December
2016/Saudi, Jordanian, Iraqi and Lebanese citizens were among 74 foreign
nationals arrested in an operation carried out by the US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) across Michigan and Ohio. “Those
arrested had criminal histories with past convictions for drug trafficking,
DUI, weapons violations, fraud, domestic violence, burglary and other serious
criminal offenses. Four of those taken into custody were criminal aliens who
now face federal prosecution for re-entry after deportation, a felony
punishable by up to 20 years in prison,” an ICE statement said this week. Those
who are not being criminally prosecuted will be processed administratively for
removal from the United
States. The arrestees who have outstanding
orders of deportation, or who returned to the United States illegally after being
deported, are subject to immediate removal from the country. "Targeted
immigration enforcement operations like this one highlight ICE’s
ongoing commitment to strategically use agency resources to make communities
safer," said Rebecca Adducci, field office
director for ERO Detroit, which covers Michigan
and Ohio."These actions focus our resources on the most
egregious offenders and promote public safety in the communities in which we
live and work.”The foreign nationals arrested during
the operation include citizens of 18 countries, including Mexico, Guatemala,
Bosnia, Burma, Honduras, Ecuador, Bhutan, El Salvador, Jamaica, Iraq,
Venezuela, Jordan, Ukraine, Pakistan, Lebanon, Zambia, Saudi Arabia, and
Germany. The remaining individuals are in ICE custody awaiting a hearing before
an immigration judge, or pending travel arrangements for removal in the near
future.
Syrian Opposition and the Iranian
Resistance Held a Joint Demonstration in Paris
NCRI - on Saturday, December 24 a rally was held in front of the Iranian
regime's embassy in Paris at the invitation of ‘Syrian Revolution
coordination’. In this demonstration hundreds of Syrian people and the members
and supporters of the Iranian resistance participated in order to protest the
crimes against humanity which has been committed against heroic people of
Aleppo by Bashar Assad and Iran regime’s forces and
mercenaries, as well as condemning the attempts of the Iranian Guard blocking
the evacuation of civilians and militants from East Aleppo. The protesters
waved flags of the Syrian revolution and the flags of the Iranian resistance,
as well as slogans against Khamenei and Bashar al-Assad and the need to be held accountable before
international courts. Protesters chanted slogans like: “ Down with Bashar Assad” and “Down with Khamenei”,
“Long live the Syrian revolution, long live the Free Syrian Army”, “expel the
mullahs guards and militia mercenaries from Syria,” Khamenei
and Assad are the butchers of Syrian people are war criminals and must be
submitted to justice. The protesters also carried banners like: "Maryam Rajavi: Aleppo is the icon
of suffering and steadfastness in the world, Aleppo will not kneel and will
rise again, free, tall and full of pride » Maryam Rajavi: Aleppo is the icon of steadfastness and eternal
flame of resistance and a source of inspiration for all freedom loving people,
« Assad and Khamenei have committed the greatest
crimes against humanity in the 21st century in Aleppo and must stand trial »,«
Aleppo is the heart of the eternal resistance and will rise from the ruins and
will be the herald of the demise of the mullahs all over the region.
Participants in the rally chanted slogans "Khamenei
is a Murderer", "Bashar is a
murderer", "We must end the silence over the massacres in Syria" and "Syria will not kneel,"
"the people will not tolerate”. In this rally some Syrian, Iranian and
French figures spoke on this occasion. Mr. Ahmed Drickznla
General Coordinator of the Syrian community in Paris, stressed on the unity of the Syrian and Iranian people and
their resistance in the face of two dictatorships ruling on the two countries.
His Excellency Bishop Jacques Gaillot , whose presence in the rally on the Christmas Eve was not
expected, surprisingly joined the demonstrators and gave a lecture in support
of the Syrian and Iranian people and their heroic resistance against dictators
and prayed for them. Mr. Asadolahi read the special
message of Iranian political prisoners to Syrian people, On behalf of the Iranian
resistance, Ms. Zolal Habibi,
member of PMOI Central Council made a speech,
following is the full text of her speech.
Dear friends, comrades,
We are gathered here today to voice our solidarity with the brave steadfast
people of Syria
in their struggle for freedom.
And from here we salute the brave people of Aleppo; Aleppo which
President-elect of the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi rightly called the eternal symbol of resistance and
an inspiration to the people of the region and all freedom seeking people
striving to liberate themselves from the oppression of the religious
dictatorship ruling Iran and its mercenaries. Today we witness the destruction
of Syria on day to day basis via social media, it was evident in recent weeks
that Aleppo was occupied by the IRGC and its mercenaries, with over 25000
militias on the ground; while the international community idly sat by and
turned a blind eye on the situation on the ground in Syria; this inaction
against the greatest carnage and crime against humanity in the 21st century is
an inerasable stain, a shame and a mockery of the international community. In
recent weeks it has become more evident and clear that the Iranian regime is
the source of crisis in the region and the killings in Syria, and we
will only witness peace and tranquility in the region once the Iranian regime
is evicted from the region. Tonight, millions around the world honor and celebrate the birth of Christ,
this Christmas eve we wish that the oppressed people of Syria and Iran will also see the face of peace,
joy, and prosperity. And we call on people around the world to join in
solidarity with the brave people of Syria for freedom and democracy and
keep them in their prayers tonight. Syria and Aleppo are in our hearts and the
message of the martyrs and victims will resonate through time; as we vow to
continue this struggle till the dawn of freedom
Iran: Plundering $15.5 Million Budget
Belonged to Homeless People
Sunday, 25 December 2016/NCRI - Tehran’s prosecutor, Abbas
Jafari Dowlatâbâdi,
admitted that 500 billion Tomans ($15.5 million
dollar) funds allocated to homeless has been stolen by the government
officials. According to him, government officials have used the names of
homeless people as the shareholders of front companies to receive millions of dollars
funds allocated to the homeless. “One of the Investment Bank offenses is
issuing guarantees worth millions of dollars apparently for homeless such that
38 guarantees worth of 500 billion Tomans ($15.5
million dollars) has been issued to front companies and homeless people as the
shareholders,” Dowlatâbâdi said. Tehran’s prosecutor also revealed financial
corruption of the regime officials plundering 8000 billion Tomans
($24.8 billion dollars) of the Teachers and Educators Reserve Fund. According
to Dowlatâbâdi, government officials plundered the
fund by loaning half of it to only 10 people and by unrealistic assessment and
illegal acquisition of properties. He said: “Of the $24.8 billion dollars
Investment Bank’s loan, 10 people received $12.4 billion dollars and also
former managers of Investment Bank, in their appraisal, assessed some
properties fourteen times their actual price and possessed them.”
Iran: Political Prisoner on Hunger Strike
Urgently Transferred to Prison Infirmary
Sunday, 25 December 2016/NCRI - Friday night, December 23, political prisoner Arash Sadeghi was urgently
transferred to Evin prison infirmary due to his
deteriorating health condition following severe drop in blood pressure,
palpitations, shortness of breath and coughing up blood clots.A
close source to this political prisoner said: “Doctors are extremely concerned
about Arash Sadeghi’s
health and ordered his transfer and hospitalization. The doctors also said Sadeghi’s nausea and coughing up blood clots is either from
the stomach or esophagus problem. However, for
correct diagnosis it is necessary to perform endoscopy and the detainees should
receive medical care.”“Since Arash
Sadeghi has lost a lot of weight (over 19 kg) due to
the hunger strike and his body is extremely weak, he has to perform serum
therapy before endoscopy, but Arash refused serum
therapy and his transfer to hospital,” the source said. Frequent transfer of Arash Sadeghi to prison infirmary
has placed his life and survival on alarming situation. However, prison
officials have so far shown no reaction to his legitimate demands and
deteriorating physical condition. The Iranian Resistance in a statement issued
on December 23rd had warned of political prisoners currently facing death
following long hunger strikes, and called on all international human rights
organizations, especially the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights; the Special Rapporteur on torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the
highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and the Working
Group on Arbitrary Detention to take urgent and effective action to save their
lives. The inhumane mullahs’ regime is depriving these prisoners of their most
basic rights, recognized even under the regime’s own laws.
India's Center for Social Research
Declares Support for Justice Seeking Campaign of 1988 Massacre in Iran
Sunday, 25 December 2016/NCRI - India’s Center for Social Research (CSR) issued
a statement supporting the Iranian people's campaign for seeking justice for
the victims and families of 30,000 political prisoners who were massacred in
the summer of 1988 in Iran.
In parts of the statement, Dr. Ranjana Kumari, director of CSR, described the 1988 massacre as the
worst crime against humanity since World War II and urged the UN and other
international organizations to launch an inquiry into the massacre and bring
those responsible to justice. Dr. Kumari wrote: “The
cries of victims and their families were never heard and in fact were kept in
silence. I support the efforts to hold those responsible for this indescribable
crime accountable.”"Many of the victims were 15
or 16 years of age at the time of arrest and prosecution and horrendously even
pregnant women were executed. They were all buried in unknown mass graves.”“The Iranian Resistance has called for
international prosecution and trail of the masterminds and perpetrators of the
1988 massacre and this crime against humanity, but they are still holding high
government positions in Iran.
Therefore, I urge Amnesty International and other International Human Rights
Organizations to renew their call for the trial of those responsible for the
1988 massacre.”"In memory of all those fallen for
freedom, all the 30,000 martyrs who were executed in the summer of 1988, I
support Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s
call for an investigation into the massacre and ask the United Nations and the
UN Secretary General to hold an inquiry on the massacre and I hope that the
perpetrators will finally be brought to justice. "Anywhere women are
victims of violence and injustice, the Center for Social Research stands with
them, and today the Center commemorates the memory all the steadfast women who
were executed during the 1988 massacre.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin
analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on December
25-26/16
On the American role in
Syria’s hell
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
In an interesting interview published Wednesday in the London-based daily Al-Hayat, former American Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford -
who still held this post when the Syrian revolution erupted - revealed a lot of
information about the US and how it dealt with the Syrian problem during
President Barack Obama’s term. Ford left his post as envoy to Syria two years
ago. What attracted my attention in his interview, which was carried out after
the recent massacres in Aleppo, is how he noted
that what’s happening in Syria
is in attempt by Iran
and its Shiite militias from across the world to achieve “ethnic change in the
country” through the aid of Russian military tyranny. He spoke about the
current superiority of the regime in Aleppo’s
battles and the expected superiority in the upcoming Idlib
battle to kill remaining Syrian refugees in Aleppo’s neighboring
city. However, he noted that this superiority is not the end of it as the
regime will pay the price due to horrifying economic destruction. The regime, Iran and Russia
cannot afford this cost and the West, Europe and America will not help pay the cost
given the dominance of the condemned Assad regime.
However, the most important point in his interview is about the sins of
the Obama administration - which he was part of - in Syria. According to Ford, “Obama
has not attempted to directly influence” developments ever since the Syrian
crisis erupted.
“For instance, we told them to avoid the al-Qaeda organization but we did
not provide them with an alternative. Instead of helping them not turn into
al-Qaeda, all we did was preach,” Ford added. He also spoke about his meeting
with Nouri al-Maliki, when
he was still Iraq’s
prime minister and when the Iranian-Iraqi armament aircraft system aided the
Syrian regime, and said: “We ignored the situation and overlooked it. I went
and spoke with Maliki in 2012 and told him you must
stop these flights but he ignored me despite my warnings that arming Assad will
nurture extremism.”
In the end, I think the biggest sin is that of the Obama administration
These are few details narrated by someone who
worked under the Obama administration and implemented American foreign policy
towards the Syrian crisis. These details are enough to indicate the gravity of
the political crime which the Obama administration committed. The results of this
crime include the Russian and Iranian criminal acts, Assad’s brutality, the
expansion of ISIS and the expulsion of the
moderate national opposition and removing it from the scene. Speaking of the
opposition, does it also bear part of the responsibility considering its many
disputes, dependence on foreign agendas and reluctance on ground? Does the
opposition bear responsibility because it overlooked extremist groups’
infiltration until al-Qaeda, represented by the al-Nusra
Front, found its way into its ranks? These statements must be made, and they
will be reiterated here later. It’s true that Assad, Khamenei
and Vladimir Putin prevented establishing a national opposition and preferred,
for obvious reasons, that all opposition parties be marked as either ISIS or al-Qaeda, however, this does not exonerate the
Syrian opposition from bearing its national and historic duty.
In the end, I think the biggest sin is that of the Obama administration.
**This article was first published in Asharq
al-Awsat on December 16, 2016.
Re-establishing the
private sector in Saudi
Arabia
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
Oil revenues greatly deteriorated this year to the extent that many
Saudis accept the call to give up complete dependence on oil which they’ve grown
addicted to for decades. The proposed solution is bitter but it’s
necessary to save the country, protect the future of the coming generations and
build a stronger state and healthier economy. The declaration of the state’s
new budget a few days ago woke many people up to the fact that we are entering
a new phase. Work has begun to reduce dependence on oil and decrease the role
of the “mother” government. Saudi
Arabia is transferring within the spirit and
text of the project. It says it depends on the private sector a lot as it chose
it as a major partner to provide key services in terms of education,
medication, transportation and other fields. This successful model can be seen
in countries which do not count on the public sector in their economy.
Transferring a big part of these tasks to the private sector is a wise
move but I think the problem is that the private sector is weak and it cannot
be depended upon to perform the major aspired-to tasks as except for a few
companies, the rest are just a massive market of scattered shops that live off
the easy money coming from oil. If the government looks forward to transforming
into a country where the private sector is efficient and productive, it must
rely on the economy of big companies. With all my respect to experts who always
talk about supporting medium and small-sized institutions and who believe it’s
a solution to hire thousands of people, I think the best option for Saudi Arabia is
the opposite of that. Transforming into a market of large-scale companies will
contribute to developing services and industries,
facilitate citizens’ training and employment process and protect Saudization which the government failed to impose on the
private sector for 30 consecutive years. Big companies can organize the market
and develop it in their favor. Companies that have
high capital can introduce complicated and costly technology, spend on building
big networks for distribution and expand across the country. Perhaps it’s best
for countries with labor intensive industries, like Egypt, or countries with low investments, like Pakistan, to
develop small institutions because they are the way to employ people with
minimum costs.
Since the government decided that the private sector is its partner, it
must shake it up and re-establish it
Saudi Arabia’s option is to transform into the economy of big companies
in construction, industries and healthcare, educational, technological and
technical services, including engineering, plumbing and electricity. By
resorting to global expertise and adopting the most modern technologies, it
will build a massive and organized market. Big companies’ work alongside
governmental institutions and can help them serve the market by imposing their
needs on the educational and training sectors. The state’s important role will
be “producing” giant companies by developing regulations and granting contracts
and loans. We have few old examples in this field. Sabic
is an example of a developed and industrial institution as it has 40,000
employees, most of whom are Saudis serving in advanced fields. There are
experiments which failed, most of the time due to regulations or lack thereof.
The most recent was Panda’s groceries project in neighborhoods.
This is in addition to the experience of franchise shops that are similar to
giant American companies. These may have failed due to the market’s disorder
and due to the lack of controls on licenses. Failure is clear evidence of the
bad role of small institutions as they’ve turned into cover-up businesses and they
monopolize the market in favor of foreigners. The
government will remain the source of economy’s life as it’s capable of building
the market all over again. For instance, through its massive construction
contracts, it can set the condition that a percentage of the work is performed
by major local companies that are specialized in providing engineering and
electrical services. This will employ thousands of professional Saudis for
minimum wages, provide long-term contracts and guarantee consumers the safety
of services for many years, like the case is with organized societies. Now, the
Saudi private sector is poor except for major specialized companies. Most
available companies are commercial brands which are not enough to depend on to
establish a real, productive and permanent market. Big companies are few and
can be counted on the fingers of one hand and it’s impossible for them to
contain thousands of graduates especially after the government decided to
abandon the role of the employee. The government’s philosophy is that it helps
them learn and encourages them to train but they must work in the market and
the market is small as there are thousands of small shops that do not train,
expand and develop. Since the government decided that the private sector is its
partner, it must shake it up and re-establish it. The current market was
established for different aims and during a past era. I think the government
should plan and encourage building different companies that resemble those in
developed markets and list them on the stock exchange like it did with Sabic and the electricity and transportation companies. By
doing so, the state can depend on the private sector and the government’s role
can be organizational and regulatory.
**This article was first published in Asharq
al-Awsat on December 25, 2016.
Saudi 2017 budget based on
rationalization, not skimping
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
The 2017 Saudi budget was announced recently. Expenditure is estimated at 890
billion riyals while revenues are estimated at 692 billion riyals. The
estimated deficit will be 33 percent less than the 2016 budget. In 2016, the
budget deficit was 297 billion riyals while in 2017 it’s estimated at 198
billion riyals. Saudi King Salman voiced the
necessity of accurately executing the 2017 state budget as the upcoming budget
will harmonize with Vision 2030 considering it’s the basic plan to no longer be
dependent on oil and to focus on non-oil revenues. This is the core of
development between the two budgets. Some parties want to harm the reputation
of the Saudi economy via mouthpieces whose orientations or identity are
affiliated with Iran.
Their aim is to intimidate people with unfounded crises or with imaginary
measures that burden citizens. All these attempts aim to intimidate and spread
false rumors. If we take a look at the budgets of
countries in the region or at the budgets of the international community’s
governments, we will see the reasonable effects the Saudi budget expects
compared with other countries that suffer from deficit which weakened them.
Many of these countries could not overcome their setbacks due to their
political follies and social tyranny. Take Iran as an example, considering it
calls for gloating and preying on others the most. The Saudi society however is
more aware than others and it will not be shaken by the fuss of those spreading
false rumors.
**This article was first published in Okaz on
December 25, 2016.
Obama’s parting shot at Israel
Fawaz Turki/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
There we were, those of us with press credentials, at the United Nations
Headquarters in the Turtle Bay neighborhood of
Manhattan last Thursday, hours before the much anticipated 3:00 pm Security
Council vote on a resolution, sponsored by Egypt, declaring that Israel’s ongoing
colonization practices in the Palestinian territories, including East
Jerusalem, “have no legal validity” and represent a “flagrant violation of
international law.” Would the United States,
in its odious efforts to appease Israel, continue to act as if it is
that entity’s retained advocate and veto the resolution, as it had repeatedly
done in the past with others like it? Or would President Obama, in the waning
days of his tenure as chief executive, take the audacious step - audacious,
given the strangle-hold that Israeli pressure groups have traditionally had on
American administrations - of firing a parting shot at a colonization policy he
has long openly opposed and at an insufferable Israeli leader he has long
loathed, by instructing his UN ambassador not to cast a veto? The international
community, by virtue of its being an amalgam of different human collectivities with at times contrasting views on how the
global dialogue of cultures should be conducted, does not of course always
think in lockstep. But among the few issues member states at the United Nations
are in full agreement on is that the acquisition of territory by force of arms
is inadmissible in international law. And even more inadmissible is the
transfer to and settlement in that territory by the population of the occupying
power.
Israel has already built, on occupied Palestinian land, a medley of 300
colonies to which it has transferred roughly 600,000 colonists, an act
condemned far and wide, vehemently and forcefully, by world leaders - including
American leaders, all the way from President Jimmy Carter, who declared
bluntly, “we consider these settlements to be contrary to the Geneva
Conventions, and that occupied territory should not be changed by establishment
of permanent settlements by the occupying power,” to President Barack Obama,
who declared equally bluntly, “America does not accept the legitimacy of
continued Israeli settlements.”
Donald Trump will occupy the White House as the 45th president of the United States.
Folks, fasten your seat belts for it’s gonna be a
bumpy ride
And Zubin Mehta, the renowned Indian conductor
of Western classical music, embodied the Third World’s view on the subject when
he asserted, with no need for elaboration, “So long as Israel keeps building
settlements, the world will be anti-Israeli.” Simple, but to
the point.
It is still Thursday morning and all eyes are on Samantha Power, the
engagingly winsome, Irish American liberal academic and intellectual who serves
as Obama’s UN ambassador. Will she be instructed - has she already been
instructed - by her boss at the White House to veto the resolution, or perhaps
to abstain, thus not just guaranteeing the resolution’s passage but turning the
vote into a last symbolic poke into Benjamin Netanyahu’s eye, delivered by a
frustrated American president who had supped his fill dealing with an
incorrigible Israeli expansionist? Netanyahu, news reports had it, was beside
himself, frantically taking to Twitter in the dead of night in Israel (the
tweet clocked at 3:28 am) urging the Obama administration to veto the
resolution. And Donald Trump - yes, we have to get used to that name - a man
who has made no secret of his intention to upend long-held US Middle East
policy by facilely moving the American embassy to Jerusalem and to appoint as
the country’s next ambassador to Israel an ardent supporter of the colonies,
wrote in a pre-dawn tweet, “The resolution being considered at the United
Nation should be vetoed. This puts Israel in a very poor negotiating
position and is extremely unfair to all Israelis.”That
Trump is a passionate advocate of Israel’s expansionist project goes back to
2003 when, according to the Washington Post, he donated $10,000 - not a
princely sum, but the man is known to be cheap - to the West bank colony of Beit El, built in 1977, which houses one of Israel’s most
right wing media outlets, Arutz Shiva, and the most
messianic of its colonists.
Some analysts have argued, not altogether unreasonably, that UN
resolutions condemning Israeli practices - pointing to numerous ones that
continued to languish since 1948 - have proved ineffectual at the end of the
day, which in turn is a measure of the limits of UN influence on Israel when it
comes to this international body’s ability to enforce its own rulings.
Nevertheless, a UN resolution represents a collective statement by the
international community of where it stands on an issue. To that extent, if
nothing else, it carries weight.
What will the United
States do? Will it be a veto or an abstention?
Will Obama spring most completely to life and deliver a shot across the bow, or
will he eat humble pie and go along to get along?
It is now close to lunch time in New York.Time
for one of those overpriced burgers - that a freelancer could ill afford - in
this most expensive of cities. But wait. There’s a news bulletin. Egypt, which
initially had proposed the resolution on Wednesday evening, suddenly instructed
its envoy, Amr Aboulatta,
to have it pulled, potentially indefinitely, with no word on when or if it
would be brought up again. The envoy, it was later reported, had requested a
“delay” in the vote to permit Cairo
to conduct an "additional meeting of the Arab League’s foreign ministers
to work on the resolution’s project." In other words,
adios resolution. It all savored of anticlimax
to a day that was a cliffhanger right up to
lunchtime. But wait. Another news bulletin, this one the following day. Other
countries, it seems, were prepared to take up the slack from where Egypt had left
off. New Zealand, Malaysia, Venezuela and Senegal stepped in and re-sponsored
the resolution, which then received a 14-to-0 vote, with the US - hold on to
your hat - abstaining. Israel’s
campaign to derail it had failed.
Less than hour after the vote, the president-elect tweeted ominously: “As
to the UN, things will be different after January 20.” At noon on that day,
after giving his oath of office, Donald Trump will occupy the White House as
the 45th president of the United
States. Folks, fasten your seat belts for it’s
gonna be a bumpy ride.
**Fawaz Turki is a
Palestinian-American journalist, lecturer and author based in Washington, DC.
Obama – the beginning and the end
Eyad Abu Shakra/Al Arabiya/December 25/16
Next month, the US and the whole world will turn the page on Barack Obama’s
presidency; bidding farewell to eight years whose early days were full of
promise, but for tens of millions ended in sadness and disaster. Like lottery
tickets, electoral democracy is never a sure thing. Indeed, American voters
throughout US history
elected several presidents with big majorities and yet their terms in office
ended either with scandals such as Richard Nixon’s Watergate, war quagmires
such as Lyndon B. Johnson’s Vietnam,
or economic recessions such as the one during Herbert Hoover’s presidency. When
Barack Obama won the presidential race in November 2008, many regarded his
victory as a revolution. It was a new hope for America, giving the nation a
much needed dose of youthfulness and vitality, as well as tolerance, hope and
belief in a future away from conservatism and racism. Why not, bearing in mind
that when elected President Obama was a youthful senator in the middle of his
first term in Congress? Why not, when he became the first Afro-American
president, and the first president carrying a non-European name, as he was not
a descendant of freed former slaves but rather the son of a Kenyan academic who
hailed from the prominent Luo people of East Africa? Barack Obama’s victory in 2008 was, thus,
truly historical. Perhaps this was most poignantly manifested by Rev Jesse
Jackson’s tears of joy during inauguration day. That day Jackson witnessed what
another Civil Rights hero Dr Martin Luther King Jr
was dreaming of when he uttered his famous words: “I have a dream that my four
little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by
the color of their skin but by the content of their character”, in the country
described in the US national anthem as “The Land of the free and home of the
brave.”
Obama entered the White House under the banner of “Change” and optimism
in his ability to affect change was almost as huge as the need to affect that
change.
If “change” was the motto of Obama’s first term in the White House, then
“retreat” would be the most appropriate motto for his second
Throughout the eight years of George W Bush’s presidency the neocons brought out almost all the cruel prejudicial
policies that suited their ideology, without forgetting to satisfy the
conservative Evangelist Right by giving it a free hand in domestic social
affairs. In addition to launching pre-emptive and punitive wars under the
pretext of eradicating terrorism and ignoring human rights, clean environment
and anti-gun lobby campaigners, Bush Jr left market
forces and big business unrestrained. Under pressure from extremist
conservative Evangelists, Bush Jr also slowed down
scientific – namely stem cell – research, thus delaying vital medical
breakthroughs for years if not decades. Obama was just the opposite of all
that. While Bush Jr was a parochial personality with
a primarily domestic vision and culture, Obama had a cosmopolitan character
with global dimensions and interests. Not only was he the son of a Kenyan
Muslim, but also the son-in-law and half-brother of Indonesian Muslims and he
actually lived for a while in Indonesia, and later in Hawaii – the only
American state with non-White European population. While Bush Jr was a member of his white aristocratic Protestant
family, and a hostage of religious, social and economic conservative lobbies,
Obama – despite studying in some of America’s top colleges – was basically a
self-made man who did his “rough and tumble” political apprenticeship in the
poor neighborhoods of Chicago.
The first impression about Obama was that he was a leader keen not only
to understand the world – which his predecessor never cared much about getting
to know – but also change it. This is at least what many thought after his
famous Cairo Speech in Egypt
on June 4, 2009.
During his first few months in office, the new US president seemed quite
interested in tackling the roots of problems rather than limiting his endeavors to symptoms. Indeed, during the first two years
he retained the aura of idealism and goodwill that were the hallmark of his
rhetoric since elections day, however, the momentum began to weaken and grind
to a halt. Furthermore, despite succeeding in forcing courageous internal
changes in the face of his stubborn Republican opponents, foreign relations
approaches began to shroud his idealism and credibility with doubt. There were
two early setbacks that uncovered the fragility of Obama’s idealistic push for
change, both directly connected with the Arab and Muslim worlds: the first,
beating a retreat on the Palestine-Israel peace front when confronted by the
hawkish Binyamin Netanyahu; and the second, his failure to live up to his
promises to shut down the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp where suspected
Islamist extremists are detained.
Thereafter, Washington
looked confused, giving contradictory and misleading information in the early
2011 during what came to be labelled the Arab Spring. Then, within a short
time, the hitherto hushed up American – Iranian talks in the Omani capital Muscat were made public, although few at the time imagined
these talks and agreements reached would become the cornerstone of Washington’s strategy
towards the Arabs and the Muslim world.
Few thought that the mullahs and Revolutionary Guards’ Iran, with its hyperactive gallows, sectarian
agitation and incitement, and destructive expansionism would soon become a
strategic ally to the US in
the open war against a new enemy called ISIS.
An enemy that appeared suddenly, and was allowed to grow, expand and occupy
lands, and then used as an excuse to justify sacrificing hundreds of thousands
of innocent people, uprooting and displacing tens of millions other, bringing
down cities, wiping out communities and redrawing national borders. Thus, if
“Change” was the motto of Obama’s first term in the White House, then “Retreat”
would be the most appropriate motto for his second. It is not only a ‘retreat’
in the face of Iran which
Obama’s policies allowed to become a regional time bomb, but against Russia, the old
enemy from the Cold War days! Today the whole of Europe is paying a heavy price
for Vladimir Putin’s strident and aggressive leadership and his unabated
efforts to undermine the continent’s stability through aiding and abetting his
extremist and racist new ‘allies’. The same allies who are
now riding the waves of hatred and xenophobia against immigrants and refugees,
tens of thousands of whom were made refugees by the Kremlin itself. Even
America’s
democratic system is no longer safe from Putin’s ambitious meddling, if we are
to believe the CIA, no less! In a few words, “retreat” in the face of extremism
and racism is now Barack Obama’s catastrophic legacy to America and the
whole world.
**This article was first published in Asharq
al-Awsat on December 16, 2016.
The Fifth Legion: A New Auxiliary Force
By Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/ Syria
Comment/December 24/16
https://outlook.live.com/owa/?id=64855&path=/mail/inbox/rp
Though numerous militias exist on the regime side in Syria, only a few have garnered wider
media attention. The most notable of these few groups is of course the National
Defence Forces (NDF), set up as a counter-insurgency and auxiliary holding
force in late 2012 with help from Hezbollah and Iran. The NDF has centres
throughout the Syrian provinces where the regime still maintains a viable
presence and remains an important force. Another group that garnered attention
was the Coastal Shield Brigade (Liwa Dir’ al-Sahel),
set up in 2015 as the regime experienced substantial losses in Idlib province and the Homs desert to the rebels and the Islamic
State (IS) respectively. The ‘shield’ aspect reflected a broader shift in the
strategic thinking at the time, in which the emphasis shifted to defending
vital areas amid exacerbating manpower problems.
If the previous year had a defensive focus for the regime though prior to the
beginning of the overt Russian intervention in October 2015, then this year has
very much seen the opposite approach, which has now culminated in the
successful recapture of Aleppo
city. While the assault on the rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo was going on, a new auxiliary force
was announced to have been formed last month. This force is called al-Faylaq al-Khamis (“The Fifth
Legion”), with the word Iqtiham (“Assault”) appended
to its name, very much signifying the offensive emphasis of the regime at the
present time. The following statement was issued by the General Command for the
Syrian Army and the Armed Forces on 22 November:
“In response to the rapid developments for events, to reinforce the successes
of the intrepid armed forces and heeding the desire of our defiant people to
put an end to the terrorist acts upon the lands of the Syrian Arab Republic,
the General Command for the Army announces the formation of the Fifth Legion-
Assault, from volunteers, with the mission of destroying terrorism alongside
the rest of the formations of our heroic armed forces and the auxiliary and
allied forces to restore security and stability to all the lands of the Syrian
Arab Republic. The General Command for the Army and the Armed Forces calls on
all citizens who desire to participate in realizing the final victory over
terrorism to go to the reception centres in the provinces.”
The statement then defined a number of these reception centres:
– Damascus:
Southern Regional Command-Damascus Area Command-10th Division Command Qatana.
– Homs: Central
Regional Command.
– Hama: Hama Area Command-Administrative Affairs
College in Masyaf.
– Aleppo:
Northern Regional Command.
– Tartous: Tartous Area
Command.
– Latakia: Coastal Regional Command.
– Deraa: 5th Division Command.
– Suwayda’: 15th Division Command-Special Forces.
Notably absent from this list are Hasakah, Deir az-Zor and Raqqa provinces. In Hasakah and Deir az-Zor provinces, the regime
maintains remnant presences, primarily in Qamishli
and Deir az-Zor city
respectively. In Raqqa province, there is course no
regime presence at all. Nonetheless, the statement by the General Command
specified that people of the eastern region, like other citizens, could
register at any of the centres mentioned above. Conditions for enlistment were
specified as follows:
– Must be at least 18 years old and not obliged for compulsory military service
(khidmat al-‘alam) and has
not deserted from compulsory service.
– In good health.
Eligible for acceptance are state employees and those who have completed their
compulsory military service from all classes, including officers,
non-commissioned officers and ordinary personnel. Their enlistment will be
according to a contract of one year subject to renewal through appropriate
agreement. State employees in particular who enlist are entitled to claim a
salary from the Fifth Legion while maintaining the salaries and benefits of
their existing jobs.
From the conditions for recruitment outlined above, the most important point to
note is the contrast with many of the militias that try to recruit through
offering an amnesty for those who have avoided and deserted compulsory military
service. In addition, the terms for state employees seems to suggest that the
army is trying to tap into this demographic in particular as a potential source
of manpower for the Fifth Legion. The emphasis on a definitive victory over
‘terrorism’ also points to the regime’s calculus at this point: namely, that it
is on the road to decisive victory, eventually entailing the retaking of all of
Syria.
It should be noted that a formation similar to the Fifth Legion was announced
last year as the overt Russian intervention in the form of airstrikes was getting
underway. That formation was called al-Faylaq
al-Rabi’- Iqtiham (“The Fourth Legion- Assault”).
This force was said to have been formed from Syrian soldiers and volunteers
with Russian specialists, in addition to a joint Russian-Syrian command. Its
first operations were due to take place in the Idlib,
Hama and Latakia countrysides. Subsequent
evidence quickly emerged of engagements on the ground. For example, in early
November 2015, a ‘martyr’ for the Fourth Legion was claimed in one Rami Marwan al-Khouli, originally from the Homs province town of al-Qusayr
near the Lebanese border and killed in fighting in Latakia
province. Another individual presented as a Fourth Legion ‘martyr’ at the time
by at least one account was Mohsen Afifa, also killed in the Latakia
fighting. The Fourth Legion appears to have endured as a formation, with
references to the contingent’s existence, its operations and slain fighters
occurring throughout 2016, primarily on the Latakia
front. In fact, in July 2016, the General Command for the Syrian army
reportedly changed the leader of the Fourth Legion (Shuqi
Yusuf) on account of repeated errors and false assessments of the battle,
leading to substantial setbacks especially on the Kanasba
front in Latakia at the time. Below are some more
photos of slain fighters from the Fourth Legion.
Memdouh Ken’an, originally from al-Qardaha.
Killed on the Latakia front.
He was apparently a veteran of campaigns in Deraa and
the Hawran area. At least one account also has him as
being a part of the Syrian army’s 5th Mechanized Division.
Mahmoud
Ahmad al-Ahmad, originally from al-Hamdaniya in Aleppo. Killed in fighting in Latakia province.
Abd al-Hameed Hilal al-Daman, originally
from Himo Hanadi in Hasakah province. Killed in
fighting in Latakia province.
Amir Ibrahim Hazim, originally from
al-Salukiya of the Masyaf
area. Killed in Kanasba
area, Latakia province.
The issue of mistakes in the field, as illustrated partly in the experiences of
the Fourth Legion, is touched upon in an article in the pro-Assad Lebanese
newspaper al-Safir regarding the formation of the
Fifth Legion. Specifically, the article says that some mistakes and
insufficient levels of coordination were revealed in the field and battle
experiences since the time of the Russian intervention and the formation of the
Fourth Legion. These mistakes are said to have been looked at by the concerned
parties, with an aim to resolving them, paving the way for the entry of the
Fifth Legion into the battlefield.
The newspaper further claims that the foundational force for
the Fifth Legion will be a mixture of existing combat groups that have acquired
high-level experience, alongside new recruits or former fighters from the NDF
branches. According to the article, forces of Suqur
al-Sahara’ (a private elite militia) and Liwa al-Quds (a Palestinian-Syrian militia from the Aleppo area that played an important role in the recent
retaking of east Aleppo)
are expected to be the tip of the spear and strike force of the volunteers. In
addition, the newspaper says it is expected that some of the military command
of Hezbollah will play a foundational role in leading groups of the fighters
that will join the Fifth Legion, and that some elite forces of Hezbollah will
operate either under the Fifth Legion’s banner or in operational coordination
with it.
Some commentary has focused on this suggested Hezbollah involvement in the
Fifth Legion as a key development of “official integration” pointing to a
future trend of Iranian-backed militias being granted legal cover in Iraq and Syria. Leaving aside the Iraqi
aspect of the situation with regards to integrating the Hashd
Sha’abi units (partly driven by PM Hayder al-Abadi’s desire to exert
stronger control over the militias), this interpretation seems to be an
over-reading of the available information on the Fifth Legion that also
overlooks the fact that Iranian-backed militias are already using the legal
cover of the Syrian state in certain ways, such as the Iraqi group Liwa Dhu al-Fiqar
under the Dir’ al-Watan conglomeration of the al-Bustan Association, Liwa al-Imam
al-Hussein overlapping with the 4th Armoured Division, and some Hezbollah
personnel operating under the NDF.
In any case, characterizing the Fifth Legion as an “elite” part of the Syrian
army is premature. Properly speaking, the Fifth Legion defines itself as
affiliated with al-quwat al-sadiqa
(“forces of friends”). To be sure, it is a slightly ambiguous term. On one
reading, it can be seen as synonymous with Quwat al-Asdiqa’. This means a function as a formal auxiliary force
of some sort for the Syrian army, and one should compare this designation with
the case of Quwat al-Ghadab,
a Christian militia in the Suqaylabiyah area of Hama province. In initial
reporting, the pro-regime outlet Damascus Now wrote that the Fifth Legion will
get its training, equipment and salaries from the Asdiqa’
(“The Friends”), though it did not specify further what it meant by this term.
An alternative way to read al-quwat al-sadiqa is to look at other occasions on which the term has
been used: it often refers to the regime’s foreign allies and their forces
assisting the Syrian army on the ground (e.g. the Iraqi militia Harakat al-Nujaba’ and the
Russian forces).
If al-Safir’s unconfirmed information on integrating
forces from a variety of militias into the Fifth Legion is correct, a
motivation clearer than just officially integrating Hezbollah into the Syrian
state’s armed forces appears to be improving operational abilities through
overcoming rivalries and competition for influence that have emerged between
various forces on the regime side and sometimes impeded effective coordination.
This is of course suggested in the newspaper’s article.
As of the time of writing, the Fifth Legion has not emerged as an actual
operational force on the ground. Amusingly, mobile text messages urging people
to join the Fifth Legion have become a subject of mockery and annoyance even
among some people on the regime side, prompting the main page for the Fifth
Legion to issue an apology:
“Messages are reaching us condemning the frequency of text messages that
announce the Fifth Legion and call on the citizen brothers to join its ranks.
We will say in simple words: ‘We apologize for annoying you, for we are working
for your sake.'”
Where exactly the Fifth Legion will operate for its first assignment is not yet
fully confirmed. That said, a post on 21 December by the Fifth Legion’s main
page stated the following:
“Leadership from the officers of the Fifth Legion- Assault is participating in
the preparation for the battle to recover the city of Palmyra from the Da’esh terrorist organization, and information about the
possibility of ruling out one of the auxiliary forces that was a reason for
what happened when the city fell.”
The latter part of that statement is particularly interesting. While the regime
was focusing its efforts on Aleppo, the Palmyra front was manned
by a number of militias, but they appear to have put on a pretty dismal
performance in trying to defend the city from IS. These militias on the Palmyra front included
Syrian Hezbollah groups like al-Ghalibun, Liwa al-Imam al-Mahdi and Quwat al-Ridha. In particular,
the IS offensive on Palmyra was the first major
engagement on the Palmyra
front for Liwa al-Imam al-Mahdi
and appears to have been set as an emergency assignment for al-Ghalibun. The Afghan Shi’a unit
affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)- Liwa Fatemiyoun– has also had a
presence in Palmyra, with four special contingents stationed there as part of a
long-standing line of defence against IS, according to a Fatemiyoun
commander quoted by IRGC news outlet Tasnim News.
Since the fall of the city, the regime has called up additional forces like the
Syrian army’s 10th division, the NDF branch Fawj al-Jowlan and the Qalamoun Shield
Forces as IS has also threatened the important T4 airbase. Abu Hayder al-Harbi, an Iraqi member
of Hezbollah’s forces in Syria,
further told me that Hezbollah and the IRGC are currently fighting on the Palmyra front.
Quwat al-Ridha and the Syrian army on the Palmyra front. December 2016.
Fawj Nusur Homs, another
militia (air-intelligence affiliated) on the Palmyra front.
Samer Kurdi, a Hezbollah
fighter from the Idlib Shi’i
village of al-Fu’a, recently killed on the Palmyra front.
How far the Fifth Legion will come to play a real and important role in the
battlefield remains to be seen. The provincial governor of Latakia-
Ibrahim Khidr al-Salim-
seems particularly keen to have people enlist in the Fifth Legion, involving
state administrative bodies in the process. He has even reportedly directed Latakia institutions and foundations to cancel work
contracts of male workers in Latakia between 18 and
50 years old from other provinces if they do not join the Fifth Legion. This
ultimatum is not to be applied if the worker has been exempted from the Syrian
army for reasons such as health. The authenticity of documents circulated with
regards to this matter appears to have been subsequently confirmed by postings
such as this one on teachers in Latakia joining the
Fifth Legion. This may indicate that recruitment efforts into the Fifth Legion
have not been as successful as the regime might have hoped. Indeed, it is
possible the Fifth Legion will end up going the way of Liwa
Dir’ al-Sahel: much hype initially but then fading into obscurity and becoming
of little or no operational significance. In any case, there is no doubt of the
ongoing manpower problems facing the regime, despite the confident
offensive-minded mentality in light of the Aleppo victory.
**The post The Fifth Legion: A New Auxiliary Force appeared first on Syria
Comment.
Islamists Attack Christmas, but Europeans
Abolish It
Giulio Meotti/Gatestone
Institute/December 25/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/9637/europe-christmas-islamists
A statue of the Virgin Mary was ordered taken
away by a court in the French municipality
of Publier.
Senator Nathalie Goulet slammed the judges as
"ayatollahs of secularism".
A German school in Turkey
just banned Christmas celebrations: the school, Istanbul Lisesi,
funded by the German government, decided that Christmas traditions and
carol-singing would no longer be allowed. A Woolworth's store in Germany
scrapped Christmas decorations telling customers that the shop "is now
Muslim".
Europe is already mutilating her own
traditions "to avoid offending Muslims". We have become our own
biggest enemy.
Muslims are also reclaiming "the mosque of Cordoba". Authorities in the southern
Spanish city recently dealt a blow to the Catholic Church's claim of ownership
of the cathedral. Now Islamists want it back.
The final result of Europe's
self-destructive secularism could seriously be a Caliphate.
"Everything is Christian", Jean-Paul Sartre wrote after the
war. Two thousand years of Christianity have left a deep mark on the French
language, landscape and culture. But not according to France's
Minister of Education, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem.
She just announced that instead of saying "Merry Christmas", state
officials should use "Happy Holidays" -- clearly a deliberate intent
to erase from discourse and the public space any reference to the Christian
culture in which France
is rooted.
Jean-François Chemain called it the
"eradication of any Christian sign in the public landscape". A year
ago, the controversy was ignited in the French town of Ploermel, where a
court decided that the statue of Pope John Paul II, erected in a square, had to
be removed for violating "secularism".
Then, a statue of the Virgin Mary was ordered taken away by a court in
the municipality
of Publier.
Senator Nathalie Goulet slammed the judges as
"ayatollahs of secularism".
The newspapers of the French "left", outraged by the
"right's" ban on burkinis on the French
Riviera, have been endorsing this anti-Christian policy.
France's
Council of State has just ruled that "the temporary installation of cribs
[nativity scenes] in a public place is legal if it has a cultural, artistic or
festive value, but not if it expresses the recognition of a cult or a religious
preference". What precautions to justify a millenary tradition!
In the town of Scaer, a nursing home has been the
subject of a similar secularist complaint, for the presence of a fresco of the
Virgin Mary. Then, it was the turn of the manger in the train station of Villefranche-de-Rouergue, in Aveyron.
In the town of Boissettes,
the church bells have been muted by court decision.
Fortunately, some ideas from the Observatory of Secularism -- the organ
established by President François Hollande to
coordinate his neo-secularist policies -- have not been implemented. One
proposed even to eliminate some Christian national holidays to make room for
the Islamic, Jewish and secular holidays.
President Hollande, on the occasion of Easter,
"forgot" to express holiday wishes to the Christians of France. But a
few months before, Hollande had extended his best
wishes to the Muslims during the feast of Eid, which
closes Ramadan. "Hollande's greeting to Muslims
is opportunistic and political. For the Socialist Party, it is a crucial
electoral clientele", said the French philosopher Gerard Leclerc in the newspaper, Le Figaro.
This Christianophobia is the Trojan Horse of
Islam. As Charles Consigny writes
in the weekly Le Point, "Through this tabula rasa of the past, France
will make a clean sweep of its future". Unfortunately, France is not
an isolated case. Everywhere in Europe, a
weary, secularist absence of purpose and confused values damns Christianity in favor of Islam.
A jihadist terrorist, targeting a symbol of Christian tradition, last
week slaughtered 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin. But Europe
is already mutilating her own traditions "to avoid offending
Muslims". We have become our own biggest enemy.
The annual candlelit Saint
Lucia ("Sankta
Lucia") procession, a Swedish Christian tradition celebrated for hundreds
of years, is "dying" out. Uddevalla, Södertälje, Koping, Umeå, and Ystad are among the
growing numbers of cities no longer holding this lovely cultural event.
According to Jonas Engman, an ethnologist at the Nordic Museum,
the declining interest in the St.
Lucia procession accompanies a more general
alienation from the culture of Christian Sweden. A study conducted by Gallup
International reveals that in observing the Christian religion, Sweden is
"the least religious in the West". In the meantime, with a young,
strong, driven sense of purpose and a set of sharia
values, Islam is growing.
A German school in Turkey
just banned Christmas celebrations. The school, Istanbul Lisesi,
funded by the German government, decided that Christmas traditions and
carol-singing would no longer be permitted. The Washington Post summarized the
decision: "No teaching of Christmas customs, no celebrations and no
Christmas caroling". It is not an isolated
incident. A Woolworth's store in Germany also scrapped Christmas
decorations, telling customers that the shop "is now Muslim".
In Britain,
David Isaac, the new head of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC),
told employers that they should not suppress Christian tradition out of fear of
offending anyone. Previously, Dame Louise Casey, the British government's
integration "tsar", warned that "traditions such as Christmas
celebrations will die out unless people stand up for British values".
In many Spanish towns, such as Cenicientos, the
municipality of this Autonomous Community of Madrid removed the Christian
Stations of the Cross. Then, Madrid's
mayor, Manuela Carmena, decided to remove the city's
traditional Nativity display at the Puerta de Alcalá.
Muslims are also reclaiming "the mosque of Cordoba". Authorities in the southern
Spanish city recently dealt a blow to the claim of ownership of the cathedral
by the Catholic Church. Built on the site of Saint Vincent's church, it then
served as a mosque for over 400 years when Islamic Spain was part of a
caliphate, before the Christian kingdom
of Castile conquered the
city and converted it again into a church. Now Islamists want it back.
Muslims are also reclaiming "the mosque of Cordoba". Authorities in the southern
Spanish city recently dealt a blow to the claim of ownership of the cathedral
by the Catholic Church. Built on the site of Saint Vincent's church, it then
served as a mosque for over 400 years when Islamic Spain was part of a
caliphate, before the Christian kingdom
of Castile conquered the
city and converted it again into a church. (Image source: James (Jim)
Gordon/Wikimedia Commons)
Belgium, the most
Islamized democracy in Europe, is also purging
its Christian heritage. The Nativity, the traditional manger scene, has not
been put up in the Belgian town of Holsbeek,
just outside Brussels.
Claims were scenes it was scrapped to "avoid offending Muslims".
As reported by the newspaper La Libre, school
calendars within Belgium's French speaking community are also using a new
secularized terminology: All Saints Day (Congés de
Toussaint) is now be referred to as Autumn Leave (Congé
d'automne); Christmas Vacation (Vacances
de Noël) is now Winter Vacation (Vacances d'hiver); Lenten Vacation (Congés
de Carnaval) is now Rest and Relaxation Leave (Congé de détente); and Easter (Vacances
de Pâques) is now Spring Vacation (Vacances de Printemps). Then Belgium installed an abstract, de-Christianized
Christmas tree in the capital, Brussels.
In the Netherlands,
the Christian tradition of Black Pete is under attack and it will soon be
abolished. In Italy,
Catholic priests this year canceled Christmas to
"avoid offending Muslims".
The final result of Europe's self-destructive secularism could seriously
be a Caliphate, in which the fate of its ancient and beautiful churches
recapitulates those in Constantinople, where
the Hagia Sophia, for thousand years Christianity's
greatest cathedral, was recently turned into a mosque. The muezzin's call now
reverberates inside this Christian landmark for the first time in 85 years.
Islamic terrorists targeted Christmas in Berlin,
but it is the Christian secularists who are abolishing it all over Europe.
**Giulio Meotti,
Cultural Editor for Il Foglio, is an Italian
journalist and author.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The
articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of
Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced,
copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone
Institute.
How serious is the animosity between Israel and Iran?
Mamoon Alabbasi/The Arab
Weekly//December 25/16
Some analysts say Netanyahu’s anti-Iran rhetoric is motivated more by political
gains than genuine security fears.
London - The Israeli government confirmed that it was aware that Iran had a
4.5% stake — which could pay Tehran tens of millions of dollars in dividends —
in ThyssenKrupp, a German firm that is selling submarines to Tel Aviv.
“We have known Iran was a
shareholder in the German company since 2004,” Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said, adding that Israel “had no
other alternatives”.
The revelations that the state-owned Iran Foreign Investment Company (IFIC) has
shares in a German company that has supplied the Israeli Navy with ships and
submarines sparked controversy in Israel.
Critics of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu accused him of seeking to
make personal profit from the deal while undermining Israel’s security and breaking Israeli
law, which bans “trading with the enemy”. The German company is represented in Israel by Netanyahu’s
personal lawyer.
Israel’s
Finance Ministry said that the deal does not break Israeli law as Iranian
investment in ThyssenKrupp is too small. Israeli Defence Ministry officials
said the German company assured Tel Aviv that Iran did not have access to
sensitive information on the submarines.
The episode nevertheless has been embarrassing for Netanyahu, who is a vocal
critic of international dealings with Iran,
most notably the nuclear deal with the United States and other world
powers. Israeli arms dealers previously sold military equipment to Iran but such
deals are not publicly state-sanctioned.
Netanyahu has at times been at odds with his own defence establishment, which
does not share his view regarding the level of threat Iran poses to Israel. Some analysts say
Netanyahu’s anti-Iran rhetoric is motivated more by political gains than
genuine security fears, as it would distract attention from the occupied
Palestinian territories.
They argue that Iran and its
proxies in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen
also exaggerate their animosity towards Israel as that would serve their
local and regional interests.
“Iran’s rhetoric against Israel is often
for local or regional consumption. They use the plight of the Palestinians,
who are Sunnis, to hide their sectarian agendas in the Middle
East,” said Ghassan Ibrahim, a
London-based Syrian analyst.
“Take for example Qassem Soleimani,
the commander of Iran’s al-Quds (Jerusalem) Force, who
is involved in battles in Syria,
Iraq and elsewhere but never
set foot in Jerusalem,”
he added.
“The same could be applied, to a large extent, to Hezbollah. The militant group
now dominates Lebanon in
the name of ‘resistance’ against Israel
but it is Hezbollah that is making sure that Israel’s
borders are not being attacked from anyone in Lebanon.”
Patrick Hilsman, a New York-based journalist who has
reported from Syria, said
the hostile rhetoric from Iran,
Assad and Hezbollah against Israel
cannot be taken seriously because all three parties, with the exception of
Hezbollah in 2006, have long been avoiding large-scale direct conflict with Israel.
The Syrian regime with the tacit blessing of Iran
and Hezbollah has been building stronger relations with Cairo to secure Egyptian support to quash
the Syrian rebellion. “If they really cared about Palestinians, they would
have pressed Egypt, which
enjoys good ties with Israel,
to open the Rafah border crossing with Gaza,” said Hilsman.
Mohammed Mohsen Abo El- Nour, an Egyptian researcher who specialises in Iranian
affairs, ruled out any military conflict between Iran
and Israel.
“For purely geopolitical reasons, the two sides (Israel
and Iran)
do not pose an existential threat towards each other, as they do not share
borders,” he said.
Abo El-Nour said the two
sides enjoyed strong bilateral relations before the 1979 Islamic revolution but
added that even when Iran’s
former supreme leader Ruhollah Khomeini took power
and sided with the Palestinians, Israel
and Iran
have never been involved in direct wars against each other.
Iran was at war with Iraq in the 1980s and Israel
bombed Iraq early in that
decade but neither Tehran
nor Tel Aviv were fighting each other, said Abo El-Nour. “Add to that the
Iran-Contra scandal,” in the mid-1980s in which Israeli weapons were purchased
by Iran to fight Iraq, he said.
Mahan Abedin, an Iranian analyst based in London, said that, although Israel
and Iran
seek to avoid direct clashes, there is strong enmity between them.
“The Israelis struggle to understand Iran’s
anti-Israel ideology because geopolitically the two countries should not be
foes but the Iranian leadership is ideologically committed to Israel’s destruction,” said Abedin.
“Otherwise the Iranians wouldn’t have pursued costly regional policies, such
as supporting militant Palestinian and Lebanese groups, which also invited the
wrath of the United States,
resulting in sanctions. If they didn’t believe in it why pay such a high
price?”
“Iran
needs to be seen to be reaching out to Arab Sunnis,” said Abedin.
“That’s why (Supreme Leader Ali) Khamenei met with
representatives of the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad in the midst of Aleppo battle.”
**Omair Anas, a research
fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, said Iranian-Israeli relations
may become less hostile after the departure of Khamenei.
“Relations may mature once the new supreme leader is elected and if the existing
Western-educated executive of (President) Hassan Rohani
and (Foreign Minister) Mohammad Javad Zarif remain popular.”
Mamoon Alabbasi is an Arab
Weekly contributing editor based in London.
You can follow him on Twitter @MamoonAlabbasi
In Iraq,
more than 200 civilians arrested daily
Mustafa Habib/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
While numbers of those released are published, releases do not always
detail what detainees were charged with.
Iraqi man showing his documents to policemen as he returns to his home in
Falluja
Mustafa HabibCrisis in Syria continues to reveal outlines
of new international competition we thought was dead and buried.
Baghdad -
Official Iraqi statistics tell a worrying tale. They indicate that thousands
of civilians are arrested and detained every month by a wide variety of
security organisations for no good reason.
One can come by these numbers by following the statistics published
between January 2015 and October 2016 in the digital archive of Iraq’s Federal Judiciary Authority, the body that
oversees Iraq’s
courts. The news releases issued by the Judicial Authority are meant to be a
record of courts’ work but, when the numbers are added up, the statistics tell
a more controversial story.
The releases indicate that the majority of detainees were released
because the cases against them were found insubstantial. For most, the cases
were thrown out before trial. Some were found not guilty in their trials.
While the numbers of those released are published, the releases do not
always detail what the detainees were charged with and whether those charges
were criminal or related to terrorism. Nor do they tell how long the released
Iraqis awaited for that decision — whether they were detained for days or
years.
Meanwhile, the various security forces involved — including the army,
the police and Iraqi intelligence — do not publish the number of arrests they
have made.
In 2016, through October, 67,749 detainees were released from prisons
after they were found not guilty or had been wrongfully detained. Among these
were 8,810 accused of terrorist acts. That averages out to 6,775 wrongfully
imprisoned locals per month — 223 per day.
In 2015, there were 88,297 detainees released, indicating slightly more
wrongful arrests per month and per day: 7,358 and 243, respectively.
June and May of 2016 saw the most detainees released, with close to
11,000 Iraqis discharged each month. It is highly likely that the large number
of arrests and releases coincided with the Iraqi military’s campaign against
the Islamic State (ISIS) in Anbar province that began
at the end of May and ended around mid-June.
It is obviously difficult to compare Iraq’s
catch-and-release statistics with other countries’ rates of incarceration, as
clearly the Iraqi situation is very different from that of the United Kingdom or the United States.
However, given the lack of Iraqi numbers of arrests, a snapshot may be
instructive: For example, British prison reformers point out that in 2015,
10,897 citizens remanded in custody — held in prison while awaiting trial —
were subsequently acquitted. Statistics from previous years show that, on
average, about 12,000 locals were held in remand in Britain before being eventually
released.
In the United States
about “20% of detainees [who were in pretrial
detention] eventually had their case dismissed or were acquitted”, according to
the Americas Quarterly, a magazine focused on the Western
Hemisphere. The study was based on US Justice Department figures
from 1990-2004 and that percentage would add up to about 96,000 prisoner
releases annually.
If both the British and US figures are adjusted for population — both
countries have many more people than Iraq, with Britain about double and the
United States about ten times more — the annual number of those wrongfully
arrested and detained in Iraq looks worse. It would appear to indicate that
there is a genuine problem in the way that Iraq’s security forces investigate
offences.
To try to prevent violence, there are many random detentions taking place
in Iraq.
In fact, so many random detentions may be doing more harm than good, in that
they disrupt the civilian peace and increase conflict between different
political forces. Sunni Muslim politicians accuse the security forces of
sectarian bias while Shia Muslim politicians
criticise those in Sunni-majority provinces of supporting extremists.
These are not the only unwarranted or illegal detentions taking place,
some Sunni Muslim critics say. They complain that the Shia
Muslim volunteer militias, who recently became a legitimate security force in Iraq, have
unofficial prisons too, where they hold their enemies illegally. The heads of
the militias deny this.
Ahmed al-Salmani, a member of parliament from Anbar province, has focused on issues pertaining to
detainees. An estimated 3,000 residents in Anbar were
detained by fighters from Shia Muslim volunteer
militias. This includes about 2,000 from the Razazah
area south of Ramadi in October 2015. Nothing has
been heard from these locals since their disappearance.
In August, Iraq’s
parliament passed what is known as the general amnesty law. It was supposed to
facilitate the release of thousands of Iraqis imprisoned on what many believe
to be a political basis and was aimed at calming sectarian tensions in the
country.
The law would encourage amnesty for as many as 36,000 detainees.
However, looking at the numbers on the Judicial Authority website, that starts
to feel like too little, too late.
To encourage a respect for the rule of law and to avoid accusations of
sectarian or political bias, it may be better to begin with a reform of the
policy of random and apparently unwarranted detentions.
Mustafa Habib writes for niqash.org, which
originally published this article.
The rise of the Russian Phoenix
Mohamed Kawas/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
Crisis in Syria
continues to reveal outlines of new international competition we thought was
dead and buried.
Historians will see the battle for Aleppo as a
turning point that laid the foundation of a new world order that obliterates
the maps drawn in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
Aleppo is part of a process started in 2011 in
which the United States
has gradually relinquished its role as world leader. In Syria, the
world seems to have entered a grey zone of uncertainties.
Due to the paranoia in reaction to thousands of refugees entering Europe, Britain has
voted to exit the European Union. Conservative movements within the European
Union are also talking of abandoning ship.
Because of Syria,
voices have risen in the West doubting democracy and praising dictatorship as
the best means to impose stability on the world. Thanks in part to Syria, US President-elect Donald Trump has
become infatuated with Russian President Vladimir Putin and conservative
leaders in Europe have followed suit.
Aleppo is a
chance to discover the real might of world powers. The United States stayed away from Syria but
granted freedom to the rest of the world to intervene. Taking their cue from
the United States, European countries also preferred to stand aside while
others jumped on the opportunity and chose to invest in the Syrian drama.
“The tragedy in Aleppo
did not come out of a vacuum; it was created by a vacuum, a vacuum of Western
leadership, of American leadership, British leadership,” former British Finance
minister George Osborne told parliament.
Turkish-Russian talks about evacuating civilians from eastern Aleppo
symbolise US
indifference. The United
States has chosen to become a simple
observer.
In Syria,
as US influence fades, the Russian phoenix rises from the ashes. China has also sneaked in on the Syrian scene
and shocked the world by declaring an alliance with Russia, a gesture meant to
counteract the potential damage from the American meteorite Trump.
The crisis in Syria
continues to reveal the outlines of a new international competition we thought
was dead and buried.
Putin would have never started his Syrian adventure if the West were interested
in Syria’s
fate. It seems the United States
is satisfied to have Russia
do the job it does not want to do.
US President Barack Obama began rapprochement with Russia and Trump would be happy to
continue collaborating with Putin, a figure he admires. For its part, Russia did a good job closing the deal with the United States over chemical weapons in Syria. Thus, Israel is safe and Russia has become a reliable
partner.
It might be argued that the real target of the US
strategy is China.
Whether by seducing Russia
or miring it in the Syrian quicksand, China would be deprived of a
sizeable ally. This theory is difficult, but not impossible, to defend.
Russia
is laying the foundation for a long stay in the region. While the United States antagonises Iran and Turkey,
Russia
makes friends with them. Russia
knows it is in the interest of Iran
and Turkey
to become its allies and align themselves with Putin.
The Russian president wants to appear as the major player in Syria. Until
further notice, the conflict in Syria
is no longer international but regional with Russia playing the leading role.
All the major voices in the world calling for the departure of Syrian President
Bashar Assad are just ambient noise with no real
effect in Syria.
What counts in the end are the positions of Moscow,
Ankara and Tehran.
**Mohamed Kawas is a Lebanese writer.
The Middle East after Aleppo
Khattar Abu Diab/The Arab
Weekly/December 25/16
While Russian President Vladimir Putin gains in power, US President Barack Obama is
getting ready to leave White House.
The outlook of the Middle East shifts with the changing conditions in Syria and Iraq. With the fall of Aleppo, the crises in Syria
and the region cross into a phase laden with questions: Will Russia and Iran continue to cooperate in defining Syria’s future?
How will Donald Trump’s administration in the United
States react to emerging Russian dominance in parts of
the Middle East? How will other players in the
region, namely Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia, react? Do European
powers have a role to play in the Middle East
a century after the Sykes-Picot agreement?
The fall of eastern Aleppo would not have been possible were it not for the
combination of the United States abandoning the Syrian revolutionary movement
following the September 2013 chemical weapons deal with Russia, Turkey turning
to Russia, Arab countries lacking unity and Europe being weak. While Russian
President Vladimir Putin gains in power, US
President Barack Obama is getting ready to leave the White House dragging
behind him the weight of the disaster in Syria and his overall measly
performance in foreign policy. He simply abandoned the region for a strategic
breach by Russia and Iran’s
expansionism.
He abandoned Aleppo
to its fate without a word. He was like Judas, especially when Syrian President
Bashar Assad tried to secure a victory in Aleppo, even though he played only a secondary role, while
Iran
was boasting about “divine victories”.
This new Middle East is a sanctuary for chaos that started with the
destruction of Iraq
in 2003. It has become a laboratory for a Russia eager to avenge its
humiliation after losing the Cold War. It is also a growth zone for wars among
Muslims as Arab countries are ripped apart, Israel remains safe and the Kurds
impose themselves as major regional players.
Russia failed to prevent Islamic
State (ISIS) forces from retaking the strategic and historical town of Palmyra. Borders and
entities in Syria
continue to shift depending on the whims of US-Russian coordination, or lack of
it, in the so-called war on terrorism.
UN Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura
is waiting for the battle for Idlib to definitely
unfold while evacuation operations from eastern Aleppo face difficulties. On the ground, the
two major players — Russia
and Iran
— are still in disagreement. Most likely, the situation will shift in
accordance with the Russian vision. The coordination meeting between Russia, Turkey
and Iran
on December 27th will be a chance to discover Putin’s orientations and
priorities.
Tehran and Damascus
might prefer to carry the military momentum towards Douma,
Homs, Daraa and Idlib but this may not
suit Russian intentions. It is quite plausible that Putin will stop at the
victory in Aleppo
and use it in negotiations with Trump.
It is clear that Aleppo’s
fall will not put an end to the suffering of the Syrian people in the absence
of a realistic political solution. Russia
needs to learn from the situation in Iraq,
where armed conflicts have continued to rage since the US-led invasion of 2003
and where both the United States
and Iran
failed to establish a fair and representative system of government. On a wider
scale, the dawn of a new stable Middle East
cannot rise on the basis of injustice, hegemony, intolerance and extremism. It
must be built on compromise, citizenship and acceptance of the other. For that
to happen, the region must cease to be used as playground of the major regional
and world powers to the detriment of its peoples and their civilisations.
UN tiptoes back to Golan as Syrian
tensions simmer
Nicholas Blanford/The Arab Weekly/December 25/16
Beirut - The UN observer force in the Golan Heights has, because of deteriorating security in
the area, including the capture and subsequent release of Fijian peacekeepers,
begun a tentative phased return to positions abandoned more than two years ago.
In November, 150 Fijian, Nepalese and Indian soldiers with the UN
Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) returned to Camp Faouar
in northern Quneitra province in the Golan Heights
but concerns have been raised that their return could upset the delicate
military balance between Syrian troops and rebel groups on the strategic volcanic
plateau that overlooks northern Israel.
The relatively lightly armed UN soldiers could find themselves caught in the
middle of fighting between loyalist and rebel forces, potentially making them
vulnerable to attacks by militants.
Another complicating factor, and one that has sharpened tensions in the
region, is that Iran
and Hezbollah have an interest in the Golan that extends beyond their immediate
conflict with rebel groups opposed to their ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Hezbollah, under Iranian guidance, has constructed a network of bunkers and
firing positions in the northern Golan in an apparent effort to open a new
front against Israel,
say sources close to the Lebanese group.
In January 2015, Israeli missile-firing drones killed five Hezbollah soldiers,
including the son of the group’s former military chief, and General Mohammed Allahdadi of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards
Corps near Khan Arnabeh in the Syrian government-held
part of the Golan. It was a clear warning by Israel
to Iran
and Hezbollah to keep their distance. Sources close to Hezbollah said Allahdadi had been touring the new underground military
facilities when he was killed.
Israel
has said that opening a new front in the Golan against it constitutes a “red
line” requiring action if breached.
For now, it is unlikely that Hezbollah intends to mount any military
action against Israel from
the Golan while Assad’s allies are heavily engaged in battle in northern Syria. But with the United Nations scheduled to send an additional
platoon of peacekeepers to the Golan next April, the fragile military balance
risks being upset in a volatile slice of Middle East real estate that links Syria’s war to Hezbollah’s long struggle against
Israel.
Syrian troops took over Camp
Faouar
in September 2014 after the UN forces withdrew. The Syrians destroyed the camp
and laced the area with landmines to block rebel groups from operating in the
area.
The UNDOF was established in 1974 to oversee the ceasefire agreement
that ended the Arab-Israeli war of the previous year. The United Nations
patrols and monitors a narrow corridor of territory separating the opposing
forces.
In August 2014, 45 Fijian observers were abducted, then
released, by the jihadist group al-Nusra Front, now
known as Jabhat Fateh
al-Sham. Another UN group of 72 Filipinos was besieged by militants but
escaped.
Amid the collapsing security situation, the United Nations in September
2014 ordered a UNDOF withdrawal from the Bravo Line — the eastern perimeter of
the area of separation. The western side remained manned.
Today, in the southern sector, rebel groups are consumed by factional
fighting. This has prevented sizeable rebel reinforcements from moving north
to assist in a stand-off with government forces between the loyalist-held Khan Arnabeh salient and the rebel-held Beit
Jinn area at the foot of Mount Hermon,
the highest peak in the region.
The Khan Arnabeh salient allows the Syrian Army
to dominate almost all the territory west to the Alpha Line, beyond which the
Israeli Army is deployed, hampering the rebels’ ability to reach their forces
in the proximity of Camp
Faouar.
These days, most of the fighting in the northern Golan is limited to
daily exchanges of fire and there seems to be little appetite to engage in any
major confrontation.
“There’s a finely balanced equation in play,” a UN military source said.
For the Syrian regime, “the area’s at the bottom of the strategic food chain
and the priority is to maintain the situation with the absolute minimum of
force”, the source said.
However, reintroducing UNDOF into the northern Golan could upset that
balance. The peacekeepers will replace Syrian troops currently deployed in the
UN posts, taking advantage of their lofty views over the terrain, freeing
Syrian soldiers for new offensives against rebels in the northern Golan.
Rebel forces may have baulked at trying to capture the hilltop UN posts
when they were defended by Syrian troops but may feel they have a better chance
against the incoming peacekeepers.
**Nicholas Blanford is the author of Warriors
of God: Inside Hezbollah’s Thirty-Year Struggle Against
Israel (Random House 2011). He lives in Beirut.