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Bible Quotations For Today
Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 17/20-37: "Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; nor will they say, "Look, here it is!" or "There it is!" For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’Then he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. They will say to you, "Look there!" or "Look here!" Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulphur from heaven and destroyed all of them. it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. Remember Lot’s wife. Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather."

Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Letter to the Galatians 01/01-10: "Paul an apostle sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead and all the members of God’s family who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel. not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed! Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on February 25/16
The Washington Wash: US officials and Hezbollah's political front men/Anthony Elghossain/Now Lebanon/February 24/16
Syria Druze faction admits to arming itself/ALBIN SZAKOLA & ULLIN HOPE/Now Lebanon/February 24/16
Will IAEA be able to verify Iran's nuclear program/Julian Pecquet /Al-Monitor/February 24/16
Why this election of Iran's Assembly of Experts is more important than ever/Arash Karami /Al-Monitor/February 24/16/
What happened to Turkey's foreign policy/Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/February 24/16
‘Halal’ for Iran but ‘haram’ for Saudi Arabia/Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Iranians and Russians, between incentives and threats/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Surrounding Israel with fences is Netanyahu’s new trump card/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Syria’s cessation of hostilities is a positive step/Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Why controlling the media doesn’t ensure Egypt’s security/Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Netanyahu phones Putin for clarifications on the South Syrian ceasefire/DEBKAfile Special Report February 24/16
Two Potential Safe Zones in Northern Syria/Fabrice Balanche/Washington Institute/February 24/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on February 25/16
Lebanon must act on Hezbollah in Yemen, says Saudi
Hezbollah hushes toll of its fighters killed over 4 years
Qatar, Kuwait ask citizens to leave Lebanon
Salam Meets Asiri as he Gears up for Gulf Tour
U.N. Officials Sound Alarm Bells after Gulf States up Pressure on Lebanon
Kuwait, Qatar Latest Gulfs State to Urge Citizens to Leave Lebanon
Airport Director Denied Claims Saudi Airlines Halting Flights to Beirut
Hariri: Hizbullah, its Allies Believe they are More Powerful than Countries
Gemayel Files Lawsuit against CDR for 'Failing in Duties'
Jumblat Says 'Irresponsible Statements' Putting Lebanese Expats in Danger
Abou Zaki: Saudi Measures Impinge on Lebanon's Economy
Families of Hostages Threaten to Act to Revive their Case
The Washington Wash: US officials and Hezbollah's political front men

Lebanon must act on Hezbollah in Yemen, says Saudi
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 24 February 2016/A Saudi military spokesman urged Lebanon on Wednesday to stop the Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah from exporting its “mercenaries” to Yemen and Syria, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri said participation of some Iranian and Hezbollah “mercenaries,” who were killed in Yemen, violated the U.N. resolution 2216, which demanded an end to violence in the southern Arabian Peninsula country. Asiri made his statements after the internationally recognized Yemeni government on Wednesday said it has evidence that the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah is backing the Houthi militia group.The government, which is currently working with the Saudi-led Arab coalition and Popular Resistance units to dislodge Houthi militants from the capital and other areas, said that Hezbollah military trainers planned ‘hostile’ acts implemented by Houthis against Saudi Arabia. The government has evidence of “Hezbollah’s involvement in the Houthi war against the Yemeni people,” its spokesman Rajih Badi said in a statement published by the official sabanew.net website. Hezbollah militants are present in “the battlefields along the border with Saudi Arabia,” where attacks from Yemen have killed about 90 civilians and soldiers in the kingdom since March last year, said Badi. Hezbollah is taking part in the Yemeni war on the ground by training the Shiite Houthis and orchestrating attacks against Saudi Arabia, said Badi, urging “international legal measures” against the movement. “This evidence is documented and Hezbollah cannot deny its role in the destruction it is contributing to through the clear moral and logistic support” for the rebels, said Badi. The Yemeni government added that it will file a complaint at the UN Security Council against what it called Hezbollah’s ‘terrorist’ acts. Both Hezbollah and the Houthis are backed by Iran. The Yemeni government statement comes after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait warned or banned their citizens against travel to Lebanon. Saudi cut its $4 billion military aid to Lebanon after Beirut’s failure to back Saudi in its spat with Shiite powerhouse Iran, the leading backer of Hezbollah. Saudi is currently leading a coalition against the Houthis, who attempted a coup against the internationally recognized Yemeni government of Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi

Hezbollah hushes toll of its fighters killed over 4 years
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Washington Institute for Near East Studies published a statistic that shows the real death toll of the Lebanese Hezbollah militia in Syria and the areas the individuals come from. Eight hundred and sixty five members of the Hezbollah militia were killed in the period between the end of September two thousand twelve, until the sixteenth of this February, according to statistics of the Washington Institute for Near East Studies.

Qatar, Kuwait ask citizens to leave Lebanon
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Kuwait and Qatar have joined other Gulf States in asking their citizens to leave Lebanon, on Wednesday. The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs called for all Qatari citizens not to travel to Lebanon, state-run news agency QNA reported.In a statement released today, the Ministry requested Qatari citizens who are there to “leave for their own safety,” and contact to the Qatari embassy in Beirut to provide them with facilities and assistance to leave the country. The Kuwait embassy also urged its citizens to take precautions during their travels and to avoid unsafe locations, a press statement that was released to the state-run news agency KUNA said.It also advised nationals to contact the embassy in order to make the necessary arrangements to “keep them safe and sound.”The embassy also warned Kuwaitis intending to travel to Lebanon, asking them to re-consider their plans.The news comes a day after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain issued similar travel alerts regarding Lebanon. The UAE, meanwhile, placed a total ban on its citizens travelling to Lebanon. The travel alerts were sparked by the Saudi cuts of $4 billion military aid to Lebanon after what it described as Beirut’s failure to back the Sunni kingdom in its spat with Shiite powerhouse Iran, the leading backer of Hezbollah.

Salam Meets Asiri as he Gears up for Gulf Tour
Naharnet/February 24/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam met with Saudi Ambassador Ali Awadh Asiri on Wednesday to express Beirut's willingness to stay in contact with the Saudi leadership. Salam intends to send a message to Riyadh on Lebanon's desire to keep the ties with the Saudi leadership ahead of a planned visit to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states. Asiri did not give details on the result of the talks that took place at the Grand Serail. He said he will deliver Salam's message to the "wise" Saudi leadership. According to the Kuwaiti al-Seyassah newspaper, the ministerial delegation that will accompany the PM on his Gulf tour will not include a Hizbullah representation. Over half of the 24-member government will travel with Salam. But Hizbullah ministers Mohammed Fneish and Hussein al-Hajj Hassan will not be among them, the daily said. The premier decided during an extraordinary cabinet session that he chaired on Monday to travel to Gulf countries following Saudi Arabia's announcement that it was halting deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting Lebanese security forces in retaliation for Lebanon siding with Iran in the Sunni kingdom's spat with the Shiite power. Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, who heads the Free Patriotic Movement that is allied with Hizbullah, declined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two recent meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. Making things worse, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday urged their citizens not to travel to Lebanon.Asiri told the Saudi Okaz newspaper published on Wednesday that the number of Saudi nationals in Lebanon is small. Most of them are students and the rest are permanent residents. The Saudi embassy in Beirut is working around the clock to help them with the arrangements for their return home if they are willing to do so, said Asiri.

U.N. Officials Sound Alarm Bells after Gulf States up Pressure on Lebanon
Naharnet/February 24/16/United Nations officials in Beirut have sent a memo to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon to sound the alarm on the economic, social and security repercussions of alleged measures taken by several Gulf states against Lebanese nationals residing in those countries, An Nahar daily reported on Wednesday. The officials issued a warning that such measures, such as the forcible return of the Lebanese to their country, would have a severe impact on Lebanon's already deteriorating economic situation, said An Nahar. They said the moves could lead to chaos and reflect on the security and social situation in the country, hindering the humanitarian work of the U.N. and its role in the South. The officials also warned that a fifth column could take advantage of the possible chaos and carry out terrorist attacks, said the report. The issue was the subject of discussion at separate meetings that Prime Minister Tammam Salam held with U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag and French Ambassador Emmanuel Bonne. There has been reports that Gulf countries will start deporting more Lebanese after taking similar moves in the past. On Tuesday Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates urged their citizens not to travel to Lebanon, days after Riyadh said it was halting deals worth $4 billion aimed at equipping and supporting Lebanese security forces in retaliation for Lebanon siding with Iran in the Sunni kingdom's spat with the Shiite power. The new measures against the Lebanese government came after Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil, who heads the Free Patriotic Movement that is allied with Hizbullah, declined to support Saudi resolutions against Iran during two recent meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers.

Kuwait, Qatar Latest Gulfs State to Urge Citizens to Leave Lebanon
Naharnet/February 24/16/Kuwait called on its citizens in Lebanon on Wednesday to leave the country, making it the latest Gulf country to issue a travel warning. Unless they have pressing issues to stay in the country, citizens are advised to leave Lebanon, said a statement from Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut. These citizens were urged “exercise caution” in the country, reported Kuwait News Agency. They should avoid “unsafe areas and contact the embassy and coordinate with it at times of need.” Qatar later issued a similar warning. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain had issued travel warnings to their citizens on Tuesday, citing “safety” concerns. Saudi Arabia decided last week to halt a $4 billion grant to the Lebanese army and security forces and to review its diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The stance came after Lebanon's foreign ministry declined to vote in favor of Saudi-backed resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. It also followed fierce anti-Saudi statements by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Announcing its decision on Friday, the kingdom deplored "political and media campaigns inspired by Hizbullah against Saudi Arabia," as well as what it called the group's "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations." In a statement, Hizbullah said Saudi Arabia stopped the military aid because of economic pressures from the war in Yemen, where it leads an Arab military coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels, and lower oil revenues. The $3 billion deal funded military equipment provided by France and was to ship vehicles, helicopters, drones, artillery and other equipment to Lebanon.

Airport Director Denied Claims Saudi Airlines Halting Flights to Beirut
Naharnet/February 24/16/Head of Rafik Hariri International Airport denied claims that had emerged earlier on Wednesday that Saudi Arabian Airlines was seeking to halt its flights to Beirut, reported the National News Agency. Fadi al-Hassan denied on Wednesday that “airport authorities had received a notice or a request by Saudi Arabian Airlines to stop or halt flights to and from Beirut.” “I contacted an official from the airline, who denied such reports,” he added. Al-Mayadeen television had quoted a ministerial source as saying that the Saudi airline was going to stop its flights to Beirut in wake of the crisis between Lebanon and the kingdom. The crisis erupted when Saudi Arabia decided last week to halt a $4 billion grant to the Lebanese army and security forces and to review its diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The stance came after Lebanon's foreign ministry declined to vote in favor of Saudi-backed resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. It also followed fierce anti-Saudi statements by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Announcing its decision on Friday, the kingdom deplored "political and media campaigns inspired by Hizbullah against Saudi Arabia," as well as what it called the group's "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations."In a statement, Hizbullah said Saudi Arabia stopped the military aid because of economic pressures from the war in Yemen, where it leads an Arab military coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels, and lower oil revenues. The $3 billion deal funded military equipment provided by France and was to ship vehicles, helicopters, drones, artillery and other equipment to Lebanon. Furthermore, Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait issued travel advisories to their citizens, urging them to leave Lebanon and avoid traveling to it.

Hariri: Hizbullah, its Allies Believe they are More Powerful than Countries
Naharnet/February 24/16/Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri stated on Wednesday that Hizbullah must realize that “it not alone in Lebanon,” saying it should take into account the interests of the Lebanese people. He said before a delegation of clergymen from the northern district of Akkar: “Some sides, whether they are Hizbullah or its allies, believe that they are more powerful than countries.”They must understand that the Lebanese people have interests in other nations, added Hariri. They should realize that they are exposing Lebanon and the Lebanese people in the Arab world to dangers, warned the former premier from the Center House in Beirut. The concept of Arab consensus was adopted at the Arab League when it was founded through a Lebanese request, he elaborated. Such an idea was advocated by Lebanon because it feared that being such a small country, voting would not fall in its favor, explained Hariri. “We are passing through a very critical time and campaigns have been launched against us because we have rejected oppression that the Syrian people are enduring,” he stressed. “We must fortify Lebanon against these developments. It is through this fortification that we will be able to help our Syrian brothers,” he added. “We are here in Lebanon and we will not be an easy pill to swallow. We will forge ahead along the path that was paved by slain former Premier Rafik Hariri,” he declared. “Our mission is to save the country and we are keen on protecting it against all threats,” he stated. Saudi Arabia decided last week to halt a $4 billion grant to the Lebanese army and security forces and to review its diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The stance came after Lebanon's foreign ministry declined to vote in favor of Saudi-backed resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. It also followed fierce anti-Saudi statements by Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah. Announcing its decision on Friday, the kingdom deplored "political and media campaigns inspired by Hizbullah against Saudi Arabia," as well as what it called the group's "terrorist acts against Arab and Muslim nations."In a statement, Hizbullah said Saudi Arabia stopped the military aid because of economic pressures from the war in Yemen, where it leads an Arab military coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels, and lower oil revenues. The $3 billion deal funded military equipment provided by France and was to ship vehicles, helicopters, drones, artillery and other equipment to Lebanon. Furthermore, Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Kuwait issued travel advisories to their citizens, urging them to leave Lebanon.

Gemayel Files Lawsuit against CDR for 'Failing in Duties'
Naharnet/February 24/16/Kataeb leader MP Sami Gemayel filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Council for Development and Reconstruction for its long standing failure to follow up on the trash management file since tasking of Sukleen with collecting garbage. After talks he held with Prosecutor Samir Hammoud at the Justice Palace, Gemayel said: “The CDR is the body eligible to follow up on the work of the companies that are tasked to handle Lebanon's waste but it failed to do so and no one held it responsible for that.” “Because the parliament is closed and the monitoring bodies in Lebanon are not carrying out their obligations, it is our duty to ask and hold accountable,” he added. “We believe that mistakes will be made again if the judiciary did not carry out its role.” Stressing that Sukleen should have been inquired about its procedures of handling and sorting the waste, Gemayel lashed out saying: “For many years, Sukleen has been responsible for removing the trash and has failed in its work. Instead of land-filling %20 of the garbage (as per agreement) it was land-filling %80 in Naameh which brought us to this disaster today.”“The CDR is the party responsible to monitor this and follow up on the work of the companies,” added the Kataeb chief holding part of the state institutions who dealt with this file responsible. The government signed a contract with Sukleen in 1994 for collecting and transporting the garbage in Beirut and Mount Lebanon. The contract has been extended several times for lack of any substitute. Reports emerged that the company failed to abide by the conditions that were set in the contract with regard to the amounts of trash that should have been sorted, recycled and land-filled. The trash management crisis erupted in July 2015 after the closure of the biggest landfill of Naameh that receives the trash of the capital and Mount Lebanon. Several efforts to contain the situation including suggestions to establish landfills in different Lebanese regions have failed. In December a promising export plan approved by the cabinet met the same fate after a scandal revealed that Britain’s Chinook Urban Mining company, which was selected by the government to manage the export scheme, fabricated its permits.

Jumblat Says 'Irresponsible Statements' Putting Lebanese Expats in Danger
Naharnet/February 24/16/Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat warned on Wednesday that Lebanese expatriates were in danger over what he termed as “irresponsible” remarks made by some officials. “By irresponsible statements, (we are) endangering Lebanese abroad,” Jumblat said on Twitter.
In a series of tweets in English, he called for changing such attitude “through local consensus or understanding … for the sake of the silent majority that has nothing to do with the regional conflicts.”Jumblat hailed the attitude of Prime Minister Tammam Salam “through this terrible havoc.”On Monday, Salam said he will head a ministerial delegation to visit Gulf states in the near future after Saudi Arabia halted security assistance deals worth $4 billion. The Saudi move came after Lebanon failed to back the Sunni kingdom in its spat with Shiite powerhouse Iran, the leading backer of Hizbullah. In a statement Monday, Salam insisted Beirut stands by Arab countries. He said it is necessary to rectify relations between Lebanon and its "brothers," and "remove the stains" that surfaced recently. Salam stressed that Lebanon will maintain its policy of "disassociation" from regional conflicts. But his statement, which came after an extraordinary cabinet session that he chaired, was criticized by several officials for failing to slam Hizbullah which is fighting alongside troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Despite Salam's appeal, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday urged their citizens not to travel to Lebanon.Jumblat wished Salam “more patience and wisdom” and urged “all parties to help him in these terrible times.”“Consider Lebanon's interests above all interests,” said the PSP chief in one of the tweets. He also wished that Lebanon's next president would be elected as soon as possible. Lebanon has been without a head of state since May 2014. Jumblat also criticized former Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi on his resignation. “Resigning as some people did is not the appropriate approach according to me,” he tweeted. “Finally to all politicians and leaders from all sides let us avoid the black whole ahead of us,” Jumblat added.

Abou Zaki: Saudi Measures Impinge on Lebanon's Economy
Naharnet/February 24/16/CEO of Al Iktisaad Wal Aamal Group Raouf Abou Zaki stated on Wednesday that the latest Saudi measures against Lebanon have a direct effect on the financial and economic situation but assured that no measures have been taken against Lebanese expats so far. “The Saudi measures against Lebanon have a direct impact on the economic and financial situation in the country,” Abou Zaki told the Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5).“The damages have worsened and we fear for the fate of Lebanese expats in Saudi Arabia. Any measures taken against them will reflect negatively on the capital,” he added. Abou Zaki's comments came following a Saudi decision last week that halted $4 billion grants to the Lebanese military to review its diplomatic relations with Lebanon. The stance came after Lebanon's foreign ministry declined to vote in favor of Saudi-backed resolutions against Iran during two meetings of Arab and Muslim foreign ministers. Furthermore, on Tuesday Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain advised their citizens against travel to Lebanon and urged those already in the country to leave it, citing “safety” concerns. The step developed fears that the Gulf countries could escalate measures even further and expel Lebanese expats working there. “So far there are no indicators that any measures have been taken against Lebanese workers in the Kingdom,” assured Abou Zaki. As for fears that Saudi Arabia could withdraw the deposits from Lebanon’s banks, Abou Zaki stated: “Gulf deposits in Lebanon are not large. The consequences are more moral than economic.”He concluded by saying: “The crisis will be long. But I rule out the possibility that relations between the two countries will be severed. The Lebanese government must take a clear unwavering stance towards the Kingdom.”Gulf deposits at the Central Bank of Lebanon amount to about $860 million including $250 to $300 million as a Saudi Arabian deposit, according to As Safir daily. These government deposits were used to support the monetary stability and have given confidence for the cash and the Lebanese financial sector in previous years, added the daily. Lebanese expats transfer around $8.7 billion a year, 55 percent of them from the Gulf countries (about 70 percent from Saudi Arabia). The number of Lebanese expats working in the Gulf states are nearly 400,000 mostly in Saudi Arabia.

Families of Hostages Threaten to Act to Revive their Case
Naharnet/February 24/16/The relatives of the Lebanese servicemen who remain in captivity on the outskirts of the northeastern border town of Arsal are mulling to hold protests, their spokesman Nizam Mughit said on Wednesday. Mughit told Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5) that there are no news on the soldiers and policemen who are held captive by the Islamic State extremist group. “All officials have forgotten about this case” and “the government has not fulfilled its promises,” he said. Mughit, whose brother is one of the IS-held hostages, warned that the families of the captives could hold protests near tourism sites. He said their first move would be near the Casino du Liban and did not rule out further measures at the Rafik Hariri International Airport. The al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front freed in December 16 servicemen in exchange for Islamist prisoners.The soldiers and policemen were taken hostage when al-Nusra and the IS overran Arsal and engaged in heavy battles with the Lebanese army in August 2014. The IS also took hostages. But they were not included in the swap. The families of the servicemen have on several occasions taken to the streets to express their anger at the Lebanese authorities for failing to secure the release of the captives.

The Washington Wash: US officials and Hezbollah's political front men
Anthony Elghossain/Now Lebanon/February 24/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/24/anthony-elghossainnow-lebanon-the-washington-wash-us-officials-and-hezbollahs-political-front-men/
While America hunts down Hezbollah’s money launderers worldwide, it hosts the Party’s political launderers in D.C.
A litany of Lebanese politicians and officials have just landed in Washington to discuss sanctions against Hezbollah, among other issues. And Lebanese Minister of Finance Ali Hassan Khalil will probably be on his way soon. These visits—and the manner in which American officials will receive certain Lebanese leaders in Washington—will only reinforce a deep, dangerous, and destructive pattern: with American and international complicity, many Lebanese politicians launder Hezbollah’s politics like businessmen and bankers launder its money.
With that in mind, American lawmakers and officials must minimize their dealings with the Party of God’s political front men—that is, if they really intend to undercut Hezbollah, support Lebanese sovereignty, and promote stability in the Levant over time.
For a so-called Party of God, Hezbollah’s been having a tough time with earthly concerns—and the long arm of the law. In the past two months alone, the U.S. Congress has passed the Hezbollah International Financing Prevention Act to tighten sanctions against Hezbollah and Hezbollah-affiliated entities in finance, media, and trade; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has disrupted a drug-trafficking and money-laundering operation involving Hezbollah’s External Security Organization Business Affairs Component and Colombian cartels like La Oficina de Envigado; and the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has designated—and therefore sanctioned—three Lebanese men and two Lebanon-based corporations as money launderers affiliated with Hezbollah.
Against that backdrop, Khalil announced a few weeks ago that he’d visit Washington to “tackle sanctions against Hezbollah.” And why not? After all, he’s the minister of finance. Well, because he—like some in the current delegation of Lebanese lawmakers and officials—is a political front man for the Party of God.
Khalil is a member of the Amal Movement, a nominally secular political party that draws most of its support from the same Lebanese Shiite communities that support Hezbollah. Established in 1975 by the “vanished imam” Musa al-Sadr, Amal was Hezbollah’s precursor in many respects: it displaced traditional Lebanese Shiite elite, galvanized its supporters politically and militarily, and empowered Lebanese Shiites socially and economically. In the 1980s, however, Amal and Hezbollah—the former backed by the Syrian regime, the latter by Iran—competed for influence within their community. Indeed, in intermittent rounds of fighting from 1985 to 1988, they fought some of the most brutal battles of the long-running Lebanese civil war.
But now Amal has become a façade for—and instrument of—Hezbollah. Under Lebanese Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, who’s led the party since 1980 and who at one point accused Hezbollah of killing more Amal leaders than Israel had, Amal has increasingly served as an intermediary for the Party of God in Lebanon and on the international stage.
In Lebanon’s current crisis, for instance, Berri has basically instructed his party’s parliamentarians to boycott election sessions—thereby fronting for Hezbollah, which at this stage prefers a presidential vacuum to any president. In 2007 and 2008, blatantly disregarding express constitutional provisions to the contrary, Berri shut down parliament to obstruct the election of a Lebanese president. And from 2005 to 2009, Berri and Amal boycotted cabinet sessions and shut down parliament to help Hezbollah and the Syrian regime block the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, a U.N. tribunal with a mandate to bring to justice those who assassinated former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005.
On the international stage, Amal serves as a convenient conduit for government officials, diplomats, and non-governmental organizations—including Americans and groups funded by, or otherwise connected to, the United States—that work with, but need a buffer for, Hezbollah. The Party of God has been subject to U.S. sanctions since the mid-1990s and has been a U.S.-designated “foreign terrorist organization” since 1997, so many public and private entities trying to do business—or do good—in Lebanon have participated in this charade in one way or another. (Now, Hezbollah trots out—and Americans and others deal with—all sorts of mouthpieces, political props, or stooges. The point is that Amal is among them—by choice, because it does not have a choice, or perhaps because the world hasn’t forced them to make a choice.)
How perverse; how counterproductive.
With one hand, American and other Western officials slap sanctions on the Party of God; with the other hand, they embrace its front men on issues great and small. By creating an incentive structure that encourages Amal and others to continue operating as front men and middle men for Hezbollah, these officials enable Hezbollah to marginalize would-be moderates across Lebanon—including those in the Lebanese Shiite community and, incidentally, Amal itself.
Of course, American and Lebanese officials have to handle some broader business and must continue their dialogue in an existing environment shaped by Hezbollah’s guns and everyone’s money. Lebanese bankers need access to a global financial system that essentially runs all transactions denominated in U.S. dollars through New York, but they—the people that run “financial institutions” subject to sanctions—live in Beirut, where Hezbollah uses violence and the threat of violence to protect its political, commercial, and strategic interests. American officials, meanwhile, are trying to—and must continue trying to—adopt and enforce Hezbollah-related sanctions while minimizing harm to Beirut’s banks and commercial enterprises in Lebanon and throughout Lebanese diaspora.
But officials in Washington and elsewhere need not—and thus should not—engage with Hezbollah’s platoon of political front men: politicians that help Hezbollah circumvent, undermine, and infiltrate the Lebanese state while marginalizing moderates and would-be American allies in Beirut and beyond. Others are technically qualified and institutionally empowered to represent Lebanon as it cooperates with American and international efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing: for instance, Lebanese Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh. Moreover, the Lebanese central bank and Lebanese banks—acting individually and through the Association of Banks in Lebanon—have secured legal representatives and lobbyists to represent them in U.S. courts, Washington, and elsewhere. (In the past, for instance, they’ve worked with American legislators and officials on specific pieces of legislation to tailor sanctions appropriately.)
Let Hezbollah and its shysters speak for themselves. Recognize that others speak, or can speak, for Lebanon.
**Based in Beirut and London, Anthony Elghossain is a legal advisor to non-governmental organizations and a writer for NOW News. He tweets @aelghossain

Report: Dozens of Russian generals in Syria killed after a car bomb hits their military base
http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Report-Dozens-of-Russian-generals-in-Syria-killed-after-a-car-bomb-hits-their-military-base-445975
Jerusalem Post/February 24/16/Dozens of Russian generals at a military base near the eastern Syrian city of Latakia were killed Sunday afternoon in a deadly car bomb attack committed by two opposition factions, Ahrar al-Sham and Bayan movement, Syrian opposition groups reported on Wednesday.
According to the media office of Ahrar al-Sham, the two factions, in coordination with local jihadists who were located at the Russian military base, decided to bomb the car after they observed a gathering of senior Russian generals at the military base. Ahrar al-Sham claims that dozens of Russian generals were killed and injured in the explosion. According to the movement, the announcement of the terror attack was delayed until Wednesday to ensure that the jihadists who committed the attack returned safely to opposition territories. The military base that was hit by the car bomb is considered one of the most important military centers of the Russian forces on the Syrian coast, located some 15 kilometers from Latakia. The belated announcement of the car bombing came shortly before the Syrian truce was scheduled to start on Saturday. Russia and the US have already announced that the ceasefire will not apply to ISIS and al-Nusra Front, but in light of this terror attack, Russia might demand the exclusion of Ahrar al-Sham as well.

Israeli Defense Minister: Iran Setting Up Global Terror Network, 'Including in Europe and America'
The Associated Press Feb 24, 2016/Although Ya'alon failed to provide evidence for his statement, he accused the Islamic Republic of setting up 'sleeper cells' in order to strike on command. Israel's defense minister on Wednesday accused Iran of building an international terror network that includes "sleeper cells" that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives in order to strike on command in places including Europe and the U.S. Moshe Ya'alon said Iran aims to destabilize the Middle East and other parts of the world and is training, funding and arming "emissaries" to spread a revolution.
He said Tehran is the anchor of a "dangerous axis" that includes Baghdad, Damascus, Beirut, Sanaa and other cities in the region. "The Iranian regime through the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps is building a complex terror infrastructure including sleeping cells that are stockpiling arms, intelligence and operatives and are ready to act on order including in Europe and America," Yaalon said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart.Israel considers Iran the biggest threat to the region, citing its support for anti-Israel militant groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, and has been an outspoken critic of the international nuclear deal with Iran. The Israeli defense minister offered no direct evidence of such sleeper cells existing in the U.S. or Europe, but referred indirectly to the case of a Hezbollah member who was jailed in Cyprus last June following the seizure of nine tons of a chemical compound that can be converted into an explosive.
A Cypriot court sentenced Lebanese Canadian Hussein Massam Abdallah to six years in prison after prosecutors said he admitted that Hezbollah aimed to mount terrorist attacks against Israeli interests in Cyprus using the ammonium nitrate that he had been ordered to guard at the Larnaca home of another official of the Iranian-backed group. Yaalon said Cypriot authorities had "defeated attempts by Hezbollah and Iran to establish a terror infrastructure" on the island that aimed to expand "throughout Europe." Yaalon said that apart from the refugee crisis, the war in Syria has resulted in "widespread infiltration by murderous, merciless terror organizations" that belong to global jihad and are partly funded by Iran. He said that requires western nations to counter attempts to carry out "massive terror attacks." Yaalon's trip to Cyprus was the first official visit by an Israeli defense minister to the east Mediterranean island.

Syria opposition to respect ceasefire ‘for two weeks’
By Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Syria’s main opposition grouping said Wednesday it would respect a provisional ceasefire in Syria “for two weeks,” ahead of the proposed start of the truce this weekend. “The High Negotiations Committee believes a provisional truce for two weeks would provide a chance to determine the commitment of the other side” to the ceasefire, the group said in a statement. Syria’s UN ambassador also said Wednesday his government is working with close ally Russia to identify the groups and areas to be covered by the cessation of hostilities that is scheduled to take effect at midnight local time on Friday. Bashar Ja’afari told the UN Security Council on Wednesday it is very important to “control the boundaries,” especially the Syria-Turkish border. Ja’afari, who is the chief Syrian government negotiator at peace talks, said this is essential to halt support by some countries for “terrorist organizations” that are escalating the conflict and undermining a political solution. Syria’s government considers all armed opposition groups as “terrorists.” The proposed truce will not include ISIS or the Nusra Front, but the 18 nations that have agreed on a roadmap to peace in Syria have not yet agreed on a list of other “terrorist organizations” that will also continue to be targeted.
Saudi speaks on Syrian people’s hopes
Meanwhile, Saudi King Salman said on Wednesday that his country was keen to see the “aspirations” of the Syrian people fulfilled after he received detailed proposals of a US-Russian agreement on a Syria ceasefire from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Al Arabiya News Channel reported. King Salman also said he backed a political solution in accordance to Geneva I, an initial round of talks held in the Swiss city in 2012. The Geneva Communiqué I, which laid out a six-point plan to stop the violence in Syria, calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body that would “exercise full executive powers,” a proposal not welcomed by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. He also said a ceasefire must guarantee that aid will reach Syrians in dire need.King Salman made his statements after Putin spoke with him in a telephone conversation, the Kremlin said. “The King of Saudi Arabia welcomed the agreements reached and expressed his readiness to work jointly with Russia to make them work,” the Kremlin said. The two sides agreed to continue contacts on this matter, it added. Assad also has assured Putin of his government’s readiness to respect a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington, the Kremlin said on Wednesday. The Kremlin said the two leaders discussed the deal in a phone call and that Assad noted that the proposals laid out in the agreement were an “important step in the direction of a political settlement.” The Kremlin also said later that Putin discussed the ceasefire deal with the leaders of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Putin, whose air force is flying a bombing campaign to support Assad’s troops on the ground, on Monday pledged to do “whatever is necessary” to get Damascus to uphold the deal after sealing the agreement with U.S. President Barack Obama. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that it may be difficult to keep Syria whole if it takes much longer to end the fighting after Syria’s regime agreed in the same day to the ceasefire deal announced by the United States and Russia. Syria’s regime and opposition agreed Tuesday to the ceasefire deal announced a day earlier by the United States and Russia, aimed at halting its nearly five-year civil war. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Syrian Kurdish militia forces must remain outside the scope of a ceasefire agreed between Syria’s warring parties, just like ISIS and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al-Nusra Front.
US, Russian officials to meet
US and Russian officials will meet in coming days to form a task force to monitor the implementation of the ceasefire, Kerry said Wednesday. Kerry told US lawmakers he had spoken to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov earlier in the day about measures to oversee the truce, which is due to come into effect early on Saturday. “I talked this morning with Foreign Minister Lavrov and we have a team that will be meeting in the next day or so -- the task force for the ceasefire, cessation of hostilities,” he said. “I’m not here to vouch that it’s absolutely going to work, but this is the one way that we can end this war,” he warned. “The alternative is that the war gets worse, that Syria might be totally destroyed, not able to be put back together again.”(With agencies)

U.N. says poised for huge Syria aid effort, if the door opens
Reuters | Geneva Wednesday, 24 February 2016/The United Nations is ready for a huge aid effort if the warring Syria parties stop fighting, but even then aid workers will proceed carefully and assess the safety of each delivery, a U.N. spokesman said on Wednesday. “We are now standing by, our warehouses are full of aid supplies, aid agencies are alerted, and are stocking all the goods in the warehouses waiting for the signal,” said Iyad Nasr, regional spokesman for the U.N. humanitarian aid office. Syria’s war has killed over 250,000 people and left 4.5 million hard to reach with humanitarian aid, the U.N. says. Of those, about one in 10 is living under siege, cut off from any help. A U.S.-Russian proposal for a limited “cessation of hostilities” from midnight on Saturday is intended to allow rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian agencies but it excludes ISIS and Nusra Front fighters, and Syria’s opposition has yet to back the deal. Aid has reached a handful of besieged towns in the past few days, and most recently into another – Kafr Batna, on the outskirts of Damascus – on Wednesday. The government of President Bashar al-Assad bears responsibility for ensuring civilians receive aid and protection, but in practice all fighting groups need to consent to allow aid to reach specific areas, Nasr said. When aid workers reached one government-besieged town, Madaya, in January, they found people starving to death or dying for lack of medical care, and others surviving on grass. Other towns could be in a similar state.
“We don’t know what is the exact situation until we are inside,” said Nasr. Even if there is a “cessation of hostilities”, aid workers will not rush in recklessly. “If we were talking about a total ceasefire we would be talking about a ceasefire all over the place. Until this happens we need to assess the security situation on the ground to ensure protection of civilians and humanitarian actors,” Nasr said.

Israeli killed by friendly fire during West Bank attack
AFP | Jerusalem Wednesday, 24 February 2016/A Palestinian attempted to stab an Israeli in the occupied West Bank on Wednesday and Israeli forces opened fire, fatally wounding the intended victim and injuring the attacker. Jerusalem’s Shaarei Tzedek hospital, where both men were taken, said that the Israeli arrived in “critical condition” and later died of his injuries. It said the attacker was moderately wounded. “An assailant attempted to stab an Israeli at the Gush Etzion junction,” an army statement said. “Forces at the scene fired toward the assailant in order to thwart the attack. As a result the Israeli was injured. The Israeli and the assailant were both evacuated to hospital.”There was no immediate word from the army or the hospital on whether the dead Israeli was a soldier or a civilian. A wave of Palestinian knife, gun and car-ramming assaults that erupted in October has claimed the lives of 28 Israelis, as well as an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean. The violence has also seen 176 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks but others during clashes and demonstrations, according to an AFP count. The Etzion bloc of Israeli settlements, in the southern West Bank between Bethlehem and the flashpoint city of Hebron, has been a focal point of the unrest.

Turkey suspends contested gold mine project after protests
AFP, Ankara Wednesday, 24 February 2016/The Turkish government on Wednesday ordered a halt to construction work on a gold mine in a town near the Black Sea pending completion of the legal process, after protests warning it would ruin a pristine environment. The decision came as Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu hosted a delegation from the Black Sea area to discuss controversial plans to build the gold and copper mine in the town of Cerrattepe in the Artvin region, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported. The two-hour meeting decided that the mining company would halt its activities in the region until the legal process is finalised, Anatolia said, quoting sources from the prime minister’s office. The project has been the subject of numerous legal complaints although it was not immediately clear which specific case Davutoglu was referring to. Over the past weeks, thousands of Artvin residents have held protests against the project which would see an ancient forest razed to the ground. While the suspension means the project could still ultimately go ahead, the decision marks a rare victory for Turkey’s environmental movement. The conglomerate behind the project is the Cengiz Holding company, with its chief executive Mehmet Cengiz seen as a close ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan and the Turkish government are very wary of environmentally-motivated protests after grassroots demonstrations in 2013 against the redevelopment of Gezi Park in Istanbul’s Taksim Square snowballed into an uprising against his rule.

Turkish military helicopters kill 9 in strikes on PKK targets
Reuters, Diyarbakir, Turkey Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Turkish military helicopters killed nine Kurdish militants in strikes near the southeastern border with Syria on Wednesday, security sources said, in a conflict becoming increasingly intertwined with developments in Turkey's war-torn neighbor.
The Cobra attack helicopters launched the assault at around 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) as a group of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) fighters travelled through a mountainous area near the Idil district of Turkey's Sirnak province, the sources said.
Parts of Idil were placed under 24-hour curfew last week as the security forces carried out an operation against the militants. That was part of a wider military campaign which began last December in towns in the mostly Kurdish southeast following the collapse in July of a ceasefire with the PKK. The violence in Turkey's southeast is at its worst since the 1990s, turning parts of the region into a war zone. PKK militants have dug trenches and erected barricades in towns and cities, and the death toll has climbed into the hundreds as the security forces try to flush them out. It has also complicated international efforts to end the war in Syria. Ankara sees the PKK as closely linked to the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which has enjoyed U.S. support in the fight against ISIS insurgents but which Ankara sees as a hostile force bent on seizing Syrian territory abutting Turkey. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has blamed a member of the YPG, working with Kurdish militants inside Turkey, for a suicide bombing that killed 29 people in the capital Ankara last week, most of them soldiers. The Turkish armed forces shelled YPG positions in northern Syria in the days after the attack and bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq, as the government vowed that those responsible would pay the price. Clashes inside Turkey have also continued. On Tuesday, security forces killed six PKK militants in Idil and two others in the Sur district of the region's largest city Diyarbakir, the armed forces said in a statement. A soldier died of his wounds after coming under attack from PKK fighters in Sur on Wednesday, it said. The statement also said security forces had detained four members of the PKK and PYD, the political arm of the Syrian YPG, on Tuesday in the Akcakale district of Sanliurfa province, two of whom had sought to cross the border from Syria illegally.
The PKK is deemed a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and European Union. It launched its insurgency in 1984.

Egypt's Sisi says Russian plane downed by 'terrorism'
Reuters | Cairo Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that the Russian plane that crashed in Sinai last year was downed by terrorists seeking to damage Egypt’s tourism industry and relations with Moscow. “Has terrorism ended, no it has not but it will if we unite. Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did he mean? He meant to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia,” Sisi said in a televised speech. The comments were the first official Egyptian indication that the plane was deliberately downed. Moscow stopped all civilian flights to Egypt, a popular destination for Russian tourists, after a Russian airplane crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31 killing all 224 people on board. Russia said a bomb brought down the flight and ISIS said it smuggled the explosive aboard concealed in a soft drink can. But an Egyptian-led investigation had said it has yet to find evidence of foul play. The official Egyptian confirmation that a bomb brought down the Airbus A321 could potentially expose Egypt to compensation payments to the families of the victims.

Egypt’s president says criticism threatens the state
Associated Press, Cairo Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Egypt’s president said Wednesday that unfair criticism of the government is contributing to attempts to bring down the state, telling Egyptians not to listen to anyone but him.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi did not go into specifics in an address broadcast live, saying only that he would “remove from the face of the Earth” anyone plotting to bring down the state. El-Sisi’s government has faced a wave of criticism in recent weeks over alleged police brutality and other rights abuses, as well as its handling of the economy. The recently elected parliament, a 596-seat chamber, has been widely dismissed by critics as a rubber-stamp legislature. El-Sisi said he knows the “remedy” for Egypt’s problems. “Please, don’t listen to anyone but me. I am dead serious,” he said in a loud, angry voice. “Be careful, no one should abuse my patience and good manners to bring down the state. “I swear by God that anyone who comes near it, I will remove him from the face of the Earth. I am telling you this as the whole of Egypt is listening. What do you think you're doing? Who are you?”
As military chief, el-Sisi led the July 2013 overthrow of Egypt’s first freely elected president, an Islamist whose divisive rule ignited mass protests. El-Sisi was elected president a year later, winning the vote with a landslide. But critics say he has done little to distinguish his rule from that of the Islamist Mohammed Mursi, particularly regarding freedom of expression. One of Egypt’s most prominent columnists, Ibrahim Eissa, on Sunday accused el-Sisi of presiding over a “theocracy” after an author was jailed for two years over the publication of a sexually explicit passage from one of his novels. Rights groups have meanwhile compared his rule to that of former President Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled by a 2011 popular uprising driven in large part by anger at police brutality. The government has jailed thousands of Islamists since 2013 along with scores of secular activists, including leaders of the 2011 uprising. Rights activists have documented the return of arbitrary arrests, torture and disappearances. El-Sisi said it is “still very early for open democratic practices, like criticizing and pushing (officials) out of office.”
“I am not saying that there is no democracy. By God, no I am not, but be careful. We are practicing it under difficult circumstances, so let us safeguard Egypt,” he said. El-Sisi devoted much of his 120-minute speech, by far his longest since coming to office in June 2014, to the threats Egypt faces and his efforts to spare it from the violence convulsing much of the region. “What has been achieved in the last year and half was not achieved in 20 years before then,” he said, referring to a series of infrastructure projects, including an expansion of the Suez Canal.
Russian plane downed by 'terrorism'. He also suggested for the first time that militants were behind the downing of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in Sinai on Oct. 31, killing all 224 people on board. The crash dealt a major blow to Egypt’s vital tourism sector and raised troubling questions about the state of its airports’ security. “Has terrorism ended, no it has not but it will if we unite. Whoever downed the Russian plane, what did he mean? He meant to hit tourism, and to hit relations with Russia,” he said. The extremist ISIS group claimed responsibility for the crash, and Russia announced in November that a bomb brought down the aircraft shortly after takeoff from a popular Red Sea resort. Egyptian officials, however, have maintained that they must wait for the findings of an international probe before they can say what caused the crash. “Those who downed the aircraft, what did they hope to achieve? Just to hit tourism?” el-Sisi said. “No, they also wanted to strike at our relations with Russia ... and, if they could, with the whole world, so we are left alone and isolated.”Egypt has been battling an ISIS-led insurgency in the Sinai that grew increasingly assertive after Mursi’s overthrow, and which has carried out attacks across the country. On Wednesday, el-Sisi acknowledged -- also for the first time -- that security forces had committed “excesses” in Sinai, saying it was difficult to combat terror while safeguarding people’s rights. “Am I happy about it? No,” he said.

Yemen gets aid pledges of more than $220 million
AFP | Doha Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Donors pledged more than $220 million of aid for war-torn Yemen at a three-day conference on the worsening humanitarian situation that ended Wednesday in Doha. Among those pledging assistance were the Qatar Charity and the Kuwait-based International Islamic Charitable Organisation. Each organisation pledged to provide a grant of $100 million, payable over three years, according to a statement from conference organisers. The Qatari Red Crescent pledged $10 million, officials said. Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi told AFP that the situation inside the country was “disastrous”. “The whole of Yemen suffers and sectors of education, health and food are the most urgent,” he said. The United Nations warned this month of a “human catastrophe unfolding in Yemen”. It said more than 6,100 people had been killed in the fighting since last March, when a Saudi-led coalition, including Qatari forces, launched a military intervention in Yemen against Iran-supported Shiite Huthi rebels.The UN said another 3,000 people had been wounded and 2.5 million people forced to flee their homes. Organisers of the Doha conference said they may have to rely on the UN to deliver aid in areas controlled by rebels.

Rescued Swedish girl says life under ISIS 'really hard'
Reuters | Erbil (Iraq) Wednesday, 24 February 2016/A Swedish teenager rescued from ISIS militants in Iraq has said life in the so-called caliphate was "really hard" and that she was duped into going there by her boyfriend. In her first interview since Kurdish special forces recovered her in northern Iraq, the 16-year old told a Kurdish TV channel she had met her boyfriend in mid-2014 after dropping out of school in Sweden. "First we were good but then he started to look at ISIS videos and speak about them and stuff like that," she told Kurdistan 24 in a brief interview, using another name for ISIS. "Then he said he wanted to go to ISIS and I said ok, no problem, because I didn't know what ISIS means, what Islam is – nothing," said the girl. The couple set off from Sweden in late May 2015 and made their way across Europe by bus and train until reaching the Turkish border province of Gaziantep, from which they crossed into Syria. From there, ISIS militants ferried them by bus with other men and women to the city of Mosul in neighboring Iraq and provided them with a house. There was no electricity or running water. "I didn't have any money either - it was a really hard life," she said, looking relaxed and healthy. "When I had a phone I started to contact my mum and I said 'I want to go home'."The teenager, who was rescued on Feb. 17, is currently in Iraq's Kurdistan region and will be handed over to Swedish authorities. Security services estimate that hundreds of Western men and women have left home to join ISIS since the group overran large parts of Iraq and Syria in June 2014.

Erdogan says U.S.-Russian Syria plan could benefit Assad
By Humeyra Pamuk and Tulay Karadeniz Reuters, Istanbul/Ankara Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he feared a U.S.-Russian ceasefire plan would do little more than benefit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and accused the West, Russia and Iran of only seeking to further their own interests. The United States and Russia have announced plans for a cessation of hostilities in Syria to take effect starting on Saturday. But rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey have expressed doubts about the proposal, which excludes attacks by the Syrian army and its Russian backers on the militant groups ISIS and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. “The West, the United States, Russia, Iran, the European Union and United Nations have unfortunately not managed to stand tall by the honor of humanity,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara broadcast live on television. “On the contrary, all these countries, because of their own calculations, have permitted, directly or indirectly, the killing of nearly half a million innocent people by the regime and its backers,” he said. NATO member Turkey has grown increasingly frustrated by the international response to Syria’s five-year-old war, incensed by a Russian intervention which has tipped the balance of power in favor of Ankara’s arch-enemy Assad and by U.S. support for a Kurdish militia it sees as a hostile insurgent force. If Daesh (ISIS) and Al-Nusra are kept outside the ceasefire, then the PYD-YPG must similarly be excluded from the ceasefire for it is a terrorist group just as they are. Relations with Moscow hit a nadir after Turkey shot down a Russian jet near the Syrian border last November, while ties with Washington are at their most strained for years. The rebels fear Russia will use the exclusion of attacks on militants like ISIS as a pretext to bomb them. Erdogan said the ceasefire should also exclude attacks on the Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara views as a terrorist group. “If the identification of who is from which opposition group in the region will be carried out by Russia, the Assad regime and structures like the YPG, then that is a grave situation,” Erdogan said. He added: “If Daesh (ISIS) and Al-Nusra are kept outside the ceasefire, then the PYD-YPG must similarly be excluded from the ceasefire for it is a terrorist group just as they are.”Syria’s opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC), which groups Assad’s political and armed opponents, said on Monday it accepted “international efforts for a cessation of hostilities,” but only on the condition that previous demands including an end to blockades and the bombardment of civilians were fulfilled.The grouping’s chief negotiator said on Wednesday it had yet to commit to the U.S.-Russian plan.
Kurdish conflict
Turkey’s stance on the Syrian war is becoming increasingly intertwined with the battle it is waging in its own southeast against militants from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a three-decade insurgency for Kurdish autonomy. Ankara views the YPG militia and its PYD political wing, which have enjoyed U.S. backing in the fight against ISIS in Syria, as a hostile insurgent force with deep logistical and operational ties to the PKK. Like Ankara and the European Union, the United States lists the PKK as a terrorist group. But it sees the YPG as a useful ally and has indicated it will continue to work with them. “What are they saying? The PYD and YPG, they fight against ISIS and that’s why support them? That is a great lie,” Erdogan said. He has repeatedly called on Washington to decide who its allies are - Turkey or the Kurdish militia. Erdogan and Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu have both said the YPG, working with Kurdish militants in Turkey, were responsible for a suicide bombing that killed 29 people, most of them soldiers, in the capital Ankara last week. A DNA report suggested the main perpetrator was Turkish, not a Syrian Kurdish YPG fighter as initially claimed by the government, but two security sources told Reuters on Wednesday that he had entered Turkey from Syria in July 2014 using a fake ID. The Turkish armed forces shelled YPG positions in northern Syria in the days after the Ankara bombing and launched air strikes on PKK camps in northern Iraq, as the government vowed that those responsible would pay the price. Washington urged Ankara to stop shelling the YPG. Clashes have also continued inside Turkey, where violence in the southeast is at its worst since the 1990s. Military helicopters killed nine PKK militants near the border with Syria on Wednesday, security sources said. In its annual report on Wednesday, Amnesty International said round-the-clock curfews had left civilians in some areas in Turkey's southeast unable to access basic rights such as food, education and medical care. The government has blamed the militants for bringing their armed campaign to urban centers and has said military operations are not targeting civilians.

Yemeni army recaptures key base near capital
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Wednesday, 24 February 2016/Yemen’s army and forces from the Popular Resistance were able to recapture a strategic military camp near the capital Sanaa, exclusive photos obtained by Al Arabiya News Channel show. The photos of Fardhat Nahm camp near Sanaa showed destruction of facilities belonging to Iran-backed Houthi militias and forces loyal to ousted former President Ali Abdullah Saleh by the Saudi-led coalition. Exclusive: Footage show destruction of Fardhat Nahm. The destruction of Fardhat Nahm came after the coalition forces targeted with their air raids Houthi militia base camps in Harf Sufyan district of Amran, north of Sanaa. Other strikes have been conducted on the Dhale Governorate in southern Yemen. Meanwhile, the recently appointed Deputy Supreme Commander of the Yemeni Army Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar stressed the importance of continuing the fight against Houthi militias and Saleh forces, in accordance to the U.N. resolution 2216, and said his army will continue to free other districts from militia control.

Syria Druze faction admits to arming itself
ALBIN SZAKOLA & ULLIN HOPE/Now Lebanon/February 24/16
BEIRUT – The leader of the Sheikhs of Dignity in Syria’s Suweida faction has admitted that his independent Druze faction has been purchasing arms, days after one of its members was arrested at a regime checkpoint in possession of weapons. “We're going to bring weapons and arm ourselves,” Sheikh Rafaat al-Balaous declared in a fiery speech delivered shortly after supporters of his Sheikhs of Dignity movement detained Syrian regime security members in order to negotiate a swap for Sheikh Sheikh Anas Abu Hala. Syrian Military Intelligence on Monday arrested Sheikh Abu Hala at the Al-Masmiyeh checkpoint along a road leading northwest from the provincial capital of Suweida toward the neighboring Daraa province. Balaous disclosed that Abu Hala had been arrested in possession of arms destined for the Sheikhs of Dignity’s Bayrak al-Fahd (Banner of the Leopard), an umbrella organization to oversee smaller militia formations throughout the province affiliated with the independent Druze movement that has increasingly challenged regime authority in Suweida.
“He [Abu Hala] came from Sham [Damascus] with some goods that were his. Never mind what the amount in his possession was. He was stopped at a checkpoint and there was an argument,” the Druze leader explained. Later in the speech, Balaous clarified that the detained Sheikh was only transporting a “small amount” of arms, which were impounded at the checkpoint. Balaous—whose group considers itself independent of both the Bashar al-Assad government and the opposition—reiterated that the Sheikhs of Dignity were seeking only to defend Druze regions, and not fight for any foreign agendas.“We have a positive, neutral stance… We are here on our land.”“We protect our country, our mountain, and our towns and villages,” he said adding that by defending their villages, members of his Druze group were “defending the country.”
Balaous also emphasized that affiliates of the Sheikhs of Dignity were purchasing arms with their own funds and were “not funded by any party or state.”
The Men of Dignity—a collection of supporters of the Sheikhs of Dignity—issued a statement Wednesday reiterating Balaous’s stances and revealing that Abu Nahas had finally been released by regime forces.“We will continue to bring in weapons and we will continue to gather ammunition and bombs and everything that helps us defend our land and honor,” the group said on Facebook. It also angrily condemned the arrest of Abu Nahas, saying that “attacks on our clerical and laymen members are a red line. Any hand that touches them shall be amputated.”
Sheikhs of Dignity autonomy
Although the Men of Dignity do not seek the overthrow of the Assad regime, they maintain a fiercely independent stance and have called for reforms in Suweida while criticizing regime figures in charge of the Druze-populated province. Rafaat al-Balaous’s admission that his group is buying weapons is the latest assertion of autonomy by the Sheikhs of Dignity movement, was led by Rafaat’s brother Waheed until he was killed in a September 2015 car bombing that his group blamed on Damascus. Prior to his death, Waheed al-Balaous had taken an increasingly strident tone against the Syrian regime and its intelligence chief in the Suweida, who the cleric accused of attempting to eliminate Assad’s enemies in the province. Only weeks before Balaous’s assassination, the Sheikhs of Dignity announced the formation of its own fighting force, Bayrak al-Fahd. The Sheikhs of Dignity as well as its affiliates have kept up their autonomous stance following the death of Balaous, who his brother Rafaat replaced as leader of the movement in October 2015.
On November 4, the Sheikhs of Dignity angrily accused the Syrian regime of “declaring war” against it after state media ran a report linking Rafaat Balaous to the killing of a top Baath Party official in Suweida. Less than a week later, the Syrian regime’s top security official in Suweida province appeared in a video with official religious representatives of the country’s Druze sect announcing a crackdown on the Men of Dignity. “The words ‘Balaous’s group,’ that phrase must be killed,” Suweida province’s Political Security Branch chief Wafiq Nasser said in a video published that circulated social media.
“It must be killed on the ground as an armed aggressing force and it must be killed as a term.”In early January, the Men of Dignity announced that its members were taking measures to “protect our internal security in most areas” of the mountainous Druze-populated province. In a statement posted on Facebook, the group said it was conducting patrols and establishing impromptu checkpoints “after the clear failure of certain state apparatuses concerned with protecting the people… from gangs of thieves and highway robbers.”The Men of Dignity also implied it was creating its own de-facto intelligence network, calling on Suweida residents to inform them of criminal activity. The statement comes as Suweida has been beset by increased levels of not only petty crime, but also kidnappings for ransom and other offenses. The group said the increased lawlessness was “in the interests of certain actors,” in a veiled reference to regime figures. However, the Druze group also stressed that not all regime officials in Suweida were corrupt, saying that “certain state officials have deeply patriotic intentions that serve the interests of the people and the homeland.”

Will IAEA be able to verify Iran's nuclear program?
Julian Pecquet /Al-Monitor/February 24/16
The UN nuclear agency will face "challenges" verifying Iran's compliance with last year's nuclear agreement, the US government watchdog said Feb. 23 in a new report that was immediately used as ammunition by critics of the deal. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) faces a budget and staffing shortfall that will require an extra $10 million per year for the next 15 years to monitor the deal, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report goes on to detail the agency's dependence on Iranian cooperation to access nuclear sites and the intrinsic difficulty in detecting undeclared activities such as weapons development and centrifuge manufacturing that do not leave a nuclear trace. Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., said the report raises concerns about "the entity that we are putting all our marbles in." He commissioned the report with Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., a fellow critic of the deal who also voted against it last year. "Some of the preliminary findings cause concern for me about what the IAEA is capable of," Menendez told Secretary of State John Kerry at a hearing on the department's FY 2017 budget request. "The GAO [report] point[s] directly to future problems with monitoring, verifying and meeting requirements of the [Iran deal]." Kirk used the report to call on Congress to prepare sanctions that can be imposed if Iran starts to cheat on its nuclear obligations. He and Menendez are pushing for the reauthorization of the Iran Sanctions Act, a decade-old law that expires at the end of the year.
“My biggest takeaway is lawmakers must come together in a bipartisan manner now to create an insurance policy for imposing crippling pressure if and when Iran once again cheats on nuclear inspections as it has so many times in the past,” Kirk said in a statement. “International inspectors, according to the GAO’s interim report, still face an ‘inherent challenge’ in detecting undeclared nuclear activities, including weapons development activities and centrifuge manufacturing. The report also cites concerns the IAEA’s decision to end investigations into Iran’s past nuclear weapons activities ‘could reduce the indicators at the IAEA’s disposal to detect undeclared activity.’ Indeed, GAO also warns the nuclear deal’s mechanism for IAEA inspectors to gain access to Iranian sites suspected of having undeclared nuclear activities remains ‘untested’ and cautions ‘it is too soon to tell whether it will improve access.'”
Among the concerns raised by the GAO report is the sheer amount of manpower the Iran deal will consume. The agency is expected to have to transfer 18 "experienced inspectors" and "nearly twice that number of other staff" to its Iran Task Force, the GAO concludes, raising concerns about proliferation in other countries. The State Department is proposing a $191 million US contribution to the agency in its FY 2017 budget request, a $5 million increase over the current year, to help the agency meet its new obligations.

Why this election of Iran's Assembly of Experts is more important than ever
Arash Karami /Al-Monitor/February 24/16/
The elections for Iran's Assembly of Experts will coincide with the Feb. 26 parliamentary elections. Considering the age of the current supreme leader, this contest may determine the fate of the country for the foreseeable future. The 88 members of the Assembly of Experts are constitutionally tasked with choosing the next supreme leader after 76-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dies or becomes unable to perform his duties. Despite a prostate surgery in September 2014, Khamenei appears to be healthy and energetic for his age. He continues to attend numerous functions throughout the country, giving long speeches with minimal notes. The assembly members serve eight-year terms. Therefore, there is a chance the next Assembly of Experts will be asked for the second time in the body's three decades of existence to choose the next and third supreme leader of Iran.
One list for the Assembly of Experts has been put together under the name of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with the slogan “People’s Experts.” Though Rafsanjani said he does not have an official electoral list, he was asked to head this 16-person list that includes a number of like-minded allies, such as President Hassan Rouhani, former Intelligence Minister Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi and Rouhani’s Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi. Many observers are paying particular attention to the contentious disqualification of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
There were reports that before his disqualification, Hassan Khomeini, the popular grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was to have been included on Rafsanjani’s list. Despite his disqualification, Rafsanjani's supporters continue to use campaign posters featuring Rafsanjani, Khamenei, Rouhani and the young Hassan Khomeini praying together. The conservatives have also presented their own list. Two of the most conservative clerical bodies in Iran, the Combatant Clergy Association and the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom, have each presented lists of candidates they support. There is some overlap between the lists, as temporary Friday Prayer leader Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani appears on both as well as on Rafsanjani’s list. Rouhani is also included in the Combatant Clergy Association’s List. Both the Combatant Clergy and Society of Seminary Teachers are promoting as candidates some of the more hard-line clerics in Iran, including Chairman of the Guardian Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, spiritual leader of the hard-line Endurance Front Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah Yazdi and Society of Seminary Teachers Secretary Mohammad Yazdi, who currently heads the Assembly of Experts.
Another conservative list, called the “List of Principlist Trustees of the Revolution,” includes Jannati, Yazdi, Mesbah Yazdi and Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani, the secretary-general of the Combatant Clergy Association. A total of 16 female candidates registered for the Assembly of Experts elections. Their qualifications were not approved by the Guardian Council. The constitution does not forbid women from becoming members. However, the requirement that a member must have expertise in Islamic law has created obstacles for female candidates. When it was assembled in 1979 to ratify the constitution, Monireh Gorji became the only female to become a member of the Assembly of Experts. The assembly has existed in its present form since 1983. While these overlapping lists may seem confusing, the key battle to watch in these elections is the one between Rafsanjani and the above-mentioned group of hard-line clerics. As Khomeini’s closest adviser, Rafsanjani played a key role in Khamenei’s ascension to the leadership. Rafsanjani today does not hold the power he did in 1989, but it is no secret that he would like regain it. Rafsanjani headed the Assembly of Experts from September 2007 until March 2011, and lost his bid for the leadership in March 2015. Many believe that Rafsanjani’s decision to not condemn the Green Movement leaders and his public displeasure with some hard-line policies cost him his political clout. If hard-liners dominate the next assembly, this will severely weaken Rafsanjani's position.
Khamenei has not spoken publicly about what person he would like to replace him. Despite Rafsanjani’s determination to shape the future of the country by influencing the selection of the next supreme leader, it is very likely that other powerful institutions will want a say as well. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose duty it is to protect the Islamic Revolution, will likely exert its influence to keep like-minded allies within the assembly and prevent the leadership of someone they view as soft toward enemy countries.

What happened to Turkey's foreign policy?
Semih Idiz/Al-Monitor/February 24/16
Turkish experts — aside from the most hardened, pro-government experts — agree that Ankara’s foreign policy under the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is in shambles. They generally agree this was caused by the country abandoning its traditional foreign policy in favor of an Islamist outlook.
This situation, experts argue, has reduced Ankara’s options significantly, especially at this turbulent time in the region. Al-Monitor asked three retired ambassadors, who served under the AKP and are known as seasoned foreign policy commentators, to explain why Ankara finds itself isolated and unable to influence regional events that are having seriously negative effects on Turkey’s interests. The foreign policy framework drawn up by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, is summarized by the adage he coined, “Peace at home, peace in the world.” It was based on a realistic assessment of Turkey’s geopolitical location, as well as bitter past experiences, said retired Ambassador Uluc Ozulker. A basic tenet of this policy was to remain Westward-looking — a tenet Ozulker said has changed under the AKP. "The AKP’s ideological world view is based on what is known as the ‘national vision,’ which is Islamist-based and veers toward the outlook of the Muslim Brotherhood," he said. That outlook is related to the anger felt toward Israel and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Ozulker added. “The AKP also tried to implement policies that were beyond Turkey’s means and capabilities. Turkey’s foreign policy in the past was cautious and defensive. When the Turkish economy started growing, the AKP used this, combining it with its ‘national vision’ outlook, to pursue more active policies,” Ozulker said. “It aimed for good relations with neighbors but tried to achieve this from the perspective of a patronizing big brother, which gradually alienated its neighbors and other regional powers.”Ozulker added that another mistake the AKP made was to pursue an idealistic foreign policy, especially under the tutelage of Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, who served as foreign minister from 2009 to 2014. “The assumption was that Turkey was the principal player who could rearrange things and change the established order in the region according to its will. But realpolitik and Turkey’s geopolitical place was never conducive to achieving this,” he said. The AKP has a vindictive approach to foreign policy and ostracizes those who refuse to listen to it, eventually looking on them as its foes, according to Ozulker. “We see this in Turkey’s ties with Israel, Egypt and Syria. The AKP forgot that in foreign policy there are no eternal friendships or eternal enemies, only eternal interests,” he said.
“Everyone knows which bloc they more or less belong to today. This is also the basis for collective security. The AKP allowed Turkey to drift away from the West but failed to find a new port for itself. It asked to be admitted to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization but failed. Today it is isolated and does not know where it belongs. There are signs that it is trying to return to the Western fold, but even that is tentative,” Ozulker said. Retired Ambassador Temel Iskit also said the AKP’s principal mistake was to move Turkey away from its traditional foreign policy. “The vision it tried to replace this with was ideologically based and leaned heavily on a Sunni worldview. It assumed that Turkey could be the regional Sunni leader, which was not only out of tune with Turkey’s traditional policies, but also not realistic,” Iskit said. “The Syrian crisis provided a concrete example of how misguided all of this was. Of course everyone made a mistake in Syria. The assumption in the heady days of the Arab Spring was that the [regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad] would be replaced quickly by a democratic one,” Iskit said. "Ankara’s real mistake, however, was that it insisted on maintaining its original mistake even after everyone else woke up to the reality of what was going on in that country."
Iskit said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, more than Davutoglu, is the main reason Turkey finds itself in its current position. “Erdogan tried to impose his personal outlook on others, and when they refused to accept this, as in the case of Assad, he became their enemy and pursued what amounts to a kind of blood feud against them. This is also why Turkey is at odds with the West, with Russia and with just about everyone else today,” Iskit said. “He has been overtaken by hubris and personal obsessions."Turkey's difficult international position is likely to continue as long as Erdogan remains in power, Iskit added. Retired Ambassador Murat Bilhan, for his part, believes Ankara’s biggest mistake was to take sides in complex regional disputes. “Foreign policy requires that you stay clear from emotional and doctrinaire positions. If you surrender to these, then it is only a matter of time before the negative results appear," he said. Pointing out that Turkey’s geopolitical position requires it to pursue a multifaceted foreign policy, Bilhan said Turkey has become trapped by its one-dimensional policies. “Turkey leaned exclusively toward the West in the past, and that, too, was a mistake. But today it is only looking to the Middle East,” Bilhan said. Another foreign policy mistake was believing that the person in charge shouldn't show his hand while situations are developing, Bilhan said. "This limits Turkey’s maneuverability and ability to backtrack from mistakes,” he added, clearly referring to Erdogan. Bilhan also said Turkey’s decision-makers did not take expert advice seriously and, thus, added to their mistakes. “Strategic mistakes cannot be corrected by tactical moves,” Bilhan said, indicating there is nothing diplomacy cannot solve, provided failed policies are reversed. “Decision-makers always have the final say, but their decisions should also factor in the views of experts."

‘Halal’ for Iran but ‘haram’ for Saudi Arabia?
Turki Al-Dakhil/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Egyptian columnist Fahmy Howeidy does not tire of saying Iran’s regional rise is due to the absence of Arab unity. It is indisputable that Iran became stronger following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Saudi Arabia considered that war as handing Iraq to Iran on a golden plate. Iran has since established more than 60 militias that are supervised by its Revolutionary Guards. It has launched TV channels and newspapers, planted wings affiliated with it in Gulf countries, invaded Beirut via its proxy Hezbollah in May 2008, destroyed Lebanon and whatever is left of Yemen, infiltrated Africa, spread political and religious fundamentalism, and fuelled sectarianism.
Challenging Iran
However, the story today is different as Iran’s wings are being clipped. In March 2015, Saudi Arabia established the biggest international alliance since the 1990 Gulf War to support legitimacy in Yemen and curb Iran-backed Houthi rebels. On Dec. 15, Riyadh announced the establishment of a 40-state Islamic military alliance against terrorism. It has, within the context of an Arab project, worked to protect entities from Iranian infiltration, whether in the Horn of Africa, Syria or Lebanon. Iran became stronger following the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. However, the story today is different as Iran’s wings are being clipped
This is an authentic and serious Arab project, but Howeidy does not acknowledge that. He has even stood against Operation Decisive Storm in Yemen, and described participating in the Saudi-led coalition as “shameful."This is the same Howeidy who said he was charmed while meeting then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. Now that there is an Arab project under Saudi leadership, why do the likes of Howeidy sympathize with Iran and its destructive project?

Iranians and Russians, between incentives and threats
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
There are conflicting reports about S-300 missiles that Russia promised to supply Iran. Tehran said they were shipped, but Moscow denied that and Iran’s claim that it fully paid for them. This raises speculation over whether Russia has supplied the missiles, and if not, whether it will do so. Their bilateral relations are strange. They are both willing to confront the West in the region, using one another in a temporary alliance. However, their interests are different, particularly in light of Iranian rapprochement with the West. They are both willing to confront the West in the region, using one another in a temporary alliance. However, their interests are different, particularly in light of Iranian rapprochement with the West. The extremist wing of the Tehran regime believes rapprochement will be at the expense of its domestic influence and come with regional conditions. That is why this wing told the Kremlin some two weeks ago that it would spend $8 billion on more Russian arms.Money talks? Perhaps Iran thinks it can buy the Russians while reconciling with Washington. However, if Tehran is betting on tempting Moscow with money and military deals, it will be disappointed because it is competing with three richer countries: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. However, if Iran is trying to build a regional military and political alliance with Russia, this will benefit Gulf countries because such an alliance will thwart U.S. rapprochement and cooperation with Tehran. Options are more difficult for Tehran than for its neighbors.

Surrounding Israel with fences is Netanyahu’s new trump card
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
No Israeli prime minister has ever contributed to the isolation of Israel from the world, as much as the current one Benjamin Netanyahu. His constant reckless policies and rancorous rhetoric drive away even some of the country’s closest friends. Erecting a fence all around Israel’s borders is Netanyahu’s newest trump card in ensuring Israeli security, in his own words "to protect the country from the wild beasts".If isolating Israel politically was not enough, now Netanyahu seems determined to ghettoize it from its neighbors physically. The act itself and the rhetoric that accompanied it, provided a disturbing insight into the mind-set of the current Israeli political and military leadership. Self-evidently, Israel faces new security challenges in an ever-changing Middle East, which endures a protracted and violent turmoil. Consequently, new threats are emerging, but with them also new opportunities. Building fences and walls epitomizes Netanyahu’s oversimplification of extremely complex conditions on Israeli borders. Furthermore, he employs the politics of fear to carry the public opinion. One should take issue not only with Netanyahu’s strategy of protecting the citizens of Israel from future threat, through a complete physical separation from all of the country’s neighbours, but also his incendiary language. Demonizing and dehumanizing anyone and everyone who attempts to cross the border, calling them wild animals, is a sign of a leader losing his way. It is also a sign of weakness rather than a show of strength.
Undeniably, there are militant and terrorist elements unwavering in their drive to harm Israel and its citizens. Nevertheless, preventing attacks does not require inflammatory and degrading language Netanyahu-style. Are all Arabs who try to cross the border “wild beasts”, including those who escape from the atrocities of war?
Does Netanyahu perceive the refugees or asylum seekers from the Sudan and Eretria, fleeing for their lives, as “predators”? His choice of words is evidence of a politician who sees the other, whosoever the other is, as a threat and as an enemy. Collective punishment? To be sure, this act of putting an entire nation behind bars in the name of protecting them cannot be separated from the other string of policies, which portray all the Palestinians and their representatives, inside Israel and in the occupied territories, as untrustworthy and a menace to the Jewish state. First came his call for the Jewish population in Israel, on the day of the last elections, to vote in order to prevent Arab parties from maximizing their representation, referring to their fundamental act of exercising their democratic right to vote, as an attack on the Jewish state. Earlier this year Netanyahu depicted, following a terrorist act by a single Arab-Israeli in Tel Aviv, the entire Arab minority in Israel as a bunch of outlaws. Most recently the coalition government threatened to suspend a number of elected Arab MKs because they met with families of Palestinians, who requested their assistance with the return of the bodies of family members killed in attacks against Jews.
Building fences and walls epitomizes Netanyahu’s oversimplification of extremely complex conditions on Israeli borders. These meetings might be controversial, but they are not illegal or illogical. They are not necessarily an expression of support for militancy, but of the right to be buried with dignity, regardless of the circumstances of death and also as a means to provide families with closure. Moreover, this unnecessary delay in bringing to rest the dead assailants causes huge resentment among the wider Palestinian population and triggers further tensions. Netanyahu and his political allies are not on their own in advancing this type of nationalistic populism, which suggests that walls and fences are the only guarantor of one’s national interest. This approach puts Netanyahu in the camp of Donald Trump and the far right in Europe, who see any cross-border movement of people, as a threat to security and the character of a country. One wonders if this is the company that the Israeli leadership would like to be associated with.
Against basic traits
Furthermore, this inward looking approach is also a tragic reversal of the basic traits of the Zionist movement, which in essence led to the foundation of the state of Israel. The founders of the movement for the revival of the Jewish self-determination, aimed to bring down the physical and mental walls of the Jewish ghettos in the diaspora. They saw segregation from the rest of the population, whether voluntary or imposed, as one of the root causes of the wretchedness of diaspora life. The return to the ancient land and founding of a Jewish state, as controversial as it might be, should have resulted in building a nation-state integrated within its international environment. The fear of the other whether within Israel, the occupied territories, or even beyond its borders, is a return to a diaspora mentality, but within a country, which is armed to the teeth and is economically viable. This can only spell dangerous news of going down the path of the ancient Jewish biblical notion of “… people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations”. It contradicts the image Israel is attempting to project to the world of a modern society with an advanced hi-tech economy and which harbors liberal Western values. Sadly, the current Israeli government is leading the country towards international political isolation through its intransigence toward peace with the Palestinians, the expansion of settlements in the occupied territories and by the rejection of any criticism, even that coming from the closest of allies and friends. The need to protect the country against potential threats is indisputable. What should be under scrutiny are the policies that leave the state and people of Israel believing that their survival relies on building a fortress- like Israel.

Syria’s cessation of hostilities is a positive step
Maria Dubovikova/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
Russian President Vladimir Putin rarely gives addresses, so the fact the he gave one on Monday following agreement on a cessation of hostilities in Syria shows how much the conflict matters to Moscow. Putin said the joint U.S.-Russian statement was preceded by intensive work by experts from both countries, and the positive experience of cooperating to eliminate Syrian chemical weapons played a significant role. According to the deal, by the eve of Feb. 27 - the day when guns should fall silent - the warring sides should inform Washington and Moscow on their commitment to the cessation of hostilities. No military action will be taken against parties that commit to it. The agreement excludes internationally acknowledged terrorist organizations such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Jabhat al-Nusra. It includes the establishment of a communication hotline, and most likely of a working group to exchange relevant information. Putin said Moscow and Washington are ready to launch effective mechanisms to promote and monitor compliance by Damascus and armed opposition forces. The cessation of hostilities covers all members of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG). Turkey will have to stop its attacks on Kurds, and the agreement will help prevent Russia from hitting non-ISIS targets. Hope?Putin rightly said the agreement has a chance to become “an example of responsible actions of the global community.” Recent weeks gave rise to deep concerns over the future of the Syrian peace process. Actions and statements by the powers involved, including Russia, were pushing the world to the precipice of a global conflict.
Now the international community and the Syrian people have a real chance to settle the conflict and hope for peace. However, that chance and hope are weak as long as the agreement itself is weak. It is not easy at all to pinpoint on a map which groups are committed to the cessation of hostilities.
This agreement shows that the parties to the conflict are still able to negotiate. The question is whether the sides are willing enough to make peace . For example, Jabhat al-Nusra’s positions are mixed with those of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). The opposition has already shared its concerns that pro-regime forces will continue to hit rebel positions under the pretext of fighting Jabhat al-Nusra. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner responded with a tough message to the rebels: “If you hang out with the wrong folks, you choose who you hang out with, and that sends a signal.” In addition, Turkey’s attacks on Kurdish militias could continue despite the cessation of hostilities, undermining the peace process and coalition forces’ efforts to fight ISIS. In any case, this agreement shows that despite all the problems, the parties to the conflict are still able to negotiate. It would have been much better for the Syrian people if such an agreement were reached two or three years ago, when the crisis was not so entrenched and not so many lives were lost. But better late than never. The question that remains is whether the sides are willing enough to make peace.

Why controlling the media doesn’t ensure Egypt’s security
Diana Moukalled/Al Arabiya/February 24/16
European and western media have recently been full of reports and articles expressing worries over the deterioration of human rights situation and the road to democracy in Egypt. Referring to western media is a must on this issue considering the differences within the local media outlets in Egypt and considering the restrictions imposed on whoever attempts to perform independent journalistic work there. It is useless to confront growing criticism in the West made by local media personalities who use loud rhetoric but are poor in content and arguments. They never tire of blindly commending the authorities and demonizing even those who are merely being satirical. We see that online media, which includes social networking platforms, demonstrate significant gap between media outlets flattering the authority and common people circulating what the western media is writing about Egypt. An uproar can thus be heard in the social networking space.
Murder most foul
The western media’s attention in the past few days has been focused on the horrible murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni who was tortured to death and then dumped in a Cairo street. American and Italian newspaper reports exposed faults in the investigation into the murder, on the level of investigations and the conduct of the interior ministry. This confused the Egyptian government and there were weak attempts to contain the situation locally. Following conflicting official versions related to the cause of Regeni’s murder, some media outlets added to the confusion by basing their reports on rumors. They implied that Regeni may have been killed because he was a spy or it could have been a relationship issue. Perhaps the worst point was reached when a guest on an Egyptian television station said: “People, it’s only one person (dead), not more!” the comments reeked of a culture of underestimating the value of people’s lives.
Regeni’s murder was preceded by policemen’s assault and humiliation of doctors. Prior to that, two young men were detained because of a satirical video. Then there was murder of a young man in al-Darb al-Ahmar. Another young man was killed by a policeman, which led to protests by outraged citizens. Videos and photos on social media voiced anger over security forces’ repeated assaults on citizens. A lot of people follow western media reports on Egypt as they have had enough of local media’s loud and empty reports. Such news items emerge routinely in the western media and are widely circulated. They cannot be ignored not because they are conveyed via western media but because they reflect the level of discourse at a time when the government’s official dailies have reported that it is allocating new land to build more prisons. Yes, a lot of people follow western media reports on Egypt as they have had enough of local media’s loud and empty reports. Such people also tend to be cautious and often advise others to tone down their criticism on Facebook and Twitter which are almost the only available outlets of expression. Calls to control posts on social media are usually justified on the pretext that it is time to fight terrorism and is therefore inappropriate to stir this entire issue of human rights. However those who believe in intimidation miss the fact that pushing people to remain silent on what’s going around them does not give a sense of stability or security. On the contrary, it contributes to solidifying a culture of systematic violence and generalizing it to the extent of completely distorting general awareness.

Netanyahu phones Putin for clarifications on the South Syrian ceasefire
DEBKAfile Special Report February 24/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/24/37188/
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu phoned President Vladimir Putin Wednesday Feb. 24, to find out how the partial Syrian ceasefire due to go into effect Saturday Feb. 27 will affect Israel’s northern border security. According to the Kremlin statement, “The two leaders discussed the Middle East and reached agreement to hold a number of high-level contact meetings.”Agreement was also reached on “a range of contact [meetings] on the high and highest level, taking into consideration the 25tyh anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries,” the communiqué went on to say.
The language and content of this communiqué struck DEBKAfile’s diplomatic sources as oddly off the point compred with statements that came after past conversations. It is hard to believe that the Russian President, while deeply immersed in tense exchanges with President Barack Obama and Iran’s Hassan Rouhani for tying up the ends of the approaching Syrian ceasefire, would give his attention to the celebration of a historic event. The words did however convey the impression that the Russian leader was making an effort to calm Israel’s apprehensions about the coming stage of the Syrian crisis.
According to our sources, Netanyahu put in the call to Putin when he learned that the Russian and American presidents had agreed to get the partial ceasefire started in southern Syria, namely on the front closest to the borders of Israel and Jordan.Israeli and Jordanian military officials have been trying to get a picture of how these arrangements would work and affect their national security, but Washington and Moscow are similarly tightlipped on information. This is also the reaction the Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Director General Dore Gold found when he called on Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Feb. 18. The minister was polite but avoided direct answers to questions.
Israel is most deeply troubled by the possibility that Syrian army, Iranian and Hizballah forces currently in offensive momentum in South Syria will exploit the cessation of hostilities to advance towards its Golan border with hostile intent. With only three days to go before the truce goes into effect, Israel has still not received any clear answers about whether the Russian air force will continue to strike Syrian rebel elements deemed “terrorists” unabated in close proximity to its northern borders. US officials have tried in the last 24 hours to assuage Israel’s concerns, but they are no more forthcoming with clear information than the Russians. Netanyahu therefore picked up the phone to the Russian president, with whom he maintains a friendly dialogue, to find out what was ahead in the wake of the truce and to ask for guarantees that Syrian, Iranian and Hizballah forces would not permitted to take advantage of the lull to gain ground.
The prime minister also asked Putin about the huge $14bn arms deal in negotiation with Tehran. He is most unlikely to have been appeased by the bone the Russian president threw him about a joint celebration of an anniversary. The record is not assuring. In early January, Putin promised Netanyahu that he would make sure that Hizballah forces would not be part of the Russian-backed Syrian army offensive in the South. But then, on Jan. 27, a large Hizballah force entered the southern town of Daraa and Russian air strikes drew ever closer to the Israeli border, until explosions could be heard in Israel from a distance of no more than a few hundred meters.

Two Potential Safe Zones in Northern Syria
Fabrice Balanche/Washington Institute/February 24/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/02/24/fabrice-balanchewashington-institutetwo-potential-safe-zones-in-northern-syria/
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/two-potential-safe-zones-in-northern-syria
Both Idlib province and eastern Aleppo province have been relatively spared from the fighting, and their rural communities remain strong.
The major battle taking place around Aleppo may ultimately result in two million Syrians attempting to enter Turkey from northwestern Syria (see "The Battle of Aleppo Is the Center of the Syrian Chessboard," PolicyWatch 2554). This is because the Syrian army's counterinsurgency strategy -- and that of its allies -- is founded on expelling civilians first, which allows for easier clearing out of the rebels. In northwestern Syria, however, two potential safe zones exist outside the Kurdish and government-held areas. The first is centered in the rebel-held Idlib province, the second in the eastern part of Aleppo province, currently under Islamic State control. A description of these areas can help elucidate their potential as safe zones.
IDLIB PROVINCE
After Raqqa, Idlib became the second provincial capital lost by Damascus, falling in spring 2015 to Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest) along with the province's two other major cities, Jisr al-Shughour and Ariha. Damascus had lost control of the countryside in winter 2011-2012.
With a prewar population of about two million, Idlib province now has no more than 1.2 million inhabitants, with the balance having moved to other provinces or having sought refuge in Turkey. In its most recent evaluation, in August 2014, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated that Idlib province had 708,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs).
The province, meanwhile, has a fairly homogeneous ethno-religious population consisting of 95 percent Sunni Arabs. During the countryside fighting of 2011-2012, and in Idlib city in March 2015, Christians fled as rebels took control. In particular, former residents of the Armenian village of Yacoubiyah transplanted themselves en masse to the Karabakh-Nagorno region, which straddles eastern Armenia and southwestern Azerbaijan. The towns of al-Fua and Kefraya host large Shiite communities, surrounded by rebels since Idlib's fall, and ten Druze villages are scattered in Jabal al-Summaq. Although proponents of the Shiite principle of taqqiya (dissimulation) proclaimed their support for the Syrian revolution early on, they are unsurprisingly suspected of munafiq (insincerity) by Jabhat al-Nusra. To the north of Jisr al-Shughour, a Turkmen population lives close to the Turkish border.
Before the Syrian crisis began, 70 percent of Idlib's population lived in the countryside, a fertile agricultural area that produces grains, olives, and winter vegetables, with individual irrigation allowing for additional crops in summer. For those who have remained, agriculture has provided a means to survive the turmoil. Even before the war, the area had very little industrial activity, and Idlib was known as an administrative city. Also, whereas in the prewar years Idlib province depended heavily on Aleppo for manufactured products, today everything comes from Turkey. Yet even supplies from Turkey are severely limited, with humanitarian convoys only able to reach Bab al-Hawa. Strict Syrian control of this border can be traced to the lingering Syrian claim on the "Sanjak of Alexandretta" -- today's Hatay province of Turkey. Indeed, barbed wire, no-man's-land, and minefields mark the border between Syria and Turkey. Whereas today the Bab al-Hawa border cannot be crossed except in very select humanitarian cases, this was not the reality before 2015 and the huge migration to Turkey. In the earlier war years, Syrians could make return trips to Turkey or take refuge when fighting surged.
EASTERN ALEPPO PROVINCE
Like Idlib province, eastern Aleppo province quickly fell from state control and was relatively untouched by fighting between the Syrian army and rebels. However, during winter 2013-2014, rebels and the Islamic State clashed violently, as throughout northern Syria, with IS holding the area even as the group was expelled from Aleppo city and the province's western section. In the Azaz corridor, the Islamic State and the rebels continue to face each other down and sometimes fight (see PolicyWatch 2532, "The Struggle for Azaz Corridor Could Spur a Turkish Intervention"). But overall, the area has been fairly quiet and free of bombardment, with the Islamic State imposing its laws but at the same time providing relative safety to the population. Now, however, developments suggest the calm may not last. The Syrian army launched an offensive from the southwest (al-Safira) to lift the IS siege of the Kuwaires military airport before stopping ten kilometers south of al-Bab. To the east, the Kurds crossed the Euphrates River in late December 2015 by seizing Tishrin Dam. The People's Defense Units (YPG), the Syrian Kurdish group, are stationed ten kilometers from IS-controlled Manbij, with plans to eventually launch an offensive against the city. To the north, the Turkmen brigade Sultan Murad, which has seized several villages along the Turkish border, enjoys Turkish artillery support. This pro-Turkish militia appears to be eying Jarabulus as its next target to prevent the YPG from seizing it from its Kobane position.
Eastern Aleppo province is highly coveted and could quickly erupt into widespread violence. Distinct from rebel-held Idlib, this territory -- because under IS control -- will likely be conquered by either pro-Russian or pro-Western forces. Like with Idlib province, however, the difficult question remains of how to protect civilians once the Islamic State is ousted.
Similar to the 2010 figure, eastern Aleppo province now has some 700,000 inhabitants. This stability owes in part to the limited fighting, with refugees to Turkey being replaced by IDPs from Aleppo city. OCHA's 2014 estimate cites 600,000 IDPs in eastern Aleppo province, but this figure may well have been exaggerated by the Syrian opposition to obtain more humanitarian aid. As in Idlib, eastern Aleppo's main economic activity is agricultural, so the population's basic needs remain largely satisfied. Manufactured goods, medicines, and other items are transported from Turkey without difficulty. This transit of goods has remained steady, with Syrian oil flowing in the other direction, even as civilian visits to Turkey have been restricted since the November 13, 2015, Paris attacks.
Eastern Aleppo's population is now 100 percent Sunni. Christians were rare even before 2010, but the last of the Christian families fled with Alawite civil servants in 2012. However, ethnic diversity is stronger than religious diversity, with Kurdish and Turkmen minorities holding a position that is difficult to estimate. Many villages are mixed, and these ethnic groups' representation is unknown in the urban areas of Manbij, al-Bab, and Jarabulus. This demographic ambiguity is meaningful, especially among the Kurds, who claim the area is historically Kurdish. A major confrontation could therefore occur once the Islamic State leaves, unless precautions are taken to fill the political vacuum.
SAFE ZONES AND RURAL RESILIENCE
Both Idlib province and eastern Aleppo province have been relatively spared from the Syrian fighting. Rural communities remain strong and generally benefit from effective basic services and distribution of humanitarian aid provided through their local governments. Although these two areas are virtually self-sufficient when it comes to food, maintaining an open gate to Turkey is essential, especially for medication and health services. A safe zone in either region, therefore, could promote the return of refugees and IDPs to the villages and small towns even absent full public services. Indeed, former rural inhabitants of these areas will be more accustomed to enduring spartan living than urban dwellers would be. And establishing decent conditions for return is far more complicated in large cities, where infrastructure was destroyed, than in villages and small towns. As part of a general ceasefire, economic relations are likely to resume quickly between the regime zone and the rebel zone, which could facilitate economic development and the return of the refugees and IDPs.
**Fabrice Balanche, an associate professor and research director at the University of Lyon 2, is a visiting fellow at The Washington Institute.

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