LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

July 12/16

 Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani

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http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.july12.16.htm

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Bible Quotations For Today

Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11/33-36/:"‘No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness.Therefore consider whether the light in you is not darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be as full of light as when a lamp gives you light with its rays.’"

He powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus
Acts of the Apostles 18/18-28/:"After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the believers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow. When they reached Ephesus, he left them there, but first he himself went into the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. When they asked him to stay longer, he declined; but on taking leave of them, he said, ‘I will return to you, if God wills.’ Then he set sail from Ephesus. When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time there he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus."
 

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 11-12/16

When will Hezbollah leave Syria/Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/July 11/16
Lebanon reels under weight of Syrian refugee crisis/Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/July 11/16
Raymond Tanter: Tehran Is Launching Attacks on Iranian Dissidents in Iraq/NCRI/11 July/16
The National: 100,000 gather to call for urgent end to ‘religious dictatorship’ in Iran
dictatorshiprship’ in Iran/NCRI/11 July/16
French Islamism and the Future of Europe/A briefing by Guy Millièr/Middle East Forum intern Joshua Buri/July 11/16
Jabhat al-Nusra 'al-Qaeda's largest formal affiliate in history/Week in Review/Al-Monitor/July 11/16
It Is the Duty of Muslims to Speak Out/Majid Rafizadeh//Gatestone Institute/July 11/16
ISIS Comes to Gaza/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 11/16
ISIS: The war with the self and the war of the other/Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
Sectarian wars in unrestrained space/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
Darkening skies in the Middle East bring Turkey and Israel back together/Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
The Arab world has had enough/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
No landing, no pirates: Port State Measures Agreement can sink illegal fishing/José Graziano da Silva/Al Arabiya/July 11/16

Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 11-12/16

Ayrault Begins Lebanon Visit by Inspecting French Troops in Naqoura
Ayrault to Call for 'Agreement' on Presidency, Says Paris in Contact with Iran, Saudi
Berri Warns Country Can't Bear Further Paralysis, Calls Anew for 'Package Deal'
Iran Indicts Lebanese IT Expert Nizar Zakka on Unknown Charges
Fugitive Held over 2014 Murder of Fakhri Couple
Decade after War, Israel's 'Main Enemy' Hizbullah Mired in Syria
Lebanon seeks arms from Russia
Ayrault welcomes Aoun
Frangieh visits Ayrault
Hariri, Ayrault discuss presidential vacuum
Young man knifes other before stabbing himself
STL orders termination of proceedings against Mustafa Badreddine without prejudice
Rahi winds up pastoral visit to US
Kahwaji, interlocutors take up relevant affairs
When will Hezbollah leave Syria?
Lebanon reels under weight of Syrian refugee crisis

Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 11-12/16
Maryam Rajavi: Decisive Storm compelled Iran regime to drink ‘nuclear poison’
Pentagon Chief Holds Talks in Iraq, Says US to Send 560 More Troops
Theresa May to Become Britain's Next PM Wednesday
Rebels launch attack in Syria’s Aleppo: Monitoring group
Carter announces 560 more US troops to Iraq
Israel AG orders ‘examination’ into Netanyahu ‘matter’
Two Egypt policemen killed in Sinai bombing
Turkey: No steps yet to normalize ties with Egypt
Turkey jails seven more suspects in Istanbul airport attack
Emirati FM says UAE committed to fight in Yemen
UK’s Cameron to step down as PM on Wednesday
At least 10 Somali soldiers killed in al-Shabaab attack

Links From Jihad Watch Site for July 11-12/16
Muslim cleric: US responsible for terror in Muslim world
Massachusetts: Muslim migrant held in sexual assault of 13-year-old girl at pool
UK: ISIS jihad massacre plotter has sentence reduced despite determination to attack
Islamic apologist accused of inciting Dhaka massacre says he only urged Muslims to terrorize “evildoers”
Merkel admits: Jihad terrorists smuggled into Europe with refugees
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Dallas and the Leftist/Islamic Alliance
Leaked docs: Cologne sex assault scandal much bigger than police claimed
Out today: Robert Spencer’s The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran
The Love of Justice
Opportunist jihadists and “Black Lives Matter”, a growing alliance
Raymond Ibrahim: Are Catholic Molesters and Islamic Terrorists “Abusing” Their Religions?

Latest Lebanese Related News published on July 11-12/16

Ayrault Begins Lebanon Visit by Inspecting French Troops in Naqoura
Naharnet/July 11/16/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault arrived Monday in Lebanon on a two-day official visit during which he is scheduled to meet with the country's top leaders. “Upon his arrival at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport, Ayrault shook hands with the delegations that welcomed him before boarding a UNIFIL helicopter that carried him to Naqoura to inspect French peacekeepers stationed there,” Lebanon's National News Agency reported. “He will return to Beirut in the afternoon and will stay at the Pine Residence ahead of his official meetings with Lebanese officials that will begin on Tuesday,” NNA added. The minister is also scheduled to hold a joint press conference with his Lebanese counterpart Jebran Bassil on Tuesday evening, during which he will talk about the outcome of his visit to Lebanon, the agency said. Ayrault's visit comes after French officials held talks in Paris with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir. French embassy sources told al-Joumhouria newspaper that the minister is scheduled to hold talks with Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, FM Bassil and Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. Other meetings will be held at the embassy's headquarters at Beirut's Pine Residence with al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh and Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun. The minister will then meet with Kataeb Party chief MP Sami Gemayel, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad, and Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat, the sources said. He will also hold talks with Mireille Girard, the Lebanon representative of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), other UN and international officials, and a group of civil society leaders. In remarks to An Nahar newspaper on the eve of his visit to Lebanon, Ayrault said he would “urge all Lebanese parties to come together and allow the forging of an agreement involving the majority of the political forces in order to put an end to the presidential crisis.”He also stressed the need to “isolate Lebanon from the Syrian crisis.”Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, stripping them of the needed quorum. Ex-PM Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Ayrault to Call for 'Agreement' on Presidency, Says Paris in Contact with Iran, Saudi
Naharnet/July 11/16/French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault announced ahead of his arrival in Lebanon on Monday that he will “urge all Lebanese parties to come together and allow the forging of an agreement involving the majority of the political forces in order to put an end to the presidential crisis.”“It is urgent to reach a solution for the institutional crisis that is gripping Lebanon,” said Ayrault in remarks to An Nahar newspaper on the eve of his two-day official visit. “The responsibility for resolving the crisis falls on the Lebanese political parties, with support from Lebanon's regional partners,” he added.
Accordingly, the French minister noted that his country is in “permanent contact with Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” adding that French officials have continually emphasized the need to end Lebanon's crisis during their meetings with Iranian and Saudi officials. “I have conducted thorough talks with Saudi Deputy Prince Mohammed bin Salman and my Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif,” Ayrault went on to say. “All influential parties must realize that it is in their interest to end the crisis, which would put an end to the presidential vacuum and allow the Lebanese institutions to resume their duties,” France's top diplomat urged. He also stressed the need to “isolate Lebanon from the Syrian crisis.”Moreover, the French minister took a swipe at the domestic parties that are not attending the presidential electoral sessions. “The electoral process is facing obstruction because some parties are blocking the vote,” he said. On Saturday, An Nahar had quoted French diplomatic sources as saying that Saudi Arabia and Iran are not opposed to a “political settlement” in Lebanon that would put an end to the protracting presidential vacuum. Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah, MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the electoral sessions at parliament, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.

Berri Warns Country Can't Bear Further Paralysis, Calls Anew for 'Package Deal'
Naharnet/July 11/16/Speaker Nabih Berri has warned that “the country cannot withstand further procrastination, overbidding and obstruction,” reiterating his call for a so-called “package deal” among the rival political parties. “The solutions that I suggested in the proposed package deal are the appropriate solution for the entire problem that the country is suffering from,” al-Joumhouria newspaper quoted Berri as telling his visitors in remarks published Monday. Hoping the upcoming national dialogue sessions in August would bring “solutions,” the speaker urged the parties to “make use of time” and try to reach agreements “with all due responsibility.”“The parliament's term will not be extended under any circumstances,” Berri stressed. The speaker's proposed package deal involves holding parliamentary elections under a new electoral law before electing a new president and forming a new government. Should the parties fail to agree on a new law, the parliament's current extended term would be curtailed and the elections would be held under the 1960 law which is currently in effect, Berri says. Berri has several times repeated his rejection of the 1960 law, urging an electoral system based on proportional representation.

Iran Indicts Lebanese IT Expert Nizar Zakka on Unknown Charges
Associated Press/Naharnet/July 11/16/Nizar Zakka, a US permanent resident from Lebanon who has done work for the US government, was on Monday indicted on unknown charges in Iran along with three dual nationals. The four were held by Iran's authorities amid a series of detentions that followed last year's nuclear deal with world powers. They all are believed to have been detained by hard-liners in Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. The reasons for their arrests remain unclear, though the husband of one of them says his family was told by the Guard she'd be released if the British government agreed to their demands. Iran's semi-official ISNA and Tasnim news agencies quoted Tehran's prosecutor, Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi, naming the three dual nationals indicted along with the IT expert Zakka as:
- Homa Hoodfar , an Iranian-Canadian woman who is a retired professor at Montreal's Concordia University;
- Siamak Namazi , an Iranian-American businessman who has advocated for closer ties between the two countries and whose father is also held in Tehran;
- Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe , an Iranian-British woman who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of the news agency.
The four were arrested in connection with separate cases over the past year. Family members and representatives of the four say they did nothing wrong.
Dowlatabadi's statement did not elaborate on the charges. He said another seven people faced charges related to the unrest that surrounded the country's disputed 2009 presidential election. Marwan Abdullah, a nephew of Zakka, told An Nahar newspaper in June that the latter's health had deteriorated in prison, quoting the detainee's wife who visits him once a week. He also denied an announcement by Lebanon's foreign ministry about a visit by the Lebanese consul in Tehran to Zakka in his prison, lamenting what he called “major negligence” from the Lebanese authorities. On May 23, Iranian official Hossein Jaberi Ansari announced that Tehran "will try to speed up" the case of Zakka, in the first Iranian acknowledgment of the man's detention. Zakka had disappeared in Tehran in September after attending a government-sponsored conference. Although no charges have been announced, Iranian media has accused him of being an American spy, allegations vigorously rejected by his family and associates. The Associated Press reported in May that the Washington-based nonprofit organization headed by Zakka, IJMA3, had received grants totaling $730,000 from the U.S. government for Middle East projects. It is not clear from records obtained by the AP if any IJMA3 work involved Iran. Zakka's family and his supporters are pressing the U.S. government to become more active in trying to obtain his release, arguing that his arrest was due to his ties to the United States. Supporters have written Secretary of State John Kerry stating Zakka traveled to Iran "with the knowledge and approval of the U.S. State Department, and his trip was funded by grants" from it. It's still unclear what prompted Iranian authorities to detain Zakka. His supporters say his September trip marked the fifth time he had traveled to Iran.Relations between Iran and the U.S. remain tense even after the recent nuclear deal and a prisoner swap in January that freed Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian and three other Iranian-Americans.

Fugitive Held over 2014 Murder of Fakhri Couple
Naharnet/July 11/16/The army has arrested a fugitive who was wanted on charges of involvement in the 2014 murder of Sobhi and Nadimeh Fakhri in the Bekaa town of Btedei, state-run National News Agency reported on Monday. “The detainee is wounded and receiving treatment in hospital,” NNA added. The crime had been referred to the Judicial Council in March 2015, two weeks after a judge indicted eight members of the Jaafar clan over their involvement in the case. The couple were killed by fugitives from the Jaafar clan who were fleeing army troops. The gunmen reportedly entered the family's house with the intent of taking their vehicle but the tenants showed resistance, which prompted the armed men to shoot the couple and their son, who survived the attack.The Jaafar clan had however issued a statement saying that the man and his wife were killed in the exchange of gunfire with the army. One of the suspects was killed in a clash with the army in February 2015.

Decade after War, Israel's 'Main Enemy' Hizbullah Mired in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 11/16/Israel and Lebanon this week mark a decade since the devastating 2006 war, but Hizbullah's involvement in Syria has made another conflict less likely for now. The war that started after Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12, 2006 is viewed negatively in Israel, with analysts saying there was a lack of a clear strategy. Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who was head of operations at the time, posted an open letter on Sunday paying tribute to the troops involved, and also saying lessons had been learned. "The threat from Lebanon still exists and contains many challenges, and necessitates the (Israeli military) to be prepared for any scenario," Eisenkot wrote. Earlier this year, he described Iran-backed Hizbullah as Israel's "main enemy," and deputy chief of staff Yair Golan said in April that the group's improved capabilities were worrying. Golan also warned that in any future crisis "it's going to be full-scale war." He said that because of the presence of Hizbullah fighters in civilian areas, "there is no other way to take out this threat without really creating large damage to the Lebanese infrastructure, to Lebanese houses and other civilian facilities."Israel's military believes Hizbullah has between 100,000 and 120,000 short- and medium-range missiles and rockets, as well as several hundred long-range missiles, with the medium-range missiles capable of reaching Tel Aviv.
Objectives not met
But now the group's focus is on the war in Syria where it is fighting in support of President Bashar Assad. It has sent thousands of fighters to help regime forces battle rebels and jihadists. "For now, Hizbullah's attention is on Syria," said Phillip Smyth, an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "It's hard for them to open another front against a markedly superior foe like the Israelis, especially as they have to deal with fighting a multitude of foes across Syria." Amid the chaos in Syria, Israel has also acknowledged attacking dozens of convoys there that were transporting weapons destined for Hizbullah. Israel occupied parts of Lebanon for 22 years until 2000, with Hizbullah claiming credit for its withdrawal following persistent guerrilla attacks, and the two countries are still technically at war. The 34-day conflict in 2006 led to the deaths of 1,200 people in Lebanon, mainly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. It began when Israel retaliated over a cross-border raid in which Hizbullah captured two Israeli soldiers and killed three, and quickly spiraled into a fully fledged war. Hizbullah fired thousands of rockets into northern Israel, which carried out devastating strikes across Lebanon. Many people in Israel considered the massive ground and air war on Lebanon to be a failure because it did not halt Hizbullah rocket fire or recover the two captured soldiers.
'Serious missed opportunity'
Their bodies were returned two years later in exchange for the release of five Lebanese prisoners. Then prime minister Ehud Olmert and military leaders at the time faced heavy criticism. A key government report on the war called it a "serious missed opportunity" for Israel, saying there was a lack of planning and no clear exit strategy. The so-called Winograd report highlighted the controversial ground offensive launched in the final days of the war, while the United Nations was brokering a ceasefire agreement, saying it did not achieve its objectives. "I think it's still viewed as a blemish on the IDF for not being prepared for it," said Efraim Inbar, director of Israel's Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, referring to the Israeli military. "A lot of confusion at the highest echelons in the military. And also the political strategic leadership failed," he told AFP.But as the years have passed, some in Israel have adopted a more forgiving view, noting the relative quiet along the Lebanese border even before the Syrian war began in 2011 and drew in Hizbullah, said Jonathan Spyer, director of Israel's Rubin Center for international affairs research. There are concerns, however, over whether Hizbullah could benefit from its fighting experience in Syria, becoming more battle-hardened and knowledgeable after having fought on the same side as Russia, which also backs Assad. Spyer said the likelihood of another conflict with Hizbullah was low until the Syrian war ends. But he also noted that "Hizbullah remains committed to the destruction of Israel" and that the group is "much stronger now than it was back in 2006."

Lebanon seeks arms from Russia
Now Lebanon/July 11/16/BEIRUT – Lebanon is seeking to acquire arms from Russia in order to bolster its armed forces currently deployed along the flashpoint northeast border to defend against Islamist militants. “Lebanon needs arms to fight terrorism… in particular the Russian Kornet anti-tank guided missile,” Lebabnon’s ambassador to Moscow said in an interview Monday with Russia’s state RIA Novosti news. Shawki Bou Nassar added that his country hopes to obtain a number of weapon systems within a year, including not only the missiles but artillery as well as Russia’s T-72 battle tank. He explained that Beirut is still locked in negotiations with Moscow to acquire the Kornet missile, while also stressing the importance of the Russian guided missile. “The main issue being discussed now is how to reach a final deal on the price of these weapons and military equipment,” the envoy said, adding that Moscow “promised to study Lebanon’s request to reduce the prices.”A number of foreign powers, including the US and UK, already provide military aid to Lebanon’s Armed Forces, which in the past two years has reinforces its defensive lines in the eastern Beqaa along the Anti-Lebanon Mountain range, from where Syrian militants have launched probing raids into Lebanon. Washington touts that it has provided $1.3 billion in aid to Lebanon’s security services since 2004, including Huey II helicopters, Cessna aircraft, small arms and artillery. Jordan has also stepped into the mix, with King Abdullah II promising to aid Lebanon’s army and security forces in its defense against Islamist militants as his country escalates its campaign against ISIS. Saudi Arabia, for its part, in 2014 promised to provide $4 billion in military aid to Lebanon to be purchased from France, but withdrew the grant in 2016 in anger over Beirut’s diplomatic positions at two regional conferences.

Ayrault welcomes Aoun
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault welcomed at the Pine Palace on Monday Head of Change and Reform, MP Michel Aoun, with whom he discussed most recent developments.

Frangieh visits Ayrault
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, met on Monday at the Pine Palace with Marada Movement leader, MP Sleiman Fragiej, in presence of Minister of Culture, Raymond Araiji. French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuel Bonne, attended the talks.

Hariri, Ayrault discuss presidential vacuum
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - Former Prime Minister, Saad Hariri, visited on Monday the Pine Palace to meet with French Foreign Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, in presence of French Ambassador to Lebanon, Emmanuel Bonne. Talks reportedly touched on the current efforts aiming to end the presidential vacuum, in addition to the international contacts held by France. After the meeting, Hariri left Lebanon on a business trip.

Young man knifes other before stabbing himself
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - A. Soueid from Debbine town knifed today young man A. Ghosn, and then stabbed himself, National News Agency correspondent reported on Monday. Both were transferred to Marjeioun Hospital.

STL orders termination of proceedings against Mustafa Badreddine without prejudice
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - The Appeals Chamber of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon issued a decision today in which it reverses the Trial Chamber’s interim decision that "it did not believe sufficient evidence has yet been presented to convince it that the death of Mr Mustafa Amine Badreddine has been proven to the requisite standard."By majority, the Appeals Judges found that there was sufficient evidence presented before the Trial Chamber to prove the death of Mr Badreddine. The Appeals Chamber ordered the Trial Chamber to terminate the proceedings against Mustafa Badreddine, without prejudice to resume the proceedings should evidence that he is alive be adduced in the future. The trial in the Prosecutor vs Ayyash et al. case can then proceed against the remaining four accused.

Rahi winds up pastoral visit to US
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi returned to Beirut on Monday evening, winding up a pastoral visit to the United States during which he toured some American States, and met with the Lebanese community members there.
Patriarch Rahi briefed Lebanese expatriates on the current situation in Lebanon. Rahi gave no statement upon arrival at Beirut airport, whereby he headed immediately to Bkirki.

Kahwaji, interlocutors take up relevant affairs
Mon 11 Jul 2016/NNA - Army Commander General Jean Kahwaji met on Monday at his Yarzeh office with a delegation of the municipal council and mayors of the town of Arsal, who "expressed their appreciation for the army's efforts in preserving Arsal's security and its neighborhood."General Kahwaji then met with a delegation of the International Baalbeck Festival, led by Nayla De Freij, who thanked the General for the army's efforts in preserving the security of the Festival's artistic activities at the town's castle. Kahwaji also met with the Government's Assistant Commissioner at the Military Tribunal Judge Sami Sader, with talks reportedly dwelling on judicial affairs related to the Tribunal.
 

When will Hezbollah leave Syria?
Hussain Abdul-Hussain/Now Lebanon/July 11/16
No actor can fight a war indefinitely. By continuing their intervention in Syria, the Party of God is only harming themselves and the Lebanese as a whole
Wars have goals, but for its involvement in Syria, Hezbollah has repeatedly redefined its mission and moved the goal posts. After all has been said and done, Syria today looks like a stalemate that can be only resolved in tandem with global changes. Yet Hezbollah keeps on fighting.
This is not to bash Hezbollah or belittle its prowess. Hezbollah has showed discipline, stamina and power that puts it way ahead of most fighting forces across the region.
But even superpowers, like America, cannot fight open-ended wars. In 2006, America turned against former President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq. When Bush said that Washington was going to “stay the course,” he further inflamed Americans from both parties. So great had the heat against Bush become that he was forced to seek counsel from elder statesmen, after which he gave the military whatever it needed to stump the Iraqi insurgency and give America an honorable exit.
Beirut is not Washington and Hezbollah’s partisans are not free-thinking citizens. The supporters of Hezbollah, mostly Shiite, will support the party’s leadership whatever the consequences, in line with the long-honored tribal protocol.
Yet Hezbollah seems to be abusing this loyalty, with Lebanon’s Shiites either too weak to say no to their men dying in Syria, or too scared, or both.
The Hezbollah leadership has always used sectarianism to contain the anger of its base. After the 2006 war with Israel, which took a heavy toll on many of its loyalists, Hezbollah instigated its followers against their Sunni and Druze rivals. By vilifying former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and his cabinet, and by accusing Druze lawmaker Marwan Hamadeh of playing marksman for the Israeli air force, Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah deflected the brewing Shiite anger against his party toward helpless Lebanese politicians like Siniora and Hamadeh.
Nasrallah has been using the same 2006 playbook to deflect Shiite anger against his party’s open-ended involvement in the Syrian war. Since 2011, Nasrallah has had to redefine his militia’s mission repeatedly, from merely the defense of Lebanese Shiites living on the border with Syria, to defending Shiite shrines in Damascus, to preemptively fighting Sunni radicalism inside Syria before it finds its way to Lebanon.
Every now and then, Nasrallah would vilify someone. One night he would attack the House of Saud, the sovereign family of Saudi Arabia. Another night he would go after America or Israel or Lebanon’s Sunnis.
Despite all his rhetorical acrobatics, Nasrallah has failed to mitigate the disaster that has befallen Lebanon’s Shiites: Hundreds of their men are dying in the Syrian quagmire. Hezbollah’s senior military leadership has been depleted in such a way that makes Nasrallah one of the few men still alive of those who founded the militia together in the 1980s.
“Sunni radicalism” as incarnated by the Islamic State (ISIS) or Al-Nusra Front is a worldwide problem that Hezbollah cannot possibly tackle. Dozens of the world’s best armies are pounding ISIS day and night. Dozens of intelligence services are hunting down ISIS’s leaders. And despite all the blood, the most optimistic assessments suggest that — once it loses control over its territories — ISIS will turn from a state into an insurgency, which means that its terrorist suicide bombings will increase, a surge whose early signs have already been seen in the series of ISIS bombings in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.There is no clear military goal for Hezbollah in Syria, other than fighting a war of attrition to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in power. And even for Assad, it has become known that the world will not let him collapse, but will also not let him rebound or regain control of the rest of the country. The world is simply supervising the Syrian stalemate until further notice.
And in the absence of a clear goal in Syria, Hezbollah better withdraw immediately and let the Shiites lick their wounds and bury their dead. The Syrian quagmire will haunt the Shiites of Lebanon for generations to come.
Hezbollah might be a heavyweight in a small country like Lebanon. But on a bigger scale in countries like Syria, the party’s weight is diluted and its power — though potent — can achieve little.
Perhaps this is why, during its golden years in the 1950s and 1960s, Lebanon simply sat out the regional wars between the Arabs and Israel. Say what you want about Lebanon’s Christian leadership at the time, but it was much smarter than its current descendants. In the past, the Christians realized that when the big parties fight, small kids on the block better stay out. Today, neither Christian leaders, nor their Shiite allies, seem to understand that lesson.

Lebanon reels under weight of Syrian refugee crisis
Jean Aziz/Al-Monitor/July 11/16
On June 27, a series of suicide bombings rocked the eastern border town of al-Qaa in the Bekaa Valley. For the Lebanese people, this was the straw that broke the camel’s back, as the attacks reopened the debate over the issue of displaced Syrians in Lebanese territory.Many Lebanese suspected that the suicide bombers came from the Syrian refugee camps known as Masharih al-Qaa (Qaa Projects) neighboring al-Qaa town and that these camps harbor terrorist groups. Several security and official sources confirmed these suspicions.
This stirred a wave of panic. Various stances were taken on social media by Lebanese citizens, who expressed racist feelings against the Syrian refugees, including calls to expel from Lebanon all displaced people.
Two days after the al-Qaa attacks, Lebanese authorities rushed to impose special measures on the displaced. A night curfew was imposed on Syrian refugees, and the Lebanese army announced the arrest of more than 412 Syrians on various charges.
The Cabinet held an extraordinary session June 28, but no conclusive results were reached. However, the issue of displaced Syrians was brought back to the government's table several times, based on the need for a radical solution and a comprehensive approach.
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and Labor Minister Sajaan Azzi began raising the issues of Syrian refugees well before the June 27 blasts. Since the outbreak of the Syrian war in 2011 and 2012, Bassil has spared no occasion to raise the issue of the risks of the Syrian exodus to Lebanon. Indeed, less than 24 hours before the attacks, Bassil had called for strict measures against all displaced Syrians. The suicide bombers lived in refugee camps in al-Qaa and were Syrians, according to Lebanese authorities.
On June 26, Bassil spoke at a general conference of the elected members of municipalities affiliated with the party he heads, the Free Patriotic Movement. He called on the municipalities to prevent Syrians in their areas from violating labor and housing laws. He also called for periodic inspections of any Syrian gatherings.
After the al-Qaa attack and the Cabinet session, Bassil told Al-Monitor that he wished the bloody events had not confirmed his warnings of recent years.
He added, “But what happened is a strong motivation for us to continue to raise our voices, both locally and internationally, in order to spare Lebanon an explosion ensuing from the Syrian displacement crisis. The risks now affect all walks of life — our security, economy and environment — and even threaten the existence of Lebanon as a whole.”
When asked about a possible solution, Bassil said, “We will continue to call on the international community to work toward the safe return of these people to their country. We will continue to call on the Lebanese government to take all measures to prevent the entry of, and deport, any person who does not meet [humanitarian] displacement conditions.”
Azzi had also spoken about this threat at the Cabinet. Along with Bassil, he had called on the Lebanese government to coordinate with Syrian authorities in order to ensure the return of Syrians who do not meet the conditions of humanitarian displacement.
But the Sunni majority in the government disapproves, under the excuse of refusing coordination with the Syrian regime.
Azzi told Al-Monitor, “We are not taking a stance on Syrian events. We just want to prevent the spillover of these events to our country. Therefore, we must coordinate with Damascus to protect our country. This is not about granting one party or the other legitimacy.”
He added, “Syria is a member of the United Nations organization. The representative of the UN secretary-general is moving back and forth between Beirut and Damascus. Moreover, Syria has an official ambassador in Beirut. So how can we, despite all of this, refuse coordination with Damascus authorities, even through an intermediary, in order to ensure the return of Syrians to their country and thus protect Lebanon?”
Is the ultimate goal behind raising this issue to generalize the terrorism stereotype on all displaced Syrians? Azzi believes this is an opportunity to raise the issue again, in light of the international tendency to do the same. He does not oppose Bassil’s opinion.
Azzi told Al-Monitor that this has nothing to do with what happened in al-Qaa, as he brought up the matter weeks ago. “I raised this issue specifically after my return from a business trip to Geneva in early June. There I saw very serious indicators for Lebanon. Therefore, I met with senior international officials involved in the crisis of Syrian displacement to Lebanon. I found out that none of them were thinking about how to get the displaced people to return to their country. Discussions rather revolved around ways to accommodate the displaced people in Lebanon, to provide them with housing, education and jobs. This is considered an international approach to have the displaced Syrians settle in Lebanon. It is true that the international community cannot nationalize these refugees, but it is trying to keep them in Lebanon.”
When asked about the identities of those officials, Azzi answered, “I met with Michael Muller, one of [UN Secretary-General] Ban Ki-moon’s assistants and an executive director at the UN. I also met the director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, as well as Guy Ryder, director of the International Labor Organization. I reached my conclusion after my discussions with these officials and with many others. This is what pushed me to warn them that if the Syrian refugees remain in Lebanon, the country is bound to face a demographic, economic and environmental disaster, not to mention the security and terrorism threats.”
He said that “1,170,000 people in Lebanon are living under the poverty line; 460,000 people are outside the labor market, with an unemployment rate of 25%. Lebanon’s population density stands at 560 people per square kilometers. All of this indicates that the attempt to settle the Syrians in Lebanon would inevitably lead to an explosion in the country.”
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on July 10-11/16
Maryam Rajavi: Decisive Storm compelled Iran regime to drink ‘nuclear poison’
NCRI)/Monday, 11 July 2016/Operation Decisive Storm, aimed at preventing the Iranian regime’s expansion into Yemen, forced Tehran's leaders “to drink the nuclear poison,” said Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Iranian opposition, Arab News reported on Monday. Speaking on the second day of the annual meeting of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Le Bourget, near Paris, she said forcing the mullahs to capitulate to the UN Security Council resolutions is the only way to prevent them from obtaining the nuclear bomb. She called for a democratic non-nuclear Iran, the report said. Mrs. Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said the Decisive Storm and the regional coalition against the aggression of Tehran’s religious fascism in Yemen, the impact of the crippling sanctions as well as successive US Congress’ warnings “finally compelled the clerical regime to reluctantly take one more step back after 16 months of talks.”She explained that this retreat was out of fear and pressure and in clear contradiction to the guidelines given by their supreme leader Ali Khamenei two weeks earlier.Mrs. Rajavi warned that “leniency and unwarranted concessions by the P5+1 to the least trustworthy regime in the world today only grants it more time and further aggravate the dangers it poses to the Iranian people, to the region and to the wider world.”

Pentagon Chief Holds Talks in Iraq, Says US to Send 560 More Troops
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 11/16/Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Monday that Washington will deploy 560 additional troops to aid Iraq's fight to retake Mosul from jihadists, deepening US military involvement in the country. The announcement, which will bring the total authorized number of American military personnel in Iraq to more than 4,600, came two days after Baghdad said it had recaptured a base south of Mosul that is seen as an important step toward the eventual battle for the city. Iraq's second city Mosul has been under Islamic State group control since June 2014, when the jihadists overran large parts of Iraq, carrying out atrocities including execution-style killings, mass kidnappings and rape. IS also holds territory in neighboring Syria, but has lost significant ground in both countries, and Carter wanted to highlight successes, even as the jihadists have struck back with devastating attacks in Iraq and abroad. "I am pleased to report today that... we agreed for the United States to bolster Iraqi efforts to isolate and pressure Mosul by deploying 560 additional troops," Carter said at the Baghdad airport following meetings with the Iraqi premier and defense minister. "With these additional US forces we are describing today, we will bring unique capabilities to the campaign... at a key moment," Carter said.
Springboard' to Mosul
President Barack Obama made ending the US' nearly nine-year war in Iraq a centerpiece of his presidency, but Washington has been drawn ever deeper back into the country by the war against IS. And while most of the US forces in Iraq are in non-combat roles, others have directly battled IS, and three American military personnel have been killed by the jihadists. "The additional troops will provide a range of support for Iraqi security forces, including infrastructure and logistical capabilities at the airfield near Qayyarah," the Pentagon said in a statement. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced Saturday that Iraqi forces had recaptured the Qayyarah airbase, some 60 kilometers (35 miles) south of Mosul, which IS seized in June 2014. The base "will become a vital springboard for the (Iraqi forces') offensive into Mosul", the Pentagon said. Lieutenant General Sean MacFarland, the commander of the US-led operations against IS, said that the "preponderance" of the 560 additional troops will be based at Qayyarah, and would start being deployed "relatively soon." Earlier in the day, Carter held meetings with Abadi as well as Defense Minister Khalid al-Obeidi, offering his condolences for recent IS attacks and congratulations on Iraqi advances. IS has carried out bloody attacks against civilians as it loses ground, including a bombing in Baghdad earlier this month that killed 292 people, one of the deadliest to ever hit the country, and an attack on a Shiite shrine a few days later in which 40 died.
Pushing IS back
Ahead of his meetings, Carter told journalists flying with him to Iraq that he would discuss the next moves in the war against the jihadists. "What I'll be discussing with Prime Minister Abadi and our commanders there are the next plays in the campaign, which involve the collapse and control over Mosul," he said. The ultimate goal was "the recapture of all of Iraqi territory by the Iraqi security forces, but of course Mosul is the biggest part of that", Carter said. US defense officials say the campaign's first "10 plays" have been successfully completed in the US-led counter-IS campaign in Iraq and Syria.
These steps include the recapture of several important areas across the two countries, including Ramadi in Iraq and al-Shadadi, a town in northeastern Syria previously considered a strategic IS stronghold. Carter and Obama have been criticized for the pace of the campaign, which began in autumn 2014 and got off to a slow start, particularly in war-torn Syria, where the United States had few assets on the ground to provide targeting information. The Pentagon has announced a series of measures to speed up the war, including a revised mission to train anti-IS rebels in northern Syria and extra advisers for Iraqi forces. Coupled with coalition air support, the results have seen the IS group losing roughly half its territory in Iraq and about 20 percent of its Syria claim, the Pentagon said.

Theresa May to Become Britain's Next PM Wednesday
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/July 11/16
Theresa May will on Wednesday become the prime minister who leads Britain's into Brexit talks after her only rival in the race to succeed David Cameron pulled out unexpectedly. May was left as the only contender standing after the withdrawal from the leadership race of Andrea Leadsom, who faced criticism for suggesting she was more qualified to be premier because she had children. Cameron later announced she would take over from him on Wednesday, when he is expected to go and see Queen Elizabeth II to tender his resignation and recommend Home Secretary May as his successor.
"On Wednesday, I will attend the House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions and then after that I expect to go to the palace and offer my resignation so we'll have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening," he said in a statement delivered outside 10 Downing Street. Britain has faced the worst political turmoil in generations following June 23's shock vote to leave the European Union, which prompted Cameron to step down. His Conservatives have endured a bitter leadership race while the leader of the main opposition Labor party, Jeremy Corbyn, is also facing a challenge to his job. While May supported Britain staying in the EU, she cut a low profile during the referendum and has insisted she will honor the vote, stressing: "Brexit means Brexit". "There will be no attempts to remain inside the EU, there will be no attempts to rejoin it by the back door, no second referendum," she said at a campaign event before Leadsom pulled out. May wants to begin formal talks to leave the EU by the end of the year at the earliest despite pressure from Brussels to speed up. Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister who heads the Eurogroup of his 19 eurozone counterparts, restated calls for the transfer of power to take place as soon as possible. "The sooner we can sort out -- let me say it diplomatically -- this problematic situation, the better," Dijsselbloem told reporters.
General election call
The pound, which hit a 31-year low in the wake of the Brexit vote, briefly rose after Leadsom, a pro-Brexit figure with no senior ministerial experience, withdrew from contention to be prime minister. As senior MP Angela Eagle formally launched her leadership challenge against Corbyn, Labor suggested a general election would need to be held soon after May takes office. "It is crucial, given the instability caused by the Brexit vote, that the country has a democratically elected prime minister," said election coordinator Jon Trickett. "I am now putting the whole of the party on a general election footing." May, a 59-year-old clergyman's daughter will be Britain's second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher, who was in office from 1979-1990. She has portrayed herself as the leader who can unite the country following a bitterly divisive campaign, and a tough negotiator who can stand up to Brussels in what promise to be tortuous talks over Britain's exit from the European Union. Leadsom's withdrawal means all the top Brexit campaigners -- Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, Leadsom and outgoing UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage -- have now stepped back from leadership roles.
"Brexiteers threw rocks through the window, now they're all running away from the house," author Salman Rushdie said on Twitter.
'Howl of pain'
On the latest in a string of recent astonishing days at Westminster, Eagle also launched her bid to take over the leadership of the main opposition Labor Party from veteran socialist Corbyn. Corbyn has widespread support among party members but has lost the confidence of at least three-quarters of his MPs, many of who accuse him of lackluster campaigning to stay in the EU. Eagle, who is from Labor's "soft" left and was the first female MP to enter a civil partnership with her female partner in 2008, said Britain faced "dangerous times." Of the referendum, she added: "This vote was a message for millions in our country who felt that no-one had listened to them for a very long time". "For many of them, it was a howl of pain." By contrast with the Conservative outcome, there is still major uncertainty about how the Labour leadership contest will work. Central to the race will be a decision by Labor's governing National Executive Committee (NEC) about whether Corbyn automatically gets on to the ballot or needs to secure 51 lawmakers' nominations, which he could struggle to do. The NEC is due to meet on Tuesday.

Rebels launch attack in Syria’s Aleppo: Monitoring group
Reuters, Beirut Monday, 11 July 2016/Rebels launched an attack inside Aleppo early on Monday, shelling Syrian government-held areas and clashing with government-allied forces in the center of the divided northwestern city, a monitoring group reported. Syrian warplanes bombarded rebel-held areas in the city and north of it, days after the government side effectively cut off a road leading to the insurgent-controlled neighborhoods and moved closer to completely encircling them. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said rebels fired more than 300 shells at western, government-held neighborhoods in response to government advances towards the Castello Road. Aleppo, Syria’s largest city before the war, has become one of the main battle grounds of the civil war, now in its sixth year. The Damascus government controls the war-torn country’s major population centres in the west, with the exceptions of Idlib and rebel-held areas of Aleppo. Kurdish forces control vast areas along the nearby Turkish border, and ISIS holds Raqqa and Deir al-Zor provinces in the east. Syrian state media said eight people had been killed in Aleppo and dozens more wounded, and buildings were brought down in the bombardments.
A witness said there were fierce clashes at close range in Aleppo’s historic Old City, close to its citadel. The al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front said in a statement it had launched an attack in that area, and that it had made advances towards a market in a government-held area. President Bashar al-Assad’s allies, which include Russia, say they are battling the Nusra Front in Aleppo. Groups fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) say however that they control the rebel-held part of the city. A legal adviser to the FSA, Osama Abu Zeid, acknowledged there was an “operation inside the city of Aleppo” but would not immediately comment on it on behalf of those groups. He distanced them from Nusra Front’s statements or actions. Aleppo has been a focus of intensified fighting since a fragile truce eroded and peace efforts broke down earlier this year. The Syrian army has announced two 72-hour nationwide ceasefires in recent days, the second of which is still in effect, but fighting has continued largely unabated.

Carter announces 560 more US troops to Iraq
The Associated Press, Baghdad Monday, 11 July 2016/The United States will send 560 more troops to Iraq to help establish a newly retaken air base as a staging hub for the long-awaited battle to recapture Mosul from ISIS militants, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said Monday on an unannounced visit to the country. Most of the new troops will be devoted to the build-up of the Qayara air base, about 40 miles south of Mosul, and include engineers, logistics personnel and other forces, Carter said in Baghdad. They will help Iraqi security forces planning to encircle and eventually retake the key city.
"These additional US forces will bring unique capabilities to the campaign and provide critical enabler support to Iraqi forces at a key moment in the fight," Carter said, according to prepared remarks. He revealed President Barack Obama's decision during a talk to troops at the airport in Baghdad. The increase brings the total US force authorization in Iraq to 4,647, and comes just three months after Obama's last announcement of additional troops. Carter told reporters earlier that US advisers are prepared to accompany Iraqi battalions if needed, as those units begin the siege of the key northern city. It's not clear when exactly that will happen. US officials said a team of American troops went into Qayara for a quick site assessment Sunday and left. One potential job is helping Iraqi troops use highly technical bridging capabilities to get across the river into Mosul. Carter called this weekend's recapture of Qayara a key strategic victory. Speaking to reporters before he arrived in Baghdad, he said the air base will be one a hub from which "Iraqi Security Forces, accompanied and advised by us as needed, will complete the southern-most envelopment of Mosul. That's its strategic role, and that's its strategic importance."He likened the air base to how forces used the eastern city of Makhmour. There, US troops set up a fire base for artillery to support advancing Iraqi units. Marine Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin was killed at the fire base in March in an ISIS rocket attack. Iraqi forces retook the air base from the ISIS group on Saturday. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi hailed the success as a key step toward Mosul, Iraq's second largest city. Residents there should "get ready for the liberation of their areas," al-Abadi said. US officials said American advisers are already working at brigade level with Iraqi special operations forces, but they have not yet accompanied them on operations. They weren't authorized to discuss the matter publicly and demanded anonymity. Obama in April allowed US troops to assist Iraqi forces at brigade and battalion levels, where they could be at greater risk closer to the battle. They would still be behind front lines. They previously had been limited to advising at headquarters and division levels, further from the battle. Carter is expected to meet al-Abadi and minister of defense Khalid al-Obeidi, and Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the top US military commander for the ISIS fight. The main topic, he said, will be the next steps in the military campaign, with a particular focus on Mosul. ISIS captured Mosul in the summer of 2014. It has used the city as a main headquarters since. Carter's daylong visit to Iraq comes on the heels of the two-day NATO summit where allies agreed to expand their military support for the war. In addition to Qayara, Iraqi government troops recently have retaken Ramadi, Fallujah and a number of towns along the route to Mosul. But ISIS militants still control large swaths of the country and continue to launch deadly attacks, including a massive suicide bombing last week at Baghdad's bustling commercial area of Karada. As many as 186 were killed.

Israel AG orders ‘examination’ into Netanyahu ‘matter’
AFP, Jerusalem Monday, 11 July 2016/Israel’s Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit said on Sunday he had ordered an “examination” into an unspecified affair involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, after weeks of media speculation and rumors. “After receiving information on matters pertaining, among others, to the prime minister,” Mandelblit met police and justice officials, after which he decided “to order an examination into the matter,” a justice ministry statement read. “We stress that this is an examination and not a criminal investigation into the prime minister,” it read. The ministry provided no further details, but media said the suspicions involved a money transfer. A spokesman for Netanyahu said that “as in all of the previous cases” of suspicions against the premier, “this will contain nothing too - because there’s nothing there”. Netanyahu last month acknowledged receiving money from French tycoon Arnaud Mimran, who was on Thursday sentenced to eight years in prison over a scam amounting to 283 million euros involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them.The allegations against Netanyahu are the latest focused on his spending. In May, the Israeli state comptroller issued a critical report about Netanyahu’s foreign trips, some with his wife and children, between 2003 and 2005 when he was finance minister.

Two Egypt policemen killed in Sinai bombing
AFP, Cairo Monday, 11 July 2016/A roadside bombing in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula killed two policemen on Monday, the interior ministry said. The ISIS group's self-styled Amaq news agency said a bomb planted by militants targeted a police mine clearing vehicle, but it was not clear whether it was referring to the same incident. The interior ministry said a police lieutenant and a sergeant were killed when a roadside bomb tore through a convoy, also wounding two officers and a conscript. Militants in the peninsula bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip have killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen in attacks since the army toppled Islamist president Mohamed Mursi in 2013.

Turkey: No steps yet to normalize ties with Egypt
Agencies, Ankara Monday, 11 July 2016/Turkey has not taken any steps yet on normalizing relations with Egypt but would like to restore ties, Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday, after Ankara recently patched up relations with both Russia and Israel. Kurtulmus, the government’s main spokesman, made the statement at a regular news conference in Ankara. Turkey last month announced the restoration of diplomatic ties with Israel after a six-year rupture and expressed regret to Russia over the downing of a warplane, seeking to mend its strained alliances. Ties between Turkey and Egypt ruptured in 2013 after the military ousted elected Islamist president Mohamad Mursi, a close ally of Erdogan’s AKP government. Erdogan said Tuesday that a thaw with Egypt’s “oppressive regime” should not be expected any time soon. “The context with Egypt is different from the approaches undertaken with Russia and Israel,” the Turkish strongman told journalists in comments cited by Dogan news agency. He stressed that Turkey's dispute was with Egypt’s government, not its people, and repeated his condemnation of the crackdown on Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood.
“Sentences handed down to Mursi and his friends have been based on fabrications,” he said. “These people are our brothers we cannot accept these decisions by an oppressive regime.”Erdogan has previously condemned the “coup” against Mursi, and in a show of solidarity at rallies he often uses a four-finger hand gesture known as “Rabia” - seen as a symbol of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Turkey jails seven more suspects in Istanbul airport attack
Reuters, Isanbul Monday, 11 July 2016/A Turkish court has jailed seven suspects pending trial on terrorism charges over last month’s triple suicide bombing at Istanbul’s main airport, bringing the number in custody to 37, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. The attack at Ataturk Airport killed 45 people and wounded hundreds, the deadliest in a series of bombings this year in Turkey. The seven suspects were detained on charges of “membership of an armed terrorist group” and being accomplices to murder, Anadolu said. The private Dogan news agency said all seven were foreign nationals. One government official has said the attackers were Russian, Uzbek and Kyrgyz nationals, and President Tayyip Erdogan has said ISIS militants from the former Soviet Union were behind the attack. Media reports have said at least 11 of those detained were Russian. The Istanbul bombing was followed by major attacks in Bangladesh, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, all apparently timed for the run-up to Eid al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of the Ramadan holy fasting month. In the June 28 airport attack, three bombers opened fire to create panic outside the airport before two of them got inside and blew themselves up. The third militant detonated his explosives outside at the entrance to the international arrivals terminal. Moscow says thousands of Russian citizens and citizens of other former Soviet states have joined ISIS, travelling through Turkey to reach Syria. Russia fought two wars against Chechen separatists in the North Caucasus in the 1990s, and more recently has fought extremist insurgents in Dagestan. Last week a Turkish newspaper said authorities were seeking two suspected ISIS militants thought to be linked to the attack and believed to be in hiding near the border with Syria.

Emirati FM says UAE committed to fight in Yemen
The Associated Press, Cyprus Monday, 11 July 2016/The foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates says his country is committed to continue its support of Yemen's internationally recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Monday that the UAE is also "very much committed" to pursuing al-Qaeda in Yemen where the group has taken root because of the lack of government control. The UAE's military presence in Yemen is part of a Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthi rebels and allied troops loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

UK’s Cameron to step down as PM on Wednesday
By Reuters London Monday, 11 July 2016/Britain’s David Cameron said he would resign as prime minister on Wednesday, paving the way for interior minister Theresa May to take over the job the same day. Cameron said he expected to chair his last cabinet meeting on Tuesday and then take questions in parliament for around 30 minutes from 1100 GMT on Wednesday. “After that I expect to go to (Buckingham Palace) and offer my resignation,” he told reporters outside his office in Downing Street. “So we will have a new prime minister in that building behind me by Wednesday evening.”

At least 10 Somali soldiers killed in al-Shabaab attack
Reuters, Mogadishu Monday, 11 July 2016/Al-Shabaab militants rammed a car packed with explosives into a Somali army base southwest of the capital on Monday and stormed inside, killing at least 10 soldiers, the group and a military officer said on Monday. “A suicide car bomb rammed into the base and then al-Shabaab fighters stormed it. At least 10 soldiers died,” Major Ahmed Farah told Reuters from the nearby town of Afgooye.
An al-Shabaab spokesman said its fighters were behind the raid and said 30 soldiers had been killed. The group often cites a higher death toll than official figures.
 

Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on July 11-12/16

Raymond Tanter: Tehran Is Launching Attacks on Iranian Dissidents in Iraq
NCRI Iran News | Ashraf / Liberty/11 July/16
Raymond Tanter, a professor emeritus from the University of Michigan in an opinion piece on Sunday in TownHall highlighted the terrorist threats facing members of the main Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK).
He wrote:
On July 4, 2016 (8:35 pm Iraqi time), over 50 missiles were fired against Camp Liberty. Because of the proximity of Tehran’s militias in range of Camp Liberty, it appears as if they were launched by those affiliated with the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Damage assessment reveals that parts of the camp were completely destroyed. As many as 40 residents were injured, and astonishingly no one was killed during this massive attack.
Nevertheless, each time the oppressors of Liberty get away with attacking the camp it increases the likelihood of even more hostile assaults in the future.
Once several opponents of Iran left for safety in Iraq, Tehran sought to destroy them there. Several factors coincide to explain why Tehran is assaulting its dissidents in Iraq—members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), the main resistance group that rejects clerical rule, and espouses a secular, democratic, and nonnuclear Iran.
The regime is using the upcoming anniversary of the nuclear deal with Iran on July 14, 2016, as a time to crack down on its opponents. Washington has placed the deal with Tehran over the security of those aligned with the United States and have the capacity to place pressure on the regime on behalf of the Iranian people.
In 2014, Washington agreed to a four-month extension of ongoing nuclear talks until Nov. 24. This period was a time of peril for opponents of Iran because they were and are of great value in revealing intelligence about its nuclear cheating.
Contrary to Iran’s disingenuous offers to be transparent in nuclear talks of Jan. 17, 2005 and Mar. 23, 2005, MEK intelligence revealed in late 2005 that Iran may have been engaged in nuclear-related work at an underground site near the city of Qom.
Three Western allies disclosed on Sept. 25, 2009 intelligence about the Qom site during a G-8 economic summit in Pittsburgh, implicitly validating a resistance disclosure of the same site four years earlier. And by January 2012, Iran acknowledged it had begun enrichment at that heavily fortified site, now known as the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
A case of retaliation as it relates to nuclear revelations came on September 1, 2013. The organization had in previous years uncovered a number of undeclared nuclear sites and announced them in a series of press conferences, e.g., in Washington during July.
Tehran retaliated to take advantage of ongoing secret nuclear talks with Washington, which let the regime off the hook by saying very little about the assault. Yet in October 2013, the resistance disclosed additional intelligence about suspect weaponization activities by Iran. Another missile attack was waged on Camp Liberty in December 2013, killing four and wounding dozens.
On top of the upcoming nuclear anniversary, there are the deteriorating political-military situation in Iraq and Tehran’s increasing problems with its discontented population. Iran uses such moments as times to crack down on its opponents at home and abroad.
In June of 2009, the regime put down country-wide demonstrations in which dissidents tied to the MEK participated. Iraqi forces acting on behalf of Tehran then attacked MEK members located at that time in Camp Ashraf, Iraq during July of that year. Iraqis killed 13, held 36 as hostages, and only released them in October under intense international pressure.
On April 8, 2011, a day after a major nuclear revelation in Washington by the dissidents, Camp Ashraf came under a major assault by the Iraqi Security Forces, leaving 36 dead, and hundreds wounded, in what was described as “Massacre” by then Senate Foreign Relations chair, John Kerry.
A year after moving to Camp Liberty, on Feb. 9, 2013, rocket and mortar shells fell on the dissidents, killing 9 and wounding over fifty. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees called these attacks, “a despicable act of violence,” describing residents as asylum seekers entitled to international protection.
The Way Forward
Hark back to the nuclear deal with Iran agreed on July 14, 2015. Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) introduced legislation to extend the sanctions law for 10 years. Other members are exploring the possibility of introducing bills that focus on the Iranian regime’s financial infrastructure involved in terrorism, missile development, and human rights abuses.
Democrats and Republicans are unhappy with the lack of change in the behavior of the Iranian regime, are considering tougher measures. A Democratic senator who voted for the Iran deal said it is not America's responsibility to promote foreign investment in Iran, despite efforts by Secretary of State Kerry to encourage investment there. Delaware Senator Chris Coons said on June 23, 2016, “I don't think it’s our job to act as the chamber of commerce for Tehran.”
Nearly a year after the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, Iranian dissidents in Iraq are more vulnerable than ever to Tehran-sponsored assaults by its militias in Iraq. To prevent them from intensifying attacks on Camp Liberty, Washington could use its diplomatic leverage with Baghdad to protect Iranian oppositionists and expedite their resettlement out of Iraq to Albania. On June 29, 2016, Senator John McCain introduced a bill (S.3114), which calls for the safety and security of Camp Liberty residents as well as their safe and the expeditious resettlement to Albania. Absent political pushback against Iranian militias from the executive branch, such congressional initiatives are a welcome path forward.
Raymond Tanter, a professor emeritus, University of Michigan; and a former senior staff member, National Security Council, Reagan-Bush administration, is an adjunct scholar of The Washington Institute, researching U.S. policy options toward Iran.
From 1981 to 1982, Dr. Tanter served on the National Security Council staff and was personal representative of the secretary of defense to the 1983-1984 arms control talks held in Madrid, Helsinki, Stockholm, and Vienna. Currently, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Dr. Tanter received his doctorate from Indiana University and has taught at Northwestern, Stanford, University of Michigan, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to the University of Amsterdam, he has served as a fellow at both the Hoover Institution and the Woodrow Wilson International Center. As scholar-in-residence at the American embassy in Tokyo, Dr. Tanter lectured on petroleum interruption scenarios, with special reference to the Middle East. At Georgetown, he teaches courses on the Arab-Israeli conflict, international security affairs, and ballistic missile defense. He was scholar-in-residence at the Middle East Institute during fall 2001.
His latest book is "Arab Rebels and Iranian Dissidents."

The National: 100,000 gather to call for urgent end to ‘religious dictatorship’ in Iran
NCRI Iran News/Monday, 11 July 2016
Scotland's The National on Monday wrote:
THE crowd that gathered at Le Bourget, Paris, for the annual gathering of Iranian communities could have filled Murrayfield – twice over at an estimate of more than 100,000. The message from the Free Iran gathering to the regime in their home country was simple – they want change and they want it sooner rather than later. This was the highlight of the year for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the country’s opposition in exile. The crowd and the speakers were an eclectic mix, from the former Iranian diplomat-turned-mole who greeted me on the bus to the event, to students, parents and grandparents, politicians from across the world, from Canada, the US, Europe and the Arab nations, including a member of the Saudi royal family, appearing on the same stage as military chiefs. With any event of this size an element of stage management is virtually inevitable, but it was the unbridled enthusiasm of the audience for more than six hours that set this apart from the standard political conference. Then, when Ingrid Betancourt, a Colombian-French former politician who spent six years in captivity – held in the jungle by Farc, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – introduced the story of a young girl’s weekly visits to see her father in prison, the emotion in the hall was palpable. “This girl was eight and living in a valley in Iran when some uniformed men came to see her father one day,” she said.
“They took him away that day. It was 18 years ago and the only time she can see her father is on her weekly visits to the prison where he is still held. She waits, like many others, in a line outside the prison to see her father for 20 minutes every week.”The conference was then shown footage of a series of messages of support from people in Iran, their faces covered, each one holding a red rose – a symbol of freedom adopted as the logo for this event. Then came the speaker everyone had been waiting for – Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI. In an address frequently peppered by rapturous applause, she said that in the year since the current regime signed a nuclear agreement with world powers in order for sanctions to be eased, it had failed to find a way out of the crisis engulfing it, and had plunged into the quagmire of the Syrian war. Repression and discrimination were rife, along with arrests, executions and the shelling of Kurdish villages. Rajavi said the only real solution to Iran’s troubles was to overthrow the current “religious dictatorship”. “We offer a solution that is the only effective option and the most indispensable and attainable solution: the right of the Iranian people to overthrow the religious dictatorship and attain freedom and democracy must be recognised,” she said, adding that it would also signal a breakthrough for Iran and the world. “Many elected representatives of people throughout the world, as well as senior US, European, Australian, Canadian and Asian personalities and dignitaries – who support freedom and democracy in Iran – proudly attest to this reality.”
Rajavi added that the mullahs of Iran and Daesh were reading from the same script. “Both espouse a similar reactionary ideology which is diametrically opposed to the pristine teachings of Islam,” she said. “They have a similar modus operandi when it comes to barbarity and savagery. They need to rely on one another to survive.“For this reason, so long as the regime’s occupation of Syria, Iraq and Yemen continues, we cannot confront Daesh effectively.” Rajavi’s 10-point plan for the future of Iran calls for full democracy, equality for men and women, abolition of the death penalty and the separation of church and state. She added: “We will not relent until the day when Iranians of all persuasions and divergences can join hands to hoist the flag of victory, the flag of a free and democratic Iran.”

French Islamism and the Future of Europe
A briefing by Guy Millièr/Middle East Forum intern Joshua Buri July 11, 2016
http://www.meforum.org/6109/french-islamism-and-the-future-of-europe

In a May 24 talk in Philadelphia hosted by the Middle East Forum, noted professor and anti-Islamist author Guy Millière warned that Islamism has spread throughout Europe and argued that this process will likely continue unabated. Daniel Pipes followed with a brief rebuttal, arguing that growing opposition to Islamism offers much hope for a solution.
France, Millière explained, has undergone drastic changes in the past several decades. Prior to the Foulard Affair (1989), there were very few radical Islamic movements in France. Those groups that did exist had limited adherents.
In contrast, there is now a significant radical Muslim movement in France, the main being the UOIF (Union of Islamic Organizations of France). Both UOIF and its parent organization, FIOE (Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe), have ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Millière warns that prisons in France have become "schools of jihad."
Despite these ties, 50,000 people traveled to Paris to attend the UOIF's annual meeting. At the meeting, attendees listened to radical speakers, some of whom spoke via video as they are banned in France.
Guy Millière is also concerned by the creation of "no-go zones." There are some 718 of these "sensitive urban zones," as the French government terms them, in mainland France. These areas are symbolic of the failure of immigrants to integrate into European society. These zones are especially problematic for police and other city/government employees, who have been met with hostility.
Europe is not currently equipped to deal with the number of people returning from the Middle East with radical beliefs and training. Upon returning to France, suspected jihadists are only monitored for 6 months. This leaves them able to resume their activities without the government's knowledge, sometimes with deadly consequences. For example, the terrorists that attacked the Bataclan theatre in Paris had trained in Syria and were previously monitored by the French government.
Millière warns that prisons in France have become 'schools of jihad.'
However, it is not necessary for people to go abroad to become radicalized. Millière warns that in France, "jails are schools of jihad" for the 70% of French inmates who are Muslim. Within jails, moderate Muslims are silenced and jihad is presented as a way to atone for past wrongs. So far, attempts to de-radicalize French jails have proven unsuccessful.
Millière believes that these trends are likely to continue, as Muslims will make up an increasingly large portion of French society. While Muslims currently make up only 12% of the general population (8 out of 65 million), they comprise more than 25% of the French population younger than 25.
Throughout Europe, traditional political parties do not represent the anger that some of their citizens feel. The rise of reactionary parties indicates that Millière is not alone in his view that "politicians (are) on the verge of surrender" when it comes to Islamism.
Those who condemn Europe's Islamization 'are immediately called rightist, fascist, and racist.'
The only political parties that accept people who are concerned with this trend are what Millière classifies as the "extreme right" such as the National Front.
Despite their anger, Millière believes people are reluctant to speak out. "People who are angry are immediately called rightist, fascist, and racist." Furthermore, leftist judges can fine people who are critical of Islam using the French legal system.
Middle East Forum President Daniel Pipes presented a more optimistic view of the future – specifically, the growing opposition in response to the increase in Islamism. He points to Germany's deal with Turkey for guest workers in 1955 as the impetus for the increase in Sharia and Islam in Europe. However, starting around 25 years ago, pushback began in the form of anti-Koran/minaret votes. While Mr. Pipes concedes that some of this countermovement has its origins in what he terms "nasty places," he remains hopeful that the extreme right will evolve into a more moderate and reasonable counterweight.

Jabhat al-Nusra 'al-Qaeda's largest formal affiliate in history'
Week in Review/Al-Monitor/July 11/16
In a news release, Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s director of the Middle East and North Africa Program, said, “In Aleppo and Idlib today, armed groups have free rein to commit war crimes and other violations of international humanitarian law with impunity. Shockingly, we have also documented armed groups using the same methods of torture that are routinely used by the Syrian government,” which is responsible for the majority of human rights and war crimes committed during the war.
The report titled “Torture was my punishment” provides a grim and unsettling account of abduction, torture and summary killings, including the deliberate targeting of journalists, lawyers and even children, by members of the so-called Aleppo Conquest coalition, which includes Jabhat al-Nusra, Shamiya Front, Nureddin Zengi Brigade and Division 16, and the Ahrar al-Sham Islamic movement in Idlib, which is allied with Jabhat al-Nusra in Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest).
Amnesty International pulls no punches in making clear that some of these groups “enjoy support from powerful backers such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the USA.”
The report comes as the United States continues to weigh potential cooperation with Russia against Jabhat al-Nusra, as Laura Rozen reports.
Rozen cites congressional testimony June 28 by Brett McGurk, US special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (Islamic State), that while the Islamic State “is losing territory in the east,” Jabhat al-Nusra is “gaining ground in the west, putting down roots in Idlib province along the Turkish border. … With direct ties to Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s successor, Nusra is now al-Qaeda's largest formal affiliate in history. … This is a serious concern, and where we see Nusra planning external attacks, we will not hesitate to act.”
With its increasing emphasis on both the potential for US-Russia cooperation and the threat from Jabhat al-Nusra, the Obama administration seems to have brushed aside the course advocated by a "dissent" cable deliberately leaked by anonymous State Department diplomats calling for US military escalation against the Syrian government. As we noted in this column before, among the cable’s many failings was that it did not even once refer to Jabhat al-Nusra, and therefore, it seems, its authors were either ignorant, or dismissive, of the administration’s own grave assessment of the threat from the expansion of Jabhat al-Nusra, in addition to the crimes of those armed groups allied with the al-Qaeda affiliate.
Rozen adds, “While US officials have expressed understanding for the Syrian opposition’s concerns that more pressure on Jabhat al-Nusra could threaten their position vis-a-vis [President Bashar al-] Assad, the US officials indicate that President Barack Obama feels he has the duty to deal with the threat to US national security interests posed by Jabhat al-Nusra and to do so quickly.”
Obama deserves credit for keeping the focus exactly where it should be: on the threat to the United States and its allies from the expansion of terrorist groups in Syria. We have consistently taken the line that there should be no “understanding” — absolutely none — for those who ally with al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate. Last week, we referred to a Washington Post editorial that cited “several experts on Syria” arguing that US-Russia coordination would be a bad deal because “Jabhat al-Nusra forces are intermixed with other rebel units.” As these “experts” seemed to have missed the numerous UN Security Council resolutions penalizing any cooperation with al-Qaeda and its affiliates and al-Qaeda’s well-known record of global terrorism, perhaps McGurk’s testimony and the Amnesty International report will finally force The Washington Post to reconsider who it consults on Syria. Giving al-Qaeda a pass, for any reason, should rule you out of the “expert” category.
The Amnesty International report also helps clarify a twisted and dangerous misunderstanding about conditions in Aleppo and Idlib, and what it might mean for the course of the war. As Al-Monitor wrote in January, “Aleppo, which is mostly Sunni, was sold a sectarian bill of goods by the opposition. And it has been a disaster for the people of Aleppo. The Syrian government’s barrel bombs and relentless sieges added to an unbearable existence. … If the Syrian army, backed by its Iranian and Russian allies, retakes Aleppo, the city’s liberation will come by directly defeating terrorists and armed groups that are already deserting the battlefield. A government victory would be of a different order and have a different impact than the negotiated departures of besieged armed opposition forces in Homs and around Damascus. The people of Aleppo would experience a flat-out victory by the government and a defeat, and exodus, by the armed groups. A good question is whether the Syrian army would be received as liberators by those Syrians, including Sunnis, freed from the reign of Islamic law and armed gangs. The answer might surprise … a Syrian government victory in Aleppo could be the beginning of the end of the sectarian mindset that would have been alien to the city prior to 2011.”

It Is the Duty of Muslims to Speak Out
Majid Rafizadeh//Gatestone Institute/July 11/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8342/muslims-to-speak-out
Islam can provide a powerful language and tool to commit the worst crimes, while at the same time the perpetrators of those attacks feel blessed, privileged, rewarded and on the winning side.
This indoctrination evolves into a deep-seated fear of even questioning, let alone leaving, the rules of Allah and Islam. Once you become the slave of Islam, it kills your courage to leave it.
Unless we gain a better understanding of the nature of Islam -- its reliance on Qur'anic verses, as well as its values, principles and ideology, we will not be capable of addressing this threat.
Simply stating that Islam does not have to do anything with these violent acts is not a constructive; it is just a way to avoid tackling the problem. As Muslims, we need to accept the fact that there exist some parts in the religion of Islam that gives social, political, religious, and cultural legitimacy to violence. Otherwise these Islamist groups would not have flourished.
It is sometimes important to talk about things that are tempting to be silent about. It is important to shed light on the intricacies, complexities, and nuances of the religion of Islam as well as the contemporary social, political and economic traditions linked to this faith and the uncontrolled rise of extremism.
I used to be a devout follower of Islam: one of the few who actually read the Qur'an word for word and tried to follow the rules in detail.
The penalty for renouncing Islam, it is also crucial to note, is death. It is legally administered in Islamic societies by governments, Islamic courts, and even individual Muslims who desire to fulfill their duty prescribed by Allah, the Qur'an and Muhammad.
These Islamic laws, of course, create fear about telling the true story.
A Muslim, you see, believes that the Qur'an contains the exact words of Allah. The Qur'an does not tell stories about God, as does the Bible; it is viewed as the very word of God, similar to the Ten Commandments. They therefore must be implemented without reservation, regardless of time and place.
According to some Islamic teachings, the reward for killing an unbeliever or apostate -- someone who leaves Islam and renounces Allah and Muhammad -- will receive the best place in heaven.
If you have been indoctrinated by Islam from your earliest childhood and all your life have been a follower of Islam, abandoning or criticizing it is not going to be easy. This indoctrination evolves into a deep-seated fear of even questioning, let alone leaving, the rules of Allah and Islam. Once you become the slave of Islam, it kills your courage to leave it.
Deciding to be free and independent -- liberating yourself from being the slave of the rules of Allah and the chains of Islam -- becomes inconceivable, out of question.
Islam can provide a powerful language and tool to commit the worst crimes, while at the same time the perpetrators of those attacks feel blessed, privileged, rewarded and on the winning side.
Unless we gain a better understanding of the nature of Islam -- its reliance on Qur'anic verses, as well as its values, principles and ideology, we will not be capable of addressing this threat. The challenge before us is no longer just a Muslim issue belonging solely to the citizens of Muslim countries. The threads of fear and cruelty in Islam infest every country. It is a challenge that needs to be dealt with by everyone, the whole world. Otherwise, Islam will only continue to spread in various forms: al Qaeda, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Jabhat Al Nusra, Hamas, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Islamic Jihad, individual terrorists, and many others.
Islamic teachings provide powerful tools, both psychological and materialistic, that influence ordinary men to commit their crimes. The psychological tools include receiving rewards in Heaven, satisfaction from Allah, imams, the fear of disobeying Allah's rules, and so on. The materialistic tools include blessings in this world, and financial support from the Islamic community and charities, among others.
To someone who was born in the Islamic Republic of Iran and worked in Muslim societies, as I was, it is clear that the most serious threat to the current world order -- to Western democratic values, universal human rights, the rule of law, social justice, gender equality, civilized society and all of humanity -- does not come from nuclear bombs, chemical weapons, or other military capabilities. It comes, rather, from ideology -- contemporary Islamist doctrine and the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islam. The threat also comes from the deep social, political and economic differences between democratic Western societies and Muslim societies.
When I first came to the United States a few years ago, before most of the terrorist attacks, I tried to warn people that attacks were inevitably going to happen, and happen in the name of Islam.
The fear-based culture of many Muslim countries is now threatening to permeate the rest of the world. Once that happens, there is no opportunity to overcome it.
It is therefore the responsibility of the silent Muslims, the so-called "moderate" or "reformist" Muslims of the middle class, as well as Western Muslim scholars, to speak out against these dominant Islamist and fundamentalist frameworks. Unfortunately, many hesitate to do so out of fear of the benefits they might lose, so have lost the will and courage to abandon Islam. There is, further, the fear of the consequences, such as being denied visas to Muslim countries to visit their families or to conduct the Hajj.
As many fundamentalists hold the purse strings of powerful influential people, many Muslim scholars fear that their funding from powerful Muslim countries will be halted or that powerful Muslim schools will not publish their books.
If current Islamic teachings, thoughts and education do not go through a fundamental religious reformation from within the religion itself, the future will bring more colossal tragedies, ones that will make previous terrorist acts --- such as the beheadings of Steven Sotloff and James Foley, the Boston marathon bombing, burnings-alive, drownings, crucifixions, slavery, the tragedy of displaced persons in Syria, America's 9/11, London's 7/7 transportation attacks and the Madrid train bombings -- seem infinitesimal.
As someone born in the Islamic Republic of Iran under the rule of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and having spent much of my youth in Syria under the rule of Hafiz and Bashar al-Assad, it is easy to see that the challenge of the 21st century is fundamentalist Islam: its underlying character contradictions, the Qur'an, Muslim leaders, the silent Muslims, and the underlying principles of Islam.
The Qur'an has confined the religion of Islam with such unbending social and legal restrictions that growth is made impossible, and the religion becomes more and more incompatible with Western civilization. Many scholars and imams have been arguing for a long time that Islam will change; their arguments have repeatedly failed.
Other religions have adapted to modernization, social justice, and civil liberties, but Islam has been imprisoned in its own unyielding character. The Qur'an has so restricted and surrounded the ideology of Islam that reformation would mean the collapse of Islam altogether.
The inflexible nature of Islam is the major impediment to progress and social advancement in Muslim countries.
While the rest of the world is modernizing, Islam -- thanks to powerful imams and Islamic governments, which enforce the verses of the Qur'an from 1,500 years ago -- has been moving in reverse. Islam leads its followers to believe that they are the "chosen," superior. But what we have all been seeing in Islamic societies are disturbing patterns of dominance, cruelty, and complete disregard for human life.
There is also a predominant pattern in the Western media to refrain from criticizing Islam or anyone in it, apparently in an attempt to be "politically correct." In an already inflamed racial environment, the media appear careful to avoid treading in the relatively unknown territory of Muslim culture and chooses instead to embrace the more colorful aspects of the religion and its traditions.
It is urgent therefore to raise awareness of what is happening in the extremely shielded and silent corners of fundamentalist Islam. It is imperative that the American people be educated about extremist Muslims who view them with such intense hatred and contempt. Why has their war on democracy been allowed to grow this fiercely? Why does it continue to grow?
With around 1.6 billion followers, or 23% percent of the world's population, Islam is currently the world's second-largest religion after Christianity, and the fastest-growing religion.
Violence and injustice stand on the opposite pole from peace. If Islam is the religion of "peace," as Muslim leaders and scholars argue, Muslims need to speak out when injustice and violent terrorist acts are repeatedly committed in the name of Islam. Simply stating that Islam does not have to do anything with these violent acts is not constructive; it is just a way to avoid tackling the problem.
As Muslims, we need to accept the fact that there exist some parts in the religion of Islam that give social, political, religious, and cultural legitimacy to violence. Otherwise, these Islamist groups would not have flourished. Muslims need to oppose those Qur'anic verses and Islamic teachings that give social, political, religious, and cultural legitimacy to some groups and individuals to operate freely, recruit and brainwash youths, and commit violence and terrorism.
It is important to inform as many people as possible of the day-to-day reality that people no different from you are faced with. My intention is not to be derogatory; my only goal is to provide a clear understanding of the very real danger that the spread of fundamentalist Islam and its modern transformation pose not only to the United States, but to the world -- a warning of what will come if the voices of democratic nations do not rise in unison to stop it.
**Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist, author, and Harvard scholar, is president of the International American Council and serves on the board of Harvard International Review (Harvard University). He is author of the book, "The Muslim Renegade: A Memoir of Struggle, Defiance, and Enlightenment." He can be reached at Dr.Rafizadeh@post.Harvard.edu.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

ISIS Comes to Gaza
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/July 11/16
Recent reports leave no doubt as to cooperation between Hamas and ISIS groups in Sinai. These reports, the Egyptians and Palestinian Authority argue, provide further evidence that the Gaza Strip remains a major base for various jihadi terror groups that pose a real threat.
The report said that terrorists wanted by the Egyptian authorities were admitted to the Gaza Strip hospital in return for weapons given to Hamas by the Islamic State in the Sinai.
Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority (PA) can continue to talk all they want about a Palestinian state that would be established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. But when ISIS-inspired groups are active in Gaza and there are no signs that the Hamas regime is weakening, it is rather difficult to imagine a Palestinian state.
The jihadi groups clearly seek to create an Islamic emirate combining the Gaza Strip and Sinai. Abbas might thank Israel for its presence in the West Bank -- a presence that allows him and his government to be something other than infidel cannon fodder for the jihadis.
Hamas denies it up and down. Nonetheless, there are growing signs that the Islamist movement, which is based in the Gaza Strip, is continuing to cooperate with other jihadi terror groups that are affiliated with Islamic State (ISIS), especially those that have been operating in the Egyptian peninsula of Sinai in recent years.
This cooperation, according to Palestinian Authority security sources, is the main reason behind the ongoing tensions between the Egyptian authorities and Hamas. These tensions have prompted the Egyptians to keep the Rafah border crossing mostly closed since 2013, trapping tens of thousands of Palestinians inside the Gaza Strip.
In 2015, the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal for a total of twenty-one days to allow humanitarian cases and those holding foreign nationalities to leave or enter the Gaza Strip.
This year so far, Rafah has been open for a total of twenty-eight days. Sources in the Gaza Strip say there are about 30,000 humanitarian cases that need to leave immediately. They include dozens of university students who haven't been able to go back to their universities abroad and some 4,000 patients in need of urgent medical treatment.
Surprisingly, last week the Egyptians opened the Rafah terminal for five days in a row, allowing more than 4,500 Palestinians to leave and enter the Gaza Strip. The unusual gesture came on the eve of the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr. However, the terminal was closed again at the beginning of the feast on July 6.
The renewed closure of the Rafah terminal coincided with reports that efforts to end the tensions between Hamas and Egypt hit a snag. According to the reports, the Egyptian authorities decided to cancel a planned visit to Cairo by senior Hamas officials. The decision to cancel the visit, the reports said, came in the wake of the dissatisfaction of the Egyptians with the way Hamas has been handling security along the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The closure of the border crossing came as a blow to Hamas's efforts to patch up its differences with Egypt and pave the way for easing severe travel restrictions imposed by Cairo on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
In recent weeks, Hamas announced that it had deployed hundreds of its border guards along the shared border with Egypt in order to prevent infiltration both ways, especially of jihadi terrorists who have been targeting Egyptian security personnel and civilians in Sinai. However, the Egyptian authorities remain extremely skeptical about Hamas's measures.
Egyptian security officials are convinced that Hamas is not serious about preventing jihadi terrorists from crossing the border in either direction. Moreover, the Egyptians suspect that Hamas maintains close relations with some of the ISIS-affiliated groups in Sinai, and is providing them with weapons and medical treatment.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has refused to conduct high-level contacts with Hamas since he came to power in 2013. His regime views Hamas as a threat to Egypt's national security. The few meetings that did take place between the two sides were restricted to security issues; that was why Sisi entrusted his General Intelligence officials to conduct the discussions with the leaders of the Islamist movement who visited Cairo in the past months.
Apparently, the Egyptian skepticism towards Hamas is not unjustified.
In recent weeks, reports have surfaced that leave no doubt as to cooperation between Hamas and ISIS groups in Sinai. These reports, the Egyptians and Palestinian Authority argue, provide further evidence that the Gaza Strip remains a major base for various jihadi terror groups that pose a real threat not only to Egypt's national security, but also to Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, as well as neighboring countries such as Jordan and Lebanon.
Reports have also emerged that some of the jihadi terrorists in Sinai have been receiving medical treatment in hospitals in the Gaza Strip, with the approval of Hamas. The terrorists, who are wanted by the Egyptian authorities, are believed to have entered the Gaza Strip through smuggling tunnels along the border with Egypt.
According to one report, one of the terrorist leaders from Sinai, Abu Sweilem, was documented lying in bed at the Abu Yusef al-Najjar Hospital in the city of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip. The report said that Abu Sweilem was hospitalized under the heavy guard of members of Hamas's armed wing, Ezaddin al-Qassam. It said that he, and other terrorists wanted by the Egyptian authorities, were admitted to the Gaza Strip hospital in return for weapons given to Hamas by the Islamic State in Sinai, which is known as Wilayat Sina'.
Another report by the same source claimed that Mohamed Abu Shawish, a senior member of Ezaddin al-Qassam in the Gaza Strip, has been helping train and organize the jihadi terrorists in Sinai. Hamas claimed that the man had fled the Gaza Strip to join ISIS and was wanted by its armed wing for defection. The report, however, noted that Abu Shawish was moving freely between the Gaza Strip and Sinai and was even using Hamas vehicles to commute between the two areas. It added that Abu Shawish has even set up a vast network of relations along the Palestinian side of the border with Egypt to facilitate the smuggling of weapons and terrorists in both directions.
The report goes on to reveal that the top Hamas operative is in touch with Eyad al-Khaldi, the owner of a clothing factory in the Gaza Strip, who has been supplying him with military uniforms and other equipment for the terrorists in Sinai. The report cites this as evidence of the growing activities of the Sinai-based jihadi terrorists inside the Gaza Strip, which is taking place with the blessing of top Hamas officials.
Hamas has in the past indeed cracked down on ISIS-affiliated groups and individuals in the Gaza Strip. But this happens only when they seem to pose some kind of a threat or challenge to Hamas's rule over the Gaza Strip.
This crackdown, however, has clearly not stopped Hamas members, especially those belonging to Ezaddin al-Qassam, from collaborating with other groups that are linked to ISIS and that are engaged in terror attacks against the Egyptians in Sinai. Isolated and desperate for cash in the Gaza Strip, Hamas seems prepared to cooperate with anyone in order to retain its control and survive.
Some Palestinians in the Gaza Strip argue that the double standard Hamas employs in dealing with the jihadi terrorists is the result of a split between its political and military wing. While the top political leaders of Hamas appear to be keen to distance themselves from the jihadi terrorists, the commanders of Ezaddin al-Qassam are acting independently and working with anyone who hands them weapons.
These Palestinians also point out that an increasing number of Ezaddin al-Qassam members have in recent years fled the Gaza Strip to join ISIS in Sinai, Syria and Iraq -- a development that continues to worry the political leadership of Hamas. Those who have not been able to flee the Gaza Strip are joining other jihadi groups that are operating inside the Gaza Strip.
Reports indicate that an increasing number of Hamas gunmen have in recent years fled the Gaza Strip to join ISIS in Sinai, Syria and Iraq. Pictured above: An August 2014 image of terrorists from the Islamic State in Sinai (then known as Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis), preparing to behead four Egyptians they accused of spying for Israel.
Last month, further evidence of this trend was provided by the death of Khaled al-Tarabin, a former Hamas operative killed while fighting alongside ISIS in Syria. He is the seventh Hamas-affiliated Palestinian to be killed while fighting alongside ISIS in Iraq and Syria in recent months, according to sources in the Gaza Strip. Regardless of the level of cooperation between Hamas and jihadi terrorists in Sinai, the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip will pay the price. Reports about this cooperation simply entrench in the minds of the Egyptians the need to close the borders, humanitarian needs be damned.
As for the Palestinian Authority, all it can do for now is watch the Gaza Strip -- which it is hoping will become part of a future Palestinian state -- descend into hell.
Mahmoud Abbas and the leaders of the Palestinian Authority can continue to talk all they want about a Palestinian state that would be established in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem. But when ISIS-inspired groups are active in the Gaza Strip and there are no signs that the Hamas regime is weakening, it is rather difficult to imagine a Palestinian state. Abbas has not been able to set foot in the Gaza Strip since 2007. Even his private residence in Gaza City is off-limits to him. But Hamas is just the beginning of the story for Abbas. The jihadi groups clearly seek to create an Islamic emirate combining the Gaza Strip and Sinai. The Palestinian Authority president might thank Israel for its presence in the West Bank -- a presence that allows him and his government to be something other than infidel cannon fodder for the jihadis.
**Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
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© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

ISIS: The war with the self and the war of the other
Raghida Dergham/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
The mentality and nature of ISIS militants, and its brutal brand of terror and radical Islamist ideology, pose a challenge to moderate, tolerant, progressive Islam. Tackling ISIS requires an extraordinary breakthrough possible only through extraordinary measures, starting with primary education and not ending with the policies of both major and smaller powers in the region and the world.
No one is innocent of this devastating scourge, and everyone is responsible for stopping it and stopping all kinds of extremist ideologies, be it Christian, Jewish, Shiites, or even secular. However, according to me, Sunnis bear one of the primary responsibilities. Indeed, ISIS, al-Qaeda, and similar groups are the offspring of a rigid interpretation of Sunni Islam and authoritarian regimes and forces in many Islamic countries.
The responsibility also has an Arab dimension as a large number of these groups are Arabs even though “others” are responsible too. This kind of fundamentalist interpretation of Islam was one of the outcome of the action against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, which resulted in US-Pakistani-Arab partnership. It was these circumstances that spawned al-Qaeda and led to the Soviet Union’s collapse, marking the point at which the US avenged its defeat in Vietnam.
For its part, Shiite fundamentalism seized power in Tehran with European-American support. Decades earlier, the same Euro-American partnership helped create Jewish fundamentalism with Israel, which today boasts of its relentless construction of illegal settlement, rejecting an end to its occupation and effectively rejecting the two-state solution. With the release of the report of Sir John Chilcot, chairman of the British Commission of Inquiry into the Iraq War that was led by former US President Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, it became clear that the invasion had been prepared immediately following 9/11, and that the “mistake” of disbanding the Iraqi army and subsequent de-Baathification were a direct precursor to the creation of ISIS.
Then came the war in Syria and Russia found an opportunity to avenge itself for its defeat in Afghanistan. Russia thus reportedly turned Syria into a magnet for terrorists, as Bush had done in Iraq, thinking this would keep terrorism far from its own cities. However, Russia is now implicated in the Syrian war as a party to the ongoing conflict. At the same time, it is part of a partnership with Washington that includes engineering factions and militias to decide who is qualified to fight ISIS, but the deal between the two powers is fragile. Their policies have contributed to the rise of groups like ISIS, but no one is innocent of this. The biggest dilemma is that ISIS appears aware of the fragility of the stakeholders, and of the foolhardiness and arrogance of those who are enabling its adventures as we are seeing in the US presidential campaigns.
Indeed, ISIS may even swing voters in America if it manages to carry out a major terror attack before election day in November. This would be a vote in favor of the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, who is appealing to the instincts of the American people, pledging to banish Muslims and promising fantastical schemes.
There is a need to acknowledge that the time has come for actual measures in the realm of education and school traditions, to promote a moderate, tolerant, and progressive Islam
ISIS would want Trump to be president because it is eager to become an unequivocal enemy of the United States, something it believes would be a boon. Furthermore, Trump’s arbitrariness and ostracizing of Muslims helps ISIS mobilize and recruit support, not just in the US but all around the world.
This does not mean that ISIS will not try to lure the presumptive Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton to a duel, as it is keen to become an official enemy of the United States whatever happens in November. But one key difference is that Clinton would be a foreign policy hawk, building new partnerships and reviving old ones for a new approach against ISIS and similar groups. This would be to the disadvantage of the militant group, which prefers to face off with impulsive foes.
Now that the FBI has decided not to prosecute Clinton backed by the Department of Justice in the case of her leaked private e-mails, she will go to the Democratic National Convention this month free of this burden, meaning her nomination by her party is all but guaranteed. The decision of the FBI has eliminated all of Bernie Sanders’ chances, the other Democratic candidate who remained in the race up until now, hoping an indictment against Hillary would make him the front-runner. But there is another dimension to the report released by FBI director James Comey, who offered damning evidence exposing Clinton’s claims and her negligence, when she sent 110 classified e-mails through her personal account instead of her official one, including from “unfriendly” sites which could expose national security to breaches by foreign agencies.
This is powerful ammunition in the hands of the Republican Party. The traditional leaders of the party are furious with Trump’s antics, and some had decided not to back his nomination under any circumstances. However, with the approaching Democratic and Republican conventions this month, five months away from Election Day, the Republicans may find James Comey’s revelations to be invaluable to prevent another Clinton from becoming president. Whatever happens, the next US president will have a difficult job, with ISIS mounting more attacks and its growing capabilities. Implications of US policies around the world could be radically affected by the future track of groups like ISIS, though not exclusively.
Chilcot probe
The Iraq War, as the Chilcot inquiry established, highlighted the then Britain government’s role in fabricating premises for the invasion, co-prepared by Tony Blair. Blair has harmed Iraq as much as George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their cronies have done. As soon as the terror attacks of 9/11 struck, this motley crew started preparing for the war on Iraq, fabricating justifications based on WMDs that the UN had succeeded in dismantling. Fabricated evidence was presented. Paul Wolfowitz, who is said to be the diplomatic godfather of the war, claimed it was for the sake of democracy in the Middle East. Thus the decision to destroy Iraq was taken on flimsy grounds, which then shifted to “not apologizing for getting rid of the dictator Saddam Hussein,” and then to the claim by Bush that the war was meant to keep the war on terror away from US cities.
It is said the disbanding of the Iraqi army was a mistake, rather than a deliberate strategic decision. This of course doesn’t make sense. In my view, the decision was made to serve Israel and Iran, both of which saw the army as a strategic enemy that needed to be destroyed. It was no mistake. It is an affront to intelligence when it is claimed those behind the decision did not foresee that it would unleash partisan and terrorist groups, which would turn Iraq into a fertile ground for terrorism. The emergence of ISIS in Iraq in the battle of Mosul, and its triumph following the army’s suspicious withdrawal under pro-Iranian PM Nouri al-Maliki also raises many questions. Reports of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad releasing terrorists he had used in Iraq before imprisoning them in Syria also makes things suspicious. With support from Tehran and Moscow, Assad decided to turn the conflict in Syria from being a rebellion against his rule to a war on terror, and he needed the appropriate ammunition to achieve that. Thus emerged the axis comprising Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and various imported militias alongside the regime in Damascus against ISIS and al-Nusra Front. The US president’s reluctance to get more directly involved in Syria also contributed to the rise of these factions. I believe, no one is innocent of what is happening in Syria, not to mention the donors who thought supporting terrorist groups is akin to fighting fire with fire. Everyone is to blame for the “Afghanization” of Syria, some believing it as the best way to confine the war to Syria and keep it away from their homeland. Everyone has miscalculated as ISIS is now a Frankenstein whose tentacles have spread all over the region and the world. The terror attacks waged by the group have expanded into the US, Europe, Turkey, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. The worst may be yet to come and, according to me, could also hit Russia, the neighboring Muslim republics, Arab countries, and Iran itself.
'Flawed policies'
Clearly, it is wrong policies that are feeding this man-made monster. The destruction of armies paved the way for its rise, and fighting it using imported or local militias in Syria and Iraq may win a battle here or there, but it will not win the war. If ISIS’s cadres left Iraq or Syria temporarily, they might relocate to Tunisia, Morocco, the Gulf, central Asia, and Chechnya. It is no longer sufficient to hold a dialogue of faiths or create centers to fight terrorism, despite the importance of this approach, adopted by Saudi Arabia in particular. There is need for a different kind of thinking that goes beyond intelligence cooperation. Perhaps there is room for a bigger role for technology in the fight against terror, which has been using technology without limitations.
I believe, the Gulf countries are aware that ISIS and its ilk, and Shiite fundamentalist groups, can now infiltrate and cause harm in their territories. They realize that sleeper cells are an existential threat to their stability. The governments are taking security measures. But what is also required is to tackle extremist groups and the proponents of the view of fighting fire with fire, to head off their ideas and their support for radical movements. There is a need to acknowledge that the time has come for actual measures in the realm of education and school traditions, to promote a moderate, tolerant, and progressive Islam.
A fateful battle is afoot between modern Islam and a brand of Islam that is being rigidly interpreted by zealous ideologues and instigators. What is needed is to stop turning a blind eye to government-enabled religious voices and forces, who have been given a free hand to radicalize the cadres that eventually join or fund groups like ISIS. This is the essence of our self-war. Indeed, the scourge is not just the result of mistaken outside policies, but also the result of a very local fundamentalist mindset.
This article was first published in Al-Hayat on Jul. 08, 2016 and translated by Karim Traboulsi.

Sectarian wars in unrestrained space
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
As extremism and the rhetoric of sectarian violence increase, Iran is in its element. It dominates Lebanon by spreading sectarian terror and increasing tensions, particularly between Shiites and Sunnis, and it uses Hezbollah to politically and psychologically escalate the situation.
Satellite TV
Historic vendettas between Shiites and Sunnis were only revived following the 1979 Iranian revolution, and after the wave of media expansion and the establishment of satellite TV channels by fanatics from both sides. To fight sectarianism, there must be international efforts to curb these extremist channels. According to the annual report on Arab satellite broadcasting, the number of Arab satellite channels in 2015 reached 1,230, of which 1,097 were private Arab and foreign channels, and 133 were Arab public channels. Uncontrolled satellite channels threaten sectarian disaster in the region. Arguments about history and who is more innocent can ignite wars, some of which have already begun. There are also foreign public channels broadcasting in Arabic and other languages. The number of controlled TV channels does not exceed 133. Uncontrolled satellite channels threaten sectarian disaster in the region. Arguments about history and who is more innocent can ignite wars, some of which have already begun, as we see in Iraq. Meanwhile, in Lebanon a civil war on the political and media fronts has erupted between Shiites and Sunnis - we hope things do not escalate any further.
This article was first published in Okaz on July 11, 2016.

Darkening skies in the Middle East bring Turkey and Israel back together
Yossi Mekelberg/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
Now that Turkey and Israel have signed a reconciliation agreement, following six years of a deep rift, the most perplexing aspect is as to why has it taken so long for both countries to come to their political and strategic senses? The agreement, announced simultaneously in Ankara by Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and in Rome by his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, ended an unnecessary and manufactured rupture between two countries whose common interests largely outweigh potential conflicts of interest. The very next day a series of suicide bombers hit Istanbul’s Ataturk airport killing dozens of people and injuring many more. Though the terrorist attack was carried out by militants linked to ISIS and was unrelated to the agreement, it nevertheless sent a reminder that real enmity to both countries lies elsewhere. The six years of estrangement between the two countries could have been averted in the first place, or at least resolved a long time ago. It had more to do with populist leaders on both sides, Monsieurs Erdogan and Netanyahu, who squared to each other even after the entire region was engulfed in its worse protracted crisis in modern history, to the detriment of both their countries.
Whereas the agreement, reached after years of on-off negotiations, revolved around the tragic outcome of the Israeli commando raid on the Gaza-bound flotilla that set sail from Turkey, the geo-political implications go much wider. In the botched Israeli attempt to stop the convoy from reaching the Gaza strip with nine Turkish nationals on board the Mavi Marmara were killed, and a number of Israeli soldiers were badly injured.
In the aftermath of this tragic event, diplomatic relations were downgraded and the Israeli ambassador was expelled from Ankara. Despite clear strategic, political and economic interest as impetuses to patch up relations sooner rather than later, national pride and galvanising constituencies at home led to a prolonged impasse. More than three years ago during a visit of President Obama to Israel, he assertively prompted a phone conversation between the Turkish and Israeli leaders in which Netanyahu apologized for the killing aboard the Turkish vessel. However, Turkey had a further list of demands, and Israel sought full normalization of relations and containing Hamas activities in Turkey in return for accepting the majority of these demands. Both countries’ international standing has suffered considerably as a consequence of their governments’ less than reasonable behavior on an array of issues and this agreement can only help improve their image
The energy dimension
For Israel there is not only a political incentive to accept the conditions of this demand, but also an economic one, especially in regards to the energy sector. The Israeli newspaper Globes revealed that the rapprochement between the two countries will probably lead to a deal on exporting natural gas from Israel’s newly developed offshore fields to Turkey. According to the same newspaper, Turkish energy companies are interested in half of the Leviathan field capacity for domestic consumption and in using it as a hub for exporting Israeli gas to the rest of Europe. Considering the tensions between Turkey and Russia since the downing of the Russian military jet in November last year, it comes as no surprise that it looks for alternative energy suppliers. Netanyahu’s change of heart in accepting most of the Turkish demands, aroused suspicions among some of the country’s opposition members. They suggest that he agreed to the terms to help his cronies in the energy industry, who stand to benefit from the reconciliation between the two countries. Another source of criticism came from the extreme right of the government, including two ministers in his cabinet, who voted against the agreement and accused Netanyahu of conceding too much and gaining very little in return. There has been a growing recognition in Israel that using force to stop the flotilla and raiding the MV Marmara were foolish mistakes. Allowing a humanitarian convoy to reach Gaza may have resulted in some triumphant welcome in Gaza by the Hamas and some propaganda victory, but not more than that. The damage, however, caused by rushing into using excessive force in the capturing of the MV Marmara, was immense in terms of international condemnation and in harming relations with Turkey. Last week Israel eventually agreed to pay $20 million towards compensating the families of the victims. Turkey is also gaining recognition as a main benefactor of Gaza by being permitted, with almost immediate effect, its first shipment of 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid. Furthermore, Israel gave its consent for Turkey to build a hospital, water desalination facility and power station in Gaza, to tackle some of the most acute hardships Gazan people are facing. In return Israel gains both an opportunity to re-build its relations with Turkey, and an easing of the hardships suffered by the Gazan people, which most of the Israeli security establishment agrees would serve Israeli interests as well. It is, as a matter of fact, the Hamas that opposes it because there is no commitment to lift the blockade all together, and because it is in the organisation’s interest for the rift between Israel and Turkey to remain intact.
With the agreement that Turkey would end its claim on indicting Israeli soldiers who killed Turkish citizens, this removed another hurdle to resolving this toxic dispute. Both countries are interested in normalization and tackling the challenges posed by lethal extremism in the region. Relieving the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is in Israeli interest as much as anyone else’s, let alone any improvement in the dire conditions of the people there is crucial, even if the horizon for a political solution is currently bleak. Both countries’ international standing has suffered considerably as a consequence of their governments’ less than reasonable behavior on an array of issues and this agreement can only help improve their image in the search for new allies and in the renewing of old ones. The real test of the new agreement is in its implementation and in the ability of two volatile leaderships in Ankara and Jerusalem to learn the lesson from the sorry story that led to this rift in the first place.

The Arab world has had enough
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
The three-pronged attack in Jeddah, Qatif and the holy city of Madinah truly shocked all of us.The last one, near the Prophet’s Mosque, touched the ethos of Muslims and people of other faiths who aspire for peace. Extremism and militant ideology are the main challenges of our region and to defeat this the government has initiated several campaigns including the use of moderate scholars to promote tolerance and stop the advancement of extremist ideology. However, this has not been totally successful as exhibited by the recent attacks. Elsewhere in Turkey, Bangladesh, and the horrific attack in Iraq this senseless carnage continues. While senior scholars have called to promote “moderation” and “centrism” these calls have not reached the youth as the harbingers of violent ideology have adopted social media to disseminate these poisonous message. While senior scholars have called to promote ‘moderation’ and ‘centrism’ these calls have not reached the youth as the harbingers of violent ideology have adopted social media to disseminate these poisonous message. The West has not helped either as it is one of the prime causes due to its political blunders and the Chilcot report (the Iraq inquiry that has killed off the innocence of the Tony Blair era) is a glaring example. Twelve years ago there was no ISIS or a self-styled Caliph. The mismanagement of Iraq by Bush, Blair, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and Brenner was deliberately done. And Amr Moussa the then Egyptian foreign minister said an attack on Iraq “would open the gates of hell” and it has done more than that. It has opened dozens of gates, caused anguish, dislocation and deaths.
Prolonged tragedy
The tragedy continues and now has also affected Europe, which is flooded with hundreds of thousands of refugees wanting to escape the inferno of the Middle East. We have to put a stop to this. Arab leaders who have clout should meet and try to stabilize the situation and do both crises management and damage control. This deviant ideology that has sprung up should be tackled effectively through practical means and not flowery words. Make the people stakeholders, embrace the youth, put a stop to nepotism, apply good governance, end corruption, involve women and youth and be proper examples and lead from the front. And stop these “religious leaders” from interfering in the affairs of the state. The people are tired of violence it is frightening and gives us a bad image we want to live in peace and prosperity like other peoples of the world. We need to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
This article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on July 10, 2016.

No landing, no pirates: Port State Measures Agreement can sink illegal fishing
José Graziano da Silva/Al Arabiya/July 11/16
Last year, roughly one of every six fish sold around the world was caught illegally.
That number is now poised to drop precipitously, thanks to the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA), the world’s first international treaty designed specifically to tackle illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Under this new agreement, parties are obliged to ensure that any fishing vessel that comes to its port, even for refueling, must announce that it is doing so and submit to an inspection of their log book, licenses, fishing gear and, to be sure, their actual cargo. Port State authorities agree to share information on violations, thus making it harder for rogue fishermen to shift their practices elsewhere.
The treaty, which was adopted by FAO’s members in 2009, marks a big step beyond self-regulation of the seafood sector, from which illicit activity siphons off up to $23 billion a year. As 29 countries plus the European Union have formally deposited their instruments of adherence with FAO, the treaty has now entered into force and a new era has begun. Players in the global fish industry are increasingly exploiting their sustainable practices as a marketing asset and catch documentation and eco-labelling schemes gather steam. Those who fish illegally– who not only profit but also jeopardize coordinated efforts to manage global marine resources in a sustainable manner so that fishing can prosper as a viable activity and people everywhere can enjoy its nutritional benefits - face higher operating costs and the serious risk of being caught. To be sure, the treaty today applies only to those countries which gave the required consent. To give the treaty more traction, and accelerate both its effectiveness and impact, more countries must join. As they do, there will be ever fewer port-hopping opportunities for rogue vessels determined to flaunt laws that regulate catch levels, usually to protect biodiversity and stock levels. But have no doubts. History’s net has been cast. Membership is destined to grow. I offer my congratulations to the countries that are already parties to the treaty: Australia, Barbados, Cabo Verde, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, the European Union (on behalf of its member states), Gabon, Grenada, Guinea, Guyana, Iceland, Indonesia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Myanmar, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Palau, Republic of Korea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Thailand, Tonga, United States of America, Uruguay, Vanuatu.
The supply chain
The Agreement makes it harder for improperly caught fish to enter the market, disrupting a critical step in seafood’s complex ocean-to-table supply chain. Some ships may choose to travel further, already a costly decision and disincentive. Moreover, ports that offer services to such outlaws will not escape notice. Parties to the PSMA will fund capacity-building measures for countries that need it – and FAO is offering technical and legal assistance – and tolerance of rogue behavior will likely increase the burden of eventual compliance. And let there be no doubt: Compliance is eventually inevitable. Players in the global fish industry are increasingly exploiting their sustainable practices as a marketing asset and catch documentation and eco-labelling schemes gather steam. Adhering to the treaty may enhance a country’s trade opportunities. As a turning point in the struggle against illegality in the fisheries sector, the PSMA is a concrete step towards healthier oceans, as called for by Goal 14 of the new Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. At FAO, we emphasize how sustainable development requires an integrated effort and relies on network effects – which in turn can catalyze positive feedback loops. The requisite port state inspections, for example, may indirectly complement other global concerns, including the use of slave labor in fishing-industry, illicit trade in endangered species and better management of Marine Protected Areas.