LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 08/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.june08.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
Woe to the
world because of stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come,
but woe to the one by whom the stumbling-block comes
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/06-10:"‘If any of you
put a stumbling-block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it
would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and
you were drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of
stumbling-blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to the one
by whom the stumbling-block comes! ‘If your hand or your foot causes you to
stumble, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed
or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal
fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out and throw it away; it
is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be
thrown into the hell of fire. ‘Take care that you do not despise one of these
little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of
my Father in heaven."
You stiff-necked people,
uncircumcised in heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just
as your ancestors used to do.
Acts of the Apostles 07/51-60.8,1a./:"‘You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in
heart and ears, you are for ever opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your
ancestors used to do. Which of the prophets did your ancestors not persecute?
They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have
become his betrayers and murderers. You are the ones that received the law as
ordained by angels, and yet you have not kept it.’When they heard these things,
they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy
Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man
standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud
shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and
began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young
man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive
my spirit.’Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold
this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died. And Saul approved of
their killing him. That day a severe persecution began against the church in
Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the countryside
of Judea and Samaria."
Pope Francis's Tweet For
Today
In this age of lacking social
friendship, our first task is building healthy relations among communities
En ces temps pauvres en amitié sociale, notre premier devoir est celui de
construire la communauté
في هذا الزمن الذي يفتقر إلى الصداقات الاجتماعيّة مهمّتنا تكمن في بناء التواصل
الفعال بين الجماعات
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 07-08/16
A few Russian concessions/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
What a Hillary Clinton nomination means for the Middle East/Joyce Karam/Al
Arabiya/June 07/16
All is not well with the Iran nuclear deal/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/June
07/16
The war on Sunni Arabs/Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
Palestinians: The Fatah Mess/Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 07/16
Turkish Professor Suspended over /Robert Jones/ Gatestone Institute/June 07/16
Middle Eastern Americans Should Reconsider Trump/Slater Bakhtavar/American
Thinker/June 07/16
On 100th Anniversary Of Sykes-Picot Agreement, Some Arab Writers Fear New
Sykes-Picot Imposed By U.S., Russia; Others Argue That Internal Arab Strife Is
The Real MEMRI/June 7, 2016
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on
June 07-08/16
Lebanon: Franjieh’s Presidency Hope Fading but Future MPs Refuse to Vote for
Aoun
ISF Arrest Two in Haret Hreik for Shooting into Air
Report: Hollande Advises Hariri to Go for Election of Aoun
Report: Hariri to 'Break the Silence', Launch Series of Positions
Change and Reform Urges Mustaqbal 'Flexibility' over New Electoral Law
U.S. Ambassador Oversees Later Military Assistance Delivery
Lebanese Army Dismantles Suspected Spy Device in Bekaa
Bassil addressing new diplomats: Beware of dangerous ramifications of refugee
crisis
CDA Jones Observes Latest U.S. Military Assistance Delivery
Azzi: Waste file difficult to be tackled at Cabinet
Rahi, Shorter tackle overall situation
Hariri to Assad: Syrian People Will Be Victorious over Hizbullah, Iran
Future bloc renews holding onto STL, strong ties with Saudi Arabia
Hajjar says Hariri will disclose decisive stances
Bou Saab to NNA: I expect official exams' results to be issued next week
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
June 07-08/16
Commander Says Fallujah Liberation
'Days' away
US, Russia not teaming up militarily in Syria
UN: Syrian government still holding up food aid for besieged Daraya
Russia’s Putin hosts Israel's Netanyahu for Syria talks
Residents Flee IS-held Syria Town as U.S.-backed Forces Close in
Syria's Assad Hardens Position in Address to Parliament
Bomb Attack on Police Kills 11 in Istanbul
Controversy Deepens over French Tycoon's Payments to Netanyahu
Permits Approved for 82 Settler Homes in East Jerusalem, Says NGO
Egypt puts former auditor on trial for exposing corruption
Egypt Condemns 25 to Death over Tribal Clashes
U.N. Removes Saudi-Led Coalition from Child Rights Blacklist
Jordan King Pledges Action after Intelligence Officers Killed
Iran regime airs propaganda clip to recruit Afghans to fight in Syria
IRAN: Telecom personnel in Fars, Lorestan protest non-payment of deferred
salaries
11 million Iranians lack access to basic services
Protest in Canada: No to executions and torture in Iran
Canada to welcome European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy
Links From Jihad Watch Site for
June 07-08/16
Reading the Qur’an during Ramadan 1: Juz Alhamdulillah
The Islamic State calls rival al-Qaeda “Jews of Jihad”
Obama: “Here in the US, we are blessed with Muslim communities…I stand firmly
with Muslim American communities”
Convert to Islam in Italy wanted to go to Syria to join the jihad: “Oh Allah, I
ask for a death in your path”
Bangladesh: Muslims brutally slaughter 70-year-old Hindu priest, leave his head
nearly severed
Video: Robert Spencer on the status of Jews and Christians under Islamic law
Louisiana house votes to cut state ties with Hamas-linked CAIR
Muslims yes, Jews no: The hypocrisy of the New York Times
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: Ramadan: Month of Jihad
Italy: Christians ordered to “pray in silence” so as not to offend Muslim
migrants
Young women burned alive by Islamic State captors for refusing them sex
BBC warns soccer fans not to dress as Crusaders to avoid offending Muslims
Larry Summers: “Perception that US is at war with Islam rather than with radical
elements within Islam is invitation to terrorism”
Turks allow Qur’an recitations inside Hagia Sophia for first time in 81 years
Jordan: Jihadis murder five intelligence officers in attack on security office
“Thanks to Allah, Caliphate soldiers were able to target platoon affiliated to
apostate Egyptian Armed Forces”
Video: Non-Muslim TV host signs off “inshallah” on popular debate
program
June 07-08/16
Lebanon: Franjieh’s Presidency Hope Fading but Future MPs Refuse to Vote for
Aoun
Paula Astih/ASharq Al Awsat/June 07/16/Beirut-Recent remarks made by Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq and
Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat brought back the
presidential crisis to the forefront after months of standstill, which heavily
affected the functioning of constitutional institutions and the economic
situation.Their statements were not comforting for Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman
Franjieh who is a presidential candidate and a close friend of Bashar Assad, the
head of the Syrian regime. On the contrary, the remarks of al-Mashnouq and
Jumblat reassured Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun, who is Franjieh’s
rival for the presidential seat. Sources close to Aoun now believe that the
lawmaker is closer to reaching the presidential palace in Baabda more than ever.
Al-Mashnouq said last week that vetoes, which had stopped Aoun from reaching the
presidency, have been withdrawn. As for Jumblat, he said on Sunday that
“Franjieh’s chances (to reaching Baabda) began dwindling.” He spoke about “a new
presidential candidate,” but said he didn’t know his identity. It is obvious
that Jumblat, who in the past used to reject prospects for Aoun to become
president, is now backing him if such a move is in “Lebanon’s interest.” “The
Christian reconciliation cannot be set aside,” he said in reference to the
understanding reached between Aoun and Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea, who
backs the Change and Reform chief for the presidency. Jumblat told a TV show
that there are efforts to stop Franjieh’s bid for the presidency. The Marada
chief might pay the price for heading to Paris for a meeting with Future chief
Saad Hariri rather than going to Damascus. Jumblat’s stances were not welcomed
by members of Future Movement. Minister Nabil de Freij, who is one of Future’s
representatives in the cabinet, mocked the PSP chief’s claims that former Prime
Minister Hariri should be aware of some close associates. Future MP Ahmed Fatfat
also accused Jumblat of trying to intimidate so-called Hezbollah by claiming
that he would back Aoun if it was in Lebanon’s national interest. Fatfat told
Asharq Al-Awsat that, for the time being, Future will not back Aoun. A large
number of Future lawmakers will not vote for the Change and Reform leader “even
if the party officially decides to do so,” he said. “Unlike Jumblat, we continue
to back Franjieh for the presidency” to end Lebanon’s political crisis, Fatfat
added.
ISF Arrest Two in Haret Hreik for Shooting into Air
Naharnet/June 07/16The Internal Security Forces arrested several individuals in
Beirut's southern suburb of Haret Hreik after shooting firearms into the air
during a funeral, an ISF statement said on Tuesday. “During a funeral ceremony
in the neighborhood of Haret Hreik near al-Musharrafiyeh some civilians fired
arms into the air,” said the statement. “As the result of police investigations,
the identity of two individuals was recognized as N.B. and H.B., both Lebanese
nationals,” it added. They were arrested on June 3 and 4.
One of the detainees is a drug user and both have criminal records. The ISF's
move comes two days after the Hizbullah-affiliated al-Mahdi Scouts movement on
Sunday organized sit-ins and rallies in several southern towns and villages to
voice rejection of the celebratory gunfire trend. The phenomenon of shooting
into the air following speeches of Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,
funerals or weddings is a trend in Lebanon. The growing trend has reportedly
prompted Nasrallah to issue an internal memo to Hizbullah's members in recent
days, in which he warned that those who fire into the air would be expelled from
the party without any compensations. The phenomenon is not limited to
Hizbullah's supporters or a certain political party and Lebanon's modern history
has witnessed numerous cases of deadly celebratory gunfire.
Report: Hollande Advises
Hariri to Go for Election of Aoun
Naharnet/June 07/16/French
President Francois Hollande told al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri that
the only solution to the presidential impasse is through the election of founder
of the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun, al-Akhbar daily reported on
Tuesday. “During Hariri's latest visit to France in May, Hollande told the
Mustaqbal chief that the solution to the internal crisis can only come from
Aoun's side,” March 14 sources told the daily on condition of anonymity.
“Hollande has advised Hariri to visit Aoun at his residence in Rabieh,” the
sources said. They added that Hollande's stance comes as a result of diplomatic
contacts made by France with Lebanese, regional and international powers and
after the French president saw that the potential for Marada chief MP Suleiman
Franjieh to reach the post is growing dim. Franjieh and Aoun are running for the
presidential post, which has been vacant since May 2014 when the term of the
President Michel Suleiman ended. Hariri has nominated Franjieh, while his March
14 ally, Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geaega, nominated Aoun after withdrawing
his own candidacy in favor of the FPM founder.
Report: Hariri to 'Break the
Silence', Launch Series of Positions
Naharnet/June 07/16/Al-Mustaqbal Movement chief MP Saad Hariri is expected to
launch a series of positions during the Ramadan iftar banquets at the Center
House, mainly after the fiery statements of Interior Minister Nouahd al-Mashnouq,
al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. Hariri's stances will be the first
since Mashnouq declared in a televised interview that Saudi Arabia was behind
his nomination of Marada chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency. The
stance was deeply resented by Hariri according to sources close to the ex-PM.
“Hariri will be frank and open to the Lebanese as he has always been. All the
reports claiming that he will launch a new initiative are merely
interpretations. Hariri alone decides what to say, when and how,” unnamed
sources of al-Mustaqbal told the daily. “His relations with Saudi Arabia are
excellent,” they added. However, a Mustaqbal official told the newspaper that
the Mustaqbal politburo office will convene this week to take some measures and
assured that “Mashnouq's statements do not reflect Hariri's point of view.”On
the other hand, An Nahar daily said that the ex-PM flew to Saudi Arabia over the
weekend and is expected to be in Beirut this week. Mashnouq said in statements
in a televised interview last week that the decision to nominate Franjieh for
the presidency was not Hariri's idea. He also stated that the visit of Hariri to
Damascus in 2009 and his meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad happened at
the request of Saudi Arabia.
Change and Reform Urges Mustaqbal 'Flexibility' over New Electoral Law
Naharnet/June 07/16/The Change and Reform bloc lamented on Tuesday the failure
of the joint parliamentary committees to reach an agreement over a new electoral
law, noting however that minor progress has been made over this issue. Former
Minister Salim Jreissati said after the bloc's weekly meeting: “We are counting
on the flexibility of the Mustaqbal Movement to pave the way to an agreement
over a just electoral law.” The joint parliamentary committees have been holding
regular meetings to reach an agreement over an electoral law. Speaker Nabih
Berri had recently proposed the shortening of parliament's term and the staging
of the elections based on the 1960 law should the political parties fail to
agree on a new one. He also called for staging the presidential elections and
formation of a national unity government as part of a package deal to end the
political impasse in the country. ommenting on the ongoing presidential vacuum,
Jreissati said that Change and Reform bloc chief MP Michel Aoun is “open to all
sides.”Aoun is presidential candidate alongside Marada Movement leader MP
Suleiman Franjieh and Democratic Gathering MP Henri Helou.
U.S. Ambassador Oversees
Later Military Assistance Delivery
Naharnet/June 07/16/Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Richard H. Jones visited on
Tuesday Beirut Air Base to witness the latest of the continuing deliveries of
U.S. military assistance to the Lebanese army, announced the U.S. embassy in a
statement. The United States provided sophisticated mapping equipment valued at
more than $3.6 million that will improve the the army's ability to plot
Lebanon’s terrain. The detailed maps produced by this equipment will enhance the
military's operational planning capacity and ability to protect Lebanese troops
as they continue to take decisive action against extremist elements along
Lebanon’s border. “The delivery demonstrates America’s sustained commitment to
ensure the Lebanese Armed Forces has the support it needs to be the sole
defender of Lebanese territory,” said the statement. Major U.S. military
assistance deliveries over the past year have included Huey II helicopters,
Hellfire missiles, border surveillance equipment, and ammunition. More
deliveries to the Lebanese army are coming soon, to include artillery systems,
armored vehicles, tactical radios, and hundreds of thousands of rounds of
additional ammunition.
The U.S. has provided Lebanon over $1.4 billion in security assistance since
2005.
Lebanese Army Dismantles
Suspected Spy Device in Bekaa
Naharnet/June 07/16/A suspicious object was discovered in the Bekaa region on
Tuesday, with media reports saying it is likely a spy device.LBCI television
said that a plastic object, shaped like a rock, which is probably an espionage
device, was discovered in al-Barouk mountain. Voice of Lebanon radio (100.5)
meanwhile said that the army was dismantling an Israeli spy device located in
Aamiq in the western Bekaa. Parliament's media and telecommunications committee
has been tackling the recently uncovered illegal internet network. Those
involved in the network are allegedly linked to the “Barouk network” that was
discovered in 2009. In 2009, a telecommunications station in the Barouk area of
the Shouf was uncovered, triggering heated debate on the involvement of Israel
in spying operations.
Bassil addressing new diplomats:
Beware of dangerous ramifications of refugee crisis
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Minister, Gebran Bassil,
on Tuesday warned new diplomats during an oath taking ceremony from the massive
repercussions of the simmering refugee crisis in Lebanon. "Today, we're
responsible for enhancing your adaptation process. In return, it is your
responsibility to swiftly gain expertise and information; we depend on your
efforts to cement our relations with the international community," he added.
Bassil went on to call on the newly appointed diplomats to help Lebanon regain
its position on the international tourism map by means of following up with
concerned Lebanese ministries. "We aim at re-launching quality Lebanese
industrial and agricultural products all across the globe," the Minister added.
CDA Jones Observes Latest
U.S. Military Assistance Delivery
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Chargé d'Affaires a.i. Ambassador Richard H. Jones visited
Beirut Air Base this morning to witness the latest of the continuing deliveries
of U.S. military assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). Today, the
United States provided sophisticated mapping equipment valued at more than $3.6
million that will improve the LAF's ability to plot Lebanon's terrain. The
detailed maps produced by this equipment will enhance the LAF's operational
planning capacity and ability to protect Lebanese troops as they continue to
take decisive action against extremist elements along Lebanon's border.
Today's delivery demonstrates America's sustained commitment to ensure the
Lebanese Armed Forces has the support it needs to be the sole defender of
Lebanese territory. Major U.S. military assistance deliveries over the past year
have included Huey II helicopters, Hellfire missiles, border surveillance
equipment, and ammunition. More deliveries to the LAF are coming soon, to
include artillery systems, armored vehicles, tactical radios, and hundreds of
thousands of rounds of additional ammunition. The U.S. has provided Lebanon over
$1.4 billion in security assistance since 2005.
Azzi: Waste file difficult to
be tackled at Cabinet
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Labor Minister, Sejaan Azzi, confirmed on Tuesday that
"the waste file will not be easy to discuss at the Cabinet this coming
Thursday." "Kataeb ministers will discuss this file with objectivity," he told
the "Voice of Lebanon" radio. Commenting on his visit to Geneva, the minister
said, "it was an occasion to propose Lebanon's case which is the Syrian
displacement in Lebanon." "We have explained for the officials that Lebanon's
situation does not allow more displacement, also that it can't handle Syrian
laborers," he added. The minister said that the odd thing was that the
international officials had the idea that Lebanon wanted financial aid, to take
care of the rest. "I have told them that Lebanon needed the money, but money
cannot be the cause of continuous displacement, because Lebanon cannot afford
three peoples on its land."
Rahi, Shorter tackle overall
situation
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Maronite Patriarch Cardinal Bechara Boutros Rahi met on
Tuesday at Bkirki with the UK Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, with talks
between the pair reportedly touching on the general situation in Lebanon and the
role of the UK in the peace process in the Middle East. Talks also dwelt on
means of assisting Lebanon to confront the grave challenges amidst the crises in
the Middle East. On the other hand, Patriarch Rahi met with a delegation from
the Greek Orthodox Church in Mexico and Chili and another from the Coptic
Orthodox Church.
Hariri to Assad: Syrian People Will
Be Victorious over Hizbullah, Iran
Naharnet/June 07/16/Head of the Mustaqbal Movement MP Saad Hariri remarked on
Tuesday that the Syrian people “will be victorious” against Iran and Hizbullah
in the ongoing conflict in their country.Hariri said via Twitter: “Syrian
President Bashar Assad sought to thank his masters Iran and Hizbullah.”He made
his remarks in wake of a speech Assad made Tuesday before the newly elected
Syrian parliament. “Assad said he wants to liberate the whole of Syria from
terrorism, while he is the greatest terrorist.” “We will see how terrorism will
halt once this criminal leaves Syria because his created the Islamic State group
and its affiliates.”“One thing is certain and it is the Syrian people's victory
because they are justified in their fight,” added Hariri. Assad addressed the
new parliament in a speech broadcast on state television on Tuesday,
congratulating lawmakers on a record turnout in an April general election. "The
Syrian people surprised the world yet again with an unprecedented voter
turnout... and an unprecedented number of candidates," Assad said. The vote was
held in government-controlled areas only, and was dismissed both by the
opposition and internationally as a sham. Syria's conflict began in 2011 with
protests calling for Assad to step down, and several rounds of U.N.-backed peace
talks have failed to bring an end to what has become a complex civil war.
Fighters from Iran and Hizbullah have been supporting regime troops in combating
the revolt.
Future bloc renews holding onto STL,
strong ties with Saudi Arabia
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Future parliamentary bloc renewed on Tuesday its holding
onto the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, "in order to protect the future of the
political life in Lebanon." The bloc convened today in a regular meeting at
Bayt-al-Wassat, under the chairmanship of MP Fouad Siniora; talks reportedly
focused on the current situation in the country. Conferees mainly shone light on
the "huge and important" role played by Saudi Arabia in Lebanon. "The Lebanese
people shall not forget the salient and exceptional contribution of the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia in defending Lebanon's independence, sovereignty, civil peace,
and unique configuration, on all political, security, social, economic, and
financial levels," a statement issued in the wake of the meeting and read out by
MP Mohammad Hajjar read. Lawmakers also renewed cleaving to "the strong
fraternal ties" between the two countries.
Besides, Future bloc did not fail to highlight, once again, the obligation of
electing a new president of the republic.
Hajjar says Hariri will
disclose decisive stances
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Member of Parliament, Mohammad Hajjar, said on Tuesday
that Future Movement Leader, MP Saad Hariri, will be disclosing some important
and decisive stances, especially in the wake of Interior and Municipalities
Minister, Nouhad Mashnouk's fresh stances "which came a bit of a surprise to
Future partisians and members." Interviewed by the Voice of Lebanon radio
station, the lawmaker went on to say that PSP Leader MP Walid Jumblatt's
approval of MP Michel Aoun's presidential candidacy came in the wake of the
approval of other parties that had earlier disproved of the matter; however,
Hajjar made clear that the Future Movement was still committed to its earlier
nomination of Marada Movement leader, Sleiman Frangieh's presidential
nomination. Moreover, Hajjar explained that his party was undergoing some
internal discussions at the organizational level in an attempt to learn from
previous mistakes and start a new stage with a new look.
Bou Saab to NNA: I expect official exams' results to be issued next week
Tue 07 Jun 2016/NNA - Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Elias Bou Saab,
told the National News Agency correspondent reported on Tuesday, that he
expected the results of Brevet exams to be issued next week. He indicated that
correction had started in many regions, noting that work shall be accelerated
owing to informatics.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published
on June 07-08/16
Commander Says Fallujah Liberation
'Days' away
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June
07/16/The commander of Iraq's operation to retake Fallujah from the Islamic
State group said Tuesday victory was days away, but progress was slowed by huge
numbers of bombs and traps. "The security forces are advancing towards central
Fallujah from the southern side but doing so cautiously, to preserve civilian
lives," Lieutenant-General Abdelwahab al-Saadi told AFP. "In the coming days, we
will declare the liberation of Fallujah," said Saadi, overall commander of the
operation launched on May 22-23 to retake the jihadist bastion west of Baghdad.
The Joint Operations Command admitted that progress was being slowed by the
astounding number of improvised explosive devices laid by IS in the city. "There
are tunnels and between 150 and 200 bombs are defused every 100 meters (yards),"
it said in a statement. "Our information is that IS has prepared car bombs which
they are hiding in homes, with the intention of attacking us when we enter," the
operations command said. The Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force, which is
dominated by Shiite militias that have so far operated on the periphery of the
city, warned they would move in if the operation dragged on. Elite forces have
struggled to push deep into Fallujah over the past week, citing both tough
resistance from IS and concern for the plight of an estimated 50,000 trapped
civilians. Close to 20,000 people have fled outlying areas but very few have
been able to slip out of the center, where IS is using them as human shields.
Residents trying to reach the safety of displacement camps set up south of
Fallujah were taking massive risks to cross the Euphrates River. "I saw three
children being put in an open refrigerator so they could cross the river, but it
sank and one of the children, a little girl, couldn't be saved so she died," a
45-year-old survivor told the Norwegian Refugee Council. The International
Rescue Committee said at least four people, three of them children, have drowned
in the Euphrates trying to flee the conflict in recent days. Families desperate
to flee IS-controlled areas have used everything from wardrobes to plastic
containers to try to cross the river.
US, Russia not
teaming up militarily in Syria
AFP, Washington Tuesday, 7 June 2016/The Pentagon is not coordinating militarily
with Russia in northern Syria, even though US- and Moscow-backed forces are
drawing closer together as they make gains against ISIS, a US official said
Monday. Syrian regime forces supported by Russian air power and a US-backed,
Kurdish-led alliance are conducting separate offensives against ISIS across a
broad area to the west of Raqqa, the militants' de facto Syria capital. "In
terms of direct coordination of activities on the ground, that is not
happening," Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.Russian and US military
officials speak regularly to ensure their warplanes are not at risk of bumping
into each other over Syria, but that is the extent of communications in the
war-torn country, Cook added. "We don't see (coordination) as an issue right
now. And if it becomes one, it's certainly something we'll be prepared to
address," Cook said. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights,
Russian-backed government fighters are now within 24 kilometers (15 miles) of
Lake Assad, the key reservoir in the Euphrates Valley contained by the Tabqa
Dam, which is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) west of Raqa. At the same time,
members of a Kurdish-led alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are
now about 60 kilometers (40 miles) north of Raqa, though their immediate focus
is on another city called Manbij that is viewed as a key transit point for ISIS
fighters. Syria's conflict has evolved into a complex war involving foreign
powers since it started in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government
protests. Russia entered the war in support of President Bashar al-Assad last
fall. Peace talks to end the five-year conflict -- which has killed more than
280,000 people and displaced millions -- have stalled and a related ceasefire is
in tatters.
UN: Syrian government still holding up food aid for besieged Daraya
Reuters, Geneva Tuesday, 7 June 2016/The United Nations is still waiting for
Syrian government agreement for an aid convoy to enter the besieged town of
Daraya, UN officials said on Tuesday. "The blockage of aid is a political
issue," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a regular UN briefing in Geneva. "Daraya
is 12 km (7.5 miles) from Damascus, so it can be done but we need the political
go-ahead from the government." Last week Syria's government, under pressure from
its ally Russia and other countries belonging to the International Syria Support
Group overseeing the peace process, allowed the first UN aid convoy into Daraya
since late 2012. It brought baby milk and medical supplies to support an
estimated 4,000 civilians, just in time for Syria to meet a Thursday deadline to
improve aid access or face having aid deliveries imposed by air drops. But the
convoy took no food to Daraya, where the UN has said malnourished children will
die without outside help. UN officials had hoped food would arrive in a second
convoy on Friday, but that was delayed with no government approval. Jens Laerke,
spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said
the government had later given partial approval for the food convoy. "That is
not good enough," he said. "We are reverting to the government."Syria's
opposition says the government approved the first convoy in a cynical ploy to
alleviate international pressure. Bouthaina Shaaban, a top adviser to President
Bashar al-Assad, said last week that "nobody is starving in Daraya", which was
"producing peas and beans and food and wild berries that is enough for the
entire Syria".
Russia’s Putin hosts Israel's
Netanyahu for Syria talks
The Associated Press, Moscow Tuesday, 7 June 2016/Russia and Israel will expand
their cooperation in the fight against terrorism, Russian President Vladimir
Putin said Tuesday. Putin spoke after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in Moscow for talks that focused on boosting bilateral ties and trying
to resolve the situation in Syria. "We talked about the need to take joint
efforts to confront international terrorism," Putin said at a news conference.
"We undoubtedly are allies in that area, and our countries have accumulated a
significant experience in fighting extremism. We will strengthen contacts with
Israeli colleagues in that sphere."Putin said they discussed the situation in
the Middle East and particularly in Syria, where Russia has conducted an air
campaign against those opposing the government. Moscow has coordinated its
action with Israel to prevent any possible incidents between Russian and Israeli
militaries. Netanyahu said he and Putin discussed contacts between the two
nations' militaries in the region "to prevent any incidents, and also to ensure
success in fighting our common enemy: international terrorism." "We had a long
and thorough discussion of the challenge cast to the entire civilized world by
the radical Islamic terrorism," Netanyahu said. Putin hailed the countries' high
level of cooperation and noted Israel's key role in the Middle East. He added
that Israeli citizens with origins in Russia and other former Soviet nations are
helping bring Russia and Israel closer. Netanyahu echoed Putin's words, saying
Russian-speaking Israeli citizens form a "living bridge" between the two
nations. Russia and Israel will further develop economic and trade ties, the two
leaders said. Netanyahu thanked Putin for handing over an Israeli tank captured
by Syrian forces in the 1982 war in Lebanon. The tank had ended up in a museum
outside Moscow. It crew of three is listed as missing in action. "I would like
to thank you on behalf of our country and its people for that gesture of
goodwill," the Israeli leader told Putin. "It reflects close ties between our
nations."
Residents Flee IS-held Syria
Town as U.S.-backed Forces Close in
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Thousands of civilians on Tuesday fled
a key town along the Islamic State group's supply lifeline in northern Syria as
US-backed fighters closed in from three sides. The offensive on the town of
Manbij is one of two major assaults on the jihadist supply line from the
Syrian-Turkish border to IS's bastion of Raqa. The Syrian Democratic Forces
alliance began its offensive against Manbij just over a week ago, crossing the
Euphrates River and pushing west towards the town. "We have surrounded Manbij
from three sides and operations are progressing well," said Sherfan Darwish, who
is leading the SDF offensive. "Every day, we are liberating villages and the
only route open to IS now is towards Aleppo city" to the west, Darwish told
Agence France Presse by phone. vernight, SDF forces edged to within five
kilometres (three miles) of Manbij from the north, the Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights monitor said.SDF fighters had pushed to within two kilometres of
the town to the south and around seven kilometres to the east. "Daesh has begun
allowing civilians to flee towards the west, whereas before they had banned
anyone from leaving," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said, using an Arabic
acronym for IS. He said some were in cars but many were carrying their
belongings and walking along unpaved roads as IS fighters remained in the -
Vital supply route -Manbij, in Syria's border province of Aleppo, had a pre-war
population of about 120,000 -- mostly Arabs, but about a quarter Syrian Kurds.
IS overran the town in early 2014, just months before gaining international
infamy by declaring a cross-border "caliphate" in Iraq and Syria. The "Manbij
pocket" was the only remaining section of territory used by IS to smuggle
recruits or funds from Turkey across the border. The US-led coalition battling
IS in Iraq and Syria has carried out heavy air strikes to support the fight for
Manbij. The IS supply route leads from Jarabulus on the border south through
Manbij and winds southeast along the Euphrates through the town of Tabqa and on
to Raqa city. Washington, which has more than 200 special forces troops deployed
to back the SDF, has said some 3,000 Arab fighters are taking part in the
assault, supported by around 500 Kurds. The Observatory has said that of the
4,000 fighters it estimates are taking part, most are actually Kurdish. The SDF
advance on Manbij has cut the route to Jarabulus to the north and to Raqa
province to the south, Darwish told AFP. Tabqa, another IS-held transit town
which also lies near Syria's largest dam, is also under attack on two fronts.
SDF fighters began advancing on Tabqa last week, but are still 60 kilometres (40
miles) away from the riverside town. - IS reinforces Tabqa -Russian-backed
regime fighters have steadily advanced from the town's southwest, and are just
over 30 kilometres away, a Syrian military source told AFP. "We are at the Abu
Al-Alaj point, and have blocked a Daesh counter-offensive on our military
positions," the source said. He said government forces had not seized any new
territory there over the past 24 hours as they seek to reinforce positions they
already hold. The Observatory said on Tuesday IS had sent a convoy of weapons
and about 100 fighters to reinforce Tabqa in preparation for a major battle
there. As fighting for Tabqa and Manbij intensifies, it appears the battle for
IS's de facto capital of Raqa city -- which would be a much more symbolic
victory -- has taken a backseat. The US-backed SDF's offensive north of the Raqa
last month began amid much fanfare, but progress appears to have slowed. Syria's
conflict has evolved into a complex war involving foreign powers since starting
in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests. Peace talks to
end the five-year war -- which has killed more than 280,000 people and displaced
millions -- have stalled and a related ceasefire is in tatters. Meanwhile, the
toll in a wave of air strikes on a market in eastern Syria has risen to 37
civilians, including 11 children, the Observatory said on Tuesday. The strikes
hit a popular market on Monday in the IS-held town of Al-Asharah in Deir Ezzor
province. On the domestic political front, President Bashar Assad addressed the
new parliament on Tuesday and congratulated MPs on a record turnout in an April
general election. The vote was held in government-controlled areas only, and was
dismissed both by the opposition and internationally as a sham.
Syria's Assad Hardens Position in Address to Parliament
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Syrian President Bashar Assad hardened
his position on U.N.-sponsored peace talks in his first address to the newly
elected parliament broadcast on state television on Tuesday. "We will not agree
to any topic outside the statement of principles we presented to the U.N. We
just won't accept it," Assad told lawmakers. The document submitted by the
government delegation stresses that Syria will be ruled by a "unity government"
-- not a "transitional governing body" without Assad as called for by the
opposition. Assad said he had received no response from the U.N. regarding this
paper and that in the government's eyes, "the negotiations have not actually
started". He was addressing lawmakers for the first time since an April general
election in government-controlled areas that was dismissed internationally as a
sham. "The Syrian people surprised the world yet again with an unprecedented
voter turnout... and an unprecedented number of candidates," Assad said. Syria's
conflict began in 2011 with protests calling for Assad to step down, and several
rounds of U.N.-backed peace talks have failed to bring an end to what has become
a complex civil war. In February, the United States and regime ally Russia
brokered a ceasefire between government forces and non-jihadist rebels in an
effort to bolster the peace negotiations. The ceasefire has allowed Syria's
armed forces to focus on key fronts, Assad said, including the historic city of
Palmyra -- where regime forces backed by Russia defeated the Islamic State
jihadist group in March. "As we liberated Palmyra, so shall we liberate every
inch of Syria... we have no choice but victory," he said to applause from
lawmakers. It was unclear if the speech was broadcast live or pre-recorded
earlier this week. Assad's last address to parliament was in June 2012, just
after general elections in May of that year.
Bomb Attack on Police Kills
11 in Istanbul
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Turkish police detained four people in
a hunt for the perpetrators of a car bombing in central Istanbul Tuesday that
killed seven police and four civilians, state media said. The third attack in
Turkey's biggest city within six months targeted a bus transporting anti-riot
police in Beyazit district, close to many of the city's top tourist sites,
Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin said on Turkish television. Thirty-six people were
wounded, three of them seriously, he added. The four suspects were taken to
police headquarters in Istanbul for interrogation, state-run Anatolia agency
said, without providing further information. There was no early claim of
responsibility, but President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested the outlawed
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was behind the attack. For the PKK to target
major cities such as Istanbul "is nothing new," he said after visiting the
injured at an Istanbul hospital. "We will fight against terrorists relentlessly
to the end."In a statement from his office later, Erdogan also vowed the
culprits would "pay the price for the blood they shed."Kurdish militants have
repeatedly targeted Turkey's security forces, but Islamic State (IS) jihadists
have also staged attacks around the country, including in Istanbul, in the past
year. Reports said the explosion took place close to Vezneciler metro station,
within walking distance of some of the city's main tourist sites including the
Grand Bazaar and Suleymaniye Mosque. The blast reduced the police vehicle to
mangled wreckage and windows in nearby shops were shattered. Reports said that
shots were heard afterwards.The attack occurred outside the upscale Celal Aga
Konagi Hotel, a converted Ottoman mansion that is favored by foreign tourists.
The 16th-century Sehzade Mosque -- considered one of the greatest masterpieces
of Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan -- was also damaged by the force of the
explosion. Television footage showed its windows blown out and debris littering
the floor.Loudspeakers on mosques warned people to vacate the area, after which
a controlled explosion was carried out on a suspect vehicle.
Security summit
Erdogan, who flew back to Ankara later in the day, chaired a security summit at
the presidential palace, with several ministers as well as the top army general
and spy chief. French President Francois Hollande condemned the attack as an
"intolerable act of violence" that should strengthen common resolve to fight
terrorism. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin was "on the side of
Turkey in the fight against terrorism" and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also
expressed solidarity. U.S. Ambassador to Ankara John Bass said in a Twitter
message: "Such senseless violence could never be rationalized by any cause."
The United States will "continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Turkey in
the fight against terrorism," Bass said. EU foreign policy chief Federica
Mogherini also reaffirmed support. Tuesday's bombing, which occurred on the
second day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, is the latest in a string of
attacks that have rattled citizens and damaged tourism. Two blasts in Ankara
claimed by the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (TAK) -- a radical splinter group of
the better-known PKK -- earlier this year claimed dozens of lives. Last month,
at least eight people including soldiers were wounded by a remotely-detonated
car bomb targeting a military vehicle in Istanbul that was claimed by the PKK.
Turkey has stepped up its military campaign against the Kurdish rebels in the
southeast of the country and in neighboring Iraq. Warplanes dropped bombs on PKK
targets in northern Iraq Monday night, Turkish media reported. On January 12, a
dozen German tourists were killed in a bombing in the heart of Istanbul's
tourist district blamed on Islamic State. Two months later, three Israelis and
an Iranian were killed in a bombing on Istanbul's main Istiklal shopping street
which was also blamed on IS. Turkey, a member of NATO and the U.S.-led
anti-jihadist coalition, has responded defiantly to the attacks, vowing to
overcome the threat both from the PKK and Islamic State. The Kurdish militants
have in turn threatened more attacks.
Tourism industry hit
The violence has had a devastating effect on the tourism industry, with the
latest attack coming at the worst possible time, at the outset of the key summer
season. Some 1.75 million foreigners came to Turkey in April, down more than 28
percent on April 2015, the tourism ministry said in its latest release. The fall
was the steepest monthly decrease for 17 years and raised fresh concerns about
the health of the industry. Britain has urged its citizens to avoid all but
essential travel to Turkey's southeast and to remain vigilant in crowded places
popular with tourists. The U.S. embassy in Turkey in April warned of "credible
threats" to tourist areas in Istanbul and the resort city of Antalya, especially
in public squares and docks.
Controversy Deepens over
French Tycoon's Payments to Netanyahu
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Controversy over contributions to
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by a French tycoon on trial for fraud
deepened on Tuesday after the Frenchman disputed the premier's version of
events. With the issue receiving widespread coverage in Israel and the country's
attorney general examining it, Netanyahu acknowledged on Monday that Arnaud
Mimran, currently on trial in Paris, had given him $40,000. Netanyahu said
however that all had been done according to the law, and that the 2001
contribution was not political and occurred when he was not in public office.The
prime minister's office said the money was for a fund for Netanyahu's public
activities, which included media appearances and travel abroad to promote
Israel. A political contribution of that size would exceed Israel's campaign
finance limits. Mimran told Israel's Channel 10 television late on Monday that
the amount was actually some 170,000 euros ($193,000), transferred to
Netanyahu's personal account. He also said that previous reports that he had
contributed one million euros were incorrect. "First of all, I never said one
million euros; I said one million," Mimran said in the interview.
"It was in 2001, so it was one million French francs -– 170,000 euros. I still
have the bank statements, from Arnauld Mimran, my personal account, to Benjamin
Netanyahu, his personal account." Mimran also said in the interview that he had
financed trips to France for Netanyahu and his family, after the Israeli leader
had already returned to politics. Following the interview, Netanyahu's lawyer
David Shimron dismissed Mimran's claims."The exact sum transferred by Mr Arnaud
Mimran is $40,000," Shimron said via a spokesman for Netanyahu's Likud party.
"The money was wired via a bank transfer to the fund's account on 24.8.2001.
"All the claims being levelled at Mr Netanyahu and inflated by the media will be
shown to be unfounded and baseless," Shimron said. Netanyahu left the prime
minister's office in 1999 after being defeated by Labour's Ehud Barak. In 2002,
he became foreign minister in then-prime minister Ariel Sharon's government. He
also lost the Likud primary to Sharon in 2002. Mimran is one of the main
defendants in a trial in Paris over an alleged scam amounting to 283 million
euros involving the trade of carbon emissions permits and the taxes on them. The
tycoon's allegations against Netanyahu are the latest focused on his spending.
Last month, the Israeli state comptroller issued a critical report on
Netanyahu's foreign trips, some with his wife and children, in 2003-05 when he
was finance minister. "Trips by Mr. Netanyahu and his family, funded by external
bodies during the period in which he served as finance minister, deviated from
regulations on the subject and as such could give the appearance of obtaining a
benefit or of a conflict of interest," the report said.
Permits Approved for 82
Settler Homes in East Jerusalem, Says NGO
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Building permits have been approved for
82 settler homes in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem under a plan that previously
drew strong criticism from the United States, an NGO said Tuesday. The 82 units
in two buildings are part of plans announced in 2010 to build 1,600 settler
homes in Ramat Shlomo, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem.
The 2010 announcement came as U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Israel,
provoking fierce American opposition and souring relations with Washington for
months. Israeli NGO Ir Amim, which opposes settlement construction, announced on
Tuesday that permits had been approved for part of the plans. "On Monday, June
6, the Jerusalem Local Planning and Building Committee approved two building
permits for 82 housing units in Ramat Shlomo," it said in a statement. Jerusalem
city officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Settlements
are considered illegal under international law and a major stumbling block to
peace efforts since they are built on land Palestinians see as part of their
future state. Palestinians see east Jerusalem as the capital of their future
independent state, while Israelis see all of Jerusalem as their capital. Last
week in Paris, representatives from 28 countries, the Arab League, European
Union and United Nations met to discuss ways of restarting Israeli-Palestinian
peace efforts. The participants agreed that "the status quo is unsustainable"
and voiced "alarm" at the situation on the ground, citing continuing acts of
violence and Jewish settlement building. "This is Israel's response to the Paris
peace summit," Palestine Liberation Organization secretary-general Saeb Erekat
said in a statement. He said the approvals serve "as yet another reminder to the
international community to hold Israel liable for the crimes it continues to
commit against the land and people of Palestine." Some 2.8 million Palestinians
live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem in near constant tension with
some 600,000 Israeli settlers.
Egypt puts former auditor on trial
for exposing corruption
The Associated Press, Cairo
Tuesday, 7 June 2016/Egypt's former top auditor who exposed massive corruption
in the country has gone on trial on charges that include spreading "false
news."Hisham Genena, himself a former judge, has appeared before the Cairo
Criminal Court but reporters were barred from the hearings. Charges against him
also include "disturbing" the country's security. During Tuesday's brief
session, Genena's lawyers asked for an adjournment in order to have more time to
study the case. Last December, Genena went public, saying that corruption is
costing the country billions of dollars.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi later dismissed him, capping a series of
measures critics say were aimed at sacking the chief auditor after speaking up
against corruption.
Genena was detained for a day earlier in June but released after his family paid
bail.
Egypt Condemns 25 to Death
over Tribal Clashes
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/An Egyptian court sentenced 25 men to
death on Tuesday for taking part in tribal clashes two years ago that left 28
dead, court officials said. Of 164 people on trial, 21 received life sentences,
equivalent to 25 years, over the deadly clashes in the southern province of
Aswan. Tribal vendettas are common in Egypt's poor, rural south, but the clashes
over two days in early April 2014 were the deadliest in several years, according
to police. Long-standing rivalry between the Bani Hilal, an Arab tribe, and the
Dabudiya, a Nubian family, flared after a man from one camp sexually harassed a
woman from the other. The two sides had sought to dampen tensions with a
reconciliation meeting, but it degenerated into a firefight, leaving three Bani
Hilal members dead. The following day, men from Bani Hilal went to take revenge
and fighting broke out, leaving a further 25 dead and around 100 injured on both
sides. Eventually the army intervened to stop the fighting. Eighteen others were
sentenced to between two and 15-year prison terms, while the remaining 100
defendants were acquitted. The men sentenced to death were convicted of murder,
attempted murder and arson, the court officials said.
The court issued its verdict after consulting the mufti of Egypt, who is
responsible for interpreting Islamic law for the authorities. His opinions are
not binding and he generally endorses death sentences issued by the courts. The
trial was held in another southern province, Assiut, for security reasons. All
those sentenced can appeal.
U.N. Removes Saudi-Led
Coalition from Child Rights Blacklist
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/The United Nations on Monday removed
the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen from a blacklist of child rights
violators after Riyadh angrily protested the decision. Saudi Arabia had demanded
that a U.N. report be "corrected" after it concluded that the coalition was
responsible for 60 percent of the 785 children killed in Yemen last year. U.N.
Secretary General Ban Ki-moon agreed to a Saudi proposal to review the facts and
cases cited in the report jointly with the coalition, his spokesman Stephan
Dujarric said."Pending the conclusions of the joint review, the
secretary-general removes the listing of the coalition in the report's annex,"
he added. Saudi Ambassador Abdullah al-Mouallimi told reporters that the
coalition felt "vindicated," declaring that the removal of the coalition from
the list was "final and unconditional." The ambassador had earlier said he was
"deeply disappointed" by the report, describing the number of child deaths
blamed on the coalition as "wildly exaggerated."Mouallimi met with U.N. Deputy
Secretary-General Jan Eliasson at U.N. headquarters to discuss the listing. The
coalition launched an air campaign in support of Yemen's President Abedrabbo
Mansour Hadi in March 2015 to push back Huthi rebels after they seized the
capital Sanaa and many parts of the country. The war has left some 6,400 people
dead, with more than 80 percent of the population in desperate need of
humanitarian aid, according to the U.N. The report was released Thursday as the
United Nations sought progress in talks held in Kuwait to try to end the
war.Mouallimi had warned that adding the coalition to the U.N. blacklist would
be "counterproductive for the purposes of the peace negotiations on Yemen."
Child fighters handed over
The ambassador acknowledged that "there were some collateral damages from time
to time" but that the coalition had played a "positive role" in restoring
Yemen's legitimate government and providing humanitarian aid. Dujarric earlier
defended the report, saying some adjustments would be made even though the list
would remain intact. But just a few hours later, the spokesman issued a
statement announcing that the coalition would be removed from the list pending
the review. In Riyadh, the coalition said on Tuesday that it handed over 52
children to Yemeni authorities after they were caught fighting with the rebels
along the borders with the kingdom. The children were captured while planting
landmines, the coalition said in a statement carried by the official SPA news
agency. It said the repatriation was "coordinated with international
organizations" including the Red Cross and UNICEF.
Rights groups have repeatedly raised concerns about the heavy civilian toll from
the Saudi-led campaign. Human Rights Watch charged that Ban had capitulated to
Saudi pressure, noting that the United Nations itself had extensively documented
the coalition's airstrikes on schools and hospitals in Yemen. "As this list
gives way to political manipulation, it loses its credibility and taints the
secretary-general's legacy on human rights," HRW's deputy director Philippe
Bolopion said. Amnesty International also slammed what it called the "shameful
pandering" to the Saudi-led coalition. "It is unprecedented for the U.N. to bow
to pressure to alter its own published report on children in armed conflict,"
the head of Amnesty's U.N. office Richard Bennett said in a statement.
Jordan King Pledges Action
after Intelligence Officers Killed
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/June 07/16/Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed on
Tuesday to act decisively against anyone who threatens the kingdom's security, a
day after a lone gunman shot dead five intelligence officers. "Jordan will act
with all firmness and force against anyone seeking to undermine its security,"
he said on a visit to the headquarters of the intelligence services, according
to a statement from the royal palace. "National unity is the weapon we will use
to thwart all plans that aim to disrupt stability and cohesion," the king said,
adding that the country would not be weakened by "the terrorist acts of
traitors".Earlier, the authorities imposed a media blackout on information about
Monday's attack that killed the five security officers, the official Petra news
agency reported. It said the sweeping ban covered not only traditional media
such as newspapers and broadcasters, but also Internet sites and social media
networks. The blackout came just hours after the government spokesman said a
suspect had been arrested following the shooting at the Palestinian refugee camp
of Baqaa, north of Amman. The five officers had been starting their shift when a
gunman struck at their office in the largest of the kingdom's 10 official
Palestinian refugee camps. "Investigations are under way but early indications
are that this was an isolated and individual act," government spokesman Mohammed
Momani said, announcing the arrest but without identifying the suspect, a
Jordanian in his 20s. Presenting his condolences to intelligence chief Faisal
al-Shubaki, the king welcomed the swift arrest of a suspect. There has been no
claim of responsibility for the shooting, which came on the first day of the
Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan. Jordan is a leading member of the US-led
coalition fighting the Islamic State group in neighboring Iraq and Syria, and
has been the target of jihadist attacks in the past.
Iran regime airs propaganda
clip to recruit Afghans to fight in Syria
Tuesday, 07 June 2016NCRI - Iran's regime has released a new promotional video
clip aimed at recruiting Afghan nationals to join the war in Syria in support of
Bashar al-Assad's regime. The six-minute clip has been produced and broadcast by
the state television channel Ofogh TV (www.ofoghtv.ir). Among the state media
agencies that have shown and distributed the clip is the Fars news agency,
affiliated to the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). It
has been dedicated to the “unsung heroes of the earth, the renowned of the
skies, and the combatants of the Fatemiyoun Divison,” and includes scenes of a
man from Afghanistan glossing over photos of Afghans who have died in the Syrian
conflict. He is encouraged by a young boy and girl into going to the war
front.He then changes into army uniform in front of a picture of the Iranian
regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and wears the Fatemiyoun militia emblem on
his arm and joins the war. Throughout the clip, another man sings a propaganda
song with Afghan lyrics as part of the recruitment drive to encourage Afghans to
take part in the war.
The lyrics say in part: “To the raging enemy we are the sharp sword. We are from
the Islamic nation and the country of Afghanistan. We are the mentors of
conviction and we are the adherents of the Quran. We are the heirs to the blood,
the heirs to the martyrs. We will fill the world with the resonance of our
fight, of our steadfastness and firmness, and of our will and determination.”A
headband is seen being placed upon the forehead of a teenage recruit, reading
“Defender of the Holy Shrine.” Iran’s regime describes its involvement in the
Syrian war as an attempt to “defend the sacred shrines.” This is while most of
the Iranian regime's casualties are in the Aleppo region which is almost 300
kilometers away from the holy Shiite shrines near Damascus.
According to intelligence recently obtained by the network of the opposition
People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK) from within the IRGC,
Tehran has deployed more than 70,000 of its Revolutionary Guards, Regular Army
units and foreign militias to fight for Assad in Syria. Among them are between
15,000 and 20,000 members of the Fatemiyoun, an Afghan militia recruited by the
IRGC Quds Force.
Commenting on the new propaganda clip in the Iranian regime's state media
recruiting Afghans for the Syrian civil war, Shahin Gobadi of the Foreign
Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran on Tuesday said:
“Syria has turned into a total quagmire and strategic impasse for the Iranian
regime. Ali Khamenei, the regime’s supreme leader, views an end to Assad’s rule
as a red line for the survival of the clerical regime. While the Iranian youths
refrain from taking part in this criminal war, Khamenei is left with no choice
but to dispatch his veteran IRGC forces and commanders to Syria, even though up
to 50 IRGC Brigadier Generals have been killed in Syria so far. He is also
trying to deploy more troops to the war front, and dispatch more of his
non-Iranian mercenaries, in particular Afghan refugees as cannon fodder.”
“Despite all of his crimes and mobilization of all of the military, financial,
and propaganda capabilities of the regime, there has been no breakthrough.
Instead the Iranian regime’s casualties are steadily rising and this has led to
scorn for the regime and its isolation even among Afghan refugees in Iran to a
point where Khamenei personally met with the families of the regime’s Afghan
mercenaries who were killed in Syria to boost their morale on March 28.”
Following a series of major defeats and high casualties in recent months, Iran's
fundamentalist regime has found it increasingly difficult to recruit Iranian
units to fight in Syria and has instead embarked on a major drive to mobilize
Afghan refugees living in Iran for this purpose using various tactics including
threating them with execution.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said on April 8: “Qods Force
offices in Tehran, as well as its offices in Iran’s eastern regions, employ
enticement or coercion to compel Afghans residing in Iran to register to go to
Syria. The IRGC abuses the extreme poverty of Afghan nationals and their need to
attain legal documents to have them go to Syria. In many cases Afghan prisoners
or those with death sentences are pardoned if they volunteer to fight in Syria.”
In April, a top IRGC general acknowledged that the Iranian regime is burying its
Afghan mercenaries who have died fighting to keep Assad in power as incognitos
in Iran’s cemeteries. The unceremonious burials are thought to be taking place
in order to cover up the high number of casualties that the IRGC’s Afghan
recruits have suffered.
Gen. Saeed Qassemi, a senior IRGC commander, was quoted on April 9 by the
state-run Shaeed News website as saying that in one case in March, some 28
Afghan mercenaries of the IRGC Quds Force who were killed in Syria were buried
in Tehran as incognitos.
According to official statistics published by the regime, there are at least
1.49 million Afghan refugees in Iran. Of these, between 800,000 and 1 million
are without documents and IDs and are unemployed. According to the regulations
of the Interior Ministry, the Afghans residing in Iran cannot own property and
they have no personal or legal identity. They live not only under the poverty
line, but under the “survival” line. In such circumstances, the regime
established the Fatemiyoun militia under IRGC Quds Force supervision to recruit
and dispatch Afghans to Syria. The Afghan force started as a battalion, then
grew into a brigade, and later became a division. According to a February 5
report by the NCRI, quoting information provided by the PMOI, the IRGC's Afghan
recruits are taken to Quds Force training garrisons to receive two to four weeks
of basic military training. Once they complete their training, they receive
around $500. They are subsequently dispatched to Syria in groups of 200 which
later are organized in Fatemiyoun Divisions. They are flown to Damascus Airport
by Mahan Airline that belongs to the IRGC. Once in Syria, they are first taken
to visit the shrines of Zeinab and Roqiya and they are then sent to different
fronts. Their missions last for 60 days and all of their commanders and trainers
are from the IRGC. The high number of casualties among Afghan forces and the
Iranian regime’s lack of support to the families of those killed or injured in
Syria has raised much discontent among Afghans that are sent to Syria and their
families. Therefore many Afghans living in Iran are no longer willing to go to
Syria to fight, leaving the Iranian regime short of much needed forces to prop
up Assad.
IRAN: Telecom personnel in
Fars, Lorestan protest non-payment of deferred salaries
Tuesday, 07 June 2016/NCRI - A group of telecommunication industry personnel in
the province of Lorestan, western Iran, gathered outside the governorate on
Monday, June 6, to protest non-payment of their deferred salaries and benefits
as well as non-implementation of a new job classification scheme.
“We protest against the postponement of our salaries in this recession, and more
importantly, non-implementation of the legislation regarding job classification
in Lorestan’s telecommunication sector,” one of the protesters said, according
to the state-run Tabnak News Agency in Lorestan Province.
Another protester said: “It is necessary and appropriate that the governor of
the city take action to solve the problems of the personnel’s salaries and
benefits as well as implementation of the job classification scheme in order to
motivate and encourage the Telecommunication staff to provide optimal service to
citizens.”Also on Monday, the state-run ILNA news agency reported that a protest
gathering of the retired workers of Iran’s Telecommunication Industry (ITI) in
Shiraz, southern Iran, still continues. On Sunday night, the retired workers
gathered in the courtyard of this industry and called for the presence of their
trusted representatives at the meeting of the Labor Commission in Fars Province
on Monday. According to ILNA, one of the retired workers said: “The Labor
Commission in Fars Province is going to have a meeting to address the problems
of 300 retired workers of this factory. The demonstrators are demanding their
guild representatives be allowed to attend this meeting.”“What exacerbated the
concerns of the workers who participated in last night’s gathering is that the
meeting may be held without the participation of workers' representatives,” he
added. The retired worker continued: “In the past, neither the authorities nor
the administrators of the retired and employed workers’ guild unions in Fars
Province were able to give specific answer to my colleagues and I about the fate
of our outstanding claims.”The retired ITI workers have been rallying
continuously since May 24, demanding receipt of their unpaid wages. Retired
workers have said that the employer claims that lack of financial resources is
the reason for failing to fulfill their legal obligations regarding the
outstanding and unpaid wages, but the workers are tired of this situation and
have vowed to continue their gatherings until their demands are met.
11 million Iranians lack access to
basic services
Tuesday, 07 June 2016/NCRI
- The Iranian regime’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli admitted on
Monday, June 6, in a session of parliament: “There are 11 million people who
live in shantytowns in Iran, three million of whom live on the outskirts of
Tehran, Mashhad and Ahwaz.”Fazli said: “We have about 2.7 million people in
marginalized neighborhoods, which is a problem that can threaten the country;
and the government must monitor their condition and be more watchful about
changes in the communities.”He also made reference to the regime’s inadequate
budgeting system, saying: “"Allocation and distribution of resources in Iran is
done according to population and activity which ultimately leads to places like
Tehran attracting more than 52 percent of the resources, leaving areas such as
Sistan and Baluchistan or Ilam short on resources.”Fazli also commented on the
acute issue of unemployment. “About 3.5 million people are unemployed in the
country and its distribution is not balanced and normal,” he explained. “There
are areas across the country where more than 60% of people are unemployed, and
we should note that an unemployment rate of over 50 or 60 percent can cause
irreparable social damage.”Other officials of the mullahs’ regime have
previously admitted that the true unemployment figure in Iran is far greater.
The state-run Shahrvand newspaper previously reported that in 2014 there were 15
million people living in sparsely populated areas, beyond the reach of civil
services. “Six years ago, nine million people were living in the outskirt areas
and now there are 15 million,” Shahrvand noted. “According to an announcement by
the Director of the Office of Empowerment and Organization of Informal
Settlements, which was based on studies conducted in 77 cities on people living
in the outskirt areas, it is predicted that the country's marginalized
population has reached 15 million who are deprived of appropriate facilities and
municipal services.”
Protest in Canada: No
to executions and torture in Iran
Monday, 06 June 2016/NCRI – Freedom-loving Iranians and supporters of the
Iranian Resistance in Canada staged demonstrations on Saturday, June 4 in the
center of Toronto as well as in front of the federal parliament in Ottawa to
protest the rising tide of executions and the grave human rights violations in
Iran. The participants announced their solidarity with political prisoners in
the Iranian regime’s dungeons and called for condemnation of the mullahs'
inhuman regime by the international community and the United Nations.
Canada to welcome European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and
Security Policy
June 7, 2016 - Ottawa, Ontario - Global Affairs Canada
The Honourable Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today announced that
Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union (EU) for Foreign
Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission, will
make an official visit to Canada on June 8 and 9, 2016. On June 8, Minister Dion
will meet High Representative Mogherini for the first Transatlantic Dialogue
conference since 2012. On June 9, High Representative Mogherini will meet with
the Honourable John McCallum, Minister of Immigration, Citizenship and Refugees,
and the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of International Trade, as well
as with members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International
Development. During their meeting, Minister Dion and High Representative
Mogherini will discuss their mutual commitment to seeing the Canada-EU
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and the Strategic Partnership
Agreement (SPA) signed at the Canada-EU Leaders’ Summit, scheduled for October
27, 2016, in Brussels, Belgium. They will also discuss the international
security environment and the challenge posed to Europe by the ongoing migration
crisis. Minister Dion will update High Representative Mogherini on Canada’s
re-engagement on climate change and approach to human rights, as delivered
through the Office of Human Rights, Freedoms and Inclusion. The Canada-EU
relationship is based upon shared values and interests, as well as a long
history of close cooperation through centuries of people-to-people ties. The EU,
with its 28 member states, is Canada’s second-largest trade and investment
partner and a key ally on many foreign policy and security issues.
Quotes
“I look forward to welcoming High Representative Federica Mogherini to Canada to
take part in the Transatlantic Dialogue and to engage in discussions with my
Cabinet colleagues. This is an excellent opportunity for Canada to further
deepen its strategic partnership with the European Union and to advance our
common economic and political interests for the benefit of all Canadians.
- Stéphane Dion, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“Our work on CETA should leave no doubt about our commitment to free and open
trade. CETA’s entry into force will deepen our trade and investment ties with
the EU as a whole. It will offer significant opportunities for citizens and
businesses on both sides of the Atlantic. Canada and the EU are firmly committed
to having CETA enter into force as early as possible so Canadians and Europeans
can take full advantage of its benefits.”
- Hon. Chrystia Freeland, P.C., M.P., Minister of International Trade
Associated links
Mission of Canada to the European Union
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from miscellaneous sources published on June 07-08/16
A few Russian concessions
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
Russia has begun marketing a peaceful solution for Syria that would include the
opposition. This is the first time it has done so since getting militarily
involved in the war alongside the Syrian and Iranian regimes. The negative is
that it wants to keep Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. As such, this is a bad
solution that will fail because the opposition rejects Assad. Can Moscow develop
its ideas to allow negotiators to reach a solution?It has been half a year since
Russia entered the war with its most advanced weapons. It has not achieved much
in terms of its promise to deter Assad’s enemies, as even Aleppo – which it had
pledged to liberate – is still mostly controlled by the opposition. Assad’s
forces and their ally Hezbollah have achieved progress on the ground but not
decisive victories, and there is nothing on the horizon to suggest there will
be. The regime’s progress is not due to Russia or Iran, but to pressures on
Turkey, which has had to close routes used for the movement of armed men and the
provision of funds.This has led to a decrease in support provided by countries
backing the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other armed groups. Nonetheless, the
opposition still controls a third of Syria, the regime controls less than a
third, and terrorist groups control about a third.Making concessions to Moscow
will mean making concessions to Tehran in the entire region, not just in Syria
Losses
Last month, Russia suffered its first painful defeat when some of its
helicopters and a logistical depot in its military base between Aleppo and
Palmyra were destroyed. Moscow denied the incident, but intelligence firm
Stratfor published photos of the extent of the destruction following the attack.
It is an important development that confirms the high cost of the war for
everyone, not just for the Syrian people, who are being randomly barrel-bombed
by an unaccountable regime.Assad’s three major allies – Russia, Iran and
Hezbollah – have come to realize that victory in Syria is impossible without a
political solution. However, they face two problems. The first is their
inability to progress because most Syrians are against the regime, so supporting
it will not achieve permanent control on the ground even if they do achieve some
victories. The second problem is the longer they fight, the greater their
losses.
Exit strategy
Russia’s acceptance
of a political solution that includes the opposition is Moscow’s and Tehrans’
exit strategy, but it will not be achieved without making real concessions.
Meanwhile, Washington has assumed the role of referee, and hopes the game will
end with a tie, or President Barack Obama’s presidential term ends without
political losses in Syria.The crisis will be passed on to his successor. Russia
is increasing pressure on Washington as it aims to expand the scope of its
military targets after failing to produce victories. We must not be distracted
from the core of the conflict, which is Iranian expansion in the region that
aims to control Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. This cannot only be addressed by a
solution that pleases the Russians in Damascus. Making concessions to Moscow
will mean making concessions to Tehran in the entire region, not just in Syria.
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on June 7, 2016.
What a Hillary Clinton
nomination means for the Middle East
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
With the announcement of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the
presumptive nominee for the Democratic Party after scoring the 2383 magic
number, her foreign policy record will be at the core of the general elections
debate between now and November 8th. Hillary Clinton has been labeled as
“hawkish” and military-driven in the Middle East, but in reality she is neither
and will likely pursue a centrist approach closer to Presidents George H. Bush,
Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and to some aspects of the Barack Obama doctrine. As
Secretary of State from 2009-2013, Clinton signed on to the withdrawal from Iraq
in 2011, opened the door to talks with the Taliban, started secret negotiations
with Iran, helped broker a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, drove the NATO
air intervention in Libya, and led people-to-people initiatives across the
region. These positions, especially the military disentanglement from Iraq,
opposition to ground troops in Syria or Libya, and readiness to talk with the
Taliban and negotiate with Iran, dismantle the narrative of labeling Hillary
Clinton a hawk or as a militaristic figure in approaching the Middle East.
Not a hawk
Political labels have unfortunately come to define and frame the policy debate
around the 2016 candidates, often accompanied with slogans, inaccurate
characterizations that have become a substitute for a real conversation. These
labels were flawed in portraying Obama as an anti-war candidate in 2008, as his
legacy will be associated with the highest use of drone attacks, an intervention
in Libya, and an extension of the war in Afghanistan. The business of labeling
is also off the mark in viewing Hillary Clinton as a hawk and interpreting her
positions in binary terms on the Middle East. Those hoping for a return of the
George W. Bush neoconservative wing in a Hillary Clinton Presidency or for a
verbatim continuation of the Barack Obama policy, will likely be disappointed.
Hillary Clinton’s record from voting for the war on Iraq to supporting the
intervention in Libya is almost identical to her successor Secretary of State
John Kerry, who sponsored as Senator a resolution supporting the Libyan war and
along with Vice President Joseph Biden voted the Iraq war. Yet, only one of them
is regarded as a “hawk”, and viewed in militaristic terms on foreign policy.
Clinton’s close relation with the US military and former Secretaries of Defense
Robert Gates and Leon Panetta, should not be equivalent to a militaristic policy
approach in the Middle East. Her objection to sending troops to Iraq, Syria and
Libya, and strong embrace of the Iran nuclear deal, puts her at a similar
footing as Obama. While she holds a more aggressive stance in confronting
Russia’s and Iran’s behavior in Syria, Iraq and Eastern Europe, Clinton is
nowhere close to the neoconservative school of thinking that rejects both the
Iran nuclear deal and the START treaty with Russia. During Obama’s first term,
Clinton was branded as the “designated yeller” at Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu, and someone who confronted his foreign minister Avigdor
Lieberman in calling publicly for settlement freeze. While her campaign rhetoric
is strongly pro-Israel, her positions on rejecting settlement expansion and
opposing moving the US embassy to Jerusalem make her more of a traditionalist
than a hawk on this issue. Clinton’s approach of “smart power” in conducting
foreign policy predicts a centrist and pragmatic strategy abroad if she were to
be elected President in November. Her long list of advisers, which includes top
negotiator with Iran, Wendy Sherman, former Undersecretary at State, Nicholas
Burns, her close aide Jake Sullivan and former State Department official and
vocal voice on civil society and human rights in the region, Tamara Wittes,
suggest a middle of the road approach that prioritizes engagement and visible US
diplomatic presence.
What to expect
Those hoping for a return of the George W. Bush neoconservative wing in a
Hillary Clinton Presidency or for a verbatim continuation of the Barack Obama
policy, will likely be disappointed. Clinton’s approach to the Middle East will
not bear resemblance to Bush’s freedom and democracy agenda, but will bring a
more hands on and people-to-people relations than that of Obama. Clinton’s visit
to Tahrir square in 2011, and town hall meetings across the Middle East, promise
a return for people to people initiatives in the Middle East. The former
Secretary of State, if elected, will also pay more emphasis to issues related to
human rights and press freedoms in the region, than the Obama or even Bill
Clinton administrations. While she is known for her good relations and personal
interactions with regional leaders in meetings that would span over four or
seven hours with GCC leaders and Netanyahu, Clinton will likely be more vocal
about human rights violations. Nevertheless, a Clinton Presidency will bring
more emphasis on personal relations in driving the regional agenda, something
that has largely gone missing with the more aloof and dry style of Obama. Today,
there isn’t one Middle Eastern leader that has a close relationship with the
White House. Even Jordan’s King Abdullah, a frequent guest of the
administration, has criticized the President. On policy, Clinton is likely to
adhere to Obama’s strategic goals (fighting terrorism, combatting nuclear
proliferation, securing Israel and strengthening allies) but with a larger
umbrella, and with different emphasis on regional priorities. Reaching out to
Iran will unlikely be high on Clinton’s list while implementing the nuclear
agreement will be. Countering Russia’s and Iran’s roles will, on the other hand,
be more aggressive than Obama’s. Given Clinton’s relations, it won’t come as a
surprise if she revisits the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks while possibly
involving her husband and resurrecting the Arab Peace initiative. All in all, a
Hillary Clinton Presidency, if materialized, will bring forth a more robust,
visible and complex centrist approach for the US leadership in the Middle East.
It would employ more tools, including diplomatic and military pressure, than
Obama, without going back to the George W. Bush template of high rhetoric and
risky military projects.
All is not well with the Iran
nuclear deal
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
Almost a year ago in Vienna, world powers and Iran reached agreement on the
latter’s nuclear program after two years of talks. The deal brought much hope
and joy in Iran, particularly with promises of an economic boost and closer ties
with the West.
However, a veteran reporter who covered the talks, told me over the phone:
“We’ll see each other again soon for the next round of talks.” When asked to
elaborate, the reply was: “Can’t you see the deal has implementation problems?
It’s not working, and Iran and the United States need to resume talks sooner or
later to find a solution.”The concerns of European banks about working with Iran
is one the most difficult issues. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei sees the
difficulties as sabotage. Due to a lack of direct ties between Iran and the
United States, communication between their governments is always difficult if
not impossible.Iran’s oil industry, which was almost paralyzed by sanctions, has
almost reached pre-sanctions production levels
Economy
Observers and experts know that Iran’s economy will not improve overnight, as
sanctions greatly weakened it. An economic boost requires the United States
regardless of sanctions being lifted. The US biggest global investor in the oil
and gas industries, but Americans are not allowed to work with Iran. The
presence of US companies anywhere encourages other investors to enter a market.
However, Khamenei does not seem to welcome foreign investors. Market uncertainty
has made Europeans take a wait-and-watch approach. This has hindered efforts by
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to attract investors and improve
ties with European nations. Nonetheless, Iranian private-sector companies signed
$3billion worth of deals during his recent European tour. Iran’s oil industry,
which was almost paralyzed by sanctions, has almost reached pre-sanctions
production levels. Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangheneh last week said those
levels will be reached in a couple of months. However, increasing production
further will be difficult because of a lack of investors and the high risks they
face due to political instability in Iran. The country has a long way to go to
improve its economy, particularly if it continues with its economic and
political agendas. I asked my reporter friend when he expected the next round of
talks. “Soon. By the next US administration.”
The war on Sunni Arabs
Mshari Al Thaydi/Al Arabiya/June 07/16
What we are witnessing in Iraq and Syria is not in the interest of Arabs or
Sunnis. It is unfortunate that this is happening, and that we have to bring up
this sectarian dimension of events, but this is what is happening. Iran is a
rival, seeking to harm the Arabs and Sunnis. Russia, despite its different
motives, is like Iran.
A major problem, and the source of the huge imbalance, is the administration of
US President Barack Obama, which has destroyed stability in the Middle East. It
is creating threats to the future of the Arab and Muslim worlds, even the entire
world, and it is dragging Europe into this.
These threats will continue even after Obama’s term ends. He may become a
political activist marketing Iran, as he did in his interview with The
Atlantic.Obama deludes some Europeans that the problem is only about fighting
the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the region. He aims to cancel any
other political issue, including a political transition in Syria. This made the
Americans risk their relations with other countries, and NATO’s major ties with
Turkey, following their alliance with what Ankara describes as Kurdish terrorist
groups.
When the world let down the Syrian people in favor of Iran and Russia, ISIS
emerged. What do you think will emerge from the womb of this new anger?
Reality
This aggression against Arabs and Sunnis is a reality. It is not just the
opinion of Sunnis, but also of elite Arab writers who are not even angry Sunnis.
I recently read two articles on the matter in Ash-Sharq al-Awsat and Al-Hayat
dailies. In the first, Eyad Abu Shakra – an expert on the Levant – wrote:
“What’s before us is… an actual war on Sunni Arabs - a war that ends with a new
map of the Middle East, and that will eventually reap what it has sown.”The
other article was by Lebanese journalist Hazem Saghiyeh, who wrote: “Those
observing the situation cannot ignore the obvious givens. Between [Iranian
General] Qassem Soleimani, the [Shiite] Popular Mobilization forces, which there
are several attempts to disguise in Fallujah, and the central presence of Kurds
in Menbej, Sunni Arabism is being subjected to a major massacre that may have
drawn a path to what is described as new maps.”
When the world let down the Syrian people in favor of Iran and Russia, ISIS
emerged. What do you think will emerge from the womb of this new anger?
This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on June 6, 2016.
Palestinians:
The Fatah Mess
Khaled Abu Toameh/Gatestone Institute/June 07/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8209/palestinians-fatah-mess
After many years of being gagged, Fatah's young guard is finding its voice. But
while members of this faction wish to see a "changing of the guards at the
Palestinian palace," this does not mean that they have changed their attitude
towards Israel.
Fatah's young guard is neither interested in, nor authorized to, give up the
"right of return" for Palestinian refugees -- or even take the basic step of
recognizing Israel as a Jewish state. In short, the actors might change, but the
same show will go on.
The international community, meanwhile, is busy burying its head in the sand of
Abbas's very messy backyard. The participants at the Middle East peace
conference held in Paris last week may have missed the latest revolt against the
PA president. Had they been paying attention, instead of calling for a two-state
solution, they might have demanded that Abbas and his Fatah faction get their
acts together, and include Israel in the show. Perhaps they also would have
mentioned that this ought to happen before Hamas takes over the West Bank and
creates another Islamist regime there, too.
Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas is once again facing
insurrection -- this time from the young guard in his ruling Fatah faction.
Even autocracy has its limits, and after many years of being gagged, Fatah's
young guard is finding its voice.
This renewed power struggle between the young and the old guard is probably a
positive sign. It seems to signal the Palestinians wish to see new faces in
power. However, just because members of this faction wish to see a "changing of
the guards at the Palestinian palace" does not mean that they have changed their
attitude towards Israel.
This young guard, in fact, is neither interested in, nor authorized to, give up
the "right of return" for Palestinian refugees -- or even take the basic step of
recognizing Israel as a Jewish state.
In short, the actors might change, but the same show will go on.
But change is sometimes good. Injecting new blood into the old and corrupt
political system known as the Palestinian Authority might be a start.
So who is behind this move to introduce changes into the Palestinian leadership
and what is the goal of that drive? Will the effort have any impact on the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
The latest campaign is being waged by senior Fatah officials belonging to the
Fatah Revolutionary Council - one of the factions' two important decision-making
bodies (the second is the Fatah Central Committee). The Revolutionary Council,
Fatah's legislative body, has more than 80 members, most of whom are regarded as
representatives of the young guard in the faction.
Last week, more than half the members of the Fatah Revolutionary Council signed
a petition calling for a "correctional revolution" in their faction. Some
Palestinians see the petition as marking the beginning of a "revolution within a
revolution." The petition, which calls for major reforms in Fatah, is first and
foremost directed against Abbas and his old guard colleagues in the Palestinian
leadership.
The petition carries the signatures of several Fatah officials who until
recently were considered Abbas loyalists. Abbas is thus being challenged even by
those who were until now considered within Fatah among his staunch supporters.
This challenge joins the one issued by several other Fatah officials, who have
come out in public against Abbas's autocratic rule.
The petition signed by the Fatah "rebels" calls for holding long-overdue
elections for the faction, and accuses Abbas of marginalizing young leaders and
refusing to share powers. Divisions and internal squabbling in Fatah have
effectively paralyzed its ability to hold new elections or approve reforms and
changes. That is another reason why Fatah is not keen on the idea of elections.
Under the current circumstances, Hamas's chances of winning remain extremely
high.
Moreover, the Fatah mess has created massive schism. Never, in its fifty years
of existence, has Fatah been so divided. Some of its top brass have already
defected to Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Some quit Fatah because they lost hope
in its ability to reform and get rid of the icons of corruption in the faction.
Others went to Hamas and Islamic Jihad because they support the armed struggle
against Israel and are not prepared for any compromise.
The internecine Fatah war has breached the bounds of the faction, and even of
the Palestinians. This strife should gain the attention all involved in efforts
to reach a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all,
Fatah is the Palestinian party that is regarded as Israel's "peace partner."
Moreover, this is the faction that claims it wants to lead the Palestinians
towards statehood. The international community is doing business with Fatah.
What happens within Fatah's walls should therefore be of intense international
concern.
The "revolution within a revolution" taking place within Fatah ought to set off
alarm bells in the international community. Fatah's extreme current weakness
casts serious doubt on its ability to deliver peace with Israel and oversee the
establishment of a Palestinian state. One might look back just a single decade
and remember that in only 2006, Fatah's venality caused it to lose the
Palestinian parliamentary election in the West Bank and caused Fatah's collapse
and its forcible expulsion from the Gaza Strip. The big winner: Hamas.
One man, one vote, one time? Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (left) and Fatah leader
Mahmoud Abbas (also president of the Palestinian Authority) are pictured voting
in the last election for the Palestinian Legislative Council, which took place
in 2006.
The international community, however, is busy burying its head in the sand of
Abbas's very messy backyard. The participants at the Middle East peace
conference held in Paris last week may have missed the latest revolt against the
PA president. Had they been paying attention, instead of calling for a two-state
solution, they might have demanded that Abbas and his Fatah faction get their
acts together, and include Israel in the show. Perhaps they also would have
mentioned that this ought to happen before Hamas takes over the West Bank and
creates another Islamist regime there, too.
*Khaled Abu Toameh is an award-winning journalist based in Jerusalem.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 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.
Turkish Professor Suspended
over Tweet
Robert Jones/ Gatestone Institute/June 07/16
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8213/turkish-professor-suspended-over-tweet
Professor Bardakcioglu is under a disciplinary investigation launched by the
university's rector for his tweet, in which he criticized the conquest of
Constantinople in 1453.
After losing his job and being condemned and ostracized by his community,
Bardakcioglu defined his deleted tweet as "an ugly and wrong expression that was
not my own view." The professor, sadly, apologized for telling the truth.
Publicly debating historical events recognized by most scholars in free
societies is, in Turkey, a criminal offense. You can lose your job, your freedom
or even your life.
Turkish state officials constantly claim there is nothing in Turkey's history
that they should be ashamed of, so they continue persecuting and jailing
journalists or professors who express differing ideas, and slaughtering
non-Muslims and non-Turks.
Erbay Bardakcioglu, a professor at Adnan Menderes University (AMU) in Aydin
Province in western Turkey, was suspended after posting a tweet, in which he
criticized the conquest of Constantinople, present-day Istanbul, in 1453.
Professor Bardakcioglu's tweet, on May 29, read, "Today is the anniversary of
the invasion of Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, a
magnificent civilization, by a barbaric and fanatic tribe."
After the tweet caused outrage on social media, Bardakcioglu deleted it.
The professor is now under a disciplinary investigation launched by the
university's rector for his tweet. The university's rector, Cavit Bircan, on his
Twitter account, also condemned the professor and declared that he was laid off
from his job.
Describing Bardakcioglu's tweet as "unacceptable," Bircan wrote:
"After our terrorism-loving academics, we now have Byzantium-loving academics.
Let them know that the sons of the Hira Mountain [where Muslims believe Muhammad
received his first revelations from Allah] will definitely and once again defeat
the sons of the Olympic Mountain."
The association of veterinary surgeons of the city of Aydin also issued a
written statement that "strongly condemned" Bardakcioglu, who used to teach at
the school of veterinary medicine. The association's officials said that "they
cannot even call Bardakcioglu their colleague."
After losing his job and being condemned and ostracized by his community,
Bardakcioglu defined his deleted tweet as "an ugly and wrong expression that was
not my own view." He went on to apologize: "Before the great Turkish nation, I
apologize to the people whose sentimental values I have offended, and to my
university."
The professor, sadly, apologized for telling the truth.
Byzantium (330-1453 AD) was a great civilization. And the Byzantine ideas on
legislation, literature, theology, philosophy, art and architecture, among
others, greatly influenced Western civilization.
Constantinople also did witness barbaric and fanatic actions at the hands of the
invaders after the city fell.
"They slew everyone that they met in the streets, men, women and children
without discrimination," according to the historian S. Runciman in The Fall of
Constantinople 1453.
"The blood ran in rivers down the steep streets from the heights of Petra
towards the Golden Horn. But soon the lust for slaughter was assuaged. The
soldiers realized that captives and precious objects would bring them greater
profit."
"They looted whatever they considered valuable," wrote the scholar Constantine
Tzanos,
"and they destroyed or burned whatever treasures could not appreciate including
valuable library books, icons and mosaics.
"What was the motive of the conquest? It was the lust for power and riches by
slaughtering, enslaving and taking the belongings of others.
"Why a people would celebrate today, and with such a passion, an event like the
conquest of Constantinople which not only by itself was a great human
catastrophe, but it was also the precursor to many such catastrophes up to the
very recent past?"
Meanwhile, at a public meeting in Istanbul on May 29, 2016, to celebrate the
563rd anniversary of the fall of Constantinople, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan once again shared with his supporters his admiration for the "conquest":
"The conquest is to climb over mountains that the West thought were impassable.
The conquest is for a 21-year-old Sultan to bring the millennial Byzantium to
its knees. The conquest is the peak of military genius and technology of the
time. The conquest is to take root in a continent, which was thought that it
would not be possible to be permanent there even if one set foot there. The
conquest is to escalate the fire of a civilization, which was savagely put out
in Al-Andalus [Muslim Spain], on the other side of the continental Europe, in
the East again."
Apparently, the norm in Turkey is to praise the "achievements" of the Ottomans,
which included massacres, rapes, plundering and sexual slavery of their victims.
But publicly debating historical events recognized by most scholars in free
societies is, in Turkey, a criminal offense. You can lose your job, your freedom
or even your life.
Discussing these incidents in a way that contradicts the official ideology of
the Turkish state is a deadly "taboo."
As Turkey has never faced its history of bloodshed, ethnic cleanings -- and has
even excused these crimes -- they continue to commit them. Turkish state
officials constantly claim there is nothing in Turkey's history that they should
be ashamed of, so they continue persecuting and jailing journalists or
professors who express differing ideas, and slaughtering non-Muslims and
non-Turks.
The author Speros Vryonis Jr. described the 1955 Istanbul pogrom against
Christians:
"On the evening of September 6, and in the early hours of September 7, 1955, the
Turkish government carried out the most destructive pogrom that had been enacted
in Europe since the infamous Kristallnacht which Hitler and the Nazis inflicted
upon the Jewish communities, businesses and synagogues on the eve of World War
II.
"The Turkish government had unleashed the mobs on the Greek community of
Istanbul, on its churches, houses, businesses, schools, and newspapers... This
resulted in the ultimate destruction of Turkey's oldest historical community,
about 100,000 Greek Orthodox Christians who were the heirs of Byzantium."
In this photo from September 1955, a government-instigated mob of Muslim Turks
in Istanbul is destroying stores owned by Greek Christians.
According to Professor Alfred de Zayas:
"The Istanbul pogrom can be considered a grave crime under both Turkish domestic
law and international law. In the historical context of a religion driven
eliminationist process accompanied by many pogroms before, during, and after
World War I within the territories of the Ottoman Empire, including the
destruction of the Greek communities of Pontos and Asia Minor and the atrocities
against the Greeks of Smyrna in September 1922, the genocidal character of the
Istanbul pogrom becomes apparent."
What is criminal is murdering and raping people, destroying their neighborhoods,
pillaging their property and driving them out of their homes.
*Robert Jones, an expert on Turkey, is currently based in the UK.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. 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.
Middle Eastern
Americans Should Reconsider Trump
Slater Bakhtavar/American Thinker/June 07/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/06/07/slater-bakhtavaramerican-thinker-middle-eastern-americans-should-reconsider-trump/
With Trump having a serious shot at becoming the next President of the United
States, it is important for Americans of Middle Eastern descent to evaluate the
impact his theoretical administration would have on their community – just as
they should with any serious candidate. And despite the alarmist warnings of
those who profess otherwise, Donald Trump is a solid friend of Middle Eastern
Americans.
This fact is understood by the American-Mideast Coalition for Trump. As its name
implies, the AMCT is a group of Americans descended from Middle Eastern nations
who have realized that Donald Trump is in fact the strongest candidate to
strengthen the Mideast-American community. Such a conclusion by this particular
demographic may seem strange to some, as Trump is commonly known as an
anti-Muslim candidate. This popular view of him, however, is flawed.
To begin with, Trump is anti-terrorist and anti-extremist – contrary to the
opinions of some bigoted individuals, neither label describes the vast majority
of Muslims, let alone the majority of Middle Eastern people and their
descendants. His rhetoric and policy suggestions have always been aimed at
protecting the United States from those who wish to do it harm -- a noble and
important goal -- not at unfairly targeting people of certain religious
affiliations. And where he has mentioned Muslims without specifically qualifying
that he meant only the small fraction of that enormous group who are terrorists,
such as his discussion of temporarily banning people of the Islamic faith from
entering the U.S., he has later clarified that he was speaking in general
suggestions and not advocating firm policy.
In a comment to The Hill, Walid Phares, a national security advisor for Trump,
states this explicitly. “Right now the ban is just a few sentences in a foreign
policy announcement and a tweet, it’s not like he’s written books or published
articles or delivered lectures on this. He’ll continue to add context and
distinction to his position as he gets new information,” he said. Phares is
himself part of the effort of the Trump campaign to reach out to Muslim-American
communities and court their vote, something which would not be possible if Trump
were in fact anti-Muslim.
Even if his rhetoric on the ban issue does not soften over time -- which it
almost certainly will -- it should be noted that not everyone in the
Muslim-American community objects to it. America's enemy is not Islam, but it is
radical Islam, and a temporary moratorium on Muslim entry into the nation would
certainly go far in alleviating national security concerns. Speaking to the
Straits Times, a Pakistani-American man named Sajid Tarar, concurred: “Whatever
is required to ensure safety for American people, I'll support that,” he said.
“Any time something goes wrong here, if there is an incident, we start saying,
'I hope he is not Muslim.' We are living under threat. We want to see America
strong, we want to see America safe because we are part of the American fabric.”
Trump should also be compared to the alternative, namely the presumptive
Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. And when these two are held side by side
from the perspective of addressing Middle East issues, Trump is clearly the
superior candidate. First, unlike his opponent, Trump has said he will review
the catastrophic “deal” reached with Iran's fundamentalist regime by U.S.
President Barack Obama. Trump has pledged to at least hold the Iranian
ayatollahs strictly accountable to the terms of the agreement, which he predicts
will cause Iran to be found in violation and result in the treaty's dismissal.
Trump has also correctly criticized the Obama administration's foreign policy
concerning the Middle East in other ways. He has pointed out Obama's
preoccupation with unnecessary and counterproductive wars in the region, such as
costly troop deployments in Afghanistan and gross mismanagement in Iraq that has
led to the rise of ISIS. Libya, meanwhile, due largely to Obama's policies, has
turned into a chaotic cesspit that is rife with terrorist encampments. On all of
these issues, Clinton is weak, with her political need to support the decisions
made by Obama.
Trump is a forward-thinking candidate who is more likely than Clinton to support
technological and communications advances in Middle Eastern nations. This is
crucial for virtually all countries that suffer under totalitarian regimes, but
it is especially so in Iran, where the unbending fundamentalist government of
the ayatollahs can best be undermined simply by empowering and uniting the
Iranian citizenry -- most of whom are moderate Muslims and not in line with the
religious extremism of their government.
It is fortunate that Trump is the better candidate for Mideast-Americans,
because current conditions in the United States favor him over Clinton and make
him more likely to prevail in the general election. The nation today tends
towards an isolationist, security-first philosophy, which is far more in line
with Trump's policies than with Clinton's. Trump values the security of the U.S.
above all other concerns -- as an American president should -- and these
priorities are evident in his proposals. This does not solely refer to the
already-discussed ban on Muslim immigrants (though as noted, that was a crude
suggestion that is likely to be revised over time). Trump also favors
protectionist trade policies, an idea much in favor among the American people
today.
Though counterintuitive to some who do not fully understand the man, the AMCT
supports Donald Trump as the next President of the United States because it
recognizes that he is, in fact, the strongest candidate to stand for the rights
of real Mideast-Americans. His enemies, as those of that demographic group and
of all Americans, is radical terrorism -- not the Islamic faith.
**Slater Bakhtavar is an attorney, journalist, author and political commentator.
He is author of Iran: The Green Movement
On 100th Anniversary Of
Sykes-Picot Agreement, Some Arab Writers Fear New Sykes-Picot Imposed By U.S.,
Russia; Others Argue That Internal Arab Strife Is The Real Danger
MEMRI/June 7, 2016 Special Dispatch No.6461
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/06/07/memrion-100th-anniversary-of-sykes-picot-agreement-some-arab-writers-fear-new-sykes-picot-imposed-by-u-s-russia-others-argue-that-internal-arab-strife-is-the-real-danger/
Marking the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement, which divided the
Ottoman Empire into several territories and thus largely shaped the map of the
Middle East as we know it today, the Arab press published many articles
discussing this agreement and its outcomes. Some writers focused on the
agreements' adversary effects, and warned that the U.S. and Russia are currently
formulating a new Sykes-Picot agreement that will subdivide the region's states
into even smaller states on a sectarian and ethnic basis. This, in order to
further weaken the Arab world and subordinate it to their control. There were
also articles that accused the Arab regimes of cooperating with this plan,
consciously or unconsciously, and some accused Israel of being party to it.
Conversely, other writers claimed that the disintegration of the Arab world
along ethnic and sectarian lines stems not from external plots but from the
division and hatred that currently prevail among the Arabs.
Yet another approach was taken by Lebanese journalist Khairallah Khairallah. He
wrote that the Sykes-Picot agreement was actually a "gift from heaven," but the
Arabs failed to take advantage of it. Instead of using it to develop states that
benefit their people, they used it as an excuse to oppress their people and as
to justify all their failures.
The following are translated excerpts from some of the articles.
The U.S. And Russia Are Formulating A New Sykes-Picot Agreement In Cooperation
With Israel And Some Arab Regimes
The Egyptian daily Al-Ahram warned in an editorial against reappearance of the
"the ghosts of Sykes-Picot," and urged the Arabs to unite in order to avert the
danger. It wrote: "Today, May 16, is the 100th anniversary of the cursed
Sykes-Picot agreement... that divided the Arab homeland between France and
Britain... Today the Arab world is experiencing one of the worst periods of
weakness it has even known. Many countries are dealing with internal wars,
external plots and international intervention, in addition to domestic
deterioration due to the struggle against terror and the economic crises... The
plot [that exists today] is clear. Western research institutes and the American
press are openly talking of a new Sykes-Picot [agreement] that will correct the
mistakes of the previous partition. Nobody can fail to notice that five Arab
countries – Iraq, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia and Sudan – are to be divided into
13 states. The ghosts of Sykes-Picot are tangibly present, [and plan] to divide
the Arab region into mini-states along sectarian lines: [separate] states for
Christians, Shi'ites, 'Alawites, Sunnis and Kurds... The danger is real and
threatens all of us, and therefore we Arabs must awaken and unite, before we
awaken to an even greater disaster."[1]
Nizar 'Abd Al-Qader, a Lebanese strategic analyst, wrote in the London-based
Saudi daily Al-Hayat that plans for partitioning Syria, Iraq and other Middle
East countries had been formulated in the U.S. as early as the 1970s, and that
today some Arab states were cooperating with them: "American plans formulated in
the 1970s and in the subsequent decades whetted [the appetite of] some sectarian
and ethnic leaders and were met with encouragement by some corrupt and
tyrannical regimes [that though these plans would] help them stay in power.
Apparently, the U.S. administrations also continue to encourage [these plans]...
"Do the Arab rulers understand the danger of submitting to plans of redrawing
the present borders – [plans] leading to religious and ethnic chaos that could
last a century, as happened in Europe during the Middle Ages – [and all this] in
order to serve the geo-political interests of Israel and of the world?"[2]
Fathi Mahmoud, a columnist for the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, likewise wrote that
the Arabs are party to a new Sykes-Picot agreement and that the division of the
region has already started: "What is happening now is a redrafting of the
regional map that goes further than the [original] Sykes-Picot agreement and
divides what was already divided in the past [into even smaller areas]. As
usual, it is the Arabs who will suffer, even though this time around they are
the main partners in the re-division of the region...
"The partition of Syria has already started in practice, in the north, with the
establishment of [Kurdish] autonomous regions. [The creation of these regions]
was dictated by the Kurdish Democratic Union Party, which has laid down the
foundations of what looks like a mini-state for the [Kurdish] people. [This
state] has a parliament, called the People's Assembly of Western Kurdistan, and
it has formed military forces called the People's Protection Units, and it also
has a government, a constitution and an education system. In Iraq, [too], the
division along sectarian lines is proceeding with all speed." Mahmoud warned:
"The new Sykes-Picot will be much more difficult and tragic than the previous
one, which caused the loss of Palestine. It looks like we are in for another
Nakba."[3]
Another Al-Ahram columnist, Dr. Mahmoud Al-Sa'id Idris, wrote that the present
partition plan was drawn up by the U.S. and Israel and its implementation
started with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. He added that the plan was
meant to weaken the Arab world, and warned: "All this is happening amid an
almost complete lack of Arab awareness. [The Arabs fail] to draw the connection
between Israel and the harming of their interests that is happening [today].
Moreover, Israel is playing a pivotal role in this second round of the plan for
partitioning the Arab region, amid a climate of unprecedented cooperation, or at
least understanding, between it and the Arabs.
"What brought about this transformation in the Arabs' awareness and
understanding of the Zionist entity despite all the destructive roles it has
played against them?... How did Iran become the enemy of the Arabs, after it was
an ally for a while, at least of some of them? How did the Arabs become as
hostile towards Iran as Israel is, and come to regard [Iran] as an existential
threat? [And] what is the source of the terrorism that the Arabs have come to
regard as their enemy and which competes with and even replaces the Zionist
entity [as the Arabs' enemy]?..."[4]
'Abd Al-Mun'im Ibrahim, a columnist for the Bahraini Akhbar Al-Khalij daily,
likewise stated that there was an American plan to redraw the map of the Middle
East and carve up the Arab states, and that Russia was party to this plan. He
warned: "Are we, the Gulf states, immune to this partition plan? Of course not.
But right now they [the U.S. and Russia] are delaying the implementation of
their plans here [in the Gulf] because they recognize the economic and military
might of these states. The alliance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, or more
accurately, between Egypt and the Gulf, is restraining the new colonialist
partition plan. But once they finish [dividing up] Syria and Libya, they will
take their scalpel to the Arab Gulf."[5]
The Internal Strife And Sectarian Hostility In The Arab World Are Worse Than The
Sykes-Picot Agreement
Conversely, other writers blamed the Arabs themselves for the current state of
their region. They stated that, for years, the Arabs have made a habit of
cursing the Sykes-Picot agreement and blaming it for dividing the Arab world;
however, today the Sykes-Picot borders must be upheld because they are better
than complete chaos. They stated further that it is the sectarian and ethnic
extremism prevailing in the region today, and not any plot by the superpowers,
that is responsible for its disintegration.
'Omar 'Ayasra, a columnist for Al-Sabil, the paper of the Jordanian Muslim
Brotherhood, wrote: "How saddening that the proverb 'hang on to the wretched
thing [you have] so that you do not end up with something even worse' accurately
describes the Arabs' attitude towards the imperialist plans that were imposed on
them. This proverb exactly describes the Sykes-Picot agreement, which we cursed
so much, regarding it as the source of the problems that made us so dependent
and backward... On the 100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot agreement that
divided [the Arab world], we yearn for [this agreement] to hold up, because [if
it doesn't] what will come will be much worse and much blacker.
"We never imagined that the states of whose [viability] we were never convinced
would become a paradise compared to the hell of division and partition that may
become a solid fact in the near future. The states of Syria Iraq, Libya, Yemen
and others are being remade by destroying these countries and their societies
and reviving the [old] ethnic and secondary loyalties.
"[Recently], Masoud Barazani, [president of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region],
declared that the Sykes-Picot [agreement] has completed its role and it is time
to look for an alternative.[6] Walid Jumblatt, the leader of the Druze in
Lebanon, [likewise] believes that Sykes-Picot is no longer valid and should be
altered. The various minorities and sects aspire to establish states that will
highlight their particular identity. I consider this a much bigger tragedy than
Sykes-Picot."[7]
Ayman Al-Hammad, editorialist for the Saudi government daily Al-Riyadh, stressed
that the danger to the unity of the Arab world did not lie in a new Sykes-Picot
agreement but in the sectarian and ethnic hostility that prevails among the
Arabs. He wrote: "To tell the truth, I do not think that [we will see] a new
Sykes-Picot agreement like the one [sighed] 100 years ago. Despite the
considerable weakness and instability of the present Arab regimes, what is
happening today is very different from the scenario that unfolded a century ago.
[Today] there are entities whose borders are clearer. The facts are different,
and the interests intersect in a more complicated manner. However, we may be in
a new psychological state that [enables us] to bear the idea of the Sykes-Picot
[agreement]. [I refer to what is] in the heart of the Arab citizen, whose
attitude towards his neighbors in the region, [or even] in the neighborhood
where he lives or in the next town, has become dark. This is because the events
we are experiencing have sown a sense of alienation in every citizen in the
country. Invisible yet tangible boundaries exist even between the residents of a
single neighborhood. I think that is even worse than the Sykes-Picot
[reality]."[8]
Liberal Saudi journalist Khalaf Al-Harbi wrote in the government daily 'Okaz:
"It has come to the point that we mourn [the destruction] of the Sykes-Picot
agreement, after for a whole century we lamented its outcomes... Today the Arabs
do not need a new Sykes-Picot [agreement] and there is no need for foreign
forces to redraw our maps – because our hearts, filled with sectarian hatred,
and our minds, filled with ethnic and tribal extremism, serve as the despicable
pen and ruler [with which we] divide [our own region].
"Sure, there are declared plans by the superpowers to [re-]divide the region
that was [already] divided in the past and turn the [existing] mini-states into
even smaller mini-states – but these plans would not have existed without the
division that prevails among us... The Arabs will not derive much benefit from
talking about a grand international plot [against them], just as they derived no
benefit from cursing the Sykes-Picot [agreement] for the past 100 years..."[9]
Lebanese Journalist: Sykes-Picot Was A Boon For The Arabs, But They Failed To
Take Advantage Of It
Conversely, Lebanese journalist Khairallah Khairallah, the former editor of the
London-based daily Al-Hayat, praised the Sykes-Picot agreement, calling it a
"boon" for the Arabs and "a gift from heaven." He wrote in the London-based
daily Al-Arab: "There are those in the Arab world who have always cursed the
Sykes-Picot [agreement], seeing it as the main [reason] for the [Arabs']
calamities and defeats in every field. [But] the Sykes-Picot agreement was not
the main reason for these calamities and defeats, but merely the coat hanger on
which many Arabs hung their problems and their helplessness, in order to excuse
their inability and backwardness.... Sykes-Picot failed because the Arabs moved
away from what is realistic and rational, though it could have been made into a
success... Most Arabs thought that slogans were enough in order to realize their
aspirations. They never distinguished between reality and dreams...
"Sykes-Picot was a boon, but not a single Arab regime managed to preserve it,
adapt itself to it, and develop it so as to serve the people of the region and
their future generations. On the contrary, the regimes used it as an excuse to
oppress their peoples, sometimes in the name of Palestine and sometimes in the
name of Arab unity and resistance to global colonialism and imperialism. On the
100th anniversary of the Sykes-Picot [agreement], the Arabs will [find
themselves] lamenting [its loss]. It was a gift from heaven that they did not
manage to preserve. [This is] only because they did not understand from the
beginning... that they had states and political regimes that could be developed,
instead of resorting to military rule and security apparatuses that gave birth
to sectarian militias – from the Sunni organization ISIS to its Shi'ite
equivalents, whatever their names."[10]
Endnotes:
[1] Al-Ahram (Egypt), May 16, 2016.
[2] Al-Hayat (London), May 21, 2016.
[3] Al-Ahram (Egypt), May 17, 2016.
[4] Al-Ahram (Egypt), May 17, 2016.
[5] Akhbar Al-Khalij (Bahrain), May 22, 2016.
[6] See Special Dispatch No.6444, Kurdish President Barzani: The Sykes-Picot
Agreement Has Failed; It Is Time To Establish A Kurdish State, May 23, 2016.
[7] Al-Sabil (Jordan), May 23, 2016.
[8] Al-Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), May 16, 2016.
[9] 'Okaz (Saudi Arabia), May 23, 2016.
[10] Al-Arab (London), May 20, 2016.